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Debt Rattle March 24 2026

Mar 242026
 
 March 24, 2026  Posted by at 11:06 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  67 Responses »


Edward Hopper Gas 1940


• 4D Chess: Trump Postpones Destroying Iran’s Power Plants (Pinsker)
• IEA Head Warns Iran War Sparked Energy Crisis Worse Than 1970s (ZH)
• CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper Gives Update and Overview Interview (CTH)
• Saudi Arabia Expels Iranian Diplomats (RT)
• Lights Out? (James Howard Kunstler)
• Are We On the Verge of a Breakthrough on the SAVE America Act? (Matt Margolis)
• Intel Board To Probe If Spy Agencies Withheld China Election Secrets (JTN)
• Truth Will Out: A Grand Jury Investigates the Real Russian Collusion Conspiracy (Turley)
• Tom Homan: How Immigration and Customs Enforcement Can Supplement TSA (CTH)
• Alarm Bells In Spain As Moroccan Diaspora Seeks Political Mobilization (RMX)
• French Election: Le Pen’s Populists Make Historic Local Gains (ZH)
• Major Gains for Germany’s AfD Nationalist Party (CTH)
• Western Europe Wrestles With Its Daddy Issues (Rachel Marsden)
• Jury Finds Musk Liable to Twitter Shareholders in Lawsuit (ET)

 


 

https://twitter.com/AdamMoczar/status/2035822308208660516?s=20 https://twitter.com/Alinavisooo/status/2035954387722674253?s=20

 


 

 


 


“.. that’s what investors do: They overreact to good news — and they overreact to bad news. In their minds, the most extreme possibility is always the most likely..”

• 4D Chess: Trump Postpones Destroying Iran’s Power Plants (Pinsker)

On Friday evening, President Donald Trump issued Iran’s mullahs a 48-hour deadline: Open the Strait of Hormuz or say goodbye to your power plants. And then, this morning — just 12 hours before the deadline ended — the president abruptly pulled the plug: But did you notice the timing? Trump delivered the ultimatum on Friday evening, after the U.S. markets had closed for the week. And he canceled his ultimatum on Monday morning, just before the U.S. markets reopened. And the new five-day deadline? Why, it conveniently begins after the U.S. markets close on Friday! None of this was coincidental. Meanwhile, Iran quickly claimed victory:

As NDTV World reported, “After Trump’s No-Strike Decision, Iran Media Bursts Out Laughing at Him”: Trump’s announcement about a five-day window in which the US would hold off on hitting Iranian power plants and related infrastructure was met in Tehran’s media ecosystem with a mix of derision and triumph. Iran media Press TV reported there was no contact for talks with the US, whether direct or indirect. […] Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesperson of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, in a post on X said, “Trump and America have backed down again. The field is still charging forward. Another defeat for the devil.” President Trump prides himself on being an elite dealmaker, but deals are only possible when each side covets something different. If all parties want the exact same thing, a compromise is impossible.

At this juncture in the war, the Iranians and the U.S.-Israelis have dramatically different objectives.Iran can’t go toe-to-toe with its foes militarily. It’s outgunned, outmatched, outclassed, outmanned, and overwhelmed. If the war is decided on the battlefield, Iran will lose — and embarrassingly, too. But there’s still one place where it can win: the arena of public opinion. Iran needs PR to decide this war. If the mullahs don’t look strong, tough, and unbeatable, the Iranian people will rise up and overthrow them. Which is why, in their minds, losing the war-war — but winning the PR war — is a perfectly acceptable outcome. After all, the number-one goal of a dictatorship is to retain its power.

President Trump is less concerned with PR than he is with reality. War, by its nature, isn’t won with press releases — but with bullets. Which makes the president’s calculations clear: He needs time to obliterate the last vestiges of the mullahs’ might, annihilate its stormtroopers, crush the regime, and maximize the probability of a successful Iranian uprising. Because if we win the war-war, the PR war will take care of itself. From Trump’s perspective, victory is the only litmus test that matters. But Trump needs a free hand to continue softening the Iranian regime. Yes, his primary battlefield is still the battlefield — but not even the president is immune to public pressure. Domestically, his MAGA base hasn’t left his side:

Yet among independents and Democrats, the war is dreadfully unpopular — with its biggest potential pain points coming from surging oil prices and/or a stock market collapse: Had Trump stuck to his 48-hour deadline — which would’ve elapsed AFTER the close of U.S. markets on Monday evening — panicked investors would’ve braced for the worst when trading began at 9:30 a.m., triggering a self-fulfilling prophecy of economic Armageddon. They would’ve anticipated oil shortages, starving civilians, mass migrations, and global chaos, because that’s what investors do: They overreact to good news — and they overreact to bad news. In their minds, the most extreme possibility is always the most likely. (It’s simply their psychology.) This means that Monday, March 23, would’ve been an absolute financial bloodbath — an even blacker Black Monday.

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It’ll be ugly. But how ugly?

• IEA Head Warns Iran War Sparked Energy Crisis Worse Than 1970s (ZH)

The head of the International Energy Agency intensified his apocalyptic warning about the global energy crisis, stating early Monday that the US-Israel war with Iran has sparked a shock far greater than the twin oil crises of the 1970s and the turmoil from the war in Ukraine combined.US-Israeli Operation Epic Fury has entered its fourth week, and emerging from the fog of war is the understanding that 44 energy assets across the Gulf region have been severely or very severely damaged by either U.S. and allied forces or by Iranian forces, according to IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol, who spoke at a media event in Australia on Monday. “This crisis, as things stand, is now two oil crises and one gas crash put all together,” Birol warned at the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra.


So far, the conflict has removed 11 million barrels of oil per day from global supply, which is more than the two prior oil shocks combined. There are concerns that repairs to QatarEnergy’s damaged LNG facility could take up to five years, while the disruption to energy flows has sparked a fuel crisis across Asia and is set to affect fertilizer and food supplies, as well as helium, potentially jeopardizing AI chip production.”The global economy is facing a major, major threat today, and I very much hope that this issue will be resolved as soon as possible,” Birol said.

As of 0710 ET, Brent crude futures plunged 11% on President Trump’s Truth Social desesclation comments – a sign the administration needs an offramp to avoid a further energy crisis globally, but more importantly, one at home with fuel prices at the pump exploding higher. Overnight, President Trump gave Iran a 48-hour ultimatum to reopen the Hormuz chokepoint or face a bombing campaign targeting Iran’s power plants. There were reports overnight that the Trump administration was preparing a diplomatic off-ramp plan, but Iran says the expanding war has effectively shut the door.

Betting website Polymarket shows that ten new wallets are betting $160,000 on a U.S.-Iran ceasefire by the end of March. “Almost no history, all created around the same time. Potential payout: over $1,000,000,” the Polymarket History account wrote on X.

https://twitter.com/PolymarketStory/status/2035737368141902238

On Friday, Birol told the Financial Times in an exclusive interview that the world is severely underestimating the scale of the Gulf energy shock and that it may take at least six months to restore disrupted oil and gas flows. “It will be six months for some [sites] to be operational, others much longer,” Birol warned.

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“..accepting there is a psychological component to the information flow, it seems like the best option to listen to the experts who are conducting the operation.”

• CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper Gives Update and Overview Interview (CTH)

The noise can seem overwhelming at times. There are those who say the U.S-Israeli joint military operation against Iran is a catastrophic miscalculation. There are those who say the operation is strategically succeeding. Many interests even appear to be cheering for the military operation to fail; others want the operation to escalate. It is difficult to find pragmatic facts about the events without shaped information to promote specific narratives. However, accepting there is a psychological component to the information flow, it seems like the best option to listen to the experts who are conducting the operation.


Giving his first interview since Operation Epic Fury began, CENTCOM Commander Bradley Cooper outlines the current status of the conflict and the elements he notes are of most importance. According to Adm. Cooper, Iran is “operating in a sign of desperation… In the last couple of weeks, they’ve attacked civilian targets very deliberately, more than 300 times.” “The Strait of Hormuz is physically open to transit,” he said. “The reason ships are not transiting right now is because the Islamic Republic is shooting at them with drones and missiles.”

“I’d like everyone to note is I’ve watched this over the last week, this extraordinary contrast between the comfort and protection that you’re seeing with the senior generals in the Islamic Republic, at least those that are still alive, who are up in deep bunkers and facilities in and around Tehran. And contrast that with the soldiers who are down on the ground who are unprotected. The generals are protected. The soldiers are not protected.” “They’re launching missiles and drones from populated areas and you need to stay inside for right now,” he said. “There will be a clear signal at some point, as the President has indicated, for you to be able to come out.”

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Iran against the Arab world?

• Saudi Arabia Expels Iranian Diplomats (RT)

Saudi Arabia has expelled several Iranian diplomats, citing Tehran’s strikes on its territory. The move comes after 12 Arab and Muslim countries, including those hosting US bases, denounced the Islamic Republic’s retaliation for the US-Israeli bombardment that began on February 28. On Saturday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry condemned what it described as Iran’s “blatant and repeated attacks targeting Saudi Arabia” and other Gulf countries, accusing Tehran of violating international law and the “principles of good neighborliness.” “Saudi Arabia has formally notified the Iranian military attaché, assistant military attaché, and three other embassy staff members to leave the kingdom within 24 hours,” the statement read, as quoted by the Saudi Gazette.


‘The kingdom will take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, security, territory, airspace, citizens, residents, and national interests, in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter,” the ministry said, warning of “serious consequences” for diplomatic relations between the two countries. The announcement follows a similar move by Qatar, which expelled Iranian military and security attachés, along with their staff, in response to a strike on an LNG facility at Ras Laffan Industrial City, one of the world’s most important gas processing and export centers. Iran targeted Ras Laffan in response to Israeli airstrikes on the South Pars gas field, which were also condemned by the Gulf states. Iran has also repeatedly targeted Prince Sultan Air Base in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia, which hosts American troops.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was targeting US military sites in the region in self-defense. He also claimed that the United States had used UAE territory during the recent bombing of Kharg Island. Tehran has warned that retaliation will continue for as long as Arab states allow the US to use their territory for attacks on the Islamic Republic. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier apologized to the Gulf states for striking civilian infrastructure with missiles and drones.

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“This is Hitler’s last days with Persian characteristics.” —LH Grey on X

• Lights Out? (James Howard Kunstler)

It’s not only darkest before the dawn, but the groupthink is murkiest, and the light at the end of the tunnel might be an explosion up your wazoo. Iran’s increasingly headless Revolutionary Guard (the IRGC) whirls in its gyre of martyrdom as the last traps are sprung under it. Tell the wide-eyed houris of paradise to primp for a fresh harvest of true believers.Looks like Mr. Trump is not chickening-out, as his detractors like to insist. Looks like somebody is already turning off the juice around Tehran, likely the Israeils. It will be very hard soon enough for the headless IRGC to tell its body of psycho-killers what to do.


Individual units are probably on their own now, anyway, wondering what the other units might be doing. . . might be thinking, while also, about now, the sore-beset, long-suffering, good-and-goshdarn pissed off, ordinary Persians will discover that nobody’s in charge, and maybe, at long last, it’s their turn to act, as the lights flicker out. On the ground, in the apartments, the cafes, the offices, the grand bazaars of Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, and Shiraz life has already gotten super-impossible. Whatever’s left of the government just issued banknotes in the denomination of ten million rials, worth seven US dollars.

Everybody there has plenty of money. Everyone is a millionaire, but they won’t be swanning around Fereshteh Street in top hats and monocles, shopping for Hermès, Louis Vuitton, and Rolex. In actuality, nothing can function normally anymore when the currency is absolutely worthless, including the regular distribution of food and fuel, and you know from history that revolution is always only nine missing meals away. Something will have to give.

The American news media, especially The New York Times, remains implacably peevish over Operation Epic Fury. The news media remains locked in its own epic fury at Mr. Trump running the executive branch, because, uh, why? The tweets! The mystifying hair-do! The gold filigree plastered around the Oval Office! Ucchhh. . . ! It drives them batshit. They want the Iran op to fail because then Mr. Trump will fail. . . and then. . .? And then. . . ? You detect that maybe they haven’t thought that through exactly.

Perhaps the news media believe it’s unfair to deprive the Islamic State of a nuclear bomb and its arsenal of missiles and drones. (It can’t be that the news media are anti-war because they continue to be one hundred percent behind the Ukraine war.) They don’t want that to end anytime soon because, uh, well, Russia!) In reality, the news media abhors decisive action and especially any change in the geopolitical status quo, and super-especially one that inch-by-inch reveals that the USA has interests that actually intersect with the interests of post-soviet Russia.

Like preserving Western Civ. Unlike the poufs, cucks, and bozos running Euroland who are busy throwing two thousand years of history under the wheels of Jihad, and racing with eyes-wide-shut into a neo-medieval future without heat, lights, industry, art, or square meals. Europe — Great Britain in particular — yearns for an epoch-ending spasm of war against Russia because. . .uh. . . because Putin (like, because Trump). You understand they are completely incapable of prosecuting such a war, since they lack armies, navies, and sufficient weapons, but they can’t stop nattering about it.

The US news media can’t accept the possibility that the US Military is proceeding systematically and by clear stages to disarm the IRGC crazies. What has the IRGC got left? Apparently, they have missile launchers embedded in urban neighborhoods, the old human shield routine, same as Hamas and Hezbollah. And spidey-hole missile silos in the desert, supposedly hard to detect beneath the shifting sands. Not to mention the “underground cities” as much as 500 meters deep where missiles and drones are made and stored. They are core parts of Iran’s military architecture. We know where most of them are. Let’s see how they work if the electricity goes out across Iran. Do they all have backup generators and diesel fuel to keep the generators running more than a few days?

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“We’re using a playbook that in a slightly different form was used in 1964 to overcome a cloture gap of thirty-two votes..”

• Are We On the Verge of a Breakthrough on the SAVE America Act? (Matt Margolis)

I’ve been admittedly skeptical that the current effort to pass the SAVE America Act will succeed. I want it to pass. Desperately. And from where I sit, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t pass. But we all know why something so popular and commonsense can’t get to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature. Democrats in Congress don’t want election integrity and are fighting against it like their power is on the line. Despite my skepticism, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), the lead sponsor of the bill, is confident the SAVE America Act is going to pass — and after just six days of debate, Democrats may already be looking for a way out.


As you know, the bill does two things. It requires proof of citizenship when registering to vote and a voter ID when casting a ballot. Polls repeatedly show that Americans overwhelmingly support these ideas, regardless of political party or race. And Sen. Lee knows it, too. “Americans overwhelmingly believe that voters in the United States, you need to be US citizens,” Lee said. “So our bill does two things in order to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”The fight right now isn’t really about the merits. Let’s be honest about that. It’s about the Senate’s cloture threshold, the 60-vote supermajority needed to end debate and move to a final vote. Republicans don’t have those numbers on their own, which means they need Democrats to break ranks.

Lee’s strategy is to make them do exactly that, and he’s drawing on a historical playbook to get it done.”We’re using a playbook that in a slightly different form was used in 1964 to overcome a cloture gap of thirty-two votes,” Lee said, referring to the landmark Civil Rights Act debate. Back then, the Senate debated for sixty days before enough votes materialized to close debate. Today’s cloture deficit is far smaller. “We’ve got only a ten-vote cloture deficit to overcome here,” Lee noted. “This is a simpler bill, and it’s preferred by eighty-five percent of American voters.”

The math is encouraging, but Lee argues that the process takes time — and that’s entirely the point. Lee described how sustained debate wears members down and eventually forces movement. “Members grow exhausted over time, and with that exhaustion, we’ll find ways of achieving consensus, perhaps some minor modifications to the legislation, either face-saving or to alleviate substantive concerns,” he said. “We can get there. This will pass if we give it enough time.” He was careful not to overpromise a timeline. “I don’t know exactly how many weeks, just as they didn’t know when they started the process in 1964,” Lee acknowledged. But he added quickly: “I don’t think it’ll take that long.”

According to Lee, the early signs are apparently promising. After only six days on the floor, he says Democrats are reportedly already hunting for an exit, which tells you something about the political pressure building around this vote. The only secret to passing the SAVE America Act, Lee says, is time and willpower. Six days in, it looks like the willpower is holding — and the clock is doing the rest of the work.

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Withheld them from Trump, that is.

• Intel Board To Probe If Spy Agencies Withheld China Election Secrets (JTN)

The civilian board that oversees America’s spy agencies will probe whether political bias kept intelligence analysts from sharing with Congress and President Donald Trump evidence that China meddled in elections dating to 2020, its chairman says after an explosive report by Just the News “We ran a decade-long investigation in the Congress into China, and so this new bombshell that you just dropped is very concerning to me, and it should be to the Congress,” President’s Intelligence Advisory Board Chairman Devin Nunes told the Just the News, No Noise television show.


“This information was likely around in 2019, probably in 2020. I don’t know. We’re going to have to unpack this and figure out why this didn’t get to the Congress and why this didn’t get out to the American public,” Nunes said. Nunes, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee before he left Congress to run the company that operates President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, added: “Clearly, this is a scandal that’s brewing.” Nunes was named last year by Trump to lead the PIAB, a nonpartisan body made up of distinguished civilians from the national security, political, academic, and private sectors charged with independently overseeing the Intelligence Community’s day-to-day management or operational responsibilities.

Just the News earlier this week disclosed declassified documents showing Chinese intelligence gained access to multiple states’ voter registration data in 2020 and conducted some voter influence efforts but chose to keep that intelligence quiet because spy agency analysts opposed Trump and his policies, even deriding the president as “that vulgarian in the Oval Office.”Similar revelations in 2024 that China hacked Great Britain’s voter registration database led to a national outcry and reforms in that country. But in America, most policymakers have been kept in the dark. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., called on Trump this week to declassify and release all evidence related to China’s meddling from 2020 forward.

Nunes said a review of what happened with the China meddling allegations was directly aligned with the board’s current mandates. “We’ve been working directly with the CIA to depoliticize all of these agencies. President Trump gave us clear direction that he wants the politicization taken out of these intelligence products,” Nunes explained. The board’s effort recently prompted CIA Director John Ratcliffe to rescind or revise 19 intelligence reports the agency produced dating back to the Obama era because they were politically biased or used poor spy tradecraft, including one analysis suggesting that women who pursue traditional motherhood were at danger of becoming violent extremists.

“I think this is just the start of Director Ratcliffe trying to clean up the CIA,” he said. “Obviously, we’re here to help. We’re held here to help all the agencies as Chair of the President’s intelligence board, and we’ll continue to do that.” Nunes said the declassified documents uncovered by Just the News on the China election meddling were deeply concerning because “if you don’t have the — if you want to call it the truth transparency — real intelligence agencies getting the information to the policymakers and the decision makers, it’s a major problem.”

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We need to see indictments. You can’t just let these people walk.

• Truth Will Out: A Grand Jury Investigates the Real Russian Collusion Conspiracy (Turley)

This week, we learned that the probe into the Russian conspiracy theory in Florida is moving forward with the disclosure that former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed. What is different in this probe is that it is pursuing the real Russia conspiracy — the creation of a false narrative to kneecap the first Trump administration. At issue is what could be the greatest political hit job in history. Of course, the growing evidence of this conspiracy continues to be buried by one of its key components: the media. Nevertheless, the “truth will out,” and it appears to be coming out in Florida.


Headed by Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, the investigation is building on information uncovered by House and Senate committees that was long buried by the Biden administration. That evidence appears to show a knowing effort to manufacture a Russian conspiracy hoax at the urging of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. Ironically, the Washington Post and the New York Times received Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting promoting this Russian conspiracy hoax. The media spent years in wall-to-wall coverage of disproven allegations, including many claims made in the debunked Steele Dossier that had been secretly funded by the Clinton campaign.

The true Pulitzer Prize-worthy story was staring the media in the face the whole time: a conspiracy to create a false conspiracy narrative to elect Clinton and later to derail the Trump administration. The latter effort succeeded with help from top intelligence figures. During the election, the Clinton campaign repeatedly lied to the media about its funding of the Steele dossier. When journalists discovered after the election that the Clinton campaign had hidden payments for the Steele dossier as “legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to Perkins Coie, they were reportedly stonewalled.

New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said at the time that Clinton Campaign General Counsel Marc Elias had denied involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman later wrote that “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.” The key period was shortly before the 2016 election. We now know that the campaign and its surrogates shopped the conspiracy to their contacts in the Justice Department and in the media. They found eager allies.

Shortly before the 2016 presidential election, Peter Strzok, a key figure in the investigation, texted FBI lawyer Lisa Page to assure her “that there’s no way [Trump] gets elected,” adding that they “can’t take that risk.” He added that they had it all in hand because “It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you’re 40.” In fact, whether it was known to Strzok or not, there was an insurance policy in the works. In July 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed President Barack Obama on Hillary Clinton’s alleged “plan” to tie then-candidate Donald Trump to Russia as “a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server.” Brennan is believed to be a target of the current investigation, including possible perjury before Congress.

In reality, within days of that briefing on how Clinton would create this conspiracy theory, the investigation began, just as the Clinton campaign hoped it would. Early on, the FBI was told by the CIA that its sources — and the Steele dossier — were unreliable. However, key FBI officials continued the surveillance and the investigation targeting the Trump campaign and key figures. One official later pleaded guilty to lying to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to continue surveillance without an evidentiary basis.

At the end of 2016, a CIA assessment found that “Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent U.S. election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure.” That presidential daily brief was scheduled to be published on Dec. 9, 2016, but the office of James Clapper, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence, reportedly stopped the publication “based on some new guidance.” Clapper later joined Obama, along with John Brennan, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, and others, in a meeting that would ultimately inject the debunked theory directly into the media.

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“..CNN needs to build a narrative, so the reality of simple explanations works against their interests.”

• Tom Homan: How Immigration and Customs Enforcement Can Supplement TSA (CTH)

Apparently, CNN needs to play the game of pretending that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) do not already operate in U.S. airports. Airports are border checkpoints, and the “customs” part of both ICE and CBP are functions that happen as part of regular duty for CBP and ICE officials.As Tom Homan notes, CBP/ICE already exist in airports and can assist Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials in various duties including, customs checks, routine security, entrance/exit security as well as baggage and pre-boarding security checkpoints that do not involve the use of x-ray and scanning machines. In fact, more than half the functioning work of TSA agents can easily be handled/supported by ICE/CBP agents. But CNN needs to build a narrative, so the reality of simple explanations works against their interests.


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Too late. “..900,000 Moroccan nationals were living in Spain in 2024..” “What is now causing alarm is not just the scale, but the potential for political mobilization.”

• Alarm Bells In Spain As Moroccan Diaspora Seeks Political Mobilization (RMX)

Spain is facing mounting concern over the long-term consequences of years of large-scale Moroccan migration, as warnings grow that a sizable and increasingly organized community could begin to exert coordinated political influence. Official figures cited by La Región show that nearly 900,000 Moroccan nationals were living in Spain in 2024, making them the largest Muslim group in the country. More than 226,000 are concentrated in Catalonia, with numbers continuing to rise sharply. What is now causing alarm is not just the scale, but the potential for political mobilization.


The Spanish news outlet referenced a 2023 speech by Enaam Mayara, then-president of the Moroccan parliament’s upper chamber, in which he openly called on Moroccans living in Spain to enter politics, join parties, and take part in elections. His goal was clear: to build influence inside Spanish institutions and defend Moroccan national interests from within. “The community in our northern neighbor should be encouraged to participate in that country’s political process,” Mayara said. “Members of the Moroccan community should be encouraged to become members of parliament in the country of their nationality in order to defend the interests of their homeland whenever necessary.” “The Moroccan community must integrate into Spanish political parties to form a lobby that defends Morocco,” he added.

The comments sparked fears that what began as migration could evolve into coordinated political leverage. More recently, Morocco has moved to strengthen its grip on diaspora identity through education. Earlier this month, in response to the suspension of the Arabic language and Moroccan culture program in the Spanish regions of Madrid and Murcia, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita called for reforms to overseas teaching programs that could trigger a “qualitative transformation” in how Arabic language and Moroccan culture are taught to children living abroad.

The changes will place greater responsibility for diaspora education under a new institutional structure, with a focus on expanding cultural and linguistic ties between Morocco and its citizens overseas. The push comes as Moroccan-funded programs are already deeply embedded in Spain’s education system. Hundreds of schools across the country offer Arabic language and Moroccan culture classes financed by Rabat, with teachers selected and paid by Moroccan authorities.

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Essentially, they’re being called extreme right wing because they don’t want to live in a muslim country.

• French Election: Le Pen’s Populists Make Historic Local Gains (ZH)

Marine Le Pen’s National Rally delivered its strongest performance ever in French local elections on Sunday, capturing dozens of municipalities and installing an ally as mayor of Nice – while socialists predictably held onto key urban centers, including Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Lille. The results of the second-round municipal vote on Sunday mark the clearest sign yet that the populist party is no longer a protest movement but a genuine governing force in parts of France – and a growing threat to President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists and the traditional right ahead of the 2027 presidential election.


Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old RN president widely seen as the party’s next presidential standard-bearer, hailed the night as “the greatest breakthrough in its entire history.” Speaking to cheering supporters, he said voters had delivered “a message of deep aspiration for change.”Marine Le Pen, still battling a conviction that could bar her from running in 2027, struck a similar note: the party is now “implanted everywhere” and ready to govern.

https://twitter.com/Inevitablewest/status/2035821656787107861?

high-stakes runoffs in Marseille, Toulon and Nîmes after left-wing and center-right candidates formed tactical alliances against it. In Paris and other major cities, the party remained marginal.The party did secure one major symbolic prize: former Les Républicains leader Éric Ciotti, who defected to the RN orbit, won the mayor’s office in Nice, France’s fifth-largest city.

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“.. the European Commission has many tools and techniques to shift the outcome. This single small Hungarian election is the most critical election for the EU since Brexit. There are trillions at stake!”

• Major Gains for Germany’s AfD Nationalist Party (CTH)

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative party the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won the biggest portion of the election, defeating the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who lost ground in the western area bordering France. However, the biggest electoral gains were for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, with gains that more than doubled its previous vote share. There is intense interest throughout Europe on the ideological shift in political sentiment mostly driven by economic concerns as well as rising nationalistic sentiment against the elitist minds in Brussels. Essentially those being ‘ruled’ are increasingly fed-up by those doing the ‘ruling.’


The AfD party is akin to the pragmatic MAGA base more focused on economic nationalism than all the nonsense associated with multiculturalism, green energy programs and terrible immigration policy. The ideological battle within Europe is ongoing, with some gains by nationalist parties over the collective mindset of the European elites. However, the European Commission doesn’t just have a finger on the scales, they have full control over the mechanics of the elections themselves. Yes, AfD doubled their share of votes to 20%, but CDU at 31% and the socialists at 26% is akin to mainstream corporate republicans and progressives respectively controlling 57% of the support base.

The biggest election to be held in Europe in the last decade or more, is going to be the election in Hungary which takes place April 12, next month. The European Commission is going all-in to try and manipulate the Hungarian voting base against Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Fidesz party who is/are viewed by Brussels as standing in the way of their scheme to fund the ongoing war in Ukraine. Orban’s reelection campaign has been under relentless assaults from restrictions on EU social media, to outright propaganda and financing for his opposition Péter Magyar and the Tisza party.

Prime Minister Orban is strongly supported by President Donald Trump and the Trump administration; however, the scale of opposition to both of them is intense. Former leftist USAID Administrator Samantha Power spent time inside Hungary organizing the Tisza party to oppose Viktor Orban, and the totality of the European opposition to Orban cannot be underestimated. Every element of every political construct within the Europe Union is aligned to try and defeat Orban and the Fidesz party. Additionally, the government of Ukraine is actively working all intelligence angles to defeat Orban due to the $90 billion EU loan scheme that Hungary is blocking. Prime Minister Viktor Orban winning reelection this time in 2026 would be akin to Trump’s victory in 2016.

Do not underestimate the power of the U.K/European control system and the alignment of all their collective interests. Chancellor Fredrich Merz (Germany), President Emmanuel Macron (France), Prime Minister Keir Starmer (UK) along with the governing elites of Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands and many more, have all publicly taken positions against Hungary. As we saw in Romania, Moldova and Georgia, it is not simply a matter of what the Hungarian voters want that will determine the outcome of the Hungarian election, the European Commission has many tools and techniques to shift the outcome. This single small Hungarian election is the most critical election for the EU since Brexit. There are trillions at stake!

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“..a good example of the failure of international law, which is one way to describe a fire while refusing to notice that you’re actually holding a fire extinguisher.”

• Western Europe Wrestles With Its Daddy Issues (Rachel Marsden)

NATO is supposed to be a defensive alliance. That means members aren’t actually obligated to go bail out a member state that goes around the world punching other countries in the face. Easy mistake to make from the optics of other recent conflicts, though, where the term “defensive” has been doing a lot of impressive rhetorical gymnastics.

US President Donald Trump hasn’t been able to talk his ‘allies’ into coming along for the white-knuckle adventure this time. Largely because he threatened to invade Europe – specifically Greenland – barely weeks before asking for their help to do the same to another country. Apparently, they took his threat so seriously that they were getting ready to beat him to the punch by blowing up their own airfields first, according to the New York Times.


Before Trump just decided to go it alone and threaten to fix the global energy problem in the Strait of Hormuz by also blowing up a bunch of power plants in the region, he got to the “who needs these losers anyway” stage with Western Europe. Let’s see… Starmer is no Churchill, Trump says. Sick burn, if it were still 1940 and not just a guy declining participation in your dodgy group project. French participation doesn’t even really count, Trump says, because President Emmanuel Macron will be gone soon. Like a sitcom character whose hand is on the knob with one foot out the door in every scene.

But here in the real world, Macron is actually still the president of France for another year. And it’s not like anyone who could possibly replace him would be up for this political suicide mission that Trump’s proposing, either. Hardly a day goes by without French military brass appearing on TV, either telling Trump to go “f himself” or else comparing his invitation to something along the lines of buying tickets for the Titanic after it hit the iceberg.

The Irish president should just be grateful for Trump’s mere existence, he says. Who isn’t at this point, right? One day Trump’s telling all the NATO allies to just get in the van already. The van’s on fire, but minor detail. And they’re like, no thanks. Not interested in careening down regime change highway with Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu like a scene out of Mad Max.

So at first Trump tries to make it sound like it’s for their own benefit to go send their own troops to hangout in the Strait of Hormuz where missiles are flying around. Because they’re the ones who largely use the oil that normally transits through it when Iran hasn’t closed it because Trump and Bibi started bombing them. A phenomenon that does tend to complicate shipping schedules.

Probably doesn’t help either that Europe already had the experience of volunteering to do the heavy lifting for Washington just so an American president, Barack Obama, could brag to his people that America did a regime change without a single pair of boots on the ground. Right, because there were covert, European boots on the ground. In Libya. Led by the Brits and French, back in 2011. And that turned into a years-long mess for Europe and a migrant tsunami that kept rolling in long after the “mission accomplished” energy had worn off. So it’s no wonder that some of those 15 NATO countries that helped out in Libya aren’t up for a rerun. Once you’ve helped a friend move and it turns into a ten-year renovation project, the next time they call you just let it ring.

So Europe is banking on riding out the fuel disruption instead of prolonging it by getting involved with the risk of provoking an escalation. Unless of course the missiles stop flying. In which case, Macron will be there in a jiffy to film more heavily militarized thirst trap videos.n It’s one thing to not participate, but what are they actually doing to stop it, besides issuing strongly worded statements that reek of déjà vu?

The bloc’s chief diplomat says that it’s all such a good example of the failure of international law, which is one way to describe a fire while refusing to notice that you’re actually holding a fire extinguisher. Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East “are products of erosion of the international law without accountability, judicial or political, the war will engulf the world once again,” Kaja Kallas said.nGotta love the passive verbiage doing the heavy lifting there. Really lets everyone off the hook. Yeah, international law just eroded on Iran. How did that happen? All by itself? Or because no one can bother actually trying to enforce it when it’s inconvenient because it involves the risk of eliciting the wrath of Daddy Trump?

She has no problem comparing the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran except in failing to notice that that one has involved like 20 packages of EU sanctions and the other zero. Or to notice that their favorite foster kid has been begging Trump to let him come play drone warfare in this war with the toys that they’ve been buying for him with money from the same EU taxpayers who are now being gauged on energy prices yet again as a result of this new war. The same war that the EU says violates international law.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has said that he’s psyched to get over there and play in the sandbox with all his shiny new drones – which is one way to pitch the escalation that the EU says it doesn’t want. And the EU’s like, can’t you see – he’s really hurting here! “The longer the war continues in the Middle East, the more Ukraine suffers,” Kallas said. I’m really trying to lean into this whole Ukraine x Iran crossover. “I mean, Russia is already making money off the war in the Middle East with higher oil prices and the Strait of Hormuz closed, they can now again fund the war.”

Try telling that to your boy, Zelensky. Does he know that offering to help prolong the war with his drones would just be making Putin more money? But really, why should he even care when the EU keeps insisting on having their citizens pay for it all anyway.

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He made them rich, but it’s still not enough.

• Jury Finds Musk Liable to Twitter Shareholders in Lawsuit (ET)

A federal jury on March 20 found tech billionaire Elon Musk liable for misleading Twitter shareholders by driving down the social media platform’s stock price months before acquiring it for $44 billion in 2022. The decision follows a civil class action lawsuit filed by Twitter investors in October 2022. Musk agreed to buy Twitter at $54.20 per share in April 2022 but later tried to back out of the deal, leading the company to take legal action to enforce it. He ultimately completed the acquisition in October 2022 and rebranded Twitter as X. The shareholders alleged that Musk made misleading statements after agreeing to buy Twitter in April 2022, leading them to sell their shares. They alleged that he published the statements to drive down Twitter stock prices in a bid to renegotiate the deal.


In a verdict on March 20, jurors found Musk liable for misleading investors through two social media posts. The first post said the deal was temporarily on hold pending verification that bots accounted for less than 5 percent of users on the social media platform. In the second post, Musk suggested that the percentage of bots could exceed 20 percent and said the buyout of Twitter could not go forward until he received confirmation that it was less than 5 percent. However, the jury found that the plaintiffs failed to substantiate claims that Musk had engaged in a scheme to defraud investors. The plaintiffs attorney, Mark Molumphy, called the verdict an important victory for both Twitter investors and the public markets.

“I think the jury’s verdict sends a strong message that just because you’re a rich and powerful person, you still have to obey the law, and no man is above the law, Molumphy told The Associated Press.Musk’s legal team at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan said in a statement to multiple news outlets that they plan to appeal the verdict. “We view today’s verdict, where the jury found both for and against the plaintiffs and found no fraud scheme, as a bump in the road. And we look forward to vindication on appeal,” his legal counsel said.

Musk also faces a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which alleges that he violated federal securities laws by delaying disclosure of his acquisition of Twitter stock in March 2022, before making an offer to buy the company. The SEC said the delay had allowed Musk to buy more shares at lower prices, allowing him to “underpay by at least $150 million for shares that he purchased after his beneficial ownership report was due,” according to the January 2025 filing. Musk has sought dismissal of the suit.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/2036091858829316542?s=20

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle June 17 2025

Jun 172025
 
 June 17, 2025  Posted by at 9:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  76 Responses »


Rembrandt van Rijn Small self portrait 1627-28

 

• Trump Warns ‘Everyone’ To Flee Tehran (RT)
• How Iran Turned Israel’s Iron Dome Against Itself Using Clever Jamming (Sp.)
• US Aerial Tankers Headed To Middle East – Media (RT)
• Russia Should Be In G8 – Trump (RT)
• The Crux of the Problem is NATO on Russia’s Borders (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Kiev and London Plotting ‘Bloody Provocations’ – Russian Spy Agency (RT)
• US Postpones Talks With Russia – Moscow (RT)
• Russia Has Fulfilled Istanbul Promises – Medinsky (RT)
• Russian Diplomats Facing ‘Nerve-wracking’ Situation In Israel – Envoy (RT)
• Zelenskyy and Sheinbaum Travel to G7 Canada to Influence and Intercept (CTH)
• Martin Kulldorff Named To CDC Vaccine Panel (ZH)
• King-Less? (James Howard Kunstler)
• Islam Growing Three Times As Fast As Christianity – Study (RT)
• Happy Birthday Donald, Happy US Army and Flag Day (Helmer)
• 10 YEARS AGO: Donald Trump Announces Presidential Candidacy (DS)

 

 

https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1934236554765176878

 

 

Mossad
https://twitter.com/tpvsean/status/1934340625479934430

 

 

 

 

 

 

One day. the news is focused on one topic: Iran/Israel. The next, it’s all over again.

We wait: will Persia act next?

Note: Metro Tehran has 17 million people. It’s like evacuating New York City. No can do.

• Trump Warns ‘Everyone’ To Flee Tehran (RT)

US President Donald Trump has issued a cryptic warning on Truth Social, urging “everyone” to leave Tehran as soon as possible, without confirming whether Washington will intervene in the ongoing tit-for-tat hostilities between Israel and Iran. The two states have been exchanging strikes since West Jerusalem bombed Iranian nuclear and military facilities last Friday, describing the move as a preemptive effort to halt the Islamic Republic’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran, which denies these claims, said the airstrikes amounted to a declaration of war and has retaliated with multiple volleys of ballistic missiles. “Iran should have signed the ‘deal’ I told them to sign. Such a shame and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CANNOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again!” Trump wrote on Monday evening, as the conflict entered its fifth day.

“Everyone needs to evacuate Tehran immediately!” the US leader added, without elaborating on where the city’s roughly 10 million residents should go. Trump earlier insisted that the US “had nothing to do with the attack on Iran” but warned Tehran of retaliation “at levels never seen before” if it targets American assets in the region. He declined to clarify what might trigger US military involvement, telling reporters on Monday: “I don’t want to talk about that.” Earlier in the day, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the deployment of additional “defensive capabilities” to the Middle East, without disclosing which military assets were sent over the weekend. “Protecting US forces is our top priority, and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region,” Hegseth posted on X.

According to Military Watch Magazine, the US has reportedly sent more than 30 aerial refueling tankers across the Atlantic toward the Middle East. The outlet described the buildup as “unprecedented,” suggesting it could signal broader US involvement in the Israeli-Iranian conflict. bIsrael has reportedly asked the US to participate directly in strikes on Iran. The IDF lacks the bunker-buster bombs required to destroy the Islamic Republic’s heavily fortified underground nuclear sites, but Washington could supply them, Axios reported Saturday, citing West Jerusalem officials.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to rule out an attempt to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, telling ABC News on Monday: “It’s going to end the conflict.” Tehran has repeatedly stated that its nuclear program is peaceful and has accused Israel of undermining diplomatic efforts with the US. “Iran did NOT begin this war and has no interest in perpetuating bloodshed. But we will proudly fight to the last drop of blood to protect our land,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X on Monday. He warned that “getting the US mired in the Mother of Forever Wars” would destroy any chance of a diplomatic solution.

Read more …

The reports are very one-sided on US/Israel power. But Iran is not some backwater anymore.

• How Iran Turned Israel’s Iron Dome Against Itself Using Clever Jamming (Sp.)

New evidence suggests that Iran successfully compromised Israel’s vaunted air defense systems during recent attacks — forcing Tel Aviv to fire on its own positions. How? Iran overwhelmed Israeli defenses by breaching the data transmission and correction system early in flight, explains military expert and historian of the Air Defense Forces Yuri Knutov. “Based on the footage that was released, it seems that the Iranians were able to breach the data transmission and correction signal system at the early stage when the missiles were flying, using an inertial guidance system. As a result, the system misdirected the missiles, not toward their intended target, but toward Israel’s own surface-to-air missile batteries, leading to a strike on them.”

The attack included:
100+ Shahed drones (swarming tactics)
Decoy ballistic missiles (old models to waste interceptors)
Fattah hypersonic missiles (unstoppable by Israeli Arrow/PAC-3)
As a result, the Iron Dome’s interception rate dropped drastically to just 10-15%.

“The use of jamming against surface-to-air missiles and missile defense systems is actually a fairly old tactic. During the Vietnam War, the Americans used jamming to mislead missiles by range, angle, and many other active interference methods. Special transmitters were deployed to create the illusion of aircraft presence on the radar screens of Vietnamese missile guidance stations,” Knutov says. “During the Arab-Israeli conflicts of 1970 and 1973, similar jamming techniques were used by both Israeli and Egyptian pilots, as well as Soviet pilots who assisted the Egyptians,” he adds.

Iran’s hypersonic Fattah missiles and Haj Qassems guided ballistics hit critical Israeli targets, including the Defense Ministry HQ and a major airbase housing F-35 and F-16 fighters. Despite Israel’s marketing of its advanced defense systems, the Arrow and Patriot systems failed to stop them. Iran also deployed decoys so effectively that Israeli strikes repeatedly hit fake targets. The Iron Dome, which covers only 144 sq km and is good for single rockets, but seemingly couldn’t handle mass attacks or the hypersonic gap — Fattah missiles reach Israel in 7 minutes, while the Iron Dome needs 11 minutes to reload. Iran has learned from past Israeli strikes and improved tactics, establishing backup command centers and more efficient maneuvering to increase its chances of success.

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US bombers? Stay home.

• US Aerial Tankers Headed To Middle East – Media (RT)

The US has reportedly deployed more than 30 aerial refueling tankers across the Atlantic toward the Middle East, Military Watch Magazine reported on Monday. The outlet has described the buildup as “unprecedented,” claiming it could suggest broader US involvement in the ongoing Israeli-Iranian war. West Jerusalem and Tehran have entered the fourth day of open hostilities. Last Thursday, Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military targets, killing senior military officials and scientists and prompting retaliatory missile barrages on Israeli cities such as Tel Aviv and Haifa. The US has expressed support for the Israeli strikes, with President Donald Trump calling them “excellent.”

He has also warned that Washington could become directly involved in the conflict if American interests are threatened but has yet to announce any plans to involve US forces. However, according to flight tracking data, the US has already started deploying KC-135 and KC-46 aerial refueling tankers to the Middle East. Military Watch Magazine has suggested that the aircraft may be intended to support Israeli Air Force operations or refuel US fighters and bombers if Washington expands its role in the conflict. The report also claims that tankers from other Western countries have participated in Israeli aerial refueling efforts, while the US is believed to have provided intelligence, satellite targeting data, and missile defense support. On Sunday, Axios reported that Israeli officials had asked the US to directly take part in the military operation, specifically requesting assistance in striking Iran’s Fordow enrichment facility.

However, US officials cited by the outlet said the request was declined, with one stating that the Trump administration is not considering any such involvement. Nevertheless, Tehran has claimed that Washington’s support for West Jerusalem has made the US complicit in Israel’s aggression against Iran. Sources within the Iranian military have also reportedly indicated that Tehran’s response to Israeli strikes would “spread to all areas occupied by this [Israeli] regime and related US bases in the region in the coming days. In response, Trump has warned that any Iranian attack on US forces would trigger a military response, writing on his Truth Social platform that “if we are attacked in any way, shape, or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.” He also insisted that the US “had nothing to do with the attack on Iran” and called on Tehran to return to negotiations.

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“..Obama and a person named [..] Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in.”

• Russia Should Be In G8 – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has called Russia’s removal from the group of major Western economies (G8) a mistake, arguing that the country’s presence could have helped prevent the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. Russia joined the group originally known as the G7 in 1997. It includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US, and also the EU as a “non-enumerated member.” Moscow’s membership was suspended in 2014 following Crimea’s reunification with Russia, upon which the G8 reverted to the G7. Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia via a referendum in the aftermath of a Western-backed Maidan coup in Kiev. Trump made the remarks on Monday at the opening of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Canada, recalling that Russia had been part of the group before.

“The G7 used to be the G8,” he said at his first meeting of the summit with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “[Former US President] Barack Obama and a person named [former Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in.” “And I would say that that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in, and you wouldn’t have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago,” he argued. Trump repeatedly criticized Russia’s exclusion and floated the idea of bringing Moscow back during his first term, though the proposal was rejected by other members. In February, Trump once again said he would “love” to see Russia back in the group.

The Kremlin responded by saying the G7 has “lost its relevance” as it no longer reflects current global economic dynamics. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed to the G20 as a more representative format, noting it includes fast-growing economies like China, India, and Brazil. “The G20 better reflects the economic locomotives of the world,” he said. Trump, who has been calling for a settlement to the Ukraine conflict, said at the G7 summit: “You spend so much time talking about Russia, and [Russian President Vladimir Putin is] no longer at the table,” which he said “makes life more complicated.”

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“..How did three countries that are not hostile toward the West get turned into enemies whose subjugation is worth the risk of nuclear war?”

• The Crux of the Problem is NATO on Russia’s Borders (Paul Craig Roberts)

Have you noticed how many wars there are without being declared? Israel launches a military attack on Iran and Iran retaliates, but there is no declaration of war. Israel will attack again, and Iran will again respond by retaliating. But neither country is at war. Russia has been in conflict with Ukraine since February, 2023, but it is a Special Military Operation, not a war. Russia’s strategic triad was attacked, but it was merely a terrorist action, not an act of war. After a couple of years of being bombed, Gaza’s population is now being starved to death, but it is just a matter of clearing the area so a resort can be built. Libya and its leadership were destroyed; Iraq and its leadership were destroyed; Syria and its leadership were destroyed. But it wasn’t wars, just the imposition of democracy. Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen, but war was not declared. Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah are merely anti-terrorist operations, not war.

War is everywhere but the reality cannot be acknowledged. The most serious event of all is not even acknowledged. Someone in the West gave a green light for an attack on Russia’s nuclear triad despite the fact that Russia’s war doctrine requires a “strategic response” to such an attack. Putin sidestepped the issue by declaring the attack to be a terrorist action, not an act of war. But whoever gave the green light for an attack that could have initiated nuclear war between Russia and the West has not been identified and held accountable for the risk to which he subjected life on earth. Indeed, there is zero interest in discovering how the West green lighted an attack that under Russian war doctrine should have initiated nuclear war. Putin pretends it didn’t happen, and Washington is uninterested in who and how the US could have found itself in nuclear war.

President Trump says he did not know of the planned attack on Russia’s strategic triad. This should scare Trump to death. But he seems uninterested in who it was that would have initiated nuclear war with Russia had Putin not flinched. How is it that the American people, the people of Europe, the Russians, Chinese and the rest of the world can be content that it is not in the hands of President Trump whether a strike on Russia that could result in nuclear war can be initiated? How is it that an outside third party has the initiative? Left unexamined, what will the next reckless provocation be? At what point will Putin be forced to recognize reality and be forced to respond? The entire media, governments, and security agencies of the world should be focused on identifying, and preventing, a third party from initiating nuclear conflict between the two major nuclear powers.

Instead, there is no interest in the question. False narratives are in place, and they are running their course. Despite his boasts, Trump has done nothing to achieve peace. Trump could easily forestall Israeli attacks on Iran by agreeing to an inspection to certify the extent of Iran’s enrichment of uranium. Instead, Trump read Iran an ultimatum–which Trump regards as a negotiation–to stop enriching uranium for any purpose or risk being bombed out of existence. In other words, for Trump negotiation means complying with Trump’s demands. Imposing hegemony is not negotiation.

Putin says the Ukraine negotiations must address the central issue. Does anyone in Washington understand that the central issue is NATO on Russia’s borders? There are US missile bases in Poland and Romania. The missiles can be loaded with conventional or nuclear warheads. This is an existential problem for Russia, as were Soviet missile bases in Cuba for the US. President Trump can diffuse the entire issue by removing the US missile bases on Russia’s borders and by rolling NATO back to the 1997 borders.

Trump could diffuse the situation in the Middle East by announcing publicly that the US will not support any more Israeli aggression, and Trump could cease picking a fight with China. Ask yourself, what is Russia doing to us? Nothing. What is Iran doing to US? Nothing, What is China doing to US? Nothing, How did three countries that are not hostile toward the West get turned into enemies whose subjugation is worth the risk of nuclear war? This is a massive failure of Western foreign policy. Where there is no vision the people are lost.

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“The “Anglo-Ukrainian terrorist tandem”..

• Kiev and London Plotting ‘Bloody Provocations’ – Russian Spy Agency (RT)

Kiev and London have been plotting a series of “bloody provocations” to escalate the Ukraine conflict and disrupt dialogue between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has warned. In a statement issued on Monday, the agency described growing coordination between Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and its military intelligence (GUR) with British intelligence, which it said is due to Kiev’s “mounting battlefield setbacks and deepening moral exhaustion.” Such sabotage operations typically follow a set pattern, the SVR said, with Britain planning and coordinating, and Ukrainian operatives carrying out the attacks. The report suggested that the same approach was used in recent railway sabotage in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk Regions, which Moscow denounced as Ukrainian “terrorist attacks.”

The incidents killed seven and injured over 120, including children. The agency also cited the June 1 Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian airbases as part of the same playbook. The “Anglo-Ukrainian terrorist tandem” is now preparing more attacks, the SVR claimed, aiming to escalate the conflict, derail Moscow-Washington dialogue, and convince the White House to maintain large-scale military support for Kiev. According to the agency, one such scenario involves a false flag Russian torpedo attack on a US Navy ship in the Baltic Sea. Ukraine has already supplied Soviet-made torpedoes to the UK, the SVR said. Some are meant to detonate at a “safe distance,” while one will be left unexploded “as evidence of Moscow’s malicious activity.” Ukrainian operatives, it added, are prepared to carry out the plan.

Another alleged scheme involves British, Ukrainian, and Northern European partners “accidentally” recovering Russian-made naval mines in the Baltic, supposedly placed to sabotage international maritime shipping routes. “Kiev has become the perfect executor of vile provocations and terrorist acts for perfidious Albion [England],” the SVR concluded. The agency’s chief, Sergey Naryshkin, has repeatedly warned of possible British provocations, saying the SVR is well aware of London’s covert hostile activities against Russia.

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“..Moscow hopes that “the pause they have taken will not last too long.”

• US Postpones Talks With Russia – Moscow (RT)

The US has postponed bilateral consultations with Moscow aimed at easing tensions and restoring diplomatic missions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced on Monday. Earlier this year, Russia and the US held two rounds of high-level talks, the first on February 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the second on February 27 in Istanbul, Türkiye. The discussions marked the first major direct talks since the deterioration of relations following the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. The agenda included mutual restoration of embassy operations, easing visa issuance, addressing the Ukraine conflict, and exploring potential post-conflict economic cooperation. The next round of talks was to take place in Moscow. However, according to Zakharova, this meeting was canceled at the initiative of the American negotiators.

In a statement published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Telegram channel, she stated, “As of today, the next meeting within the framework of bilateral consultations on eliminating ‘irritants’ to normalize the operation of diplomatic missions of both countries has been canceled at the initiative of the American negotiators.” She did not disclose the reason Washington’s gave for postponing the meetings, adding only that Moscow hopes that “the pause they have taken will not last too long.” Since taking office earlier this year, US President Donald Trump has made efforts to reestablish contact with Moscow, which had been largely severed under his predecessor, Joe Biden. Russian officials have welcomed the shift, also expressing readiness to normalize bilateral relations.

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“The bodies of over 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been handed over to Kiev as agreed, Vladimir Medinsky has announced..Kiev returned the bodies of 78 slain Russian soldiers, he added..”

• Russia Has Fulfilled Istanbul Promises – Medinsky (RT)

Russia has returned the bodies of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, Moscow’s chief negotiator for the Ukraine conflict, Vladimir Medinsky, has said. Moscow repatriated a total of 6,060 sets of military remains, the presidential aide said in an update posted on Telegram on Monday. Kiev returned the bodies of 78 slain Russian soldiers, he added. The exchange was agreed upon during the latest round of direct talks between Moscow and Kiev, hosted by Türkiye, in June. Medinsky’s Ukrainian counterpart, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, suggested at the time that Kiev would hand over an equal number of killed Russian troops.

In April, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky stated in the interview that Ukraine had lost up to 100,000 troops since the escalation of the conflict in 2022. Russian Defense Ministry estimates suggest that Kiev’s losses are an order of magnitude higher than that, as of the end of 2024, with more than half of the total casualties suffered that year. The handover of military remains to Ukraine was jeopardized after Kiev reportedly refused to accept the first batch, on June 7. Ukrainian officials blamed Russia for being too hasty, though the exchange started the following day and and continued over the past week.

Kiev presently relies on mandatory conscription of men aged at least 25 years to refill the ranks of its armed forces and is currently considering making men over 60 years old eligible for the army. The mobilization campaign has been undermined by mass draft avoidance and alleged corruption among military officials responsible for recruitment.

Read more …

Odd news.

• Russian Diplomats Facing ‘Nerve-wracking’ Situation In Israel – Envoy (RT)

Russian nationals in Israel, including diplomatic staff, are facing significant danger due to the country’s ongoing hostilities with Iran, Ambassador Anatoly Viktorov said Monday. In an interview with the television news channel Russia 24, Viktorov outlined the mounting difficulties confronting the embassy since tensions escalated following Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear sites last week. “The situation is nerve-wracking, I must admit. The threat to the lives and well-being of both diplomats and Russian citizens in Israel is not ephemeral,” Viktorov said from Tel Aviv. He noted that shockwaves from nearby explosions had shattered windows in several embassy residences. “Thankfully, there were no direct hits, but the incidents were unfortunate,” he said.

Viktorov added that the US consular office in Tel Aviv had also recently sustained minor damage from flying debris. Embassy staff have also seen their workloads increase significantly during the crisis. Viktorov said he had only managed three hours of sleep the previous night. Still, he urged employees to take their annual leave. “This is a good moment to take families and rest back home,” he said. The embassy has encouraged Russian nationals to exit Israel via Egypt, citing safety concerns. According to Viktorov, dozens have already done so and “rightfully so.”

Israel has said its strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, scientists, and senior officials were “pre-emptive,” claiming Tehran posed an existential threat. Iran denies the allegations, maintaining its nuclear program is peaceful. It has responded with missile attacks, calling them legitimate acts of self-defense. Exchanges of fire between the two nations have occurred daily since the hostilities erupted last Friday.

Moscow has placed responsibility for the escalation on Israel, accusing it of seeking to derail the indirect US-Iran negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. Russian officials have also warned that strikes on nuclear sites pose a potential global risk of radioactive contamination. The broader regional conflict traces back to October 2023, when a deadly incursion by the Palestinian militant group Hamas led to a sustained Israeli military operation in Gaza. West Jerusalem has also carried out air strikes in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

Read more …

G7 came ad went.

• Zelenskyy and Sheinbaum Travel to G7 Canada to Influence and Intercept (CTH)

I’ll break out a different analytical discussion on other foreign interest matters in a separate post; however, as the G7 kicks off it is very interesting to notice who shows up on President Trump’s G7 schedule in Canada – that has absolutely no bearing on the G7 meeting in Canada. According to the schedule, President Trump has meetings with both Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Neither Mexico or Ukraine are in the G7 (Italy, Germany, France, USA, Canada, Japan, U.K). Obviously Zelenskyy is traveling to Canada at the behest of the global intelligence network because they are afraid President Trump may no longer keep Zelenskyy at the center of the foreign policy universe. The distraction of Iran/Israel might take away the focus of President Trump – Zelenskyy cannot bear the thought of that.

For President Sheinbaum, the first Jewish leader in Mexican history, the issues are even more dramatic, consequential and serious. President Trump’s rapid deportation program is making it very difficult for Mexicans in the USA to send money back to Mexico. This is quickly becoming an urgent matter for Mexican officials who will be forced to intervene in support of the local Mexican economy if President Trump keeps impeding the accumulation of illegal wages in the USA. These two meetings are on top of all the other G7 priority meetings that are traditionally scheduled. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is intent on leveraging all the effort she put into gaining close proximity to President Trump’s inner circle for influence. Unfortunately, Meloni used Elon Musk as the entry point and, well, now her sense of desperation to retain relevance gets context.

French President Emmanuel Macron is currently battling British Prime Minister Kier Starmer in the quest to see who has more influence over President Trump. Starmer has a state visit and praise from King Charles to bolster his agenda, but Macron has a longer tenure of proximity to Trump. Zelenskyy showing up in Canada is intended to make Europe the focus of the assembly, with Macron and Starmer representing the ‘coalition of the -mostly- willing’. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, is unfortunately not getting as much attention despite hosting the G7. The reasoning is simple, Carney doesn’t represent anything of value to the USA agenda until President Trump decides to take apart the USMCA trade agreement. Until that process begins, the shouting of Canada about tariffs is akin to an annoying buzzing sound in the background; irrelevant white noise from the snow Mexicans.

Ursula von der Leyen will be in Canada because the insufferable European Union always consider themselves as part of the G7 despite not being a nation. The stupid parliamentarians of the EU always demand representation for their Brussels nonsense and often the NATO knuckleheads tag along. In many ways we can look at the appearance of Mexico and Ukraine through the prism that the G7 doesn’t have any other issues more important to them than (1) trade/tariffs, and (2) war against Russia. PM Carney willing to inject any ally of his that might assist the trade war and Ukraine war advocacy.

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World-renowned infectious-disease epidemiologist Martin Kulldorff — who was fired from Harvard Medical School last year after refusing the COVID vaccine — just got a new gig.

• Martin Kulldorff Named To CDC Vaccine Panel (ZH)

Kulldorff has been named a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. Kulldorff, who had refused the COVID vaccine because of his infection-acquired immunity, lost his appointment at a Harvard-affiliated hospital in the early days of the COVID era, and in March of 2024 was officially terminated as a med school faculty member. Since the COVID lockdowns began five years ago this month, Kulldorff argued that tactics such as social distancing, masking children, vaccines after infections, and other extreme measures were not the best course of action to fight the virus. He co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for sensible tactics that would allow the globe to reach “herd immunity” and has been signed by nearly 1 million scientists worldwide.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in announcing the new members of the panel last week on X, wrote that his selections signify a “major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines.” Kennedy wrote he retired the 17 current members of the committee and is repopulating ACIP with eight new members “committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense.” “They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations. The committee will review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule as well,” Kennedy stated. MassLive reported that in 2021, “Kulldorff posted on X that ‘thinking that everyone must be vaccinated is as scientifically flawed as thinking that nobody should.’”

“COVID vaccines are important for older high-risk people and their care-takers,” he wrote. “Those with prior natural infection do not need it. Nor children.” According to the New York Times, after Kennedy’s announcement, some infectious disease and vaccine experts accused the health secretary of going back on his pledge not to pick so-called anti-vaxxers. “When Mr. Kennedy fired the entire committee, known as the A.C.I.P., he cited financial conflicts of interest and said a clean sweep was necessary to restore public trust in vaccination,” the Times reported. As for Harvard’s role in the controversy, writing in City Journal last year, Kulldorff argued that Harvard turned its back on him, open debate, and medical freedom.

“The beauty of our immune system is that those who recover from an infection are protected if and when they are re-exposed. This has been known since the Athenian Plague of 430 BC—but it is no longer known at Harvard,” he wrote. “Three prominent Harvard faculty coauthored the now infamous ‘consensus’ memorandum in The Lancet, questioning the existence of Covid-acquired immunity. By continuing to mandate the vaccine for students with a prior Covid infection, Harvard is de facto denying 2,500 years of science.”Kennedy, in announcing Kulldorff, noted he is a biostatistician and “a leading expert in vaccine safety and infectious disease surveillance.”“… Dr. Kulldorff developed widely used tools such as SaTScan and TreeScan for detecting disease outbreaks and vaccine adverse events. His expertise includes statistical methods for public health surveillance, immunization safety, and infectious disease epidemiology. He has also been an influential voice in public health policy, advocating for evidence-based approaches to pandemic response.”

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The Clinton-Soros machine.

• King-Less? (James Howard Kunstler)

Saturday morning, we toodled over to the next town, Salem, New York, (pop. 2,612, per capita income $19,499) fifty miles northeast of Albany, to catch one of the hundreds of “No Kings” demos across the nation sponsored by Shanghai-based software billionaire Neville Roy Singham, Walmart heiress Christy Walton, Paypal partner (and Linked-in founder) Reid Hoffman, and father-and son team, George and Alex Soros. Speaking of A;ex Soros, Saturday also happened to be his wedding day, to Huma Abedin, former Hillary Clinton sidekick and BFF (and ex-wife of disgraced congressman and convicted sex offender Anthony Weiner.) The nuptials happened at the Soros’s Hamptons estate. Cable news covered the fabulous cavalcade of black Escalade limousines conveying the super-elite of Progressive-Wokery to the glorious event. The New York Times, with its habitual lack of self-awareness, styled the event thusly:

“Liberal royalty?” Say, what. . . ? There is such a thing? In the party of No Kings? What’s the deal, then? Just princes and princesses, dukes and duchesses, earls, viscounts, baronets, lairds, marquis, knights and dames, and so on. Yet, no king? Well, if you asked the fortunate wedding guests, they might aver to Hillary Clinton as a sort-of Queen of the party, or maybe just Queen Bee. As for former president Bill, he appears to be undergoing slow-motion mummification, so he currently occupies an ambiguous zone between this world and the next, with no mojo left for kingly duties. Anyway, it rained that day down on the South Fork. Meanwhile, back upstate, cloudy and cool but no rain, some two-hundred wrathful plebeian souls gathered at the one-stoplight-intersection in little Salem, these days mainly a farm community, the old railroad engine repair shop defunct, and many good non-farm jobs with it, the usual story in this corner of the country. The hopped-up crowd was well-supplied with signs and placards, many avouching Down with Oligarchs! — which, oddly, seemed a sort of backhanded reference to billionaires of the very type underwriting the day’s festivities, not to mention the super-rich “liberal royalty” gang gathered for the Soros-Abedin royal wedding.

But that was only one of the many incongruities haunting the mass protest against the abhorred president, Mr. Trump. For instance, one poor fellow on the southeast corner of South Main and East Broadway inveighed mournfully against the suppression of free speech, apparently unaware of the epic efforts 2021 to 2025 by “Joe Biden’s” underlings to censor the Internet and de-platform the regime’s critics (including yours truly, whose website was mysteriously destroyed in October 2024).

The moiling mob was overwhelmingly geriatric, perhaps reflecting the backwater demographics of a region with few job opportunities for young folk. A spirit of revival bubbled among them as they reenacted old rituals of the hippie halcyon, the grand old days of the Vietnam War protests, when thousands gathered to levitate the Pentagon. Only now, their sentiments and beliefs exhibit a striking and peculiar inversion of the ancient 1960s credos that drove the beloved Movement.

I know because I was there, on campus, between 1966 and 1971. Back then, the Left opposed the wicked “establishment” and all its nefarious operations, from the war in Vietnam to the FBI’s underhanded suppression of political dissent. These days, strange to relate, the Left stands in staunch defense of the Deep State, big government (and its prodigious corruption), and the politicization of the FBI and CIA.

Their placards lament the withering of “our democracy,” yet they were just fine with “Joe Biden” selecting a 2024 presidential candidate for them — with no customary vote by party delegates, or anything approaching an open democratic process. They shout for the “rule-of-law,” except when it concerns special persons such as the former president’s crackhead, bag-man son. They’re all for the colossal grift around the war in Ukraine. And don’t forget they supported vaccine mandates, the closing and ruination of small businesses (while Walmart and Taco Bell were allowed to thrive), and all the other hypocritical, fraudulent, lethal actions of Covid-19 policy.

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“..a Muslim woman was estimated to have 2.9 children during her lifetime, compared to 2.2 for non-Muslim women..”

“Islam is set to grow to become the world’s largest religion in years ahead, unless trend lines shift..”

• Islam Growing Three Times As Fast As Christianity – Study (RT)

Islam grew approximately three times as fast as Christianity between 2010 and 2020, spurred by higher birth rates and lower rates of deconversion, according to new data from the Pew Research Center. The global population of Muslims rose by nearly 21% over the ten-year span, while the number of Christians only grew by around 6%, according to data from the study, which was released last week. The number of Muslims grew twice as fast as the rest of the world’s population, which expanded by 10% during the same decade. Islam also gained more individual followers than all non-Muslim religions combined during the decade, the research indicated. The study cited higher birth rates and a younger average age among adherents of Islam as key reasons for the growth.

On average, a Muslim woman was estimated to have 2.9 children during her lifetime, compared to 2.2 for non-Muslim women, the research suggested, citing 2015-2020 data. New converts and those leaving the faith had little impact on the growth, as both averaged about 1% during the 2010s, according to the study. Despite growing more slowly, Christianity had remained the world’s largest religion, with 2.3 billion followers in 2020, while Islam held second place with 2 billion, the research indicated. While the number of Christians grew within the ten-year period, the religion’s overall share of the global population shrank by nearly 2%, according to the data. Christian population growth has tapered due to high rates of people leaving to become religiously unaffiliated, according to the study. Despite relatively high fertility rates among adherents, the faith witnessed a net loss of 11.6 adults for every 100 adults who were raised as Christian.

“Islam is set to grow to become the world’s largest religion in years ahead, unless trend lines shift,” said Conrad Hackett, the lead researcher at the Pew Research Center and the main author of the study, according to The Washington Post. He added that it was “striking” to see such a dramatic shift in just a decade, pointing out that the Muslim and Christian populations had grown closer in size as Islam expanded more rapidly than any other major faith. The research covered thousands of censuses and surveys in 201 countries and focused on seven groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, other religions, and individuals who do not identify with any particular religion.

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“..state media platform RIA Novosti editorialized on June 14 that the Israeli operations are a rehearsal for what the US and its allies are planning to do to Russia, and that this is well understood in Moscow.”

• Happy Birthday Donald, Happy US Army and Flag Day (Helmer)

There are no flies on President Vladimir Putin. That’s an expression which originated in the fly-blown goldrush mines of Australia in 1840 and then moved with the flies to the goldrush mines of California a few years later. Literally, it means a man who is too quick for a fly to settle on him. Metaphorically, it means a man who is much too clever to be fooled by a fraudster or deceived by an enemy. Putin is much too quick not to recognize that President Donald Trump is both a fraudster and an enemy. Putin doesn’t have to be told by the General Staff that Trump’s war plans are an existential threat to Russia’s security on the western front (Ukraine, Romania, Poland); northern front (Norway, Sweden, Finland), eastern front (Japan, South Korea); and southern front (Iran).

Last Thursday night, as the US and Israel began their war against Russia’s strategic ally Iran, starting with decapitation strikes against the Islamic Republic’s leadership, the Russian General Staff didn’t have to send Putin their “we told you so” message. But the Kremlin’s communication system broke down, nonetheless. Officially, the war didn’t begin for the Russians until they detected US and Israeli fuelling, arming, and deception preparations on Thursday ahead of the first Israeli weapons launches after midnight into Friday. Earlier in the day, Putin had been telling his arms chiefs “we know the enemy’s modus operandi. However, I do not think we are falling behind in any way.” The combination of drone and missile attack tactics of the enemy requires, he said, “the new state armament programme [to] ensure creation of a universal air defence system capable of operating under any conditions and effectively hitting air assault weapons regardless of their type.”

What about defence against ultra close range, ultra low-altitude drone attacks of the kind which the US, the UK and Ukraine had successfully executed, evading detection and interception, on June 1 against Russia’s nuclear bomber bases across the country? Putin’s scripted phrase “air assault weapons” left that unmentioned in the Kremlin communiqué, but not in the closed-door session after Putin announced: “Let’s get to work”.* What then was the similar coordination by the US and Israel of long-range air assault operations with ground-level attacks targeted fatally on five, possibly eight Iranian generals and five Iranian nuclear scientists. The US and Israeli media reports have termed these decapitation strikes acts of war, not acts of terrorism. The Russian media reports have followed suit.

The state media platform RIA Novosti editorialized on June 14 that the Israeli operations are a rehearsal for what the US and its allies are planning to do to Russia, and that this is well understood in Moscow. “Many respected analysts of different calibres believe that the purpose of the attack on Iran is to eliminate the country’s nuclear program (necessarily) and regime change (extremely desirable). In fact, the main goal of the operation is to work out a mass preventive disarming strike against the enemy with serious military capabilities – that enemy is called not Iran, but Russia.”

This strategic plan, writes Boris Rozhin, a leading military blogger reflecting the views of senior Russian military officers, is President Donald Trump’s first of all, and aimed at Russia next. “Current events in the Middle East region demonstrate a dramatic change in the geopolitical situation. The Western powers, throwing away their purported enmity, have united in a general offensive against an independent Iran, a key ally of Russia…The previous ‘disagreements’ have turned out to be only a spectacle for the public. Iran’s defeat will be a strategic catastrophe for Russia, surpassing even the loss of Syria. Iran plays a key role in maintaining a balance of power in the Middle East and is Russia’s most important ally in confronting Western domination…The war against Iran, initiated by the Western world, could have disastrous consequences for the entire world order. This is not a local conflict, but an attempt to finally break the last pockets of resistance to the unipolar world…For Russia, this means the need to make drastic decisions to protect its strategic interests and allies.” — June 14, 21:19.

“In summing up this story,” Rozhin wrote yesterday, — June 14, 14:31, “we can conclude – if there is anyone who has not yet understood – that the ‘Trump peace attempts’ are worthless and will lead to nothing – neither in the Middle East nor in Ukraine. Therefore, agreements with Trump are not worth it. It is necessary to strengthen the army and the military-industrial complex and achieve the goals of the SVO [Special Military Operation] by military means. In order not to say again, ‘we wanted peace, and the Americans deceived us again’, as the Iranians do now.”

In the policy discussion currently under way, a Moscow source reports the intelligence assessment that Iran’s military capabilities are not as effective as they have been publicly portrayed or as the generals have threatened; that the clerical leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei knows this; and that he and his clerical allies believe their best chance of survival in power is to limit the counterattack on Israel, ask for a ceasefire, bargain with their threat to close the Hormuz Strait, and abandon their negotiating positions on nuclear enrichment and missile development.

“If the nuclear bomb was a bluff, and we believe it was,” the source says, “then they should have learned the lessons of Saddam [Hussein]. They should have expected Netanyahu and Trump to call their bluff. Now that’s happened, Iran’s internal weakness is also stark. I believe SVR [foreign intelligence], GRU [military intelligence] and MiD [foreign ministry] have concluded the conflict is the Iranians to lose – and this is what is happening. What can Putin do if the clerics have no nerve to fight?”

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At least it was not quiet.

• 10 YEARS AGO: Donald Trump Announces Presidential Candidacy (DS)

Ten years ago today, now-President Donald Trump came down the Trump Tower escalator in Manhattan to announce his run to be president of the United States. “We need a leader that can bring back our jobs, can bring back our manufacturing, can bring back our military, can take care of our vets. …. We need somebody that literally will take this country and make it great again,” said the Queens-born real estate mogul and reality television star. The 69-year-old made a number of promises, reshaping American politics to this day. “I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall, mark my words,” Trump told the Manhattan crowd. Trump’s claims were met with general ridicule from most media coverage.

“Donald J. Trump, the garrulous real estate developer whose name has adorned apartment buildings, hotels, Trump-brand neckties and Trump-brand steaks, announced on Tuesday his entry into the 2016 presidential race, brandishing his wealth and fame as chief qualifications in an improbable quest for the Republican nomination,” wrote the New York Times in its mocking coverage of the candidate who would defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton little over a year later. Ten years later, Trump is pushing for the speedy passage of the “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill, which would secure funding to complete construction of the Southern border wall. In his Trump Tower speech, the billionaire also vowed to bring stability to the Middle East.

“Islamic terrorism is eating up large portions of the Middle East. They’ve become rich. I’m in competition with them. They [ISIS] just built a hotel, can you believe this? … Nobody will be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump,” he said, also promising to “stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons.” In June 2025, Israel and Iran are currently at war after Israel struck the Islamic regime in an attempt to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

The future-president also spoke at length on a topic that is still top-of-mind today—China. ““I like China. I love China,” he said. “[But] it’s like take the New England Patriots and Tom Brady and have them play your high school football team. That’s the difference between China’s leaders and our leaders. … We have all the cards, but we don’t know how to use them.” In June 2025, Trump’s White House has said they have reached a consensus on a trade agreement with China. Now at the age of 79, Trump is half of a year into his second term as president after winning every swing, as well as the popular vote. The journey he began in 2015 is far from over.

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Anthony

 

 

Moose

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle August 2 2024

Aug 022024
 
 August 2, 2024  Posted by at 9:28 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  37 Responses »


Henri Matisse Trivaux pond 1916-17

 

• 2024 Olympics in France – Interpreting Satanic Olympics Inauguration (Koenig)
• Female Boxer’s Olympic Beatdown Sparks Fury (RT)
• West Sees Immigration As A Way Of Getting Rid Of The Nation-State -Orban (RMX)
• US Recognizes Opposition Candidate as Winner in Venezuela – Blinken (Sp.)
• Regime Change In Venezuela Unlikely (SCF)
• Zelensky Says Most Of World Wants Him To Talk To Russia (RT)
• Zelensky Suspends Ukraine’s Foreign Debt Payments Starting Aug 1st (ZH)
• Haniyeh Killed By Bomb Placed In Tehran Guesthouse 2 Months Ago (ZH)
• Harris Only Recently Turned Black – Trump (RT)
• Trump Collapsed US-Russia Arms Control by Scrapping INF Treaty (Sp.)
• INF Treaty Stood in Way of Plans to Militarize Europe, Hold Russia Back (Sp.)
• Lindsey Graham Introduces Bill Authorizing Military Force in Iran (Sp.)
• Netanyahu Playing A Deadly Game Drawing US Into A War With Iran (Jay)
• Houthis Urge ‘Dangerous’ Response to Israel (Sp.)
• Prisoner Swap Was Battle of Self-Control, Moscow Says (Sp.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larry

Ratings

Italy Court
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819001509314498881

Maduro
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818812107036438993
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818882723064250462

 

 

 

 

This author seems to get lost in all the different threads in his head, but the main one is obvious: to confuse all people, especially the young, about who and what they are. Until boys are no longer boys, or girls, girls. And what better stage to convey the message than the Olympics, the most televised and watched global event. Which is exactly why it should not happen there. Well, too late.

• 2024 Olympics in France – Interpreting Satanic Olympics Inauguration (Koenig)

“The opening ceremony of the Olympics felt like the closing ceremony of humanity”, posted on “X” (former Twitter) by @KimDotcom. The Satanic symbolism of the inauguration of the French Olympics on 26 July 2024, raised many questions on interpreting them. Those who are behind these diabolical symbols, of course knew what they were doing. In brief, as the Dark Satanic Cult, as it did on many occasions before, they showed us, the People, what they have already done with us, how far they have advanced in their evil endeavor, and that we are at the final stage of the apocalypse, as depicted in the Book of Revelation. With gory details, blasphemous symbolism, a gross display of the United Nations 2030-Woke agenda, transgender, and homosexuality no end, they demonstrated the end phase of the Fourth Horseman of Death.

[..] They are telling us that our last hour has wrung. The three initial phases of the Apocalypse have come and gone and some are being executed in parallel with each other – Conquest, War, Famine… while we are indeed entering the Forth – meaning Death. This, the Fourth Horseman, is meant to tell us. Conquest – almost without humanity noticing, we have been taken over – by the Globalists, those who are pretending to be at the point of establishing a One World Government and a One World digital currency – exerting full control. No kidding. We are not far from this moment – Wake up People!!! War – there is no need even to talk about wars. They are all over. All of them initiated in one way or another by the same elitist Dark Satanic Cult.

First, create unrest by terrorism, infiltrated into a country by the Satanic Cultists, then invade, create an endless war, never to win – and so the industry that fuels it, will earn trillions of fake money, we, the People, work hard for – while the Zuckerbergs et al – buy yachts worth half a billion dollars, irrespective of the CO2 emissions they tell us, the People, to reduce to zero. – Zuckerberg is founder, chairman and CEO of Meta, former Facebook, one of the tech-giants. The latest wealth report, just out, indicates that 1.5% of the world population owns 47.5% of the world’s wealth. Why is that important? – Because Wars, the War Industry, is one of the largest generators of this fake wealth, wealth by death, exactly what the Forth Horseman has in store for us. Wars area also supported directly or indirectly by the tech-corporations, by “Cyber-Valley”, formerly called Silicone Valley. Famine – we are being plunged into an artificial famine, by the false climate change agenda and the overall lie that has been drilled into the human brain — it seems to be irreversible. The “smartest” people believe in it. So, CO2 emissions and other greenhouse gases – like farthing cows – are causing the manmade climate change – against any evidence, just propaganda – and we, the People, swallow it. And if We, the People, do not stop it, Climate Change will kill us all.

No word about geoengineering the weather, the climate – so we believe in the “climate” hoax. We are blind, cannot see the white crisscrossing chemtrails on the sky, cannot see that these all-destructive horrendous brush and forest fires are made by Direct Energy Weapons (DEW) – another means of doing away with humanity. Human agriculture, the very base for our lives, giving us the daily nutrition we need, is being killed by the dark Satanic Cult. Farmland is being bought up, for example, by the Bill Gates Foundation, thus, preventing it from being used to produce food. Bill Gates is currently the largest single farmland-owner of the US of A. Why is this important to know? – Because it is all connected – causing famine and misery, and connected to the horrendous death-depicting symbolism of the Olympic Openings. We let it happen. It is our fault – as we are being told. Our Christian culture has brought us up with guilt. We are guilty before we are even born — so, yes, we must suffer.

Some protest, but most don’t. Instead, they prepare themselves for a diet on bugs and maybe grass – a diet towards famine — leading directly to the Fourth Horseman – DEATH. The blasphemously displayed Last Supper of transvestites and gays confirms us death and extinction is on the horizon, as queers will not procreate. – The Woke agenda is just one more step to Human extinction – Death. Death – That is what they want for most of us. A small group of “underlings” cum transhumans, commanded by 5G and soon 6G – no chips needed – will be their slaves. These quasi-robots are happy owning nothing. In case they become unhappy, they can be extinguished remotely – when they become problems, or are no longer needed. That’s it, Folks! They have been very honest – their Olympics symbolism has clearly shown us where we are — they came out in the open with their verdict: See what we can do – there is no return. Wake up People. It is never too late. There is never a moment of NO RETURN – unless we are dead. Never forget this simple phrase: Together we Can.

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More Satan. In the civilized world, men don’t beat women. Everybody knows. Except, now, at the Olympics, where they hand out medals for it.

• Female Boxer’s Olympic Beatdown Sparks Fury (RT)

A women’s boxing match at the Paris Olympics has triggered international condemnation and questions about the fairness of letting a “biological male” compete in the ring. Italy’s Angela Carini faced off against Algeria’s Imani Khelif on Thursday, in the welterweight (66kg) category, but lasted just 45 seconds. After taking two big punches to the face, Carini threw down her helmet and forfeited the bout, crying “this is unjust!” Carini yanked her hand away as the referee declared Khelif the winner, then dropped to her knees and burst into tears. “I’m used to suffering. I’ve never taken a punch like that, it was impossible to continue,” she said after the match. Carini has faced an outpouring of solidarity from critics of transgenderism around the world, who denounced Khelif as a biological man and protested the bout as unfair.

“This is sickening. This is a travesty. Doesn’t matter what you believe. This is wrong and dangerous,” said Jake Paul, a Youtuber turned professional boxer. “A young female boxer has just had everything she’s worked and trained for snatched away because you allowed a male to get in the ring with her,” author J.K. Rowling told the International Olympic Committee (IOC), adding that the 2024 Olympics “will be forever tarnished by the brutal injustice done to Carini.” American college swimmer Riley Gaines started a hashtag on X (formerly Twitter) “I stand with Angela Carini,” which was endorsed by the platform owner, Elon Musk. “All the competitors comply with the eligibility rules,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams insisted on Thursday. “And, by the way, this is not a transgender issue.”

Khelif had been disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2023 as a biological male. The boxer appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but “withdrew the appeal during the process,” the IBA said on Wednesday. The association protested the IOC decision to allow Khelif to compete in Paris, arguing that its rules “raise serious questions about both competitive fairness and athletes’ safety.” The IOC has ruled that both Khelif and Lin Tu-ting – a boxer representing Chinese Taipei – “are women according to their passports.” The Olympic body has also excluded the IBA from the Paris games, in part because the association is based in Russia.

According to Algeria, Khelif is not transgender at all but a woman affected by a condition known as hyperandrogenism, characterized by a high level of testosterone and the presence of XY chromosomes. “We condemn the unethical targeting and maligning of our esteemed athlete, Imane Khelif, with baseless propaganda from certain foreign media outlets,” the Algerian Olympic Committee said in a statement on Wednesday. The Paris Olympics have come under a barrage of criticism over last Friday’s opening ceremony, which included homosexuals, transsexuals and drag queens simulating a Bacchanalia patterned after Leonardo da Vinci’s famous mural ‘The Last Supper.’

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Closely linked to the above.

“..if there are more guests than owners, the home is no longer a home. This risk should not be taken here.”

• West Sees Immigration As A Way Of Getting Rid Of The Nation-State -Orban (RMX)

In Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s speech at Tusványos in Romania, he focuses on the intractable differences developing between the East and West of Europe, with immigration one of the key divisions. He not only rejects the Western view on immigration, but sees it as an agenda with a very specific ideology behind it, which is designed to erode the nation-state entirely. “But Westerners, quite differently, believe that nation-states no longer exist. They therefore deny that there is a common culture and a public morality based on (the nation-state). There is no public morality, if you watched the Olympic opening yesterday, you saw it. So, they also think differently about migration. They believe that migration is not a threat or a problem, but in fact a way of getting rid of the ethnic homogeneity that is the basis of a nation. This is the essence of the progressive liberal international concept. That is why the absurdity does not occur to them, or they do not see it as absurd,” he said.

He said that this contrast between East and West is playing out through war and the movement of peoples, saying that while hundreds of thousands of Christian people are killing each other in the East, “in the West of Europe, we are letting hundreds of thousands of people into a foreign civilization, which is absurd from our Central European point of view.” This dramatic ideological cleavage is not a “secret,” according to Orbán. He said that the documents and policy papers coming out of the EU shpw that the “clear aim is to transcend the nation.” “But the point is that the powers, the sovereignty, should be transferred from the nation-states to Brussels. This is the logic behind all major measures. In their minds, the nation is a historical, or transitional, formation of the 18th and 19th centuries — as it came, so it may go. They are already in a post-national state in the Western half of Europe. It’s not just a politically different situation, but what I’m trying to talk about here is that it’s a new mental space.”

Orbán says that the Hungarian perspective is different, which is why the government is taking measures now to ensure it has a resilient social structure, and the first step is to combat Hungary’s demographic decline. He noted that progress in this area had been made in the preceding years but acknowledged that there has been a standstill and new measures must be taken. “By 2035, Hungary should be demographically self-sustaining. There is no question of a population being replaced by migration. The Western experience is that if there are more guests than owners, the home is no longer a home. This risk should not be taken here.” Orbán notes that not everyone in the West is happy about the demographic transformation taking place in their countries, and in many cases, there are strong majorities against continued mass immigration. This, in turn, has led to a sharp increase in repression against dissenting voices and increasingly undemocratic trends in Western countries.

And finally, the last element of reality is that this post-national situation that we see in the West has a serious, I would say dramatic, political consequence that is shaking democracy. Societies are increasingly resistant to migration, gender, war and globalism. And this creates the political problem of elites and the people, elitism and populism. This is a dominant phenomenon in Western politics today…This means that the elites condemn the people for drifting to the right. The feelings and ideas of the people are labeled xenophobia, homophobia and nationalism. The people, meanwhile, in response, accuse the elite of not caring about what is important to them, but of sinking into some kind of mindless globalism. Consequently, the elites and the people cannot agree with each other on cooperation. I could mention many countries. But if the people and elites cannot agree to cooperate, how can it become a representative democracy? Because here we have an elite that does not want to represent the people, and is proud of not wanting to represent them, and here we have the people who are not represented.”

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They’ve been at it for over 2 decades.

• US Recognizes Opposition Candidate as Winner in Venezuela – Blinken (Sp.)

The United States has determined it will recognize opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez the winner of the Venezuelan presidential election, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release. “Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,” Blinken said in the release on Thursday. Blinken called on the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a peaceful transition of power in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law. Moreover, Blinken also said that the United States rejects Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s “unsubstantiated” allegations against opposition leaders, including González and María Corina Machado. Machado co-founded the Venezuelan Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Sumate which received significant financial support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

In 2005, she traveled to the White House to meet then-US President George W Bush, a meeting that was described in classified diplomatic cables as “poking [then Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez in the eye,” In 2014, she took a diplomatic position with the government of Panama, which gave her the ability to speak at the Organization of American States (OAS). She used that platform to publicly call for foreign intervention in Venezuela. She has since been banned from running for office. Earlier this week, Maduro said Gonzalez and Machado must face justice. On Thursday, RT journalist Fiorella Isabel reported that a draft resolution for the US House of Representatives was being floated around Washington looking for co-signers. That draft calls for more sanctions on Venezuela and would recognize González as the legitimate president of Venezuela. She added that the draft was authored by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL).

In 2019, the US officially recognized Juan Guaido as the interim President of Venezuela. He was eventually removed as the leader of the opposition from his own party and currently lives in Miami, Florida. The National Electoral Council declared Maduro president-elect for 2025-2031 after the presidential elections were held in Venezuela on July 28. The Electoral Council said Maduro won 51% of the vote. Protests broke out the day after the election, leading to clashes between the police and protesters in Caracas. Protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at law enforcement officers. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, 77 law enforcement officers were injured; more than 1,000 people were detained on charges of destruction of state infrastructure, incitement of hatred and terrorism. The Venezuelan government said a number of countries interfered in the elections and the people’s right to self-determination.

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“The Bolivarian Revolution was a movement started within the ranks of the Army, with Hugo Chavez’s ideology being extremely popular among Venezuelan soldiers.”

• Regime Change In Venezuela Unlikely (SCF)

As expected, Nicolás Maduro won the elections in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Without major difficulties, the current president defeated all his opponents, being chosen by the majority of the Venezuelan people to govern the country for the third consecutive term. Since Maduro was an efficient leader in managing the nation’s path amidst so many difficulties and sanctions imposed by Western powers, the result does not seem surprising. In practice, Maduro has already proven himself capable of guiding the country even in difficult conditions. However, many Western or Western-aligned countries still insist on denying the reality of Maduro’s victory, avoiding recognizing the results of the elections. Not only that, there are also clear signs of internal sabotage, with anti-democratic protesters carrying out acts of vandalism and various types of crimes to create social instability and impede peace in the post-election period. The groups of protesters are true criminal gangs, willing to do anything for the money of Western recruiters.

Maduro has been strong in combating saboteurs. Ambassadors from hostile countries have been expelled and several criminals – disguised as “protesters” – are being arrested and punished. Not only are regular state forces involved in protecting Venezuela’s legitimate institutions, but there is also widespread popular mobilization against anti-Maduro saboteurs. The protests are mostly being carried out by extremist groups linked to the opposition and foreign intelligence networks that finance the anti-Maduro lobby. There are even videos circulating on the internet exposing drug traffickers declaring their support for the opposition, which shows the nature of the militants against the legitimate government of Venezuela. In practice, the West is literally recruiting criminals, extremists and terrorists to operate national destabilization maneuvers in the South American country.

Many analysts are commenting on the possibility of a color revolution, regime change operation or even civil war on Venezuelan soil. Although all possibilities need to be considered, it seems unlikely that these tragic scenarios will develop, as the situation in Venezuela, although not completely normalized, still appears far from absolute instability. The protests are indeed happening, but they are not as big and relevant as the Western media makes it seem through its propaganda. Local observers have frequently published images showing Venezuelan streets in total peace, without protests or riots. The loyalty of the Venezuelan people to Maduro remains an important factor in neutralizing attempts at illegitimate popular unrest. Furthermore, one of the main points to be emphasized is the strong connection between the Venezuelan government and the country’s military. The Bolivarian Revolution was a movement started within the ranks of the Army, with Hugo Chavez’s ideology being extremely popular among Venezuelan soldiers.

There is no rivalry between the Venezuelan generals and the Maduro government, which reduces the risk of betrayal – and consequently neutralizes the possibility of civil war. In the same sense, even if some generals eventually betray Maduro, the Bolivarian Revolutionary Guard works as a tool to guarantee the legality and ideological principles of the State. If there is betrayal and conflict, the rebel military will face Guard’s troops, who are well trained and prepared to deal with security crisis situations. Without popular support and military betrayal, color revolutions are doomed to failure. For this reason, there are few signs that the current sabotage against Maduro is sufficient to cause significant impacts in the country. These movements, in fact, seem more like an act of desperation on the part of certain agents and specific networks of the American Deep State, with few results in practical reality.

Despite all the difficulties, economic sanctions and political pressure, Maduro seems safe. Having the support of the people and the army, he has the necessary conditions to govern and advance his party’s agenda – which is marked by a type of “pro-Multipolar conservative socialism”, mixing socialist, Christian principles and a sovereignist foreign policy. It is normal and expected for American intelligence and its allied organizations to react to an undesirable election outcome. It does not mean, however, that the reaction to the elections will necessarily be victorious. Most likely, Maduro will be able to neutralize his enemies and consolidate his position as a skilled and charismatic political leader, truly capable of governing the country in current times.

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He’ll come with his stupid demands, they’ll say no.

• Zelensky Says Most Of World Wants Him To Talk To Russia (RT)

The majority of the world believes that diplomatic settlement of the Ukraine conflict is only possible with Russia’s participation in negotiations, and wants to see Moscow take part in a planned second international peace summit scheduled for November, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has told French media. Russia was not invited to the first peace summit, hosted by Switzerland in June; according to Zelensky, it was deliberately excluded from the gathering. Now Moscow should take a seat at the table, the Ukrainian leader said in an interview published on Wednesday. “The majority of the world today says that Russia must be represented at the second summit, otherwise we will not achieve meaningful results,” he said, adding “since the whole world wants them to be at the table, we cannot be against it.” The first conference was snubbed by several countries, including China, which demanded talks that would allow both sides of the conflict to participate.

Moscow has repeatedly said it is open to negotiations with Kiev, but there are issues that must first be addressed for any meaningful conversation to begin, including Zelensky’s legitimacy as head of state. His term ended in May and elections were not held due to martial law. According to Zelensky, by November Kiev intends to prepare a plan based on the results of the first summit that will include “territorial integrity, sovereignty and so on.” Asked whether Ukraine’s return to the borders of 1991 would be a mandatory precondition for peace talks with Russia, Zelensky replied that it is desirable but not obligatory. Last month, the Ukrainian leader signaled that he wanted to end the conflict “as soon as possible,” and was now ready to talk with Russia regardless of who is in charge of the country. In 2022, Zelensky barred his country from any talks with the current leadership in Moscow after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly to join Russia in referendums which were summarily dismissed by Kiev and its Western backers.

The first summit mainly focused on Kiev’s ‘peace formula’, demanding that Russia withdraw its troops from all territory claimed by Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed the plan, calling it “detached from reality.” Last week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that signals sent by Kiev about Ukraine’s willingness to resume peace talks with Moscow are not credible. Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced his own peace proposal in June, saying he was ready to start talks once Kiev commits to neutral status and cedes its claims to all six former Ukrainian regions that chose to join Russia in 2014 and 2022. His overture was rejected by Zelensky as an “ultimatum.”

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Broke. Now what? Europeans will pay. Orban, Fico will refuse.

• Zelensky Suspends Ukraine’s Foreign Debt Payments Starting Aug 1st (ZH)

Who could have seen this coming? Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a new law which defers public debt payments until October if necessary, Reuters has confirmed. The bill was signed by Zelensky and returned to parliament on Wednesday. The government now has the authority to postpone payments on external public debt until restructuring negotiations are seen through, which could then see a moratorium held that would formally mark a sovereign default. “It is necessary to introduce, for the period of transactions to change the terms of borrowing, temporary measures related to the servicing and repayment of debt obligations and a moratorium on satisfaction of creditors’ claims,” the bill released by the president’s office said.

The clock is ticking on debt restructure as a payment freeze agreed upon two years ago will soon expire (on Aug.1), and as Reuters notes: “Earlier this month, Ukraine announced a preliminary deal with a committee of its main bondholders to restructure its near $20 billion worth of international debt.” Bondholders must still approve the deal, which is likely, given the plan has the support of foreign governments. Exactly one week ago, Fitch Ratings downgraded the country’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating from the “CC” level to the lower “C” level. “The reported agreement with external commercial creditors constitutes a distressed debt exchange (DDE) under its sovereign rating criteria,” Fitch said.

Reuters further reviews that the proposal would see “a 37% nominal haircut on Ukraine’s outstanding international bonds, saving Kyiv $11.4 billion in payments over the next three years – the duration of the country’s program with the International Monetary Fund, according to government statements.” It was in February 2022 that Ukraine reached a hasty agreement with its creditors to freeze payments of some 23$ billion till August 2024 amid the backdrop of the Russian invasion. Since then Kiev has been almost completely reliant on foreign aid. This was all long ago predicted, including by EU parliamentarians, given that the longer the war drags on the closer the war-ravaged country is to defaulting… Following what now inaugurates a period of a short-term debt default, private bondholders are likely agree to push Ukraine’s debt payments until 2027, thus seeking to minimize the impact on Ukraine’s ability for long-term borrowing.

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How many more did they plant?

• Haniyeh Killed By Bomb Placed In Tehran Guesthouse 2 Months Ago (ZH)

New details have emerged in the Israeli covert assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was staying in Tehran to attend the country’s presidential inauguration events. Iran and Hamas’ backers considered Haniyeh to be essentially akin to a top foreign diplomat or even head of state, and so at times Haniyeh was known to travel openly in places like Qatar, Iran, or other Gulf states. And yet the bombing that took is life is being widely viewed in Iran as an utterly humiliating security failure for the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was hosting the Hamas leader. The NY Times is reporting Thursday of events the day prior that he was assassinated by “an explosive device covertly smuggled into the Tehran guesthouse where he was staying, according to seven Middle Eastern officials, including two Iranians, and an American official.”

“The bomb had been hidden approximately two months ago in the guesthouse, according to five of the Middle Eastern officials,” the report continues. “The guesthouse is run and protected by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and is part of a large compound, known as Neshat, in an upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran.” Likely among the “seven Middle Eastern officials” cited as sources for the report include some Israeli intel officials themselves, given the level of specified details. No doubt they are ‘spiking the football’ and want the Iranians and the world to know the astounding level of success they had in penetrating IRGC security and protocol.

For an Israeli asset to be able to access an Iranian diplomatic house in Neshat – the upscale neighborhood of northern Tehran where the bombing took place – and then be able to pinpoint down to the moment the target be in a specific room is almost unbelievable and the stuff of a James Bond spy thriller. “The bomb was detonated remotely, the five officials said, once it was confirmed that he was inside his room at the guesthouse,” NYT continues, nothing that the blast also took out Haniyeh’s bodyguard but left alive Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah, who was literally staying in the next room over. “The explosion shook the building, shattered some windows and caused the partial collapse of an exterior wall, according to the two Iranian officials, members of the Revolutionary Guards briefed on the incident,” the report continues. A widely circulating photograph also appears to confirm this description of events.

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This gets ’em all going. Especially right down in the lion’s den.

• Harris Only Recently Turned Black – Trump (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump has ridiculed Vice President Kamala Harris for talking up her Indian heritage for years until she “all of a sudden…became a black person.” The White House lashed out at Trump in response, stating that the former president has no “right to tell someone who they are.” Trump commented on Harris’ race during a combative panel interview at a National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago on Wednesday. Asked whether he considered Harris a “DEI hire” – someone hired for their race or gender, Trump replied that he thinks the situation “is maybe a little bit different.” “She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” he elaborated. “I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she black?”

“You know what, I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t, because she was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn, she became a black person,” Trump continued, to laughter from the audience. Born in California to an Indian mother and Jamaican father, Harris is often described as the US’ first African American and first Asian American vice president. Around the time of her election to the US Senate in 2016, some American media outlets including the Associated Press, The Hill, and local newspaper the Sacramento Bee described her as “Indian-American,” while others, including ABC and NBC, described her as “African-American.” Both descriptors were used interchangeably by the media during Harris’ time in the Senate, and during her abortive presidential campaign in 2019.

In a 2020 post on X marking India’s independence day, Harris described Indians as “our people.” Responding to Trump on social media, Harris accused her Republican opponent of peddling “divisiveness and disrespect.” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Trump’s remarks “repulsive and insulting.” Nobody “has any right to tell someone who they are, how they identify. That is no-one’s right,” Jean-Pierre told reporters on Thursday. Seemingly undeterred by this condemnation, Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Friday to share a photograph of a young Harris and her family in traditional Indian dress. “Thank you Kamala for the nice picture you sent from many years ago! Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated,” he wrote.

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Dumb move. Pompeo and Bolton.

“Almost each of the next 100 days till November 5 elections might bring unexpected events, not all of them bright for America and mankind..”

• Trump Collapsed US-Russia Arms Control by Scrapping INF Treaty (Sp.)

Then-President Donald Trump made a “stupid mistake” by deciding to scrap the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, as the consequences of that fateful decision have been the collapse of strategic arms control policies between the United States and Russia, analysts told Sputnik. The INF treaty, signed between the Soviet Union and the US in 1987, banned the countries from developing and possessing ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges from 500-5,500 kilometers. In 2019, Trump withdrew the US from the treaty, which prompted Russia to suspend its participation in the Cold War-era accord in response. August 2 marks the fifth anniversary of the US’ formal withdrawal from the INF Treaty.

“The consequences have been that strategic arms control policies between Russia and the US/NATO have largely been abandoned and both sides have developed nuclear capable intermediate range missiles that raise the likelihood that they will be resorted to in a potential escalating conflict like in Ukraine,” former CIA analyst, founder and chair of the Council for the National Interest Philip Giraldi said. There were sharp differences of opinion in the Trump administration on whether to retain the treaty, in spite of both sides’ claims that there was “cheating,” Giraldi recalled. “The neocons predictably won the argument.”Back in the 1980s, despite hawkish governments in London and Bonn, popular sentiment across Europe, especially in Germany overwhelmingly favored creating the treaty, Giraldi emphasized.

“Interestingly enough, I was in the CIA German station in Hamburg 1982-5 when the whole issue of intermediate range missiles, which theoretically allowed for no warning devastating nuclear capable attack, was being debated,” he said. “There were huge demonstrations in all German cities against the deployment and in favor of an agreement,” Giraldi reported. “The US Consulate General was located near Hamburg’s central lake, the Alster and thousands of demonstrators would gather along the lakefront and storm the front of the building by crossing the access road that surrounded the lake.” American University in Moscow President Edward Lozansky, a former Soviet nuclear physicist, noted that Trump had heeded his two most influential advisers at the time, CIA chief and then secretary of state Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton, both of whom were determined to kill the treaty.

“One has to look at Trump’s two critical foreign policy and security advisers at the time, Pompeo and Bolton. Trump foolishly appointed them to prove he is tough on Russia. He made many other stupid mistakes for the same reason,” Lozansky said. One can excuse Trump for being a “political novice who miraculously won in 2016 and found himself in an ocean of sharks,” he added. The recent events show that “the Deep State learned the 2016 lessons” and the chances of Trump repeating the miracle of that year are quickly decreasing, at least for now, according to Lozansky. “Almost each of the next 100 days till November 5 elections might bring unexpected events, not all of them bright for America and mankind,” the expert concluded.

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“Unlike in 1987, Russian technological and economic capabilities in this space now exceed those of the United States..”

• INF Treaty Stood in Way of Plans to Militarize Europe, Hold Russia Back (Sp.)

The United States scrapped the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty five years ago with the aim of expanding NATO further eastward, pressing Russia economically and militarily, and cementing America’s global hegemony, veteran Pentagon analyst and retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik. August 2 marks the fifth anniversary of the US’s formal withdrawal from the INF Treaty. “This [the pullout from the treaty] was due to the US desire (led by neoconservatives in the State Department and elsewhere in the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations) to expand NATO eastward, as well to engage militarily on Russia’s European border with both conventional and nuclear arms, specifically via Ukraine,” Kwiatkowski said. The military and economic rise of China, a neoconservative theme for the past 30 years, required in the eyes of hawkish US military planners a nuclear offensive line in Eastern Europe to hold Russia “captive,” Kwiatkowski explained.

“The INF Treaty always stood in the way of this,” she said. Russia had formally complained of continual US violations of the INF Treaty since 2014, but this was information most Americans and Europeans never saw, and most were not even interested in, Kwiatkowski noted. “The consequences have been straightforward and dangerous. First, both the United States and Russia are now actively engaged in an expensive competition in the INF field and other new missile technology arenas,” she said. Unlike in 1987, Russian technological and economic capabilities in this space now exceed those of the United States, Kwiatkowski assessed. “Instead of US-Russia treaties that could engage and limit war preparation, we have NATO expansion, including an attempt to NATO-ize former INF signatory Ukraine,” she said.

After two post-Cold War batch accessions to the NATO alliance in 1999 and 2004, the accessions of six new member countries since 2009 have created a larger “border” between Russia and NATO, Kwiatkowski cautioned. “Peace and diplomacy were now not only verboten, or forbidden but for five years have been institutionally impossible in Europe, thanks in part to the elimination of the INF Treaty and abnormally weak and intellectually impoverished US and NATO leadership over the same time frame,” she concluded. The INF treaty, signed between the Soviet Union and the US in 1987, banned the countries from developing and possessing ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges from 500-5,500 kilometers. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the treaty, accusing Russia of non-compliance. In response to the US decision, Russia suspended its participation in the Cold War-era accord.

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Pompeo and Bolton have a successor.

• Lindsey Graham Introduces Bill Authorizing Military Force in Iran (Sp.)

US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced legislation right before the Congress recess in August that would authorize President Joe Biden to use military force against Iran if he determines that Iran has capabilities that threaten the national security interests of the United States. “The President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against the Islamic Republic of Iran if the President determines that the Islamic Republic of Iran– 1) Is in the process of possessing a nuclear weapon that threatens the national security interests of the United States; or 2) Possesses uranium enriched to weapons-grade level, possesses a nuclear warhead, or possesses a delivery vehicle capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that threatens the national security interests of the United States.”

While the bill specifies that it is limited to Iran’s nuclear program, it is broad enough to potentially authorize Biden to strike Iran as soon as the bill passes. While Iran is not believed to possess a nuclear warhead, it already has an arsenal of missiles that would be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead if Iran were to obtain one. Biden seemingly would be authorized by the bill to strike Iran if he determines that to be a threat. The same day, Graham also introduced a bill that would affirm any “escalation by Hezbollah” will be seen as an escalation by Iran and urges Congress and the President “to use all diplomatic tools and power projection capabilities to hold both parties accountable for their actions,” but stop short of specifically authorizing military force.

On Thursday, Graham posted on X that “it is long past time to start talking about offense when it comes to Iranian threats against Israel, the United States, and the world.” Both bills come as tensions are rising between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel and Iran and Israel. Earlier this week, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran and Hezbollah leader Fouad Shukur was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut. Iran and Hezbollah have promised retaliation. The Senate will go into recess on August 3rd. Unless an emergency session is called, both chambers of Congress will return to Washington on September 9.

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Nobody in the White House to stop him. Just a lame duck and an airhead.

• Netanyahu Playing A Deadly Game Drawing US Into A War With Iran (Jay)

The word escalation is often over used when talking about the conflict Israel is at the centre of as it carries out a genocide on the Gazan people. But if there were ever a moment where Israel and Iran find themselves staring at the abyss it is now, given that the U.S. has shown its full support to Benjamin Netanyahu and that the Biden administration is being run on a caretaker basis by an inept Kamala Harris. Did Netanyahu leave the U.S. and while on the long Atlantic trip come to the conclusion that he will never have an opportunity again to take the U.S. to fever pitch, being pulled into a regional war with Iran? On the 30th and 31st of July Israel carried out two assassinations which have even shocked the usual suspects of regional experts who didn’t see them coming – in particular against the head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

While barely Iran’s leaders had a few hours to mourn the death of Hezbollah top official Fouad Shukr in Beirut who is believed to be buried under a mass of rubble, the strike inside Iran is both curious and alarming. The timing is worth noting as the Iran strike in Tehran by Israel coincides with U.S. strikes in Iraq. On the night of July 30, just after Israel’s strike against Shukr, U.S. aircraft bombed a Kataib Hezbollah base in Babil Governorate in Iraq, killing several members of the pro-Iran militia. Just a few days earlier Hezbollah’s bombardment of the occupied Golan Heights which killed a dozen children certainly raised the stakes in the war, which until now was reasonably contained between Hezbollah and Israel. But now this response from Israel takes everything to a new level. Netanyahu is certainly trying to drag the U.S. into a war in the region, which is more or less what he has been dreaming about all his life.

The strike against the Hamas leader in Iran is a provocation which was designed to draw the most wrath from Tehran. Its leaders will be seen as weak if they don’t react soon as politically the elite will draw fire from the masses that the fortunes it spends on a ballistic missile defence system is clearly wasted. And yet the Iranians know this trap so well. While it is true that they will look weak, especially after the last so-called retaliation against Israel was really a political ploy by the West to humour them and their madding crowds, now the game of escalation Tehran is playing with Israel is much more serious. We’re no longer firing blanks. The pressure on Iran to retaliate will be gargantuan and yet it is unlikely that the Supreme Leader will launch such a strike, knowing full well how the trap has been laid for them.

More likely they will carry out a number of mini strikes, which, on aggregate, will add up to the gesture that they need. And so, if Netanyahu’s aim – to provoke Iran into sending a sizeable missile to an Israeli city – is not to be met, then what can we expect next? Almost inevitably, Netanyahu will be planning his next false flag attack, which should worry both the U.S. and the EU – raising the stakes and pressure for those two blocs together to force him to make a ceasefire in Gaza. For some sceptical pundits, the attacks of October 7th were in many ways a ‘false flag’ as there is a growing cabal of Middle East experts who risk losing their credibility by arguing that he already knew of the Hamas attack. Some even believe that he had been pushing Hamas over many years to do what it needed to do – to justify the response which we are seeing now which is most certainly an ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Period.

Once he realises in the coming days and weeks that Harris is not up for a war with Iran, he will begin to look at the false flag options to push her into a corner which she can’t get out of. A direct attack on U.S. forces in the region is the only sure way of making Netanyahu’s sullied plan take effect. The Israeli leader has the sophisticated weaponry and he knows how to use it to look like Hezbollah in Lebanon were responsible for such a strike either against an aircraft carrier or U.S. troops in the region (they are sitting ducks all over the Middle East) that it beggars belief that he has taken so long to play this card. What did Nietzsche say about the abyss staring you back?

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“Europeans are trying to exert political and diplomatic pressure on Iran for its response to Israel to be ‘symbolic..’

• Houthis Urge ‘Dangerous’ Response to Israel (Sp.)

Forces opposing Israel must deliver a “dangerous” military response to the killings of their leaders in Lebanon and Iran, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, said on Thursday. “Europeans are trying to exert political and diplomatic pressure on Iran for its response to Israel to be ‘symbolic,’ as they say, and to the extent that the Israelis want,” he told the Almasirah broadcaster. “However, the position of the Jerusalem axis aimed at resistance is clear: there must be a dangerous military response to the serious crimes and serious escalation by Israel. Weakness will only encourage it to commit new crimes.” On Wednesday, Hamas confirmed that its political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, had been killed in an Israeli attack on his residence in Tehran after he took part in the inauguration of newly elected Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.

Hamas has blamed Israel and the United States for Haniyeh’s death and vowed to retaliate. Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said he had nothing to say about Haniyeh’s death or Israel’s alleged role in it. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli government had instructed ministers not to comment on Haniyeh’s assassination. On Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a strike in a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr.

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“Self-control of prisoners, self-control of political authorities, self-control of security services..”

• Prisoner Swap Was Battle of Self-Control, Moscow Says (Sp.)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries that took place on Thursday, called it a battle of self-control. “What many called an ‘exchange’, I would call a battle of self-control. Self-control of prisoners, self-control of political authorities, self-control of security services,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday eight Russians detained and held in custody in a number of NATO countries had returned to Russia.

The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed decrees to pardon thirteen Russian and foreign citizens exchanged from Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and US Marine veteran Paul Whelan. The largest operation in recent years to exchange 26 prisoners from seven countries took place in Turkey’s Ankara on Thursday with the mediation of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, the Turkish intelligence agency said in a statement on August 1.

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America First Legal: “Our litigation just exposed that Biden’s FDA recommended approving puberty blockers to minors despite noting that these drugs are associated with an “increased risk of depression and suicidality.”

 

 

What?

 

 

Bit scary?

 

 

Landlord

 

 

Dessert

 

 

Not a dog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1818971194046939639

 

 

Reflexes
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819067061827727538

 

 

Seal
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819004672763461856

 

 

Boy dog
https://twitter.com/i/status/1819081600271110490

 

 

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Debt Rattle November 12 2022

Nov 122022
 
 November 12, 2022  Posted by at 9:03 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  34 Responses »


Rembrandt van Rijn The three trees 1643

 

• US Worried About EU Commitment To Punishing Russia (RT)
• How Europe Is Destroying Its Own ‘Garden’ (MPN)
• White House Divided On Pushing For Peace In Ukraine – NYT (RT)
• Kiev Introduces New Restrictions On Speaking Russian (RT)
• Sun Tzu Walks Into a Kherson Bar… (Escobar)
• Russian Defense Ministry Gives Update On Kherson Withdrawal (RT)
• Rewiring Eurasia: Mr. Patrushev Goes To Tehran (Escobar)
• Kremlin Reacts To US Economic Pressure (RT)
• Disruptions To Oil Supplies Possible Due To Upcoming EU Restrictions (Az.)
• Greece Threatens To Block EU Gas Price Correction Mechanism (K.)
• Bamboo Diplomacy: The China-SE Asia Romance (Escobar)
• The Winners and Losers in a Shift in Control of Congress (Turley)
• Federal Judge Declares Biden Loan Forgiveness Unconstitutional (Turley)
• Flemish Government Preparing To Cancel WEF Membership (NNP)
• A Committee Of Inquiry Into Bourla And von der Leyen (Anderson)

 

 

 

 

Elon has work to do…

 

 

Welfare queen

 

 

 

 

 

 

“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”
~Paulo Coelho

 

 

 

 

“People in Europe are “growing angry over sanctions and blame the US for rising costs,” putting their government under pressure to withdraw their support..”

• US Worried About EU Commitment To Punishing Russia (RT)

EU nations are at risk of deviating from the US-led economic sanctions imposed on Russia for its military campaign in Ukraine, US officials told the media. People in Europe are “growing angry over sanctions and blame the US for rising costs,” putting their government under pressure to withdraw their support, Politico reported on Thursday, citing an internal US report. The document led to a “flurry of calls” among officials in Washington concerned about keeping European leaders on board with the strategy, sources in the US government told the outlet, adding that “things are holding steady for now, but it is a shaky situation.”

Countries in the EU have been struggling with surging inflation, driven to a large degree by rising energy prices. The bloc chose to stop trading with Russia, which used to be its biggest energy supplier, as part of the sanctions drive but is struggling to find a long-term replacement.The crunch has been aggravated by the interruption of gas flow through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany and exacerbated further by the bombing of the undersea route in late September. Both Nord Stream 1 and 2, the later was never operational due to Ukraine tensions, were damaged and now require major repairs.

Protests against the rising cost of living have gripped European nations, with mass demonstrations taking place in Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Germany, to name a few. Rallies in Prague two weeks ago and in Rome last week specifically called to end military aid to Ukraine and open dialogue with Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron last month accused Washington of applying “double standards” in its energy policy. The US is propping up its own economy with subsidies and disregards the effect it has on prices across the Atlantic, he noted. American liquified natural gas has taken a large share of the European market since the Ukraine crisis broke out.

Read more …

“The impact of this crisis on every aspect of European life cannot be overstated.”

• How Europe Is Destroying Its Own ‘Garden’ (MPN)

The European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell is not particularly perceived by the EU’s political elite or mainstream media as a rightwing ideologue or warmonger. But seen through a different, non-western prism, it is hard not to mistake him for one. Borrell’s recent comments that “Europe is a garden” and that “the rest of the world is a jungle” were duly condemned as ‘racist’ by many politicians around the world, but mostly in the Global South. Borrell’s remarks, however, must also be viewed as an expression of superiority, not only of Borell personally, but of Europe’s ruling classes as a whole. Particularly interesting about the EU top diplomat’s words are these inaccurate depictions of Europe and its relationship with the rest of the world: “We have built a garden”, “everything works” and “the jungle could invade the garden”.

Without delving too deep into what is obviously an entrenched superiority complex, Borrell speaks as if an advocate of the so-called ‘Replacement Theory’, a racist notion advocated by the West’s – Europe especially – rightwing intellectuals, which sees refugees, migrants and non-Europeans as parasites aiming to destroy the continent’s supposedly perfect demographic, religious and social harmony. If stretched further into a historical dimension, one also feels compelled to remind the EU leadership of the central role that European colonialism, economical exploitation, political meddling and outright military intervention have played in turning much of the world into a supposed ‘jungle’. Would Libya, for example, have been reduced to the status of a failed state if the West did not wage a major war starting in March 2011?

The imagined ‘jungle’ aside, Europe’s past and present reality strongly negates Borell’s ethnocentric view. Sadly, Europe is the birthplace of the most horrible pages of history, from colonialism and slavery to the nationalistic, fascist and nihilistic movements that defined most of the last three centuries. Despite the desperate attempt to rewrite or ignore history in favor of a more amiable narrative focused on great splendors, technological advancement and civilizational triumph, Europe’s true nature continues to smolder underneath the ashes, ready to resurface whenever the geopolitical and socioeconomic factors take a wrong turn. The Syrian and Libyan refugee crisis, the Covid pandemic and, more recently, the Russia-Ukraine war are all examples of the proverbial wrong turn. In fact, Borrell’s words, aimed to reassure Europe of its moral superiority are but a foolhardy effort meant to conceal one of the most dramatic crises that Europe has experienced in nearly a century. The impact of this crisis on every aspect of European life cannot be overstated.

Read more …

“..Jake Sullivan maintained that Washington “is not pressuring Ukraine” into any talks with Russia, insisting that it is “consulting” Kiev as a partner and providing it with various forms of support..”

• White House Divided On Pushing For Peace In Ukraine – NYT (RT)

The US government is divided on whether to pressure Ukraine into initiating peace talks with Russia, with some officials arguing that it won’t get better terms in the future, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing sources. According to White House officials interviewed by the outlet, Gen. Mark Milley, who heads the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated during internal meetings that Kiev’s forces had achieved all that they may reasonably expect before winter sets in and “should try to cement their gains at the bargaining table” with Russia. Milley was apparently referring to Moscow’s recent decision to withdraw its troops from the right bank of the Dnieper River, including the city of Kherson, a move made to preserve the lives of Russian soldiers.

However, other senior officials are said to oppose Milley’s line of thinking, arguing that neither Moscow nor Kiev is ready for talks now, while any lull in the fighting would allow Russia to regroup. Although they believe that the conflict will eventually be settled via diplomacy, the consensus is that the moment for talks “is not ripe,” and the US shouldn’t be seen as trying to hold Kiev back while it “has momentum.” The report comes as US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he does not “think that the conflict will be resolved until [Russian President Vladimir] Putin gets out of Ukraine.”

The same day, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan maintained that Washington “is not pressuring Ukraine” into any talks with Russia, insisting that it is “consulting” Kiev as a partner and providing it with various forms of support. Moscow has repeatedly stated that while it is not holding any talks with the US over Ukraine, it remains open to a diplomatic engagement with Kiev. However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has set out conditions for any diplomatic engagement, which include the “restoration of [Ukraine’s] territorial integrity,” “compensation for all war damage” and “punishment of every war criminal.” Zelensky earlier signed a decree prohibiting any negotiations with Putin, suggesting that Kiev would only talk to Russia when it has a different president.

Read more …

2014 redux.

• Kiev Introduces New Restrictions On Speaking Russian (RT)

The Kiev City Council voted to remove the Russian language from the Ukrainian capital’s public school curriculum on Thursday, citing national security concerns. According to the statement on the council’s website, the ban also covers nursery schools. Vadim Vasilchuk, the chair of the council’s commission on education, said the measure “will prevent an escalation of tensions in society and strengthen the protection of the education space in Kiev from the hybrid activities of the enemy state.” “Language matters, and, in a time of war, it is an issue of national security,” Vasilchuk added. The legislator said all classes would be taught in Ukrainian, the country’s sole state language.

The move came after Alexey Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, described the Russian language last month as “an element of enemy propaganda” that “must completely disappear from Ukrainian territory.” In August, Ukraine’s Education Ministry said that nearly all works of Russian and Belarusian authors would be removed from literature classes. Ukrainian activists and officials have also been tearing down monuments to Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s national poet and novelist, who lived in the 19th century. A bronze Pushkin bust was removed from its pedestal in the northern city of Zhitomir on Friday, while a monument in Kiev was taken down last month. The rights of the sizable Russian-speaking minority have been a highly contentious issue ever since Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

The Donetsk and Lugansk regions broke away from Ukraine in 2014, following the coup in Kiev and in the wake of attempts by Ukrainian officials to restrict the use of Russian in public life. They formed the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk People’s Republics (LPR). Ukraine eventually adopted a set of laws that severely limit the use of Russian in public services, media, and education. Moscow repeatedly accused Ukraine of discriminating against Russian speakers. In the days leading up to the Russian military operation in Ukraine that was launched in February, President Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian authorities were conducting policies of “derussification and forced assimilation.” The DPR and LPR, together with two other former Ukrainian territories, joined Russia after holding referendums in late September.

Read more …

“Russian public opinion will have tremendous problems absorbing the news.”

• Sun Tzu Walks Into a Kherson Bar… (Escobar) ft: 20px;”>

Deal or no deal, General Winter is coming to town – ready to entertain his guest of honor Sun Tzu with so many new dishes at their dinner table. The announcement of the Kherson Retreat may have signaled one of the gloomiest days of the Russian Federation since 1991. Leaving the right bank of the Dnieper to set up a defense line on the left bank may spell out total military sense. General Armageddon himself, since his first day on the job, had hinted this might have been inevitable. As it stands in the chessboard, Kherson is in the “wrong” side of the Dnieper. All residents of Kherson Oblast – 115,000 people in total – who wanted to be relocated to safer latitudes have been evacuated from the right bank. General Armageddon knew that was inevitable for several reasons:

no mobilization after the initial SMO plans hit the dust; destruction of strategic bridges across the Dnieper – complete with a three-month methodical Ukrainian pounding of bridges, ferries, pontoons and piers; no second bridgehead to the north of Kherson or to the west (towards Odessa or Nikolaev) to conduct an offensive. And then, the most important reason: massive weaponization coupled with NATO de facto running the war translated into enormous Western superiority in reconnaissance, communications and command and control. In the end, the Kherson Retreat may be a relatively minor tactical loss. Yet politically, it’s an unmitigated disaster, a devastating embarrassment. Kherson is a Russian city. Russians have lost – even if temporarily – the capital of a brand new territory attached to the Federation. Russian public opinion will have tremendous problems absorbing the news.

The list of negatives is considerable. Kiev forces secure their flank and may free up forces to go against Donbass. Weaponizing by the collective West gets a major boost. HIMARS can now potentially strike targets in Crimea. The optics are horrendous. Russia’s image across the Global South is severely tarnished; after all, this move amounts to abandoning Russian territory – while serial Ukrainian war crimes instantly disappear from the major “narrative”. At a minimum, the Russians a long time ago should have reinforced their major strategic advantage bridgehead on the west side of the Dnieper so that it could hold – short of a widely forecasted Kakhovka Dam flood. And yet the Russians also ignored the dam bombing threat for months. That spells out terrible planning.

Read more …

“All civilians who wished to leave the right bank of Kherson Region were provided with assistance.”

• Russian Defense Ministry Gives Update On Kherson Withdrawal (RT)

Russian forces have completed the redeployment to the left bank of the River Dnieper in Kherson Region, the Defense Ministry has said. The maneuver was completed early Friday morning, according to the statement. The ministry denied reports that military hardware was abandoned on the other bank, or that Russian troops suffered casualties during the withdrawal. “Russian units have taken the prepared defensive lines and positions,” the ministry said. “No loss of personnel, weapons, vehicles, or materiel of the Russian forces was allowed. All civilians who wished to leave the right bank of Kherson Region were provided with assistance.” The statement claimed that Ukrainian troops tried to disrupt the movement of civilians across the river with artillery fire, but failed to do so. Russia intercepted 28 rockets fired by HIMARS launchers and diverted five others through electronic countermeasures, it said.


Russian artillery and aircraft deterred Ukrainian units from closing the gap with the river, the military added. They were stopped at least 30km from the river crossings, according to the statement. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered the troops to move across the river on Wednesday morning. He said the step was taken to avoid unnecessary deaths of the soldiers and to take up a stronger defensive position. The decision, which was described as “difficult” by military officials, left the provincial capital, Kherson, exposed to capture by Kiev’s forces. The regional authorities have urged residents of the city for weeks to leave and go to safe places to the east. Russia incorporated Kherson Region last month, after the people voted in a referendum to break away from Ukraine and join Russia. Kiev called the vote a “sham” and pledged to keep fighting until all land that it considers to be rightfully Ukrainian is taken.

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The west divides, south and east connect.

“..for the Russian Federation, strategic relations with Iran are essential for Russian national security.”

• Rewiring Eurasia: Mr. Patrushev Goes To Tehran (Escobar)

Two guys are hanging out in a cozy room in Tehran with a tantalizing new map of the world in the background. Nothing to see here? On the contrary. These two Eurasian security giants are no less than the – unusually relaxed – Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. And why are they so relaxed? Because the future prospects revolving around the main theme of their conversation – the Russia-Iran strategic partnership – could not be more exciting. This was a very serious business affair: an official visit, at the invitation of Shamkhani.

Patrushev was in Tehran on the exact same day that Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu – following a recommendation from General Sergey Surovikin, the overall commander of the Special Military Operation – ordered a Russian retreat from Kherson. Patrushev knew it for days – so he had no problem to step on a plane to take care of business in Tehran. After all, the Kherson drama is part of the Patrushev negotiations with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Ukraine, which have been going on for weeks, with Saudi Arabia as eventual go-between. Besides Ukraine, the two discussed “information security, as well as measures to counter interference in the internal affairs of both countries by western special services,” according to a report by Russia’s TASS news agency.

Both countries, as we know, are particular targets of western information warfare and sabotage, with Iran currently the focus of one of these no-holds-barred, foreign-backed, destabilization campaign. Patrushev was officially received by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who went straight to the point: “The cooperation of independent countries is the strongest response to the sanctions and destabilization policies of the US and its allies.” Patrushev, for his part, assured Raisi that for the Russian Federation, strategic relations with Iran are essential for Russian national security.

Read more …

“Washington’s declaration that Russia no longer qualifies as a market economy..”

• Kremlin Reacts To US Economic Pressure (RT)

Washington’s declaration that Russia no longer qualifies as a market economy not only puts pressure on Moscow but will have repercussions globally, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday. This latest step “to continue this really destructive line, in no way contributes to the stabilization in global markets,” he emphasized. Peskov was reacting to the US Department of Commerce’s announcement earlier on Friday that the US would no longer treat Russia as a market economy. The department claimed that American industries and manufacturers are struggling to compete with Russian companies in both domestic and global markets.


“This can only be viewed in one way, as it seems to me, it’s the continuation of actions to put pressure on the Russian Federation in all possible directions. We’ve seen pressure on the economy, numerous sanctions and so on,” Peskov said. He added that the Kremlin has been realizing that the Western sanctions have failed to destabilize the Russian economy. Instead, they “cause a fair amount of turbulence,” primarily for the European economy, because the US is more “resilient” in this regard. “Although the Americans also suffer from inflation and the chaos in the energy market,” Peskov added.

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“..If insurance was withdrawn mid-voyage, buyers and traders would have to figure out what to do with a stranded cargo potentially exposed to sanctions..”

• Disruptions To Oil Supplies Possible Due To Upcoming EU Restrictions (Az.)

Oil-laden tankers risk being left languishing at sea if insurers do not urgently get clarity on an unfinished G7 and European Union plan to cap the price of Russian crude, two senior industry executives told Reuters, Report informs. The Group of Seven (G7), which includes the United States, Britain, Germany and France, agreed in September to enforce a low price on sales of Russian oil. US officials said the move, which is due to start on December 5, was aimed at allowing it to continue to flow, heading off a potential price shock after total EU bans were ratified in June. And with just three weeks to go, time is running out to fully convince the shipping services industry it will work. Concerns are centered around a scenario in which insurers discover that oil in transit at sea, which was believed to have been sold below the price cap, was in fact sold above it.

This would trigger the withdrawal of insurance cover as well as a refusal by buyers to accept delivery, leading to financial and logistical headaches and risking environmental dangers. “If the time is too short, I think everyone will have a Plan B to de-risk, terminate, stay away, not maybe conclude any new contracts until there is some clarity,” said George Voloshin, Global Anti-Financial Crime Expert at ACAMS, the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists which consults with oil industry bankers, traders and insurers. If insurance was withdrawn mid-voyage, buyers and traders would have to figure out what to do with a stranded cargo potentially exposed to sanctions, complicating a strategy to deprive Russia of funds over its invasion of Ukraine. “It will probably be quite messy,” Voloshin said.

A European Commission official said the EU is aware that much more additional detail will be needed as time runs short for businesses to learn about their obligations, but that the issue must be dealt with at the G7 level. The official spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the matter. “In that situation, the vessel will go off risk and financial and technical services will be withdrawn and no one is going to take delivery of the cargo,” Mike Salthouse, head of claims at British-based global ship insurer North, told Reuters. “This would be a bad development as no one will want uninsured ships sitting off coasts,” he added. Salthouse said an owner of a ship which was potentially not earning anything for many months “will price that into any decision they make about carrying cargo in the future”, adding that this was likely to act as a disincentive.

Read more …

“..it was not possible to impose a gas price cap that would not impact on long-term contracts or supply security..”

• Greece Threatens To Block EU Gas Price Correction Mechanism (K.)

Greece is prepared to block a European Commission proposal for a gas price “correction mechanism,” set to be presented to the 27 EU states Friday, instead insisting on a firm cap to rein in an unprecedented energy crisis, Kathimerini has learned. The EU’s executive told its 27 member countries at a seminar Monday that it was not possible to impose a gas price cap that would not impact on long-term contracts or supply security. Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, and the Netherlands also oppose the idea. Reacting to Monday’s development, European Council President Charles Michel reportedly sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, asking her to put legislation on the table for an EU price cap on natural gas “as soon as possible.”


According to diplomatic sources, the 15 member countries calling for various versions of a price cap will ask the Commission to present a legal proposal during the Friday meeting of the 27 national ambassadors to the EU in Brussels. They say that the Commission has already put together a draft document but is not willing to take formal action. Failure to move in the direction of a price cap will prompt Greece – and other states – to block plans for a gas price “correction mechanism,” the sources said.

Read more …

An endless list of all links being forged in “the south”. Do read.

• Bamboo Diplomacy: The China-SE Asia Romance (Escobar)

Beijing’s ties with countries now in ASEAN tend to bend the bamboo way: soft, clever, persistent and enduring. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is monopolizing the Asian and Global South spotlight for no fewer than 10 days, this week and the next, across a flurry of regional and international summits. First stop is Phnom Penh for the 25th China-ASEAN summit, the 25th ASEAN Plus Three (APT) summit, and the 17th East Asia Summit, all the way to Sunday. Next week will be Bali for the Group of Twenty, followed by Bangkok for the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit. No wonder the diplomatic spin across Southeast Asia is all about global governance entering the “Asia moment” – as coined by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. It’s a moment that may be set to last a century – and beyond.

In parallel, Chinese diplomacy is also predictably on a roll. Premier Li Keqiang – who will step down next March, after two terms in office – heads Beijing’s delegation in Cambodia after two key Southeast Asian interactions: the visit by Vietnamese leader Nguyen Phu Trong to China and Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng’s visit to Singapore. All that fits the pattern of increasing China-Southeast Asia integration. Since 2020, ASEAN has been China’s largest trading partner. China has been ASEAN’s top trading partner since 2009. Total China-ASEAN trade reached $878 billion in 2021, up from $686 billion in 2020. It had been $9 billion in 1991. China-ASEAN investment was more than US$340 billion by last July, according to the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing.

Interests particularly converge on deepening RCEP – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the largest trade deal on the planet. That translates in practice as closer integration of supply chains, infrastructure connectivity and the building of a new international land-sea trade corridor. So it’s no wonder all the slogans for these 10 days of summits reflect closer integration. The ASEAN 2022 theme is “ASEAN A C T: Addressing Challenges Together.” The Indonesians defined the G20 as “Recover Together, Recover Stronger.” And the Thais defined APEC as “Open. Connect. Balance.”

Read more …

We’re still counting. Incredible. In more ways than one.

• The Winners and Losers in a Shift in Control of Congress (Turley)

WINNERS – Constitutionalism: The last two years have seen frontal assaults on constitutional values ranging from separation of powers to free speech. Democrats applauded, for example, as President Joe Biden unilaterally waived roughly $500 billion in loans owed to the American people. While courts repeatedly found Biden to have violated the Constitution, Congress remained conspicuously silent even as it joined the president in declaring Republicans threats to the Constitution. In an August New York Times column, “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed,” law professors Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale called for our founding charter to be “radically altered” to “reclaim America from constitutionalism.”

It’s safe to say voters effectively reclaimed constitutionalism from such extremist voices. Once again, voters preferred divided government with a Congress willing and able to challenge a president rather than remain a pure pedestrian in the exercise of governance. There’s now a moving part in Congress that’s been dormant for two years. As those institutional gears engage, checks and balances will again force greater accountability and exposure in the constitutional system.

The Supreme Court: For two years, the left has targeted the nation’s highest court with calls for packing it. Polls have long showed this movement was contained almost entirely within the far left. Yet attacking the court and its justices was an article of faith for many Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who called for raw court packing. While the attacks are likely to continue, the shift in Congress will put an end to such radical proposals.

LOSERS- The media: Outlets, in framing the election, consistently echoed Democrats’ narratives — yet failed to deliver them victory. The media now face the prospect of inquiries that could further erode voter trust. Congressional investigations will likely drill down on the Hunter Biden influence-peddling scandal. The media played an active role in burying that scandal and will face questions of how they could turn a blind eye to globe-spanning corruption that involved millions of dollars from foreign political and intelligence figures. They may also see an investigation into backchannels political and government officials used to enlist surrogates in the media and social media for censorship.

The Bidens: The election’s biggest loser could be the Biden family. After successfully avoiding any media or congressional scrutiny of their alleged influence peddling, time is up for the Bidens. Despite Attorney General Merrick Garland’s refusal to appoint a special counsel, they will face investigations launched with the full authority of the Oversight Committee. Garland will also confront demands to show the same aggressive prosecution of contempt of Congress when Biden associates are the subject of such referrals. All this will add to whatever emerges from Delaware in the long-standing investigation of tax and other allegations against Hunter Biden. With the midterms over, the Justice Department will no longer be bound to avoid filings that might influence the election. Hunter could easily find himself under indictment as Congress ramps up a broad investigation into his foreign dealings.

Read more …

“Biden knew he couldn’t “forgive”your student loan debt…..

He lied for votes knowing it would get thrown out in court!”

• Federal Judge Declares Biden Loan Forgiveness Unconstitutional (Turley)

We have previously discussed how the Administration stretched the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) to the breaking point as the basis for waiving roughly half a trillion dollars in debt owed to the public in college loans. Now, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman of the Northern District of Texas has issued an opinion declaring that President Joe Biden violated the Constitution in unilaterally forgiving the debt before the midterm election. Judge Pittman wrote “[i]n this country, we are not ruled by an all-powerful executive with a pen and a phone.” It was former President Barack Obama who defied Congress with unilateral actions and declared that he would go it alone if needed because “I’ve got a pen, and I’ve got a phone.”

President Biden took the same course when it was clear that the loan forgiveness program would not pass Congress. Biden simply announced that he would forgive up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 annually; those who received Pell grants could receive up to $20,000 in relief; couples can qualify despite a joint annual income of $250,000. No vote of Congress — just hundreds of billions of dollars written off by Biden, as if he is an American tsar. Judge Pittman held that “it is fundamental to the survival of our Republic that the separation of powers as outlined in our Constitution be preserved.”

I previously criticized the legal basis for the loan forgiveness program. The Biden Administration has largely counted on blocking anyone from getting to the merits by challenging the standing of anyone to sue over the giveaway. On the merits, the Biden Administration’s position is transparently opportunistic in my view. As the acronym indicates, this short bill was designed for military personnel who often found themselves in arrears while serving abroad. It allows the Education Secretary to grant student loan relief during a war, military operation or national emergency. But nothing in the barely five-page act supports a sweeping and unprecedented waiver of billions of dollars in loans owed to the government.

Read more …

“..the Flemish government will pay a whopping EUR 200,000 in membership fees to the WEF and approximately EUR 27,000 as a participation fee in their annual meeting in Davos..”

And Flanders isn’t even a country…

• Flemish Government Preparing To Cancel WEF Membership (NNP)

The Flemish conservative party, Vlaams Belang, is pressuring the government to cancel its World Economic Forum (WEF) membership. This year, the Flemish government will pay a whopping EUR 200,000 in membership fees to the WEF and approximately EUR 27,000 as a participation fee in their annual meeting in Davos. Rairfoundation.com reports: In a press release by Vlaams Belang, Flemish Member of Parliament Sam van Rooy stated that the Flemish government is legitimizing and subsidizing a worldwide lobby organization that is openly pursuing a well-defined ideological agenda, namely that of globalism.” This agenda seems to have recently crystallized into the so-called “Great Reset,” which aims to create “a safer, more equal and more stable world” by “acting collectively and swiftly to renew all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions.”

They are striving for a world government based on climate hysteria and social control. Because citizens in a democratic constitutional state are entitled to transparency regarding the policies pursued, MEP van Rooy asked Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon questions about the Flemish government’s ties and cooperation with the WEF. In his reply, Jambon stated that the Flemish government “has no structural contacts with the WEF outside of its participation in the WEF meeting in Davos” but that there are “more regular contacts at the level of the Flemish government.” According to the prime minister, those contacts also aim to follow up on the various activities and projects that take place annually, including outside the Davos meeting.

Until 2020, the Flemish government paid an annual membership fee of 55,000 euros to the WEF. Since 2022, however, Flanders has been “promoted” to “associate partner” of the WEF, which requires a membership fee of no less than 175,763.87 euros per year. This contribution has already been paid for 2022; the same bill is expected for 2023. About that “associate partnership,” Jambon states the following: “The associate partnership offers the advantage that Flanders can participate in more activities throughout the year and, in addition, projects are being worked on within a thematic platform, ‘Shaping the Future of Trade and Investment.’ Those activities and projects provide additional visibility and the opportunity to learn and contribute policy-wise.” So the entanglement between the Flemish government and the WEF is therefore increasing, says Van Rooy.

Read more …

German European Parlimentarian Christine Anderson posted this on Telegram.

• A Committee Of Inquiry Into Bourla And von der Leyen (Anderson)

Christine Anderson (AfD): YouTube didn’t want you to know what we uncovered in the EU special committee on the Corona pandemic YouTube has deleted several videos with speeches by Christine Anderson (AfD), who is a member of the EU special committee on the Corona pandemic for the ID group. In some cases, even videos with questions that the MEP had asked in the committee were sanctioned. Following legal intervention, YouTube caved in and put videos that had already been censored back online. Anderson is now calling on YouTube to hand over the “medical misinformation guidelines” on which the platform operator bases its sanctions. “The impression here is that information that doesn’t fit the desired narrative should be suppressed. I won’t stand for that. If YouTube lets my deadline pass unused, I will file a lawsuit in court,” Anderson said.

Anderson regularly publicizes how high-ranking representatives of the pharmaceutical industry, such as the vice president of AstraZeneca, increasingly come under pressure during hearings and criticized Pfizer CEO Alfred Bourla for canceling his participation in one such meeting at short notice. “I call for a committee of inquiry to take a closer look at the relationship between the Pfizer CEO and EU-Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.” Anderson and her Dutch colleague Rob Ross also uncovered a scandal: “Bourla’s representative on the committee, Janine Smalls, had to admit to Ross in a questioning that the pharmaceutical giant had no knowledge before the market launch of the Pfizer/BionTech drug whether it could be used to prevent the infection as well as the transmission of Covid-19 at all.


“Statements like – “If you vaccinate, you protect yourself and others!” – in the context of the Covid vaccination campaign were simply lies!” In a written question, Anderson is now asking the EU Commission where statements in support of the vaccination campaign originated, such as those still being used by the German government, and whether sanctions can be expected for such “fake news” within the framework of the EU action plan against disinformation. More background information and video links as well as contact possibilities for press representatives on Christine Anderson’s homepage (currently only available in German): www.christineanderson.eu/links/bab-11-2022

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Termites and ants

 

 

 

 

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