Open Thread 2020-93
News & views ...
Posted by b on November 26, 2020 at 15:19 UTC | Permalink
next page »"... or foreign adventures will help" --> "... or foreign adventures will only distract or worse."
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I am basically claiming that doing the ACTUALLY right thing is also clever. Intelligence of the "average voter" is mediocre, but still above the "net wisdom" in Washington where the bright and educated compete who better memorized some stinky wisdoms (e.g. from Harvard School of "Never Trust the Ruskies" Studies) and internecine sniping.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 26 2020 15:52 utc | 2
Has the Kraken been released yet?
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fraud-was-executed-many-means-sidney-powell-releases-kraken-dual-lawsuits-michigan
Posted by: Nathan Mulcahy | Nov 26 2020 16:00 utc | 3
It's not dictatorial/authoritarian/totalitarian if it's a liberal (pro-West) government doing it:
Armenian Parliament Refuses to Lift Martial Law
--//--
As I've been observing since the last three years: the liberals (Democratic) don't seem to have any plans - a sense of impotency symbolized by the nomination of Janet Yellen to the Treasury.
What they seem to be relying on is in what I've been calling here the "theory of trust", which states that Trump, albeit having overall the correct foreign policies, was too vulgar, too ugly, too revealing to the rest of the world. His mere removal would then "restore trust" on the Empire, therefore solving all of the USA's problems (including economic).
If you think about it, this "Trust Theory" is nothing more nothing less than the contemporary ideology of finance capitalism (Wall Street) applied to foreign policy. No wonder it was born from the "coastal elites" of NY (Hilary Clinton was senator for NY in 2016) and Joe Biden is from Delaware - a famous tax haven adjacent to NYC itself.
--//--
‘Any point in dealing with Brussels?’ Lavrov doubts cooperation with hostile EU agencies
There will come a time when Putin - a man obsessed with Peter the Great - will have to give up his Germanophilia (Occidentalism), and listen to his advisers. His irrational submission to Germany will have to stop if he wants to keep Russia truly independent.
--//--
This is the end for the Asian Paper Tiger:
South Korea virus cases hit highest level since March
No clear economic recovery in sight: Bank of Korea
The South Korean will have to produce a lot of K-Pop to keep themselves afloat in the international arena.
--//--
Repost from the "pandemic freedom". Social-democrats ("well-behaved capitalists", "sterilized capitalists") are being slowly, but surely, put on their knees by the pandemic:
Global cases top 60m, Germany extends lockdown: COVID-19 daily bulletin
My earliest forecast (in March, you can check in this very blog) turned out to be the correct one: socialism triumphed, capitalism failed, against this pandemic. Hell, I even correctly predicted China's V-shaped recovery and the eventual fall of India!
--//--
Opium des Volkes:
Splitting 5 to 4, Supreme Court Backs Religious Challenge to Cuomo’s Virus Shutdown Order
I'm curious to know: what's the opinion of the Western Marxists on this (which I'm including the fabled Slavoj Zizek)? Are they still putting freedom above everything else or is it not as funny as it was during the Cold War?
--//--
(Repost) Illiteracy: the infantile disease of white supremacy:
--//--
Palestinians know the good stuff:
Palestine negotiating possible production of Russian Sputnik V vaccine - newspaper
I repeat to the Americans and Europeans here: do not, in any circumstances, take the Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines. They will do more harm to you than good. Take the Russian or the Chinese ones if you can.
Is BIN Saw is in rush to eliminate his potential alternatives to thrown?
See this tweet from an informed lawyer
the content is in Arabic:
" I have been infromed by reliable sources that Ahmad Bin Abdolaziz and Mohamad Ben Nayef, have been transfered to another prision in desert, in recent hours, may be it is preparation for execution before
I have been infromation from a reliable source that Prince # Ahmed_Ben_Abdulaziz and #Mohammed_Ben_Nayef have been transferred in recent hours from their confinement to a prison in the desert. to execute them as a preemptive step by # Muhammad_Ben_Salman so that the Biden administration could not find an alternative to him .. "
Posted by: arata | Nov 26 2020 16:07 utc | 5
Piotr Berman @1
Even if the Democrats manage to regain the Senate all I see is a rehash of 2008-10, a lot of nice word that go nowhere, a lot of whining about those nasty Republicans blocking them even though the Democrats have the majority, and another push to be forced to buy a private corporations product. The only difference is I don't think there will be any illusion of Biden or Harris fixing thing, just another ground hog day.
Posted by: Tobi | Nov 26 2020 16:26 utc | 6
Posted by: vk | Nov 26 2020 16:00 utc | 4
Long to do list, interesting as usual.
It is easy to fall in love with the country that speaks the language you study as second, or third, or.. something like Stockholm syndrome. Let’s see who goes first, Merkel has called elections for late next year, Putin we do not know, but they must know each other really well -both speak the other’s language-, there is no chemistry between them, their relation is a dead end.
The vaccine, for the time being I’m not aware of having a choice, as far as I know the Russian and Chinese ones have not been approved in Europe, not only that, Hungary is having problems trying to distribute SputnikV. Big pharma is watching, the stakes are enormous but fortunately for the world at large monopoly for the Covid 19 vaccine is gone up in smoke.
Posted by: Paco | Nov 26 2020 16:29 utc | 7
UK Special for this Thanksgiving Day:
UK approves largest defense budget to revive past glory
UK economy is hollowed out; Brexit will add more wounds
You Americans think you're in a bad shape? Look on the bright side - you could be the UK.
Posted by: vk | Nov 26 2020 16:00 utc | 4
One more thing that I think may be of interest to you, Maradona has passed away. I’m not a pro sports fan, but I used to play soccer as a child, the way it is played by billions, with a rag ball, or half an orange or anything that could be kicked out in the street with the other guys. A true hero Maradona, a demigod like Achilles with a vulnerable spot that made him mortal.
A hero of the left, his excesses were the complement of a true legend. His performance in Mexico against England, with the Malvinas War of recent memory was a sublimating experience for Argentina and the world at large, well, the world minus the anglo empires. He placed himself beyond good and evil, with a tricky and illegal goal that would have been shameful if it would not have been completed with what many consider to be the best goal in the history of football, -soccer for you guys, but the rest of the world calls it football-. Rest in peace a Latin American legend.
Posted by: Paco | Nov 26 2020 16:44 utc | 9
@ Posted by: Paco | Nov 26 2020 16:44 utc | 9
Yes, for sure. One of the greatest to have ever lived, on the right side of History.
Here's my favorite headline and cover on this subject:
Posted by: vk | Nov 26 2020 16:53 utc | 10
If there is something to be admired about France is their laicity, so they can use a headline like that without all the fuss that it would create back in good all NorthAmerica. Good that you put it in french, otherwise the morals police would be chasing you.
Posted by: Paco | Nov 26 2020 17:00 utc | 11
Still watching "W93/MK7", the NNSA have now pushed it onto the US navy.
4 months and counting for:
"…an unclassified five-page white paper sent to Congress in May, the Pentagon and the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration…"
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Nov 26 2020 17:07 utc | 12
https://stillnessinthestorm.com/2020/11/giuliani-points-out-major-problem-with-mail-in-ballots-in-pennsylvania-only-1-8-mail-in-ballots-were-sent-out-but-2-5-million-were-counted-video/
https://stillnessinthestorm.com/2020/11/voter-integrity-project-releases-evidence-of-thousands-of-vote-fraud-issues-combined-with-affidavits-from-rudy-and-gateway-pundits-statistical-analysis-m/
https://www.newsmax.com/t/newsmax/article/998905/1
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/huge-georgia-election-lawsuit-dominion-software-accessed-chinese-iranian-agents-manipulate-election/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/breaking-kraken-released-attorney-sidney-powell-files-104-page-bombshell-complain-massive-fraud-georgia-election/
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/scotus-strikes-down-cuomos-draconian-restrictions-religious-services-new-york
Biden: 'America Is Back,' 'Ready To Lead World'
USA won't even take care of its own people, and the world does not need a wannabe King of the Hill. Get ready for a complete tragedy...
Flournoy, Haines, and Haspel, who's kidding who?
Posted by: donten | Nov 26 2020 17:15 utc | 14
If you're trying to assess if Trump's efforts to secure a second term will be successful:
5 More Ways Joe Biden Magically Outperformed Election Norms
PS I haven't tried to verify the points raised in this article.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 26 2020 17:43 utc | 16
vk - paco... thanks for the conversation on the football legend who passed away... a nice temporary break from a thread that will soon turn into americentricisms soon!
Posted by: james | Nov 26 2020 17:57 utc | 17
vk @4: "As I've been observing since the last three years: the liberals (Democratic) don't seem to have any plans..."
Where can you go when you have reached The End of History? Liberal capitalist ideology has gone as far as it can. Aside from spreading McDonalds and Walmart to every corner of the planet and getting everyone signed up for Netflix, what is there left to do?
That Wikipedia article that I linked above will be a real knee-slapper of a read for many of the bar's regulars, but it is important to understand that liberal capitalists, including the somnambulistic "woke" faux left who have been vocally demonstrating their "Post Trump Stress Disorder" symptoms to us, really and truly believe the literal interpretation of that article as well as the pop philosophy nonsense book by Fukuyama that the article is about.
The delusional middle class liberals in the West; the sleep-walking "woke" baizuo view their neoliberalism the way many religious fundamentalists view their religion, which is to say that they are evangelists. It is their responsibility as the self-professed most enlightened people in the world to spread their delusion to everyone on the planet so that everyone can be "exceptional" just like them. Like Xtian missionaries "saving people's souls", these baizuo liberals believe to their core that they are doing people favors by forcing neoliberal American culture down their throats. This is important to fully come to grips with because this fanatically American liberal exceptionalism leads to a crusade-like mentality which makes these people susceptible to warmongering. They imperialistically subjugate the global South while preaching "critical race theory" nonsense to their victims.
[Note: link above is to Russian language version of the Wikipedia article because the English language one is crap that has been edited by baizuo morons. Read the crappy baizuo English language article to compare with the largely dispassionate Russian language one and gain insight into the blind and automatic, though terribly misplace, assumption of superiority that "exceptional" American liberals possess]
I mention this because it is why they will never, ever back off from their warmongering so long as their neoliberal ideology remains. Not only are they certain that they are doing the morally right thing in Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Belarus, and so on, they believe that doing nothing would be the same as voting for Trump, and we know how they feel about that.
This is why there will be more war, even if the US military is no longer capable of delivering victory, and even if that war threatens the remaining pillars of western market economics (the Petrodollar and the US$ global reserve currency status). To stand by and do nothing while people somewhere in the world are being "microaggressioned" is not an option for them.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 26 2020 18:13 utc | 18
"Bolivia: New Arrest Warrants for Añez Regime's Top Officials"
"Bolivia: General Alfredo Cuellar Arrested Over Sacaba Massacre"
"These new arrest warrants join those already issued against former Interior Minister Arturo Murillo, Defense Minister Fernando Lopez, and former Interior Vice Minister Javier Issa.
According to police investigations, Murillo and Issa fled to the U.S. as Lopez escaped to Brazil."
Posted by: arby | Nov 26 2020 18:13 utc | 19
"George Galloway: Diego Maradona was audacity personified on the pitch, in life and in causes he supported "
Posted by: arby | Nov 26 2020 18:19 utc | 20
Unable to find any recent news re Special Prosecutor John Durham's investigation? ... is it still ongoing? ... will there be a report? ... is the grand jury still convened?
Posted by: chet380 | Nov 26 2020 18:21 utc | 21
Hi --
I have tried four times to post an agreement with the final paragraph in VK's comment at number four, and each time I get the "your comment has been posted" message, but it never shows up.
Let's see if this does.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Nov 26 2020 18:24 utc | 22
Well it did.
Sorry, VK -- I guess there is a rule somewhere that prohibits me from agreeing with you.
Posted by: AntiSpin | Nov 26 2020 18:25 utc | 23
Before I comment more, I want you to listen to the Battle Cry of Valkyries performed by Debbie Wasserman Schultz. That should cheer Flournoy and other comely picks to national security positions.
Concerning "miracles" alleged in the link of Jackrabbit, bleh. People behaved a bit differently in 2020 than in 2016 etc., "You will not enter the same river twice" (δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης if you are not an uneducated swine).
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 26 2020 18:28 utc | 24
@ Posted by: AntiSpin | Nov 26 2020 18:25 utc | 23; Posted by: AntiSpin | Nov 26 2020 18:24 utc | 22
Hi --I have tried four times to post an agreement with the final paragraph in VK's comment at number four, and each time I get the "your comment has been posted" message, but it never shows up.
Let's see if this does.
--//--
Sorry, VK -- I guess there is a rule somewhere that prohibits me from agreeing with you.
What can I say, man - I'm blessed by God Himself in this blog. I'm like the USA of this comment session. Suck it up.
@ Posted by: vk | Nov 26 2020 18:34 utc | 25
Yup -- guess I'll just pack up my wounded feelings and trudge sorrowfully off the field . . .
Posted by: AntiSpin | Nov 26 2020 18:39 utc | 26
Should Trump Be Prosecuted?
That’s one way to ensure he doesn’t run for office in 2024.
Take the above, the Lincoln Project and the Trump Accountability Project and given the fact that most Republican voters agree the election was fraudulent, it seems the Democrats are hellbent on provoking a civil war.
Posted by: Down South | Nov 26 2020 18:55 utc | 27
Pandemic? Where?
Russia-China trade turnover to exceed $100 BILLION despite pandemic
--//--
Cadwalladr’s Codswallop: Remainer Hack Drops Claim Russia Financed Brexit Campaign
Carole Cadwalladr may be the most in-your-face, spectacular and quick cases of sell-off in British journalism's recent history. It still feels like it was yesterday when I used to read her very good, very decent articles about culture and art in the UK.
A clear case of selling your soul for a substantial sum of money. Well, at least she'll be able to easily pay the half-million pounds she owes (even if it is from a "mysterious source", i.e. her masters), so I think it's still profitable for her.
If you want Biden to be a decent president, prosecute trump.
Think about it ✊
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59fdeZLkUrU
Posted by: Mark2 | Nov 26 2020 20:26 utc | 30
Piotr Berman # 24
Battle cry of the valkyries by Debbie was shocking. Even my coffee blanched.
Jackrabbit loved the Biden miracle link. What a clever dick.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 26 2020 20:28 utc | 31
Obama’s new book features a defence of his drone assassination program. He says of the men selected, targeted, and murdered by remote control:
“They were dangerous, these young men, often deliberately and casually cruel. I wanted somehow to save them - send them to school, give them a trade, drain them of the hate that had been filling their heads…”
It is assured that no one in America will ask Obama why an actual functioning program of trade education and de-radicalization for identified "dangerous young men" earns the description “genocide” when practiced by China in Xinjiang.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/obama-defends-deadly-drone-campaign-new-book
Posted by: jayc | Nov 26 2020 20:37 utc | 32
rule of law lockdown this stuff is getting nasty
I am told 3d scanning is being banned FIA following of the World Motor Sport Council, the use of three-dimensional cameras threatens their copyright and secret stuff..
Posted by: snake | Nov 26 2020 20:37 utc | 33
Democrats will implement the same fraud mechanism forever.
goddbye republicans.
Posted by: Eric | Nov 26 2020 21:10 utc | 34
uncle tungsten # 31
I just realised that could be misread, so:
Jackrabbit: Thank you, I loved the Biden miracle link. What a clever dick.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 26 2020 21:15 utc | 35
Massive lines for free food form around the USA on the eve of Thanksgiving:
That’s capitalism: The Dow skyrockets, so does hunger
uncle tungsten @Nov26 20:28 #31
Jackrabbit loved the Biden miracle link. What a clever dick.
loved? ... I don't think so.
clever dick? ... how do you arrive at this conclusion?
<> <> <> <> <>
Sometimes you agree whole-heartedly with what I write. Sometimes you attack what I write.
With Trump, I've said that the Deep State may find it useful for him to win a second term (due to the MAGA! patriotism of his followers) and I've warned that that would portend war. In fact I've written a comment in the previous thread that provides a scenario where an attack on Iran might happen after Trump is elected.
So I'm following the machinations of the Trump legal team, not because I support Trump, but because of my concern for the perils that may await for us in a second Trump term.
War might also happen if Biden is President. But major wars are generally fought by Republicans. Simply because the Republican Party lays claim to a blind patriotism that Democrats generally avoid.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 26 2020 21:20 utc | 37
this Dilbert says so much. unfortunately the people I thought of when reading it won't "get" it.
for those who do, Enjoy !
Posted by: dan of steele | Nov 26 2020 21:24 utc | 38
uncle tungsten @Nov26 21:15 #35:
Jackrabbit: Thank you, I loved the Biden miracle link. What a clever dick.
LOL! Thanks!
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 26 2020 21:30 utc | 39
Eric @34
Don't get overly distraught, as that will not happen.
After all you cannot have professional wrestling matches with only one wrestler, can you? The Dims needs the Repugs or the argument that they are the lesser evil becomes even more ridiculous than it already is. How would the mass media whip the faux left into hysteria and give them next election's equivalent of "Post Trump Stress Disorder" if there is no other party for the scary monsters to run as?
Don't worry. The Repugs are not going anywhere until we scrap the whole fake "Democracy Show" altogether.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 26 2020 21:33 utc | 40
Paul Jay interviews Patricia Oliart, head of Latin American Studies at Newcastle University UK, about the the historical context leading up to the recent serial resignations of presidents in Peru and the current situation there:
https://theanalysis.news/interviews/peru-mass-protests-against-hypercapitalist-narco-state-force-presidents-resignations/“>Peru: Mass Protests Against Hypercapitalist Narco-State Force Presidents’ Resignations
Transcript available.
Posted by: suzan | Nov 26 2020 21:43 utc | 41
another failed attempt at href link on this machine. i swear i followed the recipe exactly.
Posted by: suzan | Nov 26 2020 21:44 utc | 42
Trump hater or Trump lover one should be concerned about our voting systems. This is not a political party issue.
Remember the two plus hour pregnant pause in 2016 when the counting stopped and the networks froze in place without announcing a winner? I heard back then there was a massive battle behind the scenes to block the vote upload from outside the country. Unconfirmed but interesting. It was CIA vs. DIA
Voting Machine Company Co-Founder Killed in Small Plane Crash in Caracas
There are numerous articles going back decades on this stuff up until about two months before the election by all the major networks and newspapers. Everything got very quiet two months prior to the election.
Dominions manual says they have a remote access feature and they are connected to the internet despite their lies in front of Congress in January 2020 saying they did not. Their tabulators can be accessed remotely using Webx and other custom applications.
Unfortunately I have the manual in PDF and the link is not available. I find it interesting that their older manuals have blacked out portions just like a FOIA document release. Look for Dominion Democracy suite manuals 4.4 and 5.5 and up.
Look at the black box voting website and a gentleman on a voting commission built a simple application that runs in the background and switches vote fractionally across all voting company platforms as the software was all built on the same foundation application from Venezuela.
https://blackboxvoting.org/
The video is called fractional magic.
Evidence of fraud? It is massive and everywhere. We need to get back to paper ballots and same day voting with absentee ballots given on request with a legitimate excuse for not showing up on election day. Signature verification and sign in to vote. Voting locations in every precinct not a few locations per county. That is how it used to work. That would be cheaper than 100 million dollar mega systems connected to the internet with remote access.
Posted by: circumspect | Nov 26 2020 21:57 utc | 43
"Edward Snowden on the Dangers of Silicon Valley Censorship - System Update with Glenn Greenwald"
That Snowden is one sharp dude IMO.
Posted by: arby | Nov 26 2020 22:11 utc | 44
Kissinger and Albright kicked out of Pentagon, Cheers to that.
Several high profile members of the Defense Policy Board were removed on Wednesday by the Trump administration, in yet another purge of longstanding foreign policy experts and national security establishment figures in the final days of the Trump era, according to three defense officials.
Members who were suddenly removed include former Secretaries of State Madeleine Albright and Henry Kissinger, former ranking member of the House Intelligence committee Jane Harman and former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, two of the officials said. - CNN
Posted by: Framarz | Nov 26 2020 22:34 utc | 45
This is the end for the Asian Paper Tiger:
South Korea virus cases hit highest level since March
No clear economic recovery in sight: Bank of Korea
The South Korean will have to produce a lot of K-Pop to keep themselves afloat in the international arena. <--vk
Are you Chinese or something (why to snipe at Koreans? And a Japanese would not crow about Covid). Covid cases and fatalities doubled on worldwide basis in the last two months, and sadly, that comes from Europe. Central Europe was largely spared of the spring wave, and now Poland and Czechia are hit hardest: with aggregate population like South Korea, fatalities in one day exceed the total in South Korea.
In the meantime, currency actually became stronger.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 26 2020 22:50 utc | 47
@ 38 dan of steele.. thanks for the laugh!
@ 41 / 42 suzan... i use the preview option to make sure it looks right, before i post - most of the time now... here is what you tried to post.. cheers james..
Peru: Mass Protests Against Hypercapitalist Narco-State Force Presidents’ Resignations
Posted by: james | Nov 26 2020 22:59 utc | 48
@vk #4
I repeat to the Americans and Europeans here: do not, in any circumstances, take the Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccines. They will do more harm to you than good. Take the Russian or the Chinese ones if you can.
Would you elaborate?
Posted by: anonymous | Nov 26 2020 23:01 utc | 49
@Posted by: Paco | Nov 26 2020 16:29 utc | 7
But the EU will have to face reality, in case it does not want to be sued by serious collateral effects, when the people is becoming increasingly aware of the risks of the Western vaccines ( plus the logistical difficulties in delivering )and increasingly expressing doubts and concern on being vaccinated with them, especially after the medical community is talking out of simple professional ethics.
What the medical community is asking for is peer reviews and enough medical evidence on the security of these vaccines published in acredited scientific media, not what we are getting through MSM and political technologist´s teams at the head of certain "Pandemic Task Forces" at Western countries where qualified health professionals are worryingly absent.
No philosopher will obligue me to be vaccinated with any of these vaccines in the period of at least five years from now, until enough long term evidence on the outcomes of being vaccinated with them would be available to asure me they will not cause me more harm than any alleged good. This will not happen even when the philosopher compromise by signing in a document to asume the costs of my long term inhability in case I develop a transverse myelitis or any other autoimmune illness in the aftermath, simply, I prefer playing my chances with Covid-19, which has, I think, higuer probability of doing me no harm.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/507931-covid-19-astrazeneca-vaccine-concerns/
Posted by: H.Schmatz | Nov 26 2020 23:12 utc | 50
@ Posted by: anonymous | Nov 26 2020 23:01 utc | 49
I had already posted on the "pandemic freedom" that mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna), albeit theoretically sound, also have carcinogenic properties. They also carry infertility risks (see Dmitriev's "forbidden op-ed" and his "questions" on Sputniknews). There is no current mRNA vaccine that works, let alone on the market; it is a completely new, untested technology, and the USG has already given all of its pharmaceuticals preventive legal immunity.
AstraZeneca's chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine may cause severe and permanent neuropathy (transverse myelitis) as the trials have already shown.
Sputnik V and Sinovac both use human adenoviruses (the first uses two, the second only one). Human adenovirus is the tried and tested technology for modern vaccines. Sputnik V appears to be the best here, because it uses two human adenoviruses, which doubles the duration of the immunity, but it requires two doses instead of one (one for each adenovirus).
In fact, as it has been announced by the Spanish authorities that first in being vaccinated will be residents at nursing homes, associations of relatives are asking fro enough security guarantees for their relatives to be vaccinated.
This will cause a lot of potencial legal problems and millionaire claims that the EU could only avoid by getting the less harmful vaccines, which are also the cheapest and easy to store/transport.
I, for one, will be willing to get the Russian shot so far, so as to be able to travel, but, in case it is not available in Europe, I will be considering doing a bit sanitary tourism to achieve it, anyway I wanted to know Russia better already before the pandemic.
Posted by: H.Schmatz | Nov 26 2020 23:31 utc | 52
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 26 2020 21:20 utc | 37
I totally differ from your view of deep state. Deep manipulation of elections is hard to achieve, at least in USA, and TOTALLY UNPRODUCTIVE. The real work is to make results irrelevant. The question arises: what this real work is? We see the tip of the iceberg: above the surface, folks toil in think tanks, traverse revolving door like in Macy's in good old days, lobbyists fill hotels in DC (great deals on weekends when they go home) and write the laws, while the less prestigious lobbyist do the same in states etc. and so on. In USA we get two party lines and bipartisan consensus. But as we know from physics, 90% is under the surface. What do they do there?
Close to the surface, they orchestrate the activity on the surface as we know from the mishap at Integrity Initiative. Somewhat deeper the activity is steady, salaries are stable and good, plenty of opportunities for extra income, so no leaks. But in countries where the system is not fully instituted and contested we have some insights. Because of the languages I know, Polish and Russian, I can follow what happens in Ukraine.
For the last six years, the main issue is "anti-corruption infrastructure", several outfits with leadership carefully screens by international "partners" that collect data about possible corruption and -- VERY RARELY -- actually prosecute someone. Invariably that someone would be in crosshairs for political reasons. Needless to say, actual corruption is hardly affected, but if you are some official or parliamentary deputy that gets wrong ideas, bam! What is interesting that the pressure to have exactly the institutions packed by "grantozhery" screened by "western partners" comes in the perfect, multilateralist fashion, Canadians seem to be particularly active, but in actuality, it is a chorus, "concert of democracies" if I can borrow from Anne-Marie Slaughter. Why the heck the Dutch, Canadians, Americans etc. think exactly the same, care about supervision of "corruption investigation" and not at all about actual decreases in corruption?
Back to the western hemisphere. Investigative units collect data on ALL bank transfers, and occasionally, they make big cases. Several banks, mostly European, were slapped with big fines (billion plus). But the flows of dirty money is immense, and "unnoticed".
Yet deeper, we can organize legal traps on people who cannot fall under "money laundering" etc., say, sex scandals.
Yet deeper, gun running, black flags etc.
These are just things that we know about from various glimpses.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 26 2020 23:32 utc | 53
another failed attempt at href link on this machine. i swear i followed the recipe exactly.
Posted by: suzan | Nov 26 2020 21:44 utc | 42
You swear? "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 26 2020 23:35 utc | 54
TrumpCo recalcitrance has derailed negotiations on the levy of a digital tax, so France has decided to implement its own levy:
"France and many other European countries are taking action after intense public pressure to make US multinationals pay a larger share of their revenues in taxes in the countries where they operate.
"Under EU law, companies in the US can declare profits from across the bloc in a single member state - and most pick low-tax jurisdictions such as Ireland or the Netherlands."
Given total revenues of the affected companies, the amount of the tax won't be much. Curious that only Outlaw US Empire-based companies are noted. One of the great plusses doing online shopping is that no sales taxes are applied, at least here within the Empire. That has put a big dent in the ability of some states to generate revenue for their budgets. As digital commerce escalates, I expect sales taxation will eventually follow; so, enjoy it while you can.
Anyone have any thoughts on doubledown news? It claims to be independent but then it has some establishment characters like Montbiot on board...
Posted by: farm ecologist | Nov 26 2020 23:48 utc | 56
I'm starting to revise my opinion on the Astro-Zeneca vaccine. Of course any favourable decision would depend entirely on a much more comprehensive next round of testing. The last batch of tests which is getting hammered in the media by shills for the far more expensive to buy, manufacture and distribute mRNA vaccines, was only tested on subjects aged 55 and younger which is below the range of the most probable initial users.
Asta-Zeneca still maintain that the one case of multiple sclerosis that occurred in a test subject was due to an unrelated cause something which could be true given that MS normally takes years to reach the point where it is diagnosable that doesn't preclude the vac tech of having some fast track ability of course.
All in all though if the next round is better documented & peer reviewed and comes out OK, it may be a viable option in countries where Sputnik V is unavailable.
The fact that big pharma his so determined to stop it, chiefly because it only costs about $3 at point of vaccination & can be stored in a domestic refrigerator ie doesn't require liquid nitrogen temperatures which will add a huge amount the the retail cost of the mRNA vaccines - just imagine the room for profiteering right there, means that should the astra zeneca vaccine pass testing it is a viable option for unwealthy communities which for whatever political reason cannot access Russian & Chinese vaccines.
The fact that both the guardian & the NY Times have spent the last few days sledging the astra zeneca option is what has made be think twice about it. If they hate it, surely it can't be bad ai!
Posted by: Debsisdead | Nov 26 2020 23:49 utc | 57
Important to read this:
The author is "Marcello Ferrada de Noli, Swedish professor emeritus of public health sciences esp. epidemiology, former Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School."
It basically echoes all of my preoccupations @ 51. He also claims Sputnik V is the best option - specially for the poorer countries, as it only requires a common freezer.
vk @51--
Thanks for your many postings on the various vaccines!! My Mother-in-law has Neuropathy, and it's not something you want to be afflicted with. As to what's been described as testing of the US-based chemical blends labeled as potential vaccines, I don't trust them whatsoever. The Russians and Chinese have actually created vaccines through the usual course of multiple trials that are considered safe and effective--their only "problem" being of Russian or Chinese origin. My personal situation is such that I can wait and see, which is what I intend to do. I just need to be very careful when handling frozen foods and cryovaced bulk meats since they're processed in facilities known to have outbreaks and the virus seems to like it rather cold.
@ Posted by: james | Nov 26 2020 22:59 utc | 48
Thanks james.
I did a preview, well several tries, all of which looked wrong and then went ahead and posted to see if it would (miraculously) self correct. I think the problem (besides me) is the age of this system and its old software. When i use a new (Jan 2020) device, there's no problem doing the href tag but I rarely use it for outgoing com because no keyboard. Am unwilling to let go of this old system which filters out most junk and allows me some control.
BTW, thank you for your consistent intelligent friendliness to all at the bar.
Posted by: suzan | Nov 27 2020 0:20 utc | 60
thank suzan! i enjoyed the article, but it seems peru's challenges are significant... they have elections next april.. this fellow who is acting president worked for the world bank, so that is one strike again him.... maybe it is your system as you note... otherwise, keep trying with the preview option... i think you will see the flaw and either start over or try it again in preview...either way - thanks for the link with transcript...
here is a quote from the transcript..
"We have Francisco Sagasti as our president now. He is an engineer and philosopher, an expert in scientific and technological development. He served in the World Bank, in different branches of government in Peru, mostly linked to science and technology. He is a very well-mannered man and he knows how to establish dialogue. And so, he was accepted by most of the Congress in order to make the country governable. So, we have him in power now. The president of Congress is a lawyer and an activist for peasants’ rights confronting mining companies. She has won twice against the Buenaventura mining company defending people who are resisting selling their land to big mining projects. And she’s a human rights activist, and from the left. She’s the president of Congress now. And that’s where we are. [Laughs.]
i wish the peruvians all the best in shaking off the neo-lib monster...
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2020 0:27 utc | 61
Celebration for the kick out of Kissinger!
This could be temporary though, Biden could hire him right back. I wonder how he lives so long though.
Posted by: Smith | Nov 27 2020 0:34 utc | 62
unfortunately most of these f**kers who organized and managed the 2019 coup d'etat against the legitimately elected government in Bolivia have fled now or will leave or perhaps never even be arrested, prosecuted and punished..... if the past be any guide. Sadly enough
Any ideas how Bolivia can do it and do it right this time? ...Or else these mutherfu**ers will be back, with the CIA and the military, in another 2-4 years or so...
Must history always repeat itself??
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/10/bolivia-coup-mas-evo-morales-elections-arce-anez
"....Nearly forty years after the restoration of democracy in 1982, Bolivia’s government established the Comisión de la Verdad, the Truth Commission. Its goal was to investigate human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, kidnappings, and other crimes perpetrated by the various military and military-aligned governments that ruled the country from 1964 to 1982.
The Truth Commission was a successor to the National Commission for the Investigation of Forced Disappearances, formed after the dictatorships’ end. It was ineffective in actually performing investigations, let alone prosecuting or publicly denouncing those who participated in such crimes. That these efforts bore little fruit doesn’t bode well for justice after the latest coup.
The histories of other Latin American countries that emerged from military dictatorships show similar problems....."
Posted by: michaelj72 | Nov 27 2020 0:35 utc | 63
Posted by: vk | Nov 26 2020 23:17 utc | 51
The vaccine candidate from Johnson & Johnson uses human adenovirus, specifically Ad26. This is the same vector I believe that is used by the Chinese and Russian vaccines with Sputnik V have an additional vector. So if you can't get the Russian or Chinese vaccine for political reasons you can get this one instead.
Posted by: One Too Many | Nov 27 2020 0:45 utc | 65
A news reporter on mainstream Spanish television interviews Dr. Luís de Benito of the El Escorial Hospital in Madrid about the Covid "crisis" at his hospital. Dr. de Benito responds that there is no emergency and that there is no reason for alarm:
OMG I'm Speechless! Unbelievable Mainstream News from Spain - UNREAL!
Posted by: ADKC | Nov 27 2020 0:51 utc | 66
I haven't read all the details of the lawsuits filed by Sidney Powell but ZH has a story up and the quote below seemed out of character with the rest of the claims.
The ZH quote
"
The complaint cited a former electronic intelligence analyst under the 305th Military Intelligence Battalion, who declared that the Dominion software was accessed by agents acting on behalf of China and Iran to monitor and manipulate elections, including the 2020 U.S. general election.
Another part of the complaint said that a former U.S. Military Intelligence expert had analyzed the Dominion software system and concluded that the system and software “were certainly compromised by rogue actors, such as Iran and China.”
“By using servers and employees connected with rogue actors and hostile foreign influences combined with numerous easily discoverable leaked credentials, Dominion neglectfully allowed foreign adversaries to access data and intentionally provided access to their infrastructure in order to monitor and manipulate elections, including the most recent one in 2020,” the filing said.
"
I have worked in the techie world since 1969 and believe that the current un-auditable voting machines and associated process are corrupt because so much is at stake. The simple fact that the voting systems are not auditable tells one all they need to know about the motivations behind the process. The projections of these techie manipulations onto other countries is reflective of America's current banana republic status.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 27 2020 1:15 utc | 67
Any ideas how Bolivia can do it and do it right this time?
Keep the CIA out of the country.
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Nov 27 2020 1:22 utc | 68
A pity so many especially VK ignored what I wrote about the fact that the pushback against astra-zeneca including the latest link which is all speculation mixed with the same trash talk wall st analysts have been making, is a blatant move by big pharma to edge astra-zeneca out of the market.
There is more testing to be done on the astra-zeneca vaccine. Yes the discovery of a half dose followed by a full dose seeming to be more efficacious was the result of a distribution accident in one particular cohort comprised of englanders under 55, astra-zeneca have realised that and have undertaken to extend the 50/100 trial across all age groups and ethnicities in the next testing round.
Also despite the fact that the big pharma mRNA vaccines have published no peer reviewed results, astra zeneca report that they have sent a peer reviewed study of their complete test results thus far, to the lancet and they expect these to be published in the next edition of the journal - likely within the next few days.
However many people whine, bitch about all others, then salute the results of Russian & Chinese vaccines the simple fact is a great many communities will be denied access to Russian or Chinese vaccines - that is a reality. Some of these states are in no shape to subscribe to the mRNA vaccines without 'aid' (I.E. ripoff loans) because their health budgets are still having to cover the double tamiflu scam (they had to sign contracts to replace 'expired' tamiflu stocks used or not after 3 years) and the more recent remdesivir scam, all perpetrated by Gilead.
In the real world that means if the astra-zeneca vaccine is more than 60% efficacious (which is better than any flu vaccine - 95% is new big pharma BS IMO) and has no major side effects (one case of MS tells us nothing for the reason I outlined above), then it will be that or nothing for a sizeable slab of the world's population.
If everyone falls for big pharma's transparent attempt to stop this possible vaccine in its tracks, prior to testing completion, then that will mean no vaccine for billions of our fellow humans, so rather than joining in the big pharma sabotage, it makes better sense to consider that vaccine more objectively than de Noli, that Harvard minion of corporations seems to do.
Of course for some theoretical marxist whose crazed ramblings remind me of the immature garbage one could hear around any Lisbon praça, circa 1975, that will mean little. As the humans of Mozambique, Angola and in particular since I lost friends there , Timor Leste, discovered to their cost.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Nov 27 2020 1:35 utc | 69
@ debs... no doubt the russian or chinese vaccines will not be available to the west... that will be like trading with the enemy according to 5 eyes.. i think you are onto something in your ruminations.. thanks..
@ arby - thanks for the link to the snowden interview from gg earlier.. i enjoyed that... lots of time to watch and read today..
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2020 1:58 utc | 70
Interesting and important discussion of the state-private cooperation on information control and need for means to circumvent. The real facism.
https://mises.org/power-market/youtube-attempts-silence-mises-institute
Posted by: jared | Nov 27 2020 2:12 utc | 71
I'll be damned, it turns out China is the first government to go against corporations' hoarding private data:
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/china-wild-era-internet-may-100114692.html
I literally have NO reason to be anti-China anymore.
Posted by: Smith | Nov 27 2020 2:14 utc | 72
psychohistorian @Nov27 1:15 #67
I haven't read all the details of the lawsuits filed by Sidney Powell but ...
Trump allegations of fraudulent election are difficult to parse. IMO Trump must have gotten the nod from the Deep State to have even won the Republican nomination in 2016. And oligarchs like Trump are generally very risk adverse - if the Deep State really wants Biden to win then Trump is unlikely to stand against that (Schumer wasn't kidding about "they have six ways from Sunday" to get back at you).
Then there's Biden who, as "President Elect" is showing the public that he will do all the terrible things that Trump warned he would: raise taxes, open borders, warmongering, etc. And that comes after four years of Democrat pretended 'resistance' to Trump that is most notable for the failed attempts to remove Trump based on bullshit (Russiagate, impeachment).
So I'm inclined to believe that it's very possible that Trump pulls out a win. Not because Trump wants it, but because the Deep State wants to use Trump as their MAGA! tool to collar the dragon and any other 'monsters' that threaten their NWO.
I think a Trump win makes it quite a bit easier for the Deep State to start and conduct a war. Could they do any better than a second-term President that has "made peace" (not really) with North Korea and in Middle East, and who champions "America First" patriotism?
Trump supporters will chuckle at "the bunny's TDS" but recent history shows us that Republicans do major wars and Democrats do smaller or covert wars.
From the very start, MAGA! has been all about drumming up the patriotic enthusiasm that makes war possible. It's why Kissinger recommended MAGA! in 2014 as a means of responding to the Russia-China Alliance.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Nov 27 2020 2:16 utc | 73
@Duncan Idaho | Nov 27 2020 1:22 utc | 68
Pretty sure that they have zero chance of keeping the CIA out.
They maybe be able the remain in control of the contry and not end up dead. It would involve playing ball in some fashion. Dont be stupid.
The world is the wild west - there is no law or at least it is not enforceable. The owners have infinite guns and money and make the rules. The stupid dont last long.
Posted by: jared | Nov 27 2020 2:23 utc | 74
Is the pandemic over? SAGE stands for Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies UK Gov
https://lockdownsceptics.org/what-sage-got-wrong/
Posted by: Nathan Mulcahy | Nov 27 2020 2:34 utc | 75
@ Jackrabbit | Nov 27 2020 2:16 utc | 73 with the Trump re (s)election process musings
I agree that bully Trump would be able to generate war support better than Biden except among the TDS folks.
I just read somewhere that Trump has kicked Kissinger off some national security recipient list along with Madelene Albright and someone else...what does that mean?
I think that given the election fraud claims it won't matter who gets to be president because the US is ready for the flush the toilet routine into made up un-civil war/economic crash and who knows what will happen with all the closet shit hitting the fan.....who has movie rights?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 27 2020 2:36 utc | 76
Debsisdead @69
I'm unclear as to why VK should value your opinion more than the Doctor whose article he linked to?
And I don't think it is at all reasonable of you to smear VK as a "crazed Marxist" especially when you describe a situation where one capitalist entity is trying to squeeze another out of the market.
Astra-Zeneca is just as must "Big Pharma" as Pfizer and Moderna, and the primary concern of all these "Big Pharma" companies is profit, not public health. All the vaccines have been rushed to market with inadequate testing (particularly with regard to the medium and long term effects) so I wouldn't be in too much of a rush to dose yourself up.
Posted by: ADKC | Nov 27 2020 2:41 utc | 77
@69 debs
Moderna, one of the two 90%+ efficacy corona vaccine makers, has received their fair-share of funding from DARPA.
One of their experimental projects from DARPA funding was an implanted microchip to administer vaccines.
...
And if you read anything about how they test these 90%+ efficacy vaccines, you will begin to doubt that figure even more.
There are hardly any controls where one group of 10,000 has placebo and the other gets the vaccine. They are released upon an area and report back if they develop symptoms or register antibodies.
This is fraught with variables, the greatest which is of course false-positive tests with the PCR, which is evidently a big problem with the test.
It is all bullshit and you are very right to be skeptical of any 90% efficacy-vaccine.
And further, where is any study showing that a vaccine can inhibit carriers instead of merely lessening the severity of symptoms? In other words, a manageable case of covid, perhaps say due to the vaccine assisting the immune response, can still spread covid and perhaps in a more clandestine manner, in that the greater severity of covid symptoms, the higher probability the carrier will self-isolate.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Nov 27 2020 2:56 utc | 78
WATCH: What NO ONE is Saying About The Lockdowns
Short video that goes over the history of where lockdowns as a method came from (The Department of Homeland Security) and the evidence that shows deaths will result from lockdowns.
Posted by: ADKC | Nov 27 2020 3:16 utc | 79
YouTube suspended the right-leaning One America News Network for one week on Tuesday after it posted a video that contained coronavirus misinformation.
YouTube removed the video for violating a policy prohibiting the posting of content that spreads coronavirus misinformation. The one that One America News Network, or OANN, posted contained claims of a guaranteed cure for the disease.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1248845
Posted by: Mao | Nov 27 2020 4:32 utc | 81
“Massive fraud has been found. We’re like a third world country,” Trump said, before launching back into allegations of voter fraud that have been repeatedly rebuffed in court and by state election officials of both parties.
Posted by: Mao | Nov 27 2020 5:06 utc | 82
Six Ways America Is Like a Third-World Country
Our society lags behind the rest of the developed world in education, health care, violence and more
Posted by: Mao | Nov 27 2020 5:13 utc | 83
A Personal Statement from General Flynn to America: Faith, Family, and Friendships
Posted by: Mao | Nov 27 2020 5:27 utc | 84
THEY WANT TO GET RID OF AMERICA FIRST: Trump EXPLOSIVE Press Conference on Thanksgiving Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCy04jVdvWM
Posted by: Mao | Nov 27 2020 5:41 utc | 86
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is asking for more pardons from President Donald Trump in a video on her Twitter page.
Gabbard asked President Trump to pardon "brave whistleblowers" who are "exposing lies and illegal actions in our government."
Those she wants pardoned -- Edward Snowden, the man who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013, and Julian Assange of Wikileaks.
https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1331919709055422473
Posted by: Mao | Nov 27 2020 5:45 utc | 87
Edward Snowden @Snowden
I have seen more calls for pardon this year than in all others combined. No other issue in our time unites left, right, and center like the struggle to end governments' abuse of mass surveillance and secrecy, and that would not be true without you -- and your advocacy. Thank you.
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1331964387138150400
Edward Snowden @Snowden
Censorship is on the rise, often led by companies that shape the very direction of our lives. Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) and I discussed the new contest for control of our attention as an instrument of power, which you can watch freely here:
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/video-interview-with-edward-snowden
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1331645444934561799
Posted by: Mao | Nov 27 2020 5:51 utc | 88
@ 87 mao - julian assange is at the top of the list... go listen to @ 44 arbys link and the interview with snowden... he himself says it...
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2020 5:52 utc | 89
Famous journalist John Pilger revisited the topic of his 1975 film "Smashing Kids" to see if the UK was getting closer to alleviating poverty as China just announced it did. Sadly, the situation's worse--Dickensian, Pilger noted. Within China's system, every child has a chance to fulfill its destiny, not just the wealthy kids. Clearly, Neoliberalism in the land of its birth is an abject failure just as it is in the land is was transplanted into, the Outlaw US Empire.
karlof1 @ 90
Clearly, Neoliberalism in the land of its birth is an abject failure just as it is in the land is was transplanted into, the Outlaw US Empire.
Quite the contrary. It’s been a stunning success. It did what it was designed to do. Impoverished the middle(especially) and the lower classes and funnelled all the profits to the elite.
The plan has always been to destroy the middle classes.
Posted by: Down South | Nov 27 2020 7:35 utc | 91
Used to disagree with old man karlof1 and vk, now can't anymore.
Capitalism, and their advance form, neoliberalism, has been a disaster to the human race.
Posted by: Smith | Nov 27 2020 7:36 utc | 92
@63 michaelj72 @68 Duncan Idaho @56 farm ecologist
Any ideas how Bolivia can do it and do it right this time?
Since October revolution of 1917, there is a successful recipe how to fight counterrevolution. This recipe was adopted by Cuba, Iran, Venezuela among others and have proven to be the right one. Organize workers and peasants and give them weapon to defend their own government, clean up judiciary, police and military, confiscate the property of landlords and share it among the people who cultivate the land, nationalize key industry and foreign trade.
The news about arrest orders against some top military and officials of Coup d’Etat regime are good news in this regard. CIA not able to do much harm when people stand strong and united to defend their interests.
Truth commissions are social-democrat approach to conserve and protect part of the old structures while popular movement on march. They are not going to bring a real change.
In another comment it was asked about DDN news site, well look at the people behind it, mostly left social-democrats, Corbyns and Varufakises. For the system good to have such people during developing crisis, but as the situation come under control, they are retired and give back the power to the elite. Bolivia doesn’t need such people and their way of solving fundamental economical, political and social contradictions.
Posted by: Framarz | Nov 27 2020 8:44 utc | 93
Posted by: tucenz | Nov 27 2020 0:36 utc | 64
His CIA contract ran out...
Posted by: v | Nov 27 2020 8:50 utc | 94
Framarz @ 93.. right on.. and I would add to that that placing the producers and directors and providers of fake content aired in public media in jail to fatten them for shark feeding bonanza days helps.
https://www.bradblog.com/?p=5947 <=d/n work .. on many browsers.. browsers are like RDCLHFET (Remote dynamically controlled locally hosted field effect transistors) they can be reprogrammed on the fly from the home of the browser provider or from an intermediary, or from blacklist maintained on the local machine, much like a modern voting machine. .. It looks to me like the shinny metallic substance called chrome is often present when the dynamic part of the access control comes into play. Browser events of this type seem to happen most often when a user of a local RDCLH browser seeks to view the content of a url which the PTB deem to be too revealing for the eyes of the local Browser user. The chrome assisted RDCLH Browsers may still deny the local user view on the local monitor access to the content of the file downloaded from the URL?
What part does chrome metal play in browser selection of content types the browser can render to the user's monitor? Or, better what how does the metal assist the browser in its selection processes?
Posted by: snake | Nov 27 2020 8:55 utc | 95
@Mao (83)
Originally published in 2014, the RS article is still relevant today.
At least one commentator on that article apparently has fallen victim to the "if-it's-so-bad-then-why-are-millions-moving-here" bandwagon, an ad populum if you will.
I've always wondered what would possess any non-American to move to the USA given all the failures mentioned in the article and elsewhere, and why they don't consider Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia or Europe where they at least might benefit from:
* the metric system
* 1- and 2-dollar coins
* color-differentiated banknotes
* decent public transport
* paid maternity leave
* multiple political parties
I raised a similar question elsewhere, and a responder told me that it has something to do with the malign influence of Hollywood and USian media which paint a rosy picture of the USA as a "shining city on a hill".
(Speaking of Hollywood, I cannot recall being to any cinemas in other countries recently, but one thing I've always wondered is, if American movies get exported to theaters in other countries, then why do other countries' films not get released in theaters over here in the US? American imperialism, maybe?)
It's been said that monopolies inhibit innovation, and that if one is arrogant or haughty, then there is little reason to improve and do better. I think the USA's arrogance has something to do with its declining quality control (assuming it had any in the first place) - as long as the USA is seen as the "shining city on a hill", the assumption is made that the USA is perfect as it is, and little attention is paid to the aforementioned issues.
Posted by: joey_n | Nov 27 2020 8:59 utc | 96
If someone would ask me to point at real signs of ZioImperialists decreasing global hegemony, I would answer:
- shooting down of the US Global Hawk drone in Persian Gulf
- missile attack against US base Eyn al Asad in Irak
- recapturing the power from the junta in Bolivia
- signing of RCEP by 15 countries in SE Asia and Australia
is the daily MSM campaign and the global debating clubs about and around the pandemic to be considered one of these signs?
Posted by: Framarz | Nov 27 2020 9:15 utc | 97
@ Framarz
I used to have second thoughts about the pandemic, but the sheer facts that things in China and Vietnam have started to become normal, while any liberal anti-lockdown states have become hellhole (including Japan) have convinced me otherwise.
Posted by: Smith | Nov 27 2020 9:19 utc | 98
I knew something was suspicious when the Australian media reacted in unison to UK/AUS dual national academic Dr Kylie Moore Gilbert was arrested for espionage in Iran two years ago. The intensity of the media chorus became familiar advocacy journalism and stands in stark contrast to the same media's denigration of Julian Assange. Now Dr More Gilbert has been released the closely guarded fact of her Israeli boyfriend comes out. Now the public can be told.
Following numerous cases of Mossad/Israeli use of fake UK, NZ and Australian passports for terrorist murders and multiple instances of agents caught falsifying fake applications these passports now signal trouble to officials in many middle east countries. Part of the reason Australian PM Kevin Rudd was deposed by zionist forces within his own party was because of his reaction to this outrage. However the media don't like to talk about that nuanced subject, it's not part of the feel good words about Israel project. Failing to find a suitable adjective to describe this hell on earth the MSM like to use the word "vibrant."
Australia and the UK both expelled an Israeli "diplomat."
NZ also promptly expelled an Israeli "diplomat" after a second passport scam was uncovered and an angry Nuttyahou claimed it was a "declaration of war."
My initial suspicions were well founded, perhaps Dr Moore Gilbert was a spy.
Posted by: Paul | Nov 27 2020 10:04 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
An astute (if bland) commentary at FiveThirtyEight:
Overall, Biden looks like he’s trying to fulfill his unstated-but-obvious goal of making the U.S. government boring again. And his picks so far are indeed boringly normal.
In terms of respecting democratic norms and values, that will likely be a very good thing. But the nature of the issues Biden will face as president might not allow him to have a boring presidency.
------------
Democrats have a serious problem. First, without some POPULAR changes in policies, their majority in the House will be gone in two years, and same may happen in the Senate even if they get not-so expected double victory in Georgia. For that matter, it could help to announce something popular among marginal voters in Georgia as soon as possible.
Healthcare is the best political battle ground for Democrats, and any "Russian problem", "Chinese problem" or foreign adventures will help. An easy pick is drug pricing (can even help right now in Georgia) and in the longer run, go for single payer. And actually patch all external conflicts -- no country at this time is really threatening USA, Democrats are very lousy capitalizing on them "Hillary style". Mind you, the Trumpian adds of marching Chinese soldiers with gloomy baritone commentary "Joe Biden. He is too weak." were not a shiny success either.
However, it is more probable that Biden Administration will "do a good thing" even if it kills them in politics. That was an approving commentary in Atlantic magazine, where in October 30 issue Helen Lewis praise the courage of Keir Starmer in expelling Corbyn -- it will wreck Labour for years, but the justice was done. Be tame permanent opposition, get jobs in think tanks and business etc. Quiet sunset for old and tired leaders.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 26 2020 15:46 utc | 1