Lavrov qualified how he sees the term “bloc” utilized in his explanation of his interpretation of the contrived “Indo-Pacific region” during his talk with South Korean media I linked to @201:
“We will also speak about other Asian-Pacific matters. Interesting processes are underway in the region. Attempts are being made to reform it and to introduce the term Indo-Pacific region. We do not fully understand this. These are alarming processes, because an attempt is being made to create something that would be directly opposite to the ASEAN-based organisations such as the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting, which are unification forums. They involve all Asian-Pacific countries and are designed for conducting a dialogue on the basis of equality and for attaining mutually acceptable compromises and agreements.
“The advocates of the Indo-Pacific strategic tilt (they have even changed the terms) say it is the same idea but that it would be developing much more energetically. In point of fact, a closer look at the events held within the framework of the Indo-Pacific strategy will show that they are based on bloc mentality, that is, the establishment of blocs that are not designed to promote a positive process but are spearheaded against certain states. The proclaimed goals include the containment of some states, while other countries are left outside the boundaries of such initiatives. I do not see this as a thing that is positive.
“It would be useful to revitalise the principles which we have reaffirmed more than once, namely the preservation of ASEAN’s central role in the development of regional cooperation in all spheres.” [My Emphasis]
So, I presume Lavrov would frown on my use of Eurasian Bloc despite its de facto exclusion from the EU/NATO Bloc. Given recent events however, I don’t see the newly coined Indo-Pacific region gaining any currency as its three Asian members will are already involved with different Eurasian and East Asian organizations.
I did see numerous positives in Lavrov’s overall message to the RoK, particularly the Nine Bridges concept whose beginnings were deterred by the pandemic but will be restarted. By 2030, I expect Asia to be Asian, the Outlaw US Empire having withdrawn to Guam or beyond.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 23 2021 17:09 utc | 203

I also include cultural and civilizational factors.
When I think of the Third World, I think of Guatemala, Pakistan, India, What-used-to-be-called Central African Republic, the Philippines Islands, What-used-to-be-called Belgian Congo, What-used-to-be-called Somalia.
Posted by: fyi | Mar 22 2021 15:44 utc | 123
Anyone interested in comprehending the depths that Iran had sunk before the Pahlavis rejuvinated Iran, should get their hands on a ~100 year old National Geographic issue (iirc circa 1923) that had a multipage spread on “Persia”.
Iran was a complete basketcase of a country, mired in superstition, bogus religiosity (which continues to date), and poverty. For “Mr.” FYI to list “India” as 3rd world country while ignoring Iran is really rich. Having grown up in Iran ruled by the Pahlavis, I had no idea that merely 50 years ago Iran was in that state.
Regardless of the over-reach and crimes committed by Europeans, anyone here who talks of “civilization” should compare their country’s condition from, say, 1700 to 1900, with Europe. It is embarrassing, frankly.
Also this “civilization and culture” matter needs to be addressed. Whether it is China or Iran, the -vital- period of both had long been passed. These latter day generations inherited the corrupt and putrid corpus of the previously vital “culture”.
Someone asked whether that monster Mao’s Cultural Revolution accomplished anything. It certainly removed that corrupt corpus from Chinese consciousness. Do you think the modern Chinese in PRC consults the I-Ching before making a decision? I bet they still do this in Taiwan.
So 3rd world designation can mean anything, but glorious civilization or not, the fact remains that Asia in its entirety had stagnated and nothing new or vital in terms of cultural products was produced in those period.
Also note, both these previously great nations (Iran, China) were ruled by foreigners (turkic and mongol) during their long and steady period of civlization decline. By the time the Europeans showed up, both of these cultures were comatose.
(@c1ue. Quite enjoyed reading your posts in this thread. I find you honest, rational, and informed. Keep it up, please. This forum certainly requires such input to counter the “alternative reality” of various ideologues and sock puppets here.)

Posted by: Iranian | Mar 23 2021 17:31 utc | 205

Norwegian @202
Maybe because I am Chinese. The key of our culture DNA are 1) moral/ethics/shame based value system and 2) judgement by history.
In China, thanks to the habits of our ancestors, who kept on recording of the historic events and people involved in during our thousands years of history, what the emperors and officials have done and said during their time would get judged in a very long history time frame.
We have two pair famous sayings when comes to judge the famous and great:
– 名垂青史(ming chui qing shi: on the scroll of fame with lasting legacy);
– 遗臭万年(yi chou wan nian: leaving a bad name which will long be remembered/cursed, generation after generation.)
So, 名气(ming qi: reputation) and 节操(jie cao：moral integrity) are the highest standard/aim that Chinese emperors and politicians, in principle, should strive for.
That’s why I though EU parliament members, who may have some sense of history and decency, would have thought twice before they acted upon the lies with holes bigger than Swiss cheese.
Btw, Xi Jinping once recited two sentences from an ancient Chinese poem at the Fifth Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the CPC some years ago to show his determination to anti-corruption and dedication to serve the people:
“粉身碎骨浑不怕，要留清白在人间”(Not afraid to be shattered into muddy pieces in order to keep the moral integrity and clean reputation in the world).
An American journalist from NYT or WaPo, -can’t remeber exactly-, in Beijing interpreted it as Xi’s arrogance to try to splash his own reputation as high as the sky (sic)!
Imagine how shocked I was and still am when stumbled it on twitter! The Yankee journo either did not know any Chinese or purposely misled the readers.

Posted by: lulu | Mar 23 2021 17:50 utc | 207

Dr. George W Oprisko @ 33
During the 8-year long work of alleviating the 832 counties with 100 million population out of absolute poverty, there are 1800 people who came to remote rural village to help the poorest died in their poverty alleviation fighting. Most of them are CPC members, young and old.
If you are interested, you can use google or Deepl, a German online translation site to read some of their work and sacrifice.
In Sichuan Province alone, there are 150 died on their work to help the poor people. The youngest one is only 23!
People like Steven J. Johnson, and Neoliberals in the Western, are actually not interested in the well being of these poor Chinese. They are so entrenched in the ideology and racial hubris that they could not see any humanity in another political system (CPC) and another foreign society (China), which are so different from the Western Capitalist Orthodoxy.

Posted by: lulu | Mar 23 2021 18:31 utc | 209

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 23 2021 16:20 utc | 201
It has not been translated yet, the russian text is here:
https://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4647776

Posted by: Paco | Mar 23 2021 18:45 utc | 211

Paco @212–
Thanks so very much for the link!! I found these prepared words by Lavrov in his introductory remarks prior to his meeting with Yi I linked to above frame the issue well:
“As you have noted, the global situation is not becoming any simpler. It is increasingly characterised by the attempts of our Western colleagues to ensure their domination, by hook or by crook, disregarding the objective pace of history that facilitates the establishment of a multipolar international order. We need to mobilise our supporters while defending justice and the principles of the UN Charter which, as I have repeatedly said, are being increasingly ignored by Western colleagues. They are trying to invent their own rules and to impose them on all others….
“On the whole, I completely share your desire to continue using cooperation between our foreign ministries to strengthen the positions of our countries on the international scene in full compliance with the principles of international law and the UN Charter. [My Emphasis]
Again, my impression is the Friends of the UN Charter will become the vehicle for Russia and China to advance their interests in defeating the Neoliberal attempt to destroy the UN Charter. I also see the closing points Peter Lavelle made in the Crosstalk I linked as vital–No attempted “autopsy” as to why so many voted for Trump and the related fact that the type of Extreme Liberalism being pushed on the US public and globally is more than opposed by 50%: It’s so looney most don’t even understand it aside from the fact that it attacks their values.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 23 2021 19:27 utc | 213

@ karlof1 | Mar 23 2021 19:45 utc | 215 with the ongoing provision of links and quotes from the Axis of Good…thanks
My observation is that they aren’t talking yet about money and the financial system. I would ask your historian self to tell us if there was public talk leading up to the Bretton Woods Agreement meeting? There is lots of talk about alternatives to this or that part but not yet the BIS which was suppose to go away as part of the Bretton Woods Agreement but they are still around manipulating foreign exchange for private purposes.
A question that comes to my mind is whether we will have a military event precipitated economic crash or will the crash happen outside the military posturing…..I am hoping for the latter but we may have to have that moment of military loss to precipitate the financial collapse of empire.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 23 2021 19:58 utc | 215

My last days in the village: the battle never ends.
A cadre who’s been working in a small village in Xinjiang for poverty alleviation over last 4 years, is leaving for Urumqi after he finished his job.
To be honest, I don’t think I could do this by leaving family and big city behind to work in a remote and poor village for four years. Respect!
250,000 people moved away from inhabitable places to new houses with new developing projects sponsored by the government. This is one of the biggest eco resettlement project in Hong Shi Bao, Ning Xia Hui Muslim Autonomous Region(宁夏吴忠市红寺堡区).
Since 2000年，the lives of 230,000 people who resettled from Xi Hai Gu (西海固地区)，where there were barely any water resources for people to scrap a life, have dramatically changed. Apart from free new houses, government has built water supply system and helped the peasants plant 100,000 grape trees, 56,000 mu (ca 3,733 hectares) for goji berry (high priced produce for domestic consumption and export), 70,000 mu (ca 4,667 hectares) day lily (cash crop), and raise 130,000 cattle as well as 960,000 sheep.
Retired Belgian become the assistant to the village secretary in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Look, just how much and how hard to achieve the alleviation of the absolute poverty, and how much still need to be done!
I hope the doubters here can get some ideas how and what CPC has done to help the poorest and pulled 700 million Chinese from poverty. Maybe it can be inspirational to solve the poverty and homeless problems in your countries?

Posted by: lulu | Mar 23 2021 20:11 utc | 217

karlof1@214 appears not to be aware that a key principle of the UN charter is that some nations are more important than others, especially the permanent members of the Security Council. It also holds that mere national sovereignties are not so important, as demonstrated by the very limited roles assigned to the General Assembly. And as I recall, the UN charter holds that the UN can form its own military force to suppress aggressors? This one has never been acted on, obviously. So the question asks itself almost, does karlof1 mean the words of the charter or as imagined today. The UN arose as a victors’ coalition after WWII. The USSR joining then was a diplomatic effort to make a joint peace on principles of international law too. The subsequent crusade against Communism killed millions and cost hundreds of billions, so the UN charter in practice means crusades against Communism can continue. It is also highly unclear if anybody knows much about what the principles of international law actually are.
The verbiage about extreme liberalism being forced on the world has no clear meaning, but it does sound suspiciously like a whine about sexual depravity flooding the pure cultures or some such nonsense. I can only say the same religious bigotry that inspires so many Trumpers is the same religious bigotry that enjoyed colonizing brown people and of course, mercilessly bombing and besieging Communist countries. And the same religious bigotry inspires a clash of civilzations, Christendom versus Islam, justifying every drop of blood spilt. Taking umbrage over the corruption of morals while approving the slaughter of millions—as if that wasn’t the greatest corruption of morals of all!—seems like an ugly ideal to me. I hope that’s not what karlof1 meant. (I know karlof1 is one of the leading commenters but I’m not nearly as good at keeping track as I should be.)

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 23 2021 20:48 utc | 219

chairman of the Xinjiang region and deputy party chief is in fact a Uyghur? He’s called Shohrat Zakir.
US put a sanction on Arken Imirbaki, an Uyghur who is Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress。
66 years ago, Xinjiang farmer Kurban Tulum’s wish was to ride a donkey to Beijing. Today, his great-granddaughter flew to the capital to attend the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC).
(PS. Kurban Tulum was super popular and well known among people 40+ in China.)
Born and raised in Xinjiang girl Ma Neng Neng has something to say: My family is a united of ethnicities – maternal grandma is Kazahk, paternal grandma: Persian/Tajik, both grandpas: Hui Muslim, father: Han . The belief my family has taught me is you must have belief! The belief is tolerance, acceptance and all ethnicities unite together like pomegranate.
Does the Western care any more about the facts? Or, the Western and neoliberials deem these Uyghurs as “bad Uyghurs” not suitable to report to fit in their narratives?
Facts are so much more boring than those sensational “concentration camp” stories. Facts does not guarantee your career advancement nor the sales of billions of weapons.

Posted by: lulu | Mar 23 2021 21:14 utc | 221

@lulu | Mar 23 2021 20:41 utc | 219
I am simply an average native Norwegian with a family of lawyers and engineers. A grand uncle of mine was imprisoned by the German nazis during WWII occupation. I grew up first under relatively humble conditions and later more affluent, but then under the same roof as a psychopath. I would not wish that upon anyone, I can recognize such people now. Happily married to an asian woman for 30 years so far. I love other cultures and and my own culture with heritage from the Vikings and their discovery of America 1000 years ago. 2 years ago I went to see Angkor Wat in Cambodia, that is the most amazing place I will ever see in my life.
When I say my culture is under attack it does not mean I have anything against foregners, I have chinese, brazilian and peruvian colleagues that I work with every day and respect. But our politics have been thoroughly corrupted, just look at the head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. The so called “green” policy is built on lies and is designed to extract the riches in our country and this leads to destruction of the culture, i.e. respect for history, tradition and general decency. If you abandon truth, degeneracy follows.

How could human being degenerates into such a status?

I have a very hard time understanding it. It happened in Germany in the 1930’s and it seems to happen again now all over the “west”. It seems to me there are psychopaths with deep understanding of how to manipulate human psyche …
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 23 2021 21:17 utc | 223

foolisholdman@222 is incorrect, the so-called “Trentes Glorieuses” happened because the destruction of capital in WWII was so great that it helped restore profitability of capital for a considerable period, while the decolonization of the empires and later the stabilizing influence of the socialist part of world economy moderated the inevitable business cycle for a relatively brief period. It was after all not even a single human lifetime. It is true that the example of the Soviet Union and others were likely of key importance to prompting the US to do away with Jim Crow. Of course since the US is still firmly committed to a class society, it was inevitable that abolishing white privileges did not abolish classes…and therefore most black people would still be working class and only a few would become petty bourgeois and even fewer haute bourgeois.
lulu@210 may not be a native speaker of English, but mindlessly copying an idiot’s typographical error suggests the problem is dishonesty. (There is no Steven J. Johnson commenting here. Bots of course cannot be expected to correct typos, can they?) “People like Steven J. Johnson, and Neoliberals in the Western, are actually not interested in the well being of these poor Chinese. They are so entrenched in the ideology and racial hubris that they could not see any humanity in another political system (CPC) and another foreign society (China), which are so different from the Western Capitalist Orthodoxy.” It’s hard to tell if lulu ever read a single word I’ve ever written, but it is impossible to see how an honest reader can think I comment from a neoliberal perspective. I criticize Xi for moving away from socialist planning in favor of capital markets! That’s the opposite of neoliberalism. lulu can’t tell black from white. As for racial hubris, it’s true that I’m not particularly woke. Being anti-fascist, including the glossy fake “I-respect-all-cultures-in-their own-lands-because-there-are-many-roads-to-spiritual-truth-I-just-want-to-defend-my-own” crap put out by the likes of Norwegian and too many others to bring to mind easily, being against that crap isn’t woke! Trying to impute a racist motive, then assume the pretense refutes arguments, facts, history, reality, yeah, well, maybe that kind of thing is “woke.” But it’s lulu pulling that dirty trick.
People who criticized Gorbachev for trashing the socialist system were accused of not caring about the poor Russians (the others usually didn’t count for that kind of critics.) But when Yeltsin came to finish what Gorbachev started, we saw who really cared about the poor Russians!(Yes, I was criticized and yes, I drew the lesson that I was right and I shouldn’t respect the same failed arguments made then. Staleness doesn’t make them more convincing.) When the choice between finishing the journey on the capitalist road comes (and it’s getting closer,) if the wrong choice is made, the restoration of capitalism I think will far more savage in China than in Russia, as China is both more advanced in some places now, but less advanced in more. Like a sharp temperature difference in weather, this I think will make the storm much worse. So, who is it that doesn’t care if the poor people of China have a future? It is lulu who doesn’t care, who just wants a chorus of adulation for now. I don’t think gushing is true love.

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 23 2021 21:39 utc | 225

Mao Cheng Ji | Mar 21 2021 23:01 utc

Personally, I don’t know if for any particular individual it’s better to work in a factory all day and buy their food, or to grow their own food. It depends.

Well, working on your own and for yourself and your family, it may be better, while the sun shines and the rain falls at the right times, but if you fall ill, or the locusts come or a volcano covers your farm in ash or the path you need to get to the next town gets washed away; you may be glad of a state run health insurance, or state paid road menders, or food to tide you over the locust invasion or….or… and if you could but don’t contribute why should you benefit from it?
If you are a subsistence farmer, you cannot benefit from all the opportunities that the development of China is opening up to people, as many of them (e.g. foreign travel) need to be paid for.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Mar 23 2021 21:52 utc | 227

Scotland’s Dirty War
Remember this from two days ago:

So let me add it all up:
For the Iraq Invasion it was Alastair Campbell who was the prime mover. For the Salmond assassination it is Liz Lloyd who is the prime mover. Here is some of her involvement. In January or February 2018 she was involved in the coralling of fresh meat into the Scot Gov complaints “procedure”. In March 2018 she lured Alex Salmond back into the web using Geoff Aberdein. On April 2 2018 she sprung the trap and sought, with Nicola Sturgeon, to blackmail Alex Salmond. Salmond launched a judicial review. That is, he called their bluff. They sought to carry out their blackmail threat by publishing their doodles and fantasies on the Scottish Government website. Salmond sought an Interdict (injunction) to prevent such publication. So Liz Lloyd leaked the report to her former lover at the Daily Record, who published and destroyed the good name of Alex Salmond. When Salmond continued to resist, and was about to win the judicial review, Liz Lloyd recruited and suborned five other women to make claims for the criminal trial of Alex Salmond. Then Ms Lloyd made an accusation herself, became an alpha Betty, and was rewarded with lifetime anonimity (she is Ms A in the criminal pleadings).
So I say again, and even more strongly:
Now here is the kicker.
Liz Lloyd has not appeared before the Fabiani committee!
Now it just might be that SOMEBODY is protecting Ms Lloyd.
I know who is that somebody. But I don’t want to upset people by naming her.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2021/03/the-moa-week-in-review-ot-2021-023.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef026bdec59858200c#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef026bdec59858200c
Well I’ve just seen this:
Michael says:
22 March, 2021 at 7:10 pm
Who ever heard of a report being sent to the accused for redaction before publication.
From Hamiltons accompanying letter:

In particular, I have been advised by my own independent legal adviser that nothing may be published which could identify certain particular individuals, some of whom had a significant role in certain events. A redacted report that effectively erases the role of any such individual in the matters investigated in the report cannot be properly understood by those reading it, and presents an incomplete and even at times misleading version of what happened. In earlier drafts of the report I attempted to anonymise certain individuals in such cases but these attempts were not successful.
It is therefore impossible to give an accurate description of some of the relevant events dealt with in the report while at the same time complying with the court orders.
I am deeply frustrated that applicable court orders will have the effect of preventing the full publication of a report which fulfils my remit and which I believe it would be in the public interest to publish.

So it’s clearly not just me!

Posted by: John Cleary | Mar 23 2021 22:24 utc | 229

@lulu | Mar 23 2021 21:48 utc | 227
It is getting late, I will listen to that CrossTalk with Diesen in the morning…

Posted by: Norwegian | Mar 23 2021 22:28 utc | 231

Sorry. Way = War

Posted by: John Cleary | Mar 23 2021 22:52 utc | 233

I put some suet in a box out in the yard today and fed the cat, so I’ve fed all my local non-humans today. Here are a few important points made by Lavrov in the presser with Li:
“We share the opinion that Russian-Chinese foreign policy interaction remains a vital factor in global affairs. We pointed out the destructive character of US aspiration to undermine the UN-centric international legal framework by using the military-political alliances of the Cold War period and creating similar closed alliances. We noted the growing importance of the joint activities of Russia, China and a wide range of other countries to preserve the current system of international law in the context of the increasing Western attempts to promote its concept of a rules-based international order.”
psychohistorian and others will appreciate this Q & A:
“Question: How does Russia plan on moving away from using international payment systems controlled by the West? Are there any specific agreements with China to create a common system as opposed to the Western ones? What can it be based on? Russia’s Mir card or China’s UnionPay system?
“Sergey Lavrov: This work has been underway for quite a long time now in different areas. We have our own financial messaging system. The respective financial departments of Russia and China plan to expand its use.
“For many years now we have been trying to transfer trade to settlements in national currencies. There’s a corresponding mechanism which is quite effective. We are switching to the national currency in our trade with other major partners.
“This is the imperative of our time. The people behind the global monetary system suddenly decided they were unhappy with the way other countries, in particular China, are using this system. China is beating the West at its own game. Hence, the reaction of the United States. Wang Yi covered this in detail. You cannot do global business by means of ultimatums and sanctions, or force other countries to behave as expected of them. We have a proverb: You can’t force your love on another person. Unfortunately, the United States has not learned this and is acting from the opposite position.
“I’m convinced that Russia and China will do their best to ensure their safety and protection against the threats coming from the states that are unfriendly towards our respective countries. This also applies to ways of conducting trade, mutual settlements and everything else that makes us stronger.” [My Emphasis]
And the last Q & A deals with the issue of illegal sanctions that also provided the context for Lavrov’s comments about the ill state of relations with the EU which include why–a situation that might soon be extended to include the Outlaw US Empire:
“Question: China and Russia are under sanctions pressure from the United States and the EU. Do our countries plan to share their experience of confronting this pressure? How justified is the opinion that both countries’ tense relations with the Western powers make them move ever closer to one another?
“Sergey Lavrov: We have covered Russia and China’s reaction to sanctions and the illegitimate unilateral restrictions already today. We share the understanding that these methods are unacceptable in international life. We have more than once stated our position on this score, including in the Joint Statement. I’m convinced that this approach will be reiterated in a clear and unambiguous manner in the document on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Treaty on Good-Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation between Russia and China that our leaders will approve.
“In addition to our principled approaches that are set forth in public documents, we closely cooperate with many countries at the UN in order to counter these practices. As you are aware, the UN has a Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures. This is already a fairly serious practical move to clarify the unacceptability of this policy. The United States, Europe and the West in general are, in fact, replacing diplomacy, the art which they are losing, with the steps seeking to impose their own rules on everyone else. In their opinion, these rules rather than international law must underlie the international order. Sanctions are among these rules.
“Russia and China do not ally against anyone. Geographically, our country is located on the vast Eurasian continent. China is our good neighbour, as is the EU. We have always been interested in promoting our relations across all areas. Europe has severed these relations and destroyed the mechanisms that have been created over many years. There are only a few European partner countries that have a desire to act based on their national interests.
“Objectively, this led to cooperation between Russia and China developing faster than what is left of relations with the European countries. Importantly, there are no relations with the EU as an organisation. The infrastructure was destroyed by unilateral decisions made by Brussels. If and when the Europeans decide to eliminate this anomaly in contacts with their largest neighbour, we will be ready to build up relations between us on the basis of equality and a search for a balance of interests. But so far, all has been quiet on the Western front, whereas the East offers a very intense agenda, which is getting more varied every single year.” [My Emphasis]
Putin and Xi are the primary leaders of the global effort to reform the UN along more democratic lines, which specifically addresses the unique situation of the UNSC. The main reason the Outlaw US Empire hasn’t been disciplined for its many illegal acts is its UNSC position. It’s as if a serial killer was presiding as prosecutor, judge and jury at its own trial which allows it to absolve itself of the most heinous of crimes–Genocide of Southeast and Southwest Asians. While some think it better that the Outlaw US Empire remains in the UN when comparing its situation with that of Germany and the League of Nations, I don’t see where it makes any difference since the main issue/question/concern is the enforcement of international law, particularly for the offenses committed by the Outlaw US Empire and the EU/NATO. Removing the dollar as the primary reserve commercial currency would make ignoring its sanctions simple and is a suitable punishment for its many criminal sanctions. But how to make it pay for the many illegal wars and other assaults made on nations and peoples globally since the crimes are very similar to those of Nazi Germany? It’s supposedly a democratic nation, so what cost should its populace bear for the actions of those it elected? And those are just two of several very thorny questions that are made more difficult to answer since the Outlaw US Empire isn’t yet a militarily defeated and occupied entity. Here’s another: How to protect the world from those guilty leaders of the Empire wishing to avoid public execution or life in prison by committing suicide by nuclear weapons?
Revamping the International System isn’t an easy task when a large and powerful bloc of outlaw nations don’t want to conform to the norms they initially pledged themselves to uphold. But honest nations and their peoples can’t allow themselves to be held hostage by a group of nuclear armed rogues so they must find some method to arrest the outlaws. And IMO, that’s the #1 challenge facing humanity.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 23 2021 23:09 utc | 235

Grieved | Mar 22 2021 0:42 utc | 78

https://thesaker.is/american-dystopia-the-propaganda-mask-and-the-utopia-syndrome/
It’s a wonderful article for what it says about life in the US mind and culture.

This is certainly a wonderful piece! It explains, as I have never seen explained before, how US politicians can lie so confidently and spout such utter balderdash with complete conviction.
I would also very strongly recommend reading the piece he give as reference No.15 to the above article.

Posted by: foolisholdman | Mar 23 2021 23:50 utc | 237

Here’s a gem from the Global Times editorial I linked @201–
“There is no basis for China, Russia and many other developing countries to discuss human rights issues with the West, because what the West really cares about is not human rights, but the right to define human rights one-sidedly. This is an expression of hegemony in which only the Western countries can set the rules for the world. China and Russia will never allow the West to be this rude and insolent, nor will they succumb to the ambitions of the West.” [My Emphasis]
This is one of the best editorials yet that describes the seemingly limitless double standards the West applies to all others. What’s worse as China and Russia’s leading statesmen observe is the 100% illegality of such double standards upon which illegal sanctions are based. The reasons why are the unmitigated lust for power and wealth gained at the expense of others.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 24 2021 0:43 utc | 239

I hate to say it, but I will be surprised if Nuttyahoo loses government when the opposition has a majority of only 1 or 2 seats.
We have seen before how the child murderer uses intelligence contacts to blackmail, gangster contacts to scare plus ‘business’ contacts to bribe any knesset member he considers vulnerable to those angles, just as circumstances require him to.
Of course it should all be judged irrelevant given the fact that most of the Palestinians of Occupied Palestine are denied a vote in the administration which controls & taxes them.
I realise that this is a position that is difficult for amerikans who deny Puerto Rico and Micronesia as well as others a vote in their national elections but even so it is laughable that amerika & the eunuch’s puppets sledge countries such as Belarus, Myanmar & Zimbabwe all of whose ballots (excepting maybe Myanmar where Aung Sung’s government denied more than 30% of the population a vote & is the primary reason for its dismissal) are far more representative of all the people’s wishes than Occupied Palestine has ever been.
Don’t these ninnies realise that time is against them – fukUS has done such a grand job of propagandising that 100% adult suffrage is the only fair & just way, that their deceits cannot be hidden in a world where information flows so rapidly even when ‘hindered’?

Posted by: Debsisdead | Mar 24 2021 5:54 utc | 241

Speaking of hindering information flows, Matt Taibbi’s latest does a grand job of unravelling how the dem scumsuckers have thwarted the first amendment without overtly seeming to.

“When Columbia law professor Timothy Wu was appointed by Joe Biden to the National Economic Council a few weeks back, the press hailed it as great news for progressives. The author of The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age is known as a staunch advocate of antitrust enforcement, and Biden’s choice of him, along with the appointment of Lina Khan to the Federal Trade Commission, was widely seen as a signal that the new administration was assembling what Wired called an “antitrust all-star team.” . . .snip . . .
. . . Wu’s appointment may presage tougher enforcement of tech firms. However, he has other passions that got less ink. Specifically, Wu — who introduced the concept of “net neutrality” and once explained it to Stephen Colbert on a roller coaster — is among the intellectual leaders of a growing movement in Democratic circles to scale back the First Amendment. He wrote an influential September, 2017 article called “Is the First Amendment Obsolete?” that argues traditional speech freedoms need to be rethought in the Internet/Trump era. . . .”

Maybe someone will get a case to the supremes about this eventually. By mid 2022 the ‘apolitical’ judges may be open to upsetting the citizens they believe hold a majority power.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Mar 24 2021 6:04 utc | 243

Maybe if you listen to Biden long enough you might believe he is a good man. His actions tell us otherwise.

The Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and UNICEF-brokered agreement, which was announced by self-declared “interim president” Juan Guaidó last week, looks to liberate US $30.3 million in Venezuelan funds frozen by the US government in order to acquire vaccines through the United Nations COVAX program.
As part of its terms, Guaidó, who is still recognized by Washington as Venezuela’s leader, will request a special license from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) which oversees Washington’s sanctions regime. The deal was endorsed by the US’ envoy to Venezuela, James Story, who “congratulated both Maduro and Guaidó” last week from his base in Colombia. For its part, the Venezuelan government has yet to comment on the reported agreement, which has been confirmed by PAHO representatives.
Guaidó has been accused of blocking efforts against the pandemic in recent months, with his team fighting a UN-brokered deal to free up Venezuelan funds held in the UK for healthcare purchases since May 2020. He reportedly also turned down government overtures to order the release of frozen foreign assets placed under his control for vaccine purchases last January, drawing strong criticism.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 24 2021 11:22 utc | 245

Posted by: foolisholdman | Mar 24 2021 11:33 utc | 247

Posted by: arby | Mar 24 2021 12:53 utc | 247

Oh say can you see
By the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we raised
Till the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose bright petals and buds
Through the storm threatened night
On the branches so dry
Were beginning to open.
And the rain first, then snow
At the torchlight’s dim glow
Gave proof to the land
that its heart can still sing;
Oh say does my garden
Rejoice in this moisture?
As the birds give thanks
As we all welcome spring.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 24 2021 16:42 utc | 249

Correction to my 251 above,
steven t johnson @ 223 is the post I praise, not the second one. Four good principles broadly stated, ending with the following:

4)Thus in the long run, the advancement of humanity requires that the defense of private property in the means of production must be subordinated to the common goals of humanity. People work to live, they do not live to work for the owners of capital. The determination the purpose of states is to unite the classes in warfare against other states must be abjured.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 24 2021 17:21 utc | 251

Mr. Iranian:
In 1923, many many countries were in a state that by the standards of today, would be considered to be Third World.
In the interior of the United States, conditions were quite bad as well.
But today, Iran is no longer a Third World country – it is a poor country – largely because of the Judeo-Christians religious war against enemies of their religious project in Palestine.
You have not been to Pakistan, if you had, you would have noticed how poverty, squalor, wretchedness immediately overwhelms one when one crosses the border.
The Usuli mullahs – in contradistinction to Akhbari mullahs – have been waging a war against superstitions for a hundred years.
But be advised that without Shia Islam, there could have been no Iran – the new Iran which has been Turkic since the time of the late great Alp Arsalan.

Posted by: fyi | Mar 26 2021 14:25 utc | 253