Is there is situation forming in the southern carribean? Recent information suggests that US carrier groups are in the VZ area as Iranian tankers head in that direction. I have not done any real digging, so i suppose you could say I am just being lazy and posting the question here. After the epic embarrassment of US led mercs getting rounded up before they even left the beach, a face saving move might be in order. Some sort of tripwire event, and then an all in attack?
It occurred to me that the mercs that got caught may very well have been a diversion.

Posted by: Chevrus | May 20 2020 14:09 utc | 3

“Venezuela to Sue Bank of England for Theft of 31 Tons of Gold”
link

Posted by: arby | May 20 2020 15:19 utc | 5

Posted by: lizard | May 20 2020 14:21 utc | 4
It’s predictable. The left or right will be completely apologetic for their respective “grab’em by the pussy” candidate. It’s beyond absurd.

Posted by: One Too Many | May 20 2020 15:31 utc | 7

Clipping:
UK unemployment hits 1.33 million after rising by 31,000 in three months, official data shows
We were talking about American myths yesterday. Now it’s time to bust some European (social-democrat) myths. Here we have the British situation deteriorating quickly, regardless of all of those social-democrat policies (pay 80% of the salaries of freelancers, etc.).
Yesterday, minister Eustice called the British unemployed to go pick fruits that are rotting in the country’s orchards.
Rolls-Royce to cut 9,000 jobs, mostly in the UK, in order to survive the coronavirus pandemic
I hope those fruit-picking jobs pay as well as those Rolls Royce jobs. I also hope those farm-owners accepting 55-year old aerospacial engineers.
Lockheed Martin Forced to Make Sharp Cutbacks to F-35 Production Due to Parts Shortages
Not that the Americans are gonna miss it. After all:
US Air Force F-35 Crashes During Routine Exercise in Florida Just Days After Similar Incident
World news:
World Was Headed For Recession Before COVID-19 Lockdown, Says City of London Economist
It took a few months to the bourgeois economists to admit the obvious. It’s ok, better late than never.
But the “needed” “”Marshall Plan for the Pandemic”” won’t work. The West of the 21st Century is very different from the West of the 20th Century. It is much more financial, much more services-oriented than the manufacturing powerhouse it was 70 years ago.
The original Marshall Plan only worked because the USA of 1946 was, at the same time, the newly-born industrial and financial superpower. It had almost all the industry of the world and, thus, excess manufacturing capacity. At the same time, the rest of the world (deindustrialized) had no USD. The Marshall Plan solved this osmosis problem by inundating Western Europe with USD – which lubrificated the path of capitalist rotation by transferring excess manufactures from the USA to manufacture-starved Western Europe with American money.
A new Marshall Plan, today, would be just another name for QE.
Besides, have you noticed that, when it comes to First World countries, the IMF is always late to the party? It almost seems as if they are their lackeys…
Ah, who am I kidding? I love to talk about the degeneration of the American Dream:
‘We missed the sweet and sour sauce’: joy as McDonald’s drive-throughs reopen
A friend once told me a joke about the differences between the USA and the UK. To this day, I don’t get it.
Why Tsai Ing-wen’s success in containing Taiwan’s coronavirus outbreak could trigger a backlash from Beijing
Evidence the process of imbecilization is happening in the West as a geopolitical entity, not as a racial one (as the far-right wants us to believe).
Liberals in Asia still living in the world where a tiny island, with a growth rate less than half and a negative birth rate that makes the Japanese look like rabbits is going to take down the Mainland with some colored disposable masks.
The best for the last:
Coronavirus New Zealand: Jacinda Ardern floats idea of four-day week to boost economy post-lockdown
Ms. Ardern lifts a very important and interesting point for debate.
Does a longer weekend increases labor productivity? The answer is simple: it depends on the historical context you’re speaking of.
New Zealand is a capitalist, services-based, economy. If you increase the weekend by one day in this context, you won’t see a labor productivity decrease – but you won’t see an increase either.
That’s because the services sector is highly resistant to automation. Sure, a white collar worker, working from a desk on demand will do his/her job in four days just as he/she did it in five. But that’s only because white collar workers are unproductive labor: they only deal with circulation of commodities, not with their production.
The only way unproductive labor can increase in “productivity” is indirectly, i.e. by increasing the productivity of the productive workers (industry and agriculture). That can be achieved in two ways: creating an automation that can replace the unproductive workers and making unproductive workers do their operations faster (increasing speed of commodity circulation). Both require massive investments in infrastructure by the capitalist class.
In a pandemic crisis, I don’t see those those investments coming to New Zealand. Those kind of investments generally only occur to the capitalist system when there’s a notable increase in scale – which certainly isn’t happening now (on the contrary: global trade is shrinking).
So, yes, ms. Ardern three-day weekend is welcome if only because it will increase life quality of the New Zealander working classes (except the retail workers, as my guess would be she intends the economic boost to come from increased consumption). But it won’t save the NZ economy.

Posted by: vk | May 20 2020 15:31 utc | 9

Lockdowns still don’t reduce carbon emissions much
Grauniad article
Of course, the Grauniad spins this as dramatic: a 17% fall in carbon emissions during the peak lockdown April.
The problem is that emissions have to fall far, far more than that in order to avoid the climate catastrophe that is also part of the package. A 30% reduction in oil consumption by the entire Western world only does that?
And note, barring multiple months of more lockdowns, the carbon tally for 2020 is likely to be only down 5%.
Fail.

Posted by: c1ue | May 20 2020 15:54 utc | 11

Is there is situation forming in the southern carribean? Recent information suggests that US carrier groups are in the VZ area as Iranian tankers head in that direction.
Posted by: Chevrus | May 20 2020 14:09 utc | 3
In any event this would be a good time for Russia to send half a dozen friendly Tu-160’s with an ample supply of hypersonic anti-carrier missiles on a friendly cultural exchange visit to Venezuela (and of course, not-so-discreetly deter Washington). A few friendly sports teams, of the Tu-160 pilot variety!

Posted by: BM | May 20 2020 16:54 utc | 13

“Leonardo Flores
@LeonardoEFA
·
18h
13 million Venezuelans just lost access to @DIRECTV
, which stopped services due to US sanctions. Cruel for this to happen during covid, seeing as how so many people rely on TV for education and news about the disease. No doubt there was US government pressure involved.”

Posted by: arby | May 20 2020 17:14 utc | 15

BM @13
The imperialists’ vulnerability in the region is that its allies are retaining power only by naked force. Absent the military and the death squads there wouldn’t be a US ally between Texas and Terra del Fuego.
The most notable aspect of the current jockeying between the Empire and its rivals is that only the US intervenes in other countries. It regularly makes coups to bring down governments which it finds to be insufficiently obsequious. On the other hand despite the unpopularity of governments in Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Brazil and Bolivia they are allowed to crush popular protests, assassinate critics and lower popular living standards without anything but mild and private criticism from outside.
While Brazil and Colombia openly allow their territories and resources to be employed in terrorist attacks on their neighbour the incendiary social materials in both countries are given no state assistance from Venezuela.
No doubt there are good reasons for this-Venezuela knows that the slightest action on its part will be blown up into a casus belli by the United States and that Russia and China will watch from afar while the global gangster acts with impunity, not least because there is virtually no organised opposition to imperial excesses in the United States, Canada, the UK etc.

Posted by: bevin | May 20 2020 17:21 utc | 17

B?

Posted by: Cosmos | May 20 2020 18:00 utc | 19

I am reluctant to post anything to do with CV19, but I just read Gowans on it and it is a scary article.
“If you think the coronavirus lockdown is worse than the disease, you don’t understand the disease”
https://gowans.blog/

Posted by: arby | May 20 2020 18:06 utc | 21

The Palestinian authority has rescinded all agreements with the US and Israel after Netanyahu’s announcement in the Knesset yesterday that the goal of the new government is to steal the rest of the Palestinian’s land. The decision to do this was made by joint meetings of the PA, Hamas, IJ, and other political parties more than a year ago. Since then Abbas has made threats but not done it. This looks like it is different as it is an official announcement and posted on WAFA.
http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=XWg2jja117154132029aXWg2jj
The implications here are big. First it means the end of the Camp David and Wye River accords. The Palestinians protecting the Israelis ends. Forced tax collection by the Israels ends etc, etc. This is the final nail in the coffin of the of the 2SS. Expect the next entifada very soon and don’t be surprised if other states get involved. This is a big thing.

Posted by: BraveNewWorld | May 20 2020 18:25 utc | 23

Press Conference “NEW FACTS OF INTERNATIONAL CORRUPTION AND EXTERNAL GOVERNANCE OF UKRAINE”
English CC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaE9OZ89bnQ

Posted by: Curmudgeon | May 20 2020 18:42 utc | 25

Posted by: arby | May 20 2020 17:14 utc | 15
13 million x $25.00 month x 12 month = $3.9 billion for the year just went poof. Businesses in the US are taking it in the shorts with the orange dotard in charge. For all of this talk about corporations running the US you would think they would have banded together by now.

Posted by: One Too Many | May 20 2020 20:03 utc | 27

sorry, to hasty to post.
fuck yeah poetry link
Brandon Bryant is a political prisoner

Posted by: lizard | May 20 2020 20:11 utc | 29

Regarding those 5 Iranian tankers on the way to Venezuela the Saker uploaded a new article suggesting that the US will use the Caribbean Regional Maritime Agreement (CRA) to justify boarding the tankers in International waters as part of the war on drugs (since the US previously declared Venezuela a narco-state). Even by threadbare excuse standards that seems laughably ridiculous but perfectly in-keeping with how the US has acted these past 20 years. If the US is so reckless as to board those tankers I can only assume that the Iranians will respond forcibly against US ships in the Persian golf.

Posted by: Kadath | May 20 2020 20:48 utc | 31

@Posted by: karlof1 | May 20 2020 18:51 utc | 26
That essay is a real shame, an impossible intend of whitewashing and redime Orwell, just another intent on rewritting of history, and try to paint what is black as white. Neo-language
This intent could be inscribed along the rescues of Stepan Bandera and the Forest Brothers as new heroes of NATO world in their offensive against reviving socialist ideas.
That Orwell did not change even a bit after returning from Burma is proven by the fact that he came to Spain, and strolled around there with the Trotskyites of POUM, to elaborate black lists of communists which then were provided to Franco, at result of which many people was tortured and summarily executed. He, this way, contributed greatly to decimate the resistance in the side of the legitimate republican government, and thus, to help the fascists in their way to power, well supported by the US with arms and fuel and by the air forces of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.
That he finished himself slowly is not but poetic justice, the same case as fascist torturer “Billy El Niño” who ended being finished by the Coronavirus just a week ago.
Of course, Troyan Horse in the Spanish new left formation Podemos, such engendre called “Izquierda Anticapitalista”, who joined Podemos when they were on the rise, and abandoned the new left formation when they had a worse result in the last elections but were about to grab power, and whose main worry today, in the middle of a pandemic with the economy in tatters, is the differential fact and nuances of the Andalusian language ( whatever so as to deviate attention from the real problems and put sticks in the advance of the left towards power…) still hail Orwell….How not?
I detected these impostors in zero coma at the first meetings when Podemos was in formation, they squeked more than a rusty door in a leftist formation, and act like a sect to knock down and eject any person who shows awareness and is critic of their contradictions.

“In all countries the Trotskyists gave themselves good names to mask their dirty bandit work. In Spain they are called the Marxist Unification Workers Party (POUM). Did you know that they constitute spy nests in Madrid or Barcelona at Franco’s service?”, Ho Chi Minh.

https://twitter.com/ciudadfutura/status/1263161311678078981

The unemployed in Andalusia and the hundreds of thousands of solemnly poor must be very concerned about the problems that this lady invents.

https://twitter.com/ciudadfutura/status/1263150511412346881

Orwell: Sneak sighting of British secret services in the Cold War (is declassified by MI-5 and documented). Its function: to expose communists. He even betrayed Charles Chaplin, exiled in his native England for FBI persecution. “Referrer”. “Always loyal”

https://twitter.com/ciudadfutura/status/1262794482963091460
Albert Escusa: Who was George Orwell really? Orwellian myths: from the Spanish Civil War to the Soviet holocaust

Posted by: H.Schmatz | May 20 2020 21:40 utc | 33

The “democratic” and “freedom-loving” YouTube once again, without giving any reason, blocked the YouTube channels (main and backup) of the well-known news agency ANNA NEWS (as well as a number of other ‘rebellious’ Russian media). It is curious that the blocking is carried out whenever the ANNA releases extremely painful materials for the American (as a whole, ‘Western’) neo-liberal fascists. This time, the channel was blocked shortly after the release of an ANNA journalistic investigation into the supply of ISIS with weapons by the Americans in Syria.

Posted by: alaff | May 20 2020 22:05 utc | 35

bjd @1
Thanks pepe as usual excellent good reading

Posted by: JC | May 20 2020 22:24 utc | 37

BraveNewWorld #23

Expect the next entifada very soon and don’t be surprised if other states get involved. This is a big thing.

Thank you for that report, but I must express my reluctance to accept that ‘this is a big thing’. The thin and vapid support from neighbouring Arab states for the State of Palestine and its people has been their destruction for years. Perhaps this time it will be different but I suspect Israel is hell bent on seizing more land from the Palestine State. That is Israel’s modus operandi and history has led me to expect they will achieve another slaughter and extend their genocidal expansion yet again. I do not see any global alignment change that could act as a brake on the land grabbing juggernaught in the near future.
I also suspect that Abbas is merely posturing as usual and has no strong hand to play. He certainly can’t count on FUKUSA to offer any real support. He could even end up with no peace framework and reduced global support and be reduced to begging to reintroduce same just to collect the few small coins that fall into his hands from the international community.
You can be sure that the the IFUKUSA collective have gamed this situation very well. Russia is not in this game and I doubt it would engage. I hope I am wrong as land grabbing elites are detestable killers of humanity.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 20 2020 22:44 utc | 39

Posted by: Laguerre | May 20 2020 21:44 utc | 34 I’m not sure that Trump wants another crisis at the moment.
Politicians use one crisis to deflect another. Trump is desperate to deflect from his failed virus response and the resulting economic collapse. Starting a war somewhere is perfect, since he’ll get the support of his idiots, the neocons around him will tell him he’s a genius, and most people won’t be directly affected (until the gas price crisis hits, of course, but since not many people are driving due to the slowed economy, that might be survivable for him.)
In any event, Trump doesn’t “think” – he reacts. And *how* he reacts is mostly unpredictable.
Attacking Venezuela would probably be a bit easier than attacking Iran directly since Venezuela has one-third the population of Iran, is 1/8th the size of Iran, and its military is probably vastly less capable. Getting a (comparatively) easy military win would boost Trump’s chances in November. If it did turn into a “quagmire”, that could be spun and possibly stretched out to past Election Day.
And the icing on the cake is that Trump and the neocons get to aggravate Iran some more, possibly stimulating Iran to retaliate, thus increasing the odds for a direct war with Iran – but *after* the election. A lot of Trump supporters keep saying that Trump doesn’t want a new war – which is bullcrap since Trump doesn’t know what he “wants” at any given time (he’s a lot like Batman’s Joker in that respect.) But the supporters say he wouldn’t risk the election by starting a war. I keep asking them: “What about *after* the election, assuming he wins?” I get crickets in response.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 20 2020 22:45 utc | 41

@Posted by: H.Schmatz | May 20 2020 22:08 utc | 36
A bit more from the must read essay linked, even related to current events…

2. THE HISTORICAL ENVIRONMENT OF “ANIMAL FARM” AND “1984”
What events were taking place in the western world at that time, which caused a favorable change of attitude towards Orwell’s publications, of those who were previously reticent? Neither more nor less than the imminent offensive against socialism, which had already lost almost thirty million lives during the anti-fascist war and had suffered appalling material destruction.
While the first copies of Animal Farm were being printed and bound, some extremely disturbing events were taking place. Just at the end of the war, Nazi spies and war criminals were being recycled by the American spy services, such as the German SS General Reinhard Genhlen, whose spy network passed entirely to the Americans and was used in Eastern Europe to promote the anti-Soviet uprisings in East Berlin in 1953 and Hungary in 1956. Clandestine networks were created to evade thousands of Nazi criminals towards Latin America and the USA. Later, with Japan defeated, the operation was repeated with the Japanese scientists who are experts in bacteriological weapons, responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of allied prisoners, but who were secretly brought to the United States. Meanwhile, during the 1945 Potsdam conference, which brought together Hitler’s victorious allies – where the alleged “honeymoon” took place to “divide the world” – US President Truman and English Churchill had speculated before Stalin about the power the western allies had with a new secret weapon. On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. According to Ian Gray, Stalin’s biographer: “Stalin and the majority of Russians immediately understood the terrible meaning of this fact … Stalin realized that the Americans had used the bomb mainly to impress and threaten Russia”. Stalin and the Soviets were right: the American Secretary of State, James Byrnes, recognized that the bomb was necessary not against Japan, but “to make Russia moldable to Europe”.
As the historian Pauwels has explained, the initial will of the Soviets in Europe was not to have like-minded regimes and their own zone of influence, but to intervene in Germany to prevent it from engaging in a second war, this time together with its former allies against the USSR. This is demonstrated by the fact that until well into the post-war period, the Soviets did not help to make any political-social change in the liberated countries. It was Truman’s nuclear policy that forced the Soviets to stand face to face with the Americans in Eastern Europe, thus deterring American aviation: from this way they would have to carry out a long trip until arriving at the Soviet cities where they had to drop their bombs. This caused the political and social changes in Eastern Europe to accelerate, which, however, were already taking place autonomously since the end of the war thanks to the triumph of the popular anti-fascist forces. This fact not only saved the USSR from a new war and enabled socialism to survive: stability in Eastern Europe laid the foundations for a development of national liberation struggles and for socialism throughout the world: in 1949 the victory of the Chinese Revolution heralded the triumph of many others, putting all capitalism in danger of death.
In parallel, just after the Cold War started by imperialism, the conservative British leader Churchill theorized about the need to build an Iron Curtain to contain the communists and allegedly asked the American President Truman to attack the USSR with the atomic bomb by means of a preemptive attack. Churchill was not just any character, but one of the most influential leaders of the British Empire, champion of English colonialism and the participation of his country in World War I, therefore responsible for many millions of deaths and suffering of peoples.
That was the real reason for the delay in publishing Animal Farm. Orwell, naturally, during the anti-fascist war could not see his anti-Soviet work published until the end of the conflict, since it would have been quite awkward for the Western governments allied to the USSR, who were risking their lives against the Nazis, to criminalize in this way a friendly government. On the other hand, at that time, from the Orwellian model, it would be difficult for western and world public opinion to understand how it was possible that the Soviet people fought with such a degree of sacrifice and heroism, expelling the Nazis from Europe: all the other bourgeois regimes, where there was freedom, had collapsed rapidly and had collaborated with the Nazis.
It was in connection with these events that the first copies of Animal farm were placed on the shelves of bookstores. Precisely the publication coincided with the end of World War II and the dissolution of the anti-fascist alliance between England, USA, and the USSR. The first edition is exactly from 1945 in England, published by Secker & Wargburg, from London, and from 1946 in the USA, published by Harcourt, from New York. The capitalist governments, which were imminently going to promote Animal Farm, were evaluating different options to attack the USSR: from rearming German units as shock brigades to attack the Soviets, to the launch of “preventive” atomic bombs. The prestige that the USSR had among all the workers of the world, fundamentally the Europeans who suffered the Nazi atrocities, was enormous, as well as among the intellectual and popular sectors, whose reflection could be followed in the great influence that some communist parties had. It was necessary to dismantle this prestige to sweep the opposition of the world public opinion to an armed aggression against those who liberated Europe from Nazism, and Orwell’s novels came as a ring to a finger for this purpose, since they were a good instrument to spread among the so called mass culture, just as later were the film versions of his works.

Posted by: H.Schmatz | May 20 2020 22:52 utc | 43

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 20 2020 22:44 utc | 39 I do not see any global alignment change that could act as a brake on the land grabbing juggernaught in the near future.
I’d say you’re correct. Something that *might* change things somewhat – I don’t do guarantees – is if war with Iran breaks out. Hezbollah takes on Israel, Syria helps. Won’t matter unless the Palestinians join in, however. So you’re probably right. But Israel getting a lot of damage in an Iran war might give the Palestinians some breathing space (or not).
“Russia is not in this game and I doubt it would engage.”
I agree. Some people think Russia and China would engage in a US-Iran war. I doubt that, except indirectly (arms sales, some intelligence support, etc.) Neither are likely to be concerned about the Palestinians – and why should they? National interests are *national* interests.
The Palestinian situation won’t change for the better until Israel is essentially *destroyed*. The US will never abandon Israel, and no one has the power to destroy them in the region, especially with US support. Hezbollah can seriously damage the Israeli economy and piss off Israel’s electorate, but they can’t *destroy* Israel militarily, regardless of how many missiles they get from Iran.
I got banned from Josh Marshall’s blog years ago when I said the only real way to solve the Palestinian crisis is if the UN retracts its 1947 decision to partition, declare Israel a rogue illegal state, and forces a bi-national state. As long as the US is in the Security Council, “that ain’t gonna happen” (quoting Percival Rose again.)
The only *other* way is if some smart Arabs figure out how to steal an Israeli nuclear weapon and blow up Tel Aviv and maybe a couple other Israeli cities.
Bottom line: The Palestinians were fucked, are fucked, and will continue to be fucked.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 20 2020 22:56 utc | 45

@Posted by: Kerry | May 20 2020 22:44 utc | 38
No that I am aware, but, if interested, you could translate it with a translator.
Since the essay is quite long, you could translate paragraph by paragraph, then read the whol thing once assembled.
A bit complicated, but worth the effort, the essay is a well researched work, wu¡ith several referecnes as weel worth reading, like a disection of Orwell, his epoch and motives.

Posted by: H.Schmatz | May 20 2020 23:05 utc | 47

@Posted by: oldhippie | May 20 2020 23:13 utc | 48

I think he’s a great writer

Not even so, more proper a plagiarist and propagandist at the service of Western totalitarian imperialism.
Since we are in the task of deconstructing Orwell, let´s go to the end…

In addition to the Animal Farm, one of the works that most influenced the construction of Western totalitarianism against the Communists was 1984. It shows an overview of socialism in the USSR similar to a delusional totalitarian and monstrous drama, with a Big Brother (Stalin) who had absolute social control over the individuals under his rule, through a sophisticated mind control mechanism. This work became a must-read for CIA officers and a dependent body called the Council for Psychological Strategies, in addition to the fact that NATO used the entire vocabulary of this novel during the 1950s in its anti-communist strategy.12 It is interesting to know how He conceived this book, since it was apparently a plagiarism Orwell did to another disenchanted of Bolshevism, in this case a Russian writer, in the opinion of the writer Emilio J. Corbière: “Orwell’s was a conscious plagiarism, since he explained it himself in another of his works. The plot, the main characters, the symbols and the climate of its narration, belonged to a completely forgotten Russian writer of the beginning of the century: Evgeny Zamyatin. In his book We, the Russian disillusioned with socialism after the failure of the 1905 revolution, devoted his efforts to anathematizing the Social Democratic Workers Party founded by Jorge Plejanov. When the October revolution happened – in 1917 – Zamyatin went into exile in Paris, where he wrote his posthumous anti-communist work”
This opinion is also shared by the historian Isaac Deutscher in his work The Mysticism of Cruelty, an essay about 1984, where he states that Orwell «borrowed the idea of ​​1984, the plot, the main characters, the symbols and the whole plot situation from the work We of Evgeny Zamyatin»
We see how behind the image of a great writer, lies the reality of a plagiarist of stories, which served to elaborate theoretical and academic models on the functioning of socialism in the Soviet Union totally adjusted to the requirements of imperialism in the anti-communist Cold War. The impact of 1984 was tremendous among the population, creating an atmosphere of anti-communist and anti-Soviet paranoia that was very effective among the masses, as the disturbing personal testimony of Isaac Deutscher demonstrates: “Have you read that book? You have to read it, sir. Then you will know why we have to drop the atomic bomb on the Bolsheviks! With those words, a miserable blind newspaper vendor recommended me in New York 1984, a few weeks before Orwell’s death”.

Posted by: H.Schmatz | May 20 2020 23:31 utc | 49

some hidden trump supporters here in comment section kept smearing biden..
they forgot after the years of trump presidency and the many botched and lies from white house , people do not want to reelect trump
just as ppl hold their nose and choose trump because they hate hillary , they will hold their nose and choose biden to avoid trump getting reelected..
the crazies , racist and fake patriots gun nuts will keep voting trump , thats a given .. the centrist will move to biden and dont care about his history , just as they voted trump in 2016 while ignoring trump’s obvious shortcomings.

Posted by: milmilo | May 21 2020 0:10 utc | 51

milomilo at 51 may have a point.
Looking at my own reaction to the 2016 candidates, I knew Hillary was the the most corrupt politician since Hermann Goering. I also knew Trump was a freak show. However, Trump did claim to be against new wars and getting along with Russia. Not that I believed him, but in a choice between the two, Trump was obviously better. And that’s what the Trump supporters believed and that’s why he was elected (with some help from the Electoral College setup.)
Today, it’s a choice between a President who has been an *utter circus* and has *proven* to be a freak show, and a “garden-variety” corrupt politician who also has dementia. People elect corrupt politicians all the time. Is there any other kind? How likely is it that the electorate will take the time to fully understand the depth of corruption of Biden vs the *obvious* lunacy of Trump? How many people are going to believe Biden has dementia, especially if the mainstream media (outside of Fox) refuses to even mention it (you know that’s what they will do)?
I don’t know the answer to that and neither does anyone else.
The real questions are: how will the economy question play out before November? Does Trump get blamed? Does he get rewarded for reopening the economy even though the death toll from the virus spikes? If the virus slows in the summer, does he get rewarded for that? If a second virus wave roars in before election dat, what impact will that have? What happens with Venezuela, Iran and China over the next five months? There’s plenty of time for SHTF on any of those fronts – does any of it reward or downgrade Trump’s chances?
Like I said before, it is *way too soon* to be estimating the outcome of this election.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 21 2020 0:28 utc | 53

New York Times continues to prop up the vaccine hype:
Coronavirus Live Updates: Scientists See Progress in Path to Vaccine by Next Year
In addition to this Home Page highlight, there’s an opinion piece as a side dish:
What to Expect When a Coronavirus Vaccine Finally Arrives
Buried a little bit more at the bottom, there’s this borderline pseudoscientific, definitely reckless article:
Prototype Vaccine Protects Monkeys From Coronavirus
There is a statistical possibility a vaccine comes out next year. But his possibility is remote. The key here is that a vaccine must be tested to the exhaustion before being ok’d by any government for mass use. Any mistake can result in a number of deaths that will make this pandemic look like child’s play. My opinion is that the NYT is feeding too much enthusiasm to its readers.

Posted by: vk | May 21 2020 0:49 utc | 55

This article doesn’t really violate the “no-coronavirus” rule because it applies to Trump generally…and thus to the election…
The plan is to have no plan
4 May 2020 11:02 pm
https://tinyurl.com/y8tqwwje
“There is no genius there, only a damaged human being playing havoc with our lives.”
Got that exactly right.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 21 2020 0:58 utc | 57

milmilo @ 51
I don’t know about that , the “Patriots” will always vote red or blue because it’s all they know. The centrist and independents might go a whole different route this time. You can only hold your nose for so long then it’s time to move to a better location,if a third party with the right words come along it might be a time for change, but knowing human nature they’ll just keep voting against their best interests.

Posted by: Tobi | May 21 2020 1:33 utc | 59

Last time I voted for a major party presidential candidate was 1988. Since then, I’ve always voted third party. It really mystifies me how few Americans vote third party. Even in an election like 2016, where both major party candidates are so obviously unsuitable. I wonder whether third party votes are being accurately counted.

Posted by: lysias | May 21 2020 1:47 utc | 61

I rather like what Michael Hudson says about the US political scene, “I don’t think there is a solution under the American political system. There is a difference between a problem and a quandary; a problem can be solved. . . but you are in a quandary, there is no way out, you can’t start your own party because the Democratic party [is run by] are the 12 richest people, the Wall Street thugs who run the whole party, and they don’t care what the voters vote for, it’s all a charade. They’ve already picked Donald Trump, they want him for the second term, as the ideal Democrat, the ideal Kleptocrat, or whatever you call the stage of financial capitalism we are in . . . I don’t see any way out except violence. i’m not advocating that, but I don’t see any other way out. Otherwise, you are going to starve quietly, in the dark.”
quote taken starting at about 1:09:20 in Dr. Michael Hudson: Economic Lessons for 2020

Posted by: Perimetr | May 21 2020 3:18 utc | 63

Posted by: Perimetr | May 21 2020 3:18 utc | 63 They’ve already picked Donald Trump, they want him for the second term, as the ideal Democrat
This reminds me of something Pepe Escobar wrote back during the 2016 election (or after, no sure when). He said that *some* of the “Masters of the Universe” (as he refers to the elites) picked Donald Trump to run as the Republican candidate, in opposition to *other* “Masters of the Universe”, who presumably wanted some other Republican, and of course those “Masters of the Universe” who wanted Clinton to win.
However, he didn’t name any names. Does anyone have a link to anything *specific* – preferably with actual *names* – as to *who* was or is backing Trump, either in 2016 or now, versus who is backing the Democrats?
Just would like to know who needs to be in the sniper scope or whose limo needs to drive past a shaped charge IED, if you get my drift… LOL

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 21 2020 4:24 utc | 65

I shouldn’t . . . but I will since so much is happenning right now complertely non-virus related.
re curious | May 21 2020 4:39 utc | 66
WTF DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING EH?
Can you not read? This thread has been designed as a place for those of us who consider the virus thing has been crassly over-debated to discuss other vital issues. GEDDIT?
PS once I’ve pulled dinner outta oven I wanna come back to consider issues here particularly articulate hypocrite E Blair.

Posted by: A User | May 21 2020 8:03 utc | 67

b thought he could exclude the VIRUS from this thread. No way. The VIRUS is viral.

Posted by: blues | May 21 2020 11:01 utc | 69

Regarding the previous post about the American Dream. To me the phrase recalls more than anything the last paragraph in George Orwell´s Homage to Catalunia. He was returning to England after participating in the Spanish Civil War, both on the front lines and in the brutal infighting among the various elements supporting the Republican cause. He was wounded on the front and had to flee for his life from the political infighting.
¨And then England — southern England, probably the sleekest landscape in
the world. It is difficult when you pass that way, especially when you are
peacefully recovering from sea-sickness with the plush cushions of a boat-train
carriage under your bum, to believe that anything is really happening anywhere.
Earthquakes in Japan, famines in China, revolutions in Mexico? Don’t worry, the
milk will be on the doorstep tomorrow morning, the New Statesman will come
out on Friday. The industrial towns were far away, a smudge of smoke and misery
hidden by the curve of the earth’s surface. Down here it was still the England I
had known in my childhood: the railway-cuttings smothered in wild flowers, the
deep meadows where the great shining horses browse and meditate, the
slow-moving streams bordered by willows, the green bosoms of the elms, the
larkspurs in the cottage gardens; and then the huge peaceful wilderness of outer
London, the barges on the miry river, the familiar streets, the posters telling of
cricket matches and Royal weddings, the men in bowler hats, the pigeons in
Trafalgar Square, the red buses, the blue policemen — all sleeping the deep, deep
sleep of England, from which I sometimes fear that we shall never wake till we
are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs.¨
Yes, the deep deep sleep of the American Dream is alive and well. Just like the English of 1938, I fear that the Americans will not wake up until they too are jerked out if it by . . .

Posted by: c | May 21 2020 11:37 utc | 71

blues,
I thought that after the 08/09 debacle but alas they upped their game and upped their spending as if nothing had happened.

Posted by: arby | May 21 2020 12:08 utc | 73

@vk: the 50, 100, 500 year flood event language is about probabilities not religion. The issue in Midland is that the first dam is privately owned and there was no money in maintaining it, so the company didn’t. It’s also 100 years old. The second dam overtopped and led to failure of the structure because it was designed to work in tandem with the first. This is a story of America’s failing infrastructure where most dams are pushing 100 years old.

Posted by: Lex | May 21 2020 12:13 utc | 75

Korea’s exports dive 20% in first 20 days of month
This is capitalism’s “success story” against the pandemic.
South Korean economy is on the ropes. The only reason it didn’t delve deep into a great recession right now was the Fed’s generous swap deal, which compensated for the USD hemorrhaging it was suffering and continues to suffer. It is now, for all intents and purposes, a zombie economy.
–//–
Why ‘Made in Vietnam’ won’t replace ‘Made in China’
In Depth: Despite Attempts to Lure Them Away, Multinationals Aren’t Leaving China
Who knew that building manufacturing infrastructure had so many variables!

Posted by: vk | May 21 2020 13:32 utc | 77

C@71
Yes. That is why we continue to read Orwell, even if he was a scoundrel.
And yes, you make your point very well with that quote.

Posted by: oldhippie | May 21 2020 14:04 utc | 79

SB–
“The empire is in SW Asia at the BEHEST OF Iran.”
Care to elaborate on that because the empire is awfully damn good at looking like they want to destroy Iran.

Posted by: arby | May 21 2020 14:38 utc | 81

craig murrays latest article – worth getting involved…
Authoritarianism is Shoddy

Posted by: james | May 21 2020 15:57 utc | 83

And the stich up continues:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2020/05/authoritarianism-is-shoddy/

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | May 21 2020 16:01 utc | 85

b just posted an article about Biden. So the discussion about Iran-Venezuela will happen here for now.
IMO USA will attempt to board the Iranian ships because they fear that Iran may be delivering weapons and weapons tech (esp. missiles/missile tech) to Venezuela.
<> <> <> <>
For easy reference, I complied the discussion so far:
Chevrus | May 20 2020 14:09 @ 3

Is there is situation forming in the southern carribean? Recent information suggests that US carrier groups are in the VZ area as Iranian tankers head in that direction.

arby | May 20 2020 15:26 @6

Iran has warned the US to dare not touch its ships heading to Venezuela.

BM | May 20 2020 16:54 @13

In any event this would be a good time for Russia to send half a dozen friendly Tu-160’s with an ample supply of hypersonic anti-carrier missiles on a friendly cultural exchange visit to Venezuela.

Kadath | May 20 2020 20:48 @ 31

Regarding those 5 Iranian tankers on the way to Venezuela the Saker uploaded a new article suggesting that the US will use the Caribbean Regional Maritime Agreement (CRA) to justify boarding the tankers in International waters as part of the war on drugs (since the US previously declared Venezuela a narco-state). Even by threadbare excuse standards that seems laughably ridiculous but perfectly in-keeping with how the US has acted these past 20 years. If the US is so reckless as to board those tankers I can only assume that the Iranians will respond forcibly against US ships in the Persian golf.

Richard Steven Hack | May 20 2020 22:45 @ 41

Attacking Venezuela would probably be a bit easier than attacking Iran directly since Venezuela has one-third the population of Iran, is 1/8th the size of Iran, and its military is probably vastly less capable. Getting a (comparatively) easy military win would boost Trump’s chances in November. If it did turn into a “quagmire”, that could be spun and possibly stretched out to past Election Day.

Kadath | May 20 2020 22:55 @44

And now we have an interesting update on the Iranian Tanker situation. Sputnik is reporting that the Venezuelan military will provide an armed escort for the tankers when they enter Venezuela’s exclusive economic zone (about 200 nautical miles from shore). We’ll see what happens soon, but if the US doesn’t back down this could lead to a disaster.

arby | May 21 2020 13:52 @ 78

“Any U.S. military action to impede the arrival of the Iranian oil tankers at Venezuelan ports could set up a clash between Washington and two of the principal nations it has targeted for regime change.
If U.S. warships block the Iranian vessels in international waters and Iran makes good on its threat of retaliation, other nations may quickly be drawn into a conflict that would undermine efforts by the UN to foster a worldwide cessation of hostilities.

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 21 2020 16:33 utc | 87

Chinese surveyors team failed to reached the peak Mount Qomolangma due to bad weather, 21 May 2020.
The next few days will determine whether they can succeed, depends on weather condition again, supplies and human endurances… Good Luck China. China Jiayou

Posted by: JC | May 21 2020 16:42 utc | 89

No surprise here, but the US has announced that they will notify Russia of their intent to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty on Friday. Russia will probably follow suit in a few days, after this the only arms control agreement remaining will be the New Start Treaty that the US plans on allowing to expire in a few months. Will this finally convince the Europeans to cut their ties to their imperial masters before they are thrown into a nuclear furnace?

Posted by: Kadath | May 21 2020 16:59 utc | 91

Richard Steven Hack @65–
I recall those articles Pepe wrote, have them archived, but he never mentions the names of his sources; yes, names–plural. IMO, they are old money industrial capitalists given the contexts provided. Since Trump’s fed the Money Power so well, he has their backing, which is the same as the Dem’s backers.
Perimetr @63–
I recall Hudson’s use of “quandry,” remarked upon it at the time, and later found and adopted Socrates’s maxim; paraphrased: Don’t waste your time and energy on the old regime that’s beyond fixing; instead, focus all your efforts on building the New Way. I see the New Way already under construction, and we can see the Old Way trying to keep it from arising to replace it. We can also see those caught in the middle–the EU mostly. The Global South not colonized/captured by the Outlaw US Empire is all for the New Way. What I see unfolding/being built is Henry Wallace’s Century of the Common Man, which he viewed through the lens of his Liberal Christian Communalism.
/////////
Trump’s mounting a Rear Guard Action in an attempt to keep the Old Way on top, but he’s failing miserably as exemplified by his Treasonous Do Nothing Policy in the face of COVID-19. IMO, who wins between Trump and Biden will reflect which of the two the Current Oligarchy think can do the best job of keeping the Old Way running. Trump’s burned a lot of bridges and will be rightly blamed for the economic debacle caused by his Do Nothing Policy. He’s really done nothing for Evangelicals, and his Blame China lies only fool those who want to be fooled.
Numerous enlightened citizens have cast off their allegiance to the Outlaw US Empire within which they reside to go about the task of building the New Way. They live in places like Humboldt, California; Eugene and Corvallis, Oregon; upstate New York; Colorado; New Mexico; Texas. They don’t do a lot of self-promoting since they’re focusing their efforts on building the foundations for the New Way–Yes, they’re explicitly Counter-Culture since they don’t advocate the Old Way. It seems the Old Way will only die when the old that support it finally die, which is my generation–the Baby Boomers.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 21 2020 17:20 utc | 93

No surprise here, but the US has announced that they will notify Russia of their intent to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty on Friday. Russia will probably follow suit in a few days, after this the only arms control agreement remaining will be the New Start Treaty that the US plans on allowing to expire in a few months. Will this finally convince the Europeans to cut their ties to their imperial masters before they are thrown into a nuclear furnace?

Posted by: Saglikli Birey | May 21 2020 17:47 utc | 95

Posted by: arby | May 21 2020 14:38 utc | 81
Arby,
This, from an insider,Barbara Slavin, whom has been writing on Iran for a while, to whet the taste buds:

“He [Khalilzad] recognized then. as now, that Iran has enormous capacity to help or hinder the political stability of its neighbors and, thus, advance or retard US interests in the Middle East.”

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/iran-and-the-us-meet-again-over-afghanistan/
She can’t come out and say ‘behest’ though. Will end her courier.

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | May 21 2020 18:33 utc | 97

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | May 21 2020 18:33 utc | 96 (and elsewhere)
And you’ve always believed Iran is too powerful to be attacked, or that it would cost the US to much in oil prices (heh, now would be a good time since the oil price is barely getting $30), etc., etc. – the usual excuses from the cognitive dissonance crowd.
Good luck with that. War with Iran is inevitable. No two countries with that much animosity have ever avoided war indefinitely.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | May 21 2020 20:59 utc | 99