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November 17, 2021
Open Thread 2021-89
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Odd that the opening of nord stream 2 is being delayed while European natural gas prices reach record levels.
Posted by: Cesare | Nov 17 2021 18:30 utc | 1
Recent world events lead many people to wonder if the world is really under the control of forces we cannot see since it all seems so odd. Many scientists also believe exactly that. Through The Quantum Looking Glass or: Buckle your seatbelt Dorothy, ’cause Kansas is going bye-bye
Posted by: El | Nov 17 2021 18:35 utc | 2
Port of Vancouver today — all rail access to and from cut off due to flooding. Highway access also damaged by flooding.
Port of Seattle today — just past (in the last few hours) it’s budget for 2022 and Capital Improvement Plan “… the Port of Seattle was able to help the region weather the economic storm that persisted last year from COVID-19…”’
https://www.porttechnology.org/news/port-of-seattle-passes-budget-for-2022-and-capital-improvement-plan/
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 17 2021 18:50 utc | 3
Declassified UK
@declassifiedUK
·
Nov 10
The two judges who ruled on the Julian #Assange case have both since been promoted.
Arbuthnot, who ruled to keep Assange in jail, defying the UN, is now a high court judge.
Baraitser, whose ruling means other journalists could be extradited to the US, is now a Circuit Judge.
Posted by: arby | Nov 17 2021 19:07 utc | 4
Bruised Northerner @3–
We visited Seattle back in August and the port was almost idle, which is one reason why this port backlog strikes me as rather odd. Given the current hoopla, I’d have expected Seattle’s port–indeed, the entire Sound’s facilities–to be bustling like crazy. We even have pictures taken along Seattle’s waterfront’s Elliot Bay with the idle port facilities in the background for evidence. Something is clearly amiss.
Live for now from Ritten house trial. Video questions
https://www.rt.com/on-air/540515-rittenhouse-trial-court-verdict/
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Nov 17 2021 19:16 utc | 6
Posted by: Cesare | Nov 17 2021 18:30 utc | 1
>>Odd that the opening of nord stream 2 is being delayed while European natural gas prices reach record levels.
For euro politics you need to be a psychiatrist, not a politologist.
Hatred blinded the europeans – they need to lash out in hatred and try to bite even if they harm mostly themselves now. Which is fun to watch.
Not opening NS-2 rises gas prices, including indirectly oil, electricity and coal prices, as well as fertiliser prices – which weakens Europe and benefits Russia again. It is a win – win for Russia – if they don’t open NS-2 there will be a good price for all types of energy which will again fill Russia’s coffers. And Asia can buy all the energy and resources Russia has anyway, so Europe is not that needed anymore.
Same thing happened with Belarus – the geniuses tried to ban Belarusian fertilisers, only to start crying in pain and to reverse the sanctions. There is big deficit of fertilisers in the market right now, due to the high price of gas, which leads to food inflation. Banning Belarusian fertiliser right now was a realy “genius” EU move.
But this is what happens when emotions take control and hatred blinds you.
Lots of the inflation in energy and fertilisers (read food) is caused by the Western war on Russia, Venezuela and Iran, and now the West is paying the price. The high energy prices also helped Iran to break the western blockade, as now everybody desperately needs energy, especially at better prices. Which is something Iran can deliver.
As for Russia, it is in pretty strong position right now, and new rail roads are being urgently built towards Asia to meet the huge energy demand there.
Posted by: Passer by | Nov 17 2021 19:21 utc | 7
Cesare and Passer by – This irrational behavior by EU leaders in terms of their own citizens interest has been going on for a long time. The tolerance for US demands (re the pipeline, NATO expansion, Iran, China and Russia sanctions, etc.) and lockstep behavior in too many areas seem inexplicable.
I have to feel that it’s a version of what goes on here in the US with most of the politicians and the Deep State administrative aparats serving as servants of the 0.1%: the people in charge have been selected precisely because they will reliably do what the masters want rather than what the people would demand. Education, leadership training groups, nepotism, etc. all lead to near unanimity of thought across the upper echelons of the west. At some point though, the people may wake up …??
Posted by: Caliman | Nov 17 2021 19:40 utc | 8
@5 Did the Asian suppliers require that their customers pay down their balance owed?
Posted by: Guerrero | Nov 17 2021 19:41 utc | 9
“Restraint” is the word.
https://johnmenadue.com/the-one-word-that-will-stop-war-over-taiwan/
Posted by: Paul | Nov 17 2021 19:58 utc | 10
My previous comments related to Biden’s upcoming democracy summit were on the week in review thread. I wasn’t expecting this article, “Kazakhstan’s ‘golden man’ has a message for America”, to be related, but it is most definetly:
“[Ukrainian-born film maker and Oliver Stone collaborator] Lopatonok is also keen to rebut claims the pair are too soft on leaders who are decried as autocrats in the West, but went even further, arguing that ‘to call democracy the best way to govern is wrong historically and factually.’ It is clear, he argues, that there are other ways ‘to resolve different views and conflicts peacefully, respect for human dignity, the freedom to act, speak and think freely, as long as it does not stop others doing the same, equality before the law, safe and secure community.’
“‘The US is failing on all five fronts,’ he insists. ‘But I believe, and I got it from my interview with the first President of Kazakhstan, that people will be looking for a new way of governing now more than ever because of this failure,’ Lopatonok said. ‘We can’t call the US’ form of governing a democracy.’
“The 2020 US election campaign cost about $14 billion, becoming the most expensive election in American history. This money was spent, Lopatonok said, ‘to elect Joe Biden, who is unfit to be president of this country, this is a tremendous failure.'” [My Emphasis]
So, here we have proof that not all Ukrainian immigrants are Nazi wannabes and are quite able to see and describe crap:
“So, while he denies his films are overtly sympathetic to one side of the argument, the Ukrainian-born director believes casting a light on how things are done elsewhere helps dispel the myths that prop up our own struggling systems. In his view, films like ‘Qazaq’ or ‘Snowden’ are important because ‘the reality we are given by the mainstream media is constructed by the media,’ which is not, he claims, ‘reporting the news, but creating it. It has nothing to do with reality.’
“That reality ‘is not black or white; you need the full picture. We want people to decide for themselves and develop their critical thinking.’ Lopatonok said.” [My Emphasis]
@ 11 karlof1 – Amongst other projects, Igor Lopatonok has also done Maidan Massacre – 2014, Ukraine on Fire – 2016, Revealing Ukraine – 2019, and The Everlasting Present – Ukraine: 30 Years if InDependence – 2021. Most definitely not a wannabe Nazi Banderite Ukrainian immigrant.
This article from RT has a link to his latest Ukraine film.
Ukraine: 30 Years of InDependence
Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 17 2021 20:21 utc | 13
In the Rittenhouse trial, the jurors are deliberating but the judge has yet to rule on the motion described here. Further evidence not reported there but is here says:
“The defense also argued that the video was enhanced using artificial intelligence technology, which made it unfit to present as evidence in court.”
The prosecution’s behavior IMO is grounds for a mistrial–evidence was tampered with and not properly shared with the Defense. If this judge was involved in the Assange Drama, Julian would be a free man today.
lex talionis @13–
Thanks for your reply and additional information! I must be 5-10 years behind in my film watching since print and digital information sources dominate my time, and my wife’s preference in films doesn’t extend into the political realm, making it tougher.
I think it was snake who wanted information on what’s happening in Ethiopia
The government of Ethiopia has declared a state of emergency in the country, as the rebel forces of Tigray threaten to attack the capital, and the war that has been going on for a year is rapidly escalating and brings more and more troubles and misfortunes to Ethiopians. The United States has stated that the danger has “significantly worsened” and has recalled all of its secondary diplomats and their families to leave Ethiopia while the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called for people to make sacrifices in curtailing the rebels. Saudi Arabia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and other countries have also requested for their citizens to leave Ethiopia.
The declaration of a state of emergency by the Ethiopian Council of Ministers is the clearest sign of alarm from Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Government, who a year ago allowed soldiers from the neighboring country Eritrea to invade the Tigray region and pursue local rebel forces together with the Ethiopian military. Since then, thousands have been killed, tens of thousands injured and the region has undergone aerial bombing which has caused irreparable damage to an already impoverished region. The Council of Ministers has warned in a statement that the Tigrayan forces and their allies present a “serious and inevitable danger” for the country’s existence.
Ethiopia at a Crossroads: Civil War or Peaceful Settlement?
Posted by: Down South | Nov 17 2021 20:46 utc | 16
Press release by the Russian FMinistry, the correspondence between Lavrov, Le Drian and Maas is published, in spite of everybody supporting the Minsk agreement -in theory- in the letter that LeDrien and Maas send to Lavrov they say:
It also entails provisions that will certainly not find acceptance among Normandy states, inter alia the “establishment of a direct dialogue Between Kyiv, Donetsk and Luhansk”.
Therefore no more summits, what for? asks Lavrov.
Lavrov, Le Drien, Maas Correspondence
Posted by: Paco | Nov 17 2021 20:51 utc | 17
re: lex talionis | Nov 17 2021 20:21 utc | 13
Today I learn a new twist in (english) language –
independence -> in dependence
thanks
Posted by: tucenz | Nov 17 2021 20:56 utc | 18
Biden is sky high on the soon-to-be implemented infrastructure fiasco in the USA. Well, here is one example of infrastructure build-up for his reference. See if American can do something similar in the Mohave Desert 🙂
http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/1116/c90000-9920297.html
Note that it’s not just the rail. The mesh of vegetation spread will change the landscape for decades/centuries to come. China built the Great Wall two thousand plus years ago. China built the Grand Canal 1800+ years ago. China is building green land in the desert today. Eat your heart out!
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Nov 17 2021 21:00 utc | 19
@ karlof1 – Maybe you could entice your wife to the political film realm with the masterpiece, Z, by Costa-Gavras. He also directed Missing.
Z from YouTube
And the Rittenhouse trial definitely has some Brady issues. I have been avoiding paying too much attention to the thing because it seems like just another sad example of the US falling apart.
What is a Brady Violation?
Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 17 2021 21:23 utc | 20
@5 Karlof1 thank you for that. I wonder what’s up. Three Amigos in DC today too. I admit, I needed to take a break after posting that above comment. Thank you for your stream of comments today and yesterday. I really appreciate reading all of it. Valuable stuff!!
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 17 2021 21:25 utc | 21
Caliman | Nov 17 2021 19:40 utc | 8
This irrational behavior by EU leaders in terms of their own citizens interest.
Why should you think that it is for their citizens best interest or that it is irrational?
The mistake that we have all been making is that the system that has been designed to close around us is “for the people”. The end system is appearing more and more as a brutal form of Feudalism, where the peasants are reduced in number, are monitored 24h/24hrs, own nothing, and have no choice but to obey.
“The people in charge have been selected precisely because they will reliably do what the masters want rather than what the people would demand. Education, leadership training groups, nepotism, etc. all lead to near unanimity of thought” .
This goes back to the “Davos” selection process (Young Global Leaders,), which itself is only part of the choice of candidates from an early age. It started many years ago with Rhodes and H.G. Wells and their eugenics and superiority complexes. (I still owe Karlof1 a follow up to an earlier post, Re; the Part Davos plays in the coming events)
**
Here is one example of; a) prior legal moves to profit from a situation that they want to provoke, b) Schwab words “you will have nothing and be happy”. c) In Europe, but the US is possibly going to be first.
*
All Banks now are “covered” from Bankruptcy by the people who have “put” money in accounts, held by them. The legal change happened over a couple of years, and as far as I know includes all the countries in the EU. (Except the UK?). “Savers” in Banks are now considered as having “lent” their money to the Bank and are thus unsecured creditors. Ie. in the event of a Bankruptcy the Bank can and will seize all the money and assets within reach. This may include mortgages or “daisy chained rehypothecations”. Your house, your car (and your cat?).
The first to get their money back will be secured senior Bond holders, “senior” creditors and other claimants further up the line. You and I as “unsecured creditors” are last. We can no longer can count on any “guaranteed” sum being covered by the Government. We won’t get anything back.
The scheme is probably similar to this; Inflation reaches horrendous proportions, Banks go Bankrupt. All your assets are seized. The Fed steps in (or a group of Ultra rich and Corporations) and supplies crypto money as a “stop-gap”. “We” are saved – as long as we work hard for freeee and don’t cost too much in the way of health care. (Pandemics rage, health services collapse but anything else that can add to the confusion of the populace is added). trouble makers ar “isolated” or hidden in Bukers without communications (As happened to certain Senators after 9/11)
There is also a planned population “reduction”. (More some other time, but you could always ask Mr. Gates or H.G. Wells etc. for details)
This takeover has already been organised. The EU “diplodocus”, (Long necks, small brains and big bellies) know this. You can bet your last dollar that they don’t want to be considered as one of the expendables, but envisage a golden future for themselves as despots.
What is the “best interest” of the people except as a nuisance?
Posted by: Stonebird | Nov 17 2021 21:29 utc | 22
Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 17 2021 20:23 utc | 14
My understanding based on the Twitter twaddle coming in at light speed today is that the defense was given a compressed version of a drone video which either does or doesn’t show Rittenhouse pointing his gun at people before the first guy tried to take it away. Rather than malfeasance on the part of the prosecution (which of course is rampant in American courtrooms), my bet is that it was an email file size attachment issue. High def drone videos are pretty enormous in size, but of course that issue could’ve been solved with something like DropBox or Google Drive so….
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 17 2021 21:38 utc | 23
My 22
ar “isolated” or hidden in Bukers
=> are isolated or hidden in Bunkers
Posted by: Stonebird | Nov 17 2021 21:41 utc | 24
lex talionis @20–
I saw Z soon after it was released in 1969. She does like thrillers, so I’ll give it a try!
Bruised Northerner @21–
Thanks for your reply! One can hope that the bandits will finally be rundown by the posse and that the second half of the 21st Century will differ greatly from the first.
////
Putin holds a “Meeting on developing genetic technologies” demonstrating how its done by a leader not beholden/under the thumb of special interests:
“I propose starting with the legal framework for genome studies and the use of genetic technologies….
“It is absolutely clear that legislation regulating genetics must open up wide possibilities for scientific research and innovation in human medicine, veterinary science, breeding and other fields. At the same time, it is necessary to clearly define the boundaries of acceptable use of genetic technologies. This is not only an issue of modern legal regulation but an ethical issue as well. These boundaries must be clearly set and recognised by scientists and businesses – and, crucially, accepted by society and trusted by the public.
“Obviously, the issue of genetic information is extremely important. It is of primary importance that legislative mechanisms are developed that protect the rights of citizens and regulate the collection, use and protection of the genetic data of individuals and their families, including future offspring. Specialists will understand what I mean.”
“I want to stress that all decisions in this area must be carefully thought through, in a close dialogue with the scientific and professional community.” [My Emphasis]
I know for a fact that nothing like the above occurred within the Outlaw US Empire as genome sequencing was seen as a huge profit maker and potential weapon soon after DNA’s discovery was announced. Before that there were some great works of fiction dealing with the issue, Wells’s 1896 The Island of Dr. Moreau immediately springs to mind. Did something similar occur during the Soviet Age? Apparently not. Yet again, Putin pounds the table with what’s becoming a familiar line:
“All our scientific and technological projects should aim at achieving the national development goals that we have set for the current decade. This is why it is extremely important to focus all the priorities around people, improving the welfare of the people, and synchronise our efforts regarding deadlines, resources, and the measures we implement.” [My Emphasis]
I must have emphasized that phrase and its close kin well over 50 times over the past several years. Those that continue to push the idea that Putin’s a neoliberal can stuff it. The primary reason he’s vilified and deemed an Authoritarian so much is because he’s Pro-Humanity instead of Pro-Profit regardless the outcome. Putin may be Russian and Xi Chinese, but they’re two peas in the same pod when it comes to the correct basis for national, people-centered, development. As usual, I would like so very much for the Kremlin transcripts to include the discussion that follows Putin’s introduction of the topic. It seems we’ll need to look closer at what Rosneft’s doing:
“We agreed at the very beginning to encourage the work of our strategic partners in the development of the key scientific and technological spheres. In this connection, it would be interesting to listen to the proposals regarding support mechanisms for genetic projects, which Rosneft, one of our largest companies, is launching.”
El@2 – Somewhat interesting read. It seems to that they are into Hinduism and are trying to prove their beliefs in the veneer of science.
I have read the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, but not the Rig Veda (at least not much of it). I think some of their Sanskrit translations are suspect as well.
Thoughts?
Posted by: David F | Nov 17 2021 22:08 utc | 26
There is part truth in most conspiracy theories but the population reduction thing just does not make sense – why cull your slaves?
Posted by: Rae | Nov 17 2021 22:31 utc | 27
Curious spin “US, Israel Mulling Short-Term Nuclear Deal With Iran to Extend Time for Talks, Reports Say”
Well, not Occupied Palestine actually:
“According to Axios, the preliminary US plan would propose that Iran stop uranium enrichment at the level of up to 60 percent in exchange for unfreezing some Iranian assets and lifting sanctions on the supply of humanitarian goods.
“Sullivan’s counterpart, Eyal Hulata, reportedly disagreed with the plan, stressing that a short-term deal would become a permanent agreement that allows Iran to keep its nuclear infrastructure and uranium stockpile, the report said. He told Sullivan the United States and its European allies need to push for a censure resolution against Iran in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s meeting next week.”
Iran has every right to its nuclear infrastructure while Occupied Palestine has no such right not being signatory to the NPT. If any sanctions are controlled by Congress, they won’t ever be lifted until Congress becomes independent of Zionist control. The continuing negotiations only serve to spread more egg on the Outlaw US Empire’s façade.
Yesterday, a poll I linked to cited the huge drug problem within the Outlaw US Empire as one of several reasons for its great loss of stature overseas. Today, we’re treated to this short note informing us that drug overdose deaths within the Empire passed the 100,000 mark during the April 2020-April 2021 period. Yet another good reason to not emigrate to this failing nation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IRyjNDVv3s
Timcast IRL – Joe Rogan, Alex Jones, Blaire White, Michael Malice & DrewHLive Join The Crew
Over 1 mil views in 22 hours….
Posted by: Curious | Nov 17 2021 23:03 utc | 30
As for Russia, it is in pretty strong position right now, and new rail roads are being urgently built towards Asia to meet the huge energy demand there.
Posted by: Passer by | Nov 17 2021 19:21 utc | 7
The EU is run by the rejects of the European nations.
Idiots sent from the member states because they were total fucking idiots or incompetent or trouble at best!
But they couldn’t be fired for whatever reasons.
Not a great policy in hindsight!
Posted by: JPC | Nov 17 2021 23:04 utc | 31
There was also a Brady issue in the execution of Timothy McVeigh. The Justice Department admitted they had not timely given to the defense materials required under the Brady doctrine. I thought that should have meant a repeat of at least the penalty phase of the trial, which rested on the extent of McVeigh having the guilt. But no, there was no repeat, and they went ahead quite quickly with the execution.
I think they were afraid of what might have come out in a repeat of the phase.
Posted by: lysias | Nov 17 2021 23:19 utc | 32
And a high Justice Department official in the prosecution of McVeigh was none other than Merrick Garland.
Posted by: lysias | Nov 17 2021 23:20 utc | 34
@Cesare, Passerby, Caliman
Manuel Barrosso, when President of the European Commission, described the EU as a non-imperial Empire. With its sanctions and support of war by proxy forces, it is certainly acting the part. “Irrational behaviour”? When have you known Empires to care for the little people, their “deplorables”?
Posted by: cirsium | Nov 17 2021 23:50 utc | 35
More on the non-imperial Empire. Pepe Escobar’s latest
“no one ever lost precious assets betting on the incompetence, narrow-mindedness and cowardice of political “leaders” across the Atlanticist EU.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/11/17/frozen-deutschland/
Posted by: cirsium | Nov 17 2021 23:59 utc | 36
Austria rises against “health dictatorship”
November 16, 2021-
The police and the army refuse to control the health pass in the name of “freedom and human dignity”. They will join a large demonstration against compulsory confinement on November 20, 2021 in Vienna.
Only a few days after Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg decided to confine unvaccinated people, politicians and unions, call for a vast uprising against this freedom-killing measure, unique in the world.
The leader of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) Herbert Kickl, called for a ” mega-demonstration” on November 20 in Vienna.
Shortly thereafter, Austrian Armed Forces Union (FGÖ) President Manfred Haidinger followed suit and joined in in a letter published on 14 November. He intends to “defend fundamental rights and freedoms”. The FGÖ specifies that “everyone” is authorized to demonstrate, even in the event of confinement!
The obligation of control imposed by the Minister of the Interior, Karl Nehammer has already been rejected by the police union. In addition, the Union of Austrian Armed Forces announces that they will participate in this great gathering in Vienna.
The panicked government
This is a resounding slap in the face for the government which, according to Austrian media, is showing more and more panic.
The chairman of the Social Democratic Trade Unions (FSG) and the Police Union, Hermann Greylinger, left no doubt in an interview that the police feel unable to carry out these checks according to the weekly Wochenblick.
Manfred Haidinger (FGÖ) adds in his letter: “We hereby point out that participation in assemblies is a particularly protected legal right and that it is also taken into account in the draft ordinance currently available. Participation and travel throughout Austria is permitted.”
Although unvaccinated people are advised to travel by private transport.
The letter finally recalls that “the ban on a meeting scheduled by citizens as well as the ban on a gathering of political parties have been recognized as illegal” by the Vienna Administrative Court.
Posted by: pogohere | Nov 18 2021 0:09 utc | 37
Parts of the EU and German governing structures are betraying Europeans and Germans as Pepe Escobar reports in “Frozen Deutschland”:
“There are two main reasons for the latest German legalese gambit of suspending the certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline:
“Retaliation, directly against Belarus and Russia, “guilty” of the disgraceful refugee drama at the Poland-Belarus border.
“Politicking by the German Greens.
“A high-ranking European energy executive told me, ‘this a game where Germany does not hold a winning hand. Gazprom is very professional. But imagine if Gazprom decided to deliberately slow down their deliveries of natural gas. It could go up tenfold, collapsing the entire EU. Russia has China. But Germany does not have a workable contingency plan.’
“This ties up with a proposal that is sitting at a crucial desk in Moscow for approval for two years now, as I reported at the time: an offer by a reputable Western energy firm of $700 billion for Russia to divert their oil and gas exports to China and other Asian customers, away from the EU.
“This proposal was actually the key reason for Berlin to resolutely counteract the U.S. drive to stop Nord Stream 2. Yet the torture never stops. Russia now faces an additional hurdle: a carbon tax on exports to the EU which include steel, cement and electricity. That may well be extended to oil and natural gas.”
I asked Pepe if he could provide a link to the 2-year old item so I could see if there was any further info. I chuckled to myself–what Western energy firm could be deemed “reputable” as I searched my mind for that answer. France’s Total or Italy’s Eni SpA perhaps. Pepe’s currently in France. As you read further, the question you’ll ask yourself is What European based energy company would suggest doing something that ruthless to fellow Europeans. Serbia?
cirsium @36–
Any speculation as to Pepe’s “reputable” energy company?
pogohere @37–
Thanks for that additional info as I was curious how Austrian events were trending. Perhaps Austrians will regain control of their nation and Ausexit.
The Supply-Chain Crisis Is a Labor Crisis by Guy Platten, for the NYT
I disagree with Mr. Platten. This is not a labor crisis – unless, by “labor crisis” you mean a labor productivity crisis (spoiler: it’s not).
The working class produces all the value possible and imaginable in the capitalist system. Value vivifies both living labor (the working class itself) and dead labor (fixed capital and infrastructure). Even if you consider a purer capitalist world, without nation-states subdividing it, the overall logic remains: in order to produce more value, you need more value to recompose what you already has, before producing some amount of value beyond the value that already exists. In simpler words, value flows to the regions with more aggregate capital, from the regions with less aggregate capital.
Indeed, that’s why the EU works for Germany: as the industrial superpower of the region and with a single currency (the Euro), value is forced to flow from the less industrialized members to Germany, because it is more expensive to maintain Germany than the other members. But that only happens because, to start with, Germany had the most industrialized economy.
The owner of this blog posted some Matt Stoller tweet about the excess containers stopped in the Californian port. My opinion is that it is very naive to think 111 containers will solve the USA’s inflation problem. I understand and even have some hint of sympathy for Mr. Stoller’s optimism, but I’m sorry, that’s not how the real world works. I know many people are eager to quote people like him, who are the last specimens of the old kind of progressive liberal left (Stoller is favorite of Jimmy Dore, a guru of the contemporary American Left) in the First World, but it is better to face reality now than have to deal with even harsher consequences later.
I will repeat my explanation for this specific episode of inflation in the USA, based on Marx’s theory:
at some moment late into this term, Trump started to print USDs indiscriminately, in order to import the goods the USA needed to fight the pandemic. Biden continued this policy, while also bailing out the American petty bourgeoisie (who already had completely unprofitable, should-not-exist businesses even before the pandemic started) and also, on top of that, distributing beneficia to every adult American alive (the infamous and inglorious USD 1,300.00 check). The problem with such money printing is not that it rose supply of money, but that there were absolutely economic fundamentals to base that money (i.e. no industry, no new infrastructure). This new money had no coverage.
Since we live in the USD Standard, the rest of the world was “fooled” by this newly printed money for some time, which indeed resulted in some excess containers full of undeserved goods to be sent to the USA. However, reality soon caught up, and it became clear the USA was not place deserving for such immense amount of goods: it was the same shitty USA from before the pandemic, that same shitty port, with those same shitty truckers, on those same shitty roads. There was literally no economic reason (i.e. no new value created to absorb that value imported) to for all those commodities to be there, in California. The rest of the world soon realized they were being fooled, as the USD probably started to plummet in a pace where not even their own central banks could avoid it (i.e. there was no new value created to pay back for those exports). Exports to the USA then (probably slowly, gradually) slowed down.
It is easier to visualize that by imagining an absurd situation: imagine the rest of the world suddenly started to believe Zimbabwe’s printed money really had real value behind them. They would then export commodities like crazy to Zimbabwe. It is easy to picture here countless of ships full of containers paralyzed on Mozambique’s coast, waiting to be funneled to Zimbabwe proper. The reason for that is clear as day: those imported commodities are completely out of place in Zimbabwe; that money was pure imagination.
We can also infer that from the fact that prices of commodities that are not dependent on containers are also rising in the USA, such as gas.
So, the reason the USA is seeing higher inflation is simple: it does not have the fundamentals that allowed it to consumer much above its means anymore. When the USSR collapsed and Bill Clinton was obliterating Yugoslavia, it may have been the case the rest of the world simply believed in the USD for the simple fact it had to. Not so much anymore – both for internal (2008 financial meltdown) and external (rise of socialist China) reasons.
I have read the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads, but not the Rig Veda (at least not much of it). I think some of their Sanskrit translations are suspect as well.
Thoughts?
Hint:
Bad old fiction.
Better than the violent chrisrian crap, but go to Homer if you want something interesting.
Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Nov 18 2021 0:46 utc | 41
During the creation of bank loans, why is the customers’ collateral seized by the banks, and the customers then issued with bank debt, for when the last of the world’s collateral has been converted into debt, then the banks will announce, ‘the world is ours’!
What is the solution to this dystopian banking future?
Posted by: Ric G | Nov 18 2021 0:47 utc | 42
Another example to complement my comment @ 40:
Take Operation Warp Speed, by POTUS Donald J. Trump.
At first sight, one would think it was great: after all, it is a calamity, and the government is helping the private sector to give the people what it needs.
Except it wasn’t. In fact, Operation Warp Speed was a catastrophe for capitalism.
It would be a completely different story if the USG really had the money in value terms. In such case, it would be a simple transfer of wealth from the government to some private companies.
But that wasn’t the case. The USG is completely bankrupt. All the money it is giving is valueless.
It gets worse: those pharmaceutical companies shouldn’t be developing COVID-19 vaccines. They didn’t have the know-how, didn’t have the infrastructure, didn’t have fundamentals to compete in the free market as COVID-19 vaccine producers. If they had the correspondent value to do so, they would have done it without any need for help (i.e. money) from the USG.
So, it was a double whammy for capitalism: someone with a money that shouldn’t exist paid for an amount of goods produced by a capitalist who shouldn’t produce them.
The result of this abortion of capitalism is the mRNA vaccines, which is a technology some 30 years old that was going nowhere since the late 2000s and was essentially shelved since them. It was only preserved thanks to a mid-sized laboratory called Moderna, which, rumors say, is the result of the de facto privatization of the research of the mRNA technology (which was fully publicly funded, developed in a lab in Pennsylvania). Those big pharmaceuticals then took this technology and hurried up and improvised to produce what we nowadays know as mRNA vaccines.
Oriental Voice @19:
thank you for the link to that wonderful one minute video. I had never heard of this project in the western press. Awesome achievement.
Posted by: Donnie | Nov 18 2021 1:18 utc | 44
Interesting news from Spain – the intended leader of the latest “colour revolution” (location: Cuba; colour: white, with rose) Yunior Gaecia, arrived in Madrid on Wednesday. (https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/missing-cuban-protest-leader-yunior-garcia-lands-madrid-2021-11-17/)
Two days earlier his abandoned support group (run on social media, and 20,000 members, “many of whom live outside the country”, according to the Guardian) was claiming in some distress that he had been “forcibly disappeared” and called on the Cuban government to vouch that he was still alive.
(https://today.in-24.com/News/601999.html )
That the support group had been kept in the dark about the Spanish holiday by their supposed leader speaks volumes for how genuine both the leadership and the support group are. Stay tuned for Garcia’s re-invention as Cuba’s leader-in-exile, with well-scripted speeches and a carefully-nurtured media campaign.
Posted by: Hope | Nov 18 2021 1:20 utc | 45
It is hard not to deduce there is collusion in the cov coverup …no need to list the discrepencies …there are so many, each of us could have our own serious reasons to doubt the official narrative, separate from others own good reasons. The fix is in for big pharma. This is the root of all our suspicions, and evidence. Get over it. The tentacles of the top .01% reach into EVERY part of our capture culture.
We are fucked until we rise up and deny them. First things first: reduce you digital trail, prepare to exist off line.
Posted by: James joseph | Nov 18 2021 1:45 utc | 46
@ Ric G | Nov 18 2021 0:47 utc | 42 who wrote
”
What is the solution to this dystopian banking future?
”
Are you new to the bar?
For a decade or so I have been advocating here that global private banking should be replaced entirely by sovereign nation’s banking/finance as a utility for society. That is the solution that China is using to bring its people’s standard of living up.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 18 2021 1:48 utc | 47
Forgive this poor translation. Mao spoke the guerilla must swim with the fishes of the people. I take it that means the guerilla hides inside the great schoal of citizens, going about their business. This is required to evade the superior violence capability of the entrenched….evade by not being singled out. Since they depend on digital information about you, you design to manage your digital footprint.
Posted by: James joseph | Nov 18 2021 1:57 utc | 48
Cuba- Biden’s color revolution failed: follow up
Telesur gives some detail as U.S. lackeys in Cuba are squelched, then rumors go wild that the pretty boy counter-revolutionary Yunior Garcia was in jail. Turns out, he and his wife flew to Spain! My guess… they might not go back to Cuba.
“Yunior Garcia, main promoter of the marches against the Cuban government, has arrived in Spain.”
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cuban-15N-Leader-Yunior-Finally-Marches-As-a-Tourist-to-Madrid-20211117-0014.html
Coincidentally (snark), Spain was a key host to gatherings where young color revolutionaries were trained. This is the link I posted a couple of weeks ago which introduces Cuban spy Dr. Leonardo Vasquez:
“Vázquez participated with Yunior García in training courses for political leaders at the service of foreign interests. In 2019, they both participated in a workshop sponsored by the U.S. University of Saint Louis, where “the role of armed forces in a transition process” was one of the main issues.”
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Cuba-Faces-CIAs-Most-Complex-Cultural-Warfare-Operation-20211103-0018.html
Bottom line– U.S. imperial plot to overthrow Cuba was exposed, ridiculed and it failed miserably. More countries are angry at Blinken/Biden’s embargo and getting less polite about expressing their disdain.
Posted by: migueljose | Nov 18 2021 2:08 utc | 49
Down South @16
Sadly, Ethiopia seems to be disintegrating. It is a victim of fissiparous nationalism and is like Austria-Hungary, Yugoslavia, and the Russian Empire/Soviet Union. Each of these was dominated by its ruling nationality, in Austria-Hungary the Germans, in Yugoslavia the Serbs, in the Russian Empire and its successor state the Russians, and in Ethiopia the Amharas. The creation of the Ethiopian Empire by several monarchs in the 19th and 20th centuries, at the height of European colonialism, was certainly an impressive tour-de-force, but the spread of linguistic nationalisms undermined it. By 1991, no one was willing to fight for it, so the Eritrean separatists in the north, with a little help from Ethiopian rebels, overthrew the regime and conquered the country. With Eritrea only having 5% of the population of Ethiopia, that was a cat eaten by a mouse! The Eritreans put their erstwhile allies the Tigrayans (only 6% of the Ethiopians) in power.
The Tigrayans, despite their separate language and hence identity, were closer to the Amharas than all the other groups, having been a part of the core of Ethiopia since the Middle Ages and also sharing allegiance to the same Ethiopian Orthodox Church. They ruled under their emperor Johannes IV (1872-1889), but after his demise the Amharas took over. However, under the monarchy, they still let the Tigrayan nobles govern Tigray autonomously. This broke down under the centralizing dictatorship of Mengistu (1974-1991). Back in power 1991-2018, the Tigrayans (TPLF) redrew all the regional boundaries on linguistic lines, much as happened in India, Pakistan, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia, creating proto-states for the separate nationalities and making the collapse of the larger state into separate ethnic republics far more likely.
Since 1991, this separatist nationalism has proceded apace, with the now ethnic regions engaging regularly in boundary disputes and massive ethnic cleansing. This has particularly affected the Amharas, who were spread in all parts of the country much more than any of the other nationalities, just like the Germans in Austria-Hungary, the Serbs in Yugoslavia, and the Russians in the Soviet Union. Accustomed to lord it over the locals and to forcing the locals to use the Amharic language, the Amharas were the big losers in 1991 and now are contending to come back as much as they can. Their militias have unleashed ethnic cleansing against the other people, and especially the Tigrayans of the Western Zone of Tigray, who were 96% of the population and now have been driven out, to be replaced by Amharan settlers. It should be observed that many, many other ethnic struggles are going on at the same time, many of them involving Amharas.
A particular problem is the capital city Addis Ababa, with an Amharan majority by surrounded by Oromia, the Oromo region, much like Brussels in Belgium is French-speaking but is surrounded by Flemish-speaking territory. This promises to be a bloody mess.
Abiy Ahmed, the Pentecostal Protestant Christian, is stuck as ruler of “Ethiopia” with an impossible situation, so he tried to resort to massive violence, but that didn’t work. Evidently he has no credit with the Oromos despite being one, as he seems to the Oromo nationalists to be working for the Amharas. But the Amharas don’t necessarily like him or want him either, so he could find his state disintegrating out from under him, like Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. What is happening now could even turn into a replay of 1991, with the Tigrayans taking over the capital once more, and they already seem to have taken over the major city of Dessie in eastern Amhara. But this time they won’t be able to rule the whole, and it may likely devolve into separate countries, whether the US likes it or not.
Posted by: Cabe | Nov 18 2021 2:21 utc | 50
@18 tusenz – it can be fun to play with words. just don’t ever put a “the” before Ukraine. 😉
@34 lysias – thankfully Garland didn’t become a US Supreme Court Justice. Wow. I had no idea. I had a wonderful cat named Brady. He got run over right in front of my home.
Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 18 2021 2:38 utc | 51
Captain Obvious:
GT”>https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202111/1239226.shtml”>GT Voice: Chinese economy won’t be dragged down by Evergrande crisis
By the way, many of you must be questioning yourselves: why is the owner of Evergrande torching his personal wealth to rescue his company, like if his life depended on it?
The answer is that, when the Chinese government bails out a company, it really takes over them. That is, it’s not really a bail out, but a take over.
That little shit is simply trying to keep his company.
Bolivia
Mint Press has a 23 minute interview with Bolivian president Luis Arce. I highly recommend it. in Spanish with English subtitles. If you are Spanish fluent (Paco, Maracatu, Cesare and others) the audio is very clear. The subtitles are top notch as well.
Bolivia is an EXTREMELY important country for all of us: in the early 2000s they forged a power block among the massive indigenous population along with hard core socialist miners and farmers. All of them knew how to fight: many were killed. More were beat up bad. Most suffered. They won. After years of building their country up they lost everything but took it back after a year. The fascists assumed they would rule forever and didn’t count on a MAS comeback. Now, the MAS government is exposing what the fascists did, including the U.S., also Brazil, Ecuador and other countries who helped with the coup.
a few bullet points on Arce
hard core socialist
targeted for assassination by the same Colombian hit squad that killed Hati’s moise
economic minister under Evo Morales, he is the brains behind the 9 year miracle growth; he’s doing it again
https://orinocotribune.com/bolivian-president-luis-arce-on-country-recovering-from-us-backed-coup-latin-american-unity/
Posted by: migueljose | Nov 18 2021 3:07 utc | 53
@53 migueljose – Luis Arce interview
Thanks for the link
@36 circium, @38 karlof1 – Pepe Escobar’s ‘Frozen Deutschland’ article
Thanks also for the link. Dragging NS2 out and delaying forever, that’s no longer surprising. The industrials like Siemens who got so many of the contracts for the hardware, they got their piece of the pie. So who inside government cares any more? Anyway, slight quibble with the title: if there is another wave of gas price panic (no technical reason left, just political), it still won’t be Germany who freezes. The EU gas system is designed to send the stuff to the highest bidder. The fate implied by the title would fall on the less wealthy countries. Most of them know this well.
Posted by: ptb | Nov 18 2021 4:14 utc | 54
Re: Nord Stream: The Big Picture
Nord Stream 2 is not about energy, but about war. Russia has been subsidizing Western Europe with cheap energy because they – quite rightly – believe that it will prevent Europe from waging war against Russia.
The US on the other hand wants to fight Russia to the last European. They see “European dependence on Russian energy” as a threat to their so-called National Security. “National Security” again is a euphemism for imperial aggression. Germany will not go to war for America as long as it is dependent on Russian gas.
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Nov 18 2021 4:29 utc | 55
@psychohistorian | Nov 18 2021 1:48 utc | 47
Of course,I was just fishing with my comment, and people have been advocating for a sovereign monetary supply for a lot longer than your ten years!
I was suggesting that there is a better model, even than the Chinese model. If customer collateral is monetised as an interest-free asset, then the nation’s monetary supply arises as a national asset, and our nation’s greatest treasure.
The financial change then happens from the grass roots level upwards, and the creation of the monetary supply, the power which has driven the human mind insane, is democratised. The people have become their own central banks!
The greatest moral question of our Age then has become, ‘who shall own the customer’s collateral, during the period of a bank loan’?
I wait for this question to be echoed throughout the financial discussions of our world!
Posted by: Ric G | Nov 18 2021 4:54 utc | 56
Some statistics and discussion on coronavirus:
Coronavirus: Can it even be stopped?
291,649 views
Premiered Apr 13, 2020
This is a well researched sixteen minute presentation of early 2020.
The logic is fine but the solution is severely undermined by governments that have banned or attenuated therapies and enabled big pharma extortion instead. yet it is worth reflecting on it in light of today’s circumstance.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 18 2021 5:57 utc | 57
“Congress gave a permission to use national parkland near the new school for a new tribal village if the Quileute have to abandon their homes near the coast. It’s a fate shared by tribes from Alaska to Florida.” – Nov. 4, 2021, CBS News, “Climate change forces Native American tribes to relocate”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/quileute-tribe-climate-change/
Well, that was a bit of timely journalism from CBSnews.com! Right before the Pacific North-west floods, live coverage of which is provided by The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/canada
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 18 2021 5:59 utc | 58
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/india-to-hold-first-22-with-russia-on-december-6/article37551994.ece
Happy to know that President Putin is visiting India in early December.
Posted by: R | Nov 18 2021 6:00 utc | 59
Color revolutions a stale method. A “dramatist” by the name Yunior -not Spanish nor correct English-, a group by the name of Archipelago with the missing Gulag insinuated, and a rap -in Cuba land of fantastic music- that turns inside out the revolutionary slogan “Patria o Muerte, Venceremos” into Patria o Vida with the missing conclusion: surrender.
Here the link to the private exchange between France, Germany and Russia’s foreign ministers, an unprecedented step taken by Lavrov publishing private correspondence, to prove that getting together in summits while plainly ignoring previous signed documents is not accepted anymore by Russia, the documents are multilingual, with English copies starting in page 10 of the pdf document.
Lavrov, Le Drien, Maas
Posted by: Paco | Nov 18 2021 6:52 utc | 60
The asia market keeps growing and all established countries and millionaires are trying to invest in the following market. because there are many benefits in these markets.
-Cheap Salaries
-Good Quality
-Cheap Land/Resources
Here is the countries:
-Pakistan
-India
-Afghanistan
-Malaysia
Hello, and sorry for some critical comment: Lukashenko these days obviously plays with other peoples’ health & life (refugees at border to Poland). He was worth a long discussion here in the flight-affair some months ago, the general opinion going in his favor. Now, when he appears to be really cruel, all are silent? Forgive me – in case I have overseen comments regarding this topic. My true question would be: What Lukashenko thinks to achieve with this dull action? Was the outcome till today successful for him – or has he now shown his true and primitive face? Regards, Gerhard
Posted by: Gerhard | Nov 18 2021 9:02 utc | 63
Jimmy Dore has a very good segment with a Matt Orfalea video compilation of the events that night
https://jimmydorecomedy.com/
Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Nov 18 2021 9:06 utc | 64
Paco | Nov 18 2021 6:52 utc | 60
“an unprecedented step taken by Lavrov publishing private correspondence.”
This is also possibly because one of the main aims of the Minsk agreement, has been excluded by Kiev. They now refuse direct talks with the breakaway areas. Lavrov said that without that, “any further talks have no meaning”.
Basically he has given up on four party talks with France and Germany, as one of the principal armed blocs no longer tries to solve the problem by negotiation.
****
Note that there is an ongoing buildup of Kievs military forces, and recent statements by observers point out that ALL the destruction of schools and residential areas has happened only in Donetsk or Luhansk held areas.
Posted by: Stonebird | Nov 18 2021 9:28 utc | 66
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Nov 18 2021 4:29 utc | 55
Germany’s role is not to wage military wars with Russia. See what NATO is all about – keep Germany down, the US in, and Russia out. Hence they are not allowed to have nuclear weapons and their army is disrepit.
Plus Europe can not survive without russian energy (gas, oil, coal, nuclear), or it will bankrupt itself. Even now, after Russia is following all of its contracts, the gas price is pretty high. So is the oil price, the coal price, the electricity price, the fertiliser (read food) price..
Posted by: Passer by | Nov 18 2021 9:29 utc | 67
Petri Krohn #55
The German government is full of sh!t. The land of precision and just in time management and such cleverness is now tyelling us that they could not sequence the approval and decision making process in parallel with the last link in the pipeline being in place.
This is mockery of Germany, they are incompetent, ridiculous and are holding their entire people hostage to inept serial decision making.
This is transparently craven acquiescence to UKUSA. German people are vassals at the same level as Australians. And they spinelessly accept their imprisonment only the Germans freeze and have their pockets picked.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 18 2021 9:30 utc | 68
The notion of the Germans beeing addicted to NS2 gas before deliveries even start is a bit premature. But I guess that happens if one beliefes ones own propaganda that Germany needs this project more than Russia.
It would have been wiser to wait for the completion of NS2. On the other hand, with the Brussels-Warsaw quarrel escalating the moment just looked to enticing. Just launch an attack through the Belorusian proxy at the supposedly weak Polish link and thi whole EU thing will surely break down like a house of cards giving way to further westward expansion.
Moscow just don´t get that the “Eastern European revolt” ist like the anti-Russion revolts of 1953, 1956, 1968 etc. (peacuful protests – Russian tanks – show-trials – Gulag) but a “revolt” in purely constitutional terms. Extensive consultations, negotiations, (at times heated) debates and eventual compromise isn`t a sign for European disunity but just the normal European political culture. That of course completely escapes people who need to have a strongman who tells them what to do.
Another Russian foreign polica plunder. After loosing Ukraine in 2014 now the loss Western Europe in 2021 and by holding on to the mad dog Lukashenko the loss of Belarus in the not to distant future.
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 9:39 utc | 69
Cabe #50
Thank you for that summary. I just hope the USA military just stays away as they are murderous killers driven entirely by the self interest of their oligarchs.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 18 2021 9:39 utc | 70
I am starting to suspect it was not Lukashenko who organized the migration crisis at the border – assuming it was somehow organized. It could as well have been organized by Americans in yet another attempt to stop Nord Stream 2.
It is said most of the migrants are Kurds from Northern Iraq. Who controls Iraqi Kurdistan?
Posted by: Petri Krohn | Nov 18 2021 10:19 utc | 71
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 9:39 utc | 69
>>Just launch an attack through the Belorusian proxy at the supposedly weak Polish link
No one wanted “an attack”, as you fantasize, rather the EU attacked Belarus first and Belarus fought back, making the EU pay the price.
>>Moscow just don´t get that the “Eastern European revolt” ist like the anti-Russion revolts.
Anti-Communist, you mean. Communism is an ideology, not a country. Do not generalise about Eastern Europe either, it has good relations with Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, etc. You guys just don’t get why you were kicked out from the whole world, just recently in Afghanistan.
>>Extensive consultations, negotiations, (at times heated) debates
Sure, sure. I remember when Trump threatened auto tarrifs on E3 over their trade with Iran. There were no “Extensive consultations, negotiations, (at times heated) debates”, rather just silence and obedience and their companies had to get out.
>>After loosing Ukraine in 2014 now the loss Western Europe in 2021
Western Europe was never Russia’s in the fist place. It is a US protectorate whose culture is deliberately engineered to want to be a puppet by itself, and to be unable to live without it. And it is the lowest economically growing region on the planet, dwarfed by Asia, and its mere peninsula. You are not in the 1900 anymore.
>>and by holding on to the mad dog Lukashenko the loss of Belarus in the not to distant future.
Saudi Arabia’s ruler that enslaves women and non-muslims and that you are in bed with is not a mad dog but Lukashenko somehow is? Who told you you can do whatever you want but others can’t?
The West killed far more people in the 21st century than Lukashenko ever did but you have the nerve to call others mad dogs? Do you realise that others may see you as the mad dogs themselves? After all the wars you did?
Posted by: Passer by | Nov 18 2021 10:24 utc | 72
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Nov 18 2021 9:30 utc | 68
Not only Germans, how about Spain helping Uncle Sam to uphold the Monroe Doctrine in countries that speak our language, these arse lickers forgot who was our last war with and how it was based on a set up bombing of their own ship, the Maine. All we have is our language, without Latin America we are nothing, just a Bulgaria on the Mediterranean and these ++∑+jdfñrs keep on licking anglo ass. I can’t stand it, now the “dramatist” with their Archipelago bull is home free here in Spain after their imbecile Patria o Vida goes down the drain, the same thing for Venezuela, same thing for Mexico the true standard bearer of the Spanish world, no day goes by without our “progressive” media dumping crap on AMLO since he does not support strangling Cuba or Nicaragua or Venezuela. Feel like puking when I think about these arse lickers, sanctioning Russia while our farmers lost a huge market, same for our tourism. Now gas, oil, anything to please the imperial fkrs. while we together with the Eurocrats go down the drain.
Posted by: Paco | Nov 18 2021 10:44 utc | 73
Petri Krohn | Nov 18 2021 10:19 utc | 71
The Kurds are said to be fleeing Barzani, out of the US controlled areas. (and also from the the SDF who kidnap youngsters to put them in their forces. ….. a US helicopter kidnapped four/six, so the US is actively helping forcibly incorporate Kurds and others into the armed groups the support)
Posted by: Stonebird | Nov 18 2021 10:45 utc | 74
@72 Passer by
Spare me your moralising. Lukashenko is using migrants as pawns in a geopolitical gamble. You are apparently okay with this, as is Moscow.
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 10:57 utc | 75
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 10:57 utc | 75
It is not me who is your problem, the whole world told you to spare them your moralising and kicked you out of the colonies, turning you into mere peninsula of Asia.
>>Lukashenko is using migrants as pawns in a geopolitical gamble.
The migrants were caused by your wars, you have yourself to blame. No wars – no migrant problem. They come from Iraq, a place you invaded and killed thousands of people there. Now you will pay the price for that and keep taking migrants from there as long as the world exists and you get punished for your crimes.
Posted by: Passer by | Nov 18 2021 11:03 utc | 76
@76 Passer by
Bullshit. The migrants are at the Polish border because the Belarusian authorities bring them there. They fly from their countries of origin to Minsk by the state-owned Belarusian airline which means they are both safe and have money. That are no refugees fleeing from war.
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 11:19 utc | 77
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 9:39 utc | 69
Germans and rest of the Europe are desperate for gas with onset of winter, otherwise the gas prices would’t go through the roof, what is so propaganda about it, may for a Neo Nazi hack like failed state Ukraine is shining example of freedom and prosperity, and the Belarusian should follow! The Western interference and destruction of countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria must have inculcated and impressed on your brain,Afghanistan had secular Government with 70 percent of its teachers being female, so was Secular Iraq, all destroyed under the bogus pretext weapons of mass destruction etc, the problem with Poland hostility towards Russia is that , this common among Slavic nations, Poland invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, and massacred the town Teshen, Serbs and Croats have problems, there are 3.2 million Polish Passport Holders residing in Russia, and no one bothers them, unlike the UK people that murdered Poles following Brxite, there is any where between 6 to 10 million Polish people that live in Russia and are undocumented, Russia deliberately allowed Ukraine to go Neo Nazi, so it gave it the legitimate printed permission to annex Crimea! They were monitoring everything, including the Estonia Foreign minister and Mrs Victoria Noodleman/Nuland
Posted by: Grishka | Nov 18 2021 11:43 utc | 78
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 11:19 utc | 77
The West solely responsible with middle east and Africa destabilization. Max Parry have an extensive work detailing Western intervention and destabilization project in Africa. As for the middle east the root of their problem were two one brand of salafi radicalism occupying Mecca and Medina and the other were Israel colonial projects.
As long as YOU keep sitting there not exercising YOUR so called Democratic rights against Western imperialism in middle east which i believe none of you actually voted for the excuse of seeking refugee on your country from the country victimized by your Angloempirical projects is valid.
While you’re not the cause you have the responsibility to prevent the misuse of your flags, troops, and treasures to fight a war of aggression and as long as you just sit there while someone in middle east struggle and dying from your unvoted gunboat policy you deserves everything that coming your way including those suicide attacks made by people whose future were robbed by your country nefarious war machinations.
Posted by: Lucci | Nov 18 2021 11:49 utc | 79
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 11:19 utc | 77
The iraqis are there because you are responsible for the iraqi war, now you need to pay the price for your crimes in Iraq and take them all in.
Posted by: Passer by | Nov 18 2021 12:02 utc | 80
@vk #40
Your lack of touch with reality continues to obstruct your ability to conduct useful and accurate analysis.
The reality is that US consumption is higher than ever. Pandemic stimulus dollars are partly to blame, but it is unquestionably pandemic policies that play a far larger role including (but not limited to):
1) enrichment of the 1%
2) disruption of work/home computing/internet access tools (i.e. many people buying new computers due to WFH policies)
3) disruption of the parallel eat out vs. eat in supply chains
4) underinvestment in energy due to ESG combined with cutoff of credit to frackers and exacerbated by pandemic disruptions in demand
5) reduced capacity in manufacturing – again due to pandemic disruptions
Then there’s the reality that the ROW is not selling its good to the US – even adjusted for inflation, the amount of imports flowing in is higher than ever.
Your credibility would be lost if you had much to start with.
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 18 2021 13:04 utc | 81
@m #69
Zero credibility. How exactly can Russia/Belarus avoid sanctions imposed on the EU for attempted (and successful) coups instigated by the US and EU? Idiotic.
The “loss” of Ukraine had nothing to do with Russian planning and everything to do with Nuland’s $5 billion.
Lukashenko’s actions are reactive:
Wagner setup failed
color revolution failed
resulting EU sanctions imposed on “Belarus oppression” as a result including Belarus’ airline (economic war kicked off)
Belarus’ airline changes routes since it can no longer legally serve its primary market
migrants discover they can fly to Belarus and avoid all the southern/southeastern facing anti-migrant barriers.
Lukashenko – why would he give a crap about this, so long as the migrants exit Belarus to the EU? That it pisses off the Poles is a bonus.
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 18 2021 13:10 utc | 82
Corruption pays.
A circle of corrupt poison. The pharmacy companies make big bucks by lobbying Congress. Some of those profits are then cycled
back to Congress to solidify and enhance even more corruption, which then creates even more profit for Big Pharma. And on and on.
All the time it makes it worse and worse for the citizens of this country.
Ivermectin has been blocked c/o the Big Pharma/Congressional complex. But now instead we citizens/guinea pigs get a new experimental drug that messes with patients DNA.
Nov 18 (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) has signed a $5.29 billion deal with the U.S. government to deliver 10 million courses of its COVID-19 oral antiviral drug starting this year, the drugmaker said on Thursday.
Posted by: librul | Nov 18 2021 13:13 utc | 83
@Ric G #42
You clearly don’t understand anything about the many types of lending.
Look up recourse vs non-recourse.
Secondly, sovereign lending never has collateral.
Thirdly, all banks, everywhere, are regulated by governments. The issue isn’t that the governments don’t have power over the banks – the issue is that the banks have corrupted the regulators.
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 18 2021 13:15 utc | 84
@psychohistorian #47
Not the least bit clear why a government controlling all banking would be any better.
Even disregarding the 2nd Bank of the US scandal – broken up by Andrew Jackson – the notion that banking would be in the same hands as the vaccine mandater… no thank you.
Vaccinate or have your bank account frozen!
Government taxes and fees drawn straight from your government bank account!
Why not just go full-on Leninist Communism and get rid of money as the primary means of economic exchange?
Posted by: c1ue | Nov 18 2021 13:18 utc | 85
By the way, many of you must be questioning yourselves: why is the owner of Evergrande torching his personal wealth to rescue his company, like if his life depended on it?
Because, under the Chinese Regulatory System his life and freedom does depend upon him personally assuming the debts of his
failed enterprise.
That is why….
INDY
Posted by: George W Oprisko | Nov 18 2021 13:25 utc | 86
Cesare | Nov 17 2021 18:30 utc | 1
Passer by | Nov 17 2021 19:21 utc | 7
Remember how Timmermans became the second highest EU commissioner. He wasn’t even a candidate. But then he gave a rabiate and not very truthful anti-Russian speech at the UN about the MH17 and suddenly he was asked.
It looks like the US has the hand in a lot of high level appointments in the EU. That gives them a lot of influence. In general their pawns get their way in cases where the public interest is little. Who cares for example about sanctions against Iran? Only when major interests are harmed will their be enough counterpressure to change things. Of course US interests will try to introduce things by stealth so that those interests only awake when things have been settled and are difficult to change.
It will be interesting to see how things will develop in Germany. No party follows US dictates as slavishly as the Greens and as future coalition participants they have influence. Of course there will be counterpressure: expensive gas weakens Germany’s competitive position.
As for the party that firm that offers 700bln to transport Russian oil and gas to Asia – as mentioned by Escobar -, my bet would be Trafigura.
Posted by: Wim | Nov 18 2021 13:30 utc | 87
Its interesting to note the BBC’s lunchtime news programme, devoted a fair bit of it to the possibly that missing Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai could be held by the Chinese authorities.
I doubt the BBC cares about the missing Chinese tennis star, nor did it care for the daughter of Sheik Al Maktoum Princess Latifa, who also disappeared, thought to be her father who has kept her under lock and key, her father is a good friend of the Queen of England.
No the BBC, is basically trying to win hearts and minds in the economic war against China, (this disappearance if true, and it might well be as Ms Shuai claimed that a high Chinese official sexually assaulted her), which could lead to more boycotts at the Beijing Olympics next year.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 18 2021 13:33 utc | 88
There’s a strong case for a weaker yuan: As talk pivots from decoupling to recoupling, a US-China exchange rate accord could work to mutual advantage by William Pesek, for The Asia Times
Such a smartass!
Before the pandemic crisis, Americans were all-in with the insistence – to the point of aggression – that China should strengthen the Renminbi because it was “unfair” to the American trade balance. Donald Trump even went to the point to officially classify China as a “currency manipulator”.
Now that the USA has abused the USD Standards by printing USD 1.2 trn as if they were coupons and the USD is plummeting, those same neoliberal clerics are “making a strong case” for a “weaker yuan”.
And, to top it off, the author even has the audacity to propose a new Plaza Accord. The Plaza Accord destroyed Japan and Germany, it was the end of their miraculous post-war run, sacrificed on the altar of the American Empire. Why the hell would China agree to a “second Plaza Accord”?
That’s not how the world works, my friend. Seating in a cushy think tank/university chair does not give you real power.
–//–
Nice trivia article by TelesurTV:
Conoce cinco corrientes de la filosofía Occidental
–//–
Sold the family’s cow to Moderna, that’s the result:
Flip-flopping on vaccine policy irks public, lowers trust in [South Korean] gov’t
Healthcare is not the area to play the hipster.
–//–
Didn’t know the circus kept its own annals:
History in the making: Kobe’s Japan-Taiwan Exchange Summit
–//–
Only Democracy Can Save One of America’s Greatest Unions
At this point, “democracy” has just become the catch-all term to designate any Deus ex Machina in the Western 21st Century rhetoric style. That’s my hint to 22nd Century historians who will study our present period.
–//–
Our Economic Policy Needs a New Grand Narrative
When your theoreticians (i.e. bourgeois economists) fail, start to resort to mystical stuff.
By the way, prepare your asses, middle class, because your master is starting to get tired of you:
By contrast, a true supply-side agenda of liberalizing regressive regulations would drive down costs of basic goods, unlock economic innovation and address a fundamental driver of inequality by stripping affluent professionals and homeowners of their government-granted protections.
This one Rittenhouse won’t be able to protect you against, petty bourgeois.
–//–
@ Posted by: Petri Krohn | Nov 18 2021 10:19 utc | 71
Organized by Lukashenko or not, fact is this would never have happened if:
1) there was no imperialist wars in the ME; and
2) if Western European propaganda about how they’re the best region to live in (soft power) wasn’t so successful.
We can exempt Europe from the 21st Century wars in the ME because we know the USA has last word on this matter, but, if its propaganda about how it is the land of milk and honey wasn’t so effective, those refugees would not be willing to march all along Eastern Europe to reach Western Europe – they would be satisfied with settling in Turkey, Belarus or any other Eastern European country.
@ Posted by: c1ue | Nov 18 2021 13:18 utc | 85
Money would still exist in socialism (as it did in the USSR).
The big difference is that, in socialism, money cannot be used as a reserve of value (i.e. for hoarding wealth). It only serves as a unit of accountancy and as a means of payment. In other words, it is just an abstract device to calculate and plan the economy.
@ Posted by: c1ue | Nov 18 2021 13:04 utc | 81
The proverbial 1% of the USA is indeed consuming more than ever (as is the MIC, big corp etc.).
But they do not – and cannot – represent the entire American economic space. Even the most dispossessed worker, the vagrant, has a corporeal existence and has to be somewhere. Those are the lion’s share of any capitalist society’s economic structure and organization.
Indeed, the extremely rich don’t even need to live in one single country anymore. They have multiple homes in various nations, and often travel to multiple of them in the same day, with their private jets.
The main cause of inflation in the USA is the money printing. The Americans cannot keep up with the correspondent productivity needed to meet the money printed anymore (in fact, it’s been decades since they cannot do that).
@76 Passer by
Bullshit. The migrants are at the Polish border because the Belarusian authorities bring them there. They fly from their countries of origin to Minsk by the state-owned Belarusian airline which means they are both safe and have money. That are no refugees fleeing from war.
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 11:19 utc | 77
So Belarussian goons are dragging whole families in Kurdistan from their homes and flying them to Belarus where they are forced to cross the border. Stranger things were happening, but over all, it is quite strange.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 18 2021 14:02 utc | 92
@Posted by: librul | Nov 18 2021 13:13 utc | 83
Big Wow!
—
But first a correction.
I was thinking of Merck’s Molnupiravir which is mutagenic and messes with the DNA, Pfizer’s Paxlovid
however appears to work by a different mechanism and blocks an enzyme.
—
I had archived the Wikipedia entry for Molnupiravir some time ago to the Wayback Machine. And I am glad I did.
Wow!
The Wikipedia entry has been substantially messed with recently.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molnupiravir now says this:
Alleged safety concern
In May 2020, Rick Bright, director of the US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), filed a whistleblower complaint, alleging that the Trump administration ignored his early warnings about the COVID-19 pandemic, pressured him to inappropriately fast-track unproven drugs, and illegally retaliated against him by removing him from his role as head of BARDA in April 2020.[19][20]
Among these complaints, Bright objected to providing additional federal funding to Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to further develop molnupiravir into a treatment for COVID-19. He argued that although the drug had shown potential against coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, it had already received substantial government support.
On March 11, 2021 the entry was quite different Wow!:
Safety controversy
In April 2020, a whistleblower complaint by former Head of US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Rick Bright revealed concerns over providing funding for the further development of molnupiravir due to similar drugs having mutagenic (DNA damaging) properties.[4] A previous company, Pharmasset, that had investigated the drug’s active ingredient had abandoned it. These claims were denied by George Painter, CEO of DRIVE, noting that toxicity studies on molnupiravir had been carried out and data provided to regulators in the US and UK, who permitted safety studies in humans to move forward in the spring of 2020. Also at this time, DRIVE and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics stated they planned future safety studies in animals.
Posted by: librul | Nov 18 2021 14:16 utc | 93
“What Lukashenko thinks to achieve with this dull action?”
Gerhard (63)
I read yesterday that, Lukashenko will stop allowing refugees to amass on Poland’s border on two conditions, one, that he is recognised as the premier of Belarus, and two, that the EU rolls back its sanctions.
On the refugees, which are mainly Iraqi and Syrian, if these refugees had arrived on the outskirts of the EU via any other border than that of Belarus, the EU would have welcomed them in and catered for them, however because they’ve arrived via Belarus which is allied to Russia, the refugees have had to endure, water cannons, flashbangs, teargas, razor wire and concrete blocks stopping them from entering the EU, as well as the Polish army on hand, the UK has sent troops to make sure not one refugee crosses the border into Poland.
I don’t agree with Lukashenko using the refugees in this manner, but I can understand it after the US led attempt to remove him, is it any wonder then, that with Putin’s permission Lukashenko has cut-off the oil supply to Europe, under the guise that the pipeline which passes through Belarus is undergoing repairs, Lukashenko might ask Putin if he can also stop the gas pipeline if things escalate.
Now to the EU, which has imposed sanctions on Belarus, however the EU’s position on the refugees is a hypocritical one, why, well they appear to back Poland’s stance on how the Polish have handled the situation, using flashbangs, teargas and water cannons, as well as razor wire to stop them, yet the same EU severely criticised Hungarian premier Viktor Orban when he did the same to refugees trying to enter Hungary.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 18 2021 14:17 utc | 94
Sweden has fallen:
Sweden to introduce vaccine passes for events of over 100 people
The Swedish Public Health Agency announced on Wednesday that they will introduce vaccine passes for the first time from the start of December, with theatres, concerts and other indoor events able to limit entry to the fully inoculated.
https://www.thelocal.se/20211117/analysis-will-sweden-introduce-covid-vaccine-passes/
Actually, I’m all for it. Not a day too soon!
Posted by: Kaj Jakobsson | Nov 18 2021 14:35 utc | 95
@86 George W Oprisko
“Because, under the Chinese Regulatory System his life and freedom does depend upon him personally assuming the debts of his failed enterprise.”
I wouldn`t get that far. In fact it`s common for start-ups that the founders are expected to invest their whole fortune – no matter how small- into the company. So when their start-up fails they are economically ruined.
Evergrande isn`t exactly a start-up but the current situation follows the same logic. Why should anybody invest into Evergrande if even it`s CEO doesn`t believe in success?
Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 14:51 utc | 96
Republicofscotland | Nov 18 2021 14:17 utc | 94
Thanks for Your answer! Inside Belarus Lukashenko may appear as a strong man (@Petri Kohn: if he wants to stop refugees between Minsk airport and the border to Poland he could do that, from where ever and of what reasons ever they came!). But looking from outside onto Belarus and Lukashenko he himself has now destroyed (any rest of) his own respect and authority. And this the more if all that was not his own idea and he was acting as a proxy.
Ignite a fire on the hill, and start your fight in the darkness of the forest:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-deploy-new-paratroop-regiment-annexed-crimea-2021-11-17/
“And we see a large military build-up of Russia, we see an unusual concentration of troops and we know that Russia has previously used these forces to conduct aggressive actions against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
quoted from https://ukranews.com/en/news/814435-ukraine-consolidating-partners-to-counter-russia-s-hybrid-aggression-kuleba (few days ago)
In the spring this year I was sure that nothing will happen. But meanwhile some circumstances have changed …
Regards, Gerhard
Posted by: Gerhard | Nov 18 2021 14:52 utc | 97
@ Posted by: Gerhard | Nov 18 2021 14:52 utc | 97
Nah. Western Europe really fascinates the peoples of the Third World. This is a real sentiment, cultivated by decades and decades of incessant and extremely successful propaganda. Lukashenko merely lubricated that will with a relatively safe and viable route – to face frail and feeble Poland is better than drown in the Mediterranean or perishing in a Turkish, Saudi Arabian or Hungarian concentration camp.
@ Posted by: m | Nov 18 2021 14:51 utc | 96
There are recent cases where the Chinese government bailed out a company. The difference is that, contrary to the USG, which just gives the money, the Chinese government really takes over the company. It’s not a real bail out, but more like the Chinese government is buying the bankrupt company (on the cheap, but it is still a purchase). They then restructure it (i.e. the original executive board is fired and substituted by other executives), who then frequently liquidate the company, which is then absorbed by the SOEs or whatever.
In other words, bail outs strengthen – not weaken – the Chinese State, at the cost of the Chinese capitalist class. In China, when a capitalist fail, he really fails – in the sense that not only him will cease to exist as a capitalist, but that the Chinese capitalist class as a whole gets weaker. In a moral sense, the free market exists in a more pure form than in the West, because there the risk of failure is not only real, but really means you’re out of the game.
@Kaj Jakobsson | Nov 18 2021 14:35 utc | 95
Fascism descend on all of us. This is war. The reason is an impending economic collapse and they want TOTAL control. The WWII Nazis would be envious.
Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 18 2021 15:36 utc | 100