anticlimactic
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EXTINCTION
For this century the Red List, which monitors extinctions, is averaging two per year. To cater for the many claims of extinctions then this really needs to increase thousands of times!
The Extinction Rebellion is ‘rebelling’ against something which is not happening.
The climate has been changing for 4.5 billion years, and has always included extreme weather events. There is no evidence that the current climate is much different from the past, and zero evidence that human activity is responsible for any bad weather.
It does seem that some populations are under stress, but this is usually for real reasons, like habitat loss or chemicals sprays. This can be tackled if need be. Evolution keeps on happening so some species die and others are formed.
________________________________There have been a couple of interesting sections on the BBC about archeologists exploring early humans in Britain – about 400,000 years ago. At the time Britain was a savannah populated by elephants, rhinos, lions, terrapins, etc. The conclusion was that Britain was much warmer than today!
Scientific reconstruction of global temperatures over several billion years has shown that the Earth was usually a few degrees warmer than today. It was intriguing that there seems to be an upper limit, so I assume there is some feedback to stop ‘runaway global warming’, probably clouds.
________________________________It is sad to see the younger generations being brainwashed into destroying their future, becoming Don Quixotes fighting monsters which do not exist.
SYRIA
It has the feeling of moving towards an endpoint. Now the malignant presence of the US is diminishing, and hopefully disappearing, it is simplifying the conflict to only two groups.
It is interesting that Erdogan is using the same terrorist organisations against the Kurds who were declared as heroes by the West whne they fought Assad. They have to be redefined now they are attacking Kurds. A little more reality entering the conflict.
It is odd that the US persuaded the Kurds to remove their heavy artillery from the Turkish border, but then handed over a town to Syria! Was this a ploy to force the Kurds into joining with Assad against the Turks?
Given the fighting abilities of the Kurds and the Syrian Army I would expect them to be able to push back the Turks to the border.
One of Erdogan’s main aims is to get rid of the Syrian refugees, preferably to Syria but the EU is an option. It will be interesting to see the outcome.
PS. ISIS kids – I read an article some time ago which described how these kids [as young as five] were armed with handguns and could kill everyone in a building within minutes.
UKRAINEGATE
If the Democrats did not have a press which is willing to push any story the Democrats want even though there is no actual evidence to support it the ‘impeachment’ would already be over.
They are holding a private impeachment where the only evidence, the transcript, is totally ignored and relying on ‘chinese whispers’ style ‘whistleblowers’. Really bizarre!
It did cross my mind as to whether Biden was the intended target all along. His previous actions were a ‘sleeping dog’ which has been woken up, and is beginning to bark. The US press can ignore this for only so long.
If ‘impeachment’ is just a word used by the inquiry then other people could use it in the same way.
The Republicans in Congress could have an ‘Impeach Adam Schiff’ inquiry!
It may sound ludicrous but that is the point. It suggests the farcical nature of the Democrats actions.
It would also have a real point. It seems that Schiff is misrepresenting any evidence given so this would provide a focus to pointing this out, documenting it, and disseminating it.
CRYPTO EURO?
I have been wondering what this implications would be if the ECB created a crypto version of the Euro. Nothing complex – just a straightforward conversion. Euros could then be stored as cash, in a bank or in crypto.
One plus point is that it bypasses SWIFT allowing for simple International payments.
It would mean anyone with negative interest rates would immediately switch to crypto – it would eliminate negative interest rates. It would also attract a lot of other bank deposits even though it would not pay interest.
Parking money in a bank has a risk. The banks would need to make the risk worthwhile with higher interest rates.
It should reduce the desire for Bitcoins and similar as the main attraction is that they are not in a bank.
If other currencies joined in then it could replace a lot of SWIFT transactions.
It would be interesting!
IMPEACHKRAINEGATE
Transcribing presidential phone conversations is secretarial work but because of the sensitive nature of the contents someone with a high security clearance needs to do it, hence the CIA.
The idea is that these people will NOT disclose the contents – they need to be trustworthy.
It must be known who transcribed this conversation so I am surprised that they have not been arrested and interrogated for this breach of confidence and national security.
I would really have expected this to have happened within a day or two and am very surprised that it does not appear to have happened at all.
At the very least I would expect that this function be removed from the CIA who have shown they are not fit to carry out this task.
GRETA THUNBERG
She has never suffered problems from Global Warming or Climate Change. She HAS suffered from being taught from a very young age that she was going to have a very bleak future. I read about a 7 year old Australian girl who became hysterical claiming she wanted to ‘decarbonise’ herself!
What justifies terrorising young kids like this? It is obviously mentally damaging.
I suppose that because there has never been any scientific evidence that Man’s activities influence global warming or climate it is best to brainwash kids at a young age to make sure they never question.
Some say these ‘man-made catastrophes’ were promoted to justify a World Government so that a few oligarchs could control everything. It is no surprise to discover George Soros is involved with the institute which sponsors Greta.
Greta does have a bleak future, but that will come from her, her country and the EU doing what activists demand to combat these ‘man made disasters’.
5G
I think the main reason for the persecution of Huawei is that they refused to install and NSA back door. Obviously this is a selling point to Russia!
One interesting article suggested that 5G could be used in factories. Control equipment in factories need immediate control over equipment and so must use cables. Because 5G can give sub-millisecond responses it could be used to replace these cables. This would save a lot of time and money, as well as eliminating the need for thousands of tons of copper.
It could replace a lot of cabling currently used by offices as well.
EPSTEIN
It must be comforting for Americans to know that Prince Andrew is the only high profile individual associated with Epstein. Certainly no other individual seems to feature in these reports.
He is foreign so not a threat to the US establishment.
CROWS
I used to walk up through a local park to an adult education college. Normally there were 50 to 100 crows scattered round the top of the park.
One day I was hungry and bought a sandwich to eat on the way home. As I walked down the park ALL of the crows followed me! Very intimidating! They all maintained the same distance from me – they didn’t crowd round.
It did work as I threw the remains of the sandwich down but did not look to see what happened to it.!
I think I know what Scott Adams means : Trump is America’s last chance.
He is not part of the elite, he is not part of the Deep State, he is too rich to bribe, and he is not easy to intimidate. It is not likely that such an aberration will be allowed to happen again.
Social Media is now joining with government, the media, the military, big business and national security to form a ‘Death Star’ against the freedom of Americans and [they hope] the World.
Trump is the last chance to stop the completion of this ‘Death Star’!
SAUDI
The drones are far too small to have flown any distance.
They are remarkably intact, and I wonder if they had any explosives in them at all. By contrast the front ends of the misslles are completely missing as you would expect from an explosion.
Having seen a picture of one head on it looks like landing gear was folded into the wings! This means they were not built as suicide drones as the weight and complexity would be pointless, and it would take up fuel space. They look like they are simple reconnaissance drones which were smashed into the target structures! Even the front covering is intact!
They may have been built to an Iranian design but there seems no reason to believe that Iran had any further input, unless the engines show a sophisticated manufacture.
If, as I suspect, they were shipped to Saudi on a truck or in a container and launched locally then there is no real defense, except possibly a Pantsir if strategically placed.
Picture can be seen at :
https://www.rt.com/usa/469369-redacted-tonight-saudi-oil-attack-media/
LAVROV
Not only were Russia instrumental in the defeat of Hitler they were also instrumental in the defeat of Japan. A million strong Russian army attacked the Japanese in China, at which point the Japanese realised the war was lost.
This was before any nuclear bomb had been dropped,. Many think the bombs were dropped as an experiment to see what the aftermath was.
SAUDI
The UK feels it is ‘implausible’ that the attack was carried out by the Houthis and is more likely Iran, but this is because the UK is a venal US lickspittle who will repeat any American drivel without applying any intelligent thought!
I have seen a new picture of one of the drone remains head on and it looks like it has a wingspan of around 2 meters. Not something capable of flying hundreds of miles, particularly carrying heavy explosives.
I still say they must have been launched locally and guided by human operators. Any upmarket drone can be guided by using a video feed, and will also usually have GPS. Put this technology on a small military drone and you have a very useful weapon. Accurate targeting should not be a problem.
If you can transport the drones close to the target location it would be almost impossible to intercept them no matter how many weapons a country has. The Houthis did thank their allies in Saudi, I presume for Intel on target weaknesses and probably for hospitality!
SAUDI
Saudi Arabia has 88 Patriot missile systems as well as a cutting edge radar system specifically to detect low flying objects like drones or cruise missiles.
It is bizarre that the US in their madness to blame Iran are saying that none this equipment was of any use!
Looking at pictures of the drones they are far too small to have travelled any distance – not from Iran OR Yemen. They look like they would fit in to a shipping container. The same could be said for the missiles. Attacking locally means less chance of detection or interception.
If the drone operators were close to the plant connected to the drone by, say, a video feed then they should be able to accurately target the facility. This gives a low-tech method of attacking the targets which would require a very hi-tech method if done from a large distance.
Intel for choosing the targets should be easy as many oil workers in Saudi are Shias who are not fond of the government.
There is no reason to doubt it was done by the Houthis, as claimed.
Conversely, there is no way those devices were launched from any great distance!
John Day
There are at least two photos of the devices used in the Saudi attack. Both photos were obviously taken in the same room but give very different impressions!
The first shows the remains of a missile. I assume this is the one most shown in Western media as it supports the idea of the attack from another country.
The second photograph distinctly shows the remains of seven small delta winged drones – about 2 to 3 metre wingspan which can ONLY have been launched locally, supporting the idea of a Houthi attack using suicide drones.
Anyone who claims the attack was from Iran or any other country is lying!
The drone photo can be seen on the twitter.com feed “/NewsAlertUK_”
The picture I saw was very different – found on
This showed much smaller drones.
SAUDI
Saudi military show remains of drones and say attack ‘sponsored’ by Iran.
I have only seen a picture and there is no sense of scale but the seven drones in the picture appear to be less than 3 meters. Certainly not capable of vast distances. This makes sense in that they must have been launched close to the facility and are ‘suicide drones’. This explains how the Saudi defence systems were ineffective. Also it explain why the holes were larger than I would expect from commercial drones.
This brings it back to the Houthis being responsible – fair enough when Saudi is at war with them.
The argument against the Houthis is that it would be difficult to import the drones into Yemen. BUT how difficult would it be to import these drones into Saudi Arabia? One or two shipping containers would be enough to supply all the drones used in the attack, including control equipment.
They are certainly not cruise missiles which shows the US was mistaken/lying. Nor do they look capable of flying any great distance which removes any idea of them flying from Iran or Iraq.
SAUDI
Saudi Arabia has the third largest military budget after the US and China. How exactly can it have no clue as to what happened? How can it not have prevented it? How can it not have detected it?
No report I have seen has emphasised the enormity of such a well defended country being attacked so easily!
Most worryingly, one report says an anonymous source claims the US military are saying it was 20 cruise missiles fired from Iran. Hopefully this is just fake news. It would be extremely easy to verify as there would be a large amount of identifiable debris. Hopefully the ever gullible Trump will not do anything rash on unverified claims.
We do not even know what attacked the facility. Weapons don’t evaporate! There should be enough debris to know what it was and have a reasonable idea of the country of manufacture.
If Iran is attacked it could easily escalate into a global nuclear war. Also, while the US may have a surplus of oil [in theory], Europe doesn’t and would be toast!
POMPEO, TRUMP SAY IRANIAN DRONES COMPLETELY IMPERVIOUS TO PATRIOT MISSILE SYSTEMS – WESTERN WEAPONS INEFFECTIVE
[Well, in effect!]
SAUDI
This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever!
The idea that a fleet of slow moving drones could wander across Saudi Arabia, bomb a facility, and wander back out again, without being detected, let alone intercepted, seems totally unbelievable.
The Saudis had no idea where they came from or where they went to, which meant their radar systems must have been inoperative. The Patriot missile systems failed to detect and intercept the drones. No fighters were scrambled to destroy them even after the event.
Despite spending hundreds of billions on Western weapons Saudi Arabia was totally defenseless!
If the Saudi systems were working normally then the drones MUST have been completely stealthy and WERE undetectable. That should be worrying!
I remember reading about a research paper from a US/Chinese team which described how to make anything stealthy – I think it involved a tunable mesh on the craft’s surface to absorb radar waves. Perhaps.
If these drones are undetectable then it explains how the Houthis obtained them – they simply flew there!
If the drones were Iranian [from wherever] then they defeated all of Saudi Arabia’s advanced weapons systems – the implications are truly enormous. No country would be safe. Also, the bombs seem to be extremely accurate.
Alternatively, if the drones were US or Israeli flying out of Iraq then the US could have turned off all of the Saudi’s defense systems.
SAUDI
There seems to be a myriad of suspects for the Saudi oil refinery :
The US – to underpin the fracking industry and maximise profits on their temporary surplus
Saudi – To bolster the ARAMCO IPO with high oil prices
Israel – To promote a war with Iran
The Houthi’s – Interesting that the US feels the attack is ‘unacceptable’ while genocide against Yemen is ‘acceptable’!
It all comes down to what type of drones were used.
If it was the Houthi’s I would expect them to in Saudi Arabia close to the plant using domestic drones. Oil refineries seem to be bombs waiting to happen! I think even a single bullet in the right place would cause them to explode.
If they were military drones then I would have expected the Saudi military to be able to detect and track them. I think even Patriot missiles could down a slow flying military drone.
Some or all of the drones should have been downed so it should be easy to decide who was most likely responsible.
Because I really can not see military drones being undetected then I do favour the Idea that it was the Houthis from close quarters. They do seem to have an active campaign to damage Saudi infrastructure. [Unless it was Saudi itself]
CHINA
Over the years China has supplied trillions of dollars worth of goods to the US in exchange for IOUs [dollars] which can be created at will, basically they are just a few electrons on some computer storage.
Is this beneficial to China?
The US treatment of ZTE and Huawei have shown that under no circumstances should China rely on the US for components.
My question is : in the trade war does China have anything to lose?
Increasing tariffs means China can stop supplying ‘free’ goods to the US and gives a perfect excuse not to use US components.
Also, taking into account the military threats from the US, China must realise it can not rely on ANY trade with the US so should be looking at alternatives : BRI.
60% of the Global GDP is emerging markets. The other 40% [‘the West’] can only really afford to buy goods with debt.
The Queen has no power – she is just a figurehead. If Boris’s request was legal then she has no power to say no.. [In theory she has power but if she ever exercised it there would be a constitutional crisis!]
Here’s a jolly wheeze : Boris calls an election on 1st October which closes parliament for five weeks!
If Boris doesn’t lift a finger the default is a ‘no-deal’ BREXIT!
HONG KONG
Can the protestors win? NO!
For 150 years Hong Kong was a constant reminder of the humiliating defeat by the British when China tried to stop them selling opium to the Chinese. Now they have it back they will not relinquish it again. It is due to be fully absorbed back into China in 2047.
Can the protesters lose? Yes – everything!
Hong Kong only represents 2-3% of China’s GDP. It is a net importer, its’ banks are highly leveraged, and most of its’ trade is with China. It was not in a strong position. Since the protests began some of the rich have left [with their money], tourism has crashed, the HKdollar has fallen, the stock market has fallen and there are questions about whether it can continue as a major financial hub. None of this will improve the conditions for those living there.
The combination of all the above could lead to HK becoming a failed state. The result could be that China HAS to take it over early.
William Barr
The most depressing article today was about William Barr.
After the Mueller fiasco faded I expected him to start draining the swamp and going after the ‘bad guys’. It seems that he WAS one of the bad guys! No wonder CNN is okay with hiring McCabe. It may explain his non-action in the Epstein case.
It seems like game, set and match to the Deep State. While a lot of detail is emerging about its actions it is so encompassing and pervasive there seems no scope to change anything.
The whole of the USA now seems to be complete fantasy, with most people happy to take the ‘blue pill’!
Tulsi Gabbard does seem to be an exception, but I think she can only make headway by starting a new party, but if she is only polling 3% in real life then perhaps not. I am surprised it is that low, but hey, ‘blue pill’.
COD
I have never understood why overfishing has become such a problem.
Adult cod can lay 4 to 6 million eggs but most of these are eaten by predators. Then the fry join the plankton and again suffer further predation.
It would seem to be simple for the fish to be taken from the wild and their eggs and fry protected until they pass the point when 99% of predation has been avoided when they can be released back into the sea.
The milt and eggs from just 100 cod should produce over 200 million fry!
We already do this with other fish. It is not rocket science!
[Equipment needed : large bucket, large fish tank]
HONG KONG
Under the British Hong Kong was never allowed democracy. The first use of plastic bullets by the British was in Hong Kong against rioting Chinese. Many Chinese were so poor that they lived outside in cages stacked on top of one another.
Halcyon days the protesters want to come back! They may even succeed!
I have no doubt that the protests are being orchestrated by the US and the UK. They are doing it for a bit of a giggle hoping they can cause problems for the Chinese government.
I think one of the main aims is to destroy the economy of Hong Kong. It is far easier to create terrorists when the target population is suffering. So far I read that some of the richest have left Hong Kong [with their money], also of course tourism has crashed. I don’t think targeting the airport was random. I feel that the US wants China to intervene harshly to provide a reason for escalation.
Whether they like it or not Hong Kong is part of China, although with special privileges. If the protests can provoke China enough to revoke these privileges then the US can use it for political posturing.
By contrast : I wonder how the US would react if China started funding, for example, ANTIFA, and directing their actions!?
When Boris says the UK Parliament has no control over BREXIT it is a simple statement of fact.
That is how article 50 works.
Once invoked it is purely between the leader of the UK and other EU leaders.
Teresa May could have signed the deal at any point and it would have been binding.
Just because some are ignorant about a fact it does not mean that their view has any validity.
I doubt that Macron and Merkel are ignorant of this FACT.
BREXIT
They had their chance!
The remainers could have accepted the results of the referendum and worked to try and bring about the ‘least worst outcome’ : EEA/EFTA – the ‘Norway solution’.
The EU could have worked towards a fair agreement, instead of which they foisted a very one sided deal on the compliant Teresa May. They even released a video where the EU claimed it would make the UK an EU ‘colony’!
Every group involved has been totally unwilling to compromise so they deserve what they get. Even now the Liberal Democrats would prefer a no-deal BREXIT than work with the Labour party under Corbyn!
It is interesting that the poll quoted suggested 34% supported a no-deal BREXIT, but another recent poll had 54% supporting October 31st BREXIT by any means. An extremely wide gap.
It needs to come to an end, even if it is ‘No Deal’. At least then everyone can start to adapt to the new environment.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES : BATTERIES
Although nickel may be an issue in the short term, in the longer term ALL the components of lithium batteries will be an issue – resources are finite.
Lithium batteries are old technology and not really appropriate for cars. A recent program I saw suggested car batteries based on graphene. The advantage is that it would charge as quickly as you can feed in power, so it could take the same time to recharge a car as it does to fill with petrol.
The exciting part was that the researchers had found a simple way to make graphene – put a thin layer of graphite on a substrate and use lasers similar to those found in CD players to convert it to graphene. This would seem easy to scale up to industrial production and graphene has a LOT of potential uses – it could change the world.
Solar cells are similarely a complex, clumsy and expensive technology. I am intrigued by research into creating solar cells using perovskite. This would be a transparent thin film layer which could be bonded to any surface. Unfortunately while this material produces energy as good as current solar panels it is unstable so needs further development.
In another area Yale proposed building ‘city batteries’ based on manganese rather than lithium, a more plentiful resource.
I would like to see far more spent on research into truly sustainable technologies and far less spent on creating the current clumsy ‘renewable’ resources.
TURKEY
I did wonder why Erdogan was so implacable about obtaining an S400 system – now I know why.
In the attempted coup the main opposition came from the airforce. At the the time the US had remotely turned off the anti-aircraft systems! Erdogan came very close to death as a fighter had his aircraft in its’ sites but the pilot did not fire.
One can appreciate why Erdogan wanted a system outside the control of the US!
Obviously the US was involved in the attempt to depose/murder him so it is understandable that their influence in Turkey has waned. Although the US may not want Turkey to occupy a chunk of Syria Erdogan is not likely to bow to US pressure.
I read that Saddam Hussein also found some key systems did not work when being attacked by the West. If you buy weapons from the West then you may find they only work against US approved enemies. Not a good selling point!
Tulsi Gabbard
I hope she wins her lawsuit.
It does seem that the actions of Google required ‘human intervention’, i.e. not a computer glitch, so it appears deliberate and personal.
I am surprised there have not been many more lawsuits – I would have thought Trump could easily get a billion dollars for all the thousands of libelous articles about him.
If she wins perhaps it will start a trend.
AMAZON
Amazon famously grew turnover by not bothering to make a profit. [although recently its’ cloud services have done so] Any other retailer is at a disadvantage as they do need to make a profit.
It would seem that the only way to compete against Amazon is to start a company selling goods at a loss. There are numerous examples of companies which have no prospect of making profits but which gain high valuations, so this should not be an issue. Investors subsidising consumers with no chance of recouping their money is common nowadays.
MH17
From the early days it always seemed beyond doubt that MH17 was brought down by the Ukraine government, but I could not think of a logical reason for why they did it. IF it was a false flag operation to justify an armed invasion of East Ukraine THEN it makes sense. However this implies collusion with the US and possibly other governments.
Respect to Malaysia – it seems their efforts lead to a very different history.
INEQUALITY
Economies are mostly driven by consumers. By effectively reducing wages buying power is reduced, damaging the economy. More pressure is put on wages and jobs ending in a down ward spiral. This also leads to what I think of as the ‘supermarket effect’, where people are always looking for ever cheaper goods, ignoring higher quality home-made goods and buying cheaper foreign produced goods, again damaging the economy.
Lending/debt for the very rich is at very low interest rates, zero in some cases. The cost of debt for everyone else is very high, possibly 20% or higher. Again this damages the economy.
The rich will often spend their money on property, land and shares, pumping up the costs while not actually producing anything. This has a ripple effect inflating all property prices; farmers can not afford to buy extra land or may sell up to conglomerates; pension funds will get lower returns on investments. All this is bad for the economy.
The balance needs to be restored for a healthy economy.
ADAM & EVE
It struck me recently that genetically speaking Adam and Eve would have been brother and sister. This is not the only problem as who do the kids mate with? Incest would have been a feature for many generations until differences evolved.
UK MILITARY
The Ministery of Defence [MOD] has a healthy budget [I think it is 60 billion GBP]. Unfortunately the MOD seems to have a history of wasting their budget. [Eg. A ship can easily cost as much as 1,000 missiles which can sink that ship!]
I would question the strategy of the MOD. It should be to defend the UK, but it seems to be more of a US auxiliary force! This would be okay if we could charge the US for ‘services rendered’ rather than have UK tax payers subsidising US military adventures. It is certainly not in a position to threaten Russia and China, as it has done verbally.
BREXIT is going to affect the UK economy to a greater or lesser extent which implies government spending will be curtailed. The choice would be supporting the UK population or trying to be a threat to the world! Also BREXIT will mean the UK will be desperate for trading partners which will not be helped by a belligerent attitude.
[PS. I was in favour of the UK keeping Gibralter as I felt it helped the local Spanish economy. Given recent events I am quite happy for Spain to take it back. Probably best after BREXIT when no-one but the UK will care.]
IRAN
One of my tests to consider if something is justified is wondering if it was still justified if the situation is reversed. Given the reaction of the UK and US to the seizing of the UK ship the answer seems to be ‘no’!
The UK has authorised [by example] the seizing of any UK ship by any country on any made up charge. It is a good way to irritate the UK as it is not enough to justify a war, but is enough to impose feelings of humiliation and impotence.
We may see more of this is the future as countries become annoyed by the UK trying to be a US ‘mini-me’!
‘IRAN’ DRONE
The US says the drone was destroyed ‘immediately’ but then says it was downed by electronic interference, which is not ‘immediate’ to my mind.
Given the closeness to the ship it would have easy to recover the debris to prove it was Iranian. Even some film footage, anything…any evidence at all!
Unfortunately the US has a habit of lying and in this case I would believe Iran.
