Dec 032024
 
 December 3, 2024  Posted by at 10:06 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,


Johannes Vermeer The astronomer c1668

 

Trump And Musk Are Ready To Shake Up America (Ryumshin)
Delaware Judge Rejects (Again) Musk’s $56 Billion Pay-Package (ZH)
Musk Again Asks To Block OpenAI’s “Illegal” Conversion To For-Profit Model (CT)
Special Counsel Rejects Hunter Biden’s Pardon (ZH)
The Pardon (Paul Craig Roberts)
The Blob Has a Migraine (Kunstler)
The Democratic Diaspora (Turley)
West Won’t Return Russia’s Currency Reserves – Top Banker (RT)
The Long War To Reaffirm Western And Israeli Primacy (Alastair Crooke)
Moscow and Tehran Discuss Syria – Kremlin (RT)
China Vows Support For Syria (RT)
EU Has Turned Into ‘War Union’ – Russian Senator (RT)
Putin’s Global Influence Increasing – Kallas (RT)
Zelensky Willing To Cede Territory in Exchange for NATO Protection (Antiwar)
Ukrainians Could Disappear (RT)
Shall We Celebrate, the World Being as It Is? (Patrick Lawrence)
Orwell’s Forecast of a Tyrannical Britain Proven Correct (Paul Craig Roberts)
Sturgess Inquiry Ends In Foreign Office Whimper, Bang Of Novichok Lies (Helmer)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1863370201581941005

 

 

Pardon
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863598068039655604

 

 

Mike Davis

 

 

Kindness

 

 

 

 

View from Russia.

“What can we expect from the ‘bromance’ of the two billionaires?”

Trump And Musk Are Ready To Shake Up America (Ryumshin)

It’s often said that a king is shaped by his entourage. This saying may be as old as time itself, but it applies perfectly to US President-elect Donald Trump. Right now, however, there’s only one person truly pulling the king’s strings – Elon Musk. Since the November 6 election, the Tesla tycoon has become the most influential figure in America – and perhaps even the world. Musk’s road to power took four long years. Before 2022, Trump and the South African billionaire were rivals (in 2020, the Space-X founder even supported Biden). But when Musk bought Twitter, rebranded it as X, and gradually leaned into the Republican fold, the winds shifted. By early 2024, Musk had met Trump, publicly endorsed him in July, and begun campaigning. By the end of the year, the two had become inseparable. Now, Musk is basically joined at the hip with Trump. They attend MMA fights together, watch space launches, and share McDonald’s burgers.

Musk is now a fixture at the Mar-a-Lago estate, advising the future president on appointments, and even apparently speaking to foreign leaders on his behalf – he was allegedly present when Trump spoke to Vladimir Zelensky and is reported to have secretly met the Iranian ambassador. Trump’s old advisers are getting nervous. On November 18, Axios reported that Musk had clashed with Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump ally, over Matt Gaetz’s nomination for US Attorney General. After the dispute, Gaetz’s nomination was pulled and CNN claimed that Trump’s team have asked that Epshteyn be investigated for alleged fraud – over alleged bribes to lobby for positions within the new administration. Musk’s influence is undeniable, and the media has already dubbed him the “co-president of the United States” or more cheekily, the “broligarch.” Musk himself embraces the title of “first buddy” (a nod to the first lady).

This isn’t without controversy. Musk’s ruthless business tactics are legendary, and he has Trump’s full trust. The billionaire has promised to audit the entire US government, aiming to cut up to $2 trillion in spending. God only knows what he’ll come up with next. It’s fascinating to watch the American political establishment panic. And let’s be honest – this drama could work to Russia’s advantage. The more chaos in Washington, the better for Moscow. But don’t get too excited just yet. There are differing views on Trump’s leadership. Some see him as a weak head man, easily swayed by flattery, while others view him as a potential autocrat, quick to toss aside anyone who crosses him. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between. Trump runs his inner circle like a boss, with some figures holding much more sway than others.

Musk certainly falls into this inner circle. But he’s not alone. Trump’s family – especially Donald Trump Jr. – is also a key influence. Trump Jr. has been instrumental in connecting his father with allies like JD Vance, Robert Kennedy Jr., and Tulsi Gabbard, and he’s helping to handpick cabinet members. His influence is on par with Musk’s, even if it’s quieter. The Wall Street tycoons Trump has befriended also play a major role. In fact, for them, Trump has compromised on his conservative values, even proposing Scott Bessent, a former George Soros manager, for treasury secretary. Musk lobbied for Howard Lutnick to join the administration, but he eventually landed at the Commerce Department. These examples show that while Musk’s influence on Trump is substantial, it’s not all-encompassing –his power doesn’t extend beyond Trump’s inner circle.

There are also questions about how long the Trump-Musk partnership will last. Both are unpredictable, volatile personalities. Trump has a history of falling out with his favorites (just look at his rocky relationship with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis). Musk and Trump have plenty of potential points of conflict – from electric cars (Trump’s not a fan) to more serious matters like government spending cuts. But that’s a problem for the future. For now, let’s sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch this unfolding spectacle.

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In 2018, when it was first agreed, the pay package was worth $2.6 billion. In January 2024, when the judge first rejected it, it had risen to $56 billion. Today, it is $101 billion.

Why the increase? Well, Elon Musk.

Delaware Judge Rejects (Again) Musk’s $56 Billion Pay-Package (ZH)

Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick has once again sided against Elon Musk… After ruling against the billionaire in July 2022 when he tried to break his $44 billion contract to buy Twitter, and again in January 2024 when she initially rescinded Musk’s record (but “deeply flawed” according to her) $56 billion performance-based compensation package (determining that Tesla deceived shareholders when the all stock compensation was approved in 2018), she has once again ruled [against] that pay package. Musk’s legal team argued that McCormick should reverse her earlier decision because Tesla had conducted a shareholder vote to “ratify” the 2018 pay plan at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in June, per CNBC.

In fact, 72% of Tesla shareholders voted in June to approve the company’s CEO’s pay package. The judge said Musk’s attorneys made an argument with multiple “fatal flaws,” including their argument that the shareholder vote was enough to validate the pay package after the fact. “The large and talented group of defense firms got creative with the ratification argument, but their unprecedented theories go against multiple strains of settled law,” McCormick said in her ruling. McCormick ruled that the vote on the payment package did not have a “ratifying effect” on the current case, because shareholders had not ratified the payment plan prior to her ruling.

“Were the court to condone the practice of allowing defeated parties to create new facts for the purpose of revising judgments, lawsuits would become interminable,” she wrote. In addition to rejecting the revisions, Quartz reports that Monday’s decision granted $345 million in attorney fees to the lawyers who successfully challenged Musk’s pay plan on behalf of Tesla shareholders. The court deemed this amount an “appropriate sum to reward a total victory.” Tesla has the option to pay this fee in either cash or by issuing stock that can be sold on the open market. While Musk could appeal the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court, this ruling could have broader implications for how companies structure executive compensation and the role of shareholder votes in such decisions.

Finally, the judge has some interesting ‘friends’… “Before becoming the head of the Delaware Chancery Court, McCormick worked at a Delaware law firm called Young Conaway. This firm and its employees have been major donors to President Joe Biden for decades. In 2016, Hunter Biden hosted a gubernatorial campaign event for Congressman John Carney, with then-Vice President Joe Biden as the guest speaker. This event took place at the Law Offices of Young Conaway in Wilmington, Delaware. Carney, a close friend of Joe Biden for the last four decades, later became governor and nominated Kathaleen McCormick, a partner at Young Conaway, to her position on the Delaware Chancery Court.

In a March 2018 email, Hunter Biden claimed to personally know every judge on the Delaware Chancery Court while threatening legal action against his Chinese business partners. “I will bring the suit in the Chancery court in Delaware – which as you know is my home state and I am privileged to have worked with and know every judge on the chancery court…. another clear example of the Biden administration and its allies weaponizing the American legal system against their political opponents.”Tesla issued a statement on X shortly after the decision, confirming that it will appeal her decision…. There is also the fact that Musk’s move to relocate his business to Texas (after telling people on X after the original ruling that “companies should get the hell out of Delaware”) which could change things, but it is is unclear how this will proceed for now.

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“No objective observer can look at OpenAI today and say it bears any resemblance whatsoever to what it promised to be..”

Musk Again Asks To Block OpenAI’s “Illegal” Conversion To For-Profit Model (CT)

Elon Musk filed another motion to block ChatGPT-creator OpenAI from converting to a for-profit enterprise, while also alleging that it has been engaging in anti-competitive practices. Musk accused OpenAI, its CEO Sam Altman, president Greg Brockman and stakeholder Microsoft of violating terms of Musk’s “foundational contributions to the charity,” according to his motion for a preliminary injunction filed on Nov. 30. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and was an early board member until he left the company in 2018. He has since launched xAI — the firm behind AI chatbot Grok — which he said is falling victim to OpenAI’s anti-competitive practices. “OpenAI’s path from a non-profit to for-profit behemoth is replete with per se anticompetitive practices, flagrant breaches of its charitable mission, and rampant self-dealing,” Musk’s lawyers wrote.

Through a “series of exclusive arrangements” with Microsoft, the two companies have engaged in “predatory practices,” enabling them to seize control of almost 70% of the generative AI market, lawyers for Musk said, adding: “Microsoft and OpenAI now seek to cement this dominance by cutting off competitors’ access to investment capital, while continuing to benefit from years’ worth of shared competitively sensitive information during generative AI’s formative years.” Allowing this to continue will hurt xAI and the public, which has become increasingly concerned about “rushed” and “unsafe” AI products, they added. California law allows a nonprofit to convert to a for-profit stock corporation, but not to a limited liability company.

OpenAI said it remains nonprofit at its core but has established a for-profit subsidiary capable of issuing equity to raise capital and hire world-class talent. Still, those tasks would be administered at the direction of the nonprofit. An injunction to preserve what is left of OpenAI’s nonprofit character is the only “appropriate remedy,” Musk’s lawyers said. “No objective observer can look at OpenAI today and say it bears any resemblance whatsoever to what it promised to be. Enough is enough.” An OpenAI spokesperson slammed Musk’s latest attempt in a note to Cointelegraph: “Elon’s fourth attempt, which again recycles the same baseless complaints, continues to be utterly without merit.”

In March, OpenAI leaked emails from Musk in 2015 showing support for the firm to find over $1 billion in funding to compete with the likes of Google and Facebook (now Meta). OpenAI claimed Musk was harassing the firm in a related October filing. “Since launching a competing artificial intelligence company, xAI, Musk has been trying to leverage the judicial system for an edge. The effort should fail; Musk’s complaint does not state a claim and should be dismissed,” OpenAI added. In June, Musk threatened to ban Apple devices at his companies when Apple touted integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems. Later, Apple launched Apple Intelligence on Oct. 28.

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“No court has agreed with the defendant on these baseless claims, and his request to dismiss the indictment finds no support in the law or the practice of this district.”

Special Counsel Rejects Hunter Biden’s Pardon (ZH)

Last night Hunter Biden’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss his California tax fraud case after Joe Biden issued a blanket pardon absolving him of all crimes committed over a 10 year period.”The President’s pardon moots Mr. Biden’s pending and yet to occur sentencing and entry of judgment in this case and requires an automatic dismissal of the Indictment with prejudice,” wrote Hunter’s lawyer Abbe Lowell in the filing, adding that “this Court must dismiss the Indictment against Mr. Biden with prejudice and adjourn all future proceedings in this matter. “Special Counsel David Weiss isn’t having it. In a Monday response in opposition, Weiss argued that “The defendant’s motion should be denied since there is no binding authority on this Court which requires dismissal.”

“As a matter of past-practice in this district, courts do not dismiss indictments when pardons are granted,” Weiss wrote – citing cases involving Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Joe Arpaio and Ollie North, Above the Law reports. “Instead, it has been the practice of this court that once an Executive Grant of Clemency has been filed on the docket, the docket is marked closed, the disposition entry is updated to reflect the executive grant of clemency, and no further action is taken by the Court.” “Although Weiss purported not to have seen the pardon itself (which Lowell inexplicably failed to docket), he took particular umbrage at the suggestion that the prosecution was politically motivated, huffing that “The court similarly found [Biden’s] vindictive prosecution claims unmoored from any evidence or even a coherent theory as to vindictiveness.”

Judge Mark Scarsi of the Central District of California has taken no action, thus far. But in Delaware, Judge Maryellen Noreika said in a minute order that she intends to terminate the proceedings, and instructing the government to say by tomorrow if it objects to termination by dismissal. Presumably it does, although no objection has hit the docket as of this writing.” -Above the Law. Hunter pleaded guilty to the tax charges earlier this year, after a Delaware jury found him guilty of lying about his drug use on a background check form used to purchase a firearm.

In Weiss’ new filing, he writes: “The defendant did not docket the pardon nor has the government seen it. If media reports are accurate, the Government does not challenge that the defendant has been the recipient of an act of mercy. But that does not mean the grand jury’s decision to charge him, based on a finding of probable cause, should be wiped away as if it never occurred. It also does not mean that his charges should be wiped away because the defendant falsely claimed that the charges were the result of some improper motive. No court has agreed with the defendant on these baseless claims, and his request to dismiss the indictment finds no support in the law or the practice of this district.”

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“You can see the pardon as a conservative act as protection of the family is the basis of society. But in our society so is equal standing under the law..”

The Pardon (Paul Craig Roberts)

Joe Biden said he would not pardon his son, but he did. Pardons reside with presidents and governors and are supposed to be used to correct an injustice or when a service has been done by the pardoned person that offsets the harm of the offense that is pardoned. But pardons are often used for non-legitimate reasons, such as Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich and Clinton’s half brother, Roger Clinton. Bill did not pardon Roger until after Roger had served his sentence. Rich, however, an international fugitive on the FBI’s ten most wanted list, was apparently pardoned in exchange for political donations and donations to the Clinton library. Donations continued for 15 years after the pardon. In other words, the pardon was purchased. Biden’s pardon of his son occurred prior to Hunter’s sentence and before a day was served. No doubt that many a mother and father wish they had the power to grant their son or daughter a pardon.

It is disturbing that Biden pretends that the charges against Hunter were politically motivated and designed to hurt President Biden, as if the FBI and DOJ committed to Biden’s protection would act against him. The charges were protective of Biden and were brought in order to get the focus off the more dangerous information in the laptop. The politically motivated charges were the ones brought against Trump. But I don’t really blame Biden from using his power to save his son from prison. In a way it shows Joe Biden more committed to his son than to his reputation. You can see the pardon as a conservative act as protection of the family is the basis of society. But in our society so is equal standing under the law, which took a hit from the pardon. What we should find more upsetting than the pardon is the protection that the FBI and Department of Justice provided for President Biden and his son from the evidence in Hunter’s laptop.

The FBI put out the story, quickly accepted by the presstitutes, that the laptop was a Russian attempt to discredit the US president. The prosecutions that Hunter has faced are limited to his false statement on his gun purchase application and to failure to pay income taxes on the profits from his and President Biden’s influence peddling ventures to which the FBI and Department of Justice (sic) have turned a blind eye–the same FBI and DOJ that gave Biden clearance on the documents charge for which Trump was indicted and prosecuted. In other words, under the Democrats justice in America was totally corrupted and still 45% of American voters voted for Democrats in the last election.

This tells us that close to half of the voting population either is too insouciant or ignorant to know what is going on, or is indifferent or unconcerned whether law serves justice or political, ideological, and personal agendas. The damning conclusion is that close to half of the American population accepts law as a political weapon. That the personnel in the FBI and DOJ do not resign in protest at the perversion of law and prosecution indicates that they, too, accept the abuse of law by their superiors. Can the transformation of law from a shield of the people into a weapon in the hands of the state be reversed when the entire federal law enforcement system is corrupt to the core? Can such a giant task be accomplished when Trump is simultaneously attempting to restore integrity to all other aspects of government? Is this a bridge too far?

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“It’s a beautiful thing to watch the Biden family destroy the Democrat Party.” — @Mazemoore on “X”

The Blob Has a Migraine (Kunstler)

You can be sure the blobists have seen this coming from years away. The boys and girls in the agencies have behaved more than just a little badly, and they know it. They committed serious crimes against our country and its citizens under color-of-law since 2015, ranging from seditious conspiracy clear up to treason (say, just for instance, the case of Col. Alexander Vindman using his Ukraine connections to lever Mr. Trump out of the Oval Office in the 2019 impeachment scam.)

You have whole C-suites of agencies teed-up on RussiaGate for felonies, misprision of felonies, abuse of power, deprivation of rights, lying under oath, conspiracy to commit fraud, and much more. You have Judge James Boasberg playing games in the FISA Court he presided over; Robert Mueller and Andrew Weissmann running a two-and-a-half-year Chinese fire drill to cover-up years preceding of FBI / DOJ misconduct; John Brennan, James Clapper, and Gina Haspel abusing the “Five Eyes” intel arrangements to turn the CIA on innocent citizens at home; the fifty-one current and former intel agents colluding to bury Hunter’s Laptop to sway the 2020 election; the antics of Judge Emmet Sullivan in the Flynn case. . . .

And then on to a whole new round of frolics under “Joe Biden” including the malicious prosecutions of J-6 protesters; the pipe-bomb caper at the DNC; the use of several agencies to censor speech and manage the news media; the treasonous negligence of Alejandro Mayorkas on the nation’s borders; the DOJ-coordinated lawfare hounding of Mr. Trump and his adjacent lawyers; the Ukraine War project ginned up by the State Department’s Victoria Nuland and cohorts; and the sinkhole of greed, malice, and medical homicide that was the Covid-19 operation, millions killed and disabled, and likely more of that yet to come from the vaccines, trillions in wealth purloined or just plain lost, and businesses destroyed in lockdowns. It’s not a mere “swamp,” it’s a whole forbidden planet of turpitude.

Then there are the floaters and freelancers who move from one blob venue to the next, like lawfare artists Mary McCord, Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, David J. Kramer, or the girl-band of Lisa Monaco, Fiona Hill, Kathryn Ruemmler, Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Nellie Ohr. And finally, there are the real big fishes: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, Anthony Fauci, Chris Wray, Merrick Garland, General Milley, and “Joe Biden.”

Add William Barr to that list for failing to reveal that he was in possession of Hunter’s laptop as early as the fall of 2019. Of course, it was crammed with exculpatory evidence that could have ended impeachment No. 1 on day one of the initial hearings, yet he never alerted President’s lawyers to its existence. Weird, a little bit. And also, for the effrontery of allowing Jeffrey Epstein to be killed in his Manhattan jail, and never offering the public a coherent account of how the cameras on the cellblock failed, or why the guards who fell asleep on-duty were disciplined with only 100 hours of “community service.”

My Gawd, they must be eating Xanax like tic-tacs in their drawing rooms and boudoirs as the name Kash Patel floats across their social media screens. Kash Patel, a real-live exterminating angel, will finally step in to the FBI Director’s office and turn the investigative powers of the FBI on. . . the FBI! And its parent, the DOJ. The poetic justice is sublime. You must wonder: how does Mr. Patel get through the RINO-infested Senate confirmation process? Start with: what have they got on him? Answer: probably not a goshdarn thing, not a hair out of place. More to the point: what has Mr. Patel got on them? (Especially Messers Thune, Barrasso, Cornyn, and let’s just throw in the Democrat Mark Warner, VA, who was up to his eyeballs in RussiaGate as chair of the Senate Intel Committee.)

And were Mr. Patel to land in the FBI Director’s office 49 days from now, what additional info might he uncover about years of weaponized government with assistance from John Ratcliffe at the CIA and Tulsi Gabbard as DNI — who will access a pipeline to the vast national security server farm out in Bluffdale, Utah. So, in case you think that the document-shredding party currently underway in DC will conceal all that criminality, consider what lives forever in the alternate universe of cyberspace.

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“They are unlikely to improve themselves by receding further into that safe space to rave about the “f—ing morons” who make up the majority of America..”

The Democratic Diaspora (Turley)

Democrats who campaigned on the need for “joy” and “saving democracy” are strikingly unjoyful about the results of the democratic process in 2024. Before the election, slips like the one of President Joe Biden calling Trump supporters “garbage” were immediately denied or deflected. But once voters had given the Republicans control of both houses of Congress, the popular vote and the White House, leading Democratic figures and celebrities dropped all pretense of civility. They are now being open about their contempt for voters, calling them “f—-ing morons” and “arrogant, ignorant” adolescents. After calling for Americans to come together for Kamala Harris, MSNBC’s Joy Reid sent out a heart-warming holiday message to those who voted for the GOP to “make your own dinner, MAGA. Make your own sandwiches, wipe your own tears.”

Those not wallowing in Reid’s anger are increasingly voicing themes of isolation, insurrection and secession. For years, the contempt for Trump voters has been open and obvious in much of the media. The “Let’s Go Brandon” movement captured the lunacy of the press and politicians simply denying what citizens could see, hear and experience for themselves. When asked for answers on issues like the economy and immigration, Harris paraded an army of celebrities to tell the public how to vote — shiny objects that they thought would be enough for shallow American voters. They were wrong. Now that the public has made its choice, leading figures are condemning the majority of voters as a mix of misogynists, self-haters and fascists. Whoopi Goldberg, 69, even joined the “4B” sex strike against men. Others seem to be morphing into exactly what they said Trump would become as president: isolationist and insurrectionist.

Some have responded to the losses by retreating further into echo chambers protected from opposing views. Many dumped X in favor of BlueSky, a new social media safe space for liberals who fear being triggered by opposing views. Notably, censorship advocates such as Nina Jankowisz have fled to BlueSky. The site is portrayed as a return to the good old days when liberals controlled all of the social media and maintained a massive censorship and blacklisting system over political discourse. New York Times tech reporter Kevin Roose wrote a column last week that offered the familiar “I can breathe again” account: “After an hour or so of scrolling through Bluesky the other night, I felt something I haven’t felt on social media in a long time: free.” It is the ultimate irony. This election shocked many on the left precisely because they were writing and commenting on each other within their hardened media and political silos.

They are unlikely to improve themselves by receding further into that safe space to rave about the “f—ing morons” who make up the majority of America. Other Democratic politicians have moved beyond the chest-pounding of leaders like Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) to pledges of more direct obstruction or inflammatory rhetoric. Denver mayor Mike Johnson (D) declared that he was preparing the Mile-High City for its “Tiananmen Square moment” to fight the federal government in any attempt to deport unlawful migrants. Johnson warned that he would have not only Denver police “stationed at the county line to keep [ICE] out” but also “50,000 Denverites.” Not long ago, Democrats were calling similar protests an “insurrection.” Johnson later walked back his remarks but insisted that his city would fight federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws. Rather than such trench warfare, most Democratic governors and mayors are simply pledging not to cooperate with federal authorities, which is a lawful choice. The concern, however, is how others will react to the overheated rhetoric for months that this will be “our last election” and that Trump is the new Hitler.
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Both sides hold frozen assets. Equal amount. An exercise in futility.

West Won’t Return Russia’s Currency Reserves – Top Banker (RT)

The West will not return any of the Russian sovereign assets frozen as part of sanctions over the Ukraine conflict, the CEO of major Russian lender VTB, Andrey Kostin, has predicted, as cited by Reuters. The US and its allies have immobilized around $300 billion of assets belonging to the Russian central bank since 2022 as part of Ukraine-related sanctions. The funds deposited in Brussels-based clearing house Euroclear have generated billions in interest, which the EU has decided to use to finance Kiev. “In the West, they say, let’s pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine from the reserves. And they will draw up such a bill that even the reserves will not be enough,” Kostin, the CEO of Russia’s second-largest lender, told Reuters in an interview published on Monday.

The new president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, said on Sunday that the EU will continue to provide economic and military aid to Ukraine in the coming year, using the interest accrued on frozen Russian money. “Starting next month, we plan to provide, for a full year, every month, €1.5 billion [$1.58 billion] of assistance. This money comes from the proceeds of Russia’s frozen assets and can also be used for military purposes,” Costa said during a visit to Kiev on day one of his mandate. Earlier this year, the EU decided to give Ukraine a chunk of the interest generated by Russian assets. In July, the European Commission announced it would allocate €1.5 billion to Kiev, mainly for weapons, as the first tranche of aid. The second tranche, expected to amount to €1.9 billion, could reportedly be disbursed next spring. In October, the European Parliament also approved a loan of up to €35 billion to Ukraine to be repaid with future revenues from frozen Russian assets.

The loan is the EU’s part of a package the Group of Seven (G7) agreed in June to provide Kiev with up to $50 billion in financial support. Approximately €210 billion in assets belonging to the Russian central bank is being held in the EU. The US has not yet made public the amount of funds it holds. According to Reuters’s calculations, at the start of 2022, Russia had $67 billion in US dollar assets. Russia has repeatedly accused the West of “stealing” its money. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov warned in October that Moscow would respond in kind to the West’s use of the income generated by its frozen central bank reserves. Last month, he said Russia would use income from the frozen assets of Western investors. While the finance minister did not elaborate on the amount of Western assets currently held in Russia, previous calculations by RIA Novosti put the figure at roughly equal to the size of the Russian funds frozen abroad.

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“Kennan’s thesis from 1946 was that the United States needed to work patiently and resolutely to thwart the Soviet threat, and to enhance and aggravate the internal fissures in the Soviet system..”

The Long War To Reaffirm Western And Israeli Primacy (Alastair Crooke)

The long war to reaffirm western and Israeli primacy is undergoing a shape-shift. On one front, the calculus in respect to Russia and the Ukraine war has shifted. And in the Middle East, the locus and shape of the war is shifting in a distinct way. Georges Kennan’s famed Soviet doctrine has long formed the baseline to U.S. policy, firstly directed toward the Soviet Union, and latterly, towards Russia. Kennan’s thesis from 1946 was that the United States needed to work patiently and resolutely to thwart the Soviet threat, and to enhance and aggravate the internal fissures in the Soviet system, until its contradictions triggered the collapse from within. More recently, the Atlantic Council has drawn on the Kennan doctrine to suggest that his broad outline should serve as the basis of U.S. policy towards Iran.

“The threat that Iran poses to the U.S. resembles the one faced from the Soviet Union after World War II. In this regard, the policy that George Kennan outlined for dealing with the Soviet Union has some applications for Iran”, the Atlantic report states. Over the years, that doctrine has ossified into an entire network of security understandings, based on the archetypal conviction that America is strong, and that Russia was weak. Russia must ‘know that’, and thus, it was argued, there could be no logic for Russian strategists to imagine they had any other option but to submit to the overmatch represented by the combined military strength of NATO versus a ‘weak’ Russia. And should Russian strategists unwisely persevere with challenging the West, it was said, the inherent contrariety simply would cause Russia to fracture. American neocons and western intelligence have not listened to any other view, because they were (and largely still are) convinced by Kennan’s formulation.

The American foreign policy class simply could not accept the possibility that such a core thesis was wrong. The entire approach reflected more a deep-seated culture, rather than any rational analysis – even when visible facts on the ground pointed them to a different reality. So, America has piled the pressure on Russia through the incremental delivery of additional weapons systems to Ukraine; through stationing intermediate range nuclear-capable missiles ever-closer to Russia’s borders; and most recently, by shooting ATACMS into ‘old Russia’. The aim has been to pressure Russia into a situation where it would feel obliged to make concessions to Ukraine, such as a to accept a freezing of the conflict, and to be obliged to negotiate against Ukrainian bargaining ‘cards’ devised to yield a solution acceptable to the U.S. Or, alternatively, for Russia to be cornered into the ‘nuclear corner’.

American strategy ultimately rests on the conviction that the U.S. could engage in a nuclear war with Russia – and prevail; that Russia understands that were it to go nuclear, it would ‘lose the world’. Or, pressured by NATO, the anger amongst Russians likely would sweep Putin from office were he to make significant concessions to Ukraine. It was a ‘win-win’ outcome – from the U.S. perspective. Unexpectedly however, a new weapon appeared on the scene which precisely unshackles President Putin from the ‘all-or-nothing’ choice of having to concede a bargaining ‘hand’ to Ukraine, or resort to nuclear deterrence. Instead, the war can be settled by facts on the ground. Effectively, the George Kennan ‘trap’ imploded.

The Oreshnik missile (that was used to attack the Yuzhmash complex at Dnietropetrovsk) provides Russia with a weapon, such as never before witnessed: An intermediate range missile system that effectively checkmates the western nuclear threat. Russia can now manage western escalation with a credible threat of retaliation that is both hugely destructive – yet conventional. It inverts the paradigm. It is now the West’s escalation that either has to go nuclear, or be limited to providing Ukraine with weapons such as ATACMS or Storm Shadow that will not alter the course of the war. Were NATO to escalate further, it risks an Oreshnik strike in retaliation, either in Ukraine or on some target in Europe, leaving the West with the dilemma of what to do next.

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“They expressed “unconditional support” for steps taken by Damascus “to restore constitutional order and territorial integrity of the country.”

Russia has started bombing the “Islamist militants”, whoever they are or who supports them. If Iran follows suit, who knows what happens?

Moscow and Tehran Discuss Syria – Kremlin (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday, according to a statement issued by the Kremlin. The main focus of the conversation was on the “escalating situation” in the Syria, the statement outlined. The ongoing large-scale attack by Islamist militants around Syria’s second largest city, Aleppo, is aimed at undermining the sovereignty, political and socio-economic stability of the Middle Eastern nation, the two leaders concluded. They expressed “unconditional support” for steps taken by Damascus “to restore constitutional order and territorial integrity of the country.” Putin and Pezeshkian also stressed the importance of coordinating efforts within the framework of the ‘Astana format’ with the participation of Türkiye.

Assorted Syrian ‘rebels’ and terrorists, including Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS), staged a large-scale attack on government forces in northwest Syria last week. Formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, HTS is considered a terrorist organization by Syria, Russia, Iran, the US, and several other countries. The militants claim to have captured considerable chunks of the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, with some units reaching as far as the center of the city of Aleppo. Damascus has reportedly succeeded in halting the insurgents near the city of Hama in central Syria after receiving reinforcements. Syrian President Bashar Assad has pledged to “eliminate terrorists” and to punish their “sponsors and supporters.” The Syrian military acknowledged that dozens of its troops had been killed during the offensive while estimating terrorist losses at around 1,000.

Government forces were also backed by waves of Russian airstrikes which also targeted terrorist headquarters, weapons, and ammunition depots. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Monday that Russian warplanes stationed in Syria had conducted strikes on militant forces in recent days. Peskov reiterated Russia’s support for the Syrian government, stating that Moscow and Damascus had been in contact and were analyzing ongoing developments. Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2015, helping to inflict heavy defeats on numerous terrorist groups, most notably al-Nusra and the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). Russia maintains a significant military presence in the country and has bases in Hmeimim and Tartus. Last week’s Islamist attack was the first major clash between Syrian rebels and government forces since March 2020, when Russia and Türkiye brokered a ceasefire in the country.

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Russia, Iran and China.

“As Syria’s friend, China is willing to make an active effort to avoid further deterioration of the situation in Syria..”

China Vows Support For Syria (RT)

China is “deeply concerned” about developments in Syria, where jihadist militants launched a surprise offensive last week, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Monday. As Damascus’ “friend,” Beijing is prepared to take steps to prevent a further deterioration of the situation, he said. The Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, and allied militias launched a large-scale attack on government-controlled territory in northern Syria last Wednesday. The militants took over a number of towns and villages in the Aleppo, Idlib and Hama provinces. Syrian government forces, backed by Russian fighter jets, launched a counteroffensive on Thursday and successfully liberated several settlements over the weekend, reportedly eliminating hundreds of militants and thwarting their advance into central Syria.

However, dozens of Syrian army service members were lost amid the heavy fighting, the Syrian General Command said in an earlier statement. “China is deeply concerned over the situation in northwestern Syria, and supports its effort to uphold national security and stability,” Lin told a press briefing on Monday. “As Syria’s friend, China is willing to make an active effort to avoid further deterioration of the situation in Syria,” the official said. The Chinese embassy in Syria “is closely following the local situation” and has issued a security alert for Chinese citizens residing in the country, advising them to take extra security precautions and, if possible, move to safer areas, Lin said. China’s ties with Syria have been growing closer in recent years.

Last September, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad inked a “strategic partnership” deal, pledging to work together in order to “jointly safeguard international fairness and justice” in the face of the “unstable and uncertain international situation.” Xi told Assad at the time that Beijing supported Syria in “opposing foreign interference and unilateral bullying, safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.” A number of other nations, including Russia, Iran, Iraq and Egypt, have expressed support for Damascus over the past few days, commending it for fighting against terrorism. Moscow has slammed the militants’ offensive as a “direct violation of Syria’s sovereignty,” and mobilized air force units stationed in the country to aid the Syrian army. Tehran has urged Islamic countries to unite in helping Syria defeat the militants, placing the blame for the escalation on Israel and the US.

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“The contemporary European Union is the main factor in dividing Europe and provoking conflicts. [It’s] a union of war..”

EU Has Turned Into ‘War Union’ – Russian Senator (RT)

The European Union has morphed into an “aggressive political bloc” and a “war union,” the Vice Speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper chamber, Konstantin Kosachev, has said. The senator criticized the EU in a Telegram post on Tuesday, pointing to the bloc’s support for the ongoing turmoil in Georgia, which has been hit by mass anti-government, pro-EU protests. The unrest has been going on since Thursday, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that he would freeze accession talks with the bloc until 2028. He accused Brussels of persistent “blackmail and manipulation” of Georgia’s internal affairs in justifying the decision.

“The first Molotov cocktails were thrown by protesters at Georgian police immediately after the new EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, publicly called the crowd’s protests legitimate and the response of the authorities – illegal,” Kosachev wrote. The vice speaker was apparently referring to remarks made by Kallas during her visit to Kiev, where she threatened Georgia with “consequences” and openly took the protesters’ side. “It is clear that using violence against peaceful protesters is not acceptable, and the Georgian government should respect the will of the Georgian people,” she stated.

Members of the bloc’s foreign service are acting as “instigators” of the unrest, according to the Russian lawmaker. Kosachev recalled the 2020 Capitol Hill rioting in the US, stating that the EU kept silent on it at the time and did not mention any “citizens’ right to protest.” The bloc has grown out of its original economic cooperation framework into an “aggressive political bloc with military inclinations,” acting as the main divisive force in Europe, Kosachev said. “The contemporary European Union is the main factor in dividing Europe and provoking conflicts. [It’s] a union of war,” he stressed.

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Kallas is as bad as Ursula. They’re like evil twins. Where do they find these specimens?

Putin’s Global Influence Increasing – Kallas (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s influence in global affairs is growing, new EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said. Speaking to reporters in Kiev during her first official visit on Sunday, Kallas, who stepped down as Estonia’s prime minister to take the EU post, reiterated that the European Union “wants Ukraine to win this war.” She doubled down on support for military aid to Ukraine, insisting that providing the country more weapons is not “charitable aid,” but an investment in the security of the EU, since Russian President Vladimir Putin “shows no signs of abandoning his goals.” Kallas has advocated tougher sanctions on Russia and is known for her strident stance against Moscow. She also stated Sunday that supporting Ukraine is in the interests of the US.

“If America is worried about China, it should be worried about Russia first,” Kallas claimed, according to the outlet Suspilne, adding that Russia, Iran, North Korea and China are working together. She also admitted that despite Western efforts to isolate Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin’s political influence has been amplified. “And we also see what Putin is doing in other countries, really increasing his influence. So, if the United States wants to be the strongest state in the world, they will eventually have to deal with the Russian Federation. And the easiest way to deal with this is to support Ukraine so that it wins the war,” the diplomat concluded. Kallas also did not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine.

“So far, the discussion has centered on which countries are ready to send soldiers to Ukraine and which are not,” she told reporters. “I believe that nothing can be ruled out.” The remarks come as the UK and France have revived debates about sending forces to Ukraine, according to a recent report in Le Monde. In February, French President Emmanuel Macron caused controversy by refusing to rule out sending ground troops “to prevent Russia from winning this war.” The statement was quickly disavowed by NATO officials, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that Ukraine’s Western backers were “unanimous” in their opposition to the idea. Russia has long claimed that Western special forces personnel are already active in Ukraine as military advisors and mercenaries. Putin maintains that NATO troop deployments in Ukraine cannot not change the situation on the battlefield.

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Ukraine can’t become a NATO member. So they want NATO to occupy the country.

Zelensky Willing To Cede Territory in Exchange for NATO Protection (Antiwar)

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was willing to temporarily cede territory to Russia to bring an end to the war in exchange for NATO protection over Ukraine. “If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under [the] NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” Zelensky told Sky News. “That’s what we need to do fast, and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically.” Zelensky’s suggestion is almost certainly a non-starter for Russia since the invasion was launched to keep Ukraine out of NATO, but it does reflect a shift in his position. Zelensky previously maintained that his war goals included driving Russia out of all of the territory it has captured since February 2022, as well as Crimea.

In a recent conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to a speech he made earlier this year that outlines his conditions for peace, which include a Ukrainian withdrawal from all territory Russia has annexed, Ukrainian neutrality, and the lifting of all Western sanctions on Russia. Ukrainian neutrality was Russia’s main demand during short-lived negotiations that took place in the early days of the invasion. Ukrainian and Russian officials held talks in March and April of 2022, but the negotiations were discouraged by the US and its allies.

In the interview with Sky News, Zelensky said Ukraine wouldn’t agree to a ceasefire without guarantees of NATO protection. “We need [NATO protection] very much, otherwise [Putin] will come back. Otherwise, how are we going to go to a ceasefire? So for us, it’s very dangerous,” he said. While Zelensky and Putin’s terms are extremely far apart, the Ukrainian side could be forced to make more concessions if President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his campaign promise to end the war and pressures Zelensky to negotiate.

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“With just such a birth rate and mortality, the Ukrainian nation will be reduced to nothing in 180 years..”

Ukrainians Could Disappear (RT)

The Ukrainian ethnos could be extinct in less than two centuries, Olga Bogomolets, a renowned Ukrainian medical expert, warned this week. Extremely low birth rates and high mortality could lead to the nationality’s demise in about 180 years, she said. Bogomolets holds a post-doctoral degree in medicine, as well as the title ‘distinguished physician of Ukraine’. According to the expert, the nation is facing an “insane, catastrophic” rise in mortality rates combined with a continued decline in the number of newborns. “If this model persists, without even taking into account the war-associated losses and emigration… With just such a birth rate and mortality, the Ukrainian nation will be reduced to nothing in 180 years,” Bogomolets told the Vechir.Live show, which aired on YouTube.

The country has only six generations’ time to reverse the trend, the health professional warned. Otherwise, “zero [Ukrainians] will remain,” she said, adding that the territory of Ukraine would be inhabited by some other people “who will no longer be Ukrainians.” The conflict with Moscow has taken a heavy toll. Ukrainian military losses alone have amounted to more than half a million since February 2022, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Around 6.6 million people had fled the country as of July 2024, according to German data aggregator Statista. The Ukrainian media has reported that the country’s population could have fallen by a whopping 10 million over almost three years of fighting, considering both conflict-linked losses and emigration. A quarter of Ukrainians who fled abroad also have no interest in going back, the news outlets said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) currently estimates Ukraine’s population at just over 37.7 million people as of 2023, down from 44.3 million in 2021 and almost 50 million in 2000. The international body says that number was in steady decline even before the conflict with Russia, and is projected to fall further to less than 32 million by 2050. In October, Florence Bauer, the Regional Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), described the situation in Ukraine as a “demographic crisis,” explaining that “the birth rate plummeted to one child per woman – the lowest fertility rate in Europe and one of the lowest in the world.” She added that the nation’s population had declined by over 10 million since the start of the 2014 crisis following the Maidan coup in Kiev.

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“There are moments when you understand your thoughts only when you speak them to others.”

Shall We Celebrate, the World Being as It Is? (Patrick Lawrence)

Is it all right to be happy over a holiday that has “Happy” in its name? The genocide of a long-suffering people to which our purported leaders have made us accomplices, a senile president who leaves us living with the danger of a nuclear conflict, fear and want and disorder everywhere you look: Can we allow ourselves happiness? Can we permit ourselves merriment in a few short weeks? And the most pressing query of all: What are we supposed to do? We must act, but how? As another holiday season begins, I merely repeat questions many millions among us have asked for more than a year now. I know this because I recently conducted an extensive survey indicating that the world as we have made it leaves us, we Americans and other dwellers in the Western post-democracies, a chronically troubled people.

I made sure the poll covered a wide geographic spread: I surveyed my household; the respondents were two, including myself. So let us not argue: The results are unambiguously representative. I found frustration at a record level, and there must be a record somewhere. I found suggestions of anger and despair. I found that the questions just noted were posed not quite incessantly, but nearly. The survey’s margin of error is zero. We are a perplexed people apart from everything else we are. And our questions are the very most right questions a troubled and perplexed people ought to ask as 2024 draws to a close and year-end holidays are upon us. In mid–December a year ago, we were guests in the home of one of my kindly editors.

This was in the village of South Egremont, at the southern end of the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. There was a tree at the foot of the stairs, the fire was lit, there were drinks on the coffee table. The kindly editor, the KE, stood before the tree with a glass ornament in her hand. We were about to begin the decorate-the-tree ritual. Then the KE paused and turned. “Should we be doing this?” she asked. I vividly recall the unsettled look on her face. “Should we be celebrating?” Israel was then several months into its sadistic barbarism in Gaza, and the government that is supposed to represent us but no longer does was profligately sustaining the Zionist regime’s terrorizing troops. There was no misunderstanding the KE’s question. “Yes!” I replied with alacrity and not much reflection. There are moments when you understand your thoughts only when you speak them to others.

And so I continued, “We must insist on honoring the feasts that matter to us. Celebration: We can’t surrender it. We owe it to ourselves to refuse the temptation of learned helplessness and despair.” I paused. Then: “But that’s not the most important thing. We owe it most of all to the people of Palestine. It is for them we must demonstrate that the human spirit lives despite all, and that humanity’s shared capacity for joy is not extinguished.” The KE nodded. I seem to have brought her around. The KE’s son, a 30–something with a lightning wit and a quick, acute intelligence, considered the point carefully. His name is Stephen. After a moment Stephen said, “Yes, but a conscious ‘Happy’ and ‘Merry.’ A knowing ‘Happy’ and ‘Merry,’ a ‘Happy’ and ‘Merry’ that are fully aware—that refuse to avert their eyes, refuse to lose sight of anything.”

It was the best thing anyone said that evening. We decorated the tree just as these things always and wonderfully go: Put that silver bulb here. No, up a little. Now to the left. The pine cones should be in the front. The big red one goes on that side…. Stephen’s thought has stayed with me ever since. In a certain way I have lived by it.

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“Once a civilization becomes amoral, it succumbs to evil. When a civilization succumbs to evil it becomes impossible to defend.”

Orwell’s Forecast of a Tyrannical Britain Proven Correct (Paul Craig Roberts)

When George Orwell’s 1984 was published in 1949 everyone believed the dystopia he described was Soviet communism. Orwell said it was a description of Britain in the future. It took 75 years instead of the 35 years that Orwell estimated judging by his book’s title, but tyranny as great as he imagined now has Britain in is grip. If you doubt this, read this very short report–https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/great-reset/silent-prayer-prohibited-in-the-uk/— and watch the short video in which two policemen confront an Englishman who is silently praying in public. The police, both white and British, tell him that he is in violation of an ordinance that protects abortion clinics from anyone praying within 150 feet of the premises. The man says he is praying for his deceased son. It is not revealed whether his son was aborted by the mother or whether the death and prayer are unrelated to abortion.

What strikes me is that two white British policemen think they need to confront a person over a tyrannical ordinance that in the US is unconstitutional as it violates the 14th Amendment by creating special legal privileges for abortion clinics that are denied other service providers. The ordinance violates the requirement of equal protection of law. If Christianity or the right to protest still existed in Britain, the tyrannical ordinance would simply be ignored by police. Indeed, if Christianity existed in Britain the ordinance could not have been introduced, much less passed. Christianity is one of the foundations of Western civilization. Its demise indicates the demise of Western civilization.

In Britain where laws and police take it very easy on criminals as long as they are dark-skinned immigrant-invaders, a white British citizen can get in more trouble for praying silently within a proscribed distance of where abortions, that is, murders, are performed than an immigrant-invader faces for rape, robbery, and assault. Notice that a majority of British Members of Parliament thought that abortion clinics needed protection from prayer. By passing the ordinance the MPs shielded abortionists from ethical and moral protest. What crime will the MPs next shield? It is extraordinary, isn’t it, that the British are willing to take the entire world to nuclear war by firing missiles into Russia and find the danger instead in a person praying outside an abortion clinic. This tells us that the Western world no longer exists in a moral context. Once a civilization becomes amoral, it succumbs to evil. When a civilization succumbs to evil it becomes impossible to defend.

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“All we are left with is an assumption covered up and concealed in secret. The scientific name for that is a lie.”

Sturgess Inquiry Ends In Foreign Office Whimper, Bang Of Novichok Lies (Helmer)

The Novichok show trial ended its public hearings last week in London with the revelation that it will not name the chemical constituents of the poison used in the attempted killing of Sergei and Yulia Skripal on March 4, 2018, and in the cause of death of Dawn Sturgess on June 30, 2018. By doing this, by keeping the chemical formula combination of the poison a state secret, independent British toxicologists say there is no evidence that a Russian-made Novichok was used; and that, instead, a British or US-made Novichok was readily available in 2018, and this was as likely to have been the killer weapon. Revealed earlier in the hearings by a doctor at Yulia Skripal’s bedside four days after the attack, Skripal believed she and her father had been hit by a poison spray as they ate lunch at a restaurant just before they collapsed outside.

Skripal’s evidence pointed to a British operation to assassinate Sergei Skripal before he escaped back to Moscow, and then cover up by planting fabricated Russian clues at the crime scenes, and in the blood test reports of the victims. Weapon, crime scene, victim pathology, killer identification, motive – all faked. The toxicology experts point out that in 2018 scientists working on this type of organophosphate poison had revealed synthesis, production, testing and stocking of A232 and A234 Novichok in the US Army’s chemical warfare centre, known by its location as the Edgewood Arsenal; and at its British counterpart and partner, the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), known as Porton Down. The Iranian military establishment had also done the same by 2016. After the Skripal case in 2018, military chemists in South Korea and the Czech Republic revealed how they had produced and tested their own formulas for Novichok.

By openly publishing their Novichok chemistry, the Americans, Iranians, South Koreans, and Czechs have proved that making, detecting and naming Novichok is a transparent process, not difficult to verify forensically in a criminal investigation or court. This, British scientists now say, means that the refusal of government officials and the Sturgess Inquiry judge, Anthony Hughes, to name the Novichok alleged to have been the Russian murder weapon, is evidence of a scheme of British fabrication and coverup. Mark Allen of the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was the last witness to testify before Hughes at the Inquiry’s public hearings. As head of defence and intelligence, he was also the official in charge of coordinating the intelligence and military units involved in the attack on the Skripals; and then in the police and media coverup employed to pin the crime on the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, and on President Vladimir Putin.

Allen’s testimony on November 28 identified as his direct superior Sir Mark Sedwill, the national security advisor reporting to then-Prime Minister Theresa May and then-Foreign Minister Boris Johnson. “As SRO [Senior Responsible Owner] for Russia,” Allen said, “when we’re dealing with Russia strategy, the Government strategy towards Russia, I bring together all government departments, including representatives of the agencies as well, to ensure that we’re all essentially using all of our levers, all of our information, all of our understanding is pointing in the same direction and we’re being coherent. Then where there are situations where something unexpected arises, what you might call a crisis of some sort, then I will also chair that sort of grouping to work out what our collective response should be.”

“I act, not as the Foreign Office’s DG [director-general], but as the government’s senior official. Page 17 Asked to substantiate public statements at the time by May, Johnson and Sedwill that only Russia could have made and used the Novichok weapon, Allen was unable. “… it is safe to say that any modern chemical laboratory is capable of synthesising Novichok. In contrast to what you have said about it being a state — really only something that can be done at the state level. Is there anything that you can add to this debate, Mr Allen? A. I don’t think that is a view that is shared in the scientific community, or in the OPCW.” Page 41. This was a lie; Hughes let it go unchallenged. “LORD HUGHES: As far as you know, is it something which has been asserted either by Mr Mirzayanov or by the other publications of American, Czech, Italian, et cetera, researchers?

“A [Allen]: I haven’t read those in detail, sir, so I couldn’t say.“LORD HUGHES: All right, thank you.” Page 41. “What’s in a name like Novichok? Why the coverup?” responds an independent British chemist and expert on organophosphates. “If the full molecular readout was exposed publicly from the blood sampling of the Skripals and Sturgess — also later of [Alexei] Navalny — then it would be obvious that some constituents are missing. And because they are missing from the name or the reported chemical formula, then identification of Novichok cannot be made. All we are left with is an assumption covered up and concealed in secret. The scientific name for that is a lie.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Masterpiece

 

 

Dog ball
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863627051221000445

 

 

Happy husband
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863284451158999371

 

 

Elephants
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863382783952883864

 

 

Motorcycle
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863242158439878695

 

 

Trap
https://twitter.com/i/status/1863387612053897620

 

 

Crab-rice

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle December 3 2024

Viewing 25 posts - 41 through 65 (of 65 total)
  • Author
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  • #175903
    jb-hb
    Participant

    I looked for a meme of an old man yelling at an old man yelling at clouds but could not find one.

    #175904
    John Day
    Participant

    Baseline Is Different Now https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/baseline-is-different-now

    Thought-provoking today is the last 10 minutes of Gilbert Doctorow’s “Dialogue Works” interview where he discusses the progress of the European Economic community from the early 1990s until today, based largely upon the premise that nation-state rivalries are the proximal cause of war, and the assumption that merging nation-states into a larger union would prevent the wars which have torn Europe for thousands of years now.
    It didn’t work out, essentially because nation-states are not a primary driving actor, but that individual urges-to-power use the construct of nation-states, as they use constructs of religious difference and ethnic difference to manipulate groups of people into war. I will point out that the biggest change in the scale of warfare came when supranational entities became financiers to either side or both sides of a war, notably during the “Crusades”, which cost more than any king could afford to invest, and sacked Constantinople and other areas for profit. Another key development was when forms of representative government were able to pledge future taxes of the citizens of their nation to even more vast wartime indebtedness, the arrangement which funded World War-1.
    Doctorow looks at the current crop of European heads-of-state as being essentially like mayors of large cities, without any autonomy in larger matters, which have been assumed by Ursula Von Der Leyen at the EU level. Their incompetence is readily apparent, but less important than their obedience.

    Gilbert Doctorow, “Dialogue Works,” 3 December 2024: Russia’s Solid Response Coming!
    ​ The opening segments deal with the latest international crises – the ‘rebel’ takeover of Aleppo and threat to the Assad regime in Syria and the political struggle for power being fought out in the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia.​..
    ​..From there we moved on to a variety of currently hot issues including the likely Russian reaction to the Trump-Kellogg plan for peace in Ukraine and the risks of Russia’s using its new hypersonic ballistic missile Oreshnik against NATO countries leading to further escalation towards a nuclear exchange.
    ​ My overarching observation is that the Kremlin has written off any possible contribution by Donald Trump to ending the war in Ukraine and are relying solely on their own efforts to subdue Kiev in the coming weeks and ending the war on their own terms.
    ​ I am hopeful that viewers will find the discussion of the foregoing to be worth their time. However, I am particularly pleased with the final 10 minutes in the interview in which I was given the opportunity to explain my position calling for the deconstruction of the European Union and the return to an economic alliance such as the European Economic Community before the creation of the Union in 1992. I see this as feasible, while retaining many of the benefits of the EU, such as the common currency, if the Euro is changed from a Fiat valuta to a gold-backed currency. In any case, the pitiful collective EU leadership consisting of nonentities is the direct result of the abandonment of sovereignty in the 1992 constitution which leaves the 27 “leaders” with no powers and no responsibilities to deal with the crises at Europe’s doorstep and beyond that we see today.​ https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/dialogue-works-3-december-2024-russias

    ​ Simplicius, ​ Europe’s Bigs Scramble Across Globe for Last Minute Jockeying​ … Meanwhile, the Russian steamroller rolls on.
    For the f​irst time since early 2022, German Chancellor Scholz arrived to Kiev by train to a series of bad-optics photo ops. Ostensibly his visit was announced as one centered on the same old “solidarity” drive for Ukraine. But reading between the lines, we quickly find the real hidden purpose of the jaunt.​..
    ​..Summary for those who don’t want to read the full article:
    Scholz will try to find out at a meeting with Zelensky what the Ukrainian side is ready to do for the sake of peace, — Bild
    ​ Analysts believe that ahead of the early Bundestag elections, the Chancellor is seeking to present herself as a leader ready to negotiate a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.
    ​ This position is an order for him: if US President Donald Trump starts negotiations to end the war, as announced, Scholz intends to defend Ukraine’s position, the publication writes.
    ​ The globalists who write Scholz’ marching orders have likely sent him to gauge Zelensky’s mood for capitulation, knowing that Trump may come pitching hard balls from the first inning. Scholz is likely sent as emergency reassurance to ensure Zelensky doesn’t give in to Trump’s opening volley of threats or offers. The MIC globalists want to at least make sure Russia gets as unfavorable a deal as possible, if it comes down to true negotiations.
    ​ Annalena Baerbock seemed to confirm this angle by simultaneously traveling to China to likewise apply negotiations pressures.​.. “To protect our own German and European security, it is now important to support Ukraine and to clearly engage in the peace process together with the international community, and that is why I am here in China today,” Annalena Baerbock said in Beijing.​..
    ..Peace in Ukraine without territorial losses is now unrealistic, – former NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg​. The former NATO Secretary General suggested that Kyiv could agree to temporary territorial concessions in order to end the war.​.. Earlier, Zelensky also made it clear that he considers it possible to end the war without returning all the territories. But in return, he wants an invitation to NATO​.
    ​ I wrote about this last year, that if Russia began winning too decisively the West would do anything, including giving up currently held territory, to stop the war to prevent Russia from seizing truly geostrategically vital targets like Odessa or even Kiev itself. Landlocking Ukraine would obviously be the biggest blow to NATO of all, as would creating a land corridor to Transnistria, which would allow the solving of that entire issue.
    ​ These figureheads are now getting desperate because it’s clear it has come to that: Ukraine has nothing to withstand Russia and a freeze is vital to ensure Russia is not allowed to go further.​..
    ..Now Trump’s Ukraine envoy Kellogg’s plan reportedly sketched in April has been making the rounds which depicts a much clearer negotiating angle:
    1. End Russia’s political isolation…
    2. Apply pressure to Kiev and Moscow to negotiate (more or fewer armament supplies)…
    3. Russian incentives: Keep territories already taken, Delay Ukrainian NATO membership 10 years, Partially lift sanctions against Russia (and Europe, regarding gas and oil)​…
    4 & 5: Status-quo carrots and sticks for Ukraine and Russia, not including demilitarization or denazification of Ukraine, which will be unacceptable to Moscow, but serve to open discussions…
    ..Now Putin-linked Russian billionaire tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev has shaken things up by announcing that Putin stands to abruptly reject these proposed opening offers…
    ​ Given that it’s said Malofeyev has Putin’s ear, his words carry weight. And not surprisingly, he refers back to Putin’s long-held requirement that any closure to the Ukrainian conflict must include a grander reconfiguration of the entire broader regional security architecture​…
    ​ Donald Trump’s pledge to end Russia’s war in Ukraine is doomed to failure if the US president-elect does not involve broader talks on Moscow’s security concerns, an influential hardliner close to the Kremlin has warned…​ [Entire world order returning to Westphalian principles of international law]​… This is a good sign: it means Putin could be holding to his word, and not slipping toward watering down Russia’s terms.​..
    ​..Again he reiterates that Russia is looking to use Ukraine as the basis for an unprecedented new global reorganization of the Westphalian variety:
    ​ He said Moscow would only see it as a lasting condition for peace if Trump was willing to discuss other global flashpoints including the wars in the Middle East and Russia’s burgeoning alliance with China — and a US acknowledgment that Ukraine is part of the Kremlin’s core interests.
    ​ What does this consist of, exactly? It is a return to first principles, the cessation of political ‘games’ and the acknowledgment of geopolitical realities: such as that Great Powers have critical zones of influence and national security interests which must be respected; i.e. you don’t get to use Russia’s regional backyard as your personal sandbox, which would theoretically affect China and the China Sea issue as well. In other words, it’s an actual codification of a new and real “Rules Based Order” rather than the fictive one presently used by Western neocons to justify a lawless form of modern imperialism.​..
    ​..Lastly, SVR director Naryshkin has not budged from the stance on negotiations in a new statement, reiterating that any settlement must be broader than just Ukraine:
    ​ Russia is against “freezing” the conflict according to the Korean scenario, the SVR director said
    Naryshkin also said that a peaceful settlement is possible in the event of an agreement that includes “peace for the entire European continent.”
    ​ “Russia categorically rejects any freezing of the conflict according to the Korean or any other option. We need a strong and long-term peace for many, many years to come. Moreover, this peace must be ensured first of all for us, Russia, the citizens of the Russian Federation. But this peace must also be ensured for the entire European continent.​”
    ​ He also said that Russia is ready for peace talks in Ukraine on the terms that Putin announced in June. These terms include Ukraine handing over to Russia the entire territory of four regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.​..
    ​..Also, one interesting food for thought: The long awaited Zaporozhye offensive has been said to potentially target Zaporozhye city itself, so that Putin can capture all four new Russian regions, including their capital cities. This is particularly the case with potential negotiations coming up in the future: Russia my seek to hold off talks until the required regions are all back under Russian control. Recall that Kherson city would have to likewise be captured, and so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Russia could seek to recapture it. It’s impossible to tell without further information about the state of the Dnieper river. Some have suggested winter would be a perfect time to cross the dried out river bed since its loamy soft-soil bottom would be hardened under freezing temps, potentially allowing easy passage across in some sections.
    ​ But thus far, there is no indication Russia has made any large buildups near the river to give this theory any real credibility. Buildups on the Zaporozhye line, on the other hand, have been reported on by Ukrainian sources for a long time now.​ https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-12224-europes-bigs-scramble

    ​Germany will soon have more elections. Germany prepping nuclear bunkers as WWIII with Russia looms https://www.naturalnews.com/2024-12-02-germany-prepping-nuclear-bunkers-wwiii-russia-looms.html

    Alastair Crooke, The Long War to reaffirm Western and Israeli primacy undergoes a shape-shift
    America has piled the pressure on Russia through the incremental delivery of additional weapons systems to Ukraine; through stationing intermediate range nuclear-capable missiles ever-closer to Russia’s borders; and most recently, by shooting ATACMS into ‘old Russia’.
    The aim has been to pressure Russia into a situation where it would feel obliged to make concessions to Ukraine, such as a to accept a freezing of the conflict, and to be obliged to negotiate against Ukrainian bargaining ‘cards’ devised to yield a solution acceptable to the U.S. Or, alternatively, for Russia to be cornered into the ‘nuclear corner’.
    American strategy ultimately rests on the conviction that the U.S. could engage in a nuclear war with Russia – and prevail; that Russia understands that were it to go nuclear, it would ‘lose the world’. Or, pressured by NATO, the anger amongst Russians likely would sweep Putin from office were he to make significant concessions to Ukraine. It was a ‘win-win’ outcome – from the U.S. perspective.
    Unexpectedly however, a new weapon appeared on the scene which precisely unshackles President Putin from the ‘all-or-nothing’ choice of having to concede a bargaining ‘hand’ to Ukraine, or resort to nuclear deterrence. Instead, the war can be settled by facts on the ground. Effectively, the George Kennan ‘trap’ imploded.
    The Oreshnik missile (that was used to attack the Yuzhmash complex at Dnietropetrovsk) provides Russia with a weapon, such as never before witnessed: An intermediate range missile system that effectively checkmates the western nuclear threat.
    Russia can now manage western escalation with a credible threat of retaliation that is both hugely destructive – yet conventional. It inverts the paradigm. It is now the West’s escalation that either has to go nuclear, or be limited to providing Ukraine with weapons such as ATACMS or Storm Shadow that will not alter the course of the war. Were NATO to escalate further, it risks an Oreshnik strike in retaliation, either in Ukraine or on some target in Europe, leaving the West with the dilemma of what to do next.
    Putin has warned: ‘If you strike again in Russia, we will respond with an Oreshnik hit on a military facility in another nation. We will provide warning, so that civilians can evacuate. There is nothing that you can do to prevent this; you do not have an anti-missile system that can stop an attack coming in at Mach 10’.
    The tables are turned.​..
    ..The British, and others in Europe, want the war to continue, because they are on the financial hook from their holdings of some $20 billion Ukrainian bonds which are in a ‘default-like status’, or from their guarantees to the IMF for loans to Ukraine. Europe simply cannot afford the costs of a full default. Neither can Europe afford to pick up the burden, were the Trump Administration to walk away from supporting Ukraine financially. So they collude with the U.S. interagency structure to make the continuation of the war proofed against a Trump policy reversal: Europe for financial motives, and the Deep State because it wants to disrupt Trump, and his domestic agenda.
    ​ The other wing to the ‘global war’ reflects a mirror paradox: That is, ‘Israel is strong and Iran is weak’. The central point is not only its cultural underpinning, but that the entire Israeli and U.S. apparatus is party to the narrative that Iran is a weak and technically backward country.​..
    ​..Iran seems to have solved the problems associated with an adversary enjoying air dominance. Iran has created a deterrence fashioned from the evolution of cheap swarms drones matched up with Ballistic missiles carrying precision hypersonic warheads. It puts $1,000 drones and cheap, precision missiles up and against hugely expensive piloted airframes – An inversion of warfare that has been twenty years in the making.
    ​ The Israeli war however, is metamorphosing in other ways. The war in Gaza and Lebanon has strained Israeli manpower; the IDF have sustained heavy losses; its troops are exhausted; and the reservists are losing commitment to Israel’s wars, and are failing to show up for duty.
    ​ Israel has reached the limits of its capacity to put boots on the ground (short of conscripting the Orthodox Haredi Yeshiva students – an act that could bring down the Coalition).
    ​ In short, the Israeli army’s troop levels have fallen below present command ordered military commitments. The economy is imploding and internal divisions are raw and bruising. This is especially so due to the inequity of secular Israelis dying, whilst others stay exempt from military service – a destiny reserved for some but not others.
    ​ This tension played a major part in Netanyahu’s decision to agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon. The growing animus about Orthodox Haredi exemption risked bringing down the Coalition.​.. Many Israelis now see war with Iran as the catharsis that will bind a fractured people together again, and – if victorious – end all of Israel’s wars.
    ​ Outside, the war widens and shape-shifts: Lebanon, for now, is put on a low flame burner, but Turkey has triggered a major military operation (reportedly some 15,000 strong) in an attack on Aleppo, using U.S. and Turkish trained jihadists and militia from Idlib. Turkish Intelligence no doubt has its own distinct objectives, but the U.S. and Israel have a particular interest to disrupt weapons supply routes to Hizbullah in Lebanon.
    ​ The Israeli wanton onslaught on non-combatants, women and children – and its explicit ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population – has left the region (and the Global South) seething and radicalised. Israel, through its actions, is disrupting the old ethos. The region is ‘conservative’ no more. Rather, a very different ‘Awakening’ is gestating.​ https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/12/02/long-war-reaffirm-western-and-israeli-primacy-undergoes-shape-shift/

    #175905
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Russia and China May Have Severed NATO Cables to Block an Attack and Delay World War III
    ​ In a move that could have seismic implications for NATO’s strategic capabilities, two critical undersea communication cables in the Baltic Sea—lifelines of military coordination among NATO allies—were severed in what increasingly appears to be a calculated act of hybrid warfare…
    ​..The severing of these cables appears to be more than a mere act of sabotage. It may well represent a brilliant and calculated geopolitical move designed to delay NATO’s escalation until President Donald J. Trump, known for his aversion to endless wars and commitment to diplomacy, is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, 2025.
    ​ A Timeline That Demands Attention​:
    – November 16, 2024: The [Obiden Regime] authorizes Ukraine to employ long-range ATACMS missiles to strike Russian targets, marking a significant escalation in the U.S.’s involvement in the war.
    – November 17, 2024: The first of two undersea cables, the BCS East-West Interlink connecting Lithuania and Sweden, is severed.
    – November 18, 2024: The C-Lion1 cable, which links Finland and Germany, is also cut.​..
    ​..The severing of the C-Lion1 and BCS East-West Interlink cables has left NATO temporarily reliant on slower and less secure backup systems, such as satellite communications. These cables are not mere civilian communication lines; they are the backbone of NATO’s real-time military coordination between its Nordic and Baltic allies. By severing these lines, Russia and China have potentially achieved several strategic objectives:– This act underscores NATO’s reliance on undersea infrastructure and its vulnerability to hybrid warfare. The​ inability to restore real-time communication quickly between key member states like Finland, Germany, Lithuania, and Sweden places NATO in a precarious position during this critical window, and
    – With President Donald Trump poised to take office in less than two months, Russia and China may see this as an opportunity to stall NATO’s war machine. Trump’s track record of avoiding entanglements and seeking diplomatic solutions could mean a potential cooling of tensions in the new year—a stark contrast to the escalation strategy pursued under the Biden administration.
    ​ The Criticality of These Cables:
    – C-Lion1 (Finland-Germany): A high-capacity line enabling secure communications and data transfer between Nordic countries and NATO’s central command in Germany. This cable is integral for military logistics and real-time decision-making.
    – BCS East-West Interlink (Lithuania-Sweden): Provides vital connectivity between the Baltic states and NATO-aligned Sweden, crucial for regional security in a region bordering Russia.
    ​ The loss of these cables has effectively hampered NATO’s ability to synchronize responses, share intelligence, and execute operations in the Baltic Sea, a theater of immense strategic importance. For Russia, this creates a temporary but critical advantage.​..
    ​..The methods used—deliberately dragging a multi-ton anchor across undersea cables—are both rudimentary and effective. Given the size of the anchor and the shallow waters of the Baltic Sea, the likelihood of completely severing these cables was extraordinarily high. This was not an act of chance; it was a calculated move designed to ensure maximum disruption.​ https://defconnews.com/2024/12/01/commentary-for-a-sunday-russia-and-china-may-have-severed-nato-cables-to-block-an-attack-and-delay-world-war-iii/

    ​ EU has turned into ‘war union’ – Russian senator
    The bloc is now the main divisive force in Europe, a member of Russia’s Federation Council believes
    ​ The senator criticized the EU in a Telegram post on Tuesday, pointing to the bloc’s support for the ongoing turmoil in Georgia, which has been hit by mass anti-government, pro-EU protests.
    ​ The unrest has been going on since Thursday, when Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that he would freeze accession talks with the bloc until 2028. He accused Brussels of persistent “blackmail and manipulation” of Georgia’s internal affairs in justifying the decision.
    ​ “The first Molotov cocktails were thrown by protesters at Georgian police immediately after the new EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, publicly called the crowd’s protests legitimate and the response of the authorities – illegal,” Kosachev wrote.​ https://swentr.site/russia/608577-eu-aggressive-war-union/

    ​ Kremlin compares Georgia protests to Maidan coup
    ​ Commenting on the events in Georgia, Peskov stated that “there is an obvious attempt to destabilize the situation” and that similar events have taken place in “a number of countries” in recent years.
    ​ “The most direct parallel that can be drawn is the events of the Maidan in Ukraine,” Peskov said, referring to the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014 which ousted the country’s democratically-elected president and precipitated the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Peskov added that the anti-government protests in Georgia have “all the signs of an attempt to carry out an ‘orange revolution’.”
    ​ However, the spokesman stressed that “everything that happens in Georgia is Georgia’s internal affair.” He said that as the country’s authorities take measures to stabilize the situation, Moscow would not interfere.
    ​ Prime Minister Kobakhidze has slammed the rallies as an “attack on the constitutional order in the country” and blamed the civil unrest on “EU politicians and their agents.” He further accused the West of trying to orchestrate a coup similar to the US-backed Maidan revolution in Ukraine.
    ​ Kobakhidze has insisted that “unlike Ukraine in 2013, Georgia is an independent state with strong institutions and, most importantly, experienced and wise people. The Maidan scenario cannot be realized in Georgia. Georgia is a sovereign state and will not allow this.”
    ​ Meanwhile, the US has responded to Georgia’s decision to freeze EU accession talks by suspending its strategic partnership with the country and condemning the move, claiming it is a “betrayal of the Georgian constitution.”
    ​ EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has also stated that sanctions are being considered against Tbilisi for its crackdown on protesters.​ https://www.rt.com/russia/608576-kremlin-georgia-protests-maidan/

    ​ Fyodor Lukyanov: Can the West still engineer a ‘color revolution’? We’re about to find out​
    The significance of events in Georgia now extends beyond its borders, especially in light of the escalating tensions over Ukraine and political shifts in the US. The West’s desire to undermine what it perceives as pro-Russian forces has made Georgia a symbolic battleground, amplifying the consequences of any perceived defiance. The fact that Georgian Dream is in no way pro-Russian, but simply seeks to maintain a detached position, does not change the situation.
    ​ Tbilisi’s decision to freeze EU accession talks was a bold move, signaling its willingness to challenge Western demands. The EU sees its ability to influence its applicants as a point of pride, and any setback, like Georgia’s hesitation, will be seen as a failure of its policies. Those who are seen as clients of the West must now swear an oath. And unwillingness to follow the common path is equated with treason.
    ​ This situation raises questions about the degree of public support for the government’s stance. The Georgian population has long been divided on the issue of European integration. The government’s position resonates with some, particularly those who see the West’s influence as counterproductive, while others demand a clearer path toward EU membership.
    ​ For the opposition, this is an opportunity to exploit popular discontent and mobilize protests. The key challenge for both sides will be managing the potential for violence. Color revolutions have always relied on the ability to escalate tensions and frame the government as authoritarian. The authorities, for their part, must maintain a delicate balance, avoiding provocations while standing firm against external pressure.
    ​ The ‘European future’ is a popular image among Georgians, and the majority of Georgian Dream supporters share this aspiration too. The party itself is firmly committed to the goals of European integration, but with its own conditions. The opposition’s argument is that the government is blocking the European path, which automatically means that Tbilisi will return to Moscow’s sphere of influence. The only question is how persistently and passionately this argument will be repeated.​..
    ..The term ‘color revolution’ has evolved from a symbol of popular democratic uprisings to a tool of political engineering used by the West for influence. The question now is whether these revolutions still have the power to destabilize countries like Georgia – or if the state can resist the pressure and secure its sovereignty in a new world order.​ https://www.rt.com/news/608595-fyodor-lukyanov-can-west-still/

    ​ New head of European diplomacy Kallas allowed sending EU troops to Ukraine
    EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas has allowed for the deployment of European military personnel to Ukraine. The day before, immediately after her official confirmation in office, she went to Kyiv together with the new head of the diplomatic service of the European Council, Antonio Costa.
    “Until today, the discussion was about which countries are ready to send their troops to Ukraine. I think we should not exclude anything and allow ambiguity in strategic issues​.”​ https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/7344217?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

    #175906
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Ukraine desperate to hold Kursk pocket until Trump takes office – BBC
    ​ Several brigades pushed into the border region in early August, aiming to reach a nuclear power plant, with t​he objective of diverting Russian forces from the Donbass front, the Ukrainian military admitted to Western media.
    ​ Messages received by the BBC from Ukrainian soldiers via Telegram “paint a dismal picture of a battle they don’t properly understand and fear they might be losing,” the BBC said.​ “The situation is getting worse every day,” a soldier told the UK state broadcaster in a text message, according to an article published on Monday.
    ​ The messages were “almost uniformly bleak,” according to the BBC. One soldier said defeat was “only a matter of time.”
    ​ “They speak of dire weather conditions and a chronic lack of sleep caused by Russia’s constant bombardment, which includes the use of terrifying, 3,000kg glide bombs,” the outlet noted. “They’re also in retreat.”
    ​ Some soldiers have argued that the original mission to divert Moscow’s resources had failed. Russian forces have made major advances in southern Donbass since early August. Either way, the current mission is to hold on until US President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in at the end of January.​ https://www.rt.com/russia/608597-ukraine-kursk-orders-trump/

    ​Philip Giraldi on Israel’s ceasefire-of-convenience: When Is a Ceasefire Not a Ceasefire?​ When it is set up by Washington and Israel is involved
    ​ Bibi has repeatedly declared that he will not accept any halt to the fighting, presumably until all the Palestinians are dead, but would accept some kind of suspension of the conflicts as long as he has the option to return to unleashing the mass murder whenever it suits him. He deceptively labels that “making sure that the bad guy ‘terrorists’ abide by the agreement.”​ https://www.globalresearch.ca/when-ceasefire-not-ceasefire/5874154

    Israel conducts military operations in southern Lebanon despite cease-fire​ Israeli forces have committed at least 10 cease-fire violations since early Sunday​ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israel-conducts-military-operations-in-southern-lebanon-despite-cease-fire/3410493

    ​ Israel attacks southern Lebanese town despite ceasefire
    The Israeli military continues to strike Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement with the Hezbollah resistance movement, striking residential buildings in the south.
    ​ Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Monday that Israeli forces used machine guns to fire at houses in the town of Naqoura, situated on the border with the occupied territories.
    ​ This is not the first time that the Tel Aviv regime breached the truce that went into effect last week.
    ​ Israel was forced to accept the ceasefire with Hezbollah after suffering heavy losses following almost 14 months of fighting and failing to achieve its goals in its aggression on Lebanon.
    ​ The truce deal came into effect before dawn on Wednesday. It will last for 60 days in the hope of reaching a permanent cessation of hostilities.​ Under the agreement, an international monitoring committee, headed by the US, is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire.
    ​ On Sunday, France, a member of the monitoring group, said Israel had violated the ceasefire 52 times, including a Saturday attack that killed three Lebanese civilians.​ Citing French officials, Israel’s Ynet news site reported that Israel had waged its attacks without consulting the truce committee and that the regime’s actions risk undermining the fragile cessation of hostilities.​..
    ..Israeli raids killed almost 4,000 people in Lebanon, displaced over a million people, and caused more than $8.5 billion in damage to the country, according to the World Bank.
    ​ Hezbollah opened a support front for Palestinians in Gaza only a day after Israel unleashed its war against the besieged territory in October 2023, launching numerous retaliatory attacks against Israeli targets in the occupied lands.​ https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/12/02/738330/Israel-attacks-Lebanon-Naqoura-violation-truce

    ​ After Days of Israeli Strikes on Lebanon That Violated Truce, Hezbollah Fires Back
    UNIFIL sources say Israel violated the ceasefire deal 100 times before Hezbollah fired, and now Israel is threatening a major escalation
    ​ On Monday, Hezbollah fired back for the first time, launching two rockets toward Israeli-occupied territory as a “warning” shot, causing no casualties…
    ..“Hezbollah’s firing at Mount Dov constitutes a serious violation of the ceasefire, and Israel will respond forcefully,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “We are determined to continue enforcing the ceasefire, and to respond to any violation by Hezbollah — a minor one will be treated like a major one.”
    ​ Shortly after Netanyahu’s threat, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes on areas of south Lebanon, killing at least five people.​ https://news.antiwar.com/2024/12/02/after-days-of-israeli-strikes-on-lebanon-that-violated-truce-hezbollah-fires-back/

    #175907
    John Day
    Participant

    ​Meryl Nass MD has been catching a lot of flak. Israel is Committing “Ethnic Cleansing and War Crimes in Gaza” according to Israel’s own former Defense Minister/ NYT
    ​ To all the IDF troll farmers, you can stop piling on with your cries of antisemitism now. The Jewish State became Nazi Germany, so horrific that few can get their heads out of the sand and believe it​. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/israel-is-committing-ethnic-cleansing

    ​ UN chief warns of alarming amputation rates among Gaza children
    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Gaza now has “the highest number of children amputees per capita anywhere in the world.”​ https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/12/02/738365/Palestine-Gaza-UNRWA–Antonio-Guterres-

    Homes, businesses, orchards; sewer systems… Israel demolishes over 1,500 Palestinian structures in occupied West Bank in 2024​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241202-israel-demolishes-over-1500-palestinian-structures-in-occupied-west-bank-in-2024/

    Israeli hostages​, not Hamas hostages, get tortured and starved. Israel detained 11,900 Palestinians in West Bank since October 2023​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241202-israel-detained-11900-palestinians-in-west-bank-since-october-2023/

    ​ Cause for hope? Far-right Israeli minister slams ‘coup’ after arrests
    Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir condemned Monday the arrests of a senior prison official and two police officers linked to him as an attempt to oust him.
    ​ The three, who media say are close to Ben Gvir, were arrested on suspicion of bribery, abuse of office and breach of trust, according to reports.
    Police have not commented on the arrests.
    ​ “This is a coup d’etat… a political decision,” Ben Gvir said in televised comments.​ He called the arrests “an attempt to bring me down, me, the government and the prime minister,” Benjamin Netanyahu.
    ​ “The decision to investigate police officers and a senior prison service official who are clearly and fully implementing my policy… is a political decision,” Ben Gvir added.​ https://www.arabnews.com/node/2581569/middle-east

    #175908
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ ICC says facing threats over arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant
    ​ The International Criminal Court (ICC) says it has faced coercion and intimidation after judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ousted war minister over war crimes in Gaza.
    ​ Addressing the ICC members in The Hague, ICC President Tomoko Akane said the court faced “coercive measures, threats, pressure, and acts of sabotage.”​ “We are at a turning point in history… International law and international justice are under threat. So is the future of humanity.”
    “The International Criminal Court will continue to carry out its lawful mandate, independently and impartially, without giving in to any outside interference.”
    The ICC issued the arrest warrants on November 21.
    ​ The court determined there were “reasonable grounds” that Israel’s siege and assault on Gaza “created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population.”
    ​ Following the issuance of the warrants, the United States, Israel’s great benefactor and an accomplice in the Gaza genocide, swiftly rejected the ICC decision.
    Some US Republicans called on the Senate to sanction the ICC. President Joe Biden said the warrants were “outrageous.”​ “Several elected officials are being severely threatened and are subjected to arrest warrants from a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” the ICC president stated.​ https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/12/02/738350/ICC-arrest-warrants

    ​ RAY McGOVERN: Neocons Try Again in Syria
    ​ “Real men go to Tehran!” was the muscular brag. But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was persuaded to acquiesce in a less ambitious plan — to “do Iraq” and remove the “evil dictator” in Baghdad first.
    ​ As the invaders/occupiers got bogged down in Iraq, it seemed more sensible to “do Syria” next. With the help of “friendly services,” the neocons mounted a false-flag chemical attack outside Damascus in late August 2013, blaming it on President Bashar al-Assad, whom U.S. President Barack Obama had earlier said, “had to go.”
    ​ Obama had called such a chemical attack a red line but, mirabile dictu, chose to honor the U.S. Constitution by asking Congress first. Worse still for the neocons, during the first days of September, Russian President Vladimir Putin pulled Obama’s chestnuts out of the fire by persuading Syria to destroy its chemical weapons under U.N. supervision.
    ​ Obama later admitted that virtually all of his advisers had wanted him to order Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria.​ https://consortiumnews.com/2024/12/02/ray-mcgovern-neocons-try-again-in-syria/

    ​ Resistance factions arrive to Hama to back Syrian Army
    A source from the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran stated to Al Mayadeen that the recent terrorist attack on Syria has prompted the return of Iranian military advisors to the country. These advisors had previously left when the political process in Syria began to progress years ago.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/resistance-factions-arrive-to-hama-to-back-syrian-army–excl

    ​ Re-opening key supply roads. Syrian Army advances in Aleppo countryside, as terror lines collapse
    ​ A counteroffensive led by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) on the road linking the towns of Khanaser, in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, to the town of Ithriyah in the northern outskirts of Hama’s countryside, is achieving great success.
    ​ The towns, nearly 50 km apart, link the two governorates and the extermination of terrorists in the area will allow for a deeper advance of SAA and allied forces into the southern countryside of Aleppo.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/syrian-army-advances-in-aleppo-countryside–as-terror-lines

    China vows support for Syria​:​ Beijing is willing to aid Damascus to prevent the situation from deteriorating further, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian has said​ https://swentr.site/news/608575-china-support-syria-terrorists/

    #175909
    John Day
    Participant

    US Military Says It Intercepted Houthi Attack on US Commercial Vessels​ A US bombing campaign has failed to deter Houthi attacks
    ​ “US Navy destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG 106) and the USS O’Kane (DDG 77) successfully defeated a range of Houthi-launched weapons while transiting the Gulf of Aden,” CENTCOM said in a press release.
    ​ The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, took credit for the attack, saying they targeted three US “supply ships” and one US destroyer. According to Al Mayadeen, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said Yemeni forces carried out “precise hits,” but CENTCOM said there was no damage or injuries.
    ​ CENTCOM said the destroyers “successfully engaged and defeated three anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBMs), three one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems (OWA UAS), and one anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM).”​ https://news.antiwar.com/2024/12/02/us-military-says-it-intercepted-houthi-attack-on-us-commercial-vessels/

    ​Hunter was the bag-man for the whole family. Why Did Joe Biden Pardon His Son?
    Which of Joe Biden’s crimes did Hunter Biden threaten to reveal to thereby extort his father into pardoning him?​ https://www.moonofalabama.org/2024/12/why-does-biden-pardon-his-son.html

    ​The pardon stands, but so do the convictions. Special Counsel Rejects Hunter Biden’s Pardon, Files Scathing Rebuke In Court Case https://www.zerohedge.com/political/special-counsel-rejects-hunter-bidens-pardon-files-scathing-rebuke-court-case

    ​ Marjorie Taylor Greene Breaks Down the Hunter Pardon and Warns About What’s Next
    Joe did not pardon Hunter because he is a father who loved his son like the mockingbird media and Democrat liars are saying.
    ​ Joe pardoned Hunter all the way back to 2014 when Hunter started bio labs in Ukraine, started with Burisma, and began money laundering through dozens of LLC shell companies through business deals in many foreign countries including China.
    ​ Hunter is not just Joe’s son, he is his business partner, and Hunter sold his Dad’s power and influence for millions while Joe was VP and beyond.​ That’s why the wide sweeping pardon from 2014 to now.​ It covers VP to 4 yrs running for president to 4 yrs being president – 11 years of all kinds of crimes.
    ​ But the bigger crimes are all the people in the FBI, DOJ, State Department, CIA, and other agencies that all knew about the Biden family corrupt business and crimes yet stayed quiet, provided cover, lied about it all, but instead went after their political enemies.
    ​ The 51 intel officials who signed their name to a lie that Hunter’s laptop, with all the evidence, wasn’t real.​ https://discernreport.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-breaks-down-the-hunter-pardon-and-warns-about-whats-next/

    ​ The Tina Peters Story Is the MOST IMPORTANT STORY in America
    ​ Former Mesa County Colorado Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters is rotting away in prison with a 9 year sentence. She is incarcerated for being THE Premiere Whistleblower on a State and Federal level who unequivocally exposed how the Deep State Rigs and Steals Elections in the US and Worldwide. Rigged and Stolen Elections are the front door into all layers of Government infiltration and corruption.​..
    ​..So why is the “Tina Peters Story” the most important issue in America? It all gets down to her doing her sworn Election Clerk duties by backing up her Election Management Server (EMS) election records prior to a scheduled software ‘upgrade’. Turns out that this ‘upgrade’ was anything but an upgrade. It was specifically designed to illegally erase all election records which were required to be held for approximately 2 years, and these were only a few months old. The ‘upgrade’ (known as “The Trusted Build”) was also done all around the country to purposely destroy all evidence that could show how the 2020 Presidential Election was a stolen sham.
    ​ By her taking a before and after image of the EMS hard drive, the following blatant violations of law were discovered: 1) A secret and illegal Secondary Election database is illegally created within the EMS, essentially creating a ‘second set of books’ that reports out false vote totals for the Media’s Election coverage. 2) Illegal programs are installed such as Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio that gives backdoor access to the vote total database, allowing for illegal vote flipping. 3) Numerous wireless devices were installed along with controlling software hooks, despite claims that the machines cannot be connected to an external network. This allowed off-site malicious actors to manually intervene in real-time, flipping votes anytime as required.​..
    ​..To end this era of tyranny, the ending of the Machines must be Synonymous with Tina being vindicated and released. Tina deserves to be heartedly exonerated and heralded as the Election Clerk who bravely exposed the fraudulent election system, which was designed to steal America, and next the World. THIS entire infrastructure must be gone within a year to save the 2026 Midterms from massive fraud once again.​ https://joehoft.com/the-tina-peters-story-is-the-most-important-story-in-america/

    #175910
    John Day
    Participant

    This energy-driven economy is our life support system. Big cuts will kill some folks. Climate Change Committee in the UK – Change Your Diet, Drive EVs, Travel Less https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/climate/climate-change-committee-in-the-uk-change-your-diet-drive-evs-travel-less/

    RFK: “I Will End Gain-of-Function Research”​ https://www.independentsentinel.com/rfk-i-will-end-gain-of-function-research/

    ​ It’s not sugary junk food that’s racist… RFK Jr.’s plan to remove fluoride from drinking water is “racist,” MSNBC
    ​ MSNBC offered up a history lesson about when fluoride first started getting added to water in the United States – it was in 1945. The purpose, we are told, was to “stop tooth decay, especially in young children.”
    ​ The establishment continues to tell Americans that artificial water fluoridation is one of the greatest “public health achievements,” but Kennedy has repeatedly spoken out against it.
    ​ Instead of explaining the many dangers associated with drinking fluoridated water, MSNBC instead tries to argue that removing fluoride from water will come with “real consequences.”
    ​ In 2007, the city of Juneau in Alaska removed all fluoride from its drinking water. Dental procedures related to cavities reportedly increased after that, “particularly among children in socioeconomically disadvantaged families.”
    ​ “I would go as far as to say that community water fluoridation is probably our best health equity-oriented public health intervention that we have,” gushed Jennifer Meyer, a nurse and professor of health sciences at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
    ​ MSNBC uses the same types of arguments to attack other things that millions of Americans want in addition to fluoride-free water: Examples include ivermectin and raw milk. According to MSNBC, ivermectin and raw milk are dangerous and should not be allowed.​ https://www.naturalnews.com/2024-12-02-rfk-jr-remove-fluoride-water-racist-msnbc.html

    ​ Mark Crispin Miller, Four years after “vaccination” started, “experts” are still “baffled” by the rising global surge in strokes, “rare” cancers, “long COVID” and “unnatural deaths” They blame blood type, unwashed produce, radon, “climate change,” cigarettes, alcohol and/or weed, etc.—i.e., anything and everything EXCEPT for the “vaccines”. https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/four-years-after-vaccination-started-experts-still-baffled

    ​ New Study Urges Immediate Halt to COVID-19 mRNA Injections Over Alarming Levels of DNA Contamination
    Researchers find DNA contamination in COVID-19 mRNA injections exceeding regulatory limits by over 300%, confirming findings from earlier studies.​ https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/breaking-new-study-urges-immediate

    #175911
    John Day
    Participant

    ​ Meryl Nass MD, Can schools just vaccinate children against the parents’ and child’s wishes? Vermont’s Supreme Court said yes. Will the US Supreme Court weigh in on this issue? The Supreme Court only takes 1% or less of cases it is asked to decide. This is a critically important case the court needs to take. https://merylnass.substack.com/p/can-schools-just-vaccinate-children

    Steve Kirsch prefers collected-data to computer-models. House COVID report claims the COVID vaccines saved millions of lives by citing statistical models as the proof
    Why they ignored direct measures of case rates and case fatality rates is a mystery to me.​ https://kirschsubstack.com/p/house-covid-report-claims-the-covid

    #175912
    zerosum
    Participant

    $2T saving, South Korea, Japan, bring the troops home.
    ———-

    #175913
    zerosum
    Participant

    Can you find $2T saving

    The statutory debt ceiling was most recently suspended from June 3, 2023 to January 1, 2025. The United States has never defaulted on its debt, but lawmakers frequently wait until the last minute to raise or suspend the debt ceiling.

    As of April 2024, the five countries owning the most US debt are
    Japan ($1.1 trillion),
    China ($749.0 billion),
    the United Kingdom ($690.2 billion),
    Luxembourg ($373.5 billion),
    and Canada ($328.7 billion).

    #175914
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Earl Butz?

    “If you love what you are doing, you will be successful”…earl never mentioned you won’t get paid because a psychopath’s or narcissist’s life’s mission will be to rob you of credit for your love and success. Leadership in a nutshell as modern embodiment of management, directors and C-suite creatures passes for corporatism.
    What else can one expect from folk solely motivated by avarice, the profit motive. The latter is protected above all else even life itself by each branch of Government, DoD most of all.

    Folk, citizens united are down with it.
    Bamboozled by ascendant Spellbinders and Psychopaths, the People didn’t stand a chance.

    …dismounting the high horse.

    #175915
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Trying to keep track of what the other side is doing as they’ve gone a but quiet:

    It’s bit complicated, subtle, and extremely feminine. Existence is “safety” and “Access” to our bodies, etc. Also have an supernaturally high opinion of themselves. And this would also work, except that, when you actually open a discussion, they won’t allow it, and as this video shows, won’t admit it. Denying all discussion and outreach is “your consequences” for a thing we already said cannot be discussed.

    So, as if written by a very, very astute cult member. Cut off all family. Only the cult loves you. They’re trying to murder you, acktshully. All your bodies are belong to us now. And the comment section.

    #175916
    zerosum
    Participant

    WHY?
    ————–
    Trying to make sure Trump has too many fires to put out.
    ———-
    I get the impression that Biden’s mafia has decided to create the mother of all poison pills for Trump.
    It seems most unlikely that Israel, Houthi, Gaza, Palestine, Syria, Georgia, South Korea and Ukraine, Rusia, deep strike capability, immigrants, budget, debt ceiling, would all have happened together weeks before Trump’s investiture by pure coincidence.
    It seems much more plausible that Biden’s mafia decided to put their thumb on the scale for their deeply hated successor.

    ———
    I wonder if they, (bankers), need to bum-rush WW3 before the Golden Billion figure out UK, Japan, Germany, France and USA are tits up, flat out dead broke bankrupt. Unlike 1929 they’ve been hiding it since 2008 but the toxic heap is about to go critical, it’s all around you, it’s going to be a mega impossible bitch hiding France and Germany going kaplooi.

    Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Dec 3 2024
    —————-

    OK, guys. Could this relate to conservative elements in SK that foresee the death of their nation? They have the worst birthrate on planet earth. Weirdly worse than NK. They are going extinct. Could some men in the Deep SK State realize that, they are screwed,done, facing cultural oblivion. You don’t turn this around in a few months….or even years. Do or die (off)

    Posted by: Eighthman
    ——–
    This is what it looks like when empire falls apart.
    ———-

    #175917
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Kursk Salient @Andrei Martyanov’s Blog.

    Why Tiny Kursk Salient…

    … is a grave for the whole NATO proxy combined arms army (two army corps annihilated!).

    The Russians are slaughtering the last and best elements of the Ukronazi=ZATO Proxy Army in Kursk.

    60,000 dead in one month, that’s TWO entire army corps! Nazilensky’s last gasp.

    “Russians never fight wars for PR (like the West) they fight them to kill the enemy”

    Amen Brother


    Meanwhile Russian naval exercises and target practice with:

    Russian version of P-800 Onyx flies to 800+ km at the speed near Mach=3.

    Latest Onyx version flies to 1,000+ km.

    Zircon flies to 1,500 km.

    Kalibr anti-shipping missile flies to 700+ km with acceleration at the terminal to Mach=3

    {while performing a violent maneuvering)

    Houthis could really get some Mojo on with these babies. Maybe sink some Westard naval ships.

    Not ‘hit’, but SINK.

    Just sayin’

    FAFO

    #175918
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Sheeple Being Sheeple

    .

    #175919
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Woke Women gotta Woke

    Look out below!

    .

    #175920
    Oroboros
    Participant

    The Rise of the Machines

    .

    #175921
    Oroboros
    Participant

    .

    #175922
    Oroboros
    Participant

    Not to Be Outdone in the Racist Race to the Finish

    .

    #175923
    WES
    Participant

    This past weekend we closed the island cottage, the lastest closing ever!
    However, when taking the boat out of the river, we noticed the boat’s 2 anchors were missing!
    Now, I know where we probably lost both of thse anchors!

    These days Nato is busy sending Ukraine thousands of portable power generator sets to keep critical infastructure powered up.
    Now every Ukrainian pub and night club has 1 or 2 (back up power generators, so they can support the war effort by keeping the beer and women flowing all night long!

    Missing Ukrainians are now being classified as deserters so the government doesn’t have to pay their families death benefits and also to reduce the number of reported casualties.

    Here is a nice little map from ZH showing the slow turtle like but steady Russian progress in taking the Donbass region. https://twitter.com/i/status/1862854852663206243

    The Russians really outta unplung their washing machines before hurling them at the Ukrainians. Just saying. Ukrainians are using these Russian powered washing machines to launder US/NATO’s dirty money!

    #175926
    zerosum
    Participant

    WES
    Before or after the snow storm?

    #175927

    “And the comment section.”
    Camazotz.

    #175932
    WES
    Participant

    Zerosum:

    LOL! Closed the cottage before the first snow flakes, which only fell in Toronto last night!
    There was a little bit of ice starting to form along the river’s shoreline though.
    Outboard engines were all running rough/stalling due to the cold temperatures.
    Often had to run them with some choke to keep them from stalling.
    But a killer frost didn’t come at the island cottage until the 3rd week of November, finally killing off all of the women’s summer flowers.

    Out west in BC and Alberta, you guys have really experienced strong cold winter snow storms, recently.
    Have a friend who used to live in Whiterock, BC, now retired in Red Deer, Alberta due to lower housing costs..
    They just returned from a 2 week long Pacific cruise to a sudden deep freeze winter shock!

    Here in Toronto it was was merely Jack Frost giving us our first light dusting of white!
    Somehow we have managed to avoid all of old man winter’s snow storms so far.
    Snow to the north of Toronto.
    Snow to the south of Toronto in Buffalo.
    Snow in Baltimore too.

    In the real good olde days, the local Indians always wintered here in the Toronto area, because it tended to escape most of winter’s snow fall.
    Toronto is in the sweet spot, on the upper west end of Lake Ontario, free from that lake’s eastern snow belt (hits upper New York state), north of Lake Erie’s snow belt (hits poor Buffalo hard), and south of Lake Huron’s snow belt (hits Midland -Barrie).

    I remember when we lived in northern Quebec, we often got hit with very heavy snow falls, measured in feet, until Hudson Bay completely froze over, usually about Xmas. (I remember my Father saying that it wasn’t until after WW2, with surplus 4 engine bombers available, that they knew for sure Hudson Bay completely froze over, every winter back then.)

    Since you were several hundred miles further south in Quebec, I don’t know if you were as affected by Hudson Bay freezing over or not?
    I am guessing you got most of your snow fall before Xmas too.

    #175933
    zerosum
    Participant

    WES
    Long time ago in Gagnon, then north shore, now BC.
    These old bones don’t enjoy minus temp. last night was first night at -2, in the valley
    Snow in the mountains.
    Life is still good, no pains.
    Good night

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