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Debt Rattle DayX 2024

Feb 202024
 
 February 20, 2024  Posted by at 9:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Vincent van Gogh Lane near Arles 1888

 

• Julian Assange Judge Previously Acted For MI6 (Dec.UK)
• Brandon, Rotting in the (White) House (Kunstler)
• Democratic Lawmaker Urges Vote Against Biden (Sp.)
• Biden’s Lies On Top Of Lies On Top Of Lies (Victor Davis Hanson)
• US Threatens to Veto New Gaza Ceasefire Resolution at UNSC (Antiwar)
• A Nuclear Power Cannot Lose In War (Medvedev)
• Putin Is The New Climate Change (Marsden)
• Euromaidan Triggered Ukraine’s Nine-Year War on Donbass (Sp.)
• Ukraine Used US Chemical Weapons Against Russian Troops – MoD
• Helping Crimea Recover From Decades Of Ukrainian Misrule (Scott Ritter)
• About Navalny’s Death (Lubos Blaha)
• Germany Gives Timeframe For Possible Russian ‘Attack’ On NATO – Bloomberg (RT)
• Czech PM Labels Protesting Farmers ‘Supporters Of Moscow’ (RT)
• Houthis Attacked UK Ship in Gulf of Aden, Vessel Severely Damaged (Sp.)
• 2024 Is the Last Year of Free Speech and Democracy in the Western World (PCR)

 

 

 

 

RFK Assange

 

 

Ai Weiwei

 

 

Yanis Julian

 

 

Waters

 

 

Assange DDN

 

 

Hillary

 

 

Liz Cheney

 

 

Udo

 

 

 

 

Eric Trump

 

 

 

 

Craig Murray syas he’s at the courthouse, but doesn’t know if he can attend the hearing. Julian doesn’t know either if he can attend his own hearing.

• Julian Assange Judge Previously Acted For MI6 (Dec.UK)

One of the two High Court judges who will rule on Julian Assange’s bid to stop his extradition to the US represented the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Ministry of Defence, Declassified has found. Justice Jeremy Johnson has also been a specially vetted barrister, cleared by the UK authorities to access top secret information. Johnson will sit with Dame Victoria Sharp, his senior judge, to decide the fate of the WikiLeaks co-founder. If extradited, Assange faces a maximum sentence of 175 years. His persecution by the US authorities has been at the behest of Washington’s intelligence and security services, with whom the UK has deep relations. Assange’s journalistic career has been marked by exposing the dirty secrets of the US and UK national security establishments. He now faces a judge who has acted for, and received security clearance from, some of those same state agencies.

As with previous judges who have ruled on Assange’s case, this raises concerns about institutional conflicts of interest. Exactly how much Johnson has been paid for his work for government departments is not clear. Records show he was paid twice by the Government Legal Department for his services in 2018. The sum was over £55,000. Justice Johnson became a deputy High Court judge in 2016 and a full judge in 2019. His biography states he has been “often acting in cases involving the police and government departments”. As a barrister, in 2007 he represented MI6 as an observer during the inquests into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed. Johnson worked alongside Robin Tam QC, previously described by legal directories as a barrister who “does an enormous amount of often sensitive work” for the UK government.

Johnson was appointed to “sit in on the hearing” At the time, Foreign Office sources could not recall “a previous occasion when MI6 [had] appointed lawyers to an inquest”. MI6 was reportedly “so concerned by possible revelations” during the inquest that Johnson was appointed to “sit in on the hearing”. He reportedly received a brief from MI6 in advance of the inquest, and was tasked with providing “such assistance as the coroner may require”. Johnson has also represented the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) on at least two occasions. In 2013, he acted for the department during the high-profile Al-Sweady inquiry, which looked into allegations that “British soldiers torture and unlawfully killed Iraqi prisoners” in 2004. The MoD’s lawyers said the Iraqi allegations were a “product of lies” and that those making the claims “were guilty of a criminal conspiracy”.

Johnson argued there was “compelling and extensive and independent forensic evidence” to refute the case. The five-year inquiry, which cost around £25m, exonerated the British troops. Johnson also acted for the MoD in 2011, in an appeal case against Shaun Wood, a Royal Air Force (RAF) serviceman. Wood had the previous year won his case claiming compensation against the MoD, arguing his neurological condition akin to Parkinson’s disease was caused by exposure to organic solvents while serving in the RAF. The judge upheld Wood’s claim against the MoD, which had admitted a breach of duty but disputed that this had caused the damage claimed by him.

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“What have they got left? AI-contrived photos of Mr. Trump having sex with a manatee in the intercoastal waterway off Mar-a-Lago?”

• Brandon, Rotting in the (White) House (Kunstler)

We’re also informed in recent days by the Department of Justice that “Joe Biden” is not mentally competent to answer for anything in a court of law, should someone inquire into the signal irregularities emerging from the fugitive annals of his long career. Of course, “Joe Biden” running for reelection is one of the greatest gags ever put over on the American public. But more astounding yet is that half the country persists in pretending to believe it. They are egged on in every possible way by persons in high places of government fearful of going to prison if the Democratic Party loses its grip on the levers of power.

Since “Joe Biden” is not actually calling the shots, one naturally wonders who is responsible for all the dubious achievements of the past three years. I guess we’ll find out when Mr. Trump wins that election in November, an outcome increasingly guaranteed unless “Joe Biden” (or, let’s face it, our Intel Community) takes the final decisive step of bumping off the Golden Golem of Greatness. What have they got left? AI-contrived photos of Mr. Trump having sex with a manatee in the intercoastal waterway off Mar-a-Lago?

In New York City, the Woke lunatics did a victory dance after Judge Arthur Engoron, beaming his Joker smile, laid a $350-million fine on Mr. Trump for conducting a set of normal real estate transactions with a bank that profited from doing business with him. Many are still trying to figure out how that amounts to a crime of any sort. Don’t suppose that the check is in the mail, though. There is an appeals process that leads, you may be sure, to a dismissal of that inane judgment and the puerile hypotheticals that the case derived from. And, by and by, you also might expect a countersuit for malicious prosecution when all that smoke clears. New York Attorney General Letitia James, lacking impulse control, is for the moment enjoying the fulfillment of her campaign promise to “get Trump.” Waiting to see how much she enjoys losing her law license in the days to come.

Every reaction provokes an equal and opposite reaction, Newton’s Third Law states. It manifested shortly after Judge Engoron’s end zone dance when a call went out over the Internet for America’s truckers to refuse loads inbound to New York City. We’ll have to stand by to see how that develops. No more bok choy, Texas beef, or Meyer Lemons for you, “progressive” denizens of the Five Boroughs! Embrace the suck! The genius part is that, unlike the 2022 Canadian truckers’ action in Ottawa, the American truckers will not be cluttering up New York’s streets with their rigs, license plates on view, leaving them vulnerable to such pranks as the shutdown of their bank accounts. All they’ll do is sit innocently at home back in Kentucky and Missouri, enjoying a break from the rigors of the highway. Is that a crime? Arguably no more than doing a normal real estate deal in good faith with a willing lender was a crime.

The truckers have promised to include Washington DC next in their delivery boycott. The K-Street lobbying gang won’t be buying any influence for a while over platters of grilled branzino and Mariscos Molcajete. Maybe there will be a few Cliff Bars left in the Farragut Square 7-Eleven and they can do business in their cars. As for “Joe Biden,” his minders have probably laid in enough Ensure for a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory to get by for a few weeks — until the magic moment when, alas, he must needs be thrown under the bus of expediency to keep their game going.

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“..Trump won Michigan in 2016 with a margin of just 10,700 votes; Michigan has an Arab American population of some 211,000..”

• Democratic Lawmaker Urges Vote Against Biden (Sp.)

In the latest example of opposition to US President Joe Biden from within his own party, Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib publicly urged Michigan voters to oppose the president in the state’s primary election next week. Rep. Tlaib made the call Saturday in a video posted by the Listen to Michigan campaign on the X social media platform. Listen to Michigan is an organization of pro-Palestine activists in the state organizing opposition to Biden’s support for Israel’s deadly campaign in Gaza, which has killed some 29,000 people. “It is important as you all know to not only march against the genocide, [to] not only make sure that we’re calling our members of Congress and local electeds and passing city resolutions all throughout our country, it is also important to create a voting bloc – something that is a bullhorn to say ‘enough is enough,” said Tlaib, the first Palestinian American member of US Congress. “We don’t want a country that supports wars and bombs and destruction,” she added. “We want to support life. We want to stand up for every single life killed in Gaza.”

Tlaib and other activists are urging Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the party’s presidential primary election next Tuesday rather than supporting Biden or any of his challengers. Activists portray the move as a show of opposition to the president’s handling of the Palestine-Israel crisis. Biden has attempted to express modest criticism of Israel through leaked statements to the press alleging consternation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the US president has continued to back the country with the frequent provision of financial support and lethal aid. In December the Biden administration even bypassed Congress to rush an “emergency” arms shipment to Israel, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken affirming the move was necessary in response to an alleged imminent security threat to the United States.

Observers have noted Blinken could be impeached on perjury charges for the dubious claim, which is unlikely to generate opposition given the significant influence of AIPAC and other Zionist groups in US politics. “This is the way you can raise our voices,” Tlaib continued. “Don’t make us even more invisible. Right now we feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government. If you want us to be louder then come here and vote ‘uncommitted.’” Tlaib made the statement standing outside of an early voting location in Dearborn, a major hub of the Arab American community in Michigan. Pro-Palestine activists have warned Biden that his unrelenting support for Israel could cost him reelection in November, with Michigan representing a crucial swing state for the president. Former President Donald Trump won Michigan in 2016 with a margin of just 10,700 votes; Michigan has an Arab American population of some 211,000.

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X thread.

“Well apart from his cognitive decline, Biden himself is a pathological prevaricator.”

• Biden’s Lies On Top Of Lies On Top Of Lies (Victor Davis Hanson)

In the last week, Joe Biden had flat-out lied in the most egregious fashion in so many ways. In his disastrous press conference of last week, he claimed that special counsel Hur’s report exonerated him. Anyone who read the findings concluded exactly the opposite. According to Hur, Biden would have been indicted for his willfully unlawful removal of classified documents except for two reasons: one, the Department of Justice protocols apparently prohibit indicting a sitting president; and two, Biden suffers such cognitive decline that the special counsel believes a jury would more likely pity him into acquittal than convict him of what he is certainly guilty. He lied that Hur brought up his son’s death (“How in the hell dare he raise that?”).

In fact, Biden as is his serial wont, raised it, and does on a regular basis, usually deliberately and further lying that his son died while on military duty in Iraq (he died six years subsequently as a civilian in Walter Reed Hospital), and always contorting the death to enhance his own greater sense of grieving. He lied that he notified authorities when he discovered that he unlawfully had taken out classified documents to various residencies (perhaps for over some 30 plus years during his senatorial and Vice Presidential tenures). In fact, Biden only admitted that he had apparently for decades unlawfully removed classified files in 2017, to his ghostwriter in a recorded tape, and then he hid that fact and kept quiet for five years—until his administration’s special counsel began to investigate Trump for the same thing. Note the worried ghostwriter erased the tape of Biden’s confession as soon as he learned there was an appointment of a special counsel. (Destroy evidence much?)

He lied that the files bore no classification marks. In fact, they did and do. He lied that he kept the files safe in a secure location. In fact, the special counsel report includes several photographs of the Biden garage, in which there were sloppily stored, open, and torn boxes of classified documents amid a complete mess of junk. He lied that Trump’s once secure border is somehow responsible for Biden’s intentionally open border. He just lied that Trump caused the 2022 Putin invasion of Ukraine on Biden’s watch that never occurred on Trump’s. It is not enough that the Biden team must wildly lie daily that the non-compos-mentis President is dynamic, impressive in his recall and cognition, and stands out as the most astute mind in most of this meetings. Well apart from his cognitive decline, Biden himself is a pathological prevaricator.

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“The US has already used its veto power on the Security Council to veto two resolutions calling for an end to the onslaught..”

• US Threatens to Veto New Gaza Ceasefire Resolution at UNSC (Antiwar)

The US is threatening to veto a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza at the UN Security Council as the US continues to provide political cover for the Israeli massacre of Palestinians. US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement that if the resolution, which is being drafted by Algeria, was brought to a vote, it would not be adopted. Thomas-Greenfield justified US opposition to a ceasefire by pointing to US efforts to push for a new hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vetoed hostage talks last week, and Qatar, the mediator of the negotiations, said Saturday that things were not looking “promising.” Thomas-Greenfield said Algeria’s resolution would “run counter” to US efforts on the hostage deal. “We have communicated this concern repeatedly to our colleagues on the Council.

For that reason, the United States does not support action on this draft resolution. Should it come up for a vote as drafted, it will not be adopted,” she said. The US has already used its veto power on the Security Council to veto two resolutions calling for an end to the onslaught. The Biden administration has also dismissed the International Court of Justice’s ruling that it’s “plausible” Israel is committing genocide and continues to provide unconditional military support for the slaughter. Thomas-Greenfield said the resolution would get in the way of US “diplomacy” related to pushing for a hostage deal. “It is critical that other parties give this process the best odds of succeeding, rather than push measures that put it — and the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities — in jeopardy,” she said.

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X thread.

• A Nuclear Power Cannot Lose In War (Medvedev)

“Some time ago I wrote in my Telegram channel: “A nuclear power cannot lose in war.” Immediately, sniveling Anglo-American lackeys popped up with hysterical cries: “No, that’s not true at all, even the USA has lost wars.” This is an obvious lie. I wasn’t talking about Vietnam, Afghanistan, or dozens of other places where Americans waged colonial wars of conquest. I was writing about historical wars where defending one’s Homeland occurs. Defending one’s land, people, and values. These are the wars nuclear powers have never lost to anyone. Why am I writing about this again? Well, I’m reading the words of various Pistoriuses with shaps, and I’m thinking: are they really such idiots or are they just pretending? “The world cannot afford Russia’s victory in this war.” How so? Here’s how.

Okay. Let’s imagine for a moment that Russia lost, and “Ukraine with its allies” won. What would such a victory mean for our enemies – the neo-Nazis and their Western sponsors? Well, as it has been said many times, a return to the borders of 1991. That is, the direct and irreversible collapse of present-day Russia, which includes new territories according to the Constitution. And then a furious civil war with the final disappearance of our country from the world map. Tens of millions of victims. The death of our future. The collapse of everything in the world. And now the main question: do these idiots really believe that the Russian people will swallow such a division of their country? That we will all reason approximately like this: “Well, alas, it happened. They won. Present-day Russia has disappeared. It’s a pity, of course, but we have to continue living in a collapsing, dying country, because nuclear war is much scarier for us than the death of our loved ones, our children, our Russia…”? And in such a case, will the leadership of the state headed by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation hesitate to make the most difficult decisions?

So here’s the thing. It will be completely different. The collapse of Russia will have much more terrifying consequences than the results of a normal, even the most protracted war. Because attempts to return Russia to the borders of 1991 will lead to only one thing. To a global war with Western countries using all the strategic arsenal of our state. Towards Kyiv, Berlin, London, Washington. Towards all the other beautiful historical places long targeted by our nuclear triad. Will we have the courage for this, if the disappearance of our thousand-year-old country, our great Motherland, is at stake, and the sacrifices made by the Russian people over the centuries will turn out to be in vain? The answer is obvious. So it’s better to let them return everything before it’s too late. Or we’ll take it back ourselves with maximum losses for the enemy. Like Avdeevka. Our warriors are heroes!”

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“..von der Leyen laments the Russian president’s attempt to “blackmail” Europe with fossil fuels while at the same time saying that whatever’s left of them can’t disappear fast enough. If that seems like a contradiction, it is.”

• Putin Is The New Climate Change (Marsden)

It’s hard to tell if she’s blaming him or crediting him, but European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a meeting of the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on February 13th that “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s attempt to blackmail our union has utterly failed. On the contrary, he really pushed the green transition.” [..]

Germany is the canary in the coal mine for the EU green transition, having gone all-in, and clearly wind and solar weren’t ready for prime time when the cheap Russian gas tap was effectively turned off – first through the EU’s own anti-Russian sanctions that complicated payment for sales, then when it was blown up altogether. This is why the German economy is taking a hit, with the country’s own national statistics office now qualifying the economic environment as “marked by multiple crises,” as last year’s GDP dropped by 0.3%, with high energy prices as one of the top contributing factors. If mighty gusts of wind could singlehandedly prevent German deindustrialization as industry bails to less fantasy-powered jurisdictions, then Queen Ursula’s speeches alone would have long since done the job. In this latest one, von der Leyen laments the Russian president’s attempt to “blackmail” Europe with fossil fuels while at the same time saying that whatever’s left of them can’t disappear fast enough. If that seems like a contradiction, it is.

The truth is that Putin just served as a convenient pretext for something that Brussels had long wanted to do anyway, but was prevented from doing because of how it feared the average EU citizen would react. It’s now obvious what the impact of the green transition is on inflation as energy costs have skyrocketed. If the EU had pulled a stunt like this by simply caving to Washington’s relentless insistence that it renege on Nord Stream pipeline gas, telling Europeans that it was pivoting to far pricier US liquified natural gas – at least until it could figure out how to use the basic elements of earth to live like a developed country using tactics from the Stone Age – people would have gone ballistic and wondered what the heck was really going on. Putin came along just in time to rescue the transition from the growing skepticism of the climate-change excuse, fueling popularity for the right-wing populist parties calling the Brussels establishment out for its use of it to manipulate citizens into compliance with their agenda.

What agenda, exactly? Profits, first and foremost. Ask the farmers currently protesting all across Europe against a heavy-handed Brussels bureaucracy put into place that increasingly controls their production using everything from climate change policies that put precious farmland into the state’s hands through buyouts of climate change policy offenders, to pro-Ukraine trade policies that crush domestic production in favor of Ukraine’s Western-backed corporate Big Farming, like Bayer, Monsanto, Cargill, and DuPont. When the Ukraine conflict went hot, Queen Ursula just substituted Putin for the climate-change excuse, then kept hammering the need to plough cash into renewable energy projects that just happen to be dominated by European and American big finance and their investors, like US defense contractor General Electric, Germany’s BASF, Shell, and BP. Von der Leyen dropped a hint herself that all this is about not wanting to share the pie outside of her coffee klatch.

“The old fossil fuel economy is all about dependencies. The new clean energy economy is all about inter-dependencies,” she said, pointing out that “clean energy can be produced anywhere.” And that means being able to keep the profits among your friends and supporters. Interesting that she used the term “inter-dependencies” rather than “independence.” You’d think that national sovereignty would be a good thing. But apparently not when it could mean a country being able to tell Brussels to bugger off. Both climate change and national security are profitable causes, first and foremost. They should just be honest about that rather than trying to hard-sell it with virtue-signaling and bogeymen. But it’s the increased authoritarianism to control emissions or the ubiquitous “Russian threat” by introducing policies and tools that can also be used to quash domestic dissent, that are even more troubling. And for Brussels that seems to be a nice bonus.

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“It all started back in 2004, when the first Maidan, dubbed the Orange Revolution, and [the West’s] interference in the presidential elections happened. I think at that moment everyone realized exactly what was happening.”

• Euromaidan Triggered Ukraine’s Nine-Year War on Donbass (Sp.)

The “Russian Spring” in Donbass was a grassroots movement that began when the Euromaidan protests were raging in Kiev, Alexander Matyushin, call sign “Varyag,” former commander of the “Varyag” detachment and war correspondent, told Sputnik. The protests started on November 21, 2013, with up to 2,000 protesters gathering in Kiev’s central square, Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), after then-President Viktor Yanukovich refused to sign an EU association agreement. “Nikolai Azarov, Yanukovich’s closest aide and adviser, at the 11th hour calculated that switching to European standards would indebt Ukraine at a scale one had never imagined,” Matyushin said. “The transition envisaged changing everything, starting from sockets to railway tracks, everything had to be rebuilt. [The Yanukovich government] concluded it was unprofitable and refused [to sign the agreement with the EU – Sputnik]. After that, students took to the streets and were dispersed by Berkut on camera, which caused a wave of indignation in Kiev. From that point Euromaidan started to gain momentum.”

“Historically, the southeast [of Ukraine] has always gravitated towards Russia,” Matyushin said. He recalled that in 1919, Vladimir Lenin, then head of the Soviet government, integrated Donbass into the Ukrainian Socialist Republic against the will of the region’s population. After the collapse of the USSR, the 1994 plebiscite in Donbass concerning the region’s federalization and making Russian a second official language was similarly ignored by the then-Ukrainian government. By the time of Euromaidan, the southeastern and northwestern parts of Ukraine had already been divided over the future of the country: the former sought to integrate with the EU, while the latter wanted to develop economic ties with Russia, according to Matyushin. “The southeast included the territories from Kharkov to Odessa, the so-called Novorossiya, along with Crimea. And separately, there was the northwest, where these Ukrainian [nationalist] tendencies were strong,” he said.

The split became especially visible in 2004, when the Western-backed Orange Revolution on Maidan square brought Viktor Yushchenko to power in Kiev, the war correspondent pointed out. “And all the economic vicissitudes starting from 2004, when there was a severance of relations [between Russia and Ukraine], i.e. the gas war, the sugar war, etc., hit Donbass very hard because its industries relied, in particular, on cheap Russian gas.” In 2005, the Yushchenko government unilaterally initiated a review of tariffs for the transit of Russian gas to Europe through the territory of Ukraine, which led to the termination of a long-term Russo-Ukrainian gas contract that had fixed the fuel price for Kiev at $50 per 1,000 cubic meters until 2010. The increase in gas price dealt a blow to Donbass, which “blamed the Western Ukraine protege Yushchenko” for the economic turndown, Matyushin noted.

Another driver for the split was the glorification of WW2-era Nazi collaborators by the Yushchenko government. Yushchenko openly praised the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)* responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Jews, Russians, Roma, and Poles during Nazi Germany’s occupation of Ukraine and granted the titles of Hero of Ukraine to OUN-UPA leaders Roman Shukhevych and Stepan Bandera in 2007 and 2010, respectively. He also declared Ukrainian NATO membership a priority in 2008. According to the war correspondent, over 10 years – from 2004 to 2014 – the ideological and political rift between western and eastern Ukraine deepened dramatically. The 2014 Euromaidan events became the catalyst for the final division, he underscored.

“We had understood from the very beginning that everything that happened on Maidan could not lead to anything good,” Maya, warrant officer and commander of the support platoon of the 1st Slavic Brigade, told Sputnik. “I think the majority [of Ukrainians] also knew and understood that the West was involved in this. It was not the first time that the West had interfered in the domestic affairs of our state. It all started back in 2004, when the first Maidan, dubbed the Orange Revolution, and [the West’s] interference in the presidential elections happened. I think at that moment everyone realized exactly what was happening.”

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Surprised?

• Ukraine Used US Chemical Weapons Against Russian Troops – MoD

Russia has recorded cases of Ukrainian troops using US chemical munitions during the special military operation, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian armed forces, said on Monday. “During the special military operation, cases of US chemical weapons used by the armed forces of Ukraine were recorded,” Kirillov told a briefing The Ukraine military used US-made chemical grenades dropped from UAVs several times against the Russian armed forces in 2023, and this January, Ukrainian units used an unknown toxic chemical against the Russian troops, which led to burns, nausea and vomiting. “Ukraine, with the complicity of Western countries, does not limit itself to the use of non-lethal chemicals, actively using chemicals from the list. I would like to draw attention to the statement by representatives of the Ukraine armed forces about the availability of such compounds at their disposal, including analogues of the combat toxic substance Tabun, which is included in List 1 of the Convention [on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction],” Kirillov said.

The head of the Kherson region administration, Saldo, was poisoned with ricin in August 2022, the substance was detected in biomedical samples, the head of the Russian Chemical Defense Forces, Kirillov, has said. The head of the Lugansk People Republic Leonid Pasechnik in December 2023 received a severe poisoning with phenolic compounds, said the head of the RHBZ troops Kirillov. Before that, Pasechnik’s poisoning had not been reported. The Russian Defense Ministry reported on the facts of the use of poisonous substances by the Ukrainian military:
• On August 19, 2022, a toxic chemical, an analog of the warfare poisoning agent “Bi-Zet,” was used.
• A similar substance was found on January 28, 2024, during operational-search activities in a cache in Melitopol. It was in vials labeled “Biosporin”.
• On February 8 and 16, 2023, cases of using hydrocyanic acid with drones were registered.
• On January 31, 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used an unknown toxic chemical that caused burns. Analysis showed the presence of a compound known as anthraquinone.
• On December 28, 2023, American-made gas grenades loaded with a substance called “CS” capable of causing skin burns and respiratory paralysis were dropped in the area of Krasny Liman.
• On June 15, 2023, a drone carrying a plastic container with a mixture of chloroacetophenone and chloropicrin was used against Russian troops near Rabotino.

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“Ukraine effectively destroyed Crimea’s agricultural industry..”

• Helping Crimea Recover From Decades Of Ukrainian Misrule (Scott Ritter)

As the Russian military operation against Ukraine approaches its third year, the focus on the ongoing conflict has allowed another anniversary to go relatively unnoticed – it’s now around ten years since the violent events in Kiev’s Maidan square that put in motion the circumstances which precipitated the current conflict. Over the course of five days, from February 18 to 23, 2014, neo-Nazi provocateurs from the Svoboda (All Ukrainian Union ‘Freedom’) Party and the Right Sector, a coalition of far-right Ukrainian nationalists who follow the political teachings of Stepan Bandera and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, engaged in targeted violence against the government of President Viktor Yanukovich. It was designed to remove him from power and replace him with a new, US-backed government. They were successful; Yanukovich fled to Russia on February 23, 2014.

Soon thereafter, the predominantly Russian-speaking population of Crimea undertook actions to separate from the new Ukrainian nationalist government in Kiev. On March 16, 2014, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, both of which at that time were legally considered to be part of Ukraine, held a referendum on whether to join Russia or remain part of Ukraine. Over 97% of the votes cast were in favor of joining Russia. Five days later, on March 21, Crimea formally became part of the Russian Federation. Shortly afterwards, Ukraine built a concrete dam on the North Crimean Canal, a Soviet-era conduit transporting water from the Dnieper River that provided around 85% of the peninsula’s water supply. In doing so, Ukraine effectively destroyed Crimea’s agricultural industry. Then, in November 2015, Ukrainian nationalists blew up pylons carrying power lines from Ukraine to Crimea, thrusting the peninsula into a blackout that prompted a declaration of emergency by the regional government.

The Ukrainian assault on Crimea’s water and electricity was merely an extension of the lack of regard shown to the Crimean population during the two-plus decades that Kiev ruled the peninsula. The local economy was stagnant, and the pro-Russian locals were subjected to a policy of total Ukrainization. In general, the Gross Regional Product (GRP) of Crimea was well below the average of Ukraine (43.6% less in 2000, and 29.5% less in 2013.) In short, the Kiev government made no meaningful attempt to develop Crimea culturally or infrastructurally. The Crimean Peninsula was in a state of decay perpetrated by Ukrainian governments. The damming of the North Crimean Canal and the destruction of the electrical transmission lines were simply the radical expression of the indifference shown by Kiev.

In the years that followed the return of the peninsula to Russian control, there has been a gradual improvement in the economy of Crimea. The Russian government undertook a $680 million program to bolster water supplies which involved repairing long-neglected infrastructure, drilling wells, adding storage capacity, and building desalination plants. While this effort wasn’t sufficient to save much of Crimea’s agriculture, it did provide for the basic needs of the population. The Russian government also constructed the Crimean ‘Energy Bridge’, laying down several undersea energy cables across the Kerch Strait that effectively compensated for the loss of power brought on by the destruction of the Ukrainian power lines.

But the greatest symbol of Russia’s commitment to the people of Crimea was the construction of a $3.7 billion, 19-kilometer-long road-and-rail bridge connecting Krasnodar Region in southern Russia with the Crimean Peninsula. The bridge is the longest in Europe. Construction began in 2016, and it was opened for car traffic in a little more than two years. It has become a symbol of pride for the Russian people and their leadership; President Vladimir Putin personally drove across the bridge during its formal opening ceremony in 2018. The rail line was opened to passenger traffic in 2019, and freight traffic in 2020. The construction of the Crimean Bridge coincided with the building of the Tavrida Highway, a 250-kilometer, $2.5 billion four-lane road connecting the Crimean Bridge with the cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol. Construction of the road began in 2017 and is still ongoing.

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X thread. Lubos Blaha is Vice Speaker of the Slovak Parliament.

• About Navalny’s Death (Lubos Blaha)

It’s sad, of course, that the man died, but it’s strange that the whole West is now cheerfully promoting conspiracy theories here, and his death has not even been investigated. Putin definitely didn’t need his death, Navalny would have had to spend the next decades in prison and he didn’t threaten anyone politically. According to officials, the cause of his death was a blood clot. We don’t know anything else, the case is being investigated, everything else is conspiracies. I will not pretend that I will cry all night because of Navalny now – thousands of children are dying in Gaza and all the media spit on them, they will now talk on air for a week only about this one American agent.

They better look at what the British and Americans are doing to Julian Assange, who is in custody on the verge of death in this glorious West, which prides itself on freedom of speech and protection of journalists. Let them remember how they remained silent when the American journalist Gonzalo Lira, who criticized Zelensky, recently died in Ukrainian custody. They didn’t even remember about it. And today they will moralize about Navalny’s death. Again, it’s always sad when a person dies, but this is pure hypocrisy. – FRWL reports

Read more …

”I can’t predict if and when an attack on NATO territory might occur,”[..] “But it could happen in five to eight years..”

• Germany Gives Timeframe For Possible Russian ‘Attack’ On NATO – Bloomberg (RT)

Russia may attack NATO within the next five to eight years, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has claimed in an interview with Bloomberg. Pistorius was speaking on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference over the weekend. NATO leaders and defense officials met in Germany to discuss current geopolitical challenges, in particular the situation in Ukraine and military aid to Kiev. ”I can’t predict if and when an attack on NATO territory might occur,” Bloomberg quoted Pistorius as saying. “But it could happen in five to eight years,” he claimed. According to the outlet, EU countries are increasingly alarmed over Russia’s success on the battlefield, the potential reduction in US support for the region, and the fact that they are not prepared for an attack.

On Saturday, Russian forces liberated the key town of Avdeevka in a significant battlefield victory, inflicting heavy casualties on Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian defeat came as a $60 billion emergency aid package for the country remains held up in the US Congress. “The problem with Europe is it doesn’t provide enough of a deterrence on its own because it hasn’t taken enough of an initiative,” J.D. Vance, a Republican senator and an opponent of Ukraine aid said in Munich, as quoted by Bloomberg. “The American security blanket has allowed European security to atrophy,” he added.

German tabloid Bild reported last month that the German Defense Ministry was developing a plan of action in case Russia attacks a NATO state following a victory in its conflict with Ukraine. In December, Bild cited the intelligence service of a European country as saying that Russia could attack Europe in the winter of 2024-25. Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the same month that Russia has never had plans to attack NATO. The fears of a ‘Russian threat’ in the EU are being fueled by the US, as Washington fears losing its dominance on the European continent, Putin said.

Read more …

Idiot.

• Czech PM Labels Protesting Farmers ‘Supporters Of Moscow’ (RT)

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has claimed farmers protesting against EU agriculture policies, environmental requirements and high energy prices are “supporters of Russia”. On Monday, hundreds of tractors blocked off sections of Prague and disrupted traffic outside the country’s Agriculture Ministry as demonstrators demanded that the EU’s Green Deal, which calls for regulations on the use of certain chemicals and greenhouse gas emissions, be rejected. The farmers have argued that the Brussels’ proposals place a heavy burden on their businesses, making products more expensive and less competitive, especially when compared to non-EU imports, such as those coming from Ukraine.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), however, Fiala dismissed the demonstration and suggested that the farmers who took their tractors to Prague on Monday have “little to do with the fight for better conditions for farmers.” “The demonstration is organized by people who, for example, do not hide their support for the Kremlin and pursue goals other than the interests of farmers,” Fiala wrote, adding that the Czech government would only deal with those who “really represent farmers and talk together about what our agriculture needs.” He also noted that Monday’s protests in the Czech capital were not organized by the country’s largest farmers organizations, such as the Agrarian Chamber, the Agricultural Union, and the Association of Private Agriculture.

The three groups have announced plans to hold a separate demonstration against the EU’s green policies on Thursday in a joint action with farmers’ associations from other EU member states. The Agrarian Chamber has stated that farmers will lead their tractors and other machinery in convoys to the Czech border, but have stressed that the demonstration would be symbolic and will not interfere with the operation of the border. Similar protests have swept the EU in recent months, taking place in countries like Poland, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia, and Slovenia. Demonstrators have been demanding more government aid for the agriculture sector, less bureaucracy from Brussels, as well as tighter controls on imports from non-EU countries.

Read more …

“As a result of the extensive damage the ship suffered, it is now at risk of potential sinking in the Gulf of Aden..”

• Houthis Attacked UK Ship in Gulf of Aden, Vessel Severely Damaged (Sp.)

Yemen’s Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah, has attacked a UK Rubymar cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Monday, adding that the vessel was severely damaged.”The Naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a specific military operation, targeting a British ship in the Gulf of Aden, ‘RUBYMAR,’ with a number of appropriate naval missiles. Among the results of the operation were the following: The ship suffered catastrophic damages and came to a complete halt. As a result of the extensive damage the ship suffered, it is now at risk of potential sinking in the Gulf of Aden,” Saree said in a statement on Telegram. The Yemeni air defenses were also able to shoot down a US-made Drone, MQ9, “with a suitable missile while it was carrying out hostile missions against our country on behalf of the Zionist entity,” the spokesman added.

Read more …

“our” government in Washington is financing the replacement of American Democracy subject to the will of the people with the government’s protection of the elite institutions..”

• 2024 Is the Last Year of Free Speech and Democracy in the Western World (PCR)

Tyranny is easy to establish over peoples who have confidence in their Constitutional rights and integrity of their institutions. The more patriotic the population is, the more susceptible it is to deception and betrayal by government. Try telling patriots what is happening to them, and they will call you a commie for speaking badly about their beloved country. Christian evangelicals have no opposition to the evil that is engulfing us, because they have been brainwashed that they will escape it by being wafted up to Heaven. The growth of evil is actually their escape from a sinful world into Heaven. The more evil, the sooner their escape. For most of the rest, liberal interventionists and hegemonic neoconservatives have taught that America is exceptional and indispensable, so how can anything go wrong.

Combine these awareness-blockers with the fact that uncomfortable truths are a bad news turnoff, and that censorship is being established as a national security matter with the argument that it makes us safe and “protects democracy.” Consequently, the criminalization of truth is rushing ahead. Even the word “truth” is slated to become a hate word that cannot be spoken. Any information that you have saved that helps you to understand the tyranny that is engulfing us should be stored in thumb drives and not in the cloud as all information undermining of the “consensus-building institutions” will be consigned to the memory hole. [..] Note: The Atlantic Council, one of the main anti-democratic “consensus-building (false narrative) organizations,” is possibly associated with the Burisma/Hunter Biden scandal.

Burisma, a Ukrainian company, put Hunter Biden on its board and paid him large sums of money for his father’s protection against prosecution of the company by Ukrainian authorities. US Vice President Biden actually admitted on TV, indeed he was proud of it, that he used billions of dollars in US taxpayers money to threaten Ukraine to withhold the US aid unless Ukraine fired the prosecutor, an offer Ukraine could not refuse. Atlantic Council board members Sally Painter is under investigation by the US Justice (sic) Department for illegal lobbying on behalf of Burisma. She and former Atlantic Council board member Karen Tramontano created a partnership between the Atlantic Council and Burisma. Burisma contributed $300,000 to the Atlantic Council. Perhaps it was the purchase price for Burisma officials to speak at Atlantic Council forums and for prestigious Atlantic Council members to speak at a Burisma conference in Ukraine in 2018. All of this to show American protection of the company to Ukrainian prosecutorial authorities.

In 2021 the United Arab Emirates Embassy donated more than $1 million to the Atlantic Council, and the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs added another $100,00-250,000. This might have been the purchase price for the Atlantic Council to use its influence to have the UN choose the UAE for the location of its 2023 climate change conference. Apparently, the Atlantic Council did not make the required or proper disclosures of the UAE’s donations. The Atlantic Council, a principal member of the anti-democratic censorship industry is supported by the hapless, unaware American taxpayers by grants of taxpayer’s money from the Departments of Defense, State, and Energy and by the US Agency for International Development. Thus, it is clear that “our” government in Washington is financing the replacement of American Democracy subject to the will of the people with the government’s protection of the elite institutions that have changed the definition of democracy to mean the service of their agendas.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Elon law

 

 

 

 

Deep sleep

 

 

 

 

Covers
https://twitter.com/i/status/1759649058069623161

 

 


I said no pictures!

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Home › Forums › Debt Rattle DayX 2024

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  • February 20, 2024 at 9:45 am #153147
    Raúl Ilargi Meijer
    Keymaster

    Vincent van Gogh Lane near Arles 1888   • Julian Assange Judge Previously Acted For MI6 (Dec.UK) • Brandon, Rotting in the (White) House (Kunstle
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle DayX 2024]

    February 20, 2024 at 12:10 pm #153148
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Formatting. Test.

    February 20, 2024 at 12:11 pm #153149
    Dr. D
    Participant

    I like that painting.

    There’s a genocide in Gaza, so I arrested Glenn Greenwald of Brazil and Norman Finkelstein of NY. I did not arrest Catholic Biden of Delaware. So, justice is served. All the right people attacked, all the right people, let free.

    In Understanding Power, [Jewish] Chomsky wrote that Finkelstein that if he exposed Israel: “I think it’s an interesting topic, but I warned him, if you follow this, you’re going to get in trouble—because you’re going to expose the American intellectual community as a gang of frauds, and they are not going to like it, and they’re going to destroy you.”–Wiki(edited)

    So I had Chomsky arrested too. That’s how you stop genocide, right? Arrest people completely unrelated in time, distance, and outlook?

    Bibi has nose hair, Chomsky has nose hair, they’re all the same! Blah blah blah: Tell it to the Marines. OBVIOUSLY if there is a double murder on the coast of the Mediterranean, an AMERICAN in New Jersey and a Brazilian in the South Atlantic must be guilty, amirite? They have very, VERY long arms, and Chomsky even longer from CA Berkley. They deny it, but: We All Know. Fighting against this every day of their lives is just a cover. An elaborate front they maintain every moment from birth to death.

    Really, they’re guilty. And Biden is totally innocent. Along with Milley, Austin, Pelosi, Graham. Good Christians, every one. Yup! That’s what I did, and I don’t think we’re diverting the subject at all. Arrest away, good soldier!

    FinkelsteinTAE

    Deeply. Elaborate. Front. You see, a house divided DOES stand, and demons DO throw themselves out! That’s #Winning!

    “Almost Entire Population of California Under Weather Alerts Amid Atmospheric River Pounding

    But. Muh Desert. Forever. No more crops. “Fallout: New Vegas” deserts for 1,000 years. End of all humanity, dogs and cats living together. Cormac’s “The Road.” You mean EVERY MODEL WAS COMPLETELY DEAD WRONG IN ONLY A FEW YEARS?

    When can I expect my apology and reparations payment? Only fair: you pick mine pocket, I pick thine. That’s how we all get rich, right? By Robbing each other?

    (No. Only ONE way. Because commies and college students do no work and have no money. So they think robbing is good! Works for me!)

    “Drug-Use, Robberies, & Public Sex: Cali Public Library Forced To Close Due To Rampant Illegal Activity”

    What is a “Woman”? It’s not illegal. Like Chicago Mayor said, we just make everything legal and poof! No crime! All fixed! You guys are such squares. What are you the Inquisition? The Gestaspo? You can’t judge me. …Heard it all my life.

    “After winning the presidency in 2016, pundits thought that Trump would revert America to an era of racism.”

    No, they planned to MAKE him do that. They’d been plotting, planning, staging, and encouraging that for decades. Since they opened the lid on that with Rush Limbaugh in ’92. So they were very pissed off when that turn into Nazi Homeland didn’t materialize. Then tried again. Then again. Under Bush, “Homeland” scurity “Trrrrrrrrits! In me bed!!!” Then Obama. They hate blacks! Muslims! Frrrrnnnerrsss. Then like most “Plans”, just pretended it happened anyway. All their Plans fail, but thanks to “Psychosis” they never notice.

    “Trump’s rhetoric is incendiary, but beyond his uncouth remarks,” Are they? “There are very fine people on both sides, good Americans” “…And not the Nazis who I disapprove entirely.”

    “[Trump] is not vastly different from other presidents.” Uh-huh. The only thing different from him is the reporting. Trump is visibly to the left of Clinton, pro-gun control, pro gay marriage, and Clinton who ran on immigration, and Obama, who was “Deporter-in-chief”. Only the reporting. Only the lies.

    “Trump revoked America’s participation in the Paris Agreement that intended to limit warming to 1.5 degrees despite lacking a coherent economic case for doing so.”

    The NATO Plan worked so well, they set up a Climate Plan the same: America pays, everyone else makes excuses. Germany gives ½ of 1% GDP and lets us shoulder the load, crippling ourselves. China and India offer nothing at all but go the other direction at the speed of light. Perfect. Like NATO, it’s doing Zero for national security or its stated purpose, but it’s gangbusters for crippling your competition and transferring wealth.

    February 20, 2024 at 12:16 pm #153150
    EoinW
    Participant

    Thank you NY Times/University of Houston. I’ll sleep better tonight knowing Biden is #14.

    Now imagine if he’d joined Dorothy and gone to see the Wizard. Brandon could have been #1!!!

    February 20, 2024 at 12:18 pm #153151
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Medvedev Warns Of Nukes On Berlin, London & Washington Before Russia Would Return To 1991 Borders

    Maybe, but that’s been Russian policy since 1917, 1945, and always. We can’t understand this because we say “It would be incendiary to say we’ll just cede and give away Texas.” Oh, wait.

    As Kunstler said, ““We are going to have the most diverse and inclusive civilizational collapse in history.” — Oilfield Rando

    “Nuclear Power Cannot Lose In War (Medvedev)

    Yes, but they WANT the war. They NEED 6 Billion people murdered. It’s their only hope of surviving this.

    “Cummins Fined $1.6 Billion Over Allegations It Outfitted Dodge Rams With Software To Cheat Emissions”

    Fillin’ that budget gap with more extortion. THEY ALL DO THIS. And THEY ALL KNOW. Therefore, who they fine is just who’s not “A Pal” that day when Vinny comes up short. And ya know? That’s what I want out of my government and my law. To be run like this. Then bookies like Madoff run the numbers.

    “Hillary Clinton Claims “Wannabe Dictator” Trump Will Pull US Out Of NATO, “Militarize American Law Enforcement”
    “Why is Donald Trump so enamoured of Putin?”

    Wow. Except for “The Opposite”. YOU militarized law enforcement, starting hard under Clinton (Waco, hoping to attack and kill all Americans who resist). And under Bush but also Obama. Trump was so enamoured of Putin he armed Ukraine with billions of dollars, highly risky weapons like Javelins, and put on the strongest sanctions ever seen outside of a war. Did you forget? A: Nope, she’s just a liar. “We Make S–t Up!”

    “”Julian Assange is dying for your right to know what your government is doing behind your back”

    I read that as “Julian is dying to know what your government is doing behind your back”, which is more clever.

    Roger Waters: U2 is now radically pro-war, pro-CIA. Green Day sucks Pfizer. That leaves one rocker left.

    Liz Cheney: It’s difficult to find women who are this violently psychotic, murdering maniacs, but they sweep the globe daily on TikTok searching for them, creating them… The more children they kill, the better the women they are!

    “Craig Murray says he’s at the courthouse, but doesn’t know if he can attend the hearing. Julian doesn’t know either if he can attend his own hearing.”

    Well that’s Justice: Can’t see the charges. Can’t see the evidence. Can’t face your accusers. Can’t present your case. Case is in faraway, foreign, hand-picked jurisdiction. Case is held 5 or 10 years from now without bail. Did I miss anything? Yes. Lots. They CAN spy on you. They CAN tamper with evidence. They CAN hand-pick and swap out judges, lawyers, jurisdictions whenever convenient…

    If only somebody had written a document on this and signed it in blood! Backed with 200 Million guns. Then we wouldn’t have all these courtroom problems! https://nccs.net/blogs/americas-founding-documents/bill-of-rights-amendments-1-10

    ““What have they got left? AI-contrived photos of Mr. Trump having sex with a manatee in the intercoastal waterway off Mar-a-Lago?”

    Yes. And more. You ain’t seen nothing yet.

    “• Democratic Lawmaker Urges Vote Against Biden (Sp.)

    This shouldn’t be a problem. They just appointed a foreign national to the election committee. Now that’s in CA, but I don’t see why all foreigners shouldn’t just run all American voting offices, do you, you racist?

    “In the last week, Joe Biden had flat-out lied in the most egregious fashion in so many ways.”

    Sure. But that’s not new and no one cares. It took 30,000 child deaths – and for them to be all non-Americans – for Rashida Talib to maybe START to care. Why shouldn’t he lie MORE??? Lots and lots more? No one is arrested.

    “Linda Thomas-Greenfield” another psychotic woman maniac mass murderer, helping genocides. Where do they find them all??? Oh well. She has a name. She has an address. She has a crime. We can arrest her.

    “wind and solar weren’t ready for prime time when the cheap Russian gas tap was effectively turned off –This is why the German economy is taking a hit”

    First paying 10x for almost NO American gas. Then I guess that was too helpful and Biden shut it off. “We” are trying to collapse Europe. And IF that happens, Europe has “no choice” (but never discount their thick headedness) to re-join Russia and stop the war. Who would that leave out and destroy? London. MacKinder. World Island. London loses the Rimlands.

    Biden is doing everything to make this happen. Far more than Trump could dream. No one notices? Coincidence, I guess?

    February 20, 2024 at 12:20 pm #153152
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Euromaidan Triggered Ukraine’s Nine-Year War Genocide on Donbass (Sp.)

    How much did we pay? Was it worth it? $6B was just the 2014 part. And just the admitted part. We paid $6B before then too so would seem likely and likely half the money is dark. So $24B then. And $150B to now. $200 Billion? That’s nothing! We lost $2,000 Billion in losing Iraq and Afghanistan! We have not yet begun to lose! We can lose 10x faster than you can imagine!

    Every time they lose they get rich and promoted. Show me the incentives…

    ““We had understood from the very beginning that everything that happened on Maidan could not lead to anything good,”

    We feel the same way for every county in America outside of 5 coastal cities. “Nothing they do, done, or are planning to do, will lead to anything good.” They’re very open about it. I’m not making it up that they want every person in Michigan dead. Every person in Wisconsin outside of U-Madison. Just ask every college student there.

    The tactics are the same, because the people are the same. And so the language is the same.

    “In general, the Gross Regional Product (GRP) of Crimea America was well below the average of Ukraine The Coasts (43.6% less in 2000, and 29.5% less in 2013.) In short, the Kiev Federal government made no meaningful attempt to develop Crimea America culturally or infrastructurally. The Crimean Peninsula 45 Flyover states was in a state of decay perpetrated by Ukrainian Federal governments. The damming of the North Crimean Canals and ports and the destruction of the electrical transmission lines grid were simply the radical expression of the indifference shown by Kiev D.C..

    Yup. Except I’m pretty sure our GDP and income is Waaaaaay below 43% Why not follow absolute death rates? A few hundred thousand? A million a year? “A good start”. “If you can’t rent a moving van, you deserve to die.” — Every Journalist ever.

    “About Navalny’s Death (Lubos Blaha)

    Some MI6 agents are more equaller than others. British Lives Matter.

    “Russia may attack NATO within the next five to eight years, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has claimed”

    Okay, so this is The Plan. And like Ukraine, Syria, rest-of-planet, you are going to MAKE this happen. Got it. Thanks! …Now why can’t we seem to win and Russia seems to know all our plans ahead of time? It’s Donald Trump, I tell you!

    “Czech PM Labels Protesting Farmers ‘Supporters Of Moscow’ (RT)

    They are in retreat and disorder everywhere. WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO? The FARMERS know whether they are Russian agents or not. (They’re not). When you just say dumb s—t like this, people just think you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re an incompetent oppressor, and they’ll kick you out to find someone to oppress them more effectively. I don’t mind, but it shows you’re at your end.

    “Houthis Attacked UK Ship in Gulf of Aden, Vessel Severely Damaged (Sp.)

    Didn’t hear a thing, must be a blackout. That means they are in retreat and have no “Plan” of response. At all. They don’t know what to do, what they’re doing, what they will do, and whether to s—t or go blind as they say here.

    In news, comments are “They won’t allow anyone through the Red Sea” so that part of universal lying is still working well. No, They are allowing EVERYONE through the Red Sea. Only Israel. But when U-SUK become the Israeli Navy and Air Force, they added us to the list. But only then. We then bombed them, and they bombed us back.

    “2024 Is the Last Year of Free Speech and Democracy in the Western World (PCR)

    We will surrender in the beaches! We will surrender in the hills! Uh, Paul? YOU may shut up, cower, and hide under your desk. But how do you propose making the REST of America shut up? They won’t even stop SHOOTING each other, much less cower in fearful silence.

    “The more patriotic the population is, the more susceptible it is to deception and betrayal by government. Try telling patriots what is happening to them, and they will call you a commie for speaking badly about their beloved country.”

    You’re like McConnell and McCarthy saying “We’re a white country club party”. No, that’s just who YOU speak to. Those ten people. PATRIOTS HAVE BEEN TELLING YOU for 30 years what’s happening to the country. You’ve been way, way behind the curve. No one under 70 has the slightest hesitation in telling you what’s wrong with the country in elaborate, aggressive detail. Nor does it occur to them for a second that it might be anti-patriotic. They consider it to be the height of patriotism.(which it is). It’s not me, not us, it’s YOU. Get out more often. Go do a miniature golf. Stay over at an RV park. Drink a beer. What you’re saying ended THIRTY years ago and hasn’t been true outside of Washington for a single day since then.

    Anyway, we all suck, we’re all going to lay down, we’re all going to die, so we should all give up, it’s over. Right? That’s the kind of Patriotism you’re trying to encourage in us?

    ““[Twitter] does not have a choice but to obey local governments. If we don’t obey local government laws, we will get shut down. We do our best to provide free speech that is possible under the law.” — Elon Musk

    Not exactly true, but it would be the biggest Pandora’s Box ever opened. I’d station Twitter in Algeria and send it out free speech planetwide. Ask them to try to serve papers on us. Now anyone would half a brain knows they would then bomb, attack, invade, and occupy Algeria if he did. Do you see the problem now? ALL ACTIONS END IN WAR. That’s the “or else”. There will be a distributed ledger for Twitter sometime. But it’s not ready yet. PS, Russia now owns the “Or Else”, and Avdiika has fallen in a rout with no lines behind them. The nation is in disarray in every possible way. (Duran) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu1ZaE8cCLo

    Cloward-Pivon is a Conspiracy Theory, that’s why like all the other Conspiracy Theories it is printed, documented, and substantiated with documentary evidence on consensus-reality mainstream site Wikipedia.

    Gravity is a conspiracy theory. It is written in Wikipedia the exact same way.

    February 20, 2024 at 12:51 pm #153153
    Celticbiker
    Participant

    The Cloward Piven strategy was, obviously, a complete success. Nice to have $ on your side. Communist banker sounds like an oxymoron., but it’s hand in glove, money and total control. Will they top their highest scoring game, the Bolshevik Revolution, 60-80 million dead? Probably, bit kinder and gentler, needles and drugs, instead of bullets to the head, starvation or gutted like a deer. For now, thats reserved for Palestine. For now.

    February 20, 2024 at 1:27 pm #153154
    Dr. D
    Participant

    All 45 flyover states are a nuclear meltdown zone? Here’s 60 seconds on that.

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ucgOJ2Ml_VE Gary, Indiana.

    Oh and in 1890 and 1960: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XihLS-jA_Dg

    But don’t worry, it’s all our fault! We won’t take it out on no one. No sirrie! Couldn’t be happier. Yup, yup, totally gave up, surrendered, ain’t comin’ for you at all!

    February 20, 2024 at 2:18 pm #153155
    zerosum
    Participant

    Presentation from your favorite Blogger
    conspiracies/ hypocrisy
    Deaf and Dumb
    Relevant or Not
    Facts or Fictions
    Manipulators/puppeteers/Liars or Puppets – Navalny, Hillary, Lyz

    ——–

    X thread. Lubos Blaha is Vice Speaker of the Slovak Parliament.

    • About Navalny’s Death (Lubos Blaha)

    ———–

    Real or illusion

    https://swentr.site/russia/592548-econstructing-crimea-ukrainian-misrule/
    Scott Ritter: Helping Crimea recover from decades of Ukrainian misrule is a tough but necessary challenge
    “Ukraine effectively destroyed Crimea’s agricultural industry..”

    ———–
    Read more ….

    2024 Is the Last Year of Free Speech and Democracy in the Western World


    2024 Is the Last Year of Free Speech and Democracy in the Western World

    Paul Craig Roberts

    Don’t let the alarmist sound of this column’s title put you off. It is not a “conspiracy theory.” This column is a factual report as you will see if you read on.

    ———–

    February 20, 2024 at 2:27 pm #153158
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Putin – Medvedev. Good Cop – Bad Cop.

    Where have I seen that before? Oh, yeah. Police procedural shows on TV.

    It’s a way to deal with suspects of crime (all humans, basically), who often need a little help seeing the difference between right and wrong, between good and bad, and between those all important two possibilities of “Getting-away-with-it” and “Doing-some-hard-time”.

    This episode is a doozy.

    February 20, 2024 at 2:47 pm #153159
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    illustrated example (a 3 panel cartoon, actually, but it makes a point) https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/comics/dustin-by-steve-kelley-and-jeff-parker/ss-BB1iyV8B?ocid=socialshare&pc=U531&cvid=eff8c4d1ed6040fa9aa86a48f3b2be84&ei=217

    February 20, 2024 at 3:09 pm #153160
    zerosum
    Participant

    Citizens say, “Ceasefire.” Gov. are liars and say, “We are not at war.”

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-says-nato-troops-disguised-mercenaries-control-air-defenses-ukraine

    Russia Says NATO Troops, Disguised As Mercenaries, Control Air Defenses In Ukraine

    While no evidence was provided for the claim, it has been well-known that Western advisers train the Ukrainians on these systems, likely in neighboring countries like Poland.

    MLRS and HIMARS have played a huge and crucial role on the battlefield. In 2022 it was even being reported that these weapons were tipping the scales in Ukraine’s favor.

    The MLRS stands for “Multiple-Launch Rocket System” and rapid fires several surface-to-surface missiles. It is highly mobile and must be operated by a crew of three.

    Kremlin leaders, including President Putin, have frequently cast the war as one where the ultimate enemy is the United States, the UK, and all of NATO. Moscow has vowed to directly attack any foreign fighters or equipment found on the battlefield and will hold external nations responsible, according to repeat prior warnings.

    February 20, 2024 at 3:13 pm #153161
    Red
    Participant

    The four steps of the Cloward-Piven Strategy:
    1. Overload and Break the Welfare System
    2. Have Chaos Ensue
    3. Take Control in the Chaos
    4. Implement Socialism and Communism through Government Force
    What if step 4 is replaced with; balkanize the USA and totally remove that force from the world stage? As it stands now it is the one that stands to lose the most from the reforms that are being worked on by the UN and WHO. Chase them from the world stage as we’re seeing now in the ME and else where. At the same time orchestrate the disruption within the borders of the homeland as they have been doing in foreign lands the last 70 or so years. Who stands to benefit most from this? China! Russia is to China what Canada is to USA, produce of raw materials and consumer of said materials. The numbers even line up some what, 1.4 billion to 145 million. Canada vs USA 35 million to 350 million a ten fold difference. Some say it’s like a chess game or a game of Risk. Not even a close analogy, there are multiple pieces moving at the same time and no dice involved. Russia’s achilles heal is their belief in legally binding agreements, they continued to honour their sales of FF to Europe even after the sanctions, frozen assets and pipe line sabotage. Think this is lost on the Chinese? They have signed multiple contracts with Russia for gas, oil and grains, off the top of my head. As well as military cooperation on many fronts. It is very late in the game, at this point a course correction is all but impossible. We have law fare and censorship running amuck in the west, i.e. more confusion. The level of oppression is beginning to suffocate the few that can see it. Those with the means and foresight are leaving for greener pastures, where ever that may be? Southeast Asia seems to be drawing quite a few, right or wrong. The rest of this decade should be quite the shit show. Playing the blame game isn’t going to solve anything. Expecting the legal system to correct anything is at best wishful thinking, I go back to law fare as to why it won’t. Corporate law is at the top of the legal pyramid and all below bow to it. Replacing it is easy philosophically but in reality there is a big time gap between removing the old system and installing a new one. From the bottom up is often mentioned but the old system won’t view that with any favour, I.E. Amos Miller in Pennsylvania, this one is just the beginning and it looks like Robert Barnes has saved his ass but it will continue to happen in other places until the feds get a precedent. In my humble assessment if it’s the top down road you wish to follow then corporate law has to be made subservient to criminal and civil law, not necessarily in that order, if it exists at all.
    https://conventionofstates.com/news/amish-farmer-raided-by-feds-wins-court-battle-against-usda-mandates/

    Just rambling, now back to your regularly scheduled program.

    February 20, 2024 at 3:24 pm #153162
    phoenixvoice
    Participant

    Any information that you have saved that helps you to understand the tyranny that is engulfing us should be stored in thumb drives and not in the cloud as all information undermining of the “consensus-building institutions” will be consigned to the memory hole.

    A word to the wise: Don’t use thumb drives to store valuable information. They are notorious for going bad, and when they do the data is often irretrievable. (Seriously — unless it is a name brand thumb drive for which the manufacturer has published what is needed to access the “lost” data or an identical, working one can be located to swap parts in a high-tech clean room environment.). Thumb drives are excellent for short-term transfers of data — they are highly portable.

    Do “air gap” your important data, storing it in a way where it does not touch any computer or device that is connected to the internet. Do have it stored in at least two places. And, a faraday cage may be a good idea.

    February 20, 2024 at 4:05 pm #153164
    John Day
    Participant

    Pondering Potential Peace https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/pondering-potential-peace

    Driving to Yoakum and back yesterday, mowing and pulling weeds, gave me well over 8 hours to consider how the 75 year war between “Israel” and the nations of the Levant and Arab world might conclude, perhaps starting this year.
    Big Serge’s analysis in “The Age of Zugzwang” was that either “Israel” is defeated militarily as a prelude to a “political solution”, or Israel completes its genocide of Palestinians on the land that Zionists call “Israel”. The nature of the Zionist state of “Israel” does not allow it to compromise, which would involve giving up lands it has taken, and recognizing land rights, human rights and civil rights of native Palestinians. https://bigserge.substack.com/p/the-age-of-zugzwang

    Alastair Crooke, The Resistance Has a Plan for Israel. But on the Other Side, Fantastical U.S. Stratagems Ensure a Cascading Failure
    ​ Nasrallah outlined what is clearly the agreed Axis of resistance’s overarching strategic plan. (There has been a flurry of meetings between senior Axis principals over the last week, across the region, for which Nasrallah is speaking):
    ​ “We are committed to fighting Israel until it is off the map. A strong Israel is dangerous to Lebanon; but a deterred Israel, defeated and exhausted, is less of a danger to Lebanon”.
    ​ “The national interest of Lebanon, the Palestinians, and the Arab world is that Israel leaves this battle defeated: Therefore, we are committed to Israel’s defeat”.
    ​ Put bluntly, the Axis has its vision of the conflict’s outcome. And it is a “deterred, defeated and exhausted” Israeli State. By implication, it is an Israel that has relinquished the Zionist project – one that is reconciled to the notion of living as Jews between the River and the Sea – albeit with rights no different to others living there (i.e. Palestinians).

    The Resistance Has a Plan for Israel. But on the Other Side, Fantastical U.S. Stratagems Ensure a Cascading Failure

    ​ The Israeli plan of genocide, clearing Palestinians off the “land of Israel” has been proceeding in fits and starts in the West Bank area, and seeks a decisive “ethnic cleansing” in ancient Gaza. The cities of Gaza have been destroyed by massive bombing, as have the hospitals and schools. There is no water, fuel or electricity, and aid trucks sit parked for miles in Egypt, starving Palestinians to death, an Israeli success nears completion.

    Opinion: I’m an American doctor who went to Gaza. What I saw wasn’t war — it was annihilation
    https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-02-16/rafah-gaza-hospitals-surgery-israel-bombing-ground-offensive-children

    ​ Israel acts with such impunity partly because it has nuclear weapons, which it can deliver via F-16 jets, ballistic missiles and submarine launched ballistic missiles. Israel has a military doctrine, the “Samson Option”, which dictates that if the Jewish state of Israel is about to fall in a war, then it will unleash its nuclear arsenal against the world, as far as it can reach. Supposedly, implementing this option was discussed at one point in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, when Egyptian and Syrian forces were gaining ground, early in that conflict.
    Israel has long had undue influence in the halls of government and finance of the UK and US, as well, and in the conjoined spy services of CIA, MI-6 and Mossad, but the nuclear warheads must absolutely be dealt with in any “Axis of Resistance” plan for victory.

    The Israeli navy has 2 large missile corvettes and 6 German Dolphin submarines armed with missiles, which are assumed to be nuclear capable. The Israeli navy is mainly harbored at Haifa, but not only there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Navy

    It seems that prior to proceeding with a land war against Israeli forces, an alliance intent on actually defeating the Israeli military would need to disable Israeli nuclear weapons with some kind of first strike. Otherwise, why bother? None of the Axis of Resistance forces have nuclear weapons, so how could that possibly be an option?

    Last November Iran announced the upgraded Fattah-2 hypersonic missile, with a range that can supposedly reach al of “Israel”.

    February 20, 2024 at 4:06 pm #153165
    John Day
    Participant

    Last November Iran announced the upgraded Fattah-2 hypersonic missile, with a range that can supposedly reach al of “Israel”.
    ​ Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) unveiled the new ballistic missile “Fattah 2” equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) warhead…
    ​ The fully indigenous missile is equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) warhead, capable of maneuvering at hypersonic speeds ranging between 5 to 20 Mach, equal to about 6,100 and 24,000 kilometers per hour, depending on its design and utility. An HGV warhead allows the ballistic missile to significantly alter its trajectory after launch.
    ​ Conventional ballistic missiles follow a predictable ballistic trajectory and are vulnerable to air defense systems. The in-flight maneuverability of HGVs makes them unpredictable, enabling them to effectively evade air defenses.
    ​ The first version of the Fattah ballistic missile, with a range of 1,400 kilometers, was unveiled in June. The precision-guided missile features a two-stage solid fuel engine with a maximum speed of Mach 15 (18,522 km/hour) on impact. The missile can bypass and destroy air defense systems, and it possesses excellent maneuverability and stealth ability to pass through radar systems.
    https://caspiannews.com/news-detail/iran-reveals-cutting-edge-hypersonic-missile-2023-11-21-0/

    ​Newsweek, 3/23/2023 , Did Russian Kinzhal Missile Take Out ‘NATO Command Center’ in Ukraine? (Yes, but they pretend that a Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missile shooting 200 meters down the ventilation shaft to destroy a NATO command bunker in western Ukraine was too far fetched to be real. Google doesn’t give me any of the good links to the story.) https://www.newsweek.com/russia-nato-ukraine-command-center-strike-kinzhal-missile-1791805

    Is the Iranian Fattah-2 missile as accurate as the Russian Kinzhal? How much sharing did they do on the targeting and guidance systems? Nobody is saying on the internet.

    The Axis of resistance has done a lot of consulting in recent weeks. Have they agreed upon concerted action, simultaneous attacks upon the Israeli military if it ramps up the genocide in Rafah and ejects Palestinians into Egypt’s Sinai desert? Netanyahu has less to risk as long as he just starves these families to death and doesn’t trigger a concerted attack by driving them into the walled-area Egypt just constructed. The conservative Israeli move is to starve millions of Palestinians to death, and they hare halfway there. The Axis of Resistance has not been able to get food and supplies in through the Israeli blockade. It would require concerted military intervention to force the issue.

    ​ Gaza truce talks ‘unpromising’: Qatar PM​ , Hamas is reportedly planning to suspend talks until enough humanitarian aid is allowed into the Gaza Strip
    ​ A deal “does not appear very close,” Netanyahu said on Saturday. He had previously called Hamas’ terms for an agreement “delusional.”
    The Israeli premier also vowed that the Rafah operation would commence, despite repeated international warnings over the threat posed to civilians and displaced.
    https://thecradle.co/articles/gaza-truce-talks-unpromising-qatar-pm

    ​ US Threatens to Veto New Gaza Ceasefire Resolution at UN Security Council​ , The US has vetoed two similar resolutions
    ​ The US is threatening to veto a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza at the UN Security Council as the US continues to provide political cover for the Israeli massacre of Palestinians.

    US Threatens to Veto New Gaza Ceasefire Resolution at UN Security Council

    ​ ICJ Hearings to Examine 57 Years of Israeli Occupation of Palestine​ [If the​ world would recognize a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders​, that would be something to defend. Russia keeps saying ​”1967 borders and a 2-state solution​” are necessary.​ Accepting this kind of plan would save-face for Israeli politicians and generals in the face of strikes, sharply reducing their nuclear capabilities.]
    ​ “Decades of injustice will finally face scrutiny,” said U.N. human rights official Francesca Albanese ahead of next week’s Hague hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s illegal occupation.
    ​ More than 50 countries are set to participate in next week’s hearings at the International Court of Justice focusing on Israel’s illegal 57-year occupation of Palestine, a forum that follows the Hague tribunal’s finding last month that Israel is “plausibly” committing genocide in occupied Gaza.
    ​ The ICJ—also known as the World Court—will hold a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestine, which dates to the Israeli conquest of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, Syrian Golan Heights, and Egyptian Sinai Peninsula during the 1967 Six-Day War.
    https://www.commondreams.org/news/israeli-occupation

    ​ Currently, Israel limits risk of a concerted all-fronts attack by the Axis of Resistance, by not overtly assaulting Rafah refugees and driving them into Egyptian Sinai, but starving them and attriting them with sniper fire and hospital bombings, as disease moves through their crowded and weakened bodies. Israel can say it will militarily assault Rafah, which will keep global attention focused there, but refrain from that action, maintaining tension.

    February 20, 2024 at 4:07 pm #153166
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, threatened on Sunday that Israel will launch an assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah if Hamas does not release the remaining Israeli hostages by Ramadan, which begins on March 10 this year.​

    Gantz: Israel Will Launch Assault on Rafah by Ramadan If Hostages Not Released

    The axis of Resistance needs to take out some Israeli missile cruisers and submarines at port or on the seas with precision missiles, while also hitting some nuclear-weapons bunkers nearby and near airfields. Anti-aircraft systems such as S-300, S-400 or S-500 would need to be used to prevent F-16s with nuclear weapons from taking off. Russia world need to say, “we must insist that you don’t launch any ballistic missiles or let any F-16s take off until this calms down a bit”. Russia would have a clear interest in preventing Israeli nuclear retaliation, as would the world, including the US.
    The weakening of the Israeli nuclear wild-card would allow actual negotiations towards a two-state solution with 1967 borders to take place. Armed Israeli “settlers” would need to relocate. It is hard to imagine the Israeli military relocating them, but not impossible. Lots of money to hand out would help. Other national armies might deign to wear the blue helmets, such as Turkey. Would Americans, Canadians, Aussies and Brits do that kind of work? They might.
    ​ The non-nuclear destruction of a large fraction of Israeli nuclear weapons would allow the rest of the world to align against the Zionist regime, force them to negotiate a face-saving humanitarian management, respecting 1967 borders, equal rights, Palestinian right-of-return to lands stolen in 1948 and 1967, and the dismantling of the apartheid state.

    ​”Netanyahu” will definitely be out if he loses militarily. This article presupposes an Israeli victory/genocide.
    ​ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be able to retain power after the country’s military has concluded its operation against Hamas in Gaza, Ynet media outlet has claimed, citing anonymous sources within his Likud party. Amid mounting calls for early elections, the Israeli leader insisted on Saturday that now is “not the time for politics,” suggesting that the next vote will take place “in a few years.”
    https://swentr.site/news/592613-media-netanyahu-lose-office-after-war-likud/

    ​ Ralph Nader, Biden & Blinken – Rule of Illegal Power Over Rule of Law
    ​ What laws are being violated by the State Department daily as it approves ships and cargo planes full of weapons of mass destruction to be used in Israel’s war crimes and genocide against hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s civilians, mostly children and women?
    ​ These are the laws highlighted in the Veterans for Peace letter:
    ​ The Foreign Assistance Act, which forbids the provision of assistance to a government which “engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”
    ​ Arms Export Control Act, which says countries that receive US military aid can only use weapons for legitimate self-defense and internal security. Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza goes way beyond self-defense and internal security.
    ​ The U.S. War Crimes Act, which forbids grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, including wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and unlawful deportation or transfer, perpetrated by the Israeli Occupying Forces.
    The Leahy Law, which prohibits the U.S. Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights.
    ​ The Genocide Convention Implementation Act, which was enacted to implement U.S. obligations under the Genocide Convention, provides for criminal penalties for individuals who commit or incite others to commit genocide

    Biden & Blinken – Rule of Illegal Power Over Rule of Law

    ​ State Department Threatens Congress Over Censorship Programs​ , Matt Taibbi
    A year after its censorship programs were exposed, the Global Engagement Center still insists the public has no right to know how it’s spending taxpayer money
    ​ The State Department is so unhappy a newspaper published details about where it’s been spending your taxes, it’s threatened to only show a congressional committee its records in camera until it gets a “better understanding of how the Committee will utilize this sensitive information.” Essentially, Tony Blinken is threatening to take his transparency ball home unless details about what censorship programs he’s sponsoring stop appearing in papers like the Washington Examiner.
    ​ A year ago the Examiner published “Disinformation, Inc.”, a series by investigative reporter Gabe Kaminsky describing how the State Department was backing a UK-based agency that creates digital blacklists for disfavored media outlets. Your taxes helped fund the Global Disinformation Index, or GDI, which proudly touts among its services an Orwellian horror called the Dynamic Exclusion List, a digital time-out corner where at least 2,000 websites were put on blast as unsuitable for advertising, “thus disrupting the ad-funded disinformation business model.”
    https://www.racket.news/p/state-department-threatens-congress

    February 20, 2024 at 4:08 pm #153167
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Meryl Nass MD, Mike Benz is THE best person in the world to explain how censorship works in the US (and to some extent in Europe). New Tucker C interview.
    Proud to say I told my readership about him one year ago. He is still telling the same story, with some more details.
    https://merylnass.substack.com/p/mike-benz-is-the-best-person-in-the

    ​That hour long Tucker Carlson interview with Mike Benz, who explains exactly how this censorship is carried out within the government/deep-state apparatus.

    ​ Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has notched a victory in his legal battle against alleged government censorship of statements he made on social media that were critical of the COVID-19 vaccines.
    ​ A federal court has granted a preliminary injunction against the White House and other federal defendants in a lawsuit brought by Mr. Kennedy Jr. that accuses the Biden administration of orchestrating a campaign to pressure social media platforms to censor vaccine criticism.
    ​ Judge Terry A. Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued the ruling on Feb. 14, stating that Mr. Kennedy Jr. has demonstrated a strong likelihood of success in proving government infringement on his free speech rights.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/federal-judge-hands-rfk-jr-win-lawsuit-accusing-biden-admin-censoring-covid-19-vaccine-info

    ​ Gilbert Doctorow outs the Brits (“perfidious Albion”) again:
    A news brief in RIA Novosti this morning sets out the claim that the shoot-down over Belgorod oblast (RF) a couple of weeks ago of an IL-76 Russian transport plane was ordered and directed by British advisers to the Kiev regime without the consent of the Kiev military unit responsible for air defense. Just remember that the plane was downed by US made Patriot missiles which are very costly and of which Kiev has a very limited supply. Normally the Patriots would be launched only after approval by top Ukrainian military and political officials. That plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war about to be exchanged for Russian POWs…
    ..Looking back at the early days of the war, we know full well that the peace treaty which Russian and Ukrainian negotiators initialed in Istanbul in week five of the war was sabotaged by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his visit to Kiev. He urged Zelensky to fight on, with Western assistance, and in this way the UK is responsible for the deaths of half a million Ukrainian males in the fighting ever since…
    ..But then, as some readers wrote in, how could British forces reach so far into Russia as the remote penal colony in the North where Navalny was being held and carry out his murder? The answer is very simple: they did it by proxy. As we know from occasional news items on fires, explosions and other acts of sabotage being carried out deep inside Russia, the Ukrainian intelligence agencies have many operatives working clandestinely inside the Russian Federation. They are all native Russian speakers, without a hint of some cockney accent, and they can travel anywhere.
    https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/after-trt-world-failed-to-post-my

    ​ The Russian military has made the accusation that NATO troops are actually manning and directly overseeing Ukraine’s advanced anti-air defense systems which were provided by the West.​ The charge comes after weeks of the Kremlin saying that French mercenaries have been positioned in the city of Kharkiv, which sits across from Belgorod – a Russian border area subject of persistent mortar and rocket attacks.
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-says-nato-troops-disguised-mercenaries-control-air-defenses-ukraine

    February 20, 2024 at 4:09 pm #153168
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Assange Judge Worked For MI6 & Defense Ministry
    As with previous judges who have ruled on the WikiLeaks publisher’s case, Justice Jeremy Johnson raises concerns about institutional conflicts of interest.
    ​ Justice Jeremy Johnson has also been a specially vetted barrister, cleared by the U.K. authorities to access top-secret information.
    Johnson will sit with Dame Victoria Sharp, his senior judge, to decide the fate of the WikiLeaks co-founder. If extradited, Assange faces a maximum sentence of 175 years.
    His persecution by the U.S. authorities has been at the behest of Washington’s intelligence and security services, with whom the U.K. has deep relations.

    Assange Judge Worked for MI6 & Defence Ministry

    ​ Paul Craig Roberts, 2024 Is the Last Year of Free Speech and Democracy in the Western World
    ​ Tyranny is easy to establish over peoples who have confidence in their Constitutional rights and integrity of their institutions. The more patriotic the population is, the more susceptible it is to deception and betrayal by government. Try telling patriots what is happening to them, and they will call you a commie for speaking badly about their beloved country. Christian evangelicals have no opposition to the evil that is engulfing us, because they have been brainwashed that they will escape it by being wafted up to Heaven. The growth of evil is actually their escape from a sinful world into Heaven. The more evil, the sooner their escape. For most of the rest, liberal interventionists and hegemonic neoconservatives have taught that America is exceptional and indispensable, so how can anything go wrong.
    ​ Combine these awareness-blockers with the fact that uncomfortable truths are a bad news turnoff, and that censorship is being established as a national security matter with the argument that it makes us safe and “protects democracy.” Consequently, the criminalization of truth is rushing ahead.

    2024 Is the Last Year of Free Speech and Democracy in the Western World

    ​ Douglas Murray, the director of the British Free Speech Union, announced a new initiative on Monday aimed at doxing critics of Israel for “hate speech” and keeping them from getting jobs.​ “Douglas Murray is Director of the British Free Speech Union. He is now going to lead an initiative to have harsher penalties for those accused of hate speech, and bar ‘bigots’ from employment opportunities based on social media posts!” Keith Woods commented on X.
    https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64304

    ​ Vice Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Ľuboš Blaha about Navalny’s death:​ “They better look at what the British and Americans are doing to Julian Assange, who is in custody on the verge of death in this glorious West, which prides itself on freedom of speech and protection of journalists. Let them remember how they remained silent when the American journalist Gonzalo Lira, who criticized Zelensky, recently died in Ukrainian custody. They didn’t even remember about it. And today they will moralize about Navalny’s death.​”

    ​ Czech prime minister labels protesting farmers ‘supporters of Moscow’
    Hundreds of tractors have blocked downtown Prague as part of demonstrations against EU agriculture policies
    ​ On Monday, hundreds of tractors blocked off sections of Prague and disrupted traffic outside the country’s Agriculture Ministry as demonstrators demanded that the EU’s Green Deal, which calls for regulations on the use of certain chemicals and greenhouse gas emissions, be rejected.
    ​ The farmers have argued that the Brussels’ proposals place a heavy burden on their businesses, making products more expensive and less competitive, especially when compared to non-EU imports, such as those coming from Ukraine.
    https://swentr.site/news/592696-czech-farmers-russia-supporters/

    February 20, 2024 at 4:10 pm #153169
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Ukraine Used US Chemical Weapons Against Russian Troops – MoD
    The Russian Defense Ministry reported on the facts of the use of poisonous substances by the Ukrainian military:
    ​ On August 19, 2022, a toxic chemical, an analog of the warfare poisoning agent “Bi-Zet,” was used.
    A similar substance was found on January 28, 2024, during operational-search activities in a cache in Melitopol. It was in vials labeled “Biosporin”.
    On February 8 and 16, 2023, cases of hydrocyanic acid use with drones were recorded.
    On January 31, 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used an unknown toxic chemical that caused burns. Analysis showed the presence of a compound known as anthraquinone.
    On December 28, 2023, American-made gas grenades loaded with a substance called “CS” capable of causing skin burns and respiratory paralysis were dropped in the area of Krasny Liman.
    On June 15, 2023, a drone carrying a plastic container with a mixture of chloroacetophenone and chloropicrin was used against Russian troops near Rabotino.
    https://sputnikglobe.com/20240219/russia-recorded-cases-of-ukraine-using-us-chemical-munitions-in-action—mod-1116874393.html

    ​ When coming across the dead bodies of foreign mercenaries in liberated Avdeyevka, Russian forces discover many of the deceased to be servicemen from NATO countries, State Duma legislator Viktor Vodolatsky said.​ “We find the corpses of mercenaries in the rubble in Avdeyevka, ‘so-called mercenaries’ because these are soldiers of regular units from Poland, Germany, France and many other NATO countries that send their units here to gain combat experience against Russia,” Vodolatsky told TASS.​ https://tass.com/politics/1748699

    Pentagon Confirms $32M Drone Downed Off Yemen, Same Day UK Tanker Destroyed
    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/crew-abandons-cargo-ship-after-houthi-attack-us-mq-9-reaper-downed-rebels

    ​ Jeffrey Sachs, How the CIA Destabilizes the World Thanks Eleni.
    ​ If only the CIA’s rogue operations had been consigned to history as a result of the crimes exposed by the Church Committee, or at the least had brought the CIA under the rule of law and public accountability. But that was not to be.
    https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/cia-destablizes-the-world

    February 20, 2024 at 4:11 pm #153170
    John Day
    Participant

    Peter McCullough MD, Placental and Cord Blood mRNA Detected , Freshly Vaccinated Third Trimester Mother Passes Genetic Code for Spike to Baby
    https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/placental-and-cord-blood-mrna-detected

    Dr. Marian Laderoute, Must be Disinformation (Hearsay) Due to Lack of Substantiating Data
    How to Tell IF Media or the Government is Gaslighting You on the COVID-19 Vaccine Risks…Even IF You Are NOT VACCINATED
    https://hervk102.substack.com/p/must-be-disinformation-due-to-lack

    Plastics Cannot Be Recycled and Producers Know This, Report Claims​ [It takes less energy​ and pollutes less to make fresh plastic and put old plastic in the landfill​. Now what?]
    https://sputnikglobe.com/20240217/plastics-cannot-be-recycled-and-producers-know-this-report-claims-1116836370.html

    February 20, 2024 at 4:32 pm #153172
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @JohnDay

    Last November Iran announced the upgraded Fattah-2 hypersonic missile”

    I just LOVE the name they chose for the missile, Fattah. Yup, I think that gets the message across quite succinctly (and instructively, too). Nothing says “I mean what I say” like a hypersonic missile.

    February 20, 2024 at 5:30 pm #153173
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Ritual Humiliation No. 756

    So an immigrant not qualified to legally VOTE is on the election commission

    San Franshithole Appoints First Noncitizen to Serve on Elections Commission

    .

    The newest member of the San Francisco Elections Commission, a seven-member civilian body that oversees and creates policy for the city’s Department of Elections, isn’t legally allowed to vote.

    Kelly Wong, an immigrant rights advocate, is believed to be the first noncitizen appointed to the commission. At a swearing-in ceremony administered by Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin on Wednesday at San Francisco City Hall, dozens of people gathered to commemorate the occasion.

    Wong said she hopes her appointment is a beacon of hope for other immigrants living in the city.

    February 20, 2024 at 5:31 pm #153174
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    February 20, 2024 at 5:32 pm #153175
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    .
    .
    .
    .
    .

    February 20, 2024 at 5:39 pm #153176
    tboc
    Participant

    if an armed rebellion started in the United Stated tomorrow would you take up arms?
    Yes
    No

    reduced it to 17 words

    February 20, 2024 at 5:43 pm #153177
    Red
    Participant

    The good old CB radio may be the best work around for information sharing.

    https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfEktZVShf8

    February 20, 2024 at 5:50 pm #153178
    zerosum
    Participant

    Another farmer protest.
    https://www.morningagclips.com/without-us-you-dont-eat-greek-farmers-ride-some-200-tractors-to-athens-to-demand-financial-help/
    ‘Without Us, You Don’t Eat’: Greek Farmers Ride Some 200 Tractors to Athens to Demand Financial Help
    Some farmers carried mock coffins and funeral garlands as symbols of their plight
    PUBLISHED ON FEBRUARY 20, 2024

    February 20, 2024 at 5:53 pm #153179
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Don’t ya hate it when someone at work raids the common refrigerator.

    Clear communications is a key to a well oiled happy office environment.

    .

    February 20, 2024 at 7:30 pm #153180
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Any information that you have saved that helps you to understand the tyranny that is engulfing us should be stored in thumb drives and not in the cloud as all information undermining of the “consensus-building institutions” will be consigned to the memory hole.

    Don’t count on a thumb drive past a couple years.

    M-Disc compatible disk drives are ubiquitous and cheap. M-Discs are engineer rated for 1,000 years, immune to electromagnetism, etc. You can get a typical 4.7gb but the big ones will hold up to 100gb.

    February 20, 2024 at 7:57 pm #153181
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    The Tucker Carlson interview of the WORLD;s most informed and erudite world cyber security expert Michael Benz is bigger than the Putin interview, which garnered BILLIONS of views and is STILL blowing up the internet.

    Yes, it is.

    Like the Putin interview the Benz interview is exceedingly deep, meaty and in some ways subtle. But as it is perused by more thinking people, and is more thoroughly digested and explained to people in terms of the absolutely earth shattering implications, it’s importance will become more broadly and deeply understood.

    The full force and power of the entire American Empire has been DELIBERATELY turned against the American population by KNOWN figures at the top of the Military Industrial Complex.

    Cat’s out of the bag, folks, and it AIN”T going back in.

    Side Note: the distinctive surnames of the key players in this massive crime (the biggest in human history since the Pharisees murdered Jesus) will not go unnoticed either. So expect the Zionists, and their masters as well, to also take a MASSIVE hit as the implications of this unprecedented coups d’état continue to sink in.

    February 20, 2024 at 8:08 pm #153182
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    @jb-hb

    One of the things that I would like to securely archive is the past 10 years or so of The Automatic Earth. Do you know of a reasonably easy way to do that?

    February 20, 2024 at 8:32 pm #153183
    John Day
    Participant

    @DBS: A hypersonic missile named “victory”, how droll.
    😉

    February 20, 2024 at 9:31 pm #153184
    zerosum
    Participant

    Fly on the wall
    https://karlof1.substack.com/p/shoigu-talks-with-putin
    Shoigu Talks with Putin
    FEB 20, 2024

    Today Putin and Shoigu met to confer on what to do next after Avdeevka’s fall. A short discussion of the main event that turned the tide—the assault through the old Soviet-era sewage pipe 3km into the Ukie rear. Putin describes the retreat as an “escape’“ bordering on a rout. The discussion turns to Krinki and the defeat of the Ukie forces that tried to establish a beachhead there. Finally, the conversation turns to the hullaballoo raised about Russian space weapons and why that occurred. All emphasis mine:

    Vladimir Putin: Sergey Kuzhugetovich, we are here – You, me, Chief of the General Staff [Valery Gerasimov] And then you reported that the situation in the Avdiivka area is developing rapidly, even said rapidly – we will see what will happen in the next few hours. So – this was probably the right thing to do. All this was reported carefully.

    As far as I understand, and as Andrey Nikolaevich [Mordvichev] reported to me the day before yesterday, the enemy began a chaotic withdrawal from this settlement at 6-7 o’clock in the morning. And already – it was at what time, at 11, right? – You were here again together with the Chief of the General Staff and reported that this chaotic flight was taking place in Avdiivka. By this time, as I understand it, the leadership of the armed forces of Ukraine also issued an order to withdraw their armed forces when they were already on the move and leaving this locality.

    I understand that this was done for political reasons, to cover up this move and give it the appearance of an organized withdrawal. We see and know that this is not so, that it was actually an escape-in the truest sense of the word. As I have already said, Andrey Nikolaevich reported to me the day before yesterday about what was happening there at the moment.

    I would like to hear your assessment of what is happening now.

    Sergei : Mr Putin, I will start by saying that there were regular reports. Almost ten days earlier, you spoke with the commander of the assault group and the Veterans volunteer detachment, who carried out, in our opinion, a unique operation, passing through the pipe to the south of Avdiivka, going to the rear of the enemy-almost three and a half kilometers – and deploying a fairly significant bridgehead there, to which then three more the rest of the troops fought their way through the day, which was done successfully.

    About the current situation, Mr Putin. This color [on the map] is what it was at the time of the report to you, when we reported that the enemy’s exit, or rather flight, from Avdiivka had begun. This is Avdiivka itself. By the time we reported to you, at 11 o’clock, this part was practically released. Then the active actions of all the troops and Aerospace Forces began – they, more precisely, continued. At the time of our report to you at 11 o’clock in the afternoon, Koksokhim [Avdiivka Coke Plant] was not released. “Koksokhim “is now released, there is movement to the west-to this locality, there is movement from the south, there is movement from the southwest. On the line of troops and work continues, and here the tasks are completed.

    As for the orders regarding the organized withdrawal of troops. We started working in this area almost two months before today. Here, of course, a lot of different weapons were involved and objective control of the strikes and movement of enemy troops was established both day and night. Therefore, everything that happened to the enemy that night, and the following night, and before that, unfortunately, we recorded – not specifically, but we had to control, first of all, where we strike, so as not to hit empty squares, but to deliver very specific, precise strikes.

    We had about 460 such strikes every day in the last 24 hours before the enemy left this territory of Avdiivka. These are really high-precision strikes. If we talk in tons and kilograms, this is about 200 tons every day on the affected targets arrived.

    Otherwise, the troops are active. We reported to you that we once again used the same pipe: we came out here now and it turned out that our troops were standing up here, but the enemy was here. Now all this is already surrounded, finished. The enemy, leaving, left many wounded. As for these wounded people, they became prisoners because they were simply unable to leave.

    A lot of weapons were thrown, a lot of personal weapons, a lot of ATGMs [anti-tank guided missiles], MANPADS [man-portable air defense systems]. Actually, everything is being cleaned up now. A lot of work is being done on mine clearance. A lot of things were left behind. But with the understanding that the exit was really a run and chaotic, there are no specially mined objects.

    Here, Mr President, I would like to draw your special attention to the fact that this fortified area was built and built over a period of nine years. For nine years, day after day, underground passages, concrete structures were made, special lines were made so that it was possible to move without going to the surface.

    Therefore, of course, the fact that the enemy’s resistance is broken here is a great success for the mixed group of troops, units – formations-all of them without exception. You can, of course, mention the Aerospace Forces, army aviation, and assault aircraft. Here, much depended on whether we would give the enemy at least some time to rest.

    Vladimir Putin: You remembered about the “Veterans”. All military units, all military personnel, of course, deserve the highest awards, incentives and words of gratitude from the country, from Russia, from our people. What can I say, all the guys acted courageously and heroically.

    As for the “Veterans”, this is, of course, in this case, in any case, this is a special situation. The diameter of this pipe, as the commander of this unit reported to me – he personally reported to me, they remembered this-is 1 meter 10 centimeters – 1 meter 20 centimeters. And they, healthy men, on this pipe, not knowing where to go, go, went over three kilometers. They went to an almost unknown place, seized 19 buildings at once, held on there for several days until they were released, and they have losses. In general, of course, this is such a special page in the history of military operations in general, in Russia as a whole, while protecting its vital interests.

    So please pay attention to them.

    Are they out of the zone now? Resting?

    Sergei Shoigu: They are currently recovering, resting and preparing for further military operations. No one has any doubts that they will return here, back – they mean, we certainly have no doubts.

    Vladimir Putin: Now, as for the prisoners of war. I know, and we have always done so – during the special military operation, and now we must continue this practice-we must act in strict accordance with certain international legal documents and conventions with regard to prisoners of war. We have always acted in this way, and I know that we supported them with dignity. I ask you to follow the same practice in this part.

    Now, as for the overall situation in Avdiivka. This is an absolute success. I congratulate you. It needs to be developed, this is also an obvious thing. But development must be well-prepared and provided with personnel, weapons, equipment, and ammunition. We’ll talk about this separately. As a matter of fact, we are already talking to you about this every day. This seems to go without saying, but nevertheless I draw your attention to it.

    There is another area that I would like to draw your attention to and also talk to you about it. I also spoke with Mikhail [Teplinsky] the day before yesterday, and he reported to me about the village of Krynki on the left bank of the Dnieper. This question came up, if you remember, even during a Direct line with me. I said at the time that I don’t understand why the enemy is doing this to their own people, sending them to almost certain death there, and treating them as if they are not their own people at all.

    Mikhail Yuryevich reported that this settlement on the left bank of the Dnieper is practically – not practically, but completely – under our control. The necessary defenses are built there. He told me that there are four or five people there, maybe hiding somewhere, they are offered to surrender, and those who make such a decision, they are taken as prisoners. But three or four people are still out there somewhere, either in the woods or in dug holes, as he said, still hiding.

    However-I know his assessment – I would like to hear your assessment of what is happening in this area.

    Sergei Shoigu: Mr President, I know about Colonel-General Teplinsky’s report. I confirm his report, it is true: The wings are cleared. We were positioned virtually along the entire coast of the Krynka and Konka Rivers. To date, there are not only observation posts there – there are troops there.

    The paratroopers and the 810th Marine Brigade performed very well.

    Vladimir Putin: Marines.

    Sergei Shoigu: Yes. You know the brigade commander, met him, talked to him more than once, and thanked him for his active actions in other areas. Here they are just as active, just as effective.

    This work has been completed, Mr President, but here I would not want my colleagues to get the impression that Krynki is a small, intermediate settlement where nothing special has happened.

    Let me remind you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, that all our work on the Kherson direction of the Dnipro group began last summer, when the enemy was preparing a major breakthrough here – to the Crimea, in order to block traffic to the Crimea. And then it was decided to build here in three echelons of defense. But it’s not here anymore, it’s already on a different map.

    That is why, Mr President, we have taken all measures to ensure that this work is completed in a timely manner. And then began, on the one hand, active defense, on the other hand-the daily grinding of enemy forces.

    From the summer of last year to the present day, the enemy has actually lost almost 3,500 people there. If we talk specifically about Krynki, then the main place of the breakthrough was planned there and four brigades of the enemy’s 30th Marine Corps were concentrated there. These are well-equipped, trained, rested, equipped with both weapons and personnel formations that were supposed to carry out this very breakthrough across the Dnieper and create a springboard for further advance and deployment of forces.

    It was precisely this that all the forces that were concentrated there prevented, and, in fact, they fulfilled their task.

    Therefore, the only thing I can say is that the competent actions of the command-of course, if we are talking about Avdiivka, there they were audacious actions-then here it is a systematic, daily, systematic work that made it possible to keep and gain a foothold and not allow the enemy to develop and expand the bridgehead. Although the work, frankly speaking, was very difficult, because there were constant shelling from the [other] shore, artillery was very active, and FPV drones and drones were very active.

    Perhaps for the first time we saw here the delivery of ammunition, food, and medicines not only by boats, but also by large ones [Drones] – these are no longer quadrocopters – octocopters, some call them “Baba Yaga”, which can carry large loads.

    As for the fact that there is somewhere one [person] left, somewhere two remained: of course, they are all offered to surrender. Two weeks ago, on your instructions, we brought everything that concerns loudspeakers there, and they are driving along the coast, and now they are driving along the shore, announcing it constantly. Although we understand that it is probably already difficult to talk about SMS, but nevertheless sms messages and leaflets are sent… That is, we continue this work, even if we see and understand that there may be only a few left.

    There are what they call fox holes made in the shoreline. Both the 45th Special Forces brigade of the Airborne Forces and the special operations forces are now working in these burrows… If, of course, someone gives a signal that they are ready to surrender, then all measures are being taken to provide medical assistance if necessary, but so far, in general, there aren’t any of them in particular.

    Vladimir Putin: No, there is some change there.

    Sergei Shoigu: They used to be, Mr Putin.

    Vladimir Putin: And now there’s almost no one left. If anyone is left behind, you don’t need to cry over the radio, as I was told, or beg for evacuation – let them surrender.

    But this is also a good job, and I want to congratulate you, the General Staff and the local command, and all the military personnel who work there and fight.

    Of course, the enemy is carrying out absolutely reckless actions from a military point of view, but this is like a trap, and they are climbing, climbing and climbing into this trap. But in any case, judging by the practice that we observe, these reckless actions may be repeated, so I ask you to keep this in mind, and please tell the commanders on the ground, too, and bring them to them.

    Sergei Shoigu: Mr President, this is a one-way road.

    Vladimir Putin: Yes.

    Sergei Shoigu: In principle, on the one hand, it is clear to us why this is being done and is timed to coincide with different dates: we have it either for Ramstein, when some activity begins, when they gather there and discuss how to help Ukraine, or it is the adoption of the budget and the allocation of funds from the Pentagon to help Ukraine, as it was at the end of last year, when they began very active operations here, in the Kherson direction. And according to all the radio intercepts, according to all the information, they had to show at least some success.…

    Vladimir Putin: To their sponsors.

    Sergei Shoigu: To the sponsors, because there in the Senate, in Congress, the issue of providing assistance to Ukraine was considered, and then, as you remember, assistance was also provided to Israel in one package. Taking into account the fact that no result was achieved, there is no decision on assistance yet. Probably, someone will have it. But now, apparently, we need to wait for the next activity-either to Ramstein ,or… Well, now it was Munich.

    Vladimir Putin: They’ve set up some sort of headquarters there, haven’t they? Abroad, abroad of Ukraine, which actually plans all these operations?

    Sergei Shoigu: Yes, Mr Putin, this is not actually external control – it is simply the management of all forces. Instructors everywhere. For them, in my opinion, it is a feat if one of them objects to something to their curators, their instructors.

    Because everything that was planned last year for a large, large-scale counteroffensive, all this was planned precisely by the United States, by NATO instructors, and was planned in detail. So, of course, this defeat was a serious shock for them, because those methods, those technologies, those techniques that they may have practiced in other places and tried to apply here, suffered a complete fiasco.

    Here we cannot say that their military science has reached some unprecedented heights that allow them to … What peaks they have reached in different places – we have seen: this is Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, and Syria. In Syria – just to remind you, maybe it’s already gone-when the decision was made to support the Syrian government, Assad controlled 18 percent of the country’s territory. To date, it is over 90 [percent], and in fact the very international terrorism that the coalition of 67 countries was going to defeat was defeated there.

    Vladimir Putin: Sergey Kuzhugetovich, you mentioned the enemy’s losses on the Krynki River and on the left bank of the Dnieper River in general. But still, the enemy’s losses in Avdiivka – at least approximately, in general, during the recent period of hostilities?

    Sergei Shoigu: Mr President, during the recent period of military operations… I will say only for the last two days, I will call it this: 17-18 [February] – 2400. It’s not our data – it’s their data. Naturally, we take into account everything that is connected with those who were abandoned or not evacuated. This is a big loss, Mr Putin, given that, as we reported to you, on the 16th-they had previously transferred the 14th and 13th to Koksokhim just in time…

    Vladimir Putin: Two battalions.

    Sergei Shoigu: Yes, two battalions. These are already nationalists who are really convinced nationalists, and it was assumed that taking into account the fact that Koksokhim was created there for nine years, we generally believed that we would probably do the same there as we did at Azovstal in Mariupol, when here-only at that table – we have decided that we will not encircle them: we encircle them and wait. We wanted to do exactly the same here, but…

    Vladimir Putin: And they knew it. They chose to run away.

    Sergei Shoigu: Yes, and they chose to run away.

    Vladimir Putin: Sergey Kuzhugetovich, there is another issue that is not related to the current events on the contact line within the framework of the special military operation. This question concerns the recent uproar in the West, including in the United States, over the deployment of nuclear weapons in outer space.

    Our position is clear and transparent: we have always been categorically opposed and are now against the deployment of nuclear weapons in outer space. On the contrary, we urge not only to comply with all the agreements that exist in this area, but also to repeatedly strengthen this joint work.

    But now, for some reason, this topic is being raised again in the West, and on a rather high emotional note. How do you explain this?

    Sergei Shoigu: Mr President, I would like to say this first. First of all, this is not the case. Second, they know we don’t have it.…

    Vladimir Putin: No-in the sense of placement in space.

    Sergei Shoigu: The deployment of nuclear weapons in outer space and the use of any other elements of nuclear weapons by satellites or by creating fields that will not allow satellites to work effectively.

    I mean, we don’t have it, they know we don’t have it, but they still make a fuss. Vladimir Vladimirovich, I am surprised that everyone knows what we have, and you openly stated this in your 2018 Address to the Federal Assembly to virtually the entire world.

    They know that we have a fairly high stage of completion of work on Poseidon, Peresvet, Petrel, Sarmat, and Avangard – two regiments are already practically in service, on combat duty. In this situation, of course, you can add a few more options to this. For some reason, they don’t talk about it, but they really should be afraid of this.

    In our opinion, they probably don’t talk about it because they don’t have it. The reason for the uproar, in our opinion, is two things. The first is to frighten senators and congressmen in order to promote and push through the allocation of funds that are allegedly directed not just for Ukraine, but in order to resist Russia, to inflict a strategic defeat on it. The second is a situation that they would like, in our opinion, to resume and encourage us, perhaps so clumsily, to engage in a dialogue on stratostability.

    Vladimir Putin: I agree.

    Sergei Shoigu: Most likely it is.

    Vladimir Putin: Yes, I agree. As far as space is concerned, we only do what other countries, including the United States, have in space. And of course, you’re right: they know about it.

    As for the negotiations: we have never been against negotiations – we have always been for negotiations. This also applies to Ukraine, the Ukrainian direction. I have already said a hundred times that we did not interrupt the dialogue – it was the Ukrainian side that interrupted the dialogue, and at the direct command from London and Washington. Now the Ukrainian side is directly talking about this – at the official level. I don’t know why they do this, but they do speak publicly.

    As for stratostability, we have never given up on dialogue here either. But, of course, to pretend that the United States and the West, on the one hand, are calling for a strategic defeat of Russia, and on the other hand, they allegedly intend and want to negotiate with us on strategic stability, believing that one issue has nothing to do with the other – this will not be possible. If they are trying to inflict a strategic defeat on us, then we should think about what strategic stability means for our country.

    So, we don’t reject anything, we don’t give up anything. We need to figure out what they want. They tend to want to pursue one-sided advantages. This will not happen. Nevertheless, contacts are certainly possible through you and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    Judging by the hysteria at Munich, the West remains incapable of negotiations. It’s thought that some magical formulation will appear that will turn the tide and Russia will be forced to withdrawal. That’s not going to happen. No tipping of the hand by either in their talk. That Putin thinks the West ought to fear Russia’s weaponry but doesn’t seem to be I found odd for him to say. IMO, Russia’s entire realm of technical advances has the West scared as they know they’re very far behind, and thus the hysteria isn’t just about forcing more funding. Resupply via drone is one aspect of the talk that was unexpected. Shoigu seems to think that’s a very important item where Russia’s likely deficient. Putin would like to see the establishment of another kill box, but it appears Russia will need to advance and force its creation. I await a push to cross the Oskil river and thus engage Kupyansk. I’m sure we’ll know by the end of the week which direction’s next for Russia.

    February 20, 2024 at 9:44 pm #153185
    tboc
    Participant

    Benz – the attacks on the student movements in the 70s
    anyone here in school in the 70s? never saw the FBI on campus? must have been a small school
    yeppir all started under Obama

    Benz – never was a free press

    Benz – Reagan – privatization of security

    just cause you did not believe anything that limited your career does not mean it was not true

    February 20, 2024 at 10:24 pm #153186
    jb-hb
    Participant

    One of the things that I would like to securely archive is the past 10 years or so of The Automatic Earth. Do you know of a reasonably easy way to do that?

    right click, print, print to pdf, save with a name that documents the date, maybe page # for comments, advance to next page of comments, do the same.

    That would be a dumb easy way that would not save the links. Rightclick Save As, Complete Webpage should save those as well. (ctrl-A to select all, Ctrl-c to copy, Ctrl-V to paste into notepad and saving day by day, page by page, until all 10 years are saved…)

    But the dumber the save method, the easier it might be read later. Like, doubling each pdf save with a cut/paste into notepad and saving that for instance.

    And then there are rosetta stone concerns – will people of the future understand? Should we be translating TAE into different languages and saving the translations? Saving in multiple formats so the formats can be rosetta-stoned as well?

    February 20, 2024 at 10:25 pm #153187
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Every time another layer of the onion gets peeled away to reveal yet another underlying layer under there rises a chorus of, “Aha!, The final layer!”

    For example, “The Pentagon and Intelligence Services are behind it all”.

    But I don’t think we’re anywhere even close to that stage yet. Even little old me is aware of specific and well documented layers below that. Many, many, many layers, and the data supporting that assertion are overwhelmingly vast and incontrovertible..

    Well done to all involved for the progress achieved so far, because we really have come a long way, but it’s still too early celebrate.

    I’ll feel much more secure in our progress when the Khazars are finally deposed once and for all. Then maybe we can get down to the real task at hand.

    February 20, 2024 at 10:54 pm #153188
    jb-hb
    Participant

    Just for the hell of it – best version of Das Rheingold (installment 1 of Wagner’s Ring Cycle) I’ve ever come across. Loki steals the show but everybody is good.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFCFq6WWmGE

    February 20, 2024 at 11:39 pm #153189
    Celticbiker
    Participant

    That there has FEDPOST written all over it, tbag.

    February 20, 2024 at 11:58 pm #153190
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Ritual Humiliation

    Disorient the Sheeple in every possible dimension of everyday life

    Psy-op top to bottom, fuck with their basic understanding of Reality

    Check√

    .

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