May 062023
 


Vincent van Gogh Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) 1888

 

Iraq Was The Graveyard Of American Ambition (Lukyanov)
Gonzalo Lira Arrested In Ukraine (RT)
Russia and US On Verge Of ‘Open Armed Conflict’ – Moscow (RT)
China’s Peace Plan For Ukraine ‘Wishful Thinking’ – Borrell (RT)
Zakharova Accuses Borrell Of ‘Colonialist Mindset’ (RT)
Zelensky Is A ‘Puppet’ – Lavrov (RT)
Poland Has Designs On Remnants Of Ukraine – Zakharova (TASS)
Prigozhin Warns Wagner Forces To Exit Bakhmut By May 10 (ZH)
Ukraine Brings 400-600 Troops To Bakhmut Every Day – Prigozhin (TASS)
Pretend to the End (Kunstler)
Nearly A Third Of The World Economy Is Now Subject To Sanctions (MoA)
Russian Car Sales Triple (RT)
Russia Oil Floods Global Markets Via Major Asian Intermediaries (Shakil)
New Disinformation Office To Oversee All The Other Ones (IC)
A Kingly Proposal: Letter From Julian Assange To King Charles III

 

 

 

 

End Covid

 

 

 

 

Meatball

 

 

Tulsi Tucker

 

 

 

 

Sen. Kennedy

 

 

 

 

“The American invasion of Iraq was both the apotheosis of post-Cold War American expansionism and a testament to its downfall. It is certainly not only a lesson for Washington, but also an illustration of the changes in the world. The era of superpowers is over. The world will be organized differently.”

Iraq Was The Graveyard Of American Ambition (Lukyanov)

Twenty years ago, in May 2003, then-US President George W. Bush landed on the deck of the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf and declared “mission accomplished.” The Texan announced the liberation of Iraq and the end of active combat, in effect a military victory. This was technically true. Baghdad was under American control, and although Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had escaped, he would be captured six months later. In fact, the invasion by Washington and its coalition had destroyed Iraqi statehood, led to a bloody civil war, the disintegration of the country, a dramatic shift in the balance of power in the region (not in the Americans’ favor, by the way), and was the root cause of the series of upheavals that engulfed the Middle East in the 2000s and 2010s.

Much has already been said about the war in Iraq, and we will not repeat it. We will simply note that only the most stubborn neo-conservatives now defend it, justifying the expediency of the action under what is now well known to have been a false pretext. Even their like-minded but less radical supporters admit that the intervention was unsuccessful and unnecessary. Nevertheless, most of the initiators of the campaign – former President Bush himself, his inner circle of Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and Richard Perle – are comfortably retired, and Donald Rumsfeld left this world, without facing any repercussions, two years ago. Looking back at the events of that time, it is important to assess the role of the invasion in modern history. Iraq was the culmination of US efforts to assert complete and unchallenged hegemony.

Whatever the motives for the decision to go to war (and they ranged from the utterly mercenary to the personal and dogmatically idealistic), the political expediencies could not be concealed. The events of September 11, 2001, when America was attacked by a strange and seemingly unknown enemy, caused a shock. It was necessary to show that Washington was still capable of doing whatever it deemed necessary – even if it did not have the support of much of the world and of its key allies. And so it did. Bush’s aircraft carrier appearance was intended to shore up the status quo. What happened next, however, was that Iraq actually experienced the opposite: the limits of American capabilities and an eventual withdrawal in the face of an almost uncontrollable sectarian-political conflict.

It was not immediate, but it was already irreversible. Bush’s second term, which he won despite widespread dissatisfaction with the situation in Iraq in particular, was a period in which Washington’s ambitions were slowly relaxed. It should be remembered that the first term, in addition to Iraq and Afghanistan, included ‘color revolutions’ in countries bordering Russia (Georgia and Ukraine), which were also part of the general desire for domination. America’s continued presence in the Middle East has become increasingly reactive rather than proactive, with Washington increasingly having to deal with the consequences of its own policies. ‘The Arab Spring’ initially generated enthusiasm and even revived an instinct for interventionism, but quickly became bogged down in confusing realities. The emergence of Islamic State potentially threatened immediate American interests and forced Washington into firefighting. In the end, however, it was put out by everyone, not just those who started it.

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God speed.

Gonzalo Lira Arrested In Ukraine (RT)

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Friday confirmed the arrest of Gonzalo Lira, a Chilean national living in Kharkov, suspecting him of pro-Russian sympathies. Lira had been previously detained in April 2022, but released after a week and ordered not to leave the city. According to a SBU statement quoted by Ukrainian media, Lira “publicly justified the armed aggression” of Russia, denied or glorified alleged Russian war crimes, and “engaged in discrediting the top military and political leadership and the Defense Forces of our state.” The SBU filmed Lira’s arrest by heavily armed agents, blurring out the faces of everyone involved. He is suspected of “producing and distributing materials justifying the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, committed repeatedly.”

A court ordered him jailed pending the outcome of the investigation. The SBU has reportedly seized Lira’s computer and multiple cell phones as evidence. Lira, 55, is a writer and filmmaker who used to work in the US. Several years ago, he moved to Kharkov, where he got married and began blogging as ‘Coach Red Pill’. This is the second time he has been detained by the SBU. He was first arrested in April 2022, but was released after a week. No charges were pressed at the time, and Lira would not discuss the details of what happened, saying only that he was not allowed to leave Kharkov.

He blamed the US outlet Daily Beast for directing Kiev’s attention to his work, accusing the outlet of trying to get him killed. The tabloid had reported on Lira’s activities in March 2022, calling him “sleazy”and a “pro-Putin shill,” and noting its reporters had reached out to Ukrainian authorities. While Lira kept a low profile for several weeks after his release, he eventually returned to social media and continued voicing criticism of Kiev’s policies. Since then, Ukraine has enacted laws criminalizing dissent and allowing President Vladimir Zelensky to ban opposition political parties, nationalize the media and even persecute the Ukrainian Orthodox Church for being in canonical communion with Moscow.

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“The anger and hatred towards Russia with which Washington acts in a situation in which it frankly should think of its own safety, is inexplicable..”

Russia and US On Verge Of ‘Open Armed Conflict’ – Moscow (RT)

After the recent drone incident at the Kremlin, which Moscow has called a US-backed attempt by Ukraine to assassinate President Vladimir Putin, the US and Russia are on the verge of a shooting war with each other, a senior Russian diplomat has said. “We are working on preventing a fall of our relations with the US into the abyss of an open armed conflict,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in a TV interview on Friday. “We are already on the verge of this abyss.” Ryabkov described officials in Washington as “opponents” and “enemies” of Russia due to what he called Russophobic policies which are being pursued in spite of the risks.

“The anger and hatred towards Russia with which Washington acts in a situation in which it frankly should think of its own safety, is inexplicable,” he said. At the moment, “no real diplomacy” regarding the Ukraine conflict is possible between the two nations, because the US “has bet on further escalation,”according to Ryabkov. The US has long been a direct participant in the conflict and has long been waging an open hybrid war against my nation. The deputy foreign minister said Washington tends to dismiss the statements of Russian officials, citing remarks made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken regarding Russia’s claim that Ukraine was behind the drone attack on the Kremlin. “I would take anything coming out of the Kremlin with a very large shaker of salt,” Blinken told the Washington Post.

“We leave it to Ukraine to decide how it is going to defend itself,” he added. Kiev denies having any involvement in the attack on the Kremlin. The US government is treating “any signals coming from Moscow as an element of a disinformation campaign,” Ryabkov said. Meanwhile, Russia is “literally ready to use any means at its disposal” to deter threats to its security and the safety of its leadership, he added. He also reiterated the Russian claims that Washington shares responsibility with Kiev for the incident, which the US denies. Their statements of non-involvement are “not convincing anyone,” and are reminiscent of “how they attempted to pretty much blame us for the bombing of the Nord Stream,” Ryabkov said.

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I’ve said it before: Borrell is not a diplomat. Diplomacy is alien to him. “If you want peace, push Russia to withdraw..” Not going to happen. So why bring it up? Because you don’t want peace.

China’s Peace Plan For Ukraine ‘Wishful Thinking’ – Borrell (RT)

China’s proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine is “not a peace plan,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has claimed. The diplomat insisted that demands made by Kiev are the only viable solution to the crisis, despite Russia making clear it will not accept them. Speaking at an event hosted by the European University Institute in Florence on Friday, Borrell explained why the EU should continue to arm Kiev and argued that certain peace plans for Ukraine were undesirable. “The only thing that can be called a peace plan is [Vladimir] Zelensky’s proposal,” he stated, referring to the Ukrainian president. “The Chinese peace plan, well, it’s not a peace plan. It’s a set of wishful considerations, wishful thinking, but it’s not a peace plan.” “If you want peace, push Russia to withdraw,” Borrell added. “Don’t tell me to stop supporting Ukraine.”

Zelensky’s peace plan demands that Russia withdrawal from all territories that Kiev claims as its own, including Crimea, as well as calling for war reparations and NATO-like security guarantees, among other measures. The government in Kiev has repeatedly said it would not compromise and would continue to fight for as long as it takes. Borrell acknowledged that the Russian government would not accept Ukrainian demands, and blamed Moscow for continued hostilities. “If you have someone who says: ‘I have military objectives, and I will continue bombing, I will continue fighting until I get them’ – well, what kind of peace talk do you want to do?” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. If Kiev surrenders, Borrel claimed that Russian troops would be “on the Polish border” and Ukraine would become a “second Belarus”. Without Western support, this would happen “in a matter of days,” he predicted.

Russia launched its military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, citing Kiev’s continued attacks in Donbass and growing involvement with NATO. Beijing’s peace proposal, released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry in February, urges the security concerns of each party to be addressed. The Chinese government has criticized NATO’s expansion in Europe, calling it the root of the conflict in Ukraine. Borrell suggested that China could have a role in resolving the crisis by pushing Russia towards accepting Kiev’s conditions, although he expressed concern about closer ties between Moscow and Beijing. The diplomat insisted that the EU was more united than ever in the face of an “enemy,” joking that he felt like the “defense minister” of the bloc.

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“If the EU were in a position to have its own opinion, it would not be in the situation it is in today..”

Zakharova Accuses Borrell Of ‘Colonialist Mindset’ (RT)

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell betrayed a colonial mindset and a lack of geopolitical understanding when he dismissed a Chinese peace plan for Ukraine as “wishful thinking,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has claimed. The Russian diplomat criticized Borrell on Friday for remarks he made earlier in the day at an event in the Italian city of Florence. The EU official had claimed that conditions set out by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky were the only viable path to resolving the conflict with Russia, and rejected a Chinese proposal unveiled in February as “not a peace plan.” “Not taking seriously proposals formulated on behalf of one fifth of the planet’s population and the leading world economy – that can only come from either a person who knows nothing about geopolitics, or someone with a colonial mentality who doesn’t respect people they consider beneath themself,” Zakharova insisted, referring to Borrell.


The Russian diplomat described Zelensky’s conditions for peace as “an American guidebook for inciting conflict in Europe,” suggesting that Borrell was advocating Kiev’s position under pressure from Washington. “If the EU were in a position to have its own opinion, it would not be in the situation it is in today,” she remarked. Moscow considers the conflict with Ukraine to be part of a proxy war waged against it by Washington. The EU, which followed the US lead in imposing sanctions on Russia and sending weapons to Kiev, does not decide its own foreign policy and has consequently sacrificed the national interests of member states, Russian officials have argued. Borrell faced accusations of racism last year after describing Europe as a “garden” and most other parts of the world as a “jungle.” He denied that the metaphor was intended to have colonialist connotations, but nonetheless apologized.

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Lavrov IS a diplomat.

“All this has to be discussed, of course, not with Zelensky, who is a puppet in the hands of the West, but directly with his masters..”

Zelensky Is A ‘Puppet’ – Lavrov (RT)

The West and Russia will eventually sit down to discuss their differences, but this dialogue should be held not with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky but with those using him as a stooge, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Goa, India, Lavrov reiterated that Moscow had “never refused to settle issues arising from the actions of the US and their satellites to pump Ukraine with weapons” so that it could fight Russia. The minister noted that many countries around the world are growing increasingly aware that these tensions cannot be defused solely by freezing the Ukraine conflict. “Everyone understands that the ongoing events are geopolitical in nature,” he said.

“Without solving the main geopolitical problem – that of the West aspiring to hold onto its hegemony and impose its own will on all the others, – it is impossible to resolve crises in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world,” Lavrov added. The Russian diplomat pointed to China’s 12-point plan for a political settlement in Ukraine, which was released in late February. Lavrov said that while the plan does seek to settle the conflict itself, it also focuses on much more global and comprehensive issues. “All this has to be discussed, of course, not with Zelensky, who is a puppet in the hands of the West, but directly with his masters,” Lavrov said, noting that such talks would take place “sooner or later.”

In early April, amid speculation about an imminent Ukrainian spring counteroffensive, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ruled out any peace negotiations between Kiev and Moscow, suggesting that such talks would only help Russia to “ratify” its territorial gains. Moscow has repeatedly said it is open to talks with Kiev if the latter recognizes “the reality on the ground,” including the new status of four former Ukrainian regions that overwhelmingly voted to join Russia last autumn. However, around the same time as the referendums, Zelensky signed a decree prohibiting negotiations with the current Russian leadership.

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“..this is the clearest signal Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will ever receive on [his] country’s NATO bid..”

Poland Has Designs On Remnants Of Ukraine – Zakharova (TASS)

Polish authorities have designs on the remnants of Ukraine, and this is the clearest signal Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will ever receive on country’s NATO bid, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. The diplomat drew attention to Zelensky’s words, who said on Thursday that Ukraine understood that it could not join NATO during the conflict, but wanted a “clear signal” that it would be accepted later. “Poland has designs on the remnants of Ukraine. There are no clearer signals,” Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.

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Prigozhin feels disrespected. But not by Putin. You can bet they are still close. At least part of this is an act.

Wagner is an attack force, not a defense one. And the attacking work is done.

Prigozhin Warns Wagner Forces To Exit Bakhmut By May 10 (ZH)

The infighting between Wagner Group mercenary firm and Russia’s defense ministry has come to a head, as on Friday Wagner chiefYevgeny Prigozhin declared he’s withdrawing his forces from Bakhmut on May 10 for lack of ammunition. He’s issued fierce complaints for weeks that ammunition is being withheld from the military chain of command as internal tensions have exploded into public view. “I declare on behalf of the Wagner fighters, on behalf of the Wagner command, that on May 10, 2023, we are obliged to transfer positions in the settlement of Bakhmut to units of the Defense Ministry and withdraw the remains of Wagner to logistics camps to lick our wounds,” Prigozhin said.

“I’m withdrawing Wagner PMC units because without ammunition, they are doomed to a senseless death,” Prigozhin continued, asserting that his firm had fallen “out of favor with envious near-military bureaucrats.” The day prior to this he issued a separate dramatic battlefield video on Telegram declaring “We are lacking 70% of the needed ammunition!” The clip is dramatic and disturbing as it shows Prigozhin standing over dozens of his fighters killed on the Ukrainian battlefield, while blaming their deaths on lack of adequate support. In the video, he expressly calls out the defense minister and chief of the armed forces: “Shoigu, Gerasimov, where … is the ammunition?” says Prigozhin. “The blood is still fresh,” he says of bodies around him. “They came here as volunteers and are dying so you can sit like fat cats in your luxury offices.”

It is by far the most scathing attack on the regular chain of command as well as unsupportive politicians at home launched by the Wagner chief, following weeks of public verbal denunciations and even warnings to take the matter directly to Putin, who is no doubt fully aware of the spat. The Thursday social media message included the following moment: “These are someone’s f**king fathers and someone’s sons. And you f**kers who aren’t giving [us] ammunition, you b*tches, will have your guts eaten out in hell!” yelled Prigozhin in Thursday’s video.

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“The enemy is well equipped, well trained, acts as one and resists with dignity, so we move on..”

Ukraine Brings 400-600 Troops To Bakhmut Every Day – Prigozhin (TASS)

Ukraine’s armed forces bring from 400 to 600 people to Artemovsk (the Ukrainian name is Bakhmut) every day and lose the same number every day. This was stated by the founder of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin. The corresponding video was posted on Saturday in the Telegram channel of his press service. “Behind us is Bakhmut, it remains approximately 2.5 km to take – and the city will be taken,” he said. “The enemy pulls up daily from 400 to 600 people, they lose approximately the same number daily. The units of PMC Wagner work in lockstep. The enemy does not spare artillery ammunition. A sufficient number of various foreign-made armored vehicles have appeared, a large number of drones. The enemy is well equipped, well trained, acts as one and resists with dignity, so we move on,” he said.

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“My guess is that the nominal leader of this underworld in the USA — more like a master-of-ceremonies than an actual director — is Barack Obama..”

Pretend to the End (Kunstler)

The creatures of the underworld running our country must think the public is awfully stupid. You are expected to take at face value the claim that “Joe Biden” is actually up for re-election. Could it be more obvious that he’s pretending? (Just as he’s been pretending to serve as CEO of our government.) Meanwhile, we are not supposed to notice that the entities behind him are scrambling to dismantle, demolish, and asset-strip what remains of the USA in body and spirit. But enough of us are noticing to make it a problem for them. First, who are these entities? They are exactly who you think they are. What you see around you is not just a complex system (Western Civ) unwinding and breaking apart — though that is part of the story. It is also the appearance of a controlled demolition by desperate, frightened, and crazy people who want to be the ones left standing when the demolition is complete. The catch is, they are pretending, too. They are control-freaks who cannot keep things under control.

This power underworld is a coalition of large public and private organizations, here and out there in the world, and the folks in charge of them, and they are all out of control, too, pretending that their operations are coherent and efficacious. For instance, the vast consortium of intelligence agencies in our country, the CIA, DIA, ad nauseam, their multitudinous spin-offs, and their international partners (e.g., MI6, Mossad, the World Health Organization). If you want to see how they actually work, watch the Coen Brothers’ movie Burn After Reading. You will see a bustle of perfectly hapless, frantic, and insanely self-destructive activity performed by clueless clowns in nice business suits. There is also the matrix of banking, including the international regulatory agencies such as the IMF, the World Bank, the Fed, the European Central Bank, and the banks themselves. And the bankers — Powell, LeGarde, Dimon, et. al — and the money managers, Fink, Soros, and their nefarious activities. They are all pretending to be in charge of a money system so burdened with fakery and legerdemain that it’s in the process of flying up the cosmic wazoo and vanishing, leaving Western Civ, functionally, broke.

My guess is that the nominal leader of this underworld in the USA — more like a master-of-ceremonies than an actual director — is Barack Obama. He has been running “Joe Biden” since the 2020 coup against Mr. Trump. The Clintons wanted to be in the mix somewhere, but it appears they’ve lost the fight for dominance — what with Bill in a perpetual doghouse and Hillary wearing that “loser” sign plastered on her back. For now, “Joe B” is a place-holder for the Party of Chaos. Who else have they got? Gavin Newsom? I’m sure. Hair and teeth only get you so far. Just wait until they roll the footage of San Francisco. Kamala Harris? Discussion unnecessary. Elizabeth Warren? (Grandma Oatmeal, we call her.) A bunch of governors no one has ever heard of? For now, they’ll just try ignoring RFK, Jr., since he wants to turn the Democratic Party upside-down and inside-out while rinsing it with Drano.

Who will they slot in when “Joe B” gets the hook? Michelle Obama, of course. Seems ridiculous, I know. (Actually, it’s completely ridiculous.) But our country has become so marinated in recycled products, celebrities, and narratives that Mr. Barack Obama (and cohorts) might just be bold enough to try it. Michelle is just another product at this point, like a can of Bud Lite, or a Hostess Ho-Ho, and that’s how they will try to sell her. The public’s collective mind has been successfully disordered to the degree that unreality no longer registers. If they pull this off, it will be Mr. Obama’s fourth term — and the coup-de-grace for the nation.

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Has anything ever failed this badly?

Nearly A Third Of The World Economy Is Now Subject To Sanctions (MoA)

The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) just published a study about: The Human Consequences of Economic Sanctions. The results are as any observer of such acts would expect. Sanctions are used too broadly. They hardly ever serve their supposed original purpose and do not reach their aims. They hurt the poor more than the supposedly targeted leaders of this or that country. These numbers though are astonishing: “Over the past six decades, there has been significant growth in the use of economic sanctions by Western powers and international organizations. Less than 4 percent of countries were subject to sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union, or United Nations in the early 1960s; today, that share has risen to 27 percent. The magnitudes are similar when we consider their impact on the global economy: the share of world GDP produced in sanctioned countries rose from less than 4 percent to 29 percent in the same period. In other words, more than one fourth of countries and nearly a third of the world economy is now subject to sanctions by the UN or Western nations.”

Under international law only sanction imposed by the United Nations’ Security Council have legal standing. Sanctions by the U.S. or EU are under international law an illegal use of state instruments. The U.S. is using sanctions constantly to press under nations to do its bidding. Until the recent war in Ukraine the EU has used sanctions mostly to ‘do something’ because it had run out of ideas or diplomatic abilities. The recent sanctions on Russia proved to be hurting the Russians much less than they are hurting the people living in the European Union. It was a catastrophic mistake by EU leaders to preemptively agree to the sanctions the U.S. had been pushing for before Russia entered the civil war in Ukraine on the side of its Ukrainian brethren. The consequences had obviously not been gamed out and thought through.

When nearly one third of the world economy is under sanctions the other two-third are losing out too. It would therefore make sense for everyone to abolish all sanctions that have not been issued by the UNSC. Even UNSC sanctions should only be used sparsely and in a very narrowly targeted manner. Sanctions that hit the whole economy of a country are inhuman and should be prohibited.

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Sanctions at work. Devastating.

Russian Car Sales Triple (RT)

Sales of new passenger cars in Russia jumped 2.7 times in April compared to the same period in 2022, data from analytical agency Avtostat showed on Thursday. According to the report, more than 75,000 new vehicles were sold last month in total, which is 8% more than in March. Avtostat said that 44% of the cars sold were Chinese brands, while another 35% were Russian made. The combined share of South Korean, Japanese, European, and American automobiles fell to just over 20%. The top-selling brand in the country was Russian LADA (33.4%), and the most popular model was the Lada Granta (24.3%). Among foreign automakers, Chery was the best-selling Chinese brand, and the Geely Coolray crossover was the top selling model. The exit of Western and Japanese companies from the Russian auto market has provided an opportunity to rising industry players such as China and Iran.


Chinese automakers have embarked on a major expansion in the Russian market and are expected to reach a 60% share of total sales this year, according to car dealer chain Autodom. China exported over 160,000 cars to Russia last year, more than doubling its share of the country’s auto market. Iranian auto makers are also expected to launch sales in Russia this year. Experts say the situation could also boost the Russian auto industry. Car manufacturer AvtoVAZ revealed earlier that it plans to double production this year to more than 400,000 cars. According to the company’s press service, it has the capacity to produce up to 500,000 vehicles a year.

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“..with the expansion of BRICS (to BRICS+), there will be a decline in the value of the dollar and the collapse of the IMF..”

Russia Oil Floods Global Markets Via Major Asian Intermediaries (Shakil)

Despite western sanctions imposed on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, some Asian and specifically West Asian economies are importing significant amounts of Russian gasoline at discounted prices, and reselling it with windfall profits to the EU under their brand names. Western sanctions have forced Moscow to actively diversify its energy exports – oil and gas exports accounted for 45 percent of the Russian government’s 2022 budget – and it has rapidly filled the gap left by its diminished oil exports to Europe with new customers in China, India, and the Persian Gulf nations. Despite the EU’s prohibition on seaborne exports, during the initial quarter of the current year, Russian seaborne crude oil exports amounted to 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd), surpassing the 3.35 million bpd recorded at the onset of the Ukrainian conflict a year ago.

According to industry analysts and oil executives, this has transpired despite western sanctions that led to the severance of several active trading partnerships for Russian oil in the EU markets. Dubai-based oil tycoon Hakam Valliani tells The Cradle that, in general, sanctions did not significantly impact the Russian gasoline supply line as new buyers filled the gap left by the EU market. Washington, he says, had enforced these limitations to force the EU to buy expensive US gasoline rather than cheaper Russian oil. When compared to Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), the price of US LNG is nearly $1,000 per ton more expensive, so “the European Union is paying a disproportionately huge amount for the US stuff,” Valliani explains. “Sanctions or no sanctions, individuals will find a way around by devising cunning strategies to bypass restrictions,” he says, adding:

“This is scary to see that the entire American-based price benchmark and the SWIFT system are collapsing, and a new benchmark will be needed within the next five years. Russia now accepts a variety of currencies when transacting fuel sales, including Indian rupees, Chinese renminbi, and other regional currencies.” Valliani predicts that with the expansion of BRICS (to BRICS+), there will be a decline in the value of the dollar and the collapse of the International Monetary Fund (IMF): “The world’s future source of gold and oil will come from BRICS+.” This has allowed countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, China, India, and Iran to import the majority of Russian oil, not for domestic consumption, but to transport it to third parties in energy-deficient markets in Europe and Asia.

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Theater of the absurd.

New Disinformation Office To Oversee All The Other Ones (IC)

Within the federal government, offices dedicated to fighting foreign disinformation are springing up like daisies, from the Pentagon’s new Influence and Perception Management Office to at least four organizations inside the Department of Homeland Security alone, as well as ones inside the FBI and State Department. To oversee the growing efforts — which arose in response to concerns about the impact of Russian meddling in the 2016 election but have now expanded — the director of national intelligence has created a new office. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines for the first time mentioned the creation of the Foreign Malign Influence Center, or FMIC.

“Congress put into law that we should establish a Foreign Malign Influence Center in the intelligence community; we have stood that up,” Haines said, referring to legislation passed last year. “It encompasses our election threat work, essentially looking at foreign influence and interference in elections, but it also deals with disinformation more generally.” The FMIC was established on September 23 of last year after Congress approved funding, but its creation was announced publicly only after The Intercept’s inquiry. Because it is situated within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, it enjoys the unique authority to marshal support from all elements of the U.S. intelligence community to monitor and combat foreign influence efforts such as disinformation campaigns.

The FMIC is authorized to counter foreign disinformation targeting not just U.S. elections, but also “the public opinion within the United States” generally, according to the law. Haines also made clear that the effort to counter disinformation has expanded beyond not just elections and Russia, but also to other foreign adversaries: “What we have been doing is effectively trying to support the Global Engagement Center and others throughout the U.S. government in helping them to understand what are the plans and intentions of the key actors in this space: China, Russia, Iran, etc.” The GEC is a State Department entity tasked with countering foreign disinformation by amplifying America’s own propaganda.

Creation of the FMIC was debated in Congress for months, with senators questioning how its mission would differ from the bevy of entities that already exist. “We want to be sure that this center enhances those efforts rather than duplicating them or miring them in unnecessary bureaucracy,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in January 2022, adding that there were “legitimate questions about how large such an organization should be and even about where it would fit.” Reached for comment, Warner’s office said the senator’s position hasn’t changed.

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“The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.”

A Kingly Proposal: Letter From Julian Assange To King Charles III

To His Majesty King Charles III,

On the coronation of my liege, I thought it only fitting to extend a heartfelt invitation to you to commemorate this momentous occasion by visiting your very own kingdom within a kingdom: His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh. You will no doubt recall the wise words of a renowned playwright: “The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.” Ah, but what would that bard know of mercy faced with the reckoning at the dawn of your historic reign? After all, one can truly know the measure of a society by how it treats its prisoners, and your kingdom has surely excelled in that regard. Your Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh is located at the prestigious address of One Western Way, London, just a short foxhunt from the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. How delightful it must be to have such an esteemed establishment bear your name.

“One can truly know the measure of a society by how it treats its prisoners”. It is here that 687 of your loyal subjects are held, supporting the United Kingdom’s record as the nation with the largest prison population in Western Europe. As your noble government has recently declared, your kingdom is currently undergoing “the biggest expansion of prison places in over a century”, with its ambitious projections showing an increase of the prison population from 82,000 to 106,000 within the next four years. Quite the legacy, indeed. As a political prisoner, held at Your Majesty’s pleasure on behalf of an embarrassed foreign sovereign, I am honoured to reside within the walls of this world class institution. Truly, your kingdom knows no bounds.

During your visit, you will have the opportunity to feast upon the culinary delights prepared for your loyal subjects on a generous budget of two pounds per day. Savour the blended tuna heads and the ubiquitous reconstituted forms that are purportedly made from chicken. And worry not, for unlike lesser institutions such as Alcatraz or San Quentin, there is no communal dining in a mess hall. At Belmarsh, prisoners dine alone in their cells, ensuring the utmost intimacy with their meal. Beyond the gustatory pleasures, I can assure you that Belmarsh provides ample educational opportunities for your subjects. As Proverbs 22:6 has it: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Observe the shuffling queues at the medicine hatch, where inmates gather their prescriptions, not for daily use, but for the horizon-expanding experience of a “big day out”—all at once.

You will also have the opportunity to pay your respects to my late friend Manoel Santos, a gay man facing deportation to Bolsonaro’s Brazil, who took his own life just eight yards from my cell using a crude rope fashioned from his bedsheets. His exquisite tenor voice now silenced forever. Venture further into the depths of Belmarsh and you will find the most isolated place within its walls: Healthcare, or “Hellcare” as its inhabitants lovingly call it. Here, you will marvel at sensible rules designed for everyone’s safety, such as the prohibition of chess, whilst permitting the far less dangerous game of checkers.

Deep within Hellcare lies the most gloriously uplifting place in all of Belmarsh, nay, the whole of the United Kingdom: the sublimely named Belmarsh End of Life Suite. Listen closely, and you may hear the prisoners’ cries of “Brother, I’m going to die in here”, a testament to the quality of both life and death within your prison. But fear not, for there is beauty to be found within these walls. Feast your eyes upon the picturesque crows nesting in the razor wire and the hundreds of hungry rats that call Belmarsh home. And if you come in the spring, you may even catch a glimpse of the ducklings laid by wayward mallards within the prison grounds. But don’t delay, for the ravenous rats ensure their lives are fleeting.

I implore you, King Charles, to visit His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh, for it is an honour befitting a king. As you embark upon your reign, may you always remember the words of the King James Bible: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). And may mercy be the guiding light of your kingdom, both within and without the walls of Belmarsh.

Your most devoted subject,

Julian Assange

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ice core

 

 


This ceiling is entirely flat. Made 3D by the extraordinary genius of Andrea Pozzo.

 

 

Sea of Milk
https://twitter.com/i/status/1654521006046822400

 

 

 

 

Maculatus

 

 


A pelican befriended a stray dog who was often spotted hanging out all alone along the boat docks. The man who photographed this has adopted him but brings him back every day to see his friend, Petey the Pelican.

 

 

Panama

 

 

Tortoise

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle May 6 2023

Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)
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  • #134714

    Vincent van Gogh Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) 1888   • Iraq Was The Graveyard Of American Ambition (Lukyanov) • Gonzalo Lira A
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle May 6 2023]

    #134717
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “National Police Association And Other Groups Sue To Obtain Audrey Hale Manifesto”

    You’ve officially piqued my interest: what the heck could be in there? “I wanna kill people?” Newsflash: we know. Violate all normal rules, the FBI puts it on lockdown, the locals reverse and refuse to release it, people then sue as they must suspect something is in it. Like the Mayor or Tony Blinken asked her to do it, on direct orders from Garland and Wray? As the secret love child of Nancy Pelosi and Donald Trump? What? What could possibly be in there? Crikey.

    “AOC And Matt Gaetz Team Up To Ban Lawmakers From Trading Stocks”

    Pick on AOC, but there are two admirable things here. One, she wants to ban insider trading and special privileges, as we all do, and is 90% democratically supported. But two, she is willing to cross the aisle to get things done, like a Congressman and adult. I thought she was beyond that, so I’m glad to be wrong.

    Tucker: That’s not radical, that’s exactly what Chick Schumer said 6 years ago: The Intel Agencies are running the Congress(men). Is Chuck Schumer a liar? Believe him if he tells you. Same with Time Magazine printing that they, a group of oligarchs, interests, and billionaires, threw the 2020 Presidential Election. Is Time Magazine lying?

    $50 Trillion Climate. As said, this has been floated before. Key point: they don’t care what the money is used for, or what excuse it’s created. They have a debt-compounding they are slaves to, and if it cracks, all their power vanishes. They said war. They said world government. They said Climate. They said transforming energy. They’ve said disease. They’ve said racism. Truth is: they just don’t care. It’s not the point, never has been, so don’t get distracted. That’s why the guy not only doesn’t know, he doesn’t even care that he doesn’t know, isn’t bothered or embarrassed in the least.

    It’s not about warming, it’s about POWER. Power-over, because if it was innate, organic power you deserved, it would happen naturally without any fuss.

    “The American invasion of Iraq was both the apotheosis of post-Cold War American expansionism”

    Speaking of needing to print money and control the runaway debt-compounding downfall. The war had nothing to do with it. Remember: we could have BOUGHT all of Saddam’s oil for like 25% of the cost of the war. They know that. They’re evil but they’re not stupid.

    “suspecting him of pro-Russian sympathies.”

    We’ve had a lot of nominations in the last 12 months, but that has GOT to be the understatement of the year. Wondered where he went.

    He blamed the US outlet Daily Beast for directing Kiev’s attention to his work,”

    Well that was true, Daily Beast was actively trying to murder him – a common and socially lauded goal on that side – but not this time. I thought he had protection, which is why he was careless. We’ll see. Otherwise inexplicable, they will murder him in seconds.

    “The anger and hatred towards Russia with which Washington acts in a situation in which it frankly should think of its own safety, is inexplicable..”

    Many, including Greg Hunter again point out that “do they want Russia to bomb Washington?” (A: Yes!!! Very, very much) But at a deeper level, it’s merely a symptom of being deeply mentally ill. As those people, but also the nation behind them. We are immersed in irreality, incapable of rational thought. What do you do with a mentally-ill opponent? Suppose you were in a bar fight? They are both far more dangerous, and less, and both, than if they were just exchanging fists.

    ““If the EU were in a position to have its own opinion, it would not be in the situation it is in today..”

    Sort of. But if the American people had leaders representing their goals, interests and desires, it wouldn’t be either. That is: both the US and EU are not democracies. They are therefore run by a minority “oligarchy” without being too specific or requiring them to be monied interests. So the EU is not following the US: both are following the monied oligarchic interests, that is to say, Davos et al., the globalists. Who openly say so, though no one believes them. Why is Davos de facto merged with the homeland of Ukraine? Why not ask them? Or read their papers and they’ll tell you. Just be mildly literate, and discerning.

    “Wagner is an attack force, not a defense one. And the attacking work is done.”

    Noted this in comments on the other article yesterday.

    “• Ukraine Brings 400-600 Troops To Bakhmut Every Day – Prigozhin (TASS)”

    War being a good job for psychopaths, this is actually winning, the Army doing what it is supposed to. That’s 220,000 murders/year, exactly on target. Ukraine has ceased to exist, which is Biden’s personal dream and goal.

    “MC Barack Obama..”

    I’m always bemused and confused when I read this. Obama didn’t run anything even when he was there. He was clearly always a CIA asset, as was his mother before him, and all the people around him all his life. So if you mean “Them” then sure – but we already knew that. If you mean him personally, I doubt it, even in day to day management of anything. For one thing, he’s been too quiet and stays that way. His unusual comments recently indicated nothing of this sort. He doesn’t run anything: the government, that is the standing bureaucracy, always becomes the enemy of the citizens and runs the country to suit itself at the peoples’ expense and ruin. There is a more pointed committee with big CIA representation at the top, but you don’t need much more.

    “New Disinformation Office To Oversee All The Other Ones (IC)

    Like we needed a second government to oversee the first government. Or how DHS worked so well in overseeing all the other departments of redundancy. …Oh, wait…

    “The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.” —William Colby, Former CIA Director

    He says it openly, so is he a liar? Should we not believe him? I guess not, because my feelz. I believe him on command, and I don’t believe him on command. I know ahead of time which is which. Whichever covers up for incestuous, alcoholic daddy, that is the new truth. That’s why it seamlessly changes minute to minute.

    “increase of the prison population from 82,000 to 106,000 within the next four years.”

    Sadly, England is looking downright free compared to the new laws being passed in the Republic of Ireland. I guess that figures. Neither Ireland nor Scotland can ever get their act together and behave right, which is why they’ve been losing for centuries. Doesn’t make me happy to say it.

    #134719
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “but your assertion that Nazis were on the political left flies in the face of documented history”
    “the political monster we know as totalitarianism can burst into the scene from EITHER end of the political spectrum.”

    I followed the links you provided. This is what they said: “The [Nazi] party was created to draw workers away from communism and into völkisch nationalism.[14] Initially, Nazi political strategy focused on anti–big business, anti-bourgeois, and anti-capitalist rhetoric,” — Wikipedia.

    Let’s see: from the get-go, day one. 1) Anti-business. 2) Anti, or hatred of the middle class. 3) Directly and openly Anti-Capitalist. Any questions?

    The original Party is “The German Workers’ Party, Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, DAP, a historical footnote, but what were they from, who was their base? “Workers”, not business, not businessmen, not corporations, not Church, not Government, not Army. Workers. How are they from the “Right” if their basis is the basis and foundation of the “Left” i.e. the Workers, ie Working-class, ie the Unions? Do they not know what words mean? Did they not know what “workers” are? This continued seamlessly as they became the NSDAP.

    They immediately issued a 25-point plan. What was in the Plan? “the 25-point Program was pro-labour: “[T]he program championed the right to employment, and called for the institution of profit sharing, confiscation of war profits, prosecution of usurers and profiteers, nationalization of trusts, communalization of department stores,” –Wikipedia

    1) Worker’s Rights and Interests. Pro-Union, from a Union origin.
    2) Profit-sharing, that is, a form of the Corporations being Owned by the Workers.
    3) Confiscation and redistribution of wealth.
    4) Prosecution of any opposition to this redistribution of wealth to the Workers.
    4a) This requires a powerful Central State.
    5) Nationalization, that is to say, “The State owns the means of production”.
    6) Broad “Communalization” of retail, corporations, being redistribution to the People. If the language above wasn’t clear enough as to their origins and goals.

    I’m lost as to where the Far-“Right” is here.

    Again, these definitions are extremely archaic, as I know better than anyone. The “Left” is the Left side of the aisle of the French Assembly, 1789, who are the Progressives, reformers, and democrats in the sense of Democracy. The “Right” is the Right side of the French Assembly, who represented the traditional King, Nobility, and his agents of State such as army, policemen, tax collectors, etc. However, projecting France’s feudal structure onto other times and nations makes essentially no logic for more reasons than we can count. “The People”, i.e. the Left, should be democratic and anti-State, however in practice from that very day, they were not. They were a competing State, if anything, more tyrannical than the French nobility would dream or dare. God knows how that happened, and no one knew you could GET worse than the French nobility of 1789, but Robespierre said “hold my beer.” So the Left from Day One are Statists. And the Right from Day One are Statists.

    The definition evolves over time, but we’ve grown up with a definition of the “Left” as being people/worker-oriented, but leaning toward Unions and Socialism, as opposed the Right, which is the party or leaning of the Status Quo, and existing government, and over here of business, because as a legacy and persistence of vision, the government of around 1900 was generally Capitalist, Property Rights, and non-redistribution except for corruption, and that evolved quite slowly.

    It is plausible that if the DAP, or NSDAP supported the German Status Quo, possibly the return of the Monarchy, and the Long-term values of Germany which include industry, property rights, the middle class, armies and borders, they would indeed be “Right” or even “Far Right” (definition to be determined but perhaps adding the potential of violence as a political means?) But they didn’t. They supported the #Opposite of these 500-year things. No Kings, but Democratic process. As they just had a King, this is a strong mark of #Progressives, not Conservatives. They are against property rights, clearly and in several ways. They are Pro-government, but as we saw, the Left was radically Pro-government and Pro-tyranny by definition from Day One as well. They are Anti-Stability (meaning they want fast, radical change) and openly anti Middle Class. That is to say, they are textbook Progressives, Reformers, and since they want nationalization, State ownership, and redistribution, they are textbook Socialists. Which is EXACTLY THEIR NAME.

    And they say so openly, both – again, by Name, the “National Socialist German Workers‘ Party” – and by every action, including their original 25-point plan, but following, every day of their reign, of capturing all “Means of Production” on behalf of the State. Then redistributing it. According to Party affiliation and not by merit or money. This is EXACTLY what they did. All assets were owned by the State. Only the State distributed them. (according to Party affiliation, exactly as the USSR)

    There could hardly BE a more textbook example of Socialist Theory and action than this. They weren’t even hiding it. So why are YOU hiding it?

    Again, for us, Americans in 2023, what is the “Far Right”? It may be many things in Europe, or in History, but presently Americans who are considered “Far Right” are the #Opposite of all historical norms and definitions of the “Right”. And this is indeed confusing. The (American) “Right” are ANTI-government. That’s the #Opposite of all “Far-Right” in all history, in all places, since Day One. Why? Besides being Revolutionary and therefore not #Reactionary, our American Status Quo is the CONSTITUTION, which delineates Small, limited, government. So strangely being “Pro-American”, chauvinist, is to be AGAINST the American government, or at least its enlargement and empowerment in almost any way. But it would also be for the support of there still being such a government. And being a nation, with a process, a legislature, a court system, a border, and a viable defense. So “Far Right” is not for the radical, reactionary elimination of these things either. Nor does it espouse or condone violent #means. I don’t know what other countries do, I presume in England, eg, the “Far Right” would give the whole nation and all power to Charles III to bash heads and sort it out in a fortnight, but that is literally the #Opposite of the “Right” in America. Far-Right here mean Libertarian, leave alone, limited government, and agnostic on social issues. (that is, we may not care for you or your ways, but neither are we going to arrest you for being a dumb-*ss either)

    But as no one knows history, and all words have no meaning, even when referred to a dictionary, it hardly matters. “Left” or “Right” means “I don’t like you,” … but I’m also thoughtless and lazy, can’t be bothered with words, that’s all. It may indeed be a fool’s game to use the words specifically and correctly as I do, who knows? But I haven’t given up on my language and my country yet, and am forced to tell truths, not lies about it. To me that remains the only way out, to restoring our sanity, as a form of therapy.

    Above: “Nazi” could hardly be more communist if you took a blank piece of paper and created them from scratch as a alternate-reality TV show like “High Tower”. Even Wikipedia, which is extremely biased and pretty-far Left themselves support those facts without hesitation.

    I’m going to have to stand with my definition, which as JB says, is extremely relevant right now, as the Left SAYS – with their mouths, on TV, every day for 20 years – that they are openly Socialist, their highest Leader, Sanders is openly Socialist, who adored the USSR and honeymooned there, their other high leader AOC is an open, public card-carrying, dues-paying “Democratic Socialist”, and wishes the DNC would follow, while the Party as it stands lists every Socialist platform – like the 25 point plan – as their express and public goals for the country. (many of these goals are quietly supported by the GOP as well, but note: “quietly’.) As those Plans and Platforms, which are very public and open are 1) Against everything the United States stands for, both in spirit and in law and 2) they are very open in supporting the use of violence to attain them, as Radicals, Revolutionaries, or aka Progressives, I must therefore oppose them. And to oppose them I must name them, in their own words and actions, doing no more than to cut-paste their own words, actions, beliefs, and goals, accurately, but without apology.

    That action is EXTREMELY MILD, and not radical in the slightest. In fact, it’s the least, laziest action possible. It has not a whiff of violence such as finding, removing, unemploying, arresting, or harming anyone of them, at any time, for any (non legal, non-due-process) reason. This is the direct #Opposite of what they say for us, but America isn’t refreshed by destroying all her institutions, “burning it all down”. Only be recovering and restoring her original spirit and goals of equal opportunity and equal justice under the law.

    #134720
    Oroboros
    Participant

    “Jungle Josep” Borrell is not a diplomat. Diplomacy is alien to him

    Borrell asserting that Europe was ‘a garden’ and that all outside were in a ‘jungle’

    His implied subtext was that the Global South were ‘jungle bunnies’

    Nice

    Where were the Woketurd mobs screaming for his head on a stick as a racist pig?

    Crickets

    Here is a perfect visual metaphor of the Collective West Garden and the Empire of Lies Gangster Nation® and where they are headed.

    Be All That You Can Be

    .

    Like a Bud-Lite ad, here’s to you “Jungle Josep”

    .

    #134724
    Oroboros
    Participant

    “My guess is that the nominal leader of this underworld in the USA — more like a master-of-ceremonies than an actual director — is Barack Obama..”

    Obomber, the Oreo mafioso

    Black on the outside, white on the inside

    Mass murderer

    The quintessential coward and ‘gangsta’ from the hood of Martha’s Vineyard, hiding in the shadows, perfecting treason and chaos proving he’s not one of Borrell’s jungle bunnies, he’s a “Professor of Constitutional Law”

    “Obama’s “teaching career” at Chicago was, to put it kindly, a sham.

    …… the highest tenured faculty member at Chicago Law did not have many nice things to say about “Barry.” Obama applied for a position as an adjunct and wasn’t even considered. A few weeks later the law school got a phone call from the Board of Trustees telling them to find him an office, put him on the payroll, and give him a class to teach. The Board told him he didn’t have to be a member of the faculty, but they needed to give him a temporary position. He was never a professor and was hardly an adjunct.

    The other professors hated him because he was lazy, unqualified, never attended any of the faculty meetings, and it was clear that the position was nothing more than a political stepping stool. According to my professor friend, he had the lowest intellectual capacity in the building. He also doubted whether he was legitimately an editor on the Harvard Law Review, because if he was, he would be the first and only editor of an Ivy League law review to never be published while in school (publication is or was a requirement).”

    .

    #134725
    zerosum
    Participant

    Power …. Depopulation tools have been used before the beginning of written history by social/economic/political leaders.

    #134727
    Oroboros
    Participant

    “The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

    It is it’s natural manure.”

    ~Tom Jefferson

    .

    #134729

    Name me just one other country that would put a crown on a horse’s head

    #134730

    Name me just one other country that would put a crown on a horse’s head

    #134732
    anticlimactic
    Participant

    50 trillion dollars to achieve ‘zero carbon’ in the US. As implied there is no evidence that it will make any difference – it is just a religious belief among a certain set of people, mainly based on ignorance. The UN estimates 130+ trillion dollars is needed to ‘stop climate change’ globally.

    Let’s assume it all happens and it all works – it succeeds.

    Most of those trillions will be spent on the fossil fuels needed to open mines, excavate refine and transport raw materials, plus manufacturing and installing the finished items.

    The biggest problem is that ‘renewables’ rarely have a lifespan of more than 25 years. Most of the infrastructure will need replacing every 20+ years!

    The next big problem is that ‘renewables’ are difficult to recycle. Fibreglass and carbon fibre will go straight to landfill. Worn out turbine blades already go to landfill. Solar panels will go to landfill, I am not sure if even the silver and other metals can be economically recovered from solar panels. There seems to be issues recycling lithium from car batteries, it seems feasible but not economic. More landfill!

    This means there will be a large demand for fresh raw materials, which again will mostly rely on fossil fuels. If this disaster goes ahead I can see a time when ALL fossil fuels will be dedicated to creating an inferior energy grid.

    Although it is ‘saving the planet’ I have never heard of any project being done on a ‘not for profit’ basis. There will be lots of smug millionaires and billionaires who truly believe they are being ‘virtuous’.

    It is probably more feasible to continue with the current project of reducing the global population down to under a billion.

    #134735
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Dr. D…
    Your premise about the nature of the pre-Nazi party is based on the idea that it was functioning along the lines that we are familiar with in our own history…and this is not what was going on at that time and place.

    Hannah Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism, p. 259-264 “new edition with added prefaces”
    There are no movements without hatred of the state, and this was virtually unknown to the German Pan-Germans in the relative stability of prewar Germany. The movements originated in Austria-Hungary, where hatred of the state was an expression of patriotism for the oppressed nationalities and where the parties–with the exception of the Social Democratic Party (next to the Christian-Social Party the only one sincerely loyal to Austria)–were formed along national, and not along class lines. This was possible because economic and national interests were almost identical here and bcause economic and social status depended largely on nationality; nationalism, therefore, which had been a unifying force in the nation-states, here became at once a principle of internal disruption, which resulted in a decisive difference in the structure of the parties as compared with those of other nation-states. What held together the members of the parties in multinational Austria-Hungary was not a particular interest…or a particular principle for organized action as in the Anglo-Saxon [my aside: that is the type of political party we are most familiar with, being English speakers primarily], but chiefly the sentiment of belonging to the same nationality…. The [European] pan-movements…transform[ed] parties into movements and by discovering that form of organization…could change its policy from day to day without harm to its membership. Long before Nazism proudly pronounced that though it had a program it did not need one, Pan-Germanism discovered how much more important for mass appeal a general mood was than laid-down outlines and platforms. For the only thing that counts in a movement is precisely that it keeps itself in constant movement. The Nazis, therefore, used to refer to the fourteen years of the the Weimar Republic as the “time of the System”…the implication being that this time was sterile, lacked dynamism, did not “move,” and was followed by their “era of the movement.”

    The pan-movements’ hostility to the party system acquired practical significance when, after the first World War, the party system ceased to be a working device and the class system of European society broke down under the weight of the growing masses entirely declassed by events. What came to the fore then were no longer mere pan-movements, but their totalitarian successors, which in a few years determined the politics of all other parties ot such a degree that they became either anti-Fascist or anti-Bolshevik or both. By this negative approach seemingly forced upon them from the outside, the older parties showed clearly that they too were no longer able to function as representatives of specific class interests but had become mere defenders of the status quo….
    …the more class-conscious its [i.e. a country’s] people had been, the more dramatic and dangerous was this breakdown [of the class system].
    This was the situation between the two wars when every movment had a greater chance than any party because the movement attacked the instituttion of the state and did not appeal to the classes. Fascism and Nazism always bosasted that their hatred was directed not against individual classes, but the class system as such, which they denounced as an invention of Marxism. Even more significant was the fact that the Communists also, notwithstanding their Marxist ideaology, had to abandon the rigidity of their class appeal when, after 1935, under the pretext of enlarging their mass base, they formed Popular Fronts everywhere and began to appeal to the same growing masses outside all class strata which up to then had been the natural prey to the Fascist movements….
    The breakdown of the European party system occurred in a spectacular way with Hitler’s rise to power. It is now often conveniently forgotten that at the moment of the outbreak of the second World War, the majority of European countries had already adopted some form of dictatorship and discarded the party system, and that this revolutionary change in government had been effected in most countries without revolutionary upheaval….
    Different in appearance but much more violent in reality was the breakdown of the party system in pre-Hitler Germany. This came into the open during the last presidential elections in 1932….
    …(Hitler for the Nazis, and Thalmann for the Communists), it was rather surprising to see that all other parties could suddenly agree upon one candidate.

    I had to do some elisions for brevity…Arendt’s writing is so full of clauses that it is really easy to get sidetracked and lost. Feel free to look up the original.
    On its face: last presidentail election in pre-Hitler Germany was between the Nazis, the Communists, and “all other parties” — and a perusal of the names and platforms of “all other parties” suggests that nearly all of them would have been considered “on the left” based upon the definition of “the left” given by Dr. D. At that point, the divisions between “right” and “left” would have to be determined by something other than merely the official party platforms…and perhaps “right” and “left” just were not very apt explanations of what was going on politically at the time in Germany and Europe generally.

    Arendt suggests that classism had broken down in Europe generally in this time (because of the vast number of internally displaced people, which was due to centuries of colonialism and the first world war), and of course we are somwhat familiar with the struggles of Weimar Germany, the poverty and crazy inflation, etc.

    #134736
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    We are witnessing final battle between good and evil., with the ‘leadership’ of Oceania-NATOstan firmly standing on the side of evil.

    The criminals who are in control of ‘the western world’ need to protect and promote their criminal schemes.

    Therefore:

    the Oceania-NATOstan military-industrial complex will continue to siphon resources and fake money into unwinnable wars.

    the Oceania-NATOstan Medical Mafia will continue to promote sickness and costly ‘remedies’.

    the Ocenia-NATOstan ‘Net Zero’ scam will be promoted, and precious, rapidly declining resources will be squandered promoting it.

    within Oceania-NATOstan the ultimate goal of converting the bulk of the populace into ‘peasants’ who cannot buy or sell or provide for themselves or even think for themselves will be pursued via censorship and lies and tyranny until the entire Oceania-NATOstan system breaks as a direct consequence of ineptitude, fakery and counter-productive policies, or is destroyed by Russia, China, Iran.etc.

    #134737
    Celticbiker
    Participant

    If you reside in the USA, the strange and seemingly unknown enemy is your own government. Dead or enslaved, pick your poison. Kennedy, 911, covid, wake up.

    #134738
    aspnaz
    Participant

    Hannah Arendt, darling of the Marxists. The Marxists rolled out Arendt as the guru to provide guidance as to how Trump’s gang should be punished https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/23/what-hannah-arendt-would-do-about-trumps-former-bureaucrats/ and now phoenixvoice does the same. How can I not believe that phoenixvoice really does support the Marxists and I assume also the goals of the Marxist woke movement. Interesting.

    #134739
    citizenx
    Participant

    Name me just one other country that would put a crown on a horse’s head

    Ukraine.

    Horses Ass or head ?

    horse’s ass
    noun
    A jerk; an unpleasant, unlikable person; an asshole.

    #134740
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    @celticbiker

    If you reside in the USA, the strange and seemingly unknown enemy is your own government. Dead or enslaved, pick your poison. Kennedy, 911, covid, wake up.

    This is an erroneous statement.

    The strange and seemingly unknown enemy is actually the electorate themselves, due to a combination of ignorant folly combined with non-individualistic herd madness…

    Very few understand *the source* of tyrannical power + growth of anti-American ideological power (.GOV first, We The People second at best) but here it is:

    EMERGENCY POWERS.

    As a result of ninety years of EMERGENCY POWERS, which very few are aware even exists, and even fewer know where/when/why they were established, the U$.gov has grown into an out-of-control behemoth, a self-reinforcing juggernaut that has morphed the banking, military & corporate spheres of America into a speculative Armageddon at the expense of We The People, now humanity as a whole, who are both cannon fodder & feudal serfs indentured to feed the EMERGENCY POWERS BEAST.

    There is no Left/Right paradigm in America, only ideological whores that ride the EMERGENCY POWERS BEAST, finding ever new ways to feed it’s insatiable appetite for growth, grabbing as many crumbs that fall off the table as their grubby mitts can hoard away…

    Debt ceiling? No problemo Jose…

    Bigger .MIL budget(s)? Let’s start/plan another war…

    TBTF? Here’s some freshly minted *free* credits…

    Populist revolt? Turn loose the pressitudes on those peasants…

    If the Plandemic didn’t wake up the electorate, whose votes probably barely count(ed) post 2016 anyways, does anyone actually still believe that the comatose patent(s) on life-support will actually recover, *right* themselves & grasp what freakin’ zip code they’re actually trapped within? 🙄

    Some of us spent every waking moment 25+ years ago trying to warn We The People, concerning the apparatchiks wanton addiction to EMERGENCY POWERS that could/would suck humanity into another Dark Ages Black Hole, but the opiate of the masses (ie the DnC/GOP con artist circus/religion + entertainment MSM), was already too firmly in control of their hearts, minds & souls…

    My final question following my exit in of the quest 1996 (i.e. to rescind EMERGENCY POWERS, thus restoring NATURAL LAW), was this:

    Were We The People brainwashed?

    Or did We The People brainwash themselves & their progeny?

    If brainwashing actually happened, how many generations following the mental persuasion/conversion would it take before We The People forget enmasse that the whole CULTure was propagandized to believe/follow a lie?

    What are the three types of brainwashing?

    The three phases of brainwashing are dependency, dissonance, and attitude change.

    Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject’s ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds,[1] as well as to change their attitudes, values, and beliefs


    @dr-d

    Only be recovering and restoring her original spirit and goals of equal opportunity and equal justice under the law.

    Do you honestly think “recovery & restoration” is still possible at this late stage of the *game”?

    Asking for a friend…

    #134741
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    Parting is such sweet sorrow…

    #134742
    citizenx
    Participant

    Where Did All The “Trust the Science” People Go?

    Jumped to I can’t define a woman based on science or Climate is changing pseudo science? Take your pick. I’m surrounded by these “trust our consensus reality pseudo science” liars. They’re still wearing masks, still true believer cultists just waiting for their next opportunity to be little Hitlers. All of them acting like the discrimination never happened. Call them out and their fragile little brains break right in front of you. Scum cowards.

    This aged well from 12.24.2021 – Trump praising the fake vax, CNN cultists fawning over Trumps Vax-

    See Trump shut down Covid-19 vaccine skeptic

    Granted Trump did not go full retard like the Dims… mandating and torturing their own fellow citizens.
    Safe? NO
    Effective? NO
    Necessary? NO

    Watching and listening to these media/politco slimes lie through their faces and be complicit in murder still boils my blood. May they all suddenly die from their “precious fake vax” ! Every f’n one of them.

    Long Live the Pure Bloods !

    May all the Cult scum fear a future of “severe illness and death” , fear it every day, every moment… die suddenly bitches.

    https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/16/politics/joe-biden-warning-winter/index.html

    Biden warns of winter of ‘severe illness and death’ for unvaccinated due to Omicron

    How’s your health now Retard Bidet?

    Joe Biden’s Brain Malfunctions Within First 30 Seconds Of MSNBC Interview

    #134743
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #134744
    Celticbiker
    Participant

    @Veraciuos Poet… So its our own fault, we’re on a kosher plantation, ruled by satanists? We don’t print the money, control the media, we have no say in anything. Our votes are’nt even counted, look at the Shithead In Chief. ZOG wants you dead, sick, crippled and sterilized. How is that the fault of the people who do the actual work in this Godforsaken country?

    #134745
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    I sincerely doubt I could enlighten you way out of your discriminatory scapegoating of your favorite “religious” group, but if you want to try go back & read my posts on the realities of Emergency Powers, which restarted with FDR in March 1933 (following Lincoln’s precedent)…

    This is *not* some *grand* conspiracy (other than usual human greed, hubris & vanity), this is, again, a combination of ignorant folly combined with non-individualistic herd madness.

    I’ve studied American history going back to John Locke’s 1689 Second Treatise of Government (The foundations of the American Revolution/Declaration of Independence), and my conclusion(s) are that We The People have meandered so far off the target, have become so dumbed-down, that U$.gov is closer in comparison to 1930s Nazi Germany than to the Democratic Republic under Natural Law that The Sons Of Liberty *won* in 1765-1791…

    Good luck with the research, please do try to keep an open mind & suspend your *shocked* disbelief 🙂

    #134746
    Veracious Poet
    Participant

    #134747
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    VP

    I did not ask to be born in a concentration camp run by psychotic sociopaths and merchants of greed.

    I had no say in the years of indoctrination I was subjected to as a child and young adult.

    The truth about the Ponzi nature of Western currency finance was deliberately withheld from me.

    I was lied to from the moment I acquired the ability to process what was entering my brain.

    I can protest as much as I like but have no say in the direction everything is being driven by the current crop of psychotic sociopaths ‘in charge’, who are working against my interests and the interest of everyone else.

    As far as I am concerned, I am a victim of the machinations of an evil cult that has existed for a thousand years.

    This lady gets it:

    #134755
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    The good news is, the Russians are pushing the fascists (UkoNazis and NATOstan) out and degrading the ability of the fascists to keep fighting.

    .

    #134756
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    The bad news is, ocean surface temperatures and ocean heat content are at a record high as we enter an El Nino episode -noted for generating weather extremes.

    And atmospheric CO2 is surging like never before, portending a further surge in temperatures of both land and water, leading to even faster environmental meltdown.

    May. 5, 2023 424.76 ppm
    May. 5, 2022 419.68 ppm
    1 Year Change 5.08 ppm (1.21%)

    .

    .

    #134807
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “Ukraine Brings 400-600 Troops To Bakhmut Every Day ”

    Time then to pull out remaining Russian troops and bomb the fuck outta Bakhmut. KIll a shitload of Nazis (and a buncha patsy conscripts, but then, this is a war, yes? This is war not a game of blackjack..

    ***

    Re: Greenland ice cores and the graph of global temps going back 8k years: notice how smooth the change is until around the 16th century, when it starts oscillating rapidly and erratically.

    Global climatic disruption is the issue, not global warming or cooling.

    We could actually discuss the possibilities/probabilities rather than ping-pong yea-or-nay against prevailing propaganda and climate change “green” “power” scams. We could. We could actually discuss science sans political filters.

    ***

    Left<>right…socialists<>Nazis. WhateverTF awreddy. Just how many flavors of flingable poo do we need today? Poo Lite, Poo Zero Calorie, Hard Poo, Soft Poo, Genuine Original Poo…

    But fwiw: Germany was ALREADY a goddam socialist nation before Hitler. He just worked with what was available… just like Russia was already a tyrannical industrio-capitalist feudalism with gulags and pogroms galore before Stalin took it and cranked up that Soviet nightmare of yore. Come to think of it, USA was all about egalitarian representative democracy when it declared that all men are created free and equal… except slaves and indigenous folk

    It’s socialism! It’s fascism! It’s communism! It’s capitalism! Not to put too fine a point on it, but: WHAT A FUCKING WASTE OF TIME.

    ***

    George Washington and his homies would be following the official line like your average creep-in-charge. George was an unpleasant beast. I probably woulda fragged his sorry ass were I an American Revolution War soldier. Man trusted the science and let a typical doctor of the time bleed him to death hen he caught a bug returning from a campaign of military harassments against USA citizens who dared to resist a tax on whiskey aimed to keep average joes from becoming uppity rich without permission of old landed gentry and similar rich fools.

    George and Herr Fauci would’ve gotten along just swell, I’m sure. Founding Fathers? To me, FF* still stands for fist-fuckwer, not founding father.

    *(I was offered $100 in 1976 for a blue corduroy FFA –FutureFarmersofAmerica — jacket. Lotta $$ in ’76, and I was a homeless vagrant hitching a ride through late night summer Kentucky. Two gay truckers who gave me a ride — just on their truck, not their bodies — were proud members of Fist Fucker of America.

    But I kept it. Gave it to the woman I was insanely in love with at the time. I have great memories of her in that jacket. She adored it. Memories stay when the money’s gone.

    ***

    “How is that the fault of the people who do the actual work in this Godforsaken country?”

    Simple: we deserve the leaders we put up with. 2000 years ago, Rome blamed Jesus for the civil unrest caused by Rome’s oppressive imperialism. 2040 years after JC’s death, they had their hands full putting down a serious Jewish rebellion… by the people.

    People want change, they’ll make change. Online wannabe pundits wanna bitch with arrogant and undeserved superciliousness, they’ll bitch with arrogant and undeserved superciliousness.

    ***

    Here is something I think is much better than incessant kvetching over split hairs:

    Rudolph the Red-Nosed Luck Dragon

    In profile, you can see Rudolph the Reindeer. Full frontal shows a luck dragon with a ruby pendant (maybe it’s heart?). What Rudolph hauls in his whelled-rickshawe sleigh is a giant bok choy, Chinese symbol for good financial fortune. GIve a few more decades, and Santa will be Sino-Russian, Rudolp[h will have dragon wings, and everyone will know that what everyone really ant for Xmas is cash. Or at least a big fat ruby.

    ***

    Music From My Planet

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