Open Thread 2021-034
News & views ...
Posted by b on May 7, 2021 at 5:32 UTC | Permalink
next page »What no one has anything to say? Well, despite the risk of any comment which involves covid 19 running encouraging rabid asserters of both sides of anti-covs & vaccinators, I'm gonna restate my view that Germany's opposition to freeing covid 19 vaccines from patent protection reeks of a nation arm wrestled into doing as amerika insists as a way to avoid the more serious consequences amerika threatened Germany with as punishment for the crime of insisting that Russia/ Germany co-operation via Nord Stream 2 continue.
This has nothing to do with how anyone feels about so-called intellectual property law, cos facts are facts it don't matter how anyone feels about corporate control of necessities, the fact is that patent law & other *intellectual property* nonsense is real and exists irrelevant to how some bloke or another reckons.
Germany is due for a federal general election in 2021 and lets face it, this sort of overtly selfish covetousness will cost many more votes than it gathers even on the right as it is they that are forcing the whole "economic salvation through vaccination" spiel. Supporters of that POV likely also believe that the only route to regaining open economies lies in vaccinating the world asap.
In other words even conservatives who usually regard any weakening of intellectual property 'rights' as unabashed communism could concede that in this isolated case jilting pharma lovers is an essential means to an end.
The sickeningly conservative german greens have as yet voiced no support for blocking covid patents, which for this party of russophobic neolibs could provide the impetus to push then across the line and into government this year.
They were already polling strongly prior to the covid patent issue.
That begs the question as to whether there is another layer to amerika's strategy. It is difficult to see that a change of government late this year could have any effect on nord stream 2, the pipeline will be a fact by then.
On the other hand petty revenge has always been a frequent arrow in the empire's quiver. That is amerika words up the current german administration by letting them know taking the blame for not lifting the patent is an essential 'way back' for that german administration in amerika's books.
No one wants the patent suspension to happen, but no one wants to be blamed for it not happening, so Madam Merkel who could be forgiven for having her eye off the ball so close to retirement has accepted amerika's olive branch & gone for this arrangement without considering it could be a trap laid to do down the CDU for being weak on Russia, at the same time as upping the Greens who they believe to be 100% russophobic.
We shall see but surely Mutti knows of the empire's penchant for using *democratic ballots* as a way to force amerika's POV. Hell often they don't even need to kill pols or stuff that many ballot boxes nowadays as control of the neolib media deceives the masses into voting against their interests.
Posted by: Debsisdead | May 7 2021 7:55 utc | 2
[Colombia] La Silla Vacía: We close this chronicle of the strike at almost 10 at night. After eight days of protests, the day of May 5 was massive and mostly peaceful. The protest is led by young people, who oppose the violence of the police, and the government of Iván Duque. It was summoned by the Strike Committee, and the large demonstrations have already dissolved. However, localized closures and clashes between the police and protesters continue in points in several cities of the country. In addition, there are several blocked roads and some regions have cases of food and fuel shortages. This is the longest day of protest that Colombia has experienced in several decades.
Colombia Reports: The government of Colombia’s far-right President Ivan Duque is on the brink of collapse after using terrorism to quell anti-government protests backfired. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday as part of a national strike that a week ago drew only tens of thousands of people.
Colombia Reports: The missing persons unit of Colombia’s transitional justice unit raised the alarm on Thursday that 379 participants in anti-government protests of the past week have gone missing.The Missing Persons Search Unit that is part of a transitional justice system came to the alarmingly high number after cross-referencing the databases of some 26 organizations.
El Salvador Perspectives: Two days after legislators in El Salvador abruptly removed from office all five magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber and the country’s attorney general and replaced them with others, a mountain of criticism has grown inside and outside of El Salvador. Despite those criticisms, president Nayib Bukele has no plans to reverse course, and there appears to be little reason to believe that those removed from their posts could ever be returned.
Posted by: Maracatu | May 7 2021 10:11 utc | 3
Posted by: Maracatu | May 7 2021 10:11 utc | 3
Thank you for the news, Maracatu.
I would say that the hallmark of good government is the absence of crises, emergencies, and disasters. Instead you would have steady work in the direction of stability and development. Our choice.
We need to ask ourselves when we get is sticky situations, was this a case of me going looking for trouble? Or a case of trouble coming looking for me?
Nine times out of ten you will find it was the former, but that tenth time you better be paying attention.
Posted by: Bemildred | May 7 2021 11:43 utc | 4
- Right wing extremism on the rise in Israel (surprise, surprise):
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/05/03/extremism-on-rise-in-israel/
Posted by: Willy2 | May 7 2021 12:37 utc | 5
Video - Russia invited ex-residents of Ukraine, including representatives of Donbass, to a UNSC Arria Formula meeting, so that witnesses could tell what happened during and after the coup in 2014.
Attention - the video contains an incredible level of hypocrisy and abomination on the part of representatives of 'Western' countries at this meeting. Thus, a mother who lost her child and herself became disabled as a result of the Ukrainian shelling was called a "provocateur".
However, the truth is slowly making its way upward.
Why is everyone letting India burn?
The simple answer, the U.S. is too self-absorbed and doesn't care about anyone else (probably true, but what about(ism) China and Russia? Chussia could score some serious brownie points helping India in their time of need. Is the U.S. conspiring to prevent Russia/China from helping India in order to keep a wedge between these countries?
I no longer doubt the depths of institutional evil in my country.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | May 7 2021 13:19 utc | 7
Posted by: Maracatu | May 7 2021 10:11 utc | 3
Thanks Maracatu for the link and focus on Colombia. Latin America continues to expose the ugly core of U.S. imperial power constructs. Latin American rich people are much more comfortable with the old fashioned U.S. Republican fairy tales: you must be born a prince just like you're born a pure bred poodle. Rags to riches? No. The Dems have honed their fairy tales to include people like dirt poor white trash Bill Clinton, bi-racial and bi-national Obama and now featuring the woke CIA girl--excuse me, woman. Biden has been trying to fit into the Dem fairy tale for years but the script keeps getting more extreme and he's always had a hard time keeping up: he was nice to Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill both while he politely facilitated Thomas's rise and Hill's smear. Remember, he kissed the asses of Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms. Google it. Hard core Latin aristocrats know Biden and his people are phony and, while they are ok holding their nose as they suck in U.S. taxpayer money it's not an easy fit and you better not call them a welfare case or they'll tell their body guard to punch you in the nose.
Uribe, Colombia's self-appointed godfater and mentor of current leader Duque- is "outing" the U.S. imperial death machinery much the way his recent buddy Trump did: he has pushed the ridiculous lie that vandals are destroying the country. Uribe doesn't really like Biden; he campaigned for Trump but he and his rich people need/want the money so they're stuck since they want the money (Plan Colombia...) but they really prefer Marco Rubio etc. Problem is the peons are in rebellion and now the middle class are also out in the streets. Blinken, Psaki and all are stunned. They were planning on pushing out Maduro along with solidifying Ecuador with Lasso and now Colombia is collapsing and Peru doesn't look good for the Empire either. Meanwhile, Bolivia is getting more solid and steady every day with Evo Morales finding his way as public leader and voice of South America. Bottom line, the Empire is in trouble in South America.https://kawsachunnews.com/evo-slams-eu-parliaments-interventionism-in-open-letter
Posted by: migueljose | May 7 2021 14:23 utc | 8
Debsisdead @ 2 it don't matter how anyone feels about corporate control of necessities, the fact is that patent law & other *intellectual property* nonsense is real and exists irrelevant to how some bloke or another reckons.
<=not sure I agree, copyright, patent, and government license monopolies account for nearly all of the removal from America and other industrial nations of their industries and technologies. That removal also removed from those places their inventing and training facilities. Where did the monopoly vested corporations move the industries that were flourishing in these Industrial Nations to? Answer, they move the industries to cheap labor and environment insensitive places. Why did they move because their profits increased and their markets expanded (but at the expense of the people in industrial nations and often at the expense of the industries in the low wage nations). Who moved from America its industry? the Oligarchs in charge of the nation state system.. at the global level, and at the USA franchise level. There was no order by government to move, movement came because of the monopoly powers given by government to profit making private hands.
Nearly nothing else matters but Monopoly power in private hands. Nation states were forced to pass laws that divided the monopoly powers of the state into pieces [govt was chopped up], those individual chopped up pieces were given to a few oligarchs who become global corporations. But it is the promise of monopoly powers that have created the conditions among the Oligarch to engage wars between nations, regime changes, assassinations and restrictive sanctions.
I think the individual governed people in the world are tried of war.. and likely will find ways to eliminate monopoly power in private hands; its a matter of time before the masses understand: global monopolies established by rule of law are the source of the wars the nations state fight that make Oligarch wealthy.
Posted by: snake | May 7 2021 14:48 utc | 9
Scotland's polls have closed.
The story of Alex Salmond's rise to lead the SNP to a majority in Scottish Parliament a decade ago, bringing to a referendum the question of Scottish Independence from the now-shrinking UK, his resignation after the indy vote barely failed, and the subsequent rise to power of his protege Nicola Sturgeon, currently Scotland's First Minister ...
This has fascinated me ever since Craig Murray began reporting Alex Salmond's recent trial on over a dozen spurious rape and sexual assault charges, at which he was found innocent of all.
Now Craig Murray, the only reporter who gave a fair accounting of Salmond's defence, has been found guilty of "jigsaw identification" of one or more of the legally anonymous accusers. Their absurd attempts to accuse and convict Salmond were all struck down in court, without the details ever being reported outside Murray's blog.
Other British media took the opportunity, along with Nicola Sturgeon, to smear Salmond's name and character. She said that although he was found innocent, he still must have done something wrong. By the way the accusers are apparently part of her inner circle including her Private Secretary (an official position rather than an office worker).
The whole thing stinks to high heaven, from Sturgeon's government changing harassment law to include former ministers (i.e. Salmond), to social media messages that were disallowed in the various court cases, saying that they have a way to get him without risking exposure (the law says that sexual assault accusers are given lifelong anonymity).
Apparently the government spent a million pounds in police work to try to get other witnesses or accusers to add to the case against Salmond, and the lawyers on the case advised from the beginning that the government was not likely to win the trial. In fact the trial collapsed when they said they would resign rather than continue to hide evidence or witnesses.
Why?
Because Alex Salmond has come back to politics, leading a new party, to add focus on Scottish independence. They tried to stop him.
Scotland is a colony of England, without full power to make its own laws. It has oil revenues and other export profits that are siphoned off under long-standing, unfair agreements set by British Parliament in Westminster.
Were Scotland to become independent, England loses money, and it loses a place to park its nuclear submarines, which Scots are overwhelmingly opposed to.
Craig Murray had to take down his many posts detailing the Salmond affair, but other sources remain.
Here's a quick quote from Wings Over Scotland about Murray's status as of today:
It’ll at least be something to do during the bizarre, inexplicable two-day hiatus in the results of this election – caused by the apparent fact that COVID-19 means you can only count votes in daylight hours – and the further three-day delay in the judicial torment of Craig Murray, who now won’t hear what sentence he will suffer for merely hinting at the truth about the Alex Salmond trial until Tuesday morning.(He was originally supposed to be sentenced today, after what’s already been a quite extraordinary three-month delay in verdict and sentencing since his hearing in January, even though all the material facts were agreed by both sides, and in which the sentencing was by a remarkable coincidence held back until the day after the election. It now won’t happen until after the election result.)
Posted by: jonku | May 7 2021 14:53 utc | 10
@Debsisdead | May 7 2021 7:55 utc | 2
What no one has anything to say?
When thoughtful, sensible, important posts are being deleted and memory holed without trace, there is no room for meaningful exchange of views.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 7 2021 14:55 utc | 11
@ Debsisdead
I suspect kayfabe:
- Biden just got in. He’s the face.
- Merkel is on her way out. She can play the heel and pay no political price.
The goal? Protect corporate profits and, more importantly, “don’t set the wrong precedent”.
Obviously, this is just a hypothesis, that will be tested in the next few months.
Posted by: oglalla | May 7 2021 15:03 utc | 12
Rania Kahlek has a good, hour-long interview with Kawsachun News founders Ollie Vargas and Camila Escalante which gets into some history, covers U.S. actions in Bolivia, Venezuela, El Salvador (Escalante's parents are from El Salvador, she grew up in the U.S.) and touches on Colombia. They live in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the leftists' power center, a vibrant, 7,000ft. tropical region loaded with cooperatives, unionized coca farmers who grow, share and continue to fight fascists. It's also Evo Morales's home area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuF_MgZJ5MQ&t=2s
Posted by: migueljose | May 7 2021 15:12 utc | 13
I should’ve added: Biden will win political points even if he ultimately “gives up” in face of “pressure from our allies”.
That will set the “correct” precedent: life-saving medicine, no matter how much research the taxpayers funded, are “for sale” and not “for charity” (though, again, it’s not even charity when the taxpayers paid for it).
Posted by: oglalla | May 7 2021 15:13 utc | 14
@Debsisdead #2
Germany's - for that matter all of Europe's - center-left, center-right and left political groups are an indistinguishable muddle.
Germany not buying into the COVID patent nullification is completely unsurprising - have you forgotten that Bayer is German?
From my view: Germany's objective is to stay in the middle. Be able to sell their cars and what not while still being able to buy cheap Russian oil and gas.
The only party that seems to go against the political muddle is AFD - but they're still quite low in the overall political party vote lists albeit apparently still increasing.
Posted by: c1ue | May 7 2021 16:17 utc | 15
@snake #9
I am curious as to why you apparently don't consider patents and copyrights as parts of monopoly power.
Do you understand that the creation and protection of patents and copyrights is very much a big money exercise? It costs a lot of money to take out a patent but even more to actually enforce them.
Thus a patent doesn't protect individual or even small business holders - it is usable only by those with extremely deep pockets (i.e. billionaires) or multi-national corporations.
This may not have been the intention when these legal protections were created, but that's definitely how they work now.
Posted by: c1ue | May 7 2021 16:20 utc | 16
Okay -- just FYI -- Canada's Armed Forces may (*may*) be hinting that some part of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is in Mexico. Helping them with something at the request of the government of Canada.
If not, the PPCLI is attracting much negative media attention which, to me, suggests it is doing something anti-imperial, based on historical precedent (that's precedent with negative media coverage of some aspect of Canada's armed forces).
https://twitter.com/CanadianArmy/status/1390380851993665536
https://twitter.com/davidpugliese/status/1390680616367116290
The acting Chief of Defence Staff for Canada is from the PPCLI, as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Eyre
And he's the subject of some controversy over a case involving sexual and physical assault with Canada's Special Forces (no, not Special Forces assaulting Afghanis like the Australian SAS, but about one major attacking another major and his wife.)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/special-forces-commander-on-leave-1.6011036
http://espritdecorps.ca/on-target-4/on-target-misguided-loyalty-military-brass-supported-sex-offender-not-victims
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | May 7 2021 16:26 utc | 17
CJC @ 8
Yes, India is so bad they have caught up to US levels. Not where we were over winter but now. Have not quite caught up to where Germany or Italy is now.
Who has totally screwed the pooch with covid has been US and it’s tributaries. And we continue to tell the world we know everything and we can tell them what they should do.
Posted by: oldhippie | May 7 2021 16:29 utc | 18
thanks debs... i suspect the greens are the trojan horse for the usa agenda and that you are correct in your analysis..
@ 6 alaff... thanks... if you have any direct input on this, tell those folks a transcript would be a lot more attractive.. i am sure they can generate one given they have done an english translation to the russian or ukrainian speakers too.. alas.. i appreciate your sharing all these links.. the one on the last thread was excellent and very informative..
@ 10 jonku.... it is such a statement of how long britian, or the queens team has sunk, where they are using scotland as the last state of british imperialism... going after craig murray ought to be a huge black eye for this same establishment, but remember - they have gone after julian assange in the same way.. and of course they are still after alex salmond... the main theme is no one will mess with british malfeasance, let alone call it what it is...
Posted by: james | May 7 2021 16:30 utc | 19
The realist in me sees the political calculations
that the Biden admin is making re:Covid vaccines & Intellectual Property rights.
Big pharma rules and that is that. Obama was the master of head-fakes and Biden can attempt to be ObamaII.
Here Biden is head-faking that he wants to do something good for the people but hopes that
Republicans will go on record as blocking his direction.
If we are fortunate Biden will fake himself out and we get what Biden only pretended to want.
Posted by: librul | May 7 2021 16:33 utc | 20
@ Posted by: migueljose | May 7 2021 14:23 utc | 8
The U.S. can never be in trouble is South America.
They will adjust their measures according to the situation - just because they are loose at the moment does not mean that they will remain that way.
What all countries must do (I believe) to escape the grip of the anaconda is to relax, take the aid, take the loans (to a point), take the industry, play the game but play it better than the gringos. I believe this is what China did - it required sophistication and discipline (serious discipline as they will use corruption).
You will never win by rejecting them. Pride and lack of discipline can be problematic.
Posted by: jared | May 7 2021 17:44 utc | 21
Posted by: jared | May 7 2021 17:44 utc | 21
What Aid? What loans?
Nothing comes from the US and the west to them without all kinds of strings and traps attached.
500 years they have lived under colonialism and where has that got them?
Your theory is delusional.
Posted by: arby | May 7 2021 18:16 utc | 22
Posted by: c1ue | May 7 2021 16:20 utc | 16
You are right about monopoly power of patents.
"Thus a patent doesn't protect individual or even small business holders - it is usable only by those with extremely deep pockets (i.e. billionaires) or multi-national corporations.
This may not have been the intention when these legal protections were created, but that's definitely how they work now."
Australia is in both world wide patent conventions. The process involves:
The first step is to apply for a provisional patent. This requires supplying the details for all the world to see. This gives the provisional patent holder limited protection for one year.
Within that year the provisional patent holder must then, for example, raise the money to build a factory, manufacture the product, lodge full patent application in every country in both conventions. Then fight expensive legal challenges in various jurisdictions.
Then apply for a full patent world wide in both conventions.
The system is designed to enrich big corporations, not inventors.
I have an invention and have chosen not to bother. I am sick of being ripped off.
e.
Posted by: Paul | May 7 2021 18:33 utc | 23
@debishead there is a reason why b never write an article about German politics. I checked it, never. As a German you have to learn to obey very silently, else you will find yourself in a tragedy. This country is ruled by the same rich families who already started ww1. It's a unique feature of this society, that you can't become super rich by work or by beeing a show star or football player like it is normal all around the world. Only as member of one of this families you can exist in the circles of decision making. Nobody ever talk about that. That green is on top right now have to do with the neverending commercial in establishment mass media, but the reason is that this families reshaped their portfolios so that they profit from that. Look at reality. Before ww1 Germany was surrounded by four superpowers directly on its borders. Now that what Austria was is the backyard of Germany. France and Great Britain are only a shadow of what it used to be and Russia is two countries away. Their plan succeeded. All contemporary ideologies was originally written down in German, even Zionism. Maybe not islamism. Booth, leaders of Russia and China have a deep knowledge of German culture, philosophy and even language. Germany only learned from history that you have to rule from under the horizon with visible puppets only above who calm down doubts. You know, even history is measured by events that did take place in Germany, actually Berlin. Like the world before and after 1945 and again end of cold war 1989. I love this blog, but better don't start to talk about this country in too much detail. I am afraid to loose it than.
Posted by: rico rose | May 7 2021 18:41 utc | 24
British social-democracy humiliated in Hartlepool elections:
After humiliation in Hartlepool, where now for smalltown detective DI Starmer?
Confirms my thesis Starmer was a completely artificial candidate, an unashamed leftist MSM fabrication.
Funny how there's no cogitation of ousting Starmer. On the contrary: the pages of The Guardian are littered with analyses of how Labour can and should do some soul searching but nothing more. Starmer's domination over the party is not contested and he's seen as the natural leader for Labour - a polar opposite, but equally ideological, take from Corbyn's era.
On other news, Scottish independence is all but dead. The UK will continue to shrink and degenerate into further irrelevance without any danger of revolution, a la Sparta.
--//--
Izvestia: Experts weigh in on US-USSR Lend-Lease cooperation during WWII
US historian Albert Weeks referred to the Lend-Lease program as "Russia’s life-saver" in his book on the topic, providing readers with the following figures: over 92.7% of railroad equipment in the USSR was produced with the aid of Lend-Lease, which included 1,911 locomotives and 11,200 rail cars.Mikhail Myagkov, Scientific Director with the Russian Military Historical Society, disagreed with this position, noting that it is "immoral" to say that the USSR would not have been able to win without the US.
A historian with the society Nikita Buranov points out that the aid of the allies was significant, however, it cannot be said that it played a key role in the defeat of Hitler.
This is a cool bar discussion, but not a valid historical question.
The essential question is this: why did Lend Lease just really got going after 1942-43?
The answer is simple: because, after Stalingrad, Soviet victory was certain.
Certainty of Soviet victory exerted two pressures on the USA to honor the Lend Lease (which was already signed in 1941):
1) it increased leverage the Soviet Union had over the USA;
2) it ended the period where the USA was waiting for the Third Reich and the Soviet Union to destroy themselves, therefore also ending any American hopes of ever invading and occupying (colonizing) the Soviet Union.
After Stalingrad, it became clear to American eyes that the Soviet Union was destined to be a world superpower. The whole geopolitical game was elevated to another level. After that, it became superfluous to wait for the Third Reich to produce anything else of political usefulness for the then infant American Empire.
Besides, there's a fallacy on the discussion over the Lend Lease: just because the Soviet Union used 92% of the new railroads from the USA etc. etc. (assuming Weeks' numbers are correct, which they may be not), it doesn't mean it couldn't produce them itself. In life, one always choose the path of energy conservation: if you can have something easier, you don't go for the hard way. So, the case is straightforward: the Soviet Union used American materiel after 1942 because it could.
What we could do - and in fact should do - is to analyze (if possible) case by case: which items the USSR could produce itself but used the American ones instead and which it could not produce absolutely. Glantz claims the vital items given by Lend Lease were the trucks (which substituted the horses) and high-octane fuel for airplanes (which the Soviet Union could produce, but not in enough quantity); however, he doesn't claim those two items won the war for the USSR; merely that, without them, the USSR wouldn't be able to advance towards the Elbe so quickly (or maybe never at all, stopping somewhere in Eastern Europe). It is impossible to estimate if the USSR would be able to reach Berlin without the American trucks and high-octane fuel; the most educated guess is it would, but in 1-2 years more time (and much heavier casualties).
--//--
The Jobs Report: The Boom That Wasn’t
Will repost the Jack Rasmus article here. Again, recommend every American here to read it:
Global Times seems to have declared an Open Season today on the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals/lackeys with a Broadside of articles that build on yestaerday's outstanding editorial. First is this Infographic that asks six pertinent questions based on FDR's Four Freedoms that are now at the core of Western Values despite their being completely disregarded. Next we have Blinken making a fool of himself again at the China-hosted virtual session of the UNSC for claiming to uphold the UN Charter that the Outlaw US Empire's violated daily since 1945 and by attempting to smear others for violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights when the Empire isn't even a party to that treaty, never having ratified it. But the stunner comes from an odd source, The Guardian, which cited a new poll:
"Reported by the Guardian on Wednesday, another poll in Western countries shows that the US is seen as more of a threat to democracy than Russia and China, with 44 percent of respondents in the 53 countries concerned that the US threatens democracy in their country.
"'They show neither the US, nor the G7, can simply assume the mantle of defenders of democracy,' the Guardian said." [My Emphasis]
It can't be said the Chinese don't have a sense of humor since this article and the graphic it's based on certainly prove otherwise--it's a big dig at how far the mighty have fallen comparing the current G-7 and additional lackeys with those nations that invaded China 120 years ago.
Meanwhile, Outlaw US Empire dependence on China increased:
"China’s exports to the US rose 49.3 percent while imports gained 53.3 percent, and the trade surplus with the US was 653.89 billion yuan, an increase of 47 percent. [My Emphasis]
It seems all the Anti-China rhetoric and Congressional hearings only serve to increase that dependence. The reason why is simple: the Neoliberal System is designed to do just that, and Biden along with Congress is doing nothing to reverse that basic problem.
rico rose #24
I see that constraint on b too and I can live with it.
Please suggest a link to a site that examines Germany.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 7 2021 19:37 utc | 27
Lavrov "stating facts" at the virtual UNSC meeting is also a blistering critique of the Outlaw US Empire and its EU vassals. Here is the beginning of the meat portion of his speech that continues for another ten paragraphs:
"The core tenets of international law enshrined in the UN Charter have withstood the test of time. Russia calls on all states to unconditionally follow the purposes and principles of the Charter as they chart their foreign policies, respecting the sovereign equality of states, not interfering in their internal affairs, settling disputes by political and diplomatic means, and renouncing the threat or use of force. This is especially important at the current stage in the difficult process of forming an international multipolar system. At a time when new centres of economic growth, financial and political influence are gaining strength, it is necessary to preserve the internationally recognised legal basis for building a stable balance of interests that meets the new realities.
"Unfortunately, not all of our partners are driven by the imperative to work in good faith to promote comprehensive multilateral cooperation. Realising that it is impossible to impose their unilateral or bloc priorities on other states within the framework of the UN, the leading Western countries have tried to reverse the process of forming a polycentric world and slow down the course of history.
"Toward this end, the concept of the rules-based order is advanced as a substitute for international law. It should be noted that international law already is a body of rules, but rules agreed at universal platforms and reflecting consensus or broad agreement. The West’s goal is to oppose the collective efforts of all members of the world community with other rules developed in closed, non-inclusive formats, and then imposed on everyone else. We only see harm in such actions that bypass the UN and seek to usurp the only decision-making process that can claim global relevance."
I thought this one of his best arrows, although others were equally sharp and on target:
"By the way, as soon as we suggest discussing the current state of democracy not just within states but on the international stage with our Western colleagues, they lose interest in the conversation."
And Lavrov's facts are not out of line with global opinion as revealed by the info supplied @26 above.
Biden admin mulls using private orgs to spy on Americans in Facebook groups https://politnew.com/united-states/4853-biden-admin-mulls-using-private-orgs-to-spy-on-americans-in-facebook-groups.html
Somethings you just cannot make-up, like the utter ignorance of VP Harris despite what on the surface appears to be an acceptance of guilt for causing the problem:
"The so-called Northern Triangle of Central America, consisting of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, has been long been plagued by social unrest, poverty, violence, and corruption, partially attributable to centuries of US meddling in the region's affairs. The crisis has caused many people from these countries to flee in search of a better life.
"It's in Washington and Mexico City's 'mutual interest' to 'provide immediate relief to the Northern Triangle and to address the root causes of migration' from the region into the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris has said."
Sputnik is being beyond polite in the first paragraph when it says the Outlaw US Empire is only "partly attributable" to the region's strife when in fact it's 100% responsible. A bold politician would accept that historical truth from which an actual basis of good faith might be formed. But no. It's the usual BS. At least AMLO had the balls to stand up and accuse the Empire of yet again interfering in Mexico's internal affairs.
Lab leak origin of covid not so unlikely
https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-or-nature-open-pandoras-box-at-wuhan/
Michael Tracey has discussed this on his Substack today as well.
Posted by: Dave | May 7 2021 20:08 utc | 31
@jonku | May 7 2021 14:53 utc | 10
Good post. It's worth noting, for those who may have something they can afford to donate to the cause of real journalism, that Murray has a fundraiser up to help pay for an appeal.
Posted by: Dave | May 7 2021 20:13 utc | 32
@Debsisdead
Hi Debisdead,
Im not sure it requires German subservience to US interests. If anything the fact the Nordstream slowly plods on despite hysterical screaming about it in the US tells me that Germany knows perfectly where its interests lie. Cheap and reliable gas is what German companies want. And its what Russia is selling. German interests really havnt changed much since the 1st world war.
On the vaccines, Eon stands to benefit from vaccine patents. Not just from Covid. Germany doesnt need to set adverse precedents for its biotech industry. What it needs is for export restrictions to be eased in the US and UK. They are hoarding vaccine and this hurts everyone else in the world. German owned facilities in the US are affected by the export ban as much as any other facilities. The greatest irony is Pfizer facilities in Germany are committed to prior contracts forcing them to export to the UK or US.
So much for prioritizing allies under the new Biden administration.
Posted by: Harry | May 7 2021 20:27 utc | 33
Comrade Hillary:
Hillary Clinton's speech at Chatham House, May 6, 2021
'We cannot be dependent on the Chinese market. It’s not only bad for our economies, it’s bad for our geopolitical-strategic interest.''You will never compete and win against them, unless you take back the means of production.'
President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbajan
The BBC hadn’t prepared for this moment and it was beautiful.
https://twitter.com/UgRwah/status/1389869751560769536
Full interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP98bXyWBdc
Posted by: Norwegian | May 7 2021 20:37 utc | 35
Dave @31
Isn't it cute how so many people shy away from what is becoming apparent as the most probable origin of SARS-CoV-2 virus: deliberate seeding in Wuhan by the US, or some rogue element of the US security/intelligence community?
I am not arguing that Tracey is stupid. Far from it. Still, the fact that he can only imagine two possibilities for the origin of the virus demonstrates that he has a massive blind spot. I suspect that many people have the same blind spot. After all, it is unimaginable that the US would use WMDs to subjugate an adversary.
Posted by: William Gruff | May 7 2021 20:38 utc | 36
vk | May 7 2021 18:56 utc | 25
Starmer was placed by the MSM acting in unison. Using Anti-semitism as the bludgeon to hammer Corbyn. It should come as no surprise that they will now try to do their best to keep Starmer as the front for the lobby. Corbyn had the idea of helping the ordinary people, by curbing the Banks and Corporate power structure, so they had to get rid of him by all means possible.
Starmer then eliminated all those who were for Palestine within the Labour leadership. Leaving those turncoats within the party who were also responsible for the party losing the general election. (Sapping Labour from the interior, choosing the "wrong" candidates for districts etc.)
Starmers "election" and the ousting of Corbyn were celebrated wildly in Israel. Nuf said. You can see the result on the Palestinian cause at the moment. Almost nobody is left who will talk about the ethnic cleansing/theft in Sheik Jarrah and the cancellation of the Palestinian elections, fighting around access to the Dome of the rock during Ramadan, etc. etc.
I reckon he is generally more right wing, law-and-order, "bring in the police goons" - than the present conservatives. He has little in common with others.
******
Talking about the UK ; UK Soldiers training in a Kenyan wildlife conservation area started a 8'000 hectare fire that killed five elephants. Can anyone tell me why they were there in the first place?
Talking about Colombia, evidently the Colombian Police were trained by the British. Huh?
Posted by: Stonebird | May 7 2021 20:39 utc | 37
Norwegian @35 That was indeed beautiful; Aliyev:1, pompous BBC gasbag:0
Thanks very much for that ^_^
Posted by: robjira | May 7 2021 21:31 utc | 38
War crimes, ethnic cleansing and barbarism continue in Palestine:
Meanwhile, Australia's hand clapping PM, Pastor Morrison, looks the other way, as if Australia is without any obligation as a High Contracting Party to the Geneva Conventions.
Speaking at an Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) event in Melbourne on Thursday, Morrison said, “Not that it should come as a surprise from me and my government, but in 2009 and 2011, we did not attend the Durban Declaration meetings. We will not be attending them going forward. Our position is unchanged, a position that successive Coalition and Labor governments have reinforced since 2001.”
He added, “This is entirely consistent with my government’s very strong voting position on UN General Assembly resolutions in the Human Rights Council and elsewhere. We will continue that same approach to Durban for later this year.
Yes, Pastor Morrison, your consistent apologies for and support of the ugly and extremist bandit state come as 'no surprise' to me or your donors.
Even FP gets it:
Posted by: Paul | May 7 2021 22:07 utc | 39
Some might call this announcement progress toward the resurrection of JCPOA. But knowing the agreement incapable Outlaw US Empire, it's likely another feint for it well knows what it must do to get Iran to remain compliant. And that's really the rub since Iran is accused of becoming non-compliant when what it's done is fully permissible within the JCPOA and thus remains compliant whereas its the Outlaw US Empire and the EU nations that are non-compliant to various degrees.
Meanwhile with another illegal assault on Palestinians living in Jerusalem, Khamenei declared Occupied Palestine to be a "terrorist camp," which it most certainly is beyond doubt.
After all, it is unimaginable that the US would use WMDs to subjugate an adversary.
William Gruff | May 7 2021 20:38 utc | 36:
Past behavior is a good indicator on future behavior especially when there were no punishment for it. The Tuskegee "experiments" is a good example.
Posted by: Ian2 | May 7 2021 22:24 utc | 41
Of the facts told by Lavrov in the speech I linked to @28 above, TASS has chosen to highlight these above all the others:
"West imposing totalitarianism, rejecting democracy in global affairs." [My Emphasis]
That came from the last paragraph after those I provide for context that follow what I chose as Lavrov's best "arrow" in my earlier comment:
"By the way, as soon as we suggest discussing the current state of democracy not just within states but on the international stage with our Western colleagues, they lose interest in the conversation.
"New ambitious initiatives to create narrow partnerships are emerging all the time within the Alliance for Multilateralism, on issues that are already being discussed at the UN or its specialised agencies, for example, on cyber security (with 65 member countries), respect for the international humanitarian law (43 member countries), the Information and Democracy Partnership (over 30 countries), etc.
"This also reveals the West’s true attitude toward multilateralism and the UN, which they do not regard as a universal format for developing solutions acceptable to everyone, but in the context of their claims to superiority over everyone else, who must accept what is required of them.
"Another example of the dictatorial methods introduced by the West is the practice of imposing unilateral sanctions without any international and legal grounds, with the sole purpose of punishing 'undesirable regimes' or sidelining competitors. During the pandemic, such restrictions have limited the capacity of a whole range of developing countries to counter the spread of the infection. Despite UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s call to suspend such unilateral sanctions during the pandemic, we mostly see them becoming harsher.
"We believe such efforts to impose totalitarianism in global affairs to be unacceptable, yet we see it more and more from our Western colleagues, above all the United States, the European Union and other allies, who reject all principles of democracy and multilateralism on the global stage. As if to say, either it’s our way, or there will be repercussions." [My Emphasis]
It should be noted that Blinken spoke before Lavrov, so Lavrov's response is a rebuttal and condemnation of the lies Blinken told. The problem as usual will be the blackout of Russia's words in Western Media so the brainwashing of those populations can continue.
Posted by: karlof1 | May 7 2021 22:09 utc | 40
I think Khamenei said Israel is a terrorist camp, not OP...but whatever. I agree its precisely right.
It would have been more pleasing to me if he said 'Israel is a terrorist camp masquarading as a country'.
Posted by: Idiocrates | May 7 2021 22:27 utc | 43
Idiocrates @43--
Thanks for your reply. I don't recognize the self-proclaimed state of Israel and instead call it Occupied Palestine, which is far more accurate according to the genuine historical record. Khamenei often calls it the Zionist Entity. Your description is also quite apt! The creators of that Terrorist Outpost are up to no good as usual.
/////
Strategic-Culture's Editorial channels Lavrov's rebuttal of Blinken's lies at the UNSC today. Fortunately, the editors don't need to be diplomatic as Lavrov and are thus able to be blunt:
"There are many reasons why the Western agenda is objectionable. Foremost, it is false and fraught with hypocrisy. Rules-based order and democracy? Upheld by the US and Britain, the two biggest rogue states which have waged criminal wars killing millions of people? Give us a break!"
Their conclusion is 100% correct, but the most chilling part is what I'll bold since it recalls the terror invoked by the British to bring forth their Empire that the Outlaw US Empire has adopted wholesale:
"The real challenge for the world is not 'democracy versus autocracy'. It is the unipolar dominance sought by Washington versus a vision of a multipolar world based on cooperation and mutualism which Moscow and Beijing have consistently advocated.
"The fact that Washington cannot abide the emergence of a multipolar world speaks of the nefarious nature of American capitalism and its imperative need for imperialism and militarism. American global power is in direct contradiction to the democratic needs of a multipolar planet.
"President Joe Biden and his envoys maintain that they do not want an escalation in tensions with Russia or China. Washington says it does not want war. On an individual level, Biden and his aides may abhor such a disaster occurring. But in every other way, their political system is wired for war. The lunacy of antagonizing Russia and China and of demarcating the world into allies and enemies is the litmus test of their duplicitous rhetoric." [My Emphasis]
War not just on other nations, but also upon their own citizens, which is precisely how both the British and US Empires got their start. (See Linebaugh and Rediker, The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic)
Do you remember? Feels like it was aeons ago:
One year later, a New York Times article flops for its advice on Chinese system
Also, the lesson: just because a Western MSM quoted a Chinese source, it doesn't mean it is legitimate or even precise. Every country has its due dose of crazy people, useful idiots, ideologues with messianic complex and traitors.
@vk #25 on Lend-Lease
I agree with the analysis and approach you offer. If, as you rightly suggest, Soviet success at Stalingrad was a watershed in American long-term strategic thinking then Lend-Lease would seem to be a dangerous move for the USA. The prospect of a mobile USSR racing to the Elbe and possibly beyond was worrying. But was it not also a matter of domestic opinion? FDR's New Deal and anti-Fascism carefully redirected working-class left populism into nation-building and mobilisation against Germany. The fear in 1932-3 was a revolutionary movement in the USA. Linking the US with Soviet Russia's anti-Fascist struggle was a cheap way to galvanise left sentiment among the working-class and the unions into a military action that ultimately laid the foundations for the capitalist renewal of the post-war epoch. Then there was the question of how many American lives would be lost in the West if the Soviets were slowed down in the East (also a fear in relation to Japan). So FDR walked a fine line between paying out supply for the Soviet advance, but doing so in such a way that didn't allow the Russkis to roll over all of Europe. Perhaps they were buying time for the Manhattan Project to produce results. In Dec 1941 (and earlier in the Atlantic Charter) the US was thinking: "what is our long-term strategic war-aim?" The answer was to replace the colonial empires with US power, and harness European post-war economic renewal to the US economy via Bretton-Woods etc etc. But my question, I guess, is: did Lend-Lease potentially work against this? Or are you saying that since the USSR was doing all the heavy-lifting Stalin held the trump card and could relax the pressure on Germany to manipulate the US if FDR didn't give material aid?
Posted by: Patroklos | May 8 2021 1:32 utc | 47
An experienced NZ political commentator's take on the situation New Zealand is in with regard to China etc.
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2021/05/with-friends-like-these.html
re: debs and james comments about the (German) greens - (as shown in the bowalleyroad blogspot) It looks like the NZ greens also are heading towards uselessness or worse.
They should focus on the problems of materialism/consumerism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6YsEnmX2zw
Posted by: tucenz | May 8 2021 1:53 utc | 48
The US Has Plans To Stay In Syria Forever And Destroy The Country (Machine translation from original portuguese article)
The US has plans to stay in Syria forever and destroy the country. Confirmation was given recently by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov:
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202102261082197048-lavrov-russia-has-information- that-us-plans-to-stay-in-syria-forever-destroy-the-country /
Do the Portuguese military think this is decent?
Is this Portugal's allies in the world? It is with this type of hooligans that Portugal is proud to participate in military alliances like NATO ?!
The Portuguese Air Force, truth be told, has very little "strength" and even less "Portuguese" , it should start seriously considering replacing the Cross of Christ that has painted on the wings of its planes, with a satanic pentagram . ..
Meanwhile, the Terrorist State of Israel continues to miss a single opportunity to bomb Syria in support of Wahhabite terrorists , who since 2011 have brought hell to the country that was once an oasis for Christians in the Middle East.
As is more than obvious, the Axis of Resistance will continue to resist and will continue to kill the terrorists that NATO - in collusion with Israel and Saudi Arabia - continues to export, arm and finance in Syria. It is well known how in recent months the Russian Air Force and Syria have intensified their attacks against the positions of NATO terrorists in Syria and these attacks will intensify even more if necessary.
The war that the Anglo-Zionist Empire has been waging against the Syrian Arab Republic since 2011 , is one of the greatest ignominies of our time and a stain that will remain forever in the history of this hypocritical West, who very much likes to boast of being a beacon of "human rights" and "freedom" in the world. Yes, yes, try to explain to the Christians of Aleppo what the "Freedom" , "human rights" and "democracy" of the Westconsistof and you will certainly get the right answer on time ...
May God protect Syria and bless President Bashar al-Assad.
Originally posted at: https://toranja-mecanica.blogspot.com/2021/05/os-eua-tem-planos-para-ficar-para.html
Dozens of Palestinian worshipers Injured as occupation police attack Al-Aqsa mosque.
http://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/124343
Meanwhile, 180 intellectuals write to the ICC about the bandit state's war crimes.
Sadly, they are right.
Posted by: Paul | May 8 2021 2:11 utc | 50
Lol, I just recently found out that Osama bin Laden wrote a 3k+ words letter to the American people explaining the motives behind his actions. It's written in the style of a philosophy paper, complete with labelled premises, hierarchially organized arguments, anticipating objections, etc. Published in the Observer on 2002, but, as far as I know, not in any US media publication (mainstream or not).
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/nov/24/theobserver
(Caveat: the labeling in the web version is off at one point creating some confusion about what the argument is supposed to be. A better version can be found in the 9/11 Encyclopedia (http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8A6700491C56C1ABA6329EB63AE3F6E7))
Regardless of one's position on the Iraq War, what I can't get over is how little curiosity the American government and media (perhaps even the public) has shown about the question of 911 causation. Is the official position still that they attacked because they "hate us for our freedom"? (Is that the response you are most likely to get if you were to conduct a street survey today?) Like, how does that even work? I'm not free. You are free. I sees that you are free but I am not. So ... I attack you? Is that a real psychological pathway known to psychologists?
Posted by: Porpoise | May 8 2021 2:24 utc | 53
On Scottish independence:
jonku says that "Scotland is a colony of England, without full power to make its own laws."
In some ways I would be more than happy for Scotland to leave the union, partly so I that wouldn't have to listen to false and self-pitying whining like this, but mostly because it might somehow help to end British imperial arrogance and intervention around the world (No Britain = No Imperial Brand). It would also be hilarious to watch it try to rejoin the EU, and seeing how all that pans out with the desire to have the "full power to make its own laws" and how much EU tolerance there is for Scottish Nationalism once the EU has no further use for such a concept.
So I am not necessarily against Scottish independence, painful for all of us though it would be.
However, Scotland is not a colony, it is part of a union. And a very strong partner in that union for both better and for worse. Importantly, Scotland is not a victim of English imperialism, but an equal partner in British imperialism. After all, practically our only true colony left is Northern Ireland, right? And the only reason we can't give that back to Ireland, as we'd love to do, is because of the "loyalist" descendents of Scots bussed in there all those centuries ago. Loyal to whom? So, if you leave, please take the six counties with you, if we can't give them back.
In what kind of colony do the colonial subjects get a say in the laws of their imperial masters, while the masters have no equivalent say in the laws of the colony? That is, of course, the West Lothian Question, whereby MPs from Scotland get to vote on matters that effect only England, while MPs from England get no vote on matters that have been devolved to Holyrood.
As I said, Scots have played a huge role in what there is to be positive about in British history, in industry, science, culture, learning and the rest of it, but they have been in the bad stuff too.
Take the most warmongering government since the end of empire - the Blair New Labour government who plunged into three terrible wars. Gordon Brown, Robin Cook, Alistair Darling, Donald Dewar, George Robertson were all Scots, and even the diabolical Blair himself claimed to be Scottish. Even without the stain of the wars, the involvement of such figures in government is hardly indicative of a 'colony'.
(To be fair to Cook he resigned in shame over Iraq, perhaps because of his tormented guilt at what he'd done before).
Despite having just lost an Indyref a few years ago, there is insistence on another one because, erm, lets keep having referenda until we get the result we want, hmmm? Ok, so the Nats claim that Brexit justifies it, which is a dubious excuse in my opinion, but it's clear that however painful Brexit was for both remainers and leavers, Scexit would be, at a rough calculation, 20 times more painful (back of an envelope calculation - at least twice as close and for ten times as long as Britain's EU marriage).
I don't know what the reason was for my Scottish ancestors coming south to London over 150 years ago, but I'd be sad to see us split now, despite seeing some up-sides. I'd respect the decision, but it should be a once-in-a-generation vote, and at least in another ten years, so you can see if there's an EU who you really to want to re-join. Just please though, spare us the victimhood.
Posted by: Ash Naz | May 8 2021 2:52 utc | 54
Re post 7 and 18 covid in India
It is as if the covid is being actively spread as a final wealth extraction tool. Economic times dated 7th may calls post inoculation infection possibility as breakthrough infection and ICMR estimates that rate is as high as 4.5% of all vaccinations. Still Govt is hell bent on vaccination. Probably that is why IP may be loosened. To vaccinate as many as possible. Breakthrough infection will probably lead to mutants thereby further needing new and newer vaccines. Same as Bill Gates used to roll out anti virus in computer software.
Posted by: R M Rao | May 8 2021 2:59 utc | 55
#53 You make some good points. Especially in the way Scots and Irish contributed to British colonialism.
I'm not sure people in the UK can be considered English or Scots or Irish or Welsh anymore. It's just a multicultural mish mash.
Posted by: dh | May 8 2021 3:12 utc | 56
Whatever happened to those pesky englander warships that set out for Russia's black sea and south China Sea?
Surely they have arrived by now.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 8 2021 4:13 utc | 57
The following is a Xinhuanet posting
"
BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired a high-level meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday, calling for win-win cooperation to practice true multilateralism.
Under the initiative of China, the rotating presidency of the UNSC this month, the UNSC held the meeting on "Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Upholding Multilateralism and the UN-centered International System" via video link.
Wang put forward four propositions for all parties to practice true multilateralism:
Firstly, all parties should pursue win-win cooperation, not zero-sum game. All countries should conduct dialogue and cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect. No country should expect others to lose, but should strive to win together with other countries to achieve universal security and common prosperity.
Secondly, all parties should seek fairness and justice, not bullying.
Wang said the core is to promote the democratization of international relations, so that all countries share the responsibility for governance and jointly promote peaceful development, and the key is to promote the rule of law in international relations, abide by universally recognized international laws and mutually agreed international agreements.
International rules are not the patents and privileges of a few countries, and should be abided by all countries, without exceptionalism and double standards, he added.
Thirdly, all parties should focus on action, instead of only talking the talk.
Multilateralism must focus on problems and solve problems, otherwise it will not stand and go far, Wang said, adding that all countries should incorporate their national interests into global interests.
He said all countries should consider both the present and the long-term interests, and must not undermine the sustained peace of the world and the sustainable development of the world at the cost of short-term need.
"In particular, major countries must set an example and take the lead in providing global public goods," Wang said.
Fourthly, all parties should respect diversity, and refrain from pursuing supremacy.
Each country has its own unique history and culture, and needs to take a development path that suits its own national conditions, Wang said, adding that dividing the world by ideology runs counter to the spirit of multilateralism and represents a retrogression of history.
"All countries are happy to see the United States change its practices in the past few years, truly practice multilateralism, and make its contributions to this end," Wang said.
The foreign ministers of Russia, Mexico, Vietnam, Niger, Tunisia, Kenya, Ireland, Norway, Estonia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, U.S. secretary of state and the deputy foreign ministers of India, Britain and France attended the meeting. President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Volkan Bozkir briefed the meeting.
Hailing China's initiative to hold this meeting, the participants agreed that under the current situation, the international community should strengthen solidarity and cooperation, continue to follow the purposes and principles of the Charter of the UN, and strengthen the authority and role of the UN.
They also believed that all parties should join hands to respond to global challenges such as COVID-19 and climate change, uphold the UN-centered international system, maintain international peace and promote common development.
"
How is the West going to respond to this? What does the attendance of the various countries say?
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 8 2021 5:32 utc | 58
@Patroklos
Izvestiya says cooperation, the US historian says aid, that’s the key. The last lend-lease payment took place in 2006 since all “aid” was paid for, plus it worked for the other party as well since the USSR supplied some goods to the US if not in such volumes. But I assume that historians do not work with “what ifs” since the possibilities are infinite. The US has never ever given any "aid", under that name it has always been business, and quite a profitable one.
Posted by: Paco | May 8 2021 6:02 utc | 59
The Israel's IDF forces attacked worshippers in Al Aqsa Mosque on the last day of Ramadan, the Friday night prayers. deliberate provocation as they used "sound bombs and other semi-military means to empty the Mosque.
Obviously in support of the ongoing Sheik Jarrah thefts of housing by radicalised Jewish extremists. ("Settlers" my eye.)
There has been a call for a PR campaign by other zionists in the "west" to counter the information.
(try link at Paul | May 7 2021 22:07 utc | 39, for more info as you will not see anything in the "regular" MSM, except a few Palestinians OUTSIDE the mosque throwing stones)
****
This morning Eva Bartlett, who covers the Syrian angle, her dogs and the life the Syrians had before the start of the "regime change", was cut out of Twitter. She she had been in all the places she talked about. One of the nicest commentators (in the best sense).
(Don't forget that twitter has also silenced Trump. So don't call what we are living through a "period of freedom". How much of the revolt within Labour in the UK is actually a reaction against suppression of free speakers - re; Palestine?
Posted by: Stonebird | May 8 2021 7:52 utc | 60
Posted by: Mina | May 8 2021 8:17 utc | 61
@R M Rao | May 8 2021 2:59 utc | 54
Same as Bill Gates used to roll out anti virus in computer software.
I have used Windows NT and descendants since 1994 (but my primary OS is Linux nowadays) and I have never used "anti virus" on my machines (*), except for occasional manual scanning with the free SpyBot, which never finds anything of note. This business is very much over hyped, but obviously helped by 'someone' issuing the malware the businesses are selling 'protection' against.
Bill Gates is repeating the same business model with "covid", thinking your bodies is his latest incarnation of windows, and that he is free to tamper with it.
(*) Except for a machine I bought for my kids once, it came with Norton Antivirus. It caused far more issues than what it supposedly protected against, and it held the machine at ransom, demanding money for the 'service'. It took me 2 full days to get rid of it, with much difficulty.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 8 2021 8:21 utc | 62
@uncle tungsten | May 8 2021 4:13 utc | 56
Whatever happened to those pesky englander warships that set out for Russia's black sea and south China Sea?
I believe Alexander Mercouris talks about it in NATO's Empty Bluff: European Defender 2021. In short, it was part of a larger concerted scheme that has now crumbled, what remains is empty posturing.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 8 2021 8:26 utc | 63
@psychohistorian | May 8 2021 5:32 utc | 57
What does the attendance of the various countries say?
I don't know, but the fact that Norway is on the list is both surprising and somewhat positive.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 8 2021 8:31 utc | 64
@Posted by: karlof1 | May 7 2021 22:09 utc | 40
I realized you might have used OP on purpose, to refer to what is (also) known as Israel, but only after I posted my comment. I think it does not really matter what its called, it matters what it does and stands for and clearly nothing good has come out of it.
Anyway, thank you for your posts and insights!
Posted by: Idiocrates | May 8 2021 9:52 utc | 65
Mina | May 8 2021 8:17 utc | 60
Unfortunately the Indonesians are brutal towards Irian Jaya's original citizens, so we should fear the worst.
****
At the beginning of the "revolt" against the Indonesian takeover of Irian Jaya, there were protests in Jayapura. Peaceful ones. In the evening the men, women and children slept in the area. (ie. not in houses). The Indonesians were said to have arrested about 250 of them, put them on a UK made Destroyer, taken them 10km out into the ocean and thrown them overboard, into shark infested waters. No survivors. There was only one report in the "Pacific Times" just afterwards. (or "news", I don't remember the name accurately, even if I subscribed. It no longer exists), but mainly this was completely covered up.
Posted by: Stonebird | May 8 2021 10:19 utc | 66
An analysis of the origins of the SARS-COV2 coronavirus published by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Indirect evidence supports
the hypothesis of laboratory origin.
.
Posted by: bolangi | May 8 2021 10:52 utc | 67
Some good vids by Dr Campbell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYv30g7TKVM
Ivermectin prophylactic study from India
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUyQ2luZAWo
Post vaccine myocarditis
Summary of contents available with the information about the video top of the comments
Posted by: Mina | May 8 2021 11:11 utc | 68
Posted by: c1ue @16
@snake #9
I am curious as to why you apparently don't consider patents and copyrights as parts of monopoly power.
Do you understand that the creation and protection of patents and copyrights is very much a big money exercise? It costs a lot of money to take out a patent but even more to actually enforce them.
Thus a patent doesn't protect individual or even small business holders - it is usable only by those with extremely deep pockets (i.e. billionaires) or multi-national corporations.
This may not have been the intention when these legal protections were created, but that's definitely how they work now.
<== I have been yelling out loud that patents, copyrights and license by government and even direct funding or loan guarantees made to private banks are monopoly powers transferred from government to private entities... I don't know how I could have said it any louder.. Patents, Copyrights and licenses are government monopoly powers sliced up and handed out like candy to the Oligarch.. your post @ clue 16 <=is singing my song.. you are absolutely correct.. a patent in the hands of a barely funded entity is an invitation for a big guy to take it from you for nothing.. Their lawyer power and the cost of patent court and lawyers are all part of the Oligarch system to deny and prevent competition at any level or from place domestic or foreign.
My point is, if ever the masses were looking for a non regime change something that might change the balance of power, that is, something the would change that balance in power between the masses and Oligarch, that something might be found in demanding that no nation state law be written or be enforced that could or would transfer (or that would accomplish the same thing or effect by any means) a monopoly power from the public powers (monopoly powers) that make a government what it is, to any private party, or to any entity (governmental agency, quasi governmental entity, NGO, public or private corporation, or whatever). Governments are not suppose to make a profit and handing public power to private persons is discrimination.
Unless the voters expressly vote to request government to give some of its monopoly power to a few private persons, so the few, can make a profit off of everyone else, there should be no monopoly power to be found in any private hands or in any non governmental hands. The power of government comes from its set of monopolies;
when government partitions is monopolies and gives them away, government reduces the power of government. And when governments gives away their monopoly, it disenfranchises those who are no longer allowed equal access to the benefits the monopoly power provides.
Monopoly powers in private hands is the basis for explaining nearly all modern wars..
Posted by: snake | May 8 2021 11:14 utc | 69
As far as the occupation of Irian Jaya goes, in my mind it is a toss up between australia's 'control at arms length' just as the amerikans have taught by using puppets such as Michael Somare and Indonesia's more traditional & proven method of invading and occupying, when it comes to 'bang for buck'. That is have more people died in Oz controlled PNG (including Bougainville whose civil war finally stopped Australian mining interests from destroying their way of life) than the javanese instigated butchery of the people of Irian Jaya ?
AS far as I can determine Australia leads the race, both in value of resources stolen and the number of indigenous humans killed.
Of course none of that is relevant, What is relevant is that an island once called ( by the englanders of course) New Guinea has suffered massive cultural and environmental destruction by both Indonesia and Australia for one reason only - to steal as much of that island's natural resources as quickly as possible.
AFAIK the Indonesian method of hiding behind the flag of 'our nation' has been less destructive to the indigenous culture than the Australian Modus Operandi of corrupting traditional leadership with blackmail, bribes and bullying, because the latter inevitably requires the deliberate corruption of traditional leadership structures.
So not only do the people get robbed blind, there is nothing left when New Guineans discover they have been burnt to the quick. Those who they expected to guide their redress were more interested in protecting their ill-gotten gains than helping their own people. Now that IMO is the quintessnce of whitefella behaviour especially when accompanied by some hands in everyone's pocket bible basher.
Worst of all is that any leaders who fought against the theft were butchered, imprisoned or 'retired' long before.
Very similar to what as happened to Timor Leste (aka East Timor) except the Timorese have been further fucked over by their original coloniser portugal as well as the australians & indonesians.
I realise no one here has much interest in anything other than issues capable of making it big on major amerikan & Euro corporate media outlets, that nothing short of Xanana Gusmão finally spinning out at all the fucked up sell outs, aka two faced portuguese arseholes, then blowing those shits away, would make an item on amerikan TV news, but the predicament the bifurcated New Guinean culture has been thrust into will inevitably demand payback - sooner rather than later in which case the shit that went down over East Timor will be minor in comparison.
Posted by: Debsisdead | May 8 2021 12:31 utc | 70
Porpoise | May 8 2021 2:24 utc | 52
In that article, OBL doesn’t claim responsibility. But, it sounds like you suspect OBL in fact did not write it anyway. If so, was there ever a report or even rumor of the real OBL disavowing it?
Posted by: oglalla | May 8 2021 12:47 utc | 71
Saudi Arabia in secret talks with Iran https://politnew.com/politics/4859-saudi-arabia-in-secret-talks-with-iran.html
you are providing us good content and relatable content.
thanks
Posted by: Narad Narayan | May 8 2021 13:03 utc | 73
@Ash Naz, 53
In what kind of colony do the colonial subjects get a say in the laws of their imperial masters, while the masters have no equivalent say in the laws of the colony? That is, of course, the West Lothian Question, whereby MPs from Scotland get to vote on matters that effect only England, while MPs from England get no vote on matters that have been devolved to Holyrood.
Scottish MPs haven't been able to vote on matters that affect only England since 19 September 2014. Remember Prime Minister David Cameron introducing his EVEL (English Votes for English Laws) procedures?
Posted by: cirsium | May 8 2021 13:12 utc | 74
"They hate us for our freedom" was already dreamed up by Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) in Wag The Dog to explain why Albania might attack the USA. This film was released in 1997.
Posted by: Waldorf | May 8 2021 13:32 utc | 75
Posted by: Mina | May 8 2021 13:43 utc | 76
This contributor to an Australian think tank makes a good case for China not needing to invade Taiwan, which is the dominant scenario amongst many analysts:
"China can, early in a conflict, use long-range strikes to destroy all of Taiwan’s key military and leadership facilities, power generation and telecommunications. It can embargo all of Taiwan’s oil imports and cut or compromise via cyber all high-bandwidth connectivity to the outside world. And it likely can sustain this indefinitely. It can seize all Taiwan-held offshore islands, including the Penghus and Pratas, and use these as mobilisation and embarkation bases for future landing operations on Taiwan, and as chokepoints against US intervention, while burnishing nationalist domestic support early in the conflict.
And perhaps most importantly, it can seek the right time and conditions to demonstrate to the people of Taiwan – and Japan, Australia and the US – that the US military cannot prevent or undo China’s actions, and either will not put its major military assets into harm’s way, or having done so, will suffer surprising and politically devastating losses. Beijing would strive to portray the US position as analogous to victoryless wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, albeit at far higher potential human and financial costs for the US and its allies."
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/unfinished-chinese-civil-war
Posted by: SoMuchToLearn | May 8 2021 14:23 utc | 77
@ Posted by: Patroklos | May 8 2021 1:32 utc | 47
All of the factors you bring up (except for an alleged anti-fascism among the people of the USA) are conditional to a clear picture of a Soviet victory.
Before Stalingrad, the strategy of the USA in the Eastern Front was certainly to let both sides bleed themselves to death so American power could walk over the Central European and Russian plains unopposed. This is illustrated by Truman's infamous quote (to keep supporting either side when its losing in a manner both sides kill each other at the same time). It was an era where the USA didn't know if it was going to support the fascists or the communists. My guess is the American people were pending more to fascism than to communism (they still are nowadays).
I don't think the American people was anti-fascist by the end of the 1930s and beginning of the 1940s. Sure, the USA didn't outright joined the Axis (a possibility which the Stavka seriously took into consideration up until well into Stalingrad). But it also dragged its feet on the Lend Lease until Soviet victory was all but certain. If anti-fascism was a thing among the American people, the USA would surely fight on the side of the USSR from the very beginning. By elimination, we can only attribute the realization of the Lend Lease to one factor: the USSR defeated the Third Reich alone. When that happened, the USA had to enter the table as an equal part in order to have a say on the post-war European affairs (partition of the European Peninsula); that required some exchange, in this case, Lend Lease help for the Red Army stopping at Berlin and not going all the way to France and Italy (which was allegedly ready for a communist revolution at the time). The Americans didn't know at the time the USSR had already abandoned the Permanent Revolution doctrine.
At this level of discussion, there's no doubt: division among the capitalist powers saved the day for the Soviet Union. The USA was more interested in destroying the Japanese Empire in the Pacific (the Soviets knew that since the early 1920s) and in supplanting the old colonial system with its "Open Door" system than in destroying the USSR. That required a firm footing in the European Peninsula, which required its main partner there at the time - the UK - to not be isolated from the Continent. The UK, on its part, still had a respectable Navy at the time, and was very useful as a buffer against German naval (submarine) aggression in the North Atlantic (protect American dominance of the North Atlantic at the expense of the Her Majesty's Navy). It all fitted nicely together for the Americans: the UK served, at the same time, as both sword and shield, at a profit (because, as it needed resources against the Germans, it had to liquidate the remnants of its empire to the Americans).
It would seem that the US and the EU do not catch up on that type of tests. Or do they just want to let it spread?
https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/410761/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-to-conduct-rapid-tests-for-arrivals-from-cou.aspx
One has to admit that as far as the weapon industry is concerned, more chaos means more clients.
https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/10/410754/World/Africa/Ethiopian-Orthodox-leader-denounces-Tigray-carnage.aspx
Posted by: Mina | May 8 2021 15:27 utc | 79
Norwegian @ 35
Yes, beautiful.
Anyone could have expressed as much to the Beeb at any time. They didn’t. What Aliyev has said here is that he no longer cares what Broadcasting House thinks of him. The reporter sits there thinking she has the dominant position, that she can play at Imperial Viceroy. Aliyev tells her she has become irrelevant. The West will be hearing a lot of that and most are as clueless as that silly reporter.
Posted by: oldhippie | May 8 2021 15:44 utc | 80
Long ago central banks secured a monopoly over the issuance of paper money. Now physical cash in the form of bank notes and coins is in terminal decline. But the monetary authorities don’t intend to allow cryptocurrencies to fill the void without a fight. Instead, they’re responding with their own version of a so-called “stablecoin”. These central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, could turn out to be the most revolutionary financial innovation since, well, the inception of paper money.
Unlike bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptos, a digital currency issued by the central bank serves all the traditional functions of money. Like paper money, it is legal tender that can be used to settle debts and pay taxes. Whereas cryptos are hugely volatile, difficult to transact in and sometimes risky to store, CBDCs should have the same value as an old bank note, be convenient to use and safe to store. Jay Powell at the Federal Reserve, Christine Lagarde at the European Central Bank and other central bankers emphasise that their digital tokens are a form of “trusted” money, backed by the full credit of the sovereign issuer.
Most central banks around the world are closely examining the potential for digital currencies. Several countries have already embarked on pilot schemes – Sweden is testing an e-krona and China is running trials of a digital yuan. The Boston Fed is working with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to design a CBDC. The Bahamas’ “Sand Dollar”, launched last October, claims to be the world’s first operational digital currency. The Bank for International Settlements estimates that within three years a quarter of the world’s population will be living in countries with digital currencies.
https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/chancellor-central-bank-coin-will-crush-banks-2021-05-04/
Posted by: Mao | May 8 2021 15:46 utc | 81
ZH has an evolving story posted about a cyber attack on a US oil pipeline on the East coast that has shut the pipeline down for over 24 hours and some say it is a ransomware attack which could have it out for some time....nasty
The shit show continues until it doesn't
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 8 2021 15:56 utc | 82
@Mao #79
Central bank issued digital currency is utterly pointless with the sole possible exception of China.
There is no difference between a digits currency and say, central bank printed zeros in bank ledgers or credit card transactions.
For that matter, wasn’t Sweden already attempting to eliminate cash?
This talk is mostly just an attempt to muddy the water around cryptocurrencies. Note I don’t say this as a believer in cryptocurrencies.
China is the primary difference because it is the likely only candidate to host a replacement for the dollar. As I’ve noted before: the main impediment to this is China not desiring the lose control over its internal accumulated capital.
A 2 tier e-rmb could potentially resolve this. The first tier would be internal to China; the 2nd tier would be a freely convertible currency only outside of China. The government of China would keep control by controlling the conversion between tier 1 and 2.
To make tier 2/external more interesting, China could even offer some type of partial backing via gold or some such in the beginning. There will never be a hard backing as there is no sovereign benefit to this.
Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2021 16:03 utc | 83
@snake #69
Thank you for the clarification. I didn't think you were actually advocating for patents/copyrights as the libertarian knuckleheads do.
I would note, however, that while I agree with your commentary on monopoly powers - ultimately the problem isn't any specific law or custom. The ultimate problem is corruption of intent.
Remove money as the source of power - and you wind up with bureaucratic authority as the source of power (late Soviet Union).
Remove bureaucrats, and you end up with dictators.
I believe now that there can be no perfect system because of this dynamic: people who want more will find ways to get it.
Thus the only alternative is either to have constant instability - some way of randomly changing the mode of power every 1/2 to 1 generation - or having a sufficiently wary population that the worst abuses are always watched out for.
The Founding Fathers in the United States tried achieve this by splitting power into 3 parts - but it is now abundantly clear that the American oligarchy has achieved dominance via power in all 3 branches.
Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2021 16:15 utc | 84
@ Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2021 16:15 utc | 84
The Founding Fathers in the United States tried achieve this by splitting power into 3 parts - but it is now abundantly clear that the American oligarchy has achieved dominance via power in all 3 branches.
This is one of the most absurd statements I've have ever read. Not only because it is not true (even if you're talking about the division in three powers - Executive, Legislative and Judiciary - which was theorized by Montesquieu and not the Founding Fathers), but because of the irony of the fact that the Founding Fathers were themselves the heads of an oligarchy, the American Revolution being and oligarchic revolt at heart.
Do Communist-Led States Protect Public Health Better Than Capitalism?
"Second, to approximate Communist country-performance, capitalist governments would have had to have quickly mobilized substantial public health resources to undertake large-scale screening and robust contact tracing. However, rather than implementing this public solution to a public problem—one which offered no benefit to private investors (except in the UK where contact tracing was handed to a private firm which immediately botched the job)—the leading capitalist governments chose to subsidize major businesses to compensate owners for their pandemic losses and to invest untold billions of dollars in vaccine development or pre-payment of vaccine doses or both, creating a pandemic bonanza for the biopharmaceutical industry and its major shareholders. This is not to say that investing in vaccines was unnecessary or undesirable, but that the timing was driven by capitalist incentives rather than public health rationality.'
"Capitalist society exists to protect and expand the interests of capitalists, not the interests of those who work for them. Capitalism may or may not exist in Communist society, but where it does exist, it is yoked to the people-centered aims of Communism, not the aims of capitalists. In Communist states, capitalists do not have political mastery. "
Posted by: arby | May 8 2021 17:43 utc | 86
Let’s see…China cuts off economic dialog with Oz on the 6th as ScoMo and the Lib government in Australia continue to step in dung regarding China:
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/5/6/china-suspends-economic-dialogue-with-australia-as-ties-worsen
Then today, this piece of ‘bombshell journalism’ comes out:
https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/leaked-chinese-document-reveals-a-sinister-plan-to-unleash-coronaviruses/news-story/53674e8108ad5a655e07e990daa85465
I love the headline: China’s “sinister plan to ‘unleash’ coronaviruses, from 2015. This one has what we would normally expect from a psyop – WWIII, bioweapons, leaked documents, “We reached a high confidence conclusion that it [the ‘leaked document’] was genuine”, “smoking gun”, etc. There’s even “a cyber security specialist who analyses leaked Chinese government documents”. Go figure. They even give a title for the document in the article, but a quick search only references this hit piece. Then, about halfway down the article, there’s a teaser for a book to come out in September where the alleged document is discussed. I’ll give it a miss, methinks. The worst part is this article is turning up all over the web now. The Anglos just can’t let this ‘Wuhan virus’ thing go.
Posted by: Aussie expat | May 8 2021 18:10 utc | 87
psychohistorian @58:
I read PeopleDaily/GlobalNews et al too, so I know the four points you cited quoting Xinhua. But that's exactly the kind of political maneuvering practiced by China that disappoints me. The four points are four blah blah blah. They are effing abstract, effing empty, and effing long-winded that could mean anything to anybody. Average person of the world hearing these words is no more stirred than hearing the ocean splash onshore while wasting time until the next meal. Wang Yi wasted time; Wang Yi only wanted to sound good on his/his nation's behalf; Wang Yi doesn't know how to play mean!!!
Wang Yi should have taken the opportunity of hosting this session and raise the issue of Yankee/Brit/Jews hoarding vaccines while corpses are being burnt in Indian streets. Wang Yi should have pressed for the cease of funding for color revolution entities while societies are being broken, economies ruined, and people are fighting the spread of a vicious pandemic. Wang Yi should name names, just as those names had named China regarding non-existing genocides. What the eff is Wang Yi afraid of???
Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 8 2021 19:42 utc | 88
Dave | May 7 2021 20:08 utc | 31
Lab leak origin of covid not so unlikely
I read this article and this is what I thought of it.
"This is a very interesting and well argued article as far as it goes. However, it stops short of discussing the possibility, the almost certainty I would think, that this virus was also present in the virus labs in Chapel Hill and in viral research labs belonging to the US Military and could therefore have escaped from there.
Another topic it seems, curiously, in such a wide-ranging survey of the field, to avoid, is the number of cases of SARS-Cov2 that appeared in Europe and the US before the outbreak in Wuhan.
Then there is the matter of the different strains of the virus that infected the US and China, with the oldest strain apparently being found in the US but not in China and the people in Hawaii who had not been to China and apparently caught the virus during a visit to the US in late 2019.
Then there is the matter of the quite extraordinary secrecy around the people who fell ill with a previously unknown pneumonia in the US known as “Vaping disease” (which seems to have completely disappeared now) involving a ban on autopsies and testing, and the contemporary, temporary closure of the bioweapons lab in Fort Detrick, for "endangering the public", and the secrecy surrounding the work of the CDC.
There is also the mysterious illness of the members of the US Team that went to the World Military Games in Wuhan in October 2019. What was it they were suffering from and why has no account of their illness been given?
Then too, there is the report in the Times of Israel and on Israeli TV, which has not been denied, that US intelligence told Israeli intelligence in November 2019, that there was a “nasty epidemic” raging in Wuhan, that they could not interest the USG in.
Altogether, a good effort but needs more work."
Posted by: foolisholdman | May 8 2021 19:57 utc | 89
William Gruff | May 7 2021 20:38 utc | 36
I am not arguing that Tracey is stupid. Far from it. Still, the fact that he can only imagine two possibilities for the origin of the virus demonstrates that he has a massive blind spot. I suspect that many people have the same blind spot. After all, it is unimaginable that the US would use WMDs to subjugate an adversary.
It seems to me there are at least these possible ways the Virus got into the population (In no particular order):
It jumped from a bat or other wild animal to a human.
It infected someone in the Wuhan lab who then infected others outside.
It was accidentally carried out of/escaped from the Wuhan lab.
It was brought to Wuhan (accidentally or deliberately) by the US Army Team competing in the World Military Games.
It was brought to Wuhan deliberately by US intelligence, knowing that Wuhan had been working on it and thinking to blame the outbreak on China.
It escaped from Fort Detrick or some other US Bio-warfare lab and spread in the US before making its way to China and the rest of the World.
It was deliberately spread in China, Iran and Italy by the US Military intelligence.
The "natural occurrence seems unlikely to me.
The accidental leakage from Fort Detrick (Or some other US BW lab)seems the most probable, as it accounts for the extraordinary actions of the US CDC in banning autopsies and making the proceedings of the CDC top secret and the finding that the oldest variant occurs in the US but not in China.
For the same reason, it seems unlikely that the outbreak happened in Wuhan. There are also accounts of cases in Italy, Spain, France and New York before it was recognized in Wuhan.
That it was deliberately spread would account for the curious way the pandemic proceeded.
Another possibility occurs to me: it escaped accidentally from Fort Detrick and started to spread. Having no antidote, in order to avoid culpability, the US authorities then took it to Wuhan, so that they could blame the coming pandemic on China.
I suppose the way one evaluates the possibilities depends largely on one's political outlook. What is certain is that no one has proved anything yet. What we know is the the US has form and opportunity and possibly motive.
Posted by: foolisholdman | May 8 2021 20:49 utc | 90
A quick follow up to my comment @17
If you're willing to follow the speculative trail... it may (*may*) lead to Russia.
OK - when Canada gets into a serious scrap with the US, and the US is in the wrong, frequently Moscow is called upon to support the Canadian position. Obviously, in the current geopolitical context, none of that can happen openly. What frequently happens is a senior military officer will mention something about 'comrades'. Lavrov will mention something about difficulties in 'the neighbourhood'. A Canadian government official will appear in a Russian fur cap (uahanka-hat?), weather permitting. I know it sounds sketchy, but if you follow Canadian news for long enough, you can pick up on it.
The Canadian Army Twitter feed has a Tweet that says 'Bear with us' with a photo of a menacing bear -- that's a clue, I'd suspect. The exact location of 'us' and 'the bear' is less clear to me. I don't think it's Wainwright, Alberta (although it's a nice place to visit!) I still believe it's Mexico.
https://twitter.com/CanadianArmy/status/1391075423266689028
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | May 8 2021 21:28 utc | 91
This might bring a smile to some of your faces!
RT spoof of CIA - Humans of RT
Posted by: lex talionis | May 8 2021 22:04 utc | 92
@ Oriental Voice | May 8 2021 19:42 utc | 88 with the discussion about China being "soft" on empire.....I agree
If you read MoA regularly you know I am all over the public/private finance issue which is an obvious difference between China and the West but is never discussed in public....WHY IS THAT? It seems to be to be the one public discussion that needs to occur and is not....sigh
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 8 2021 22:11 utc | 93
@vk #85
Clearly your command of the English language is as weak as your understanding of other parts of reality.
Nowhere did I state the American Founding Father’s attempts as original - I merely described the how and what of what they were trying to do.
Nor is the rest of your comment of any utility since I also did not even write the word democracy.
That the Founding Fathers were almost exclusively wealthy is no secret nor that they (mostly) were particularly horrified of the common man.
Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2021 22:12 utc | 94
In reply to 85.
What goes unnoticed but should be terrifying is dominance by the Intelligence Community. The 3 branches of government be damned - if the NSA/CIA isn't tightly controlled and disciplined, they can blackmail any judge or congressperson or President.
If anyone doubts this, notice the amazing coincidences of convenient "credible reports" that suddenly appear about Russian bounties or Iran/China/Russia interfered with 2020 elections or whatever.
These shadowy actors have the near power to declare war, as with Syria
Posted by: Eighthman | May 8 2021 23:34 utc | 95
foolisholdman @ 90 wrote:
The accidental leakage from Fort Detrick (Or some other US BW lab)seems the most probable,as it accounts for the extraordinary actions of the US CDC in banning autopsies and making the proceedings of the CDC top secret and the finding that the oldest variant occurs in the US but not in China.
____________________________________________
That sounds to be right if any of the facts are true. As far as I know none of those facts are correct. When did the CDC even have the power to ban autopsies much less actually do it?
Posted by: jinn | May 8 2021 23:40 utc | 96
It pains me to announce another death attributed to the War against Vietnam: My wife's father passed due to complications from his PTSD and Agent Orange poisoning a week shy of his 80th birthday. We were very fortunate to have spent excellent quality time with him and his wife during our recent vacation, but his passing was very unanticipated and somewhat shocking.
As demanded by the World, the Outlaw US Empire must cease its attempts at domination and return to being a normal nation that abides by the UN Charter it ironically brought into existence but has broken daily since it entered into force in 1945. My Father-in-Law's death was thus one of many delayed murders from that very unnecessary war.
Mortality risk from COVID-19 (HART)
"The constant portrayal of COVID-19 as a threat has caused distortion in people’s perception of their risk of dying from it, if they are unlucky enough to catch it. The risks of dying are dependent on age and comorbidities, e.g.:
"Healthy 35-year-old woman:- If unlucky enough to catch coronavirus, chance of surviving = 99.9991%. The chance of dying is less than the fatality risk of a general anaesthetic for a procedure.
"55-year-old man with co-morbidities:- If unlucky enough to catch coronavirus, chance of surviving = 99.2135%. The chance of dying is less than the risk of an average 55-64 year old dying of any cause this year.
"Healthy 75-year-old woman:- If unlucky enough to catch coronavirus, chance of surviving = 99.8251%. The chance of dying is less than the risk of being injured in a car accident each year
"85 year old man with co-morbidities:- If unlucky enough to catch coronavirus, chance of surviving = 79.9154%. The chance of dying is less than the risk of living for one year in a care home."
"No one can die of COVID-19 without catching the virus. The chances of catching it currently are minimal as there are so few genuine cases (in other words, people with symptoms, usually severe). Even after testing millions of school children and surge testing in certain London boroughs the test positivity remains stubbornly low."
----
Covid-19 just isn't as deadly as people have been (mis-)led to believe. The cause is much more likely to be a natural event. There is no evidence of a bio-lab involvement (accidental or otherwise). Do not overthink and fool yourself into believing Covid-19 spread in a strange way; it is highly probable that susceptibility and pre-existing immunity varied in different populations and locations.
Posted by: ADKC | May 8 2021 23:46 utc | 98
psychhstorian@93:
Yes you're right about that :-). The economic difference between the west and China is great, is clear, and is the kind of stuff that eats at the west's heart. That's why the west doesn't want to discuss it. It is being done, to some extent here at MOA. But you'll never see it discussed objectively in any western English language publications. Authors and readers both can't stand the humiliation.
German has started dabbling on this lately. But even so they are calling it government capitalism, rather than Chinese socialism as it actually is.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 9 2021 0:36 utc | 99
foolisholdman @90
The final possibility that you suggest fits the evidence the best, I would say. Accidentally leaked in the US then seeded elsewhere in part in an effort to cover the tracks. I would guess a weaponized aerosol was employed in Wuhan and in Iran to speed the initial infections so that those places would look more like the starting points, and also to increase the odds that they would take greater damage from the pandemic's first major wave.
Posted by: William Gruff | May 9 2021 0:39 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
The Australian army has scrapped the Israeli supplied battlefield management system from Elbit Systems, citing security concerns. Of course there would be back doors for Tel Aviv to exploit.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-07/israeli-company-elbit-systems-of-australia-removed-army/100121238
All Elbit equipment must go from every army vehicle.
Posted by: Paul | May 7 2021 7:36 utc | 1