Open Thread 2018-12
News & views ...
Posted by b on March 22, 2018 at 18:10 UTC | Permalink
next page »Why would Mr Putin care what happens to Nadia Savchenko?
Posted by: Tom Welsh | Mar 22 2018 18:34 utc | 2
And so it begins: The Trade War between Trump and China:
"Donald Trump has signed a Section 301 Action of the 1974 Trade Act, authorising the implementation of new wide reaching tariffs covering the import of a wide variety of Chinese goods into the United States, with an emphasis on barring Chinese technology and technology investment from the US market. Trump also threatened to take further action against alleged intellectual property rights violations in China. During his speech he also threatened the European Union, Japan and South Korea, but most of his ire was aimed at China. Where weeks ago it was suggested that the US would pass $30 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese goods, today Trump doubled the figure to $60 billion. By invoking the Trade Act of 1974, Trump has bypassed the Congress to take unilateral action in a trade war that most of the Congress and the US Chamber of Commerce does not support." [My emphasis]
Will this be the act that gets him impeached?
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 22 2018 18:43 utc | 3
"Meet The Man Behind Cambridge Analytica, Who Made Trump President"
Posted by: ben | Mar 22 2018 18:43 utc | 4
via craig murray - a couple of stories on the parent company of cambridge analytica - scl.. goes right into the top echelon of powers in the uk...
Posted by: james | Mar 22 2018 19:03 utc | 5
In light of Craig Murray's post and the Bella Caledonia article, is this the anglo deep state in plain sight?
The PM's of NZ, Canada, Australia swearing allegiance to a foreign hereditary monarch rather than to their own states.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CfS9Ewjczk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDqvWbA11OM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT1l5kesjKA&feature=youtu.be
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 22 2018 19:15 utc | 6
The Salisbury story has changed again -
"The court also confirmed that blood samples from the Skripals had been analysed by experts at Porton Down, with findings indicating exposure to novichok or a closely related nerve agent."
From
So what is a closely related nerve agent? My guess is any and all.
Posted by: TJ | Mar 22 2018 19:26 utc | 7
NOTAMs have been issued for the eastern Mediterranean relating to significant issues with GPS signals. The Nicosia FIR is the main area affected. The issue has existed for several months, but has increased significantly in the last 48 hours. The problem involves either loss of signal or incorrect position indication.
So is the USN jamming GPS in the eara of its fleet in the eastern Med? This is the fleet that would presumably launch cruise missiles into Syria, and then be a target for retaliation by Russia if Russian assets are affected.
Posted by: Anonymous | Mar 22 2018 19:34 utc | 8
The globalists have been transferring US tech know-how to China, the globalists' new fav cocoon. A big fight is about to erupt. 20th century-ists (make America great again) vs 21st century-ists (great modern socialist country).
Posted by: ConfusedPundit | Mar 22 2018 19:43 utc | 9
USN jamming their own navigation system? Russia operates its own system, GLONASS. USN hiding where their ships are from everyone but the Russians? Russians trolling the USN causing more collisions? That would saves having to sink them. Endless possibilities.
Posted by: Tom | Mar 22 2018 19:53 utc | 10
8
GPS is the US satellite system. Russia uses GLONASS.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 22 2018 19:54 utc | 11
So here is the actor Bill Murray with a bit of wisdom about the power of the kids going up against the NRA...and all of us for that matter
“The thing that’s so powerful about students is that, when you haven’t had your idealism broken yet, you’re able to speak from a place that has no confusion, where there is a clear set of values,” Murray said.
But adults can aspire to the ideal, Murray said — no matter what choices they’ve made since turning 18.
“Idealism is a voice that’s inside of you; it’s your conscience,” Murray said. “That can really deteriorate along the way, depending on the road that you follow, and it can become almost dysfunctional, but it’s there. Everyone has it. Sometimes it’s just a whisper, but, in some people, it’s a shout.”
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 22 2018 19:55 utc | 12
The Chinese will break Trump's electoral base (agricultural regions exporting enormous amounts of agra-products to China) before he hurts their steel and aluminum industries.
How much heat can his re-election and more importantly in the short term, the House seats Dems will take from Repubs? He is facing immediate 2019 impeachment if he loses control of the House.
Farm products as exports (just like domestic farm products in Japan is for their leaders) are destiny for Trump.
He can only hold out a few months on this tactic.
The Chinese will have all the food production they need from Russia. A huge zone for agriculture is just 20 miles from the Chinese border. It can be developed in a few weeks. Rich land, pure water, and a friendly neighbor. China won't starve or miss a meal. Imports from Turkey, Belarus, Brazil, Argentina will also make up the short fall.
Trump is running a very hard bluff.
He can take the heat. Iowa, Nebraska, et al, can't, and won't.
Trump will be hoisted on his own petard if he pursues this without the Chinese negotiating easy terms.
They can give him a deal for 3 years that gradually eases exports to US, adjusts their barriers lower and includes expanding investments in the US for infrastructure.
The negotiations with NK are at stake if he pushes this hard.
Then, where is he?
Chinese have cards to play.
Posted by: Red Ryder | Mar 22 2018 20:05 utc | 13
No collusion between Trump campaign and Kremlin, so investigation being terminated. Apparently, Mueller's special prosecutor investigation is still alive.
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 22 2018 20:13 utc | 14
Newsbud (an alternative media outlet founded by FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds) recently published a video on their YouTube channel attacking independent journalists Eva Bartlett & Vanessa Beeley. My question is, why? Does Newsbud have reporters on the ground in Syria? Why is the Newsbud video citing sources like Medicins Sans Frontier and Rania Khalek (a limited hangout fake "left" op a la Max Blumenthal and Glenn Greenwald?)
This ramps up my suspicion that Edmonds is controlled opposition or disinformation of some sort.
Posted by: David | Mar 22 2018 20:36 utc | 15
Could a GPS failure have caused the collisions of U.S. Navy ships off Asia in recent months?
Posted by: lysias | Mar 22 2018 21:14 utc | 16
Now is a good time to survey the lay of the land.
The firing of Tillerson has exposed an apparent factional divide within the Anglo-American enterprise. Tillerson is a committed Neocon and supporter of transnational corporate power, who was working for the destruction of the main competing US national institution, the Deparment of State, on behalf of the world's most powerful criminal cabal. Below is a good survey of his actions to date. He was not, as the mainstream billing would have you believe, one of the "adults in the room."
How Rex Tillerson Wrecked the State Department
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-rex-tillerson-wrecked-the-state-department
The dimunition of US power is a project on behalf of what is sometimes reffered to as the 'Octopus,' an alliance of Neocon/Neolib and certain hardcore Zionists, taking direction from the Finance/Big Oil/Media complex centred on the City of London, directly and indirectly controlling perhaps between 40-50% of all wealth in existense, and developing directly out of the 800-plus year old Intelligence apparatus of the Republic of Venice. The link below provides an exellent introduction to the historic development of this organization.
The Spy Chiefs of Renaissance Venice: Intelligence Leadership in the Early Modern World
Every major geopolitical event since the 13th century, from the Crusades to the conquest of Byzantium by Venetian sponsered Turkic warriors, to the Reformation, Thirty Years War, US and French Revolutions, the US Civil War, World Wars I & II, Bolshevik Revolution and up to more recent events such as the murder of thousands on September 11, 2001, represent machinations of the Octopus. Featured in the recent Bond film Spectre, this never broken criminal conspiracy has over time taken control of all German states, Spain, Portugal, were responsible for the founding of the Dutch Republic, before finally making it's way to England where it was consolidated after the English Civil War (1642-1651). In respect of this tradition some British Parliamentarians refer to themselves as 'Venetians' to this day.
It appears as though the Pentagon Triumvirate of McMaster, Mattis and Kelly represent a Militarist/Authoritarian and Nationalist alliance of interests opposed to the Octopus, perhaps including senior leadership within the CIA, and likely including Mike Pompeo, other US-centric petit-billionaires and perhaps taking inspiration from much derided 'Larouchies,' who have long been grinding their axes in anticipation of a takedown of Perfidious influence eminating from the UK, and who together rode Donald Trump to a surprise victory, or else seized his Presidency and the Whitehouse in an unstated coup d'etat, and are now cooperating closely with Russia in a bid to tame the largest criminal conspiracy in history.
The firing of Tillerson by Trump, in humiliating fashion via Twitter and while he was on official business, was the signal for the Octopus that it was losing the struggle, and came as a result of Tillerson's implication in the UK-Octopus led plot to launch a chemical false flag operation against Syria, attempting to force the Whitehouse into signing onto a large scale attack by in-theatre European US and NATO forces also involved in the conspiracy, targetting closely intermingled Russo-Syrian forces and threatening a possible outbreak of nuclear war, just as the last pockets of Octopus-backed (select US-NATO-Israel-UK and France) terrorist fighters in Eastern Ghouta look set to be defeated.
The sudden and unceremonious firing of Tillerson, although rumoured for months, occurred just after Russian Chief of Staff General Valeri Gerassimov contacted his US counterpart General Joseph Dunford, warning him of the plot and expressing Russia's grave concern. Dunford took the matter seriously and according to Thierry Meyssan took steps leading directly or indirectly to Tillerson's dsimissal which then further unleashed the series of events including an apparently panicked UK response in which Russia was accused of poisoning Segei Skirpal and two others.
Four days to declare a Cold War
http://www.voltairenet.org/article200232.html
Much more could be said about who is working with whom, including questions concerning the exact roles of McMaster and Kelly, the untethered behaviour of US-NATO force actions made in tandem with plots of the UK-led Octopus, and the positions of other players including Iran (Rouhani is a longtime agent of the Octopus, recruited when he was studting law in Scotland, and later the Iranian point man during Iran-Contra) and Turkey, which appears to be doing the bidding of the Pentagon national-militarist faction, in cooperation with Russia, yet is simultaneously partnered with the UK-directed Muslim Brotherhood and operatives of well known Gladio-Erkenegon stay behind networks, who remain powerful in Turkey and have been the main sponsers and providers of logistical support to terrorists fighting for the overthrow the government of Syria.
When Trump promised to "drain the swamp," one must wonder by now, was he actually speaking of finally emptying the black lagoon of Venice?
Posted by: C I eh? | Mar 22 2018 21:29 utc | 18
"This ramps up my suspicion that Edmonds is controlled opposition or disinformation of some sort."
Posted by: David | Mar 22, 2018 4:36:34 PM | 15
I suspected it since The Saker called for his readership to support its launching crowdfunding.
I, as a rule, and after some obnoxious experiecnes, do not trust any "whistleblower" or "resistant"currently living and making business in the US....For some you have not but to recall what happens to the real whistleblowers...they are mainly dead....
Posted by: Fatima Manoubia | Mar 22 2018 21:38 utc | 19
#4
It's amazing what obomber left around for the trumpster to use.
Posted by: jo6pac | Mar 22 2018 21:55 utc | 21
@18 Here is a Muraselon article as a follow up to your and Meyssan’s post. I sure feel relieved nothing occured this past week.
Lets just say I think we came real close this time..
Posted by: Lozion | Mar 22 2018 22:23 utc | 23
Tillerson caught red handed in conspiracy to bring harm to the state he was sworn to serve..the US of A.
http://www.unz.com/article/four-days-to-declare-a-cold-war/
Posted by: Whorin Piece | Mar 22 2018 22:28 utc | 25
Oh no Bolton to replace McMaster.. Drain the swamp by filling it?
Posted by: Lozion | Mar 22 2018 22:40 utc | 26
McMaster's out, war criminal John Bolton to take his place!!
Bolton belongs inside a Super-max far away from any power lever.
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 22 2018 22:40 utc | 27
Hi TJ,
looks like they IPed the AChE from serum and showed that most of it was modified on the active site serine and they have a mass. Looks like they are not upto MS3 and so they hedging. If they were good they could fragment the adduct then I'd be impressed. Basically, they must have some of the inhibitor in question -- which means those naughty Limeys are not being completely accurate about Russia being the only source-- anyone can make it--trivial.--cj
Posted by: cj | Mar 22 2018 22:41 utc | 28
Gareth Porter (today) on Bolton--concluding comment:
The Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were also well aware that Iran had the capability to retaliate directly against U.S. forces in the region, including against warships in the Strait of Hormuz. They had no patience for Cheney’s wild ideas about more war.
That Pentagon caution remains unchanged. But two minds in the White House unhinged from reality could challenge that wariness—and push the United States closer towards a dangerous war with Iran.
Posted by: Sid2 | Mar 22 2018 23:07 utc | 29
Breaking News!
The party's over and the Zionist Neocon fix is in! Told ya all da Trumpster was their man all along. nyuk-nyuk!
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/976948306927607810
https://twitter.com/AmbJohnBolton?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
And as NSA - I believe he doesn't even need to be confirmed by Congress - poor Rand Paul. No filibuster.
You all here ridiculed me for my suspicions, but Alan Dershbag has been defending Trumpster all along for a reason: Zion as in Jerusalem is the recognized capital - thanks to Trumpster. Next bombing destination after Syria: IRAN.
What a con artist Trumpster is! Zionists everywhere are cracking open the champagne. There's been only one collusion here - collusion with Zionists. I saw this coming from day one.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 22 2018 23:08 utc | 30
Bolton & Trump Trump & Bolton = Crazy & Crazier
We're doomed.
Posted by: Circe | Mar 22 2018 23:19 utc | 31
John Bolton new National Security Advisor...F--k me we're all dead, what an arsehole.
Posted by: harrylaw | Mar 22 2018 23:22 utc | 32
John Bolton named as national security advisor, the illiterate orange clown is filling the swamp with more filth. Iranians and hezbollah in lebanon better take heed, I fear more americans will die to make israel great again. I wonder what his base of inbreds in flyover country will gin up to rationalize Chump's latest nomination.
Posted by: Augustin L | Mar 22 2018 23:35 utc | 33
would another commenter try to connect to NEO...new eastern outlook...
Im getting a 502 bad gateway error
thanx in advance
OY
Posted by: oldenyoung | Mar 23 2018 0:02 utc | 34
@34 oldenyoung
confirmed 502 bad gateway on my end. probably just a routine server fart
Posted by: David | Mar 23 2018 0:23 utc | 35
NEO has been unavailable all day. It has been knocked out by a Denial of service attack, similar to that beinmg mounted against Craig Murray.
Because he might get ko'd at any time i take the liberty of publishing this from his blog today. He proves that Johnson lied when he claimed that Porton Down had recognised the nerve agent:
"...I knew and had published from my own whistleblowers that this is a lie. Until now I could not prove it. But today I can absolutely prove it, due to the judgement at the High Court case which gave permission for new blood samples to be taken from the Skripals for use by the OPCW. Justice Williams included in his judgement a summary of the evidence which tells us, directly for the first time, what Porton Down have actually said:
The Evidence
16. The evidence in support of the application is contained within the applications
themselves (in particular the Forms COP 3) and the witness statements.
17. I consider the following to be the relevant parts of the evidence. I shall identify the
witnesses only by their role and shall summarise the essential elements of their
evidence.
i) CC: Porton Down Chemical and Biological Analyst
Blood samples from Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were analysed and the
findings indicated exposure to a nerve agent or related compound. The samples
tested positive for the presence of a Novichok class nerve agent OR CLOSELY RELATED AGENT.
"The emphasis is mine. This sworn Court evidence direct from Porton Down is utterly incompatible with what Boris Johnson has been saying. The truth is that Porton Down have not even positively identified this as a “Novichok”, as opposed to “a closely related agent”. Even if it were a “Novichok” that would not prove manufacture in Russia, and a “closely related agent” could be manufactured by literally scores of state and non-state actors.
"This constitutes irrefutable evidence that the government have been straight out lying – to Parliament, to the EU, to NATO, to the United Nations, and above all to the people – about their degree of certainty of the origin of the attack. It might well be an attack originating in Russia, but there are indeed other possibilities and investigation is needed. As the government has sought to whip up jingoistic hysteria in advance of forthcoming local elections, the scale of the lie has daily increased.
"On a sombre note, I am very much afraid the High Court evidence seems to indicate there is very little chance the Skripals will ever recover; one of the reasons the judge gave for his decision is that samples taken now will be better for analysis than samples taken post mortem."
It seems likely that dissenting websites will be knocked out in the coming days thanks to the idiotic conformist criminals "Imperialism's Willing Executioners" running the intelligence services etc. I expect that this will all be blamed on Russia, perhaps on Putin himself.
Posted by: bevin | Mar 23 2018 0:48 utc | 37
on a search for why was McMaster fired, this (written prior to) is interesting:
There appears to be a strong contradiction between Mattis and Bolton. Does Trump not see this?
Posted by: Sid2 | Mar 23 2018 0:49 utc | 38
This from ZeroHedge...
"Trump Admin Approves $1BN Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia, Including 6,700 Anti-Tank Missiles"
I wonder where those will end up??
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-22/trump-approves-1-billion-arms-deal-saudi-arabia
Posted by: Michael | Mar 23 2018 0:51 utc | 39
Circe 30
It didn't take a great deal of insight or wisdom to view Trump as a con-man from the getgo.
Anyone who ever thought that Trump was cleverly playing some hidden grand strategy in either foreign or domestic policy is a chump, no better than those fools who thought for years that Obama was a master of 11th dimensional chess.
Posted by: sleepy | Mar 23 2018 1:00 utc | 41
An Imaginary Conversation....
A modern fellow of genus Homo protests his innocence. "I don't work because I worked much harder before", says he. "I labored for ten years at a crap job earning $30,000 per year and that earned me the right to live in miserable conditions in which the loss of my job would have made me destitute in weeks. But, I was not content to labor as my fellows. I got a second job at $20,000 per year and I was so thrifty that I spent not a penny of it but banked it all so that at the end of my time I had $300,000, a princely sum. I invested it wisely at 10% and now I can live for the rest of my life, if modestly, off the proceeds of only my own sweat, my own thriftiness, and my own discipline. And, if there was any luck to it - in my not facing misfortune or ill health or any other calamity - that was the product of my own luck too. I owe nothing to anyone. What I have is due to myself alone, and those who have much more than I, it seems to me that they must have arrived at it the same as I, perhaps over generations. What is this social power you speak of when it is only individual labor and individual property that stems from it? It seems to me that you merely envy that which you are too lazy to earn for yourself."
"My dear independent fellow" says we, "let us understand the simple arithmetic of your claims. If your story is as you say and we ignore all else that you report, still at the end of ten years, we see only $200,000. And, if you continue to live at this admittedly low level, nevertheless, you will have run through your entire accumulated proceeds in only 6 years and eight months. More than this, by your accounting, it would take one and a third lifetimes to create a single lifetime without labor, and this at the exceedingly low standards and exceptionally favorable circumstances that you assume. How then are we to explain those who live without labor for generations, and this at a thousand or ten thousand times times the level that you report? How many generations of 'thrift' and 'hard work' would this require? What you claim is impossible for you and beyond impossibility for those who live above you. Where is this magic of 'individual labor and individual property' that you speak of?"
"But you forget interest", protests our friend. "My money makes money, and simply by the act of having some which is not consumed in day to day living, that which I save is augmented. It is this which grants me my independence."
"We forget as much as your money 'makes'," answers we, "which is nothing at all. Set your money on the table and leave it there for as long as you like. Nothing happens to it. It remains the same. It is only by setting it in motion as capital that anything whatever is 'made' and that 'making' is the product of labor, the same as your own. Your interest comes from the command of the labor of others, just as your own was once commanded and after 6 years and eight months not a speck of 'hard work', 'thrift', 'good luck' or 'wisdom' is left. Neither is there any trace of 'independence' or 'personal property' You now live by the labor of others... by the transformation of your pitiful 'savings' into Capital, no matter how small the sum. It is your ability to command the labor of others as a social power that gives you your ability and that you have a poor man's caricature of that process changes nothing other than to lay fraudulent your claims to the right. You might as well claim innate superiority or the right of the sword as did the slave master or the god-given hierarchy of obligations of the lord or even the phases of the moon, if you like. You eat without working because you have maneuvered yourself into a position in which others work to feed you. You are the opposite of what you claim."
"You're just trying to make me feel bad.", says our friend.
"We don't give a shit how you feel", says we. "It is modest enough what you do... just as you claim. It is your willingness to ignore what is closer to your face than your nose that we tire of. "
Our friend orders another beer and pretends to watch the hockey game though he would be hard pressed to name two players on either team.
Capital is therefore not only personal; it is a social power.
There it is...
Posted by: Allen | Mar 23 2018 1:02 utc | 42
Jared gets $1B arms deal with the Saudi Wahhabist headchoppers, Jared gets 1% as standard arms deal fee. Now Bolton. Bolton's sole political experience is as a UN undersecretary, responsible for answering phones, stuffing mail, and setting 4PM tea service. The former UN undersecretary of the teapot is now a top spook. Oh Sweet Jesus Mother Mary, no wonder the market dropped 700!! War with Iran is virtually certain now. Or should I say, virtually bin Salman?
Posted by: Chipnik | Mar 23 2018 1:03 utc | 43
@ Allen with the conversation....
Nicely done. Money talks and BS walks is how I learned it.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 23 2018 1:17 utc | 44
Circe
You were “ridiculed” (your word) because you were a pro-Hillary ‘Never Trump’-er. Few here were pleased with Trump’s selection except that the alternative was Hillary.
Those that seek to evoke an emotional reaction against a certain politician are directing our attention away from systemic problems. Trump is a symptom. It seems clear that the US electoral system has been completely compromised and corrupted. The 2016 election was ‘rigged’ in many ways that went beyond the usual bias of monied politics: Sanders sheep-dogging; DNC bias; Cambridge Analytica; and more.
I think Hillary relishes her role as king-maker. That’s why the establishment loves her. She, and the Clinton Democratic Party, have effective knee-capped the left. I think it’s clear that Obama never developed the kind of cult-like establishment-backing that Hillary and the Clinton’s created for themselves.
Like Obama, Trump is a weak ‘populist’ President that does the establishment’s bidding while a coterie of apologists insist that the faux populist hero really will make good on his promises. And a crazy opposition (birthers; ‘Never Trump’/‘resistance’) - which does not stand FOR anything, only against the faux populist hero - acts to solidify support for the faux populist hero.
Trump and Obama follow the same Faux populist model. One example of many: Obama told us he was going to have “the most transparent Administration’, Trump tells us he will “drain the swamp”. Such populist lip-service masks the ‘business as usual’ reality.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 23 2018 1:20 utc | 45
Let's get over the McMaster ouster. The fact is that he was completely unqualified to be the National Security advisor. McMaster was uneducated in history and international politics. McMaster (1) was excellent as an army unit leader and (2) obtained a PhD with a thesis that claimed that the US lost in Vietnam because generals weren't listened to, which is complete BS.
Now we may not like Bolton, but at least he's qualified. Does the NSA have the authority to start a war? No. The simple fact is that in the most likely war scenarios, Korea and Iran, the US has bases, ships etc. within easy reach of prospective enemies. Forward basing, it's called. The Pentagon knows this very well. They hate it when bases are destroyed and ships are sunk.
Currently the US is crowing about an evacuation exercise in Korea -- with a hundred people, when there are tens of thousands of Americans in South Korea endangered by any war.
So let's cheer up.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 23 2018 1:20 utc | 46
as others have noted, we, I mean the world, is so f*cked
President Trump named John R. Bolton, a hard-line former American ambassador to the United Nations, as his third national security adviser on Thursday, continuing a shake-up of his administration that creates one of the most hawkish national security teams of any White House in recent history.
Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 23 2018 1:35 utc | 47
I expect that with a more 'moderate' voice like Tillerson gone.... & now now with crackpots like Pompeo, Haley, Bolton and some of the other generals still around, that we will have a military confrontation and escalation with Russia, starting in all likelihood over something in Syria
or in the longer run, something against Iran, as the nuclear deal will likely torn up by the US in May
any body have a better clearer crystal ball?
Posted by: michaelj72 | Mar 23 2018 1:43 utc | 48
Very interesting. Where I can read more about how money works?
Posted by: jinvo | Mar 23 2018 1:45 utc | 49
Don Bacon
As I understand it, Mc Master’s thesis was worse than ‘generals weren’t listened to”, it was that Generals knew what it would take to win but were reluctant to press their case.
I think McMaster’s view gets watered-down and sugar-coated into: “Generals should provide true info to civilian authority” when it seems to me that the message he conveys to Generals is simply this: be stubborn; insist on full and unconditional support of civilian authority for any military action. We see this attitude reflected in “The Powell Doctrine” and now Trump’s hand’s-off approach to the military.
I see this as civilian authority (the President) essentially handing the keys to the Generals once any military action is authorized.
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 23 2018 1:45 utc | 50
Why is Trump making nice with Russia?
Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force Gen. John Hyten warned lawmakers the U.S. isn’t completely prepared to stave off adversaries’ hypersonic missile technologies. "We have a very difficult — well, our defense is our deterrent capability. We don’t have any defense that could deny the employment of such a weapon against us." . . .here
And then besides hypersonic missiles there are from Russia
>new missiles with nuclear warheads
>nuclear-powered missiles
>unmanned submersible vehicles
> a strategic missile system with fundamentally new combat equipment – a gliding wing unit . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 23 2018 1:45 utc | 51
@42 Allen
Very interesting. Where I can read more about how money works?
Posted by: jinvo | Mar 23 2018 1:47 utc | 52
@46
. . .we, I mean the world, is so f*cked
Shall we just hide under the bed pussycat?
Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 23 2018 1:47 utc | 53
@42 Allen
Nice one. And it is only because Capital commands such a cost, in such a fabricated system, that our friend can even be paid his interest.
Most of the evil in the world can be laid at the door of the criminally high price of money - private money, that is, as psychohistorian @44 can readily agree ;)
Once there was a shortage of capital, and captains and the kings needed it to wage war, and would pay interest. Now the world is saturated in capital of several kinds, as well as sovereign order, and the usefulness of capitalists is long over. No wonder they'll kill anyone who tries to change the system - it's their only income.
It belongs to us, of course.
Posted by: Grieved | Mar 23 2018 1:55 utc | 54
@jr 49
Vietnam, a US attempt at nation-building within a nation (stupid), was a lost cause to begin with and so what generals "knew" was irrelevant.
Harry Truman got it right.
A couple of President Harry Truman quotes: "It's the fellows who go to West Point and are trained to think they're gods in uniform that I plan to take apart". . ."I didn't fire him [General MacArthur] because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that's not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three quarters of them would be in jail."
Now currently generals aren't any smarter, they are still dumb SOBs who rise up by sucking up, but at least they are smart enough to realize that forward basing dooms any offensive attacks against countries that have the capability to counter-attack against US bases and ships. That would be North Korea and Iran, for starters. Bolton's ascendance won't change that simple truth, so the sky isn't falling.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 23 2018 1:57 utc | 56
Bevin @ 37: Seconding Sid2 @ 40, thanks very much for the news, Bevin.
Craig Murray's blog up and running again, temporarily at least, here's the link to the original post Bevin quotes from:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/03/boris-johnson-a-categorical-liar/comment-page-2/#comments
Vineyard of the Saker has also been hit by Denial of Service attacks, perhaps for starting a series "A Curious Incident" of posts to which commenters are invited to comment and critique information and add information.
https://thesaker.is/a-curious-incident/
Posted by: Jen | Mar 23 2018 2:01 utc | 57
Petri, I read the BBC article on "war hero" Savchenko's arrest in Ukraine, and it somehow failed to mention that she had just revealed in a foreign TV news interview that the snipers at Maidan were brought in by the "pro-democracy peaceful protesters."
She says she's angry the the putsch regime is not living up to her neo-nazi standards by acting much like every other corrupt Ukrainian government, and is pushing for an even farther right wing coup II.
Posted by: Daniel | Mar 23 2018 2:04 utc | 58
usa daily propaganda briefings...
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2018/03/279451.htm
"MS NAUERT: Yeah. Okay. So, as many of you know, Russia – yeah, I think it was yesterday – said that this could have come – the poisoning could have come from yet another country, which is ridiculous. I mean, we put out a statement about that, saying that is a joke that it could have come from another country. We’ve seen Russian claims like this before, when Russia claimed not to be responsible for its little green men in Ukraine, where Russia claimed to not be responsible for the downing of the Malaysian Air flight in 2014 over Ukraine. We’ve seen Russia continue to perpetuate the conflict in eastern Ukraine. They make a lot of claims. I think it’s pretty clear we stand by the Brits, as do many other countries, that Russia’s responsible for this."
Posted by: james | Mar 23 2018 2:14 utc | 59
David @15. I was just on Sibel Edmonds' Newsbud Twitter feed and saw a thread that was most interesting. Sibel had posted a screen shot of a post from either Vanessa or Eva (I forgot which), that made it look like she was supporting terrorists. But someone had gone to the source and posted the uncropped shot, and it was someone else defending terrorists, and Eva/Vanessa called them out on it. That is, it was the EXACT OPPOSITE of what Sibel portrayed.
I went back minutes later to take a screen shot of the exchange, and it had been deleted.
I have no idea whether Sibel has always been controlled opposition, or if she wrote some stupid stuff about Beeley/Bartlett and her ego is driving her to publish false information. But she's getting on the wrong side of not just those two, but James Corbett and apparently our own "b" as well. And her fans are mostly buying into Edmond's line, though a sizable minority are begging her to back off and stay focused on opposing the war against Syria.
I put into the queue Sibel's video "exposing" Eva/Vanessa. But I am quite skeptical already.
Posted by: Daniel | Mar 23 2018 2:16 utc | 60
@45 Don Bacon
Yes, agreed, let's please cheer up. We live in a age of miracles, when Russia and China see fit to ally, and preserve, or create, world stability.
Trump has always been surrounded by completely vile people, and none of this has stopped Russia from laying down the gauntlet. Bolton is as much a nothing, I suggest, as Boris Johnson across the ocean. Neither of them holds power. The west doesn't hold power any longer. It's been checkmated at every turn - by Russia militarily and China economically.
Power is the ability to force things to your will, and it's backed up by a gun or it fails in the end. Trump's button may be big but it's old and maybe rusted and the odds are good it doesn't even work very well, especially against next generation jamming and hypersonic speeds.
So the west can bluster and parade its theater all it wants, it means nothing as the caravans all move on into the future. And even the theater is getting found out in advance now, with chemical-weapon caches and plans rendered visible before they can act.
As for the bluster, it only works on domestic populations, who have no power and thus cannot affect reality, and whose governments have no power and thus cannot use a mandate to war even if given one by their populations, gulled by propaganda. It's a useless, circular mechanism whose paradigm has ended, is defunct.
I find it encouraging beyond words to watch the real power on the ground in this Eurasian Century, as the west declines. And I'll quote just one last time, because I love the potency of this equation: "Power. The one quality of the human condition that you can't fake."
Posted by: Grieved | Mar 23 2018 2:18 utc | 61
Reuters staff have photographed two people voting twice in the Russian presidential election.
One voted at polling station 215 then again at polling station 216. The other voted first at 216 then again at polling station 217.
What are the chances Reuters staff would be at each of these polling stations and just happen to photograph the correct people voting twice? Or perhaps they had lined a few people up to vote twice?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-election-carousel-commission/russia-may-annul-election
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-election-carousel-insight/identical-twins-and-carousels
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 23 2018 2:31 utc | 62
May has declared that there is no pausible alternate explanation for the Skirpal attack other than that Russia has done it.
https://thesaker.is/a-curious-incident-part-iii/
Does provide a plausible alternatvie explanation. Given the recent elevation of Bolton and the EU acceptance of the May claims it is likely that we are entering a period similar to that of June 1914 when Europe commenced sleepwaling toward war.
If you find the above to be a credible explanation then please provide it to others so they may realize their government may not be acting in the best interest of the public.
Posted by: Sushi | Mar 23 2018 2:52 utc | 63
Grieved: "Power is the ability to force things to your will, and it's backed up by a gun or it fails in the end."
Fair enough. Since at least WW II, the US has served principally as the enforcement arm of that Power.
Today is the first day of a planned 37 days of strikes by workers across France, mostly in opposition to the neoliberal "austerity" programs promoted by Leadership of various party flavors. They plan for 2 days of striking, then 5 days back to work, so this will go on for months (or until they get satisfaction or crushed). But mass strikes will hurt the average person, right? It cannot succeed if it puts out the commoners, eh? I remember Alec Baldwin (the TV face of "the Resistance") getting all pissed off at BLM protesters because they'd been so rude as to add minutes to his commute one night.
But, thousands of regular French citizens have gone to the streets in support of the strikes. Police "clashes" have already begun. Plenty of video f cops using clubs and "tear gas" (which President Putin reminds us Russia police have never used, and which is listed as a Chemical Weapon banned in use during war, but is just fine to suffocate dissenting citizens in the US or occupied peoples in Palestine).
Can USAmericans manifest the sense of community/shared benefits and shared burdens to get our hands around that Power?
Posted by: Daniel | Mar 23 2018 2:57 utc | 64
@ Grieved 60
I wish I could have said it as well as you have.
"Power. The one quality of the human condition that you can't fake."
That applies to all facts as well as to power.
The propaganda AKA "public diplomacy" may sound effective, but it doesn't change facts on the ground.
The fact is that Russia is taking the US to school in military matters, and China in economic matters.
Example: Because I have a military background, I've been following the F-35 closely. The verbage is wonderful, but the system performance sucks. And no baseless praise, no PR announcements, can create success. In fact it can retard success, by creating a false sense of security.
So yes, let's understand that "the west can bluster and parade its theater all it wants, it means nothing as the caravans all move on into the future."
Thanks for that.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 23 2018 2:57 utc | 65
MoA is the first place I look for when I wake up (still in bed...) and the last one I check before sleep (already in bed...).
Thanks b and all the very well informed fellows who luckily post here and contribute to make MoA an indispensable site for me.
Posted by: Permafrost | Mar 23 2018 3:30 utc | 66
How is ineffectual John Bolton going to be any different/worse than bumbling AND ineffectual neocon/JEW McMaster? Deck chairs...this one has a furry fringe skirt on it.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 23 2018 3:31 utc | 67
I don’t know much about nerve agents but I find it strange that the Skripals didnt feel sick enough to seek help while Officer Bailey was sickened after much less exposure and either was overcome or sought help.
Possibilities: Hoax (already mentioned) Poisoning at park bench with evidence planted in car afterwood? Officer Bailey as poisoner?
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Mar 23 2018 3:48 utc | 68
@66 addendum/error
Did some digging...I am sorry to have mentioned McMaster as a jew. Turns out he is not and I guess wearing a yarmulke is ok for gentiles, too, because I saw a pic of him with one. My bad...but post still stands.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 23 2018 3:59 utc | 69
@ jivno who keeps asking how money works
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-federal-reserve-cartel-the-eight-families/25080
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 23 2018 4:06 utc | 70
@66 Say what you will about Bolton he is a shrewd political animal. Here it looks as though he is trying to appear sane and reasonable....perhaps even likeable.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/john-bolton-fires-back-against-004800253.html
Posted by: dh | Mar 23 2018 4:13 utc | 71
@69 dh
Could only watch 1/2 the interview. How could Trump possibly listen to that blowhard? He seems more like a career politician than a true-believer. Still not afraid. As grieved has laid out...DJT has been surrounded by slimeballs since Day 1 and yet we are to believe that Mr. Bolton alone could muster our DoD to attack Russia/Iran when everyone else has failed. It has failed because it is a bad idea.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 23 2018 4:32 utc | 72
Posted by: Daniel | Mar 22, 2018 10:57:09 PM | 63
No, since 1990. The world used to be divided into spheres of influence, remember?
Posted by: somebody | Mar 23 2018 4:35 utc | 73
The worst thing about the appointment of anti-Iran hawk John Bolton is that the Clinton wing of the Democratic Party 100% supports war with Iran. In fact Hillary was attacking Trump from the war hawk right on this issue in 2016 (of course alienating key voters as she did so). So, just like in 2002 with Iraq, the two-party mainstream and all the mainstream media will be overwhelmed by pro-war voices, and the arguments in favor of peace and basic sanity will be ostracized. Note in the RT piece below that the only Democrats expressing real, concrete concern/revulsion are the usual, sheepdog leftie suspects.
‘Trump lining up war cabinet’? Bolton’s elevation to NSC adviser fuels alarm
https://www.rt.com/usa/422084-trump-bolton-war-cabinet-reaction/
Posted by: fairleft | Mar 23 2018 4:37 utc | 74
@70 'How could Trump possibly listen to that blowhard?"
Because they are both blowhards. Unfortunately for us they have blown themselves into positions of power.
Posted by: dh | Mar 23 2018 4:43 utc | 75
James, I was asking if USAmericans could get behind mass strikes (and targeted boycotts) in order to begin to take Power away from "the money changers" who control most of this country and the world. Could we endure the inconvenience and unite to "hit them where it hurts?" (Their wallets).
The French have succeeded in fending off the worst of the effects of Global Financial Industry Greed through participating and backing these mass strikes quite a few times.
If you're suggesting that Russia is now simply another cog in the Supra-National Banksters' cabal, and no longer an ideological touchstone for workers, then the collapse of the Soviet Union is relevant to USAmerican workers today. It could well be that anything short of a worldwide workers' alliance can only fail. Or at best, a nationwide movement cold provide minor buffers.
Posted by: Daniel | Mar 23 2018 5:01 utc | 76
@59 Daniel
Sibel also implied Beeley was "anti-Assad" by screen-capping an anti-Assad article Beeley retweeted, without mentioning that Beeley wrote comments debunking the anti-Assad article in a thread below that same retweet... (those comments were conveniently cropped out)
Posted by: David | Mar 23 2018 5:03 utc | 77
Some sober look at Londongrad reality from the Independent
What I do know is that in today’s Russia, the state, its agencies, big business and organised crime are intertwined, as portrayed in crime drama McMafia and as something I witnessed first hand a few years ago, when I found myself involved with the murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko and his erstwhile “boss”, the also now-deceased Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.I spent a week in his solicitor’s office in London interviewing him or, as The Sun put it at the time, he was “being quizzed by Special Branch and Foreign Office officials at a secret address near the capital”.
..
We had been advised by the Foreign Office to keep Litvinenko’s arrival confidential, so I was somewhat taken back when The Sun, under the headline “KGB SPY DEFECTS TO BRITAIN”, blew his cover.I spoke with Berezovsky, who told me that the “the only person I have told was my friend Rupert”, and acted surprised when I informed him that Rupert Murdoch owned The Sun. Berezovsky was clearly more interested in embarrassing Putin than protecting Litvinenko.
And this was typical of Londongrad then, and probably now, where no one ever quite knew whose side this oligarch, spy or Chechen separatist was on.
Posted by: somebody | Mar 23 2018 5:44 utc | 78
Russian general gives US general some intel. US general gets the word up to Trump. Trump gets Pompeo to investigate and as a result sacks Tillerson. US generals tell Russian generals. Russian generals tell Syrian generals. Syrian generals - or perhaps Russian generals (unlikely) tell french journalist Therry Meyssan.
I also have Sydney harbour bridge for sale for the amazingly cheap price of a carton of beer and a packet of durries.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 23 2018 6:12 utc | 79
jinvo @48
Here's an interesting 144-slide presentation on "Modern Monetary Theory" from J.D. Alt.
Posted by: hojo | Mar 23 2018 8:11 utc | 80
PLEASE, IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE TODAY, READ THIS ARTICLE FROM SEPTEMBER 2005 AND REALISE THAT SCL IS THE PARENT COMPANY OF CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA
http://www.declarepeace.org.uk/captain/murder_inc/site/texts/stratcom.html
Posted by: zhanglan | Mar 23 2018 8:53 utc | 81
@Peter AU
Haha I thought the same when I read that story. Trying to spin this as Trump saving the world from WW3 when he sacked Tillerson is just... a hillarious story to put it mildly. As unbelievable as the whole Skripal case itself. Thierry surely does uncover some good stuff every once in a while, but let's be fair he has more often than not floated some crazy theories that were subsequently proven to be false.
Posted by: Alexander | Mar 23 2018 8:56 utc | 82
@ 53 Grieved | Mar 22, 2018 9:55:17 PM
Am somewhat taken aback your comment. May I ask if you would walk off and leave your car unlocked with the keys in the ignition, to let whosoever to drive off with it without identification or insurance or even a word regarding its return? I wouldn't have thought so until I read your words. Capital is no different than your car; a tool to be used, once for productive ends and now for consumption as well (under contract conditions). Why would you expect rent for the use of your car but not accommodate the owners of capital? You are insisting on a strange world indeed, just like out crackpot-pseudohistorian barfly amigo and his ravings about private finance derived obviously from sophomoronic (sic) understanding of 'Neoliberal Economics 101'. Have you noticed the poor fool hasn't budged an millimetre past the point he began that raving lunacy - in all this time? Some folks get all the traction don't they? I trust you are not forever taken in by such nonsense. The display of lack of economic education is appalling to behold.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Mar 23 2018 10:22 utc | 83
80
I tend to think Trump's dismissal of Tillerson was something to do with Tillerson's backing of the UK and his condemnation of Russia. Tillerson may have already been given until the 31st to announce his resignation, the reason for cutting short his Africa trip.
The Trump announcement, coming so quickly after Tillersons remarks condemning Russia were made public, and the fact that Tillerson handed over all workings of the state department to his 2IC for the remaining two weeks until the 31st, I don't think was coincidence. The US Department of state is in caretaker mode for a critical two weeks where there will be no statements issued to back up UK claims against Russia nor any trouble making statements about Syria.
That Meyssan would be privy to what is going on in the US at that level, I find unbelievable. Speculation not differentiated from fact.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 23 2018 11:09 utc | 84
Trump is fooling the neocons
Trump has a master plan, he is playing three dimensional chess, his appt. of Bolton is just a trick to get all of the Neocons in one place with the adage, 'keep your enemies closer' :-).
The Neocons have been firmly in control since Clinton got elected. Yeah, they were around prior to that but Reagan and Bush Sr were adults who kept them in check. The children who came after that were soul mates because Neocons are children.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Mar 23 2018 11:24 utc | 85
Trump is fooling the neocons
Trump has a master plan, he is playing three dimensional chess, his appt. of Bolton is just a trick to get all of the Neocons in one place with the adage, 'keep your enemies closer' :-).
The Neocons have been firmly in control since Clinton got elected. Yeah, they were around prior to that but Reagan and Bush Sr were adults who kept them in check. The children who came after that were soul mates because Neocons are children.
Posted by: Christian Chuba | Mar 23 2018 11:25 utc | 87
Gunman takes 2 hostage at supermarket in south France claiming allegiance to ISIS. France prosecutors treating supermarket hostage situation as terror incident after gunman shoots at police
Posted by: mali | Mar 23 2018 11:44 utc | 88
Petri, I read the BBC article on "war hero" Savchenko's arrest in Ukraine, and it somehow failed to mention that she had just revealed in a foreign TV news interview that the snipers at Maidan were brought in by the "pro-democracy peaceful protesters."
Posted by: Daniel | Mar 22, 2018 10:04:39 PM | 57
-------------------------------------------------
Isn't it the typical way how the MSM treats the real news: focusing on trivial while ignoring/obfuscating the real important news?! It is this sort of "news" that MSM has been feeding us, which allows them to sell us their illegal and criminal wars against any country(ies) the MIC/banksters want to destroy and loot.
Posted by: mali | Mar 23 2018 11:57 utc | 89
(Skripal/ Nerve-Agent Saga) BREAKING NEWS: THE BMW DID IT
Counter-terrorism officials have given no details of how the Skripals may have come into contact with the nerve agent, which has been identified as a novichok.
(They still have not figured out that „novichok“ is a phantasy-name invented by Dr. Mirzayanov for fun)
While the Met (better known as „Scotland Yard“) are still trying to figure out the exact movements of the Skripals (or rather Sergei‘s BMW) and point out how „extremely complex“ this investigation is, the US media is being fed with „revelations“ from anonymous „intelligence sources“ (WHO SAID) that the poison was spread through the car’s ventilation system:
Three intelligence officials told ABC News that the Russian military origin and the nature of the substance, a “dusty” organophosphate, are clear to them.
It is a Cold War substance, something they claimed never to have,” one senior intelligence official said of Russia to ABC News. Sources said the substance is derived from G- and V-series agents in the 1970s, which are akin to the Novichok nerve agent.
The intelligence officials told ABC News up to 38 individuals in Salisbury have been identified as having been affected by the nerve agent but the full impact is still being assessed and more victims sickened by the agent are expected to be identified.
“It's seen here as an attempted murder and premeditated,” rather than an attempt just to sicken Skripal with a non-lethal toxin or scare other Russian ex-spies, an intelligence official told ABC News.
BTW, the ABC-Headline ran „at least 38 sickened“ (so much for accuracy)
This the kind of idiot-churnalism that makes PSYOPs so successfull.
The stuff these intel „officials“ fed to ABC (then multiplied a thousand times thru the other „churnalists“) can easily be debunked by looking at the statements from the police in conjunction with the local (Salisbury hospital director) and national health authorities (PHE) in Britain.
https://www.wiltshire.police.uk/article/1752/Salisbury-s-multi-agency-press-facility-statements
„In addition to the three inpatients receiving treatment, in line with Public Health England guidance which asked anyone who was in the area and concerned to come forward if feeling unwell, we have seen and assessed a number of people who did not require further treatment.“
http://www.gov.uk/government/news/public-health-england-statement-regarding-events-in-salisbury
It’s important to note that no further cases of illness have been reported since the incident occurred on Sunday 4 March. We understand that people will be feeling unsure, but we are not seeing new cases of any members of the public being seriously ill.
Based on current evidence the risk to the wider public is low and it is likely that, had any member of the public been exposed to the substance, they would have presented with symptoms by now.
But, as I have said before, whe should leave the „Novichok“ Red Herring and deal with the WHY? Why is Britain (MI6) so mightily pissed off about Russia? Thierry Meyssan has the analysis to understand the big picture (the road to WW III leads thru Damascus…)btw, he also accuracetly predicted the firing of McMaster days ago...
https://www.voltairenet.org/article200260.html
https://www.voltairenet.org/article200299.html
https://www.voltairenet.org/article200232.html
http://www.voltairenet.org/article200163.html
Posted by: cassandra | Mar 23 2018 12:11 utc | 90
@81
"Why would you expect rent for the use of your car but not accommodate the owners of capital?"
Because if money/capital is created/issued by the government than that government is "us". So We would not pay for using our own car. But, because Money is not created by governments but instead by private banks we have to pay interest. The question is why woud you pay rent for using a car if you can have your own?. Why does the government issue money at interest and does not make its own, shouldn't it be our money? (excuse my bad English...)
Posted by: amfetamine | Mar 23 2018 12:18 utc | 91
Not only does the US protect ISIS in Syria, ISIS online news site Amaq still operates under US protection.
Hosted by California based company Cloudflare, on a Cloudflare server located in Hong Kong.
https://war-news-agency.eu
Earlier in the day, the I thought the link took me to an English version, but the site went down for a while and now the link leads to an Arabic version.
Posted by: Peter AU 1 | Mar 23 2018 12:23 utc | 92
How come Porton Down's experiments on people have gone down the memory hole?
From 1945 to 1989, Porton exposed more than 3,400 human "guinea pigs" to nerve gas. It seems probable that Porton has tested more human subjects with nerve gas, for the longest period of time, than any other scientific establishment in the world. Two other nations have admitted testing nerve gas on humans: the American military exposed about 1,100 soldiers between 1945 and 1975, and Canada tested a small number before 1968. Other countries, including France, the old Soviet Union and Iraq, are also likely to have exposed humans to nerve gas, but very little is known about their tests.
However, of course, only Russia is evil.
Posted by: somebody | Mar 23 2018 12:31 utc | 93
add to 91
There is more of this stuff.
The new research has discovered that a hitherto unknown biological warfare field trial was carried out in the capital’s tube system in May 1964.The secret operation – carried out by scientists from the government’s chemical and biological warfare research centre at Porton Down, Wiltshire - involved the release of large quantities of bacteria called Bacillus globigii. The scientists were keen to discover whether ‘long distance travel of aerosols’ in the tube network ‘was due to transportation within trains’ or through the tube’s air ventilation systems.
At the time, the government thought that Bacillus globigii bacteria were harmless – but they are today regarded as a cause of food poisoning, eye infections, and even septicaemia. It is not known whether the authorities attempted to properly test the bacterium before releasing it into the tube system. An earlier series of tube field trials, in July 1963, has been known to historians for many years.
However, the new research has now revealed that some of the British scientists involved had grave misgivings about the field trials that had been carried out. Indeed some had long felt that it was not politically advisable to conduct large-scale trials in Britain with live bacterial agents.
Duh.
Posted by: somebody | Mar 23 2018 12:40 utc | 94
@ 89 amfetamine | Mar 23, 2018 8:18:48 AM
Your 'bad english' is overlooked, not a problem. What IS a problem is your failure for reading comprehension, inability to use logic and plain ignorance of economics and history. Although those things are not originally your fault, not remedying them since being taught those subjects IS. I am not paid enough to educate you on the trash you have regurgitated here - best of luck finding someone who will. Be prepared to pay a lot for the furtherance of your education.
Seems I got out of the wrong side of bed today. The wall can be repaired.
Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Mar 23 2018 12:44 utc | 95
I used to read and watch Sibel Edmonds' writing and talking. The turning point of her change started since the failed coup in Turkey, IMHO.
During the night of the coup in Turkey NBC broadcasted a piece of news from "official/millitary source" claiming that Erdogan was fleeing to Germany, she challenged the NBC jounalist by spreading false news to weaken the resistence of Turks who were on the streets to stop the tanks and soliders. She made a big public fuss later by going to NY to challenge NBC.
From then on, she focuses on Gülen and his "terorrist organisation", for which she sarted to get lots of praise/applauds from Turk followers.
Edmonds is Turk of Iranian origin and was hired by FBI as Turk-English translator after 911. She was fired by FBI when she reported her co-worker of spying for Turkey and information from the FBI tapes that she listened to indicating Turk embassy and business men of illegal dealings.
Because she exposed Turk dark net inside US, she became persona non granda in Turkey. Her family in Istanbul was harrassed by the police. Now She could visit her home country. (Btw, she mentioned her uncle was once mayor of Istanbul, IIRC.)
She obviously support Turkey's activities in Afrin/Syria, for she has not made videos about the hot topics of Afrin/Turkey. It is only logical the exposure of White Helmet is deemed harmful to Turkey's interest, and therfore the "debunking" work on Eva Bartlett & Vanessa Beeley.
Some jealousy among alternative news scene might also play a role here.
Posted by: mali | Mar 23 2018 12:59 utc | 96
@93
A lot of bashing, no content and no answer....As expected, a verry mature reaction. Where have I seen this kind of behaviour before (except kindergarten).... not worth my time:)
Posted by: amfetamine | Mar 23 2018 12:59 utc | 97
Now the French hostage-taker injured one policeman, uncofirmed 2 death, demanded the release of Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving terrorist suspect behind the Paris attacks, BFMTV said. Abdeslam is currently in prison awaiting trial for his alleged involvement in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.
Trade war on China.
Appointment of the war-obsessed hawkish Bolton as National Security advisor.
Whipping up the fear, are these preconditioning us for more wars?
Posted by: mali | Mar 23 2018 13:26 utc | 99
In the against the grain category, consider that tensions have eased with Syria, Russia and Korea. Next up, Iran and China. Also of importance
US Powerless Against Hypersonic Missile Attacks From China, Russia
Go along to get along.
Posted by: financial matters | Mar 23 2018 13:47 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
How many Ukrainian POWs and prisoners will Putin have to release to get Savchenko out of jail?
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Mar 22 2018 18:26 utc | 1