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With Vaccine Fairness China And Russia Are Beating The ‘West’
For a moment I thought that I had caught the Associated Press in reporting a wrong number.
But in fact both headlines are right.
Xinhua - Xi announces supplying Africa with additional 1 bln COVID-19 vaccine doses, pledges to jointly implement nine programs
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday announced that China would provide an additional 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa and pledged to jointly implement nine programs on China-Africa future cooperation.
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To help the African Union (AU) achieve its goal of vaccinating 60 percent of the African population by 2022, President Xi announced that China would provide another one billion doses of vaccines to Africa, including 600 million doses as donation and 400 million doses to be provided through such means as joint production by Chinese companies and relevant African countries.
"In addition, China will undertake 10 medical and health projects for African countries, and send 1,500 medical personnel and public health experts to Africa," Xi added.
By Nov. 12, 2021, China had provided over 1.7 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 110 countries and organizations, including 50 African countries and the AU Commission.
Associated Press - China to donate 600 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa
China has pledged to donate 600 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccines to Africa as the world grapples with the unequal distribution of the shots between rich and poor countries.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made the promise Monday in a video speech to the opening ceremony of a China-Africa forum on economic cooperation.
He said China will supply 1 billion doses in all. The other 400 million are to come through other routes such as production by Chinese companies in Africa.
Both headline can be justified. While Xinhua highlights the top number the AP emphasizes the donation.
China is putting the 'west' to shame with its donations and the additional vaccine doses it distributes. In exchange it will surely receive some good will:
Cont. reading: With Vaccine Fairness China And Russia Are Beating The ‘West’
How NGOs And Newspapers In Germany Propagandize Chinese ‘Querdenker’ Zhang Zhan
Today a number of U.S. aligned non government organizations launched an anti-China campaign in Germany.
Reporters Without Boarders (RSF) led the campaign together with PEN, Amnesty International and a Germany journalist union. They called for an hour long tweet storm to demand of that German politicians should act to get the Chinese 'journalist' Zhang Zhan released from prison in China.
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The campaign was somewhat successful. A search for the #ZhangZhan hashtag used show that a lot of ill informed people, including many journalists, tweeted or retweeted the issue.
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The misinformation spread by Robin Alexander in the above tweet is pretty heavy but not unusual.
Zhang Zhan is not a journalist. She was not one of the first to post video from Wuhan. She did not report on the COVID-19 but protested against the successful lockdown. She is not in jail for that reason.
Cont. reading: How NGOs And Newspapers In Germany Propagandize Chinese ‘Querdenker’ Zhang Zhan
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-092
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
Flashback:
Joe Biden @JoeBiden – 3:16 UTC · Feb 2, 2020
Trump further diminished the U.S. in the eyes of the world by expanding his travel ban. This new “African Ban,” is designed to make it harder for black and brown people to immigrate to the United States. It’s a disgrace, and we cannot let him succeed.
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Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-092
The New Virus Variant Has Lots Of Mutations – That Does Not (Yet) Mean It’s ‘Very Bad’
Yesterday the chief of the World Health Organzation warned about a 'false sense of security' around Covid-19 vaccines:
In a news briefing in Geneva on Wednesday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said many vaccinated people were wrongly thinking receiving the COVID shot meant they no longer needed to take any other precautions.
“In many countries and communities, we are concerned about a false sense of security that vaccines have ended the pandemic, and that people who are vaccinated do not need to take any other precautions,” Tedros told reporters.
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“We cannot say this clearly enough: even if you are vaccinated, continue to take precautions to prevent becoming infected yourself, and infecting someone else who could die.”
“That means wearing a mask, maintaining distance, avoiding crowds and meeting others outside if you can, or in a well-ventilated space inside.
The warning was a shot against the Biden administration which has done away with all non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) measures. These will be again needed if the news from South Africa of a new variance of concern turns out to be as bad as it sounds:
Health Minister Joe Phaahla said the variant was linked to an “exponential rise” of cases in the last few days, although experts are still trying to determine if the new variant, named B.1.1.529, is actually responsible.
From just over 200 new confirmed cases per day in recent weeks, South Africa saw the number of new daily cases rocket to 2,465 on Thursday. Struggling to explain the sudden rise in cases, scientists studied virus samples from the outbreak and discovered the new variant.
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It appears to have a high number of mutations — about 30 — in the coronavirus’ spike protein, which could affect how easily it spreads to people.
Sharon Peacock, who has led genetic sequencing of COVID-19 in Britain at the University of Cambridge, said the data so far suggest the new variant has mutations “consistent with enhanced transmissibility,” but said that “the significance of many of the mutations is still not known.”
A presentation by the Health Ministry of South Africa can be viewed here. The slide show at 5:10 forward is the interesting part.
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This (blue) variant seems to out-compete others very fast.
Cont. reading: The New Virus Variant Has Lots Of Mutations – That Does Not (Yet) Mean It’s ‘Very Bad’
‘Democracy’ Circus
The Biden administration has invited 110 'participants' to its 'Summit for Democracy' which is to take place virtually on December 9 and 10.
The use of 'participants' was necessary as not all 'participants' are recognized international states. Biden wanted to piss off China. He therefore invited Taiwan which is not recognized as a state by the United Nations nor by the U.S.
Source: Axios – bigger
The Biden administration did not invite Hungary, a democratic NATO and EU member, where, according to polls, the opposition is poised to win next years election. Poland, which is governed more illiberal than Hungary is invited. Likewise the Ukraine even as the Zelensky government has put the opposition leader under house arrest and has shut down opposition TV stations and newspapers.
Turkey, also a NATO member, was left off the list. Turkey's president Erdogan may be autocratic but so is prime minister Modi of India which is invited.
Singapore, a democracy and somewhat U.S. ally, is not on the list. This is likely because its prime minister had rejected to take part in Biden's proposed 'coalition of democracies' as a cold war style entity aimed against China.
U.S. 'enemies' like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are of course not invited even while they regularly have free elections.
The event is thus what it could be expected to be. It is not about democracy but a propaganda show which is supposed to demonstrate strong 'U.S. leadership' where none exists.
The propaganda is not even aimed at a foreign public. It is supposed to assure the U.S. that it still has the credentials it claims to have.
The system has become so weak that it sees a need to assure itself.
Open Thread 2021-91
Biden’s Play In Today’s Oil Market Is A One-Time Trick That Will Backfire
The White House announced today that the U.S., together with a few other countries, will release crude oil from its strategic petroleum reserve:
Today, the President is announcing that the Department of Energy will make available releases of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower prices for Americans and address the mismatch between demand exiting the pandemic and supply.
The President has been working with countries across the world to address the lack of supply as the world exits the pandemic. And, as a result of President Biden’s leadership and our diplomatic efforts, this release will be taken in parallel with other major energy consuming nations including China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom.
The U.S. will make a onetime release of 50 million barrels while the other countries together are expected to release 20 million barrels. For comparison the global consumption is about 100 million barrels per day.
Of the U.S. 50 million release 32 million are only an exchange. Refineries which buy those will later have to provide back a similar amount. The White House assumption is that future crude oil prices will sink. The refiners are likely smarter. They know that future prices will rise and are therefore unlikely to buy any of the 32 million barrels.
The total amount is thus too small to make a reasonable difference in the global market.
Oil prices have been sinking over the last days as rumors about the release made the rounds. But today they were back at rising:
Cont. reading: Biden’s Play In Today’s Oil Market Is A One-Time Trick That Will Backfire
The White House Needs An Off-ramp From War In Ukraine
Ten days ago I wrote about the potential of war in the Ukraine:
There is fear in Russia that the U.S. is egging the Ukraine into a renewed active conflict with its renegade eastern Donbass region and thereby into a war with Russia.
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The Biden administrations war mongering towards Russia may be seen to be free of cost. But it takes only one miscalculation in Kiev or some unforeseen incident in the Black Sea region and the situation could seriously escalate.
Moscow sees a salami slicing tactic at work that would only end with NATO directly confronting it on all its borders:
Moscow’s narrative is that the Western powers are deliberately fueling Ukraine’s revanchist instincts by arming it and encouraging President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is fighting for political survival, to believe that with Western support, a window of opportunity is opening to recapture the lost territories in Donbas and Crimea and thereby redeem his pledge to be his country’s savior.
And second, as Moscow sees it, the rising tensions with Russia have become a convenient alibi to involve NATO directly in Ukraine’s security and make it a template of the West’s containment strategy against Russia.
The level of alarm in Russia continues to be high. The current ticker on the right side of the TASS website includes these headlines:
- 22 Nov, 09:09 – Russian radars track over 50 foreign spy planes and drones near state borders over week
- 22 Nov, 10:32 – Migrants change strategy, attempt to cross into Lithuania in small groups, says Vilnius
- 22 Nov, 10:53 – Minsk does not want standoff fraught with conflict on border with Poland, Lukashenko says
- 22 Nov, 11:36 – Polish authorities use refugees as distraction from domestic problems, Lukashenko says
- 22 Nov, 12:02 – Anti-Semitism, Russophobia running rampant in Ukraine, Baltic states, warns Lavrov
- 22 Nov, 12:49 – Over 100 times in 50 years: Russian lawmaker points to extensive overseas meddling by US
- 22 Nov, 13:19 – Russia alarmed by Germany and France’s refusal to uphold implementation of Minsk accords
- 22 Nov, 13:35 – Belligerent rhetoric shows Kiev’s wish to send Donbass conflict into hot phase — Lavrov
- 22 Nov, 15:01 – Kremlin points to rising tide of Ukraine’s provocations with NATO-supplied weapons
- 22 Nov, 15:10 – Kremlin blasts West’s media crusade to portray Russia as ‘threat’ to Ukrainian settlement
- 22 Nov, 15:47 – Moscow, Minsk cannot but retaliate against Western pressure — Union State secretary
- 22 Nov, 16:01 – Topic of Ukraine will be touched upon at Putin-Biden meeting — Lavrov
The above are more then half of the links in the ticker column. It is thus extremely conflict heavy, far more than usual.
Russia has stated that it would intervene in the Ukraine should Kiev decided to invade Donbass. It would be the end of the Ukraine Moscow has said. (Russia would likely end up with taking the majority Russian east and south of the Ukraine. The rest would end up as a landlocked agricultural Nazi infested enclave.)
The Kremlin has also multiple times complained about the ever increasing amount of NATO activities near its border. A U.S. study confirms those activities:
Cont. reading: The White House Needs An Off-ramp From War In Ukraine
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-090
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
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Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-090
Kyle Rittenhouse Is Not Guilty
The jury in the contentious Rittenhouse trial has made its judgment.
On the five counts Kyle Rittenhouse was accused of it found: Not guilty, not guilty, not guilty, not guilty, not guilty. The decision was unanimous.
Some here have repeated the 'woke' media claims which falsely accused Rittenhouse of being a racist murder.
For starters the three people he shot were all white just as he is. In each case he defended himself from people who directly attacked him. They were obviously seeking to severely harm him.
All the available video evidence, aptly combined in this 13 minute clip, proves that the verdict is fully justified.
It also confirms the judgment I had made on August 27 2020 after reviewing the evidence:
Yesterday a white teen with a semi-automatic weapon had the stupid idea to join others in 'protecting the businesses' in Kenosha from further looting. He ended up killing two people and wounding more after he was attacked by some of the rioters. The teen was arrested and he is facing charges but I doubt that he is guilty of more than sheer stupidity and manslaughter in self defense.
The case the prosecutors had was very thin. I doubt that they will try to appeal the case.
I am for one satisfied and happy with this outcome.
New York Times Invents ‘Sexual Assault’ #MeToo Case To Blame China
The 'news' over last years have again and again demonstrated the notorious unreliability of woke 'western' media.
Andrew Sullivan @sullydish – 21:27 UTC · Nov 12, 2021
2016 election. Rittenhouse. Covington. Russian collusion. Vaccines. Bounties on US soldiers. Lab-leak theory. Jussie Smollett. The Pulse shooting. The Atlanta shootings. Hunter Biden laptop. Inflation. Steele Dossier.
The MSM got every single one wrong.
When All The Media Narratives Collapse
In case after case, the US MSM just keeps getting it wrong.
To those U.S. centric stories one must add all the false claims made about foreign countries – see Syria and Belarus for recent example. One then finds that the media do not report but, as Sullivan writes, "make the news fit the broader political fight".
There is currently a push for a boycott of the winter Olympics in Beijing. Western media are busy to push for an anti-China angle of the games. Their aim is a political boycott so no one 'in good standing' dares to visit them.
On November 2, by timely chance, some well known Chinese sportswoman posted a sad story about the end of her love affair with a once powerful older man on the Chinese social media site Weibo. That post was soon taken down, likely by the woman herself, but that was too late to prevent that the 'woke' western media and Olympic boycott campaigners made a hash out of it.
A day after the post was published and unpublished the New York Times mangled the facts to make it into a 'woke' anti-China story:
A Chinese Tennis Star Accuses a Former Top Leader of Sexual Assault
Peng Shuai’s accusation against Zhang Gaoli takes the country’s budding #MeToo movement to the top echelons of the Communist Party for the first time.
Peng Shuai, the professional tennis star, publicly accused a former vice premier of China of sexual assault, igniting an online firestorm of attention to a #MeToo allegation that for the first time touched the pinnacles of Communist Party power.
Ms. Peng made the accusation in a post on Tuesday night on her verified account on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. In it, she described an assault by Zhang Gaoli, who from 2012 to 2017 served on the party’s Politburo Standing Committee, the top ruling body in China. She also described having had an on-and-off consensual relationship with Mr. Zhang.
The post was removed within minutes, but the allegations swirled through the country’s heavily controlled internet, fueled by the fame of the accuser and the accused. That kept the censors inside China’s Great Firewall scrambling.
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Ms. Peng’s accusations could not be corroborated.
Where is the headlined 'sexual assault' one might ask. The NYT piece wont say:
Cont. reading: New York Times Invents ‘Sexual Assault’ #MeToo Case To Blame China
Turkey – A Crazy Economic Theory Is Ruining The Country
The wannabe Sultan is in trouble. The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes in an economic theory that few others support. He has argued over and over again that high central bank interest rates are causing inflation.
The more accepted theory is that inflation is caused by too much money chasing too few goods (among other reasons). An increase of interest rates above the level of inflation lessens the amount of available money to buy goods and will thereby, over time, lower inflation.
Erdogan has been told that over and over again but he sticks to his personal theory. Over the last 18 months he has fired three central bank governors because they would not lower the interest rates as much as he had wanted them to do.
Şahap Kavcıoğlu, a banker and columnist from Erdogan's own party, had defended his policies. In March Erdogan elevated him to be governor of Turkey's central bank. Interest rates were promptly lowered from 19 to 16% while inflation in Turkey was running up to 20%.
Yesterday Erdogan demanded another interest rate drop:
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he will continue his battle against interest rates “to the end”, sending the lira currency to new depths a day before the central bank is expected to slash rates further.
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A day before a central bank policy meeting at which it is expected to ease again, the president repeated his unorthodox view that higher rates were the cause of inflation and questioned why some of our “friends” defended tight policy.
“We will lift this scourge of interest rates from people’s backs. We certainly cannot allow our people to be crushed by interest rates,” he told lawmakers from his ruling conservative AK Party in parliament.
“I cannot and will not stand on this path with those who defend interest rates,” Erdogan said.
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The central bank has bucked expectations and cut its policy rate by 300 basis points since September, even as inflation climbed to near 20%, delivering the stimulus long sought by Erdogan.
Unfortunately for Erdogan the policy of keeping interest rates below the inflation rate has the side effect of lowering the value of Turkey's currency. Yesterday the Turkish lira had already dropped 1.5%. Today, after the central bank lowered the interest rate to 15%, the lira dropped further.
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Nine months ago it took seven Turkish lira to buy one U.S. dollar. A month ago it took nine Turkish lira to buy one U.S. dollar. Today it takes more than eleven lira for one dollar.
Cont. reading: Turkey – A Crazy Economic Theory Is Ruining The Country
Open Thread 2021-89
U.S. Follow Up On Positive Summit Talks Is A Boycott Of China’s Olympics
Yesterday China's President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden held a virtual summit.
It was the U.S. side which had initiated the event. The expectations were low, the outcome was meager:
The virtual meeting between President Biden and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, produced no breakthroughs in a relationship that has spiraled dangerously downward. That was not the intent.
Instead, the two leaders sought to keep the many disputes between the two countries from escalating into a broader conflict. If they can translate their words into a kind of détente, it would count as a diplomatic success.
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At the end of three and a half hours of talks, the two did not even cobble together the sort of joint statement that has typically punctuated summits between the United States and China over the decades. Mr. Xi’s last meeting with an American president, Donald J. Trump in 2019, also ended with no joint statement, marking the deterioration in ties.
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“We were not expecting a breakthrough,” a senior administration official told reporters shortly after the talks with Mr. Xi ended. “There were none.”
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Administration officials declined to discuss what was said about the nuclear buildup, beyond a vague statement that Mr. Biden “underscored the importance of managing strategic risks.”
Other topics that analysts thought would come up did not, according to the senior administration official. They included disputes over granting visas for diplomats, journalists and others, as well as a possible invitation to attend the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February.
The Chinese analysis of the event in form of a Global Times editorial was a tad more optimistic:
The virtual meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden was held on Tuesday morning Beijing time. The readouts released by the two sides are both relatively positive. The world has seen how Chinese and US leaders frankly discuss strategic, overall and fundamental issues between China and the US, as well as issues of mutual concern. The wordings in their readouts have catered to the feelings of the other side. The readout of the US side did not use tough words as it had used before the meeting. The meeting will play an active role in leading international opinion for their positive expectations toward China-US relations.
However, the editorial also warned that while the U.S. is often positive at such events its tends to not follow through:
Cont. reading: U.S. Follow Up On Positive Summit Talks Is A Boycott Of China’s Olympics
Russian Anti-Satellite Test Highlights Arms Race In Space
Yesterday Russia successfully tested a ground launched 'direct ascent' anti-satellite missile:
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said that Russia’s cutting-edge future weapon system being tested has hit its target with great precision.
"It is true that we have successfully tested a cutting-edge system of the future. It hit an old satellite with precision worthy of a goldsmith. The remaining debris pose no threats to space activity," Shoigu told the media during a working tour of military units in the Western Military Region near Voronezh.
The U.S., China and India have previously made similar tests of kinetic weapons designed to kill satellites. Such tests are problematic because they create debris fields which will endanger other objects in the earth's orbit:
Seven astronauts on the International Space Station were forced to take shelter in their transport spacecraft early Monday (Nov. 15) when the station passed uncomfortably closed to orbital debris, according to reports.
The space junk passes began in the pre-dawn hours of Monday and the International Space Station has continued to make close passes to the debris every 90 minutes or so, according to experts monitoring the situation. Russia's space agency Roscosmos confirmed the space junk encounter with Space.com, though NASA has not yet commented on the situation either publicly or to Space.com.
Anti-satellite missiles can be used against more than satellites. An intercontinental missile will deliver its warhead on an out-in-space trajectory. An anti-satellite missile could destroy it before it reenters the atmosphere.
Why would Russia want to kill satellites one might ask. U.S. weapon producer Northrop Grumman recently gave an idea:
Cont. reading: Russian Anti-Satellite Test Highlights Arms Race In Space
The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-088
Last week's posts at Moon of Alabama:
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Other issues:
Cont. reading: The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-088
In Ukraine The U.S. Is Risking War
There is fear in Russia that the U.S. is egging the Ukraine into a renewed active conflict with its renegade eastern Donbass region and thereby into a war with Russia.
In his latest RUSSIAN FEDERATION SITREP Patrick Armstrong recollects the most recent developments:
UKRAINE. 1 Nov: Russian buildup on Ukraine border shrieks controlled US media. 2 Nov: CIA Director Burns goes to Moscow; said to warn Moscow against military operations. 3 Nov: Dmytro Yarosh appointed adviser to the commander-in-chief of the Ukraine armed forces, Defence Minister resigns. 4 Nov: US official visits Kiev. 7 Nov: Kiev says no indication of Russian buildup on border.
What just happened? Moscow got its message across and Washington turned its puppet off? (If so, nobody told Blinken.) Hard to imagine anyone in Kiev thinks “a good little war” would improve the wretched situation. But Yarosh might. This time I think Moscow will use force – if they didn’t get the hint in the spring, there’s no point in more hints: time for facts. (Ossetia 2008; but faster.)
Earlier this year the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky closed TV and media that favored the opposition. Last week the 26 years old English language KyivPost outlet was shut down after its owner was threatened.
Zelensky has recently lost the majority in the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. The leader of Zelensky's party 'Servant of the People' Dmytro Razumkov, was removed from his position as speaker of the Rada after some conflict with Zelensky. Razumkov has now founded a new party and 21 parliament members from the 'Servant of the People' joined him in a new faction. 226 seats are needed for a majority in the Rada. 'Servant of the People' had 244 seats but is now down to 224.
Ukraine is in an energy crisis. It did not use the summer months to fill its gas storage. It lacks thermal coal to generate electricity and to heat its cities. It will now import coal from Poland, the United States and South Africa. That is not only expensive but also likely too late to avoid blackouts:
Cont. reading: In Ukraine The U.S. Is Risking War
Rittenhouse Trial Exposes The Democrats’ Reliance On False Narratives
In August 2020 I wrote about the riots in several U.S. cities.
'Mostly Peaceful' Rioting And Looting Is Helping Trump's Campaign
The piece attracted 610 comments which made it the longest Moon of Alabama thread ever.
The immediate starting point of my thoughts had been the riots and shooting in Kenosha:
Last Sunday police in Kenosha, Wisconsin proved to be too incompetent to arrest a man they had already had under control. They shot him 7 times into the back when he was trying to get into his car. Nights of rioting followed. Buildings were burned down and businesses were looted.
Yesterday a white teen with a semi-automatic weapon had the stupid idea to join others in 'protecting the businesses' in Kenosha from further looting. He ended up killing two people and wounding more after he was attacked by some of the rioters. The teen was arrested and he is facing charges but I doubt that he is guilty of more than sheer stupidity and manslaughter in self defense.
Many of the regular commentators disagreed with my conclusion.
The white teen, Kyle Rittenhouse, is now standing trial. Of note is that the casualties in this case were all white and had criminal records, something that the media at the time of the incident intentionally neglected to say.
Yesterday Rittenhouse testified and was cross examined by the prosecutor Thomas Binger. I watched a stream of the trial and was not impressed:
Moon of Alabama @MoonofA – 20:12 UTC · Nov 10, 2021
Watching the Rittenhouse trial.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=si9YXq0A1Vk
That prosecutor is ridiculous.
The judge seemed to have the same impression:
Cont. reading: Rittenhouse Trial Exposes The Democrats’ Reliance On False Narratives
Open Thread 2021-87
News & views …
Please keep the comments short. Don't copy stuff that is available elsewhere on the web – link it.
Why Joe Biden Will Soon Talk With Mohammed Bin Salman
An author for the HuffPost has written a way too long screed on Biden's perceived lack of action against the Saudi clown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Akbar Shahid Ahmed @AkbarSAhmed – 12:23 UTC · 9 Nov 2021
NEW: 9 months into the Biden era, the Khashoggi file is "lost" & Saudi Arabia is getting > $1 billion in new weapons. Here's the story of how Biden betrayed Democrats in Congress & fumbled the best chance for accountability for MBS's human rights abuses.
Joe Biden Promised To Take On Saudi Arabia Over Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudis Won.
Biden pledged to root his foreign policy in values like human rights, but didn't apply that standard to the long and morally dubious U.S.–Saudi relationship.
I find the piece delusional:
As president, Biden started off by making good on campaign promises about Saudi Arabia.
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Then, in February, Biden unveiled what he described as his Khashoggi policy.
It contained no sanctions for the prince and no details on what evidence American officials used to identify him as responsible. It punished only low-level Saudis without naming most of those who would be affected.
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The Washington Post, Khashoggi’s last employer, slammed Biden. The president “let the murderer walk,” wrote Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times.
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Three weeks after Biden pledged to root his foreign policy in values like human rights, he showed he did not apply that standard to America’s long and morally dubious relationship with Saudi Arabia.
Here is news for Akbar Shahid Ahmed. International relations are never about values or human rights. They are about interests.
It is not in the U.S. interests, nor in Biden's personal ones, to further worsen the relations with Saudi Arabia.
Cont. reading: Why Joe Biden Will Soon Talk With Mohammed Bin Salman
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