John Day
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High Water Mark https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/high-water-mark
The Ethical Skeptic presents: Hidden in Plain Sight , in which he carefully makes the case that only ocean waves above a sea level about 330 feet higher than the base of the Khafre Pyramid could have caused the peculiar erosion effects, which have never been adequately explained, and which hypothetical “explanations” he refutes. His arguments are based upon structural engineering, different erosion characteristics of different kinds of limestone, and the wave-height characteristics of the oceanic surface.
What is not explained is how and when the ocean would have been flooded to the requisite height, nor does he pretend to know how old the pyramids are, though he makes the case that their construction was human, and how it would have been done, which other humans have also done in history at smaller scales.@Zerosum: Let’s see if this link works: https://sputnikglobe.com/amp/20231219/us-escalation-in-the-red-sea–a-loselose-proposition–1115679933.html
Nope, no good, even though I looked it up via google, and it was live. When I post it here it is a “404”.
Different “rules” apply on the internet in different “places”.Meryl Nass MD explains the requirement to “identify and share potential pathogens” , The WHO has to pretend the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) does not exist since the Pandemic Treaty requires nations to transgress the BWC
https://merylnass.substack.com/p/the-who-has-to-pretend-the-1972-biologicalWilliam Makis MD, Pfizer completes $43 Billion acquisition of Seagen on Dec.14, 2023 – becomes largest oncology company to treat most TURBO CANCERS caused by mRNA Vaccines – deep dive into the sinister aspects of this very bizarre deal.
NEW ARTICLE: Pfizer completes $43 Billion acquisition of Seagen on Dec.14, 2023 – becomes largest oncology company to treat most TURBO CANCERS caused by mRNA Vaccines – deep dive into the sinister aspects of this very bizarre deal.
Pfizer OVERPAYS $43 billion on small Cancer… pic.twitter.com/ygoHDbVZcE
— William Makis MD (@MakisMD) December 17, 2023
(It blocks the little blood vessels, causing micro-strokes, too.) Smoking cigarettes shrinks the size of the brain, and stopping doesn’t reverse the damage, a new study shows. The findings help explain why smokers have a higher risk of developing age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/smoking-shrinks-brain-and-quitting-doesnt-restore-size-studyGilbert Doctorow and Anthony Hall, Yesterday, Teheran kindly invited me back to join Professor Anthony Hall of Lethbridge University in Alberta, Canada in a 24-minute long discussion of latest developments in the Israel-Gaza war.
The Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping were mentioned in passing on the show, as was the visit of US Defense Secretary Austin to Israel, though the two events were not linked in our discussion. Let me do that now, when the efforts during this visit by Austin to build a coalition of the willing to provide security to ships passing through the Red Sea were announced this morning.
I spoke yesterday about the caution that all state and non-state actors in the Middle East have been demonstrating since the early days of October to avoid escalation of the conflict to a regional or global level. This also applies to what has been said about Austin’s coalition for securing shipping in the Red Sea. Apparently the emphasis is on putting in place convoys to accompany the commercial vessels and so protect them against boarding parties, and also putting in place military vessels with capabilities to shoot down attacking missiles and drones. Note that there is not a word about directly attacking Yemen. And the reason should be clear: a U.S.-led attack on the Yemeni Houthis would be tantamount to a declaration of war against their backers, Iran. It would instantly escalate the conflict to a regional war that would swiftly escalate further to a global war in which the key protagonists would be the United States and…Russia, who are the allies in all but name of the Iranians.
As I said yesterday on these pages, everything is interconnected, as even the densest among us like Austin and his colleagues in the Biden administration understand.
https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/discussion-of-the-israeli-us-bloodbath
That video interview: https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/127826 Tennessee Slaps BlackRock With First-Of-Its-Kind Consumer Protection Lawsuit Over ESG Sham
Tennessee State Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed the first-of-its-kind consumer protection lawsuit against BlackRock, accusing the world’s largest ‘woke’ money manager of making false and misleading claims regarding its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment strategies to residents of the state.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tennessee-slaps-blackrock-first-its-kind-consumer-protection-lawsuit-over-esg-shamElon Musk is an industrial whiz-kid who is in league with nationalists over globalists. The Multifront Attack on Elon Musk
Liberation Trumps Dogma https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/liberation-trumps-dogma
Alastair Crooke, They Can Wait at Leisure, Whilst Netanyahu Labours – and Errs (paraphrasing Sun Tzu’s Art Of War)
This man in the wheelchair and with the rickety earpiece – Sheikh Ahmad Yasin – was the founder of Hamas.
And what he said to me that morning has come to upend the Islamic world today.
What he said was: “Hamas is not an Islamic movement. It is a liberation movement, and anyone, be they Christian, or Buddhist – or even I – could join it. We all were welcome”.
Why was this simple formula somehow so significant and connected to today’s events?
Well, the ethos of Gaza, at that time (2000-2002), was predominantly that of ideological Islamism. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood was deeply embedded. It was not then a resistance movement per se – it was capable of violence, but its prime focus was social work and uncorrupted governance. It wanted to show how well it could govern.
Yasin’s comment was revolutionary because liberation trumped dogma and the various ‘schools’ of political Islam. This ultimately was to become ‘Gaza Hamas’ – at odds with its conventional leadership resident in Doha. Sinwar and Dief are ‘Yasin’s children’.
‘Long story short’, a little while later, Yasin, on one of his Friday prayers’ wheel-chair trundles across the road to his adjacent mosque, was blown to pieces by an Israeli missile as he exited...
..PM Blair and President Bush put together a secret (unacknowledged to the EU) plan in response: Hamas leaders – plus the movements’ social support NGOs – were to be eliminated. And the Palestinian Authority would crack down on all and every Hamas activity – in close collaboration with Israel.
The West Bank, in this plan, would be the recipient of large financial aid to construct a prosperous western-style consumer/security state, and Gaza explicitly was to be impoverished…
..As Tareq Baconi writes in Foreign Policy:
“Hamas was stuck in … a “violent equilibrium,” whereby military force emerged as a means for negotiating concessions between Hamas and Israel. [Hamas used] missiles and other tactics to compel Israel to ease restrictions on the blockade, while [Israel] responds with overwhelming force to build deterrence and secure “calm” in the areas around the Gaza Strip. Through this violence, both entities operated within a framework whereby Hamas could maintain its role as a governing authority in Gaza even under a blockade that enacts daily structural violence against Palestinians”.
It is this siege paradigm for Gaza that blew up on 7 October…
..Hamas has transformed: It is now the ‘liberation movement’ that Sheikh Yasin foresaw – liberation of all living under occupation, and again, Yasin-like, is centred around non-ideological Islam on the civilisational icon of ‘Al-Aqsa’ mosque which is neither Palestinian nor Shia nor Sunni, nor Wahhabi, Brotherhood, nor Salafist.
And it is this – Hamas’ liberation framing – that chimes directly with the new global ‘independence push’ that we are witnessing today, and that perhaps explains the huge marches in support of Gaza, across the global south, as well as in Europe and the U.S. The punishment meted out to Gaza civilians has that unmissable ‘old colonial’ touch to it – one that evokes wide resonance and anger.
Hamas’ calculus is that its military resilience, plus the sustained international pressure from the Gaza massacres, ultimately may compel Israel to negotiate – and eventually reach a (costly, ‘all for all’) hostage deal with the Palestinian movement – as well as a paradigm-change in the political realm of endless ‘peace talks’ with Israel. In short, Hamas’ bet is that its military resilience will likely outlast the White House impatience to bring a speedy end to the Gaza war episode...
..Netanyahu both has to keep the war going (for his own survival), because the end of it may spell disaster for the him (and his family). Netanyahu therefore is in the midst of ‘a campaign’. It’s not an election campaign, because he has no real chance of surviving an election.
On the contrary, it is a ‘campaign for survival’ with two aims: to hang on to his seat for two more years (which is feasible as the chance of government defections is far from assured), and secondly, to preserve, or even strengthen, the slavish admiration of ‘the base’.
“Only I, Netanyahu, can prevent a Palestinian State ever coming into being in Gaza, Judea or Samaria”: “I will not allow it”. “There will never be” a Palestinian state. Only I can manage relations with Biden. Only I know how to manipulate the U.S. psyche’.
“I am leading”… not only on behalf of Jewish history, but also for western civilization.
“But what good is a long war”, Israeli correspondent, Haaretz commentator B. Michael asks,
“if at the end, or even while it’s still ongoing, the ‘base’ becomes bored and indifferent and disappointed? That’s not the kind of base that will rush to the voting booth with the right voting slip in its teeth. A base wants action. A base wants blood. A base wants to hate, to be angry, to be offended, to get revenge. To unload on ‘the other’ everything that is getting it riled up”.
“This is the only way to understand the stubborn evasion [by Netanyahu] of any serious discussion of an exit policy from the war. This is the only way to understand the groundless promises of everlasting control of Gaza”. The Base is delighted. Hopes coming true. “We’re really sticking it to the Arabs, pushing them toward the sea. And it’s all Bibi”.
“There isn’t a drop of logic to the massive bombardment in Gaza. Nor will a drop of benefit result from the killing of more Palestinians … the step is blatant foolishness and embarrassing grovelling to the base – lest it be at all disappointed by the leader. What will become of the hostages? The base is more important”.
Israel has seen this before – notably with the 1948 Nakba. The hubristic expectation that this would be the ‘end to it’ – Palestinians expelled, their property plundered and appropriated – ‘End of story’ (it was believed). ‘Problem solved’.
Yet it was never solved. Hence 7 October.
The Prime Minister and his cabinet are on a ‘campaign trail’ to seize and magnify the base’s trauma arising from the 7 October – and to mould it to their electoral needs.
Netanyahu has been repeating a single message: ‘We will not stop the fighting’. From his perspective, the war must continue forever:
“The vision of Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich and company is taking shape. And the messiah’s arrival must be just around the corner. And it’s all Bibi. Hooray for Bibi!”.
The Resistance understands and can see it all: How does Israel get out of this? Overthrowing Bibi? That won’t do it. It’s too late. The stopper is off; the genies and the demons are out.
If the ‘front’ remains co-ordinated, proceeds by consensus; eschews any Pavlovian over-reaction to events that might plunge the region into an all-out war, then:
’They can wait at leisure, whilst (Netanyahu) labours’ – and errs (Sun Tzu).They Can Wait at Leisure, Whilst Netanyahu Labours – and Errs
John Helmer, THE US PREPARES ITS UKRAINE WAR COALITION FLEET IN THE RED SEA TO PROTECT ISRAEL, ATTACK YEMEN – RUSSIA RESPONDS
On Monday, General Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Defense, announced that the US is assembling a fleet of warships to defend Israel’s port of Eilat, the Gulf of Aqaba, and Israel’s Red Sea shipping route by threatening to attack Yemen if it exercises its Law of the Sea right to regulate military transit through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The Austin fleet is to be assembled from the coalition of NATO states at war with Russia in the Ukraine. Austin’s call, announced by the Pentagon while Austin is in Israel, follows the failure of the USS Eisenhower and its squadron, with additional French and British warships, to prevent the collapse of commercial container and tanker shipping to and from Israel...
..Bahrain on the Persian Gulf — the only Arab state included on Austin’s list — and the Seychelles, the island state in the Indian Ocean, are included to provide shore base facilities for the proposed Yemen-attack fleet. However, no country with naval bases on the Red Sea shore, territorial waters, and exclusive economic zones extending into the waterway — Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and Djibouti — has publicly agreed to participate or approved this escalation of the Gaza war to benefit Israel…
All of the governments on Austin’s list, with the exception of the US, voted last week at the United Nations General Assembly for Israel to halt its operations in the Gaza war. In this context, none of these states recognizes Israel’s right to impose its blockade of Gaza’s ports extending into Palestine’s territorial waters, the Gaza Maritime Area, and Israel’s de facto military rule of the international waters of the Mediterranean, including the Gaza Marine gas field.
“Freedom of navigation”, Austin’s version of the legal doctrine of his Operation Prosperity Guardian, does not apply to the Gaza Maritime Area.
In the Red Sea, maps of the International Institute for the Law of the Sea Studies show overlapping territorial waters and economic zone claims from the eastern and western shore states, leaving no international waters for the passage of warships, particularly through the southern gateway to the Red Sea, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Austin’s operation is not innocent passage, as the international Law of the Sea requires, and it defies Yemen’s right to exercise prior authorization.
Russia’s response is no response, for the time being...
..The implication is that the Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, and Kremlin are reluctant to publicly condemn the Austin fleet operation move so as not to upset current Russian relationships with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)...
..On Sunday, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), the Chinese state-owned fleet company, announced that it is halting all shipments to and from Israeli seaports. However, unlike its European peers, OOCL did not say it will stop sailing through the Red Sea. The implication, a shipping source comments, is that Beijing has declared its support for the Arab-led blockade of Israel, and will negotiate directly with Houthi and Yemeni officials so that OOCL vessels will be able to navigate safely through the Red Sea and into the Suez Canal, and vice versa. The commercial advantage to the Chinese is plain, the source said. Whether the Chinese Navy will send escorts for Chinese-flagged cargo vessels remains to be seen.(They are now the Yemeni Government) Houthis Vow To Keep Up Attacks After US Unveils Details Of Ten-Nation Naval Force
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/houthis-vow-keep-attacks-us-unveils-details-multi-national-naval-force(All three US candidates are “Zionists”, whether professed or not.) Middle East “Totally Out Of Control” – Trump Says World Needs US Leader Who Can Negotiate Peace
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/middle-east-totally-out-control-world-needs-us-leader-who-can-negotiate-peace-trump@Kultsommer: I agree. “You are what you do.”
🙂From Celia Faber, “LET’S GO , BRANDON!”
AFTER 2.5 YEARS OF BATTLE, BRANDON STRAKA OF #WALKAWAY SCORES LEGAL VICTORY IN FALSE CASE AGAINST HIM AFTER JAN 6. IS THIS FIRST INSTANCE OF JUSTICE FOR ANY JAN 6 CASE?
Congratulations To My Friend! And With Prayers This Justice Trend Continues, Until All The Peaceful Protesters In DC on Jan 6 Who Committed No Crimes Are Free
https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/after-25-years-of-battle-brandonPicasso’s mom’s earring is the central focus of the painting, allowing the texture of her skin and her gentle facial countenance to be appreciated almost subliminally.
@Kultsommer: The lady in yesterday’s Hopper painting was sitting up in a composed position, focused upon receiving the sunlight onto herself. Her face does not look dulled or listless, but intently focused.
Simplicius presents the bizarre elite hypocrisy of The COP28 Elite Dine and Dash
Glancing at the summit from afar, one can’t help the impression that it was more an elite shindig, where hobnobbing globalist haut monde rubbed shoulders and greased palms, and even simply jet-setted for the prestige and social cachet on offer in spades by the star-studded photoshoots pullulating throughout the event like pumpjacks in a wadi.
https://darkfutura.substack.com/p/the-cop28-elite-dine-and-dash Steve Kirsch, The NZ data is crystal clear evidence that the COVID vaccine is deadly. A simple, stunning example.
This one chart is all you need to know. Deaths go UP. They are supposed to go DOWN.https://kirschsubstack.com/p/the-nz-data-is-crystal-clear-that#poll-128331
Long-Term Use Of Statins Linked To Heart Disease: Studies
For decades, statins have been heralded as the reliable heroes in the battle against heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States and globally. However, this seemingly flawless reputation has been called into question.
A new expert review suggests that long-term use of statins may be inadvertently aiding the enemy by accelerating coronary artery calcification instead of providing protection.
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/long-term-use-statins-linked-heart-disease-studiesStatins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure: pharmacological mechanisms [The paper referenced above]
https://cardiacos.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2015-Statins-stimulate-atherosclerosis-and-heart-failure-pharmacological-mechanisms.pdf ‘Groundbreaking’ Legal Action Demands EPA Finally Ban Glyphosate
“EPA lacks a legal human health assessment of glyphosate to support its current use,” said a lawyer for the Center for Food Safety.
Citing research from the U.S. government’s own National Institutes of Health, a coalition of environmental and farmworkers groups said Wednesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is out of excuses for continuing to allow the use of the herbicide glyphosate, which has been linked to cancer in people who are exposed to it.
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a petition with the EPA on behalf of Beyond Pesticides and four farmworkers groups, including Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, saying glyphosate’s registration in the U.S. is illegal.‘Groundbreaking’ Legal Action Demands EPA Finally Ban Glyphosate
Israel Resuming Hostage Talks After Ugly Details Emerge Of ‘Friendly Fire’ Incident
The new to emerge details made known by a preliminary military investigation are very ugly and will drive controversy against military and government decision-makers into overdrive. The three young men killed by IDF troop fire were shirtless, waving a white-flag and shouting in Hebrew when they were gunned down by Israeli forces. According to the Times of Israel based on military statements.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-resuming-hostage-talks-after-ugly-details-emerge-friendly-fire-incident Moon of Alabama has perspective: “Palestinian Terror Operative” Means Anyone Still Alive
The Zionist soldiers incredibly frightened and insane:
Initial IDF probe: Hostages were shirtless, waving white flag when soldiers opened fire – Times of Israel
The IDF provides new details of yesterday’s tragic incident in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, during which three Israeli hostages who managed to escape Hamas captivity were shot dead by troops…
..The soldier, who believed the men moving toward him was an attempt by Hamas to lure IDF soldiers into a trap, immediately opened fire and shouted “terrorists!” to the other forces.
According to the probe, that soldier killed two of the men, while the third, who was hit and wounded, fled back into the building from which he came.
At that stage, the commander of the battalion, who was also in the building where the soldier shot from, went outside and called on the forces to halt their fire.
Meanwhile, sounds of someone shouting “Help” in Hebrew were heard by the troops in the area.
Moments later, the third man came out of the building to which he fled, and another soldier opened fire at him, killing him...
..In Shejaiya, the senior officer says the IDF has not identified any Palestinian civilians in recent days.
The officer says troops have killed at least 38 Palestinian terror operatives in Shejaiya in recent days.
“Palestinian terror operatives” seems to be a synonym for ‘anyone still alive’.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/12/a-palestinian-terror-operatives-is-anyone-still-alive.html Israel-Palestine war: Palestinian says soldiers sent him into Hamas tunnel strapped with bombs
Gaza City resident says he was one of the Palestinians seen stripped and bound after being detained by Israel
The Palestinian, who wished to be identified only by his first name and was released two days ago, said he was one of the dozens of men seen in photographs and video bound and stripped to their underwear by Israeli troops…
..“They were prepared to explode the tunnel using my body if the camera on my head showed any fighters inside,” he said…
“I was 100 percent sure I was going to be killed at that moment, but then they pulled me out of the tunnel when they found nothing inside.”
According to Hakim, a 15-year-old boy was subjected to the same treatment. The boy, who had been detained with Hakim, survived and was released three days later, he said.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-soldiers-hamas-tunnel-bombs-sent This scheme will invalidate the “ownership rights” of the “owners” if they attempt it. This includes a video explanation.
Intentional Destruction , First Covid, Now Comes “The Great Taking”
The Great Taking describes the roadmap to collapse the system, suppress the people, and seize all your assets. And it includes the receipts.
You Already Own Nothing
Webb’s book illustrates, among other things, how changes in the Uniform Commercial Code converted asset ownership into a security entitlement. The “entitlement” designation made personal property a mere contractual claim. The “entitled” person is a “beneficial” owner, but not the legal one.
In the event a financial institution is insolvent, the legal owner is the “entity that controls the security with a security interest.” In essence, client assets belong to the banks.
https://dougcasey.substack.com/p/intentional-destructionEllen Brown’s book review: The Great Taking explains this process in full detail.
According to a 2023 book called The Great Taking by veteran hedge fund manager David Rogers Webb, counterparty risk on all of these bets is ultimately assumed by an entity called the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), through its nominee Cede & Co. (See also Greg Morse, “Who Owns America? Cede & DTCC,” and A. Freed, “Who Really Owns Your Money? Part I, The DTCC”). Cede & Co. is now the owner of record of all of our stocks, bonds, digitized securities, mortgages, and more; and it is seriously under-capitalized, holding capital of only $3.5 billion, clearly not enough to satisfy all the potential derivative claims. Webb thinks this is intentional.
What happens if the DTCC goes bankrupt? Under The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005, derivatives have “super-priority” in bankruptcy. (The BAPCPA actually protects the banks and derivative claimants rather than consumers; it was the same act that eliminated bankruptcy protection for students.) Derivative claimants don’t even need to go through the bankruptcy court but can simply nab the collateral from the bankrupt estate, leaving nothing for the other secured creditors (including state and local governments) or the banks’ unsecured creditors (including us, the depositors). And in this case the “bankrupt estate” – the holdings of the DTCC/Cede & Co. – includes all of our stocks, bonds, digitized securities, mortgages, and more.Tom Luongo points out that current western elites are getting very antsy. Running On Empty, the US Leaves Zelenskyy Hanging
This level of rhetoric is the zenith of toxic thinking. There is no time for anything other than fighting XXX. For Zelenskyy it is Putin. For the vampires and ghouls like Al Gore, John Kerry and Tony Blair screeching at COPE28, it is climate change.
For Democrats and the Media it is Trump.
By framing all of these topics in this way they betray their own agendas. It is nothing more than the full court press that all tyrants push when they are at their most vulnerable. If things were going their way they wouldn’t have to exhort people to give up everything to fight their fight for them.
If Zelenskyy wasn’t such a tool for Davos and/or the Neocons who pushed him into this position, I’d actually feel some pity for him. But my humanity has limits. There comes a point where you have the face the consequences of the actions you have taken.
I don’t care if you are him, Joe Biden, George Soros, Anthony Fauci, Klaus Schwab, or any of their lieutenants. You can only outrun the hangman for so long.
You can only hide behind the law and the veneer of civilization that put you in your position of power for so long.Gilbert Doctorow , Israel’s Gaza war has ‘spilled over into the Red Sea’
By activities that resemble piracy, the Houthis of Yemen, widely considered to be ‘non-state actors,’ have achieved what the major states of the Middle East have been unable to do thus far: impose potentially great economic cost on the industrial nations of the world for failure to stop the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.
The Houthis may well be ‘non-state actors’ in the sense that they are considered by the West to be ‘rebels,’ as opposed to what is called the internationally recognized government in Yemen that they toppled. But they are obviously in control of substantial parts of a strategically important nation with a population of 33 million. And they have substantial military means both in missiles and sea-borne attack drones. Some of this likely comes from Iran, but, if Russian military experts are to be believed, much of it is now produced in Yemen itself.
Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin said that his staff is considering re-establishing order in the Red Sea, meaning entering into combat with the Houthis, which hitherto the United States had been doing by proxy, supplying arms to Saudi Arabia for that purpose. The Saudis abandoned their fight against the Houthis this past spring when they reached agreement with Iran, the Houthis’ backers, and resumed diplomatic relations under a China-brokered deal. If the United States now begins direct military action against the Houthis, it will quickly come up against Iran and the regional conflagration that so far has been averted by all parties may yet break out.
Is this a question that concerns Russia? It most certainly does, because just as China cannot afford to see Russia be defeated by NATO-backed Ukraine, so Russia cannot afford to see Iran be defeated by the United States and its allies inside and outside of NATO.Israel’s Gaza war has ‘spilled over into the Red Sea’: WION interview yesterday
‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ – Pentagon To Launch Expansive Naval Coalition To Defend Red Sea Passage
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/global-trade-risk-shippers-shun-red-sea-over-houthis-attacks The EU’s backing of Ukraine, sanctions on Russia, and “fanatic” environmental policies are “destructive for Europe,” yet Brussels does not tolerate discussion of these issues, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday.
“If we can’t tell the truth at the Brussels table that, for example, anti-Russian sanctions didn’t work, that further destruction of Ukraine and killing Ukrainians is going nowhere, that the fanatic implementation of the Green Deal is killing our economies, that 20 thousand casualties in the Gaza Strip cannot be overlooked just because Israel causes them, we are on a slippery slope that can be not only politically, but also economically destructive for Europe,” Fico wrote in a post on Facebook.
https://swentr.site/news/589209-slovakia-eu-destruction-fico/Barriers Constrain Maximum Power https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/barriers-constrain-maximum-power
There is a rule in ecology called the maximum power principle formulated by Lokta in 1925. It can be summarized as follows: “The systems that survive in competition are those that develop more power inflow and use it best to meet the needs of survival.”
https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/what-happens-when-the-economy-can It is explained in the above post that the bacteria in a petri dish which consume power in the form of fuel for the purpose of reproduction, most rapidly will take-over and dominate the culture medium, and that utilizing coal for heat, then factories, then to mine more coal and iron, while sparing firewood to make battleships and transport vessels, led to the age of empires over societies which had not yet found ways to convert their coal and oil to human population growth through industry.
There are barriers to the manifestation of the Maximum Power Principle, which must be overcome before a mode of energy-consumption can make the jump to other petri-dishes, like the jump from England to India, China, and the Americas. A class of humans focuses upon arranging and controlling these barriers to the flow of power consumption, so as to personally control the power for their own plans and purposes. These are the owners and their upper managers. The original imperial model of using coal to make gunships to carry soldiers and traders to other countries was limited by transport capacity. It could transport soldiers, guns, gunpowder, silk, gold, silver, tea and opium, but not coal or factories at first. Iron ships powered by coal, then oil tankers and pipelines allowed for consumption to be increased, populations increased, and factories increased and dispersed. If factories of one sort were concentrated in one place, to supply the whole world, they did not actually all have to be in England, as long as the shipping across the oceans was controlled by English fleets. This allowed power consumption to be increased by the English owners.
There was always a fight for the flow of energy and goods produced by energy between ocean route empires (England) and land route empires (Russia). The change of fuel from coal-dominance to oil-dominance around WW-1 was strategically important. The US found and produced a lot of oil early, and took the lead finding global oil, then took the lead in controlling the global flows of oil through shipping and pipelines.
This oil-empire developed bigger military fleets than the coal-fired British Empire, but another control factor was in play. Accounting for flows of goods and energy has always been a critical part of the system of controlling the flows of energy and goods produced by energy. “Finance” is this parallel-system of control of flows. It is based upon “ownership” at great distance, which is enforced by paid enforcers, armies, navies and local ruling elites, wherever energy and property flows are controlled. The owners need to extract enough value from the large system to pay the controllers and still have an excess for growth. They personally desire to hold-back some excess for their own options and desires. This option-power which they choose to hold, “profits taken”, reduces the current power consumption of the system. Reducing the power-consumption of the system, compared to what is possible, makes the system vulnerable to a competing system which can burn-energy-faster in the pursuit of burning-energy-faster.
The ownership-elites who starve their economic systems by withholding “wealth” from their working populations will have more options of what to do with that wealth, but run the risk of losing control of that wealth if somebody makes their ownership-enforcers a better offer. “Wealth” also presumes a functioning industrial economy, which assumes cooperation of the workers. There are levels of “cooperation”. Henry Ford paid his workers 3X as much as the usual factory wages. Paradoxically, Ford’s factories thrived and outprofited their competitors with poorly-paid and grudging workers. Owners who push their economic systems into starvation-modes, which starve workers and enforcers, weaken the competitiveness of their systems over time. This threatens their entire systems when less-starved competing economic systems arise. The Fordist-capitalist US system, with low cost public utilities, public schools, public roads and railways was able to consume a lot of forms of energy rapidly, and convert them to more factories, mines, railroads, cars and food for a rapidly growing population of productive workers.
This type of system has been used by Germany, Japan, China and now Russia. It was used in Europe after WW-2, as well. Over time, though, the social contract between productive workers and owners is energy starved for the workers, and progressively weakened overall. Germany and Japan became competitors to the US, which had replaced England by then. Now China and South Korea are rising, but more importantly, the combination of Russia and China is rising.
Russia and China have both had collapses of their economic systems, and have rebuilt them efficiently, Russia since 1990, and China since about 1980. These countries share a border, so outside owners can have little control of their trade, except through the abstraction of money. That card has been played repeatedly, and has failed at this point. China has the largest productive industrial economy in the world, and Russia has by far the most natural resources per worker in the world, with the most effective military in the world to protect the resources and workers.
The financial empire of the US/UK/EU, dominated by the (petro)$US, and enforced by the combined fleets, armies and air-forces, is threatened militarily, has already lost control of the financial-future, and is progressively threatened with the loss of choke-points of control of trade, such as the Yemeni Houthis, a “non-state-actor” effectively blocking trade with Israel through the Red Sea and Suez Canal, by making the insurance rates go too high for that route. At the same time, the enemy of the Houthis, the House of Saud, is finding common-ground within the growing alliance against the old-imperium, by making deals to sell Arabian oil for not-dollars, specifically for Chinese Yuan/Renminbi. The Russian and Chinese railroad expansion within Eurasia, notably including India and Iran, will progressively bypass remaining chokepoints controlled by the allied imperial fleets, shipping companies, and insurance companies.
The rising-elite “alliance” with productive workers through a Fordist-capitalist social contract, is a critical factor for the success of a rising system against a declining system, which has become “starved” by the wealth withdrawal of its ownership elites. Cooperatively-engaged workers, making and buying Fords, create an aggressive industrial economy, which is motivated to change rapidly, to take advantage of developing possibilities in the war of systems. China has somewhat enabled this rise of a middle-class within its society, but with a lot of coercive control-structure overlay, which makes the most creative Chinese problem-solvers look for greener pastures outside China. Russia has a famously corrupt history of oligarchic control, but the world’s premier bureaucrat, Vladimir Putin, has turned that to the service of Russia, while punishing the most egregious excesses of anti-Russian selfishness. The real-wealth per capita of Russian workers is steadily rising over the same 20 years that it has been in gradual decline for the US, UK, Western Europe, and 5-eyes countries.
The western neo-colonialist trade system has impoverished countries with natural resources, while enriching their local neocolonialist elites. Massive debts, taken on by the governments of these countries, are serviced to global and local-elite bondholders. The workers in farms, factories and small enterprises are impoverished. The replacement of the neocolonialist system byt the BRIICS+ system can be expected to raise living standards for productive workers in these starved economies, which will increase consumption of oil, coal, water, lithium, natural gas, etc. This should hasten the consumption of all natural resources and their conversion to pollution. It should also reduce elite control of resources, and remove the economic choices which elites have hoarded for themselves, as their system of enforced ownership fails to be enforced. Enforcers and managers will change their loyalties to rising systems with better social-contract offers.
History shows this economic paradigm-shift to usually be a bloody process. It often replaces cruel elites with other cruel elites. However, as resources decline rapidly, often by becoming too expensive to extract, system-efficiency will be a decisive factor in which systems adapt more rapidly and effectively. The Fordist systems, with highly engaged workers, proactively cooperating for their-teams, will have an advantage over more coercive economies.
Within this context, Russia is more Fordist, has a well-aligned society, is increasing economic output and is militarily defeating the declining empire for the world to witness. Russian diplomacy is simultaneously presenting the face of reason and long term reliability. The US has the potential to follow suit if it ditches the coercive elites and their model, which has financially bled the country progressively since the early 1980s. The US has the second best ratio of natural resources to population in the world, after Russia. The US has the capacity to rebuild infrastructure and industry over the next 20 years, aligning the rebuild with the needs of a new economics of declining resources, an economics of efficiency in supporting the needs of productive workers, rather than coercing the peoples of the world.
Europe is in a difficult position, without much local energy resource supply, except for coal in some regions. European farms never went away, and European farmers are competent at growing quality food. European industrial economies will need to burn coal for electricity and industry, and will need to import gas through pipelines from Russia and Iran. Europeans will need to use nuclear energy to generate electricity. Europe will need to re-embrace the maximum-power-principle or wither rapidly. Europe will need social cohesion for that, and has a good history of social cohesion within nations. Since WW-2 the national elites of europe have become neocolonialist local elites, controlled from the seats of power in Washington, London and New York.
What outcome will arise from the current battle for humanity on Israel/Palestine? There is a battle between a critical focal point of the existing order, which has served to dominate an oil-production region, and to keep oil-producing nations divided against each other. We can foresee that the current Israeli governance structure is on the wrong side of history, and doomed in the long run, but it has nuclear weapons deliverable by missiles, modern jets and submarines, and is deeply enmeshed in the control structure of finance, politics and deep-state coercion within the current western globalist imperium. It does appear to be grossly consumed by hubris, the “tragic flaw”. When will it fall? Who will it kill first?The Honest Sorcerer again: What Happens When the Economy Can No Longer Grow?
What is the goal of the economy? Growth? Full employment? Equity? Price stability? Security? Or, perhaps, to make the top 1% super rich at the cost of everyone else? Well, if it’s that latter, than the economy is doing a stellar job. If you think that’s too cynical to say, then you can chose two on the list above. Or one. Maybe none. With a relentless fall in people’s purchasing power, an energy infrastructure hitting diminishing returns, and being led by less than stellar minds, I argue, there will be just one overarching goal remaining. Security. The rest be damned.
https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/what-happens-when-the-economy-canChris Hedges: “Despotisms can exist long after their past due date. But they are terminal. You don’t have to be a Biblical scholar to see that Israel’s lust for rivers of blood is antithetical to the core values of Judaism. The cynical weaponization of the Holocaust, including branding Palestinians as Nazis, has little efficacy when you carry out a live streamed genocide against 2.3 million people trapped in a concentration camp.”
Israel is weaponizing its remaining goodwill and status in a last doubling down gamble, as the $US financial regime is also doing.
I like this Hopper painting a lot.
It expresses the private harvest of a modest, but predictable, small blessing.
The human collecting the blessing of natural sunlight in an impoverished environment appears to be very modest, not “desirable”, but wise.@VP Gary: I “ran into” El Gallinazo from about 12 years ago recently on Celia Faber’s blog. I’m trying to convince him to come back to TAE comments. He got jilted, but I’ll keep tryin. He’s got a trusty brain.
@Oroboros, from last night. No, the ashtray I made in kindergarten was smaller, more clay colored and less nice than that Rolling-Stones version you depicted.
Also, I’m suspicious that Kamala’s spliff is photo-shopped, but I like the idea of Trump ignoring Biden and running against “the Kamal”, at least for a few one-liners.
The guy with the speedbag reminds me of those clacker-balls on strings that we used to have around 1970, until it turned out they could break and put your eye out or something.I remember making ashtrays for our parents in kindergarten. I said my family did not smoke. “That’s ok, the guests will need them”, came the reply.
I wonder what happened to that ashtray. I can still picture it.Italian ex-minister faces vax murder probe: New Zealand inquiry should reveal more truth
NEW Zealand’s politicians have all been sent an email informing them that the former Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza is under investigation for homicide after emails revealed he knew mRNA shots were killing people, just as leaked NZ health department data has shown.
The emails were sent by US vaccine safety campaigner and tech entrepreneur Steve Kirsch, who organised statisticians and other experts to analyse NZ Ministry of Health data leaked by whistleblower Barry Young.
The NZ health bureaucrats, supported by media, are using legal threats to censor and suppress access to the “pay-per-dose” data, which reveals of thousands of deaths in close proximity to mRNA vaccinations.
But New Zealand’s new government has agreed to carry out as a matter of urgency a “full scale, wide-ranging, independent inquiry” into how the Covid-19 pandemic was handled, regardless of the whitewashing “Royal Commission of Inquiry” set up by the Ardern Labor government…
..In Italy, Speranza is accused of giving orders to local health authorities to conceal deaths and serious side effects in order to reassure Italian citizens of the vaccines’ “safety” and to not jeopardize the vaccination campaign. NZ and Australian health officials acted similarly.
The main charges Speranza faces include ideological falsehood, multiple manslaughter, marketing of an imperfect, dangerous drug. Speranza is currently a deputy of the Democratic Party, and like Australian and New Zealand health ministers, was co-opted by the WHO and the global pharma cartel to push the mRNA shots.Italian ex-minister faces vax murder probe: New Zealand inquiry should reveal more truth
Canada Reports 300% Increase in ‘Unspecified Causes’ of Death, Sparking Calls for Investigation
A new Canadian government report reveals a 300% rise in “unspecified causes” of death from 2019-2022 as unknown causes climbed to the fifth leading cause of death in Canada. Some health experts said the stark increase should trigger an investigation into whether the deaths are linked to COVID-19 vaccines.
McCullough, a highly published cardiologist who developed a widely used early treatment protocol for COVID-19, said the dramatic rise in deaths from “unspecified causes” in Canada represents a seismic and disturbing shift in Western medicine.
“Prior to the pandemic, death in Western countries was well understood,” McCullough said, with 40% due to known cardiovascular, 40% due to terminal neoplastic disease (cancer) and 20% due to other known causes such as homicide, suicide, drug overdoses and accidents.”
He added:
“Since the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines, we have witnessed unprecedented deaths without antecedent disease. A large autopsy series published by Hulscher et al, found that 73.9% of the deaths after COVID-19 vaccination were due to problems caused by the shots.”Canada Reports 300% Increase in ‘Unspecified Causes’ of Death, Sparking Calls for Investigation
Woman with long Covid, 55, applies to be EUTHANIZED in Canada as condition leaves her bed-ridden and bankrupt: ‘My life with this illness is nonexistent’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12851137/woman-long-covid-euthanasia-canada-nonexistent-quality-life-symptoms.htmlBiden orders Ukrainian F-16 to take off from airfields in Europe
The Russia-NATO conflict will escalate sharply when Ukraine’s F-16 aircraft armed with long-range missiles start taking off from European airfields.
US President Joseph Biden, speaking before the vote in Congress on assistance to Ukraine, assured that Moscow would attack a NATO country in Europe after winning the special military operation. As a result, US troops will have to fight against the Russian troops according to the NATO Charter.
“We can’t let [Russian President Vladimir] Putin win. It’s in our overwhelming national interest, in the international interest of all our friends,” Biden said.
Contrary to Biden’s rhetoric, it will be the Europeans, not the Americans that will do the fighting and dying. Therefore, Biden’s statement contained a clear ultimatum to the EU — either help Ukraine or die…
..”This is our strict warning: Moscow will see the use of [F-16] fighters from the territory of these NATO member countries [Poland, Romania and Slovakia] as their participation in the conflict in Ukraine, and Russia will have to take retaliatory measures,” Konstantin Gavrilov, the head of the Russian delegation at negotiations on military security and arms control in Vienna said…
..Slovakia has already replied.: “Ukrainian F-16 fighters taking off from air bases of NATO countries will become a red line,” Deputy Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Lubos Blaha said. In his opinion, this is fraught with an open confrontation with Russia and a third world war.
https://english.pravda.ru/world/158441-biden_f_16_ukraine_nato/US, its satellites seek to ‘unfreeze’ Transnistria conflict — foreign intelligence chief
“Seeking to unsettle the post-Soviet space, the United States and its satellites are trying to lead the way in unfreezing the Transnistria conflict, opening a second front in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, inciting instability in the South Caucasus and exploiting the Afghan factor as an instrument to exert influence on Central Asia,” Sergey Naryshkin said.
https://tass.com/politics/1721317Poland is not going to give up plans for control of western Ukraine — Russian intelligence
“In the geopolitical arrangements of the entire Western bloc Poland is assigned the role of a sanitary barrier, and by no means the status of a full-fledged participant in the process of reshaping the European architecture,” Sergey Naryshkin said.
https://tass.com/politics/1721353Well, not really so much… PUTIN REVEALS SECRET TALK ON GAZA WAR
President Vladimir Putin has revealed secret details of the Russian initiative on the Gaza war.
According to the President, Russia has a three-point proposal. “First, it is necessary to keep people in Gaza. Second, it is necessary to bring humanitarian aid on a massive scale to these people.to keep people in Gaza.”
Putin’s third proposal is establish a Russian field hospital to treat wounded Palestinians at the Rafah stadium, rebuilt in 2019 after Israel destroyed the original one in 2009. “But for this to happen, we need to have consent from both Egypt and Israel. I talked to the President of Egypt, and he is in favour of this idea. I also talked to Prime Minister Netanyahu, and they consulted various armed agencies. The Israeli side believes that opening a Russian hospital in Gaza is not safe.”
Putin made his disclosures in response to a Turkish reporter’s question about the Gaza war during the Direct Line broadcast on Thursday.
Putin did not mention a ceasefire; he did not criticize Israeli military operations in Gaza except to refer to the deaths of children. “The Secretary-General of the United Nations called today’s Gaza the biggest children’s cemetery in the world. This opinion speaks volumes. It is an objective opinion, what else can I say?”
Putin praised the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for “playing a significant leading role in improving the situation in Gaza…He is very active in this matter. And God bless him.”
Putin omitted to mention Iran, ignoring his talks in Moscow a week ago with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. Following their five-hour negotiations, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian announced that “Russia is thinking about an initiative on Gaza.”
A Moscow political analyst commented after viewing Putin’s latest remarks: “Netanyahu refused a Russian field hospital but allows a UAE one? That is telling. This shows that Putin defers to the Israelis on anything related to Gaza. Nothing has changed in his position.”Simplicius , Putin’s Q&A and Some Revealing Article Roundups on AFU’s Deterioration
Putin held his annual Q&A (yesterday), where he made some interesting new statements which I’ll first go over.
One of the most notable, to me, was the reiteration of the stated objectives of the SMO. For a long time now Ukrainian sources claimed that Russia was slowly walking back or down-scaling the SMO’s goals as a face-saving measure in light of their putative ‘inability to advance.’
Putin refuted this narrative once and for all, by adamantly restating the goals: [Denazification of Ukraine, No NATO membership, Neutral status for Ukraine. Human rights.]
Not only that, but he again strongly implied that Russia will retake Odessa, calling it a purely Russian city which was founded by Catherine the Great…
..In fact, on an interesting note, German BILD published this projection today, outlining what they believe is Russia’s military plans up through 2026:https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/putins-q-and-a-and-some-revealing
Gilbert Doctorow makes some points about Putin’s “Direct Line” press conference.
The show went on for four hours and four minutes. Putin responded to 67 questions with his only “technical aid” being a pencil and note pad on which he took down key words of multiple questions from a single person or jotted down their name and patronymic so as to respond with traditional Russian formality. There were no souffleurs to whisper answers into his ear or screens on the table for him to consult. And yet his answers to questions in every imaginable domain were detailed and knowledgeable. This was a performance that few if any global leaders could rival, and the audience was appreciative.
Did he say anything new or particularly noteworthy? My answer is a qualified ‘no.’ …
.. As regards what Russia is doing to address what he called the tragedy in Gaza, Putin called attention to his recent visits to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to coordinate positions, as well as outreach to Egypt and to Turkey to formulate steps to an overall solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in terms of two sovereign states.
What was more interesting, though, was his remark that he had been in discussion with Benjamin Netanyahu to see if Russia would be permitted to open a field hospital in Gaza near the Rafah crossing in a stadium as the UAE had been allowed to do. Netanyahu rejected the idea because security could not be assured, meaning that Israel is continuing its savage attacks in every part of the Gaza Strip. Nonetheless, it appears they reached agreement on Russia’s sending in to Gaza large deliveries of medical supplies. This little story effectively explains what the two leaders had to discuss in their 50 minute phone conversation in the past week. And I had naively assumed that Putin was trying to apply maximum pressure on Netanyahu to wind down the attacks.Sanaa clarifies its conditions for returning calm to Red Sea
Member of the Sanaa negotiating delegation, Abdumalik Al-Ajri, confirmed on Thursday that the return of calm in the Red Sea is linked to the return of calm in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Ajri said in his account on the “X” platform, “If the world fleets gather to the Red Sea, they will not bring safety to Israel, nor to Israeli ships or those heading to Israel, nor will they dissuade the Yemeni army from supporting Gaza.”
He stressed that there is no way to prevent the expansion of escalation, especially in the Red Sea, except by pushing for a permanent ceasefire and lifting the siege on Gaza.
https://en.ypagency.net/313406Two More Ships Struck By Houthi Missiles As Maersk Diverts All Tankers From Red Sea
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/two-more-vessels-struck-houthi-missiles-maersk-diverts-all-tankers-red-seaInternational insurance companies have stopped insuring ships transporting cargo across the Red Sea to and from Israel because Yemen military action against such shipping makes the risk to Insurance companies too great.
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/world/breaking-news-insurance-companies-pull-coverage-for-ships-in-red-seaThe daughter of the king is a military pilot. I like her style.
Jordanian King’s daughter takes part in airdrop over Gaza
Princess Salma, who holds rank of 1st lieutenant in Jordanian Air Force, participates in airdrop of medical supplies to Jordanian field hospital
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/jordanian-kings-daughter-takes-part-in-airdrop-over-gaza/3083137‘Operation Al Aqsa Flood’ Day 70: A deteriorating public health crisis in Gaza, raids across the occupied West Bank
A lack of sanitation in Gaza’s overcrowded shelters is contributing to the rapid spread of infectious diseases, with the situation only expected to worsen. A three-day Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Jenin kills 12 Palestinians, 500 detained.
18,787 Palestinians killed* and 50,897 wounded in the Gaza Strip
279 Palestinians killed and 3,365 wounded in the Occupied West Bank
* Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has not been able to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 20,000.CNN journalist defies Israeli entry ban to report on ‘absolute horror’ in Gaza
CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward has become the first Western journalist to enter the Gaza Strip without supervision from the Israel Defense Forces, providing a firsthand account of what she described as “absolute horror.”
She crossed the border on Wednesday with UAE medical volunteers to visit a field hospital, in defiance of an Israeli ban on foreign journalists independently entering the besieged enclave. Israel has allowed some journalists to enter under IDF supervision.
During a TV appearance on CNN, Ward shared insights into the brief but impactful hours spent on the ground.
“Even in that brief window, you really got a sense of the absolute horrors that have been taking place in Gaza,” she said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2425946/mediaAt least 300 medical workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to a report posted on the enclave’s Health Ministry’s Telegram channel.
According to the ministry, 138 medical facilities in the Strip came under the fire of the Israel Defense Forces during this period of time, 102 ambulances were destroyed.
https://tass.com/world/1721283Israel’s military has begun pumping seawater into tunnels used by Hamas in Gaza, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
Israeli officials are reportedly contemplating a plan to flood the tunnels over several weeks, in an attempt to dismantle the network and weaken Palestinian armed groups.
Researchers specialising in water, diplomacy and conflict have told Middle East Eye that the flooding would have damaging ecological effects, including the pollution of Gaza’s already devastated water supply and damage to its crops.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-what-impact-flooding-gaza-tunnel-seawaterChristmas Present https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/christmas-present
Sullivan Tells Netanyahu To Wrap Up ‘High Intensity’ Gaza Fighting Within Weeks [This is a public position. God knows what the real deal is. Bibi might even need out.]
For the first time this week, the White House has begun putting rare pressure on the Netanyahu government – after Biden earlier offered the criticism that “indiscriminate” bombing in Gaza could turn the world against Israel. National security advisor Jake Sullivan is currently in Tel Aviv meeting with Israel’s war cabinet, and it appears he too is delivering a message of pushback (or at least the appearance).
Sullivan reportedly conveyed that Israel’s military needs to wrap of the current “high intensity” phase of its offensive “within weeks”. This according to Israeli officials who spoke to the Times of Israel.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/sullivan-tells-netanyahu-wrap-high-intensity-gaza-fighting-within-weeksThe case that enriched uranium residues from Gaza must have come from micro-nuclear devices, which I have posted for the last 2 days, is here again.
NEW EVIDENCE THAT ISRAEL IS USING A NEW URANIUM WEAPON – MAKE THAT THE NEUTRON BOMB
A warning that some of the pictures in his report are quite distressing.
Al Jazeera has obtained footage of bodies piled up in a school in northern Gaza, witnesses tell us they were executed by the Israeli military. The dead include women and children. The Shadia Abu Ghazala School is a UN-run facility that has become a shelter during the war, but may now be the scene of a war crime.These 3 IDF “hostages”, POWs, manage to escape their Hamas captors unharmed, then … “So glad to see you guys, we escaped, We’re Free!”
IDF troops mistakenly killed three hostages during Gaza battles this morning, spokesman says
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says during battles in northern Gaza’s Shejaiya this morning, Israeli troops mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat and opened fire at them, killing them.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-troops-mistakenly-opened-fire-and-killed-three-hostages-during-gaza-battles-spokesman-says/@Thomasjkenney: That’s diabolical, like your smartphone spying on your conversations, location and heartbeat when you think it is turned off. It is hard to remove laptop batteries. I can remove my flip-phone battery in 6 seconds.
@jb-hb: Your computer will watch Hillary-Clinton-AI-porn when you turn it off, and you’ll never know.@Oroboros: I counted 4 explosions. That guy pulled out a bunch of grenades, pulled the pins and tossed them around the room until the first one blew.
@Kultsommer: Got it.
Countries do reform under revised paradigms, after “paradigm shifts”. Don’t die yet.@Kultsommer: Somebody might be doomed, but others might not be doomed.
Do what you can, but you are right to avoid trying to change somebody’s well-worn and fully-invested worldview.US House Votes to Authorize Formal Impeachment Inquiry Against Biden
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231213/us-house-votes-to-authorize-formal-impeachment-inquiry-against-biden-1115562841.html Thanks F.S. Arthur Berman: “Shale Oil and the Slurping Sound”
On this episode, Arthur Berman returns to unpack the complexity underpinning the oil trends of the last 75 years and what new data can tell us about availability in the coming years. After decades of declining oil production in the United States, the past decade of rising oil extraction has eased many worries about peak oil. But the past few years of continued growth have been obtained by using “a larger straw”, merely delaying the inevitability of the depletion of a finite resource. Art presents recent data on well productivity in US shale plays indicating we are much closer to ‘the slurping sound’. How does technology hide the declining availability of oil reserves, causing us to extract and use them faster without creating any new resources? Going beyond geology, how do geopolitics, finance, and social opinion affect oil availability? Where do we go when economically viable oil isn’t available anymore – and will we have the prudence to make the cultural shifts necessary before we have no other options? Have we now passed ‘peak oil’?
https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/101-art-bermanJohn Helmer , US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PASSES DEPLETED BRAINS & BLACKOUT BILL FOR BANNING IMPORTS OF RUSSIAN URANIUM
US Congressmen have adopted the unusual procedure of approving by voice vote – no tally — a ban on imports of Russian uranium to fuel US nuclear reactors. Hidden from the record are the Congressmen who insisted on including a loophole, Section 2, allowing a waiver of the law until January 2028 to keep the lightbulbs in their districts from blacking out.
The Pentagon also insisted on a loophole, Section 3A, allowing a waiver so that the manufacture of depleted uranium munitions for the Israeli, Ukrainian, and US armies, as well as nuclear warheads for tactical and strategic missiles aimed at Russia, will not be cut off from their Russian import source.
One-fifth of the US electricity supply is dependent on the special enrichment quality of imported Russian uranium…
..In 2022 the price of the Russian imports was $22.76 per pound. This was the lowest priced import of all US import sources — 62% below the Australian uranium delivery price; 54% below the Canadian price; 33% below the Kazakh price. Rosatom’s delivery quote to the US has been falling steadily; it’s down 39% since 2018...
..The high quality, low cost, and contract reliability of Russian and Kazakh uranium fuel have driven domestic American uranium processors out of the market since 1980, when the US-produced fuel amounted to almost 44 million pounds, and the imports just 4 million pounds…
..Reviving the fortunes of the domestic industry is one of the reasons for the promotion of the new Russia trade sanction by congressmen and senators from nuclear industry states...
..“Without action, Russia will continue its hold on the global uranium market to the detriment of U.S. allies and partners,” declared the House sponsor of the new law, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Republican, Washington state). “One of the most urgent security threats America faces right now is our dangerous reliance on Russia’s supply of nuclear fuels for our nuclear fleet”... Although there is a Senate majority for the bill, it is unlikely to be voted until the new year...
..Russian analysts are more than sanguine about the uranium import ban. If and when the sanction starts without the waivers, they are forecasting a rise in global uranium fuel prices and increase in Rosatom’s revenues...
..According to the World Nuclear Association, 17 thousand tons of uranium are required annually for the operation of American nuclear reactors, but uranium production in the States themselves last year amounted to less than 100 tons. Only one uranium enrichment plant in New Mexico remains operational in the United States, and it belongs to the European consortium Urenco (Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands). All raw materials are imported. The United States is forced to import fuel, in particular from Urenco, which supplies fuel to the United States from European plants, and from Rosatom...
..“This is another market where it is difficult to carry out trading activities. Given the scale of the American market, they will rush all over the market and try to find other suppliers. For the moment this looks like an almost impossible task. This is because long-term contracts for fuel supplies are valid for decades.” …
..Therefore, these potential sanctions are more like an element of political bargaining within the United States between different political forces. “The generating companies that operate nuclear power plants in the United States usually support the Republicans. The Democratic Party is more likely to receive support from the renewable energy companies. Probably the Democrats are trying to play the Russian card here, which they have been doing often in recent years, and imposing sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry. Their political opponents, in order not to be accused of sympathizing with Russia, are often forced to support the strangest anti-Russian measures. Therefore, this could potentially lead to such sanctions being adopted,” Kondratiev does not rule out...
..The peculiarity of the nuclear industry is that there are large reserves of nuclear fuel for several months or even years ahead. And the fuel itself is poured into the reactors every few months. Therefore, the imposition of sanctions will not lead to the rapid closure of nuclear power plants in the United States: they will continue to purchase stored fuel, simply at a higher price. And when the reserves run out, the US authorities will be able to lift the ban on the import of Russian fuel. It is no coincidence that this possibility is clearly spelled out in the bill.”Thanks for this, Dan. Two Biden Body Doubles , Note Old Age Disintegration Of Real Biden’s Chin “Can’t unsee it.” 🙂
https://rense.com/general97/biden-body-doubles.phpBiden Meets With Families Of 8 American Captives Still Held In Gaza (These “American captives” are all active-duty Israeli soldiers.)
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/biden-meets-families-8-american-captives-still-held-gazaI had to look for pictures of the meeting. It looks like the real chinless-Joe.
https://twitter.com/FOX2News/status/1735121219186274419/photo/1Biden “Gave Federal Agencies Greenlight To Go After [Musk]”, FCC Commissioner Warns
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/fcc-rejects-900-million-subsidy-spacex-amid-concerns-govt-weaponization The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced on Tuesday that it denied the Elon Musk-owned Starlink’s appeal and will not award the company a $866 million subsidy from the Universal Service Fund meant to expand broadband access to rural areas.
Writing in fiery dissent, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr accused the agency of targeting Elon Musk and his businesses at the behest of the Biden administration.
Carr began his dissent by pointing out that US President Joe Biden told reporters in early November that Musk “is worth being looked at” after his purchase of Twitter, since renamed X. It notes that when Biden was pressed by a reporter on what ways the government would look into at Musk, the president responded “there’s a lot of ways.”
“President Biden gave federal agencies a green light to go after him [Musk],” Carr wrote.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231214/fcc-commissioner-biden-gave-federal-agencies-green-light-to-target-elon-musk-1115565308.html Pentagon Says Not Conducting Formal Review of Israel’s Use of White Phosphorous Shells (See No Evil-war-crimes)
Earlier on Wednesday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the United States is looking into reports, confirmed by the Washington Post and two human rights groups, that Israel attacked southern Lebanon with US-made white phosphorus shells.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231213/pentagon-says-not-conducting-formal-review-of-israels-use-of-white-phosphorous-shells-1115560538.html Israel Now Admits to ‘Immense Amount of Friendly Fire’ on October 7th [“It would not be morally sound to investigate them.”]
Initial Nova music festival revelations were mentioned in a Haaretz reported on November 18th, where an Israeli police source confirmed how an Israeli combat helicopter that arrived on the scene from the Ramat David base, and proceeded to fire on music festival attendees, estimating that some 364 people were ‘mowed-down’ there…
..It is the first known official army admission that a significant number of the hundreds of Israelis who died on 7 October were killed by Israel itself, and not by Hamas or other Palestinian resistance factions.
An Israeli police source last month appeared to admit that some of the Israelis at the Supernova rave taking place near Gaza that day were hit by Israeli helicopters. A second police source later partially walked back the admission.
Citing new data released by the Israeli military, Zeitun wrote that: “Casualties fell as a result of friendly fire on October 7, but the IDF [Israeli military] believes that … it would not be morally sound to investigate” them.
https://21stcenturywire.com/2023/12/13/israel-now-admits-to-immense-amount-of-friendly-fire-on-october-7th/ ‘Operation Al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 69: Reports of Israeli soldier shooting women and children execution style in Gaza
The situation in Jenin “continues deteriorating” as it enters its third day under Israeli military siege; meanwhile, in Gaza, displaced Palestinians face frigid temperatures under heavy rainfall.
18,608+ killed* and more than 50,594 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
286 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on December 12. Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has not been able to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 20,000.John Mearsheimer wants to go on record for posterity: Death and Destruction in Gaza
I do not believe that anything I say about what is happening in Gaza will affect Israeli or American policy in that conflict. But I want to be on record so that when historians look back on this moral calamity, they will see that some Americans were on the right side of history.
What Israel is doing in Gaza to the Palestinian civilian population – with the support of the Biden administration – is a crime against humanity that serves no meaningful military purpose…
..First, Israel is purposely massacring huge number of civilians, roughly 70 percent of whom are children and women. The claim that Israel is going to great lengths to minimize civilian casualties is belied by statements from high level Israeli officials. For example, the IDF spokesman said on 10 October 2023 that “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy.” That same day, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced: “I have lowered all the restraints – we will kill everyone we fight against; we will use every means.”…
..Second, Israel is purposely starving the desperate Palestinian population by greatly limiting the amount of food, fuel, cooking gas, medicine, and water that can be brought into Gaza…
..Third, Israeli leaders talk about Palestinians and what they would like to do in Gaza in shocking terms, especially when you consider that some of these leaders also talk incessantly about the horrors of the Holocaust… It is commonplace for Israeli leaders to refer to Palestinians as “human animals, ”human beasts,” and “horrible inhuman animals.”[11] And as Israeli President Isaac Herzog makes clear, those leaders are referring to all Palestinians, not just Hamas: In his words, “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible.”… To quote Israel’s Agriculture Minister, “We are now rolling out the Gaza Nakba.”[17]Perhaps the most shocking evidence of the depths to which Israeli society has sunk is a video of very young children singing a blood-curdling song celebrating Israel’s destruction of Gaza: “Within a year we will annihilate everyone, and then we will return to plow our fields.”…
..Fourth, Israel is not just killing, wounding, and starving huge numbers of Palestinians, it is also systematically destroying their homes as well as critical infrastructure – to include mosques, schools, heritage sites, libraries, key government buildings, and hospitals… 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes…
..Fifth, Israel is not just terrorizing and killing Palestinians, it is also publicly humiliating many of their men who have been rounded up by the IDF in routine searches. Israeli soldiers strip them down to their underwear, blindfold them, and display them in a public way in their neighborhoods…
..Sixth, although the Israelis are doing the slaughtering, they could not do it without the Biden administration’s support. Not only was the United States the only country to vote against a recent UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, but it has also been providing Israel with the weaponry necessary to wage this massacre.[24] As one Israeli general (Yitzhak Brick) recently made clear: “All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the U.S. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability.… Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”…
..Seventh, while most of the focus is now on Gaza, it is important not to lose sight of what is simultaneously going on in the West Bank. Israeli settlers, working closely with the IDF, continue to kill innocent Palestinians and steal their land. In an excellent article in the New York Review of Books describing these horrors, David Shulman relates a conversation he had with a settler, which clearly reflects the moral dimension of Israeli behavior toward the Palestinians. “What we are doing to these people is actually inhuman,” the settler freely admits, “But if you think about it clearly, it all follows inevitably from the fact that God promised this land to the Jews, and only to them.”… According to Amnesty International, there is considerable evidence that these prisoners have been tortured and subjected to degrading treatment.
https://mearsheimer.substack.com/p/death-and-destruction-in-gazaThe number of journalists killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7 has climbed to 89, Al Jazeera reported.
https://tass.com/world/1720369Two Spare “Joe Bidens” https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/two-spare-joe-bidens
Israeli FM dismisses UN ceasefire resolution, says Gaza war to persist
“Israel will continue the war against Hamas with or without international support,” Cohen said as quoted by Reuters. “A ceasefire at the current stage is a gift to the terrorist organization Hamas, and will allow it to return and threaten the residents of Israel.”
The UN General Assembly voted on Tuesday to implement an urgent humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. US President Joe Biden, the leader of “Israel’s” staunchest ally, cautioned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that international support was waning.
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-fm-dismisses-un-ceasefire-resolution–says-gaza-war Israel suffers heaviest combat losses since Oct; Netanyahu vows to fight on despite diplomatic isolation
Israel announced its worst combat losses in more than a month on Dec 13 after an ambush in the ruins of Gaza, and faced growing diplomatic isolation as civilian deaths mounted and a humanitarian catastrophe worsened in the Palestinian territory.
Intense fighting was under way in both north and south Gaza, a day after the United Nations demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. US President Joe Biden said Israel’s “indiscriminate” bombing of civilians was costing international support.
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/israel-suffers-heaviest-combat-losses-since-oct-netanyahu-vows-to-fight-on-despite-diplomatic-isolation Biden’s comment about “indiscriminate bombing” by Israel looks different to me in light of yesterday’s analysis of ENRICHED uranium (higher U235 than U238, NOT “DU”) in Gaza. This points to use of mini-nukes, which has been suggested in prior US and Israeli bombings, from Tora Bora in Afghanistan, to Rafic Hariri’s assassination 2/14/05, supposedly by means of ordinary explosives, and ultimately blamed on Hezbollah. I recall the rumors. Look at that crater. Does it look like recent craters in Gaza?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-60691507From Yesterday:
John Helmer has this story, mostly introducing the documentary and analytical work of nuclear scientist Christopher Busby.
NEW EVIDENCE THAT ISRAEL IS USING A NEW URANIUM WEAPON – MAKE THAT THE NEUTRON BOMB
The neutron bomb was invented in 1958 by Samuel Cohen of the Livermore Laboratory of California and then RAND…
Abstract
Since 2003 measurements made by Green Audit in Fallujah, Iraq 2003, Lebanon 2006 and Gaza 2008 have provided unequivocal evidence of Uranium residues which show anomalous Uranium U-238/U235 isotope signature ratios. Results from independent laboratories in Europe and the UK, using different techniques, revealed the presence of enriched Uranium in biological materials and environmental samples including soil, bomb craters and air (as recorded in vehicle air filter dust). More recently, 2021 results published in the journal Nature, show that Uranium enrichment levels in background samples from Gaza have been increasing markedly since 2008. Since enriched Uranium is an anthropogenic substance which does not exist in nature, the question arises as to the source, in the weapons employed by the USA (Fallujah) and Israel (Lebanon, Gaza). It is proposed that the only logical answer is that a Uranium-based weapon exists that produces U-235 by neutron activation and has been deployed. Such a weapon must be some kind of neutron bomb...
..Conclusion and further investigation.
An inevitable deduction from the consistent findings of enriched Uranium in samples from Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq, is that a neutron weapon of some kind has been employed since the second Gulf War, and possible before then. This is an Israeli (and US) secret weapon, as was reported by Robert Fisk in The Independent in 2006 [7]. The increases in congenital effects seen in the Fallujah population [8,9,10] and also in Gaza [20,21] can plausibly have resulted from exposure to neutrons as well as to the Uranium particulate aerosols. The weapon is ideal for armies employed in methodological destruction both of fighters hidden in urban environments (where neutrons pass through walls) and for any state which has the aim of destroying the civilian population using a genetic mutation weapon (cancer, fertility loss, birth defects). It is, however, a nuclear weapon, and those deploying it are using a nuclear weapon against civilian populations as part of a project to destroy an enemy state population without acknowledging this. This is a war crime.NEW EVIDENCE THAT ISRAEL IS USING A NEW URANIUM WEAPON – MAKE THAT THE NEUTRON BOMB
