Apr 042023
 
 April 4, 2023  Posted by at 8:20 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,


John French Sloan McSorley’s Bar 1912

 

Trump Hit With 34 Felony Counts – No Handcuffs, No Mug Shot, No Jail Cell (GP)
Trump Lawyers Believe Manhattan Judge Will Impose A Gag Order On Monday (DM)
Trump’s Legal “Super Tuesday” (Turley)
How’s That War Going? (Kunstler)
Saudi Arabia Makes Its Eurasian Shift (Cradle)
More Countries May Join Oil Production Cut – Official (RT)
French Streets and American Sofas (Patrick Lawrence)
Why The Battle For Bakhmut May Decide The Ukraine Conflict (Poletaev)
Kiev, Western Puppeteers Do Everything To Prolong Conflict – Lavrov (TASS)
West ‘Not So Eager To Find Out’ Who Bombed Nord Stream – WaPo (RT)
EU Unfriendly To Russia – Lavrov (TASS)
Lavrov Ready To Meet Blinken At UN Headquarters (TASS)
“Türkiye Only NATO Country That Can Hold Discussions With Russia” (RT)
Stoltenberg Announces Finland’s NATO Accession Date Is Today (RT)
You Know (Denninger)

 

 

Update on the bombing in St. Petersburg:
– The package was not allowed in by security
– The bomber, Darja started talking to Vladlen from her seat during the event
– She said “I brought you a figurine as present”
– He asked “Where is it?”
– She said “They said it may be a bomb, so it’s at the entrance with the security”
– He asked for it to be brought forward
-> Couple of minutes later he was dead and dozens of people injured.

 

 

 

 

Putin Gaddafi
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642876085070098433

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In no time, they went from one misdemeanor count -which had expired- to 34 felony counts.

Trump Hit With 34 Felony Counts – No Handcuffs, No Mug Shot, No Jail Cell (GP)

Another day, another leak. President Trump was hit with 34 FELONY COUNTS for falsification of business records, according to a leak to the Deep State’s favorite actor Michael Isikoff. President Trump will not be handcuffed and there will be no mug shot, according to Yahoo’s Isikoff. Yahoo reported: “Donald Trump will be placed under arrest on Tuesday and informed that he has been charged with 34 felony counts for falsification of business records, according to a source who has been briefed on the procedures for the arraignment of the former president. A New York City Police arrest report summarizing the charges against Trump will then be prepared and entered into the court system before he is led into a courtroom to be formally arraigned on the charges, none of which are misdemeanors.”

“But, the source said, Trump will not be put in handcuffs, placed in a jail cell or subjected to a mug shot — typical procedures even for white-collar defendants until a judge has weighed in on pretrial conditions. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which has been consulting with the Secret Service and New York City court officials, concluded that there was no reason to subject the former president to handcuffs or a mug shot. The stated reason for handcuffing defendants is on the grounds that the suspect might be a flight risk or a threat to the district attorney or court personnel, neither of which were judged to be relevant to the handling of a former president protected at all times by a phalanx of Secret Service agents.”

President Trump landed at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in Queens on Monday afternoon. President Trump will spend the night at Trump Tower New York and will show up to court for his arraignment on Tuesday at 2:15 pm ET. Trump’s lawyers will immediately file a motion to dismiss after they have the opportunity to review the indictment. Recall Michael Isikoff was involved in the Deep State’s attempt to oust Trump from office. No one in the media is more accommodating to the deep state than ‘old faithful’ – Yahoo’s Michael Isikoff. In 2017, it was reported that Isikoff’s Yahoo report was used to obtain FISA warrants to spy on President Trump while at the same time Isikoff was working with the DNC.

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Don’t seem to have happened. Maybe today. Still, gagging a presidential candidate?!

Trump Lawyers Believe Manhattan Judge Will Impose A Gag Order On Monday (DM)

Donald Trump’s legal team is preparing for a New York judge to slap a gag order on the former president on Monday, DailyMail.com can reveal, a day before he is due to be arrested in Manhattan. The extraordinary move to potentially silence a candidate for president will likely enflame Trump’s supporters as he prepares to fly out of his Florida home. ‘The Trump legal team now thinks that the Manhattan judge will take the unprecedented step of silencing the presidential frontrunner with an unconstitutional gag order tomorrow,’ said a source. ‘The Trump legal team is considering adding a First Amendment lawyer to the effort to combat this and will fight it all the way.’ Breaking the gag order could trigger a fine of $1000 and a prison sentence of as much as 30 days, under New York law.

On Sunday morning, Trump’s campaign announced that the former president would make a speech at his Mar-a-Lago home on Tuesday evening after returning from New York. That could now be in doubt. But it did not change his Sunday schedule. He headed to his West Palm Beach golf club where he could be seen playing the course accompanied by one of his lawyers, Lindsey Halligan. At the same time it emerged that his legal team will lodge a motion to immediately dismiss the case against him. ‘We will take the indictment. We will dissect it,’ Trump’s attorney Joe Tacopina told CNN on Sunday morning. ‘The team will look at every, every potential issue that we will be able to challenge, and we will challenge. ‘And of course, I very much anticipate a motion to dismiss coming because there’s no law that fits this.’

Taken together they mark the latest twists in a fast running story that exploded into life on Thursday when it emerged that a Manhattan jury voted to indict the former president. The charges remain sealed but are believed to relate to a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult movie actress Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump has repeatedly lashed out at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for pursuing a case that had been dropped by federal prosecutors. And he has also turned his fire on Manhattan’s Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who will hear the case and is believed to be preparing a gag order. ‘The campaign is preparing for this scenario,’ said a Trump campaign source.

It will only add to Trump’s anger at Merchan, who previously presided over last year’s tax fraud case when the Trump Organization was found guilty. In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump said the judge had ‘railroaded’ his former CFO to try to get him to take a plea deal. ‘The judge “assigned’ to my Witch Hunt Case, a “Case” that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME,’ he wrote.

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“Elections often raise the politics of crime — but in this election, it may be hard to separate the politics from the crime.”

Trump’s Legal “Super Tuesday” (Turley)

While a newly elected Trump could only pardon himself for the federal crimes, it is the federal case that likely represents the greatest threat to him. Moreover, the two state cases would add to Trump’s narrative of facing ‘political prosecutions’ from a ‘weaponized’ legal system on every level. Trump often campaigns on just such a primal level. He knows that a man chased by a dog can spark public outcry — but a man chased by a pack of dogs can spark public outrage. It is not simply the election that could take a carceral turn, however. What would happen if Trump were elected but convicted in either state case? Such a trial would likely occur after the election. Even if courts extended a trial until after the 2024 election, it would be difficult to delay it for four years.

The last time a president faced the threat of a criminal trial was in 1872, when Ulysses S. Grant was arrested for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage in Washington. I have long maintained that a sitting president can be indicted and tried. Almost 25 years ago, I wrote an academic work, “‘From Pillar to Post’: The Prosecution of Sitting Presidents,” that challenged immunity theories protecting presidents. I do not believe the indictment of a president or former president is a national tragedy. To the contrary, it is the ultimate affirmation that no one is above the law. However, that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t get weird if Trump loses in court but wins in the election. If Trump were convicted in a state proceeding, it would not bar him from running — or serving — as president.

A state judge could grant probation or an alternative sentence to avoid imprisonment. Moreover, appeals on the issue of incarceration could take years to address a state order conflicting with the performance of a federal function. Once that time was exhausted, a court could order any incarceration to be delayed until after the end of the presidential term, since Trump could not be elected a third time. We may have to face one of these scenarios. The question is whether voters may not only accept this prospect but some might even invite it. Regardless of how it works out, this election is about to take a carceral turn. Elections often raise the politics of crime — but in this election, it may be hard to separate the politics from the crime.

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“..a judge with any self-respect would toss it in a pre-trial hearing like a six-day-dead carp at the slightest prompting by a defense attorney..”

How’s That War Going? (Kunstler)

Now how about that other war: our government’s war against us? What canny reporters (Taibbi, Schellenberger) are calling the Censorship Industrial Complex has been pretty well outed. Everybody knows that the FBI, CIA, DHS, and many other agencies, via hijacked social media, have worked tirelessly to confound and bamboozle the public debate about, really, everything that matters. The odd part is that roughly half of America doesn’t seem to care. Of course, that is the same half of the country that has fallen in love with surveillance, censorship, political prosecutions, election monkey business, mandated mRNA shots, and other excursions into bad faith. Their auditors in the mainstream news media actually seem to relish their roles as enforcers of unreality.

This degenerate wickedness has been escalating since one Donald Trump stepped onstage years ago. The “Joe Biden” regime affects to have trapped him finally in the lair of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. Now the game gets interesting. Since the charges are the sheerest vapor, the actual aim of this prosecution, as Tom Luongo and Martin Armstrong point out, is to goad Mr. Trump into a civil contempt citation that will allow the New York authorities to lock him up. The judge in the case will impose a gag order on Mr. Trump speaking out about the proceedings against him, and when he opens his yap — as he is certain to do — they’ll throw a net around him and drag him off to the hoosegow, and keep try to keep him there indefinitely, as they kept the Jan 6 suspects in the DC jail. That is, if the Bragg operation in New York City can extract the former president from the state of Florida, which may not be so easy, now that Governor DeSantis has indicated a disinclination to allow it.

As to the case itself, a judge with any self-respect would toss it in a pre-trial hearing like a six-day-dead carp at the slightest prompting by a defense attorney — based, as it is, on multiple specious novelties of criminal law, not to mention being well beyond the statute of limitations. If it can actually get to trial, the prosecution will be a jurisprudential joke for the ages. If they get a Big Apple jury to go along with the joke, it will be short-listed through the appeals process clean up to the Supreme Court in a New York minute.

And if that whole thing falls apart like the janky jenga tower it is, there are two other cases in the wings — the bullshit case in Fulton County, Georgia, where the grand jury process was already compromised by a jury fore-person, self-identified as a “witch,” shooting her mouth off to the press; and the operation out of the DC Federal District run by one Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Mar-a-Lago classified papers matter — another loser case, considering all the other high officials currently entangled in similar complaints, as yet unmolested by any official charges.

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Brent: Russia and India abandon Europe-dominated oil price, agree to use Dubai oil price benchmark.

Saudi Arabia Makes Its Eurasian Shift (Cradle)

On 6 March, 2023, Iranian and Saudi officials held a meeting in Beijing where they agreed to restore bilateral relations. The agreement was significant not only for the mutual de-escalation of tensions in West Asia, but also for Saudi Arabia’s growing importance in the process of Eurasian integration led by China and Russia. By welcoming Chinese mediation, the kingdom has positioned itself as an independent actor capable of opening doors for Beijing and Moscow in a region where they have traditionally been overshadowed by a great power rival, the US. This move boosts Saudi Arabia’s importance in the geopolitical landscape and strengthens its ties with Beijing and Moscow.

For much of its history, Saudi Arabia was a staunch ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region. However, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MbS) military quagmire in Yemen – among other things – damaged Washington’s perception of the kingdom as a stable and reliable outpost in the region. The feeling was mutual and forced MbS to seek assistance from other nations to help lower tensions on Saudi frontiers. Between 2021 and 2022, Riyadh engaged in several rounds of an Iraq-hosted dialogue with Iran to negotiate assistance from Tehran in preventing its allies in Yemen and Iraq from attacking Saudi territory. What is particularly noteworthy to China and Russia is that MbS did not use this diplomacy as a means to restore the US’ traditional centrality in the kingdom’s regional and security policies. Instead, he made a point of cooperation with Beijing and Moscow while simultaneously snubbing Washington.

For example, in October 2022, Saudi Arabia partnered with OPEC+ partner Russia to cut oil production, breaking commitments made to US President Joe Biden during his July visit to Jeddah. MbS also overshadowed Biden’s trip with a much grander welcome for Chinese President Xi Jinping in December, during which Riyadh also hosted the first China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit to underscore the Saudi view of China as a regional partner rather than just a bilateral one. Against this backdrop, the Saudi decision to sign a Chinese-brokered deal with Iran without Washington’s involvement has been interpreted as a “middle-finger to Biden,” in the words of former US State Department analyst Aaron David Miller. Similarly, Riyadh’s nascent Russian-brokered detente with Syria, whose Iran and Russia-allied government is still opposed by the US, also illustrates Saudi Arabia’s willingness to move away from its traditional pro-American stance.

Rubio
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642872629282340870

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“..as you know, there are 23 members in OPEC+..”

More Countries May Join Oil Production Cut – Official (RT)

More oil-producing nations may slash their crude output, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak warned on Monday. His comments follow the decision on Sunday by several members of the OPEC+ group to introduce voluntary additional cuts to their output starting from May until the end of 2023, in order to stabilize the oil market. Some of the major producers, such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, pledged a total of 1.66 million barrels per day (bpd) of cuts on top of the ones already introduced in November. The move sent oil prices roughly 6% higher on Monday, with US benchmark WTI Crude surpassing $80 a barrel.

“Since so far nine countries … have said that they would voluntarily cut [their oil output], and as you know, there are 23 members in OPEC+, there were discussions that other countries could also join and announce some additional cuts of their own, if they felt it was necessary in order to stabilize the market,” Novak said in an interview to the Rossiya 24 TV channel. Novak’s comments were echoed by a report from Chief OPEC Correspondent Amena Bakr, who said on Twitter that more OPEC+ states were being encouraged to join the voluntary cuts.

The latest reductions come on top of the 2 million bpd cut introduced last year that’s set to run until the end of 2023. Russia also announced on Sunday that it would synchronize with OPEC+ and extend its own 500,000 bpd cut to the end of this year. According to Novak, the measure is necessary to ensure predictability in the oil market in a period of high volatility due to the ongoing banking crisis in the US and Europe, general global economic uncertainty, and unpredictable and short-sighted energy policy decisions.

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“On March 16 Macron made his wrongest choice. Unwilling to risk a vote in the National Assembly, he resorted to a provision de Gaulle wrote into the Fifth Republic’s Constitution in 1958, which allows the president to pass legislation without parliamentary approval under certain defined and rare circumstances—emergencies..”

French Streets and American Sofas (Patrick Lawrence)

You might be Brazilian or Malian or Singaporean, it is remarkable the world over to watch the French explode into the streets of dozens of cities and towns to protest the imperial president residing in Élysée Palace. It is altogether singular to follow the demonstrations against Emmanuel Macron as an American. The French are still citoyens and take to their streets and public squares. Americans long ago cashed in their citizenship to live as consumers—and take to their sofas no matter how abusively political elites treat them, no matter how many wars they start, no matter how corrupt the financial system, no matter how many people live in poverty, no matter how grotesque the “defense” budget, no matter how poisoned the environment, no matter… let me not go on. Please pass the Fritos and turn on the big game.

They burned city hall in Bordeaux last week. The Place de la Concorde, where the French protested the monarchy in 1789, is again shoulder-to-shoulder every day and night. Video footage records fires, barricades, appalling confrontations with baton-wielding CRS, the French riot police. Uncollected garbage is everywhere in the capital. The luxury shops along the grand boulevards have boarded up their windows. This started, of course, as a protest against Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 64 as part of a sweeping reform of the pension system. I have heard many Americans ask, “Two years? What’s the big deal?” It is telling enough that Americans would pose this question, missing all the reasons why Macron’s plan is a very big deal. The French work to live, as they like to say, while Americans live to work. Pushing up the retirement age had a semiotic meaning from the first, signaling the creeping incursion of American neoliberalism into French society.

There is the choice Macron had. I don’t think too many people dispute the demographics and fiduciary numbers at issue. More older French are reaching retirement age while fewer younger French are advancing into the workforce. This is a reality in France as in many other developed nations, though not the near-term crisis Macron made it out to be. Macron’s choice lay between raising taxes on the wealthy and the corporations or pushing the problem on the shoulders of the working class. He made the wrong choice. Remember, Macron was a merchant banker before going into politics. Early in his first term he was nicknamed “the president of the rich.” He failed to understand that serving as a national leader meant leaving behind the merchant banking in favor of the common good. So he made himself a sort of comprador, an import agent introducing Anglo–American neoliberal orthodoxies into a society that has long, long stood outside the Anglosphere.

For the French, the English Channel and the Atlantic are wide. On March 16 Macron made his wrongest choice. Unwilling to risk a vote in the National Assembly, he resorted to a provision de Gaulle wrote into the Fifth Republic’s Constitution in 1958, which allows the president to pass legislation without parliamentary approval under certain defined and rare circumstances—emergencies, in a word. So has Macron turned a big deal into a big, big deal and now a big, big, big deal.At this point the pension reform crisis has jumped the levee to become something far broader. Now demonstrators tip over into protesting the war in Ukraine, U.S. hegemony, NATO, and, on the domestic side, de Gaulle’s constitution.

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“..a ‘strategically unimportant’ town..”

Why The Battle For Bakhmut May Decide The Ukraine Conflict (Poletaev)

Since the beginning of the year, the Ukrainian front has been shrouded in a deceptive silence. Various insiders and anonymous sources predicted a looming large-scale offensive by the Russian Armed Forces. First expected around New Year, it was then anticipated in early February, and again around February 24 – the anniversary of Russia’s attack, last year. Days came and went, but nothing happened. With the arrival of spring, there has been talk of an equally imminent offensive – but this time by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the south. Allegedly, the plan of the AFU is to break through to the Sea of Azov and cut off the land corridor to Crimea. Any success or failure in this direction will make a considerable strategic impact. If the estimates are correct, Kiev is preparing new military units and stocking up on Western weapons –including the widely discussed British tanks and depleted uranium shells to go with them– precisely for this endeavor.


However, in contrast to widespread opinion, Ukraine’s permanently ongoing mobilization is not being conducted to expand the army – the new recruits only make up for the losses. Estimates show that the number of service personnel in the AFU remains stable at about 400,000 active fighters. Considering the importance of the southern direction of the front, the Russian Armed Forces will either hold defense or cut off a possible Ukrainian breakthrough with counterattacks. This requires appropriate forces, shells, and equipment, as well as advance preparation. Russia’s intentions are quite serious. This is evident from its goal of capturing the city of Ugledar [“1” on the map] – a fortress in the area of the AFU’s possible breakthrough. Having Ugledar under Russian control is important since it would create a threat for the advancing units. A similar offensive has been carried out in the western section of the front in the Zaporozhye region, north of Vasilevka [“2” on map]. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation captured several small towns there in January. As is evident from the serious work done on the construction of defensive lines, Russia will not retreat from Melitopol and Berdyansk as easily as it backed out of Izium or Kherson. This time, the stakes are too high.

In recent weeks, the Russian army has been successful in the area of Kremennaya [“3” on the map] and managed to advance six or seven kilometers (a good indicator for a static front line) towards the city of Liman, which it retreated from last October. Liman is located on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, so Russia would need to take it in any case, as it’s claimed as Moscow’s territory. However, the Russian Army’s breakthrough area here is relatively narrow and this makes it vulnerable to flank attacks. Battles for the suburbs of the city of Donetsk, ongoing since the beginning of the military offensive, have finally begun to bear fruit. In recent weeks, the Russian Armed Forces have partially surrounded Avdeevka [“4” on the map].


This place is particularly important since the AFU have been launching attacks on Donetsk from this spot for the past four years. In order to stop the constant shelling of the city from barrel artillery and “Grad” rocket launchers, the front line must be moved at least several dozen kilometers away from Donetsk. Apparently, these advances have become possible due to the battles for Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) [“5” on the map] which have helped to drain Ukraine’s forces. By itself, Artyomovsk holds no strategic importance – it is just one of the many cities in Donbass that still need to be taken. That’s why in a sense, Moscow decided to “outsource” this painstaking, dirty, and bloody work.

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“..We note the West’s unwillingness to engage in an inter-state dialogue based on principles of equality..”

Kiev, Western Puppeteers Do Everything To Prolong Conflict – Lavrov (TASS)

The Kiev regime and its Western puppeteers do everything they can in order to prolong hostilities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview for air.ru, published on the Foreign Ministry website Tuesday. Commenting on peace plan for Ukraine, proposed by China, Lavrov noted that it is consonant for key Russian approaches. “Especially regarding the need to ensure equal and indivisible security for all countries in Europe and in the world in general,” the Minister noted. “So far, the peace process has been hindered by Kiev and its Western puppeteers who exert all efforts in order to prolong the hostilities.” Lavrov noted that Russian and Chinese leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping stated “the importance for further close coordination on foreign policy.”


“We see the causes of main challenges in the international security area in a similar way. We note the West’s unwillingness to engage in an inter-state dialogue based on principles of equality. We oppose the use of sanctions pressure methods and other instruments of unscrupulous competition,” the Foreign Minister continued. “Meanwhile, our strategic cooperation is not aimed against third countries. It contributes to balanced development of the entire international system.” The Minister underscored that the Chinese side reaffirmed its “weighted position on the Ukrainian issue.” “We welcome Beijing’s readiness to play a constructive role in political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict,” he concluded.

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Seymour Hersh’s is the only view left standing.

West ‘Not So Eager To Find Out’ Who Bombed Nord Stream – WaPo (RT)

Western officials would rather not know who bombed the Nord Stream pipelines, lest they discover that their allies were responsible, the Washington Post reported on Monday. The report listed Polish and Ukrainian operatives as likely perpetrators, but left out one key suspect. “Don’t talk about Nord Stream” is now an unwritten rule at gatherings of European and NATO policymakers, an unnamed European diplomat told the newspaper. “Leaders see little benefit from digging too deeply and finding an uncomfortable answer,” the Post added, stating that officials “would rather not have to deal with the possibility that Ukraine or its allies were involved.” “It’s like a corpse at a family gathering,” the diplomat continued, explaining that while everyone can see the metaphorical body, they pretend it’s not there. “It’s better not to know,” the source said.

The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were destroyed in a series of near-simultaneous explosions off the Danish island of Bornholm in September. The blasts severed a key conduit of Russian natural gas to Europe, although the flow along Nord Stream 1 had been shut earlier that month, and the German government halted the activation of the newly-constructed Nord Stream 2 immediately after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine last February. Multiple European investigations into the explosions are ongoing, and a number of theories about who carried out the attack have emerged. The Post pointed to theories that a Polish company hired a yacht to transport explosives to the blast site on behalf of Kiev; that another “pro-Ukrainian group” was to blame; and that “saboteurs from other countries” committed the attack without the Ukrainian government’s knowledge.

The Post did not, however, entertain the idea that the US government blew up the pipelines. Citing US intelligence sources, American reporter Seymour Hersh claimed in February that the Biden administration ordered the CIA to bomb the lines with the help of the Norwegian Navy. The rented yacht story, Hersh said afterwards, was planted in the US and German media as a red herring by the CIA and its German counterpart, the BND. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that he “fully agrees” with Hersh’s conclusions. Prior to the publication of Hersh’s report, Putin blamed the explosions on “the Anglo-Saxons,” a Russian colloquialism for the US-UK transatlantic alliance. The Russian president argued that the US in particular benefited from the attack due to its position as a supplier of LNG to Europe.

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The EU is committing hara-kiri to please America.

EU Unfriendly To Russia – Lavrov (TASS)

Russia is viewing the European Union as an unfriendly association now, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with aif.ru posted on the Foreign Ministry’s website on Tuesday. “The European Union has ‘lost’ Russia. However, it is its own making. Exactly the EU member-states and leaders of the Union openly state the need of inflicting the strategic defeat to Russia, as they say. They are filling the criminal Kiev regime with weapons and munitions and send instructors and mercenaries to Ukraine. These are the reasons why we consider the EU to be the unfriendly association,” Lavrov said. The Russian side made necessary conclusions from this situation, the minister stressed. Moscow will act in response to hostile steps “decidedly if necessary, being governed by national interests of Russia and the reciprocity principle commonly adopted in the diplomatic practice,” he added.

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April 24-25.

Lavrov Ready To Meet Blinken At UN Headquarters (TASS)

Russia is ready to a possible meeting between Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the Minister’s visit to the UN Headquarters on April 24-25 if the US side has the desire to meet, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said at a press conference. “I think that depends on two factors. First, where Secretary Blinken will be at that time, and on his ability and willingness to meet with our Foreign Minister,” the Russian diplomat said. The Russian side has never “run away from whatever meetings with those people who want these meetings,” he noted. “If such a meeting is requested, I presume that Minister Lavrov will be ready to meet Secretary Blinken,” Nebenzya added.

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Probably true, and certainly insane.

“Türkiye Only NATO Country That Can Hold Discussions With Russia” (RT)

Today, Türkiye is the only country within NATO that can hold discussions with Russia and take steps per the interests of the international community, based on a common denominator in certain areas with Russia, Levent Gumrukcu, Turkish representative in NATO, told Anadolu, Report informs. He said that Türkiye is the only country that maintains contact with both sides in the war in Ukraine and tries to create an atmosphere of trust between the parties: “The role we play in matters such as the grain agreement and exchange of prisoners is a manifestation of this. This position of ours is of serious importance not only for Ukraine but also for the Euro-Atlantic area and NATO.” The diplomat added that NATO and Türkiye have common interests in many regions, including the Balkans, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, the Middle East, and North Africa.

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“Prime Minister Sanna Marin loses the Finnish elections. The Finns did not like her handling of the Russia conflict. She sold out Finland to NATO and the Anti-Russia coalition. She put international politics first and her people second.”

She did her job. Finland’s in NATO and she’s no longer needed. NATO can go place weapons along its longest border with Russia.

Stoltenberg Announces Finland’s NATO Accession Date Is Today (RT)

Finland will officially become the 31st member of NATO on Tuesday, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced in a statement on Monday. “This is a historic week,” Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. “From tomorrow, Finland will be a full member of the alliance,” he said, adding that “it will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security, and for NATO as a whole.” Finnish president Sauli Niinisto and Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen are expected to attend the accession ceremony in Brussels along with Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, who vowed to emphasize NATO’s support to Ukraine during the meeting.

The move comes just three days after Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed ratification of the Nordic country’s passage into the organization. It ends a protracted accession process that began last summer when Finland and Sweden abandoned their traditional position of neutrality and applied to join NATO, citing concerns of possible Russian aggression. Türkiye had objected to the bids by Helsinki and Stockholm citing their alleged support of “terrorist groups.” Last month, however, Erdogan praised Finland’s “authentic and concrete steps” to address Turkish security concerns. He has yet to give a clear indication as to when Ankara will ratify Sweden’s request to join the bloc.

Moscow, meanwhile, has reacted to Finland’s accession to NATO by stating that Russia will have no choice but to reinforce its military potential on the Western and North Western borders in response. “In the event that forces and assets of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told RIA Novosti on Monday. Last month, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow “regrets” Finland’s and Sweden’s decision to join the US-led bloc, stating that Russia “does not pose any threat to these countries, since it does not have any disputes with them.”

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The crowd called for the death of Christ in the same way it clamored for forced vaccination.

You Know (Denninger)

Palm Sunday. Many Christians share my dread of this Holy Day. It starts out fun, with all of us outside. We grab palm leaves. The kids immediately start sword fighting with them and the older folks fold them into crosses or other shapes like religious balloon animals! Then the mood shifts. We file into our pews in silence and a pall settles over the sanctuary. There is no music to guide our steps. We know what’s coming. Palm Sunday commemorates (because celebrate is not the right term for the second) two events: Jesus returning to Jerusalem and his crucifixion. Some of the disquiet is annoyance. It is the longest Mass most of us attend. But there is no denying the heavy reason we’re here. Palm Sunday’s Gospel reading is Christ’s crucifixion, and even worse, the congregation reads the parts of the crowd out loud.

Each of us demands the murder of an innocent man. Even though we know how it ends, it’s sobering. The silence is appropriate. For me, it was never only the heavy subject matter, it was doubt. What would I have done in the crowd? Scream to let a killer go? Would I participate in murdering the lamb of God? I really wanted to believe, “Of course not! I’m an upstanding person, I would never hand Christ over for execution!” Doubt crept in, no matter how forcefully I repeated the mantra. I am flawed, a sinner, and most importantly, rarely brave. After the past three years, I know the answer. So do all of you. Know, not believe.

I did not cave when “friends” tried to shame me into wearing a tard rag. People drifted out of my life. My blood is still pure, despite the crowd screaming for submission. These two actions mean there are very few left in my life, and almost none I call “friend” sincerely. It’s a reasonable conclusion to assume what held true recently would have in Jerusalem. God didn’t tell me His plan for the last three years, He wouldn’t have told me back then. I state this not out of grandiosity or claiming to hear the Word of God, simply my own actions. This year I will stand with the rest of the congregation, but not speak any of the lines because I would have walked off rather than go along with the crowd.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Roughnecks

 

 

Bricks
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642907102988337156

 

 

Bernoulli

 

 

Chameleon
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642859388409978881

 

 

Monkey frog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1642896852231020547

 

 

Hitchcock TO CATCH A THIEF (1955)

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle April 4 2023

Viewing 20 posts - 41 through 60 (of 60 total)
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  • #132772
    Doc Robinson
    Participant

    Which country is happier depends on who’s doing the poll. Survey results were published recently from three different sources.

    According to Ipsos, “a prominent market research firm with head offices in Paris,” China comes in with a top rating of 91 percent in the overall happiness index. To choose a few other nations by way of comparison, Mexico scores 81 percent, the U.S. 76 percent, Japan and Poland register 60 percent and 58 percent respectively.

    Edelman, the Chicago public relations firm, has just produced another such report… and came up with roughly similar results by way of China’s scores relative to others…. Here’s something interesting to ponder: Respondents in 24 of the 28 nations surveyed scored record lows in response to the statement, “My family and I will be better off in five years.” China was the only one to show an uptick in expectations since the previous survey…

    The U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network has just released its World Happiness Report 2023… The Finns win the prize for the jolliest people on earth, as measured in the Average Life Evaluation section of Chapter 2. The Nordics, indeed, do well all around: Denmark is No. 2, Iceland No. 3, and Sweden and Norway Nos. 6 and 7. The U.S. is ranked the 15th happiest nation on earth, and no, thanks, I’m not in the market for bridges to Brooklyn. What of China, you are wondering. It comes in 64th in this ranking.

    “I am no statistician and no demographer or any such expert, but I do find it remarkable that of the happiest nations by the U.N.’s reckoning the first several dozen are either Western or client states of the West or former Soviet republics or not very nice places that have abundant reserves of oil. You have to get to No. 40, Nicaragua, to find a nation on Washington’s enemies list that gets any kind of smile emoji from the U.N.”

    https://consortiumnews.com/2023/04/04/patrick-lawrence-the-happiness-of-others/

    #132773
    Germ
    Participant


    TVASF

    #132774
    Germ
    Participant

    Democide works!

    Shorter life expectancy gives UK pensions an unexpected windfall

    “Up to £30bn could be wiped from UK corporate pension scheme liabilities owing to one of the biggest falls in life expectancy in a decade, according to industry experts.”

    https://www.ft.com/content/8af4e821-1e14-4c6a-a98c-1b670851b38c

    TVASF

    #132775
    John Day
    Participant

    “Taking Initiative” https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/taking-initiative

    Japan has taken an independent energy policy pathway, though reservedly so, since last summer. Japan cannot accept the order to fall upon her sword.
    Anti-Russia Alliance Splinters As Japan Buys Russian Oil At Price Above Cap; Others To Follow
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/anti-russia-alliance-splinters-japan-buys-russian-oil-price-above-cap-others-follow

    ​ 50,000 North Korean Special Forces troops are reportedly staged to leave for Ukraine, to bolster Russian forces there. (Google translate from Greek)​

    Bίντεο: 50.000 Βορειοκορεάτες αναχωρούν για Ουκρανία – Η Κίνα δημιουργεί PMC 500.000 αντρών – Η Πιονγιάνγκ πήρε πυρηνική τεχνολογία & πυραύλους κρουζ

    ​ Gilbert Doctorow has part 2 of his assessment of the implications of Russia’s new foreign policy position paper. He discusses a lot of subtleties and implications, though it clearly reflects what Russians have been saying for 15 years. This paper looks at the implications for russian domestic politics, which he sees as pulling together and consolidating power in this strong wave of conservative populist Russian nationalism.​ Thanks Christine.
    Russia’s New Foreign Relations Concept will usher in a fundamental change in the balance of its domestic politics

    Andrew Korybko also assesses the Russian foreign policy paper, specifically as it regards Latin America. Korybko looks at Russia’s reliable relationships with the traditional left in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia. Brazil, under Lula, is more new-left, with identity politics, and good relations between Lula, Biden and Soros, as per Korybko’s recent piece in Yesterday’s post. Still, Russian policy does not require ideological alignment, but just the respect of sovereign equals.
    ​ ​Multipolar conservative-sovereigntists (MCS) respect every country’s sovereign right to develop according to whichever models they’d like while unipolar liberal-globalists (ULG) want to force everyone to apply Western models. For the most part, the Sino-Russo Entente and the Global South embrace MCS while the US-led West’s Golden Billion and its vassals promote ULG. There are a few notable exceptions, but this insight represents the simplified geopolitical-ideational fault lines of the New Cold War.

    De-Ideologization Of Russia’s Relations With Latin America

    #132776
    John Day
    Participant

    Alastair Crooke, The Crucial Ideological Transformation of Our Time , Thanks F.S.
    The White House is angry, ostensibly at the ‘threat to liberal democracy’, but more tellingly, because Team Biden fears Israel is tilting towards Russia, thus rupturing western ‘unity’ versus Russia. Team Biden fears that Netanyahu’s Israel will triangulate, pitting the U.S. against Russia. This anxiety, in its backhanded way, reveals the fear of the ‘Rules-Order’ and dollar hegemony fragmentation to the thrall of the Russian and Chinese vision of sovereign societies structured around legacy moral precepts.
    To be very plain, the western liberal cultural revolution’s shift from being merely adversarial to a project not aimed just at rejecting previous cultural forms, but in erasing them altogether is what is being globally rejected and collapsing. A new moral-cultural sensibility is rising, even as formal institutions of religion have ebbed. It is that which is articulated by Presidents Xi and Putin.
    Again simply put, Russia’s quiet, background revival of Orthodoxy and China’s of Taoist and Confucian values as the possible framework against which the regulation of modern technological society can be set – in no small part – has opened the path to metamorphosis and the inflection gripping much of the world.
    Sunni Islam in the late 19th century tried to merge Islam and modernity, but with little success. What the Russo-Sino model seems to offer is a way to bring traditional meanings back into an otherwise hollow modernity, but without creating a separate, stand alone, religious regulatory structure.
    Again, this shift is happening in the U.S.; it is happening in Israel; so why not across the Middle East?
    The transformative effect of the Chinese-Russian entente on global politics affirms this crucial ideological transformation of our time. It brings to an end a long cycle of (sometimes enforced) westernisation of non-western societies dating back to Peter the Great’s founding of St Petersburg in 1703. A new cycle of cultural consciousness is in the process of forming.
    This month, China struck an accord for a new regional security architecture by bringing together Saudi Arabia and Iran. Also in March, President Assad – long a pariah for the West – could be seen making a State Visit to Moscow – with full honours; and days later, was visiting the UAE. At the same time, Iraq and Iran signed a security co-operation agreement designed to end the U.S.-inspired Kurdish insurgency strikes into Iran. And President Raisi has been invited to Riyadh by King Salman, after Eid.
    Could we have entertained such a concatenation of events, even one year ago? No!
    Israel today is displaying what a society looks like when it is so riven that it hovers at the cusp of breakdown. The scope for any resolution is fleetingly small; the contradictions are too great. And to be clear, Israel is not alone in this plight whence the normal means of defusing conflicts are gone. France, Germany and the UK are mired in country-wide protests. More European states may follow.

    The Crucial Ideological Transformation of Our Time

    ​ ​P​atrick Lawrence, French Streets and American Sofas (Not mentioned are the guys in black who break and burn stuff, government agents again?)
    ​ ​Direct action. Loud and unruly direct action. A popular mandate. Bringing down a government: What is it about the French that they are ready to take to the streets in behalf of the society they stand for when the society they stand for is challenged by an imperious figure such as Emmanuel Macron? If you think this a good question, here is another: What is it about Americans that, as the sad record indicates, nothing rouses them from their quite amazing stupor such that they get off their sofas and.. and act, act in behalf of… of anything?
    ​ ​To take these questions in order, the French retain an idea of themselves as members of a community. However frayed this community and however fractured their idea of shared interests, this still has the power to motivate them. Related to this, their civic selves remain alive. The French treasure their private lives, certainly: One way to consider these demonstrations is as a defense of private life. But whether you are a schoolteacher or a steamfitter or a shopkeeper, if you are French, you also have a public self that extends beyond the private self.
    ​ ​Not least and maybe most of all, the French share an idea of the present as a passage in history and of themselves as forces in history. I am not at all surprised the French Revolution is so often mentioned in the better media coverage of events these days. The Revolution was an attack on the vestiges of divine right, the notion that a monarch’s authority was God-given. It was about humanity, not the heavens, as the agent of its destiny. And it was class-conscious. There were no illusions in 1789 as to the nature of power. The fate of the French is in the hands of the French: This was the core thought then and it is the core thought now.
    ​https://scheerpost.com/2023/03/30/patrick-lawrence-french-streets-and-american-sofas/

    ​ Diana Johnstone looks at Kafkaesque interpretation of German postwar law, whereby a position for peace, against German involvement in war, becomes the crime of “aiding the enemy”. Protest for peace, go to jail.
    Anti-War Views Criminalized in Germany
    ​ ​Article 5 of the Basic Law grants individuals the right to express opinions, but there are numerous limitations in the Criminal Code, with punishment for “inciting hatred,” racism, anti-Semitism and prison terms for Holocaust denial. Also prohibited are propaganda or symbols of “unconstitutional” organizations, disparagement of the State and its symbols, blasphemy against established religions and especially failure to respect “human dignity.”
    ​Of course, what matters in all these laws is how they are interpreted. The ban on “rewarding and approving crimes” (Section 140), that was originally intended to apply to convictions for violent civil crimes, has now been extended to the geopolitical sphere, namely, outlawing “approval or support” of what it terms “aggressive war.”
    ​ ​Antiwar activist Heinrich Bücker’s speech in Berlin last June 22 calling for good relations with Russia on the anniversary of the 1941 Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union was condemned by a Berlin court for “approving Russia’s crime of invasion.” In practice, any effort to clarify the Russian position by referring to NATO expansion and Kiev regime attacks on Donbass since 2014 can be interpreted as such “approval or support.”

    DIANA JOHNSTONE: Germans Down & Russians Out

    ​Threats and retribution for embarrassing US intel by publishing CIA files, released by Ed Snowden, without first consulting MI-5/MI-6 and self-censoring.​
    HOW THE UK SECURITY SERVICES NEUTRALISED THE COUNTRY’S LEADING LIBERAL NEWSPAPER
    ​ ​The UK security services targeted The Guardian after the newspaper started publishing the contents of secret US government documents leaked by National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden in June 2013.
    ​ ​Snowden’s bombshell revelations continued for months and were the largest-ever leak of classified material covering the NSA and its UK equivalent, the Government Communications Headquarters. They revealed programmes of mass surveillance operated by both agencies.
    ​ ​According to minutes of meetings of the UK’s Defence and Security Media Advisory Committee, the revelations caused alarm in the British security services and Ministry of Defence.
    ​ ​“This event was very concerning because at the outset The Guardian avoided engaging with the [committee] before publishing the first tranche of information,” state minutes of a 7 November 2013 meeting at the MOD.

    How the UK Security Services neutralised the country’s leading liberal newspaper

    #132777
    John Day
    Participant

    I really only knew a little bit of this, and I did much more research than most doctors.
    How the FDA Buried the Dangers of Antidepressants , A Midwestern Doctor, guest posted by Pierre Kory MD
    https://pierrekory.substack.com/p/how-the-fda-buried-the-dangers-of

    The Judge says this was all DoD “Other Transaction Authority” purchase of “bioweapon countermeasure prototypes”, so the FDA had no standing, and neither does the whistleblower against Pfizer’s clinical-trial fraud and misrepresentation. It is irrelevant for these military contracts.
    ​ ​Brook Jackson’s case dismissed by Judge Truncale.​​
    Judge sides with Pfizer’s lawyers and DOJ, as expected
    https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/brook-jacksons-case-dismissed-by

    ​ More on that court decision that it’s not fraud if the government is ok with it:​

    Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Whistleblower Case Dismissed by Judge

    ​ The Harvest of Deception (AI, smartphones, GMOs, your “food”, weight gain and poor healt​h. Next up, Great Reset sells tranches of human-commodities.)
    ​ ​We are living in a game that we did not realize had been designed for us. Our non-fitness standards (mind, body, spirit) have become our new fitness standards. We are being profiled in a way that has never been achieved before, and much of the data mining and analysis being done on a personal level is a new frontier. Our food consumption in the United States is killing us, and it’s being done with world-class marketing and the power of the fiat dollar, with expert data mining and analysis. Our government, global corporations, and investment firms are designing this form of game theory. We are being profiled by our food consumption and our desire for taste, convenience, and comfort.
    ​ ​As we try to survive, the new survival guide relies on mass consumption of processed and nutrient-weak food, operating together with a pharmaceutical industry that keeps designing and pumping out medicines and pills that create dependency and addiction, rather than a cure that leads to better health. With this data-driven preference form of living, our health industry has become reactive rather than proactive.
    ​ ​We have moved into the digital and virtual world, and willingly inserted a form of surveillance into our personal property. We carry smartphones that are transmitting who we are every second of every day, creating a profile about us that knows us better than we know ourselves. Our homes have become broadcast networks of our personal lives. This type of lifestyle has allowed us to drown out our suffering and gives us a false sense of empowerment and luxury, all in the name of convenience and comfort.As we create data with every step we take, we are being profiled in a way that is not fully understood and has never been achieved before. Most of the Al algorithms being used are front- running any decision-making abilities of the engineers and scientists that created them. The smart grid we are participating in has created an information cloud around us that is then monitized and weaponized to create tools that shape our environment, thoughts and emotions.
    ​ ​But now we as a society are not allowed to say anything. There is no angle available to use to try to inform others that there is an issue- all information has become controlled and weaponized. You are a game character in a game you didn’t choose to play, but were snatched out of your current reality and formulated to be led down a path in which has created a false reality.
    https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/the-harvest-of-deception

    #132778
    kultsommer
    Participant

    At Kunstler’s blog, at comments, one is asking Jim to provide him with PO Box address so he can send him postal money order as a support and appreciation for his bi-weekly writings. The way he explained, he does not want the domestic spy agencies to associate him as a supporter of host’s potentially controversial writings.
    At replies to that trembling post nobody was appalled, yet. I was not sure weather to laugh or cry.

    #132780
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    Iain Davis: They’re Keeping the System on Life Support Until They Can Bring in CBDCs


    Iain Davis discusses the global governance policies that are set regardless of who occupies any office and how we are steadily moving forward on their trajectory. Accelerationists like Peter Thiel are leading the way in building the new utopia/dystopia. The U.S. financial system is insolvent and they’re keeping it on life support until they bring CBDCs online. The key to CBDCs is their interoperability and instant international settlement. Everything (e.g. pandemic, war) is leading up to this transition of the international monetary system. We have never faced a control system as all-pervasive and totalitarian in scope as what is coming. We also discuss multipolarity.

    Iain Davis: They’re Keeping the System on Life Support Until They Can Bring in CBDCs

    #132781
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Confused Perverted Satanic Elderly Dictator Accused of Corruption Arrests Popular Opposition Leader

    .

    #132782
    John Day
    Participant

    Doc Robinson documents non-reproducibility of national happiness indices.
    (Somebody may be lying, or under duress, or delivering a product under contract.)

    #132783
    SeaBirds
    Participant

    GERM ‘The bodies are dropping all around us’.
    These incidents are being reported ad infinitim in the UK media.
    It’s as if ‘they’ are confident the constant stream of death headlines is becoming accepted as the norm by society. – There are people dying, and you better get used to it….. And now the latest on the countdown to the coronation.

    France: Patrick Lawrence
    Another brilliant take on France. Thanks RIM.
    ‘The French retain an idea of themselves as members of a community’
    They are united in opposition to tyranny.
    Dr D: ‘ – like they want France and western governments to be discredited and fall’.
    People are being downtrodden like ants. It’s terrible, but also inspiring, to follow any evidence that can miraculously be gleaned of the French doing their damndest to stand up to their oppressors. Again, Vive La France!

    Sanna Marin
    ‘She did her job’.

    And sold out her country, as did Ardern. No wonder she came all the way down to visit the scorpion in NZ. They even look alike.

    AFWKTT: NZ
    ‘Hard to think of anything they have not FUBARed’.
    😐 You won’t find anything.

    The colourful creatures are amazing.

    #132784
    WES
    Participant

    In the Ukraine’s new spring offensive against Russia, Ukrainian forces brillantly staged a western breakthrough in downtown Bukhmut, thus cutting off Wagner forces from being able to retreat eastward.

    In other Ukrainian news, reporters are no longer allowed to mention the Bukhmut “meat grinder” due to it’s negative tone. To save money and thus increase it’s chances of winning the war lottery, the Ukrainian government is cutting bonuses to it’s soldiers fighting on the front lines. Soldiers back of the front line will now no longer get any bonuses at all. This is expected to greatly increase sagging moral amoung those fighting.

    Ukrainian food companies, contracted with supplying food to the soldiers have reach new highs in corruption. Thinner soldiers are harder to shoot. Starving soldiers fight harder. Why waste food on a soldier who will die tomorrow?

    To save even more money all dead Ukrainian soldiers are now classified by the Ukrainian government as missing, so no pensions needs to be paid. To obtain a pension, the dead soldier’s family has to provide an eye witness who saw the soldier die. All eye witnesses are repeatedly sent back to the front line until they die.

    The Ukrainian government, not wanting to waste a good crisis, is shutting down the Russian Orthodox Church as part of it’s ethnic cleansing of all things Russian. Their is a lot of very valuable church treasure, authorities are eager to seized too.

    Soros is in the middle of purging all of Ukraine’s existing judges and prosecutors. These judges are being replaced by politically correct judges. Just like in the US because Soros’s new woke model works so well.

    The striking Russian lady, bearing a gifted bomb to a Russian blogger in a restaurant owned by the Wagner head, finally figured out after the bomb exploded, that she had been setup and was also considered expendable by those who used her. She was supposed to have been killed by the shaped charge. Somehow she survived the explosion without a scratch! With her hair cut shorter, she does not look nearly as pretty as she did in her Hollywood videos. She was used big time by her ruthless handlers. Sadly she will suffer dearly for it too.

    #132785
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Shock move: Reserve Bank hikes OCR by more than expected to highest level since ’08

    The Reserve Bank (RBNZ) has raised interest rates by another 50 basis points to highs not seen since the 2008 global financial crisis.

    It’s set the official cash rate at 5.25 percent, with the central bank’s aggressive policy tightening continuing to try and tame sky-high inflation.

    RBNZ had earlier expected the OCR to peak at 5.5 percent this year but the peak would now depend on the extent of the “moderation in core inflation and inflation expectations”, according to its monetary policy statement.

    https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/shock-move-reserve-bank-hikes-ocr-by-more-than-expected-to-highest-level-since-08/ar-AA19u1jJ?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=a7c8f9edd0fe450185661d43f99c77ed&ei=11

    Nice joke. And poor English.

    #132786
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Gonzalo is back!

    The Middle East recognises that the US is close to kaput.

    #132787
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    ‘Honor Bound to Defend Freedom’

    #132790
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    Looking for a place to escape the madness and meet happy people?

    This utterly weird country may be just the place.

    Not at all what most of us think.

    But what happens if the US State Department decides to trigger another colour revolution?

    Methinks this country is right i the middle of the new silk road China is working on.

    How long can happiness remain?

    A fascinating escape from what is happening throughout most of the world.

    #132820
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The open discussion on the existence and nature of God is appearing in ordinary public forums across the boards. It spans all religions and atheisms and even the innumerable layers of agnosticisms, too.

    I’m saying this as a simple announcement of a plain fact, not as a promotion of it. I think my unshakabale bias on that issue has been made quite clear. I am totally in favor of the public discussion of the fact that the world exists as the work of God, and that radical materialism is a one way ticket on the agony train to Oblivion, as is now being painfully dramatized in the impending wholesale collapse of civilization.

    So, it’s a pretty important discussion. Is the world a purely material phenomenon that is dis-related to any and all influence by a supreme being, or is the world the work of an immaterial conscious Creator whose rules must be followed in order to have life worth living?

    If you get that question resolved correctly then you will begin making choices based on that correct fact and values that it requires. If you answer it wrong then your choices will reflect that mistake and produce results that are not to your liking, and will consequently therefore have to fixed by making more choices. Clearly and obviously this will result in either a spiral upward or a spiral downward, determined by whether you CORRECTLY answered the question of is there is God, or is there not God.

    So, yeah (getting back to the point) this discussion is going to be smack dab in the center of Overton’s Window, and be conversed everywhere both in the media and in private.

    Interesting times indeed.

    #132824
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    There are two fundamental ways to make a decision. The first way is to presume that The Creator of the Universe and everything in it does in fact know best and to seek what that might be, and then attempt to implement whatever it turns out to be as best you can. The second way is to assume that one already knows more and better then God does, and insist upon doing it your own way, anyway, regardless. It’s essentially just that old egoistic Luciferian Declaration of Independence, “Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven”.

    Lucifer style thinking fails to take into consideration that such a notion is contrary to what the Universe actually is and how it therefore actually does work. Predictably, things just go south from there.

    How FAR south is a sight to see. Men cutting their dicks off and prancing around like demented women. Doctors prescribing death. Compulsory poisoning of children. You name it. Hell’s the limit.

    So who’s your Daddy?

    #132827
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The concentrated wealth of the civilization’s elite are acting in concert to kill anyone and everyone who defies their power to do so. Those puppet masters’ actions have consequences and those consequences will, too. Such “consequentiality” is one of the rules of the Universe, and there ain’t one damned thing anyone can do about that. The ONLY thing one can do is to learn what those rules are, and then follow them as best one can. And for THAT you’re going to have to find a way to talk to the guy who made them. Don’t sweat the boss being able to communicate back to you, He’s quite the experienced expert.

    Reportedly there are an infinite number of ways to accomplish such a conversation. Talking about it among ourselves is one of those ways.

    #132829
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    If you’ve been befuddled by the transgender thing over the past decade, then here is a wonderfully concise and yet documented primer. It’s a tad long (40 minutes) but a good investment of time because it will save you from days or weeks of mostly wasted time spent figuring and speculating. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/tLXdoqXbC6k

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