Was reading around the expiration of the UN arms embargo on Iran when I found this gem of an article, Iran’s Next Move: Arms Transfers to South America?, analysing the “security landscape” in South America: “By the end of October, the security landscape in South America could change, with the Islamic Republic of Iran setting up arms sales in South America, from Venezuela to Bolivia.”
Well worth the read.

Posted by: AtaBrit | Oct 22 2020 17:49 utc | 4

Putin’s Valdai Club appearance video and beginnings of a transcript are now posted at the Kremlin’s website. Here again is the paper Putin’s responding to with his opening speech. What I’ll call his introduction is as follows:
“From the onset of the pandemic in Russia, we have focused on preserving lives and ensuring safety of our people as our key values. This was an informed choice dictated by our culture and spiritual traditions, and our complex, sometimes dramatic, history. If we think back to the great demographic losses we suffered in the 20th century, we had no other choice but to fight for every person and the future of every Russian family.
“So, we did our best to preserve the health and the lives of our people, to help parents and children, as well as senior citizens and those who lost their jobs, to maintain employment as much as possible, to minimise damage to the economy, to support millions of entrepreneurs who run small or family businesses.
“Perhaps, like everyone else, you are closely following daily updates on the pandemic around the world. Unfortunately, the coronavirus has not retreated and still poses a major threat. Probably, this unsettling background intensifies the sense, like many people feel, that a whole new era is about to begin and that we are not just on the verge of dramatic changes, but an era of tectonic shifts in all areas of life.
“We see the rapidly, exponential development of the processes that we have repeatedly discussed at the Valdai Club before. Thus, six years ago, in 2014, we spoke about this issue when we discussed the theme The World Order: New Rules or a Game Without Rules. So, what is happening now? Regrettably, the game without rules is becoming increasingly horrifying and sometimes seems to be a fait accompli.”
This is the 17th session of the Valdai Club, and I ask: Where is there an equivalent in the so-called democracies of the West which are allegedly the guardians of free speech and debate, where there supposedly exists a “marketplace of ideas”?

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 22 2020 18:19 utc | 6

“Here are the consequences of the war for the people of Syria.
The economy has contracted by two-thirds since 2011 [1], the year the United States and its Western allies, along with the Turks, Saudis, Emiratis, and Qataris, assisted by the Israelis, fanned the embers of an Islamist insurgency that has burned since the 1960s into a conflagration.
Over 80 percent of Syrians now live below the poverty line. [2]
Once classified as a lower middle income country, the World Bank in 2018 reclassified Syria as a low-income country. [3]
According to the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, Syrians are trapped “between hunger and poverty and deprivation [created by the long war] on one side and death [from the coronavirus] on the other.” [4]
Food prices have increased more than 23 times over the past decade. [5]
The World Food Program warns of an impending famine. [6]
Syria’s healthcare system, once one of the finest in the region, is in disarray. The country suffers a dearth of doctors, drugs and medical equipment. [7]
Dams and oil fields barely function. [8]
Industrial areas have been completely devastated. [9]
Schools and hospitals lie in ruins. [10]
Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble. [11]
Washington’s Long War on Syria: An Update

Posted by: arby | Oct 22 2020 19:00 utc | 8

@Tannenhouser,
The site looks like the classic conspiracy theory right wing site, and the contents they point to look amateurish – so I would not put much store by it. Trudeau is certainly not my favourite politician, too much of a US poodle, but this looks way off.

Posted by: Roger | Oct 22 2020 19:06 utc | 10

gm @9–
Yes, that’s the ongoing rhetorical battle between the Collectivist nations who uphold the sanctity of International Law and the Neoliberal Nations controlled by Financial Parasites that can’t survive under a functional International Law System. That distinction is constantly becoming clearer particularly to those residing within the Neoliberal nations as they watch their lives being destroyed. IMO, we’re on the cusp of entering the most critical decade of this century which will determine humanity’s condition when 2101 is reached.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 22 2020 19:12 utc | 12

Hoyeru @11–
Does this mean China’s gravity in terms of its size and its influence is overwhelming the US?
Indonesia has a very dark history of relations with the Outlaw US Empire and many Overseas Chinese still reside there despite the many murdered during the 1960s. Indonesia also has the largest Islamic population and has closely watched the Empire’s destruction of and animus aimed at Islam. IMO, the Outlaw US Empire’s own actions have undermined its relations with Indonesia and a great many other nations, and China with its superior values and development philosophy is merely filling the vacuum. Indonesia and China also have longstanding cultural relations stretching back 2,000+ years. And commercially, they’ve been trading in their domestic currencies since November 2018. With a population closing in on 300 million and the 7th PPP-ranked GDP, Indonesia presents a very large market for China, and I see their relations growing closer as the Outlaw US Empire wanes.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 22 2020 19:32 utc | 14

On 10/17/20 Mark Crispin Miller posted a link to a youtube video entitled “UN Agenda Soldiers Moved In To Quebec”. (He has since posted another link to the same video should the video on YouTube be swept in a purge…) (MCM’s original headline, if I recall, had the ominous suggestion to ‘Download this video!’, which he has since changed.)
The video is certainly worth a look. But what I’m particularly curious about is a comment to the video on YouTube by a user named JCVdude. I’ll post the entire comment as it appears there:

Shared to me this am…
I REALLY REALLY DONT WANT TO BE RIGHT ABOUT ALL THESE DURING LAST 7 MONTHS… AND THE NEXT 7 MONTHS….
This needs to go VIRAL!!!!! Only each person can decide if this is real or not. It matches exactly what we have all read and researched will happen IF we don’t stop this. This is ALREADY happening in other countries…This is a leaker from the liberal party of canada. Please contact all levels of authorities and gov that we know the plan. The isolation centers we already know are bring built as shown on the gov website RFP program.
Fw: LPC Strategic Committee Leak
Inbox
LPC leaker
1:47 PM (7 hours ago)
—– Original Message ——-
On Saturday, October 10, 2020 1:38 PM, REMOVED wrote:
Dear REMOVED,
I want to provide you some very important information. I’m a committee member within the Liberal Party of Canada. I sit within several committee groups but the information I am providing is originating from the Strategic Planning committee (which is steered by the PMO).
I need to start off by saying that I’m not happy doing this but I have to. As a Canadian and more importantly as a parent who wants a better future not only for my children but for other children as well. The other reason I am doing this is because roughly 30% of the committee members are not pleased with the direction this will take Canada, but our opinions have been ignored and they plan on moving forward toward their goals. They have also made it very clear that nothing will stop the planned outcomes.
> The road map and aim was set out by the PMO and is as follows:
> – Phase in secondary lock down restrictions on a rolling basis, starting with major metropolitan areas first and expanding outward. Expected by November 2020.
> – Rush the acquisition of (or construction of) isolation facilities across every province and territory. Expected by December 2020.
> – Daily new cases of COVID-19 will surge beyond capacity of testing, including increases in COVID related deaths following the same growth curves. Expected by end of November 2020.
> – Complete and total secondary lock down (much stricter than the first and second rolling phase restrictions). Expected by end of December 2020 – early January 2021
> – Reform and expansion of the unemployment program to be transitioned into the universal basic income program. Expected by Q1 2021.
> – Projected COVID-19 mutation and/or co-infection with secondary virus (referred to as COVID-21) leading to a third wave with much higher mortality rate and higher rate of infection. Expected by February 2021.
> – Daily new cases of COVID-21 hospitalizations and COVID-19 and COVID-21 related deaths will exceed medical care facilities capacity. Expected Q1 – Q2 2021.
> – Enhanced lock down restrictions (referred to as Third Lock Down) will be implemented. Full travel restrictions will be imposed (including inter-province and inter-city). Expected Q2 2021.
> – Transitioning of individuals into the universal basic income program. Expected mid Q2 2021.
> – Projected supply chain break downs, inventory shortages, large economic instability. Expected late Q2 2021.
> – Deployment of military personnel into major metropolitan areas as well as all major roadways to establish travel checkpoints. Restrict travel and movement. Provide logistical support to the area. Expected by Q3 2021.
Along with that provided road map the Strategic Planning committee was asked to design an effective way of transitioning Canadians to meet a unprecedented economic endeavor. One that would change the face of Canada and forever alter the lives of Canadians. What we were told was that in order to offset what was essentially an economic collapse on a international scale, that the federal government was going to offer Canadians a total debt relief. This is how it works: the federal government will offer to eliminate all personal debts (mortgages, loans, credit cards, etc) which all funding will be provided to Canada by the IMF under what will become known as the World Debt Reset program. In exchange for acceptance of this total debt forgiveness the individual would forfeit ownership of any and all property and assets forever. The individual would also have to agree to partake in the COVID-19 and COVID-21 vaccination schedule, which would provide the individual with unrestricted travel and unrestricted living even under a full lock down (through the use of photo identification referred to as Canada’s HealthPass) .
Committee members asked who would become the owner of the forfeited property and assets in that scenario and what would happen to lenders or financial institutions, we were simply told “the World Debt Reset program will handle all of the details”. Several committee members also questioned what would happen to individuals if they refused to participate in the World Debt Reset program, or the HealthPass, or the vaccination schedule, and the answer we got was very troubling. Essentially we were told it was our duty to make sure we came up with a plan to ensure that would never happen. We were told it was in the individuals best interest to participate. When several committee members pushed relentlessly to get an answer we were told that those who refused would first live under the lock down restrictions indefinitely. And that over a short period of time as more Canadians transitioned into the debt forgiveness program, the ones who refused to participate would be deemed a public safety risk and would be relocated into isolation facilities. Once in those facilities they would be given two options, participate in the debt forgiveness program and be released, or stay indefinitely in the isolation facility under the classification of a serious public health risk and have all their assets seized.
So as you can imagine after hearing all of this it turned into quite the heated discussion and escalated beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed before. In the end it was implied by the PMO that the whole agenda will move forward no matter who agrees with it or not. That it wont just be Canada but in fact all nations will have similar roadmaps and agendas. That we need to take advantage of the situations before us to promote change on a grander scale for the betterment of everyone. The members who were opposed and ones who brought up key issues that would arise from such a thing were completely ignored. Our opinions and concerns were ignored. We were simply told to just do it.
All I know is that I don’t like it and I think its going to place Canadians into a dark future.

What I’d like to ask the patrons of this establishment is… What do you make of it? True? Accurate? Disinfo? Paranoid fantasy?
I have my own ideas about its veracity, but I’d like to hear from the others here whom I greatly respect and who are better informed than I.

Posted by: Lohmann | Oct 22 2020 19:51 utc | 16

Lohmann@17 see #2

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Oct 22 2020 20:04 utc | 18

What do you make of the latest mortality figures?
USA http://www.null4.net/usa-mortality.png
France http://www.null4.net/fr-mortality.png
Source: https://www.mortality.org/

Posted by: Deltaeus | Oct 22 2020 20:22 utc | 20

Posted by: Lohmann | Oct 22 2020 19:51 utc | 16
Well, sounds like a load of paranoid fascist crap to me. Not denying that there may well be food shortages, water shortages etc. etc. in the next 20 or so years. But the idea that the Canadian government, or any other one, is on top of this and has a plan is frankly, laughable.

Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Oct 22 2020 20:57 utc | 22

Incredible!
Crowdstrike is still out there being used as a credible source.
…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-cyber-iran-exclusive/exclusive-dumb-mistake-exposed-iranian-hand-behind-fake-proud-boys-u-s-election-emails-sources-idUSKBN2772YL
Crowdstrike attributed emails to Iran based upon a video attachment. Try not to laugh – DARE YOU.

“The video showed the hackers’ computer screen as they typed in commands to purportedly hack a voter registration system. Investigators noticed snippets of revealing computer code, including file paths, file names and an internet protocol (IP) address.”

Posted by: librul | Oct 22 2020 21:18 utc | 24

Any guesses out there by MOA followers on how many minutes will pass on tonight’s presidential debate (LOL) before Donald Trump walks-off the stage? How about seconds?

Posted by: GeorgeV | Oct 22 2020 21:28 utc | 26

ptb @23
Thanks for responding. That’s a good falsifiable hypothesis – I’ll try and investigate the data to see if it explains the fact that people are dying in the US at a significantly lower rate than normal. If I can find the data, I’ll report back.
When I look at the charts, I see an epidemic that’s over, but I’m willing to be convinced there is something else going on.

Posted by: Deltaeus | Oct 22 2020 21:30 utc | 28

Posted by: Lohmann | Oct 22 2020 19:51 utc | 16
> – Phase in secondary lock down restrictions on a rolling basis, starting with major metropolitan areas first and expanding outward. Expected by November 2020.
> – Rush the acquisition of (or construction of) isolation facilities across every province and territory. Expected by December 2020.
> – Daily new cases of COVID-19 will surge beyond capacity of testing, including increases in COVID related deaths following the same growth curves. Expected by end of November 2020.
> – Complete and total secondary lock down (much stricter than the first and second rolling phase restrictions). Expected by end of December 2020 – early January 2021
> – Reform and expansion of the unemployment program to be transitioned into the universal basic income program. Expected by Q1 2021.
> – Projected COVID-19 mutation and/or co-infection with secondary virus (referred to as COVID-21) leading to a third wave with much higher mortality rate and higher rate of infection. Expected by February 2021.
> – Daily new cases of COVID-21 hospitalizations and COVID-19 and COVID-21 related deaths will exceed medical care facilities capacity. Expected Q1 – Q2 2021.
> – Enhanced lock down restrictions (referred to as Third Lock Down) will be implemented. Full travel restrictions will be imposed (including inter-province and inter-city). Expected Q2 2021.
> – Transitioning of individuals into the universal basic income program. Expected mid Q2 2021.
> – Projected supply chain break downs, inventory shortages, large economic instability. Expected late Q2 2021.
> – Deployment of military personnel into major metropolitan areas as well as all major roadways to establish travel checkpoints. Restrict travel and movement. Provide logistical support to the area. Expected by Q3 2021.
That is an entirely believable scenario – up to the point of the “total debt relief”, which I doubt is going to occur. Also, unless someone is planning to increase the lethality of the virus, I doubt there will be a higher mortality rate – although it’s certainly possible a la 1917-18.
But the sequence in general is believable. In the US, the sequence is likely to be enhanced by the civil unrest and Constitutional crisis as a result of the election.
We’re already seeing secondary lockdowns occurring in New York on a zip code by zip code basis.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 22 2020 21:54 utc | 30

Why Herd Immunity Is a Bad Public Health Policy
Scientists in a top medical journal warn that herd immunity is ‘fraught with risks’

According to the authors’ calculations, 190 million of the 330 million people in the United States would need to be immune to reach a herd immunity threshold of 60%, which, the authors write, would result in “several hundred thousand additional deaths.” …
So far, the authors write, “there is no example of a large-scale successful intentional infection-based herd immunity strategy.” (Note that this is different from a vaccine-based herd immunity strategy, which does work, albeit imperfectly.) Sweden is the most obvious example of a country that tried to go for herd immunity as public policy, and doing so resulted in some of the world’s highest death rates (especially among the elderly) and economic losses comparable to other European countries, as the New York Times noted in its coverage of the Great Barrington document. And though one might expect many people in Sweden to have antibodies against Covid-19 after this strategy was adopted, the so-called seroprevalence in Stockholm, Sweden, was reported as less than 8% in April — about the same as other cities.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 22 2020 22:02 utc | 32

Forget Shutdowns. It’s ‘Demand Shock’ That’s Killing Our Economy.

But what makes this demand shock exceptional is that the U.S. still has 40,000 to 50,000 new Covid-19 cases and 600 to 700 deaths every day, and as a result lots of Americans are still leery of doing normal, not particularly indulgent things like eating out, going to the gym, or going to the movies. A recent survey by research firm Datassentials, for instance, found that 58% of those surveyed described themselves as “uncomfortable” with dining indoors, and 36% described themselves as “very uncomfortable.” Not surprisingly, then, no matter how creative restaurants get, traffic is still down sharply in most places, and 2.5 million restaurant workers who lost their jobs in April remain unemployed. Similarly, gyms have been open in most states for months now. But a recent survey of 5,000 gym-goers by RunRepeat found that 70% haven’t returned and 43% said they had no plans to go back. Half a dozen gym chains have filed for bankruptcy in recent months, including 24 Hour Fitness, the owner of New York Sports Club, and Gold’s Gym, with many of them permanently shuttering a majority of their locations…
The point is that lifting stay-at-home orders and opening restaurants isn’t enough: Until consumers feel safe, they’re going to stay away.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 22 2020 22:19 utc | 34

Can someone explain how US-backed coups in Brazil, Iran, Guatemala, etc yielded terrible governments that held power for 10 years+, and in Bolivia they lasted a year? The obvious difference I see is that these other countries (and many other examples) yielded dictatorships and had little pretense of civil rights and democracy. Is it getting harder to do regime changes and maintain legitimacy with the American middle class due to social media on-the-ground reports from regime-change victims? Or what accounts for Bolivia reversing course so quickly when other countries with equally unpopular coup governments were stuck with them for 1+ decades?

Posted by: W | Oct 22 2020 22:53 utc | 36

Don Bacon @ 27
Yes. Wasn’t all that long ago when b and many of the barflies were kind of celebrating the fact that the Yankees lost in Syria and were getting the boot.
Turns out that is not what has happened at all.

Posted by: arby | Oct 22 2020 23:09 utc | 38

W @36–
I’ll opine that Bolivia has a much stronger civil society whose solidarity was temporarily broken then restored to the point where they could oust the golpistas. Plus, the military is made up of those on the side of civil society. Throughout South America, the reaction to the reactionaries smolders and flames up on occasion where solidarity is high. Neoliberal policies have wrecked every economy where they were introduced there, particularly the middle class, which is weak in most nations, and gave them cause to join with the lower working classes. The struggle there will revive. The Parasites and their allies are too few in number, and Gringoland has proven itself to be more loco than ever before.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 22 2020 23:17 utc | 40

W @ 36:
It could be because in Bolivia the working class, the poor and other marginalised groups were more united (after Morales’ long presidency which gave them time and the stability they needed to organise) and could communicate with one another in Quechua and Aymara, and in those languages could organise resistance without fear of being infiltrated by those loyal to the interim government whose leaders know only Spanish and English.
There may be other factors unique to Bolivia that helped: being a mostly land-locked country being a country where most support for MAS is in high-altitude areas where Aymara and Quechua are dominant or co-dominant with each other and/or with Spanish; and the neoliberal factions having most of their support in Santa Cruz department which is actually far from the capital La Paz and in the eastern lowland areas.
Ecuador had a strong civil society under Rafael Correa and Brazil under Lula da Silva and Rousseff had also been building a stronger civil society in parts of the country. But they had their own particular issues and strains. Correa put his trust in Lenin Moreno as his successor (which Moreno betrayed) when he probably should have extended his Presidency at the risk of international disapproval.

Posted by: Jen | Oct 22 2020 23:53 utc | 42

karlof1@25:
…..the confidence its citizenry has in its government such that they’re capable of acting in harmony has been able to beat back COVID.
Yes, a citizenry confident in its government and thus acting in harmony on demand was a huge factor in China’s success. But that’s only half the remedy. The right kind of actions the government demands of its citizenry is the other half. Knowing the right kinds of actions to take, when to take, and who to entrust to carry out, all these details requires competence, diligence, and discipline. Frankly, the highly touted western entities DON’T HAVE these ingredients. Collectively, the western leaderships have been seen fumbling around like drunks in trying to corral COVID for the last 6 months.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 23 2020 0:49 utc | 44

Bravo to the USMC whistleblower who exposed the latest blatant Australian military war crimes in Afghanistan:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-21/soldiers-killed-man-who-could-not-fit-on-aircraft-says-us-marine/12782756
Now imagine if the Australian government tried to extradite the whistleblower by calling him the semantic names the US government reserves for Julian Assange?
Where is the gutless Australian government for Assange?
They are too busy making ‘no comment’ about actual war crimes. Any signatory to the Geneva Conventions can denounce the conventions. Either defend the conventions for everyone, including Palestinians, or get out.

Posted by: Paul | Oct 23 2020 0:57 utc | 46

At the 40 minute point: Biden getting pounded.
Clearly he expected Trump to be hindered by the mike cutoff format, but Trump is clearly very well prepared.
Now Biden is interrupting Trump…

Posted by: c1ue | Oct 23 2020 1:41 utc | 48

Stopped watching the debate.
I believe Trump is winning this one.

Posted by: CarlD | Oct 23 2020 1:52 utc | 50

@ OV 44
The right kind of actions the government demands of its citizenry is the other half. Knowing the right kinds of actions to take, when to take, and who to entrust to carry out, all these details requires competence, diligence, and discipline. Frankly, the highly touted western entities DON’T HAVE these ingredients.
I suppose many readers have read President Xi’s bio, here. I’m impressed. Based on what I know, I share the opinion of former prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, when asked about Xi: Lee said he felt he was “a thoughtful man who has gone through many trials and tribulations. . .I would put him in the Nelson Mandela class of persons. A person with enormous emotional stability who does not allow his personal misfortunes or sufferings affect his judgment. In other words, he is impressive”
Compare all that with what we get stuck with in our “democracy.”

Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 23 2020 1:59 utc | 52

@ c1ue 49
It has been clearly documented that at least half of COVID deaths are people who are seriously ill
I would submit that a leading cause of COVID death, along with illness, is the utter poor condition of most older Americans, and not a few younger ones, for whom the act of walking is considered to be dangerous, for one example, up there with not eating cheeseburgers and fries.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 23 2020 2:06 utc | 54

Trump is thrashing Biden in this debate while still being civil (well, civil by Trump standards), not sure how impactful this debate will be with the American voters. I think Trump will probably win (60/40 chance) the election as it *feels* like 2016 all over again, if the polling agencies have half a brain cell they will declare Trump the winner of the debate and use that to justify tightening the polls results in the lead up to the election. If we do have a rerun of 2016 again and the polling agencies fail again, I dont think anyone will trust the polling agencies again.

Posted by: Kadath | Oct 23 2020 2:18 utc | 56

@ Smith | Oct 23 2020 2:18 utc | 57 who wrote
”
If you visit mainland China, you would know China is actually one of the more westernized societies in Asia especially in the urban part due to all the wealth and technological advance, so it becomes a sort of homonized “soulless” culture typical of this century.
”
Your “soulless” is everyone else’s secular and believe it represents a blossoming of humanity from the cultural barbarism of global private finance top/bottom world.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 23 2020 2:36 utc | 58

Biden recovered a bit – until he totally lost in on his flip-flopping “Green New Deal” and “no ban on fracking”, followed by “ending the oil industry”.
Clear win for Trump.

Posted by: c1ue | Oct 23 2020 2:42 utc | 60

@Smith #57
No, mainland China is nothing like the West.
A simple example: in the West – US or Europe – people line up orderly. In China, it is a literal dogfight.
Then there’s the entire surveillance thing.

Posted by: c1ue | Oct 23 2020 2:43 utc | 62

@ psychohistorian
Yeah, I don’t quite agree with that. I mean that sort of “blossoming” secularity can be found in many parts of East Asia or even parts of SEA, it’s not quite unique to China.

Posted by: Smith | Oct 23 2020 2:48 utc | 64

Great moderator!
So Biden wants to end the oil industry ? Wow! Even Trump was blown away by that.
If that doesn’t ruin Biden’s presidential campaign, nothing will.

Posted by: Down Douth | Oct 23 2020 2:57 utc | 66

snake @ 61
Man accused of plotting to kill Joe Biden after van with guns, explosives found in NC
Interesting, it sounds like the van may have been dropped by someone else and he was the pickup guy to use its contents. 500K is a lot of green to leave laying around for an idiot like that.
Man arrested in Kannapolis accused of collecting guns, explosives, posting threats about Joe Biden
A Polish passport, many drivers licenses and a place in Quebec among other locations. This was no small operation.
That mute button really helped to shut up Trump. He must have actually taken some advice to shut up for the first time in his life after his disaster in the last debate.
It appeared to me Trump got the better of Biden on most issues. Now Biden can go back into the basement and sleep for a week to catch up.

Posted by: circumspect | Oct 23 2020 3:44 utc | 68

@ Hoyeru
Nah, the chinese have the infrastructure integrated for survelliance.
The west might spend more money on it, but China is not an amateur in that field, at all.
Hell, chinese companies openly sell the analytics of these data for other companies and the public, and that’s just gender/age/location.

Posted by: Smith | Oct 23 2020 4:19 utc | 70

Jen,
I wouldn’t bother trying to change “Smith’s” mind on anything. He’s a drive by ‘paracaidista’ commenter who, when pressed for details in response to his one liners, resorts to the standard western “liberal” media lies about China re: surveillance and uniformity and “soullessness” as though the U.S.A. has ever been a model in the right direction on any of those things. You’ll find nary a complaint from him about the NSA or CIA and the illegal surveillance and propagandizing of Americans in the mainland. It’s a waste.

Posted by: _K_C_ | Oct 23 2020 5:32 utc | 72

Posted by: Circe | Oct 23 2020 3:42 utc | 67
Dear Circe, I could not watch the debate, timezone does not allow, but this morning I watched a very short segment of fumbling Joe telling a humongous truth that won’t go well with the US public, yes, Hitler was a star for the anglo world, pre war time of course.
I would not dare comparing the three hours of Putin during the Valday forum with the pathetical old man that should just retire. It would be like comparing a master class with kids playing in a kindergarten, and now go ahead and call me a troll.

Posted by: Paco | Oct 23 2020 5:49 utc | 74

karlof1 | Oct 22 2020 21:22 utc | 25
“Many societies need to reach a decision about COVID: Either accept it as a fact of life from here-on-out, thus constant masking, social distancing and hygienic efforts to decrease transmission, or devote the assets required to stamp-it-out and relentlessly trace any new outbreak such that it is prevented from any further spreading…”
Well that’s a flat-earth way to pretend the obvious alternative doesn’t exist: Recover sanity and go about life as before with neither a fascist “stamping out” mentality nor the radically anti-social superstitions of face diapers and hex spacing. That is, regard it the same way we’ve long regarded the comparable flu.
That’s the sane, rational, pro-human baseline.
And to say yet again, only the most deranged Dominionist delusion thinks you can “stamp-it-out” or prevent this virus from completing its natural cycle now that it’s been widely at large in the environment for at least a year.

Posted by: Russ | Oct 23 2020 5:55 utc | 76

# 67 circe: “The debate in general was a snooze fest…It was a yawner, neither was stellar and it ain’t gonna change a thing.”
If the resident rabid TDS frother has such a restrained response, Trump must’ve clobbered him.

Posted by: Russ | Oct 23 2020 5:57 utc | 78

@ _K_C
Also, why do you lie?
I watch that chinese driver arguing with police clip, these people aren’t protesting the police action, they are just gathering to look at the act, while the police does their job.
And it’s not just unjust action either, that dude is being uncooperative and deliberately blocking the license plate, and yes, he does get roughed up a bit by multiple police. Is that police brutality?

Posted by: Smith | Oct 23 2020 6:07 utc | 80

Posted by: c1ue | Oct 23 2020 2:40 utc | 59
Only a moron claims that someone who might have died a year or ten years from now from an underlying condition should not be counted as a virus death – regardless of whether he had COVID-19 or regular flu.
You are officially a “Covidiot”.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 23 2020 6:41 utc | 82

Posted by: circumspect | Oct 23 2020 3:44 utc | 68
My kind of guy. LOL Someone who doesn’t just bitch and moan on a blog.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Oct 23 2020 6:44 utc | 84

@ Jen
I mean, what would the police do to them? Crowd gathering around the police has always been a thing, even in western countries, some even try to fight the police to protect the guy who’s being arrested.
In the famous G. Floyd case, you have people all around police crying and hollering.
Also, the idea of cover-up happens in all countries, not just western and Chinese media, so that’s not a good comparison. The difference is that western media always tries to inflame tension, and you have talking heads defending the victim/police and create counter narratives so both the police and civilians feel pissed off instead of finding a solution.

Posted by: Smith | Oct 23 2020 6:51 utc | 86

The British Poultry Council is seeking an urgent exemption from virus-related quarantine restrictions for at least 1,000 seasonal workers from countries including Poland, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. The proposed relief would be needed for the end of October, it said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.
“There is a shortage of U.K.-based workers with the necessary training and qualifications to slaughter and process Christmas turkeys,” British Poultry Council Chief Executive Officer Richard Griffiths said in the statement. “If these vacancies cannot be filled, it will have a significant impact on the production of and therefore cost of food.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-21/u-k-quarantine-threatens-christmas-dinner-poultry-group-warns

Posted by: Mao | Oct 23 2020 7:01 utc | 88

m@84 the buzz about Navalny is that he and some partners were running an anti-corruption blackmail racket getting compromising information on various enterprises and individuals and Navalny decided to cash out without informing or consulting with his partners. Nothing to do with the Russian government.

Posted by: the pessimist | Oct 23 2020 7:32 utc | 90

Posted by: Don Bacon | Oct 23 2020 1:59 utc | 52
I remember watching Trump with Xi the first time with the chocolate cake and the cruise missiles. I remember thinking that that was a BIG mistake on Trump’s part, Trump the Chump.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 23 2020 11:07 utc | 92

@46 Paul “Bravo to the USMC whistleblower who exposed the latest blatant Australian military war crimes in Afghanistan”
If you read the article you will see nowhere within it a claim that this Marine actually witnessed the “war crime”.
Indeed, apparently he didn’t even see anyone being killed, much less witnessed the manner in which they died.
As in…
Marine: “And you just heard this silence and then we heard a pop. And then they said, ‘OK, we have six prisoners’. ”
Marine: “This was the first time we saw something we couldn’t morally justify, because we knew somebody was already cuffed up, ready to go, taken prisoner and we just witnessed them kill a prisoner”
According to him own testimony he had *deduced* what had happened based on what he had heard, but he hadn’t *witnessed* a killing.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Oct 23 2020 11:40 utc | 94

@49 c1ue “It has been clearly documented that at least half of COVID deaths are people who are seriously ill. There is no question whatsoever that at least some of these would have died anyway but later – yet these are classified as COVID.”
That argument leaves me cold. Everyone dies. E.v.e.r.y.o.n.e.
To say that a person who died of Covid would have died of Something Else Anyway is an argument that can be applied to every single person.
If they hadn’t had a car accident then something else would have killed them.
If they hadn’t overdosed on heroin then something else would have killed them.
If they hadn’t been riddled with bullets then something else would have killed them.
If they hadn’t gone into cardiac arrest then something else would have killed them.
All equally true, because The Undiscovered Country comes to everyone.

Posted by: Yeah, Right | Oct 23 2020 11:47 utc | 96

@smith
In the famous G. Floyd case, you have people all around police crying and hollering.
yeah, people don’t like seeing cops murder people in the street. fortunately some of the crowd took videos of the murderous cops, which is why they are being prosecuted, and wonder of wonders, lost their jobs instead of being assigned to a desk where they couldn’t kill anybody but other cops.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 23 2020 12:13 utc | 98

@ pretzelattack
The fact you admit that the cops in the USA allow these civilian-filmed footages to be aired in the media means there’s at least some sort of semblance of “freedom” comes.
You ever notice how in the China clip, nobody brings up their smartphone to film the incident, and nobody seems to say or shout anything? That’s not a coincidence nor that group not having a smartphone, it’s that their phones would be taken if they indeed film it and they don’t want no trabble.
The footage in that clip was filmed by a cop.

Posted by: Smith | Oct 23 2020 12:33 utc | 100