Interesting read by Engdahl

One of the rare honest statements by Bill Gates was his remark in early 2021 that if you think covid measures are bad, wait until the measures for global warming. The European Union is in the process of imposing, top-down, the most draconian measures to date, that will effectively destroy modern industry across the face of the 27 states of the European Union.
Under cute names such as “Fit for 55” and European Green Deal, measures are being finalized in Brussels by unelected technocrats that will cause the worst industrial unemployment and economic collapse since the crisis of the 1930s. Industries such as automobile or transport, power generation and steel are on the chopping block, all for an unproven hypothesis called manmade global warming.

Fit for 55 — EU Green Deal and the Industrial Collapse of Europe

Posted by: Down South | Jul 15 2021 13:59 utc | 3

More drivel from the Guardian, the UK’s #1 birdcage liner. The US intel agencies leak
more cherry picked “reports” to friendly media to re-enforce the discredited Russiagate meme.
All they do when they push out this stream of consciousness gobbledygook is that they convince me that the Western governments & institutions are nonreformable.

Posted by: Kadath | Jul 15 2021 14:17 utc | 5

Good article on what is currently taking place in South Africa

The first arson “protests” at the weekend, in which 35 trucks were torched on the N3, which links Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal and is South Africa’s food and fuel route, started the darkest week of anarchy in the country’s recent history. Information has now emerged that this was planned by intelligence operatives and other cadres loyal to Jacob Zuma. The former president is jailed at the Estcourt Correctional Centre for contempt of court and his loyalists want him out.
“These are people with experience of running operations,” said Deputy State Security Minister Zizi Kodwa at a briefing on Wednesday. News24 reported that Zuma’s leading spymaster and the former ambassador to Japan, Thulani Dlomo, is one of 12 ringleaders being investigated by the police’s Crime Intelligence and by state intelligence as being the architects of a political campaign of which they have lost control.

Under investigation: Twelve masterminds planned and executed insurrection on social media, then lost control after looting spree

Posted by: Down South | Jul 15 2021 14:30 utc | 7

@1
hell of a read
isn’t it outstanding that this russkis aktualy reach 100% of their stated goals?
call me suspicious, but it reads like somebody constructed this with all the “knowledge” of the things russia supposedly did
but hey…. “it apears genuine”

Posted by: Kartoschka | Jul 15 2021 14:36 utc | 9

In re: EU Green Deal at #3
Engdahl is apparently a Climate Change denier. He also subscribes to the “Abiotic Oil” theory, which claims that oil is not biological in origin, but is formed by processes deep within the Earth’s mantle. Oil, according to Engdahl is therefore not a finite resource, but is inexhaustible, and Peak Oil is just a scam to increase profits for the oil industry.
So, to me at least, this guy doesn’t have any credibility. If the EU tries to enforce what he describes it will mean the end of European industry. When France tried to impose an additional tax on gasoline and diesel, riots ensued that lasted for months, and the plan had to be scrapped. If the EU persists with this, I imagine that the industrialized countries of Europe will start following England’s path, and depart the EU.
And if the EU doesn’t back down, it won’t do anything about emissions, as the affected industries will just move to China, India or elsewhere in Asia.
Antoinetta III

Posted by: Antoinetta III | Jul 15 2021 14:46 utc | 11

@1 Let me guess…they conveniently found these documents on a park bench in London, right? But hey, good on them….it only took them, what, five years to forge these documents. Pathetic.
This entire narrative continues to absolve Americans of any responsibility or agency. At the end of the day, Americans put Trump on the ballot and Americans voted for him. And regardless of any outside interference, the outcome was set the minute that Americans also decided to run Clinton.
I understand the British are terribly undone about being kicked out of the waters by Crimea and they need to have a very public tantrum about it and attempt to manipulate the poor, feeble minded Americans yet again to be concerned about their foreign policy. I would say that MI6 clearly hasn’t looked around the average American city recently or they’d know that Russia’s fictional antics are about the least concern of anyone. Totally pathetic though–like the UK is basically the scorned lover acting out and causing drama and nobody cares.

Posted by: Mataman | Jul 15 2021 14:51 utc | 13

i refuse to even open a guardian link… fuck them.. they ain’t getting any ad revenue thanks to me…

Posted by: james | Jul 15 2021 15:00 utc | 15

Colombia Reports: Colombia’s war crimes tribunal charged 15 members of a now-defunct army unit with the murder of 176 people and forced disappearance of 120 others. Among the charged former soldiers is convicted Colonel Hernan Mejia, who was named “Best Soldier of the Americas” twice and wants to run for president for the far-right Democratic Center party next year.
El Salvador Perspectives: On July 1, the US State Department released the long anticipated “Engel List” of corrupt figures in the Northern Triangle of Central America who will lose visa privileges to enter the US and can face other possible sanctions. The list is viewed by the administration as a tool against corruption which Washington believes is one root cause of migration towards the US. The Engel List included 14 individuals in El Salvador including several members of the government of president Nayib Bukele, who has been in a vocal dispute with the Biden administration over his government’s adherence to the rule of law.
Brasilwire: The recent visit to Brazil by the director of CIA William J. Burns was focused on planning against the rise of the Latin American left and also served for the US government to strengthen an anti-China offensive with the Bolsonaro government.
Cuba: Interview with Arturo Lopez-Levy.

Posted by: Maracatu | Jul 15 2021 15:16 utc | 17

Retaliation over the Balkans leak?
Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House
–//–
Bad news for China:
China’s GDP expands 7.9% in Q2, facing downward pressure in H2
There was a sharp decrease in growth (it was expected to grow 8.2%). If China wants to overcome the American menace, it will have to continue to grow much more, unless there’s another 2008 in the USA.
–//–
Russia reiterates the USA was behind July 11th protests in some 20 cities in Cuba:
US attempting to carry out color revolution scenario in Cuba — diplomat
You know the checklist: if it happens in a sunny weekend (preferably, a Sunday), if it happens after lunchtime (so everybody is well fed and full of energy), if there’s a twitterstorm happening at the same time, if there’s violence and vandalism even though they claim it is “peaceful”, if there’s a POTUS announcement in support of the protests the moment or the day after, it is a color revolution.
–//–
Russia-China ties surpass military-political alliances of Cold War period, says Lavrov

“I would like to fully share your assessment of our bilateral relations as the best ever. […] “Let me single out the quote from the statement, which stipulates that our ties today outpace the form of inter-state interaction that was the military-political alliances of the Cold War period. This is the most essential benchmark for our relations in all areas without exception,” he [Lavrov] said.

–//–
About the anarchic nature of the capitalist mode of production:
Xi’s squeeze taking the verve out of China Inc: President Xi’s team must strike a better balance between their control instincts and leaving capitalism alone to work its magic, by William Pesek, Asia Times (a pro big business Western newspaper)
It is striking that one of the most luring factors of capitalism nowadays is the belief that the system “works its magic”, i.e. is automatic, natural, unstoppable.
Well, that’s only true when a system is hegemonic. When it needed to destroy feudalism in order to be born, capitalism was all but automatic and natural. It had to drench the world in human blood for centuries in order to become “natural”.
It is also not automatic in the natural sense of the word. That’s why we choose the term “anarchic” instead. Capitalism is still a class-based society, it needs an elite and its middle class to operate the system non-stop in order to make it survive. The difference is that the capitalist class operates on individual impulse, devouring each other while the system goes on, but, since every capitalist operates with the same logic, the result is always the same from the societal point of view. But that’s not always true from the economic point of view: capitalism still has an entropy, its profit rate falls as a tendency, the more it successfully reproduces in the real world. That’s why structural crises such as the one from September 2008 happen.
–//–
How it was intended:
How Japan can help tackle East Asia’s coronavirus surge
How’s it going:
Pfizer vaccine crunch continues to trouble Japan’s inoculation efforts
Never put the cart before the oxen. Too grandiose plans won’t hide the fact Japan is in a very lamentable situation.
–//–
In a last act of desperation, Japan allows uterus transplants in order to mitigate its critically low birth rates:
Japanese medical body conditionally approves uterus transplants
Pitiful.
–//–
Why does inflation worry the right so much?
The neoliberal right-wing in fact does weaponize inflation. But each case is a case.
The problem with the USA right now is not that its inflation is 5.4% – the problem is that:
1) it was much lower some months ago;
2) it is the financial superpower, which means it has the USD Standard in its favor;
3) its economy is not heating. There’s absolutely nothing happening with the American economy right now (Biden’s infrastructure package has not even passed yet).
If your nation is growing at an extremely fast pace (10%+ per year), then an inflation of 4-5% is great – China had a 4% inflation for decades, the difference being it was growing 10%-17% per year through industrialization and infrastructure building.
That’s not what’s happening in the USA. All the Americans have done so far is to print money. This is a medicinal approach of the problem (start with the weaker drug, hoping for the organism to react by itself), but the thing is a national economy is not a human body, that’s not how economies work.
Biden is simply losing time while eroding America’s supremacy in the process.
–//–
This is how democracy dies: with a crazy propagandist’s op-ed column in the WaPo:
Corporate America must commit to action on voting rights, by Jennifer Rubin
Exit the Principate, enter the Dominate. Late Empire, here I come!
By the way, those newspapers should stop putting “opinion” on the side of these columns. If the opinioner is on your payroll and is posting for decades now, it is not an opinion anymore, its editorial (official) political position.
A pathetic way to avoid being judged by History (which won’t even work).
–//–
WHO declares 3rd wave of Covid-19 pandemic, says gains from vaccines have been reversed as Delta variant spreads
Good job, First World countries.
–//–
If You Don’t Like It – Drop a Bomb on It? Miami Mayor Urges US to Strike Cuba
This is not just a Cuban habit – the Venezuelan elite exiled in Florida also frequently petitions the Congress and Senate to send NATO to bomb Venezuela since Chavismo rose to power.
You guys from the First World don’t visualize it, but, here from the Third World, it is amazing how the USA acts like the capitalist version of the USSR for the right-wing and its elites. The elites and right-wing of the Third World countries are simply fascinated with the USA, they see it as the salvation, as the solution to all their problems. The USA is like their fairy godmother.
–//–
European Parliament approved a report on political relations with Russia: European Parliament Committee urged the European Union to prepare not to recognize the results of elections to the State Duma
The elections didn’t even happen and they’re already declared fraudulent by the EP.
My only conclusion here is the Europeans have developed a time machine: first the OPCW goes back in time, now the EP makes a resolution about a future event.
And yes, it was Lithuania who wrote the resolution.
–//–
Germany rejects the idea of ​​compensation to Ukraine for Nord Stream 2
The whole point for Germany to go through the pains of the NS-2 was to profit. If they were to pay compensation to the Ukraine, it would defeat this very purpose.
If think the Ukraine is now completely out of its depth. Complete descent into madness.
–//–
Fun read to relax for the day:
“America will not rise again”: why Americans are sure of this, by Dmitry Kosyrev

Posted by: vk | Jul 15 2021 15:27 utc | 19

What Did You Expect?

Belarus
Raman Pratasevich: the Belarus journalist captured by a fighter jet
Friends describe arrest of influential opposition journalist as an act of ‘personal revenge’ by the country’s president
By
Luke Harding and Andrew Roth in Moscow
Tue 25 May 2021 18.20 BST

BTW… Any news about Ryanair by OACI/ICAO?

Posted by: Rêver | Jul 15 2021 16:07 utc | 21

Posted by: Down South | Jul 15 2021 14:30 utc | 7
Since the violence is mostly (exclusively?) being driven by Zulu factions loyal to the Zuma clan, one silver lining (if any can be found!) is that it will be limited to provinces with a significant Zulu population:
Primarily KZN, secondarily Transvaal (large Zulu migrant worker population).
The Cape will be quiet, as well as the Northern Provinces where a strong Sotho and Tswana population abides.
Once this burns itself out Zuma’s tribal faction will be ripped out by the roots, especially as it becomes clear to the factions loyal to the Zulu King the extent Zuma is willing to go for his own selfish interests.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jul 15 2021 16:11 utc | 23

Regarding Antoinetta III and ‘abiotic’ oil.
The theory of ‘fossil’ fuel, which is supposed to come from biomass from billions of years ago, actually has no scientific basis.
Lots of scientists have shown quite rigorously that this presumed process in fact flies in the face of basic thermodynamic principles. The formidable Soviet scientific establishment first proved this during the 1950s. And many prominent scientists have since confirmed that.
Here is the simplified science. It takes extremely high temperatures and pressures to produce hydrocarbons [oil and gas etc] from biomass. See the Fischer-Tropf process, an industrial process to create synthetic fuel from gasified biomass [wood] or coal.
These very high temps and pressures are NOT present at depths beneath the surface where life ever existed. Not even a fraction of what is thermodynamically required.
Besides that, today we have extremely deep wells drilling tens of kilometers beneath the surface and extracting hydrocarbons. No fossils nor any kind of life has ever existed at such depths. In simple terms, the ‘fossil’ fuel theory has already been disproved as a practical matter.
The required pressures and temperatures required to create the very long hydrocarbon chains of petroleum exist only at much greater depths. Primal hydrogen and carbon does exist at those depths, as do the thermodynamic conditions of high temperatures and pressures to join them in those long chains.
Science does advance and evolve. The postulation of ‘fossil’ fuels that come from biomass was put forth well over one hundred years ago, with really no thermodynamic proof [a science which itself was still evolving rapidly at that time.]
So just because Engdahl, who does have an engineering degree, says abiotic oil is more likely than fossil fuel, does not undermine his credibility. He is joined by many prominent scientists in this.
That does not mean that he doesn’t sometimes write nonsense. For instance, he recently joined the ‘China will collapse’ crowd with a completely ridiculous article. But those misfires are usually few and far between. Most of the time, his inquiries are worth reading.

Posted by: Gordog | Jul 15 2021 16:34 utc | 25

Did the Dead Ducks die from Golden Showers?
The Guardian article being discussed (see @1)
is another fine example of the torrent of ceaseless Golden Showers journalism (GSj).
But wait! The Dead Ducks! It is not always GSj.
Remember when the NYT told a true lie?
The NYT truthfully reported on a lie that CIA Director Haspel told President Donald Trump.
To be fair to the NYT, they truthfully recounted an interaction between CIA Director Haspel and President Donald Trump,
as told to them. Whether they knew or cared whether the interaction was in the service of a lie (the official Skripal Narrative)
is a whole other question.
The NYT had reported that CIA Director Haspel showed President Donald Trump pictures that Haspel had been given
from the Brits of hospitalized children and Dead Ducks that were collateral damage in the poisoning of the Skripals.
The Golden Showers newsrags can report truthfully when it serves their overseers.
Good for you, NYT, for accurately taking dictation and reporting on something that actually happened.
But then, Oh! NYT, you couldn’t sit on your laurels. You had to go and retract your one truthful report
and replace it with a face palm worthy excuse (a lie).
It would seem that the Brits had shared the pictures early on with the CIA when the Skripal narrative/tall tale was still being
fine tuned. The Brits Skripal narrative would eventually have no need for hospitalized children and Dead Ducks.
And certainly no use for any pictures from the narrative’s first draft.
So the NYT initially told a true lie, but then true to form,
corrected the true lie and gave it’s readers a lie about a true lie.
Confusing? Certainly.
Just remember that the Golden Showers journalists are lying
but when they are caught telling the truth …
well…then they will tell a new lie.
This article goes a long way in untangling this. It did for me.
The best rebuttal to the NYT’s poisoning of the Dead Ducks story
is for the patient.
https://theduran.com/nyt-covers-up-cia-skripal-lie-with-even-worse-cia-skripal-lie-video/

Posted by: librul | Jul 15 2021 16:39 utc | 27

What are your ideas to address the Monetary System & Imperialism?
Posted by: Max | Jul 15 2021 16:32 utc | 24
Thank you for your comment, but I’m not interested in talking to you about it. Nothing personal, just don’t have time to answer a lot of questions. I appreciate the opportunity to say what I think, mainly.
Are you some sort of teacher? I have a lot of teachers in my immediate family.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 15 2021 16:49 utc | 29

Posted by: vk | Jul 15 2021 16:48 utc | 28
That’s all true, more or less, and it doesn’t change what I said. I quite agree about Carter. Hand picked at the time, I would guess. Volker was necessary for Raygun to happen, somebody had to buy all that debt. Inflation was necessary for Raygun to happen too. Leaving the gold standard was necessary for all that followed. Funny money is funny money, that’s what we choose here. And the history of funny money is clear. Inflation was well on it’s way by 1970, I was there, in a good union job at the time.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 15 2021 16:56 utc | 31

@Gordog | Jul 15 2021 16:34 utc | 25
Great post! I agree 100%

Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 15 2021 17:00 utc | 33

News from the first world
https://www.inform.kz/en/covid-distance-learning-caused-major-harm-to-italian-kids-education-report_a3812194
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealands-ardern-chair-special-leaders-meeting-pandemic-2021-07-12/

Posted by: Mina | Jul 15 2021 17:15 utc | 35

@Gordog #25
I think it is extremely simplistic and likely to be wrong to assume either theory is 100% right (and thus the other is 100%) wrong.
Along other things: we have lots of evidence of heavy plant material buildup in relatively recent geologic time: peat accumulations around the world.
We also know that the Earth’s ecosystem was a lot more productive in the past with high CO2 levels.
The geologic age of those era is more than sufficient for super peat beds to be pushed underground by geological processes like plate drift – for which we also have abundant evidence that it occurred.
Does abiotic oil exist? There is no reason why it shouldn’t.
However, to say that it is responsible for all or most of existing oil and natural gas deposits seems ambitious. What were the mechanisms by which carbon rich rock convert to hydrocarbons in localized setups?
Short answer is: It isn’t clear to me but most importantly: it doesn’t matter.
What we do know, very clearly, is that there are a huge amount of known oil and natural gas resources which are economically in feasible to exploit now.
But does gasoline really need to be cheaper than milk?
Not that I’m advocating deliberately high gas prices: gas prices = transport and heat cost = one of the most regressive costs faced by regular people.

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 15 2021 17:25 utc | 37

@Max #24
Your thinking is seriously flawed.
First of all, default is a very specific lega term.
The United States *never* needs to default in its USD debts because it can print infinite dollars.
Secondly, you are assuming unilateral control over the outcome by the US.
This is a mistake because the avalanche isn’t under the US’ control. If some significant part of the ROW decided they don’t trust the USD anymore, there is nothing the US can do to neutralize those returning dollars without ginormous changed in the US laws and society. Think China style monetary controls.
I think that is never going t fallen short of a liters revolution.
Then there’s the assumption that there are sane adults in charge making rational decisions for the common good.
It seems clear to me that this is a very, very flawed assumption.

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 15 2021 17:31 utc | 39

@Bemildred #38
I think you’re being simplistic.
Nixon took the US out of its own Bretton Woods in 1971.
The start of the overt renter/neoliberal movement began with Reagan in 1981.
That’s a decade and 3 Presidents later.
The Democratic Party in that era, and realistically until Bill Clinton became President in 1996 – still had a working man focus.
The oligarchy as we see today thus really didn’t come into being until a long time after Nixon.

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 15 2021 17:39 utc | 41

c1ue: @41
A decade of preparation, yeah, like I said. Nixon, Ford, Carter. End of Bretton Woods, Opening to China, inflation run wild, all of it started then, towards the end, the retreat from Vietnam. We lost. That could not be dealt with. You can go into detail if you want, I don’t need to, like I said, I was there, and I knew by the time I was ten this country is owned and run by crooks. I mean Vietnam made it pretty obvious. The question was: Were they smart enough to fold and reform, and try again another day, realize they had to take care of ALL there people it they wanted to compete. They were not willing. They like being unaccountable. They don’t like competition, whatever they say. They choose violence and deceit. So they lost. It may take a while, but it happens.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 15 2021 17:50 utc | 43

@Bemildred #43
Fair enough, you have your view and you are entitled to it.
My own view from looking at the detailed documents of the period – the internal discussions and what not – is exactly that far more of what happened, happened as responses to bad decisions made in the past as opposed to some nefarious, brilliant plan or to some lucky/unusual/extraordinary person.
Reagan was that person. California’s legislature has been controlled by Democrats continuously since 1959 – the sole exceptions were 1969-1971 – note Reagan was elected governor in 1967 and left in 1975.
Given this – is it so surprising that he won the Republican nomination in 1980? And that his presence turned America politically conservative during his era?
I’d note unironically that Reagan ran on “Make America Great”…

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 15 2021 18:23 utc | 45

Oops at Arch Bungle 23

Posted by: Down South | Jul 15 2021 18:35 utc | 47

@ c1ue (#44), again you misconstrue, misrepresents and mislead without answering questions and providing any evidence, because they will DEBUNK your cockamamie opinions and most likely LIES.
It is not my definition of “technical default.” It is the professionals in the financial, monetary and economic spheres, including John F Kennedy.
JFK, worried about two things: a nuclear war and gold window default.
John Kennedy wanted to address this challenge proactively. He signed an executive order (11110) authorizing the Treasury Secretary to continue printing silver certificates during the transition period. In summary, they saw the DEFAULT COMING. You’re wrong in your assertion that they didn’t see the default coming.
In fact, Huey Long saw these challenges during depression and even the Fed Chairperson, Marriner Eccles, the 7th Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, in his testimony to the Senate Committee on the Investigation of Economic Problems in 1933. Remember, we have Americans that are smart but MARGINALIZED by the lackeys of the Financial Empire.
Similarly, many of us have been raising issues of the COMING DEFAULT since 2010 and the threat to the US$ as a global reserve currency. We wanted the challenges to be addressed proactively, so it is addressed without huge cost to Americans. However, the lackeys of the Financial Empire have their own plans.
You won’t answer the questions, “What are the key characteristics of the short-term (7-10 yrs), medium-term (35-45 yrs) and long-term (80-100 yrs) DEBT/CREDIT CYCLES? Which cycle(s) will be ending?“ because it will REVEAL the challenges & end of the US$ as the global reserve currency. Will the Establishment and Empire’s lackeys pretend they didn’t see it coming?
The average age of the global reserve currency is 94 years (80-110 years). Why? Where is the US$ in the reserve currency lifecycle? The 1971 was the mid-point. When is the ENDPOINT?
Not interested in your digression as your LIES are being exposed. Stop your nonsense.

Posted by: Max | Jul 15 2021 18:47 utc | 49

Pepe Escobar tells us what happened in Dushanbe at the SCO Foreign Ministers confab. China’s Wang Yi:
“Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi laid out the basic road map to his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Haneef Atmar. While stressing the Chinese foreign policy gold standard – no interference in internal affairs of friendly nations – Wang established three priorities:
“1. Real inter-Afghan negotiations towards national reconciliation and a durable political solution, thus preventing all-out civil war. Beijing is ready to ‘facilitate’ dialogue.
“2. Fighting terror – which means, in practice, al-Qaeda remnants, ISIS-Khorasan and the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Afghanistan should not be a haven for terrorist outfits – again.
“3. The Taliban, for their part, should pledge a clean break with every terrorist outfit….
“Overall, the official Beijing stance is that all negotiations should be ‘Afghan-owned and Afghan-led.'”
The three points were agreed to as the clear starting point. It seems Russia based on its Syrian experience is suggesting a longer term pragmatic approach as my suggestion of a one year coalition is too short and unrealistic:
“The main Russian point is that Kabul and the Taliban should try to form a provisional coalition government for the next 2-3 years while they negotiate a permanent agreement.”
And what will be crucial given the Taliban as members of a coalition government:
“Another very important point is that once ‘substantive’ intra-Afghan negotiations resume, a mechanism should be launched to clear the Taliban of UN Security Council sanctions.”
And that’s where interference by the Outlaw Anglo Empire will likely emerge to further the chaos it loves to impart. But the meeting wasn’t all about Afghanistan, and Pepe fills us in on that too.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 15 2021 19:10 utc | 51

@Down South | Jul 15 2021 18:52 utc | 50
Yes, it is consistent with what I said @30, and you quote him saying:

Earth climate is constantly changing, correlated to changes in the emission of solar flares or sunspot cycles affecting Earth climate.

Still, some people manage to call anyone who says this a “climate change denier”, it is deeply dishonest.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 15 2021 20:35 utc | 53

The basic illogic of the “Earth’s climate is always changing”:
– Hiker hears a boot make contact with a rock above him and is hit with a rock on the head, looks up and sees smirking man with rock dust on his foot
– Logic: That man dislodged that rock!
– Illogic: Rocks fall all the time!
In previous times the Earth’s climate has changed, due to such things as the regular changes in the way the Earth goes around the Sun and natural releases of greenhouse gases. Now humanity is releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gases and the climate is warming up, because greenhouse gases warm up the atmosphere – something we have known about since the nineteenth century. This is why we have the scientific method, peer review, etc. etc.
As for abiotic oil and the standard reasoning for fossil fuels being incorrect, please provide some actual scientific papers from some reputable journals.

Posted by: Roger | Jul 15 2021 21:31 utc | 55

Posted by: suzan | Jul 15 2021 21:32 utc | 56
Yes, I remember that too. Social engineering. Nice addition. 🙂

Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 15 2021 21:38 utc | 57

@ ‘Roger’, who demands peer-reviewed papers on abiotic oil.
FYI, the professional literature is now fully *searchable* …new thing called ‘google’. 🙃

Posted by: Gordog | Jul 15 2021 21:43 utc | 59

I’d note unironically that Reagan ran on “Make America Great”…
Posted by: c1ue | Jul 15 2021 18:23 utc | 45
I recall him running on “ending the deficit” twice no less.
I believe that the exact opposite happened.

Posted by: arby | Jul 15 2021 22:59 utc | 61

Posted by: arby | Jul 15 2021 23:03 utc | 62
Indeed. The American war on Vietnam created an unsustainable fiscal situation, increasing US foreign indebtedness, making it impossible to continue cashiering out gold for dollars as some astute European parties challenged. I assume Volcker was well informed of these matters when he advised Nixon to go off the gold standard.

Posted by: suzan | Jul 15 2021 23:24 utc | 63

The U.S. getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan so fast has got me scratching my head. Overall, it looks to me like Biden’s brain trust realizes the wheels are coming off and Russia, China and the BRI are not only unstoppable, but the U.S. imperial forces will be run over if they don’t get out first. So they throw the hot potato to Erdogan and to the Brits and Israelis and now they are more focused on Latin America. Vicky Nuland can give Uncle Joe some updates.
Latin American Pivot
Biden is more neo-con than Obama. By that I mean he has been selling his soul to the banksters and the Daddy Warbucks killer machines for 45 years non-stop while Obama was more like a quick fill in and then got out with a bunch of loot and movie star friends and a mansion in Martha’s vinyard. Biden will focus on Latin America as a neo-con . He will go back to what he believes were his creations: Plan Colombia and Plan Biden, same thing: a Mario Puzo “Godfather” type of plan that offers lots of money, arms, training and some back-up to thugs who are willing to betray and kill and dominate their own people in return for power. It’s the devil’s offer and Biden can play the Marlon Brando or the Sonny or the Michal Corleon part… at least he thinks he can.
Look at Colombia. Look at Haiti. Look at Honduras. Guatemala. Those countries followed the U.S. imperial orders and now they are distopic, drug infested, gang controlled hellholes but virtually everyone in Latin America now knows that! Latin Americans– unlike the half asleep U.S. citizens who are either “woke” or “redneck”– Latin Americans are very aware that their choice to support the U.S. mafia or to stand up together for sovereignty is a life or death choice. The ones who choose the U.S. are basically the born rich elites who are tied to Miami and are working with NGOs and CIA or their cutouts. The masses know that Kamala’s icy order “Do not come! Do not come!” translates to “We are sending money and support to the elites. They will take care of you.”
Bottom line, Biden’s Latin American pivot is DOA. Next step: hot wars.

Posted by: migueljose | Jul 16 2021 0:22 utc | 65

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/07/14/not-invited-targeted-nato-excluded-belarus-russia-from-32-nation-partnership-meeting/
Not Invited: Targeted. NATO Excluded Belarus, Russia from 32-Nation Partnership Meeting.
by Rick Rozoff
“Lieutenant Hans-Werner Wiermann, Director General of the NATO International Military Staff, held a meeting of NATO partner states …in Brussels, Belgium on July 14.
The get-together was designed to evaluate the results of the June 14 NATO summit and to enhance existing military partnership programs, of which NATO has several throughout the world.
The NATO heads of state and government gathered for the summit stressed, Wiermann said, the need to “enhance existing relations with Partners as well as develop new partnerships around the world, including in Africa, Asia and Latin America.” As Europe and North America are already NATO-subjugated territory, the bloc has charted out the rest of the world for the expansion of its influence, presence and activity.
…
During the height of the war in Afghanistan when NATO had over 100,000 troops from more than 50 nations serving under its command, the military bloc held meetings of chiefs of defense staff (CHODS) at its headquarters with the military heads of almost 70 nations.
The international community is either completely unaware of or has become acclimatized to much of the world being enmeshed in a global U.S.-dominated military network under the NATO aegis. There has never been anything even remotely comparable to it in history. It represents a military alliance of an order of magnitude hitherto unimaginable. All the belligerent nations in World War I and World War II together are a fraction of NATO’s thirty members and forty partners and more in the offing.
The last sentence in the report of the above event on the NATO webpage reads: “All partners from the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council [Partnership for Peace], the Mediterranean Dialogue, the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and the Partners across the globe framework were invited to this meeting with the exception of Russia and Belarus.”

Posted by: daffyDuct | Jul 16 2021 1:20 utc | 67

Reading an excellent book on the failure of the South American “Pink Tide” by Fabio Luis Barbosa dos Santos, “Power And Impotence: A History of South America Under Pregressivism (1998-2016). It covers all of the countries in surprising detail, a really incredible amount of work went into the book, it even covers changes in Cuba during the period. Well worth the read.

Posted by: Roger | Jul 16 2021 1:36 utc | 69

@Roger | Jul 16 2021 1:24 utc | 68
When you behave like a bully it is an admission of no real arguments. Please carry on.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 16 2021 7:07 utc | 71

@Down South | Jul 16 2021 7:28 utc | 72
Thank you, that’s an important quote for serious people to contemplate. This information has been available for many years, but political ideology has trumped facts so far.
Now, consider the ‘science’ behind the de-industrialization and destruction of the west.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 16 2021 7:50 utc | 73

@Down South | Jul 16 2021 8:20 utc | 74

They then went to Vietnam in the 1980s and offered to finance drilling costs to show their new geological theory worked. The Russian company Petrosov drilled in Vietnam’s White Tiger oilfield offshore into basalt rock some 17,000 feet down and extracted 6,000 barrels a day of oil to feed the energy-starved Vietnam economy

Yes, ref. my comment @30 about vietnamese oil in granite (basalt and granite rocks are roughly the same, both igneous). This is well known, except in circles who prefer not to know.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 16 2021 8:33 utc | 75

Interesting article by Gilad Atzmon in the Unz review on Israel’s problems with the Pfizer vaccine.
https://www.unz.com/gatzmon/a-catastrophe-unveils-itself/
Apparently the “delta variant” infects the vaccinated more than the unvaccinated by a 5/1 ratio in June/July. This suggests that the Pfizer vaccine may be leading to an uptick in cases, as the ratio ought to be 6/4 if Vaccinate/unvaccinated infections were equal according to Gilad.
Something to look forward to as the summer progresses, I suppose. No wonder Pfizer is pushing for a booster. Happy enough with my Sinovac.

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Jul 16 2021 9:46 utc | 77

Regarding the abiotic origin of oil (and natural gas), it has to be considered that the rate of generation is not likely to match our current rate of extraction. If these hydrocarbons are indeed being generated somewhere inside the earth, they must have been for aeons. It logically follows that the rate of formation would be slow, or else we would be drowning in the stuff.
In light of the ever growing world population rightly demanding its fair share of the hydrocarbon energy supply, it is inevitable that western countries will have to tone down and ration their excessive consumption.
Having said that, let’s get on to the colorful part of this post.
Unlike some “academic researchers” (read pimply dorkish phd students), I estimate that abiotic oil is a more reasonable hypothesis than fossil oil. In truth, we know more about outer space than we know about the inner of our planet. And we know precious little about space anyway.
All our theories about the inner workings of the sun and the stars are just theories, with no experimental backing(*) – as long as we cannot gauge into the sun we are unable to even define experimental conditions, let alone recreate. (*)But there’s lots of backing from the military/atomic industry: “look, our sun is an atomic bomb too – aren’t atomic bombs cute and familiar? Hey naive phd wannabe, try to calculate a bit for us on ‘the sun’s innards’ – it’s for the good of humanity.”)
The fossil origin of oil is mostly a naive extension of our longer standing knowledge about superficial coal deposits, that do contain plenty of fossilized remains of plants and animals. Dinosaur fossils found in coal deposits could well be the source for much of the archetypal dragon imagery. Even though we find many fossilized remains in coal, we really have no idea about the processes that caused and shaped these deposits, just speculations- and dragons.
More than 99% of academic orthodoxy concerning what’s out there and in here is entirely unverifiable speculation and likely more than 95% of it is unadulterated bollox that remains uncontested largely due to a total absence of facts, pro or contra, and the highly effective suppresion of dissent in the academic world. It would seem that our main progress since the middle ages has been that we have stopped burning heretics at the stake and are now content with banishment and silencing. Epicycles are the dogma. “Eppur si muove” only on places like xivra.org.
After all that foaming at the mouth, I’ll now declare how much of a witch I really am by mentioning an unspeakable heresy: the theory of the expanding earth.
That’s right, we can literally see suboceanic expansion areas everywhere, but the theorized subduction zones are still hypothetical. Look up a map of seafloor area dating and figure what’s going on down there. Check how antarctica is circled by expansion ridges only. Search for that cute animation showing how all the contients fit together perfectly – on an earth half the current size.
Somehow matter appears to be generated inside the planet. We currently do not understand how this happens. Not only hydrocarbons are being generated, water and our atmosphere come from below as well, and a lot more of those too, as most of the planet is covered with water and air, not with oil and natural gas.
The hypothetical cometary origin of earth’s water has lately become completely untenable. In recent decades, we have been able to send probes and close-up imaging systems to several comets. All turned out to be pitch black and bone dry dusty rocks. The imagined water is only present in the cometary coma, mostly as hydroxyl radicals, possibly formed as a combination of interplanetary protons (from the sun) and oxygen atoms sputtered from the surface of the comet.

Posted by: Lurk | Jul 16 2021 13:19 utc | 79

migueljose @Jul16 11:19 #78
You are still not applying any thought to what you hear.

• How is it that Moise is disliked by both the people AND the oligarchs?
  It appears to me (and I’ve been writing of this at moa for several days) that the ruling establishment never liked Moise and there was a deliberate attempt to make the country ungovernable – essentially punishing the people for electing him while creating propaganda against Moise.
• How is Moise anything like Noriega or Sadaam?
  You are comparing Moise to long-term thugs. Anyone that briefly peruses the wikipedia entries for Moise and these thugs can immediately tell that Moise was nothing like these two.
  Moise was democratically elected in a political system that was not favorable to him. He was a newcomer to politics with no military or intelligence background.
  The Haitian Constitution allowed him to “ruled by decree” in certain circumstances and he was forced to do so because the oligarch-friendly political system all but shutdown to stymie his rule.
• Claud Joseph is just as bad? WTF?
  Joseph is likely to be one of the coup-plotters that murdered Moise (or he is their puppet). He is 100% a tool of the oligarchs and USA. There is no comparison with Moise.
• local oligarchs were involved in the killing; U.S…. was in favor
  No one has provided any reasonable explanation of WHY oligarchs and USA felt that they had to kill Moise. Such a move is not undertaken lightly.
  We can surmise that Moise was a threat to their interests. A threat so dire that they had to take action. In all likelihood, Moise was doing what he said he was doing: trying to change the deeply corrupt oligarch-friendly system that kept Haiti impoverished.
• Barbeque … oopsie!?
  Your wrong impression of Barbeque is one of several things that should alert you to the games that are being played by the oligarch-friendly media and political establishment.
  If one looks at what has occurred over the last year or so, one can see a clear progression to the assassination. Barbeque was brought back in May and turmoil increased dramatically as a result. It’s not difficult to see that he was returned to intimidate the people – a visible reminder that the killings could start again if they don’t go along with the new government.

IMO there is a great deal of propaganda/disinfo about Moise and what has been going on in Haiti. No one should accept news reports at face value. Nor can you trust what people tell you if that person is also getting their info from oligarch-friendly news reports.
I encourage everyone to listen to Moise’s speeches and interviews (I have previously linked to Moise’s Al Jazeera interview and UN speech). If you do, you’ll find that Moise is thoughtful and dedicated himself to changing an oligarchic-friendly system that has kept Haiti impoverished.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jul 16 2021 13:48 utc | 81

‘Death Spiral’: Ex-Labour Voters Don’t Even Know Who Keir Starmer Is
I called it from the beginning.
Sir Keir Starmer is, by far, the most artificial, the most in-your-face double agent Labour leader in the party’s history.
Only the most liberal ideologue Londoner middle classes believe he’s the natural choice for the Labour party. The guy is obviously put there by some dark forces of the British deep state. He came directly from The Guardian and The Independent pages to the leadership of the party.
–//–
Debunking the most popular fake news against Cuba:
Detector de mentiras activado: noticias falsas contra Cuba durante estos días (+Video)
–//–
Norwegians Fear Putin More Than Xi, Kim, Biden – Survey
I understand the Russians are the natural geopolitical enemies of the Norwegians (you only have to look at the map), but it still surprises me the enthusiasm with which Norway embraces NATO. Like, you lost your sovereignty either way – just because your master is in the other side of the Atlantic, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist.

Posted by: vk | Jul 16 2021 15:14 utc | 83

@Bemildred #48
Fair enough.
And I would still note: medieval feudalism couldn’t compete primarily because the newly arisen industrialists controlled the fruits of automation – whereas medieval feudalism was created to control the fruits of agriculture.
However, feudalism itself isn’t dead. Dr. Michael Hudson has noted many times that banksters today are the modern equivalent of the robber barons of Normandy. Instead of taking 30% of the peasant’s crop and being responsible for security, infrastructure, etc – the banksters are taking far more (FIRe is well over 40% of the US economy now) without providing anything in return.

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 16 2021 15:38 utc | 85

The true reason why the West doesn’t call China “socialist” or “communist”:
Biden: Communism is a failed system… and I don’t see socialism as a very useful substitute but that’s another story
If you admit China is socialist (or, the far-right denomination, “communist”), then you’re giving up the only narrative that saves capitalism in the long term: the idea of the end of History. That would be a too big of a price to pay for the capitalists, even at the return of completely isolating and ultimately destroying China.
That’s also why the EU designates China by the bizarre and obscure term “State Capitalism”.

Posted by: vk | Jul 16 2021 15:42 utc | 87

@Max #49
JFK was a poser; Mariner Eccles was awesome but he held sway only during FDR.
What you still can’t seem to grasp is that for every Eccles, there is an entire oligarchy worth of banksters – just as the original economist reformers: JS Mill, Ricardo, Malthus, Marx, Veblen etc were countered by several generations of hordes of endowed chairs of economists such as Simon Patton – the first economics professor at Wharton, or Milton Friedman, or Krugman, or the libertarian offshoots von Mises and Hayek.
The former were people looking at economic flows both to try and understand them, but also to prescribe better flows which benefited society.
The latter are shills – knowingly or unknowingly – who carry out intellectual justification for the battle against progressivism.
It took 40 years – but Glass Steagall was eventually officially repealed. Not only was it repealed, it was predicted to be repealed in the most blatant way possible: Citibank’s multibillion dollar merger with Traveller’s insurance – a blatantly illegal act under Glass Steagall but which Robert Rubin predicted would be made legal. He was not only right, he became a Treasury Secretary.
So it is true – the CFR and what not aren’t completely useless.
What they are good for is understand what the American oligarchy believes it can do (always positioned as should do).
The problem is – while these beliefs are moderately accurate when describing purely internal American machine politics – they’re utterly worthless when it comes to anything which requires non-American acquiescence.
JFK didn’t accomplish diddly – nor would he have should he not have been assassinated.
Eccles’ accomplishments were reversed – some within a generation of his era, the last only recently – but they were still reversed. This is “democracy” in action.
So yet again: the problem of the USD falling out of reserve status – whether for general trade, hedge against foreigner’s own currency, petrodollar, central bank reserves, etc – it is a problem outside of the US’ control with the exception of ceasing idiotic policies.
But of course, the idiotic policies have been ongoing for my entire lifetime – why again will they stop?

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 16 2021 15:53 utc | 89

@arby #61
You are entirely correct.
But the reality is that Reagan was so successful not because he was smart or capable, but because he was extremely charismatic.
That’s one thing an actor should be good at, after all.

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 16 2021 15:55 utc | 91

@Roger #55
This is probably a waste of time, but still:
1) The climate is changing – agreed and true.
2) Is the change unprecedented? It has been warmer both in the last 100 years (1930s) and in human history (Roman, Medieval warm periods).
3) Is the change entirely human-caused, when we have so much evidence of warmer periods before the massive fossil fuel usage of the past 1.5 generations
4) Even assuming all the warming is human-caused and due to fossil fuels, the so-called climate science mainstream today has these multiple problems:
a) Climate models: The nice graphs you see for a given model always exist because said latest generation model is “updated” to reflect reality (i.e. backtuned); the models, when actually predicting, were totally wrong. These models have been 100% wrong for literally 25 years. They have uniformly, consistently predicted far higher temperatures than have actually occurred.
b) Even if we use the existing models to predict the future, assuming somehow that they will suddenly become accurate, the impact of a total cessation of all fossil fuel usage in the US and Europe would impact future temperatures by around 0.1 degrees. Given that 2.5 degrees or 4 degrees or whatever nonsense is supposed to be climate doom – why again does it matter?

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 16 2021 16:09 utc | 93

Fair enough.
Yes, the rise of the money economy was not in the interests of the feudal lords or their peasants, although some did make the transition. But the Kings liked it. It opened up new possibilities for them.
Feudal relations are still very popular though, nothing like having minions, for some, our CEOs are the new feudal lords here. I had some minions for a while doing software engineering, it was interesting and I did well, but I didn’t like it.
I think there is something like that in human nature, we are very social animals. And Mr. Cleary details how those old feudal trinkets and honors still carry weight in certain classes.
Best Regards.
Posted by: c1ue | Jul 16 2021 15:38 utc | 85

Posted by: Bemildred | Jul 16 2021 16:26 utc | 95

@c1ue | Jul 16 2021 16:09 utc | 93
Thanks, nice compact summary!

Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 16 2021 16:35 utc | 97

Yet another example of MSM nonsense:
I had stated, repeatedly, since June 2020 that secondary causes of death (i.e. non-COVID) were spiking. The usual MSM crap said, no – the usual defenders of the limousine liberals also said so.
It seems the data is showing otherwise:
Opioid deaths up in 2020

EMS overdose death data jibed well with those from the CDC (r, 0.98), which showed a spike in overdose deaths from May 2019 through May 2020, at 81,684. When the COVID-19 pandemic and its attendant social isolation and instability took hold, the United States was already several decades into an accelerating overdose crisis fueled by the more easily smuggled opioid fentanyl, with a 2019 total of more than 70,000 overdoses.
If the historical link between EMS observed and total deaths holds true, the authors said, the CDC could eventually report roughly 90,632 overdose deaths for all of 2020.

It will take more time for the full data picture to come into focus, but it seems highly likely that there was a major increase in overdose deaths during COVID and its attendant lockdowns and other restrictions.

Posted by: c1ue | Jul 16 2021 16:48 utc | 99