The MoA Week In Review – Open Thread 2020-96

@92 Framarz – “…the anti-imperialist population of Iran have not given up the fight against … [Shaitan] … is the greatest victory any nation could achieve”
Yes, and even more than this, because as you know well, the true inspiration that Iran gives to the free world is that she has gone furthest of all the resistance so far and has actually fought the US in battle – and won! – as her missiles rained down on the US occupying bases in Iraq.
After that day, deep in the planning and command centers of every nation in the world – even in the west, even in the US – a thrill of new knowledge went through every soldier, analyst and leader as each one realized that the US could be attacked, and that it would back down.
On that day a paradigm as large as the sun itself burst into fragments, and the multi-polar world saw that an entirely new chapter had just begun.
It could have been Russia, it could have been China, or Cuba, or Venezuela, but the honor fell to Iran, and her heart was full of readiness for it. And remains ready. And holds the beast at bay, for all the world’s benefit. And because of Iran’s great strength, these are wonderful days.

Posted by: Grieved | Dec 7 2020 3:12 utc | 101

@circe95. I’d just like to point out that one need not become as disgustingly like something to oppose it. Put another way, Yer not supposed to emulate something you claim to despise. I hate that so much I’m going be just like it……..said no one lucid, rational or descent ever. yes yes keep up the good fight.

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 7 2020 3:16 utc | 102

Posted by: migueljose | Dec 7 2020 2:57 utc | 98
Thank you for the information on Evo. I was wondering how he would handle the situation (and Arce too). It is good to see they keep themselves focused on the business of the people. Very good news.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 7 2020 3:24 utc | 103

US didn’t obtain any strategic or value for this assassination.. Kooshy @ 64 <= ..Its doubtful the USA had anything to do with the killing of Fakrizadeh .. its even doubtful that mad king [<=by fyi @ 87] had anything to do with the killing of Soleimani. Removing both Soleimani and Fakhrizadeh keeps Iran from returning to the JCPOA..which/blocks Iran's oil reaching the market, lower global price of oil would not be welcome by oil and gas and would likely interfere with Bush family LNG plans.

Posted by: snake | Dec 7 2020 3:30 utc | 104

gm #88
Thank you for the news of Giuliani’s health circumstance. Not to worry there will be many democrat lawyers willing to assist his main client as they share the ideology, donors, attitudes, objectives etc.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 3:32 utc | 105

MR. snake
Perhaps I ought to have said “the Mad Kingdom”, mad as a hatter regardless of who occupies the throne, 8 trillion dollars spent on fighting Islam and making the case of being the enemy of Islam – all the while the Kingdom’s human and material substance decaying.

Posted by: Fyi | Dec 7 2020 3:35 utc | 106

SST has some “news” on US excess deaths, quoting a Johns Hopkins source:
“All of this points to no evidence that COVID-19 created any excess deaths. Total death numbers are not above normal death numbers. We found no evidence to the contrary.” . .here
But looking at the CDC chart on “weekly number of deaths (from all causes)”, one can see many excess deaths this year, here.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 7 2020 4:17 utc | 107

@ norecovery | Dec 6 2020 23:05 utc | 69.. try using the preview option instead of posting immediately.. it is very useful for this sort of thing.. you can see the errors in the preview menu and hopefully fix them before you ultimately hit the post option… cheers..

Posted by: james | Dec 7 2020 5:15 utc | 108

My comment @95 was an accurate description of certain distasteful sleaze in Trump’s orbit, but unwittingly it was also slime bait. One predictable sucker bit.
Methinks this sucker sympathizes way too much with the objects of my ridicule and loathing; Giuliani and Adelson. Hmm, could it be he’s Zionist trash himself? That would explain why he also has it in for Mark2 who is very aware of what Zionists did to Jeremy Corbyn.
I’ll bet the offended trash looks something like this guy.
https://youtu.be/Ao9ejWOXgHc
Exactly!

Posted by: Circe | Dec 7 2020 5:58 utc | 109

@99 Grieved
Iran is the strongest Resistance against Zionism in the world, and that’s why I want Iran to succeed in every way, because Zionism is the greatest threat to democracy and peace, therefore, Zionism must cease to exist as an ideology.

Posted by: Circe | Dec 7 2020 6:43 utc | 110

And as of today Guaido officially became a nobody.

Posted by: Cesare | Dec 7 2020 7:45 utc | 111

Kooshy the US election doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to over if any of the talk about the military investigations, involvement, infighting, and actions are true. If such things are true then Trump and Biden could admit defeat all they want and it might not matter one bit. If such things are true it also might not stop no matter who is inaugurated or how long they hold office.
I do not know whether that “if” is true or false. Today I have tried to find anything at all about “yellow shield military police” (and similar) and I didn’t find anything (except lots of US military police insignia but that doesn’t prove anything, and yellow being a commonly used color for US MP “heraldry” is nothing new).
Both National Guards and National Guard Military Police (but not US Army or Marines etc. MPs afaik) have already been used openly in public within the US this year in relation to the BLM protests etc. even if only “present” and not acting (as far as is known/documented). They are all at any rate part of the US no matter what so their use isn’t all that farfetched when the stakes are high enough.
Put another way: it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect any US armed forces to stay out of any US war or civil war, coup, or revolution.
All that said the “if” remains. I’m sure we will find out soon enough.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Dec 7 2020 9:09 utc | 112

Posted by: Down South | Dec 6 2020 23:46 utc | 72
Jesus Fucking Christ!
Just compare BLM to the Black Panthers Movement and you will see that BLM has nothing to do with Marxism, not a fucking bit!

Posted by: v | Dec 7 2020 9:26 utc | 113

Here’s a question for Canadian barflies: where can I find the list of banned books in Canada?
Many years ago I was told that arriving in Canada with a copy of ‘The Controversy of Zion’ by the late British journalist Douglas Reed would entail instant seizure and possible deportation. I called the Canadian High Commission two times with the above question and was given the run around both times. Once I was given a RCMP phone number but it was an answering machine. Most countries have a list and are happy to publish prohibited imports in a postal guide. For example the Republic of Ireland once banned contraceptives or literature on contraception. I am sure that ban is long gone. If there is a list why keep it secret?
I am sure there would be plenty of interesting reading on the list.

Posted by: Paul | Dec 7 2020 9:46 utc | 114

Neera Tanden gets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeiJcTXQw6E“>dumped on by Tulsi Gabbard.
Niko House and his MCSC network loves every minute of it.
Global theft is what Joe Biden stands for. Just look at his past under-performance in Ukraine and China. Piracy on a global scale. Naked USAi thievery and a global menace is what the democrats stand for. They are beneath contempt and their shills are pathetic creatures.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 9:52 utc | 115

Speakingof insidious operations: The Lobby has infiltrated and sabotaged the UK political process and then turned its malign attention to the USAi.
The scheming underhanded deceivers aka Democrats are likely fully supporting the Lobby to work over all those citizens in North America that would dare to think otherwise.
Neera Tanden can be relied on to use her excellent and well funded resources to assist in that undermining. The Democrats are all owned and enslaved either through the Epstein/Maxwell racket or the Awan racket or simply because they will grasp donations from any stinking source.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 10:09 utc | 116

I have posted this before but it bears restating on this thread: The business model of BOTH mainstream USAi political parties is utterly bereft of any ethical principles. It merely sets out to deceive electors and profit from it as Saagar and Matt discuss here.
They are all under the one roof named the House of the Rising Sun and any animal is welcome.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 10:20 utc | 117

Sputnik has now published the news about Congress party support for peasant movement in India
https://sptnkne.ws/E9g5
Has anyone here followed the historic record of INC (or in wider sense UPA) policy and law making toward peasants? Any comments about thids?

Posted by: Framarz | Dec 7 2020 10:30 utc | 118

Thank you b for the link to the Glen Greenwald piece revealing Bernie Sanders for the fake he has strived so hard to be. Here is Greenwald’s scathing conclusion to that report and in particular Biden’s disgraceful nomination of Neera Tanden as Secretary of the Office of Management and Budget:

Sanders has yet to speak one way or the other about this nomination, so it is unclear what he will do. It is very hard to imagine that he would vote against her if his vote were decisive. It is much easier to imagine him standing up in the Senate and saying something along these lines:
As everyone knows, I have had my differences with my friend Neera Tanden over the years, but now is the time for us to unite as Democrats and Americans. Despite our differences, I believe she will do an outstanding job in this position — she has assured me she will steadfastly protect the entitlement programs on which so many Americans depend [ed: despite a long history of urging they be cut] — and I am therefore proud to support her nomination. Americans chose Joe Biden to be their President and he has the right to choose those whom he trusts for key positions. President Biden trusts Ms. Tanden for this office, and so do I.
I do not know if that will be Sanders’ position. But the fact that it is so easy to imagine him speaking those words about one of the lowliest and most unscrupulous neoliberal operatives is revealing — and depressing. That, in the name of loyalty to Democratic Party propaganda, Sen. Sanders now mocks those who believe in the existence of the very weapons used twice to destroy his candidacy makes it all the likelier that he will do this and worse.

Biden is such a low turd that he will likely nominate Hunter Biden to the Office of Corruption Management in the US military and Bernie will speak in support as he would not want to be seen defying the class enemy.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 10:54 utc | 119

Framarz #118
Thank you, I would not be getting to optimistic at Ghandi’s stance. He and his wretched Congress Party would need to spell out what they INTEND to do to legislate farmers and workers rights and conditions other than just oppose BJP legislation. They have an ‘unfortunate’ history of legislating AGAINST workers and peasant farmers, preferring instead to enjoy champaign at the tables of the ruling class.
I don’t follow your acronyms INC or UPA. Please spell those out to enable an efficient research.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 11:04 utc | 120

If there were far more deaths in 2018 than in 2020, what is it about the disease in 2020 that makes it a pandemic as opposed to an epidemic?
Posted by: lysias | Dec 6 2020 21:48 utc | 56
Very simple. As was pointed out here on MoA way back in about January or thereabouts, and several times since then, the definition of a “pandemic” has (politically) been changed so that what is not in reality a pandemic can be declared as a “pandemic”. Deception in other words. I can’t quote either the old or the new definition from memory, but the WHO changed the definition of a pandemic in 2019, eliminating the requirement that it should have particular lethality. the new definition is unreal, in the sense that the globally accepted meaning of the word is contradicted and the new word has little practical meaning.
Is it a coincidence that the change occurred shortly before the start of Covid-19?

Posted by: BM | Dec 7 2020 11:12 utc | 121

Uncle @ 119
No one gives a dam about Biden. It’s tactical. ‘Strategy’
Just becouse you don’t understand something, does not make it wrong or mistaken. Please consider that truism.
This right here is the way forward for the US.
In case you missed it.
https://www.doubledown.news/watch/2020/3/december/how-bolivia-beat-a-military-coup-what-it-can-teach-the-world-evo-morales
Bolivia is more politically suffocated and aware than the US
and your selve, it seems !

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 7 2020 11:43 utc | 122

Thank you v @ 113 you have a true way with words !
It’s not about Marxism or Sorros funding. Those are distractions deliberately designed to derail a major threat to the duoploly status quo. And formost zionism.
An indication of who they fear most.
Mirrored on this blog.

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 7 2020 12:06 utc | 123

Typo on my @ 122
Sufisticated not suffocated (dam auto spell on iPhone.)

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 7 2020 12:14 utc | 124

@119
Crazy Uncle
Trump was the most corrupt President to ever disgrace the Presidency and is still milking the Office and in the middle of a pandemic holding a dozen parties at tax payers expense while people are dying and in lines everywhere to get food and his supporters are paying millions into a legal defense Fund so he can use those funds for other stuff after he’s out on his ass. He even bilked his foundation to get portraits of himself and other perks. Yet here you are hypocritically setting the high standard for Biden and Sanders the latter being Snow White compared to Trump when you had a such a low or non-existant standard for Trump. Methinks you have Biden Derangement Syndrome.

Posted by: Circe | Dec 7 2020 12:35 utc | 125

Biden planning to destroy socialism in South America rebuked by Bolivian victory. Thankfully Bolivians are made of the right stuff.
Venezuela votes now. Should be interesting as the spineless opposition has withdrawn due to its loss of any credibility.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 12:35 utc | 126

fascist antifa:

No one gives a dam about ~~Biden~~ Trump. It’s tactical. ‘Strategy’
Just becouse you don’t understand something, does not make it wrong or mistaken. Please consider that truism.”

If only the fascist antifa “Post Trump Stress Disorder” victim could employ its own advice it would realize that the proper candidate to support in the 2020 elections was Trump.
The hypocrisy is amazing.

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 7 2020 12:43 utc | 127

For a good insight to the Venezuelan National Assembly elections take time to Read Venezuelanalysis here.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 12:45 utc | 128

Looking forward to Circe rooting on the next hearts and minds military campaign in the Middle East.
Who knew he loved America so much!
🙂

Posted by: JoeG | Dec 7 2020 13:00 utc | 129

For butthurt and bewilderment on Venezuelan National Assembly elections take time to read here:
Maduro allies win majority in disputed Venezuela congress election

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 7 2020 13:21 utc | 130

I’ve been saying for years that Trump vs. a Democratic off-shoot of the Deep State is kayfabe nonsense. Trump is EMPIRE FIRST and Deep State-approved (if not selected).
We see more evidence of this in the snippet I provided @Dec6 16:13 #9:

It was back in July that these columns first warned that Judge Emmet Sullivan, who is presiding in the general’s case, might balk at a pardon.
If TheSun could see this back in July, then surely Trump and his legal team could also?
Why would Trump playing into the witch hunt against Flynn? Because that’s what TEAM DEEP STATE wants. And Trump is a team player (like all US Presidents after JFK).
The judge who wondered in open court about what Judge Sullivan might do about the pardon is Reggie Walton. He’s a senior judge, having been put on lower courts by Presidents Reagan and both Bushes.
It’s a REPUBLICAN judge that is telegraphing a judicial challenge to the Pardon! The Empire is a bi-partisan affair. And TEAM DEEP STATE manages the Empire.

<> <> <> <> <> <>
Sadly, group-think and partisan rabbit holes mean that people can’t see the forest for the trees.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Dec 7 2020 13:37 utc | 131

The fast moving events in the America’s surly dictate, we to should move the debate on ——-
The priority now should be——-
What affect Zionism is having on America ? And ‘Both American political party’s ?
What areas of American commerce and media do the zionists control ?
And what is to be done about it ?
Let’s get real here !!

Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 7 2020 13:46 utc | 132

Crooke spells it out on Iran/Israel:
“Paradoxically, it is however, precisely this new Iranian ‘smart’ conventional capability that ultimately might deter Biden from the military option path – the fear of igniting region-wide war that could destroy the Gulf States. And it is this Iranian transformation which indicates why the ‘military option’ is not a true option: A U.S. endorsed military option is a ‘red pill’ option for the region.
Any new accord, Friedman warns, ‘will be very, very difficult to negotiate’. Friedman implies that Biden’s difficulty will be in persuading the Iranians. Actually, the difficulty – conversely – will lie with Biden persuading Netanyahu to look truth in the eye: The ‘red pill’ option would destroy Israel too.”
Biden’s Iran Deal Faces Iran’s ‘Red Pill’

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 7 2020 13:48 utc | 133

Greenwald is partnered with a guy in Brazil’s PSOL, an officially anti-Leninist (unofficially, anti-Communist) socialist party, the PSOL. Anti-communist socialists tend often to pretty far right, something historically true of German Social Democrats who preferred to partner with Freikorps rather than Communists. Or like the French Socialist Party acting as the cutting edge of capitalist modernization, as witness Mitterac. (Technically, it’s Mitterand but I find it very hard to distinguish Mitterand and Chirac.) PSOL is very much about not wanting to be as left in practical policies as even the Workers’ Party of Brazil, even though it wants very much to seem very left. It’s like woke people pretending the Democratic Party is left, very roughly.
As such, Greenwald is very much an anti-Marxist, which is why he believes in the Deep State. The whole concept of Deep State is a diversion, a pose of leftish realism while castrating the mind so that there can’t be any unwelcome conclusions born. It’s like the “PMC” that way.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Dec 7 2020 13:51 utc | 134

Posted by: snake | Dec 7 2020 3:30 utc | 104
Does it matter who assassinated these Iranians, at the end of the day ultimately US is blamed for it because of her policies or even protecting Israel. But more important point no strategic value was gained, Iran’s policies didn’t change an iota before or after these assassination, but on the contrary US indeed lost some strategic value, first and most its military indispensability and might took a direct hit and was incapable of defending herself that inside the country that she is there to protect, never mind other satrapies nearby including Israel, infact Iran showed and proved the world how advanced her missile program are (this wasn’t a military exercises) in fact Iran in Dubya style told US “to bring it on”.Etc. Etc, WTF are you talking about.

Posted by: kooshy | Dec 7 2020 13:57 utc | 135

@120 uncle tungsten
Thanks for follow up. I thought the same, thought maybe someone can provide pointers to spesific policies, documents, actions or dates regarding what they have done previously.
INC . Indian National Congress (Gandhi party)
UPF . United Progressive Alliance (INC alliance)

Posted by: Framarz | Dec 7 2020 14:03 utc | 136

Posted by: snake | Dec 7 2020 3:30 utc | 104
In all accounts JCPOA was dead even before these assassinations, so there was no need of that, even if JCPOA be readopted Iran’ oil sales and It’s pattern is becoming totally different,Iran is moving away from selling unrefined oil, with her advance and self sufficiency in refining and petrochemical technology more and more Iran is selling her oil in finish products, and or manufactured goods. Iran is the third producer of gas in the world and the fourth consumer of gas in the world. Iran she is almost fully self sufficient, and could be more if she wants, and she is her own biggest market. That is the reason is difficult to change her policy with economic Max pressure. Still with all direct sanctions on car and Metal Mill companies, beside the fact that all major car companies left Iran, Iran is producing over a million domestic made cars. I am not saying is not tough it is but it will be overcomed,

Posted by: kooshy | Dec 7 2020 14:20 utc | 137

Ex-CIA Chief John Brennan Says US-Assassinated Iranian General Soleimani Was His Personal ‘Nemesis’
So, is the CIA now using the State machine for personal vendettas?
I know the Americans pride themselves for their individualism, but don’t you think this is going too far?

Posted by: vk | Dec 7 2020 14:25 utc | 138

Those guys who think Iran’s missile attack of the US bases in the country she was committed to protect by a rival military power was not real or insufficient, they should explain what else Iran should have done to be sufficient? attacking Pearl Harbor , take a passenger plane and attack pentagon, and few towers in US, how else and how direct should have Iran challenged US power.
Some here for sure are disappointed to see US military’s mighty posture vanished with one attack. Even more disappointing, is to see even though Trump regime was notified of incoming missile attack by Iraqis, still he chose to send his troops to bunkers instead of defending and retaliating the lesser power. This is one of those subject that in US is not openly discussed or even if it does is easily talked as if it was nothing. Well yes it is disappointing, it happened so live with it,

Posted by: kooshy | Dec 7 2020 14:45 utc | 139

” The whole concept of Deep State is a diversion, a pose of leftish realism while castrating the mind so that there can’t be any unwelcome conclusions born. ” steven t johnson@134
The Deep State is another way of describing the Establishment, the complex of networks tying together the leadership of the ruling class. In the US it includes the Military Industrial Complex.
But much more important is the soil, according to a UN report today the capitalist system is beginning to show real signs of success in its ultimate aim of wiping out humanity. Soil degradation, which at its simplest is the consequence of a system of agriculture which seeks to replace not only human labour but the natural sources of fertility, including manure, with poisonous chemicals and artificial fertilisers, is advancing rapidly.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/04/global-soils-underpin-life-but-future-looks-bleak-warns-un-report

Posted by: bevin | Dec 7 2020 14:53 utc | 140

migueljose@100
Capitalism, which became a world wide dominant system in large part because of its success in looting the people of America, may get its death blow from the Latin American masses driven to eradicate a system as the only alternative to allowing it to eradicate us all.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 7 2020 15:01 utc | 141

Alexander Vindman has published an article at Foreign Affairs (aka “the Bible of the Deep State”).
In fact, at this moment, it is the centerpiece article at Foreign Affairs.
Alexander Vindman?
Yes, that guy. Who, in perjury-laced testimony before Congress, let us know publicly what the Deep State calls itself and who he, Vindman, is loyal to:
“The Interagency”. So loyal, he was willing to perjure himself.
Here is the link:
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-12-07/united-states-must-marshal-free-world
Vindman’s article deserves it’s own avalanche of critiques.
My own outrage-motivator seems to be on low battery at the moment,
so I will just point out a couple of items.
Not surprisingly, in this article this swamp creature blames other countries for doing what we ourselves do in spades.
He is so tone-deaf. The guy that tried to unseat a President uses the word democracy or democracies or “democratic values” 45 times
in his article! He urges the “free world” (for some curious reason he put those two words in quotes) to
do battle for democracy and the Brookings Institute. Tone-deaf! Our country, as he writes those 45 words, has cartons and
crates and whole warehouses of eggs on it’s face, as a sham election is being exposed! Yet he devotes an article to promoting
democratic values.
Read the article if you have the stomach.
You might find your own gems (it is loaded).
Vindman previously gave us insight into the Deep State, letting us know what it calls itself.
In the article he lets us know that “coalition of the willing” is not a cringe-worthy term
in the belly of the beast – The Interagency. “Coalition of the willing” is in the Hall-of-Shame
for the rest of the world but not to the Deep State.
For a reminder about Alexander Vindman and his testimony I recommend:
https://ricochet.com/696869/archives/on-ltc-vindman-and-the-interagency-but-mostly-on-vindman/
The comments there are useful too.
Because of Vindman’s perjury before Congress commentators believed (correctly) he would retire soon.
They also speculated he would retire to “a Democrat PAC of some sort”.
In fact, Vindman’s article at the bottom says he went to the Lawfare Institute
which I find is a spawn of the Brookings Institute.
Here is an article about Brookings using Lawfare to defend the Steele Dossier:
https://amgreatness.com/2020/07/23/brookings-institution-a-key-collusion-collaborator/

Posted by: librul | Dec 7 2020 15:18 utc | 142

This is the first newspaper of the American MSM to openly admit this, I think:
The American Empire Is Falling Apart
–//–
Russia to start deliveries of ‘world’s best’ Armata tank to troops in 2021
This tank allegedly went through some design and development problems, as it was scheduled to go out in 2018 or something like that.
Regardless if the rumors were true or not, the T-14 is finally out – undoubtedly, the best tank in the world today.
–//–
China’s Quantum Computer Beats Google’s Sycamore in ‘Computational Supremacy’, Claims New Study
Probably. Otherwise, we would be seeing Google showing off on a daily basis in one of the MSM newspapers.
Indeed, some even suspect this Sycamore doesn’t even exist (at least not as a true quantum computer), being merely a propaganda device by the American corporate giant.
–//–
Very cool story if you aren’t familiar with WWII history:
General Andrei Vlasov: How Highest-Ranking Soviet Defector Collaborated With the Nazis
An English collection of the documents (vol I) was released today (7/12). Expensive, though.
–//–
Killing two birds with one stone:
China’s ‘King of Vaccines,’ a partner to AstraZeneca, is plagued by scandal
Seriously, NYT? Are you going that low in the name of American Big Pharma?
Laughable.
–//–
Want Vaccines Fast? Suspend Intellectual Property Rights
Oh, now IPs are bad?
Either way, this is already happening in practice. The American ventilator designer had to give up its IP to Chinese manufacturers at the beginning of the pandemic simply because it couldn’t produce it alone and in the quantities required.
You see, this is the dirty secret of the IP: they are not real, they’re like your imaginary friend – good only until you leave the safety of your bedroom. If we were to take IPs seriously, to the letter, Walmart and cheap stuff wouldn’t exist, and the American purchase power would be incommensurately lower.
IPs are inherently unnatural. They are a capitalist artifact.
–//–
Encircling China is arduous and thankless for the US: Global Times editorial
Didn’t know France and the UK were Pacific powers.
You don’t see any Trumpists/far-rightists complaining about globalism and bourgeois solidarity in these cases…
–//–
Liberal dictatorship/totalitarianism:
Russian journalist fired by US state-run RFE/RL for discussing conspiracies about Navalny’s family makes groveling apology
–//–
Venezuela’s Maduro claims solid victory in opposition-boycotted parliamentary elections
United Socialist Party of Venezuela earned 67% of the vote. The rightist coalition earned just 17%.
Those blowhards from Venezuelanalysis have been touting about the great schism of Chavism, how there were a right-wing and a left-wing of Chavism, how Chavism is in crisis, how Maduro betrayed Chavismo…
The Chavist Left only earned 2.3% of the votes. Big schism you have there, Venzuelanalysis.
–//–
Historic success of eradicating absolute poverty in Xinjiang should hit the headlines
I agree. But it won’t. You know why? Because that’s not what the West wants. The West loves poverty, loves misery, loves suffering. That’s the base of Liberalism: the freedom of one can only be built on the slavery of many.
Poverty is capitalism’s secret sauce.

Posted by: vk | Dec 7 2020 15:23 utc | 143

@trumpy2. sooo because pussy petter biden comes from oligarch school of pretend you care and steal and loot as surreptitiously as possible and your orange doppleganger comes from the oligarch school of don’t give a fuck talk to my laywer. By some twisted logic one is better than another.
alas just another similarity between yourself and that which you profess to have strong dislike for. its the same mechanic that allows you to act like a Zionist while fighting them. In reality all you do is turn open minds away from battle. because yer just as disagreeable, ignorant and well cunty as trump or any open Zionist is.
TLDNR shut the fuck up Circe no one anywhere cares what you have to say. Go lick handrails and get covid like you wish on others.
@trumpy2lapdog.
I don’t even have to say it do I?

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 7 2020 15:30 utc | 144

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 6 2020 21:45 utc | 55
Neither Gref nor AI deserve IMHO the overrated status they enjoy. Gref is another liberal of the Chubais school, and I really do not understand under what kind or pressure is Putin to tolerate the liberals, truth be told there are not many left.
Take a look at this clip from the SPetersburg Economic Forum, there are english subtitles to it. I mean this kind of statement is very close to what anybody would understand as fascism.
Russia always had and still has brilliant mathematicians and scientists due to a very strict and demanding educational system. Gref is proposing a neoliberal approach to education linked to imperial institutions, with the added glorification of anything digital. There is an ongoing debate between liberals and conservatives, this last group with the film maker Mikhalkov as the main rival to Gref. Mikhalkov is another character that does not attract a lot of respect, but in this particular debate I’m more with Mikhalkov and his rantings in -someone mentioned it- his program Besogon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCVfn8LDoF8

Posted by: Paco | Dec 7 2020 15:38 utc | 145

Guaido,
“Anya Parampil
@anyaparampil
·
14h
After running a Covid-19 scare campaign through messaging apps & spending all day telling Venezuelans to stay in their homes in order to suppress today’s voter turnout, Guaidó now calls for everyone in the country to pour into the streets on December 12 ”

Posted by: arby | Dec 7 2020 16:32 utc | 146

The end of the Neonazi Ukraine Dream/Project:
No money, no help: why the IMF refused Ukraine an urgent loan

Posted by: vk | Dec 7 2020 16:36 utc | 147

@134 steven
Nonsense.
Interesting times means curious bedfellows.
You are picturing a political spectrum line, from left to right, where only those groups situated directly to the left or right of their own group are capable of coalitions.
Contrast that what is happening in America, currently, where the socialist left and the libertarian right both share the same goal of ending the wars and our foreign entanglements.
Often times, there is such vehemont disagreement among groups situated closely together on the political spectrum line that it threatens the destruction of both entities. (Bolsheviks and Mensheviks being the obvious example)
As is often the case, natural phenomenon goes against simple binary understandings such as where left and right can not cooperate on things.
Your mistake is thinking that only one party or group can encapsulate truth. Au contraire.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 7 2020 17:08 utc | 148

wis
(wish I said)
Ever say, “wished I’d said this instead”? Of course.
@Posted by: librul | Dec 7 2020 15:18 utc | 142
I wrote that Alexander Vindman wrote an article “promoting democratic values”.
Key point: Vindman was focused on exporting democratic values.
Yes, exporting *our* democratic values. From the country that is, at the very moment
he was penning his article, undergoing
upheaval after a fraud-smeared Presidential election. Export that, Vindman.
Come to think of it…Vindman and his swamp *do* want to export fraudulent
elections, or cause regime change as they tried against democratically elected President Trump.
And he wants other democratic countries to form a “Coalition of the Willing”
(you bet, Vindman actually used that very term “Coalition of the Willing” without a hint of shame)
to bring fraudulent democracy to other countries.

Posted by: librul | Dec 7 2020 17:15 utc | 149

@ Posted by: steven t johnson | Dec 7 2020 13:51 utc | 134
PSOL (Socialism and Freedom Party, literal translation) is a Trotskyist party, or, better said, is a party founded by, among others, Trotskyist remnants of the Workers’ Party.
I’ve already talked about it before, but Trotskyism, after losing the debate in the East, immigrated en masse to the West (including to the USA and other First World countries). An endless series of schisms and degeneration commenced since then and, nowadays, we can firmly state there is no Trotstyist movement or ideology per se, but instead a confederation of factions marked more by their fanaticism than by theoretical differences.
Trotskyism went through countless mutations. In the USA, for example, they essentially founded the Neoconservative ideology (end of the 1940s). In Brazil, many of them migrated to Neoliberalism in the 1990s. Still, most of the Trotskyist factions still claim to be on the Left side of the political spectrum – even though, in practice, they defend your typical social-democrat trade-unionism (e.g. the WSWS crew).
Regardless, the important thing to think about PSOL is this: it is an Americanized left in Brazil. They’re copying many narratives and mannerisms from the contemporary American left (BLM, Democratic Party, metoo, etc. etc.) and pasting onto Brazil as if Brazil is the USA.
In my opinion, this “new left” in Brazil is doomed to fail. Brazil is a shithole, it doesn’t have the material conditions to sustain a moderate yet woke left like the USA and Western Europe.

Posted by: vk | Dec 7 2020 17:26 utc | 150

*BREAKING*
If you have been following the information coming out about the fraudulent 2020 election
the name Malloch Brown should be familiar to you.
Crime Pays.
https://planetfreewill.news/soros-appoints-chair-of-smartmatic-parent-company-as-head-of-his-foundation/
Headline: Soros Appoints Chair of Smartmatic Parent Company as Head of His Foundation
subtext:
Mark Malloch-Brown’s ties to the lawsuit entangle Smartmatic company is more fuel for the fire of speculation that the 2020 election was anything but fair and square.

Posted by: librul | Dec 7 2020 17:30 utc | 151

Australian Regime Releases Socialist Political Prisoner into House Arrest (November 13, 2020)

After nearly three years in prison without being convicted of any charge, Chan Han Choi was yesterday finally released on bail. However, the bail conditions imposed on him are so strict that they amount to house arrest. Choi is not allowed to leave his bail residence except for his twice daily reporting to a nearby police station or for essential medical care. Apart from being subjected to a strict curfew, his use of the internet is greatly restricted. Moreover, Choi “must, on request, disclose to the officer in charge any caller or phone number appearing on his accounts.” This is a blatant attempt to assist the police to carry out intimidation and surveillance of Choi’s many friends and supporters.
…
Although Choi was initially charged for allegedly trying to break the sanctions on the people of North Korea, the reason he was imprisoned and denied bail until now was largely because of his sympathy for socialistic North Korea. In their submissions opposing each of Choi’s bail applications, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) insisted on each occasion that Choi’s stated sympathy for the DPRK was a strong reason to reject bail. Meanwhile, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) claimed that Choi’s statements from prison that he is a political prisoner and attacking the economic sanctions on the DPRK as unfair and unjust are also reasons to deny bail. In other words, because of Choi’s sympathy for a socialistic country and his avowed opposition to the cruel sanctions on the people of that country, the Australian regime is insisting that Choi should have less rights than others. This is blatant political discrimination! It is what Cold War McCarthyism is all about – where people’s sympathy for a socialistic country or advocacy of communism is equated with criminal acts. It makes a mockery of the Australian regime’s claims to run a “democratic system” where “everyone has the same rights regardless of their political stance.” Such discrimination against sympathisers of socialistic states is all the more disgusting because those standing by such systems based on public ownership and working class rule – in however a bureaucratically deformed manner that it may currently exist in North Korea and the Peoples Republic China – are standing by the interests of the entire working class of Australia and the world; and most of the middle class as well.
…

Posted by: S | Dec 7 2020 18:04 utc | 152

bevin@140 offers a definition of Deep State that makes one wonder why the phrase was even worth coining. In particular, at the website, Deep State is supposed to identify a conspiratorial actor who favors the Democrats over the economic nationalist reindustrializer Trump, which indeed targets Trump. This is nonsense.
NemesisCalling@148 seems to have some vague notion of the Golden Mean, insofar as there are any real ideas here at all. There is no such ability to cooperate for long between those who believe the way forward for humanity requires the overthrow of the current system. Thus, libertarians are determined enemies of the left, demarcated as those who abolish the class system by expropriation of property. Those who would abolish class systems by indoctrination of minds and the reform of public manners are not in my opinion leftists, but schoolmarms without a classroom of pre-pubescent children. But NemesisCalling specifically mentions the common desire to get rid of foreign entanglements. There is no such desire on the part of leftists, who are the opposite: Internationalists. We are in fact as entangled with foreigners as we are with the atmosphere of the planet. It is both silly and callous to wish to escape our common humanity.
vk@150…may be saying essentially the same thing as I said about PSOL. Obviously not in my words, which were different, but I’m not sure what vk says is meaningfully different. At least not in regards to PSOL. But in the end either of our opinions on PSOL are as irrelevant as PSOL is, even in Brazil. So I want to repeat, believing in the “Deep State” is a rejection of Marxist analysis. Being untrue, Deep State misthinking is at best misleading nonsense, and at worst covers up a reactionary delusion that all “we” need to do is to kick out the conspirators, purify the body politic somehow (A high colonic?) Greenwald is ultimately a crank, a waste of time, including the OP.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Dec 7 2020 18:05 utc | 153

Re-reading “JFK and the Unspeakable” by James W. Douglass. From page 89:
“[JFK] still has the possibility of becoming, in the eyes of history, the greatest President of the United States … who may at last understand that there can be coexistence between capitalists and socialists … I know that for Khrushchev, Kennedy is a man you can talk with. I have gotten this impression from all my conversations with Khrushchev. … If you see him again, you can tell him that I’m willing to declare Goldwater my friend if that will guarantee Kennedy’s re-election.” – Fidel Castro remarks to Jean Daniel, 20 Nov 1963, Havana

Posted by: spudski | Dec 7 2020 18:17 utc | 154

Bemildred @133–
Thanks for linking the Crooke article; it’s quite good. What Crooke omitted was the reason why Trump didn’t go to the war option, although it looked as if he wanted to on several occasions, and that was due to Iran’s precision weapons capability. IMO, I don’t see another JCPOA-type of pact; what exists will fritter away with time. Nor do I see Iran enriching to the weapon level for the very simple reason that they don’t need to unless they want to build an ICBM to target the Outlaw US Empire, which I don’t see happening either. Iran need do nothing with its defense doctrine aside from continuing to try and perfect it by adding new higher tech capabilities like lasers, hypersonic missiles, and underwater drones. It would indeed be odd for Iran to say it supports the Palestinians while having nukes pointed at them–I thought that the best line in the entire article. Nukes are not precision weapons; they are designed to obliterate. Nukes are used to accentuate hyperbolistic rhetoric as we’ve seen for the past 20+ years.
Given Iran’s political and cultural changes, I expect its new leaders to stand pat while continuing the policies of self-reliance along with Northern and Eastern commercial expansion. Getting Imperial troops out of the region will continue to be its immediate goal. And it must be admitted the Saudis are their own worst enemy by continuing to inflict damage on themselves by continuing their hopeless attempt to subdue Yemen–the Saudis are in real dire straights financially which has the Outlaw US Empire’s Neoliberal Parasites licking their chops at wholly acquiring ARAMCO. IMO, what Biden decides to do in Syria will color everything else policy-wise in the region.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 7 2020 18:40 utc | 155

Re: visak | Dec 7 2020 1:09 utc | 92
You avoid all the most important points made in the video I commented on. Why would a USPS driver be hauling hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots from NY to Pennsylvania? These were coming from a facility that does not process regular mail, how did the “ballots:” arrive there in Crate Boxes ready to ship?
Lots of trolls here on MoA these days

Posted by: Perimetr | Dec 7 2020 18:49 utc | 156

Britannia rules the waves!
Britain’s newest aircraft carrier misses US trip, will stay docked for 6 months after ‘embarrassing’ flood
Not.
–//–
@ Posted by: steven t johnson | Dec 7 2020 18:05 utc | 153
Yeah, I was just complementing your post. Don’t disagree. Glen Greenwald certainly is not a Marxist.
I think his boyfriend is is a congressman elected by PSOL, hence he supports PSOL.

Posted by: vk | Dec 7 2020 19:02 utc | 157

@Trump with a C. I just saw your video. LOL thanks for that. I guess we have that in common. Only I see you as the scene where smeagol tharashes about when he’s lost its precious as you have lost your humanity. Also thanks for pointing out the Quixotic nature of my activities where you are concerned.
At least Mark2’s heart is in the right spot, being overcome with self righteous delusions doesn’t change that. You are shillin for that which you call Villian as well, difference is you arent aware of it like I believe Trumpy with a c is. You have hitched yer wagon to the wrong train son.
Circe you will never win people over to your point of view by being a cunt. Full send. You will never win. All you will ever do and have done is turn people away. That makes you a Zio shill regardless as to if you are cognizant of this fact. so non sentient life form it is.
Please do carry on the both of you, fight the good fight. Ill do the same. One day you will both see I was right. You are welcome in advance.

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Dec 7 2020 19:18 utc | 158

Paco @145–
Thanks for your perspective on this entire issue, which IMO is Russia’s development policy that needs to try and keep pace with China’s. For all the years I’ve followed Putin, he’s always placed the development of Russia’s human capital at the top of his list, which has made him appear like a Paternalistic Tsar since his communalism and national pride for all Russians shines brightly. His biggest challenge IMO is changing the outlook of those Russians who survived the USSR’s collapse and Yeltsin’s reign of corruption, that of course was far more than Yeltsin. Those millions needed to be convinced that there was something positive for them in Russia; that the state actually valued them; that they could form a positive view of the future such that they’d increase the birthrate well above the replacement level. In his relations with the Liberals, I see him trying to get something useful out of them that helps Russia which is his goal. As long as they’re useful in that context, he’ll continue to employ them for he doesn’t have a huge pool of human capital to choose from, unlike China. Most importantly IMO is Putin wants to promote nationwide debate on the critical issues facing Russia’s future since he feels the more the public’s informed and educated on these issues, the decisions and outcomes will be better for all Russia–sort of a version of Democratic Centralism. His putting trust in Russians allows them to trust Putin and his vision for Russia’s future. This lack of public participation–indeed, the suspicion of the public by government–was one of the major reasons the USSR failed and the opposite is why China has succeeded. The lesson hasn’t gone unnoticed. All of this is very easy to see from within the Outlaw US Empire which is killing itself through its version of Stalinism. Putin’s been Russia’s leader for a generation and might last for another. The true measure of what impact he’s had on Russia won’t be able to be made for quite awhile, perhaps a whole generation after his death. I see him having a greater legacy than Lenin or any previous Tsar. In most of the best ways, he’s the People’s Man.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 7 2020 19:23 utc | 159

Vindman is on lots of patriot’s lists.
🙂

Posted by: JoeG | Dec 7 2020 19:42 utc | 160

lysias@56 and BM@121
re: Pandemic vs Epidemic (vs Endemic vs Cluster vs Outbreak)
Any of these will relate transmission rate with geographical area and prevalence (WHO’s stage classification). Lethality did not figure in this phase definitions. Apparently the US does use a Pandemic Severity Assessment Framework which does integrate a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) but this has not been adopted by WHO.
In the early phase of C-19 (late January), WHO publicly avoided the use of its own classification (Reuers – 24 Feb 2020), and adopted the cryptic PHEIC (reads “fake”, lol), acronym for Public Health Emergency of International Concern, defined as an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response to be determined (ad hoc) by the Director-General of WHO and requires the subsequent convening of a committee of health experts according to WHO guidance for the use of Annex 2 of the International Health Regulations (2005)
Comment: When I began looking into the details, C-19 was confined to China, nevertheless, despite its reported lethality, one could not at the time classify it as a Pandemic. In any case as the disease spread out, avoiding the creation of a panic in the world’s populations was certainly recommended. Recall the terrifying videos that were being shared from China (allegedly) and in contrast the posture of this blog:
(01 Feb 2020) Novel Coronavirus Defies Conspiracy Theories As Data Shows Its Coming Decline
(08 Feb 2020) The Epidemic Recedes – Number Of New Coronavirus Cases In Decline
(13 Feb 2020) Coronavirus – Statistical Change Causes Confusion – New Case Count Continues To Decline
(21 Feb 2020) Coronavirus – The Decline Of New Cases Continues – Economic Ripples Begin To Emerge
(06 Mar 2020) Coronavirus – Bad Preparation And Propaganda Increase The Onsetting Panic
(14 Apr 2020) Debunking Some Ideas About The Virus
We already knew the only statistics we can use to compare this epi/pandemic with previous years in terms of lethality are those that keep to the same collection methodology (ie. excess all-cause deaths – ex. Euromomo), but…
As the numbers everywhere started to rise (too close to home – deaths in Italy, hospitalizations in Spain, “infections” in France or UK), all based on the assumption of the accuracy of the rtPCR test, certainly fear took its toll on European populations. But as the situation progressed doubts were raised, asymptomatic infections became a thing, PCR false positives became a thing, deaths with or from covid became a thing… On the other hand creeps in the social distancing, use of masks in the parks, compulsive confinements, the certainty of layoffs, lockdowns and closures became things too.
We got too invested in our fears, we got defrauded. Now we pay for both the disease and its cure, and don’t worry: It is all free and voluntary IT IS ALSO PHEIC.

Posted by: Vasco da Gama | Dec 7 2020 20:40 utc | 161

Perimetr@156 – I dont know the answer to your questions. Do you?
There is nothing in this video that comes anywhere near the definition of proof.
It is innuendo at best, an attempt to created doubt without a shred of evidence.
If this video provided any evidence then why even mention the three things I pointed out, the are irrelevant, if there is actual proof.
I am not a troll. If there was a shred of evidence that there was fraud I would support investigation and prosecution, even if it meant trump would continue to be the president. But so far the trump team is something like 1 for 40 in court. In front of both r and d judges I might add.
If they have some evidence, they need to present it, in a court of law, otherwise they should quit creating even more unnecessary division in this country.
Kind of boils down to put up, or shut up.

Posted by: visak | Dec 7 2020 20:51 utc | 162

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 7 2020 19:23 utc | 159
The whole Besogon last edition watched, swamp creatures Gref and Mikhalkov, the old elite fearing the new one, after many minutes of sensible citizen play the true dagger deep inside Mikhalkov is the fact that Gref bought 600$ million in Hollywood movie rights. But I agree with him on that, we have the same problem in EU, Hollywood and heirs like Netflix, his chain of distribution and terms flood and trap the market with synthetic Kool-aid.
After a series of failed leaders Putin at least can claim unifying the RF and winning Crimea thus stopping what would have been a true national humiliation, Sebastopol as a NATO base which was the main aim of the wretched Maidan. Some will argue that he gained Crimea but lost Ukraine, I would say he could not afford to loose Sebastopol, symbols are stronger than areas.
But like good old rock stars, when to retire becomes a crucial matter. I’d wage that he would love to do a Nazarbayev, to part with the cameras and lenses and let others at the wheel, and I think it will happen way before general expectations.

Posted by: Paco | Dec 7 2020 21:00 utc | 163

Boris Rozhin has posted a video (warning: graphic video) of what he claims is an Azerbaijani soldier slitting the throat of an old Armenian man. Assuming the video is not staged—and it doesn’t look staged to me—Aliev has made a huge mistake by not reigning in the animals in his army. He could have showed a new face of Azerbaijan by protecting Armenian cultural heritage and those Armenians who wished to stay on returned territories. Now his claims about supposed Azeri multi-culturalism and tolerance will only elicit bitter laughter. China, Russia, and Iran will not respect a leader whose soldiers are cutting civilians’ throats.

Posted by: S | Dec 7 2020 21:04 utc | 164

Framarz #136
INC . Indian National Congress (Gandhi party)
UPF . United Progressive Alliance (INC alliance)
Thank you Framarz, I just did a search using “India UPA is a fraud” to see what that would reveal – there is a lot to wade through.
So then I used “India UPA betrays farmers” and got lots and this one seems interesting.
Beware that those search terms will likely land you on many BJP owned media sites that just spin BS in a similar way to NYT or WAPO.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 21:09 utc | 165

Further info on China’s fusion machine and announcement of the commissioning of China’s first homemade nuclear reactor.
Paco @163–
Thanks for your reply! You allude to another longstanding Russian trouble–The Transition of Power–which was also a problem on several occasions for China. China’s current system seems to have found a solution where as Russia must still prove it can do so over the course of this century as that will be crucial for Russia to keep pace with its Chinese partner and for Eurasia’s overall development. How enduring a foundation Putin and Xi will have constructed won’t be known until @2030; and of course, there are other players. One outstanding pillar would be if Korean unification is made along with an overall rapprochement between Korea, China, Russia, and Japan that finally ousts the Outlaw US Empire from the region. Yes, that would be a tall order since neither the Koreas or Japan are SCO members at any level. But trade pacts are now in place that provide a starting point.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 7 2020 21:33 utc | 166

Venezuela elections – poor turnout, Maduro wins the majority of votes cast.
From Venezuelanalysis:

First impressions are an underwhelming turnout and a massive victory for the ruling Socialist Party.
For our part, we’ll close our rolling coverage after 20 long hours. Many thanks for following and please consider supporting Venezuelanalysis.
First results bulletin: 31% turnout (5.264.104 votes)
GPP-PSUV: 3.558.320 (67,6%)
Democratic Action + allies: 944.665 (17,95%)
VU/PV/VPA: 220.502 (4,19%)
Communist Party: 143.917 (2,73%)
Others: 357.609 (6,79%)
Some of the seats have already been assigned, we’ll keep updating

Venezuelanalysis has an interesting report on a worthy book to read.
Looks to me that there is a lot of work ahead for the left to consolidate trust and build support for the people’s government. The USAi sanctions regime is a global criminal act.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 7 2020 21:44 utc | 167

@S #164
A commenter to Rozhin’s post has posted a link to another video (warning: extremely graphic video) that shows what he claims are Azerbaijani soldiers cutting off the head of an Armenian civilian. The International Criminal Court should investigate this.

Posted by: S | Dec 7 2020 21:47 utc | 168

One can have egg yolk on the face, or egg yolk, each with beneficial effects. However, nobody recommends using a whole egg, not to mention applying an entire crate at once.
—-
Our country, as he writes those 45 words, has cartons and crates and whole warehouses of eggs on it’s face, as a sham election is being exposed! Yet [Vindman] devotes an article to promoting
democratic values. <- Posted by: librul | Dec 7 2020 15:18 utc | 142 You know, a country does not have a face, people do. There are people who collect eggs on their faces while their toil for the country. Like our Lord and Savior suffered bearing a cross and then on the cross, these patriots suffer itchy feeling and malicious derisions so you and me will have a better future. One of such heroes is Jenifer Rene Psaki, formerly a spokescitter of State Department and the White House in a lesser capacity. In that capacity, she collected a number of eggs (perhaps they are not that bad for the complection?). For example, she claimed that during a referendum in Donbass region there was "carousel voting", but could not explain what it is. Another time she was explaining that "as gas is transported from West Europe to Russia through Ukraine..." and was interrupted with a question if it is not the other way around? She gaily replied "Perhaps". Characteristically, stories of that nature are absent from the English version of Wikipedia but copiously described in the Russian version, Russian-language YouTubes etc. Thus Russian speaking people cannot but smile on the news that she will be a spokes-something (screech-female?) of the White House.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 8 2020 0:05 utc | 169

OPCW executives praised whistleblower and criticized Syria cover-up, leaks reveal (Aaron Maté, December 7, 2020)

Exclusive: Documents obtained by The Grayzone show that OPCW executives privately criticized the manipulation of a Syria chemical weapons probe, and supported a dissenting veteran inspector. One official, however, feared helping the “Russian narrative.” These private admissions further expose the public whitewash of the Douma cover-up, and undermine the ongoing attacks on the whistleblowers who challenged it.

Posted by: S | Dec 8 2020 2:10 utc | 170

One wonders how many times Iranian officials including Zarif have to repeat “if US start implementing his obligations under 2231” and JCPOA members agree for US to be readmitted to the JCPOA only then she will have a place at the table and can negotiate under JCPOA. As Alister says this really doesn’t fit with Israel and KSA and MEK wishful thinking, they rather a one on one with US if they are not allowed to be part of JCPOA. GCC members can negotiate with Iran under HOPE initiative but not for security of Israel. Wishful thinking is not foreign or security policy. As iranians say “where is the hearing ear?”.
Faramarz did you ever hear that at home.

Posted by: kooshy | Dec 8 2020 2:14 utc | 171

Below is the first sentence in a posting at Reuters about US arms sales to Taiwan
”
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan faces military threats on a daily basis from “authoritarian forces”, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday, as the United States announced a new $280 million arms sale package to the Chinese-claimed island, the sixth this year.
”
I wonder if those authoritarian forces are the global private finance elite telling Taiwan to increase the debt its people with all these useless military purchases? Those are the ones that I would worry about.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 8 2020 3:32 utc | 172

dan of steele 91
re Mao 57

dunno if your aim is to sow disinformation or if you too are simply gullible.

Is your funny bone broken? Most of us would assume he was trying to sow some humour!
It was also quite relevent to the ongoing argument about whether proclaiming yourself a Marxist (whilst having no understanding of Marxist writings or theory) means you are in fact a Marxist.

Posted by: Lorna MacKay | Dec 8 2020 4:21 utc | 173

Paul | 114
You could check out
https://www.freedomtoread.ca/resources/
or more detailed
link

Posted by: Lorna MacKay | Dec 8 2020 5:12 utc | 174

To this day, Goudreau still thinks he had a good chance at success. He blames a cadre of provocateurs, from double agents to former Silvercorp employees and the DEA and the FBI, for hobbling his plans. If he had the chance to do it again, he says he’d seek out a smaller circle of people he could trust.
“Had we succeeded, you really think that the Guaidó administration would have said, ‘That’s not us, we want nothing to do with this’? Do you think that Donald Trump would have said, ‘That wasn’t us’? Every motherfucker that I talked to would have said, ‘That was us! U.S.A., baby!’ They would have taken credit for all of it. And if you say it’s not true, you’re pretty naive.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/venezuela-operation-gideon-coup-jordan-goudreau-1098590/

Posted by: Mao | Dec 8 2020 7:32 utc | 175

Politico reports on Friday what appears to be the Trump admin’s final house cleaning of Pentagon top civilian ranks.
Multiple members of the Defense Business Board, the members of which are appointed annually by the Secretary of Defense to help streamline interaction with the defense private sector, were notified by White House email that they have been unexpectedly terminated.
Two former board members described it as Trump’s final “clean out” of Pentagon leadership during the remaining few weeks of his term.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/white-house-sends-sudden-termination-email-pentagon-advisory-board-members-final-purge

Posted by: Mao | Dec 8 2020 7:36 utc | 176

“Mr.” and “Mrs.” are not enough: Deutsche Bahn must offer gender-neutral salutation
Those who buy something online often have to choose between being addressed as “Mr.” or “Ms.” – but that is not enough, as the Frankfurt Regional Court ruled. A person who does not feel that they belong to either the female or the male gender may request a neutral form of address.
In the specific case before the Frankfurt Regional Court, it was about booking a Deutsche Bahn ticket on the Internet. When purchasing and registering, a decision had to be made between “Mr.” and “Ms.”. The person of non-binary sex addressed as “Mr.” therefore filed a complaint of discrimination and referred to the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court. The Frankfurt Regional Court partially upheld the lawsuit.
According to the judgment of the judges in Frankfurt, the general right of personality protects, among other things, gender identity. In this context, the salutation is of “central importance” according to the general understanding. A compulsory stipulation on “Mr.” or “Mrs.” violated the right of personality. For the provision of the service in the present case, the sex is also “completely irrelevant”. The Frankfurt judges explained that Deutsche Bahn could alternatively introduce a greeting such as “Guten Tag” or completely dispense with a gender-specific salutation.
https://www.fr.de/politik/frankfurt-deutsche-bahn-gericht-landgericht-urteil-binaer-geschlecht-neutral-geschlechtsneutral-anrede-herr-frau-zr-90122414.html

Posted by: Mao | Dec 8 2020 7:40 utc | 177

China on Friday made another step forward in its quest for clean energy through controlled nuclear fusion, as it commissioned its new “artificial sun” – a new generation nuclear fusion reactor research facility which operates at a temperature 10 times as hot as the sun.
According to China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), the HL-2M Tokamak apparatus is able to operate at 150 million degrees Celsius – almost three times hotter than the previous version called HL-2A.
The ability to generate such ultra-high temperature is essential for the research of fusion process, replicating the way the sun produces energy using hydrogen and deuterium gases as fuels. The sun only operates at a temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius.
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3112684/china-turns-its-artificial-sun-quest-nuclear-fusion-energy

Posted by: Mao | Dec 8 2020 7:47 utc | 178

The Curious Case Of USS Ross: U.S. Warship Appears In Russian Territorial Waters, And Then Vanishes
The cyber command of the US Navy intervened in the work of the international automatic vessel identification system (AIS), creating a dangerous precedent, according to reports on December 4th.
https://southfront.org/the-curious-case-of-uss-ross-u-s-warship-appears-in-russian-territorial-waters-and-then-vanishes/

Posted by: Mao | Dec 8 2020 9:29 utc | 179

Venezuelanalysis reports on the final results of the elections for the National AssemblY:

Mérida, December 7, 2020 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV) and its allies have swept Venezuela’s parliamentary elections and regained control of the National Assembly (AN).
According to the National Electoral Council (CNE)’s results, government-backed candidates are projected to win at least 189 of the 277-seat assembly after netting 68 percent of the vote with 98.63 percent counted.
Combined opposition parties, which have controlled the parliament for the last five years, won only 28 percent of the vote, losing control of the legislative body. The traditional Democratic Action (AD) and Copei parties led the opposition’s effort

More here.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 8 2020 11:18 utc | 180

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 8 2020 3:32 utc | 172 — “I wonder if those authoritarian forces are the global private finance elite telling Taiwan to increase the debt its people with all these useless military purchases? Those are the ones that I would worry about.”
Militarily, those weapons purchases will make no difference to the outcome if the PRC decide on kinetic action to take back the island. For each announced weapons system bought, the PLA (people’s liberation army) will have done their homework on how to counter it. And that includes each weapons system bought, but NOT announced. That’s what spies are for.
Politically, those weapons purchases may cheer up a section of Taiwanese Chinese dead set against the CPC, but it may enrage another section of Taiwanese Chinese dead set against forcing the CPC’s hand, thinking that strategic ambiguity is better than giving their ‘enemy’ an excuse. Either ways, Taiwan is a province of China, and Taiwan will return to China. Period.
Financially…. now here, those weapons purchases begin to make some sense. Let us wait 5 years ( I will still be around then ) to see which current Taiwan leader, minister, treasurer, army chief is in jail for corruption. Military hardware and brown envelopes ( or is it bitcoin nowadays? ) go hand in hand, with a wink wink here, and a wink wink there.

Posted by: kiwiklown | Dec 8 2020 11:29 utc | 181

Mintpressnews notices the continuing flow of bail out cash to the banks when rent freeze aid is about to end.
Trumps little grub, Mnuchin keeps the flow going but will Biden Harris wake up to the issue and even say something. Maybe they will find it easier to blame Trump and achieve their own preference to screw the working class.

By January 2021, renters in America will owe $34 billion to their landlords, according to global investment bank and advisory firm, Stout. More than half of the eviction moratoriums enacted to avoid an upsurge in homelessness during Covid lockdowns have been rescinded, including a federal moratorium that expired in July.
Rent and landlord relief programs across the country take up the lion’s share of CARES Act funding allocations, with states like Virginia having already spent over 38% of the money reserved for renters by early November. As the money runs out and the December 31 CARES Act cutoff date approaches, states are fumbling to keep enough cash in their coffers to stem the tidal wave evictions that are at the doorstep and leaking through profusely.

Well I wouldn’t be holding my breath for the milk of human kindness to flow from the democrats, they are just way too busy pouring the bile of FU and aggravation on the electors and the Sanders faction. Sad pack of pricks.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 8 2020 11:32 utc | 182

George Monbiot delivers a great monologue on the evil of neo liberal economics and the fallacy that private sector good – public sector bad. Indeed the opposite be the truth. Eight minute video.
This told in the context of Coronavirus Corruption at the heart of Government.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 8 2020 12:00 utc | 183

Re: Mao @175
Why did Trump’s “Bay of Piglets” invasion of Venezuela fail? Why is the empire itself failing? Read the retarded Rolling Stone article Mao linked to get an idea!
Why was it that morons in the US establishment, from the US State Department to the Atlantic Council to the CIA to the Operation Mockingbird mass media, thought that a couple dozen guys could overthrow a country? Because they believe that the people of Venezuela are starving and don’t have electricity and that the population just needs a nudge or a spark to explode into rebellion.
Why is the imperial establishment so wrong about this?
Because they believe their own propaganda!
Here are some excerpts from the crappy Rolling Stone article to give the reader an idea why imperial policy is failing all over the world:

In 2018, Maduro won a sham election…

Morons running the empire truly believe there is no support for the revolutionary government in Venezuela.

…the military has taken control of most of the country’s food and supplies, and the wealth from its oil reserves stays concentrated in the hands of his cronies. Venezuela ‘is mired in hunger, misery, corruption, and persecution,’ says…

It is irrelevant who says it. What is important is that the imperial establishment believes it, from the political figureheads (all of them… I challenge the reader to name one that doesn’t with the possible exception of Tulsi Gabbard) right down to the front line info war grunts in the ideological trenches like halfwit who wrote the Rolling Stone article.

…Ephraim Mattos, a former Navy SEAL who conducts humanitarian operations…

They write and believe obvious nonsense like this without choking on it? A “former” psycho killer for the empire is hanging around death squad training camps in Colombia for “humanitarian” purposes? Perhaps he was cooking them nutritious meals and demonstrating to the death squads how to dig proper latrines?

“This is a story where you have this criminal, corrupt regime that’s paying a lot of people off, and it’s hard to keep that machine running,” says Shifter, the Council on Foreign Relations member. “The segment of people who believe in the revolution today in Venezuela is negligible. So it all becomes transactional.”

That is the view from the Council on Foreign Relations. These are among the very brightest the empire has among its advisors and they simply deny all evidence that conflicts with their preferred delusions. “Millions voted for the revolutionary government? That’s just a sham! They are making that up!”
Goudreau:

“Had we succeeded, you really think that the Guaidó administration would have said, ‘That’s not us, we want nothing to do with this’? Do you think that Donald Trump would have said, ‘That wasn’t us’? Every motherfucker that I talked to would have said, ‘That was us! U.S.A., baby!’ They would have taken credit for all of it. And if you say it’s not true, you’re pretty naive.”

Paradoxically, Goudreau is probably the least delusional actor in the whole farce, and that includes the Operation Mockingbird mass media mouthpiece from the Rolling Stone who wrote the article. That doesn’t actually say much for Goudreau’s grounding in reality, but it does say a lot about why the empire is going down the drain. It operates on delusion from top to bottom.

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 8 2020 12:19 utc | 184

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 8 2020 12:19 utc | 184
Because they believe their own propaganda!”
Well, you make a good point, they do. They have to, to be convincing. I mean that’s the whole point of the propaganda, to keep the charade going, “the show must go on”. (And even then they aren’t convincing, it’s more “people want to believe”.)
Mr. Goudreau himself seems to have thought he had a shot, which doesn’t say much for his grip on reality either.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 8 2020 12:39 utc | 185

The worst always comes wrapped in the appearance of benevolence.
From NY Times:
The 27 leaders of the council are known as Guardians for Inclusive Capitalism, and include Ajay Banga of Mastercard, Marc Benioff of Salesforce and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America. They will meet each year with Francis and Cardinal Peter Turkson, who leads the Vatican department dealing with many social issues.
“An economic system that is fair, trustworthy, and capable of addressing the most profound challenges facing humanity and our planet is urgently needed,” Francis said in a statement.
The group is the brainchild of Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the businesswoman who has backed ventures to promote so-called inclusive capitalism in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Among them is Inclusive Capital Partners, an E.S.G.-focused activist hedge fund co-founded with Jeff Ubben.

Posted by: davenitup | Dec 8 2020 12:57 utc | 186

@uncle tungsten #183:

George Monbiot delivers a great monologue on the evil of neo liberal economics and the fallacy that private sector good – public sector bad.

Also smears people who debunk imperial propaganda against Syria as “paid trolls”:

Jonathan Cook @Jonathan_K_Cook – 0:20 UTC · Dec 8, 2020
Not only is the establishment media failing to report the mounting evidence – from the OPCW’s highest ranks – of the Douma cover-up, but George Monbiot, supposedly representing the left, is *still* calling anyone who refers to this evidence an ‘Assadist’

George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot – 20:53 UTC · Dec 1, 2020
For years, the Russian and Syrian governments, their paid trolls and useful idiots on both the far right and the left have dominated the conversation about #Syria on social media. They have denied or justified Assad’s atrocities, and spread lurid conspiracy theories.
Thread/

Here’s a much better monologue on the evil of neoliberal economics, delivered by an actual anti-imperialist: America Closes Down — People Get Shafted As Monopolies Take Over! (The Jimmy Dore Show).

Posted by: S | Dec 8 2020 13:49 utc | 187

davenitup @186
They make extensive use of the word “inclusive”! The BLM and antifa types will think that means these capitalists are Marxists!

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 8 2020 13:56 utc | 188

@William Gruff
I love your comments. You should start a blog.
Another reason for massive propaganda is to propagandize the servants of the elite. You have to make sure that all your soldiers, intelligence analysts, “journalists” and others really believe that the targeted countries and movements are evil, even at the cost of some segments of the general population starting to notice the lies—otherwise, the whole edifice might crumble. I am sure that lower-rank people at CIA/NSA are being constantly fed disinformation dressed up as “raw intelligence” to make them think that Russia/China/Iran are evil and must be “contained”.

Posted by: S | Dec 8 2020 14:20 utc | 189

Edward Snowden gives up hope of getting pardoned for blowing a whistle on massive unconstitutional activities by CIA/NSA and applies for Russian citizenship:

Edward Snowden @Snowden – 22:09 UTC · Nov 1, 2020
After years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our son. That’s why, in this era of pandemics and closed borders, we’re applying for dual US-Russian citizenship.

Posted by: S | Dec 8 2020 14:29 utc | 190

Zombification of capitalism:
Zombie companies feed off the living

Posted by: vk | Dec 8 2020 14:39 utc | 191

Producing fake news with graphics: Credit Suisse’s wealth pyramid vs the real “pyramid” as per data given by Credit Suisse itself:
Reichtumsverteilung in der Welt 2017

Posted by: vk | Dec 8 2020 15:37 utc | 192

@ Lorna MacKay | Dec 8 2020 5:12 utc | 174.. thanks for those links..
biden saying maduro is a dictator is all you need to know about the new guy – same as the old guy..

Posted by: james | Dec 8 2020 17:23 utc | 193

Christian J. Chuba on December 08, 2020 Post on the saker site.
I just read your post from the saker, I have say that I totally agree with what you have written below. I have read the saker for years as I thought he was a rational and logical writer (felt the same about larchmonter, ramin, jimmie moglia), but I have noticed a distinct change in the tone over there , and I think they are guilty of what you write below.
“I’m taking a different tack I don’t mean to be insulting but now I am wondering if there are some Russian ops sites to play with our (America’s) heads. Don’t get me wrong. We deserve it.”
“I consider consider the following gaslighting and I see this on websites, that I like, ‘Trumpsters, the election was stolen, fight the good fight’ and ‘Covid19 is a hoax and a trick to take away your freedoms and destroy the economy, go back to your mosh pits’.”
I felt that the tone had changed, but couldnt quite put my finger on it until one night I was reading when a new post from ramin appeared. Before I clicked on the link I noticed ’40 views’ (this might have been 40 comments, but I dont think so, I think their have been some changes to the format since then, but I am not 100% certain).
It was very confusing to read and took me a minute to understand that what I was reading was a response to another person, presumably some inside communication that wasnt meant for public consumption. The part that really stood out to me in his reply was something to the effect of: “Stupid? Stupid!?! You want to see stupid, I can get way more stupid, hows this for stupid …” He then launched into a rant that I had trouble following as I didnt have the proper context, but it seemed that what he was saying that he could write about the opposite of what he had been writing in the weeks prior.
I tried to post a comment to try to figure out what this meant, but they had been disabled and nothing would happen when you hit post. I refreshed the page but this didnt help, so I hit the back button and the link was gone.
I emailed the moderators asking what that was all about and received no response. Nor did I ever see any commenters bring it up. It simply never happened.
It is not surprising that it was never brought up, as that is a controlled forum and the only people allowed to speak are the ones the saker allows to speak. And no one who disagrees fundamentally with what an author has written is allowed to speak. (I was actually surprised that your post made it past the moderators).
(I have only tried to comment there a few times, and the one time my post actually got through, they had deleted half of it, the effect being that my actual point was misrepresented to the point of being radically different from what I was actually saying.)
I would also point out that almost all of the authors, maybe all, are not americans.
I suspect the saker site is simply trying to amplify the divisions of the americans. I suspect they are gas lighting their readers.
I dont know this to be a fact, but it is highly bizarre and one would think it would warrant an explanation, but I dont trust their site any more, although I still do read it regularly, as I do some other sites that I find are untrustworthy.
There is no way that I am the only person who saw that post, and I know what I saw. But as I said there was never a chance to discuss it as the saker site never acknowledged it happened.
Any thoughts?

Posted by: visak | Dec 8 2020 19:14 utc | 194

@visak #194
It’s very difficult to understand what part of your comment is your own words, what part quotes Christian J. Chuba, and what Saker post you are talking about.

Posted by: S | Dec 8 2020 19:45 utc | 195

Chubas comments are in quotes, the rest is mine.

Posted by: visak | Dec 8 2020 19:56 utc | 196

librul #142
Thank you for the Vindman contribution. Now that clown was one perfect patsy and his arrogant self confidence will no doubt see him rewarded in the next few months. There is something very troublig within the USAi military training regime. Other nations seem turning out malfunctioning robots such as Vindman.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 8 2020 20:15 utc | 197

In an address today at the Russian International Affairs Council, Lavrov barred a very important pandemic caused side-effect:
“It is possible to fight this infection only together, if we want to effectively overcome it. We and most other countries are focused on this. But Western partners, as many years before, tried to selfishly use the situation for maximum benefit. In fact, they want to revive the model of unipolar world order.
“Apparently, the European Union has abandoned its claim to the role of one of the poles in the objectively emerging multipolar system and is fully focused on the United States. The German line on many issues has recently convinced us that this is what Berlin wants to do, maintaining its claim to full leadership in the EU. The French have a slightly different position. The trend towards abandoning the European Union’s ambitions for a ‘pole’ in a multipolar world order seems to be dominant. If France wants to claim this role, we’ll see what happens.”
The above is a machine translation that becomes somewhat garbled in the following paragraphs, so I’ll need to await the official transcript before going further as Lavrov provided further explanations. TASS reports on this meeting and does a good job of interspersing quotes from Lavrov with its paraphrases, some of which follow:
“Lavrov said that the West was trying hard to discredit international organizations or subjugate them by means of ‘privatizing secretariats,’ the way it happened to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
“‘Or, when such attempts fail, it takes the discussion outside the UN framework and the level of universal conventions and then dictates decisions it finds most convenient as the ultimate truth and the sole correct version of multipolarity,’ Lavrov said.
“‘This is the gist of the rules-based concept of a world order and a concept of effective multilateralism, which the Germans and the French thought up and which they keep advancing. They argue that this position and initiative of the European Union is not subject to any analysis, let alone doubt, but must be used as an example for all others to follow,’ he said.”
TASS also reported Lavrov’s observations about the growing need for a “reboot” in Russian-German relations:
“Lavrov noted that ‘a lot of serious problems that keep multiplying’ have accumulated between Moscow and Berlin. The dialogue on all levels – intergovernmental, interparliamentary and intersocietal – is important for the two countries at the moment, Lavrov underscored.”
That the EU has surrendered its ability to conduct foreign policy to the Outlaw US Empire is a development few would have predicted. Is Lavrov aiming his words at his Russian audience or to the EU? I would think after such a presentation he’d conduct a presser, but I see no notice of one. Perhaps tomorrow.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 8 2020 21:04 utc | 198

How the mighty have fallen!
We Need a Secretary of Food

Posted by: vk | Dec 8 2020 21:53 utc | 199

@visak #196
Thanks, but I still don’t understand what post by The Saker you are referencing. Could you please post a link to it so we can understand the context?

Posted by: S | Dec 8 2020 22:26 utc | 200

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