Food Costs
Posted by: c1ue | Mar 27 2022 14:27 utc | 2
The situation is worse than the Doomberg description.
Due to the high cost of fertilizer farmers have been switching out of high demand crops into those with a lower demand for fertilizer. One such switch is from corn into soybeans.
Over 40% of the US corn crop is used in the production of ethanol which is legally mandated to be blended with gasoline to produce E10 transportation fuel.
The balance of the corn crop is used as a food production additive (relatively little corn is intended for direct human consumption).
So a scarcity of corn results in lower ethanol supply which implies greater competition for the available ethanol which will result in increased transportation costs.
Plus the reduction in the corn crop will result in competition for available corn for industrial human food products further boosting food prices (although this price increase may be concealed by packaging changes. You pay the expected amount but the delivered quantity will be less than previously).
These cost increases will be amplified by the increased transport costs (shortage of diesel) and a forecast surge in FF energy costs.
All of these cost increases will be exacerbated by the US Fed which is indicating several interest rate increases over the course of the year. Central bank interest rate increases may work to moderate a demand shock to the economy but they will increase the consumer impact of price increases due to supply shocks.
In my view the US consumer is in for a world of hurt that no one can properly forecast as there is no model that encompasses all of the complex relationships found in a distributed interdependent global economy.
Putin sought to have the US and EU recognize the interdependent nature of security. The US / EU elected to ignore him. For this indifference the West is likely to experience a punch in the face of greater impact than the 1970’s OPEC embargo.
May you live in interesting times!

Posted by: Sushi | Mar 27 2022 15:19 utc | 4

I’m not supporting governments subsidizing RoundUp herbicides to save the world from ending due to farmers being unable to treat their GMO seeds.
Enough already.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 27 2022 15:48 utc | 6

thanks b…
there is some shocking info in these links you provide…. i didn’t realize how much hate poland has for russia… reading the link provided that insight…
as for dp world paying it’s workers, it seems the uk politicians have no backbone or spine or anything… what a pathetic lot they are to allow this to happen.. nationalize the ferries…. meanwhile uae would like to turn the world into a slave labour camp run by deranged sheikhs…. uk is okay with it at this point..

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2022 16:11 utc | 8

c1ue | Mar 27 2022 16:39 utc | 9
“hey, did you hear the Great Depression ended?”
“the great depression ended? when?”
conversation overheard in Appalachia.
i’m not saying there’s no shortage. but we couldn’t ship tons of F35’s around the world if the problem was lack of resources.
is the problem in Flint MI that they don’t have enough water? is that the problem in CA? NV? no, it’s not.
and there are plenty of people, poor people, whose lives are not going to change and who are going to laugh at what many are bitching about. cuz they are already there.
the profit accruing to the oligarchs is itself a good measure of how wasteful the shit show is. 100% waste. like war.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Mar 27 2022 17:22 utc | 10

I hadn’t realized, before Matt Taibbi told us: This actual non-fake news story of Hunter Biden’s quite genuine laptop was the sole pretext deployed to girdle & curdle The Intercept, way back when…

Not to be petty, but — well, yes, let’s be petty, just a little, and point out that many of the people who were the most pompous about this story turned out to be the most wrong, including the conga line of Intercept editors and staffers who essentially knocked Glenn Greenwald all the way to Substack over the issue. There are more important things going on in the world, but for sheer bootlicking conformist excess and depraved journalist-on-journalist venom the “Russian disinformation” fiasco has no equal…

The Media Campaign to Protect Joe Biden Passes the Point of Absurdity

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 27 2022 18:52 utc | 12

The Media Campaign to Protect Joe Biden Passes the Point of Absurdity
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 27 2022 18:52 utc | 12
Well, the thing is, as the laptop makes clear, Ukraine has been a Biden family project for some time now, a remunerative grift, and Putin has just trashed it all thoroughly, gone for good. And he personally has things to hide. And an election coming, that he needs to “win”, at least hold the Congress. And that is why Biden is so “irrational” on the subject of Putin & Ukraine, it is personal.

Posted by: Bemildred | Mar 27 2022 19:35 utc | 14

@Vintage Red #11
People with dark skin are a disproportionate percentage of murderers in the United States – of each other and of non-dark skin people in the United States.
Why do you think Asians are somehow immune to this “overperformance”?
Look at the raw data yourself
FBI UCR Homicide Data Table
Of the 6578 homicides in the US in 2019, 3218 are by “Black or African American” (henceforth BoAA) offenders. That’s almost half even though BoAA is 13.4% of the US population according to the US census.
2906 victims of homicide are BoAA, so they’re mostly killing each other – but they’re also killing all other categories disproportionate to their demographic representation:
17.16% homicides of Whites by BoAA
16.19% homicides of “Other” by BoAA (this is where the Asians are presumably)
30.16% of “unknown” race by BoAA
Overall: 23.83% of all non-BoAA victims killed by BoAA
I have no reason whatsoever to believe other crime numbers are dramatically different.
Note also that the small handful of Other homicides in 2019 (247 in number), “Other” were the largest category of offenders (138) – but that isn’t surprising since most homicides are crimes of passion: i.e. people killing people they know.
Again, this does not mean BoAA people are all murderers or criminals. The absolute numbers are low – I can more believe it is more a function of crazy+poor than any genetic component, but nonetheless the reality is that BoAA are almost certainly the most responsible for non-crime of passion murders.
As for “hate crime” – I can think of no better a category of garbage than this. Just imagine all the woke bullshit offenses tabulated alongside actual violent crimes like rape or murder, and in turn tabulated by the woke studies warriors.
Any conclusions drawn from these types of studies likely needs to be taken with mountains of salt.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 27 2022 19:45 utc | 16

I’d like to take issue with the Alistair Crooke article. I do not think he is correct in his emphasis on ‘holy war’, much as those issues figure into the mindset of some Russians, some westerners, under the ‘existential’ rubric. It seems to me those are red herring issues which will further cloud and divide the security issue itself, which I believe was the indeed existential issue that Putin and Lavrov base their internationally lawful premise upon. Some, maybe even most, Russians may make their own religious views part and parcel of their approval of Putin, but the incursion into Ukraine is not a religious crusade.
I say this as Orthodox myself, and in the branch of that Orthodoxy which focuses on the Russian tradition. Listening to Putin is to hear him avow a spiritual multidiversity for that tradition, something he is proud to uphold.
I do have respect for Crooke’s previous articles, but I think he is wrong on this one.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 27 2022 19:49 utc | 18

Re: Jacobin article on 9/11 “revelations” – Glad to see it’s finally out in the public domain, but many of us already knew or at least suspected this was the case. Sadly, no price will be paid by the Western political class or the Saudis. Quite the contrary, I’m guessing.
Re: Crypto article from Heisenberg Report – Once again an article on the negatives of *some* cryptocurrencies (all proof-of-work based) and the complete omission of proof-of-stake systems like Cardano’s Ada.
Re: Hunter Biden – Another big surprise /sarc – I can’t wait for someone to put all of this together up to the present with Russia currently occupying Ukraine. There’s something very very fishy about the Biden family and the most recent regimes in that country (ca. 2014-2022).
Re: Vanessa Beeley’s piece, good to hear from her again. She was one of the few voices of reason during the Syrian regime change attempt. Needless to say she was roundly accused of all sorts of things from the usual anti-Semitism to being an “Assad apologist.”

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 27 2022 19:55 utc | 20

True Tom, I remember several murders of people that looked Middle Eastern by whites after 911. including Sikhs.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Mar 27 2022 19:59 utc | 22

I refuse to get into a debate about whether “hate crimes” should be a thing, but at least the study cited defines the term. Of note, the vast majority of these “hate crimes” are allegedly shunning or verbal harassment. FWIW…and again, not surprising to me that whites commit said “offenses” more frequently, per the long history of such behavior in the US.
From the “hate crime” study:
Note on terminology – “hate crime” refers to incidents classified by law enforcement as a “hate crime” or referred to in survey questions explicitly as a “hate crime.” The term “hate incident” or “anti-Asian harassment” is used in other cases, in alignment with the terminology used in the data source referenced.
1. Multiple sources of data show an increase in hate incidents targeting Asian
Americans after the start of the pandemic and the vast majority of incidents consist of “verbal harassment” and “shunning.”

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 27 2022 20:01 utc | 24

@ juliania | Mar 27 2022 19:49 utc | 18
Listening to Putin is to hear him avow a spiritual multidiversity for that tradition, something he is proud to uphold.
My perception is that this aspect of our global cultural clash — the role of spiritual obligations felt by Orthodox Russians, both in the leadership and in the population, is so far under the radar it vanishes, out here in Oz. Though hardly anyone mentions this aspect, I believe it holds the key to unlock a path to peace.
Some of the only sweeter things around these days, in these parts (SF Bay Area), are our little free library boxes. About as low-tech as you can get: curbside boxes on posts, guerilla sharing of subversive tracts printed on actual paper! Out of one of those boxes, I stumbled into Thomas Merton, ascending with Saint John of the Cross and the Discalced Carmelites. Thence, through the astonishing John Scotus Eriugena and then, smack! I’m thunderstruck with Denys the Areopagite… that’s how my literary investigations go, one thing leads to another.
Why do I find myself obsessed with Denys? Maybe trying to figure out the point of praying, or meditation. Darn near everything Denys writes is abstruse enough that merely attempting to figure it out is a meditation. Anyhow, Denys rewinds Christianity a long ways, back to where connections with “neoplatonism” and eastern wisdom stand out more clearly. It’s in that neck of the woods I encountered Fr Andrew Louth’s work on Orthodoxy. Right now I’m reading his “Modern Othodox Thinkers”.
What a world! Offhand, I’d guess your average US American knows less about Eastern Orthodox traditions than they know about Sunnis and Shias. For instance: How many US Americans have any idea of what a real icon is?

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 27 2022 20:39 utc | 26

I very highly suggest reading this very well crafted rant, “Grappling With the Conspiracy Theory Canard”, which we chew on here daily but never articulate in the author’s manner. This excerpt ought to prove tempting:
“How, why and to what benefit ? The how has been a gradual ongoing and well funded war of attrition where these subversives took an inch on academia’s lowest rung and, with massive funding and targeted intimidation, expanded to where they have even expelled JK Rowling from her own franchise. The why has been to emasculate us all and, as the Harry Potter saga shows, to even cancel the imaginations of children. The benefit to the World Economic Forum and their NATO enforcers is to allow us collude in them cancelling Russia, the world’s biggest country, from our intellectual, economic, cultural, historical and even geographical space. Not even Harry Potter or Humpty Dumpty could conceptualize that degree of nihilistic madness.”

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 27 2022 20:50 utc | 28

One of the first fruits of the military action has been that Russia seized the bio-labs. This is NOT a comment about Ukraine, but simply to note that now the topic of bio warfare is fully out in the open for discussion, at least by those not blinded by propaganda.
Maria Zakharova, no less, has penned a timeline of the US bio-warfare activities in Ukraine during the last 3 decades – an activity she calls its “truly diabolical plan”:
Opinion by María Zakharova: BioBiden
~~
Sooner or later, the now-open discussion on US bio-terror has to merge with the currently closed-off discussion about: What exactly WAS that pandemic of the last two years?
The Saker has been as closed-minded as any forum host about this topic, but he’s publishing Maria’s musings, so maybe he’ll take the Russian surfacing of this topic as a way to change his views over time on, for example: the pandemic, and the massive attendant propaganda, including the denial of effective early treatments, as well as the forensic theorizing as to the purposes.
Many dots are still being connected (and Larry Romanoff’s last 2 pieces at Unz are a significant stride to expand the view). Ron Unz himself has graciously changed his views on some of the elements over time – now regarding the pandemic as a clear bio-offensive – but as with both of those platforms (and MoA, I suggest), the commenters are sometimes way ahead of the hosts.
~~
It has seemed to me since about January of this year (from the time that b took issue with a reference by Alistair Crooke in an article), that any commentator who fails to acknowledge the many truths coming out into the open now – of pandemics past, and perhaps present, and most likely future – will not be relevant to the pressing concerns of this age.
So, how much of this pending discussion will occur here, or at the Saker, or over at Unz, remains to be seen. But the discussion will occur – it’s a strong tide of history now. And commentary will cohere around those who best discuss it.
So I hope to discuss these things with you here as more becomes clear.

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 27 2022 21:12 utc | 30

@28 karlof1 | Mar 27 2022 20:50 utc
I’ve only glanced at your linked article, and will have to read later, since time is pressing for me. One thing that becomes ever more clear to me from the tyranny launched as if by perfected template in the last 2 years – and worldwide, at that – is the great extent of preparation that underlies all the oppression.
From Paperclip to Mockingbird, operations from long ago continue to reveal their fruits. And it’s obvious that the forces against humanity have operated in secret conspiracy for decades behind the backs of all but a few brave investigators.
So, of course we’ve had to engage in theories to tease out their secret acts. As conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory has proved resoundingly to be true, I’ve come to suggest lately that anyone should be proud to be engaged in the forensic examination of the secret crimes being committed.
Of course it’s all secret, because it’s criminal. Of course we have to run speculative models to see if the observed reality fits the theory. Of course everything we’re doing is vilified in the public space by the criminals who control that space.
We should be proud, and feel as colleagues, to work together to establish the truth of humanity’s greatest enemy.
In my view.

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 27 2022 21:23 utc | 32

Posted by: Sushi | Mar 27 2022 15:19 utc | 4
“So a scarcity of corn results in lower ethanol supply which implies greater competition for the available ethanol which will result in increased transportation costs.”
It shouldn’t. Adding ethanol to gasoline, using the current standard proportions at the pump, will decrease the amount of energy in your tank by four percent. Leave it out and you’ll get better mileage.
Four percent may not sound like much, but over time it can add up to a significant amount.
Remember, the requirement to add ethanol to our gas tanks was mandated at the request of the giant grain lobby, and not for any beneficial purpose, though we were told it was to clean up our air. Forcing drivers to get poorer mileage because of diluting gasoline with ethanol is a hell of a poor way to clean the air.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Mar 27 2022 22:10 utc | 34

Let Them Eat Cake or plus change plus la même chose
Posted by: c1ue | Mar 27 2022 19:23 utc | 13

You are deluded if you think food shortages/food price increases and expensive energy is not going to affect poor people.

Why Global Supply Chains May Never Be the Same | A WSJ Documentary
563,087 views
Mar 23, 2022
https://youtu.be/1KtTAb9Tl6E
The above links to a great WSJ video describing present day global supply chains. Impossible to watch without asking if a significant rise in energy costs will prove destructive to this business model.
At the end there is evidence of both SAMSUNG and INTEL investing billions to return chip production to the US. Two observations: 1) INTEL production never left the US. The new INTEL facility is intended to compete with TSMC by creating a custom fab; 2) The film describes SAMSUNG investing in new US facilities. TSMC is also investing in US chip production. The problem is that chips alone are but a small but critical niche in the product fabrication and assembly chain. In the early years of chip production the finished wafers were shipped to the Philippines to be cut into dice and potted or packaged. These labour intensive steps were performed overseas and the packaged chips returned to North America for final assembly.
Asian companies gained a toe hold on the low value added end of the supply chain and have since been moving up the chain to higher value added production and assembly. This has resulted in the build out of associated suppliers over the past 50 years. The identical supplier network is no longer present in the US. It will take 50 years to return the full range of supplier infrastructure to the US. Any such change will demand a fundamental overhaul of the US educational system.
Another remarkable facet seen in the supply chain documentary is the high degree of automation coupled with the deskilling of the remaining workforce. There is strong evidence that the long haul truck segment will be fully automated within the next 10 years.

Posted by: Sushi | Mar 27 2022 22:14 utc | 36

@Sushi #36
Intel and Samsung are minimally important to the vast majority of people.
The actual semiconductor chips which most impact our lives are not at the high end – they are at the low end.
It is the low end which is the problem in car production. It is the low end that will suffer if neon shortages affect overall semiconductor production volume.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 27 2022 22:19 utc | 38

@S (39)
That’s it. Thanks!

Posted by: bjd | Mar 27 2022 22:31 utc | 40

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 27 2022 22:11 utc | 35
I sure hope you didn’t spend longer than 30 seconds w/ that ridiculous reply.
My “analysis” is exactly that – my analysis based on my own anecdotal experiences throughout more than 40 years living in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Houston and El Paso.
You’re the one wanting to shitpost about the Black crime rate; something we all already know. Your initial response to the OP was off-topic and you veered into murders, etc. while the study itself was about so-called “hate crimes” and other incidents of “hate.” The takeaway was merely that the media has overrepresented Blacks in these incidents and that whites were more likely to engage in those alleged behaviors.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/texas-ranks-4th-in-anti-asian-racist-incidents-how-to-stop-the-aapi-hate/287-6f10e1f8-64c4-4434-8be3-71fca2eb8a3e
Calm down and stop trying so hard to be the Woke Police.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 27 2022 22:52 utc | 42

Chewup, Karlof.

What a world! Offhand, I’d guess your average US American knows less about Eastern Orthodox traditions than they know about Sunnis and Shias. For instance: How many US Americans have any idea of what a real icon is?
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Mar 27 2022 20:39 utc | 26

long articles in msm about death of Taylor Hawkins neglect to mention he recently had a booster, against his beliefs.
thing is: i am very willing to consider that the booster was not the main cause of death. how would i know, i’m just parsing anecdotes. but cultists are completely unwilling to consider that the booster contributed in any way, shape or form.
Posted by: Rae | Mar 27 2022 20:46 utc | 27

I very highly suggest reading this very well crafted rant, “Grappling With the Conspiracy Theory Canard”, which we chew on here daily but never articulate in the author’s manner. This excerpt ought to prove

Shit happens. 🪠

Canada’s truckers are not conspiracy theorists. They are blue collar workers, who wa

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 27 2022 23:15 utc | 44

after watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX3EZCVj2XA
i would like to coin a new word; bezmenoving
which would describe the state of being 100% right on your predictions yet 100% wrong on your premise.

Posted by: dersu-uzala | Mar 27 2022 23:18 utc | 46

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 27 2022 22:19 utc | 38
Agree.
Most of those “utilitarian” chips are still run on a 28 nm process. China has domestic capacity in 28 nm and is, apart from the posh upper end of the market, self-suffcient and impervious to US prodcution equipment sanctions.
I understand the 7 nm process to be more profitable but otherwise fail to understand the supply chain problem associated with utilitarian chips.

Posted by: Sushi | Mar 27 2022 23:23 utc | 48

Don Bacon @49–
To answer Khan: The Russian’s aren’t thieves like Americans; Russians honor their commitments; even when they are prevented, they find a way. And there won’t be any default by Russia; rather, it’ll be a default by the Outlaw US Empire who impounded the funds to pay the debt and is now the responsible party.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 27 2022 23:32 utc | 50

… Not even Harry Potter or Humpty Dumpty could conceptualize that degree of nihilistic madness.”
Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 27 2022 20:50 utc | 28

One either accepts their theology and joins their cult or one continues to question and test and to ultimately reject all such cults, including those with massive marketing budgets, the biggest of which is that, which empowers and enriches our regional, national and trans-national overlords. …

CTV News on Twitter: “Florida Gov. DeSantis berates kids for wearing masks https://t.co/m9W8cBhX7T https://t.co/bpRH0EejxU“ / Twitter https://twitter.com/CTVNews/status/1499433236816142337
Sputnik on Twitter: “Florida Gov. DeSantis offering $5,000 to unvaccinated police to relocate to Florida https://t.co/yF3CluAUe9“ / Twitter https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/1452829005225373707
The Beaverton on Twitter: “”This isn’t my Canada!” tweets Texas man #cdnpoli #OccupationOttawa” / Twitter https://twitter.com/TheBeaverton/status/1494779729299316739
… To believe that our political overlords have been on the level with us a”—…‡ … §“Eh?”

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 27 2022 23:39 utc | 52

I am opposed to any law making so-called Hate Crimes illegal. As someone pointed out, most so-called “Hate Crimes” are verbal insults and slights, as seen in the eye of the beholder.
JK Rowling is a good example of the Double Think use of the term.
A “Hate Crime” to the Woke is JK pointing out that women are a biological reality.
The ensuing rape threats, death threats, verbal abuse, book burnings, cancellations, etc. that she endured from making that statement of fact are NOT called “Hate Crimes”.
We don’t need the authorities having the power to enforce or not enforce perceived thought crimes, because we already know that we can’t trust them to be impartial. The cops in the UK already arrested a nursing mother and took her from her baby for 8 hours, in order to grill her about her heretical beliefs that only women can birth babies.
As for adding on a thought crime to a regular crime, for instance murder, murder is already a crime. Throwing in perceived racial motivations is not necessary. Especially because we all know that it will only work one way, just as JK Rowling’s experience shows how “Hate Crimes” only work one way.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Mar 27 2022 23:45 utc | 54

“While I agree that the incursion into Ukraine is not a religious crusade, the bigger civilization war we are in is between totally secular China with public finance and the West with private finance and “In God We Trust” instead of the original American motto of “Out of Many, One”.
I agree that the God of Mammon folk are taking advantage of those of monotheistic faith but maybe as a group, those of faith need to purge their claimed membership.”
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 27 2022 20:06 utc | 25
Thank you for your response, psychohistorian. And I would strongly agree with your additional comment on the ongoing civilization war. The one important connection Christianity has with money is in Judas having obtained thirty pieces of silver for his betrayal.
‘In God we trust’ might be an important inscription for a chapel beam or an embroidery – it has no place on coinage.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 27 2022 23:53 utc | 56

Don Bacon #49
Thank you for that Market Watch report. I figure the Russian government can direct one its sanction compliant, western foreign reserve holders to make the payments. It would be in dollars, not rubles, there is plenty of it and it is up to the financial institution to honor the transaction and argue the toss with the intended recipient.
Once instructed to make the payment the default resides with the bank if there are funds deposited.
Russia simply doesn’t have to accept the sanction and if an offshore Russian reserve holder does, then it can be argued indefinitely I would have thought.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 28 2022 0:23 utc | 58

More from Kevork Almassian:
REVEALED | How the US, Qatar and Saudi Arabia planned to destroy Syria and assassinate Assad (18 min video)

While the entire world is busy with the Ukraine war, the former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar Hamad bin Jassim dropped a few bombshells on national Qatari TV.
…

Posted by: S | Mar 28 2022 0:47 utc | 60

@ juliania | Mar 27 2022 23:53 utc | 56 who wrote
”
‘In God we trust’ might be an important inscription for a chapel beam or an embroidery – it has no place on coinage.
”
Yes and thank you for that.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 28 2022 1:06 utc | 62

@ juliania | Mar 27 2022 23:53 utc | 56 who wrote
”
‘In God we trust’ might be an important inscription for a chapel beam or an embroidery – it has no place on coinage.
”
Yes and thank you for that.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 28 2022 1:06 utc | 62

The appearance of that bit of noxious religious indoctrination on American currency does have a certain logic to it. “In God we trust,” the old saying goes; “all others must pay cash.”

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 28 2022 1:17 utc | 64

PS. Y’all remember Ukraine Airlines flight 752? The one `shot down shortly after take-off’ but was actually `incoming (back) with transponder off/disabled/sabotaged’, take your pick and what an extreme early outbreak of Covid that was.

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 28 2022 1:29 utc | 66

Posted by: bjd | Mar 27 2022 21:21 utc | 31
Assad’s speech is here —
Watch the speech here –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoBkJPglIO0
or just scroll down and read it.

Posted by: AntiSpin | Mar 28 2022 1:42 utc | 68

c1ue | Mar 27 2022 22:19 utc | 38
there’s going to be lots of whining about stuff that really doesn’t matter, too, from people who have way too much to begin with. how much easier it will all be if people learn to live without things we don’t need and to share. but telling Americans that is like sticking a gun to their brains and pulling the trigger. people want the end of the world, they really think the price of gold matters more than coral bleaching and deforestation.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Mar 28 2022 2:02 utc | 70

uncle tungsten @67
I am not sure how the combustion energy gain vs CO2 product/absorption of the croplands weighs out though.
_________________________________________
Don’t know what it is you are trying to compare to what but I do know that US grain surplus has in the past been used as a weapon to promote US hegemony. Millions of third world farmers have lost their livlihoods because their markets were flooded with cheap US grains that were intended to prop up this or that dictator who would do what the US political class wanted. Ethanol used as fuel has put a crimp in the US weaponization of grain exports and that alone gives it value.

Posted by: jinn | Mar 28 2022 2:18 utc | 72

US Envoy to Iran Pours Cold Water on Claim Nuclear Deal ’Imminent’ – 28.03.2022, Sputnik International https://sputniknews.com/20220328/us-envoy-to-iran-pours-cold-water-on-claim-nuclear-deal-imminent-1094248047.html
Bennett to Approve Creation of 5 New Settlements in Negev Despite Protests From Bedouin Population – 27.03.2022, Sputnik International https://sputniknews.com/20220327/bennett-to-approve-creation-of-5-new-settlements-in-negev-despite-protests-from-bedouin-population-1094245675.html

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 28 2022 3:04 utc | 74

jinn #72
Pardon my obscurity. I was getting at the CO2 production balance sheet between petrol production and the additional ethanol CO2 production values.
I appreciate your proposition that ethanol and petrol combined combustion is considerably better than petrol alone. But what is the input energy cost for the ethanol production vs the saving in refinery energy inputs to achieve a higher octane petrol product.
Is there a more valuable product that the croplands could be put to that contributes a higher order human benefit (ie opportunity cost foregone) than simply corn for transport. I trust that clarifies the intended point.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 28 2022 3:28 utc | 76

Nord Stream 2 and 1 and all those other messy pipes are redundant.
The Europeans will much more satisfied with this invention and they can buy it from the USA.
Everyone will be happy even the Russians when they see the results.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 28 2022 4:21 utc | 78

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 27 2022 23:22 utc | 47
On the subject of US bio weapons (as used extensively in North-East Asia / Korea), look for the work of Jeff Kaye – is sub-site on Medium is here ( RSS feed because Medium tries hard to hide it). He has published on Counterpunch as well. His most recent is about the Ukraine bio labs.

Posted by: phiw13 | Mar 28 2022 6:11 utc | 80

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Mar 28 2022 7:31 utc | 81
Really? Hmm… Clear your cookies or open the site in a private browser window should do.
BTW – you can follow Jeff Kaye on Twitter here.

Posted by: phiw13 | Mar 28 2022 7:54 utc | 82

@Tom_Q_Collins #42
Your powers of analysis still fail you.
Texas is the 2nd largest state in the United States by population, and has the 3rd largest Asian population.
So being 4th in hate crimes is hardly an indicator of jack shit. If anything, Texas is UNDER representing in “hate crimes”.
Furthermore, 103 incidents of hate crimes in a state with 29 million people and roughly 1.5 million Asians doesn’t seem like a major problem – especially since most of the incidents mentioned were involving COVID.
Reinforces my already existing notion that this entire hate crimes business is woke bullshit.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 28 2022 12:39 utc | 84

@AntiSpin #34
@Jinn #59
As Jinn noted – it isn’t the total energy content that determines the performance of the vehicle.
Note that Formula One racecars use 100% alcohol engines.
The main problem with alcohol in fuel is that high levels will corrode the rubber parts – seals and what not. That’s why you shouldn’t run a typical ICE engine on alcohol even though you can, at a pinch, for a relatively short time.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 28 2022 12:46 utc | 86

@uncle tungsten #76
Australian source say E10 produces 2% to 5% less emissions than pure unleaded gasoline – for Australian alcohol.
source
Given the intense focus by farm lobby groups though, this isn’t a necessarily reliable number.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 28 2022 12:53 utc | 88

And speaking of green – Michael Shellenberger has put up a post on Bari Weiss’ substack: a pretty interesting compendium of how “green” has fucked up Europe’s energy situation.
The West’s Green Delusions Empowered Putin- Bari Weiss substack

Putin knows that Europe produces 3.6 million barrels of oil a day but uses 15 million barrels of oil a day. Putin knows that Europe produces 230 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year but uses 560 billion cubic meters. He knows that Europe uses 950 million tons of coal a year but produces half that.
The former KGB agent knows Russia produces 11 million barrels of oil per day but only uses 3.4 million. He knows Russia now produces over 700 billion cubic meters of gas a year but only uses around 400 billion. Russia mines 800 million tons of coal each year but uses 300.
That’s how Russia ends up supplying about 20 percent of Europe’s oil, 40 percent of its gas, and 20 percent of its coal.
…
How is it possible that European countries, Germany especially, allowed themselves to become so dependent on an authoritarian country over the 30 years since the end of the Cold War?
Here’s how: These countries are in the grips of a delusional ideology that makes them incapable of understanding the hard realities of energy production. Green ideology insists we don’t need nuclear and that we don’t need fracking. It insists that it’s just a matter of will and money to switch to all-renewables—and fast. It insists that we need “degrowth” of the economy, and that we face looming human “extinction.” [Sound familiar?]
…
While Putin expanded Russia’s oil production, expanded natural gas production, and then doubled nuclear energy production to allow more exports of its precious gas, Europe, led by Germany, shut down its nuclear power plants, closed gas fields, and refused to develop more through advanced methods like fracking.
The numbers tell the story best. In 2016, 30 percent of the natural gas consumed by the European Union came from Russia. In 2018, that figure jumped to 40 percent. By 2020, it was nearly 44 percent, and by early 2021, it was nearly 47 percent.
…
By 2020, Germany had reduced its nuclear share from 30 percent to 11 percent. Then, on the last day of 2021, Germany shut down half of its remaining six nuclear reactors. The other three are slated for shutdown at the end of this year. (Compare this to nextdoor France, which fulfills 70 percent of its electricity needs with carbon-free nuclear plants.)
Germany has also spent lavishly on weather-dependent renewables—to the tune of $36 billion a year—mainly solar panels and industrial wind turbines.
…
Between 2015 and 2025, Germany’s efforts to green its energy production will have cost $580 billion. Yet despite this enormous investment, German electricity still costs 50 percent more than nuclear-friendly France’s, and generating it produces eight times more carbon emissions per unit. Plus, Germany is getting over a third of its energy from Russia. [Note this excludes at least part of the 180 billion euro plus Energiewende spending]

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 28 2022 13:06 utc | 90

American Society of Civil Engineers, Texas section – report on the Texas Winter Storm/ERCOT failure
Reliability and Resilience in the Balance

The Committee has also determined that the problems uncovered by the severe storm extend well beyond storm related issues. Texas has a substantial and growing electric system reliability and resilience problem.
…
ASCE Texas Section’s urgency concluded that the failures that caused overwhelming human and economic suffering during February will increase in frequency and duration due to legacy market design shortcomings, growing infrastructure interdependence, economic and population growth drivers, and aging equipment even if the frequency and severity of weather events remains unchanged.
…
The Texas electric grid has been in a constant state of evolution to accommodate new technologies, grid expansions and satisfy growing demand since its formation. During the current transition, substantial federal and state incentives supporting new intermittent wind and solar resources have led to the dramatic growth of renewable energy resources in Texas.
…
Due to the extreme costs of reliability failure, it is reckless to believe that the energy market transition should somehow be used as justification or an excuse for reliability declines and extended load shedding events. For energy transition to work effectively and be accepted, it must occur without any sacrifice of reliability and resilience.
…
The energy industry is one of the most capital-intensive industries in the world. Like almost all critical infrastructure, it requires large, routine capital expenditures to support expansion, maintenance, and operations to meet demand.
Policies, regulations, and market actions that distort, constrain, or negatively impact the flow of capital to needed investment starves reliability through deferred expansions, delayed maintenance, and reduced reliability investment.

Note what I said about the Texas blackouts previously: that I believed that the cause was underinvestment in maintenance in order to ramp up an enormous buildup of wind and solar power (mostly wind).
This is what the report is saying: this massive buildup was at the expense of maintenance.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 28 2022 13:35 utc | 92

Hello b, Barflies
I am in the midst of reading this from Thorsten J. Pattberg at the Saker blog (I am up to the gaslighting essay and cannot stop)
The Menticide Manual
It is absolutely brilliant and I highly recommend it to all of you
See if you can stop reading after the first article.
https://thesaker.is/the-menticide-manual-this-is-a-cult-leader/?inmoderation

Posted by: ld | Mar 28 2022 14:40 utc | 94

China shares results of lunar soil assay, “China determines over 40 elements in Chang’e-5 lunar samples, ‘significant for Moon formation studies’”. This surprised me:

“For example, we can extract more than 30 kilograms of titanium from one ton of lunar samples, the content of which is more than six times the average of titanium on Earth. It provides very important basic data for our future exploration on the Moon and boosts the utilization of resources,” Guo said.

The assay method seemed novel as well, but I didn’t stay abreast with NASA’s experiments. Between the Helium3 and titanium, there appears to be enough value in the moon to warrant the establishment of the Lunar Research Base, which will likely exclude unfriendly nations.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 28 2022 14:52 utc | 96

Global Times second installment exposing “how the US, in its superpower status, has been creating trouble in the world one crisis after another.” First installment here.

In order to seek global hegemony, the US has used many resources including political, economic, cultural, educational, and the manipulation of public opinion platforms, and has created turmoil around the world under the banner of “human rights,” “democracy,” and “freedom”….
Incomplete statistics showed that from the end of WWII in 1945 to 2001, among the 248 armed conflicts that occurred in 153 regions globally, 201 were initiated by the US, accounting for 81 percent of the total number.
These wars have devastated the invaded countries, killed millions of civilians, and displaced tens of millions. Looking back at the history of US aggression and intervention, we can see that Washington is the driving force behind the turmoil and the source of the chaos in the world.
From provoking wars around the world to leading NATO’s eastward expansion, from imposing sanctions on “disobedient countries” to coercing other nations to pick sides, the US has acted like a “Cold War schemer,” and an “vampire” who creates “enemies” and make fortunes from pyres of war.

And that’s just from the intro to the second installment. As you read, China isn’t doing the Outlaw US Empire’s bidding regarding Russia. It’s doing the opposite by informing the world what entity’s responsible for all the chaos and strife since WW2 in case the Global South has somehow forgotten.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 28 2022 15:04 utc | 98

@ Aleph_Null 99
The authoritative guide to the journalistic malfeasance which brings us continual war is Norman Solomon’s “War Made Easy — How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” Reporters must be loyal government stenographers or they aren’t reporters any longer.
Dan Rather, an iconic US journalist: “Look I’m an American. I never tried to kid anybody that I’m some internationalist or something. And when my country is at war, I want my country to win, whatever the definition of ‘win’ might be. Now, I can’t and don’t argue that that is coverage without prejudice. About that I am prejudiced.” So Dan brought us through the criminal war against Vietnam and the Nixon presidency. — from Norman Solomon’s “War Made Easy” — How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 28 2022 15:23 utc | 100