[John Day]

​Drank the Kool-Aid, Hillary? Vaxxed and boosted? Clinton Drops Out Of Harris Fundraiser In The Hamptons After Getting Covid https://thepeoplesvoice.tv/clinton-drops-out-of-kamala-harris-fundraiser-in-the-hamptons-after-getting-covid/

From 3/22/2022, Hillary Clinton Tests Positive For Covid, Says She’s “More Grateful Than Ever” For Vaccines https://deadline.com/2022/03/hillary-clinton-positive-covid-1234984613/

A devastated father has issued a statement expressing his deep regret at forcing his young daughter to take the Covid mRNA shot that killed her.
The father, Yi Geun-jae from the town of Pyeongtaek, South Korea, has issued a video statement with a warning for others about the dangers of blindly trusting government advice.
Ye-won, a healthy young girl, died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage caused by the Covid mRNA injection she received.​ https://slaynews.com/news/father-expresses-deep-regret-forcing-daughter-take-covid-shot-killed-her/

​ COVID never killed healthy kids. It takes a “vaccine” to do that. $3,000 and a Toy: Novavax Dangles Incentives to Fill Clinical Trials on COVID Shots for Babies, Kids
The “Hummingbird” trial is testing two primary shots and a booster shot of Novavax’s adjuvanted recombinant spike protein nanoparticle vaccine in children. The trial is enrolling 3,600 children from the U.S. and other countries.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/novavax-covid-vaccine-trial-infants-children/

​ It’s Been 10 Years Since a Whistleblower Exposed the CDC’s Cover-up of the Link Between Vaccines and Autism. The Agency Has Done Nothing.
Ten years after a whistleblower at the CDC leaked data showing the agency identified a link between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism in African American boys, the agency has done nothing to address the issue.​ https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/cdc-whistleblower-mmr-vaccine-autism-link/

[John Day]

​ UPDATED: NOT STATE GUARD, FEDERAL TROOPS ! ! ! ! Reports: New York Deploying National Guard for Trump Sentencing on Sept 18 – CLAIM Trump to be IMPRISONED that day – Fear Riots to ensue
​ Numerous reports have begun coming-in saying large numbers of New York National Guard Troops are being brought into hotels around the Courthouse in Manhattan, in preparation for the IMPRISONMENT of President Trump on Sept. 18 at his Sentencing.
​ Word came from a federal law enforcement source saying New York State Judge Juan Merchan, whose daughter collected hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in political consulting work from Democrats during the Trump Trial, will order Trump taken to jail at the Sentencing on September 18. Trump will reportedly be taken to Riker’s Island jail at that time.
​ Additional claims from that same federal law enforcement source say New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, fear that New York Police will engage in a “Sick Out” on that date, because all the police officers KNOW the trial was a complete sham, they want no part in persecuting Trump.​ https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/national-news/reports-new-york-deploying-national-guard-for-trump-sentencing-on-sept-18-claim-trump-to-be-imprisoned-that-day-fear-riots-to-ensue

​ Is The Military Buildup in NYC There to Assist Throwing President Trump in Prison?
Jason Goodman found the army had taken over a public New York City hotel, and he was not allowed to tape.​..
​ Laura Loomer reported last night that NYC is preparing to imprison President Trump in a kangaroo, unconstitutional, criminal, corrupted, NY Court on felonies that are not crimes in any county in the nation (i.e. you cannot be charged with a felony for receiving a letter in the mail and yet President Trump is charged with 11 felonies for saying he did this – he never did and these are not crimes).​ https://joehoft.com/is-the-military-buildup-in-nyc-there-to-assist-throwing-president-trump-in-prison/

“Not The Type Of Character You Want” In High Office – Tim Walz’s Brother Slams VP Candidate​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/not-type-character-you-want-high-office-tim-walzs-brother-slams-vp-candidate

​ France stoops to hostage-taking of Telegram’s Pavel Durov
At a time when the U.S.-led NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia has entered a disastrous phase of defeat, the Western elite must shut down all and every critical media.​ https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/08/30/france-stoops-hostage-taking-telegram-pavel-durov/

​ French Party Leader Warns Telegram CEO’s Life May Be in Danger​ [His brother, safe in Dubai, is the actual tech-wizard who knows stuff.]
​ The life of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who was released on bail this week as he faces a potential trial in France, might be in danger, Florian Philippot, the leader of The Patriots party, said on Saturday.
​ The politician referred to reports by French media, which claimed that the billionaire tech entrepreneur had been approached by French intelligence agents while in Dubai and that he had refused to share classified information.
​ “Day after day, the puzzle of [French President Emmanuel] Macron’s delirious persistence against Pavel Durov, after having coaxed him, takes shape … Let’s not forget that Macron has been using Telegram extensively with his teams for a long time, and that he feared ‘leaks’… Pavel Durov should really be careful, his life may be in danger!” Philippot said on X.​ https://sputnikglobe.com/20240831/french-party-leader-warns-telegram-ceos-life-may-be-in-danger-1119973143.html

[John Day]

Over 70% of roads destroyed by Israeli forces in Jenin: Municipality​ Water supply has reportedly been disrupted for 80% of Jenin and the entire refugee camp.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/over-70–of-roads-destroyed-by-israeli-forces-in-jenin–muni

​ Palestinians Seek US Appeals Court Review of Biden Genocide Complicity Case
“The U.S. is providing the bombs for this genocide,” said one plaintiff. “I have lost countless friends and neighbors… When will the courts uphold the law and stop the horror?”​ https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-genocide-case

​ Protests sweep Israel after hostage deaths
​ Israeli political commentator Sri Goldberg has said Netanyahu should be “worried” about the unrest, explaining that the deaths of the hostages made it clear to many that “the policy of Israel’s government is profoundly detrimental to Israelis – and perhaps, in the case of the hostages, even lethal.”
​ Meanwhile, Hamas claimed that the hostages were “deliberately” killed by the IDF. In a video addressed to the Israeli army following the recovery of the bodies, the Qassam Brigade insisted that “they were alive and were supposed to be released in the first phase of the deal.”​ https://swentr.site/news/603371-israel-protests-hamas-hostages/

​ US to give Zelensky ‘free hand’ on strikes deep inside Russia – Moscow
Washington has effectively become a party to the Ukraine conflict, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova has said​ https://swentr.site/news/603285-ukraine-us-weapons-zakharova/

New York Police Planning Mass ‘Sick Leave’ On Trump Sentencing Day? MAGA Claim Viral​ https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/new-york-police-unions-planning-mass-sick-leave-on-donald-trump-sentencing-day-maga-claim-viral-article-112938167

[John Day]

Democracies Created To Fund Bigger Wars https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/democracies-created-to-fund-bigger

Michael Hudson, Debt, Economic Collapse and the Ancient World (much condensed. Note that European “democracies” were devised to pay for Bigger War Loans.)
​ In 1964, I joined Chase Manhattan, and my first assignment was to analyze how much Latin American countries could afford to borrow. I was told to focus on Argentina, Brazil and Chile. To calculate their debt-carrying capacity, I had to calculate how much they could afford to pay in interest out of their export earnings. I found that they already had reached their limit to pay creditors in dollars. So there was little way that they could afford to take on more debt.
​ That did not make the officers in the international department very happy because they wanted to increase their loans, just as the real estate and oil departments wanted to do. It seemed to me that international lending was close to the risk limit of default for many countries.
​ On a later occasion I had a meeting at the New York Federal Reserve to discuss my analysis. The Federal Reserve officer said that according to my calculations, Britain couldn’t afford to borrow any more money. I agreed. It had to keep borrowing just to maintain the exchange rate of the British pound.
​ The Federal Reserve man pointed out that the British had been maintaining their balance – mainly by raising interest rates to attract loans to stabilize their exchange rate. I agreed that this was what had enabled them to keep paying their debts. He pointed out that this was because U.S. creditors were lending them the money. And of course that was exactly what was keeping them afloat. He said that the same thing was true with Latin American countries. The United States was supporting them, at least as long as they were “friendly.” U.S. bankers therefore could lend them the money because U.S policy was to keep them solvent. The World Bank was showing them how to carry their debt service by privatizing their property, and the IMF giving them advice as to how to make their labor more competitive by paying it less and blocking attempts at unionization, while cutting back public social spending to “free” income to pay their creditors.
​ Under these terms it was clear that Latin America could continue to pay U.S. banks for new loans, at least for the immediate future. That was the financial sector’s time frame. But I could see that the only way that banks could keep expanding their loans to Latin America and England was to arrange for them to borrow the money to make their interest and principal repayments.​ That’s called a Ponzi scheme.​..
​..I became a balance-of-payments advisor to Canada in the late 1970s and an advisor to UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, which published my papers on why Latin America could not afford to pay its debts. I presented these findings at a large UNITAR meeting in Mexico City.
​ The U.S. rapporteur deliberately misrepresented my talk, saying that I had explained how Third World countries could pay their debts with U.S. aid. I stood up and said that this was a falsification of what I and other members of my U.S. delegation (including Bob Fitch and Loren Goldner) believed. I demanded an apology from Luis Echeverria, who had convened the meeting. There was pandemonium and I walked out in protest. The Russian delegate came outside and said that I had taken over the conference by saying the unspeakable.
​ The “unspeakable” happened pretty quickly. The Italian funders of the UNITAR group insisted that it stop publishing my warnings about Third World debt. I realized that the idea that countries could not pay their debt was really important. It was not unthinkable at all, but it was unspeakable in polite company. In 1982, Mexico defaulted on its bonds, triggering the Latin American “debt bomb.”​…
​..I thought that people would be more willing to accept the idea that cancelling debts was needed to avoid economic polarization and impoverishment if they could see how societies through the ages had dealt with the problem of debts exceeding the ability of large parts of the economy to pay. Around 1980-1981, I began to draft this history. I thought that if this logic were accepted for the past, the implications for today would become less unthinkable.
​ I looked for examples of early recognition that if debts couldn’t be paid on a widespread basis, some authority was needed to write them down, or else a creditor oligarchy would emerge to polarize and ultimately impoverish the economy. Such polarization and impoverishment is clear enough in the modern world. If governments don’t write down Latin America’s debts, for example, the continent’s debtor countries will be obliged to go to the IMF, World Bank and the U.S. State Department. These institutions will insist that the debtor economy would have to “stabilize” its exchange rate by selling off its land, mineral rights and public infrastructure to foreign investors, using the sales proceeds to pay foreign creditors. That will strip away the assets and patrimony of debtor countries.
​ It was fairly easy to go back to the 19th century and see the financial ruin of Persia and Egypt as a result of debts owed to European bankers. I began taking notes going back to the medieval times and the Crusades with its revival of war debts, and to Rome and Greece such as Solon’s seisachtheia of 594 BC, and to the Biblical Jubilee year. In looking through this literature I found scattered references to earlier Near Eastern debt cancellations.
​ To trace down these references I began to read about Mesopotamia. Most of the writing was in French and German. I had studied linguistics at the University of Chicago for my BA, but I didn’t read cuneiform. So I began to read translations of the laws of Hammurabi and even more important, the debt cancellations or “clean slates” of Hammurabi and all the other members of his Babylonian dynasty, as well as those of neighboring lands, and earlier in Sumer.
​ I found that it didn’t matter that I hadn’t studied Assyriology. Having to read Bronze Age royal proclamations in translation actually turned out to be an advantage, because the translation of the royal inscriptions and proclamations was quite different in German, French, English and American. It seemed that each translator used their own preconceptions of what exactly rulers were doing when they “proclaimed order.”…
​..Andurarum meant literally a free-flowing, meaning that bond servants held by their creditors had the liberaty to go back to their original homes. House slaves (often “mountain girls” that debtors had pledged to creditors were returned to their former masters who owned them. And land that had been forfeited to creditors was restored to debtors. (The Babylonian word was cognate to Hebrew deror, the word used in Leviticus 25 for the kindred Jubilee Year.)
​ The Germans had just what I was focusing on: a debt cancellation. F. R. Krauss wrote a detailed study of this. But then the French assyriologist Dominique Charpin had the least anachronistic translation of all. He called it a “restoration of order,” a return to the “mother condition” ending the disorder. The root of the Sumerian term for such proclamations, amargi was ama, “mother.” For instance, when the Iraqi President Hussein said that his war against the American invasion by George W. Bush was going to be “the mother of all wars,” he meant the paradigmatic war. Amargi was the paradigmatic social balance that Bronze age society thought should be the norm.
​ My Association with Harvard to Create a Scholarly Group to Analyze Near Eastern Economies
​ I wrote a draft of what I’d found, and my friend Alexander Marshack, the leading Ice Age archaeologist and on the Harvard faculty, sent what I’d written to the head of the Peabody Museum, Carl Lamberg-Karlovsky. He invited me up to Harvard, and suggested that I become a research fellow on the faculty in “Babylonian archaeology” and go into my academic research in depth.
​ It soon became apparent that I couldn’t simply write this history by myself. What was at issue was the broad context that shaped the Mesopotamian economic takeoff in which interest, money and “taxes” first arose and took shape. In order to get credibility for our study, we drew up a plan to invite the leading Assyriologist and Egyptologist scholars who could read the Bronze Age proclamations, letters and legal cases. We would hold a series of colloquia as a basis for creating a financial and economic history of the ancient Near East.
​ I had tried to write the original version of what became my volume, “… and Forgive Them Their Debts” to a number of publishers like the University of California. Every publisher rejected it, sending it to referees who thought that it was impossible for society to cancel the debts, because if that were the case, creditors wouldn’t have made loans anymore. One Assyriologist repeated Rabbi Hillel’s pro-creditor argument against the Jubilee Year to this effect. To counter the threat of debt cancellation, Hillel created the prosbul clause waiving the debtor’s right to have his debts cancelled in the Jubilee Year. That was the political context in which Jesus led the fight to revive the Jubilee Year practice.
​ What this argument missed was that most Bronze Age cultivators and other non-commercial individuals didn’t run up debts by borrowing money. They incurred tax arrears and other obligations that accrued during the crop year and were due at harvest time.
​ For instance, right now we’re having this conversation in a bar. It has long been typical for workers to run up a tab, to be paid on the next payday. Something similar happened in Mesopotamia. The ale women providing beer were part of a palatial or temple “public utility,” as the British word “pub” recognizes. Customers would run up tabs that were owed at the end of the harvest. Their payday was harvest time, the time that money actually was used – grain-money, weighed out on the threshing floor and paid to creditors, headed by the palace and temples.
​ But if the harvest was bad, the cultivators wouldn’t have the grain money to pay the debts that they had run up during the crop year. How were rulers going to deal with this situation when debtors couldn’t pay? Hammurabi and his contemporaries recognized that it was against their interest to let debtors fall into bondage to the palace for agricultural advances, to temple officials who were owed money for officiating at weddings or funerals, or to private creditors or “big men” who had advanced food or products to cultivators. If rulers permitted citizens on the land to fall into bondage to work off their debts to the large institutions or other creditors, debtors couldn’t serve in the army or work on civic infrastructure building the city walls, temples and other public construction.
​ Instead of a “sanctity of debt” there was a sanctity in its cancellation, at least for personal consumer debts. (Business commercial debts were left intact.) Instead of allowing the labor force to be reduced to bondage or having them forfeit their land tenure rights to creditors, rulers maintained economic balance by proclaiming a Clean Slate. That was the opposite of what the International Monetary Fund has done to Latin American debtor economies…
..Economic liberty on the land meant being able to produce your own means of support. Hammurabi’s laws sought to preserve this condition – or restore it, if disturbed – by stipulating that if the storm god Adad the storm god floods the land, grain-debts wouldn’t have to be paid. Wartime was another occasion for such debt cancellations. And even without such problems, it was recognized that debts mounted up in the normal course of life. To clear this backlog of obligations hanging over agrarian individuals, every new ruler started his reign by proclaiming a Clean Slate – every ruler of Hammurabi’s dynasty, and those of earlier Lagash and other neighboring lands…
..What made Western civilization different at the outset was that the Mediterranean lands didn’t have kings. You said before that there was a collapse of the Mycenaeans. It wasn’t really a collapse. There was really bad weather around 1200 BC. There was a drought that set whole populations in motion. They couldn’t survive where they were. The same thing happened in India about 600 years earlier. The largest Bronze Age civilization, the Indus civilization, dried up…
​..The Middle Eastern merchants introduced the practice of charging interest to the West. Local Greek and Italian chieftains adopted it in their transactions with the rest of society. But the West had no palace rulers to cancel debts, so the dynamics of interest-bearing debt ended up leading to an aristocracy owning the land and holding the population in debt. That problem was only solved by the tyrants that we discussed earlier, who overthrew the predator aristocratic families, cancelled the debts and redistributed the land that had been monopolized.
​ The Syrian and Phoenician merchants also introduced Middle Eastern weights and measures as a necessary element of charging interest. But the arithmetic fractions and denomination were different in the West, and varied widely. Those of Mesopotamia (minas for weight and gur-bushels for volume) were based on 60ths because that system had been developed in the temples to distribute food to their dependent labor force of war widows and orphans on a monthly basis. The administrative year was divided into 30-day months, so each day two 60ths of the monthly ration (a “bushel”) would be consumed – two cups a day. Next month, another bushel would be given.
​ Interest charges were based initially on ease of calculation: one shekel per mina per month in Mesopotamia’s sexagesimal system of fractional divisions. Greece had a different system. It had been in the orbit of Crete and Egypt, which used the decimal system based on 10. So their rate would be 1 percent per month (12 percent for a year), or sometimes 10 percent. Rome used a fractional measuring system based on a year’s normal division into 12 months. So Roman weights measured 12 ounces in a pound. Its interest rate was set at an annual 1/12 (8 1/3 percent). This comparison shows that interest rates were not set by the rate of profit or productivity as modern theory assumes, but simply to make it easier to calculate in the local system of fractional accounting…​
..When I first submitted my explanation to the Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient, its editors questioned whether it really could be so simple. It took them six years to agree to publish my article in 2000. My discoveries as an outsider have now been accepted by Assyriologists. But they are ignored outside of that field.
​ This experience helps explain why I was able to get assent from the Assyriologists and other prehistorians who were part of my 20-year Harvard colloquia. Assyriologists had refused ever since the 1920s to deal with economists or non-Assyriologists because there was so much ideological preconception about how civilization began…​
..I was an outsider to Assyriology, but also to mainstream economics. I knew that I didn’t know how archaic societies were organized. But I knew that what was important for me to find out was how different societies treated money and debt relations. I was looking for the laws of financial motion, the dynamics that you and I have been talking about.
​ The Assyriologists were willing to work with me and become part of my research because I simply asked what they could tell me about the documentation from their period on debt, land tenure, accounting and its weights and measures, and money, including the interest rates on contracts and in royal inscriptions. How did the earliest documented societies organize the building of their pyramids, palaces and city walls?​…
..The greatest resistance to the discoveries resulting from my research came from the ideological prejudice against the idea that Bronze Age rulers needed to prevent the emergence of financial oligarchies. All history from the ancient Middle East through classical Greece and Rome is offensive to the modern economic and political ideology..
​..It was pretty easy for me to forecast interest rates and foreign exchange rates. I went around the world doing that. But what turned out to be much more difficult was trying to understand why antiquity and Western civilization followed the course that it did. That was much more difficult than being a futurist, because archaic societies and antiquity were so different from today, with different social values. The West’s polarization into creditor oligarchies was hard for me to understand, because I could not imagine how different the late Stone Age was, the Bronze Age and even classical antiquity. Their social and political systems were so fundamentally different, not just moving forward but transforming, largely as a result of the financial tensions that increased between private wealth and society’s administrative traditional governing values and authority.
​ And yet despite this transformation there was a common denominator, the choice between letting a financial oligarchy emerge or having a governing power strong enough to prevent that, such as the Near Eastern “divine kingship” or the so-called Greek tyrants who cancelled the personal debts and redistributed the land to lead the Greek takeoff, or modern socialist governments. It’s as if this transformation evolved from one species or genus of an economic system to another.
​ The mainstream Western view thinks of the past as being like today’s world, depicting us as the heirs of Greece and Rome. If that really remains our genetic political and social heritage, the West will retain the same dynamic that led to Rome’s decline and fall. What happened was that Greece and Rome – that is, Western civilization – took the Near Eastern financial innovations out of context, without having rulers empowered to cancel personal debts, and prevent oligarchies from taking over the land and monopolizing it to bring on the Dark Age.
​ Most people think the Greeks and Romans were democracies. But they only had short moves toward some transitory democratic voting forms. When Aristotle led a study of the various Greek constitutions, he said that they all called themselves democracies but were really oligarchies…
​..Today’s challenge is not simply to move forward along our present trajectory, but to realize a need for self-transformation into a new trajectory of social and economic evolution.​ The alternative is self-destruction. What kind of world are we going to create? This is not a future that can be predicted with certainty. Will the West let itself be polarized and end up like the Roman Empire did? Or will Europe realize that it has made a mistake and rejoin the rest of Eurasia? And will Asia indeed free itself from the Western-sponsored neoliberalism that has deindustrialized the NATO world? Will the BRICS and Global majority progress with socialism, or regress with the West’s libertarian free-market characteristics?​ …
​..Once you privatize public infrastructure or the supply of basic needs, you vastly increase the cost of living. In the 19th century, Britain’s Conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli proclaimed that health, public health, was the essence of his party’s reforms. It was the Conservatives that wanted that policy. And in the United States it was Simon Patten, the first economics professor at the first business school, the Wharton School, who described public infrastructure as a distinct factor of production. The landlord’s ownership claim for rent is not a factor of production but an extractive rentier claim. And unlike labor’s wages or industrial capital, public infrastructure investment and the provision of essential social services is not aimed at making a profit. The role of public infrastructure and social welfare is like that of the Erie Canal and other American infrastructure. The aim is to lower the cost of living and doing business.
​ So if we can have the public infrastructure providing basic needs – healthcare, education, communications and transportation services, if we can have the post office, water and sewer systems as public functions provided freely or at subsidized prices, the economy can function at a much lower cost than if these services are privatized, monopolized as opportunities for rent extraction and duly financialized. The government’s business isn’t to make a profit. It is supposed to provide basic needs as a economic right.
​ Patten described the aim of public infrastructure as being to lower the economy’s overall cost of living and doing business so that industrialists would not have to pay their employees high enough wages to, for example, enable them to afford to pay for their own education – at $50,000 a year today – or their own healthcare at 18 percent of GDP. They would have subsidized transportation instead of letting it be monopolized and financialized as occurred in Britain under Margaret Thatcher and the Labour Party’s Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
​ Privatizing these hitherto public services has led them to be run for profit (largely by making monopoly rents), and even more, for capital gains for their stocks and for management fees. All this pushes up the cost of living and doing business.​.. Everybody back in the 19th century considered called this public infrastructure to be socialism, not only the Marxists. You had Christian socialists, you had Henry George’s libertarian socialists, you had all sorts of socialists. What they had in common was that they saw the future of industrial capitalism to be an increasingly public economy with active public investment subsidizing the ability of the nation’s industrialists and labor to compete with that of other countries by lowering the cost overhead.​..
​..So if you have an economy of privatized healthcare, education, water and other basic needs with operators charging as much as an unregulated market can bear (euphemizing this as “the magic of the marketplace”), how can the Americans or Western Europeans that have become neoliberal expect to compete with countries that are calling themselves socialist and reinventing the policy wheel by rediscovering on pragmatic lines exactly what American and German industrial capitalists did in the 19th century​…
..Governments in antiquity were creditors, not debtors. Royal indebtedness occurred only with the Roman Church’s attempt to bring fellow Christian realms under control of the papacy. That required armed force, and armies required financing. The Crusades and the numerous other wars waged by the papacy were directed mainly against fellow Christians in Germany, France (the Cathars), Sicily, the Balkans and the Byzantine Empire. Arranging financing for Rome’s warlord fiefs to fight these wars initiated the financialization of the West. These loans were at interest, bringing an international merchant-banking class into being – as well as reversing Christian opposition to usury/interest.
​ From the start of the Crusades in 1095 through the 16th century, the Roman Church was the unipolar organizing power over Western Europe. Popes treated secular kings as their vassals and set out to gain control of Christendom’s four other patriarchates: Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, collectively known as the Eastern Orthodox Church.
​ At the end of the 1st millennium Constantinople was by far the dominant power, the New Rome and hence its emperor was the “real” Roman Emperor. The old Rome and its papacy seemed to be merely vestigial holdovers of early Christianity, having sunk so low a level by the 10th century that even Catholic historians refer to the papacy as the Pornocracy (Rule of the Harlots)…
..The effect was to legitimize the growth of great banking families that steadily became richer by lending to kings to wage war. After the Crusades ended in 1291 the papacy’s power began its long decline. But it had brought into being a financial class, whose growth in time came to overshadow that of Rome. The main long-term effect of the papal reform movement and its Crusades thus was to reverse Christianity’s core moral teaching opposing usury in the process of creating a new imperial and intolerant Christianity…
..Modern fiscal states have the power to levy national taxes, far beyond the fiscal power of kings to pledge their own property. The modern state was created above all as a fiscal organization to which creditors would be willing to lend the money to defend itself. That is how the northern Protestant states of Europe obtained the money to fight to become independent of Europe’s Catholic monarchies. Their political structures for achieving collective liability for debts evolved into democracies. The result was more than just a new kind of state; a supra-national financial system emerged, standing above nation-states that were obliged to enact pro-creditor fiscal and legal systems in order to obtain the loans that they needed to survive or fight their wars of conquest…
,,Creditors want states to be strong enough to enforce payment to them; strong enough to put the interest of domestic and foreign creditor alliances above that of the domestic economy’s growth. So you still have the same eternal fight over what will get priority: Will the economy grow and be free, or will creditors have the “right” or power to reduce it to debt dependency? …
​..I think that the addictive drive for economic power to dominate others subject to dependency relationships as debtors, renters or trade customers, dominating and impoverishing society around them, should be the center of modern economics. We’re seeing the One Percent doing what similar elites have always tried to do. We can see​ why creditors like the freedom to deny liberty to their debtors, and treat this as part of the natural order. The financial sector controls most monetary wealth, and is horrified at the thought that debtors might be freed from having to pay their loans. There is almost an abhorrence at viewing Bronze Age economic history and that of early antiquity as a success story in restraining the emergence of an oligarchy to use debt leverage to impoverish the population and appropriate its self-support lands for themselves, putting house to house and plot to plot together so that no more room in the land is left for people, as the Biblical prophet Isaiah put it.
​ Where is the economic discussion today about how to make a mixed and balanced public-private economy? Students are indoctrinated about how to let the free market, dominated by the wealthy financial sector, operate so that let the wealthy can do whatever they want. The Romans did not need a Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan to advise them about economic freedom. To Rome’s oligarchy, freedom was their right to do anything they wanted to the rest of the population.
​ That’s what an economically and politically privatized free market leads to. Its freedom is for the creditors and landowners to charge rent, and for monopolies to take as much as they can from their victims. This is the opposite of what Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and the other classical economists meant by a free market. They meant a market free from landlords, free from monopoly rent and free from privatized creditor power.
​ That basic fight to free societies from “economic rent” and its associated oligarchic rentier power has been going on ever since antiquity​…
​..That should be the context in which one looks at every epoch’s economic view of the world, above all its perspective concerning how “free” a market should be, and just whose freedom is being endorsed. That has been the great question throughout the history of civilization, from the Bronze Age Near East when rulers regularly proclaimed Clean Slates to restore economic order to check incipient oligarchies, through the five centuries of civil war in the Roman Republic and Jesus’s fight against the emerging Jewish oligarchy, to today’s civilizational fight between the NATO West dominated by U.S.-oriented rentier oligarchies and the global majority centered now on the BRICS. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/08/michael-hudson-debt-economic-collapse-and-the-ancient-world.html

​ US in ‘fast lane’ to bankruptcy – Musk​ [So the question is, who should “we” cut out in this debt default. Let’s cut out global finance for wars. Starve ’em to death.]
The US is rapidly moving towards bankruptcy because the government in Washington is spending too much money, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has warned.
​ On Thursday, Musk shared a post on his X (formerly Twitter) platform by another user, who cited a forecast from the US government budget for fiscal year 2025 that said that the budget deficit could increase from the current $1.8 trillion to almost $16.3 trillion by 2035.​ “At current rates of government spending, America is in the fast lane to bankruptcy,” Musk wrote.​ The tech billionaire also suggested that “government overspending is what causes inflation” in the country.​ https://swentr.site/news/603366-us-musk-bankruptcy-inflation/

​ Renowned Surgeon and Lead Author of New Lancet Study Tortured by Israeli Military
Dr. Khaled Alser was held for at least three months at notorious Sde Teiman detention camp and remains “forcibly disappeared,” according to colleagues
​ Dr. Khaled Alser, a highly respected Palestinian surgeon, is the lead author of The Lancet’s first medical paper to detail cases of trauma among Gazan patients and medical professionals. But he has had little opportunity to mark the occasion: On March 25, the Israel Defense Forces abducted him during a raid on his hospital and he remains in captivity, his whereabouts unconfirmed. Since his abduction, he has been held at Ofer Detention Center. He has also spent at least three months at Sde Teiman, a notorious IDF-run torture camp in the Negev Desert. A Physicians for Human Rights Israel report provided to his colleagues recently includes testimony detailing Dr. Alser’s torture and abuse at the camp, though Alser has been accused of no wrongdoing.​ https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/gaza-doctor-tortured-lancet

​ ‘There was no mercy, even on children’: trauma in the West Bank after Israeli raids​ Little girls as human shields​ in illegal forced entry…​ Israel denies it.
​ When Israeli soldiers arrived at the modest house along an alleyway in Nur Shams camp on Wednesday night, they sent the women and four of the children out into the street, but kept hold of Malak Shihab.
They took the muzzle off their dog and it went straight up to the slight 10-year-old girl and sniffed her. Terrified, she pleaded to be with her mother, but the soldiers seemed to have just one phrase in accented Arabic: “Open the doors.”
The platoon pushed her up to each of the doors in her aunt’s house, according to Malak’s account, while they remained braced behind her ready to fire at whoever might be inside. One door wouldn’t open, and in her desperation to obey, the girl remembers hammering on it with her head…
..“Mowing the grass” it is called, by certain Israeli generals and pundits, and the cynical phrase is repeated on the West Bank by Palestinians with added irony as they are well aware they are the “grass”. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/31/trauma-in-the-west-bank-after-israeli-raids-palestinian-territory

[John Day]

@Phoenixvoice: Thank You for your Service, Sister.

[John Day]

Start writing & saying “Killemall Harris” … Pass is on!

@Dr.D: I’m gonna post some more Hudson in a little while, including this part about the purpose (“what a thing does”) of European “democracies”.
You might not to look at the rest, but this part is not overtly socialist:

Michael Hudson: Debt, Economic Collapse and the Ancient World

“Rome and its papacy seemed to be merely vestigial holdovers of early Christianity, having sunk so low a level by the 10th century that even Catholic historians refer to the papacy as the Pornocracy (Rule of the Harlots)…
..The effect was to legitimize the growth of great banking families that steadily became richer by lending to kings to wage war. After the Crusades ended in 1291 the papacy’s power began its long decline. But it had brought into being a financial class, whose growth in time came to overshadow that of Rome. The main long-term effect of the papal reform movement and its Crusades thus was to reverse Christianity’s core moral teaching opposing usury in the process of creating a new imperial and intolerant Christianity…
..Modern fiscal states have the power to levy national taxes, far beyond the fiscal power of kings to pledge their own property. The modern state was created above all as a fiscal organization to which creditors would be willing to lend the money to defend itself. That is how the northern Protestant states of Europe obtained the money to fight to become independent of Europe’s Catholic monarchies. Their political structures for achieving collective liability for debts evolved into democracies. The result was more than just a new kind of state; a supra-national financial system emerged, standing above nation-states that were obliged to enact pro-creditor fiscal and legal systems in order to obtain the loans that they needed to survive or fight their wars of conquest…
,,Creditors want states to be strong enough to enforce payment to them; strong enough to put the interest of domestic and foreign creditor alliances above that of the domestic economy’s growth.”

[John Day]

New York Police Planning Mass ‘Sick Leave’ On Trump Sentencing Day? MAGA Claim Viral
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/new-york-police-unions-planning-mass-sick-leave-on-donald-trump-sentencing-day-maga-claim-viral-article-112938167

UPDATED: NOT STATE GUARD, FEDERAL TROOPS ! ! ! ! Reports: New York Deploying National Guard for Trump Sentencing on Sept 18 – CLAIM Trump to be IMPRISONED that day – Fear Riots to ensue
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/national-news/reports-new-york-deploying-national-guard-for-trump-sentencing-on-sept-18-claim-trump-to-be-imprisoned-that-day-fear-riots-to-ensue

[John Day]

Quoth Dr. D:
“Conclusion: No one has the faintest idea what “Unearned income” is, and no one has the slightest idea what “fair market value” is. That’s not saying the market PRICE is accurate – I pick on that all the time, and the open, illegal price rigging – but I’m saying, in theory, there is no theory, no one has any idea.”

I think you have a pretty good idea of what is completely-unearned income, Sir, to which you allude above.
One need not know the exact measure of unearned income to endeavor to minimize it in an economy. It used to be the norm in some circles, never universally though, always a power-struggle between elite factions.

[John Day]

“POTUS Joe Biden”: The “self licking ice cream cone”.

[John Day]

Human Rights Activist Sarah Wilkinson Arrested by UK Police
“The pro-genocide UK regime has arrested [MENAUncensored’s] roving reporter and Human Rights Activist Sarah Wilkinson for supporting the Palestinian resistance and relaying what is really happening in Gaza and the West Bank to the world,” MENA Uncensored announced via social media, alleging Wilkinson was accused of supporting “terrorism.” …
..Wilkinson’s arrest comes two weeks after Syrian-British journalist Richard Medhurst was detained and questioned by UK police upon his arrival at Heathrow Airport under the Terrorism Act, Section 12 https://scheerpost.com/2024/08/30/human-rights-activist-sarah-wilkinson-arrested-by-uk-police/

Far right is very real threat, says Keir Starmer (Getting the nation on a strictly disciplined pre-war footing)
The far right is a “very real threat” which needs to be combatted, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
Speaking on a visit to Paris, the prime minister said the best way to deal with the “snake oil” of populism and nationalism was through “delivery” and “showing there are progressive, democratic answers to the many challenges we face is the way forward”. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkm8mg4md4o

​He means Macron carried out a coup: Towards A Coup d’état in France? With Macron Refusing to Honor Election Results https://www.globalresearch.ca/coup-detat-france-macron-refusing-honor-election-results/5866586

New Opium-Wars; reversed flows: Chinese Narcos In Toronto Run “Command & Control” Fentanyl Laundering Network Used In TD Bank Case: US Investigator https://www.zerohedge.com/political/chinese-narcos-toronto-run-command-control-fentanyl-laundering-network-used-td-bank-case

There is a vast pressure to treat post-vaccine-syndrome, yet it has to be called “long COVID”, or there is no way to bill for services. The spike-protein is what causes problems.
UCSF Researchers Identify Major Driver Behind COVID And Long COVID, With Potential Treatment​ https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/ucsf-researchers-identify-major-driver-behind-covid-and-long-covid-potential-treatment

[John Day]

Israel-US Plan for Gaza Envisions “Fragmenting Gaza and Isolating It from the World”. Mike Whitney
The so-called Netzarim corridor (Highway 749)—which crosses Gaza from east to west—will provide faster transport for IDF troops operating in the area and will also function as vital part of Israel’s security cordon separating the north from the south. There is no doubt that military outposts will be established along the corridor as well as in locations along the western coast.
The aim of these actions is to protect the development of new settlements that will be built north of the corridor.
In short, the Israeli government is using its war on Hamas to divert attention from its real objective which is the expansion of the Jewish state on Palestinian land.

Israel-US Plan for Gaza Envisions “Fragmenting Gaza and Isolating It from the World”. Mike Whitney

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has assured Israel that the US will support preemptive strikes against Lebanese movement Hezbollah amid signs that Israel was preparing to attack the group’s positions last week, The New York Times reported on Friday, citing a senior US official who requested anonymity.
Blinken reportedly delivered this message during his visit to Tel Aviv, where he told Israeli officials that Washington would back them in taking action against Hezbollah forces or equipment posing an imminent threat. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240830/us-assures-israel-it-will-support-preemptive-strikes-against-hezbollah—reports-1119958276.html

‘Israel’ bombs aid convoy in Gaza despite prior coordination, kills 5
The Israeli occupation forces bombed an aid convoy organized by a US non-profit humanitarian organization in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of five individuals. To make matters worse, the convoy was targeted despite prior coordination with the Israeli occupation forces.
The convoy, organized by the Washington, DC-based non-profit organization Anera, was struck by an Israeli missile that specifically targeted the lead vehicle. Anera described the incident as “horrific” in a statement to The Washington Post and confirmed that the victims were employees of a local transport company.
The convoy was delivering medical supplies and fuel to a hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza, operated by the United Arab Emirates. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel–bombs-aid-convoy-in-gaza-despite-prior-coordination

West Bank attacks: To western leaders, there are no red lines for Israel’s slaughter
The Israeli military’s assault against four refugee camps and almost every town in the north of the occupied West Bank, using battlefield weapons, commando-style helicopter landings, drones and bulldozers, cannot be classed as a response to the war on Gaza. This is far bigger than a “counter-terrorism” operation claimed by Israel.
War in the West Bank was planned before Hamas’s attack on 7 October last year, a senior Fatah member with close links to security circles told me. It was postponed by the Gaza war, but also refined and honed by it.
When Israel saw just how much Palestinian blood the US and Europe were prepared to tolerate in Gaza – how much destruction, how many millions would be continually displaced, and for how long – Israel felt emboldened to visit the same hell on its real target: the occupied West Bank.
Crush the West Bank, and the Palestinian people can say goodbye to their state forever. This is the message that Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right minister and settler who has been working to transfer the governance of the occupied West Bank from military to civilian control, has consistently and publicly broadcast.
Like the war in Gaza, “Operation Summer Camps” is not aimed primarily at local resistance groups or their leaders, although several have already been targeted and killed.
The attacks from land and air on Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas, along with the laying of siege and the sealing off of hospitals and detention of medics, are all directed against the population, just as they were in Gaza.
The bulldozers go in, not to clear a path for the tanks, but to dig up the water pipes and drains vital for life, in the full knowledge that in six months, the occupied West Bank will have outbreaks of major diseases and epidemics, just as Gaza has now. https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-no-western-red-lines-attacks-west-bank

[John Day]

Paul Craig Roberts, The Assassination Attempt that Wasn’t
The ruling establishment’s attempt to assassinate Donald Trump has been swept under the rug. Not even conservatives and Republicans want the truth out. The reason is that the truth shatters the idealistic illusions and delusions that “USA, USA, USA Conservatives” have about America and casts discredit on the US government. To acknowledge the use of force to eliminate a presidential candidate who is regarded as a threat by the ruling establishment would upset the stock market, undermine the establishment’s wars against Russia and Iran, cause difficulties for the intended Democrat theft of the 2024 presidential election, discombobulate Washington’s allies, and create powerful propaganda against the US government.
“Protecting America’s reputation” is more important to conservatives and Republicans than the life of a presidential candidate whose election would certainly rock the boat and disturb the status quo. https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2024/08/30/the-assassination-attempt-that-wasnt/

They ought to be able to “get the job done” now. US Secret Service to get military support ahead of election – Pentagon
The move comes after the agency came under scrutiny following the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump https://www.rt.com/news/603301-secret-service-military-support/

Tulsi Gabbard Reveals The Real Reason Behind Endorsing Trump: ‘This Is Personal For Me’
TULSI GABBARD: The choice in this election is very clear and the differences between President Trump and Vice President Harris couldn’t be more stark. Frankly, to put it simply, the choice for the American people is a choice with Donald Trump, a man who values peace, prosperity, and freedom. He has a record that proves that. And Vice President Kamala Harris, whose record shows an increasingly tyrannical government undermining our freedoms. We are embroiled in multiple wars and the world is closer to the brink of nuclear war than ever before…
..This is personal for me, the endorsement of President Trump. As a soldier for over 21 years, I deployed to multiple war zones in different parts of the world, putting my life on the line for the safety, security, and freedom of the American people. It is important to me and every one of my brothers and sisters in uniform that we have a Commander-in-Chief who values every one of our lives, who carries that responsibility as Commander-in-Chief very seriously, and who will exhaust all diplomatic avenues before seeing war truly as a last resort.
The last point that I will make on this—another point of contrast—is that President Trump showed through his last administration that not only did he not start any new wars, but he took action to prevent them by courageously meeting with adversaries, allies, partners, dictators. He would meet with whoever he needed to pursue peace. Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump for doing exactly that. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/tulsi-gabbard-reveals-real-reason-behind-endorsing-trump-personal-me

Professor Anthony Hall presents: Trump Converted to Judaism in 2017
Jared and Ivanka Persuaded Then-President Trump to Secretly Embrace Chabad Lubovitch. It is Described by Wikipedia as “one of the largest Hasidic dynasties” in Judaism. https://anthonyjhall.substack.com/p/trump-converted-to-judaism-in-2017

[John Day]

Did he ask permission? Brazilian Judge Orders Google, Apple To Remove X From Platform; BAR Association Demands Review For Threatening VPN Users With Fine https://www.zerohedge.com/political/brazilian-judge-orders-google-apple-remove-x-platform-bar-association-demands-review

Musk Vows to Expose Top Brazilian Judge’s Crimes After Suspension of X​ https://sputnikglobe.com/20240831/musk-vows-to-expose-top-brazilian-judges-crimes-after-suspension-of-x-1119972017.html

Federal Court Upholds Ban On “Let’s Go, Brandon” Shirts In High School https://www.zerohedge.com/political/federal-court-upholds-ban-lets-go-brandon-shirts-high-school

‘No’: Harris Says She Won’t Change US Policy On Arming Israel https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/no-harris-says-she-wont-change-us-policy-arming-israel

Harris Bleeding Muslim Support in U.S. Amid Her Support of Israel’s Genocide https://trendsinthenews.substack.com/p/harris-bleeding-muslim-support-in

[John Day]

​ Ukraine uses highways to receive F-16s
​ The Ukrainian military has adapted sections of highways to receive F-16 aircraft instead of airbases to reduce the odds of a strike on them, the LCI TV channel reported, publishing a video showing one of these roads.
​ Former military pilot Xavier Titelman told the TV station that center dividers have been removed and asphalt has been restored on some sections of the highway. According to him, this is necessary in order to reduce the risk of aircraft being hit by Russian air defenses.​ https://tass.com/world/1836383

​ US won’t send contractors to service Ukrainian F-16s – WSJ
Washington is concerned the Americans could be targeted by Russian forces, a US official has told the outlet​ https://swentr.site/news/603333-ukraine-us-f16-contractors/

​ Andrew Korybko, Poland Finally Maxed Out Its Military Support for Ukraine Ukraine is now desperate to embroil Poland in a hot war with Russia.
​ Polish President Duda revealed on Monday that his country has already spent a whopping 3.3% of its GDP on providing military, humanitarian, and other forms of support to Ukraine over the past two and a half years, which works out to approximately $25 billion thus far. He then added that it also gave almost 400 tanks thus far too. This was followed the day after by Zelensky demanding even more and suggesting that Poland was still holding back from giving all that it really could.​ https://www.globalresearch.ca/poland-maxed-military-support-ukraine/5866648

Sasha Latypova, You have free will. Stanford University wants you to think the opposite. (You might not have come to the same conclusion when you were 13. I didn’t.) Sapolsky’s belief in the absence of free will is rooted in his own personal experiences and a lifelong interest in the topic, dating back to his undergraduate years at Harvard. One may wonder what kind of MK-Ultra event happened to him to get his bearings so distorted. Fortunately, the episode is described in detail in the Stanford Alumni Magazine article.
‘For Sapolsky, the answer has seemed obvious since he was 13. He’d grown up in an Orthodox Jewish home, complete with two refrigerators and two kitchen sinks to keep kosher. But his own religious beliefs came crashing down after he read biblical commentary on a passage in Leviticus that restricts a disabled man from the priesthood. Sapolsky wore leg braces for part of his childhood, and this stricture sent him searching for an explanation from a rabbi, who answered by analogy: Much like you wouldn’t sacrifice a lamb with a blemish on its lip, you wouldn’t present God with a priest likewise blemished. The answer struck Sapolsky as unfathomably unfair, precipitating a crisis in his young mind. “One night at 2 o’clock, I suddenly woke up and said, ‘Oh, I get it. There’s no such thing as God,’ and then I paused a few seconds, and I said, ‘and there’s no free will,’ and I paused, and I said, ‘and this is a vast, indifferent, empty universe,’” he says. “And suddenly everything fell into place.”’ https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/you-have-free-will-god-made-it-so

Judge Bans X In Brazil For Refusing To Comply With Demands
Elon Musk’s X has been ordered ‘immediately suspended’ by Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, citing the company’s refusal to comply with a legal order to censor the judge’s political opponents, Bloomberg reports.
Officially, the ruling was due to Musk’s refusal to name a legal representative for the social network (after the judge froze his last attorney’s bank accounts. On Thursday, X’s global government affairs account said that it would “not comply in secret with illegal orders,” and said that it would publish Moraes’ demands and related court documents for transparency.
When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts. Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.
We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that. In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings in the interest of transparency.
Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/brazil-judge-orders-immediate-suspension-x

[John Day]

More bang per bomb when it always detonates right above the target: Biden’s ‘new’ nuclear strategy and the super-fuse that sets it off, Theodore Postol
The military is already upgrading warheads capable of fighting a war with both China and Russia simultaneously
The super-fuze achieves its fantastic increase in killing efficiency by measuring its altitude at a chosen time while it is still outside the atmosphere but relatively close to its target. If the measurement gives the desired altitude, the fuse determines no corrections are needed. If the altitude is too high, the fuse determines that the path-length and altitude must be changed to assure that the detonation occurs inside the lethal volume.
If the altitude is too low, this means that the warhead will fall short of and outside the lethal volume.This is corrected by intentionally choosing the aim point slightly beyond the target. By shifting the aim point, the fuse both increases the chances that warheads that would otherwise fall both short and long of the lethal volume will be compressed in range to detonate within the lethal volume.
The military implications of this “technically sweet” added capability to U.S. ballistic missile warheads has major implications for the war-fighting capabilities of the United States…
..Although any technically accurate assessment of the physical consequences of the large-scale use of nuclear weapons instantly shows that “winning” a nuclear war has no meaning, the United States has strenuously emphasized the development of nuclear weapons technologies that could only make sense if their intended purpose is for fighting and winning nuclear wars.
The super-fuze is exactly that kind of technology.
It is now possible, at least according to nuclear war-fighting strategies, for the U.S. to attack the more than 300 ICBM silo-based ICBMs that China has been building since about 2020 with the copious numbers of available 100kt W-76 Trident II warheads. The rapid expansion in “hard-target kill capability” of the 100 kt W-76 warhead also makes it simultaneously possible for the U.S. to attack the roughly 300 silo-based Russian ICBMs. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/biden-nuclear-strategy/

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday warned the United States that if the war in Ukraine escalates into a wider military conflict, a potential World War III would not be limited to battlefields in Europe. https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/2024/08/russias-lavrov-warns-us-that-world-war-iii-wouldnt-be-confined-to-europe/

How Many Americans Will Die From Civilization Collapse? Ian Welsh
345,000,000 Americans to start…
less 33% or 113,850,000 from medical issues = 231,150,000
less 75% of 40% (69,345,000) from Genocide = 161,805,000
less ~10% from plague and pestilence (16,180,500) = 145,624,500
And less ~20% due to starvation (29,124,900) = 116,499,600.
My estimate is that there will be only about 116,000,000 Americans left within two years of the collapse and the start of ACWII. That’s a 66% death rate within two years. That’s a minimum, with my being generous on all the numbers.
Estimates based on an EMP attack that takes down the entire USA power grid have been a 90% death rate in merely one year. So I’m actually looking at things with rose-colored glasses…
..Elevated Comment two (on farms and food) Note: Right now only 2% of Americans live on farms…
..80% of Americans live in a city, which is a literal food wasteland. When they start moving out, it will be like locusts, and anyone who gets in their way simply dies.
Ian – all this assumes a hard collapse as opposed to a slow withering. But that scenario is entirely possibly with hard enough shocks, and we’re doing almost everything we can to ensure they happen. https://www.ianwelsh.net/how-many-americans-will-die-from-civilization-collapse/

Medvedev believes he knows why Kiev wants Donbass
Kiev’s backers in the US and the EU have also “spent a lot” on aiding Ukraine during conflict, which “irritates” their populations, Medvedev, who serves as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, also pointed out.
The West needs a “payback” from Ukraine, he said, adding that it has nothing to do with Zelensky personally. “This kid will be gone soon, but the debt will remain. And it must be paid off, with interest,” the former president noted.
Medevdev reminded readers that, according to open-source data, the natural resources located in Donbass are estimated to be worth $7.3 trillion. The area is rich in coal, metals, rare-earth elements and other valuable materials, including lithium, he added.
“To get access to the coveted minerals, the Western parasites shamelessly demand that their wards [in Kiev] wage war to the last Ukrainian,” he wrote.
Western politicians are “directly voicing” their plans, the official said, referring to a statement made by South Carolina’s Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. In June, the Republican lawmaker called Ukraine a “gold mine” due to its vast reserve of “critical minerals.” Graham argued that Washington should keep helping Kiev in the conflict with Moscow to make sure those “assets could be used by Ukraine and the West, not given to Putin and China.” https://swentr.site/russia/603298-medvedev-ukraine-donbass-zelensky/

​ Globalists Are Trying To Escalate The Ukraine War Into WWIII Before The US Election​, Brandon Smith
​ Kursk may have been an attempt to embarrass Russia into wild strikes on civilian targets, thereby giving NATO a reason to intervene. That’s one theory. Another theory is that the Kursk operation is designed to convince western policy makers and the public that there will be no nuclear repercussions; that Putin is all bluster and Ukraine should be given more advanced tools to bomb Moscow.
​ This narrative is largely promoted by the Atlantic Council, a globalist think-tank with ties to the World Economic Forum and the “Three Seas Initiative.” The Atlantic Council directly advises the Ukrainian government on all aspect of the war, including strategy through their Eurasian Center. They also advise NATO through their Scowcroft Center…
​..Donald Trump is looking increasingly likely to be the winner of the presidential race. I have long held that the globalists will wrap up an economic collapse or a world war and throw it in Trump’s lap. They already tried to do the same thing with the covid pandemic and the inflationary crisis.
​ The timing of the Kursk offensive and the call for missile strikes on Russia is not a coincidence. Trump claims that his intention is to end the Ukraine war as quickly as possible once he enters office. This will likely mean a leveraged peace settlement that will involve Ukraine giving up the Donbas region to Russia. If Trump is sincere, then there are many elites in the Atlantic Council, the WEF and NATO that will not be happy.​ They need to escalate the war into something bigger, something that can’t be undone.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/globalists-are-trying-escalate-ukraine-war-wwiii-us-election

[John Day]

Global Showdown https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/global-showdown

Michael Hudson: Forgiveness, Foreclosure, & Christianity (But before he gets into that, which you will want to read, he says this…)
Economic rent has become part of society’s economic structure. It’s evolved through different political alliances and has taken different forms over time. Credit relations and land tenure are built into any economic system as part of it. But today’s banking system and absentee land ownership are different from anything that has gone before. Society recognizes the need to protect itself against COVID, but the Western societies no longer feel a need to protect themselves from rising land rent, housing prices, monopoly rent, or debt and credit charges and late fees. So just as disease tends to spread at an exponential rate of growth, so does the debt overhead and the interest-bearing debt. It expands by compound interest. And both rent and disease pandemics may lead to depopulation… Russia’s population plunge with Western neoliberalism in the 1990s exemplifies this common denominator…
..When I went to work in 1961, my salary was $100 a month. And yet I didn’t have any problem buying a house on that salary because you could get a mortgage that absorbed up to 25% of your income. And so everyone, even on low salaries, could afford to buy a house at that time. That’s the difference. It’s not how much you make. It’s the ratio of the housing prices and the mortgage interest compared to what you make…
..Well, the common denominator among all the classical economists was their value theory. And the purpose of distinguishing value from price was to define rent as the excess of price over intrinsic cost value. And the political content of this contrast was to free markets from land rent and from monopoly rent, including unproductive financial overhead. For Adam Smith, land rent and monopoly rent were levies permitted by legal privilege. That is private law, not by any contribution to production that was made by Britain’s hereditary landlord class. They just collected rent. Owners of monopolies had bought their privilege in return for lending money to governments, mainly to wage war. So Adam Smith opposed wars and projects of empire as the cause of public debts and their interest overhead. For Ricardo, rent was the excess of price over intrinsic cost value… Mill described rent as what landlords made in their sleep, that is, without any productive effort of their own. So in the absence of such effort, there was no justification for rentiers to claim to earn their rents. But rents increased and interest grew by the purely mathematical laws of compound interest without any reference to the economy’s ability to pay or to any productive effort made by landlords or monopolists or bankers to be part of the production process…
..They didn’t want to drive down the living standards of labor because they assumed that the wages were basically the cost of living. But they wanted to drive down the cost of living that was pushing wages up. At that time, it was the cost of food that was the major cost. Today, it’s the cost of paying [monopoly prices for food and other necessities and interest] on the debts that one needs in order to get a home and just break even…
..Well, there’s no conspiracy. It’s right out in the open. And it had to be out in the open because the whole purpose of denying the distinction between earned and unearned income was to convince the population at large to think that way. Academic economists had to work for universities and universities have come more and more under the domination of their donors so you couldn’t get a university job without teaching a kind of economics that was friendly to the donors… And there were two major lines of attack. In the United States, John Bates Clarke, claimed that all income was earned, indirectly if not directly. There was no distinction between value and price. And British utilitarian price theory redefined the idea of value as whatever the market decided to pay, reflecting the payer’s utility for the good or service that was being obtained. So there no longer was any distinction between value and price, and hence there was no concept of economic rent in this… Consumers chose to pay interest because they were impatient. Choosing to consume in the present instead of waiting and investing their money to be able to consume more later. This approach led Marx to quip that the Rothschild family must be the most abstinent family in Europe if it were refraining from consumption in order to make money. Obviously, that pointed to the inherent nonsense of Austrian theory. There was no concept of economic need forcing debtors to borrow simply to survive. And ever since economics has become this sort of junk economics with no value or rent theory, and without that distinction between price and value and economic rent as unearned income, you can’t explain what’s wrong with today’s economy…
..GDP analysis of a Gross Domestic Product is really Gross Domestic Cost. And productivity is defined as whatever anyone earns. No, I shouldn’t say earn. Whatever income someone receives is counted as the cost of doing business and producing the product. So the head of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, claimed that his firm’s partners were the most productive workers in the United States, as proved by their income and bonuses. Well, indeed, the U.S. national income and product accounts include such payments as the cost of producing GDP. So rent and interest and monopoly rent are not treated as transfer payments to rentiers, but as an intrinsic cost of production. So not only is interest counted as part of GDP, but late fees on credit cards and other debts are counted in GDP as “providing economic services”. So the result is to overstate the real production by whatever all of these external costs, and basically economic rent is external to society. It’s socially and technologically unnecessary, but it’s become built into today’s economy because the finance, insurance, and real estate sector have pretty much taken over the tax rules and the whole intellectual picture of the economy. And it’s these overhead costs that are deindustrializing the United States and other neoliberalized economies in North America and Europe. And this is a byproduct of our failure to understand the difference between earned and unearned income. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/08/michael-hudson-forgiveness-foreclosure-christianity.html

The Honest Sorcerer , Downslope
The fossil fuel bonanza is slowly coming to an end. Not with a bang, mind you, but with a whimper: presenting us with a long winding road back to a much simpler life. If you happen to live in a region consuming half of the world’s oil supply, though, the way downhill will be one hell of a ride.

https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/downslope

There is only one war that the US can wage simultaneously with Russia and China (well, if it’s what we have to do to win …)
Last week, President Joe Biden was reported to have approved a secret nuclear strategy that refocuses it on countering Chinese and Russian nuclear forces, Responsible Starecraft reported.
According to the article, the new nuclear guidelines “reorient America’s deterrence strategy” toward “the need to simultaneously deter Russia, China, and North Korea,” transforming it into a preemptive strike concept. https://en.topcor.ru/51051-rs-est-lish-odna-vojna-kotoruju-ssha-mogut-vesti-odnovremenno-s-rossiej-i-kitaem.html

[John Day]

@Dr. D: Thanks for reading and colorizing.

@zerosum: I put it all in one pot until it overflows.

[John Day]

​ California schools required COVID vaccination for little kids. Boy, 11, Dies Suddenly from Massive Heart Attack at Waterpark
An 11-year-old boy has died after suffering a massive heart attack at a waterpark in Visalia, California.
​ Richard Weinert-Soto collapsed while waiting for the slide at Adventure Park in Visalia, CA.​ Visalia Adventure Park officials performed CPR on the boy before medics arrived…
​..His family clarified that Weinert-Soto’s heart had stopped as he waited to get on a slide at the water park.
His mother, Maria Velasco, shared the heartbreaking details of how she found her young son when speaking to KSEE.
​ “This little girl comes and she tells me, ‘I think your little boy is laying up there,’” she said.​ “And so I ran up there and he was blue and purple,” she added.
​ The boy’s father, Christopher Weinert, shared a heartbreaking tribute to his son following his death.​ “He was amazing. He was special. Everyone who knew him knew that,” he said.
​ The family shared messages about the young boy on a GoFundMe page to cover funeral expenses.​ “He was the happiest, most loving, and kind boy,” the family wrote.​ https://www.dailyfetched.com/boy-11-dies-suddenly-from-massive-heart-attack-at-waterpark/

​ Netflix ‘Elite’ Star Drops Dead at Beach from Cardiac Arrest at 41
​ Actor Julian Ortega, star of the hit Netflix show “Elite,” has dropped dead while relaxing at the beach, according to reports.​ Initial reports indicated the 41-year-old actor drowned.​ However, authorities confirmed to TMZ that Ortega suffered a sudden and fatal cardiac arrest on the shore.​ https://slaynews.com/news/netflix-elite-star-drops-dead-beach-cardiac-arrest-41/

​”Vested Interests”: Days After RFK Jr. Declares War On Big Food, Time Mag Gaslights Readers On Junk Food https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/days-after-rfk-jr-declares-war-big-food-time-mag-gaslights-readers-junk-food

Meryl Nass MD: Don’t Watch “The Attack on Food and Farmers” — Unless You Want Better Health, a Glimpse Into the Future of Food, and Real Food Security
Join this two-day online symposium, an entirely free event, with a fantastic lineup of speakers and topics!​ (including m​y talk, on ​your own kitchen-garden) https://www.globalresearch.ca/attack-food-farmers-better-health-real-food-security/5866467

​ Putting the 2 torn sides of the secret-message back together later: Matching dinosaur footprints found on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean
Tracks show the last place dinosaurs could travel between Africa and South America before the two continents split​ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/08/240826131303.htm

[John Day]

​ Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has suggested that his Democratic rival and current vice president, Kamala Harris, and President Joe Biden are partly responsible for the assassination attempt against him last month.
​ In an interview on Tuesday with Phil McGraw, better known as Dr Phil, Trump said: “I think to a certain extent it’s Biden’s fault and Harris’s fault.” He accused the pair of “weaponizing government” against him and bringing in the “whole DOJ to try and get me.”
​ “They weren’t too interested in my health and safety,” the Republican nominee added, claiming that Biden and Harris “were making it very difficult to have proper staffing in terms of Secret Service.”
​ According to the former president, Harris and Biden portrayed him as a “threat to democracy,” which “can get assassins or potential assassins going.”​ “Maybe that bullet is because of their rhetoric,” Trump suggested.​ https://www.rt.com/news/603216-trump-biden-harris-assassination-attempt/

​ Celia Farber, Nicole Shanahan Reveals That The Kennedy Family Tried To Coerce Her To Not Take The VP Post; She Found They Are Shielding Pharma and On DC “Payroll”. She Is Saying The Quiet Parts Out Loud. Quietly. https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/nicole-shanahan-reveals-that-the

​ Several States Refuse To Remove RFK Jr.’s Name From Ballots, Hurting Trump
Michigan – a key battleground state, said it was too late for Kennedy to withdraw as the nominee of the Natural Law Party.
​ Wisconsin – whose Elections Commission voted 5-1 on Tuesday against removing his name, citing a law which says “any person who files nomination papers and qualifies to appear on the ballot may not decline nomination.”
​ Colorado – which, while less competitive for Trump than Michigan or Wisconsin, also refused to remove Kennedy’s name.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/several-states-refuse-remove-rfk-jrs-name-ballots-hurting-trump

​Kamala Harris lacks the skills required for persuasive political speech. You Had One Job: Kamala Blows Pre-Taped Interview Question With Walz Right Next To Her https://www.zerohedge.com/political/you-had-one-job-kamala-blows-pre-taped-interview-walz-right-next-her

[John Day]

​ There has been a progression of 3 stories about how the recently lauded Ukrainian F-16 pilot and his plane went down in a Russian missile strike on 8/26/24. The latest story is that the F-16 was shot down by Patriot missiles, which did not recognize it as “friend”, when they were launched to intercept an incoming Kinzhal second-tap strike.
USA tries to ‘explain’ the loss of F-16 jet in Ukraine​. Washington tries to cover up Ukraine’s loss of F-16 fighter in Russian missile strike​
​ Russian media reported earlier that on Monday, August 26, the Russian Armed Forces launched a missile strike on the Starokostiantyniv airfield in the Khmelnytsky region, where several F-16 fighter jets were stationed. Immediately after the strike, they took off and circled in the area for two to three hours. As soon as they returned to the airfield, the Russian military launched another strike, which resulted in the destruction of an F-16.​ https://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/160519-f-16-ukraine/

WSJ: “Ukrainian F-16 downed by pilot error – Top Ukrainian pilot dead”​, Americans and Ukrainians call it a “crash”​ https://warnews247-gr.translate.goog/war-monitor/oukrania/wsj-epese-oukraniko-f-16-apo-lathos-tou-pilotou-nekros-korufaios-oukranos-pilotos/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp#google_vignette

​ Friendly Fire Fiasco: Ukrainian Army Shoots Down Its Own F16 Jet, Pilot Killed
​ It appears that the US-made F-16 fighter jet, which was handed over to Ukraine earlier this year, was downed by a Ukrainian Patriot air defense system in a friendly fire incident, Ukrainian lawmaker Maryana Bezuglaya said cited by TASS.
​ “According to my information, the F-16 of the Ukrainian pilot Alexey ‘Moonfish’ Mes was shot down by the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system due to a lack of coordination between the [military] units,” she wrote on Telegram.
​ The lawmaker criticized the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for falsely describing the incident as “a crash.”…​
..Earlier, an unidentified US official told the Wall Street Journal that Ukraine had lost a donated F-16 fighter jet in the first such case. According to the official, the jet was not shot down, and the crash was likely due to pilot error. Later, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the death of a Ukrainian F-16 pilot, Alexey Mes. The man was trained to fly F-16, according to CNN. ​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/first-us-made-f16-jet-downed-ukraine-during-combat-pilot-killed

​ Simplicius, Last of the Wunderwaffen? F-16 Blasted Out of Sky in First Mission
​How would the pilot have been killed, you ask?
​ I would think like so: when the initial missile launches were recorded, Ukrainian pilots were sent to begin scrambling the jets to the sky to keep them out of harm’s way, as is standard for both sides. They know the exact speed and trajectory of Russian cruise missiles and can calculate the precise time they have until the missiles potentially reach the airfield in the west of the country.
​ The problem is: they can’t calculate Kinzhals in the same way. While they were initiating scrambling procedures, Russia may have fired some Kinzhals which would have reached the airfield in as little as under 3 minutes. Such a hypersonic missile could have hit the hangars even as the Ukrainian pilots were prepping the jets.
​ All in all, it’s a testament to the fact that modern near-peer, high-intensity conflict is not about wunderwaffe and ‘game changer’ toys. There is no such thing as a golden bullet or unicorn weapon that can really move the needle in near-peer conflict. It’s all about the totality of what your nation as a whole can bring to the table, economically, militarily, productively, and in terms of willpower, political influence, morale, etc.​ https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/last-of-the-wunderwaffen-f-16-blasted

​ Putin’s 4 conditions to end the war in Ukraine – What M. Zakharova said (vid)​ Is he waiting for Kennedy and Trump?
​Maria Zakharova, emphasizing that we are currently very far from any negotiations, repeated the following conditions:
​ Recognition of Russian sovereignty over Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye
Ukraine’s refusal to join NATO
​ Withdraw all Western sanctions against Russia
To recognize all the rights of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine​ https://warnews247-gr.translate.goog/diethnh/rwsia/oi-4-oroi-tou-b-poutin-gia-na-termatistei-o-polemos-sthn-oukrania-ti-eipe-h-m-zaxaroba-vid/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[John Day]

​ Coning this Gilbert Doctorow report down to one point, a decapitating nuclear first-strike by US/NATO: For Russia, recovering Kursk is no walk in the rose garden
​ In short, the Zelensky gambit that is being enabled fully by the United States is not a PR stunt but a full-blown invasion intended to be the vanguard of what will be an air assault on Russia’s strategic assets far in the rear using JASSM, Storm Shadow and other long-range missiles launched from F16s.
​ Klintsevich has further intimated that the two U.S. aircraft carriers and their escorts now in the Eastern Mediterranean may be there not to contain Iran but for an all-out attack on Russia using their jets to deliver nuclear strikes. I add to his analysis that this may explain the knock-out of Russia’s early warning radar stations in the south of the country by Ukrainian drones acting on orders from Washington.​ https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2024/08/27/for-russia-recovering-kursk-is-no-walk-in-the-rose-garden/

​ Ukraine may use spent nuclear fuel for a dirty bomb
​ The import of spent nuclear fuel to Ukraine is a risk factor, said Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense (RCBD) Troops. According to him, this fuel could be used, among other things, to create a “dirty bomb” and chemical provocations “under a false flag.”​ “In one of the latest briefings, we noted that the deliveries were organised through Poland and Romania under the personal control of Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office,” Mr Kirillov said at the briefing. He added that Russia had again called on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “to conduct a real and impartial investigation.”​ https://www-kommersant-ru.translate.goog/doc/6919353?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

​ Russia would nuke the US in WW-3, y’all: Russia Warns US Will Face ‘Much Harsher’ Consequences for Backing Kursk Invasion
​ Ukraine is now pushing hard for the US to allow it to launch long-range strikes inside Russia using US-provided missiles. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov strongly warned against this potential escalation and said the US should understand that if World War III breaks out, it wouldn’t be contained in Europe.
​ “Americans unequivocally associate conversations about Third World War as something that, God forbid, if it happens, will affect Europe exclusively,” Lavrov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that his Western backers are “naive” for worrying about escalation and called Russia’s red lines a “bluff.”
​ On Monday, Russia launched massive missile and drone attacks across Ukraine, which was seen as retaliation for the Kursk offensive. Russia followed up with another heavy bombing on Tuesday.
​ Meanwhile, in eastern Ukraine, Russian forces continue to make steady gains, which have become more rapid since Ukraine launched its Kursk offensive on August 6.​ https://scheerpost.com/2024/08/28/russia-warns-us-will-face-much-harsher-consequences-for-backing-kursk-invasion/

​ Simplicius, Tangible Panic Grows in Ukraine Amid Donbass-front Collapse
​ It’s almost pointless even updating the exact captures and advances anymore because right now they’re simply happening so fast that within hours of the Sitrep’s release, the information is already obsolete, and Russians have advanced even more. But suffice it to say, this time there were even several major captures in areas other than Pokrovsk.
​ Russian forces captured the remainder of Konstantinovka on the Ugledar line…In light of the ongoing collapse, the potential for dangerous escalation rises because Zelensky gets increasingly desperate to engineer some kind of black swan event that could overturn the table and upend events​…..There’s an undercurrent of tension now running through events as other somewhat peculiar happenings have gone on. For instance, Belarus suddenly moved a lot of forces to the Ukrainian border again, and for the first time they appear to have a tactical symbol of a ‘B’ on them, as if they are preparing for direct combat…
​..Well, lo and behold, at his latest press conference, Lavrov just stated that Russia is currently “fine tuning” or “refining” its nuclear doctrine—what could that mean?​ …
​..I think it’s only natural given that Ukraine is on the final precipice of potentially being given permission to use intermediate range strategic weapons against Russian strategic sites—i.e. ATACMS, Storm Shadows, etc., potentially hitting deep Russian bases, nuclear plants, or even Moscow itself. Furthermore, the introduction of the F-16 into Ukraine, which is nuclear-capable, and which Russia must doctrinally treat as a possible nuclear threat if it ever comes close to Russian borders.​ https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-82824-tangible-panic-grows

​ Fall Of Key Ukrainian City To Russia Could Be An “Operational Catastrophe”
Russian forces are only about eight miles away from Pokrovsk which is a key logistics hub for Ukraine.
​ Pokrovsk “has become a key distribution hub, supporting Ukrainian forces along a broad frontline from Vuhledar to the north of Donetsk and beyond,” Tatarigami, a military observer, OSINT and GEOINT analyst and founder of Frontelligence Insight, wrote on Twitter. “Currently, only two places in the Donbas serve this vital function – Pokrovsk and Kramatorsk. The significance of Pokrovsk extends beyond its rail connections – it is also located at a key road juncture, serving a similar role in the transportation and distribution of supplies.”​ https://www.twz.com/news-features/fall-of-key-donetsk-city-could-be-an-operational-catastrophe-for-ukraine

[John Day]

France Slaps Telegram CEO With 12 Criminal Charges After Israel Calls Platform ‘Uncooperative’​
​ Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, criticized French authorities for their double standards following Durov’s arrest. “I just remembered that in 2018, a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and others, condemned a Russian court’s decision to block Telegram. The West made other similar statements,” Zakharova stated.
​ Telegram has played an important role in the ongoing information war surrounding the genocide in Gaza. Supporters of Palestinians have been able to use the app to freely share information exposing ongoing Israeli war crimes while highlighting the efforts of Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen, and Iran to resist Israel.
​ It is unclear if Israel had a role in Durov’s detention in Paris on Saturday.
​ Last week, Haaretz reported that “Telegram has proved a massive challenge for Israel since the start of the war.”
This includes sensitive data leaks from Israel acquired by hackers and released on Telegram channels.
​ The Israeli newspaper noted, “While many tech firms have streamlined mechanisms through which states can reach out to them” to censor content, “Telegram is considered the least cooperative of them all.”
​ Haaretz adds, “More than that, while many social media platforms have invested heavily in moderation, allowing people and organizations to help monitor content – for example, the removal of antisemitic content or posts inciting terrorism or even the removal of videos from the October 7 massacre – Telegram has not.”​ https://scheerpost.com/2024/08/28/france-slaps-telegram-ceo-with-12-criminal-charges-after-israel-calls-platform-uncooperative/

​Craig Murray, Pavel Durov and the Abuse of Law
​ The detention of Pavel Durov is being portrayed as a result of the EU Digital Services Act. But having spent my day reading the EU Services Act (a task I would not wish upon my worst enemy), it does not appear to me to say what it is being portrayed as saying.
​ EU Acts are horribly dense and complex, and are published as “Regulations” and “Articles”. Both cover precisely the same ground, but for purposes of enforcement the more detailed “Regulations” are the more important, and those are referred to below. The “Articles” are entirely consistent with this.
​ So, for example, Regulation 20 makes the “intermediary service”, in this case Telegram, only responsible for illegal activity using its service if it has deliberately collaborated in the illegal activity.
​ Providing encryption or anonymity specifically does not qualify as deliberate collaboration in illegal activity.​ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/08/pavel-durov-and-the-abuse-of-law/

​ Macron Set Up Telegram CEO at US Deep State’s Behest Ahead of 2024 Vote – Wall Street Analyst
​ It appears that Paris has tried to trap Telegram founder Pavel Durov for quite a while, Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel told Sputnik, not ruling out that granting of the French citizenship to the Russian tech prodigy was part of the plan.​ “It looks very much like a trap,” Ortel said.
He also referred to the claim by the French newspaper, Le Canard Enchaine, that the Telegram founder came to Paris to dine with President Emmanuel Macron. The claim was rejected by the Elysee Palace.​ https://sputnikglobe.com/20240828/macron-set-up-telegram-ceo-at-us-deep-states-behest-ahead-of-2024-vote–wall-street-analyst-1119937507.html

It just did: Jim Rogers: Durov’s Arrest Could End France’s Attractiveness for High-Tech​ https://sputnikglobe.com/20240828/jim-rogers-durovs-arrest-could-end-frances-attractiveness-for-high-tech-1119940407.html

(Somewhat less-censored social media platform) X Warns Of Brazil Shutdown ‘Soon’ For Defying Judge’s “Illegal Orders To Censor Political Opponents”
​ When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts. Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.
​ We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that.
​ In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings in the interest of transparency.​ Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders.
​ To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/brazils-darth-vader-blocks-starlink-bank-accounts-war-elon-musk-escalates

[John Day]

​ Israel Agrees To Phased Pauses In Gaza Fighting To Allow Polio Vaccination​ (Injectable polio vaccine does not stop it from spreading. Oral polio vaccine is a “weakened” polio-virus, sometimes ineffective if weakened too much, and sometimes causing polio, if not weakened enough. Which would you prefer to take from the genocidal death-c​ult?)​ https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/israel-agrees-pauses-gaza-fighting-allow-polio-vaccination

​No food, but some polio-vaccines… Aid delivery in Gaza is nearly impossible. Why hasn’t the US intervened?
The UN says Israel is hampering efforts to deliver vaccines and other aid, but the US has offered little public pressure.​ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/29/aid-delivery-in-gaza-is-nearly-impossible-why-hasnt-the-us-intervened

​ Hezbollah’s Op. Arbaeen ‘complete success’, drones struck Unit 8200
Informed sources tell Al Mayadeen that it has been undeniably confirmed that six Hezbollah drones hit their targets inside the Glilot base with high accuracy.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-s-op–arbaeen–complete-success—drones-struck-un

Extensive: Universities Unveil New Rules to Ban Anti-Israel Protests, Classify Criticism of ‘Zionists’ as ‘Hate Speech’​ https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64622

​ Patrick Lawrence: The Sound of Enforced Silence​
Edward Luce, formerly the Financial Times’s Washington bureau chief and now one of the FT’s more readable commentators, ran a column on the convention under the headline, “‘Gaza’ is the word Democrats dare not whisper in Chicago.” A day into the proceedings, The Intercept put out an item headed, “Democratic Party Unites Under Banner of Silence on Gaza Genocide.”
​ That is how it was, more or less, at the DNC in Chicago. There was plenty of talk of AIPAC, the antidemocratic American Israel Public Affairs Committee — a foreign agent if ever there was one — but only in the streets outside the convention hall. Harris finally raised the Gaza crisis, during her acceptance speech, but boyo, did she blow through that topic with haste. This was “strategic vagueness”—that adorable phrase The New York Times has coined to make a virtue of Harris’s weather-vane vacuousness—at its very finest.
​ It was the usual thing when Harris devoted a few sentences to Gaza: Her White House will shed more crocodile tears for the suffering of Palestinians, but the unwavering, unconditional support the “Biden–Harris administration” extends to apartheid Israel will remain unwavering and unconditional. When you hear Harris say, “I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself,” as she stated last Thursday, it is the recipient of AIPAC funds speaking in the code the Israel lobby understands: Worry not. You will get what you have paid for.
​ My take: It will be silence on the imperium’s doings between now and Nov 5. And if Harris is elected in November, getting her through the following four years will require an escalated version of the censorship regime the national-security state and Big Tech imposed on dissenting voices during the Trump years, but with one difference: The objective then was to take down our forty-fifth president; this time it will be to sustain our stunningly unqualified forty-seventh.​ https://scheerpost.com/2024/08/29/patrick-lawrence-the-sound-of-enforced-silence/

[John Day]

​ Jonathan Cook, Hiding an Ugly Truth About Israel
​ Tony Greenstein offers an excoriating account of how Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland distorted the historical record in his biography of Rudolf Vrba, the first Jew to escape Auschwitz.
​ One might wonder why Vrba’s incredible story has been buried for decades, given how keen Hollywood is to make Holocaust movies.
​ Greenstein explains. Vrba’s efforts in early 1944 to warn other Jews of their coming fate in the Nazi death camps were betrayed by European leaders of the Zionist movement, who silenced him.
​ That movement was prepared to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of Jews in return for the Nazis escorting the Zionist elite out of danger in Europe to Palestine. There the Zionist movement was already well-advanced in its preparations to expel the native Palestinians and build a self-declared Jewish state on the ruins of their homeland.

​ The Zionists’ attitude reflected that of the movement’s founding father, Theodor Herzl:
“The anti-Semites will become our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our allies.”

​ Vrba was hugely critical of the Zionist movement for collaborating with the Nazis, and had no love for the Jewish state it spawned.
In 1961, The Daily Herald published an extract from Vrba’s memoir, cited by Greenstein, in which he wrote:
​ “I am a Jew. In spite of that, indeed because of that, I accuse certain Jewish leaders of one of the most ghastly deeds of the war. This small group of quislings knew what was happening to their brethren in Hitler’s gas chambers and bought their own lives with the price of silence …​ I was able to give Hungarian Zionist leaders three weeks’ notice that [Adolf] Eichmann [key architect of the Holocaust] planned to send a million of their Jews to his gas chambers … [Rezso] Kasztner [leader of Hungary’s Zionist movement] went to Eichmann and told him, ‘I know of your plans; spare some Jews of my choice and I shall keep quiet.’”​ https://consortiumnews.com/2024/08/28/hiding-an-ugly-truth-about-israel/

Saudi Arabia Outraged At Ben-Gvir’s Call To Build Synagogue Over Al-Aqsa Mosque​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/saudi-arabia-outraged-ben-gvirs-call-build-synagogue-over-al-aqsa-mosque

UN says Israel has denied requests to supply fuel to hospitals in northern Gaza​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240828-un-says-israel-has-denied-requests-to-supply-fuel-to-hospitals-in-northern-gaza/

Netanyahu Suddenly Wants to Save the Lives of Children in GAZA!? What is wrong with this picture? https://anthonyjhall.substack.com/p/netanyahu-suddenly-wants-to-save

[John Day]

​ Gaza breakdown: 20 times Israel used US arms in likely war crimes
The following cases represent a small fraction of potential human rights violations committed with American planes, shells, and bombs​ https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-weapons-gaza/

​ Workers’ heads were only saved by the bulletproof-glass: The World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Wednesday that it was halting staff movement in Gaza temporarily after one of its vehicles came under fire from Israeli forces at a checkpoint
The UN vehicle was returning from a humanitarian mission when it was hit by at least 10 bullets at an Israeli checkpoint near the Wadi Gaza bridge, despite being clearly marked and having received prior clearance from Israeli authorities. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240829-wfp-halts-staff-movement-in-gaza-after-vehicle-fired-on-by-israeli-forces/

​ Israeli hospitals record over 5,000 wounded in fight against Hezbollah
Directors of hospitals in northern Israel say no one prepared them for 11 months ‘underground’ treating the wounded
​ More than 5,000 Israeli soldiers have been injured while fighting against Hezbollah near the Lebanon border since 8 October, according to hospital records from the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya and the Zif Hospital in Safed, Yediot Ahronoth reported on 27 August.
​ The Israeli newspaper said the directors of the two hospitals fear the fighting on the northern front will not end anytime soon. “Eleven months underground, and we cannot see the end,” the directors said.
​ The director of Zif Hospital, Salman Zarqa, said his hospital had treated about 450 Israeli soldiers wounded as a result of Hizbollah’s operations, even though “The days of the real fighting have not yet come.”​ “I’m not talking about operational incidents. I’m talking about the shooting, about the shrapnel, about the direct injuries. These are very large numbers,” Zarqa said.
​ He added that Israel has only ever fought short-term wars, while today’s battle has lasted 11 months. He called for a balance between “life-saving treatment” and the readiness to treat many wounded. Zif pointed out that balancing the two is “exhausting and difficult, especially when you see no end to them.”​ https://thecradle.co/articles-id/26611

​ Over half of Israeli reservists lost faith in IOF chief
A survey by an Israeli think tank has revealed that some 58% lost confidence in the IOF chief, with many believing he should resign immediately.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/over-half-of-israeli-reservists-lost-faith-in-iof-chief

Israel military to put dozens of soldiers on trial over refusal to return to Gaza​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240829-israel-military-to-put-dozens-of-soldiers-on-trial-over-refusal-to-return-to-gaza/

[John Day]

Days Of Crisis https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/days-of-crisis

We are in a crisis-period of death throes of an established global financial and military power structure, composed at the end of World War-2, contested through the cold-war decades, then thrust to global dominance with the collapse of the USSR, and now collapsing from internal corruption consuming it like widespread cancer.
Causes leading into this include the rate of profit taking being maintained as industrial output, especially in western countries, declined for many reasons, so the profits ate healthy industries. Many industries were moved to China, where they could produce at lower costs, maintaining the profits. those which remained in the west became weaker without productive investment, taking on loans to buy their own stocks back, maintaining “shareholder value”.
Net oil production, including natural-gas-liquids and fracked-liquids, peaked in late 2018, and is on a plateau with ups and downs since then. I expect it to fall. There may be large, secret reserves in the Arctic and Antarctic, but they would take over a decade to bring online. Oil is Real Economy in the modern world.
Two days ago I posted BOE Needs World War Three https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/boe-needs-world-war-three , which makes the case that the City Of London global financial interests are badly over-extended on their failing leveraged bets, calculated to profit from the political and economic collapses of Russia and Ukraine in such a way as to asset-strip both countries for further leveraged loans, and the payment of debt-service on these large, leveraged debt-bets.
I was surprised to see that the post had garnered 14,400 views in about 6 hours, which is 10X what my typical post might get in 24 hours. I searched Substack statistics and could not tell where the views came from. Likes, comments and new-subscriptions were all stable. I immediately suspected that I had attracted the attention of some government-surveillance entity somewhere. I have not yet been invited to dine in Paris with Emmanuel Macron, and I am certain that I would decline such an offer.
We are in an epoch where all constraints have been removed from the global elites. Appearances are much less important than the retention of raw power this year as their cancerous system consumes itself. It is our life support system, also. We have longer-term interests to support. They would kill as many of us as don’t comport to their plans. That is underway, with options to suddenly trip into World War Three, with emergency powers, such as were wielded by the heads of all great powers, and their financiers 80 years ago.

​ Largest in 2 decades, Israeli army launches major military operation in northern West Bank
Israeli operation in northern West Bank involves 2 army brigades, helicopters, drones, bulldozers, according to local media​ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/largest-in-2-decades-israeli-army-launches-major-military-operation-in-northern-west-bank/3314912

Condemnations of Israeli offensive in West Bank pour in
The Arab League and several countries strongly condemn the recent Israeli offensive against the occupied West Bank and warn it could further escalate tensions.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/condemnations-of-israeli-offensive-in-west-bank-pour-in

Israel blocks ambulance access to Nur Shams refugee camp in West Bank​ https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240829-israel-blocks-ambulance-access-to-nur-shams-refugee-camp-in-west-bank/

[John Day]

Thanks TDK: I feel better now. “Hail Britannia”!

@Oroboros: I’m not getting on that thing ;-o

[John Day]

@Oroboros: Good batch of images already this morning.
“Caution: May contain political promises”
“What would Jesus do?”
Michal Hudson on the second question (more or less): https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/08/michael-hudson-forgiveness-foreclosure-christianity.html

[John Day]

Hey, Macron invited ME to dine with him in Paris next week, too.
😮
Should I?

I usually get about 1300 views on a post in 24 hours. Yesterday, after about 8 hours, I had 14,500 on BOE Needs World War Three https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/boe-needs-world-war-three
Another 400 views trickled in overnight. Where these views came from is not showing up.
Some kind of machine may be at work.
Odd; anybody got any ideas?

[John Day]

@DBS: Thanks for the Lukyanov piece from RT about information/narrative control exigencies for planetary elites.
I wonder if he knows about Nixon’s time capsule to be opened next year, or that Jean Dixon predicted Trump’s presidency to Dick, and Dick took him on as an apprentice…
😉 These are the end times… I want Dr. Tesla’s death-beam, please.

[John Day]

​Steve Kirsch posts: US and UK all-cause cumulative excess mortality graphs clearly show that our interventions were counterproductive
​ Four graphs. Do you think the COVID interventions saved lives? No chance. These charts are monotonically increasing which means everything we did was useless or made things worse!​ https://kirschsubstack.com/p/us-and-uk-all-cause-cumulative-excess

​ Denmark, Finland, and Norway graphs show all-cause mortality kept rising after the shots rolled out
I got a tip from one of my colleagues that Denmark, Finland, and Norway had very similar vaccine policies. Mortality kept going up after the shots​ https://kirschsubstack.com/p/denmark-finland-and-norway-graphs

​New Zealand data, The simplest way to show the COVID shots increase ACM
Vaccines are supposed to lower all-cause mortality. The COVID shots don’t do that. Here’s the clearest evidence I’ve seen to date.​ https://kirschsubstack.com/p/the-simplest-way-to-show-the-covid

It doesn’t work right. It might burn up or crash. NASA Decides to Bring Starliner Spacecraft Back to Earth Without Crew​ https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-decides-to-bring-starliner-spacecraft-back-to-earth-without-crew/

[John Day]

Tulsi Gabbard discusses US military biolabs in Ukraine, as does RFK Jr. sometimes. They are on Team-Trump now. https://x.com/WarClandestine/status/1828150312265547911

​Just Say ‘No’ WHO Launches Global Monkeypox Strategy, Including Strategic Vaccinations​ https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/who-launches-global-monkeypox-strategy-including-strategic-vaccinations

[John Day]

​ A federal appeals court on Aug. 26 declined to block Google from removing Robert F. Kennedy’s videos, ruling that Kennedy has not shown that the California-based company was a state actor when taking down the videos.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/appeals-court-turns-down-rfk-jr-bid-injunction-against-google

Durov’s arrest is ‘hallmark of dictatorship’ – Tucker Carlson to RFK Jr​. The Telegram CEO was detained last week after his private jet landed in Paris
​ Durov was arrested in Paris last week, and is being held for questioning in connection to a broader cybercrime probe into illicit activities on the billionaire’s end-to-end encrypted social media platform, the French authorities have said. Telegram generally refuses to share user data and chat logs with law enforcement, and Durov has claimed that this privacy-first approach has drawn attention from intelligence agencies around the world.
​ In the interview on Monday, Kennedy said the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects the right to freedom of expression from government interference, should also protect “misinformation,” as well as information that “no one wants to hear.”
​ Carlson replied that the administration of US President Joe Biden currently views anything that criticizes the “job that they’re doing” as misinformation.
​ “With that in mind, you see the Biden administration encouraging France, [French President Emmanuel] Macron to arrest the owner and founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, who is, as of now, in a French prison,” Carlson said, adding: “that’s the hallmark of dictatorship.”
​ “We’ve lost Europe,” Kennedy replied. “Europe now does not have free speech.”​ https://swentr.site/news/603122-durov-arrest-hallmark-dictatorship-carlson/

​ Pepe Escobar: EU to Telegram – We’re Coming to Get You
​ Two more inevitable questions. Why now? Because the EU needs it, badly. And who profits? The leading candidates are the “esprit de corps” of ultra-regimented French bureaucracy and their Franco-European oligarch connections.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240827/pepe-escobar-eu-to-telegram—were-coming-to-get-you-1119928501.html

​ Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been in French detention since Saturday, when he was arrested at Paris’s Bourget Airport, with a period of “questioning” (but with no formal charges) having now been extended into several days.
​ But breaking reports say the 39-year old billionaire who has French, Russia, and UAE citizenship has been transferred to a Paris court to face a judge in preparation for possible indictment.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/telegram-ceo-durov-transferred-paris-court-possible-indictment-imminent

​ ‘This Election Is Being Stolen From Us’: French Left Calls Mass Protest Against Macron​ [Macron is a Rothschild-Paris banker, as you will recall.]
“The people must get rid of Macron for the good of democracy,” said the leader of France’s Green Party.
​ Leftist parties in France on Tuesday accused President Emmanuel Macron of election theft and announced mass protests after he rejected Nouveau Front Populaire’s proposed candidate for prime minister, even though the left-wing coalition won the most seats in a snap parliamentary contest last month.​ https://www.commondreams.org/news/french-left-macron

[John Day]

​Kyle Young presents: Donald J. Trump – part 2 – The Forbidden Story, a Tale of Two Trumps, Tesla, Death Rays and UFO’s
Dr. Vannevar Bush, General of Physics
I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it. Morpheus, The Matrix​
​..This “death-beam,” Dr. Tesla said, will operate silently but effectively at distances “as far as a telescope could see an object on the ground and as far as the curvature of the earth would permit it.” It will be invisible and will leave no marks behind it beyond its evidence of destruction.
​ An army of 1,000,000 dead, annihilated in an instant, he said, would not reveal even under the most powerful microscope just what catastrophe had caused its destruction.
​ When put in operation Dr. Tesla said this latest invention of his would make war impossible.​..
​..President Donald (John) Trumps uncle, Dr. John Trump (1907-1985) was a professor of engineering at the MIT School of Engineering. Leading up to that, his primary teacher at MIT was Professor Robert Van D Graff (1902 -1967) who is known for 7 patented inventions having to do with ‘Van De Graff’ high voltage generators.
​ Wikipedia – In 1946, Trump, Robert J. Van de Graaff, and Denis M. Robinson initiated the High Voltage Engineering Corporation (HVEC) to produce Van de Graaff generators.
​ But John Trumps real mentor at MIT was Dr. Vannever Bush (1890 – 1974) the dean of The School of Engineering, the founder of Raytheon and science advisor to Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower.​.. Bush coordinated the activities of some six thousand leading American scientists in the application of science to warfare.​… Bush played a critical role in persuading the United States government to undertake a crash program to create an atomic bomb. When the NDRC was formed, the Committee on Uranium was placed under it, reporting directly to Bush as the Uranium Committee.​..
​..As Dean of the MIT School of Engineering, Bush, who was 17 years older than John Trump, took him under his wing and mentored him about his real passion, UFO’s.​..
​..When Nicolas Tesla (1856 to 1943) died, John Trump, who by then was Dr. John Trump and was a leading force at the MIT School of Engineering, was tapped by the FBI to review Tesla’s papers, right in Tesla’s apartment in NY, shortly after he died.
​ The FBI claimed that Tesla had invented a “death ray” that had the ability to take “flying objects down” (not destroy them) and they wanted to get their hands on any and all notes in Tesla’s possession, so they turned to Dr. John Trump, the leading authority on the topic.
​ Dr. John Trump –
​ “I was particularly looking for something that would be evidence of a secret weapon which I was reminded by the two (fbi) agents, who were present during the entire time, was of concern to the ​United ​States. It had the capability of acting at a great distance, of being destructive to flying objects, and things of that kind, at a place that was remote from the source.”​ …
​..Fast forward from Tesla’s death in January of 1943 to July of 1947 when a UFO crashes near Roswell NM. Then on March 25, 1948 another one crashes near Atec NM. Its hard for me to imagine that beings so sophisticated and intelligent that they have technology advanced enough to get here from who knows where, would crash two of their craft in less than a year merely flying around at slower speeds in earths atmosphere. Was this weapon used to take down those UFO’s?​
​ Does this weapon explain the mysterious airline fights that have been taken down in more recent decades?​ …
​..Why did the FBI call in Dr. John Trump to go through Tesla’s papers? It’s because of his mentor-ship with Dr. Vannever Bush. We need to understand the depth of Bush’s involvement in the DoD UFO technology redevelopment program.​..
​..In 1983 William Steinman, author of UFO Crash at Aztec, asked Dr. Sarbacher for information regarding the US UFO program. He responds in a letter saying Vannever Bush was involved in the program. Suaerbacher goes on to say that the aliens are constructed in a very light, low-mass, insect-like manner which enabled them to withstand the inertia generated in the high g-force movements of their spacecraft. He ends by saying he doesn’t understand why the existence of this is being denied.​….Nixon, for all of his faults, was intent on disclosing UFO files. He was also interested in Tesla’s work on free energy and was in the White House when UFO redevelopment technology was really taking off at Pine Gap. Nixon wanted to make some of the UFO information public. Then he was impeached…
​..Nixon created a time capsule that was to be opened in 2025. He gave the time capsule to Robert Merritt, told him what was in it, and told him to give it to Henry Kissinger. Many speculate the time capsule contains important information about UFO’s and an alien that has been in US custody for some time, an alien who has disclosed a lot of information. The story is little blurry, but apparently the time capsule is to be opened in 2025.
​ Through his wife Pat, who likely got the prediction from the occultist Jean Dixon (1904-1997, predicted JFK’s assassination, consulted with the Nixon’s 70 times while they were in the White House) Nixon tells Donald Trump in a 1987 letter, that he will become president. After his resignation, Nixon, the California guy, moves to NY. Trump and Nixon send a number of letters back and forth and Trump even flies Nixon around the country a few times. They become friends. Trump still speaks highly of Nixon to this day.
​ This story is vast. Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State under Nixon, shared Nixon’s desire to open UFO files – which may explain why Nixon wanted Merritt to give the time capsule to Kissinger.​..
​..So… we have Donald Trump’s uncle John passing on his UFO legacy to his nephew, who has close ties to Nixon, the former president who knew about Trumps uncle John and wants to open up the UFO files. Trump wants to run again in 2024, so the FBI raids his home in Mar A Lago. Click clack clunk, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. One of the first things Trump did upon occupying the White House was to hang the prediction letter from Nixon on the wall in the oval office.
​ On June 30 2017, Trump signed an executive order that revives The National Space Council. On December 20, 2019 he signed into law a bill that created the US Space Agency. I’ll let all of you great researchers out there suss out the reasons why he did that.
​ We need to understand here that during Eisenhower’s time in the White House UFO matters were taken away from presidential control by the deep state. Eisenhower alluded to this in his epic outgoing speech in 1962. Since that time UFO secrets have been given a higher security level than nuclear secrets.​..
​..Once it looked like Trump was going to take the White House – a man close to Nixon (who had gleaned a lot of information about UFO’s) and whose uncle John likely had more insider information about UFO’s than anyone else on earth – grave concern arose among those in the deep state who want to keep the UFO files secret. So the deep state was happy to cooperate with the Clinton’s and run CIA operations attempting to do whatever they could to try and make Donald Trump look bad, including accusing him of being a Russian asset. More recently, the deep state uses the FBI to do the same thing by raiding his home at Mara A Lago. Why are these people so terrified of Trump? Is it because of his knowledge about UFO’s? Is it because if he were to expose what he knows he could throw a huge monkey wrench into the machinery of the current highly profitable paradigm for UFO insiders?
​ Will Trump be in a position to open Nixon’s time capsule, stashed somewhere in the White House by Kissinger, if he occupies the White House in 2025?​ https://secularheretic.substack.com/p/donald-j-trump-part-2-the-forbidden

​Charles Hugh Smith, The Social Recession Is Accelerating
Did wages rise 10-fold to match the 10-fold rise in the cost of a modest house? No. That is social recession in a nutshell.
​ In my analysis, social recession refers to the narrowing of opportunities to marry and raise a family, own a home and have a secure livelihood from the vast majority of the populace to an elite selected by fierce competition–a competition few have the means to win, as the winners tend to win by choosing their parents wisely.
​ In the purely financial / economic terms of growth of GDP, household income, corporate profits and the value of assets, the US has only been in an economic recession for a few months in 2008-09 and at the start of the pandemic lockdown. But when measured by the ability of just about anyone willing to work hard and practice basic frugality to buy a house and start a family, the US has been in a social recession since 2009.​ https://charleshughsmith.substack.com/p/the-social-recession-is-accelerating

​ Alastair Crooke, The western way of war – Owning the narrative trumps reality
The DNC convention in Chicago however, underscored a further concern:
​ Just as the hegemonic West arose out of the Cold War era shaped and invigorated through dialectic opposition to communism (in the western mythology), so we see today, a (claimed) totalising ‘extremism’ (whether of MAGA mode; or of the external variety: Iran, Russia, etc.) – posed in Chicago in a similar Hegelian dialectic opposition to the former capitalism versus communism; but in today’s case, it is “extremism” in conflict with “Our Democracy”.
​ The DNC Chicago narrative-thesis is itself a tautology of identity differentiation posing as ‘togetherness’ under a diversity banner and in conflict with ‘whiteness’ and ‘extremism’. ‘Extremism’ effectively plainly is being set up as the successor to the former Cold War antithesis – communism.
​ The Chicago ‘back-room’ may be imagining that a confrontation with extremism – writ widely – will again, as it did in the post-Cold War era, yield an American rejuvenation. Which is to say that a conflict with Iran, Russia, and China (in a different way) may come onto the agenda. The telltale signs are there (plus the West’s need for a re-set of its economy, which war regularly provides).​ https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/08/26/the-western-way-of-war-owning-the-narrative-trumps-reality/

​Harris is sufficiently evil, but insufficiently able to weave facts she can remember into a narrative she can sell. Kamala Grants Interview to Leftist CNN Anchor Dana Bash
​ Those expecting a tough interview with hard-hitting questions might find themselves disappointed because it will be held on CNN and hosted by left-leaning anchor Dana Bash.
In an unusual move, Harris will also share the spotlight with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
​ The pre-taped interview will air at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, roughly 39 days after President Joe Biden exited the 2024 race and endorsed Harris as his successor.​ https://headlineusa.com/kamala-grants-interview-to-leftist-cnn-anchor-dana-bash/

​ Harris agrees to debate rules – Trump​, The two candidates will be standing and neither will be allowed to use notes, the former president has said
​ Harris “is ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button,” a spokesman for the vice president said on Monday.
​ Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller replied that the Republican candidate had “accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate,” before claiming that Harris asked for “a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements.”​ https://swentr.site/news/603171-trump-harris-debate-rules/

[John Day]

​ Cabinet ministers warn Ben Gvir endangering Israel with ‘reckless’ Temple Mount moves
PM insists status quo at flashpoint site remains unchanged after Ben Gvir says he’d support building a synagogue atop it; coalition, opposition members call for him to be fired
​ National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked an uproar on Monday morning after he again declared that Jewish worshipers have the same rights as Muslim worshipers on the Temple Mount, and agreed that he would establish a synagogue atop the flashpoint site if he could.
​ The ultranationalist minister, who has made numerous controversial visits to the site since he entered the government, told Army Radio on Monday that Israeli law does not discriminate between the religious rights of Jews and Muslims at the Temple Mount, which is considered the holiest site in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam.
​ “The policies on the Temple Mount allow prayer, period,” Ben Gvir said. “You are allowed to pray; it’s illegal to prevent you from praying.”​ https://www.timesofisrael.com/cabinet-ministers-warn-ben-gvir-endangering-israel-with-reckless-temple-mount-moves/

​ Patrick Lawrence: “The End of Days”​
This believing-without-thinking is well inside the Netanyahu regime by virtue of Bibi’s dependence on extremist Zionists such as Ben–Givr, Smotrich, and Strook for his political survival. There are implications to think about here. And we should then take care to connect some dots: Christian Zionists in America are less influential on the Israel question than these shockingly deluded extremists, but not by much, and America’s Christian Zionists are just as extreme in their version of “the end of days.”
​ We cannot look upon Israel’s Zionists with any kind of detachment or critique from some conjured place of elevated superiority. Americans have long told themselves similarly grand, delusional stories to justify their history of injustices and cruelties: Bush II’s Gog and Magog bit is merely an over-the-top telling, a variant on the theme. U.S. policy, certainly since the 11 September disasters, has been based ever less on rational calculation—to say nothing of concern for the global commonweal—than on what I think of as desperately held beliefs in the face of twenty-first century realities.
​ It is the same with the Israelis as the killing proceeds daily in Gaza and, increasingly, in the West Bank. Israeli policy—and this is true of American policy, too, at bottom—is conceived and executed by people who do not act rationally. They answer to their gods, whether this means Yahweh or divine Providence—“the Great Œconomist,” as some of the eighteen-century historians used to put it.
​ There are grave implications here. Chief among them, there is no talking to these people, for they live and act behind the thick, protective wall of messianic belief. They may pretend to listen to others, but they do not hear. Nothing others may say can change them. This is a highly consequential circumstance, given the power people who act irrationally hold.
​ Between the U.S. and Israel, our world is defined by those who view it in radically simplistic binaries. To them there is no place for complexity in our increasingly complex global environment. One could argue this is a good definition of incompetence. This is our dreadful predicament—dreadful because the way forward, beyond these people, cannot be but long and arduous. And here we come to a final conclusion of sorts.
​ Only failure holds any promise of forcing either Israel or the U.S. to change course.​ https://scheerpost.com/2024/08/24/patrick-lawrence-the-end-of-days/

Israel Plans Colony on UNESCO Heritage Site as Land Theft Surges​ https://scheerpost.com/2024/08/26/israel-plans-colony-on-unesco-heritage-site-as-land-theft-surges/

​ A new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has exposed the torture and mistreatment of Palestinian healthcare workers by Israeli occupation forces since October 2023.​ https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-torture-of-palestinian-healthcare-workers-exposed–h

Are you SURE? Polio vaccines either cause​ mild polio or don’t work: EU Urges ‘Polio Ceasefire’ In Gaza As WHO Seeks To Vaccinate 640,000 Palestinian Children​ https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/eu-urges-polio-ceasefire-gaza-who-seeks-vaccinate-640000-palestinian-children

[John Day]

​ “We’re Looking At Serious Civil Unrest Regardless Who Wins” – Martin Armstrong Fears Post-Election Chaos
​ On gold at $2,500 an ounce, Armstrong says it’s not about inflation, it is about the fear of a US debt default. This is why central banks are buying. Armstrong says,
“If there is a big war, the US will default on it’s debt. … I am very concerned they will start WWIII before the end of the year and maybe by September.” https://www.zerohedge.com/political/were-looking-serious-civil-unrest-regardless-who-wins-martin-armstrong-fears-post

​ Gilbert Doctorow, For Russia, recovering Kursk is no walk in the rose garden
​ Last night’s edition of the talk show The Great Game gave a very different picture of the state of conflict in Kursk from what my peers are saying and of where this proxy war may be headed NOW, not in some distant future.
​ The key personality in this discussion was Frants Klintsevich, identified on the video as leader of the Russian Union of Veterans of Afghanistan. His Wikipedia entry further informs us that after serving as a Duma member for many years he is now a Senator, i.e., a member of the upper chamber of Russia’s bicameral legislature. He has represented the city administration of Smolensk in the western part of the Russian Federation, where he is no stranger, having been born just across the border in what is now the independent state of Belarus.
​ For 22 years ending in 1997, Klintsevich was an officer in Russia’s Armed Forces, serving primarily with the parachutists, meaning that he has guts and knows what it means to face battle. He retired with the rank of colonel, but continued his military education in the Military Academy of the General Staff, graduating in 2004. He also has a Ph.D. in psychology and is a gifted linguist, with command of German, Polish, and Belarussian. He is a member of the steering committee of the ruling United Russia party. I bring this out to make the point that Klintsevich is no garden variety ‘talking head’ but a very authoritative source…
​..Klintsevich’s commentary last night was intended to sober up the television audience and explain why the fight in Kursk is far more complicated and challenging than anyone is saying either on Russian or on Western news. It also lays the foundation for a dramatic Russian escalation of the proxy war into a hot war threatening to become WWIII. Why? Because the so-called Zelensky gambit in Kursk is fully enabled by the United States and its NATO allies, using skills, satellite and airborne reconnaissance, command and control resources in real time that are superior to anything the Russians possess. It also has Western including U.S. boots on the ground. And in conditions like this, the disadvantaged side faces a strong temptation to go for the great equalizer, nuclear arms, to defend itself and to assure its victory.
​ Klintsevich also said what I have not seen elsewhere, given the ubiquitous belief in Opposition interviews that the Ukrainians in Kursk are cut off from sources of supply: that Kiev has now raised the number of its forces sent to Kursk from 12,000 to 20,000.
​ In short, the Zelensky gambit that is being enabled fully by the United States is not a PR stunt but a full-blown invasion intended to be the vanguard of what will be an air assault on Russia’s strategic assets far in the rear using JASSM, Storm Shadow and other long-range missiles launched from F16s.
​ Klintsevich has further intimated that the two U.S. aircraft carriers and their escorts now in the Eastern Mediterranean may be there not to contain Iran but for an all-out attack on Russia using their jets to deliver nuclear strikes. I add to his analysis that this may explain the knock-out of Russia’s early warning radar stations in the south of the country by Ukrainian drones acting on orders from Washington.
​ So far, the Russian response to these gathering storm clouds has been two days in succession of massive missile and drone attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine. But let us not have any illusions: if the Russians sense that the United States is about to pounce on them, to use the assets in Ukraine and beyond not just against Russian planes, which have been moved back beyond the 900 km range of the , JASSM and Storm Shadows, but on critical civilian infrastructure to disable the war effort, then a preventive Russian attack on NATO, on the continental United States. not to mince words, is entirely conceivable.
​ All of this is sure to play out in the weeks before 4 November and the U.S. elections. The Biden administration is evidently committed to a struggle to the death. Who will flinch? Who will “win” is an open question. Washington, you have been forewarned by Mr. Klintsevich, who is surely speaking on behalf of the Kremlin.​ https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/for-russia-recovering-kursk-is-no

​ Simplicius, Powerful Russian Strikes Usher in Season of Ukrainian Discontent
​ The main object of the strikes appeared to be important energy substations, particularly of the 750kv variety—which, as I understand, are far more significant and irreplaceable than the smaller run-of-the-mill substations.​..
..Immediately every region of Ukraine plunged into darkness, with Zelensky promising that they’re working on restoring power. News stations even lost power live on air…
..This could be the beginning of the next phase, and the beginning of Ukraine’s demise, if Russia continues the systematic pressure on the power grid from here on out until next year.
​ In the meantime, Kursk remains stalled with Ukraine claiming to have captured another small settlement or two while Russian forces likewise recaptured some as well, with the overall front not shifting significantly.​..
..On the other hand, significant advancement continues to be made on the Pokrovsk-New York-Toretsk front. Ukrainian military accounts remain furious at the wasteful operation in Kursk, which comes at the expense of every other front… Russian forces hardly even have to damage the towns anymore, and are capturing them clean as Ukrainian forces simply flee for their lives​…
​..“The situation is difficult, we are losing positions, the enemy is pushing us back,” said Captain Dzvenyslava Rymar of the 47th brigade, which is involved in combat near Pokrovsk.​ “People are exhausted,” she added. “We need fresh people. No matter how well-trained our fighters are, the Russians still manage to crush us with their numbers. It’s not possible to hold the line when there are just two or three of you and ten to 20 of them coming at you.”​…
..As a needed reminder, they note that Pokrovsk will be the largest city Russia’s taken in almost 1.5 years…
​..One last interesting thing the article hints at is that the Kursk operation is now all about getting allies to push Putin’s red lines by authorizing long range strikes on Russian territory—a narrative that has now completely taken over the discourse, as per the plan. It gives us insight into what the remaining strategy seems to be: Zelensky merely wants to use the Kursk incursion as a springboard for inching NATO one step closer to confrontation with Russia by utilizing ATACMS and Storm Shadows on some sensitive object deep within Russian territory.
​ But it seems one of the reasons the US remains cold-footed is the dawning realization that Russia’s red lines were actually real, and the more they’re crossed, the less chance there is of any negotiations—a ‘no turning back’ some in the US establishment deeply fear.​ https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/powerful-russian-strikes-usher-in

​ Poland in ‘state of hybrid war’ – deputy defense chief
Cezary Tomczyk cited tensions on the border with Belarus and Russian balloons straying into Polish airspace​ https://swentr.site/news/603134-poland-hybrid-war/

US nuclear project ‘years’ behind schedule – WSJ​, Rebuilding silos for Sentinel missiles is creating headaches for the Pentagon​ https://swentr.site/news/603115-us-nuclear-missile-problems/

[John Day]

BOE Needs Word War Three https://drjohnsblog.substack.com/p/boe-needs-world-war-three

​ Gaius Baltar, REPOST – WW3 FOR DUMMIES
​ Note to readers: This is a repost of an article I wrote and was published on June 18, 2022… That was long before I started a Substack account. Some of you may already have read it. When it was published on “the saker” blog, the Russo-Ukraine war was still young but an obvious civilizational conflict was underway. This article was an attempt at describing some of the forces driving the conflict, including economic ones.​..
​…What is about to happen
​ The panic of our owners and their politicians is understandable because we have come to the end of the line. We can no longer keep up our living standard by debt increase and parasitism. The debt is reaching beyond what we own as collateral and our currencies are about to become worthless. We will no longer be able to get free stuff from the rest of the world, or pay back our debt – let alone pay interest on it. The entire West is about to go bankrupt and our standard of living is about to go down by a massive percentage. This is what has our owners panicked and they see only two scenarios:

1. In the first scenario most countries in the West, and everything and everyone within them, declare bankruptcy and erase the debt by diktat – which sovereign states are able to do. This will also erase the wealth and political power of our owners.

2. In the second scenario our owners take over the collateral during the bankruptcy. The collateral is us and everything we own.

​ It doesn’t take a genius to figure out which scenario was chosen. The plan for the second scenario is ready and being implemented as we speak. It is called ‘The Great Reset’ and was constructed by the people behind the World Economic Forum. This plan is not a secret and can be examined to a certain degree on the WEF website.

​ The Great Reset is a mechanism for the seizing of all debt collateral which includes your assets, the assets of your city or municipality, the assets of your state and most corporate assets not already held by our owners.

This asset seizure mechanism has several components, but the most important are the following four:

1. Abolishment of sovereignty: A sovereign (independent) country is a dangerous country because it can choose to default on its debt. The decrease in sovereignty has been a priority for our owners and various schemes have been attempted such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trans Pacific Partnership. The most successful scheme is undoubtedly the European Union itself.

2. The down-tuning of the economy: The western economy (and indeed the global economy) must be tuned down by a very significant percentage. This down-tuning is necessary because the western economy is massively falsified now and must be taken down to its real level – which may be as low as half of what it is now – or more. The slow takedown has also the purpose of avoiding a sudden crash which would cause massive social unrest which would be a threat to our owners. A controlled takedown is therefore preferable to an uncontrolled crash. This controlled takedown is already happening and has been going on for quite some time. Many examples can be mentioned of this takedown, including the EU and US energy policy which is designed to sabotage the western economy, and the obvious attempts at demand destruction during and after the epidemic, including the fairly bizarre logistical problems which suddenly came out of nowhere.

3. Asset harvesting (you will own nothing and be ‘happy’): All assets that can be considered to be collateral to our private and collective/public debt will be taken over. This is a clearly stated aim of the Great Reset but it is less clear how this would be carried out. Total control of western governments (and indeed all governments) would seem to be necessary for this. That precondition is closer than one might think because most western governments seem to be beholden to Davos at this point. The process will be sold as necessary social restructuring because of an economic crisis and global warming and will result in massive decrease in living standards for regular people, although not the elites.​ [See Ellen Brown, The Great Taking, How They Can Own It All.]

4. Oppression: A great many people will not like this and an uprising is a likely response, even if the takedown is done gradually. To prevent this from happening, a social control mechanism is being implemented which will erase personal freedom, the freedom of speech, and privacy. It will also create absolute dependence of the individual on the state. This must be done before the economic takedown can be completed or there will be a revolution. This mechanism is already being implemented enthusiastically in the West as anybody with eyes and ears can see.​ [See “The Coming Collapse of Britain.]
https://gaiusbaltar.substack.com/p/repost-ww3-for-dummies

​ Ellen Brown 10/3/23, “The Great Taking”: How They Can Own It All
​ The derivatives bubble has been estimated to exceed one quadrillion dollars (a quadrillion is 1,000 trillion). The entire GDP of the world is estimated at $105 trillion, or 10% of one quadrillion; and the collective wealth of the world is an estimated $360 trillion. Clearly, there is not enough collateral anywhere to satisfy all the derivative claims. The majority of derivatives now involve interest rate swaps, and interest rates have shot up. The bubble looks ready to pop.
​ Who were the intrepid counterparties signing up to take the other side of these risky derivative bets? Initially, it seems, they were banks –led by four mega-banks, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. But 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.
​ It sounds like conspiracy theory, but it’s all laid out in the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), tested in precedent, and validated by court rulings. The UCC is a privately-established set of standardized rules for transacting business, which has been ratified by all 50 states and includes key provisions that have been “harmonized” with the laws of other countries in the Western orbit.​ https://ellenbrown.com/2023/10/03/the-great-taking-how-they-plan-to-own-it-all/

​ Alex Krainer, The coming collapse of Britain 30 minute talk with transcript
“Everything points… to a horrific cliff-edge looming… an avalanche of debts, defaults, evictions and unpaid bills to follow.”
​ A series of bizarre developments that have unfolded in Great Britain over the last few weeks suggest that its financial system came to the verge of collapse, probably as a consequence of Ukraine’s debt default…
​..The stabbings of three young girls (6, 7, and 9 years of age) that happened in Southport, UK on 29 July apparently unleashed widespread rioting and clashes in Britain, notably between the immigrant Muslim community and what PM Keir Starmer called, right-wing thugs. The authorities’ reaction has been nothing short of Orwellian including a radical and ongoing crackdown on free speech.
​ But it would appear that the riots and clashes haven’t been quite as widespread or as violent as the media portrayed them to be. In a recent podcast, Alexander Mercouris pointed out that not only did everything seem calm in London, but that a number of his friends and acquaintances around the UK all told him the same, even for the cities where rioting had been reported. Could it be that the government overreacted and exaggerated the threat in order to justify stepping up its authoritarian control which is now gripping Britain?​
​ Rather than appealing for calm, the government’s messaging clearly aimed at intimidating the population. The UK’s Home Office warned that “Actions have consequences,” and boasted that over 1,000 arrests have been made thus far. British courts already sentenced many people to stiff prison terms for wrongthink expressed on social media and they made sure that these sentences got wide publicity.​..
​..The media personalities, even after a lifetime of indoctrination with free speech as the core Western value, suddenly seemed to have no qualms about advocating curbs on freedom of expression.​..
​..Given that violent crime and knife stabbings are nothing new in Britain (they’ve been on the rise for years) and that people’s resentment against immigrants isn’t new either, it occurred to me to wonder, why is the government turning as radically authoritarian? And why now?
​ If the crackdown is being deliberately orchestrated and I believe that it is, then what is the reason for it? Our discussion converged on the idea that Britain might be facing an imminent financial crisis which could accelerate her economic and social collapse. My suspicion was that it might have to do with the fact that Britain got overextended in Ukraine trying to regain the leadership, affluence and the prestige which it has been steadily losing over the recent decades.​..
..In October 2021 I published an article titled, “The Fall of Global Britain – an Investment Hypothesis”​… Noting that Great Britain is displaying many of the symptoms of imperial powers in decline, I predicted that it won’t revert to simply minding its own domestic business as a neutral island nation…
..” The UK will likely make all the mistakes made by other powers in that similar position through history: it will suffocate its domestic economic growth by imposing hard austerity at home while at the same time increasing military spending and foreign adventurism. Britain’s public debt will continue to outpace its GDP growth and the government’s budget deficits will be covered by Bank of England’s monetary inflation. This recipe reliably leads to stagflation and possibly to hyperinflation.”​…So far, so good​…
..A sudden deterioration, which developed during the course of this year seems to be related to the Western powers’ impending military defeat in their proxy war against Russia. Britain has been the principal cheerleader and sponsor of that conflict, and she seems to have gone “in over her head.” In addition to providing at least £7.5 billion in military aid (nearly $10 billion), Britain gave another £5 billion ($6.5 billion) to Ukraine in financial support.
​ Furthermore, Britain has also guaranteed multiple tranches of World Bank loans to Ukraine and many British financial institutions have purchased billions’ worth of Ukraine’s bonds. Others made extensive direct investments there…
..In addition to the near-certain military defeat, Ukraine was also facing a looming economic and financial collapse. Ukraine’s economic performance was already dismal before the conflict with Russia started in February 2022. But since that time, it has collapsed by another 25%. With tax receipts dwindling, Ukraine’s 2024 budget deficit is expected to rise to nearly $44 billion. If Kiev were to service its debt obligations, they would eat up fully 15% of her GDP, the second largest expense item after defense (which stands at 31.3% of the GDP).
​ Keeping Ukraine’s government and military in operation has become entirely dependent on her Western backers. But by 2024, that support began to dry up as more and more decision makers started to doubt Ukraine’s prospects.​..
​..A World Bank official involved with the matter noted that Ukraine was facing bankruptcy. Significantly, he added that, as with previous transactions, the World Bank did not provide its own funds for Kiev, but “once again took advantage” of guarantees from two of Ukraine’s donors, primarily Japan and the UK.​.. Out of the $1.5 billion given to Ukraine, $984 million of the sum originated from Japan and $516 million from Britain. But Ukraine is now unable to service her mounting foreign debts.​..Monday, 22 July 2024: we have a deal!
​ Almost as soon as Zelensky’s visit in London concluded, the Government of Ukraine announced that a deal was reached with its main bondholders to restructure the country’s near-$20 billion worth of bonds, including a 37% reduction of the amounts owed. But this was only “an agreement, in principle,” reached with an “ad-hoc creditor committee,” and it wasn’t binding on all the bondholders.​..
..Wednesday, 24 July 2024: Ukraine strikes the Fitch iceberg
​ Only two days after Ukraine announced the deal with their bondholders, Fitch downgraded Ukraine’s credit rating from CC to C, reflecting extreme credit risk reserved for countries that “entered default or default-like process.”… Fitch brought forward their credit rating review for Ukraine by nearly six months, either because her financial position suddenly and significantly deteriorated, or because somewhere, someone who had the power to pull strings, decided to capsize Ukraine (and the UK and EU along with it).​
​ Monday, 29 July 2024: stabbings in Southport
The stabbing of three young girls took place in Southport, UK. The event reportedly unleashed widespread rioting and clashes around Britain. End of July was also the time when The Economist predicted Ukraine would face bankruptcy.
​ Wednesday, 31 July 2024: Zelensky ‘temporarily’ suspends debt repayments
Zelensky signed a law enabling Ukraine to suspend payments of external debts for two months (or longer).
​ Thursday, August 1 2024: debt repayments freeze takes effect
Bondholders’ grace period expires; Zelensky’s unilateral debt repayments freeze takes effect.
​ Tuesday, 6 August 2024: Ukraine launches Kursk incursion
​Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into the Kursk region of Russia. The plan to attack the Kursk region had been made at least a year earlier, but it was never implemented, most likely because strategically, it made little sense…
..Noting that the Russians were taken by surprise at Kursk, the professor thought they were unprepared because “it’s such a crazy idea that the Russians didn’t think that the Ukrainians would be foolish enough to do it.”
​ If Professor Mearsheimer is right, this raises an important question: why did the Armed Forces of Ukraine pull the trigger now, as the country was already on the verge of military defeat and financial default?
​ What we do know is that Ukraine launched the incursion only 18 days after Zelensky’s visit in London. Zelensky’s security advisor Mikhailo Podolyak admitted that the Kursk invasion was discussed with the British. On August 18, The Sunday Times of London revealed that Britain played the pivotal role in the operation​…
..Wasting no time, on that same Tuesday, 6 August the European Council approved 4.2 billion euros in financial support for Ukraine. It would be the first regular payment out of the 50 billion euros financial aid package set aside for Ukraine by the European Union…
​ Wednesday, 14 August 2024: WHO declares Mpox pandemic
In addition to all this, on 14 August, the World Health Organization Director-General declared Mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. We’re all in this together (again) and now further restrictions on public gatherings and freedom of expression might be justified.
​ Another two events coincided with Ukraine’s de facto debt default. On 30 July 2024, Israelis assassinated senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr and an Iranian military advisor, Milad Bedi in Lebanon, along with five Lebanese civilians (including two children). The following day, on 31 July they also assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, in Tehran.
​ We can’t be sure whether all these events are related, but they do have this in common: they all had the potential to precipitate worldwide states of emergency either due to escalation of military conflicts or due to a pandemic.​ And they all took place within days from Ukraine’s default, which has put the western financial system in jeopardy.​..
​..Panic at the Bank of England?
​ On 22 July, the same day when the agreement between the government of Ukraine and the “ad hoc committee” of her private creditors was announced, the Bank of England also announced a seminar titled “The Future Bank of England Balance Sheet – managing its transition towards a new system for supplying reserves.”​…
..Here’s how Bloomberg’s macro strategist Simon White put it: in a demand-led system, “what banks use to settle balances each day *must* be ‘shiftable’ on to the central bank’s balance sheet in a crisis. If they are not, liquidity is at risk of seizing up altogether. Thus, in a crisis, potentially no asset under this scheme will be turned away.” That could include even Ukraine’s bonds.
​ What is clear from this and from the BOE’s language is that the bank is now anxious about Britain’s financial system collapsing and it has resolved to avert the collapse in the worst possible way: by loosening its credit standards and accepting junk quality collateral in exchange for cash. This is the clearest possible sign that the system came to the verge of collapsing…
​..The dying economy
​ In addition to making heavy direct investment in the “project Ukraine,” Britain has sustained high indirect costs as a consequence of sanctions imposed on Russia. Today, large segments of British society are slumping into Dickensian era poverty.
​ According to last year’s figures from Trussell Trust, the number of people in the UK who needed emergency food supplies from food banks more than doubled in the last five years, to 3 million. One in five households have trouble paying their water bills, and many more are struggling to keep up with their energy bills. Electricity bills in the UK are over five times higher than the European average and will substantially increase this winter again, as the suppliers’ wholesale costs increased by 20% over the last few months! It’s little wonder that as many as 48% of Britons said that they would have to turn down the heat, or switch it off completely to survive the winter financially.​..
..Indeed, as The Guardian put it last year:
​ “Everything points… to a horrific cliff-edge looming… and an avalanche of debts, defaults, evictions and unpaid bills to follow. … Put simply, frighteningly large numbers of people just don’t have enough money to absorb the shocks that are coming. Wages are too low, benefits too mean, and the cost of living too high for them to afford even the basics. … The CEO of one British retailer complained that his stores were losing customers to food banks or simply “to hunger.”
​ The parasite is killing the host
When businesses are losing sales to poverty, rather than competition, we know that the parasite is killing the host. The parasite, of course, is the banking cartel and it doesn’t care about the plight of the ordinary British people.​..
..The policy of immiserating the British people has been sustained and deliberate. According to a report written in 2018 by Prof. Phillip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, a “systematic, willful, concerted, and brutal economic war” was being waged against the poor and vulnerable sections of British society. Since then, things have only gotten a whole lot worse: for British families, “2024 was shaping up to be, financially, the worst year in living memory.”
​ Now, if these policies were deliberate, then what is their objective? Well, Gordon Brown did spell it out in his February op-ed: he called on the chancellor Jeremy Hunt (who had then replaced Kwarteng) to “undertake a root-and-branch review of universal credit.” But the “universal credit” Brown was mentioning is merely the lure. The actual bill of goods that Brown was selling as he feigned outrage over poverty he himself helped create, was forcing a neo-feudal subjugation on British citizens by making them dependent on the nanny state for handouts.
​ This is why his partner in crime, Tony Blair has been pushing so hard to introduce a digital ID in the UK. It will be needed to police British people’s obedience and compliance with whatever rules, norms or restrictions that the ruling establishment might demand. It could be vaccinations, confinement to 15-minute cities, carbon quotas, death panels, insect protein fodder, love for the big brother, military conscription, forever wars, etc. Now that their ship has sunk in Ukraine (and in the Middle East), they need these measures in place, yesterday!
​ This is not progress toward greater prosperity and freedom but rather a future that George Orwell described as, “a boot stamping on the human face, forever.”​…
​..It remains to be seen whether the British people will find the strength and determination to fight back and win a better future for the coming generations.​ I sincerely hope that they will fight back. The same fight is gathering for all of us in the Western world.​ https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/the-coming-collapse-of-britain

​I posted this on June 3, 2024: THE REAL REASON SUNAK CALLED AN EARLY ELECTION IN JULY – ANDREW BRIDGEN MP​ (Rishi can’t be a “war prime minister”. Rishi needs out.)​ https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/1793568491456668057

[John Day]

@Oxymoron: Here is your song about weeds, oldie but goodie… It even kind of harmonizes with the context of your musings, Mate/Amigo. (and with whistling).
Tumbling Tumbleweeds

[John Day]

Bats Carry Rabies. Do not handle bats, please.
(Yes, they seemed to be “normal” bats, but don’t do it. Rabies vaccinations are bad, and rabies is a ghastly way to die.)

[John Day]

“Cause here am I, floating in my tin can, far above the world…”

NASA Decides to Bring Starliner Spacecraft Back to Earth Without Crew https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-decides-to-bring-starliner-spacecraft-back-to-earth-without-crew/

[Author]

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