@Jon_in_AU #86
Most of what you wrote has nothing to do with oil.
Note I’ve never said Libya should have been taken down. That was and remains a crime.
But in oil terms, Libya is an extremely minor player by any objective measure.
As for fracking – you clearly have a view, and my view is totally different.
I’ve talked to a lot of people in the oil and natural gas industry; their view is the situation is a lot more nuanced and based on experience than any of us (you and me) armchair quarterbacks.
What they say is that the primary reason why fracking doesn’t make money is the cheap money led too many incompetent producers get into the field, and more importantly stay in the field longer than they had any right to. The presence of these people didn’t just suck up a lot of investment money – it drove up costs for the competent producers too – because everyone doing fracking competes for sand, water, lease rights, drill rigs etc.
If, and I do mean if, the cheap money spigot has truly cut off – the competition will reduce. The costs for the competent producers will fall, although some will fail too.
But oil consumption will keep growing; the question right now is if the prices will go up fast enough to prolong the losers’ exits (or even save them).
As for the US military: no, they are not the largest consumers of oil in the world. That would be the nation of China. China was consuming 8 million bpd in 2009, they’re now consuming over 13 million bpd with over 9 million bpd being imported.
A major reason why oil prices spiked in 2011-2014 is because of China’s huge increase in demand hitting an otherwise fairly flat world supply – because China was not hardly at all affected by the GFC.
China is the largest customer for Saudi Arabia now. They’re the largest customer for Iran and Iraq. They’re the largest customer for just about every oil producer not located next to the United States.
If you are trying to say that the US military is ensuring the price of oil – they’ve failed pretty miserably, whether to keep prices high or low. Secondly, oil due to fracking is a very different economic equation today than it was prior to the fracking boom.
Prior to fracking, the US was the largest oil importer and high oil prices meant economic outflow from the US economy. Today, because of fracking, high oil prices mean more economic prosperity for the US. Fracked oil means jobs in the US: not just drilling but building pipelines, processing, payments, hotels, whatever.
And if the US military is truly about US economic interests alone, they should bomb Saudi Arabia. That would drive up prices real fast and help the US economy and people (and government).
So all in all, consider me unconvinced with your argument.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 23 2020 22:21 utc | 103

karlof1 #36

I do think many consciously ignore reality since it’s so ugly and evil. But until humanity comes to grips with the Post WW2 Holocaust driven by the Evil Outlaw US Empire, it will continue and those currently responsible will never be held to account, even if it’s a version of the Nuremburg Trials, as imperfect as they were.

Thank you, YES to that but I err on the side of optimism and whether brought to account or not, we will build a better world.
An interesting read on how a society constructs a social cultural ecological means to sustain over millennia is considered in Treading Lightly by aauthors Karl-Erik Sveiby and Tex Skuthorpe. The Australian Aboriginals had created a deep matrix of cohesive and multidimensional responsibilities that are now being revealed and reported after the genocide.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 23 2020 22:29 utc | 105

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jan 23 2020 16:14 utc | 11
“i don’t think he’s a sheepdog, but then i’m left with the alternative that he is still naive and gullible about some aspects of the u.s. neither is really palatable.”
Is it possible for a career politician to be that naive and gullible?
But let’s look at it this way. Suppose a popular candidate did want to be a sheepdog. How could he improve upon Sanders’ performance in 2016? The same performance he’s already promised he’ll repeat in 2020.
“well if bernie does win, he can appoint her. he needs a good vp, too–not somebody like lieberman, or some other shill. ”
I wasn’t surprised that none of the Bernie fans answered my question from yesterday:
If he’s for real, he must have a full cadre ready to go, a government-in-waiting, fully loyal to Sanders, in full agreement with his agenda, ready to become executive appointees and hit the ground running from day one aggressively pushing this Sanders program, at least in the executive branch.
After all, it’s impossible to assemble such a cadre as an afterthought. If you’re a real insurgent who would have to overawe and where necessary break the existing executive bureaucratic cadres and structures, you need to be ready to go on the offensive from day one. Most of all you can’t expect to find allies or good intentions or conscientious advice waiting for you there.
We’ve seen what happened with Trump, if he ever did have even the slightest desire to drain any swamps: He brought almost no one with him, and the few he did bring he quickly purged, at the insistence of the establishment. Of course the most likely explanation is that he never had any swamp-draining intentions in the first place.
So: Who are the people comprising the Sanders insurgent-government-in-waiting?

Posted by: Russ | Jan 23 2020 22:43 utc | 107

Posted by: Kali | Jan 23 2020 19:09 utc | 55
“There is a lot of people who see Bernie Sanders as lacking what it takes to take on the neocons and MIC. That may be so, but maybe he is following the advice in Sun Tzu’s Art of War which prizes deception as the most effective tactic to win a war.”
How many dimensions of chess playing does Sun Tzu recommend to get one’s fanbots to believe in?

Posted by: Russ | Jan 23 2020 22:44 utc | 109

uncle tungsten @105–
Thanks for you reply and note of optimism; but as you see by my 106, I’m a sad case today. It’s perhaps from reminders in articles like “Russia’s Auschwitz Archives: How the Soviet Army Liberated the Nazi ‘Death Factory’” that revive what I know and combine with my current investigations, all of which make a giant mockery of our claim to be civilized.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 23 2020 22:52 utc | 111

Main point, and worry, in Davos Summit of the rich elites, that the people is fed up of capitalism, as the last intenrational polls throw, and this is happening in places which could seem so distant in labor and life conditions and unequality like India ( where massive strike of the size of the whole population of countries like Russia have taken place lately, and take place periodically…without any echo in the MSM… )or Western Europe….
The World Population Is Tired of Capitalism
This only could be because labor and life conditions are worsening in the West to the point of equalying those in places where the population has been always submitted to lives of misery and slavery conditions of labor, even when having a job, which is currently the tendence amongst the Western working class, especially the youth…Of course, as the obscenely rich preview, this is untenable in the long term without an outbreak of rage…This is why they have tried to put the far-right in power, as a last resort, so that once grabbed power coerce the growing unrest by force… or direct extermination…as happened in the past…
But it does not seem to be working well, even people totally alienated by TV and mobile devices appear capable of showing some resilience and think that they can not get the numbers…
Simultaneously to the summit of the rich in Davos, it is taking place the International Forum on Human Rights in Chile

The International Human Rights Forum will be held in Santiago on January 23, 24 and 25…
….More than 100 exhibitors from 22 countries will participate in the meeting that will take place at the former National Congress. As detailed by the Executive Director of the Forum, Jonatan Díaz, the activity “has become one of the most important instances of Latin America in the field of Human Rights”, emphasizing that the success of registrations realizes that it is an instance “that gives an account of the relevance and urgency that our peoples must address to move from reflection to action”.
….The Forum seeks to be the beginning of a series of meetings aimed at addressing citizen discontent in the world through a political, economic and social system, and seeks to consolidate itself as a space for conversation and debate that allows analyzing common challenges in order to draw initiatives joint for the defense and promotion of human rights in the region and in the world. It also intends to hold a second meeting in the coming months, in a country to be defined.

Posted by: Sasha | Jan 23 2020 22:54 utc | 113

The Senator character played by Alan Arkin in the movie “Rendition” certainly seems from the acting and writing to be based on Sanders. I suspect somebody involved in making the movie had personal experience of D.C. and Sanders.

Posted by: lysias | Jan 23 2020 23:08 utc | 115

If in the UN it smelled of sulfur, in Davos it smells like shit…
Recicled Guiado in Davos…an ode to elocuency….

“El eelene”, “las células de Esbolá”, “la régimen”, “la extracción de oro en el Amazonas” y “detener claro, el cambio climático”.

https://twitter.com/Maryuale/status/1220382925390254086

Posted by: Sasha | Jan 23 2020 23:19 utc | 117

This is already a hot war the US is prosecuting against Iran.

Posted by: Lurker in the Dark | Jan 23 2020 23:29 utc | 119

c1ue@101
“Yes, fracking production has heavily benefited from cheap money.”
This is a ode word for malinvestment. As a result of poor planning these wildcat fracking operations fail to properly plan the resource extraction stream leading to failures to plan for such components as roads, fracking sand inputs and pipeline capacity.
https://mises.org/library/malinvestment-not-overinvestment-causes-booms
“Fracking has fundamentally changed the role of imported oil in the US.”
Fracking is just a short term stopgap as wells deplete rapidly. Once the condensate boom goes bust the US will have to invade a couple of other oil producing countries to promote democracy and the amerikan way.
“It has fundamentally changed the energy mix in electricity generation – from coal to natural gas.”
Yes, in the short term low natural gas prices have dramatically reduced the use of coal in the US (excepting metallurgical coal). Currently natural gas prices are at about $2.00/1000cuft or $71/1000m3. The price is so low that many producers are shutting down, as they cannot make money due to the massive short-term glut (malinvestment again).
In many places such as the Permian there is massive flaring to get rid of the excess gas rather than using it for the public good. This is not to say that no one is making money off this problem as gas pipeline operators are charging several dollars per 1000cuft to take it off the producer’s hands. There is a movement to use some of this gas to run well-head operations and the larger companies are better at it due to economies of scale.
As you know, Cheniere is doing well by helping Trump sell “freedom gas” to Europe at about $213 per 1000m3 on long term contracts. The US is covering this up by increasing foreign aid enough to cover the additional costs of “freedom gas”.
“And the net reserves of oil and natural gas enabled by fracking is still far above the total amount of money burned in the creation of this industry – even at the low oil and historically low natural gas prices today.”
Please elaborate on this statement as I am missing the point. Can you post a comprehensive paper on environmental costs into the fracking cost-benefit analysis.
“As for panic in Italy – Italy is the closest EU country to Libya. A cutoff will affect some people, but there seems to be plenty of other sources happy to step in.”

Posted by: krollchem | Jan 23 2020 23:50 utc | 121

The mobilization of workers in France is of a general nature. Lawyers demonstrating in the High Court of Justice of Paris.

https://twitter.com/ciudadfutura/status/1220395778033770496

Posted by: Sasha | Jan 23 2020 23:57 utc | 123

A commentary about Sanders in The Week, showing the Overton Window in action:
Democratic presidential candidates have been weighing in on Trump’s decision, with Sanders describing the strike as an “assassination” and a “dangerous escalation” that “brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars.”
Though all of the 2020 Democrats were critical of Trump’s decision, BuzzFeed notes that “Sanders took a different tone, one drawn from a wing of the party that has opposed American wars since Vietnam,” while most other leading contenders “took more cautious” stands, being sure to begin their statements by condemning Soleimani.
….
Sanders was initially the only one of the Democratic candidates to describe the killing as an assassination, though Warren later on Friday did so as well.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jan 24 2020 0:03 utc | 125

Russ@120
Great points as usual.
If I may add additional points:
Ron Paul pointed out that one has to reform the two parties from the ground up starting at the local level which Sanders has not done. Those who have never attended a party caucus have no idea how corrupt the process is.
Americans have a superhero syndrome and perhaps some see Sanders as the one who can save the day. In reality a president can only effectively impact foreign policy, mostly by starting wars as entertainment for the unwashed American masses.
Even if Sanders were even Jesus Christ he would be prevented from getting the required number of delegate votes by the mafia that runs the Democratic (and Republican) party in the first round. In the second round the super delegates get to vote and choose their “do not rock the boat” candidate.

Posted by: krollchem | Jan 24 2020 0:11 utc | 127

Russ #120

Meanwhile I’ve periodically visited the Sanders website ever since latter November 2016, specifically to see if there’s any evidence of movement-building, as opposed to the equivalent of, “we’ll start improvising the status quo campaign in 2019”.
Needless to say, I’ve never seen a shred of commitment to anything real.

I see solid and substantial evidence of Sanders building a movement for change and his election campaign. For these two runs he has created a wide and sustainable changemaking network and raised people’s hope and commitment to make a better government for the USA.
This is the success model for all changemakers throughout history: build the base, establish a cohesive and committed network with resilience to continue even in the loss of a leader. I am sure as many others here That Bernie is really sticking his neck out in the assassination land of the USA. Just read the People’s History of the United States by Zinn or the cover notes for many songs like Joe Hill etc.
Russ you are a negativist in the face of a great movement for change and that is not a contribution to change, rather a blockade. Sure Bernie may not be the magi to implement all aspirants needs, but he is mighty good navigation beacon to set sail for. I can only trust the millions of USians are on that journey for the next few decades.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 24 2020 0:15 utc | 129

krollchem #127

Ron Paul pointed out that one has to reform the two parties from the ground up starting at the local level which Sanders has not done. Those who have never attended a party caucus have no idea how corrupt the process is.

Reform from the ground up is usually renered impossible by thuggish machines.You can work your arse off at a branch level and maybe build a sufficient majority to get your team in control. Then come ballot time an extra fifteen people turn up fully credentialled and financial courtesy of ‘head office’ and you lose again. Or you get control of one or two branches in a state and then voila! like magic more branches spring up and they are all establishment cronies.
Ron Paul is BS. He is simply a diversion – a neutraliser – a red herring nonsense.
The Bernie machine has not fallen for that BS and is building BOTH internally and throughout the other partyless party the independent voters and the non voters and good luck to them. Read Rules for Radicals.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 24 2020 0:28 utc | 131

Xinhua repoted:
BAGHDAD, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) — Iraq’s paramilitary force Hashd Shaabi said on Thursday that it opened fire at an unidentified drone flying over its bases near the border with Syria in the western province of Anbar.
On Dec. 29, the Hashd Shaabi’s 45th and 46th brigades belonging to Kata’ib Hezbollah in Iraq were attacked by U.S. airstrikes, leaving more than 25 Hashd Shaabi members killed and 51 others injured.
Other news happening at the same day:
“Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Israel on Thursday for a major Holocaust commemoration
Putin, Pence arrive as world leaders gather for major Holocaust…”
“Israel: Putin, Netanyahu inaugurate Siege of Leningrad ”
“Amid Polish-Russian Row, Israeli FM Tells Putin: ‘We Know the Historic Truth’
Katz, who is considered a persona non grata in Poland after accusing Poles of anti-Semitism, says Israelis ‘know exactly who liberated’ Jews ■ Polish president urges to stop distortion of Holocaust
Author: Ofer Aderet Jan 23, 2020.”
I was doing some research on the mines and cave systems of region “Riese” in Poland (then part of Silesia region of Germany) , the area Nazis rushed to finish their own version of underground complex “Cheyenne Mountain in the US”. Mountain of Giants. Evil Mountain were other names of the area in local lore.
It was from these research stations that a team of Nazi scientists was taken and was equally shared among US and USSR research camps at the end of the war.
Their research only months later produced the “flytrap” technology.
A Pandora’s Box responsible for most modern achievents, in electronics, aviation, robotics and communication.
These scientists were later freed to travel back in Europe.
One question though…
Why did USSR laged behind EU(German) and US technological race the following decades?

Posted by: Qparticle | Jan 24 2020 0:32 utc | 133

@krollchem #121
It seems to me that if what you say is true, nothing needs to be done in order to have the fracking revolution reverse itself. So what’s the worry?
As for malinvestment vs. overinvestment: let’s compare the actual return of energy vs. $ invested for fracked natural gas or oil vs. say, solar or wind. The comparisons are very unflattering.
I do find it interesting that the absolute success of fracking in producing low cost energy is considered bad…normally being able to drop prices and reduce energy costs across the entire nation, as well as net electricity production pollution levels, would be considered good. I guess some people would complain if you hanged them with a golden rope…
Sure, I actually agree on the ecological aspects to some degree – mostly because fracked oil and/or natural gas provides sooooo much more energy that the environmental impact has to be greater.
But as to reserves vs. investment: I don’t remember the source offhand, but I did see a chart which showed the amount of money invested in fracking has produced 3x proven reserves in dollar values, even at existing low prices.
Ultimately, the desire to not pollute is admirable, but meaningless unless there is a clear willingness to also suffer reduced standards of living. Every time I see people say “there’s a better way” – this bit is never mentioned. And most importantly, 51% of the population has to agree and vote for it.
They don’t and they haven’t. Until this vote passes, its all just hot air and sour grapes.

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 24 2020 0:33 utc | 135

Google translation:
Vladimir Putin at a speech during the Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem proposed convening a summit in 2020 with the participation of Russia, the USA, China, France and the UK. Members of the UN Security Council should discuss current global issues together, the Russian president said.
The president said that world leaders should not miss the emergence of new sprouts of hatred and anti-Semitism. He added that the UN founding countries and permanent members of the Security Council have “a special responsibility to preserve civilization.” They should become an example for other states.
Negotiations on such a summit have already begun, he noted.
https://www.rbc.ru/politics/23/01/2020/5e29a0d39a79470c16146fab

Posted by: Yalta 2.0? | Jan 24 2020 0:47 utc | 137

@ Russ | Jan 23 2020 22:44 utc | 109
“There is [sic] a lot of people who see Bernie Sanders as lacking what it takes to take on the neocons and MIC. That may be so, but maybe he is following the advice in Sun Tzu’s Art of War which prizes deception as the most effective tactic to win a war.”
How many dimensions of chess playing does Sun Tzu recommend to get one’s fanbots to believe in?
____________________________________________
Good question. I have another:
Never having read Sun Tzu’s oft-touted writings, I wonder if he also wrote an “Art of Politics” which prizes deception as the most effective tactic to “win”, i.e. maintain and enhance, a prosperous and secure political career.

Posted by: Ort | Jan 24 2020 0:49 utc | 139

While Putin and Lavrov cry in Jerusalem with Netanyahu…..
Why to complain about decommunization in Ukraine and Poland, and then you remain silent about decommunization in the Russian Federation?
Via Konstantin Syomin Agitblog.ru

The building of the Moscow Polytechnic Museum was decommunizated: a commemorative plaque in honor of Lenin, who acted repeatedly in this building, disappeared from the facade. The reconstruction of the polytechnic takes 7 years under the supervision of Chubais. The work is carried out by Dom.RF, last year the workers were taken to an Italian strike.

https://twitter.com/KSyomin/status/1219956485310099456

Posted by: Sasha | Jan 24 2020 0:55 utc | 141

Russ has confirmed he has BDS Bernie Derangement Syndrome.

That’s the mating call of Hillarybots, Bidenbots etc. – she/he is “experienced”.

💤🙄Aye-aye-aye…OF COURSE I’D LIKE SANDERS TO PICK AOC AS HIS V-P, DUM-DUM. I COULD GIVE A RAT’S ASS IF SHE’S NEW TO WASHINGTON! I’M NOT THE ONE HE HAS TO IMPRESS WITH HIS JUDGMENT/CHOICE; I’D LOVE IT IF HE PICKED AOC OR GABBARD!
I JUST WANT HIM TO WIN!

Posted by: Circe | Jan 24 2020 1:21 utc | 143

uncle tungsten@131
Here are a couple of videos from Jimmy Dore show
pertaining to Tulsi Gabbard “legalize all drugs”
and Bernie Sanders Progressives frustrated with Bernie’s capitulation strategy”
https://jimmydorecomedy.com/watch/
In the end it comes down to delegate votes at the Democratic Convention and I do not see anyone getting a majority of votes in the first round of the convention. Thus the Democrats will likely choose Biden as he is in bed with the security state.
If one does not change the mafia politics of the political parties the rigging of the system will continue. Smears of Ron Paul’s stance will not change that.
Full disclosure: I was born in the Occupied Kingdom of Hawaii and drafted into the Vietnam war as a CO medic and medical laboratory specialist.

Posted by: krollchem | Jan 24 2020 1:27 utc | 145

Russ @ 120
“But then I’m sure Sanders is a fraud, as are all his fanbots. Except perhaps for the terminally stupid ones.
“As for Sanders’ alleged organization? How come I saw it nowhere since 2016?”
Don’t you know? You don’t have to win elections to take power anymore. Just look at Juan Guaido—all you have to do is wait until you lose the election, and then claim there were “irregularities” with the voting, even though there is no evidence of this; and then assert that the guy who received the most votes was ineligible to serve; and then convince some foreign governments to proclaim you as the legitimate head of state without bothering to hold a new election–you do this by promising the foreign governments that you will give them public assets; and then get a couple of thousand people out of a country of millions to hold some protests and cry to the media about oppression, even though you are fat and healthy walking around in public spaces.
See? It is really very simple to take control of an entire country, and it is much more efficient and a “sure thing” than actually campaigning and convincing people to vote for you. Easy peasy!

Posted by: Carson | Jan 24 2020 1:53 utc | 147

North Korea declared Tuesday on the global stage that it will no longer adhere to its moratorium on nuclear and missile tests, citing “brutal and inhumane” sanctions led by the United States on its regime.
“We found no reason to be unilaterally bound any longer by the commitment that the other party fails to honour,” Ju Yong-chol, a counsellor at North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva, reportedly said during the U.N.-backed Conference on Disarmament.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/north-koreas-testing-moratorium-is-finished/

Posted by: Mao | Jan 24 2020 1:57 utc | 149

So: Who are the people comprising the Sanders insurgent-government-in-waiting?
Posted by: Russ | Jan 23 2020 22:43 utc | 107
++++++++++
This is really the crux of the matter, both now and in the (near) future. Because it is the cadre that will also help Sanders prevail. Voters need and have a right to get an picture of what a Sanders administration would actually look like. He must start addressing this now.
It would be a good idea to start to identify a few Reps. or independents who might occupy a cabinet post or two. Maybe a Repug female such as Carly Fiorina for something.

Posted by: Really?? | Jan 24 2020 2:27 utc | 151

Sanders had a chance to build a Movement but refused to do so.
No one that seeks to build a Movement would have stayed silent about Hillary’s many issues or the collusion against him. Sanders didn’t even make an issue of these things AFTER the 2016 Presidential election. As a Party ‘sheepdog’ with all the right connections, he’s a ‘good boy’.
He ran an election. And now he’s running another. But electioneering is NOT Movement building.
<> <> <> <> <> <>
In any case, I very much doubt that Sanders will be chosen as the 2020 Democratic Party Presidential candidate.
That would be counter to the establishment’s interests.

1) The Jewish establishment doesn’t want a Jewish President whose every pro-Israel move would be attract loads of criticism;
2) The USA establishment doesn’t want Americans to have a socialist option – too many might vote for it!

That means that Bernie’s is simply:

– Window-dressing;
– Sheep-dogging;
– Dividing the progressive vote;
– Democracy Works! propaganda;

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 24 2020 2:40 utc | 153

Tick Tock.
Tick Tock.
What’s that sound you are hearing?
It’s the clock ticking on the American Evil Empire–in particular, the US Dollar Imperialist system, upon which America power and the oh-so-precious US “Way of Life” are based.
At long last, America will get a taste of its own medicine, as the US Dollar plunges into financial death spiral like a Boeing 737 Max….
US dollar collapse will happen this year, gold fund manager tells RT’s Keiser Report
https://www.rt.com/business/478814-dollar-collapse-gold-purchasing/

Posted by: ak74 | Jan 24 2020 3:11 utc | 155

As Pft @100 suggested, the new Coronavirus hype is definitely aimed at alternative purposes. Perhaps its merely the media’s regular attempt to drum up views with fear-mongering over any minor medical issue but I think the above suggestion that it is attempting to normalize stricter medical response that allow for population control (quarantines and vaccinations). An alternative could be that its aiming to damage China’s economic influence by making countries more reluctant to welcome Chinese travelers. In Japan there has been a rapid and widespread wave of paranoia about the dangers of Chinese visitors that could impact the tourism exchange (worth $15 billion in Chinese spending in Japan) which has been playing aa role in changing Chinese attitudes toward Japan for the better. A longstanding platform of US foreign policy in Asia has been to avoid any rapprochement between the Koreas, China and Japan as any trilateral harmony would almost certainly cripple US power projection in the region. The US also loves to hammer on about Operation Infektion and how the USSR spread the rumor that AIDS was the result of a US weapons lab failure. Don’t put it past the CIA to make use of such a tactic as part of anti-Chinese psyops.
What we can be sure of is that there is no evidence so far that the “Coronavirus” is anything to worry about. You’ve probably already had a coronavirus, versions make up about 10% of common colds. More importantly, with 25 deaths at present it is no cataclysmic plague. In 2003 SARS killed about 800 but that was still nothing so unusual. Respiratory diseases are usually most dangerous to the elderly and the weak, many of whom are inevitably going to pick up some illness during flu season and end up in dire straits whether the virus is a coronavirus or some other less novel type. While excess deaths are never a good thing it’s important to keep perspective. In the USA every year about 18 million people get the flu. Roughly 150,000 end up in hospital and perhaps 11,000 die. The rates are far higher in China, both in total infections and proportion of deadly cases. Social media reports from China (almost all quickly deleted) have claimed that thousands of people had presented themselves at hospitals showing symptoms. If actual cases of 2019-nCoV it dramatically reduces its severity as the proportion of deaths would be significantly lower that then overwrought comparisons to the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Posted by: Glagaire | Jan 24 2020 3:26 utc | 157

jb @ 18 asked;”Is there any equivalent to the money and organizing power of the Libertarians and the Kochs on the left? Any leftwing conferences of comparable impact?”
The only force that could be considered viable on the left are the Sanders people, other than that, NO!!
Circe @ 37: Agreed..
Seer @ 40: Yep!!
Sanders and Gabbard do it for me, despite jrabbit’s rabid objections. Rabbit’s choice of Biden/Gabbard is interesting. We’ll see about that down the road.
Bottom line, IMO Sanders/ Gabbard don’t have a prayer. The corporate masters will decide. The big organised $ people own the vote count, via voter suppression and machines that are hack-able.
“It’s just business, get over it”

Posted by: ben | Jan 24 2020 3:40 utc | 159

mao@149
Interesting. I do wonder if the recent events vis-a-vis Iran (JCPOA, the murder, more sanctions, etc) have had a catalysing effect on Kim Jong Un.
I think he would be wise to cosy-up to China and as many other nations as he can negotiate bi-lateral relations with, and just wait until the USA implodes.
Maybe he should put in an order for S300/400 with Russia, just so he can sit back and laugh at the USA whining about it.
The whole world knows, and largely agrees with, KJU’s negative assessment of Pompeo also. He is one of the worst stains on the human soul ever shot out onto the face of the planet. I did enjoy the North Koreans telling Trump that they don’t want to know about the lying turd.

Posted by: Jon_in_AU | Jan 24 2020 3:49 utc | 161

After a heavy dose of well-deserved Me, myself and I Trump Karma, it’s finally time for Us.
This could never happen to Trump.
https://youtu.be/vhezYYiTUm0
Bernie gets it. He’s not a saviour.
Not me.Us 🕊

Posted by: Circe | Jan 24 2020 3:59 utc | 163

Below are the guts of a Xinhua posting about how the Mid-east plan will be released next week….sigh
”
JERUSALEM, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced Thursday during a visit to Jerusalem that the White House plans to release its plan for peace in the Middle East next week in Washington.
In joint statements with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pence said that U.S. President Donald Trump requested him to extend an invitation to Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz to arrive in Washington “to discuss regional issues and the possibility of peace in the Holy Land.”
Netanyahu and Gantz accepted the invitation, Pence said.
Netanyahu said he suggested the White House would invite Gantz as well, “because I think it is important that we not lose this historic opportunity with such friends in the White House.”
“We should get as broad consensus as possible,” said Netanyahu.
The statements were made ahead of a meeting between Pence and Netanyahu in the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.
The unveiling of the long-awaiting peace plan comes as both Netanyahu and Gantz pledged to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank if they win Israel’s upcoming national elections on March 2.
The move is considered highly controversial among most of the international community and is likely to spark Palestinian protest.
Trump has postponed several times the publication of his “Deal of the Century” for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
The economic part of Trump’s peace plan was unveiled during a U.S.-led conference in Bahrain last June, a convention boycotted by the Palestinians.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas severed ties with the Trump administration in 2017 after the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The last round of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians broke down in 2014 amid Israeli expansion of the settlements in the West Bank.
Israel seized the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has since controlled or blockaded them despite international criticism.
The Palestinians wish to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
”
Failing empire is throwing anything and everything they have at the wall to try and get it to stick and help them control the global narrative again……it ain’t going to work but makes for great kabuki

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 24 2020 4:06 utc | 165

Gucci Fall Winter 2020 Men’s Fashion Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB3gZssL10Q
The degradation of the so-called Western civilization continues…

Posted by: Sarah | Jan 24 2020 5:00 utc | 167

@167
How degradation?
In fact very un-original if a thing I see a lot of Italian Renaissance influence there, eccentricities, colours, homoeroticism. During the Renaissance, Florence developed a reputation for being pervaded with homosexuality.
Poor Gucci, the show was very un-original.

Posted by: Nick | Jan 24 2020 5:16 utc | 169

@165 psychohistorian
Trump’s Deal of the Century equals Grand Larceny of the Century.
Yet another scam for his Scam Portfolio.

Posted by: Circe | Jan 24 2020 5:25 utc | 171

Posted by: Really?? | Jan 24 2020 2:01 utc | 150
This whole impeachment farce, November 2019 chapter, relied on the testimony of Soviet Jews who are rabidly russophobic and who were brought to this country by . . . whom, exactly?
Thank you for the link and a new name to me.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 24 2020 3:52 utc | 162
Youtube blocked Polly video. They used a fake ruse to tag her video ‘private’.
here it is on bitchute. Polly address on bitchute is 99FreeMind
The same video on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSN_sZZovFA

Posted by: Sarah | Jan 24 2020 5:35 utc | 173

eventually, he will be “awarded” his fourth seaside mansion.
Posted by: nietzsche1510 | Jan 24 2020 5:21 utc | 170

Hillary, is that you again???
Here’s Bernie’s seaside mansion:
Bernie’s Vacation Home
Wow! Looks just like Mar-a-Lago! Good for Bernie NYT best-selling author!
😇

Posted by: Circe | Jan 24 2020 5:55 utc | 175

According to several hits on a quick DuckDuckGo search, AOC was born on October 13, 1989.
Which would mean she’s only 30. She’ll be 31 by election day — but that’s still four years too young to be President or VP.

Posted by: John Anthony La Piet | Jan 24 2020 6:25 utc | 177

@176
Oh dear Sarah. In recent years, Gucci is famous for having as inspiration the Renaissance-era Florence. If eccentricities, colours, and homoeroticism are the so-called Western civilization degradation so the Renaissance-era Florence was the apex of the degradation of ‘so-called’ western civilization.
The first photo is where Gucci recent logo colors were inspired
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8f/85/8e/8f858ef3915c673787224b4d3cbb0442.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/04/7b/28/047b2825be2f5e5f7883954f5fc07f14.jpg
https://imgix.ranker.com/user_node_img/50084/1001670258/original/mantua-photo-u1?w=650&q=50&fm=pjpg&fit=crop&crop=faces
https://i1.wp.com/www.queerarthistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/DP-687-001-1.jpg
There is nothing original about the Gucci show, as it has been in recent years, than being inspired by ideas from 500 years ago

Posted by: Nick | Jan 24 2020 6:46 utc | 179

Posted by: krollchem | Jan 24 2020 0:11 utc | 127
“Even if Sanders were even Jesus Christ he would be prevented from getting the required number of delegate votes by the mafia that runs the Democratic (and Republican) party in the first round….”
Very true.
What’s more, if he were Jesus Christ he wouldn’t be performing occasional antics as a Democratic Party presidential “aspirant” the way he’s doing.

Posted by: Russ | Jan 24 2020 8:36 utc | 181

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jan 24 2020 0:32 utc | 134
“Is this cadre bred for the occasion?…….” [Quoted from a sarcastic rant against my truth.]
No, you actually have to put in the time and work to organically assemble it.
Thank you for outing yourself as well as a system devotee. We’ll see what your beloved US empire has in store for the Polish plain…

Posted by: Russ | Jan 24 2020 8:51 utc | 183

Posted by: Qparticle | Jan 24 2020 0:32 utc | 133

One question though…
Why did USSR laged behind EU(German) and US technological race the following decades?
I don’t think they lagged behind in the technological race (remember the cosmonauts?), the way they organized their economy did not work.
My hunch is that now neoliberalism has disintegrated Western economies in such a way, that Chinese and Russian economies who kept a mix of state planning and private enterprise, do have the edge.
This country – Germany – is incapable of finishing big long term projects like an airport or a train station. North Stream 2 will be finished because it is mainly done by Russia.

Posted by: somebody | Jan 24 2020 10:43 utc | 185

Some rumours in French Canard Enchaine about a plan to kill another military leader on the same day as Soleimani, this time in Yemen.

Posted by: Mina | Jan 24 2020 11:11 utc | 187

So sad people talking about US politics as if it means anything more than fake wrestling. Lol, Not really, wish I could but everyone seems totally captured by the matrix beyond a few leaks that matter not. Anyways, carry on (sadly).

Posted by: Pft | Jan 24 2020 11:33 utc | 189

Laguerre
What is exacty Macron’s role in this mess? Wasn’t his big smile and “tout s’arrange toujours” with Netanyahu 2 days ago an indication that these criminals are once more helping each other out of the really big mess they are in? Netanyahu facing jail, Trump hiring Dershowitz, the French keeping their support to KSA (the Paris-Dakar is there!) and following Trump’s lead when requested, as on Iran…
France has a lot to lose if people start looking closely into their role in the Syrian war, starting with Le Monde and its “journalists” who had an active role in exporting the samples that serve as so called proofs of chemical attacks.

Posted by: Mina | Jan 24 2020 12:54 utc | 191

Wasn’t his big smile and “tout s’arrange toujours” with Netanyahu 2 days ago an indication that these criminals are once more helping each other out of the really big mess they are in?

Posted by: Mina | Jan 24 2020 12:54 utc | 191
I too was wondering about what Macron’s policy really is. Yes, he took the time to join the ceremonies in Jerusalem, which he didn’t really need to, but then he had that confrontation with the Israeli policeman outside St Anne’s church, when said thug tried to enter French territory. My guess is no change, try to please everybody.
The big issue for the French, as you well know and as you say, has always been their partiality for the opposition in Syria. Having seen it in action in Paris, I have no doubt that’s it’s because the Elysées has important contacts with Syrian intellectuals, and still believes them implicitly, rather than take the obvious evidence that the rebels are nearly entirely a bunch of jihadis who are helping to provoke the very attacks in France which lead to armed military patrols in the shopping centres. It is bizarre; it would make much more sense to drop the policy. But I don’t see any movement, though I’m much less in contact now.

Posted by: Laguerre | Jan 24 2020 13:30 utc | 193

Yes Bank will not be allowed to fail: SBI Chief – State Bank of India chief said it would not be good for the country’s economy if a ‘significant player’ is allowed to fail

Shares of the troubled private sector lender Yes Bank, which has suffered a sharp erosion of market capitalization, rose more than 5% on Thursday when a prominent Indian banker hinted it would not be allowed to shut down.
Rajnish Kumar, who heads the largest state-owned lender State Bank of India, told the media that Yes Bank was a “significant player” in the market and “will not be allowed to fail.”

Posted by: vk | Jan 24 2020 14:27 utc | 195

that jacobin article gets one thing badly wrong–no, russia didn’t “hack” clinton’s emails. jesus.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jan 24 2020 14:33 utc | 197

A minister of HMG is derided when USA refused to extradite a lady who killed a young Englishman by driving on the wrong side of the road. The woman claimed to have diplomatic immunity, being a wife of an intelligence agent. — her husband was not a diplomat. Foreign minister protested and duly posted the outcome.
@DominicRaab
I have just called the US Ambassador to express the Govt’s disappointment about the US extradition decision on Harry Dunn’s case. We feel this amounts to a denial of justice, and that Anne Sacoolas should return to the UK. We are now urgently considering our options.
RT reports that most replies were scathing. “So what will he do? Light a cigarette?” (that actually helps to steady the nerves). Even so, the British Lion retired, Lion from Wizard of Oz was looking for another job, so now we have an imperial lion with a diploma for bravery but no actual courage. But what could UK do, if it only had the brain, the heart and the courage?
My option one: Inform the State Department that FO understands, with regrets, the scope of discretion of American authorities, and that Julian Assange will land in Hong Kong shortly, where he got a temporary visa.
5:52 AM – Jan 24, 2020

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jan 24 2020 15:54 utc | 199