Open Thread 2021-004
News & views ...
Posted by b on January 14, 2021 at 11:15 UTC | Permalink
next page »M.I.G.A.
Military analysts have described the former objective as being “modest” in expectation.
The USA is now at a stage where it is failing even in "modest" objectives.
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Do what I say, not what I do:
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Impeachment Is a Call for ‘Moral Clarity’
Besides this guy, the WaPo Editorial Board has already called for the Senate to accelerate this impeachment.
It seems this impeachment is more like a desperate attempt by the Legislative to try to restore the image of American democracy than anything else. I don't think there's a bigger conspiracy looming behind it:
Dorsey is right: a permaban on Trump is bad for his business, as his followers obviously will immigrate en masse to another social media platform. It would be an artisanal antitrust breakup.
I think the USA is long gone its phase of scheming and planning. It is now improvising, trying to fix problem after problem in their system as they come. Pretty much how the great empires fall: pressure from the outside, problems from the inside.
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They'll wait forever then, as the First World vaccines don't have the capacity to produce for them and will never have.
The Chinese vaccine is excellent. The 50.4% efficacy that came out in Brazil was for infections in general. For mild cases (that require some medical care), the efficacy jumps to 76% and, for grave cases (require ventilators), it has 100% efficacy.
The only drawback of the 50.4% efficacy for any infection is that it has to vaccinate 100% (instead of 70% with an 100% efficient one) of the population in order to reach herd immunity.
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"Decoupling":
Chinese exports rise 3.6% in coronavirus-plagued 2020; only economy with positive trade growth
FDI also rose (+1.4%).
I still don't get the myth that Trump successfully decoupled from China and did some reindustrialization in America. The numbers simply aren't there.
In fact, Trump was one of the most traditional POTUSes in America's post-war history on the economic front. He did your bread-and-butter corporate tax cuts, pro-services sector, deindustrializing and financializing policies that are the staple for the country since Jimmy Carter.
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Coronavirus: two scientists on WHO team barred from China after testing positive for antibodies)
Their president threw all their shit on the fan when he released to the press the WHO was "disappointed" on China's "delay" of the authorization for their investigation team to go to Wuhan. China then accelerates the process in a peace gesture. They arrive on Thursday, as scheduled and agreed. Only for two teams to test positive. Ironic, pathetic and ridiculous on the WHO's part, to say the least.
Now what will their clown president say? That the Chinese tests are fake?
--//--
Fake news:
Well...
Gini index (World Bank estimate) - China
And let's compare with India - China's alleged "democratic counterweight":
India: another China or another Brazil?
It's the fourth graph of the article (Slovakia's case is an example of why Gini indexes are not reliable, but that's for another occasion).
ERRATA to @2: it was China's foreign trade, not FDI, that rose. And it was by 1.5%, not 1.4%:
Fast recovery pushed China's foreign trade up 1.5% in 2020, trade surplus to 5-year high
SolarWinds spyware attack - NSA and CIA did it?
All last year we were hearing how Huawei is a threat to US national security. Chinese state operatives would insert spyware into Huawei networking equipment. The software that runs on Huawei equipment is open source and open to inspections. It is unlikely to contain hidden threats. But similar backdoors and spy gates are sure to exist on Western equipment.
The real threat to US "security" comes from the US not being able to install their spyware on European networks.
It seems that a massive US spy operation has just been exposed. The US presidential elections have overshadowed this from the news, but at the end of December this was the top story in the US. Allegedly "Russian hackers" had infiltrated US government organizations. According to Lou Dobbs on Fox News this was a new Pearl Harbor.
The story broke out in mid December when the cyber security company FireEye noticed that their servers had been attacked and the code for their Red Team assessment tools had been stolen. They soon discovered that the attack had utilized a backdoor in SolarWind’s Orion IT monitoring and management software. FireEye called it a supply-chain attack.
There are several layers of misinformation in the way the Western media reported this.
- Supposedly 18,000 organizations were attacked. This is the number of users of the SolarWinds network management software. No evidence has been presented that any of these organizations were actually attacked.
- The attackers were supposedly Russian. Cyber attribution is usually impossible. It could as well have been the NSA or CIA acting as "Russians". Actually no technical analysis has ever been presented that points the attack to Russia. The whole Russia story was invented by the media or by their masters in the US Intelligence Community.
- The real story not in how US government organizations were possibly attacked, but in how the spyware found its way into the SolarWinds source code in the first place.
The spyware was part of the source code for the "BusinessLayer.dll" shared library. I find it impossible that the spyware code was somehow inserted from Russia. It is likewise far fetched to assume that some Russian mole was working for SolarWinds and secretly inserting spyware into the source code. No such mole has been arrested. It is more likely that the malware was inserted by US actors.
This "sophisticated supply chain attack" would have been impossible without US insiders in the company. Most likely the whole software team was compromised. The attack vector must have been part of the specification of the software. Proof of this comes from the fact that it has taken several weeks and SolarWinds still has not fixed the problem. The spyware must be so embedded and intertwined with the rest of the software that they would not know what to remove. Instead, they said their "investigations are early and ongoing". They have the source code, yet they have not published any part of it.
No links in this post. I have collected some links and sources on my wiki.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Jan 14 2021 12:44 utc | 4
Did I here some one here mention free speech ?
Trump could have pardonend Julian Asarnge, he chose not to , he pardoned war criminals.
Now he’s bleeting about not getting free speech !!
Don’t you just love karma, or perhaps call it natural justice.
Some on this blog denied natural justice even exsisted.
Posted by: Mark2 | Jan 14 2021 12:54 utc | 5
Palindrome, etymology: "a recurrence," literally "a running back"
The Establishment, the Deep State, The Swamp, returns.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss".
But is it ever completely *the same*? Or does the shit in the Swamp just get deeper?
Patriot Act 2, anyone? More purges, more silencing, more Elite control,
less Freedom.
-----
The biggest beneficiary of the Capitol disorder (1/6/21)
has been the old order. Their crimes, *real* crimes, - years of Russiagate Coup,
a stolen election, imperialist warmongering, have been pushed off the front pages.
Do you think the Deep State didn't notice who benefited?
One has to conclude that if there is no further disorder from The People
upcoming, then the Deep State will false flag disorder. Who benefits?
Either way, in whatever direction this flows, the shit from the Swamp will get deeper.
-----
Inauguration Day is Palindrome Day - "a running backwards".
1/20/2021
1202021
120 2 021
Inauguration Day is Palindrome Day - "a running backwards".
Welcome to the past
where the American Dream
becomes further away
and America itself
becomes less and less recognizable.
The future runs backwards.
----
Waiting for Hillary?
Posted by: librul | Jan 14 2021 12:58 utc | 6
Thank you Maracatu @1 for the info on Latin America. Biden is likely to focus more on all countries "south of the border" as he loves to preen about how macho he is and put his arm around a tinpot dictator and get in his/her face with his fake smile and spew lines like "Here's the deal...". Biden brags on about how he authored and midwived Plan Colombia which is pretty much old school imperial boilerplate: show U.S. muscle, let whatever native psychopathic scum surface, pour money into them, establish military pipelines with their death machines, open their country to imperial corporate rape of resources, cover up killings. Watch Ecuador next month as they are poised to take back power from traitor Lenin Moreno. The left is deep and strong and appears organized. If they win Colombia will feel it big time. Columbia is the center of U.S. terror operations in Latin America along with Honduras. Honduras is ready to blow but the people will probably not be able to take power. Hillary Clinton and Obama/Biden have lots of connections with the Honduran bad guys dripping with drug money; current top guy Juan Orlando Hernandez is a cartoon like tin pot who will probably self destruct like Noriega-- no one likes him. Biden will focus on these "projects". The Grayzone is one of the best sites for info on what's going on there. I highly recommend reading them often.
Posted by: migueljose | Jan 14 2021 15:04 utc | 7
US Unemployment claims jump sharply, showing the pandemic’s continuing economic toll
America is Back!
Joke of the week:
Biden’s China Problem: Resisting a New Cold War in Asia
Seriously now, any American here please respond me: what the hell are you smoking?
A sober look at China’s economic performance by F William Engdahl
At the beginning of December China’s Xi Jinping officially declared that China had eliminated poverty entirely, part of his priority program. Western financial pundits have praised the remarkable economic recovery of China following the severe lockdowns a year go to combat the coronavirus. Predictions that China would once again, as it did in 2008, lead the rest of the world, especially the EU and North America, out of deep recession are common. Yet behind the official Beijing statements there are indications that China’s decades of economic boom are coming into deep problems, far deeper than officially acknowledged. If true, the consequences for the rest of the world as well as for China could be severe.
Can China Lead a World Economic Recovery?
Posted by: Down South | Jan 14 2021 16:09 utc | 11
Off topic @all: I am looking for a link b posted last year (summer to autumn or so) about an international survey (Bloomberg?) over opinions about democracy, and perception of the own country as democratic (or not). The interesting result was that 85% of the Chinese perceived democracy as important, and 70% of them considered their country as democratic. The figures in the US were about 70% positive to democracy, and 49% considering their country democratic, if I recall correctly. Unfortunately, the link to the survey slipped from me, and browsing all MoA so far did not help (and I am too often stuck re-reading :) ). Can someone help?
Posted by: aquadraht | Jan 14 2021 16:16 utc | 12
Down South @ 10
It will be nasty if he is correct about China, however for at least 15 years now I have seen hundreds of articles predicting China's collapse. So far all have been wrong.
Posted by: arby | Jan 14 2021 16:20 utc | 13
@ 11 aquadraht
I hope you aren't banned on Google. This is one of the first links there when you search for "Bloomberg democracy survey"
Posted by: N | Jan 14 2021 16:22 utc | 14
Interesting comparison between today,s UK and East Germany in 1989.
"In less than 12 months, Britain has been transformed from a relatively free country into an authoritarian police state where physical social interaction is strongly discouraged, if not illegal. Last week, we saw a shocking video of police breaking into a home in Scotland after a ‘tip-off’ that there were ‘too many people’ there.
In Wales, a couple were given a fixed penalty notice for travelling seven miles to see the wife’s 94-year-old mother in a care home, a journey the police deemed ‘unnecessary’. “I feel like I'm living in some sort of dystopian novel after what happened,” a ‘mortified’ Mrs Carol Richards said afterwards (After much publicity, the fine was subsequently rescinded, but that still doesn't excuse the police action).
Under the ‘rules’, people have even been prevented from visiting seriously ill loved ones in hospital. Just how inhuman is that?
The biggest bugbear people I spoke to had with life in the old DDR was the restrictions on foreign travel. But although we have no Berlin Wall, we have restrictions on travel in Britain today (at least for the plebs). When Home Secretary Priti Patel boasted about ending free movement, the left presumed she was talking about immigration. It transpired it was the British people’s free movement that was ending, under the guise of fighting a virus.
And with the World Economic Forum-sponsored roll-out of health passports – which the power behind the throne, Tony Blair, assures us “will” happen – will those who refuse to get vaccinated ever be able to leave the country again? It’s certainly a major concern."
Posted by: Bluedotterel | Jan 14 2021 16:32 utc | 15
Posted by: Bluedotterel | Jan 14 2021 16:32 utc | 14
Forgot the link
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/512498-lockdown-britain-east-germany/
Posted by: Bluedotterel | Jan 14 2021 16:34 utc | 16
@Posted by: vk | Jan 14 2021 16:01 utc | 9
Your link hits a brick wall. You have to have a subscription.
I *believe* I found an alternate link to the same article.
Is this the same article?
https://investorsnews.net/2021/01/09/bidens-china-problem-resisting-a-new-cold-war-in-asia/
There is a story that Washington policy-makers like to tell about America’s relationship with China, a narrative of the betrayal of naive hopes that is closer to a fairy tale than a sober analysis of history. The fable goes something like this: Once upon a time, there was a hermit kingdom called China, poor, angry, and isolated. Two visionary statesmen, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, visited this unhappy land and opened it up to the world. With diplomacy and trade, successive American leaders helped build up China, with the dream that, as it grew richer, it would join the United States in upholding a harmonious global order. But engagement proved a false dream: As China grew richer, it remained despotic, undercutting America with sharp trade practices, repressing its own people, and threatening its neighbors. Suddenly America found itself confronting a monster. Shortly before he died in 1994, Nixon told The New York Times, “We may have created a Frankenstein.”Nixon’s invocation of the Frankenstein monster reveals the emotions underlying this historical myth: the creation that betrays its creator. To get a glimpse of Dr. Frankenstein at the height of his hubris, it’s worth revisiting former deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick’s 2005 speech calling on China to become a “responsible stakeholder” in the American-led international order. The paternalistic assumption was that the United States and China had no deep-seated disagreements, and provided China put aside any ambitions to challenge US hegemony, it could evolve into a junior partner in empire.
All myths have a social function. The myth of China-as-Frankenstein is designed to assuage the American conscience: We meant only to improve the world—and created a monster by accident.
A more realistic view would note that...
I have a story about Washington's China policy.
This really happened.
I do not recall exactly when it happened, pretty sure it was was in the late 1970's,
somewhere between Nixon visiting China in 1972 and Jimmy Carter granting full
diplomatic recognition in 1979.
I was in an airport waiting room and a Congresswomen sat down nearby.
Very shortly thereafter a Congressman introduced himself to her and they
struck up a conversation. They were standing just a few feet from me.
Both were "back benchers", minor Congress people, I expect, as I had never heard
his name before when he introduced himself.
China came up in their conversation.
Most memorable was his statement that there was on sense in improving relations
with them as "it is inevitable that we will go to war
with them some day". The Congresswoman was in agreement.
They agreed to get together later in Washington.
Also memorable was that she still had a curler in her hair.
It was in the back of her head. If she hadn't been divorced her
husband would have spotted it for her.
Posted by: librul | Jan 14 2021 16:37 utc | 17
@ Posted by: Down South | Jan 14 2021 16:09 utc | 10
Predictions that China would once again, as it did in 2008, lead the rest of the world, especially the EU and North America, out of deep recession are common.
No, they are not. Mr. Engdahl should give us his sources for that.
Besides, China didn't lead a world recovery after 2008. I don't remember any Chinese talking about that.
The world never recovered from 2008. The only place where there world recovered from 2008 is the world of the financial institutions' reports; if you only read them, then yes, 2009 was the "miracle" that pulled the world off the 2008 crisis.
Very interesting article. Highly recommended:
An excerpt to convince you to read it all:
Across the South, the planter class engaged in massive resistance to the new state governments. The campaign came to be known as the “Redemption” of the South, and its participants as “Redeemers.” In South Carolina, democratic rule posed a particularly big obstacle to the opponents of Reconstruction; the majority of the state was black, and under universal male suffrage, a majority of the state legislature was black, too.South Carolina’s white elite developed a two-part strategy of opposition. First, they focused their critique of Reconstruction on rising government debt and excessive spending, painting government by black people and poor whites as intrinsically corrupt. Adopting a new identity as concerned taxpayers helped the rich bridge the divide with small white farmers, for whom new land taxes were heavy, while avoiding explicit opposition to black male suffrage, which might smack of treason to Northerners.
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@ Posted by: librul | Jan 14 2021 16:37 utc | 16
With an adblock and/or uMatrix you can break through The Nation's paywall.
vk @ 17..
Are you kidding? China pulled the world up after the 08/09 mess. It did not save it because I think the problems are still here but it sure helped. It was buying everything from Iron to food grains. China helped a lot imo. If it wasn't for China we would have slid down much faster.
Posted by: arby | Jan 14 2021 16:51 utc | 20
"Construction of China’s space station construction nears implementation stage":
"China will carry out 11 launches, including four manned spaceships and four cargo spaceship flights in the next two years, as it aims to complete the building of the country's first space station by around 2022, Global Times previously learned from China's space authority.
"China is set to launch the core cabinet of the country's first space station by spring 2021, Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, disclosed to the Global Times on December 25.
"The space station, named Tiangong, which means 'heavenly palace', will be T-shaped with a core module at its center and a lab capsule on each side. It will be able to accommodate three astronauts under normal circumstances and up to six during crew replacement."
And a previous item that I missed:
"China aims for 40-plus space launch missions in 2021, space station construction to be top priority."
China's Mars lander will land sometime in February to begin its mission. Once Russia gets its space station operating, the ISS will be retired and the Outlaw US Empire will have no platforms in outer space or a heavy launch vehicle to erect one.
Besides, China didn't lead a world recovery after 2008. I don't remember any Chinese talking about that.
The world never recovered from 2008. ...
Posted by: vk | Jan 14 2021 16:38 utc | 17
vk @ 17.. Are you kidding?
Posted by: arby | Jan 14 2021 16:51 utc | 19
vk is not kidding, just obfuscating. "China didn't claim". vk believes in what you say not what you do. China didn't say so China didn't do. That is the "scientific Marxist" way so get with the program.
"The world never recovered from 2008" is true but in no way does it disprove that "China lead the way in insuring that the system didn't collapse after 2008".
So, yes, China did in fact lead the way to insure the Global Ponzi Scheme didn't crash on the head of Western and Communist with Chinese Characteristic eilite. They just didn't claim it since to do so would put the lie to "Evil American Empire". How in the theoretically orthodox scientific world could the CCP possibly "lead" the resue of the "Evil" imperial financial ponzi scheme?
Posted by: BemusedDragon | Jan 14 2021 17:07 utc | 22
Hat tip to Pepe Escobar for this news. Glen Diesen has published a critical new book, Great Power Politics in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Geoeconomics of Technological Sovereignty. The initial reviews are quite tempting. A snippet from one of several:
"Diesen takes on and brings together two large phenomena, namely the revolution in technology and the change in global power relations."
My continual question: Will the Western world's morality evolve quickly enough to keep pace with technological progress? I have no worries about Eurasian morality. Rather, it's the West's loss of its 500 years of domination and what it will do to recoup that immoral position that's most troublesome.
@ Posted by: BemusedDragon | Jan 14 2021 17:07 utc | 21
That's not what the numbers tell us. China's growth was cut by half after the fallout of 2008, forcing it to change its economic doctrine to a "quality growth" one (remember the "soft-landing"/"hard-landing" debate in the West). It never again grew by two digits.
It also forced China, in its quest for "quality growth", it stopped importing huge quantities of commodities from the "emerging economies", which plunged their prices, ending the miracles of Brazil and Russia, circa 2011-2014.
Yes, the proportion of China in the world's growth after 2008 grew, but only because the rest of the world collapsed more than China. China is a positive force in the world, but it didn't "lift up" the world from 2008.
The definitive evidence China didn't lift the world from 2008 is the pattern of world growth, which clearly became a pattern of depression and not miracle (square root sign graph). If China really had capitalized from the 2008 crisis, then we would have observed a V-shaped world growth pattern from 2009 on, with China quickly taking the USA's spot as the sole superpower - which, obviously, didn't happen.
So, yes, China contributed by not collapsing as much, but its less worst economic results, by logic, didn't generate any recovery from 2008.
@ 22 karlof1
If the past responses to technological changes, especially if not nurtured in the West, my guess is the West will stick it's head in the sand and " morality " won't enter into any of the thought process. Lashing out seems to be more of an issue the farther they lag behind technologically, militarily, and socially.
Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Jan 14 2021 17:49 utc | 26
The theatre of what's happening in Congress is amusing, even if it seems to be a play by grade-schoolers instead by Broadway. The Dems seem sure their strategy will cripple the Repubs, and there's a good chance that could happen. But McConnell controls the Senate until Jan. 20, and can start the impeachment trial at any time he chooses (he has hinted that it would be on Jan. 19th). Do the Dems really want to spend their important "first hundred days" impeaching someone who is no longer there? If it didn't totally shut down decisions on other issues (cabinet hearings, stimulus checks, healthcare, etc.) it would delay them greatly. Even though Schumer would then be in control, Senate rules would require rules of order that could make the trial go on for weeks. I would think the public backlash could be harsh.
Of course there are many Repubs who I assume would like to see the whole thing disappear quickly, as a prolonged trial will allow the Dems to milk the "domestic terrorists" angle even more, pointing the finger at those lawmakers who were complicit (real or perceived) in stoking the uprising. This could play into McConnell's decisions as well.
From my POV, above the "two party illusion", the impeachment could be the best thing to throw a monkey wrench into whatever upcoming fuckery is in store (as Caitlin J. wrote, "Biden will have the most diverse, intersectional cabinet of mass murderers ever assembled"). Unlike Trump's dysfunctional presidency, this team will have the deep ties with neo-liberal (and neocon) heavy hitters in the MIC, big tech, Wall Street, etc., and may be ready to hit the ground running. Victoria Nuland's appointment was the icing on the cookies to highlight our awful state of affairs.
Posted by: Kabobyak | Jan 14 2021 18:10 utc | 27
No, they are not. Mr. Engdahl should give us his sources for that
vk @ 18
Even the Chinese themselves are claiming it:
BEIJING - Having gone through a big test with the pandemic, China's economy has emerged stronger as key economic figures suggest that China's recovery is gathering pace at year's end.It will surely help revive the global economy mired in the severest recession in nearly a century.
China's economic growth to bolster global recovery from COVID-19
Posted by: Down South | Jan 14 2021 18:16 utc | 28
The crowbar is a required emergency tool in any representatives office. It is used to pry the lips of representatives and their staff from the d***s of lobbyists.
In case of emergency please break glass.
Posted by: Kevin | Jan 14 2021 18:52 utc | 30
Happened across a great 20-minute YouTube video about the blatant and ongoing US/Western hypocrisy regarding what happened at the Capitol and what the US inflicts on others.
"A Reflection on American Foreign Policy Arrogance & Hypocrisy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv3H9PNw4eQ
Those events that the US mediacracy has made so much of were relatively brief and mild when put into context, but as in Shock Doctrine, the shock is played up and the crisis is readily and extensively made use of by the establishment.
It's from YouTuber Daniel Dumbrill, a Canadian expat in China who has lived in Hong Kong, so it relates to what happened in Hong Kong, but the same exercise could probably be done with other US-sponsored insurrections like Maidan in Kiev, Ukraine, the attempt in Belarus, and the countless other protests/insurrections inflicted by the US.
Posted by: Canadian Cents | Jan 14 2021 18:58 utc | 31
Trump voters are not "suppressed" or disenfranchised.
Trump should be impeached, not for "incitement" which in U.S. law is very narrowly defined and difficult to prove, but for attempting to overturn a lawful election -- pressuring Pence to invalidate the vote, and pressuring state officials to "find" votes. That is highly unconstitutional and a blatant violation of Trump's oath of office, EVEN IF THERE HAD BEEN NO RIOT AT THE CAPITOL.
Here's a thought exercise -- what if the U.S. completely eliminated the office of the presidency? After all, many countries do not have presidents. The job of the U.S. president is mainly to start wars -- almost never a good thing -- and to nominate judges. In many other countries judges are nominated by the legislature, and that seems to work at least as well if not better than the U.S. system.
So this whole "Biden is not *my* president" attitude is nonsense. No one needs their own personal president. We don't need an elected king to start wars. We don't need an elected king to nominate judges. What we need is democracy -- either public referendums, and/or a legislature that actually legislates.
Posted by: Daniel Lynch | Jan 14 2021 19:09 utc | 32
Well China's growth will not be the same as before. It won't be 8 % per anum over 10 years. More likely it will be 5 % per anum over 10 years. Later it will drop further. On the other hand China's internal market will matter more due to the dual circulation strategy and and the opening up of the country.
It will surely boost the rest of Asia. Whether it will help the US - no, as long as the US tries to decouple.
A big difference with 2008 is that back then mostly the West was hit, while now the whole planet ex-China is hard hit. There are strong headwings to global growth now.
It looks like there will be Asia growth cluster and stagnation in the rest of the world.
Posted by: Passer by | Jan 14 2021 19:22 utc | 33
At 8% pa, China's GDP will double in about 9 years; at 5% pa, it will take about 14 years to double.
Posted by: spudski | Jan 14 2021 19:31 utc | 34
Canadian Cents @31
Thanks for your post and sharing that video, it was indeed very well done. I will share it and hope others who agree will also.
It's sad many of my "liberal" friends will be closed to the facts just as they were with Russiagate (still think NYTimes, CNN, NPR et al can be trusted to shape the narrative). Cheers!
Posted by: Kabobyak | Jan 14 2021 19:41 utc | 35
Today's Keiser Report begins at about the same place the previous show ended with its discussion about inflation and demise of the dollar. The points made about the censorship of economic news and figures are spot on and reinforce the validity of Shadowstats, particularly regarding the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rate of inflation using 1980 metrics, unemployment, and GDP--all of which are lied about. But the real star of both programs is Alasdair Macleod and the discourse between him and Max about the dollar, idiocy and utter betrayal of Central Banks, and the efficacy of gold and bitcoin and where they might fit in when fiat currencies collapse (if you listen closely, you'll hear that Russia and China don't face the same dire dilemmas as the dollar/euro-based nations).
As revealed in the discourse between Stacy and Max, which is reiterated by Max and Alasdair, the big institutions are preparing for the shit to hit the fan but don't know how to exit, which is why we've seen a continual doubling-down on proven failed policies again and again. That's why the WEF, IMF, World Bank, and others are all calling for a reset or another Bretton Woods or both (a new paradigm emerging from a Bretton Woods 2.0 would in itself be a reset). None of this is being discussed by media aside from several RT productions, bloggers and a few market participants like Alasdair. Watch and learn or remain ignorant; it's your choice.
Posted by: spudski | Jan 14 2021 19:31 utc | 34
Yeah, this is what Xi says. China aims to double GDP by 2035, they will need some 4.7 % anually up to 2035. Which they will manage to do. But there is no doubt that China's gdp growth will be dropping over the years. It is estimated that it will become the same as US growth rate by 2055 - 2060.
China will be the world's biggest economy by far. 2 times bigger than the US in PPP GDP and 1,4 in nominal GDP by 2050.
But it will not rule the world, as it will too stagnate. The second part of the 21st century will be the time of India, the Muslims World and Africa, with US, Europe, Russia and East Asia stagnating.
So it will be a real multipolar world, with China mattering more, but also India (better demographics), Africa (4 billion people) and the Islamic World (1 in 3 people) mattering more too by 2100.
The world by 2100 by most current estimates, baseline scenarios
China 17 % of world economy
Africa 15 % of world economy
India 14 % of world economy
Islamic World 13 % of global economy
US 11,5 % of world economy
Europe 10 % of world economy
A real multipolar world.
Posted by: Passer by | Jan 14 2021 21:03 utc | 37
karlof1 #23
Rather, it's the West's loss of its 500 years of domination and what it will do to recoup that immoral position that's most troublesome.
For a clue as to what might be planned keep an eye on the Cini Foundation.
"The premier foundation of the world is the Cini Foundation, which provides ideological directives for the far wealthier but junior foundations with names like Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie, MacArthur, Volkswagen, etc."
I can't vouch for this material but here is some reading Venices war against western civilisation.
I would be interested in any further references and barflies feedback PS don't mistake the messenger for a dart board ;))
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 14 2021 21:15 utc | 39
Passer by @37--
What China aims for economically after PRC's 100th anniversary is essentially a steady-state economy with zero net carbon emissions. China's very hip when it comes to understanding resource depletion and the climate crisis, which are explanations for its very aggressive space program. Those economic guesses you cite don't include the impact from the worst scenarios for the climate crises, with the fresh water crisis to top that list.
uncle tungsten @39--
Something's wrong with your link. I get an http error 500, "page isn't working right now."
The big future problem is in my @40. And CO2 needs to be removed from the ocean as well as the atmosphere for those geoengineering types. Neoliberal economics as Keen constantly notes doesn't even see the problem as its treated as an externality, not a future cost of production. IMO, thanks to urging by Xi, Putin now sees the seriousness of the problem for Russia and the world. But more than China and Russia need to attain net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Once again the leading destroyer is the Outlaw US Empire. Oh, have you taken a look at the Amazon recently? Real bad news in Brazil.
Helmer's latest report on Navalny is so explosive that his site has been attacked!
His comment on the situation is here:
Helmer's site (now unavailable) is here:
http://johnhelmer.net/
Posted by: downtownhaiku | Jan 14 2021 22:15 utc | 42
looks like you are right @42 dowtown haiku.... he has 2 sites - .net and .org... neither one of them is operative at the moment..
i look foward to reading what he has to say!
Posted by: james | Jan 14 2021 22:26 utc | 43
@ uncle tungsten | Jan 14 2021 21:15 utc | 39 - that link doesn't work for me either... maybe another link could work??
Posted by: james | Jan 14 2021 22:27 utc | 44
Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 14 2021 21:21 utc | 40
Yes, China's zero net carbon emission target is 2060.
Estimates for Climate Change costs point to higher costs for southern states than for northern states, so Canada and Russia may benefit from Global Warming. There are plenty of studies on that already, so it is possible that Africa and India may have lower share of world's GDP by 2100 than originally estimated.
Overall, the world may suffer a loss of 20 % of per capita GDP, according to median estimates.
Posted by: Passer by | Jan 14 2021 22:46 utc | 45
karlof1 @41, james @44, uncle tungsten @39,
Searching for the excerpt quoted by uncle tungsten turns up some other links, for example:
https://exploringrealhistory.blogspot.com/2019/04/part-5venices-war-against-western.html
https://www.mail-archive.com/ctrl@listserv.aol.com/msg17356.html
https://archive.org/stream/pdfy--vMPBwiHw_IDIeob/Against+Oligarchy+by+Webster+Griffin+Tarpley_djvu.txt
As with uncle tungsten's disclaimer, I haven't read this at all, just trying to help with the link.
Kabobyak @35, glad you liked that video too! I too have friends and relatives that are closed to anything that diverges from what the establishment media tells them to think.
Posted by: Canadian Cents | Jan 14 2021 22:52 utc | 46
@40 karlof1 - "a steady-state economy with zero net carbon emissions"
Ah, the grown-ups in the room. Thank you for that.
There are indeed goals worth aiming for beyond constant growth. Continual growth, as I know you realize completely, is a failure of an economy to mature, not a sign of strength.
~~
I'm not deep in the mechanics of this, but I've always assumed that the need for continual growth, after an economy could and should have turned steady-state, is a disease that can be laid squarely at the door of compound interest.
Posted by: Grieved | Jan 14 2021 23:05 utc | 47
karlof #41
Hmmm
This is better and goto chapter entitled
Venice war against etc
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 14 2021 23:17 utc | 48
@ Canadian Cents | Jan 14 2021 22:52 utc | 46.. thanks cc... i had read some of that before... venice was a real power prior to the black plague... eventually they had to share their wealth with constantinople and after that there power seemed to recede... but it was a banking centre of great importance previous to all this and a power on the seas... i don't know anything about the cini foundation, but some of it makes sense... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cini_Foundation
one sees this foundations headquarters while visiting venice... it is straight across from st marks square and very visible.. i didn't know what it was when i saw it a few years ago... venice was a financial empire way back when... i am sure some of that money stuck around and never left...
Posted by: james | Jan 14 2021 23:17 utc | 49
here is a copy of the Helmer article about Navalny which caused Helmer's website to be attacked
BERLIN CLINICAL DATA CONFIRM ALEXEI NAVALNY HAD PANCREATITIS, DIABETES, LIVER FAILURE, STAPHYLOCOCCAL INFECTION, MILD HEART ATTACK – NO NOVICHOK SYMPTOMS
Instead of “LOVE” on pill box, substitute POWER
On jar behind, instead of HYMEN’S, substitute MERKEL
By John Helmer, Moscow
The German laboratory test results for Alexei Navalny, published by a group of doctors at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin last month, reveal a surprising number of medical symptoms, but they are not those of Novichok nerve agent poisoning as Navalny and his supporters in western governments have alleged.
Clinical doctors, toxicologists, and pharmacology experts outside Germany believe the test results which the Charité group released on December 22 reveal symptoms of acute pancreatitis, diabetes, liver failure, severe dehydration, muscular rigidity, as well as a serious bacterial infection, and a possible heart attack associated with his kidney problems. According to the experts, these are not recognisable symptoms of a nerve agent attack.
The German medical publication reports Navalny’s “laboratory values on admission”, and toxicology and pharmacology results “in blood and urine samples obtained on arrival of the patient of the patient at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (day 3)”. Accordingly, the newly available data are evidence of the condition Navalny was in during his two-day treatment in Omsk Emergency Hospital No. 1 in Russia; and of the treatment he received there, as well as during his six-hour flight on a German medical evacuation aircraft from Omsk to Berlin.
The German doctors have also released a tabulation of their laboratory test results for Navalny during 33 days of his stay in the Charité hospital, and a subsequent visit to the hospital as an outpatient. The four data tables are described by the Germans as following “the supposed poisoning of the patient”. The doctors don’t wish to sign their names to this “supposing”.
[…more]
Navalny first fell ill on the morning of August 20, during a flight from Tomsk, where he had been on an election campaign tour, to Moscow. The flight was diverted to Omsk, and Navalny admitted to hospital in Omsk in mid-morning local time. He was in intensive care there for 48 hours until he was released for German medical evacuation to Berlin on August 22.
The German doctors treating Navalny at the Charité were led by Kai-Uwe Eckardt, the chief of the Charité treatment unit whom Navalny publicly thanked on October 7. Eckardt and David Steindl are the principal authors of the December 22 report; Eckhardt is a specialist on diabetes and kidney transplants; Steindl is a specialist on musculo-skeletal pathologies.
Read their report in the British medical journal, The Lancet, here. https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(20)32644-1.pdf A forensic analysis of the report can be read here. http://johnhelmer.net/berlin-doctors-report-on-navalny-case-reveals-new-evidence-raises-new-questions/ This exposes the many contradictions between the medical evidence now attested by the Germans and the allegations from Navalny and his supporters.
Kai-Uwe Eckardt and David Steindl -- http://johnhelmer.net/berlin-doctors-report-on-navalny-case-reveals-new-evidence-raises-new-questions/
In their 4-page case report, Eckardt and Steindl say “severe poisoning with a cholinesterase inhibitor was subsequently diagnosed”, not by the Charité group, but by a “laboratory of the German armed forces”; that was the Institut für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie der Bundeswehr (IPTB).
British toxicologists have repeatedly cautioned there can be many causes and sources for the cholinesterase inhibition detected from metabolites in Navalny’s blood and urine, and they continue to ask the German doctors and the IPTB: “Name the compound. That would be a good start.” In their publication of Navalny’s test results, Eckardt and Steindl say: “results of toxicology analyses conducted in a special laboratory of the armed forces [IPTB] are not included.” They don’t give a reason.
In the Lancet case report, there are several references to a 4-page appendix. This contains Navalny’s test results, but the appendix is not easy to find and was published separately. The Lancet editors explain: “this appendix formed part of the original submission and has been peer reviewed. We post it as supplied by the authors.” It can be opened and read here. LINK.
ALEXEI NAVALNY’S LABORATORY TEST RESULTS ON ARRIVAL IN BERLIN
Source: LINK, Appendix S1.
A review of these data by a clinician with specialised training in pharmacology provided a detailed interpretation of each line of data where the reported value for Navalny was either well above or below normal.
The expert, who declines to be identified, reports that the sodium and chloride scores show Navalny was suffering from extreme dehydration on his arrival in the Berlin hospital. How this was possible after the German medevac flight is unknown.
The spikes in the tested creatine kinase-MB and myoglobin reveal that his muscle function was breaking down; the visible symptom, according to the expert, should have been muscle rigidity. According to the German doctors, they didn’t see it, and neither did the Omsk hospital doctors, or witnesses of Navalny’s collapse on board the flight from Tomsk. The German case report, quoting from the Omsk hospital “discharge report”, says “the patient presented [in Omsk on August 20] comatose with hypersalivation and increased diaphoresis [sweating].” When Navalny reached the Charité, the doctors there reported in December, he was “deeply comatose, with mild bradycardia…hypersalivation, hypothermia (33.5C), increased diaphoresis and small pupils not reactive to light, decreased brainstem reflexes, hyperactive deep tendon reflexes, and pyramidal signs.”
The independent expert does not know how hyperactive tendon reflexes can have produced the abnormal MB and myoglobin test results.
The expert said the standard diagnosis which follows from the reported albumin result is chronic disease of the liver. The high lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) score indicates metabolic disorders commonly seen with cancerous tumours. The amylase and lipase results signify pancreatitis, a condition which the Russian press has reported Navalny to have experienced in the past. The results for C-reactive protein, leukocytes, neutrophils, and erythrocytes all point to a serious bacterial infection. The German case report confirms that skin and rectal swabs and urine samples found staphylococcus aureus and other infectious bacteria which were treated with antibiotics, the standard procedure. How Navalny picked up the bacterial infection, and where – in Tomsk, Omsk, in the medevac flight, or in Berlin – is unknown.
ALEXEI NAVALNY’S LABORATORY TEST RESULTS DURING HIS BERLIN HOSPITALISATION -- EXCERPT
Source: LINK, Appendix S4. The table extends to Day 33 in hospital, and includes Day 42 when he returned for testing as an outpatient.
The unusually high result for the urinary protein/creatinine ratio has been diagnosed by the expert as signifying kidney failure – “clinical diabetes but not an extreme presentation.” Diabetes has been reported for Navalny in the past; his staff deny it.
The abnormally high troponin-T results reported on Days 4 and 5 at Charité are puzzling to the independent expert because they signify a heart problem or mild heart attack, possibly related to the reported kidney failure. Eckardt and Steindl say in their case report that Navalny’s heart was beating abnormally slowly (bradycardia – 44 beats per minute) when tested in Omsk hospital, then 59 beats per minute during the flight to Berlin. After he arrived at Charité the bradycardia worsened to 33 bpm.
The independent expert accepts that the unusually low test score for butyryl cholinesterase – 0.42 on arrival in Berlin, 0.41 at Day 3 – usually signifies exposure to a cholinesterase inhibitor. The German doctors’ report says: “based on clinical and laboratory findings, severe cholinesterase inhibition was diagnosed and the patient was started on atropine and obidoxime…Cholinergic signs returned to normal within 1 h[our] after the onset of this antidotal therapy.” The German test results do not substantiate this conclusion, neither for troponin-T which didn’t normalise until Day 7, or butyryl cholinesterase, which didn’t reach normal until Day 17.
Testing for cholinesterase inhibition is the key to the allegations of the German Army laboratory, the German intelligence agency BND, and German officials that Navalny had been poisoned by a Russian Novichok nerve agent. The new data disclosure falls short of proof. Instead it reveals that in Berlin Navalny’s laboratory testing revealed cholinesterase inhibition, while in the Omsk hospital laboratory reports published in part in August, revealed that “cholinesterase inhibitors were not detected in blood and urine”; for more details of the earlier test data, read this http://johnhelmer.net/brain-poisoning-by-russian-nerve-agent-alexei-navalny-infects-german-chancellery/ and this. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2020/09/04/highly-toxic-but-unreliable
This week the independent expert also reviewed the table of medications which testing of Navalny revealed on his admission at Charité:
ANAESTHETIC AND ANTIDOTE DRUGS NAVALNY WAS GIVEN IN OMSK AS TESTED IN BERLIN
Source: Appendix S2. LINK
According to the source, the presence of pain relieving and anaesthetic drugs, antibiotics, and atropine are conventional treatment. Amantadine is a neurological drug often used in treatment of Parkinson’s Disease; lithium is a psychiatric medication for treating bipolar mood disorders and depression. Lithium, the expert says, along with the relaxant drugs recorded in Navalny’s system -- diazepam, nordazepam, oxazepam -- are commonly taken orally. If Navalny had been comatose at Omsk hospital and then at Charité, then it is likely he took these drugs himself in Tomsk before his flight. The Omsk hospital testing also reported that Navalny had taken “tricyclic antidepressants” before his collapse. End+
Posted by: downtownhaiku | Jan 14 2021 23:19 utc | 50
@ uncle t... some of the links inside your link @ 48 work, but not the top one - The Venetian Conspiracy... the 2nd one - The Role of the Venetian Oligarchy in Reformation, Counter-reformation, Enlightenment, and the Thirty Years’ War works for me..
Posted by: james | Jan 14 2021 23:20 utc | 51
downtownhaiku #42
Thank you for the heads up on johnhelmer. I found this just down the thread...
The USAi Joint Chiefs of Idiocy have truly lost their minds.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 14 2021 23:25 utc | 52
james #51
Thank you, I recall having the odd link failure as I cruised about that site. The chapter I referenced is about a 60 minute read and worth it but I found it somewhat stuck in the 17th Century. The genealogy from 17th to 21st century is the thread to consider. Maybe cryptome has something.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 14 2021 23:30 utc | 53
thanks uncle tungsten.... the links that do work on that site are quite interesting!
Posted by: james | Jan 14 2021 23:55 utc | 54
uncle tungsten @48--
I should have recognized the name Webster Tarpley as he's part of Lyndon LaRouche's network, which includes Matthew Ehret and Cynthia Chung. I tried getting info on some of his other essays, but it's very difficult. Clearly his website's being suppressed. It's possible that our computers have stops in their software for some particular websites while others are made hard to reach, like RT. Tarpley does have a Wikipedia page that details his academic background, and he seems very intelligent and was once rather motivated; but his attempt to smear/libel Melania Trump cost him some money and his reputation. I treat all LaRouche network writers very carefully and want to see their sources for statements they make that go against the historical narrative, which is what I do with all historians/writers anyway--my BS Detector is amplified when I read them as they often cite writers from their own circle, which is an old propaganda technique also employed by CIA.
Various different formats available further down the page for each pdf
Venitian Conspiracy Archive Collection by Webster Tarpley
https://archive.org/details/ElizabethIOfEngland/%20The%20History%20of%20Venice-7
Against Oligarchy Webster Tarpley-89.pdf
https://archive.org/details/ElizabethIOfEngland/Against%20Oligarchy%20%20Webster%20Tarpley-89
Posted by: Triden | Jan 15 2021 0:38 utc | 56
Grieved @47--
Thanks for your reply! Yes, compound interest is part of that problem, but so is an expanding population or a shrinking resource base. Yes, we face all three of those problems and are certainly in an Overshoot situation few genuinely appreciate.
The Navarro Report Vol 3
'Yes, President Trump Won: The Case, Evidence and Statistical Receipts.'
Posted by: John Gilberts | Jan 15 2021 1:29 utc | 58
welcome to the shit show
of 2021
I can't wait to see what happens
with the new old hired gun
Will he give the people health care
and unite the angry mob
will he bring home all the troops
and give everyone a job?
Will he tax the billionaires
break up banks too big to fail
Will he reassess why many
must work for free from jail?
no
he will ramp up war with China
and poke the Russian Bear
the war machine is good for death
and making billionaires.
The shinng city on a hill
could not pick a better face
to represent the putrid turds
who have cuked the human race
Posted by: Linda Jean Doucett | Jan 15 2021 1:38 utc | 59
Long term stability!?! - the empire is about perpetual war not stability for anyone but themselves.
Posted by: Babyl-on | Jan 15 2021 1:39 utc | 60
Gawd bless Democracy
https://mobile.twitter.com/mtracey/status/1349406340981133313
Michael Tracey
@mtracey
·
13 Jan
Airbnb and its subsidiary HotelTonight have canceled all reservations in the DC area next week on the ground that “hate groups” may be coming, based on “reports.” Now your ability to obtain lodging is contingent on a political “investigation” carried out by tech officials
- Quote Tweet
Brian Chesky
@bchesky
· 13 Jan
We have canceled all Airbnb reservations in DC for Inauguration week.
Guests will be issued a full refund and hosts will still be paid in full for these canceled bookings.
Posted by: Triden | Jan 15 2021 1:42 utc | 61
karlof1 #55
Thank you. My caution bell was pinging gently when the only reference to 20th century was one miserable sentence in an hour of reading. But then it was a place to commence and I figured this bar has attendees who might have a wise word or two. My question is WTF happened between yr1500 and yr2000? who went where? and so who wrote what works of academic value.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 15 2021 1:56 utc | 62
Jimmy seems to think that Bernie is a sellout, low life, lying, Biden rs kissing creep.
I guess he is correct in that. Good luck USAians, I trust you will stay healthy and find a third or fourth party because at this rate the turnout will be so low that the duopoly might have to rig the elections to make it seem credible.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 15 2021 3:04 utc | 64
#FraudSquad and scabby journalist at Intercept get a full flogging. Jimmy Dore maintains the rage.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 15 2021 3:32 utc | 65
Caitlan makes a point:
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/01/14/its-spelled-dead-asshole-not-philanthropist-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/
"...It’s so crazy how Israel’s constant airstrikes on Syria are just background noise that hardly anyone is aware of. Imagine a country in western Europe routinely bombing its neighbor and killing large numbers of people and the public being generally unaware that it’s happening because the press barely reports it..."
the link in her paragraph above,
https://news.antiwar.com/2021/01/13/us-assisted-israeli-attacks-in-east-syria-kill-at-least-57/
with this added paragraph and link in the antiwar.com article
"....US officials are pointing to their own involvement with this, saying Mike Pompeo provided the intelligence to Mossad. They suggested the intelligence was about Iranian arms. It’s not clear why so many troops were killed if warehouses were the target..."
Surely the war against Syria has to rank as one of the greatest wars crimes of the last 50-60 years or more.... But not a liberal in sight. hah.
Oh I almost forgot that this great crime, along with the complete destruction and destitution of the richest nation in all of Africa, Libya, was all started under Obama-Biden-Clinton-Rice-Power administration. double hah.
Posted by: michaelj72 | Jan 15 2021 3:51 utc | 66
A major scandal is unfolding in the US naval community. It turned out that a whole class of ships, on which America had pinned great hopes a couple of decades ago, turned out to be utterly incapable of combat. What exactly are the problems with these ships? Why did they only show up now? What does the massive corruption in the United States have to do with what is happening?
Political events in the United States have overshadowed everything that happens in this country. Including one event related to the Navy, which would indeed have exploded.
We are talking about a whole type of warships, both already delivered to the US Navy, and those still under construction – the so-called Littoral combat ship (LCS) of the Freedom type. And it’s not that they’re useless. And not at the prohibitive cost. And not even that the gearboxes of the ship’s main power plant (GEM) do not withstand the maximum stroke, and with the speed of 47 knots, which was the ridge of this project, he will never be able to walk – they also resigned themselves to this.
But at the end of 2020, it turned out that they generally cannot move faster than a dry cargo ship for more or less a long time. That is, it is not just scrapping metal; it is also almost stationary scrap metal.
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2021/01/13/american-warships-of-one-class-turn-into-a-metal-scrub/
Posted by: Mao | Jan 15 2021 4:38 utc | 67
I noted with cautious optimism that the TV News is reporting that the numerous Skunks, Weasels and Vampires responsible for switching Flint, Michigan's water supply source, from Lake Huron to a nearby polluted river, have been 'invited' to a courthouse to paint lipstick on their Pigginess.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jan 15 2021 4:50 utc | 68
@ Grieved | Jan 14 2021 23:05 utc | 47 who wrote
"
I'm not deep in the mechanics of this, but I've always assumed that the need for continual growth, after an economy could and should have turned steady-state, is a disease that can be laid squarely at the door of compound interest.
"
@ karlof1 | Jan 15 2021 0:39 utc | 57 who wrote
"
Yes, compound interest is part of that problem, but so is an expanding population or a shrinking resource base. Yes, we face all three of those problems and are certainly in an Overshoot situation few genuinely appreciate.
"
I think humanity needs a frontier more than growth. We need to keep chasing our ignorance.
We lack the common will to regulate our social interactions at a structural level that guarantees some level of equality and justice. Having the will I believe we have the ability.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 15 2021 5:07 utc | 69
Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 14 2021 23:46 utc | 49
The irony of it all is that the said Illarionov has been a critic of Putin’s Russia and published that article in Russian only, in LiveJournal which is not a popular platform in the USA. But it seems that someone in Cato reads Russian, or knows how to use machine translation, and Illarionov who was preaching for years to the Russians about free speech, free this, free that and freedom fries got kicked in his rear for using his freedom. Ironies, of which we are going to witness many.
Posted by: Paco | Jan 15 2021 6:51 utc | 70
Kim Jong-un attends N. Korea military parade on Thursday evening: S. Korean source
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj3AMhi75HE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIz-8bwdfrE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKSB5tLm9zg
Posted by: Mao | Jan 15 2021 7:35 utc | 71
Mao #67
Brilliant! Those kaput warships would be about the cost of Medicare For All for about a year I guess. That is one technology that the rivals will have no interest in hacking. The US Navy is a basket case of ignorance it seems.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 15 2021 7:54 utc | 72
After a small draft of wine I staggered over to Indianpunchline to see what that unreconstructed western admirer had to say and was hit fair in the face by the best joke in years:
This 'report' published January 12 begins well and then the first joke appears in para 10 and it is a doozy. Only two days after the hapless author yet again attacks Russia for attacking Navalny our good brother John Helmer has utterly debunked the Indian. Maybe the Indian ganja is too strong or he has been sipping tea with the Institute for Statecraft viceroy.
Then there is this: a sentence with the words USA and diplomacy within three words of each other. Well I just had to let all the barflies know. Check out this scribble:
This does not preclude, however, a substantive global “to-do” list that awaits the EU leaders and Biden to work fruitfully — elevation of diplomacy as the US’ principal tool of foreign policy, renewed commitment to multilateralism and specific assurances on NATO and the UN, re-entry to the Paris Climate Agreement and Iran nuclear accord, reengaging World Trade Organization and World Health Organization, a global democracy summit, push back against authoritarianism and corruption, advancing human rights and so on. These are all matters of great importance to Europe.
Yes, the Indiapunchline was a good one this time ;)
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 15 2021 9:40 utc | 73
Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 14 2021 23:46 utc | 49
So many things are happening at the same time that the Cato Illarionov event might be regarded as small change, but here you have a sample of the new reality, someone that many years ago and as inheritance of the Yeltsin regime was an economic adviser to Putin -then turned bitter enemy and critic- is unceremoniously kicked out of a senior fellow position due to an article in Russian for Russian audiences that does not jive with the official party line in the USA.
Politico has an article about the whole affair, in which they repeatedly remark the fact of his former job as economic adviser, without even mentioning his long anti Russian stance so as to make it look like he is another Putin tool:
Russian MSM also has something to say about that incident:
https://vz.ru/news/2021/1/15/1080174.html
The new normal is censorship, toe the line or you’re out, as simple as that.
Posted by: Paco | Jan 15 2021 10:30 utc | 74
@Petri Krohn #4
You are completely wrong.
There are thousands to tens of thousands of people all over the world with the capability to do what was documented.
One example: a Brazilian I have worked with is an expert "fuzzer". Fuzzing is throwing random data crap at a software program to see if you can get it to do something unexpected.
When Windows 10 came first came out, he spent 6 months fuzzing his copy. He found a number of top level bugs - we're talking nation state type attack stuff. Half were sold to an unnamed Western agency for 7 digits, the other half were published so that he could get some props.
The types of tools professionals can use are quite impressive - from reverse compiling to direct compiled code analysis.
More importantly, code that can be run - will be hacked.
Open source means the code can easily be compiled and then tested extensively - much easier than the fuzzer above.
Posted by: c1ue | Jan 15 2021 11:36 utc | 75
Hat tip to Pepe Escobar for this news. Glen Diesen has published a critical new book, Great Power Politics in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Geoeconomics of Technological Sovereignty. The initial reviews are quite tempting. A snippet from one of several:
"Diesen takes on and brings together two large phenomena, namely the revolution in technology and the change in global power relations."
Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 14 2021 17:15 utc | 23
----
What's this about a 4th Industrial Revolution?
We have been repeatedly assured by this sites foremost everything-expert, one Mr "vk", that no 4th Industrial revolution is possible due to the lack of necessary tech.
And here you are daring to contradict our foremost everything-expert by linking, of all things, a book!
Txk tsk
Posted by: Triden | Jan 15 2021 11:37 utc | 76
Norway Links 13 Deaths to Pfizer Vaccine's Side Effects
All the 13 victims were very old, but the fact is Norway is thinking about not recommending Pfizer's vaccine to people in a very frail state.
So, now we have a vaccine that can't be used on elderly people. Against a disease that majorly kills elderly people.
@vk #18
Once again, you deny reality in favor of your solipsism.
Agree or disagree with mainstream economists - they all universally acknowledge that China's growth post-2008 led the recovery.
Note also that recovery does not mean return to trajectory - it means economic function restored after the business cycle downturn.
Error on top of ignorance...
Posted by: c1ue | Jan 15 2021 11:40 utc | 78
@Mao #67
The Bulgarians are way, waaayyyy behind the times.
The LCS has been a dog and a boondoggle from day 1. Not so different than the F35...
That's what happens when you combine multi-region pork barrel supply chain/political approval strategy with all-branch military requirements.
Posted by: c1ue | Jan 15 2021 11:43 utc | 79
@Passer by #37
If there is one thing guaranteed - it is that all long term projections are made by morons and will be wrong.
India is a shambolic mess and not getting better. Despite having language and resource advantages and being "free market", India has lagged China for more than a generation now - entirely due to its own incompetence.
I don't see that changing any time soon.
Ditto Africa.
It isn't that there aren't intelligent people in either place - it is, however, that they can't get their shit together to cohere towards a generational improvement strategy as opposed to individual or subgroup enrichment by theft strategies.
As for the Islamic world: again, I'd have to look deeper except my tolerance for garbage is limited. If we're talking the Asian islamic world, maybe - but I strongly suspect the idiots are still taking into account the oil producing regions which are a heartbeat away from zombie/cannibal apocalypse.
For that matter, significant parts of Africa are Islamic. Again, if my bullshit tolerance were higher, I'd look to see how the idiots divide Africa vs. Islamic.
Anyone, ANYONE who pretends to accurate predictions more than 10 years away is a scammer.
Nobody who envisioned the future in 1940 was even in the picture with our present 2020. You can extend this dichotomy by 10 years backwards and get the same result.
The implicit assumptions and unknowable technological plus social trends operated on then is how we get sadly comical visions of flying cars and colonies on other planets - all based on the utterly wrong assumption of ever cheaper and plentiful energy.
Predictions of AI and climate doom are the same - linear projections which are wrong to start with and only get worse from there as hangers-on, power mongers and agenda-self-seekers jump on the bandwagon.
Posted by: c1ue | Jan 15 2021 11:59 utc | 80
@ Posted by: c1ue | Jan 15 2021 11:40 utc | 78
There were only two major countries which returned to nominal pre-crisis growth rates: the UK and the USA.
But those were not true recoveries because, in orderto offset the crisis slump and return to pre-crisis growth trajectories, you have to grow at a faster rate than before. That didn't happen anywhere, but China lost half of its nominal growth rate on top of that.
Bourgeois economists only observed the Wall Street numbers, hence they state the world "recovered" in 2009. In their view, 2008 was immediately offset by 2009. The fact that they state China did it may have come from the fact they want to convince their clients to invest in China or that they fear China and are lobbying the USG to invade and destroy China.
Either way, it doesn't change the fact that only the limited echo chamber of the financial report world say the world recovered from 2008. Fear of China is widespread, but that's more because the rest of the world failed than China succeeding.
Just a few notes about Engdahl's piece over China:
I recall China doom predictions since 1994 ca. At that time, a major reform of the SOE took place, and the NPL from those companies were shifted into 4 bad banks, with a balance of well 25% of the PRC BIP at that time. Andy Xie in particular predicted the collapse of China every year since. Only after the 2008 financial crisis he gave up and moved to Shanghai.
One should note that Chinese debt of enterprises and institutions is 100% sovereign debt, and the NPL rate nowadays is in the single digits and below. I fail to see China's economy being fragile at all.
What really angered me, was the assertion that China were "the fastest aging population". This is simply not true. Citing https://asiatimes.com/2021/01/why-china-is-anti-fragile/
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Italy are aging faster than China, according to UN projections, and the US is not far behind. Without Hispanic immigration (which contributes disproportionately to fertility), America’s rate of aging would be about the same as China’s.
The demographic transition is an open task for the whole world. China's "fast aging population" stems from the baby boom of the sixties, when the under 16 made about half of the populace, as is now the case in some developing countries still. China has traded progress for larger popjulation, and rightly so. And while mastering the demographic transition is challenging, it is arguably easier than e.g. for India, where about 48% of every newborn cohort receives permanent physical and mental damage due to malnutrition until age of 18. And all those people have to be employed or at least fed later, and cared for when aging. China is ways better off under that respect.
As to chinese growth figures, one should recall that at start of the opening in 1976, China had roughly the same BIP as Belgium. In 2009, the BIP increase yoy alone was double of the belgian BIP. A dozble digit growth for further decades was neither possible nor desirable.
Posted by: aquadraht | Jan 15 2021 14:53 utc | 82
Dance with Bears, Helmer's site is back online, and includes another big article about Navalny, plus reflections on the attack which shut down the site for awhile.
AND, you get to see his art!
Posted by: downtownhaiku | Jan 15 2021 16:05 utc | 83
Maria Zakharova held a briefing today, there is a long list of items included, for the time being the English translation is only starting.
A couple of items got my attention, the obstacles faced by the Russian Government in answering the call for help placed by the Central American Parliament PARLACEN, after the region was severely damaged by hurricanes. Some money was allocated to buy water purifying devices, but after a lot of redtape by CityBank and a couple of days back and forth, the transfer was refused. A couple of conclusions can be drawn, one, the lack of any humanity of those entities recongnized as persons but that behave like beasts. Two, it is hightime the Russians smarten up and start thinking about ways to skirt and dump western financial institutions. Another item is about Guantánamo prison. Glad to see that Russia is slowly working with Central America, the region has suffered more than anybody else the dark shadow of the northern neighbour, from the times of the "Filibusteros" from Lousiana. The Russian Government has now observer status in PARLACEN, and hopefully that integrating project will prosper.
All in all there are 23 items in Zakharova's briefing.
Posted by: Paco | Jan 15 2021 16:25 utc | 84
The Guardian's coverage of the Jan 6 events, includes the following,seemingly WTF!? article:
Headline: "Captain America creator’s son hits out at Capitol mob's use of superhero imagery"
"Neal Kirby says he was appalled to see symbols of the patriotic action man among the crowds as ‘Captain America is the antithesis of Donald Trump’
In a statement issued to CNN reporter Jake Tapper, Neal Kirby, 72, said he was “appalled and mortified” to see Trump supporters dressed in Captain America costumes or displaying his iconic star shield on 6 January. His father Jack, along with Joe Simon, created Captain America in 1941, with the comic’s first issue famously showing the superhero punching Adolf Hitler in the face.
“Captain America has stood as a symbol and protector of our democracy and the rule of law for the past 79 years,” Kirby wrote. “He was created by two Jewish guys from New York who hated Nazis and hated bullies. Captain America stood up for the underdog and, as the story was written, even before he gained his strength and process from Army scientists, always stood for what was righteous, and never backed down.”
Posted by: spudski | Jan 15 2021 16:55 utc | 85
An FYI to those living within the Outlaw US Empire: Your $600 stimulus is on a debit card unless you're fortunate enough to have it directly deposited. Beware the fine print for the card is set up to funnel fees to the Financial Parasites if you're not extremely careful. I'm stripping it completely then depositing the cash into my own account. Lots of people won't pay attention to the details and will end up giving their enemies their monies. Please forward this FYI to your list!!
Lavrov met with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and had a joint presser afterwards. Here's one of the important Q&A:
"Question (translated from Arabic and addressed to Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud): There are tensions in relations between the United States and Iran. Russia is supporting Iran. What does Saudi Arabia think about the role of this cooperation in stabilising the situation in the region?"
"Sergey Lavrov (adds after Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud): We are interested in a normal dialogue between Iran and the Arab countries in the Gulf. We want them to reach agreements on building trust and transparency in military affairs and on promoting cooperation in general. This is exactly the goal of our proposal to draft a security concept for the Gulf. The main task is to prevent attempts to undermine efforts to create an environment for this dialogue.
"Unfortunately, our American colleagues (at least, the current administration) have been doing all they can to prevent this dialogue. Interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states and imposition of ideological concepts on these countries are unacceptable. Nobody should be doing that. We are seeing that in this region the United States and its closest allies behave like a bull in a china shop. Unfortunately, Iraq, Libya and the attempt to destroy Syria have had extremely negative repercussions for the countries and peoples of this region.
"We discussed this in detail. I emphasised again that we understand the concerns of Saudi Arabia, including those linked with the developments around Iran. We realise that Saudi Arabia is worried about Tehran’s missile programme and its activities in various countries in the region. The conference that we suggest holding to discuss collective security in the Gulf may well embrace all these issues, as well as the concerns of the other participants, including Iran. The main thing is to build this dialogue on the foundation of genuine equality. All outside parties must help the sides reach a consensus rather than set them against each other.
"In January, Foreign Minister of Iran Javad Zarif is expected to visit Moscow. We discussed this issue with him and will continue reviewing it in the context of our current exchange of views with Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud." [My Emphasis]
Perhaps 2021 will finally see movement toward the Russian and Iranian proposals for collective security within the Persian Gulf region. But as Lavrov said getting a dialog started must be the first step. Since 2019 and again at the last UNGA in 2020, Iran has said its prepared for such a dialog, so the ball is in the Saudi's and other Gulf nations's court. If they truly desire peace and enhanced security, then they must not listen to the Outlaw US Empire and other NATO voices and step out on their own.
Neo-liberalism defined:
"...The forces that protect the economic status quo in Chile – a country where the richest 1% appropriates around 30% of the wealth while the lower 50% only 2% – are doing everything they can to control the process and prevent social change..."
An excellent article on the current situation in Chile-the USA's Latin American masterpiece- on the new left review blog:
https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/burying-pinochet?pc=1310
Posted by: bevin | Jan 15 2021 19:53 utc | 88
- Trump refuses to pay Rudy Giuliani for his "Legal Services" ??
Posted by: Willy2 | Jan 15 2021 21:30 utc | 89
Fellow USisans, persistence pays off. Here's some good news, the NIH is finally taking the block off of Ivermectin as a treatment for the COVID disease.
Check this out:
https://covid19criticalcare.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/FLCCC-PressRelease-NIH-Ivermectin-in-C19-Recommendation-Change-Jan15.2021-final.pdf
Posted by: Curmudgeon | Jan 16 2021 4:05 utc | 90
Read the quote from a Reuters posting below and tell me that the US government is not picking winners and losers in this "pandemic" situation.
"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday began distributing $15 billion in new payroll assistance to airlines, money allocated by Congress to help more than 32,000 aviation workers return to jobs through at least March 31.
Large airlines receiving assistance must repay 30% of it to the government in 10-year, low-interest loans. They must also issue warrants to the government as part of the assistance and must agree to extend restrictions on executive compensation and a ban on paying dividends and share repurchases through March 2022.
"
So that is a $10.5 billion dollar gift to the private airline industry when other sectors of the economy are just as hurting. And who doesn't think that there is going to be a major reduction in air travel in the coming years both for business and leisure?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 16 2021 6:49 utc | 91
Below are quotes from a Reuters posting about negative effects of US/China trade war
"
(Reuters) - Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines because of a global shortage of semiconductors that in some cases has been exacerbated by the Trump administration’s actions against key Chinese chip factories, industry officials said.
The shortage, which caught much of the industry off-guard and could continue for many months, is now causing Ford Motor Co, Subaru Corp and Toyota Motor Corp to curtail production in the United States.
Automakers affected in other markets include Volkswagen, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
.....
Tight capacity and soaring demand has made it difficult for chip producers to absorb two shocks from the Trump administration.
First, the White House in September banned Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the Chinese telecommunications giant and a major smartphone maker, from buying chips made with American technology. Huawei stockpiled chips ahead of the ban in order to keep building what products it could after it took effect. And Huawei’s rivals, eyeing a chance to grab market share, started snapping up chips, analysts said.
Second, the U.S. government enacted rules that bar SMIC from using some U.S. tools to make chips, a move that has prompted at least some of SMIC’s customers to look for a different chip factory because of concerns that production could be disrupted.
“There’s a fear of using a Chinese chip factory if the United States is going to put them on an entity list,” said Daniel Goehl, chief business officer of UltraSense Systems, referring to possible further restrictions.
........
Analysts said the automotive chip shortage is likely to persist for as long as six months. An AutoForecast Solutions report estimated the global auto industry had already experienced lost volume of 202,000 vehicles as of Jan. 13.
Executives at automakers and suppliers said they are adapting production schedules to protect chips used in higher-profit vehicles. And companies are weighing sourcing chips from more suppliers and increasing inventory levels in the future.
“It’s four-dimensional chess all day long,” said one auto official, who asked not to be identified.
"
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 16 2021 7:21 utc | 92
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 16 2021 7:21 utc | 92
So all these just in time supply chains are brittle? Hmmm.
For a guy who supposedly builds hotels, Trump seem to pretty dense about how things really work. Or maybe he just doesn't care.
I wonder at what point he & Pompeo are going to bail out, you know, the scene where they walk away while the whole town burns behind them?
Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 16 2021 7:34 utc | 93
So I'm noticing now that Dmitry Medvedev, former PM of Russia, is getting prominent attention on RT, TASS, Sputnik today.
America 2.0: After the election
Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 16 2021 7:44 utc | 94
So here comes Joe Biden with his new Attorney General judge Merrick Garland.
During his election campaign, Biden pledged to take steps to end racial disparities in sentencing by eliminating mandatory minimum sentences, ending the use of the federal death penalty and restoring the Justice Department’s role of investigating and holding police departments accountable for “systemic misconduct.”
But what will the little man do about a network of corrupt Republican Attorney Generals?
Wall Street On Parade reports:
If there was ever a DEFCON 1 warning to Americans that campaign finance reform must be a top priority of the incoming President Biden administration, it is the cautionary tale of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) and their recruitment efforts of the mob that descended on the Capitol of the United States on January 6.
This scabrous pack of money launderers and mob rabble rousers used all manner of directly associated subsidiaries to drive the mob to the capitol invasion or 'stroll' depending on 'viewpoint'. Only they left some uncomfortable calling cards behind other than the two bodies.
Five people are now dead from that siege, including a Capitol Police officer, and dozens injured. The U.S. Attorneys office for Washington, D.C. has also confirmed that two live pipe bombs with timers were found in front of the Republican National Committee and Democrat National Committee, both located near the Capitol.When one thinks of a group with the word “Association” in their name, it invokes the idea that this is a fraternal organization or a trade association. What doesn’t come to mind is that it is a campaign financing group to elect Republican Attorneys General – the highest law enforcement officer in a state – by taking vast sums of money from the very companies committing crimes in those states. But that is what RAGA has been doing for many years now.
The Executive Committee of RAGA includes Attorneys General from nine states. Its Chairman is Chris Carr, Attorney General of Georgia. For RAGA to participate in fomenting a riot at the Capitol on incendiary information it knew to be false demands a thorough and formal FBI and Congressional investigation. RAGA has thrown a bone to the media by firing its Executive Director, Adam Piper. But the entire structure of RAGA needs deep scrutiny.The Rule of Law Defense Fund is the dark money fundraising arm of RAGA and located at the same address and suite number as RAGA according to its IRS filings. Both the Rule of Law Defense Fund and RAGA were at varying times listed as “Coalition Partners” on websites set up to promote the January 6 event. While many of these websites have been taken down, we were able to access them at the Internet Archives’ Wayback Machine, which captures website content on past dates. Website names used to promote the January 6 event include: TrumpMarch.com, MarchtoSaveAmerica.com, and WildProtest.com, among others. The obvious question, of course, is why would State Attorneys General want to associate themselves as a Coalition Partner with a group calling itself WildProtest.com, not to mention a false claim of a stolen election.
Reuters informs us that before becoming a judge, Garland worked as a federal prosecutor and helped secure a conviction against Timothy McVeigh for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. He was also on the team that secured a conviction of former District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry for cocaine possession.
So I might be excused for getting my hopes up that Garland will take a cold hard look at a cabal of states Attorneys General that raise dark money and use it to finance a direct political campaign to undermine the constitutional duty of the Congress and Senate.
I wont be getting my hopes charged up because as with the Debbie Wasserman Shultz installed spy and blackmail ring in the Congress and the Hillary Clinton breach of USAi national security and the thousand other examples of the failed state of the USAi, I suspect that judge Garland was rightly blocked as Obummer's appointment to the US Supreme Court as he is a compliant dolt, a coward on a paycheck, a classic example of the corruption of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party and not one to 'rock the boat'. Time will tell, I would give him two months to let everyone down.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 16 2021 8:17 utc | 95
Bemildred #94
Thank you that was a good report not that I am a fan of Medvedev but he wrote this well enough. It is good to read that after the Wall Street on Parade report. The two do not inspire confidence for democracy to ever be practiced in the USA.
From Medvedev's report:
All of this is hardly consistent with those norms of democracy that Washington arrogantly imposes on other countries. For instance, US officials in the OSCE constantly point to the need for the OSCE participating states to comply with the recommendations by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) drawn up based on the results of its election observation activities. In the meantime, the US itself fails to act on the relevant recommendations, blatantly violating the provisions of para. 8 of the 1990 Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE and para. 25 of the 1999 Charter for European Security stipulating the obligation to invite observers for monitoring national elections......During the popular vote in 2016, the ODIHR did not have access to polling stations in 17 states. The international observers, who showed legitimate interest in the elections on the voting day, faced threats of arrest and indictment. In the 2020 popular vote, the number of “inhospitable” states reached 18. Only five states and the District of Columbia have legal provisions in place ensuring international election observation.
The USAi certainly has something unpleasant that it wishes to hide.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 16 2021 9:10 utc | 96
Your latest in Uyghur genocide from Guardian:
Testimony from a NED employed activist - Check
Stock Photos - Check
Images proven to be from prison transfers outside of Xinjiang - Check
Nonsensical logic in claims - Check
I rate this cool story 10 Iraqi WMDs out of 10 Iraqi baby incubators in terms of credibility.
Posted by: J W | Jan 16 2021 9:32 utc | 97
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 16 2021 9:10 utc | 96
Medvedev is an interesting fellow. He's been Putin's sidekick for some time now and they both seem quite comfortable with each other, akin to Lavrov a bit. And yet he is a much more subdued personality, and as his writing shows a capable but not exceptional mind. At least to look at from out here in TV land.
And Putin is at an age where, if he is to be consistent with his past performance (energetic, meticulous, far-sighted), he needs to think about what comes after him. Would that be Medvedev? What has Medvedev learned from his time as understudy? I dunno, but it's something I've had on my mind.
So when I see a bunch of articles by and about him, it perks up my interest. And Saker won't like it.
Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 16 2021 13:06 utc | 98
The Weekend of the Fake News.
--
India Starts Vaccinating Its 1.3 Billion People
The headline gives the reader the impression India is going to outright vaccinate all of its 1.3 billion inhabitants, taking only into account the logical time necessary to inoculate them. In other words, it gives the average NYT reader the illusion India already has the doses in stock and already has the logistics ready to distribute them.
But then the truth arises when the NYT reporter has to come out with the numbers:
Mr. Modi has pledged to inoculate 300 million health care and frontline workers, including police officers and, in some cases, teachers, by July. But so far the Indian government has purchased only 11 million doses of Covishield and 5.5 million doses of Covaxin.
So, not only the goal was never to inoculate "1.3 billion people" - it is 300 million - but India doesn't have the doses, in fact, not even near that (only 16.5 million purchased).
The situation is made worse by the fact that India has adopted a free market approach to the vaccines it is producing: whoever comes with the money can buy it, whatever the quantity. As a result, India is exporting most of its vaccines to the First World countries, leaving almost none to their own people. It is a Third World maquilladora for Big Pharma.
And there are more macabre information as you go down the article. For example, one of the two vaccines India will inoculate on its own people - "Covaxin" - hasn't even finished its trials; we don't know if it really works:
Neither Covaxin’s manufacturer, Bharat Biotech, nor the Indian Council of Medical Research, which contributed to the vaccine’s development, has published data proving that it works. In a Covaxin consent form at District Hospital Aundh, one of a handful of sites in Pune where the vaccine was being administered, the manufacturer noted that clinical efficacy was “yet to be established.”
India's situation is so dire that we don't even know if the fact they have only 16.5 million doses is good news or not.
The Indo-Pacific papers already were declassified. The NYT should give the news to their reporters that the farce is uncovered and stop doing PR for India.
--
This headline is criminal:
This is the real news:
"We need to be careful about the use of the phrase patient zero, which many people indicate as the first initial case. We may never find who patient zero was. What we need to do is follow the science and follow the studies," Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19 told a press conference on Friday, referring to the organization’s fact-finding mission that arrived in Wuhan, widely regarded as an original hotspot of the pandemic, on Thursday.
I have a theory on why the Asia Times - which has the particularity of being the only newspaper in town that puts the opinion pieces at the main spot of their homepages, without the "opinion" tag on them - published that aberration: they know the virus didn't originate in Wuhan, and they know the WHO won't find patient zero there.
There is growing, if only circumstantial, evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 was born either in the USA or in Italy (Italy being the most likely). The Western MSM is already preparing the masses to not believe in that when the definitive evidence comes (if it comes).
--//--
This is the post-Soviet freedom. The REAL post-Soviet freedom:
In his infamous book, Hobsbawm - in an act of extreme cowardice, intellectual dwarfism and defeatism - popularized the term "actually existing socialism" to designate the system of the USSR. The term was then quickly used and abused by the liberals as evidence socialism was not feasible (i.e. it was "utopia").
By that logic, we should also be talking about "actually existing capitalism", "actually existing Western/liberal democracy", "actually existing rule of law" etc. etc.
--//--
It seems the CDU became "Angela Merkel's party" on the NYT and The Guardian headlines. I'm sure no reader of these two newspapers will notice the irony, because they are a bunch of hypocrites who only see "authoritarianism" in countries they don't like. Either those two newspapers don't have faith in their readers' intellectual capacity and politicization or they're just assuming it's an information they don't need to know - after all, who cares who killed Gaddafi, right? All that matters is that they did "God's Work"!
Compare that to CGTN's headline, which is precise and informative at the same time: "Laschet succeeds Merkel as German CDU party leader"
--//--
Why were US media silent on Pfizer vaccine deaths?: Global Times editorial
Yeah. Why?
By the way, the Norwegian Public Health Institute note on the 13 proven linked deaths was bestial:
The Norwegian Public Health Institute updated its Covid-19 vaccination guidelines earlier this week to reflect the new data. The document now instructs medics to thoroughly evaluate nursing home residents before giving them the vaccine. For very ill people who are not expected to live long, the benefit of the jab “may be marginal or negligible,” the guidelines say.
So, the elderly should just be left to die, vaccine-less, because the benefit "may be marginal or negligible" because they are not expected to live long. Sounds like euthanasia with extra steps to me - with the aggravating that it would be involuntary euthanasia, i.e. murder.
I have a better solution for the Norwegian Public Health Institute: import the safe (and much cheaper) Chinese and Russian vaccines. Do your fucking job, save lives.
@vk | Jan 16 2021 13:49 utc | 99
I have a better solution for the Norwegian Public Health Institute: import the safe (and much cheaper) Chinese and Russian vaccines. Do your fucking job, save lives.
Or simply do not kill people trying to "fix" a non-problem. This is a crime against humanity and it is now universally recognised.
China (Global Times)
Chinese health experts call to suspend Pfizer's mRNA vaccine for elderly after Norwegian deaths
US (Zero Hedge)
Health Experts Call For Suspension Of Pfizer Vaccination Among Elderly After Norway Deaths
Russia (Sputnik News)
COVID-19 Vaccines May Have 'Serious Consequences' for Old & Frail, Norway Warns
Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 16 2021 14:00 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Mercopress: Guyana and the Unites States have signed a new pact aimed at boosting the South American CARICOM nation’s military might. It comes following a decree issued by embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, unilaterally laying claim to Guyana’s Essequibo territory.
Resumen Latinoamericano: [Ecuador] After winning the presidency in 2017, Moreno turned his back on his predecessor and nominator Rafael Correa and double-crossed the PAIS Alliance party they both belonged to. Moreno is widely despised as a result, and the PAIS Alliance has been virtually wiped off the map, as correísta (pro-Correa) members moved over to the newly formed coalition Union for Hope (UNES), and presented Andrés Arauz as candidate for president. Arauz’s victory in February is almost assured—recent polls give him an edge ranging from 8 percentage points (Atlas Intel, December 29) to 18 points (Perfiles de Opinion, January 5).
La Jornada: [Mexico] …Warning of an overbearing attitude by Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg in the face of the events in the United States – and the suspension of Donald Trump’s accounts on that company’s platforms – President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that it is important to create alternative media as a counterweight to the actions of executives from social networks and traditional media.
Posted by: Maracatu | Jan 14 2021 11:30 utc | 1