Open Thread 2021-038
News & views ...
Posted by b on May 19, 2021 at 17:48 UTC | Permalink
next page »It seems Norway has allowed itself to become another front in the Empire’s war against Russia
The recently signed agreement between the United States and Norway will expand military cooperation between the two countries, allowing the United States to build facilities on Norwegian soil to support its operations in the region, while US troops will receive “unhindered access” to any Norwegian military facilities.This agreement grants the Pentagon rights to build anything it wants across a number of facilities, namely on the Rigge and Sola airfields, located near the southern coast of Norway, as well as the Evenes airfield and the Ramsund Naval Base, which are located above the Arctic Circle in northern Norway.
The expansion of the military cooperation between the two countries comes amid heightened tensions between Russia in Europe, that is especially noticable in the Arctic. The Norwegian air force regularly conducts exercises along with US fighters and bombers, with the latter being deployed to Norway for the first time.
Washington Tries to Make Others to Pay the Price for its Own Military Adventures
Posted by: Down South | May 19 2021 18:24 utc | 2
@Down South | May 19 2021 18:24 utc | 2
We are an occupied country now.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 19 2021 18:37 utc | 3
I was just reading the wikipedia entry on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. The parallels with Palestinian resistance in Gaza confirm the kinship between the aims of Israel and those of the Nazis in Poland.
Posted by: Patroklos | May 19 2021 18:45 utc | 4
The Warsaw Pact is now NATO I read this somewhere, and I thought it was a very succinct way of describing the current situation. You would never know this if all you heard was the ranting of likes of Jack Keane. You could be forgiven for believing that we in the U.S. are digging anti-tank ditches.
If the U.S. accuses someone else of it, we are doing it. We are surrounding and choking Russia with hostile countries.
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Nord stream 2 and 'weak Biden' I've been reading a flurry of articles and watching commentary about how weak Biden is for signing waivers to let the Russia complete this while canceling the Keystone pipeline. He is giving a gift to Putin and his evil sidekick, Iran.
I just love this tone. It's as if the U.S. has as much authority over Europe as it does the Mississippi valley. That's right naives, all must come before the throne room of DC and beg before you can have your infrastructure projects approved regardless of where they are located or how they are funded. We in the U.S. are masters of the Universe.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | May 19 2021 18:49 utc | 5
The Colonial Pipeline Co.,ransomware attack was a false flag. They wanted to blame Russian hackers so they could derail Nordstream II
It is common knowledge that the only real hackers that are able of such sabotage is CIA and Israeli. It’s the same attack types they do to Iranian infrastructure on a regular basis.
The Russians are not that stupid to do something they know will be blamed on them and is of no political use to them. And could derail Nordstream2.
As for the money-nobody really knows where it really went. CEO is ultra corrupt. They never ever invested in their infrastructure so when it went down they came up with a profitable excuse. Just look at their financials/balance sheet over the years. No real investment in updating and maintaining infrastructure. Great false flag. Corruption and profiteering.
Posted by: Blackhat | May 19 2021 18:51 utc | 6
@ Blackhat | May 19 2021 18:51 utc | 6
"As for the money-nobody really knows where it really went."
If you are right about the perpetrators, my guess would be that it went into the black-ops fund, two birds one stone.
Posted by: MarkU | May 19 2021 19:04 utc | 7
Colombia Reports: President Ivan Duque called on the maximum deployment of Colombia’s security forces while his peace commissioner ignored strike leaders’ demands to end the violent repression of peaceful protests.
Resumen Latinoamericano: It was a surprise that crumbled the forecasts of all analysts: this weekend’s elections in Chile confirmed what was experienced in 2019 during the street rebellion. The right did not achieve the necessary third to veto in the constituent assembly and the political structure of the country changed, perhaps irreversibly, with the emergence of new constituent forces and a notable shift to the left.
Guyana Oil Now: With a population of around 800,000 people, Guyana’s modest piece of global oil and gas output already makes a big difference to the South American country with a lead international analytics provider saying just the Liza reservoir alone gives it the power to be energy intendent.
Posted by: Maracatu | May 19 2021 19:06 utc | 8
@ 6 blackhat.. i have become so used to false flags, i am going to be shocked when a real flag happens!
Posted by: james | May 19 2021 19:08 utc | 9
@ blackhat 6
an in depth article researching solarwinds hack - looks like it was israel, not a great leap to see that colonial was a false flag
Posted by: abee | May 19 2021 19:21 utc | 10
Norman Finkelstein delivers an overview of the situation in Gaza and rebuts common anti-Palestinian myths:
Norm Finkelstein Destroys Pro-Israel Talking Points (1h 35m, The Katie Halper Show)
I’ve typed out the first 10 minutes of the interview:
Katie Halper: We would like to talk to you, Norman, about Gaza. Can you just tell people kind of the basics of what Gaza is, how it came to be what it is today and what we’re seeing today?Norman Finkelstein: I’ll try to be as succinct as possible.
Gaza and the West Bank are the two areas that did not come under Israeli control after the 1947–49 war. The rest of Palestine became the state of Israel. The two exceptions—the West Bank and Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
The basic facts to know about Gaza, as you contemplate what’s unfolding now, the basic facts are these. Number one: Gaza is overwhelmingly a child population. The total population is about 2.1 million people. Of those 2.1 million, a little more than half are children under the age of 18. Number two: 70% of Gaza comprises refugees or descendants of refugees, who are under international law also classified as refugees—the descendants. So we’re talking about an overwhelmingly refugee population and a majority children population.
Gaza has undergone many devastating assaults by Israel, but we’ll leave the murderous assaults aside for the moment and just look at the picture as it stands now in terms of what you might call the socioeconomic dimension of Gaza.
So, Gaza under international law remains an occupied territory. Israel withdrew its settlements from Gaza in 2005. However, it didn’t withdraw its troops, it redeployed them along the perimeter of Gaza. And nobody can go in, nobody can go out, no merchandise can go in or go out, the territorial waters, the airspace, the population registry, the electricity, the internet—everything is controlled by Israel. That being the case, Gaza, as I said, is technically under international law still occupied by Israel.
In terms of the realities in Gaza right now, I’m going to simply use the shorthand expressions. The Human Rights Watch in its most recent report stated that Israel is committing crimes against humanity in Gaza. Now, when we say “crimes against humanity”, we have to be able to concretize that: what does it mean? So let’s try to give it some flesh.
In 2006, there were Palestinian parliamentary elections—January 2006. Among the observers was former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He declared the elections that were held across the occupied territories—not just Gaza, the West Bank and including East Jerusalem—and he declared the elections fair and free. Unfortunately for Israel and the United States, HAMAS, the militant Palestinian organization, it won the elections. Immediately after it won the elections, the Israelis, followed by the U.S., followed by the EU, decided to punish the people of Gaza for electing the wrong government. And so that’s when the current blockade of Gaza began. That blockade was then tightened in 2007 when the U.S., Israel and some Palestinian factions acted in cahoots to try to overthrow the government in Gaza, and that coup attempt was preempted by the current government.
Now, since then there has been that blockade of Gaza, which, as I said, constitutes a crime against humanity, according to Human Rights Watch. A “crime against humanity” is—what it sounds like, that is—it’s a very high-ranking, if you can use that term, a very high-ranking crime under international law. What does it mean, again, concretely? It means, as Human Rights Watch and many others have said, it means Gaza is the largest open-air prison in the world. The people are trapped in Gaza.
Let me add another dimension to that prison. Gaza is among the most densely populated places on God’s earth. And the population is confined within an area of land—I was just thinking about it today—it’s 25 by 7 miles. What does that mean? The length of Gaza is a little bit less than a marathon. That’s literally the truth! The length of Gaza is a little bit less than a marathon: a marathon is 26.2 miles, Gaza is about 25 miles. I’ll use an example—because I tend to be sedentary, so my examples are very parochial—I live in Coney Island, from Coney Island to Grand Army Plaza library it’s about seven miles. So Gaza—the whole of Gaza—is less than a marathon in length and roughly the distance from Coney Island to Prospect Park or Grand Army Plaza, Seventh Avenue in Brooklyn. That is Gaza.
Now I want to just add two more points to that. First of all, what I should give you are some of the socioeconomic statistics. Half the population, as I said, is children. 96% of the water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption. 80% of the people of Gaza live on international humanitarian aid. 50% of the population of Gaza is unemployed. About 70% to 75% of the young people are unemployed. That’s Gaza.
…
Posted by: S | May 19 2021 19:22 utc | 11
The key characteristics of the SOCIOECONOMIC system of a suzerainty are hierarchy, polarization and exploitation. This enables the Global Financial Syndicate to drive PRIVATE CONTROL by privatization, extracting profits and increasing its power. Without this system it can’t survive, capture new entities and increase its power.
In analyzing any situation one need to understand the POWER DYNAMICS. This enables one to understand the hierarchy of religions, nations, corporations, elites,...There seems to be a well defined playbook that is being followed to expand the global power. However, now it seems to be failing?
Is this a good chart of the POWER PLAYERS driving U$A’s and international developments?
(Solid lines refer to funding and dashed lines refer to mostly ideological connections)
Does this Global Power Pyramid provide a good overview of the global entities?
Are there better charts and overview of the power players?
If one were to view Israel from an imperialist lens then it is a beachhead in the Middle East of the Financial Empire like the Colony of Virginia (1606). The IMPERIALIST goal is to create a Middle East Union (MEU), similar to the United States and the EU. Israel will be the financial, technological, military and trading hub of the ME? It will drive decimation of states to steal the region’s land, oil gas and natural resources, so they can be priced in the Empire’s currency.
What were the strategies and tactics used by the Imperialist settlers to steal land from the Native Americans? Wasn’t (freedom of) religion one of the dimensions? How was the LAND stolen from natives of America? Weren’t treaties made in bad faith? “In 1830, US Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, forcing many indigenous peoples east of the Mississippi from their lands.” Ayn Rand framed it as ... to the graduating Class Of U$A’s military academy at West Point
Which of the past patterns of stealing land and getting rid of the natives are being repeated by Israel? We’re watching a tragedy and living through an epoch in the history of humanity.
Posted by: Max | May 19 2021 19:25 utc | 12
Posted by: abee | May 19 2021 19:21 utc | 10
In Whitney Webb's World everything is due to Israel.
Posted by: v | May 19 2021 19:54 utc | 13
Blackhat | May 19 2021 18:51 utc | 6
I'm not familiar with your handle - hello. IMO, it would be counterproductive for Russia to initiate such a hack. What really affects and debilitates US oil and gas interests is low prices, both at the pump and on the stock exchange. The hack helped jack up prices (which were already being jacked-up despite demand still lagging behind supply) which only HELPS those energy interests. It has long been known, the math isn't complicated, what level crude must trade at for US domestic oil & gas operations to be profitable. Remember that just as the pandemic was emerging Russia and Saudi Arabia once again sent the global crude market into the depths of despair.
I do agree the hack can be interpreted in light of the desperation of US energy interests to try to kill NS2. I have not yet read the recent articles discussing Biden's recent moves in that regard. If these moves are a recognition that US LNG to Europe (and elsewhere) are diametrically opposed to climate responsibility, I'd welcome those moves. As is usually the case though, environmental responsibility is probably the least likely reason.
Posted by: vinnieoh | May 19 2021 20:05 utc | 14
It is unlikely that you will see this news on CNN or BBC.
A book on the crimes of the international coalition in Syria was presented in Moscow. The book is called 'Crimes of the US-led international coalition in Syria'. The study is based on interviews with over 200 Syrian citizens who witnessed the crimes of the international coalition. They reportedly allowed the authors to use their testimony in legal proceedings, including in international courts. The conference dedicated to the presentation of the book was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Syrian Arab Republic to the Russian Federation, Riad Haddad.
The presented facts prove that the US-led coalition systematically destroyed Syrian hospitals, schools, markets, mosques, houses of civilians, which, according to international humanitarian law, qualifies as war crimes. Each of the facts is personalized with an accurate indication of the identity of the victim and the circumstances of the crime, and is also accompanied by their requests to use this evidence to appeal to national and international courts.
The book is available for reading online (so far only in Russian).
Btw, earlier, in February, an exhibition of the same name was held, which was visited by Sergey Naryshkin, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation.
@ V 13
Whitney can go overboard but that does not 100% invalidate her research and conclusions
Posted by: abee | May 19 2021 20:17 utc | 16
@v
Because Whitney Webb understands the real immense power that they (Israel)have in the US government. In fact I would say United States has been invaded & conquered by Israel. The Israelis definitely believe they have conquered and run the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Switzerland Germany and basically all of Europe and now UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Just listen to the Rabbis speak in Israel. Then you’ll understand.
Posted by: Piedpiper22 | May 19 2021 20:20 utc | 17
One more thing... MECHANISM of power & control expansions to capture resources and control points...
Is this a good overview of what happened in Ukraine? It discusses various power players, plans and ploys.
“Anyone who does not understand contemporary history as a chain of decisions and events and instead always takes only the end link of a long chain into account – will not understand anything at all.”
"We must cultivate among the Ukrainians a people whose consciousness is altered to such an extent, that they begin to hate everything Russian". — Who said this & why?
The Dollar Empire is working towards neutralizing Russia through short term concessions. Russia has defined redlines and demanded no interferences with Nord Stream 2, Belarus, Syria & Ukraine (implementation of the Minsk agreement). Also, no NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia. Russia wants to develop Iran and Turkey as regional powers, and be the third power to that of the U$A and China. It will be interesting to see what happens next.
Posted by: Max | May 19 2021 20:35 utc | 19
@v 13
“Our race is the Master Race. We are divine gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects. In fact, compared to our race, other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Other races are considered as human excrement. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. Our earthly kingdom will be ruled by our leader with a rod of iron. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves.” — Menachem Begin (Israeli Prime Minister, 1977-1983)
Posted by: Truth be told | May 19 2021 20:36 utc | 20
If you want to see how much Israel has invaded and conquered USA:
“All of this became even clearer on Tuesday when President Biden reversed Trump’s blockage of the Russian natural gas pipeline. Axios' Jonathan Swan reported that “the Biden administration will waive sanctions on the corporate entity and CEO overseeing the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Germany,” which “indicates the Biden administration is not willing to compromise its relationship with Germany over this pipeline.” Swan wrote what is clearly true: “the completion of Nord Stream 2 would be a huge geopolitical win for Putin and give him substantial new leverage in Europe.”
This “huge geopolitical win for Putin” is exactly what the Kremlin’s alleged asset in the White House spent years preventing and which Biden is now handing over.”
Biden did this on the order of Israel, so that Russian and Putin won’t stop Israel bombing the Palestinians to death.
Just watch.
Posted by: Old man of the sea | May 19 2021 20:46 utc | 21
@22 continued ...
If true, (and it would be the same whether the request was coming from Germany, for instance), but it means the Biden admin has basically no agency whatsoever.
Posted by: ptb | May 19 2021 21:07 utc | 23
In memory of Andre Vltchek:
https://countercurrents.org/2019/05/it-is-indifference-of-the-israelis-that-is-killing-people/
Posted by: JB | May 19 2021 21:09 utc | 24
@ Old man of the sea | May 19 2021 20:46 utc | 22
One can’t blame everything on Israel. Yes, it is part of five eyes, more like SIX eyes.
Biden (JB) is building a coalition to challenge China. JB’s administration wants to neutralize Russia. Nord Stream 2 is an element of contention and by making a concession JB is making Germany and Russia happy. Agree, that its completion will be a “huge geopolitical win for Putin”. Let’s see when Nord Stream 2 becomes fully operational. Time will tell.
Russia’s main focus is De-Dollarization, stability in Russia and in its neighborhood.
China’s announcement about Bitcoin led to it dropping by 30%. What will China, Russia, Turkey and Iran announcement about the U$A dollar do to its value and the market? When will China become the #1 ECONOMY?
THE MOST DANGEROUS DECADE: 2018-2028
Posted by: Max | May 19 2021 21:16 utc | 25
“Unless we put Medical Freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship. To restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others will constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic…”
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 19 2021 21:16 utc | 26
Various comments re Colonial Pipeline
Colonial is owned by Charles Koch. No need to know more.
Also, Whitney Webb is both a Whitney and a Webb. They are both family names, ranking families. I read her too, she does write well, but unlimitedhangout defines what a limited hangout is. Until she starts giving away the money and giving away the family secrets it’s an influence operation and controlled opposition.
Posted by: oldhippie | May 19 2021 21:33 utc | 27
Old man of the sea | May 19 2021 20:46 utc | 22
The US is now the largest provider of LNG, so there is relatively little more financial advantage to be gained from a direct confrontation with Germany or Russia. Political maybe, but the dedollarisation is starting to take hold. (Aside; even Israel depends on the strength of the dollar to continue, like musical chairs, when the music stops there will be precious few chairs left). The Gas/Oil lobbies in the US who are behind the sanctions may have some other trick up their sleeve, but the deflation of Zelensky in Ukraine, and the opening up of a steal-fest of Ukrainian assets might compensate.
***
Note that the West has closed Syrian Embassies so as to stop Syrians voting for Assad. They steal it's oil, and Syria is still next to Israel and doing relatively well in spite of tanker bombings, and missiles. It is also possible that, as you say, there is a price for non-interference in Israel itself.
Posted by: Stonebird | May 19 2021 21:42 utc | 28
See how politicians around the world use 'the two state solution' mantra as an excuse to do nothing, ignore war crimes and international law ,this from the New Zealand PM on breakfast TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OJEdjJ_7ZM
Here is a quote from Palestinian Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh on the 'two state solution:
No colonial – anti-colonial struggle has ever ended in a “two-state solution”. It is fictional and the talk about it from the time that Ben Gurion proposed it over 100 years ago is merely (as Ben 'Gurion himself stated on more than one occasion) intended for PR efforts (he even cited colonial treaties with native Americans which could be broken after consolidating powers). Colonial-Native struggles end in one of three scenarios: a) Algerian model (nearly 2 million killed, 1 million colonizers and their descendants left the country), b) genocide of natives (USA, Australia), c) coexistence in one country of descendants of colonizers and of native people (the rest of the world >140 countries). There is no fourth scenario. Palestine will not be an exception. It is the last struggle and prolonged only because of the resourcefulness and wealth of Zionists and the weakness of their victims with collusion of corrupt Arab leaders and western governments beholden to special interest lobbies. This explains Israel's impunity from international law.'
Here is the full seven [short point] article for more context, this is well worth reading:
http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2021/05/talking-points.html
Posted by: Paul | May 19 2021 21:46 utc | 29
Posted by: Max | May 19 2021 19:25 utc | 12
(Suzerainty)
"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others."
George Orwell,
Animal Farm.
Orwell's allegorical novel predicted that pigs would eventually rule the World.
Now the world is divided and maimed. Where's our Democracy Oinkment?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 19 2021 22:11 utc | 30
We are an occupied country now.
Posted by: Norwegian | May 19 2021 18:37 utc | 3
When I was still living full time in the USSA, Netflix carried a Norwegian series called "Okkupert" or "Occupied" in English in which Norway was militarily occupied by another country. Unlikely to be surprising to any MoA regular, the occupier was....you guessed it: Russia. So what irony that it's the USSA (still) doing the occupying. First season of the show was pretty good, BTW, and it was produced well before any of the recent Western Russophobia had started in earnest.
Posted by: K_C_ | May 19 2021 22:16 utc | 31
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 19 2021 21:16 utc | 27
Unfortunately that quote appears to be bogus, despite its staying power. The words "Un-American" and "under-cover" were never used while Rush was alive.
https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.999.4430&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Posted by: K_C_ | May 19 2021 22:26 utc | 32
"The true equation is ‘democracy’ = government by world financiers.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien
“Welcome to an Orwellian Brave New World!
Orwell’s (1984) words were prescient. Huxley (Brave New World) was a school teacher of Orwell’s at Eton College. They both attended elite symposiums in the 1920s and 30s where all of this was discussed in complete seriousness…sort of like early versions of Bilderberger meetings. So the accuracy of their books was no accident…they actually KNEW what was being planned. Huxley just emphasized the more SOCIALIST elements while Orwell emphasized the more FASCIST elements…they were both right, because both aspects were always part of the plan. It’s obvious that the Rulers always intended to use both approaches as part of their CONTROL structure.
Looking at their personal lives and backgrounds, it appears that Orwell was trying to warn us. Huxley was much more of a British upper crust blue blood. He seemed to be in agreement with what the Rulers were planning, and along with his brother Julian he was actually helping them. They both knew what was coming.
Were they used as textbooks by the Rulers? It’s just that the general public aren’t as worried about controlling the masses as the Rulers' are.”
“Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence—those are the three pillars of Western prosperity. If war, waste, and moneylenders were abolished, you'd collapse.”
– Aldous Huxley
Ouch, Huxley chops at the roots. This quote is profound. If you were to connect dots what do you see?
Posted by: Max | May 19 2021 22:26 utc | 33
RT Wednesday:
---------
Very aggressive stuff from the EU:
A draft report published online by the assembly’s Committee on Foreign Affairs caused consternation in Russian media on Monday, after statements came to light that argued the bloc “should establish with the US a transatlantic alliance to defend democracy globally” and “deter Russia” from supposed aggression in Eastern Europe.As part of its “vision” for future ties with Moscow, the paper concludes that the EU should put forward a number of incentives designed to persuade Russians that a turn to the West would be beneficial, including visa liberalization and “free trade investment.”
[...]
At the same time, the committee puts forward a number of extreme steps that it says the bloc should take. It insists that Brussels “must be prepared not to recognize the parliament of Russia and to ask for Russia’s suspension from international organizations with parliamentary assemblies if the 2021 parliamentary elections in Russia are recognized as fraudulent.”
The success or failure of this operation will depend entirely on the Russian people. Will it fall for the Western European honey trap once again?
After Putin is gone, bets are off. Also, the EU continues to suffer from refugee waves from Syria and Libya, and its economy continues to deteriorate (recession confirmed for Q1 2021). The whole system is so exhausted that they don't talk about even of the absorption of Moldova anymore (the Moldovan president had to bring that up to the Kremlin; good they remembered them).
--//--
US waives sanctions against Nord Stream company and CEO as Blinken & Lavrov meet in Iceland
This looks like Biden had some surge of sanity, but it's not: I read an article on Izvestia some days ago and it seems Russia won the war for the Arctic and has expelled the USA from that sea. That, combined with the fact that Russia has been ramping up investment on the sector, results in the fact that, soon enough, Russia will also have the infrastructure to deliver cheaper LNG by ship to Europe, too.
That means the USA has given up on the NordStream II in order to hurt the Russian LNG investments. Yes, people, that's the insanity of the situation: the USG is completely lost. It still has its ace in the hole, though: the Green Party is set to win the next German general elections, and they're rabid Atlanticists. Like, this would cost Germany dearly and they wouldn't last two years in government, but at least Russian gas to Europe through a non-Ukrainian route would be stopped.
Speaking of the Ukraine, this whole situation makes us reflect: it is patent at this point in time that the EU is a subsidiary of NATO - it expands eastwards after those countries become NATO members. They're the "socioeconomic" version of NATO. This has created a huge problem for the EU, though, because the Ukraine is a massive financial black hole to the American economy (through the IMF) and the USA is pressuring the EU to make it a member quick, so that this black hole goes to European (i.e. German) hands. The thing is Germany obviously doesn't want that, because it needs the Euro to keep at where it is or stronger (you can only enter the EU by entering the EZ nowadays). The Ukraine is salivating to become an EZ member - that's the whole point of the Maidan coup in the first place - so Ukraine entering the EU without entering the EZ is out of the table. The EU must've told the USA that no, the Ukraine must first become a NATO member, then they'll make it an EZ-EU member. The Ukraine is the proverbial hot potato.
All of that coupled with the hard economic fact that, without the Russian gas transit exclusivity, you can't leverage Ukraine's debt, because, after Maidan, all of the public goods and infrastructure were privatized to American capitalists. That means we have the absurd situation where Germany has to give up cheaper gas for itself (which would be essential for its economic recovery) in order to make the Ukraine happy so that it enters the EU, so that it becomes a financial black hole... to the German economy! Germany has to pay the Ukraine for the privilege of having to pay it even more, for eternity.
The price of nation-building has become more and more expensive to the capitalist world. Turns out those Third World shitholes have learned something after all those decades.
--//--
Well, well, well... how the tables have turned:
Taiwan is also suffering from a significant brain drain to the Mainland. They're trying to solve the problem by demonizing those people by calling them "traitors".
Interesting times.
--//--
Colonial Pipeline CEO confirms paying $4.4 million ransom to hackers, says he did it for America
This is USSR-of-the-1980s level of propaganda.
Either way, give that man a statue in D.C.!
P.S.: this is the quotation of what the CEO really said, so you don't accusing me of just reading the headline:
“[it was very hard, difficult to me etc. etc.] But it was the right thing to do for the country,” Blount, who leads the company since 2017, added.
--//--
No shit, Sherlock:
Once was a hegemon: Australia and the decline of the US.
Australia’s Indo-Pacific obsession hides a radical global geopolitical shift. Australian policymakers will persist in making poor choices unless they accept that the US hegemony has passed a tipping point, and America has already become just one great power among others.
https://johnmenadue.com/once-was-a-hegemon-australia-and-the-decline-of-the-us/
Posted by: Paul | May 19 2021 22:40 utc | 35
Re: US troops in Norway: is that why’ve they’ve been showing Atlantic Crossing on US PBS channels? The finale was on Sunday. The mini series is about FDR’s emotional relationship with Queen Martha of Norway and how he came to her aid and sheltered her and her kids in Washingtonwhile the Nazis invaded her country. He even gave her a battleship or two.
Posted by: Absurdio | May 19 2021 22:44 utc | 36
Greek gov is planning to vaccinate with a covid vaccine the entire population of GR, starting with ppl working in the ... fire department.
According to gr media those who refuse will be reassigned (what ever does that mean). This decision is signed by the Fire Department head, which is in violation of the common law and the common sense.
Gov is planning to make it easier for employers in prv sector to fire unvaxed ppl.
It’s just the beginning.
This is a very dark path my country is taking and I’m afraid this will happen to other countries too.
Regardless of where someone stands on the vaccine issue this is a blatant attempt to cancel basic rights and freedoms.
All in the name of public health.
They will do anything to transform our society in a two tiers, divided dystopia but they are doing nothing to improve the national health system.
Posted by: DG | May 19 2021 22:45 utc | 37
As for NS2, Congress could still pass a statute requiring sanctions on NS2's owners, and it would like pass with a veto proof majority. We have to be aware of a potential good cop / bad cop routine.
Posted by: schmoe | May 19 2021 22:51 utc | 38
K_C_ #33
Thank you for pointing out my citing of a bogus quote. Sigh, has Strategic Culture been occupied by wikipedia?
I might stick to the orchard for a while, the trees never lie.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 19 2021 23:14 utc | 39
Information for Australian MoA barflies and readers from iCare:
My employer encouraged or required me to have the COVID-19 vaccination for work and I have had an adverse reaction, can I claim workers compensation?In some circumstances an adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccination may be a compensable workplace injury. To be compensable, your work activities must be proven to be a substantial or main contributing factor to the injury.
When lodging a claim for an adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccination that is work related, medical information will need to be provided showing an injury or illness has been sustained. Normal side effects of the vaccine such as feeling unwell or sore temporarily, will not be compensable.
If you want to lodge a claim for a work-related adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccination, please follow the usual claim lodgement process.
Readers in other countries will need to check if they or their loved ones or friends are eligible for workers' compensation or its equivalent if they suffer from inoculation side effects as a result of being compelled by their employers to have the COVID-19 inoculation jab.
Posted by: Jen | May 19 2021 23:22 utc | 40
Posted By Oldhippy @28
Thanks for your comment.
Regarding the ownership of Colonial Pipeline:
'IFM Investors, which is owned by 27 Australian union- and employer-backed industry superannuation funds, owns a 16 per cent stake in Colonial Pipeline, which the infrastructure manager bought in 2007 for $US651 million.'
also
'The privately held Colonial Pipeline is valued at about $US8 billion, based upon the most recent sale of a 10 per cent stake to a unit of Royal Dutch Shell in 2019.'
see Australian Financial Review 6 days ago.
Koch may well own another multi million $ stake.
Posted by: Paul | May 19 2021 23:42 utc | 41
Biden reverses course on Nordstream 2...
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57180674
Posted by: dh | May 19 2021 23:43 utc | 42
China sticks an oar in....
On the Tuesday CGTN broadcast, host Zheng Junfeng questioned whether U.S. support for Israel was truly based on shared democratic values, saying “some people believe that U.S. pro-Israeli policy is traceable to the influence of wealthy Jews in the U.S. and the Jewish lobby on U.S. foreign policy makers.”
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/israel-accuses-chinese-state-tv-043314153.html
Posted by: dh | May 19 2021 23:54 utc | 43
@vk 35, re: arctic - do you happen to have the link to the Izvestia piece? Anyway I'm sure you already know this, but the main big LNG player is Qatar, and they are due to massively expand in the coming decade.
Posted by: ptb | May 19 2021 23:58 utc | 44
# Shenzhen skyscraper wobbles
https://asiatimes.com/2021/05/panic-in-downtown-shenzhen-as-skyscraper-wobbles/
#Additional coverage
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/19/china/china-shenzhen-skyscraper-intl-hnk/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DvNXlAnyVU\
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fotXoJCEja8
# If not wind, earthquake, then...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuned_mass_damper
# And lookie here... Note that such systems such as deicon's use "computer control" in the damping.
http://www.deicon.com/air-suspended-tuned-mass-damper/
# Wouldn't want to do this often, but a warning shot - by who
Posted by: daffyDuct | May 19 2021 23:59 utc | 45
Well, it's official. One of my friends in the USSA who was fully vaccinated (Phizer I think) within the past 3 months just got a positive COVID test. Teenage son brought it back home and they all have it now.
uncle tungsten @40 - It looks like that bogus quote is used often, including by academics and the paper I found was basically hidden, so it's an easy mistake to make by Strategic Culture (whoever wrote that article). I had never seen/heard of that one so I looked it up due to the non-contemporaneous looking language. Surprised to learn that "under-cover" is actually a more recent term than "un-American" which I would have thought originated in the 1920s or 30s - or even 40s (WWII). According to that paper I found, it was first coined/used just two years after Rush's passing. Go figure. Seems that several more of Rush's quotes as told in the present day seem to be bogus as well.
Posted by: KYLE | May 19 2021 23:59 utc | 46
@ Posted by: ptb | May 19 2021 23:58 utc | 45
It's Izvetsia and it was in Russian, that's why I'm not able to recover it. It was also machine translated, so I may well have gotten the wrong message.
But yeah, from what I understood, the spirit of the article was that it was just a matter of time before Russia start to deliver LNG to Western and Northern Europe at much more competitive prices than the American LNG, through the Arctic route (investment in icebreakers, gas pipelines, oil pipelines, nuclear reactors etc. etc.).
by: alaff @ 16 My browser cannot translate the book, because the image cannot be parsed. Wonder if the publisher willing to post the book as a English translated pdf?
Humanity is dealing with a privately owned global nation state system. 256 different franchised armed nations states owned and controlled by entities who do not limit the use of military and police force or use of rule of law, to dictate human behavior and to extract wealth from the income of the governed and to profit by privatizing access, ownership and use of natural resources and technical know-how.
Posted by: snake | May 20 2021 0:18 utc | 50
Below is a link to the latest posting by Ellen Brown at her Web of Debt blog
How America Went From Mom-and-Pop Capitalism to Techno-Feudalism
She does a good job of historical summary and providing options for effecting change that go beyond my one note drum of ending the global private finance jackboot. She quotes lots of folks and it is a good read. My only problem with lots of solutions is that they leave the inherently flawed structure intact....private finance....
I posit to start with making finance a public utility and the rest will flow from that structural change.
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 20 2021 0:32 utc | 51
…
Posted by: S | May 19 2021 19:22 utc | 11
Thank you for the Norman Finkelstein quotes and link to his interview.
In particular this exert stands out:
'In 2006, there were Palestinian parliamentary elections—January 2006. Among the observers was former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He declared the elections that were held across the occupied territories—not just Gaza, the West Bank and including East Jerusalem—and he declared the elections fair and free. Unfortunately for Israel and the United States, HAMAS, the militant Palestinian organization, it won the elections. Immediately after it won the elections, the Israelis, followed by the U.S., followed by the EU, decided to punish the people of Gaza for electing the wrong government. And so that’s when the current blockade of Gaza began. That blockade was then tightened in 2007 when the U.S., Israel and some Palestinian factions acted in cahoots to try to overthrow the government in Gaza, and that coup attempt was preempted by the current government'
This being the case, it becomes obvious the MSM in numerous 'western' run Captive Nations are simply Zionist propaganda organs when they refer to 'Hamas militants,' 'terrorists,' 'Hamas seized power in...' and the 'Hamas run territory.'
The Zionist logic is also given MSM credence and amplification viz, 'the Gaza Health Ministry and police are run by Hamas, an internationally recognised terrorist organisation.' [thanks to the Captive Nations]
Presumably this 'logic' gives the Zionist regime permission to bomb and destroy hospitals and murder babies.
The real Zionist fear is the now cancelled Palestinian elections which Hamas would easily win in both Gaza, Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank
They know which buttons to press to start the war process.
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 1:05 utc | 52
Posted by: Paul | May 19 2021 21:46 utc | 30
To shatter the illusion that a two state solution is even possible, it is only necessary to ask one question:
"Which state will be allowed to have a fully sovereign defence force?"
To drive the point home to those who still can't wrap their heads around it, simply ask 6 more questions:
1) How to share the gas resources on the med?
2) How to share the water resources?
3) Who gets the Shebaa farms?
4) Who gets a sovereign border with Jordan, Syria, Lebanon (where Hezbollah reigns) and Egypt?
5) Do the Palestinians get a sovereign port?
6) Does the Golan go back to Syria? Or is the Golan shared with the new Palestinian State?
Seriously, anyone entertaining the notion of a two state solution must not have thought about the issue or be deliberately engaging in a deception.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 20 2021 1:10 utc | 53
A powerful piece by Patrick Lawrence: 1948 — No Longer Shrouded in the Mists
"The entire world can now see that Israel is a laboratory monster whose animating electrodes must be cut. No one can any longer dispute its intent to ethnic-cleanse Palestinians: Israelis, from senior government officials to systematically deranged adolescents dancing in the streets, now tell us this. Neither can anyone question that the “Jewish state” has made itself the worst possible memorial to the 6 million killed in the Holocaust that anyone could possibly conceive of.
...
It is time to look at ourselves and see what our Frankenstein has done to us these past 73 years. We in the West, and Americans and Britons above all, have lost all morality and decency in the service of this grotesque creature. We can no longer think for ourselves. We are no longer capable of reason or rational discourse, language itself having been mutilated. We can no longer see straight, for blindness has been essential to the furtherance of the Israeli project as it has been and as we now have it. Our press, not least, has thoroughly lost its way on any topic of concern to the Israelis — Palestine, Iran and Syria chief among these."
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/05/18/patrick-lawrence-1948-no-longer-shrouded-in-the-mists/
Posted by: Zina | May 20 2021 1:16 utc | 54
while i'm not in favour of the 2state proposal, putin is...& so i have to reflect on why? all of your pts both lavrov & putin will be intimately familiar with so i wonder, perhaps both believe they can navigate the palestinians through this web. it's my contention neither would desire the palestinians suffer further.
Posted by: emersonreturn | May 20 2021 1:18 utc | 55
Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 20 2021 1:10 utc | 54
Thanks Arch, good questions. I suspect you know the answers already. However international law in the form of the Fourth Geneva Convention is clear.
The occupation is considered 'temporary' there is only one question to resolve, 'when is the occupier leaving?'
Additionally and importantly, the occupied are prohibited from even discussing territorial 'swaps' or 'border changes' with the occupier, particularly while they are under the duress of occupation.
The whole world knows this black letter law.
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 1:26 utc | 56
Bitcoin has the blues after the reds sink the scam.
About time as this gig was beginning to look like a major Trojan horse.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 20 2021 1:28 utc | 57
@ Posted by: psychohistorian | May 20 2021 0:32 utc | 52
From the article you linked:
The sort of capitalism on which the United States was originally built has been called mom-and-pop capitalism. Families owned their own farms and small shops and competed with each other on a more or less level playing field. It was a form of capitalism that broke free of the feudalistic model and reflected the groundbreaking values set forth in the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights: that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including the rights to free speech, a free press, to worship and assemble; and the right not to be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process.
That is a very distorted, romanticized view of colonial and pre-War of Secession America.
During colonial times, immigrants mostly arrived as de facto serfs in the northern colonies, while the south had the plantation system we all know about.
This "mom-and-pop capitalism" of the "small farms and small shops" were actually feudalism with extra steps: remember they were essentially concessions of the Crown to a privateer. This privateer made pre-arranged contracts with people in the UK, on diverse levels, depending on how much you paid him: the richer already arrived on American soil with his piece of land guaranteed, and was essentially your "small farm" owner. There was no "religious persecution", or "land of opportunity": it was all accorded in London before he even set sail.
However, those were the minority: the majority were vagrants and convicts who were sent to the colonies against their will; once they arrived, they had to work for one of those farm owners. The contracts varied according to the colony, but they were invariably draconian; they were very long and prohibited from leaving the farm/piece of land. It was servitude in the strict feudal sense of the word, and it relied heavily on child labor (many convicts in 16th-17th Century UK were children).
So, what Ellen Brown calls "Mom-and-Pop Capitalism" was essentially feudalism with extra steps. Just to give you a glimpse from Nancy Isenberg's "White Trash":
The colonists were a mixed lot. On the bottom of the heap were men and women of the poor and criminal classes. Among these unheroic transplants were roguish highwaymen, mean vagrants, Irish rebels, known whores, and an assortment of convicts shipped to the colonies for grand larceny or other property crimes, as a reprieve of sorts, to escape the gallows. Not much better were those who filled the ranks of indentured servants, who ranged in class position from lowly street urchins to former artisans burdened with overwhelming debts. They had taken a chance in the colonies, having been impressed into service and then choosing exile over possible incarceration within the walls of an overcrowded, disease-ridden English prison. Labor shortages led some ship captains and agents to round up children from the streets of London and other towns to sell to planters across the ocean—this was known as “spiriting.” Young children were shipped off for petty crimes. One such case is that of Elizabeth “Little Bess” Armstrong, sent to Virginia for stealing two spoons. Large numbers of poor adults and fatherless boys gave up their freedom, selling themselves into indentured servitude, whereby their passage was paid in return for contracting to anywhere from four to nine years of labor. Their contracts might be sold, and often were, upon their arrival. Unable to marry or choose another master, they could be punished or whipped at will. Owing to the harsh working conditions they had to endure, one critic compared their lot to “Egyptian bondage.”Discharged soldiers, also of the lower classes, were shipped off to the colonies. For a variety of reasons, single men and women, and families of the lower gentry, and those of artisan or yeoman classes joined the mass migratory swarm. Some left their homes to evade debts that might well have landed them in prison; others (a fair number coming from Germany and France) viewed the colonies as an asylum from persecution for their religious faith; just as often, resettlement was their escape from economic restrictions imposed upon their trades. Still others ventured to America to leave tarnished reputations and economic failures behind.
Each owner adapted the situation to their taste and the immediate necessity. Some concrete examples:
Pennsylvania’s class structure had some unusual quirks. At the top were the proprietors, members of William Penn’s family, who owned vast tracts of land and collected quitrents. Next came the wealthy Quaker landowners and merchants, bound together by family and religious ties. In the eighteenth century, the Society of Friends disowned any member who married outside the sect, which inflicted real economic hardship by depriving the expelled of important commercial resources, loans, and land sales.
For Carolina:
Class structure preoccupied Locke the constitutionalist. He endowed the nobility of the New World with such unusual titles as landgraves and caciques. The first of these was derived from the German word for prince; the latter was Spanish for an American Indian chieftain. Both described a hereditary peerage separate from the English system, and an imperial shadow elite whose power rested in colonial estates or through commercial trade. A court of heraldry was added to this strange brew: in overseeing marriages and maintaining pedigree, it provided further evidence of the intention to fix (and police) class identity. Pretentious institutions such as these hardly suited the swampy backwater of Carolina, but in the desire to impose order on an unsettled land, every detail mattered—down to assigning overblown names to ambitious men in the most rustic outpost of the British Empire.6Yet even the faux nobility was not as strange as another feature of the Locke-endorsed Constitutions. That dubious honor belongs to the nobility and manor lord’s unique servant class, ranked above slaves but below freemen. These were the “Leet-men,” who were encouraged to marry and have children but were tied to the land and to their lord. They could be leased and hired out to others, but they could not leave their lord’s service. Theirs, too, was a hereditary station: “All the children of Leet-men shall be Leet-men, so to all generations,” the Constitutions stated. The heirs of estates inherited not just land, buildings, and belongings, but the hapless Leet-men as well.
More than some anachronistic remnant of the feudal age, Leet-men represented Locke’s awkward solution to rural poverty. Locke did not call them villains, though they possessed many of the attributes of serfs. He instead chose the word “Leet-men,” which in England at this time meant something very different: unemployed men entitled to poor relief. Locke, like many successful Britons, felt contempt for the vagrant poor in England. He disparaged them for their “idle and loose way of breeding up,” and their lack of morality and industry. There were poor families already in Carolina, as Locke knew, who stood in the way of the colony’s growth and collective wealth. In other words, Locke’s Leet-men would not be charity cases, pitied or despised, but a permanent and potentially productive peasant class—yet definitely an underclass.
As a curiosity: here's how the original American lords regarded the average Russian:
A Massachusetts orator put it simply: “I am a freeman, and the son of a freeman, born and reared on free soil.” Poor southern whites were born in slave states, reared on unfree soil, and, according to a growing number of public commentators, they suffered from a degenerate pedigree. They did not act like freemen. In Helper’s view, their ignorance and docility had made them worse than Russian serfs, when they compliantly voted the “slaveocrats” into office time and again.
That's the beloved Russian Empire those "evil Bolsheviks" destroyed, according to the widows of the Tsar and Orthodox fanatics that infest today's Russian Federation. But of course, serfs had it good in the Empire; it was all about those French-speaking aristocrats in those beautiful halls from Tolstoy's fairy tales.
@ vk | May 20 2021 1:37 utc | 59 with the ideological critique of the Ellen Brown posting I linked to
One of your problems vk is that you have never lived in the real world or have very little association with it. And, as I understand it, you have never lived in the US but are a youngster in Bolivia that doesn't seem to have to work for a living but has lots of time to spew ideological BS on the Intertubes.
And your latest vomit against Ivermectin is especially damming of your moral base. I won't waste my time on the ideological white noise of your comment....
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 20 2021 1:58 utc | 59
One of the main tenets of the Australian Constitution is section 92: free trade between states.
This was much debated over one hundred years ago between the 'free traders' and the 'protectionists.' The free traders won, or did they?
Note; the Australian Constitution, unlike others, does not give 'rights' to the citizens, it limits the powers of the government.
From today's behind paywall AFR we have the PM Pastor Morrison sprouting the Vaccine Passport push:
'Australians fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will get vaccine passports to allow them to travel across state borders in the event of future closures as a first step under the federal government’s plans to restart international travel and end the nation’s isolation.
Facing growing pressure to explain when and how tough border restrictions designed to stop the spread of virus variants will be lifted, Prime Minister Scott Morrison flagged a move to home-based quarantine and confirmed vaccine passports will be developed with the states and territories.'
In the following authoritarian step, the happy clappy PM will trash the labour laws by requiring Vaccine Passports in order to work.
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 2:08 utc | 60
@21 Truth be told,
The supposed quote from Menachem Begin is listed in wiki quotes as false. I do not support the Zionist project, but putting words in people's mouths that they never said is completely different. Provide an accurate reference or accept that the quote is a complete fabrication.
http://begincenterdiary.blogspot.com/2009/05/correcting-misquotation-reputedly-by.html
Posted by: Roger | May 20 2021 2:16 utc | 61
@60 psychohistorian
vk is absolutely correct in his critique of Ellen Brown's fantasy of the British colonies, and cut out the ad hominem crap. Go read Nancy Isenberg's "White Trash" and other such books and gain an education.
Posted by: Roger | May 20 2021 2:22 utc | 62
Ms. Zina | May 20 2021 1:16 utc | 55
Observationally correct but lacks the conceptual framework that have provided.
Now, the Monarch of England, as the titular head of the Church of England, can, for example, issue a fatwa (a.k.a. an encyclical), binding on all Anglicans, that forbids commercial interactions with all entities domiciled in Palestine, until such moment as she be free and the encyclical revoked.
Will that happen?
Never.
Posted by: Fyi | May 20 2021 2:24 utc | 63
American save face..''Biden permets Nord stream 2'' LOL As if Russia, the biggest nuclear power would need American permissions..
I said it here and I repeat Nord stream 2 has always been unstoppable. Idiots like vk still wasted time debating with me..
If the Fat Frau pulled the plug she would owe Russia billions of Euros in unfulfilled contract penalties and Putin would just send the gas East, especially CHINA, across the Belt Road countries destroying all left German industrial capacity for good..
Posted by: Nick | May 20 2021 2:30 utc | 64
Seriously, anyone entertaining the notion of a two state solution must not have thought about the issue or be deliberately engaging in a deception.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 20 2021 1:10 utc | 54
Gideon Levy eloquently explains why Israel was never serious about the 2-state solution.
Posted by: farm ecologist | May 20 2021 2:33 utc | 65
@ Posted by: Nick | May 20 2021 2:30 utc | 65
Well, there's still the German Green Party.
Never say never in History. There's always that human element.
@Roger 62
Ammon Kapeliouk’s article from the New Statesman (June 25, 1982). The article entitled ‘Begin and the Beasts’ sums up the dehumanizing way in which Menachem Begin referred to Palestinians, stating that they were “beasts walking on two legs” according to Kapeliouk’s account from the observation of his speech delivered to the Knesset. if he said that then he most definitely said every other quote credited to him.
My father had met him personally and said he was ruthless.
Posted by: Truth be told | May 20 2021 2:52 utc | 67
4 years ago Schulz was around 40% and he lost to Merkel.. Greens can even to win but they will not govern with 25-30% of German Bundestag.
The problem with CDU/CSU is they have lost votes to AFD and FDP..
In Baden-Württemberg the Greens has a an alliance with the CDU where the CDU are who gives the final card. Its the state of Daimler Benz
Posted by: Nick | May 20 2021 2:53 utc | 68
Atlanticist Annalena Baerbock is unstable she speaks a lot of gaffes
Medien-Hype um Baerbock - Vielen Dank für die Blumen
https://www.cicero.de/innenpolitik/medien-hype-um-baerbock-vielen-dank-fur-die-blumen
Posted by: Nick | May 20 2021 2:56 utc | 69
Posted By Roger @ 62,
Perhaps it was a fabricated quote. As Henry Ford said: 'it fits.'
Here is a definitely fabricated quote, allegedly said by the then Iranian President Ahmadinejad vowing to wipe Israel 'OFF THE MAP,' an unknown expression in Iran.
This is repeated endlessly by the MSM many thousands of times, as if it were true, by now they probably even believe it themselves.
The actual quote, which comes from an old speech of Khomeini, does not imply military action, or killing anyone at all…. The phrase is almost metaphysical. He quoted Khomeini that “the occupation regime over Jerusalem should vanish from the page of time.” It is in fact probably a reference to some phrase in a medieval Persian poem. It is not about tanks.
https://fair.org/extra/lost-in-translation/
https://www.juancole.com/2006/05/hitchens-hacker-and-hitchens.html
The original Jonathan Steele article, published by the Guardian, 'Lost in Translation' is now behind a pay wall.
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 2:58 utc | 70
It is hard to make predictions about the German election in September, but my best guess would be that Merkel's center-right Christian Democrats will win the end run.
Annalena Baerbock has been pumped up relentlessly in the last couple of weeks in the US, for example through the Atlantic Council, but that does not sync with what is happening in Germany. This week the numbers for the Greens went down just a notch. We are seeing the beginning of a reset.
Baerbock is telegenic but she lacks administrative experience. Now a public discussion about the costs of what the Green Party wants looms on the horizon. The environmental movement in Germany always has been a full belly movement and now comes the moment of truth.
Another likely game changer: Will the Green Party crack under the pressure? It always has done so in the past, lacking discipline and focus. Green dissenters will enter the fray and undermine Baerbock's centrist message.
Armin Laschet is a formidable campaigner, he tied up the CDU win in Northrhine-Westphalia coming from behind in a powerful end-run surge against an incumbent. The Greens underestimate him and so does the US media establishment.
Both the Greens under Baerbock and also the francophone Laschet are more skeptical about the US and its foreign policy moves than Merkel was. That will play out. There is no better deal on the table for the US, post-Merkel. It will go the other way.
The Green stance against Nord Stream 2 seems self-defeating: If they win in September then they would need to keep energy costs down for consumers, so Nord Stream 2 would be essential as a bridge to the Green energy future that is building momentum. Regardless, the Greens would never buy dirty and expensive Texan shale gas, nor will they invest in the LNG terminals that the US is pushing.
Nord Stream 2's cheap Russian gas will make the transition out of fossil fuels palatable to fuming German consumers upset about extremely high outlays for utilities.
Posted by: Kurt Weil | May 20 2021 3:12 utc | 71
@ Posted by: ptb | May 19 2021 23:58 utc | 45
Found the article. It was in Ria Novosti, not Izvestia:
Арктические запасы: Россия приготовилась выбить США из Европы, by Natalia Dembinskaya (Moscow, May 17th, 2021)
It's all there, including the Qatar thing (Qatar basically exports only to Asia, where it dominates) and also Russia's diversification of the markets (it will squeeze the USA out of the European market because it can, but its focus is for LNG delivery is Asia-Pacific, where the pipelines don't reach).
The state-of-the-art of the LNG market is this: Qatar (26.5%), Australia (26.0%), USA (14.7%) and Russia (10.0%). Funny thing is most of the USA's LNG export is to Asia, where Qatar is its main competitor, not Europe. So, the USA would not even lose that much by being expelled out of the European markets.
And guess who are the USA's main priority for LNG exports? China and Japan, where gas prices are higher. Somebody has to tell this to those rabid Trumpists from Oklahoma and Texas.
@ Paul 61 re: the Australian Constitution, unlike others, does not give 'rights' to the citizens, it limits the powers of the government.
Likewise the US Constitution, which doesn't give rights. In some amendments it limits the power of government to abridge certain natural rights.
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 20 2021 4:34 utc | 73
There is a brief on the go statment by Lavrov after his first meeting with Blinken. As usual and with his sharp humor, the journo asks if Russia gave the go ahead for a presidents summit, Lavrov answers Russia is not a Customs office to give go aheads...
https://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4738018
Too many hot spots to figure out what was given in exchange for NS2 "go ahead", but maybe the fact that at a snail pace it is going to be finished anyway accepting its conclusion and bargaining something out of it is the least damaging option for the US. Afghanistan comes first to mind, Lavrov flew to Iceland directly from Tajikistan, Kirghizia is nationalizing the biggest gold mine in Central Asia after dropping a fine of three billion dollars on the Canadian company that owns it. After the Artcic Summit there'll be more info, there is the Iran deal, the situation in Israel, Ukraine and Arctic matters as well, so certainly a little give and take is going to take place, but NS2 was going to go ahead anyway so it is a smart move by the US trying to get something out of it.
Posted by: Paco | May 20 2021 5:49 utc | 74
In Occupied Palestine, 13 May, daily situation report:
While the Occupation is business as usual for Israel,
there should be no business with Israel
In Occupied Palestine
Zionism in practice
Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land
(Compiled by Leslie Bravery, Palestine Human Rights Campaign, Auckland, New Zealand)
13 May 2021 {Main source of statistics: Palestinian Monitoring Group (PMG): http://www.nad.ps/ NB:The period covered by this newsletter is taken from the PMG's 24-hour sitrep ending 8am the day after the above date.}
We shall always do our best to verify the accuracy of all items in these IOP newsletters/reports wherever possible [e.g. we often suspect that names of people and places that we see in the PMG sitreps could be typos; also frequently the translation into English seems rather odd ~ but as we do not speak Arabic, we have no alternative but to copy and paste these names from the PMG sitreps!] – please forgive us for any errors or omissions – Leslie and Marian.
70 Palestinian
attacks
70 Palestinian
ceasefire violations
200 air strikes
200 Israeli
ceasefire violations
7 Israeli settler
and Army attacks
11 raids including
home invasions
2 beaten – 50 killed –
265 injured
40 homes destroyed
Economic sabotage –
14 taken prisoner
Peace disruption raids: 19:50 Um Safa - 18:55, al-Janiya - 19:50, Um Safa - 05:30, Tulkarem - 14:00, Hajjah - 14:00, al-Hotel - 14:00, al-Funduq - 20:50-21:30, Nabi Elias - 05:30-06:30, Hablat - 21:10, Marda - 21:50, Yasuf.
Palestinian ceasefire violations: 06:00 to 07:00 the next day – 70 Palestinian attacks - 500 missiles
Ceasefire violations – air strikes on Gaza: 06:00 to 07:00 the next day: hundreds of missiles launched in around 200 air strikes:
Ceasefire violations – air strikes on Northern Gaza:
13:45, near Tower 19 in the Nada Towers in Izbit Beit Hanoun; 1 killed – 8 injured.
23:50, 3 missiles, targeting a house in Beit Lahiya.
midnight until dawn, Israeli Occupation war planes launched a missile towards a house and its surroundings, between the al-Sultin and al-Atatrah neighbourhoods in Beit Lahiya, killing a woman and three of her children as well as injuring 68 people, including 21 women and 20 children. One house was destroyed.
01:00, two missiles destroyed a home in the al-Amal neighbourhood of Beit Lahia. One woman killed, her husband and son injured.
Killings and injuries:
50 people (including children and women) were killed by Israeli air strikes and artillery bombardments. Among them was Suhaib Abdul Rahim Awad Ghanem (aged 25), killed as a result of Israeli Occupation artillery shelling, in the vicinity of the American Hospital, near the Beit Hanoun "Erez" crossing.
Evening, the bodies of seven people: Raafat “Muhammad Ismail” Atta al-Tanani (aged 39), his wife, Rawya Fathi Hassan al-Tanani (aged 36), along with their sons, Ismail (aged 7), Adham (4), Amir (6) and 2-year-old Muhammad, were recovered from under the rubble of the four-storey Rabah Al-Madhoun building, on the main street in the town of Beit Lahiya, as a result of Israeli Occupation air strikes on the area that took place at dawn of the same day.
6 people killed as a result of Israeli military artillery shelling of areas adjacent to north of the towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, as well as the village of Al-Nasr included: Muhammad Salama Muhammad Abu Daih (10 months old), Fawzia Nasser Muhammad Abu Faris (aged 17).
4 people killed as a result of Israeli air strikes towards a house in the Beit Lahiya project are: Muhammad Ibrahim Muhammad Aman (51), his daughters, Hadeel (18), Warda (22) and Walaa (aged 24 and also six months pregnant).
4 people killed as a result of Israeli air strikes towards an area between the Al-Sultin and Al-Atatrah neighbourhoods, in the town of Beit Lahiya are: Lamia Hassan Muhammad Al-Attar (26) and her sons: Islam Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Attar (8 years old), Amira Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Attar (aged 7) and Muhammad Zain Al-Din Muhammad Mahmoud Al-Attar (8 months old).
Fayza Ahmed Salama (aged 44) was killed as a result of Israeli air strikes on a house in the Al-Amal neighbourhood in Beit Lahiya.
Injuries
234 people were wounded(including children and women) as a result of air and artillery strikes in all Gaza governorates, including:
8 unidentified people injured as a result of Israeli air strikes towards of a group of citizens near Tower 19 in the Nada Towers in Izbit Beit Hanoun.
Yahya Mansour Ghaben (24) was injured resulting from Israeli air strikes near the American Hospital, close by the Beit Hanoun "Erez" crossing.
25 unidentified people (including 7 children and 2 women) were injured by Israeli military artillery shelling of the areas bordering north of the towns of Beit Hanoun, Beit Lahia, as well as the village of Al-Nasr.
68 unidentified people (including 21 women and 20 children) were injured as a result of an Israeli air strike that lasted, from midnight until dawn between the Al-Sultin neighbourhood and Al-Atatrah in the town of Beit Lahia.
Houses destroyed:
More than 40 homes were destroyed by air and artillery strikes in all governorates of the Gaza Strip, including:
3 houses as a result of aerial bombing that targeted a house in the Beit Lahiya project, which led to the demolition and destruction of two other nearby houses.
Destruction of a house as a result of war planes bombing between the Al-Sultin and Al-Atatrah neighbourhoods in the town of Beit Lahia.
Destruction of a house, owned by Ibrahim Musa Salameh, resulting from an air strike in the Al-Amal neighbourhood of Beit Lahiya,
Ceasefire violations – air strikes on Gaza:
Gaza – Air Strike
18:40, Israeli air strike killed two people in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood.
dawn, Israeli air strike killed two people in the al-Shujaiya neighbourhood.
Killings
06:00, Mahmoud Hussein Tolba (13) died from serious injuries.
2 people: Mustafa Hassan Al-Abed (38) and Abdel-Rahman Azzam (34) were killed in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City.
2 people: Hussam Bakr Muhammad al-Hayya and Saqr Abd al-Majid Ismail al-Hayya were killed in the Shujaiya neighbourhood.
Muhammad Abdel-Raouf Muhammad Helles was killed in al-Tawaheen Street in the al-Shujaiya neighbourhood.
Ceasefire violations – air strikes on Central Gaza:
15:20, Israeli warplanes launched two missiles, destroyed a house in the centre of al-Bureij UN refugee camp killing 2 children and wounding 2 others.
16:40, Israeli warplanes launched a missile, targeting a house east of the al-Bureij refugee camp, killing a woman and her daughter (Manar Khader Ahmad Issa (39) and her daughter, Lina Muhammad Issa (13) as well as wounding 3 other people.
19:30, Israeli war planes launched a missile near a house, south of Deir Al-Balah, killing the owner, Muhammad Khaled Omar Al-Tawashi.
Ceasefire violations – air strikes on Khan Yunis:
Houses destroyed:
Khan Yunis –
14:00, Israeli warplanes launched 11 missiles in 7 air strikes on different areas in Khan Yunis Governorate, targeting sites, homes and agricultural lands, destroying 16 homes.
House Demolition
16 homes were destroyed as a result of air strikes (in 7 air strikes) in different areas of Khan Yunis Governorate.
Ceasefire violations – air strikes on Rafah:
19:40, an Israeli air strike, targeting a house, killed a pregnant woman and her 3-year-old daughter. Six other people, including 3 children and 2 women, were injured.
20:20, air strike, targeting a house, killed 4 people (one child and three women) and wounded 15 people (7 children and 3 women).
17:10, two missiles hit east of Jabalia.
2 people, Kholoud Fouad Farhan Al Zamili and her 3-year-old daughter were killed in an air strike on their home in east Rafah.
4 people, Ibrahim Al-Rantisi (2), Siham Yousef Al-Rantisi, Shaima Dhiab Musa Al-Rantisi and Raed Ibrahim Al-Rantisi, killed in their home in an Israeli air strike.
6 unidentified civilians (including 3 children and two women) wounded as a result of Israeli air strikes towards a house, east of Rafah, owned by Jamal Al-Zamili.
15 unidentified civilians (including 7 children and 3 women) were wounded as a result of Israeli air strikes on ahouse in Rafah.
Economic sabotage: Gaza — the Israeli Navy continues to enforce an arbitrary fishing limit.
Israeli settler attack: Jerusalem – 22:40, armed settlers opened fire towards people in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.
Israeli Army attack – 9 wounded: Jenin – 03:40, Jalamah checkpoint: live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters wounded nine protesters. One of whom, Muhammad Ziyad Khalil, suffered critical injuries.
Israeli Army attack – youngster wounded: Tulkarem – 13:05, Israeli Occupation forces, near the al-Shuweika suburb, opened fire on and wounded a 16-year-old youth: Amir Numan Zebdeh.
Israeli Army attack – 4 wounded: Nablus – 03:50, Huwara checkpoint: live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters wounded four people: Amjad Mamoun Muhammad Istiti, Ayman Jamal Muhammad Bashkar, Munjid Yahya Mabrouka and Walid Basil Al-Badawi.
Israeli Army attack – 4 wounded, including youngster: Jericho – 17:40, Israeli Occupation forces raided the Aqbat Jaber UN refugee camp, firing live ammunition, rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters and wounding four residents: Muhammad Ahmad Ibrahim Abu Atwa (16), Muhammad Majed Hamed Hammoud, Muhammad Jawad Issa Zoghab and Ibrahim Walid Mahmoud Hamidan.
Israeli settler attack – 4 wounded – economic sabotage: Hebron – 10:55, armed Occupation settlers, destroying solar panels in the area, raided the villages of Umm al-Khair and al-Tawani, shooting and wounding four residents: Muhammad Rebhi Rabi'i, Sami Hafez al-Harini, Husayn Hafez al-Harini, Sami Hafez al-Harini and Fu'ad al-Amor.
Israeli Army attack – youngster wounded: Hebron – 23:55, Zif village road junction: Israeli troops, firing live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters at protesters, wounded a 16-year-old youth: Saif Ismail Salem Abu Fanar.
Israeli Army – attacked worshippers with stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Jerusalem – 11:45, Israeli Occupation forces, positioned in al-Wad Street, fired stun grenades and tear gas canisters at worshippers leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Jerusalem – 23:25, Abu Dis and al-Eizariya villages: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Jerusalem – 01:00, entrance to al-Ram: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army – rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters – 1 wounded: Jerusalem – 03:00, Anata: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters. One person,Mahmoud Yaqoub Salem, wounded.
Israeli Army – beating and hospitalisation: Jerusalem – 11:40, Israeli troops beat up and hospitalised with severe injuries a resident, Jihad Awad.
Israeli Army – rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Ramallah – 01:00, entrance to Nabi Saleh: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Ramallah – 04:00, entrance to al-Bireh: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Jenin – 15:00, entrance to al-Zababdeh: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Tulkarem – 22:35, Shufa checkpoint: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army – rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters – 3 youngsters wounded:Tulkarem – 03:50, al-Shuweikh suburb: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters. Three youngsters wounded: Siraj Ibrahim Mahamid (15), Muhammad Basim Awfi (16) and Muhammad Murad 'Ardah (17).
Israeli Army – rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters – 1 wounded: Qalqiliya – 08:00, Jayus: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters, wounding one person: Ahmad Muhammad Kamel al-Khatib.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Qalqiliya – 23:00, entrance to the village of al-Funduq: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Qalqiliya – 03:30, Azun: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Qalqiliya – 03:50, Hablat: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Qalqiliya – 03:50, Eyal crossing: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Qalqiliya – 04:05, Jayus: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Salfit – 23:35, Deir Istiya: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 11:00, entrance to Tekoa: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 17:00, entrance to Husan: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 18:50, western entrance to Tekoa: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 19:25, Wadi al-Hummus: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 19:50, entrance to al-Khadr: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army – beating and severe injury: Bethlehem – 01:50, Israeli troops, near the entrance to Husan village, beat up and severely injured a villager: Jihad Muhammad Khalil Elyan.
Israeli Army – UN refugee camp rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Bethlehem – 06:05, al-Azzah UN refugee camp: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Hebron – 20:30, Wadi al-Jouz, near entrance to Bani Naim: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Hebron – 23:45, Khursa road junction: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Hebron – 03:30, entrance to the al-Arroub UN refugee camp: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Israeli Army rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters: Hebron – 03:55, Bab al-Zawiya: rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and tear gas canisters fired at protesters.
Occupation settler stoning: Jerusalem – 21:50-23:40, militants from the Ma'ale Adumim Israeli Occupation settlement stoned passing vehicles at the nearby roundabout.
Occupation settler stoning: Ramallah – 13:40, militants from the Beit El Israeli Occupation settlement stoned vehicles on the road leading to al-Jalazoun refugee camp.
Occupation settler stoning: Ramallah – 14:15, Israeli settlers stoned passing vehicles near the entrance to Sinjil.
Occupation settler stoning: Ramallah – 00:50, settlers stoned Palestinian homes in the al-Muhala area of Ni'lin.
Occupation settler stoning: Jenin – 20:55, settlers stoned Palestinian vehicles passing by.
Occupation settler stoning: Tulkarem – 22:35, Shufa checkpoint: settlers stoned Palestinian vehicles.
Occupation settler stoning: Salfit – 20:45, settlers stoned Palestinian vehicles near the Haris village road junction.
Occupation settler stoning: Bethlehem – 21:00, militants from the Eliezer Israeli Occupation settlement stonedPalestinian vehicles travelling along Road 60.
Occupation settler stoning: Hebron – 10:30, Israeli settlers prevented Palestinians from moving around the al-Musafir area of east of Yatta.
Occupation settler stoning: Hebron – 11:50, settlers stoned Palestinian vehicles at the entrance to Ma'in village.
Raid: Jerusalem – 19:50 Israeli forces raided and patrolled Um Safa village.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 18:55, the Israeli Army raided the village of al-Janiya, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Ramallah – 19:50, Israeli troops raided and patrolled Umm Safa village.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Tulkarem – 05:30, Israeli soldiers raided Tulkarem, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 14:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided Hajjah and Al-Hotel villages.
Raid – 1 taken prisoner: Qalqiliya – 14:00, Israeli forces raided al-Funduq village, taking prisoner one person.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 20:50-21:30, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Nabi Elias.
Raid: Qalqiliya – 05:30-06:30, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Hablat.
Raid: Salfit – 21:10, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Marda.
Raid: Salfit – 21:50, Israeli Occupation forces raided the village of Yasuf, wounding a resident: Munther Aref.
Restrictions of movement (20): 15:05, al-Mahkama checkpoint closed - 13:55, Ayun al-Haramiya area - 18:40, Atara Bridge - 21:30, entrance to Deir Abu Mash'al village - 15:00-17:10, entrance to al-Zabadeh - 16:00-20:00, entrance to Azun - 13:05, road leading to Madama village blocked - 00:35-01:35, between Nablus and Asira al-Shimaliya - 03:50, road in al-Muraba'a closed - 20:50-00:50, entrance to Qarawat Bani Hassan - 09:15, entrance to Harmala closed - 17:00-01:00, entrance to Husan village - 20:10-22:10, western entrance to Beit Fajar - 11:20-12:30, Zif road junction and entrance to Khalet al-Maiyya - Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing closed - al-Mantar-Karni crossing closed - al-Shujaiyeh crossing (Nahal Oz) closed - Sufa crossing closed - al-Awda Port closed.
[NB: Times indicated in Bold Type contribute to the sleep deprivation suffered by Palestinian children]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 6:24 utc | 75
Thanks for Andre Vltchek link @ JB #25.
All was for a while exposed.
Best place to relocate European "jews" is Bavaria(Bayern).
Posted by: Rewe | May 20 2021 7:06 utc | 76
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 20 2021 4:34 utc | 74
Thanks for the reply Don, you are right.
I didn't go into the Australian Constitution fully, it could be a very long and very dry dissertation.
Once challenged in the high Court certain 'rights' like the 'implied right of free speech' can be established by the court based on the constitution. A very expensive and long process, see the Albert Langer case. Other cases like 'the boilermakers case' rely on constitutional grounds and become a precedent.
The Australian Constitution can't be changed, except by a referendum passed by a 'yes' vote of a majority of voters in a majority of states. This is usually and routinely rejected by the voters.
Sometimes both major parties and other parties support the proposed changes but the voters, in their wisdom, can see the amendment merely increases the power of the government at the expense of the citizens and roundly reject it. Bravo.
The 1967 referendum in favour of recognition Aboriginal Australians was passed by an overwhelming majority of Australians, bravo again. However the other 1967 question about more senators for each state, based on population was rejected, bravo again. Who wants more crooked politicians?
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 7:22 utc | 77
fyi
https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1395103828119146497
Sarah Abdallah @sahouraxo
Algeria achieved liberation after 132 years of French occupation.
Look at this absolutely enormous rally for Palestine in Algeria!
Long live the beautiful Algerian people!
--------
https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1394746197189947394
Even as they’re suffering from the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, the Yemeni people came out in colossal numbers for Palestine.
----------
https://twitter.com/Omar_Gaza/status/1395143863891808261
Imagine having to divide your kids & spread them across your relatives so you dont end up losing them all at once due to Israeli barabric attacks across #Gaza by land, air & sea!!!! #GazaUnderAttackk #GazaUnderAttack #FreePalestine
https://twitter.com/mqudaih9/status/1394953112474071041
People in Gaza have been reviving an old tradition in which some families exchange their kids, so that in case some get bombed, the others would live. My family is spread out over three houses in three different locations as if they're trying to avert a massacre.
----------------
https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1395129148142653442
The Israeli Interior Ministry maintains a list of demographics in Gaza. So during approval process to bomb, the info can be easily available to them, maybe explaining the disproportionate targeting of homes with large families, wiping them out entirely.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/gaza-israel-wiping-entire-palestinian-families-hamas-1.9820005
Analysis | Gaza Lives Erased: Israel Is Wiping Out Entire Palestinian Families on Purpose
The numerous incidents of killing entire families in Israeli bombings in Gaza – Parents and children, babies, grandparents, siblings – attest that these were not mistakes. The bombings follow a decision from higher up, backed by the approval of military jurists.
----------
"the horror! the horror!" - Colonel Kurtz, Apocalypse Now (1979)
Posted by: michaelj72 | May 20 2021 7:23 utc | 78
@68 Truth be told
Kapeliouk intentionally took the quote out of context, as Begin was referring specifically to Palestinian terrorists. Begin was an awful human being, but can we please stop making shit up or intentionally removing the context to a quote.
Posted by: Roger | May 20 2021 8:47 utc | 79
@71 Paul
We seem to live in an era of post-modernist journalism, where the truth is whatever the journalists consider suits their ideological bent - the old-fashioned fact checking and multiple sourcing is so passe it seems. I have learnt that there are few sources that I do not have to double check. Aaron Matte still stands out, and a few others.
Posted by: Roger | May 20 2021 8:51 utc | 80
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 20 2021 1:58 utc | 60
vk gives a valid perspective into early American settlement and class structure and all you can do is attack him on a personal level. Go f yourself and read some psycho-history!
Posted by: v | May 20 2021 9:02 utc | 81
Posted by: Roger | May 20 2021 8:51 utc | 81
Thanks for the reply, I became interested in the M E as a young man in my first job after school working in the media. The blatant bias was obvious to everyone. The lies were routine. Before this I was actually pro Israel. Then I wondered why. It has been a long journey.
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 9:30 utc | 82
There is diplomacy and there is the Saloon in Dodge City. Compare the introduction to their meeting by Lavrov, full text in this link:
And now the bully, ready to draw the colt, even though he does not look like Clint Eastwood, forgot the poncho back home.
https://youtu.be/3JPGUN3jrIw?t=398
Posted by: Paco | May 20 2021 9:37 utc | 83
Here is an eyewitness account from Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh, Bethlehem University:
So far 227 Palestinians (most civilians 61 children) murdered in Gaza and
many others in West Bank (in peaceful demonstrations). Over 2000 injured. I
witnessed first hand here in Bethlehem how the army came out swinging
against peaceful demonstrations injuring many. Thanks to a paramedic on
scene wearing a gas mask I was saved from fully succumbing to the gas
volley myself. But the apartheid gangster army used live ammunition
including killing a 15 year old with a direct shot to the head (among
several martyred).
Stopping Zionist Genocide Against The Palestinians: The Boycott,
Divestment, And Sanctions (BDS) Campaign
Biden “Aiding and Abetting War Crimes” by Israel
https://accuracy.org/release/biden-aiding-and-abetting-war-crimes-by-israel/
What do you know about Gaza? Watch this video https://youtu.be/HnZSaKYmP2s
[how the (Zionist controlled) US helps hide war crimes in Palestine]
Israel-Gaza: Why is the region blurry on Google Maps?
https://www.bbc.com/news/57102499
What is happening in Palestine this week
https://storiesfrompalestine.buzzsprout.com/1297634/8523923-what-is-happening-in-palestine-this-week
The Nakba continues
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/14/the-nakba-continues/
What can stop Palestinians being evicted from Sheikh Jarrah? Inside Story
Petition1 to USA Congress: Support H.R. 2590 The Palestinian Children &
Families Act Today!
http://act.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/a/palestinian-children-families-act
Petition2: Save Palestinian homes in Jerusalem
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/save_palestinian_homes_in_jerusalem/
Petition 3: UK to INTRODUCE SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/585314
Petition 4: Sanctions Now!
https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/palestine_sheikh_jarrah_sig_loc/
Petition 5: Impose Financial and Military Sanctions on Israel for War Crimes
http://chng.it/FZKtvytC
For Canadian citizens, take action
But you can also act in other ways via: media, lobby, information
dissemination, BDS, challenging oppression. There are hundreds of ways to
join the struggle (a struggle for our humanity)
Stay Human and keep Palestine alive
Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director
Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability
Bethlehem University
Occupied Palestine
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 9:41 utc | 84
Posted by: Paco | May 20 2021 9:37 utc | 84
Careful Paco. Friend of mine, a Vietnam vet, 101 st. Airborne, actually comes from Dodge City. Don't demean Kansas while he's around! He has good Spanish too.
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 10:05 utc | 85
michaelj72 | May 20 2021 7:23 utc | 79
This exchange of children was common practise in Papua New Guinea, before the arrival of non-melanesians. (East New Britain district)
One tribe, the "Bainings" did this to make sure there were at least some survivors, as they were chased and eaten by their neighbours, and also to avoid interbreeding within the tribe. ("Bainings" is said to mean food in the language of the other tribe, but I won't give their name, as they are now extremely sensitive about it. PS. Their traditional "clothing" was nothing at all).
Such is the "civilisation" of the Pharisees, that such abberations of child swopping are still necessary.
*****
I should also point out that during the great famine of Ireland, due to the "capitalist" English overlords continuing to export wheat for profit, children were sent to slightly better off families to be looked after. ie fed. My Grand-father was one. ie. the UK Lords and Pharisees are no better than PNG Cannibals when you come down to it.
Next point is; that the US is still stealing Syrian wheat for the same purpose of starving non-combattants.
Posted by: Stonebird | May 20 2021 10:35 utc | 86
Danke Kurt Weil.
Baerbock is a full synthetic US puppet. Is Armin Lasche an organic one?
Germans are usually disciplined. Dangerous.
But, a little bit stingy and rational mind.
Will they buy expensive US LNG+2%GNP on US Nato+Use of military force?
Even well hidden behind intersectional chatter.?
Camouflage gear european military theater war always green /brown/black [remember, it doesn't work well in winter in Russia]
"Grünes Wahlprogramm zur Bundestagswahl 2021" [Green Election Programme for the House of Representatives Election 2021]
NATO strategisch neu ausrichten
Wir brauchen eine strategische Neuaufstellung der NATO, eine gemeinsame Bedrohungsanalyse und darauf aufbauend eine Debatte über eine faire Lastenverteilung zwischen den Mitgliedstaaten. Das willkürliche NATO-Zwei-Prozent-Ziel, das vor fast zwanzig Jahren verabschiedet wurde, gibt darauf keine Antwort und wir lehnen es deshalb ab. Wir setzen uns für eine neue Zielbestimmung ein, die nicht abstrakt und statisch ist, sondern von den Aufgaben ausgeht, und werden mit den Nato-Partnern darüber das Gespräch suchen
[...]
Die Anwendung militärischer Gewalt als ultima ratio kann in manchen Situationen nötig sein, um Völkermord zu verhindern und die Möglichkeit für eine politische Lösung eines Konflikts zu schaffen. Ein Militäreinsatz braucht einen klaren und erfüllbaren Auftrag, ausgewogene zivile und militärische Fähigkeiten und unabhängige (Zwischen-)Evaluierungen. Bei Eingriffen in die Souveränität eines Staates oder dort, wo staatliche Souveränität fehlt, braucht es ein Mandat der Vereinten Nationen. Wenn das Vetorecht im Sicherheitsrat missbraucht wird, um schwerste Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit zu decken, steht die Weltgemeinschaft vor einem Dilemma, weil Nichthandeln genauso Menschenrechte und Völkerrecht schädigt wie Handeln.Green Party program
„Deutschland. Alles ist drin.“
„Deutschland [Über] Alles"? GRÜN ist drin.“
Fast translation
"NATO Strategic re-alignmentWe need a strategic reorganisation of NATO, a common threat analysis and, on that basis, a debate on fair burden-sharing between Member States. The arbitrary two-percent NATO target adopted almost 20 years ago does not respond to this, and we therefore reject it. We are advocating a new objective, which is not abstract and static, but is based on tasks, and we will seek to discuss this with our NATO partners.[...] The use of military force as an ultima ratio may be necessary in some situations to prevent genocide and to create the possibility of a political solution to a conflict. A military operation needs a clear and achievable mandate, balanced civilian and military capabilities and independent (interim) evaluations. Intervention of a state’s sovereignty or where state sovereignty is lacking requires a mandate from the United Nations. When the veto power in the Security Council is abused to cover up the most serious crimes against humanity, the world community faces a dilemma, because failure to act damages human rights and international law just as much as action."
Posted by: Odenwälder | May 20 2021 10:39 utc | 87
there is no question anymore of which side to take
these sadistic murderous cowards just shot a woman down - they had probably already killed her children, she had nothing to lose, there are a million ways to handle a situation like that without violence
Posted by: abee | May 20 2021 10:46 utc | 88
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 10:05 utc | 86
Tell him to come visit, show him around the places where Eastwood made a name for himself, the cowboy towns are still standing, now as tourist atractions.
Posted by: Paco | May 20 2021 11:16 utc | 90
Posted by: Paul | May 20 2021 10:05 utc | 86
You can congratulate your friend for speaking Spanish, it might be useful for him in the future, according to the Onís-Adams treaty -another treaty not respected by the US, the tradition comes from afar- the natural boundary between Mexico and the US is the Arkansas river, so a good chunk of Kansas is Spanish, with towns named as Cimarrón.. Dodge City is a border town, sort of like El Paso, and the way things are going I would not be surprised to see Mexico reinstating the borders inherited from Spain.
Posted by: Paco | May 20 2021 11:38 utc | 91
Posted by: abee | May 20 2021 10:46 utc | 89
Dumb broad. That's what happens when you don't aim properly.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 20 2021 11:45 utc | 92
Paul @ 42
Ten seconds of search engine gives Koch Industries a 28.1% share of ownership in Colonial. No link because no one should trust me and any or everyone should spend the ten seconds and see for themselves. That is generally considered to be controlling interest. Given the history and given that no one is going to entertain the thought of crossing Charles Koch, I have no hesitation affirming my previous statement.
These bastards love to hide, love to misdirect. I am sick to death of the notion that we are owned by vague amorphous “banking interests” or agglomerations of retirement accounts or the freaking “bourgeoisie”. Going along with that crap is playing straight into their hands. Give it a face. They are monsters. They are monsters with identities and faces.
‘Paul’ has posted so much good information here. Now I get to wonder if that is another Brigade 77.
Posted by: oldhippie | May 20 2021 11:51 utc | 93
@ Arch Bungle 93
that woman makes you look like the piece of sh*t that you are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX-4eluL-HM
Posted by: abee | May 20 2021 11:57 utc | 94
@Roger 80
As per your words “ Kapeliouk intentionally took the quote out of context, as Begin was referring specifically to Palestinian terrorists” Jews especially Jewish politicians think ALL Palestinians are terrorists even 3 year old kids.
Which means that the Quote is CORRECT but taken out of context. So it is a correct and legitimate quote. How can YOU possibly know what Menachem Begin was thinking or meant? The fact that Menachem Begin actually said those words means somewhere in his mind and psyche he actually meant it. Accidentally spoke his mind in public? Jewish politicians say evil despicable things about the Palestinians all the time to their staunch donors in private fundraisers and meetings.
Posted by: truth be told | May 20 2021 12:50 utc | 95
Posted by: Paco | May 20 2021 11:38 utc | 92
appreciate your perspective and comments Paco. re: Mexico I would stretch the history a bit more to the indigenous who fought the Euros. Zapatistas in Chiapas and Purépecha in Michoacáan. History's not done yet in Mexico or anywhere for that matter. Mexico is rising.
Posted by: migueljose | May 20 2021 13:03 utc | 96
Looks like Biden is doing a "reset" in Venezuela. Boy toy Juan Guaidó got put on notice by sleeze ball fake ambassador jimmie Story: Guaidó has until December to push out Maduro or he's toast.
"According to the ultra-conservative website PanamPost, Juan Guaidó is working on notice. The news outlet disclosed this Tuesday, May 18, that the US gave the “interim president” an ultimatum until December 1 of this year to “remove” President Maduro. If he is not able to do so within that deadline, his recognition by the US government and his access to the seized Venezuelan assets will be terminated."
Posted by: migueljose | May 20 2021 13:16 utc | 97
It has been a long journey for me as well and it's not over yet despite how much I would like it to stop. I will have to vote communist the next time I vote, despite still not being one (never going to happen, I will always be an outcast and maybe it's a blessing). Despite all their flaws they're the only ones left displaying any sense of justice.
The amount of lies most people have to struggle through is mind-blowing.
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | May 20 2021 13:17 utc | 98
Posted by: migueljose | May 20 2021 13:16 utc | 98
Thanks Miguel José, I appreciate your info and links to events in Latin America. We all know that the ideal is a no border world where all men and women have a place under the sun, but unfortunately we have not arrived to that utopia, yet. I do not wish ill to anybody but in order to understand our present problems it is good to have at least an idea about the past.
Posted by: Paco | May 20 2021 13:43 utc | 99
Post by: uncle tungsten @ 27 “Unless we put Medical Freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship. To restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others will constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic…” Dr. Benjamin Rush, personal doctor to George Washington and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
I think the constitution includes within the bill of rights amendments which amendments were forced on those who wrote and promoted the federalist constitution.. Take a look at amendment IV, it says:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. shall not be violated.
to seize (by force or other means to require a person to submit their persons to invasion by injection or ingestation of any kind <= seems to me <= to be a violation of the exact meaning of the IVth amendment?
Rule of law cannot overrule or violate the IVth amendment without trashing the entire constitution because the bill of rights are preconditions to the ratification and continuation of the constitution. IANAL so this is my interpretation.
Posted by: snake | May 20 2021 13:44 utc | 100
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Israel’s illusion of normality collapses: May 2021
By Haim Bresheeth-Žabner
"For decades Israelis have basked in the light of success. After fifty years of brutal, illegal occupation and control of the whole of Palestine, they have managed to habituate the world to the realities of Israeli Apartheid. They even started believing that they have managed to get the Palestinians to accept such success..."
https://mondoweiss.net/2021/05/israels-illusion-of-normality-collapses-may-2021/
Posted by: Mario | May 19 2021 18:20 utc | 1