The MoA Week In Review – OT 2021-090

[ Covid vaccine scare nonsense deleted.
Reason: The study is only available as a short abstract. The claims are vague. The author is known as a quack
– b. ]

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 14:57 utc | 2

First: your war on the rocks Taiwan link can be reduced to one sentence:
“Taiwanese must be compelled by any means necessary to die for the Amerikastani Empire’s frantic need to confront China.”
Second: the Indian BJP owned propaganda channel WION went on and on about Peng being “missing” but it’s totally silent that she posted photos and appeared publicly. Coincidence? I think not.
Third: I note that the anti Rittenhouse gang are now shrieking about hon “crossing state lines” (won’t anybody think of the STATE LINES?) These same people are always silent about Amerikastani war criminals crossing, you know, country borders to invade and kill.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Nov 21 2021 15:07 utc | 3

About Boeing 737 MAX, I still clearly remember the racist sewer pit of Unz claiming “incompetent Turd World pilots” were to blame.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Nov 21 2021 15:10 utc | 4

Today’s a big one. Sorry in advance.
[Too big one deleted – b.
Shorten that in content AND appearance before reposting. ]

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 15:12 utc | 5

Those who applaud the acquittal of the murderer Rittenhouse are promoting the advent of fascism in the usa. Here’s another example of that: “Between [George] Floyd’s death on 25 May 2020 and 30 September 2021, vehicles drove into protests at least 139 times”, injuring at least 100 people. In fewer than half of the cases the driver was charged, and only four drivers have been convicted of a felony. Moreover, in response to these attacks, Republican legislators have proposed laws to protect the drivers from legal action in case they hit a protester. Florida, Iowa, and Oklahoma have already passed such laws.” (Boston Globe)
So now, when someone drives a vehicle into a crowd, in the four states mentioned, the perpetrator is protected. This is institutionalized fascism.

Posted by: Pnyx | Nov 21 2021 15:14 utc | 6

The war against the unvaccinated is on.
In Austria they announced compulsory vaccination foe everyone allegedly to protect the public health.
The other day the Greek PM said that this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated
Now they are really coming for the children in an attempt to eliminate the last control group.
Mean while Lancet wrote
“
”People who are vaccinated have a lower risk of severe disease but are still a relevant part of the pandemic. It is therefore wrong and dangerous to speak of a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02243-1/fulltext#%20
I know that The Lancet has lost much of its credibility lately but still.
We are talking about politicians imposing unprecedented dictatorial mandates through the back door of protecting the public health while doing nothing to support public health systems

Posted by: DG | Nov 21 2021 15:16 utc | 7

#CongoHoldUp
https://eic.network/projects/congo-holdup.html
Move on! Nothing here, it’s in Africa!!

Posted by: Tom2 | Nov 21 2021 15:25 utc | 8

Biswapriya Purkayast | Nov 21 2021 15:10 utc | 4 —> About Boeing 737 MAX, I still clearly remember the racist sewer pit of Unz claiming “incompetent Turd World pilots” were to blame.
Are you refering to this: Boeing’s Doomed 737 Max’s by Eric Margolis • March 16, 2019 https://www.unz.com/emargolis/boeings-doomed-737-maxs/ ???
…The FAA continued to insist the aircraft was sound. The problem, it was hinted between the lines, was incompetent third world pilots…

Posted by: William Haught | Nov 21 2021 15:49 utc | 9

Americans need to ask themselves: if the Constitution and laws of the USA say:
Carrying a loaded weapon to a protest is ok
Shooting someone threatening you or others is ok
If two parties legally carry guns to protests and legally shoot at each other is it protest or civil war?

Posted by: Michael Weddington | Nov 21 2021 15:56 utc | 10

I notice that War on the Rocks does not have a comments section. Keeps people like Biswapriya Purkayast and me from giving them pieces of our minds. If we were able to do that, would it mean eventually they would have minds???
What else are they having on the rocks besides war while writing such off-the-rails articles???
I notice that they have partnered with The Texas National Security Review. Obviously, they think Texas is an independent nation too. Let them loose and if they get into a strangelovefest with Mexico or China (or knowing Texans both at the same time) let them have their enjoyment and do not join the trailer-trash party of low-life who should have Clozapine and lithium carbonate in their water supply this time unlike our mistake in 1846.

Posted by: William Haught | Nov 21 2021 16:03 utc | 11

Pnyx | Nov 21 2021 15:14 utc | 6
—> Those who applaud the acquittal of the murderer Rittenhouse are promoting the advent of fascism in the usa. Here’s another example of that:…
Yes, this Rittenhouse operation looks like a specially crafted operation where whatever angle you look at it you lose. Convict and you promote ideas such as it is okay to charge minors with age of majority crimes. Indeed, it this case, which I admit I have not really followed, my guess is even he was over 18, what he did was self-defense, even if (as some believe) he set up the situation to begin with, or more likely he was part of an operation (probably unwittingly used) to set up such a situation.
Since he was acquitted, Fox Hasbara, Fox Plunderbund, One Neoconservative Propaganda, and the like, will use it and conflate it with crass domestic terrorist vigilantism as running over protesters and flipping migrant rafts, etc.

Posted by: William Haught | Nov 21 2021 16:19 utc | 12

Sure, Ted, sure:
NBA star LeBron James ‘terrified’ to criticize ‘evil communist dictators in China’, says Ted Cruz
Remember the formula: everything in post-1945 USA can be reduced to anti-communism.
In fact, one could argue the USA would already have disintegrated if it wasn’t for the binding cause of anti-communism.

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 16:30 utc | 13

Can we hope this open thread to be free from that insane Kenosha stuff?
Please give all the — non-USian, non-woke, non-leftist, non-trumpist, unproud boys, etc. — MoA readers a break.
Fill the previous Rittenhouse threads with all your uninteresting ramblings if you want, but leave that OT clean of this US shitshow.

Posted by: Herrhesser | Nov 21 2021 16:52 utc | 14

Covid vaccine scare nonsense deleted.
Reason: The study is only available as a short abstract. The claims are vague. The author is known as a quack
– b. ]

The journal “Circulation” is a peer reviewed publication of the American Heart Association. AFAICS it is a reputable journal, not a shabby paid paper mill. The author may otherwise have peculiar opinions, I’ll grant you that, but that does not make him a total quack. Your off-hand dismissal of the reported data as vague is too facile.
Anyway, you have never addressed this article: “Serologic Testing of US Blood Donations to Identify Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)–Reactive Antibodies: December 2019–January 2020”
IMHO it suggests that millions of Americans had been exposed to the coronavirus by the time it was first officially identified in Wuhan. This would radically alter the narrative about coronavirus’ origins.

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 17:00 utc | 15

Well said!
https://images.dailykos.com/images/1009415/story_image/61F73385-CCD9-4F29-B542-FC3D2BFA8B9B.jpeg?1637376453
Clarity is a virtue.

Posted by: Duncan Idaho | Nov 21 2021 17:06 utc | 16

“Pandemic of the unvaccinated” is a political slogan, not science. They accuse the un-vaxxed of being a health hazard while urging the vaxxed to get a second and third booster because the vax is failing. Cognitive dissonance at it’s finest!

Posted by: norb | Nov 21 2021 17:31 utc | 17

[ 6 ‘comments’ by vk deleted. – b.
Reason: Upthread vk posted a way too big comment which I told him to “shorten in content AND appearance before
reposting”.
He did neither. He instead just cut it and posted it as 6 consecutive comments which made the whole thing even longer than before.
@vk – this is your last warning. One more violation of netiquette and you will be banned.
– b.]

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 17:33 utc | 18

arguing with a friend about vaccines.. i am pro… or i was… until i researched. i found out that as of this month, the US vaccination rate is at about 60%.. that’s pretty good. that means compared to last year (2020 – where virtually nobody was vaccinated) there should be far less coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
the first article when i searched “2020 vs 2021 corona cases” was from Forbes titled “There have been more COVID-19 deaths in 2021 than in 2020.” Well that’s odd, considering the vaccine works at 95% efficacy (also a big lie and statistical manipulation i can explain later). keep scrolling, the same headline more or less by WSJ, CNBC, Business Insider, USA today… and at this point the skepticism radar is beeping like crazy.
You would think that this is evidence that the shit doesnt work! that people would wake up and say wtf are we doing, thats not the result we are supposed to get. STOP! but noooooo, these articles are actually being promoted to push more of the SAME SHOT that didnt work the first time (well it worked for a few months, then waned, so it works temporarily) … and bc of fear, everyone is eating it up. oooh jab me again! i feel better!! no. no. nooooooooooooo!
please wake up. the evidence is right in front of you.

Posted by: F.Bomb | Nov 21 2021 17:38 utc | 19

@ Posted by: F.Bomb | Nov 21 2021 17:38 utc | 24
60% is a bad rate. A vaccine with circa 95% efficacy rate (which Pfizer etc. claims) would require something above 70% to reach herd immunity.
So yes, it’s dire. It’s not good at all.

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 17:42 utc | 20

To prevent speculation about Russia’s position on the intra-Ukrainian settlement, the Russian Foreign Minister published letters between Lavrov and his French and German counterparts on the issue.
https://www.mid.ru/documents/10180/4944950/дипломатическая+переписка_eng.pdf/59c33457-0f7a-43f1-bbe2-028fe9391f4e

Posted by: DG | Nov 21 2021 18:08 utc | 21

thanks b..
i wonder what has happened to jackrabbit and debs?
@ Michael Weddington | Nov 21 2021 15:56 utc | 10… good question.. i think it is just more of the same on the descending road the usa finds itself on..
@ Herrhesser | Nov 21 2021 16:52 utc | 14.. i think it’s unlikely… one remedy might be for b to create an open thread once a week for the covid/rittenhouse crowd… until b figures this out, it will be ongoing…

Posted by: james | Nov 21 2021 18:13 utc | 22

US Senator Ron Johnson expert panel vaccine injuries & safety ?s, of vaccines & treatment protocols testimony from adversely affected persons; thousands expressing the same constellations of symptoms and concerns, researchers unable to get their work published, vaccines not effective, mandates pointless.. real facts & figures. health care orgs, affected persons not able to get responses from FDA, CDC or health care authorities, media tells them c/n make the vaccine look bad, if this was really happening the CDC and the FDA wold have said so..
what defines RICO Racketeering influenced Organized Crime ?

Posted by: snake | Nov 21 2021 18:15 utc | 23

Posted by: F.Bomb | Nov 21 2021 17:38 utc | 24
>>considering the vaccine works at 95% efficacy
The MRNA vaccines only work at 95 % right after vaccination, but that percentage gradually drops to 50 % after 6 months, and it drops further after that. It looks like vector vaccines are more durable.
I’m especially impressed by the Sputnik V vaccine which does not have serious adverse effects or deaths, unlike american vaccines, (according to Argentina, San-Marino, UAE and Hungary data, and not simply russian data), and most importantly provides durable protection. Countries with using majority Sputnik Vaccine at a high level of population vaccination do not have any new waves of Covid. Look up Argentina and San Marino data, who are heavily vaccinated with Sputnik V. No new waves of Covid. Only a small blip at best (probably caused by the few expiring western vacines used). Far better than Pfizer/Moderna/AZ and their never ending Covid waves.
Waves in highly vaccinated countries now happen because the vaccines expire.
San Marino’s data (no new waves since March) points to Sputnik V being as least twice more durable than Pfizer, Moderna, AZ, etc.

Posted by: Passer by | Nov 21 2021 18:18 utc | 24

Sorry, didn’t understand what you meant by “appearance”. I think it is the interval of time between the posts.
OK. Let me see if I can make some selection of the most relevant stuff from my original.
—
Recommended read:
Whither the global economy?
As expected, the US economy continues to zombify, which means its middle class and petty bourgoisie is now unprofitable beyond salvation.
I expect the American economy to continue to deteriorate, and for its capitalists to continue to devour the inefficient businesses of the petty bourgeoisie and the unproductive labor of the middle classes. A similar process is going on in Europe and Japan and will continue to go on.
It’s not like the numbers are apocalyptic, but that the show no hope. It’s like your 99-year-old grandma’s blood test results: they’re good for a person her age, but you know she’s not coming back.
Of course, there are many counteracting forces that may slow down the process or even revert it a little for some time, but the data indicates a clear diagnosis (even though, as one commenter in the article noticed, we will have some better precision with the data from next quarter, which will not have the beneficia effects in the American case); the fate of the American, Japanese and European petty bourgeoisies and middle classes seems pretty much sealed to me for the next one or even two generations.
If the West manages to lower the expectations of their peoples, peace and a more or less dignified “soft landing” may be achieved. If not, China should prepare for a world war of annihilation against the USA. Theoretically, capitalism can still win this new battle against socialism (unexpected collapse of China, some miraculous technologies coming out of nowhere to propitiate a new industrial revolution in the West) – but those are factors that are not in its control.

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 18:21 utc | 25

The stuff probably still prevents severe disease and death, unfortunately less in the elderly.
And only for some months which seems similar to the influenza protection.
Every other week some new data are presented like the heart inflammations or this circulation paper.
Even Science magazines top pharmacologist wrote a new article about some strange things going on with spike protein in the nucleus and potential immunosuppression:
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/coronavirus-vaccines-and-cancer
Well, I got myself a first dosage because I trust Drosten and Topol, however, so many things already are quite questionable and I can understand everyone who waits for subunit or classical vaccines, especially if now the kids are in focus. Would not be the first worldwide experiment going in the wrong direction, just remember Roentgen, who also got the Nobel prize.
Concerning all that and the political situation in Austria/Europe maybe its time for b to write another vaxx piece (I know its troublesome).

Posted by: BelleDelphine | Nov 21 2021 18:27 utc | 26

For all of the posters who exclaimed “B-b-b-but Rittenhouse crossed state lines!” when that is a complete non-issue, please view the video mashup by Matt Orfalea that our host linked above. Watch to see exactly how you were brainwashed by mass media into believing that something insignificant was significant. The constant repetition in an urgent tone of voice led you to believe it was something important. That urgent repetition is a classic and well-understood brainwashing technique.
Every last poster who mentioned the crossing of state lines as if it was significant in some way was literally brainwashed in exactly the manner they believe those who disagree with them have been brainwashed, except in this case Orfalea collected the undeniable evidence of the brainwashing in progress.
The thing of it is that those who were brainwashed don’t disbelieve the possibility of brainwashing. In fact, they are certain that posters here who have been defending the jury’s decision are the ones who are brainwashed. We’ve supposedly all been brainwashed (along with the jury apparently) by Alex Jones or something like that which is why we think the jury’s decision makes sense.
But where is the evidence?
Orfalea provides conclusive evidence of the brainwashing of the “Crossed state lines! hyperventilators, but where is the evidence for any sort of broad, multi-channel, multi-medium, coordinated brainwashing effort to make us believe that Rittenhouse was just defending himself?
It doesn’t exist.
So one side of this “debate” was very clearly brainwashed and the other was not.
Which side were you on, dear Reader?

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 21 2021 18:28 utc | 27

Venezuela
Venezuela is voting today for a huge number of regional and local offices. Notably, even the more radical wing of the opposition has all but abandoned the “Guaido is President” line in practice and has participated with its own candidates in what a few months ago it denounced as the “regime’s” elections. The Biden administration apparently has had a hand in this decision without committing an inch to normalizing relations with Venezuela, adopting a “wait and see” approach since it is obvious to all that Guaido is a joke and the most unpopular figure in Venezuela.
There is still a huge abstentionist rhetoric among opposition supporters, however, with opposition aligned districts like Merida already reporting low turnout comparable to the vote last year, where the PSUV won almost everything. By failing to embrace the non-regime path fully, they (the radical right, the MUD) are likely about to underwhelm at the polls and lock themselves within their feedback spiral of simultaneously shedding actual popular support and becoming more desperate to effect some kind of color revolution by force. However, the US government is more sober and has long ago, under Trump even, recognized the impossibility of the situation in Venezuela and has gradually sought to reduce the attention of the Venezuelan people on its culpability in their problems. The radical opposition threatens to undermine that, and might get its way.
Notably, the left wing critics of Maduro expect to have a good day. Angel Prado is the strong favorite to win his race for the mayorship of Simon Planas in Lara State. His program will strengthen the communal organizations, bolster popular self-defense against the right and its paramilitaries, and deepen the socialist project, while criticizing but also supporting the government against its right wing enemies. Similar initiatives are happening in various locales around Venezuela.
The Maduro administration plans to use the results of the elections to pressure the US and other countries to normalize relations.
=====
Chile
Chile is going to the polls for the first round of the first presidential election since the massive 2019 uprising, the Estallido Social. The contest is being defined by the complete collapse of the centrists and moderate conservatives in the vein of the current administration. At this point, their candidate is not really worth discussing. The race is instead being polarized between the left and the right, with the left representing the social explosion and the right representing a radical return to law and order.
Gabriel Boric represents the left and the spirit of the movement against neoliberalism in the streets, having defeated longtime communist veteran Daniel Jadue in an upset in the primaries for the Apruebo Dignidad front. Boric represents a more social democratic bent than the communists, and recently criticized Nicaragua for its elections, much like Noam Chomsky and other left intellectuals. There has been a lot of criticism of this, but Jadue has still lent him his full endorsement, however.
Jose Antonio Kast is the candidate of the right wing. He has almost single handedly taken all the wind out of the sails of every other conservative, neoliberal, and anti-socialist in the race, and is the darling of Chile’s media conglomerates. He promises a complete defeat of the left in power, and an alignment of Chile with Bolsonaro and Trumpism. For the first time since 2019, the right wing has a tangible presence in Chile thanks almost entirely to Kast and his media allies.
This summer, polling for the presidential race heavily favored Boric and his popular front of the left, and the vote for the Constituent Assembly (part of the process to rewrite the constitution, begun in 2019) was hilariously lopsided for the left as late as October. However, in the media polls, Kast closed the gap with Boric and even took the favorite position in some of the final polls. There is a lot of skepticism in Chile about this, because Chilean polling is notorious for bias and oversampling the rich neighborhoods. Recent elections and protests also suggest where the energy is. However, there is a threat that the pendulum may be swinging, and Kast’s appeals to the middle classes for law and order could mobilize that sector to the polls in a way Chile hasn’t seen in years, and Kast may make good on his ostensible polling.
The race is certainly going to a second round.

Posted by: Cesare | Nov 21 2021 18:36 utc | 28

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 21 2021 18:28 utc | 28
Which side were you on, dear Reader?
I’m on the side of Herrhesser | Nov 21 2021 16:52 utc | 14

Posted by: waynorinorway | Nov 21 2021 18:39 utc | 29

I copied and pasted the wrong notepad – that should be the 2021 Constitutional Convention in May, for Chile, as the recent election.

Posted by: Cesare | Nov 21 2021 18:49 utc | 30

The Science article got it all wrong. You know that since Peter Daszak quotes it. The cases connected to the Wuhan market are not representing the patient zero, where the virus allegedly crossed species barriers. They represent the first superspreader event. Stale, cold (airconditioned), humid air is perfect for aerosols. For comparison, please check all the outbreaks in slaughterhouses.
There is plenty of evidence (for example CT scans of lungs) for SARS-CoV2 being present in the population of for example Northern Italy as early as November 2019. The Spanish data however, claiming virus being present in sewage water samples from March 2019 are, in my opinion, not credible but are false positive PCR results.

Posted by: Stephan | Nov 21 2021 18:56 utc | 31

@Cesare | Nov 21 2021 18:36 utc | 29

since it is obvious to all that Guaido is a joke and the most unpopular figure in Venezuela.

No problemo for Juan Guaido. He is busy at the moment with the preparations for his presidency of the Russian Federation as of 2024.

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 19:01 utc | 32

Dear b,
Please do not threaten to ban long-time regulars!
We all put up with certain commenters like Circe (correct once, then a one-note ad hominem complainer for a year) for a long time. I learned to read comment threads in reverse, because of this. If we put up with that, we can put up with an excellent contributor like vk occasionally riling the crowd with arguments they dislike or lengthier remarks.

Posted by: son of spam | Nov 21 2021 19:04 utc | 33

@b
I come to this site in part for Vk’s supplements to your ‘week in review’. Why delete them unless you believe they threaten to overshadow your own analysis (which they don’t)? This aspect of MoA is excellent: the aggregation of material I don’t have time to search for myself. vk is only following your lead!

Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 19:07 utc | 34

B kindly keep original comments. I come exclusively for them, not your censorship or rapidly-becoming-irrelevant analyses.

Posted by: Jezabeel | Nov 21 2021 19:19 utc | 35

@ james | Nov 21 2021 18:13 utc | 23
I’m just a daily reader here but I can say that this forum built, for a large part, the way I see the world for years now. Civility, technicality and relentless truth-seeking through fogs of war, propagandas and ideologies. That’s what this place is.
If B is the spine of MoA, the barflies are the flesh that gives it life.
This can’t be wasted in picrocholine wars.

Posted by: Herrhesser | Nov 21 2021 19:21 utc | 36

If all the fans of vk’s prose could, instead of gratuitous whining, chime in and organize vk’s very own blogsite, then vk would bo longer have to spam MoA threads with endless collections of quasi random links with barely or none at all relevance to the topic at hand.
Thanks.

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 19:26 utc | 37

The Rittenhouse case will likely increase the amount of racial violence in the coming period, moralizing White nationalists to kill or threaten to kill non-Whites. Biden’s initial comment on the jury system effectively justified a racist trial, with the judge obviously influencing the all White jury. The astonishing support for the verdict from both the mainstream and alternative media is very disturbing, given that US power has been largely based historically on racial homicide in both foreign and domestic policy.
I am not a criminal defense lawyer but my wife and daughter are which means I have to listen to a lot of law talk from them and their friends at dinner. In cases like this, where racism is not involved, the tendency of the jury is to compromize on the charges, coming up with some kind of manslaughter charge. That he was left off scot free after killing two people and maiming a third was in the tradition of Whites killing non-Whites, or their White defenders, but that the verdict was so cheered by the president and dissidents is ominous. We are in for a bad time.

Posted by: Mathew | Nov 21 2021 19:30 utc | 38

@b again
I know it’s your blog and you can delete this too but are you seriously expecting sane people here to put up with Gruff et al. carrying on about Shittenhaus while banning those who simply follow your lead? I come here for you, vk and karlof1. If you ban vk and vk starts up a daily page of his posts, I’m switching, especially after all that Rittenhouse crap. Where are the Afghanistan, Syria, Nordstream, Ukraine, etc analyses that you used to be justly commended for? I for one would like to hear how the Taliban have been faring since their victory. Your fascination with US MSM and other assorted American banalities panders to the rednecks. Vk offers intelligent Marxist analysis that nicely enhances your own——let it through in full!

Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 19:33 utc | 39

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 19:26 utc | 38
vk is spam? I guess it takes spam to know it.

Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 19:34 utc | 40

Was there a barfight I missed? Was anyone hurt? Were glasses thrown and mirrors smashed? Maybe I was passed out in the corner next to the spittoon and bathroom door.
This place is full of strong opinions. Some are obnoxious. It was on the Eighth Day, after a long rest, that the gods invented the human ability to scroll past the untoward and the untenable.
Cheers!

Posted by: gottlieb | Nov 21 2021 19:36 utc | 41

Posted by: Mathew | Nov 21 2021 19:30 utc | 39
so how many people of color got killed?
u are the perfekt example of Gruffs comment

Posted by: kartoschka | Nov 21 2021 19:40 utc | 42

>> If all the fans of vk’s prose could, instead of gratuitous whining
Like your comment, no?
>> with barely or none at all relevance to the topic at hand.
What part of “Use as open thread …” do you not understand?
Go back to lurking.
…
vk, you should post on your own blog though. I’d visit and read…
I have to set up a fat-client RSS reader again. I’ll continue visiting MoA but also visit your blog, karlof’s, jackrabbit’s, psycho’s and any other regulars. Would be nice if you all opened up comments on your respective blogs….

Posted by: son of spam | Nov 21 2021 19:44 utc | 43

I have reread your comment.
it’s amazing that non of your arguments is based on the obvious reality.
i mean literally…. from what parralel universe are you?

Posted by: kartoschka | Nov 21 2021 19:46 utc | 44

@Lurk
Indeed, the presidency of the Russian Federation is only slightly less likely than the presidency of Venezuela for Random Guy. He’s a problem for the US and an asset to the Venezuelan resistance at this point. His continued claim divides and demobilizes the opposition, regardless if his parties field candidates or not.
However, my reading of the US was intentionally generous in that post. Most likely, that is exactly the point. Washington has probably calculated that another round of screaming fraud after a disappointing turnout for the anti-government forces may be exactly what Guaido needs to capture a new wind in his sails within the opposition and return to relevancy.

Posted by: Cesare | Nov 21 2021 19:52 utc | 45

Personally i like the info VK brings, especially the links.

Posted by: Passer by | Nov 21 2021 19:57 utc | 46

Thank you b for linking the Jonathan Turley article. He should be the next nominee for the SCOTUS no matter who’s the next President. In particular I appreciate his principled stand against the CIA torture program and the Bush/Cheney Iraq war.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 21 2021 20:04 utc | 47

Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 19:33 utc | 40
In fairness to b, he was on the bleeding edge of the Russiagate media criticism and Julian Assange. On the Rittenhouse trial, I’d agree with you. That’s been beaten to death by others including Taibbi, Greenwald, that chick who quit the NYT, Michael Tracy and too many others to count. It’s just red meat for the type of reactive readers who aren’t capable of or willing to consider the detailed contextual issues with that case without devolving into insults and word games.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 21 2021 20:07 utc | 48

Re the concocted situation with the Chinese ex-tennis player, CNN is still running wild with the story at this time. The headline is WTA possibly deleting this years scheduled tournaments in China unless they get more satisfaction re the players safety.
What China should do I feel is take a page from the US and cancel the WTA matches in China if the head of the WTA is not removed. Set a lesson: this bs has costs. They need to lose millions to get the lesson.

Posted by: Caliman | Nov 21 2021 20:10 utc | 49

Damn, lol. Teen Vogue with the hard hitting look at the Ronny Raygun Iran/Contra affair!

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 21 2021 20:11 utc | 50

Feeble emperor:
White House Communications Chief Steps Down as Biden’s Ratings Continue to Fall
It’s happening, guys: the American Hindenburg is brewing.
–//–
Magnus Maximus:
Biden wants an ‘autonomous’ Europe that spends more on defense
When will “The Groans of the Europeans” letter come?
–//–
Lamentable, pathetic scene:
Putin awards Order of St. Andrew the Apostle to Patriarch Kirill – Kremlin
With those awful economic data, I would be resorting to spiritual powers, too (see my “recommended read”).
The Russian Federation is a failure. Well below its promises. Well below the performance of the USSR in its first 30 years. Just an outright disappointment.
I’m very worried about the Russian Federation after Putin is gone. The numbers are simply not good. I fear it is one economic crisis away from becoming an American “ally” and therefore an enemy of China. If that scenario becomes reality, then I’m afraid socialism would indeed face another heartbreaking defeat against capitalism.
–//–
Joke of the day:
How it started → How it’s going
Honestly, I’m more surprised Fukuyama is still alive.

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 20:12 utc | 51

Taiwan: The current state of tension is the result of conscious decision-making by the DPP leadership to adopt a position of de facto independence. These moves have been encouraged, if not officially advised, by the United States and, more quietly, regional powers such as Japan. A direct push for independence or the introduction of American missiles and radars to the island will trigger a PRC military strike to decapitate the DPP leadership. That is, a “defensive” build-up of American weaponry on Taiwan will trigger a war before the build-up gets anywhere close to being effective. Given its proximity to the mainland, the island is not defensible to begin with. The Americans must know this, so this issue is something like the Ukraine charade whereby proxy tensions are stoked to introduce pressure – domestic and international – onto the designated adversary (PRC and Russia respectively).
The Rittenhouse case reflects the two separate partisan realities currently at play in USA. Fascist vigilante or self-defending teenager – which side are you on? There is a tendency on one of those sides to describe the Floyd protests as marked by extensive arson and looting, but that was not the case at all. I had the ability at the time to watch live coverage from numerous sources across the US, and by large measure the protests represented a sincere effort by masses of diverse concerned citizens to express in numbers their disgust with routine poor practice by police departments across the nation.
The Strategic Culture Foundation has for some time been tagged as representing a propaganda service of a malign “Foreign Agent” by the US government, and Americans who have contributed to the site have been visited by agents of the state to be warned they should stop or must register with the government in keeping with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) or face huge financial penalties as punishment. Similar efforts by designated adversary nations, such as Russia or Nicaragua, to require registration of persons working for NGOs etc, which have directly participated in fomenting color revolution activity while sponsored by foreign interests (rather than publishing analysis and opinion), have been condemned by US State Dept as “authoritarian” and have triggered sanctions. FARA has been on the books since 1938, but renewed interest in utilizing its provisions has factored only in the last decade.

Posted by: jayc | Nov 21 2021 20:14 utc | 52

@Cesare | Nov 21 2021 19:52 utc | 46
No way Venezuelans will ever not hate Guaido. After all the assets and money that he has embezzled in collision with Washington, he has become the paragon of corruption, mismanagement and blatant theft of the nation’s wealth.

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 20:18 utc | 53

Posted by: jayc | Nov 21 2021 20:14 utc | 53
Re: Rittenhouse affair – I agree. Media coverage, whether “left” or “right” has been intentionally misleading and used to amplify two artificially concocted ideological partisan realities.
Re: Strategic Culture Foundation – Do you have any links about this? That’s insane if true. Who was visited by agents of the state and demanded to register as a foreign agent?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 21 2021 20:19 utc | 54

I saw an old ABC TV 4 Corners documentary on Julian Assange:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd7qxWma9CQ
I was reminded of just how excrible former PM, Julia Gillard was by her atrocious failure to protect Australian citizen Assange from the audacious ambit of extraterritorial US ‘law’. Gillard was, as Assange suggested, “a puppet.”
Gillard and her role in knifing and replacing her ‘leader’ [former] PM, Kevin Rudd and why, is worth examining in detail.
https://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2010/07/australias-julia-gillard-cia-and-mossad.html
https://middleeastrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2010/06/those-irresistable-zionist-pheromones_11.html
https://middleeastrealitycheck.blogspot.com/search/label/Julia%20Gillard
Rudd’s ‘mistakes’ included:
condemning the murderous attack on the Gaza Flotilla. [some were shot in the head from hovering helicopters while they were in international waters]
Condemning the siege of Gaza.
Condemning the forging of Australian passports for the murderous Mossad operation in Dubai. This was the SECOND time Australian passports were forged and misused by the Bandit State.
Calling for an inquiry into the passport affair.
Publicly revoking the diplomatic status of the Israeli ‘diplomat.’
Failing to back down and publicly recant as instructed by the lobby.
Gillard was the logical zionist replacement having taken Palestine off the agenda while she was running the Australian Union of Students AUS.
Liberal Tony Abbott finished the job by abolishing compulsory student unionism, effectively killing the AUS. No more money, ergo no more critical student newspaper articles hurting zionist feelings.
The National Party put up some feeble opposition because they wanted the universities to continue to have viable football teams. Have a look at the Wallabies in international football in the last ten to twenty years.
We can thank Wikileaks for exposing in detail the numerous CIA assets [and, by extension, Israel apologists and sycophants] within the Australian Labor Party. Of course, the Liberal Party is similarly held in total zionist captivity.
Assange did nothing more than irrefutably expose and embarrass the many puppets in politics around the world, Gillard included. These groupthink ‘assets’ include many so-called ‘journalists’ relentlessly pushing their warmongering propaganda and disinformation:
https://johnmenadue.com/white-mans-media-propaganda-multiplier-the-three-global-news-agencies/
The original Swiss Policy Research report:
The Propaganda Multiplier:How Global News Agencies and Western Media Report on Geopolitics:
https://swprs.org/the-propaganda-multiplier/

Posted by: Paul | Nov 21 2021 20:22 utc | 55

Posted by: Axl | Nov 21 2021 14:42 utc | 1
Indeed. That was a straight up political assassination and not a “law enforcement” action.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 21 2021 20:23 utc | 56

@Lurk
That the ideas the blob has about the world do not match the reality is no surprise to readers of b’s site. No doubt, in the imagination of people in Washington, the Venezuelan people are simply waiting for a sign that Guaido is finally going to be installed.
They are no less delusion, for example, about Cuba. November 15 was hyped to an unbelievable extent in Miami, but amounted to nothing whatsoever but crickets in Havana.
These people in the main really do believe their own propaganda, and events like this only serve as an opportunity to take stock and sweep the doubters from the room. The Washington line will be that Guaido is the “legitimate” president – forever. They cannot learn from their mistakes, because they simply do not register as mistakes. The Venezuelan, Cuban, Iranian, etc. peoples are the only ones with skin in the game who pay the price.

Posted by: Cesare | Nov 21 2021 20:27 utc | 57

“so how many people of color got killed?”
u are the perfekt example of Gruffs comment
Posted by: kartoschka | Nov 21 2021 19:40 utc | 43
A Black man Blake was shot seven times in the back by a White cop but he didn’t die, he was merely paralyzed permanently. This was not a part of the trial, only the legal aspects that were permitted by a racist judge allowed. Nor was the picture allowed of Rittenhouse photoed with Proud Boys displaying a White racist symbol. Rittenhouse was defended by the judge as well as his defense team, funded by racist money.
This was in the tradition of not trying racist cops who shoot non-Whites, or defending White vigilantees when they are tried. White racism is so entrenched in the mainstream and dissident media that it allows b to be ‘happy and satisfied’ with the verdict. b isn’t a lawyer but he knows that was the justice of the legal conclusion of of the trial. in the same way the Biden knows that the jury system and judicial process works.

Posted by: Mathew | Nov 21 2021 20:27 utc | 58

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 20:12 utc | 52
>>The Russian Federation is a failure. Well below its promises. Well below the performance of the USSR in its first 30 years. Just an outright disappointment. I’m very worried about the Russian Federation after Putin is gone. The numbers are simply not good. I fear it is one economic crisis away from becoming an American “ally” and therefore an enemy of China.
The World Bank just upgraded russian growth prospects. Overall, for the period of 2020 – 2023 growth is to be higher than in Europe and similar to the US (which got to that point only after printing 5 trillion dollars and increasing the federal debt).
China had to beg Russia to sell her electricity, coal and natural gas. The “energy independent” US was forced to buy heavy oil and diesel from Russia. Russia is an energy superpower. No shortages of electricity, coal, oil, gas, or fertilisers, unlike in most of the rest of the world. Everyone who underestimated that is now paying a price.

Posted by: Passer by | Nov 21 2021 20:29 utc | 59

@Patroklos, son of spam and others:
Nota bene that my dismay is limited to vk’s link spamming activities. I appreciate vk’s contributions to the discourse, even if I may not always quite agree with vk’s viewpoints and dogmas.
But the gratuitous plastering of unsorted links with no apprent relation to the topic at hand, or in case of more open threads, no apparent intention to engage in a meaningful discourse (the “fire and forget” salvos are quite indicative of such intentions) indeed qualify as spamming. B is entirely in his good right to consider this behavior as abusive.

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 20:29 utc | 60

Posted by: Mathew | Nov 21 2021 20:27 utc | 59
Also not allowed as evidence was the video of Rittenhouse brutally beating a young teenage girl in “defense” of his sister who was clearly the aggressor in that situation.
Also not allowed as evidence was video and audio of Rittenhouse stating that if he had his AR with him at the time of that recording, he wished he could use it to shoot people he believed to be shoplifters/looters.
Further not allowed was the use of the common term “victims” but terms like “rioters” and “arsonists” were allowed.
Further still, the judge is on video stopping himself just short of using the racially loaded term “thugs” in grouping ALL the demonstrators in Kenosha into one group when in fact the rioters/looters/vandals were in the minority.
That is all context that numerous readers of MoA either refuse to consider or try to brush off as unimportant and inadmissible.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Nov 21 2021 20:32 utc | 61

@vk re: Fukuyama. Wouldn’t you want to stay well hidden after that tripe?
A bit like John Lennon’s Imagine: it’s easy to imagine there’s no possessions when you don’t struggle to reproduce the circumstances of your own life. It never occurred to him that there already existed a class without possessions: the proletariat. But universalise their class standpoint? No way: Revolution (1968) said “if you’re talkin’ about destruction you can count me out”. Typical bourgeois thinking to imagine that your class standpoint is/ought to be that of all humanity and then run like hell when humanity comes to collect.

Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 20:35 utc | 62

Posted by: Paul | Nov 21 2021 20:22 utc | 56
Don’t forget the Mineral Resources Rent legislation. Rudd was going to impose a 45% royalty on the mining sector. I remember well the Minerals Council response: do not screw with the ruling class and their rackets unless your stick is bigger than theirs.
Gillard opportunistically stepped into that role and promptly halved it and then failed to fund the collection bureaucracy adequately. The miners ended up paying zip. The ALP is craven right when you need them to go hard——and they always bring a knife to a gunfight.

Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 20:41 utc | 63

Re: james | Nov 21 2021 18:13 utc | 23
UncleSchmuelistan Foreign Policy Shite Show Thread
UncleSchmuelistan undomesticated Domestic Shite Show Thread
Covert-19 Plandemic Thread
That would cover nearly everything, if not everything. Of course, b / Bernard would use different labels to refer to the above.

Posted by: William Haught | Nov 21 2021 20:42 utc | 64

@son of spam | Nov 21 2021 19:44 utc | 44

>> If all the fans of vk’s prose could, instead of gratuitous whining
Like your comment, no?
>> with barely or none at all relevance to the topic at hand.
What part of “Use as open thread …” do you not understand?
Go back to lurking.

My comment at least contained a constructive proposal.
Your comment is little more than gratuitous rudeness.

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 20:44 utc | 65

@25
the Sputnik vaccine is an engineered adenovirus one very similar to the astrazenica one with the difference that different adenovirus strains are used for the first and second doses.

Posted by: Paul Cockshott | Nov 21 2021 20:49 utc | 66

Posted by: Passer by | Nov 21 2021 20:29 utc | 60
Oh, one more thing. The huge russian forests allow the country to reach carbon neutrality even if it is using a significant amount of coal, oil and gas.
Thus the country is reliably protected from energy crises, unlike the self-inflicted wounds that you see today in the US, the EU or China.
I’m not going the mention that this country has the most to benefit from Global Warming, as per several studies, or that this could lead to the Northern Sea Route rivaling the Suez Canal.

Posted by: Passer by | Nov 21 2021 20:52 utc | 67

@ Lurk
“or in the case of more open threads”?
No, they’re not more open, they’re just open. vk stays on topic quite meticulously in my view. In the open threads, however, he collects links have interested him and shares. some here like that and are interested, some don’t. Does the apple tree care if people don’t like its fruit? We don’t ban apples because you prefer oranges.

Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 20:56 utc | 68

Posted by: Paul Cockshott | Nov 21 2021 20:49 utc | 67
Sputnik uses human AV, AZ uses a monkey one. But from what i heard “low quality DNA purification” caused the AZ vaccine’s blood clot and paralysis issues, purification that Sputnik developers solved.

Posted by: Passer by | Nov 21 2021 20:57 utc | 69

Posted by: William Haught | Nov 21 2021 21:16 utc | 70

@Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 20:56 utc | 69
If vk wants to have an apple tree, why doesn’t he plant the tree in his own yard? Or if you are so enamored with vk’s apples, why don’t you provide vk a lot in your yard?
This is b’s blog, his yard. He does not appreciate vk’s link spamming. I agree with b about that (but find his waving with the ban hammer a bit over the top).

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 21:18 utc | 71

Tom Q Collins #55 “Re: Strategic Culture Foundation – Do you have any links about this?”
interview with Daniel Lazare
https://eraoflight.com/2021/11/19/us-blacklists-strategic-culture-foundation-in-attack-on-independent-journalism-and-political-dissent/

Posted by: jayc | Nov 21 2021 21:24 utc | 72

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 21:18 utc | 72
Then what’s the point of an open thread if it only consists of what passes the censor? Plenty of others list long collections of links with commentary without demur. Sure it’s b’s site but the attraction to it is that open threads contain ‘news and views’. Spam is empty garbage or advertising; vk’s comments are always intelligent and he links to stuff that’s interesting and one wouldn’t find elsewhere. They are the epitome of news and views——perhaps not your views or b’s but of interest to more than a handful here. I’m sure b doesn’t want just an echo chamber either.

Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 21:42 utc | 73

Cesare @29
“Jose Antonio Kast . . . is the darling of Chile’s media conglomerates.”
Those must be Pinochet’s media conglomerates, the ones that supported the dictator. That being the case it’s a wonder the left has been doing so well in Chile. Does the left have any mass media?

Posted by: Chas | Nov 21 2021 21:53 utc | 74

@ Patroklos, Lurk, Passer By
Well, it’s his blog, he can do whatever he wants (in the literal sense, he has absolute power on this blog). A blog is not a democracy. I understand that.
Indeed, he didn’t even have to bother giving the rules, if he wants to ban me on purely personal or ideological grounds, he should feel free to do so, I wouldn’t get mad or sad or anything.
I post here because I genuinely like it. It’s a good pastime, and it is indeed a good place to train my vernacular English. It is entertaining.
I don’t depend on this blog to be informed, this blog doesn’t have any scientific or academic value, and almost no historical value (including all the comments, including my comments). It would change nothing in my life on a structural level if I suddenly didn’t have access to it. It’s a completely optional part of my life.
I don’t pretend to ever be a blogger. The reason is simple: I have a life. I don’t need and don’t want it.
–//–
Rittenhouse Case Highlights the Nation’s Deep Division Over Gun Rights

While the government remains mired in stalemate on gun control, weapons purchases are at record levels: The run on ammunition has become so frenzied that gun shop owners have had to turn away hunters heading out for the winter big-game season. A spike in the firearm-related homicide rate during the pandemic has overwhelmed local police departments, and the proliferation of homemade firearms, “ghost guns,” has reached epidemic proportions in California.

Every historian knows that the deepest changes in any society are the ones who come at a turtle’s pace.
–//–
Good take:
Rittenhouse case ‘exposes illness of US political system’ (Global Times, Chinese take on this)
I agree with everything in this article except for the over-emphasis on the racial issue, as Rittenhouse’s three victims were white. Racism in the USA is a very complex thing, and you must be there to feel it; it cannot be described lightly with some cheap metaphors this article uses.
What I think is missing in this analysis which I would make it my own if it had been there is the obvious gun industry’s lobby behind all of this. Wisconsin’s bizarre loophole (which is not even a loophole – the spirit of the law clearly only allows rifles for hunting and could easily be amended to include the word), plus the USA’s unique interpretation of the principle of self defense stinks to gun lobby.

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 22:15 utc | 75

Germany revealed COMPULSORY vaccinations are ‘unavoidable’
How is this going to be implemented? What if someone fails to get the vaccine? Will he be imprisoned or fined?
Can our host give us some more information about it?

Posted by: DG | Nov 21 2021 22:23 utc | 76

@Chas
No. The left has a street presence and the obligatory social media one to boot. There are a myriad of popular organizations and local political machines that provide key services not provided by the state and which also mobilize people to the polls. Jadue’s claim to fame, as the mayor of Recoleta, has been the numerous public libraries, pharmacies, and other spaces his communist administration has created.

Posted by: Cesare | Nov 21 2021 22:25 utc | 77

Venezuela Analysis is reporting that turnout is approaching 50% in part of the key 23 de Enero neighborhood of Caracas. That area is a stronghold of Chavismo and other forces of the left.
On the other hand, Chacao, the upper middle class area favored for Guaido rallies, has almost totally boycotted the vote.

Posted by: Cesare | Nov 21 2021 22:28 utc | 78

Graeme Edge, drummer and poet, of the Moody Blues passed, age 80, last week. Cause of death unknown.
https://fivegunswest.blogspot.com/2021/11/graeme-goes-over-edge-rip-graeme-edge.html
This short live show is incredible.
https://fivegunswest.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-moody-blues-best-ever-concert.html

Posted by: FiveGunsWest | Nov 21 2021 22:29 utc | 79

@Patroklos | Nov 21 2021 21:42 utc | 74

Plenty of others list long collections of links with commentary without demur.

No, this link spamming is exclusively vk behavior. And he is an unrepentant serial offender.

vk’s comments are always intelligent and he links to stuff that’s interesting and one wouldn’t find elsewhere.

Vk’s comments mostly self-congratulate his own bias and to take his latest offering as an example, he posts links to Sputnik News, RT, TASS and the fairly widely retweeted Carl Zha. Nothing particularly unique, rare or special.
You’re free to share vk’s biases and interests, but please stop pretending that his link barrages are anything special. There are plenty of link aggregator blogs and twitter feeds that cater to niche interests. I suspect vk gathers a lot of his materials at such watering holes in the first place.
What makes MoA a valuable place on the web is that it is an analytical blog. Turning it into yet another link aggregator is wasteful.
If vk wants to discuss a particular issue and promotes a link related to that issue as background information, then that would be no different than what others regularly do here. If other barflies respond, a (hopefully intelligent) discourse can take place. If nobody responds, bad luck, nobody cared enough.
Various posters here have a favorite single issue that they like to bring up on every thread, but even if so, they tend to do it politely and in moderation. Vk with his marxist pretenses and his obsession with the “petite-bourgeois” is a clear example of this and in that quality he seems to be well tolerated, even if sometimes jeered at the corniness of his dogmatisms.
It is the inappropriate link spamming that is clearly out of line with general behavior here. It also does not really serve any purpose to spawn meaningful discussions. I used the expression “fire-and-forget”, but “carpet bombing” is an equally applicable dezcription.

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 22:33 utc | 80

@ Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 22:33 utc | 81
I never intended to post unique content. I’m not the blogger, I’m just a commenter.

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 22:41 utc | 81

@DG | Nov 21 2021 22:23 utc | 77
Let us hope that the motto will not be “Impfung macht frei”.
Given common society’s progressive loss of historical consciousness that we have been witnessing over the past decades, I do not have a lot of good hope.

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 22:43 utc | 82

Posted by Patroklos @64
Thanks for reminding me about the Mineral Resources Royalty issue.
Gillard didn’t last long as PM because the Labor Party could see her unpopularity with the public and begrudgingly brought Rudd back. At least the public was rid of her screeching nasal voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o9dioUeVJk
When the position of UN Secretary General became vacant Rudd was vehemently and vocally opposed for the job, against the usual Australian convention to support the Australian candidate, by ALL the puppets and usual suspects from ALL parties and the media. They all knew why Rudd was deposed, by whom, and for what reason, i.e. the thief to keep the stolen property. These people have the Bandit State as their first priority not Australia.
New Zealand’s former PM, Helen Clark, also eminently qualified for the position, was also opposed, by the same people for the same reasons, because she refused to participate in the illegal Iraq War.
So we can expect whoever is UN Secretary General at any given time to be a front man, a puppet and a shameless zionist apologist.

Posted by: Paul | Nov 21 2021 22:45 utc | 83

I’m just a commenter.

Except when you are posting barrages of links. That is not “commenting” in any reasonable sense. That is spamming.

Posted by: Lurk | Nov 21 2021 22:49 utc | 84

I for one always look for vk’s comments, including the links, as an excellent supplement and sometimes balance to b’s opinions.

Posted by: Cesare | Nov 21 2021 22:50 utc | 85

Good God, that War on the Rocks site continually reminds me of Andrei Martyanov talking about US MIC pundits turned “military experts” whose experience and knowledge of war are entirely made of viewing war movies and wishful thinking. I guess we’re supposed to ignore that Russia and China are fielding a new generation of tanks, jets and missiles while the US has dulled it’s military capabilities in 20 years of being attrited and defeated by non-state actors?
I guess all is well if the checks to Lockheed clear and the US/NATO don’t go to war with a “near- peer competitors”.
They sure don’t act like they have learned anything.

Posted by: DougDiggler | Nov 21 2021 22:59 utc | 86

@ Lurk | Nov 21 2021 22:43 utc | 83
I’m not hopeful at all too. But given the fact that the Greek gov is implementing the policies that Germany implements (with some delay) I would like to know what tomorrow will bring in my god forsaken country.

Posted by: DG | Nov 21 2021 23:13 utc | 87

@76 vk
That’s the healthiest point of view to have. But you are obviously passionate and informed and make many good points (despite maybe one too many dogmatic marxist arguments). Anyway better that extra dogmatic marxist argument, than some of the various other stuff that appears, as the price we pay for a generally free comment section.
At the same time, it’s been pointed out that you regularly generate enough links etc to just put up on your own site. If you’re doing the work to organize it so nicely anyway, why not? Anyone who wants can check it out on their own, that’s what the web link feature in each comment’s signature line is for.
The same goes for a couple other prolific posters, you should know who you are
Cheers, all!

Posted by: ptb | Nov 21 2021 23:28 utc | 88

Mathew @ 59
Enter Jacob Blake in the search bar and see what he looks like today. He has been on camera a bit recently. Do not take my word for it. Use your own search engine and your own eyes. Stop believing everything you are told.

Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 21 2021 23:36 utc | 89

The latest news regarding the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai is that she has had a 30-minute video phone chat with IOC President Thomas Bach and assured him that she is safe and well. During the call, Bach invited Peng to have dinner with him when he comes to Beijing in January 2022. Peng accepted his invitation.
Faced with this information, The New York Times has battened down the hatches and whinged about the IOC not asking Peng where she was at the time the video call took place.
The Question the I.O.C. Is Too Weak to Ask

Where is Peng Shuai?
That’s the question the International Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach, should be shouting right now — loud, demanding, and aimed squarely at the leadership in China, set to host the Beijing Games in February.
But instead of firm demands, we’re hearing not much more than faint, servile whispers from Olympic leadership.
Peng, 35, a Chinese tennis star and three-time Olympian, has been missing since Nov. 2, when she used social media to accuse Zhang Gaoli, 75, a former vice premier of China, of sexually assaulting her at his home three years ago. She also described having had an on-and-off consensual relationship with Zhang …

Note the screechy tone of these first few paragraphs. I’m afraid the rest of Kurt Streeter’s article continues in the same strident and domineering style.
If one hears the distant sound of splashing water and bubbles, that must be The New York Times sinking farther down the toilet.

Posted by: Jen | Nov 22 2021 0:04 utc | 90

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs” … you must have trained in the MoA comment section 😉
Truly, it’s just an exercise in sifting signal from the noise. Offering suggestions for whom to ban probably adds more noise than signal.
~~
Similarly, it’s a slippery slope to censor comments based on “rightness or wrongness” – versus for being sheer spam and abuse, caught by the Typepad filters, that b has to clean out daily, and which we never see. All bloggers face that kind of pollution.
But censorship of actual content and actual opinion – versus simple housecleaning – is the road to inferior knowledge rather than superior knowledge. And there’s some good logic to illustrate this.
The scientist Heather Heying has a very good essay that analyses the process of this deterioration in knowledge deriving from censorship:
Fact Checkers Aren’t Scientists – too often, they’re censors
~~
I’m still wondering what link Lurk posted @2. I suppose I would like to have scorned it myself, rather than have it scorned on my behalf.
But, on with the sifting.

Posted by: Grieved | Nov 22 2021 0:16 utc | 91

Posted by: Pnyx | Nov 21 2021 15:14 utc | 6
Uhm🤔if you block a highway or walk/play on a highway what are the chances you get hit by a car/truck?
Uhm🤔why should a driver be arrested if he crashes into someone larping/wakling on a highway where he/she/it have no business being?
Uhm🤔most of those cases you whine about is on vid freely available, many drivers were swarmed by blm/antifa rioters/larpers kicking and damaging their cars, a few even involved terrified kids…
Do you blame them for being afraid and panicked?
Dishonest or emotional argumentation on your part, so why should i waste any more thought to your buzzword wapo narrative??

Posted by: Per/Norway | Nov 22 2021 0:32 utc | 92

https://www.rt.com/usa/540912-christmas-parade-waukesha-car/

Posted by: norb | Nov 22 2021 0:39 utc | 93

No comment…but I guess who….

Posted by: norb | Nov 22 2021 0:40 utc | 94

I find it sadly hilarious Western media is unable to read Russian media. Here’s an example based on yet another ignorant report by CBS. If the writer had bothered to read TASS daily as it ought to since its reporting on Russia, then it would have noted the very important decree issued by Putin that amounts to a R2P declaration for the Donbass republics. That means Russia has already escalated the situation short of an invasion by citing the UN Genocide Convention as the reason for its actions since Kiev and the collective West refuse to obey the UNSC ordered Minsk2 arrangement. It’s also clear the writer ignored the very important extended gathering at Russia’s MFA where Putin delivered an extremely important speech. Then there’s the many things Lavrov has said over the last ten days plus his leaking of some very provocative cables. Even Ukraine’s defense ministry says Putin plays chess with the West, but that report also omits the important context I provided above. For those also uninformed, you can get up to speed by reading my article here.
I wouldn’t be surprised that several convoys are getting ready to enter Donbass. The Duma ought to have made the required adjustments to Russian law Putin’s decree required and the R2P operation ought to begin soon. Further back context: About 4 weeks ago, Lavrov was asked at a presser if anything else was going to be done to protect Russia against NATO’s further eastward movement. Lavrov’s reply was cryptic as I reported since he said it would be beyond diplomacy but short of war. Kiev now has two choices: Obey Minsk2 or watch the Donbass republics either join Russia of remain independent states. Oh sure, there is a third choice–Wage war and lose everything.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 22 2021 0:41 utc | 95

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 21 2021 18:28 utc | 28
Logic and reason will only entrench their beliefs further, they have invested to much of themselves into the narrative.
Only when they dont know where their last meal will come from or their fellow travellers turn on them may soe of them change their minds.
Remember that both in Sovjet and nazi germany`s purges some believed “if only Stalin/Hitler knew” , it is just a misunderstanding until the rope tightened around their necks or they heard the word “fire”.
Useful idiots will always be purged after revolutions🤷‍♂️yet the academics and bureaucrats never learn, small minds with a coward and power hungry /vengeful in spirit will always try to find ways to soothe and enlarge their fragile ego.
The stringpullers know this, that is how they manage to gather such enormous wealth.
Ruthlessly exploit anyone to get their will. Small minds can not comprehend this, so they imagine themselves to be in charge and seek to destroy anyone and anything that may endanger their status quo or exposes them for what they are.

Posted by: Per/Norway | Nov 22 2021 0:53 utc | 96

vk @ 76; Sometimes, just Having an opinion, and seeing it posted, can be very good therapy.
Personally, I’ve gleaned good info from your postings, but, it’s b’s blog.

Posted by: vetinLA | Nov 22 2021 0:54 utc | 97

Posted by: vk | Nov 21 2021 22:15 utc | 76
Or you could have just said “thanks I appreciate that some people are interested”. Take a compliment for christ’s sake.

Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 22 2021 0:57 utc | 98

On the matter of censorship, there’s a good article at Strategic Culture reporting on the Aspen Institute’s latest gathering to destroy free speech:
Fighting ‘Information Disorder’: Aspen’s Orwellian Commission on Controlling Speech in America

In the end, the Commission dismisses the classic defense of free speech while calling for greater regulation of speech to address “deep-rooted problems in American society.” However, the deepest rooted problems in our society include the denial of free speech. Indeed, the First Amendment is premised on the belief that this right is essential to protecting the other freedoms in the Constitution. It is the right that allows people to challenge their government and others on electoral issues, public health issues, and other controversies.
The Aspen report is the latest evidence of a building anti-free speech movement in the United States. It is a movement that both rejects core free speech values but also seeks to normalize censorship.

It’s a readable piece, and illustrates well how those who would love to control us can’t bear to see us freely able to discuss them.
~~
There’s another article over there that explained something I didn’t know, how books come to be published. It all begins with literary agents (people who can’t find any useful work) soliciting new works, using the Twitter hashtag for the “Manuscript Wish List”.
This, says the author, is one of the headwaters of the gush of Woke that floods the lowlands. Makes sense – short and good read:
The #MSWL: Where Wokeness Starts Its Day

Posted by: Grieved | Nov 22 2021 1:00 utc | 99

karlof1 @96
The grim news isn’t welcome, but thanks for keeping us informed. It seems like the Russians are not being fooled this time, and that is a relief.
I have been convinced that the shrill warnings in western mass media of Russia’s imminent invasion of Ukraine have been seeding the narrative that Russia is to blame when the war against the Donbass republics resumes in earnest. Kiev attacks the Donbass, Russian peacekeepers roll in, and the West screeches “See?!?!?! Just like we’ve been warning!! Russian invasion!!!!”
Russia will lose the narrative war, but I am starting to wonder if that is even important anymore. Does it really matter what the western public thinks anymore, and is there anything the Russians could do about it in any case?

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 22 2021 1:01 utc | 100

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