Oct 262023
 


Banksy Girl with a balloon 2002/2017

 

‘More Dangerous Than Cuban Missile Crisis’ – Larry Johnson (Sp.)
West Using Religious Hatred To Destabilize World – Putin (RT)
Is a Palestinian Genocide In The Making? (Paul Craig Roberts)
Gaza Hospital System Has ‘Completely Collapsed’ – Official (RT)
Israel Aims “To Teach UN A Lesson” (G.)
The US Has Betrayed Egypt Again (Sahiounie)
Europe Suffering From ‘War Psychosis’ In Support For Ukraine – Hungary (RMX)
Kiev Slams Musk Over Calls To End Ukrainian Conflict (RT)
US Senate Ready To Block $100 Billion Israel-Ukraine Aid – Politico (RT)
Ukraine’s Manpower Problem (Russell Bentley)
George Floyd Killed Himself (Paul Craig Roberts)
Trump Fined $10,000 for Breaking Gag Order in New York Civil Fraud Trial (Sp.)
Trump Cleared of Any Wrongdoing in FBI Headquarters Spat (ET)
FBI Received ‘Criminal Info’ From Over 40 Confidential Sources on Bidens (JTN)

 

 

 

 

Queen Rania 1 min

Queen Rania 20 min

 

 

 

 

4 more years

 

 

 

 

Mike Johnson
https://twitter.com/i/status/1717067217676734568

 

 

 

 

“..the Jewish state is “choosing a course of action that’s going to make it more difficult for it to survive intact as a nation”..

‘More Dangerous Than Cuban Missile Crisis’ – Larry Johnson (Sp.)

The latest escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict may further deteriorate if Iran decides to get involved and if the US continues to view Russia and China as enemies, Larry Johnson, an author and ex-Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst, told Sputnik. The situation surrounding a new escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict shows no sign of getting resolved, with Tel Aviv already into the third week of its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, currently under a full blockade. These developments are unfolding as the US signals its full-fledged support for Israel, while Arab nations and Iran have indicated their intent to lend a helping hand to the Palestinians. “It’s more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. And with each passing day, we’re getting closer to setting the world on fire,” Johnson maintained.

According to him, the fact that “nobody’s taking their foot off the accelerator” is “just sort of stunning.” Dwelling on the Biden administration’s policy in this regard and recalling (as an example) that the US “is illegally in Syria,” the ex-CIA analyst said that “on the one hand, we [the US] want to tell very much the need to follow an international rules-based order, and yet we flout those very rules.” He warned that “the danger here now” is that major countries, including Russia, China, Brazil, India, Pakistan, and South Africa “are getting fed up” and that “the traditional sort of allies that the United States thought it could rely on in the Middle East are not there anymore”. They include Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, who are “even refusing to take calls from [US President Joe] Biden,” according to the former CIA analyst. “So when you add all of this together, it is, you know, if we’re heading for a collision and then on top of it,” Johnson noted.

The ex-CIA analyst also warned of far-reaching implications from Iran possibly getting involved in the current Palestinian-Israeli armed conflict. “Israel insists it’s going to go on with a ground attack into Gaza. And I think if they do that, the minute they do that, you’re going to see a Hezbollah [Lebanon-based militant group] operation from the north. And Israel is vowing retaliation, which even could include nuclear weapons. I think it’s getting that dangerous because, you know, Israel really is in potential peril. I think its very existence will be on the line if Iran gets engaged, because Israel is not in a position to fight a two front war at all,” Johnson pointed out. When asked about the possibility of a war between the US and Iran in the offing, the ex-CIA analyst said he thinks “that’s exactly where it’s headed.”

As for Israel, Johnson went on to say, the Jewish state is “choosing a course of action that’s going to make it more difficult for it to survive intact as a nation”, something that he said remains “part of his concern.” “We’re seeing right now a level of unity between the Arab and Muslim world […], which is becoming very strident in their support of all of, you know, Hamas and the Palestinian people. So, I think we don’t appreciate what we’re up against,” Johnson noted.

Read more …

“..The goal of all those actions is to “increase instability in the world, to divide cultures, peoples, world religions, and to provoke a conflict of civilizations..”

West Using Religious Hatred To Destabilize World – Putin (RT)

The West is fomenting religious hatred and intolerance to “divide and conquer” the world, to maintain a “new world order” that amounts to dominance and colonialism, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. Meeting with leaders of Russia’s religious communities at the Kremlin, Putin addressed the current conflict in the Middle East and warned that “Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, and Russophobia” were being used as weapons against a multipolar world. “The West sees how the process of forming a multipolar world order is gaining momentum. And in order to restrain the development of independent, sovereign countries, to split the world majority, they use the same means,” Putin said.

These forces want “the epidemic of violence and hatred” to engulf not just the Middle East but to Eurasia, he warned. “Muslims are being set against Jews, calling for ‘war with the infidels’. Shiites are pitted against Sunnis, Orthodox Christians against Catholics. In Europe, they turn a blind eye to blasphemy and vandalism against Muslim shrines. In a number of countries, Nazi criminals and anti-Semites, with the blood of Holocaust victims on their hands, are openly glorified at the official level. In Ukraine, they are moving towards banning the canonical Orthodox Church and deepening the church schism,” Putin said.

The goal of all those actions is to “increase instability in the world, to divide cultures, peoples, world religions, and to provoke a conflict of civilizations,” the Russian president added. “Meanwhile, they talk about some kind of ‘new world order’, whose essence hasn’t changed: hypocrisy, double standards, claims to exclusivity, to global dominance, to the preservation of an essentially neocolonial system.” Putin expressed condolences to all Israelis who lost family members in the October 7 attacks, but warned that “innocent people should not be held accountable for crimes committed by others,” and that the fight against terrorism “cannot be carried out according to the notorious principle of collective responsibility.”

Read more …

“A possible result could be the destruction of Israel, the result being peace in the Middle East..”

Is a Palestinian Genocide In The Making? (Paul Craig Roberts)

Israel is talking tough –“Israel vows to cut off ‘the head of the snake’ and launch a military attack against Iran if Hezbollah joins the war with Hamas”. But it is only the economics minister talking, not a military one or Netanyahu. The Israeli military is good at murdering children, women and old men and at mass slaughter of civilians and destruction of social infrastructure such as hospitals from a safe distance with bombs and missiles. But the fighting ability of Israel’s army and its ability to take casualties is in question. In its encounter with Hezbollah some years ago, the Israeli army was driven from the field. The Israeli ground invasion of Gaza continues to be delayed. Israelis are claiming there are not enough flak jackets for their soldiers and America must give Israel more money so they can invade Gaza.

The solidly pro-Israel Biden regime expresses concern that Israel has no workable plan for sending ground forces into Gaza, and are questioning whether the IDF can achieve its goal of annihilating the Hamas militant group. There is concern that once the Israeli army is in Gaza Hamas will keep it there while Hezbollah overruns the rest of Israel. Netanyahu is now threatening Hezbollah with nuclear weapons. Israel’s use of nuclear weapons would leave Israel isolated in the world, which Israel already would be except for Israel’s American puppet state. Doubts about Israel’s success is why there has been no Israeli land invasion into Gaza. A possible result could be the destruction of Israel, the result being peace in the Middle East, which would reduce the profits of the US military/security complex and make the US neoconservatives irrelevant, hardly a desirable outcome for the US Establishment, and certainly not a desirable outcome for Israel.

As it currently stands, Hezbollah’s intervention and Iran’s intervention to protect Hezbollah depends on an Israeli invasion of Gaza, not on Israel’s merciless bombing of the civilian population and total destruction of infrastructure. Based on available current information, it seems that Israel has formed a new plan, which is to bomb Gaza City in northern Gaza to rubble, killing as many Palestinians as possible and driving the rest into Egypt where the “moral West and the only Middle East democracy” will leave them to die in the Sinai desert. As Norman Finkelstein told Chris Hedges, no one in the West will do anything about the Palestinian Genocide. And apparently neither will Hezbollah and Iran unless Israel invades Gaza.

Lowkey

Read more …

“..describing the amount of supplies that have already arrived as only “a drop in the ocean.”

Gaza Hospital System Has ‘Completely Collapsed’ – Official (RT)

The hospital system in Gaza has completely collapsed, Palestinian health ministry spokesman Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra said on Tuesday. He warned that hospitals need an immediate flow of medical supplies and fuel to restore lifesaving services amid the violent escalation between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel. “The fact that the doors of hospitals remain open does not mean that they provide service to the flood of the wounded,” he told journalists. On Wednesday, the ministry stated that 12 hospitals and 32 primary care centers in the blockaded Palestinian enclave were unable to operate due to bombing by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as well as fuel shortages and a lack of staff. Currently, there is only 30% of the original number of medical workers, the authority said in a statement on Facebook.

Gaza “has run out of medicines for treating cancer, diabetes and kidney failure,” Palestinian health minister Mai Al-Keila told RIA Novosti. She called for the opening of safe corridors for humanitarian aid, describing the amount of supplies that have already arrived as only “a drop in the ocean.” According to the Palestinian health ministry, 73 medical personnel have been killed, 57 facilities damaged, and 25 ambulances destroyed as a result of Israeli strikes. The Gaza conflict escalated on October 7 when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing hundreds and taking more than 220 hostages, according to Israeli officials. In retaliation, the IDF began airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave and announced a complete blockade of Gaza, cutting off supplies of water, food, electricity, medicine and fuel.

Since the start of the hostilities, Israel has reported 1,405 deaths, while Gaza officials say the death toll on their side of the border has risen to 6,546, noting that at least 2,704 of the victims were children. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was raging and threatening to spread throughout the region. He called for unimpeded humanitarian aid and an immediate ceasefire. He added that “Hamas’ attacks did not happen in a vacuum,” and noted that “the Palestinian people [had been] subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.” In response, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called for Guterres’ resignation, accusing him of showing “compassion” for terrorists and murderers.

Read more …

Don’t talk peace or else!

Israel Aims “To Teach UN A Lesson” (G.)

Israel says it is banning United Nations representatives from visiting the country “to teach them a lesson” after the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said the 7 October attacks by Hamas had to be seen in the context of decades of occupation of the Palestinian people. Speaking at a UN general debate on the Middle East in New York, Guterres created fury when he said: “It is important to … recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.” He also said no injustice to the Palestinians could justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said on army radio: “Due to his remarks we will refuse to issue visas to UN representatives. We have already refused a visa for undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, Martin Griffiths. The time has come to teach them a lesson.”

Erdan has already demanded Guterres’ resignation and described his remarks as blood libel. The response reflects a long-running Israeli belief that UN agencies, especially the UN human rights council, has an anti-Israeli agenda. It is not clear how far the visa ban extends within the UN hierarchy. A large number of UN workers, for instance, are employed by UNRWA, the UN relief and works agency for Palestinian people. The UN secretary general created fury in Israel and among some Republicans in the US by describing Israel’s bombardment and blockade of the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attacks as the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” and “clear violations of international humanitarian law”. Guterres also said of Hamas: “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.

All hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and without conditions.” Griffiths, a former British diplomat and special envoy on Yemen, has been forthright in warning that levels of UN aid into Gaza are woefully inadequate. He has repeatedly called for a ceasefire to allow aid into the territory. Last week the US vetoed a UN resolution tabled by Brazil calling for a humanitarian pause to allow aid into Gaza since it did not explicitly allow for Israel’s self-defence. The US has requested a vote at the UN security council on Thursday afternoon on a draft resolution of its own that reaffirms Israel’s right to collective and individual self defence, but adds that the movement of people within Gaza must be voluntary.

The draft resolution calls for “all measures necessary such as humanitarian pauses to allow for the full rapid safe and unhindered humanitarian access, consistent with international humanitarian law for UN agencies and other impartial humanitarian agencies … to ensure the unhindered provision of water, electricity, food fuel and medical supplies”. Russia has put forward its own counter-resolution calling for a swift and unconditional ceasefire. A vote could take place later this week.

Guterres

Read more …

“Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on October 18, that any attempts to displace Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan would be considered a declaration of “war.”

The US Has Betrayed Egypt Again (Sahiounie)

The Egyptian parliament met on October 19 and gave President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi the power to declare war against Israel, if necessary. Egypt and Israel have a peace treaty dating from 1979, which has been a success, proving that a neighboring Arab and Muslim country can share long-lasting peaceful relations with the Jewish State of Israel. Egyptians have watched in horror at the scenes of death and destruction in Gaza as the Israeli government exacts its revenge on Hamas after the October 7 attack on Israel. With the promised Israeli ground invasion of Gaza beginning at any moment, it is expected to be a bloodbath among unarmed civilians. Already the death toll is at least 5,087, including 2,055 children. The Cairo Peace Summit, co-chaired by the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine, met on October 21.

Sisi said that the solution to the Palestinian issue is not the displacement of an entire people to other areas, but justice and obtaining their legitimate rights and the right to self-determination. The U.S. sent a low-level representative to the Cairo Peace Summit, and this was a message from U.S. President Joe Biden, that the U.S. is working against Egypt, and not with them. The U.S. media is portraying Sisi as the villain, who refuses to open the gate at Rafah and allow displaced Palestinians under bombardment to flee. The reason behind Egypt’s refusal to accept Palestinian refugees is never hinted at in the U.S. media which parrots the U.S. State Department talking points. Israel has a long-standing law that prevents any Palestinian who leaves Gaza, or the Occupied West Bank, from ever returning home. The right of return is enshrined in international law; however, Israel does not comply with international law.

Sisi knows there is an Israeli plan, condoned and supported by Biden, to remove all Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt, where they will be supported by humanitarian aid, but can never repopulate Gaza again. They will be permanently homeless and stateless refugees. The Israeli plan also includes the Occupied West Bank and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned of attempts to displace the Palestinian people and said: “We will not leave, we will not leave, we will stay in our land.” Jordanian King Abdullah II said, “The violent bombing campaign in Gaza is a collective punishment of a besieged and helpless population,” he said, calling it a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime.”

The U.S.-Israeli plan is to move all the Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank into Jordan, which has had a peace treaty with Israel since 1994. Both leaders have warned of a plan to de-populate the West Bank, which will then be the ultimate solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as there will be no more occupation and no need for the UN resolution calling for the two-state solution. Israel will get everything, and the Palestinians will get nothing. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on October 18, that any attempts to displace Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan would be considered a declaration of “war.”

Read more …

“No one in Western Europe is talking about peace, Europe is suffering from a war psychosis.”

Europe Suffering From ‘War Psychosis’ In Support For Ukraine – Hungary (RMX)

Instead of looking for ways to foster peace, the European Union’s current and planned actions only serve to extend the war, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said after a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council. “It is all about war, there is no peace. Brussels is still pro-war, as shown by the fact that they would give €5 billion a year for arms over the next four years, which also shows that they expect the war to continue,” Szijjártó said. “No one in Western Europe is talking about peace, Europe is suffering from a war psychosis.” He added that it is clear there will be no solution to the war on the battlefield. Europeans expect nothing but destruction and death, and the conditions for peace are getting worse.

“Taking arms production and training to Ukraine would drag the EU into an immediate war. We find this totally unacceptable. Nor should arms transfers be just about supplying the Ukrainians with as many weapons as possible, because the EU is not a security organization, and justifying a country’s future accession on security grounds is completely unacceptable,” Szijjártó added. Speaking of the EU’s bans on Russian fossil fuels, Szijjártó said that Hungarians do not want to give up energy security in the name of some ill-defined ideals. “On energy supplies: We didn’t talk nonsense by saying that it’s not a political issue, it’s a physical issue. We are not willing to risk the security of Hungary’s energy supply or the results of cuts in tariffs. Hungarians are not responsible for the war, we are not willing to make them pay for it,” he said.

The Hungarian foreign minister accused other member states of being covert about its dealings with Russia, unlike Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who has been honest and transparent through his recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing. “My colleague, the Lithuanian foreign minister was blunt. He said that he expected me to clarify whether what is being said here is our own position or the Kremlin’s position. This is unacceptable to me. I reassured him that Hungary is a sovereign country with a sovereign opinion,” Szijjártó explained. “As long as this government is in power, we are not prepared to accept any opinion from anywhere, from any geographical direction, whether there is a lot of water between us or not. I said to my Lithuanian colleague that I hope he can say the same thing with his hand on his heart,” he added.

Read more …

“..Zelensky has recently urged his forces to take at least 500 meters of territory from Russian positions daily..”

Imagine taking military orders from a clown whose main achievement is he plays piano with his dick..

Kiev Slams Musk Over Calls To End Ukrainian Conflict (RT)

Mikhail Podolyak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, described Elon Musk’s calls for an urgent ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict to avoid a larger conflict as a “catastrophic mistake” with far-reaching consequences in a Telegram post on Tuesday. On his channel, Podolyak called Musk’s recent proposal equivalent to surrendering Ukraine to “mandatory large-scale genocide”from Russia and suggested that refusing to support Ukraine would “inevitably lead to a sharp increase in conflicts around the world, the end of the era of international law, the collapse of the international economy, and the triumph of the forces of evil.” The advisor’s comments came after Musk stated in a conversation on X (formerly Twitter) Spaces on Tuesday that the US was “sleepwalking” into World War III by antagonizing countries like Russia, Iran, and China.

Musk said he believed that “civilization itself may be at stake”and stressed that the US must work to prevent a global conflict. To that end, he called on the US to “resume normal relations with Russia” and “figure out” a way to establish peace in Ukraine, labeling the war a hopeless situation. The billionaire noted that it made no sense that soldiers from Russia and Ukraine should die every day and stressed that a ceasefire was the only way out of the conflict for the Ukrainian people since Russia would never give up its lands – apparently referring to Crimea, Kherson, Zaporozhye, and the Donbass republics – and Ukraine would never be able to take over these territories with its smaller army.

Musk suggested that the current line of control could be a suitable permanent border between Russia and Ukraine since, according to him, there is no significant anti-Russian insurgency in the “Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine” and, therefore, there is little point in forcing areas that want to be part of Russia to be part of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has recently urged his forces to take at least 500 meters of territory from Russian positions daily. That’s despite the Ukrainian military having suffered tens of thousands of casualties during this summer’s counteroffensive, which ultimately failed to achieve any significant territorial gains.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin described Kiev’s counteroffensive as having “failed completely.” He stated that Ukraine had lost over 90,000 soldiers, 557 tanks, and 1,900 since the start of the operation in June. At the same time, Russian forces have been ensuring that the Ukrainian military has “increasingly fewer capabilities,” according to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who stated on Wednesday that new weapon systems deployed by Russian forces have taken down 24 Ukrainian planes in just the past five days.

Read more …

“US President Joe Biden’s $106 billion national security funding request, which includes aid for Ukraine and Israel, is in “big trouble”..

US Senate Ready To Block $100 Billion Israel-Ukraine Aid – Politico (RT)

US President Joe Biden’s $106 billion national security funding request, which includes aid for Ukraine and Israel, is in “big trouble” as senators prepare to block or significantly alter the bill, Politico reported on Tuesday. The outlet noted that many in the Senate, including Republican supporters of Biden’s initiative, are “uncharacteristically pessimistic” about the bill’s chances. “The package that the White House sent over really is dead,” South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds was quoted as saying. “The appropriators in the Senate can begin by basically starting over.” The bill was introduced by the Biden administration last week, seeking legislative approval to provide an additional $61.4 billion to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia and $14.3 billion in aid to Israel in its war with Hamas.

Biden also wants $9.2 billion for humanitarian aid in Israel, Gaza, and Ukraine, as well as $7.4 billion to counter China’s influence. The administration included a further $13.6 billion in funding for border security. Politico noted that while Democrats hold the majority in the Senate, they still need nine or more Republican votes to get a bill passed through the chamber. However, it seems that Republican lawmakers are unsatisfied with the current version of Biden’s proposal, with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stating that a number of GOP senators want stronger border security as well as “other changes.” Politico added that some Republicans are unsure about linking aid to Israel with ongoing funding for Ukraine. A growing number of conservative lawmakers have vehemently opposed sending any further support to Kiev. “They should be separated out,” insisted Republican Florida Senator Marco Rubio, noting that the Israeli component of Biden’s bill has “almost overwhelming support” and could quickly be passed.

South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, however, has insisted that Biden’s package should move forward as a whole. “Those are four national security issues, and we should deal with them as a unit,” he insisted. To date, Washington has approved at least $113 billion in aid to Ukraine, according to recent calculations from the US State Department Office of Inspector General. However, House Republicans have increasingly pushed back against additional aid, going as far as threatening a government shutdown last month over the inclusion of Ukraine in a government spending bill. Funding for Kiev was ultimately dropped from the stopgap spending package, but US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy lost his position after ‘Ukraine skeptics’ accused him of striking a secret deal with the Biden administration to keep the money flowing.

Read more …

“..the number of foreign mercenaries and NATO soldiers now fighting in Donbass is much higher than most people are aware, and if it is not currently 50%, it soon will be.”

Ukraine’s Manpower Problem (Russell Bentley)

During its much hyped offensive, the Ukrainian army lost more than 90,000 people, Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed in a speech last month. “Sometimes it seems that it is not their people who they throw into battle,” he noted. And indeed they are not, anymore. Two of my friends in the DPR/RF Army, each in different units, on different Fronts, one still fighting near Artemovsk, the other down around the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, both told me that the number of foreign mercenaries and NATO soldiers now fighting in Donbass is much higher than most people are aware, and if it is not currently 50%, it soon will be. The Ukrainian military is also increasingly relying on political extremists to help fill its depleted ranks.

Roman Edwards, a British mercenary in Ukraine publicly acknowledged on X (formerly Twitter) that almost all Ukrainian fighters, that he is serving with, openly profess Nazi views: “I’m aware since I serve here. Literally everyone I serve with uses some sort of “N4zi” symbol: Swastika, SS lightning bolts, Totenkopf, etc. they even have a giant Swastika flag with blue and yellow… it’s not a big deal.” So, the first category of enemies Russian soldiers face are hardcore Nazis and professional foreign mercenaries. These are the terrorists and war criminals who torture and slaughter P.O.W.’s and serve as “blocking troops” who even execute Ukrainian conscript soldiers who refuse or even hesitate to commit suicide by obeying impossible orders.

As noted by Vostok Batallion commander Alexander Khodakovsky, the second category of troops – forcibly mobilized Ukrainian conscripts – is much “larger than the Bandera lovers who hate Russia, whose ancestors licked the boots of the Nazis, leaving a will for their descendants to lick the boots of anyone who opposes Russia.” “Look at these prisoners (Ukrainian conscripts). Who do you see? There are no swastikas, like on the bastards from Azov – there are not even tattoos. On his neck one has a large cross with the Savior, who brought him alive from the hell created by his fellow tribesmen,” he explained. Three different perspectives on the summer offensive, from different people –the Russian President, a British mercenary fighting alongside Ukrainian Nazis, and a frontline commander.

To sum it up, many thousands have died, the Ukrainian conscripts are not Nazis, but the foreign mercenaries admit that “literally everyone” they serve with are. What conclusions can be drawn? Simply this – that what is left of the Ukrainian Army is a two tiered system of cannon fodder and blocking troops, that sees untrained conscripts thrown onto the front lines, with battle hardened Russian troops in front of them, and blocking troops made up of foreign mercenaries and hardcore Nazis behind them, who will kill them if they retreat or refuse to advance when ordered to. So, the common Ukrainian citizens, primarily from the ethnically Russian and Russian-speaking parts of Ukraine, are kidnapped from the streets by press gangs and thrown directly into battle without adequate training or weapons, where they are forced to face impossible odds in combat.

Read more …

“The jurors knew they would be denounced in the media and by politicians and would have Black Lives Matter and Antifa on their lawns.”

“This is America today. Be a Proud American.”

George Floyd Killed Himself (Paul Craig Roberts)

If you remember, 3 years and 5 months ago we were told repeatedly that Minneapolis white police officer Derick Chavin murdered black drug addict George Floyd by holding him on the ground with his knee on Floyd’s neck while Floyd cried “I can’t breathe.” The “evidence” was a video taken at a distance by a young black girl that was misleading because it suffered from camera perspective distortion as experts at the time explained but were ignored in the media hysteria focused on the police officer. Moreover, Floyd’s complaints that he couldn’t breathe began when he was sitting in the patrol car. As the up close police videos showed, Chauvin’s knee was on Floyd’s shoulder, the approved technique.

Chavin was restraining Floyd because he realized he had a fentanyl case on his hands, had called medics, and was restraining Floyd so he wouldn’t thrash around and use up what little oxygen he was receiving. Fentanyl kills, if my memory of my investigation is reliable, by depriving blood cells from carrying oxygen. I reported these facts at the time and cited the evidence including the coroner’s report that Floyd’s blood contained a multiple of the fatal dose of fentanyl. But the false media narrative had no ears for the truth. Chauvin was convicted by the media long prior to his trial, and no jury was going to go against solid national opinion. The jurors knew they would be denounced in the media and by politicians and would have Black Lives Matter and Antifa on their lawns.

Consequently, innocent police officers were convicted for a crime that did not happen. The ignorant mob and corrupt media triumphed over justice. When I was young, conviction by the media prior to trial and a guilty verdict meant the case was dismissed because the jury pool was biased. Tucker Carlson recently reported the facts in the first 3 minutes and 30 seconds of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgXuprXyPg0 . What brought the facts to light again is a law suit filed by a prosecutor against her boss in which deposition under oath revealed the conversation between the prosecutor and the county medical advisor, who told her “that there were no medical findings that showed any injury to the vital structures of Mr Floyd’s neck. There were no medical indications of asphyxia or strangulation.”

We know the facts, Tucker says, but what can we do about it? Apparently nothing. Floyd, a drug addict who killed himself, has been made a martyr. There are monuments to him. Taxpayers turned over $27 million of their money to Floyd’s family. This is another lie set in stone. And innocent police rot in prison. This is America today. Be a Proud American.

Read more …

“Their only witness, their chief witness, their only witness, just admitted, number one, he lied,” Trump told reporters..”

Trump Fined $10,000 for Breaking Gag Order in New York Civil Fraud Trial (Sp.)

US President Donald Trump was recently fined $10,000 for violating a gag order implemented as part of his ongoing civil fraud trial in New York, marking the second such fine he’s been slapped with in less than a week. The fine came after Judge Arthur Engoron questioned Trump on the witness stand, asking him about comments he made to the media during a midmorning break about a partisan “person” that sits near the judge during court proceedings. “If we had a jury it would have been fair, at least — even if it was a somewhat negative jury — because no negative jury would vote against me,” Trump had said during the earlier break. “But this judge will. Because this judge is a very partisan judge, with a person who’s very partisan sitting alongside of him, perhaps even much more partisan than he is.”

On the witness stand, Trump insisted his comments were about his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is acting as a witness in the case – not the judge’s law clerk Allison Greenfield, who he had previously criticized on social media. Despite Trump’s explanations, Engoron found his testimony “not credible” and levied the fine against him. Engoron has warned the Trump camp that “severe sanctions” may be levied against the former commander-in-chief for any future slip-ups. “I am very protective of my staff,” the judge said. The civil fraud trial, initiated by the New York Attorney General Letitia James, has been ongoing for approximately three weeks. The incident leading to Trump’s fine began when he referred to Engoron as partisan and suggested there was a more partisan individuals alongside him during a break in the proceedings.

This led to the judge’s concern about potential dangers and the violation of the gag order. Trump’s legal team argued that his comments were directed at Cohen, but the judge disagreed. The violation follows a $5,000 fine imposed on Trump last Friday for comments he made about Greenfield, which were posted on social media. The incident highlights the challenge of gag orders for a former president known for making public comments. In Washington, a federal judge had also imposed a gag order in an election interference case against Trump, which was on hold as an appeals court reviewed its merits. Despite the fine, the incident overshadowed a potentially successful day for Trump’s defense, as his lawyers managed to provoke inconsistencies in Cohen’s testimony. “Their only witness, their chief witness, their only witness, just admitted, number one, he lied,” Trump told reporters, after the day’s hearings, as quoted by US media.

Read more …

They thought they had found another case, but not even Chris Wray plays ball..

“I did not feel pressured. I did not feel bullied,” Mr. Wray said in reference to one of the discussions that he had with President Trump in 2018..”

Trump Cleared of Any Wrongdoing in FBI Headquarters Spat (ET)

After a lengthy review, a Department of Justice watchdog has found that President Donald Trump didn’t improperly influence the FBI’s decision to keep its headquarters in downtown Washington rather than move it to suburban locations in Maryland or Virginia. “With regard to possible influence by then-President Trump or the White House, we found no evidence that the FBI’s decisions were based on improper considerations or motives,” the Justice Department inspector general wrote in a report released on Oct. 24, after a four-year investigation. Roughly 20 years ago, the FBI concluded that its Washington-based headquarters—the J. Edgar Hoover Building—was no longer meeting the needs of the agency in terms of security and supporting the needs of its workforce.

Starting in 2014, the government began to explore the possibility of transferring ownership of the current FBI headquarters land to a developer, who in exchange would build a new facility in the city’s suburbs in a deal dubbed an “exchange procurement.” However, the General Services Administration (GSA) found that the value of the existing site wouldn’t cover the cost of a new facility, and so the Office of Management and Budget asked Congress for money to cover the difference. In July 2017, the GSA announced that it had canceled plans to go ahead with the exchange procurement deal because Congress didn’t appropriate all of the requested funds. This prompted the FBI to scrap plans for a suburban campus and instead recommend that the J. Edgar Hoover Building be demolished and a new headquarters constructed in its place.

However, some Democrats saw a conspiracy afoot. They accused President Trump of meddling in that decision, claiming in an October 2018 letter to the GSA that he did it to keep competitors away from his Washington-based commercial property, the Trump International Hotel. They alleged that President Trump directly influenced the decision to scrap the suburban campus construction deal during a January 2018 meeting that included officials from the GSA, the FBI, and the White House. “He was directly involved with the decision to abandon the long-term relocation plan and instead move ahead [with the alternate plan],” the Democrats wrote. “He should not have played any role in a determination that bears directly on his own financial interests with the Trump hotel.” The letter prompted an investigation, which concluded by finding President Trump innocent of the allegations.

“Specifically, we found no evidence that, in making the decision to seek to have the new FBI headquarters remain at its current JEH site, Director [Christopher] Wray or others at the FBI considered the location of the then-named Trump International Hotel or how then-President Trump’s financial interests could be impacted by the decision,” the watchdog wrote in the report. Mr. Wray told the watchdog that the matter of relocating the headquarters came up in discussions with President Trump on several occasions but that he never felt pressured by the 45th president into making any kind of decision. “I did not feel pressured. I did not feel bullied,” Mr. Wray said in reference to one of the discussions that he had with President Trump in 2018, according to a memo cited in the watchdog’s report.

Read more …

Grassley demands answers from both the FBI and the DOJ by November 17.

“Any national security prosecutor like myself will tell you that usually you have a couple or maybe a handful… but 40? That’s the most I’ve ever heard of. That’s more than in mob cases and RICO cases.”

FBI Received ‘Criminal Info’ From Over 40 Confidential Sources on Bidens (JTN)

The FBI received information about possible criminal activity involving the Biden family from more than 40 informants over an extended period of time, but most avenues of investigation were thwarted, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed in a bombshell letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, released Wednesday. “This letter is based on years of investigation, including the provision of information, records, and allegations from multiple Justice Department whistleblowers that indicate there is – and has been – an effort among certain Justice Department and FBI officials to improperly delay and stop full and complete investigative activity into the Biden family, including but not limited to FD-1023s referencing the Biden family,” Grassley wrote.

“This alleged political infection breaks faith with the American people, and it will ruin our governmental institutions should it continue. As just one initial example,” he added, “I’ve been made aware that at one point in time the FBI maintained over 40 Confidential Human Sources that provided criminal information relating to Joe Biden, James Biden, and Hunter Biden.” Grassley said Americans need answers to an essential question: “Did the FBI investigate the information or shut it down?” “That’s a lot of taxpayer dollars implemented towards one target or one target set,” former Trump advisor Kash Patel said on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “Any national security prosecutor like myself will tell you that usually you have a couple or maybe a handful… but 40? That’s the most I’ve ever heard of. That’s more than in mob cases and RICO cases.”

The Iowa lawmaker further indicated that he had identified 25 Department of Justice and FBI personnel for interviews “who either had a direct or indirect role in the allegations” he mentioned. He further asked that Garland provide him with a litany of records on the Biden family. The Department of Justice already faces allegations of slow-walking the tax investigation into first son Hunter Biden. A pair of IRS agents who worked on the case came forward earlier this year with allegations that Biden-appointed officials had worked to stifle the investigation and prevent the bringing of more sever charges against Hunter Biden. Grassley’s requests come as the House of Representatives continues its own investigations into the first family. Those efforts have thus far uncovered extensive foreign payments linked to Biden family businesses.

Among the most high-profile of discoveries was a document detailing confidential human source information claiming that Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky had hired Hunter Biden to secure access to his then-vice president father and paid them to shut down a probe from the top Ukrainian prosecutor. After the House secured the opportunity to view the form behind closed doors, Grassley himself published the document in July. Earlier this month, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer revealed the discovery of a $200,000 check that Joe Biden received in 2018 from his brother James that was linked to the failing healthcare company Americore.

Read more …

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethan Hawke

 

 

QueenBee
https://twitter.com/i/status/1717134496401695121

 

 

Arctic fox

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in wartime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 202022
 
 September 20, 2022  Posted by at 8:55 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  75 Responses »


Salvador Dali Cadaques 1923

 

Russia Is Seeking Swift End To Ukraine Conflict – Turkey (RT)
Ukraine is Not a New Afghanistan (Batiushka)
German Politician Predicts Fate Of Nord Stream 2 (RT)
< Germany Boosting Russian Imports – Trade Mission (RT)
The European Union Is About to Rupture (Malinen)
French Warned Of Winter Blackouts (RT)
Dire Winter Scenario In Sight For EU (RT)
UN Chief Supports Moscow’s Aid Proposal (RT)
The Unintended Consequences Of The EU Energy Emergency Plan (OP)
Ukraine Claims Missile Hit Area Near Nuclear Power Plant (RT)
Why the World Economic Forum’s Plutocracy Should Be Dissolved (Shurk)
Whistleblower: FBI Uses Jan. 6 Cases To Create Illusion Of National Crisis (JTN)
A Walk on the Wild Side (Kunstler)
Why So Many Cling to Covid Panic (Oshinskie)

 

 

At least hundreds of Canadians have posted their life stories with the #TrudeauMustGo hashtag. He now calls them Putin puppets. It’s hard to show less respect for your own people. Twitter is now shadowbanning the hashtag.

 

 

 

 

Devine
https://twitter.com/i/status/1571879054936100866

 

 

 

 

Veneto, the richest region in Italy.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1570650331595542528

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erdogan the peacemaker. Lovely.

Russia Is Seeking Swift End To Ukraine Conflict – Turkey (RT)

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin wants to see a swift conclusion to the conflict in Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday in an interview with the PBS NewsHour program. Erdogan said he held “extensive meetings with Putin in Uzbekistan” during last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. “I realized that they are actually trying to finish this as soon as possible. This situation is a big problem,” the Turkish leader said, referring to the conflict in Ukraine. Erdogan, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, said he wants Putin and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to talk directly, in order to find a solution to the conflict, which has been underway since late February. “We have a persistent desire to bring these leaders together. Let’s bring them together. I want to hear everything from them. We haven’t succeeded yet, but I’m not without hope,” he stated.


The Turkish president claimed to have told both Putin and Zelensky that a negotiated end to the fighting is needed because “nobody will be winning at the end of the day.” The Kremlin earlier said the Russian and Ukrainian leaders should only meet to sign concrete agreements prepared for them by their negotiators. Turkey has maintained contacts with both Moscow and Kiev throughout the hostilities. It condemned the use of force by Russia, but at the same time refused to join the international sanctions against Moscow and continued dealing with the country. Ankara was also involved in the UN-brokered deal to allow export of grain from the Ukrainian ports, achieved between Russia and Ukraine in July. Russia recently complained that the part of the agreement, which calls for removing obstacles for shipments of its food products, remained unfulfilled by Western countries.

Read more …

“There’s an east wind coming all the same. Such a wind as never blew…. It will be cold and bitter….and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it’s God’s own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared.”

– His Last Bow, Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, October 1917

Ukraine is Not a New Afghanistan (Batiushka)

[..] we have two quite different and incomparable countries: Afghanistan at the centre [of the Eurasian Heartland] and the Ukraine on the Western margins – which is what its very name means. The Afghans live in inaccessible mountains, the Ukrainians on open steppes. The Afghans have a very strong identity, even if, like other mountain-dwellers, as in the Scottish Highlands or the Swiss Alps, they are divided into fiercely different and warring tribal clans and different languages according to the valley they live in. However, the Ukrainians in their open land are swayed one way and another, largely depending on who makes the best offer, on what way the wind blows and the tide flows.

The USA has constantly tried to chip off, occupy and control marginal pieces of Eurasia, islands like Iceland, the British Isles and Ireland, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan, peninsulas like South Korea, South Vietnam and Western Europe. In 1975 it was humiliated and chased out of South-East Asia when Saigon was at last liberated. Other areas it occupies, like Taiwan and Korea, are under threat. In 2021, after it had dared to occupy not a marginal area, but the very centre of the Eurasian Heartland in Afghanistan, it was humiliated and chased out. It was a classic example of hubris and overreach. ‘We’re American, we can do anything’. Actually, you can’t.

Now the USA is trying to cling on to Western Europe by shoring up its literal borderland, the Ukraine. This is one of the last US attempts to keep power in Eurasia. The USA fears Eurasia, for Eurasia is much stronger than it and the USA is isolated on its big island, placed, as if for quarantine, between the Atlantic and the Pacific. One day it will reluctantly be forced to admit that Eurasia is geographically indivisible, however much it tries to divide it politically and occupy it militarily. Then it will retire to its isolation on its big island, rejected by Afro-Eurasia, Oceania and Latin America, and start doing some very serious soul-searching about its own history. It is called repentance.

The USA has been expanding eastwards across the Atlantic for over three generations now. It has controlled the UK since 1942, from where it invaded the rest of Western Europe in 1944 and invaded Central Europe since 1989, using puppet elites, making assassinations and fiddling elections. Portugal under Salazar, Spain under Franco, Italy under every possible fraudster, Greece under the Colonels, France after it deposed the Last Frenchman, De Gaulle, the UK under the Conservatives, are only examples of its manipulations. [..] Exactly a generation after taking over Central Europe in 1989, since 2014 the USA has been trying to expand into Eastern Europe. We are now at an irreversible point. History books will be written as events ‘Before 2022 and After 2022’.

Read more …

“..this cooperation is irrecoverably destroyed”. “..Stephan Weil said Berlin would never be able to trust Moscow again as a reliable energy supplier..”

But Berlin is a reliable customer?! Can you even hear yourself?

German Politician Predicts Fate Of Nord Stream 2 (RT)

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was intended to pump gas from Russia to Germany, is doomed to remain idle indefinitely, the head of Germany’s Lower Saxony region has suggested. Stephan Weil said Berlin would never be able to trust Moscow again as a reliable energy supplier. In an interview with Germany’s DPA news agency published on Monday, Governor Weil said the pipeline project would not be revived even after Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves office. “The loss of trust is so fundamental that there will never again be a situation in which a German federal government can rely on energy from Russia,” the official noted. According to Weil, the “Nord Stream 2 will never go into operation.” The governor claimed that the Kremlin has burnt its bridges and that “this cooperation is irrecoverably destroyed.”

Weil concluded by proclaiming that the “West will recover from [the situation] faster than Russia.” The construction of the second leg of the existing Nord Stream pipeline began in May 2018. The project was expected to double Russian gas supplies to Germany. Despite opposition from the US and some EU member states, the German government staunchly defended the project, and the pipeline was completed. However, Berlin put its launch on hold indefinitely on February 22, after Russia recognized the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, days before Moscow launched its offensive against Ukraine.

In July and August, Russia incrementally reduced gas supplies to Germany via Nord Stream 1, before shutting it down altogether in early September. Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom cited technical issues caused by Western sanctions. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has made it clear that the pipeline will not resume operation until Western sanctions are lifted. sMeanwhile, Berlin has accused Russia of weaponizing gas supplies. Soaring prices coupled with the closure of the Nord Stream 1 saw the German government put in place emergency measures to ensure the country has enough energy to survive the winter. Earlier this week, President Putin suggested the West should give the green light to the Nord Stream 2 “if it’s that bad.”

Read more …

Yeah, yeah: “..this cooperation is irrecoverably destroyed”.

Germany Boosting Russian Imports – Trade Mission (RT)

The volume of German imports from Russia has risen over the first seven months of this year by 32.6% in annual terms, amounting to $27.9 billion, the Russian Trade Mission in Berlin told RIA Novosti on Monday, citing data from Germany’s federal statistical office, Destatis. According to the Russian trade representative in Germany, Andrey Sobolev, the rise in imports of fuel and energy products through July was 40.5%. Purchases of Russian gold have risen more than tenfold, while the volume of silver imports jumped by almost five times. The EU country has also boosted purchases of other metals from Russia, including copper, aluminum, and nickel.


The report also indicated that German exports to Russia decreased by 43.6% to $10.2 billion compared to the same period last year. Declining exports caused a $17.7 billion trade imbalance for Germany. The trade representative explained that, despite the general decline in exports to Russia, “there was an increase in supplies from Germany of pharmaceutical products, seeds and fruits.” Russia accounted for 2.3% of total German foreign trade and was the fourth most important country for German goods outside of the EU in 2021. In April, US analytics firm S&P Global warned of a possible financial shock if there’s a “trade rupture” between the two countries.

Read more …

It has become a prison.

The European Union Is About to Rupture (Malinen)

The functioning of the EU has, until recently, been built on two political pillars that now appear to be crumbling. Primarily, German growth has made possible the joint financing (through low-cost debt, the EU budget, and the central banks’ clearing system) of unsuccessful economies without the EU forcing them to commit to politically unacceptable reforms. Beneficent global developments have made possible the concentration on economic integration while going slow on the much more contentious integration of cultural, social, and foreign policies. The deterioration of the global economy, together with EU policies, now threaten industry and living standards in EU member states, reduce the scope of joint economic support, and force member states to rapidly evaluate their readiness for possibly radical reductions in their political self-determination.

This is most evident in Italy. The yields of Italian sovereign debt have reached levels that can be considered unsustainable, given the country’s high indebtedness and low rate of economic growth. For example, the yield of the Italian 10-year bond breached the 4 percent line late this past week. The maturity structure of Italian debt is also rather unfavorable. At the end of June, for example, Italy had issued only 52 percent of its needs for external financing in 2022. In addition, 35 percent of her outstanding debt will come due already in 2024. Half of her total debt will come due within five years. Without active country-specific support from the ECB, which the newly introduced Transmission Protection Instrument is designed to facilitate, Italian debt is unsustainable at current yields.

Disagreements among member states on the wisdom of filling the ECB with Italian bonds is bound to weaken the glue keeping the EU together as before. The energy crisis is also sowing seeds of serious inner conflict. The politics in the EU are becoming less forgiving as difficulties mount. Both Hungary and the Czech Republic have objected to the plans for a price cap of Russian gas, which now looks unlikely to be enforced. The European Commission is also planning to cut funding for the Hungarian government of Victor Orban due to “rule-of-law concerns.” This is unlikely to increase the incentives of Hungary to stay in the union. More generally, as funding is made conditional on countries meeting the test of adhering to “European values,” one can expect the list of such essentially political requirements to grow as economic conditions worsen and demands for uniform policies grow.

For example, Poland is fed up with constant extra demands from the EU, like the demand to walk back from the changes Polish government was planning to the judicial system, considering the distribution of funds from the Recovery Fund to its government. Krzysztof Sobolewski, the governing party’s secretary-general, has warned that without a clear change in the actions of Brussels, “We will have no choice but to pull out all the cannons in our arsenal and open fire.” Since a number of contentious decisions still require unanimity, such a threat might be unwise to take lightly. [..] Reports state that Russia is preparing a first shipment from its new liquefied natural gas plant to Greece. Hungary, as an outlier, is buying additional gas from Russia in accordance with their new agreement. It will be interesting to see what Germany may choose to do if the impact of energy scarcity on its economy and population is as large as some reports suggest.


CPI lags PPI: “German Consumer Prices (CPI) are likely to rise further after Producer Prices (PPI) increased by almost 46% in August, the strongest increase since 1949.”

Read more …

“We thought that we could gradually replace nuclear energy with renewable energy sources, but now we understand that we will need more energy. We need both sources..”

French Warned Of Winter Blackouts (RT)

Private households in France may face power outages this winter in the event of severe frosts, the head of the energy regulator CRE, Emmanuelle Wargon, told France Info radio on Monday. “Under no circumstances will there be gas shutdowns in private homes. But on the electrical side, we may be faced with having to make difficult decisions about limited shutdowns,” she said, adding “These can last for several hours and will be very local – at the commune or district level – with prior notification to citizens.” The regulator noted that shutdowns would not affect critical infrastructure, including hospitals. Extreme measures could be avoided if the winter is relatively warm, she added.


Wargon also admitted that the decision to close the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, decommissioned in 2020, “could not have been taken in the current crisis.” “We thought that we could gradually replace nuclear energy with renewable energy sources, but now we understand that we will need more energy. We need both sources,” she stressed. France relies on nuclear energy more than any other European country, generating about 70% of its electricity that way. However, about half of its 56 nuclear reactors have been shut down for maintenance, notably to repair corrosion problems.

Read more …

“..70% of nitrogen fertilizer production capacities in the EU have already been stopped, aluminum production has been reduced by 25%, and steel production by 5%.”

Dire Winter Scenario In Sight For EU (RT)

Reducing dependence on Russian natural gas supply is impossible for the European Union in the coming year without a massive production halt, RBK business daily reported on Monday, citing a study by McKinsey’s former Russian division, consulting company Yakov & Partners. Their research showed that, despite reports that EU stores are full, the bloc has not yet overcome its reliance on Russian energy and will not be able to get through the coming winter and next year “without maintaining gas supplies from Russia or a [effecting] significant reduction” in consumption.

The report outlined that, in order to meet their needs until the end of 2022, European countries will either have to maintain imports from Russia or reduce gas consumption by an additional seven to 12 billion cubic meters, “which is possible only with a complete or partial shutdown of a number of industries.” The deficit may grow to 20-30 billion cubic meters if China’s demand for LNG recovers or if the winter is cold and long, or in the event of disruptions in supply chains, it adds. Yakov & Partners indicated that 70% of nitrogen fertilizer production capacities in the EU have already been stopped, aluminum production has been reduced by 25%, and steel production by 5%. The authors of the study suggested that the decline in production is likely to continue “even in the event of a mild winter.”

“In the perspective of 2023, the rejection of Russian gas means a deficit of 40-60 billion cubic meters for European countries even while maintaining the current rate of gas savings for the whole of 2023,” said Elena Kuznetsova, a partner at the company. She explained that 60 billion cubic meters of gas is comparable to the annual gas consumption of France and Poland combined, or the total annual gas consumption of such industries as fertilizer production, petrochemistry, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, and all engineering. Stopping these industries will further affect other related industries, from agriculture to services, Kuznetsova warned.

Read more …

Guterres is doing some good work.

UN Chief Supports Moscow’s Aid Proposal (RT)

The UN chief has pledged to help Russia donate some 300 tons of fertilizers stranded in European ports to developing nations. “If Russia wants to provide fertilizers free of charge to developing countries, I believe the World Food Programme will be able to implement that desire,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, which was published on Monday. He acknowledged that EU nations will first have to be convinced to allow free the export of Russian fertilizers through their ports. The offer to donate an estimated 300 tons of Russian fertilizer, unable to leave EU ports due to anti-Russian sanctions, came last Friday from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In late July, the UN co-mediated an arrangement with Ukraine and Russia, which allowed the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea. As part of the deal, the organization pledged to help ease Western restrictions on international trade that Russia says prevent it from exporting its food products and fertilizers. “This week I had an intensive series of contacts with the leaders of the EU. And I hope there will be a positive change with regard to the possibility of distributing Russian grain and fertilizers without obstacles through Europe to other markets,” Guterres told RIA Novosti in another part of the interview, which was published on Saturday.

Putin previously criticized the grain deal, saying that while it was touted as a way to help poor countries deal with surging global food prices, in practice Ukrainian exports mostly went to rich EU nations. The abundance of grain and other food products from Ukraine on European markets has apparently angered local producers, who are struggling to compete with the cheaper imports, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. The EU previously had quotas and steep tariffs for Ukraine trade, protecting its own farmers and forcing Ukrainians to export most of their produce to other places. But the restrictions were lifted after Russia attacked the country in February, and European governments rushed to support Kiev with various forms of assistance.

Read more …

“..the last three years included two pandemic years when a lot of companies in the oil and gas industries struggled to stay afloat, let alone post a profit..”

The Unintended Consequences Of The EU Energy Emergency Plan (OP)

This week saw the European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen do something that would have probably been considered the opposite of democracy just a few years ago. She proposed that governments impose a ceiling on certain energy producers’ revenues and add a windfall profit for Big Oil majors. Called “a solidarity contribution” or “a crisis contribution,” the windfall tax’s aim is the same as the aim of the revenue ceiling: manage energy costs in a runaway inflation environment and get some additional money to, according to the plan, distribute among those who most need it. Like all grand plans, however, unintended consequences abound with this one, and one of the gravest is the discouragement of oil and gas investments at a time when global oil and gas investments are already lower than they should be in light of demand projections.

JP Morgan’s head of global energy strategy said it this week in an interview with Bloomberg. “If you’re planning your capital budget, you have to think twice now that you have a new risk,” Malek told Bloomberg. “It encourages majors to return cash to shareholders as they use that free cashflow that could have been used in investment.” Per plans, the EU seeks to “raise” some $140 billion from windfall taxes on non-gas electricity generators and oil gas, and coal companies for their “extraordinary record profits benefiting from war and on the back of consumers,” to quote Von der Leyen. Reaction from the industry was swift. Austria’s OMV said the consequences of such measures could be huge, adding that it was unfair to base the windfall levy proposal on oil companies’ profits from the last three years since these were not normal times, Reuters reported, quoting CEO Alfred Stern.

“We will keep an eye on that, as it can already have a massive impact,” Stern told media, noting, however, that the exact impact was difficult to glean because the proposal has yet to be fleshed out. Per von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech, in which she listed the windfall tax among measures to cope with the energy crisis, the idea is to tax oil and gas companies with 33 percent of any current-year profits that were 20 percent above the company’s average earnings for the last three years. OMV’s Stern noted that the last three years included two pandemic years when a lot of companies in the oil and gas industries struggled to stay afloat, let alone post a profit, with oil prices falling as low as $25 per barrel.

Read more …

Different plant, same tactics.

Ukraine Claims Missile Hit Area Near Nuclear Power Plant (RT)

A missile has hit a location in Ukraine’s Nikolaev Region close to the South Ukraine nuclear power plant, President Vladimir Zelensky has claimed. The incident happened early on Monday morning, according to the president. The projectile landed some 300 meters from the facility, causing damage to windows and briefly disrupting power supplies to the grid, he wrote on social media. Zelensky posted surveillance footage purportedly showing the strike. The video shows a powerful explosion against the backdrop of the night skyline and was apparently filmed by a malfunctioning digital camera. The frames appear to be out of order, and the timestamps go back and forth. The president’s post also included photos of broken windows, presumably caused by the blast.


Zelensky accused Russia of “endangering the world” and said it should be “stopped, before it is too late”. The South Ukraine nuclear power plant is located near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk, deep inside Ukraine-controlled territory in the south of the country. The facility has been operating since 1982 and has three VVER-1000 reactors. Zelensky’s accusations against Russia add to a long list of nuclear-related allegations. Kiev and Moscow have for weeks been pointing the finger at each other over attacks on the Russian-controlled city of Energodar, which hosts the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited the facility earlier this month, confirming damage caused by multiple shelling incidents, but declining to attribute them to either side.

Read more …

100 years ago, the battle was for sharing the surplus. Now, it is for sharing the lack of it.

Why the World Economic Forum’s Plutocracy Should Be Dissolved (Shurk)

Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, appeared with David Gergen in 2017 at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and openly boasted of his influence over many national leaders: “I have to say when I mention names like Mrs. Merkel, even Vladimir Putin and so on, they have all been Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum, but what we are really proud of now is the young generation like Prime Minister Trudeau, the President of Argentina and so on. So we penetrate the cabinets. So yesterday I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau, and I know that half of his cabinet or even more are Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum…. It is true in Argentina and it is true in France now….”

When the chairman of an international economic body publicly brags about his leverage over the leaders of sovereign nation states, he can hardly be mistaken as defending the merits of “democracy.” In a somewhat farcical display of the World Economic Forum’s control over individual nations, it has become eerily commonplace these last two years to hear the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States all parroting the same “Build Back Better” slogan propagated by Klaus Schwab’s economic club. With wealth and political power bonded densely into such haut monde cabals, the insular prerogatives of the WEF have succeeded in dominating government policies throughout the West.

Both in their immediate handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and their planned response to the harsh economic repercussions dovetailing from prolonged lockdowns, Western nation states have taken many of their cues directly from the World Economic Forum’s policy edicts. Whatever vestige of “democracy” still casts a shadow across North America, Europe, and the South Pacific, it has become unmistakable that plutocracy — rule by a wealthy elite — is fast assuming total control over the West’s future. Notably, today’s plutocrats have little interest in truly free markets. Unlike J.D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and other late-nineteenth-century industrialists and business magnates who made their fortunes in the heyday of economic growth before the massive expansion of the regulatory State, those with great wealth today often champion government intervention in markets.

The World Economic Forum, for instance, demands governments take urgent action to combat or address climate change, cybersecurity, online misinformation, artificial intelligence, overpopulation, the use of hydrocarbon energy, farm ownership, food supplies, the elimination of private vehicle ownership, and the imposition of citizen-control protocols to defend against future pandemics. Regulation of people and markets is now of paramount importance to those with wealth and power.

Read more …

“manipulative case-file practice”

Whistleblower: FBI Uses Jan. 6 Cases To Create Illusion Of National Crisis (JTN)

The top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee said Monday a whistleblower has come forward detailing how the FBI is manipulating cases related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to create “the illusion” that domestic violent extremism is a widespread problem in the United States. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray that the “manipulative case-file practice” was being conducted by the bureau’s Washington field office, which was instructing local FBI offices to open up cases on their books that were in fact simply related to the Capitol breach. “The FBI’s case categorization creates the illusion that threats from DVE are present in jurisdictions across the nation, when in reality they all stem from the same related investigation concerning the actions at the Capitol on January 6,” Jordan wrote.

“Such an artificial case categorization scheme allows FBI leadership to misleadingly point to ‘significant’ increases in DVE threats nationwide,” he added. The Republican lawmaker said the whistleblower’s description is “consistent with disclosures we have received from other whistleblowers that high-ranking FBI officials — including a senior WFO official — are pressing front-line agents to categorize cases as DVE matters to fit a political narrative.” The activity comes as President Joe Biden and his team try to make the case that supporters of Donald Trump are creating a crisis of extremism in the United States, a case he made in a widely panned speech in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago.

Jordan said the FBI’s shifted focus is coming at the expense of other crimes, including the investigation of child sex exploitation. “The whistleblower disclosed that the FBI is sacrificing its other important federal law-enforcement duties to pursue January 6 investigations,” Jordan wrote. “The whistleblower recalled, for example, being told that child sexual abuse material investigations were no longer an FBI priority and should be referred to local law enforcement agencies.

Read more …

“Ultimately, the Left will choke to death on its many crimes and we can return to being a people who confidently know the difference between right and wrong.”

A Walk on the Wild Side (Kunstler)

What is the answer when faced with a large-scale religious disturbance in society, especially one displaying all the earmarks of overt, archetypal evil? You call in an exorcist. That has been Donald Trump’s true role in this millenarian mega-crisis. He is seeking to cast out evil spirits afflicting this sore-beset national community and the evil spirits are frantic to stop his ministrations by any means. He is, of course, a most untoward avatar in this war of good against evil. He came out of the infernal circle of New York real estate development. The assumption all along is that he must be tainted by dirty dealing with the mobs who ran the construction unions, but after six years of relentless investigation by the Southern District of New York and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, the legions of hell came up with… nothing.

How was this possible? Well, they tried their darndest, and now they’re trying again with some double-jeopardy maneuvers. The law, to these degenerates, is just an instrument of their own will-to-power. Chugging toward the 2022 mid-term elections, Mr. Trump is out there giving moral support and focus to so-called “domestic terrorists” seeking to crush the Woke demonic religious persecution. He leads the substantial demographic of Americans who are determined to not play along with Woke absurdities, and they love him for it. Mr. Trump may or may not be the Republican nominee in 2024, but he is helping the country with a literal House-cleaning in advance of that, and it will open the door to a deluge of corrective truth-telling about what has gone on the past several years, in everything from the Covid 19 scam to the Green New Deal aimed at wrecking what’s left of Western Civ’s economies.

Americans, except for the very old, are not disposed to attending church, meaning they are not reminded at regular intervals, and formal rituals, that good and evil exists in all of us, and that we have a duty to our sacred consciousness to tend to the right side, to “the better angels of our nature,” Lincoln put it. Ultimately, the Left will choke to death on its many crimes and we can return to being a people who confidently know the difference between right and wrong.

Read more …

For the same reason they cling to believing in Santa.

Why So Many Cling to Covid Panic (Oshinskie)

The government and media have spent the past 30 months disingenuously building Corona fear and implementing a range of talismanic measures like lockdowns, school closures, masks, tests and shots to convince us that they were magically—yet always “Scientifically!—” protecting us all from death. Just as any thinking six-year-old figures out that Santa simply can’t put all of that toy freight into one sleigh, any thinking adult should have known that none of the hoary Corona crew: neither the elfin Fauci’s, Birx’s nor Biden’s rhetoric or theater made any sense, either in theory or in real-life outcomes; nor did similar alarmism or interventions by younger, hipper “liberal” governors, mayors and prime ministers. But just like my parents’ efforts to preserve the Santa myth, governments won’t let go of the Corona theater—especially the shots—and the media desperately continues to portray as experts those who “masterminded” the mitigation.


All of the empirical data have corroborated what was known on Day 1 of the lockdowns—namely that this virus threatens almost no one but the very old and infirm, that none of these interventions works and that each of these have caused–and will continue to cause–widespread, terrible secondary and tertiary damage. Instead of admitting this, governments and media persist in their campaign of terror, lies and bogus zero-Covid measures. Because to stop lying now would be to admit that it’s all been a delusion. And politically and morally, they can’t bring themselves to do that. A five-year-old might not know a scam when they see it. But even a ten-year-old does. Or at least should. They’re counting on adults to be like five-year-olds. It might work.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

Biden 8.3

 

 

Stop calling it clean energy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Support the Automatic Earth in virustime with Paypal, Bitcoin and Patreon.