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May 30, 2021
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-041

Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:

—
Other issues:

Biden administration:

> For Washington’s China-is-a-threat crowd, the appointment of Lloyd Austin looms as a counterpoint to their foreign-policy agenda: one of larger defense budgets, less reliance on diplomacy, and a greater willingness to use force—all reasons why Biden appointed Austin in the first place. <

Gaza – I didn't write a sum-up of the recent war but mostly agree these pieces:

Iraq:

Afghanistan:

Use as open thread …

Posted by b on May 30, 2021 at 18:00 UTC | Permalink
Comments

thanks b.. you have nothing to apologize for! i like that catchy title “Senate Preparing $10 Billion Bailout Fund for Jeff Bezos Space Firm ” article…

Posted by: james | May 30 2021 18:50 utc | 1

@ john and farm ecologist – forgot to share… i discovered you can listen to all 58 tracks on youtube, so if you’re interested, here is the link!

Posted by: james | May 30 2021 19:05 utc | 2

Still no news about the content of the documents Lukashenko brought for Putin to see. I repost my comment from the previous open thread since it generated zero response:
I haven’t seen Paco post anything today, so I’ll assume no word’s been posted about the last bits of the Putin/Lukashenko conversation transcript. What follows is the context developed by Lukashenko prior to his sharing the documents he brought with Putin; that action closes the transcript:
“[Our GDPs/economies are doing well] But, you know, there are always people who want to add to our problems. You know about them. I will tell you. Given our trustful relationship, I brought along some documents so you can understand what is going on.
“I will say the following on the record, so you can understand what kind of people these are, even though we have discussed many problems in this vein.
“Do you remember a period last year when probably no country saved more of its people than Russia by evacuating them from resorts? It even helped evacuate 200 Belarusians from India. In some places, we did evacuate Russians. Our Belavia Airlines did the job.
“At that time, everything was shut down. Only one airport was open, in Minsk, and we were evacuating our people. They closed everything. And asked Belavia – asked our company, and our company helped them evacuate thousands of people: Swedes, Germans, Poles, Lithuanians (they shut down everything) and Americans. We flew thousands of them to Minsk because it was the only airport open. Then the Americans flew their people out after we brought them there. You cannot imagine how grateful they were late last year and early this year, to us, to the Belavia team, for saving these people.
“Belavia has nothing to do with this case, with this aircraft. What does Belavia have to do with it? There were no Belavia planes there. The company is based at the airport where you and others fly. A foreign plane. The military is accused of forcing it to land. But how is Belavia involved in this? Now they are penalising Belavia. If it had not been for your actions during this time… I saw that Moscow refused to accept aircraft and told them to fly around Belarus. They felt this right away.
“But what exactly is Belavia being punished for? For evacuating thousands of them during the pandemic? This is their true face.
“I will show you some documents. You will understand what is happening and what happened there. This is an attempt to destabilise the situation to the same level as last August.
“Vladimir Putin: The Bolivian President’s plane was once forced to land, the President was escorted out of the plane – and nothing, silence.
“Alexander Lukashenko: Absolutely. And what about the incident with the Russian plane in Turkey? The plane was en route to Syria. It allegedly carried weapons. It was forced to land and was inspected. Nobody yelled about this. Okay, it was inspected. That is your sovereign right.
“Now it is simply clear what our Western friends want from us. What is there to discuss? But there are no heights the Bolsheviks would not have climbed. We will follow suit.” [My Emphasis]
So far, there’s zero news as to what those docs contained; but given Lukashenko’s words, we might assume there’s something deeper they reveal, which is why the West’s “emotional outburst” and immediate attack on Belavia Airline absent all reasoning. And what to make of the first bolded statement? How does the context of the Putin/Biden Summit get changed, or does it? And how will Lukashenko and Putin follow the Bolsheviks?

Posted by: karlof1 | May 30 2021 19:12 utc | 3

Headline (not the URL)
US intelligence investigation of coronavirus origins exposes its four ‘Achilles heels’: Global Times editorial

Third, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies have a long record of fabricating lies for political purposes. They lied about the Saddam Hussain regime’s possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) to launch the Iraq War, which was later proved completely false. A vial of white powder presented by then-US secretary of state Colin Powell as a witness at the United Nations was teased as “washing powder” and left a deep impression on the world. This time, the US intelligence agencies are coming out again but have lost their credibility at the very beginning of this race.

It has now been circulating a new fake news about the wife of a Wuhan virologist dying from COVID-19 before the pandemic started. The source is – again – “undisclosed intelligence” by some David Asher/Usher (I read it in machine translated Russian MSM, so I don’t know which is the guy’s true surname), ex-aide of the Trump government. Well, why didn’t he undisclosed this alleged piece of information when Trump was POTUS? After all, Trump was the most all-in person on the Wuhan lab leak conspiracy theory. The timing tells everything in this case: the objective is to keep the propaganda charge going.
So far, all – all – sources that are being used to build up the Wuhan lab leak theory comes from American intelligence.
Related:
Why the Lab Leak Theory Matters, by Ross Douthat, NYT
He finishes his op-ed with this paragraph:

But if we find out that a single laboratory and a few scientists are responsible for one of the greatest human catastrophes in generations, it’s no use to wish the reckoning away.

This same theme recurs among the other Wuhan lab leak theorists: the idea of “reckoning”. The same word is used to finish Wade’s infamous propaganda piece (the “hour of reckoning”).
The concept of “hour of reckoning” reveals the true agenda of these anti-China propagandists: they’re not interested in science, they’re not interested in common sense, they’re not interested in international cooperation, they’re not interested in saving lives. All they want is revenge against China; they want China to bleed to death for all the recent perceived humiliations it imposed on the West. The pandemic is not even near to be over in the West (in fact, we already have more cases in 2021 than the entire year of 2020, with deadlier variants) and its provinces yet, and these propagandists are already thinking on how the West will enforce its God-given right of revenge on the Communists.
After the pandemic is over, there will be an hour of reckoning – but it will be for those filthy propagandist scum. With the rise of hybrid warfare, it’s time to start to consider journalists as de facto military targets, therefore susceptible to military courts.
–//–
Leading expert behind Wuhan’s virus fight awarded 2021 Sasakawa Prize by WHO, calls it ‘great recognition of Chinese community health workers’
–//–
Tesla, in hot water over rising accidents, says information about the company may be false
Elon Musk: swindler disguised as genius entrepeneur.
–//–
Bestial article:
‘Like a Dream’: Latin Americans Head to U.S. for Covid Shots
The inferiority complex of the Latin American middle classes and elites defies any theory of psychology. The same is true for Western hypocrisy: Latin Americans wouldn’t need to travel to the USA to vaccinate if the Americans hadn’t blocked the flow of vaccines to Latin America. It then transforms a crime against humanity into a virtue, by stating the USA, in a magnanimous act, offered vaccines to the Latin American people who can afford to travel to its territory.
–//–
Israel Moves Toward Coalition Deal That Could Sideline Netanyahu
As I predicted, Israel collapses. It was always an utopia to being with: it is impossible to be, at the same time, a liberal democracy (Western Democracy) and a Zionist state (i.e. The Jewish State). You can be one or the other, but not both at the same time.
Netanyahu represents the last grasp of pure Zionism. I expect a more liberal faction to slowly but inexorably gain influence and flexibilize the concept of the “Jewish State” more and more, until Zionism fades to a mere distant dream.
–//–
We Were Called to Sacrifice as a Nation. We Didn’t Answer., guest opinion by Margaret Renkl, NYT
Oh, stop with the bullshit. The USA is the luckiest empire of History. It never had to sacrifice anything. It never had an existential threat (the War of Secession, despite much dramatization by American historians, was never really close). Even the Roman Empire had to face existential threats during its rise (Carthage), with huge human losses.
–//–
Recommended read of the week:
The productivity crisis

Posted by: vk | May 30 2021 19:24 utc | 4

@ Posted by: karlof1 | May 30 2021 19:12 utc | 4
Lukashenko is not a journalist. It’s not his job, let alone his obligation, to publicize and publish every intelligence piece that arrives at his desk – in fact he can’t even if he wanted, given most of these kind of documents are classified.
It’s up to the journalist to investigate and try to leak those documents.

Posted by: vk | May 30 2021 19:28 utc | 5

I continue to believe its all about control of the narrative, currently the shit show narrative.
Given that and the recent events in the ME I am going to posit that the Belarus/Protonmail debacle was done by Occupied Palestine folks. Until and unless there is a World War to change the focus, Occupied Palestine’s days are severely numbered. They have the motive, they have the means, and its working so far. When it stops or they can’t change the direction directly then lots of people will have to die in the next event to up the emotion/fear shift factor.
The shit show narrative continues until it doesn’t…..thanks to b for exposing more and more of the fetid underpinnings!

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 30 2021 19:38 utc | 6

Lukashenko is not a journalist. It’s not his job, let alone his obligation, to publicize and publish every intelligence piece that arrives at his desk – in fact he can’t even if he wanted, given most of these kind of documents are classified.
After being the tyrant for 29 years, maybe he could learn?

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | May 30 2021 20:02 utc | 7

@ Posted by: Duncan Idaho | May 30 2021 20:02 utc | 8
If the information is classified, you can’t release it.
Do you think the CIA releases every intelligence it finds?

Posted by: vk | May 30 2021 20:11 utc | 8

@karlof1 | May 30 2021 19:12 utc | 4
I’ve seen rumors that the briefcase held evidence of the USA telling Ukraine to shoot down MH17.
That would be a bombshell for sure if it were true.
Just a (funny) rumor though.

Posted by: Lurk | May 30 2021 20:30 utc | 9

Ignoring the Evidence …
Must Watch: Canadian Politician Answers a Question about Ivermectin with a Reply about Vaccines
More Evidence …
The First International Ivermectin-for-Covid-19 Summit with speakers from South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Zimbabwe, USA, Australia, UK
Disinformation …
India sues the WHO for spreading disinformation and misguiding the people of India!!!
The Virus and the Parasite

Posted by: Hemiola | May 30 2021 20:57 utc | 10

Thanks b for the link from Foreign Policy on Lloyd Austin. Perhaps he will prevail but the slaughterhouse gang in USAi are not likely to tolerate him for one second.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 30 2021 21:14 utc | 11

@ psychohistorian | May 30 2021 19:38 utc | 7

I continue to believe its all about control of the narrative, currently the shit show narrative.
[…]
The shit show narrative continues until it doesn’t…..thanks to b for exposing more and more of the fetid underpinnings!

When small pieces of wool are sticking out of the wool ball of narrative, you have to pull on them.
b. done it very well with Protonmail.
But the shit is already and well delivered to and swallowed by “billion people”.
For a few days,we had good pieces with Petri Krohn and me. (those two and a lot before).
Now, the “email” woolball is debunked (but not completed,isn’t the “two-mails solution” a way to bury Belarus)
The behavior of the Pilot is not “by the rules”, I explained it more than 3 time. 20 mn is two long, flying FL390 is not secure. He/she was waiting for decision (Vilnius/Ryanair) or he/she doesn’t trust Belarus ATC (aware of the value of the “payload”?)
And he/she not decided alone to divert. Somebody decided to divert…and decided LATE.
In order to make the diverting a “military hijacking”?
According to Lithanian Police, the decision to divert lately to Minsk is ….Ryanair’s one! Lithuanian police question pilot who diverted to Minsk ‘after consulting Ryanair’

“We’ve already questioned several dozen people who were aboard the flight, including crew members,” Rolandas Kiškis, head of the Criminal Police Bureau, told reporters on Monday. “The plane is currently being inspected at the airport, which may take until the evening,”
Those questioned include the captain of the aircraft who “made the decision [to change course to Minsk] after consulting Ryanair’s management”, according to Kiskis.
“>https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1416604/lithuanian-police-question-pilot-who-diverted-to-minsk-after-consulting-ryanair

At what time did Ryanair receive the information? And how?
This is the next investigation to be conducted

Posted by: Rêver | May 30 2021 21:27 utc | 12

Uncomfortable facts: New residential school scandal in Canada, as a large group of unmarked graves of native children has been uncovered in British Columbia. One of Canada’s major newspapers reports the story with a first paragraph claim that such sites are “rarely seen in North America, much less in any corner of the developed world.” That’s not exactly true.
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/newly-discovered-b-c-graves-a-grim-reminder-of-the-heartbreaking-death-toll-of-residential-schools
Note that Canada’s parliament was recently the first western government body to “find” that China’s ethnic policies in Xinjiang constitute a “genocide”, rather than a “heartbreaking tragedy”, based on limited one-sided presentations. Previously, Canada had admitted to awful conduct with its own minority groups, but managed to designate a “cultural genocide”, which carries no legal responsibility. With little self-awareness, Canada refuses China a similar distinction, let alone any due process, although no mass graves are appearing next to the reeducation camps (residential schools) there.

Posted by: jayc | May 30 2021 21:31 utc | 13

It has been a bit disappointing the anti-climax. Normally to an introductory and usually very formal start and after the working sessions a press conference or announcement is made. Since the working part happened during the weekend silence can be justified.
There was talk of Belavia starting flights to Crimea to compensate for the blockade that is suffering in Europe, but Luka has not recognized Crimea as part of the RF, and probably the airline itself fears more sanctions. Some European flights have been authorized alternative routes bypassing Belarus.
So overall I think both Luka and Vlad are on a defensive mood. In spite of considerable achievements in some areas Russia has problems of its own and has to calculate her moves very carefully, The MSM continues to call the nazi boy a blogger journalist in spite of the abundant material that gives a picture of a pawn, someone that can either be molded into an persecuted icon like Navalny or just be thrown under the bus if the icon status does not materialize. After leaving Nexta Protasyevich went to work for some regime change non profit front named Cepa.org and some Russian analyst compares the fact that someone like Jimmy Lay -a Honkong media tycoon- was detained and caused not that much noise with the small fry “journalist” with a Kalashnikov. A concerted effort is obvious, MSM, European poodles, everybody jumped at once and in spite of any evidence or rational argument the boy is a journalist and Luka is a dictator, that’s it. So Russia has to keep growing in the media war as it has been doing for a few years now, but it had a long way to go, and Belarus was in the information stone age during the riots, help came from Russia and some improvement is obvious, but they have a longer way to go. I do not expect great announcements but a reactive mood, they do have valuable hidden cards for sure, but they are waiting for the rival and better if it is a false step, something like denying the U2 flights over the Soviet Union to be presented with the captured pilot FG Powers.

Posted by: Paco | May 30 2021 21:48 utc | 14

I see lots of dodging the bolded portion of my comment, which happens to be the most important part of the transcript. For me, the following is key if it could be decrypted:
“But there are no heights the Bolsheviks would not have climbed. We will follow suit.”
Since their meeting, there’s been zero news of Putin or Lukashenko. However, we do have this TASS report about the Belarus FM’s statement that provides further temporal context to the events:
“According to the Belarusian top diplomat, the country’s authorities did not know that Roman Protasevich, one of the co-founders of the Nexta Telegram channel, which was recognized as extremist in Belarus, and his Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega were among the passengers. ‘These two persons were detained after they had passed through customs and border control to board the plane after it had been checked. So, there are no links between these events. I think that we see deliberate attempts to link these things to the plane’s landing after a bomb threat,’ he stressed.”
IMO, Lukashenko wants to organize a clear–joint–plan of action with Putin to confront those “Western friends” “who want to add to our problems.” Putin certainly knows the seriousness of the entire affair and how it fits in the overall geopolitical context, and he cannot allow what happened to Ukraine occur to Belarus.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 30 2021 21:55 utc | 15

Hemiola #11
Thank you for the links. It appears to be the Indian Bar Association (not the Indian Government) that is prosecuting the science denier Dr Soumya Swaminathan. This is perhaps the best (least worst?) option to get the scientific denier community more focused on a broad covid approach that includes remedies and vaccines.
The myopia that has engulfed many senior elites in the medical science fraternity is a disgrace. The human response of excluding and then hiding, denying, destroying evidence contrary to their ‘beliefs’ or interpretations of the world is such a desperate false consciousness. This has been dramatically revealed in the ivermectin debate. Next they have to get it before open minded judges – now there is a challenge in any country.
The Manitoba politician at least stuck to his vaccine talking points so I guess he will be recognised as trustworthy and well trained by those that advise/support him.
The global ivermectin conference will have to wait for now but I will get to scan it later.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 30 2021 21:59 utc | 16

The Greens in Germany are in free fall now. What happened behid the scenes for it?

Posted by: Nick | May 30 2021 22:06 utc | 17

Paco @15–
A reasonable assessment given the weekend. IMO, Lukashenko seems naïve in his complaining to Putin, as if he expected reasonable behavior by the EU/West, but that could be the nature of the translation. With two weeks to go before the Summit, almost anything could happen; and Geneva is no longer neutral ground.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 30 2021 22:10 utc | 18

Paco #15
Expecting loud and flamboyant response from Russia is perhaps futile. If Lukanshenko delivered a helpful document then there will be a period of methodical tracing and dismembering of the network. The little nazi boy likely had a vast and ‘extremely interesting’ file of connections and notes sufficient to give a whole new spin to what Barfingcat terms ‘open source journalism’. Perhaps Roman Protasevich will end up belling the cat.
Karlof1 #16
I like that spin of not nabbing the turd until he was in the queue to return to the plane and on to Vilnius. That is too good. Imagine him sitting around sweating and terrified for three+ hours while the Belarus security laid out the luggage and freight and sent the dogs over it all and then reloaded. That is classic pre interrogation softening up technique 101. Plus it also gives excellent cover as if that was needed.
However IF that is what happened, then I see it as lending credence to the proposal that he was shipped by a jealous or malign actor within his own camp and that the emails originated from the Right Sector in Ukraine. Wouldn’t that p!ss off Nuland!

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 30 2021 22:37 utc | 19

Posted by: KillWallStreet | May 30 2021 19:07 utc | 3
Dear KWS. Do you know were is Chile?
I am here, i am a citizen, 62 years being chilean. You are wrong. The winner is Mr. Soros and the open society (misery).
The left was a lot of idiots criminals rioting Chile. They will remain were they are today, at the bottom of the society. They are drug consumers, half illiterates, no family ever. A bunch of losers here and in any country.
A victory for caviar-left or starbucks left. Drugs & empty life.
Thay are the problem not the solution.
Regards.

Posted by: Roberto | May 30 2021 22:48 utc | 20

karlof1 #16

For me, the following is key if it could be decrypted:
“But there are no heights the Bolsheviks would not have climbed. We will follow suit.”

That seems to be a typical Lukashenko idiom. He is a proud bolshevik it seems. From memory they would not let niceties stay their hand when it comes to dealing with class traitors and fascists. The bolshevks – to this day – are still exterminated, silenced, progrommed, gulaged by the capitalist class. Howard Zinn wrote of the unrelenting assault, Jeremy Corbyn is fresh in my mind.
I guess Lukashenko (the bolshevik) could be suggesting to Putin (the ‘middle roader’ or menshevik democrat) that, regardless of their heritage and current ideology, it is time for the two of them to get mighty tough with the saboteurs of their nation. It is interesting that this line was reported and thank you for reiterating it.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 30 2021 22:50 utc | 21

Two tales, same actor and same methodology:
«Раскручивание масштабной кампании»: как Запад обвиняет Китай в «распространении» коронавируса
How Story of Broken NATO Non-Enlargement Pledge Upends West’s Effort to Depict Russia as ‘Aggressor’

Posted by: vk | May 30 2021 22:51 utc | 22

Sources for Danmarks Radio: The USA has spied on Norwegian politicians from Denmark
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&u=https://nrkbeta.no/2021/05/30/kilder-til-danmarks-radio-usa-har-spionert-pa-norske-politikere-fra-danmark/
A top-secret investigation called “Operation Dunhammer” was the start of the Danish intelligence scandal, say sources to Danmarks Radio.
Through a collaboration with Danish intelligence, the United States has conducted targeted espionage against senior politicians and officials in Norway, Sweden, Germany and France. That was one of the conclusions in an explosive report made by four employees of the Danish intelligence service (FE), according to Danmarks Radio (DR).
NRK mentions the Danish public broadcaster’s findings as part of an international collaboration with Danmarks Radio, SVT, NDR, WDR, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Le Monde.
Over several months, DR has met nine people with access to classified information from the intelligence service. All information in the case has been confirmed to DR by at least two, often several, independent sources.
Last year, NRK reported that the Danish-American spy cooperation was aimed at targets in Norway, but it was then unknown who the surveillance was aimed at. The new information indicates that the extent of espionage against Norway was far greater than previously known.
NRK and DR do not know which Norwegian politicians and officials have been subjected to targeted espionage, but as one of DR’s sources says:
– It would not have been interesting for an intelligence service to spy on municipal politicians.

Posted by: Zapekk | May 30 2021 23:11 utc | 23

Poor danes and still have to give up Greenland

Posted by: Nick | May 30 2021 23:22 utc | 24

That guy does seem to be ding-ding, but “The Dossier”?

Posted by: donten | May 30 2021 23:46 utc | 25

Mr. jayc | May 30 2021 21:31 utc | 14
Similar things took place in Australia and the United States.
In Australia, they were trying to induct the children of Dream Walkers into the hyper-empirical English culture. In the United States, sent them to be adopted by Anglo-Saxon families.
And then there were cases of the institutional orphanages run by the Catholic Church in Ireland.
To my knowledge, the educational missions to induct the heathen into the Western Civilization were successful only when undertaken by the Catholic Church monastic orders, in New Spain a d in Germania.
But I agree with the thrust of your post; why don’t these self-proclaimed champions of human-rights, the Canadians, Germans, Australians, Austrians, French, Italians, and Americans shutup for a while.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 0:06 utc | 26

Mr. Roberto | May 30 2021 22:48 utc | 21
Why do you say that Mr. Soros is the winner?
I have not noticed any substantive changes in Chile yet.
So the young people can sing the songs of the Popular Unidad in plazas, but what else?
Has Chile recaptured the spirit of that movement, do you think?
Con mis saludas a los pueblos chileanos.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 0:11 utc | 27

Believe it or not, the president says that human rights R us.
Hear that, BLM? Women? Asian Americans? Hispanics? homeless? heavily indebted students? . . the list goes on.
Biden said so, May 30, 2021
“I had a long conversation — for two hours — recently with President Xi, making it clear to him that we could do nothing but speak out for human rights around the world because that’s who we are. I’ll be meeting with President Putin in a couple of weeks in Geneva, making it clear that we will not — we will not stand by and let him abuse those rights.” . .here
..reminds me of Aeschylus: “In war, truth is the first casualty.”

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 31 2021 0:12 utc | 28

Mr. vk | May 30 2021 20:11 utc | 9
It depends what the law governing offical secrets stipulate. In the United States, to my knowledge, the President has the lawful authority to de-classify whatever he wants.
I knew Mr. Trump was fake when he stated that he would de-classify this or that, and he never did.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 0:16 utc | 29

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 0:11 utc | 28
Song of Unidad Popular? I hhave not heard them. May be i am wrong. Anyway they are not “revolucionarios” they want what they see on TV: cars, sneakers, videos, play station, cell phone etc…
The spirit of Unidad Popular was captured by less than a 30% of Chile. There are a lots of “misunderstandings” around U.P. and Allende. They were a complete failure. They like to finger point Mr. Kissinger et al, but they failed because of themselves and their ideas.
I was a childe during U.P. Nobody cried because of U.P. downfall except a few including some relatives of mine who got a life during Mr. Pinochet tenure anyway.
Regards

Posted by: Roberto | May 31 2021 0:43 utc | 30

Thanks for the Caitlin Johnstone link, b.
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/05/29/israel-narrative-management-is-getting-incredibly-desperate-and-brazen/
Supporters of Israeli apartheid and mass murder are losing control of the narrative.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/30/killing-with-impunity-israels-undercover-units-in
The international Palestine liberation movement gathers momentum:
https://popularresistance.org/hundreds-of-musicians-sign-onto-boycott-letter/
https://mondoweiss.net/author/open-letter/

Posted by: Paul | May 31 2021 0:49 utc | 31

Posted by: james | May 30 2021 19:05 utc | 2
Thanks, James! I didn’t know that there was a Zappa channel on youtube.
What’s your beef with spotify, btw? I consider them the less objectionable of the two, and they pay (albeit miniscule) royalties to artists.

Posted by: farm ecologist | May 31 2021 1:05 utc | 32

Nick | May 30 2021 22:06 utc | 18

Did the Greens Peak Too Soon in Germany?
5-30-21

The SPD has lost considerable support over the term of this government and the Greens have been the beneficiary. I’ve talked about this previously and how Merkel uses the Greens as her whip hand in the Upper House, the Bundesrat, to push German policy along the vector set by her masters in Davos.
That’s resulted in both a loss of support for the CDU and the SPD nationally as the Greens have gained such that the electoral map in Germany is now functionally no better than the mess in Spain or Italy.
And from where I’m sitting this has always looked to be the plan. The problem, however, is that after peaking nationally at nearly 28% earlier this year, Green support is coming back down to earth as people being listening sincerely to what they actually stand for.
They’ve become increasingly bellicose, supporting war in Ukraine to counter Russia as well as their silence recently over the conflict between Hamas and Israel. They’re led by interventionist and increasingly neoconservative people internally while trading on their pacifist roots. And that dichotomy is beginning to catch up with them apparently among German voters.
This is because the Greens, just like Merkel, are a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Davos Crowd’s agenda to make the world safe for communism and the Green New Deal, itself a 593-page piece of EU legislation that is bogged down in ideological infighting within the European Parliament as members there fight over typical things like the definitions of words and what is or is not ideologically pure enough.

Posted by: pogohere | May 31 2021 2:01 utc | 33

Israel Moves Toward Coalition Deal That Could Sideline Netanyahu
As I predicted, Israel collapses. It was always an utopia to being with: it is impossible to be, at the same time, a liberal democracy (Western Democracy) and a Zionist state (i.e. The Jewish State). You can be one or the other, but not both at the same time.
Netanyahu represents the last grasp of pure Zionism. I expect a more liberal faction to slowly but inexorably gain influence and flexibilize the concept of the “Jewish State” more and more, until Zionism fades to a mere distant dream.
Posted by: vk | May 30 2021 19:24 utc | 5
Bold words, but are they connected to reality? I leave it to experts to explain what “Pure Zionism” is, but the public sentiments among 80+ percent of Israeli voting public are firmly supporting what some would call “Zionist version of Apartheid”. There are some quibbles what is a practical approach at this particular moment, but they have scant impact on the political scene. Emotionally charged issues are totally different, like
should different types of Jews have equal rights, or some are soooo Jewish that they should have better rights, that obviously provokes a partition of the public into (a) those who are sooo Jewish and grasp for any privileges they can get through the efforts of their leaders and the patronage/[kosher] barrels they deliver to the followers (b) those who admire them or view as a necessary [star of David?] to bear, (c) those who view them as a band of lazy bastards
to what extend corruption in the leadership should be tolerated, Mrs. Netanyahu had some kleptomaniac idiocyncracies for decades, but some more weighty legal issues emerged, should such a person be indispensable/irreplacable, supporters say yes, detractors say that they are as Zionist as Netanyahu, so what is a problem with replacing him? supporters retort that only Netanyahu is as smart as Netanyahu, no ersatz will do
To summarize, the claims of Netanyahu’s detractors of being as (pure?) Zionist as he is seem solid, the claims that they are as smart are debatable, mostly on the grounds that smart Alec as a leader is not necessarily a boon. In any case, for a time being Israel can afford to be stupid, cleverness is a necessity of the weak.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 31 2021 2:12 utc | 34

Mr. Roberto | May 31 2021 0:43 utc | 31
Please see here:
https://youtu.be/LoKEnMENZn4
One may disagree withvthe ideas and ideals of the late President Dr. Salvadore Allende, but one must, without a doubt and any equivocation, take a strong and principled position in support of Constitutional order and Legitimate Authority.
I am sorry to learn from you that only the supporters of Popular Unidad seemed to have cared for Constitutional order in Chile.
Clearly, at least that generation of Chileans were not ready for Democracy and the Rule of Law. I hope that the current generation is.
Yo me recuerdo palabras del martido Allende siempre: “independencia political, y independencia economical, y independencia nacional”.
Nosotros respectamos la memria del UP y sus lideres en Iran.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 2:22 utc | 35

@ farm ecologist | May 31 2021 1:05 utc | 33.. spotify, apple and various streaming services for music are a rip off for musicians… youtube is probably much the same.. i neglected to mention to you and john that link is to the ‘hot rats sessions’ – all 58 tracks… cheers..

Posted by: james | May 31 2021 2:45 utc | 36

@ Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 31 2021 2:12 utc | 35
Yes, Apartheid State is the only solution that can unify the liberal and zionist systems. The problem, though, is that, with each military defeat at the hands of the Palestine and Hezbollah, they have to repress more and more the Arab minorities within its own territory. This creates an increasingly unstable situation.

Posted by: vk | May 31 2021 2:46 utc | 37

Still no news about the content of the documents Lukashenko brought for Putin to see. I repost my comment from the previous open thread since it generated zero response:
…
…
Posted by: karlof1 | May 30 2021 19:12 utc | 4
I read that when you originally posted it. I’m sure everyone else interested in karlof1’s opinion read it too. It was interesting but my response was to say to myself “That was worth posting/reading.”
Perhaps you could expand upon what kind of response you seek?
One problem you’re facing is that many current comments @ MoA are “interesting and worth posting/reading” for a variety of +/- reasons.
But there’s only room for one “STAR” here and it’s b – the bloke who ‘wastes’ a lot of time fact-checking his narratives before publishing them, and fessing up when he decides he was mistaken. That’s the best anyone can do…

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 31 2021 2:50 utc | 38

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 2:22 utc | 36
From Iran. What an honor for me.
Facts are that Mr. Allende did not respect himself what the constitution said. He was not regarded a truly democrat because his marxist ideas and friendship with Cuba’s Castro.
He lead Chile to avoid USA but getting close to USSR wich was not independence.
We have problems as many countries. It does not means that Allemde’s ideas or legacy is or will be the solution.
Best wishes

Posted by: Roberto | May 31 2021 2:57 utc | 39

Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/buttigieg-clear-direction-infrastructure-june-7

Posted by: vetinLA | May 31 2021 3:23 utc | 40

Whoops, forget link 41. try this:
no-longer-democrahttps://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-cy

Posted by: vetinLA | May 31 2021 3:26 utc | 41

I give up, information scrubbed….

Posted by: vetinLA | May 31 2021 3:28 utc | 42

This creates an increasingly unstable situation.
Posted by: vk | May 31 2021 2:46 utc | 38
I see that we have an agreement that Netanyahu is not a problem. For the near future the situation of Israel is stable. Arabs are split into roughly three categories: (a) citizens of Israel (b) West Bankers (c) Gaza. (a) was subdivided into loyal and disloyal Arabs, loyal serving in the military, but the loyal category is slowly vanishing. (a) and (b) are for contact sports, (c) serve as shooting targets.
Arabs in vicinity are handled either by ruining their states (Syria and Lebanon) or kept docile, both with the help of USA, Syria shares the shooting target duty with Gaza, although much less fun in that direction.
One can object that it cannot last forever. However, this is a feature, not a bug. Unlike most nations, Israel would be deeply offended if you would note that they face no existential danger. Like a chemical dependency, Israeli psyche would collapse without “existential danger”. Scots may prove their Scottishness by tossing huge logs, Israeli Jews and friends of Israel prove their bona fide by crying wolf. Like Scots, they should have regional and national competitions, except everyone is convince that he/she can complain about “existential danger” better than anyone, and it is not so simple to judge as measuring the length of of a log toss. But what to do if the wolf will actually appear?
Simplicity itself! Messiah will come!! Plan B is another exile and trying again few hundred of thousand years later.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 31 2021 3:34 utc | 43

Mr. Roberto | May 31 2021 2:57 utc | 40
In a Constitutional order, one learns to tolerate this or that government and its policies and then to proceed to use the vote to eject that government.
Whatever the policies of the late Mr. Allende were, they did not justify or in any way shape and foem excuse the overthrow of the Legitimate Authority by the Chilean Military.
The military did not constitute a legitimate authority. Only Chilean Congress had the authority to impeach the president.
We, in Iran, see a reflection of our own past history with the late Dr. Mossadeq in the government of Chile led by the late President Allende.
Of course, Iran achieved, in 1979, what most countries in thecworld lack: Sovereignty.
I sincerely hope that someday Iran would welcome a Sovereign Chile.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 3:39 utc | 44

@43
Princeton Study from April 18, 2014 – quote
A new study from Princeton spells bad news for American democracy—namely, that it no longer exists.
Asking “[w]ho really rules?” researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argues that over the past few decades America’s political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power.
Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters. . .here
That’s still true. Democracy is defined as “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.” The US doesn’t qualify.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 31 2021 3:40 utc | 45

@34
Meh no!
The greens in Geremany were inflated by the Atlanticist media. They have never been popular in Germany. Their peak is and has been around 10-20%.
Now that the US gave up the Nord stream 2 to try to separate Russia from China, they have rendered useless.

Posted by: Kurt Weil | May 31 2021 3:42 utc | 46

DB @ 46; Thanks for that DB…..

Posted by: vetinLa | May 31 2021 3:52 utc | 47

I guess Lukashenko (the bolshevik) could be suggesting to Putin (the ‘middle roader’ or menshevik democrat) that, regardless of their heritage and current ideology, it is time for the two of them to get mighty tough with the saboteurs of their nation. It is interesting that this line was reported and thank you for reiterating it.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 30 2021 22:50 utc | 22
Negotiating with Putin is not for the faint of heart. Putin, in his classic dry humor, invited Lukashenka onboard a yacht, and then tossed him overboard, presumably teaching the big guy benefits of judo.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 31 2021 4:08 utc | 48

I almost feel sorry for Biden whom I suspect will be ‘tossed’ on June 16th.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 31 2021 4:20 utc | 49

@ vetinLA
Thanks back to you for finding that article. With the US widely touting its democracy we need these reminders that it doesn’t exist, especially in foreign affairs where presidents declare they have “executive privilege” to do whatever they want to do. That’s the “oligarchy” that Princeton spoke of.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 31 2021 4:42 utc | 50

@ Don Bacon | May 31 2021 4:20 utc | 50 who wrote
”
I almost feel sorry for Biden whom I suspect will be ‘tossed’ on June 16th.
”
Yeah, he will have his ass handed to him like Blinken in Alaska. Any delusions about carrots and sticks to get Russia to separate from China are laughable and will likely be treated derisively, as they should.
I suspect the unending support for Occupied Palestine will be a uneasy grilling for Biden that he is not looking forward to.
I don’t feel sorry for Biden at all and think he, along with lots of others, should be locked and prosecuted for war crimes….he is the pus created by the cancer of global private finance in our species social (dis)order.

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 31 2021 4:46 utc | 51

Below is a Xinhuanet posting about Occupied Palestine that I find totally one sided
”
CAIRO, May 30 (Xinhua) — Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met on Sunday with his visiting Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi to discuss solidifying the recent truce in the Gaza Strip and ways to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The two ministers agreed to continue consultations between the two countries and the Palestinian Authority “to explore ways out of the current stalemate in the peace track,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The talks also addressed the necessary measures to facilitate the reconstruction of Gaza Strip following the recent Israeli bombings that caused massive damages to the Gaza infrastructure. Egypt has allocated 500 million U.S. dollars for the reconstruction.
Ashkenazi’s visit to Egypt came 10 days after the Egypt-brokered ceasefire that ended the 11-day Israel-Hamas fighting, which left at least 248 Palestinians and 12 Israelis dead.
It is the first trip by an Israeli foreign minister to Egypt since 2008. On the other hand, Shoukry’s visit to Israel in 2016 was the first of its kind by an Egyptian foreign minister since 2007.
During the meeting, Shoukry called for taking further measures during the current truce to reinforce calm and provide the necessary conditions for “creating an atmosphere conducive to reviving the desired political path.”
The Egyptian top diplomat also reiterated Egypt’s fixed position in support of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital based on the 1967 borders.
He also referred to the two-state solution as “the only way to achieve just and lasting peace, as well as the desired regional security and stability,” emphasizing the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.
Ashkenazi’s trip to Cairo coincided with Egypt’s sending of a high-profile security delegation to Israel and Palestine to discuss related issues and the Israeli-Palestinian truce.
The security delegation will discuss ways to reach a comprehensive truce in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to Egypt’s official MENA news agency.
”
Where is Egypt meeting with representatives of Palestine? More BS pushing the 2-state solution as a fallback for Occupied Palestine….what is it going to take to close the door to the mythological 2-state “solution”? We may find out soon enough if Palestine keeps pushing for its rights.

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 31 2021 4:57 utc | 52

Below is another Xinhuanet posting with this one being telling about the finance war that is heating up with “hot money” pushing exchange rates around….this could be a front in the civilization war and/or a tell that the crash is coming soon
”
BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua) — The rapid appreciation of the RMB is unsustainable, and also not in line with the domestic and international economic and financial situation, a senior Chinese researcher and former central bank official told Xinhua on Sunday.
The current rapid appreciation of the Chinese yuan against the U.S. dollar may have overshot, said Sheng Songcheng, professor of economics and finance with China Europe International Business School and former director of the surveys and statistics department at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC).
The U.S. dollar index has fallen by 2.2 percent in the past month and a half, while the euro has strengthened against the greenback by 2.3 percent and the Japanese yen has weakened by 0.4 percent, but the RMB has appreciated by 2.9 percent, said Sheng.
The U.S. dollar index is less likely to decline further, and the exchange rate of the RMB against the U.S. dollar should also be relatively stable according to market rules. But the RMB exchange rate has hit record highs recently, jumping above 6.4 to the greenback, which indicates that there is an overshoot in the market, Sheng said.
Sheng predicts that the rapid appreciation of the RMB is unsustainable, as the U.S. economy is expected to rebound in the second half of the year, and the U.S. dollar may strengthen accordingly, while the narrowing interest spread between China and the United States may weaken the momentum of hot money influx.
Meanwhile, the strengthened RMB cannot offset price hikes for bulk commodities, and it cannot be used as a tool, said Sheng, noting that the RMB exchange rate overshoot is only short-term speculation.
China encourages long-term capital investment, but it should prevent a large inflow of short-term capital, which will push up the RMB exchange rate, weaken the competitiveness of export enterprises and disrupt the independent implementation of China’s financial market and monetary policy, said Sheng.
China has sufficient policy tools to use, Sheng said. Since October last year, the PBOC has adopted policies and reforms on the basis of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market to guide the basic stability of the RMB exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level.
The foreign exchange risk reserve ratio for forward foreign exchange trading has been lowered from 20 percent to zero since Oct. 12 last year, while some banks have phased out the use of the “counter-cyclical” factor in the pricing mechanism of the yuan’s central parity rate against the greenback since Oct. 27 last year.
Besides these moves, the central bank can take other macro-prudential adjustment measures to maintain the two-way balanced flow of cross-border funds, he said.
The central bank has improved a managed floating exchange rate regime based on market supply and demand and with reference to a currency basket, and this regime is suitable for China’s national conditions at present and for a long time to come, he noted.
The central bank has reiterated efforts to be firm with the floating exchange rate regime, appropriately guide market expectations, give full play to the role of the exchange rate as an automatic stabilizer in adjusting macro economy and international payments, and keep the RMB exchange rate basically stable, he said.
Sheng said he believes the central bank will focus on the guidance of market expectations, while the trend of the RMB exchange rate will continue to depend on market supply and demand, as well as changes in the global financial market.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 31 2021 5:03 utc | 53

@35 and #44 Piotr Berman – “for a time being Israel can afford to be stupid, cleverness is a necessity of the weak.”
Both of these comments are quite brilliant, if I may say.
In the first, you elaborate on the layers of thinking in the Israeli populace and remind us that a lie, once taken on board, has a way of enduring, of being invested in, of become the only reality that people can see. What will it take for Israel to shake off that hubris and come down to earth?
The answer lies in the quote above that I took from this first of the two comments. Israel, to become clever, will have to become weak.
~~
And the second comment follows perfectly from this as it points to the core of the Israeli soul: “existential danger” – with or without a domicile. What do they have to lose to continue fighting to preserve this danger? What a perfect, blessed curse.
It’s a twist, isn’t it? And you’ve nailed it precisely and immaculately.
And if they should be thrown out, oh well – they still retain their “existential danger” which their soul is now so accustomed to, and as shadow wanderers even more cast out than the gypsies, they can fall back on Plan B as you describe it:

Plan B is another exile and trying again few hundred or thousand years later.

~~
Many thanks, Piotr. Your wit so often overshadows your wisdom that I don’t always look for the pith. But his time I did and you offer the essence of the nectar, and I appreciate this greatly.

Posted by: Grieved | May 31 2021 5:17 utc | 54

@54 psychohistorian
I don’t read it as a crash coming. I read it as China striving for stability in currency exchanges, believing – correctly in my view – that these should be subservient to the tectonic shifts of the fundamentals of national economies and inter-nation trading.
In plain terms, the volume of US-China trade is not altered to the degree that the parity of the two currencies has at present altered. Therefore, the currency will damn well get in line with the current reality, and China will use its “sufficient policy tools” to ensure that this is so.
~~
We often speak of countries such as China and Russia expending great effort to stay close to the US as it declines and, poetically, to help the giant fall gracefully to its knees, with the minimum of fuss.
I suspect that this article is an example of how this works – although I am not expert and this is just a cursory look.
In other words, no one in China wants the US or its currency to “collapse”. There is a lot of ruin in a country, and China has the patience to be a caregiver throughout the long decline of the US.
Similarly, I suspect that China will be present at the rebirth of the US as it rises from the ashes some decades from now. It will turn out, in the future, that China was always a friend – but this will obviously take some time to become evident.
~~
If all this is true, then I shall sleep more soundly tonight. Greetings, and goodnight 🙂

Posted by: Grieved | May 31 2021 5:39 utc | 55

Glenn Greenwald gets the Belarus “forced” landing (by interceptor) angle straight from the MSM once again.
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/as-anger-toward-belarus-mounts-recall
Once again, in the process of pointing out media hypocrisy, he echoes exactly what the establishment wants disseminated about this story. No, the pilot did NOT know about any Mig interceptor PRIOR to making the decision to divert and probably never learned of its presence at all until well into the descent (if ever). See comments for fools standing by the establishment line.

Posted by: _K_C_ | May 31 2021 5:42 utc | 56

@ Grieved | May 31 2021 5:39 utc | 56 who I hope sleeps soundly as I expect to shortly but must respond about the coming or existent finance war.
The poison pill that the West financial folks have wielded since 2008 is the US Fed printing presses which have added something like $4 trillion to the nation debt to say nothing about the national debt of other countries around the world. To call the existing and racing ahead debt creation of the Reserve Currency topped with the Superior Position financial status of the multi-trillion derivatives cooked up by the global private finance folk unsustainable is being kind. And my reading of the piece is that yes, China will expend massive efforts to insure monetary stability, but they will not compromise the integrity of their public system of finance and its underlying connection to their civilization to the bloated financial weapons of the West…..many are going to suffer in the West but the rest of the world will adjust and China will provide a different level of stability not based on war fueled growth.
People are going to throw big numbers around and folks need to understand that those big numbers may not bear any relationship to reality, as well as the claims by the derivative lotto winners about their ownership of the world and everything in it…….let the Forex crazy begin…..

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 31 2021 6:03 utc | 57

I continue to believe its all about control of the narrative…….. Psychohistorian @ 7 the peanut galley is beginning to develop some defensive tools.. i am seeing signs in many people that as soon as the narrative comes into view, the opposition lights-up (the phrase “cdc misinformation” has a well understood meaning among many, for example) and scrambles its defense.. More and more, whatever MSM and its puppets in government say is challenged to likely mean the opposite of, or to be a cover for, the truth.
I also agree with Psychohistorian @ 58 <=the multi derivative poison will likely destabilize much of the West.. Logic by Grieved @ the double nickel . wins today's prize, my opinion.

Posted by: snake | May 31 2021 6:43 utc | 58

Here a small sample how Belarus is smarting up when it comes to info war, the caption reads Nº46 applauds Nº1, Biden and Gribauskaete warmly welcome Luka.
And irony of ironies, another Ryanair flight emergency landed, this time in Berlin, so let us start cheering for Germany to be sanctioned and its airspace closed 😉
https://t.me/pul_1/2944

Posted by: Paco | May 31 2021 7:06 utc | 59

Posted by: pogohere | May 31 2021 2:01 utc | 34

This is because the Greens, just like Merkel, are a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Davos Crowd’s agenda to make the world safe for communism and the Green New Deal, itself a 593-page piece of EU legislation that is bogged down in ideological infighting within the European Parliament as members there fight over typical things like the definitions of words and what is or is not ideologically pure enough.

[emphasis added]
Tom Luongo is such a clown lmao

Posted by: vato | May 31 2021 7:46 utc | 60

Piotr Berman #49

Negotiating with Putin is not for the faint of heart. Putin, in his classic dry humor, invited Lukashenka onboard a yacht, and then tossed him overboard, presumably teaching the big guy benefits of judo.

Thank you. A good laugh. Obviously Lukashenko can read minds and was suitably clothed for the judo trick.
It is good to see national leaders au natural rather than clothed in ridiculous look alike garb. Clowning about between leaders might save us from them taking it all too seriously. Perhaps then they could take decisions within the the context of humanity rather than the abstract of the ‘nation state’.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 31 2021 7:49 utc | 61

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 31 2021 7:49 utc | 62
Putin invited Luka for a swim, unfortunately the weather was not that great and I imagine the waters are not that warm yet, but.. I remembered good old friend Dima, every day of the year, December January and February included, he would stand at the edge of the Mediterranean waiting for the sun, and when the new day started he would take a quick swim and out. He is from Krasnoyarsk and told me that unlike Moscow where classes are suspended when temperatures fall bellow -25º in Krasnoyarsk that would be -40º. That is what the winter does to the Siberian spirit, so stop f*kng around with those russkies.

Posted by: Paco | May 31 2021 8:24 utc | 62

Watching Lavrov live, Russia – EU Open Conference.
There will be interesting points to be disccussed this evening US time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSWWYQHZLyY

Posted by: Paco | May 31 2021 8:32 utc | 63

A mass grave containing the remains of 215 children has been found in Canada at a former residential school set up to assimilate indigenous people.
The children were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia that closed in 1978.
The discovery was announced on Thursday by the chief of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was a “painful reminder” of a “shameful chapter of our country’s history”.
The First Nation is working with museum specialists and the coroner’s office to establish the causes and timings of the deaths, which are not currently known.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57291530

Posted by: Mao | May 31 2021 8:35 utc | 64

‘Looks like she’s 19’: Uproar after Biden’s remarks about girl at Virginia military base
At ease, Joe.
President Joe Biden raised eyebrows — and a few alarms — Friday when he lavishly complimented a little girl on her appearance during remarks at a Virginia military base.
“I love those barrettes in your hair, man,” Biden said. “I tell you what, look at her, she looks like she’s 19 years old, sitting there like a little lady with her legs crossed.”
The girl in question, who appeared to be elementary school age, had joined her parents and two older brothers on the podium while her mother introduced the president at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia.
Biden’s bizarre aside was noted and tweeted by The Post Millennial, causing a commotion on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1398347198149152774
https://nypost.com/2021/05/28/looks-like-shes-19-uproar-over-biden-remarks-about-girl-at-military-event/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/2429857.html

Posted by: Mao | May 31 2021 8:46 utc | 65

james @ 2, @ 37
Thanks, james. I tried posting a response last night, but it didn’t go through…sometimes it goes through, sometimes it gets held up, sometimes it disappears altogether…which makes communicating a real pain in the ass, so I’ve about had it.
Anyway, I definitely want to get my hands on those sessions…yes, I like physical cds, which lend themselves better to multiple listenings, but I gotta count my pennies ’cause a new release is shortly coming…’Zappa ’88: The Last US Show’ to which I’d give you a link, but then my comment wouldn’t go through this(tin-pot blog). Check it out at Zappa.com.
Cheers!

Posted by: john | May 31 2021 9:18 utc | 66

Отправленный: Пако | 31 мая 2021 г., 8:24 utc | 63
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2oITXOVkAEPFLf.jpg

Posted by: Mao | May 31 2021 9:34 utc | 67

Several hundred Malians rallied in the capital Bamako on Friday to support the army, as well as Russia, AFP journalists said, after the military reasserted control in the unstable Sahel state this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVZehWXvVx8

Posted by: Mao | May 31 2021 9:56 utc | 68

China and Russia held a new round of strategic security consultations on Tuesday in Moscow, and during the frequent interactions between the two major powers in recent months, the world has showed a dangerous trend of disorder or tensions in some regions, including the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Western Pacific, due to global strategic shift made by the US,
Chinese analysts said that the recent change has been generally caused by the decline of US hegemony, and not only will US pressure and hostility push China and Russia to stand closer, the decline in Washington’s strength and influence in some regions will also make Beijing and Moscow consider how to figure out new regional order to stabilize the situation and protect their interests after the US pullout.
Top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev co-chaired the 16th round of strategic security consultations on Tuesday, which is a high-level meeting focusing on strategic cooperation in confronting both regional and global security and geopolitical threats.
http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/0526/c90000-9853977.html

Posted by: Mao | May 31 2021 10:00 utc | 69

There is nothing new in the “news” about the bodies of Native kids being acknowledged at Kamloops Indian Residential School in Canada, and that includes the mainstream news cover-up that’s going on. I mentioned it in my book (1994); it was documented in an international tribunal convened in Vancouver in the early 200s; I mentioned it again in a critique of the so-called “Truth and Reconciliation” commission in 2011; and the Globe & Mail had a front-page article about in around that time, too. Around 2010 an Irish reporter (whose name escapes me at the moment) interviewed me for an article she wrote, comparing the deaths in Canada to the deaths at Catholic residential schools for Irish kids. So this is hardly a revelation. The news I’ve seen is about how “sad” and “tragic” this is, as opposed to how “genocidal” and “criminal” it is. And no one (apart from me, 13 years ago) points out the contradiction between supposedly “apologizing” while suppressing the fact that thousands of Native children died in the custody of the Canadian government and major Canadian churches. How sincere is an apology that doesn’t acknowledge the intent, scope, and magnitude of what the malefactor did? “None” in my opinion (and this dial goes to 11). But this is just another example of what M of A barflies crave to uncover: the deliberate falsification and management of a narrative to obfuscate the machination of oppressive states.

Posted by: Roland Chrisjohn | May 31 2021 11:17 utc | 70

Lavrov is too much Lavrov, at the end of the press conference a very restrained Portugal FM who wisely separated his two functions as a rep. of Portugal and as the acting President of the E. Comission on a rotation basis, with Portugal relations are better than OK, but with Europe… to try not to give the whole store to Lavrov the minister mentioned human rights, like freedom of the press, political parties, etc etc, so Lavrov made a point that the main human right is the right to life, and that Russia won’t be fooled again to allow more Yugoslavia, Libia, Irak….. the list is long, and first things first, without the right to life the rest is just words.

Posted by: Paco | May 31 2021 11:24 utc | 71

Fair warning: this comment will be critical of Putin.
__________________________
“The RT Chief Editor Margarita Simonyan posted on Telegram that she envied Belarus.”
Unlike Putin with his endless and counterproductive “restraint”, Aleksandr Lukashenko (or Alyaksandr Lukashenka if you prefer the Belarusian language version of his name) is a proactive leader, much more in the style of Iranian leaders than Putin. He takes the initiative instead of reacting belatedly to provocation from enemies and just doing enough to create some kind of status quo (let alone a status quo ante). Also unlike Putin he is not owned either by zionists or oligarchs; Belarus still has its Soviet era socialist economy and successfully recovered from the murder of the USSR even before Russia did. If Russia and Belarus ever merge into the Union State, he would be a far better choice as president of the new superstate than Putin. Incidentally, I always see Putin cultists like the Faker (Andrei “I don’t allow criticism of my divine writ” Raevsky) suggesting that Lukashenko be quietly forced into retirement. One wonders why, assuming their claim that he’s no longer relevant is to be taken seriously.
Despite all the smiles at Sochi, it’s common knowledge that Putin and Lukashenko detest each other. Putin’s oligarchs are quite as eager to buy up Belarus’ economy at scrap prices as the Amerikastani/EU corporate criminals. That’s one great reason why Belarus isn’t eager to sign the merger, and if Putin can do anything to make it happen, he will.
Meanwhile, Protasevich must be a brainless idiot. Not only did the little Nazi wannabe pose in Azov regalia on camera and post the photos online, he didn’t even delete incriminating information from his devices once he knew the plane was headed to Minsk and he was going to be captured. (This actually suggests that he didn’t, despite his supporters’ later claim that the diversion was to capture him, think it was about him at all.)
Incidentally, it’s interesting how professional anti Russian/Chinese/Iranian/Syrian warmonger propagandist
Jihadi Julian Röpcke of Bild has quietly changed his stance on Azov Battalion. In 2015 he was calling them “heroes” and boasting of “dancing under Azov’s flag for five days” in the “liberal scene in Kyiv(sic)”. These days he’s foaming at the mouth over Protasevich’s capture, but is absolutely and totally silent about the little Nazi’s Azov links. One would think that such a hero’s membership of a heroic liberal outfit would be applauded by Jihadi Julian.
Or is Azov, whose Nazi credentials are no longer denied by anyone, suddenly no longer “heroic” or “liberal ” anymore?
https://www.unz.com/ishamir/the-abduction-of-nexta/

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 31 2021 12:15 utc | 72

Roland Chrisjohn @ 71
But this is just another example of what M of A barflies crave to uncover: the deliberate falsification and management of a narrative to obfuscate the machination of oppressive states
Here’s a terrific profile of such malfeasance in regard to Covid. It’ll make your blood boil, but do endure the entire hour and 45 minutes.

Posted by: john | May 31 2021 13:15 utc | 73

@Kurt Weil | May 31 2021 3:42 utc | 47

The greens in Geremany were inflated by the Atlanticist media. They have never been popular in Germany. Their peak is and has been around 10-20%.
Now that the US gave up the Nord stream 2 to try to separate Russia from China, they have rendered useless.

That sounds like a bit of good news to me, I hope you are right!

Posted by: Norwegian | May 31 2021 13:34 utc | 74

Biswapriya Purkayast @May31 12:15 #73

Unlike Putin with his endless and counterproductive “restraint” …

You are deriding Putin’s “restraint” – a strategm that Hasbara has harped on as “Putin is a Zionist” – while making the evidence-free suggestion that Lukashenko arranged for the Ryanair plane to land in Minsk.
Luskashenko’s a tough-guy whose gonna show Putin how it’s done?/sarc LOL.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | May 31 2021 13:37 utc | 75

@Posted by: Paco | May 31 2021 11:24 utc | 72
Good that Mr. Lavrov mentioned, as debunking of usual fake claims and intends of lecturing by the EU representatives, the right to life, which is obviously the main human right without which the others are not necessary, since it is precisely the EU who is underminig the right to life of all its citizens by impossing on them experimental genic vaccines on the treat to be suspended from labor and wage ( which equates sending the people to misery and thus risk of losing life by poverty or desperation…)while the international diplomatic community, as discovered in the Sputnik V twitter account, including the EU one, can vaccinate themselves with the vaccine they choose to do, including the EU one, s that not risking their lives so slightly as the Eu ctizens are asked and olbied to do if they do not want to be punished.
This is an scandal, and I wonder why there is wall of silence along the whole EU political class plus the whole press, demonizing at unison anyone who dares contradict this celarly authoritarian, for not to say plain fascistic, mandates, that they are.
Why the Greek Ambassador to Russia can be vaccinated with the Russian Spuntik V vaccine, which so far is the only one who have not caused serious side effects nor deaths, and that way his Spuntik V vaccine´s certificate is valid to travel through the world, and we are said that eventhough we would go to Russia to vaccinates ourselves with that clearly safest vaccine, it´s vaccination certificate will not be valid for us to recover our basic rights and freedoms as ctizens and taxpayers?
https://twitter.com/sputnikvaccine/status/1398308087149301765
The answer to this questions I fear should be asked for to those managing the contracts on vaccines into the EU and those benefitting from that business plus the business of “vaccine passports”..

Posted by: Asha K. | May 31 2021 13:47 utc | 76

Don Bacon @ 46:
“A … study from Princeton spells bad news for American democracy—namely, that it no longer exists.”
Your post reflections on the 2014 study anchor my finished reading of Dostoievski’s “The Idiot”, which I consider the darkest of his great novels, or rather, the one being written most while in darkness. It pairs with his final novel in that both were brought to the public as the author experienced the death of one of his children – his first in the case of “The Idiot”, a baby daughter Sophia; his last for “The Brother’s Karamazov, a three year old son Alexey.
I don’t note in the reviews of either novel much account taken of these facts, but to me they deeply affect what the author is saying. “The Idiot” is a severe indictment of Russia’s fall from grace. “TBK” is a resurgence of faith.
I take heart in the sequence, much as I take heart in Russia’s recovery today. Let it also be so for the West as it has been for Russia.

Posted by: juliania | May 31 2021 14:08 utc | 77

Sorry, written in haste – should of course be written “The Brothers Karamazov”.

Posted by: juliania | May 31 2021 14:17 utc | 78

Posted by: pogohere | May 31 2021 2:01 utc | 34
This is because the Greens, just like Merkel, are a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Davos Crowd’s agenda to make the world safe for communism and the Green New Deal, itself a 593-page piece of EU legislation that is bogged down in ideological infighting within the European Parliament as members there fight over typical things like the definitions of words and what is or is not ideologically pure enough.
——————————————————
Better Red than Dead…Haven’t you heard?

Posted by: donten | May 31 2021 14:26 utc | 79

ANDREI KUREICHIK
The Taking of Roman Protasevich
Why is St. Clair printing such absolute garbage at Counterpunch? Here we have CP defending a neo-Nazi.
In part b/c I know he occasionally gets his rocks off bashing Putin, Assad, Shakespeare and Woody Allen in a fever of smugness, dubious evenhandedness and obvious career envy, but in this article, what actually happened to the Ryanair airplane is irrelevant. Because they don’t have internet or something in Belarus and can’t get CNN’s talking points. Just as with Assad, White Helmets and the supposed use of chemical weapons, what happened is irrelevant b/c we all know Assad is evil. ditto Woody Allen, b/c #Metoo or some bullshit.
people need to dust off Sartre’s intro to Fanon’s classic “The Wretched of the Earth” and stop concerning themselves w/the supposed crimes of countries being set up to be raped by capitalist swine. the person who steps into his neighbor’s house to rape the household deserves whatever the fuck he gets.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 31 2021 14:30 utc | 80

“cultural genocide”, which carries no legal responsibility.
“The largest class action settlement in Canadian history to date, the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) recognized the damage inflicted on Indigenous peoples by residential schools, and established a multi-billion-dollar fund to help former students in their recovery.”
Constitution Act 1982, Section 35.
35. (1) The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.
Yes the Aboriginals got fucked, they are still getting fucked but there is a legal process they are using to slowly get as unfucked as possible.
I am looking for links to the equivalent official recognition of the Uyghurs in China.
Also links to meetings between the Chinese Government and the Uyghurs as well as the cultural activities of the Uyghur that are being promoted or attended to by Government officials. There must be dozens of these activities a year to show the Chinese commitment to preserving the Uyghur culture.
I missed it, but who sent the fake bomb threat in the first place or is Hamas about to embark on a campaign of bombing Europeans to increase their support?

Posted by: mi | May 31 2021 14:34 utc | 81

https://www.unz.com/ishamir/the-abduction-of-nexta/
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | May 31 2021 12:15 utc | 73
Israel Shamir describes the situation quite well. In a nutshell, the “liberal world order” is hierarchical, and what you are allowed to do depends on you spot in that hierarchy. Like in Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, only nobles (gentry? warrior class?) were allowed to carry sabres and to dress in a zupan made with a better fabric. Kidnapping opponents using assorted means is OK for the highest rungs in the hierarchy, or with a pre-cleared permit. And Lukashenka did not have that permit, which promptly raised a vehement reaction in EU.
Belarus economy is small, but locally in EU, the brouhaha can be expensive.
———–
Why is St. Clair printing such absolute garbage at Counterpunch? Here we have CP defending a neo-Nazi.
In part b/c I know he occasionally gets his rocks off bashing Putin, Assad, Shakespeare and Woody Allen in a fever of smugness, dubious evenhandedness and obvious career envy, but in this article…
Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 31 2021 14:30 utc | 80
CP has various categories of content, ecology and ecological perspective is one of the widest. What our fathers and grandfathers derided as “swamps”, are now recognized as “wetlands”, indispensable to proper ecology, supporting species both endemic and migratory etc. And no wetlands sport more creatures than those along lower Potomac, some creatures build hives called “think tanks”. Thus naturalists of CP show various product from this unique biotome.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 31 2021 14:42 utc | 82

Grieved @ 55, thanks very much for your interpretation of Piotr’s post! As a further comment on my previous one, I will add that “The Idiot” was published without an epigraph, (unlike the last two novels.) But for “The Brothers Karamazov” here it is, a dedication to his wife, and then:

“Truly, truly I say unto you: Except that a grain of wheat falls to the ground and perishes, it remains alone; but if it perishes, it brings forth much fruit.”

I shall also emphasize my own conviction that the evangelist John wrote first his Apocalypse and second, his Gospel and letters.

Posted by: juliania | May 31 2021 14:50 utc | 83

Anything one reads on Counterpunch needs to be taken with a forklift’s worth of grains of salt, but after a while one recognizes predictable agendas among its authors. Paul Street, for one, is notorious for his regular excoriations of the “dismal dollar-drenched Democrats,” only to demand with equally intense fustian rhetoric, as each election day approaches, that we vote for them. The scratch-a-Marxist,-find-a-Western-imperialist antics of Louis Proyect are well known and at best a source of amusement. And who can forget Graham Peebles’s channelings of Benjamin Creme’s droolings over the imminent appearance of Maitreya?

Posted by: corvo | May 31 2021 14:51 utc | 84

Mr. Grieved | May 31 2021 5:17 utc | 55
The mood among Jews in Israel has been getting uglier a d uglier, from a moral point of view, over the last several decades.
As the Judeo-Christians did their best to fortify their Crusader Castle in Palestine, their proxy force there degenerated into an ill-disciplined bunch of murderous armed thugs.
Furthermore, per General Wesley Clark, we know that the Judeo-Christians attrmpted to destroy the enemies of Israel over the last 20 years.
They were defeated, after having spent in excess of 6 trillion USD dollars, by the Party of Ali in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Iran (the Siege War).
Only in Libya the Judeo-Christians achieved partial victory by getting their minions in EU to murder Libya and steal Libyan government funds in UK, France, Italy, and Spain. That kind of murder&theft is called the Rule-based International Order (for the Whie man, by the White man, of the White man). An order devoid of positive vision of the future for the Color-ed people of this plant; thus necessarily and with metaphysical certainity be bound to fail.
In the meantime, the carpet weavers of the Shia Fortress have continued with weaving their carpet, erecting the fortresses to the North, South, and East of the Crusader Castle. One already has imposed its MAD logic on the Crusader Castle and the other one soon will do so as well.
Thus, after the defeat of Trump’s War against Iran, and the recent war with Gaza, some of the more intelligent Israelis have started realizing the benefits of a long-term cease fire with the Shia A is and sattelites.
This is still a minority view, in my opinion, among the Israeli strategists, but it may yet come to predominate. If so, in the coming years, look for the Judeo-Christians to try to reach a long-term cease fire with HAMAS and with Iran & Syria. Given the significance of the Jews to the theological thought of Judeo-Christians, if Israelis move, Judeo-Christians would follow.
This is not a prediction for the future but only a nascent possibility. A lot can happen that could squash it. Israelis could commit an act of provocation that would so enflame Islamic sensibilities that there could be no room left but Israel be designated the Enemy of Islam which must be destoyed.
We shall see.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 14:59 utc | 85

Ms. juliania | May 31 2021 14:50 utc | 83
There is an adaptation of “the Idiot” by the late Akira Kurosawa which is worth watching.
The movie, acted by Japanese and adapted to a Japanese setting, is depicting a culture that is, in fact, not Japanese at all.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 15:49 utc | 86

Kurosawa was brilliant.
Do give it a watch.

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | May 31 2021 15:58 utc | 87

Fanon and Kurosawa?
What, actual intelligent people on this site?

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | May 31 2021 16:06 utc | 88

Mr. Posted by: Duncan Idaho | May 31 2021 15:58 utc | 87
Without a doubt, a man of genious, like the late Pablo Picasso.
His range was amazing, from his first film which was for war propoganda to his last film.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 16:09 utc | 89

@ Duncan Idaho | May 31 2021 16:06 utc | 88
No, just you. 😉

Posted by: corvo | May 31 2021 16:10 utc | 90

@ 55 grieved.. thanks also for highlighting piotrs comments.. i agree with you.. i love piotrs description and sense of humour mixed with realism…
@ 67 john.. thanks! i am on that site now and see what you are referring to… i like cd’s as well.. i guess we are old school, lol… i have seen some footage of some of those tracks – maybe some or all of that concert was linked to here previously as i was really taken aback at how great it was..
@ juliania… i really have to get a copy of the idiot as i’d like to read it.. thanks again for your encouragement to read brother karamazov.. great book!

Posted by: james | May 31 2021 16:16 utc | 91

@ Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 31 2021 3:34 utc | 44
The problem with Zionism is that it puts itself in a situation where it becomes dependent on constant and periodical military victories against the Palestinians merely to survive as it is. It became a very fragile house of cards.
Apartheid merely is the syncretism between Zionism (or any other racial supremacist ideology, it doesn’t matter which) and Liberal Democracy. It is the synthesis between Zionism’s necessity to assert racial supremacy (of the Jews over the rest) while keeping Liberal Democracy’s capacity to exploit free (wage) labor. The result is a society where Israeli Arabs (absorbed Palestinians) exist as cheap, overexploited labor power, but not as citizens. But here the recipe for social unrest is bred, a pressure pan building up every decade, due to capitalism’s natural decline and increased racial-political repression (one feeding the other, in a vicious cycle).
Israel is toasted. It is toasted because, paraphrasing Putin, Zionism is a naive and very dangerous dream. The times of the utopian, promised land of the immigrant Jew working on a kibbutz and living happily ever after in the oasis propagandized during the 1960s are over.

Posted by: vk | May 31 2021 16:34 utc | 92

Same Player shoot again…

Ryanair plane diverted to Berlin over ‘potential threat’
Passengers on Dublin-Krakow flight arrive at destination after seven-hour delay
about 9 hours ago
A Ryanair flight from Ireland to Poland was diverted to Berlin after the crew were warned of a “potential security threat” on the plane, the airline has said.
German air traffic control warned the crew of the Dublin-Krakow flight of the potential threat on Sunday, Ryanair said in a statement.
It said the captain followed procedures and diverted to Berlin, the nearest airport.
Passengers were taken off the plane “to facilitate extensive security checks of passengers and all baggage”, the airline said.
Once they were cleared, passengers were flown to Krakow on a spare plane after a seven-hour delay.
German federal police said early on Monday morning that their deployment was finished, but declined to give details of what led to it, news agency dpa reported.
A search of the plane found nothing untoward. – AP
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/ryanair-plane-diverted-to-berlin-over-potential-threat-1.4579768

WTF? no nervous breakdown? No fury? no “forcibly”?
1/ Ooooh yes, Berlin.Freeworld. Alles In Ordnung!
2/ the captain followed procedures….So, Ryanair’s procedures are well prepared.
3/ Why captain for AF4978 doesn’t followed the same procedures?

Posted by: Rêver | May 31 2021 16:58 utc | 93

@pogoshere 18

The Davos Crowd’s agenda to make the world safe for communism and the Green New Deal

“The Davos crowd” and communism, what did you smoke? Those guys are as anticommunists as every fascist and Nazi in the world, the Greens in particular.
While it is a tragedy what became of the left, the right seem stupid as ever.

Posted by: aquadraht | May 31 2021 17:07 utc | 94

Re: The great game of information… TIMING
All important information is strategic in geopolitics. Whenever a nation releases any high value information, the few immediate questions to think about are: why now, who benefits, what impact,…
“Danish secret service helped US spy on Germany’s Angela Merkel,” news was released yesterday. Why now? When there is the Dollar Empire who need enemies. It is great to see shenanigans of this Empire being exposed, and the Empire and its Orcs CREDIBILITY fall further in the negative region. Our world is seeing its moral, intellectual and financial BANKRUPTCY.
When will Belarus release some important information? A few days before the Biden-Putin meeting?

Posted by: Max | May 31 2021 17:14 utc | 95

Mr. Max | May 31 2021 17:14 utc | 95
Belarus is a Russian protectorate that will not do anything unless approved a d endorsed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
I am curious on how Russians will proceed to destroy Ukraine as the events of the past 2 months indicated that a nominally independent Ukraine is a Clear&Present Danger to the Russian Federation.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 17:21 utc | 96

Fyi–
” Russians will proceed to destroy Ukraine as the events of the past 2 months indicated”
Do you mean the Ukrainian threat to retake Crimea and kill all Russian speakers in the East? That two months?

Posted by: arby | May 31 2021 17:30 utc | 97

@ Fyi | May 31 2021 17:21 utc | 96
Yes, Belarus is a Russian protectorate. Lukashenko can strengthen Putin’s position in the Biden-Putin meeting by exposing sensitive information under Russia’s guidance, or providing it to Putin and thereby strengthening his hand in the discussion. Isn’t Belarus going to be one of the discussions item?
Russia has defined its red lines clearly for Belarus and Ukraine. No interference in Belarus and no NATO for Ukraine and Georgia. Putin will ask Biden’s support in implementing the Minsk agreement.
Russia has no intention of destroying Ukraine but stabilizing the situation. Who are the power players involved in the Ukraine crisis?

Posted by: Max | May 31 2021 17:44 utc | 98

Mr. arby | May 31 2021 17:30 utc | 98
Yes.
Russian leaders, in my opinion, were quite willing to leave Ukraine be. But NATO states decided to try their hand in a military assault on Russia via Ukraine.
They could try again, and again. Russia will not tolerate a permanent security threat from Ukraine. Her fate is sealed, in my opinion, and it will cease to exist in its current format on a schdule that is deemed appropriate by the Russian leaders.
So another UN member is destoyed because of Americans and the Russians.
During the rescue operations after the Bam earthquake on Christmas day 2003, Ukraine had fielded the largest medical facilities sent to Iran. I salute the Ukranians’ help and am sorry that they could not keep their country.

Posted by: Fyi | May 31 2021 17:52 utc | 99

“Belarus is a Russian protectorate”
Meh, not entirely. Luka is playing what they call a “multi-vector” game, flirting with all sides, Europe, US, Ukraine, China.
Not so much anymore, after the elections and the Ryanair op, but that’s his general strategy.

Posted by: Mao Cheng Ji | May 31 2021 17:56 utc | 100

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