Posted by: K | Mar 31 2022 0:52 utc | 205
The Nazis got the swastika from the ariosophists – Madame Helena Blavatsky, et al. – who also gave the Nazis the entire “root races” and Ayranist narratives. Blavatsky moved to India and found the swastika being used their as a Buddhist symbol. She grabbed it for her movement. If you go to the Wikipedia entry for Theosophy, you will see the swastika at the top of their symbol.

Posted by: john brewster | Mar 31 2022 1:01 utc | 204

Posted by: Tuyzentfloot | Mar 30 2022 21:23 utc | 132

@seer 124 there is this article just out : https://jeff-kaye.medium.com/the-destroyed-ukraine-bioagents-dangerous-or-benign-5bd59358b28e
personally while I think there is room for a scandal there in its own right I don’t see much relevance to the current conflict, except maybe as the inspiration for the false flag chemical attack claims(?). There is a corruption angle to them, a general angle of secret biolabs worldwide, with its dangers and illegality, an angle for general bioweapon research against Russia, but very unlikely an angle of active creation of weapons.

Many thanks for that. I was kind of hoping to see a listing of all labs and the state of control of each. Sounds like Jeffrey Kaye will be the one to watch for any such updates.
All a bit interesting given Russia’s claims. (and then there’s the general concerns over ALL biolabs)

Posted by: Seer | Mar 31 2022 1:06 utc | 206

I love me the smell of desperate trolls doing drive by’s
Given we are seeing the birth of a new “Reserve Currency”, it might be a bit premature to characterize any of the steps to the new system of finance as failures.
I am reading reports saying that Ukraine was intentionally used to challenge the US dollar Reserve Currency status and I see that perspective a bit simplistic as any of a number of things could have triggered similar sanctions…we are dealing with a very desperate empire that is seeing the curtain shielding its existence from the masses being torn away…..pity that.
I still see Russian goal of 1997 rollback not being discussed and while that is not for Ukraine to speak to, Ukraine is a proxy in all regards anyway. While their may be a pause in military activity, I expect it to resume if Russia sees its total demands not being respected in some way.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 31 2022 1:08 utc | 208

karlof1 | Mar 30 2022 21:13 utc | 128, just letting you know that I do thank you for the UN info — haven’t had a chance yet to follow the link you gave on the first page of this thread. I consider that information as important as the uncovering of the Ukrainian biolabs control — things are moving very fast, and I would say realignments are happening behind the scenes that we do not know about as yet. I’ll finish my slow progress through the posts on this thread in the hope that such behind the scenes occurrences are the ‘soft landing’ we all have dreamed of and hoped for.
Thanks to b and thanks to all contributors!

Posted by: juliania | Mar 31 2022 1:20 utc | 210

i’m probably the 500th person to post this, but it’s amusing in any case:
https://www.rt.com/russia/553007-south-ossetia-unite-plan/
they picked an odd time to do it but godspeed, i suppose.

Posted by: the pair | Mar 31 2022 1:26 utc | 212

juliania @214–
Thanks for your reply, and you’re most welcome. Happy reading! Oh, and my next note is for you too.
psychohistorian @212–
I very much suggest reading Hudson’s interview with Flowers as Biden’s target wasn’t just Europe but home as he explains and I agree. My bit of advice is to buy any currency not pegged to the dollar to protect your savings, for it will gain in value while the dollar continues to depreciate. And I’d want the hard stuff, not a paper receipt.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 31 2022 1:31 utc | 214

“Ukraine has already brought the war onto Russian land. On 25 February they hit Millerovo Airfield near Rostov. On 29 March they hit an ammunition depot near Belgorod. The gloves are off.” A comment at Turcopolier
Is this true?

Posted by: Mark Gaughan | Mar 31 2022 1:48 utc | 216

@K 205 etc
Go to Mariupol, explain it to the men cleaning up the azovite criminals there.
Unless you’re at a museum of native american or buddhist symbols, which this place is not, that history is completely blown away by 20th century events. Further discussion of this is just polluting the airspace.

Posted by: ptb | Mar 31 2022 1:56 utc | 218

This one weird trick can rally millions to risk getting nuked!
Here how it works. The MSM’s trusted sources all seem to follow the same ‘ISW’ analysis on Ukraine. The analysis is all grim for the Russians. They can be beat is the subtle ISW analysis. (Receipts included)
Example:
BBC – The BBC coverage is the go to for many, including other MSM.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60506682
The BBC credits ISW as its source for maps and analysis.
The ISW (Institute for the Study of War) provides MSM trusted analysis of the war.
https://www.understandingwar.org/
ISW is owned by Kimberly Kagan.
Who is Kimberly Kagan?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberly_Kagan
She is married to Frederick Kagan.
Who is Frederick Kagan?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Kagan
Frederick Kagan is the brother of Robert Kagan.
Who is Robert Kagan?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kagan
By sheer coincidence, Robert Kagan is married to none other than Victoria Nuland.
Who is Victoria Nuland?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Nuland
Never heard of her?
https://www.salon.com/2021/01/19/who-is-victoria-nuland-a-really-bad-idea-as-a-key-player-in-bidens-foreign-policy-team/
Other examples of ISW as a source include:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/27/europe/ukraine-russia-conflict-new-phase-intl-cmd/index.html
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/biden-s-pledge-help-ukraine-goes-beyond-what-he-s-n1292135
“According to a report by Washington think tank the Institute for the Study of War, two leaders of the Russian intelligence service were placed under house arrest Friday.”
https://www.foxnews.com/world/shelter-bombed-in-ukraine-city-war-seen-entering-new-phase
…”Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a briefing”…
TL;DR: The MSM gets its war assessment from Victoria Nuland’s sister in law. Some say she organized the 2014 coup in Ukraine. Weird, right?

Posted by: Will | Mar 31 2022 2:07 utc | 220

I linked to this site from a story in Revolver. Great to see views other than the MSM narrative. On that front, I wonder how many times someone needs to be lied to before their natural skepticism engine kicks in. I’m now convinced a huge section of the populace can be lied to without limit. They are TV inculcated to let their emotions run amok via the trigger of a carefully crafted 5 word headline repeated across each press of the TV remote control. A mere 10 or 20 minute knowledge seeking action — on any topic — is bridge too far for many, seemingly.
My latest topic-knowledge search has been “the convoy” north of Kiev(one that the MSM and the ADD of the average viewer now has forgotten). A feint/big force dog and pony show? Or halted due to bad RF strategy/Uke resistance severely underestimated?

Posted by: Corsair66 | Mar 31 2022 2:10 utc | 222

News about the telephone conversation between Putin and Scholz on paying Russian gas in rubles.
Take your pick! I can’t!
VZGLYAD:
Scholz refused the gas payment scheme proposed by Russia
March 30, 2022, 20:48Text: Olga Ivanova
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which the issues of paying for Russian gas were discussed, a spokesman for the German government said.
Putin “said that he would adopt a law according to which, from April 1, gas supplies would be paid in rubles,” “at the same time, he stressed in a conversation that nothing would change for European contract partners,” reports the German government TASS .
“Chancellor Scholz did not agree to this procedure during the conversation, but only requested written information in order to better understand the procedure … The G7 agreement remains in force: energy supplies are paid exclusively in euros or dollars. As specified in the contracts,” the message says.
Scholz also said that payments would be transferred to Gazprombank.
Recall, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia refuses to accept payment for gas supplies in dollars and euros, until March 31 he is waiting for a report on changing the payment currency to rubles. The Kremlin also said that Russia would not supply gas for free if the European Union refused to pay for it in rubles.
————————————
Ria Novosti:
Scholz asked Putin for clarification on the Russian gas payment scheme
30.03.2022
BERLIN, March 30 – RIA Novosti. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, asked for clarification on the procedure for paying for Russian gas in rubles. This was announced by the official representative of the German government Steffen Hebeshtreit.
According to him, the Russian president informed Scholz that from April 1, gas supplies to Europe must be paid in rubles, and stressed that nothing would change for European importers.
Settlements will be made exclusively in euros and, as usual, transferred to Gazprombank , which is not affected by the sanctions. The bank will convert the money into rubles.
“Chancellor Scholz did not give consent in this conversation, but only asked for written information in order to better understand the procedure,” Hebestreit said. He added that the G7 agreement remains in force: energy supplies will be paid exclusively in euros and dollars, as stipulated in the contracts.
The Kremlin, following this telephone conversation, said that the president explained to the German chancellor the decision to switch gas payments to rubles: it was caused by the fact that, in violation of international law, Russian foreign exchange reserves were frozen by the EU countries. At the same time, the parties agreed that this issue would be further discussed by experts from the two countries.
On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine , in response to which the United States and its allies announced new anti-Russian sanctions, which are aimed primarily at the banking sector and the supply of high-tech products. Approximately half of Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, about $300 billion, were blocked in the West.
Under these conditions, Vladimir Putin instructed Gazprom , the Central Bank and the government to organize the transfer of settlements into rubles for gas supplies to unfriendly countries by March 31. The G7 countries say they won’t go for it. Nevertheless, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Russia is not going to do charity work: if there is no payment in rubles, then there will be no gas for the West.

Posted by: k | Mar 31 2022 2:16 utc | 224

Posted by: juliania | Mar 31 2022 1:03 utc | 208
“The Waihopai Station is a secure communication facility, located near Blenheim, run by New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau.The station started operating in 1989, and collects data that is then shared with New Zealand’s allies. In 2021, it was announced that the parts of the station would be deconstructed and removed from the site.”
Sorry Juliania, I misunderstood you. Perhaps they moved it to Auckland? Phew, now Marlborough is [possibly] safe from attack!
Edward Snowden claimed this:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10501778/US-spy-base-in-NZ
In Australia there is a lot of conjecture about the function of the fortress like building at 4A Herbert St, St Leonards, [Sydney]:
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1493491
I understand there is a similar building in Canberra. We have no privacy from governments anymore.
Here by contrast,
“China’s military expansion is modest .It was recently reported that there are now four Chinese military installations outside of China’s borders and Wikipedia was used to support the claim. Wikipedia is a great source of general information but can’t be trusted as a source of facts. Academics will not cite the website as a source…”
https://johnmenadue.com/chinas-military-expansion/

Posted by: Paul | Mar 31 2022 2:31 utc | 226

@165
The latest round of Ukraine – Russia negotiations was all about extracting remnants of Azov regiment along with American, British and French “advisors” holed up in the ruins of the Mariupol.
Roman Abramovich – representing Yevraz steel company – was at the table. Ordinary Russians are livid about that but IMHO, there is nothing sinister about that, although Zelensky himself, in own words, wanted Abramovich there.
So, here is likely exchange. Ukraine surrenders Mariupol, Yevraz pays it attractive sum of money (couple billion dollars would be my guess) for still relatively intact giant Azovstal smelter, and Russia allows Ukrainian combatants out under international supervision.
Everybody wins. Ukraine gets large chunk money and its best soldiers out of hopeless cause, Russia obtains attractive industrial asset as well as saves many lives of its own fighters, and the West moves stressed out NATO “instructors” out of Mariupol meatgrinder.
Medinsky, as inept as he is, may have used his finest acting skills to obfuscate the real goal of Istanbul pow-wow. In Putin’s world, everything is smoke and mirrors, and nothing ever looks the way it really is.

Posted by: Venom | Mar 31 2022 2:54 utc | 228

@ Tony_0pmoc | Mar 30 2022 23:01 utc | 162
I watched the Prouty video and just saw an opinionated colonel who didn’t know what he was talking about.
1) The definition of a living thing is NOT that it is made of hydrogen, oxygen and carbon.
2) Fossils, in the sense of macro-fossils may not be present below 16,000 feet but life on earth has been around for 4 billion years. For the first 2.5 billion years of that we only had single celled creatures (prokaryotes aka bacteria) Obviously they aren’t going to leave fossils as most people understand the term.
3) The idea that for the last hundred years all the geologists of the world have been involved in some great big scam to keep the price of oil up is risible. Furthermore, the idea that, even in wartime, countries are deliberately ignoring vast oil deposits right under their feet in order to perpetuate that hoax is even more risible. If you remember, it was the fuel shortage that finally nailed the third Reich, please don’t try to tell me that the ‘truth’ as you believe it to be wouldn’t have come to light there.
4) You are claiming to have qualifications in physics, yet you apparently don’t believe in the greenhouse effect, I suspect strongly that you are mostly a computer programmer that knows bugger all about the natural sciences.
Don’t get me wrong here, I know your heart is in the right place but on these issues you are very, very wrong. As with the vast majority of humanity, you only use your critical faculties when you hear something disagreeable.

Posted by: MarkU | Mar 31 2022 2:58 utc | 230

Thanks Lex Talionis for the reference to Costa-Gravas’ 1969 movie “Z”. I’d like to think you are on to something here, albeit something oblique and subtle. Z the Algerian/French movie, from the 1966 book of the same name, is a classic movie of resistance and intrigue set in Greece during the tyranny of the junta of the generals, and the title reiterates popular graffiti of that time: Z= he lives! The intrigue involves CIA and NATO machinations, nuclear weapons and assassinations, and various mise-en-scene allusions to American foreign policy misdemeanours. In sum, all the activities of the gladio “stay behind” fascist networks.
“Z” is one of Oliver Stone’s favourite movies.
When the closing credits roll (upwards) there is a list of everything banned in Greece after the ’67 coup. For example the Beatles and Mark Twain……and the letter Z.
Putin has used western popular cultural examples such as Rudyard Kipling’s Mogli and J.K.Rawlings in careful attempts to explain Russian consciousness to the west. Perhaps Operation Z is also offering a pretty nifty cultural and political intertextual reference?
Gladio (Latin: small sword) is writ large in the Ukrainian situation. Russia too has a dagger and it is called the kinzhal.

Posted by: Australian lady | Mar 31 2022 3:06 utc | 232

Posted by: watcher | Mar 31 2022 2:13 utc | 231
I’m not wasting any more time on you. Your nonsense has been debunked before here. Your “asessments” of what is “achievable” are bullshit. Your comprehension of Russian objectives is non-existent. Your knowledge of who is doing the “negotiating” here is risible. You’re going to look like an idiot in a month’s time – not that you don’t now, of course.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 31 2022 3:24 utc | 234

From Colonel Cassad Telegram channel…

March 29.
“Ukraine promised to take the toughest measures against the criminals who tortured Russian servicemen” – Medinsky.
March 30.
“All Russia’s accusations regarding Ukraine’s allegedly inhumane treatment of prisoners of war are just an attempt to manipulate public opinion, because not a single such accusation has been confirmed,” Denisova, Commissioner for Human Rights of Ukraine.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 31 2022 3:37 utc | 236

Posted by: Robert Lindsay | Mar 31 2022 2:01 utc | 224
“The swastika is shot, for better or worse. It doesn’t matter all the things it used to stand for. You can’t use it for that anymore.”
This is without a doubt among the dumbest and least-informed comments by an American Exceptionalist that I have ever seen on this site. (Pacifica Advocate – thanks)
Maybe you could have a chat to one of the Brahmin priests at your local Hindu temple & tell him that “it doesn’t matter all the things it used to stand for. You can’t use it for that anymore.”

Posted by: ted001 | Mar 31 2022 3:42 utc | 238

@247
I’m fairly certain that all Ukrainian combatants would have to be let out. Just like it was done in Syria where even most unsavory characters were allowed to transit to Idlib.
Btw, Azov is not a battalion anymore. It’s a National Corps, probably somewhere at brigade strength (not all of it is in Mariupol, some is in Kharkov and probably other cities as well).

Posted by: Venom | Mar 31 2022 4:30 utc | 240

I’m sure others have mentioned it, but the latest talks between Germany and Russia to me point towards Russia playing a long game of kicking the USA out of Europe. It is in Germany’s interests to switch sides, and Russia’s best move is to appear like the good guys (mother Russia indeed) pursuing a united Eurasian project.
What has the potential to happen is the Anglo American worst nightmare, the continent united against them. The USA and Canada will be fine as they will retreat and refocus on the Americas, but the UK is another matter, and Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand will have to reassess their approach to Beijing sooner rather than later.

Posted by: Lessonsplink | Mar 31 2022 4:45 utc | 242

@Featherless | Mar 30 2022 23:06 utc | 168
Timonia:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IQGrqRkNpS8
This is beautiful, thank you for sharing!
When I was young I knew a man very much like Timonia. I remember his smile as a kitten we found and adopted climbed its way all the way up to his shoulder and stood triumphant.

Posted by: Vintage Red | Mar 31 2022 5:05 utc | 244

@Robert post237,
thanks for the reply. Yes, I was dubious of the “40 mile” convoy claim. General rule of thumb for what I hear on MSM, reduce it by at least 75% to be in the ballpark.
But it was still one of the more substantial armor and transport columns that have been seen in a war zone in some years. First images of it suggested it may be a feint. This was based on the appearance that little defensive effort was being made despite a weakened but still not completely neutralized Ukrainian AF. It was the proverbial fish in a barrel for strafing. So either RF command had miscalculated resistance/ease of advancement or it was a ‘hey look how big/bad we are over here’ while the RF forces actual major ops were planned for the east and/or south.

Posted by: Corsair66 | Mar 31 2022 5:21 utc | 246

@ Debsisdead | Mar 31 2022 4:54 utc | 255 who wrote
”
The russian government is just as neoliberal as any other mob of corrupt vote seducers.
”
If China were not part of bigger game I would say your points are valid but can you put China in your sentence above?…are there neoliberals running China? If you can’t find many neoliberals in China, I hope you agree that there might be something bigger than the wars for bankers we have seen for the past few centuries involved in what is going on.
I don’t think that your characterization of Russia as neoliberal is accurate but lets revisit that in 6 months after this new “Iron Curtain” situation firms up. The Iron Curtain that is going up is similar to the one that went up after the Bretton Woods agreement and the same issues are at issue…..who runs global finance? The wild card this time around the block is China that now is strong enough to say to our species that they think there is a better way….and Russia is supportive by pushing the neoliberal bullies back.
I agree that there are oligarchs in Russia and they almost have/had as much power as in the West but now are controlled by Putin and the Russian government/military in support of challenging the West with China. China is growing oligarchs but is exercising control like Russia to bend them to social needs instead of greed/social control.
I think your argument lacks the China context of our current situation and believe the outcome you project will not happen. You fault Russia for not supporting Syria and I think that claim is premature as well…..the path forward is not a straight line….
Yes, I am a dreamer but not the only one….

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 31 2022 5:32 utc | 248

@255 debisdead
You are wrong, the deal in Syria is not the deal Russia wants. It is the deal Russia/Syria have to accept because they do not have escalation dominance in Syria.
Russia would love a Syria, united and sovereign with Assad ruling over the entirety of the territory. Russia would love not to have to station troops there, just to maintain the shaky status quo.
You misunderstand the situation because you lack knowledge on the military reality. As you say, the military talk isn’t your cup of tea, that is fine, but ignoring that reality leads you to gauge the situation incorrectly.
Russia/Syria have as much territory under their control as they are militarily capable of.
There is some naivity here at MoA, and that has to do with the balance of power between Russia and USA, particularly as it relates to martial matters. Russia and China have come a long way quickly, but have not surpassed American military power, not yet. This is especially true when it come to projecting power away from the borders of the respective countries. Those 800 plus military bases are there for a reason…logistics…USA can bring a lot of power to bear to a number of theatres rather quickly.
So, I am not rejecting you out of hand, and we don’t need to fight nor shout (unless you want to). I believe in regards to Syria you are under the impression Russia could kick USA/Israel/Turkey out if it wanted to, and isn’t because it is happy with the current deal, but that isn’t true.

Posted by: Haassaan | Mar 31 2022 5:44 utc | 250

@244 Australian Lady – Thank you! You put all my mish mashed thoughts together. Z is my favorite movie. Zabriskie Point is #2. Unfortunately cinema has taken over so much of the means of human communication. I prefer the written word, even though I am not the best practitioner.
Cinema sanitizes war and one expects a resolution in 90 minutes. The written language, not so simple.
I just sensed the spirit of Costa-Gavras in the initial moves made by the Russian Federation. Something striking and alive.
Praise Jah for Moa, all the cool smarty folks here, and another sunrize tomorrow.

Posted by: lex talionis | Mar 31 2022 6:01 utc | 252

Posted by: Venom | Mar 31 2022 4:30 utc | 252
Yes, Martyanov makes that point constantly. I continue to use the term Battalion because that is what they’ve been called all along. Plus, no one knows the exact number of neo-Nazis and “brigade” and “regiment” sizes vary anyway.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 31 2022 6:13 utc | 254

Posted by: Corsair66 | Mar 31 2022 5:21 utc | 258
“it was a ‘hey look how big/bad we are over here’ while the RF forces actual major ops were planned for the east and/or south.”
Russia has basically now said that’s what it was. As Scott Ritter says, it was to pin the Ukie forces in the west around the capital to prevent reinforcement and complication of the cauldron in the east. And of course it always gave Russia the option to actually take Kiev if they decided to do so, even if they didn’t want to initially.
As for the column, it was never a sitting duck. If any significant damage was done by Ukrainian planes, the whole Russian air force would have suddenly appeared and finished off everything that was left of the Ukrainian air force. And the Ukrainians knew that, which is why it didn’t happen. Better to save what you can and use it where you can rather than sacrificing it in a suicide attack on what was clearly a major Russian attack. Which is what Ukraine has been doing, and as a result steadily losing what’s left of the air force. The other day they lost a half dozen or so planes in one day. Can’t be much left capable of flying.

Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Mar 31 2022 6:19 utc | 256

Posted by: Haassaan | Mar 31 2022 5:44 utc | 262
Totally agree. It is dangerous to overestimate the strength of any military, but Russia does not have the power to clear the USA out- or at least they did not until recently. They may be developing it, but it takes time. same with the Donbass. They only now have the strength to take action.
Same was true for the UK in the 1930s. One reason for the appeasement of Hitler was that the UK just did not have the necessary armed forces- especially army and airforce. The book that told me this was written by none other than JFK, as part of his thesis at Oxford. I imagine he may have had a bit of help from daddy’s staff.

Posted by: watcher | Mar 31 2022 6:40 utc | 258

Posted by: Will | Mar 31 2022 2:07 utc | 228
Superb! Many thanks for that.
I’d add that the standard “M.O.” of all the war lobbyists is cloaking themselves in grandiloquent names like the ISW. When the name is outed, they just conjure another one up as they shave or apply makeup in the morning.
Centre for Global Security
Foundation for Peace
Green World Fund
Sustainable Economic Future Forum
A half-hour to sketch some letterheads and you’re good to go, taking on the usual “experts” for hire. And then the stenographers who pass for journalists can peddle the shite by lying to themselves:
“Well, General Rentaquote of the Foundation for Peace said it, so that’s 500 words towards today’s target. Bombs away! Post!”

Posted by: Cortes | Mar 31 2022 7:06 utc | 260

Tony_0pmoc | Mar 31 2022 0:09 utc | 193
I do acknowledge your postings yet resist filling MOA-space with acks unless I might add s/g worthy. Your remarks on computer tech brings to mind…the Brit creation and spread of Colossus computer tech, first to break codes and later [even more secretly] to sell [i.e. distribute widely] “unbreakable” coding systems that [the secret] Colossus could soon enough decode/read!
Now to the point. In theory, it appears that any communications code can be decoded/read by the formula….
1. Observe and decide what data is needed to break the code.
2. Arrange, by ANY means, to acquire that data. The key is simply to imagine, however wildly viscious or subtle the scenario or trickery/deception, how to pull it off.
E.g., the SHA-256 algorithm for code creation underlies the security for Bitcoin’s processing and it is daunting to sort thru 10^26 [or s/g] possibilities. But in fact human beings are involved all along the way from start to completion of every bitcoin data movement…and any human can be influenced/manipulated by some means or ruse if need be.
Your posting brought all that to mind.

Posted by: chu teh | Mar 31 2022 7:15 utc | 262

The swastika is shot, for better or worse. It doesn’t matter all the things it used to stand for. You can’t use it for that anymore. The Nazis have ruined it pretty much for all of the foreseeable future.
Posted by: Robert Lindsay | Mar 31 2022 2:01 utc | 224
People in the Far East and those who are connected to them beg to differ. You seem to be viewing things through an extremely narrow aperture, as well as being intellectually lazy.
In Buddhism, the swastika is considered to symbolize the auspicious footprints of the Buddha. The left-facing swastika is often imprinted on the chest, feet or palms of Buddha images. It is an aniconic symbol for the Buddha in many parts of Asia and homologous with the dharma wheel.
I knew this from traveling in the Far East but the same could be found in less than 20 sec thanks to CIA’s Google.
————————————————————————
Let me introduce you to one, if you can understand the maths and physics
https://www.gasresources.net/
Posted by: Tony_0pmoc | Mar 30 2022 23:01 utc | 162
So you are a believer in the “abiotic petroleum origins” ? Do you know why this originated in USSR ? Let me give you a hint if you don’t.

It’s easy to see why. The West Siberian basin is the largest petroleum basin in the world, covering 2.2 million square kilometers between the Ural Mountains and Yenisei River, extending from Kazakhstan in the south to under parts of the Kara Sea in the north.
The region contains dozens of super-giant and giant oilfields, including Samotlor with 28 billion barrels of oil originally in place, and Urengoy with more than 350 trillion cubic feet of original gas reserves.
The first oil discovery in the region was made in 1953. Most of the large oil and gas fields were discovered in the 1960s and 1970s. Since then, new field discoveries have been much smaller, which helped fuel the peak-oil panic in the early 21st century.
But more than 90 percent of that oil is thought to have come originally from a layer of black shale averaging just 20-40 meters thick and buried almost 3 km beneath the surface. Now oil and gas companies are trying to figure out how to go straight to the source, known as the Bazhenov shale

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-shale-kemp-idUSKBN0FN0GO20140718
That’s the sources of that oil. But, and this is a huge BUT, the rate of oil migration from the Bazhenov is extremely slow and will not “refill” those fields mentioned above. Once they started to be produced they went on a decline and no magic “abiotic petroleum origins” theory has manged to refill them as I write.
http://theoildrum.com/node/8886#comment-868415
You are out of your depth in this department.

Posted by: Tom_12 | Mar 31 2022 7:28 utc | 264

Circumspect @ 239
Ruble is currently a 82.25 to the dollar. So 5000 rubles is $60.79, not $52 as your source had it just a few days ago. This is a huge change in a short time. The peg to gold is one of the reasons why.
The other way to see this is the dollar has been devalued. By Russia. If trends continue no one will want dollars. The scenario of a complete dollar collapse is plausible.

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 31 2022 7:40 utc | 266

If someone is not able to access Ministry of Defense of Russia!
Latest briefing.
31.03.2022 (10:15)
Briefing of the Ministry of Defense of Russia
The divisions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, continuing their offensive operations, took complete control of the settlement of Zolotaya Niva, crossed the Kashlagach River and entrenched themselves on a favorable line.
Promotion per day was 6 kilometers. Destroyed up to 60 Ukrainian nationalists, two tanks, 4 infantry fighting vehicles, 9 vehicles for various purposes.
Units of the Luhansk People’s Republic, having completed the cleansing from the militants of the settlement of Zhitlovka, moved forward 5 kilometers and are fighting with the nationalists on the outskirts of the settlement of Kremennaya.
On the evening of March 30, high-precision air-launched cruise missiles destroyed large fuel bases in the settlements of Dnepropetrovsk, Lisichansk, Chuguev and Novomoskovsk, from which the Ukrainian group of troops in Donbas was supplied with fuel.
During the night, operational-tactical and unmanned aircraft hit 52 military facilities of Ukraine.
Among them: four command posts, one S-300 anti-aircraft missile system south of the Izyum settlement and one Buk-M1 in the Kurakhovo area, two multiple launch rocket systems, one ammunition depot and rocket and artillery weapons, two depots of fuel and lubricants and 38 strongholds and areas of concentration of military equipment.
Air defense systems of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down 18 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the air in the areas of Balakleya, Verbovoye, Verkhnetoretskoye, Dokuchaevsk, Korolyovka, Komarin, Experienced, Pavlovka, Repki, Chernihiv, Chernobyl, Shchors, including one “Bayraktar-TB2” in the Bezymyanny area.

Posted by: k | Mar 31 2022 8:00 utc | 268

The elbow-bump seen around the world:
https://english.manartv.com.lb/1570846
This is at the Tunxi conference on Afghanistan.
We all know Lavrov plays the major bastard, seemingly one of the few adults on the modern diplomatic scene.
Doing an elbow-bump seems out of character, unless intended to be meaningful somehow.
As for Wang, don’t know anything about him, but Chinese diplomacy is generally very very careful, and so this scene appears as significant, say, as the time Zhou Enlai publicly inspected and then lifted over his head a North-Vietnamese AK-47 knockoff.
As for the bump, where did they get that, and What Could It Mean?

Posted by: John Kennard | Mar 31 2022 8:25 utc | 270

@Boo | Mar 30 2022 21:39 utc | 140
Germany isn’t a souvereign country and it doesn’t run the EU. The purpose of the EU is to get European countries under the thumb of the globalists. In Germany, export companies are doing well, but ordinary Germans have been screwed badly.

Posted by: WhyCantWeJusGetAlong | Mar 31 2022 9:18 utc | 272

The president of Russia got where he is today by serving the elites while he was deputy mayor of St. Petersburg, so why would he change from a proven winning tactic?
Posted by: Debsisdead | Mar 31 2022 7:14 utc | 274
I really don’t know. Putin as a leader and diplomat is very consistently promoting peace and co-operation. If its really about oligarchs well we are really all screwed. Let’s see.
Rather than make unsubstantiated statements, why not provide some links to articles exposing Putin’s corruption? I can’t know any of this as I don’t live in Russia so I only depend on what I can read and watch in English.

Posted by: K | Mar 31 2022 9:33 utc | 274

Norwegian | Mar 31 2022 6:18 utc | 268
“I think Russia, being very legalistic (in a positive way), would go out of its way to demonstrate that any interruption of gas supply would be caused purely by the bad decisions of ‘west’.”
If Putin doesn’t feel that’s already been sufficiently demonstrated many times over, he’ll never feel any demonstration is enough.

Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Mar 31 2022 9:42 utc | 276

RJB | Mar 31 2022 9:27 utc | 286
“Does not make sense at all. Gasprom Bank ends up with Euros in some correspondent bank in Germany. What’s the guarantee that the moneys won’t be frozen again in the future?”
So far as I can tell, it means effectively giving away the gas for free in order to strengthen the ruble, toward the longer-run anti-dollar goal.

Posted by: Flying Dutchman | Mar 31 2022 9:58 utc | 278

Debsisdead
Naivety as you term it seems to be the end result of ingesting and regurgitating column miles of Russian and Chinese state propaganda along with the coloring inside the line of bought fellow travelers such as Strategic Culture, Pepe Escobar, Michael Hudson (former economist turned outright political hack spouting nonsense about the end of the dollar but sounding economically authoritative while doing so), Scott Ritter and lastly some random Lira guy holed up in a hotel room inside the war zone.
Did I leave anyone of this thin paid line of authorities out of the list?
I recall quite clearly how b and the cringeworthies (or naiveties in your parlance) fell all over themselves with glee making fun of the sure to happen Mighty Putin beat down of Erdogan, Turkey, the clown prince of Saudi and Nutty yahoo, Israel the US (but not Trump for some weird reason) soon to occur in Idleb, which as you note has never occurred. Now the clown prince is now a Putin bestie (b has yet to straighten his twisted rhetorical panties around the former clown prince), Israel is an active interlocutor for Invasion neutrality and Erdogan of all peeps is the current big brother sensitively leading little bro Vladimir away from his juvenile Hitler fixation and back into the comforting back rooms of globalization.
And lets not sully a hair on any headchopper heads under Erdo’s control during this delicate attempt at providing adolescent therapy to a putative world leader.
Can a hardened armchair cynic become completely brainwashed into naivete or is the rigid conformity of the brutally fascist-minded echo chamber that has become MoA required to finish the job?
Brecht of course has long since ceased rolling over in his grave at the neofascist farce perpetrated herein under his august name on the banner.

Posted by: Useless meat beater | Mar 31 2022 10:02 utc | 280

Jesus, there’s absolutely nothing good about the European Greens, is there?
Posted by: Robert Lindsay | Mar 31 2022 1:58 utc | 224
Every”Green” Party I know of has been quickly overrun and subverted by the usual “progressives,” ie Mob-princes and -princesses and their enablers, champions and wannabes all virtue-signaling away, in blissful post-moral, post-rational and post-biological “post-modernism,” which is a neo-Pythagorean cult, reifying word and belief, at least of the Mob or elite.
Hubris.

Posted by: John Kennard | Mar 31 2022 10:16 utc | 282

John Kennard | Mar 31 2022 10:23 utc | 296
The sheep, in this case the Western media presstitutes, are indeed bleating. In fact the best indication yet that Putin is really getting to them. Despite all the gloating about the ineptitude of the Special Military Operation it just keeps rolling along, pretty well exactly as Putin first described its objectives.
I still remember the Western media criticism of Putin’s “long boring speech” that he made at the start of the SMO. What is now happening is exactly what he described. What a pity that they didn’t read it. Obviously a document with any more then two paragraphs is beyond their attention span.
Given the amount of time that Russia has had to prepare for this project its no surprise that all the objectives coalesce into an interlinked set of outcomes. But day by day we are seeing a progression which is making the Empire Of Lies look increasingly inept.
By throwing the gas payment lifeline to Germany, Russia has guaranteed that it will at least pay for its gas with Euros. The receiving bank will not be sanctioned because if it is the gas will stop. So whatever the US says the rest of Europe will be scrambling to get into the same payment queue. Saddam Hussein was killed for merely wanting to be paid in Euros for his oil. Now the EU is throwing them at Russia.
Hard to see how the sanctions against Russia last more than 5 minutes in that climate.

Posted by: Cyberhorse | Mar 31 2022 10:54 utc | 284

Hey Meat Eater, what army do you command? We won’t be seeing you putting your brave face out there, will we? I thought not. And talk about spouting nonsense. We’ll soon see who is fixated. The U.S. has just released 1 million barrels/day from its SPR trying to keep a lid on things. Good luck with that.

Posted by: thecelticwithinme | Mar 31 2022 14:20 utc | 286

Addendum:
For reasons unknown, I’m unable to post the link to the DWN report mentioned above in #300. Sorry. It’s on their front page.

Posted by: GreyRaven | Mar 31 2022 14:39 utc | 288

Lukashenko might help negociations: I heard that crack 103rd paratrooper brigade from Vitebsk (Belarus) is itching to take over Lutsk and Lvov.

Posted by: Greg Galloway | Mar 31 2022 14:52 utc | 290

Didn’t the Russians offer safe passage from Mariupol WITH THEIR WEAPONS for Ukrainian soldiers a week or so ago?

Posted by: Ken Meyercord | Mar 31 2022 15:22 utc | 292

Do me a favour you guys across the herring-pond and boycott the New York Post. It’s like our Sun. Full of shit. Sorry, no other word for it.
https://johnplatinumgoss.com/2022/03/31/boycott-the-new-york-post/

Posted by: John Goss | Mar 31 2022 15:41 utc | 294

https://twitter.com/nrg8000/status/1509518391362859015?s=21&t=yYMiP_zr_u0Eb88BUI8W3Q
Maps here suggest Ukraine is regaining territory. Are these accurate or just yet more propaganda? Some of the comments are hilarious.

Posted by: Keith | Mar 31 2022 16:05 utc | 296

Here’s a jaw-dropping video to watch, Putin’s Greater Russia, four insane people spouting insane, racist garbage on Russia. Some key points I took away from this “discussion” Russian “spy churches” are everywhere, “Putin is dying!”, my favorite part was them interviewing an actual Russian who supports Putin and Russia and the narrator says that he has a Russian character trait that is vital for Russians more than ever, “resignation”!?! These people have spent so long eating their own shit, they think it is completely normal and that everyone who doesn’t agree with them is insane and can be completely ignored. Special shout out to the supreme nitwit Craig Copetas, who laughs whenever a recording of Russia is played and identifies the new Russian super weapon, “Spy Churches!” – Russia TV should pay this interview non-stop on their channels to see what the “West” really thinks of Russian people, culture and religion.

Posted by: Kadath | Mar 31 2022 17:11 utc | 298

Regarding the NatGas delivery and payment -to the EU- story…
Putin (and I would figure Russia in whole) wanted to maintain close ties with Europe: figure these are countries in your close proximity! Maintaining the high road while the US undermines the EU will eventually prove the right path. As long as trade does not occur using USD then the direction forward (which requires the demotion of the USD on the world’s currency stage to be knocked down) is quite sane. Russia can, at any time, apply “rules based order” and turn valves OFF.
This is how the USD implodes. Inflation shy-rocketing is the only way that FIAT currencies try to escape the black hole; but, it’s less about pointing in such a direction as much as it’s a matter of being sucked in to that direction (by inescapable forces). Europe has a bit of a choice; Putin/Russia is giving them time to comprehend the realities before them (European nations).
A bit of an aside, I’m wondering what folks think is the future (from the fallout) for Canada and Australia. I can’t quite figure these out, though Canada, in my mind, is one of the three countries that “could” manage to carry on in some semblance of today’s status quo (pared down, but most aspects of an economy still managing to show signs of life): US and, of course, Russia being the other two- ALL have a fair swath of own resources, all have decent AG lands to support their current populations.

Posted by: Seer | Mar 31 2022 17:57 utc | 300