@100 wj.. sure, although i don't know that.. is michael hudson also jewish?

Posted by: james | May 2 2018 3:00 utc | 101

No idea.

Posted by: WJ | May 2 2018 3:28 utc | 102

Just another round of manufactured consent, imo.

Reporters are commenting on the effect that a broken Iran deal would have on Kim's/Moon's NK/SK deal. So the neocon equation seems to result in Trump breaking the JCPOA, Kim getting wiggly and US finds a way to declare everyone liars and trash NK deal while Iran patiently tries to wait it out. You think SK will stand for it? Japan? China?

I can't imagine that the prospect of Lebanese artillery and rockets raining down on Israel plays well in Tel Aviv. If Israel thinks it can push the boundaries out by striking some Iranian targets claiming them as nuclear facilities and get away with it, as usual, rhetoric from Tehran is escalating. h/t Karlof1 @ 24.

Logically speaking, if the R+6 loses R, the result of negotiations with Beebs, they may have nothing to lose and choose the good death in battle inflicting a hopefully mortal wound on Israel. IDF using their border fence as a penny arcade shooting gallery is generally condemned, so what does the world owe Israel at this point, is the question?

Reading this thread, I'm not sure I agree that the full might of the ziocon coalition would be unleashed at Israel's request. h/t Red Ryder @ 42. US generals lack the balls to go all out and jump the 82d ABN and 1st Marines into Tahrir Square. Airstrikes will never replace closing with and destroying the enemy, let alone implementing an effective occupation. If you think Afghanistan is bad, well... We deplorables have enough business here at home, so sending our sons and daughters to die on behalf of the wormwood elites will play poorly, especially in the recruiting centers.

The long range view may include Iran activating assets it has overseas, which imho could be far more destructive than the Tsarnaev Bros, as western cities offer many opportunities for mayhem. That is what should make the USGOV nervous.

Posted by: Stumpy | May 2 2018 3:41 utc | 103

"well known 2003 sketch by Iranian scientists"

What well known sketch?

Posted by: Bill | May 2 2018 4:15 utc | 104

James, I heartily endorse your sentiments concerning Prof. Hudson's credentials as an economist, and his statements on early history both Jewish and Christian are sound and very much to the point. The ancients did understand the need for debt forgiveness.

Posted by: juliania | May 2 2018 4:28 utc | 105

72

I think a more rational explanation is that Trump's illegal sanctions on PRNK just blew up in his face. KJU has popped the ""PRNK HAS THE BOMB!" stinker of my entire life the Pentagon has made a mint off that profit center. Now it's over. Poof! Let's blow up some journalists, get the Afghanistan profit center going again, $100Bs unaccounted for there, and hey, let's suck some PMbS dick and pull out of the Iran deal, that should Happy Up the Deplorable Buggers and pull out a 9th inning win in Novenmer for the Ubers. They don't even have to attack Iran, just have Hibi pointbto his foamboard chart of the 7th circle of Hell, someting I'm sure Assange knows well.

No my friends, hold your children close, Ubers eat strays. US General Clarke:"US soldiers must be ready to die for Isreal!"

Wait,...what?!...

Posted by: Chipnik | May 2 2018 4:38 utc | 106

@ stumpy

I don't buy that.

Iran knows the international stage and will entertain the diplomatic audience.

Posted by: foo | May 2 2018 5:40 utc | 107

It's midnight in Texas, I showed up late, but thanks for all the links.

From this thread, I read Magnier and Escobar, and how the S-400 obsoletes the F-35, and how and why Russia stands between Israel and Iran

From this, I'll offer that what we're seeing in the Middle East is a remarkable display of maturity by the winners, who know they've won, but understand that it will take several years to collect all of their winnings. The losers understand nothing, but occupy a legacy position in our thoughts, and take up more room than their real importance warrants.

But look at the restraint being shown by the winners, because restraint is all it takes now:

Lavrov says that Russia may reconsider the subject of offering Syria the S-300. And this throws the MoA threads into hyper-drive, but gives pause to the US Pentagon, as well as triggering an epic-fail spasm in Israel. Just a few words.

And those observers who decline to observe the power of diplomacy have missed the fact that Russia has already responded to the 105-missile attack the other day. This was all the response that was needed. Just a few words.

Who commands the theater?

Posted by: Grieved | May 2 2018 5:41 utc | 108

karlofi1. Thanks for the link. I was just talking with a Christian friend about Jubilee, and she said there was no reference in the Bible that it was ever actually done. That didn’t ring true to me, but I let it slide. I’ll be checking out that book, too.

Also, yes, the Zionist Entity would suffer greatly in a war against Iran. hezbollah has thousands of missiles ready to go, and has specifically said that the next war will be fought In Israel, not Lebanon. And Iran is a real military threat, unlike the targets the cowardly IOF are used to attacking.

But, as WJ notes, an Israel/Iran war would quite possibly go or even start nuclear, in which case, it’s been nice.

Posted by: Daniel | May 2 2018 5:42 utc | 109

israel wished (for usa) to go into iran since afghan war. after trying iraq, USA went after resources there instead of the ultimate oil/gas fields of iran.

let's not paint all jews as bad but their governance is quite the type and ever seen that cock eyed defense minister that can't even look straight. dude needs an exorcist.

even though their leadership is possessed... with the thought that fighting iran will make them safer....

there is no way israel will go into iran with some foot soldiers. this is about the most ridiculous thing they could do, unless your cock eyed in your views i guess.

Even though their leadership is secretly doing dirty murders and what not in syria, they could not even take hezbolla land.

you think they can even take on Sadr boys, usa quit that a long time ago in iraq.

should they really think they can plant their troops and hold tehran.... come on with the speculations kids. just like skripals is it the seafood or is it the opiod crisis ... who cares... that's always speculation.

if israel did. USA will be driven permanently from middle east and saudi arabia oil fields would burn..

who can survive hardship like that better?

iran or saudi/israel? high tech idiots.

no war there. end of story.

Posted by: jason | May 2 2018 5:42 utc | 110

Jackrabbit. Your post @31 doesn’t fit all the facts. Trump is, and always was LOVED by right-wing Zionists. It was Adelson, the Mercers, and Bibi himself who pushed Trump over the Finish line. Breitbart “news” was a Bibi idea, which it has always bragged.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/11/17/breitbart-news-network-born-in-the-usa-conceived-in-israel/

Rabbi Boteach campaigned for Trump.

https://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/meet-shmuley-boteach-right-wing-reality-show-rabbi-hustling-his-way-trump-campaign

Ad you mention Soros. Did you know Trump and Soros have been business parters since at least a dozen years before the election?

In 2004, Donald Trump and George Soros united to build a Trump Tower in Chicago.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-10-28/news/0410280265_1_donald-trump-soros-fund-management-blackacre-institutional-capital-management

Soros is also parters in the 666 5th Ave Kushner property.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/realestate/commercial/the-kushner-companies-deal-for-666-fifth-avenue-avoids-foreclosure.html

In fact, Trump and Soros were co-defendants in a RICO suit a decade ago!

http://www.pionline.com/article/20081009/ONLINE/810099993/developer-sues-soros-fortress-cerberus

Times of Israel is pleased with Trump’s Administration:

http://www.timesofisrael.com/meet-the-jews-in-the-trump-administration/

The Trump vs. Jews “news” was always BS. Any conflict was concerning LIBERAL Jews. Trump IS the Swamp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKzHD_yP3mM

Posted by: Daniel | May 2 2018 5:50 utc | 111

Posted by: WJ @36:
"But there is no such compromise available because the US is not a democratic representative republic but an oligarchy, pure and simple."

I have nothing to add, but it bears repeating.

Posted by: Daniel | May 2 2018 5:55 utc | 112

Thanks to karlof1 @78 for the links to Crooke and Crooke's link in turn to Bruno Maçães at the Cairo Review, and his world-changing analysis, which is what stopped me in my tracks:

Russia’s New Energy Gamble

It's a new map, to replace Mackinder's map of the world.

Mackinder's map of the world galvanized the thinking of the old imperial world for more than a century, and we now repudiate this world view. But until now I never dreamed a different map could appear to rival Mackinder's map that showed the heartland of the world, surrounded by the powerful world island.

The Cairo article cites a presentation by Rosneft, the second largest energy concern in Russia, of a new map. This map divides the world into spheres of energy production and spheres of energy consumption. As such, Europe on the western flank, and Asia on the eastern flank, surround the combined area of the Arctic and the Caspian and the Middle East - the consumers flanking the producer, like piglets nursing on the sow.

The western flank is controlled with stability by Germany. The eastern flank is controlled with stability by China. The producer region in the middle is not fully controlled yet, but all imperatives reach out to Russia to stabilize this entire sphere. Hence, says the analysis, Russia's decision to appear in Syria, and the Middle East.

~~

I recommend the article, it's a keeper and very profound. But I will add that people who love pipelines end up with hearts of welded steel and think that cold calculation is the source of all action. And so this author tends to put a cold finish on Russia's motivations.

We can warm this with our own understanding of the Russian soul and its placement in this world, and add other purposes to the actions of Russia, and even overlook the author's misunderstanding of the Ukraine situation, for example.

But the map. The map is worth everything.

Posted by: Grieved | May 2 2018 6:12 utc | 113

Worth a replay:

BIBI'S BIG ADVENTURE - THE MEDIA COMEBACK KID

Daily SHow 2015

Posted by: Daniel | May 2 2018 6:37 utc | 114

Just in case anyone still has any doubts that Trump is a stooge for the jews:

from whitehouse.gov:
President Donald J. Trump Proclaims May 2018 as Jewish American Heritage Month

Only a month. The jews will be outraged.

Perhaps next year Americans will be forced to wear those little beanies in appreciation - you know, to prove they are not anti-semites. In the meantime, in order to emulate ' the profound contributions that the Jewish faith and its traditions have had on our Nation' perhaps Trump will dispatch snipers to the southern border to pick off a few thousand Central American refugees - following the playbook of the 'profound contributions' of the 'most moral army in the universe' .

Posted by: pantaraxia | May 2 2018 7:55 utc | 115

Posted by: Grieved | May 2, 2018 2:12:46 AM | 114

If that is Moscow's thinking (not just Rosneft) it would be a tragedy. Reports from people who have been there suggest that cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg have European lifestyles but 20 miles outside there is poverty. People are better off in Poland. Russia urgently needs to develop an economy independent of the price of oil and gas.

Russia is as obsessed with security as Israel for the same reason - history.

But what is true is that Russia has found an alternative to the US and Europe in China. If anyone China will be able to pacify Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Posted by: somebody | May 2 2018 8:05 utc | 116

I am not trying to advertise myself as an analyst here but... First, I was intrigued by the fact that Bibi appeared to have used a Google Earth picture from 2014/15 - why if the time frame he was referring to is 2016/17? I did not believe though Israel had hacked the IAEA. That seemed to be a stretch. Then, the author of the thread posted the picture that can be shown to be from or after July 2017. Hmm. He said this might corroborate Bibi's time frame. So I thought there it went, this great finding (regarding the 2014/15 picture). But this morning it made *!!!* (may mind seems to have been working all the time on this) and I think I figured it out. Because that 2014/15 Google Earth picture is even more strange in view of the more recent picture with the carport. Israel has the IAEA reports, no doubt. But not by hacking the IAEA. They got it from the Trump Administration in early 2017. It could be that Kushner provided Bibi with the material during the transition period already (late 2016) as the team might have asked for access to the Iran Nuclear Agreement files (I think Bibi even said they found out about the warehouse in 2016). I bet you they did. You remember they asked, according to Flynn, Russia to help, postponing a UNSC resolution that was critical of Israel and the Obama administration did not intend to veto? I think the Iran Nuclear Deal is about confining Israel (you can find my thoughts on my timeline; also check my tweets and replies) and Obama knew that very well. It isolated the US from Israel in matters Iran and made sure Israel could not compromise the US into hostile actions towards Iran as there was now a controlling international body installed in between Israel and the US. Obama considered Libya his biggest mistake and I believe what he meant was that he left it to Hillary Clinton to decide (so the story goes). Obama learned from this and that's how the Iran Nuclear Deal came about. I tell you I am pretty positive Kushner is the source for Bibi's materials. It would mean the materials have been in this warehouse by 2015 (picture taken by IAEA) and were known to the IAEA (notice how fast IAEA responded after Bibi's performance). Also, these days, you do not use CDs as storage media anymore (but you did around 2003). You use external hard drives or USB drives (you would probably not use the cloud for material like this knowing you are a target). Anything on these CDs (if anything is on them at all) is definitely old stuff and not actively used.

Posted by: BX | May 2 2018 9:59 utc | 117

The ziionists are putting extraordinary pressure on Agent Orange in an attempt to force him to withdraw from the JCPOA.
I note that today's guardian, which as many of us know is one of the preferred sticks to beat those politicians who the zionist bandwagon believes are in "need of a little discipline" is running a story about a Dr Bornstein who they claim has been the trumpet's poisonal physician since "the 1980s".

There isn't that much to the yarn, just more of the same schtick as always. This NYC croaker now claims that it was old 'Goldenfinger' hisself who dictated then presented a certain report to the zionist quack for signature, that pre election statement extolling the narcissistic one's health as best ever, the healthiest prez in the history of the universe blah, blah.

The report is irrelevant as the englander guardian's opinion of a typical presidential scumbag is neither here nor there, but what is interesting is the timing of this 'story'.

The fact that it is being used right now, a story that of itself doesn't have the heft to change trump's shorts, but adds to the plethora of negative trump yarns, and makes no attempt to hide the source.
It seems more like a warning shot - one across the SS Trumpet's bow than anything else, particularly salient is that the croaker claims the bully sent a squad of henchmen round to the quack's surgery, whereupon they insisted on grabbing a complete copy of all agent orange's records, so any further leaks could have come from elsewhere - eg a disgruntled former henchman, not necessarily the sawbones.

A story tailormade to put the shits up Donnie - if Bornstein has been indulging that seething roil of neurosis and braggadocio for more than thirty years as he claims, there are likely to be hundreds of headline capable 'anecdotes', ranging from "STD's I have treated" to "prescriptions the president insisted upon" and the big one "Terminations I have performed at the president's behest".
Donald can likely shoot a bunch of Wall st bankers on 5th avenue without much blowback, but taking a former gf to the doctors to get a quick scrape would smash trump's 'base' to smithereens. Even he understands that.
The fact that the zionists have had to play this card tells us that they are unsure of which way he's gonna jump.
By all accounts Jarod has been on the outer for some time and without his twice daily nag which is needed to keep his royal foulness on track sledging arabs and kissing israeli butt, the Don may follow the recommendations of the pentagon mob who see no upside in fighting Iran on behalf of israel. Steal the oil, fine - keep Syria fragmented and ungovernable - yep a big tick for that from the generals, however getting caught up in an actual large scale shooting match against an opponent who is moderately well tooled and hasn't been starved for a decade beforehand - that is problematic.
Anything could happen 'new generation, hi-tech weapons' failures will make the F-35 debacle seem like a minor hiccup in comparison to the plethora of boondoggles that have been pretty much designed to fail, now that could turn into claims of fraud, bribery and corruption, especially if coupled with amerikan killers getting killed.

Trump is beginning to understand how hot kitchens can get, even in the swamp heheh.

I'm not worried about Bolton or Pompero, they are poseurs who carved out niches for themselves that are well beyond either's limited skill set; they may make a coupla asides to their most house trained media favorites about the need to go in harder, but secretly they will be relieved that their clumsily constructed ersatz bellicose personas haven't been tumbled yet.

Posted by: Debsisdead | May 2 2018 10:09 utc | 118

119
I doubt it. Trump had no problems switching doctors in the Whitehouse, he does not drink nor smoke that takes you a long way.

Trump would never talk to women threatening to compromise him himself - he got lawyers.

I mean he is a moron but not stupid, I doubt he trusts anyone but his family.

Posted by: somebody | May 2 2018 10:53 utc | 119

Posted by: somebody | May 2, 2018 6:53:12 AM | 120

Going back 30 years when attitudes and values were much diferent, Trump was a 'poor little rich boy' with even less maturity than he has now, there will be stuff. In the MoA tradition of cui bene, why is the media bothering with this quack story unless it is to lean on trump?

The guardian is now 100% in the hands of the zionists and the usual englander perfidy has been on display. The graun normally ignores Palestinian oppression stories, preferring to run beat ups about adolescents' home-made rockets setting fire to a washing line and scaring neighborhood dogs as: "Hamas terrorists attack on Ashkelon homes subdued by IDF" .
About two weeks ago the graun started running stories on IDF harsh treatment of Palestinian protestors, I couldn't understand the motive for the volte-face until recently. They need to make like they are objective about Palestine when they are anything but. Part of that is to sell credulous englanders on the idea that the graun isn't a rabid zionist rag so that, hopefully brits don't reject the attacks on Mr Corbyn by the graun, attacks which allege Corbyn enables "antisemitism" (sic) in The Labour Party.

Advocating that england support amerika on leaving the JCPOA is the biggest scam yet - much larger and more unwieldy than the Skirpal nonsense, or the Douma fabricatiooni.
Both of those fantasies were delivered very clumsily, leaving many Brit 'subject's in doubt, hence the need to attempt a re-establishment of credibility before selling the bigger lie.

Posted by: Debsisdead | May 2 2018 12:00 utc | 120

Grieved @ 114, Somebody @ 117:

That Cairo Review article is an interesting one but something about that website warns me that it's rather biased against the Russian and Syrian governments.

You might like to read the accounting firm Deloitte's review of the state of and outlook for Russian manufacturing based on its survey of Russian firms in 2016 at this link:
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ru/Documents/manufacturing/russian-munufacturing-market-review-2016-en.pdf

Another source of information on the Russian economy is the business consulting firm Awara Group. Awara has published some studies on the Russian economy which you can browse through at this link:
https://www.awaragroup.com/about/publications-about-doing-business-in-russia-and-ukraine/

In 2016 Russia became the world's largest wheat exporter. Google "Russia", "wheat" and "export" and you will see a considerable number of results pointing to articles on the recent resurgence of Russia as a major agricultural producer and exporter. William Engdahl wrote a lengthy essay on Russia's new status as the world's biggest wheat producer / exporter:
https://journal-neo.org/2016/06/15/russia-number-one-world-wheat-exporter/

As Engdahl notes, the paradox is that US and European sanctions against Russia helped to revitalise Russian agriculture. The sanctions regime acted as a form of protection against imports. This implies that, instead of Russia being hit hard by Western sanctions, it was Western countries themselves (particularly countries in the EU whose largest trading partner was Russia before the sanctions came into force) that suffered.

Posted by: Jen | May 2 2018 12:19 utc | 121

Israel will start the war that brings its own destruction. It will end up Libya'd and the people will be forced to flee, and never again after its hate and atrocities will Zionism be allowed a colony.

Posted by: Michael McNulty | May 2 2018 12:31 utc | 122

Posted by: Debsisdead | May 2, 2018 8:00:34 AM | 121

These stories have been out for a long time, they never hurt him. He has managed now to turn the fact that he could be impeached into motivation for "his" voters to turn out for the Republican Party in congressional elections. The sheer turnarount in his office suggests that he is draining the swamp for the true believers.

Stories of one hero and saviour against evil are very powerful Hollywood stuff ...

Posted by: somebody | May 2 2018 13:08 utc | 123

@114, 117
Draw an imaginary line on a globe from Moscow through the Caspian Sea down to Tehran. That is the center of the Eurasian landmass in a geographical sense but also considering energy. Germany and China flank this axis to the west and east.
The -Stans flank it to the immediate east, so they are important. The U.S. administration (including Congress) recognized this years ago with its "New Silk Road" policy which formed the basis for the invasion of Afghanistan and the continued military presence there. The US State Department (USAID), Chamber of Commerce etc. have been very active in the -Stans especially the key large country of Kazakhstan.
The countries at either end of this imaginary line, Russia and Iran, were one subject of the recent Pepe piece that we mentioned. excerpt:

Both Iran and Russia are fighting US sanctions. Despite historical frictions, Iran and Russia are getting closer and closer. Tehran provides crucial strategic depth to Moscow’s Southwest Asia presence. And Moscow unequivocally supports the JCPOA. Moscow-Tehran is heading the same way of the strategic partnership in all but name between Moscow and Beijing.
According to Russian energy minister Alexander Novak, the 2014 Moscow-Tehran oil-for-goods deal, bypassing the US dollar, is finally in effect, with Russia initially buying 100,000 barrels of Iranian crude a day.
Russia and Iran are closely coordinating their energy policy. They have signed six agreements to collaborate on strategic energy deals worth up to $30 billion. According to President Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov, Russian investment in developing Iran’s oil and gas fields could reach more than $50 billion.
Iran will become a formal member of the Russia-led Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) before the end of the year. And with solid Russian backing, Iran will be accepted as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) by 2019.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 2 2018 13:28 utc | 124

125

You have just described the world outside beyond the Americas. So?

Posted by: somebody | May 2 2018 13:40 utc | 125

110 Daniel The Jubilee

It's in Deuteronomy 15 and Leviticus 25 and others

See: http://michael-hudson.com/2017/01/the-land-belongs-to-god/

Posted by: Bart Hansen | May 2 2018 14:21 utc | 126

Many on this site have noted that states which move away from the dollar tend to attract the attention of the basement gimp: Iraq, Libya, Iran are just three examples. Many have also noted that the basement gimp will find it more and more difficult to successfully intervene in these states--because the basement gimp is already stretched to his breaking point as it is, because there will be more and more of these states, and more powerful ones at that.

The story these commentators envision unfolding is relatively tranquil and comic: at some point, the tipping point will be reached, and it will suddenly become obvious to everybody that the era of the petrodollar is older, and we will all begin to acclimate ourselves to a new multipolar world of international law, Bismarckian diplomacy, and classical state-craft. And Assange, assuming he is not yet dead, will exit the Ecuadorean embassy and grab some fish and chips.

But if I am not mistaken, the last time the default currency of the global economy was overthrown was World War I. The collapse of the gold standard, which had come to be unworkable for all sorts of reasons, was directly related to the carnage of World War I *and* World War II, and stability did not return until the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944. The Bretton Woods agreement did not, of course, birth the fully formed petrodollar out of its perfidious head, but the structures of monetary exchange and control it set in place were certainly not *unrelated* to the later developments of the 1970s--a new version of globalized financial capitalism being chief among them.

I would like to pose three questions, then. First, do commentators agree with the general shape of the history as I've presented it? Second, if commentators do not agree, what do they think I have got wrong. (My chief source is Karl Polyani's The Great Transformation: a great book, in my opinion.) Third, if commentators agree, more or less, with the shape of the history I've told, then why do they think that, this time around, the destablization and collapse of what remains the default currency of the dollar will not require at least one, and possibly two, world wars to work itself out?

Posted by: WJ | May 2 2018 14:26 utc | 127

Israel is allowed to test nukes in ALASKA???

Israel postpones Alaska test of Arrow 3 missile interceptor
Defense Ministry live-fire test delayed in order to ensure 'maximum readiness' of long-range anti-missile battery
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-postpones-alaska-test-of-arrow-3-missile-interceptor/

Posted by: Laura Roslin | May 2 2018 14:42 utc | 128

@WJ 128
Oh, so the last fifty years have been a time of "stability?"
I don't think so. The U.S. hegemonic world control has created much war and instability, which we are now experiencing. The U.S. is losing this exalted position, this "rules-based" situation that requires the world to be governed by U.S. combatant commands, and we are heading toward more control by regional blocs and hopefully someday a world community of sovereign states as envisioned in the United Nations Charter.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 2 2018 14:43 utc | 129

Laura @129,

Of course. If Americans should be prepared to die for Israel, then it only follows that Israel should be allowed to nuke Alaska.

Posted by: WJ | May 2 2018 14:44 utc | 130

@ somebody | May 2, 2018 9:08:12 AM | 124

I must be getting old and jaded.
It seems this 21st-century farce is on an endless loop.
Trump is playing Ronny Raygun in real-time reality TV mode.
May is doing a dismal Maggie Thatcher.
Nut-and-Yahoo's latest TV show hour looked like he was in a Marx Brothers production waiting for Groucho to slink on screen and wag his cigar.

This ‘wicked problem’ has to be the greatest "Criminal Show on Earth" and the internet the modern Roman Colosseum. The Christians are being played by the Palestinians; and the Romans by the neocon Zionists. The goggling masses are played for zombie shmucks by the PR-Bernays wizards for hire; and the alt-media (bless their weary hearts) are grumbling to themselves like a "The People's Front of Judea" in a Python's "Life of Brian" version of the Matrix as the State rewrites recent history one web-page at a time.

With the allegedly nuclear weaponized experimental Israeli apartheid cult now poised for regional war with the Persians; the Egyptians stupefied under the faux Pharaoh’s military thumb paid-off by a bunch of Arab ex-goat herders; and the Ottoman Turks twisted insane between ye olde NATO and a new “Empire Calling (Revisited)"; only Capt. Nut-Job's signature is now needed and witnessed by his dutiful deputy 'Mr. Defense' Lieberman (born in Kishinev, Moldova to a Russian-speaking Jewish family in the then Soviet Union, 1958) to begin the next deadly Act.

If this was not so fatal for millions of innocents then it would be little more than a poorly scripted C-Class Hollywood TV comedy. There is little doubt that hundreds of millions are struggling for the "Wake Up" button as if in a hyper-surreal dream-state. But the show just goes on regardless as if on some automatic pilot.

(/rant)

Posted by: rant... | May 2 2018 14:48 utc | 131

Don Bacon @130,

What you say is true. However, "stability" is relative. The "stability" of the late nineteenth-century was predicated upon European colonial violence directed (chiefly) against Africa. But this colonial "war and instability" can nonetheless be described as relatively stable--even for Africa--vis-a-vis the chaotic destruction and massive carnage of WWI.

Posted by: WJ | May 2 2018 14:49 utc | 132

Jen @ 122

The bad smell coming from that article is the author's links to the Hudson Institute

Posted by: m | May 2 2018 14:56 utc | 133

Iranian nuclear programs shown or *proved* to exist with completely irrelevant, silly, or fake documents (e.g. Nigerian yellowcake, ha) — completely made-up chemical attacks in Syria that cross a red line 1 --- blaming the Russians or specifically Putin for murderous or illicit use of drugging, poisons, etc. See doping scandals, Litnivenko, now Skripal..

…all seem rather strange today. The scripts smell old, outdated, frayed, and the clumisness of their presentation is quite transparent. This seems particularly the case for the Skripal affair which is simply unbelievable by no matter whom. The Iran ‘nukes’ affair is more complex, harder for the ‘public’ to judge.

How to explain?

Imho one can boil it down to:

A. A repetition of going harder on timed-n-true strategies? An ingrained habit in a deluded in-group? An inability to be creative, find new methods, implement them? Ulitmately, a show of weakness that will quickly be exploited by opponents?

B. US-UK-isr + now F, KSA, as allies, etc. no longer care at all if they are believed, it is crunch time, sides must be taken, and the fakes, filmed speeches, etc. only exist to disorient the public, keep some on board and quiet. Belief / adherence / PC opinions (control by MSM/gvmts, information, propaganda) are no longer part of any calculation, Might makes Right is the name of the game.

C. ?? What?

1 Obama managed to ignore, or acknowledge and then disregard as not sufficiently real aka ‘attested’ several minor ‘attacks’, and then with the help of the Russians ‘removed chem weapons from Syria’, 2013-14.

Posted by: Noirette | May 2 2018 15:04 utc | 134

We and the world have all been here before with the likes of Colin Powell holding up a vial of laundry detergent as proof of casus belli. When Netanyahu and co conspirators, Bolton et al, are replaced by a more moderate group of politicos we will know that there has been a shift in the plan in achieving the "One World Order" from one of covert proxy destabilization and overt military operations to one of economic warfare as the main point of attack. This as the privatization of BRIC nation assets is accelerating. I expect to see the same economic warfare implemented in the DPRK following reunification with the usual list of IMF 'conditionalities' applied as were applied to the new Russian Federation following the collapse of the Soviet.

Posted by: BRF | May 2 2018 15:08 utc | 135

@Noirette 135
The basic problem is not the messaging and the clumsiness of presentations, it is that one country is wrongly exercising sovereignty over another and making stuff up to justify taking action against the target country's "bad behavior," its "nuclear ambitions," and other such tripe.
Article 2, UN Charter:

The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles.
> The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.
> All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.
> All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.
> All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.
> All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.
> The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.
> Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter Vll.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 2 2018 15:18 utc | 136

@133
More on instability--
from Amazon
The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II (Dispatch Books) Paperback – April 11, 2017
by John W. Dower (Author)
"John Dower ends this grim recounting of 75 years of constant war, intervention, assassination and other crimes by calling for “serious consideration” of why the most powerful nation in world history is so dedicated to these practices while ignoring the nature of its actions and their consequences – an injunction that could hardly be more timely or necessary as the Pentagon’s “arc of instability” expands to an “ocean of instability” and even an 'atomic arc of instability' in Dower’s perceptive reflections on today’s frightening world." —Noam Chomsky

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 2 2018 15:31 utc | 137

@WJ 128

I've just read some interesting insights into Bretton Woods in David Talbot's book The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government

Franklin Roosevelt had instigated the New Deal with help from his Treasurer Henry Morgenthau and chief economist Harry Dexter White. All three could be said to have been devastated by the effects of the great depression and interested in more populist type ideas.

The World Bank and IMF were set up at this time and were actually designed to take power away from private finance to prevent another depression.

With the ensuing cold war and anti-communist hysteria these 'socialistic' New Deal ideas were basically attacked and scrapped.

The powerful Dulles brothers with helpers including Richard Nixon were able to reinstate Wall Street control over these institutions.
-----------

We now see the US trying sanctions to maintain the validity of the USD. These are backfiring and causing many effective alternative financial arrangements.

They (secret govt/deep state) would definitely go to war over this if they could but they don't have the overwhelming military, financial and propaganda power that they used to.

Posted by: financial matters | May 2 2018 15:35 utc | 138

Michael Hudson is a full-on proponent of Modern Monetary Theory, which has been soundly rejected by most posters on this forum.

Posted by: paulmeli | May 2 2018 15:47 utc | 139

yes don bacon 136, agree. many aspects can be mixed up etc.

Posted by: Noirette | May 2 2018 15:54 utc | 140

@121 debs.. why does anyone even bother reading the guardian? i don't get it...

@122 jen / @134 m... i thought there were some merits in that article, regardless...

@128 wj... i kinda see it similar to @138 financial matters, without trying to take apart your post, point by point..

@139 paulmeli.. nice to see you back! i don't know what the term 'modern monetary theory' entails..

Posted by: james | May 2 2018 15:58 utc | 141

Incite Israel and SA to jointly attack.
Then walk away.

Posted by: Jared | May 2 2018 15:59 utc | 142

James @86,

Y0u should read 1st 50 pages of the book written by Bibi's father on Inquisition The treasonous nature of this tirbe goes back to 500 BC

Posted by: p | May 2 2018 16:10 utc | 143

@ Debisdead 119
That is a priceless comment! Laughed most of the morning.
Thx

Posted by: Den Lille Abe | May 2 2018 16:11 utc | 144

WJ @ 128--

Making me think this morning! Sterling remained the currency of international trade through the interwar years, although Dollar Hegemony was able to get its foot in the door via the policy known as Dollar Diplomacy--which was the making of loans then invading those nations when unable to make payments, particularly in Caribbean and Central America as Smedly Butler described so well in War is a Racket. One of the key books overlooked by too many is Keynes's The Economic Consequences of the Peace, of which a summary is here, in which Keynes provides the road map by which the peace is broken and world war resumed in Europe. And you'll see where Hudson invokes Keynes admonition that the war-induced debts must all be forgiven--logic overruled by US banksters who not only reneged on their initial promises to forgive the loans after the war, but essentially designed an elaborate Ponzi Scheme as the repayment mechanism which began with wealth transfers from US Taxpayers. It was WW2 that finally bankrupted the British Empire. I think Churchill's multivolume history of the war provides the best insight into the international politics of Lend-Lease and how he saw FDR as using it to usurp the UK's Sun Never Sets Upon It Global Empire which was ultimately based on the power of Sterling. Keynes tried his best to get a fair shake for the UK and rest of world at Bretton Woods Conference, but the best he could manage was to delay the implementation of what would become the WTO--Keynes notes on Bretton Woods are most revealing. But most important, it was the debt and resulting bankruptcy that led to Sterling's fall and Dollar's rise; and for that to happen, global war isn't a necessary precondition. It's now quite obvious that the next powerful Creditor Nation will be China, and the Yuan will displace the Dollar as the ligua franca of international trade in what many hope will be a soft transfer.

IMO, the historical period from 1900 to 1960, particularly the interwar years, is the most important one to study relative to our current predicament. I omitted the importance of the failure of the USA to ratify Versailles and enter League of Nations as that's a long discussion on its own. But what that showed to the world was the USA's insistence on acting unilaterally as the Republican controlled Senate repulsed both Internationalism and Isolationism, which was felt to be the proper way to tame--breaking, as with a horse--the British Lion, as depicted by many political cartoons from that era. It should be noted that China's diplomacy as it approaches its momentous occasion of becoming the most powerful economy is the polar opposite of UK/US/Western philosophy of King reigning over all--China wants to interact with others as equal players aiming for Win/Win outcomes, and which all of the members of the rising Multipolar Alliance embrace and echo no matter how hard the West's Propaganda System tries to make out China as the next #1 Demon.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 2 2018 16:14 utc | 145

@ financial matters 138
they don't have the overwhelming military, financial and propaganda power that they used to.
On financial, they are certainly using sanctions more, along with their necessary waiver certificates (which Iran claims are lacking). And I imagine the 'economic hit men" (like Perkins) are still active.
On propaganda there certainly is a lot of fake news, gas attacks etc. And people believe it.
On military, the US has proven more or less to be a paper tiger, just a destroyer and not a winner. And the focus on beating up on weak countries has placed the Pentagon further behind against major powers. In the news today, as a follow-up on the Russians using electronic warfare to disable US military aircraft in Syria:

"The next war will be analog, and the surface Navy is unprepared for it," Jonathan Panter, a former US Navy Surface Warfare Officer begins an article in the US Naval Institute's April edition of "Proceedings," its monthly publication.
"Reliance on digital technologies is particularly acute in the realms of communications, propulsion systems, and navigation and has produced a fleet that may not survive the first missile hit or hack," Panter writes. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 2 2018 16:37 utc | 146

Why did Obama set up the nuke deal with Iran?

From the start, it was theatre, as Iran never had a ‘nuke WMD’ program.

All was built on a spurious premises, pretend negotiations, etc.

Dems _ Reps switch enemies in a clumsy arabesque.

See the Iraq invasion. Pearl-clutching Ds were OH-so appalled re. the ‘baseless’ invasion and the dire threat of blowback. After it took place.

Kerry *always* favored Iran, had strong ties, etc. His daughter married an American-Iranian.

Kerry’s daughter Vanessa is married to an Iranian national and physician. His best man at the ceremony was the son of Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Zarif was also and Kerry’s chief counterpart in the nuclear deal negotiations. Cozy crew.

true pundit

How to accept that w-wide int’l politics actually depends on the machinations of a few ppl at the top, all of who are basically lying scoundrels, change allegiances in function of new links, marriage, etc. just like in the old feudal days of royalty, now oligarchic corporatism.

Posted by: Noirette | May 2 2018 16:38 utc | 147

Posted by: WJ | May 1, 2018 10:50:42 PM | 101
re s-300 delivery confirmation
I saw the Assad interview in which he said the s-300 already being in Syria on a Syrian website, will take me a while to find it but I will get back with a link.
re giving the s-300 for free
that was in an article a Russian site, will find that link as well.

Posted by: frances | May 2 2018 16:43 utc | 148

@ Noirette 147
Why did Obama set up the nuke deal with Iran?
More on your theme.
Presidential "libraries" which serve to preserve the "legacy" of US presidents require fancy displays of the president's achievements. They're a big deal. Obama's foreign achievements were a little thin, actually non-existent, specially with Hillary Clinton as SecState, because Obama had to get her out of the Senate, so he needed something for the "foreign achievements" alcove.
Recall, Obama put the kibosh on a nuke deal in 2010, involving Iran, Turkey & Brazil as I recall, but he had the 2012 election coming up so he obeyed Israel and killed that deal. In 2015 Israel couldn't hurt him.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 2 2018 16:53 utc | 149

WJ re request at 101 re s-300

This article has the video of Assad saying the s-300 has been delivered:
https://www.veteranstoday.com/2018/04/27/exclusive-s300-operation-in-syria-today-delivered-units-deployed-already/

and this Russian article says the same:
www.pravdareport.com/world/asia/syria/25-04-2018/140863-s_300_syria-0/

Posted by: frances | May 2 2018 16:53 utc | 150

but it is kinda funny when the pathological liars stories breach the limits of plausibility. the goofy claims acquire an almost quantum nature, shape-shifting in real time, assume a semblance of reality that could only exist 'cause the evidence to refute them just dissolves in the ether.

you know, like the recursive themes of life-crushing debt which dresses up as economic relief, or saturation bombing as responsibility to protect.

Posted by: john | May 2 2018 17:02 utc | 151

iran did 911 it is true you either knew that you where stupid or you was with the evil doers.
they danced and filmed the event they had arts spie rings all over newyork documemting the event
is it not time now for persia to pay israel,the donmeh house of saud uk and newyork washington compensations for evil deeds done to the innocents.

Judge George B Daniels found the country liable to more than 1,000 “parents, spouses, siblings and children” involved in the lawsuit. Daniels said the payment amounts to $12.5m per spouse, $8.5m per parent, $8.5m per child and $4.25m for each sibling, according to the ABC report.

US Judge Orders Iran To Pay Billions To Families Of 9/11 Victims

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-05-02/us-judge-orders-iran-pay-billions-families-911-victims?sort_by=thread&sort_order=ASC&items_per_page=50&page=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C1

Posted by: charles drake | May 2 2018 17:10 utc | 152

#SouthernDamascus : Syrian army finds #Israeli weapons inside the nests of ISIS terrorists and network of trenches and tunnels in Qadam and Hajar al Aswad neighborhoods

https://twitter.com/maytham956/status/991686576567738373

#Syria|n Intelligence Agency confiscates a large quantity of #Israel|i medicines & various weapons heading from southern region across Badia Al-Sham towards #Homs / #Hama countryside. (2 May 2018)

https://twitter.com/maytham956/status/991685204292128769

Posted by: From the resistance | May 2 2018 17:15 utc | 153

That Riyad Haddad is such a kidder.

Jul 10, 2016

(TASS) The S-300 air defense missile has been deployed to Syria again for the purpose of defending Russian troops and rebuffing any threats that may come from terrorists, the Syrian ambassador to Russia, Riyad Haddad told Rossiya 24 channel on Thursday. “S-300 complex is really deployed in Syria,” he said. . .here

Oct 7, 2016

S-300 air defense missile complex has been deployed in Syria again for the purpose of defending Russian troops and rebuffing any threats that may come from terrorists, the Syrian ambassador to Russia, Riyad Haddad told Rossiya 24 channel on Thursday. . .here

Apr 25, 2018

Interestingly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a briefing in Beijing that the question about the shipment of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Syria had not been resolved yet. However, Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said that S-300 missile systems had been delivered to Syria last month. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 2 2018 17:16 utc | 154

This one especially for "paul"...

#ВМФ Project 775 #ЧФ BSF Ropucha class LSTM Azov 151 during its Syria-bound Bosphorus transit #Russia/n reinforcements, including Spetsnaz (Special Forces), heading for #Syria.

https://twitter.com/maytham956/status/991693992915030019

Posted by: From the resistance | May 2 2018 17:16 utc | 155

If Syria has the S-300, why didn't it use them against the Israelis during the most recent attack? Not enough time to set up? Saving for future use? Not really there?

Posted by: Perimetr | May 2 2018 17:17 utc | 156

@grieved 114 and karlofi1 @78. I like those articles also. Especially liked these points.

""The second prong to policy is the famous ‘Belt and Road’ initiative linking China to Europe. The economic element however, is often deprecated in the West as ‘mere infrastructure’ – albeit on a grand scale. Its conception, rather, represents a direct swipe at the western, hyper-financialised economic model. In a famous critical remark directed at China’s heavy reliance on western-style, debt-led growth – an anonymous author (thought to be Xi or close colleague), noted (sarcastically) the notion that big trees could be grown ‘in the air’. Which is to say: that trees need to have roots, and to grow in the ground. Instead of the ‘virtual’, financialised ‘activity’ of the West, real economic activity stems from the real economy, with roots planted in the earth. The ‘Belt and Road’ is just this: intended as a major catalyst to real economics.

Between them we find three regions of energy production: Russia and the Arctic, the Caspian, and the Middle East. Interestingly, the map does not break these three regions apart, preferring to draw a delimitation line around all three. They are contiguous, thus forming a single bloc, at least from a purely geographic perspective.""
----------------

I think it's interesting to talk about MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) in this context.

MMT describes how governments that print their own currency such as US, UK and China can print as much as they want and use it as they like. Govt leaders don't want us to understand this because they don't want people clamoring for social programs (affordable education, universal medical care, retirement benefits). They want to spend it on themselves and war.

It doesn't mean that with spending money the outcomes will always be good. As in the above example the US is wasting money by it's financialized activities (trying to grow trees in the air). China is spending their money on worthwhile, useful projects. This is one of the main reasons the yuan will become the more important currency.

Posted by: financial matters | May 2 2018 17:48 utc | 157

The machinations of the western players are transparent. Reality, and morality, supersede their manifest madness. War against Iran is the perfect rock against which their hegemony will be broken.

I have always regarded the Yemeni war as an attempt by the Gulf exporters to circumscribe the Persian veto on oil exports from the Middle East. That gambit has clearly failed. There is nothing but failure ahead. And if the Rus and the Chinese are careful, we can have these imperial fuckers broken in mere months with no nuclear war. Bravo! Idiots! Full speed, ahead! Gods bless Iran.

Posted by: scott douglas brown | May 2 2018 17:48 utc | 158

james @ 141

I haven't gone anywhere, I read MoA religiously, don't have anything to add re geopolitics. My knowledge set lies in other areas.

Re Modern Monetary Theory, the pdf below is the easiest way to orient oneself (free pdf) without reading tons of academic literature or frequenting the blog of Professor Bill Mitchell (http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/) . There's also many, many YouTubes on MMT, from academics and many activist followers:

http://moslereconomics.com/wp-content/powerpoints/7DIF.pdf

Even though he isn't an economics by trade Warren Mosler is one of the original founders of this school of thought. Ground Zero for the literature is U of Missouri, Kansas City, where Michael Hudson is a professor.

Stephanie Kelton, another MMT academic, served as Bernie Sanders' economic advisor during his Presidential run. His Job Guarantee proposal comes directly from MMT.

Posted by: paulmeli | May 2 2018 17:49 utc | 159

@156 ... Need training. Not a simple system to operate.

Posted by: SteveK9 | May 2 2018 17:49 utc | 160

thanks

Posted by: Perimetr | May 2 2018 17:51 utc | 161

@159 The fact that Warren Mosler is not an Economist, is the reason that he can think clearly about financial systems. Economists today are idiots. If you want to understand how the 'system' actually works, talk to a Banker. Mosler was a banker, then a hedge fund operator (maybe he still is). Today most people with that background are crooks. Mosler isn't, but in any case these are the people that understand 'money'.

Posted by: SteveK9 | May 2 2018 17:54 utc | 162

since babylon the ancient image picture is all that is needed shirley now you see the power of israel picture image and the casting of.
the mullar rockets are real payloads ready sites north south east and west of tehran can you not see it?
the bullies must be punished by a coalition of freedumb lovers
evildoers cannot be allowed to prevail unless we want more evil now with the 9 and 11 proofs of irania guilts we should open are eyes wide shut and admit we have been played all along libya gadaffi new hitler and saddam hussein new hitler did not kill thousands of innocent jewisher at the 9 and 11 event like bbc jane stanley who said building 7 had collapsed from burning fuel 28 mins early we was all wrong we made a mistake.
not so much an error of judgement but one of lack of imagination.
shirley now it is time to open are eyes at the folks that danced and video taped the 9 and 11 event and demand irania admits guilt and liabilty.

like hero treason may who gave russia new hitler ultimatum 5 days to admit guilt we should do the same with irania non compliance should then bee seen as guilt

Posted by: charles drakes | May 2 2018 18:15 utc | 163

@ DB re UN Charter --

Unfortunately, the Great UN Experiment is dead -- due, mainly, to the unsanctioned aggressions of the US and its unconditional veto in favor of ISrael.

Posted by: chet380 | May 2 2018 18:55 utc | 164

Why S300s did not engage could come down to timing, assuming the story of Israeli jets disguised as coalition fighters is true. The targets hit were near the "Kurdish zones" and the required time that they would have been intruders would have been so minimal that engaging them would have been very impractical. This geographic issue (in addition to the Lebanese mountains providing a shield for fighters to launch standoff raids) means, in my mind, merely providing advanced SAMs would not eliminate the threat. I'm in favor of a more active defense- for every Zionist raid, pick an airfield of theirs and blanket it with SRBMs (and promise this same response for every single raid in the future)

Posted by: Anon | May 2 2018 19:23 utc | 165

@157 financial matters.. i think what is missing in your analysis "how governments that print their own currency such as US, UK and China can print as much as they want and use it as they like" is the key acknowledgement that the us$ has been used as world currency..
one of the results of the bretton woods agreement was denominating oil, gold and etc. in us$.. in order to trade in commodities, us$ is critical... when the us$ went off the gold standard in 73, it freed up us$.. what this has meant as i understand it is much like the quote from china you have taken from that article - 'growing trees in the air'.. the money has created a giant ponzi scheme in the world financial markets... of course russia and china are not positioned to play in it in the same way either.. the imf, world bank and bank of international settlements were also established from the bretton woods agreement.. these institutions also support the usa position of power in it all too... well - that is my basic understanding which someone can further enlighten me on..

@159 paulmeli... thanks! your first link doesn't work... the 2nd one is a 63 page pdf.. i think i might benefit from getting hudsons book j is for junk, lol... apparently he goes into the use of terms for dummies, like me..

@162 steveK9... you wouldn't happen to be the same ex options trader from canada that was a part of a group of e traders that included 2deux, would you? curious!

Posted by: james | May 2 2018 19:40 utc | 166

Bart @27.
Yes, I know Jubilee is defined in OT. What she said was that it isn't described as actually happening anytime. ie. Doesn't say "Joe Blow did such ad such with his Jubilee benefits."

But I'll look more into it now.

Posted by: Daniel | May 2 2018 19:44 utc | 167

Paulmeli's link is http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/

It works.

Posted by: Castellio | May 2 2018 19:47 utc | 168

james @166 good point

I think this also brings up the idea of currency exchange rates or how strong your currency is against other currencies.

Weaker countries tend to peg their currency, often to the USD.

An important concept of MMT is the importance of having a flexible exchange rate (ie not pegged) so that you are not inhibited by this peg.

I think Mary Mellor (Debt or Democracy: Public Money for Sustainability and Social Justice) makes an important critique of this by basically saying flexible exchange rates don't work for everyone.

She talks of 'hard' and 'soft' currencies where a hard currency can be defined as one that has international authority/acceptance.

Local currencies can work very well locally to promote employment but can have trouble when they reach out to get resources outside of their currency space especially if they have a soft currency. Global sustainability programs need to take a closer look at how to overcome this sort of social injustice.

A hard currency also needs to be backed by power including the power to tax within it's currency space. This lets people inside and outside the currency space realize that the money has value.

This is a strange concept but people have to get the money (giving it value) to pay the tax or fine. The money is printed and then taxed. It is not taxed and then spent.

Posted by: financial matters | May 2 2018 20:21 utc | 169

Posted by: Perimetr | May 2, 2018 1:17:42 PM | 156
reply re why not use the s-300s, my guess is this probably is what happened(I am not sure where I found this quote, I apologize to the author for not being able to credit them):
"- Israeli jets are rumored to have wrongly identified themselves as coalition planes when hitting that Iranian/Syrian depot the other day, flying along the coalition corridor going through Jordan and W. Iraq. If true, that's an insane move, because then the Syrian and Russian air defenses would have reasons to suspect any coalition jet is actually an enemy plane that should be shot down - with the risk that Putin declares a no-fly zone over the whole country."
As for your points about not being set up, people not yet trained, don't want to give away their position/presence, yes all of that also makes sense.

Posted by: frances | May 2 2018 20:24 utc | 170

@168 castellio.. thanks.. that works...

@169 financial matters.. thanks.. yes - this idea of hard or soft currencies is a good way to put it... my own impression is that the gov'ts were in a position to print their own money and not have to pay interest thru the private banking sector for it.. i believe this changed in 1913 with the federal reserve and around the same time with the bank of canada.. what then happened is the gov't took over printing of the money, but opted to give private finance the control over lending and etc, whereby one's own gov't was paying to use the money - thus the huge debt that usa, canada and etc owe to the private banking system.. now, again, i may have this wrong, but that is what it looks like to me as i understand.. otherwise, why would canada owe money to the banks?? they could simply print the money to pay it off, or even better not go thru a private bank in order to borrow...

i read a 'creature from jekyll island' many years ago.. it was a pretty good book as i understood it describing the federal reserve and how it came to be..it also went into some of those same points in paulmelis 2nd link @159..

i really don't think banking has to be some opaque realm, but i do believe it has been made this way intentionally to keep the masses mystified and stymied by it all.. i think it serves the private banking system more then anything.. basically i don't trust anyone in a suit... it is my default position!!!

Posted by: james | May 2 2018 20:37 utc | 171

karlof1 @145,

Thanks this is very interesting. I agree that in some sense "the historical period from 1900 to 1960" and the interwar years in particular is important to keep in mind for our present. I am also reminded on the basis of your comment of Thomas Piketty's arresting conclusion in *Capital* that the period from 1945-1970 or thereabouts marked in fact a singular exception to the centuries' long trend of constantly increasing inequality in Europe and the U.S. due to rates of capital accumulation outpacing income gains. Part of this exception was probably due to Keynes. There is a reason why Keynes had to be derided at the beginning of the Reagan/Thatcher era and forever thereafter.

frances, thanks for this. Last I had look, the twitter account @Waelalrussi had confirmed Syria's reception of the S-300 on this basis but then had cancelled his confirmation. I will check again.

Posted by: WJ | May 2 2018 20:39 utc | 172

b, what do you feel is the most likely scenario, if the U.S. does exit the nuclear accord? Will the other parties remain, and if so, will Iran continue to abide by the accord's provisions? Or will Iran feel that it must follow the example of North Korea and develop its own nuclear weapons deterrent, which will likely trigger military action by the U.S. and Israel?

Posted by: Rob | May 2 2018 20:47 utc | 173

Neil Clark's become quite the critic of the Neoconism rife within May's UK. His conclusion provides grounds for optimism:

"Despite all the propaganda, all the hysterical headlines, all the blatantly biased coverage, the British haven't bought it. Literally or metaphorically. Inside the Tent gatekeepers have relentlessly attacked those brave individuals who have questioned the official narratives, but its these individuals- smeared as ‘crackpots' and ‘conspiracy theorists' who the public are turning to for their analysis. Compare the number of retweets the former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray gets when he publishes on the Skripal case, with those who try and denigrate him. My own Twitter following has increased by several thousands since early March. Citizen Halo got a big boost in followers after she was smeared by The Times. After the lies told about Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya people no longer tamely accept what the NeoCon Establishment tells us. We're at an ‘Emperor's New Clothes' moment in British politics where more and more people have found the courage to say out loud 'The Emperor has no clothes!'. The elite have been lying to us and they know that we know they've been lying. The question is: what are we going to do about it?"

Posted by: karlof1 | May 2 2018 20:52 utc | 174

WJ @172--

Just when during WW1 the British determined they were going to be backstabbed by their American cousins is unknown to me, but hopefully my unfinished research into that era will provide an answer. Clearly, Keynes knew what would occur as he observed the proceedings at Versailles, which prompted him to go to Marseilles to write Consequences. I greatly disagree with most of Wikipedia's discussion of Consequences except for this bit in the intro:

"In his book, he argued for a much more generous peace, not out of a desire for justice or fairness – these are aspects of the peace that Keynes does not deal with – but for the sake of the economic well-being of all of Europe, including the Allied Powers, which the Treaty of Versailles and its associated treaties would prevent. [My Emphasis]

Thanks to Wilson's stroke, we'll never know how he really felt about the last months of his administration; his wife becoming the first de facto female president of the USA. One of the better indicators about the nascent Deep States's feeling about Versailles is their behavior during the 1920s as it laid the ground work for the Great Depression's onslaught with Dollar Diplomacy and Teapot Dome exemplifying its moral compass. Prohibition's gangsters and coppers provided the required distraction of the masses until the money vanished. Then came radio, the beginnings of mass media and onset of media conglomeration.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 2 2018 21:28 utc | 175

james @ 166

i think what is missing in your analysis "how governments that print their own currency such as US, UK and China can print as much as they want and use it as they like" is the key acknowledgement that the us$ has been used as world currency.

…and Canada.

The US $ is the World Currency because the US is the only country in the World that exports it's currency…more than $0.5 Trillion/year. Like a virus really. It's that simple…if the US didn't export $ it wouldn't be the reserve currency.

The other part about sovereigns being able to "print all they want" is a falsehood without context.

First of all, when people refer to "printing" it usually means "spending" although I’m not sure they think of it in those terms. The actual printing of physical currency/coins moves money from checking accounts in the banking system to petty cash accounts. No new money is created by that kind of “printing”. About 2% of US $ is coins or currency, the rest exists only on balance sheets.

Secondly, a sovereign is able to buy anything for sale in it's own currency as long as the resource being bought exists and is for sale. You can't buy something that doesn't exist. The constraint on money creation is resources not arithmetic, which is the most widely misunderstood characteristic of fiat currencies.

Further, a sovereign that HAS NO DEBT IN A FOREIGN CURRENCY has zero risk of insolvency… there is no liability (in it's own currency) a sovereign cannot satisfy. The US holds no foreign debt. Nor does Canada, Australia, Japan, UK, etc. as far as I know. Every member in the Eurozone is a de-facto holder of foreign debt (the Euro…member countries cannot freely create Euro's. They are more like private borrowers).

gov'ts were in a position to print their own money and not have to pay interest thru the private banking sector for it.

James, this is another myth unless you are talking about the Eurozone. The US Federal government does not pay interest to the banking sector, it pays interest to holders of Treasury securities. To do so was a CHOICE not a requirement. Paying interest on previously created monies was voluntary. Congress created the banking system (for the US) through the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which created and governs the banking system, and chose to pay interest later after WWI I believe (probably as a give-away to bankers who didn’t think they made enough money off of WWi). MRW knows a lot more about this history if he’s around.

Interest paid on the “debt” (all money is debt, interest or not by definition) is a net transfer of funds to the private sector (those who hold Treasury securities). Those funds increase the money supply. Anyone can hold Treasury securities, not just banks. They are a risk-free investment vehicle (the only one).

Further, it is the Fed that sets interest rates, not the bond-holders (“bond vigilantes”) as they are referred to. 10 years of zero-interest rates post 2008 should be proof enough of that.

Treasury securities (bonds) move $ from a checking account at the Fed to a savings account at the FED. They are $ that earn interest. This is all explained in the Mosler pdf I linked to.

In double-entry accounting a National Debt™ for the government is NATIONAL SAVINGS for the citizens, as are the interest payments. All this worry about sovereign debt is silliness. Without sovereign debt the currency of issue wouldn't exist. Sovereign debt is our money (although the elites won't let us acquire much of it).

Posted by: paulmeli | May 2 2018 22:07 utc | 176

May2 172
Of course the Marxist critique of and challenge to Capitalism was central in all this ! The West was competing with the East ( simplifying)and when this situation changed with Anglo Hegemony 1990 , these balances that had seen overall development towards the 'welfare state ' disintegrated .

Once the U S got its opportunistic run at this situation, crudely grasping for further power we rapidly reached the present situation , with its repeat of World War scenarios , as competing economic / militarised blocs do exactly that !

Posted by: ashley albanese | May 2 2018 22:40 utc | 177

@ SteveK9 @ 160

Yes, Mosler not being an economist is a feature, not a bug. I agree, economists are idiots, but I suspect they're paid idiots. What's the Upton Sinclair quote…?

From where I sit MMT savvy economists are not idiots. They are however outcasts. If your not an insider you're an outsider, and outsiders don't get to make the big money, if they don't starve.

Here's a video excerpt regarding our pre-eminent economist Paul Krugman lest you think he isn't in on the con:

"Never Touch the Money System"

Posted by: paulmeli | May 2 2018 22:49 utc | 178

@176 paulmeli.. thanks.. i had to read your comment a few times, and it still isn't sinking in fully.. i am getting some of it, but maybe it is my conspiracy run brain that wants to know how we've been screwed over by the banks.. that is what i believe has happened...MRW.. haven't seen him in a good while.. every time he would come all my negative stereo types about the private banking sector were put on hold, as i recall!

i think a lot of this has to do with exporting / importing between countries... especially the part about holding foreign debt.. how does another country pay for something? this is why we read today of how russia, china and iran are getting into financial arrangements whereby they don't have to go thru the us$.. wasn't this a good part of the reason the usa went to war in iraq, or libya? iraq and libya wanted to trade in euros, as opposed to us$.. well - hopefully MRW can come and bring me back to reality! it seems the world financial markets are one big ponzi scheme... think of the derivative markets.. one is not trading in some actual commodity.. it is increasingly opaque and shrouded in speculation, while run on computers...

i am sorry paul, but i can only go so far in my understanding here.. as i understand it, something is very wrong in the financial system at present.. it is also the reason these financial sanction games are typically a lead up to war... one group has undue power and influence over the worlds finances - the usa - and they exercise this clout via sanctions, and if that doesn't work - war / regime change - etc. etc... obviously i am missing something here, but i will be damned if i buy the official hokum from an economist! thanks for trying to educate me.. n

Posted by: james | May 2 2018 23:51 utc | 179

I despise Netanyahu but please change the headline from Netanyahoo as Yahoo was used as an antisemtic slur in the past. I'm sure the author was not aware of this outdated meaning but it does the cause harm. Thank you.

Posted by: Josh | May 2 2018 23:56 utc | 180

james @ 179

something is very wrong in the financial system at present..

I think it's always been this way but now the corruption is so out in the open it seems like it's worse. I'm not sure it is.

The way finance corrupts is that obscene riches are offered to state leaders to sell out their own citizens for pennies on the dollar. And they do it, because if they don't regime change will follow. It's similar to the way corporate raiders take over businesses, sell off the assets and load the business up with debt, then sell what's left. With all of that debt said business has no chance of success. A handful of financial guys (parasites of the worse kind) walk away with the cash.

Corporate strip-mining - the business plan is simple and it's always the same - no matter if it's a business or a country.

Posted by: paulmeli | May 3 2018 0:07 utc | 181

Something to keep in mind about all of this Iran business is that Trump can now move full speed ahead with Bolton and Pompeo in place. I find it oddly comforting that, generally speaking, Trump and his administration make no attempt to cloak their psychopathy in coded language. I thought these remarks from Pompeo yesterday as he addressed the lackeys at Foggy Bottom yesterday particularly illuminating in this regard:

"I talked at my hearing about the fact that this nation is so exceptional, and so incredibly blessed and the facts that derive from that are that it also creates a responsibility, a duty for America all across the world. And I know for certain that America can't execute that duty, can't achieve its objectives absent you all. Absent executing America's foreign policy in every corner of the world with incredible vigor and incredible energy. And I look forward to helping you all advance that."

Posted by: david hogg | May 3 2018 0:23 utc | 182

paulmeli @ 181

Excellent précis of corporate/country asset stripping.

Posted by: spudski | May 3 2018 0:44 utc | 183

@paulmeli 176

Money supply increases with debt creation and decreases with debt payment. Wipe out all debt and money supply is zero. Taking out a loan is an example of money creation. The money does not exist in the system till its deposited into your account. Paying off the mortgage depletes the money supply.

Its true that the government does not pay interest on money the Fed loans them. Thats why so little is loaned directly to the government until the last crash. Money is not created by interest. That money does not exist without new debt. The government borrows the money to pay the interest.

A key reason the US is the reserve currency is OPEC. OPEC serves Big Oil interests which is interlocked with Big Banking and requires purchases of Oil to be in USD. Hence the name Petro Dollar. OPEC may produce the oil but its The Big Oil (4 sisters) that transports most of it to market, refines much of it and provides the equipment for OPEC members to get the oil out of the ground.

We also export a tremendous amount of food that requires payment in USD, and US manufacturing is now in China and consumer debt allows us to purchase a great amount of goods from China in USD. Manufacturers in China need to pay expenses in RMB so sell USD to Chinese banks. Chinas Central Bank Prints up RMB at no interest to buy the USD and then loans it to the US at interest.

Its a perfect system and is basically why the USD will never fail unless those in control want it to.

Posted by: Pft | May 3 2018 1:16 utc | 184

Why is it so many people who reject most of the media lies about the world, voraciously lap up the nonsense about Bolton and Pompeo who are two obvious contenders for the 2018 Mao Zedong award for most creepily asinine paper tiger?

This pair of nancy boys have been dragged away from preening their public images and charged with instilling fear amongst the weak kneed. A pair of gutless self promoting bully boys with neither credibility nor the wherewithal to back up their threats. One is left wondering why so many have an immediate knee jerk reaction of fear instead of acknowledging reality, that amerika has nothing other than huffing and puffing. Laughter, not "Oooh no, Pompeo and Bolton are in", is the most appropriate response.

Posted by: Debsisdead | May 3 2018 2:16 utc | 185

M @ 134: Thanks for the information about the Hudson Institute (one of several Washington think-tanks).

James @ 141: Bruno Macaes' article was useful up to a point but did not acknowledge that Syria had invited Russia to intervene in the war against the jihadis. There's no acknowledgement either how Russian intervention and conduct in the war have impressed governments in the region to the extent that they now consider Moscow to be a legitimate partner and mediator.

Posted by: Jen | May 3 2018 3:27 utc | 186

Ashley alba @177,

Yes. This is a very fine way of putting it.

Posted by: WJ | May 3 2018 3:47 utc | 187

In response to Karlof1 et al re: economics, BrettonWoods, Versailles, etc.

1.[extract from old post at Zerohedge]
...At the same time, BrettonWoods created the situation that , of all the sovereign currencies in the world, only the USD would now be accepted for payment "as good as gold". So the US began freely printing to excess.
Thus the trap: There was no BW provision for loss of convertbility!
In 1973 Nixon defaulted on the promise to convert USD into gold; the trap was sprung.
IMO, the trap was quietly and deliberately included in BW. Otherwise, how could a room full of lawyers and financial ministers and assorted insiders fail to make no provision for a US default on convertibility? Unthinkable? An oversight? The US would never do such a thing? Recall, the US had already defaulted in 1933 on USD-gold conversion after outlawed citizen ownership of gold, thereby defaulting on USD-gold convertibility by its citizens.
At BW, the US offer to supply unlimited USD convertibility into gold, available just for the asking, had to be too good to be true. A future failure to convert had to be a known possibility.

Posted by: chu teh | May 3 2018 4:08 utc | 188

sorry the bolded characters were only meant for part 1. of my post, above.

Posted by: chu teh | May 3 2018 4:09 utc | 189

Lots of talk here about money.

There's a reason that almost all of us are hazy when it comes to economics, money and debt. But the reason is not that these things are complicated.

So what's keeping us confused?

It's the one thing not mentioned above. It's the thing we never even think to criticize - which is how we know it's the thing that rules us. It's interest on capital. And not only interest, but compound interest. Compound interest exemplifies the love of money as no other mechanism in this world does, and proves itself to be the root of all evil as no other vice does.

If you're a banker, a loan is not a liability that diminishes you. It's an asset that enriches you. How can this be?

It can be, because the matter of loaning somebody the capital is trivial compared with the income that will accrue for years to come from that one simple loan. The loan itself is not really an asset, but the projected income is the asset. This is how bankers think, and they have pulled the wool of obscuration over the world's eyes so that we continue to think that debts are things that should be paid back.

To bankers, debts should never be paid back. As long as they remain debts, interest must be paid. And this is the income that all holders of wealth crave. You can accumulate all the wealth you want, but it's useless without income, and every rich person knows this. We must all have income. And for bankers, the world in debt is their income.

And there is plenty of "capital" in this modern world. It's so abundant, it should command almost zero cost in the market. And as the Federal Reserve private bank issues it into existence, it does so at practically zero interest rate - because that's all it costs today to create new "capital".

It then requires a host of willing resellers to create an income stream that will grow from this debt by selling loans to ordinary folks who think that money is scarce, and that being given some up front is a privilege, and that paying it back over many years, with usurious charges of interest tacked on, is the normal order of how it works.

"This is the world, Neo, that has been pulled over your eyes."

~~

We have seen, in countless other theaters and planes of activity, how easily and plausibly people will lie in order to further their agenda. Consider the bankers, and how much money they have to muddy the understanding of money, finding useful idiots and savants - all equally paid at the rate of 30 pieces of silver - to whip up the froth of false debate, all in order to distract from the true enemy of this world, which is compound interest on capital.

This is what truth-tellers and national leaders die from. They are killed for realizing that a nation can create its own sovereign money, and issue it at zero interest, as a public utility - with or without backing it by gold or oil or blockchains - but securing it simply from its own sovereign-delegated power of taxation.

Nations don't have to borrow money into existence. But the world will be put into total war before the captains and the kings can be allowed to discover this. Wars, of course, were the traditional way of creating the need for sovereign loans. And we have some hope for survival in that there is no need for actual war anymore. Propaganda does the trick well, and the MIC thrives.

~~

As to money, all we really have to know is that money is whatever works to exchange goods. Any village that grows food and weaves baskets can figure this one out. Add roads, factories and shops, and you have an economy. Just don't add universities, and don't let banks or money changers come in to steal from your productive economy.

This kind of world keeps trying to be born. It will never stop trying, because it is the reality of things. One day it will succeed in growing to strength. It may be happening already, perhaps in Cuba, perhaps in China. We shall see.

Posted by: Grieved | May 3 2018 4:30 utc | 190

Israel Seeks Ottawa's Support To Reopen Iran Nuclear Deal

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-israel-seeks-ottawas-support-to-reopen-iran-nuclear-deal/

"A senior Israeli intelligence official is in Ottawa seeking Canada's support for efforts by Israel and the US to force Iran to renegotiate its nuclear deal...Mr Chagai Tzuriel said Iran is establishing itself militarily in Syria and that Israel will use force to stop that, even if it has to go to war. 'We are completely resolved to not allow them to do that."

Posted by: John Gilberts | May 3 2018 4:33 utc | 191

One thing I left out was currency exchange between nations. This is a hugely complex smokescreen that obscures what happens to money as it changes from being a domestic, totally stable measure of value, and transforms in the international sphere into a commodity subject to gambling, bidding wars, loss of confidence and all around speculation.

Currency should never be mistaken for money.

Money exists at the national level (or the village, etc). In the global world village, the one stable money has yet to be perfected. Gold was the closest thing. It really is not perfect, but it's the closest thing we have. Everything else in the world of currencies, is the result of forces clashing and negotiating.

The US Dollar will be replaced by the IMF Special Drawing Right (SDR). This is not secret. It's how the global central bank works and plans. Everyone knows this. The USD will revert to a domestic money that forms part of the basket of currencies that it already inhabits - nestled in with the Yuan and others - and when global faith in the usefulness of the USD for stable value reaches a certain low, the SDR will start to replace it as the global unit of value preservation.

Unless.

Unless the Yuan, or some trading instrument currently not existing but developing in the background - perhaps in concert with the Silk Road or the SCO - becomes so stable and useful that the SDR can remain in the background. Maybe the Yuan becomes as strong and reliable as the Pound Sterling or the US Dollar in their day, and maybe China allows this many of its notes to be gathered in the world's nations. We'll see.

Posted by: Grieved | May 3 2018 4:51 utc | 192

"Iran did feasibility studies to assess what was needed to start a nuclear weapon development program"

No actually we don't know what feasibility studies Iran did, the IAEA merely says they were "relevant to" nukes without specifying what that means, and furthermore the worst the IAEA has accused Iran of is having "in place an organization suitable for coordination..."

Posted by: Cyrus | May 3 2018 5:06 utc | 193

Re: MMT, economics
The best explanation I have read is this interview of Bill Mitchell in the Harvard International Review.

Debt, Deficits, and Modern Monetary Theory

http://hir.harvard.edu/article/?a=2853

Posted by: mauisurfer | May 3 2018 5:09 utc | 194

Actually, I'm shifting my view on this and current related 'WW3" matters.
I think the recent Korean tension build up and peace-repose, together with Moon's almost immediate suggestion that Trump gets the Nobel Peace Prize gave the meta-plot away.

Trump's ego, Obama-envy, and mid-term risks all conveniently combine to explain the current narrative that he (Trump) won't renew the US-Iran deal etc.
Nutanyahoo's recent theatrical was also rather lame, imo.

So, what we have now is a great reality-tv build up of MSM anxiety that can only be averted by the Big-Man Hero of the Day -- aka, Mr. D. Trump.

He saves us all from WW3 by magnanimously letting Iran slip by (this time) with a strong 'warning' and a few more token sanctions, while holding his (conveniently recently appointed) growling MIC rottweilers at bay.

Definitely worth a 'peace (of shit) prize' and a safe passage through the upcoming mid-terms without an impeachment.

http://theduran.com/potus-trump-formally-nominated-for-the-2019-nobel-peace-prize/

Posted by: imo | May 3 2018 9:50 utc | 195

194 Yes your link 'seems' to be correct. In fact China monetary system operates like they just print money, like USA, however US accounts for it in books. It's like when to gauge how growth (GDP) forecasting companies looked at electricity usage.

Posted by: col from oz | May 3 2018 11:14 utc | 196

substantial wealth: goods produced and services provided. symbolic wealth: money. money is a ticket that permits the holder to take substantial wealth from the pool of wealth. only the sacrifice of a human being's time and energy creates substantial wealth. anybody not entirely certain this is true should right now take a dollar bill out of your wallet and command it to fix you a sandwich. as far as I have seen, MMT ignores this most fundamental of all truths. the whole problem with humans is that ever since we embarked upon the community project we call division of labor we have used this specialization in our work, which once again is the only thing that produces work-products, as an excuse to give overpay overpower to some, and underpay underpower to everyone else. we never see that we are exchanging our work and that it is physically impossible for anyone to work more than about twice as many hours over a lifetime as average people working average hard do, so it is injustice - it is theft - for anybody to have more than about twice the personal fortune another has. Friends, it is a RATIO that is causing the colossal destruction of everyone's everything - the overpay-underpay ratio that resides in the billions. money is power. duh. big fat duh. why we have tyranny/slavery is no mystery whatsoever. problems have causes. and they have solutions.

Posted by: Mother of God! | May 3 2018 13:58 utc | 197

As far as the ability to develop nukes is concerned, if memory serves me, South Africa had built at least 4 of the bullet-type trigger nukes in the 80s, while under stringent sanctions from the rest of the world, using antiquated construction methods in a warehouse smaller than a rugby field. They only declared them in 89, everything was extremely secret and well organized, in fact it was only after a Soviet spy plane photographed what they suspected was a test shaft and passed the info on to the US, did they admit to anything. But by that time they had already conducted a live test out in the southern Indian ocean, virtually undetected. The American satellites picked up something, but they were unsure what the explosion was.

Now, my point is this. Iran has today much higher sophistication than South Africa in the 70s and 80s. They have learned from decades of declassified documents from elsewhere. According to my understanding, building the machine is the easy part, and can be done by virtually any half-developed nation. The tricky part is the fuel. Finding and enriching it. Most of the enriching, I believe, is achieved by separating the heavier molecules through centrifugal force, ie. spinning it at relatively low speeds for a long time and using a nozzle of sorts to "catch" the good stuff. This can be done in any space whatsoever, declared or not. It would be impossible to prove that you are NOT enriching fuel, since you could never prove a negative. It would seem to me that human intelligence resources are the most reliable sources of information here. Which brings me to the point that Iran will always be on the back foot here considering we are being fed the mantra that they are "unreliable" and "untrustworthy", and it would always be much easier for the West to "prove" that they are, in fact, enriching fuel than for the Iranians to prove otherwise.

Another point. In Pelindaba, South Africa, in a vault somewhere inside their nuclear research facility, lies several hundred kilograms of enriched, weapons grade fuel. This was the reason for Obamas visit to the country several years ago, he was bent on convincing Zuma to give up this weapons-grade stockpile. Of course Zuma wisely told him to go fuck himself, so he mooched of to Uganda and then Kenya to promote LGBTQ rights, where both presidents of said countries wisely told him the same. Anyway, the reason, apparently, the Americans were so worried about South Africa owning a boatload of weapons-grade fuel was because in 2007, there was an attempt by highly trained agents, in my opinion most likely Mossad, to steal the fuel from the vault in Pelindaba.

They were unsuccessful, getting away with just a laptop, after a fight with an untrained firefighter who wasn't even supposed to be there. But while the fight was going on, another team had penetrated the security fence on the other side of the facility, but couldn't find what they were looking for before hearing shots and legging it. Now, you have to understand that this place is in no way nearly as tightly secured as the Iranian nuclear facility must be. Its a bit of a running joke here. So, when Yahoo says x amount of agents broke into the facility and stole half a ton of top secret docs, hes absolutely full of shit. No way. Im sorry, but if you fudge easy pickings like Pelindaba there is no way you could pull of a heist like that.

By the way, I think that the real reason America want South Africas fuel, and the real reason South Africa wont let it go, is because both sides know that if the SHTF, South Africa could have a bomb in a matter of days, maybe even hours. Its just a matter of assembling a few already existing parts.

For those of you who are interested in the subject, I would advise looking into David Cameron's mission down here in the nineties to oversee and delegate the "dismantling" of said weapons, and the mysterious possibility that one perhaps found its way to the middle east...

Posted by: dan | May 3 2018 14:22 utc | 198

Debsisdead, I agree with your assessment of Bolton and Pompeo but would like to throw in 'bone spurs' Trump this was my assessment some weeks ago on Bolton's appointment...
These ‘don’t wannabe Privates [PVT’s]’ and putative regime changers, Donald ‘Bone spurs’ Trump [he couldn’t remember which foot was effected] and John ‘I don’t want to die in Vietnam’ Bolton, now lead the US war machine, both cowards avoided the US draft.
A series of audio clips surfaced from the 1990s, including one in which Mr. Trump told Howard Stern, the radio show host, that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases while dating “is my personal Vietnam.” Though Bolton supported the Vietnam War, he declined to enter combat duty, instead enlisting in the National Guard and attending law school after his 1970 graduation. “I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy,” Bolton wrote of his decision in the 25th reunion book. “I considered the war in Vietnam already lost.”
I am sure both cowards are more than willing to send other peoples children to die for US goals all over the world.

Posted by: Harry Law | May 3 2018 14:26 utc | 199

MONEY, what is it, what functions it fulfils, etc. Here, history *can* help understanding.

Sumerians exchanged people, marriage, servants, slaves, children, etc., labor and services, land, livestock, goods. They had a clever accounting system, first material (tokens, exchanged hand to hand, but also filed and stored), then written, representing the tokens, which allowed more complex accounting and removed the need to make the tokens. It allowed them to keep track of exchanges, promises, staggered payments, rents, and so on, contracts in short. Their mathematical, numerical capacities - abstract, that is in the head and in the language, were high, better than their representative, symbolic tools (imho.)

An administrative/ruler class, salaried by taxation, took take care of all this, set up laws, standards, settled quarrels, smoothed economic relations.

The early currency as in a measure (‘a standard’) used was an X of grain, barley. This proved unsatisfactory (impermanence, fluctuating exchange, etc. - so not a real standard), in the later period silver equivalents were set up: silver could function as a yardstick; it could be amassed and stored; and while it had little real use, it became a sign of riches and status.. In this way, they converted the impermanent - 24 sheep! a wife! bolts of cloth, barrels of beer...to...‘dollars in the bank’. They invented usury, or interest - only possible when value is stored, so that went hand in hand. Also investment, in the form of starting a business and then splitting the payments / profits. (Similar to Sharia Law today.)

Small town Sumerians may have griped they were being ripped off for grand projects - temples and the like; war, though afaik, the history doesn’t show that, but they were subject to money lenders who charged high interest (20 or more) and many fell into slavery, lost their land, and had to go work for the temple (like today’s sharecroppers or prisoners, etc.) This unwelcome aspect was partly handled by debt jubilees.
Sumerians had no concept of sustainability. They took from the environment what it provided in traditional ways and were primarily concerned with proper, *exchange* (debt relief, price of this or that good or service, priests stipends, etc. )

The environment was a backdrop, the scene on which all was set, and it afforded only, on occasions, nasty surprises (drought, floods...), deviations from the norm, for the rest, it was just ‘there’. Sunlight, water, agri, animal husbandry, territorial manipulations - irrigation, etc., so in daily life, for the energy punch, biomass and animal fats, animals and humans, often slaves, were used, all managed through ‘best practices’ of the times.

They had primitive forms of insurance, paid for their military collectively, they mostly fought siege warfare (see contemporary Israel and Iraq.) Game playing (chess type games etc.) were divorced from finance and everyday life.

What has changed? :)

Posted by: Noirette | May 3 2018 14:26 utc | 200