On August 8th, Venezuela, Iran, China, and Russia, held joint military exercises at Kaliningrad, Russia, on the Baltic coast. The military exercises had been organized by Russia, perhaps in order to indicate to Washington that a U.S. invasion against any of these four would be militarily responded to by all of the four.

Posted by: Perimetr | Aug 12 2019 15:35 utc | 103

Hudson on Trump Raising Tariffs: “Charge Us More.”
In this short (11 min) video interview, it’s noted at the outset that Hudson is also a professor at Beijing University, and that he’s just returned from China after meeting with China’s Academy of Social Sciences. I’m highlighting the intro information because that makes clear the close connection Hudson has with China’s political-economic planning structure. We know he’s taught and given talks, but I’ve never before heard this introduction highlighting his ties to China’s governing circles. Toward the interview’s end, Hudson speaks with great authority regarding what China will do in response to the Trade War and by extension what Eurasia will do. The interview’s just over a week old, so it doesn’t contain the Chinese response to stop all imports of Outlaw US Empire agricultural products, which Hudson may or may not have known was going to occur–IMO, he wasn’t aware/privy to China’s specific plans.
I found it amazingly funny at the utter ignorance of the audiences sitting behind Trump at the rallies where he makes his announcements–they have absolutely no clue that he’s lying to them directly and further gouging their pocketbooks. The one point where he speaks the truth is when he states that China’s pouring lots of money into its economy–well, duh!, it’s Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, so that’s exactly what China does all the time! As Hudson points-out, that’s precisely what the Outlaw US Empire would have to do IF it were to try and reindustrialize so it can attempt to compete. But as he also notes, the bi-partisan plan is to continue privatization along with the austerity for the 99% that goes with it.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 12 2019 16:15 utc | 105

#105
The current memes these days amongst Chinese tourists and students when they are in the West is just how unexpectedly backward, unsafe and inefficient the West is, even when pitted against the average Chinese countryside.

Posted by: JW | Aug 12 2019 16:59 utc | 107

More Boeing in the news:
Boeing left 787 source code on an open server – and IOActive says there are vulnerabilities.
Customers not very happy with 787 product coming out of South Carolina.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2019 17:09 utc | 109

Another Hudson audio only program that is a must listen. What’s discussed you won’t read/hear/see in most media. Just the insider info about what Morgan Stanley told its Sovereign Wealth Fund holders is worth the listen as it’s 100% related to the direction global finance is heading as de-dollarization accelerates. The background context to the verbal spat between Germany and the Outlaw US Empire’s ambassador that occurred late last week I linked to and what that means is also discussed. For the 11 or so minutes Hudson gets to talk in answer to the questions posed, the information is outstanding. Again, the program was recorded on July 30th. Sorry for the delay in commenting about it, but finding time to listen/watch is too often at a premium for me, and today I was able to do some catching-up.
JW @107–
Yes, just as Westerners remarked about the “foreignness” of the East, we now hear similar things said by Chinese about the West. Curious isn’t it.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 12 2019 17:19 utc | 111

Circe – What if no one entered his cell at all?
Would video of that convince everyone he was a suicide? What if someone entered and left the cell? Would video of that convince everyone he was murdered?
Or would people just go on then to believe the video was faked?
We live in a post-truth world. Nothing can ever be proven or disproven again. Science and rational thinking have failed as the human imagination has evolved (or devolved) beyond the capacity for logic to be universally accepted.
That is also why the hopes some have for this episode to lead to some grand awakening of the populace to take on the PTB is wishful thinking in the extreme. We’ve already drugged ourselves into a stupor on both sides of every issue. Some will believe, some will disbelieve no matter what, based on our biases. As a society we remain conflicted with each other and often ourselves.

Posted by: donkeytale | Aug 12 2019 17:50 utc | 113

Grieved @69–
Finally got around to reading Crooke’s latest. Yes, the EU’s surely in a fix; but IMO, he’s correct about the ultimate source of the problem and the inability of solving it without a total reformation. However, I would argue that reforming the EU would be a massive error. IMO, it makes far greater sense to learn from the mistakes and negotiate with Russia and China to consummate Putin’s proposal for an EAEU sans the strangulating aspects of an EAEU Central Bank and currency–the Euro and EUCB being two of the EU’s mistakes. Such a creation would also see the demise of NATO and the freeing of monies for war to be used on debt relief, infrastructure, and building public/human capital. Russo- and Sinophobia would immediately cease. The issues of South Asia would become easier to handle. And to be included in the club Occupied Palestine would need to become Palestine–one state–thus defusing the last colonial imposition impeding Eurasian integration/unity. Yes, the five anglophone entities would be left out in the cold, although I can’t see The City allowing its politicos to blow its opportunity to cash in by having a piece of the action (but then the British are unpredictable) while Scotland, Ireland and Wales prosper. Africa would see its future lies in joining with Eurasia.
I don’t think either Merkel or Macron have the vision required to even imagine the above possibility, although I’d be happy to get surprised. But would such a suggestion need to come from either France or Germany; why not Central and Southern Europe as such a change would really benefit those nations?

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 12 2019 18:23 utc | 115

@116
Forgot the /sarc tag

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 12 2019 18:25 utc | 117

thanking the poster for studies that didn’t say what was claimed? why thanks?

Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 12 2019 18:35 utc | 119

c1ue @108–
“Agreed that Trump may not be that president, but he’s at least paying lip service to their pain – as opposed to the liberals who keep talking about training and competitiveness and other meritocratic bullshit.”
“Paying lip service to their pain” while lying in their faces. Watch Trump’s behavior when he lies; it’s as if he awaits the arrow to pierce his back.
Yes, I do agree somewhat to your accusations against D-Party neoliberals. But what else is to be done if training and doing what’s required to regain competitiveness isn’t the ticket? What if Hudson’s correct and Trump’s trying to demilitarize and greatly reduce the Outlaw US Empire using smoke and mirrors that blinds the Current Oligarchy and its enforcers? (Yes people! Listen to those interviews as nobody else is even suggesting what Hudson’s stating as fact!) That begs the question: What level of credibility does the Current Oligarchy rate Hudson? The Morgan-Stanley advice is a serious source that backs Hudson’s prognosis.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 12 2019 18:52 utc | 121

@Posted by: snake | Aug 12 2019 17:33 utc | 112
The elites are already moving to shut down the interchange of information amd manipulate people´s pereceptions and opinions, especially related to elections, they just are not willing to allow us to have our own opinion. As tendencies in the net are not favourable to Trump vote, he prepares an executive order to curtail all this….
https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/323817-trump-orden-ejecutiva-redes-sociales

Posted by: Sasha | Aug 12 2019 18:59 utc | 123

Sasha, I agree.
Trump may be doing the things that will demilitarize and reduce the hegemon but that is only accidental and certainly not what he has in mind.

Posted by: arby | Aug 12 2019 19:20 utc | 125

Lessons for the left from Argentina….

Teachings of the victory of the left in Argentina: 1. Focus on the social – employment, price of electricity and gas, deterioration of education, health and pensions; 2. Unity of the entire progressive field; 3. Create community by listening more to people than to marketing. 4. Do not lie.

https://twitter.com/MonederoJC/status/1160937320406822913

@mauriciomacri, the great friend of @marianorajoy, defeated by @alferdez and @CFKArgentina. Argentina has woken up. Four million more poor people are the inheritance that leaves the right without soul. This image of yesterday in Buenos Aires will soon begin to disappear. The miracle? Unit.

https://twitter.com/MonederoJC/status/1160897258424012802
Macri, the “ally” of Trump in the South….

Posted by: Sasha | Aug 12 2019 19:53 utc | 127

Formerly T-Bear @122–
Agreed! That’s why I made it a point to list the EUCB and Euro as the two main mistakes that must be learned from if an EAEU is to be formulated. Both Russia and China are determined that each nation must remain sovereign, which means each must have control over its monetary and political systems. Instead of a Union implying a federal structure, the proposed political entity would be better termed as a Confederation with each nation retaining its homogeneity. The major difference being the proposed Confederation would have no trade barriers and visa-free movement for its citizens. (Recall the main failing of the initial Confederation of United States were the trade barriers erected between states that prompted the businessmen’s revolt that led to the 1787 Constitution and the formation of the federal United States of America.) If a regional grouping of nations–say the former Yugoslavian entities–wanted to reform into a larger political-economic unit to better provide for their collective citizenry, there would be no objection; and the reverse would be possible as sovereignty of people would remain a foundation of human rights.
Given future challenges, IMO the above makes the best sense for Eurasia and Africa. The implosion of the Outlaw US Empire and its affect on its hemispheric neighbors remains unknown. It’s possible the once formidable economic magnet of the Empire’s economy will reverse its polarity and drive people out as it did during the Great Depression. The vast amount and depth of corruption within the Empire will take several generations to be extinguished, and only then will political reformation become possible.

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 12 2019 20:08 utc | 129

Sasha @124 & 126–
Given the time stamps for your comments, did you actually listen to what Hudson had to say?
I see the level of unreality soaring with almost infinite innuendo and no facts. Who voted for a greater military budget? Trump can’t vote on that now can he. Which entities maneuvered him into taking an anti-Russian stance? What affect did Trump’s demand that EU nations raise their spending on war to 2% of their GDP actually have, and what just occurred in Germany over the past weekend as a result? Did any of you bother to read what Crooke had to write as well as his sources? What’s Trump’s Trade War and Fed bullying doing to US and Global markets as I type? Do any of the above critics actually follow any of these things? Who has a greater call on what Epstein may or may not have known–anti-Clinton of anti-Trump? Who was the lead prosecuting attorney and what relationship does she have to the entirety of the affair? And for that matter, what bearing does Epstein’s racket have on Geopolitics and Geoeconomics?!?!
Leapin’ Lizards! as Little Annie Fanny once exclaimed! Why do I bother responding!

Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 12 2019 20:32 utc | 131

Hoarsewhisperer@ 73 said;”Buying politicians is the most lucrative investment of all…”
Yep, invest a million here and there, get a Billion back.
snake, thanks for the link. What a sordid mess of cretins.
@128: Interesting theory, but, IMO, DJT is just the latest, in a long line, that do the bidding of the malignant oligarchs, who’s vast wealth buys compliance to their needs.
The military is just the enforcement arm of their system..

Posted by: ben | Aug 12 2019 20:50 utc | 133

vk @96,
I’ll believe it all when I hear of neoliberals systematically dying with their genitals connected to a wall outlet.

Posted by: Jonathan | Aug 12 2019 21:11 utc | 135

@ karlof1 | Aug 12 2019 20:08 utc | 129
J.M.Keynes addressed ‘foreign exchange’ between sovereign states in his original version of World Bank and International Money Fund, both addressing the fundamental causes of the Great Depression. These presentations to U.S. government authorities also included the British application for war debt forgiveness at the termination of hostilities to avoid repeating post WWI scenarios. These presentations were then made to the Bretton Woods Conference as the American version of the proposals, reversing institution and purpose as contrived by Washington’s design. Makes interesting reading the cables between Keynes and London. What exists since Bretton Wood is the American version and as usual it was all screwed up, but Keynes original proposals contain policies needed for the EAEU’s ability to function (and to avoid the economic causes of the Great Depression).
I recalled it was tax collection that became the failure of the colonial confederation, the failure of the Continental Congress to meet its obligations, but then … interpretations can vary.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Aug 12 2019 21:30 utc | 137

@Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 12 2019 20:32 utc | 131
Do not come to me with fairy tales, man, I read everything by Crooke, but he is full far-right conservative. Do you know who he met in his last short stay in Moscow? Duguin!
With respect to what is happening in Germany? What is really happening?
I tell you, that Röschen got at the helms of the European Comission, just the unelected EU organ who decide the destinies, at socioeconomic level, of the whole EU citizens, no matter who was elected to the EP…since the EP, as Giscrad D´Estaing clearly stated, not without a laugh, decides noithing in the EU…
But who is Röschen ( Rosita )? Just the Troy Horse of the US in Europe…If you were told that Merkel was blackmailed by bugging his mobile phone, well, Röschen does not need even to be bugged, man, she will probably volunteer…
https://rafaelpoch.com/2019/07/17/la-ue-bajo-la-presidencia-de-rosita/
Please do not underestimate us, European left, neither you nor Hudson…

Posted by: Sasha | Aug 12 2019 21:34 utc | 139

Re: Pat Lang
When I was a bit more connected to blogs I used to read Pat L’s blog. Then he annouced plans to shut the whole blog down. This was after a good old McCarthyist purge, where he banned all suspected anti-American leftists. He banned james but couldn’t ban b. because his info was always spot on. I wrote to him pretending to be extremely concerned that the closing of his blog would be a big loss to the world, depriving us of the thoughts of decent, highly intelligent Americans with military backgrounds who did not run with the establishment line, of which he was the prime example. I extolled the virtues of his patience with people like james whose lack of punctuation and capitals was like turning up at his house for dinner scruffy and unshaved (I was howling with laughter at this stage). I even invented a totally anti-Russian brother-in-law who, thanks to being exposed to Pat’s wise words, had changed his whole way of thinking. I laid it on so thick I thought even he would not fall for it. But I was wrong. Back came a reply saying he had been quite affected by my words and asking for my username. I waited for the blog to reappear before telling him my username was “you_stupid_old_c***t.”

Posted by: Lochearn | Aug 12 2019 22:26 utc | 141

Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck

@Posted by: Jessica | Aug 12 2019 8:42 utc | 81
Indeed, that is the idea I have, if not by reading The Saker´s testimonies….
But, then, Pat Lang denies this…

turcopolier dijo en respuesta a Agnes Smedley…
Agnes Smedley
We want the fruits of our labors as a country. we don’t really care about the economic welfare of other countries. We want more. We are selfish. we are better off than almost any other country and want to be more so.

Of course, we got without knowing what Agnes Smedley was saying to provoke such response…in the usual fould play by Pat of deleting a comment while leaving his response to it, as if pretending to get always over the top, like the oil….
I happened to read part of the interesting comments by this woman and read her wondering why 20 years old in the US could afford to buy weapons, ammuniton and pay the obviously needed trainning courses, clearly she was not a US person….and, as you can see, asking nothing offensive…unless you find prickly braggart Pat at moderation….
…

Posted by: Sasha | Aug 12 2019 22:41 utc | 143

@131 Karlof1
Why do you bother responding? If for no other reason me…and the occasional MoA reading parties I throw! I like to read through the comment section in its entirety, but when lacking time, or trying to find comments for a friend to consider, I skip to Karlof1, Grieved, Psychohistorian or William Gruff. Plenty of other good commentators here, too, but I consider a few commentators to be butter to B’s bread.
Peace Out
J-Dogg

Posted by: J-Dogg | Aug 12 2019 22:56 utc | 145

KC @ 132:
Hong Kong Free Press seems to be pals with The South China Morning Post and The Epoch Times (owned by Falun Gong followers) and its work has been cited by the BBC, the Guardian, the Independent and the New York Times.
HKFP operates on a non-profit business model and relies on regular donations for support. One could probably guess at who those donors might be. If China’s law on foreign-funded NGOs, adopted in 2016 and coming into force at the start of 2017, were to extend to Hong Kong, I wonder how long HKFP would survive.
Of course HKFP would say that the authorities are infiltrating the protest movement and trying to encourage protesters to be violent so they can make arrests. That particular narrative is often the prelude to (foreign) snipers and terrorists firing at police and protesters alike. This was apparent in Kiev in February 2014 and before that in Dar’aa in Syria in 2011, when protests at rising food prices were hijacked by foreign terrorists who burned down the local police station and a Ba’ath Party office.
There is also some psychological projection in that particular narrative. Racist groups like Aryan Nations in the US are often infiltrated by law enforcement agents and law enforcement agencies are often infiltrated by people with racist or supremacist attitudes and beliefs.

Posted by: Jen | Aug 12 2019 23:15 utc | 147

MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has protested Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Crimea, where he attended a pro-Kremlin motorcycle club’s annual festival.
https://www.apnews.com/0435699081f74dbfb5ff5c27ec5bc4f0

Posted by: arby | Aug 12 2019 23:42 utc | 149

Posted by: donkeytale | Aug 12 2019 3:12 utc | 52
“I’m a leftist.”
–The ASS doth protest too much, methinks

Posted by: Anacharsis | Aug 13 2019 0:33 utc | 151

@134 sasha! – what @141 lochearn said!!! lochearn that is so funny – you made my day!
fact is, i respect pat for some of his knowledge, but the guy is a crank – crackpot – on so many other levels… but i think it is his intolerance that i delight in poking fun of and highlighting… he is unable to see this aspect of his personality.. he figures he’s this super logical – meyer briggs type – who has it all figured out.. the guy is a dough brain in many respects, and yet like everyone else, deserves some respect for his opinions however wrong headed they are.. now, i just go to get a laugh out of what he says, and every once and a while i agree with him… i agree that there are some very bright people that post there as sasha outlines..

Posted by: james | Aug 13 2019 0:37 utc | 153

@Norwegian #120
There are facts on both sides of the debate. The problem is that none of these facts are definitive themselves, which is why it is more important to understand the bigger picture than to try and say “this fact says I’m right”.

Posted by: C1ue | Aug 13 2019 0:38 utc | 155

@karlof1 #121
Hudson is a heretic – his knowledge and public statements in economics are diametrically opposed to the establishment of either side.
The real issue isn’t training, it is societal competitiveness in the form of infrastructure and basic unit costs. Health care in the US is the most glaring example.

Posted by: C1ue | Aug 13 2019 0:45 utc | 157

@vk

I put invetigative journalism between quotation marks because the editors of the NYT probably alredy know who killed Epstein.

So you have the corpus delicti then, do you?
Me, I put ‘web sayanim’ in quotations most often, because I know who owns the NYT and I can rather easily avoid their attempts at misdirection.
Epstein was taken off the operation by his Intelligence superiors, and unless he got too big for his britches, is sipping margaritas next to a couple of 16ish looking slave girls right now.
You will never see the body of Epstein because killing him and simultaneously proving it would put far too many other Intelligence ops at risk; i.e. when the ‘agents’ conducting them realized they were potentially expendable too.
Therefore the ‘proof’ of Epstein’s living or non living status will never be provided, but of course you have your own agenda too, don’t ya?

Posted by: C I eh? | Aug 13 2019 0:59 utc | 159

@karlof1
Catching up with the thread I see there are several vitriolic attacks against you. I hope you ignore it all. Vitriol does nothing but consume the attacker. But it’s a very attractive form of self-harm.
The Buddha explained that giving in to anger was like picking up red-hot coals in your bare hand to hurl at an enemy. And that being consumed with hate was like drinking poison and thinking this would make you feel better.
Ultimately there’s no satisfaction even in knowing that one’s enemy is killing himself. Better if the entire level of hostility could be calmed.

Posted by: Grieved | Aug 13 2019 3:13 utc | 161

And for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe…
Bob Dylan – Chimes of Freedom:

Tolling for the aching whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones and worse
And for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
We gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing

One of the great poems of that age, and that author.
Live version by himself.

Posted by: Grieved | Aug 13 2019 3:52 utc | 163

karlof @ 74
You’re not alone in that, not at all. Here’s something similar, stateside, that never stops boggling my mind.
How is it that people hiding behind paperwork veils are allowed intentionally to give their neighbors gruesome death sentences from horrible diseases?
In this dread state of Washington, Boeing is licensed, ffs, licensed! to act in ways known to give people god-awful death sentences. We call it “polluting.” Or “waste discharge.” FFS, you can no longer live on the salmon, it’d kill you!
What part of “plague of biblical proportions” don’t these people get? Oh, right, that all happened way over there, way back when, and all we’re doing is sitting here, looking busy until The Big Man’s Son gets back. See, *that’s the Holy Land, the rest of planet earth is god-forsaken dirt, with which we’re supposed to do as we see fit. But mostly making babies, looking for Others to fight on our border patrols (of both inner and outer spaces), and keeping that bitch, Eve, down. All Her fault, y’know. It’s in the book.
And that’s just for starters.
I’d love to live a life, free of “imperial entanglements,” but, rn, I can hear some of the Navy’s gd Growlers.
No, not the beer jugs, these:

The EA-18G was first used in combat during Operation Odyssey Dawn, enforcing the UN no-fly zone over Libya in 2011.[47][48] Five EA-18Gs were redeployed from Iraq to support operations in Libya in 2011.[49]

And the mantra around here, for self-flagellation via 110dB effing jets over our heads in “peace” time, is, “Our air crews deserve the best training.” Even the propaganda is drab. When I was a kid, there awas a big billboard that read, “Please Pardon Our Noise, It’s The Sound Of Freedom.” Now *that’s propaganda, baby!
Here on North Whidbey, The Sound of Freedom is so loud, you can’t hear Freedom of Speech. That’s so almost profound, yet depressing, amirite? And that’s my hometown, childhood, even country, in a nutshell.
Besides Ault Field, there’s an outlying field, where the Navy pretends we don’t exist, that they’re actually out at sea and landing on a carrier, doing “touch ‘n go’s,” as late as 2300.
It’s a constant harassment and physical assault. All day, any day, no matter what you’re discussing, however important to you it may be, you can be muted by a sound too loud to shout over. I’ve tried it.
And then there’s the gd, god-awful, recorded! national anthem played so loud I can hear it, precisely at 0800, from a good 5 miles away, min.
It’s still going. A pointless, oppressive, rumbling drone, big as thunder, but fake.
Yeah, I’m with you, and we’re not alone.
That jet isn’t flying, either. They’ve got an engine test cell. My dad used to work there. My god, you should hear the thing, you’d think an effing Saturn V was lifting off. Rumbles the very ground, not just the stick-frame house.
Proven harmful to our health. And we’re supposed to “Support the Troops (or else!)” by cheering for “our” air crews and demanding they “get the best training.”
We are most def NOT supposed to ask, “Doing what?” Also tried that. What a hoot! Right addictive, that is.
@ Laguerre, Grieved r/t Alastair Crooke: huh? Are we reading the same AC? Perhaps you prefer your prejudices cerebral?
I’ve been reading, not for the politics, but for the metaphysics. It’s possible, I suppose, I didn’t notice that an author of such deep insights, whose take on geopolitics syncs with that of other journalists I respect, is also a Europhobic bigot.
My computer use and access aren’t such that I can do the point-counterpoint conga, I regret to say. Some of this august company do it so well, I am truly humbled.
And much obliged. The rest of you lot? I’ll tell you a Zen secret.
If you keep watching this space ~~> <~~, until I get back, you will surely become enlightened. When will that be? No saying. No one expects the Zen Inquisition! Bowing out. Tag, you're It.

Posted by: TheOtherDave | Aug 13 2019 5:03 utc | 165

C1ue @155

… it is more important to understand the bigger picture than to try and say “this fact says I’m right”.

True, and I have been trying to debate with people on such a basis for about 12 years now. Almost exclusively, in return I have received a wide range of ad hominem attacks, been called a “science denier” a term designed to associate people with “holocaust deniers” and much, much more. The hatred is infinite and endless. The debate in Norway is completely Orwellian on these matters, the online censorship has been widespread. Thought crime (fact based arguments) is actively removed without a trace, except for the hostile ad hominem responses. This is the state of public “debate” regarding climate in Norway.
Regarding the bigger picture and the actual science, the idea of CO2 causing a “greenhouse effect” is more than questionable. Actual greenhouses (made of glass) are warmed because the air is physically trapped inside, not because of supposed inhibited radiation. So there is a greenhouse effect, but it does not involve CO2.
I was glad to see your post because you referred to historical fact of warming on Greenland etc. (the vikings employed in agriculture then, impossible today as it is too cold). These things used to be called climate optima before political opportunism stepped in.
Our atmosphere contains 500 ppm of CO2, which is less than optimal for photosynthesis. This is why you can buy actual CO2 generators to put into greenhouses made of glass, to improve growth. The slight increase of CO2 in our atmosphere is caused by a slight temperature increase via outgassing from the oceans, the cause and effect is opposite to dogmatic claims. The temperature on earth is controlled by the Sun – a variable star. The last 50 years or so, solar activity (as measured via sunspot counts) has been higher than before counting started in the 18th century.
If CO2 had the effect claimed, Mars would enjoy a much more stable diurnal temperature variation. The pressure on Mars is very low – about 1/100 compared to Earth – but it consists of 96% CO2 (0.005% on earth). The CO2 density is nearly 10 times higher in the Martian atmosphere despite the much lower pressure. Still, the diurnal temperature is characterized by very large differences (hundreds of degrees Celsius) every sol (a martian day is called a sol and is about 24.5 hours). The much talked about greenhouse effect does not work on Mars either.
The facts stand against the extraordinary claims made by government paid scientists (IPCC = Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change). They have not provided any extraordinary evidence. All indications are that the whole thing is a tool in the hand of politicians, allowing them to tax and control.

Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 13 2019 5:13 utc | 167

All this philosophising has put me in a revisionist frame of mind.
The wishful thought “Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest” is attributed to Denis Diderot. If that outlook were to be revised to reflect the trials and tribulations of 21st Century Mankind it would read…
“Men will never be free until the last bankster is strangled with the entrails of the last oligarch.”

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 13 2019 5:48 utc | 169

@ perimeter 103 .. your link re the joint exercises between Russia Iran + Venezuela. interesting – the choice of pictures and condescending captions … BBC snottiness at its finest … so subtle NOT

Posted by: Maximus | Aug 13 2019 6:09 utc | 171

@Norwegian #167
The atmospheric greenhouse effect is not the same as how greenhouses stay warmer than outside air. The physics of the greenhouse effect is not in question.
What is in question is the “amplification” – the idea that whatever CO2 re-radiation effects have on increasing temperatures, will in turn cause more water vapor to be absorbed into the atmosphere, causing more heat to be retained – wash, rinse and repeat.
For me, I don’t debate that additional CO2 in the atmosphere should have some effect. The precise amount of effect is more than a bit debatable: there are a lot of secondary effects which literally can swing the overall balance either way – of which the net positive/negative impact of clouds (reflecting or insulating) is one of the major ones, and which the established climate scientists all admit they don’t really know what the number is (as opposed to what they think it should be).
Mars and CO2 (and Venus, for that matter) is not a good example because there is almost no water on Mars. The vast majority of the greenhouse effect on Earth is due to water vapor, not CO2, methane or any of the other “greenhouse gases”. Yale, for example, says 66% to 85% of overall greenhouse effect is due to water vapor.
So while I agree with you that a number of “government paid scientists” are really activists, I don’t agree that they’re all scoundrels. Some genuinely believe what they say, some are talking their book, and some are scoundrels – but the same could be said for those who combat the panic-mongers.
Ultimately, I side more with the likes of Judith Curry – who agree that there is warming but disagree that calamity is inevitable or that the science is settled or that we have the solutions in hand today to act, regardless of accuracy of science.
In any case, I continue to examine claims put forward by all sides in the climate debate – so far, the alarmists have shown dismayingly bad records in predictions to date, in jumping on the latest weather news as evidence of climate change, in disaster news as evidence of climate change, etc etc. Between the climate change makes for more and/or stronger hurricanes (false), more and/or stronger tornadoes (false), hotter, colder, rainier, dryer – the list goes on and on.

Posted by: c1ue | Aug 13 2019 6:20 utc | 173

Worth following
https://twitter.com/techno_fog
The new motto for Greta and the millenials: “Your rich friend is a pimp!”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7350257/Is-proof-Prince-Andrews-Epstein-girl-paraded-VIP-parties.html

Posted by: Mina | Aug 13 2019 6:48 utc | 175

Inflation 🙂

Posted by: Anacharsis | Aug 13 2019 7:36 utc | 177

oh, and not the science has an excellent record of predictions and projections. you’re just parroting fossil fuel company talking points from the propaganda campaign.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 13 2019 7:54 utc | 179

[I’ve got an idea–why don’t I split up a single response into multiple redundant responses since I can’t formulate it all as a coherent thought and I jump the gun to make posts and make everyone read through 3 posts instead of one…genius!]

Posted by: Anacharsis | Aug 13 2019 8:13 utc | 181

@ grieved 160

In the video, AfD leader Alice Weidel cited her fear that Germany would lose its power to control the EU currency, and this seems to make sense, as it loses the alliance of the UK.

It is obviously true that the economic size of the EU is going to shrink considerably when Brexit happens. Quite how, though, being reduced “from 27 to 9” is supposed to work, I don’t understand, and I not am that interested to find out. However you have not understood the German context of Weidel’s speech, which is not some original and incisive analysis, but a repetition of ancient fears. As the German contributors here, like b or somebody, could tell us better, Germany has always had a policy of a strong Deutschmark, and now a strong Euro. I’ve never quite understood quite why they are so insistent on it, but it is observably true. It is not quite correct to talk about German desire for domination of the Euro, but it is certainly true that they don’t want to lose their strong Euro policy.
As for your “France with its stale colonial and neoliberal dreams”, that’s just plain old ancestral francophobia, as the English have manifested for nearly a millennium. As I said, the whole of Crooke’s article, and this exchange, is just re stirring gut-level phobias. Weidel has to respond to her AfD support. Crooke is waving English Exceptionalism – UK ca

Posted by: Laguerre | Aug 13 2019 9:17 utc | 183

@ Grieved | Aug 13 2019 4:36 utc | 164
Appreciate your comment here. A thought: Up until about the 1960’s the wealthy for the most part still lived in the same communities as the common folk. About then, a drift started, separating the wealthy into richer and richer groupings and finally into walled guarded barrios having little intercourse between populations. Is it not noteworthy that social pathologies started becoming prevalent concurrently? Of course there have always been some separation but never so completely separate as even earlier wealth conducted their affairs immersed in the public domain and were familiar with the less advantaged about them, and had established a human connection. That connection has been broken by the separation.
Another thought also arose: Up through the 1950’s into the 60’s growing up had strong connections with the natural world for most. During the 1960’s there was also a drift away from the natural world into a more planned, organised, contrived and artificial way of learning about the world. Later, fears of an unknown world took hold and firm protective measures prevailed and experience horizons shrank. This does explain the current state of PC as well as the ‘snowflake phenomenon’ as reactions of those who have lost all contact with the natural world and with human nature itself. Two ‘identities’ have gone missing from the population; one are those who understand human nature, and the other are adults. The population has become infantilised to the extent that maturity in relationships has become a rare commodity.
Thought I’d share a couple of thoughts your comment incited. Thanks.

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Aug 13 2019 9:33 utc | 185

@ Anacharsis | Aug 13 2019 9:46 utc | 186
Could well be a factor. Have you walked a city street with the zombies on their iDIOT phones? It looks like terminal phase is here. YMMV (insert smily thing here)

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Aug 13 2019 10:18 utc | 187

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam fights back tears as she warns protesters they are pushing city ‘into an abyss’
This article is illustrative of the complex relations in Hong Kong: Carrie Lam is not a communist, but a representative of the old Hongkonger capitalist elite. This elite is, for now, on the side of Beijing for two reasons: 1) China is growing a lot, while Hong Kong isn’t 2) an independent Hong Kong is impossible.
But this “alliance” may end if Beijing decides to accelerate Hong Kong’s integration to the socialist system. This may happen if these protesters decide to go to the last consequences and strikes begin to happen in the city. Beijing must already be doing calculations: the price of the PLA stepping in is increasing each day for the Hongkonger capitalist elite and its spokeswoman, Carrie Lam. That’s why she is talking about “the abyss”: this “abyss” is not street chaos or economic damage, but socialism.

Posted by: vk | Aug 13 2019 11:20 utc | 189

@ Jackrabbit #45
“Movements are independent of political parties. It makes no sense for a Movement to form a Party. Movements pressure all Parties by educating the public.”
I believe the outlaw empire has proven over my lifetime and certainly before, that your statement doesn’t hold anything except false hope. Movements can educate the public, but they in no way pressure the parties that be. The Movement i speak of would have to literally come out of the woodwork at precisely the right time, which would negate this upcoming election, as it’s too soon. This Movement would also have to be completely independent of the established political parties, because they’re what’s creating the need for a new party in town. I do appreciate your response tho!
@ karlof1 #47
“As anyone can tell from his tweets, Sanders has assumed the role of Agitator; and as everyone knows, it’s the Agitator’s job to get the dirt out–to put in on public display. Epstein’s case–death and all–also does that. It ought to be a simple task to connect the dots in a very public manner. I know Sanders is capable of doing that; the main question is will he?”
I think he proved during the last election he won’t. He won’t provoke the justice card, because he can’t, since he’s as much apart of the cartel as the rest of them, imo. However, i do appreciate your reply. And i also am mystified by the folks who disparage all you do here!?
@ Jonathan^-1 #60
“Surely you know that the system is not a suicide pact, and that it can and will ignore its public rules in self-preservation with not the least hesitation or remorse. The private rules allow for lying, cheating, stealing and killing. Indeed, the private rules require as much when the presumptuous, er, presumptive winners are in danger of losing.”
I agreed with Jen, above, that absolute secrecy would have to be done to negate from any of that occurring. Only the signature gathering could be done in usa, all other logistics would have to occur outside the outlaw empire, with folks sympathetic to the cause and using Fed ex or other ‘messengers’ to deliver the goods, not email, nor telecommunications. Even the signature gathering would have to be accomplished in a very strategic and secretive manner, to keep from raising suspicions from the folks you name above. Thank you for your response tho, i seem to be on a roll of sorts.
@ Jen # 83
“You should try watching the recent documentary “Hail Satan?” by Penny Lane.”
Thank you, i’ve jotted it down and when i have the chance i’ll endeavor to give that a viewing.
@ willie #84
“Case dismissed,in my opinion.”
A month ago i’d’ve had that ‘case’ on the same shelf as flat earthers, however, after Perimetr posted a series of links to a pretty exhaustive take on that particular conspiracy theory and it was like a proverbial punch in the gut! Wtf!?! The glaring facts for me are the incredible technological jump they made from crashing light craft on the moon to landing an incapable moon lander multiple times successfully, but now will take ten to twenty years of research to repeat the feat. One of Perimtr’s links here.
@ snake # 112
You posted a link to epstein that you obviously wanted everyone to read. I don’t understand it’s relation to my questions, but it does continue to fan the flames of epstein and those bastards around him so well done! My purported Movement could use people like you.

Posted by: aye, myself & me | Aug 13 2019 12:17 utc | 191

Prisons are about power. Prisons are about control. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Prisons are entirely and totally corrupt.Everything that happens in or connected to a prison is corrupt. What you know is controlled.
Fanciful schemes about body doubles and ketamine are just unnecessary. No one here even knows that Epstein was ever in MCC. Ask yourself, would a character like Tartaglione repeat the story he was told to repeat? You think there is anybody more believable than Tartaglione who is employed at MCC? As you go up the ladder from inmates the motivation to stick to the script gets greater and greater. If anyone goes off script it hardly matters, the NYT will not print it. With great reliability.

Posted by: oldhippie | Aug 13 2019 12:48 utc | 193

I claim no insight into the mind of the Chinese government, but I agree with Hoarsewhisperer, China doesn’t have to, and probably shouldn’t do anything much, Hong Kong is no threat, it is rather a perfect bad example which should be left to its folly. Leave it to Ms Lam and the provocateurs. Even if they “take back” Hong Kong, what will they do with it?

Posted by: Bemildred | Aug 13 2019 13:40 utc | 195

@164 greived… thanks for sharing that women’s perspective on parents and children with regard to power… the big difference between those like epstein and parents is “skin in the game’… parents have skin in the game – there children… epstein – not so…

Posted by: james | Aug 13 2019 14:20 utc | 197

Epstein projected a ‘cool’ guy image, he was ‘edgy’, associated with the rich and powerful, millionaires, with some big corps, with ‘top scientists’, with GAFAM, with charities, foundations, lawyers, even fringe artists and so on. He kept out of US MSM, clever.
See a selection of pix (link), or his black book.
These ppl (young women, local contacts, etc. left out), with very few exceptions, belong to a specific circle.
Globalist, even hyper-globalist (not just: we will produce our junk in China, but new-world-order type), falsely ‘left’ and truly smarmy ‘inclusive.’ Racism is for the mopes, the disgusting worms, we love everyone hmmmm as long as they love us or we can dominate, exploit, and rape them!
Typically // just removed 10 names, one was Richard Branson, he is well known by now for assocaiton with Epstein // yeah self-censorship. // I am not accusing any of these ppl of sex-related, or other, misbehavior or crimes, nor for them even having a clue as to what Epstein was up to, e.g. Stephen Hawkings was invited to Orgy Island and surrounded by groupies.
The circle is international, fiercely technotopic and pseudo-scientific (e.g. Musk a favorite of Epstein – Stephen Pinker is admired!), developed world, USuk centric — Africans, South Americans, Japanese, for ex. are excluded or only accepted as ‘tokens’ when it is ‘cool.’
Israelis, Jews are at the core in a way, accepted; Muslims are banned, the Isr-KSA alliance does not sit well (see for ex. some Dems in the US endlessly agitating against Saudis, re. 9/11 etc.)
http://toresays.com/2019/07/07/exclusive-photos-epstein-who-was-blocking-the-unsealing/
gafam = google apple face book amazon microsoft
The other side: nationalists, tribalist in a sense, protectionists, populist (whatever that means), anti-immigration, libertarians or semi-so, order out of chaos, more social conservative than not (abortion, same sex marriage though all that is pretty much fake banners in the US), old style industrialist extractionists (Oil cos..) are no better.
The split into 2 is of course not well defined, fluid, the boundaries are unclear. Yet, there are fights going on at the top. Imho Epstein death is part of that war.
Other. pov on the split. Charles Hugh Smith
https://www.oftwominds.com/blogaug19/deep-state-war8-19.html

Posted by: Noirette | Aug 13 2019 15:21 utc | 199