Weekly Review And Open Thread 2018-06
Feb 5 - Some People Are Fun ...
Iran's Rouhani wins the papal sympathy race against Turkey's Erdogan.
Feb 6 - Syria - Is The Turkish Attack On Afrin Intended To Split The U.S.-Kurdish Alliance?
NSA McMaster is supposed to visit Turkey this weekend, SecState Tillerson next week. Will Turkey finally opt for the Russian or the U.S. side? I likely depends on what Washington can and will offer.
Feb 8 - Syria - U.S. May Have Arranged "Self Defense" Attack On Syrian Government Forces
The U.S. attack on pro-Syrian forces killed some 20 Syrian fighters, not the 100 plus the U.S. announced. Several of those killed were Christians from west-Syria who belonged to a group called "ISIS-hunters". These were trained by the Russian private military company Wagner. This supports my suggestion that some oil-well transfer between local Syrian groups was the real reason for this incident.
Feb 10 - WaPo's Ignatius: "ISIS Is There - When The U.S. Needs It"
Whenever the U.S. needs a reason to put its military somewhere it pulls the al-Qaeda/ISIS rabbit out of its hat. Others are not allowed to copy that trick.
Feb 11 - A Book On Hizbullah That Deserves Your Attention
If you can please help Elijah so he can write and publish his book.
Feb 11 - Syria - Is War With Israel Imminent (Updated)?
Israel's jet was hit within Israeli airspace after having bombed a target in Syria. Netanyahoo had for some time tried to get a Russian green light for a more bellicose posture towards Hizbullah and Syria. The answer was "nyet". When he tried to simply go forward by bombing the T-4 base near Palmyra, Russian officers helped the Syrian air defense with the proper response. The rules of engagement have thus changed. After yesterdays imbroglio Putin told Netanyahoo to "avoid any steps that could lead to a new round of confrontation." That was an advice to keep his planes on the ground or lose more of them to a well equipped and unrestricted Syrian air defense.
A piece missing last week should have been about the opening of the Winter Olympics in Korea. The North and the South started with a united team and emphasized the peacefulness of the games. U.S. Vive President Pence made an ass out of himself when he tried, and failed, to party-poop the opening festivities with the South Korean president Moon and the well represented North Korean delegation. Kim Yo Jong, the polite sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, made an excellent impression.
Before Pence came to South Korea he was in Japan to visit the militaristic Prime Minister Abe, a figure widely despised in South Korea. Abe promptly suggested to immediately restart U.S.-South Korean maneuvers which would lead to a restart of nuclear and missile testing in the North.
But the South under President Moon wants -like the North- peace and not a war that would again devastate the country. By now Kim Yo Jong and the North Korean cheerleader squad have gained more sympathy points in South Korea than Pence and Abe combined. How long will it take for the U.S. to decide to "regime change" Moon for some more compliant and belligerent person?
I am no longer fond of Olympic games. There are too many sport disciplines, too much cheating, too much money and too many politics involved in the Olympics. The Norwegian team was rumored to have brought some 6,000 doses of asthma medicine for its athletes. That rumor is likely false, but it makes a good point. Such drugs are exempted by the anti-doping agency if some doctor simply certifies that an athlete needs them. That such drugs are performance enhancing is then just a 'side effect'. At least 15 U.S. athletes in the Rio Olympics took such 'medicine'. Russian athletes though, who never used these exemptions, were banned or restricted for alleged doping on quite murky grounds.
Here is a winter sport, guaranteed doping free, that I'd enjoy to watch more - cat curling (vid).
Please use the comments as open thread ...
Posted by b on February 11, 2018 at 17:52 UTC | Permalink
lol b - that cat curling video.. are they real and dead, or what? lol...
i am not into the olympic soap opera... i am into opera, but not soap operas!
thanks for this week and the many fine posts... peter shared elijah magniers recent post on syria.. thanks peter!
here it is for others if you missed it.
Posted by: james | Feb 11 2018 18:44 utc | 2
Not into sport much, but will have to try the cat curling on my concrete drive with my neighbors cat. Just need to find a hockey stick with a bit of weight behind it to get it sliding.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Feb 11 2018 18:54 utc | 3
The asthmatic drugs is to conceal the enhancement drug traces in the system. They're not really the enhancers by itself.
Posted by: cbrown | Feb 11 2018 19:17 utc | 4
It has been depressing to watch the Americans corrupt the Olympic Movement by taking control of WADA, the doping testing body, based on the allegations of Rodchenko, the CIA stooge 'under American protection in California' and thereby influence key members of the IOC who engineered the banning of the entire Russian athletic teams in Rio and N. Korea, even though hundreds of those athletes had competed for years and provided clean drug tests on all occasions.
When a number of Russian athletes successfully appealed their bans to the CAS appeal body and were reinstated, Thomas Bach, the IOC president, vociferously "regretted" the CAS decision and threatened the continued existence of the CAS -- in the next days, the CAS declined the appeals of a further 47 clean Russian athletes without any coherent reasons for their judgment.
With the Americans striving to disrupt Russian participation in major international sporting events (remember as well the very successful Sochi Olympics and the Kiev coup), watch for some American-sponsored disruption of the Russian hosting of the football World Cup.
Posted by: chet380 | Feb 11 2018 19:17 utc | 5
Cbrown,
Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronchodilator
Posted by: John Merryman | Feb 11 2018 19:37 utc | 6
@2, 3 james & Peter AU 1
No cats were harmed, or even particularly active, in that video, it was all cut and paste work.
Here in Texas it's cold and freezing drizzle. I'm watching 3 cats do their own form of "curling" on the couch. Much better sport. Sometimes for action we get championship stretching.
~~
b - Kim Yo Jong did indeed make an excellent impression, on the whole world I'd say. The picture of her shaking hands with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea is a meme in its own right, one that shatters entire paradigms and shouts about a million words. Pepe Escobar posted it on his Facebook page with the caption, "IT'S DIPLOMACY, STUPID."
Posted by: Grieved | Feb 11 2018 20:24 utc | 7
The US now routinely and almost without pretense uses international organizations supposedly dedicated to peace to promote war. They are very aware that 'enemies' must be isolated, demonized and weakened before they get to choose between surrender and being crushed via war
Posted by: paul | Feb 11 2018 20:42 utc | 9
IOC President Thomas Bach has tacitly admitted the IOC or WADA have neither the integrity, competence nor will to oversee and administer a fair, equitable drug surveillance in the current Olympics. Like all 'Wars on Drugs', the IOC and WADA are fraudulent affronts to their victims. When Thomas Bach speaks of urgent need for reorganisation of institution, he should start with IOC and WADA. He and his ilk needs return all compensation he receives since the Sochi Games and be band from all sport events and organisations for life. There IS no Olympic Game without the Russian Flag and a Russian Team. Don't buy into what is on offer now - it is not Olympic when some are excluded. Exclusion was not the original Olympics, it disqualifies this as being Olympics.
Gave to the book from above encomium. Thanks, factual information for all of MENA is difficult to find - we will see.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Feb 11 2018 20:49 utc | 10
Here is an interesting article that points to the new American strategy with respect to Iran and central Asia. Iran is already being attacked from West and East in the North. And central Asia is next. This might force Iran to pull back some forces from Syria and Iraq.
No end to the wars.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/02/06/us-isis-nexus-afghanistan-becomes-hot-topic.html
Posted by: ninel | Feb 11 2018 20:59 utc | 11
Found this report from our once-objective CBC:
"Canadian man held captive in Syria says he was tortured, kept in cell that felt 'like a coffin'"
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/sean-moore-syrian-captive-bimbachi-torture-1.4527590
Odd that it took the reporter until paragraph 15 to mention that the guy was imprisoned by extremists, not by the government....
Posted by: big satan's little brother | Feb 11 2018 21:00 utc | 12
Norways 6000 asthma drugs dosage list:
Norwegian government-owned broadcasting corporation NRK published (https://www.nrk.no/sport/olympiatoppen-har-sendt-over-6000-doser-astmamedisin-til-ol-1.13880280)
the list of drugs taken to PyeongChang by the Norwegian team doctor.
It includes 1,800 doses of Symbicort, 1,200 doses of Atrovent, 1,200 doses of Alvesco, 360 doses of Ventolin and 1,200 doses of Airomir – which amounts to 10 times more asthma drugs than Finland has brought to South Korea.
https://www.rt.com/sport/418122-norway-pyeongchang-2018-asthma-drugs-stash/
The Scandinavians were the orginators of blood doping back in the day.
This asthma thing is a joke. Steroids and amphetamines packaged in inhalers, with a doctor's note.
The rat who set up the Russian team doping scandal appears to have undergone plastic surgery or is using a double.
The Canadians and WADA are totally corrupt, destroying Russians premier teams in Summer and Winter Olympics with this phony doping scandal.
The IOC has always been a corrupt organization that is constitutionally built and lives on bribery. The US owns them.
Posted by: Red Ryder | Feb 11 2018 21:15 utc | 13
I came to that conclusion about the Olympics long ago. It is unseemly and obscene that the U.S. parades around its $$ pampered and ego addled athletes pompously dominating the medals and all that with their superior $$ and etc. It long ago ceased to be any sort of fair sport or cultural exchange aimed at improving international relations, it has become just an extension of all the political propaganda. And the U.S. BrainDead that it is, embarrassing itself and humiliating its citizens with the brazenly crude and undiplomatic behavior of its government. Sochi in 2010 was a prime example of that.
Posted by: che | Feb 11 2018 21:30 utc | 14
"Kim Yo Jong and the North Korean cheerleader squad have gained more sympathy points in South Korea than Pence and Abe combined. " I like you, Mr. Moon Ofalabama, I really do. But when I read those words I can't help thinking -- are my eyes deceiving me? Or is it some alternative bizarro universe ...[quiz -- find the plagiarized reference].
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 11 2018 21:32 utc | 15
Here's a thought. Russian plane brought down the other day with manpad supplied by US. Triggers a shift in policy in the Russian/Syrian axis. Syrians use S200 anti-aircraft missile, supplied by Russia, to bring down Israeli plane. Israel, is of course in US axis. Furious Israel cannot raise the stakes officially, so goes for exposed underbelly - civilian aircraft lifting off from Moscow. Far-fetched ?
Posted by: aniteleya | Feb 11 2018 21:37 utc | 16
The Olympics have been a fairly politicized event for many decades now; I think exhibit A is Carter and Brezezinski’s secret op to destabilize Afghanistan in 1979, followed by the US boycott of the Summer 1980 Olympics:
Brzezinki: ”. . .it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.”
The same thing is going on now with all the doping allegations, Pence’s political posturing in Seoul (really, to the people calling for Trump to be impeached - Pence is much worse!) which is really about blocking peaceful resolution of the Korean problem - because then, how would the economic-centric ‘pivot to Asia’ be accomplished? Let alone NBC, subdivision of Comcast, is controlling the video feed, and charging admission - can’t we just get some volunteers with cameras to upload the action to Youtube, it’d probably be just as good quality.
That’s why I like mountaineering - people can use oxygen or not, they can take drugs or not, it really doesn’t matter, the mountains have the final say. People have more respect for oxygen-free ascents of big Himalayan mountains, but there’s no authoritarian control (well, you have to pay for passes to the local governments, but that’s fair enough).
Posted by: nonsense factory | Feb 11 2018 21:39 utc | 17
The american coverage of the opening ceremonies fixated on the seating arrangement of Kim's sister behind Pence. She had an ironic smirk on for a lot of it. Pence was his thin-lipped Rethuglican self, half-smiling with no teeth throughout. No charm, all business.
Agree with T-Bear @12. These are not games of peace. I think we would be enjoying athletes a lot more without the politics and hybrid wars hanging over the whole spectacle. I will say congratulations to Korea for honoring the spirit of the games by coming together, at least for a few moments. Don't let Uncle Sambo and Co. play spoiler to your fun. Breathe easy and see how it feels.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 11 2018 21:45 utc | 18
Recently The Atlantic published an article on how the Olympic Games came to be associated with excess in terms of spending and spectacle.
Michael Weinreb, "How the Olympics Got Disneyfied"
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/02/how-the-olympics-got-disneyfied/552659/
MoA regulars may need to have headache tablets, medication for nausea and a bed to lie down on at the ready
Posted by: Jen | Feb 11 2018 22:04 utc | 19
The Bankruptcy of the American Left, a article from Truthdig:
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/bankruptcy-american-left/
An excerpt:"Corporate capitalism is supranational. It owes no loyalty to any nation-state. It uses the projection of military power by the United States to protect and advance its economic interests but at the same time cannibalizes the U.S., dismantling its democratic institutions, allowing its infrastructure to decay and deindustrializing its factory centers to ship manufacturing abroad to regions where workers are treated as serfs."
Posted by: ben | Feb 11 2018 22:04 utc | 20
In the last thread, I posted comment on the Russian plane crash. A lot of what looks to be fuselage debris not painted in the airline colors and there is some talk of collision with a helicopter, but no mention of collision in RT and Sputnik. Any collision would have been seen on radar as the crash occurred shortly after take off so most likely no collision. In the photos many small pieces of debri have fallen straight down into the snow so it looks as though it disintegrated in the air.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Feb 11 2018 22:20 utc | 21
The Zero Hedge website, which has mostly "alt-right" commenters, but great instant coverage (mostly) has apparently "upgraded" to Drupal 8, and this has been an absolute total catastrophy! EVERYTHING is all screwed up completely! Disaster!
I have a feeling that if the Russians believe that somebody is messing with them, they will give maybe two stikes, and then find some really creative revenge. Not smart to mess with such people.
Posted by: blues | Feb 11 2018 22:45 utc | 22
Like Terrence McKenna once pointed out,
that time passing by faster is not only
a subjective observation, but part of
the Universal acceleration.
While I abstain on this theory, one
thing does seem to support this theory:
Previously in history it took centuries
for the number of events that we are
exposed to/witnessing as of today.
Allow me a few remarks in regards to the
primer of review No 6:
Felines are superior Beings. They purr when
they are having a great time, but they also
purr when in distress - to calm down. They
can sense my mental state from five blocks
away while I am driving home towards them.
They crack me up, even when I am entirely
depressed by the corporate feces flung at
people all over the planet.
I had a relationship with a white Tiger that
was incarcerated at the Hilo zoo. His name
was 'Namaste' and he passed away due to lack
of proper attention. He was treated like all
animals at zoos - like an attraction. But he
was craving for attention and playing just in
the same fashion as my Felines are. They can
live with little food and little space - but
not without being petted and loved.
---
The last Olympic games I followed closely
we're those in Munich, 1972. I was there,
when the Terror attack was unfolding. Oddity
has it that relatives moved into a condo on
the same level the hostages where held. What
goes for Olympic games has been converted into
a corporate-political circus. At that, it is
more than ever reminiscent of 'Pane et Circenses',
bread and games.
---
In regards to world affairs, especially those
involving the US regime, Alan Watts once said
that it is not the system that is bad - it is
the Pences, Trumps, Bushes, Clintons et Al, that
the citizenry allowed to hijack their society.
Especially when looking at, or listening to
Pence and the Junta, it is beyond comprehension
how de-evolved human beings can become. All this
Energy extended to the appearance of Homo Sapiens
seems to have been wasted when it comes to these
beings. They are part of a big family. The biggest
family on Earth, whose members can be found
anywhere. Its members even constituted the majority
of ship personnel on the Space Balls 'We brake for
nobody' Empire space vessel.
---
It is heartbreaking to see the number of disturbing
regime stooges increase to annoying levels. But then,
the regime would not resort to these attacks, if MoA
would not resemble the proverbial sand in the well
lubed gears of propaganda and deceit.
Time to fold the laundry now.
Thanks to all sane folks on this blog.
Posted by: nottheonly1 | Feb 11 2018 22:59 utc | 23
A surveillance is now available.
http://avherald.com/h?article=4b4cb236&opt=0
Posted by: Mike | Feb 11 2018 23:00 utc | 24
Grieved 9
Not to worry. Cats are becoming scarce and difficult to catch now. Or in my small part of the world they are. What I have noticed since running a heavy culling operation on the neighbors cat population is a flock of small native birds now come into my back yard most days and pick pests out of the vege patch. First time I had seen native birds in the couple of years I have been living here. Before that, all I would see was neighborhood cats and a few feathers.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Feb 11 2018 23:53 utc | 25
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Feb 11, 2018 6:53:20 PM | 27
I wish I could claim similar success with the feline pests around here. In Aotearoa more than 80 species of native birds have been made extinct by 'Henri' and his mates and uncountable numbers of small lizard - uncountable because until whitefellas arrived birds and lizards were the biggest number of non-insect life here and the lizards had specialised to suit their own particular local ecosystem - most were gone before anyone noticed.
Without predators some amazing looking and unique cultures of ground dwelling birds had evolved. The kiwi was far from the only example of this and it only exists because as a national emblem a huge number of fences at the top and ambulances at the bottom of the cliff have been created if that effort were to stop, as it will eventually when some band of thugs gets in government and seeks to 'save' money, kiwis will quickly become extinct too.
I used to deliver the order of two bricks to any cat I found on my property, then toss the corpse onto the main highway - a quick slap about the ears with a pair of bricks reduces cats to a state that vets, always eager to move on to the next earner, would rapidly dismiss as 'death by motor vehicle collision'. It became a sport which required considerable stealth and skill - then a neighbour a fellow loather of felines who I had taken into my confidence, blabbed all at the local watering hole so now I have to be much more circumspect.
What is really needed is some form of biological control such as myxomatosis did for rabbits, cats with longer breeding cycles than those pests would be unlikely to bounce back so fast.
At one time towards the end of the 20th century, the population was pretty much united on the need to rid Aotearoa of this parasite, but the wave of late 20th century migration which included far too many europeans - particularly englanders and germans, destroyed solidarity - now the silly old ladies had a fresh mob of morons incapable of comprehending the havoc wreaked by cats.
Interesting fact - in the immediate post euro war period when the gender balance had gone askew following Aotearoa's high casualty rate, a woman was elected to parliament on an independent ticket of banning "Davey Crockett" hats which enterprising rural kiwis had built a cottage industry outta trapping & skinning feral cats to make.
That is the problem last election a new blue-green party ran and ridding the nation of cats was one of the platforms. The thing is most people probably agree with that sentiment but it is well down the priorities so few change their votes on that basis. Me, I cannot imagine anything more anti-humanist than a mob of rightist environmentalists, so as appealing as one policy may have been this gang of failed hippie, gangster capitalists weren't gonna get my support.
On the other hand cat lovers are exactly the sort of delusional dingbats who do vote using a political movement's attitude towards moggies as a primary sorting point. Consequently all the vote grubbing 'major' parties stay silent on this pest.
Like I said some form of cat HIV or similar is what is really required - and then don't boast about it in bars.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Feb 12 2018 2:14 utc | 27
@27 Peter AU 1
Not sure I want to know what went into that "culling" operation. Bless all the cats everywhere, a beautiful nation, existing in a world of discreet and intense passion, about a foot above the surface of the ground, and largely at night.
There are feral cats all over the world, apparently, and feral cat colonies, and feral cat colony caretakers, who are the home dwellers who feed and fix and worry about these wild animals who are so close to our hearts - and neither they nor we can help this, it simply is the case.
My cats are feral. I feed them slaughtered chickens bought from caring suppliers, and the wild birds live on.
We talk here every day about the ways in which humans slaughter humans.
I love god but why do beings kill and live on other beings?
Posted by: Grieved | Feb 12 2018 2:34 utc | 28
@29 Debsisdead
It's easy for us to close our hearts to the well being of a particular species, and it's most easy of all when we love the species that is killed by the other species.
I love all the creatures you mention, and also the cats.
I also love the universe, which, even so, created this terrible quandary in which beings kill other beings.
I don't have the answer. But bouncing around from death to revenge to death to revenge to death to revenge is not it.
I am still looking for the answer. May I claim you as a comrade on this quest?
Posted by: Grieved | Feb 12 2018 2:41 utc | 29
@ Debsisdead | Feb 11, 2018 9:14:26 PM | 29
Bravely told story; not often heard, never listened to. Sadly overlooked is the nature of certain species - predators will always be predators, their natures are what they do, their prey have no recourse but try to survive and to reproduce, many times in fragile environments the prey have developed in without certain introduced predators. Cat_astrophic results. Answer may lay in population control of those predators, nothing else will obtain.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Feb 12 2018 3:13 utc | 30
Debsisdead 29
I've had to be civilized since moving to town. The 22/250 or 12 gauge is frowned upon, and likewise humanely euthanizing them of them with a length of 4x2. The four be two is considered as uncouth as a couple of bricks. Not sure what the local laws are like in your part of the world, but on looking up the local bylaws here, I found it is an offence for a cat owner to allow their cat onto somebody else's property. No probs, I buy a cat trap and cart the cats off to the pound. Grieved would be proud of me. Due to the cost of getting the cats out of the pound, the cats never came back (the local pound advertises impounded animals at its site on the net and also has a list of charges and fees).
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Feb 12 2018 3:18 utc | 31
For those who care about cats and their well being.
There is a cat contraceptive, and it is called Megestrol Acetate. It was developed for wild deer populations and it works, and it has in this capacity been approved in the US by FDA.
It has never been tested for cats because the dosage is too small for the testing range of the US medical establishment. It was tested in France and found to be 100% effective and safe.
It was also tested by hundreds of independent feral cat colony caretakers in the US and found to be 100% effective for females, and safe for males and kittens. It disrupts the estrus cycle and female cats don't go into heat.
Female cats not in heat will not allow male cats to impregnate them - and male cats learn a bitter lesson as to the fierceness of females when they try this.
For any who wish to know the particulars, start here:
Yes Virginia! There really is safe & Affordable birth control for feral cats!
Posted by: Grieved | Feb 12 2018 3:22 utc | 32
@27 29
Technically we humans should already destroy all other predatory animals due to our vastly expanding population.
All predatory roles are now can be covered by humans alone. Why give unnecessary variety to them ? Let people cover it all.
Posted by: cbrown | Feb 12 2018 3:24 utc | 33
@ 34
ps..Of course, the established altruistic societies have dismissed this solution, while the ordinary people in the field have given thanks for the miracle.
I'm in the field. It works. I buy the pill from Bulgaria. I have 2 year's supply for $35 USD. The girls didn't go into heat. Eventually I will get them to the vet for spaying. But the miracle pill buys us time.
Time to foster the kittens from the wild mother, time to get them settled into their place in the world to sleep and to eat. Time, if the second miracle happens, for them to let us touch them, ever so slightly, as we all learn to live together.
We don't have to rush. To me this is the greatest gift that can be given, the gift of time to take our time, to do what is in our mind to do, in the fullness of our own time.
Megestrol acetate. Currently available in the US with a vet's prescription, and easily from Bulgaria without one. Follow the link above.
Posted by: Grieved | Feb 12 2018 3:33 utc | 34
@5chet380.. fully agree with you...
@9 grieved.. thanks - i knew that, but it almost looked real! the north koreans deserve to treated with respect, as does russia as chet380 mentions regarding it's athletes... the usa is one sick puppy trying to ostracize other countries that don't want to play with uncle scams games.. i agree with @15 red ryder as well.. canada is totally corrupt here too, going down the same stupid path of the american agenda..
@18 aniteleya... i doubt it very much.. too soon after the israeli plane downed..
@25 nottheonly1.. i like your alan watts quote and agree with that sentiment... thanks..
@29 debsisdead... interesting comment.. so, are cats allowed to live on the planet too, or only birds? just curious.. we have many birds here in our backyard as my wife feeds them... we have dogs too, which generally keep the cats away and the birds haven't minded our dogs... we did have a neighbour that moved away recently that had a few siamese cats that were trying to hunt both the birds and squirrels in our front yard area, where the dogs are never off leash... i would chase them away when i saw them doing it, but it is like trying to change the nature of a cat is impossible... i still love cats, although i am not a cat owner.. i think there is room on the planet for all species..
@30 grieved question - "...why do beings kill and live on other beings?" not all beings do... humans have the possibility of being exempt from this... vegetarians can live a good long life... one could say vegatarians live off killing plants though, but it seems when a life is taken, especially prematurely - veal, and etc - it seems inherently wrong to my own sensibilities... but, we are all different.. it could be an evolutionary thing... living in harmony is not easy, and some people are just not interested in that either, perhaps given the world they grew up in and got accustomed to... interesting question..
Posted by: james | Feb 12 2018 4:04 utc | 36
Grieved 33
We live in a messed up, artificial world far from our roots. I had the opportunity a few years back to work for a couple of years with some people less than a generation from being hunter gatherers (as a contractor, not dogooder). A different world.
Looking at history, the advent of agriculture and permanent dwellings (Also nomadic herding) seems to have industrialized warfare, where previous to that, it was a seasonal hobby.
I guess with a reasonably consistent food supply, people had too much idle time to create mischief.
"I also love the universe, which, even so, created this terrible quandary in which beings kill other beings."
I have also thought about this, though not as a quandary. Most life form require the consumption of other life forms to survive. Few can live on dirt without humus alone.
A tree. If you want to push over a leaning tree, you do not try to push it the way it is leaning. You get under it and push the other way. It will have weak roots on the side it is leaning to, and strong roots the other side to prevent it falling over. Even plant have instincts for survival. No different to edible plants, but even vegans are quite happy to kill a plant and eat it.
Back to the other stuff. Its worth looking at events around the ending of the last glacial maximum. A time of great disruption with rising sea levels, tribes/nations forces to move inland and fight for territory. Here aboriginal oral history goes back to that time (carbon dated by cave paintings). The oldest stories become myth/spiritual.
The start of the bible is the oral history of a tribe. Further on as humans develop writing it becomes written history. The old oral history that has become spiritual/mythologized is also written down. That oral history I think goes back to before the ending of the last glacial maximum as I believe the story of Noah is that time. Much undersea archaeology going on now. worth checking out).
Although all nations in history seem spend more time on warfare once they have an assured food supply, the current major problems are with the believers of that tribes mythologized oral history. Jew, Christian, Muslim.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Feb 12 2018 4:10 utc | 37
Felines prefer intelligent Human Beings.
And vice versa.
The greatest artists and philosophers
we're surrounded by Felines.
Blaming Felines for the destruction of
the Eco systems is of course to be
expected by those who are full of hate
towards everything they consider unworthy.
It was not Felines who fucked up this
planet. They did not cut the rainforests
of the world down, drop nukes and DU.
Spraying poison everywhere is okay, Felines
are a problem, of course. It is noteworthy
that it is foremost christians that hate
Felines. In their infinite stupidity they
killed all Felines in Europe in the medieval
and were rewarded with the Bubonic plague.
Here in Hawai'i, Felines are also decimated,
while the real culprits of native bird decline
are Mongoose and clear cutting rainforest for
pretty lawns.
The numbers for rat lung disease are going up,
because the rat population can once more
flourish. Good.
The Universe will take care of Cat haters.
It did it before, but this time more thoroughly.
Posted by: nottheonly1 | Feb 12 2018 4:19 utc | 38
http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2018/02/11/us-feels-uneasy-about-inter-korean-amity/
bhadrakumar on the north korea /south korea dynamic at present...
i enjoyed this light story on 4 turkish housewife's training pastry chefs... in gaziemstep they are known for their pastry... we never made it their in 2012 due the question of safety at the time in south eastern turkey bordering syria...
https://www.dailysabah.com/food/2018/02/12/turkish-housewives-training-pastry-chefs
Posted by: james | Feb 12 2018 4:23 utc | 39
james @41:
According to reports, Moon already had a testy exchange with the Japanese Prime Minister in the matter. They sparred, with Moon bluntly rejecting Abe’s call to resume the US-South Korean military drills without delay.
Not surprised. Japan have always been afraid of a united Korea. It reminds me of Europe's reaction to German reunification.
Posted by: Ian | Feb 12 2018 4:57 utc | 40
The pay-backs to the Empire will be dire……
http://www.fort-russ.com/2018/02/reports-trump-dossier-sources-aboard.html
It will be interesting to see if the Empire can set the Ukraine and North Korea on fire.
I expect that events will now become nasty towards the jew and his puppets in the ME.
Posted by: Whozhear | Feb 12 2018 5:03 utc | 41
Posted by: james | Feb 11, 2018 11:04:59 PM | 38
Here we go yawn. I've no problem with the european striped cats - in Europe, but when idjits import them into environments that are totally unsuited to them they must be got rid of. Sure give them a contraceptive if it makes you feel better but realise that you'll be pissing into the wind, the penetration levels will be low as most feral cats stay right away from human presense and dodge like fuck - that is why I have been reduced to only keeping my chunk of bush clear, it is fenced and containable. I have tried to trap and euthanise cats in the open lands which abutt my joint, but it is a hopeless task, the areas are simply too large to be rid of cats without some form of biological control.
The unique booming call of of the Mataku used to accompany me on walks by the river when I first moved down here - no more and that is in just over a decade. This amazing creature which was once found on the eastern seaboard of Oz, as well as Aotearoa has been declared globally endangered and its chances of survival are slim, very slim. Sure the Conversation Commission blathers on about rescue strategies but, as you would expect, there is a lot of talk but not much action. Especially when the only real solution is to drastically reduce the numbers of pests who raid nests stealing eggs and chicks, so given that the number one perpetrator looks just like the wily sociopath adored in about a kazillion youtube vids the talk no action 'strategy' seems bound to continue.
When humans stress about the environment they often imagine humans and maybe chickens and cockroaches being all that is left, but the reality is in someways worse. A few 'lucky' species will thrive, maybe the Eastern Grey Squirrels who since it turned up in europe little more than 100 years ago, has cut a swathe through indigenous red squirrel populations. The entire world, plants as well as animals, will become standardised - won't that be fun?
It is unlikely the cat will make it because moving them into regions where they lack natural predators,why their populations have grown exponentially in Aotearoa - they sit at the apex of the food pyramid. So once they have killed off all the locals they will starve and, oh irony, follow their prey into extinction. The destruction of large predators in the North means that will likely be repeated in their native habitat as well.
So seagulls, sparrows and pigeons will likely be the avian survivors - no large mammals outside of farms and even then synthetic beef, pork & lamb will prolly replace them. Mice - perhaps and then for the small stuff I guess we will get to enjoy the indefatigable cockroach.
However the vagaries of Life, the Universe and All within it, may reveal that last to be yet another of humans' foolish conceits. I'm rooting for my totem the Green Ant, it has a bit of a head start since it has one of the largest biomasses of any life form in Oz and the conscienceless ones have made it a flavouring in a boutique gin.
No - I have no idea how this tastes as it is my totem I am charged with protecting and nurturing the vicious little buggers who seem to delight in taking chunks outta my back if I blunder into a nest.
I briefly considered jumping the ditch and torching "Applewood Distillery" but of course since their big launch was 12 months ago it is likely that particularly stupid idea of desperate greedies is long extinct itself.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Feb 12 2018 5:30 utc | 42
Posted by: james | Feb 12 2018 6:05 utc | 43
Debsisdead 45
A question somewhat personal so don't answer if too much so, but are you indigenous Kiwi or European Kiwi? Would give me a perspective on your posts which I always read.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Feb 12 2018 6:08 utc | 44
i was asking him the same question peter!!
i enjoy craig murray.. i like his post from today...
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/02/scared-of-my-own-thoughts/
Posted by: james | Feb 12 2018 6:14 utc | 45
Something fishy?
http://ugchristiannews.com/refugee-scam-uk-eu-and-us-are-threatening-to-withdraw-aid/
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Rwanda-Uganda-disown-Israel-refugee-deal-/2558-4262666-14f3ha5z/index.html
And this one of 2013
Https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-send-african-migrants-to-uganda/
Posted by: Mina | Feb 12 2018 8:11 utc | 47
james 48
I have read Craig Murray in the past, but not recently. That was a good link. No answers I guess, but seeing/reading people that have been in high places but have their feet on the ground helps a bit.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Feb 12 2018 8:46 utc | 48
Posted by: james | Feb 12, 2018 1:05:57 AM | 46
Sorry it is difficult to know where to draw the line between my own life and the big picture sometimes. I spent many years in Australia's north getting there was a pretty lame saga, I studied in england and amerika for a while but after trying to forcibly resist the encroachments of imperialism in the Pacific further North I pulled up in the Top End of Oz where I worked with remote indigenous people for quite a few years. I think I've explained here before a little bit about the skin system which structures an indigenous clan, decides who you can talk with, even marry. Anyway back then the most straightforward way to establish communication was to take a skin so that everyone knew and understood where you fitted in and I knew the same with them. It's lot more complicated & some of it is best not to be spoken about, it is fine to point out that every skin has an associated totem.
From what I understand of a totem, it is the spirit of some natural entity (usually an animal tho sometimes a a magical being, or natural force e.g. wind). I thought that North American indigenous people carved images of their totemic spirits out of logs and those images were called totem poles but I don't know enough to say for certain.
The totems of indigenous australian clans vary from clan to clan and change as the environment changes. A classic example of this was in the 1980's when the NT Government rolled out a Brucellosis and tuberculosis 'eradication plan' right across the Top End. The object was to wipe out all large feral animals in the NT. It was awful because not only did kids come home from school to their 10 acre block to discover their pet donkey had been machine gunned from a helicopter, some of the animals that whitefellas had thoughtlessly turned loose on the vast area back about 1880 had been integrated into the local people's culture.
The Asian water buffalo and a type of SE Asian cattle known as the Banteng (pretty much extinct in its natural habitat) had been adopted as totems by some clans - wiping them out was beyond the pale and since back then traditional owners had the say on who could enter their land and what they could do, there was a standoff.
The territory government of the time who had never seen a chunk of bush they woulddn't rather turn into a mine, put up this weak assed argument that these beasts were being eradicated because their cloven hooves were destroying billabongs (water holes) - that was true but the reality was that once the buffs had been knocked over the station leaseholders were gonna flood their lands with beef cattle anyhow. The truth was that the water buffs and Banteng were competing for tucker it was about cattle per acre. Brucellosis is not a disease anyone wants to get but its incidence among buffalo was no higher than with cattle while TB chiefly vectors through smaller mammals such as feral pig. Knocking over every pig in the bush was never gonna happen especially not from a helicopter mounted machine gun. Kiwis tried the same thing with feral deer in the 1970's a lot got wiped out (people and deer as flying helicopters around the southern alps is risky) but once the penny dropped (WTF kill em all for when we can sell em and these deer do better up here than any sheep ever has) there were still plenty left to muster drove and corral.
Upshot in the NT the people protected their totems just as the desert people in the centre did when the same bright sparks decided to try and knock off all the feral camels, which had been brought in to run caravans with afghan camel drivers until roads and rail took over. They too had been adopted by some clans.
None of this is simple but when cause and effect of species extinction is as well established as the feline's destruction of birds and lizards is (plus small marsupials in Oz) then doing nothing is criminal. It is always the cuddly destroyers that are the most difficult to get shot of. Feral horses destroy land in Oz and Aotearoa and silly euros send money off to 'horse protection refuges' to protect the horses not giving a damn about the destruction of other species' habitat.
Peter AU
I was born a 3rd/4th generation kiwi in Aotearoa and like most of my generation took to travelling early - the agrarian socialist paradise was moribund - mainly because the politicians plus the society they came from had become complacently insular. It could/should have been salvaged but it wasn't we, well many of us left instead of staying to help change the joint to a more workable model of what our ancestors envisaged.
It still greatly embarrasses me that I know more about Australian indigenous customs and culture than I know of Tangata Whenua culture - there are a number of reasons for this but at least in part some of it was the product of growing up in a society which was meant to be bi-cultural and was anything but.
Anyway we live in hope that aside from avoiding getting caught up in some pointlessly destructive global conflict, down here in this part of the world we do kick a few goals to help the joints stay at least a bit unique.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Feb 12 2018 10:11 utc | 49
Youknowwho says:
As for protecting one prey from another predator, I guess we all have to eat
i remember reading a few years ago about some Syrian clerics who issued a fatwa allowing citizens in war ravaged environs to eat cats and dogs. meat that, to Muslims, is otherwise considered unworthy.
on the other hand, eating cats and dogs is fairly common in atheist China, where dog meat is even esteemed in some parts, and throughout much of southeast asia and even many other parts of the world.
of course this is all very horrifying to western humanitarians (who can't seem to conjure up the same sentimentality towards their fellow humans) who slaughter each other in droves for no rational reason.
but then, psychopathy is exclusive to homo sapiens, isn't it?
Posted by: john | Feb 12 2018 11:44 utc | 50
Russia banned from the Olympics
If a Russian athlete wins under a neutral flag, what 'anthem' would they play when he stands on the podium, Macarena?
I watched Daagen McDowell 'educate' the viewers on FOX Business about the Russian ban, how we found out about how Vladimir Putin ordered the systematic doping of Russian athletes from the chief Athletic Director who is now in hiding in the U.S.
[ translation: A guy now living in the U.S. is being paid by the CIA to lie about events while a NATO member country corroborated his story using his testimony with no other evidence]
Yes, some Russian athletes did engage in doping (as did athletes in other countries) but there is no corroborating evidence that it was a national conspiracy.
When is an Iranian surveillance drone a U.S. drone?
On CNN, the host did Q&A with a CIA intelligence officer about how the Iranian drone was based on a model 'seized' by an Iranian. If an Iranian drone entering Israeli air space to get a looksie at Israeli forces is a heinous act of war then why is a U.S. drone in Iranian air space portrayed as an act of theft by Iran rather than an act of war by the U.S.?
Answer: It is good to be king.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Feb 12 2018 12:24 utc | 51
For me the the act which demonstrates the awful depths the corporatised nations have sunk to is the way they have banned young Russians with disabilities from the paralympics or whatever they call them.
Banning mainstream Russians from the contest was bad enough, throwing in the insult to injury of not allowing medal winners hear their anthem is frankly appalling, but sanctioning Russian kids with disabilities is as low as it gets. Even the awful A Hitler who didn't keep his dislike of unwhites hidden, still didn't ban them from appearing at the Berlin Olympiad. A policy more egregious than anything A Hitler dreamed up - what is there to say? - vomit.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Feb 12 2018 13:15 utc | 52
...
Don't buy into what is on offer now - it is not Olympic when some are excluded. Exclusion was not the original Olympics, it disqualifies this as being Olympics.
...
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Feb 11, 2018 3:49:57 PM | 12
Succinct and accurate.
The Yanks and NATO's white Christian Colonial Cretins have a lot to answer for. They've transformed the level playing-field spirit of Olympus into a sick, partisan, ID Politics joke.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 12 2018 13:16 utc | 53
Has anyone heard more about this: Russian fleets control ports of Lebanon
If this occurs, ie. Russia essentially begins to take the same function that they fulfil Syria (in underpinning the security of the state via real training & genuine support) - in Lebanon, this is possibly the largest re-alignment in the Middle East since the 70's.
Posted by: kenmac | Feb 12 2018 13:54 utc | 54
As predicted, the Chinese arrive in Syria with Globalists' money in their pocket.
Posted by: ConfusedPundit | Feb 12 2018 14:34 utc | 55
55
Trump's handlers were brilliant, installing Pence as next in line to the throne, as Trump's life insurance policy, like installing Bolton as Rodham's next in line,
Posted by: Chipnik | Feb 12 2018 14:38 utc | 57
44
Ivanov is the most common russian family name, like Gonzalez in Spanish or probably Smith in English, anything is possible though...
Posted by: Paco | Feb 12 2018 15:03 utc | 58
While Trump may know little about running a government, office politics is another thing. I'm considering that Trump knew how Pence would behave at the Olympics and deliberately sent him. Pence's behaviour was that of a petty and weak man and he embarrassed himself and the US enormously. This is going to weaken Pence in the administration and among his supporters.
Posted by: Bakerpete | Feb 12 2018 15:30 utc | 59
B, pointing out an announcement re Medvedev that I believe should have received more attention last week. Below is a timeline of what I believe are recent large signal events.
2017-11-13 Mattis states US to fight Islamic State in Syria "as long as they want to fight" (Reuters, Nov 13, 2017)
2017-12-29 Mattis states the war [in Syria] is not over (Antiwar.com Dec 31, 2017)
2018-02-03 US backed FSA militants shoot down Russian SU-25 with US manpad (Southfront, Feb 4, 2018)
2018-02-06 Medvedev instructed Russian defense ministry to begin talks with Lebanon for a military cooperation agreement that includes Russian ships and planes (Russia Insider, Feb 9, 2018)
2018-02-07 3:42 am: Israel attacks Jamraya, some missiles intercepted (Fort Russ, Feb 8, 2018, time of attack from Zerohedge reported Feb 8, 2018)
2018-02-07 US attacked SAA east of Euphrates following Israeli attack same day, many killed (US CentCom press release, Feb 8, 2018)
2018-02-10 first Israeli attack allegedly on the Syrian T4 airbase, one Israeli F-16I downed by Syria, more than one aircraft hit (Southfront, Feb 10, 2018)
2018-02-10 second Israeli attack allegedly on Al Kiswah, no reports yet of downed aircraft (Southfront, Feb 10, 2018)
A Lebanese-Russian military cooperation agreement, if it reaches the signature stage, would be a significant and positive step. The implications are not lost on Israel. At the least, the agreement would terminate Israeli dominance of Lebanese airspace and block any immediate Israeli territorial expansion plans in Lebanon. If true, the timing and scale of the Israeli attack in Syria on Feb 10 can be seen as a response, in part, to this potential agreement. Israel is desperate to reverse the trendline of its failing Middle East proxy war. What does Israel do? It tries to start another war with Iran by attacking alleged Iranian assets in Syria. Israel demonstrated a capacity for extraordinary miscalculation in the 2006 Lebanon war, and it did so again on Feb 10, losing at least one aircraft. More dangerous miscalculation against Iranian territory appears imminent. The first miscalculation is that the US will assist. I believe Trump will (correctly) decline.
Posted by: mrr52 | Feb 12 2018 17:24 utc | 60
Another brilliant article from Elijah J. Magnier:
when red lines are crossed in syria
Posted by: maningi | Feb 12 2018 18:07 utc | 61
@ Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 12, 2018 8:16:00 AM | 55
Appreciate your comment.
What the world has witnessed is the death of political discourse driving the U.S. Republic in the recent election. 'NOT My President' coupled with widespread violent 'protest' marks the demise of any possibility of political consensus; it matters now not who may prevail in an election, successors to Trump will receive like treatment. This development also marks the infantilism of the public's capacity to conduct the governance of the country - kindergarteners do not run countries, or not for very long. Another sign unmissable is the facile disregard for law - law being fungible to purpose. Literature provides a template of the infantile tribalism of the political system in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies". This assessment is likely bankable.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Feb 12 2018 18:50 utc | 62
ConfusedPundit @57:
Globalist money? You mean the USD? If they're dumping it, they might as well use up what they have.
Posted by: Ian | Feb 12 2018 18:51 utc | 63
Debsisdead 52
Thanks. The people I spent time with, the dog was the animal for their skin. Your mention of skins was the reason I had to ask the previous question. I never tried to take on their culture and they didn't expect me to. They taught me a lot about their culture, though I am far from being an expert. A lot that happened there and things I was told I can't forget. Changed my outlook somewhat, specially to other cultures.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Feb 12 2018 18:52 utc | 64
The cat curling vid, is a major find. :D
I have a big 9 kg Norwegian Forrest cat, he is so docile, you coul prolly do that with him.
He is to fat and slow to catch anything but his food tray.
Posted by: Den Lille Abe | Feb 12 2018 20:34 utc | 65
@48 foo.. lol.. thanks.
@50 peter.. i check on craig murray, as i enjoy his rants and find myself in a agreement most of the time..
@ 51 debs.. thanks for you post here and as always generally!. i never knew what a billabong was, other then the name of a clothing chain, lol... it sounds like the idea of totems is similar and different from australia / kiwi to canada.. i don't know much about them here, but have been seeing totems since being raised on the westcoast of canada as a young person.. i see them like a type of art work, but i know they are much more then that - more like a flag in some respects, or in the way people can think of them..
that is some crazy ass shit the kiwis were doing to resolve their problems... shooting from helicopters and etc.. wow.. nuts!
@62 mrr52.. thanks.. good overview..
@65 ian.. yeah - syria is as good a place as any to dump it...there's some kind of irony in all that for sure...
@67 Den Lille Abe.. lol.. my friend has a cat like that too.. i will suggest the cat curling to him as well..
Posted by: james | Feb 12 2018 21:57 utc | 66
Ian | Feb 12, 2018 1:51:26 PM | 65
Formerly yes.
20th century, they made the money via capitalism
21th century it is digital money.
Roles
Trump destroys
China rebuilds (China = globalist money/cpu+hdd)
The USD (Trump) has no chance against digital money.
Times are changing.
China gives Venezuela 50 bucks, V gets into trouble.
Qatar/Iran energy supplier for China, Q+I reprimanded by Trump
1 belt 1 road ( a globalist project) = Grumpy Trump
1988 economist cover, Trump on fire, rising coin.
China is everywhere, with moneybag. Football clubs, Syria, Afro-Asia
Trump's army is not sustainable in Afro-Asia. 6 trillion loss revised to 7. That's dollar.
IMHO
Posted by: ConfusedPundit | Feb 12 2018 22:14 utc | 67
@62 good post. Does anyone know what the situation is like politically in Lebanon since Hariri escaped, ahem, left KSA?
Posted by: Lozion | Feb 13 2018 3:53 utc | 68
When you are empire you get to establish talking points like this
White House dismisses idea of U.S.-Israel discussing settlement annexation
The take away quote
"
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The United States dismissed as false an Israeli assertion on Monday that the two countries were discussing the possibility of Israel annexing Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, in a rare display of discord between U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"
Just in time for the next act in the play you and I are not writing.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 13 2018 4:31 utc | 69
And western media spread fake news again...
US Homeland Security refutes last week NBC report that claims Russia hacked elections
http://www.worldandwe.com/en/page/us_homeland_security_refutes_nbc_report_that_claims_russia_hacked_elections.html
Posted by: test | Feb 13 2018 11:18 utc | 70
The annual Freedom House ranks the world
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2017
Score: 0 to 100 (best)
partly free: Ukraine(63), Turkey(38), Jordan(37)
Free: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia
Not Free: Russia(20), Iran(17), KSA (10) (at least they got one right)
That's right, Russia which has regularly scheduled, multi-party elections, that as best as I can tell, doesn't restrict participation for President ranks among the most despotic portions of the planet. I'll grant you that the Duma has been for the most part gutted but the people can change the President.
However, Turkey which arrests journalists and has a President who has seized extra constitutional powers is twice the democracy of Russia. Ukraine which has disenfranchised 15% of their population from voting and is guilty of human rights violations is better than 3 times a democracy and the Baltics who won't even let native born people who happen to be ethic Russians be citizens are almost Sweden.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Feb 13 2018 13:08 utc | 71
@71 Well it's kinda complicated. Just a trial balloon. There may even be some token resistance....
"Regarding the issue of applying sovereignty, I can tell you that I have for some time been speaking with the Americans about it," Netanyahu told lawmakers from his Likud party, according to comments relayed by a spokesman.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/netanyahu-discussing-annexing-settlements-us-spokesman-161557684.html
Posted by: dh | Feb 13 2018 15:12 utc | 72
Any truth to this that is attributed to the Daily Beast:
"Hundreds of Russian mercenaries were reportedly killed by U.S. forces in a failed attack on a U.S.-held military base and refinery last week. Citing U.S. and Russian sources, Bloomberg News reported more than 200 contract killers—mostly Russian citizens fighting for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—died in what is believed to be the deadliest incident between Russian and U.S. citizens since the Cold War. Russia’s military has disowned any responsibility for the attack in the Deir Ezzor region and a U.S. military spokesperson appeared to accept that claim in a statement. No U.S. coalition casualties have been reported from the attack, but the death toll from the mercenary side is still rising,"
This appears on today´s Yahoo News.
Any truth to this? And when did this Happen? How can such a kill ratio be achieved of 200/0?
Posted by: CarlD | Feb 13 2018 15:38 utc | 73
@75 carld.. hard to know what is going on... it's possible.. it is also possible there is a degree of bullshit in it too.. hard to know..
i see this morning larvov saying this -
“The US wants to stay in Syria for a long time, if not for good,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a press conference with his Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders in Moscow on Tuesday.
“They say that this presence must be maintained until not only military tasks are resolved, but as long as a stable political process is not tied up, which must end up acceptable to all. For the US that is the transition of power which in return is a change of regime,” Lavrov said, despite adding the American-led coalition had contributed to the downfall of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)."
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/us-may-never-leave-syria-lavrov/
Posted by: james | Feb 13 2018 18:42 utc | 74
@14 redryder Norway asthma doping interesting - the west moralising while developing advanced drug doping schemes and legal rationalizations.. remember the BALCO and other drug doping labs in the US, and lance armstrongs US cycling team...
and here from a saker blog comment are the oh-so-righteous British, and the reality of their recently very successful cycling team
https://thesaker.is/moveable-feast-cafe-2018-02-02/#comment-484581
" Anonymous on February 06, 2018 · at 2:39 am UTC
Funny what the righteous British were up to in the meanwhile… their cycling program is perhaps the most successful in the world over the last decade, ( after the american teams doping scandals, lancearmstrong et. al.) Now it seems as if their whole program has been cheating systematically by exploiting doping loopholes, e.g. the TUE (therapeutic use exemption) for strategic purposes. The allegations go right to the top, including the australian coach and the top cyclists bradley wiggins, chris froome etc, some of whom have been knighted for their success…
Shane Sutton, the australian coach of british Team Sky (belonging to the anglozionist rupert murdoch) and british cyclings performance director has admittled he used TUEs to ‘find a gain’. This is interesting since the british have been claiming that their success was due to systematically finding ‘marginal gains’ but the TUEs are supposed to be used for MEDICAL reasons, not for competitive ‘gains’.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2017/11/20/shane-sutton-condemned-british-cyclists-tues-claim/
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/16/chris-froome-end-of-team-sky-floyd-landis-cycling
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/12/british-cycling-jiffy-bag-ukad-investigation
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/11/inhaler-use-is-cheating-says-cyclist-who-pulled-out-of-tour-with-breathing-issues
Allegations include TUEs being used just before major races, mysterious packets being sent to bradleywiggins, testosterone being sent by ‘mistake’ to the team doctor richard freeman who conveniently lost his laptop, BritishCycling failing to followup early etc etc.
and the all too familiar excuses follow,
everyones doing it …
Seven-time Paralympic champion Cundy …”“It’s disappointing to hear that the TUE system was abused but I don’t think it’s just our country, it’s the whole world and it was seen as, ‘If they’re doing it, then we’ll do it.’ ”
its all very complicated…
” Sir Dave Brailsford, the Sky team principal, said in December: “There are complex medical and physiological issues which affect the metabolism and excretion of salbutamol. We’re committed to establishing the facts and understanding exactly what happened on this occasion.” “
"
Posted by: anon | Feb 14 2018 6:04 utc | 75
"Any truth to this that is attributed to the Daily Beast:" - CarlD
I do not trust anything from the Daily Beast, Michael Weiss is a Russophobe who routinely lies about Syria.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Feb 14 2018 12:16 utc | 76
The comments to this entry are closed.
The Olympic games is just depressing..
And sometimes when we cats just want to run away..
The cat door is closed.
Henri 2, Paw de Deux:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q34z5dCmC4M
Posted by: Trond | Feb 11 2018 18:35 utc | 1