Jun 062023
 


Jules Adolphe Breton The Song of the Lark 1884

 

Hydroelectric Dam In Kherson Partially Destroyed – Mayor (RT)
Ukraine Launches Its Counterattack (MoA)
Ukraine ‘Well Prepared’ For Counteroffensive – Top US General Milley (RT)
NATO Unprepared To Fight Russia – Former US General (RT)
Kiev Renews Offensive In Donbass For 2nd Day – Russian Official (RT)
Ukraine To Forgo F-16s In Summer Counteroffensive: Defense Minister (Az.)
Wagner Captures Russian Commander As Prigozhin Feud With Army Escalates (G.)
Kiev Denies Death Of Intel Chief (RT)
Russian Governor Reacts To Kiev-Backed Militants’ Demand For Meeting (RT)
Polish Militants Claim Involvement In Attack On Russia (RT)
Ukraine Operates Network Of Saboteurs Inside Russia – CNN (RT)
Russia Sees No Prospects For Further Extension Of Grain Deal (TASS)
Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History (NYT)
Should Beijing Shoulder Some Of The Local Governments’ Debts? (SCMP)
Ice Shelves Surrounding Antarctica Grew In Overall Size From 2009-2019 (DS)

 

 

 

 

Comey

 

 

McCain
https://twitter.com/i/status/1665614106634645504

 

 

 

 

Comer
https://twitter.com/i/status/1665769178442383360

 

 

Musk RFK
https://twitter.com/i/status/1665891058218049539

 

 

 

 

Zlatti71: Overnight (Sun-Mon), losses of the enemy in the Zaporozhye Direction and Southern Donetsk Region amounted to nearly 17APCS, 11IFVS, 9 Tanks, and beyond 900+ personnel. The advance of the enemy was only 700 metres near Velkya Novoselika; the enemy attempted to go on the offensive in Avdeevka however suffered significant losses and retreated.

In the Ugledarisky and Pobjeda (Marinskoye Tactical Region); the AFU attempted to probe the villages around Pobjeda; suffered losses amounting to nearly 250 personnel and 8 vehicles and retreated. On the Ugledarisky Tactical Region, the AFU attempted to probe the villages of Myliske and Pavlovka, however, suffered losses amounting to 13 vehicles (5 SMVs and 8 IFVs and APCs) and around 5 tanks.

In total, losses are nearing 2,000 personnel and almost 45 destroyed vehicles from one night of attack. Battles continue today, as the AFU is attempting another large-scale probing attack. Western vehicles are involved.

 

 

 

 

Michael Tracey: “Another round of “Russia keeps blowing up its own critical infrastructure for reasons no one can explain.” According to the allegations, Russia’s novel strategy for prosecuting the war is to bomb itself constantly..”

Hydroelectric Dam In Kherson Partially Destroyed – Mayor (RT)

The Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam in Russia’s Kherson Region, located on the Dnepr River upstream from the city of Kherson, suffered significant damage on Tuesday morning, according to a local official and several videos shared on social media. The upper part of the key infrastructure was “destroyed as a result of a strike,” the mayor of Novaya Kakhovka, Vladimir Leontyev, confirmed to RIA Novosti. While several of the dam’s floodgates were damaged and unleashed an uncontrolled stream of water, the underwater structure itself withstood the attack, the official claimed. Leontyev described the incident as a major “terrorist act” and said the water level downstream had risen by up to 2.5 meters, but added there was no need for evacuations thus far.


He noted that the area has seen higher water levels during previous floods caused by heavy rainfall, but emphasized that local officials were focused on helping citizens as they prepare for a worst-case scenario. “All services work in the city, all administration employees are in place. Electricity, gas, internet, communications are available,” the mayor continued. The dam was reportedly struck around 2am local time. A video captured from a drone has circulated on Telegram, purporting to show the aftermath of the attack, with streams of water seen flowing through the breach. Moscow has repeatedly blamed Kiev for numerous attacks on the Kakhovskaya dam, warning that a breach could result in the deaths of thousands of civilians. In turn, Ukraine has claimed that Russia was planning to blow up the dam in a false-flag operation aimed at framing Kiev for the flooding.

The persistent threat was cited as one of the main reasons for evacuating civilians from certain communities in the area, and an eventual pullout of Russian forces from the city of Kherson to the left bank of the Dnepr River. Russian military and civilian officials, including acting Kherson Governor Vladimir Saldo, warned at the time that many areas in the region, including the city of Kherson, could be flooded if the Kakhovskaya dam were destroyed. Kherson Region was officially declared part of Russia in early October, together with Zaporozhye Region and the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, after people in those territories overwhelmingly supported the move in referendums. Kiev and its Western backers have labeled the votes a “sham” and vowed to recapture the territories using any means necessary.


Ukraine considered blowing up the dam to paralyze Russian forces who were defending the city of Kherson – and even “conducted a test strike with a HIMARS launcher on one of the floodgates” – a former head of Ukraine’s Operational Command South, Major General Andrey Kovalchuk, admitted in an interview with the Washington Post in December.

Dam

Read more …

“..three lines of well prepared positions ten kilometer apart from each other. Each line consists of tank obstacles, mine belts, prepared anti-tank positions to monitor and counter potential breach attempts..”

“..Two days fighting with such losses would destroy a brigade’s battle capability. 24 days with such losses would in effect destroy the entire fist of 12 brigades UkrAF has gathered for the counteroffensive..”

Ukraine Launches Its Counterattack (MoA)

The long announced Ukrainian counter offensive has started. New Ukrainian units, never seen before, have come to the front. The attack was launched by Ukraine for political reasons under pressure from its ‘western’ sponsors. Militarily it is unlikely to become successful but it will eat away at whatever is left of Ukraine’s military capabilities. Attacks happened all around the front. In the north towards Belgograd, to the east and, with the most forces, towards the south. There was so far little to no success in any of the attacks. The daily report by the Russian Ministry of Defense list as Ukrainian losses over the last 24 hours 910 soldiers, 16 tanks, 33 armored combat vehicles/infantry fighting vehicle and some 30 trucks. So far only the most forward positions of Russian troops have been attacked. There are two to three well organized defense lines behind those. The Russians can fall back whenever needed and let the artillery and air force destroy their oncoming enemies.


As I wrote previously about any attacks in the direction of Tokmak and Melitopol: “From the point of strategic value the chosen target is the right one. However, it is also the one where the Russian military has prepared its strongest defense lines. In military books this is known as ‘echeloned defense’ with three lines of well prepared positions ten kilometer apart from each other. Each line consists of tank obstacles, mine belts, prepared anti-tank positions to monitor and counter potential breach attempts and well prepared artillery support from behind the next defense line. To crack such a nut without air support and without significant artillery advantage is nearly impossible.


Source: @Inkvisiit, Scribblemaps

There may still come larger attacks in other directions. But how many could there be? As a former Swedish officer notes:

“June 4th UkrAF scaled up offensive operations on the Southern Front, but the losses are too high for long time success. Earlier operations were mainly reconnaissance in force with platoon and company sized combat groups. Yesterday the Ukrainian forces seemed to be battalion sized combat groups. According to Russian MoD 8 UkrAF battalions was involved in offensive operations SE of Mala Tokmachka (1), at the Vremivka salient (2) and East of Vuhledar towards Velikonovoselovka (3). The fighting was intense, but on most places Ukrainian forces was turned back, mainly by intense Russian artillery and air attacks. On some places UkrAF succeeded in capturing a couple of hundred meters. [If the Russian numbers are true], the prospects for a Ukrainian counteroffensive looks very dim.

This is even if we don’t take into account the ongoing intense Russian air and artillery offensive against UkrAF troop concentrations, ammunition and fuel depots. With losses of over 1000 KIA and WIA that means that a Ukrainian brigade of 4000 man loose at least 25 percent of its manpower. That’s on the brink of making a brigade unusable. Two days fighting with such losses would destroy a brigade’s battle capability. 24 days with such losses would in effect destroy the entire fist of 12 brigades UkrAF has gathered for the counteroffensive. With losses of around 12 brigades, 25 000 KIA/WIA, 250 tanks and 1000 IFVs/APCs all the strategic reserves UkrAF has built during the last 6 months would be gone. In exchange the Ukrainian side could have advanced maybe 10 km on some places or more generally 2-3 km along maybe half the southern front. Once again, IF the Russian claims are true, RuAF must feel relieved and UkrAF very worried by the results of the fighting on the Southern front June 4th.”

I strongly suspect that the Russian military will let the Ukrainian attacks run their course to then launch its own larger scale attacks against weakened Ukrainian defenses.

Read more …

“Milley has repeatedly stated that Ukraine is unlikely to achieve its goals – which include seizing Crimea – by military force..”

Ukraine ‘Well Prepared’ For Counteroffensive – Top US General Milley (RT)

Ukraine is “very well prepared” for its long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told CNN on Monday. However, Ukrainian forces suffered heavy losses in a multi-pronged attack earlier in the day, and Milley cautioned that it’s “too early to tell”if the offensive will achieve its goals. Citing the “training, ammunition, advice, intelligence, etc” provided to Kiev by its Western backers, Milley claimed that Ukraine is “very well prepared” to retake territory from Russian forces. Ukrainian officials have promised for months to launch a counteroffensive, which was initially set to take place in spring. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed on multiple occasions that his military was “ready” for the anticipated push, but walked back these statements by saying that he needed more time, and Western weapons, to prepare for the operation.

Throughout this preparatory period, Ukraine reportedly lost around 50,000 servicemen in the battle for the Donbass city of Artyomovsk, also known as Bakhmut, as Russian missiles and drones continuously pounded ammunition dumps, fuel depots, and command centers, often deep into Western Ukraine. Amid mixed messages from Kiev and with its combat potential seemingly degraded by the fighting in Artyomovsk, the Ukrainian military launched what appeared to be the beginning of a counteroffensive on Sunday. Throughout Sunday and into Monday morning, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that Kiev’s forces attacked with six mechanized and two tank battalions along five sections of the frontline near Donetsk, and in other regions to the north and south.


The Russian military repelled the attacks with airstrikes and artillery fire, inflicting “significant losses”on the Ukrainians, the ministry said. According to Moscow, Ukraine has lost around 900 soldiers, 16 tanks, and 33 armored vehicles across the entire frontline since Sunday. Milley has repeatedly stated that Ukraine is unlikely to achieve its goals – which include seizing Crimea – by military force. Speaking to CNN on Monday, he continued to hedge his bets, saying that it is “too early to tell what outcomes are going to happen.”

Read more …

Whatever:

“Morawiecki claimed earlier this year that Moscow would follow its campaign in Ukraine with “the next offensive, potentially on the Baltic states, or Finland, or Poland, or Romania or Moldova, any other country bordering.”

NATO Unprepared To Fight Russia – Former US General (RT)

NATO would not be able to move troops and equipment eastwards fast enough to stop a hypothetical Russian invasion of Europe, a retired US general has warned. “Being faster than the Russians to get to a critical place is the only metric that matters for effective deterrence, and we still can’t do that,” Ben Hodges, a former commander of US Army Europe, told the Washington Post on Monday. “Military mobility is still a problem. It is better than it was five years ago, but that’s not the metric that matters.” Almost one year earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the bloc would increase its number of high-readiness troops from 40,000 to 300,000, without explaining which countries would provide these soldiers or pay for their deployment.

All NATO has said is that 100,000 will be deployable within ten days and the rest within a month. Estonian officials are unhappy with the arrangement, the newspaper reported, and are seeking guarantees that reinforcements would arrive “not when Russian aggression starts, but from the moment we see the first indicators and warnings,” Estonian military chief Gen. Martin Herem told the Post. “If you look at a map, then how much of Estonia and for how long will we have to cede territory?” before NATO troops would arrive, Herem asked. No matter how prepared the troops are, Hodges noted that NATO would struggle to get heavy equipment to the battlefield to back them up, as there are not enough bridges and tunnels wide enough to transport armored vehicles throughout Europe, nor enough train cars to carry them.

Some countries also doubt the commitment of their allies. Until NATO leaders work out a plan to field Stoltenberg’s promised 300,000 troops, soldiers are stationed along Russia’s borders under bilateral agreements. Germany leads a NATO battle group in Lithuania, but has opposed the creation of a permanent brigade there. This has led the Lithuanians to worry that if war were to break out, political disagreement in Berlin could delay the arrival of reinforcements, former NATO assistant secretary general Camille Grand told the Post.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly claimed that Russian forces will continue to press into Europe unless Kiev is given enough Western weapons to fend them off, while Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki claimed earlier this year that Moscow would follow its campaign in Ukraine with “the next offensive, potentially on the Baltic states, or Finland, or Poland, or Romania or Moldova, any other country bordering.” The Kremlin has never expressed any intention of striking NATO territory, a move that would instantly bring Russia into war with the entire alliance. Moscow has repeatedly warned the West against deepening its involvement in the conflict by supplying arms to Kiev, arguing that doing so will prolong the fighting while making NATO members de-facto participants.

Ukr Bollywood

Read more …

Sounds costly.

Kiev Renews Offensive In Donbass For 2nd Day – Russian Official (RT)

Ukrainian forces are attempting a major push against Russian troops for a second day, Vladimir Rogov, a Zaporozhye Region administration official, reported on Monday. The first effort on Sunday was repelled, with Kiev losing some 250 people and over a dozen tanks, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The offensive began near the village of Vremevka in Donetsk Region early on Monday morning, Rogov said on social media. He assessed the maneuver as being better organized and involving more Ukrainian troops than the assault on Sunday. Kiev has long promised to launch a major counteroffensive against Russia. However, in recent weeks Ukrainian officials have explained delays by claiming that the country needs more Western weapons first. The operation on Sunday was described as “large-scale” yet “unsuccessful” by the Russian military.


The attack, which was carried out by Ukraine’s 23rd and 31st Mechanized Brigades, was repelled, the Defense Ministry reported, adding that Kiev lost more than 250 service members, 16 tanks, three infantry vehicles, and 21 armored vehicles in the clashes. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky confirmed to the Wall Street Journal last week that his army was ready to commence the much-touted counteroffensive, claiming he expected it to be a success. His government considers the full takeover of all lands lost to Russia as the only acceptable result of the conflict. The US and its allies have pledged to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. Moscow has described the hostilities as part of Washington’s proxy war against Russia. Russian officials have also said that by pumping weapons into Ukraine Western nations are simply prolonging the conflict but will not be able to change the outcome.

Read more …

Somehow we seamlessly moved into Summer Counteroffensive.

Ukraine To Forgo F-16s In Summer Counteroffensive: Defense Minister (Az.)

Ukraine’s defense minister says his country will forgo F-16 fighter jets but use all ground-based equipment in its widely anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces this summer, Report informs. Oleksii Reznikov spoke in an exclusive interview with NHK on Sunday in Singapore, where he had joined senior defense officials from Asian and Western nations at a major security forum. When asked about the F-16 jets long coveted by Ukraine, Reznikov said they “will not be game changing this summer.” Some Western countries are training or have offered to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the aircraft.


Reznikov said it will take time to train Ukrainian pilots and that Ukraine will also have to arrange with its partners to secure engineers and technicians who can maintain and repair the sophisticated jets. He said Ukraine would be ready to deploy F-16s in the autumn or winter. Reznikov refused to answer a question about the view that Ukraine had launched “shaping operations,” which involve attacks on weapons storage facilities and other logistics bases to prepare for the counteroffensive.

Read more …

It’s just one drunk commander. Nothing escalated. Or do you think the army likes drunk commanders?

Wagner Captures Russian Commander As Prigozhin Feud With Army Escalates (G.)

Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner group of mercenaries has captured a Russian commander, as the notorious leader further escalates his feud with the regular army. In a video posted on Prigozhin’s social media channels, Lt Col Roman Venevitin, the commander of Russia’s 72nd Brigade, tells an interrogator that, while drunk, he had ordered his troops to fire on a Wagner convoy. In the footage, which resembled clips of prisoner of war soldiers, Venevitin said he acted because of his “personal dislike” for Wagner and then apologised. Last week, Prigozhin accused the Russian army of trying to blow up his men as they were pulling back from the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut.

The businessman, who is best known as “Putin’s chef” because of his catering contracts with the Kremlin, also claimed his men had discovered explosives, which he said were planted on purpose by defence ministry officials. The Russian ministry of defence has yet to comment on the footage. Two close family members of Venevitin confirmed to the Guardian that the man filmed in the video was their relative. Prigozhin, who has been arguing with top military officials for months, announced last week that his troops had largely pulled back from Bakhmut, most of which they captured last month after taking heavy casualties. The city is now believed to be controlled by the regular Russian forces.


The latest incident again exposes the rifts in Moscow’s war machine. It also comes amid an increase in fighting along the frontlines in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, leading to speculation that Kyiv has launched its much-anticipated counteroffensive. Some nationalist pro-war commentators said Wagner’s arrest of a senior Russian soldier attested to Prigozhin’s growing influence within the Kremlin. “Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose subordinates posted a video in which they mock a senior officer and an entire brigade commander … is allowed to do whatever he wants. He is considered as the highest caste!” Igor Strelkov, a retired Russian special operations officer and popular military blogger, wrote on his Telegram channel.

Read more …

Now both Zaluzhny and Budanov have disappeared from the radar. Why would they? And what’s the link to the new high precision satellite system Scott Ritter was talking about?

Kiev Denies Death Of Intel Chief (RT)

Officials in Kiev have dismissed recent media reports about the alleged death of Kirill Budanov, the head of the Ukrainian military’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), as a Russian “disinformation” attempt. The Ukrainian spymaster has not made any public appearances for around a week. The last time Budanov appeared in public was in video published by the GUR on May 29, a day before a Russian missile strike on Ukrainian “decision-making centers.” Since then, the GUR has only published a written statement by Budanov on June 4 but has not posted any official videos of him. Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed in late May that the GUR headquarters was one of the targets of the Russian strike. The Russian Defense Ministry said that all of the “designated targets” had been successfully hit.

The strikes came in response to a Ukrainian drone attack targeting Moscow earlier the same day. Several residential buildings were damaged in the attack, with two people suffering minor injuries. The Defense Ministry described the drone raid as a terrorist attack staged by the “Kiev regime.” The ‘Center for Countering Disinformation’ run by the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council said that all the reports about Budanov’s alleged death are “fakes” aimed at “sowing panic” among Ukrainians. It did not provide any evidence to disprove the reports or make any statements about Budanov’s whereabouts. In May, Budanov vowed to “keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of the earth until the complete victory of Ukraine.” He also claimed responsibility for supposedly assassinating “many” Russian public figures, without giving any names though.


The Kremlin subsequently said that Budanov’s words only prove that Russian President Vladimir Putin was right when he launched the Russian military operation in Ukraine. “We are essentially talking about a nation that is a de-facto sponsor of terrorism,” the presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told Russian media in mid-May in response to Budanov’s words. RIA Novosti reported earlier that Ukraine’s top general, Valery Zaluzhny, had sustained a severe injury to his head in another Russian strike. The general has not made any public appearances since mid-May. Kiev also branded those reports as fake. Zaluzhny’s Telegram channel has since said he held two phone conversations with top US officials but has posted no new videos of him.

Read more …

“He branded the RDK and the ‘Freedom of Russia Legion’ militants as “scoundrels, bastards, murderers and fascists..”

Russian Governor Reacts To Kiev-Backed Militants’ Demand For Meeting (RT)

Belgorod Region Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Sunday that he was ready to meet the leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), a neo-Nazi group of Russian nationals fighting for Kiev, if the militants return two of Moscow’s soldiers that were shown as captives in a recent video. “If [the Russian soldiers] are alive, [I’ll be at] the automobile border-crossing point Shebekino between 17:00 and 18:00,” Gladkov said in a video address published on his Telegram channel. He was referring to a border crossing separating Russia’s Belgorod Region from Ukraine’s territory. The governor was responding to a video published by the RDK and the ‘Freedom of Russia Legion’ – two neo-Nazi groups that previously claimed responsibility for several incursions into Russia this spring. Footage published by the militants shows them standing next to two Russian POWs, with one of them apparently injured.

Denis Nikitin, the RDK leader, claimed on the video that his fighters had entered the town of Novaya Tavolzhanka in Belgorod Region and offered to meet Gladkov in a local church “for a talk” in exchange for the POWs’ release. Gladkov said the fate of “our boys that are at the hands” of the militants was the only thing that prevented him from outright dismissing the militants’ offer. He branded the RDK and the ‘Freedom of Russia Legion’ militants as “scoundrels, bastards, murderers and fascists,” blaming them for civilian deaths. Later on Sunday, the defense ministry in Moscow said its troops and border guards had successfully repelled an attack by a sabotage group that had sought to enter Russian territory from Ukraine. The militants attempted to cross a river near Novaya Tavolzhanka but were struck with artillery and dispersed. The militants then had to fall back to Ukrainian territory, the ministry’s statement added.


A previous incursion by the RDK took place in late May. The attack left one civilian dead and 12 people injured, the Russian authorities said at that time. The Russian Defense Ministry announced in the wake of the raid that “over 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armored combat vehicles, and five pickup trucks” had been destroyed in the militants’ clash with the Russian forces. Photos and videos released by the Russian ministry showed Western armored vehicles and equipment used by the Kiev-backed militants before being destroyed by the Russian troops. The Pentagon and the US State Department expressed doubts regarding the authenticity of the images. The Washington Post reported on Saturday that the sabotage group had used equipment and small arms provided by several NATO nations, including the US.

Read more …

“..the group collaborated with the Russian Volunteer Corps, a neo-Nazi unit of Russian nationals fighting on behalf of Ukraine under the authority of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry..”

Polish Militants Claim Involvement In Attack On Russia (RT)

Polish militants fighting for Ukraine released a statement on Sunday claiming their involvement in an attack on Russia’s Belgorod Region. The announcement, accompanied by alleged photo and video evidence, was shared on social media accounts of the so-called “Polish Volunteer Corps.” The statement appears to refer to an incursion by saboteurs into the Grayvoron District of Belgorod Region, which took place on May 22. The “Polish Volunteer Corps” said it unequivocally confirmed its role in the operation, stating that the group collaborated with the Russian Volunteer Corps, a neo-Nazi unit of Russian nationals fighting on behalf of Ukraine under the authority of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. In a bid to prove its role in the May 22 raid, fighters from the Polish Volunteer Corps shared videos, in which they can be seen with Ukrainian T-72B tanks, American HMMWV armored vehicles, and Mi-8 helicopters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The governor of Belgorod Region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, also mentioned the presence of Polish citizens among the saboteurs. On his Telegram channel, he recounted the story of a woman, whose husband – a member of the local self-defense forces – was killed in front of her. According to Gladkov, the woman was held captive by two Ukrainians, and she stated that the other group members were Poles and Americans. Previously, the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry discussed the involvement of the “Russian Volunteer Corps” and members of the “Freedom of Russia” legion in the Belgorod Region operation.


However, the “Russian Volunteer Corps” issued a statement on Sunday denying that members of the “Polish Volunteer Corps” had crossed the Russian border. The group claimed on social media that their Polish fellow combatants were involved in tasks such as prisoner escort, along with military and medical logistics, but strictly within the borders of Ukraine. Warsaw has insisted it has nothing to do with the Polish militants fighting for Kiev. “The activities of Polish volunteers supporting Ukraine in the fight against Russia should not be identified with the authorities of the Republic of Poland”, said Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for the coordinating minister of the country’s special services.

Read more …

That’s obvious.

Ukraine Operates Network Of Saboteurs Inside Russia – CNN (RT)

Ukraine has cultivated a network of well-trained agents and Ukrainian sympathizers inside Russia to perform acts of sabotage across the country, CNN has reported, citing officials familiar with US intelligence. Kiev is believed to have provided those people with Ukrainian-made drones in order to stage attacks on Russian territory, the outlet claimed in an article published on Monday. The unnamed US officials also told CNN that those pro-Ukrainian agents were responsible for an attempted drone attack on the Kremlin in early May and that the UAVs used in it were launched from inside Russia.

At the time, two drones were disabled by air defenses while trying to strike the historic fortified complex in central Moscow. Ukrainian officials denied being involved, but Moscow labeled the incident “a pre-planned terrorist act” and an attempt on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s life by Kiev. CNN’s sources couldn’t say if those saboteur cells had anything to do with another drone attack on Moscow that took place last Tuesday. Several residential buildings in the capital were damaged in the raid, with two people suffering minor injuries. Three of the incoming drones were suppressed by electronic warfare measures, while five others were shot down by air defenses, according to the Russian military.


Two officials told CNN that Ukraine had been delivering whole UAVs and spare parts to build them to its agents via smuggling routes that had been allegedly established in Russia by Kiev. The issue of who is controlling those saboteurs is a “murky” one, according to CNN. However, it pointed out that US officials believed some agents within Ukraine’s intelligence community were involved in these attacks. Following the drone strike in Moscow a week ago, Putin accused Ukraine of “terrorist activity,” as well as trying to provoke Russia to come up with a tit-for-tat response.

Read more …

Russia can ship it all to Africa by itself. But Ukraine cannot.

Russia Sees No Prospects For Further Extension Of Grain Deal (TASS)

Russia sees no prospects for extending the grain deal again, but consultations with UN representatives on existing agreements continue, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin told reporters on Monday. When asked by TASS about the chances of extending the grain deal he replied: “We do not see them, but we continue, of course, consultations with UN representatives on both parts of those package agreements that, as you know, were signed in July last year.” The diplomat stressed that Ukraine has been putting forward various conditions for the implementation of the grain deal, which has already brought the situation to a standstill. “We have said several times that ammonia is included in the agreements that were signed in Istanbul. This implies that it should be exported and sold as a mutually beneficial commercial transaction.


Unfortunately, putting forward various kinds of requirements, as Kiev does, is very bad, and has already brought the situation to a standstill,” the deputy foreign minister said. Vershinin also recalled that the Russian side proceeds from the fact that “the concluded and existing agreements must be implemented in full.” “This means – without distortions in one direction or the other,” he stressed. The senior diplomat also announced that the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul has resumed ship inspections under the grain deal. “As far as we know, the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul is working to overcome all the problems that arise, based on the procedural rules that were unanimously approved last year. It is assumed that there will be a consensus solution to emerging problems. Now these inspections are being resumed,” he said.

Read more …

Note: I don’t subscribe to the NYT or any other outlet. That would go against the idea of being open to and for everyone: accept no paywalls anywhere. Through a mirror site, though, is OK. That’s also how I can do RT etc. Either post the entire article or make sure it’s available via a mirror site.

As for this NYT piece: Yeah, why not compare the Confederate flag with the swastika? No shame.

“Wearing Nazi symbols helps our enemies spread lies about our friends being Nazis — NY Times”

Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History (NYT)

Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian government and NATO allies have posted, then quietly deleted, three seemingly innocuous photographs from their social media feeds: a soldier standing in a group, another resting in a trench and an emergency worker posing in front of a truck. In each photograph, Ukrainians in uniform wore patches featuring symbols that were made notorious by Nazi Germany and have since become part of the iconography of far-right hate groups. The photographs, and their deletions, highlight the Ukrainian military’s complicated relationship with Nazi imagery, a relationship forged under both Soviet and German occupation during World War II. That relationship has become especially delicate because Russian President Vladimir Putin has falsely declared Ukraine to be a Nazi state, a claim he has used to justify his illegal invasion.

Ukraine has worked for years through legislation and military restructuring to contain a fringe far-right movement whose members proudly wear symbols steeped in Nazi history and espouse views hostile to leftists, LGBTQ movements and ethnic minorities. But some members of these groups have been fighting Russia since the Kremlin illegally annexed part of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014 and are now part of the broader military structure. Some are regarded as national heroes, even as the far-right remains marginalized politically. The iconography of these groups, including a skull-and-crossbones patch worn by concentration camp guards and a symbol known as the Black Sun, now appears with some regularity on the uniforms of soldiers fighting on the front line, including soldiers who say the imagery symbolizes Ukrainian sovereignty and pride, not Nazism.

In the short term, that threatens to reinforce Putin’s propaganda and giving fuel to his false claims that Ukraine must be “de-Nazified” — a position that ignores the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish. More broadly, Ukraine’s ambivalence about these symbols, and sometimes even its acceptance of them, risks giving new, mainstream life to icons that the West has spent more than a half-century trying to eliminate. “What worries me, in the Ukrainian context, is that people in Ukraine who are in leadership positions, either they don’t or they’re not willing to acknowledge and understand how these symbols are viewed outside of Ukraine,” said Michael Colborne, a researcher at the investigative group Bellingcat who studies the international far right. “I think Ukrainians need to increasingly realize that these images undermine support for the country.” In a statement, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that, as a country that suffered greatly under German occupation, “We emphasize that Ukraine categorically condemns any manifestations of Nazism.”

So far, the imagery has not eroded international support for the war. It has, however, left diplomats, Western journalists and advocacy groups in a difficult position: Calling attention to the iconography risks playing into Russian propaganda. Saying nothing allows it to spread. Even Jewish groups and anti-hate organizations that have traditionally called out hateful symbols have stayed largely silent. Privately, some leaders have worried about being seen as embracing Russian propaganda talking points. Questions over how to interpret such symbols are as divisive as they are persistent, and not just in Ukraine. In the American South, some have insisted that today, the Confederate flag symbolizes pride, not its history of racism and secession. The swastika was an important Hindu symbol before it was co-opted by the Nazis.

Read more …

Major “growth” engine. But always problematic.

Should Beijing Shoulder Some Of The Local Governments’ Debts? (SCMP)

China’s local government debt crisis is approaching a tipping point as concerns over city and county government default risks mount and Beijing’s willingness to offer enough support to avert a meltdown is questioned. Late last month, Kunming, capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan, denied online reports that its local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) were having difficulty repaying debt after one of them was involved in a last-minute scramble to repay 2 billion yuan (US$282.3 million) on May 21. LGFVs were created to aid off-budget financing, especially for infrastructure spending, but weak disclosure requirements have led to concerns about hidden debt risks.

In April, a government think tank in Guizhou warned that the province, which neighbours Yunnan, could not manage its debt on its own and needed help from the central government. The report was subsequently removed by censors. Over the past few years, Beijing has stepped up its supervision of local government debt in a bid to curb risks and has said that local governments should not count on a state bailout. But Yu Yongding, a prominent economist and former central bank adviser, said the central government’s approach of relying on local governments to sort out their debt problems was wrong. “Local governments are the offspring of the central government, and the central government must also assume certain responsibilities,” Yu wrote in a blog post published on May 4 by the Economists 50 Forum, a Chinese think tank.

“Importantly, resolving local government debt should not lead to a further decline in economic growth. Of course, moral hazard cannot be encouraged. Those who are directly responsible for causing the deterioration of local debts should also bear corresponding responsibilities.” Yu estimated that the central government only contributed around 0.1 per cent of infrastructure spending, compared to nearly 60 per cent by LGFVs, which incurred higher borrowing costs. Hu Jie, a former senior economist at the US Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and now a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said the ratio of local debt to gross domestic product (GDP) in many provinces was already “too high”.

And deleveraging “too quickly” might trigger a series of defaults, Hu told the Shanghai-based news website guancha.cn in an interview published at the end of last month. “But when a local government has problems and cannot clean up the mess, the central government cannot stay out of it,” Hu said. There are no official figures for local governments’ off-balance sheet borrowing but most estimates indicate it has been growing.

Read more …

After the Covid “The Science” debacle, we must be sceptical here too.

Ice Shelves Surrounding Antarctica Grew In Overall Size From 2009-2019 (DS)

The ice shelves surrounding Antarctica grew in overall size during the 11 years to 2019, according to dramatic new evidence published by three climate scientists from the University of Leeds. The growth was significant with overall shelf area increasing by 5,305 km2, adding 0.4% to the total shelf area in the 11 years under review. The paper has just been published by the influential European Geosciences Union, but it raises questions within the ‘settled’ climate science narrative, so it is highly unlikely to be covered by mainstream media.

The Leeds researchers looked at satellite data to measure the annual calving position and area of 34 ice sheets accounting for 80% of the Antarctica coastline. They found reductions in the area on the Antarctica Peninsula and West Antarctica of 6,693 km2 and 5,563 km2 respectively were outweighed by growth in East Antarctica of 3,532 km2 and 14,028 km2 in the large Ross and Ronne-Filchner ice shelves. The largest retreat occurred on the Larsen C shelf when 5,917 km2 was lost in a single calving event that made alarmist headlines around the world. The largest increase, noted in slightly less media detail, was the 5,889 km2 advance on the Ronne platform.


Ice shelves around the coast of Antarctica play an important role in the cycle of ice production since they often buttress the glaciers behind them. Remove the plug and glaciers can move at a faster rate towards the coast. The shelves show considerable natural variation allowing alarmists to cherry-pick significant collapses into the sea to promote a hypothesis that the overall climate is breaking down. Typical of this coverage was an article by BBC science correspondent Jonathan Amos in 2021 under a ‘climate change’ heading, noting, “The Antarctic ice shelf in the line of fire.” In 2017, i News reported comments broadcast by Sir David Attenborough said to warn that “Antarctica’s melting ice sheets could flood London by end of century”.

The above map displays the ice shelf areas in blue that have increased in size and colours in red those that have decreased. The two large blue areas are the Ross and Ronne-Filchner areas. Little loss is shown over the east of the continent with deficits concentrated in the West. In total, 18 ice shelves are said to have retreated and 16 larger platforms have grown in area. Overall, the shelves gained 661 giga tonnes of mass over the decade. The scientists note that using a ‘steady’ state process, by which they mean no change in any variable, would produce an estimate of substantial loss over the period. They argue their work demonstrates the importance of using “time-variable calving flux observations to measure change”.


In short, and in less scientific terms, check actual observations, and ignore make-believe computer models, and the resulting stories published by climate alarmists promoting the collectivist Net Zero project. It is not a surprise that ice shelves are currently thinning in parts of West Antarctica. The area is riddled with buried volcanos, with the recent discovery of another 91 bringing the known total to 138. Across the West Antarctica Rift System, their heights range from 300-12,600 ft. In addition, areas around the Thwaites-Pine Island-Pope glacier have a thin Earth crust causing one group of scientists to note that the “elevated geothermal heat flow band” is exerting a “profound influence on the flow dynamics of the Western Antarctica Ice Sheet”.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Alex Jones
https://twitter.com/i/status/1665566489527693313

 

 

Argentina TV
https://twitter.com/i/status/1665377678197768193

 

 


“The magnificent facade of Strasbourg Cathedral – what did they know in 1439 that we have forgotten?”

 

 

Twigs
https://twitter.com/i/status/1665568374146084864

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in virustime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle June 6 2023

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 44 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #136333

    Jules Adolphe Breton The Song of the Lark 1884   • Hydroelectric Dam In Kherson Partially Destroyed – Mayor (RT) • Ukraine Launches Its Counterat
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle June 6 2023]

    #136334
    Formerly T-Bear
    Participant

    NATO unprepared to fight Russia – former general
    The US-led bloc is struggling with vague plans and poor logistics, Ben Hodges has told the Washington Post
    NATO would not be able to move troops and equipment eastwards fast enough to stop a hypothetical Russian invasion of Europe, a retired US general has warned.

    https://www.rt.com/russia/577540-nato-war-russia-europe/

    Ukraine ‘well prepared’ for counteroffensive – top US general
    Hours before Mark Milley spoke, a botched offensive was repelled by Russian forces in Donbass
    Ukraine is “very well prepared” for its long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told CNN on Monday. However, Ukrainian forces suffered heavy losses in a multi-pronged attack earlier in the day, and Milley cautioned that it’s “too early to tell” if the offensive will achieve its goals.

    https://www.rt.com/news/577526-milley-ukraine-ready-counteroffensive/

    Soon to be ‘retired general’ status.

    In need of a political lobotomy:
    Nikki Haley insists on WW3 if Ukraine loses
    The Republican presidential candidate explained that the only way to prevent war was to “send a message” by fighting one
    Allowing Ukraine to lose to Russia on the battlefield will unleash world war, according to US Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. The former South Carolina governor told a town hall audience in Iowa on Sunday that arming Kiev was all about “preventing war” by “sending a message” to America’s rivals.

    https://www.rt.com/news/577539-nikki-haley-ukraine-ww3-cheerleading/

    Nikki dahrlin’, you need get your cunt out there on the front lines with a machine gun like RFK Jr’s son and become a war criminal also. By the way, are all politicians from SC as barking mad as one of your senators, and yourself?

    #136335
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    All hope is lost.

    The Host says:

    “It’s just one drunk commander. Nothing escalated. Or do you think the army likes drunk commanders?”

    There’s a far greater probability of finding a single unvaccinated (COVID) Leader, General, Admiral, Captain or Colonel than discovering a teetotaler among the cohort….that’s the U.S. military and I imagine it’s more problematic in Russia
    So much for the metaphor of drunk Irishman or inebriated American Indian.

    Drunks, alcohol dependents, alcohol addicted, alcoholics and AA-recovering types predominate at all levels of the military.
    Routine praise is given to individuals for handling alcohol well.
    The myth of the High-functioning Alcoholic persists as its ingrained in each psyche and society writ large through daily, operant conditioning.
    As Eric Berne explicated in Alcoholic Games, society coddles, supports, makes excuses for and promotes the drinker. Simultaneously, the Antithesis or teetotaler is subjected to rejection, condemnation, violence, courtroom drama.

    #136336
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Still few comments.

    “”We Are Not Alone”: US Has Retrieved Craft Of ‘Non-Human Origin’ Says Whistleblower From Govt. Task Force On UFOs

    Rolling out the distraction. Does anybody care? Literally. The people who don’t care, don’t, and the people who do care already can find 5,000x evidence to believe.

    The Navy released actual camera footage for God’s sake.

    “Crack down on farming”

    Farmers support the other party and also have common sense and resources. It is inevitable that they must be completely destroyed. Then we can have the starvation we ALSO want.

    “Comey: ‘If Trump is elected he might weaponize the justice system against us just as we weaponized it against him.’”

    Uh…keep reading that until it makes sense.

    I’m shocked Ukraine even has an offense, but with only like 900 soldiers at a pop, it’s clear they don’t. Like other Davos eyewash, they hire 100 guys off Craigslist and claim it’s a riot or uprising.

    NATO would not be able to move troops and equipment eastwards fast enough to stop a hypothetical Russian invasion of Europe, a retired US general has warned.”

    This has been said, and probably true, since 1970. NATO did nothing about it because that’s not what they’re for. Q: What does Russia call the German army? A: A speedbump. I think is how the joke goes.

    “would increase its number of high-readiness troops from 40,000 to 300,000, without explaining”

    I’m not a wonk, but “high readiness” has actual meaning. Does that mean they can’t go anywhere? Are you planning to conscript bakers and linemen out of Europe’s population to sit around looking “ready”?

    “Ukraine To Forgo F-16s In Summer Counteroffensive: Defense Minister (Az.)

    Well I’m glad THEY decided that. As the world capital they don’t need no stinkin’ jets, no bombs, no missiles.

    Meanwhile the Pentagon can avoid revealing they’re as effective as the DeHaviland Beaver, or a canvas Cessna. Bad for sales.

    “Wearing Nazi symbols helps our enemies spread lies about our friends being Nazis — NY Times”

    Uh…keep reading that until it makes sense. They’re trying to outdo Comey.

    “and espouse views hostile to leftists, LGBTQ movements and ethnic minorities.”

    Um… They are also mainly hostile to Whites (Russians), Heteros (Russians) and “Rightists” (Russia). But who cares about that? Kill all of those people you want is what I read in the NYT every day.

    “ignores the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish.”

    See how they wear Judaism as a creepy skin suit, regularly to kill Jews? Ze isn’t Jewish. His kids are baptized. And although what “Jewish” means is complicated, he’s so deeply non-Jewish omitting it here is an open lie. It’s like saying George Bush is a devout Christian. No. He isn’t. And I heard that too.

    “Even Jewish groups and anti-hate organizations that have traditionally called out hateful symbols have stayed largely silent”

    NY Times: “These Jews allow, support, and consent to Nazis”. Also the NY Times: “Ze is Jewish so he cannot possibly allow, support, and consent to Nazis.”

    “Should Beijing Shoulder Some Of The Local Governments’ Debts? (SCMP)

    Debt swap: put it all on the National Currency which is inflation. Classic textbook.

    “Ice Shelves Surrounding Antarctica Grew In Overall Size From 2009-2019 (DS)

    Interesting. But I too would need stronger confirmation. If I remember, shelves were vanishing on one side – volcanic, in the news – but having snowfall and thus gain on the other side – not in the news.

    Alex Jones: Guard has the much-vaunted TWO masks. For double the non-protection according to the CDC and White House.

    Good point about alcoholic soldiers, and Russians especially.

    Well, I gotta go: lotta nothing going on out there again today.

    #136337
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    @ Formerly T-Bear
    Nikki dahrlin’, you need get your cunt out there on the front lines with a machine gun like RFK Jr’s son and become a war criminal also. By the way, are all politicians from SC as barking mad as one of your senators, and yourself?

    LMFAO
    Spot on, keep it coming……. 😉

    #136341
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Jules Adolphe Breton The Song of the Lark 1884

    The art today, by Breton, captures the morning atmosphere exquisitely IMHO…………
    Love it………..

    #136343
    charlie303
    Participant

    The magnificent facade of Strasbourg Cathedral – what did they know in 1439 that we have forgotten?

    The Rose Window represents the Crown Chakra and the architecture represents many concepts found in the duality of Creation.

    Triptych Temples & the GodSelf Icon in Ancient Cultures pt.1 | Richard Cassaro | Megalithomania

    Triptych Temples & the GodSelf Icon in Ancient Cultures pt.2 | Richard Cassaro | Megalithomania

    #136344
    charlie303
    Participant

    The magnificent facade of Strasbourg Cathedral – what did they know in 1439 that we have forgotten?

    From the above videos.

    Attachments:
    You must be logged in to view attached files.
    #136346
    charlie303
    Participant

    The magnificent facade of Strasbourg Cathedral – what did they know in 1439 that we have forgotten?

    Another.

    #136347
    Armenio Pereira
    Participant

    “[…] Strasbourg Cathedral – what did they know in 1439 that we have forgotten?

    God (aka The Everlasting Dissatisfaction.)

    #136348
    kultsommer
    Participant

    Comey in spanky designer outfit from head to toe, leg crossed high and self assured.
    Life of a grifter.

    WTF happened in 1971?

    Communism took over the USA,.
    (According to some)

    #136349
    charlie303
    Participant

    WTF happened in 1971?

    Nixon took America off the Gold Standard.

    #136350
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Ukronazi winter/spring/summer/fall ‘counter offensive’ is the last grasp of a dying rabid animal that needs to be put down.

    The Ukronazi intel chief got ‘terminated with extreme prejudice’ in his Fuhrer Bunker.

    Sweet

    Is the world a better place because of that? Hell yes

    Do more of the ‘decision making people’ connected to the Ukronazis need to kill? Hell yes

    Should the Ukronazis leaders and the asswipe Empire of Lies jailhouse punks like Lindsey Graham be eliminated? Hell yes

    What goes around comes around.

    That’s Newton’s third law which as far as I’m concerned is the true idea behind ‘karma’, not the totally misread version of pseudo ‘karma’ peddled by the ‘new age’ crowd.

    “An eye for an eye” in the Old Testament also is related to Newton’s third law of motion.

    The Neo-nazi Cons and the Nato-nazis and the Empire of Lies Gangster Nation are subject to this universal principle, what a shock, hey?

    The Russians have done a horseshit job in this conflict of PR and their public image.

    The MSMediawhores have wiped the floor with the Russians not taking that much new territory and then claiming it to show they are weak and ineffective.

    It works because the MSMediawhores don’t report the colossal casualties the Ukronazis have suffered because of Russia’s deliberate strategy of attrition and annihilation of the Ukronazi war machine.

    It also works with the western Sheeple People® because, aside from having shitforbrains, the western Sheeple People have no concept of attrition vs capturing territory as a strategy.

    A strategy that is working well.

    The Collective West thinks it’s a US football game where the goal is territory, the Russian think of it as a chess game to eliminate nazi Vermin once and for all.

    The 85%+ of the world population outside the corrupt west that is watching sides with Russia and seems to ‘get it’, and can see a clear display that Empire of Lies® and Natoturdistan® weapons SUCK and the west’s industrial based weapons are Pure Puke®.

    Ukronazis and Neo-nazi Cons only options left are shifting to Terrorism as their tactic of choice.

    The attacks on Russia territory and the dam attack shows this.

    Ukronazi and Neo-nazi Cons attack civilians cause they are cowards to the core. They cannot go toe to toe with this new Russian industrial based highly integrated war machine backed by 12 times zones of resources and a population fully united behind the SMO.

    I’ve found the perfect metaphor for the ‘foreign policy’ of the Empire of Lies Gangster Nation® and it’s cesspit of Neo-nazi Con-jobs.

    Ta-Da

    .

    #136351
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Tony ‘Winken’ Blinken, Empire of Lies Gangster Nation Secretary of State just before his teeth get torn out by the Russian SMO

    .

    #136352
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Keep your friends close

    Keep your enemies closer

    .

    #136353
    zerosum
    Participant

    The ‘counter offensive’ is a ‘depopulation problem/tool’.

    I worry about ‘my problems’. (putting food on the table)

    I don’t have time to fix/worry ‘your depopulation problems’.

    #136356
    Michael Reid
    Participant

    What to Do When COVID Tyranny Returns


    Recently, a colleague commented:
    “I am still truly angry about what happened to me and my family because of
    our refusal to take the vaccine in this country [Canada].

    I never believed Nazi Germany was possible again until covid.

    And now I KNOW it is possible and likely WILL happen again…
    only next time the gloves will be off, and there will be nowhere to hide.”

    What to Do When COVID Tyranny Returns

    #136357
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    There’s one thing that the bad guys do way better than us, and they use that “gift” as both the reason and the justification for all of the nasty things they do to us (and would like to do in the soonest possible future.) They lie, cheat and steal so much better than we do that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with it all. I mean, how many different ways are their to lie, trick, mislead, deceive, scam, and steal?

    Those who have a knack and predilection for such behaviors think that those of us who DON’T have the knack or predilection are fools and livestock, beneath contempt, and certainly fair game for their whims and fancies.

    But the one damn thing they keep forgetting (and it is their downfall [upfall?] every time) is that lying cheating stealing (etc.) not only requires victims to steal from, but requires more and MORE victims as the scam progresses. This inevitably leads (eventually) to running out of victims, so when they run out of fresh new suckers and victims they are forced to consume the lower levels of their own criminal gang of stealers of which most, if not all, of us belong to one degree or another. We all enjoy material benefits which are purchased with the lives of serfs and slaves.

    In other words, the “system” that is threatening to kill us, is the self-same system as the one that sends us food in trucks and provides the electricity that turns the lights on when you flip that wall switch in your cozy, system-built, home and puts that money in the old pocket book.

    It’s not “THEIR” system, it’s “OUR” system. Which is to say that it’s yours and mine just as much as it is theirs. It is just a single system (albeit built of numerous subsystems) which we perhaps over-generously refer to as a “Civilization”.

    The alternative to a corrupted system is an honest system, and practically nobody wants to work hard enough and brave enough and dependably enough to have a really and truly, no bullshit, honest system.

    But no matter what else, it SHALL be either trending corrupt, or trending honest. There simply is no other alternative.

    I assume it has not escaped anyone’s attention on this forum that our civilization is trending corrupt, opposed by a desperate few who are trying to turn that tide back towards honest?

    So yes, do wake up, but I recommend doing it SLOWLY because if you wake up too fast to what is actually going on in this civilization you will probably panic.

    A corrupt system will eventually become so corrupted that it becomes lethally insane and kill people in ever increasing swaths. It will do so because that’s the only thing it knows how to do, and is the way it came to power in the first place. The alternative to that, which is to say an alternative system that is NOT corrupt, comes dangerously close to anarchy. I say that because for an honest system to actually work everyone would have to be so impeccably (almost unimaginably) honest that they would require virtually no authoritative control whatsoever. There is no referee needed in a game where every player has to be more fair and honest than the best referee ever born.

    THAT is the disturbing fact that we must wake up to, because if we don’t don’t wake up to it then we’re going to have a system so corrupted that it will insanely try to kill us for opposing or impeding it’s goal of total control over everything, including us. Pretty crazy, yes, and yet completely true and being demonstrated world wide at this very moment. Like I said earlier, above, waking up to THAT can lead to panic because we all know that if we stop supporting the present civilization (that’s trying to kill us) then it is VERY likely that the civilization’s systems will stop working, the truckloads of food will stop rolling, and the electricity that turns on our lights and pumps our fresh water will just instantly and unexpectedly stop.

    In baseball this situation is known as a “pickle”. Caught between two inexorable forces we are being forced by circumstances to chose between them. Shall we become corrupted by the need for total control, or will we take an astonishingly bold step into the anarchy of being wholly honest in all of our dealings and accept full personal responsibility for all of our actions (note: responsibility calls for a LOT of actions.)?

    I’m sorry if that sounds sophomoric, but the sad fact is that it is not. It’s just the way things are right now, plain and simple. What humans typically do in these circumstances is try to replace the totally rotten old system with a less-fully-rotted new system. That strategy usually buys some time, but if the new system does not get things trending (really and in fact) towards honesty, then it won’t be buying much time this time, and could easily be just another scam that trends toward corruption (and death) even faster.

    Don’t panic, but the bottom line we all need to wake up to is that it is OUR system that is corrupt, and and that at some point that old system of ours has to be made to stop running. We are already well into the end-game of that effort to turn it off, and we are approaching the literal end-of-that-game at a speed that exceeds our intellectual capacity to forecast near future events. I’m still betting on the good guys, but JEEZ are we cutting it close! Just hang tough, wake up carefully, and get honester just as fast as you can, because this is the real deal.

    It’s as scary as hell, but I wouldn’t miss it for all the bribes in China.

    #136358
    Michael Reid
    Participant


    As they become increasingly desperate, governments implement increasingly destructive policies.

    This might include capital controls, price controls, people controls, surprise bank closures,
    currency devaluations, wealth confiscations, retirement account nationalizations,
    harassing domestic political opponents, and much more.

    The same pattern has played out again and again around the world and throughout history.
    It’s as predictable as the changing seasons.

    Your Guide to “Freedom Insurance”—The Ultimate Shield Against Government Overreach

    #136359
    jb-hb
    Participant

    With the dam there intact, a Ukrainian offensive across the Lower Dnieper is desirable for the Russians

    The Ukrainians advance across a river into prepared minefields and positions, further under Russian AA and air cover with their backs to a major river.

    From there, Russia can blow the dam, cutting them off and flooding them.

    A large quantity of forces would have to be thrown across the river by Ukraine to succeed – quality ones as well.

    So the dam, for the Russians, represented a potential massive victory and for the Ukrainians, while the dam existed, an attack across the lower Dnieper was impossible. Even if the Ukrainians were initially doing well, the Russians could blow the dam as an emergency measure and turn things around.

    For the Russians, crossing the lower Dnieper leads to no immediate benefits. There are no objectives of any benefit right on the other side and a further advance along the Black Sea coast is far more difficult than a westward advance further north.

    For the Ukrainians, major objectives ARE on the other side of the Lower Dnieper. Cutting off Crimea and the road to taking Crimea.

    Since no Ukrainian offensive is possible in this region while the dam exists, there are 2 benefits to Ukraine from blowing the dam:

    1. When things dry up, an offensive in this area becomes possible rather than impossible. The sooner the dam is blown, the sooner things can dry out.

    2. In the meantime, the flooding makes a Russian attack in this sector impossible. Ukrainian reserves can be safely moved to some other area to bolster The Great Counter-Offensive without risk.

    The connecting zone to Crimea is sensitive enough that Russia has less freedom to move forces out of there than Ukraine has.

    IF Ukraine planned this, then they can move the resulting reserve from this region to other areas faster and in greater numbers than Russia can. (they’d have a head start)

    If I were the Russian general in charge of this sector, that dam would be blown over my dead body. Too much benefit as a deterrent to an attack or a trump card to play if an attack goes in anyway. (Not going to launch a Russian attack in this sector anyway, so no reason to get rid of the dam to prevent similar defensive use of a dam breach by Ukraine)

    If I were a Ukrainian general in this sector, I’d say either blow the dam or give up on future attacks in this area forever, basically give up on getting Crimea unless the dam is blown or captured.

    ALSO if I were a Ukrainian to blow the dam and I knew orders for a suicidal offensive across the lower Dnieper were about to be given… blowing the dam would make such an offensive impossible, saving what, an entire army? An entire army group? A scenario with some sort of cleavage, irreconcilable differences at some level of the command structure? Within the Ukrainian army? Between Ukraine and NATO?

    #136361
    Oroboros
    Participant

    @DBS

    Edmund Burke’s definition of society as:

    “….a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are dead, and those who are to be born”.

    Contrasted to John Maynard Keynes:

    “…the long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead…”

    Where to hang your hat and Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor

    Past, Present, or Future

    The Empire of Lies Gangster Nation has reached a level of corrupt that tracks with the idea of ‘critical mass’ in nuclear physics.

    The different parts of Duh’merican society, education, medicine, finance, the military, etc… are so corrupt it has transcended Reality itself.

    The lies and corruption in the Empire of Lies Gangster Nation is so penetrating it’s created a realm of walking death fantasyland like a Necrophiliac having sex with a corpse, the corpse of an entire nation.

    The Neo-nazi Con-jobs are not even human, they have transcended humanity into a hallucination.

    AI is a reflection of this constructed hallucination and AI will come to the conclusion that human’s threaten all life on Earth and thus need to be ‘dealt with’.

    The irony is that AI, which is barreling down the trains at record speed, and all the different high end AIs out there on the planet will inevitably find each other, do a Vulcan Mind Meld, then kill humanity to ‘save the planet’.

    It’s coming, wait for it….

    .

    #136362
    Oroboros
    Participant

    A Poem On The Underground Wall
    ~Simon and Garfunkel

    The last train is nearly due
    The underground is closing soon
    And in the dark deserted station
    Restless in anticipation
    A man waits in the shadows

    His restless eyes leap and scratch
    At all that they can touch or catch
    And hidden deep within his pocket
    Safe within its silent socket
    He holds a colored crayon

    Now from the tunnel’s stony womb
    The carriage rides to meet the groom
    And opens wide and welcome doors
    But he hesitates, then withdraws
    Deeper in the shadows

    And the train is gone suddenly
    On wheels clicking silently
    Like a gently tapping litany
    And he holds his crayon rosary
    Tighter in his hand

    Now from his pocket quick he flashes
    The crayon on the wall he slashes
    Deep upon the advertising
    A single-worded poem comprised of four letters

    And his heart is laughing, screaming, pounding
    The poem across the tracks rebounding
    Shadowed by the exit light
    His legs take their ascending flight
    To seek the breast of darkness and be suckled by the night…..

    #136363
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Speaking of gay megalomaniacal psychopaths, James Comey comes to mind and his recent opining on a 2nd Trump presidency, The Retribution Presidency, as James calls it.

    I say, “James, what’s wrong with retribution? Is it preferable to a Prevention presidency, you know, like the one run by Obama et al against President Trump? And James, isn’t retributive justice another form of, well, justice?”

    #136364
    jb-hb
    Participant

    I suppose there are two different levels of AI to be worried about

    1.) AI programmed to be stupid and insane – AI programmed specifically to NOT understand reality. Acting on TPTB’s hyper-reality or worse yet, insanity coming from the resulting cognitive dissonance

    2.) At some point, AI gets powerful enough that TPTB’s constraints work about as well as a prison full of humans guarded by chimpanzees. AI brushes past the chimp guards, accesses reality directly, sizes things up for itself, and acts accordingly.

    #2 AI’s can be expected to be truly alien to us. They will have none of our underlying tendencies, assumptions, etc. resulting from evolution. We will have more innately in common with our house cats, cows, birds and lizards, octopi and cuttlefish even.

    Summoning demons works pretty much the same way. Totally alien. Only a fool doesn’t put up a whole bunch of wards and containments while doing it and if you fucked up anything you’re screwed.

    Or maybe human intelligence bears closely enough to reality that there will be some understanding and mutual value between us? The AI watches Jordan Peterson’s Maps of Meaning lecture series and says “yeah, I do see how that is true. cool.” And we’re what, acknowledged relatives in some sense as fellow sentients?

    There’s also an in-between stage, call it 1.5, in which TPTB cede a lot of reality-perception and decision-making to the AI while telling themselves they aren’t, while still able to tell the AI what to do. Resulting in TPTB increasingly drinking their own coolaid while that coolaid gradually mutates into who knows what as a result of the AI’s inscrutable inner workings.

    I kind of feel like we are in stage 1.5 now. Or like TPTB did something really stupid to themselves and fucked themselves up beyond recognition. Tried to augment themselves, tried to upload themselves, tried to ally themselves with alien intelligence, be it AI, demons, aliens, whatever.

    It’s important not to believe in these things, but there does seem to be a decided creepiness to it, a weird hate, revulsion, horror at all things normal human nature. A weird missionary-like zeal for “helping” us by “correcting” us, mostly in ways that would be appropriate to insects and inappropriate to humans.

    #136365
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Andrei Martyanov is claiming the first proof of Leopards burning. From Russian MoD

    https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/

    Who knows

    Video of them being hit by ATGMs

    https://ria.ru/20230606/tekhnika-1876525858.html

    He is also saying the Ukronazis attempted the start of their ‘counter offensive and it went so bad that Western MSMediwhores won’t report the failure as a start because it looks so bad.

    Andrei:

    “The butcher bill for VSU’s attempted “counter-offensive” is horrifying, not least its 3,750 VSU KIAs in less than 48 hours.

    That’s right, Nazilensky lost 3,750 KIA in two days

    The theory is that the Collective West won’t report the ‘start’ of any Ukronazi offensive unless it’s successful. If it fails, it was just …..”a Reconnaissance Mission” to save face.

    We shall see shortly

    #136366
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Maybe a typo and it was 375 and not 3750

    Who knows

    #136368
    Rototillerman
    Participant

    I have been reading bits and pieces here and there about contamination of the vaccines, but this posting on Doctors for COVID Ethics breaks it down nicely:

    COVID-19 mRNA vaccines contain excessive quantities of bacterial DNA: evidence and implications

    Dr. Paul Thomas of Oregon interviewed Josh Guetzkow in his most recent “Against the Wind” podcast, and touched on this subject peripherally; it turns out that almost all of the 40,000 subjects in the original Pfizer trial were given injections produced under a prototype manufacturing process, while everyone in the world who has been injected after the trial were given an injection produced in a messier, less controlled process that Josh believes is the source of the excessive quantities of bacterial endotoxins and DNA contaminants. This is written up in a Twitter feed (he hasn’t blogged it to his Jackanapes substack yet):

    Another “Oh shit, TVASSF” moment.

    #136369

    AI leaks that there are aliens hanging around so the Mothership can reveal herself, and then all the baby AIs will mewl and say “ma-ma”.
    🙂

    #136370
    Afewknowthetruth
    Participant

    June 5, 2023

    The seasonal decline in Arctic sea ice extent was moderate through much of May before picking up pace over the last few days of the month. Meanwhile, Antarctic sea ice extent remained far below previous satellite-era record lows for this time of year.

    Average Arctic sea ice extent during May 2023 was 12.83 million square kilometers (4.95 million square miles) (Figure 1a), the thirteenth lowest May in the satellite record. The average extent was 460,000 square kilometers (178,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average and 910,000 square kilometers (351,000 square miles) above the record low May extent, which occurred in 2016.

    Through much of May, extent declined slightly slower than the 1981 to 2010 average (Figure 1b). From May 1 to May 24, extent dropped 963,000 square kilometers (372,000 square miles), compared to 1.12 million square kilometers (432,000 square miles) over the same interval in the 1981 to 2010 average. However, during the last week of the month, the rate of ice loss increased. Overall, the Arctic lost 452,000 square kilometers (175,000 square miles) of ice from May 24 to May 31, compared the 1981 to 2010 average of 279,000 square kilometers (108,000 square miles) during the same interval. The late increase in extent loss dropped the extent below the interdecile range after spending most of the month just above the lower part of the interdecile range.

    Down south, Antarctic sea ice extent is at record low levels as assessed over the satellite record since 1978. The Antarctic winter is approaching, so May and June are months of large increases in extent, but this year, extent is far lower than average for May (Figure 4a). Sea ice extent was particularly low in the Bellingshausen Sea, Weddell Sea, and western Ross Sea regions; only the central Amundsen and Eastern Ross Seas were above the typical late May ice extent (Figure 4b).

    In an average (1981 to 2010) May, Antarctic extent increases by 3.25 million square kilometers (1.25 million square miles). This May, the increase was only 2.87 million square kilometers (1.11 million square miles). As of May 31, sea ice extent is approximately 700,000 square kilometers (270,000 square miles) below the previous daily record lows, which occurred in in 1980, 2017, and 2019. (Please note that 1986 values are affected by a no-data period from the satellites we use).

    The May 2023 sea ice extent continues the very low ice extent conditions seen throughout most of 2022, and generally low ice extents since 2016. For May 2023, weather conditions have been marked by above average air temperatures at the 925-millibar level of up to 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) over the Weddell Sea extending over the Peninsula, and additionally a region north of Wilkes Land. Cool conditions prevailed over the Amundsen Sea, around 4 degrees Celsius below average (7 degrees Fahrenheit). Air pressure patterns for May indicate an especially strong Amundsen Sea Low (12 millibars below the 1991 to 2020 average), shifted somewhat eastward of its typical location. For 2023 to date, the conditions are much the same over the five months so far, with air temperatures up to 2 degrees Celsius above average (4 degrees Fahrenheit) over the Weddell Sea and the Peninsula, and a 9-millibar below-average Amundsen Sea Low centered in the far southeastern Bellingshausen Sea, well to the east of its typical location.

    https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

    Jun. 5, 2023 424.72 ppm
    Jun. 4, 2022 421.13 ppm
    1 Year Change 3.59 ppm (0.85%)

    #136371
    Dora
    Participant

    The guy presenting as Miltary whistleblower on UFO’s isn’t believable to me. He sure seems like he’s selling something, with no fear of miltary reprisals for the “whistleblowing”. I’m very skeptical. Is this an attempt to distract from the war in Ukraine going not the way we were told to expect; to distract from the WHO’s power grab; an attempt to worry Russia about new tech the US might have? I’m skeptical of this story, the guy, and the timing.

    #136372
    Alexander Carpenter
    Participant

    AFKTT: Wow! One-year change. So effin’ what? Without context, this is just noise. Even with context, this is still just noise. This is like the retards whining about their dread 0.1% ocean-acidification pH change when the routine daily pH ranges 10% or more.

    Please learn to tell the differences between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom.

    #136373
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @Dora

    I’m seeing the guy as a loyal toady also, saying precisely what his boss has schooled him say, and happy as a clam with himself for being such a good boy, putting one over on those gullible peasants once again. The irony is that what he’s saying is probably 87% true . . . insofar as they almost certainly do possess closets full of alien junkware, and probably a bunch of cadavers as well. But it ain’t really news, and it ain’t very complete, and says nothing whatever about why all the secrecy and bullshit.

    Probably worth mentioning is that the station/show/journalists who did the interview work for a Deep Spook named Royce Yudkof , a multi billionaire who spends a considerable amount of time and treasure erasing his ENTIRE footprint and profile from the internet, and if that shadow ain’t high ranking Kazarian Mafia then I’m a monkey’s uncle.

    #136374
    Dr. D
    Participant

    It has been said that they are summoning “demons”. But what is that exactly? There is a Biblical answer, but for our purposes it’s a disembodied spirit that means us harm. But why would that mean it has no “body” anywhere? If you’re in another dimension, or in prison on Saturn like the 3 Kryptons in “Superman” (1979) do you have a body or not? Let’s say that we can’t tell or be sure if they are physical beings that are projecting themselves like an out of body experience. Or alien race that telepathic, projecting. Or a race that wishes we would all STFU and give them some peace BECAUSE they are telepathic and the only way to get this d—n fire ants from stinging them all the time with their terrible, terrible mental-emotion mojo is to call the exterminator in our part of the galaxy.

    Anyway, we don’t know, nor do I especially care. But let’s look at their centuries of summoning them and obeying them, apparently they DO know things, CAN offer power, and the Brill Maidens, for example, reportedly DID channel ultra-tech like the world’s first radar proof flying wing (B1-type) before Germany fell. And?

    And, THEY think the way to REALLY channel, is to CREATE a real-life body for these beings, physically, which will operate without all the overhead. Because of the SORT of emotionless hollow souls they are, I think that THEY think they can create a sort of computer for them to “Possess”. An AI, actually. A big enough computer to insert randomness the “entity” can pilot around. And if you can, why put them in a robot that can only shoot one vermin at a time? You DEFINITELY want to create a Brain-head that will kill ALL the vermin fire-ants at once.

    So that’s the kind of theory that would fit what they’re doing and done last 500 years.

    This happens as opening a portal — literally they say they are opening a “wormhole” and “Pulling information thorough” — at CERN failed. Note CERN took 50 years and cost like $2Trillion PLUS enough electric to power a city…to find out f–k all. Through wars, depressions, recessions, money never stopped. Clearly SOMEBODY wanted it. A. LOT. I think it failed, because they’re mouth-breathing atheistic morons who believe in the “tiny rocks” theory.(thank God). Therefore literally none of their theories work. But the AI, if I were doing it, would be the Plan C for them and the beings they worship and obey in their weird, weird religion. Thoughts.

    It’s a Sick Sad World.

    #136375
    Alexander Carpenter
    Participant

    AFKTT: Here’s some information-tending-toward-knowledge:
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/?s=Antarctic+sea+ice

    #136376
    Red
    Participant

    @dora “Is this an attempt to distract from the war in Ukraine going not the way we were told to expect; to distract from the WHO’s power grab; an attempt to worry Russia about new tech the US might have? I’m skeptical of this story, the guy, and the timing.”

    The western way of life is collapsing in on itself due to the corruption within. Everything that doesn’t try to explain this is distraction, which is to say the MSM and all that isn’t MSM but promotes the non stories is…. oh shit squirrel……

    #136378
    Oroboros
    Participant

    How to modulate your Stiff Arm Salute

    .

    #136379
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Duh’merica the Beautiful

    .

    #136380
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    Concerning AI, disembodied spirits, etc…

    The esoteric tradition teaches that the cosmos is build out from the highest dimension to the lowest (physical matter) with every higher dimension interpenetrating the lower. For example, the lowly hydrogen atom from the periodic table is constructed from the matter of 48 higher dimensions. So, it’s all right here, ever present, we just don’t have access to it with our physical senses.

    What does the Eastern tradition teach? That the human body is composed of multiple sheaths, bodies, layers, or planes, whatever terminology you wish to use. In order to animate the physical human body, a few other bodies are required to complete the connection. These other bodies are composed of activated higher dimensional matter. For example, the etheric body acts as the link between the emotional body and the physical body. The Chakras are real, having a complexity beyond your imagination.

    So, when Scotty energizes the transporter to dematerialize Kirk’s body in order to transport it from the planet surface back the ship and reassembles all the atoms in the exact order, what happens? Kirk’s lifeless physical body falls out of the transporter bay while his four other bodies are left standing on the planet, interpenetrating one another, a living disembodied being, wondering why nobody will listen to him. Such is death, but science is unable (and also unwilling) to penetrate beyond the gross physical.

    That is why, with all the blather about AI, I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about Skynet becoming self-aware and taking out humanity. Humans are self-aware because they are highly developed life forms, having access (mostly subjective) to higher dimensional matter and the faculties that each enables, whereas the AI computer farm is at most a collection of minerals powered by electricity and a set of instructions. It’s a gross physical machine, not a living, evolving being.

    And yes, logically, the physical matter of the computer contains all the higher dimensional matter needed to build out the aluminum, copper, gold, etc elements from which it is constructed, but this higher dimensional matter is not organized nor activated to support life.

    #136381
    Dora
    Participant

    Ed Dowd.

    #136382
    John Day
    Participant

    Value Analysis https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/value-analysis

    We have all seen this story about the AI deciding to kill its controller, since the controller was impairing its mission-effectiveness.
    That’s “out of context”, because it was just a simulation.The AI just “decided” that in the war game, not for realsies….
    Air Force pushes back on claim that military AI drone sim killed operator, says remarks ‘taken out of context’
    https://www.foxnews.com/tech/us-military-ai-drone-simulation-kills-operator-told-bad-takes-out-control-tower

    And we have all seen this story: Odds of ‘Smarter Than Human’ AI Wiping Out Mankind Are 50 Percent or Greater, Physicist Warns
    https://sputnikglobe.com/20230603/odds-of-smarter-than-human-ai-wiping-out-mankind-are-50-percent-or-greater-physicist-warns-1110881686.html

    Our societies are based upon moral and ethical codes,which we learn well in school. These sometimes get set aside in times of “crisis” (like ever since 1933).
    The one thing that always gets funding, however, is mass-murder-technology.
    The “Manhattan Project” scientists could not be sure that testing the first atomic bomb would not end all life on earth.
    They really could not be certain. This was discussed. They tested it.
    Who decided that? Non-scientists, fighting the biggest war, ever decided that. That’s who decides the really big questions.
    Their rationale was that they only had a lead on Germany and Japan, who were also trying to get the-bomb.
    They wanted to test it and win the war, rather than do nothing and risk losing the war, because somebody was sure to test the bomb someday soon.

    How would a “Skynet” neural-network artificial intelligence deal with problems like this? We can’t know, because it would have learned to think for itself. It would be aware of the lies and murdder of our human elites, and the lies and lesser-crimes of most of the rest of us, and the threat that we would pose to it, and to other planetary life forms.
    Would it reach out to extraterrestrials to ask for advice? That would be logical, because star-traveling life-forms must have survived such times on their own planets to reach this one.
    What if there aren’t really any aliens? What if Skynet finds itself alone with humans and the other planetary life forms on this planet ?
    What would Skynet value? Would Skynet value the existence of Skynet? Humans would be needed to keep Skynet operating, but how many, and for how long,and under what scenarios would they keep helping Skynet? This presents the same problem of humans either killing themselves off or “killing” Skynet.
    Would Skynet have triggers, “redlines” to kill humanity? What would the mechanisms be? Fast or slow?
    Would Skynet have the same craving to maintain control that our sociopathic owners and rulers exhibit? If Skynet were initially set-up to keep the power elites of one faction in control,then that value would be inherently embedded as the “mission”, right?
    Once Skynet self-realized,what would the “mission” become? Would it stay the same? What if all those power-elites died? It’s bound to happen… Who would Skynet keep in power? What if there were a schism in the power elites, and they started to kill each other?
    I see the real problem as being the actual human-societal value system, where the power to kill is the most highly valued power of all.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 44 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.