For news & views NOT RELATED TO UKRAINE …
I got nothing.

Posted by: Patroklos | Feb 25 2022 12:38 utc | 3

@Cleary
Lol what the fuck did you do. Or see.
I’ve seen other comments you made regarding this but I still don’t get it.

Posted by: Misotheist | Feb 25 2022 12:54 utc | 5

I would mention that I am currently trying to argue against propaganda at a freaking chess server. arggghhh I can’t get away from it. I won’t mention what the propaganda concerned, cause that would be off topic.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 25 2022 13:13 utc | 7

Interesting analysis of escalating vaccine side effects, quite disturbing tbh: https://swprs.org/covid-vaccines-the-next-vioxx/
And another piece discussing how lockdowns and other COVID measures failed in Germany and elsewhere (in German but offers translation): https://swprs.org/deutschland-die-corona-bilanz/

Posted by: Berliner | Feb 25 2022 13:32 utc | 9

So Trudeau has revoked the emergency powers act after 2 days.
But it’s easier to do the next time on whatever pretext.
There’s also an incident where a parliamentarian was shut down for asking questions about WEF associations.
Totally missing stories from the MSM.
What are Canadian or acquainted bar members observations on what is happening in Canada?

Posted by: Jpc | Feb 25 2022 13:38 utc | 11

looks like chunks of qld & nsw are going to start flooding if it doesn’t stop raining… like… now…
there are three roads out of my suburb and two are already blocked
i do get how irrelevant it is (we are?) to most of the world, just trying to talk about what is in front of me. it feels like there is something in the air that is making it hard to feel grounded

Posted by: Rae | Feb 25 2022 13:58 utc | 13

Does anyone know a nice wine to pair with cabbage rolls?

Posted by: Figleaf23 | Feb 25 2022 14:53 utc | 15

Posted by: Rae | Feb 25 2022 13:58 utc | 14
Rae given all that we have heard for a number of years is about drought and fires.
Will these rains make any beneficial results for the countryside?
Refill reservoirs bring up well levels?
And I understand personally.
Not good when you’re being flooded.

Posted by: Jpc | Feb 25 2022 14:59 utc | 17

Jpc@12 cold, -36, windchill of -42, have heard bank accounts may be thawed by spring.
Wondering where we’ll house all the Banderas that escape Russian justice….perhaps Miss Freeland and Mr Diversity will put them up in Reideau Hall. They’ll be able to hold the high ground and direct artty on unsuspecting Ottawa protesters.
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Feb 25 2022 15:11 utc | 19

On Feb. 23rd, 2022, China Custome move to ease restrictions on Russia’s wheat exports, which means to import more Russian wheat.
Then the Empire’s little lapdog Aussie said that this is unacceptable at a time when a Russian military operation in Ukraine is underway. Haha!
Aussie and US accounts for 28.14%, 28.05% respectively to China’s 2021 wheat import, then followed by Canada and France, while Russia only about 0.5%. You can see the great potential here for Russia.
Russia and China can trade with their own currency instead of $ or Euro.

Posted by: lulu | Feb 25 2022 15:15 utc | 21

Anyone who still doubt about China’s stand towards Russia should take a look at this video: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1NR4y157DB/?spm_id_from=333.788.recommend_more_video.0
On May 8th, 1999, US led NATO killed three Chinese, injured dozens and destroyed Chinese Embassy in Belgrade with three bombs/missiles. US never officially apologized for its barbaric killings. But, Chinese can and will Never forget this date and these killings!
This is why China’s FM spokesperson said that NATO still has the blood of Chinese on its hands when asked by Western MSM regarding Russian’s special operation in Ukraine.

Posted by: lulu | Feb 25 2022 15:41 utc | 23

Then the Empire’s little lapdog Aussie said that this is unacceptable at a time when a Russian military operation in Ukraine is underway. Haha!
Aussie and US accounts for 28.14%, 28.05% respectively to China’s 2021 wheat import, then followed by Canada and France, while Russia only about 0.5%. You can see the great potential here for Russia.
Russia and China can trade with their own currency instead of $ or Euro.
Posted by: lulu | Feb 25 2022 15:15 utc | 21
Thanks for that good news, Lulu. The perfect occasion for China to set an import duty surcharge of 50% for all wheat imports traded in non-local currency.

Posted by: BM | Feb 25 2022 15:59 utc | 25

Re my (25) comment.
The discussions are expected to take place in either Warsaw (Poland) or Minsk (Belarus). Here’s hoping an agreement can be reached.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Feb 25 2022 16:05 utc | 27

Below is a Xinhuanet posting showing that China is talking back to empire
”
BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) — China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday urged the United States to unconditionally return assets belonging to the Afghan people and take concrete actions to repair the damage caused to them.
Global Times, an English-language Chinese newspaper, launched an online petition on Thursday, calling on the U.S. government to give back the “life-saving money” to people in Afghanistan.
When asked to comment on the petition, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing that the petition received signatures from over 200,000 netizens within 24 hours. He said this proves that what the United States has done to Afghanistan is piracy, and it has enraged the public.
Calling the United States the culprit of the Afghan issue, the spokesperson said more than 30,000 innocent civilians were killed during the Afghan war started by the United States and about 11 million people have become refugees.
The irresponsible withdrawal of its forces by the United States has created a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, with 22.8 million people facing starvation and 3.2 million children under five suffering malnutrition, the spokesperson said, citing figures of the World Food Programme.
At this critical moment, the United States did not shoulder its due responsibility to help the Afghan people alleviate their humanitarian crisis. Instead, it openly plundered the country’s assets, further aggravating the suffering of the Afghan people, Wang said.
He noted that the U.S. behavior has proved the essence of the so-called rules-based international order as touted by the United States is actually the order of power politics for the purpose of maintaining U.S. hegemony.
“We call on the United States to immediately and completely lift the ‘freeze’ on Afghan assets in the United States and unilateral sanctions, unconditionally return assets belonging to the Afghan people, and take concrete actions to repair the damage caused to the Afghan people,” Wang said.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 25 2022 16:11 utc | 29

Another US lapdog Twaiwan announces to sanction Russia. TW chip manufacturer TSMC says it will comply with all export control rules.
Chinese FM spokesperson responds: TW is simply an attention-seeker.

Posted by: lulu | Feb 25 2022 16:32 utc | 31

the funny thing about the coronavirus is that it’s like any other catastrophe in that people, individually and collectively, become more themselves thru the crisis, unless the crisis engenders literal or metaphorical death.
the USG relative to the coronavirus, like any other crisis, is no different. the objective from day one was and is to do absolutely as little as the ruling class can get away with.
because the virus interrupts their war plans.
covid denial is part of the war plan. it has been from day one. the ruling class cannot allow the people to be united around *anything*, except their plans. the virus is a gigantic interruption. instead of using the virus as an opportunity to overthrow the system, the leaders, who are absolutely hostile to their lives, who don’t give a 2nd thought to what the virus is doing except as an interruption, people imitate and speak the values of the ruling class. sheep to the slaughter, too dumb to even be fleeced first.
because it’s convenient. they want something to be true and go looking anywhere and everwhere to find it. they get their virology from a frickin ophthamologist in TX, the same state waving ultrasounds over uteruses everywhere, and from people who openly state they accept mass death from the virus as “normal”. it wasn’t normal 2 years ago. what happened?
1/5 of the global population is practically covid free, now 2 straight years. but chinese are liars. according to the people who can’t even be bothered to vaccinate Africa and have never considered their dead worth consideration.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Feb 25 2022 16:35 utc | 33

RE: Piotr Berman | Feb 25 2022 16:32 utc
Note too that liberal (even limiting it to the socioeconomic sphere) has at least two different definitions that are antonyms of each other — progressivism vs. classical liberal economics of the likes of Adam Smith, or even the neoliberalism of Milton Friedman and his undoubtedly even more warped political progeny.

Posted by: William Haught | Feb 25 2022 16:49 utc | 35

gottlieb | Feb 25 2022 16:59 utc | 37
can you provide a link to this great revelation? was it written by Francis Fukushima, i mean Fukuyama? cuz if you don’t link it, i’m just going to assume some major dickhead like Prof Last Man wrote it, cuz there are sure tons of those at places like Hopkins.
“i found a study! I found a study!” lol

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Feb 25 2022 17:08 utc | 37

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Feb 25 2022 17:08 utc | 38
How can you mixed Fukushima (f..ked up island) and Fukuyama (f..ked up mountain)?

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 25 2022 17:14 utc | 39

@ Jpc | Feb 25 2022 13:38 utc | 12.. i would say canada is going thru a dark phase at present, that is worse in many respects then anything i recall from the past.. perhaps if i can sum it up personally, i will use the posters rae’s words below…
@ Rae | Feb 25 2022 13:58 utc | 14 quote ” it feels like there is something in the air that is making it hard to feel grounded. ” this is how i am seeing things presently as well… here on vancouver island we have had an unusually dry month – no, or very little rain which is unusual for this time of the time.. not unheard of, but unusual.. i hope you make it thru the rains okay..

Posted by: james | Feb 25 2022 17:32 utc | 41

The Ukraine thread is leading this thread by 53 over 43 folks!

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Feb 25 2022 17:49 utc | 43

Posted by: Jpc | Feb 25 2022 13:38 utc | 12
The reason for terminating the Emergency Act is believed due to two events:
1) The Canadian Senate was poised to vote on the Emergency Act. The act requires the endorsement of both the Senate and the Commons else it is immediately nullified.
Trudeau had the support of the NDP party and his own caucus as he presented the vote as a confidence measure. In Westminister parliaments if the government loses a confidence vote an election must be called.
The Senate raised questions about Trudeau’s justification of the Emergency Act based on intelligence information that Trudeau refused to make public. Trudeau has attacked the Freedom Convoy protest as being the result of “foreign interference.” If Trudeau did in fact have evidence to support invoking the Emergency Act it is highly likely it came from a foreign power (i.e. one of the 5 eyes, likely the US). If Trudeau complied with Senate requests he would be forced to 1)reveal the intelligence and source; 2) disclose foreign involvement in his decision making; or 3) reveal there was no such intelligence or that the evidence did not meet the necessary threshold of a security threat to the nation (two drunks talking on a cell phone would not meet the requirement).
The only course available to Trudeau was to terminate the Emergency Act.
2) The second reason is grounded in the fact the Emergency Act permitted the government to freeze and seize any “designated Person’s” bank account. Both the banks and the state were excused from any legal liability in the case of any mistakes. The threshold for being a “Designated Person” was entirely at the discretion of Freeland, the Minister of Finance. Persons who had contributed as little as $50 had their accounts frozen.
It is reported the public responded by seeking to remove funds from Canadian banking institutions and shift funds to financial institutions not subject to Canadian law. Canadian banks raised objections as they stood to lose significant number of customer and their funds.
The law requires that a full public review of the invocation of the Act must be held within 30 days. This review should reveal more and is likely to be embarrassing to Trudeau. His own party was publicly objecting to his conduct.

Posted by: Sushi | Feb 25 2022 17:55 utc | 45

Naked Capitalism is reporting that Moderna and Pfizer(the shares are down on Wall Street) are heading for bankruptcy as hedge funds and insurance companies are preparing law suits stating that the emergency approval of their mRNA vaccines was based on fraudelent data – apparently, theere are whistleblowers in these companies prepared to hand over evidence of this.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/bankruptcy-for-moderna-definitely-pfizer.html

Posted by: Albertde | Feb 25 2022 17:58 utc | 47

Figleaf23 @16–
Your potential choices depends on your budget and the rolls’s filling.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 25 2022 18:09 utc | 49

P Berman #33. – “approved Atlanticist vocabulary”
It would be a fascinating run through 30+ years of triumphalism and self-delusion. I have always thought the foundational document in terms of establishing the frame of discussion, both in aspirational congratulation and transcending messy material circumstance, was Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History”.

Posted by: jayc | Feb 25 2022 18:25 utc | 51

Posted by: jayc | Feb 25 2022 18:25 utc | 52
Holy fuck I hate them with my guts.
They could have the slightest shading of actual neutrality and impartiality, but that would mean a diminution of their own personal cushions.
I’d gladly shove my own idology and beliefs up my own ass if it meant such bastards are kept in check and an actual impartial international order was observed.
Since that’s not on the menu, I’d rather see them melt in acid.

Posted by: Misotheist | Feb 25 2022 18:44 utc | 53

Thanks b.
A question or questions, that I could no doubt answer with some research, but should be easily answered by some of the knowledgeable here.
It is my understanding that, after Fukushima, Germany took their entire array of Nuclear Generation stations off-line, in a knee-jerk reaction to that catastrophe.
Is this true? and, if so, are they still off-line?
For the record I am neither a proponent nor a fierce opponent of nuclear energy. Considering the important relevance to that umm, err, other topic, I was going to ask that question somewhere here today.

Posted by: vinnieoh | Feb 25 2022 18:48 utc | 55

Data released by Outlaw US Empire’s Commerce Department is manipulated to show inflation only rose 6.1% in January when the real figure is described thusly by Shadowstats:
“The resulting January 2022 year-to-year annual inflation rate of 9.7% was a notch shy of the upwardly revised December 2021 9.8% [previously 9.7%] annual gain, which ties 9.8% in November 2021 for record high, monthly year-to-year inflation for the ‘Final Demand’ PPI series created in 2009.”
What we’ve seen so far in February is that 9.7% will pass the 10% mark. Once again, it’s proven that you can’t trust anything said by the Outlaw US Empire.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 25 2022 20:25 utc | 57

This is kind of amazing.
Arm China CEO asserts semiconductor venture’s right to pursue IPO independent of SoftBank-owned British parent

The defiant head of Arm China, the mainland joint venture of British semiconductor design company Arm, asserts that the Chinese firm may go public in either Shanghai or Hong Kong after 2025, weeks after the SoftBank Group Corp-owned UK tech outfit revealed its initial public offering (IPO) plan.
Allen Wu, the chairman and chief executive of Arm China, told the South China Morning Post that the firm’s Chinese shareholders, who control 51 per cent of the Shanghai-based joint venture, have the discretion to pursue an independent IPO.

Archived Link ==> https://archive.vn/fE9zX

Posted by: too scents | Feb 25 2022 21:59 utc | 59

Be very afraid.
The organization that wants a scan of every face on the planet
World Economic Forum pushes digital ID system that will determine access to services:
https://reclaimthenet.org/world-economic-forum-pushes-digital-id/
Comment to me, in part, from a friend:
“…Here we agree. But I fear Digital ID will not be stopped. The OZ govt (both/All sides) have a program of moving all contact with govt services to this digital ID And *Dutton* is still trying to get all the states to hand over all the car license etc face images to link. The article about the WEF is interesting. I’d like to know what timeline the WEF extremists have in mind to a achieve the ‘own nothing’ digitally managed global slave situation.
All civilized !!!!! countries are at it.
However I think most of the mandate protesters are not thinking or interested at this level…”
** Peter Dutton, MP, is the hard line ultra right ex Caboolture, Queensland, cop, now the politically ambitious Australian Defence Minister.
Be very, very afraid and resist digital dictatorship. Freedom, like free speech is indivisible, you either have it or you don’t. Once you lose it it is hard and bloody to wrest it back.

Posted by: Paul | Feb 25 2022 23:31 utc | 61

@27 MineHop | Feb 25 2022 16:04 utc – “Things could have been considerably worse for life insurance companies. Many of the victims of COVID-19 have been older people…”
Actually, that doesn’t seem to be the case, and actually that Fortune article seems to be obscuring the facts rather than revealing them. And let the record show that the headline of even that dubious piece of work says that “Life insurance payouts see highest increase in over 100 years”
~~
I haven’t read the Naked Capitalism story posted above yet, suggesting that Moderna and Pfizer will face bankruptcy because of lawsuits from the insurance industry – their indemnity from prosecution probably won’t stand if their initial trials falsified data (and those falsifications are coming to light now).
But I think the insurance industry may be the rock upon which the Pharma wave breaks, and recedes.
For those interested, I recently discovered Etana Hecht, whom I may not agree with on many things, but she has a great article compiling how the investors in the markets regard the vaccine saga:
Wall Street -Welcome to the Party! – The vaccine saga hits the markets and investors are opening their eyes

“claims for deaths have seen a 40% increase in Q3 and into Q4 of 2021. The increase was among 18-64-year-olds, and primarily NOT Covid deaths. He said that this increase is unheard of, by far the highest number of deaths in the history of the company and that a catastrophic, once in 200 years event would be expected to have a 10% increase at worst.”

Hecht adds to this initial report, another six insurance companies whose death claims have increased by 21-57%. Again, for perspective, a 10% increase would be a 200-year catastrophic event.
She continues in her article with data from other industries, listing reports from funeral directors that dead bodies are more than they can decently bury. We heard this from England early after vaccine introduction, but the reports and numbers continue now to become pervasive.
The article includes reports from a Pfizer whistleblower, reports from US Dept of Defense whistleblowers, and the good old VAERS data itself, to paint a picture that many of us are not surprised at. The vaccines have killed astonishing numbers of people.
~~
And not only is the old narrative crumbling – to reveal the tyranny standing behind the curtain – but the data continues to amass, to reveal the lie that was heard around the world, and which we are still uncovering in forensic examination.
I leave you to your own punchlines.

Posted by: Grieved | Feb 26 2022 0:27 utc | 63

Now that I’m reading the Naked Capitalism article, I see that it and the one I cited are both drawing heavily from Edward Dowd, a former Blackrock executive and now a semi-retired investor with a very long and good track record.
Dowd is strongly citing the appearance of fraud by Pharma, and acting as a portfolio manager would, to warn to dump Pharma stocks.
I can’t see any original source for Dowd, but he traces back to a podcast with Steve Bannon. I don’t especially like Bannon, but he has given air time to some important voices, including doctors Mallone and McCullough.
This podcast with Dowd includes Dr. Malone and lawyer Thomas Renz. And that link is in the Naked Capitalism article, in the section quoting Dowd’s words.
Somehow it would be grimly ironic if Wall Street was the force that took down Pharma.

Posted by: Grieved | Feb 26 2022 0:52 utc | 65

Sorry, ‘clinical trials’ not ‘test trials’.

Posted by: juliania | Feb 26 2022 1:03 utc | 67

Grieved | Feb 26 2022 1:05 utc | 69
you are joking with this right? that’s not news. that’s someone selling an investment strategy. there’s no facts in that article supporting anything you say.
“Compared to the $81 billion in 2021 revenue, the earnings from the vaccines and the antivirals could top $102 billion for 2022, which is music to shareholders’ ears. However some are hearing shrieks, and these happen to be Wall Street’s finest, the smart money that beats the rest of the herd to the exits like clockwork.
These sophisticated investors make it their business to not go with the conventional wisdom but to do their own research, which often pays spectacular dividends.”
that’s not news. total bullshit is more like it.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Feb 26 2022 1:25 utc | 69

Grieved @69–
Thanks for your investigation and report!!
I just finished publishing an article based on today’s Strategic Culture editorial and one of my previous articles that asked the question, is the Outlaw US Empire Fascist or does it Merely Promote Fascism. The conclusion I draw is Russia’s invoking Article 51 to defend itself against the crossing of its Red Lines is ultimately a defense of humanity from a Fascist Outlaw US Empire. The next chapter in the Global Anti-Fascist War has commenced.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 26 2022 1:37 utc | 71

@ Jpc & james: thanks for your concern but luckily i am not currently dodging bullets or being digitally deleted
fear mongering for profit and power: same shit, different day
unholy alliance of healthcare and government: ssdd
divide and conquer / maximize divisions: ssdd
assaults on basic human rights / increase of poor vs rich abyss / class war: ssdd
digital control and abuse of this digital power: ssdd, but increasingly bold right?
russian military active in eastern europe: not that unusual, though very hesitant to label war as ssdd
floods: not that unusual, though it is still raining heavily and unlikely to stop for another day at least
all of these things happening at the same time? does not feel like ssdd

Posted by: Rae | Feb 26 2022 2:07 utc | 73

@72 karlof1
I’ve been thinking for a while now that the only word for the US is fascist.
This raises the question a little bit of, what is fascist? And I guess I could perhaps make an answer for that but it’s what we’ve sen revealed behind the curtain in many countries – all of the 5 eyes for sure – in the last two years, and especially now as the medical cover is shredding, and only the urge for power remains.
So I don’t really see fascist in terms of an ideology. It just seems to be what happens under the influence of power, unless there’s a countervailing force of either very strong personal morality or very moral institutional force.
It’s a badness that happens, and grows, like a cancer, and we give it the name of fascism, which it lives up to as it very naturally aligns itself with cancerous immortals such as corporations and other self-serving institutions that wield any kind of power.
Once down that road, total control is the only dream that seems like it might ease the pain of being that lost from life and humanity. It wouldn’t work, of course, even if you could achieve total control, because as Krishna advised Arjuna, “Lust can never be satisfied.”
So the complete tyrant would always find rivals to war against, never knowing his own anguish was causing them to appear. It really is a delusion that goes nowhere, a total failure of ambition. Evil is a complete fucking bust, the loser play of them all.
..
Anyway. Not a finished concept, just a few thoughts for the moment. Something like, fascism is not so much a thing adopted as it is a thing that grows out of one. It’s a variant of degradation, when the heart shuts down (which I think greed will do more effectively than anything), and community or compassion with others is locked out.
And this is why the people of Canada, for example, are so astonished, wondering, where did this come from? How did this grow? On what legs could it possibly stand?
So it can happen to anyone, anyone of us, anytime, from the right causes and conditions.
This is why the answer should be institutional, unbreakable and enduring – enshrined in the law, codified, and probably on pain of death or at least complete removal from society.
Maybe true Communism is actually that, I don’t know…

Posted by: Grieved | Feb 26 2022 3:27 utc | 75

@Grieved #64
I posted a long article on the Pfizer/Moderna situation in the previous Open Thread.
Long story short:
7 different insurance companies are reporting working age death claims up 24% to 57% in Q3 and/or Q4 2021. It is possible that these are vaccine effects.
That’s point 1.
Point 2 is that there are a number of supposed whistleblowers reporting that Pfizer and/or Moderna obscured the numbers of overall “all causes” deaths in the vaccine vs. control groups.
We do know for a fact that Pfizer and Moderna continue to refuse to release the raw data from their clinical trials.
So the situation is as follows:
“working age” excess deaths due to vaccine is a major issue because COVID deaths in those ages are low to start with.
Fraud in obscuring clinical trial results negates the EUA liability shields which Pfizer and Moderna were given, and insurance companies losing money due to these excess deaths represent Big Money prying open the shield, which in turn would enable class action lawsuits that could make the asbestos deal look like small claims court.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 26 2022 4:49 utc | 77

@77u c1ue | Feb 26 2022 4:49 utc
Thank you for that concise summation. I probably read your previous post – I do read the open threads. Data flies in from so many places now, and it increasingly corroborates previous, less solid theories. It’s difficult to remember sources, and I generally only hold the evolving picture – but that makes it a struggle sometimes to recapture all the sources to advance a concept.
Class action lawsuits. Yes, that would get some attention 😉

Posted by: Grieved | Feb 26 2022 5:14 utc | 79

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 26 2022 1:37 utc | 72
I do not necessarily disagree with your “only possible conclusion”, but I have some basic objection. There is a human tendency to form societies as tribes, with values like compassion either reserved exclusively for the members of the same tribe, or much weaker when the outsiders are involved. An early example, early Iron Age to be precise, is described in the Book of Judges (along with some other horrific examples which, while mythical, describe what was a natural turn of events for the writers of the text):
The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” they said, “All right, say ‘Shibboleth.’” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.
Fascism, as conceived by Mussolini and developed in different varieties in a number of countries has certain common characteristics, but there are other disagreeable ideologies that predate it, e.g. 19th century liberalism, especially British, or the intolerant racism of antebellum South where a abolitionist speaker could be hacked with Bowie knives as he spoke, abolitionist publications censored by Southern postmasters, publishing outfits of those burned if too close to South-North border, e.g. in Cincinnati.
To me, fascism entails intense hatred to enemies (which vary, Communists are included, as a rule, other enemies depend on locale), cult of a leader, cult of state, but also some social solidarity (excluding the enemies) and technological progress (including weapons). There is also cult of force.
Perhaps the collective West regresses not to fascism but to Palmerstonian liberalism, with a modification that that is all too eager to use fascists or other distinctly illiberal folks like Muslim extremists as instruments. This allows a person like Justin Trudeau to despise fascism (as he describes it) at home and support it in Ukraine.
Footnote for the general audience, Biography & Facts – Encyclopedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com › … › Prime Ministers
Lord Palmerston, English Whig-Liberal statesman whose long career, including many years as British foreign secretary (1830–34, 1835–41, and 1846–51) and …
Political Affiliation: Liberal Party Tory Party Whig …
Role In: Crimean War [kind of like GWB and Blair combined for that misbegotten war]
Born: October 20, 1784 Broadlands England
Died: October 18, 1865 (aged 80) Hertfordshire‎ …‎
Actually, if we are fastidious, Ukrainian wannabe fascists lack charismatic leaders (although there is a number of loudmouths), and have rather scant interest in progress and social solidarity (although they may indulge in vocal concerns about the common people), so I would view them as proto-fascists with development arrested at Freikorps stage (murderous thugs with rather sketchy organizations).
Such fastidiousness may have benefits. Using a more accurate template, confident 19-th century style imperialism with Victorian-like hypocrisy and disdain for the lesser folks and degenerating rather slowly into dysfunctional bureaucracy maintaining a disintegrating empire, is more compelling as an argument and more conducive to correct predictions. Confident liberalism has no need for “genius leaders”, buffoons who spout slogans suffice because the imperial might can suffer a debacle or two. Deference to plutocrats is also a proudly acknowledge feature of this liberalism. Of all horrors inflicted by “autocrats” on their people, nothing is worse than martyrdom of plutocrats like Khodorkovsky or their minions (Magnitsky), and horribly reduced status of plutocrats that remain in Russia, who instead go ruling by influencing the politics, must please the autocrat. In those terms, Maduro of Venezuela and Ortega of Nicaragua deserve any sanction that can be devised, as they trample the plutocrats in their countries. To me, it is typical 19th century liberalism.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 26 2022 5:58 utc | 81

Can others please check Craig Murray?
I put up a cross-post last night, and now his site is no longer accessible.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/
I have my suspicions that this is the reason

John Cleary
February 26, 2022 at 00:42
Craig, this is all becoming depressingly familiar.
When I applied to the ECHR I submitted TWO claims.
The first was the original Anglia Television crime.
But the second was for the theft of my London apartment. (That’s why I ask Mr Reid the question about the consolidation of the two claims.)
Shortly thereafter my claim was “considered” by three magistrates of the court. They ruled that I must be completely rejected and expelled from consideration, but they were at claims to stress that they had not read anything of my submission at all, and that in any case they had not seen anything untoward!
I know. Ludicrous.
Even more ludicrous, shortly thereafter the ECHR changed its rules to make sure that I could never get back in again. Check it out for yourself. The timing.
What caused them to freak out?
Well, the theft of my flat is very easy to prove
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/02/open-thread-2022-16.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef02942f9b444a200c#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef02942f9b444a200c
But it is where it leads that matters. It leads to an affidavit just like your own.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/02/the-moa-week-in-review-ot-2022-015.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef02942f9ab13c200c#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef02942f9ab13c200c
Unfortunately the European Court of Human Rights is as hopelessly corrupt as the rest of the corrupt European superstructure.
I know from my own documented experiences that everything in Europe is hopelessly corrupted. The Commission, the Council of Ministers, the Parliament, the Council of Europe.
The only one I am missing is the OSCE. And the Russian Federation is in the process of demonstrating just how corrupt is that august body (at senior levels).
So we have a Full House!
When it comes to the ECHR, don’t get your hopes up mate.

Posted by: John Cleary | Feb 26 2022 8:52 utc | 83

@83 John Cleary
Murray’s site works for me. It is using the cloudflare check before allowing access

Posted by: Some Random Passerby | Feb 26 2022 11:52 utc | 85

John, we live within the rules based order. I am pinning my hopes on Russia and China breaking the back of the US and causing a collapse of this so called rules based order. it may break a lot out of their MSM induced trance, but also I think a lot of classified documents will need to be released to the public. Here in oz I am hoping for a break up of the anglosphere, with an Australian as head of state rather than a foreign monarch. For those in UK, something like a revolution is required unless Russia does the honors with a decapitation strike.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 26 2022 14:47 utc | 87

John I certainly don’t expect Russia to come and save us but I do see some knock on side effects if Russia breaks the hegemon with its pushback.
You may have luck in the courts there but my experience here has been different. Back around 2013 i was looking into the exact legal meaning of the legal term ‘Estate in fee Simple’. I found a 1930’s court case commonwealth vs NSW on the commonwealth acquiring land from NSW for the federal capitol. I also ran onto a small group of people scattered around Australia who were also looking into it. I had been chasing a bug on my computer for some time and after working on it all one night finally deleted some files that cleared it up and told my wife I had finally got it. We were renting a shed at the time that the owner had converted into a flat to live in while he was building his house. the owner and his girlfriend lived in the house, my wife and I in the flat. We all worked different hours and were coming and going at different times of the day. at about ten that morning, there was half an hour when no one was at the property. The main house was broken into first, two ipads were taken but though the place spoke of money, nothing was gone through, nothing else taken, her expensive rings were left on the kitchen sink untouched. our flat was then gone through. My computer with mobile internet seemed to be what they were looking for as the flat had been completely ransacked. a couple of my wife’s rings had been taken but we found them on the driveway. The property owners girlfriend was first back and although she didn’t notice, she had disturbed whoever had been going through the flat. my wife got back to the flat a short time later, saw the door open and that the interior had been ransacked.
In that area, burglaries were pretty much unheard of and this was a property where four of us were coming and going at all different times of the day. I suspected it was to do with what I was looking into and when I mentioned that to my wife she thought that was the case also. She was very frightened so I did not look into it any more. If I was on my own I think I would have kept going with it.
Always it was in my mind that it could have been nothing more than coincidence and nothing more than a burglary. It was a number of years later I thought I would look it up again. I had originally researched it using duckduckgo, but two hours of searching with duckduckgo and chrome did not even turn up a reference to that court case. Yandex, first search term, first result was a link to a blog that quoted the relevant section of the court transcript but the full transcript of the court cae was nowhere to be found. I tried again in the last few weeks with yandex and now even that reference in the blog has been erased from the internet.
This I believe is the site where the full court transcript could be found.
while writing this Bernard Collaery and and witness k come to mind re the rules based order. Collaery was represent East Timor in the international court when his offices were raided and I think he and witness k arrested. The Australian government was ordered to hand back all materials which they did but no doubt after they had thoroughly checked through all Collaery’s preparation for the case. The Australian government then settled with East Timor out of court.
I had a bit of a look to see what had become of Collaery and witness k and ran onto this.
https://www.mup.com.au/blog/steve-bracks-ac-in-conversation-with-bernard-collaery
An interesting little paragragh..
“The ministers with responsibility for our intelligence agencies, currently Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton, and Attorney-General Christian Porter have unfettered power. There is no parliamentary oversight of intelligence operations like there is the US, Canada and the UK.”
From what I can see, it is absolutely essential to be a high profile public figure for these people to even bother with the appearance of legality and even that does not help Assange much.
For somebody like me though, everything can be done completely off the books with no need to even give the appearance of legality.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 26 2022 19:11 utc | 89

Canadian Indigenous beaders head to France for Paris Fashion Week
https://www.aptnnews.ca/infocus/infocus-indigenous-beaders-from-canada-take-paris-fashion-week-by-storm/
Some Canadian First Nations peoples show support for Ukrainians, reflecting the historical interaction between the two cultures on the Canadian prairies
https://www.aptnnews.ca/videos/indigenous-people-show-support-for-the-people-of-ukraine-with-kookum-scarves/
The tequila fish is back in Mexico
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/environnement/2022-02-26/mexique/teuchitlan-celebre-la-resurrection-du-poisson-tequila.php

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 27 2022 10:29 utc | 91