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Debt Rattle September 29 2024

Sep 292024
 
 September 29, 2024  Posted by at 8:25 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  32 Responses »


Mestre da Família Artés The Last Judgment and the Mass of Saint Gregory 1500-1520

 

• Most Ukrainian Soldiers Last Only A Few Days – FT (RT)
• Nasrallah’s Death ‘Devastating Blow’, Will Trigger Escalation of Violence (Sp.)
• Hezbollah Military Leadership Nearly Wiped Out – Israel (RT)
• Zelensky’s Hopes for Long-Range Missiles Slow-Walked by Washington (Sp.)
• Lukashenko Predicts Russia-Ukraine Healing (RT)
• ‘Friends of Peace’ Issue Russia-Ukraine Statement (RT)
• Ukraine Shrinks Each Time Talks With Russia Are Disrupted – Lavrov (TASS)
• Trump Threatens To Prosecute Google (RT)
• Joe Rogan Warns Censorship Will Get Much Worse if Kamala Harris Wins (MN)
• Trump’s Authentic Anger Versus Kamala’s Phony Joy (Noel S. Williams)
• US Offers $20 Million for Info on Iranian Accused of Plot to Kill Bolton (ET)
• Militarism vs Statecraft, Empire vs Democracy, Debt vs Prosperity (Kucinich)
• Dollar A ‘Dangerous Currency’ – Former IMF Director (RT)
• Musk To Pay Another Fine To Restore X In Brazil (RT)
• Those Published “17,000 Hydroxychloroquine Deaths” Never Happened (Gortler)

 

 

 

 

Keep the peace

 

 

Murder

 

 

RFK
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839747791037632827

 

 

Vivek

 

 

Treason

 

 

Roseanne

 

 

Vote

 

 

ID
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839752346643083339

 

 

Gutfeld

Secure

Harris border

Watters

 

 

Bill Maher
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839873192095097049

 

 

 

 

This immensely sad picture is brought to you by your own tax dollars.

• Most Ukrainian Soldiers Last Only A Few Days – FT (RT)

The Ukrainian military has been so depleted by attrition that new infantry troops are often unfit for combat and flee at the first sign of fighting, the Financial Times reported on Friday. In some units, around two thirds of soldiers are reportedly killed or wounded within days of arriving at the front. Manpower shortages have plagued the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) for well over a year, according to reports in Ukrainian and Western media outlets. After multiple rounds of conscription, the average age of a Ukrainian soldier is now 45, and many of those sent to the front are unfit for combat, multiple commanders and soldiers told the British newspaper. “When the new guys get to the position, a lot of them run away at the first shell explosion,” a deputy commander fighting near Ugledar in Donetsk Region said.

Another commander whose unit is attempting to hold the nearby town of Khurakove said that “some guys freeze [because] they are too afraid to shoot the enemy, and then they are the ones who leave in body bags or severely wounded.” The commanders estimated that 50-70% of new infantry troops are killed or wounded within days of starting their first rotation. Russian forces have gained ground near Ugledar, Khurakove, and the key logistics hub of Povrovsk in recent weeks. Many of the AFU’s most experienced troops were pulled from this sector of the front in August to take part in the invasion of Russia’s Kursk Region, an operation that has cost Kiev more than 17,750 servicemen, over 130 tanks, and hundreds of other combat vehicles, according to the latest figures from the Russian Defense Ministry.

Experienced soldiers “are being killed off too quickly” and replaced by older and less fit men, another commander told the Financial Times. “As infantry, you need to run, you need to be strong, you need to carry heavy equipment,” he said, adding: “It’s hard to do that if you aren’t young.” As of May, the Ukrainian military has been drafting 30,000 soldiers per month. However, AFU Commander-in-Chief General Aleksandr Syrsky admitted earlier this month that these new recruits are often sent to fight with as little as six weeks’ training. The commanders who spoke to the Financial Times said that they consider this training worthless, as many of the AFU’s instructors haven’t seen combat themselves. “Some of them don’t even know how to hold their rifles,” one officer said. “They peel more potatoes than they shoot bullets,” he complained, explaining that he had bought paintball guns in order to teach his new men how to shoot without wasting ammunition.

Those who survive often go AWOL after their first rotation, while others are so shell-shocked and exhausted that they are checked into psychiatric wards, the newspaper reported. With the AFU under no legal obligation to demobilize troops, joining the army or getting conscripted is viewed by recruits as “a one-way ticket,” a ten-year veteran told the Financial Times. While the Ukrainian military does not publish casualty figures, the Russian Defense Ministry estimates Kiev’s losses since February 2022 at around half a million men. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, however, maintains that with more Western weapons and money, Russia can be “forced into peace.” Moscow considers Zelensky’s belief in military victory “delusional,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week.

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Nasrallah spent 30 years building up Hezbollah. He knew it could never count on just one person leading it. It has to be by committee.

• Nasrallah’s Death ‘Devastating Blow’, Will Trigger Escalation of Violence (Sp.)

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination marks “a devastating blow to Hezbollah” and the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance alliance, and will inevitably mark a major uptick in tensions and violence in the region, veteran Lebanese Middle East affairs observer Dr. Imad Salamey says. “Nasrallah was not only the face of Hezbollah, but also a figure of immense symbolic and strategic importance within the broader Iranian-led regional alliance. He has been instrumental in Hezbollah’s military and political successes against Israel, its support of [President Bashar Assad’s Syria], and its backing of the Houthis in Yemen. His death represents a major moral and leadership setback, leaving a vacuum that’s difficult to fill,” Salamay, an associate professor of political science and international affairs at the Lebanese American University, told Sputnik.

Nasrallah’s death also comes against the background of the “substantial” damage done to Hezbollah in last week’s pager attacks, the professor said, noting that these attacks “disrupted Hezbollah’s command and control capabilities, creating significant challenges for the group to regroup and reestablish its operational structure.” While Hezbollah “remains a potent force, it will take some time for it to recover from these setbacks, both materially and strategically,” the observer believes. Dr. Salamay expects Nasrallah’s assassination to result in a sharp spike in attacks on Israel by Hezbollah and its allies to try to exact revenge, and more broadly, to potential “shifts in regional alliances, a recalibration of Iran’s strategies in Lebanon, and possibly more aggressive Israeli policies aimed at capitalizing on Hezbollah’s weakened position.”

The IDF’s decision to code-name Friday’s attack on Nasrallah “New Order” is also an obvious reference to Israel’s ultimate goal of reshaping “the political and security dynamics in Lebanon and the broader region” to a political and security arrangement “more favorable” to Tel Aviv, according to the academic. Salamay believes Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, the chief of Hezbollah’s executive council, Nasrallah’s “number two” and the late leader’s maternal cousin, is the most likely candidate to succeed him, presuming he himself hasn’t yet been targeted by Israel. “While he lacks the same public charisma as Nasrallah, his close ties to both Nasrallah and Iran make him a natural successor. However, his ability to command the same level of trust and authority among Hezbollah’s base and the broader Shiite community remains uncertain,” according to the professor.

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Also something Nasrallah will have foreseen. The strength will be in the collective.

• Hezbollah Military Leadership Nearly Wiped Out – Israel (RT)

Nearly all of Hezbollah’s military leaders have been eliminated in recent Israeli strikes, officials in West Jerusalem have claimed, after the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in a bombardment of a compound in Beirut. In a post on X on Saturday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry released a diagram of what it said was Hezbollah’s military chain of command. All of the 18 high-ranking members – including Nasrallah and Ali Karaki, the commander of Hezbollah’s Southern front, and the heads of several units – are said to have been “eliminated.” A separate post by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) listed 11 senior Hezbollah members, ten of whom were also described as “eliminated.” Only Abu Ali Rida, the commander of the Bader unit, has survived so far, according to the list.

The IDF list largely mirrored the ministry’s, but included two additional names – Ibrahim Muhammad Qabisi, the commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile force, and Hussein Srour, the head of the Aerial Command – both of whom are also presumed dead. Israel appeared to have trumpeted its successes against Hezbollah after announcing that Nasrallah had been killed in a powerful air strike in Beirut. Nasrallah, who led the group for more than 30 years, was widely regarded as an icon of resistance to Israel who oversaw the growth of Hezbollah’s power and influence. Hours after West Jerusalem said it had killed the group’s leader, Hezbollah confirmed the death, pledging to continue “its jihad in confronting the enemy, in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon and its steadfast and honorable people.” At the moment, it is unclear who will succeed Nasrallah.

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“Zelensky gives his ‘victory plan’ a hard sell in the US – did the pitch fall flat?” the BBC asked..”

• Zelensky’s Hopes for Long-Range Missiles Slow-Walked by Washington (Sp.)

Volodymyr Zelensky left Washington on Thursday without approval to launch long-range strikes at targets deep inside Russia using NATO missiles, prompting observers to suggest his “star power” has faded as Americans grow increasingly tired of or indifferent toward the conflict. A former DoD insider explains told Sputnik what’s really going on. Ukraine’s self-proclaimed president made last-ditch pre-election appeals to President Biden, Vice President Harris and lawmakers on Capitol Hill during his trip to Washington this week to sell his so-called “victory plan” – aimed at forcing Russia to sue for peace by greenlighting Ukraine’s use of long-range NATO strike systems to attack Russia, and applying for membership in NATO “within months,” rather than years. US and European legacy media proved surprisingly cool in their coverage of the visit by Zelensky, who until recently was treated with rock star status in Western capitals.

“Zelensky’s Star Power Fades on Capitol Hill,” the New York Times wrote of the trip, contrasting Zelensky’s raucous reception in Washington two years ago to his “muted” visit this week, which saw just “a few dozen lawmakers huddl[ing] with him behind closed doors while the speaker of the House snubbed him.” “Zelensky gives his ‘victory plan’ a hard sell in the US – did the pitch fall flat?” the BBC asked in its own post-trip analysis, pointing to the faux pas Zelensky made during the visit, from his attacks on possible future president Trump and his running mate in an interview with a liberal news magazine, to a trip to a Pennsylvania ammunition factory which Republicans decried as blatant election interference. President Biden sought to breath life into the visit by announcing $8 billion in additional military aid for Ukraine, including Joint Standoff Weapon glide bombs, drones, and Patriot air and missile defenses.

But the main publicized goal of the trip: approval for strikes deep into Russia, was nowhere to be found in summaries of Zelensky’s talks with US officials amid warnings from Moscow that such a step would put NATO and Russia in a state of war. “I think Zelensky had a ‘pie in the sky’ goal of trying to get the US to give committed support, militarily, financially to get long-range missiles approved. I don’t think he fared very well,” ex-senior DoD security policy analyst Michael Maloof told Sputnik, commenting on the trip. Zelensky’s hosts “were polite and listened to him, but there’s too much at stake at this point,” Maloof suggested, stressing that granting Kiev’s request would require direct US involvement in the conflict, something the DoD appears to be wary of providing.

A big part of the problem for Zelensky is that the US is now so deep into the 2024 presidential campaign “that everybody is distracted by it,” according to Maloof, with the Biden-Harris White House likely seeking to avoid making “any decisions that will have long-term impact,” or prove unpopular among voters as support for additional Ukraine aid fades. “Clearly, Trump has an entirely different idea and approach than Harris and Biden have toward support for Ukraine. And I think that if he were to win, it would have a dramatic impact on…any future decision-making toward what arms Ukraine does have,” Maloof said. “Trump agreed to meet with [Zelensky], but he made it clear that he would be talking to President Putin. And he has a relationship there.”

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“Don’t think that Americans and Europeans are one family. Americans do not need a strong Europe..”

• Lukashenko Predicts Russia-Ukraine Healing (RT)

Russia and Ukraine will eventually overcome their animosity after the conflict between the two neighbors comes to an end, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday. The two sides need to start looking for a negotiated solution right now, he added. “We need to find common ground with Ukrainians to stop this war,” Lukashenko told students from the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radio Electronics. Neither side should “go any further,” he said, as they have already done “more than enough.” The Belarusian leader predicted that Russia and Ukraine will eventually restore good relations, pointing to his own country’s relations with Germany after World War II. “Belarus was entirely destroyed,” he said, referring to the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Republic of Belarus, which was part of the USSR at the time.

“Yet… your generation, even mine, were already talking normally to the Germans,” he explained. ”Human memory… heals these wounds,” Lukashenko said. He also stated that Minsk maintains contact with Kiev, all while being a close ally with Moscow. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky “does not want to hear” about peace only because “Americans are pushing him towards war,” the Belarusian president said. According to Lukashenko, Washington is the only party that is benefiting from the conflict, and is doing so at the expense of Ukraine and even its allies in Europe. The US is using Ukraine to develop its own defense industries by pouring money into weapons production for military aid to the country.

Europe could also be stronger if it worked with Russia instead of simply following the US, Lukashenko said. The combination of European technology and Russian resources could give the continent a boost in development, he said, arguing that instead of this, German companies have been deprived of cheap Russian energy and are shutting down. “Don’t think that Americans and Europeans are one family. Americans do not need a strong Europe,” he warned.

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More optimism.

• ‘Friends of Peace’ Issue Russia-Ukraine Statement (RT)

China, Brazil, and more than a dozen other members of the ‘Friends of Peace’ group have called for an immediate end to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, with Beijing’s top diplomat declaring that peace “is the only realistic option” for the two nations. Convened by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Brazilian presidential adviser Celso Amorim, the Friends of Peace initiative held its first ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday. Described by Wang as a forum for “objective and rational” dialogue on the conflict, the meeting was attended by 18 countries, mostly from the Global South. Hungary and Türkiye were the only NATO members to send diplomats to the conference. In a joint communique signed by China, Brazil, and 11 other attendees, the group called for a “comprehensive and lasting settlement by the parties to the conflict through inclusive diplomacy and political means based on the UN Charter.”

This settlement should be achieved by following a six-point plan published by China and Brazil earlier this year, the communique recommended. The plan calls for both sides to refrain from escalation or provocation, increase humanitarian assistance and prisoner of war exchanges, refrain from nuclear threats and attacks on energy infrastructure, and attend an international peace conference in which all peace proposals will receive a “fair discussion.” “Russia and Ukraine are neighbors that cannot be moved away from each other and amity is the only realistic option,” Wang said during Friday’s meeting. ”All members of the ‘Friends of Peace’ are peace-loving countries. We are not the creator of the Ukraine crisis, or a party to it,” he said. “We have no self-interest or geopolitical considerations on the Ukrainian issue. We gather here to voice our support for peace and to be partners for peace between Russia and Ukraine.”

Wang’s statement fell on deaf ears in the West. Speaking to reporters shortly after the meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned China for declaring that it wants peace, while allegedly allowing its companies to sell components for military hardware to Russia. “That doesn’t add up.” he said.”The United States should stop smearing and framing China,” Wang responded, adding that Beijing “has always insisted on promoting peace and dialogue, and has made its own efforts to promote a political solution.” In a speech to the assembly on Wednesday, Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky claimed that “alternatives, half-hearted settlement plans, so-called sets of principles” would only benefit Russia, and that only his own ten-point ‘peace plan’ can resolve the conflict.

Zelensky’s plan – which calls on Russia to hand control of Crimea to Ukraine, pay reparations, and turn over its own officials to war crimes tribunals – has been dismissed by the Kremlin as “detached from reality.” Moscow is willing to discuss “really serious proposals that take into account the situation on the ground,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week. Any plan, she added, must involve Kiev withdrawing troops from Russia’s Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye Regions and committing to military neutrality.

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“And there can be only one result – a settlement of this problem on the basis of eliminating the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis..”

• Ukraine Shrinks Each Time Talks With Russia Are Disrupted – Lavrov (TASS)

Ukraine shrinks every time proposed talks with Russia are upset, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following his participation in the high-level week of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. “Each time an agreement Russia always goes for is derailed, Ukraine shrinks,” he said, citing Ukraine’s refusal to implement the Minsk agreements and Kiev’s disruption of the negotiations in 2022 as an example. Lavrov recalled how Ukraine’s chief delegate to the talks with Russia in 2022, David Arahamiya, said that then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had come to Kiev and advised Ukraine to go on fighting. “If Ukraine continues along the same path, if it continues to use some gimmicks again in order to buy time, it will not succeed,” Lavrov emphasized. Ukraine has “forever undermined” its legitimacy, at least as long as the current regime is in power.

“I very much hope that our Chinese and Brazilian friends and all those who have joined this group of ‘friends of peace’ will fully take into account the manners and ways of the current Ukrainian leadership and its endless attempts to lure everyone by deception on their very quick and shifting sand,” Lavrov pointed out. Lavrov also noted that Russia is glad to see any initiatives concerning the Ukrainian settlement, including the one proposed by former US President Donald Trump, provided they will help eliminate the root causes of the crisis. “Trump said some time ago that he would need 24 hours. Now the wording is different,” Lavrov recalled. “We will welcome any initiatives that will bring about the desired result.” “And there can be only one result – a settlement of this problem on the basis of eliminating the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis,” Lavrov stated.

Among these root causes the Russian foreign minister singled out the threat to Russia’s security from the West, which has been dragging Ukraine into its military bloc, while “security is essential not as some abstract term, but as a basic human need.” Another root cause of the conflict, he stated, was discrimination against the Russian-speaking population, including through laws banning the use of the Russian language and even the canonical Orthodox Church. “If Mr. Trump succeeds in overturning these laws we are talking about, it will be a stride forward,” Lavrov said. “It’s the easiest thing to do – just hold a vote.”. “Our position is crystal clear: we need to eliminate the root causes [of the conflict]. Everyone knows what they are,” Lavrov said. The minister recalled the Ukrainian presidential decree that prohibits negotiations with Russia. “[President Vladimir] Zelensky’s decree prohibiting negotiations with Russia is still in force there, so I am not even going to speculate on how they are going to sort things out,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov said he had asked China and Brazil about the contents of their peace initiatives on Ukraine. “My colleagues and I <…> discussed their plans. I asked them about practical aspects of their initiative, because the five-or six-point Chinese-Brazilian plan has correct ideas, such as calls for peace, for justice, for compliance with the international law. No one objects to that, but no one has spoken on how exactly they are planning to achieve peace. All I know is that this matter is only at the stage of consideration,” Lavrov said at a news conference to sum up the results of his participation in the High-Level Week of the 79th UN General Assembly. China and Brazil have not yet drafted their plan on resolving the crisis in Ukraine, they only made declarations of intention, Lavrov added.

“I saw no action plan in the document. I only saw a declaration of intention,” he said. Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced at a meeting with Celso Amorim, chief advisor to the Brazilian president, that China, Brazil and other countries of the Global South were creating a platform to facilitate a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky criticized the plan, calling it “destructive.” The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, replied that Zelensky was not in a position to criticize it, because it the West who is making all decisions for Kiev.

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He has Elon Musk in his corner now.

• Trump Threatens To Prosecute Google (RT)

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has vowed to take Google to court if he is reelected this November, accusing the tech giant of deliberately showing negative stories about him and favoring his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris. In a post on Truth Social, Trump expressed hope that the Department of Justice will criminally prosecute Alphabet’s Google for the “blatant Interference of elections,” adding that he will “request their prosecution” if he is reelected. “It has been determined that Google has illegally used a system of only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J Trump, some made up for this purpose while, at the same time, only revealing good stories about Comrade Kamala Harris,” the former president said in the post.

Earlier this month, the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog, released a study suggesting that Google has featured Harris’ campaign website in a more favorable location in its search results than the Trump campaign’s official site. The tech giant dismissed the findings, saying it does not manipulate search results to benefit a particular party. A Google spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time: “Both campaign websites consistently appear at the top of Search for relevant and common search queries.” Trump previously attacked the tech company, claiming that it prioritizes “fake news” in its search results, which are “rigged” against him and other conservatives. Google denied the allegations.

In July, US tech billionaire Elon Musk accused the company of being biased against the Republican candidate. He shared a screenshot of a page in which the query ‘President Donald’ was typed into the search bar. The capture demonstrated how Google’s autocomplete feature, which provides suggestions based on the words typed, did not offer ‘President Donald Trump’, but instead showed ‘President Donald Duck’ and ‘President Donald Reagan’. At the time, a Google representative told NBC News that the autocomplete feature was experiencing issues that day, adding that the company was “looking into these anomalies and working on improvements.”

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No doubt.

• Joe Rogan Warns Censorship Will Get Much Worse if Kamala Harris Wins (MN)

Joe Rogan has warned that if Kamala Harris gets into office the First Amendment will be at risk and online censorship will only get much worse. Rogan pointed out that X and Rumble were the only remaining major platforms where true free speech was somewhat protected. Asked by his guest, former Navy Seal Shawn Ryan, whether he’d faced any significant censorship on audio only streams, Rogan said that he hadn’t, despite Spotify removing 70 of his shows in 2022. “Audio is like, they’re leaving that alone for now, I think it’s probably because it’s not as easily shared,” said Rogan, prompting Ryan to predict, “That’s what’s coming next.” “I don’t think it turns around if Kamala Harris gets into office, I think they clamp down more, I think the same stuff they tried to do with Twitter they’ll try to do with other things, they’ve already openly discussed it,” said Rogan.

In 2019, Kamala Harris demanded that Twitter shut down Donald Trump’s account, two years before the president was suspended following the January 6 riot. “We’re talking about a private corporation, Twitter, that has terms of use, and as far as I’m concerned and I think most people would say, including members of Congress who he has threatened, that he has lost his privileges and it should be taken down,” Harris told Jake Tapper at the time. Rogan also made reference to Harris’ running mate Tim Walz asserting that certain kinds of speech are not protected under the First Amendment. Back in August, Walz claimed that there was, “No guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.”

“Tim Walz said that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to misinformation or hate speech, okay, well, it certainly does,” responded Rogan. The podcast host said the entire point of the First Amendment was to allow unrestricted speech and then allow it to be corrected by someone else if it’s wrong. Commenting on so-called “misinformation,” Rogan pointed out that, “So much of it turns out to be true, how about masks don’t work? You would get screamed at for ‘masks don’t work’ – well guess what? They don’t fucking work. They don’t work.” Rogan highlighted how Dr. Anthony Fauci gave an interview at the start of the COVID pandemic telling Americans that masks were useless. “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask,” Fauci said in remarks made on March 8, 2020.

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“How dumb can they be? How dumb do they think we are?”

• Trump’s Authentic Anger Versus Kamala’s Phony Joy (Noel S. Williams)

Harris’s handlers try to portray her as joyful, and Trump as angry. How dumb can they be? How dumb do they think we are? Harris’s supposed joy is sickeningly fake, but Trump’s anger is righteous. Emotions of anger are often viewed negatively; in fact, change agents often experience anger, and they are also optimistic. Those traits are not mutually exclusive, but often mutually dependent. Indeed, angry people are often more optimistic. Trump is well known for his negotiating strategies; his book The Art of the Deal is a bestseller — multiple times. Well, it turns out that anger can also be a shrewd negotiating strategy. As this research indicates, “Viewing angry negotiators as formidable opponents, we respond to their demands by making concessions.” In addition to being more optimistic and stimulating formidable negotiating tactics, anger is, when channeled constructively, a motivating force.

So if Trump is angry, according to Harris, then bring it on! Optimism, strength in negotiations, and motivation are what America needs right now. What we don’t need is another village idiot in the White House. They can be mistaken as “joyful,” but that’s just a case of ignorance being bliss. How dumb do they think we are? Our Founders were angry at times. They were also motivated and optimistic, though Benjamin Franklin intimated some concern about the fragility of republics. In reply to a question about what the constitutional delegates had crafted, he said: “A republic, if you can keep it.” Keeping a representative republic sometimes requires anger, and its accompanying traits, rather than wanton, incongruous joy.

Given the anti-American policies and anti-republic demagoguery the disdainful Dems have wrought, we need some authentic anger to restore American exceptionalism. We need some grit and passion to assert our rightful place as the last great hope of Earth. We need an “angry” negotiator like Trump to keep our republic, and that’s an optimistic and motivational point of view. The current village idiot in the White House is angry, but without the positive synergetic traits; for the sake of our republic, we don’t want to replace him with a “joyful” village idiot. To play on the clarion call from the great Patrick Henry: Give me liberty, or give me joy. The latter could be the death knell of our great republic. Harris’s fake joy is a euphemism for blissful ignorance. She can’t stand alone, so the Dem and MSM apparatus are propping her up, but we are not as dumb as their joyless village idiot. How dumb can they be?

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Got to be a joke..

• US Offers $20 Million for Info on Iranian Accused of Plot to Kill Bolton (ET)

The U.S. State Department announced on Thursday a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to the arrest of an Iranian man charged with plotting to assassinate John Bolton, a former national security adviser to President Donald Trump. Shahram Poursafi, 45, from Tehran, is believed to be working on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)—a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization—to arrange a murder-for-hire scheme against Bolton, according to a State Department statement. A criminal complaint by the Justice Department in August 2022 said the alleged plot was likely in retaliation for the death of IRGC-QF commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in January 2020. Poursafi allegedly tried to hire “criminal elements” within the United States to kill Bolton in Washington or Maryland between October 2021 to April 2022 in exchange for $300,000, the department stated.

He allegedly provided material support and resources to facilitate the attempted murder and told the potential assassin that there would be a “second assassination job” for him after Bolton’s murder was completed. The potential assassin later became a confidential source for U.S. investigators, the department said. Poursafi allegedly asked a U.S. resident identified only as “Individual A” to take photographs of Bolton, claiming that the photos were needed for a book he was writing, according to the criminal complaint. The U.S. resident then introduced Poursafi to a covert government informant who could take the photographs for a price. Investigators said Poursafi contacted the informant on an encrypted messaging application in November 2021 and offered the person $250,000 to hire someone to “eliminate” Bolton, an amount that would later be negotiated up to $300,000.

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Kucinich means peace.

• Militarism vs Statecraft, Empire vs Democracy, Debt vs Prosperity (Kucinich)

As of May 2024, the United States has committed over $175 (borrowed) billion to escalating the proxy war against Russia, and, as in the case of the Iraq and Afghan wars, with little regard for accountability pertaining to tracking military hardware, equipment, funding, or fraud prevention. One of the most grotesque moments in this bloody global Punch and Judy show preliminary to nuclear war, was the recent arrival of Vladimir Zelenskyy, former president of Ukraine, making a campaign stop at an ammunition factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where some of the three million 155mm artillery shells the US has given Ukraine are produced. Alongside Zelenskyy, in an incitement-op photo promising further escalation of war, the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania autographed one of the high-velocity artillery shells which will be aimed at Russia.

Pennsylvania, which is home to the City of Brotherly Love, was unwitting re-Christened by its top official, with a cursive flair, as the state of brotherly hate. The fervor of warmongering, fueled by machismo and high bravado illustrates the failure of leadership and a fatal ignorance of the diplomatic process. We should be exercising the science of human relations, not propelling a hubristic and ego-driven brinkmanship which accelerates the dialectic of war. For decades I have led opposition to war and advocated for the transformation of America’s prevailing policy of “Peace through Strength” to a forward-looking policy of “Strength through Peace.”

I challenged the Bush II Administration’s foreign policies, and introduced Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney over Iraq and the lies which led us into war. Illegal and unnecessary, the Iraq war (debt-funded and authorized by both Democrats and Republicans) has cost our nation over $3 trillion, and the loss of 5,000 of our brave men and women who serve and injuries to countless more troops. The war caused the deaths of over one million Iraqis. Let that sink in. One million Iraqis perished in a war based on lies. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. The war further damaged America’s global reputation and set us upon a path where, since 9/11, America has borrowed $8 trillion to keep the war machine in tune as our own nation’s pressing domestic needs for housing, health care, education, child care, and retirement security have been set aside.

When I heard Vice President Harris brag about former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsing her candidacy, that put the exclamation point on the fact that the leaders of the Democratic party are for war. I am not. Why else would Vice President Harris become the front person for such virulent bravado, invoking lethality abroad? A paradox of this campaign is that the much-villainized former President Trump, (representing a party that has also taken us into unnecessary wars) is the one who speaks to the need to negotiate and to talk directly with potential foes in order to avoid war, or to end it.

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“..the US “is the main enemy of the dollar” ..

• Dollar A ‘Dangerous Currency’ – Former IMF Director (RT)

The US dollar has become a dangerous currency, a former Brazilian representative at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr., told RT in an interview at the outlet’s studio on Friday. The economist highlighted that trust in the greenback as the global reserve currency has been steadily declining as more and more nations seek alternatives in what has become a major de-dollarization push. “The dollar is a dangerous currency, let’s put it this way, see what happened to the Russian reserves,” Batista said, referring to the fact that some $300 billion worth of Moscow’s sovereign assets held in Western jurisdictions were frozen. The former IMF executive director emphasized that the US “is the main enemy of the dollar” as it has been increasingly weaponizing its national currency, thus forcing an increasing number of nations to “seek alternatives to the Western financial system.”

Batista admitted that the greenback will remain “a very important currency,” but stressed that the use of the dollar as a weapon against countries seen as hostile to the West inevitably reduces confidence in it. Speaking about the methods of coercion employed against “nations that are seen as hostile to the West and their interest,” Batista highlighted the role of the IMF, which, he believes does not function as a multilateral institution but rather as “as a political instrument largely of the West and the US.” He pointed out that “Ukraine had received immense amounts of loans with no financial program and no solid economic program.” Meanwhile, nations whose policies are not in line with the West do not get access to the fund, citing Serbia as an example.

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“X’s legal team in Brazil declined to comment on Moraes’ latest move. Musk has also kept unusually quiet on the news so far.”

• Musk To Pay Another Fine To Restore X In Brazil (RT)

Elon Musk has been ordered to pay another fine if he wants Brazil to lift a nationwide ban it placed on his X platform in August, local media reports, citing a Supreme Court filing out on Friday. The fine was ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes after X briefly became accessible in the country despite the previous ban, allegedly through Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink. The dispute between Musk and the Brazilian authorities dates back to April when Moraes ordered X to delete several accounts that were claimed to have been spreading disinformation. Musk refused, saying the move would violate Brazilian law. On August 30, Moraes placed a nationwide ban on X.

He also imposed a fine on the platform for failing to appoint a new legal representative in Brazil, and ordered the freezing of the accounts of X and Starlink, a subsidiary of Musk’s SpaceX in the country, to ensure its payment. The court unblocked both accounts in mid-September, but withdrew 18.35 million Brazilian reais (around $3.3 million) from them in order to enforce the fine. Musk initially refused to comply with Moraes’ demands, calling him “an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge.” However, earlier this week, X’s legal team said the platform has fixed the issues noted by the court, including appointing attorney Rachel de Oliveira as its new legal representative. It requested the ban on the platform be lifted.

The court said on Friday that it received a report from Brazil’s telecommunications watchdog (Anatel) claiming that X became accessible for two full days the previous week despite the suspension. Moraes accused Musk of “deliberately and illegally” trying to “circumvent” the ban, and ordered him to pay an additional 10.3 million reais ($1.9 million) if he wants to restore the platform in Brazil. Oliveira was also ordered to pay a fine of 300,000 reais ($55,200). “The immediate return of X depends solely on the full compliance with Brazilian legislation and the absolute observance of the court orders in respect of national sovereignty,” Moraes said in the court order. X’s legal team in Brazil declined to comment on Moraes’ latest move. Musk has also kept unusually quiet on the news so far.

Read more …

“The Hill, Politico, Frontline News, Scripps News, the Guardian, KFF Health News, News Nation, Newsweek, AOL.com, Yahoo News, and Daily Kos, in addition to…”

“As of September 15, 2024, the above and other articles still show up very prominently (on the first page) of a Google search for “hydroxychloroquine deaths”…which never happened.”

• Those Published “17,000 Hydroxychloroquine Deaths” Never Happened (Gortler)

The CDC describes HCQ as “a relatively well tolerated medicine” and that “HCQ can be prescribed to adults and children of all ages. It can also be safely taken by pregnant women and nursing mothers” referring to its long-term use in chronic diseases. Basic logic dictates that, if a drug is safe for long-term use, it would also be safe for short-term use, including (and especially) in Covid-19 early treatment/pre-exposure prophylaxis type indications. These are pharmacology fundamentals that ought to be known by any pharmacist or physician – let alone to a professor serving as a Journal Editor-in-Chief at a taxpayer-funded state College of Pharmacy. Did not even one person on her editorial board of over 50 “peer-reviewers” and staff ponder the celebrated and storied history of HCQ (and its predecessors) and how incongruent this study’s findings were before choosing to publish data denigrating HCQ safety?

The correct answer to that might actually be: “no”… The publishing editorial board all seem to be laboratory bench (non-clinical) research scientists, per their biographies. Although the board does promote itself as meeting DEI requirements of being “gender diverse,” a more important question might be is if they have the appropriate credentials and experience to review and opine on clinically complex drug safety/epidemiology subject matters in the first place. Is just anyone now allowed to opine on specialty clinical pharmacology drug safety matters? In certain journals/news publications, the answer to that question seems to be: “yes”… Another point of confusion surrounded the interpretation and promotion of this little-known publication by the lay press.

To be exact: there were never “17,000 deaths;” it was always a hypothetical extrapolation of people that could have died, based on “unreliable” (eg, actually, fraudulent) databases on top of the previously mentioned, problematic late-stage RECOVERY-trial-type dosing and timing. Still, Josh Cohen, a Forbes.com PhD senior healthcare columnist, used this publication to headline an absurdly biased op-ed against HCQ, stating that Trump’s HCQ proposal was “Linked To 17,000 Deaths.” Forbes’ Tufts, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania- trained “healthcare analyst” misrepresented or appeared to not understand the now-retracted study methodology or projections.

It went downhill from there. Mere hours following the publication, very similar, now objectively inaccurate, highly politicized, and seemingly coordinated attacks on HCQ and Trump were published by: The Hill, Politico, Frontline News, Scripps News, the Guardian, KFF Health News, News Nation, Newsweek, AOL.com, Yahoo News, and Daily Kos, in addition to a multitude of prominent regional, international, and US federal news outlets, many falsely estimating that 17,000 deaths had already taken place and that the (imaginary) victims’ blood was already on Donald Trump’s hands. As of September 15, 2024, the above and other articles still show up very prominently (on the first page) of a Google search for “hydroxychloroquine deaths”…which never happened.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

G Zen
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839805234568155612

 

 

MJ
https://twitter.com/i/status/1839814961951904216

 

 

Maloney

 

 

Jackdaw

 

 

Chicken

 

 

Awoo
https://twitter.com/i/status/1840054649677557946

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle September 24 2024

Sep 242024
 
 September 24, 2024  Posted by at 8:33 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  61 Responses »


René Magritte Where Euclid walked 1955

 

• The Madness of Antony Blinken (Lauria)
• Wheezing Past the Graveyard (Kunstler)
• “Have The Doors To A War Without Limits Been Opened?” (Alastair Crooke)
• DoJ Releases Trump Assassin’s $150,000 Reward To “Complete The Job” Letter (ZH)
• The Supreme Crisis of Chief Justice John Roberts (Turley)
• Musk’s X Caves In To Brazil (RT)
• Dear Readers, Tyranny Is Upon Us (Paul Craig Roberts)
• West Has Halved Financial Aid To Ukraine (RT)
• Ukraine Conflict Could Persist Beyond 2026 – UK FM (RT)
• Zelensky Has Chosen Escalation – Moscow (RT)
• Zelensky Aiming To ‘Trump-proof’ Aid – The Times (RT)
• New Car Registration Levels Crashing In EU (RT)
• Macron Calls For New World Order (RT)
• Erdogan Weighs In On Failure Of Türkiye-mediated Ukraine Talks (RT)
• Will a BRICS Bretton Woods Take Place in Kazan? (Pepe Escobar)

 

 

 

 

Bret

 

 

RFK MAHA


https://twitter.com/i/status/1837904332827906457

 

 

JDVance

 

 

Vivek will be a force

 

 

Pelosi
https://twitter.com/i/status/1838099477221015938

 

 

Gaetz

 

 

Taxes
https://twitter.com/i/status/1838218305498149181

 

 

 

 

“Blinken and the British are trying to lead us to the brink.”

• The Madness of Antony Blinken (Lauria)

On March 7, 2022, two weeks after Moscow entered the civil war in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News from Moldova that the U.S. would give NATO-member Poland a “green light” to send Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine to enforce a no-fly zone against Russian aircraft. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer then also backed the no-fly zone. But within days the Pentagon shot down the idea as it engaged in a consequential battle with the State Department and members of Congress to prevent a direct NATO military confrontation with Russia that could unleash history’s most unimaginable horrors. A no-fly zone “could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO,” according to then Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. President Joe Biden was caught in the middle of the fray. Pressure on the White House from some members of Congress and the press corps was unrelenting to recklessly bring NATO directly into the war.

Biden ultimately sided with the Defense Department, and he couldn’t be more explicit why. He opposed a NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine fighting Russian aircraft, he said, because “that’s called World War III, okay? Let’s get it straight here, guys. We will not fight the third world war in Ukraine.” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin backed him up: “President Biden’s been clear that U.S. troops won’t fight Russia in Ukraine, and if you establish a no-fly zone, certainly in order to enforce that no-fly zone, you’ll have to engage Russian aircraft. And again, that would put us at war with Russia.” (The administration plan was, and apparently still is, to bring down the Russian government through a proxy counteroffensive and an economic and information war, not a direct military one.) Blinken, who stepped out of line to speak above the heads of the president and the Pentagon, lost that round. It’s surprising he kept his job. But he survived and now he’s come back for more.

Blinken’s recklessness emerged yet again last week when he peddled a story — eagerly picked up by The Guardian and The New York Times — that Biden would approve a British request to fire its Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russia. The Guardian story on Sept. 11 said: “The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, gave his strongest hint yet that the White House is about to lift its restrictions on Ukraine using long-range weapons supplied by the west on key military targets inside Russia, with a decision understood to have already been made in private. Speaking in Kyiv alongside the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, Blinken said the US had ‘from day one’ been willing to adapt its policy as the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine changed. ‘We will continue to do this,’ he emphasised.” To fire British Storm Shadows, Ukraine would have to depend on British technical soldiers on the ground in Ukraine to actually launch them and on U.S. geolocation technology.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz revealed those British soldiers are already in Ukraine. In other words, it would be a NATO attack on Russia, dressed up as a Ukrainian one. It would mean the U.S. and Britain were at war with Moscow, something Blinken seems to want and said was going to happen. The next day Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that launching such missiles into Russia “will mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us.” Nevertheless, The New York Times ran a story on the same day with the headline: “Biden Poised to Approve Ukraine’s Use of Long-Range Western Weapons in Russia.”

The Guardian added: “British government sources indicated that a decision had already been made to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles on targets inside Russia, although it is not expected to be publicly announced on Friday when Starmer meets Biden in Washington DC.” Blinken’s words evidently raised British Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s hopes that he would satisfy his desire to strike Russia with his nation’s arsenal of long-range missiles, despite Putin saying that meant direct war with NATO. Blinken and the British are trying to lead us to the brink.

Read more …

“Ukraine was not a problem for anyone until we made it a problem on-purpose.. [..] Ukraine could, in theory, revert to not being a problem for anyone again. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

• Wheezing Past the Graveyard (Kunstler)

What could go wrong? Probably more than you might imagine. We have just turned the corner into autumn. Now, things get serious, even gravely dark. America has never been so into dancing skeletons and morbidity. The small-town yards are filling up with inflatable signifiers of hell and death. Don’t you wonder what all this signifies besides good old family fun? The zeitgeist maybe having a little sport with us, you think? We are chiefly preoccupied with our badly dysfunctional self-governance, of course, and the method for periodically revising it, which we call an election. Nobody has confidence in the process, which has acquired so many layers of absurd, needless complexity for the sole purpose of perverting the outcome that every lawyer in the land will have a hefty guaranteed annual income in the probably futile effort to sort it out come November 6. There is your hell-scape, with overtones of death on a pale horse. . . and all. Chaos. . . riots. . . anarchy. . . civil war.

The threat of World War Three may have abated for the moment, but in a peculiar and disconcerting way, viz. a coup in the executive branch. The gadfly Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, long ago chief-of-staff to Sec’y of State Colin Powell, reports that the Pentagon has cancelled “Joe Biden,” that is, taken him out of the decision-loop for anything. Well, you ask yourself, how is it possible he had even remained remotely close to any decision-loop this long, in any case, given the problem of his obviously broken brain? But now, it is unofficially official: just eat your mint-chocolate ice-cream and shut up, and let Dr. Jill run those “cabinet meeting” photo ops.According to Col. Wilkerson, Sec’y of Defense Lloyd Austin told the “president” to his face that there will be no flinging of US-supplied long-range missiles from Ukraine “deep into Russia,” as the neocon-infested White House been chattering about endlessly.

Wiser heads deep in the DOD HQ have decided the matter. Lump it, if you must, Tony Blinken and Jake Sullivan. The Russians’ “red-line” on such a caper is so wide you can see it from the International Space Station — that is, if you’re an astronaut marooned up there due to combined NASA/Boeing incompetence. . . but that’s another story. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was all revved up for the missile operation and flew to Washington for a one-to-one meet-up with “JB” to get the go-ahead. The Brits are avid for another World War. The last two went so well for them that they kissed their vast empire goodbye. Now they want to kiss goodbye their sceptered isle itself, which has almost no economy left and is overrun by cultural hostiles who are not into Shakespeare.

The Brits’ floundering government is a posse of monomaniacs fixated on defeating Russia which, at this point in history, is like a dormouse (Glis glis) facing down a brown bear (Ursus arctos). “Joe Biden,” reportedly “furious” at losing his executive power, was constrained to tell Mr. Starmer that the missile strike op was off, which left the UK PM miffed that he had crossed the ocean for no reason. Who knows, the Brits are so nuts these days that perhaps they’ll try to pull it off on their own. Mr. Zelensky, the no-longer-elected leader of Ukraine was begging them to try it because Ukraine has nothing left. NATO as a whole really has nothing left, either. Not much of a combined military, scant munitions left in the cupboard, and no will to wage war among the depressed citizens of its member nations.

There is nothing left except to come to terms on a settlement that will leave Ukraine not a member of NATO. The entire affair has been a humiliation for NATO and America, especially for the “Joe Biden” management team (whatever it actually consists of these days). The longer they refuse to engage in talks, the less of Ukraine will be left as a sovereign entity — having proven to the world that its sovereignty rests solely on its capacity to be used as a catspaw by the American neocon / intel blob. You’re reminded that for seventy years prior to 2014, Ukraine was not a problem for anyone until we made it a problem on-purpose — our purpose being idiotic and malicious — and Ukraine could, in theory, revert to not being a problem for anyone again. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Read more …

“It is probable that we shall see more such hypersonic missiles flying – immune to air defences – should this war escalate, and Iran intervene..”

• “Have The Doors To A War Without Limits Been Opened?” (Alastair Crooke)

For the last year, both Israel and Hizbullah have avoided major escalation by observing unwritten rules of engagement or ‘equations’ between the parties, such as not targeting civilians. That is now over. In his first speech since the devices blew up on Tuesday and Wednesday, Sayed Nasrallah, the Hizbullah leader, conceded that his group had “endured a severe and cruel blow”. He accused Israel of breaking “all conventions and laws” and said that it would “face just retribution and a bitter reckoning”. But he did not describe how Hezbollah might retaliate; “nor did he discuss the time, nor manner, nor place” of it ocurring. Nasrallah warned: “The enemy declares as its official goal to return the settlers to the North. We accept the challenge: You will not be able to return to the North. In fact, we will displace more Israelis from their homes. We hope Israel enters Lebanon, we are waiting for their tanks day and night: We say, ‘welcome!’”.

There is some point to this remark. From the outset, Hizbullah was configured militarily more for all-out war with Israel, than the limited tit-for-tat, calibrated war – which never played best to Hizbullah’s strengths. Clearly, a new phase of war has begun, and to underline this point, Israel began one of its heaviest strikes on Israel after Nasrallah’s speech on Thursday night. U.S. Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin reportedly informed leaders of Congress that evening about his fear of an imminent Israeli offensive into Lebanon. Nasrallah’s assessment of coming war is fully shared by at least some senior Israeli military commanders, albeit by no means all. Several profess the belief that war with Hizbullah could extend into a regional war – and lead to the collapse of Israel. However … “You don’t do something like that, hit thousands of people, and think war is not coming”, said retired Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, who leads the Israel Defence and Security Forum, a group of hawkish former military commanders.

“Why didn’t we do it for 11 months? Because we were not willing to go to war yet. What’s happening now? Israel is ready for war”. “There’s a lot of pressure from the society to go to war and win”, said Avivi, the retired general. “Unless Hezbollah tomorrow morning says, ‘OK, we got the message. We’re pulling out of south Lebanon’ – war is imminent”. A poll in late August by the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank, found that 67% of Jewish respondents thought Israel should intensify its response to Hizbullah. That includes 46% who believed that Israel should launch a deep offensive striking Lebanese infrastructure, and 21% who seek an intensified response that only strikes on Hezbollah’s infrastructure. General Avivi’s remarks likely reflect an underlying reality that had become only too clear: Amos Hochstein, the U.S. Envoy, has failed to achieve any ‘diplomatic’ progress towards a Hizbullah withdrawal from the south of Lebanon.

In parallel, U.S. officials, (according to the WSJ) now concede that a Gaza ceasefire is ‘out of reach’ for Biden; and that, equally, Israel’s military attrition on southern Lebanon that had resulted in the displacement of 80% of its inhabitants had achieved nothing. Israel’s northern residents also remain displaced. It seems, therefore, that Israel is set on a path to wider conflict. A taster has already been given: On 17 September, the Houthis fired a missile at a target close to Ben Gurion airport. The missile covered 1,300 miles in less than 12 min, which is to say, it flew at hypersonic speed, approaching Mach 9 – untouchable by air defences – and struck its target. It is probable that we shall see more such hypersonic missiles flying – immune to air defences – should this war escalate, and Iran intervene. What is paradoxical (as so often in conflict) is that the exploding pager operation seemingly was entirely fortuitous in terms of the timing. It was not planned specifically to move Israel to a new phase in the Lebanese conflict:

“High-level regional intelligence sources told Al-Monitor that the decision to carry out the operation was “forced” on Israel following an intelligence lapse … The Israeli military’s original plan was to explode the devices in the event of a full-blown war with Hezbollah in order to gain a strategic edge – but not to detonate them on Tuesday”, the sources added. “However suspicions from at least two Hezbollah members caused the Israeli security establishment to agree to a premature execution of the plan. After a Hezbollah member in Lebanon suspected foul play with the pagers several days ago – that person was killed, the sources said … [and the plan was] ultimately executed. The subsequent decision to trigger the radios to explode was said to be driven by the expectation that after the pager detonations the radios would fall under suspicion”.

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He smells too much like an intel asset. Doesn’t have a penny but moves to Hawaii. Yet, spends his time in Ukraine. Then offers $150,000 for a murder.

• DoJ Releases Trump Assassin’s $150,000 Reward To “Complete The Job” Letter (ZH)

Former President Trump’s would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh wrote a chilling letter admitting he failed in trying to take the life of the former president, and offering a reward for anyone who can finish the job… The note was addressed to the “World” and reads: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job,” according to court papers. Routh dropped off a box at a person’s home that included the letter, the court documents state. As Jack Phillips reports at The Epoch Times, law enforcement officials were contacted on Sept. 18, or three days after he was arrested, by a person who said that Routh dropped off the box at his location in the months prior to the incident. The witness opened the box after learning of Routh’s arrest, finding ammunition, phones, and various letters.

Prosecutors said the note and other evidence found at the scene show a need for Routh to be detained while the government builds its case against him. A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday morning at a federal court in Florida. “Because the facts are offered for the limited purpose of supporting the United States’s request for pretrial detention, the facts in this written proffer do not set forth all of the information and evidence known to the United States in this ongoing investigation,” the court documents state. Prosecutors found “a notebook with dozens of pages filled with names and phone numbers pertaining to Ukraine, discussions about how to join combat on behalf of Ukraine.” “He [the former President] ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled,” Routh wrote in one of the documents, according to the court papers. “Everyone across the globe from the youngest to the oldest knows that Trump is unfit to be anything, much less U.S. president. U.S. presidents must at the bare miminum embody the moral fabric that is America and be kind, caring and selfless and always stand for humanity.”

Cellphone records from two of the recovered phones show that Routh traveled from Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, 2024, prosecutors wrote. Further, on “multiple days and times from Aug. 18, 2024, to Sept. 15, 2024, Routh’s cellphone accessed cell towers located near Trump International and the former president’s residence at Mar-a-Lago,” the filing said. A cellphone that was recovered by authorities showed a Google search of how to travel from Palm Beach County, Florida, to Mexico. Federal officials also found a list with dates in August, September, and October as well as venues where the former president had appeared and was scheduled to appear, prosecutors say. During his first court appearance last week, Routh declared that he had no assets and only owned two trucks worth $1,000. In a 2023 book that apparently written by him, Routh also wrote that he had no bank account and no retirement savings.

Posts made by Routh on X and other social media sites show that he was an avid supporter of Ukraine in the ongoing Russia–Ukraine conflict, even posting images and videos of himself in Kyiv and other areas in Ukraine since the war started. He also made critical comments about the former president, including several in July that referenced the first assassination attempt. Routh faces federal firearms charges in connection to the Sept. 15 incident. Prosecutors say that Routh, 58, camped out near Trump’s Florida golf course for 12 hours before his gun barrel was spotted by a Secret Service agent, who then fired at the suspect before he fled the scene. Authorities also discovered an SKS-style rifle with 11 rounds, including one round in the chamber, according to the court papers. Officials previously said that the suspect did not fire any shots and had no direct line of sight to Trump, who was golfing at the time of the incident. The former president also was not harmed.

In July, Trump survived his first assassination attempt and was shot in the ear by a gunman who fired at a rally while he was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania, prompting questions about the Secret Service’s ability to protect him. The FBI said that when its agents attempted to interview Routh after he was detained on Sept. 15, he invoked his right to an attorney. Routh has not entered a plea. Finally, Matt Walsh brings up a crucial point about the release of this letter: “They didn’t release the Covenant shooter manifesto because they were allegedly afraid it would inspire more shootings. And yet within a week they release a letter from Trump’s would-be assassin where he openly encourages more shootings and offers to pay for them.” Routh is set to appear in federal court on Monday for a detention hearing after the attempted assassination on September 15 at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Better keep an eye out for ‘Jack Ruby’-esque followers…

Routh

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“..calling for them to be more aggressive against the conservative justices and even calling for Congress to cut off their air conditioning to make them retire.”

• The Supreme Crisis of Chief Justice John Roberts (Turley)

Chief Justice John Roberts has always been “a man more sinned against than sinning.” That line from Shakespeare’s “King Lear” seems increasingly apt for the head of our highest court. Roberts was installed almost exactly 20 years ago and soon found himself grappling with a series of controversies that have rocked the court as an institution. He is now faced with another monumental scandal, after the New York Times published leaked confidential information that could only have come from one of the nine members of the court. By most accounts, Roberts is popular with his colleagues and someone with an unquestioning institutional knowledge and loyalty. He is, in many respects, the ideal chief justice: engaging, empathetic, and unfailingly respectful of the court’s justices and staff. Roberts has been chief justice during some of the court’s most contentious times. Major decisions like overturning Roe v. Wade (which Roberts sought to avoid) have galvanized many against the court.

According to recent polling, fewer than half of Americans (47 percent) hold a favorable opinion of the court (51 percent have an unfavorable view). Of course, that level of support should inspire envy in the court’s critics in Congress (18 percent approval) and the media (which only 32 percent trust). Some, however, want to express their dissatisfaction more directly and even permanently. This week, Alaskan Panos Anastasiou, 76, was indicted with 22 federal charges for threatening to torture and kill the six conservative justices. Another man, Nicolas Roske, 28, will go on trial next June for attempting to assassinate Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. In the meantime, law professors have rallied the mob, calling for them to be more aggressive against the conservative justices and even calling for Congress to cut off their air conditioning to make them retire.

Politicians have also fueled the rage against the court. On one infamous occasion, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared in front of the Supreme Court, “I want to tell you, [Neil] Gorsuch, I want to tell you, [Brett] Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.” Yet, it is what has occurred inside the court that should be most troubling for Roberts. On May 2, 2022, someone inside the court leaked to Politico a copy of the draft of the opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v. Wade. It was one of the greatest breaches of ethics in the court’s history. The subsequent investigation failed to produce any charges for the culprit or culprits. Now, the New York Times has published highly detailed accounts of the internal deliberations of the court. The account seemed largely directed at the conservative justices and Roberts.

Read more …

They appointed a legal representative. “Musk claimed that de Moraes threatened to arrest the company’s legal representative if X did not adhere to court orders…”

• Musk’s X Caves In To Brazil (RT)

Social media platform X says it is moving to comply with demands issued by Brazil’s Supreme Court in hopes of reversing a nationwide ban ordered by Justice Alexandre de Moraes last month. For nearly three weeks, X has been inaccessible to Brazilian users. Using a VPN to access the site carries the threat of a fine of almost $9,000. That’s after de Moraes, the country’s top judge, banned the platform for failing to censor accounts that “spread disinformation.” The platform’s owner Elon Musk, a vocal advocate of free speech, has until now refused to back down, describing de Moraes’ orders as an attempt to censor voices on his platform and calling the justice “an evil dictator cosplaying as a judge.” However, on Friday, X’s legal representatives announced that the platform has taken steps to comply with the Brazilian court’s demands to help resolve the impasse and get the ban on the site lifted.

These steps include paying the fines X owes, blocking the accounts that de Moraes had previously accused of propagating misinformation and of undermining Brazilian democracy, and naming a legal representative in the country. Under Brazilian law, in order to operate in the country, foreign companies are required to have a representative who would assume all the legal responsibilities of the firm locally. X had such a representative until mid-August when it decided to close its offices and fire all its staff in the country. That was after Musk claimed that de Moraes threatened to arrest the company’s legal representative if X did not adhere to court orders.

On Saturday, Brazil’s Supreme Court confirmed X’s moves and gave the company five days to file all the necessary paperwork validating its new legal representative. It also reiterated its orders to block the accounts that had previously been indicated in a probe into hate speech and misinformation, and to pay fines totalling over $3 million. It’s unclear which particular accounts have been targeted, as the probe is confidential. The dispute between Musk and Brazilian authorities began in April when de Moraes ordered X to delete the accounts of several supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, calling them “digital militants” who spread “disinformation” about himself and the court. Musk refused, saying this would violate Brazilian laws.

Read more …

“If you don’t support those who are opposing tyranny, tyranny is what you will have..”

• Dear Readers, Tyranny Is Upon Us (Paul Craig Roberts)

Dear Readers, Truth is being dispelled from the Western World. Truth diminishes by the day. It is not only happening in America but also throughout America’s empire. In Great Britain it has become a criminal offense to protest Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians. In Germany it is a criminal offense to challenge Zionist history of the Second World War. In France if you are the owner of a social media site that permits free speech, you are detained, subject to investigation, and possibly indicted. In the United States if you challenge an official narrative you can be declared a domestic terrorist and have your passport and personal possessions confiscated. Of course, extremely few Americans do challenge official narratives. Americans learn to live a safe life by accepting whatever the authorities say. Don’t rock the boat and get in trouble. Do as your peers do. This well ingrained attitude is a recipe for tyranny, into which America is falling.

When you can’t tell the truth without bringing trouble upon yourself, there must be a reason: truth is dangerous to the authorities, so truth is demonized as disinformation, false news, Russian disinformation, espionage, offensive, racist, domestic terrorism. Little wonder that truth is disappearing from the Western World. It is certainly not welcome. The risk of saying it is growing. No university will support the truth. No foundation will support the truth. No official media will support the truth. No bar association, no medical association, no political party will support truth. Fewer and fewer courts will support the truth. Truth is on the verge of extinction. It is being replaced by official narratives. These official narratives are bringing you tyranny. If you don’t support those who are opposing tyranny, tyranny is what you will have. Tyranny is much closer than you think.

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” Just over a week ago, the Ukrainian government adopted its draft budget for 2025, indicating a deficit of 75%.”

• West Has Halved Financial Aid To Ukraine (RT)

The flow of Western funds into Ukraine’s state budget has almost halved compared to last year, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti has calculated after reviewing data from Kiev’s Finance Ministry. Between January and June this year, the US and its allies, who have been backing Kiev throughout its conflict with Moscow, financed only 27% of the country’s budget expenditure, compared to 50% in the first half of 2023, the paper said in an article on Monday. In monetary terms, Western financial aid to Kiev decreased from $19.1 billion to $10.6 billion, during that period, Vedomosti noted. According to the article, authorities in Kiev are expected to attract $37 billion in outside loans in 2024 to cover the budget almost entirely, but in the first half of the year they managed to receive only a quarter of that sum.

At the same time, the burden on the Ukrainian budget is increasing, as the cost servicing previously accrued debt has soared from $900,000 to $5.2 billion this year, the paper said. This is more than total expenditure on education, healthcare and supporting the economy combined, it stressed. Analysts who spoke to Vedomosti suggested that postponing payment deadlines and debt restructuring would only allow Kiev to delay a default but not to avoid it. Ukraine is insolvent and will not be able to pay back its foreign loans, they insisted. Just over a week ago, the Ukrainian government adopted its draft budget for 2025, indicating a deficit of 75%.

According to a report in the Sunday Times, continued international financial aid for Kiev is among the key pillars of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s so-called ‘victory plan.’ Zelensky is currently in the US, where he is expected to present his initiative to President Joe Biden, members of Congress, and to both 2024 election presidential contenders – Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. He claims the scheme could allow the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to be concluded the end of this year if Washington and its allies make “quick decisions” on boosting its support for Kiev. Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, has said Moscow is unaware of the contents of Zelensky’s proposals and that it has not been invited to discuss them. “It is hard for us to understand what is on the madman’s mind,” he remarked.

W. 2008

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“This is a critical time for nerve and guts and patience and for fortitude on behalf of allies who stand with Ukraine..”

• Ukraine Conflict Could Persist Beyond 2026 – UK FM (RT)

The fighting between Russia and Ukraine is likely to rage on for at least another two years, the UK foreign secretary has predicted. David Lammy gave a speech at a conference of the governing Labour Party in Liverpool on Sunday, stressing Britain’s commitment to supporting Kiev. He noted that the government has committed to providing Ukraine with £3 billion ($3.99 billion) in military aid annually “for as long as it takes.” On the same day, the foreign secretary attended an event on the sidelines of the conference, warning that the hostilities could persist into “the back end of 2025 into 2026” and beyond. The hardship and challenges arising from the Russia-Ukraine conflict are set to become “deeper and harsher” in the coming years, he said, as quoted by the Guardian. “This is a critical time for nerve and guts and patience and for fortitude on behalf of allies who stand with Ukraine,” Lammy insisted.

The foreign secretary’s remarks apparently referred to the unwillingness of US President Joe Biden’s administration to allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons for long-range strikes into Russia’s internationally recognized territory. Moscow has warned that giving such permission, which Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has been demanding for months, would make NATO countries direct participants in the conflict and be met with an appropriate Russian response. “There is a very real-time discussion across allies about how we can support Ukraine as we head into winter,” the British foreign secretary noted. However, he refused to reveal details, saying that would only “only aid [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”

Lammy’s view on the likely duration of the fighting appears to clash with plans set out by Zelensky – who claimed last week that he had developed a scheme to end the hostilities by the end of this year if the West makes “quick decisions” on increasing its support for Kiev. The Ukrainian leader is now in the US, where he plans to show his so-called ‘victory plan’ to Biden, members of Congress, and both presidential contenders – Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Russia has never set deadlines when it comes to the conflict with Ukraine, and has repeatedly said that its military operation, which started in February 2022, will continue until its goals are achieved. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated on Sunday that “there is no alternative to our [Russian] victory.”

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“It is hard for us to understand what is on the madman’s mind.”

• Zelensky Has Chosen Escalation – Moscow (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky chose the path of escalation when he ordered Kiev’s forces to enter Russia’s Kursk Region, Moscow’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, has said. On Sunday, Zelensky arrived in the US, where he is planning to meet with US President Joe Biden, members of Congress, and both presidential contenders – Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – to present them with his ‘peace plan,’ which he recently renamed a ‘victory plan.’ According to Zelensky, the scheme could end the conflict between Moscow and Kiev by the end of this year if the West makes “quick decisions” on increasing its support for Ukraine. Polyansky told RIA Novosti news agency on Monday that Russian authorities “judge what the others do by their actions, not by their words. This means that he [Zelensky] clearly chose the path of escalation when he invaded Russia’s Kursk Region.”

“I think this was the best reply to everybody who hoped that the Ukrainian leadership was striving for peace,” he stressed. The Ukrainian military entered Kursk Region on August 6, in the largest attack on internationally recognized Russian territory since the outbreak of the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022. The Russian military quickly halted their advance and has reported the recapture of more than a dozen villages in the past few weeks. However, Kiev’s forces remain in control of part of the region, and the fighting continues. According to the latest data from Russia’s Defense Ministry, Ukraine has lost more than 16,000 troops and several hundred units of military equipment, including 126 tanks and 95 armored personnel carriers, since the start of the incursion.

Moscow is unaware of the content of Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’ and has not been invited to discuss it, Polyansky said. “It is hard for us to understand what is on the madman’s mind. We do not know what Zelensky is planning, and there is a lot of hype around him being here [in the US] and about what he will or will not offer,” the diplomat stressed. Speaking about the outcome of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev on Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that “there is no alternative to our [Russian] victory.”

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“..the idea that Ukraine would not achieve a full victory over Russia is “awful” and “unacceptable..”

• Zelensky Aiming To ‘Trump-proof’ Aid – The Times (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky will request NATO-type security guarantees for Kiev and other irreversible commitments when he meets US President Joe Biden this week, The Times reported on Sunday. Zelensky will also seek endorsement for Ukraine’s ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region and access to “specific” advanced Western weapons to be used against Russia, the British newspaper claimed. Each point is reportedly part of what Zelensky has termed a ‘victory plan’ in the conflict with Moscow. His aim is to increase the pressure on Russia to the extent that it is coerced into signing a peace agreement on Ukrainian terms, The Times explained, citing its analysis of public remarks and several anonymous sources. Zelensky has publicly stated that his plan would allow the conflict to end this year, although The Times claims it would take at least two more years to implement.

The key issue for Kiev is preventing Donald Trump from reversing commitments to Ukraine, should he be reelected as US president in November, the newspaper added. The Republican nominee and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, have suggested that their administration would force Kiev to make painful concessions in order to end the hostilities. However, the idea that Ukraine would not achieve a full victory over Russia is “awful” and “unacceptable,” Zelensky told the New Yorker magazine ahead of his trip to the US this week. The Ukrainian leader has promised to brief Trump and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Haris, on his ‘victory plan’. Prior to Kiev’s incursion into Kursk last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered an immediate ceasefire in return for Zelensky renouncing Ukraine’s bid to join NATO and removing all troops from Russian territory.

Officials in Moscow have said they would accept a peace deal along the lines that the two nations agreed in 2022, before Kiev made a U-turn and opted to seek a military victory, reportedly after being prompted by the West. A NATO diplomat told The Times it is “clear that the Ukrainians will not be able to drive the Russians out,” although accepting neutral status and ceding territories “would be a disastrous outcome” that “can definitely not be the basis of the negotiation.” Moscow has said it will not take part in a ‘peace summit’ proposed by Zelensky for later this year, describing it as “fraudulent.”

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Bankrupted themselves over Ukraine.

• New Car Registration Levels Crashing In EU (RT)

The EU market for new cars saw its biggest drop in over two years in August, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA). Registrations of new automobiles fell 18.3% year-on-year across the bloc, with double-digit losses in the region’s three major markets: 27.8% in Germany, 24.3% in France, and 13.4% in Italy, according to the ACEA’s latest data. Spain, the fourth largest car market in the EU, saw a 6.5% decline. Only four EU member states posted slight growth in new car registrations last month, namely Poland, Slovenia, Cyprus, and Malta, according to ACEA data. Most of the new cars delivered across the bloc were petrol-fueled (33.1%), with hybrid-electric vehicles (HEV) close behind at 31.3%.

The share of new battery-electric cars (BEV) in the EU car market fell to 14.4% from 21% recorded in August 2023. Deliveries of BEVs have been declining for four consecutive months this year, contrasting sharply with steady growth throughout 2023, notes ACEA. The association unites Europe’s 15 major car, truck, van and bus makers. The bloc-wide decline followed Brussels’ introduction in July of provisional tariffs on BEVs made in China and imported into the EU. Following an anti-subsidy probe, the European Commission concluded that the BEV value chain in China benefits from “unfair subsidisation,” which is causing “a threat of economic injury” to EU BEV makers.

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Join BRICS.

• Macron Calls For New World Order (RT)

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for reform of the current “unjust” world order so that humans can coexist more peacefully. He outlined his vision on Sunday as part of the international ‘Imagining Peace’ gathering in Paris, which brought together leading political and religious figures. Speaking before the Catholic community of Sant’Egidio, Macron said “We must be imaginative enough to think about the peace of tomorrow, a peace in Europe in a new form.” If the European continent is to become more stable, everyone should acknowledge that it is “neither quite the EU, nor resolutely NATO,” he stated. “We will have to think of a new form of organization for Europe and rethink our relationship with Russia” after the Ukraine conflict is over, the president added. Macron has sent mixed messages regarding the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine as the conflict evolved over the years.

In 2022, he drew criticism from fellow Western officials for urging them not to “humiliate” Russia. In early 2024, he said the West should not rule out the deployment of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil – a proposal that multiple other national leaders have rejected. The speech comes as Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is set to meet US President Joe Biden to present his so-called ‘victory plan’ – a purported roadmap to pressuring Russia into conceding defeat. He wants permission to conduct long-range strikes deep inside Russia with Western weapons as part of the plan. France is among a handful of nations that have donated such military hardware to Ukraine in the form of SCALP/Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which the country produces jointly with the UK.

British officials have supported Kiev’s request to strike Russia, but the ultimate decision is understood to be in Washington’s hands. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that any such attack would be considered an act of war by NATO member states. In his speech, Macron claimed that the global system created in the wake of World War II was “incomplete and unjust,” because many modern nations did not even exist at that time and don’t have a proper place at the table. He said international bodies, such as the UN, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, should be reformed accordingly. Russia is among a number of nations that have declared a goal of reducing the influence of Western-dominated institutions in global affairs with a view to creating a multipolar world order.

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“..certain lobbies did not want these efforts to achieve their goal..”

• Erdogan Weighs In On Failure Of Türkiye-mediated Ukraine Talks (RT)

Talks in Istanbul to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in March 2022 did not achieve their goal because certain interests were opposed to a peace deal, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has revealed. Erdogan addressed those negotiations between Moscow and Kiev on Monday during a press conference at the Turkish House in New York, as he was highlighting Ankara’s positive role as an intermediary in various conflicts. “We have made efforts to establish a just peace since the beginning of the [Ukraine-Russia] war, and we continue to do so,” he said, as quoted by Anadolu news agency. “The negotiations in Istanbul have proven the success of Türkiye’s active role. However, certain lobbies did not want these efforts to achieve their goal,”Erdogan added.

The 2022 negotiations between Kiev and Moscow to resolve their differences culminated in a draft treaty. If implemented, Ukraine would have agreed to become a neutral nation with a limited army in exchange for international security guarantees. Shortly after the document was signed by heads of the respective delegations, Kiev made a U-turn and declared military victory over Moscow as its only option in the conflict. The policy change was prompted by a visit to Kiev by then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a Russia hawk, who told the Ukrainians to keep fighting, according to Ukrainian MP David Arakhamia, who signed the draft treaty on Kiev’s behalf. Moscow believes that Johnson ordered Ukraine not to compromise, since the West is interested in inflicting maximum damage on Russia regardless of the cost paid for it by the Ukrainian people.

Johnson has claimed he simply advised Kiev not to trust the Kremlin and that his words did not amount to an instruction. Having left his position in September 2022 following a wave of domestic scandals, Johnson remains a vocal advocate for pumping more arms and aid into Kiev. Unrestricted Western support will “send the crucial message to the Kremlin” that it cannot have a say on what is happening at its doorstep, he argued in an op-ed just published by The Spectator magazine. Erdogan is visiting the US to take part in the UN General Assembly. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is set to promote his ‘victory plan’ on the sidelines of the event. He is scheduled to first present his proposal to US President Joe Biden.

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“What’s at stake is the extremely complex design of a brand-new financial system – decentralized and using digital technology.”

• Will a BRICS Bretton Woods Take Place in Kazan? (Pepe Escobar)

With less than a month before the crucial BRICS annual summit in Kazan under the Russian presidency, serious informed discussions are raging in Moscow and other Eurasian capitals on what should be at the table in the de-dollarization and alternative payment system front. Earlier this month Andrey Mikhailishin, head of the task force on financial services of the BRICS Business Council, detailed the list of top projects under consideration. They include:
• A common unit of account – as in The Unit, whose contours were first revealed exclusively by Sputnik.
• A platform for multilateral settlements and payments in BRICS digital currencies, connecting the financial markets of BRICS members: that’s BRICS Bridge, which bears similarities with the Bank of International Settlements-linked MBridge, already in effect. That will complement intrabank systems already in action, as in Russia’s SPFS and Iran’s CPAM settling financial transactions – and 60% of their trade – in their own currencies.
• A blockchain-based payment system that entirely bypasses the US dollar: BRICS Pay. Arguably 159 participants may be ready to adopt this sanction-evading, similar-to-SWIFT mechanism right away.
• A settlement depository (Clear).
• An insurance system.
• And crucially a BRICS rating agency, independent from the Western giants.

What’s at stake is the extremely complex design of a brand-new financial system – decentralized and using digital technology. BRICS Clear, for instance, will be using blockchain to record securities and exchange them.
As for The Unit, the value of the common unit of account is pegged by 40% to gold and by 60% to a basket of BRICS member’s national currencies. The BRICS Business Council considers The Unit a “convenient and universal” instrument, since a unit can be converted into any national currency. That would definitely solve the nagging problem of exchange rate volatility when cash balances accumulate from settlements in national currencies; for example, a mountain of Indian rupees used to pay for Russian energy.

Who Do I Call to Talk to BRICS?
I asked a very direct question to two Russian analysts, one of them a finance tech executive with vast experience across Europe, and the other the head of an investment fund with global reach. Considering the sensitivity of their posts, they prefer to remain anonymous. The question: Is BRICS ready to become an actor in Kazan next month, and what should be on the table in terms of the strategy to establish an alternative payment system?

The Answers. Analyst 1:
“Time has come for BRICS to become a real actor. The world demands it. The leaders of BRICS countries clearly understand it. They have the moral power and the political will to set up an organization to provide a number for BRICS to be called in – that’s the best question for the upcoming summit.” The analyst is referring to what could be dubbed “the Kissinger moment”, when Dr. K famously quipped, in the Cold War era, “when I want to talk to Europe, who do I call?”
Now to Analyst 2:
“For a BRICS agreement amongst countries to mean something, countries need to agree on a framework of action and that means accepting some responsibilities in exchange for certain rights. And it sounds there’s no better way to achieve that than to arrive at mutually agreed obligations on settlement of financial transactions.” One of the analysts added a very important, specific point: “By now the situation is pretty clear, to properly address the issue of cross-border payments. The best mechanism should be based on the New Development Bank (NDB), given that Russia has a mandate to propose the new president of that organization. Whoever the candidate will be, cross-border payments should be at the top of his agenda.” The NDB is the BRICS bank, based in Shanghai. The analyst hopes this decision on the future of the NDB will be made before the BRICS summit: “Given the diplomatic and political considerations, the candidate should be made known, formally or informally to the member countries.”

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Obamagate
https://twitter.com/i/status/1838041585583337978

 

 

Obama Bieber
https://twitter.com/i/status/1838028542421909561

 

 

Cat tail
https://twitter.com/i/status/1838108949125448085

 

 

Pick up a duck

 

 

Cold
https://twitter.com/i/status/1838247556981080212

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle September 8 2024

Sep 082024
 
 September 8, 2024  Posted by at 8:52 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  46 Responses »


Pieter Bruegel the Elder The Triumph of Death 1562

 

• No Foreign Attempts To Interfere In Presidential Election Detected – US Intel (RT)
• Tuesday’s Debate Looms Large for Both Candidates (RCW)
• Dick Cheney Endorses Kamala Over ‘Depraved’ Trump (ZH)
• The Impact of RFK Jr. Remaining on the Ballot in Swing States (ET)
• Trump Pledges To Scale Back Use of Sanctions (RT)
• Russia Sanctions Will Stay… Until US Collapses – Medvedev (RT)
• Sanctions Against Russian Media Aimed at Discrediting Trump Victory (Sp.)
• Britain ‘Thinking Head of Western Hydra That Helps Zelensky Regime’ (Sp.)
• @Naval Ravikant (Kanekoa)
• Hunter Biden Discovers There is No “Nicer” Way to Say “I’m Guilty” (Turley)
• Poland Aims at ‘World Record’ for Military Spending in 2025 (Sp.)
• Top German MP Threatens X and Telegram With Bans (RT)
• Massive Free Speech Protest In Brazil After Supreme Court Bans X (ZH)
• Social Security Facing $63 Trillion in Unfunded Liabilities (ET)
• Tesla Announces Full Self-Driving Coming To China, Europe In Early 2025 (ZH)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beck&Bret

 

 

RFK


https://twitter.com/i/status/1832147230960316928

 

 

Kamala Ad

 

 

Bidenomics

 

 

Sachs

 

 

Biase

 

 

BBee

 

 

 

 

Well, that won’t stop them. They go seamlessly from “directly interfering” to “indirectly interfering” in 2 seconds flat. Without playing off Russia, Iran and China, the US wouldn’t know its own identity. It would be lost.

• No Foreign Attempts To Interfere In Presidential Election Detected – US Intel (RT)

US authorities have not detected any attempts by foreign actors to directly interfere in the upcoming presidential election, representatives of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) have stated. Intelligence officials did, however, claim that Russia, Iran and China are trying to sway public opinion and sow discord in American society.During the 2016 and 2020 elections, US intelligence agencies repeatedly alleged that Moscow was deploying hackers and using “information warfare” to swing the vote in favor of Donald Trump.None of these claims have been proven true; a report released by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in 2019 found them to be baseless.

During a multi-agency press briefing in Washington DC on Friday, an unnamed representative of the ODNI said: “We have not observed any foreign actors seeking to interfere in the conduct of the 2024 elections.” “Instead of interference, the IC assesses adversaries so far are focused on using information operations and propaganda to try to shape voter preferences or undermine confidence in the election,” the official added. When making similar claims in the past, US authorities have rarely bothered to define what they meant by disinformation when leveling accusations at Russia, Iran and China. These were the top three nations supposedly attempting to “exacerbate divisions in US society for their own benefit.” The ODNI official added that there are several other countries that “are considering activities that at minimum test the boundaries of election influence,” while stopping short of naming them.

The official singled out Moscow as the “pre-eminent and most active foreign influence threat to this year’s US elections.”As for Iran, the US intelligence agency believes the country is “making a greater effort than in the past to influence this year’s elections,” looking to “stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process.”China, by contrast, is more “focused on influencing down-ballot races” at the state and local levels, according to US authorities. Beijing is allegedly seeking to “counter US politicians viewed as anti-China and to support others viewed as pro-China.”

Earlier this week, the US government imposed sanctions on two RT employees over their alleged role in disseminating video clips that sowed “discord and division” in the country. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova insisted at around the same time that Russia is not in the habit of meddling in the internal affairs of sovereign countries. China and Iran have similarly denied previous American claims.

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Trump should simply be himself. And be wary of trickery.

• Tuesday’s Debate Looms Large for Both Candidates (RCW)

For six weeks, Kamala Harris’ campaign has been running circles around Donald Trump’s efforts. Democrats have raised tons of money, energized their base, and protected Harris from unscripted interviews and political risks. All the while, Trump’s campaigning has been lackluster.True, Trump has been through a lot over this past year – indictments, trials, contested primaries, and an attempted assassination; the strain is showing. But the time has come for him to make the sale. Despite Trump’s lack of focus and Harris’ early momentum, polls continue to show a close race. This is why Tuesday’s presidential debate is so important. It could make or break either campaign. As we’ve learned over the years, debates are more often lost than won. The Biden-Trump showdown in June proved it.

For Trump, the debate is an opportunity to recharge, a chance to unveil a strong, disciplined message. For Harris, it’s an opportunity to broaden her base and reassure skeptical voters. Pundits tell us, incorrectly, that voters have already made up their minds, but the truth is otherwise. Recent polling finds that a sizable part of the electorate (18%) could still swing either way.Right out of the box, each candidate should lay the predicate for the entire night. Starting aggressively is the best way to take the offense, regardless of questions asked or time limits. Debate messaging should reflect the campaign’s central theme – assuming a campaign has one. Trump’s central theme has yet to be honed, so the debate is an opportunity for him to do so. Harris’ messaging has been working well, but it’s hollow, mostly a collection of slogans. This debate is a chance for her to tie her themes together.

The first words out of Trump’s mouth should frame the election as a choice between his record and the Biden-Harris record. Polls tell us that most voters prefer the Trump record, especially on the economy, immigration, and national security. This could be Trump’s version of Ronald Reagan’s famous debate line, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Trump also needs to make the case that Harris is too far left by citing specific policies she’s supported. He should end a line of rapid-fire attacks with a pithy summation, something like: “Biden went along with the progressive left, but Harris will be their champion.” Harris’ first words should focus on the future, reinforcing her message that “we’re not going back” to the Trump era. From the start, she needs to inoculate herself against likely attacks; that will make it easier to respond when they arise.

She should be ready to defend her own views – from Gaza to Ukraine, taxes to fracking, grocery prices to deficit spending. Harris needs to show a depth of knowledge she rarely displays.At times, the most important thing Trump should do is shut up. Time limits and microphone mute buttons may help him do that. He needs to avoid distractions, such as relitigating the 2020 election. There is no reason for him to bring up his criminal cases. These are potential traps; Harris will have ready-made retorts for all of them. Unpredictability is Trump’s strength. Harris expects him to be rambling and disruptive. But if, instead, he’s rational and concise, and his attacks are coherent and focused – not his usual word salad of overstatements and distractions – he could force Harris off her game.

Harris should employ two techniques that could throw Trump off stride. One is humor. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Joe Biden effectively used wit against Trump in previous debates, and it was a missed opportunity. The second is for Harris to make her points in the form of questions. As a lawyer and senator, she knows how to do this. Even though debate rules don’t allow cross-questioning, nothing prohibits candidates from posing questions to the audience in the form of statements. After the endless ads and unremitting smears that often cancel out one another, debates serve as tiebreakers for undecided voters. This may be the only presidential debate left in this election. A bad night for either candidate could be fatal. Tune in on Tuesday and decide for yourself.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1832150412096368769

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No better endorsement than having Cheney endorse your opponent.

• Dick Cheney Endorses Kamala Over ‘Depraved’ Trump (ZH)

Look who slithered out of his neocon lair of no regrets to publicly endorse Democrat Kamala Harris for president. Former Vice President and “lifelong Republican” Dick Cheney announced Friday that he will vote for Biden’s VP over Republican candidate Donald Trump, issuing a stern warning to the public that the former president “can never be trusted with power again.” The blood-curdling pot meet kettle irony of that statement coming from Dick-shock-and awe-Cheny aside… it’s entirely to be expected in a post-“Global War on Terror” world (apparently everyone conveniently forgot) where GW Bush regularly pals around with the likes of Ellen DeGeneres. 83-year old Cheney said in his statement: “In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.”

“He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him,” old man Dick continued. “He can never be trusted with power again.””As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” he concluded.And of course, the Harris campaign stated in response that she is “proud” to receive Republican Cheney’s support and “deeply respects his courage to put country over party.” Earlier in the day Liz Cheney, the daughter of Mr. Deep State and former Wyoming Rep., also endorsed Harris at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.Her remarks were even more colorful, as she described Trump as a “a depraved human being” and called him along with his running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance, “misogynistic pigs”.

Here’s what she said:”Every Republican, anybody who’s contemplating casting a vote for that ticket, you know, really needs to think about what they are enabling, what they’re embracing and the danger of electing people who will only honor election results if they agree with the outcome, and who are willing to set aside the Constitution,” she said in Austin.”And you know in the case of Donald Trump, promote, provoke, exploit violence in order to seize power.” The Cheney family has long been on record as vowing to do everything possible to prevent Trump from entering the Oval Office again…As for Trump, he responded briefly and fairly quickly on his Trump Social platform, dismissing both: “Dick Cheney is an irrelevant RINO, along with his daughter.”Meanwhile…

https://twitter.com/i/status/1555268168473460741

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“A Vote For Trump is a Vote For Kennedy..”

• The Impact of RFK Jr. Remaining on the Ballot in Swing States (ET)

Veteran Democrat strategist Lis Smith was hired to spearhead an aggressive communication plan to combat Kennedy, independent Cornel West, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. In the weeks preceding Kennedy’s decision to suspend his campaign in battleground states and endorse Trump, he found himself in courtrooms across the country testifying in DNC-backed lawsuits that were filed to keep him off the ballot. The Aug. 23 press conference, in which he announced he would back Trump, was held on a Friday. Earlier that week, he appeared in Pennsylvania and New York regarding ballot access hearings. Kennedy criticized the Democrats for aligning with Biden and then nominating Harris without a primary during his Aug. 23 address. He also chastised the DNC for backing lawsuits in multiple states aimed at blocking him from the ballot.

On Aug. 26, Kennedy told The Epoch Times that Trump would make a series of announcements that other Democrats are joining his campaign. The next day, Trump’s campaign confirmed that Kennedy and former Democratic Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard accepted the former president’s offer to join his transition team if he wins in November. Kennedy told The Epoch Times on Aug. 26 that he would actively campaign for Trump and that there is no defined role he would have in a Trump administration. He says fighting chronic disease, improving children’s health, and addressing corporate capture of government agencies are his top priorities. Kennedy joined Trump on stage at a rally in Glendale, Arizona, on Aug. 23 when the former president announced he would appoint Kennedy to a panel investigating the rise in chronic disease in children if he won his White House bid.

While Kennedy said on Aug. 23 that he still encouraged supporters to vote for him in non-battleground states, he said in an email on Sept. 6, “No matter what state you live in, I urge you to vote for Donald Trump. The reason is that is the only way we can get me and everything I stand for into Washington DC and fulfill the mission that motivated my campaign.” Kennedy added that it will be a “close election” and “a disputed election result would be a disaster for our divided nation.” Kennedy’s online messaging has shifted messaging away from “Declare Your Independence,” even though he will appear on the ballot in many states.His website now centers around the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign and reiterates his belief on how to accomplish that objective. “A Vote For Trump is a Vote For Kennedy,” a banner atop the home page reads.

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“..Putin insisted earlier this week that “no other [US] president has ever imposed so many restrictions and sanctions against Russia” as Trump.”

• Trump Pledges To Scale Back Use of Sanctions (RT)

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has promised to drastically reduce the use of sanctions by the US if he wins the election in November. During an appearance at the Economic Club of New York on Thursday, Trump was asked if he plans to “strengthen or modify” Washington’s economic restrictions on Russia and other countries. “I want to use sanctions as little as possible,” he replied, explaining that there is “a problem” with the extensive reliance on such penalties by the US, because “ultimately it kills your dollar and it kills everything the dollar represents.” It is “important” for the dollar to remain the international reserve currency, the former president insisted.

“If we lost the dollar as the world currency, I think that would be the equivalent of losing a war, that would make us a third world country. And we cannot let it happen,” he said. Trump, who slapped various restrictions on Russia, Iran and North Korea during his term in office between 2017 and 2021, acknowledged that he himself has been the “user of sanctions.” “I use sanctions very powerfully against countries that deserve it. And then I take them off because, look, you are losing Iran, you are losing Russia. China is out there trying to get their currency to be the dominant currency… all of these things are happening,” he said. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin insisted earlier this week that “no other [US] president has ever imposed so many restrictions and sanctions against Russia” as Trump.

Commenting on Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, Putin said she has “a very contagious laugh, which shows that everything is fine for her… but if everything is so great for Ms Harris, maybe she would refrain from acting this way [if she wins the election]?” The US and its allies have imposed a record 22,000 sanctions on Moscow since 2014, when Crimea rejoined Russia and a conflict between Ukraine and the Donbass republics broke out following a Western-backed coup in Kiev. The number of curbs skyrocketed after the launch of Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine in February 2022. Russian authorities have condemned the sanctions as illegal, responding with travel bans on Western officials and other moves.

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“So, it is sanctions forever. Or rather, until the US collapses during an imminent new civil war. After all, Hollywood makes films about this for a reason..”

• Russia Sanctions Will Stay… Until US Collapses – Medvedev (RT)

Wide-reaching sanctions on Russia will remain in place no matter who wins the US presidential election in November, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has said.Earlier this week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump pledged to “use sanctions as little as possible” if he makes a return to the White House. In a Telegram post on Saturday, Medvedev insisted that Trump’s comment does not mean he will lift the penalties in force against Moscow. “For all his apparent bravado as an ‘outsider,’ Trump is ultimately an establishment insider. Yes, he is an eccentric narcissist, but he is also a pragmatist,” the official, who now serves as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, said. The former US president understands that sanctions harm the dollar’s role as the international reserve currency, but for him it is still an “insufficient reason to stage a revolution in the US and go against the anti-Russian line of the notorious Deep State, which is much stronger than any Trump,” Medvedev argued.

As for the Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, one “should not expect any surprises from her” if she wins the election, Medvedev predicted. “She is inexperienced and, according to her enemies, just plain stupid. Beautiful meaningless speeches and boring ‘correct’ answers to questions will be prepared for her, which she will read off a teleprompter while laughing contagiously,” he said. The former Russian president noted that the Soviet Union was under sanctions for most of the 20th century. Now, Russia is facing similar treatment from the US and its allies, but on a much larger, “unprecedented” scale, he added. “So, it is sanctions forever. Or rather, until the US collapses during an imminent new civil war. After all, Hollywood makes films about this for a reason,” Medevedev wrote.

He appeared to be referencing the recent ‘Civil War’ movie directed by Alex Garland, which tells the story of a team of war reporters traveling across America to interview the president amid fighting between the federal government and a Texas- and California-led secessionist movement. The US and its allies have imposed a record 22,000 sanctions on Moscow since 2014, when Crimea rejoined Russia and a conflict between Ukraine and the Donbass republics broke out following a Western-backed coup in Kiev. The number of curbs spiked after the launch of Moscow’s military operation against Ukraine in February 2022. Russian authorities have condemned the sanctions as illegal, responding with travel bans on Western officials and other moves.

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‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ is a one trick pony.

• Sanctions Against Russian Media Aimed at Discrediting Trump Victory (Sp.)

The recent US sanctions against Russia’s Rossiya Segodnya international media group and the RT broadcaster is an effort by Democrat-leaning federal government to contest a potential win by former President Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election by rehashing anti-Russia narratives, historian and political analyst Paul Gottfried, told Sputnik. “It is clear why the departments of our federal government, which are now subsidiaries of the Democratic Party, are screaming ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ for the umpteenth time. They are being mobilized to contest the presidential election if they can’t prevent Trump from winning. Unfortunately [for them], the same actors were involved in the same farce throughout the Trump presidency and may be losing credibility,” Gottfried, who is the editor-in-chief of “Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture” and Raffensperger professor of humanities emeritus at Elizabethtown College, said.

On September 4, the US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against the editor-in-chief of Russia’s Rossiya Segodnya international media group and the RT broadcaster, Margarita Simonyan, and her deputies Anton Anisimov and Elizaveta Brodskaia. Deputy Director of the RT English-Language Information Broadcasting Andrey Kiyashko, RT’s Digital Media Projects Manager Konstantin Kalashnikov and a number of other employees of the broadcaster were also added to the sanctions list. The US State Department, in a parallel move, tightened the operating conditions for Rossiya Segodnya and its subsidiaries, designating them as “foreign missions.” Under the Foreign Missions Act, they will be required to notify the department of all personnel working in the United States and disclose all real estate they own.

US authorities also announced restrictions on the issuance of visas to individuals they allege are “acting on behalf of Kremlin-supported media organizations.” However, the Department of State refused to disclose the names of those subject to the new visa restrictions. Commenting on the new sanctions, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller claimed the measures did not target any particular individual Russian journalists, but rather the employees of the targeted companies who were involved in “covert activities.”

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“For Moscow, Britain is the most hostile NATO country because the UK is involved in all major projects to damage Russian infrastructure, and the civilian population and troops to the maximum..”

• Britain ‘Thinking Head of Western Hydra That Helps Zelensky Regime’ (Sp.)

It’s safe to say that London is directly involved in hostilities against Moscow, military journalist, Alexey Borzenko, told Sputnik. He was commenting on Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s recent statement that the preliminary adjustment of the flight controllers (of the Ukrainian drones that attacked an oil storage facility in Russia’s Rostov region) was carried out in Salisbury and Newport, UK. “For Moscow, Britain is the most hostile NATO country because the UK is involved in all major projects to damage Russian infrastructure, and the civilian population and troops to the maximum,” Borzenko, who is also deputy chief editor of the Literary Russia newspaper, said. He stressed that it is in the UK where Ukrainian specialists in electronic warfare, missile technology, and strike systems using long-range artillery are trained.

The UK can be called “the thinking head of the entire Western hydra”, which helps the Kiev regime by providing it with military hardware, the journalist pointed out, recalling that Britain was the first to supply grenade launchers to Ukraine, followed by deliveries of tanks, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and even poison in ampoules. Borzenko expressed hope that “on a certain stage”, Britain will bear responsibility for its actions. When it comes to Moscow’s retaliatory steps, the journalist subscribed to Zakharova’s stand that “in response to the Zelensky regime’s strikes on Russian territory using UK-made weapons, Russia reserves its right to strike any British military facilities and vehicles in Ukraine and beyond.” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that London is trying to be at the forefront among those who continue to send weapons to Ukraine; he added that the UK’s military aid to the Kiev regime will not change the course of Russia’s special military operation.

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X thread. Elon Musk:”Accurate analysis by @Naval”

• @Naval Ravikant (Kanekoa)

.@Naval Ravikant says the Democrat Party’s lawfare against President Trump is “disgusting behavior” that could “end the Republic” and lead to a “one-party state better known as a dictatorship.” “If you look at the charges brought against Trump, and I actually read them quite carefully. These were really Trumped-up charges. They were really made up. You violate the statute of limitations. You try to drum things up into a felony when there was no evidence of such. It was a miscategorization of business expenses. It’s this selective prosecution.”

“If you want the case against Kamala Harris, it’s the fact that she was the DA of San Francisco, and San Francisco is a mess. And, in fact, after she advocated for George Gascon, the guy who is destroying LA by basically not prosecuting criminals and going after business owners. This selective prosecution thing is a disaster.””The moment you start breaking down this wall, you get into weaponizing justice. You know, Hillary Clinton blew up her email server and then wiped it with bleach bit. There are no consequences for that. Turns out the Hunter Biden laptop is real. Who knew? Even though we were told, it was all misinformation by the intel agencies. This is the scary stuff. This is the stuff that ends the Republic or turns it into a one-party state, better known as a dictatorship.”

“The weaponization of the justice system and the engagement and willingness to engage in lawfare will lead to violence, disillusionment, a breakup, and something worse for the United States. When these guys start playing with going after their political enemies.” “When Alvin Bragg runs on the explicit campaign to take down Trump and then they go hunting through and looking for anything and drumming up any charge to go after him with the most favorable juries in the most favorable part of the country and then just control the evidence and control the narrative that is the beginning of the end. And the people who are in Silicon Valley and the donors who are supporting this lawfare, they’re dead to me. These people are destroying the ground on which they stand.”

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“From the beginning to the end, it is a series of total failures produced by sheer hubris..”

• Hunter Biden Discovers There is No “Nicer” Way to Say “I’m Guilty” (Turley)

“Guilty.” That word repeated nine times by Hunter Biden in a federal courtroom in California represented something that he had evaded for much of his life: accountability. Five years ago, Biden had to explain the rule to ABC News reporter Amy Robach, who had the audacity to ask about his history. Biden instructed the TV journalist to “say it nicer.” The president’s son spent his adult life with his father, his family, political allies, and reporters enabling every corrupt deal and human debauchery. Even at his plea hearing, Biden was closely shadowed by his so-called “sugar brother” Kevin Morris, who bankrolled his lavish lifestyle for years. This week, Biden was still demanding that even prosecutors “say it nicer” on the eve of his criminal trial. He created chaos at the start of jury selection by announcing that he would plead guilty but demanded an “Alford plea.” The Alford plea allows a defendant to accept that there is sufficient evidence to convict while declining to admit guilt.

Roughly 17 percent of state cases and 5 percent of federal cases end in Alford or no contest pleas. However, as a criminal defense attorney, I have never heard of a defendant seeking an Alford plea without previously discussing the option with prosecutors. These pleas ordinarily require the approval of prosecutors and Justice Department rules require the approval of high-ranking officials or the Attorney General himself. Prosecutors were gobsmacked by Biden’s sudden announcement and told the judge that they had not been consulted on the demand. Not surprisingly, they were miffed and quickly opposed any such plea. The result was all too familiar for those of us who have witnessed the chaos of the Hunter Biden defense. After causing a stir, the effort failed and Biden was left standing in the courtroom repeating a standard guilty plea nine times.

It is the continuation of a legal strategy that could be best described as controlled chaos. In 2023, Biden stood with his lawyers in open defiance of a congressional subpoena outside of Congress. He demanded that the House committees meet his demands for appearing as a witness. After all the drama, the effort failed. Facing a criminal contempt sanction, he appeared as demanded by Congress and was later accused of perjury. It was the same pattern that emerged when Biden secured a sweetheart plea deal that avoided any jail time, avoided a host of federal charges, and gave him sweeping immunity for unnamed offenses. It collapsed in court when the judge asked the prosecutor if he had ever seen such a deal offered to any other defendant. He admitted that he had not. The response from the Biden team was the same privileged fit.

One lawyer told prosecutors to “just rip it up.” Later the Justice Department attorneys stated that they still tried to reach a new plea deal but that Biden gave them the stiff arm. The result? An unmitigated failure. Biden was convicted on every gun count before a sympathetic jury in the hometown of the Biden family. This burning train then continued down the track to California where the team insisted that it would make the same addiction defense that failed in Delaware. It then pulled another jump scare with the Alford plea demand. From the beginning to the end, it is a series of total failures produced by sheer hubris. As I wrote in 2023, Biden ultimately was undone by his entitlement and appetite.

He expects everyone from reporters to representatives to prosecutors to “say it nicer.” At every stage, his bravado and defiance led to the worst possible result. Ironically, he had a prosecutor in David Weiss who fought to help him avoid any prosecution or jail time. Weiss allowed major felonies to expire for now explicable reasons and refused to indict Biden for being an unregistered foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Yet, somehow, Biden succeeded in forcing Weiss to prosecute him against every apparent inclination to the contrary.

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Oh wait, there’s a war going on…

• Poland Aims at ‘World Record’ for Military Spending in 2025 (Sp.)

Poland wants to set a “world record” for military spending next year by ramping up procurement of weapons and military equipment, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Tuesday. “Next year, 4.7% of Polish GDP will be allocated to defense. This will be the absolute record and a world record that Poland will set,” he said on the margins of a defense industry exhibition in the Polish city of Kielce. Poland has already earmarked a record-breaking 4.1% of gross domestic product for the military spending in the 2024 budget. Polish media reported in August that the government intended to hike military expenditure to nearly 5%. Only five allies in 32-member NATO spend more than 3% on their military needs: Poland, Estonia, the United States, Latvia, and Greece. Two-thirds of NATO member states have met the alliance’s requirement of spending at least 2% on defense.

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This Green Party MP sees an opportunity to go after the AfD, which is winning all the polls.

• Top German MP Threatens X and Telegram With Bans (RT)

Germany must act to stop the dissemination of extremist content online and block major social media platforms if necessary, a senior MP from the country’s Green Party has said. MP Anton Hofreiter, the chairman of the Bundestag’s European policy committee, made the remarks on Saturday while speaking to reporters from Funke Media Group. The politician called for tighter control over social media, up to the outright blocking of certain platforms. “One of the biggest problems of extremism is online radicalization,” Hofreiter stated, adding that the dissemination of “anti-constitutional content on the Internet” must be stopped. “We need to tackle the root of the problem and push back radicalization in digital space as well as in society,” he stressed. Those social media platforms that refuse to abide by German laws and remove “extremist content” must be blocked altogether, Hofreiter argued, specifically singling out X, formerly Twitter, among the potential targets.

However, blocking platforms must only be a last resort measure, the MP noted, urging the government not to distance itself from modern technology. Instead, the government should use them for its own benefits, namely deploying “digital agents” to infiltrate private groups on Telegram to identify potential criminals, Hofreiter suggested. The call to toughen Germany’s stance on social media comes after a new series of incidents, including a shooting outside the Israeli consulate in Munich, as well as a knifing rampage in Solingen that left three dead. In recent days, several countries have taken steps to rein in social media platforms. Earlier this week, Brazil slapped a blanket ban on X; the platform had failed to comply with local political misinformation and hate speech laws by refusing to delete certain offending messages.

In late August, the Russian tech entrepreneur and founder of Telegram Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris. The businessman now faces a multitude of charges related to complicity in drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud, and various forms of child abuse, stemming from the actions of Telegram users. While Durov was ultimately released on bail, he has been ordered to stay in France while the investigation is ongoing.

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“We all know that we are imperfect and do not know everything. We know that we rely on others to discover the truth. Why, then, do so many people want censorship?”

• Massive Free Speech Protest In Brazil After Supreme Court Bans X (ZH)

Thousands of Brazilians flooded city streets on Saturday to protest against the government’s censorship crusade against Elon Musk’s ‘free-speech’ X platform. The demonstration, held Saturday on Independence Day, was led by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro – who said in response to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes: “I hope that the Federal Senate puts the brakes on Alexandre de Moraes, this dictator who does more harm to Brazil than Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva himself.” Several notable X accounts, including journalist Michael Shellenberger, are reporting from Sao Paulo’s main boulevard, where tens of thousands have gathered today in opposition to far-left Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes that recently blocked X nationwide.

Here’s more from Shellenberger on the situation: “Brazilian President Lula and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes say they must block X to protect Brazil’s independence. X is a platform for dangerous, false, and hateful words, they say, and many of those words violate Brazil’s laws and Constitution. But their censorship goes far beyond what Brazil’s constitution allows. The government demanded that X and other social media networks censor and ban individual people, including journalists and politicians. Such bans are immoral, illegal, and unconstitutional. They constitute election interference and undermine democracy by preventing candidates from getting the word out. I agree that lying is wrong, hate speech is ugly, and there are limits to freedom of speech. We must not allow people to use words that directly result in physical violence.

But everybody lies, everybody engages in hate speech, and the limits to free speech must never include elections. Imagine what would happen if it were illegal to lie: everyone should go to prison starting with the journalists and politicians. As for hate speech, did Lula express hatred when he praised Adolf Hitler? Does he not express hatred every time he speaks of Elon Musk and Jair Bolsonaro? People blame speech for the chaos of January 6 in the United States and January 8 in Brazil. But the events of those days resulted from inadequate security, not anything anyone said online. And if the government can censor disfavored election information, how would anyone ever know if the government stole an election?

Democracy and secure elections depend on freedom of speech. The idea that we must censor speech to protect democracy ranks with other Orwellian ideas like “War is peace” and “Slavery is freedom.” For thousands of years, democracy and freedom walk hand in hand, as do censorship and dictatorship. Everybody knows in their heart that censorship is wrong. We all know that we are imperfect and do not know everything. We know that we rely on others to discover the truth. Why, then, do so many people want censorship?

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“It’s like operating on half of the cancer, removing half a cancer, and telling your patient to come back in 10 years, and when they do, it’s twice as big..”

• Social Security Facing $63 Trillion in Unfunded Liabilities (ET)

Social Security is facing $63 trillion in long-term unfunded liabilities, according to the 2024 Old-Age, Survivors, Disability Insurance (OASDI) trustees report. The report looked at two things: how much money will be missing indefinitely and how much will be missing in the next 75 years. The report determined that there will be a permanent $62.8 trillion deficit and about a $23 trillion shortage for the next 75 years. Officials explained that these numbers show how much less money they will have after the money saved up in trust funds runs out. “The annual shortfalls after trust fund reserve depletion rise slowly and reflect increases in life expectancy,” the report reads. “The summarized shortfalls over the infinite horizon, as percentages of taxable payroll and GDP, are larger than the shortfalls for the 75-year period.”

OASDI trustees noted that the shortfall could be eliminated if the combined payroll tax rate was raised to “about 17.0 percent” or if there was a “permanent reduction in benefits for all current and future beneficiaries by about 26.5 percent.” Laurence Kotlikoff, professor of economics at Boston University, told The Epoch Times that assessing the current infinite unfunded liability is imperative. “There’s nothing in economics that says you should just look at 75 years and assume everybody’s going to be dead the day after,” Kotlikoff said. “It’s like operating on half of the cancer, removing half a cancer, and telling your patient to come back in 10 years, and when they do, it’s twice as big, and you’re operating out on half. “[That’s] the practice here in our country dealing with Social Security.”

This is not the first report to spotlight the deteriorating fiscal state of the retirement scheme and other federal programs. In February, the Treasury Department released the “Financial Report of the United States Government.” It concluded that U.S. taxpayers face more than $78 trillion in long-term unfunded obligations for Social Security and Medicare. The problem, according to Mark Warshawsky, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is that these outlooks are based on rosy scenarios, meaning that the United States will not grapple with a financial crisis, a major military conflict, or another pandemic. “To make matters worse, the [Financial Report] is based on optimistic, indeed unrealistic, assumptions,” he wrote, adding that the report suggests that the Trump-era tax cuts will completely lapse, income tax revenues will rise over time, and defense spending will not increase.

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Will we still be able to drive ourselves? If you get into an accident with an FSD vehicle, who gets the blame? Man or machine?

• Tesla Announces Full Self-Driving Coming To China, Europe In Early 2025 (ZH)

Tesla AI said pending FSD rollouts in China and Europe are “due to popular demand,” adding that regulatory approval will first be needed to push the over-the-air update in both regions. The update would enable drivers to activate the advanced driver assistance software.In July, CEO Elon Musk said FSD regulatory approval for both regions was likely achievable by the end of the year. He said on Thursday that FSD could be launched in right-hand drive markets sometime in the first half of next year.In April, Beijing gave Tesla the ‘green light’ to roll out FSD and partner with Chinese tech giant Baidu for mapping and navigation software. Tesla has satisfied multiple data security and privacy requirements to operate in the world’s largest EV market.

The approval in April came just days after Musk unexpectedly visited Beijing and met with Premier Li Qiang, who was previously the Communist Party chief in Shanghai when Tesla was setting up its automobile manufacturing plant there. Also in April, Wedbush Securities senior analyst Dan Ives told Bloomberg TV that Musk’s visit to China was a major “watershed moment.” “This could open up FSD in China, which I view as unlocking what really could be the golden opportunity for them,” Ives said. At the time, Bloomberg reported that Musk’s move to seek FSD approval in China was to stem Tesla’s revenue slump. Tesla AI also provided a roadmap for near-term rollouts:

https://twitter.com/Tesla_AI/status/1831565197108023493

Looking ahead, the long-awaited Tesla robotaxi is set to be unveiled on October 10 at the Warner Bros. Discovery movie studio in Burbank, California.

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RFK Bill Gates

 

 

Micrometer

 

 

Eyes
https://twitter.com/i/status/1832311120402477301

 

 

Lion

 

 

Elephant

 

 

Analemma

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle September 2 2024

Sep 022024
 
 September 2, 2024  Posted by at 7:34 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  53 Responses »


René Magritte Memory of a voyage 1952

 

• French Party Leader Warns Pavel Durov’s Life May Be in Danger (Sp.)
• Kremlin Blasts Arrest In France Of Telegram Founder Pavel Durov (RT)
• How Telegram Is Geopolitics (Pepe Escobar)
• Durov Arrest First Salvo of Final Battle in the 30-Year War on Privacy (Sp.)
• West Brands All Inconvenient Facts As ‘Kremlin Propaganda’ – Putin (RT)
• Putin’s Remarks About Biden True for VP Harris – Kremlin (Sp.)
• Kamunism Is the Perfect Recipe For Economic Collapse (RCM)
• “Not The Type Of Character You Want” In High Office – Tim Walz’s Brother (ZH)
• Walzin Out a Fake War Hero (Spears)
• ‘Heinous, Vile, Disgusting’: Gold Star Families Slam Kamala Harris (ZH)
• Debate Desperation Time For Democrats (QTR)
• Elon Musk Warns Censorship Of X “Is A Certainty” If Kamala Harris Wins (MN)
• Harris Admits The Economy-Crushing ‘Green New Deal’ Is Her Real Agenda (ZH)
• US In ‘Fast Lane’ To Bankruptcy – Musk (RT)
• Protests Sweep Israel After Hostage Deaths (RT)

 

 


© Flickr / siniku

 

 

Tucker

 

 

BlackRock

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1829945511543017954

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1829833967370899477

 

 

 

 

View from the other side…

 

 

Gold star

 

 

AJ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Let’s not forget that Macron has been using Telegram extensively with his teams for a long time, and that he feared ‘leaks’… Pavel Durov should really be careful, his life may be in danger!”

• French Party Leader Warns Pavel Durov’s Life May Be in Danger (Sp.)

The life of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who was released on bail this week as he faces a potential trial in France, might be in danger, Florian Philippot, the leader of The Patriots party, said on Saturday. The politician referred to reports by French media, which claimed that the billionaire tech entrepreneur had been approached by French intelligence agents while in Dubai and that he had refused to share classified information.”Day after day, the puzzle of [French President Emmanuel] Macron’s delirious persistence against Pavel Durov, after having coaxed him, takes shape … Let’s not forget that Macron has been using Telegram extensively with his teams for a long time, and that he feared ‘leaks’… Pavel Durov should really be careful, his life may be in danger!” Philippot said on X.

The Russian-born was detained at a Paris airport on August 24 on charges related to criminal uses of his messaging app, including terrorism, child pornography, drug trafficking, money laundering and fraud. He was released on Wednesday on a 5-million-euro ($5.5 million) bail and is barred from leaving France. French media reported that Durov had agreed to cooperate with the French investigators and provided access to his phone. Macron is also said to have discussed the detention of Durov, who holds a UAE passport in addition to French citizenship, with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan a day after he was nabbed at the airport.

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“..Paris could use the same grounds to arrest the CEOs of Renault or Citroën, as terrorists use cars.”

• Kremlin Blasts Arrest In France Of Telegram Founder Pavel Durov (RT)

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has questioned the French authorities’ rationale for arresting Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, pointing to the absurdity of holding him accountable for crimes committed using his network. The Russian tech entrepreneur was detained at Paris-Le Bourget Airport last week and has since been charged with with multiple offenses, including complicity in “administering an online platform” used by criminal gangs to conduct illicit activities, and refusing to cooperate with investigators. Speaking to Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin on Saturday, Peskov acknowledged that Russian authorities previously had “questions” for the tech billionaire, but stressed that Moscow never tried to arrest him.

“Terrorists do indeed use the Telegram network. But terrorists also use cars. Why don’t they arrest the CEOs of Renault or Citroën?” the Kremlin spokesman said when asked to comment on Durov’s arrest and whether he had a message for his “European colleagues.” Pavel Durov, a St. Petersburg native who holds the citizenships of Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, formally left his homeland in 2014 after law enforcement accused him of refusing to grant investigators access to terrorism suspects’ communications. The dispute was settled in 2020 when the Russian telecoms regulator announced that it had no further issues with Telegram.

In an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson in April, Durov claimed that he had consistently refused to provide user data to any authorities, including US intelligence services, or to install a surveillance “backdoor” in the app, which has almost a billion monthly users. The Russian billionaire’s arrest has sparked outrage worldwide, with public leaders such as X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk and Silicon Valley investor David Sacks accusing French authorities of attacking free speech. Durov was released on bail on Wednesday and ordered to remain in France until the case against him concludes. If convicted, he could face up to ten years in prison. Telegram maintains that the company complies with EU laws and that its content moderation policies are “within industry standards.”

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“It’s a near certainty that Pavel does not have Telegram’s fabled encryption keys; yet his math genius brother Nikolai does.”

• How Telegram Is Geopolitics (Pepe Escobar)

Pavel Durov is now essentially a high-level hostage in one of NATOstan’s key nodes, France.NATO’s military intel/surveillance/economic matrix finally got the leverage they actively sought for so long. For the moment there’s no answer to the key question: what did Durov offer his captors to be “rewarded” with a temporary semi-freedom regime after posting bail that for his standards amounts to pocket money? Durov is essentially accused of not “collaborating” or “cooperating” with Western intel. Their single-minded obsession is to control Telegram’s content moderation set up; have total back door access; and eventually ban all Russian channels – which have been instrumental to carry the real stories on the ground developing from Ukraine to sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

Telegram is the social network of choice of the Global Majority. Telegram is at the heart of geopolitics. So this is yet another chapter of the no holds barred Hybrid War by the Collective West against the Global Majority. Telegram also happens to be extensively used in Russia by public and military bodies. It’s a near certainty that Pavel does not have Telegram’s fabled encryption keys; yet his math genius brother Nikolai does. As it stands, no one knows the terms of the deal leading to Pavel’s semi-freedom. What is clear is that some sort of concessions were made – Durov has not been turned into Assange 2.0. These concessions might include handing over selected information in a classic “judiciary” mode that would not compromise Russian state secrets.

The Durov brothers are certainly aware that any information leading Western intel to harass bloggers and channels for their political stance would fatally compromise the credibility of Telegram.Depending on how the French mega-bureaucracy “investigation” proceeds, and whether the system decides to take Durov to trial or even to block Telegram in the EU, that will only benefit Telegram globally.The saga is just beginning. As it stands, the world is waiting for a word by Pavel Durov himself. On Telegram.

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A history of (the war on) “privacy”.

• Durov Arrest First Salvo of Final Battle in the 30-Year War on Privacy (Sp.)

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, massive spying operations were launched, both in public and in secret. Slowly, either due to fear of terrorism or apathy, the American people started to lose their appreciation for privacy, which started to be portrayed as the exclusive domain of criminals and the paranoid. In 2014, in the wake of the Snowden leaks, former CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin, who also served as acting director for just over two months in 2004, wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post to assure the American public that the US National Security Agency (NSA) wasn’t really spying on Americans (they were) and even if they were, it wasn’t a big deal.

“Although our society lauds, in almost ‘Stepford Wives’-like fashion, the merits of ‘transparency,’ it lacks a collective, mature understanding of how intelligence works, how it integrates with foreign policy and how it contributes to the national welfare. Meanwhile, prurient interest in the details of leaked intelligence skyrockets, and people devour material that is not evidence of abuse but merely fascinating — and even more fascinating to US adversaries.” According to McLaughlin’s upside-down perspective, those who want to know what our government is doing are “Stepford Wives” blindly following “society” and giving aid to our enemies. Those who remain willfully ignorant, according to McLaughlin, are the realists who know the NSA is “not perfect,” but the real problem is “the broad distrust of government that has taken root in the United States in recent decades.”

The Snowden leaks did not lead to any real reforms. The government claimed they took measures to protect the privacy of citizens, but those were internal changes around the margins and the new rules are routinely ignored anyway. No one was fired. No one was arrested. No mass protests hit the streets. The public had been conditioned to expect the government was watching them. This year, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was renewed for another two years, a massive blow for privacy and civil rights advocates. “The natural flow of technology tends to move in the direction of making surveillance easier,” Zimmermann prophetically said nearly 30 years ago. The only vestige of privacy left online is through encryption. For years that was a fairly complicated process, public key cryptography made it far easier than it was before, but few in the mainstream were using tools like PGP.

Yes, email had become secure from spoofing, but most of the encryption was handled by email providers. Google may use encryption to keep users safe from man-in-the-middle attacks, but if they have access to your decrypted emails (and they do if you use Gmail), then there is nothing preventing them from handing that information over. That changed with apps like Telegram and Signal, which have true end-to-end encryption that not even the owners can crack. Now, more than ever, normal people are using apps that enable their privacy by default. It’s not perfect, devices themselves are still vulnerable to government intrusion, but it is far more difficult to gain access to than simply sending a subpoena to a service provider. The government could tolerate encryption when it was limited to a few hundred thousand geeks posting on message boards, 950 million Telegram users is a much bigger issue.

On Wednesday, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was charged with a litany of crimes accusing him of not doing enough to prevent abuse of his platform. The critical charge however, the one that all the others rest on because without it he couldn’t be blamed for their actions is once again – as it was with Zimmermann in the US decades ago – with providing tools that enable encryption, which is the only vestige of privacy left on the internet in a post-Snowden world. Durov is out on €5 million bond and is barred from leaving France because, according to the indictment, he was “providing cryptology services aiming to ensure confidentiality without certified declaration,” as well as “providing a cryptology tool not solely ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration.” And, thirdly, because he was “importing a cryptology tool ensuring authentication or integrity monitoring without prior declaration.”

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“Moscow has managed to strike a balance between the freedom of the press and national security, the Russian leader has argued..”

• West Brands All Inconvenient Facts As ‘Kremlin Propaganda’ – Putin (RT)

Russian media are trying to convey Moscow’s point of view on global issues and processes, but Western states are hiding from the “truth” by dismissing every inconvenient fact as “propaganda,” President Vladimir Putin has said. President Putin gave a written interview to the Mongolian Onoodor newspaper ahead of his visit to the country on Monday. Among other things, he was asked about the freedom of the press and how the West can champion it while banning and suppressing Russian media. “Almost all Western countries where our journalists try to work are creating obstacles for them, banning Russian television channels and directly censoring our media and online resources,” Putin said, noting that this obviously “runs counter to the democratic principles of freedom of speech and the free flow of information.”

So the West, which claims to be a model of freedom, has opted to hide from inconvenient facts and the truth by launching a blatant bullying campaign against Russian journalists and indiscriminately labeling them as ‘Kremlin propagandists.’ The Russian leader went on to say that pluralism and openness in the information space are vital for society and that in Russia, the mass media are free, as guaranteed by the constitution.“Our authorities cooperate constructively with television channels, news agencies, newspapers, online media, and other media outlets, regardless of their editorial policy,” he said. The only thing they are required to do is comply with Russian laws. This should be understood by foreign journalists accredited in Russia.

That way, Moscow has managed to strike a balance between the freedom of the press and national security, the Russian leader has argued. Putin is scheduled to visit Mongolia on Monday for a World War II commemoration. He is expected to attend a ceremony commemorating the 1939 Battle of Khalkhin Gol. The decisive victory of the Red Army and its Mongolian allies over the Imperial Japanese Army secured the Soviet Union’s eastern flank until 1945.The visit would theoretically put the Russian leader at risk of arrest on the ICC’s “war crimes” warrant, as Ulaanbaatar recognizes the court’s jurisdiction, and the court insisted that Mongolia has an “obligation to cooperate.” However, Moscow “has no concerns” about the ICC warrant, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, noting that all possible issues concerning Putin’s visit have been “worked out separately” in advance.

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Russia likes them predictable.

• Putin’s Remarks About Biden True for VP Harris – Kremlin (Sp.)

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent remark about the predictability of US President Joe Biden also applies to his vice president turned presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday. Asked whether Russia would prefer to see Joe Biden or Donald Trump as the next US president, Putin described Biden as more preferable because he was more experienced and predictable. “We do not have a favorite candidate, but the Democrats are certainly more predictable. What Putin said about Biden’s predictability applies to almost all Democrats, including Mrs. Harris,” Peskov said in a recorded interview published on social media. Peskov lamented the state of US-Russian relations, saying tensions between the two were at their highest, having reached a breaking point under the Biden administration. “They have reached the breaking point… The last drop fell,” he said.

When asked about the future of Democrats’ policy on Russia and the European Union, Peskov said it was also easy to predict. “It is all predictable. They will stick to the same policy toward us, they will predictably continue to put pressure on EU member states, and they will continue to enslave those countries politically and economically,” he said. The United States is directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict, despite numerous statements to the contrary, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added. “The United States, despite many statements to the contrary, is directly involved in the conflict around Ukraine. It is demonstrating a tendency toward increasing the level of involvement in this conflict,” Peskov said in a recorded interview published on Telegram on Sunday. The spokesman accused Washington of “an undisguised hostile attitude” toward Russia. He said the US had spent decades piling pressure on Russia and trampling on its interests. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will not be able to resolve all problems overnight if elected, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

Trump has repeatedly promised during the presidential campaign to settle the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in 24 hours after coming into the White House. “I do not think he has a magic wand or that anything can be done overnight,” Peskov said in a recorded interview published on social media, commenting on Trump’s campaign promises. The Kremlin spokesman rejected as impossible speculations that a new US president could announce an end to US military support for Ukraine and call on the parties to sit down at the negotiating table in their inaugural speech in January 2025. Peskov said relations between Russia and the United States had hit rock bottom under Biden and looked unsalvageable for the time being. “Mr Biden’s presidency has become the culmination of all processes in our bilateral relations. They are probably at their historic low at the moment,” Peskov said, adding that so far, he had seen no prospects for them “entering a growth trajectory.”

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2 weeks old, but you can see why ZeroHedge brought it back.

• Kamunism Is the Perfect Recipe For Economic Collapse (RCM)

Last Friday, Kamala Harris opened her mouth and almost magically raised the price of housing and food at grocery stores. She’s on record stating that high gas prices are the result of retail price gouging, and that patents should be yanked from medical industry providers. What many don’t comprehend is that businesses react immediately when politicians suggest interfering with the normal operations of the free market. Look around you. Every building, every business, every house, every car and so on is a result of private enterprise. More specifically, all these things are the result of capital organically flowing to where it can be most productive. The supply of capital fuels all growth. Policies that favor capital formation create lower prices and more innovation. There would be no government without its access to the wealth generated from private enterprise, as there would be nothing to tax and no purchasers to buy federal bonds.

I’m no Warren Buffett. I’m just a lowly history major. I don’t have an economics PhD, but unlike those breathing the Ivory Tower air, I’ve had real world experiences in all the industries Kamala wants to tinker with. I’ve built subdivisions and houses. I’ve been a specialty food supplier to grocery stores. I’ve owned a chain of restaurants. I’ve owned gas stations, and I’ve been involved in securing intellectual property rights within the medical industry. I can tell you firsthand that as soon as a business owner hears “commie nonsense,” he pulls “the throttle back.” Capital formation slows. Often his business is devalued as soon as there is a political threat that will rob it of profitability. With such uncertainty and less capital at his disposal, the economy is deprived of productive investment.

Giving $25,000 to first time homeowners is just going to cause higher home prices. Assuredly, it will come with so many rules and regulations as to tie the housing industry in knots. Price controls on food create scarcity and ultimately bread riots and civil unrest, perhaps starvation and another Holodomor. There could not be a dumber or more dangerous policy proposal in our Republic’s history. Gas stations. When I dropped my prices to out compete my competition, every other operator withing 30 miles matched my price. When an operator loses $.25/gallon due to competition, state and federal governments still make $.50/gallon in taxes. It is an incredibly competitive business. Patents are property, yanking them away from businesses is Leninist confiscation of property, and of course a sure-fire way to destroy all innovation.

Those of us who have created and produced in the private sector absolutely loathe with red hot fury government apparatchiks and their simple minded, demagogic economic proposals. I’m sympathetic to the business owner. All those 100-hour work weeks, sweat and investment destroyed over night by “know nothing nutjobs.” “Kamunism” is akin to a North Korean style command and control economy. It is the perfect recipe for utter misery and societal collapse. Just ask any history major!

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“The stories I could tell. Not the type of character you want making decisions about your future.”

• “Not The Type Of Character You Want” In High Office – Tim Walz’s Brother (ZH)

The eldest brother of Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz threw his sibling under the bus in a series of Friday night Facebook posts, saying he isn’t “the type of character” Americans would want in high office, and cryptically referring to “stories [he] could tell” that would hammer home the point. Sixty-seven-year-old Jeff Walz also declared he has major political differences with his brother, who’s been the governor of Minnesota since 2019 following a dozen years in the US House of Representatives. “I’m 100% opposed to all his ideology,” wrote Jeff Walz, the New York Post was first to report on Saturday.Before the Post exclusive, conservative podcaster Laura Loomer publicized a March 2023 Facebook post in which Jeff Walz expressed his disgust over Donald Trump being indicted in Manhattan over his handling of hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. “We’ve just become a third world banana republic,” he wrote.

Unless and until Jeff Walz gets specific about where he differs with Kamala Harris’ running mate, we can only speculate. There’s lots of hard-left nuttiness and tyranny on Tim’s record, including:
• Putting tampons in boys’ school bathrooms
• Keeping the National Guard in the sidelines while Minneapolis burned during the 2020 George Floyd riots
• Seizing emergency powers during the Covid-19 pandemic and going all-out with business closures, mask mandates and declaring church worship “non-essential”
• Funding free college for illegal immigrants
• Declaring Minnesota a “trans refuge”

Policy differences with relatives are one thing, but the Harris-Walz campaign is probably particularly anxious about Jeff Walz’s strong suggestion that his brother is morally flawed, and that he has an inventory of anecdotes that underscore that accusation: “The stories I could tell. Not the type of character you want making decisions about your future.” From the sound of it, Jeff Walz might just tell some of those stories under a big spotlight: When another Facebook user encouraged Walz to “get on stage with President Trump and endorse him,” Jeff Walz replied, “I’ve thought long and hard about doing something like that! I’m torn between that and just keeping my family out of it.” Even before Jeff Walz’s mini-rant, there were already character clouds swirling over the would-be vice president’s head. For example, while making a case for gutting the Second Amendment’s safeguarding of the individual human right of armed self-defense, Tim Walz falsely told an audience that he’d carried a weapon in war:

Jeff Walz said he hasn’t talked to his famous brother in eight years. So far, the reason for their apparent estrangement isn’t in the public domain, and the elder Walz declined to be interviewed by the Post. He lives in the Florida panhandle town of Freeport with this wife. The two previously owned a musical instrument and gear story in Inverness, in the west-central part of the state. While they’re split now, the Post notes that the brothers are united in having criminal rap sheets. Tim Walz was famously arrested for drunk driving, while Jeff Walz engaged in petty thievery while he was himself in a position of public trust: While he was an assistant principal at Crystal River Middle School, Jeff Walz allegedly stole a bicycle tube, handlebar grips and a three-way outlet adapter totaling $13 from an Inverness Walmart, according to the Tampa Bay Times and a letter of reprimand from Florida’s Education Practices Commission. — New York Post Sounds like there’s some great genes in that Walz family tree. Should we expect CNN and the New York Times to roll with the familial anti-endorsement story?

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“..one rule remains intact for generations of veterans: lie about your military service record at your own risk.”

• Walzin Out a Fake War Hero (Spears)

There is a saying among veterans that we’re hard on one another, but that we’ll circle the wagons when civilian outsiders attack. Perhaps in another time that was truly the rule. If so, such a tradition expired long before my enlistment in the fall of 2003. Regardless, one rule remains intact for generations of veterans: lie about your military service record at your own risk. Governor of Minnesota and vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz is learning that lesson. It’s one he should have known long ago as a retired senior noncommissioned officer. In the Army, the noncommissioned officer (NCO) leads troops directly. Officers command, plan, and make policy. NCOs make it happen. Good NCOs are the repository of common sense in the ranks, the ones who know their troops well. Having worn the rank of Sergeant, and then becoming an officer myself, I often spoke of the importance of officers having NCO supervision.

There’s a reason most U.S. Army officers have an enlisted counterpart, wisdom that was baked into the system long ago. They are integral to a healthy balance of leadership in the military setting. It is against this backdrop that Tim Walz’s behavior stands out in such stark relief to the Creed of the Noncommissioned Officer, which states, “I will not use my grade or position to attain pleasure, profit, or personal safety.” The problem is not Master Sergeant Walz moving on to a political career as a civilian. He is following in the wake of many who have come before him—all the way back to the nation’s early years. In the U.S., doing time in the military is frequently a catalyst for one’s political ambitions given the favorable view the public has toward the troops. Consider John Glenn: he was recruited to run for senate specifically for being a Marine and an astronaut. The same can be said of Senator Mark Kelly. Though Americans do not often elect veterans as presidents, they routinely elect them to Congress.

Had Walz retired, gone back to civilian life, and been honest about his military record, this discussion would not be happening. Had he spoken of himself as a “retired Master Sergeant, and former Command Sergeant Major of the 1st Battalion, 125th Field Artillery,” that would have been fine. I retired last year having been selected for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. But I chose to depart as a Major rather than waiting months for the date of promotion and completing an additional three years to maintain the higher rank in retirement. Walz himself made a deliberate choice not to complete the requirements to remain a Command Sergeant Major and was returned to the rank of Master Sergeant in retirement.

Everyone in the military leaves eventually, one way or another. Originally planning for a 30-year career, I chose to leave at 20 years for reasons of conscience and a desire to be more present with my family, after having served tours in combat zones. It seems Walz timed his retirement out of a desire to avoid combat deployment altogether, despite claims of reenlisting specifically to fight in the Global War on Terrorism. There were plenty of reasons why one would dislike the idea of deploying to Iraq, a war the Bush Administration never should have started. Having completed the initial requirements that he signed up for, Walz had every legal right to drop out of the Sergeant Majors academy and retire, instead of continuing to lead his battalion. It is fair to debate the associated honor or dishonor of Walz stepping away as a senior leader when his unit needed him and going behind the back of his immediate supervisors to do so. But the fact remains, it was his choice to make as a free citizen. Many others have made the same choice.

But choosing to step down and then create a false war hero identity for political benefit is deserving of the loudest contempt. Walz attempted to cast himself in the likeness of Rambo, but proves to be more of an emasculated, dancing retired Master Sergeant on the political stage. Once freed of the shackles associated with his military status, Walz falsely branded himself a combat veteran, a claim debunked by the same left-leaning press that’s doing all it can to ensure he and Harris win in November. Every bit as lacking in ethical prowess, the acolytes running Walz’s public relations effort claim that he merely “misspoke.” That is a lie. Veterans know if they served in a designated combat theater and if they carried a weapon in a war zone. These are not distinctions taken lightly. Suggestions otherwise spit in the faces of those who have been on the ground in dangerous places, putting their lives on the line in America’s defense.

One can criticize Walz for his myriad of insane policy choices, a short list of which includes: tampons in boys’ bathrooms, setting up COVID snitch hotlines, letting Minneapolis burn in 2020, joining Minnesota to a list of states that aim to disregard the electoral college, enthusiastic homosexual grooming of children in public schools, and signing legislation that stripped the rights of children who survive an abortion attempt. He deserves condemnation for playing the “military defender of the nation” card while also saying that there is no right to free speech in that pesky Constitution he pledged allegiance to as a soldier. Walz’s record as an elected official is reprehensible. Even without bringing his time in the National Guard into the conversation, he is unqualified for leadership at any level. But since he lied about his military service for personal gain repeatedly over the years, it is right to add that to Walz’s long list of actions that render him unfit for political office.

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“Why did we want Trump there? It wasn’t to help his political campaign,” said Mark Schmitz. “We wanted a leader. That explains why you and Joe didn’t get a call.”

• ‘Heinous, Vile, Disgusting’: Gold Star Families Slam Kamala Harris (ZH)

Gold Star families whose loved ones died in the Biden-Harris administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal have slammed Vice President Kamala Harris over her attack on former President Trump for paying his respects at Arlington National Cemetary last week. Harris slammed Trump’s visit as ‘playing politics,’ however in a series of short videos, eight Gold Star families said they had invited Trump – each of them recording videos which were released in the wake of a statement published by Harris on Saturday, in which she criticized Trump for taking photographs at a wreath-laying ceremony on Monday.

“As Vice President, I have had the privilege of visiting Arlington National Cemetery several times,” said Harris. “It is not a place for politics. And yet, as was reported this week, Donald Trump’s team chose to film a video there, resulting in an altercation with cemetery staff.” Not so fast, Kamala… In one video response, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz called Harris’ post “heinous, vile and disgusting.” “Why did we want Trump there? It wasn’t to help his political campaign,” said Mark Schmitz. “We wanted a leader. That explains why you and Joe didn’t get a call.”

Darren Hoover, father of Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, said Harris lacks “empathy and understanding” about Monday’s ceremony. “In keeping with the reverence and respect that is given to all members of our military that are buried there, we invited President Trump,” he said. “We are the ones that asked for the video and the pictures to be taken at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.” Hoover added that Trump has “been there for us from the very beginning,” and slammed Harris for “playing politics.” “You should be ashamed and embarrassed [about] your lack of empathy and decency as a human being,” said Hoover. “You are only in this for the power and prestige. You don’t care for our military or the citizens of this country.”

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“..her training wheels, bumper bowling, CNN-sponsored softball-lobbing Fischer-Price™ My First Political Interview lovefest..”

• Debate Desperation Time For Democrats (QTR)

You’ll have to believe me that I’m not trying to make a partisan statement when I say that everything the Democrats have done leading up to this election has been inauthentic, phony, and panic-stricken—from swapping out their candidate at the very last minute to flip-flopping on major issues like banning fracking, taxing tips, and EV mandates. In some ways, I think the party would be doing better if they just took a breath and let Kamala Harris’s campaign unwind like any other normal campaign. But if Democrats are experts at one thing, it’s micromanaging things to death out of narcissistic adoration for their own faux intellect—hence we get genius ideas like price-fixing the economy, defunding the police, minting a trillion dollar coin, segregating college campuses to fight racism or trying to tell you what type of stove you can use at home.

Unfortunately for Democrats, the lack of finesse that comes with managing anything like an overly obsessive girlfriend sometimes starts to work against you. For example, Harris’s campaign strategy to keep her out of the media for the first 40 days of being a candidate put abnormal scrutiny on her first television appearance, which turned out to have the intellectual horsepower of a Whoopie Cushion. The whole world watched Harris take pre-scripted and probably pre-approved questions from a Democrat-friendly anchor, on a Democrat-friendly network, and put on a masterclass of how not to effectively articulate herself, her policies, her position changes, or generally anything of substance. For Donald Trump’s first debate with Joe Biden, the Democratic Party went full “control freak” and made innumerable requests for rule changes like the debate was being hosted at some Eastern European Ritz-Carlton and they were Hunter Biden on a coke bender ordering room service.

They requested chairs, notepads, water, excessive TV breaks, and muted microphones, ostensibly fearing Donald Trump’s razor-sharp tongue and uncanny ability to talk shit on the fly. When they got their request, and Trump and Biden faced off with muted mics, Biden was left to his own devices and promptly self-immolated on national television, while Donald Trump stood by, watched, and shrugged his shoulders as if to say in a Sopranos-style New Jersey Italian accent, “Can you believe this fucking guy?” Now, after watching their precious Kamala Harris nearly implode during her training wheels, bumper bowling, CNN-sponsored softball-lobbing Fischer-Price™ My First Political Interview lovefest last week (which was rumored to have been edited down to 18 minutes from 41), Democrats are once again nervous that their candidate is unable to articulate themselves and their policies well enough to win a cordial debate on the merits.

So, the Democratic Party is now requesting another flip-flop (surprise!) and asking that microphones for the debate between Trump and Harris on September 10th remain live for the entire event. And in hilarious fashion, they’re accusing Trump of being scared to change the rules. The mic mute was a Democrat request a month ago and, as a reminder, Trump has been deftly maneuvering near-daily press conferences where he is assaulted by hostile reporters whose sole intention is to humiliate him, while at the same time Kamala Harris has still avoided any solo unscripted, consequential press conferences or interviews. The notion that Trump is rattled by the request, like the media has been parroting, is insulting to the intelligence of anyone with an IQ higher than AstroTurf™.

The Democratic strategy seems to be clear: they want Harris to have a hot mic so she can go “brat” on Trump and run her mouth in the absence of having any policy prescriptions that can drive the interest of voters. It’s the epitome of inauthenticity and phoniness. Much like when Hillary Clinton revealed the term “Trumped-up trickle-down economics” during a 2016 debate, the Democrats are going full cringe and trying to script an “unscripted” moment for her to be remembered by. They want her talking to Trump in the same condescending way she speaks to everyone, despite being devoid of substance in her words.

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“Freedom of speech is under massive attack around the world..”

• Elon Musk Warns Censorship Of X “Is A Certainty” If Kamala Harris Wins (MN)

X owner Elon Musk has warned Americans that if the Democrats win the election in November, censorship of the platform is a “certainty.” Musk was responding to a post that posited X could be suspended in America as it has just been in Brazil by a leftist judge acting to censor his political opponents. “When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the post from X Global Government Affairs notes.

It adds that “Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.” Musk urged that this situation could easily unfold in the U.S. should Trump not be elected. Musk followed up with a post highlighting previous footage of Kamala Harris demanding that Trump be suspended from the old Twitter. “Freedom of speech is under massive attack around the world,” Musk declared. Harris has a track record of censoring social media for political clout.

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“..that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.”

• Harris Admits The Economy-Crushing ‘Green New Deal’ Is Her Real Agenda (ZH)

Democrats (and Neo-Cons) never actually abandon an agenda, even if the majority of the population is against it. Instead, they look for the backdoor and pass legislation subversively by hiding it within other measures. The Green New Deal was a wildly unpopular concept rooted in UN-related climate directives on carbon emissions that would, if fully enforced, destroy the US economy in a decade or less. The EU in particular has been aggressive in expediting similar programs which now threaten the agricultural base of half the Europe. This has led to rising farmer protests and given momentum to “far-right” movements, a prospect that the social engineers at the EU Commission seem to fear more than anything else. Their solution? They are attempting to bribe farmers with subsidies and have offered to lessen the number of visits farms would receive from bureaucratic agents armed with fines and red tape. How nice of them…

As Jeremy Clarkson has cleverly proven in his show ‘Clarkson’s Farm’, trying to operate an agricultural business almost anywhere in Europe or the UK is a regulatory nightmare that would put most farmers in the US out of business immediately (America is headed in this direction). And that’s without the benefit of carbon emissions rules. Subsidies are the only thing keeping them alive, but the real trick is that the strict regulations force farmers into a position where they need subsidies. It’s a government enforced racket. Europeans suffered supply chain collapse and true famine during and after WWII and the experience is still burned into their collective cultural memory. It’s hard to say if the bribery scheme will work out the way the EU elites hope. Once carbon rules are passed and accepted as the norm, though, there’s no chance that they will be rescinded. They will continue to be enforced even when food inflation skyrockets again and mass starvation becomes a reality.

In the US, staunch opposition from conservatives prevented the direct passage of the Green New Deal. Biden denied his administration had any intention of pursuing GND policies in 2020 during a debate with Donald Trump. Biden was asked by moderator Chris Wallace if he supported the Green New Deal: “No, I don’t support the Green New Deal,” Biden said. “Oh you don’t? Oh, well, that’s a big statement,” Trump interrupted. “I support the Biden plan that I put forward,” Biden said, “which is different than what (Trump) calls the ‘radical’ Green New Deal.”

Of course, Biden would later covertly embed carbon policies into his “Inflation Reduction Act” – A piece of legislation that utterly failed to accomplish its name (CPI measurements have gone down, but inflation has not), but succeeded in launching the first stage of climate controls outlined in the GND. Biden has continued to deny that the GND is a goal of his administration, but Kamala Harris seems to have spilled the beans in her first major media interview since she became the Democratic candidate. “I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed…You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed – and I have worked on it – that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.”

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“..national debt surpassed $35 trillion for the first time in history, increasing by a trillion since January..”

• US In ‘Fast Lane’ To Bankruptcy – Musk (RT)

The US is rapidly moving towards bankruptcy because the government in Washington is spending too much money, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has warned. On Thursday, Musk shared a post on his X (formerly Twitter) platform by another user, who cited a forecast from the US government budget for fiscal year 2025 that said that the budget deficit could increase from the current $1.8 billion to almost $16.3 billion by 2035. “At current rates of government spending, America is in the fast lane to bankruptcy,” Musk wrote. The tech billionaire also suggested that “government overspending is what causes inflation” in the country.

The US annual inflation rate dipped below 3% in July for the first time since 2021, according to a Labor Department report, issued two weeks ago. The prices for goods and services went up by 2.9%, while core inflation, which excludes food and energy industries, rose by 3.2% over the previous 12 months. In late July, the US Treasury Department announced that the country’s national debt surpassed $35 trillion for the first time in history, increasing by a trillion since January. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted that by 2034 the debt will exceed $50 trillion, amounting to more than 122% of America’s GDP.

The CBO also said that it expects the country’s average annual GDP growth rate to be at around 1.8% from 2029 to 2034. In June, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) think tank claimed that the national debt grew by $4.3 billion under incumbent US President Joe Biden, compared to $8.4 billion during Donald Trump’s term in office. In August, Trump gave a lengthy interview to Musk on X. Shortly after that, the Republican presidential candidate said that he would consider the tech billionaire, whom he described as a “brilliant guy,” for a role in his administration if he wins the election in November. Musk replied to the offer in a post, stressing that he is “willing to serve.”

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“..Hamas claimed that the hostages were “deliberately” killed by the IDF. In a video addressed to the Israeli army following the recovery of the bodies, the Qassam Brigade reiterated that “they were alive and were supposed to be released in the first phase of the deal.”

• Protests Sweep Israel After Hostage Deaths (RT)

Tens of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Israel on Sunday, demanding an immediate ceasefire deal from the government after the bodies of six hostages were discovered in Gaza tunnels the day before. Israel’s largest trade union has called for a nationwide strike on Monday to shut down the “entire Israeli economy,” with rights organizations urging a halt to pressure the government into signing a hostage-ceasefire deal. The Sunday demonstrations are said to be the largest since Israel launched its war on Hamas in response to the October 7 attack, which left around 1,200 Israelis dead and 200 taken hostage. Organizers described the rally as an “endless sea of protesters,” estimating a crowd of 300,000 people in Tel Aviv and an additional 200,000 in other cities across the country.

In Tel Aviv, protesters marched to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) headquarters, carrying six “symbolic coffins” and chanting, “We won’t abandon them” and “Now! Now!” Many blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to secure a deal to bring the hostages home safely. Frustration intensified when it was alleged that three of the six hostages killed were slated for release during the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July. A group of protesters erected a mock cemetery and held signs “named after Benjamin Netanyahu.” “Nothing is worse than knowing they could have been saved,” one demonstrator told reporters, adding, “Sometimes it takes something so awful to shake people up and get them out into the streets.” Later that night, the protests turned violent as demonstrators blocked roads and burned tires. Police deployed water cannons and stun grenades to disperse the crowds. One policewoman was reportedly injured in the confrontation, and dozens were arrested.

“During the illegal demonstration, police forces in Tel Aviv arrested 29 suspects who violated orders, attacked officers, and engaged in brutal vandalism,” law enforcement stated on X (formerly Twitter). Israeli political commentator Sri Goldberg asserted that Netanyahu should be “worried” about the widespread protests, explaining that the deaths of the hostages made it clear to many that “the policy of Israel’s government is profoundly detrimental to Israelis—and perhaps, in the case of the hostages, even lethal.” Meanwhile, Hamas claimed that the hostages were “deliberately” killed by the IDF. In a video addressed to the Israeli army following the recovery of the bodies, the Qassam Brigade reiterated that “they were alive and were supposed to be released in the first phase of the deal.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

RFKIVM

 

 

Wood

 

 

Groomer
https://twitter.com/i/status/1830169064158712146

 

 

Count dogs
https://twitter.com/i/status/1830209655823388980

 

 

Ducklings
https://twitter.com/i/status/1830208695986200702

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle August 31 2024

Aug 312024
 
 August 31, 2024  Posted by at 8:50 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  38 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Five women 1907

 

• Trump Threatens Zuckerberg With Life In Prison (RT)
• Nuclear War Is World’s Biggest Threat – Trump (Sp.)
• World Leaders, Even Macron, Still Use Telegram Despite Durov Arrest (Sp.)
• Kremlin Affirms Putin, Durov Never Held Any Meetings (Sp.)
• France Stoops To Hostage-taking of Pavel Durov (SCF)
• 3 Key Battlegrounds May Still Omit Kamala (HUSA)
• Tulsi Gabbard About Endorsing Trump: ‘This Is Personal For Me’ (ZH)
• The Significance of the Passage of Time (Kunstler)
• Judge Bans X In Brazil For Refusing To Comply With Demands (ZH)
• Musk’s X Lawsuit Against Media Matters Can Proceed To Trial: Judge (ZH)
• US To Give Zelensky ‘Free Hand’ On Deep Strikes Into Russia – Moscow (RT)
• Ukraine Says Its Biggest Problem Is Western Concern for Escalation (Antiwar)
• Medvedev Believes He Knows Why Kiev Wants Donbass (RT)
• Putin ‘Not Worried’ About ICC Warrant On Mongolia Trip – Kremlin (RT)
• Look, If You Guys Have To Go, We’re Behind You All The Way (Alastair Crooke)
• “That Little Piece of Paper” of the Founders (Turley)

 

 

 

 

Death machine
https://twitter.com/i/status/1829454153401155836

 

 

CNN
https://twitter.com/i/status/1829344582146183408

 

 

Arlington

 

 

Zack

 

 

Shanahan

 

 

Alina

 

 

 

 

“We already know who you are. Don’t do it! Zuckerbucks, be careful..”

• Trump Threatens Zuckerberg With Life In Prison (RT)

Former US President Donald Trump has accused Mark Zuckerberg of plotting against him during the 2020 election and has warned the Meta CEO against doing it again in the vote this November, according to an excerpt from his soon-to-be released book seen by Politico. Titled ‘Save America’ and set to be published next week, Trump’s book features a photograph of himself meeting with Zuckerberg in the White House when he was president. Under the photo Trump wrote a caption stating that the Meta chief “would come to the Oval Office to see me. He would bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true plot against the president.” Trump, Politico’s report says, appears to be referring to a $420-million contribution that Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan made during the 2020 presidential election to fund voting infrastructure.

The former president went on to claim that Zuckerberg had told him that there was “nobody like Trump on Facebook” but at the same time had “steered it against me.” “We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison – as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump reportedly warns in the book. The excerpt examined by Politico follows similar statements made by Trump in the past. In July, the Republican presidential candidate also wrote on his Truth Social platform that, if elected, he would pursue “election fraudsters at levels never seen before” and would send them to prison for “long periods of time.” “We already know who you are. Don’t do it! Zuckerbucks, be careful,” Trump wrote.

While Meta has not commented on the former president’s allegations and warnings, earlier this week Zuckerberg sent a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, confessing that senior officials from US President Joe Biden’s administration had “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to “censor” Covid-19 content back in 2021. The Meta CEO noted in the letter that he believed that “government pressure was wrong” and expressed regret for not speaking out about it at the time. Zuckerberg went on to declare that he will no longer compromise Facebook’s content standards due to pressure “from any administration in either direction.” He pledged to “push back if something like this happens again,” and will remain politically “neutral” ahead of the November election.

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“..help maintain stability around the world by keeping lines of communication open..”

• Nuclear War Is World’s Biggest Threat – Trump (Sp.)

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said during a town hall event in the state of Wisconsin that the biggest challenge the United States and the international community face is preventing a nuclear war in the near future. “In my opinion, the biggest problem our country has, the biggest problem the world has, is nuclear weapons,” Trump said on Thursday. “They are a destructive force, the likes of which nobody has ever seen before, and we have to make sure they’re never used.” Trump said he’d be able to help maintain stability around the world by keeping lines of communication open, adding “I could do it with telephone calls, by being smart.”

Trump mentioned that the United States and Russia are the biggest nuclear powers, but expects that China will catch up in about five years as it builds up its nuclear arsenal. Trump is expected to enter arms control talks with Russia if he returns to the White House after the November election.

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“The list could go on indefinitely..”

• World Leaders, Even Macron, Still Use Telegram Despite Durov Arrest (Sp.)

Despite recent allegations that Telegram is being used for criminal activities, leaders from around the world, including French President Emmanuel Macron, continue to actively utilize the encrypted messaging service. Earlier this week, Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, faced preliminary charges for allegedly facilitating criminal activities on his encrypted platform. These charges include accusations of enabling drug trafficking and the sharing of sexual images of minors due to inadequate moderation. Durov’s arrest has not deterred President Macron from using the messaging app. According to European press reports, on August 26, the head of state was indicated to have logged into Telegram “recently.” Additionally, French lawmakers, cabinet members, and presidential advisers frequently use the messaging platform, as revealed by the media.

Macron has been active on the platform since the early days of his first presidential campaign. He has over 112,000 followers and his latest post is dated August 12. Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who boasts over 1.6 million followers, shares posts on Telegram practically on a daily basis. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also active on Telegram, with his most recent post dated August 28. A verified account belonging to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador also exists on the platform. On August 30, he began sharing a series of posts about the Tren Maya, a renowned railway project in Mexico. Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s account, which boasts almost 200,000 followers, makes use of Telegram for official announcements. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu runs an official account on the messaging service in Russian. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali takes to Telegram regularly to shed light on the African nation’s urgent issues. The list could go on indefinitely. The platform has evolved into a convenient means for world leaders to engage with their constituents.

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“No, as far as I know, they never met..”

• Kremlin Affirms Putin, Durov Never Held Any Meetings (Sp.)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Telegram founder Pavel Durov have never held meetings, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. On August 24, Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram, was detained at a Paris airport on charges related to the criminal use of his messaging app, including terrorism, child pornography, drug trafficking, money laundering and fraud. The 39-year-old billionaire holds citizenship of several countries, including France. On Wednesday, Durov was released under judicial supervision, banned from leaving France and ordered to pay a 5 million euro ($5.5 million) bail. “No, as far as I know, they never met,” Peskov told reporters. Durov had not held any negotiations with the Kremlin, the official said, adding that there were no agreements.

Peskov on also refused to comment on the detention of two Colombian citizens in Russia, redirecting the question to the relevant departments. “I have no information at all about the detention of Colombian citizens. I suggest you contact the relevant services — the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the FSB. This is not a topic for the Presidential Administration,” Peskov told reporters. Earlier in the day, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said that it had detained two Colombian citizens suspected of participating in military operations on Ukraine’s side as mercenaries.

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“Why not arrest the owners of telephone companies based on the same logic..”

“Why shouldn’t Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk be arrested next ..?

• France Stoops To Hostage-taking of Pavel Durov (SCF)

The charges against Durov are not only draconian but also absurd. The notion of holding the owner of a social network platform as being responsible for or complicit in the content of the network is preposterous. Why not arrest the owners of telephone companies based on the same logic? It’s ridiculous and indicates an ulterior motive. Telegram was founded in 2013-2014 by Durov (and his older brother). He left Russia in 2014 because he refused to comply with Russian authorities on allowing access to the privacy of users. Over the years, Telegram has grown worldwide to become one of the major messaging apps with nearly one billion monthly users. It has gained a reputation for secure communications and fierce independence from governments.

Pavel told American journalist Tucker Carlson in an interview earlier this year that he has routinely been harassed by U.S. authorities to hand over the encryption keys of Telegram, which he has refused to do. By contrast, Western-based competitor apps such as WhatsApp and Western-controlled internet companies are known to have relented to pressure from the U.S. and European authorities on allowing “backdoor access” to supposedly private communications between individuals and groups. Having said that, however, the content of these Western apps is also tainted with crime networks and horrendously sordid material. Why shouldn’t Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk be arrested next on similar charges to those leveled at Pavel Durov? The difference is that Telegram has refused to comply with Western state intelligence services as it previously did with Russian counterparts. A case can be made that the Telegram owner is a “free speech absolutist”.

Much more important than the marginal criminal use of Telegram (as all apps are prone to), is the preponderant use of the platform for disseminating independent news and analysis. Telegram has gained an enviable reputation for its accurate information on the war in Ukraine. Numerous independent news channels have flourished on Telegram to bring reliable and critical information about the conflict. Unlike Western media and social network platforms that kowtow to Western governments and NATO propaganda, Telegram has enabled a much more informed view of the war that exposes the Western narratives as a sham. Defense of Ukrainian democracy? More like defense of a NeoNazi regime and defense of Western war economies. The fact is Telegram has become a globally important independent media network that is not controlled by Western regimes.

It is for this reason that it is in the cross-hairs for repression, not because of alleged criminal activity by its owner. The latter reason is a pathetic pretext. At a time when the U.S.-led NATO proxy war in Ukraine against Russia has entered a disastrous phase of defeat, the Western elite must shut down all and every critical media. It is no coincidence that following the outrageous persecution of Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange (five years in solitary confinement in a British dungeon) for exposing U.S. and NATO war crimes, we now see a surge in cases of cracking down on free media. American commentator Scott Ritter who has been a valued critic of the U.S. proxy war in Ukraine, recently had his home raided by the FBI. Other independent journalists have been arrested or harassed in Britain, France, Germany and across Europe for their critical views on the war in Ukraine or the Western-supported Israeli genocide in Palestine.

Western so-called democracies are increasingly using fascist jackboot attacks on independent journalism and freedom of thought. The Western elites and their fascistic power cannot abide any criticism or dissent that is fatal to their charade of authority. Emmanuel Macron, with his pretensions of grandeur and brittle egotism, embodies the Western elite. Pavel Durov is awaiting the outcome of a vague and nebulous cybercrime investigation that may take years to complete. After which he may be imprisoned for another 10 years and pay huge financial fines. France which claims to uphold the highest principles of free speech has just descended to hostage-taking of innocent people for the vile purpose of killing free speech and independence of thought.

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“..the deadline for removing Biden from the ballot has already long since passed in Georgia, Wisconsin and Nevada.”

• 3 Key Battlegrounds May Still Omit Kamala (HUSA)

Earlier this month, leftist secretaries of state pounced at the opportunity to attack Trump-backing billionaire Elon Musk over allegations that his artificial intelligence chatbot had errantly suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris would not make the ballot in several states. Curiously enough, the complaint appeared to ignore three major battleground states where the law still stipulates that President Joe Biden will appear on the ballot as the Democrat candidate, according to a leading conservative think-tank, which suggested that claims of Harris being eligible to appear in all 50 states may be the real disinformation. Grok—which is available only to subscribers of the premium versions of X—debuted last year and was touted by Musk as a “rebellious” AI chatbot that would answer “spicy questions that are rejected by most other AI systems.” However, not all of its responses may be entirely accurate.

Top election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington sent a letter to Musk on Aug. 5 complaining that the chatbot had produced false information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. According to the letter, Grok had indicated that the deadline for replacing Biden had already passed in nine states states where it had not: Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. “In all nine states the opposite is true: The ballots are not closed, and upcoming ballot deadlines would allow for changes to candidates listed on the ballot,” the secretaries wrote. Following the fix, the chatbot now says, “For accurate and up-to-date information about the 2024 U.S. Elections, please visit Vote.gov” before listing responses to election-related questions.

“We appreciate X’s action to improve their platform and hope they continue to make improvements that will ensure their users have access to accurate information from trusted sources in this critical election year,” the secretaries of state wrote. Even while Biden was in the race, ballot eligibility in Ohio, Alabama and Washington was a source of concern since all three initially had ballot deadlines that took effect prior to last week’s Democrat convention in Chicago. In each case, however, the state legislature or the secretary of state worked to resolve the loophole and ensure that the Democrat nominee would be on the ballot. That nominee, of course, proved not to be Biden but rather Harris, his former running mate, after party elites forced the incumbent president out of the race. To play it safe, Democrats conducted a virtual nominating process that took place prior to Harris’s ceremonial nomination and acceptance speech at last week’s convention.

Yet, despite the focus on states where Harris is now assured her spot on the ballot, major questions remain as to whether she will be eligible to appear in at least three other crucial swing states. According to the Heritage Oversight Project, an election-integrity watchdog launched by prominent conservative think-tank the Heritage Foundation, the deadline for removing Biden from the ballot has already long since passed in Georgia, Wisconsin and Nevada. [..] Mike Howell, the executive director of the Oversight Project, told Headline USA in an email that its researchers “were not mistaken at all” about their read on the state laws. Democrats are “not out of the woods yet … and I’m wondering why no one with standing is suing,” Howell said. “The DNC and Biden claimed that Biden was already the nominee before he was taken out, Howell added. “So now they have two nominees, without formally withdrawing and substi[tu]ting one of them, and I’m not sure why Secretaries of State are okay with that process.”

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“He would meet with whoever he needed to pursue peace. Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump for doing exactly that.”

• Tulsi Gabbard About Endorsing Trump: ‘This Is Personal For Me’ (ZH)

Former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI) offered a detailed explanation for her endorsement of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 White House bid earlier this week on Fox Business’s “Kudlow.”

DAVID ASMAN: since you and RFK are part of the Trump campaign, explain why did you go with Trump?

TULSI GABBARD: The choice in this election is very clear and the differences between President Trump and Vice President Harris couldn’t be more stark. Frankly, to put it simply, the choice for the American people is a choice with Donald Trump, a man who values peace, prosperity, and freedom. He has a record that proves that. And Vice President Kamala Harris, whose record shows an increasingly tyrannical government undermining our freedoms. We are embroiled in multiple wars and the world is closer to the brink of nuclear war than ever before, with increasing economic hardship for Americans throughout the 3Ω years she served as Vice President of the United States. The contrast couldn’t be more clear.

This is personal for me, the endorsement of President Trump. As a soldier for over 21 years, I deployed to multiple war zones in different parts of the world, putting my life on the line for the safety, security, and freedom of the American people. It is important to me and every one of my brothers and sisters in uniform that we have a Commander-in-Chief who values every one of our lives, who carries that responsibility as Commander-in-Chief very seriously, and who will exhaust all diplomatic avenues before seeing war truly as a last resort.

The last point that I will make on this—another point of contrast—is that President Trump showed through his last administration that not only did he not start any new wars, but he took action to prevent them by courageously meeting with adversaries, allies, partners, dictators. He would meet with whoever he needed to pursue peace. Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump for doing exactly that. That shows if she is elected President, she will not do what is necessary in the pursuit of peace, and I’m certain she will lead us very quickly into a war to mask the weakness and insecurity that she feels and try to project strength using the lives of my brothers and sisters in uniform to do so.

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Zero Hedge is right: the title should have been “Why Haven’t You Done That Already?”. Jim is one round behind.

• The Significance of the Passage of Time (Kunstler)

Did you think Kamala would still be rising on the joyful billows of hot air that blew out of the Democratic Convention? Like so many of the magic tricks in the party’s repertoire, that one was a spoof of artificial levitation, to give the appearance of something holding up, like, say, the US economy, when there is actually nothing underneath. Nothing real, that is. What’s giving the economy its appearance of loft has been “Joe Biden” pouring government money into scores of party-connected NGOs as pure grift. The main effect of that is the inflation that everybody notices. Meanwhile, nobody gets hooked up to promised broadband and only eight EV charging stations get built for $7.5-billion allocated to the Department of Transportation.

The current prank, though, is to artificially pump-up Ms. Harris in the polls in the attempt to justify the coming ballot fraud to be executed two months from now, as engineered by election lawfare maestro Marc Elias, now on the Harris campaign payroll. That is, an effort to obviate any apparent discrepancies between actual poll numbers and harvested ballots flooding in at two o’clock in the morning on Nov 6. As it happens, Ms. Harris’s poll numbers have begun to sink the past week, as the tactic of hiding the candidate from the press has backfired. As of August 29, Nate Silver has her chance of winning down at 42.7 to Mr. Trump’s 56.7. Voters have begun to notice that the candidate represents nothing except whatever happened the past four years in Biden-Land — which is to say, open borders, war for the sake of arms profiteers, flagrant censorship, inflation, cratering business activity, and overt DOJ political persecutions. Martin Armstrong, for instance, has estimated Kamala Harris’s true polling number in the ten percent range. Yikes.

So, what was the net effect of the CNN interview with Ms. Harris? It couldn’t have helped. They had to get her out of hiding, considering the significance of the passage of time in an election campaign. Even the in-the-tank news media was starting to complain about her holing-up on the bus. Dana Bash was surprisingly harsh at times when the veep confabulated about her plans to “fix” America’s problems, like asking, “Why haven’t you done that already?” The answer was the bizarre, “We can do what we’ve accomplished so far.” Roger that. You’re probably wondering: how Mr. Trump will play this? He’d best be polite about it and assume that the voters can see and understand the obvious: that the Democrats have put up an especially inadequate candidate who can’t explain away the fiascos of the past four years. He doesn’t have to rub in so hard that it seems cruel.

His own policy intentions are a quite clear alternative to four years of hoaxes, pranks, trips, gaslighting, and grift. Installing Ms. Harris without any input or votes from the party rank-and-file was about as desperate an affront to “our democracy” as anyone could imagine, like something straight out of the old Soviet politburo, picking an Andropov or a Chernenko. Mr. Trump should remind audiences of this at every opportunity if the Democrats keep yapping about “our democracy,” which seems to be all they’ve got. Something is slip-sliding out there, perhaps the solidarity of the news media. Even The New York Times dissed Kamala Harris — Bret Stephens called her interview “vague and vacuous” the day after. One thing you have to give CNN credit for: they didn’t show a whole lot of Kamala Harris cackling in her trademark manner — to cover that mental vacuum. The cackle has been getting very mixed reviews, anyway, when you disconnect it from the fake “joy” trope. Maybe a laugh-riot is what’s in the missing 23-minutes that CNN edited out of the 41-minute recording.

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“..In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings..”

• Judge Bans X In Brazil For Refusing To Comply With Demands (ZH)

As we previewed overnight, Elon Musk’s X has been ordered ‘immediately suspended’ by Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, citing the company’s refusal to comply with a legal order to censor the judge’s political opponents, Bloomberg reports. Officially, the ruling was due to Musk’s refusal to name a legal representative for the social network (after the judge froze his last attorney’s bank accounts). On Thursday, X’s global government affairs account said that it would “not comply in secret with illegal orders,” and said that it would publish Moraes’ demands and related court documents for transparency.

More: “When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts. Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him. We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that. In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings in the interest of transparency. Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders. To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech.”

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The judge in Brazil wants to bring in Starlink in a suit vs X. Media Matters wants to bring in Tesla. But these are all separate companies, in completely different industries. You can’t hold the shareholders of one company responsible for what happens at another.

• Musk’s X Lawsuit Against Media Matters Can Proceed To Trial: Judge (ZH)

A federal judge in Texas has ruled that a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk’s X against Media Matters can proceed to trial, after dismissing a request by the Democrat-run enterprise. “Because the Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendants, venue is proper, and Plaintiff has properly pled its claims, Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is denied,” wrote Judge Reed O’Connor in his ruling. X, formerly known as Twitter, filed the suit in November after Musk threatened to bring a “thermonuclear lawsuit” against the left-leaning nonprofit and “all those who colluded” for “completely misrepresenting” the real user experience on X.” According to the lawsuit, Media Matters – founded by Democratic operative David Brock, who left the organization in 2022, used manipulative and deceptive tactics to convince advertisers like Apple, IBM and Disney that ‘hateful’ content was being displayed next to their brands – leading them to pause their X advertising campaigns. X claims Media Matters fabricated the results. From the original complaint:

“Media Matters has opted for new tactics in its campaign to drive advertisers from X. Media Matters has manipulated the algorithms governing the user experience on X to bypass safeguards and create images of X’s largest advertisers’ paid posts adjacent to racist, incendiary content, leaving the false impression that these pairings are anything but what they actually are: manufactured, inorganic, and extraordinarily rare. Media Matters executed this plot in multiple steps, as X’s internal investigations have revealed. First, Media Matters accessed accounts that had been active for at least 30 days, bypassing X’s ad filter for new users. Media Matters then exclusively followed a small subset of users consisting entirely of accounts in one of two categories: those known to produce extreme, fringe content, and accounts owned by X’s big-name advertisers.

The end result was a feed precision-designed by Media Matters for a single purpose: to produce side-by-side ad/content placements that it could screenshot in an effort to alienate advertisers. But this activity still was not enough to create the pairings of advertisements and content that Media Matters aimed to produce. Media Matters therefore resorted to endlessly scrolling and refreshing its unrepresentative, hand-selected feed, generating between 13 and 15 times more advertisements per hour than viewed by the average X user repeating this inauthentic activity until it finally received pages containing the result it wanted: controversial content next to X’s largest advertisers’ paid posts.”

Andrew Carusone, president of Media Matters and one of the defendants, said that it was a “frivolous lawsuit” that was “meant to bully X’s critics into silence.” Judge O’Connor didn’t buy it, and denied the nonprofit’s effort to have the case dismissed, ruling that X “had properly pled its claims.” In August, O’Connor dismissed a request by Media Matters to force Musk to list Tesla as an interested party in X’s lawsuit against the nonprofit. O’Connor said at the time in a legal filing that “there is no evidence that shows Tesla has a direct financial interest in the outcome of this case.” O’Connor was also overseeing a recently filed antitrust lawsuit by X against a global advertising association and its member companies like Unilever, Mars and CVS Health. O’Connor then recused himself from the lawsuit. Although he didn’t provide a reason for the recusal, a recent financial disclosure showed that the judge invests in Unilever.” -CNBC

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“..Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the US and their allies to “children playing with matches” over their continued speculations about greenlighting Ukrainian strikes..”

• US To Give Zelensky ‘Free Hand’ On Deep Strikes Into Russia – Moscow (RT)

Washington is prepared to lift its ban on Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia’s territory with the use of US-supplied weapons, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Last week, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said that US “policy does allow for Ukraine to conduct counter fires to defend itself from Russian attacks coming over that border region,” including Kursk Region, where an incursion by Kiev’s forces has been ongoing since early August. On Monday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Washington was aware of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s “desire” to be allowed to fire US weapons such as ATACMS missiles, which have a range of up to 300km (186 miles), deep into Russia. “We will keep the conversations with the Ukrainians going [on the issue], but we are going to keep them private,” he said.

“Extremely serious conclusions” can be drawn from the latest statements coming from Washington, Zakharova said on Friday. “Ukraine has been given a carte blanche for operations in Russian regions,” she added. “Furthermore, the administration of [US President] Joe Biden is obviously getting ready to make new concessions to Zelensky and give him a free hand to use virtually any type of American weapons, including [for attacks] deep into Russian territory,” the spokeswoman stressed, as cited by RIA Novosti. Through its continued support for Kiev, Washington “has effectively become a party to the armed conflict over Ukraine,” she insisted.

“The US course towards escalation is becoming increasingly outrageous. It seems that the American elites have cast aside the last vestiges of common sense and believe that anything is allowed to them,” Zakharova said. Earlier this week, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the US and their allies to “children playing with matches” over their continued speculations about greenlighting Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russian territory. “It is a very dangerous thing to do for grown-ups, who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned earlier that Moscow might engage in an asymmetrical response to the US supply of long-range systems to Ukraine, by arming groups or countries hostile to Washington – such as North Korea – with advanced weaponry.

Read more …

We should welcome nuclear war.

• Ukraine Says Its Biggest Problem Is Western Concern for Escalation (Antiwar)

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Wednesday that the biggest problem Kyiv has faced in its war against Russia is the Western concern for escalation and the risk of provoking Moscow. “Ever since the beginning of the large-scale invasion, the biggest problem Ukraine has been facing is the domination of the concept of escalation in the decision-making processes among our partners,” Kuleba said, according to Reuters. The foreign minister’s comments come as Ukraine is pushing hard for the US to allow long-range strikes inside Russian territory using US-provided missiles. Russia has strongly warned against the move and suggested that it would risk World War III. “The war is always about a lot of hardware: money, weapons, resources but the real problems are always here, in the heads,” Kuleba said.

“Most of our partners are afraid of discussing the future of Russia… This is something that is very upsetting because if we do not speak about the future of the source of threat, then we cannot build strategy.” Throughout the war, the US and NATO have taken steps that they previously ruled out over escalation concerns, such as providing tanks and fighter jets. The most recent significant escalation was President Biden’s decision to give Ukraine the greenlight to use US weapons in attacks on Russian border regions. A few months later, Ukraine launched its invasion of Kursk. Kuleba made the comments during a conversation with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who expressed support for allowing Ukraine to launch long-range strikes with NATO weapons. Sikorski said NATO should “let Ukraine fight with whatever it has, with whatever we have delivered them, and let’s deliver them more.”

Read more …

“..the natural resources located in Donbass are estimated to be worth $7.3 trillion..”

• Medvedev Believes He Knows Why Kiev Wants Donbass (RT)

Ukraine is fighting for Donbass because of the region’s vast natural resources, which Kiev and its foreign backers want to exploit, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday. The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, which officially joined Russia together with Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions in the fall of 2022, are “completely alien” to Ukraine in terms of culture, Medvedev wrote on Telegram. The reason why the Kiev authorities are trying to get them back so desperately, he explained, “is trivial: money is needed.” “The criminal clique” of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, which “has stolen so heavily,”has led the country’s economy to “disaster,” while Kiev’s backers in the US and the EU have also “spent a lot” on aiding Ukraine during conflict, which “irritates” their populations, Medvedev, who serves as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, also pointed out.

The West needs a “payback” from Ukraine, he said, adding that it has nothing to do with Zelensky personally. “This kid will be gone soon, but the debt will remain. And it must be paid off, with interest,” the former president noted. Medevdev reminded readers that, according to open-source data, the natural resources located in Donbass are estimated to be worth $7.3 trillion. The area is rich in coal, metals, rare-earth elements and other valuable materials, including lithium, he added. “To get access to the coveted minerals, the Western parasites shamelessly demand that their wards [in Kiev] wage war to the last Ukrainian,” he wrote. Western politicians are “directly voicing” their plans, the official said, referring to a statement made by South Carolina’s Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

In June, the Republican lawmaker called Ukraine a “gold mine” due to its vast reserve of “critical minerals.” Graham argued that Washington should keep helping Kiev in the conflict with Moscow to make sure those “assets could be used by Ukraine and the West, not given to Putin and China.” With the Russian military making steady gains in Donbass since the start of the year and now approaching the strategic town of Pokrovsk, “the fact remains that the economic basis of Ukrainian statehood has been undermined,” Medvedev wrote. The resource base that had been “illegally obtained” by Kiev after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 “has returned to its native country,” which is Russia, he said. As for Ukraine, the Western aid it gets “will soon dry up” and all that awaits the country is “rapid decomposition and imminent disintegration,” the former president concluded.

Read more …

The ICC has now “ordered” Mongolia to arrest Putin.

• Putin ‘Not Worried’ About ICC Warrant On Mongolia Trip – Kremlin (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not concerned that Mongolia might arrest him on International Criminal Court charges during his upcoming trip, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Putin is scheduled to visit Mongolia on Monday for a World War II commemoration. This would theoretically put him at risk of arrest on the ICC’s “war crimes” warrant, as Ulaanbaatar recognizes the court’s jurisdiction. “We have excellent relations with our friends from Mongolia,” Peskov told reporters on Friday. All issues concerning Putin’s visit have been “worked out separately” he added, noting that Moscow “has no concerns” about the ICC warrant. Putin is expected to attend a ceremony commemorating the 1939 Battle of Khalkhin Gol. The Soviet-Mongolian victory over the Imperial Japanese Army secured the USSR’s eastern flank until 1945. The Russian president received assurances from the Mongolian government that he will not be arrested, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The ICC issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest in March 2023, accusing the Russian president of “unlawful deportation of population (children)” and “unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.” Moscow has rejected the claims as ridiculous, noting that evacuation of civilians from combat zones – where they were targeted by Ukrainian artillery and drones – was not a crime. Moreover, neither Russia nor Ukraine signed the Rome Statute, so the ICC has no jurisdiction in the matter. Mongolia, however, ratified the ICC’s founding document in 2002. Six months ago, one of its judges was appointed to sit on the court in a historic first for the Central Asian nation. Mexico has rejected Ukraine’s demand to detain the Russian leader should he travel there later this year for the inauguration of the new Mexican president.

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“..it sets up expectations of available military success from which wrong conclusions will be drawn. We have been here before. It didn’t go well …”

• Look, If You Guys Have To Go, We’re Behind You All The Way (Alastair Crooke)

“The successful thwarting of Hizbullah’s attack on Sunday, symbolized Israel’s intelligence and operational edge”: According to the IDF spokesman, the Hezbollah attack was thwarted for the most part – thanks to 100 Israel aircraft carrying out around the clock – pre-emptive strikes that destroyed “thousands of missile launchers”. “The group [Hizbullah], did manage to fire hundreds of rockets at northern Israel, but the damage they caused was quite limited”, the Israeli spokespersons disdainfully suggested (amidst a complete blackout on publication, under full censorship, in Israel of any reporting on damage caused to strategic Israeli infrastructure or to military sites). In effect, it was ‘theatre’ mounted by both sides: By limiting their 20 minute strike to within 5 kms of the border – and by Hizbullah staying within the ‘equations’ of war – both sides signalled plainly to each other they were not looking for all-out war.

The ‘winner narrative’ from Israel was to be expected in today’s psy-war atmosphere. Yet it comes at a cost: Amos Harel in Haaretz suggests that “there’s a tendency in Israel [as a result] to view the success in foiling Sunday’s attack as renewed evidence of the consolidation of regional deterrence and [of western] strategic supremacy. But such an assessment” he concedes, “appears to be far from accurate”. Indeed it is (far from accurate). The Sunday theatre concluded with no change to the strategic situation in the north of Israel: Daily attrition continues from across the frontier of Lebanon, down to the new 40 km border defining the extent of Israel’s loss of territory to the Hizbullah no-go zone. The strategic point is not that this narrative of a successful thwarting of Hizbullah’s capabilities is highly misleading. Rather, it sets up expectations of available military success from which wrong conclusions will be drawn. We have been here before. It didn’t go well …

Seymour Hersh, doyen of U.S. investigative journalism, this week re-posted a piece that he wrote in August 2006 about U.S. thinking in the context of an Israeli war on Hizbullah – and on its intended role as a pathfinder-project for a subsequent U.S. strike on Iran. What Hersh wrote then represents a striking déjà vu of today’s situation. It remains to the point because U.S. neocon thinking rarely evolves, but remains constant.

“The big question for our [U.S.] Air Force”, Hersh noted in 2006, “was how to hit a series of hard targets in Iran successfully”, the former senior intelligence official said. “Who is the closest ally of the U.S. Air Force in its planning? It’s not Congo—it’s Israel”. The official continued: “Everybody knows that Iranian engineers have been advising Hezbollah on tunnels and underground missile emplacements. And so the USAF went to the Israelis with some new tactics and said to them: ‘Let’s concentrate on the bombing and share what we have on Iran – and what you have on Lebanon.’”. “The Israelis told us [that Hesballah] would be a cheap war with many benefits,” a U.S. government consultant with close ties to Israel said: “Why oppose it? We’ll be able to hunt down and bomb missiles, tunnels, and bunkers from the air. It would be a demo for Iran”. “I was told by the consultant that the Israelis repeatedly pointed to the war in Kosovo as an example of what Israel would try to achieve.

“The NATO forces … methodically bombed and strafed not only military targets but tunnels, bridges, and roads, in Kosovo and elsewhere in Serbia, for seventy-eight days …“Israel studied the Kosovo war as its role model … The Israelis told Condi Rice: You did it in about seventy days, but we need half of that—thirty-five days’ [to finish off Hizbullah]””. “The Bush White House”, a Pentagon consultant said, “has been agitating for some time to find a reason for a preëmptive blow against Hizbullah”; adding, “It was our intent to have Hezbollah diminished, and now we have someone else doing it … According to a Middle East expert, with knowledge of the current thinking of both the Israeli and the U.S. governments: Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah—and shared it with Bush Administration officials—well before the July 12th [2006] kidnappings: “It’s not that the Israelis had a trap that Hezbollah walked into,” he said, “but there was a strong feeling in the White House that sooner or later the Israelis were going to do it”, Hersh wrote.

“The White House was more focussed on stripping Hezbollah of its missiles, because – if there were to be a military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities – it had to get rid of the weapons that Hezbollah could use in a potential retaliation at Israel. Bush wanted both”, Hersh was told”. “The Bush Administration was closely involved in the planning of Israel’s retaliatory attacks. President Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney were convinced … that a successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign against Hezbollah’s heavily fortified underground-missile and command-and-control complexes in Lebanon could ease Israel’s security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American preëmptive attack to destroy Iran’s nuclear installations – some of which are also buried deep underground”.

Read more …

“..Americans becoming “slaves” to the U.S. Constitution and that the Constitution itself is now the problem for the country..”

• “That Little Piece of Paper” of the Founders (Turley)

We have been discussing Democratic leaders and activists who have been calling for revolutionary change and a rejection of the foundation of the American constitutional system. The latest is Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson, who spoke at the National Democratic Convention. In an earlier speech, Robinson rejected what she referred to as the Founders’ “little piece of paper” and called for the reimagining of our constitutional system. The voices calling for radical change have been growing for years, including among law professors and legal commentators. Viewers now get a steady diet of figures like MSNBC commentator Elie Mystal who called the U.S. Constitution “trash” and argued that we should simply just dump it. In a 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 the Constitution to be “radically altered” to “reclaim America from constitutionalism.”

Georgetown University Law School Professor Rosa Brooks went on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” to lash out at Americans becoming “slaves” to the U.S. Constitution and that the Constitution itself is now the problem for the country. I was recently called for a response to Robinson’s call. Yet, it is not clear if Robinson is speaking about the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution as that “little piece of paper.” However, she insists that “[i]n this moment, we’ve got to reimagine it with people that look and love like us at the center.” Robinson added: “And I think for us right now is about reimagining freedom and this American story in a way that is more revolutionary than what our Founders actually put down on that little piece of paper, but instead is the type of democracy that is by and for all of the people in this country. That’s the opportunity that we have.” Her comments did include positive views of the progress made under the current system:

“The story of America is the story of progress towards freedom. In just a few generations, my family went from being enslaved in Mississippi to the first free Black family in Muscatine, Iowa, to preparing to elect President Kamala Harris. Progress is happening my friends!” As someone who has supported LGBT rights for over four decades, I have nothing but admiration for those who fight for equal rights for everyone to be able to live their lives according to their own values and associations. However, a radical “reimagining” of our constitutional system is a popular and growing call on the left. It is often left vague in terms of what such a reimagination would entail, but suggests structural, not just policy, changes. It is that “little piece of paper” that has secured the equal rights for members of this community. Assuming that the “little piece of paper” is a reference to the Madisonian constitution, it is a “type of democracy” that has proven the oldest and most successful constitutional system in the history of the world.

It has survived precisely because it was designed for the most pluralistic nation in the world. It allows for tremendous social and political changes but does so within a framework that protects individual rights. Before we start “reimagining” our way out of the most stable constitutional system in history, we may want to consider how the alternatives have been faring around the world. It is that “little piece of paper” that introduced a revolutionary concept of governance that permits a nation of rivaling factions and values to govern as one. That does not mean that we do not have deep and at times bitter divisions. However, we are joined in a common article of faith in the Constitution. While he spoke more about democracy in general, Churchill’s famous comment could as easily refer to the Madisonian system: it may be “the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Trick
https://twitter.com/i/status/1829471131893399937

 

 

Puppy
https://twitter.com/i/status/1829470542186885245

 

 

Tai chi

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle August 30 2024

Aug 302024
 
 August 30, 2024  Posted by at 8:57 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  69 Responses »


M. C. Escher The Tower of Babel 1928

 

• God Wants Me To Save The World – Trump (RT)
• Kamala Blows Pre-Taped Interview Question With Walz Right Next To Her (ZH)
• US Will Be ‘Crypto Capital Of The Planet’ – Trump (RT)
• UK Bankers Hoping Trump Regains White House – Politico (RT)
• Jim Rogers: Durov’s Arrest Could End France’s Appeal for High-Tech
• The Sound of Enforced Silence (Patrick Lawrence)
• Terrorists Planned To Kill ‘Tens Of Thousands’ At Taylor Swift Concert – CIA (RT)
• ‘Karbala Is The Path To Al-aqsa’: An Iraq Diary (Pepe Escobar)
• X Warns Of Brazil Shutdown ‘Soon’ (ZH)
• Ukrainian Army Shoots Down Its Own F16 Jet, Pilot Killed (ZH)
• Suspected Nord Stream Bomber Used Ukrainian Gov’t Car To Flee – Spiegel (RT)
• Hungarian FM Slams EU’s Borrell Over Ukraine (RT)
• Ukrainian Impunity Could Result In Major Nuclear Incident – Moscow (RT)
• The Lies of the US Empire Will Be Its Undoing (DeMartino)
• Houthis To Allow Salvage Crews To Access Oil Tanker They Hit In The Red (OP)

 

 

 

 

Voting
https://twitter.com/i/status/1829220119437836777

 

 

Zuck

 

 

Trump2024

 

 

Stossel
https://twitter.com/i/status/1828842472472023063

 

 

Benz

 

 

Rogan


https://twitter.com/i/status/1829213201919099070

 

 

Jack Smith
https://twitter.com/i/status/1829092127478890756

 

 

Tulsi

 

 

Fitton

 

 

Shit
https://twitter.com/i/status/1828974088817127779

 

 

Furniture

 

 

 

 

Not how he said it. But if you believe in God, living in a nation under God, it’s inevitable you try to find a purpose in such a experience.

The craziest thing here is not Trump, it’s the media silence.

• God Wants Me To Save The World – Trump (RT)

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said it was God who spared his life in last month’s assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The GOP firebrand claimed that he has a mission to save America, and perhaps the whole world. Trump narrowly escaped death when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at him on July 13. The would-be assassin had taken position on a nearby rooftop that gave him an unobstructed view of his target. Crooks fired off several shots, one of which grazed the former president’s right ear. One rally attendee was killed and two others were seriously injured. The shooter was subsequently killed by return fire from the Secret Service. In an interview on Tuesday with psychologist and TV host Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, Trump argued that “there had to be some great power” at play on that fateful day.

“The only thing I can think is that God loves our country and he thinks we’re gonna bring our country back,” Trump explained. “It has to be God. I mean how can you say it’s luck when it’s, you know, twenty million to one?” he insisted. Commenting on the Democrats replacing Joe Biden with Kamala Harris as their presidential nominee for the November 5 election, Trump lamented that he now had to face a “nice fresh opponent.” The Republican went on to suggest that if he prevails, it would mean that “there’s some incredible power up there that wanted me to be involved in saving, and maybe it’s more than saving the nation, maybe it’s saving the world.” Speaking of the Secret Service agents’ performance during the incident, Trump expressed gratitude and admiration for their bravery, but noted that there appeared to have been a lack of communication between them and local law enforcement.

The GOP nominee went on to allege that Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden are partly responsible for last month’s attempt on his life. He accused the top-ranking Democrats of “making it very difficult to have proper staffing in terms of Secret Service.” According to the former president, Harris and Biden have also been routinely portraying him as a “threat to democracy,” which “can get assassins or potential assassins going.” “Maybe that bullet is because of their rhetoric,” Trump suggested. The former president doubled down on his claims about alleged voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, telling Dr. Phil that he had won in California. “If Jesus came down and was the vote counter, I would win California,” Trump insisted.

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“..deadlines around time..”

• Kamala Blows Pre-Taped Interview Question With Walz Right Next To Her (ZH)

Kamala Harris had one job – don’t blow your first sit-down interview with the press. No word salad. No ‘unburdened by what has been’ mantra. Don’t cackle to cover up for a lack of brain cells. She couldn’t even do that… Sitting down with running mate Tim Walz for a pre-taped CNN interview set to air at 9 PM Thursday, a preview clip reveals she’s still an absolute moron. Dana Bash (whose CIA ex-husband signed the Hunter Biden disinfo letter) tossed Harris what should have been a well-rehearsed softball; asking how voters should “look at some of the changes you’ve made.”

“Is it because you have more experience now and you’ve learned more about the information? Is it because you were running for president in a Democratic primary? And should they feel comfortable and confident that what you’re saying now is going to be your policy moving forward?” In other words, why shouldn’t you believe you’re full of shit over your dramatic shift in positions towards moderate policies? There are a million ways to answer that spoon-fed question, but Harris chose more word salad. “I think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed,” she replied. “You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed – and I have worked on it – that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time.” Yes, deadlines around time.

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Right at the center of decentralization.

• US Will Be ‘Crypto Capital Of The Planet’ – Trump (RT)

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has promised to unveil a plan that will make America the world cryptocurrency capital. In a post on X on Thursday, the former US president shared a video of himself with the voiceover: “This afternoon, I’m laying out my plan to ensure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet.” “They want to choke you. They want to choke you out of business,” Trump says in the video, without specifying who “they” are. “We’re not going to let that happen,” he concluded. The post included a link to World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance project that his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, have been promoting recently. Trump Jr. has said previously that the platform would rival the traditional banking system. The project’s Telegram channel has been quickly gaining subscribers, with more than 53,000 followers as of Thursday.

Trump is the first major presidential candidate to accept donations in cryptocurrency. He was the featured speaker at a Bitcoin conference last month, where donors were asked to pay $844,600 for a seat at a round table with him. Trump has said that crypto is essential to his vision of America in the future. Last month, he pledged to ensure that the US government never sells off its Bitcoin holdings and creates a Bitcoin “strategic reserve,” if he returns to the White House. On Tuesday, Trump launched a fourth collection of nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which feature images ranging from the former president in a superhero costume to figurative Bitcoins. The NFTs sell for $99 each. According to CNBC, the crypto platform and the NFTs are a private Trump family enterprise in the digital currency space, and are not officially connected to Trump’s presidential campaign.

Trump, who in 2019 wrote on social media that Bitcoin’s value is “based on thin air” and in 2021 warned that cryptocurrencies were a “disaster waiting to happen,” made a U-turn in his rhetoric early in the current election campaign. The Republican candidate’s embrace of crypto has led to endorsements from some well-known venture capitalists and executives in the sector, such as Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

Read more …

“The political appointments determine the political agenda in terms of trade for financial services and more..”

• UK Bankers Hoping Trump Regains White House – Politico (RT)

British business would prefer to see Republican nominee Donald Trump prevail over Vice President Kamala Harris in the US presidential election in November, Politico has reported, citing finance experts from the City of London. While there are concerns that a Trump presidency could bring a protectionist approach towards global trade, his “laissez-faire” policies could make access to the US market easier for British companies, the outlet said on Tuesday. This is something the City of London is reportedly looking for as it seeks avenues for growth after losing a major share of its EU business after Brexit. “You could have a White House that may want to have a less restrictive regulatory framework for financial services, which might indirectly engender more financial flows across the Atlantic,” a senior UK financial lobbyist told Politico on condition of anonymity.

A senior City of London lawyer described Trump as “pro-business,” noting that Harris’ policies are expected to be “less helpful” to British business. Even though the former US president was “wild and unpredictable” in his first term, his financial policies “did not lead to a run on the dollar or any major problems in financial markets even though a number of his policies were controversial.” Meanwhile, a Harris presidency is “the big unknown” and her economic agenda reportedly involves attacking big business for alleged price gouging, according to the lawyer. Earlier this month, Trump blasted his Democratic rival over the current administration’s record on inflation, which has consistently remained at over 3% since Joe Biden became president. City of London experts also hailed the appointments to top regulatory roles Trump made during his first term, highlighting their competence and experience in the industry.

Under the Trump administration (2017-2021), former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin was appointed secretary of the Treasury, while Randal Quarles, a private equity investor and Treasury veteran, was given a key banking oversight position at the Federal Reserve. “The political appointments determine the political agenda in terms of trade for financial services and more,” Angus Canvin, director of international affairs at UK Finance, which represents British banks, told Politico. Trump and Harris are currently neck-to-neck in most polls, with Harris holding a narrow lead over the former president, according to recent surveys.

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“..Andy Yen warning that if they are sustained, he doesn’t see “how tech founders could possibly travel to France, much less hire in France.”

• Jim Rogers: Durov’s Arrest Could End France’s Appeal for High-Tech

The fallout from Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s surprise arrest in France over the weekend continues to reverberate, with observers asking what the move means for free speech in Europe. But money talks too, and right now it’s saying that the French Republic is no longer a safe place for business, especially in the tech sector. Pavel Durov was transferred to a Paris court for “initial questioning and possible indictment” on Wednesday, days after his arrest at Paris’s Bourget Airport Saturday in connection with a long list of dubious charges, from looking the other way on fraud, money laundering and illegal cryptography to abetting or facilitating drug trafficking and child pornography, to refusing to respond to requests by authorities in criminal investigations. The charges against Durov have been slammed by some in the tech world with Proton VPN founder and tech entrepreneur Andy Yen warning that if they are sustained, he doesn’t see “how tech founders could possibly travel to France, much less hire in France.”

“This is economic suicide and is rapidly and permanently changing the perception of founders and investors” toward France, Yen wrote in an X post on Tuesday. Macroeconomist and UnHerd contributor Philip Pilkington echoed these concerns, warning in an article this week that Paris’s move could drive investors of all stripes out of France, and Europe in general. “The damage that this could do to France’s image in the eyes of the technology and entrepreneurial communities is profound,” Pilkington wrote, pointing out that Durov’s detention has opened a Pandora’s Box in which the French state begins to systematically bring criminal charges against the developers of internet communication platforms. “Europe is already destroying its international competitiveness in its manufacturing sector through sanctions and counter-sanctions on Russian energy.

Now, it seems, securocrats in the European bureaucracies want to turn the continent into a place where technologists fear the creation of platforms that allow for communications,” Pilkington warned. The Durov case will likely lead to an exodus of entrepreneurs from Europe – a far cry from French President Emmanuel Macron’s promises in 2017 to make France a “startup nation,” the observer added. “Whenever a country starts arresting high-level executives, especially [in] technology, or in an industry which is international and usual, it attracts attention, and many people will think it is unjustified and many people will say it’s unjustified,” Jim Rogers, renowned investor and chairman of Beeland Interests and co-founder of Quantum Fund, told Sputnik.

“So I don’t know, I hope that France knows what it’s doing. If France has an ironclad 100% case, then it probably will not hurt them. Otherwise, many people will say ‘wait a minute, we don’t want to do anything in France. It is too dangerous,’” Rogers stressed. “I don’t know the facts. I don’t know if anybody’s guilty or not, but I will say this will make many people wonder about doing business in France. This will make many people check to see that everything they are doing in France is okay. It’s an added level of expense. It’s an added level of operation. Nobody wants to be caught doing something wrong in the country. And if people now worry about France, it’s another expense. Another level of caution,” the veteran investor and predictor of global financial trends said.

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“It is now hard to tell where the Democratic Party ends and the national-security state begins.”

• The Sound of Enforced Silence (Patrick Lawrence)

Is there some connection, — not quite official but it may as well be— between censorship and presidential politics? I pose the question as a survivor of the Russiagate years, when illiberal liberals started talking about “free-speech absolutists,” and when corporate journalists cheered the censoring of unincorporated journalists so long as it was called “content moderation.” I cannot answer my own question, honestly. But as this November’s elections draw near, a new and aggressive campaign to suppress dissent — in social media, at airports, on campuses, and elsewhere — is hard upon us. This is a trans–Atlantic, trans-national operation. Let us not fail to take note. Straight off the top, you probably noticed that the Democratic Party’s openly undemocratic elite refused to allow any speaker of Palestinian background to address the convention in Chicago last week.

We can read this, disgraceful in itself, as an indication of how the Democrats intend to deal with the Gaza crisis and other such foreign policy matters if they succeed in extending their power another four years. Yes, they will continue supporting terrorist Israel and the Nazi-infested regime in Ukraine just as they have to date, but they will avoid talking to you and me about the imperium’s gruesome business as they conduct it. Silence on such matters will be as gold to these people, especially between now and Nov. 5. Kamala Harris, or the cynical operatives busily inventing Kamala Harris, are selling “joy” this political season, not any kind of sober, responsible view of our circumstances. Harris is supposed to ride into the White House on a carpet of good vibes. Gaza, the war in Ukraine, Washington’s provocations at the other end of the Pacific: Nah: All such questions are bad vibes.

One of the things the Russiagate years exposed was the close collaboration between the Democratic Party and the national-security state. People who know their history have long understood that “the intelligence community” — so odious, this term — has been, from its beginnings in the late–1940s, more liberal than conservative in its culture and sensibilities. Hillary Clinton’s embarrassing defeat in 2016 consolidated this relationship. It is now hard to tell where the Democratic Party ends and the national-security state begins.

I have been, since the Russiagate years, perfectly comfortable with the term “Deep State.” And here it comes again, reliant as always upon its appendages in the Big Tech social media platforms and the more repellant quadrants of corporate media as they attempt to extinguish all other-than-approved opinions and perspectives. Of the many recent incidents of censorship, suppression and intimidation, the one that got me to the keyboard concerns Sharmine Narwani, who founded, three years ago this month, an online journal of news and comment called The Cradle, as in “the cradle of civilization.” Narwani, based in Beirut, now writes columns regularly and edits features for the English-language version of the site. She calls The Cradle a collective effort, “an online magazine covering the geopolitics of West Asia from within the region.” Those last four words are the ones that matter most to me.

Last week — on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, indeed — Meta permanently banned The Cradle from Facebook and Instagram, the holding company’s most trafficked social media properties. Narwani now stands accused of “praising terrorist organizations” and engaging in “incitement to violence.” This ruling came without warning. All Narwani got was this: Your account, or activity on it, does not follow our community guidelines. No one can see or find your account and you can’t use it. All your information will be permanently deleted. You cannot request a review of this decision. How’s this for the sound of liberal authoritarianism? Big Brother could not have got down the poetry of fascistic finality any better.

Read more …

Not possible. Israel killed 40,000 in ten months in Gaza. They were going to do it in an afternoon? “..using knives as well as a homemade explosive device..”?

• Terrorists Planned To Kill ‘Tens Of Thousands’ At Taylor Swift Concert – CIA (RT)

Terrorists aimed to kill “as many people as possible” using homemade explosives and knives at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna earlier this month, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen has said, adding that the US spy agency warned the Austrian authorities about the impending attack. According to Cohen, the attackers, who are said to have been connected with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), “were plotting to kill a huge number – tens of thousands of people, including, I am sure, many Americans – and were quite advanced in this.” He noted that Austrian security forces were able to arrest the suspects because the CIA and “our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”

“I can tell you within my agency, and I’m sure in others, there were people who thought that was a really good day for Langley, and not just the Swifties in my workforce,” he said, speaking at an intelligence summit outside Washington D.C. The plotters reportedly planned to attack one of three Swift concerts in Vienna, which were set to begin on August 8 as part of the European leg of her Eras Tour. However, the shows were canceled by the event organizers, Barracuda Music, after the authorities informed them of the foiled plot. The main suspect in the alleged plot was taken into custody on August 6, along with a 17-year-old accomplice, according to Austrian officials. On August 8, another suspect, 18, was also detained.

The authorities said the unnamed mastermind behind the attack, reported to be 19 years old, had pledged allegiance to IS after being self-radicalized online. The attack was supposedly set to take place outside the stadium where as many as 65,000 people were expected to attend the show. The terrorists are said to have been planning to carry out the attack using knives as well as a homemade explosive device, police said after reportedly finding chemical substances and special technical devices at the home of the 19-year-old. The main suspect is also said to have confessed to planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert,” according to Austrian officials.

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“Twenty-one million walking pilgrims..”

• ‘Karbala Is The Path To Al-aqsa’: An Iraq Diary (Pepe Escobar)

Arriving in Baghdad today comes as an electric shock to any visitor who remembers recent, somber Iraqi history. There are virtually no checkpoints, apart from sensitive government areas. None of those ghastly cement blocks from the time of the American occupation, forcing a slow slalom every few minutes. No sense of unpredictable danger capable of striking at any minute. Lush greenery thrives all over the capital city. Haifa Street has been rebuilt practically from scratch. Bustling commerce, from non-stop action in Karrada to a complex of restaurants by the Tigris called (most appropriately) Thousand and One Nights. After over three decades of unspeakable horrors inflicted on the cradle of civilization, for the first time, Baghdad exudes a sense of normalcy. This has much to do with the new administration, led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, that has been in power for just over two years.

Last week, the Office of the Prime Minister sponsored a unique conference titled The Road to Al-Aqsa Flood, inviting popular bloggers and influencers from the Arab world – Palestine, Kuwait, Jordan, Sudan, and Lebanon, among others – and only a few westerners. The bloggers were all young; most had never been to Iraq and, thus, had no memories of Shock and Awe and the occupation – at best, some hazy recollection of the ISIS years. They were all stunned by the hospitality, the dynamism, and, most of all, the hope now firmly embedded in Baghdad life. The Iraqi government actually came up with a titillating concept, tying a serious discussion about all aspects of today’s ongoing Palestinian tragedy not only to Baghdad but to Arbaeen in Karbala.

Arbaeen marks the 40th day after Ashura, the Shia rite to honor the martyrdom of Hussein Ibn Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, who was brutally murdered alongside his entire family by the Umayyad Caliph Yazid Ibn Muawiya. For Shia Muslims, this dishonorable slaughter represents the ultimate embodiment of injustice and betrayal, considered foundational evils by the religious sect. It’s all about Resistance – without explicitly mentioning the Axis of Resistance. The martyrdom of Imam Hussein at the Battle of Karbala was – in Baghdad today – directly tied to the ongoing Israeli genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinians, in a “twenty-first-century Karbala.” lying right before sunset on a Soviet helicopter from a military base by the Tigris in Baghdad to a mini-base in Karbala, some 10 kilometers away from the magnificent Hazrat Abbas shrine, is an astonishing experience.

Irrepressible commander Tahsin, in Karbala, had ordered the pilot to follow the Arbaeen pilgrim route – one of the multiple axes crisscrossing Iraq and leading to the shrine. The feeling is of a long cinematic traveling shot. Rows and rows of pilgrims, mostly dressed in black, with their backpacks, carrying banners, walking at a steady pace, going through a collection of stalls, resting places, and mini-restaurants, mingling with volunteers offering free water bottles and free drinks to quench the thirst on this spiritual, yet, arduous journey during a scorching Iraqi summer. As we approach Karbala, the crowd gets much thicker. It’s a sort of community spirit moveable feast. Spontaneous chants pop up, punctuated by infectious rhythm, and above all, there’s this relentless drive to keep walking, to try get as close to the shrine as possible.

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Darth Vader is pretty crazy.

• X Warns Of Brazil Shutdown ‘Soon’ (ZH)

On Thursday night, X’s Global Government Affairs account posted a dire warning over service availability in Brazil, after dictatorial Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes punished them for not complying “with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents,” according to the post. “When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts. Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him. We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States.

The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that. In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings in the interest of transparency. Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders. To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech.” Meanwhile, Musk says that SpaceX is going to continue to provide Starlink in Brazil to schools and hospitals for free…

* * *
One day after Brazillian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes threatened to suspend social media platform X unless Elon Musk appoints a new legal representative in 24 hours, the judge – dubbed “Brazil’s Darth Vader” by Musk – issued a subpoena against the company. Today, he blocked the financial accounts of Musk-owned Starlink Holdings, due to the absence of an attorney. According to Moraes, the companies are a “de facto economic group” commanded by Musk. On August 18, Moraes sanctioned X’s bank accounts in order to guarantee the payment of fines imposed by the Brazilian justice for refusing to censor content, Metropoles reports. According to information published by the G1 and confirmed by the Metropolis, advisors to the office of Minister Alexandre de Moraes said that another company under Musk in the country, Starlink Holding, responsible for the sale of satellite internet services, also had the finances blocked. All Starlink managers in Brazil received notifications and were subpoenaed to answer for the values due to the Brazilian Justice by the network X. -Metropoles (translated)

In response, Musk called Moraes a dictator, and said “this picture of you in prison will be real. Mark my words.” Earlier this month, Moraes ordered an investigation into Musk after the billionaire vowed to defy a court order as part of an ongoing probe into social media accounts allegedly spreading misinformation and ‘hate’ speech. “The flagrant conduct of obstruction of Brazilian justice, incitement of crime, the public threat of disobedience of court orders and future lack of cooperation from the platform are facts that disrespect the sovereignty of Brazil,” wrote de Moraes. While X initially said in a they would comply, blocking certain popular accounts in Brazil – Musk said an hour later, after the release of the “TWITTER FILES BRAZIL,” that they would not, noting that “As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there.”

in a post the next day, Musk said that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes had “brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil,” and should “resign or be impeached.” De Moraes said that as part of his decision to open an inquiry, that “X shall refrain from disobeying any court order already issued, including performing any profile reactivation that has been blocked by this Supreme Court,” Reuters reports. The justice said that Musk would face a fine that equates to approximately $20,000 each time an account is reactivated on X.

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When someone brings it up, act surprised.

• Ukrainian Army Shoots Down Its Own F16 Jet, Pilot Killed (ZH)

It appears that the US-made F-16 fighter jet, which was handed over to Ukraine earlier this year, was downed by a Ukrainian Patriot air defense system in a friendly fire incident, Ukrainian lawmaker Maryana Bezuglaya said cited by TASS. “According to my information, the F-16 of the Ukrainian pilot Alexey ‘Moonfish’ Mes was shot down by the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system due to a lack of coordination between the [military] units,” she wrote on Telegram. The lawmaker criticized the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for falsely describing the incident as “a crash.” “The culture of lies in the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as in other higher military headquarters, leads to the fact that the system of managing military decisions does not improve on the basis of truthful, consistently collected analytics, but deteriorates and even collapses, as is happening in the other directions,” she wrote.

In her words, none of the generals was punished over the incident that led to the loss of both the aircraft and its pilot. Earlier, an unidentified US official told the Wall Street Journal that Ukraine had lost a donated F-16 fighter jet in the first such case. According to the official, the jet was not shot down, and the crash was likely due to pilot error. Later, the Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the death of a Ukrainian F-16 pilot, Alexey Mes. The man was trained to fly F-16, according to CNN. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said the pilot was killed in an aerial fight, when his plane crashed on August 26.

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They’re getting creative with their alternative truths.

• Suspected Nord Stream Bomber Used Ukrainian Gov’t Car To Flee – Spiegel (RT)

The Ukrainian diver allegedly behind the sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines managed to escape a German arrest warrant with the help of Ukraine and possibly Poland, Der Spiegel has claimed. The pipelines under the Baltic Sea were damaged in a series of explosions in September 2022, ending the flow of natural gas from Russia to Germany. No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but some media outlets in the West have blamed a group of Ukrainian nationals. Earlier this month, German media revealed that Berlin had issued an arrest warrant for “Vladimir Z,” a former Ukrainian military diver who they alleged had planted the explosive charges on the pipeline. Russian outlets have identified the suspect as Vladimir Zhuravlev. According to an investigation by Der Spiegel published on Thursday, Zhuravlev was actually in Germany in May and in Poland at the time the warrant was issued.

Polish authorities did nothing to detain him, the outlet claimed, and Zhuravlev was able to cross into Ukraine on July 6 in a car belonging to the Ukrainian embassy in Warsaw. “Why should we arrest him? For us, he is a hero!” Der Spiegel quoted German security officials as paraphrasing their Polish counterparts. The German outlet noted that Zhuravlev and his family entered Germany in May, on their way to Denmark. They even found the exact apartment in Copenhagen where the Zhuravlevs stayed, in the Bryggen Syd neighborhood. On May 26, the family takes the ferry to Rostock and stops in Berlin, on their way back to Warsaw.

Zhuravlev was already on the German authorities’ radar, but they had yet to issue a warrant for his arrest. Berlin only acted in the first week of June, and it took until June 21 for a European arrest warrant to be forwarded to Poland. Warsaw, however, did nothing. Zhuravlev fled the country on July 6, crossing the border into Ukraine at Korczowa at 6:20am. Security sources told Spiegel that he was in a vehicle with diplomatic plates, used by the Ukrainian embassy in Warsaw.

Spiegel’s security sources claim that Germany is “very angry” with Poland and will not forget Warsaw’s “foul play.” Responding to media reports about the attack, former head of German intelligence August Hanning claimed earlier this month that Poland and Ukraine likely worked together. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded by telling all “initiators and patrons” of Nord Stream to “apologize and keep quiet.” Reports about a group of Ukrainians working off a rented yacht – with or without Vladimir Zelensky’s blessing – being responsible for the Nord Stream sabotage surfaced only after Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh claimed that the US government was behind the blasts.

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“Borrell has previously called on the West to lift all restrictions on Kiev’s use of the weapons it has provided [..] He argued that this would “help advance peace efforts.”

• Hungarian FM Slams EU’s Borrell Over Ukraine (RT)

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has slammed the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, over his recent remarks on strikes deep into Russian territory. Borrell suggested that Ukraine should be allowed to use Western-supplied weapons to conduct these attacks. Commenting on Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Kursk Region, Russia in early August, Borrell told Kiev that it has the “full support” of the EU. Also this month, the bloc’s top diplomat said, “we are not a party to the war, but we are part of the conflict.” In a post on Facebook, the Hungarian foreign minister described the Ukraine conflict as “madness” that “must be put to an end.” “However, if more and more weapons are sent to this region, if depth strikes arrive on the territory of Russia, then the danger of escalation will only increase and this war will become even more serious,” Szijjarto warned, apparently referring to Borrell’s recent statements.

Budapest’s top diplomat added that to avoid this, his country will “continue to represent the pro-peace position” during an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.In a separate post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, Zoltan Kovacs, the spokesperson of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s office, wrote that Szijjarto “criticized the European Union’s outgoing High Representative for Foreign Affairs, who is calling for more weapons to be sent to Ukraine and even suggesting that these Western-supplied arms should be used for deep strikes on Russian territory.” Borrell has previously called on the West to lift all restrictions on Kiev’s use of the weapons it has provided, particularly with regard to long-range strikes. He argued that this would “help advance peace efforts.”

Last week, the head of the prime minister’s office, Gergely Gulyas, characterized Kiev’s actions on Russian soil as “wrong” and not conducive to a peaceful settlement of the conflict. In July, Szijjarto also criticized the top EU diplomat over his reported scheme to undermine Hungary’s efforts to organize an informal foreign affairs summit, calling the supposed plan childish. He went on to accuse Borrell of overseeing the “most unsuccessful period of European foreign policy” ever.

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Nobody’s telling them nuke plants are off limits.

• Ukrainian Impunity Could Result In Major Nuclear Incident – Moscow (RT)

The refusal to hold Ukraine accountable for attacks on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant has emboldened Kiev to target the Kursk NPP in the same way, Russia’s deputy envoy to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, has said. Speaking at a UN Security Council session in New York on Wednesday, Polyansky denounced the Western powers for failing to acknowledge the escalating Ukrainian threat to nuclear safety. The Zaporozhye plant is located in the city of Energodar in Zaporozhye Region, Russia, which Kiev claims under its own sovereignty. Moscow has accused Ukrainian forces of targeting the city and the facility itself on multiple occasions with artillery fire and drone attacks. An incendiary device deployed by a Ukrainian drone caused a major fire at one of its two cooling towers earlier this month, according to the plant’s management.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has an observer mission at the location, has confirmed that the blaze did not start at the base of the structure and that the tower may need to be dismantled. Russia has urged Western backers of Ukraine to use their leverage to stop attacks on the Zaporozhye site. Polyansky said Kiev’s impunity for these actions has put another nuclear power plant, in Kursk Region, in its crosshair. Ukrainian forces have shelled the plant and attempted to seize it during their incursion into the Russian region, he explained. “This kind of recklessness, which potentially could trigger a nuclear incident with tragic consequences for the whole of Europe, is the best rebuff” to people who ignored the situation in Zaporozhye Region, Polyansky said. “This is what your unprincipled ostrich-like stance leads to.”

Senior Russian officials have previously accused Kiev of engaging in “nuclear terrorism” by attacking Russian reactors. President Vladimir Putin specifically mentioned this when he stated that peace talks with Ukraine have been ruled out in the wake of the incursion into Kursk Region. He also cited Kiev’s attacks on civilians as a reason that negotiations are no longer possible. Following the incident with the Zaporozhye plant’s cooling tower, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that Ukrainian forces would target the Kursk facility, and urged the IAEA to denounce these actions.

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“This does not mean that we cannot interact with the same enemy in certain situations. There is no harm in that, but do not place your hopes in them. Do not trust the enemy..”

• The Lies of the US Empire Will Be Its Undoing (DeMartino)

On Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei opened the door to negotiations with the United States, saying there was “no harm” in talking with the “enemy.” The decision opened the way for Iran’s new reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian to fulfill a campaign promise to be more open to the West. While speaking to his President, Khamenei told him not to trust the United States. “This does not mean that we cannot interact with the same enemy in certain situations. There is no harm in that, but do not place your hopes in them. Do not trust the enemy,” Khamenei told Pezeshkian. Iran has significant reasons to distrust the United States. In 2015 the United States, Iran and several other countries signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), better known as the Iranian nuclear deal. The deal placed significant restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions on Iran.

In 2018, former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal. In 2022, current US President Joe Biden rejected an offer to return to the deal. Since the US withdrawal, Iran is believed to have significantly advanced their nuclear program. “I think this is just to placate the new president. He’s a reform president. He ran on that ticket to try to open up more avenues to the West,” former senior security policy analyst at the Office of the Secretary of Defense Michael Maloof told Sputnik’s The Final Countdown. “But [JCPOA] is clearly dead, as far as I’m concerned, simply because for three and a half years they tried through the Biden administration and got nowhere. And if Trump comes in, you can almost be guaranteed that he will cancel any agreements.” For countries around the world, the US reneging on deals is nothing new, it is nearly par for the course.

In 1990, as East and West Germany were in the process of unification, then-US Secretary of State James Baker assured Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev that “neither the President nor I intend to extract any unilateral advantages from the processes that are taking place,” and that the US Government understood that “not only for the Soviet Union but for other European countries as well it is important to have guarantees that if the United States keeps its presence in Germany within the framework of NATO, not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.” However, over the next three decades, NATO continued to expand eastward, eventually resulting in the Ukraine conflict.

[..] The Iran nuclear deal is a moot point at this juncture. “[The International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA)] discovered that the Iranians had actually exceeded 60% and had gone up to 90% enrichment, ‘accidentally.’ So, they have that capability. So, what’s the point of an IAEA inspection any longer?” But the effects of the United States Empire’s lies will be much more profound than a rapidly advancing Iranian nuclear program, they will destroy its geopolitical influence, decimate its economy and isolate it from much of the rest of the world. The first to go will be the end of effective unilateral sanctions from the West, a phenomenon that has already begun. “That’s why you see Iran now a prominent member of BRICS, a prominent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SGO),” Maloof said. “They have learned to get around Western sanctions and it’s going to increase, and that’s why they’re flourishing in many respects.” It is not only Iran.

The West has imposed as many sanctions as it could muster against Russia following the start of its special operation in Ukraine. Despite this, Russia grew its economy to the largest in Europe and the fourth largest in the world in purchase power parity (PPP). While sanctions were never effective in their stated goal of removing leaders from power, they were able to limit the economic growth of that country at the expense of the population living there. Now, even that tool is leaving the American cupboard. “Over time, they have learned to find ways around [sanctions] and it has actually strengthened them. It’s allowed them to become more self-sufficient to build more indigenous industries, which Iran has done,” explained Maloof.

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I think I read it’s 4x the Exxon Valdez.

• Houthis To Allow Salvage Crews To Access Oil Tanker They Hit In The Red (OP)

The Iran-aligned Houthis have agreed to allow salvage crews including rescue ships and tugboats to access an oil tanker that the Houthis hit with a missile in the Red Sea earlier this month. “Several countries have reached out to ask Ansarullah (the Houthis), requesting a temporary truce for the entry of tugboats and rescue ships into the incident area,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said, as carried by Reuters. The Houthi movement has agreed to this request, “in consideration of humanitarian and environmental concerns,” the Iranian mission to the UN added. Reports last week said a tanker on fire was drifting in the Red Sea. It later emerged that the vessel had come under attack by armed groups traveling on small vessels some 90 miles from the Yemeni port city of Hodeida. The tanker was also reportedly struck by missiles or drones.

“The vessel reports being not under command,” the UK Maritime Trade Operations office said at the time, likely meaning it lost all power. “No casualties reported.” The Greek-flagged oil tanker, the Sounion, had 25 crew members and was traveling from Iraq to Cyprus. The crew was rescued by a European warship and transported to Djibouti. Earlier this week, U.S. Pentagon officials said that the Greek tanker that the Yemeni Houthis struck in the Red Sea a week ago is now leaking oil. “The MV Sounion now sits immobilized in the Red Sea, where it is currently on fire and appears to be leaking oil, presenting both a navigational hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe,” Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder said, as quoted by the Maritime Executive. The oil tanker holds close to a million barrels of crude oil and if it spills as a result of the strikes, it could become one of the largest oil spills from a vessel in recent history.

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Vax injuries

 

 

Shanahan
https://twitter.com/i/status/1828635192317354114

 

 

RFK health care
https://twitter.com/i/status/1828869075209961964

 

 

RFK pharma
https://twitter.com/i/status/1828880387478552752

 

 

RFKJFK

 

 

Shelter
https://twitter.com/i/status/1829191897061171603

 

 

Cheap engine

 

 

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Debt Rattle April 8 2024

Apr 082024
 
 April 8, 2024  Posted by at 8:40 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  40 Responses »


James McNeill Whistler Arrangement in Pink, Red and Purple 1883-4

 

• Facing Nuclear War (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Take up the NATO Man’s Burden. Send Forth The Worst Ye Breed (Hayes)
• US Reluctant to Cut Off Israel’s Arms Pipeline (Sp.)
• Ex-German Chancellor Calls For Diplomatic Solution To Ukraine Conflict (RT)
• Ukraine May Have To Compromise With Russia – Stoltenberg (RT)
• Stoltenberg’s Dido Moment Might Put A Halt To West’s Lies (Jay)
• Kiev ‘Hostage’ To US Politics – Zelensky (RT)
• UK To Pressure US House Speaker On Ukraine Aid (RT)
• FSB Reveals Crocus City Attackers’ Plan To Escape To Ukraine (RT)
• IAEA Chief Calls Attack on Zaporozhye NPP Violation of Security Principles (Sp.)
• Morality Challenged (Michael Brenner)
• Col. Macgregor Urges US to Stop ‘Marching’ Into Foreign Countries (Sp.)
• Appeals Court Vacates ‘Disinformation’ Monitoring Of Jan. 6 Defendant’s Computer (ET)
• Elon Musk Says X Will Defy Order From Brazil’s Supreme Court (ET)
• Outgoing Boeing CEO Bags $33 Million Pay-Off Despite 737 Max Accidents (Sp.)

 

 

 

 

Fundraiser

 

 

Palestine
https://twitter.com/i/status/1776811771376111937

 

 

Pepe
https://twitter.com/i/status/1775855559012434117

 

 

Putin Macron
https://twitter.com/i/status/1776833714820989431

 

 


Temperance is a tree which has for its root very little contentment, and for its fruit calm and peace. – Buddha

 

 

 

 

“..that the US needs to defend against a Russian or Chinese invasion is an absurdity when the US is being overrun daily by immigrant-invaders..”

• Facing Nuclear War (Paul Craig Roberts)

The invention of nuclear weapons was an act of total insanity. If the massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons are not dismantled and destroyed, sooner or later they will destroy planet Earth. We have survived so far because the Cuban Missile Crisis awoke President Kennedy and Soviet leader Khrushchev to the danger of distrust between nuclear powers. For the remainder of the 20th century Washington and Moscow worked to defuse tensions and to build transparency and trust. Sufficient success was achieved to avoid false indications from warning systems showing incoming ICBMs from resulting in the launch of nuclear war. Today there is no trust. In the 21st century all of the arms agreements hammered out over the decades of the Cold War have been abandoned, first by Washington and then in response by the Kremlin. The Soviet collapse in 1991 gave rise to the neoconservative doctrine of US hegemony, an assertion of American unilateralism, a claim of American supremacy. Such an absurd and unrealistic claim is totally inconsistent with the existence of nuclear weapons.

All trust has been erased. In the US Russia has been demonized to an unprecedented extent. It is so extreme that anyone who gives an objective analysis is branded a “Putin agent/dupe.” This makes realistic assessments impossible. In Russia trust of Washington has been completely destroyed by broken promises, such as NATO will not move one inch to the East, broken arms agreements, deceit over the Minsk Agreement, and by Washington’s endless rejections of Russian requests for a mutual security agreement. Today all it takes for the world to end is one false warning of incoming missiles. It was Washington, not Russia, that created this situation, and nothing is being done about it. The world is content with the Sword of Damocles hanging by a thread over the planet. Whenever I raise this most serious of all issues, a gaggle of idiots pronounce that nuclear weapons will never be used because there can be no winners. All the while Putin is warning that Washington and its NATO puppets are pushing Russia into nuclear war. There is no end of people too stupid to see the dire threat.

If Biden, the defense secretary, anyone in Washington had any sense, they would call Putin and declare that we need more than a mutual security agreement. We need to dismantle and destroy all nuclear weapons–the US, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, France and the UK. To demonstrate our newly acquired good intentions, Washington should announce that it is closing its worldwide network of illegal bioweapon research laboratories and abandoning its effort to substitute Washington’s self-serving “rule-based order” for established international law. The notion that the US needs to defend against a Russian or Chinese invasion is an absurdity when the US is being overrun daily by immigrant-invaders. According to official numbers, immigrant-invaders recruited from 160 countries by NGOs financed with federal tax dollars are entering unopposed our country monthly in numbers equivalent to the population of Pittsburgh.

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“..intransigent Sunnis, who don’t know their place of half devil and half child in the Pax Americana’s scheme of things..”

• Take up the NATO Man’s Burden. Send Forth The Worst Ye Breed (Hayes)

Fast forward to Easter 2024 and consider this report by Irish state broadcaster RTE on Israel’s latest attack on the Zaynab shrine. Note how this Irish government outlet (feebly) argues that Israel is entitled to attack the shrine and to hell with the collateral human damage because it is a Hezbollah (read Shia) stronghold. The reality, had these genocidal apologists bothered to check, is that Hezbollah have to guard all Shia locales because Israel and their NATO proxies continually attack them and slaughter every and all Shias that they can. Think of a Russian Orthodox Church in Western Ukraine and you get the picture. I asked a good friend of mine, a female secular Sunni tour guide, if the Zaynab shrine was always so heavily guarded. She said that prior to NATO’s war against Syria, it only had normal security, the type that would be common in the mid West of the USA. Syria, before NATO launched its genocidal war against it, was considered one of the safest countries one could travel in. And that was probably their mistake, that it looked like easy meat for NATO’s cut throats.

But let’s forget Syria and Maaloula (which the Western media conveniently forgot about once Hezbollah and the Syrian Army freed it from NATO’s nun-torturing proxies). Let’s move on to Gaza or, rather to the BBC’s sickening coverage of it, as exemplified by examples of the BBC’s complicity in this most disgusting of war crimes. The sufferings the people of Gaza are enduring is the plainest example there is today of a war crime committed by war criminals, who should answer for their crimes. That the BBC considers Gaza is just some sort of pedantic philosophical talking point is a criminal indictment of the BBC on a par with anything the Nazis stood accused of in Nuremberg. And then there is NATO’s most recent criminal attack on Moscow, which is brilliantly addressed here by British maverick Russell Brand, who uses [an] article from WSWS, which often features in this site’s Editor’s Picks.

Although Brand easily and convincingly argues that NATO’s instant denials of Ukrainian intelligence involvement in these terror attacks are not in the least credible, Maaloula, Zaynab, Gaza and a million other places show that the criminal case against NATO goes much further and deeper than that. We have, in essence, two great forces operating against each other in the West. On the one hand, we have the business model of NATO and Israel, which see themselves fulfilling their manifest destiny by cleansing the lands they conquer of Shias, Armenian Christians, and elderly Russian monks and nuns. Their logic is quite simple. By cleansing the Middle East of its minorities, NATO can argue that the war there is between their pampered Israeli puppets and intransigent Sunnis, who don’t know their place of half devil and half child in the Pax Americana’s scheme of things.

On the other side of the ledger sheet, you have the Armenians, the Assyrians, the Mandaeans, the Shia, the Yezidi, secular Sunnis and many more who just want to live out their lives in peace, observing the customs their ancestors have observed since the dawn of time. This is not so much the Clash of Civilizations NATO’s mouthpieces harp on about but NATO, being utterly devoid of civilisation, trying to wipe everything from Maaloula and Zaynab to Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Masha and Mishka from the face of the earth. Hyperbole? Consider the case of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the man who flew to Kiev to order the cross dressing Zelensky to fight to the last pregnant woman. This “cultured” man suggested that Palmyra, one of the jewels in Syria’s cultural crown, be allowed fall into ruin but that it should be recreated in some British controlled virtual world or other. True to form, this modern day Kipling has not a thought on how Palmyra, Maaloula or Zaynab fit into the greater glory of Greater Syria and the entire Fertile Crescent. Johnson would make a good Israeli, brash, boorish, and so arrogantly full of piss and wind that he is.

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“..John Kirby said the US did not know whether American-supplied weapons were used in the Israeli strike..”

• US Reluctant to Cut Off Israel’s Arms Pipeline (Sp.)

Despite the verbal rhetoric and political fanfare emanating from the White House over Israel’s actions in Gaza, the Biden administration shows no willingness to cut off Tel Aviv from Washington’s arms supplies. While Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take steps to minimize civilian harm in the war against Hamas, at no point during a recent phone call did he specifically threaten to limit US arms shipments, according to media reports. Biden “has the power to limit any foreign arms deliveries, even those previously approved by Congress,” the New York Times noted. But there was no specific “or else” delivered by Biden to Netanyahu during their exchange, the outlet added, citing officials. The call itself was inevitable, prompted by a wave of outrage over Israel’s deadly strike on the World Central Kitchen (WCK) humanitarian convoy in Gaza.

The Israeli strike killed seven WCK workers from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Palestine, as well as a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. Their humanitarian convoy was traveling in a “deconflicted zone” in two armored vehicles emblazoned with the organization’s logo and a soft-skinned vehicle when it was attacked. The team had just unloaded more than 100 tons of food aid it had brought into Gaza. After the strike, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli troops had “unintentionally harmed non-combatants” in Gaza, adding that “this is what happens in war. The flood of official statements from the White House stands in stark contrast to the detachment the US has shown in the face of the escalating civilian death toll in Gaza since the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated in the wake of the Hamas attack on October 7. 32,916 Palestinians have died since hostilities began, according to Gaza health officials.

U.S. President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that the strike on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation in Gaza were “unacceptable.” White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said the US did not know whether American-supplied weapons were used in the Israeli strike. The US is the largest supplier of arms to Israel. It will account for 69% of Israel’s arms imports between 2019 and 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The US signed a ten-year military agreement with Israel in 2016 that guarantees Israel $3.3 billion a year to purchase weapons from the US. An additional $500 million per year is earmarked for missile defense. “The continued supply of the world’s most advanced weapons technology will ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself from all manner of threats,” former President Barack Obama said at the time.

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“Berlin and Paris Should Spearhead Efforts To End The Bloodshed..”

• Ex-German Chancellor Calls For Diplomatic Solution To Ukraine Conflict (RT)

Berlin and Paris should be leading the way toward a negotiated solution to the Ukraine conflict, Gerhard Schroeder, who served as German chancellor between 1998 and 2005, has argued. The veteran politician also refused to disavow his long-time friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that it could make him a good mediator in the current situation. In 2014, Schroeder threw a birthday party in St. Petersburg, with the Russian leader in attendance. Back in 2006, he became the head of the shareholders’ committee of Nord Stream AG, later also accepting a role on the board of Russia’s Rosneft energy giant. Schroeder stepped down from the latter post several months after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in February 2022. In an interview with Suddeutsche Zeitung published on Thursday, the 80-year-old expressed the view that it is still possible to secure a peace deal. “I am firmly convinced that [President] Putin is also interested in that,” Schroeder clarified.

The former German chancellor told the newspaper that he did not believe the conflict would spread further beyond Ukraine, or that it would lead to the use of nuclear weapons. He also lauded German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for refusing to provide long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine. However, according to the politician, Germany and France should do more on the diplomatic front to end the bloodshed. Schroeder also expressed cautious optimism over the fact that there is now talk within the ruling Social Democratic Party about potential ways out of the Ukraine conflict, such as the freezing of the hostilities. In an interview with the press agency dpa last week, he similarly named diplomacy as the only way out of the crisis.

Speaking of his personal ties to the Russian president, Schroeder said: “We have worked together sensibly for many years. Perhaps that can still help to find a negotiated solution.” The former chancellor has previously called for a diplomatic resolution, claiming that Western Europe “failed” to seize the opportunity to push for peace in March 2022 during talks between Kiev and Moscow in Istanbul. Around the same time, Schroeder himself reportedly traveled to Türkiye and Russia on a “peace mission.” Russia has repeatedly asserted that it is in principle ready to engage in peace negotiations with Ukraine. According to Moscow, Kiev and its Western backers, however, have been setting unrealistic preconditions for talks.

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But the career puppet also says: “real peace” can only be achieved with a Ukrainian victory..”

• Ukraine May Have To Compromise With Russia – Stoltenberg (RT)

Ukraine may ultimately have to agree to some kind of compromise with Russia to end the conflict, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said. In an interview with the BBC published on Saturday, the NATO chief reiterated that the West must support Ukraine in the long term “even if we believe and hope that the war will end in the near future.” He added that Western countries should invest in Kiev’s defense capabilities to make it more resilient in the event of future hostilities. At the same time, he signaled that it was up to Ukraine to choose when and under what conditions to seek peace with Russia. “At the end of the day, it has to be Ukraine that decides what kind of compromises they’re willing to do,” Stoltenberg said, adding that the West’s role is to help Kiev reach a negotiating position that could produce an “acceptable result.”

That said, Stoltenberg emphasized that he was not pushing Kiev toward any concessions, adding that “real peace” can only be achieved with a Ukrainian victory. Earlier this week, the NATO boss made a strong plea to support Kiev in the long term, urging the bloc’s members to “rely less on voluntary contributions and more on NATO commitments.” According to several reports, Stoltenberg proposed a five-year €100 billion ($107 billion) military aid package to Ukraine. The exact details of the initiative are reportedly now under discussion. Throughout the conflict, Russia has maintained that it is open to talks with Ukraine. However, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky banned any negotiations with the current leadership in Moscow after four former Ukrainian territories overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in the autumn of 2022.

The Ukrainian leader has been advicating a ten-point ‘peace formula’ demanding that Moscow withdraw its troops from territory Kiev claims as its own, as well as for a tribunal to be established to prosecute Russian officials for alleged war crimes. Moscow has dismissed the initiative as “detached from reality.” In an interview with Politico on Saturday, Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, claimed that while Ukrainians were tired of the conflict, they would vehemently oppose any compromise with Russia. However, last month Zelensky suggested that a return to Ukraine’s 1991 borders was no longer a precondition for negotiations with Russia. Nevertheless, he still insisted that Kiev must regain the territory it lost to Moscow in 2022. Moscow has said Ukraine must take into account the fact that its borders have changed drastically since the start of the hostilities.

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“The greatest lie of all is the one about Russia having its sights on European countries to invade and conquer..”

• Stoltenberg’s Dido Moment Might Put A Halt To West’s Lies (Jay)

Lying seems to be the ubiquitous theme now of NATO and western elites so I can be forgiven. Those were, of course the immortal words of Dido from the song White Flag – a narrative which would work well with the NATO supremo who you could easily imagine singing along too at the lights in Oslo in his Volvo estate with the “baby on board sticker” on the rear window. In reality, ponder what the old fool really said. “The sooner we can convince Moscow that it will not win on the battlefield, the sooner we can reach a peace agreement in which Russia understands that it cannot win the war, but must sit down and negotiate an agreement in which Ukraine becomes a sovereign, independent state.” Interesting how the official line is shifting all the time. Our man Jens is now talking about Russia “not winning” compared to Biden just a few weeks ago who told press room wasters that “Putin was losing in Ukraine”.

But here is our NATO man actually now calling for peace talks as it becomes embarrassingly patent that NATO has nothing to celebrate on its birthday and that Ukraine is falling village by village, town by town, to Russian forces. Of course Ukraine and NATO are both banking on the Americans signing off a 60bn dollar of military aid for Ukraine, as though that will make a difference to a war machine which siphons off so much which arrives in Kiev, leaving some pundits recently writing about how much even the staplers in government ministries are being stolen each day, such is the depth and severity of the crisis. But it’s the lying and level of lying which is astonishing. As Anthony Blinken stunned journalists just recently by saying that “Ukraine will join NATO” – perhaps the biggest lie ever of the entire war as western leaders know this is impossible and can never happen, without, that is the full defeat and exit of Russian forces. Actually it’s the second biggest lie.

The greatest lie of all is the one about Russia having its sights on European countries to invade and conquer which is something that Stoltenberg constantly says but not one EU leader believes which is evident in their irresponsible depletion of their own missiles. Macron also plays a key role in the manufacture of these untruths with his recent success in convincing journalists to write up the “we could send French troops into Ukraine” when, in fact, he packed that statement with so many caveats that he really didn’t say it at all. What is clear is that there is a state of panic now which is palpable from the West in general and that Macron, as well as NATO leaders, are having informal talks – or at least are having talks about possible talks – with Russia over some sort of what the Americans like to call an “off ramp” for Ukraine and the West. You could call it a “white flag” which has probably left you humming the song.

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“..rebuking US lawmakers for what he called an “immature approach” to the conflict and global security as a whole..”

• Kiev ‘Hostage’ To US Politics – Zelensky (RT)

Ukraine’s issues have become caught up in US domestic politics and this jeopardizes its ability to fight against Russia, President Vladimir Zelensky has complained. At this stage Kiev, he explained on national TV on Saturday, would agree to any kind of support from Washington, even in the form of a loan. Zelensky expressed hope that the US Congress would eventually approve a supplemental aid package for Kiev which has been in limbo for months worth of tens of billions of dollars. Describing the long-awaited assistance as critical, Zelensky said he believes that “we can get a positive vote from the US Congress.” “Unfortunately, we are hostage to the fact that this is the electoral process… Russia’s war against Ukraine has today become an internal political issue in the United States,” he complained, rebuking US lawmakers for what he called an “immature approach” to the conflict and global security as a whole.

The Ukrainian president also signaled that Kiev would accept assistance from the US in the form of a loan. “You know, one senator was recently there, and he asked: would you agree to loan money? Let’s be frank: we will agree to any option,” he said, adding that Ukraine’s fate is hanging in the balance. Zelensky was referring to senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who traveled to Kiev last month to promote the loan idea first put forward by GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. Graham claimed at the time to have been direct with Zelensky, telling him, “it’s not unfair for me to ask you and other allies: Pay us back down the road, if you can.”

Later, Politico reported that while Kiev is ready to consider the proposal, some Ukrainian officials find it “somewhat offensive.” US President Joe Biden has been urging Congress for several months to approve his aid package which would earmark $60 billion for Ukraine. Many Republicans have opposed the measure, demanding more efforts to strengthen security on the Mexican border. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson signaled earlier this month that the package could come up for a vote soon with “some important innovations,” including a proposal to extend a loan to Ukraine, as well as seizing frozen Russian sovereign assets and transferring them to Kiev. Moscow has described the blocking as “theft” and warned of retaliation if the funds are seized.

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UK Foreign War Secretary David Cameron also gets involved in domestic US politics?!

• UK To Pressure US House Speaker On Ukraine Aid (RT)

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron is planning to use his upcoming trip to the US to persuade House Speaker Mike Johnson to unblock a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine, the Telegraph reported on Sunday, citing sources at the Foreign Office. The additional funding has been delayed for several months due to political in-fighting in Congress. Cameron will fly to Washington, DC next week to meet with Johnson, as well as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the Telegraph said. “If Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war,” President Vladimir Zelensky warned earlier this week, following multiple complaints about the shortage of ammunition on the battlefield. Cameron renewed his appeal to keep helping Kiev in a piece for the Telegraph on Sunday, arguing that the West must “stop” Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Ukraine must win this war. If Ukraine loses, we all lose. The costs of failing to support Ukraine now will be far greater than the costs of repelling Putin,” Cameron wrote in an op-ed co-authored with French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne. He previously argued on social media that the security of the US, UK and EU is “on the line in Ukraine.”

Earlier this year, the British government stepped up its military assistance to Ukraine, pledging $3.2 billion in military aid, while the EU unveiled a plan to provide €50 billion ($54 billion) in loans and grants. House Republicans, however, have so far refused to advance the aid bill sought by President Joe Biden, arguing that the White House should agree to tougher border security measures. Johnson said before Congress went on a two-week Easter break that he was working on “important innovations” to the proposed legislation, signaling that the bill could be put to a vote soon. Russia has repeatedly said that no amount of foreign aid will change the course of the conflict in Ukraine, and will merely increase the risk of a further escalation.

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“..abandon the car near the border” and then call their handler for further instructions..”

• FSB Reveals Crocus City Attackers’ Plan To Escape To Ukraine (RT)

Two escape routes were prepared in Ukraine for the terrorists who attacked a packed concert hall outside Moscow last month, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday. The FSB showed snippets from interrogation videos, in which the suspects confessed that they were promised money in Kiev. On March 22, four Tajik nationals opened fire inside the Crocus City Hall music venue and then set the building on fire. A total of 145 people were killed and more than 500 were injured in the attack. The suspected assailants were detained the next day while trying to flee to Ukraine by car, the authorities said. More suspects were arrested in the following days, most of them of Tajik origin. The jihadist group Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for the attack. FSB chief Aleksandr Bortnikov, however, suggested that the US, UK, and Ukraine may also be linked to the attack, possibly using Islamists as proxies. Ukraine and its Western backers have denied any involvement.

In the interrogation videos aired on Russian TV, the suspects said that they were following instructions from the handler they knew as Sayfullo. The authorities are currently working to determine his identity. The handler told the suspects to escape to Ukraine where they expected to receive 1 million rubles each ($11,000), they said. “Sayfullo told us that guys would wait for us at the Ukrainian border and that they would help us to cross the border and arrive in Kiev,” suspect Muhammadsobir Fayzov told his interrogator. According to investigators, the suspects took the M3 highway that leads to the border with Ukraine, but were eventually intercepted about 140 kilometers (87 miles) from Ukraine’s Sumy region.

Suspect Shamsidin Fariduni said that they were told to “abandon the car near the border” and then call their handler for further instructions on how to cross into Ukraine. Russian officials said previously that a “window” for crossing the border had been arranged on the Ukrainian side.The FSB said on Sunday that the Ukrainians were conducting “demining activities” near the villages of Chuykovka and Sopych, which points to two possible escape routes. According to investigators, the suspects were expected to destroy their vehicle and cross the border on foot, using woodlands as cover. Russia’s Investigative Committee said earlier this week that pro-Ukrainian images were discovered on the phone of one of the suspects.

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“Such reckless attacks significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident and must cease immediately,” Grossi was quoted as saying..”

• IAEA Chief Calls Attack on Zaporozhye NPP Violation of Security Principles (Sp.)

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi characterized the recent drone attack on the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) as a violation of nuclear security principles and called for an end to such “reckless attacks” Sunday. The IAEA confirmed minor damage to the sixth power unit of the plant as a result of the drone attacks. “This is a clear violation of the basic principles for protecting Europe’s largest [nuclear power plant]. Such reckless attacks significantly increase the risk of a major nuclear accident and must cease immediately,” Grossi was quoted as saying in the IAEA statement. Earlier in the day, Ukrainian kamikaze drones attacked the territory of the power station immediately after an inspection carried out by IAEA experts, the plant’s press service said. The attack left three of the facility’s workers injured, with one of them sustaining serious injuries, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said.

The IAEA had previously confirmed damage to the plant in a separate statement. “IAEA experts confirmed physical impact of drone attacks at ZNPP today, incl. at 1 of its 6 reactors,” the agency said. “One casualty reported. Damage at unit 6 has not compromised nuclear safety, but this is a serious incident with potential to undermine integrity of the reactor’s containment system.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the international community must respond to Ukraine’s attack, calling it “an act of nuclear terrorism.” “The world community must realize and react to an act of nuclear terrorism on the part of the Kiev regime,” Zakharova said on Telegram. The Zaporozhye nuclear plant, constructed in the 1980s by the Soviet Union, is Europe’s largest and one of the world’s largest. The massive power station is reportedly now completely reliant on a single 750-kilowatt line for external power after previous attacks.

A connection to outside electricity is necessary to ensure the plant is able to cool its reactors – an interruption in the delivery of power could precipitate a catastrophic meltdown. Russia took control of the sensitive asset in March 2022 and it has endured Ukrainian fire ever since. Ukrainian drones, missiles, and artillery have all been used against the plant by Kiev, which has repeatedly attempted to reassert control. Kiev claims Russia is storing weapons at the power station and using it as cover to attack Ukrainian troops. Observers worry Ukraine may create a disaster at the plant, blaming Russia and spoiling newly-Russian territory. Kiev has repeatedly employed US-provided cluster munitions during fighting in the Donbass, raising the prospect of unexploded bomblets creating a hazard for decades to come.

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Long from Brenner.

• Morality Challenged (Michael Brenner)

Is there now a moral void at the heart of Western societies? That question haunts us as governments in the United States and Europe act as accomplices in Israeli’s atrocious crimes against the Palestinians. The Jewish state’s conduct meets the standard of genocide as stated in the United Nations Convention on Genocide of which they all are signatories. Confirmation is likely to come soon in a conclusive determination by the International Court of Justice. The ICJ already in January recognized a prime facie case for genocide. The UN’s top court ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza. The ICJ found it did have jurisdiction on the matter, and decided there was a plausible case under the 1948 Genocide Convention. At least some of the acts and omissions by Israel “fall within the provisions of the (Genocide) Convention,” the judges said.

The ICJ issued a set of stipulations “to protect the rights claimed by South Africa that the Court has found to be plausible,” including “the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide.” One reasonably expected that the stark moral issues thereby highlighted – along with subsequent atrocities – would spark an animated, anguished public debate as a prelude to decisive action. Yet, the political class in its near totality disregards or sublimates them. Silence reigns. Gaza exhibits singular features that set it apart from other relatively recent instances of systematic, targeted attacks on civilians. One, the West’s response is not one of indifference leading to passivity – as in regard to Ruanda.

Governments have been active participants in Israel’s indiscriminate punishment of the Palestinians. They provide Israel with vast amounts of weapons critical to their military assault; they offer unqualified political support and diplomatic cover; they acquiesce in the siege that prevents foodstuffs, medicines and other humanitarian aid from entering the strip – causing mass famine and disease among the civilian population; they lend credence to crude propaganda lines from Jerusalem without question or qualification: the phony rape stories, alleged Hamas nests in hospitals, etc. etc..; they pressure their mass media to publicize those fabrications as hard news; and they suppress both public demonstrations and individual calls for measure to alleviate Palestinian suffering – instead, denouncing them as pro-Hamas and/or anti-Semitic. Germany, France and now Britain have gone so far as to criminalize public expressions of anti-Zionist viewpoints.

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“..trying to force people to become like us..”

• Col. Macgregor Urges US to Stop ‘Marching’ Into Foreign Countries (Sp.)

Former Pentagon Adviser Col. Douglas Macgregor said Sunday the United States should stop “marching” into foreign nations to expand their political influence. “We need to stop marching into other peoples countries and trying to force people to become like us,” Macgregor said on the X social media platform. Earlier this week US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed the US-led NATO alliance is a defensive organization that has “no designs” to seize the territory of any other country in the world. NATO has carried out bombings and interventions in countries including Libya, Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan over its 75-year history.

The alliance also partnered with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to sponsor Operation Gladio, a covert program that backed far-right paramilitaries throughout Europe. In March, the Russian Mission to the United Nations requested a Security Council meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of the bombing campaign carried out by NATO against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War in 1999. Several US-aligned states raised objections to the proposed meeting, saying it was not relevant under the UN Security Council agenda category of “threats to international peace and security.”

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The judge really wants to go after Tucker Carlson.

• Appeals Court Vacates ‘Disinformation’ Monitoring Of Jan. 6 Defendant’s Computer (ET)

A sentencing requirement that Jan. 6 defendant Daniel Goodwyn have his computer monitored by the government for “disinformation” has been vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The court on March 26 published a mandate sending the case back to U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton to remove the computer monitoring requirement he issued as part of the sentencing judgment in the case on June 15, 2023.
“Judge Walton had no legal basis to issue the special condition,” Carolyn Stewart, Mr. Goodwyn’s attorney, told The Epoch Times in an April 3 email. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the judge “plainly erred” in imposing the computer monitoring. Judges Gregory Katsas, Naomi Rao, and Bradley Garcia issued a per curiam order vacating the monitoring provision.

Judge Walton, when imposing a 60-day jail sentence in June 2023, said Mr. Goodwyn spread “disinformation” during a broadcast of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on March 14, 2023. Judge Walton ordered that Mr. Goodwyn’s computer be subject to “monitoring and inspection” by a probation agent to check if he spread Jan. 6 disinformation during the term of his supervised release. The judge also referred to Mr. Goodwyn spreading alleged “misinformation,” using the term interchangeably with “disinformation.” Mr. Goodwyn, 35, of Corinth, Texas, pleaded guilty on Jan. 31, 2023, to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority. The charge could have meant up to a year in prison. On June 6, 2023, Judge Walton sentenced Mr. Goodwyn to 60 days in prison, a year of supervised release, a $2,500 fine, and a $500 restitution payment.

Federal prosecutors had asked for 90 days in jail, 36 months of supervised release, a $25,676 fine, and $500 in restitution. The recommended fine amount represented proceeds of a GiveSendGo web page Mr. Goodwyn uses to raise funds for his legal fees. Mr. Goodwyn asked for a sentence of time served with three months of supervised release. He received credit for three weeks he spent in pretrial detention, but not for the 13 months he spent in home detention. He completed his incarceration at the Federal Correctional Institution at Bastrop, Texas, on Aug. 25, 2023. Mr. Goodwyn said the Court of Appeals made the correct decision. “Judge Walton’s imposition of the computer monitoring restriction is inconsistent with American law and tradition,” Mr. Goodwyn told The Epoch Times. “It’s unbelievable, in my opinion, that he would unlawfully order feds to spy on me in direct violation of the First and Fourth Amendments, under threat of locking me back up in prison.”

[..] During the sentencing hearing, Judge Walton criticized Mr. Goodwyn for having the “false impression” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from President Donald Trump. “And there is just no proof whatsoever that that was, in fact, the case,” the judge said, according to the official court transcript for the June 6 portion of the hearing. It was Mr. Goodwyn’s appearance on Mr. Carlson’s Fox News program that drew some of the sharpest fire from Judge Walton. He called Mr. Carlson a “lightning rod” who “has said and done things that I think clearly have been divisive.” Mr. Carlson gave the impression “that individuals who have been charged in reference to the events on January 6th of ‘21 have been treated unfairly,“ the judge said. ”And I see no evidence that, in fact, was the case.”

When being interviewed by Mr. Carlson, Mr. Goodwyn “made no attempt to correct the record,” Judge Walton said. “And when Carlson suggested that all the defendant did was go into the Capitol and walk around for less than a minute and leave, that just wasn’t correct. And that misinformation that is disseminated to the American public has contributed to the discord that now exists in our country in reference to the presidential election and what occurred on January 6th.”

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“You’re going to save my country. We could never repay you.”

• Elon Musk Says X Will Defy Order From Brazil’s Supreme Court (ET)

Owner of X Corp. Elon Musk said on the platform on April 6 that the company had decided to lift all restrictions on Brazilian accounts targeted by an order from the nation’s Supreme Court. “We are lifting all restrictions. This judge has applied massive fines, threatened to arrest our employees and cut off access to X in Brazil. As a result, we will probably lose all revenue in Brazil and have to shut down our office there. But principles matter more than profit,” Mr. Musk wrote, explaining X’s decision. The announcement came in response to reporting by investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger and colleagues David Ágape and Eli Vieira, titled “Twitter Files Brazil.” In his reporting, Mr. Shellenberger cited records released by X, formerly known as Twitter, during Mr. Musk’s 2022 takeover that allegedly show that “Brazil is engaged in a sweeping crackdown on free speech led by a Supreme Court justice.”

Sitting members of Brazil’s Congress and journalists were among those named by Brazil’s highest court for censoring, Mr. Shellenberger said of his findings, which he has shared on X He named lower house members Carla Zambelli of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party and Marcel van Hattem of the NOVO party as targets of orders targeting posts that the court deemed misinformation. According to the internal files that Mr. Shellenberger shared, Twitter in Brazil was threatened with a $30,000 fine. The company had one hour to remove the congressmembers’ posts or pay the court for noncompliance. The article reports that the justice had even been jailing individuals without trial for their social media posts. According to Mr. Shellenberger, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes allegedly made demands to Twitter to allow access to its internal data, in violation of Twitter’s own policies on the handling of user data.

He also allegedly ordered that Twitter deplatform the individuals responsible for the specific posts that he wanted censored “without giving users any right of appeal or even the right to see the evidence presented against them.” Brazil’s “Twitter Files” also show that the justice “sought to weaponize Twitter’s content moderation policies against supporters of then-president [Jair Bolsonaro],” Mr. Shellenberger said—a similar trend to what the “Twitter files” revealed was happening to former President Donald Trump and conservative voices in the United States. The origin of the order to censor Brazilians’ posts was also revealed in the internal Twitter files, he said. He said Justice de Moraes, Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court, and Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court declined to respond to the report.

Last year, Justice de Moraes also ordered an investigation into executives at social messaging platform Telegram and Alphabet’s Google, who were in charge of a campaign criticizing a proposed internet regulation bill. Mr. Musk said of Brazil’s Twitter Files, which he released to Mr. Shellenberger, “This aggressive censorship appears to violate the law & will of the people of Brazil.” Journalist Paulo Figueiredo, a contributor to The Epoch Times who was censored by the court order, replied: “You’re going to save my country. We could never repay you.” He had replied to an earlier post urging X to not comply with the court order, saying the independent platforms Rumble and Locals did not comply. “You’re powerful enough to make a difference,” Mr. Figueiredo said.

Rogan X

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For running the company into the ground.

• Outgoing Boeing CEO Bags $33 Million Pay-Off Despite 737 Max Accidents (Sp.)

Boeing’s departing CEO Dave Calhoun’s 2023 pay package jumped by 45 percent to about $33 million, according to an annual proxy statement filed on Friday. Boeing reported that Calhoun’s compensation mainly consists of deferred stock options. Boeing’s share price has slumped almost 30 percent this year as of March 29, 2024 following the mid-air blowout of an Alaska Airlines B737 MAX 9 jet door plug on January 5. A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that Boeing failed to correctly install the four bolts required to secure the door on the Alaska jet. The revised figure for Calhoun’s overall earnings in 2023 totalled $24.8 million. The departing CEO pocketed $22.6 million the previous year, according to the regulatory filing.

The Seattle-based planemaker is in financial and regulatory trouble after several accidents with its B737 Max short-medium haul airliners. It has suffered a drop in new orders and mounting concerns over quality control and corporate governance raised by regulators and customers. Last February, an expert panel found Boeing’s safety practices “inadequate and confusing” and noted a “disconnect” between the company’s senior management and front-line workers. In March, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) probe found multiple issues within Boeing’s 737 Max production, including quality control violations by major supplier Spirit AeroSystems. The FAA conducted 89 product audits of which 33 failed, totalling 97 instances of noncompliance. Based on FAA findings, Spirit AeroSystems underwent 13 audits, failing seven.

Calhoun was appointed CEO of Boeing in January 2020. His 2023 pay-packet is his highest yet, despite the transnational corporation’s litany of woes. sFollowing the Alaska incident, Boeing’s executive compensation committee adjusted the payment structure for top officials in 2024. Executives in the commercial aircraft division will now have their pay split into 60 percent based on operational performance and 40 percent based on financial performance. Previously, three-quarters of pay was based on financial metrics.

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https://twitter.com/i/status/1776616386048983117

https://twitter.com/i/status/1776606901611933760

 

 

Birx

 

 

Baby elephant
https://twitter.com/i/status/1776687801632952388

 

 

Toddler puppy

 

 

Hawk mallard

 

 

Horse
https://twitter.com/i/status/1777095055255433356

 

 

Toothpaste
https://twitter.com/i/status/1777182076950974843

 

 

PolyGlu

 

 

Table cloth

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle March 15 2024

Mar 152024
 
 March 15, 2024  Posted by at 9:16 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  51 Responses »


Vincent van Gogh Lilac Bush 1889

 

• US Has Created ‘Frankenstein’ States – Galloway (RT)
• NATO’s ‘Welfare’ States: Treating the U.S. As ‘Room Service’ (Hoekstra)
• US Intelligence ‘Threat Assessment’ Says Hamas Isn’t Going Away (Antiwar)
• Scenario for Military Takeover of Ukrainian Parliament Was Written by US (Sp.)
• France Mulled ‘Boots On The Ground’ In Ukraine Since June – Le Monde (RT)
• Medvedev Responds To Zelensky ‘Peace Plan’ (RT)
• EU Members Oppose Plan To Arm Kiev With Russian Money – Politico (RT)
• Kremlin Slams US ‘Distortion’ Of Putin’s Words On Nuclear Weapons (RT)
• Trump Unlikely To Win – Macron (RT)
• US in ‘Constant State of Neo-McCarthyism’ – Sleboda (Sp.)
• The U.S. Is Not a Democracy and Can’t Be Reformed (Barton)
• Musk Cancels X Partnership Deal With Don Lemon (RT)
• Canada Moves to Impose Potential Life Imprisonment for Speech Crimes (Turley)
• 973% SURGE in Heart Failure Among Navy Pilots (DW)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malaysia PM

 

 

Elon

 

 

 

 

@Judgenap: Congress has no right to ban TikTok

 

 

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“When you make a monster… it’s no longer yours. It’s a monster that can do monstrous things..”

• US Has Created ‘Frankenstein’ States – Galloway (RT)

The American policy of giving billions in aid to Ukraine and Israel has created “monster” states, British MP George Galloway has claimed. Appearing on Rick Sanchez’s show Direct Impact broadcast on RT, Galloway discussed the debate surrounding Western aid to Ukraine, as well as the rift between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the situation in Gaza. In the latest row between Biden and Netanyahu, the US president has insisted that an Israeli assault on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza – where around 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge – would be a “red line.” Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead regardless, arguing that his own red line is ensuring that the October 7 Hamas attack “never happens again.”

Comparing Washington to the fictional scientist Frankenstein, Galloway told Sanchez: “When you make a monster… it’s no longer yours. It’s a monster that can do monstrous things. And that’s what they have done with Netanyahu and people like him who now run Israel.” Israel is the biggest cumulative recipient of US military aid, being provided with around $3.8 billion worth of weapons and defense systems each year. Galloway also used the Frankenstein analogy to refer to the Ukrainian government, which he claimed has become a “client state” that now “tells the paymaster what to do.”

“Ukraine treats us now as if we owe them rather than them having been on the end of endless subventions of money and material. Now the Ukrainian leadership insults the people that gave them so much, hundreds of billions of dollars,” Galloway argued. Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky accused his country’s Western supporters of “playing internal political games” while criticizing them for delays in allocating aid. Ukrainian first lady Elena Zelenskaya declined an invitation last week to attend Biden’s State of the Union address, citing a busy schedule. The US has already doled out around $45 billion in military aid to Kiev. A foreign aid bill that would include another $60 billion in military support has been stalled in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

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Make NATO a defensive alliance again and your problems are over.

• NATO’s ‘Welfare’ States: Treating the U.S. As ‘Room Service’ (Hoekstra)

Last month, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg conceded what former US President Donald Trump has been warning about for nearly a decade: America’s allies are not paying their fair share — as they had agreed — for national defense. After four years in which Trump held our NATO allies accountable for funding their share of NATO’s collective defense, US President Joe Biden has once again allowed many of them to pass significant burdens of NATO spending on to American taxpayers – threatening the security of the NATO alliance in the process. The very nature of alliances is that they are a two-way street. Americans should rightly expect to realize benefits from U.S. participation in NATO, just as the citizens of other NATO nations can expect to benefit from their country’s relationship with the United States.

Indeed, that was the original idea behind the North Atlantic Treaty Organization when it was founded in 1949. In the wake of WWII, 12 nations agreed to band together to guard against the threat of the Soviet Union, a number that has now grown to 32 with the recent addition of Sweden. The NATO alliance today, however, more closely resembles an international welfare program than a true alliance, with most countries failing to meet their defense commitments and instead relying on the generosity of the United States. As the eminent journalist Amir Taheri put it: “others… treat the US as a ‘room service’ reachable by pressing a button…” In 2014, every NATO member agreed to allocate just 2% of their nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) to defense spending. This minimum baseline target is crucial to ensuring military readiness in the face of growing threats from hostile nations such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.

A decade later, 19 out of 32 NATO member nations have failed to meet this goal. Moreover, most of those countries that have reached the 2% target, such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Greece, are smaller nations with smaller GDPs. The United States, meanwhile, accounts for a staggering 70% of all NATO defense spending — even though the combined GDP of the other 31 member nations is roughly equal to that of the United States. Germany, by far the richest NATO member behind the United States, allocates just 1.57% of its GDP to defense spending. The combined population of these 31 NATO member states, at more than 620 million, also now dwarfs that of the United States, at 333 million. In other words, each American citizen is now effectively responsible for funding the national defense of two people in another NATO nation. The situation in Europe today is far different than at the founding of NATO, when many nations were still relying on the Marshall Plan funding to be rebuilt.

Our NATO allies have highly advanced economies and immensely capable citizens. American taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize their national defense. If NATO is to function as an effective deterrent to military aggression from Russia and other adversaries, there seriously needs to be a new commitment by every NATO member state to invest in a strong national defense. Yet, the failure of our European allies to meet their spending commitments means they are woefully unprepared from a military standpoint to defend their countries – thus endangering the United States as well as themselves by threatening to draw America into war unnecessarily because of European weakness. President Trump wisely recognized this threat and accordingly made holding our NATO allies accountable a top priority of his foreign policy. Under his leadership, NATO member countries increased their defense spending by $350 billion.

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And neither are the Houthis. You got yourself a big problem.

• US Intelligence ‘Threat Assessment’ Says Hamas Isn’t Going Away (Antiwar)

An annual “threat assessment” compiled by US intelligence agencies was released on Monday and said that Israel will likely face resistance from Hamas for years to come, another sign that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated goal of “eradicating” the Palestinian group isn’t realistic. “Israel probably will face lingering armed resistance from HAMAS for years to come, and the military will struggle to neutralize HAMAS’s underground infrastructure, which allows insurgents to hide, regain strength, and surprise Israeli forces,” the assessment reads. The assessment aligns with an Israeli military intelligence document that was circulated last month and said even if Israel succeeded in dismantling Hamas as an organized military force, the group would still exist as “a terror group and a guerrilla group.” Other reports have said Israel is struggling to destroy the vast tunnel network underneath Gaza that is key to Hamas’s survival and is far more expansive than Israel initially thought.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown, the highest ranking US military officer, previously said that Israel’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza will be a recruiting boon for Hamas. “The faster you can get to a point where you stop the hostilities, you have less strife for the civilian population that turns into someone who now wants to be the next member of Hamas,” Brown said in November. Despite believing Netanyahu’s goal is unrealistic, the US continues to provide unconditional military support for Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed at least over 31,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. The Biden administration is trying to distance itself from Netanyahu by criticizing his government, but the rhetoric hasn’t amounted to a policy change. The US threat assessment said that while Hamas isn’t going away, Netanyahu could lose his hold on power. “Netanyahu’s viability as leader as well as his governing coalition of far-right and ultraorthodox parties that pursued hardline policies on Palestinian and security issues may be in jeopardy.

Distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections. A different, more moderate government is a possibility,” the report says. The assessment also said that Iran had no role in Hamas’s October 7 attack and acknowledged Tehran is not seeking a nuclear weapon. “Iran is not currently undertaking the key nuclear weapons-development activities necessary to produce a testable nuclear device,” the report reads. The report acknowledges that Iran’s increases in uranium enrichment since the US tore up the nuclear deal in 2018 were to gain leverage for negotiations, not seek a bomb. “Iran uses its nuclear program to build negotiating leverage and respond to perceived international pressure,” the assessment says.

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“..none of the Ukrainian military and intelligence structures is independent: each of them has either British or US “supervisors..”

• Scenario for Military Takeover of Ukrainian Parliament Was Written by US (Sp.)

A takeover of the Ukrainian Parliament by the nation’s military would not be a grass-roots movement, “Other Ukraine” expert Alexander Dudchak told Sputnik, suggesting that the potential rebellion has been orchestrated from the West. The disillusioned Ukrainian military is planning a takeover of the Ukrainian Parliament or Verkhovna Rada, an exchange from private Telegram channel Parabelum obtained by Sputnik reveals. “This could be a scenario of replacing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky without holding elections,” Alexander Dudchak, researcher at the Institute of CIS Countries and expert of the ‘Other Ukraine’ movement, told Sputnik. The members of the classified chat, composed of commanders and soldiers of elite units of the Ukrainian armed forces, were discussing options for overthrowing the present government and the command of the Ukrainian armed forces following the sacking of Commander-in-Chief General Valery Zaluzhny.

“The most important action that we will need to pull off lightning fast is the takeover of the VR [Verkhovna Rada] at a certain point,” one of the chat members wrote. They also expressed dissatisfaction with Zelensky’s decisions and the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, who was appointed a month ago to replace Zaluzhny. The alleged coup plotters placed special emphasis on involving Ukrainian troops fighting at the frontline in the anti-Zelensky movement. According to the researcher, engaging Ukrainian active duty personnel is fraught with risks, given that those in the trenches are closely monitored by foreign mercenaries from ‘barrier detachments’ with orders to shoot any who leave their positions against orders. If Ukrainian troops are allowed to march towards Kiev that would mean that the regime-change scenario was written in Washington in response to Zelensky’s refusal to hold elections this year, Dudchak argued.

Leaders of elite Ukrainian units, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the nationalist Azov and Aidar battalions are also reportedly planning to create a radical party with a military wing. The expert insists that none of the Ukrainian military and intelligence structures is independent: each of them has either British or US “supervisors”. “The confrontation between the military and the Kiev regime is in general a manifestation of the confrontation between London and Washington,” said Dudchak. “The office of the president is under British control, while the military, who supposedly will gather in the name of Zaluzhny, are under Americans, plus the SBU is also a US-backed structure.” The consequences for Kiev would be dramatic and could seriously complicate the Ukrainian military’s positions at the frontline, the researcher concluded.

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“..we are ready to use the means to achieve our objective – which is that Russia does not win..”

• France Mulled ‘Boots On The Ground’ In Ukraine Since June – Le Monde (RT)

The idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine was secretly discussed in Paris as early as last June, months before French President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to keep all options on the table to defeat Russia, according to Le Monde. The subject was raised at a defense council at the Elysee Palace in June 2023, soon after Kiev launched its much-touted counteroffensive, the French newspaper wrote on Thursday. “The role of the military is to always prepare the maximum number of possible options, in order to help with the political-military decision of the President of the Republic,” Chief of Staff of the French Army, Pierre Schill, told the paper. Macron’s recent public statements are “foremost a political and strategic message” to Russia about France’s “will and commitment,” rather than an escalation, the general argued.

Following a summit of Ukraine’s sponsors hosted in Paris in late February, Macron said there was no consensus on sending troops in any official manner, but claimed that “in terms of dynamics, we cannot exclude anything.” The controversial statement prompted a wave of objections from NATO members, including the US, UK, Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic. The US-led bloc’s chief has declared outright that “NATO has no plans to send troops to Ukraine.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said there will be “no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil, who are sent there by European or NATO countries,” and that the bloc’s leaders were “unanimous as far as this question is concerned.” However, the French leader has stood behind his words, repeatedly reiterating that nothing must be excluded to make sure that Russia is defeated in Ukraine.

“We must, with determination, will and courage, say that we are ready to use the means to achieve our objective – which is that Russia does not win,” Macron again said in a televised interview to TF1 and France 2 on Thursday. While refusing to draw red lines, Macron said France would never initiate an offensive against Russia, even as he called Moscow an “adversary.” The latest rift between the leaders of France and Germany has exacerbated an already strained relationship, as Macron allegedly made his comments “against express wishes of Scholz’s office,” Bloomberg wrote early in March. The heads of the two states are set to meet in Berlin on Friday in an effort to reduce tensions over Ukraine, Politico wrote on Wednesday, while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will join the meeting later in the day.

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“A “reasonable” peace agreement with Ukraine would involve Moscow taking full control over the country..”

• Medvedev Responds To Zelensky ‘Peace Plan’ (RT)

A “reasonable” peace agreement with Ukraine would involve Moscow taking full control over the country, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has claimed. The senior official mocked the peace plan proposed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, which has been backed by the West as the only way to end the conflict with Russia. First unveiled in late 2022, the proposal amounts to Moscow conceding military defeat, according to the Russian leadership. “Everyone, including those brazen Western liars, understands that even in a less complicated situation peace can be achieved either through reasonable compromise or after one of the sides capitulates,” Medvedev, who serves as deputy head of the Security Council, wrote on social media on Thursday. Since the Ukrainian proposal can only be taken with “loathing” and a “sense of shame,” Medvedev said he had come up with a “soft” alternative.

This would involve formal capitulation by Kiev, the dissolution of the Ukrainian government, and the UN-monitored election of a new parliament. The new legislature in Kiev would be tasked with paying reparations to Russia and ultimately ratifying a treaty of union, under which Moscow would assume full sovereignty over Ukraine. “This is a compromise position, right?” Medvedev added, addressing Western nations. “I believe that based on it, we can find a friendly consensus with the international community, including the Anglosphere, hold productive summits counting on mutual understanding with our close friends, the Western partners.” The comments came after Switzerland announced that it will host a new round of talks on the ‘Zelensky formula’ this summer. Bern has urged the inclusion of Russia in the talks, unlike during every previous summit, although neither Kiev nor Moscow has agreed.

The Russian government believes the entire process to be a ruse. The Ukrainian document includes points on non- specific issues such as global food and energy security. The ploy, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is to get non-aligned countries to back these articles so that Kiev could then falsely claim global support for the entire ‘formula’. Russia is prepared for peace talks “based not on a wish list somebody came up with after taking psychotropic substances, but on the realities… on the ground,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview this week. Any stable truce with Ukraine will have to address Russian security concerns caused by NATO’s expansion in Europe, he added. Considering the lack of trust in Moscow after so many Western promises given to it were broken, that bridge would be difficult to cross, according to the Russian leader.

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“..a bad precedent that could push other countries to avoid holding their reserves in Western currencies..”

• EU Members Oppose Plan To Arm Kiev With Russian Money – Politico (RT)

A European Union plan to use the profits generated by Russia’s central bank assets frozen in the bloc to buy weapons for Ukraine has faced resistance from Malta, Luxembourg, and Hungary, Politico reported on Thursday, citing an EU official. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month suggested using the interest earned from the assets to acquire weapons for Ukraine rather than using the funds for reconstruction, as had been initially planned. According to the outlet, Malta, Luxembourg and Hungary “expressed reservations” about the plan during a meeting of the EU’s 27 ambassadors on Wednesday. The report indicated that von der Leyen’s idea of using Russian money to purchase arms for Kiev has “complicated talks” ahead of the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels next week.

The West has frozen roughly $300 billion in holdings belonging to the Russian central bank since the start of the Ukraine conflict two years ago. Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear holds around €191 billion ($205 billion) of the funds and has accrued nearly €4.4 billion in interest over the past year. The EU is aiming to give Kiev between €2 and €3 billion in revenue generated by the frozen assets this year, the Financial Times reported earlier this week. A first tranche of the money could be disbursed as early as July if Brussels can secure the approval of all bloc members, the outlet said, citing EU officials. Some member states are cautious about the controversial proposal, saying it needs a more thorough analysis, Bloomberg said in a separate report on Tuesday. Hungary has reportedly insisted that the proceeds from the Russian assets should be allocated to Ukraine’s reconstruction rather than be used for funding its military, the outlet said, citing people familiar with the discussions.

While Kiev’s Western backers generally agree that the frozen assets should be used to aid Ukraine, they are at odds about whether an outright seizure would be legal. While the US and UK support the direct expropriation of the funds, some EU member states, France and Germany in particular, warn the move would erode trust in the European financial system. It’s also argued that such a drastic move would set a bad precedent that could push other countries to avoid holding their reserves in Western currencies out of fear that they could someday also becomes targets of sanctions. Moscow has warned that it would respond in kind if the West went through with its threats to confiscate the assets. Russia has repeatedly said that any actions taken against its assets would amount to “theft,” stressing that seizing the funds or any similar move would violate international law and undermine Western currencies, the global financial system, and the world economy.

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“..Everything is written in our Strategy, we haven’t changed it.”

• Kremlin Slams US ‘Distortion’ Of Putin’s Words On Nuclear Weapons (RT)

Washington “deliberately distorted” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words about the conditions under which Moscow would use nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday. He was referring to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s remarks about an interview Putin gave that aired on Wednesday. While answering a reporter’s question on whether US President Joe Biden had been briefed about Putin’s comments, Jean-Pierre responded that the Russian leader was “restating Russia’s nuclear doctrine” but went on to claim that “Russia’s nuclear rhetoric has been reckless and irresponsible throughout this conflict.” Peskov described the White House’s reaction to Putin’s interview as an “absolutely deliberate distortion of the context,” adding that “no threats to use nuclear weapons were made by Putin in this interview.”

He indicated that the president was answering the journalist’s questions rather than making official statements and explained that Putin “was just talking about the reasons that could make the use of nuclear weapons inevitable.” The Kremlin spokesperson also drew attention to the fact that Jean-Pierre had omitted the president’s remark where he stressed that “it has never come into his mind to use tactical nuclear weapons” despite the “various situations” that had emerged on the battlefield. While answering a question about tactical nuclear arms in the interview, Putin stressed that weapons of mass destruction have never been used by Russia in Ukraine. “Weapons exist to be used. We have our own principles and they imply that we are ready to use any weapons, including the ones you mentioned, if we are talking about the existence of the Russian state, in case of a threat to our sovereignty and independence. Everything is written in our Strategy, we haven’t changed it.”

In June 2020, Putin signed a decree on Russia’s nuclear deterrence policy. The document provides for the use of nuclear weapons in a number of cases, one of which is aggression against Russia using conventional weapons that puts the existence of the state at risk. Putin warned that Russia is prepared to use nuclear weapons and considers its arsenal “more advanced than anyone else’s.” Meanwhile, the Russian leader suggested that Washington has enough experts in strategic deterrence, including President Joe Biden himself, to avoid a nuclear conflagration. But he added that if the US abandons its de facto moratorium on nuclear tests, Moscow will do the same.

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What a strange thing to say. Does he know something?

• Trump Unlikely To Win – Macron (RT)

French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed doubt that Donald Trump will be able to secure another term in the White House, when asked who could potentially mediate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Macron called Moscow “an adversary,” but stopped short of declaring it an “enemy,” during an interview with the France 2 and TF1 TV channels on Thursday. He once again refused to rule out NATO deployments in Ukraine, reiterating that Paris is ready to make any “decisions necessary to prevent Russia’s victory” – and noting that he sees no opportunities for negotiations with the Kremlin at this point. “I am absolutely ready for discussions at any time, but we need someone sincere and peace-oriented to do that,” Macron said, adding that he hoped that the time would come one day to negotiate with a Russian president “whoever it might be.”

Noting Macron’s reluctance to engage in direct communications with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the interviewers wondered if the United States could potentially mediate such talks, especially if Donald Trump is reelected. “As far as I’m informed, I don’t think Donald Trump will become President of the United States,” the French leader claimed. At the same time Macron said there was “nothing personal” behind his decision to refrain from dialogue with Putin. “Undoubtedly, I am the head of the state that used to talk to him more than anyone else.”

Back in January, Macron said he would deal with whoever wins the US election, claiming “I’ve always had the same philosophy, I take the leaders that people give me.” US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are set for a rematch in November, with recent polls showing Trump leading his incumbent rival by between two and nine percentage points. Trump has promised to end the Ukrainian conflict “in 24 hours” if voted back into office, without specifying how peace could be achieved. Meanwhile, Russia is holding its own presidential election this weekend, in which Vladimir Putin faces three opponents.

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“Let us understand that this is a propaganda bubble that Americans have, to a large part, inflicted on themselves.”

• US in ‘Constant State of Neo-McCarthyism’ – Sleboda (Sp.)

The US fearmongering surrounding Russia is the result of a sort of “Neo-McCarthyism” Mark Sleboda, an international relations and security analyst told Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Wednesday. “If someone threatened the existence of the US state, they would use nuclear weapons. Putin is saying the exact same thing,” Sleboda explained. “The Western media just loves putting Russia and nukes together in the same sentence. I think it has a certain amount of scaremongering, a kind of neo-McCarthyite effect just by seeing the two words together in a headline.” Show host Melik Abdul pointed to a panel between US commentators Candace Owens and Chris Cuomo, during which Cuomo refused to acknowledge that Putin is intelligent, Abdul said that it is emblematic of the West’s refusal to “acknowledge basic stuff.”

“I mean, could we agree that Putin is intelligent?” Sleboda responded playfully. “Could we agree that Putin is a human being? [Do] we agree that Putin’s first name is Vladimir? None of these things, I guess, [can] be agreed on because we live in a constant state of hyper neo-McCarthyism,” Sleboda added, noting that the term isn’t quite correct since Russia is no longer communist. “Maybe Russophobic hysteria” is a better term, he pondered. “But Vladimir Putin is, obviously, an extremely intelligent and capable leader of his country. He is a thorn in the US hegemony’s side. Numerous US politicians and officials have admitted that, but in the current social-political climate in the United States, it’s simply verboten. It is forbidden to acknowledge things like that,” Sleboda explained. “Let us understand that this is a propaganda bubble that Americans have, to a large part, inflicted on themselves.”

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“It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery..”

• The U.S. Is Not a Democracy and Can’t Be Reformed (Barton)

It may be reasonable to start with the Trump administration (2016-2020), especially with the view that he is likely to stage a comeback in the forthcoming presidential elections in November. How close was he to corporations and the very rich and to what extent did he represent their will? As noted by Eric Lipton in the New York Times, during Trump’s presidency (2016-2020) there was “the merging of private business interest with government affairs”. So, for instance, billionaire investor Carl Icahn was appointed as a special adviser to the president. Interestingly, as he was not an official government employee he therefore was not subject to conflict of interest divestment requirements. Consequently, Icahn maintained his majority holdings in an oil refinery while advocating for a rule change that would have saved his refinery more than $200 million the previous year.

Let’s take a shortcut and indicate how plutocratic Trump’s government was. Trump’s cabinet had more combined personal wealth than one-third of American households, and Icahn was richer than all of them combined. As Liz Kennedy from the Center for American Progress points out, corporate interests are in a position to outspend labor or public interest groups on elections. For example, in 2014, business interests spent $1.1 billion on state candidates and committees compared with the $215 million that labor groups spent. Unfortunately, the U.S. establishment, facing such huge volumes of money in politics that give lobbyists far greater access to legislators than should be allowed in liberal democracies, does nothing about the problem. How about the much-vaunted concept of “checks and balances”? The system was designed in theory to allow each branch of a government to amend or veto acts of another branch to prevent any one branch from having too much power.

But the money issue was already addressed by the Supreme Court. In its decisions like Buckley versus Valeo and Citizens United versus FEC, the Supreme Court stated that political donations and spending on lobbying were a form of free speech and therefore constitutionally protected. What a clever way of giving too much power to the very rich! In practice, one can hardly see any checks and balances. Hardly any high-ranking politician commented on the impact of the above Supreme Court decisions. One of the exceptions was the ex-president, Jimmy Carter. In 2015, he was asked on a radio show, the Thom Hartmann Program, what he thought about the 2010 Citizens United decision and the 2014 McCutcheon decision, both decisions by the five Republican judges on the U.S. Supreme Court. These two historic decisions enable unlimited secret money (including foreign money) now to pour into U.S. political and judicial campaigns.

President Carter elaborated as follows: “It violates the essence of what made America a great country in its political system. Now it’s just an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or being elected president. And the same thing applies to governors, and U.S. Senators and Congress members. So, now we’ve just seen a subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors, who want and expect, and sometimes get, favors for themselves after the election is over… At present, the incumbents, Democrats and Republicans, look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves. Somebody that is already in Congress has a great deal more to sell.”

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“..basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.”

• Musk Cancels X Partnership Deal With Don Lemon (RT)

Elon Musk has abruptly withdrawn from a deal to exclusively host journalist Don Lemon’s new talk show on X (formerly Twitter), shortly after he interviewed the billionaire last Friday, the former CNN anchor has said. In a statement on Wednesday, Lemon explained that the deal was part of X’s public commitment to “amplifying more diverse voices on their platform” and that Musk had encouraged him to join X with a new talk show and promised to support the project. However, several hours after filming an interview with Musk on Friday, which Lemon described as a “good conversation,” the billionaire allegedly messaged the former host, informing him that the partnership contract with the Don Lemon Show had been terminated without explaining the reasons.

“His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me,” Lemon suggested, adding that there were no restrictions on the interview that Musk had agreed to, and insisted that his questions were “respectful and wide ranging.” Musk has since confirmed the deal was scuttled, but pointed out that Lemon would still be free to upload his show, monetize it, and build his viewership on the platform “along with everyone else.” “What we aren’t going to do is guarantee minimum payments to him, as he was demanding, which would be going beyond everyone else,” Musk explained. As for the reason for the sudden termination, the billionaire stated that Lemon’s approach to the interview was “basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.”

“Instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity,” Musk wrote, referring to the former president of the media company where Lemon worked until last year. In several snippets of the interview that have been published ahead of the full premiere on Monday, Lemon asked the billionaire a series of questions about content moderation, hate speech, conspiracy theories, as well as his political leanings and attitude towards former US President Donald Trump. The visibly frustrated Musk stated at one point in the interview that “he doesn’t have to answer these questions” and told Lemon that “the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform and you asked for it.” “Otherwise I would not be doing this interview,” Musk said.

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“There is also a chilling option for house arrest if a judge believes a defendant “will commit” an offense..”

• Canada Moves to Impose Potential Life Imprisonment for Speech Crimes (Turley)

We have previously discussed the unrelenting attacks by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his allies on free speech. There has been a steady criminalization of speech, including even jokes and religious speech, in Canada. Now, the Canadian parliament is moving toward a new change that would allow the imposition of life imprisonment on those who post views deemed supportive of genocide. With a growing movement calling Israel’s war in Gaza “genocide,” the potential scope of such a law is readily apparent. That appears to be its very draw for anti-free speech advocates in the country.

The Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63 increases the potential penalties from five years to life imprisonment. It also increases the penalty for the willful promotion of hatred (a dangerously ill-defined crime) from two years to five years. The proposed changes constitute a doubling down on Canada’s commitment to reducing free speech for citizens despite criticism from many in the civil liberties community. There is also a chilling option for house arrest if a judge believes a defendant “will commit” an offense. In other words, if a judge thinks that a citizen will be undeterred and try to speak freely again. Justice Minister Arif Virani employed the same hysteria to convince citizens to surrender their freedoms to the government. He expressed how terrified he was with the potential of free speech, stating that he is “terrified of the dangers that lurk on the internet for our children.”

It is not likely to end there. Today the rationale is genocide. However, once the new penalties are in place, a host of other groups will demand similar treatment for those with opposing views on their own causes. This law already increased the penalties for anything deemed hateful speech. The law comes after Canada blocked a Russian dissident from becoming a citizen because of her violation of Russian anti-free speech laws. In a telling act, the government said that the same conduct (i.e., free speech) could be a crime in Canada. Indeed, it may now be punished even more harshly.

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It ain’t over.

• 973% SURGE in Heart Failure Among Navy Pilots (DW)

A United States Navy medic who blew the whistle on an explosive report showing a massive increase in heart issues among military pilots has been blocked by the Department of Defense (DOD) from accessing his work computer. Navy Medical Service Corps Lt. Ted Macie shared shocking information about the surge in heart failure among military personnel. Macie claimed that members of the U.S. military have experienced massive increases in heart-related issues, presenting Defense Department data showing the following:
937% increase in heart failure
152% increase in cardiomyopathy
69% increase in ischemic heart disease
36% increase in hypertensive disease
63% increase in other forms of heart disease

The alarming data was first raised by his wife, Mara Macie, a candidate for Florida’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House against John Rutherford. “The responses to our concerns from the DoD have been memorandums, letters. As in a letter displaying how they confirmed the data but said it was due to the COVID-19 virus, even though all the issues start in 2021,” Lt. Macie told The Gateway Pundit last week. “I met with the Chief of Naval Operations and her aide. So far the only response to that is that the DMED data has been sent to the Navy IG from the CNO’s office. Slow rolling everything has been the norm as well as denying anything is happening.” Just days later, Mara Macie revealed that Lt. Ted Macie had lost access to his work computer. “This afternoon, as Ted was nearing the end of his work day, he went to use the restroom. And when he returned, he no longer had access to his work computer, and he needs to have access to his work computer to do his job,” Mara said. Mara Macie said the commanding officer ordered Lt. Macie’s access to his work computer to be blocked.

“I haven’t yet, and I believe that’s because I’m putting out the DoD’s own data. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not my job to look at the defense database. However, it’s something that is affecting our entire DoD. So, I think it’s kind to point this out…” said Lt. Macie on Wednesday. Last year, Macie’s wife blasted the U.S. government’s treatment of military troops during the COVID-19 pandemic. “So you may have seen my wife’s recent post, and I want to elaborate on that and give you an example as to why reinstatement, back pay, and apologies isn’t enough,” Macie said in his video. According to information published by the U.S. Army, 97% of active-duty U.S. troops are fully vaccinated, 90% of Army National Guard members are fully vaccinated, and 91% of U.S. Army Reserve members are fully vaccinated.

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Tucker Kory
https://twitter.com/i/status/1768063269808361671
https://twitter.com/i/status/1768056633123385656

 

 

8 minute house

 

 

Heavens on earth

 

 

Egg

 

 

Tiger

 

 

Grounding your garden
https://twitter.com/i/status/1768002498248290739

 

 

Tom&Jerry
https://twitter.com/i/status/1768392683318624400

 

 

Starling
https://twitter.com/i/status/1768184803063394413

 

 

 

 

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Debt Rattle October 13 2023

Oct 132023
 
 October 13, 2023  Posted by at 8:30 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  35 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Self portrait 1906

 

• Israel Not Prepared for Hezbollah’s Second Front – Alastair Crooke (Sp.)
• Sy Hersh: Bibi’s Opposition to 2-State Solution Cost Lives of Jews, Arabs (Sp.)
• The Geopolitics of Al-Aqsa Flood (Pepe Escobar)
• Russian Views of the Hamas-Israeli Conflict (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Netanyahu Wants US Involved In War – Ex-Pentagon Official (RT)
• US Won’t Fight For Israel – White House (RT)
• US Must Prepare For War With China And Russia – Congress (RT)
• Struggle For Future Of World Order ‘Intensifying’ – Moscow (RT)
• Zelensky Final Stage of Conflict Statement Shows Hopelessness – Lavrov (Sp.)
• Beijing Can’t Be Neutral On ‘Fox Entering Henhouse’ – Borrell (RT)
• Europe Made A ‘Grave Mistake’ On Immigration – Kissinger (Az.)
• ‘Star Witness’ Ellison Unveils Chaos Behind FTX’s Fake Balance Sheets (ZH)
• CEO of X -aka Twitter- Responds To EU ‘Disinfo’ Threats (RT)
• RFK Jr. Sees Surge in Fundraising After Declaring Independent Run (ET)

 

 

 

 

Jon Stewart

 

 

FOX

 

 

 

 

Gabor Maté
https://twitter.com/i/status/1712402483115614498

 

 

“The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation.” George Orwell, 1984

 

 

 

 

“..there comes a point when you have so much information and data bits and everything like this that you don’t have a clear picture..”

• Israel Not Prepared for Hezbollah’s Second Front – Alastair Crooke (Sp.)

The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah may raise the stakes in the Israel-Hamas war by getting directly involved in the conflict. Over the past few days, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah fighters have been exchanging strikes across Lebanon’s southern border. The clashes came after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israeli cities from the Gaza Strip on October 7 and Tel Aviv’s retaliation. The question is whether the Shiite militants will resort to a direct military intervention in Israel in a show of solidarity with Hamas. “There has been some direct military intervention,” former British diplomat and MI6 agent Alastair Crooke told Sputnik. “Hezbollah, a few days ago, two or three days ago, destroyed three Israeli radar base posts. These were in the Shebaa Farms area, which is recognized as Lebanese territory, but is occupied by Israel.”

“There was an Israeli response, and now we’ve moved to a response by Hezbollah that ended up with firing on military bases inside Israel. And with the reaction of Israel to killing three of the Hezbollah cadres. And Hezbollah says they will react to that and they will respond by killing three Israelis. I mean, it’s very reminiscent for me of what started the 2006 war. If you recall, it was Hezbollah taking two soldiers, they slipped across the border and took two Israelis hostage in reaction for what Israel was doing in Lebanon at that point. So, it’s quite sort of similar. Hezbollah said it very clearly. Hassan Nasrallah has said ‘If Israel goes into Gaza militarily, then we will open a front, the next front.’ Most people, including I interpret that as quite a clear red line.”

Hezbollah is both a political party and militant group that was formed in 1982, during the 15-year Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), and earned the name “state-within-a-state” due to its sophisticated security apparatus, well-trained fighters, and political organization. Since its inception, Hezbollah has been involved in a continuous fight against Israel over what it called the “occupation” of Palestine. In 2006, the month-long Israel-Hezbollah war erupted, precipitated by the Lebanese militant group’s cross-border raid on an Israeli military patrol on July 12, 2006. A UN-brokered ceasefire was agreed by the warring parties on August 14, 2006, while on September 8, 2006, Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon. Per Crooke, the IDF was outperformed by Hezbollah at the time.

“In 2006, [the IDF] lost the war and Hezbollah had the technological advantage over them,” the ex-MI6 agent said. “They were intercepting the Israeli military communications. They were intercepting deciphered messages coming to from Tel Aviv to Beirut. They had the security, Hezbollah’s operational practices. It was a defeat [for Israel] and the army was not very impressive. There were times when they didn’t even manage to provide for the reserves that arrived – there was no food, and there was no transport for them. It was a bit like this last weekend. It was pretty chaotic. And look what we saw [this past weekend]. Again, a former senior military officer in Israel said, ‘Look, this time, the command and control structure of the army just collapsed, when Hamas broke through the Erez crossing, it just collapsed and there were no troops, and there was no ability to respond at all.’ They just saw an implosion. So, it’s not really that great.”

Furthermore, the Israeli intelligence failure to proactively thwart the Hamas attack suggests the erosion of intelligence capabilities and understanding of the situation on the ground, according to Crooke. It appears that despite Tel Aviv and Washington’s top notch technology, the nations’ spies failed to correctly interpret the massive volumes of intelligence data. Crooke explained that the shift over to artificial intelligence (AI) as a means of intelligence gathering “has not been very successful, neither in Ukraine for the Americans and for NATO and computer modeling efforts.” “Nor has it for the Israelis, because there comes a point when you have so much information and data bits and everything like this that you don’t have a clear picture,” the former British intelligence operative emphasized.

To understand how people are thinking one needs “emotional intelligence” and some sort of empathy, and not just the AI-collected data, according to him. “I saw this in the past,” Crooke said. “The West is finding it harder and harder to understand, to empathize with other, if you like, civilizations, whether it’s Russian or Iranian. They reduce it to a sort of instrumentalism that they can do it, and think if they collect enough data points, they will understand how Russia thinks and how Iran thinks. And of course, they don’t get into the mindset. They don’t get into the way of thinking, which is quite different. Even the language is quite different. And the capabilities of AI to understand symbolic meaning, and let alone some of the sort of esoteric elements of Islamic meaning – it just depends on who’s writing the AI. But for sure, it will be someone who’s lived all their life in the Western sphere and finds this all a mystery.”

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“[He] is finished. He is a walking dead man. He will stay in office only until the shooting stops . . . maybe another month or two.”

• Sy Hersh: Bibi’s Opposition to 2-State Solution Cost Lives of Jews, Arabs (Sp.)

Benjamin Netanyahu “is finished,” as his decision to allow a group of Orthodox settlers to celebrate Sukkot in the West Bank last week was ill-timed, given the growing tensions between Jews and Palestinians in the region, an Israeli source told Seymour Hersh. On October 6 a group of Jewish settlers were reported to have clashed with local Palestinians in Huwara, a village in the northern part of the West Bank, which resulted in the death of a 19-year-old Arab man. Israeli settlers in the West Bank required “extraordinary protection” over the upsurge in violence. So, Netanyahu gave a nod to local Israeli military authorities to order two of the three Army battalions that controlled the border with Gaza to shift their focus to the Sukkot festival. Given that each battalion comprised about 800 soldiers, 1,600 were sent to shield the Orthodox Jews.

“That left only eight hundred soldiers to be responsible for guarding the 51-kilometer border between the Gaza Strip and southern Israel,” Hersh’s interlocutor said. “That meant the Israeli citizens in the south were left without an Israeli military presence for ten to twelve hours. They were left to fend for themselves.” Thus, unsurprisingly, the diminished IDF contingent was overrun by Hamas militants on October 7, while Israeli civilians were left unprotected. Hersh’s sources called the Saturday attack “the great military failure in Israeli history.” He noted that a previous surprise attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria in 1973 claimed the lives of soldiers, while this time peaceful civilians suffered. “Last Saturday twenty-two settlements in the south were under control of Hamas for hours, and they went house to house slaughtering women and children,” the insider said.

The source believes that this failure means the end of Netanyahu’s political career: “[He] is finished. He is a walking dead man. He will stay in office only until the shooting stops . . . maybe another month or two.” But not just for Saturday’s slaughter: the root of the problem named Hamas goes much deeper, per Hersh’s interlocutor. To begin with, Benjamin Netanyahu “was always opposed to the 1993 Oslo Accords,” the insider said. The agreement envisaged the gradual implementation of the so-called “two-state solution” for Israel and Palestine. It was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) negotiator Mahmoud Abbas in September 1993. Under the agreements, Tel Aviv accepted the PLO as the representative of the Palestinians, and the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace.

The document stipulated the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which would assume governing responsibilities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At the time, Netanyahu was out of office: he served as a prime minister between 1996 and 1999 and won the Israeli prime ministership for the second time in 2009. When Bibi returned to office in 2009, he “chose to support Hamas” as an alternative to the Palestinian Authority, “and gave them money and established them in Gaza,” according to the insider. Furthermore, an arrangement with Qatar was made under which hundreds of millions of dollars were directed to the Hamas leadership with Israeli approval, per the source.

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“In the drive towards a multipolar world, [..] there’s simply no place for an ethnocentric Apartheid state fond of collective punishment..”

• The Geopolitics of Al-Aqsa Flood (Pepe Escobar)

=Only one year ago, the sweaty sweatshirt comedian in Kiev was talking about turning Ukraine into a “big Israel,” and was duly applauded by a bunch of Atlantic Council bots. Well, it turned out quite differently. As an old-school Deep State source just informed me: “Ukraine-earmarked weapons are ending up in the hands of the Palestinians. The question is which country is paying for it. Iran just made a deal with the US for six billion dollars and it is unlikely Iran would jeopardize that. I have a source who gave me the name of the country but I cannot reveal it. The fact is that Ukrainian weapons are going to the Gaza Strip and they are being paid for but not by Iran.” After its stunning raid last weekend, a savvy Hamas has already secured more negotiating leverage than Palestinians have wielded in decades.

Significantly, while peace talks are supported by China, Russia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt – Tel Aviv refuses. Netanyahu is obsessed with razing Gaza to the ground, but if that happens, a wider regional war is nearly inevitable. Lebanon’s Hezbollah – a staunch Resistance Axis ally of the Palestinian resistance – would rather not be dragged into a war that can be devastating on its side of the border, but that could change if Israel perpetrates a de facto Gaza genocide. Hezbollah holds at least 100,000 ballistic missiles and rockets, from Katyusha (range: 40 km) to Fajr-5 (75 km), Khaibar-1 (100 km), Zelzal 2 (210 km), Fateh-110 (300 km), and Scud B-C (500 km). Tel Aviv knows what that means, and shudders at the frequent warnings by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah that its next war with Israel will be conducted inside that country.

Which brings us to Iran. The key immediate consequence of Al-Aqsa Flood is that the Washington neocon wet dream of “normalization” between Israel and the Arab world will simply vanish if this turns into a Long War. Large swathes of the Arab world in fact are already normalizing their ties with Tehran – and not only inside the newly expanded BRICS 11. In the drive towards a multipolar world, represented by BRICS 11, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), among other groundbreaking Eurasian and Global South institutions, there’s simply no place for an ethnocentric Apartheid state fond of collective punishment.

Just this year, Israel found itself disinvited from the African Union summit. An Israeli delegation showed up anyway, and was unceremoniously ejected from the big hall, a visual that went viral. At the UN plenary sessions last month, a lone Israeli diplomat sought to disrupt Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi’s speech. No western ally stood by his side, and he too, was ejected from the premises. As Chinese President Xi Jinping diplomatically put it in December 2022, Beijing “firmly supports the establishment of an independent state of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital. China supports Palestine in becoming a full member of the United Nations.”

Tehran’s strategy is way more ambitious – offering strategic advice to West Asian resistance movements from the Levant to the Persian Gulf: Hezbollah, Ansarallah, Hashd al-Shaabi, Kataib Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and countless others. It’s as if they are all part of a new Grand Chessboard de facto supervised by Grandmaster Iran. The pieces in the chessboard were carefully positioned by none other than the late Quds Force Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Qassem Soleimani, a once-in-a-lifetime military genius. He was instrumental in creating the foundations for the cumulative successes of Iranian allies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Palestine, as well as creating the conditions for a complex operation such as Al-Aqsa Flood.

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“..Hamas’ attack “destroyed the myths around Israel’s defense systems” and achieved for Hamas a more important moral victory than the military success of the attack..”

• Russian Views of the Hamas-Israeli Conflict (Paul Craig Roberts)

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova asked: “How did it happen that in a year; that’s how much time the operation was being prepared for, then carried out now in a few days, the United States as Israel’s closest ally did not warn about this? They have satellites everywhere, appropriate tracking devices, military bases, including in the region. There are all the possibilities to carry out, not just monitoring, but surveillance — the facts speak for themselves — of all information circulating on American-made equipment (hardware and software). For the whole year of preparing such a large-scale operation, the United States with all the power of its special services did not transmit anything to Israel as intelligence…How did it happen that during the whole year of preparation of the corresponding operation in the Middle East, the United States did not transmit any information to its partners in Israel?”

Moscow security affairs analyst Yevgeny Krutikov says the huge amount of weapons used in Hamas’ attack “could not fall from the sky. How did they get there (Gaza)?” The publication Vzglyad, a platform for Russian military thinking, published an article that concluded that Hamas’ attack “destroyed the myths around Israel’s defense systems” and achieved for Hamas a more important moral victory than the military success of the attack. Israel’s support for Ukraine against Russia has caused the Kremlin to rethink its relationship with Israel. Vzglyad reported that the Israeli government has become Russia’s adversary: “The time has come to take a new position on the Palestinian issue . . . to take a more pro-Palestinian position in the Middle East Conflict. To stand on the side of those who help Russia within the framework of their own interests (Iran, Saudi Arabia) against those who help our enemies. And thereby to send a very clear signal to the world – a signal that Russia will treat its partners exactly as they treat it. To help supporters – and not to act in the interests of opponents.”

It is possible that Israel’s military has been corrupted by too much American money, has been getting by on past successes, and has underestimated the Arabs. Washington is no longer the uni-power in the Middle East. The Russians, Turks, Syrians, Iranians, Saudis, and Hezbollah in Lebanon could all go to the aid of Palestine. Hezbollah alone has twice defeated Israeli invasions of Lebanon. Netanyahu’s invasion of Gaza could put Israel’s existence in jeopardy. In other words, Netanyahu’s plan to complete the conquest of Palestine could result in Israel’s destruction. On the other hand, the enmity among Muslims could again result in Muslim impotence and Israel’s success. My initial view was that Hamas’ attack would result in the disappearance of Palestine and no one would interfere. Now I am unsure. Netanyahu could be setting off a wider conflict from which Israel would not emerge a victor and Washington would have to choose between accepting defeat and using nuclear weapons.

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“..Netanyahu “wants to open up the war with Lebanon, by attacking Hezbollah” in pursuit of his ultimate objective, “to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities..”

• Netanyahu Wants US Involved In War – Ex-Pentagon Official (RT)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would like Washington directly involved in the conflict with Hamas because he hopes to expand the war to Lebanon and Iran, a former senior security policy analyst at the US Department of Defense, Michael Maloof, told RT on Wednesday. On Monday, the US ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and five guided missile destroyers to the Eastern Mediterranean. According to Maloof, this “meets Netanyahu’s wildest dreams.” “He wanted the US involved in this conflict,” the former Pentagon official told RT. Netanyahu “wants to open up the war with Lebanon, by attacking Hezbollah” in pursuit of his ultimate objective, “to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities,” Maloof added. For that to happen, “he has to have a Gulf of Tonkin moment, if you will.”

Maloof recalled how US President Lyndon Johnson essentially started the Vietnam War by sending ships to the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964. An alleged North Vietnamese attack on two US destroyers was then used as a pretext for direct involvement. The US has also pledged to help Israel with deliveries of weapons and ammunition, with the Pentagon insisting it has enough to do so and continue supplying Ukraine. Maloof is skeptical of that assertion, however. He also told RT it was “not surprising” that some of the weapons Washington had sent Kiev ended up in the hands of Hamas. That accusation was first made by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Ukraine’s military intelligence, the GUR, responded on Monday by accusing Russia of sending captured Western weapons to Hamas militants in a “false flag” operation designed to make Kiev look bad to its backers. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the weapons claim, but rejected the Ukrainian insinuations of Russian involvement in the Hamas attack as “complete nonsense.”

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“There are no intentions, no plans to put American troops on the ground in combat.”

• US Won’t Fight For Israel – White House (RT)

No American troops will be deployed to Israel, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House on Thursday. The US will continue to supply the Israel Defense Forces in their fight against Hamas, however. “We have national security interests throughout the region,”Kirby said at the daily press briefing, referring to the deployment of a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean, but quashed any rumors of airborne troops or Marines being sent to Israel. “The Israelis have made it very clear that they don’t want foreign troops on their soil, that they want to prosecute these operations on their own and they have every right to want to do that,” Kirby said. “There are no intentions, no plans to put American troops on the ground in combat.”

The US already has “some experts” providing West Jerusalem with “advice and counsel” on how to free hostages taken by Hamas, and maintains a “terrific information and intelligence-sharing relationship” with Israel, as well as “a strong defense relationship, when it comes to providing weapons and munitions,” Kirby added. The IDF is “small but very capable”and the US is “doing everything we can to improve those capabilities,” he added. Earlier in the day, IDF chief of staff General Herzi Halevi said that the military “failed” to protect Israel and its people on Saturday, and that there would be a reckoning once the war against Hamas was over.

The Palestinian group that controls much of Gaza struck on the anniversary of the 1973 war, launching thousands of rockets into Israel and sending more than 1,000 militants to breach the border fence in an operation dubbed ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’. Hamas fighters stormed 22 towns, villages, and settlements, as well as a music festival being held near Gaza. Israel responded by launching airstrikes against Gaza, while deploying tanks and artillery to the southern border. So far, around 1,200 people have been killed in Israel and at least 1,100 in Gaza, according to local officials.

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Message from the arms industry.

• US Must Prepare For War With China And Russia – Congress (RT)

Washington needs to urgently update and expand both its nuclear arsenal and the conventional military in order to face the combined might of Moscow and Beijing, the congressional Strategic Posture Commission argued in its final report published on Thursday. “The United States and its allies must be ready to deter and defeat both adversaries simultaneously,” the commission said. “The US-led international order and the values it upholds are at risk from the Chinese and Russian authoritarian regimes.” While the commission has not identified any specific evidence of Russia and China working together, “we worry… there may be ultimate coordination between them in some way, which gets us to this two-war construct,” a senior official involved in the report told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.

The current US national security strategy calls for defeating one major adversary while deterring another. The commission argued that the combined threat from China and Russia will become acute as early as 2027 so “decisions need to be made now in order for the nation to be prepared.” The 131 findings and 81 recommendations in the report amount to the need for massive expansion of both the conventional armed forces and the Nuclear Triad. The report demands more of the B-21 stealth bombers and Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. The B-21 is still in development and is expected to enter service by 2027 at the earliest. The first two Columbia-class subs are under construction and are expected in 2030. The US Navy has planned to order 12, to replace the 18 Ohio-class boats currently in service.

“Amid all of the Commission’s recommendations to increase the number of strategic and tactical nuclear systems, there is almost no mention of cost in the entire report,” which “does not seem to acknowledge any limits to defense spending,” the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has said in response. At a press event announcing the report, the commission’s vice-chair, retired Republican Senator Jon Kyl, argued that higher military spending is a small price to “hopefully preclude” a possible nuclear war and that President Joe Biden and Congress need to “take the case to the American people” to spend more money.

According to FAS, however, the commission’s recommendations are “likely to exacerbate the arms race, further constrict the window for engaging with Russia and China on arms control, and redirect funding away from more proximate priorities.” The only reason the commission did not argue for an immediate expansion of the US nuclear stockpile “is that the weapons production complex currently does not have the capacity to do so,” FAS noted, adding that there is no need for a nuclear arms race so long as the US has enough submarines to present a credible deterrent to a first strike by an adversary.

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“The rising centers of power do not want to put up with an aggressive Western dictate.”

• Struggle For Future Of World Order ‘Intensifying’ – Moscow (RT)

The world is facing a “classic revolutionary situation” in the field of international relations, the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, said on Thursday. An ever-increasing number of the “rising powers” around the world want more independence in their foreign policy and dislike the crumbling hegemony of the West, which it is desperately trying to preserve, he added. “The West, led by the US, can no longer ensure its dominance on a global scale,” Naryshkin told a meeting of intelligence chiefs of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Baku. “The rising centers of power do not want to put up with an aggressive Western dictate.” In its efforts to maintain a unipolar world, the US deliberately tries to destabilize key world regions, he believes.

Washington and its allies in London and Paris do not hesitate when it comes to manipulating various destructive forces on the international arena to achieve these goals, he stated, adding that the list of such forces includes international terrorist groups, radical Islamists, and ultranationalist movements. According to Naryshkin, America’s efforts have disrupted the peace process in Syria and exacerbated the situation in Afghanistan. They have also recently turned their eyes towards Africa, where they have allegedly encouraged various militant factions to launch attacks against the infrastructure in Mali and the Central African Republic, the Russian spy chief said, citing what he called “reliable information” in his agency’s possession.

The West orchestrates “sabotage operations against African nations that are friendly to Russia,” Naryshkin claimed, adding that the group of the seven biggest developed economies known as the G7 also “actively work against Russia.” The West openly hosts and supports various “separatist terrorist structures calling for subversion of the Russian state order and violation of its territorial integrity,” the official said, naming the so-called ‘Free Nations of Post-Russia’ Forum among them. A loose association of various opposition activists, as well as ethnic and regional separatist movements, the forum openly advocates the disintegration of Russia under the slogans of “decolonization” and “de-occupation.” In March, it was designated an “undesirable organization” in Russia.

Three meetings of the forum have already been hosted, with two taking place in Poland and one in the Czech Republic. The fourth meeting is scheduled to be held in Sweden in December. “It is obvious to any sensible person that the manifestation of such … desires would have led to Eurasia plunging into a horrible ethnic and religious conflict,” Naryshkin said, calling it evidence of Washington’s intent to “set the Eurasian continent on fire.” The West is “playing with fire” and “the future of the world order is at stake,” he warned, calling on “more responsible global and regional actors” to join their forces and coordinate their efforts to prevent destabilization instigated by the West and lead the world towards a multipolar world order.

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“Zelensky admitted that Ukraine is afraid of a possible shortage of financial resources and weapons. He added that Kiev has “many more fears” in the current situation.”

• Zelensky Final Stage of Conflict Statement Shows Hopelessness – Lavrov (Sp.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent statement on Kiev entering a final stage of conflict with Moscow shows his hopelessness, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday. “I think [of it] as an admission of hopelessness,” Lavrov told reporters, when asked about Zelenskyy’s statement. Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with a Romanian TV channel that the conflict in Ukraine is at its final stage. In addition, Zelensky admitted that Ukraine is afraid of a possible shortage of financial resources and weapons. He added that Kiev has “many more fears” in the current situation. In September, Lavrov said at a press conference after his speech at the UN General Assembly that Russia was ready for talks on Ukraine, but would not consider proposals for a ceasefire.

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Borrell is headed for China, and he doesn’t come empty handed. No, he comes with criticism and demands. Which is the one thing you don’t do on such an occasion.

He also said: “It is time China started taking Europe more seriously..” Well, you just assured they won’t. You are the anti-diplomat.

• Beijing Can’t Be Neutral On ‘Fox Entering Henhouse’ – Borrell (RT)

China should do more to convince Kiev and its Western backers that it is not on Moscow’s side in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said ahead of a visit to the Asian superpower. He expressed doubt that neutrality on the issue is even possible. “Being neutral in such a case is just like watching on the sidelines as the fox enters the henhouse and waiting for the outcome,” he said in an interview with the South China Morning Post on Thursday. Beijing has criticized its ally, Moscow for using force, but agreed with Russian claims that NATO expansion in Europe was one of the main causes of the conflict. The EU has joined the US in describing Russia’s actions as “unprovoked aggression.” Moscow has said the conflict is part of a Western proxy war.

“China can certainly do more, including in its engagement on the peace formula put forward by Ukraine,” the commissioner added, stating that “a lot remains to be done to convince Ukraine that China is not on Russia’s side.” The ‘Zelensky formula’ that Borrell was referring to was put forward by Kiev and its backers as the only way to resolve the conflict. It demands that Russia concede defeat, pay reparations, and hand over alleged war criminals to an international tribunal. Beijing proposed its own roadmap to de-escalation last year, urging respect for the territorial integrity “of all countries” while addressing Russia’s national security concerns. Moscow has dismissed Kiev’s plan, saying it is “detached from reality,” while the Chinese proposal could serve as the basis for a long-term solution.

Borrell said his goal during the three-day visit is to affirm that “Europe takes China seriously and has no hidden agenda aiming at derailing its rise.” Brussels expects Beijing to take it seriously in return and to “stop looking at us through the lens of its relations with others.” He added that the “war in Ukraine has transformed us … from the position of an economic power to a geopolitical one, taking its strategic responsibilities very seriously.” The EU has decoupled its economy from Russia over the Ukraine conflict. The rejection of cheap Russian energy undercut the competitiveness of many businesses in member states, some of which relocated to other nations, including the US.

Senior EU officials have argued that the bloc needs to “de-risk” economic relations with China, specifically citing its non-alignment on Ukraine as a reason. “How China continues to interact with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward,” European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen said in March. Chinese President Xi Jinping stated that Beijing is standing up “for its sovereignty, security and development interests,” when he hosted the EU official the following month.

Read more …

And the US is trying to do them one better.

• Europe Made A ‘Grave Mistake’ On Immigration – Kissinger (Az.)

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has said that nations in Europe were wrong to take in many people who are now supporting Hamas’ actions against Israel. Unless the militant group is punished for its hostage-taking, Europeans risk being targeted similarly, he warned. In an interview published on Wednesday, Mathias Dopfner, the CEO of German media group Axel Springer, asked the veteran statesman about “Arabs celebrating” in the streets of Berlin after Hamas’ incursion into southern Israel last week. Kissinger, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, said he found such gestures of support for criminal acts “painful.” “It was a grave mistake to let in so many people of totally different cultural and religious concepts because it creates a pressure group inside each country that does that,” he noted.

Asked what Germany and the EU should do in the current situation, Kissinger said he expected “unconditional” political support for Israel – as well as military suppor if needed. “There has to be some penalty; there has to be some serious limitation on their capability of taking this kind of action,” he said of Hamas tactics. “I would say that every European nation has the same interest because the same attitude might erupt in the direction of Europe,” he warned. Washington’s former top diplomat recalled peace talks that resolved the Yom Kippur War five decades ago, saying that Western nations and Israel were lucky to have an Arab leader “with a vision of the future” in Anwar Sadat, the former president of Egypt.

“I don’t think it is possible to find leaders among the Hamas group [with a similar vision],” he said, “I think Hamas should be excluded from a political role.” Pro-Palestinian rallies were held in multiple European cities amid the escalation in the Middle East. In Berlin, police broke down a spontaneous demonstration on Saturday, which was associated with the NGO Samidoun. The German law enforcement said the protesters posed an “immediate threat to public safety” due to “anti-Israel” chants “glorifying violence.” The German government was at the forefront of welcoming asylum-seekers during the 2015 influx, when some 1.3 million people arrived on the continent in just one year. Anti-migrant sentiments surged in many nations during the crisis, with some Eastern European members of the EU adopting policies to curb immigration.

Tucker

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“I didn’t want to be dishonest, but I didn’t want them to know the truth.”

• ‘Star Witness’ Ellison Unveils Chaos Behind FTX’s Fake Balance Sheets (ZH)

What would a second day of testimony in the FTX trial for Caroline Ellison have been without mentions of identity theft from Thai prostitutes and bribing Chinese officials? Taking the stand on Wednesday, Sam Bankman-Fried’s former love interest turned star government witness against him, Ellison, spoke about the balance sheet that led to the downfall of Bankman-Fried’s companies. Ellison stated that this balance sheet was a manipulated version of what Alameda had sent to its lenders, deliberately crafted to give the impression that the firm was in a more robust financial condition than was actually the case. She described the document as “deceptive.” Previously it had been reported that, at Bankman-Fried’s direction, Ellison had “prepared seven different versions of Alameda’s balance sheet to potentially show to lenders,” according to The Messenger.

However, even the manipulated figures were concerning—laden with FTX’s FTT token and other tokens closely affiliated with Bankman-Fried—casting doubt on the financial viability of both Alameda and FTX. Among potential lenders was Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Ellison testified Wednesday. She also lied to Genesis, one of FTX’s lenders, about Alameda’s balance sheet, @teddyschleifer reported on X Wednesday. “Caroline Ellison testified that Sam Bankman-Fried ordered her to lie in mid 2022 to Genesis, one of FTX’s lenders, about Alameda’s balance sheet,” he wrote. “Caroline prepared a bunch of bullshit balance-sheets that they could send, and Sam chose ‘Alternative 7’ as the best lie of the bunch.” Ellison reportedly said: “I didn’t want to be dishonest, but I didn’t want them to know the truth.”

Ellison testified on Wednesday: “I was in a constant state of dread. I knew we would have to take the money from our line of credit and that was money that could be called in at any time.” And where was the money going? Ellison testified that she and Alameda executives had “paid a large bribe to Chinese officials” to obtain funds that were locked on a Chinese exchange. After initial attempts to unfreeze funds by negotiating with the Chinese government through lawyers proved unsuccessful, Ellison stated that the FTX/Alameda team then endeavored—yet failed again—to access the funds by setting up fictitious exchange accounts using IDs that she believed belonged to “Thai prostitutes.”

Ultimately, Ellison was able to secure the funds after making a $100 million payment to a cryptocurrency account she believed was somehow connected to Chinese government officials. Ellison recounted an episode where an employee, whose father was a Chinese government official, voiced objections to the plan during a meeting. In response, Bankman-Fried became increasingly irritated and eventually told the employee to “shut the f*** up.” In a confidential “State of Alameda” memo authored by Ellison in November 2021, shortly after the payment was executed, she included an entry labeled “-150m from the thing?” under a section outlining “notable/idiosyncratic” financial events.

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It’s a power game.

• CEO of X -aka Twitter- Responds To EU ‘Disinfo’ Threats (RT)

The CEO of X (formerly Twitter), Linda Yaccarino, has defended the platform’s response to a purported surge in disinformation and harmful content following Hamas’ attack on Israel in an open letter to EU internal markets commissioner Thierry Breton on Wednesday. The social media platform has “redistributed resources” and “refocused teams” to manage the flow of information regarding the conflict 24/7, Yaccarino explained, claiming that a dedicated “leadership group” had been assembled in the immediate aftermath of the Palestinian militants’ incursion to devise a platform-wide strategy. As a result, she said, tens of thousands of posts and other media related to the war had been removed since Saturday, while hundreds of accounts allegedly connected to terrorist groups, extremism, and violence had been deplatformed.

“There is no place on X for terrorist organization or violent extremist groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real time, including proactive efforts,” Yaccarino wrote. More than 700 Community Notes, the crowdsourced fact-checking platform owner Elon Musk has promoted as an alternative to establishment fact-checkers, are circulating regarding the conflict, she continued, revealing that the annotations are being published faster than ever before. Breton had warned Musk in an “urgent” open letter on Tuesday that X was facing a potential investigation and steep penalties under the EU’s new Digital Services Act if it did not immediately address the illegal content and disinformation purportedly running rampant on the platform regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict.

The billionaire was given 24 hours to respond to Breton’s demands, which included an order to reach out to law enforcement in order to “ensure [X] respond[s] promptly to their requests.” In her response, Yaccarino insisted that X was responding readily to requests from law enforcement, but that it had received none from Europol at the time of writing. While Breton had claimed that the EU had “indications” X was being used to spread both disinformation and illegal content, suggesting “qualified sources” had confirmed the platform was flouting EU regulations, he did not mention any specific violations in his letter. Musk repeatedly requested examples in a thread on X, but Breton demurred, claiming the Tesla CEO was “well aware” of complaints regarding “fake content and glorification of violence.”

X’s Safety division revealed earlier this week that the platform had seen an increase in daily active users in Israel and Palestine and was specifically targeting new Hamas-affiliated accounts for removal via a partnership with the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism. On Wednesday, Breton also reached out to threaten Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg with a similar “urgent” letter, warning the billionaire he had 24 hours to provide the bloc with a detailed description of how his platform was addressing the spread of disinformation and illegal content regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

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“..Just as Bobby Kennedy sees a path to victory as an independent, so do the donors that were reluctant to contribute with him running as a Democrat..”

• RFK Jr. Sees Surge in Fundraising After Declaring Independent Run (ET)

Within hours of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s announcement that he will run for president as an independent and not a Democrat, the super PAC supporting his candidacy raised more than $11 million. American Values 2024 disclosed on Oct. 10 that it has generated $11.28 million since Mr. Kennedy told an audience in front of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, “I’m here to declare myself an independent candidate for president of the United States.” Individual events have spurred bountiful fundraising for Mr. Kennedy. In September, a private fundraiser performance by musician Eric Clapton generated more than $2 million that was split between the campaign and American Values 2024.

The organization tallied about $6.47 million in July from a mix of donors who are registered Democrats and Republicans, according to American Values 2024. That number included about $5 million collected during Mr. Kennedy’s testimony in a hearing about censorship before the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. Individuals can give as much as $3,300 to a political candidate’s campaign, according to the Federal Election Commission. Super political action committees (PACs) are allowed to raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations, and individuals and “spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates,” according to OpenSecrets, an organization that tracks money in U.S. politics and its impact on elections and public policy.

RFK

Unlike traditional PACs, super PACS may not contribute money directly to political candidates. Prominent Democratic Party donors like Abby Rockefeller have contributed to American Values 2024, but Republican donors have given a majority of the money the super PAC has received, including former President Donald Trump donor Tim Mellon, according to American Values 2024 reports. Tony Lyons, co-chair of American Values 2024, spoke to The Epoch Times about the influx of support. “People feel that the Democratic National Committee was disenfranchising them and that Bobby would not get the nomination based on the rules the DNC was putting into place and the inflammatory statements they have made about him time after time,” he said.

“They feel that their vote wouldn’t count, and that their donation wouldn’t be helpful because the primary would be rigged. Just as Bobby Kennedy sees a path to victory as an independent, so do the donors that were reluctant to contribute with him running as a Democrat,” Mr. Lyons explained. George Washington, America’s first president, is the only independent candidate to win election to the nation’s highest office. No independent candidate has won an electoral vote in the past 50 years. America, Mr. Kennedy believes, is ready for “a new page in American politics.”

Read more …

 

 

KATT
https://twitter.com/i/status/1712287531046260927

 

 


..the Appalachian Mountains, the Atlas Mountains, the Scottish Highlands, the Watkins Range and Scandinavian Mountains were all once part of the same mountain range, the Central Pangean Mountains

 

 

ParrotTV
https://twitter.com/i/status/1712353934323470658

 

 

Deer
https://twitter.com/i/status/1712427895950577884

 

 

Friday
https://twitter.com/i/status/1712704619132953084

 

 

ART

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle September 27 2023

Sep 272023
 
 September 27, 2023  Posted by at 9:04 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  46 Responses »


Frederick Carl Frieseke Girl In Blue Arranging Flowers 1915

 

• Hersh Reveals US Motive For Destruction Of Nord Stream Pipelines (MoA)
• Biden Planned On Blowing Nord Stream Before Ukraine Conflict Began – Hersh (RT)
• Nord Stream Blast: Why the West Still Can’t Name the Culprit (Sp.)
• Canadian Parliament Speaker Resigns After Honoring Ukrainian Nazi (RT)
• Russian Foreign Ministry Responds To Canada Honoring Nazi Veteran (RT)
• Nazi Hunter: Canada Failed Miserably in Bringing Nazis to Justice (Sp.)
• Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Seen Alive and Well (Sp.)
• Nothing Is Off Table To Get Ukraine Into EU – Parliament President (G.)
• How Russia Will Deal With American Tanks in Ukraine (Sp.)
• US Judge Finds Trump Committed Fraud by Inflating Wealth, Assets (Sp.)
• Hunter Biden Sues Rudy Giuliani for Spreading Contents From Laptop (Sp.)
• Hunter Biden Used Dad’s Classified Doc House For $250K China Wire Transfer (ZH)
• EU Warns Elon Musk After X Found To Have Highest Rate Of Disinformation (G.)

 

 

 

 

NYC Sanctuary

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeadon
https://twitter.com/i/status/1706538481135104245

 

 

 

 

Russell

 

 

 

 

On the first anniversary of the Nordstream blast, lots of articles. Also about “alternative explanations”. But Sy Hersh doesn’t make things up. That’s not his MO at all.

“And thus followed the ultimate fear: that America would lose its long-standing primacy in Western Europe.”

• Hersh Reveals US Motive For Destruction Of Nord Stream Pipelines (MoA)

It was no surprise to the agency’s secret planning group when on January 27, 2022, the assured and confident Nuland, then undersecretary of state for political affairs, stridently warned Putin that if he invaded Ukraine, as he clearly was planning to, that “one way or another Nord Stream 2 will not move forward.” The line attracted enormous attention, but the words preceding the threat did not. The official State Department transcript shows that she preceded her threat by saying that with regard to the pipeline: “We continue to have very strong and clear conversations with our German allies. … The German leader was considered then—and now—by some members of the CIA team to be fully aware of the secret planning underway to destroy the pipelines.
…
What I did not know then, but was told recently, was that after Biden’s extraordinary public threat to blow up Nord Stream 2, with Scholz standing next to him, the CIA planning group was told by the White House that there would be no immediate attack on the two pipelines, but the group should arrange to plant the necessary bombs and be ready to trigger them “on demand”—after the war began. “It was then that we”—the small planning group that was working in Oslo with the Royal Norwegian Navy and special services on the project—“understood that the attack on the pipelines was not a deterrent because as the war went on we never got the command.” After Biden’s order to trigger the explosives planted on the pipelines, it took only a short flight with a Norwegian fighter and the dropping of an altered off-the-shelf sonar device at the right spot in the Baltic Sea to get it done.

By then the CIA group had long disbanded. By then, too, the official told me: “We realized that the destruction of the two Russian pipelines was not related to the Ukrainian war”—Putin was in the process of annexing the four Ukrainian oblasts he wanted—“but was part of a neocon political agenda to keep Scholz and Germany, with winter coming up and the pipelines shut down, from getting cold feet and opening up” the shuttered Nord Stream 2. “The White House fear was that Putin would get Germany under his thumb and then he was going to get Poland.”
…
All of this explains why a routine question I posed a month or so after the bombings to someone with many years in the American intelligence community led me to a truth that no one in America or Germany seems to want to pursue. My question was simple: “Who did it?” The Biden administration blew up the pipelines but the action had little to do with winning or stopping the war in Ukraine. It resulted from fears in the White House that Germany would waver and turn on the flow of Russia gas—and that Germany and then NATO, for economic reasons, would fall under the sway of Russia and its extensive and inexpensive natural resources. And thus followed the ultimate fear: that America would lose its long-standing primacy in Western Europe.

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“We realized that the destruction of the two Russian pipelines was not related to the Ukrainian war..”

• Biden Planned On Blowing Nord Stream Before Ukraine Conflict Began – Hersh (RT)

US President Joe Biden initially planned on destroying the Nord Stream gas pipelines to deter Russia from launching its military operation in Ukraine, American journalist Seymour Hersh reported on Tuesday. However, Hersh alleged that the sabotage operation went ahead later not to deter Russia, but to harm the German economy. The Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, which connected Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, were destroyed in a series of underwater explosions exactly a year ago on Tuesday. Competing theories have emerged as to who was to blame, with mainstream media in the West blaming a Ukrainian commando unit and Seymour Hersh claiming that the CIA carried out the operation under direct orders from Biden.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Hersh alleged that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan convened a series of meetings in late 2021, tasking intelligence officials with coming up with a means of deterring Russian President Vladimir Putin from sending troops into Ukraine. “The White House’s policy was to deter Russia from an attack,” an intelligence source told Hersh. “The challenge it gave to the intelligence community was to come up with a way that was powerful enough to do that, and to make a strong statement of American capability.” By January, as Russian forces were massing on the Ukrainian border, the CIA had “solved the problem,” the source said. With a plan in place to plant remotely-detonated explosives on the pipelines under the Baltic Sea, Biden warned in early February that in the event of military action by Russia, “there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

Following Biden’s statement, which was delivered alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the CIA team tasked with sabotaging the pipelines received new orders, Hersh claimed. Instead of immediately destroying Nord Stream, the team was instructed to plant the explosives for detonation at a later date. “It was then that we understood that the attack on the pipelines was not a deterrent because as the war went on we never got the command,” a member of the team told Hersh. “We realized that the destruction of the two Russian pipelines was not related to the Ukrainian war,” the source continued. “But was part of a neocon political agenda to keep Scholz and Germany, with winter coming up and the pipelines shut down, from getting cold feet and opening up.”

According to Hersh’s earlier reporting, CIA divers planted the explosives last summer with the help of the Norwegian navy, using a NATO exercise in the region as cover. By the time the bombs were triggered in September, the flow of Russian gas to Germany via Nord Stream 1 had already been slowed to a trickle by Russia in response to Western sanctions, while Nord Stream 2 was never certified to begin operation by Scholz’s government. However, with the German economy heavily dependent on Russian gas, Biden reportedly feared that Scholz would choose reproachment with Moscow over support for Ukraine. “The President of the United States would rather see Germany freeze than [see] Germany possibly stop supporting Ukraine,” Hersh declared earlier this year.

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“Giraldi said that he feels that Hersh’s narrative is “correct in every detail.”

• Nord Stream Blast: Why the West Still Can’t Name the Culprit (Sp.)

Gas leaks from the Nord Stream pipeline system were detected on 26 September 2022, with the EU leadership admitting that this could be the result of a “deliberate attack”. Two days later, on 28 September, the Kremlin announced that Russia was ready to consider applications from EU countries for a joint investigation into the Nord Stream incident. However, not only did the West snub Moscow’s request but also blamed Russia for destroying its own pipelines. Later, European and American officials backtracked on their accusations but fell short of naming a potential perpetrator. On 12 October 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the incident “an act of international terrorism”. Meanwhile, as gas prices soared and US energy producers secured lucrative LNG contracts with European countries, it became clear that Washington had been the major beneficiary from the Nord Stream destruction. Furthermore, the US leadership had previously issued several threats that it would destroy the pipelines.

“We know that the United States President Joe Biden, threatened openly that he would stop Nord Stream 2 if the Russians were to militarily intervene in Ukraine,” Philip Giraldi, former CIA station chief and now an executive director of the Council for the National Interest, told Sputnik. “That was repeated by Victoria Nuland, who was Number Three at the State Department. She said basically the same thing. So we had the President and a senior official both saying that they would stop the pipeline if this were to happen. So we have a statement coming from the government itself saying it would do this.” “And then I would say on top of that, the United States – given its military capabilities – had the capability to do this. They sent divers down to attach explosives and to arrange for a drone satellite that would ignite the charges and blow up the pipelines.

“It had the capability to do it. And it also had the motive, which was basically to weaken Russia’s ability to use its energy resources to affect politics in Europe. So this is what it was all about,” Giraldi continued. On 8 February 2023, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh dropped a bombshell, detailing an apparent plot by Team Biden and the US intelligence community to blast the Nord Stream pipelines with the help of Norwegian operatives. Reflecting on Hersh’s version, Giraldi said that he feels that Hersh’s narrative is “correct in every detail.” “And I can confirm to you that Sy Hersh, whom I know somewhat, has excellent sources inside CIA and inside the Pentagon. So what he’s telling us comes straight from people who know about it,” the CIA veteran said.

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Scapegoat.

• Canadian Parliament Speaker Resigns After Honoring Ukrainian Nazi (RT)

Canadian House Speaker Anthony Rota stepped down on Tuesday after a Nazi veteran was his invited guest at a speech by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The invitation has faced widespread condemnation. Rota apologized on Monday for the presence of 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka at Zelensky’s address to Canadian lawmakers on Friday, but refused to resign. Although lawmakers from all parties – including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – cheered and applauded Hunka at the event, calls for Rota’s resignation grew over the weekend as the incident drew worldwide attention, particularly from the governments of Russia and Poland. Rota eventually announced his resignation on Tuesday afternoon, stating that he would leave his position at the end of Wednesday’s session.

“The work of this house is above any of us. Therefore, I must step down as your speaker,” Rota said. “I reiterate my profound regret for my error.” Politicians from the opposition New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois parties issued the loudest demands for Rota’s resignation, with New Democrats leader Peter Julian describing the invitation as “an unforgivable error which puts the entire House in disrepute.” Trudeau, who leads the Liberal Party, of which Rota is a member, did not call for the speaker’s resignation, but described the ceremony as “deeply embarrassing for the House and for Canada.” During the event, Rota hailed Hunka as “a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero… who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians.”

Rota did not mention that Hunka fought in Hitler’s elite Waffen SS, but the nonagenarian was identified by the Associated Press as a member of the First Ukrainian Division, a volunteer unit created by the Nazis in 1943. Also known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, the unit is known to have committed atrocities against Jews and Poles during its campaign on the Eastern Front. “There should be no confusion that this unit was responsible for the mass murder of innocent civilians with a level of brutality and malice that is unimaginable,” the Toronto-based Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) said in a statement on Sunday.


The Ukrainian Postal Service is now issuing stamps of Waffen SS Nazi Galicia Yaroslav Hunko

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“..the ultra-liberal ideology propagated in Canada and permeated with hatred for Russia, its culture, religious and traditional values, essentially has the same roots as Nazism.”

• Russian Foreign Ministry Responds To Canada Honoring Nazi Veteran (RT)

The Canadian Parliament’s public celebration of a Ukrainian Nazi veteran last week is a cynical abuse of the memory of the victims of Nazism and an example of the blatant Russophobia embraced by the Canadian government, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on Tuesday. The message comes after the Canadian House of Commons on Friday gave a standing ovation to 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka, a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier division of the SS, which was responsible for countless war crimes during the second half of World War II. The commemoration took place during a visit by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the incident was “the best possible way to characterize the regime of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has embraced unbridled Russophobia.”

After facing backlash from Jewish and Polish communities over the incident, House Speaker Anthony Rota apologized for inviting the Nazi veteran, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the situation as “profoundly embarrassing.” The Russian ministry stressed, however, that despite Canada’s apologies, “the fact remains that the ultra-liberal ideology propagated in Canada and permeated with hatred for Russia, its culture, religious and traditional values, essentially has the same roots as Nazism.” Moscow added that it was “no coincidence” that Canada has monuments to Ukrainian nationalist leaders while the government allows the overwhelming majority of Nazi veterans like Hunka, who was granted asylum in Canada after the end of World War II, to live out their days “in safety, honored and cared for (in particular, by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland) as ‘fighters against Russian Communism.’”

The ministry concluded its statement by stressing that the “hostile actions” of the Canadian government, such as the continuous expansion of anti-Russian sanctions and blacklists of Russian nationals will not be left unanswered and that Moscow will not tolerate the fact that “Canadian liberals are flirting with Nazism.” “We expect that healthy forces in Canadian society will speak out against the ‘Nazification’ of history and daily life encouraged by the country’s officials, which goes hand-in-hand with aggressive Russophobia,” it said.

Russia to Canada
https://twitter.com/i/status/1706499953432924204

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“Canada is not a unique situation. Ten thousand Nazi war criminals emigrated to the United States, thousands to Australia, Great Britain, and in fewer numbers to New Zealand.”

• Nazi Hunter: Canada Failed Miserably in Bringing Nazis to Justice (Sp.)

Ninety-eight-year-old Ukrainian Nazi veteran Yaroslav Hunka, who fought in the ranks of the Schutzstaffel’s (SS) 14th Waffen Grenadier Division, was enthusiastically hailed by Canadian lawmakers and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The incident triggered a wave of fierce criticism, prompting House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota to apologize for featuring a Nazi soldier in the Canadian legislature. Sputnik reached out to Dr. Efraim Zuroff, a legendary Nazi hunter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the director of its Israel Office, to ask why the scandalous honoring of a Nazi became possible in a modern Western state. “It’s no secret that hundreds, at least hundreds, if not thousands of people who committed Holocaust crimes and/or collaborated with the Nazis were able to emigrate to Canada,” Dr. Zuroff told Sputnik.

“And by the way, Canada is not a unique situation. Ten thousand Nazi war criminals emigrated to the United States, thousands to Australia, Great Britain, and in fewer numbers to New Zealand.” Dr. Zuroff is unfamiliar with the particular case of Yaroslav Hunka, but it is still well known that the Waffen SS Galicia Division was “very involved in the mass murder of Jews and Poles in eastern Poland and Galicia,” he pointed out. “And it’s a very sad thing that the heroes, the leadership of the Ukrainian nationalists during World War II, which was headed by Stepan Bandera, for example and the UPA*, the army raised by the Ukrainians to fight with the Germans, with the Waffen SS, which was led by Roman Shukhevych, these are the heroes of Ukraine,” the Nazi hunter highlighted.

It is common knowledge that Nazi Germany played the lead role in the Holocaust – the systematic state-sponsored killing of European Jews in the Second World War. Still, Westerners are not fully aware of the incredibly important role played by local collaborators in the mass murder of the Jewish people, according to Dr. Zuroff. Nazi Germany’s Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing units organized by the SS (tasked with the “final solution of the Jewish question, i.e. the genocide of the ethnic group), “covered an area from Tallinn in the north of Estonia, all the way down to Odessa, near the Black Sea, a front of 1,500 kilometers, and murdered 1.5 million, primarily Jews, in less than two years,” the expert said.

“There were only several thousand people who served in the Einsatzgruppen, and they were working in territory, which they didn’t know the language, they didn’t know the topography. They needed help from the locals,” he explained, adding that this help was provided. “And they’re [locals] the ones who carried out these murders, in many cases without any Germans present. We know in Lithuania, for example, that there were less than a thousand Germans in Lithuania. In Lithuania, there were 220,000 Jews who lived under the Nazi occupation, of whom 212,000 were murdered, 90% of them by shooting near their homes.”

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The Black Sea Fleet command convenes in an underground bunker.

• Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Seen Alive and Well (Sp.)

Western media reported that Russian Black Sea Fleet commander Admiral Viktor Sokolov was killed in Ukrainian attack on Sevastopol, citing Ukrainian officials, without verifying the information. Ukraine used several British-sourced Storm Shadow cruise missiles to target the HQs building of the Russian Fleet in Sevastopol, Crimea last Friday. Russian Black Sea Fleet commander Admiral Viktor Sokolov has turned up alive and well, taking part in a Defense Ministry board meeting alongside Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday. Sokolov’s appearance follows claims in dozens of Western media outlets quoting Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces claiming that he had been killed in last week’s strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s HQ in Sevastopol.

The Russian Defense Ministry said six people were injured in the September 22 attack, with one person unaccounted for and the HQ’s historic building suffering damage. These figures are a far cry from estimates made by Kiev – which claimed that dozens of servicemen and officers were killed and over 100 injured. US reconnaissance forces were spotted in the area near the HQ two days prior to the attack, prompting Russian and US military observers to tell Sputnik that they suspect direct NATO involvement in the strike. The UK approved the delivery of Storm Shadow cruise missile systems to Ukraine in May, with Ukraine’s armed forces subsequently using them liberally, including to attack built-up civilian areas in the Donbass. Despite generous arms deliveries, intelligence and other support to Kiev, the United States and most of its allies refuse to admit that the Ukrainian crisis is a NATO proxy war against Russia.

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Where do they find these people?

• Nothing Is Off Table To Get Ukraine Into EU – Parliament President (G.)

The European Union must begin a major wave of change to prepare for the arrival of Ukraine as a member state, the leader of its parliament has said, with “nothing off the table”, including removing trade tariffs and giving Kyiv access to internal markets before full membership. Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, Roberta Metsola, an MEP from Malta who became the European parliament’s youngest ever president last year, said she expected member states to begin formal negotiations with Ukraine as soon as December. “If they are going fast, we should match that speed,” she urged. Metsola was the first political leader to visit Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, meeting the country’s president, President Zelenskiy, in Kyiv on 1 April 2022, when the capital was still under curfew and surrounded by tanks.

She has made the images of that encounter a symbol of her presidency: a poster of the pair in military green, shaking hands, hangs over the Parliament courtyard. Defying caution and outright antagonism from some member states, she has given unequivocal support to Ukraine’s attempt to join the EU, a process which has advanced even as the country’s attempts to join Nato have stalled. Ukraine is one year into a what many expect will be four or five year journey. But Metsola reflects fresh thinking among some EU leaders that the bloc needs to accelerate access to Ukraine- and the Balkan states that have also applied- in order to curb the risk of Russian interference in these former Soviet territories.

“Pushing the can down the road” on enlargement will only fuel nationalism and the far-right, she warned. “It increases the extremes on the political spectrum, the Euroscepticism. Campaigns in accession countries are fought, and lost or won, on the basis of the dream and hope of the EU.” Metsola wants formal talks to begin before Christmas. The decision rests with EU ministers, who will meet formally in December after a public report in October on Ukraine’s progress in reforming its judiciary, curbing corruption and opening its markets. “I expect a concrete outcome because the worst signal could be that we have given these people targets and deadlines which we can’t meet ourselves,” said Metsola.

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They strip off the protective parts before shipping them to Kiev.

• How Russia Will Deal With American Tanks in Ukraine (Sp.)

Ukraine has received some of its long-promised Abrams tanks, with the rest scheduled to be delivered later this fall. The long wait began in January, when US President Joe Biden announced that a battalions’ worth of America’s best tanks would be sent to “improve” Ukraine’s “ability to maneuver in open terrain.” The Abrams are the last of three NATO heavy tank platforms to be delivered to Ukraine to date, with Washington using promises about their deployment to get the alliance’s European members, particularly Germany, to approve the sending of their Leopard series MBTs (hundreds of Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tanks have been sent to Kiev since then). The UK also joined in, sending 14 of its fearsome Challenger 2s – boasting the status of one of the only major MBTs in NATO armies’ service never to have been destroyed by the enemy in battle.

Russian forces taking on Ukraine’s NATO-equipped army during the summer counteroffensive soon changed all that, with dozens of Leopard 1 and Leopard 2s knocked out, and at least two of Britain’s “unbeatable” tanks taken out in fierce fighting in Zaporozhye after finally appearing on the battlefield earlier this month. [..] The Abrams tanks that Ukraine is getting aren’t up to the same standard as those used by the US military. While its tanks are receiving the same controversial depleted uranium munitions which the US and NATO have already successfully used to poison vast swathes of the former Yugoslavia and Iraq, they are not equipped with the same layer of ultra-thick DU armor plates for enhanced protection of the tank and its crew that US Army Abrams have.

Ukraine’s Abrams are made from refurbished hulls and turrets from California’s Sierra Army Depot, with their DU armor plating removed for secrecy reasons. With the tanks proving vulnerable to enemy anti-tank systems even with the DU armor installed, Russian forces should have no problem using any or all of the above-mentioned weapons systems to target them.

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Wonder what’s in the tax filings (not inflated numbers!). Wonder if the banks saw those. And if not, why.

• US Judge Finds Trump Committed Fraud by Inflating Wealth, Assets (Sp.)

A New York state judge on Tuesday found former US President Donald Trump liable for fraud in a civil lawsuit that accuses the one-time commander of intentionally inflating his wealth and asset value. The 35-page ruling, brought forward by the New York Attorney General’s Office, determined Trump and company submitted multiple misleading valuations for real estate assets in official statements to insurers and other financial institutions in order to secure favorable loans and lower insurance premiums throughout the years. Properties listed in the suit included Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida resort, his golf course in Scotland, Trump Park Avenue, and his Seven Springs property in New York’s Westchester County, among other sites.

“In defendants’ world, rent-regulated apartments are worth the same as unregulated apartments; restricted land is worth the same as unrestricted land; restrictions can evaporate into thin air,” Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in the decision. “That is a fantasy world, not the real world.” In granting a partial summary judgement to NY Attorney General Letitia James, Engoron outlined that such business maneuvers violated the law and as such canceled the business certificates of Trump and listed defendants, including those of his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Also named were Allen Weisselberg, who served as the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, and company executive Jeff McConney. Additionally, Engoron ordered individual sanctions of $7,500 against lawyers who represented the listed Trump defendants and required that within 10 days’ time each defendant submit three independent receivers to manage the dissolution for the business certificates.

The Trump camp has argued claims laid out in the civil filing are barred due to the statute of limitations, with lawyer noting banks involved in the Trump-affiliated deals were far from victims as the same entities turned profits. The former president has also rejected committing any wrongdoing, instead claiming James’ suit is a politically-driven attack. The Tuesday ruling, which denied a request by Trump to end the civil fraud lawsuit, did not settle six other claims at the center of James’ lawsuit. In fact, a non-jury trial set to start on October 2 will address the remaining key points. The New York attorney general is seeking about $250 million in damages and is looking to enforce a ban on Trump doing any business in the Empire State.

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He should have given the laptop to WikiLeaks.

• Hunter Biden Sues Rudy Giuliani for Spreading Contents From Laptop (Sp.)

The lawsuit, which relies on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, was filed in the Central District of California. Neither Rudy Giuliani nor Hunter Biden live in that district and the alleged crimes took place in Delaware. Whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld told Sputnik the choice was the result of “venue shopping.” Embattled first son Hunter Biden is continuing to file lawsuits against individuals he blames for the release of the contents of a laptop he reportedly abandoned at a Delaware computer repair store. The lawsuit is against former New York City mayor and Donald Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The suit, filed in the Central District of California, accuses the former mayor of “looking for, hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, [and] disseminating … data that was taken or stolen,” thereby violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

It is the latest string of lawsuits brought by Hunter Biden against individuals surrounding his laptop. He also sued the owner of the non-profit Marco Polo, which has been publishing the contents of the laptop, the owner of the computer repair shop where Biden reportedly abandoned the laptop and the FBI for allegedly violating his privacy when two FBI agents told Congress and the media they were concerned the agency was slow-walking the investigation. The laptop in question first made headlines in October 2020, shortly before the 2020 presidential election. Reportedly, the computer repair shop owner had given the laptop to the FBI months before, but after not hearing anything about it on the news, contacted Giuliani’s lawyer at the time Bob Costello and provided him a copy of the computer’s hard drive. Costello is also a defendant in Biden’s latest lawsuit.

Contents of the laptop were published by the New York Post, showing the future first son smoking what appears to be crack cocaine, fornicating with suspected prostitutes and other salacious details. Further reporting on the laptop revealed emails related to Hunter Biden’s foreign business deals and financial records showing the Biden family received millions of dollars from foreign businesses, including those in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, China and Russia. Some of the email and text messages found on the iPhone backup implied that current US President Joe Biden may have joined in on some business calls with his son and references to payments made to “the big guy” have been pointed to by critics as proof the elder Biden was more involved in his son’s business deals than the president claimed. As recently as August, the US president has reiterated he “never talked business” with his son.

The laptop was originally called “Russian disinformation” by multiple media outlets in the United States, and more than 50 former senior intelligence officers signed a letter saying it had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” One by one, the various outlets who discredited the laptop as disinformation quietly admitted it was legitimate and a former CIA official testified to the House Judiciary Committee that former Biden campaign adviser and now-Secretary of State Antony Blinken “played a role in the inception.” Giuliani’s spokesman Ted Goodman pointed to the changing story of the laptop’s detractors when responding to the lawsuit. “Hunter Biden previously refused to admit ownership of the laptop. I’m not surprised he’s now falsely claiming his laptop hard drive was manipulated by Mayor Giuliani, considering the sordid material and potential evidence of crimes on that thing,” Goodman said.

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My son is the smartest man I know.

• Hunter Biden Used Dad’s Classified Doc House For $250K China Wire Transfer (ZH)

Hunter Biden used his Dad’s Delaware home where classified documents were found strewn about the garage to receive more than $250,000 in Chinese wire transfers, according to the House Oversight Committee. The wires were from Wang Xin and Jonathan Li, the latter of whom ran a Chinese private equity fund (BHR) which Hunter was listed as being on the board of directors. Hunter also arranged for a meeting between Li and Joe Biden while Joe was VP, while Joe allegedly gave Li’s son a letter of recommendation. Here’s the breakdown of events from the Committee:

• 2009-2017: During his time as Vice President and prior to later payments to Hunter Biden, evidence shows Joe Biden developed a familiar relationship with Jonathan Li. Devon Archer, a Biden business associate, described how Joe Biden met with Jonathan Li for coffee in Beijing, China, had a phone call with him, and wrote college recommendation letters for his children.
• April 25, 2019: Joe Biden announced his candidacy in the 2020 presidential election.
• July 26, 2019: Wang Xin wired $10,000 with Joe Biden’s home listed on the wire.
• August 2, 2019: Jonathan Li wired $250,000 with Joe Biden’s home listed on the wire.
• October 13, 2019: George Mesires, who served as Hunter Biden’s lawyer, stated, in part, that Hunter Biden served with BHR “only as a member of its board of directors,” which was purportedly an “unpaid position.”
• October 22, 2020: During a presidential debate, Joe Biden said, “My son has not made money […] in China.”

Of note, Hunter was living at the Wilmington house while he was raking in millions of dollars from CCP-linked business dealings. Hunter was living there… Seamus Bruner (researcher for legendary bombshell-dropper Peter Schweizer), reports via Breitbart News, that “While addicted to drugs, cavorting with prostitutes, and making deals with businessmen tied to the highest levels of Chinese intelligence, Hunter Biden lived in the house where Joe Biden stored classified documents.” Second, the Washington Free Beacon reported in January that photos from Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop place him at the Wilmington House in July, 2017. Of note, the classified documents were reportedly brought to the house in January of that year. The photos ‘are the most concrete evidence to date’ that Hunter – who was actively negotiating a deal with a CCP-linked Chinese energy company – had access to areas of his father’s home where classified documents were stored.

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I know there’s the EU’s Code of Practice on Disinformation, and I know there’s the Digital Services Act, but I don’t know who decided that Musk is violating either.

Oh, and it’s basically all Russia Russia. Ring a bell? It’s like Trudy reacting to the Nazi he celebrated by saying we should all be wary of Russian disinformation. Same thing. Diversion. Squirrel!

• EU Warns Elon Musk After X Found To Have Highest Rate Of Disinformation (G.)

The EU has issued a warning to Elon Musk to comply with sweeping new laws on fake news and Russian propaganda, after X formerly known as Twitter was found to have the highest ratio of disinformation posts of all large social media platforms. The report analysed the ratio of disinformation for a new report laying bare for the first time the scale of fake news on social media across the EU, with millions of fake accounts removed by TikTok and LinkedIn. Facebook was the second worst offender, according to the first ever report recording posts that will be deemed illegal across the EU under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into force in August.

Nevertheless, Facebook and other tech giants, including Google, TikTok and Microsoft, have signed up to the code of practice the EU drew up to ensure they could get ready in time to operate within the confines of the new laws. Twitter left the code of practice but it is obliged under the new law to comply with the rules or face a ban across the EU. Mr Musk knows he is not off the hook by leaving the code of practice, said the European commissioner Vera Jourova, who is responsible for the implementation of the new anti-disinformation code. There are obligations under the hard law. So my message for Twitter/X is you have to comply. We will be watching what you do.

X, formerly Twitter, is the platform with the largest ratio of mis/disinformation followed by Facebook, she told reporters. The 200-page report is an account of the work the large platforms have done in the first six months of 2023 to prepare for compliance with the new law and lifts the lid on the behind-the-scenes efforts made by Facebook and others to crack down on Russian propaganda, hate speech and other disinformation. The Russian state has engaged in the war of ideas to pollute our information space with half truth and lies to create a false image that democracy is no better than autocracy, said Jourova.

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This five-month-old bar-tailed godwit smashed the record for long-distance migration following a non-stop, 11-day flight from Alaska to Tasmania: a 13,560 km journey beating the previous record, a godwit which flew 13,000 km

 

 

Burzynski

 

 

 

 

 

 

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