Aug 202022
 
 August 20, 2022  Posted by at 9:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  27 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Man with ice cream cone 1938

 

US On Verge Of Becoming Party To Ukrainian Conflict, Moscow Warns (RT)
US Has Doomed Europe To Hunger And Cold – Russia (RT)
Middle East States In Line For $1.3 Trillion Windfall From Extra Oil Revenues (G.)
Russia’s Energy Export Revenues Forecast To Soar (RT)
Ukrainians Criticize Zelenskyy Over Withholding Invasion Warnings (NM)
‘He Was Special’: The Story Of Zelenskiy Told By His Hometown (G.)
Activate Nord Stream 2 ASAP, Says Top German Politician (Pol.eu)
Nationalist Unit Executes 100 Fellow Ukrainian Troops – Russian MoD (RT)
From Nuland’s Dream to Nuland’s Nightmare (Batiushka)
Macron Calls Putin (RT)
Stranded Russian Turbine Offered Emotional Support (RT)
FBI Raid Targeted Docs Trump Collected To “Exonerate” Him From Russiagate (SN)
The Meaning of Incredible (Jim Kunstler)

 

 

 

 

Uninformed Consent
An in-depth look into the Covid 19 narrative, who’s controlling it, and how it’s being used to inject an untested, new technology into almost every person on the planet.

 

 

What lockdown means

 

 

Tucker Viagra

 

 

 

 

They live

 

 

 

 

Crimea was Russian since 1783. Before that, Turkish, Ottoman, Mongol, etc. Khrushchev handed it to the autonomous Soviet republic of Ukraine in 1954. But that was astill Russian (Soviet). Now Ukraine claims it was always theirs.

US On Verge Of Becoming Party To Ukrainian Conflict, Moscow Warns (RT)

Washington’s continued support for Kiev during Moscow’s military operation has put the US on the verge of becoming party to the Ukrainian conflict, Russia’s deputy Foreign Minister, Sergey Ryabkov has said. “We don’t want escalation. We’d like to avoid a situation, in which the US becomes a party to the conflict, but so far we don’t see any readiness of the other side to take these warnings seriously,” Ryabkov told Rossiya 1 TV channel on Friday. Moscow rejects Washington’s explanation, that providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid is justified by Kiev’s right to self-defense, he pointed out. “Excuse me, what kind of self-defense is it if they are already openly talking about the possibility of attacking targets deep in the Russian territory, in Crimea?” the deputy FM wondered.

According to Ryabkov, such statements are being made by the Ukrainian side “not just under the blind eye of the US and NATO, but with the encouragement of this kind of sentiment, approaches, plans and ideas directly from Washington,” Ryabkov insisted. “The ever more obvious and deeper involvement in Ukraine in terms of countering our military operation, in fact, puts this country, the US, on the verge of turning into a party to the conflict,”he reiterated. The US has been the strongest supporter of Kiev amid its conflict with Russia, providing Kiev with billions of dollars in military and financial aid, as well as intelligence data. Washington’s deliveries to the Ukrainian military have included such sophisticated hardware as HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, M777 howitzers and combat drones.

Reuters reported on Friday that US President Joe Biden is about to announce another lethal aid package for Kiev of around $800 million. An unnamed official from the Biden administration told Politico on Thursday that the White House had no problem with Ukraine attacking Crimea, which became part of Russia after a 2014 referendum staged in response to a violent coup. The US believes that Kiev can strike any target on its territory, and “Crimea is Ukraine,” the American official insisted.

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More or less the same info came in another RT article entitled “Germany at risk of deindustrialization. “..the bloc has “closed everything themselves.“

The Bloomberg graph shows Producer Price Index. Consumer Price Index is lagging, but sure to follow.

US Has Doomed Europe To Hunger And Cold – Russia (RT)

The United States has doomed the EU to hunger, cold and isolation by pressuring the bloc to cut its ties with Moscow, Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Friday. He wrote on Telegram that Washington would “stop at nothing to cling to its power over the world as it throws under the bus the citizens’ welfare and the economies of European countries to achieve this end.” He noted that natural gas in the US costs $333 per 1,000 cubic meters. “At the same time, Washington sells it to Europe for a price which is 7.3 [times] higher, rendering the EU economy uncompetitive,” he wrote, adding that the eurozone’s annual inflation rate had hit a record 8.9%.

Volodin said Europe had been hit by a heatwave that triggered huge problems in the agriculture sector, as well as an energy crisis which had seen prices soar six times in one year. The EU’s decision to phase out Russian energy supplies and cut economic ties with Moscow “have been made under Washington’s pressure,” the State Duma speaker claimed. “US policies in Europe are enforced by England that has left the EU high and dry, as well as by a number of countries that are sovereign in name only – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine – with Poland, the Czech Republic and Finland joining this Russophobic coalition in the hopes of getting an American handout,” Volodin wrote.

His comments come as the EU is plagued by an energy crisis due to rising global prices. Earlier this month, the bloc approved a plan that would see its member states reduce gas consumption by 15% in a bid to tackle the crisis. Another factor that has exacerbated the energy crunch was the EU’s decision to wean itself off natural gas from Russia, as the bloc considers these supplies to be unreliable. However, President Vladimir Putin has rejected accusations that Moscow could cut off gas supplies to the EU, stating that Russian energy giant Gazprom is “ready to pump as much as necessary” but that the bloc has “closed everything themselves.”

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Yes, that’s your money.

Middle East States In Line For $1.3 Trillion Windfall From Extra Oil Revenues (G.)

Middle Eastern states are to land a $1.3tn (£1.09tn) windfall from extra oil revenues over the next four years, according to the International Monetary Fund. The IMF said on Friday it expected oil and gas exporters in the region, notably the Gulf states, to benefit from high prices and opportunities to ramp up their market share. The oil and gas sector is in flux following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has upended markets and sent prices soaring. Russia has increased exports of oil to Asian nations, while Vladimir Putin’s tactic of limiting gas supplies into Europe has left countries seeking new supply sources. Jihad Azour, the IMF’s director for the Middle East and north Africa, told the Financial Times that countries in the Middle East could expect to receive $1.3tn more in cumulative revenues than was forecast before the invasion of Ukraine.

He said Gulf states needed to use the windfall to “invest in the future”a, including efforts to switch towards greener energy sources. It’s an important moment for them to … accelerate in sectors like technology [domestically] as this is something that will allow them to increase productivity, Azour said. “In addition, their investment strategy could benefit from the fact that asset prices have improved for new investors, and the capacity to increase their market share in certain areas are also opportunities.”

[..] The IMF predicted the Gulf Cooperation Council – which includes the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar – would collectively increase economic growth by 6.4% this year, from 2.7% growth last year. Last weekend, Saudi Arabia’s largely state-owned energy firm, Saudi Aramco, underscored the colossal profits made by gas- and oil-rich countries during the energy crisis by revealing profits in the three months to the end of June jumped 90% to $48bn.

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Defeating your opponent by making him rich. Must be a novel tactic.

Russia’s Energy Export Revenues Forecast To Soar (RT)

Russia will see a 38% year-on-year increase in energy earnings due to higher oil export volumes, coupled with rising natural gas prices, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a document from the German Economy Ministry. According to the report, the country’s revenues are expected to jump to $337.5 billion this year, which will help shore up the Russian economy in the face of Western sanctions. The document predicted that energy export earnings will ease to $255.8 billion next year, but will still be higher than the 2021 figure of $244.2 billion.


According to the forecast, the average gas export price will more than double this year to $730 per thousand cubic meters, before gradually falling until the end of 2025. The document pointed out that Moscow has started to gradually boost its oil production following the sanctions-related curbs and as a result of increased purchases by Asian buyers. Moscow has also improved its forecasts for output and exports until the end of 2025. Overall, the German Economy Ministry forecast cited by Reuters suggested that the Russian economy is coping well with the sanctions regime and will contract by less than expected.

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But even his critics say:

“Ukraine is winning because of our belief in the president and our armed forces..”

Where do they get their news from?

Ukrainians Criticize Zelenskyy Over Withholding Invasion Warnings (NM)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being criticized by some in his country after he said in an interview this week that he held back details of the United States’ warnings about Russia’s impending invasion because he feared people would flee the country and its economy would collapse. “Honestly, my hair stood on end when I read what [Zelenskyy] said about evacuation,” journalist Bogdan Butkevich wrote on his Facebook page, reports The Washington Post. “How can a person who has Mariupol, Bucha, and Kherson on his conscience say that an evacuation would have overwhelmed the country? He didn’t want to put the country on a military footing because he was afraid of losing power.”

Zelenskyy told The Post in an interview published Tuesday that had the information been shared, “then I would have been losing $7 billion a month since last October, and at the moment when the Russians did attack, they would have taken us in three days.” The Ukrainian president added that as Russian troops did not reach the country’s capital of Kyiv, he made the right decision. “We were as strong as we could be,” he said. “Some of our people left, but most of them stayed here; they fought for their homes. And as cynical as it may sound, those are the people who stopped everything.” sSome Ukrainians interpreted his comments to mean he’d chosen to protect the country’s economy rather than its people and lives could have been saved if the population was better prepared for war.

Sevgil Musaieva, the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian news site Ukrainska Pravda, said on Facebook she was “personally offended” by Zelenskyy’s explanation, as she feels it questioned the intelligence of the people of her country. Kateryna Babkina, a Ukrainian author, said Zelenskyy’s failure to announce warnings, particularly to civilians in the most threatened areas of the country, is a “crime” and “not a glitch, not a mistake, not an unfortunate misunderstanding, not a strategic miscalculation.” One woman, asking to be identified as just “Oksana” told The Post it would be dangerous at this point to speak out against Zelenskyy, but said after the war there are “questions that need answers.” “Ukraine is winning because of our belief in the president and our armed forces, so I’m ready to wait for the explanation until after we win the war,” she said.

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Pricesless. The Guardian has dispatched Luke Harding to Ukraine, where he can write puff pieces about Zelensky, just as the latter is running on his last legs.

‘He Was Special’: The Story Of Zelenskiy Told By His Hometown (G.)

“Volodymyr Zelenskiy was special. He was bright, hard-working and wanted to be the best of the best,” Andrii Shaikan, rector of the state university in Zelenskiy’s home town of Kryvyi Rih, told the Guardian. In the mid-1990s, Shaikan was at the university himself, in the year above Zelenskiy. The president’s father, Oleksandr, is a well-known academic and heads its department of informatics and applied software. Zelenskiy’s mother, Rymma, is an engineer. Both parents are Jewish. Like his friends and neighbours, Zelenskiy grew up speaking Russian.Shaikan said Zelenskiy Sr had hoped his son, who read law, may go into academia. Instead, the future president developed a taste for show business, taking part in sketches and comedy competitions.

His home was in one of the city’s middle-class districts. Back then, Kryvyi Rih was known for its criminal associations. Young men who returned from the Soviet war in Afghanistan drifted into lives of crime and drug dealing. “As a teenager, Volodymyr had two alternatives: he could succeed, or he could become a member of a criminal gang,” Shaikan recalled. He added: “We watched Volodymyr realise himself step by step. He has great leadership skills and is quick at solving problems. He makes instant decisions. And it’s very difficult to influence him.” The rector said he was not a fan of Zelenskiy’s “mass culture” TV shows including Servant of the People and preferred his live standup acts.

The rector voted for him in Ukraine’s 2019 presidential election, which Zelenskiy won by a landslide. “We knew his environment and family roots,” he said. One influence, Shaikan said, was Zelenskiy’s grandfather who worked in the USSR as a criminal detective. “Volodymyr was interested in the law. He wanted to take after his grandfather,” the rector said. In an interview with CNN, Zelenskiy revealed that his grandfather Semyon had fought in the Red Army, reaching the rank of colonel. Semyon’s father and three brothers perished in the Holocaust. The Germans murdered Zelenskiy’s great-grandparents when they burned down their village. His tragic family history makes ridiculous the Kremlin’s claim that Zelenskiy is a fascist.

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“Getting “gas from Nord Stream 2 is no more immoral than from Nord Stream 1. It’s just a different pipe..”

Activate Nord Stream 2 ASAP, Says Top German Politician (Pol.eu)

Germany should allow the blocked Nord Stream 2 pipeline to begin pumping Russian natural gas so “people do not have to freeze in winter and that our industry does not suffer serious damage,” Wolfgang Kubicki, vice president of the German parliament, said Friday. His comments prompted a fierce response from Kyiv, where Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “addiction to Russian gas kills.” The pipeline is completed, but Berlin in late February refused to allow it to go online in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kubicki, a member of Finance Minister Christian Lindner’s Free Democrats (FDP), called for activating the pipeline “as soon as possible” to fill gas storages ahead of winter. He said there is “no sound reason not to open Nord Stream 2,” because Germany is already getting gas through the older Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream pipeline.


Getting “gas from Nord Stream 2 is no more immoral than from Nord Stream 1. It’s just a different pipe,” he said. Imports via Nord Stream recently fell to just 20 percent of capacity, a drop Russia’s Gazprom blamed on the delayed return of a gas turbine but which German and EU officials say is politically motivated. Kubicki said opening Nord Stream 2 would test whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to increase gas shipments to Germany. The Russian leader last month said: “We still have one ready route — that is Nord Stream 2. We can put that into operation.” Several FDP members criticized Kubicki’s remarks. “Nord Stream 2 is dead,” said Marie-Agnes Strack Zimmermann, an FDP lawmaker who chairs the Bundestag’s defense committee.

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”fighters from the neo-Nazi “Kraken” regiment “demonstratively executed 100 servicemen of the 58th motorized infantry brigade who abandoned their positions” near Udy..”

Nationalist Unit Executes 100 Fellow Ukrainian Troops – Russian MoD (RT)

Some 100 Ukrainian soldiers have been executed by nationalist fighters from the “Kraken” regiment for abandoning their positions, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed in a daily briefing on Friday. After Russian forces carried out an assault on Ukraine’s 58th motorized infantry brigade on August 14 near the settlement of Udy in the Kharkov region, the remnants of the formation fled their positions and retreated, ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said. In order to “suppress panic and intimidate the personnel of the Armed forces of Ukraine,”fighters from the neo-Nazi “Kraken” regiment “demonstratively executed 100 servicemen of the 58th motorized infantry brigade who abandoned their positions” near Udy, the official said.

The “Kraken” regiment describes itself as a special reconnaissance and sabotage unit under the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, operating separately from the Armed Forces. Moscow considers it to be an offshoot of the notorious neo-Nazi “Azov” regiment which suffered a crushing defeat in the city of Mariupol back in May. Russia’s Defense Ministry has accused the battalion of committing several war crimes since the beginning of the conflict, and believes it to be responsible for brutally mistreating Russian POWs.

While there is no information on how many fighters the “Kraken” regiment has, some estimates suggest it is about 1,800 soldiers strong, most of whom are Azov veterans and volunteers. Over the course of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense has regularly reported the elimination of hundreds of fighters from the “Kraken” regiment as well as from other nationalist divisions. In its Friday update, Russia’s MoD reported destroying temporary deployment points of the “Azov” and “Aidar” formations near the city of Soledar in the Donetsk People’s Republic, and claimed to have eliminated over 50 neo-Nazi fighters as well as 12 units of military equipment.

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“..You don’t want Europe, Mrs Kagan? Well, Europe doesn’t want you.”

From Nuland’s Dream to Nuland’s Nightmare (Batiushka)

In June 1944 the USA began its occupation of Continental Europe (Its occupation of the UK by 2 million US troops had already begun in 1942). The US occupation meant that World War II never really finished and neither therefore did its denazification. For only the local brutal German form of the Western ideology of Nazism ended, not its far more cunning, subtle, insidious and triumphant Anglo-American form, which was everywhere imposed, by political, economic and soft (Hollywood; Levis; Disney; MacDonalds; Lady Gaga etc) power, after the eradication of the German form. Indeed, in 1945 most German Nazis converted overnight to the Anglo-American form. Therefore, ending World War II today means deamericanising Europe, which means deNATOising it, that is, demilitarising it. This will provide the subsequent opportunity for Europe to retrieve its natural, geographical, social, political and economic historic destiny – as the north-western peninsula of Eurasia, which it can then at last reintegrate, protected and supplied by Russia.

The same revolutionary right of self-determination as in the Crimea could be spread from the deamericanised, that is, demilitarised and denazified, Ukraine all over Europe. Here is the transfiguration of Europe. Within Europe, the EU would collapse like the house of cards it is, if its peoples had for the first time in history the freedom by referendum to choose their country. Their model would be the Crimea in 2014, where people at last received the freedom to choose which country they actually wanted to belong to. Then Catalonia could be freed from Spain. Corsica could be freed from France. Minorities on borders everywhere could by popular vote return to the country they wish to belong to, the borders being adjusted accordingly. The three tiny and racist EU Baltic States, today depopulated, deindustrialised and in a suicidal state of Nazism and which are now about to ban Russian speech in public places, would surely become Russian protectorates like the future Kyiv Protectorate.

If freedom came to the Non-EU countries, the UK would collapse just like the EU and the four peoples of the British Isles and Ireland would at last have the freedom to sort out their affairs in an equitable manner. Moldova could remain an independent country, if its people decided so by referendum. And justice could be reached for the mainly Non-EU countries of ex-Yugoslavia and Albania. So many wrongs could be righted, if freedom came through deamericanisation. Here is Nuland’s Nightmare – the survival, and not the destruction, of Europe. You don’t want Europe, Mrs Kagan? Well, Europe doesn’t want you. Go back to America, Mrs Kagan, and sort out the disastrous state of affairs there. Only when you and your sort have gone, will Europe be transfigured.

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First time in three months.

Macron Calls Putin (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have had their first phone call in almost three months to discuss the Ukraine conflict and nuclear security in the area of Zaporozhye, the Kremlin said on Friday. The call was initiated by the French side and saw the two leaders discuss “various aspects of the situation around Ukraine,” according to the Kremlin’s readout. Putin emphasized that “the systematic shelling of the territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant by the Ukrainian military poses a danger of a large-scale disaster that could lead to radiation spillover onto a large territory,” Moscow said. The two leaders agreed that a mission under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should be dispatched to the NPP “as soon as possible” in order to assess the situation on site.

“The Russian side confirmed it’s ready to provide the Agency’s inspectors with all the necessary assistance,” the Kremlin said. According to the Elysee Palace, Putin agreed that the IAEA mission to Zaporozhye NPP would be dispatched on the terms already arranged by Ukraine and the United Nations. This would mean that the IAEA delegation might travel via the territory currently controlled by Kiev’s forces. Previously, Moscow insisted that such a mission could arrive only via Russian-controlled territory. The two sides will address this issue again in the coming days, after technical teams discuss the matter in detail, the Elysee said.

According to the Kremlin, Putin once again invited international experts to visit a detention facility in Yelenovka, in the Donetsk People’s Republic. An artillery attack on the prison, which Moscow says was carried out by Kiev’s forces, killed 50 Ukrainian POWs and injured dozens more last month. Putin also informed his French counterpart on the implementation of the deal for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea. This agreement, which was brokered by the UN and Turkey, is also supposed to allow Russia to deliver fertilizers and food products to the global markets. However, the Kremlin noted, “obstacles for the Russian grain [export] persist,” which continues to have an adverse effect on global food security.

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“Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”

Stranded Russian Turbine Offered Emotional Support (RT)

Siemens Energy has offered to create a playlist on the Spotify streaming platform for the Nord Stream gas turbine, which is stuck in Germany with international sanctions preventing its return to Russia. “Our famous turbine is still not where it should be. It stands alone on our site in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Let’s do the poor thing a favor and create a Spotify playlist,” the company tweeted on Wednesday, proposing to start with the song ‘So Lonely’ by The Police. Social media users responded to the call with The Clash’s ‘Should I Stay or Go?’ quoting one of its verses: “If I go there will be trouble. And if I stay it will be double. So ya gotta let me know Should I stay or should I go?”

Among the other proposals were Queen’s ‘I want to break free,’ and ‘Life’s a Gas’ by T. Rex, as well as Limahl’s ‘Never Ending Story’. Twitter users suggested that the playlist should include ‘Tired of Being Alone’, ‘Enjoy the Silence’ by Depeche Mode and ‘Lemon Tree’ by Fools Garden. Russia’s Gazprom has also joined in, advising Siemens to include the track ‘Breaking the Law’ by Judas Priest. The Nord Stream 1 gas turbine has become the focus of an energy row between Russia and Germany, after having undergone maintenance in Canada. It was meant to be transported to the pipeline’s compressor station in Russia back in May, so the gas flow to EU could be maintained at full capacity.

However, after weeks of delay in Canada over Ottawa’s refusal to return the critical part due to its sanctions on Moscow, it is now stuck in Germany. Russian energy major Gazprom has insisted that Western sanctions are hindering the return of the turbine from Germany and threaten future equipment maintenance at the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. According to the company, the paperwork for the part’s return is not in order, as it was issued by Siemens Energy and not the firm that is contracted by Gazprom. s

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“Senator Rand Paul stated that “the burden is on the FBI to justify this raid.”

FBI Raid Targeted Docs Trump Collected To “Exonerate” Him From Russiagate (SN)

A report in Newsweek citing U.S. intelligence officials has claimed that one of the main purposes of the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago was to find documents that President Trump had collected and intended to use as proof to put to bed once and for all the Russian collusion conspiracy theory. The report states that Trump intended to “weaponise” the documents as part of his campaign for 2024. The article notes that “The sought-after documents deal with a variety of intelligence matters of interest to the former president, the officials suggest—including material that Trump apparently thought would exonerate him of any claims of Russian collusion in 2016 or any other election-related charges.”

The piece also quotes a former Trump official who states that “Trump was particularly interested in matters related to the Russia hoax and the wrong-doings of the deep state.” “I think he felt, and I agree, that these are facts that the American people need to know,” the anonymous former aide added. This development comes as a Florida federal magistrate is scheduled to hold a hearing on whether or not to unseal the probable cause affidavit for the raid. Commenting on the ongoing matter, Senator Rand Paul stated that “the burden is on the FBI to justify this raid.” In a Fox News appearance, Paul said “This is extraordinary. This is also the same FBI that used a foreign intelligence warrant to snoop on and spy on the Trump campaign to investigate them for over two years.

“So I think the burden really is on the FBI. They’ve been wrong in the past. They’ve broken the law in using these foreign intelligence warrants. Now they used a domestic warrant, but I do think they need to release the justification for this, because this is extraordinary.” The Senator further urged “We should not lose sight of the fact this has never, ever happened before for good reason, because we need to have confidence in the FBI. We need to have confidence in our intelligence agencies that they’re there to protect us and not to go after people for political purposes. So the burden is on them to prove that this is not a politically motivated witch hunt.”

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“They lied about their roles in the nefarious origins of SARS CoV-2. They conjured up — already had waiting, actually — dangerous genetic treatments masquerading as “vaccines” and then they faked the safety trials to rush them into use. They denied people proper, effective treatments with inexpensive drugs and killed them with ventilators and remdesivir — solely to maintain a fraudulent emergency use authorization (EUA) that shielded “vaccine” companies from lawsuits. ”

The Meaning of Incredible (Jim Kunstler)

The CDC seems to think nobody will notice its crimes, and the crimes of its sister agencies, FDA, NIAID, NIH, (and the White House Task Force) if it strolls jauntily into the fall season whistling a happy a tune: Nevermind Covid anymore, la la la…. Did I say crimes? Yes, I did. As in gross violations of the law and the basic social contract. They lied about their roles in the nefarious origins of SARS CoV-2. They conjured up — already had waiting, actually — dangerous genetic treatments masquerading as “vaccines” and then they faked the safety trials to rush them into use. They denied people proper, effective treatments with inexpensive drugs and killed them with ventilators and remdesivir — solely to maintain a fraudulent emergency use authorization (EUA) that shielded “vaccine” companies from lawsuits.

Once the “vaccines’ were widely distributed — and forced upon many people with mandates — they confabulated and hid information about adverse reactions and deaths. They destroyed countless small businesses, livelihoods, households, and hindered children’s development with lockdowns. And they used both social and news media to censor their critics in direct violation of the first amendment. That’s all. Oh, one more thing: they destroyed modern medicine. They will probably assist in the destruction of law, too, because the legal system will never be able to handle the volume of lawsuits against all parties involved in the Covid “vaccine” mass slaughter — including the corporations that forced their employees to get vaxxed and the pharma companies themselves, who will lose their EUA protections once their fraud is proven.

And they will hasten the death of an already ailing financial system that can’t bear the wealth transfers implied in the foregoing (on top of the worst debt crisis in human history). You think I exaggerate? We’re sailing into the flu season with millions of people whose immune systems are wrecked by multiple shots of mRNA novelty drugs. They are also susceptible to many viruses and bacteria which normally lurk in everybody’s bodily ecosystem, but would be controlled by otherwise healthy immune systems. Likewise, their hacked immune systems are no longer able to suppress cancers — many forms of which are already way up above normal statistical levels. Not to mention damage done to cardiovascular systems by spike proteins, which linger in human bodies for more than a year after “vaccine” shots, as well as neurological and brain damage.

Former Wall Street analyst Edward Dowd said yesterday (Aug 18) that a Society of Actuaries report just made public shows that a 20 percent uptick in excess deaths among working age people, which began with vaxx mandates in the fall of 2021, continued into the second quarter of 2022. Actuaries are the people who compile and analyze statistics for insurance companies.

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Julian DN
https://twitter.com/i/status/1559993763564601344

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kiwis are getting 7x more sick than pre-Covid.

 

 

 

 

Hillary Soros
https://twitter.com/i/status/1559609608557264904

 

 

 

 

The best video

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Jul 102022
 
 July 10, 2022  Posted by at 8:55 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  30 Responses »


Odilon Redon The Birth of Venus II c.1910

 

‘Drinking The Kool-Aid’ On The War In Ukraine (MoA)
Canada Exempts Russian Gas Turbine From Sanctions (G.)
A Popular Uprising Against the Elites Has Gone Global (Schoelhammer)
Sri Lanka President Agrees To Resign Amid Unrest (O.)
Green Dogma Behind Fall Of Sri Lanka (Shellenberger)
Police Chief: Officer Who Shot The Tractor Made A Wrong Assessment (NOS)
Germany Is Quietly Shutting Down As Energy Crunch Paralyzes Economy (ZH)
Real Estate Agents Got Billions In Covid Relief Loans. Few Repaid Them (NBC)
Elon Musk Terminates Twitter Deal, Citing Material Breach of Agreement (CTH)
The Rot In Canada’s Dysfunctional Government Is Coming From The Head (NP)
Julian Assange ‘Will Die’ If Extradited To US – John Pilger (SCMP)

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.3% of 3% of 0.04%

 

 

 

 

When I was young, I was poor.


After years of hard, honest and back breaking work, I am no longer young.

 

 

 

 

“..the ‘west’ can no longer produce enough new weapons and ammunition to cover those losses.”

‘Drinking The Kool-Aid’ On The War In Ukraine (MoA)

The war in Ukraine is a ‘special military operation’ and very untypical for several reasons. Russia attacked with a force that was smaller than the Ukrainian forces. Over all roughly 120 Battalion Tactical Groups (BTG) from Russia with 1,000 men each plus some 50,000 soldiers from the Luhansk and Donetzk republics took part in the war. At the begin of the war the Ukrainian forces had 250,000 soldiers and they have since mobilized several hundred thousand more. Russia uses far more sophisticated weapons than the Ukrainian side. These are long range weapon and cruise missiles that hit supplies and incoming troops in the rear of the frontline as well as strategic targets. It has an excellent and nearly impenetrable air defense and electronic war fare capabilities that a high ranking U.S. officer described as ‘eye watering’.


Russia has a huge advantage in artillery capabilities and a sufficient amounts of ammunition to sustain a high rate of fire over years. It can also outproduce the ‘west’ with regards to new weapons and supplies. All this has led to the very unusual effect that the Russian advantage on the battlefield has increased over time. It may have been 1 to 1 at the beginning of the battle but it has since increased to about 2 to 1 or even higher. In his latest briefing the head of the Austrian military academy Colonel Reisner shows how the ratio of forces has changed over time. At 7:10 min in he shows this chart.

He explains that at the beginning of the battle for Donbas in April the force ratio was 93 Russian BTGs against 81 Ukrainian BTG equivalents. On June 26 the ratio of forces was 108 Russian BTGs versus 60 Ukrainian battalion equivalents. Russia had increased the size of its engaged forces while the Ukrainian side had lost 25% of its capabilities. So according to the Austrian military the force ratio at the start of the ‘special military operation’ was 1.15 to 1 and on June 26 it was at 1.8 to 1. What we are seeing is the opposite of the decrease of the ratio of forces that Clausewitz described as the path to the culminating point. A recent talk by a high ranking Ukrainian general confirms the high rate of attrition of the Ukrainian army. He says that ‘western’ weapon deliveries only cover 10 to 15% of the Ukrainian losses. In fact the ‘west’ can no longer produce enough new weapons and ammunition to cover those losses.

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Ukraine prefers to let Germany freeze.

Canada Exempts Russian Gas Turbine From Sanctions (G.)

Canada will return a repaired Russian turbine to Germany that it needs for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, despite objections from Ukraine, as the sanctions regime came up against the energy crisis sparked by the war. Canada’s minister of natural resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, said in a statement on Saturday the government was issuing a “time-limited and revocable permit” to exempt the return of turbines from its Russian sanctions, to support “Europe’s ability to access reliable and affordable energy as they continue to transition away from Russian oil and gas”. Wilkinson said the export permit was issued after discussions with “our European friends and allies”, and the International Energy Agency.

Russia’s Gazprom cut capacity on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Europe to just 40% of usual levels last month, citing the delayed return of equipment being serviced by Germany’s Siemens Energy in Canada. The Kremlin said on Friday it would increase gas supplies to Europe if the turbine were returned. The part is required for maintenance work due to start on Monday. Canada – which has been under pressure from Germany to find a way to return the turbine – said “absent a necessary supply of natural gas, the German economy will suffer very significant hardship and Germans themselves will be at risk of being unable to heat their homes as winter approaches”.

Alexandra Chyczij, national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said on Saturday “our community is deeply disappointed by the Canadian government’s decision to bow to Russian blackmail”. The group said Canada was setting “a dangerous precedent that will lead to the weakening of the sanctions regime imposed on Russia”. Canada has one of the world’s biggest Ukrainian diasporas outside of countries that border Ukraine and has urged the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to refuse to compromise the country’s sanctions against Russia over the turbine issue. Ukraine has opposed Canada handing over the turbine and Kyiv believes such a move would flout sanctions on Russia, a Ukrainian energy ministry source told Reuters on Thursday.

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Dutch farmers have promised an “involuntary lockdown” of the country tomorrow.

A Popular Uprising Against the Elites Has Gone Global (Schoelhammer)

Over 30,000 Dutch farmers have risen in protest against the government in the wake of new nitrogen limits that require farmers to radically curb their nitrogen emissions by up to 70 percent in the next eight years. It would require farmers to use less fertilizer and even to reduce the number of their livestock. While large farming companies have the means to hypothetically meet these goals and can switch to non-nitrogen-based fertilizers, it is impossible for smaller, often family-owned farms. The new environmental regulations are so extreme that they would force many to shutter, including people whose families have been farming for three or four generations. In protest, farmers have been blockading streets and refusing to deliver their products to supermarket chains. It’s been leading to serious shortages of eggs and milk, among other food items.


But the effects will be global. The Netherlands is the world’s second largest agricultural exporter after the United States, making the country of barely 17 million inhabitants a food superpower. Given global food shortages and rising prices, the role of Dutch farmers in the global food chain has never been more important. But if you thought the Dutch government was going to take that into account and ensure that people can put food on the table, you would be wrong; when offered the choice between food security and acting against “climate change,” the Dutch government decided to pursue the latter. What is particularly frustrating is that the government is fully aware that what it is asking farmers to do will drive many of them out of existence. In fact, the government originally planned to move at a slower pace—until a lawsuit brought by environmental groups in 2019 forced an acceleration of the timetable.

Farmers kids
https://twitter.com/i/status/1545809018500878338

The reaction by members of the agricultural sector has been massive and ongoing since 2019, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic allowed the government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte to ban protests in 2020 and 2021. With the reignited demonstrations this year, the authorities have also switched to a more aggressive approach. There have been arrests and even warning shots fired by police at farmers, one almost killing a 16-year-old protestor. But while the Dutch people are on the side of the farmers, their elites are behaving much as they did in Canada and the U.S., and not just those in government. Media outlets are refusing to even report the protests, and when they do, they cast the farmers as extremists. Why the disconnect?


Every reliable poll of European newsrooms from Germany to the Netherlands show that climate change is a much more important topic for journalists than it is for ordinary people. It’s not that average citizens don’t care about climate change, but that they have the common sense to know that destroying their farm so the government’s emission goals can be met in 2030 instead of 2035 will not change the planet’s climate. After all, the Netherlands accounts for just 0.46 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions, and while a further reduction might be desirable, it will not be decisive in combating climate change over the next eight years. It may make the country’s elite to feel good about themselves, but it will also result in large parts of the population seeing their living standards decline and their economic existence targeted by the state for ideological reasons.

Albania

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A color revolution?

Sri Lanka President Agrees To Resign Amid Unrest (O.)

The Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has agreed to resign after a dramatic day during which his house and offices were stormed by protesters and the home of the prime minister set on fire. In a late-night message conveyed through the parliamentary speaker, Mahinda Yapa, the beleaguered president said he would step down from power on 13 July to “ensure a peaceful transition of power”. It was an historic victory for the protesters who have been calling for him to resign for months and gathered on the streets of Colombo in their tens of thousands on Saturday, as the country continues to struggle through its worst economic crisis since independence. Earlier prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, had told a meeting of party leaders that he too would resign as soon as a new all-party government was formed.

In extraordinary scenes on Saturday, protesters broke through police barriers and charged into the president’s official residence. Images and witness accounts showed people flooding up the grand staircase of the colonial-era building, with chants calling for the president to go. As protesters poured into the bedrooms and kitchen and rifled through the president’s possessions, many took full advantage of the president’s luxury amenities which had been denied to them in recent weeks due to rampant food and fuel shortages. Protesters were seen cooking up curries in the kitchen, lying down on beds and sofas, lifting weights and jogging in his private gym and jumping into the outdoor pool. The president was not at home, having fled the night before under military protection, and he remained in hiding as Saturday’s events unfolded.

[..] Sri Lanka is continuing to struggle through a devastating crisis in which the economy has completely collapsed and the government is unable to afford to import food, fuel and medicines. All sales of petrol have been suspended, schools have shut and medical procedures and surgeries are being delayed or cancelled over a shortage of drugs and equipment, with the UN recently warning that the country is facing a humanitarian crisis. Inflation is a record-breaking 54.6% and food prices have gone up fivefold, meaning two-thirds of the country are struggling to feed themselves. Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debts in May, which total over $51bn, and is in negotiations with the IMF for a $3bn bailout.

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A testing ground?

Green Dogma Behind Fall Of Sri Lanka (Shellenberger)

Sri Lanka has fallen. Protesters breached the official residences of Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister and President, who have fled to undisclosed locations out of fear of death. The proximate reason is that the nation is bankrupt, suffering its worst financial crisis in decades. Millions are struggling to purchase food, medicine and fuel. Energy shortages and inflation were major factors behind the crisis. Inflation in June in Sri Lanka was over 50%. Food prices rose by 80%. And a half-million people fell into poverty over the last year. But the underlying reason for the fall of Sri Lanka is that its leaders fell under the spell of Western green elites peddling organic agriculture and “ESG,” which refers to investments made following supposedly higher Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria.

Sri Lanka has a near-perfect ESG score (98) which is higher than Sweden (96) or the United States (51), notes a commentator. To be sure, there were other factors behind Sri Lanka’s fall. COVID-19 lockdowns and a 2019 bombing hurt tourism, a $3 billion to 5 billion-per-year industry. Sri Lanka’s leaders insisted on paying China back for various “Belt and Road” infrastructure projects when other nations refused to do so. And higher oil prices meant transportation prices rose 128% since May. But the biggest and main problem causing Sri Lanka’s fall was its ban on chemical fertilizers in April 2021. Over 90% of Sri Lanka’s farmers had used chemical fertilizers and, after the ban, 85% experienced crop losses. After the fertilizer ban, rice production fell 20% and prices skyrocketed 50 percent in just six months.

Sri Lanka had to import $450 million worth of rice despite having been self-sufficient in the grain just months earlier. The price of carrots and tomatoes rose five-fold. Tea, the nation’s main export, also suffered, thereby undermining the nation’s foreign currency and ability to purchase products from abroad. While there are 2 million farmers in Sri Lanka, 70% of the nation’s 22 million people are directly or indirectly dependent on farming. “We are furious!” said one rice farmer in May. “Angry! Not just me – but all the farmers who cultivated here are angry.” In November 2021, Sri Lanka tried to reverse course, but it was too late. Rajapaksa said, “we don’t have enough chemical fertilizers in the country because we didn’t import them. There is a shortage.” By the end of last August, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had declared a state of emergency.

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Because he missed by one inch?

Police Chief: Officer Who Shot The Tractor Made A Wrong Assessment (NOS)

The officer who opened fire on a tractor during a farmers’ protest in Heerenveen feared for the safety of his colleagues. The highest police chief of the Northern Netherlands says this in an interview with NRC.Chief Commissioner Gery Veldhuis calls it a wrong assessment. The officer feared that the tractor would run into colleagues and therefore opened fire. The 16-year-old driver was arrested shortly afterwards on suspicion of attempted manslaughter, but an investigation by the Public Prosecution Service revealed that this was not the case. The National Bureau of Investigation is still investigating the incident. That is why Veldhuis was unable to elaborate on what exactly happened.

“But he told me he shot because he was concerned for the safety of the employees he was performing with.” According to Veldhuis, the man is “through it”. “He thinks it is terrible that he ended up in a situation in which he thought he had to use his firearm. He also did not know that it was a 16-year-old boy.” Veldhuis would have thought it “rather dramatic” if the shot had been hit. It was previously reported that an officer went into hiding for his own safety after photos of him were distributed. Veldhuis confirms that the man is being threatened. He considers it difficult for his colleagues that they have to act against people from their own community during farmer protests.

At the same time, he warns that the police will try to confiscate tractors more often. “As long as farmers use their tractors for things other than what they are intended for, they should feel that they also lose their company resources as a result.” The family of the boy who was shot is still considering filing a complaint against the police. Driver Jouke Hospes said earlier that he was just driving away from the protest at the time of the shooting. According to Veldhuis, the police will pay for the damage to his window.

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Where will the euro go tomorrow? Parity with the USD looms.

Germany Is Quietly Shutting Down As Energy Crunch Paralyzes Economy (ZH)

Earlier today we wrote that Germany’s largest landlord, Vonovia, had taken the unprecedented step of restrictring heating at night, a terrifying preview of what lies in stock for the “most advanced” European nation this winter. Alas, it’s going to get worse, much worse. According to the FT, Germany is now rationing hot water, dimming its street lights and shutting down swimming pools as the impact of its energy crunch begins to spread like the proverbial Ice-Nine wave, from industry to offices, leisure centers and residential homes. The reason behind Germany’s slow motion paralysis is well-known: the huge increase in gas prices triggered by Russia’s move last month to sharply reduce supplies to Germany has plunged Europe’s biggest economy into its worst energy crisis since the oil price shock of 1973.

With electricity prices hitting never before seen levels, gas importers and utilities are fighting for survival while consumer bills are going through the roof, with some warning of rising friction (not to mention the infamous wheelbarrows full of cash). “The situation is more than dramatic,” said Axel Gedaschko, head of the federation of German housing enterprises GdW. “Germany’s social peace is in great danger.” Unfortunately, as tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine escalate, officials fear the situation could get worse. On Monday, as we reported last week, Russia is shutting down its main pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 1, for 10 days of scheduled maintenance. Many in Berlin fear it will never reopen.

Commenting on the infamous July 22 day when Russian gas flows are expected to resume, DB’s Jim Reid writes that “while we all spend most of our market time thinking about the Fed and a recession, I suspect what happens to Russian gas in H2 is potentially an even bigger story. Of course by July 22nd parts may have be found and the supply might start to normalise. Anyone who tells you they know what is going to happen here is guessing but as minimum it should be a huge focal point for everyone in markets.” The bank also conveniently warns that “if the gas shutoff is not resolved in coming weeks this would lead to a broadening out of energy disruption with material upfront effects on economic growth, and of course much higher inflation.”

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“..The federal government authorized more than 300,000 loans to real estate entities claiming just one employee..”

Real Estate Agents Got Billions In Covid Relief Loans. Few Repaid Them (NBC)

While Covid was battering the U.S. economy, Gary Goldberg seems to have done OK. During 2020, the pandemic’s first year, the Santa Barbara, California, real estate agent sold more than $27 million worth of luxury homes, slightly down from the $31 million he closed the year before, according to data from Zillow. In 2021, he sold $82 million worth of real estate. He also applied for and received two loans totaling $95,832 via the federal government’s Covid relief Paycheck Protection Program, according to public records. In his applications, he listed one employee. He asked for the first loan on April 15, 2020, and the second on Jan. 30, 2021. Federal records show he also asked for and received forgiveness for both loans by November 2021, meaning he had met certain criteria and did not have to pay them back.

In the United States, the average gross commission for real estate sales is 2.5 percent of the sale price, and the agent usually gets 85 percent of that, according to Real Trends Consulting, a firm that tracks home sales and commissions. According to that formula, Goldberg may have earned six figures in 2020 and seven figures in 2021. There’s no indication Goldberg did anything illegal and he’s certainly not alone. As real estate sales — and commissions — rose during the pandemic, individual agents also got a helping hand from taxpayers.

The federal government authorized more than 300,000 loans to real estate entities claiming just one employee, adding up to $3.9 billion in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, according to data from the government’s Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), which oversees pandemic relief spending. On average these real estate businesses got $13,000, but 146 entities got more than $90,000 each, according to the PRAC data, all of which is public record. PPP loans went to real estate agents in booming markets — $3.6 million to real estate entities in Beverly Hills, $4.3 million to entities in El Paso, Texas, and $14.9 million in 1,107 loans to real estate entities in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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More background.

“It appears that Twitter Inc did not want to reveal how Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop was able to sustain operations..”

Elon Musk Terminates Twitter Deal, Citing Material Breach of Agreement (CTH)

Elon Musk has notified Twitter and the SEC that he is exercising his “right to terminate the merger agreement and abandon the transaction contemplated” due to the social media company not providing transparent access to background data that would allow authentication of “monetized daily active users” (mDAUs). It appears that Twitter Inc did not want to reveal how Jack’s Magic Coffee Shop was able to sustain operations, at an extremely high cost, without making money. That’s the essential source of the issue. The social media company did not want anyone looking at the data stream inside the communication platform. Musk was not allowed to authenticate the number of real users and identify the number of ‘spam’ or ‘bot’ accounts within the platform.

From the SEC Letter: […] ” Specifically, in the Merger Agreement, Twitter represented that no documents that Twitter filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since January 1, 2022, included any “untrue statement of a material fact” (Section 4.6(a)). Twitter has repeatedly made statements in such filings regarding the portion of its mDAUs that are false or spam, including statements that: “We have performed an internal review of a sample of accounts and estimate that the average of false or spam accounts during the first quarter of 2022 represented fewer than 5% of our mDAU during the quarter,” and “After we determine an account is spam, malicious automation, or fake, we stop counting it in our mDAU, or other related metrics.”

Mr. Musk relied on this representation in the Merger Agreement (and Twitter’s numerous public statements regarding false and spam accounts in its publicly filed SEC documents) when agreeing to enter into the Merger Agreement. Mr. Musk has the right to seek rescission of the Merger Agreement in the event these material representations are determined to be false. Although Twitter has not yet provided complete information to Mr. Musk that would enable him to do a complete and comprehensive review of spam and fake accounts on Twitter’s platform, he has been able to partially and preliminarily analyze the accuracy of Twitter’s disclosure regarding its mDAU. While this analysis remains ongoing, all indications suggest that several of Twitter’s public disclosures regarding its mDAUs are either false or materially misleading.

First, although Twitter has consistently represented in securities filings that “fewer than 5%” of its mDAU are false or spam accounts, based on the information provided by Twitter to date, it appears that Twitter is dramatically understating the proportion of spam and false accounts represented in its mDAU count. Preliminary analysis by Mr. Musk’s advisors of the information provided by Twitter to date causes Mr. Musk to strongly believe that the proportion of false and spam accounts included in the reported mDAU count is wildly higher than 5%.

Second, Twitter’s disclosure that it ceases to count fake or spam users in its mDAU when it determines that those users are fake appears to be false. Instead, we understand, based on Twitter’s representations during a June 30, 2022 call with us, that Twitter includes accounts that have been suspended—and thus are known to be fake or spam—in its quarterly mDAU count even when it is aware that the suspended accounts were included in mDAU for that quarter.”

Musk termites

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“The main job of a minister these days is to keep his or her face off the front page..”

The Rot In Canada’s Dysfunctional Government Is Coming From The Head (NP)

At the outset of the pandemic, a small army of unsung public servants was overwhelmed by a Niagara of employment insurance applications, as one-quarter of the Canadian workforce found itself out of work. Through a combination of ingenuity and dedication, they processed more than two million claims in three weeks and got money into the hands of the people who needed it. Yet, just two years later, the entire bureaucracy seems afflicted by an inefficiency that has led to a breakdown in the delivery of the most basic government services, from passports to immigration visas; from airport security to facilitating the flow of travellers across Canada’s borders.

Last week, a number of departments received a priority request from the government’s central agency, the Privy Council Office, to urgently review passport, immigration and airport service problems. One person who received it said there was more than a faint whiff of panic about the all-points bulletin. What can account for a plight that one senior bureaucrat compared to a body rotting from the inside? Few in official Ottawa have any doubts that the malady can be traced back to a Liberal government in its third term that no longer has the vitality it once possessed. Over the past seven years, the Liberals have lost, or jettisoned, some of their most seasoned ministers and political staffers.

They have often been replaced by farm-team players with less experience and less rounded skill sets. The upshot is a preoccupation with issues management and the politics of spin. The main job of a minister these days is to keep his or her face off the front page. In the mind of Victorian intellectual Walter Bagehot, the cabinet is the buckle which fastens the executive to the legislature. But in this government, at this time, ministers report not to Parliament but to the issues management department in the Prime Minister’s Office.

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“..if Julian goes to the United States, and is effectively dropped in a penal hell hole, that will be the end of him literally, he will die..”

Julian Assange ‘Will Die’ If Extradited To US – John Pilger (SCMP)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, already ailing following a decade-long struggle for freedom, faces almost certain death if he is sent to a “penal hell hole” upon extradition to the United States, one of his staunchest supporters has said. John Pilger, the award-winning Australian filmmaker and journalist who has been a close confidante of Assange since 2010, said defeat for the 51-year-old in his battle in British courts against extradition could have far-reaching consequences for journalism. “I don’t think there is any doubt in my mind… that if Julian goes to the United States, and is effectively dropped in a penal hell hole, that will be the end of him literally, he will die,” Pilger said in an interview on Talking Post with chief news editor Yonden Lhatoo.

Pilger said Assange’s treatment over the years – he has been in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison since 2019 – was “torture”, adding that for the Australian national “anything” would be better than being sent to the US. Prior to his incarceration, Assange obtained asylum from Ecuador in 2012 and spent seven years in Quito’s embassy in London as part of efforts to avoid extradition to Sweden where he was facing charges of sexual assault. He denies all wrongdoing. Washington is seeking his extradition over charges of espionage and computer misuse linked to WikiLeaks’ publication of classified US documents since 2010. Assange’s supporters say the charges are politically motivated and that he would be unable to get a fair trial in the US.

“If Julian is extradited to the United States, I think it will effectively end real, independent investigative journalism,” Pilger said. “Who will take that risk again, if the United States and other countries … can reach anywhere in the world and take a journalist for writing something or revealing something it doesn’t approve of?” Asked if he believed Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would intervene to stop the extradition, Pilger said it remained to be seen if the new Labor administration believed Assange was innocent. Albanese is a signatory of the “Bring Julian Assange Home” campaign and was reported to have said in a party meeting last year that he believed the journalist should be freed. “Enough is enough,” Albanese was quoted as saying by Australian media.

“I don’t have sympathy for many of his actions, but essentially I can’t see what is served by keeping him incarcerated,” he reportedly said. But Pilger said whether Albanese would back Assange depended on Canberra’s overall US policy. “Will Australia deviate from the United States? My view is no,” Pilger said. Albanese’s remarks last year also did not underscore the fact that Assange “has committed no crime”, Pilger said.

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Ali
https://twitter.com/i/status/1545362039480221698

 

 

2 kinds of dogs

 

 

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