Moon of Alabama

September 29, 2022

Ukraine Open Thread 2022-161

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

Please stick to the topic.

The current open thread for other issues is here.

Liz Truss Is Already The Bad Prime Minister Everyone Expected Her To Be

When Liz Truss was 'elected' as Prime Minister by 0.6% of all British voters I expressed some sorrow for a once great Britain:

Liz Truss is less competent than Boris Johnson but at the same level when it comes to lying. She also has no empathy. In the end she will look worse in office than Johnson did.
The damage of the Brexit disaster is still getting worse. The energy crunch, caused by the economic war waged against Russia, is tearing the country apart. [...] The National Health Service is turning patients away for lack of resources.

Truss will worsen all that.

But the billionaires and banksters of the City of London will still applause her for lowering their taxes.
...
With the election process rigged for the Tories and the Labour leadership held by the hapless and vindictive Keir Starmer there is little chance for regime change in Britain. When Truss falls the premiership could even go back to Boris Johnson.

Just three weeks later and we may already be there.

Liz Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng are libertarians who believe that the state's function should be as small as possible.

On August 5, before Truss was 'elected', the Official Monetary and Financial Institution Service, a think tank, had predicted what was soon to happen:

Cont. reading: Liz Truss Is Already The Bad Prime Minister Everyone Expected Her To Be

Posted by b at 17:24 UTC | Comments (18)

September 28, 2022

Ukraine Open Thread 2022-160

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

Please stick to the topic.

The current open thread for other issues is here.

Posted by b at 12:11 UTC | Comments (330)

Open (NOT Ukraine) Thread 2022-159

News & views NOT related to the war in Ukraine ...

Posted by b at 12:10 UTC | Comments (83)

Whodunnit? - Facts Related to The Sabotage Attack On The Nord Stream Pipelines

For decades the U.S. opposed European projects to receive energy from Russia. It wants Europe to buy more expensive U.S. oil and gas.

the Lemniscat @theLemniscat - 15:56 UTC · Sep 27, 2022
US plan was always to stop EU buying Russia's gas
2014
Rice:"You want to change the structure of energy dependence. You want to depend more on the North America energy platform ... to have pipelines that don't go through Ukraine & Russia"
https://youtube.com/watch?v=aF0uYIjaTNE

Europe's, and especially Germany's industry, depends on cheap energy from Russia. Without it Europe will be de-industrialized and go broke.

The U.S. had threatened to disable the pipelines connecting Europe to Russia.

ABC News @ABC - 9:59pm · 7 Feb 2022
Pres. Biden: "If Russia invades...then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it."
Reporter: "But how will you do that, exactly, since...the project is in Germany's control?"
Biden: "I promise you, we will be able to do that."
abcn.ws/3B5SScx

Currently the U.S. is winning its war on Europe's, mainly Germany's, industries and people. Yesterday's sabotage attack on the Nord Stream I and II pipelines, which are supposed to bring Russian natural gas to Germany, mean that the the war on Germany has entered its hot phase.

A question remains: Whodunnit?

Cont. reading: Whodunnit? - Facts Related to The Sabotage Attack On The Nord Stream Pipelines

Posted by b at 9:56 UTC | Comments (338)

September 27, 2022

The War On Germany Just Entered Its Hot Phase

Just yesterday I laid out how the U.S. is winning its war on Europe's industries and people.

That war, hidden behind the U.S. created Ukraine crisis, is designed to destroy Europe's manufacturing advantage compared to the U.S. It is more likely though to strengthen the economic position of China and other Asian economies.

I have argued that Germany must open the Nord Stream II pipeline which can bring Russian natural gas to Germany without crossing other countries' territory. It must also allow Siemens to repair the defect Nord Stream I compressors. It is in fact inevitable if German's industry is to survive.

Others have come to similar conclusion and decided to sabotage the pipelines to make their re-opening impossible:

Three offshore lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline system have sustained "unprecedented" damage in one day, Nord Stream AG, the operator of the network, said on Tuesday in what one German official has suggested is a "targeted attack”. Nord Stream 2 suffered a gas leak which was then followed by a drop of pressure on Nord Stream 1.
The company also said that it was impossible to estimate when the gas network system's working capability would be restored.

The simultaneous sub sea damage to three pipelines is obviously not an accident.

A German economy official told Tagesspiegel: "We can't imagine a scenario that isn't a targeted attack."
They added: "Everything speaks against a coincidence."

bigger

The war mongers at the British Telegraph claim without any evidence or logic that Russia is the culprit:

Cont. reading: The War On Germany Just Entered Its Hot Phase

Posted by b at 12:03 UTC | Comments (585)

September 26, 2022

Ukraine Open Thread 2022-158

Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict.

Please stick to the topic.

The current open thread for other issues is here.

Posted by b at 16:41 UTC | Comments (262)

The U.S. Is Winning Its War On Europe's Industries And People

Disclose.tv @disclosetv - 10:03 UTC · Sep 26, 2022
JUST IN - German economy deteriorated significantly in September. IFO business climate index continues to fall.

bigger

On February 7 Professor of Economics Michael Hudson explained why America’s Real Adversaries Are Its European and Other Allies:

What worries American diplomats is that Germany, other NATO nations and countries along the Belt and Road route understand the gains that can be made by opening up peaceful trade and investment. If there is no Russian or Chinese plan to invade or bomb them, what is the need for NATO? And if there is no inherently adversarial relationship, why do foreign countries need to sacrifice their own trade and financial interests by relying exclusively on U.S. exporters and investors?
These are the concerns that have prompted French President Macron to call forth the ghost of Charles de Gaulle and urge Europe to turn away from what he calls NATO’s “brain-dead” Cold War and beak with the pro-U.S. trade arrangements that are imposing rising costs on Europe while denying it potential gains from trade with Eurasia. Even Germany is balking at demands that it freeze by this coming March by going without Russian gas.

Instead of a real military threat from Russia and China, the problem for American strategists is the absence of such a threat.

What the U.S. needed was to provoke Russia, and later China, into reacting to U.S. arranged threats in a way that would oblige its 'allies' to follow its sanction policies.

The rather dimwitted European leadership fell for the trick.

Cont. reading: The U.S. Is Winning Its War On Europe's Industries And People

Posted by b at 16:34 UTC | Comments (185)

September 25, 2022