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October 17, 2021
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-080

Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:

—
Other issues:

Covid-19:

Boeing 737:

The Foreign Office hasn't changed at all …

Syria:

Use as open thread …

Posted by b on October 17, 2021 at 14:34 UTC | Permalink
Comments

https://www.the-sun.com/news/3872929/china-fires-nuke-capable-hypersonic-missile-space/
China fires hypersonic missile around the earth I can’t weight for …
1. They stole this technology (that the U.S. doesn’t have) from the U.S. crowd.
2. This is an act of aggression, because only the U.S. is allowed to develop new weapons to preserve hegemony.
Truth, Justice and American Supremacy a better Tommorrow, have neocons ever heard of international branding?

Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Oct 17 2021 14:40 utc | 1

From personal experience, I can attest that Prof Fravel (MIT), who is cited in @1 article, is a decent and fair-minded China scholar and author on Chinese military strategy. The fact that he is cited in the article makes me believe the veracity of the report.
Fravel has published articles on Chinese military modernization, which he says is overwhelmingly defensive in nature.

Posted by: Prof | Oct 17 2021 14:49 utc | 2

Long-time lurker here.
I generally agree with the sentiment in the forum re: US, China etc, but there’s an issue that’s been troubling me recently and I’d like to know the barflies take on it.
It’s about China throwing Zhao Wei, China’s most successful actress (and apparently a canny investor) down the memory hole last month.
Overnight, she was completely scrubbed from the Chinese internet and it’s just impossible to find any reference to her anymore.
While it seems that she hasn’t been molested (she was spotted chilling out in her hometown by some people a few weeks ago), isn’t it scary that China seems to be reverting to the good old stalinist habit of scrubbing people it doesn’t like from photos etc?
I personnally think that they could dominate the global narrative without resorting to such heavy-handed tacticsif only they d relax a bit about dissent, no?

Posted by: Chunglak | Oct 17 2021 15:20 utc | 3

@ Chunglak | Oct 17 2021 15:20 utc | 4 about China
I see Zhao Wei as the Jack Ma of the China entertainment sector.
China is at war with empire and pointing out the personality excess management difference is good to do. I don’t think it is dissent as much as exposing the narrative around the personality success stories and to what extent they drive social narrative in the West versus China.
The empire in the West is run by a cult of personalities that enjoy the success of Zhao Wei without earning it. China is having to operate now within that environment and the heavy handed is because they are still trying to allow it/personal success to happen in their country.
We live in interesting times….

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 17 2021 15:35 utc | 4

On the limits of propaganda warfare:
Why Putin’s money eludes offshore investigators, by Leonid Bershidsky, for Bloomberg (recycled by The Japan Times)
Venezuelan Government Envoy Alex Saab Extradited to the United States
In Belarus, a social media post can be a ticket to prison, by WaPo Editorial Board
In Russia, experts challenge official pandemic figures as too low. They refuse to be silenced. by Robyn Dixon, for the WaPo
Lebanon’s people face a deadly false choice: Impunity or chaos by Mohamad Bazzi, for the WaPo
Has Interpol become the long arm of oppressive regimes? by Josh Jacobs, for The Guardian (article paid by NGO Humanity United)
“A war is actually being declared here”: Is Russia driving up gas prices in Europe? Yes, says energy expert Mikhail Krutichin. Vladimir Putin wants to force the Europeans to postpone the transition to renewable energies. by Christian Esch, for Der Spiegel
Milestones show path of Xi’s transformation drive: The Chinese government is tightening its control in the news, public opinion and technology sectors
Some people here have been questioning the MoA commenters as pro-China, pro-Russia fanboys, treating the West as the Devil Himself. That is anti-scientific ignorance at its most elevated form.
Imagine a parallel universe where all the propaganda war campaigns waged by the West after Ukraine are successful, i.e. where Hong Kong achieves its independence, Lukashenko is toppled, Putin caves in and gives extra gas to Europe at a loss to Gazprom, Maduro is toppled, China caves in and gives up many of its business to American capitalists after the rape of Huawei’s owner’s daugther etc.
In that scenario, the West would surely gain some breathing room, but its underlying problems would still be there. There’s a reason theft and banditry are crimes in a capitalist society: even if they bring wealth to the bandit, they lack economic base. The Western propagandists are preaching for a temporary boom, without any economic fundamentals to back it up. Imagine, for example, if the EU gets the gas it wants, at the price it wants, at Russia’s expenses. That would feel good for the European people, as they got their gas and asserted their dominance over Russia in one strike. However, this aggression lacks economic foundations: Russia will eventually run out of gas, and European demand for energy would not fall.
Economy decides everything, as Marx scientifically demonstrated. You can play cute for a while, when the economy is good, but the party is over when it starts to degrade. All of our beloved culture, traditions, customs and values evaporate when food stops arriving on our tables, when electricity stops getting to your house, when water stops flowing to your tap and shower, when Walmart is with empty shelves, when the proverbial pizza stops getting delivered to your house after one simple phone call. All the things and values you loved and believed in instantly turns into dust. Everything solid melts into thin air.
Those professional propagandists in the West are selling the Western people snake oil. They’re driving you into a dead end. There’s no perspective of victory in their narratives, only genocide and sadness. Russia and China are not your enemies. Don’t be fooled. As the West’s economy continues to decline, this propaganda will ring more and more hollow – because propaganda, too, has its material base.
–//–
This is true socialism:
China’s hybrid double-cropping rice yields over 1.6 tons, hitting new record

Posted by: vk | Oct 17 2021 15:45 utc | 5

@Chunglak | Oct 17 2021 15:20 utc | 4
I do not profess to be any sort of expert here, and my only source is Wikipedia, but based on her Wiki (which, if anything, is slanted to make her look like the victim of the evil CCP), she has a history of bad behavior going back a couple of decades. She has offended the Chinese people on multiple occasions either through thoughtless gaffes or intentional needling; she has been involved in the usual celebrity drama bullying ordinary citizens with bad behavior; she and her husband were apparently involved in some financial scandals. Based on the very long rope she’s had (2 decades), it isn’t surprising that she wore out her welcome.
We may view this as a little bit “totalitarian” or a case of government overreaction, but imagine what a different (and better) place the US would be if the US government disappeared celebrities when they act badly, act against the national interest, and are involved in corruption. Why we would have no celebrity worship and culture here! The horror! So no, I have no problem erasing someone who has the good fortune of fame and money and who decides to abuse that instead of being humble and grateful and staying out of trouble. Instead, we have a situation here in the US where a celebrity can literally kill someone (say a Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner), be absolved of all responsibility, and then gets a slew of awards for having some surgery. If you are a sane civilization then you want to nip that sort of madness in the bud. Hence, Zhao gets erased.
As to your greater point about “dissent,” lets be real here: much of what constitutes “dissent” in China, Russia, Iran, etc. is US driven. It isn’t legitimate dissent, but manufactured for regime change or undermining the society in question. So whenever someone comes out with some comment about such and such government overreacting or being too heavy handed in handling “dissent” one needs to question what is the source of the dissent in question. If you are being actively undermined then you necessarily need to be a little overreactive in some cases to preserve your society for the greater good. Thus the banning of trans worship and male emasulation, hence the banning of video games, hence the banning of garbage American (propaganda) movies, etc. These things are just the immune system of a healthy society and only appear to be maladaptive because we in the West are literally the infection.

Posted by: Krungle | Oct 17 2021 16:11 utc | 6

thank you b!

Posted by: james | Oct 17 2021 16:15 utc | 7

@ Krungle | Oct 17 2021 16:11 utc | 7 who wrote
”
These things are just the immune system of a healthy society and only appear to be maladaptive because we in the West are literally the infection.
”
I agree and thank you for your response to Chunglak. We need more discussions like this about the normalized moral failings of the supposed better-than-others because of the God of Mammon ideology.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 17 2021 16:48 utc | 8

@ Posted by: Chunglak | Oct 17 2021 15:20 utc | 4
Well, she literally committed a massive tax fraud crime. She’s lucky not to have been arrested.
And you contradicted yourself: if she was erased from the internet, how do you know she’s safe in her house?
Even if there really was a concerted, State sponsored operation to remove her from the Chinese internet, you have to ask yourself the question: is it any different from the “cancel culture” going on in the West? The problem with these moralist hypotheses is that they don’t have any parameter: what’s good and bad is entirely up to who comes up with the hypothesis.

Posted by: vk | Oct 17 2021 16:54 utc | 9

Meanwhile, the next zombie government of Western Europe is being formed:
Germany’s three- party admin takes key steps in forming with unclear China policy
Needless to say, this will be one more of Europe’s famous stillborn center-left governments.

Posted by: vk | Oct 17 2021 17:02 utc | 10

Why Putin’s money eludes offshore investigators, by Leonid Bershidsky, for Bloomberg (recycled by The Japan Times)
Posted by: vk | Oct 17 2021 15:45 utc | 6
As “everybody knows”, Putin “personally” owns 50 billion dollars, but they are hard to find. Bershidsky uses the methodology most famously applied to Iraqi WMD: if we know that something exists, and we cannot find it, it means that the methods of hiding improved. But that is based on the premise that we “know” rather than “believe” or “claim”. But logically, Bershidsky has to postulate a set of trucks roaming Russia carrying untraceable Putin’s wealth, similarly to Iraqi laboratories making biological weapons.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Oct 17 2021 17:02 utc | 11

The Boeing DPA, and the prosecutor’s new job, is in-your-face corrupt, and serves as a background atmosphere to consider the also corrupt extradition process which has sent the Venezuelan diplomat Saab to the U.S. Like the Huawei case, the decision to use the US justice system to take down international business or political rivals was made first, and only then followed by the search for a “crime”. Saab is accused of money laundering for his work in structuring a Venezuelan food distribution program to avoid US sanctions. US prosecutors are ultimately after Marduro, claiming that he and family members were also personally profiting from this program to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. US prosecutors have indicated that they intend to “convince” Saab that he should turn against his brethren and provide the DOJ with the evidence of the corruption which they admittedly do not yet have.

Posted by: jayc | Oct 17 2021 17:23 utc | 12

b, I can’t help but wonder if you are revealing another dark side to the barflies:
From the “men who failed Britain” piece:
“This sort of overconfidence in highly uncertain science crops up over and over again.”
…
“And let’s be clear: the coming hundreds of thousands of deaths were very much known about. The report rightly says that we over-relied on a plan for pandemic flu. That was a huge mistake, …”
From the Guardian’s Slaughter in Indonesia piece:
“Declassified documents reveal how in 1965 a shadowy dirty tricks arm of the Foreign Office incited anti-Communist massacres that left hundreds of thousands dead.”
“Like it’s US and Australian allies, Britain feared a communist Indonesia. The PKI had three million members and was close to Mao’s China. In Washington, the fall of the Indonesia “domino” into the communist camp was seen as a greater threat than the potential loss of Vietnam”
“Detailed historical research has established that the mass killings of PKI party members and alleged supporters appear to have been triggered by local army commanders of the arrival of army special forces, about three weeks after the botched coup had been put down Suharto.”
“By early 1966, the mass murders in Indonesia, if not their scale, were well known.
In January, President Robert F Kennedy compared the massacres to “inhuman slaughters perpetrated by Nazis and communists” and asked when people would “speak out …against the inhuman slaughter in Indonesia, where over 100,000 alleged communists have not been perpetrators but victims?” “
“According to Prof Scott Lucas of the University of Birmingham, the declassified documents show that: “Britain was prepared to engage in dirty deeds which ran contrary to its purported values.” They reveal, he says, “how important black propaganda was to give the illusion that Britain could wield global power – even if many people might be killed for that illusion.”
And that’s The End for that article. Overconfident Britain, aspiring for global power, makes huge mistakes resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. From Indonesia to Covid.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Oct 17 2021 17:33 utc | 13

This piece from Forbes situates the Alex Saab case with the discussion points of US sanctions, mis-use of Interpol, and deep corruption within the DOJ.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddawkins/2021/10/01/money-man-for-venezuelaaccused-of-looting-billionsnears-extradition-to-the-us/?sh=36121d596a5f

Posted by: jayc | Oct 17 2021 17:40 utc | 14

Thanks as always…
Free Steven Donziger… And Assange… And …
“Last week, Chevron finally secured judicial retaliation against Steven Donziger, the human rights lawyer who helped secure a historic $9.5 billion judgment against the company ten years earlier over their pollution of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. After an unprecedented 787 days in pretrial home detention, Donziger was sentenced last Friday to a maximum six months in prison for contempt of court by Loretta Preska, judge for the Southern District of New York, who said that “only the proverbial two-by-four between the eyes will instill in him any respect for the law.”
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/10/steven-donziger-loretta-preska-law-corruption-courts-corporate-influence

Posted by: gottlieb | Oct 17 2021 17:56 utc | 15

The catastrophic energy crisis no longer exists. I have invented the complete solution. It is surprisingly simple, in fact. So you can probably cease worrying about oil depletion, nuclear reactor power, and all that nonsense. That is so yesterday.

Posted by: blues | Oct 17 2021 18:07 utc | 16

Re: Boeing and Leonardo
Anyone who has owned an Italian car from either the 80’s or earlier knows you should never buy Metals from Italian firms without proper scrutiny…

Posted by: Et Tu | Oct 17 2021 18:07 utc | 17

Michael Hudson: Ben Norton and Max Blumenthal have a very good interview of Hudson based on his book “Super Imperialism”, 3rd edition. Over half of what Hudson says goes over my semi educated hillbilly head but something seems to stick every time. Lots of history and talk about what’s going on now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uiz934HVZjY&t=18s

Posted by: migueljose | Oct 17 2021 18:46 utc | 18

Follow the science? Trust the science? Fact your trust?
Science created the H-bomb. Science created militarized virus. And Facebook. It is an evil religion.
Why trust ‘science’?
I will lead you to (almost) unlimited energy.
Which is exactly what you really need.
Trust me. I will elucidate soon.

Posted by: blues | Oct 17 2021 19:00 utc | 19

Chunglak, no different to globohomoschlomo deplatforming anyone and everyone not on board with the LGBTXYZ psyop.

Posted by: Jezabeel | Oct 17 2021 19:06 utc | 20

Someone was asking about Ramin Mazaher. His twitter account is active again. https://twitter.com/raminmazaheri2
Hope to see more of his articles at the Saker. Today he highlights an event in Paris today with yellowvests and Algeria 60 years ago.
“60 years ago French cops opened fire on Algerians protesting 130+ years of total cultural, historical, human domination.
Fatima Bedar was the youngest murdered.
Didn’t break the spirit of Algerians – they won peace and independence a year later.
1.5 million Algerian deaths.
Imperalists find it hard to say “we’re sorry”.
We need museums on Stalin’s terror all over the world – to remind the Left how deluded they’ve been: PETER HITCHENS
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10099165/PETER-HITCHENS-need-museums-Stalins-terror-world.html
We need museums on Europeon colonial (and capitalism) terror all over the western world, the rest remember the results of imperalism on their lands quite well without having museums. That would expolde a lot of “elightened” westerners heads.

Posted by: Tom | Oct 17 2021 19:12 utc | 21

Can one of the barflies can help me out with the english title of a book of Stanislaw Lem? Did anybody did read it? In polish original is -1961 Pamiętnik znaleziony w wannie. In German title is Memoiren, gefunden in der Badewanne, 1974. This book is significant in the discussion we have about the impossibility to describe the inner workings of an empire. They can’t be that stupid and so on… This book is a scientific report of a society we live in judged by a audience of a far future. All paper got destroyed by a mushroom from a moon of Jupiter. So they are very interested to find handwritten memoirs in a bathtub. Sealed in a bunker deep under earth. Filled with people who are very sure that world above got destroyed. The framework of trust between people got a new anchor. It’s actually a funny and light book. You will find a lot of similarities with the Now. What’s the title in English. Can’t find it…

Posted by: rico rose | Oct 17 2021 19:27 utc | 22

“Israel assassinates ex-Syrian MP who served 12 years in Israeli jail: Report” Press TV
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2021/10/16/668655/Israel-assassinates-Syrian-lawmaker-golan
Another day, another criminal act by the Occupied Palestine Regime. Their proxies in southern Syria are being eliminated and the coming offensive to liberate Idlib will have them weeping and gnashing of teeth just like in the old days of Palestine.

Posted by: Tom | Oct 17 2021 19:28 utc | 23

Israel assassinates ex-Syrian MP who served 12 years in Israeli jail: Report Press TV
https://syrianews.cc/israel-assassinates-midhat-saleh-al-saleh-outside-his-home-in-syria/
Another day, another criminal act by the Occupied Palestine Regime. The eliminatioin of their proxies in southern Syria and the coming liberation of Idlib relly has them gnashing their teeth and weeping, just like the good old days fromm the Old Testament.

Posted by: Tom | Oct 17 2021 19:36 utc | 24

I tried posting at #24 regarding the assassination of Midhat Saleh al Saleh with a link to Press TV and it wouldn’t work. Censorship at work.

Posted by: Tom | Oct 17 2021 19:39 utc | 25

@ 22 tom… i agree with you.. great idea to have a regular reminder of all that.. thanks..

Posted by: james | Oct 17 2021 19:55 utc | 26

I have absolutely no idea if this story is legit. The patent numbers are legit though. And they are terrifying.
They’re coming for us…
HREF=”https://www.worldviewweekend.com/news/article/former-pfizer-employee-and-whistleblower-reveals-horrifying-new-patent-will-connect”>human network patents
Apologies for HTML link not working properly

Posted by: Some Random Passerby | Oct 17 2021 19:57 utc | 27

This blog platform BLOCKS PressTV. I tried it. It also blocks Sputnik News. I had to use:
https://tinyurl.com
to escape the block.
GoDaddy???
NOT FUNNY!!!

Posted by: blues | Oct 17 2021 20:08 utc | 28

Move to WordPress if you prefer freedom!!!!!

Posted by: blues | Oct 17 2021 20:09 utc | 29

@ Posted by: Tom | Oct 17 2021 19:39 utc | 25
I think “.ir” websites are automatically blocked here.

Posted by: vk | Oct 17 2021 20:21 utc | 30

This platform is OWNED by ONE huge company. Which ownes most every platform except:
siteground dot com
nearlyfreespeech dot net
westhost dot com
WordPress
REALLY!

Posted by: blues | Oct 17 2021 20:23 utc | 31

I know where Putin stashed his Trillions of Rubles–he invested all of them in Russia’s state-owned enterprises. In other words, Putin invested in his own policies–Gazprom, RosAtom, RosCosmos, shipyards, agribusiness–I recall the cheese maker from one of his 6-hour call-in programs–day care businesses, medical facilities, and so forth. So much so that he’s forced to live, eat and work at the Kremlin and his state provided Dacha. Do note that he refuses to use dollars and avoids speculation instruments, preferring to invest in bonds.
It was once said, What’s good for General Motors is good for America. Well, that’s been everted and is now, What’s good for Putin is Good for Russia; or perhaps that’s What’s good for Russia is good for Putin.
I doubt if many read his address to the newly elected Duma. Putin expects all Duma members to act in the interests of Russia, regardless of party affiliation, and to work on the ongoing policies aimed at Making Russia Great developed and implemented over the past 7-8 years–for ALL Duma representatives are agents for those who elected them: The Russian People. It’s very refreshing to read a leader emphasizing that primary aspect of a representative democratic-republic–AND–knowing that his admonition will be heeded.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 17 2021 20:36 utc | 32

blues @28–
This Sputnik item?

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 17 2021 20:42 utc | 33

rico rose | Oct 17 2021 19:27 utc | 23
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub

Posted by: ranelagh | Oct 17 2021 20:51 utc | 34

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 17 2021 20:42 utc | 33
They don’t have to block everything all the time in order to be very effective. They actually know how to be — sneaky!

Posted by: blues | Oct 17 2021 21:07 utc | 35

Chunglak @4
Putting the disappearance of Zhao Wei into a somewhat broader context. She was not alone. Chinese government regulators announced a “heightened crackdown” intended to dispense with “vulgar internet celebrities,” promoting lascivious lifestyles and to “resolve the problem of chaos created by online fandom culture. Also included were imitators of Korean boyband stars with the Chinese government vowing to put an end to “sissy men” appearing on the screens of China’s impressionable youth.
These individuals were all caught up a wave of new government policies that have been characterized as a profound transformation of the country: a vast regulatory crackdown in the private sector and a broader moralistic effort to reengineer Chinese culture from the top down.

Posted by: Gulag | Oct 17 2021 21:21 utc | 36

Chunglak @4:
Zhao Wei has it coming long time ago. If you don’t know of this inevitability, you’re simply not informed well enough about the antics of Zhao for the past 10 years. Tax evasions, Japanese fawning(for a Chinese this is a sin), questionable stock market maneuvers, etc. What you don’t know, you should refrain from fixing an pinion of pros and cons of the affair, shouldn’t you?
In fact, to many Chinese citizens, the fact that she hasn’t been wrapped by a leash until now is the puzzle. She certainly should have been investigated long ago if you look at the facts. And please don’t ask me to lead you to these facts. Search for them if you’re interested enough. But in your post the most offending statement was the reference to ‘Stalinist Habits”. You mean you don’t know every western nations do exactly the same types of things? Or do you just look away when it happens in western societies? Isn’t Trump accusing Biden of screwing Steve Bannon even as now?? I think you’re one of those brainwashed groupie of the western MSM.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 17 2021 21:33 utc | 37

The German socialist party would like to form a majority government with the smaller liberal and green parties. A joint press release of these three parties states German coal power plants will be switched off in 2030.
I find cause and effect fascinating. The socialist party lacks votes to govern on its own. A government with the German nationalists is excluded. As a result, the support of the green party is needed. To get the support of the green party, the decision is made to switch off coal power plants in 2030 instead of in 2038.
Politicians can fudge GDP, inflation, and unemployment numbers, no problem. Energy and electricity is another matter. If democracy results in decisions that are politically feasible, but technically infeasible, then democracy is not doing itself any favors.

Posted by: Passerby | Oct 17 2021 21:35 utc | 38

rico rose | Oct 17 2021 19:27 utc | 23
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub (Pamiętnik znaleziony w wannie, 1961) – Kafkaesque novel set in the distant future about a secret agent, whose mission in an unnamed ministry is so secret that no one can tell him what it is. Translated by Michael Kandel and Christine Rose (New York: The Seabury Press, 1973)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem_and_their_adaptations

Posted by: downtownhaiku | Oct 17 2021 21:48 utc | 39

Re posting from Iran, I posted this this morning:
here
It was held for a little while (maybe an hour? it was around 2:30 here), then there it was. Sure looks like PressTV.IR to me.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 17 2021 22:00 utc | 40

#35 #39 thanks and I was sitting on my on mind while writing it. This book take place in a capsulated society. The secret agent is a figure of our times. Just his memoirs was found in that distant future. Actually a typical cold war dystopia. People always will adapt and follow a hollow idea presented by your local rulers. The social sensors do mirror any given circumstances. I don’t know, just this book is in my mind for a couple of time related to the big division taking place in front of our eyes.

Posted by: rico rose | Oct 17 2021 22:19 utc | 41

Anybody else see this?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/16/david-puttnam-hits-out-government-quits-house-of-lords

…..
Lord Puttnam, a Labour party member, was nominated to the Lords by Tony Blair in 1997 and has served on a number of select committees focusing on broadcast regulation, media plurality and digital communications.
…..
A resident of West Cork in Ireland for more than 20 years, Puttnam also pointed to the “pig-ignorance” displayed by MPs during Brexit negotiations towards the Irish border as another reason for his departure from politics, and said he was “embarrassed” by the country Britain had become since leaving the EU.
“Mirroring the anxieties of many of those angry Brexiteers in 2016, I feel I’ve had my country of birth, and the values I believed it to represent, stolen from me … I find myself embarrassed by what, on an almost daily basis, I see it becoming – my old enemy Rupert Murdoch’s dream made real. He never liked Britain, and he’s kind of won, he’s helped remake it in his own malevolent image,” he said.

It so happens that Puttnam was one of the guilty directors of Anglia Television plc.
By guilty, I mean that he voted to elect Malcolm Wall as a member of the board of directors at the routine board meeting on 22 July 1994.
Full well knowing, and in a very real sense empowering ex-post, of the crimes committed by Malcolm Wall.
The fraudulent representation. He wasn’t a director when he came in and massacred the ordinary Joe and Jan, was he David? All very clever. Well done.
Not only trebles all round, but three years later he’s a LORD!
Now listen up you stupid Paddies.
Baron Puttnam wants you to know that he is just like you. He doesn’t like the British State he served so steadfastly these last twenty four years.

Posted by: John Cleary | Oct 17 2021 22:23 utc | 42

Gideon Levy nails Jewish supremacism in Haaretz:
“And the truth is that there are not many countries in which ideology is still so critical; there are no democracies with a single tyrannical, dominant ideology. Israel is a Zionist state just as the Soviet Union was a Communist state. There too, there was no difficulty in cobbling together a government of moderate and extremist communists.”
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-there-is-no-right-or-left-in-israel-just-zionism-and-not-zionism-1.10300527

Posted by: Paul | Oct 17 2021 22:43 utc | 43

@Chunglak 4
Reverting? No, China never stopped scrubbing people it doesn’t like. Take all of the pro-chinese commentary on this site with a big grain of salt. China is no better than the West; it’s playbook is just slightly different.

Posted by: Justin | Oct 17 2021 23:34 utc | 44

paul@42… equating zionism and USSR is bogus, inaccurate, and just plain deceitful. Anyone who knows anything about the two can spot that right away… only those interested in a certain type of propaganda would promote the idea.
B… we do appreciate your skills in geopolitical analysis, but including misleading articles from “Guardian” on cov-related matters does not add to your credibility. Pls, no more. We do not need more disinformation on the matter.

Posted by: GoraKoshka | Oct 17 2021 23:36 utc | 45

At his VK Space, Pepe Escobar wrote a positive comment about another of China’s BRI accomplishments. I commented:
“China offers shared prosperity to the world–Freedom from Want and Fear–while the West tries to spoil that opportunity. What’s it gonna be world: Shared Prosperity or Shared Inequity?”
The comment garnered a few likes and an odd reply indicating the writer didn’t understand the very important underlying context, which was FDR’s victory aims–The Four Freedoms–for WW2, the two most important being Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear–neither of which was arrived at for the vast majority of humanity, nor was their attainment made the fundamental focus of Western post-WW2 policy, putting aside the specific aims of the Marshall Plan which were put forth for the sole benefit of the Outlaw US Empire and its vassals. Many don’t seem to understand what Win-Win means in development terms to non-Westerners. It means conquering those twin obstacles to basic peace and happiness, freedom from fear and want, which as many can see are connected.
So in Soft Power terms, China is busily doing the job the West was supposed to accomplish at the end of WW2, but instead chose to wage a hybrid war on the majority of humanity, killing millions via genuine war, and millions more via the Totalitarian Terror of the Cold War, an episode of which we’re reminded in this article, “British propaganda campaign incited mass slaughter of communists in Indonesia in 1960s, declassified papers reveal”, a product of which was at least the second CIA president in Obama. The UK is no stranger when it comes to inflicting Mass Terror as its own history attests, and we already knew the Outlaw US Empire did its share in that genocide too. Within the West, most of that genuine history was swept under the rug or put into the closet long ago, but in Indonesia and elsewhere in the victim nations, that history’s alive and well remembered today. That’s one huge reason why China’s trusted while the collective West isn’t.
Outlaw US Empire Post-WW2 policy was to ensure developing nations didn’t develop on their terms; and if they tried, then they were denied their right to develop at all–Asian nations being the best group of examples. AUKUS is overtly anti-development, and with luck will be still-born for humanity’s sake. As FDR and his likeminded allies knew, there’s no reason why the Four Freedoms couldn’t be accomplished–unless the USA thwarted them itself. And the general lines of that policy continues, now modified to attain Full Spectrum Domination of people and planet. IMO, it’s only a matter of time until China starts using its own version of the Four Freedoms. I’m confidant they’ll finish what they start.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 17 2021 23:50 utc | 46

Some Random Passerby @ 27:
Here is a copy of the document: United States Patent Application Publication No .: US 2021/0082583 A1.
On the surface it appears to be a patent for a contact-tracing algorithm or app that can run vaccination or medical treatment schedules for individuals on their mobile phones, and which collects information from other electronic devices belonging to other people who are in close physical proximity to individuals with that contact-tracing algorithm or app on their phones. The algorithm would notify you if you had been in the vicinity of someone infected with COVID-19, any of its variants or any other disease the algorithm is set to trace, and recommend treatment or particular treatments.
Why am I not surprised that it was invented by two scientists in a country whose former Prime Minister gave Pfizer access to the medical data of the citizens of his country so he could get that country at the head of the queue to get Pfizer mRNA vaccines and at the same time flatter himself that by delivering the vaccines, he would be re-elected as PM for the one-millionth time and avoid or delay charges of corruption, fraud and misuse of public funds (and likely jail time)?

Posted by: Jen | Oct 17 2021 23:55 utc | 47

Justin @43–
As you’ll read @45, China’s policy is indeed vastly different from the West. It never waged a genocidal war on Southeast and Northeast Asians or on plain innocents having differing political views. For many well deserved reasons, the West ought to be considered a Dead Letter, with the exception of its own innocents.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 17 2021 23:56 utc | 48

In response to “Chinese memory hole” posters: It takes less time to input a name into Baidu.com (properly romanized queries work fine for the most part) and feed the vomitous output into a machine translator than it is to pen a windmill-tilting tirade and join the ranks of forum trolls (either paid or foolishly voluntary).

Posted by: Drive-by Commenting | Oct 17 2021 23:57 utc | 49

Thanks everyone for your input about Zhao Wei!
My point is not whether or not she’s a bad person or not (obviously she seems to have done some unethical stuff in her business dealings) or whether she has developed a cult or not (well she’s my favorite Chinese actress, that’s how first discovered she had disappeared from the Chinese internet when I searched for her, plus she’s probably the most successful and popular star in China).
Really it’s not about her, it’s about the Chinese people’s right to know. Fine if she goes to jail for shady dealings or even blacklisted and forbidden to appear in further movies if the authorites determine that she’s a “bad influence”. How would you feel if you wake up one day and find out that you can’t find any movies by, say Harrison Ford or Brad Pitt, as if they never acted, because they’re accused of insider trading? Probably not so good I expect.
I’m very sympathetic to the Chinese govt’s uphill struggle against the global narrative war waged by the Western govts and media, but adopting the “cancel culture” at a govt level doesn’t seem to me the way to proceed.
As for dissent, it was not about Zhao Wei, but more about allowing dissenting opinions on the net. Wasting time playing whack-a-mole with “forbidden” topics is a losing game that makes people feel patronized and alienated and weakens the argument of the authorities (Beaumarchais cames to mind, who wrote: ‘Sans la liberté de blâmer, il n’est point d’éloge flatteur’, Without the freedom to blame, there are no worthy praise)
The West is much more successful at shaping narratives. Instead of using Orwellian tactics like China which, to be honest, are a bit primitive in the age of internet, they used Huxleyan tactics, where they use persuasion techniques to sell their narratives to the public while allowing nominal freedom of expression. Allowing dissent (like what we can read regularly on this forum) but marginalizing it is effective in reiforcing the main narrative and give it extra strength (“look! some people don’t agree with the MSM but nobody listens to them’)
Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 17 2021 15:35 utc | 5
re: Jack Ma, it’s similar indeed, with the addition of having her works removed from the net (thankfully you can still find some on youtube)
Posted by: Krungle | Oct 17 2021 16:11 utc | 7
Would you trust your own govt to decide what is “legitimate” dissent? I don’t think so, right? I’m sure you want to decide by yourself. So why patronize the Chinese people by thinking they must blindly trust their govt? The current Chinese govt is pretty good and probably one of the best in the past few century, but that doesn’t mean it is to be followed blindly.
Posted by: vk | Oct 17 2021 16:54 utc | 10
You’re right, she was not scrubbed from the internet, just her works. Still, the only official explanation is that that was done to comply with unspecified regulations. Isn’t that scary that things happen because of laws that are not spelled out?
And yes, that’s similar to cancel culture in the West. Is that a good thing?
Posted by: Gulag | Oct 17 2021 21:21 utc | 36
I have no beef with the crackdown. What worries me is the dumbing-down of the public. Can’t see how her business dealings have to do with her work as an artist.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Oct 17 2021 21:33 utc | 37
As I stated, it’s not about her, it’s about the public. Shouldn’t it be informed about what is it that led to her removal, instead of unspecified directives from the govt? And if she’s been so bad for so long, why hasn’t she been condemned and sent to jail or worse?
One thing I like in the Western system, and I think everybody like, whether in the West or in the East, is due process. And saying some people don’t deserve that, or that the “people” have decided (on the internet), it’s not just wrong, it’s corrosive at a state level.
Sorry to hear you’ve been offended, but yes, erasing people because the authorities don’t like them *is* Stalinist, and whether the Western woke culture does it or not doesn’t change that.
Listen, the Chinese govt is still, as Deng said, “crossing the river by feeling the stones”, they tweak things as they go, and that’s admirable enough. There’s no need to blindly believe that everything they do is perfect and above criticism.

Posted by: Chunglak | Oct 18 2021 0:04 utc | 50

Someone was asking about ICH last week.
Tom Feeley, having suffered Covid earlier in the year, was diagnosed with leukaemia, is now on chemotherapy, and a new post is up this morning.

Posted by: Walt King | Oct 18 2021 0:05 utc | 51

if you want me to quit posting just say so..other accept my posts.. and post them.

Posted by: snake | Oct 18 2021 0:15 utc | 52

Chunglak @49:
Odd. For someone who has been “erased” there sure are lots of mentions (baidu) of this Zhao Wei character on Chinese media.

Posted by: William Gruff | Oct 18 2021 0:24 utc | 53

karlof1 @45
In support of what karlof1 just wrote, I’d like to invite people here to read the famous memo PPS/23 by George Kennan (1948):
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1948v01p2/d4
What he has to say about Asia is pretty interesting:
“Furthermore, we have about 50% of the world’s wealth but only 6.3% of its population. This disparity is particularly great as between ourselves and the peoples of Asia. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming; and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction.”

Posted by: Robert Macaire | Oct 18 2021 0:28 utc | 54

@ Chunglak | Oct 18 2021 0:04 utc | 49 with the response to commenters about Zhao Wei and more
I have to agree with your concern for the level of transparency and “due process” that seems to be happening in China and think China will get better at setting rules and managing to them as time goes on….they are having to counter lie/cheat/steal immoral tactics that are counter to their culture to a degree.
I think you overplay the reality of the concept of due process in empire. Due process is directly related to class/financial status in empire.
I also appreciate and will repeat below your last two sentences that many here understand and respect of China.
”
Listen, the Chinese govt is still, as Deng said, “crossing the river by feeling the stones”, they tweak things as they go, and that’s admirable enough. There’s no need to blindly believe that everything they do is perfect and above criticism.
”
The challenge in this forum is that the attacks on China are such that nuance such as you have provided is seen as weakness

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 18 2021 0:28 utc | 55

“Senior journalist identifies one of Beirut snipers as employee of US embassy”
https://www.presstv./Detail/2021/10/17/668682/Lebanon-Beirut-sniper-US-embassy-
Type in ir after http://www.prestv.
US exceptionalism at work. Bringing democracy to the middle east.

Posted by: Tom | Oct 18 2021 0:44 utc | 56

“Senior journalist identifies one of Beirut snipers as employee of US embassy” PressTV
A senior Lebanese journalist has identified a US embassy employee as one of the snipers who opened fire at supporters of Hezbollah and Amal movements who were marching peacefully towards the Palace of Justice in central Beirut.
In a post on his twitter account on Friday, Hosein Mortada released a photo of Shukri Abu Saab, a member of the Lebanese security forces and a US embassy employee, and said he had been one of the snipers involved in the recent deaths in Beirut.
In a statement, Hezbollah and Amal said armed groups affiliated with Samir Geagea’s Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) Party fired at the protesters from rooftops, aiming at their heads, in an attempt to drag the country into new sectarian strife.
Speaking at the funeral of victims of Thursday’s shootings, senior Hezbollah leader Hashem Safieddine said what happened in Beirut “was part of measures managed by the US embassy in Lebanon and funded by some Arab parties.”
US exceptionalism at work. Bringing democracy to the middle east. Wherever Nuland goes, cookies and snipers aren’t far behind.

Posted by: Tom | Oct 18 2021 0:49 utc | 57

@ Chunglak | Oct 18 2021 0:04 utc | 49.. i am curious what you think of youtube, twitter or facebook removing or banning people (often times lately over the topic of covid but could be other reasons too- not articulated by these same corps)?? what did you think of twitter banning trump? do you think the ”authorities” have been transparent in all of this?? these same western authorities seem to think they are doing all this for the publics good… what’s your take on all this? thanks..

Posted by: james | Oct 18 2021 0:50 utc | 58

@ Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 18 2021 0:28 utc | 54
Tax fraud is a crime in any country in the world. Indeed, she would go to prison in most nations for that.
Again, the same question must be asked: China should be more transparent compared to what? We must be realistic (materialist), not idealistic, otherwise, we will forever be in an imaginary plane.

Posted by: vk | Oct 18 2021 0:52 utc | 59

@51 Was somebody rude to you? My only complaint about MOA is I don’t have a clue what people are saying unless they give a reference to a post number.

Posted by: dh | Oct 18 2021 0:53 utc | 60

@ Tom | Oct 18 2021 0:49 utc | 56.. there is a striking resemblance to the maiden ukraine dynamic and these events in lebannon, not the least being the coincidence of victoria nulands travelling itinerary.. i find it odd the names Shukri Abu Saab and alex saab have come up in the news so close to one another.. how often to we hear of people with this name? odd…

Posted by: james | Oct 18 2021 0:54 utc | 61

thanks to the host and several prominent commentators here for helping me to wade thru the unending stream of bs on the coronavirus.
booster shots? given that other public health measure are being abandoned, b/c economy, b/c xmas is coming and black friday (now w/more thursday), b/c Vietnam needs to get its ass back to work, b/c whatever excuse for the return to the unbearably miserable and horrible “normal”.
how does getting a booster shot help anything, except in the very short term? i feel like this is sort of like saying, “hey, seasonal colds are getting worse, so pump more antibiotics in, since that helped last time.” Pfizer and co can compete w/each other to produce, at taxpayer expense natch, the best vaccine for this year’s corona batch. isn’t that the plan? to use the disease for profit, to make money off the mass misery? isn’t that the plan?

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Oct 18 2021 1:08 utc | 62

@14
In January, President Robert F Kennedy compared the massacres to “inhuman slaughters perpetrated by Nazis and communists” and asked when people would “speak out …against the inhuman slaughter in Indonesia, where over 100,000 alleged communists have not been perpetrators but victims?” “
Are you selling whatever it is you’re using? Or have directions to that parallel universe?

Posted by: FiveGunsWest | Oct 18 2021 1:20 utc | 63

@ 62
It’s a direct quote from the Guardian article. With an embedded link to the source in the article, which b linked to in his weekly review.
I’m suggesting that b might have included these two articles to show another trend in editorial coverage, like the dark side of China he wrote about earlier in the week. This one says that Overconfident Britain, aspiring for global power, makes huge mistakes resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. This has bothered me all day. Because as a Canadian, I do think overconfident Britain has aspired for global power resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths. However – perhaps not exactly in these two instances. I don’t know, maybe China actually has a dark side and Putin himself weaponizes some stuff too.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Oct 18 2021 1:45 utc | 64

More about Covid later but read the latest projection by the paid talking heads agains Ivermectin
”
An MSNBC panel reacted with a mixture of fury and disgust on Sunday afternoon after watching a clip of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Fox tell host Maria Bartiromo that the government and health officials refuse to promote ivermectin — normally used to treat infections caused by roundworms and other parasites — to treat Covid-19 because there is no money to be made on it.
Asked to weigh in first by host Jonathan Capehart, conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin blurted out “This is complete crap.”
“What’s he talking about?” host Capehart asked.
“He’s talking about nothing and this is complete crap coming from him,” Rubin shot back. “He never used to be this insane. He was a businessman and for years he operated like a kind of fiscal conservative, sort of normal Republican, but no more. He has jumped upon the Trump train, and let me be perfectly clear, tomorrow from a Republican president, he is killing people.”
“People listen to them,” she continued. “They are dissuaded from taking a life-saving vaccine. He is contributing to death, he is not pro-life. He’s helping to kill people, and he should be ashamed. I would hope the people of Wisconsin, if he decides to run for reelection, he hasn’t quite decided, throw him out on his ear. We’re reduced to one party willing for people to die so they can pay homage to this lunatic and keep their seats. It’s nothing short of disgraceful.”
Turning to Punchbowl News founder John Bresnahan, Capehart asked, “To Jennifer’s point, Senator Johnson wasn’t always like this. What’s the view of him on the hill?”
“You know, his comments, he’s been doing this for months,” the journalist explained. “He’s been doing it a long time. His comment is anti-vaccine; he’s questioning the science behind vaccines. He’s questioning — talking about all this stuff. He’s been doing this for a while, and he’s made some really, really poorly thought out comments.”
“Let’s also point out here that people are giving him platforms to do this. and I think that’s also — you know, I mean, it is stunning to see a U.S. senator, a national political leader making these kind of comments where a year and a half into a pandemic that killed over 720,000 Americans,” he added.
”
Just think about the projection in that last statement when the truth is that Ivermectin could have saved all/most of those lives….sigh…the Big Lie Technique is unfortunately alive and quite well yet.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 18 2021 1:50 utc | 65

More Covid stuff
ZH is reporting that 40% of State of California workers are not vaccinated
ZH is reporting that a group representing all five branches of the US military are bringing a Class Action lawsuit against the government for mandated vaccination
Below is an actual ZH posting link that I found educational about the public “Rational Debate” movement
Malone, Kirsch, & Wuhan Whistleblower Hit Maui To Promote Rational Debate On All Things Covid

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 18 2021 2:02 utc | 66

Posted by: jayc | Oct 17 2021 17:40 utc | 15
Thanks for that link about Saab’s situation. A surprisingly balanced piece given the source, although of course the non-empire view doesn’t emerge until the second half of the article.

Posted by: farm ecologist | Oct 18 2021 2:03 utc | 67

Let me also repeat my assertion that the global Covid event could be the precipitator of The Great Unraveling instead of The Great Reset
I can’t see it getting easier to keep the positive global results of Ivermectin use by various countries from getting into the public discourse. Poor nations will jump on Ivermectin use over expensive alternatives and start calling for UN investigations of the global response by WHO and other organizations and countries.
I see the need for the exposure of a BIG LIE as necessary to start The Great Unraveling. I think it is happening and unstoppable except by something even more socially overwhelming like shooting wars or The Great Nuclear Reset by the crybaby cult that refuses to share well with others.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 18 2021 2:18 utc | 68

Jimmy Dore on study of impact of mRNA vaccines on 12-15 year olds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCO8bRAaXjU
Wonder how much fear of dying factors into one’s decisions on how to approach things such as covid. If have strong fear of death would be more likely to buy into any position the mass media, CDC, or WHO takes. If no fear of death, what would be the point of taking a vaccine?

Posted by: Joe | Oct 18 2021 2:25 utc | 69

Chunglak #4

While it seems that she hasn’t been molested (she was spotted chilling out in her hometown by some people a few weeks ago), isn’t it scary that China seems to be reverting to the good old stalinist habit of scrubbing people it doesn’t like from photos etc?
I personnally think that they could dominate the global narrative without resorting to such heavy-handed tactics if only they d relax a bit about dissent, no?

Perhaps this might assist you to consider ‘scary’ in the context of ‘everyday’.
While it seems that she hasn’t been molested (she was spotted chilling out in her hometown by some people a few weeks ago), isn’t it scary that Facebook / twitter seems to be reverting to the good old USA habit of scrubbing people it doesn’t like from its entire history and even access etc?
I personally think that they dominate the global narrative without resorting to such heavy-handed tactics if only they’d relax a bit about dissent like at Kent State University, no?
Unlikely and even msnbc and the like uses aggressive ridicule every time against dissent on the very rare occasion they even give it airtime.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 18 2021 3:03 utc | 70

Speaking of Stalinist Scrubbing, one of my favorite sites, Patrick Armstrong’s “Strategic Culture Foundation” is scrubbed from Facebook, presumably for providing accurate information about Russia.

Posted by: ArthurDent | Oct 18 2021 3:11 utc | 71

Et Tu #18

Anyone who has owned an Italian car from either the 80’s or earlier knows you should never buy Metals from Italian firms without proper scrutiny…

Thank you, superb humor and so apt to Boeing, the World Towers, NASA rockets, Elon Musk in all his frauds. The list goes on.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Oct 18 2021 3:16 utc | 72

If the world economy crashes, it won’t be China’s fault as shown in this posting from Xinhuanet. One might even say they are keeping the global economy from crashing.
”
BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) — China’s economy continued stable recovery in the first three quarters of this year with major indicators staying within a reasonable range, official data showed Monday.
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 9.8 percent year on year in the first three quarters, putting the average growth for the period in the past two years at 5.2 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.
In the third quarter (Q3), the country’s GDP grew 4.9 percent year on year, slower than the growth of 18.3 percent in Q1 and 7.9 percent in Q2.
Other major economic indicators showed continued improvements across the board, with retail sales of consumer goods jumping 16.4 percent year on year in the first three quarters this year.
China’s value-added industrial output went up 11.8 percent year on year in the first three quarters, while fixed-asset investment went up 7.3 percent year on year during the period.
The country’s surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent in September, 0.5 percentage points lower than the same period last year, NBS data showed.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 18 2021 3:18 utc | 73

@62
Thanks so much BruisedNortherner…………I appreciate it. LOL. Now I must read it. Thanks again.

Posted by: FiveGunsWest | Oct 18 2021 3:37 utc | 74

SHOTS FIRED!
Sniper shots and mandated Covid shots have the same purpose: stir-up animosity between groups.
Tom @Oct18 0:49 #56:

snipers … opened fire at … [people] who were marching peacefully

psychohistorian @Oct18 2:02 #65:

California workers … military … Class Action lawsuit[s]

Joe @Oct18 2:25 #68:

Jimmy Dore … impact of mRNA vaccines on 12-15 year olds.

!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 18 2021 4:11 utc | 75

ArthurDent | Oct 18 2021 3:11 utc | 70
Re: Patrick Armstrong
I am a big fan of PA.
And yes, his writing is often featured at Strategic Culture website.
BUT
It is a mistake to describe Strategic Culture as PA’s site.
PA has his own site, he calls it “Russian Observer”.
https://patrickarmstrong.ca
The Strategic Culture site has very murky origins. It is located in Moscow for sure. It’s editors are NOT known.
If anyone can shed more light on this, please post.

Posted by: downtownhaiku | Oct 18 2021 4:31 utc | 76

@75 downtown haiku
Yep, Russian Observer is good too…and also part of Facebook’s Journalism Scrubbing.

Posted by: ArthurDent | Oct 18 2021 4:43 utc | 77

@ myself at #72 with the current financial data from China
I just scanned Reuters and the main headline is “China’s economy stumbles on power crunch, property woes”
LOL!!!! Pompeo’s Lie/Cheat/Steal are meritorious if you get away with them keeps coming to mind.
The Great Unraveling of the shit show of lies is coming, IMO.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Oct 18 2021 5:02 utc | 78

By the way, on the subject of ivermectin, people in my circle did receive the latest order from India. I had earlier reported failure, but apparently that supply chain is not yet broken.
The track record of four orders is that three arrived and one is a mystery that suggests the Indian broker/supplier simply went out of business. One order took 2 weeks, another took 4 weeks, the latest took 3 weeks. No prescriptions were required.
One starts at indiamart dot com. All follows from there.
This message brought to you as a public service, inspired by the many courageous and bio-ethical professionals who led the way – and whose example I think I shall regard for the rest of my life with great admiration.

Posted by: Grieved | Oct 18 2021 5:03 utc | 79

If you are here Greta, I hope you are sitting down.
“Big oil, gas and coal making headway on Russian Arctic coast”
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/industry-and-energy/2021/08/big-oil-gas-and-coal-making-headway-russian-arctic-coast
Somebody has China’s back. Immense developments long Russia’s north coast will provide China with a much more secure source and route for oil, LNG and coal than the straight of Malacca. AUKUS can GFO. And the one US ice breaker or any Canadian ice breaker can’t operate November to May in the arctic. I read recently that Russia was establishing a new military base in the vicinity of Bering Straight. Ironic if the new base was at Lavrentiya as the airstrip there was built during WW2 for lend lease aircraft flying from Alaska to the USSR.

Posted by: Tom | Oct 18 2021 5:09 utc | 80

Joe @Oct18 2:25 #68:Jimmy Dore on study of impact of mRNA vaccines on 12-15 year olds.
I can’t understand Jimmy Dore’s relationship with Max Blumenthal.
I don’t see any reason why Max B was included in this segment. Apparently Dore just wants to give him air time. To expand his influence. Gratis?
Dore is also supporting the “People’s Party” which is seems to be led by remnants of Bernie Sanders failed campaign and deflated nonprofit (“Our Revolution”, LOL). MANY true progressives said that Bernie’s attempt to ‘take over’ the Democratic Party was doomed. But deluded knuckleheads followed sheep-dogging Bernie despite all the signs that it was going nowhere. Now we’re supposed to believe that people close to Bernie are going to lead us to the promised land? LOL. Not bloody likely.
Also strange and noteworthy that both Jimmy Dore and Gregg Greenwald have appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show.
<> <> <> <> <> <>
“The People’s Party”, led by compromised luminaries from politics and media, arrives just in time to siphon off votes from the Democrats so that Republicans can be ensured to win the coming elections.
The Democratic Party is useless. But the coming failures of “The People’s Party” will only strengthen the Democratic Party for 2030 (assuming the next Republican President gets two terms).
WHAT THEY ARE NOT TELLING YOU
The Parties are not the problem. It’s the electoral system that has to change. We need a MOVEMENT that demands those changes, not a third-party that accepts the system as it is.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 18 2021 5:17 utc | 81

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Oct 18 2021 4:11 utc | 74
Good catch JR

Posted by: Tom | Oct 18 2021 5:20 utc | 82

@77 psychohistorian
Ah, Reuters. They’re trying so hard to keep the domestic populace tranquilized aren’t they? This would be the perfect place to cite Caitlin’s latest piece, which I don’t believe I’ve seen linked here yet:
It Takes a Lot Of Education to Keep Us This Stupid

The fact that the propagandists have to work so hard to keep our society this insane means the natural gravitational pull is toward sanity. They have to educate us into crazier and crazier ways of thinking from the moment we go to school until we die, because otherwise we’ll collectively awaken and shake off their shackles.
It takes a lot of educating to keep us this stupid.
You think you’re struggling? You should see the people trying to manufacture consent for a status quo that is both plainly insane and self-evidently unsustainable. They’re the ones doing all the heavy lifting in this struggle. They’re the ones fighting gravity.

When the critical mass arrives at the tipping point, and the power shifts to the sane people, it will be seen that the information sources they read are already the gold standard on which to build a great civilization. Yes b, that’s you I’m nodding to, and all the others out there, and including us all here.
What fine work we do, presenting information of a caliber unsurpassed by any established medium. We must keep it up because come the revolution, the young turks will need their received wisdom and social principles honed and shiny and fit for purpose 🙂

Posted by: Grieved | Oct 18 2021 5:21 utc | 83

@62
I think his point was that Robert Kennedy was a presidential candidate but he didn’t make the presidency, is that right?

Posted by: Walt King | Oct 18 2021 5:38 utc | 84

Note well: There is no Biden vaccine mandate, except for federal employees.
As Andrew Anglin reminded us recently, and as many good people don’t know, Biden never signed such a mandate for businesses of 100 employees or more. There is doubt that such an executive order could survive the courts, and the fact is that no such order exists.
Search for “Remember: There is No Actual Biden Vax Mandate” if you want detail.
[As I recall, it was going to be an OSHA requirement, but I haven’t seen anything yet that says this is so, nor do I know what the terms or ramifications would be. It will surely be a story of some sort if it happens.]
Biden did issue an executive order to require federal employees to be vaxxed. But he exempted Congress and I believe staffers – as well as the United States Postal Service, oddly enough, which my redneck buddy says is so there’s a functioning vote-by-mail system remaining in 2022.
The employers such as Southwest Airlines in Texas (who are also defying the state order against mandates) are relying on a Presidential order that doesn’t exist.
~~
Ultimately, in the right court, employers who followed this “order” may find themselves unshielded from prosecution for matters such as wrongful termination and even reckless endangerment leading to death – one imagines happy, smiling lawyers at play in the fields of litigation.
It was a pretty slick con, you have to give them credit – the people behind the Administration are as cunning as any carnival grifter.
But let it be known, and proclaimed far and wide that the Executive Order is no such thing. Federal employees must do as they’re told. Everyone else is free to be tricked into doing what they think they’ve been told, but actually haven’t.
~~
While we’re shouting far and wide, let’s also remember that Pfizer’s BioNTech is not approved by FDA but still only under an EUA. It’s Pfizer’s “Comirnaty” that is approved, and the FDA is at pains to call this a “distinct legal entity” from the BioNTech. So people should make sure to read the label of what they’re getting jabbed with, because ultimately their family’s lawsuit for wrongful death may hinge on this.

Posted by: Grieved | Oct 18 2021 5:56 utc | 85

If not already linked
http://dilyana.bg/350-diplomatic-flights-carry-weapons-for-terrorists/
At least 350 diplomatic Silk Way Airlines (an Azerbaijani state-run company) flights transported weapons for war conflicts across the world over the last 3 years. The state aircraft of Azerbaijan carried on-board tens of tons of heavy weapons and ammunition headed to terrorists under the cover of diplomatic flights. Documents implicating Silk Way Airlines in arms supplies were sent to me by an anonymous twitter account – Anonymous Bulgaria.

Posted by: bwilli123 | Oct 18 2021 6:05 utc | 86

@ Bruised Northerner | Oct 18 2021 1:45 utc | 63..
it is not a direct quote from the guardian… you added a word into it – president…. here is your quote @ 14
“In January, President Robert F Kennedy compared the massacres to..”
the article says this :
“In January Robert F Kennedy compared the massacres to…”
robert was never president… not sure why you did that, but it confused people regardless…

Posted by: james | Oct 18 2021 6:09 utc | 87

@ bwilli123 | Oct 18 2021 6:05 utc | 85.. the article is 3 years old.. yes, it has been linked at moa previously… makes one wonder why you are linking to it now!

Posted by: james | Oct 18 2021 6:11 utc | 88

@Chunglak
Every human society, every country and nation has it`s shortcomings, internal contradictions and problems. China – which is generally developing in a very positive direction – is no exception to this rule. Also the instances when propaganda (including the Anti-Chinese propaganda) completely makes up things are rather rare. Such instances do excist but the normal modus operandi of propaganda is to highlight excisting shortcomings, internal contradictions and problems of others that do actually take place and to one-sidedly ignore all redeeming factors as well as all things that go well or develop into a positive direction.
So all these characterisations of China as a “totalitarian state” ruled by a “dictator” with “mass surveillance” and “police state” – are true. It´s a an exaggerated and completely one-sided characterisation of China but it is in essence a correct assessment.
Does that scare me? No, not at all. First of all that isn`t news to me but had been the way I see China anyway. But more importantly: The Chinese government observes the principle of non-interference into the internal matters of other countries and striclty abstains from trying to export it`s social development model. So it also doesn`t effect me.
So yes, the problem does excist and IT IS scary. If she is accused of tax fraud than she should habe been put on trial for tax fraud and nothing else. But that`s not my cup of tea. It´s up to the Chinese themselfes to remedy the shortcomings, internal contradictions and problems of their country.

Posted by: m | Oct 18 2021 6:46 utc | 89

Thanks for covid commentary here, particularly the Maui link from psychohistorian @ #65. I didn’t read the entire Science article b linked, since the headline is based on a narrow reading of the words “durable” and “robust”. Apparently we are supposed to assume they both mean “long lasting” when in a few paragraphs in, the meaning pares down to “lasting six months”.
I quote from one of the podium speakers twitters at the Maui get together:

“We can’t even begin to know the long term effects of the vaccines – one of many concerns to the doctors on the panel. Usually a vaccine requires 7-10 years of data before it can be approved,” Dowd added, citing Dr. Ryan Cole of America’s Frontline Doctors.

I have refrained from doing more than insist to my family in New Zealand that vaccination is not manna from heaven. Apparently I need to do more than that, and fair’s fair (though I don’t think she will see it that way). I have praised the positive aspects of NZ’s approach to the skies, but not what they are doing with the vaccine. However, silence is not an option any longer. Gonna send that Maui link; thanks, psychohistorian!

Posted by: juliania | Oct 18 2021 8:01 utc | 90

@ Bruised Northerner | Oct 18 2021 1:45 utc | 63..

Because as a Canadian, I do think overconfident Britain has aspired for global power resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

“Overconfident”?
“resulting in”?
???????

A letter to the British ambassador in Djakarta from the “coordinator of political warfare”, a Foreign Office propaganda specialist called Norman Reddaway, who arrived in Singapore in the aftermath of the attempted coup, reveals the policy was “to conceal the fact that the butcheries have taken place with the encouragement of the generals”, in the hope that the generals “will do us better than the old gang”.
…..
Reddaway considered the downfall of Sukarno to be one of Britain’s greatest propaganda victories. In a letter written years later he said “the discrediting of Sukarno was quickly successful. His Confrontation was costing us about £250,000,000 a year. It was countered and abolished at minimal cost by IRD research and techniques in six months.”

Personally I’d use much stronger language. Is there something that you know that the rest of us do not that leads you to believe these activities by the British Foreign Office were anything other than deeply malevolent?
Is there any difference between the Foreign Office’s information research department (IRD) of sixty years ago, and today’s Foreign Office Integrity Initiative?
For myself I recognise the malevolence. It is why I advise others never to underestimate the malevolence of those who oppose us.
It is a hallmark of the actress that sits atop the British State.
She was Head of State and The Sovereign back in the 1960’s.
(For those that don’t get it, that means that she is the Big Boss. The one who decides.)
She’s Head of State and The Sovereign today.
Still pulling the same shit.
Still pretending that butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

Posted by: John Cleary | Oct 18 2021 8:03 utc | 91

Now the resident bunny @80 is going to try to convince the credulous that the establishment/corporate elites are “sheepdogging” the people away from the Democrat/Republican duality into a new party that big business doesn’t yet have full control over.
I’m sure the bunny will come up with a convoluted tale involving MAGA and Henry Kissinger to explain why the elites would be shooting themselves in the head like that and destroying the duopoly that they invest countless $billions propping up.
Reread the bunny’s post , folks. It is an advertisement for the Democrat party. Presumably the establishment has created the People’s Party to torpedo the Democrats, making the Democrats the anti-establishment choice. Bunny covert disinfo payload: “The establishment wants the Republicans, so if you want to fight the establishment then vote Democrat!”
I want people with functional memories to think back to 2014. Could you even mention the word “socialism” with positive framing back then? No, the concept was shut out of capitalist mass media and the Overton Window was too closed to allow it. The bunny would have those with short attention spans believe that the establishment created the Sanders’ campaign to sabotage the Democrats, and in the process threw the Overton Window wide open and is even breaking the two party stranglehold on American politics. The bunny wants people to believe that the establishment deliberately created the environment in which people could conceptualize and discuss challenging the establishment itself! The bunny would have you believe the empire’s establishment subjected itself to several years of paralysis in which its color revolutions failed and many millions of people got to observe that establishment naked and thrashing in spasms in the mud. Why? “`Cuz Kissinger!”
Bunny’s proposed solution? Go straight from where we currently stand to a massive overhaul of the system, with no intermediary steps where the population organizes itself and builds its independence from the corporate elites… or just vote Democrat since that is what the bunny is telling you that the establishment wants you not to do.
Sure, bunny.
I wonder if he gets together with Circe after work for drinks?

Posted by: William Gruff | Oct 18 2021 8:54 utc | 92

John Cleary @90
My concern is that this might be an effort to exonerate the US in the Indonesian genocide. It isn’t as if the imperial establishment can pretend that the genocide didn’t happen anymore, so why not switch the blame over to the has-been empire? Let’s just ignore the fact that the British empire was already long gone in the 1960s. We know that the CIA and State Department were directing the genocide, along with Standard Oil (Exxon) and CIA cutouts like the Ford Foundation, but this grauniad article makes it sound like it was just a British operation.
I have no doubt that the sLimeys had their grubby little paws in all of the evil deeds of the last century, but particularly after WWII they were just bit players. Britain is just Uncle Sam’s toy poodle. A good substitute for a fig leaf when some distraction is needed, but otherwise just useless decoration.

Posted by: William Gruff | Oct 18 2021 9:40 utc | 93

jayc.. @ 13 ..
Like the Huawei case, the decision to use the US justice system to take down international business or political rivals was made first, and only then followed by the search for a “crime”.
<=When and how was such a decision negotiated? Tracking [source to destination] the decision process from private, non state actor into the political system and from the political system into the bureaucracy might reveal the political system was (avoided) not involved?

Posted by: snake | Oct 18 2021 9:55 utc | 94

William
While it is undoubtedly true that the United States is far more powerful than is the UK, it is equally true that the elite, the leadership of the UK is far more powerful than the elite of the USA.
Where are the US leaders from that time? Where are they today?
Ask the same question about the Brits. She’s still there. Still pulling the same shit, still murdering when she thinks she’ll get away with it.
Who do you think is slowly murdering Julian Assange? Who do you think will happily do the same to Craig Murray?
It’s the senior actress. Overheard when she so wishes.

Posted by: John Cleary | Oct 18 2021 10:41 utc | 95

“While it is undoubtedly true that the United States is far more powerful than is the UK, it is equally true that the elite, the leadership of the UK is far more powerful than the elite of the USA.
Because Britain’s Class System has been in place for literally over a millennium while America’s class system is more flexible and less established, and only a couple centuries old…

Posted by: Malchik Ralf | Oct 18 2021 11:22 utc | 96

Not satisfied with the already historical high levels of vulgarity of Western propaganda, the Asia Times (aka David P. Goldman’s extraofficial private blog) publishes the full narrative circle at the same time, in the same day:
‘Integrated deterrence’ taking shape against China: New defense doctrine recognizes US needs a network of allies to counter the threat of China’s growing military capabilities
Hidden China debts come to the fore in Indonesia: Government forced to tap state budget to pay ballooning costs on Belt and Road linked Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project
Beijing’s hypersonic feat stuns US intel chiefs: China secretly tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that orbited the globe before striking its target

Posted by: vk | Oct 18 2021 11:22 utc | 97

Meanwhile in India, the Modi regime’s deliberately created crisis in bilateral ties against China has had less than zero impact in trade. Despite the regime’s fake news factory, from paid trolls to channels like WION, continually demanding boycotts of Chinese products etc, Indian businesses – which contribute more money to the regime than anyone else – have been importing more than ever from China, so that the bilateral trade imbalance has grown to $44 billion just in the first 9 months of this year.
https://theprint.in/economy/india-china-trade-deficit-soars-to-47-bn-as-business-ignores-ladakh-crisis-atmanirbhar-push/750675/
Either the Modi regime’s own corporate backers are voting against him with their money, or else the regime’s anti China posturing is just for public consumption and to make Modi look good on the Amerikastani political scene.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Oct 18 2021 11:36 utc | 98

Serendipity. Just came across this from Karl on the “Migrants” thread…

Yes, I agree that a great deal wasn’t at all well within the USA prior to WW2. FDR and many New Dealers had a vision of what the USA could become, but that died, not when FDR did, but when Truman was added to the 1944 election ticket, while Henry Wallace was demoted, and in late 1946 exiled from the government and the D Party. Why would FDR work so hard to get the UN Charter agreed to via consensus, then turn around and destroy his creation while making the nation a global pariah? As proven with the attempted Businessmen’s Coup in 1933-4, a potent 5th Column lurked that Wallace wrote an op/ed about in the NY Times–“The Danger of American Fascism”–and that’s what we’ve had since: subtle at first, then once the CIA was born in 1947 and the Dulles Brothers were placed in control, it’s proceeded to tighten its grip ever since.

WHO is doing all of this? WHO has agency?
NOTHING happens in politics by chance.
WHO deep-sixed Wallace?
WHO bumped off FDR?
WHO put Harry “Solomon” Truman into power?
WHO put the Dulles brothers in?
WHO wrecked the United States of America?
https://youtu.be/o7-HQqpTOGU
Her mother was clearly an enthusiastic Nazi in 1933, when she herself was 32/33 years old.
She personally experienced the Reichstag fire.
She lived to see the Twin Towers fall.

Posted by: John Cleary | Oct 18 2021 11:52 utc | 99

About-turn from Germany’s Green Party as co-leader calls for Berlin to ‘immediately’ negotiate increased gas supply from Moscow
Forgot to add this observation to my previous comment here in this thread about the subject of the new German government: some Germans here mocked me when I said not to underestimate the Green Party because it is backed up by the USA. Well, the USA now has an asset in the German government, as the Greens are an essentially one fourth junior partner of the coalition.
Expect increased American influence in Germany during this next government.

Posted by: vk | Oct 18 2021 11:59 utc | 100

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