A bit of info on Myanmar–
“A disunited nation
The foundation for Myanmar’s longstanding ethnic conflicts was laid during British colonisation, which began in 1824. British colonisers imposed racial categories and hierarchies of favour to divide and rule the population. During World War II, ethnic groups, such as the Karen, fought on the side of the British against the Burmese, hoping to get in return an independent state.”
Myanmar has never been a nation.

Posted by: arby | Apr 12 2021 12:42 utc | 103

@v | Apr 12 2021 12:50 utc | 104
You are welcome. I was especially thinking about people with cognitive dissonance who react with anger when their world view is challenged, and attack the messenger in order to avoid considering the message.

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 12 2021 13:39 utc | 105

Posted by: v | Apr 12 2021 12:50 utc | 104
v, the source of the article is a symptom of coordinated blackout on all authoritative sources that have from beginning questioned the hysterical response to the not-the-plague.
however, since you are a covid mental zombie, a reminder that Covid Farts are more dangerous than 2nd hand smoke. All major superpowers and wannabes are offering a complementary Covid Anal Plug (AstraUranus from America, YuriPlugHerIn from Russia, SteckerVonAnalStein from EU & ThePeoplesLongPlug from China among the most popular) to protect us from the not-the-plague.
Are you wearing yours?
Norwegian: Have the globally coordinated media informed (“explained”) the meaning of a “case” to covid mental zombies?
“We have found traces of semen in this woman’s vagina. Conclusion: She is pregnant”.

Posted by: Mōnandæg | Apr 12 2021 14:03 utc | 107

Interesting rumour posted in the comments by Auslander at The Saker website

The Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass were left without satellite communications, GPS and SEC equipment due to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Sevastopol News Portal)
According to the news-r.ru portal, in the Donbas, the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were subjected to a “radio strike” due to electronic warfare from the RF Armed Forces, and now they are left without GPS.
Now the Ukrainian army does not have the opportunity to use its UAVs, radars, radar reconnaissance systems and other instruments for confrontation. This information was shared by the Chinese edition of Sohu. According to the newspaper, the OSCE reported a surge in activity to suppress signals. Such maneuvers contribute to the emergence of opinions that the escalation of the conflict is already close.

That seems like a rather definitive blow if correct….

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 12 2021 14:43 utc | 109

@ juliania | Apr 11 2021 22:54 utc | 39… thanks! yes – michael hudsons articles are worth reading and i find his insights helpful in better understanding the financial dynamic at work, even if it is somewhat depressing… my brother encouraged me to watch a richard werner interview – this is the fellow responsible for the documentary ‘princes of the yen’ which i found so fascinating and educational…. here is a link to a long interview with him if you are interested..
How Banks Work & Dictate the Economy – Interview with Danielle DiMartino Booth & Richard Werner
jb 32 / john 98.. i will try to find some time to watch the 51 minute video.. thanks…

Posted by: james | Apr 12 2021 15:20 utc | 111

that video i shared @ 111 is quite good.. if you want a small taste go to 28 – 30 minutes and listen for 2 minutes…

Posted by: james | Apr 12 2021 15:51 utc | 113

Re: Budesonide
That is great news that Budesonide has shown good effects on moderate covid symptoms. Does this fall into the cytokine storm effects of covid where inhibiting the immune response with steroids is a way to mitigate the effects? It sounds like it.
Budesonide is a relatively harmless steroid when compared to the popular systemic prednisone. It is broken down better by the body and has far fewer side effects than pred.
I have taken it for years for crohns and have a nice stockpile. I can maybe offer it to acquaintances who run into covid complications.
With all these therapies, vitamin d and zinc, why do we need a gene-altering mRNA drug which was brought by Big Pharma and DARPA-funded Moderna? Or J&J vaccine containing aborted fetal cells?
No thanks!

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Apr 12 2021 16:20 utc | 115

Mōnandæg | Apr 12 2021 14:03 utc | 107
I will relay that good news to my niece who lies intubated as her premature infant struggles for life

Posted by: ld | Apr 12 2021 16:39 utc | 117

b
can we curtail some of these asshats in the name of decency?
please

Posted by: ld | Apr 12 2021 16:44 utc | 119

The V-104! (The overheated and frothing at the mouth version)
It’s hard to reason with the Branch Covidians, and when you do try they go ballistic. Take the V-104, it simply cannot endure a narrative being so mauch as questions and it flies into a rage attacking everything it sees as even the remotest threat. Although really terrible for most applications it was discovered that if it could be convinced of a threat, it would invariably hurl itself at it. Thus many a V-104 was expended in attempts to destroy fortified bunkers, which explains why they are in short supply. Poor V-104…

Posted by: Chevrus | Apr 12 2021 17:09 utc | 121

There was this interview with Al-Jolani and when he said HTS was no enemy of the US I thought he had a point. So did IS. Their aims are local and regional. There may be spillover, the attacks inside Europe, but these were mainly about deterrence: leave us alone (while we kill everyone here who is not us) and we’ll leave you alone. That also applies to the other fundamentalist militias who more or less aligned with the Brits or the Americans.
So Bin Laden overstepped a bit, it happens. Even then it’s debatable whose interests that served.

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Apr 12 2021 19:06 utc | 123

Wondering which EU politicians will be on the board of a pharmaceutical company two-three years from now…

Posted by: passerby | Apr 12 2021 20:42 utc | 125

The desire to have something to blame.
To live through a crisis.

Posted by: jared | Apr 12 2021 22:31 utc | 127

The Israel lobby can interfere in the internal affairs sovereign nations with impunity:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-israel-lobbyists-alan-duncan-interference

Posted by: Paul | Apr 12 2021 23:30 utc | 129

@b
You’re not very good at counting, are you? ‘Two months of silence’ was in reference to the fact that your one and only post on the situation in Myanmar was, in fact, posted two months ago.
As for what my sources are, well, all the pictures of people with their brains splattered over the pavement, for a start. Now you can just dismiss that all as fake, but that kind of Twitter evidence is at least as good as the type of stuff you cite regularly.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that the body count is massively inflated. Instead of 700 corpses, let’s say that the Myanmar military has only killed 100 people. Is that not enough for you to issue even a mild condemnation?
I guess to you it’s all just taking out the trash. After all, it’s just a ‘fake color revolution’, you assure us.
You’re like an inverted American Exceptionalist; to you nothing can happen in the world without it being a CIA plot. No one anywhere has any agency of their own in your mind.
I’m sure that the CIA and other American actors are creeping around the edges of events in Myanmar. They would be foolish not to take advantage of events to push their agendas. But that doesn’t mean the events themselves aren’t fundamentally a domestic affair.
But then again, I’m talking to a guy who is confident that the Tiananmen Square protests were another foreign engineered ‘fake revolt’, despite the fact that the ‘evidence’ he posts that student leaders were American intelligence assets actually says nothing of the sort. But you see what you want to see, based on your preconceived narrative.
@Hoarsewhisperer
This may be the most bizarre case of whataboutism I’ve seen in a long time. Yeah, Israel is a brutal, apartheid shithole. It also wasn’t the subject I was discussing.
And yes, in a way, what’s happening in Myanmar is ‘legal’. Burmese democracy, such as it was, existed at the whim of the military. A solid argument can be made that there actually was no coup, and that the military is within its legal rights. ‘Legal’ doesn’t always mean the same as ‘right’.

Posted by: Ben | Apr 12 2021 23:46 utc | 131

“I’m sure that the CIA and other American actors are creeping around the edges of events in Myanmar. They would be foolish not to take advantage of events to push their agendas.”
This has been going on for at least a month. There’s a lot of genuine pictures with comments like “The murderous coup is backed by China” going on, when the internet is actually turned on there around. Which of course makes no sense, because China has pretty much no dog in the fight; it was content with the way things went, it would be content with the military ruling and content with NLD ruling. But to be blunt, there’s no point to exchange a gang of most probably corrupt assholes for a gang of violent corrupt assholes, it doesn’t bring any advantage to China. Just like it makes few sense for the West to support NLD to hurt China, as long as China doesn’t seriously back the military. But the ongoing BS about China being behind the coup might create a Catch-22 for Beijing – either stay silent and let things follow their course, and gain the loathing of a lot of people in Myanmar, or put some pressure on the military if not downright disavow it, and risk losing some credibility when it comes to “internal affairs are strictly internal affairs and we don’t interfer”.
At least , sooner or later, China will have to be clearer on that policy – for instance, it could back the current ruler at the time the policy is officiallized, and condemns any illegal change or violent removal attempt, but if such a thing were to happen, it would back the previous “official” government. Though not interferring at all is way simpler a message and a policy, but it leaves China open to losing allies because the other side will interfer and try to topple China’s allied governments, and in this case, “no interference” means losing allies and appearing weak.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 13 2021 0:02 utc | 133

You should read this in full:
https://foucault.info/documents/foucault.disciplineAndPunish.panOpticism/
I have to say I truly admire Foucault’s mind, and even forgive him for being a “philosopher”.

Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power. So to arrange things that the surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action; that the perfection of power should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary; that this architectural apparatus should be a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it; in short, that the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearers. To achieve this, it is at once too much and too little that the prisoner should be constantly observed by an inspector: too little, for what matters is that he knows himself to be observed; too much, because he has no need in fact of being so. In view of this, Bentham laid down the principle that power should be visible and unverifiable. Visible: the inmate will constantly have before his eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which he is spied upon. Unverifiable: the inmate must never know whether he is being looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so. In order to make the presence or absence of the inspector unverifiable, so that the prisoners, in their cells, cannot even see a shadow, Bentham envisaged not only venetian blinds on the windows of the central observation hall, but, on the inside, partitions that intersected the hall at right angles and, in order to pass from one quarter to the other, not doors but zig-zag openings; for the slightest noise, a gleam of light, a brightness in a half-opened door would betray the presence of the guardian. The Panopticon is a machine for dissociating the see/being seen dyad: in the peripheric ring, one is totally seen, without ever seeing; in the central tower, one sees everything without ever being seen.
It is an important mechanism, for it automatizes and disindividualizes power. Power has its principle not so much in a person as in a certain concerted distribution of bodies, surfaces, lights, gazes; in an arrangement whose internal mechanisms produce the relation in which individuals are caught up. The ceremonies, the rituals, the marks by which the sovereign’s surplus power was manifested are useless. There is a machinery that assures dissymmetry, disequilibrium, difference. Consequently, it does not matter who exercises power. Any individual, taken almost at random, can operate the machine: in the absence of the director, his family, his friends, his visitors, even his servants (Bentham, 45). Similarly, it does not matter what motive animates him: the curiosity of the indiscreet, the malice of a child, the thirst for knowledge of a philosopher who wishes to visit this museum of human nature, or the perversity of those who take pleasure in spying and punishing. The more numerous those anonymous and temporary observers are, the greater the risk for the inmate of being surprised and the greater his anxious awareness of being observed. The Panopticon is a marvellous machine which, whatever use one may wish to put it to, produces homogeneous effects of power.
A real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation. So it is not necessary to use force to constrain the convict to good behaviour, the madman to calm, the worker to work, the schoolboy to application, the patient to the observation of the regulations. Bentham was surprised that panoptic institutions could be so light: there were no more bars, no more chains, no more heavy locks; all that was needed was that the separations should be clear and the openings well arranged. The heaviness of the old “houses of security”, with their fortress-like architecture, could be replaced by the simple, economic geometry of a “house of certainty”. The efficiency of power, its constraining force have, in a sense, passed over to the other side — to the side of its surface of application. He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection. By this very fact, the external power may throw off its physical weight; it tends to the non-corporal; and, the more it approaches this limit, the more constant, profound and permanent are its effects: it is a perpetual victory that avoids any physical confrontation and which is always decided in advance.

Posted by: Mōnandæg | Apr 13 2021 0:04 utc | 135

@james #111
Thank you for the heads up about the interview with Werner. Here’s the original video at Danielle DiMartino Booth’s YouTube channel:
How Banks Work & Dictate the Economy — DiMartino Booth — Down the Middle with Richard Werner (1 h 19 min).

Posted by: S | Apr 13 2021 0:27 utc | 137

@ S | Apr 13 2021 0:27 utc | 137
thanks s! the video is quite good.. i recommend it.. and yes – that is the same video…. anyone into michael hudson would benefit from listening to richard werner and if they haven’t seen his documentary – princes of the yen – free on youtube – i recommend that too!~

Posted by: james | Apr 13 2021 0:58 utc | 139

Don’t know why so many commenters are suffering bilious attacks in this thread, but insulting others is a perfect way to make sure your comment has zero effect, other than to waste the time you took to write it.
It’s why society invented courtesy, so that no one would trip over personal differences, and could share communication effectively.
~~
@107 Mōnandæg:
I assume you’ve read the latest Lin Dinh. I can’t help but find the joke funny, after a year or more of terror. Sorry you drew out the censorious.
@109 Norwegian:
I don’t know how you scrolled that far to find Auslander’s comment, but many thanks for doing so. As you know, people regard Auslander as a pretty straight source, living in Crimea as he does, and with his military connections. He seems to be citing Sevastopol sourcing for the news. Amarynth, the editor at Saker, seems ready to run with this news so I assume we’ll hear more tomorrow. As you say, it’s a masterful blow if true.
Disabling the entire Ukie capacity to wage war is exactly the kind of simple thing the Russians would do, having waited first for France and Germany to agree that there is no alternative to the Minsk agreement. Auslander says this betokens the advent of the clash, but I suspect that it means the walking away in shame of the Ukraine from the Donbass. I look forward to hearing more about this.
@121 Chevrus:
It’s always good to read your rare comments. Nice job on that noise.
@139 james:
Thanks for the Werner link. The comments at Tube suggest she let him speak without interruption – the sign of a great interviewer. And he’s a man worth letting speak. I always download anything with Werner in it. I look forward to digesting this at leisure.

Posted by: Grieved | Apr 13 2021 2:02 utc | 141

Michael Hudson’s latest interview is really rather depressing given reality, not the daily reporting of lies. Here’s the last question he’s asked and his response:
“What are you seeing really coming up in the next six months or so, as these eviction moratoriums and bad debts and so forth start to really weigh down on society?
“Michael: Nobody can tell. Nobody that I know can tell even how far the stock market is going to go up. To us, wait a minute, where’s the reality underlying this? Nobody I know can really tell. All they can do is follow the crowd and hope to be allowed in a hurry when they see the crash. And there’s no way of knowing when a crash comes because somewhere there’s a break in the chain of payments and that causes a disaster, but there’s no way of knowing when the disaster comes.
“Australia is willing to act as a victim and do pretty much whatever the United States and Britain (which does everything the United States tells it to do) tells it to do. So the United States is going to put its own interests first, England’s interests second, and Australia is going to be pretty far down the line. It’s a country that lets itself be victimised. So I don’t know what the forecast for Australia is. You never know how much and how deeply people can be victimised until they fight back. All you can do is squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and maybe some day somebody will fight back, but that point has not arrived either in America or England or Australia yet. So there’s no reasonable forecast, except things are just going to get tighter and tighter and tighter and all the income will be more and more concentrated in the top one percent.”
And the closer:
“Michael, any concluding comments to round up another interview?
“Michael: I’ve never been so unable to forecast the future as I have now, because you keep expecting people to act in their self-interest, that’s the assumption underling all political theory, but people are not building in their self-interest, they’re not actin gin their self-interest. The whole economy seems to be self-destructing and you and I are talking about this happening and I talk with a number of other people and I put the interviews on the website we’re the webmaster for. There are a few good sites, like Naked Capitalism, that talk about it, but all we can do is watch and say my heavens, how long can it go on? And nobody knows when it will stop.”
And as Hudson says, the future within neoliberal afflicted nations is so clearly unknown, whereas that of the collective nations like China and Russia is very well planned, organized and underway. I’ve tried to describe the two sides in this very dire competition that’s a war against people and their defenders. Here’s how Hudson puts it:
“They’re not commercial rivals with the same system.
“What’s really in rivalry is a different economic system.”
What Marx though would eventually become a humanistic, democratic Socialism versus the financialized parasitism of NeoFeudalism.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 13 2021 3:14 utc | 143

@Mōnandæg | Apr 12 2021 22:55 utc | 128

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever see something like this. This is something out of dystopian sci-fi novels.

Yes, I guess it proves certain philosophers right.
“In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
Just over a year ago I also would never believe something like this, but I recognized it for what it was in mid March 2020.

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 13 2021 5:17 utc | 145

@Grieved | Apr 13 2021 2:13 utc | 142
It is cognitive dissonance. After having participated in “climate debates” for many years, this is nothing new. The shock and awe effect that propaganda has on many people who are unprepared causes a psychological commitment, i.e. it manufactures a world view that they will defend violently even if it is entirely fictional.
When such a world view is challenged, the anger displayed is not because they sense you are wrong, but because they sense you are correct. This subconscious understanding conflicts with the psychological commitment and is a source of the anger.
We are observing a lesson in pathological science. One of its characteristics is “Ratio of supporters to critics rises up to somewhere near 50% and then falls gradually to oblivion.” . I am hoping we have reached the peak and are now observing the gradual fall to oblivion.

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 13 2021 5:41 utc | 147

Weaponising Phil the Greek
According to the englander fishwraps, the BBC propagandists received an unprecedented number of complaints (more than 100,000) over the BBC decision to cancel all scheduled programming across all four TV channels then replace those soap operas & infantile game shows with wall to wall coverage of Brenda’s number 1 prick, who had shuffled of this mortal coil that day.
Of course in addition they also received complaints about having received so many complaints.
This is the bloke who the BBC once demonstrated had attempted to organise a military coup in england to replace Prime Minister Harold Wilson with . . . you guessed it . . himself!
So I realise it may seem equally infantile, but I’ve been climbing on the BBC Complaints site via an england VPN and clearing out all BBC cookies after each complaint and then whining about this travesty as much as any englander.
It is inevitable that the plethora of citizens pissed about missing east-enders or whatever will be described as putinbots or useful idiots, no matter whether done or not, so why not get in first and log in from a russian VPN describe the coverage as ‘worse than Pravda following Brezhnev’s death’ or “more mourners at VI Lenin’s wake”, or whatever.
We can never put together as many IP addresses as the NSA or even GCHQ but we can confuse them to buggery & have a laugh doing so.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Apr 13 2021 6:41 utc | 149

https://asiatimes.com/2021/04/__trashed-7/
Can any North Korean scholar confirm any of the infos in the above article?
If that’s true, it’s also grim for North Korea. We desperately need North Korea as a military force in the region, too bad Vietnam cannot help them much.

Posted by: Smith | Apr 13 2021 8:16 utc | 151

What are rare earth metals and what are they used for? (CGTN, Arij Limam, April 13, 2021)
The article reports U.S. Geological Survey statistics on rare earth metals reserves and mine production as of 2020 (in metric tons of rare earth oxides):

    RESERVES

China           44,000,000   36.7%
Vietnam         22,000,000   18.3%
Brazil          21,000,000   17.5%
Russia          12,000,000   10.0%
India            6,900,000    5.7%
Australia        4,100,000    3.4%
Greenland        1,500,000    1.2%
United States    1,500,000    1.2%
Tanzania           890,000    0.7%
Canada             830,000    0.7%
South Africa       790,000    0.7%

Others           4,490,000    3.7%

World          120,000,000  100.0%


MINE PRODUCTION

China          140,000   57.6%
United States   38,000   15.6%
Myanmar         30,000   12.3%
Australia       17,000    7.0%
Madagascar       8,000    3.3%
India            3,000    1.2%
Russia           2,700    1.1%
Thailand         2,000    0.8%
Brazil           1,000    0.4%
Vietnam          1,000    0.4%
Burundi            500    0.2%

Others               0    0.0%

World          243,200  100.0%

Interestingly, Myanmar does not even make the list of top 11 reserve holders, i.e. it must have less than 790,000 t of REO, and yet it is currently the third largest producer at 30,000 t of REO annually (and growing, if you look at the chart in the article). At these rates, it will be stripped of rare earth metals in about a decade.

Posted by: S | Apr 13 2021 10:20 utc | 153

Just had a look at Ecuador’s presidential election results, and they don’t make any sense:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Ecuadorian_general_election#Results
Uber-liberal Lasso winning the 2nd round after losing the 1st to the left candidate and being at the same level as leftist indigenist candidate is just not realistic or possible, it would mean that the bulk of Pachakutik voters actually voted for him instead of Arauz or merely going with blank / fuck-you-all ballots. I just can’t see how this would happen.
More informed and knowledgeable commenters might be able to correct me or explain this big riddle to me, because from where I sit, this looks like dodgy results – way more than US 2016 election Bolivia 2019, or any Russian election in the last 20 years, all of which have been subjected to various accusations of frauds.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Apr 13 2021 11:52 utc | 155

Interview: Adaptation of Marxism to Chinese context key to CPC’s success, says Iranian politician
–//–
Several U.S. states shut down Johnson & Johnson vaccine sites after adverse reactions reported
Also according to the RT reporting, it seems the J&J causes blood cloths because it essentially is an AstraZeneca ripoff.
So much for the vaunted “American innovation spirit”. More like American IP theft.
–//–
Elon Musk leaves Vladimir Putin stranded on Earth, by Clara Ferreira Marques, for Bloomberg
“Clara Ferreira Marques is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities and environmental, social and governance issues.”
Not a specialist in the area. Highly ideological article for the commemoration of 60th anniversary Korolev’s sending Yuri Gagarin to space.
–//–
Opinion: Now is the time for a Third Reconstruction — abolishing Jim Crow once and for all
Second FDR, second New Deal, another Marshall Plan, Third Reconstruction… the USA is starting to pay too much attention to its mythological past. Not a good sign for an empire.
–//–
Russia to send three missions to Moon by 2026

On Cosmonautics Day on April 12, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with heads of the space industry and government members on the space research program. According to Sergeyev, it was confirmed at the highest level during the meeting that the government would restore financing of scientific space exploration under the federal space program, which would amount to 15 billion rubles ($195 million) a year.

Another trivia is in this article:

“The USSR actively participated in this and the first soft landing was made by the Soviet Union. And the last Luna-24 probe that brought back lunar soil was the last mission of that period for conquering the Moon,” Sergeyev said.

It is now known that the USSR never intended to send a man to the Moon. It already knew there was no water on it (besides vestigial water in the form of “sweat” on its surface) and, therefore, it was not economically viable to do so. It decided to send unmanned probes – which it did, and did first.
Nowadays, the landscape is a little bit different: space exploration is a fully economically viable field (that’s why the Chinese decided to enter the space race these last decades, and not for propaganda purposes, as many in the West theorize) and, with reusable rockets from both China and Russia coming soon, man presence in the Moon – even a lunar base – may become viable. Sergeyev also mentions there’s been an ice build up on the Moon (from comets shocking with it over the years), which would give us a source of hydrogen and oxygen. Interesting, didn’t know that.
–//–
75 years later, Europe is carved up again:
Western insistence on Russia paying Ukraine rent to use old Soviet-era gas pipelines drives Moscow away from EU & towards China
As some cynical historian would say: the European never fully recovered from the fall of the Roman Empire.
–//–
Oops:
Taiwanese Dollar Plummets as Joe Biden Government Set to Designate Taipei as Currency Manipulator
Taiwan wanted to build the impenetrable shield and the unbreakable lance. The problem is they are made of silicon – a very fragile material.
Don Quixote has already taught us what happens to a rat that thinks it’s an elephant.
–//–
Desperate Soviet bureaucrats desperately trying to save the system at the end of the 1980s, colorized:
America Needs to Empower Workers Again: Unions aren’t obsolete, and we need to get them back, by Paul Krugman, NYT.
The Economy That Allows You to Get Your Job Done Is Broken: President Biden understands that caregiving is infrastructure, and that all families need it, by Molly Kinder and Martha Ross, Brookings Institution.
We Need an Infrastructure Package for Nature, by Paul Greenberg and Carl Safina, Safina Center.

Posted by: vk | Apr 13 2021 14:09 utc | 157

Posted by: @uncle tungsten #76 | Apr 12 2021 5:00 utc | 81
Alibaba is so 2010s, the real e-commerce in China hotness is Pinduoduo wtih far less middlemen taxes.

Posted by: J W | Apr 13 2021 14:16 utc | 159

@Jimmy-6Pack | Apr 13 2021 14:20 utc | 160

I rather doubt that. There are still surprisingly many people in shopping centers etc. without masks.

That observation serves as an experiment testing your hypothesis that we are not observing the gradual fall to oblivion. But as you confirm, we do.
“If it disagrees with experiment, it’s wrong”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b240PGCMwV0

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 13 2021 14:40 utc | 161

I’ll add to what I wrote at 158 that the long talk (given last month) linked by Petro in the paragraph I included there is an excellent explanation of the Aeschylus trilogy and tragedy in general as far as relevance to political conflicts is concerned. He ends by noting that tragedy is the vehicle by which personal wisdom can be measured against collective wisdom, and promises an additional talk explaining the relevance of this to the situation in Ukraine.
I think what he is describing is a good explanation for the manner in which Russia has been attempting to retain Ukraine as a political entity. This doesn’t match with some of his article’s statements however, so I’m unwilling to embrace it as an overarching assessment.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 13 2021 15:18 utc | 163

From karlof1 @ 143:

“…as Hudson says, the future within neoliberal afflicted nations is so clearly unknown, whereas that of the collective nations like China and Russia is very well planned, organized and underway. I’ve tried to describe the two sides in this very dire competition that’s a war against people and their defenders…”
Given my above comments on the analysis given by Petro, I would say that his lecture linked in his article on Ukraine applies even more definitively to the confusion elaborated on by Hudson.
Perhaps our neoliberal TINA advocates need to be all assembled in a Greek amphitheater (out in the open) and forced to watch Aeschylus’s trilogy from beginning to end. After which, each individual being exposed to the catharsis the Greek populace experienced, some healing drops of collective empathy might trickle down into their souls.
Most certainly, I would ascertain that at present they are under the influence of the Furies and the situation does seem hopeless indeed. With dialogue seemingly impossible to generate, I suggest the Uighar situation in China might further be a model to follow. From what little we know of that process, its positive aspects are restoration of citizenhood to a society within the state without the negation of its culture. Somehow that has to apply to our one percent idiots.
It would be a kindness.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 13 2021 16:10 utc | 165

juliania @165–
I’m currently traveling across our nation and have had an opportunity to see conditions and interact with locals in a few states. A few states have lots of activity and are short of labor to man the ongoing build-out, while elsewhere–I’m on the West Virginia/Virginia border now–the poverty is dramatic and is reflected by an epidemic of opioid and meth that’s highest in the nation. Hudson describes the boarded-up stores in NYC, and I could report the same from here and elsewhere within this particular region. But such a blanket description is incorrect as amidst the old, rundown and ruined are new buildings that reflects the very uneven nature of outcomes as some get ahead while many more are left behind and are clearly in the wrong region if they hope to better their condition. And that situation forms the basis in the disparity between the actions of Russia/China and the USA. IMO, Biden’s “infrastructure proposal” looks more like a shotgun blast instead of several well placed rifle shots that target the development of Human Capital. I don’t agree with the numerous negatives raised in this article, as too little is aimed at the very serious situation caused by socio-economic disparities caused by the last 40+ years of failed policies.
After I finish my visit with my daughter, I’ll be visiting my in-laws who live on the Alabama/Georgia border, which is yet another region of very uneven development and resulting social problems. I’d like to hit the Rustbelt region, but our trip’s priorities won’t allow that, although I’m getting a partial picture. As with the situation in NYC, will people return to the abandoned storefronts and open new businesses only to be starved of customers who can’t afford to pay the rents?

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 13 2021 17:53 utc | 167

@ juliania | Apr 13 2021 17:52 utc | 166.. thanks juliania! no worries… we can’t be well versed in everything! i hope you are getting some gardening in.. i got the onions and potatoes planted , along with the broad beans which i got off to a late start… peas have been in for a good 2 or so weeks as well… our garlic is looking very good this year.. we have about 90 heads out in the front yard… the thing about richard werner.. he is quite knowledgeable… you might enjoy the documentary – princes of the yen’ which is free on youtube.. it gives a good overview of what happened in japan in the 90’s and which could easily happen here in the west too… he has a strong understanding of finances and banking as i understand it and he is fun to listen to… that might not be his best video interview, but i think it is quite good because he does most all of the talking as grieved noted above! cheers james
@ 167 karlof1… thanks for your traveling post.. that sounds so sad about the opiod crisis in west virginia and etc… enjoy your travels and keep on posting when you can!

Posted by: james | Apr 13 2021 17:58 utc | 169

Thank you james, garden is good, though as always we could use some rain. But hey, although it looks very dry out on the plains, the mountains have had snow on them, still do, so we are not in serious drought yet as a lot of that snow will replenish the rivers and reservoirs. I’ve seen it worse with no snow retained there all winter, and the plains scoured of all vegetation other than cacti and junipers (with even the latter experiencing some die-off.)
I did enjoy a comprehensive program on the Everglades on PBS last night – unfortunately it ended before we really got into the global climate change scenario. And I’m glad karlof1 is seeing some positive along with the negatives as he travels. Might be Biden feels he has to use his shotgun approach, given his time may be limited – I know how that feels! And I remember that was FDR’s mantra also – throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.
I am noticing on blooming fruit trees that we do have an abundance of large fuzzy-grey bees that are definitely more menacing than the honey bees and scare the latter off — don’t know what that portends. But I am planting more insect-loving annuals where I can – the dearth of insect life in general is alarming. We used to get the migrating monarchs – love them as we have them aplenty in New Zealand. I’ll know we’re accomplishing something if and when I see them returning.

Posted by: juliania | Apr 13 2021 18:31 utc | 171

@ 171 juliania… thanks for the overview from where you are… it has been much drier then usual here… apparently california is having a drought.. i can see that given we usually get a fair amount of rain, but this past winter we have had very little… it seems like climate change to me, but i realize i am only seeing a small part where we live.. what kind of bees are those large fuzzy grey ones??? what was unusual this past year was seeing bees way late and early into winter… that suggests much warmer then usual weather for us… we don’t see yellow jackets in november or december ever… fruit trees haven’t started to bloom here, except some japanese ornamental plum or some other types.. so, some blooms, but not as much as elsewhere i am sure…

Posted by: james | Apr 13 2021 19:36 utc | 173

Ecuador – 6% differential between winner and 2nd place, while an amazing 16% of the ballots were “invalid”, many of these deliberately spoiled as a form of protest vote by Pachakutik supporters. Ecuador will now become leading S American country in adopting specifically anti-China policies as dictated by US State Dept. (specified by Moreno-Pompeo last autumn), on top of neo-liberal “reforms”.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/13/right-wing-banker-pulls-upset-win-ecuador-over-leftist-champion

Posted by: jayc | Apr 13 2021 22:27 utc | 175

@ S 153 & @ Smith 154
Rare earth minerals are not so rare, the ability to process the ore to metals is dirty and complicated. Australian miner ASM has huge deposits and clean South Korean technology. Lynas also has huge deposits processes.
Myanmar actually has something rare, tin deposits. According to the excellent new book ‘The Rare Metals War, by Guillaume Pitron, translated from French, the worlds tin supply will last between 6 to 17 years depending on usage. The London Metals Exchange possessed only a couple of days supply last month. Currently Myanmar exports most of its tin production to China. Presumably for printed circuits and soldering. Tinned copper wire is needed for boats. Don’t expect China to punish Myanmar for human rights abuses.
Meanwhile, speaking about the worlds premier human rights abuser, Israel. There has been a major victory for a real [non selective] human rights campaigner, Australian, Melissa Parke and the growing BDS movement:
https://johnmenadue.com/john-menadue-melissa-parke-successfully-settles-defamation-case-against-pro-israeli-commentator/

Posted by: Paul | Apr 13 2021 23:28 utc | 177

@ Paul
I have no comment on the China vs Myanmar human rights abuse things, human rights are basically just a talking point nowadays.
But that does confirm the americans and europeans are just holding onto their sources, they would rather exploit Asia and other continent’s resources, devious.

Posted by: Smith | Apr 14 2021 0:24 utc | 179

Grieved @180–
Obfuscation of basic economics is why Hudson published J is for Junk Economics, the companion book to Killing the Host. Fundamental economics were well known by those called the Classical Economists, who were in fact political-economists as there was no separate subject known as economics at the time. The deliberate change began @1870 in England as Hudson details, and the practice of banking furthering the rise of industrial capitalism began to diminish and replaced by financialization. The events that occurred between 1890 and 1930 were the first attempt to establish the Neoliberal paradigm but failed. Hudson explains some of this here, but much more is revealed by studying the conversation surrounding WW1’s war loans. Further understanding of the growing difference in systems can be seen in Germany’s reindustrialization prior to 1938, and studying the Pecora hearings on the bankers and war material suppliers. Yes, it takes lots of time but a great deal is revealed. FDR and Wallace knew and tried to point the nation in a different direction, but the Vested Interests were too powerful and too well placed, so the massive profits made from rebuilding Western Europe were then plowed into finance instead of the further promotion of human capital. Would Hitler’s Nazis become financialists instead of industrialists is a very good yet seldom asked question? We know what American Industrialists became–Financialist Nazis.
On the line of thought you forwarded on the other thread, I highly suggest reading this short missive that the publishers distill to the following and melds with my postulation that the conflict is now between Anti-Human forces and those that are Pro-Human:
“What is in progress is a clash between people and nations who support normal human values and the part of the Western elite which preaches post-human values.”
I find the term “post-human” an obfuscation of sorts. The core of the crux is explained as follows:
“The dead-end reached by the West in the deontological competition was keenly noted by Russian political scientist Sergei Karaganov in a recent Serbian ‘Sputnik’ interview[Link at Original]. ‘What is in progress is a clash between people and nations who support normal human values and the part of the Western elite which preaches post-human values.’ Speaking for his country Karaganov pointedly stressed that ‘we stand for human values and that is potentially a far sharper disagreement than what used to exist between communism and capitalism.’
“Has Russia any sympathizers in the West?
“‘Yes, of course she does,’ Karaganov was quick to respond. ‘Not just in the West but throughout the world, ninety percent of which consists of normal people who share belief in normal values, who wish to live and bear their children in peace, for elders to be respected, and that people should be free to devote themselves to what they most highly cherish – family and fatherland.'”
Woke and Cancel are the polar opposite and are clearly weaponized culture.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2021 2:09 utc | 181

In his latest analysis, The Saker points to this:
“Last Sunday, Margarita Simonian, the head of Russia Today, said something very interesting on a Russian TV show”
but omits the show’s name and doesn’t provide a link, which IMO is very poor scholarship. When you read his paraphrase of her words, you’ll see why I want to hear/read them for myself, and others will too. If others draw a blank, I’ll try tomorrow.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2021 2:55 utc | 183

Below is a quote from a Xinhuanet posting about a virtual meeting on the 13th with Chinese Premier Li and over 20 US multi-national corporations
”
BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday that China welcomes the active participation of companies from the United States and around the world in its reform and opening-up, as well as its modernization process.
Li made the remarks during a virtual dialogue with U.S. business leaders, with board chairmen and CEOs from the U.S.-China Business Council and over 20 U.S. multinational companies in attendance.
Promoting the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. relations is the common aspiration of both peoples as well as the international community, Li said.
He called upon the two sides to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state and uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, respecting each other’s core interests and major concerns, enhancing dialogue and communication, expanding practical cooperation and properly handling differences.
“The essence of economic and trade relations between China and the U.S. is mutual benefit,” said Li, adding that such a relationship benefits the two peoples as well as world peace, stability, development and prosperity.
Noting that trade between the two countries in 2020 increased despite multiple shocks, Li said this indicates that there are objective conditions and opportunities for cooperation between the two sides.
”
Is the “selling” of the Taiwan issue (“…respecting each other’s core interests and major concerns…”) to US multinational corporations going to change the course of this geo-political conflict?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 14 2021 5:08 utc | 185

Amazing that so many people still dont know whats the deep state, or ptb..

Who is behind this SARS2, aka covid19 madness? I accept the risk of triggering your “conspiracy theory” buttons by identifying the widely recognized ”
global military-medical-petrochemical-pharmaceutical cartel” as the only suspect that can wield the powers necessary to effect these frightening outcomes.

……………….

In the days preceding the emergence of the first covid cases, American raced to the Pacific Rim to impact escalating aggressions on the Korean peninsula, SCS, TW straits, HK, ECS. Communist China-a “most favored” trading partner with America, is politically allied with several American enemies, including those said to possess weapons of mass destruction, including Iran. Coincidental? Not likely when viewing the larger political picture involving the Ango-American oligarchy’s RMA and instigated “conflicts short of war.”
Ultimately, “We the People” have become the greatest victims of this latest fright, and the larger political agendas it serves.

http://whale.to/a/sars2.htm

Posted by: denk | Apr 14 2021 15:01 utc | 187

Very informative article related to Putin’s remarks about Russia’s Arctic goals. Do take note of the almost non-existent Arctic assets available for the Outlaw US Empire at the article’s ending that I’ve mentioned before, particularly the lack of any deep water port facility or S&R infrastructure on Alaska’s Arctic shoreline, let alone settlements aside from those of the natives.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2021 15:50 utc | 189

According to US sources, three satellites from Russia, China, US exploded within a two weeks period.
First impression,
Space wars have kicked off.
But apparently the US ‘casualty’ is a decommissioned unit ready for scrap.
If so, it’d reek of FF
[[[somebody]]] took out two rival satellites together with one of its own junk, to effect plausible deniability.

Posted by: denk | Apr 14 2021 17:18 utc | 191

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2021 2:55 utc | 183
The quote comes from the Solovyev show which tends to be quite long. Here is a clip with Russian text covering that particular statement, we’ll never get along she says, too bad and I do not agree because I was witness and participant in a venture that got soviets and Usians working together and getting along quite well. -can’t get my self to say Americans since an Argentinian or Costa Rican is an American too-.
I spent this afternoon watching a long program about Gagarin and curiously a cultural convergence was pointed to begin back in the sixties comparing the post flight Gagarin to US stars like Presley or James Dean, and I agree, there is a lot more common cultural traits between Russians and USians that lets us say USians and Chinese, or Turks, or Arabs.
Simonyan at Solovyev excerpt

Posted by: Paco | Apr 14 2021 17:53 utc | 193

☿: nepotism
“I strongly disagree with your characterization of all States as “occupied by ideological cliques (which inevitably due to nepotism gives rise to yet another set of Parasitic Families)”.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidel_Castro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra%C3%BAl_Castro
Also: 太子党
☿: Is Public banking a euphemism for Statism?
“I dare you to go to the US State of North Dakota”
Can’t be that scary, is it? But I don’t need to go there. We have the internet.
BND charges interest on “money [publicly] created from thin air”:
https://bnd.nd.gov/rates/
Now the question is what happens to real money that is earned by borrower to pay BND. Fairest assumption is that the State of ND uses these funds for public works, etc.
So Mr. or Ms. North Dakota gets a loan for a house. Since you know so much about the scary state of North Dakota, can you break down the amount received (created out of thin air and then loaned) and how much is paid back (not created from thin air, rather from Mr. or Ms. North Dakota’s working wages)?
So we of course applaud the good people of ND to have the good sense to not send their annual pound of flesh to City of London, but the fundamental error persists: interest on loans.
& How does it work in China? How many pounds of flesh does the “People’s” bank get from the Chinese borrower? Are these funds then used to finance the strengthening of State Security apparatus to maintain power?
☿: The Conflict
The conflict we see today is waged against Humanity, Individual Rights, Freedom of Conscious, Freedom of Belief, etc. (You likely are referring to the conflict between dominant Western and ascending Eastern elites. Try and think out of your single note box.)

Posted by: Iméra tou Ermí | Apr 14 2021 19:01 utc | 195

Paco @196–
Thanks again for your reply. I saw there were many more participants in that discussion and wondered what else might have been said. Thanks for providing a bit more context. I agree 100% with Karganovich.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2021 20:26 utc | 197

Mossad USA base in Kurdish occupied Iraq bombed by suicide drone PressTV reports. Tiny url used to get past the league of decency censorship bot.

A picture circulated after a reported “attack” against the United States’ airbase in the Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital Erbil, shows plumes of smoke billowing out of the facility.
The United States’ airbase in the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region’s capital Erbil has come under an “attack.”
Iraq’s Sabereen News television channel and Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network reported that explosions had rung out in the city on Wednesday night.
The Iraqi channel reported shortly afterwards that columns of smoke were being seen billowing from the base towards the sky.
It added that the roads leading to the US Consulate in the city and the Erbil International Airport had been shut down following the incident. Another Iraqi information network said the airport itself had also been shut down after the development.
Iraqi journalists confirmed that at least one rocket had landed inside the outpost. They also circulated footage of overflights above the city of a large number of aircraft that they identified as likely American drones.
Kurdistan’s interior ministry claimed that the incident had involved a “kamikaze drone.” It said the alleged attack had targeted a facility affiliated to the forces of the United States-led coalition that has been operating in Iraq since 2014 under the pretext of fighting the Takfiri terrorist group of Daesh.

Note that term “Kudistan’s Interior Ministry….”
PressTV is now running Kurd bloated self aggrandizement terminology. Try this “The fake Kurdistan invention “interior ministry” or the Mossad front Kurdistan terrorists claimed…

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 14 2021 22:13 utc | 199