Germany’s future Chancellor Armin Laschet (to be ratified by a largely ceremonial liberal-democratic electoral ritual) thinks he’s fooling anyone, when he’s fooling no one:
Germany’s CDU party leader threatens Russia with sanctions if Nord Stream 2 harms Ukraine:
“Ukraine’s security must be a priority for Germany’s foreign policy,” he said
Germany is the European Japan: it thinks it has a future, when in reality it is already dead.
–//–
Russia’s New Form of Organized Crime Is Menacing the World – NYT Editorial
I’m here left thinking: what the fuck is the NYT endgame with all of this? Does it really want the USA to wage a total war against Russia? Does it think it can win a hot war with a first nuclear strike? Does it think Russia will collapse after Putin’s death?
I sincerely cannot see the reason why the liberals continue to insist on this Russophobia charade. Unless, of course, the American economy is really vulnerable to these kind of attacks, and wants to buy time to erect the due defenses.
Also, the Americans should stop to use “the World” as a synonym to “USA”. The USA does not represent universal values and it never did. The USA is also still a nation-state in essence, albeit with some special properties that make it unique, it still has a given, finite, territorial extension (even if you count its provinces). Being an imperium sine fine does not make you the automatic conqueror of the whole world: wanting to be there is completely different than being there.
–//–
China without an army of friends: China needs allies, people and countries who will stand for its universal values but it’s not clear yet what they are
Again, the dumb statecraftist conception of History. China needs allies (i.e. provinces). China needs universal values (i.e. hegemonic soft power). China needs to be exactly like the USA.
I imagine Francesco Sisci one and a half century earlier: “the USA needs colonies if it wants to take the British Empire’s place. The USA needs a Monarchy if it wants to take the British Empire’s place.” etc. etc.
Well, except it does not. History is not statecraftism. Statecraft Theory is a pseudo-scientific model that is not corroborated by empirical evidence. The theory of Class Struggle is the most scientifically precise, and is the one we should always use when trying to make scientific analysis and scientific predictions in History.
–//–
More projection:
Russia handcuffed to Syria’s failing state
Like Iraq? Like Afghanistan? Like the Ukraine?
–//–
Will China bail out Biden? Prominent Chinese academic’s warning that inflation might bankrupt the US government will be read carefully in Washington
The key here is if inflation will grow enough to the point the Fed will blink and rise the interest rate. If the interest rate is raised enough, the American private sector will go bankrupt en masse.
Private – not public – debt is what will be the downfall of the USA.

Posted by: vk | Aug 1 2021 15:37 utc | 4

Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 1 2021 15:22 utc | 3 et al
Oh to have been a fly on the wall in Davos in January 2020. Clearly, imo, regardless of the origin story of SarsV2, a decision was made to mount a massive psychological warfare operation against ‘western’ populations to accept ‘vaccines’ as the only cure for a murderous ‘novel’ virus. ‘Western’ society was destroyed over a threat that didn’t materialize. Indeed from positive manipulated PCR tests (that the CDC says can’t discriminate between Covid and Flu – hence no flu last year – and has asked the Emergency Use Authorization of the PCR tests be abandoned at the end of the year) that turned false positives into unaccountable “asymptomatic” cases, to the refusal to discuss any therapy as viable except for ‘vaccines’ (which have now proven to be basically worthless – leading eventually to the Zombie Variant, I’m sure,) to the now open coercion, bribe and demonization of those who refuse to take what is essentially a new fangled, data-challenged flu shot.
We have no idea what Covid is. But we do know the response to it was a psychological warfare operation in service to the umbrella term of a Great Reset.

Posted by: gottlieb | Aug 1 2021 15:59 utc | 6

@gottlieb | Aug 1 2021 15:59 utc | 6
Thank you for speaking the truth.

Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 1 2021 16:32 utc | 8

Professor Minqi Li (Utah Econ) uses Marxist theories of unequal exchange to engage with and explain China’s location in the totality of economic flows which comprise world imperialism. He concludes that China is not an imperialist state. The evidence challenges the realist and geopolitical theories of international relations which look only at rising and falling nations according to their apparent ‘national’ capacities (economic or military). When you look at the specific patterns and flows of value, based on differential productivities and class relations, you get a different understanding.
https://monthlyreview.org/2021/07/01/china-imperialism-or-semi-periphery/

Posted by: Prof | Aug 1 2021 16:48 utc | 10

Posted by: Ben | Aug 1 2021 16:41 utc | 9
Zionism is a scourge that should be wiped off the face of the Earth. Judaism as a religion, like Christianity and Islam should be kept to its Temples and not let out into society. And ‘ethnic’ Jews is just another blah-blah-blah that means nothing. Tribalist Exceptionalism is a disease.

Posted by: gottlieb | Aug 1 2021 16:56 utc | 12

This system of governance and oversight transcends the law. In that sense, laws and regulations are only tools and means to reach regulators’ goals in terms of governance, norms, and ethics. The law per se is not the end, merely the tool. This contrasts starkly with the rule of law concept in the West. While it is comprehensible to Chinese, it is difficult for Westerners to understand.
This is a very important statement in understanding the differences in “values” so touted by the “rules based” mob.
Living under both systems (i have families, friends and businesses in both) I can say without a doubt the western system is better for predatory business practices. The laws and regs, once set, becomes the rules of the game and the original intents are pretty much discarded. Literal definition will be combed over by the lawyers and are sidestepped or taken advantage of.
The so-called “stability” this facade of law and order provides is that if you are smart or rich enough to take advantage of it you’ll be safe to continue to make the most of it, regardless of whether it is aligned with the intent of the laws or in the interest of the people.
In contrast, the Chinese is saying doing business is fine but don’t screw the people out the overriding intent of the regulator or regulations. If it looks like it’s heading that way the monkey hammer will come and you won’t like it.
Again, there’s a caveat on the Chinese govt making good its implied promise on serving its people with these overarching powers. Something that has never sat well with the western civilization (read western financial elites).
Whilst the Chinese regulators might not have struck bullseye every time, its batting a pretty good average having lifted so many out of poverty.

Posted by: A.L. | Aug 1 2021 17:06 utc | 14

Another Covid/Ivermectin question that keeps banging me in the head is why haven’t some of the big countries like China, Russia, or even Mexico that is now pushing back a little on Big Pharma come out publicly in favor of Ivermectin for prevention and treatment?
Is it too soon to expect them to have evaluated it sufficiently? I find that hard to believe. Do these countries not use it on livestock already?
Why is what seems to be successful use of Ivermectin against what is being made out to be the crisis of the day being so strongly suppressed?
I keep wanting our current dystopia to be localized and not global but the picture is not clear…..

Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 1 2021 17:24 utc | 16

Plagues and Empires.
“Tellingly, when one contrasts the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic of, say, China and Western countries, it seems plausible that this pandemic could hasten the relative decline, if not the fall, of the West. But given that China and the West confronted the same plague, why have the outcomes differed so wildly? Fortunately, history offers some insights.”
https://aeon.co/essays/empires-pandemics-and-the-economic-future-of-the-west

Posted by: Paul | Aug 1 2021 17:45 utc | 18

Interesting read by Engdahl on the track record of J&J, Pfizer and Moderna:

The forever-head of the US NIAID, Tony Fauci, has repeatedly demanded that the public “trust the science” as he shifts his own science opinion from one positon to another. What is never mentioned in mainstream media in the West or almost anywhere in the world is the scientific record of the major global vaccine making pharmaceutical giants.
In short, it is abysmal and alarming in the extreme. That alone should prohibit governments from pushing radical untested experimental injections on their populations without extensive long-term animal and other testing to assure their safety.

And We Should Trust ‘The Science’ of the Pharma Industry?

Posted by: Down South | Aug 1 2021 18:03 utc | 20

About three-fourths of people infected in a Massachusetts Covid-19 outbreak were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus with four of them ending up in the hospital, according to new data published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new data, published in the U.S. agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, also found that fully vaccinated people who get infected carry as much of the virus in their nose as unvaccinated people, and could spread it to other individuals.
“This finding is concerning and was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC’s updated mask recommendation,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “The masking recommendation was updated to ensure the vaccinated public would not unknowingly transmit virus to others, including their unvaccinated or immunocompromised loved ones.”
On Tuesday, the CDC reversed course on its prior guidance and recommended fully vaccinated Americans who live in areas with high Covid infection rates resume wearing face masks indoors.

CDC study shows 74% of people infected in Massachusetts Covid outbreak were fully vaccinated

Posted by: Down South | Aug 1 2021 18:11 utc | 22

Targeting Orthodoxy

The relative success of Constantinople Patriarchy’s foray into the vipers’ tangle of Ukrainian church politics has whetted its appetite to try to go further along the same lines, following the general direction set by its overseas “partners.”
[…]
The autonomous canonical Belarussian Orthodox church, like its canonical Ukrainian counterpart which is the dominant religious tradition in that country, is in communion with the Moscow Patriarchy and an integral part of it. While, according to Metropolitan Ilarion, there is at present little chance of the new Belarussian “church” gaining much grass roots traction, he also points out prudently (and diplomatically) that abroad there are “forces interested in the political destabilisation of Belarus, having observed the trajectory of events in the Ukraine and realising that the church has the capacity to become a significant factor.” How and when the “church card” will be played in Belarus to further undermine the Lukashenko government will be fascinating to watch.

Very political and carnal attitude for an institution that claims to be so holy, so eternal, so otherworldly.

Posted by: vk | Aug 1 2021 18:13 utc | 24

– Biden Promised to Restore the Iran Nuclear Deal. Now It Risks Derailment. – NYT
For months we have been treated to MSM reporting that accepted President Biden’s “promise” to re-join JCPOA without question. This continued even as the negotiations dragged on and on and despite reasonable questions about USA/Biden intentions.
A gullible public is supposed to believe that Biden’s improved relations with allies (easy after Trump) and his meeting with Putin (which accomplished little, if anything) means that Biden is yet another(!) peace-loving President.
This MSM-promoted psyop (among other things such as the constant pro-Israel messaging) has set-up the Iranians to be responsible for any failure in the negotiations – negotiations that many skeptics always saw as likely to fail.
Although we see such media manipulation frequently used against adversaries of the Empire, the public still largely falls for it because they are kept ignorant and distracted. And now the war on whistle-blowers also includes a war on truth-tellers and the truth itself.
<> <> <> <> <>
We should now be asking: what happens WHEN (not “if”) the JCPOA negotiations fail. As a cynic, it seems to me to be a prelude to war.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 1 2021 18:15 utc | 26

wrote this couple of weeks ago when b wrote the following, but didn’t get to post it. I guess it can reside here.

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.

Please b, I implore you to refrain from feeding the ‘war on Iran’ trolls.
Nothing is eventual about it. That is why war by other means — financial, cultural, etc — is fought against Iran.
The fantasy of ‘war on Iran’ was put to bed back in 2002 with the war games — ‘Millennium Challenge 2002,’ costing $250M, involving 13,500 personnel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002 . Put another way: A case where the empire’s military would cheat to win in their own fake war.
Here are some questions before a ‘war on Iran’ is fought. A war that will have to be fought on Iran’s turf — from Hindu Kush to the Mediterranean, and from the Caucasus to the horn of Africa, NOT just Iran, proper.
Once ALL these questions are answered, and in totality, we can get the war started — I’m sure some here will selectively cherry pick and cut and paste their favorite line.
Having sown the wind, the empire will have to reap the whirlwind.
Q: It will take a million soldiers to occupy Iran. Where is the build up? It took 9 month for the Iraq war. Will Iran allow that deployment at it’s doorstep? Moving 3000 from Afghanistan,[sorry for the chuckle, I just remembered — ‘at night’] and another couple of thousand from Iraq and Syria won’t be enough.
Q: Where will the empire’s troops/personnel/assets go to hide from Iran’s non-nuke ballistics, drones, armed forces, proxies, allies? Hint: Ein-al-assad and it’s associated “head-traumas” were just a practice run.
Q: Did Iran learn nothing from watching the empire fight two of it’s neighbors for twenty years?
Q: Will China sit idly by, and watch it’s $400B investment and residuals plans go up in smoke?
Q: Will Russia sit idly by, and watch the empire on it’s underbelly?
Q: How will the fight in other realms/dimensions turn out? Cyber, certain cell activation, etc.?
Q: Where will the apartheid state go to hide? It is covered on three fronts. Hezbollah to the north, Quds forces to east, and Hamas to the south. The refrain, ‘Jews to the sea’ will be heard amongst them all.
Q: It is often said that the apartheid state may attack Iran’s nuke facilities — the Nutty syndrome to deflect from his government’s atrocities. Then what? They make the first run and attack. What else can they do from a thousand miles away? Send soldiers? Oh sure, they will fight Iran to the last empire’s soldier, wouldn’t they? Some think the Sampson option applies here.
The only thing that such an attack would do is to get the war started. Do you think the empire will outsource such a significant decision?
Q: How will the Saudis protect Ras Tanura, where they ship most of their oil? Water desalination plants? Pipelines?
Hint: Abqaiq and Khurais, taking half the production off-line, was just a practice run.
Q: UAE shiny buildings?
Q: Where will the fifth fleet go to hide? It will be like shooting fish in a barrel [or is it kettle?] in that Iranian lake called Persian Gulf.
Q: Where will the world economy be headed with $400+/barrel of oil and it’s resultant affect on anything that has to be transported?
Q: How will the straits of Hormuz be unclogged for normal commerce? Who has the power to undertake the task?
Who is going to stop the Iranian forces overtaking the Arabian peninsula by crossing the said straits?
Q: Well, not really a question, but, better minds, can ask better questions, than I. [insert yours here]
QQQ: How will it end? OK, now we are getting to the meat of of the matter. Perhaps, this IS the question to be asked, before all others. —The tit for tat attacks and the piling body bags increase the calls on the POTUS for the use of nukes. Play the scenario in your head. This IS the only way it will end. Iran will not be subdued or mollified otherwise.
Why doesn’t the empire forego the tits for the tats and just drop the bomb? It would save a lot time and resources. Glass parking lot, anyone?

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Aug 1 2021 18:27 utc | 28

@ Posted by: Paul | Aug 1 2021 18:14 utc | 25
Jews are definitely not a race or ethnicity. The Ashkenazi are an obscure people probably originated from somewhere in the Ukrainian/Caspian steppes who converted to Judaism at some point during the Middle Ages. Every historian knows that, it’s old news.
But this debate is irrelevant, as races are an artificial construct that can be convened at any time (ethnogenesis) and, either way, Israel now recognizes one can convert to Judaism and become an Israeli citizen. You can only do that in some synagogues, but you can do that, and you’ll be considered a legitimate Jew just like any other.
So yes, Israel doesn’t care about logic anymore. They’re a normal capitalist nation-State now and, as such, is susceptible to all of its contradictions and rules of motion.

Posted by: vk | Aug 1 2021 18:39 utc | 30

@ jackrabbit (#26),
It is Financial Empire’s Imperial Council that decides the policies to be executed by the U$A administration, not Biden. When has Empire’s MSM ever been honest about its adversaries?
The Financial Empire is still continuing on its path to capture the world for its dream of a global empire. Has it changed its plan?
Empire has two major choices:
A) Continue with the evil plan for a war to win or LOSE
B) Come to terms with reality, apologize, return all the loot and work to build a better world.
It seems like the Empire is pursuing choice A to wage a war. Empire’s subjects are no better, as they just want to rape Mother Earth for their fun, money and power, and kill people to loot & enslave. Individuals without conscience (Orcs), just obey. What changed? Get real. “In God We Trust”
What are the core challenges for humanity to address?

Posted by: Max | Aug 1 2021 18:54 utc | 32

Sakineh Bagoom @Aug1 18:27 #28
I would like to believe that a full-blown shooting war is impossible. But we should avoid wishful thinking.
=
Having sown the wind, the empire will have to reap the whirlwind.
You are assuming that they are unwilling to sustain losses. All costs and loses will be borne by the lower classes. Few, if any, of the people-that-matter will be inconvenienced.
=
It will take a million soldiers to occupy Iran.
They want regime-change, not occupation. Probably the only part of Iran that might be occupied is the major oil fields.
=
Where will the empire’s troops/personnel/assets go to hide …
If there’s war with Iran, there will be casualties on both sides. You seem to thing that TPTB don’t care to take losses. The war will be blamed on Iran.
=
Did Iran learn nothing from watching the empire fight two of it’s neighbors for twenty years?
It learned plenty. It’s enemies also learned.
=
Will China sit idly by … Will Russia sit idly by …
1) Iranian oil supply is important to China. All the more reason for the Empire to target Iran.
2) Russia and China will react. The question is: will they react in time to prevent a regime-change?
3) Russian and Chinese capabilities are only getting better – something that probably weighs on the minds of the war-mongers/planners.
=
How will the fight in other realms/dimensions turn out?
It will be ugly with much suffering. That will not deter Empire asshats and Zionist ideologues.
=
Where will the apartheid state go to hide? It is covered on three fronts.
Yet Israel is already in an undeclared war with Iran.
=
It is often said that the apartheid state may attack Iran’s nuke facilities — the Nutty syndrome …
This senario is unlikely. Both Israeli and the Saudis want USA to confront Iran.
=
How will the Saudis protect Ras Tanura … Water desalination plants? Pipelines? UAE shiny buildings?
Those who start wars are willing to accept some damage. The better question is: do the warmongers/planners view Iran regime-change as something that justifies some amount of destruction and loss of life.
Most ‘analysts’ answer this question through THEIR OWN moral lens. But the decision is being made by people who are much more ruthless and who will not be affected much by the war.
=
Where will the fifth fleet go to hide? It will be like shooting fish in a barrel …
I think we have to assume that reasonable precautions will be taken.
=
Where will the world economy be headed with $400+/barrel of oil and it’s resultant affect on anything that has to be transported? … How will the straits of Hormuz be unclogged …
This question is really a set of questions: 1) how much damage will there be? 2) how long to repair? 3) how long will the war last? 4) Exactly how much of a disruption in oil delivery will there be?
We can expect stockpiling and an attempt to have a short war. IIRC, an oil pipleline was recently completed to bypass the Stait.
=
Who is going to stop the Iranian forces overtaking the Arabian peninsula by crossing the said straits?
Have Empire asshats considered the unexpected? They will certainly try to game out all possible scenarios.
=
How will it end? … use of nukes. Play the scenario in your head. This IS the only way it will end. Iran will not be subdued or mollified otherwise.
1) Iranian leadership will be targeted while their military is degraded. I think the expectation will be that that will create an opportunity for rebellion.
2) Instead of a waiting for body-bags, USA might set a public red-line for use of nukes like Iran’s targeting of Israel or “civilian infrastructure” (e.g. oil terminals)
It ends with Iranian regime-change or the end of the Empire. Both sides have been preparing for conflict for many years.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 1 2021 19:31 utc | 34

@Down South | Aug 1 2021 18:03 utc | 20
Trust plays no part in real science. Science is about trying to invalidate hypotheses.

Posted by: Norwegian | Aug 1 2021 19:32 utc | 36

b
I really would not worry about spelling. The French and English have probably been “enemies” over many years because of a small question of intonation.
When asking a question, one language will use a “descending” intonation on the last word, and using the other the opposite happens, using a “rising” one for a question. (And of course vice versa.)
For one a “Descending intonation” is a polite question, but is recieved by the other the other as aggressive. And of course vice versa as a rising intonation is a sign of aggressivity for the other. The French and English were mutually distrustful because of a misunderstanding of the others intentions at a subconscious level.
So they fought a lot of wars.
*********
There are many similar small cultural traits that condition meetings. Which is why Blinken screwed up so badly in Alaska. ie. Don’t look the Japanese directly in the eyes, always shake hands in Switzerland at each meeting – but only once in the UK, etc. I don’t know what cultural taboo Blinken failed to follow. Apart from the second rate hotel, junk (?) food, being late and otherwise not knowing ordinary Diplomatic courtesy towards an honoured guest that is.
**
I always had a laugh at the “codes” sometimes used when in another country. We had US “determined” and “eager” types arriving in short sleeves in the midddle of winter in Switzerland. Snow and several degrees below 0°C. Showed readiness to “roll up sleeves and get to work”. Straight out from Florida, but it must have cooled off their desire to show the Swiss how clever they were, unfortunately they were simply regarded as idiots (politely).

Posted by: Stonebird | Aug 1 2021 19:49 utc | 38

Posted by: vk | Aug 1 2021 18:13 utc | 24
As Dubbya would say, don’t missunderestimate them, in spite of their other worldly claims here on this earth they have a fair amount of assets, and influence as proved for over two thousand years. Belarus enemies do appreciate that there is some power in that realm and it is worth playing the divide and conquer theme in it.

Posted by: Paco | Aug 1 2021 19:55 utc | 40

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 1 2021 19:31 utc | 34
Thanks for the reply JR.
Many assumptions in your reply. The red team in the war game I listed, had the same assumptions force on them, after restarting the game. You know, when you ASSUME…

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Aug 1 2021 20:11 utc | 42

the mRNA causes your body to produce the spike protein and elaborates on all the pathologies it produces
Do you have a clue what you are talking about?
This would embarrass Orwell.

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Aug 1 2021 20:16 utc | 44

@ Posted by: Perimetr | Aug 1 2021 20:18 utc | 47
Here’s my definite take on this drama:
If you want to contest Pfizer, J&J, Moderna, Biontech, Sanofi, AstraZeneca et caterva and the Western governments, be my guest, more power to you. Just don’t throw Gamaleya and Sinopharm (and other Chinese laboratories) and the Russian and Chinese governments together with this bunch.
The Chinese and Russian do have legitimate vaccines, which you should take if you have access to, and which you should pressure your own government to buy and distribute if you don’t. We must separate the wheat from the chaff.
Last but not least: First Worlders should stop projecting the degenerations of their own governments and corporations on Russia and specially China. If you have some grievance against your government, name it – stop talking in universalist vocabulary that makes it seems it is the whole world’s problem.

Posted by: vk | Aug 1 2021 20:25 utc | 46

Max @Aug1 18:54 #32
You do a disservice when you push misleading concepts and waste reader’s time with incoherent thoughts.
=
Financial Empire
This is a misleading term that minimizes the Police State apparatus and global military presence.
=
[CFR =] Financial Empire’s Imperial Council
CFR is “the establishment” but they don’t run the show.
Did CFR decide to make war on Iraq? No. They just went along as the establishment is expected to.
=
Empire has two major choices: [war or return the loot]
It’s not difficult to see that they actually have other choices.
=
Empire’s subjects are no better, as they just want to rape Mother Earth for their fun, money and power, and kill people to loot & enslave. Individuals without conscience (Orcs), just obey.
This is incoherent. First you claim they are “subjects” then describe them as “compatriots” then claim that they act without knowledge (“just obey”).
Are you a bot?
=
What are the core challenges for humanity to address?
Can you stop with the click-bait shit?!?
Are you a bot?
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Aug 1 2021 20:37 utc | 48

Living in the insane asylum that is Sydney, I’m being pushed by family members brainwashed by 24-hour news hysteria to accept being injected with the COVID-19 “vaccines” and am unsure what to do. I help care for an elderly mother who will soon have her 2nd AZ jab and who will pose a threat to me if she contracts COVID-19. She of all people is blackmailing me and blaming me for being selfish in not taking the injections.
The choice is between Astra Zeneca and Pfizer. Unfortunately Novavax is still having supply issues and its doses will not come to Australia until next year.

Posted by: Jen | Aug 1 2021 20:44 utc | 50

Max@52:
You have zeroed in on the crucial point: Would the Empire’s subjects and lackeys roll along with their masters’ game plan handed down from Lucifer???
Well, I’m an optimist. If the Empire is in a struggle for life and death, I believe its subjects and lackeys would follow along with whatever Empire’s moves ’til kingdom come. BUT if following Lucifer’s game plan is only for getting what one wants, and which is clearly outrageous if not down right immoral, I think the Empire would have a hard time keeping its followers morale high enough to march all the way into kingdom come.
Like I said, this might be optimistic but I’m counting on human nature. We are different from animals aren’t we?

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Aug 1 2021 20:50 utc | 52

She of all people is blackmailing me and blaming me for being selfish in not taking the injections.
I guess being a selfish asshole is something to be admired?
Don’t be a selfish, ignorant asshole—
It will help your survival, but the rest of us humans might have some issues.

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Aug 1 2021 21:01 utc | 54

Re: Spelling
Spellcheckers already underline in color the words they find disorthographic. Why can’t they underline in some other color words that have more than one spelling?

Posted by: Platero | Aug 1 2021 21:11 utc | 56

Peru & Latin America
Peru: New president Castillo is moving very fast and the right wing aristocrats are in disarray for the moment.
Castillo’s ideology is Marxist AND indigenous. He knows who he is… so do his comrades in Peru along with Bolivians in the MAS movement/party. They continue to accelerate and strengthen ties and working/organizing relationships which will speed up plans and programs. We outsiders can enhance our understanding of this emerging grassroots power in Peru and Bolivia by reading up on Pedro Castillo’s ideological mentor: José Mariátegui, whom Castillo often mentions.
“As such, Mariátegui was one of the first Latin American socialists to acknowledge the revolutionary potential of the peasantry and Indigenous peoples. Rather than take a paternalistic or humanitarian position, he believed that these overlapping groups needed to be the architects of their own liberation and to do so using their own cultural knowledge, experience and language.”
https://iacenter.org/2021/07/22/victory-for-peru-libre-and-mariateguismo/
U.S. imperial lackeys didn’t see this coming in Peru as they were preparing to hold their nose and work with the evil princess Fujimori. Now they have no workable plan which explains their weak, almost laughable smear of Castillo that he’s against the gays and that he’s a right wing catholic– pure bullshit.
bottom line– Working Peruvians have suffered badly the past 2 years. Castillo and his party are prepared to fight while they build an empowered public sector which will open up the already vibrant rural networks of Quechua and Aymara people. Peru is rising. Say good-bye to the U.S. air bases. Say good-by to the U.S. “war on drugs” in Peru. Say hello to another resistance power.

Posted by: migueljose | Aug 1 2021 21:16 utc | 58

Jen@55
As to your question: this is a universal question at this time. Since I have had covid already, I can tell such pressuring peers, with the whold weight of the history of immunology behind me, that I have better immunity than a vaccinated person (despite not being allowed to go everywhere they go). I don’t know what I would do if I did not have immunity, but here are a few suggestions concerning choice of vaccine. If your mother did not have any side-effects to a particular vaccine, then maybe (crossing fingers) you won’t either. It may also depend on whether you are male or femaile: there is a difference in side-effects from the disparate vaccines.

Posted by: Platero | Aug 1 2021 21:21 utc | 60

3rd week of protests. There are more and more gilets-jaunes. Next step: pros and vacationers.
Where is Micron? Is he at Jackson Hole with the rest of the bankers? All we need is a pic of him without his mask in front of un grand teton.

Posted by: Platero | Aug 1 2021 21:39 utc | 62

Big pharmaMafia.
I have been wondering when the mafia made the clean up and moved into big pharma. So I took a peek under the veil of respectability and found a few dissident voices like Dr Raeford Brown and Peter Gøtzsche and Brandy Vaughan. Once upon a time you could say with some degree of certainty that the mob was mainly into drugs, protection and hookers. Well today is deja vu day and the mob is definitely into drugs, protection and hookers only today that means little helpers like Vioxx, protecting people’s health and providing ‘safety’ for people trusting in big pharma medications, and, of course hookers like opioids. Then of course there is all the ‘support’ they provide to medicos and congresscritters.
Dr Raeford Brown is reported in March 2019:
Learn the Risk provides an excellent expose of the extent of ownership the Pharma mob have on Congress.
“After years of an increasingly close relationship between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, an insider is finally speaking out. Dr. Raeford Brown, a pediatric anesthesiologist at the University of Kentucky Children’s Hospital and chair of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Committee on Analgesics and Anesthetics, has been openly critical of big pharma and the lack of proper oversight from the FDA, according to a new article on Yahoo Finance. (March 2019)
Dr. Brown admits the issue is “because Congress is owned by Pharma”.
Even though many politicians are beginning to speak out against Big Pharma, Brown doubts this will change anything because of the amount of money the pharmaceutical industry pours into Congress annually.
“The pharmaceutical industry pours millions of dollars into the legislative branch every single year,” Dr. Brown told Yahoo Finance. “In 2016, they put $100 million into the elections. That’s a ton of money.”
There is a cross link at this site to Opensecrets revealing some surprises as to who got what from the mobs generosity. An Independent Senator got $1,264,349 in 2020!
Bernie supporters might even shed a tear at the news here (assuming open secrets has its facts right).
Peter Gøtzsche has written ‘Big Pharma and the Mob and is reviewed at Amazon by Maurizio J Solorzano – “Peter Gøtzsche, none other than the head of the Nordic Cochrane Centre, the Scandanavian arm of the Cochrane Collaboration, an independent research and information centre committed to preparing, maintaining, and disseminating reviews of the various treatments of mainstream medicine and examining whether they have adequate evidence of safety and effectiveness. Cochrane was the first group of individuals to champion the notion of`evidence-based’ medicine – that is, medicine shouldn’t be used unless there’s evidence that the stuff works.” Well he got drummed out of the Nordic Cochrane Centre through something often described as mal afide or a witch hunt.

“Gøtzsche is a guy after my own heart. When asked to speak at a Danish Society for Rheumatology event, called `Collaboration with the drug industry. Is it THAT harmful?’ Peter’s opening gambit was to highlight the fact that Pfizer, one of the meeting’s sponsors, had been fined $2.3 billion in the US for promoting off-label use of four drugs, while Merck, the sponsor the year before, had been responsible for the deaths of thousands due to deceptive information about its arthritis drug.

Gøtzsche’s latest book, entitled Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How Big Pharma has Corrupted Healthcare’ (Radcliffe Publishing Ltd) pulls even fewer punches. The book essentially makes the point that the drugs industry uses virtually every tactic used by the mob to sell its products… This is only the latest canary from among Establishment medicine to blow the whistle on Big Pharma. Marcia Ancell, the editor for two decades at the new England Journal of Medicine, recently published her own book: The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It.

All of the major medical journals, from the BMJ and the Lancet, to the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New Eng Journal, have revealed the scale of the problem – that correctly prescribed drugs are the fourth leading cause of death, that drug companies massage and make up data.

This video reveals just some of the life and murder of Brandy Vaughan. Take a look as it is well worth taking it in in some detail. She was a Merke employee before seeing the light and blowing the whistle mighty hard on their Vioxx killer tablets. As you watch this video, consider the nature of the forces that set out to silence her and their security capacity and you might come to the conclusion that high level security operatives (perhaps the state apparatus even) had the contract to destroy her. My guess is that if the mob has this level of control and infiltration then there is no instrument of state that is immune from their reach. It is a bit like USAi “democracy” has a long time resident tapeworm.
And to top off this piece is an interesting report at New Eastern Outlook by William F. Engdahl where he discusses Fauci and big pharma. “The forever-head of the US NIAID, Tony Fauci, has repeatedly demanded that the public “trust the science” as he shifts his own science opinion from one positon to another. What is never mentioned in mainstream media in the West or almost anywhere in the world is the scientific record of the major global vaccine making pharmaceutical giants. In short, it is abysmal and alarming in the extreme. That alone should prohibit governments from pushing radical untested experimental injections on their populations without extensive long-term animal and other testing to assure their safety.”
It sure looks like the USAi has lost its mind but the last place on earth they should seek medication is from the Big Pharma Mobsters. I recommend a long session of Traditional Chinese Medicine for their mania, wormwood or ivermectin for the tape worm and socialism for the economy.
Meanwhile the Covid-19 pandemic is just about a virus, that’s all ;))

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 1 2021 21:59 utc | 64

Jen @55
Being a caregiver, even if not full time, is difficult enough without idiots that pop up on the internet. You should do what suits you and your situation.

Posted by: Digital Spartacus | Aug 1 2021 22:24 utc | 66

Jen@55:
If it comes to a choice between the two, please note that AZ is an “old-style” vaccine, while Pfizer is a new (and therefore experimental) technology.
Truly, best wishes in your difficult situation.

Posted by: Hope | Aug 1 2021 22:38 utc | 68

Jen | Aug 1 2021 20:44 utc | 55
I am sorry to hear of your situation, Jen. That must be very emotionally taxing despite you not being, coming across as, an emotionally susceptible person.
Does your elderly mother have a fairly robust immune system? If she does then it is more unlikely, compared to people with minimal immune system functioning, that she will become an infected vaccinated carrier, transmitting virus loads to others while probably asymptomatic herself.
I suggest you wear a n95 mask or equivalent when with her until you are protected yourself, however that happens — with time, with an anti-viral (will someone please do the studies to tell us the lowdown an ivermectin’s ability to reduce viral load and under what circumstances) or with vaccination. How about a quick trip to a neighboring country for vaccination with CoviVac?
I took the first vaccine available to me which was Pfizer. That was in March. I am in my 60s. With the first jab there was a little pain at injection site for a day. With the second jab I had a fever for about 8 hours about 8 hours after administration, an indication that my immune system was reacting, creating beneficial immune response. Since then nothing different than usual.
If you do decide to get vaccinated, request aspiration from the nurse or vaccine administrator to assure that the vaccine is going into the muscle tissue and not into the blood system which, especially with the adenovirus vector vaccines, can cause complications; probably also occurs with mRNA vaccines. This takes only a second. The syringe is stuck in, then has drawback for a moment to see if blood enters the syringe. If blood enters the syringe then the jab needs to be relocated to muscle tissue.

Posted by: suzan | Aug 1 2021 22:57 utc | 70

@b please ban this eugenicist asshole..@39

Posted by: Lozion | Aug 1 2021 23:15 utc | 72

@ 55 jen… sorry to hear of your situation and the set up… unfortunately this is another example of how polarizing the topic of covid and vaccines are…. people completely lose perspective and i say this to those on both sides of this divide…. do what you think is right and be happy in your choice… you are a bright person and i am sorry you have been put in this position…

Posted by: james | Aug 1 2021 23:58 utc | 74

@Jen, 55
The injections were approved on the basis of mitigating symptoms. They do not provide sterilising immunity so do not prevent transmission. So you will not be protecting others by getting injected.
Ivermectin can be used prophylactically. Professor Thomas Borody’s ivermectin treatment protocol has been approved so it should be possible to obtain a prescription from your GP. https://covexit.com/australian-gps-can-legally-prescribe-ivermectin-triple-therapy-protocol-professor-borody/
https://www.spectator.com.au/2021/07/ivermectin-its-as-aussie-as-vegemite/
More information on the toxicity of these injections is becoming available https://doctors4covidethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pfizer-pharmacokinetics-and-toxicity.pdf

Posted by: cirsium | Aug 2 2021 0:09 utc | 76

cirsium #83
Getting a GP prescription for Ziverdo in the bunya nut republic is almost impossible in my experience. I had to get the veterinary package Ivemectin and the other items are available without prescription. Yes this is a contemptible situation but then.. so it goes.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 2 2021 0:23 utc | 78

Thanks for the vivid explanation, uncle tungsten. Complete with pseudo-murals, I love it! That is priceless.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 2 2021 0:37 utc | 80

@Jen
As I’ve mentioned before, I have been able to buy ivermectin in human-grade pills from India (shipped to the US), so that may be an option for Oz. Prior to that I was on the famous apple-flavored horse anti-parasitic and had no qualms.
We actually found a doctor in my small town who apparently is prescribing ivermectin, so it may be that if you start asking around you may find more people locally than you realize who are hip to this medicine. It’s a thing people don’t seem to advertise, until you start digging and find the knowledge to be more pervasive than is readily apparent.
@ suzan
As I understand it, largely from Bret Weinstein’s translations into lay language, ivermectin prevents infection totally – which means there is no viral load developed, and no transmission. But I wouldn’t know how to put that into medical language.

Posted by: Grieved | Aug 2 2021 0:57 utc | 82

Ivermectin oral tablet is a prescription medication used to treat parasitic infections.
It is not expensive, and not harmful.
It is useless against SARS-CoV-2.
Don’t overuse it, as it will develop antibody resistance.
Your delusions will not help.

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Aug 2 2021 1:06 utc | 84

Thanks to everyone who responded to my comment @ 55.
Suxan @ 77: My mother (aged 86 years) does seem to have a robust immune system, she had no reaction at all to the first AZ injection. For the record, she had a mini-stroke about this time last year but no strokes since then. She has had dry-angle and wet-angle glaucoma in the past, took statins until she had some heart issues and has suffered from varicose veins since the 1970s. Her mother died from diabetes-related issues and she has a younger brother with diabetes and heart issues. She has osteoporosis and a screw in her spine. If I had to recount all the medications she’s taken in the past two years, I’d be going on for 100 years. She’s currently taking Zyrtec.
Thanks for your advice regarding aspiration of the needle. I had thought the incorrect application of the needle might be an issue that has been overlooked in controversies about the AZ injections.

Posted by: Jen | Aug 2 2021 1:40 utc | 86

b, if you learnt the language talking to Amerikastanis, you didn’t learn English. You learnt Amerikastanish, a completely separate language with some accidentally retained similarities to English.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Aug 2 2021 2:01 utc | 88

Max #60
Thank you for the reference to Malmgren.
I discovered this interview between Paul Nash of the Foreign Policy Association and Dr. Malmgren about her book Signals: The Breakdown of the Social Contract and the Rise of Geopolitics

Q: You say that innovation can alleviate wealth inequality in the United States and around the world. How does that happen?
PM: In my view, redistribution of income won’t work. The debt problem is simply too big. You could tax Americans 100 percent of their income – all of them – and still be left with a multiyear hole. So efforts to consolidate debt and spending (which have been remarkably limited so far) need to be accompanied by more growth. Happily this is occurring. For example, I see many signals that manufacturing is leaving China and Asia and re-shoring to the U.S. Midwest and Mexico. Wages in China are rising too high and too fast. Buyers care more about quality now and prefer more reliable products. So the innovations in additive manufacturing and 3D printing in the U.S., combined with China’s loss of relative competitiveness, is now challenging the Politburo. If they cannot make people rich before they get old, then they’ll face dissent. The government must support innovation of China’s business model as they move away from cheap exports to higher value-added domestic consumption.
People think of innovation far too narrowly. It is not just about some new iPhone. It is also about the ability of the citizens to redefine themselves and the work they do. It is about new business models. It is about redefining the social contract.

Hmmm there seems little scope in the USA for citizens to redefine themselves and the work they do that will lead to an income sufficient to meet the cost of living, remaining healthy, educating their children etc. Earlier she cites data indicating three successive years of inflation in Ukraine as a primary indicator of the collapse (as she politely puts it) to come. I suggest the same indicators have existed in the USAi.
I note she served in the Bush whitehouse administration as she parried this question…

Q: Can signals replace the complex mathematical models that governments or corporations use to inform their decisions?
PM: John F. Kennedy hired Robert McNamara to be the secretary of defense because he thought that his heavy use of math and data at Ford (in logistics and supply chain management) could make government more efficient. In some ways, the management of data has improved the workings of government. But when it came to a mathematical analysis of what was happening in the war in Vietnam, that approach ended in tears and a lot of spilled blood and treasure. McNamara wrote: “We were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why.” The point is that not everything that matters can be measured, as Einstein reminded us. Many things that matter need to be weighed rather than measured. The level of human pain is something we can weigh against other factors, but it is remarkably hard to measure.

Iraq, Afghanistan comes to mind. I searched for her consideration of these data points and perhaps an acceptance of equivalence with McNamara grief at data error but seemed to find none.
And then this…

Q: What other signals are you seeing today in the global economy?
PM: I see signals that inflation is coming back onto the global economic landscape. It’s pretty unsurprising given that every major central bank in the world, including China’s, is doing its level best to create it. That’s the whole point of super low interest rates and quantitative easing. But even low-level inflation brings serious social problems. I think emerging markets are rendered increasingly unstable by cost pressures their citizens cannot easily manage. In the industrialized world, the rise of inflationary pressures means there is an ever deeper split between the rich, who see asset prices rise (the normal consequence of provoked inflation), and the poor who find their costs, like rent, go up (which is also a normal consequence of inflation).
This admittedly very mild inflation pressure is already enough to have enraged the leadership in China, Russia, and other emerging markets. Their view is that the U.S. and the West seek to default on them through inflation. This means much more than making a trading loss on their holdings of U.S. Treasuries. They think the U.S. is playing Russian roulette with price stability. A little higher inflation for emerging markets gives oxygen to social unrest. So they see it as the Goldfinger Problem: the U.S. defaulted through inflation in order to pay for the American Revolution; it inflated its way out of the Civil War debt this way; it “paid for” Vietnam and the Great Society Program through inflation, too. As Goldfinger says to James Bond: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” They are now inclined to reach for assets more aggressively in order to protect their populations from the consequences of price instability. The Chinese become more aggressive in the South China Sea because they can’t feed themselves and that’s where you find 10 percent of the world’s fish supply in a world that has record high protein prices. This draws the U.S. into the South China Sea more aggressively, too.
As a result of all this, we are seeing near misses between U.S. spy planes and Chinese fighter jets, and both countries agreeing to the establishment of a hotline between Beijing and Washington in case these planes come within less than a coat of paint of each other. The U.S. has recently announced its intention to move more military assets into the areas where China is building infrastructure in the South China Sea. It’s not hard to imagine uncomfortable results from all this.

Of course, the UKUSA navies are in the South China Sea to catch their fair share of the fish, that’s all. The near misses between the fighter planes took place where? Gulf of Mexico? Alaska? No half way round the world from UKUSA – now that is what I call missing the vital data set.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Aug 2 2021 2:19 utc | 90

@99 suzan
Reports all indicate that ivermectin is equally effective against the Delta variant. And there are a lot of reports. I don’t understand why you haven’t read anything about this. There have been countless good sources provided in these threads.
I have tremendous respect for you, but I must say that “We do not yet know” is not a claim you should use to include others, certainly not me. The fact is that we do know. The science is indeed worthy of being reported, and it is being reported, and by some of the most highly credentialed doctors in the field – but the media blackout is vast.
Look how we have to struggle just to report simple facts in these threads.
And yes, I continually see it reported that ivermectin also helps those who have been vaccinated – but there would be nuance depending on the particular vaccine, and the detailed science of that is beyond my personal knowledge.

Posted by: Grieved | Aug 2 2021 2:53 utc | 92

I’ve been thinking about the variants. It was predicted that vaccinations in the middle of a pandemic would spur variants, and the mutation of the virus has not been a surprise, simply a tragedy. It has long been clear that the vaccination program is the principal stressor driving the virus to mutate.
What follows is my non-credentialed surmise and speculation.
These are “escape variants”, which means that the virus under attack seeks to evade its attacker through mutation. The fact that the Pfizer vaccine seems ineffective to some degree against the Delta variant is the very evidence that the virus successfully mutated to evade targeting by its attacker.
This next speculation is totally unschooled, but I have to ask, why would the virus mutate if it was up against the unvaccinated? Surely the original virus is as effective as ever against them? [I can see some shades of other reasons why the virus might mutate anyway, but typically a virus mutates towards becoming more benign if it runs short of hosts – but my main point in this paragraph is the thought that the unvaccinated are largely NOT placing the virus under any stress to mutate, and certainly not into a more aggressive variant.]
It seems clear that to a large extent, the vaccinated are experiencing milder symptoms when they catch the disease. We know that, at least in the US clutch of vaccines, patients can still catch the disease and spread it, often without knowing it. But the unvaccinated are not going to catch the disease or spread it without having symptoms, from very mild to very severe – it’s well established now that there is no asymptomptomatic spread.
In other words, if there’s a danger on the street in terms of spreading the virus, it’s the vaccinated who pose the greater danger. The unvaccinated who catch the disease will quarantine and contact-trace; the vaccinated well may not.
And as scientists continually emphasize, the black/white fault-line being created between vaccinated and unvaccinated completely ignores and marginalizes those with the very best immunity of all, the acquired immunity from having had the disease and recovered from it.
Such is the tangle of bad words that comprises the propaganda narrative, and suffocates the science, which can only function with discourse.

Posted by: Grieved | Aug 2 2021 3:17 utc | 94

@101 karlof1
I had to chuckle – you know how to drop a live grenade on the table with little fanfare. Published in 1946, it was.
I’ve started reading it, and I look forward to what it has to say. For me this is an unexamined topic, and it could use an airing. My paradigms and assumptions here could use a shake-up.
Yes, let’s discuss the UN at MoA. I’m convinced the butterfly wings start here in these threads, and synchronicities occur in China and Russia. Time for those states to begin developing their blueprints for a more perfect UN, one formed without the power of war, and woven from the threads of peace in a multipolar world.

Posted by: Grieved | Aug 2 2021 3:32 utc | 96

Posted by: Grieved | Aug 2 2021 3:17 utc | 102
I think you’re partly right about the premise but coming to the wrong conclusion. For one thing as a virus mutates it is equally likely that a variant will be less effective/infectious than the ‘original’; for another thing variants tend to form in populations that have lower vaccination rates, but which are vaccinating some people. Also the delta variant was first spotted in India, 3 months before any vaccinations started in that country so it’s not the result of immune escape. I don’t know much about any other variants including the lambda version, but I would guess it’s the same story.
I’m not sure how I ended up with the English version of this story (searched in German) but here you go, already translated. I know you’re not saying with 100% certainty that the delta (or any) variant is the result of vaccines, but other people do in fact falsely believe that.
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-did-covid-vaccines-cause-the-delta-variant/a-58242263

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 2 2021 3:46 utc | 98

@99 suzan
One more thought on your question. I recall now Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying talking about how ivermectin works and saying that we don’t precisely know how it works. This apparently is not abnormal in medicine or biology (they are both biologists). What we do know is that it does work.
The mechanisms are unknown to me, either of the disease or the treatments, and I can only go from what these high level sources say. But I thought I should pass that along.

Posted by: Grieved | Aug 2 2021 3:58 utc | 100