Fake news:
China declares early victory in 2020 job creation goal, but questions linger over data
The “expert” – some random guy from Hong Kong – said this:

Despite the positive picture painted by official figures, China’s urban unemployment rate is widely seen as unreliable because it does not reflect a net increase in jobs. For example, an employee who is re-employed after losing a job or a worker who takes over from a retired worker, will be counted as newly employed over a certain period.

Err… every country uses this same methodology. If a person loses its job and is re-hired sometime later, it is considered a brand new job, not the same old job. If you want to correct for net jobs, you simply annualize the data. This is the rule for every country – not just China. If China’s data is “not reliable”, then neither is the USA’s, Japan’s, France’s, Germany’s, UK’s, South Korea’s…
Since the data is a net between January (before the pandemic begun) and October, I don’t see any reason to claim China’s numbers are dishonest. They correctly picked the last point in time before the pandemic broke out in the country (January 20th). In fact, those numbers are more reliable than the First World’s ones, as those countries usually do a seasonal, quarter over quarter, update (which doesn’t take into consideration seasonal fluctuations, let alone this pandemic).
Indeed, Japan has just released data stating it has “bounced back”. But they are still much below pre-pandemic levels. I don’t see the SCMP contesting its numbers.
–//–
More fake news:
China’s marginal RCEP gains will not offset trade war impact on economy, studies show
Those “studies” come from: Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) and University of Queensland and the Indonesian Ministry of Finance.
For fuck’s sake…

Posted by: vk | Nov 16 2020 12:02 utc | 104

@ Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Nov 16 2020 12:11 utc | 106
You may keep masturbating about how Stalin was the worst thing to have ever existed in human history.
Meanwhile, your clean, liberal and democratic president of the bastion of light and democracy, France, is proposing the genocide of the Africans:
‘For every European country demographically disappearing, in the same period, one African country appears’ – Macron

Posted by: vk | Nov 16 2020 12:17 utc | 106

Malchik Ralf @ 100
The Haymarket Police monument was bombed twice, repaired and replaced twice, then was continuously defaced. The Weathermen took credit for the bombings, which some of us doubt. Likely simply done by contract. Statue moved to the Police Academy and then to Police HQ @ 11th & State. The current monument is known as the Mary Brogger Monument as it does not particularly honor anything except the sculptor who was paid to make it. Very few Chicagoans are aware it even exists and fewer could tell you anything about it.
The Haymarket monument remains at the cemetery out in suburban Forest Park where some of them are buried. The local anarchists used to meet at the graves and commemorate them annually, that has lapsed. Far more foreigners visit the graves than Americans.
Anarchist in 1880s Chicago meant any sort of socialist or even unionist. Usage was shared by workers and by their enemies.

Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 16 2020 13:09 utc | 108

Posted by Jen | Nov 16 2020 11:18 utc | 101
Dear Jen, I am from Chile and I was young adult during Mr Pinochet term. Chile was a nice country. The “Operación Condor” was a countermeasure against leftist guerrilla backed by Castro’s Cuba. Nobody in Chile liked Castro and his fellows “bearded” communists. They were defeated.
Mr Pinochet ended his time as “Presidente de Chile” wiht a 43% of people voting for him including myself.
We have to read history not KGB Propaganda.

Posted by: Roberto | Nov 16 2020 13:45 utc | 110

Mark2 @ 110
The program that writes your posts needs a memory upgrade.
Previously you have labeled me a Trump supporter, a fascist, all manner of evil. Your program should be clever enough to know you will not ingratiate yourself by extending thanks.

Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 16 2020 14:19 utc | 112

@ Posted by: Roberto | Nov 16 2020 13:45 utc | 111
Ironically, your version of the story only gives reason to Cuba’s sponsored guerillas and to the argument that might makes right, because Pinochet – in whatever shape or form – was only able to rise and consolidate power because the USA gave him the means to violently remove the democratically elected (and by then extremely popular) government of Salvador Allende.
So, the bullet that pierces Bill’s head also pierces William’s. The only rule is that there are no rules, according to your rationale.

Posted by: vk | Nov 16 2020 14:24 utc | 114

Kyle Becker @kylenabecker
Pennsylvania. Election night.
CNN airs an exact vote-switch at 11:08-11:09 EST: Trump loses 19,958 votes, Biden gains 19,958 votes.
I’m sure CNN has a slick explanation. I mean, CNN screws up all the time, right? But it’s also very coincidental.
Wait for it…
[VIDEO]
https://twitter.com/kylenabecker/status/1326585881730420737

Posted by: Mao | Nov 16 2020 14:28 utc | 116

The Earth’s Population is Shrinking – the Only Thing Increasing is the Number of Billionaires
The problem isn’t population growth per se, but that the rich people are devouring more natural resources than ever, worsening the planet’s ecosystem as we know day by day.

Posted by: vk | Nov 16 2020 14:40 utc | 118

correction to spelling of previous post–
grieved

Posted by: migueljose | Nov 16 2020 15:44 utc | 120

Mark2 @114 <- Observe the cordial relationship of “antifa” with the real fascists.
Pinochet supporters are real fascists. The “deplorable” working class folks who don’t buy into your ridiculous “identity politics bullshit are not fascists, no matter how hard delusional middle-class TDS victims try to hang that label on them.

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 16 2020 16:24 utc | 122

This morning I had an errand to pick-up ($20) item of hardware from nationally franchised commercial supplier – good company in my experience.
When I walked into pick-up desk the manager/clerk looked slightly paniced and shoo-ed me out explaining in breathless voice that they were doing “contactless” delivery and that my pick-up would be transacted outside – yes, I had my mask (looks and feels like women’s underware, I am afraid) on and properly covering.
Manager/clerk took info and after usual bit of consternation, had someone come back with item and then took my card and scurried back inside to charge the card and returned with receipt and assured me they appreciated my business (nice people).
My point is:
– In no real world scenario is this viable, even in short term.
– Consequences may be delayed, but they will make themselves known.
– When the consequences are in the future, they can seem less imposing. But when they arrive, they can be quite painful and there is then no option at that point other than to live through the consequences.
– When the consequences arrive, the many pundits and prognosticators will assure us that they were unavoidable – essentially act of God stuff.
– We as individuals are generally powerless to influence the herd, but we can chose not to run off the cliff and wish God Speed to our friends and family intent on doing so.
– One point I learned from Z/H back when it had intelligent postings and discussing regarding finance – this has all been tried before and the output will vary in the details but the general result is fairly predictable. The results will be good for some.

Posted by: jared | Nov 16 2020 16:59 utc | 124

snake | Nov 16 2020 5:10 utc | 86
re “Over the period from 1450 to about 1900 the Oligarchs had several privileges that allowed them to control…”
Might I add this edited copy of an old MOA post:
Re Britain and Globalism, Imperialism and their on-going 500-year survey of Earth’s resources…this is a rough review of neglected history.
[Note: Do not confuse The Hakluyt Society established in 1995 with the original Hakluyt team operating from about 1595.]
In late 1500’s, the English Crown realized its very survival was to be as seafaring-traders/sea-controllers and began (1) building a global navy and (2)collecting data, in earnest, of all known, global resources, first compiled by England’s 2 Hakluyts, both uncle and nephew having the same name of Richard Hakluyt. Columbus’ 1492 voyage made clear to all that there is finite limit to Earth-sphere’s land and resources. England’s merchants took notice and advised the Crown accordingly.
The fact of finite land and resources decided England’s future existence and meant that global collection of navigation data and resource deposits was to begin, Thus, an Earth survey, by all means available, was established and run by the Hakluyts about 1595. It has never stopped.
Spies, shipping agents, ships’ captains and navigators, adventurers, scholars et al were enlisted globally to record and send the data to the Hakluyts for collection and [limited] publication to interested parties. The Hakluyts collected all raw data and printed the first volumes about 1599. [I have read several parts of the early volumes which is a bit of a struggle, because there was not yet any standard form of English spelling or grammar.]
An example of vital data : On long voyages across open ocean, lack of potable water caused entire crews to die and their ships become derelict. This was well known by occasional reports of these derelicts. Thus, sources of potable water for long voyages and the landing points for longboats to get safely ashore at “unknown” islands to collect the fresh water, had become vital knowledge by 1600. I.e., if The Crown was to have a future, it must be via a globally dominant navy.
This Earth Resource Survey led to gold-buccaneering, fleet-building [and Drake’s attempt to wipe-out competition/Spanish Armada] on up to The East India Company and into more modern, more covert tactics, e.g. identifying control methods to ensure global control of trade routes, as choke-points, colonies, naval domination ,etc. That Earth Resource Survey and quest for control of resources has never ended.
Long-range planning was always evolving by trial and error and very covert. The small island-nation of England learned well its limitations as its Empire collapsed. Surely by the 20th Century, survival depended on correctly analyzing its failure to control that Empire. To wit: the lacking island-nation needed a giant proxy-nation to front for its Empire rebuild. Whoever might it be?
As a token reminder, the Crown’s Admiralty was secretly given the 1st workable plan to devise the atomic-bomb, by Leo Szilard about 1934. Known as neutron chain-reaction , it was clearly beyond Britain’s personnel and resources to develop alone…they needed their “exceptional” proxy to pull it off.
The above only hints at the role of banking and finance as the grandest of control-or-choke points.

Posted by: chu teh | Nov 16 2020 17:14 utc | 126

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 16 2020 16:01 utc | 123
I spent some time in North America back in the 80’s and I can’t relate to almost any of the plasticky entertainment in that clip. True that I did not go to concerts often, but I remember seeing Bob Marley in his last tour, or Tina Turner before she made it to the big stadiums, actually sitting at a table and having a beer while I could not believe my eyes, and ears. They are not in that clip. Reagan, Thatcher, Voytila, that trio inherited the world the mess we’re going through, all of it hatched right back then, the 80’s.
In what concerns Pinochet the contrast how the Brits treated a dictator that sold their Argentinians neighbors and brothers, since the only nation I recognize is the one of my language, he was handsomely rewarded for his treason, while a British subject that rendered a great service to humanity has been under torture for years, Assange.
Stalin, history’s references are the leaders that enhanced their countries power, Stalin received a diminished Russian Empire and expanded its zone of influence beyond the borders of the Empire at its peak, so history will judge him accordingly.

Posted by: Paco | Nov 16 2020 17:21 utc | 128

snake | Nov 16 2020 5:10 utc | 86
and more on that exceptional island-without-oil, shortly after banking and oil merged …
At an August 1928 secret meeting at Achnacarry Castle in the Scottish Highlands, the As-Is Agreement was devised by the leaders of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later BP), Royal Dutch Shell, and Standard Oil of New Jersey (later Exxon).
Known as The As-Is Agreement from Encyclopedia.com

Posted by: xhu teh | Nov 16 2020 17:31 utc | 130

I forgot to marvel at the summary sentence “He explicitly claimed”. It takes a degree in humanities in an elite university to produce something so mindbogglingly ambiguous: who? what? why? What the hell is “the search for European autonomy”? It reminds me words from a blog no longer active:
The road was perilous. On both sides monster were appearing, chimeras, manticores and logicians. [One participant cheered us to keep going] “Luckily, we are impervious to logic!”

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 16 2020 17:50 utc | 132

james @129
I meant no criticism whatsoever of Martyanov! His observations and analysis are impressive, and I don’t want to make it seem like I am calling those into question. I should have made that clear, I suppose.
I don’t know if Martyanov had moved to the US by the 1980s. I assume not, and I assume his impression of the US of the period was clouded by youthful optimism and the mistaken impressions that viewing something from a distance can lead to. Have we all not experienced seeing a beautiful girl in the distance who causes your eyes to bleed when seen from up close?
In any case, whatever that analyst’s thoughts are of what the US was like four decades ago, his analysis of the present is excellent and insightful.

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 16 2020 17:51 utc | 134

Anne @131: “…I would add that the “News” as reported on NPR & the Beeb WS = as much fiction as anything H-wood/Netfix puts out…”
Absolutely, but many people already expect that, at least with regards to the media that they view as representing the other political team from the one they happen to support. Certainly many here are not willing to consume mass media infotainment without their skepticism filters turned up to eleven. The problem is that few people recognize that “pure” entertainment is also a threat, which lets it slip assumptions into people’s minds “beneath the radar”, so to speak.

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 16 2020 18:05 utc | 136

Found Vitchek’s article
HOW WE SOLD SOVIET UNION AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA FOR PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS

Posted by: arby | Nov 16 2020 18:07 utc | 138

oldhippie @139
Sadly true. I too was suckered by Obama’s mystique and glamour. I wanted so much to believe we were getting the reincarnation of Malcolm X that I ignored the evidence to the contrary. Clearly I can not claim to be completely immune to the mesmerism that the elites use to control us and their ability to sell us our own fantasies. I can say that not watching mass media does help, though.

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 16 2020 18:25 utc | 140

Ho yes Mr Gwuff (’tis a Brit tendency to “wuh” the “ruhs” – at least in my fambly)…NPR station (radio – in the guise of the Beeb – Third Network, Home Service and Light Programme, on acid battery radio, no electricity or running water [earth closet]) is on because it covers the deafening silence that is existence now without my spouse. And it is – horror of horrors – necessary to learn what everyone is being fed. The latest distorted, if not downright untruths, news and the omissions, silences…
Without such as MoA, Consortium News (NOT as good as it used to be), Anti-War, Strategic Culture, MPN etc., etc., one would only get the approved messages, the approved Newspeak.
1984 has it so right – and so, too, Brave New World. And thinking (!) about Pimpeo et al – Animal Farm is a close neighbor. (I apologise to the piggy-wiggies ‘cos they have done nowt bad – would that more of the human lot were more like our piggies…only interested in digging up a few nibbles and minding their own business.

Posted by: Anne | Nov 16 2020 18:43 utc | 142

snake #75
I haven’t watched the Murdoch doc yet but just finished viewing last night’s, The National. Is it just me or was that the all-about-the-hydra-that-is-Mossad episode? With a very large Anglo finger pointing at the Trumpster? (Didn’t say it was without bias, just a source of kompromat — superior Anglo kompromat. Not always, but sometimes.)
https://twitter.com/cbcthenational

Posted by: Quasi Retired anonym | Nov 16 2020 18:52 utc | 144

I ended up voting third-party and not for Obama in 2008 largely because he broke his promise to filibuster the so-called FISA Reform Act that immunized the telecom companies for illegally spying on U.S. citizens and actually voted for it. Since I had worked for years in signals intelligence, the issue was important to me.
With hindsight, I think my decision then was correct. I wonder if my decision this time to vote for Trump will turn out to have been correct.

Posted by: lysias | Nov 16 2020 18:54 utc | 146

james @147 – nothing as good as the music of the 1960s-70s (except for the odd thingy – TWs – in the late 1980s). Mind you, the 1950s were good too..but differently

Posted by: Anne | Nov 16 2020 19:10 utc | 148

Posted by: Mark2 | Nov 16 2020 14:20 utc | 114
What you told me is over U.K.’s Thatcher. Who told you that Mr. Pinochet did the same in Chile? They were friend, they agreed on many issues most likely but it does not mean they did the same in his/er country.
Posted by: vk | Nov 16 2020 14:24 utc | 115
Chilean Military Junta had US support. Just that.
“the democratically elected (and by then extremely popular) government of Salvador Allende.”
1. Being a democratically elected one is not a free way for revolution.
2. Allende was not “extremely popular”. He got one third of people votes running for office. Mr Pinochet got 43% of people votes at the end of his tenure.

Posted by: Roberto | Nov 16 2020 19:20 utc | 150

@ Posted by: Roberto | Nov 16 2020 19:20 utc | 152
You’re pshychologizing history here. At the end of the day, Allende was able to win democratically and do his reforms without any single drop of blood shed. It was only with American military support and sheer violence that was able to remove him and put Pinochet into power.
And it’s easy to have high approval rating when you’re exterminating your opposition.

Posted by: vk | Nov 16 2020 19:34 utc | 152

vk @105
The two pieces of fakes news about China are written and published on SCMP(South China Morning Post), which has been bought by Jack Ma some years ago.
Just like Bezos bought WoPO.
Guess SCMP is just vetting some anger for its big boss, Jack Ma after his Ant Group’s IPO was scuttled by Chinese regulators for its highly leveraged and extremely usurious business model.
MSM is trying peddling the narratives that the postponed IPO of Ant Group shows the proof of CCP vs “free market”, “dictator” Xi vs “free spirited” entrepreneur billionaire Jack Ma (as WSJ reported). But, in reality it is more about tightening financial supervision of the latest so-called “fintech” and preventing Jack Ma & Co from creating a 2008-style financial crisis in China.
– Ant Group: The Biggest IPO That Wasn’t
– Putting Ant Under the Microsco

Posted by: lulu | Nov 16 2020 19:41 utc | 154

The Stalin canard is always employed by those wanting to cover their own evil, particularly the Outlaw US Empire. Death Squads got their start early on in North America, manned by Puritans–supposedly ultra righteous Christians–who were no better than the Popes who wrote in their Bulls that only Christians are fully human. Then there’re the Slavers and their ships. Many millions of completely innocent humans were slaughtered by Christians long before the birth of Stalin. The famines inflicted on South Asia, forcing opium addiction on East Asians, murdering millions of Africans not sent to the New World through toiling in extractive industries. The death toll from the Age of Colonialism is well beyond 100 million. Reading Robert Hughes’s Fatal Shore ought to dispel any notion that the British elite held any compassion for those not of their class–condemned to rot inside of rotting hulks anchored in the Thames for the crime of being born impoverished, or worse: sentenced to Transportation. By comparison, Stalin is a mere blip.
The tribes of Western Europe and their extensions overseas are the biggest murders of humans ever, but they refuse to acknowledge that very fundamental fact from which they might seek to atone themselves instead of escalating it via their Neoliberal Parasitic System. Instead, it’s always look over there at that mad man Stalin. Russia has come to grips with who he was, what he did and didn’t, and doesn’t try to deny his legacy in the way the West denies their murderous ways that lasted centuries and continues today.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 16 2020 19:43 utc | 156

Paco @157–
Yes, it was always and remains the Threat of a Better Example that cannot be allowed to exist lest the US System be undermined and the US Boot lifted from the World’s Neck. Now suddenly better examples are popping up all over, the RCMP being the latest which even roped in two 5-Eyes nations. Perhaps by decade’s end the Imperial garrisons in the Western Pacific will finally be withdrawn and those nations freed from occupation. Meanwhile, the digitization of commercial exchange will rapidly increase in volume and be bypassing the SWIFT system and its dollarized basis. Rapid innovation’s occurring in Eurasia while the opposite’s occurring in Neoliberal nations, the gap widening daily.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 16 2020 20:00 utc | 158

Some may enjoy the video, it’s part of a campaign trying to verify votes:
https://gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/059/736/302/original/3023e4da64f51066.mp4
It links back to here: maidengate.com or:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TboRp8IDHYaMSgPzzoxCyqAEHMUbLfR6eWNEaectiIU/edit

Posted by: Mercury | Nov 16 2020 20:21 utc | 160

Crooke’s piece this week begins with a long tirade by one of the many Outlaw US Empire citizens who’ve been robbed by Neoliberal Parasitism and the Culture Wars spawned to divide those citizens. Do note the timeline for her lamentations begins well before Trump, and that Trump’s MAGA message resonated because of the previous decades of Parasitism. Often I wonder if the snobs understand what they’ve done.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 16 2020 20:30 utc | 162

The 1980s in America were a freakin` nightmare. That was the era of Reagan!

The privatization part reminds me of a comment on YouTube recalling how Reagan closed down mental institutions. Some claim this was a myth, so I’d be grateful for more info.
I’ve also seen Reagan get accused of:
* removing solar panels from the White House
* abolishing the Fairness Doctrine
* eliminating a national speed limit that was originally designed to save fuel
* reversing Jimmy Carter’s metrication efforts on the grounds that Carter wasn’t a “real American” and was moving the USA away from exceptionalism
* imposing tariffs on Japanese products (e.g. cars) at a time when they were outperforming USian ones
The last one in particular reminds me of a 1980s commercial for Tokyo Disneyland where the announcer brags about USian industrial robots telling the history of Japan, programmed to not mention WWII, and laments that the Japanese weren’t buying USian cars. There was also an incident involving the murder of a Chinese-American who was mistaken for Japanese. According to some commentators on Reddit, the Disneyland ad was greenlit at a time when the USA was in a recession and Japan was enjoying an economic boom.
Apparently ‘American Exceptionalism’ entails that the USA is no. 1 at virtually anything, and it has been ingrained long enough that any perceived challenges to it – such as the popularity of Japanese manufactured goods – are met with hostility rather than true competitive spirit. Reminds us to a degree of the USA’s current war against China.
(It even took one such Japanese company to rescue the USian video game industry from the effects of the Video Game Crash of 1983 where Atari languished. It would not be until 2001 when an American company released a game console that could effectively compete for the next few generations.)
On another note, the year 1982 in particular was also when the US Mint stopped minting pennies in copper and switched to copper-plated zinc. Since then there have been episodes of children or pets swallowing the pennies and having stomach problems and/or dying from zinc poisoning. I’m not sure whether Reagan had a hand in this – is the US Mint government-owned?

Posted by: joey_n | Nov 16 2020 20:54 utc | 164

@164 Karlof1 who wonders “Often I wonder if the snobs understand what they’ve done.” wonder no more. like the regular poster here Trump with a C they don’t care.
Thanks for the link.

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Nov 16 2020 21:28 utc | 166

All this talk of old music is reminding me of a Ramones show here in Chicago. Would’ve been some time in early 80s. A time when they might draw a thousand fans or maybe just two hundred. It was a two hundred night. Half were friends. The rest were musicians and music business people. Right up front were three big DJs, Terri Hemmert, Tom Marker, Marty Lennartz. Actually Marty was the new guy then. In back of room was John Radio Russell, already old with earplugs and earmuffs. But a Ramones fan. Terri is now the Dean of Chicago DJs, John would have had that distinction back then. Twenty minutes in Joey Ramones walks to front of stage, sings We Want The Airwaves right into Terri’s face. She lasted a minute before breaking down in tears. Joey turned the band off, sat down on edge of stage, apologized for making the lady cry. She blubbered into the microphone “we love you Joey, we love the Ramones, we all love you, we love you Joey” over and over. Joey is so why won’t you play the records. More gales of tears. Johnny puts down his guitar, to edge of stage, Why The F—- won’t you play the records?
Marty takes mike, tries to say it is not allowed won’t be allowed, will never be allowed. Who won’t allow? The owners. The families. They own everything. They own you, they own me, they hate you. Joey announced a ten minute break.
When the band came back they were ferocious. Fierce the way Johnny was always fierce, except it was all of them. Johnny looked like he was going to break six strings at once. They ripped through maybe three songs in five minutes before the DJs slunk out. And kept on tearing it apart.
How would this happen now? They wouldn’t just not have the airwaves, they would not have a stage. Pretty sure even then they never played one of the main Chicago rooms. They would never release a record. They would never see even the small amount of publicity they got back then. No way could they afford to keep the bus on the road.
Worse yet, they would be cancelled. The Brownshirt Squad here at MoA would not allow them to exist. Think of the lyrics. None of that is possible today. Joey was as Left as he knew how to be, he would have been completely incapable of being PC. His brain short circuited constantly, he was not even neurologically capable of being PC. They all would have died even younger than they did and no one would ever hear of them.
They were honored in death. Now they would die anonymously. Or just be killed.

Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 16 2020 22:30 utc | 168

This is scary:
Biden State Media Appointee Advocated Using Propaganda Against Americans
A few excerpts:
Stengel stated clearly that a “news cartel” of mainstream corporate media outlets had long dominated US society, but he bemoaned that those “cartels don’t have hegemony like they used to.”
Stengel made it clear that his mission is to counter the alternative perspectives given a voice by foreign media platforms that challenge the US-dominated media landscape.
“The bad actors use journalistic objectivity against us.”Wow …
If Trump, inadvertently or not, had a red pill effect of waking more people up, this Stengel guy sounds like he’s on a mission to blue pill everyone to make sure they stay oblivious to reality and completely controlled by the system.
While he points elsewhere, just who is the greater threat to democracy and liberty?

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Nov 16 2020 23:38 utc | 170

I am reading on ZH about Henry Kissinger speaking at the opening session of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. Below are some quotes from Henry
“America and China are now drifting increasingly toward confrontation, and they’re conducting their diplomacy in a confrontational way.”
“The United States and China have never faced countries of a magnitude that is roughly equal with the other,” Kissinger added.
“This is the first experience. And we must avoid its turning into conflict, and hopefully lead to some cooperative endeavors.”
Henry is projecting a bit by saying that China is conducting its diplomacy in a confrontational way. Unless you want to read that as Henry’s way of saying that China is being confrontational about not giving up its government central bank control to the Western private bankers.
I remember Henry as a war criminal that has never met justice. Fuck Henry Kissinger and his backers over the years!

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 17 2020 2:00 utc | 172

@ H.Schmatz 36

There is no way the Tigrayans would assault any military detachment to achieve military assets

Except for the blatant fact that the TPLF did stage a surprise attack on the northern command as a way to provoke a response from the Ethiopian Government. And how do I know this? Well the admission came from the TPLF themselves:
TPLF Spokesman Admits to Sparking the Conflict in Ethiopia and Plunging Tigray into Darkness
I’m always unpleasantly surprised at the way the alternative and mainstream media of the west seem to come to an agreement and present the exact same point of view when it comes to issues concerning the Horn of Africa in general and Eritrea in Particular.
I would certainly be interested in getting educated in a situation where a highly unpopular and very dangerous element within a western nation decided to thumb it’s nose at the federal government by attacking and killing perhaps hundreds of federal soldiers and then threatening and eventually using rockets to destroy a civilian airport. And then that government decided to resolve the situation by sitting across the table and having negotiations with said rogue group.
Fact of the matter is, the TPLF represent the Tigray region of Ethiopia as much as Al-Nusra represent Allepo region of Syria. And if my memory serves me correctly, the overwhelming consensus on this site when the main stream western media was pushing for “Assad” to come to a negotiated settlement with Al-Nusra in Allepo especially in the face of certain victory was a definite side towards a-hell-no!
So, why are the people of the Horn of Africa treated differently?

Posted by: Lalimba | Nov 17 2020 3:04 utc | 174

@ Circe 175
Trump = No New Wars.
No Asian/African countries turned into wastelands, their populations killed, injured and displaced by the millions just for the hell of it (literally).
. . .Anybody with common sense can see that.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 17 2020 3:22 utc | 176

Besides Trump pursuing options last week to launch a military strike on Iran, he’s ramping up sanction pressure on Iran and is going to impose a flood of sanctions on Iran to prevent Biden from reinstating the JCPOA.

The Trump administration’s envoy for Iran Elliott Abrams arrived in Israel on Sunday and met Prime Minister Netanyahu and National Security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat to discuss the sanctions plan.
Abrams will meet on Monday with Minister of Defense Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi to brief them on the plan.
Abrams didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Why it matters: The Trump administration believes such a “flood” of sanctions will increase pressure on the Iranians and make it harder for the Biden administration to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, the Israeli sources told me.
Behind the scenes: In the last several weeks, the Trump administration — with the encouragement and assistance of part of the Israeli diplomatic and security establishment — has prepared a “target bank” of Iranian entities that will be sanctioned.
Abrams said in a closed briefing several days ago that the Trump administration wants to announce a new set of sanctions on Iran every week until Jan. 20, a source who was privy to the briefing told me.
“The goal is to slap as many sanctions as possible on Iran until Jan. 20,” an Israeli source briefed on the plan told me.
What’s next: Abrams will travel from Israel to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh to discuss the sanctions plan.
The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are the two main allies the Trump administration and the Israeli government have against Iran, and both are very concerned by the Biden administration’s future Iran policy.

trump-administration-iran-sanctions-january
Trump is itching to start war with Iran. How I despise this bastard!

Trump sought offensive options that the U.S. could take in the coming weeks, the Times reported, but senior advisers recommended against a military strike that they warned could spark a wider, regional conflict.
Still, the amount of Iran’s nuclear material is far below the level it possessed before signing the nuclear deal, the Times said.

attacking-irans-nuclear-facilities
Trump is a rabid Ziofascist punk!

Posted by: Circe | Nov 17 2020 4:48 utc | 178

I wrote a few days ago that maybe Trump wanted to get the troops out of the way in Afganistan because he wanted them out of harm’s way in case he attacked Iran and Iran fires back at U.S. bases.
Now we’re learning he was considering options to strike inside Iran.
Here’s another reason: if Trump pulls troops out of Afghanistan and things worsen with the Taliban, Biden will be saddled with the consequences.
If Trump attacks Iran and war ensues Biden will be stuck with a catastrophic war that no one wants.
Trump wants to kill the JCPOA because he’s a hateful man bitter about losing to Biden and he’s obsessed with Iran and wants to destroy Iran and Biden’s Presidency because he can’t stand the thought of Biden succeeding in normalizing relations with Iran. He’s a vindictive, small minded and envious man who can’t stand anyone else getting attention and accolades so he actually wanted to trigger a disastrous war to satiate his battered ego.

Posted by: Circe | Nov 17 2020 5:39 utc | 180

Also, the vast majority of true progressives, ex Sanders supporters find it very very easy to believe there was rampant vote rigging done by the Democrat party. Who were, after all, proven more than willing to cheat, rig and flip votes in both the 2016 and 2020 primaries, just so that sanders won’t win.
Indeed, the subject of election integrity is very dear to the heart of true progressives, most of whom strongly believe that ONLY hand counted ballots should be the law of the land, and none of whom (I know not a single one among the many hundreds I came across) have even an iota of faith in Dominion or ES&S machines (or whatever they are called now).
It is this which makes them allies to those who want a fair recount of ALL the votes including full signature verification and access to the source codes of the machines + tabulation software. Wherever “those’ other doubting thomases come from and whichever party they align with.
I feel this needed some clarification because many don’t realize that Progressives – the real ones (you know those who listen and applaud Jimmy Dore, Abby martin, the GrayZone, Taibbi, Greenwald, etc) really care enormously about election integrity and most have accepted they were cheated – twice – by the Dem establishment – so why extend good will to where it doesn’t belong?

Posted by: Merlin 2 | Nov 17 2020 6:03 utc | 182

24 hours ago in comments here I and others referenced and linked to reports of Trump attorney’s preparing to call voter fraud in multiple states by 3 voting software/hardware companies….supposedly a whistleblower came forward
Since then I have not seen another story about this potential game-changer to the current US (s)election shit show
Why? I even heard about it from my Trump supporting plumber today…..

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 17 2020 7:19 utc | 184

psychohistorian @186:

“Since then I have not seen another story about this potential game-changer to the current US (s)election shit show
Why? I even heard about it from my Trump supporting plumber today…..

The drug witch with TDS hysteria says: “All news outlets are now reporting…”
When the mass media syncs up in perfect harmony it means the conductor is at his podium and is waving his baton. Now why would the Mighty Wurlitzer be chanting in chorus that Trump wants to start a war with Iran? Of course, it’s because they and the “Deep State” want to start a war with Iran. For whatever reason Trump never “drained the swamp”, which means that the “Deep State” and CIA are still densely populated with the PNAC orcs that had been installed over the last couple decades. The end target in the “seven countries in five years” PNAC plan (now very much over schedule and budget) was? Excellent! The reader remembers! Yes, it was Iran.
But why now? Wouldn’t the establishment rather wait until “more competent” imperial leadership were installed as figureheads of the empire before doing something so tricky as starting a new war? (LOL! “More competent leadership” in contemporary, late-stage capitalist America? That’s like the skinniest kids at fat camp!)
There are a couple reasons why now is better:

• Trump is the only president in living history to have not started a new war. That is a decidedly awkward legacy to leave the supposed “Worst president ever!!!!!!”
• The empire is not going to be able to shift opinion among its vassals anytime soon to favor war with Iran. Make the war a fait accompli now and the Harris Administration can come in as champions of peace while continuing the war (“Well, we can’t stop now, can we?!?!”). This prevents further discontent among the vassal states.
• PNAC plans are way behind schedule. The sooner they get back on track the better.
• Most important reason: The Trump Admin’s prosecution of election fraud must be stopped before it gets any traction, and it must be stopped by a “Huuuge!” distraction. A real new war might be enough of a distraction.

So on to the details.
Anyone struck by how odd a name Dominion Voting Systems is? “He who has dominion over the paperless voting machines has dominion over all of the Empire of Mordor!” or something like that, I believe.
Yes, “Dominion” is corrupt to the core. We all know that, but should the Trump Admin get this to court then the fetid and putrescent details will start to ooze out like maggots from week old roadkill. And like from the explosion of a roadside raccoon balloon being poked with a stick by a curious but clueless child (Trump has this kind of charm) that nastiness will splatter far and wide to stain almost the entirety of the federal government. But the stink of exposed corruption won’t stop there. The elites from big tech, mass media, the MIC, and the whole stink tank industry are in this up to their eyebrows.
Is keeping that under wraps big enough for the establishment to start a war over? Hell, yeah!
“But, but starting a war with such incompetent leadership; with leadership that isn’t even on board with the war!?! Isn’t that a recipe for disaster?”
A disastrous start to the war would actually serve the PNAC elite’s interests.

• Trump retains massive support in the US despite the establishment/mass media’s best efforts to tar him as evil incarnate for four years straight. Sticking Trump with the blame for the disastrous initial months of the war would fix that.
• The US population is extremely tired of war right now. The only way to “fire them up” at this point would be some very well video-documented losses.
• Losses that Iran is going to deliver regardless of who is in the CiC seat in the US when the war starts. Better for Trump to take the blame than Harris.
• The US gets to play victim again. “Bad orange man made me do it!”
• The election fraud issue is a very big deal. It will take more than a salvo of American cruise missiles blowing up schools and telephone exchanges in Iran to divert attention from that.

In any case, it doesn’t take competence to start a war. It doesn’t take any leadership at all. The US just needs to launch an attack that is obvious enough and big enough to trigger major retaliation from Iran. There are dozens of places within the military chain of command where such an operation can be initiated from, using the CIA to do the coordination and providing sigint fig leafs for the most vulnerable officers to get them compliant. Knowing that Trump is on the way out and so there is no chance of any sort of prosecution for the conspirators soothes any objections from the upper level officers involved. Lower levels of the chain of command don’t ever have to know of the conspiracy. All they will ever hear of the issue is that it was Trump’s fault.
[Aside: Hmm… maybe the capitalist elites might be really serious about the World Economic Forum‘s “Great Reset”? One part of that “reset” is the transition to electric vehicles. That’s not a bad idea, but it isn’t happening very quickly. What if – hey, hear me out! – what if Middle East oil production were shut down suddenly? Yeah, that would be a huge economic disruption globally, but a “Great Reset” is massively disruptive by definition. The WEF is staunchly capitalist and so they want capitalist solutions. They are trying to re-invigorate market economies, after all. Having the oil shut off will make demand for electric vehicles soar, satisfying that particular aspect of the “Great Reset” with only market mechanisms… well, and some bombs, but let’s ignore that part.]
I am starting to think there is a real possibility of war with Iran in the next month or five weeks. Trump had better start issuing pink slips ASAP. Reams and reams of them!

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 17 2020 12:25 utc | 186

@ vk 189
I bet that half of those frequent flyers who cause 50% of emissions are verbal Green advocates. In analogy to “coconuts” like Obama or Harris one could call them avocados: green on the outside and hard yellow or mush brown on the inside depending on the ripeness.

Posted by: Antonym | Nov 17 2020 13:15 utc | 188

Five times it did not work.must be the link.So I link again
http://www.geopolinter.fr /article2457.html
the slash follows the fr without a space

Posted by: willie | Nov 17 2020 15:01 utc | 190

@SunOfAlabama #8
Doctorow isn’t far left – he is technotopian. That’s not the same thing. Far left is socialist/communist; technotopian is the idea that technology will make all scarcities obsolete and thus utopia will be reached.
However, it is clear from his recent work that he is rethinking at least some aspects of his technotopianism.
Also: chickenization is just the “putting out” system – betraying his fundamental lack of understanding of history.
While he clearly has read Dr. Michael Hudson, he clearly still doesn’t actually have much background in economic history.
But I do give kudos for his spot-on analysis of what he has read on.

Posted by: c1ue | Nov 17 2020 15:06 utc | 192

Ray McGovern has an interesting article out that explores the reasons for the recent personnel changes at the Defense department:

Not only will Ellis be general counsel at NSA, reportedly over the objections of Gen. Nakasone, but Kashyap Patel, a longtime Russiagate skeptic and former Nunes aide on the House Intelligence Committee, is replacing Esper’s chief of staff at the Pentagon. Patel is said to already have a “very close” working relationship with Miller, the acting defense secretary. (And rumors persist that Haspel’s ouster is next.)
In addition, former National Security Council official Ezra Cohen-Watnick has been named acting undersecretary of defense for intelligence. Cohen-Watnick not only reaps close ties to Nunes; he was also a top aide to Flynn during the latter’s abbreviated tenure as national security adviser.
Have these folks been appointed to help start a new war? They seem better placed to try to finish an old one — namely, Russiagate. They would certainly be well placed to execute a Trump order to declassify and release R-gate-related documents that have been Waiting for Godot.
This sends shivers up the spines of those with much to fear from such disclosures. At the same time, the formidable ability of the bureaucracy to resist is well known to all concerned.

Former CIA Director John Brennan is apparently so worried that Donald Trump might release certain classified intelligence that he suggested this week that Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet remove Trump via the 25th amendment.

Posted by: Down South | Nov 17 2020 15:27 utc | 194

Minerva’s Owl is always late to the party, but its arrival is always inevitable:
Europe shouldn’t create ‘illusion’ that it can protect itself without US – German defense chief
I love when I’m proven to be correct.

Posted by: vk | Nov 17 2020 15:35 utc | 196

Warmongering pro-Biden Stoltenberg/Nato is worried that Trump will pull troops from the middle east
NATO’s Stoltenberg Warns of Risks Posed by US Military’s Early Withdrawal From Afghanistan
https://sputniknews.com/asia/202011171081194831-natos-stoltenberg-warns-of-risks-posed-by-us-militarys-early-withdrawal-from-afghanistan/

Posted by: Zanon | Nov 17 2020 15:50 utc | 198

Close to 90,000 sexual abuse claims have been filed against the Boy Scouts of America as the Monday deadline arrived for submitting claims in the organization’s bankruptcy case.
The number far exceeds the initial projections of lawyers across the United States who have been signing up clients since the Boy Scouts filed for bankruptcy protection in February in the face of hundreds of lawsuits alleging decades-old sex abuse by Scout leaders.
“We are devastated by the number of lives impacted by past abuse in Scouting and moved by the bravery of those who have come forward,” the Boy Scouts said in a statement. “We are heartbroken that we cannot undo their pain.”
A few hours before the 5 p.m. EST deadline, the number of claims totaled 88,500, lawyers said.
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/90k-sex-abuse-claims-filed-boy-scouts-bankruptcy-74237117

Posted by: Mao | Nov 17 2020 16:15 utc | 200