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August 10, 2021
Open Thread 2021-61
Comments
Karlof, thanks! Yes, I did enjoy greatly today’s GT smackdown of ‘running dog’ Lithuania, lol! Thanks for your summaries of these news and analyses!
Paco, thanks also for your comments and links about the Belarus situation [also Karlof again, I did read that RT piece also].
I do like that GT is urging a united China-Russia front to ‘punish’ lickspittle Lithuania. That seems very meaningful to me, to state that publicly in what is indeed the ‘official’ voice of the CPC.
To me it says a lot about the level of alliance between the two—although I think Russia’s style is much more low-key and avoiding such harsh rhetoric. Good cop, bad cop, lol! 😸
Posted by: Gordog | Aug 11 2021 18:26 utc | 201
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 18:05 utc | 197
Confusing times for young people that’s for sure, and as expected Sapega did not have much to add except showing herself to the world as proof that Luka’s dungeons are not what the MSM paints them to be, to the contrary she looks young, healthy and in very good shape.
But not all my time was lost with that clip, things are always simpler than what they look at first sight and it all ends up with the old saying, follow the money. To introduce the story the chief of airports in Belarus is interviewed, and surprise surprise, he explains that after the construction of a second tarmac the Belarus government got an offer to sell the Minsk airport to European companies, offer that was declined. As explained all countries of the old Soviet space have gone through the same deal, sell your airport, privatize it, or else will be on top of you all the time, six times in a year the Minsk airport went through inspections in order not to fall in a black list conveniently created by the EU. Same old tricks, sell your assets, we put the price on them and on the subsequent services that we’ll offer you. There is no aesthetics anymore, ugliness prevails, ’cause even stealing can be done with elegance.
Posted by: Paco | Aug 11 2021 18:33 utc | 202
What’s happened in the post-Soviet space over the last 30 years is a boon to propagandists thanks to the revolutionary events that occurred. That provides some of the basis for this Glenn Diesen op/ed, “The West wants Russians to reject the legacy of the Soviet Union. But, for better or for worse, it’s still a part of who they are.”
As an historian, I highly condemn the West’s attempts to alter the past, destroy history and thus rip up the roots of millions of peoples–it’s one of the most heinous crimes possible: Cultural Genocide. Diesen provides those lacking a handle on Russian history something they ought to be capable of grasping:
“For most of its history, Moscow pursued conservatism as a third alternative and is now returning to this long-held tradition.
“The communists and conservatives were typically fierce enemies, although conservatism demands a cohesive national narrative and identity. Thus, Russian conservatism entails salvaging what it can of Soviet history.”
So we get to read essays by Putin doing battle with Western propagandists and cultural genocidalists along with his portrayal of Western Liberalism as a spent dynamic incapable of offering anything tangible for people’s futures. Diesen delves into how that works:
“[Russian] Conservatism embraces the concept of evolutionary change, stability and national unity. These things, it holds, hinge on building the present on the solid foundations of the past. In contrast, revolutionary change entails uprooting the past to give way to something entirely different.
“Russia’s attraction to conservatism derives from the disruptiveness of its revolutionary history. The continuous uprooting of Russia’s past has created a fragmented history that produced conflicting national identities and aspirations. Subsequently, society becomes divided and vulnerable to subversion by foreign powers.
“From a conservative perspective, the development of Russia has been disastrous due to that tumultuous history. Its roots are commonly said to have been laid down in Kievan Rus as a ‘normal’ European power. The first revolutionary change occurred in the 13th century when Kievan Rus fragmented and the Mongols invaded.
“After 250 years under the Tatar-Mongol Yoke, Russia gained its independence under a new Muscovite Russia. In the early 18th century, Peter the Great launched a Cultural Revolution that purged Russia of its Mongol and Asiatic history in the effort of returning to its European past. Throughout the 19th century, Russia was divided between Westernisers and conservatives romanticising the distinctive early history of Muscovite Russia. Eventually, it was the communists who took power following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and once again purged the nation, the Orthodox Church and other key institutions to create a Marxist society liberated from his own past.
“In 1991, the state collapsed again and Russia reinvented itself as a liberal country yet again seeking a revival of Peter’s policies and a ‘return’ to Europe. When Russia was excluded from the new Europe after the Cold War and dismayed by the direction of Western liberalism, it began its return to conservatism.”
“Russian conservatism today recognises that stability depends on incorporating all the fractured periods of Russian history into one national narrative and idea. This entails recognising that Kievan Rus, Mongol Russia, Muscovite Russia, Peter the Great’s Russia, Soviet Russia and liberal Russia are all important parts of Russian history. Doing away with even one episode is a revolutionary act that will merely cause domestic fragmentation that opens the door to those wishing to stir up discontent.” [My Emphasis]
The severity of the Western liberal rejection on the Soviet psyche cannot be overstressed as it affected all peoples who lived within the Soviet space, not just those residing within Russia. Anyone closely following Putin’s actions and words can see clearly that he’s trying very hard to encourage the adoption of the above bolded narrative and the following physical signs:
“The decoration of the Kremlin with both Orthodox crosses and the Communist red star is paradoxical but consistent with Russian history. Salvaging the Soviet legacy is not a retreat to communism or an effort to restore the Soviet Empire, rather it is a conservative policy to bring competing political factions under the common tent of the Russian nation.” [My Emphasis]
And at every opportunity, Putin expounds on that tent, praises those within it, and invites all Russians to join together under its aegis. Diesen thinks Russia’s Conservatism has a lesson for the EU:
“While Russian conservatives are attempting to overcome the country’s internal divisions by pegging out a bigger tent, the West is moving in the opposite direction with a revolutionary liberal ideology that reduces the ability to accept political opposition to a narrow set of values. The Soviet effort to create Marxist Man, untethered from his own past, is to some extent emulated by Western societies seeking to create Western Man liberated from his illiberal past.
“The demand for ideological conformity with common values implies that compatible values are rejected, thus the size of the tent and possibility for real multilateralism diminishes. The insistence on open borders and centralisation of power in Brussels pushed the British out of the EU. Next in line may well be Poland and Hungary who no longer seem to have a place in the liberal West as they pursue conservative Christian policies to rehabilitate institutions and values that suffered under communist rule.”
The purposeful refusal to see Russia as democratic and demonize it as authoritarian only serves to alienate the very people the West wants to convert. For those who never read it, here’s Putin’s 2019 interview with The Financial Times where he attacks the “liberal idea” as having “has outlived its purpose.” It’s in the closing quarter or so of the transcript where you’ll find that important discussion.
Trying again. This got caught in the ether…
Get well soon b.
When I was young, for toothache, my grandma used to rub her fingers on some opi um then rub her fingers on the gums. Worked like a charm.— Oops, I guess you are not supposed to talk about stuff like that, are you.
Anyway, as always, you are appreciated. I particularly applaud you for having your views solidified (hopefully your stomach will do the same/snark) after much goading, re the ‘war on Iran.’
Having gone from
The U.S. has dragged its feet over the renewal of the nuclear deal with Iran. Removing the troops from Iraq and Syria moves them out of the target area in the case of an eventual war on Iran.
To
But there is no global consensus to sanction Iran. Russia and China will resist any pressure to support them and Iran will have no reason to change its ways. Nor is there a military option. Iran has serious weapons that can reach any corner in the Middle East.
All in just a matter of couple of weeks.
Oh, and this site must be heavily monitored. I mentioned it (the war games) here, and a couple of days later, it appears on multiple sites. Here is the Strategic Culture picking it up.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/08/08/can-they-learn-another-us-wargame-defeat/
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Aug 11 2021 19:10 utc | 204
@c1ue | Aug 11 2021 18:09 utc | 198
Very good post. It must be repeated what you say: “CO2 levels follow temperature, not drive them.”
This single point invalidates all the climate “predictions”.
Richard Feynman: Key to Science
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 11 2021 19:10 utc | 205
So, what is the attempt to foment a Cold War 2.0 doing to commerce between Eurasia and Europe:
“‘In order to cope with the increasing number of China-Europe Railway Express trains, railway logistics companies in the Eurasian region are further increasing transport capacity, developing technologies to provide digital services, and ensuring competitiveness through affordable transport prices,’ Alexei Grom said in a recent interview with Xinhua….
“Grom said that according to the company’s operating data, a total of 336,500 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) were transported in the first half of 2021, which shows an increase of about 50 percent over the same period last year. In May this year, the monthly transportation volume reached 61,500 TEUs, a record high in a single month since the establishment of the company.
“‘We expect this year’s annual transportation volume to be close to 700,000 TEUs, which may create a new annual record. At the same time, maintaining transportation speed, competitiveness, reliability and safety are also very important,’ Grom explained.
“The company’s data shows that electronic and machinery products, as well as auto parts, accounted for 80 percent of the goods China transported to Europe three years ago. In the first half of this year, these three types of commodities accounted for about 40 percent of the total cargo transportation volume.
“The transportation volume of chemical products such as plastics, rubber and glass has increased, and the volume of medical and health products also showed strong growth momentum with more diversified commodities.”
We see diversification of products and their growth in volume which proves the EU has a lot to lose if the Fire-eating radicals within the EUP are able to upend current policy. In the Diesen op/ed, he showed how such radicalism might alienate more EU members and cause them to secede; the same is surely true with the economic stakes. I should also make it clear that these radical policies are being pushed by the Outlaw US Empire through its various running dogs. I must agree with Diesen who recently predicted in an interview that the EU will be in crisis mode within 5 years, a crisis I see being the result of the CIA’s push to expand the EU and NATO as far East as possible regardless the potential problems we now see happening.
Have a comment stuck in the ether. Don’t have the heart to ask b to release it, knowing he’s not well.
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Aug 11 2021 19:12 utc | 207
@karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 19:10 utc | 206
Thanks for your many posts
I must agree with Diesen who recently predicted in an interview that the EU will be in crisis mode within 5 years, a crisis I see being the result of the CIA’s push to expand the EU and NATO as far East as possible regardless the potential problems we now see happening.
Yes, that was in his recent interview with the Duran:
Europe, Russia and Greater Eurasia [Geopolitics Focus]
Posted by:
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 11 2021 19:33 utc | 209
@ karlof1 (#204), thanks for the info. Will appreciate insights on the following:
What explains Russia’s revolutionary history? What were the overarching internal and external forces driving these transformational changes?
It is good to see Vladimir Putin sharing his perspectives. However, has he summarized Russia’s core values. He has talked about the importance of family, patriotism and sovereignty, but no concise summation of values. RT, Sputnik and Tass haven’t either.
How would one classify Russia’s present economy? Neoliberal or mixed like China or…? What are Russia’s key development themes? What internal and external forces are at play for Russia in the present times? Know about the development of economic sovereignty, the EU and NATO expansion, and De-Dollarization.
Posted by: Max | Aug 11 2021 19:48 utc | 210
@C1ue@200
The significance would be that these patents are in full effect. No?
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Aug 11 2021 19:51 utc | 211
Max 210 “He has talked about the importance of family, patriotism and sovereignty, but no concise summation of values”
What do you define as “values”?
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 11 2021 20:11 utc | 213
Norwegian @209–
Thanks for providing that URL as I failed to save it. Diesen’s been writing numerous op/eds for RT and has proven an excellent addition to that cadre. I usually catch, then comment and link to his essays but occasionally I miss one. Given what we’ve seen transpire so far this year, this op/ed is very significant, “Spreading ‘human rights’ at the tip of a bayonet: the LGBT agenda has now become a tool in Western foreign policy across the globe”:
“As the West elevates LGBT issues to be the highest measure of morality, reorganizing its culture accordingly, it begs the question – how will this manifest itself in foreign policy? Values are deployed as an effective instrument in Western power politics, with liberal democracy held up as a hegemonic norm that allows countries like the US to lead the world and exempt themselves from international law.”
The plan is easily recognized as Cultural Imperialism which could be considered a War Crime as it aims at Cultural Genocide, as targeted nations raise their defenses. Glenn asks the following as a result:
“What is the difference between a ‘values-based’ foreign policy and a civilizing mission designed to undermine the sovereignty and cultures of other states? In the post-Cold War era, the West explicitly legitimizes hegemony, hierarchies, and sovereign inequality in the defense of universal liberal democratic values. Is the world heading towards a woke form of imperialism?” [My Emphasis]
I completely understand the biological reasons for the feminization and masculinization of men and women that recognizes what becomes homosexuality isn’t some choice being made between it and heterosexuality but is instead a valid natural outcome that destabilizes the afflicted individual. Its politicization is easily avoided by policy that recognizes each individual as politically equal with all other individuals, just as the UN Charter tried to do with nation-states but was undermined and continuously violated by the Outlaw US Empire–the very entity that’s trying to deny similar equality to all humans.
What I’ve yet to see is concerted push-back describing Wokeism as promoting inequality and discrimination and ultimately Cultural genocide based upon the above logic. The same logic that already exists regarding the ability of all nations to chose their own development path economically and politically must also be allowed by individuals as stated within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights–the most significant treaty the Outlaw US Empire has yet to ratify and like the UN Charter undermines daily. (Yes, there are legitimate disputes over definition of some terms like family and the degree of servitude/control parents have over their children as expressed in Article 26.3, for example.) Diesen echoes these issues and notes that little if any democratic debate has occurred with decisions made at executive levels and shoved down society’s throat in a very totalitarian manner.
Hopefully Diesen’s essay will be read and shared by our barfly community as Wokeism is forced into our discourse whether we want it or not.
“…I have heard that the Brazilians have a very interesting old saying: “pass the ox, pass the stampede”…”
Posted by: vk | Aug 10 2021 16:48 utc | 12
Could someone explain how that saying works? I don’t understand it. Thanks
Posted by: tucenz | Aug 11 2021 20:31 utc | 215
@ Posted by: tucenz | Aug 11 2021 20:31 utc | 215
It is probably a bad translation, but I think it is roughly the same as stating in English “to open the floodgates”.
@ Peter AU1 (#213), Here is an example of China:
China’s values: “The 12 values, written in 24 Chinese characters, are the national values of “prosperity”, … “civility” and “harmony”; the social values of “freedom”, “equality”, “justice” and the “rule of law”; and the individual values of “patriotism”, “dedication”, “integrity” and “friendship”.”
China’s key future DEVELOPMENT themes are:
1. High-quality growth
2. Sci-tech progress
3. Cultural confidence
4. Responsible global player
5. National and economic security
One more important question…
Who creates majority of money in Russia? What % of its money supply is sovereign money and private credit?
Posted by: Max | Aug 11 2021 20:49 utc | 217
Andrei Martyanov discusses the Diesen op/ed I linked and commented upon @204. He also provides more of the statement by Shoigu at the panel discussion at the youth forum “Territory of Meanings” which he ties into Diesen’s essay thus providing added context for both. (It would be great for Marty to allow those wanting to comment on his blog posts to use VK to sign in.)
james 96 | Jen 93
Thanks for the replies. Yes, things are working out for now and all we can do is hope they continue on this path. I’d definitely have taken the Sputnik V if it were available over any of the American versions. 🙁
Posted by: jaime | Aug 11 2021 4:43 utc | 127
I’m here to have civil discussions with adults and to learn from others. What are *you* here for?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 11 2021 20:55 utc | 219
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 18:39 utc | 204
Interesting essay/interview from Diesen, but I’d be curious to hear the perspective on the Marxist Man and Soviet state from an actual Russian (citizen or official).
There seem to be some contradictory messages in this regard. He concludes:
At the same time, rather than accept that Russia requires a certain degree of historical continuity, a widely-held expectation among the Western political-media class is that Moscow should swear off its Soviet past and turn over a blank page to be accepted as a liberal democracy.
The Soviet USSR *is* Russia’s most recent bit of stable historical continuity. Yes it collapsed in the 90s, but after many years and much Western financial elite $ devoted to bringing about that event. The Chinese clearly learned a thing or two from what happened to the USSR.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 11 2021 21:06 utc | 220
The leading paragraph of the Russian constitution –
” We, the multinational people of the Russian Federation, united by a common fate on our land, establishing human rights and freedoms, civic peace and accord, preserving the historically established state unity, proceeding from the universally recognized principles of equality and self-determination of peoples, revering the memory of ancestors who have conveyed to us the love for the Fatherland, belief in the good and justice, reviving the sovereign statehood of Russia and asserting the firmness of its democratic basic, striving to ensure the well-being and prosperity of Russia, proceeding from the responsibility for our Fatherland before the present and future generations, recognizing ourselves as part of the world community, adopt the CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.”
http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-01.htm
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 11 2021 21:08 utc | 221
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 20:54 utc | 218
Looks like my question (#220) has been at least partially answered!
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 11 2021 21:09 utc | 222
Biden assails OPEC instead of the Federal Reserve for the massive inflation the latter’s policies have caused now that gasoline has rising 75% over its price at the end of last year, from $2/gal to $3.50+/gal:
“The president spoke about putting pressure on OPEC while addressing his administration’s strategy of ‘taking action’ on gas prices, suggesting that although fuel prices ‘are lower than they were earlier in this decade…they’re still high enough to create a pinch on working families.’
“Biden also indicated that his director of the national economic council had asked the chair of the federal trade commission ‘to use every available tool to monitor the US gasoline market’ for any potential ‘illegal conduct that might be contributing to price increases at the pump while the price of oil is going down.’
“Earlier in the day, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan issued a statement in which he said that high gas prices, ‘if left unchecked, risk harming the ongoing global recovery,’ and indicated that crude prices are higher now than they were before the start of the coronavirus-associated crisis.”
The economic indicators I’ve seen show no recovery whatsoever, so the rise in gas price can’t be a product of a growing economy, but the Fed has printed several $$Trillion and injected it into Wall Street inflating asset prices and causing inflation in commodities that I noted months ago and is still ongoing. Shadowstats, Dr. Hudson and many others have noted and said the same. It would be very beneficial for those barflies living outside the Outlaw US Empire to comment on their current cost for gasoline and what it was on January first so we can see if Sullivan’s telling the truth, as the dollar’s rise against commodities isn’t being seen happening with other more stable currencies.
@195 & 7 Recent events in Belarus and Lithuania’s decision to get into the anti-China act are probably related to the Thee Seas Initiative……which actually originated in Poland. Difficult to know if it has full US/NATO support or if it’s just a trial balloon.
Posted by: dh | Aug 11 2021 21:13 utc | 224
Posted by: librul | Aug 11 2021 12:55 utc | 157
With additional comment from James
I misspoke, the original post by vk @ 65 @ MoA Week in Review pointed to the problem which is the link to press tv @ Dot IR.
I suspect the empire has installed an algorithm to prevent and delete any link from dot iran.
Posted by: Paul | Aug 11 2021 21:17 utc | 225
Tom_Q_Collins @220–
First you must understand what’s meant by “stable historical continuity”, and that would be a period of years without any major upheaval or discontinuity. The Great Patriotic War was certainly a massive disruption but the USSR survived the destabilization and continued until 1991. Then with the USSR’s dissolution, a great discontinuity occurred that lasted until Putin began restoring stability in 2000 and launched a new Era. As Diesen mentioned, there were other major discontinuities in Russia’s past that helped produce today’s Russia, which is one of the points Putin continues to make, most recently with his essay on the fundamental Russianness of Ukrainians and the Ukrainianness of Russians.
Earlier in this thread @204 I linked to the very important Putin interview with The Financial Times
that I highly suggest reading, particularly the ending discussion about Liberalism. I find what anchors Russian Conservatism to be Progressive in ways that today’s Liberalism and the USA’s current Conservative configuration aren’t–opting for Imperialism on Steroids after WW2 essentially destroyed both political philosophies, although to know that one must know what both stood for prior to WW2, a subject like far too many being poorly taught if at all within the Outlaw US Empire.
Ask me how adverse I am to accepting anyone’s statistics.
Then why am I posting this?
Cause I thought you might find this interesting, or amusing…whichever.
Headline: Study Finds The Most Highly-Educated Americans Are Also The Most Vaccine-Hesitant
In January 2021 the least educated were the most hesitant about getting the vaccine.
That trended towards more acceptance over the months.
Holders of PhD’s were middle-of-the-pack in terms of acceptance in January, but
by May they were the most hesitant of any education group.
Interesting question is why those with some knowledge (Master’s degree holders)
held fast to their sacred opinions and remained the most accepting throughout.
Report by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh:
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/study-finds-most-highly-educated-americans-are-also-most-vaccine-hesitant
Posted by: librul | Aug 11 2021 21:48 utc | 228
@ karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 20:15 utc | 214.. i read Diesen’s essay.. thanks for pointing it out again… i agree with what he says , however he covers a lot of ground and issues in the article and not just what is described in the headline – Spreading ‘human rights’ at the tip of a bayonet: the LGBT agenda has now become a tool in Western foreign policy across the globe… it is indeed another prong in the attack on russia, china and in the examples in the article – hungary.. indeed… wake me up when this woke craziness is over, lol…
@ Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 11 2021 20:55 utc | 219… i think many others would have too if it was available to them… ignore the riff raff that show up at moa from time to time..
@ Paul | Aug 11 2021 21:17 utc | 225… yeah, the links will sometimes mean you don’t get thru.. not sure what is up with the press tv links, but this is an example of why posts sometimes don’t get thru… it is very difficult to get banned at moa, believe or not! you are definitely not a candidate based on what i have seen..
Posted by: james | Aug 11 2021 22:18 utc | 229
Re my post @132, Dr. Cole points out that at the time of his talk (end of July 2021), there had been more than 11,000 deaths associated with the COVID mRNA injections. Yet there had been a total of 1 autopsy performed out of those 11,000 deaths.
No one is looking and no one is reporting.
Posted by: Perimetr | Aug 11 2021 7:47 utc | 134
While I don’t want this vaccine for many reasons,I am quite confused by the numbers coming out of the US non MSM on deaths from the vaccine. Here in OZ we’ve had only a couple of deaths from the Vax and that was from clotting. I personally know nobody who has died from the vaccine. And nobody I know does either. I have family who are in the medical field any they would tell me if they knew anything that isn’t public knowledge. I’ve stated before why I don’t trust Pharma nor the MRNA vaccines, but this does not mean I’m going to accept crazy looking stats. How can we explain the vast numbers of deaths apparently happening in the US from the vaccine with very small numbers in almost all other countries?
It appears to be riding on the very typical American mistrust of government combined with the US’s bizarre concept of civil liberty. Americans seem to be so very myopic and partisan when it comes to what they will and won’t trust their government on.
Do you think it is that Americans are immensely more unhealthy than people in other countries therefore more likely to have co-morbidities? This is not a frivolous question, I’m sincerely asking. The numbers I see on Alternate Media from doctors etc coming out of the US are at a level that is so high and anyone I know in the US who accepts these numbers are all quite hysterical and fearful. I have many American friends and this is one of if not the most divisive political issue I’ve ever seen. My friends there on the civil liberty side all accept these high death numbers as absolute fact, but in such a country increasingly built on lies and propaganda how the hell are we supposed to know what is true? Experts are everywhere on You Tube on both “sides”. This is why i feel safer taking Vitamin D, eating organic and staying healthy and sane. I can’t buy any of it.
One telling aspect to the civil liberty part of the resistance is the anti-masking rhetoric that has now been “imported” to Australia. Early in 2020 when I became aware of the pandemic long before our government did anything about it, I researched the efficacy of different types of masks with the intent of making my own, and found material dating right back to WW1 and before. Where even cotton masks were shown to help curb the spread of illness in the trenches. There was also a huge amount of data from Asian countries who have been masking for years due to pollution. it is a complete no brainer that masks and social distancing are the most simple level of deterrent and protection to becoming sick or from spreading sickness. When I see a group of people protesting about such a logical common sense approach as if it is a violation of their civil rights, it simply looks crazy. Whether this is the Pandemic that is claimed or just another nasty flu is not relevant, it’s still sensible to take ordinary non invasive precautions.
Personally I don’t see why people feel they have to believe “science” like a religion, are such people aware that science itself has replaced religion and is in fact the new religion. Science can be and is abused just like anything else, so I feel that we should not be dividing ourselves based on belief in science or not. Especially when most of us aren’t scientists. How similar is it to the old idea of the priesthood interceding on our behalf to their God? Because we the common folk are not holy enough? We simply have to “trust” science? No thank you! Common sense, trusting my gut and and healthy critical reasoning skills are the skills I apply to any “science” that comes my way especially on vaccines, whether it be pro or anti.
Posted by: K | Aug 11 2021 22:31 utc | 230
@ max
@ vk
I reconcile your two viewpoints this way:
– it’s plausible the British empire funded efforts to destabilize Russia in order to loot it and, to that end, hired anyone eager to take the job.
– But, their hirelings held their own agendas. Once they gained power, they followed their own path.
– With the new regime not following the script, the British empire invaded and, after failing, resorted to “containment” and aggression.
Posted by: oglalla | Aug 11 2021 22:34 utc | 231
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 11 2021 18:09 utc | 198
As I explained in my previous post, climate science is not a single-variable one but is in fact affected by many different variables that overlap over different time periods. The different warm/cold periods that you pointed to were caused by identifiable shorter-term variables (volcanic activity, sun spots cycles, ocean currents) as I noted. The only millennial scale cycles I pointed to are the Milankovitch cycles.
The Milankovitch cycles provide the millennial-level rhythm of the Earth System against which shorter-term variables are overlain. An even longer term variable is that the Sun is significantly brighter today than it was in earlier Earth periods, the young Earth was dealing with a Sun up to 25% less bright than it is today. Thank God that CO2 levels were much higher early in Earth’s history (as shown by geologists) as otherwise it would have been a big snowball. Because the Sun is so much hotter in the present, less CO2 is required to maintain a given temperature (just like I needed less clothes on to stay warm when my student bedsit heater was on full – thankfully I can afford more comfort these days).
Then the “temperatures followed CO2” simplistic nonsense! Remember, climate is multi-variable. If we go from a “cold” Milankovitch cycle to a “warm” Milankovitch cycle Earth temperatures will rise and some glaciation will be removed. The two together will tend to trigger releases in greenhouse gases (temperature plus more liquid water and more exposed land) that then continue the warming trend. Over the millions of years scale the higher temperatures caused will be reduced somewhat by rock weathering (happens more with more exposed land, higher temperatures and wetter) as long as the greenhouse gas increases are not too fast and ongoing (as we are doing now). Greenhouse gas levels tend to fall during glaciations as the land gets covered, and plant material doesn’t degrade as it becomes trapped in permafrost, and the sea doesn’t outgas as its surface is frozen. As CH4, CO2 etc. decay over time, less natural production of these will tend to see their levels fall, creating a negative feedback. This is the danger of changes in the climate, a relatively small change (e.g. brought on by Milankovitch) causes other changes which then exacerbate the warming/cooling.
The Deccan Traps episode does not follow the “temperature rose before greenhouse gases”. At first there were massive amounts of volcanic ash, followed later by a rapid (in geologic time) release of greenhouse gases followed by a mass extinction lion event. The Deccan Traps episode happened at a much, much, slower pace than anthropogenic releases are current happening. An article on the Deccan Traps episode, a quote “The mass extinction unfolded for about 61,000 years into the early Triassic. The uncertainty on the extinction episode means it might have been as short as 13,000 or as long as 109,000 years – a timespan during which complex life on Earth was nearly wiped out by the deteriorating environment and climate change.”
https://skepticalscience.com/Burgess-Bowring-2015-Siberian-Traps-Dates.html
To recap, we have a first event that triggers cooling/warming that then triggers secondary feedback loops such as changes in greenhouse gases (also reflectivity changes of the Earth’s surface, why a Blue Ocean event in the Arctic would be a really bad thing). So yes, in certain examples temperature did precede somewhat rises in greenhouse gases, BUT then the greenhouse gases then drove significant cooling/warming.
Since 1750, once again we have a multi-variable impact BUT the changes in anthropogenic greenhouse gases greatly outweigh age impact of all other variables.
https://news.stanford.edu/news/2004/june2/lowegeo-62.html. (cool early Sun and early Earth greenhouse gas levels)
You say “What I do not believe, unreservedly, is that it is due to CO2 or that anyone, anywhere understands climate enough to predict even the short term, much less the medium or long term, climate.” This is a ridiculously stupid statement and means that no amount of evidence will change your ignorance. I have clearly answered all your questions and it is obvious that you actually need to read some actual climate science and get over such ignorant beliefs, I hope that my answers will have helped others deal with the usual “look at this singe variable / look at this single spreadsheet” bullshit that climate deniers constantly revert to.
The question of projected sea level rise in a specific location is yet another area open to multi-variate analysis (land subsidence, land rising after end of glaciation, ocean currents, ice sheet melting, climate change, gravity effects of ice sheet melting). Scientists accept that it is an area that is open ro a large amount of uncertainty, i.e. they accept that any estimates open to being significantly off. Scientists do this, they state whether or not they are sure of something, The UN IPCC reports are full of such statements, with scientists falling over themselves to note their level of confidence in their statements. For overall climate change they state “virtually certain” for a localized specific impact mediated by many, many variables they are honest in stating that they are not so sure. I am not going on another goose hunt given the time I have already spent on this and your propensity to keep moving the goal posts by adding more questions each time. Just go read a good book on climate science and perhaps take some certified online courses.
This is a good book, but there are so many out there: https://www.amazon.com/Whole-Story-Climate-Science-Reveals-ebook/dp/B00ADQQBHW/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1628720009&sr=8-12
P.S. Willis Eschenbach has a BA in Psychology, has never worked as a scientists or computer modeller, and has spoken at fossil fuel sponsored events such as the Heartland Institute ones (Koch funded), he calls himself an “amateur scientist”. He is a master at picking on single variables, or even irrelevant ones to push a given assertion. He has “no credentials at all” and has “no scientific education” in his own words (video below). Sad that we get such intellectual garbage on B’s site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX8qEU2u9zA
Posted by: Roger | Aug 11 2021 22:35 utc | 232
Finnian Cunningham poses this question: “Covid End of US Empire?” In the course of his editorial essay, Cunningham rightly excoriates the Outlaw US Empire for its most obvious failure:
“The problem for the United States is the dominance of capitalist imperatives over social policy which prevents a coherent, effective public health strategy [and a great many other policies].”
He further elaborates:
“By contrast, in the United States, the public is largely expected to bear the costs of lockdowns, long-term unemployment and general living costs. With an over-reliance on vaccination alone, the Biden administration is declaring the end of lockdowns, social distancing and wearing of masks. Government aid for the unemployed and rental assistance for families is being terminated.
“Workers are being forced back to workplaces and schools are being reopened in total denial of the epidemiological scientific advice to maintain isolation. Why? Because of the imperative for capitalist businesses to resume profit-making. And of course, without adequate government support to laid-off workers, many millions of citizens are frustrated by the need to get back to work.
“One can easily understand anti-lockdown protests when people are not given financial support to cope with lockdown. The problem is not the practice of public health policy per se, it is the practice of public health policy in a capitalist society where there is little support for furloughed workers.”
After reviewing some of the many manifestations of destabilizing misinformation, Cunningham concludes:
“For most of the past century, many observers have pondered on whether the United States and its global imperial power would be taken down through war with a geopolitical rival such as the Soviet Union or more recently Russia and China.
“Then along comes an invisible danger, a virus, that is ripping through the United States in a way not foreseen. And the vulnerability of the US is all down to its own internal failings as a capitalist society saturated with misinformation.” [My Emphasis]
I must admit it’s been amazing what I’ve been watching since January 2020: Trump’s Do Nothing Policy combined with the print all the money you can and give it to Wall Street Federal Reserve policy coupled with the insanity at the end of the election and the mass of corruption seemingly everywhere in the federal government that’s still completely out-of-control. If I were to write an honest history of the Outlaw US Empire from 2014-2021, I doubt anyone would believe it because of the incredible level of idiocy, lies, corruption, lack of law enforcement, and related daily criminality domestically and internationally committed by the Outlaw US Empire and its Duopoly. Indeed, all that and more encapsulates the Empire’s 21st Century History. If Trump is able to get on the 2024 presidential election ballot, we might witness a severe discontinuity of a sort that IMO is very much needed to alter the Empire’s path. Trump is merely the fuse while those who loathe him and his supporters are both match and explosive.
Down South #161
Thank you for the J&J information.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 11 2021 23:06 utc | 234
@232 Roger
Thanks Roger, good stuff! I have been trying to write what you have basically written but have been coming up short.
I work for NOAA here in Newport Oregon. Much of what we do is research related to climate change. We also do genetic studies for various private aquaculture companies, especially oysters, trying to help them adjust to the warmer waters and acidification.
In short, it blows my mind that people think climate scientists aren’t fully aware of the various short (relatively speaking) and long term climate cycles and how they relate to our current climate. Like someone who has studied climate for fifty years is going to somehow forget about the Milankovitch Cycles, or be ignorant of the “little ice age” or the short period where Greenland and vicinity were a little warmer.
Posted by: Jason | Aug 11 2021 23:07 utc | 235
Jason @235–
We should go fishing sometime! My boat’s at South Beach and I live in Yachats.
/////
Belarus to send most US embassy staff home in a move that doesn’t quite oust all diplomatic staff:
“‘Against the backdrop of Washington’s steps aimed at reducing cooperation in all areas and at the economic strangulation of our country, we quite objectively do not see any point in the presence of so many staff members at the US diplomatic mission in Belarus. It is simply unclear what they should be busy with against this background. In this regard, the US side was offered to reduce staff at its embassy in Minsk to five people by September 1,’ says the statement released after a meeting with Ruben Harutunian, US Charge d’affaires ad interim, at the Foreign Ministry.”
“[Belarus Foreign Minister] Glaz stated that over recent years Belarus and the United States had come a long way to bring their diplomatic relations ‘to a more or less acceptable level.’
“‘That is why it is regrettable that the US’ impudent and openly hostile steps, along with the actions of some [US] representatives which do not fall under the notion of diplomacy and professionalism, have destroyed their predecessors’ achievements and forced us to withdraw the consent, which was earlier issued by the Republic of Belarus, to have Julie Fisher appointed as the US ambassador to our country.”
I can only applaud and wonder why they didn’t just send them all home. I hope more nations follow this excellent example.
@ K | Aug 11 2021 22:31 utc | 230.. i relate to your rant and commentary…. good rant! the topic of 11,000 covid deaths in the usa sounds wrong, but i have no idea… about science – i have said this before – it is like the new religion that replaced the old one… some people seem prone to putting all their faith in whatever the passing trend is… but as you note, we don’t need to make all this so divisive and yes – it is probably the most divisive topic i have seen in a very long time with both sides and guns drawn, lol… it saddens me to say this, but it is how i now see it… you appear to want to get beyond this.. kudos to you..
Posted by: james | Aug 11 2021 23:23 utc | 237
I mainly formulate my opinions based on what I observe. I think that if I didn’t ever read the any informative sites like this one, I could learn all that I need to know if I stood outside and listened, to the natural world, and to the people walking by. I would of course have to take into consideration who are the people walking by, but nevermind.
Someone above mentioned having the first stroke of their life following the vaccination. My brother in law had a stroke the day after his shot. I found this curious.
I know of a few acquaintances who have been sick. I’ve heard about a few elderly people succumbing, one 84 year olld here past away.
I got the experimental Astrzenecka shot. I feel fine.
Posted by: Geoff | Aug 11 2021 23:34 utc | 238
@ oglalla (#231), thanks for summarizing concisely. I am in agreement with some additions, about the Empire capturing and incorporating Wall Street. However, what has been the driving force? Power, greed, empire,…
The Fed was founded in 1914 and the Money Power had a new machine for generating debt. Who were the key power players involved in the founding of the Fed? Why were international financiers involved with the Fed, Warburg? JP Morgan issued lots of the debt during WWI and drove the U$A into the war.
Why the Wall Street supplied help to Bolsheviks? Russia was an ally of the U$A. Before this I don’t think there was a Marxist Communism. Why create it? It wasn’t a bottom-up creation. It is a top-down monopoly system. In this system, their is huge concentration of power in the top administrators. An interesting way to capture and control a nation, and its resources. Just manage those administrators.
Agree with the important point, “hirelings held their own agendas. Once they gained power, they followed their own path.” Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Saddam,… validate this key point.
“With the new regime not following the script,” they prepared Germany for the next war? After WWII, Stalin/Russia didn’t join the Bretton Woods system. So start a Cold War.
Now, China and Russia aren’t submitting, so start a new Cold War. Are things adding up? What overarching theme emerges❓
Posted by: Max | Aug 11 2021 23:36 utc | 239
Norwegian @Aug11 19:10 #205:
It must be repeated what you say: “CO2 levels follow temperature, not drive them.”
This single point invalidates all the climate “predictions”.
No it doesn’t.
The statement may be true for natural processes but it doesn’t apply to anthropomorphic climate change that is caused by human activities raising carbon levels in the atmosphere.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 11 2021 23:48 utc | 240
The last commenter here that used graphics like ❓ was a troll named Circe.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 12 2021 0:03 utc | 241
karlof1
Many thanks for your erudite analysis in these times.
Given what we’ve seen transpire so far this year, this op/ed is very significant, “Spreading ‘human rights’ at the tip of a bayonet: the LGBT agenda has now become a tool in Western foreign policy across the globe”:
Western gender and human rights fadism are used as the ‘caliber correct’ ammunition to load in the social media artillery of today. The obsessive/desperate west seems to comprehend that outright war with the east is unsupported/outgunned and so maintains its belligerent assaults through alternative means. Even if that includes addling the minds of the home team. Love Your Servitude – Aldous Huxley & George Orwell a 15 minute utoob by After Skool.
I would like to think they might run out of coercive meddlesome ammo but they are an inventive clown cart.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 12 2021 0:06 utc | 242
I was going to quit for the day then came across this news story that is discussed at the link. The Carnival Vista cruise ship that’s “in the Caribbean has blown a hole through the claim that ‘un-vaccinated’ are causing ‘Breakthrough’ COVID spread; the ship has an outbreak despite ALL Passengers and Crew being ‘vaccinated.'” [My Emphasis]
Yes, I did a doubletake when I first read an unlinked report then went to verify and found the above item amongst others. I’ll leave the bar now and allow other barflies to muse about this development.
K 230
I have also wondered about some of the alternative reports coming out of the US.
On the other hand, here in oz, we now have the GPs wanting patients suffering side effects from covid vaccinations to have what they call no fault claimes. Something that’s never happened for other vaccinations. From that I take it GPs are expecting a lot of claims from people who will suffer serious side effects.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-10/covid-19-vaccine-indemnity-scheme-not-yet-resolved/100363498
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2021 0:14 utc | 244
@Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 20:15 utc | 214 Thanks for the very interesting Diesen article, always interesting how the West modifies its “universal” values to hypocritically shive down the throats of other nations.
A problem for the woke crowd that think that children are capable of making life changing decisions is Finland, whose Prime Minister is a young woman raised by same sex parents (she is heterosexual) and the government is dominated by female and the Foreign Minister is a gay man. Can’t get much more diverse than that! Only problem for the woke is their policy on the “T” of “LGBT”. To quote the Council for Choices in Health Care in Finland:
“If a child is diagnosed prior to the onset of puberty with a persistent experience of identifying as the other sex and shows symptoms of gender-related anxiety, which increases in severity in puberty, the child can be guided at the onset of puberty to the research group on the gender identity of minors at TAYS or HUS for an assessment of the need for treatment to suppress puberty. Based on these assessments, puberty suppression treatment may be initiated on a case-by-case basis after careful consideration and appropriate diagnostic ex- aminations if the medical indications for the treatment are present and there are no contraindications. Thera- peutic amenorrhea, i.e. prevention of menstruation, is also medically possible.”
https://genderreport.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Summary_minors_en.pdf
i.e. the child has to have started puberty and still display Trans symptoms before any puberty blockers, let alone surgery is allowed. They also have a very structured and thorough process for assessing all Trans cases, unlike the slapdash approach in much of North America. During the first year of puberty a lot of supposed Trans kids change to being lesbian and gay (hence some in the LG community treating puberty blocker use a form of lesbian/gay genocide) and straight – of course, they immediately get labelled as TERFs. This is backed up by research:
https://www.transgendertrend.com/children-change-minds/
Another quote, about TRANS adolescents:
“A young person who has already undergone puberty can be sent to the research clinic on the gender identity of minors at TAYS or HUS for extensive gender identity studies if the variation in gender identity and re- lated dysphoria do not reflect the temporary search for identity typical of the development stage of adoles- cence and do not subside once the young person has had the opportunity to reflect on their identity but rather their identity and personality development appear to be stable.”
i.e. they understand that young people go through phases to discover who they are, and therefore injecting them with strong drugs and doing surgery on them is very stupid until they have what appears to be a stable view of themselves.
This is all incredible common sense of course, but completely absent in most of the West and certainly in the new woke imperialism.
My response to the woke crowd on this issue is now that “we should follow the example of Finland and their female Prime Minister raised by same sex parents”, works a treat.
P.S. I am a proud CIS-gendered heterosexual Man, and believe that sexual orientation is genetically-based and dysphoria is real but that children and adolescents in the throws of constantly changing views of themselves are not capable of providing consent to biochemical and physical alterations to their bodies. Oh, and yes all humans are born Male, Female or Intersex. Gender is a cultural construct not a scientific one based on Nature.
Posted by: Roger | Aug 12 2021 0:18 utc | 245
Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine: rare blood clot syndrome has high mortality rate
Researchers found that clots occurring after first dose of Oxford jab affected otherwise young and healthy people
Very rare side effect, but an unnecessary risk by the British government. Better to import the better and safer Sputnik V, and spare many lives.
@ Roger | Aug 11 2021 22:35 utc | 232
@ Roger | Aug 12 2021 0:18 utc | 245
Damn, I’m glad you’re here.
(Not that there aren’t others whom I find frequently, even consistently enlightening: karlof1, Jackrabbit, and yes, vk, to name a few.)
Posted by: corvo | Aug 12 2021 0:34 utc | 247
@ karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 23:04 utc | 233:
Thanks for drawing attention to Finian Cunningham’s latest (although I flatter myself by thinking I’d have soon found it anyway; maybe it will reappear at Strategic Culture). I’m coming increasingly to the conclusion that we need to re-elect Trump and fill Congress with his ilk: if there’s any hope for us, we need to hit rock bottom as soon as possible; and if there’s no hope for us, the sooner the better anyway.
Posted by: corvo | Aug 12 2021 0:41 utc | 248
Coming late, but, hope you feel better b. STILL, the best and most informative blog on the webb….
Posted by: vetinLA | Aug 12 2021 0:49 utc | 249
I have no idea how many people outside Poland have been watching the progression of Poland’s (highly controversial is the adjective in variety, guardian, hollywood reporter, ‘disputed’ and/or ‘chaotic’ in DW, euro examiner, brussels reporter) Media Ownership Bill. Apart from the slightly different adjectives all articles appear to have emanated from the same source.
The bill sets out to prohibit the ownership of Poland’s major media outlets to anything other than EU based entities. The most popular ‘independent’ TV channel in Poland, according to the above-named euro/amerikan media, is TVN24 a news channel owned by Discovery Inc, an amerikan corporation which will be forced to divest when the bill passes.
This is a classic case of centralised power attempting to overrule a decision made by local interests that are the most affected by the decision. Discovery will lose a tiny fraction of the income the behemoth generates and that is about it, on the surface, for non-Polanders affected by the bill. So why all the fuss?
There was a similar controversy in Aotearoa back in the 1960’s and the effects of that bill’s passage still has a major bearing on Aotearoa today. The Murdoch Inc organisation had established itself in England, but not yet amerika after building dominance in Australia and Rupert looking for a new target bid for a major Aotearoa daily.
Aotearoa was held in the thrall of a corrupt right wing government whose power was down to the slavish obeisance of all of the major dailies here. At that time, early in Rupert’s global takeover, all his fishwraps were ostensibly anyway, leftist, if socially conservative.
The kiwi government, terrified of a left leaning media influence and typically ignorant of Murdoch’s actual politics passed a law prohibiting foreign ownership. The hypocrisy from our nation’s media was breathtaking as they attempted to explain why their normally liberal (in the classic sense) politics would support something so illiberal.
The bill was over-ruled during the rise of 80’s neoliberalism but by that time Rupe had far bigger fish to fry.
So Murdoch never got a foothold in Aotearoa, which has a lot to do with the slightly divergent from the western norm politics practised here.
Western media are uniform in their criticism of Poland’s bill, claiming that it is aimed at silencing the last major critic of the Law and Justice party (PiS) which is the majority party of government.
I’m no fan of the PiS who are a typically corrupt wannabe tyrannical mob of arseholes (but local arseholes) which have taken control of those former Warsaw Pact nations amerika pulled into it’s sphere of influence. amerikan imperialists loathe the PiS because it walks its own path & worst of all interacted with Orange dingbat. They do not always do as the blob demands.
Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki claims that the purpose of the bill is to keep Russian or Chinese influence out of the media to which the amerikans and euros say “Well why don’t you just make it illegal for any non-OECD entity to own Poland’s media?” Of course if they were to do that not only would it rightly piss off Russia & China, it wouldn’t stop amerika from sticking it’s oar into Polish business every five minutes so fair enough.
Left to their own devices Polanders will eventually shit out the sleazy PiS and allies of their own accord.
If this bill gets through the legislative system as is, it is worthy of support by all anti-centralisation advocates. If the series of mini-colour revolutions currently being stirred up to oppose the bill succeed in amending the bill to non-OECD ownership Poland will be screwed.
Those in posts above who advocate some sort of huge Eurasian entity being formed during the demise of the FukUS entity, should ask themselves Why any vast trans-national entity would be immune from the power hungry sociopaths that have dominated every other such enterprise since the beginning of history.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 12 2021 1:08 utc | 250
james
There is science and there is americans but the two rarely seem to meet these days.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2021 1:08 utc | 251
@Posted by: Jason | Aug 11 2021 23:07 utc | 235
Thankyou, and keep up the good work. My research is on the intersection between climate change-driven energy transition, geopolitics and eco-modernism. I spend a lot of time explaining such stuff and why people have a desperate need to believe in either climate-denial or that “human ingenuity” will magically save us from having to make hard and difficult decisions that may discomfort a lot of rich and powerful people.
@Posted by: corvo | Aug 12 2021 0:34 utc | 247 Thankyou!
This is a great discussion on “woke” imperialism. A lot of my favourites, Aaron Maté, Katie Halper and Rania Khalek. Aaron shows he has a great sense of humour taking the piss out of a gender studies / politics paper at 19 minutes in, fucking hilarious!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC2f4GuY5iU
Posted by: Roger | Aug 12 2021 1:11 utc | 252
Debsisdead
I guess NZ has to be called the lucky country. Too far off the beaten track for US to use as a forward base against China or ASIAN. Murdoch’s interests I thought were money/power and israel but I see he is taking the lead in anti China propaganda.
Robert parry did a few pieces on Perception Management based on the Reagan papers and Murdoch was a very willing first in in the new mocking bird set up.
Poland and the EU – the yanks are trying to mix oil and water without detergent.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2021 1:33 utc | 253
@ Roger | Aug 12 2021 1:11 utc | 252:
Embarrassing and ludicrous for sure, but the really terrifying thing about discourse such as in the paper Aaron Mate cites is that it provides yet more ammunition to social conservatives in their battle against sexual/gender minorities. A battle which, once central authority is sufficiently weakened, will be fought by lynch mobs.
Posted by: corvo | Aug 12 2021 1:52 utc | 254
Jinn @ 133
apparently patents were issued between June 5, 2008 and those patents talk about the novel spike protein and the ACE-2 receptor binding domain.
______________________________________________________
Whats the big deal? The original SARS virus was modified and that was patented. So what?
There is no evidence that is the same virus that is now causing a pandemic. The SARS1 was much more deadly virus than the current virus causing Covid.
If the original SARS virus had been made to spread like the covid virus has more than 4 million people would have died in the US. <=that might not be true? listen to the video.
You have not addressed the question ?
why the patent to the detection of, the creation of, and the technology to prevent the big bad terrible lab made pandemic virus were all issued before the earliest virus was discovered.. How can that happen? There is evidence because the pandemic virus Covid 19 is a subclade of the SARS virus. please listen to the video.
Posted by: snake | Aug 12 2021 2:18 utc | 255
Just a heads-up Alex Mercouris a few hours ago put up a good piece of commentary on the rapidly developing Taliban steamroll. He echoes a lot of points discussed here, wrt to Bernhard’s article of a couple of days ago.
https://youtu.be/X89vVdVHrRg
Posted by: Gordog | Aug 12 2021 2:37 utc | 256
@Posted by: corvo | Aug 12 2021 1:52 utc | 254
If the elites don’t want to lose all legitimacy, and therefore central control, they need to start making the average person’s life better, stop dissembling to such a degree that it just feeds reactionary responses (Fauci is a train-wreck on this), and stop with the culture wars. I very much worry that the 2024 Presidential election will be a bad turning point as both Dems and Republicans have lost all legitimacy with half of the population. The probable result will be very brutal authoritarianism, of the “woke” or of the right-wing kind, or both. The lynch mobs can very much be of the controlled kind, as with fascism – but that can be of both the usual right wing and now “progressive” fascism.
The two parties are the two heads of the same hydra, the rich and powerful elite combined with the state and the MIC, and that hydra will use whatever it needs to stay in control and to protect itself. For centuries one tool was racism, it may now become “anti-racism”, “anti-Trans” etc. Whatever it takes to split the majority and make it fight each other rather than the elites.
Jay Gould may not have exactly said “I Can Hire Half the Working Class To Fight the Other Half”, but it is a very pertinent statement. Nowadays it would be about manipulating sections of the working class to fight other sections of the working class and also making everyone believe that they are the perfect individualistic neoliberal citizen. Identity politics is a beautiful tool to create division and to undermine class solidarity. Adolph Reed puts it succinctly
“What can ultimately ensue is an ideal of society such that if 1% of the population controls 90% of the resources, as long as that 1% were apportioned in a way that more or less faithfully reflects the composition of different ascriptive groups within the population, then that society could be considered just. That is to say, if the 1% were [approximately] half women, 12% Black, 14% to 15% Hispanic, et cetera, it would be a just society, even though 90% of the people are getting the short end of the stick. That’s the logic of a neoliberal notion of social justice.”
https://daily.jstor.org/adolph-reed-jr-the-perils-of-race-reductionism/
Posted by: Roger | Aug 12 2021 3:01 utc | 257
karlof, at 243
as much as I like your comments – I must disagree with the conclusion that “in the Caribbean has blown a hole through the claim that ‘un-vaccinated’ are causing ‘Breakthrough’ COVID spread;” — it is well known that vaccinated people can carry the virus, after meeting some sick COVID person, knowingly or unknowingly, that the vaccinated person on board might have been vaccinated and gotten infected just short time before they came aboard. I do not see a “hole” there.
Posted by: bystander04 | Aug 12 2021 3:02 utc | 258
@ Roger | Aug 12 2021 3:01 utc | 257:
If the elites don’t want to lose all legitimacy, and therefore central control, they need to start making the average person’s life better, stop dissembling to such a degree that it just feeds reactionary responses (Fauci is a train-wreck on this), and stop with the culture wars.
None of this will happen, of course.
I very much worry that the 2024 Presidential election will be a bad turning point as both Dems and Republicans have lost all legitimacy with half of the population. The probable result will be very brutal authoritarianism, of the “woke” or of the right-wing kind, or both. The lynch mobs can very much be of the controlled kind, as with fascism – but that can be of both the usual right wing and now “progressive” fascism.
My opinion differs from yours only in that I’m certain of Republican blowouts in 2022 and 2024. Even if the Democrats weren’t inept in everything but perfidy, it’s enough that the Republicans control the great majority of state legislatures and can, by means of gerrymandering, voter roll purges, and hurdles thrown up to prevent the “wrong kind of people” from voting, guarantee themselves permanent “majorities” in most states.
Posted by: corvo | Aug 12 2021 3:21 utc | 259
Hey b,
Further to my unsolicited advice about Toothache in…
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 10 2021 17:33 utc | 24
Here’s something that worked for me 40 years ago which I’d forgotten about when I made that comment.
Take a medium sip of ordinary milk into your mouth, close it, and slosh the milk around the offending tooth with your tongue. That temporarily eased the pain of an abscessed tooth for about 20 minutes on my way to the dentist. The effect wore off after a few minutes and I had to replace it with a fresh sip.
Dunno why it worked. I assume saliva has electrical properties which were suppressed by the milk. A couple of my molars had mercury amalgam fillings.
If it doesn’t work first sip then it’s probably not going to.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 12 2021 3:39 utc | 260
@251 peter au…. until these folks who want to use their version of science to whack others over the head with who don’t do everything they want, we may as well skip this being about science… it is about indoctrination and demanding others behave a certain way…. in this regard science is being used just like religion… i doubt the actual scientists are happy about this development either…. good to see you here posting again..
@ 250 debs.. thanks for the overview.. i learn something from you most all of the time..
Posted by: james | Aug 12 2021 4:00 utc | 261
Stonebird @ 183
Exhaustion from (US) wars is becoming a leading cause of “peace in our times”?
Chamberlain and that little piece of paper. Exactly what came to mind when I was thinking on that item. Versailles part 986. When can I stop binge watching the drama? Fucking glad I am not acting it out…yet.
Posted by: circumspect | Aug 12 2021 4:10 utc | 262
@Jackrabbit | Aug 11 2021 23:48 utc | 240
The statement may be true for natural processes but it doesn’t apply to anthropomorphic climate change that is caused by human activities raising carbon levels in the atmosphere.
This may be your religious conviction, but it has no relation to physical science. You might try to prove the existence of “anthropomorphic climate change” (a political phrase), but it’s going to be hard. Until you have found the proof, don’t be so sure.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2021 4:30 utc | 263
@james | Aug 12 2021 4:00 utc | 261
@251 peter au…. until these folks who want to use their version of science to whack others over the head with who don’t do everything they want, we may as well skip this being about science… it is about indoctrination and demanding others behave a certain way…. in this regard science is being used just like religion… i doubt the actual scientists are happy about this development either…. good to see you here posting again..
I agree with this view. We see this being played out in this thread also.
Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 12 2021 4:36 utc | 264
@Norwegian 162
Clearly there are many terrorized people writing in the comments here. That’s what you get from state sponsored terrorism.
You nailed it. People are wetting their panties over the flu. Vaccine, Crapccine.
Posted by: deegle | Aug 12 2021 4:52 utc | 265
@Tom_Q_Collins
“What are *you* here for?”
For starters, I’m not here to read constant pathetic vaccine nonsense by bed wetting ninnies.
Posted by: jaime | Aug 12 2021 5:19 utc | 266
@ Norwegian | Aug 12 2021 4:36 utc | 264, james | Aug 12 2021 4:00 utc | 261 Peter AU and others about science being forced to become corrupt like religion……so the God of Mammon acolytes can talk about their leaders doing Science work instead of God’s work.
This forcing of sketchy health science onto the Covid fear mongered public when Ivermectin could be/have been a major player in the solution is evidence that enough of the medical establishment is on board with the scam to extend and pretend financialization some more.
I continue to believe that the Covid debacle could be the “global straw that breaks the camels back” in the West. If the virus continues mutating, the West continues doing the wrong things and it comes out that Ivermectin needs to be used to get a grip on the sItuation and should have been used in the first place, the public backlash, IMO, will be significant enough to bring structural change is the way society manages its social contract with fellow humans.
All this said, I am still stumped why China, Russia and other non-West axis countries are not on the Ivermectin bandwagon (yet).
Upthread or on another someone had asked about Ivermectin adoption by the various countries and the link below shows that if you click on the Global Adoption tab and this link is also a source for the growing papers supporting Ivermectin usage
https://c19ivermectin.com/
Blessings to the medical professionals that are standing up for truth in the same way the Witches stood up for traditional medicine, back in the day…..is society going to burn the medical Witches of today?
And finally I want to note the the US Republicans complaining about the Dem handling are not discussing the Ivermectin issue but focusing on mask wearing Freedumb.
The shit show continues until it doesn’t….hopefully in another month or two….
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 12 2021 5:22 utc | 267
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 21:12 utc | 223
“It would be very beneficial for those barflies living outside the Outlaw US Empire to comment on their current cost for gasoline and what it was on January first so we can see if Sullivan’s telling the truth, as the dollar’s rise against commodities isn’t being seen happening with other more stable currencies.”
Thailand fuel data and US$ rate:
Oil and gas 1Litre,2021
JUN MAY APR MAR FEB JAN
Benzine 95 35.11 34.98 34.20 33.95 32.82 31.25
Benzine 91 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
Gasohol 95 27.70 27.57 26.79 26.54 25.41 23.84
Diesel 27.72 27.54 26.63 26.83 26.34 24.77
Units ฿/l
Link:
Thai Price of Certain Manufactured Goods
฿/US$ Jan 2021 – 31฿/US$, Aug 2021 – 33฿/US$
Thai consumption is 67% diesel v 31% petrol.
Petrol, including unleaded gasoline and gasohol, fell by 0.2% to 31.1 million litres per day.
Diesel consumption also went down by 0.6% to 67.2 million litres per day.
Fuel consumption drops by 7.7% in first quarter
Posted by: OhOh | Aug 12 2021 5:25 utc | 268
@Tannenhouser #211
A patent in effect means literally nothing.
All the patent does is enable the patent holder to potentially sue others who are believed to have infringed on said patent.
There are patents for flying saucers. There are patents for fusion reactors. There are patents for all sorts of nonsense.
The USPTO does try to weed out the more egregiously bad patent claims, but they simply do not have the expertise nor the warrant to literally test that any claimed patent actually performs.
Thus the final test for a patent is in the courts: a multi-million dollar affair on all sides in which the actual efficacy of said patent is examined.
So no, patents for bat DNA or what not are not significant in any way.
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2021 5:40 utc | 269
@Roger #232
Sadly, all you seem to be capable of is repeating nonsense written by others.
Skeptical Science is an excellent example. None of the authors there are climate scientists either, yet somehow you swallow every bit of garbage they spew out, uncritically.
As for Eschenbach: whatever his degree may be, he actually does computer modeling for a living as a consultant. He has and continues to do all sorts of R coding and modeling of various climate and non-climate related data issues.
As such, the oh so predictable attempt to attack his academic credentials falls flat.
The reality which you still refuse to admit is that the climate models have been wrong literally from the very beginning.
You clearly also have not done any sort of deeper dive into how they work – these types of complex models are the modern equivalent of reading chicken entrails.
A quick primer:
1) The climate models break the Earth up into quadrants of 100kmx100km. The size can actually be larger GCM’s spatial resolution varies from 100km to 500 km
Why is this significant? Well, among other things, there are numerous atmospheric/climactic phenomena which occur in far smaller scales like thunder storms and tornadoes. Nor is it particularly convincing that temperature is set across the entire grid – which is the case since that enormous area is the minimum resolution for GCMs.
2) There isn’t even a single GCM which is used by IPCC. They use 30+ different ones and average them. It is the literal embodiment of incompetence: let’s take 30+ models which are ALL wrong in some fashion but average them to get a good result?
3) Even the average fails. The GCMs have literally over-predicted warming every single year since they started being used. Note that I’m talking about predictions; IPCC and the modelers cheat by backcasting (i.e. hand tuning) the models to replicate past temperature behavior every few years, so the past accuracy is nothing of the sort – it is just parroting. We’re not talking about a little too hot – we’re talking multiple degrees C and trend lines which do not resemble the historical temperature record in any way.
So keep on posting irrelevant and pointless links. The core of the climate doom phenomenon is the GCMs. The GCMs are crap.
The next layer are the ongoing predictions of climate doom. Wattsupwiththat.com posts ongoing updated lists of failed climate predictions – it was at 107 in 2014 107 totally wrong climate predictions by climate experts
As someone who actually deals with the real world – any group of idiots who fail so spectacularly, over and over again, are not credible.
But apparently if the cause is noble, these charlatans are useful.
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2021 5:53 utc | 270
@psychohistorian #267
I think you are way too optimistic on the timeline.
My view is that mainstream COVID vaccine etc is nothing more than an extension of the “PMC expertise empire strikes back” campaign that started with Trump’s election.
The PMCs have repeatedly put all their eggs in the vaccine/lockdown/mask basket and fear any backtracking would reinforce the red state flyover bad people.
The Republicans focus on the masks mostly because they are a very public symbol of fear and/or adherence to said mainstream. Would you want them to start pushing Ivermectin as Trump pushed HCQ early on?
I think the only result of that would be the PMCs doubling down on their campaign.
My view is that the only way this breaks good is a continuation of the loss of faith by the majority of Americans in the PMC crap. The ongoing resurgence of COVID despite vaccines and whatnot is a significant step, and a resumption of lockdowns in one or more urban blue strongholds would be a major blow.
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2021 5:59 utc | 271
For starters, I’m not here to read constant pathetic vaccine nonsense by bed wetting ninnies.
Posted by: jaime | Aug 12 2021 5:19 utc | 266
For starters then, eh? One post isn’t “constant”, moron. Don’t read it if you don’t want to read it. It’s that simple. Stop being so fragile.
Go back to lurking. Your “contributions” are much better in that mode.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 12 2021 6:10 utc | 272
psychohistorian “All this said, I am still stumped why China, Russia and other non-West axis countries are not on the Ivermectin bandwagon (yet).”
It is very easy to test a drugs efficacy against a virus in affected person. China was trialing different drugs and testing to see if they reduced viral load. I doubt ivermectin is a cure. It may help prevent infection by the sars-cov-2 bug or it may not. One area of scientific or any medicine that is very poorly understood is the immune system. Sars-cov-2 has the effect of triggering the immune system into attacking healthy cells. Ivermectin, like hydroxychloroquine is an anti inflammatory.
Various anti inflammatorys work in different ways and suit differing immune conditions.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Aug 12 2021 6:15 utc | 273
Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 21:12 utc | 223
UK prices in pence. Each price is from the first week of the month (UK gov records prices of petrol/diesel weekly)
Jan 115.39
Feb 119.14
Mar 122.17
Apr 125.24
May 126.09
Jun 128.69
Jul 131.7
Aug 134.21
Lowest price for last 5 years was 25/05/2020 104.87
Posted by: Some Random Passerby | Aug 12 2021 7:04 utc | 274
@14 pretzelattack re: Cuomo
Kompromat like that currently haunting Cuomo is like a kill switch that can be used when a politician goes off script. Nobody without such a kill switch will ever get far in politics, because the risk is just too great for tptb.
Which means that anyone above a certain pay grade in politics has dark secrets and is a depraved sociopath. If by any chance someone without a kill switch makes it to the top (Trump), kompromat can always just be made up (Steele-Dossier).
Posted by: Zweckpessimist | Aug 12 2021 7:05 utc | 275
karlof1 | Aug 11 2021 21:12 utc | 223
I didn’t go through the trouble of converting liters to gallons and euro to dollars but this chart nicely shows the increase in prices starting last November or so.
Posted by: dan of steele | Aug 12 2021 8:28 utc | 277
Posted by: c1ue | Aug 12 2021 5:40 utc | 269
“So no, patents for bat DNA or what not are not significant in any way.”
In fact, they can be used to retard research on illnesses by requiring any researcher pay the patent holder to use the gene for research or simply for identifying the gene. This might prevent the discovery or testing of new uses for the gene. Of course, in law this is mostly argued for studies of the human genome, but really, the patenting of any life form or part of a living system should be banned.
This sort of patenting of lifeforms arose in the 1980s (originally with an oil eating microbe) along with neoliberalism and the greed is good privatize everything for profit motive.
I would not say they “are not significant in any way”.
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Aug 12 2021 9:41 utc | 279
Luckily, Chinese don’t give flying F for western patents, so anything hindered in research by patents will be developed by Chinese much faster.
Posted by: Abe | Aug 12 2021 9:45 utc | 280
snake @ 255 wrote:
You have not addressed the question ?
why the patent to the detection of, the creation of, and the technology to prevent the big bad terrible lab made pandemic virus were all issued before the earliest virus was discovered.. How can that happen?
________________________________________________________________
It didn’t happen.
What was described in the patent is not referring to the same virus that causes covid.
Posted by: jinn | Aug 12 2021 10:04 utc | 281
OK just a quick and personal view about the cultural difference between western (atm amerikan) and asian (atm Chinese) views of ‘originality’.
Those who have travelled to asia and have either sought out for themselves galleries of locally acclaimed art or let themselves be dragged around exhibitions which some comission dependant tourist guide has inflicted upon them know that what is deemed as quality in either forum as superlative is frequently an image or sculpture that they likely have already seen other versions of. The quality isn’t dependant on orginality but is a function of technical ability combined with the most emotive interpretation.
The image of a garuda silhouetted by the sun as it flies above a rice paddy is available for a handful of rupiah up to many billions of rupiah in Bali Indonesia. For any Indonesian the difference is obvious. One picture may have been rendered years prior to the other, it may even be the original version, but the later image rendered more artfully and more, for want of a better description, emotively will always be judged the better picture and be more valuable.
In this culture a piece of technology which functions better and costs much less to produce than the equivalent Apple product will always be considered superior.
IOW the entire patent system is the product of western/european culture and entirely irrelevant outside it, meaning that for a huge part of the world western copyright/patents are yet another example of the so called rules based order which amerika insists on forcing upon the rest of us – nothing more than yet another example of whitefella efforts to corner a market with patent BS.
Only an ignoramus would attempt to argue the superiority of one of these cultural values ahead of the other.
Therefore a considerable portion of our world’s population see the copyright/patent system as something to be ignored where possible, otherwise resisted.
Especially in the early 21st century where copyright/patent has little to do with rewarding originality and everything to do with reinforcing corporate hegemony.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 12 2021 10:25 utc | 282
Jezabeel @Aug12 9:26 #278: Jackrabbit got ADE.
My symptoms were not severe. I could function throughout the day. But I was not as productive and I had night sweats.
Also Note:
COVID-19 Vaccines: Should We Fear ADE?
This is unlikely because coronavirus diseases in humans lack the clinical, epidemiological, biological, or pathological attributes of ADE disease exemplified by dengue viruses (DENV). In contrast to DENV, SARS and MERS CoVs predominantly infect respiratory epithelium, not macrophages.
Here we demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV neither infect human monocyte-derived macrophages (hMDM) nor induce inflammatory cytokines in these cells, in sharp contrast to Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus and the common cold human coronavirus 229E. Furthermore, serum from convalescent COVID-19 patients neither induced enhancement of SARS-CoV-2 infection nor innate immune response in hMDM…. These results support the view that ADE may not be involved in the immunopathological processes associated with COVID-19, however, more studies are necessary …
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 12 2021 10:38 utc | 283
oh that’s cute, promoting that shill anthony watts like he knew anything about science. how come he didn’t retire after the BEST study supported climate science like he said he would? cause it didn’t come out the way he wanted, and if he did that he wouldn’t get any more of that sweet fossil fuel money. ask yourself if you believe Big PHARMA is powerless in this society, and then examine why you believe British Petroleum or the other behemoths are.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 12 2021 10:43 utc | 284
i think that is often true Zweck, but i don’t know where Cuomo veered off script. as far as i know, he was a standard neoliberal with all the associated positions. it was just too inconvenient by all the revelations coming out in a time of metoo, and Cuomo wasn’t all that valuable, there’s always another corporate whore around to step up.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 12 2021 10:45 utc | 285
Roger @ 257 wrote
If the elites don’t want to lose all legitimacy, and therefore central control, they need to start making the average person’s life better, stop dissembling to such a degree that it just feeds reactionary responses (Fauci is a train-wreck on this), and stop with the culture wars. I very much worry that the 2024 Presidential election will be a bad turning point as both Dems and Republicans have lost all legitimacy with half of the population.
___________________________________________________________________________
I don’t think the elites see this as a problem. The 2020 election saw a record number of voters show up to vote.
Both Dems and Republicans losing legitimacy with half of the population is exactly what the elites want.
The elites have learned that the American voter does not and will not vote for anything. But the voters will show up and participate to vote against what they don’t want.
Voter suppression is another very powerful way to get voters to be sucked into in electoral politics. Take the Georgia Senate races as the classic example. The efforts at voter suppression in Georgia managed to get enough voters who would never have otherwise participated to believe that their vote must be important.
Posted by: jinn | Aug 12 2021 10:47 utc | 286
In not so surprising news… Russian Hypersonic technicians are being poached by the US.
How long before the West gets its own hypersonic missiles?
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-detains-head-hypersonics-research-facility-treason-case-tass-2021-08-12/
Posted by: Et Tu | Aug 12 2021 11:00 utc | 287
K @ 230
it is a complete no brainer that masks and social distancing are the most simple level of deterrent and protection to becoming sick or from spreading sickness
The spread of nano-sized particles in poorly ventilated spaces is the major cause of infection. Masks and social distancing do nothing to prevent this. In fact, it’s a no-brainer that lockdowns exacerbate it. Sure, if someone is sneezing and coughing in your face a mask will arrest the droplets, but that’s about it. The major cause of infection is from nano particles which pass through masks like Kid Flash through walls, so spare me your research from the beginning of the 20th century.
For crying out loud, even the science behind wearing surgical masks during surgery is unsettled.
Posted by: john | Aug 12 2021 11:10 utc | 288
@ Posted by: Et Tu | Aug 12 2021 11:00 utc | 287
US had purchased license to produce RD-180 engines, and had full 30 years since USSR breakup to poach as many rocket scientists as they liked, yet somehow, even with all that money and license w. blueprints – US is still incapable to produce RD-180 engines themselves.
Wonder why.
Posted by: Abe | Aug 12 2021 11:27 utc | 289
So hypersonic tech is still far far away from US’s ability to produce.
Also – hypersonic are game changes as biggest threat to surface ships. There are only western nations using naval power for colonial purposes, not China or Russia which lose nothing when their enemies get powerful anti shipping weapons.
So, even when US gets hypersonic, it won’t restore balance, as US is already lost.
Posted by: Abe | Aug 12 2021 11:30 utc | 290
What’s not to like?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7987002/
Posted by: Patroklos | Aug 12 2021 11:50 utc | 291
Patroklos | Aug 12 2021 11:50 utc | 291
Indeed! I am old enough to remember some poor souls who got sentenced to 20 years in prison for possession of a single joint. some things do change for the better.
Posted by: dan of steele | Aug 12 2021 12:58 utc | 292
Reposting this reply to @Gordog | Aug 10 2021 17:39 utc | 182 in the last MoA week in review thread, as that one may be beginning to gather dust and fewer views. IMHO the topic of large scale state sponsored drug running is worthy enough of further consideration to put this out into the current open thread.
Daniel Hopsicker at http://www.madcowprod.com has a lot of info on the CIA coke dealings in particular and many related odds and ends in general.
Note that whereas Hopsicker often points out barely obfuscated CIA ties to people,assets and organizations involved in the trade, he identifies a general pattern of elite deviancy, spanning all upper segments of both the visible state, its “deep” appendices and seemingly unrelated criminal networks.
A colorful and interesting read, that also covers some less commonly known aspects of the 9/11 conundrum. Recommend.
Posted by: Lurk | Aug 12 2021 13:06 utc | 293
I am speechless………………………………………
Foreign Affairs mag is called the Bible of the Deep State.
Their lead story at this moment……….left me speechless.
We are all familiar with the saying that was applied to Vietnam,
“We should, ‘declare victory and then go home’.”
There has to be an applicable saying to sum up the lead story,
but it is just not forming.
Headline at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/
America Failed Its Way to Counterterrorism Success
How a Flawed “War on Terror” Eventually Yielded the Right Approach
Is this what they are telling themselves, and patting each other on the back, in the halls and meeting rooms of the “Interagency”?
(“Interagency” – thank you, Col Alexander Vindman).
“War,” the late French prime minister Georges Clemenceau famously remarked, “is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory.” That is a good way to think about the United States’ odyssey in the “war on terror.” For 20 years, Washington has struggled and mostly failed to reduce the overall level of global terrorism and to create a healthier political climate in the Muslim world. It has also endured slow, grinding quagmires and sharp, humiliating setbacks. Yet on the most fundamental level, the United States has achieved its strategic objective: it has prevented catastrophic attacks against the U.S. homeland, mainly by becoming extremely proficient at destroying terrorists’ sanctuaries and pulverizing their networks.
…
Yet the experience of the past two decades suggests that the medium-footprint strategy is still the best of bad options available to the United States.
the United States has found a more sustainable approach—one that emphasizes managing intractable problems
rather than solving them
or simply walking away.
…
We only do bad options
as they lead to failures
but failures equal victory
if they are sustainable
(and generate lots of war profits
and jobs in the Interagency).
– best saying I can do at this moment
Posted by: librul | Aug 12 2021 13:10 utc | 294
Gary Webb writes series of articles detailing how Contra rebels from Nicaragua were behind the crack cocaine trade in LA aided and abetted by the CIA.
He was found with two gun shots wounds to the head at his home.
The Sacramento County coroner’s office ruled his death a suicide.
Posted by: Down South | Aug 12 2021 14:07 utc | 295
dan of steele @ 293
I am old enough to remember some poor souls who got sentenced to 20 years in prison for possession of a single joint
Yeah, psychotic paranoia. I like to juxtapose such harsh facts with the unaccountable bombing of entire countries back to the Stone Age for no good reason.
***
How was your sojourn to Umbria Jazz? Sorry we didn’t hook up, but I was fortunate to catch the Brad Mehldau Trio and the Branford Marsalis Quartet all in one evening. The music was wonderful, even if the soccer field venue with orderly distanced seating and all attendees wearing masks was kind of creepy. But then, covid has conveniently pulled somewhat of a pall over the live expression of the universal language, hasn’t it?
Of course our central scrutinizer saw this coming 50 years ago…butcha gotta listen kinda carefully.
Posted by: john | Aug 12 2021 15:04 utc | 296
i remember webb, another victim of the warmongers. they love to smear people as they kill and imprison them.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 12 2021 15:10 utc | 297
the last couple of caitlin johnstone articles i’ve seen haven’t had comments enabled apparently.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 12 2021 15:11 utc | 298
feynman wasn’t talking about climate science, he was talking about the “soft science”, the most pretentious and influential of which is economics. science deniers like to pretend he was though, the way biden and the democrats pretend to be climate hawks. see our esteemed host’s latest post.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Aug 12 2021 15:15 utc | 299
john @Aug12 11:10 #288
The virus is probably transmitted via BOTH droplets and aerosol.
Droplets contain lots of virus particles and are most heavily concentrated near the source (someone that is sick). Wearing masks greatly reduces risk from droplets.
Aerosols are widely dispersed. Indoor spaces that are not properly ventilated pose a greater risk of infection.
Masks are not useless. They just have to be used appropriately and measures need to be taken to improve mask effectiveness. Instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, we can simply improved ventilation of indoor areas that pose a risk.
Naturally, government-hating Libertarians prefer to promote the message: “masks don’t work” instead of demanding improved indoor ventilation by yet-another government mandate.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 12 2021 15:15 utc | 300