Open Thread 2021-93
News & views ...Posted by b on December 1, 2021 at 16:56 UTC | Permalink
next page »We’ve reached the point where healthy people are not only stripped of their rights, but they are incarcerated too.
This is from Australia
“Northern Territory police say they don't believe three teenagers who allegedly absconded from Darwin's Howard Springs COVID-19 quarantine facility this morning came into contact with members of the community.
At a COVID update press conference, NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner confirmed the teenagers, aged 15, 16 and 17, tested negative for the virus yesterday.
He said all three were from the Binjari community near Katherine and had been sent into quarantine as close contacts of positive cases.
In Greece if you are unvaccinated you can’t go to a cinema, a theatre or a museum even if you have a negative covid test.
I don’t want to restart a conversation about the efficacy of the vaccines but to point out once again that these rules have nothing to do with protecting public health and everything to do with the erosion of democracy and human rights and freedoms.
Posted by: DG | Dec 1 2021 17:41 utc | 3
@2
Well james, at least you got one post in before the thread went Covid/fascism - and thanks.
I'll see your Silver and raise you a Rahsaan Roland Kirk:
Theme for the Eulipions
"...and suddenly out of nowhere comes a warm sound..."
Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 1 2021 17:59 utc | 4
This bit is about the most hilarious piece of lying coming out of Blinken's mouth. Given this ability I'm sure they're griooming him to head the next regime. The problem is that he sounds so incredibly stupid in denying historical fact.
"Putin said Wednesday that Moscow would seek “reliable and long-term security guarantees” from the U.S. and allies, including agreements to prevent NATO forces moving east and weapons being deployed in close vicinity to Russia, The Associated Press reported.
Asked about Putin’s comment, Blinken said “quite frankly, it’s perplexing.”
“The idea that Ukraine represents a threat to Russia would be a bad joke if things weren’t so serious,” Blinken said. “NATO itself is a defensive alliance. We’re not a threat to Russia, we don’t have aggressive intent toward Russia.”
Posted by: Michael.j | Dec 1 2021 18:04 utc | 6
. . .more common sense from Peter Lee, AKA chinahand:
quote: interesting, isn't it, how recasting the global narrative from "globalisation" to "democracy vs. authoritarianism" has revived the flagging fortunes of a certain fading superpower?"
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 1 2021 18:23 utc | 7
@5 Yeah, weird, it's almost like that covid/fascism thing is the biggest story everywhere in the world right now or something.
Posted by: Schmier | Dec 1 2021 18:29 utc | 8
For the US, this won't go away. Phantom voters.
First they worked out who would not, or was unlikely to vote, and then they - voted "for" them.
The "number" of votes would correspond to the voters that had "apparently" voted. No fraud to see, move on.
Example;
In one Midwestern state, voter rolls costing tens of thousands of dollars were bought by a billionaire leftist every month for over a year. Why would someone buy a list that doesn't change much?Voter lists show people who move. They show people who never or seldom vote.
The white hat canvassing team built a query for one state: "voters who voted in 2020 who never voted before." Guess what! 265,000.
In the same state, thousands of people came forward with stories that when they showed up to vote, they were told someone had voted for them. Get the picture?
In a southwestern state, in its second-largest city, there was a 21-day daily tabulation of cast ballots. Once a ballot is cast, it should not be changed. Not here.
When the millions of cast votes across over 21 snapshots were compared, thousands of ballots had been altered. Some were minor alterations, like a slight name change. Others were more interesting — like when someone voted in person, but his vote was later changed by an absentee ballot.
***
Let's go brandon, but as this enquiry is ongoing, when will we see some real reactions?
Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 1 2021 18:32 utc | 9
...
Then, America's self-admitted losing Army general, Cosplay Killmore, delivers remarks about some very drunk NATO foreign ministers, arm in arm, singing "Ve Are Ze Vorld". It's a must see!
https://fivegunswest.blogspot.com/2021/11/war-pigs-party-down-drunken-nato.html
Posted by: FiveGunsWest | Dec 1 2021 17:08 utc | 1
That's only mildly amusing when one considers its origins and the fact that if NATO/OTAN was honest (cough cough) it would call itself ZATO.
Ve Are Ze Vorld alludes to We Are The World, the Zionist version of which was performed by Caroline Glick after the "Israelis" carried out a deadly military assault on the Siege-busting voyage of the Mavi Marmara from Turkey to Gaza.
It soon became clear that "Israel" would suffer no penalty for its violent abuse of the unarmed crew of the Mavi Marmara, and partial confiscation of its cargo of Humanitarian Aid. Ms Glick then decided that a bit of Creative Gloating was appropriate and staged a Public Performance of a We Are The World knock-off which she and her Flotilla Choir called We Con The World.
The video can be Googled and there's a We Con The World Wikipedia page. However, the most alarming aspect of the song is that it's true, as USUK-ZATO's slavish anti-Russia dumbfuckery amply illustrates.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 1 2021 18:38 utc | 11
Does anyone want to start a pool of the exact date when the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution is invoked to remove Joe Biden from office because he is unable to perform even his ceremonial duties?
The slide is accelerating. Will he last the year?
Posted by: gottlieb | Dec 1 2021 19:21 utc | 12
Last week I saw a film I really enjoyed and I recommend it too anyone - some here probably have already seen it.
Wajib (2017) - IMDb
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6695212
5/10/2018 · Wajib: Directed by Annemarie Jacir. With Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Tarik Kopty, Monera Shehadeh. A father and his estranged son must come together to hand deliver his daughter's wedding invitations to each guest as per local Palestinian custom, in this rousing family drama from Annemarie Jacir (When I Saw You).
7.3/10(1.5K)
Director: Annemarie Jacir
Actors: Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Tarik Kopty
Posted by: tucenz | Dec 1 2021 19:24 utc | 14
NATO meeting in Latvia re: Ukraine. Stoltenberg concedes that a military response to perceived Russian aggression would not be successful in reversing any “facts on the ground”. Therefore, the NATO strategy, as predicted, centres on economic sanctions and political isolation. It can be assumed that the “nuclear option” of removal of the Russian Federation from the SWIFT system is being seriously considered. This is why the rather tendentious arguments that Russia needed to “solve” the problem back in 2014 are, and have always been, hot air - as it was necessary to prepare for this step, which presumedly has by now been done.
https://www.politico.eu/article/jens-stoltenberg-nato-otan-russia-ukraine-united-states/
The National Security Archive has been releasing declassified documents outlining the series of outright lies and misrepresentations delivered by NATO members to the Russian Federation in the 1990s regarding expansion eastward. This information, rather than continued teeth-gnashing over Crimea, is the most important context for the current stalemates.
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2021-11-24/nato-expansion-budapest-blow-1994
Posted by: jayc | Dec 1 2021 19:28 utc | 15
DG @ 3 said; "I don’t want to restart a conversation about the efficacy of the vaccines but to point out once again that these rules have nothing to do with protecting public health and everything to do with the erosion of democracy and human rights and freedoms."
Like it, or not, you probably did "restart" the conversation. OK, cool.
In your world, how far should "public safety" go, or even be a concern? Just curious :)
Posted by: vetinLA | Dec 1 2021 19:33 utc | 16
The world is run by hysterical demented freaks.
And now they're confident enough to publicly their lunacy.
Van DER Leydens announcement.
The Nazi era must be erased from her memory.
Posted by: JPC | Dec 1 2021 19:33 utc | 17
This should be sarcastic, but it isn't:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-02/magnitsky-laws-sanction-hackers-rights-abusers-parliament/100667898
Posted by: Rae | Dec 1 2021 19:38 utc | 18
Maybe Van der Leyden does not trust German research?
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(21)00258-1/fulltext?s=08#%20
Posted by: Tom2 | Dec 1 2021 19:41 utc | 19
Does anyone want to start a pool of the exact date when the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution is invoked to remove Joe Biden from office because he is unable to perform even his ceremonial duties?
The slide is accelerating. Will he last the year?
Posted by: gottlieb | Dec 1 2021 19:21 utc | 13
Well there's the small matter of the VP! to address first!
VP 2% of the DNC primary.
Makes Dan Quayle look like a brilliant VP.
Two liabilities to sort and an economy going down the Gary Glitter.
Good luck with that!
Posted by: JPC | Dec 1 2021 19:43 utc | 20
@17
I think if the gov was serious about public health they should have strengthened the National Health System starting from day one. Instead they did just the opposite.
Last year with no vaccines available the gov was telling us to get to our balconies and applaud the doctors and the nurses who were fighting in the hospitals. This year they furloughed 1000s of them without pay.
I think if they cared about public health they would have made a better effort to provide ppl with early treatments that could have saved 1000s of lives. Instead if you get a positive test they still tell you to stay at home, get some aspirin and don’t go to the hospital until you can’t breath. A few days ago the national association of virologists said you should not take anything except Tylenol.
When you go to the hospital they give you Remdesivir (dubious efficacy, lots of nasty side effects), cortisone and anti clotting medicines. I know because I’ve been sick in August and I was treated in a hospital. Also they put people on ventilators out of ICUs because they have not enough units or specialised personnel to run them.
Although they know by now that vaccinated ppl catch and transmit the virus the only measures they are taking is only for the unvaccinated. No measures whatsoever for the vaccinated.
They should also increase the capacity of the public transportation so ppl would not have to ride the Metro or the buses like sardines.
Lastly I believe if they wanted to convince ppl about the safety of the vaccines they should have made public the contracts they’ve signed with Pfizer et al.
Should I go on ?
Posted by: DG | Dec 1 2021 20:12 utc | 22
vetinLA | Dec 1 2021 19:33 utc | 17
"In your world, how far should "public safety" go, or even be a concern? Just curious :)"
Assuming by "public safety" you mean something more akin to "health & wellbeing".
At what point in time did you ever think that your government had any concern about your "health & wellbeing"? When I say 'your',I mean you specifically,as an individual?
Posted by: ted001 | Dec 1 2021 20:17 utc | 23
Re: 17 VetinLA,
Here in Canada we went from the initial slogan "2 weeks to flatten to the curve" to 84 weeks and counting. The point that I made 84 weeks ago still stands, the Western leaders made a huge deal about how things would return to normal at the start of the pandemic, if only did as they commanded and obeyed these erratic and authoritarian proclamations (I wont say "laws" because in many of these cases the issuers didn't even have the legal standing to issue these orders, but the legal system was unwilling to enforce the law). Now where are we, just like with the 9/11 national security laws, the goalposts have been moved again and again, we've gone from a "get back to normal", "to the new normal", to "a better future".
The blunt truth is that our political leaders in the West are utterly corrupt and incompetent, if they were competent they could have created laws and regulations that would have allowed a return to normal. But they are not competent so they could not create those regulations and thus solve the pandemic and they are also corrupt, so the decrees they did pass had more to do with restricting the freedom of citizens to criticize, organize and protest against the establishment powers than the public good (BLM rioters burn down a city, well racism is a public health crisis so they need to be heard even in a pandemic, citizens complaining about lockdowns, they are a public health danger, send in the police to smash some skulls).
The "better future" our leaders are now promising is just another goal post that will be moved, a distant ideal forever receding into the horizon for the teaming masses to gaze upon and dream about while carrying their heavy yokes into the grave.
Posted by: Kadath | Dec 1 2021 20:18 utc | 24
@ Stonebird 10
as this [phantom voter] enquiry is ongoing, when will we see some real reactions?
Certainly there are bogus voters, but if people are anything like me (god forbid) then they say that the whole system is rotten so why get excited about one rotten apple in a rotten bin. There are all these other problems with the election system.
Start with gerrymandering, where segregated minorities have their districts split off into majority districts, so their votes don't count. Then consider the vast expenses of campaign financing, and how they build a following of bought-and-paid for lackeys that govern for the people - NOT.
It's quite popular to define "democracy" as voting. Why is Taiwan democratic? Because they have elections, etc. But that's exactly why we DON'T have democracies, because voting puts people into power who do not, and can not, represent citizens.
So a country doesn't have elections? So what. They do have people who came up through the ranks of governing with strong considerations of what people want and need.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 1 2021 20:27 utc | 25
Craig Murray is back. Which is nice. 4 months of jail. I'll toast on that, though I don't have any whisky at home.
Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Dec 1 2021 20:38 utc | 26
If a government introduces mandatory vaccination, then it eliminates the control group.
There can therefore be no solid statistical evidence that vaccines cause any damage, so the government cannot be blamed for anything.
On the other hand, if there remains a sizeable control group, and the rate of (say) ovarian cancer remains the same as the historical rate among the control group, while the rate is significantly higher in the vaccinated population, then there would be a strong argument that the vaccines were in fact the cause of the difference (in that scenario).
A government that has pushed vaccines hard, but has also seen growing evidence of damage, might see a policy of mandatory vaccination as a way to avoid being blamed.
Posted by: Deltaeus | Dec 1 2021 20:42 utc | 27
@Stonebird 10
The "Thinker" claims there is a vast amount of proof, but does not provide a link to all this data.
Posted by: Keith McClary | Dec 1 2021 20:45 utc | 28
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 1 2021 18:02 utc | 6
Ja, ja det vil e gjør.
(Yes, yes i would.)
Is it your vid?
I do not have jootoobe but if i had i would have hit follow.
Posted by: Per/Norway | Dec 1 2021 20:50 utc | 29
Posted by: DG | Dec 1 2021 20:12 utc | 23
How dare you use logic and reason?
Dont you know you are only allowed to react emotionally, now say 200 "fauci is the science" or i will have to report you to the thought police.
Accept your menticide or reeducation is required, you are not allowed to doubt those who`s minds we have already killed.
Reeducator Per
Norway
Posted by: Per/Norway | Dec 1 2021 21:01 utc | 30
Stonebird @10
You can tell when the Mockingbird mass media is lying hard when they feel compelled to put their lie right in the headline for every story on the topic, even when it makes the headline ludicrously long and stilted. We know there was massive election fraud in the 2020 elections because every single story about anyone looking into the possibility of that fraud has right in the headline shrill assertions that it is all lies and conspiracy theory. The Mockingbird mass media wouldn't have to try and force this meme so hard if they had the truth on their side.
Compare a legitimate headline with one that is guaranteed to be a forced false narrative (lie).
Organization XYZ Investigates Possibility of Election Fraud in Arizona
vs.
WHITE SUPREMACIST PRO-TRUMP Organization XYZ Investigates CRAZY CONSPIRACY THEORY LIES About IMPOSSIBLE Election Fraud in Arizona
Can they make their efforts at deception any more obvious?
Stupid presstitutes should just print their whole story in bold caps like Circe does whenever they need to force a meme. Just make the whole story into one long headline. That always works great.
Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 1 2021 21:06 utc | 31
@31
I’m so very sorry. I will never do it again. Fauci is The Sience and The Science is God
:)
Posted by: Dg | Dec 1 2021 21:07 utc | 32
Making the rounds in time to Destroy the JCPOA w/Iran
The following quotation is not spinnable.
It is an unambiguous threat against Israel using a classic anti-Iranian meme. I was NOT able to find it on Fars news or the Iranian Students News Agency, and I tried. I found other quotes by Gen Shekarchi and they were not anywhere near this level of unprofessional, crazy.
Is it real or did someone plant it on jpost?
Israeli MSM is as bad as U.S. MSM, I doubt anything gets vetted if it comes from a 'trusted' source.
Brig.-Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, on Saturday [Nov 27, 2021] "We will not back off from the annihilation of Israel, even one millimeter. We want to destroy Zionism in the world,” Shekarchi told the Iranian Students News Agency." https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/iranian-brig-gen-urges-destruction-of-israel-prior-to-nuke-talks-687248
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Dec 1 2021 21:15 utc | 34
Hawkesbury City Council is the most corrupt council in the most corrupt state in Australia. The former premier resigned recently and is before the corruption watchdog. The council is a marketplace for the exchanging of favours and a clearing house for 'donations' to the duopoly political parties who control the state and federal governments. The same corrupt, donor friendly, governments who are responsible for oversight and administering the laws. The results have created a number of environmental disasters.
The Stink Factory:
https://www.2gb.com/you-cant-breathe-foul-smell-leaves-business-owners-on-the-brink/
Nothing new about the stink factory:
http://www.hawkesburycouncilintegritywatch.org/elf-farm/
It's not the only vermin infested and polluted stink factory in the Hawkesbury:
http://www.hawkesburycouncilintegritywatch.org/tuscany-foods-2/#foods
Tuscany foods,now known as Hypro or Schembri & Jennings have been flouting/colluding with the corrupt council for decades. The proven corrupt earthmover/donor, Daracon, had a problem dumping 2,4,5,T and dioxin from the Sydney Olympic site and another problem dumping asbestos contaminated soil from Rupert Murdoch's massive Fox Studio site. He chose the huge TuscanyFood site and made millions in saved dumping charges and fees.
Now every time it rains the contaminated water flows down Currency Creek, the food bowl which irrigates the many market gardens feeding the Sydney vegetable market. No wonder cancers are rising. The EPA sits on its hands. Council elections are coming up but nothing will change it will be back to exchanging favours and collecting 'donations' for the pending federal elections.
Posted by: Paul | Dec 1 2021 21:20 utc | 35
New anti-Fauci song. "Sad Little Man". Demonetized on Youtube.
Posted by: Lysias | Dec 1 2021 21:29 utc | 36
Tom2 | Dec 1 2021 19:41 utc | 20
the conclusion of the lancet article:
"It appears to be grossly negligent to ignore the vaccinated population as a possible and relevant source of transmission when deciding about public health control measures."
still waiting for China to prescribe ivermectin. still waiting for the governments of VZ, Iran, Cuba, China, NK, Russia or any other official enemy to instruct their 10's of thousands of nationals living outside their native lands to refuse mrna vaccinations.
those gov'ts are probably all on the Fauci payroll too.
when governments refuse to adopt basic public health measures, you can tell who the real idiots are by the way they insist on making the problems of the virus about something most people cannot even understand, b/c of lack of even basic science. A child, an autistic, gender-fluid, woke, ADD/ADHD child, can understand masking, social distancing and contact tracing. 5000 dead vs 15,000,000 dead is easy to grasp.
but people don't get to sound smart by talking about masking and ventilation. you don't get to be high priest of your temple to rosicrucian pseudo-science by focusing on simple truth.
i'm really glad i don't know any of the people here who shoot their "stand my ground" mouths off about the vaccine. of course it's mostly hot air.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 1 2021 21:42 utc | 37
@CC 35
re: [Iran] will not back off from the annihilation of Israel
I haven't studied this thoroughly, but I think it's possible that something gets lost in the translation, and the desire is to annihilate the government and not the country. Many people would like to see the Israeli government destroyed, but not the people. Like when Americans sing God Bless America they mean the country and not the government. Usually.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 1 2021 21:48 utc | 38
@gottlieb #13
Given that Biden is just a spokesmodel, I honestly don’t think it matters if cognitive decline is real or significant.
So long as he can be trotted out every few weeks in a controlled environment, that’s good enough.
He wouldn’t be the first world leader or even Is President to be nonfunctional.
Posted by: c1ue | Dec 1 2021 21:51 utc | 39
Russian foreign policy diplomacy is coming into tighter focus:
"We cannot rule out the possibility that the Kiev regime might slide into a thoughtless military venture. This creates a direct threat to the security of the Russian Federation. President Vladimir Putin spoke about this at the expanded Collegium of our ministry on November 18. He stressed that we do not need conflicts, but if the West is unable to prevent Ukraine from venturing into reckless actions, and instead encourages it to do so, then we will take all the necessary steps to reliably ensure our security.We constantly and persistently advocate the negotiation of collective agreements that would guarantee security in Europe and the Euro-Atlantic area.
Since the 1990s, a series of decisions have been made by the OSCE, which proclaimed at the highest level the principle of indivisibility of security, according to which no state should ensure its security at the expense of the security of any other state.
The West has consistently ignored and flagrantly violated these decisions, including the statements made by its own presidents and prime ministers. It has consistently expanded NATO towards the borders of the Russian Federation, moved its military infrastructure towards the east thus creating a direct threat to our security and violating the principle of indivisibility of security.
Many times, starting from the mid-2010s, we have proposed that this situation be addressed by making the principle of indivisibility of security legally binding, but the West continues to vehemently refuse to do so.
Now the President has set the task for us to sharpen this issue to the utmost, and to insist on the need to agree on long-term sustainable security guarantees. We are strongly in favour of this collective approach as opposed to an approach where everyone acts in their own interests, as the West prefers."
https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4976236
First, "a direct threat to the security of the Russian Federation" is a condition in Russian military defense policy that permits a military response.
Second, Russia enthusiastically accepted the "principle of indivisibility of security, according to which no state should ensure its security at the expense of the security of any other state" when it joined the OSCE.
This fits with Russia's belief that the OSCE should be the main body to address pan-European security across all dimensions.
https://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/4794329
"We stand in solidarity in our belief that due to its wide geographical coverage and a comprehensive approach to security in all its dimensions, as well as due to the rule of consensus, the OSCE is quite capable of playing a more weighty role in international affairs, primarily, in the Euro-Atlantic region.Russia is confident that in order for this to happen, it is necessary to reinstate the culture of mutually respectful and equal dialogue and the search for compromise, which was once inherent in the OSCE....
the goal is to return the OSCE to its original purpose as a core pan-European organisation for discussing and making collective decisions in military-political, economic-environmental and humanitarian security."
More than that, European security should be cemented in under the principal of balance of interests whereby no country can become secure while making another insecure.
USA, obviously, wants to interfere. It fears losing NATO, which is a cash cow for the US (and some EU) 1% ers (the money diverted to US military is money that could be spent on the well-being of US taxpayers).
Now the Russian President will use the US and EU provocations in Ukraine to highlight the urgent need for a legally binding Treaty.
Posted by: powerandpeople | Dec 1 2021 21:58 utc | 40
Israel's government is every bit as legit as that of the US Confederacy.
try saying that in the land of freedom fries. Israel, even more than Saudi Arabia and some other obvious ones, is a great litmus test. get someone talking about Israel and watch how fast they reveal themselves (see VT's Senator Afterbern).
if one wants to be less confrontational and blunt with an interlocuter, ireland is also an excellent inkblot to see what kind of horsecrap is spewed up about Western colonialism, terrorism-as-state-policy, fomenting religious division, infiltration, espionage, etc.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 1 2021 22:06 utc | 41
@ waynorinorway | Dec 1 2021 17:59 utc | 5.... thanks.. i love rashaan roland kirk! genius! i haven't heard this track before.... it sounds mid 70s... it says 1976 after looking... similar vintage to the horace silver track which was written in the 70's but performed in 1987...
@ ptb | Dec 1 2021 19:21 utc | 14.. might have to do something like this more often, lol!
@ DG | Dec 1 2021 20:12 utc | 23.. i agree with you.. thanks for saying all that..
@ Tuyzentfloot | Dec 1 2021 20:38 utc | 27.. thats good news.. the guy is a hero in my eyes..
Posted by: james | Dec 1 2021 22:21 utc | 42
==> Tuyzentfloot @ 27
Craig Murray is back. 4 months of jail.
Which has given him 4 months to plan strategy...
around now hardened battle lines...
His blog is one of the most widely read and commented in UK
and he advocates for Scottish independence..
Which would mean the end of the multi billion dollar
UK Nuclear submarine Base stationed at Clyde
Which is why "The Establishment" tried to break him, as they have
done with Julian Assanage.
The Establishment will not give up, but neither will Murray.
Hopefully common humanity will prevail
Posted by: David K | Dec 1 2021 22:23 utc | 43
#28 "If a government introduces mandatory vaccination, then it eliminates the control group."
I find that an overreach. Occam's razor, the profit motive alone is sufficient to explain mandatory vaccination. other explanations are at best a felicitous convergence, and not the primary impetus.
Posted by: mastameta | Dec 1 2021 22:28 utc | 44
Posted by: jayc | 16
I was waiting for the open thread to post this NATO piece. I couldn’t resist sharing these extracts:
NATO: A Fascinating release of letters exchanged between Clinton and Yeltsin.
Revealing the Americans were lying, knew they were lying, Yeltsin began to suspect they were lying, but couldn’t quite believe the good ole boy Clinton would lie to him, knowing what was at stake.
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/russia-programs/2021-11-24/nato-expansion-budapest-blow-1994
Shame Boris didn’t know he was encountering “nedogovorosposobnye”….
The US has never been agreement capable.
Some extracts:
>…The Yeltsin eruption on December 5, 1994, made the top of the front page of the New York Times the next day, with the Russian president’s accusation (in front of Clinton and other heads of state gathered for a summit of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, CSCE) that the “domineering” U.S. was “trying to split [the] continent again” through NATO expansion.
>…The new documents, the result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the National Security Archive, include a series of revelatory “Bill-Boris” letters in the summer and fall of 1994, and the previously secret memcon of the presidents’ one-on-one at the Washington summit in September 1994.
>…Clinton kept assuring Yeltsin any NATO enlargement would be slow, with no surprises, building a Europe that was inclusive not exclusive, and in “partnership” with Russia.
In a phone call on July 5, 1994, Clinton told Yeltsin “I would like us to focus on the Partnership for Peace program” not NATO.
At the same time, however, “policy entrepreneurs” in Washington were revving up the bureaucratic process for more rapid NATO enlargement than expected either by Moscow or the Pentagon, which was committed to the Partnership for Peace as the main venue for security integration of Europe, not least because it could include Russia and Ukraine.
>…The final assurance was Clinton’s agreement to come to Moscow in May 1995 for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the victory over Hitler.
In Moscow, Yeltsin berated Clinton about NATO expansion, seeing “nothing but humiliation” for Russia: “For me to agree to the borders of NATO expanding towards those of Russia – that would constitute a betrayal on my part of the Russian people.”
But Yeltsin also saw Clinton would do whatever he could to ensure Yeltsin’s re-election in 1996, and that mattered the most to him.
Only after that Moscow summit would Yeltsin order Kozyrev to sign Russia up for the Partnership for Peace.
Posted by: Melaluca | Dec 1 2021 22:47 utc | 45
@JPC, 18
When Defence Minister von der Leyen demitted office to take up the Presidency of the European Commission, she took the salute at a torchlit procession of the German bundeswehr. I thought it was a crass action at the time given that Ukrainian nazi militias were holding torchlit marches and carrying banners commemorating the SS Galician division, never mind her country's history. So now she is talking about mandatory vaccination, an action which would be in breach of the Nuremberg Code (http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/nuremberg/) by causing people to become subjects in an experiment without their informed consent and by authorising the experiment on people without the full completion of trials on animals (see paragraph 3 “the experiment should be so designed and based on the results of animal experimentation”). More echoes from German history.
Posted by: cirsium | Dec 1 2021 23:04 utc | 46
while the Russians keep on helplessly yapping, NATO keeps on doing.
And NATO once again is beating the Russians at their own game, using Game Theory. USA/NATO/West understood quite well Putin wanted a frozen conflict in Ukraine, so they will NOT let him have one.
It's simple. And effective. Start a war in Ukraine, get Russia to respond, then strangle Russia economically with sanctions.
Now Putin has 2 choices:
1. if Putin doesn't respond to an attack in Donbass, he loses face with Russia and once again proves he is a pushover (as he has consistently been presenting himself since 2014, when he let Ukraine fall into Western hands). Russia loses.
2. If Putin does respond in Donbass, West/EU/USA immediately place crushing economic sanctions on Russia. Russia loses.
In BOTH cases, Russia loses. It's simple. And beautiful.. USA got Putin by the balls, no matter what he does.
Not that I like it but it's his own fault. Too bad. USA once again proved they play better chess that Russia. Personally and honestly as a Bulgarian, I have never liked Russians that much. They always appeared clumsy and dumb to me.
Posted by: Hoyeru | Dec 1 2021 23:16 utc | 47
@DG, 23
I think if the gov was serious about public health they should have strengthened the National Health System starting from day one.
If the governments had been serious about public health, they would not have prevented primary care doctors from treating the initial infection. Early intervention is a key medical tool whether the disease is cancer or heart disease or infection with SARS-CoV-2.
@Tom2, 20
Thanks for the link to the Lancet letter. Perhaps it is time for Germany, the UK and Gibraltar to copy Japan and start using ivermectin
Posted by: cirsium | Dec 1 2021 23:22 utc | 48
Gruff wrote:
We know there was massive election fraud in the 2020 elections because every single story about anyone looking into the possibility of that fraud has right in the headline shrill assertions that it is all lies and conspiracy theory.
___________________________________________________
I would love to see some evidence for what you claim "we know". Just one little shred of evidence would be wonderful.
The republicans spent 10 months pouring over the ballots in one single Arizona county only to finally concede in the end that Biden had won by even more than the first count. In Georgia they scrutinized all the ballots by hand and found no evidence of fraud or irregularities. Again that was Trump supporters running the recount.
I personally suspect that there is indeed ballot fraud in the elections in the US of A, but all the places where Trump and his minions screamed about fraud were examined very closely and clearly not the places where that fraud exists. The fraud is indeed there but Trump and the MSM did their usual choreographed dance to misdirect the public away from the real fraud.
https://conjuror.community/misdirection-techniques/#2
Posted by: jinn | Dec 1 2021 23:23 utc | 49
@Posted by: FiveGunsWest | Dec 1 2021 17:08 utc | 1
Dude, look at your analytics. Your post has gone viral and has been viewed at Nato headquarters in Belgium at least 20 times. I've never seen this happen on blogspot. 1300 views in 12 hours!!!! General Cosplay Killmore. I bet the Pentagon is trying to figure how wtf he is! LOL. I'm dying.
https://fivegunswest.blogspot.com/2021/11/war-pigs-party-down-drunken-nato.html
Posted by: Ru-Paul Simon LeGree | Dec 1 2021 23:23 utc | 50
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 1 2021 21:42 utc | 38
you don't get to be high priest of your temple to rosicrucian pseudo-science by focusing on simple truth.
__________________________________________________________________________
The main reasons I read MOA everyday is the hope to see gems like this
Posted by: jinn | Dec 1 2021 23:33 utc | 51
Deltaeus@28
"If a government introduces mandatory vaccination, then it eliminates the control group."
Bingo. This is the main reason for the forcing.
Thanks
I am also seeing a lot of buyer's remorse from those who thought the 'vaccine' would be like their childhood innoculations against polio TB et al. and are now realizing they have been sold a bill of goods.
Posted by: ld | Dec 1 2021 23:34 utc | 52
Well surmised article on NZ politics and recent NZ political history:
"Who can break Ardern’s grip on the New Zealand leadership? The National Party hopes a conservative business heavyweight will break its run of failure... New Zealand’s poorly performing opposition National Party has a new leader, the man whom National MPs hope will unite and lead the party against Labour’s Jacinda Ardern at the next election".
Ardern previous worked for Tony Blair and was mentored by Klaus Schwab.
https://johnmenadue.com/tackling-jacindamania-kiwi-opposition-looks-for-a-better-way-to-fly/
"Luxon is heavily supported and mentored by former prime minister Sir John Key. He is a successful businessman and an evangelical Christian who opposes capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, and recreational cannabis. Before becoming a National Party MP, he was a board member for Virgin Australia and Tourism New Zealand, chief executive officer and president of Unilever’s Canadian operations, then CEO of Air New Zealand.
Luxon says his evangelical Christian faith doesn’t make him a radical. He said his faith influences every aspect of his life and “shapes his values” but it doesn’t shape his political views.
"Surely Luxtons 'conservative' views and 'values' would make him a supporter of the Geneva Conventions and the universal application of the NZ government supported conventions? And a supporter of UN resolutions? Or would it? Perhaps his mentor Sir John Key, nee Schlüssel, has persuaded him to make an exception for the ugly ethnic cleansers of the bandit state? One honest reporter could find the answer to that with two or three simple yes or no questions.
Further to the right is the ACT Party:"ACT is led by a comically appealing and puckish character, David Seymour. He is a practised expert at made-for-TV pithy one-liners..."
"ACT (the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers) was founded in 1995 by the former minister Roger Douglas. Earlier, as a Labour government finance minister. he produced a radical neo-liberal revolution in New Zealand, selling public assets and introducing policies for ‘‘user pays’’, smaller government and market-led economics."
The unpopular Roger Douglas economic policy is remembered as 'Rogernomics'
Posted by: Paul | Dec 1 2021 23:55 utc | 53
Alastair Crooke
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/12/01/now-or-never-the-great-transition-must-be-imposed/
Posted by: Joe | Dec 2 2021 0:08 utc | 54
Slightly edited from an entry over at Sakers blog [and yes, it could probably could use significantly more editing]:
===========================
I have to disagree with just about everybody on this board, comparing China's utterly bogus claim on Taiwan to that of Russia's claim on Crimea specifically and to generalize, eastern Ukraine....doesn't hold up to historical scrutiny or, to any known morality other than, "might makes right".
Hatred of the US, as opposed to un-democratically imposed policy makers in DC, should not be conflated with searching some rough approximation of justice. The US, under Obama, meddled unjustly with Ukraine..and Syria...and Libya...and...well, let's just say Obama [and his still ardent fan club] were the most active colonialist in United States history], that is established fact.
Historically, Russia has every claim to both Crimea specifically and the eastern Ukraine. The populations of both areas are primarily Russian and identify as Russian and are on record as having wanting to be part of Russia. In Crimea and eastern Ukraine the morality of self-determination and historical claims dovetail.
Taiwan on the other hand, is the complete reverse, it's INDEPENDENT history and people are some 3,000 years old. China only recently occupied Taiwan and then, only for some 180 years and that, my dear friends, was only followed on the heels Portugal's occupation of Taiwan. After Portugal? Think about that! China's "historical ties" to Taiwan are falsely portrayed by "thought leaders" who prey upon the gullible and those that are studiously ignorant of history.
So, three points:
1] China's historical claim on Taiwan is significantly less valid than England's "historical" claim on Ireland or India and is just as effing colonial. The reason Japan is not entirely hated in Taiwan rests on the simple fact that Japan, in 50 years, did more infrastructure building in Taiwan than China did in it's 180 years of occupation. To watch so many pontificate on the merits of China re-instituting colonial rule throughout Asia is revolting to this American-Irish citizen. Like a broken clock, not every single position held by the US's elite is wrong.
2] Until Taiwan was occupied by Chiang Kai-shek back in 1949, the Taiwanese were never considered by the Chinese, [or by the Taiwanese themselves], as Chinese and they still bridle at the denigration most main-landers put them through...until recently, when democratically elected governments governed in an enlightened manner that has enhanced present and future generations lives.
3] The Taiwanese most certainly don't want to be part of China. Both Nixon to a degree and Jimmy Carter most imperiously, went over the heads of the Taiwanese people, there is no moral justification for re-instituting Chinese colonial rule of the Taiwanese. Carter's treatment of Taiwan calls to mind the worst of the antebellum plantation owners...where loyal slaves were sold down the river after they were deemed no longer useful to the bottom line of the plantation.
Again, Russia is perfectly justified in it's views and actions vis-à-vis Crimea, eastern Ukraine and in general, the Black Sea. That's very different than China vis-à-vis Taiwan where the behavior we are witnessing, is nothing more than that of a brutal, swagging, colonial bully. It's truly sad that the dumb-asses in DC/NY-C/LA-lah-lee have so mangled the world since 1991 that Russia is now tragically tied to Xi's Maoist colonial ambitions. It didn't have to be this way, it would take an awful amount of effort at this point but, we could still save this ship.
The Black Sea region has no defensive or economic value to the US, outside of the elite's delirious fantasies of conquest. The place is worthless to the USA, current US policy is unjustified and in the end, will prove unfruitful. Taiwan on the other hand, is well run country, a country that dragged itself out poverty, a country that produces products desired in every region in the world, it has every right to national self-determination!
Please people, read your history!
Posted by: S Brennan | Dec 2 2021 0:27 utc | 55
Really depressing stuff out of Ukraine. Soldiers reportedly shoot immigrants on the border with Belarus.
From Donbass Insider.
It seems legitimate to me. Where is the international condemnation for this heinous act?
Posted by: lex talionis | Dec 2 2021 0:48 utc | 56
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 1 2021 18:38 utc | 12
Holy horse feathers Hoarsewhisperer. That's incredible. Thanks for your thoughts, facts and for caring!.
Posted by: FiveGunsWest | Dec 2 2021 0:53 utc | 57
@ S Brennan | Dec 2 2021 0:27 utc | 56 who wrote in support of Taiwan independence
"
Please people, read your history!
"
I would ask you to do the same but within a larger context. Take for comparative example Puerto Rico. Please read about the abuse/favoring of Puerto Rico to try and make Cuba look bad.
And then maybe educate yourself about the global private finance system that makes any claim of Taiwan "independence" the BS it is covering of our jackboot reality.
Taiwan is a pawn in a civilization war going on about uni-polar or multi-polar global finance.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 2 2021 0:56 utc | 58
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Dylan Thomas
Posted by: ld | Dec 2 2021 1:11 utc | 59
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 2 2021 0:56 utc | 59
What does your comment have to do with my post at 56? Really, how does Puerto Rico relate to the comparison of Taiwan to Ukraine [outside of your troll baiting on an open comment section]?
Posted by: S Brennan | Dec 2 2021 1:12 utc | 60
Posted by: S Brennan | Dec 2 2021 0:27 utc | 56
According to you, Taiwan is not part of China, however, according to Taiwanese, Taiwan IS China. It looks like there are many who accept the idea that in principle Taiwan can claim that the mainland is part of their china, but China can't claim Taiwan is part of the mainland China.
Posted by: Man | Dec 2 2021 1:35 utc | 61
@Brennan
Please cite some links to support your point that Taiwan had historically been an independent country.
Here's something for you to chew on meanwhile.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyu_Kingdom
Posted by: Surferket | Dec 2 2021 1:37 utc | 62
S. Brennan @56
Very interesting post, but...
...you ignore Han Chinese immigration, and...
...the proportion of the Taiwan population that are now ethnic Han.
Do you know what proportion of the Taiwanese population are ethnic Han and what proportion are indigenous? Can you do some research on this and let us know whether this affects your proposition?
Posted by: ADKC | Dec 2 2021 1:59 utc | 63
@61 S Brennan - "your troll baiting"
Yes, perhaps he was baiting a troll, as you claim, but I don't think he was baiting you, simply challenging your claim and broadening the comparisons.
Either your Crimea was a straw man to disparage China re Taiwan, or you were sincerely trying to compare territories under a theory of annexation - in which case, Puerto Rico becomes a great examination, and only one of several available when looking at the USA, or other European colonialists.
But I think it's best if we all stick to the ideas being discussed and not try to disparage commenters themselves.
Posted by: Grieved | Dec 2 2021 2:06 utc | 64
re Don Bacon | Dec 1 2021 # 26
Hiya I never cease to be amazed that some humans can rationally claim that more than 7 million 7,052770 crisis actors were rounded up hired and put to work to vote on election day.
A quick examination of the slack amerikan election system - different in each state quickly reveals how hard it would be to win an election with a majority in the millions unless one did use crisis actors to vote for the favoured candidate as both major parties provide scrutineers to observe voting and counting.
Sure one side could maybe stuff a few ballot boxes but nothing like the millions of votes that would be required for the 7 million difference in the popular vote.
Long queues on election day (up to 5 hours in some voting places) means that sending someone to vote 2 or 3 times would be difficult plus of course aforesaid scrutineers are certainly gonna pick up on anyone who repeats too much at the type of polling booth that isn't subject to long queues.
I notice that someone has already pointed out the article linked to provided zero evidence to support the claim of people having been voted for. Plus of course the big problem remains, that is if you turn up at a polling station to vote and are told you already have voted when you know you haven't, most humans would not leave at that, slinking out with their tail between their legs, no they would raise merry hell and if that happen more than a couple of times, so would the party volunteers scrutineering the ballot.
I haven't worked at a polling booth in amerika but I have elsewhere and I know that these are exactly the issues that party volunteers are watching for during the voting process and again during the count.
7 million plus fraudulent votes, likely more if the election was rigged as the crooks couldn't know how many would vote the other way beforehand is a ridiculous number to have organised.
Even if the fraud was more targeted aimed at particular polling stations across all 50 states the number of crisis actors required would be in the hundreds of thousands and require someone with insanely accurate political skills to predict which districts in which states, the sort of skills which would be better served & gain a better result using targetted messaging at individual voters via email, TV commercials & phone calls.
I don't know why anyone is still wasting time on this furphy when as you point out there are so many real, easily provable despicable acts going on right now, eg the corrupt links between Fauci and big pharma or the blatant kabuki of manchin & sinema blocking all social spending when as lbj in the 60's or the rethugs in the noughties - mike the hammer Vs the tea party, taught the world how easy it is to bring recalcitrant pols into line. eg if biden/pelosi told manchin that all federal projects in W Virginia are gonna be kyboshed unless he votes the correct way, manchin & sinema would have fallen into line in an instant. The fact they haven't tells us that biden & pelosi don't want the bill to go thru, probably the same as "the squad" since they haven't publicly demanded the arseholes be brought into line either.
I'm as unhappy to see biden as prez as anyone, everything we all predicted through 2019 & 2020 that would happen if biden won has happened, but it is just impossible to lap up such arrant nonsense as that the "our vote was stolen" mob claim without showing yerself to be a dingbat incapable of adding 1 + 1 = 2.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Dec 2 2021 2:12 utc | 65
"The history of the island of Taiwan dates back tens of thousands of years to the earliest known evidence of human habitation.[1][2] The sudden appearance of a culture based on agriculture around 3000 BC is believed to reflect the arrival of the ancestors of today's Taiwanese indigenous peoples.[3] The island was colonized by the Dutch in the 17th century, followed by an influx of Hoklo people including Hakka immigrants from the Fujian and Guangdong areas of mainland China, across the Taiwan Strait. The Spanish built a settlement in the north for a brief period but were driven out by the Dutch in 1642.
In 1662, Koxinga, a loyalist of the Ming dynasty who had lost control of mainland China in 1644, defeated the Dutch and established a base of operations on the island. His forces were defeated by the Qing dynasty in 1683, and parts of Taiwan became increasingly integrated into the Qing empire. Following the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the Qing ceded the island, along with Penghu, to the Empire of Japan. Taiwan produced rice and sugar to be exported to the Empire of Japan, and also served as a base for the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia and the Pacific during World War II. Japanese imperial education was implemented in Taiwan and many Taiwanese also fought for Japan during the war.
In 1945, following the end of World War II, the nationalist government of the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang (KMT), took control of Taiwan. In 1949, after losing control of mainland China in the Chinese Civil War, the ROC government under the KMT withdrew to Taiwan and Chiang Kai-shek declared martial law. The KMT ruled Taiwan (along with the Islands of Kinmen, Wuqiu and the Matsu on the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait) as a single-party state for forty years, until democratic reforms in the 1980s, which led to the first-ever direct presidential election in 1996. During the post-war period, Taiwan experienced rapid industrialization and economic growth known as the "Taiwan Miracle", and was known as one of the "Four Asian Tigers"..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Taiwan
Posted by: S Brennan | Dec 2 2021 2:26 utc | 66
"Nearly 90 percent of public identify with Taiwan: poll
By Chen Yu-fu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Nearly 90 percent of the public identify themselves as Taiwanese and about two-thirds said they are willing to fight for the country in case of war, a survey released yesterday by the Taiwan New Constitution Foundation showed.
The question about national identity showed that 89.9 percent identify themselves as Taiwanese and 4.6 percent as Chinese, while 1 percent consider themselves to be both, the poll showed.
Given more than one choice, 67.9 percent of respondents said they are Taiwanese, 1.8 percent said they are Chinese and 27.9 percent said they are both, the survey showed..."
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2021/08/11/2003762406
Posted by: S Brennan | Dec 2 2021 2:27 utc | 67
DG @ 23 said:"I think if the gov was serious about public health they should have strengthened the National Health System starting from day one."
Thanks for the response. If the U$A was a concerned country about anyone's health, we would have a " Medicare for all" plan that covered everyone. But, we don't, so each one of us, must evaluate what's best personally, and follow that path. Paranoia doesn't help. Wearing a mask at times, doesn't bother me. Neither does a simple inoculation.
Time will tell if my choices are correct. There is no such thing in life as "perfect"..
Posted by: vetinLA | Dec 2 2021 2:28 utc | 68
the data shows limited support for unification even under the “ideal conditions” of economic, social, and political conditions being the same in Taiwan and China (see below). Overall, less than a third of respondents (29.35 percent) supported unification under ideal conditions. KMT supporters were nearly evenly split, with 48.58 percent supporting unification under ideal conditions. Only 16.73 percent of DPP supporters were in favor of unification under ideal circumstances. Support for unification drops if framed under non-ideal conditions, wherein economic, social, and political differences between the two sides continue. Only 11.04 percent of respondents across the board supported unification with non-ideal conditions, with wide divergence between KMT supporters (25.08 percent) and DPP supporters (4.07 percent). It is worth noting that KMT respondents supported both ideal options (i.e., peaceful independence vs. unification under similar conditions) at nearly identical rates.
https://jamestown.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Figure-2.png
Posted by: S Brennan | Dec 2 2021 2:34 utc | 69
james@2
Speaking of blues, here's my favourite:
Hopefully I didn't f-up the board - first link attempt.
Posted by: spudski | Dec 2 2021 2:34 utc | 70
Matthew McConaughey is running for Governor of Texas.
But not yet.
First he is going to share his bounty in support of the businesses and corporations that are making better, more prospeous lives for us all.
Did he just sell his soul?
https://youtu.be/z-u8xMCOrHg?t=5
Posted by: ld | Dec 2 2021 2:37 utc | 71
@ S Brennan 68
Nearly 90 percent of the public identify themselves as Taiwanese and about two-thirds said they are willing to fight for the country in case of war
Baloney.
The ROC army is merely a cadre of professional soldiers, dependent upon the callup of conscripts when the army is needed. The conscripts' four months of military service in Taiwan have been divided into five weeks of basic training and 11 weeks of specialized training at a military branch training which is usually near where recruits live. Recently that has been changed so that the eleven weeks are in a tactical unit "familiarizing themselves with combat operations and field conditions."
The Taiwan government's lackadaisical attitude is due to several factors, including the belief that the US will save their bacon.
From an article in the SCMP: Taiwan must fight stigma of military service if its to fend off invasion - Many young people on the island lack enthusiasm for military service - Taiwan’s active-duty military has shrunk to 165,000 from 275,000 three years ago . .here
And from an article in the TaiwanTimes: COMBAT READY? Retired air force lieutenant general Chang Yen-ting said the Ministry of National Defense would be derelict in its duties not to extend Taiwan’s military service. . .The four months are only one-fifth as long as the mandatory service required of South Koreans, and yet Taiwan is faced with a greater danger than South Korea. . .The four months of training teach nothing of substance, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Sz-huai said, adding that the gaps between refresher training are too long and people forget almost everything. . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 2 2021 2:45 utc | 72
@56 S. Brennan and @ 59 psychohistorian
First, the population of Taiwan is Chinese and consider themselves to be Chinese. Now, granted, people can make up a new nationality to separate themselves from the group they traditionally belong to, and there are many fake distinctions that arise where the same language is called by different names in different countries, but it is still the same language. In the case of Taiwan, the official language is Mandarin Chinese, just like in the People's Republic, and most of the Taiwanese know and use Mandarin. However, most Taiwanese also use their own Chinese language of Hokkien or Southern Min, which is exactly the spoken language of most of the Chinese from Fujian Province on the mainland across the Taiwan Strait, and some use Hakka, the Chinese language of Eastern Guangdong Province. Thus, most of the Chinese who settled in Taiwan, at first at the invitation of the Dutch, came from Fujian, or else from Guangdong. Today, those Chinese constitute about 97% of the population of Taiwan, and they are as certainly Chinese invested in the Chinese nationality as any other Chinese.
Second, while the initial Chinese settlement in Taiwan was not carried out under the aegis of the Chinese Empire, that empire did acquire the island by driving out the Dutch in 1683 and continued its rule there until the Japanese conquered the island in 1895, a rule which lasted then 212 years, not 180. The Japanese, though they settled several hundred thousand of themselves in Taiwan during their fifty years of colonization (1895-1945) were unable to displace or overwhelm the native Chinese.
Third, like many, many other areas of the world, before the sixteenth century, Taiwan was mostly inhabited by Austronesian aborigines, who today constitute something like 2.4% of the population. Like the indigenous American Indians/"Native Americans" in the US, they were the original inhabitants and were outnumbered by Chinese settlers who, though relatively recent, were still a majority in Taiwan before the Euroamericans were a majority in what is now the USA.
Fourth, the likelihood of war over Taiwan is small, although I agree that one should not underestimate the capacity of the US neocons for foolish adventurism and aggression. As many of you have pointed out, China has been waiting and can afford to wait. China did nothing to stir up the current crisis; that was manufactured entirely by the US. The humane solution, of course, is to reintegrate Taiwan into China under some kind of agreement that will allow it continued autonomy, and that is probably not out of reach, eventually.
Fifth, China historically has been remarkably non-aggressive for an imperial state. Possibly this arose because of its lengthy splendid isolation, where it was so secure in its civilizational centeredness and superiority, it did not feel the need to spread its rule far. And there is also its Confucianist emphasis on harmony as the centerpiece of its ideology. Of course, it did dominate its immediate neighbors, most often indirectly, but it made few direct colonization efforts. Because the Chinese population grew faster than the surrounding aboriginal populations, the Chinese gradually expanded south over two millenia, a movement that is still not complete everywhere. And, like other nation states, China has no intention of giving up its rule over Chinese Turkestan/Uyghuria and Tibet. But I fail to see any evidence of China striving for any kind of imperial supremacy beyond its own borders.
Sixth, I want to thank S. Brennan for the correct view about Russia in Crimea and Ukraine. More on that later.
Posted by: Cabe | Dec 2 2021 2:49 utc | 73
I said I would attempt to sketch this essay in an open thread:
A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Systemic Collapse and Pandemic Simulation - By Fabio Vighi [August 2021]
Like many people here and throughout the world, I've tried to make sense of the last two years and the state of the world. This analysis strikes me as the most relevant I have yet read, after countless hours and untold pages of words.
Vighi begins with a timeline of events, using dots that he thinks can be connected. The dots he chooses actually connect themselves very well, without any forcing, and what flows from them is a story I had never yet quite heard.
His timeline begins with preliminaries in June 2019, and leads through four central bank and investment bank pronouncements that presage an event in September of that year, when the great mystery began.
Commentators here and around the world saw in September of 2019 that the Federal Reserve System (Fed) in the USA began injecting liquidity into its Repo market. No one could quite explain why.
SPOILER: Vighi now explains why.
~~
I don't fluently understand the Repo market, so I'll let Vighi describe it:
15-16 September 2019: The downturn is officially inaugurated by a sudden spike in the repo rates (from 2% to 10.5%). ‘Repo’ is shorthand for ‘repurchase agreement’, a contract where investment funds lend money against collateral assets (normally Treasury securities). At the time of the exchange, financial operators (banks) undertake to buy back the assets at a higher price, typically overnight. In brief, repos are short-term collateralized loans. They are the main source of funding for traders in most markets, especially the derivatives galaxy. A lack of liquidity in the repo market can have a devastating domino effect on all major financial sectors.17 September 2019: The Fed begins the emergency monetary programme, pumping hundreds of billions of dollars per week into Wall Street, effectively executing BlackRock’s “going direct” plan. (Unsurprisingly, in March 2020 the Fed will hire BlackRock to manage the bailout package in response to the ‘COVID-19 crisis’).
What we all could grasp from this event was that for some reason, banks were no longer trusting each other to collateralize their loans - hence they stopped trading with each other in the market that the Fed created and managed for them. And therefrom, it seemed, the Fed had to step in and buy these collateral obligations itself.
But now having read Vighi's essay, I have the high-altitude view that allows these very simple questions:
1. If the commercial banks are essentially wards of the Fed, piglets suckling at the unfailing sow, why, with the Fed in charge of everything, would the banks ever make their own independent value determinations?
2. Is it not more likely that the commercial banks would, rather, follow directives from above, secure in the knowledge that they are the constituency of the Fed?
To put it more directly:
1. Are we seeing the Fed having to intervene in the Repo market in order to reassure banks that have become skittish?
2. Or are we instead seeing the banks simply receiving massive injections of liquidity into the system from the Fed, and thus sitting back and letting this happen through the Repo market?
Vighi's essay makes clear what is happening in his view - that the central banks of the world are injecting a massive amount of liquidity - in the trillions of dollars - into the global financial system to prevent it from collapsing from a shortage of liquidity. And that this has been examined and planned from some months earlier.
And furthermore, that the only way now to prevent a hyperinflation occurring from the injection of trillions of new dollars into the financial market is to prevent the knock-on effect of this from entering the productive markets. The money goes to Wall Street and inflates (or simply reflates) assets, but must be slowed or prevented from getting to Main Street, and causing massive price rises there.
The only way to do this, as Vighi elucidates, is to lock down the global economy and prevent transactions from happening.
Thus, we come to things we are familiar with.
~~
I don't know how well I described this, but only when I see the mystery of the Repo market - that no one in my limited reading could adequately explain - as an intentional thing rather than a reactive thing, only then does the sky open to a great deal of light.
So I recommend Vighi's essay, at the very least for that sense of scale - even it is very chilling in what it implies, and what it goes on to illustrate through the rest of the timeline.
I'd better stop here, and maybe continue in another comment, maybe not. There is much to discuss about the picture that Vighi paints. There's a rabbit hole there that I would prefer not to go down (you can see it in the title of the essay). But we may all be down it already.
Posted by: Grieved | Dec 2 2021 2:58 utc | 74
@ S Brennan 70
the data shows limited support for unification. .
So what? Did someone poll the confederacy in 1860? ...No, Abe Lincoln strove to preserve the national union, what President Xi is doing now.
Posted by: Don Bdacon | Dec 2 2021 3:04 utc | 75
@ S Brennan 68
The question about national identity showed that 89.9 percent identify themselves as Taiwanese and 4.6 percent as Chinese, while 1 percent consider themselves to be both, the poll showed.
The polls also showed that Hillary was a shoo-in. In the real world, the people in Taiwan are in the Republic of China (Taiwan). . . .That's China. . .C-H-I-N-A.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 2 2021 3:10 utc | 78
Posted by: Paul | Dec 1 2021 21:20 utc | 36
On corruption in NSW local government have you been watching FriendlyJordies on youtube? 'Property developer' is now considered a term of abuse.
Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 2 2021 3:11 utc | 79
@ spudski | Dec 2 2021 2:34 utc | 71... roy buchanan - great player.. he as a interesting style and is pretty varied... reminds me a bit of lennie breau, but more roy is rockin.. lennie is more jazz.. congrats with the link! Minors Aloud [1978] - Buddy Emmons With Lenny Breau thats pedal steel with guitar.. i love the sound of pedal steel, especially outside of the norm you usually hear it in - country... not sure if you have heard any of daniel lanois pedal steel playing? thanks for the roy buchanan link!
s. brennan... i live on vancouver island.. i was thinking of starting the vancouver island party - vip... go for separation from canada, just like some in taiwan would like to do with china... think it can work? lolol.... i identify more as a vancouver islander, then a canuck, lol..
Posted by: james | Dec 2 2021 3:41 utc | 80
S Brennan @ 68:
That survey you linked to at The Taipei Times website had been conducted by pro-independence group Taiwan New Constitution (TNC) Foundation. The results of the survey are based on 1,071 "valid samples" - hardly representative of the general public in Taiwan. How do you know the TNC wasn't polling its own members and their families?
Posted by: Jen | Dec 2 2021 3:42 utc | 81
lenny, not lennie... lennie tristano, i think spells his first name that way... lennies pennies, lol..
Posted by: james | Dec 2 2021 3:48 utc | 82
Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 2 2021 3:11 utc | 80
No, Iv'e missed it I'll have a look.
Australia has been corrupt since the First Fleet, the currency was rum. Now property development is the way to get rich quick. Development Approvals are the new currency. Hence local government is where corruption is taught to the MP's of the future.
Hawkesbury iCity Council s the worst.
Posted by: Paul | Dec 2 2021 4:00 utc | 83
@S Brenna56
I suggest you cultivate the learned in fields, I did. Do you research before coming at me. It'll save time. I'll wait longer to call you stupid.
Posted by: Bo Robinson | Dec 2 2021 4:15 utc | 84
@Jen 82
Right on regarding ridiculous polls. I commented recently on the poll that showed that the majority of Americans are in favor of going to war over Taiwan, also bogus.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 2 2021 4:17 utc | 85
If Russia is forced into a "kinetic" conflict in Ukraine, designed to allow the US to start screaming "Naughty Russia!" and proceeding with whatever diplomatic and economic isolation measures are left, they should proceed to put tanks on the German border.
Yes, I know Poland is in NATO. That's the point. Show that NATO is full of shit, and that Germany must come to an accommodation with Russia instead of carrying on with its relentless Atlanticist nonsense.
Posted by: Herr Ringbone | Dec 2 2021 4:57 utc | 86
michael at #7
"......Blinken said. “NATO itself is a defensive alliance. We’re not a threat to Russia, we don’t have aggressive intent toward Russia......”
and I'm the Queen of Sheeba!!!!
Posted by: michaelj72 | Dec 2 2021 5:13 utc | 87
Posted by: S Brennan | Dec 2 | 56 + numerous explanatory comments...
(China's utterly bogus claim on Taiwan)
Aren't you overlooking the possibility that China's (perfectly legal) Taiwan provocations are an oblique response to the Anglo-Zionist Empire's (almost legal) provocations in the South China Sea? I mean Freedom Of Navigation exercises - with Battleships!? How droll is that?
The only time a battleship does NOT have Freedom Of Navigation (FON) anywhere on the planet, is if there's another battleship threatening to blow it out of the water. A sane FON policy would study and record the frequency with which civilian ships traverse the South China Sea free from interference by China. So far 100% do so. Phantom Menace, anyone?
Imo, the Chinese have a wicked sense of humour. See John Pilger's The Coming War On China. So if they see Yankees or their minions/slaves trying to make fools of themselves in the SCS, or near Taiwan, the fun-loving Chinese would find it impossible to resist the temptation to help them. And if the dumbass Yankees weren't so busy believing all their own BS, with their fingers in their ears, they'd have heard the CPC state that reunification won't become urgent until 2049 looms large. In the meantime Yankees will keep jumping the gun and the fun-loving Chinese will keep pretending they want to invade Taiwan, the day after tomorrow, and the misfires will keep piling up - for the next 28 years, or more...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 2 2021 5:24 utc | 88
A few words from Escobar: Iran, Russia, China, Chalous and some new momentum for Persian Gulf Peace.
S. Brennan
You failed to address my question @64 regarding the ethnicity of the Taiwanese though I am sure that you know the answer.
Over 95% of the population of Taiwan are Han, the vast majority of whom are descendants of immigrants from the mainland. Only 2% of the population are of indigenous ethnicity.
Any argument that you make supporting Taiwanese independence based on antiquity therefore fails. And, in failing to address the question I posed and its implications, you exposed your advocacy as deeply insincere.
Posted by: ADKC | Dec 2 2021 6:11 utc | 90
@78 vetinLA @81 james
You're most welcome, glad you enjoyed it and happy I didn't screw up the thread. vetinLA, he really can PLAY. I was fortunate to see Roy live on three occasions in Toronto - at the Horseshoe Tavern, El Mocambo, and Massey Hall.
Re Lenny Breau, in the summer of 1966 he had a half-hour show on CBC: very different but unique. Though I'm not as much of a jazz fan, watching Lenny gave me the incentive to buy the Mickey Baker Jazz Books and I still remember chords like D13b5b9 etc.
Posted by: spudski | Dec 2 2021 6:32 utc | 91
Grieved @75--
Take a look at the money supply charts; they show a massive spike in liquidity beginning with 2019's last quarter. You can check the actual Fed charts too, but they won't differ. Recall the chatter back in January 2020 about how poorly the economy was fairing thanks for Trumpanomics and how that was decimating the Fracking Ponzi along with the asset bubble. The economy was already depressionary (since it was already in an actual recession) then it was kicked in the groin by China's Covid response. And when looking at the numbers remember many are manipulated, particularly GDP, Inflation and Unemployment--GDP being the most important since it's actually been declining for quite sometime when it's figured honestly.
@81 james
PS: thanks for the link and I'll give Lanois a listen.
Posted by: spudski | Dec 2 2021 6:35 utc | 93
@ spudski... lucky you! that would have been a real pleasure seeing roy buchanan live.... here is one example of lanois on pedal steel..
Red River Revel · Brian Blade you hear lanois right off the top on the pedal steel and onward..
Posted by: james | Dec 2 2021 6:42 utc | 94
Russian President sends a 'signal' that Russia wants a precise legal document for Europe whose effect will be to outlaw 'weapons systems' (we can include biological weapons) in 'close proximity' to Russia:
"While engaging in dialogue with the United States and its allies, we will insist on the elaboration of concrete agreements that would rule out any further eastward expansion of NATO and the deployment of weapons systems posing a threat to us in close proximity to Russia’s territory.We suggest that substantive talks on this topic should be started.
I would like to note in particular that we need precisely legal, juridical guarantees, because our Western colleagues have failed to deliver on verbal commitments they made.
Specifically, everyone is aware of the assurances they gave verbally that NATO would not expand to the east. But they did absolutely the opposite in reality.
In effect, Russia’s legitimate security concerns were ignored and they continue to be ignored in the same manner even now.
We are not demanding any special terms for ourselves. We understand that any agreements must take into account the interests of both Russia and all other states in the Euro-Atlantic region.
A calm and stable situation should be ensured for everyone and is needed by all without exception."
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67250
Russia already has hypersonic weapons 4 minutes from Washington. USA now also has hypersonic weapons.
A balance has to be re-established.
Posted by: powerandpeople | Dec 2 2021 7:06 utc | 95
@ Per/Norway | Dec 1 2021 20:50 utc | 30
Vi må sloss for friheten igjen (We must fight for freedom once again).
No, it isn't my video. I am not the author Bjørn Andreas Bull-Hansen, but I agree with his viewpoints regarding this tyranny. I recommend people listen to his words, they are wise.
Have courage. Do not obey the tyrants.
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 2 2021 7:12 utc | 96
@75 Grieved
Great article. Thank you. We may be the autistic ones, alternatively eating our crayons when we aren't using them to connect the dots, but what does that make the ones loaded up onto the great pyrotechnic barge and who are being censered to sleep with a demonic Thurible, the reverse of Noah coaxing the gathered, manifold animal kingdom to sleep aboard His vessel?
What does that make them?
I am quite content nibbling on my crayon, so much so that I barely bat an eye at those looking to punish me even more than that of my livelihood already being stripped from me.
I told my Priest today that for most of a man's life, an axiety about employments reign. I told him that lightbulb went out for me as of late. Something is deeply amiss in our world. He said Amazon was hiring. I thought to myself that Mass was scheduled just then, so a salty diatribe about El Bozos could wait.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 2 2021 7:44 utc | 97
@97 Norwegian, @30 Per/Norway, & Tollef Ås
"We must fight for freedom once again."
The 'once again' should have been in bold print. Many here @MoA know that the
Nazis occupied our land for over 5 years in WWII, but some probably do not. The resistance
was strong then and we must exhibit that strength now, again! In Tromsø last week we rejected a plan
for local vaccine passports - a small but important victory.
Thanks Norwegian for the Bull-Hansen vids. Not only are they comforting and inspiring but you have
given my wife and I reading material for mørketid (dark time, referring to winter but also now maybe the situation we're in).
He's prolific. Started Jomviking last nite, which gave me this quote of the day,
'Min far fortalte me en gang at en fri mann skal møte hver dag uten frykt'.
(trans. 'My father told me once that a free man should meet every day without fear'
Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 2 2021 7:57 utc | 98
Posted by: Hoyeru | Dec 1 2021 23:16 utc | 48
the bulgarian is calling the russians dumb and clumpsy.
mooolaaa
Bulgaria
poorest country in EU, depopulating, not able to form a goverment for half a year, politicians who steal every cent from the people, whole economie in the hands of german capital, tv program stupid to a ludicrous degree, nato puppets.......
the list could go on endless
go clean your house big mouth
Posted by: kartoschka | Dec 2 2021 8:45 utc | 99
Don Bacon | Dec 1 2021 20:27 utc | 26
William Gruff | Dec 1 2021 21:06 utc | 32
jinn | Dec 1 2021 23:23 utc | 50
***
My reason for posting that article was to show the deviousness of a system that was possibly used. The "Voters" existed in reality. (Ie. on a list). The trickery was in someone else using that vote, knowing that the real person would not appear. (or at least assuming it).
There was no paper "Fraud", such as votes or voting machines being manipulated. Either of which should have become apparent if checked later.
The "proof"? As the article says, this is ongoing and they should be able to show a more consequetial result later. OK - means we wait.
One point is that the IT used to define who would or would not vote began much earlier than the Election itself. (ie. The Billion/millionaire who bought voter roles regularly)
****
I doubt there is much to be gained by stirring up the situation right now. The ability of Biden to walk and talk, and the ability of a Kamala (if she has any), and then to replace them by a compromised Trump, - the US would be better off having an entirely new election in the case of the rejection of the results of the last one.
BUT, what about the next? (always assuming there is one). Forewarned is forearmed.
Posted by: Stonebird | Dec 2 2021 9:32 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Check out the bemused look on Pepe Escobar's face while looking on, Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton chuckle over our live comment, "If you don't like how I handled Afghanistan, then you ain't black!" - Joe Biden They all got a laugh about it. Then, America's self-admitted losing Army general, Cosplay Killmore, delivers remarks about some very drunk NATO foreign ministers, arm in arm, singing "Ve Are Ze Vorld". It's a must see!
https://fivegunswest.blogspot.com/2021/11/war-pigs-party-down-drunken-nato.html
Posted by: FiveGunsWest | Dec 1 2021 17:08 utc | 1