@Jpc #1
Why do you think so?
The sanction that matters is Nord Stream 2.
That’s still on the table, as far as I can see.
Nord Stream 2 is critical because it completes the strategic redirect of Russian natural gas from transit through Poland and Ukraine, directly to Germany. Western Europe and Germany/France in particular are what matters in the EU, and NS2 means the periphery Eastern European EU members can no longer simultaneously stick costs on transit natural gas nor threaten availability.
Energy is a serious problem in Europe – note the link I posted above showing severe problems in the UK as well over natural gas.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 20 2022 15:39 utc | 4

Christian J. Chuba (3)
Ditto.
Here in the UK its non-stop 24/7 from all media sources that Putin is on the verge of invading Ukraine, not just that but they are parroting Boris Johnson’s speech that Russia is about to invade and surround Kiev, WTF, I’m wondering how many folk in the UK, (of which I hope Scotland leaves as soon as) are buying into this shit.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Feb 20 2022 16:02 utc | 6

@2 C1ue
Centrica (British Gas patent company) are making money rather well though. Increases always get passed onto us, whereas any reductions are kept in house…
I’m starting to get worried if I’m honest. There is speculation that the price will increase massively again in autumn.
Rising profits
Apologies for paywalled link

Posted by: Some Random Passerby | Feb 20 2022 16:03 utc | 8

Some Random Passerby (8)
“I’m starting to get worried if I’m honest. There is speculation that the price will increase massively again in autumn.”
Its doesn’t look like speculation.
“Rishi Sunak has predicted a further energy price rise in October after announcing support for Brits facing a hike in their bill.
It comes after energy regulator Ofgem announced bills will rocket by close to £700 a year on average from April 1 once the price cap is lifted.
That is a rise of 54% as the energy cap increases from £1,277 to £1,971 a year.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/energy-bills-prices-ofgem-cap-26126169

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Feb 20 2022 16:07 utc | 10

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 20 2022 15:39 utc | 4
I don’t think that NS2 is still on the table – Chancellor Scholz just can’t state that publicly due to claims for compensation etc.
And, to be honest, I think that is the only way to make the Europeans ultimately realize into what they maneuvered themselves. The general public plus the economy of Germany has to feel the pain to finally stand up and reject the US hegemony.
The new German administration still thinks that they can somehow get around those sanctions but they are slowly starting to realize that they will be implemented one way or the other. Some members of the government are beginning to prepare the public for hefty drawbacks now.

Posted by: qubix | Feb 20 2022 16:12 utc | 12

@c1ue | Feb 20 2022 16:04 utc | 9

Biden approval now lower than Trump at same point

Taking into account that Trump had all the MSM against him and Biden has all the MSM on his side, and taking into account that the MSM is hardly objective on something like this, you can figure out how bad it really is.
This is just a comment on the comparison btw., not an endorsement of Trump.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 20 2022 16:26 utc | 14

c1ue @9: “The problem, of course, is that Biden does not have a core of fervent (fanatic, rabid is what Democrats would say) supporters like Trump does.”
I believe there is quite a bit more to Biden’s low approval than that. The corporate mass media made their hate for Trump, and those they felt were his supporters, painfully obvious. Just as obvious has been the presstitutes’ efforts to buff Biden’s popularity. Particularly since the astonishingly warped narratives that the mass media tried to hard-sell in 2020 that they doubled-down on ridiculous narratives in 2021, many Americans have grown wise to their brainwashing and gaslighting efforts. The result is that the more they try to sell Biden the more damage they do to him. The corporate mass media basically has the reverse Midas Touch now; every narrative they touch turns to shit.
At least that is the case with domestic narratives. It remains to be seen how much people are buying the international narratives. I’m willing to bet that any popularity bump Biden gets from being a war president will be brief and small.

Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 20 2022 16:37 utc | 16

Jpc 1 “Given the non invasion and the refusal of the Russians to react to provocation.
What does the US do next?”
US/UK will do what they always do – a false flag. But these sanctions are going to make the EU squeal so the false flag will have to be big.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 20 2022 16:46 utc | 18

This from the head of (MI5) of whom I’m ashamed to say is a Scot.
“Another major problem, according to the intelligence heavyweight, is so-called “online cultivation” of ordinary people – experts, scientists, and others – by Britain’s “adversaries.” This “cultivation,” as he explained, manifests itself in approaches by people “making some very complimentary remarks about some seminar they have given or a paper they have written or inviting them to a conference.”
The scale of these adversaries’ activities is so grand that MI5 faces a tough choice over whom to prioritize: home-grown terrorists or foreign spies, McCallum confessed.”
https://www.rt.com/news/549997-intelligence-russia-china-interview/

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Feb 20 2022 16:55 utc | 20

“…Will the police do the job? Does the Canadian state have the equipment necessary to do the job?
“It seems that the Canadian military do have equipment like armored recovery vehicles which could be deployed to remove the trucks – 11 specialized tank recovery vehicles in total. But they are deployed in training grounds far from the action in Ottawa or the US-Canadian border…”
That’s Adam Tooze wondering aloud whether Canada has the capacity to remove the trucks in Ottawa (it turned out that the Ottawa Bus company did the job- no tow truck operators dared).
What I wonder is where those Armed Forces’ ‘tank recovery vehicles’ are, that they cannot get to Ottawa? Could they be in ‘training grounds’ in Ukraine?

Posted by: bevin | Feb 20 2022 17:15 utc | 22

thanks b…. i appreciate this place and your work..
@ bevin | Feb 20 2022 17:15 utc | 22.. good question.. maybe adam tooze will figure that out as well??
regarding possibility of war – here are a few questions to an astrologer friend.. we talk back and forth, but it is not usually about gloomy stuff like this. – my questions –
“what do you think of the possibility of war action on around march 2nd with the mars-pluto conjunction, new moon and mercury-saturn conjunction?
or do you think about a month later in early april with the mars-saturn conjunction there will be a concern for war, in ukraine or elsewhere?”
those are more likely flash points for the dynamic in ukraine, if it is to erupt.. i keep hoping nothing will happen..

Posted by: james | Feb 20 2022 17:36 utc | 24

@William Gruff | Feb 20 2022 15:59 utc | 5
I think Chris has it in the right order. I believe you are arguing about ownership in an opaque manner.
In the West (US especially), the illusion must be made that the government doesn’t do propaganda directly, when it has been established for a long time now that the intelligence agencies, especially CIA is heavily invested in the media through front corporations/cutouts as well as countless well placed assets on editorial boards and in journalist pools. These components work together in an orchestrated fashion, citing each other as well as amplifying their volume through ceaseless repetition.
Ever wonder why so many so-called private media outlets, suddenly all use the exact same descriptive language to describe the same events in near identical terms? If they were truly private interests, why/how would they need to coordinate the discourse so obviously? There’s obviously money at stake as you suggest, after all that has always been the easiest way to get people to do/say what you want them to, but the optics indicate a far broader and coordinated agenda that crosses all international borders.
War is typically the domain of governments (often in collusion with business interests). In the west (especially the USA) the MSM (and increasingly ‘alternative’ media) has been weaponized for decades. The information war is a pivotal element of full spectrum dominance.

Posted by: Spinworthy | Feb 20 2022 18:00 utc | 26

I am about halfway through reading Robert B. Stinnett’s “Day of Deceit” book concerning whether FDR knew about Pearl Harbor and whether there was a plan to provoke Japan into attacking the US.
In my previous post looking at the McCollum memo – there were 8 actions which McCollum recommended to incite a Japanese attack. At the time, a quick web search showed half of them were implemented between the time of the McCollum memo (October 1940) and August 1941.
So far, 2 more of the remaining 4 are also confirmed from FOIA documentation examined by McCollum, including:

D. Send a division of long range heavy cruisers to the Orient, Philippines, or Singapore

A series of “pop up” appearances by US Navy cruisers in and around Japan’s periphery were conducted – 3 cruises were conducted between March 1941 and July 1941 including in Japanese territorial waters.

G. Insist that the Dutch refuse to grant Japanese demands for undue economic concessions, particularly oil

Details of a close interaction between Dutch government and intelligence with US counterparts is detailed. Dutch resistance to Japanese demands including both quotas on amounts of oil sold, as well as things like requiring oil sold to be transported by Japanese tankers (which was not the previous custom).
But more importantly, the role of McCollum is detailed. McCollum wasn’t just a random analyst, he was literally in charge of all Far East intel. He sent direct reports to FDR’s office.
Stinnett further details that the US had actually broken numerous Japanese codes – not just the diplomatic ones but also portions of the “Kaigun Ango” – which were the naval codes. This intel allowed ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) to track some significant number of Japanese merchant and naval ships and their locations – and that this intel was not being passed on to Kimmel.
Stinnett then details that ONI certainly knew about a significant number of Japanese warships headed east – these ships being part of the fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor.
A normal criminal investigation requires 3 things: means, motive and opportunity.
The Motive is clear:
Get the US into World War 2. As Japan had signed a “defensive” alliance with Germany and Italy, a war with Japan would enable the US to say that it was also at war with Germany and Italy.
The Means:
Get Japan to attack the US, because US public opinion was against joining the World War even if it was also against making a treaty with Hitler.
The McCollum memo wasn’t just a theoretical exercise by a low level analyst buried in a desk – it was by the head of intel from all East Asia who had a direct line to the office of the President of the United States from October 1940 to December 7, 1941.
The actions detailed in the memo were carried out in large part or in full by subsequent US actions from December 1940 to September 1941.
Whether FDR knew about the Pearl Harbor attack or not – there is no definitive proof nor is it certain that FDR would be hands-on in such detailed naval activity, but it is 100% clear that the US Pacific Fleet was put in Pearl Harbor both to provoke the Japanese and to be a target. Not just the US Pacific Fleet, but also US cruisers repeatedly sent into Japanese territorial waters.
Stinnett says “Roosevelt’s fingerprints were on all them” – the 8 actions in the McCollum memo but these aren’t all documented.
The Opportunity:
Not only were the 8 actions supposedly executed, there were also numerous personnel changes constituting enablement of the opportunity.
1) Changes in organization and personnel – a definite migration of intel types vs. naval commander types. This included the posting of Howard Rainsford Stark – chief of Naval Operations who ordered unrestricted submarine warfare on Japan, 4 hours after Pearl Harbor and without official government approval; the removal of Admiral Richardson and replacement with Admiral Kimmel (more on Kimmel below) – for protesting the extended stay of the US Pacific fleet in Hawaii; the Director of Naval Intelligence, Captain Walter Adnerson was promoted to rear admiral and put in command of the Pacific Fleet battleships.
2) The unexplained lack of intel provided to the Pearl Harbor admiral (Admiral Kimmel) in charge. Note that the former Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Anderson, was under Kimmel’s command. Anderson and Kimmel’s assistant war plans officer, Commander Vincent Murphy, likely both knew about the McCollum memo – yet Kimmel complained twice in writing about his lack of access to updated intel on Japanese plans.
This certainly doesn’t look good.
Now consider what is going on re: Ukraine today, vs. the above and vs. Iraq, Afghanistan etc.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 20 2022 18:12 utc | 28

Posted by: bevin | Feb 20 2022 17:15 utc | 22
The Canadian military is not involved in removing heavy vehicles in Ottawa because the Canadian government has not requested the military’s help. These vehicles are likely still located at the three bases where armoured training occurs…Borden, Kingston and Gagetown.

Posted by: Victor | Feb 20 2022 18:20 utc | 30

@25 james- Well, Circe is back. After all, US midterm elections are in November. Maybe Bernie is running or something.
Just a joke, Circe. I like reading your comments. 😉

Posted by: lex talionis | Feb 20 2022 18:26 utc | 32

@bevin | Feb 20 2022 17:15 utc | 22
Petawawa must have some. The dragoon’s are there. They’re a reg force unit with leopard 2’s. Gotta have some recovery capability.
Petawawa is 2 hrs away.
There are also engineer units around that may have something.
Justin said he wouldn’t use the military for what that’s worth and it may all be over soon anyways.

Posted by: PleaseBeleafMe | Feb 20 2022 18:38 utc | 34

Ottawa Police shoot Rebel reporter poing blank
view with caution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc1rjRH3TEk

Posted by: ld | Feb 20 2022 18:43 utc | 36

@c1ue | Feb 20 2022 18:16 utc | 29
“…it requires a Stasi-level of control” is a strawman critique and reflects the crude/clumsy way of making propaganda. It is too obvious and lacks deniability. I’m talking about perception management without the visible strings. I believe that nothing is left to chance when it comes to the information space w/ respect to controlling narratives.
Another factor is the coordinated silence or lack of exposure on matters that would contradict or undermine the desired narrative. A lack of Tweets cannot be a viable answer for such large scale omission.

Posted by: Spinworthy | Feb 20 2022 18:47 utc | 38

French banks are upping efforts in joining cIps, china’s swIft alternative in cross border payment. It looks like that They are going to accept RMB payment and add RMB to its reserve currency list in the future.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252541.shtml
People are getting ready for the post usd world.

Posted by: cindy6 | Feb 20 2022 18:52 utc | 40

i guess something happened to jackrabbit.. he never came back.. debs is dead has been missing for some time as well.. who else?
Posted by: james | Feb 20 2022 17:37 utc | 25
Well for one, gordog just disappeared too. I think he was well appreciated. I think he left after some harsh words with vk.
He could/should return now that vk is history, but he seemed a bit driven and maybe it isn’t worth his time.
I liked snake’s ‘in-depth’ summaries on the comments of others. He at least gave a short goodbye post.
But, Debsisdead | February 01, 2022 at 00:03 | & a couple other comments in late Jan. He sounded a bit disenchanted about commenting,
due to some differences with another poster. I appreciated his opinion.
btw, Sunday evening here, enjoying your trio with the Stevie wonder tribute.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Feb 20 2022 18:57 utc | 42

Don’t have much to say today other than this bit regarding the Canadian trucker protests.
https://badnews.substack.com/p/what-the-left-can-learn-from-the?utm_source=url
Excerpt below. I should note that while the socio-economic (or just economic) breakdown of the *supporters* of the truckers in the poll skewed to the lower income brackets, the actual donors have been shown to be a mix, with most of the donations coming in large amounts from people in the US and Canada that are financially well off (i.e., “the 1%).

Don’t do a carbon tax unless somehow you’re making it up to working people so they don’t pay anything extra. That lesson, translated to Biden’s Build Back Better Act, made it heavy on investments in clean energy rather than policies that would purposely raise gas prices.
But the lesson elites drew from Paris was way too narrow. The real takeaway is that people have been so driven into the ground by 40 years of neoliberalism and austerity – a system that smashes communities into little individual pieces – that they’re simply not willing to take any more crap for any reason. During the pandemic, instead of calibrating restrictions with a cost-benefit analysis, many governments went as far as they thought they could take it, and were enthusiastically cheered on by many of the upper and upper-middle class people who form the backbone of center left coalitions around the world.
This anti-mandate trucker protest is the backlash. The media has zeroed in on the white supremacists who have inserted themselves into it, but taking a closer look at public opinion toward it should be sobering for the left. In recent polling done by Ipsos, Canadians were given two statements to agree with:
One: “I may not agree with everything the people who have taken part in the truck protests in Ottawa have said, but their frustration is legitimate and worthy of our sympathy.”
Two: “What the people taking part in the truck protests in Ottawa have said and done is wrong and does not deserve any of our sympathy.”
What the poll does is take out somebody’s opinion on the tactic of shutting down Ottawa or jamming up the Ambassador Bridge and asks directly about the grievances.
Overall, 54% of Canadians said the protesters do not deserve any of our sympathy. That might be a comforting number for Canadian progressives, but the trouble lies deeper in the numbers. For people 55 and up, only 37% sympathized with the protesters. But among people 18-34, that number was 61%.
Meanwhile, people who made less than $40,000 a year were supportive of the protesters, 54-46%. People who make over 100k are the least supportive.
Ipsos also asked whether people agree with the statement, “The truck protest is mostly economically disadvantaged Canadians letting governments know that they are struggling.”
51% of People making less than 40k agreed with that assessment. For those making over 100k, only 32% agreed. Now, who would you say is more plugged into the feelings of working-class Canadians – those making less than 40k a year, or those making more than $100,000?
Ipsos also asked folks if they support the Black Lives Matter movement. Overall, Canadians say they support BLM by a 68-32 margin. Among Gen Z, the support was 86%, which is practically universal. Among 18-34 year olds, it was 77%. Ipsos doesn’t offer economic crosstabs for this one, but they do have a category for people with only a high school degree, and among those, support for Black Lives Matter is 64%.
Now of course no poll is perfect, and none of this is precise, but the general picture is clear: The people in Canada most likely to sympathize with the truckers are young and working class. And most of those people also support Black Lives Matter. This is a frustrated group of people who are up for grabs politically. If progressives simply write them off as right wing reactionaries, the right wing is all too happy to tell them that yes, that’s exactly what they are, and welcome them in.

In keeping with the Canada theme, here’s a fun video of a dude who learned all of the main drum fills of the late Neil Peart (RIP) of Rush, who died about 2 years ago today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLpcEuR4YNU&t=1s

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2022 19:09 utc | 44

@ lex talionis | Feb 20 2022 18:26 utc | 32… i am fine with circe, lol….
@ waynorinorway | Feb 20 2022 18:57 utc | 42… thank you! you pay attention, lol! yes, i miss gordogs post as well.. and before him – paveway… paveway was here during the syrian war dynamic and was very knowledgeable.. i would like to do that project again, but have been sidetracked due covid and all else… cheers..

Posted by: james | Feb 20 2022 19:10 utc | 46

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2022 19:09 utc | 44… thanks for that.. interesting data.. regarding the issue of funding coming from sources outside canada – why is it that this is made an issue when george soros donates a shit ton to the liberal party? does anyone go around saying this is wrong? i can’t remember seeing it.. i suppose this is in keeping with our movement towards being controlled by corporations and vested financial interests that no no nationality… from my own point of view, this issue of outside funding is some cocked up cia-csis bullshit that those hostile to the truckers protest have latched onto without thinking it thru.. and i don’t believe they realize how this information was made available to them either – the intel agencies.. so for me, the choices are fairly stark here… people either side with the narrative the msm and intel agencies spin, or they take a more independent perspective on it.. i think this issue is a very divisive one and our present leader and the media have made it much more divisive… thanks for the info!

Posted by: james | Feb 20 2022 19:19 utc | 48

Posted by: james | Feb 20 2022 19:19 utc | 48
I don’t disagree that the hack of the funding site was conducted by the CIA or one of their cutouts precisely to label the entirety of the trucker protests as neo-nazis or white supremacists or whatever. I also don’t disagree that those groups have inserted themselves into the movement/narrative in the same way as the so-called accelerationists and “boogaloo bois” did with the George Floyd protests. We all know that the US and Canadian government don’t have any problems with actual nazis as evidenced by the abstention every time a vote comes up in the UN to condemn that kind of thing or, you know, the entire history of the US and Canada from before WWII and Hitler’s rise to power.
And when Soros funds stuff it does make its way into the right-wing media; has for a long time now. Speaking of nazi collaboration allegations…
That having been said, it’s not a lie that prominent and/or financial elites among the American (and Canadian)_right have made significant contributions to the truckers (btw, who’s managing this funding site for them and how are the funds actually distributed? I genuinely don’t know.) But as Grim’s article points out, it’s also a lot of regular people in lower economic brackets supporting the movement, and it makes perfect sense. These people have no relation whatsoever to white power or other racist/exclusionist causes. Personally I’m still on the fence about it for the main reason that I don’t know all the details. Just as was the case with the BLM and George Floyd protests, each “side” attempts to paint the other “side” with a broad brush for political purposes, but in real life such large movements are much more complex than how the media (both corporate MSM and corporate right) describe them. The one thing we (and anyone on either “side” of the mostly fake left-right divide) can take away from it is that a LOT of people are pissed off at their governments for the symptoms of years and years of neolib/neocon policies even if not everybody understands or agrees on the root causes. I suppose another thing we can take away from it is that there is power to be wielded by large groups of people and that we shouldn’t give up on this kind of protest, especially now that governments try so hard to crush them and the media vilifies them.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2022 19:35 utc | 50

@ld | Feb 20 2022 18:43 utc | 36
That is beyond crazy horrible. A lot of people need to be prosecuted, including especially those on the top making decisions. Very difficult to comment.

Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 20 2022 19:44 utc | 52

Re: #28
One for the NWO conspiracy theorists:
One thing I had not seen before was that the Greater East Co-Prosperity Sphere which Japan wanted to enact was also supposed to be a yen-denominated trade zone…

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 20 2022 19:48 utc | 54

What is happening in Canada is heartbreaking. The transformation of the Canadian democracy into a tyranny is mind boggling.
Trudeau and his WEF handlers have managed to bring the country into a very dark territory wherein peaceful protests to end the idiotic covid mandates are labeled unlawful, or an insurrection against democracy.
The Ottawa police are charging ppl with all kinds of imaginary crimes, threatening to take away their pets, their children their assets and freezing their bank accounts.
This would be unthinkable 2 years ago but here we are.
The pandemic was the pretext for all this and it worked in the worse possible way.
PS: The silence of our host on all things Canada is deafening

Posted by: DG | Feb 20 2022 19:52 utc | 56

Maybe shale oil production won’t grow that much in the US…
Shale Oil Giants won’t drill more even for $200 oil – oilprice

“Whether it’s $150 oil, $200 oil, or $100 oil, we’re not going to change our growth plans,” Pioneer Natural Resources’ chief executive Scott Sheffield told Bloomberg Television in an interview. “If the president wants us to grow, I just don’t think the industry can grow anyway,” Sheffield added.
The capital discipline from the public independents in the U.S. shale patch doesn’t bode well for U.S. gasoline prices and for President Biden’s approval ratings. Yet, companies like Pioneer Natural Resources, Continental Resources, and Devon Energy are keeping discipline and plan to grow production by no more than 5 percent annually.
“We project generating flat to 5% annual production growth over the next five years as we have previously noted,” Continental Resources CEO Bill Berry said on the Q4 earnings call this week.
Sheffield said on Pioneer’s call, referring to production growth: “Long term, we’re still in that 0% to 5%. It’s going to vary. We’re not going to change, as I said, at $100 oil, $150 oil, we’re not going to change our growth rate. We think it’s important to return cash back to the shareholders.”

I believe these 3 companies are among the top 10 shale oil producers in the US.

Posted by: c1ue | Feb 20 2022 19:55 utc | 58

@Platero | Feb 20 2022 17:08 utc | 21
“Actual CNN headline: ‘US official says 75% of Russian forces are deployed against Ukraine’”
This made me LOL as the Russian Army alone is variously estimated between 1-1.5 million. The Western media have been claiming 100,000-200,000 Russian troops allegedly poised to attack—has this shot up to 800,000+ overnight?

Posted by: Vintage Red | Feb 20 2022 20:05 utc | 60

Republicofscotland
Our wine, crayfish, and coal exports to china is gone (China now buying those goods from the US)
Beef market to china was just getting going, I think it was up to 130,000 tons per year and China is a very fast growing market for as their people achieve some prosperity but I believe that is mostly gone. Iron ore prices went up a lot and I think the losses from those exports was not noticeable on the trade balance in dollar terms, but China is now in the process of diversifying its iron ore suppliers to we will feel the effects of that in a few years time.
One of the best deposits or high grade iron ore appears to be in Africa. Rio Tinto I think have approached China about build a heavy rail into that deposit.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 20 2022 20:15 utc | 62

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 20 2022 20:16 utc | 63
I assume this was a response to my comment. Here’s a pretty decent writeup on it.
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-they-dont-tell-you-about-oil-industry-tax-breaks-2011-5
An excerpt (there are many embedded hyperlinks in the original, so it’s best to just click through and read the article):

The sordid history of just the oil depletion allowance alone reads like a Grisham thriller. Bad things happened to those who seriously threatened the allowance.
You’d like some particulars, you say? Here is a really long linked set of excerpts on the subject, collected from throughout the book:
…To head off this larger threat, it was clear to John F. Kennedy’s political advisers that he would have to campaign in Texas, along with Florida, in 1963. Kennedy was interested in revoking the oil depletion allowance, a decision that would have meant steep losses for Texas oilmen, and he continued voicing his support for civil rights, always a contentious issue in the South.…
President Kennedy demonstrated his willingness to buck big money during the “steel crisis” of April 1962, when he forced a price rollback by sending FBI agents into corporate offices. But Kennedy’s gutsiest—and arguably his most dangerous—domestic initiative was his administration’s crusade against the oil depletion allowance, the tax break that swelled uncounted oil fortunes. It gave oil companies a large and automatic deduction, regardless of their actual costs, as compensation for dwindling assets in the ground.
Robert Kennedy instructed the FBI to issue questionnaires, asking the oil companies for specific production and sales data. “The oil industry—in particular, the more financially vulnerable Dallas-based independents—did not welcome this intrusion. The trade publication Oil and Gas Journal charged that RFK was setting up a “battleground [on which] business and government will collide.”
FBI director Hoover expressed his own reservations, especially about the use of his agents to gather information in the matter. Hoover’s close relationship with the oil industry was part of the oil-intelligence link he shared with [CIA director Allen]Dulles and the CIA. Industry big shots weren’t just sources; they were clients and friends. And Hoover’s FBI was known for returning favors.
One of Hoover’s good friends, the ultrarich Texas oilman Clint Murchison Sr., was among the most aggressive players in the depletion allowance dispute. Murchison had been exposed as far back as the early 1950s—in Luce’s Time magazine no less—as epitomizing the absurdity of this giveaway to the rich and powerful. Another strong defender of the allowance was Democratic senator Robert Kerr of Oklahoma, the multimillionaire owner of the Kerr-McGee oil company. So friendly was he with his Republican colleague Prescott Bush that when Prescott’s son, George HW Bush, was starting up his Zapata Offshore [oil] operation, Kerr offered some of his own executives to help. Several of them even left Kerr’s company to become Bush’s top executives.
…Lyndon Johnson shared in the prevailing oil belt enmity toward Kennedy. In fact, he was the one person in the White House the oilmen trusted….After Johnson ascended to the presidency, he and newly elected congressman Bush were often allies on such issues as the oil depletion allowance and the war in Vietnam….[oil executive Jack] Crichton (close with Bush and head of a secretive Dallas-based, oil-connected military intelligence unit that deeply immersed in aspects of the tragic events of November 22, 1963) was so plugged into the Dallas power structure that one of his company directors was Clint Murchison Sr., king of the oil depletion allowance, and another was D. Harold Byrd, owner of the Texas School Book Depository building.….

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2022 20:26 utc | 64

RE: JFK and how FDR-ish he may have become in his second term, I recommend checking out the Oliver Stone reboot documentary on Showtime and listening to some of his interviews. Of course as the President during the height of the Cold War, Kennedy was bound to say and do things that would contradict any anti-war narrative, but Stone is 100% convinced that JFK was going to pull out of Vietnam and make overtures toward peace and mutual existence with the USSR. Any links on this subject from other MoA barflies are always appreciated. It’s a complex and convoluted story full of dead ends and conspiracy theories.
Either way, I seriously doubt that JFK’s second term would have been anything like Obomber’s unless he was given a very, very grave but non-lethal “warning” behind the scenes.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2022 20:33 utc | 66

he wasnt bound to be a close supporter of Joe McCarthy during McCarthy’s heyday, and even after, nor was he bound to lie about the USSR having a fake nuclear superiority, or to give the goahead to the Cuba invasion, or take the world to the brink of war over a similar situation to today, with the US again insisting on its right to target Russia but treating Russian defensive responses as provocations to war. He could have simply backed down and reached the same agreement that was eventually reached, for both sides to withdraw their respective missiles from Turkey and Cuba. I dont think we would have gotten the last Democratic attempt to maintain and expand the New Deal under Kennedy, the guy who cut taxes for the rich. We did get a version of that with LBJ.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 20 2022 20:40 utc | 68

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 20 2022 20:35 utc | 67
Whether or not you trust the Business Insider is irrelevant in this case because the stuff about JFK/RFK/LBJ was directly from a book called Family of Secrets by Russ Baker about the Bush Crime Family.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2022 20:48 utc | 70

Posted by: DG | Feb 20 2022 19:52 utc | 56
The Ottawa police are just following in the boot steps of the Montreal and Toronto police. Just search for Montebello Montreal 2007; Toronto G-20 police provocations 2010; and anti-austerity Montreal demonstration police provocations 2016.

Posted by: Blue Dotterel | Feb 20 2022 20:52 utc | 72

RE: JFK and Joseph McCarthy –

In the Senate, meanwhile, Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunts were still going strong, intimidating even the popular new president, Dwight Eisenhower. JFK’s relationship with the Wisconsin senator had cooled somewhat, but he still refrained from joining the few voices willing to speak out against McCarthy. Eventually, though, the witch-hunts self-destructed, after a disastrous attempt by McCarthy to take on the U.S. Army. On December 2, 1954, the U.S. Senate officially censured McCarthy, by a vote of 67 to 22. JFK was listed as absent–he was in the hospital again, undergoing back surgery.
Overall, JFK’s record during the McCarthy era was mixed. He opposed some of McCarthy’s more extreme attempts to curb civil liberties, but in general, he voted with the Wisconsin senator on most issues. Nevertheless, it is difficult to blame JFK–McCarthy held immense influence for a time, and he attracted strong support among the working class Irish Catholics who had voted JFK into the Senate in the first place. In failing to criticize McCarthy early on, JFK was no more blameworthy than most of the other politicians of the era.

https://www.sparknotes.com/biography/jfk/section5/
It’s not “hagiography” to point to the “good” things that the president of a country that has always been and always will be at war said or did. It’s also not hagiography to point out the many suspicious and suspiciously buried snippets of history that we’re not allowed to discuss. Again, I suggest the Oliver Stone documentary and interviews on the subject.
Was JFK a warmonger? Definitely not by the Bush Crime Family or Obama standard. And both of the latter were making up wars for which no reason actually existed. Nobody’s perfect; least of all any American President, a job for which – in my opinion – one must be a sociopath to even want.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2022 20:57 utc | 74

Check out this warning from the US Mission in Russia:
Security Alert: U.S. Mission Russia (February 20, 2022). {not able to post link because MoA blocks it)
Location: Russia
Event: According to media sources, there have been threats of attacks against shopping centers, railway and metro stations, and other public gathering places in major urban areas, including Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as in areas of heightened tension along the Russian border with Ukraine.
Actions to Take:
Monitor local and international media for updates.
Avoid crowds.
Notify friends and family of your safety.
Be aware of your surroundings.
Stay alert in locations frequented by tourists/Westerners.
Review your personal security plans.
Carry proper identification, including a U.S. passport with a current Russian visa.
Have evacuation plans that do not rely on U.S. government assistance.
Assistance:
U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russia
——-
Who exactly is going to be mounting attacks in St. Petersburg and Moscow??
Why would the US government use “media sources” as the basis for such a warning??

Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 20 2022 21:05 utc | 76

ld @36, Norwegian @52
You are not looking at Ottawa Police. If you watch the videos closely you will sometimes see real city police. By this time you can tell them, even behind masks, by the wildly sad and mournful eyes. The stress level must be impossible. And it shows. The Imperial Stormtroopers are all young and always look fresh. These are special formations with training and discipline. They are also being extremely restrained. They would gladly be more violent. Ordinary thug police, which even Canadian police departments would have, would not have such universal restraint.
Where did le petit Justin get his Stormtroopers? Who controls Justin?
The video leaves out a point which I will make for them. Alexa is well and widely known by now. She was singled out. This was no accident. Create a moment of confusion and get the shooter to his target. Well planned, well scripted, well acted. Totally professional.
How many other rubber bullets have been used in Ottawa? The guns are seen regularly. The first bullet went to a special target. You will know it if there is a fusillade from those guns, it has not happened yet.

Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 20 2022 21:14 utc | 78

Perimetr | Feb 20 2022 21:05 utc | 76
“Have evacuation plans that do not rely on U.S. government assistance”.
Well I suppose there are not that many US diplomatic staff left, are there? (It is either a threat or a warning)
Biden seems to not be going to Delaware and has gone to his safe space….err my bad, the National Security Council room.
It would be advisable to watch the front line around the Donbas breakaway republics as the shelling has increased. (Possible attack now the Olympics are finished?)
**
Macron and Putin talked together but there is already a discrepancy in the versions given by their respective countries.

Posted by: Stonebird | Feb 20 2022 21:34 utc | 80

The new US foreign policy?
What we are dreaming of we declare as fact:
Warning of terror assaults in Moskau and St. Petersburg:
https://tass.com/world/1406763

Posted by: njet | Feb 20 2022 21:47 utc | 82

the whole us political system on the federal level is set up to avoid leaders with ability and flare, hence Joe Biden. the closest we have gotten in 50 years or so is Sanders, and what a disappointment he has turned out to be.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 20 2022 21:55 utc | 84

oldhippie | Feb 20 2022 21:14 utc | 78
The main change has already taken place. Crystia Freelend has stated that the Financial restrictions, seizures etc. will remain in place no matter what. The Stormtroopers do NOT want to make victims out of the truckers as the principal reset (Later, undercover, individualisation of repression for specific people) is installed but not yet fully operational (legalized?).
Note that Australia is now questioning why they need Wellness (Orwellness) camps for thousands when the Covid “menace” is being reduced. Gates is already talking about doing it faster NEXT time (He’s talking about serial production of vaxxs, and probably the installation of Non-Governmental Command(ers) aka Health Expert coercion.
**
Stormtroopers;
It is a very good question where they came from. As an example, a Anglo-Jewish Oligarch has a “ski-centre” in Chile with a International sized airfield nearby in Argentina. It has (reputedly) seen thousands of IDF soldiers (both sexes) coming for ski holidays. As Canada is so large it is easy to imagine there could be “camps” set up by various Oligarchs and others who want to avoid detection, in an area that would only be minimally affected in case of a nuclear disaster/war, or could be isolated in the case of a real pandemic.
*
James Bond scriptwriters were visionaries?

Posted by: Stonebird | Feb 20 2022 21:58 utc | 86

<<@Spinworthy #26 What you speculate seems unlikely as it requires a Stasi-level of control.>>
c1ue- The U.S. *has* had a high-level of control over information processing and reporting in the US since the 2nd World War. The wartime censorship for that period was revived and really extended with the Cold War. The U.S. forbid the entry of printed and film material from “Iron Curtain” countries for approx. 15 years, until the Supreme Court used a technicality to end it in 1965.
The massive interdiction program was run by the U.S. Customs and Post Office departments. Together they destroyed millions of pieces of incoming mail *a month* eviscerating US libraries and archives, and depriving even US intel analysts of materials they needed to understand scientific developments in the Soviet Union. (Hence the shock over Sputnik!)
Both the outlines of this program and the fight against it is something that barely exists now in written histories, though primary documents exist in Congressional hearings testimony and a few law journals.
My attention to this was the result of trying to understand what happened to the evidence of US use of biological weapons during the Korean War, particularly evidence published by North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union, and various East European countries.
I’ve written about this major forgotten history of US totalitarian control of the media, but I’m only one guy, and it’s hard to get even left-wing media interested in such “old” material.
See “Massive Mail Censorship Program Hid North Korea Accusations of U.S. BW, Collaboration with Unit 731 War Criminals” ( https://jeff-kaye.medium.com/censored-north-korea-accused-u-s-of-working-with-unit-731-war-criminals-on-bw-attacks-d7fd819ed8b7 )

Posted by: Jeffrey Kaye | Feb 20 2022 22:07 utc | 88

@uncle tungsten | Feb 20 2022 21:55 utc | 85
Thanks uncle.
Have you seen post #48 on Open Thread 014?
Interesting goings-on in your neck of the woods.

Posted by: John Cleary | Feb 20 2022 22:59 utc | 90

Peter AU1@43
As Tooze says none of the tow truck firms dared risk the boycotts that would inevitably have followed any co-operation with the authorities in this matter. In the end the Ottawa Bus Company supplied its equipment and they did the job.
I would be very surprised if the Armed Forces had not supplied Ukraine with the means of removing armoured vehicles when broken down. Canada has gone overboard in supplying the Lviv fascists militarily, with equipment, training and weaponry. Trudeau announced another $500 million, in ‘lethal aid’ yesterday.

Posted by: bevin | Feb 20 2022 23:14 utc | 92

@82
Far from new. Proxy alliances with terrorists are pretty much the central pattern of “active” US foreign policy for the past 40 years. As probably everyone has noticed by now other than whichever State Dept employee who thought this would be a clever thing to say.

Posted by: ptb | Feb 20 2022 23:33 utc | 94

@91 karlof1
Those two news items are contradictory, and both are exaggerating the situation. This far into the season, the balance of supply is past the point that there can be a short-term emergency. What is driving pricing now is the balance looking ahead to the 2022-2023 winter.
The reason there isn’t a shortage is because much of the EU can afford to eat the higher prices and another part of it is under either fixed-price oil-linked-price contract and are okay for the time being. So gas came in from the seaborne markets to EU, basically taken from somewhere else on earth who got outbid.
I’m concerned about the indirect impact on global fertilizer prices, and thus food, in 2022. Higher oil prices don’t help, since any place that blends ethanol into their gasoline (like the US!) will now have a higher price ceiling for corn or whatever crop is used for the ethanol, increasing demand there.

Posted by: ptb | Feb 20 2022 23:43 utc | 96

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 20 2022 19:35 utc | 50… thanks tom… i am curious if the article you shared changed your mind on any of this… i especially liked what @ Roger | Feb 20 2022 21:03 utc | 75 had to say about all this… the divide and conquer strategy is in operation… witness @ Victor | Feb 20 2022 23:40 utc | 95 who remains convinced this is just some fringe group and nothing more.. perhaps victor would benefit from reading your linked article @ 44 too..
@ Patroklos | Feb 20 2022 20:31 utc | 65..nice poem! yes – vk is also gone, but for different reasons based on b telling him to back off or he would remove him..
@ Chas | Feb 20 2022 22:04 utc | 87.. it appears this format of b’s doesn’t support editing, but i agree – would be nice..

Posted by: james | Feb 21 2022 0:00 utc | 98

ptb @96–
The Spring Equinox is several weeks away, and Arctic cold remains very possible. Running out of storage is a huge deal for Germany which has no LNG facilities. I suggest you reread those two articles. They suggest a reality you’re denying.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 21 2022 0:20 utc | 100