Dmitri Orlov on Humpty Dumpty

Posted by: par4 | Mar 6 2022 13:04 utc | 3

In India, the upper middle class idiots who blindly support the Ukranazi coup regime are busy blaming *Russia* for their kids being stuck in Ukranazistan, where some have been taken hostage by the Ukranazis in Kharkov and others beaten back by Ukranazi border guards at the Polish and Tomanian frontiers. And they’re obsessing delusionally about these kids, to the extent that the average Indian citizen who has enough trouble making ends meet has become utterly disgusted with them. At the same time, Modi’s “balancing act” where he’s tacitly siding with Russia is really a course correction after 3 decades of Indian regimes rolling over to appease America, and since most Indians are reflexively pro Russia this has gone down not too badly here to say the least.
By the way on Twitter I saw some Brit moaning about the sudden increase in petrol and heating oil prices and wondering “what was going on”. The nitwit really cannot comprehend that picking a fight with Russia might affect his cost of living.

Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Mar 6 2022 13:21 utc | 5

@ Biswapriya Purkayast
India is on track to be the largest energy consumer in the and world just signed an oil supply agreenment with Russia on Dec 6th., that is why they abstain from UN votes
The US is planning to sanction India but for India the choice is simple, they do not have the infrasture for overpriced US LNG so freeze & starve and kiss their development goodbye or put up with sanctions
I don’t believe any regime in India would survive hundreds of millions freezing/starving to death because someone gets paid off to cancel the oil agreement

Posted by: abee | Mar 6 2022 13:41 utc | 7

Posted by: Lurk | Mar 6 2022 13:42 utc | 9

That still does not answer the question: why did Russia not attempt to rally an official UN intervention in the Ukraine before going in on its own accord?

This would very likely have been vetoed by France, the US and UK.
For the same reason there is no UN peacekeeping force in Gaza or the West Bank – they’re not wanted there by the PTB.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Mar 6 2022 13:50 utc | 9

Putin cured covid!!!
Dear MOA,
Why don’t you talk about the just released Pfizer docs and the increasing covid death shots that are and will continue to occur in the near future instead of the obvious forced Al-CIA-Duh misdirection narrative?
Anti-Propagandist

Posted by: Anti-Propgandist | Mar 6 2022 14:31 utc | 11

@Lurk #2
For surprise.
A UN Security Council vote would have certainly given the Ukrainian Armed Forces at least 2 weeks to prepare.
As it was, while it *may* be true that portions of the Russian government and military were surprised – it is 100% true that the US, EU and Ukrainian Armed Forces were surprised.
Let’s not forget that it wasn’t just breakthroughs from Crimea and Belarus in the first day of the “military operation”, it was also a breakthrough of the front lines in Donetsk by the LDPR armed forces.
We’ll never know, but it seems likely such a breakthrough would have been far more difficult if total surprise had not been achieved.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 6 2022 14:57 utc | 13

Re: Bhadrakumar
Indeed – the ramifications of the Central Bank of Russia asset seizures will resonate for years.
I have also pointed out the potential risks if private contracts like the depository receipt system are abrogated.
But ultimately, “its the economy, stupid”.
Latest average gas prices in the US:

Current Avg. $4.009
Yesterday Avg. $3.922
Week Ago Avg. $3.604
Month Ago Avg. $3.439
Year Ago Avg. $2.760

US average gas prices were $3.61 on Monday, 2/28 – an over 10% increase in under a week.
The $4.11 record price established in 2008 may be broken as early as this coming week, and the $5/gallon predictions are proliferating.
The impact of these price increases: directly on US consumer finances and indirectly via goods prices due to transportation, cannot be underestimated.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 6 2022 15:20 utc | 15

Dammit still posted that in the wrong thread. sorry, b.

Posted by: Lurk | Mar 6 2022 15:27 utc | 17

“Yesterday I was scheduled to appear in panel discussions of that war hosted by two of India’s best known news providers, Times Now and the India Today Group. I was unlucky on both.”
Unlucky? Or maybe silencing a rational, well spoken, unashamed Russia supporter like Gilbert Doctorow? being cut off once for technical problems and twice due to editorial changes on Indian media…
Call me cynical, but perhaps his bad luck refers more to how, despite popular hashtags in support of Russia, there are still significant pro Western forces influencing decisions in India.

Posted by: Et Tu | Mar 6 2022 15:55 utc | 19

Rats are multiplying in DC – of all species…
The Rat Problem In Washington DC Is So Bad 2 People Got Hantavirus

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 6 2022 16:12 utc | 21

Its hard b to report about the bigger picture and not be referencing what is going on at record pace….grin
Below is a quote from a ZH piece that describes how Russia is responding in the financial war
”
So in an innovative attempt to circumvent this eventuality, on Saturday Vladimir Putin signed a decree allowing companies to pay foreign creditors in rubles, even though we doubt any of Russia’s foreign creditors have any interest in being paid in rubles which have lost 50% of their value in the past week.
The decree establishes temporary rules for sovereign and corporate debtors to make payments to creditors from “countries that engage in hostile activities” against Russia, its companies and citizens. The government will prepare a list of such countries within two days.
According to Saturday’s decree on servicing foreign-held debt, payments will be considered executed if they are carried out in rubles at the central bank’s official rate.
”
The claims being made about the relative value of this or that during this war are only useful for propaganda and nothing else.
I posit the next couple of weeks in the financial war are going to be hard to comprehend by us at the bottom because we will not be privy to the levers being moved behind the scene….we are dealing here with a bigger show than the UN and it is all based on FAITH in what someone says is the acceptable structure of finance and the intrinsic value/ownership of everything.
Birthing an alternative China/Russia axis financial structure and the tools to support it is only part of the challenge. The other is the interface to the other side of the bipolar world.
As soon as risk assessment becomes obviously broken the markets will freeze, there will be banking holidays and TPTB will explain to the masses the solutions agreed to internationally (assuming that occurs which will be seminal, in and of itself)….should be interesting.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 6 2022 16:27 utc | 23

This is the NOT Ukraine thread.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Mar 6 2022 16:56 utc | 25

The WaPo article on the developing insurgency strategy read in concert with “On the Cusp of an Economic Singularity” reflects a steady slide into disaster which does recall the lurch into WW1. While it appears as chaos theory writ large and beyond the control of even those in leadership positions, it comes down to a single policy position:
“As early as last December, some U.S. officials saw signs that the Ukrainian military was preparing for an eventual resistance, even as Zelensky downplayed the threat of invasion.”
i.e. the simple alternative of implementing the Minsk Accords and seriously addressing Russia’s stated regional security issues could have prevented both the invasion and the attendant global financial meltdown, but those logical moves were apparently never considered or advocates for such were marginalized. No one with public influence has stated this obvious point.
“If Russian and Ukrainian negotiators… reach some settlement, that will likely diminish the momentum for an insurgency and support for it”
So there will be no settlement until the government-in-exile is declared in Poland.
Gasoline almost $2/litre in Canada, food prices noticeably about 10% higher than a few weeks ago. But the predictable meltdown of the larger financial architecture will lead where? Some crowing in the press today that VISA and other credit agencies have left Russia behind – but are these agencies even going to exist anywhere a year from now? I don’’t see anyone in the west’s leadership cadre capable of foresight or navigation in heavy seas… our countries could rapidly flip into authoritarian structures.

Posted by: jayc | Mar 6 2022 17:57 utc | 27

legal strategies (legaltech?) enabling the use of binding arbitration costs to hurt large companies
Nibbled To Death By Ducks – pluralistic.net [Cory Doctorow]

The proliferation of arbitration has rapidly eliminated the very idea of civil justice for individuals wronged by companies, with private arbitration increasingly replacing courts. For a while there, it seemed like our rights had been eliminated by a conspiracy to insert binding arbitration into every contract, terms of service and business onboarding.
But then some clever lawyers noticed a critical flaw in the arbitration scam. Businesses have to pay the arbitrator, and that costs thousands of dollars per claim. If these lawyers could figure out how to streamline the arbitration process and file thousands of claims, they could cost businesses far more in fees than they’d ever have to pay in a class action settlement. Then the businesses would cry uncle and release their workers or customers from the binding arbitration and give them a day in court.
The first serious success for this tactic came in California, where Uber drivers had been forced into arbitration to recover hundreds of millions in wages that Uber had stolen for them. When Uber found itself facing thousands of arbitration claims, it surrendered and paid the drivers $146m.
…
Last spring, Amazon removed arbitration from its Alexa terms of service, as a way of escaping thousands of claims over its deceptive sharing of Alexa audio with third parties:
…
For decades, Intuit bribed and bullied the IRS to keep it from automatically sending Americans pre-completed tax forms.
Inside TurboTax 20 year fight to stop Americans from filing their taxes for free – Propublica
This is a routine practice in most other high-income nations. After all, the tax authority knows how much you’ve earned, it knows how much you’ve had deducted, and it knows the tax code. Every year, you get a pre-completed form. If it looks right to you, you sign it and you’re done. If you want to hire an accountant, you can do that too.
By blocking free tax prep, Intuit secured billions in revenue for its Turbotax division. But for some reason, taxpayers consistently refused to accept that their own interests should take a back-seat to Intuit’s shareholders and kept pressuring the IRS to send out pre-completed tax forms for free.
To keep this at bay, Intuit teamed up with the other oligarchs in the tax-prep industry to create a program called “FreeFile” that would offer free tax prep to the majority of Americans.
But there was a catch.
They made it nearly impossible to use.
No matter how hard you tried, you it was effectively impossible to actually get a FreeFile filing. Intuit pulled out all the stops – they created programs with nearly identical names that weren’t free. They bought Google ads for “Freefile” that redirected you to these expensive, name-alike programs. If you did stumble into a FreeFile workflow, they’d bombard you with fraudulent messages implying that you weren’t eligible to use the service. If you ignored that, they’d let you spend hours inputting your tax data, then present you with an error message saying you couldn’t go any further without paying.
This was fraud. Outright fraud. Even the FTC says so:
Pluralistic article on FTC and Intuit
But, of course, everyone who got sucked into this fraud vortex clicked through a binding arbitration waiver, and lost the right to sue, and the right to join a class action to recover the billions that Intuit had stolen from them.
Enter mass arbitration. The law firm of Keller Lenkner has made a name for itself by using mass arbitration to bring companies like Postmates and Doordash to their knees on behalf of workers who’d had their wages stolen. Now they’re taking on Intuit.
Intuit faces tens of millions of free in legal battle over consumer fraud
Writing for Propublica, Justin Elliott (who broke this story and has followed it relentlessly) tells us that more than 100,000 Intuit customers have sought arbitration over FreeFile. Intuit’s already tried to staunch the bleeding by offering a $40m settlement, but the judge said no. The company had told its customers they had to arbitrate, so it was on the hook for arbitration.
Elliott calculates the potential bill for arbitration fees at $175m, plus any settlements and plaintiffs’ lawyers fees the arbitrators award.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 6 2022 18:10 utc | 29

Thanks b. Your site is a space of sanity. We are in the equivalent of the July crisis and nothing will be the same again.
It would be interesting to study reactions to the conflict by age group. My guess is that older Gen X (born 1965-75) would be the most likely to be sympathetic to Russia, followed younger Gen X (born 1975-80). Boomers (1945-60) and millennials (1985-2000) are more susceptible to the fairy-tales, the former because they grew up afraid of Russia, the latter because they have no interest in historical context and view the world through CGI and comics.
Massive over-generalisation I know, so happy to be argued with.

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 6 2022 20:04 utc | 31

@23 psychohistorian | Mar 6 2022 16:27 utc
Yes, the economic fallout from all this is what interests me the most, actually – I count on Russia to further its police action successfully, but it will take some time. The sheer ignorance of the west in terms of how its economies work is almost stunning to see. It’s amazing how little these people can see beyond the tip of their nose.
As you know from living in the US, the economy is the only thing the populace really cares about – and understandably, since people are essentially left on their own resources for survival, and only money can assure that in the US.
Bhadrakumar’s article linked by b is a good one – he writes how the US Administration may have to accept Iranian oil in an attempt to stop gasoline prices from their current (and future) surge. Biden gets humiliated either way – but again, the economy is the most important thing. I suppose it will be a political bloodbath come the mid-term elections.
It’s all going to be fascinating to watch, even as we suffer through it all. The changes in the balance of power and trade in the process of being enacted are immense. And if we see the ascendancy of Glazyev over the Russian central bank (someone wrote about that recently – Helmer I think), we might even see a sovereign currency there.

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 6 2022 21:58 utc | 33

@ Grieved | Mar 6 2022 22:08 utc | 34 with the COVID follow up…..I look forward to your ongoing reports of the Covid lies outing
In your previous comment to me about global finance, I think that Russia has no choice but to become finance sovereign like China, Iran, Cuba, etc. I think we will see the birth of an alternative financial system from the BIS/SWIFT one. Of course, the God of Mammon cult will try and kill it from the start and any interface between the two will define our future world.
All that said, there is the chance for a complete collapse of the God of Mammon cult and/or only a short period of time in bipolar mode before multipolar takes dominance…..it very well may be that the China/Russia axis births and establishes itself and their example provides the impetus for God of Mammon demise.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 6 2022 22:29 utc | 35

One last thing here. It may seem like a Ukraine topic but I think it has wider application.
Russia as we know is currently analyzing the destruction orders given to the bio-labs in Ukraine, and has said it will publish them.
It seems to me that the world at large needs to become conscious of bio-warfare and bio-terror, and this may be the start of that. One can only hope, and try to spread the word. Somehow the world has to stop the US and Israeli crazies (and governments in general), allied with the pharma corporations and the oligarchs, and all with their love of germ warfare – the cheap and effective way to enslave or kill the global population.
I think we now live in the age of biological oppression. There are so many dots that could possibly be connected this year, as the pandemic bureaucrats walk back their petty tyrannies, or double down on them, and as information becomes better known about the horrors produced by artificial, corporate healthcare.
If the people of the world ever come to believe in their own minds that the pandemic was created in a lab – in the same way, say, that people accept JFK was hit in a conspiracy, and that Epstein didn’t commit suicide – then we may be establishing the fertile public ground to begin to find ways to reveal, punish and truly prohibit state-sponsored bio-terrorism.
I tend to think it’s a major issue that will only get worse, and that the world will need to address.

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 6 2022 22:41 utc | 37

@John Merryman | Mar 6 2022 18:00 utc | 28

Government, as the executive and regulatory function, is effectively the central nervous system of the community, whether it’s organized hierarchically, or more integral and feedback generated. This dynamic is generally centripetal, as it focuses the efforts of the group.

That would indicate that our “communities” are suffering from brain cancer or dementia

Money and banking are analogous to blood and the circulation system, as they organize the flow of energy and resources around the community. As such, when run for the good of the community, it is centrifugal, in pushing energy out to the extremities. Though as it functions within a group of semiautonomous individuals, this dynamic will become corrupted and direct these flows to preferred, rather than in effective directions.

Admittedly, I hate biologist metaphors because of the traditions of “Volkskörper” and “gesundes Volksempfinden” but so what. If finance is the “blood” of the transactions inside a “community” (vulgo state or socioeconomic region), our demented brain is driving it to embolism and cardial arrest.

Posted by: aquadraht | Mar 7 2022 0:03 utc | 39

I am catching up with news and am reading two related US stories
In one story it seems that the US Senate has passed legislation ending the National Emergency Declaration. It now goes to the House where it will likely fail and Biden has already said he would veto it were it to pass.
In story two we have the US People’s Convoy that is now circling DC twice in their estimated 30 mile long convoy and will do so every day until the convoy’s demands are met. A convoy organizer is quoted as follows
”
Sunday “is a show of just how big we are and just how serious we are,” the convoy organizer said. He said the group wants an immediate end to the national emergency declaration in response to the virus pandemic more than two years ago.
“We’re going to be a huge pain,” Brase said. He noted that other convoys are en route and will join them.
“We’re trying to work with our local law enforcement communities because we want them to understand that we are law-abiding citizens that are just exercising our rights to this protest,” he said. But “every day is going to elevate what we do.”
“We want to show the American people how large we are.” Brase said. “And we want to show our congressional leaders that we’re serious and we are here to negotiate. We are here to talk. We are law-abiding. We are peaceful. We don’t want to shut anything down, and we’re not coming downtown.”
”
Just one of the side circus rings these days, not the major one anymore

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 7 2022 0:54 utc | 41

psychohistorian | Mar 7 2022 0:54 utc | 41
Fuel cost may become a problem for the US convoy in the coming days and weeks though as all prices rise in the US there will be a lot more pissed off public.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 7 2022 1:33 utc | 43

I have had some uncharistic reactions from some friends I would normally regard as mildly progressive and fair minded on most issues. Except Palestine of course.
I emailed the FAIR link below and received these reactions:
https://fair.org/home/calling-russias-attack-unprovoked-lets-us-off-the-hook/
Reaction from US Vietnam vet:
“You are political! This is like saying we were provoked because of the threat of communism and might have had the right to take over Vietnam . What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Hate to say it but you are not just an observer! And your politics seems to always slant towards anti western ways of life! Trump likes Putin also and because of your freedoms both of you are not being rounded up!! We have done things for each other but on this shit looks like we’re on different sides and vaccinations! I am done debating both thanks! No more sites please even if they come from Americans that I would probably like to shoot and get it over with!”
Previous reaction:
“Don’t you have any thanks for any of your freedoms ? Nobody is knocking on your door because of your point of view! However as this present situation grows I sincerely believe it will involve taking sides I know where I stand even though the society I live in has some fucked up things it looks better than other present day choices!!!! Cheers”
My reply:
“…I will throw up the next time I hear a ‘western’ Anglo/Zionist Captive Nation politician talk about “our freedoms, our values” and “human rights.” I can think for myself I don’t need them to tell me how well off I am and how ‘good’ they are…”
Reaction from Australian friend:
“I’m starting to think Putin is just another Stable Genius.”
On the Jimmy Dore Show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mffCvWZujWA
“more conspiracies Paul, and like all good conspiracies they have a grain of truth to them”
It seems to me that holding a dissenting non MSM opinion is a ‘conspiracy theory’
or I am against “our freedoms.” I have been ordered to pick a side and that side is the Anglo/Zionist war criminal cabal which is anathema to me.

Posted by: Paul | Mar 7 2022 1:55 utc | 45

Here’s an illustration of how discussion of the pandemic, and the revelation of the true facts behind it, are not only NOT over, but are getting more coherent.
Tess Lawrie, MD is also a world-leading statistical analyst, and her meta-analysis of 63 trials and studies last year showed ground-breaking proof that ivermectin was responsible for saving lives, treating and preventing Covid, and crushing epidemics in countries and locales around the world.
In January 2021 she had an impassioned zoom call with Dr. Andrew Hill, who had been commissioned by WHO to study and report on ivermectin effectiveness. Hill was for several preceding months a big fan of ivermectin, but his ultimate report was co-authored, and spoke against ivermectin.
Tess Lawrie called him and urged him to change his conclusion. He admitted that there were other voices in his conclusion. She failed to persuade him to “tell the truth.” His report was cited by all institutions moving forward as a reason not to approve the drug as a treatment – and with no recognized existing treatment, the experimental jab was given Emergency Use Authorization.
~~
Now Lawrie appears in a 20-minute, professionally produced film that replays that crucial time in our history, with new footage of her today, interleaved with her original, recorded zoom call with Andrew Hill.
I highly recommend watching this film, and sharing wherever you can:
“Who Is Influencing You?” | Ivermectin Cover-Up | Dr. Tess Lawrie’s Zoom Call With Dr. Andrew Hill [19 min]
~~
The film is both a testament of facts for history to record, and a direct plea made now, to Andrew Hill, to come forward as a whistleblower and reveal the forces that compelled him to turn against his previous enthusiasm, and to disparage ivermectin.
It’s actually quite heart-breaking, utterly poignant. I knew about the call between Lawrie and Hill, and I had seen clips from it in other video interviews with Lawrie, but that didn’t capture the intensity of the situation. This film does justice to this pivotal moment, when doctors were desperately working to save lives, and Hill betrayed their cause.
And it leaves one wondering how much Tess Lawrie may have tortured herself for failing to influence Andrew Hill. But the film shows how hard she tried, and how no one could have done any better. The forces at work were very powerful, as the film shows.
~~
So this is a film for history, for the true record.
My point is that the old narrative is crumbling, as we know, leaving only tyranny in its stead. But concurrently, the true story is also coming out, with a finish and conclusiveness to it that history can readily catalog, and that persons who may have open minds can refer to for future education.

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 7 2022 3:04 utc | 47

It seems to me that holding a dissenting non MSM opinion is a ‘conspiracy theory’…
Posted by: Paul | Mar 7 2022 1:55 utc | 45
Actually it’s simply the result of critical thinking. I could also just say that it’s the result of simple thinking
as it doesn’t take much other than honest enquiry to see. But that is difficult for the long-conditioned exceptional ones.
Yeah it’s hard to maintain good relations with MSM pablum feeders. I’m a US Viet Vet who cancels the one you quoted and I think
any vet who was there and still thinks that was about freedom or protecting their country is afraid to admit they got used. Like
Good Will Hunting though, once you realize it wasn’t your fault you are free to see all the Big Lies.
Funny, but just now I’m reminded of the ol’ domino theory. Maybe the Zionists will be one of the dominoes to fall after the Ukronazis.
One can maintain hope!

Posted by: waynorinorway | Mar 7 2022 5:24 utc | 49

b, thank you for the always insightful Week in Review. So I’m reading War, Conflict and the Enemies of Truth, and I happen across the section that highlights changing French fries to freedom fries. And then Brenner writes this:
“Perhaps, those feelings were strengthened by the excesses of the American “War On Terror” in which the Europeans were accomplices in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen. In addition to the provision of tangible aid, every NATO government was an accomplice in the rendition program, in one way or another – with the sole exception of France.”
I’m wondering if we should question the veracity of this statement, as well as the exclusion of Libya from the above list? I’d also suggest we should challenge the veracity of this statement:
“Americans pride themselves on their independence, individualism, and autonomy as citizens. “Don’t tread on me! Don’t mess with Texas! I’m from Missouri! Prove it!” Once upon a time, there may have been a semblance of truth to this. There no longer is.”

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 7 2022 9:49 utc | 51

I paid 3.60 per gallon for regular yesterday, the premium was 4.10. I dont know how expensive it is going to get, but prices are going up daily around here (I’m in Texas).

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 7 2022 12:02 utc | 53

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/03/nasa-inspector-general-says-sls-costs-are-unsustainable/
NASA is unsustainable, and in part – because of that very Boeing

Posted by: Arioch | Mar 7 2022 13:09 utc | 55

Those who have not seen the list of adverse reactions to the shot from Pfizer’s own documents will perhaps be surprized to note that there are about 240 listed events under the letter “A” alone.
https://johnplatinumgoss.com/2022/03/06/so-now-you-know-what-they-did-not-want-you-to-know-about-the-pfizer-shots/

Posted by: John Goss | Mar 7 2022 15:40 utc | 57

I think the Financial Rapture must be occurring:
The Federalist is talking about preventing inflation from hurting America’s Working and Middle Classes

Fighting America’s inflation problem and long-run economic rot starts at the Federal Reserve. A massive house cleaning is in order.
Of course the Fed should fight inflation now, but the Fed should have been fighting inflation last year when it was already affecting working Americans, before wage pressures started to increase. Today, the Fed finds itself between a rock and a hard place—it must reduce inflation but reducing inflation will likely cause financial assets to fall.
Here, the Fed must carefully prioritize stable prices before the oligarchic urge to support financial assets.[<-- Reads like Jacobin, no?] Even if a crash occurs, the Federal Reserve needs to stand firm and reduce the massive pro-wealthy interventions in the market it has pursued over the last 34 years. Beyond this, force the Fed to focus on asset price inflation and too much credit creation, not just a one-sided view of protecting financial assets from falling, wage pressures, and consumer price inflation. The next Republican president must appoint outsiders to the Fed and consider fundamental reforms of its practices.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 7 2022 17:09 utc | 59

Western media always forgets to mention the Nazis! And there’s nothing Neo needing that prepension. In fact, Ukrainian Nazism is a historically traditional abomination. Genuine and nothing new.
The controlled media out of ethical control is one hell of an enabler, or if you will, also fascistic. Here and now.

Posted by: elmagnosr | Mar 8 2022 1:52 utc | 61

Here is a better link to ABC iView 24 hour News. ABC have changed their website with more complications they call ‘features.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTiJkg1voo

Posted by: Paul | Mar 8 2022 2:39 utc | 63

Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov warned on Friday that western companies, including energy firms, that are ditching Russia will be considered pushing their Russian subsidiaries to “deliberate bankruptcy,” which under Russian law draws criminal prosecution.
Ha ha ha – I suspect Russia is lining that up as the mechanism by which they will nationalise Western oil investments, using criminal conviction in the courts and confiscation of the investment used to try to induce “deliberate bankruptcy” as both penalty for the crime and eneblement of remedy (switch to Russian government investment) to prevent the bankruptcy. Then when the bankruptcy does not occur, that does not constitute evidence that the judgement was incorrect. Something somewhere along those lines.

Posted by: BM | Mar 8 2022 7:28 utc | 65

Sometimes Canadian fake news outlet the Beaverton just says everything. (Fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian… to the last…)
“Roll up the Rim is back and so is the threat of nuclear winter!”
https://www.thebeaverton.com/2022/03/roll-up-the-rim-is-back-and-so-is-the-threat-of-nuclear-winter/
“The contest runs for a limited time only”, McNeese continued, “ending either on April 3rd 2022 or when Putin finally pushes that big, red, button”.
“Report: if Ukraine was really run by Nazis, Russia would have just signed pact carving up Europe with them”
https://mobile.twitter.com/thebeaverton/status/1500905531283750913
(All satire aside, on an unrelated topic, history does tend to repeat itself doesn’t it?)
New this morning from La Presse — Putin recruits Syrian mercenaries, all eyes turn to the Arctic, former Quebec premier Jean Charest to run for leadership of the Conservative party. (I’m not sure what that means. He’s not far-right though.)
Éditorial- La transition énergétique malgré la guerre
https://www.lapresse.ca/debats/editoriaux/2022-03-08/la-transition-energetique-malgre-la-guerre.php

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 8 2022 10:58 utc | 67

Egypt in trouble: Russia Ukraine War Turning Egypt Food Crisis Into Existential Threat

Cairo relies on large volumes of heavily subsidized imports to ensure sufficient as well as affordable supplies of bread and vegetable oil for its 105 million citizens. Securing those supplies has led Egypt to become the world’s largest importer of wheat and among the world’s top 10 importers of sunflower oil. In 2021, Cairo was already facing down food inflation levels not seen since the Arab Spring civil unrest a decade earlier that toppled the government of former President Hosni Mubarak. After eight years of working assiduously to put Egypt’s economic house back in order, the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi is now similarly vulnerable to skyrocketing food costs that are reaching budget-breaking levels.
The Russia-Ukraine war catapulted prices to unsustainable levels for Egypt, increasing the price of wheat by an additional 44% and that of sunflower oil by 32% virtually overnight. Even more troublesome, the war also threatens Egypt’s physical supply itself since 85% of its wheat comes from Russia and Ukraine, as does 73% of its sunflower oil. With activity at Ukraine’s ports at a complete standstill, Egypt already needs to find alternative suppliers.

Dominoes teetering…

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 8 2022 13:39 utc | 69

US gasoline prices continuing unprecedented jump

Current Avg. $4.252
Yesterday Avg. $4.173
Week Ago Avg. $3.656
Month Ago Avg. $3.469
Year Ago Avg. $2.796

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 9 2022 12:07 utc | 71

Thought I’d start of this morning (here in Montreal) by posting three recent YouTube videos from Canada’s Global News. Each video is about 2 minutes.
Pressure is on for Canada to contribute more militarily (media reports with the familiar “Canada is isolated” meme; expert advice that announcing we’re joining the ABM defence and purchasing F-35s would really show Russia something… how tough and non-isolated we are or something)
Russia demands US explain support of alleged bio-warfare labs in Ukraine
https://youtu.be/J12LBopI2YM
Of note – speaking of memes or perceptions… Russia protects Canada from US, UK & Europe so talk of Russia being run by a ruthless dictator goes over well here. Not so with China – note the Chinese flag in the video (that’ll get the folks scared)
Trudeau meets the troops in Latvia with Stoltenberg and Latvia’s PM
https://youtu.be/vjctPTVZOpY
Another perception — that Europe drags us into things against our interests and we’re stuck politically. This video might reinforce that perception.
Sydney floods: thousands evacuate
https://youtu.be/DpCqXSgwtmg
OK, everyday Anglo Canadians (non Franco) are going to think we should totally help out Australia before immersing ourselves in this European/Russian/Ukrainian conflict.
My two cents worth.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 10 2022 12:44 utc | 73