@Piotr Berman #2
If you’re interested in detailed information about Russian exports, go to CEPII Country Profiles, select “Russia” in the dropdown (doesn’t work in Safari), then click the “Products & Partners” tab to see top 20 partners, top 20 products and top 20 partner/product flows in exports and imports for 2009 and 2019.

Posted by: S | Dec 12 2021 15:51 utc | 4

Posted by: S | Dec 12 2021 15:51 utc | 4
For top 20 products or partners you can check in Trading Economics too. Something went wrong with the script generating the diagrams, instead of using all entries in the table, diagrams were probably generated from two smallest. But I will compare, TE has quite a bit of noise, and pay-walls too much.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 12 2021 16:40 utc | 6

The treatment of Julian Assange is torture with murder as the intended outcome, plain and simple.
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 12 2021 15:36 utc | 3
In my view, the treatment is calculated to produce a dribble of news that instill fear for anyone trying to uncover or disseminate news about crimes of states, primarily UK and USA. For that, the never ending process is much better than any outcome, preordained as it is.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 12 2021 16:55 utc | 8

The United States just took one up the gut.

Posted by: thecelticwithinm | Dec 12 2021 18:05 utc | 10

To Montreal @ 87 on the previous thread, I found my book of Akhmatova poems – it had been where I thought it was all along but hidden from sight somehow. And I found the poem in which the line you quoted is. Today being the Sunday before Saint Nicholas Sunday I am so happy I found it on my own. And after b’s ordeal and the savage weather before this weekend that I only saw here passing so swiftly overhead, the sudden cold goes well towards the mammoth question — no comet/missile needed!
I agree with your underlying argument– Akhmatova is the right fit for these times. I didn’t grasp it before.

Posted by: juliania | Dec 12 2021 18:09 utc | 12

@Juliania 12
Many thanks for your kind words. I had promised to elaborate on my post yesterday but found I couldn’t do so in a way that wasn’t impossibly prolix, so I thought better to keep my head down. But I was going to recommend, to those still reading and interested in the semi-metaphysical concept of Russian-ness, the great “bard” Oleg Mityaev .

Posted by: Montrael | Dec 12 2021 18:19 utc | 14

Even though I appreciated the articles in MoA – most of the time – and miss them when they are not available – let reason prevail B, health first!

Posted by: Pnyx | Dec 12 2021 18:50 utc | 16

This week saw the Putin-Biden video summit followed by the propagandistic pseudo-democracy confab followed by Putin’s participation in Thursday’s meeting of Russia’s Council for Civil Society and Human Rights where testimony was given as to the plight of Donbass residents that was deemed the equivalent of Genocide–a verdict Putin agreed with–and is certainly the most under discussed major item to occur during the week. Yes, I’m biased because I wrote and published an article, “Putin Agrees it’s Genocide in the Donbass,” that has broken the 1000 views mark, but deserves to have 10x that number and primarily focuses on the testimony and Putin’s reaction. Shortly afterwards we hear Biden saying what appear to be words acknowledging Russia’s Red Lines, although weapon deliveries already in the pipeline continue. More will occur next week as the required de-escalation has a long way to go to accomplish the goals of Minsk-2, and Zelensky and Biden’s behavior still need to adjust to the reality that both have gone way too far in promoting and facilitating Genocide.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 12 2021 19:03 utc | 18

Dear B,
As we are coming to the end of 2021 anyway, I’m sure it would be no great disappointment or loss to us barflies if you were to spend the rest of December recuperating and not try to resume your schedule of posting new articles every 2 or 3 days.
Perhaps if you reposted what you consider to be the best or most important article/s you wrote in 2021, that might satisfy most of us for the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, have a safe and warm Christmas with your family and friends, and get plenty of rest!

Posted by: Jen | Dec 12 2021 19:30 utc | 20

Dear B,
As we are coming to the end of 2021 anyway, I’m sure it would be no great disappointment or loss to us barflies if you were to spend the rest of December recuperating and not try to resume your schedule of posting new articles every 2 or 3 days.
Posted by: Jen | Dec 12 2021 19:30 utc | 20
To me, I would surely miss the new posts and new discussion. But without b. taking care of his health, we can loose so much more. Not to mention that b. deserves a good vacation for all those times with regular activity; I though that in Europe in counts as one of the basic human rights. Perhaps a trip to a domestic resort — they tend to be “Bad” in Germany, but spending a week among gentle hills and with hot springs could be a good boost (if doctors do not advise otherwise).

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 12 2021 20:04 utc | 22

DW News is reporting that the G-7 convened a meeting to discuss Jewed-up AmeriKKKa’s imaginary Russia problem in US-aligned Ukraine. Because the G-7 is an aimless and irrelevant Hysterical, Naughty Big Girls Club, I had forgotten which countries pretend to be members and had to ask Google to list them. According to Google they are, amusingly:
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, USA, UK and Canada.
Cohen-cidentally, they’re all embarrassingly obedient Yank-slaves.
Germany and Japan are under official US military occupation. France, Italy, UK and Canada are under unofficial US military occupation and will always answer “How High?” when ‘asked’ by the Yankees to jump.
How vacuously poseur-ish is that!?
Luckily, the meeting wasn’t a complete waste of time because they all agreed (cough cough) that if they accuse Russia of doing something AmeriKKKa doesn’t like, they’re all do SOMETHING that won’t bother Russia.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 12 2021 20:16 utc | 24

Welcome back b and you heal well.
Thank you for the Redsails report on Xinjiang propaganda in the west. The author’s expose of the fake left and their propaganda wanking is excellent. The almost total infiltration of the capitalist propaganda machinery into all media narratives is really well described with excellent examples.
Thank you for your work.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 12 2021 20:33 utc | 26

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 12 2021 19:03 utc | 18
Hopefully that statement about genocide will cool down some hot heads in Kiev since they know very well what could happen, the command points will be the first target and whoever among the warmongers survives is going to face a Nurnberg like tribunal.

Posted by: Paco | Dec 12 2021 20:41 utc | 28

In the quantum world, there is no either or… there is and.
DIVIDE & RULE – The Plan of The 1% to Make You DISPOSABLE – Vandana Shiva
https://youtu.be/f9lq-uBdxg8?t=109

Posted by: ld | Dec 12 2021 21:08 utc | 30

…
Some folks here need remedial English lessons.
…
Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 12 2021 20:21 utc | 25
Some folks here need remedial lessons in Good Manners.
People do the best they can when expressing an opinion in writing.
99.99% of the time it’s Good Enough, even when it’s imperfect.
I’ve got an opinion about Intellectual Snobbery but I won’t bore the barflies with it.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 12 2021 21:10 utc | 32

From Redsails report.
The following extract bears consideration in the light of the Ukraine genocide, fully supported by the NATO thugs.

How did the US historically contain “Moscow’s ideology”? How did it maintain a “position of disparity”? Another “giant” of US Foreign Policy, Polish-born American diplomat Zbigniew Brzezinski, volunteers an answer in the form of a concrete case study of how the US operates generally and how it weaponizes the region of Afghanistan in particular:
According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahideen began during 1980. That is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
…
We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
…
That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: “We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war.” Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime, a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
…
What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war? [40]
To whatever extent anyone is skeptical whether these admissions fully capture the modern strategy on China, it is reasonable to demand at least an equivalent set of resources describing an alternative rationale. In my opinion, this is the count on which the mainstream narrative has been most deficient. At every turn it refuses to attribute the barest rationality (let alone morality) to Chinese actors. It doesn’t trouble itself to explain why decision-makers would endanger the future of the Belt & Road Initiative [41] by indulging in utterly depraved sadism (skin flaying, mass rape, organ harvesting, hair harvesting, force-feeding pork and beer), instead banking on racist stereotypes of irrational savagery.

The USAi is hell bent to get a Russian ‘invasion’ response and bog it down, while Russia rightly points out that this is a Ukrainian issue of genocide against Russian people entirely within Ukraine. Putin reminds the west of its UN resolutions and responsibilities. We might reflect on the similar shenanigans that led to the early days of WW2. The USA continues to deliver weapons to Ukraine and Biden continues to have mumble sessions with Putin and the kabuki continues.
The extract above is but a small indicator of the continuum of violence by the west against the east.
Barflies should DEFINITELY read this entire report carefully and then scour https://redsails.org/ for some of its other excellent perspectives.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 12 2021 21:20 utc | 34

… will cool down some hot heads in Kiev since they know very well what could happen, the command points will be the first target and whoever among the warmongers survives is going to face a Nurnberg like tribunal.
Posted by: Paco | Dec 12 2021 20:41 utc | 28
The clowns (and similarly disposed politicians of which there are many) make ruckus and s..t to the extend they can get away with. According to a YouTube source that watches the situation, Alexandr Semchenko, in the last few days there was no shelling at all through the trench lines.
Kiev is ruled by “priests of a dead religion” who make an ultra patriotic show with utter insincerity. So far, it was the least resistance course of action. And even a gentle pressure from USA will cool their heads. That said, they are fakers, USA powers to be are fakers (a fake Summit was just completed), so the progress is easy to over estimate. But the silence in Donbas is a good sign.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 12 2021 21:31 utc | 36

Dear b, I hope your convalescence is short and complete.
Re Biden appeasing words.
Once upon a time, as Israel was about to pounce on its unprepared ennemies,
they stated that they were not ready for war. The effect that the ennemies lowered their guard.
Same thing here with Biden’s words. He is just masking his intentions or at least streaming some smoke to hide the eventual attack on the separatist states.
Preparations are too far advanced to let this excellent crisis peter out without taking advantage of it.
Putin better move his divisions closer to the border and be ready for action.

Posted by: CarlD | Dec 12 2021 21:53 utc | 38

correction,
Israel said it was not ready for war.

Posted by: CarlD | Dec 12 2021 21:54 utc | 40

It was never public opinion that was the obstacle to controlling the COVID pandemic and the cause of eroding faith in public health. It was the interests of business and the related amplification of the opposing fringe by the media.
Omicron is going to hit its stride in deaths in the coming weeks. We’ll see how “mild” it really is, and if it is any milder at all, that will be further license for our political classes to largely let it rip through the population after the initial token measures are abandoned, probably causing even greater deaths than previous waves for that reason.

Posted by: Cesare | Dec 12 2021 22:16 utc | 42

There is also an indication that Omicron’s anecdotal “mildness” is an illusion – it is no longer infecting largely immunologically naive populations, like Delta, but those who have previous exposure to Delta and other strains. One effect of this would be to lengthen the time between infection and death, not reduce the basic mortality, and that’s even worse news for hospital systems.

Posted by: Cesare | Dec 12 2021 22:28 utc | 44

Germany’s Greens want NS2 to never operate is the gist of the linked item. IMO, Gazprom ought to evacuate the gas it primed the line with in anticipation of delivery about now, which isn’t going to happen now if ever. Given the very steep slope in the rate of depletion of most of the EU’s gas sources–25-30% Y/Y–combined with the unpredicted waning of continuous wind velocities in the areas where wind farms are erected–15-20% 2021/2020–and the decommissioning of coal and nuclear thermal power stations–and the great lack of enough LNG terminals to accept the level of LNG imports required to make up the shortfall–a major portion of the EU is shit outta luck without NS2. And to add insult to injury, much of the EU is failing to compete with China and other developing nations’s manufactures as its trade deficits continue to climb. And all that’s ignoring the increasing weakness in the Euro.
And if the Greens continue to block NS2, then Gazprom and co can pull the pipe and use it elsewhere as there’re many new pipelines to be constructed. The EU is begging to be taught a lesson, so let them learn from their experience.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 12 2021 22:47 utc | 46

Quickly recuperate, b!

Posted by: Zakukommander | Dec 12 2021 23:36 utc | 48

Thank you b for that excellent link to “The Maidan massacre in Ukraine: revelations from trials and investigations”
That is how much western democracy cares.
This is the extent of its compassion – murder and mayhem.
Meanwhile mumbles Biden and his mendacious murdering swine taunt the planet with their ‘summits’ of democracies.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 13 2021 0:03 utc | 50

A very important commentary by Alexander Mercouris on a statement from the Russians to the USA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z53JTui_2MY
In a nutshell: the Russians are in the second stage of a 3-stage process – (1) Warning (2) Demands (3) Ultimatum
There have been many warnings about NATO encroachment from Russia, threatening their vital security interests. They seem to be fed up of that approach. Mercouris’s video deals with item (2)the demands from Russia that (a) USA repudiates the 2008 ‘agreement’ that Ukraine and Georgia be available, at some time in the future, for NATO membership. (b) USA agrees to a pull-back from existing NATO countries of weapons and systems which threatens the security of Russia eg Baltic States. There are other demands but these give you the flavour…
BTW there is, in all this, an explicit reference to the Cuban Missile Crisis (CMC).
Now, my thoughts relate to that CMC: what, exactly, was the ultimatum from the USA to the Soviet Union? One important aspect was that Soviet ships on their way (with missiles/warheads?) to Cuba would be intercepted by the USN. This was publicly stated. Whether there were other threats from the USA I do not know eg to bomb or invade Cuba. Whatever, Krushchev said to Kennedy that the Soviets would withdraw their missiles (and nuclear warheads?) from Cuba IF the US withdrew their missiles and nuclear warheads from Turkey. This was agreed by Kennedy and the crisis was resolved.
Now, my question is: what form would a Russian ultimatum take in the present situation?
No-fly zones OUTSIDE of Russian airspace? No passage zones OUTSIDE Russian Black Sea areas? ???

Posted by: SoMuchToLearn | Dec 13 2021 0:06 utc | 52

I hope it doesn’t happen but imo, after a massive stroke,the bastards in the administration would kick Assange to the curb, leaving him drooling in a wheelchair. In their minds, the ultimate revenge.

Posted by: morongobill | Dec 13 2021 1:03 utc | 54

…
Now, my question is: what form would a Russian ultimatum take in the present situation?
No-fly zones OUTSIDE of Russian airspace? No passage zones OUTSIDE Russian Black Sea areas? ???
Posted by: SoMuchToLearn | Dec 13 2021 0:06 utc | 52
Good questions.
Hard to make an educated guess because Yankees natter about Geopolitics but Russia routinely displays expertise in Geopolitics. Bush 2 famously said “We don’t talk to ter’rists.”
Russia will talk to ANYONE if it might help avert a disaster.
We’re never going to be privy to back-channel conversations between US and Russia because Putin/Lavrov don’t disclose the content of interim ‘private’ conversations. And the Yanks are too pompous, and usually so busy making up bullshit to believe, that they wouldn’t admit that such conversations with ‘inferiors’ ever take place.
Geopolitics Yankee-style usually involves day-dreaming about their next Pyrrhic Victory, whereas Geopolitics Russian-style involves keeping a finger on the pulse of every country on Earth.
The Yankees can be relied upon to completely forget about something they WOULD have known about if they weren’t so needily addicted to loud posturing, aka Striking Poses.
So my guess is that Russia will pull a rabbit out of its hat which may only be obliquely related to Ukraine, if at all. In fact if it’s true that Ukraine has reduced the temperature of its threats, as mentioned up-thread, may already have done so…

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Dec 13 2021 1:16 utc | 56

So , if Russia has backed empire down in the Ukraine for the moment, then it must be time to ratchet up the Taiwan and anti-China/Olympics and everything hate thing.
Timing is everything and I expect to see the season sing with festive aggression and pompous belligerence.
/snark
The only thing the season brings is more opportunity for hypocrisy exhibited by those of vacuous morals who control empire.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2021 1:31 utc | 58

Posted by: SoMuchToLearn | Dec 13 2021 0:06 utc | 52
One thing that Mercouris commented was a quite different “readouts” of Biden-Putin on-line meeting by the respective side, American readout lacking any details. A plausible explanation is that those readouts were based on the recollections of the parties that met.”Is it everything, Mr. President”, “Eh, what?” “Is it everything?” “Ah, yes. Zzzzz”.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 13 2021 1:59 utc | 60

uncle tungsten | Dec 12 2021 21:20 utc | 34
you’d think people who’d lived thru the lying b.s. of iraq, libya, syria, et al and who, if they didn’t live thru it know some of the history, like vietnam et much cetera, afghanistan of course, would be a little skeptical. but the reality is that we believe what is convenient, or simply profess to believe what the rest of the cows are mooing about.
what can any of us do about it after all?
ah, nothing about nothing if we don’t have some basic honesty, some truthful speech. what is the value of truth in the age of advertising?

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Dec 13 2021 3:11 utc | 62

Below is a ZH link to a Tyler Durden posting about global use/testing/studies about Ivermectin usage
Hospitalizations, Mortality Cut In Half After Brazilian City Offered Ivermectin To Everyone Pre-Vaccine
The ending words of the posting
”
Perhaps the most damning evidence in favor of Ivermectin is the medical establishment’s position that it’s essentially snake oil, despite the fact that it’s had a glowing safety profile for decades, until now.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2021 3:46 utc | 64

@55 Patroklos
You’re correct about Hemingway, but let’s call it as he said it, the way every writer will understand: “The first draft of anything is shit.”
But we are not at the round table, nor in a community of writers. We are in a community of people who think first, and try to communicate secondarily.
It is the miracle of the Internet that we are in a discussion with people of multiple native languages. And we are in a medium in which there is no time to sleep on an essay and edit it cold the next morning – in order to communicate today, we have to check as well as we can, then hit “send’ and hope it makes sense.
It is also a miracle from the wicked British Empire that we use English as a default language in many cases around the world – but this will change over time, and one must keep one’s mind open and flexible to the ways of interpreting words, or else be left behind.
~~
In the last few years, I have come to revel in the fact that 90% articulation is the best I can hope for, even from edited authors. I’ll go with maybe as low as 60% comprehension when I’m reading someone who is not native-English, especially when they have something important to say.
But what I did was to change my way of reading and comprehending, in order to accord with these new standards and protocols of communication. If you skip over important concepts because the phrasing offends your eye, then you are falling behind the curve as the world changes.
I assign writing, and edit the results, for a living nowadays. I was taught grammar by a man who physically winced – seriously, this is true – when he heard a misspoken word. I do adore the correct use of the language. And I agree that it makes comprehension simple, with no work involved.
But even though I love correct grammar, I love meaning a million times more than correctness. And I will dig deep into the dirt to find it before I will remain on the surface and sneer at its obscurity. Or so I hope of myself.
Anyway – I encourage you to consider these things.
~~
This is a first draft, by the way. As I reread it, I see I would completely recast it and write it better the next time. But now I must hit Send.

Posted by: Grieved | Dec 13 2021 4:02 utc | 66

grieved, the 1st draft is shit only holds in so much as it needs 20 or more attempts (unless you are shakespeare). the 1st draft is gold, it holds the spark, its spontaneity, life, & heritage seed, which rewriting can dampen or extinguish. reworking leads you through 20 or more attempts to hone the fire the spark ignited.

Posted by: emersonreturn | Dec 13 2021 4:24 utc | 68

Most posters here STILL can’t get it into their heads: the ONLY weapons USA/Europe have against Russia is sanctions. SO sanctions they will use. And sanctions DO have their effect, forget what Russia says. Problem IS Putin. he has been so restrained and patient and non action that they have began to perceive him as a weak and ineffectual leader. They simply do NOT have ANY respect for Putin, because he hasn’t shown any action. They laugh at his words, they don’t care what he says largely. All that is because they DO KNOW placing severe economic sanctions WILL weaken Russia. Make NO mistake. Not having respect for a leader of a country with nuclear weapons is a very serious problem. Make NO mistake. Cutting Russia from the SWIFT will plunge Russia into a severe economic depression. They KNOW Russia will still want to sell its gas to Europe, without it, Russia is a goner. Yes I KNOW somebody will argue with me about that point. Is Russia ready to be cut off from the SWIFT? How will it get paid for its gas?
Germany’s behavior about NS2 is astoundingly idiotic or maybe that was the plan from the beginning. Let Gasprom spend money on a pipe, then we don’t use it.
I STILL believe that USA will push Ukraine to attack Donbass in the near future, then Russia will have to respond and here will come the sanctions. Russia will have to stand firm and stop the gas. SOrry, but there is NO other way. Let Europe freeze if they want to harm Russia. Again, will Putin be able to respond properly and stand up and become a man and do what has to be done? US and betting that he isnt.

Posted by: Hoyeru | Dec 13 2021 5:20 utc | 70

to blue:
you talk about quantum physics, but then you switch to talk about “binary data”. What does “binary data” have to do with QP? What do you mean by “binary data”? Computer data? Data and information are 2 VERY different things. Get the definitions right.
And go study John Bell’s NON-Locality theorem. he proved that information makes a mince meat out of Relativity and that the underling structure of the Universe itself is information + consciousness. And until the QP “scientists” begin to talk about consciousness and how it effect QP, they are just blowing hot air and pulling the wool over our eyes, so they can get their sweet grands so they wont really have to do any real work for a living. QP is mostly useless fantasy based on BS that means very little in Reality.
I will leave you a quote of one of my favorite writers: Robert Anton Wilson: We can never make a statement about the Cosmos itself – but only about how our senses (instruments) detect it and how our codes and languages symbolize it.”
Electrons, protons, numbers, those are just language constructs. It’s all just energy organized into information matrices. We are limited by our senses.

Posted by: Hoyeru | Dec 13 2021 5:35 utc | 72

Isn’t everyman’s concept of “space” only limited by how far s/he cares to see/look?…yikes! how about consider?
Posted by: chu teh | Dec 12 2021 21:25 utc | 35
Indeed, concepts like space and distance are inherently subjective. When I was in Chennai, India, I talked about distances with tricycle drivers. Their two basic concepts are “very fa” (you pay a certain amount) and “too fa” (the guy stops in the middle of a ride, and asks to pay again). Detailed explanations are presumably in Tamilian, but indeed, according to my observations, “too fa” is a larger distance than “very far”, and “very fa” is everything larger than zero (but smaller than “very fa”).
The idea that distance and separation of places are illusions, proven by Zeno paradoxes, is vehemently rejected by the drivers, although those two ideas could be united. While souls are not separated by actual distance but only by illusion, contact between souls requires effort and thus deserves a reward, hence “very fa” fee, and more extended contact requires another fee. Perhaps rupees are also an illusion, but stripped of all illusions, souls become solitary.
Not surprisingly, taxi drivers knew English and negotiated fares with higher precision.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 13 2021 6:02 utc | 74

Below is a short Xinhuanet posting that provides an example of the leaps and bounds that China is making because, attitude…..one that existed in America in my youth…sigh
”
BEIJING, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) — Chinese scientists have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) program that is quick-minded and on par with professional human players in heads-up no-limit Texas hold’em poker.
The AI program called AlphaHoldem equaled four sophisticated human players in a 10,000-hand two-player competition, after three days of self-training, according to a paper to be presented at AAAI 2022, a global AI conference to be held in Vancouver in February next year.
Texas hold’em is a popular poker game in which players often deceive and bluff. It is more similar to real-world problems than go and chess since decisions are made with imperfect information.
The researchers from the Institute of Automation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) reported that AlphaHoldem, a fast learner, used only about three to four milliseconds for each movement, about 1,000 times quicker than that of first-generation AI hold’em players DeepStack and Libratus.
AlphaHoldem got the better of DeepStack in a 100,000-hand competition, according to the researchers.
DeepStack, developed by the University of Alberta and Libratus, developed by Carnegie Mellon University, beat professional players in heads-up no-limit two-player hold’em in 2016 and 2017.
The two previous AI players, based on an algorithm called counterfactual regret minimization, spent respectively three and four seconds for each movement, consuming a large amount of computing power, the researchers said.
AlphaHoldem, which employs a new framework by incorporating deep-learning into a new self-play algorithm, used only eight GPUs during its training, which is ultra-lightweight compared with DeepStack’s 13,000 GPUs, according to the CAS’s recent news release.
The researchers said looking forward, they will apply the underlying technology to other games like mahjong and bridge, fostering smarter AI.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2021 6:13 utc | 76

China is putting out a series of videos about its Whole-Process Democracy and below is a link to a 10 minute video that is worth waiting for to download, IMO
Inside China Ep.2: What is whole-process democracy in China?
The best part for me was at the end where they described that every law in China is reviewed at all levels before approved….and in the video they included foreigners in the local deliberations…grin

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2021 6:49 utc | 78

Below is another Xinhuanet link to a YouTube vide of a 6 minute piece called Killing Machine…..
I have no idea how long it has been or will stay up on YouTube
YouTube video reveals U.S. military killings in Afghanistan
Information is a source of power but projecting that information globally is another issue..sigh

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2021 7:00 utc | 80

The Tribunal Hath Spoken:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTXE8xEjSUM
Again, as usual, not a whisper of evidence can be heard above the noise of all the esteemed talking heads.
The summary judgement itself seems to be a nebulous ball of fluff:
Link to PDF of the Uyghur Tribunal Judgement
Can we have a Palestinian Tribunal for the *actual* genocide being committed in Occupied Palestine please? Preferably without Judge Richard Goldstone anywhere upwind or downwind of the proceedings …

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Dec 13 2021 7:46 utc | 82

December 10, 2021:
British judges overturned an earlier ruling preventing Julian Assange’s extradition.
Consortium News LIVE! S3E9 The Survival of Julian Assange
Scheduled for Dec 13, 2021 (in three hours)
It’s all just so pathetic.

Posted by: blues | Dec 13 2021 8:38 utc | 84

As reported in Zero Hedge, a second Israeli study confirms “that natural immunity provides much better protection against infection than the Pfizer vaccine.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/another-study-finds-natural-immunity-protects-better-against-infection-pfizer-vaccine
Quote:
“This comparison shows that, 6–8 months after the corresponding event, infection rates were more than six times higher among vaccinated individuals – 89 per 100,000 versus only 14 per 100,000 among previously infected individuals.”
However,
“the difference between the hybrid group (natural recovery and vaccine) and the recovered group was relatively small. For example, infection rates at 6–8 months were only 20% higher in the recovered group”.
So, where is the evidence for vaccine mandates for people who have recovered? I guess tis is more evidence that mandates and even the lockdowns are not concerned with people’s health, but an entirely different agenda.

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Dec 13 2021 9:34 utc | 86

Since there seems to be a mini-craze around weird physics here, I want to leave a recommendation for Conformal Cyclic Cosmology, by Roger Penrose.
I read it during the height of confinement and found it extremely entertaining.
Attemps to reconcile the notion of a cyclic universe with the inflationary model, without passing through a Big Crunch.
Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Dec 12 2021 20:48 utc | 29
Hah. As much as I find the whole proposition distasteful, those are two petitions I can get behind. Good chuckle.

Posted by: Misotheist | Dec 13 2021 9:50 utc | 88

rjb1.5 #62

what can any of us do about it after all?
ah, nothing about nothing if we don’t have some basic honesty, some truthful speech. what is the value of truth in the age of advertising?

Well, I try to remember and remind those who forget or are ignorant of the shocking slaughter of the innocents, deceit, betrayal of trust, squander of any peace dividend.
When I hear someone complain about expensive or poor medical services I remind them that we should be honest with each other when it comes to the cost of an F35 or a helicopter or a submarine. There is no hiding place in polite, docile society, there is only loss and grief and waste.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Dec 13 2021 9:57 utc | 90

Posted by: Grieved | Dec 13 2021 4:02 utc | 66
Takes 30 seconds to preview, check it over, edit, and then hit post. I’m not asking for polished final draft just not stream of consciousness ungrammatical crap that might have been fixed in a few minutes——especially if you want to be taken seriously. You can do it, so can others. How is that offensive? Ideas mean bugger all if they cannot be transmitted clearly and effectively. Not an attempt to silence anyone, in fact the opposite: I’d like to hear all just without the static.

Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 13 2021 10:06 utc | 92

FOIA request releases FDA documents on Pfizer jab side effects. It ain’t good:
https://www.rt.com/usa/543001-pfizer-vaccine-side-effects/

Posted by: Gulo | Dec 13 2021 10:46 utc | 94

I had to laugh. Fair enough. Obviously touched a sore nerve. Although it’s hardly Stalinist to expect clarity of thought. I just want to read good arguments presented lucidly. I’ve read enough undergraduate pap in my life.
Posted by: Patroklos | Dec 13 2021 9:53 utc | 90
I understand your point, and generally agree, but the problem is the the medium is the message, and the medium is not really suitable for academic discourse. I come here for news and conversation, mostly other peoples conversation, because that is all it is good for. If you want to get serious, you have to talk and write serious, indeed, but that is not what we are doing here, or on 99% of the internet. It takes too long, you cannot swallow the media firehose while chewing carefully. TV just makes you stupid. The internet gives you a child’s attention span and other emotional habits. And it has virtual mobs and all sorts of phonies and crooks and paid provocateurs.

Posted by: Bemildred | Dec 13 2021 11:52 utc | 96

b, thanks so much for the neatly packaged trove of info! How do you manage to find Roderic Day from Red Sails talking of Xinjiang atrocities? I see he referenced the genocide of Indigenous peoples in Canada, noting the federal government’s responsibility while perhaps neatly side-stepping the role of resource extraction companies in the ongoing suffering of Canada’s Indigenous peoples.
https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/drinking-water-advisory-issued-for-northern-ontario-town-of-chapleau-1.5639092
“Gitanjali Rao, 15, has been named Time’s first Kid of the Year for her device and app that detects lead in drinking water, among other inventions.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/brent-sky-kenora-hospital-1.6279383
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/09/02/water-pollution-ontario-first-nations-elders-environmental-justice
https://www.theroyal.ca/news/role-allies-indigenous-mental-health-research-qa-dr-kim-matheson
With allies like this… ?

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Dec 13 2021 13:30 utc | 98

One link to add to my comment @ 99 – to the Chapleau Cree First Nation
Excerpt:
Chapleau Cree First Nation is based at the bottom of the Arctic Watershed, where water flows north to the Hudson Bay.  The Fox Lake Reserve is approximately 12 kilometres from the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve, the largest crown game preserve in North America.  The game preserve is of significant historical importance to the people of Chapleau Cree First Nation and their ancestors.  There are two neighbouring First Nation communities located within a 11 kilometre radius, Brunswick House First Nation and Chapleau Ojibwe First Nation.
https://www.mushkegowuk.com/?page_id=1996

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Dec 13 2021 14:02 utc | 100