Frankly I’m beginning to wonder if the US knows what it is even doing? They say one thing, you know, calling for talks with Putin, but then turn around and slap sanctions on Russia. It’s confusing to follow.

Posted by: Amber Carey | Apr 15 2021 15:10 utc | 4

@ Posted by: Amber Carey | Apr 15 2021 15:10 utc | 4
When acting in the political sphere (or in any subject) individuals are often not completely forthcoming with respect to their motives and intentions.
This would apply doubly to to news media, which are professionals at obfuscation and mis-direction.
The interpretation of reported events is a bit of a escherian riddle.

Posted by: jared | Apr 15 2021 15:24 utc | 6

Reuters is going to be behind a paywall soon.
They have been a useful site for observing the mental state of the country (you are what you “eat”).
I have a Bookmark folder that I open all at once. All sixteen news sites come up at once.
Have a full gamut (left to right) of sites: Reuters, Zerohedge, MoA, The Hill, The Washington Times, Foreign Affairs, The Vineyard of the Saker…..
People are actually going to pay for their own indoctrination.
Amazing.

Posted by: librul | Apr 15 2021 15:42 utc | 8

Jared #5
I wonder what other, reputable journalists have to say about this?
https://www.patreon.com/posts/unlocked-uyghur-49967709

Posted by: jayc | Apr 15 2021 15:45 utc | 10

https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/548410-biden-must-compel-china-and-russia-to-act-on-climate
Blazing, jaw dropping arrogance ! When does it ever stop? Russia and China must be “compelled”. Really? When will we witness a climate extremist argue that nuclear war wouldn’t be so bad?

Posted by: Eighthman | Apr 15 2021 15:52 utc | 12

Russia warns of ‘consequences’ to latest sanctions by US.
https://sputniknews.com/world/202104151082638672-us-slaps-new-sanctions-on-russia-expels-diplomats/
What may such ‘consequences’ be?
Russia’s strategy should be to drive a wedge between the US and its European Nato members. It is becoming clearer by the day that the US is going rogue and its foreign policy is increasingly being conducted not only without consideration for its allies, but often in direct opposition to their interests. The best example of many, is Nordstream2.
How could such divisions be exploited?
Announcing that in light of hostile US actions, US units, ships and assets will be treated as such whenever in vicinity of the Russian military. If a US military asset has the CAPABILITY of attacking a Russian asset, Russia will from now on operate with the assumption those units are acting with such hostile INTENT.
For example, the next time a US Navy warship wants to enter the Black Sea, Russia can announce it will be targeted by radar, jammed with EW and aggressively harassed by aerial and naval assets as Russia see fit until it exits those waters. This has been done before, the difference being, it will now be announced as a matter policy until the US ‘changes its aggressive and hostile behaviour’, to take a leaf out of their book.
US forces in Syria will be targeted and monitored, importantly, from bases within Russia and with assets launching from Russia, a capability the US does not possess with conventional weapons from the US mainland. Any US planes operating over Syrian airspace must from now first coordinate with Russia (the Russians already coordinate with US, but as far as i know, the US does not reciprocate..) lest they be tracked and targeted as hostile.
In order to retaliate, the US would have to launch from allied bases and hit a Russian target in Syria, or risk nuclear escalation by targeting the launch site in Russia, either way, Russia has escalation dominance. While the US would always require an ally to sacrifice itself for the pleasure of protecting the only troops considered hostile by Russia: the US ones. Imagine being a US pilot and knowing from now on your are flying with a the buzzing sound as you’re locked on by S500’s or AEW planes on Russia’s Caspian coast (easily within its range, altitude permitting) wherever you go because uncle Joe likes fake news about election meddling… there’s a good chance you voted for Trump and think Biden cheated anyway. What a morale booster…
The ultimate goal would be to isolate and single out the US in Europe and the Middle East, and increasing and exploiting US reliance on its allies, who would not be targeted or tracked as aggressively, perhaps then making them more likely to be put forward for operations which are not in their national interest and further sowing divisions within Nato and ME allies of the US.
It would also highlight US military reliance on allied assets or from its own bases operating on allied territory. At what point would the US be considered more of a liability than a strategic advantage, if the US always needs your cooperation and any activities to protect the US result in you also becoming a target?
Eventually, it would be hoped that either some allies will grow a pair and refuse to be made a target, or better still, gain more leverage and are able to discourage the US from its aggressive behaviour in the first place. A stick for the USA strategy will be much more effective with a carrot for Europe, no matter how undeserving of it they may be…
It would be quite an escalation, but it seems like the latest Russian deployment next to Ukraine has achieved the goal of calling Biden’s bluff and the US backing off (minus the latest sanctions..). It’s quite clear that the US will keep pushing unless someone pushes back with force. A bully only understands the language of force. Perhaps it’s time to push back with the only language they understand, unfortunately, and accept the risks it may entail.

Posted by: Et Tu | Apr 15 2021 15:54 utc | 14

@ Posted by: jayc | Apr 15 2021 15:45 utc | 10
Thank you for the link.
I will take a look.
Why do you find Mr Lee to be credible?

Posted by: jared | Apr 15 2021 16:00 utc | 16

It also goes without saying, that the US ambassador in Moscow and a good portion of his CIA spies will need to be sent back home so that the message is loud and clear to the whole world: Russia is no longer going to take any crap from Uncle Sam. It’s bare knuckles time.

Posted by: Et Tu | Apr 15 2021 16:07 utc | 18

Posted by: oldhippie | Apr 15 2021 13:24 utc | 137 [from the CNN-trains thread]
Grieved | Apr 15 2021 0:22 utc | 131
“Here in US it all goes in the memory hole. It never happened. We never walked up to the brink. No sir. Here we are at end of a dead thread and none of this ever happened. While every ministry on the planet knows what happened the US policy elite is certain it never happened and will not learn a thing. To continue.”
I did see your posts. It is done…the Doomsday Clock now has sufficient momentum to …

Posted by: chu teh | Apr 15 2021 16:25 utc | 20

Newest round of sanctions plus declaration of national emergency (I kid you not)—Executive Order Blocking Property with Respect to Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation—can be read the Saker blog:
http://thesaker.is/.
This is totally insane.
Is it just Biden blustery? It looks to me like an active search for the needle in the haystack that could be interpreted to constitute a casus belli.

Posted by: Jane | Apr 15 2021 16:29 utc | 22

Putin is to make an announcement 21. April, is he not?
So what is it that the US fears so much? Could it be Russia and China will announce a ban on the use of US dollar in any transaction with them?

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2021 17:09 utc | 24

Norman S. on the small print of bidens pull out.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/04/15/contrary-what-biden-said-us-warfare-afghanistan-set-continue
The cia isn’t going to leave all the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ behind in the form of poppies

Posted by: jo6pac | Apr 15 2021 17:16 utc | 26

Looks Like WAR
https://thesaker.is/the-latest-us-moves-against-russia-open-thread-11/
“PS: as for the Ukronazis, they have just used their heavy artillery (banned by the Minsk Agreements) to murder another civilian in his home. They were apparently trying to disable an electric station (a typical move by US-trained militaries before an attack).
It is very hard for me to see how a war could be avoided.
UPDATE: Biden has just declared a national emergency in the USA in response to the Russian threat. He will make a special address to the nation tonight.”

Posted by: Bluedotterel | Apr 15 2021 17:26 utc | 28

Step by step getting tighter, there is a note for Germany as well who does not let go the Navalny fable, the sanctions will include the EU and the eyes so it is another push to the East for Russia. The closure of Kerch plus no cruise into the Black Sea for the two US vessels probably has a lot to do with the phone call that Joe rang to Vlad. Shoigu had a brief note today, before meeting with his staff.
СООБЩЕНИЕ ДЛЯ СМИ

Posted by: Paco | Apr 15 2021 17:28 utc | 30

Don’t feed the troll.

Posted by: Troll Alert | Apr 15 2021 17:41 utc | 32

Correction Re: #30 Kerch Strait
Closure applies only to “warships and state ships of other countries under the pretext of military exercises”.
https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/royal-navy-reports-russia-closing-5304504

Posted by: C4 | Apr 15 2021 17:45 utc | 34

Looking back on the Epstein/Maxwell/Mossad blackmail scam, how coincidental was it that “Israel” was the first country to obtain enough vaccine to vaccinate all of its citizens?
Err … all of its Kosher citizens?

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 15 2021 18:00 utc | 36

The Saker published “Biden’s” executive order
https://thesaker.is/executive-order-on-blocking-property-with-respect-to-specified-harmful-foreign-activities-of-the-government-of-the-russian-federation/
Total out of control
“any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, …
Bla, bla… Could be any reason

Posted by: Bernard F. | Apr 15 2021 19:13 utc | 38

@ Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 15 2021 17:43 utc | 33
“If the IUD is left in the womb for a long time, it could adhere to the surrounding tissue, making it difficult to remove without breaking a bone.”
I took that to mean that removing the device once it had adhered to tissue might require the some extreme method – I do not know why that would be.
The article does seem somewhat fragmented – seems possibly a poor translation.
I did not really see where you refute the claims of the article.
Myself, I am not sure what to make of it – true or false.

Posted by: jared | Apr 15 2021 19:28 utc | 40

@ Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 15 2021 17:43 utc | 33
The following article is better written and more comprehensive.
This does not mean of course that it is accurate in it’s details.
How would a person know?
I am aware that there is some question about the motives of the people/groups presenting these claims. I also believe it is well known that China has an authoritarian government which engages in repressive methods or would you dent that also?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uyghur_genocide

Posted by: jared | Apr 15 2021 19:43 utc | 42

Re; Executive Order on Blocking Property with Respect to Specified Harmful Foreign Activities of the Government of the Russian Federation
Section 1. All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in……
Seems like they are expecting either a crash or a war, and the rapid exportation of all Assets held nominally by Russians or anyone connected to them.
(c) any person determined by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have directly or indirectly engaged in or attempted to engage in, cutting or disrupting gas or energy supplies to Europe, the Caucasus, or Asia,…..
Huh? Support for Ukraine is understandable, but for Asia and Europe as well? TO the Caucasus not from?
***
I think we should all realise that there are two (possibly more) factions calling the shots in Washington, and they take turns in foriegn policy. Unfortunately they are not speaking to each other and while one wants a Hillary-Democrat-Zio-type war, the others (who will do the fighting, if they are the Pentagon) don’t want things to go that far. The result being that no one knows what’s going on.
OR
The Financial “Oligarchic” tribe are waking up to the fact that their juicy summer days are coming to a brutal end, and all those derivative havens where they have stashed their money/assets will simply dissappear into a black hole with the demise of the dollar. Panic in Wall Street? That I may not be so far off the mark is that most of the really big Billionaires have also gone into hiding.

Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 15 2021 20:07 utc | 44

jared @42
Thanks for the link to CIApedia. It is an authoritative source for the discographies of pop musicians and Philip Cross’ personal opinions, so I suppose it does have a place in discourse.
Here is an idea that I am sure never occurred to you: If you are truly “troubled” and not just concern trolling then why don’t you book a flight to Xinjiang and take a look around yourself? It couldn’t be because you don’t really care about the truth of what is happening there, could it?
As for your suggestion that China is some kind of Mordor, all I can say is that I never saw, experienced, or heard of any “repression” the whole time I lived there. What I think is well known is that people in the US and Europe were brainwashed into believing that Iraq had threatening WMD programs. I know that people in America and Britain have been brainwashed onto thinking that the Syrian government used chemical weapons on their own civilian population. I know that people in the West have been brainwashed into thinking that Evo Morales was head of a “repressive” government. I know that Americans in particular were brainwashed into believing that the Vietnamese attacked the US Navy in the Tonkin Gulf incident, and that the Spanish blew up the battleship Maine in Havana harbor. I know Americans were brainwashed into believing that Iraqi soldiers threw Kuwaiti babies out of incubators.
You see? There are a great many things that you and others like you believed to be “well known” at the time that were total bullshit. Your “Uyghur genocide” is just as much total bullshit as the Kuwaiti incubator babies.
Here is a simple rule to help you spot jingoism: Whenever your country is trying to gin up conflict with another country, ALWAYS start with the assumption that what is said about that country is a lie. If you find yourself truly “troubled” and not just concern trolling like you are here then go to that country and investigate the matter yourself. It is not really that difficult.

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 15 2021 20:29 utc | 46

Great video which explains why Sars-COV2 has not been isolated:
The Truth About Virus Isolation 🤫 (Dr Sam Bailey)
—-
“Recently many papers have been published which demonstrate that Zika virus and Ebolavirus can persist in a variety of human fluids for extended periods of time. These results have been interpreted with alarm, both by scientists and by science writers. However, in most cases the assays were done by PCR, not by plaque assay, and therefore we do not know if infectious virus is present.” Viral RNA is not infectious virus! Vincent Racaniello, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University
—-
“This dilemma of diagnostic EM should alarm us all, as misleading information on the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in tissue has already made its way into the scientific literature and seems to be perpetuated.” Why misinterpretation of electron micrographs in SARS-CoV-2-infected tissue goes viral (The Lancet)
—-
“If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion…” Confusious quote

Posted by: ADKC | Apr 15 2021 20:45 utc | 48

Jared your trolling is too obvious.
Get lost, or more likely, try again with a different handle.

Posted by: Lurk | Apr 15 2021 20:56 utc | 50

Given your input, that was actually rational feedback.

Posted by: Lurk | Apr 15 2021 21:02 utc | 52

“Do you find that everyone you disagree with is a troll?”
I got a good laugh out of that!
I have “disagreed” with every regular poster in the MoA fora, and quite energetically at that!
As for concern trolls, yes, it is a real thing and you fit the definition to a T. Come clean and admit it; you don’t care about Uighurs, or Tibetans, or Rohingya, or Kurds, or Venezuelans, or Bolivians, or anyone else whose homelands the empire is trying to destroy. Lying about this stuff is bad for your karma, and bad karma can give you cancer. I’m just “troubled” about its impact on your health if you keep this up.

Posted by: William Gruff | Apr 15 2021 21:08 utc | 54

Posted by: Not Bob | Apr 15 2021 21:31 utc | 55
One of the earliest and largest funders of the University of Leicester’s Hadley Climate Centre, of Climategate email fame, was the UK Nuclear industry.
Nuke industry support for Big Green, and Big Green’s less overt support for the Nuke industry, goes back at least 30 years or more

Posted by: C4 | Apr 15 2021 21:58 utc | 56

@54 William Gruff – Lying about this stuff is bad for your karma
Now that’s an interesting point. All the teachings on karma suggest that the greater the involvement, intention and satisfaction that inhere in an action, then the greater the karmic result for the actor.
So, if all of the words you write are actually software-enhanced, so that you yourself are only partially engaged with the discourse you’re polluting, is your karma impacted as strongly as it would be if you were all in, passionately believing the shit you write, rather than simply slicing concepts to shreds with word salad crudely disguised as dialect?
I suppose I should be glad that the entity signing as “jared” isn’t actually generating that bad a karmic burden for itself. It’ll try to be glad.
But I note that even karma doesn’t think his nonsense is worth the trouble to get too involved with.

Posted by: Grieved | Apr 15 2021 22:34 utc | 58

My previous post said it was posted, but then did not appear.
So some censorship is at work here, sad. Many such cases.
I will try again.
I wanted to say that I believe a blacklist is in play where companies, especially tech companies, are blacklisting people for their political beliefs of file they lookup at palantir or cambridge analytica.
Otherwise the huge demand for tech workers would have gotten my long resume and skills a single interview in the last two years.
Further, it is apparent that the u.s. military has no interest in defending the united states, and is selling us out to the israel and the forces of globalism, and will gladly watch mobs of the least intelligent, swarm and destroy functioning society in the name of whatever cause george soros and epstein send them on.
Including helping poison everyone with a fake vaccine gene therapy whatever, sterilizing and murdering people apparently at random, assaulting all reason and healthy faculty of the mind. Spying on everyone, breaking every law, especially the non aggression principle, ripping the country they are sworn to defend apart.
My disgust knows no bounds. My riots have been violated, my life has been threatened, my livelihood has been taken away, what I believe in has been shit upon.
The social contract is destroyed, and I lay it at the feet of those who earn a lot of fiat currency to defend us, you have failed, you are failures, you should feel shame, if I thought it were possible.
You suck at your jobs, I don’t care what the fuck happens in the ukraine or syria, it is none of our business, I will shed no tears over whatever idiot is sent on the fools errand on the other side of the world while our country is in shambles, led by idiots, stooges, foreigners, traitors, and pederasts.
The u.s. marine corps and air force and navy are cuckolds to Agenda 21 and the bilderberg group, and it should be painted on all of your gravestones, once your lives and those of your family are used as fodder while those on yachts watch on laughing with their inherited wealth, inherited from the last time they set americans and europeans up for these idiotic conflicts amongst ourselves.
Shame, shame is what you should feel, to the extent you have anything to do with it, especially those with rank and sitting on chairs in “the pentagon.”
Wipe your ass with the flag, there is no difference between that and what you are already doing.

Posted by: J. Michael Hudson | Apr 15 2021 23:01 utc | 60

Thanks for that response and I must say no one should trust Wikipedia especially on any foreign affairs matter, that is well known, CIApedia is a deserved nickname.
The Grayzone does a lot of great reporting and on the Uyghur stories. They also did a lot of great reports on Venezuela from Venezuela. If you check out the body of work and one doesn’t need to doubt their credibility.
“Cultivated by the US government as human rights activists, Uyghur American Association leaders partner with far-right lawmakers and operate a militia-style gun club that trains with ex-US special forces.”
“However, an investigation by The Grayzone into the Uyghur separatist movement in the Washington DC area has uncovered a jingoistic, gun-obsessed subculture driven by the kind of right-wing ideology that was on display during the March 21 car caravan through downtown.
Leading figures of the UAA operate a right-wing gun club known as Altay Defense. Proudly dressed in US military fatigues, Altay Defense drill in advanced combat techniques with former members of US special forces who also train private mercenaries and active duty US service members. Members of the militia-style gun club espouse pro-Trump politics and anti-immigrant resentment.
From the Instagram account of Altay Defense
The UAA is the US-affiliate of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), an international network whose first president outlined an objective to precipitate the “fall of China” and establish an ethno-state in Xinjiang. The recipient of millions of dollars of funding the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a US government-sponsored entity, this network works closely with Washington and other Western governments to escalate hostilities with China.
Despite claiming to represent the interests of China’s Uyghur and Muslim minority populations, many of the UAA’s closest allies represent some of the anti-Muslim, far-right forces in Washington, from Republican Rep. Ted Yoho to the Family Research Council, as well as the FBI.
During the pandemic, the UAA and members of its affiliate organizations helped inflame anti-Asian resentment by spreading far-right propaganda referring to Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus,” and claimed that China was waging a “virus war” against the world, “[p]urposefully, intentionally export[ing] the virus to cause the pandemic.”
Behind its carefully constructed image as a peaceful human rights movement, the UAA and its offshoots in the DC-based Uyghur separatist lobby are driven by far-right ideology and envision themselves as militant foot soldiers for empire.
“I belong to America!” Uyghur human rights leader teams up with far-right, Islamophobes in anti-China crusade
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/03/31/china-uyghur-gun-soldiers-empire/

Posted by: ronnie mitchell | Apr 15 2021 23:37 utc | 62

Jared @ 5:
ZeroHedge (a website not sympathetic to China) lifted that article from The Sankei Shimbun which is aligned with political parties (Liberal Democratic Party and Nippon Ishin no Kai) in Japan that are politically and socially conservative, and economically liberal (or neoliberal) in their philosophies. Former politicians from the LDP who served Japanese Prime Ministers include Shinzo Abe (2006 – 2007, 2012 – 2020) and his grandfather Nobosuke Kishi (1957 – 1960), a notorious World War II criminal once nicknamed 満州の妖怪 (Manshū no yōkai “The Monster of Manchuria”) for the way he ran Manchukuo province in the 1930s. The actual author of the article, Takao Sato, is the Cairo news bureau chief for The Sankei Shimbun.
It appears all the people Sato interviewed (assuming Sato actually met them all) have been living in Turkey for some time. The gynaecologist herself has been living in Turkey since 2011. That’s awfully long time to be away from China and living in Turkey (and being tutored in what to say by Turkish government authorities and intelligence spooks) and to still be familiar with whatever policies the authorities in Xinjiang are carrying out now.
Sato’s sources also include The New York Times, not exactly a purveyor of news as MoA regularly points out.
If Calvinul Kamal’s protest is genuine and not influenced by Turkish authorities, why is her message in the photo printed in both Turkish and English – but not in Mandarin Chinese or Uyghur?

Posted by: Jen | Apr 16 2021 0:14 utc | 64

@ Jen
Thank for the feedback and I think your points are valid. Seems there is a consensus that China is not mistreating the Uyghers. About 1/2 of the articles at zh are strongly conservative, they let a few leak through that are more objective. Their first articles regarding the virus were not so much anti China as that there was something that was know since late 2018 and it was being suppressed- very likely the US was complicit. It became anti China.

Posted by: jared | Apr 16 2021 1:13 utc | 66

Presumed supremacy, the USA’s newest invention:
Intel Director Haines Warns China Plans to Challenge US’ ‘Presumed Leadership’ in Space
That’s the problem with Ms. Haines argument: the USA never had supremacy in space. You cannot lose something you never had.
So, not only no other nation has the right to even try to surpass the USA – it doesn’t have the right even to try to become hegemonic in unexplored fields.
The USA has just recreated the concept of Divine Right in modern diplomacy/international law.

Posted by: vk | Apr 16 2021 2:25 utc | 68

April 15: New sanctions against Russia and a number of individual Russians. Over the old SolarWinds allegations and little discussed 2020 Election Interference? Those are crap, right?

Posted by: Charles Peterson | Apr 16 2021 2:39 utc | 70

Those who value real stories from China or who are familiar with Nathan Rich may be interested in his announcement of new plans for his self-made videos that explain China to westerners.
He’s moving to Shanghai because the work of producing the videos is growing and he wants to create better and more professional content. So he’ll be taking an office and hiring a staff.
Apparently his following and support base is large enough to think of using the support, not for his own survival (which he doesn’t need), but to build a new media production effort, to counteract the lies about China and to present an education about that civilization.
This is all great news, coming from a nation where people have a future, and can think in such terms. Rich has gained attention at the commentariat level of China, but I can’t remember exactly where. His videos are sincere, meticulous and articulate, and I have found them valuable.
Here’s his 11-minute description of what he hopes to be doing next with his life and work:
Announcement – I’m LEAVING (clipped from a Nathan Rich live stream)

Posted by: Grieved | Apr 16 2021 3:04 utc | 72

Seems a bit “off topic” even for an open thread as the Ukraine crisis grows but I’m going to give a short blurb on South America.
Lula is cleared by the Brazilian Supreme Court which backed the earlier ruling by a district judge. Lula now is free to run for president if he wants, he’s probably unbeatable. https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Supreme-Court-Confirms-Annulment-of-All-Charges-Against-Lula-20210415-0024.html
BrazilWire does a deeper dive into Lula’s enemies and zeroes in on Sergio Moro, the judge who spear-headed Lula’s imprisonment and Dilma’s ouster. Turns out, Moro’s CIA, backed by Cargill and other oligarchic monsters. His connections to Obama and Biden’s people will become more public over the next few months. https://www.brasilwire.com/sergio-moro-joins-secret-us-brazil-negotiations-over-amazon/
Peru surprised everyone– me included– as union leader/teacher Pedro Castillo won the first round. Here’s a piece on him from
Bolivian site Kawsachun news, Ollie Vargas’s group. Evo Morales said Castillo is modeling after Bolivia’s MAS party and social movement. https://kawsachunnews.com/evo-pedro-castillo-won-with-proposals-of-the-mas
Ron Ridenour writes a short clip about the Ecuador election tragedy… he doesn’t believe it either. IMO, the bad guys stole it from Arauz but no one’s talking yet. Lasso is going to invite fake leader and macho pin up boy Guaido to his inauguration. says it all. https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/04/12/ecuador-millionaire-wins-presidential-election-us-gains-poor-lose/

Posted by: migueljose | Apr 16 2021 4:30 utc | 74

Librul: thanks for the link it is interesting and he certainly put a lot of effort into all of it. I’ll be brief because wow there’s a lot one could debate.
Personally I don’t believe in any evacuation however I think Russia will intervene militarily if required/forced to stop “Ukraininan” aggression against Donbass.
I’m not at all sure it will be required unless it is a large attack, and if it is a large one Russia is given a free hand. Looks like a lose-lose for “the west” either way.
So let’s say all the trainloads of “Ukrainian” equipment sits and rusts while waiting in the mud for something that will never really kick off: this is clearly an acceptable outcome 🙂
Still I completely understand that people are worried this will go off immediately, the US seems not to realize they’re being suicidal to such a degree that I’m wondering if in the case anyone actually managed to get through to them and they tried to stop their own belligerence it would actually make them start a much bigger war. That’s how inept they seem to be.
The direct opposite to back when Ukraine (while communist) managed to avoid a nuclear war.
The earlier parts of the link concerning various history of Ukraine and eastern Europe and implicitly over the past two millennia just about every part of Europe (including Russia itself) is too harsh in many ways and I think he know it and shows that he knows or suspects he is.
He still makes plenty of good arguments though just not so much the ones against the USSR in this case, he has some in their favor too in my opinion. I don’t mind defending a lot else of what Khrushchev did (but if it was illegal then it was) despite having a bias in favor of him, and defending a little bit of what Stalin did despite having a bias against him.
Also; the people using the nazis etc. might call themselves jews and/or nazi but they would, do, and are willing to call themselves anything at all and use anyone and anything at all as long as it works for them.
Anyway it’s a interesting article 🙂

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Apr 16 2021 5:31 utc | 76

I meant to say: I am worried about it going bad too, very worried.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Apr 16 2021 5:41 utc | 78

The Australian Citizens Party has now assembled eight articles on Xinjiang and the US fostering of East Turkistan separatism and jihadism in that region into a 40-page report “Xinjiang: China’s western frontier in the heart of Eurasia”. Very interesting reading on the history of British interference in western Asia from the 19th century onwards and on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the sources of its funding (mainly US) and those sources’ links to forced labour.

Posted by: Jen | Apr 16 2021 6:09 utc | 80

Jen #80
This link works 😉
An eight-article series from the Australian Alert Service in November 2020–March 2021, “Xinjiang: China’s western frontier in the heart of Eurasia”, is now assembled as a 40-page Special Report.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 16 2021 7:59 utc | 82

Philippines joins concerns over Fukushima water dumping.
Japan is committing a crime against humanity with its reckless dumping of nuclear reactor waste into the pacific ocean.
So far the opposition voices are China, Russia, North and South Korea and the Philippines.
Where are all the south pacific nations?
This needs to be a debated and challenged in the UN. Regardless of the continuous efforts from the West to shut down the UN, it is issues of this magnitude that need that platform for discussion.

Following suit of Japan’s neighboring countries including China, Russia and South Korea, the Philippines is the first Southeast Asian country to express deep concerns over Japan’s decision to dump Fukushima wastewater into the sea.
Philippine presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Thursday he hopes that nations, including those behind the pollution, would follow the law’s principles, and pay for the damage, local media reported.
“First principle is we are one ecosystem. Second principle is that we are interconnected and the third principle is that the polluter must pay,” he noted.
Chinese analysts said Southeast Asian countries except Laos are maritime countries, and they are also major fishing countries…
…However, the Global Times found that media in Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries in the region seemed to have downplayed the coverage with few comments and reports over the Fukushima wastewater dumping.
Zhuang Guotu, head of Xiamen University’s Southeast Asian Studies Center, told the Global Times on Thursday that Southeast Asian countries have a close relationship with Japan both politically and economically, which could possibly explain their reluctance to speak out against Japan.
Also, given US support for Japan’s decision and the silence of many Western countries, Southeast Asian countries may have scruples to speak out and have underestimated the possible impact of the radioactively contaminated water.
“I believe more countries in the region will voice out and raise their concerns or opposition, following the Philippines,” said Zhuang.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 16 2021 10:30 utc | 84

That Japan wastewater stuff is dangerous, no lie, even the locals are protesting it.
Hopefully this stink will sink the LDP and save Japan.

Posted by: Smith | Apr 16 2021 11:21 utc | 86

PART 1: CNN Director ADMITS Network Engaged in ‘Propaganda’ to Remove Trump from Presidency … ‘Our Focus Was to Get Trump Out of Office’ … ‘I Came to CNN Because I Wanted to Be a Part of That’
https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-1-cnn-director-admits-network-engaged-in-propaganda-to-remove-trump/
PART 2: CNN Director Charlie Chester Reveals How Network Practices ‘Manipulation’ to ‘Change the World’: ‘There’s an Art to Manipulation… Inflection, Saying Things Twice … It’s Always Like Leading Them in a Direction Before They Even Open Their Mouths’
https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-2-cnn-director-charlie-chester-reveals-how-network-practices/
PART 3: CNN Director Charlie Chester Says Network Is ‘Trying To Help’ The Black Lives Matter Movement By Protecting The Group’s Narrative On Race … ‘I Haven’t Seen Anything About Focusing On The Color Of People’s Skin That Aren’t White’
https://www.projectveritas.com/news/part-3-cnn-director-charlie-chester-says-network-is-trying-to-help-the-black/
James O’Keefe RESPONDS to TWITTER ACCOUNT SUSPENSION Following BOMBSHELL CNN TAPES: Says He Plans to SUE THE PLATFORM FOR ‘DEFAMATORY STATEMENTS’
https://www.projectveritas.com/news/james-okeefe-responds-to-twitter-account-suspension-following-bombshell-cnn/

Posted by: Mao | Apr 16 2021 12:52 utc | 88

George W. Bush: Immigration is a defining asset of the United States. Here’s how to restore confidence in our system.
Bush is right: the USA is highly dependent on mass immigration for the maintenance of its economy. I’ve already put the numbers here some week ago, but if memory doesn’t fail me, of the 3.4% GDP growth the USA had some years ago, 2.0% was vegetative, i.e. purely due to demographic growth (i.e. mass immigration).
The border closing is also very bad for the American Empire in another sense: it breaks the sacred unwritten social contract it has with the Latin American people. The Latin American people offers their own countries as tribute to the American Empire; in exchange, they get to immigrate at will (in a “come if you can” system) in order to live within the confines of the Empire proper, thus enjoying the fruits of their sacrifice. If the Latin Americans are blocked from reaching American soil, expect the USA to face some Germanic Barbarian invasion problem.

Posted by: vk | Apr 16 2021 14:00 utc | 90

Mao | Apr 16 2021 13:14 utc | 89
Wooooh, the US can’t stand losing in it’s own land. Rather like the 1936 Olympics in Germany. I always wondered what happened to the lady that dropped the baton. She wasn’t “heiled” as a heroine.

Posted by: Stonebird | Apr 16 2021 14:05 utc | 92

The situation in Myanmar is real bad, they already have a dual government going on.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/16/myanmar-silent-strike
We are appraching Syria in SEA, this is bad.

Posted by: Smith | Apr 16 2021 14:57 utc | 94

Chinese military shares the same analysis as mine over the American retreat from Afghanistan:
Despite limited influence, full withdrawal from Afghanistan reflects US in strategic retreat from Mideast

The US is contracting its claws, Russia is biding its time, Europe is having its own plate full, and China is cautious – the once much-contended Middle East has become unattractiveto major countries for the first time.
The US floated the idea of shifting its strategic focus to the Asia Pacific in Obama’s term, and the Middle East has not been the center of its global strategy ever since. The China-US struggle is a strategic game between major countries while pulling troops from Afghanistan is just a tactical move – they cannot be mentioned in the same breath, and the US doesn’t count on the 2,500 troops from Afghanistan to deter China. Many people in the US are rooting for the quick troop withdrawal as part of the efforts to concentrate all energy on confronting China, but that’s just face-saving rhetoric to gloss over their crestfallen retreat from the Middle East.

Posted by: vk | Apr 16 2021 15:43 utc | 96

vk pointed to an article on HK electoral reform: ‘Also noteworthy is that Beijing has also greatly reduced the influence of the historically important Hong Kong business community by reorganizing the Election Committee, making it such that the community no longer possible to influence the selection of the Chief Executive’
Exactly. Beijing is furious that HK has not addressed the welfare needs of its people and has failed for example to construct affordable housing due in part to the blocking power of the business and land owning elite (which the UK wanted empowered to protect private property and its liberal market order).
Compare with Shenzhen.

Posted by: md | Apr 16 2021 15:57 utc | 98

to josemiguel. Re ecuador – I read, and am still looking for the source, that what tipped the vote in Lasso’s favor (in the first round he had only 19.74% vs 32.7% for Arauz) was the actions of the so called indigenous candidate, Perez. This Perez made a deal with Lasso and instructed his followers to vote “null” (which is an option in ecuador) Although it would seem logical for the indigenous peoples to vote for Arauz, they followed their leader, resulting in a “null” vote of over 16%. Lasso’s margin of victory, one notes, is 5%. It will be “interesting” to see how this plays out. Not so good for the majority in ecuador, one thinks, and likely quite bad for the amazing naturaleza.
Ben Norton did a piece on Perez which you can find in the grayzone. I will keep looking for the nuts and bolts of the election. The article in question was not too complimentary to Correa. I can attest from my visit to the country that he started off well – but there was back sliding. Pressures?
Thanks for your post. Good news from peru. It’s amazing how Fujimoro keeps keeping on…

Posted by: Miss Lacy | Apr 16 2021 16:35 utc | 100