Feb 042025
 
 February 4, 2025  Posted by at 11:11 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  Add comments


Jean Metzinger The blue bird 1912-13

 

Panama Caves to Trump. Are You Tired of Winning Yet? (Margolis)
US Halts Tariffs On Mexican Goods After ‘Very Friendly’ Talk (RT)
Trudeau Announces Tariff Deal With Trump (RT)
China Retaliates Against Trump Tariffs (RT)
Tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, Tyranny on America (Paul Craig Roberts)
Medvedev Warns That US Deep State Might Swallow Musk (ZH)
USAID Closes Headquarters (RT)
Musk: “USAID A Ball Of Worms, No Apple. Must Get Rid Of Whole Thing” (ZH)
USAID Absorbed Into State Department Under Rubio (ZH)
Ukraine Has Lost – Arestovich (RT)
NATO Plans To Oust Zelensky – Russian Intel (RT)
Ukraine Renews Efforts To Seize Russian Assets – WaPo (RT)
‘Shy Musk Voter’ Could Hand Victory to AfD (Sp.)
NYT Shock Poll Reveals the Complete Collapse of Democratic Party (Pinsker)
Pro-Russian Versus Anti-Russian Social Media (Helmer)
Last Rites (James Howard Kunstler)
Lawmakers Urge RFK Jr to Recuse Himself From All Vaccine-Related Decisions (ET)
What Tulsi Gabbard Should Have Said About Ed Snowden (Larry Johnson)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1886487372583637368

Kash

Mike Benz knows USAID

Jennings

Bernie

USAID Power
https://twitter.com/i/status/1886327327497285779

FCC

 

 

 

 

The tariff stories keep on coming, and rapidly. I put them in chronological order:

Panama Caves to Trump. Are You Tired of Winning Yet? (Margolis)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Sunday, making it clear that the U.S. won’t tolerate China’s growing influence over the Panama Canal. “Secretary Rubio informed President Mulino and Minister Martínez-Acha that President Trump has made a preliminary determination that the current position of influence and control of the Chinese Communist Party over the Panama Canal area is a threat to the canal and represents a violation of the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal,” the State Department said in a statement. “Secretary Rubio made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the Treaty.”

The Associated Press had an interesting take on the situation: “The statement was unusually blunt in diplomatic terms, but in keeping with the tenor and tone Trump has set for foreign policy. Trump has been increasing pressure on Washington’s neighbors and allies, including the canal demand and announcing Saturday that he was imposing major tariffs on Canada and Mexico. That launched a trade war by prompting retaliation from those close allies. Mulino, meanwhile, called his talks with Rubio “respectful” and “positive” and said he did not “feel like there’s a real threat against the treaty and its validity.” The news had barely settled before another bombshell dropped: Panama has backed down.

Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino announced that after his meeting Rubio, his government will not renew its 2017 memorandum with China on the “Belt and Road Initiative.” He also stated that Panama will seek to terminate its agreements with the Chinese government ahead of their scheduled end dates in 2027 and 2028. “One important thing, which is a decision I made and communicated to you, is that the 2017 MoU on the Silk Road, the Bell and Road Initiative, will not be renewed by my government. That is the case,” Mulino said according to a translation of his remarks. “We are going to study the possibility of whether it can be finished earlier or not, but I think it is due for renewal in one or two years, because it is every three years. So that initiative that was signed when it was signed, at the time it was signed, will not be renewed by my government. I think “that this visit opens a path to build a new stage of relations.”

He continued, “That’s how I see it, that’s how I felt from Secretary Marco Rubio, and at the same time, we’re trying as much as possible to increase U.S. investments in Panama. I explained to him a series of infrastructure projects that the government has in its portfolio, in the hope that they’ll be aware of them and that when the time comes, the bidding process that will begin very soon will be done, so that they can get involved.” They’re not just refusing to renew their 2017 deal with China; they’re scrambling to cut ties ahead of schedule. China’s influence over the canal is coming to an end.

Read more …

“..she agreed to deploy 10,000 Mexican soldiers to the northern border. The troops will be “specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our country..”

US Halts Tariffs On Mexican Goods After ‘Very Friendly’ Talk (RT)

US President Donald Trump has announced that he is pausing the planned tariffs on Mexican imports for one month following a “very friendly” talk with his Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. The announcement on Monday came two days after Trump imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, citing concerns over illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Levies of 10% were also imposed on Chinese imports. Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media platform that he had held a “very friendly conversation” with Sheinbaum, during which she agreed to deploy 10,000 Mexican soldiers to the northern border. The troops will be “specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our country,” Trump stated.

He added that the nations will engage in high-level negotiations led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, from the US side. Sheinbaum confirmed the troop deployment in a post on X, highlighting a US commitment to curbing the “trafficking of high-powered weapons” into Mexico. She described the exchange as a “good conversation.” Over the weekend, tensions escalated when Trump accused Sheinbaum’s administration of an “intolerable alliance” with Mexican crime groups. Sheinbaum rejected the claim as “slanderous” and, in response, threatened retaliatory tariffs on US imports along with other measures to protect Mexico’s national interests.

The US and Mexico have a strong trade relationship, anchored by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which replaced NAFTA in 2020. The deal eliminated most tariffs and trade barriers among the three nations. Millions of cars sold in the US each year are assembled in Canada and Mexico, with 30-50% of their parts sourced from these countries. While the tariffs on Mexico have been put on hold, the US is proceeding with those on Canada and China. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swiftly announced 25% retaliatory tariffs on American goods following Trump’s measures on Canadian imports. China has also vowed “corresponding countermeasures” and signaled plans to challenge Trump’s move at the WTO. The tariff pause helped stabilize Wall Street on Monday, with major indices paring earlier losses.

Read more …

Rapidly shrinking big words.

Trudeau Announces Tariff Deal With Trump (RT)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that the United States will postpone the imposition of 25% tariffs on Canadian imports for at least 30 days, following discussions with US President Donald Trump. The agreement was reached after a phone call between the two leaders on Monday, during which Canada committed to strengthening border security. The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s decision on Saturday to sign executive orders imposing tariffs—25% on imports from Mexico and Canada and 10% on imports from China—citing concerns over illegal immigration and drug trafficking. ”Proposed tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days while we work together,” Trudeau stated in a post on X.

“Canada is implementing our $1.3 billion border plan — reinforcing the border with new choppers, technology, and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl,” Trudeau added. As part of the deal, nearly 10,000 frontline personnel will be deployed to secure the border, according to the Canadian PM. Canada also announced new initiatives, including the appointment of a Fentanyl Czar, a government official responsible for coordinating efforts to combat the opioid crisis and prevent the trafficking of fentanyl. ”We will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, and launch a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl, and money laundering,” Trudeau stated. “I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl, and we will be backing it with $200 million.”

President Donald Trump expressed his satisfaction with the initial outcome of the agreement with Canada in a recent post on Truth Social, stating, “I am very pleased with this initial outcome, and the Tariffs announced on Saturday will be paused for a 30 day period to see whether or not a final Economic deal with Canada can be structured. FAIRNESS FOR ALL!” Earlier in the day, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reached a similar agreement with President Trump, agreeing to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border to address fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration. In return, the US pledged to intensify efforts to stop weapon trafficking into Mexico. Markets experienced increased volatility with major stock indices and cryptocurrency valuations fluctuating, following in response to what has been described as a “Trump tariff tantrum” before recovering some of their losses after news broke of the deal with Mexico.

Trump has consistently emphasized tariffs as a key negotiation tool in trade discussions, both during his first term and following his re-election in 2024. Trump has not yet offered a 30-day delay for the new 10% tariffs on Chinese imports but told reporters on Monday that he anticipated discussions with China “probably over the next 24 hours.” On Sunday, Trump signaled that the European Union could be the next target for US tariffs, without specifying a timeline. In response, EU leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, emphasized their readiness to defend Europe’s interests and consider reciprocal measures if necessary.

Read more …

They’ll be talking imminently.

China Retaliates Against Trump Tariffs (RT)

China has announced new tariffs and trade restrictions, following a similar move by the administration of US President Donald Trump, which views competition against China as a key foreign policy point. Last week, Trump ordered additional 10% tariffs on all goods from China, saying he is using his emergency authority to fight a national emergency caused by drug trafficking and illegal immigration. In the same executive action, the president targeted Canada and Mexico. Both US neighbors have since offered concessions on border security to deflate the growing trade conflict. The Chinese government responded minutes after the new tariffs came into force on Tuesday. It included restrictions on certain American goods – a 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas, and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, and some vehicles.

Announcing its policy change, the Chinese Finance Ministry condemned Trump’s decision, saying it “seriously violates the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO)” and “undermines the normal economic and trade cooperation between China and the US.” Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry announced that China has filed a complaint over the US tariffs with the WTO. Beijing has also introduced a licensing regime for exports of products containing tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum, and indium. The measure will “safeguard national security and interests” the Commerce Ministry said, without specifically mentioning the US. The minerals are essential for advanced manufacturing.

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“The United States has become too disunited for Congress to perform its constitutional function..”[..] “The same thing happened to Rome when executive authority took precedence over the Roman Senate..”

Tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, Tyranny on America (Paul Craig Roberts)

The US will impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and 10 percent on China, the Trump White House said. The purpose of tariffs is to protect domestic manufacturers and their work forces. What American manufacturers and workers are being protected by Trump’s tariffs? So much of US manufacturing is located offshore, what purpose are the tariffs serving? The “tariffs” in reality are taxes imposed on imports of foreign produced goods, including the offshored production of US corporations of goods and services sold in the US. If the tariffs are paid by the consumer rather than by the US corporations that offshore their production for the American market, the effect will be to reduce the quantity demanded because of the higher price. How much this harms the offshore producers depends on whether their products are price elastic or inelastic. Some are one and some are the other.

This approach to bringing offshored US jobs back to America is incorrect. It demonstrates the economic ignorance of Trump and his advisors. Consider, for example, if US auto assembly relies on parts made in Canada, a 25% rise in parts cost could shutdown auto assembly and result in US unemployment. As best as I can tell, few auto parts are any longer produced in the US, so there is no industry to protect or to supply the parts that tariffs keep out. Before you can protect industries, you first must have them. Instead of tariffs, the income tax should be used. US Corporations that produce domestically using American labor–not H-1B and L-1 imported labor– should have a lower tax rate. US corporations that produce abroad with foreign labor goods and services sold in the US should have a higher tax rate.

The tax rate should be high enough to more than offset the lower labor and regulatory cost of producing abroad for American markets. The higher after-tax profits from producing at home would bring manufacturing and jobs back to America where they belong. A country that divorces the consumers of products from the incomes associated with their production, as jobs offshoring does, is stupid and incompetent beyond belief. No such country can possibly be made great again. Some people believe, correctly or incorrectly, that this business model was imposed on America in an effort to destroy us, using threats to finance takeovers of the American firms that refused to abandon their American workforce and cities. In other words, offshoring America’s manufacturing sector was a step in turning America into third world country that makes nothing and imports its needs.

Is Trump overlooking one important element of making America Great Again? The moral element. It seems to be the case. Trump’s support for Israel is disturbing to Americans who still have a moral conscience and are shamed by Trumps support of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and their country and their ethnic cleansing so that Trump’s son-in-law can become a multi-billionaire by developing Gaza as a resort. Another problem with Trump’s imposition of tariffs is that it is another encroachment of executive power on the authority of Congress. It used to be that tariffs were a legislative issue. For many years the South tried to prevent the North with the Missouri Compromise, and in other ways, from gaining a sufficient majority in Congress to impose a tariff on British goods that would require the South to finance in higher prices and lowered agricultural sales abroad the industrialization of the North.

The Morrill Tariff, a huge increase, was passed the day prior to Lincoln’s inauguration. The Northern congressmen also passed that day a resolution that if the South would stay in the Union and pay the tariff, a Constitutional Amendment would be passed institutionalizing slavery forever. Lincoln endorsed the federal government’s protection of slavery and declared that there would be no war against the South unless the South refused to pay the tariff. The agricultural South seeing ruin in the face succeeded from the Union. The tariff, not slavery was the issue. Lincoln called it insurrection and invaded. That is how the so-called “civil war” happened. Clearly it was no civil war. The South was not fighting for the control of the government, it had its own government. The South had to fight as it was invaded.

How did tariffs move from being an legislative issue to an issue of executive orders? We are witnessing in this transformation of power from the legislature to the executive the transformation of democracy into dictatorship. It has been going on for a long time: Lincoln, FDR, George W. Bush, Obama. The United States has become too disunited for Congress to perform its constitutional function. This is the real problem that America faces, and there is no awareness, no discussion. The same thing happened to Rome when executive authority took precedence over the Roman Senate. I look in vain for discussion of the real problem, and I cannot find it. In America despite Trump, or perhaps because of him, insouciance still rules.

Read more …

“Smart move by Elon Musk, trying to plug USAID’s Deep Throat. Let’s hope notorious Deep State doesn’t swallow him whole..”

Medvedev Warns That US Deep State Might Swallow Musk (ZH)

Having long witnessed the phenomenon of USAID-backed ‘color revolutions’ in neighboring and regional former Soviet satellite countries, Russia has been closely following the Trump administration’s efforts to fully dismantle the United States Agency for International Development. Head of the recently established US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk, has been spearheading this, saying on Monday that “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could gone to some great parties. Did that instead.” And now Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has weighed in with a message and a warning.The former Russian president and top national security official expressed hope that the US deep state won’t consume Elon Musk after shutting down the long-running agency known for having funded regime change operations abroad for many decades.

“Smart move by Elon Musk, trying to plug USAID’s Deep Throat. Let’s hope notorious Deep State doesn’t swallow him whole,” Medvedev wrote on X.Ironically this came the same day that never-Trump neocon and intellectual architect behind Bush’s disastrous Iraq war issued a tweet declaring his preference for the deep state, and he was being quite literal. “The deep state is far preferable to the Trump state,” Kristol said, in a rare moment saying what many other career government operatives are thinking, or saying the quiet part out loud. Interestingly Medvedev also took the opportunity Monday to blast Ukraine and President Zelensky over alleged ‘missing’ USAID funds meant for Kiev. According to Russia’s RT:

“Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s recent claim that he is unaware of the whereabouts of more than $100 billion of Western aid funds allocated to Kiev is a “brazen and cynical lie,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has suggested. In a Telegram post on Monday, Medvedev, who now serves as the Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, accused Zelensky and his associates of embezzling significant sums. “In a fit of candor, the Bandera regime’s boss admitted that he and his cronies had siphoned off $100 billion,” he stated.” Zelensky had told the Associated Press in an interview published the day prior that Ukraine received just over $75 billion in military and other types of assistance, despite $177 billion in military aid had been approved under Biden.

“When it is said that Ukraine received $200 billion to support the army during the war – that’s not true. I don’t know where all that money went. Perhaps it’s true on paper with hundreds of different programs – I won’t argue, and we’re immensely grateful for everything. But in reality, we received about $76 billion. It’s significant aid, but it’s not $200 billion,” Zelensky said, in remarks that have raised eyebrows. There may also be serious questions from the new Trump administration over the line about not knowing where all that money went. Time for a full stoppage at least until there is a thorough US-sponsored audit? Medvedev has alleged, “The hundred billion lined the pockets of all kinds of kleptocrats from Washington to Kiev.”

Read more …

A lot of USAID news, some of it overlapping. Pretty insane that it could exist the way it did. This alone was enough reason to suspend foreign aid for 90 days. They knew reactions to that were inevitable.

USAID Closes Headquarters (RT)

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has closed its main office in Washington DC, multiple US media outlets reported on Monday. Most personnel have reportedly been told to stay away from the building. The development comes after US President Donald Trump accused the agency’s leadership of being “radical lunatics” and proposed major changes to the organization. Established in 1961, USAID is responsible for administering foreign aid and development programs abroad to promote American interests. According to an email obtained and shared by CNN, USAID leadership directed that the “headquarters at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, February 3, 2025.”

“Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely tomorrow, with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership,” the letter said. AP has confirmed the email, adding that more than 600 employees discovered overnight that they had been locked out of USAID’s computer systems. The development comes after Trump blasted the agency, arguing that “it’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics.” “We’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision,” he said. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and a close ally of the US president, has also been a fierce critic of USAID. He described it as a “criminal organization” which he believes was financing bioweapon research, including projects that allegedly led to the emergence of Covid-19.

“It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm in it. What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair,” Musk said. He also revealed that he had spoken with Trump, claiming that the president had “agreed” that USAID should be shut down. The crackdown on USAID comes after the Trump administration suspended foreign assistance, with a few exceptions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US would carry out a program-by-program review to determine which projects make “America safer, stronger or more prosperous.” He claimed that shutting down US-funded programs during the 90-day review had resulted in “a lot more cooperation” from recipients of various assistance.

Read more …

“..USAID is a front for the CIA. And together with NGO’s like the Open Society Foundation, they have been using US tax dollars & govt resources as their personal piggy bank..”

“..Musk’s involvement with DOGE suggests that the rapid counteroffensive against the Deep State is underway. What likely happened with USAID is a precision-guided strike aimed at severing the Deep State’s key funding source..”

Musk: “USAID A Ball Of Worms, No Apple. Must Get Rid Of Whole Thing” (ZH)

About one day after the US Agency for International Development’s website went dark and its official X account disappeared, President Donald Trump addressed reporters Sunday night, declaring, “It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics. And we’re getting them out.” By midnight, Elon Musk—who oversees the government efficiency initiative “DOGE”—provided taxpayers with an update on USAID’s status during a live X Spaces session. Musk told the more than 682,000 listeners who tuned in that the president “agreed we should shut it [USAID] down.” This would be one of the largest planned cuts to date, and the fate of USAID is likely that it will lose its independence and be rolled into the State Department.

“As we dug into USAID it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have actually just a ball of worms. If you have an apple with a worm in it, you can take the worm out. If you have a whole ball of worms, it’s hopeless. USAID is a ball of worms. There is no apple. And when there is no apple you just need to get rid of the whole thing. That’s why it’s got to go. It’s beyond repair,” Musk explained. Musk wrote on X, “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.” The move to end USAID as a stand-alone agency comes as the DOGE creator revealed: “Did you know that USAID, using YOUR tax dollars, funded bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people?”

AP noted: “Musk’s comments come after the administration placed two top security chiefs at USAID on leave after they refused to turn over classified material in restricted areas to Musk’s government-inspection teams, a current and a former US official told The Associated Press on Sunday. Members of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, eventually did gain access Saturday to the aid agency’s classified information, which includes intelligence reports, the former official said. Trump has already ordered a freeze on foreign aid as part of his “America First” foreign policy. As some note, USAID has effectively served as a laundering scheme for the Deep State. [..] “Like I said before, USAID is a front for the CIA. And together with NGO’s like the Open Society Foundation, they have been using US tax dollars & govt resources as their personal piggy bank. It has been infuriating to watch. Hopefully now the whole truth will come out,” journalist Lara Logan wrote on X.

Musk’s involvement with DOGE suggests that the rapid counteroffensive against the Deep State is underway. What likely happened with USAID is a precision-guided strike aimed at severing the Deep State’s key funding source. Always follow the money—neutralizing the Deep State’s ability to launder taxpayer funds is a good start. Musk was also joined by DOGE co-leader Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) on X Spaces. Ramaswamy noted: “If USAID is rolled into the State Department, Marco Rubio will ensure grant scrutiny, preventing taxpayer funds from being stuffed into the coffers of the Deep State. And this will ultimately mark a historic shift in America’s role in the world.”

Read more …

“If USAID is rolled into the State Department, Marco Rubio will ensure grant scrutiny, preventing taxpayer funds from being stuffed into the coffers of the Deep State. And this will ultimately mark a historic shift in America’s role in the world.”

USAID Absorbed Into State Department Under Rubio (ZH)

Update (1210ET) “USAID will be merged into the State Department with cuts in the workforce, but it will remain a humanitarian aid entity, sources told @saraecook and me. Trump admin expected to announce the moves in coming days. Discussions of reductions in funding were still fluid today,” CBS News senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs wrote on X. Over the last several days, the Trump administration’s move to strip USAID of its independence and be rolled into the State Department has been well-telegraphed with leaks and reports via media outlets. As we noted earlier: If USAID is rolled into the State Department, Marco Rubio will ensure grant scrutiny, preventing taxpayer funds from being stuffed into the coffers of the Deep State. And this will ultimately mark a historic shift in America’s role in the world.

All USAID lacked was grant distribution oversight, turning the agency into a Deep State slush fund. Not anymore, under Rubio at State.

* * *
About one day after the US Agency for International Development’s website went dark and its official X account disappeared, President Donald Trump addressed reporters Sunday night, declaring, “It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics. And we’re getting them out.”

By midnight, Elon Musk—who oversees the government efficiency initiative “DOGE”—provided taxpayers with an update on USAID’s status during a live X Spaces session. Musk told the more than 682,000 listeners who tuned in that the president “agreed we should shut it [USAID] down.” This would be one of the largest planned cuts to date, and the fate of USAID is likely that it will lose its independence and be rolled into the State Department. “As we dug into USAID it became apparent that what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have actually just a ball of worms. If you have an apple with a worm in it, you can take the worm out. If you have a whole ball of worms, it’s hopeless. USAID is a ball of worms. There is no apple. And when there is no apple you just need to get rid of the whole thing. That’s why it’s got to go. It’s beyond repair,” Musk explained. Musk wrote on X, “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”

Read more …

Arestovich is also still a candidate to succeed Zelensky.

“Trump will sort things out with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping “without consulting us, because engaging with those who deny reality is futile.”

Ukraine Has Lost – Arestovich (RT)

Ukraine has lost the armed conflict with Russia, primarily due to the inability of the Ukrainian people to take personal responsibility for their failures, Aleksey Arestovich, a former aide to Vladimir Zelensky, has argued. He expects the US, Russia, and China to decide on a resolution without consulting Kiev. Arestovich resigned from his government post in early 2023 after making claims about a missile incident that contradicted the official narrative. He is now a sharp critic of the Zelensky administration. In a Telegram post on Sunday, he argued that the changing tone of Western discourse about Ukraine signals a significant policy change. US President Donald Trump will sort things out with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping “without consulting us, because engaging with those who deny reality is futile,” he wrote.

“We have lost the war due to our own stupidity, pride and stubbornness. In truth, we have defeated ourselves,” Arestovich added. “We have created a society of mutual hatred and intolerance, in which every individual is right and everyone collectively is to blame.” He cited several recent news stories, calling them a wakeup call for Ukrainians to acknowledge defeat and their role in it. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for the Ukraine conflict, has called on Kiev to resume presidential and parliamentary elections, which Zelensky suspended under martial law. Conservative US political commentator Tucker Carlson branded the Ukrainian leader “a dictator” during a debate with British television host Piers Morgan. Additionally, Washington’s decision last month to suspend foreign aid programs has forced many Ukrainian NGOs and media outlets to solicit for private donations to avoid shutdown.

Public statements and media reports suggest that the Trump administration seeks a freeze of the Ukraine conflict along existing frontlines. Moscow has said that it won’t accept an outcome that would allow Kiev to rebuild its military and renew hostilities in the future. The core causes of the conflict, including NATO’s expansion in Europe, need to be addressed in order for a sustainable peace agreement to be reached, Russian officials have asserted. The Ukrainian military is reportedly plagued by large-scale desertion and poor morale, while Russia continues to advance. Zelensky, meanwhile, has called on Kiev’s Western backers to deploy at least 200,000 troops as “peacekeepers.” He has also urged Trump to adopt a “peace through strength” approach to pressure Moscow into accepting truce terms favorable to Kiev.

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“..the bloc is reportedly preparing a campaign to discredit Zelensky ahead of Ukraine’s next presidential elections..”

NATO Plans To Oust Zelensky – Russian Intel (RT)

NATO is considering trying to facilitate the removal of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky from power by discrediting him ahead of potential elections next fall, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed in a statement on Monday. The agency believes that Western officials see Zelensky as a key obstacle to peace talks with Moscow. Zelensky remains in office despite his term having officially expired last May. He has refused to step down and postponed presidential elections, citing the martial law imposed in 2022 following the escalation of the conflict with Russia. Western leaders are looking to “freeze” the conflict by pushing both Moscow and Kiev toward negotiations, but Zelensky is seen as a barrier, the SVR said.

“Washington and Brussels agree that the main obstacle to the implementation of such a scenario is Zelensky, who is referred to in Western circles as nothing more than ‘expendable material,’” the agency said in the statement, adding that “even NATO understands that Zelensky’s time is up.” To address this, the bloc is reportedly preparing a campaign to discredit Zelensky ahead of Ukraine’s next presidential elections, which the agency said could take place next fall. The SVR claimed that Western officials plan to release information linking Zelensky and his team to the embezzlement of over $1.5 billion in funds intended for purchasing military equipment.

Additionally, the report alleged that Zelensky’s administration was involved in schemes to divert the salaries of 130,000 deceased Ukrainian soldiers who remain listed as active service members. The SVR also claimed that Zelensky was implicated in the illegal sale of Western-supplied weapons to armed groups in Africa. The SVR suggested that the return of Donald Trump to the White House has created uncertainty over future Western support for Ukraine, which could accelerate efforts to replace Zelensky. According to the agency, NATO’s broader goal is to maintain Ukraine as an anti-Russian foothold, regardless of the situation on the battlefield. Neither NATO nor Ukrainian officials have responded to the SVR’s claims so far.

In an interview with the Associated Press on Saturday, Zelensky accused Russia of avoiding peace talks and reiterated his calls for Western security guarantees as a precondition for negotiations. He argued that Ukraine’s membership in NATO would be the “cheapest” option for the West to ensure such guarantees. Moscow has repeatedly stated its willingness to engage in peace talks but has pointed out that it is unable to do so because of the prohibition on negotiations with Russia announced by Zelensky in 2022. The Russian leadership has also stated that freezing the conflict is unacceptable and that Ukraine’s accession to NATO cannot be allowed. Russian officials have maintained that Ukraine’s neutrality, its withdrawal from Russian territories, and legal protections for Russian-speaking populations are necessary conditions for any settlement.

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“Kiev reportedly hopes to persuade Washington to back the move by suggesting the money be used to pay for US weapons..”

Ukraine Renews Efforts To Seize Russian Assets – WaPo (RT)

Ukraine has renewed its push to confiscate frozen Russian assets following Donald Trump’s reelection as US president, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing anonymous officials. Kiev hopes Trump’s business acumen and influence over the EU could sway opponents of the move toward supporting it, the newspaper claimed. After the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, Western states froze an estimated $300 billion belonging to the Russian central bank held in foreign depositories, a move Russia has branded as theft. While proceeds from the assets are already being used to back a $50 billion loan for Ukraine from the G7, most Western nations have stopped short of seizing the assets themselves. Opponents of the move, including Belgium, Germany, and France, fear it could set a legal precedent and undermine trust in the Western banking system.

According to the Washington Post, Ukrainian officials believe Trump could persuade skeptical countries if he sees the move as beneficial for the US. “We firmly believe that it’s President Trump who can be a change maker,” Irina Mudra, deputy head of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’ office, told the news outlet. “[Trump] has the power to change the stance of more-skeptical countries… they know he’s not joking, that his are not just hollow words. That’s exactly why we need his help convincing our partners that transferring Russian assets is a necessary tool to finish this war,” she added. Kiev plans to frame the seizure of Russian assets as an alternative source of funding for weapons and reconstruction. Zelensky claimed in an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman that he had “spoken to Trump” about using the money to buy US-made arms.

“I told him, take the $300 billion of frozen Russian assets… and we will buy all the weapons from the US… It will be very good for your industry,” Zelensky said, describing it as one of Ukraine’s key security guarantees for future peace talks with Moscow. Analysts suggest the proposal may appeal to Trump, given his ‘America First’ stance and calls to cut foreign aid. “That’s a very clear quid pro quo. And they would love for Trump to adopt that argument and basically say to the Europeans, ‘Look, if you want me to continue to supply Ukraine with weapons, well, let’s buy them with Russian assets,’” Jacob Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute for International Economics told the news outlet.

Former US President Joe Biden’s administration previously expressed cautious support for the idea, but Trump’s stance remains unclear. Some EU countries reportedly prefer to keep the assets frozen as potential leverage in future peace negotiations with Moscow. Russia has repeatedly condemned the freezing of its assets. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned in December that Moscow would pursue legal action against any attempts to channel the funds “stolen” from the country to Ukraine. Russian officials also warned Moscow could mirror the West’s actions by tapping income from frozen Western assets held in the country.

Read more …

“In a surprising twist, AfD co-chair Alice Weidel leads as the most popular choice for chancellor on 35%..”

‘Shy Musk Voter’ Could Hand Victory to AfD (Sp.)

A new survey by the Washington-based Democracy Institute has sent shockwaves through European politics. It suggests the Euroskeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) is on the brink of winning the country’s snap elections—and Elon Musk might play a key role. The AfD is now the second-strongest party with 25% support, trailing the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) by just two points, the poll shows Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) are third place on 15% and the Greens fourth with 13%.

In a surprising twist, AfD co-chair Alice Weidel leads as the most popular choice for chancellor on 35%, leading CDU head Friedrich Merz by nine points. But the real shocker? A striking 28% of Germans say they are more likely to vote AfD due to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s endorsement, compared to 23% who say they are “less likely”. Democracy Institute director Patrick Basham dubbed the phenomenon the “shy Musk voter”. The German Bundestag elections are set for February 23.

Read more …

“..the Democrats are in a PR freefall. Keep an eye on the numbers: Should the Dems’ unfavorable rating hit the mid-60s, it will likely lead to a full-on liberal-on-liberal civil war for control of the party.”

NYT Shock Poll Reveals the Complete Collapse of Democratic Party (Pinsker)

It happens a lot: You’ll hear about a new movie or TV show with a really cool, totally original premise, but alas, the writers and actors fumbled the football in the execution. The first few minutes are promising, but you quickly realize that the script’s premise far exceeded the participants’ talents. It’s frustrating and annoying. An example of this is the 1995 supernatural thriller “The Prophecy,” starring Christopher Walken and Viggo Mortensen, where humans discover a “lost” chapter in the Book of Revelation:
Joseph: What is it?
Thomas Daggett: Twenty-third chapter of Saint John’s Revelations.
Joseph: And?
Thomas Daggett: There is no twenty-third chapter.
Joseph: Well, maybe this is the Teacher’s Edition.
Here’s the 78-second original trailer:

The film has its moments (and actually spawned a ridiculous number of straight-to-video sequels). But I can’t recommend it; way too much silliness and nonsensical writing. But there’s an absolutely brilliant line of dialogue in the very beginning: “Some people lose their faith because Heaven shows them too little. But how many people lose their faith because Heaven showed them too much?” I was thinking about that quote when I read today’s article in The New York Times, “Most Americans Say the Democratic Party Does Not Share Their Priorities.” As the article states:Many Americans say they do not believe the Democratic Party is focused on the economic issues that matter most to them and is instead placing too much emphasis on social issues that they consider less urgent.

Asked to identify the Democratic Party’s most important priorities, Americans most often listed abortion, L.G.B.T.Q. rights and climate change, according to a poll from The New York Times and Ipsos conducted from Jan. 2 to 10. The issues that people cited as most important to them personally were the economy and inflation, health care and immigration, the poll found. The kinds of social causes that progressive activists have championed in recent years ranked much lower. When it comes to publicity and brand-building, the GOP is often forced to go off-roading — hitting the podcasts or using alternative media — since the mainstream outlets are unwelcoming. At first, this greatly handicapped the GOP’s outreach, but as we say, “Necessity is the mother’s milk of invention.”

The Republican adapted and evolved: They learned how to streamline their message, master the social media game, and claim an ownership stake in emerging, nontraditional outlets. And now, we’re better at it. Meanwhile, the Democrats always had an embarrassment of riches: They didn’t have to streamline anything! They controlled broadcast television, the daily papers, and all the syndicated news services. There’s no need to streamline when you’ve been given unlimited real estate. And so, they didn’t: On issues likes gender, Hamas, late-term abortion, and radical climate change initiatives, they let their liberal freak flag fly. They kept circling further and further to the left. To echo “The Prophecy,” the Democrats didn’t lose in 2024 because they showed the voters too little. They lost because they showed the voters too much.

The article continued: “The country remains deeply divided over Mr. Trump’s leadership, with roughly equal shares of people saying that his second term is cause for celebration or concern. But the poll suggests that people do not view the Democratic Party as an appealing alternative. In a broad sense, the poll, which surveyed a representative sample of 2,128 adults nationwide, found that Americans think the Republican Party is more in sync with the mood of the country. The issues that people said mattered most to Republicans were also, for the most part, the issues that mattered to them: immigration, the economy, inflation and taxes. That’s the beauty of competing in a binary marketplace: You don’t have to be perfect. You can still make lots of mistakes. All that matters is that you’re better than the alternative. [..] The article continued:

“Overall, voters view the Democratic Party more negatively than the Republican Party, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted the week after Mr. Trump took office. The 57 percent unfavorable rating for Democrats is the highest Quinnipiac has recorded for the party since it first started asking the question in 2008.” Right now, the Democrats are in a PR freefall. Keep an eye on the numbers: Should the Dems’ unfavorable rating hit the mid-60s, it will likely lead to a full-on liberal-on-liberal civil war for control of the party. Those numbers would threaten their ability to raise money or compete nationally, and simply aren’t sustainable. And if we know anything about today’s Democratic Party, we know how much it values money. Interestingly, The New York Times specifically labeled the LGBTQ plank as especially problematic to the Democrats’ public image:

“On lesbian, gay and transgender rights, people perceive the Democratic Party’s priorities as particularly misaligned with their own. Just 4 percent of Americans listed L.G.B.T.Q. issues as very important to them personally. But 31 percent said they were a Democratic Party priority.” Once again, the Democrats lost because they showed the voters too much. They were marketing to their activists instead of to the voters. I’ve never met Democratic strategist Adam Jentleson (I don’t believe), but he 100% nailed the problem: “Politics is about perception,” said Adam Jentleson, a Democratic strategist who has urged his party to rethink how much influence it allows activist groups to have over its agenda. “And people perceive Democrats as being focused on the demands of activists instead of kitchen table issues.”I suspect Jentleson’s advice will fall on deaf ears. The liberal activists aren’t going away; they’d rather destroy the Democratic Party internally than cede an inch of ideological turf. They’re (im)moral absolutists. And thus, the cycle will continue.

Read more …

“As a rule you couldn’t win over your enemies, but you could lose your friends.”

Pro-Russian Versus Anti-Russian Social Media (Helmer)

When Tulsi Gabbard, nominee to be the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), was asked by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence what she thought of Russia Today (RT), she replied: “RT News is a propaganda arm of the Russian state government and is not a reliable source of objective news reporting.” This was one of the few unequivocal responses Gabbard gave to the hostile questioning she faced from the Russia warfighters on the Intelligence Committee last week. She also implied – but stopped short of saying — that if a news medium, publication, tweet, or podcast is paid for by a government or one of its agencies – any government, any medium including the Voice of America and the British Broadcasting Corporation — it follows that whatever is reported is state propaganda, so its truth value is zero and should be dismissed. This is the 400-year old maxim that he who pays the piper calls the tune.

It’s not the rule for truth-telling which the Anglo-American courts observe – beyond reasonable doubt for capital crimes, balance of probabilities for civil offences. It is also not the rule of truth-telling in politics the world over. “It was worthwhile making sure of your potential friends,” the English science official and novelist C.P. Snow put into the mouth of an ambitious cabinet minister he knew in London a half-century ago. “As a rule you couldn’t win over your enemies, but you could lose your friends.” In the present information war accompanying the military and economic campaigns against Russia, Snow’s rule should be understood to mean that telling the truth isn’t going to win over the enemy. Gabbard’s condemnation of RT at the Senate is a proof of that. Snow’s rule is also a warning that truth-telling risks alienating your allies – particularly those allies competing for reward from the Pied Piper.

Throughout his career, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has accepted and followed the Snow rule: he always keeps his friends, the Russian ones. But Putin, his officials and friends have misunderstood the other half of the rule. Since 2000 their attempts to win over Russia’s enemies by persuasion have been a mistake they have been slow to acknowledge and learn from.

Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin were quicker learners. They understood it was impossible by means other than force against their enemies, so they didn’t put their trust in persuasion. They also shared an ideology explaining why the protracted combat which engaged them, including class war and war against imperialism, was relentless, permanent. Since Lenin and Stalin had few friends and ended up treating most of them as enemies, the second half of the rule, risking loss of friends, didn’t apply in Russia for the entire 20th century. Mikhail Gorbachev got both parts of the rule wrong. For different reasons, so did Boris Yeltsin. Their mistakes have cost Russia and the Russians severely, especially those who thought the permanent war between Russia and the US had ended with the collapse of Communist Party rule in 1991.

Read more …

“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could have gone to some great parties. Did that instead.” — Elon Musk

Last Rites (James Howard Kunstler)

“In private meetings and at public events, elected Democrats appear leaderless, rudderless and divided. They disagree over how often and how stridently to oppose Mr. Trump. They have no shared understanding of why they lost the election, never mind how they can win in the future.” — The New York Times.

Maybe that’s because the four years of “Joe Biden” was little more than a vaudeville show in front of the curtain, distracting you from what was going on backstage — the world’s biggest political racketeering operation as conducted by a vast bureaucracy gone wild and mad: the blob in florid, mature efflorescence, doing its blob-thing to the max, looting and punking the nation. Now it is all being uncovered, disclosed, unmasked.

Think of the Democratic Party as the entertainment arm of the overall operation. Its aim has basically been to induce you to doubt your sanity. You were asked to swallow one fabulous absurdity after another — lockdowns, vaccines that don’t prevent illness, mostly-peaceful arson, US soldiers in puppy masks, pronoun police, shoplifting-is-reparations, the wide-open border — an epic acting-out of manifold mental illness in living color. The climax was drag-queens in the primary schools, obese men in fright-wigs presenting nightmare varieties of Mom-as-monster, often with some exposure of their male junk as part of the act. Suburban mothers watched approvingly, insisting on video that this was all wholesome, edifying fun for the kiddies (while some of the more insane moms went even further at home, coaxing their little kids toward medical “transitioning”).

Can you grok how insane all this was? So, if you were a Democratic Party strategist, perhaps the first thing you’d consider these days is to stop being insane. Second, at this particular juncture, you might consider apologizing to the people of this land for your heinous antics of recent years — like an alcoholic parent who has acted very badly against the family — and promise to make the effort to get your shit together. This is obviously the part that Democrats are struggling with now, and it explains why they pretend to be at such a loss to make course corrections. Of course, any further failure to come to grips with all this will lead to the death of the Democratic Party. Never in history has a political faction gone out in such pathetic ignominy.

Yet it is not just this feckless party that needs to expiate its shame, it is also America’s thinking class as a whole, its “experts,” its managers, its educated elites, its doctors and lawyers, its curators of “news” and opinion, and most of the denizens of showbiz. For the moment, they are all cowering and shuddering before the juggernaut of Mr. Trump, who they so grievously underestimated.

They know — they can see in plain view — that he is coming for them, and many might find themselves called to account in a rebalanced justice system. Many of them committed crimes against the nation and its citizens. The raft of lawyers fired out of the DC federal district this weekend for cause —namely, for conducting overtly malicious prosecutions under dubious predication — are an early sign. Ditto, the warning issued to Chuck Schumer concerning his 2020 incitement of violence against Supreme Court justices. Imagine, too, how many officials in the public health agencies need to answer for their roles in Covid-19 — the creation of it in their labs, the worthless vaccines, and the deadly treatment protocols they insisted on.

Now, the fate of the blob itself is a thing somewhat apart from the fate of this evil vaudevillian Democratic Party fronting for it. A purge of the blob is pretty clearly underway. USAID was shot dead like a rabid dog over the weekend. The agency had gone completely rogue, serving (Mike Benz explains) as the pivot between every nefarious operation coming out of the CIA, the DOD, and the State Department’s many black box units. The billions of dollars laundered out of USAID went to support hundreds of NGOs, many of them dedicated to harming the life of this nation, such as the orgs that handed out money to illegal aliens and advice on evading detection in-country. And these many NGOs represented an employment racket for the “elite overproduction” of grads coming out of universities with useless degrees and Maoist political training. There was, of course, a giant revolving door between these NGOs and the activist ranks of the Democratic Party.

The country needs a functioning, sane, opposition party to whoever is in power, since power inevitably corrupts. Like any other powerful office-holder, Mr. Trump needs a governor and guard-rails on his actions. Something will have to take the Democratic Party’s place, maybe even a group that uses the same name for convenience and the sake of tradition. But it will have to jettison just about everything the party stands for in its current incarnation, its insane ideas and policies. It might also consider the value of not lying about everything it does.

Read more …

Kennedy’s role is a bit murky.

Lawmakers Urge RFK Jr to Recuse Himself From All Vaccine-Related Decisions (ET)

Several Democrat lawmakers said on Feb. 2 that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should commit to avoiding all decisions related to vaccines if he becomes the next U.S. health secretary. “Given the breadth of your involvement in vaccine litigation, such a recusal would help ensure that you and your family do not benefit financially from official government actions that you will oversee and control,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), wrote in a letter to Kennedy. President Donald Trump has selected Kennedy, a lawyer, to take over the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The department includes the Food and Drug Administration, which clears vaccines, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issues vaccine guidance that is widely adopted by states.

The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled this week to vote on Kennedy’s nomination. If a majority approves, the nomination will be sent to the full Senate. Kennedy said in an ethics agreement that, if he is confirmed, he would resign from a consulting arrangement with the Wisner Baum law firm that involves referring cases to the firm. “Pursuant to the referral agreement, I am entitled to receive 10% of fees awarded in contingency fee cases referred to the firm. I am not trying these cases, I am not an attorney of record for the cases, and I will not provide representational services in connection with the cases during my appointment to the position of Secretary,” Kennedy wrote. The Finance Committee identified at least five cases related to litigation over the Gardasil human papillomavirus vaccine in which Kennedy is still listed as the attorney of record.

“When questioned by the Committee, you did not directly acknowledge this omission or provide clarity about any financial compensation you might receive related to these cases,” Wyden and Warren said. While Kennedy agreed to divest from those cases, Kennedy declined to recuse himself from decisions related to Gardasil in written communication with the panel, the senators said. He also disclosed that he was divesting his interest in cases referred to Wisner Baum to his adult son, which would let an immediate family member benefit from Kennedy’s secretary role if Kennedy is confirmed, they added. Recusing from vaccine-related decisions and communications will “ensure vaccine-related policymaking and communications are not inappropriately skewed by your personal views at the expense of scientific evidence,” they wrote.

Read more …

A number of senators insisted Tulsi should call Snowden a traitor. Larry Johnson has the perfect riposte:

“..the answer to your question is quite simple — Edward Snowden has not been charged with treason and has not met the legal standards required to impose such charges. Therefore, Edward Snowden is not a traitor.”

What Tulsi Gabbard Should Have Said About Ed Snowden (Larry Johnson)

Democrat Senator Michael Bennet, who I think is a disgraceful representative of his Colorado constituents, played a silly and dishonest game of gotcha with Tulsi Gabbard during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Bennet demanded that Tulsi declare Ed Snowden, who exposed Top Secret US government programs that illegally spied on US citizens, as a traitor. Tulsi refused to take the bait. Tulsi is a very smart person and a woman of unimpeachable character. I hope she is confirmed. That said, she missed a golden opportunity to school Senator Bennet. Here is what I wish she had said:

“Senator, Edward Snowden has not been charged with treason. You’re asking me, as part of a political stunt, to cave to political pressure and give you the answer you want. Sir, that is not what you want for a Director of National Intelligence (DNI). I am here today to explain to you why I am qualified and competent to serve as a DNI. My first obligation is to present the President and his aides with the best intelligence and facts. Not my opinions. Here are the facts: The U.S. government charged Mr. Snowden with two counts of violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property after he leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA). He violated his Non-Disclosure Agreement.

I would note that The Espionage Act of 1917 is a U.S. federal law that primarily addresses issues related to national security, such as the unauthorized gathering, possession, or transmission of defense-related information that could harm the United States or aid a foreign nation. That clearly applies to Mr. Snowden’s case. It covers a wide range of activities, including spying, sharing classified information, sabotage, and other acts that could undermine national security. In the case of Mr. Snowden, he stands accused of unlawfully divulging classified information. A violation of the Espionage Act does not necessarily require intent to betray the United States. It can involve negligence or recklessness in handling sensitive information. In Mr. Snowden’s case, we face a conundrum. Mr. Snowden also took a pledge to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Mr. Snowden claims that he only took the actions he did because of the consistent and demonstrated pattern of hostility by the US government towards whistleblowers. Mr. Snowden cited the precedent of the US government’s menacing actions towards previous NSA whistleblowers, such as Bill Binney, Ed Loomis, Kirk Wiebe and Thomas Drake. Drake was wrongly charged under the Espionage Act. You are demanding that I declare Edward Snowden a traitor, even thought the US government has declined to charge him with that count. Treason is explicitly defined in the U.S. Constitution (Article III, Section 3) as levying war against the United States or adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. It is a much narrower offense and requires a direct act of betrayal against the United States, such as providing material support to an enemy during wartime.

While Mr. Snowden was granted asylum in Russia, we were not at war, in the legal sense of the word, with Russia at the time. If confirmed as the DNI, my primary responsibility is to present the President and his team with the best facts and intelligence available. There is no place for my opinion or personal beliefs in carrying out those duties. I will set politics aside and ensure the President is provided with the best intelligence available, regardless of whether it promotes or threaten the President’s political agenda. I leave the politics to you. So, Senator Bennet, the answer to your question is quite simple — Edward Snowden has not been charged with treason and has not met the legal standards required to impose such charges. Therefore, Edward Snowden is not a traitor.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

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Home Forums Debt Rattle February 4 2025

Viewing 25 posts - 41 through 65 (of 65 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #181300
    Celticbiker
    Participant

    Satanyahu, the real boss is here, only took 2 weeks. Now the fake boss, with all the makeup and pompadour, gets his marching orders, yeah? Straight from the Bank.

    #181301
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “Israeli forces demolish 100 buildings”

    i guess it’s a slow day.

    #181302
    those darned kids
    Participant

    celtic, aspnaz: please explain:

    https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-mortality-p-scores-average-baseline?country=~ISR

    Excess mortality: Deaths from all causes compared to average over previous years
    Percentage difference between the reported weekly or monthly deaths in 2020–2024 and the average deaths in the same period in
    2015–2019.

    #181303
    zerosum
    Participant


    “We will take over Gaza. We will own it. We will level it, We will clean it up. People from everywhere will live there. It could be the Riveira of the middle east.”

    #181304
    Celticbiker
    Participant

    Those kids, statistics, like the news, is all bullshit.

    #181305
    John Day
    Participant

    Where is Trump going with THIS?

    Palestinians Would ‘Love To Leave’ Gaza, US Could ‘Take It Over’ Trump Proclaims Alongside Netanyahu https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/palestinians-would-love-leave-gaza-trump-proclaims-while-hosting-netanyahu

    #181306
    John Day
    Participant

    @Zerosum: Trump should know that Lebanon is “the Riviera of the Middle East”.

    #181307
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Compare and contrast monstrous genocidal megalomaniacal Trump…

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/palestinians-would-love-leave-gaza-trump-proclaims-while-hosting-netanyahu

    ….with expected-to-be retaliatory, grudge-bearing Trump

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/anonymous-fbi-agents-sue-prevent-trump-knowing-their-roles-j6-mar-lago-raid

    I dreamed of the moment like Trump has been handed by fate where I’d get to lead a retaliatory strike, legal and political, against GWBii cunts and sonsofbitches that murdered kids, tortured folk, medically assassinated John Murtha and labeled me the monster.
    Those FBI agents should be anonymously fired for being too “stoopid” to recognize the threat against self when they decided to participate in the Raid On Melania’s Underwear in the first place. However, Trump tone deaf as always snatches another defeat from the jaws of cosmic Justice by cavorting with Father of The Antichrist itself Benjamin Netanyahu, of course, the Antichrist being Scott Gottlieb, same church I’d presume.
    Back in the day and as has been rewritten on this Blog, The FBI didn’t heed the primary rule of both Justice and Fight Club and that is when you aim to take out the King, you’d better make howling wilderness of that King Man’s Life. Or else you’ll get to reep the whirlwind we’re observing from a guy drunk with power. No wonder Trump surrounded himself with lackeys like Vance, Gabbard, RFKjr, the execrable Ramaswamy, Patel et al. Not one of them could possibly reign him in nor would that thought ever occur in their obsequious, craven little brains.

    #181308
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “Those kids, statistics, like the news, is all bullshit.”

    maybe. but it seems like a whole bunch of israeli plebes got the whack, too.

    maybe, just maybe, it’s not “the jews” but “the psychopaths”.

    coronel matt hepburn is not jewish.

    https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=coronel+matt+hepburn&ia=web

    #181309
    zerosum
    Participant

    Sovereign Wealth Fund Potential for Leverage

    tictok
    rare earth from Ukraine
    Gaza

    #181310
    John Day
    Participant

    Barclays crashed for 48 hours on payday weekend, followed by Lloyds crashing for 4 hours after that.
    Got cash?

    What Just Happened to UK TBTF Lender Barclays’ Online Banking Services, and What Could It Mean for the Wider World?

    #181311
    John Day
    Participant

    Footage recorded by Israeli forces show soldiers rigging demolition bombs in multiple homes across the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

    Drone footage shows Israeli forces detonating all explosions at once, destroying a large swathe of the camp, with reports of over 20 buildings being destroyed.

    Israel has been increasingly committing unrestrained attacks on both Palestinians and Palestinian infrastructure in the West Bank.
    https://x.com/MiddleEastEye/status/1886297562178797707?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1886297562178797707%7Ctwgr%5E16c274b500833bea262d149d41aa086382126ff3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nakedcapitalism.com%2F2025%2F02%2Flinks-2-4-2025.html

    #181312
    those darned kids
    Participant

    if mr trump is being so generous,

    he should give mar-a-lago back to the freakin’ seminole.

    what a scumbag..

    #181320
    aspnaz
    Participant

    tdk said

    Excess mortality

    Well, iI don’t believe any of these stats, but the story they are trying to tell appears to be: excess mortality is almost universally higher than before, proof that the Jews did not save their own and hence are not guilty; Oct 7th made a huge difference, the Jews really sufferred;Gaza made no difference, there is no genocide, the Jews are being unfairly blamed.

    #181321
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Yeah, the Israeli excess deaths stats contain a message that is “hidden” from those who think that the Killer-Blob is a “Jewish” thing, because if it WAS a strictly Jewish thing then those stats mean that Jews mass murdered Jews because they were Jews, and that is simply nonsense on its face, isn’t it? Yes it is.

    Could it possibly be that the “Jews” who are killing Jews because they are Jews, are maybe themselves NOT actually Jewish at all, but are something else instead ? Something like psychopathic Ashkenazi Kazarians perhaps?

    Psychopathic Ashkenazi Kazarians ARE, you know, self professed Satan worshippers. That’s not exactly a secret since they themselves published it in writing quite some time ago.

    #181322
    those darned kids
    Participant

    Make America Great Again!

    #181323
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “Where is Trump going with THIS [gaza]?”

    he’s gotta put them greenlanders somewhere!

    #181324
    those darned kids
    Participant

    make america THIS for the love of well, love:

    #181325
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “all of them”

    #181326
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    Well what in the Hell can you say when someone says something as crazy as Trump just said about taking Gaza, sending ALL of the Gazans to “somewhere” very nice and safe, and then rebuilding it from scratch into the new “Riviera” of the Middle East ? Do you say that it’s crazy? You could say that, because it definitely IS crazy, but that would be such an understatement that it hardly seems worth vocalizing.

    You could also say that the United States militarily enforcing outright ownership of another country without that country’s permission as also being:
    Illegal
    Immoral
    Impractical
    Imprudent
    and last but not least : IMPOSSIBLE.

    There are 40,000 battle hardened Gazan soldiers who have just proven pretty dramatically that they won’t go peacefully, and 1.2 MILLION other Gazans who have just proven pretty dramatically that they will not go willingly either.

    So where does that leave Trump & his Kazarian butt buddy?

    Another day older and deeper in shit, that’s where.

    #181328
    D Benton Smith
    Participant

    How does Iran, and by extension both China and Russia, let any of Trump’s proposal actually happen?

    Trump is pushing past his weak proxy (Israel) and saying, “Step aside, Junior, watch and learn how a REAL top dog gets things done.”

    And Iran, China and Russia are just going to stand there and let the United States DIRECTLY (not by proxy) OCCUPY and control the Gateway between the two halves (East and West) of the entire world? I do not believe that they will allow that to happen under any circumstances.

    Looks like straight-up insanity to me.

    #181329
    those darned kids
    Participant

    “Looks like straight-up insanity to me.”

    but think of the golf courses!

    #181330
    aspnaz
    Participant
    #181371
    zerosum
    Participant

    Think about the implications.
    Mark Carney said/divulge a secret.” 80% of our defense spending is in the US.”

    #181388
    Dr D Rich
    Participant

    Excess deaths.

    Yeah, please tell us statisticians and epidemiologists….christ.

    ‘Excess Deaths’ were rising before COVID deaths had an impact and long before The Clot Shot reaped it’s own share.

    old age was the most reliable risk factor
    Smoking ranked up there too.

    27% of Israel’s population is non-Jew
    What was the distribution of excess deaths over race and religious affiliation?

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