Looks like vk is back.
And that Richard Steven Hack guy who hates pretty much everyone made an appearance.
I wish Gordog would come back. I really liked some of his stuff.
And paveway IV.
Meanwhile, my fave poster continues to be karlof.
He never flips out. And always posts links that I at least consider pursuing.
Keep up the good work, b!

Posted by: Cadence Calls | Nov 27 2021 18:42 utc | 3

Why am I not surprised to see Luke Harding’s name in connection with The Fraudian’s vile plot to put Julian Assange in prison and to cooperate in his extradition to the US? Harding’s personal vendetta against Assange makes him (Harding) look more and more like the MI5/MI6 plant so many people suspect he is.

Posted by: Jen | Nov 27 2021 19:04 utc | 5

Bizarre event in Kiev and bizarre “echoes” abroad. President Zelensky hastily called a selected dozen of journalists for a press conference. The invited were seated on two sides of a long table, the president at the head of the table, and questions answers and follow-ups were amazingly free. Something that you can pull out with very polite journalists or sheer strength of personality. None was in evidence (about half of journalists were somewhat combative to very combative) and shaken president was increasingly incoherent, totally lost track of time (it took 5 hours!), and managed to tell several astonishing tales, some actually informative.
The “echoes” like Reuters were that President disclosed that he was informed about the plans to overthrow the government with involvement of the richest person in Ukraine, Renat (in Ukrainian Rinat) Akhmetov. Given how vague the story was (“I have to right to tell any details”, but somehow he had the right to drop one name of a person), and how other astonishing tales were said during this long afternoon, credibility has at best at “highly likely” level ( хайли лайкли, Russian phonetic for highly likely, is a new Russian expression for “totally baseless” or “of course they would say it”). Just to add to the threat of imminent invasion that seers from American intelligence predicted two months in advance.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 27 2021 19:37 utc | 7

Global Times pulls no punches naming what nation’s responsible for riots in Solomon Islands, “Australia has fomented riots in Solomon Island”:
“Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Friday blamed foreign interference for instigating the anti-government protests over his government’s decision to cut ‘diplomatic ties’ with the island of Taiwan and establish diplomatic ties with the Chinese mainland. Though, he didn’t specify who is among the ‘other powers’ that fomented the violence.
“Sogavare emphasized that the choice to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing conforms to the trend of the times and international laws.
“The Solomon Islands is a country with nearly 690,000 people in the South Pacific region. After Sogavare assumed office in 2019, his administration made a choice to set up diplomatic ties with Beijing. However, the island of Malaita of the country, where most of the rioters are reportedly from, has maintained its relations with the island of Taiwan.
“The New York Times said the Solomon Islands has been in a ‘heightened political tug of war,’ citing a former Australian diplomat stationed in the Solomon Islands saying that the US has been providing Malaita with direct foreign aid. Such analysis is representative of the US and Australia.” [My Emphasis]
We’ve seen the usual pro forma denials by the Outlaw US Empire and its lackey Australia, but the evidence points at them:
“Nonetheless, the Associated Press cited observers as saying that ‘Australia intervened quickly to avoid Chinese security forces moving in to restore order.’ More importantly, neither Canberra nor Washington has condemned the riots in the Solomon Islands so far, despite the fact that the unrest has violated the basic spirit of democracy and the rule of law. Media coverage of the riots in the US and Australia was ‘matter-of-fact’ and highlighted the rioters’ political opposition to diplomatic relations with China.”
Clear echoes of the Empire and its lackey’s behavior during the attempted Color Revolution in Hong Kong which is easy for Chinese eyes to see and point fingers.
“It is clear that Australia’s overall attitude, and that of the US, is to connive with and even encourage the unrest, even though the Australian troops and police were sent to keep order in the Solomon Islands. What is right and what is not is obvious. Hence, aren’t Morrison’s remarks of “not indicate any position” actually a support for the evil doings?” [My Emphasis]
Of the remaining 15 national entities that continue to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, four are South Pacific Island nations, thus the importance of seeing the light by the Solomon Islands. The editor essentially says, the global community’s seen this play before, knows the director at the attempted outcome; so, isn’t it time for the Outlaw Nations to be condemned for their unlawful intervention?

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 27 2021 20:01 utc | 9

Forget about the Russian invasion of Ukraine that never happened, according to the Ukronazi’s and their Western handlers there are no separatists in Donbas. I shit you not! Their official line is that it’s Russia occupying Easter Ukraine. Kind of makes an imminent Russian invasion sort of a moot point…but don’t expect much consistency from serial liars and sociopaths.

Posted by: norb | Nov 27 2021 20:23 utc | 11

Karlof1@9 Solomon Islands
Yesterday GlobalTimes had a photo of an intact shop flying Taiwan flags, sitting in the middle of the charred Chinatown buildings.
Australia has gone insane.

Posted by: Dim sim | Nov 27 2021 20:25 utc | 13

M @ 8:
Sorry, I didn’t realise your earlier remark @ 4 had been tongue-in-cheek.
Yes I should have remembered Kabul had actually requested Soviet military assistance in late 1979 after the Carter govt started supplying weapons to the warlords in Afghanistan some time after July 1979 when Brzezinski proposed giving Moscow its own Vietnam War.

Posted by: Jen | Nov 27 2021 20:42 utc | 15

Karlof1 @ 9, Dim Sum @ 13:
If there is a silver lining in the reports coming out of Honiara, it is that the Solomon Islands govt and Beijing thru Global Times have seen very quickly who is aiding the rioters and that for some reason Canberra and Washington are not covering up or pampering over their participation.
If it is of any comfort to MoA barflies, I have been seeing indications over at Reignite Democracy Australia that people are deserting the Liberal Party (not at all liberal except in the neoliberal definition) in droves. Many are joining the United Australia Party – a party I have some reservations about as Clive Palmer is connected to it (and RDA decided to ally with it too)- and I think Scott Morrison knows he is in deep political trouble as next year’s general election draws near. My concern is he will try to stall the elections in May, perhaps by drumming some new emergency.
The other major political party in Australia (Australian Labor) is also losing members.

Posted by: Jen | Nov 27 2021 20:57 utc | 17

karlof1 | Nov 27 2021 20:01 utc | 9
To add a bit; The Chinese are well implanted in most of the Pacific Islands. Many of the shops etc. will be Chinese owned, so organised “riots” targetting them will make things tricky. Many of them also kept their family links with the mainland.
PS. The US has tried to stop the Chinese development of Daru and the US is setting up a Naval base on Manus. Lombrum if memory serves me correctly, paid for by the “lucky” Aussies.

Posted by: Stonebird | Nov 27 2021 20:59 utc | 19

In Solomon Islands, from Reuters. . .
“Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who requested help from Australia, on Friday blamed foreign countries for stoking the violent protests, but did not name any. . .Australian police were previously deployed to the Solomon Islands in 2003 under a peace keeping mission authorised by a Pacific Island Forum declaration and stayed for a decade. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 27 2021 21:01 utc | 21

Don Bacon@16
Thanks for the link. Quite a list of outcomes from that meeting! The tone is definitely hugs all round. I truly hope it’s a sign of a positive future for India-China.
Russia and China sorted out their very significant border issues years ago, and I believe they are the perfect partners to work with if they can get it on their agendas.

Posted by: Dim sim | Nov 27 2021 21:16 utc | 23

Jen @17–
Thanks very much for that important news. The problem as you allude is to keep the new political party from being controlled by Imperial agents and thus becoming useless. Australia’s and Aussie’s genuine interests are not at all allied with those of the Outlaw US Empire. One could argue they are the opposite, which is why the Empire’s grip is so firmly maintained. But contra to that is the Aussie’s very deep vein of independence from authority that goes back to its founding as a penal colony. And Aussie’s too have a great number of guns to employ if required.
There’s quite a lot for Aussies to be very riled about. It would be an excellent feat if they can gouge out one of the five eyes.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 27 2021 21:24 utc | 25

from the State Dept. . .
The United States Urges an End to Violent Demonstrations in Honiara, Solomon Islands

The United States is deeply concerned by the recent violence in Honiara, Solomon Islands. We support the rapid restoration of peace and security in Solomon Islands and an end to the violence and unrest that has occurred in recent days.
We thank Australia and Papua New Guinea for deploying law enforcement and other personnel to Honiara, following a request by the Government of Solomon Islands, to secure critical infrastructure. The United States also joins Fiji, New Zealand, and other partners in urging the quick return to order in Solomon Islands.​
The United States has enduring ties with Solomon Islands. We call on all parties to refrain from destruction of public and private property and engage in constructive, inclusive dialogue to seek a peaceful resolution to their differences. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 27 2021 21:29 utc | 27

Here’s a view on the Solomons which advocates more US presence there (extract). . .
“. . .The Americans outsourced their foreign policy in this part of the world to the Australians. And by extension America’s interests are outsourced as well. No matter what you say, if you’re not there, you’re not interested.
And Washington has near-zero ability to read the local environment and politics – and to quietly influence local affairs. This is a lost opportunity: There is, in fact, a huge constituency in the Solomons who want the Americans around.”

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 27 2021 21:35 utc | 29

@ Dim sim 23
re: Quite a list of outcomes from that [RIC] meeting!
Yes, serious stuff, and I contrast that with the pap that the US-sponsored “quad” puts out, with mindless talk about a free and open Pacific, as if it isn’t. Plus the quad (US, India, Japan, Oz) is touted by the US as being anti-China, but China is never mentioned of course. Russia-India-China is a formidable line-up (as a part — and center — of BRICS).

Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 27 2021 21:52 utc | 31

Posted by: karlof1 @  9  &  Posted by: Dim sim  @ 13
Yes, Australia has gone insane, long ago. But at least it is consistently insane.
At independence, the small Island nation of Vanuatu fortunately had the moderate late Father Walter Lini as PM. Father Lini recognised Palestine and opened diplomatic relations. 
https://www.rnz.co.nz/collections/u/new-flags-flying/nff-vanuatu/father-walter-lini
“The mission of the General Delegation of Palestine (GDOP) is to provide diplomatic representation…strengthening relationships between the government and the people of Palestine and the government and the people of Australia, New Zealand, Timor Leste, Vanuatu, and other Pacific Nations….”
Australia went insane and Lini had to go, so Australia did everything in its power to bring him down, but that’s another story, too long to post here.
Now Vanuatu has an extremist  christian – zionist happy clappy as PM who ‘recognises’ Jerusalem as the ‘capital’ of the bandit state:
https://www.bibliatodo.com/En/christian-news/vanuatu-nation-led-evangelical-christian-recognizes-jerusalem-israels-capital/
Never before has ‘a [shitty] little country far away had such importance in remote Pacific islands or in the corridors of power in the ‘west.’
No wonder Hoarsewhisperer noticed the bandit state flag in the news footage of the rioting mob in the Solomon Islands . So did I.
Australia knows how to do social media colour revolutions too, and for the same malignant reasons as the other USUKA countries.

Posted by: Paul | Nov 27 2021 22:03 utc | 33

A very strong attack is made here aimed at Eternals, “Catering to US ‘political correctness,’ Chloé Zhao’s movie anti-humanitarian for whitewashing Japanese invaders”:
“In recent years, some Japanese right-wingers have been trying to put forward views emphasizing the harm suffered by Japanese people during WWII. They never mention Japan’s responsibility of war or the suffering of other countries. Japan has challenged the major issue of war guilt, shirked its responsibility and tried to clear obstacles for the revival of its war ambitions. Hiroshima has become a handy card for them to distort right and wrong. Now, such a twisted view has finally been released in Hollywood….
“What is unacceptable is, are the tens of millions of Chinese compatriots who lost their lives in the Nanjing Massacre also a ‘lie’ to her? In her film, why didn’t Zhao make a black gay superhero kneel and burst into tears to apologize to the city of Nanjing?
“Under the propaganda of Japanese and Western ideologies, if humanity’s common memory of history is falsified, then whoever betrays history and mankind will become sinners.
“Japan was not a victim during WWII. It is not ‘humanitarian’ to cry for the invaders. Just the opposite, it is the greatest evil. The West is trying to distort the history of WWII, and the US and Japan are colluding to whitewash Japan’s aggression. The world must be vigilant to this.”
I find it easy to understand the Chinese perspective; but the Japanese that were nuked didn’t deserve that fate whatsoever, and in that sense IMO they are victims. The fact that Truman made any sort of news report from the bombed cities almost impossible to make proves his guilt in the affair. I was once a fan of Marvel Comics; but after seeing what they aimed at doing to children’s minds, I now see that organization and their ilk as evil indoctrinators whose products need to be spurned.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 27 2021 22:40 utc | 35

@ Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 27 2021 21:24 utc | 25
Pardon the interjection. Just want to say that the population of Australia, which is larger than the Mediterranean and on the opposite side of the world ie largely irrelevant except for minerals and atomic testing grounds as far as the settlers and Owners are concerned.
27 million. There are plenty of cities bigger!
Parochial is how I consider Australia generally. But all the Aussies I personally know here in London or from my travels are brilliant people.

Posted by: D.G. | Nov 27 2021 22:51 utc | 37

James – From the forecast it looks like the island is going to be hit by a 2nd “atmosphereic river.” Stay safe. All the best to you and family.

Posted by: Sushi | Nov 27 2021 23:04 utc | 39

Re the situation in the Solomon Islands, a map of situation, and on rivalries and alliances in the Asia-Pacific:
Panorama: Faced with China, the allies of the United States in order of battle

Posted by: Black bread | Nov 27 2021 23:11 utc | 41

Always curious what Russia’s MFA decides to translate into English. Today we’re treated to “Intervention of the Permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the OPCW H.E. Ambassador Alexander Shulgin ‘The Navalny Case: Setting the Record Straight'” which IMO is very well done. This paragraph was quite interesting:
“However the ensuing reaction of Western capitals turned out to be tough and vehement. No sooner than Navalny was taken in Charity hospital than traces of some kind of Cholinesterase inhibitor have been discovered in his bio samples. Two days on, German medics made an important adjustment. They concluded about Mr. Navalny’s exposure to a military grade nervous agent belonging to the family of the so-called ‘Novichky’. Just to reiterate, this result was achieved in a few days only. Why they got it so quickly is understandable. Indeed, in contravention to the Chemical Weapons Convention many Western countries had been carrying studies from 2000 to 2020 regarding such kind of chemicals. And this became quite obvious in 2018-2019. Hence, Russia insisted upon samples and formulas of these substances being included in control list under the Convention.” [My Emphasis]
So, the collective West was doing prohibited things eh. Then we have this next revelation which I hadn’t seen before:
“Among other things we asked why the Technical assistance mission, rather formal than really needed, had been thoroughly concealed from the Russian Federation, why the formula of the toxic agent allegedly found in bio samples of Mr. Navalny was kept hidden from us, what was the role of new British citizen Maria Pevchik, how did it come that on the bottle of mineral water purchased by Ms. Pevchik in sterile zone of Tolmachevo airport German specialists discovered traces of the toxic agent similar to the one detected in urine and blood of Mr. Navalny.” [My Emphasis]
And there are many more similar passages in this lengthy testimony. I’ll favor you with this one final passage that’s about half-way though the testimony:
“Frankly speaking, for us it [the many lack of responses] did not come as surprise. We are not the only ones German federal government is not willing to talk to. German authorities appeared to be quite evasive and non-committal as regards their own parliament – Bundestag. I am tempted to recommend you all to look into the transcript of questions asked by German deputies and responses provided by the federal government. Please, look into it, and judge by yourself, the extent of openness to which German government stands ready to speak with the German deputies. I suggest you pay special attention to the questions listed as No 16, 38, 57, and 61. And especially the question about the bottles of mineral water ostensibly taken from the hotel room of Mr. Navaly in Tomsk.
“Speaking of the bottles, I need to be a little bit specific. There was a video footage where Navalny supporters can be seen in the hotel room collecting various items, taking bottles and packaging them. They are seen without any protective gear other than latex gloves. Likewise, people who accompanied Mr. Navalny onboard sanitary plane to Berlin were not protected. None of them, be it Navalny supporters, Ms. Pevchik or people who were in contact with Navalny onboard the plane, has been reported as contaminated.
“Highly suspicious was behavior of one of Navalny’s colleagues – Ms. Pevchik who became quite recently British subject and who is rumored to have links to British special services. She was believed to be the one who transported the notorious bottles all the way to Berlin. However, as she went through pre-flight control no bottle whatsoever has been detected in her luggage on screening. Just minutes later Ms. Pevchik popped up on CCTV footage purchasing a bottle of water from vending machine in the airport’s sterile zone. We can’t but ask the question: may this be the very bottle where German experts are said to detect traces of the toxicant similar to the one found in Mr. Navalny’s analysis? What happened to this bottle? This seems to be an uneasy question for German officials. They are not answering to their own deputies, let alone Russian police investigators. At most they admit somewhat reluctantly that the bottle taken out of the Navalny’s room should not be considered as a key element as it was not studied by the OPCW laboratory. We certainly disagree. This is just the other way round. Bottles of water appeared to be major evidence which is likely to shed light on the dark sides of this eminently weird story.” [My Emphasis]
Ah yes, the highly selective Novichok nerve agent. IMO, the Western planners of such False Flag attacks need to become better versed with the best mystery writers as in every case they’ve left massive clues as to the reality of those events–they were all staged and their tongues must remain tied regarding all the supposed details. And it must be remembered that what’s being discussed is only one event of many Russia’s wrongly accused of, which is why there’s zero motivation for mending relations. As things now stand, it’s up to the Collective West to mend its relations by admitting the falsehoods and other bullshit, dropping all sanctions and apologizing one at a time. But, that won’t be happening anytime soon. It will take a major cataclysm to force the West to do what’s correct–provided it survives.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 27 2021 23:34 utc | 43

@41 Interesting map. We tend to think of the Pacific as a vast body of water dotted with tropical islands, swaying palms, clean sandy beaches, welcoming locals. But those people are involved in international politics like everybody else. Throw in a few nuclear subs and what could possibly go wrong.

Posted by: dh | Nov 27 2021 23:36 utc | 45

Posted by: Jen | Nov 27 2021 20:42 utc | 15
m, is nothing but a disinformation troll, ignoring him is the best way, there are few of the them here.
fro your information , the Soviets, were in involved in assisting Afghanistan, at request of very well Internationally recognised Government of Afghanistan, under Mohammed Zahir Shah, the ruling monarch, he initially approached, IMF and World Bank, they rejected his request on the ground that Afghanistan, did not have any resources and income as collateral! The Soviet, built the first Technical University, first National Highway, hospitals and housing development, alarmed by the prosperity of Afghanistan the Americans moved in and destroyed, as well crippled the Soviet Union, The Soviets helped Egypt to built Aswan Dam, when World Bank refused funding, they build Somalia in to a viable state etc, take look at Somalia, Afghanistan now! Cuba was completely rebuilt by Soviets in particular its Education system! which has produced world class scientists and Doctors! m, is representative of Neo Nazi degenerates and from his typing style is either Eastern European or Hispanic

Posted by: Grishka | Nov 27 2021 23:40 utc | 47

Fascism continues unabated in US Congress. A significant portion of the Outlaw US Empire’s citizenry have minds polluted by the sort of Fascist hatred that began long ago during Colonial times and was rekindled with the 911 FF. For those unaware, the basis for White Supremacism was founded by the British in their need to get their White slaves to “police” Black slaves and drafted laws promoting that distinction. (See the entirety of The Many-Headed Hydra‘s Chapter 4.)
On the surface, there appears to be a great complexity at work, but that’s the chimera. There’s really only one mechanism at work and that’s the desire by the few having power to exploit the rest of humanity’s labor and Nature’s largesse. That’s why the Outlaw US Empire targets all attempts to undo that mechanism by the nations that champion Humanity by every means at its disposal.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 28 2021 0:11 utc | 49

@jen – thank you! your post #17 is quite interesting. I know little of Australian politcs. The first time I realized you country’s importance was in a Mae Brussel program about the Nugan – Hand Bank. Forgive me if I got the name wrong. I hope the bozos in power get bounced out in your country. I would vote for Angus Young or the Laughing Clowns. perhaps Nick Cave if despirate enough.
Or I would just go old school surf ticket. Nat Young and Cheyne Horan

Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 28 2021 0:40 utc | 51

I dunno about others but I have an abiding dislike of oligarchs, so it saddens me that people wanting to avail themselves of a contemporary thesis on how covid has been twisted into a money-making scam that enriches the arseholes must give more money to that scum via amazon abe books etc, lets face it even the author has shit stained hands in that regard.
However anyone who avails themselves of this link should be able to download epub, AZW3,& audiobook copies of “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – The Real Anthony Fauci Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health”, gratis. The written words re in the ‘TXT’ folder, the talkie in the named folder.

Posted by: Auser | Nov 28 2021 1:03 utc | 53

Its been fun.. see ya..

Posted by: snake | Nov 28 2021 1:05 utc | 55

Regarding ANYTHING troubling about Ukraine, let’s not forget, it’s caused by the empire’s inability to live up to past Agreements NOT to expand NATO Eastward to the borders of Russia.
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2017-12-12/nato-expansion-what-gorbachev-heard-western-leaders-early

Posted by: vetinLA | Nov 28 2021 1:32 utc | 57

@54
Farewell snake.
May the winds blow in your favor.

Posted by: Cadence Calls | Nov 28 2021 1:40 utc | 59

@53 debs – I am glad you are not dead. Thank you for the link. I can begin to read Kennedy’s book before I get my physical copy which is on the way. Or so I am told. Additionally, I mentioned before that the esteemed Kees van der Pijl has a new book out about the ‘rona.
States of Emergency
Much love out to the MoA crew.

Posted by: lex talionis | Nov 28 2021 1:49 utc | 61

Israel taking omicron seriously, banning entry to all foreigners for two weeks, and requiring all returning Israelis to quarantine 3 days even if vaccinated, 7 days if unvaccinated, and government hotel quarantine till tested negative if returning from a red-listed African country.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/28/israel-to-ban-entry-of-all-foreigners-over-omicron
Will be interesting to see whether other countries start limiting entry across the board like China and Israel …

Posted by: Canadian Cents | Nov 28 2021 3:09 utc | 63

Grishka @ 47:
Thx for the advice, I thought M seemed familiar from both comments. M is probably “Hispanic”.

Posted by: Jen | Nov 28 2021 3:24 utc | 65

Bizarre CNN piece:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/26/asia/taiwan-hong-kong-china-opposition-intl-hnk-dst/index.html

In just five years, Lin Fei-fan went from charging into Taiwan’s legislature and occupying the building with hundreds of students to a senior job for the island’s ruling party.
…
“If I were in Hong Kong, I think I’ll probably be in jail,” said Lin, the 33-year-old deputy secretary-general of Taiwan’s governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

If he did that in the US legislature, CNN would want him in jail. But here, he is CNN’s pro-democracy hero.

Posted by: Keith McClary | Nov 28 2021 4:18 utc | 67

re A.L. | Nov 27 2021 22:33 utc | 34
which strikes me as a knee jerk over simplification as the issues which of course stem from imperialism are not binary one side good, t’other side bad scenarios in the least.
The solomon Islands only exist as a nation because a mob of whitefellas bundled this diverse and traditionally warring cluster of more than 900 islands together, made ’em one colony, then on the granting of ‘independence’, one nation.
The outcome has been the same for the population as identical efforts in Africa, Asia, ME and Latin America; clans divided by stupid borders, traditional enemies forced to co-operate with no prior settlements and inevitably one group favoured by the colonists given far too much power over traditional enemies resulting in corruption, unfair distribution of resources and violence.
The current disruptions are by no means the first, the islands having had a major internecine blue between 1998 and 2003 which Oz stepped into by sending in the Oz Army & the AFP, two thoroughly racist organisations lacking in the desire much less the ability to understand the cultures they were instructed to opress. eg the Australian Federal Police (AFP were charged with the policing of Papua New Guinea up to that former Oz colony’s independence, they made a mess of that, murdering civilians because of the same type of fear amerikan coppers feel about African-Americans).
Politicians (John Howard & Co) sent their bullies in during the 1998-2003 disagreements in the Solomon Islands – being a political move the ‘solution’ was a typical “make it look good for the media” BS that solves nothing.
Guadalcanal was made the administrative HQ for all the islands by the englanders (most likely in cooperation with amerika because of the WW2 battle.
However the most populous island is Malaita a still largely unspoilt island which has suffered economic degradation at the hands of the Honiara, Guadalcanal based government.
The first blue (’98-03) was caused by indigenous of Guadalcanal rioting in opposition to the influx of Meliatans who shifted to Guadalcanal to access employment and education, both of which there is a dearth of on Melaita because of central government policies.
The Oz instigated settlement was made by central government agreeing to kick more money to Melaita so that education and employment could be developed there reducing the influx into Guadacanal.
Paper over the cracks because there was little or no devolution of power, all of that remained in the hands of central government. This meant two things – that unless an imperial enterprise went out of its way to grease the levers of Melaita powerbrokers it was still possible for a mining company, fishing fleet etc working Melaita to get what it want solely by paying off Central Government and even worse central decisions could be made which destroyed the Melaita environment without heed to the indigenous population.
Post ’03 the up until that time mostly Taiwanese industries who had suffered economic losses during the blue, not only consulted with Melaita leaders, they also made a point of employing indigenous workers.
‘Greasing the wheels’ of local pols is an essential feature of corporate imperialism and convincing yerself that the socialist state doesn’t do such things is delusional.
The PRC really screwed the pooch on this one as by dealing exclusively with Honiara, they won rights to mine and fish in and around Melaita without paying the leadership I suspect that the central government deliberately connived this so as not to have to share their wedges with anyone else, no locals were employed with jobs going to Chinese and some Guadalcanal workers; worst of all environmental protocols were largely ignored.
Check out what happened on Bougainville where a huge gold mine was shut down by the indigenous people using violence as they preferred their environment to any amount of money.
Few if any of the citizens of the Solomon’s have a dog in the fight of China V Taiwan, but they do care about what happens where they live.
I too saw the obscene blue on white flag of Palestine’s invaders in footage of the protests and couldn’t guess at the particular motive because the people of Melaita who featured in that action couldn’t give a flying fuck about the zionist state.
Maybe it was an amerikan provocation altho it is difficult to comprehend why, however it is a mistake to reduce this indigenous insurrection down to Taiwan (amerika) V China because that is a million miles from the genuine sense of injustice which motivates the people.
This is traditional class warfare, seeing it as something else only serves to make it intractable.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Nov 28 2021 5:23 utc | 69

Debsisdead 71
In a Reuters piece that that I can’t access now the said US was running its usual operation on Melaita. NGOs, “aid” ect.
Here an ABC scribbler is crowing because he thinks we got a win over China.
Cina dealing with the internationally recognized government? Not sure that that is wrong, but by what you are saying, Solomon Islands fucked up governance system is something for the islanders to sort out themselves.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 28 2021 7:01 utc | 71

re Peter AU1 | Nov 28 2021 7:01 utc #72
Hiya I don’t quite get why reuters would run a story like that as they are usually the first to cover up the empire’s actions.
I get my info from Solomon Islanders and I’m not sure it is correct to call these administrations ‘fucked up’ as the clumsy governance is a feature not a bug of former colonies. France is the real expert, but Oz has done something similar as the treaty which Oz insisted on post the ’03 disturbances appears to allow Oz to decide whether to interfere, whether or not the Solomons government requests it.
Also it is too simplistic to rationalise clumsy Chinese ‘negotiations’ as some innocent thing that occurred because they dealt with the recognised government when the PRC itself works the same way making deals always involves negotiating with both central and provincial leadership.
China is having a few more of these in Africa – some of you may have noticed the ‘long read’ in last weekend’s NYT concerning a China deal to take over cobalt extraction rights in the Congo from a thoroughly bent and oppressive amerikan corporation which was a leader in using javanese soldiers to butcher Papua West Irian indigenous settlements in west Irian.
The deal was done at central government but now amerika is whining since the Musk slug is gonna struggle to make efficient batteries for his cars as China owns the cobalt market. That should be a big win for China but their asinine stupidity in not bothering to look after the people whose land it is that they are mining, means that amerika, elon creep etc will be running a campaign against them.
This is the 21st century, if China wants to get into the imperialism game, which it appears they do, they need to do a much better job of it, there are too many unskilled jobs going to imported China workers, not enough going to locals and the notion that slinging a few kazillion to the arsehole central pols, but no one else, is a recipe for disaster. amerika won’t win every one of these but as long as China’s deals are so transparently unjust, they will win a few. yeah, yeah amerika has been worse blah, blah that doesn’t matter to some bloke trying to get food and shelter for his family after they’ve all been driven off their clan’s traditional lands. As we see everywhere failing to look after indigenous populations in the targets of empires is a ticking time bomb which must inevitably explode – with or without the amerikan empire’s shit stirring.
We only hear about the ones amerika backs right now Africa is chocka with these insurrections, most of which are against amerika, england & france, which is why we hear sfa. Yet why is China repeating this unjust nonsense?
I’m sorry but as far as I can see many in the west who oppose the amerikan empire are making exactly the same error as many soviet citizens made in the 1980’s, in that they are justifiably pissed off about corrupt iniquities but instead of looking for proper solutions, they delude themselves into believing that their enemy’s enemy is their friend. The former soviet intelligentsia welcomed amerikan capitalism with open arms and they got screwed big time.
Morrison is gonna use China to scare australians in the hope he will get re-elected in May 2022, recognising and resisting his propaganda cannot succeed if those Australians who oppose his lies show themselves to be naive as to how the world actually works.

Posted by: Debsisdead | Nov 28 2021 8:11 utc | 73

@karlof1 (35)
I saw it too, and was going to discuss it here, as well as another article from the same site, but it looks like you beat me to it.
That other article: “Netizens criticize Hiroshima scene in Chloe Zhao’s ‘Eternals’ for overlooking Japan’s acts of aggression”.
Frankly I don’t see what ‘US political correctness’ the writer talks about. If anything, the US is the one taking the credit in bringing Japan to its knees using nuclear weapons intended to intimidate the Soviet Union and blackmail ‘Uncle Joe’ Stalin into submission with. Is it not already ‘politically correct’ to ignore the Soviet Red Army’s role in defeating the Kwantung army in Manchuria?
According to an article on the Greanville Post:
https://www.greanvillepost.com/2021/06/15/dirty-dark-secrets-of-d-day-france-6-june-1944-pushing-back-against-revisionist-history/
* Hiroshima and Nagasaki became two of no less than 60 cities in Japan that previously got flattened by USian firebombing.
* The war-torn Japan was trying to surrender to the US well before the bombing of Hiroshima, but the US refused to accept the negotiations.
* China also got its own share of firebombing from the US as well. Stockholm Syndrome, anyone?
Putin denounced the atomic bombings as a war crime last March. The government of Iran did the same last August. Mao Zedong was said to have done it at one point in his life. Neither of the three figures/entities are or were known to curry favor to the US.
(When making that point in the original page’s discussion thread, I was told that neither the Soviets nor Iran experienced Japanese soldiers’ atrocities first-hand to the same degree that China did. Maybe, but that apparently didn’t stop Mao – certainly he must’ve had a good reason considering what he and his countrymen went through.)
For a publication that normally criticizes the USA for its atrocities, it says a lot when one such atrocity is given a pass, if not praised, just because of who the victims were. This could either be a mere hiccup on Global Times’ part or portend a decline in quality control (assuming there was any to begin with).
All I know is, the Soviets bore the bigger brunt in defeating the Japanese military, and they didn’t target unarmed civilians like the Anglo-American ‘Allies’ did.

Posted by: joey_n | Nov 28 2021 9:25 utc | 75

Debsisdead 73
Thanks for the reply and extra info. A few things there I don’t agree with but your take on these things is always worth reading. From what you say Solomon islands rather than being a nation is a number of nations lumped together. That will be a real playground for anglo interest and divide and conquer. A bit like Ukraine, I don’t think those people will be any better off with China out and Australia in. More than likely worse off. I suspect you’re right though about Chinese, especi9aly the business Chinese not understanding or conecting with a lot of third world and other cultures. Massively different work ethic too which makes it harder.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 28 2021 9:59 utc | 77

“You wish I wasn’t born, well bitch you look boring. Please don’t leave your glass house, it’s the eye of the storm.” …
“Whole world going down, sink or swim. Bitch I’m the wave, call me Poseidon.”
(That’s funny, there’s something else called Poseidon that comes to mind when I read that. Coincidentally.) These are lyrics from a new punk-hip hop song by the Snotty Nose Rez Kids, a Canadian Indigenous rap duo. They’re from Kitimaat, BC, the location of which is shown on a helpful map in this LA Times article.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-earthquake-6-2-quake-strikes-near-kitimat-canada-20190703-story.html
The SNRK joined up with Jamaican-Canadian rapper Just John for this song. Official music video released a few weeks ago.
https://youtu.be/_IEjiXHGbaI

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 28 2021 11:21 utc | 79

@karlof1:
Japan was a victim – but only of its own egregious militarism and racist hubris that led to the catastrophic invasion of countries in the region. 
Nothing can ever justify the fathomless cruelty that it inflicted on the region; nothing.
Imperial Japan was already an advanced technological power ,yet it fought with a hellishly medieval mindset.  China was a backward, agrarian society.
 The atomic bombs were not just to scare the Soviets; they were intended to save American soldiers from the intensely brutal resistance and fighting that was expected on the home islands.
Washington doesn’t like loss of life,  but only if it’s their own numbers. Fat Boy did its job.
In a realpolitik context, the nuked cities were just collateral damage, to end the fighting for several reasons. The `political correctness’ today stems from Obama’s Hiroshima moment.
His visit humanized an  “Ìncident” – as what the Japanese right-wing call Nanjing – and that will be the increasingly PC view; that the Japanese were victims, too, and it was all just a Good War.
And, indeed, it was, between two imperialist powers fighting to decide who was going to be Top Dog in the region.
The Pacific war was never about justice and freedom.
  As the Burma-born author Sterling Seagrave (Yamato Dynasty) saw it, Japan has been Mini-Me of Uncle Sam since the Meiji era.
It got too big for its boots, and simply got slapped down by Empire”s big stick. Or nukes?
But now, of course, Japan is re-purposed as all cuddly and bowing geisha, and deserves a samurai spear back (re-militarization)
As for Soviet armies licking the Imperial Japs in Manchuria, they also stripped the region of its industrial capacity and shipped it all back home. Square deal.
Gawd, the Japanese apologists here are thicker than rabbits in the Outback. (not you, Karlof)
 Some dude called Pacifica something also claimed that Imperial Japan administered Taiwan through `rule of law’.
Please. Japan conducted bloody pacification campaigns against the natives well into the 1930s and tried to forced locals to give up Chinese names and culture. A root cause of today’s independence issues.
Was your sake served at the right temperature today, sister?

Posted by: LittleWhiteCabbage | Nov 28 2021 12:10 utc | 81

You guys will like this:
“Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butosov filmed himself firing 152mm artillery towards separatist positions in Eastern Ukraine to “avenge Holodomor”.
https://twitter.com/KyleJGlen/status/1464886781309079562
So much for de-escalation.

Posted by: S.O. | Nov 28 2021 13:06 utc | 83

Debsisdead @73
You are correct in that to compete as equals in the imperialism tug-of-war the Chinese will need to up their marketing game. They will have to learn to do as the Americans and the British before did in selling inexpensive fantasy (that the imperial power has no intention or even capability of delivering on) in exchange for the resources they plunder if they want to be equals to the British and American empires. Gold paved streets and Disneyland for everyone! At least so long as everyone is satisfied with getting their piece of capitalist paradise off the silver screen.
But I have my doubts that empire is what China is really after. They are building expensive infrastructure, much of which seems out of place in some of the locales that are being developed. Scattershot development of the equivalent of China’s own “ghost cities”. But the Chinese are careful planners and those plans are far longer term than what westerners are accustomed to thinking in. Those “ghost cities” that western media was ridiculing China for a decade ago are not so ghostly anymore, for example. The development that China is promoting along their “Belt & Road” is likewise long term and takes time to bear fruit. They are placing and interconnecting the nuclei around which local economic development can condense.
What China is doing may not be as glamorous as the West’s empty promises (“Freedom™ with a side of fries!”), but it is much more than empty promises. It is not zero-sum extractive deception. They are aiming at real win-win synergy.

Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 28 2021 13:29 utc | 85

@4/86 et al
Anyone who thinks Russia ‘invaded’ Ukraine in 2014 is a fascist, troll, cia or all of the foregoing. Period. End.Of.Story.

Posted by: gottlieb | Nov 28 2021 15:33 utc | 87

@debs
as chris fowdy has observed, china’s messaging is clumsy and often ineffectual because its state media is not driven by market driven content and methods. it’s actually refreshing. often boring, but at least they don’t lie. could it do better? of course, but the assumption taken here that US soft power and propaganda is the gold standard that the rest of the world aims to achieve is not only wrongly cynical but aleo a troubling internalization of imperialist norms. as if the end of the rules-based world order could only be but a passing of the baton. that speaks to a lack of imagination and a projection of the very imperialism one professes to oppose. such thinking precisely mirrors the mentality in which the empire is now encaged. everywhere it sees itself.

Posted by: mastameta | Nov 28 2021 16:06 utc | 89

something may be astir with the joint communique by Russia India China. I won’t believe it unless there’s a follow-up but perhaps India has finally moved out of the quad. huge if true perhaps Russia has quietly leaned on India. or India has finally learned or relearned to play all sides.

Posted by: mastameta | Nov 28 2021 16:32 utc | 91

RE: Posted by: Piotr Berman | Nov 28 2021 14:18 utc | 86
“If there is any comparison between Afghanistan and Eastern Ukraine”
There is a commonality as outlined in Posted by: MagdaTam | Nov 28 2021 12:30 utc | 82
given that “The United States of America” are coercive social relations, not a political geographic construct with “Canada” to the North and Mexico to the South; the coercive social relations not being restricted to a political geographic construct with “Canada” to the North and “Mexico” to the South.
Correct framing is necessary for targetting to avoid blue on blue occurences whilst optimising transcendence by not limiting framing by imprecisions/obfuscations such as “Anglo-Zionism” and other mantra of the inept:
Components of how to drown a drowning man with the minimum of blowback, given that too many cooks spoil the broth, whilst too many cadavers spoil the water supply, both of which being obstacles not limited to indigestion, of what is for afters, and why “drone warfare” is rendered a form of “carpet bombing”.

Posted by: MagdaTam | Nov 28 2021 17:00 utc | 93

RE:Posted by: mastameta | Nov 28 2021 16:06 utc | 89
 “a troubling internalization of imperialist norms.”
The quality and quantity of troubleness of ingestion/internalisation are functions of purpose, as are evaluations such as “the assumption taken here that US soft power and propaganda is the gold standard that the rest of the world aims to achieve “
“such thinking precisely mirrors the mentality in which the empire is now encaged. everywhere it sees itself. “
which should be encouraged through context specific oscillations of “criticism”/silence.

Posted by: MagdaTam | Nov 28 2021 17:17 utc | 95

People appear to die at rates 20 percent or more above normal for weeks after receiving their second Covid vaccine dose, according to data from a huge Swedish study.
The figures are buried in a preprint paper on vaccine effectiveness released last month. The headline finding of the paper was that protection against Covid, including severe cases, plunged after six months.
The researchers did not explicitly examine deaths from all causes – which have risen since the summer in many countries that have highly vaccinated populations.
But on page 32 of the 34-page report, a chart shows that 3,939 of 4.03 million Swedes who received the second dose died less than two weeks later.
(SOURCE: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3949410 )

Posted by: Just Sayin’ | Nov 28 2021 17:32 utc | 97

People should bookmark this link:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/president-betrayed-bureaucrats-scott-atlas-exposes-real-covid-disaster
It is a keeper for the ages!

Posted by: librul | Nov 28 2021 17:42 utc | 99