News and views NOT related to Ukraine …
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April 14, 2022
Open Thread 2022-45 (Not Ukraine)
Comments
Why is the CCP still in the 101% lockdown mindset in April 2022 in Shanghai?
Citizen’s are absolutely desperate for food. https://twitter.com/MikeSmithAFR/status/1512557720544903169
The CCP didn’t fall for the Climate Change hoax, why are they scared for Covid? Do they believe it was tuned to “Chinese DNA”? Do they still feel guilt for allowing bat GoF research in megacity Wuhan? US sponsored bio labs where run all over the globe.
India has 0% lockdown, face masks gone 95%. PM Modi also believed the Fausti /Gates scare stories and lies, but has adjusted to reality plus here mass street protests do>/B> happen. Farm laws were rejected on the street in 2020-21 and now Covid lockdowns and even masks are rejected by 95%. These became too destructive financially, economically, socially and educationally balanced against the few extra deaths. Facial recognition is still in it infancy, Internet freedown is pretty good still and people are quite ready to go on the streets en mass or vote for the opposition to display unhappiness. There is no build in “CCP kind” monopoly. The Modi government knows all this and adjusted.
The ghosts of Gates are thus slowly chased out of New Delhi minds, offices and policies.
Fausti was good only for big harma>/B>, not the voting masses..
Posted by: Antonym | Apr 14 2022 15:10 utc | 1
Russia Today, Sputniknews, Ria Novosti – all blocked. Way back in the ’80ies, Russia would jam Western news broadcasts. Today it’s the West that prefers to keep the population in the dark.
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 14 2022 15:16 utc | 2
One thing’s certain: The entire Moskva event pushed what ought to have been headline news elsewhere:
“What’s happening today? Today, the system of the unipolar world that developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union is being destroyed, that’s what is most important. The main thing is not even the tragic events taking place in the Donbas and Ukraine, because this is not the main thing. Much is said that the United States is “ready to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.” And they say, and we say, in fact, this is how it is. That is the quintessence of the events taking place.” [My Emphasis]
Putin said that at Vostochny Cosmodrome during a presser with Lukashenko–words that followed closely on the heel of Lavrov’s in his interview with Rossiya-24 on the 11th.
Dealing with trolls.
An apparent troll can be a) an actual troll, or b) someone that has a different set of beliefs than MOA regulars.
If the newcomer is a “B”, then it’s worthwhile to help them re-examine their beliefs. If they’re a “B”, and they’re here @ MOA, then they’re actively searching for new info. Mind is open, at least partially.
That’s why I occasionally engage with apparent trolls. There was a time when I was “unlearning”, and it’s no picnic. I’ve heard it said many a time that it’s much harder to unlearn something than it is to learn it in the first place. So I cut the newcomers some slack.
I cut them slack until they demonstrate that they’re not using feedback, they’re not cross-checking their beliefs, not taking in alternative / conflicting input and subjecting it to cross-examination.
At that point, they get dismissed. No longer “fed”.
That traversal from new-comer to user-of-feedback and actively-crosschecking should only take a few days, at most, to see some significant modification of expressed views.
It’s also occasionally worthwhile to invite newcomers to ask themselves where they are with respect to Mount Stupid.
That is _not_ an insult. Look up “Mount Stupid”, and you’ll see what I mean. Everyone visits Mount Stupid; the only question is how long you stay.
==== Another slant:
There’s this theatrical / literary concept of the “foil”. A “foil” is a character whose traits are antithetical to those of the Main Protagonist. The theater/literature shows the combat between the antagonist/protagonist, and lessons are learned by who comes out on top.
Assume for a moment that on any given day here at MOA, there are many people reading, but not commenting. They are attempting to fill in the blanks in their world-view; they’re doing that cross-examination thing.
These observers may not yet be convinced of the purity, perfection and acuity of the MoA Received Wisdom.
So, enter the troll-as-foil. Let the troll fly their kite, and then somebody takes a second to demolish it with a few zingers. Observers watch and learn. Which is, of course, exactly what should be happening, right?
====
One of the goals is to perfect our own situational analysis. The other goal is to help others do the same. Numbers count.
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Apr 14 2022 15:57 utc | 4
It appears there was no coverage of the Putin/Lukashenko joint visit to the Amur, specifically Voschostny Cosmodrome to celebrate Cosmonauts Day, which is the anniversary of Gagarin’s historic entry into space. @3 is the important presser with Lukachenko. Here’s the conversation they had with workers at the Cosmodrome. I highlight this one interchange because of its significance:
Vladimir Vladimirovich, is it possible to further implement Russia’s rocket and space programme in the context of the imposition of sanctions by unfriendly states on our Motherland? What measures are being taken to strengthen technological sovereignty in this area?
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Alexander Vasilyevich, we have just spoken about cosmonaut Yury Gagarin’s first flight into space. In 1961, the Soviet Union was technologically in complete isolation, the sanctions were total. Nevertheless, the Soviet Union was the first to launch an artificial Earth satellite, the first cosmonaut is ours, the first flight of the space station, I think, to the Moon is also ours, the first spacewalk is ours, the first female cosmonaut, God bless her, Tereshkova is also ours. We have done everything in conditions of complete technological isolation, we have achieved such grandiose successes.
Will today’s Russia, with advanced technologies, not be able to further develop our space program, which we have outlined as a stage until 2030? Of course, we will do it.
Moreover, strange as it may seem – these are different areas at all, as I have also said many times – when the first sanctions were imposed in 2014, some industries in our country stepped forward, say, in the field of agriculture! Agriculture has become a high-tech branch of production. We have even exceeded the volume of arms sales, and significantly by ten billion dollars.
Yes, the current state of world science and technology – of course, everything is interconnected, and we are not going to isolate ourselves. It is impossible to strictly isolate anyone in the modern world, and it is definitely impossible to isolate such a huge country as Russia. Therefore, we will work with those of our partners who want to cooperate. We will work in near and deep space, and we will implement our lunar programme.
You know, in the third quarter we should implement the Luna-25 station. Will we have time in the third quarter?
D.Rogozin: Should. The launch window closes in the third quarter.
Vladimir Putin: Well, there you go.
And we will continue to work. Even the plans for the development of the Vostochny Cosmodrome – we have them until 2035. And we will further develop technologies, we will raise our own competencies.
What we used to be able to buy freely for petrodollars and gas – you see, this money still remains in the country. We use them to develop our own competencies. It will only benefit, I’m sure. [My Emphasis]
The next day (13th), ESA cancelled its involvement with Russia’s Lunar and Mars programs, while NASA also did the same earlier. That leaves Russia and China as the two main space-faring nations. Luna-25 will complement China’s recent visit to the Moon’s South Pole. The Moon will become Eurasian.
@PasserBy #2:
Get their Apps, use a VPN(e.g., Kaspersky), view through Rumble/Odysee.
******
IND are doubling up their purchase of RUS Coal. Only Murica+GBRittania+POL+Baltics are ending RUS Energy Purchases.
Boycott? Sanctions? Epic SputteringFail…
Posted by: IronForge | Apr 14 2022 16:06 utc | 6
conversation from my friend
luke calls telegram a honey pot
moon of alabama is an old fashion web forum. i miss those. it feels like lots of tech from 15 years ago has been replaced with stuff that’s worse.
: reddit, discord, telegram, etc
@ Tom Pfotzer | Apr 14 2022 15:57 utc | 4… i mostly agree with you…
Posted by: james | Apr 14 2022 16:25 utc | 7
In the presser with, Putin imparted the following important facts:
We will continue to jointly resist any attempts to slow down the development of our countries or artificially isolate them from the global economy. I think that this is absolutely useless: Russia and Belarus are closely linked economically, traditionally, as I have already said, by many ties, threads, including within the framework of industrial cooperation, and this number will certainly not pass in relation to us – I am sure that we will only become stronger, because we will develop our own competencies, and we are not going to self-isolate, which is important.
Our governments and relevant departments have established work on import substitution and ensuring the smooth functioning of financial and commodity markets. Among the priority tasks of union building are the unification and harmonization of the regulation of mutual trade, the elimination of administrative and technical barriers, the creation of equal opportunities for Russian and Belarusian citizens, for business. This is what the 28 sectoral programs approved by the Supreme State Council on November 4, 2021 are aimed at. Today, Mr Sobyanin and I noted that more than 30 percent of the target for the end of 2023 has already been completed.
In particular, in the banking sector, approaches to the formation of a single monetary policy, currency regulation, integration of national payment systems have been determined. An agreement on the harmonization of customs legislation was signed. The issues of launching an interstate center for financial risk management are being worked out. An integrated system for administering indirect taxes is being created. We met our Belarusian friends halfway and provided comfortable conditions for servicing loans issued by Russia. We hope that this will contribute to strengthening the entire financial sector of the Union State.
In the energy sector, the approval of the draft international agreement on the formation of a unified electricity market has been completed. Russia maintains the most favorable prices for oil and gas supplied to Belarus for domestic consumption. At the same time, payments for them were transferred to Russian rubles. This minimizes the negative impact of the external situation on the situation of citizens and industrial enterprises of Belarus.
The joint construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant is nearing completion, the second unit of which will be put into commercial operation before the end of this year.
In the transport sector, we have launched a unified system of traceability of goods. The information bases of state regulatory bodies in the field of transport supervision are gradually being integrated. We intend to more actively develop new logistics routes in the southern and eastern directions in order to guarantee uninterrupted access of our products abroad.
Of course, we discussed the formation of a common defence space and ensuring the security of the Union State. We analyzed measures to protect the western borders, as well as the course of military-technical cooperation, and specified plans for joint exercises. He informed Alexander Grigoryevich in detail about the development of a special military operation in Donbas and Ukraine and the progress of the negotiation process on this topic.
The harmonizing Union State status is rapidly progressing. I’d like to see Kazakhstan join that process. The remaining CSTO nations would also benefit. Yes, that would look like the regeneration of the USSR but on a completely different basis. The new Republics would also likely want that status too. Lukashenko also voiced his agreement on making Belarus a joint ruble zone with Russia.
An October 2000 policy document … titled Rebuilding America’s Defenses (RAD) explicitly stated that in the new American Century, “combat will likely take place in new dimensions…perhaps the world of microbes…advanced forms of biological warfare that can “target” specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool”.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 13 2022 14:23 utc | 378
(From the The Reasons For And Dangers Behind The War In Ukraine thread of Apr. 11.)
Thanks Juliania.
That helps with my friends and family in the US who are pooh-poohing the idea of American bio-labs in Ukraine – or anywhere else for that matter.
For the first time I read most of that horrifying document while looking for that quote. It should be required reading for all, especially
Americans who need to know what their leaders are about. It’s scary knowing that people like that are in power.
There’s a pdf @ Rebuilding America’s Defenses
and Juliania’s quote is on page 60 of the doc. (p.72 of the pdf)
I wouldn’t suggest reading any of that close to bedtime.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Apr 14 2022 16:31 utc | 9
Here’s the context for the headline quote @3:
We understand that we need to allocate additional resources to support individual industries. We understand that in the current situation, the most correct solution is to de-bureaucratize the economy, create growth conditions for new industries on the basis of newly created logistics chains.
In this regard, I can say that I very much count on the growth of small and medium-sized businesses, on the initiative that comes from below, and on the emergence of new leaders in Russia. The economy will surely adapt to the new situation. You can’t charter one vessel, you can charter another. You can’t send it to one country, you can send it to a third country. You can’t buy it here – you can buy it in a fourth country. It’s inevitable. The world today is more complicated than it was during the Cold War, when there were two blocs and everything was covered by Kokom lists. The world is more complicated today, and in this complex world, one country will not be able to maintain its complete dominance.
What’s happening today? Today, the system of the unipolar world that developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union is being destroyed, that’s what is most important. The main thing is not even the tragic events taking place in the Donbas and Ukraine, because this is not the main thing. Much is said that the United States is “ready to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.” And they say, and we say, in fact, this is how it is. That is the quintessence of the events taking place.
The economy is part of these events, of course. Someone is trying to maintain their dominance, including in the economy, but it will not be possible to do this. We just need to look at the trends in the development of the world economy over the past decade, at the volume of economic growth at purchasing power parity, where the leaders are, what are the rates, and everything will become clear. Therefore, it is better for those who impose unreasonable restrictions to come to their senses in time and make a calm, correct, balanced decision without any loss.
Lukashenko chimed in with this:
I absolutely support the opinion of the President of Russia that the era of the unipolar world is over. The unipolar world is not capable of existing, let’s proceed from the simple. Philosophically, more complicatedly, the President explained it. In our country, any system will then be more stable if it relies not on one point of support or on one support. The more supports, the more stable the system.
What would be bad if our entire world system and our planet were held on these four fulcrums: the United States of America, the European Union as the second fulcrum, Russia, China, maybe India. Would it be less stable than relying on this destructive, self-destructive pillar in the form of the United States of America? I think that says it all.
One other question deals with the SMO’s progress and its “logic” that I’ll post on the other thread since it pertains to Ukraine.
Oh Canada – a mix of facts and gossip
Ontario court to allow Bridging Finance to be liquidated
http://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/ontario-court-to-allow-bridging-finance-to-be-liquidated-1.1744679
“The move is expected to see investors who once backed Bridging lose as much as $1 billion of their investments into the firm. … The ruling will likely mark an anti-climactic chapter for Bridging after the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) placed the Toronto-based firm into receivership following allegations of fund mismanagement by its senior executive staff.”
About Bridging Finance
https://www.bridgingfinance.ca/about-bridging-financial/
“Bridging attracts borrowers who cannot access capital from traditional financing sources due to industry factors, complexity, size, or other unique challenges companies might face. Facilities offered are covenant-lite, quick, flexible, and creative – generally based on the value of the assets of the company and the borrowing needs. A large investment pool is available for transactions of up to $50,000,000.”
“Bridging Finance created the Bridging Credit Fund LP in November 2013. Since inception, Bridging has adapted to increasing demand in the marketplace and resulting growth. In July 2014, Bridging expanded its coverage in the retail fund space and partnered with Ninepoint Partners (formerly, Sprott Asset Management) for distribution of the Fund and the Fund was renamed to Sprott Bridging Income Fund LP and is currently named the Bridging Income Fund.” [and so on and so forth…]
Satire from the Beaverton:
Toronto man who left the door unlocked finds apartment turned into a weed shop
https://www.thebeaverton.com/2022/04/toronto-man-who-left-the-door-unlocked-finds-apartment-turned-into-a-weed-shop/
“It’s sort of an unspoken industry rule that if it has four walls and no one living in it then it’s fair game for a pot shop,” said Marla Teller, the general manager of Carlton’s Cannabis and Gifts since they moved from their original location in a public washroom.”
Russian billionaire is behind mansion that housed Harry and Meghan
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-island-mansion-harry-meghan-yuri-milner-pandora-1.6419328
“It is very easy for criminals around the world to be laundering their dirty money in Canada and buying real estate,” said Kevin Comeau, a lawyer and financial transparency expert. “And we have no way of knowing who they are or [the] ability to chase their money. ”
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Apr 14 2022 16:45 utc | 11
Medvedev’s been on a roll with his Telegram writings. This one deals with the attempt to steal the Hermitage’s artworks in Finland on their return from France:
There is a famous film by Sergei Eisenstein “Alexander Nevsky”. A large-scale work shot in the aesthetics of a large Soviet cinema. Outstanding directing, acting and camera work. And, of course, the brilliant music of Sergei Prokofiev. I caught myself thinking that this masterpiece completely falls into the category to be “banned” in the West. A Russian film about the war? Yes, about the battle with the “civilized Europeans” from the Livonian Order. Are the Russians beating the Germans? Whatever! Do the Russians glorify guns? Of course, “whoever comes to us with a sword will perish by the sword.” All the reasons for the ban!
The ban on Russian culture is an actual Western trend. How many political imbeciles and wretched armchair Russophobes are practicing on this topic! I will not dwell on specific examples of this, this is a medical problem. Although in some cases it will be necessary to seek the truth in courts, and in other ways that are better described by Eisenstein in the mentioned film.
But what is characteristic: Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Shostakovich and Pushkin are clinically anathema by many Europeans. But temporarily located abroad material values with the help of formal delays are quite ready to pocket.
The bureaucracy of the European Union brazenly forced Finland, under far-fetched “sanctions” pretexts, to detain paintings of the Hermitage, the Tretyakov Gallery and the Pushkin Museum, exhibited in Italy and Japan, on the border. Only colossal efforts managed to persuade the local Foreign Ministry to back down – permission for their transportation was issued. The paintings returned to their homeland.
Neither shaky nor shaky is the process of returning to Russia the paintings exhibited by the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris as part of the show of the collection of the Morozov brothers. And there are real masterpieces, including “Girl on a Ball” by Picasso! Well done Europeans, just handsome… Well, or banal thieves, from which side to look.
This is a good lesson to the world for the future. If you do not want your property to be arrested, in the third decade of the XXI century you can not take the word of the authorities of European countries. Their letters of guarantee are not worth the paper on which they are printed. Of course, our participation in further international exhibition activities is quite possible. Only gullibility and generosity should be put away in the far drawer. And to choose for this purpose normal civilized countries, for which international law is not an empty phrase.
Russia will not shut itself off from the world in retaliation for idiots. No autarky, including in the field of culture, should be expected. We have a busy agenda with the CIS, BRICS, Latin America and Africa. These states are home to billions of adequately minded people who appreciate, love and wait for us. To interact with them, ultra-modern museums of contemporary art in the Middle East and Southeast Asia are open. I have no doubt that the authorities and specialized organizations will help our young musicians, directors, artists, designers and other representatives of creative professions not to fall out of the international clutch.
And I recommend representatives of the degenerate European establishment to watch the film “Alexander Nevsky” and listen to the final cantata. It will help to better understand: do not anger the Russians, return someone else’s, so that in the end you will not be under the ice of Lake Peipus again.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-chinas-oil-champion-prepares-western-retreat-over-sanctions-fear-2022-04-13/
China expects USA sanctions and cancels joint sinoamerican oil projects
Posted by: Arioch | Apr 14 2022 17:09 utc | 13
Russia would jam Western news broadcasts. Today it’s the West that prefers to keep the population in the dark.
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 14 2022 15:16 utc | 2
No, the opposite.
Did West in 1970-s jammed Soviet media, or mocked them while comforting citizens with consumerism spree?
Read The Saker’s “Re-visiting Russian counter-propaganda methods” essay, at his blog or on UNZ
Posted by: Arioch | Apr 14 2022 17:11 utc | 14
@PasserBy Russia Today, Sputniknews, Ria Novosti – all blocked.
If you are in Europe this is most likely a block on the base of the Domain Name Service. You can change the name server that is helping your computer to translate the http://www.rt.com name into an Internet address.
Try to set your machine to a different name server. This one works well: IP-Address 77.88.8.8 (dns.yandex.ru) is Yandex’ public DNS.
There are several explanations online on how that is done: How to Change Your DNS Server on Windows 10 and Mac.
Here’s what Medvedev wrote about the Sweden and Finland NATO issue:
Perhaps very soon, namely by the summer of this year, the world will become even “safer”
Sweden and Finland are discussing with bestial seriousness the possibility of joining NATO. The alliance itself is ready to accept them literally “under the white streams” – in the shortest possible time and with minimal bureaucratic procedures. Your Welcome! representatives of Northern Europe, the United States is now broadcast literally from all irons. Just timidly knock – let’s let it go right away. And what does that mean? This means that Russia will have more officially registered opponents.
And how should we respond to that? The answer is clear: without emotions, with a cool head. How many countries in NATO – thirty or thirty-two, for us as a whole is not so important. Two less, two more – with their importance and population, there is no big difference. Another thing is that if Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the land borders of the alliance with the Russian Federation will more than double. Naturally, these borders will have to be strengthened. Seriously strengthen the grouping of ground forces and air defense, deploy significant naval forces in the waters of the Gulf of Finland. In this case, there will be no talk of any nuclear-free status of the Baltic – the balance must be restored. Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to go. If we are forced – well, “notice – we didn’t propose this,” as the hero of the famous old film used to say.
One more thing. There is no point in arguing that if it were not for the special operation in Ukraine, the question of these countries’ accession to NATO would not have arisen at all and the situation would have been easier for Russia. It’s not that. First, attempts to drag them into the alliance have been made before. And, secondly, and most importantly, we do not have territorial disputes with these countries, as with Ukraine. And therefore, the price of such membership for us is different.
Public opinion in Sweden and Finland on the need to join NATO is split roughly in half. And this is with the maximum efforts of homegrown propagandists.
No sane person wants higher prices and taxes, increased tensions along the borders, Iskanders, hypersonics and ships with nuclear weapons literally at arm’s length from their own home. Let’s hope that the intelligence of our northern neighbours will prevail. But if not, then, as they say, “he came by himself.”
I hope the people get to vote on this issue and not allow their bought/corrupt misleaders to screw them. Economically, Finland can’t afford to alienate Russia; Sweden has more independence on that issue.
PM Modi’s team is navigating UKR crisis carefully. His administration has many capable members, take Defense Minister Rajnath Singh; he is from the Sikh heritage. Across the western border, in Pakistan, ex.PM Imran Khan is making these two South Asian neighbors play ball — balancing their historic bond with the Anglo-American enterprise. These two nations have been the backbone of the emergence of Anglo-American order with life and treasures (see East India Company).
Posted by: SailorsWife | Apr 14 2022 17:41 utc | 17
Ouch, no litium for Russia, https://t.me/rybar/31195:
About the prospects of lithium mining in Russia
Argentina and Chile have suspended the supply of lithium raw materials to Russia, which are necessary, among other things, for the production of batteries and energy storage systems.
There is no production in Russia: at the moment, lithium comes only from Bolivia. There is an opportunity to supply lithium raw materials in China, but at the moment there is also a shortage there. Russia has the capacity to process raw materials, including for export.
If raw lithium ceases to come from Bolivia, Russia will have problems with meeting its own needs for lithium-ion batteries. This, in turn, threatens a shortage of batteries (household appliances, uninterruptible power supplies, etc.). Currently, companies are preparing to launch the production of lithium raw materials in Russia, but for this it is necessary to speed up the issuance of licenses for the activities of such enterprises.
According to available data, lithium will be extracted from man-made dumps of the Zavitinsky deposit in the Trans-Baikal Territory, as well as in the Murmansk region. It is assumed that if the companies receive the necessary licenses in 1-2 quarters of the year, then production will be launched in the format of pilot operation within 7-8 months. In addition, in February of this year, Gazprom, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Irkutsk Oil Company signed documents on the lithium production project at the Kovyktinskoye field.
In case of failure to establish Lithium production in Russia, an alternative supplier may be involved — Afghanistan, where there is a large deposit. By the way, it was discovered by Soviet specialists in the 70s of the last century.
However, problems may arise here too: the Taliban have concluded preliminary supply agreements with China.
#Russia #economy
@rybar together with @econopocalypse
Posted by: Boo | Apr 14 2022 18:19 utc | 18
The last bit of business conducted by Putin while in Amur was a conference with Roscosmos CEO Rogozin. There’re several “burps” in the machine translation that follows that doesn’t influence meaning:
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Medvedev, we have been discussing issues related to the development of the industry all day today. Let’s continue.
D.Rogozin: With pleasure, Mr President.
If I may, I would first like to report on some points related to the sanctions: how they affect the industry from our point of view, how ready we are to accept them and what are the main results of import substitution.
In principle, we understood that one way or another, in one form or another, these sanctions would be imposed. I must say that the United States adopted a law a long time ago, it was simply under a moratorium, according to which from January 1, 2023, any spacecraft, if there is at least some component or chip made in the United States, cannot be withdrawn on a Russian rocket or from a Russian cosmodrome, or even if our rocket takes off from another cosmodrome – meaning French Guiana. Therefore, in principle, these were already postponed sanctions.
Moreover, a year ago, the United States announced these sanctions against some of our purely civilian organizations. For example, our leading parent institute, TsNIIMash, was created by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. TsNIImash includes the Mission Control Center. Paradox: on the one hand, the MCC is Houston’s counterpart in ensuring the safety of the International Space Station, and sanctions are imposed on this MCC. That was a year ago.
Similarly, sanctions were imposed on the Progress Rocket and Space Center. This is our leading manufacturer of Soyuz-2 rockets, which you saw today in the assembly and test building.
Vladimir Putin: These are simply attempts to restrain development.
Dmitry Rogozin: Of course. There was no other logic.
Therefore, when the new sanctions of the European Union, the Canadian Space Agency appeared, they were practically written under the tracing paper. Not even with regard to our military organisations, such as those that are also part of Roscosmos, as you know, which create intercontinental ballistic missile systems. Sanctions do not work there, they do not need visas there – these combat missile systems, as you know. But with regard to civilian organisations, I repeat, these sanctions were made as a copycat.
Mr President, I have decided to respond to these sanctions. Not to sit, not to wait, but to answer first of all in two planes. The first is to stop the supply of our rocket engines, this is the maintenance of the RD-180 engine, on which the Atlas V rocket is launched in the United States, and this is the RD-181 engine, on which the first stage of the Antares rocket and the United States Cygnus cargo ship are displayed.
In addition, we, accordingly, stopped the launches on the line of the company OneWeb. After the British government became a shareholder and after the statements that the British government made to Russia, and the behavior of [their] leadership, we naturally turned to OneWeb with a proposal that the British government withdraw from the shareholders, and secondly, that they give us guarantees that this group will not be used to support the armed forces of Ukraine.
Of course, we understood everything perfectly well, but we wanted to get at least some guarantees from the customer who, in general, turned to us, and we regularly worked on the introduction of a whole bunch of spacecraft. When that didn’t happen, I decided to take the rocket off the launch. On March 5, the launch was canceled from Baikonur, and we broke off all relations with this company, which, from my point of view, will lead to their virtual bankruptcy, because the Europeans and the British simply do not physically have launch vehicles that could continue the launch campaign.
As for sanctions and how they affect our industry. You saw the Vostochny Cosmodrome today. It is developing despite the sanctions. We had only one weak spot there – these are the so-called compressed gas cylinders, which we once bought from South Korea. But I would like to report that in the Nizhny Novgorod Region – the Governor and I are in dialogue – we have established the production of similar tanks, so we have completely replaced imports here. This is what concerns the spaceport. Everything else is there no problem.
Launch vehicles. In 2019, we replaced the Ukrainian control system on the Soyuz-2 rocket. It was called Soyuz-FG. And since then, we’ve been flying on our carriers, which don’t have any imported parts. The control system, engines, fuel tanks, oxidizer tanks, the entire hull – all this is done in the Russian Federation.
Moreover, when creating the Soyuz-5 rocket at the Progress rocket center in Samara, we went to purchase new machines. Welding machines – instead of argon-arc welding, we switched to the so-called friction welding. But we found a company that produces these machines in Russia: in Chuvashia, the Sespel company presented excellent products, now it is already being installed in the workshops of our samara rocket center.
Farther. I reported to you on engines. Naturally, we export them, so there can be no dependence at all. They have a dependence on us, not us on them.
The only thing is that there is one point that we understand, but in fact this problem has existed since 2014 – since the Crimean sanctions. This is the supply of special-purpose microelectronics, the so-called radiation-resistant, from which, in fact, 95 percent of spacecraft are made.
But here, Mr President, we understand the topic. We have also done a lot recently. Within Roscosmos, a holding of space instrumentation has been created, design centers have been created. We work according to the so-called principles of foundation, when we order a fully finished chip. And just before the sanctions, we acquired the Yaroslavl Radio Plant, which was privately owned, and now we have a serial enterprise that supplies space instruments.
We have solved two problems that we had, which I reported to you, including in Sochi and Moscow – the problem with high-speed radio lines and the problem with traveling wave lamps. Yes, there are some delays, and, unfortunately, we accept this criticism, but there will be no real disruptions. We will spend some time revising circuit solutions with the help of the general designer – but it will be all our own, and then it will remain in the country.
Therefore, Mr President, in principle, there is no need to worry much about the rocket and space industry. There are many problems, but we do not have such problems, which, unfortunately, our colleagues have. We will work as we did and ensure all of this year’s federal launches. We will hand over spacecraft next year as well, and we have already completed the tasks we promised to do for some spacecraft in the interests of the Defence Ministry, just last week. Therefore, I think we will cope here, Mr President.
As noted, Russia is now better off while those it supplied are worse. The Union State merger with Belarus adds further resilience to Roscosmos and provides an indication as to when Russia will be free of dependence on imports from unfriendly nations; my guess is the December 2023.
It wasn’t mentioned in any of the speeches or conversations, but Russia’s First Quarter economic performance was brilliant given the circumstances. I’ll try to find the report I read so it can be shared.
Here’s the report on Russia’s 1Q economic performance:
Russia—which continued its oil and gas sales in Q1 at the highest prices in years—saw its current account surplus jump by more than 2.5 times from last year’s first quarter to $58.2 billion from $22.5 billion.
Russian revenues from oil and gas sales soared in the first quarter, while imports plunged amid companies withdrawing from Russia over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. This resulted in a major surplus in the Russian trade of goods and services.
“Export inflows stayed practically the same, but imports dropped sharply because of logistics limits and restrictions imposed by Western countries,” Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told local newspaper Izvestia in an interview published during the weekend.
Despite the widespread global condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia continued to sell its oil and gas to its key export markets in the first quarter. Asian buyers China and India continued buying Russian oil at hefty discounts, while Europe continued buying natural gas. Europe also continued buying Russian oil for most of Q1, although many European majors said in early March that they would not trade with spot Russian crude and oil products after the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia expects to earn additional oil and gas revenues equivalent to $9.6 billion (798.4 billion Russian rubles) this month, its finance ministry said last week.
Undoubtedly, such performance infuriates the Outlaw US Empire and proves its inability to isolate Russia. As Putin said on the 12th, in today’s world, it’s impossible to isolate a nation as large as Russia.
karlof1… thanks for your various posts on the threads… i appreciate it..
Posted by: james | Apr 14 2022 18:53 utc | 21
Thanks james @21. The current Shadowstats report is very long and not at all good as barflies ought to expect by now. This one section IMO is something every potential immigrant ought to read and understand as it’s horrific:
U.S. Government 2021 Financial Statements showed the deepening deficit net worth of the U.S. Government’s financial condition hit a record shortfall, or negative net worth, of $123.5 trillion in Fiscal Year 2021 (year-ended September 30), widening from a $113.8 trillion negative net worth in 2020. That 2021 shortfall reflected an operating deficit “Net Position” or operating negative net worth of $29.9 trillion in 2021, widening from a Net Position deficit of $26.8 trillion in 2020, plus deepening unfunded Social Security and Medicare net liabilities (Closed Group) of $93.6 trillion in 2021, versus $87.0 trillion in 2020.
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen did not describe in her “Opening Message” for 2021, as she had in 2020, and as her recent predecessors had done, that the current “Fiscal Path” was “Unsustainable.” Yet that concept still appeared early in the Opening Summary: “The debt-to-GDP ratio was about 100 percent at the end of FY 2021 [around 130% in March 2022 – WJW]. Under current policy and based on this report’s assumptions, it is projected to reach 701 percent by 2096. The projected continuous rise of the debt-to-GDP ratio indicates that current policy is unsustainable.” Allowing for the 2021 “Unfunded” Liabilities, reflected here, that Debt-to-GDP ratio already was 552% at the end of Fiscal Year 2021. The 2021 Financial Report is available here: https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/reports-statements/financial-report/current-report.html — ShadowStats will provide extended analysis in an updated Hyperinflation Commentary, which will post subsequent to pending No. 1461. [My Emphasis]
A Negative Net Worth of $123.5 TRILLION ought to be enough for at least a few to pause and reflect how we got to this point. And this Bankrupt Outlaw US Empire thinks it has what it takes to rule the world?!? Is the money such a nation issues worth anything?
On inflation, first the gov misleader then the real deal:
“March 2022 CPI-U annual inflation hit a 40-plus year high of 8.54% [up from 7.87% in February], the steepest inflation pace since December 1981; March 2022 ShadowStats “Corrected” Alternate CPI estimate hit 17.15%, up from 16.05% in February], the steepest inflation rate since June 1947 (in 75 years).” [My Emphasis]
For those of us on Social Security, here’s the COLA numbers:
“In like manner, the March 2022 CPI-W (used in Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment [COLA] calculations, where the 2022 COLA — based on Third-Quarter 2021 — was 5.9%) hit a four-decade high of 9.36%, up from 8.60% in February 2022.”
So, our 2023 COLA raise ought to be 9.36%, but I’ll bet the Medicare Part B Premium will be higher just as it was this year meaning a net drop in SS payments for those with Medicare Part B.
@ Boo 18
at the moment, lithium comes only from Bolivia
That may change soon. Afghanistan (China’s new ally) is believed to have one of the world’s largest deposits of lithium.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 14 2022 19:22 utc | 23
Andrei Tsiganov: Russia is Regaining Its Sovereignty Thanks to the Sanctions Imposed by the West
Posted by: james | Apr 14 2022 19:38 utc | 24
@1
if china makes a big drama about COViD-19, then may be its something other… if COViD-19 was a weapon against china, then You would expect more from this sort of viruses, because COViD-19 was not the big success against china. and if there are newer weapons, it would be possible to talk further about COViD-19, because its already known and accepted…
Posted by: z-lib | Apr 14 2022 19:43 utc | 25
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 14 2022 19:22 utc | 23
Hey Don me following young Chinese vloggers in Syria, Latin America and Afghan, they are there now …. helping the poor Syrians and Afghani to survive and providing $$ and aids from donors in China……. last week this chap “Jiyang Ranger” brought Chinese entrepreneurs somewhere in Afghan.. the Chinese are accompanying by Taiban fighters to lithium mines……… The website YouTube in Chinese suggest use Yandex for translation…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=289QDIuoaT8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsAIUdtj_eQ
main website…
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1iaezo1ftDZ7113dgCKnzw/videos
Yandex translation Chinese to English
https://translate.yandex.com/?lang=zh-en&text=????
Posted by: JC | Apr 14 2022 20:00 utc | 26
Today, omeone noted in the comment section that Russia Today & others were blocked. If you go to “The Vineyard of The Saker” you will have full access. Moreover, you won’t be blocked if you wish to leave a comment on those sites.
Posted by: Rubicon | Apr 14 2022 20:04 utc | 27
China has acted as if under biological attack from the beginning. Makes me wonder about previous outbreaks like bird and swine flu… they were certainly peddled as “Asian viruses” in Australia.
Posted by: Rae | Apr 14 2022 20:10 utc | 28
from State:
Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Scott Busby and Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Rick Waters hosted a roundtable with five Hong Kong activists and experts today to underscore U.S. commitment to the rights and freedoms of Hong Kongers and to discuss the March 31 Hong Kong Policy Act Report, which outlines the continued erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy. . .here
Perhaps Texans can get China secretaries of this and that to host a roundtable with Texas activists and experts to underscore China commitment to the rights and freedoms of Texans? . . .Oh, that wouldn’t work, China doesn’t meddle in another country’s internal affairs.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 14 2022 20:50 utc | 29
Pepe Escobar just announced his interview in the cradle with Sergey Glazyev. Interesting read as usual from both.
Posted by: Boo | Apr 14 2022 21:40 utc | 30
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 16:32 utc | 10
Lest you think we were dillydallying karlof1, I did comment on the discussion between Putin and Lukashenko back in the previous thread – second or third page I think. I posted excerpts some part of which you have posted above. My comment was that it was refreshing to see them both having a good time, plus I was particularly taken by Lukashenko’s inclusion of the US as a useful ‘corner’ of the multipolar edifice. I believe I made two posts, one for each of them.
And before I signed off for the evening, a new poster interrupted the discussion on the Moscva to post a diatribe concerning the CCP’s covid lockdown. He was dismissed by another saying his post was OT, to take it to an open forum. I posted that would happen today, since b usually puts up a fresh one — but I also said I was interested in hearing about the Shanghai situation, how virulent the virus, etc as I knew very little about the situation there. Instead I see the identical post repeated, so I assume it is not any more than an attack on China’s policy – different poster name this time, but no need for further engagement in my opinion.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 14 2022 21:48 utc | 31
From Karlof1 #12
Medvedev’s quote
There is a famous film by Sergei Eisenstein “Alexander Nevsky”. A large-scale work shot in the aesthetics of a large Soviet cinema. Outstanding directing, acting and camera work. And, of course, the brilliant music of Sergei Prokofiev. I caught myself thinking that this masterpiece completely falls into the category to be “banned” in the West.
Sergei Eisenstein’s “Alexander Nevsky”, full movie, original version, English subtitles available
https://youtu.be/IKskdbazW7w
And a lot of SSSR’s movies on
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCEK3tT7DcfWGWJpNEDBdWog
Posted by: La Bastille | Apr 14 2022 22:06 utc | 32
Another shocking case of anti-semitism (at least in the view of the Israeli Ambassador) Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic confirms what everybody-even Amnesty-knew
Israel is practising Apartheid.
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/04/harvard-law-school-apartheid-report-leaves-israels-defenders-speechless/
In fact what Israel is doing makes South African Apartheid look relatively benign: it is practising genocide.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 14 2022 22:20 utc | 33
Posted by: b | Apr 14 2022 17:19 utc | 15
Posted by: IronForge | Apr 14 2022 16:06 utc | 6
Thanks, using apps and changing dns helped.
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 14 2022 22:30 utc | 34
juliania@31
It is becoming clear that China sees the Covid pandemic as part of a biological war offensive against it, which is why it persists in attempting to eradicate it while the rest of the world (in governmental terms) seems reconciled to bidding farewell to millions of elderly and otherwise vulnerable people.
It is not that they will not be saddened by the deaths and worried by the decline in life expectancy- they will. But much less saddened than they would be if profits on capital went down or the petit bourgeoisie turned away from the political apathy, on which the liberal parties all rely, and gave their support to ‘anti-lockdown’ protests and wild conspiracy theories of the sort that need no detailed descriptions.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 14 2022 22:33 utc | 35
“Only the white man can make so much smoke”
China has acted as if under biological attack from the beginning.
Rae
MOSCOW, April 14 – RIA Novosti. The Russian military has become aware of the names of American and European employees of the Ukrainian Scientific and Technological Center (UNTC), which was engaged in research in the interests of the US military biological program, said Igor Kirillov, head of the RCBZ troops of the Russian Armed Forces.
“The post of executive director of the STCU is held by US citizen Curtis Belayach. Born on August 27, 1968 in California, he studied at the California Anderson University of Management. He has a master’s degree in international finance and has been working in Ukraine since 1994,” the lieutenant general said.
The EU STCU Chairman of the Board is Eddie Arthur Mayer. From the US, the work of the center is supervised by Phil Dolliff, who in the State Department holds the position of Deputy Advisor to the Secretary for International Security and WMD Nonproliferation Programs.
According to Kirillov, the documents received by the Ministry of Defense confirm the connection of the STCU with the Pentagon through Black & Veatch, the main contractor for the American military department. In particular, Moscow has at its disposal the correspondence of the vice-president of the firm, Matthew Webber, where he expresses his readiness to cooperate with the STCU on military biological research in Ukraine .
Hunter Biden – RIA Novosti, 1920, 03/31/2022
March 31, 16:35
The Ministry of Defense published the correspondence of Biden’s son about biological laboratories in Ukraine
Since 2014, the STCU has completed over 500 projects in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan.
According to Kirillov, in recent years the United States has spent more than $350 million on the operation of the center, which, in accordance with its charter documents, operates as an international intergovernmental organization and, at first glance, has nothing to do with the Pentagon. The legal status of the STCU is determined by an agreement dated October 25, 1993 between the governments of Ukraine, Canada , the United States and Sweden .
“At the same time, the Expert Center for Chemical and Biological Threats of the Russian Ministry of Defense established that the main activity of the STCU is to act as a distribution center for grants for conducting research of interest to the Pentagon, including in the field of biological weapons,” Kirillov said.
US STCU customers and sponsors are the State Department and the Pentagon, and funding also comes through the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Departments of Agriculture, Health and Energy.
Preparations – RIA Novosti, 1920, 04/14/2022
Yesterday, 15:30
Ministry of Defense: US scientists tested drugs on mental patients in Kharkiv
“American curators were primarily interested in dual-use research, for example, project 6166 “Development of technologies for modeling, assessing and predicting the impact of conflicts and threats of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”, project 9601 “Transfer of Ukrainian technologies for the production of complex dual-use materials to the European Union” Kirillov noted.
He clarified that many studies were devoted to the study of potential agents of biological weapons and pathogens of economically significant infections, such as pathogenic avian influenza and African swine fever. Projects P-364, 444 and 781, aimed at studying the spread of pathogens of dangerous infections through insect vectors, wild birds and bats, were funded in the interests of the US military department.
The military biological program of the Pentagon
As already reported in the Russian Ministry of Defense, the United States spent more than a hundred million dollars on the work of biological laboratories in Ukraine, which participated in the American military biological program and dealt, in particular, with plague and anthrax pathogens.
In total, the network consisted of more than 30 institutions working in the interests of the Pentagon. After the start of the Russian special operation, everything related to the continuation of the American program was removed from Ukraine.
Минобороны назвало имена западных кураторов украинских биолабораторий – РИА Новости, 14.04.2022
https://ria-ru.translate.goog/20220414/biolaboratorii-1783540549.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=fr
Posted by: La Bastille | Apr 14 2022 22:47 utc | 36
juliania @31–
Thanks for your reply! That’s why I prefaced my comment as I did since I’d been away 48 hours dealing with my wife’s medical procedure, and I wasn’t going to wade through @1,000 comments, but I also found no headlines. As it was, his Amur trip mostly didn’t fit either thread topic; so, it all worked out.
Here’s the link for the Escobar/Glazyev interview noted by Boo @30. Lots of links to his other recent efforts. I very much enjoy his ability to avoid getting dragged into a personality contest with Nabiullina as many attempt as this passage shows:
“The Cradle: Elvira Nabiullina has been reconfirmed as the head of the Russian Central Bank. What would you do differently, compared to her previous actions? What is the main guiding principle involved in your different approaches?
“Glazyev: The difference between our approaches is very simple. Her policies are an orthodox implementation of IMF recommendations and dogmas of the Washington paradigm, while my recommendations are based on the scientific method and empirical evidence accumulated over the last hundred years in leading countries.”
If barflies have trouble accessing this article, please say so and I’ll provide the three steps Galzyev describes as the process to begin the replacement system and currency.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 17:04 utc | 12
The ban on Russian culture is extremely stupid, karlof1, as that has been part of classical lore all of my life – even as a kid in New Zealand I listened to Russian classical music on the radio, and I cannot imagine a Christmas anywhere without versions of Tchaikovski’s ‘Nutcracker’ – we even had the spike jones version on our rinky dink record player – at the beach of course, but hey, still Christmas!
I am currently re-reading my copy (Pevear translation) of “Crime and Punishment” – which was one of the books given to Edward Snowden to read when he was languishing in Moscow Airport. I was so pleased when I heard of that, and now I can enjoy it even more than I did when I first read it in more stable times. Taking place in Petersburg, it’s probably the most ‘citified’ of all Dostoievski’s novels, and the city itself is almost the main character, subtley present in almost every scene so far, almost as if it has an important role to play. I thought of it this morning as something like what Plato does in “The Politeia” – where place is already part of the dialogue at the very beginning, as well as what is going on at that place while the discussion happens, and another – an imaginary – city is built.
I’m going to keep that comparison going as I read. Here’s one delightful passage – the speaker (engaged to the main character’s sister) introducing himself:
…”If up to now, for example, I have been told to ‘love my neighbor,’ and I did love him, what came of it?” Pyotr Petrovich [!] continued, perhaps with unnecessary haste. “What came of it was that I tore my caftan in two, shared it with my neighbor, and we were both left half naked, in accordance with the Russian proverb which says: If you chase several hares at once, you won’t overtake any one of them.* But science says: Love yourself before all, because everything in the world is based on self-interest. If you love only yourself, you will set your affairs up properly, and your caftan will also remain in one piece. And economic truth adds that the more properly arranged personal affairs and, so to speak, whole caftans there are in society, the firmer its foundations are and the better arranged its common cause…”
*[Pevear notes that ‘Luzhin bungles the proverb’ – sort of like Bush with ‘fool me once…’]
I have to interrupt here, for I see that this estimable gentleman has a correspondence with one of the first exponents of ideas in Plato’s dialogue, Cephalus…oh my! But no, such comparisons cannot be made; they have been cancelled — they are verboten!
This ridiculous attempt to ban an entire culture, and specifically one that has so much to say about where we have been, where we are now and where we are going — well, assuredly it will self-destruct, that attempt? Surely the veil will be lifted, that veil being not over an enshrouded Russia, but over the idiots pretending to be our leaders. C’mon, people; wake up! You are being denied a liberal education!!!
Ich bin ein Petersburger!
Posted by: juliania | Apr 14 2022 22:58 utc | 38
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 22:51 utc | 37
I think the USD debt jubilee will be very useful:
“ “The Cradle: Michael Hudson specifically asks that if this new system enables nations in the Global South to suspend dollarized debt and is based on the ability to pay (in foreign exchange), can these loans be tied to either raw materials or, for China, tangible equity ownership in the capital infrastructure financed by foreign non-dollar credit?
Glazyev: Transition to the new world economic order will likely be accompanied by systematic refusal to honor obligations in dollars, euro, pound, and yen. In this respect, it will be no different from the example set by the countries issuing these currencies who thought it appropriate to steal foreign exchange reserves of Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Afghanistan, and Russia to the tune of trillions of dollars. Since the US, Britain, EU, and Japan refused to honor their obligations and confiscated wealth of other nations which was held in their currencies, why should other countries be obliged to pay them back and to service their loans?
In any case, participation in the new economic system will not be constrained by the obligations in the old one. Countries of the Global South can be full participants of the new system regardless of their accumulated debts in dollars, euro, pound, and yen. Even if they were to default on their obligations in those currencies, this would have no bearing on their credit rating in the new financial system. Nationalization of extraction industry, likewise, would not cause a disruption. Further, should these countries reserve a portion of their natural resources for the backing of the new economic system, their respective weight in the currency basket of the new monetary unit would increase accordingly, providing that nation with larger currency reserves and credit capacity. In addition, bilateral swap lines with trading partner countries would provide them with adequate financing for co-investments and trade financing.””
————
I think China is more on the right track in using its central bank properly and should be able to help Russia here. China is further along in recognizing the dangers of the USD and in using a currency backed by labor, culture and commodities.
Posted by: financial matters | Apr 14 2022 23:50 utc | 39
COVID in China, and new evidence as to its origins
I got drawn into an off topic exchange yesterday and was duly chastised by a self-appointed moderator. There seems to be interest in this anyway so I will fill you in here.
It may not be widely acknowledged that after clearing up the initial outbreak at Wuhan, China was virtually Covid free from May 2020 to just a few months ago with just two reported deaths. It seems that the more agile Omicron variant has presented a greater challenge, and I was remarking recently in reports back to base that I thought the battle may soon be lost.
Here in Shenzhen, population 18 million, we have a very efficient set up and since it came back here a couple of months ago, daily case numbers have been kept in single/double figures with a peak of just about 100. But to achieve that has entailed constant testing, every day or every other, sudden building closures and being let out for one hour every two days; bars, restaurants, library and swimming pool abruptly closed and reopened. Whole areas shut off and reopened. We need to show the Green Code on our phone everywhere we go, it is updated with the latest test result within a few hours. We just had a week with no cases, things were easing up again, and then on Wednesday as I mentioned two buses came from Shanghai loaded with 40 doctors on furlough, some went into the hotel next door and twelve of them tested positive, so all hell has broken loose around here again. Meanwhile the others, it seemed, dispersed into the city, so we await further developments with resignation.
Many of those cases seem have come across from Hong Kong, feeding into the Futian district which is where the single open road link connects across the bridge. Some swam across to escape the restrictions! They really dropped the ball there and for a while last month Hong Kong was the worst affected jurisdiction in the world with a peak of almost 300 deaths daily in a relatively small population of about 8 million. There is much vaccination resistance there amongst the elderly, and it seems that has been by far the worst affected population segment. That seems now to be under control.
On the mainland there was a substantial outbreak in Jilin in the far north east, that is also now well under control. But Shanghai is in a league of its own setting national records. A three level risk category system pioneered in Shenzhen has been introduced such that the city is divided into 7,624 areas that are still sealed off, a group of 2,460 now subject to “controls” after a week of no new infections, and 7,565 “prevention areas” that will be opened up after two weeks without a positive case. I can’t find any confirmation that the authorities are turfing temporary workers out of the city to avoid having to support them, just hearsay that all trains out to Nanjing and Hangzhou are fully booked.
Xi has just confirmed again that zero Covid is still the national policy, I think the notion that it might run riot across a population of 1,400,000,000 is too awful to contemplate, but it’s beginning to look like the irresistable force and the immovable object, or more colloquially, “whackamole”.
The short Twitter video clip someone posted yesterday showed a locked down crowd in Shanghai confronting the PPE-clad doctors shouting “Chu qu, chu qu”: literally “Out go”. Patience is evidentally wearing thin now. Certainly it is wearing me down and as soon as I renew my residence visa here I will hightail it out to the Philippines for a few months to see if matters resolve themselves. I can report on the elections from there which will prove interesting! But I want to post on the significance of events in Pakistan as they relate to China in a while.
I can’t go without referring back to a remarkable O/T posting on Wednesday which drew no response, and which showed that the US military was paying money for Covid 19 work dated 12 November 2019, 2 months before it really got into gear and three before the WHO gave it its name. Can we post web links now? Anyway it was on a web site The Expose(acute accent), dailyexpose.uk, and the destination an organisation in the Ukraine. This seem to pull back into the largely discredited lab origin theory, and really needs to be followed up.
“U.S. Department of Defense awarded a contract for ‘COVID-19 Research’ in Ukraine 3 months before Covid was known to even exist”
Posted by: Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 19:19 utc | 22
Thanks for digging up all that info. I had seen the figures on Russia trade balance not long back. something comes to mind looking at the economics of Russia and US that fits with what I think I am seeing in Ukraine.
Like in Syria, I don’t think we will see Russia reacting to provocations. One difference though – in Syria We saw Israel making strikes, US claiming territory and Turkey claiming territory but Russia’s stated position was that it did not intend to start ew wars.
With Ukraine, any other country’s forces try to move in they will be treated as a enemy combatant.
Economies and provocations – Russia’s economy will only improve, US economy will only get worse so it makes sense not to respond with tit for tat moves to the provocations, rather just a matter of cleaning up Ukraine and let the US/EU economy do the rest.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 14 2022 23:57 utc | 41
—-Russia Today, Sputniknews, Ria Novosti – all blocked. Way back in the ’80ies, Russia would jam Western news broadcasts. Today it’s the West that prefers to keep the population in the dark.
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 14 2022 15:16 utc | 2
It’s funny how history rhymes.
—-One of the goals is to perfect our own situational analysis. The other goal is to help others do the same. Numbers count.
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Apr 14 2022 15:57 utc | 4
Agreed – trolls are supposed to burst in sunlight.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Apr 14 2022 16:31 utc | 9
In late January 2020, Mike Pompeo said in public that China was in for a surprise. The look on his face was even more smug than usual. It made me follow events in China closely- and then came the Wuhan-virus as his boss called it. The way China freaked out would suggest they also thought it fishy.
Posted by: Anne B | Apr 14 2022 23:58 utc | 42
Posted by: Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
I think we’re just waiting for more evidence which should be forthcoming.
——-
I still think these thoughts of mine from a year ago are not unreasonable.
———————-
gm @ 364
“”for ‘natural’ mutations to be highly concentrated only at 4 discreet, short (18-24-mer length) non-contiguous segments of ncov19 viral genome, and not significantly anywhere else in the 30K-mer long ncov19 genome, is apparently quite unlikely.””
I agree. The important thing now is to deal with the problem at hand but I think it is useful to discuss the origin to better understand the response.
The use as a bioweapon to up the ante in the trade war was in character (consider Libya, Syria, Yemen).
Coronaviruses such as SARS were thought to be regional problems and not pandemic in nature like influenza
China recognized it for what it was and took extreme measures.
The US got unexpected blowback from this enhanced virus. Think dual use and gain of function and essentially became scared shitless.
I don’t think the lockdowns and economic meltdown were planned.
But of course the response is typical, witness the direction of the bailouts.
Posted by: financial matters | Apr 4 2020 12:26 utc | 375
Posted by: financial matters | Apr 15 2022 0:06 utc | 43
@juliana,
The city is so much a character of the book. And remarkably accurate, to the point where you can recreate Rodya’s walks. It can be quite unnerving if you know the feel of the book well enough. Though I imagine now Piter doesn’t have the same grit that it did 20 years ago, and the grittiness may be important to the feel.
I read “The Sinner and the Saint” recently and it is a wonderful biography of Crime and Punishment that pays close attention to the social and political issues of the time. Highly recommended. The cancelling of Dostoevsky was particularly funny given that he was born in the Ukraine.
Posted by: Lex | Apr 15 2022 0:13 utc | 44
@ karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 22:51 utc | 37 with the link to the Escobar/Glazyev interview
Thanks!
The devil is in the details but the structure sounds like it should be instead of the shit show of the West currently.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 15 2022 0:16 utc | 45
psychohistorian @45–
Thanks for your reply! The current Shadowstats page merits reading too. Some shocking numbers there.
rae@28
I’m sorry- I took your point and repeated it, inadvertently.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 15 2022 0:25 utc | 47
karlof1 @ 10:
It took me a while, paging back, but I found my comments on the Putin/Lukashenko press conference at the “Sane Voices…” thread. Turns out we had Paco to thank for the link:
Paco @ 342, thank you SO much! This is so enjoyable after all the tangled issues of war!!! Here is just a small piece of the dialogue, Putin’s answer to a question…I really don’t exactly remember the question, sorry!
“…In this regard, I can say that I very much count on the growth of small and medium-sized businesses, on the initiative that comes from below, and on the emergence of new leaders in Russia. The economy will definitely adapt to the new situation. You can’t charter one ship – you can charter another. You can’t send it to one country – you can send it to a third. You can’t buy here – you can buy in the fourth country. It’s unavoidable. The world today is more complicated than it was during the Cold War, when there were two blocs and everything was covered by Kokom’s lists. The world is more complex today, and in this complex world one country will not be able to maintain its complete dominance…”
And Lukaschenko’s response, I think to the same question, I will post after this — I haven’t even finished the entire series of Q and A but only four polite(!) reporters are asking questions – oh, how refreshing it is!! They are having such a GOOD time!
Posted by: juliania | Apr 13 2022 2:23 utc | 368
Again to Paco’s link, and this is part of a Lukashenko response (I got the spelling corrected this time):
“…What would be wrong if our entire world system and our planet rested on these four fulcrums: the United States of America, the European Union as the second fulcrum, Russia, China, possibly India. What, would it be less stable than relying on this destructive, self-destructive one pillar in the form of the United States of America? I think that says it all…”
Indeed it does, sir! Thank you! And thanks again Paco
Posted by: juliania | Apr 13 2022 2:29 utc | 369
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 0:52 utc | 48
China strategy = same as with Russia. When in doubt, escalate!
https://www.newsweek.com/lindsey-graham-bob-menendez-congress-delegation-taiwan-visit-1697839
Pelosi couldn’t make it to Taiwan, so we’re sending Lindsey Graham and Bob Menenendez
Posted by: ptb | Apr 15 2022 1:03 utc | 49
juliania @48–
Thanks! You’re very sweet! I’m very glad it got some discussion at the time given its importance. I ought to give Paco a well deserved thank you! also.
One of the linked items at the Glazyev/Escobar interview is this Galzyev essay, “The Economics of the Russian Victory” that describes an initiative billions of people would want to emulate and IMO can provide a template for the Global South yet has an ordinary title–“Social Justice and economic growth”–that’s very similar to China’s mantra of a Shared Future for Mankind.
A long briefing on US bio activities in Ukraine. (yandex translate)
https://telegra.ph/Briefing-on-the-results-of-the-analysis-of-documents-related-to-the-military-biological-activities-of-the-United-States-on-the-t-04-14
Briefing on the results of the analysis of documents related to the military biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine (April 14, 2022)
April 14, 2022
A special military operation by Russian troops has yielded additional information on US military and biological activities in Ukraine, confirming numerous violations of the Biological Weapons Convention.
Taking advantage of existing gaps in international law and the lack of a clear verification mechanism, the US administration has consistently built up its military-biological capabilities in various regions of the world.
The Russian Federation has made continuous efforts to establish a BTWC verification mechanism, but this initiative has been consistently blocked by the collective West, led by the US, since 2001.
The existing UN Secretary-General’s Mechanism to Investigate the Suspected Use of Biological and Toxin Weapons, as well as the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare and Military Conflict, do not cover the verification of States Parties’ biological activities. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, has no such authority either.
We have previously provided a scheme for US coordination of biological laboratories and research institutes in Ukraine.
One of its elements is the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre (STCU), a seemingly non-public organisation that has nothing to do with the Pentagon.
The Russian Defence Ministry has managed to uncover its role in US military and biological activities in Ukraine.
According to its statutes, the STCU is an international intergovernmental organisation established to “…prevent the spread of knowledge and expertise related to weapons of mass destruction…”.
Its legal status is defined by the Agreement of October 25, 1993 between the governments of Ukraine, Canada, the USA and Sweden and the Protocol of Amendment of July 7, 1997.
STCU is headquartered in Kiev and has regional offices in Baku, Chisinau and Tbilisi, as well as in Kharkov and Lvov.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defence’s Chemical and Biological Threat Expertise Centre found that the STCU’s main activity is to act as a distribution centre for grants for research of interest to the Pentagon, including biological weapons research.
In recent years alone, Washington has spent more than $350 million on STCU projects.
The U.S. customers and sponsors of STCU are the Department of State and the Department of Defense. Funding is also provided through the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Departments of Agriculture, Health and Energy.
In addition, note the document prepared by the STCU curators, dated March 11, 2022, which underlines the true nature of this organisation. It notes, quote: “…there has been an outflow of scientific experts in the development of means of delivery and advanced weaponry who have worked for Ukrainian institutions, as well as experts in the development of biological, radiological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The best-trained professionals with experience of working with dual-use materials and technologies (between 1,000 and 4,000) have found themselves in unfavourable professional and financial circumstances. This makes them vulnerable to defection to other states to participate in programmes to develop WMD, delivery systems and other weapons…”.
By using such words, Washington actually acknowledges Ukrainian experts’ work on the development of weapons of mass destruction delivery and use, and considers it appropriate to continue funding them.
Here are the names of the officials who were involved in the military-biological programmes.
The post of STCU executive director is held by Bjelajac Curtis Michael, a US citizen. Born August 27, 1968 in California, he studied at California’s Anderson University of Management. He holds a master’s degree in international finance and has worked in Ukraine since 1994.
The European Union chairman of the STCU board is Maier Eddie Arthur; the US chairman is Phil Dolliff, who is the State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security and WMD Nonproliferation Programmes.
Documents received by the Russian Ministry of Defence confirm STCU’s ties to the US military department. The slide shows a formal recommendation from the US State Department endorsing the STCU’s cooperation with the Pentagon’s main contractor, Black & Veach. The correspondence expresses the willingness of Matthew Webber, the company’s vice president, to work with the STCU on ongoing military-biological research in Ukraine.
Between 2014 and 2022, the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre implemented five hundred R&D projects in post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan).
US supervisors were primarily interested in dual-use research, such as project 6166, Development of Technologies for Modelling, Evaluation and Prediction of Effects of Conflicts and Threats of Mass Destruction Weapons Spread, and project 9601, Transfer of Ukrainian Technologies for the Production of Complex Dual-Use Materials to the European Union.
Many of them are aimed at studying potential biological weapons agents (plague, tularaemia) and pathogens of economic importance (pathogenic avian influenza, African swine fever).
Projects P-364, 444, and 781, aimed at studying the spread of dangerous pathogens through insect vectors, wild birds, and bats, were funded by the Centre directly in the interests of the military department.
Note the documents of Project 3007 “Monitoring of the epidemiological and environmental situation regarding hazardous diseases of aquatic origin in Ukraine”.
During the work, Ukrainian specialists, supervised by American scientists, systematically collected water samples in a number of major Ukrainian rivers, including the Dnepr, Danube and Dniester, as well as in the North Crimean Canal, to determine the presence of particularly dangerous pathogens, including cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and E pathogens, and draw conclusions about their possible waterborne spread.
The project assessed the damage properties of the selected samples and deposited the strains in a collection and subsequently exported them to the USA.
This is a map of Ukraine’s water resources. Its analysis shows that the results of this work can be used to create an unfavourable biological situation not only in the Russian Federation, but also in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, as well as in Eastern Europe – Belarus, Moldova and Poland.
Our concern about Washington’s activities in Ukraine stems from the fact that, contrary to its international obligations, the US has retained norms in its national legislation that allow for work in the field of biological weapons.
The ratification of the 1925 Geneva Protocol by the United States was accompanied by a number of reservations, one of which allows for the retaliatory use of chemical and toxin weapons.
Under the US Federal Unity and Cohesion Against Terrorism Act, research into biological weapons is permitted with the approval of the US government. Participants in such research are not criminally liable for developing such weapons.
Thus, the US administration is implementing the principle that domestic law takes precedence over international law in this area. The most ethically controversial research is conducted outside national jurisdictions.
Thus, during the special operation in Ukraine, it was established that US scientists from a laboratory in Merefa (Kharkov Region) were testing potentially dangerous biological drugs on patients of the regional clinical psychiatric hospital No 3 in Kharkov between 2019 and 2021.
Persons with mental disorders were selected for the experiments on the basis of their age, nationality and immune status. Special forms were used to record the results of 24-hour patient monitoring. The information was not entered into the hospital database and the staff of the medical institution signed a non-disclosure agreement.
In January 2022, the laboratory in Merefa was shut down and all equipment and preparations were moved to western Ukraine.
There are a number of witnesses to these inhuman experiments, whose names we cannot disclose for the sake of their safety.
Finally, in a previous briefing we described a technical device for the delivery and application of biological formulations that has been patented in the US.
At the same time, it was noted that Ukraine had sent a request to the manufacturing company regarding the possibility of equipping the Bayraktar drones with aerosol equipment.
It is a matter of concern that on March9, three unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with 30-litre containers and equipment for spraying formulations were detected by Russian reconnaissance units in Kherson region.
In January 2022, Ukraine reportedly purchased more than 50 such devices through intermediary organisations, which can be used to apply biological formulations and toxic chemicals.
We continue to analyse the evidence of crimes committed by the US administration and the Kiev regime in Ukraine.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 1:18 utc | 51
Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
might help if the rest of the world, including most of the virologists and epidemiologists here at MoA, even acknowledged that China only had 2 deaths over two years. they don’t. they don’t give a shit. and thus china is not only fighting the virus, it’s fighting the malicious indifference, bottomless ignorance, and/or outright hostility of much of the rest of the world, which the state and spook agencies reliably rely upon. no public official in China is claiming anything other than a natural origin to the virus.
the western powers are gloating at the possibility of breaking China’s resistance to the virus. idiots and cretins applaud along w/the spooks and stock market swindlers. that millions more globally would be dead if China followed the advice of “Anonymous” means nothing. not a goddam thing. flush these human turds already.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 15 2022 1:26 utc | 52
sorry, i meant antonym
Antonym | Apr 14 2022 15:10 utc | 1
you covid deniers are worse than supporters of Azov and Right Sector. you’ve killed hundreds times more than they have, all over the world.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 15 2022 1:33 utc | 53
Antonym | Apr 14 2022 15:10 utc | 1
you want the virus to do in China what western agents are trying to do to Russia. i don’t care if that’s your intent or not. it’s you and the west that weaponize the virus. if China listens to voices like yours, they lose. period. end of story.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 15 2022 1:39 utc | 54
A long briefing on the US bio weapon program in Ukraine. (this time without the link)
(Yandex translate)
Briefing on the results of the analysis of documents related to the military biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine (April 14, 2022)
April 14, 2022
A special military operation by Russian troops has yielded additional information on US military and biological activities in Ukraine, confirming numerous violations of the Biological Weapons Convention.
Taking advantage of existing gaps in international law and the lack of a clear verification mechanism, the US administration has consistently built up its military-biological capabilities in various regions of the world.
The Russian Federation has made continuous efforts to establish a BTWC verification mechanism, but this initiative has been consistently blocked by the collective West, led by the US, since 2001.
The existing UN Secretary-General’s Mechanism to Investigate the Suspected Use of Biological and Toxin Weapons, as well as the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare and Military Conflict, do not cover the verification of States Parties’ biological activities. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, has no such authority either.
We have previously provided a scheme for US coordination of biological laboratories and research institutes in Ukraine.
One of its elements is the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre (STCU), a seemingly non-public organisation that has nothing to do with the Pentagon.
The Russian Defence Ministry has managed to uncover its role in US military and biological activities in Ukraine.
According to its statutes, the STCU is an international intergovernmental organisation established to “…prevent the spread of knowledge and expertise related to weapons of mass destruction…”.
Its legal status is defined by the Agreement of October 25, 1993 between the governments of Ukraine, Canada, the USA and Sweden and the Protocol of Amendment of July 7, 1997.
STCU is headquartered in Kiev and has regional offices in Baku, Chisinau and Tbilisi, as well as in Kharkov and Lvov.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defence’s Chemical and Biological Threat Expertise Centre found that the STCU’s main activity is to act as a distribution centre for grants for research of interest to the Pentagon, including biological weapons research.
In recent years alone, Washington has spent more than $350 million on STCU projects.
The U.S. customers and sponsors of STCU are the Department of State and the Department of Defense. Funding is also provided through the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Departments of Agriculture, Health and Energy.
In addition, note the document prepared by the STCU curators, dated March 11, 2022, which underlines the true nature of this organisation. It notes, quote: “…there has been an outflow of scientific experts in the development of means of delivery and advanced weaponry who have worked for Ukrainian institutions, as well as experts in the development of biological, radiological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The best-trained professionals with experience of working with dual-use materials and technologies (between 1,000 and 4,000) have found themselves in unfavourable professional and financial circumstances. This makes them vulnerable to defection to other states to participate in programmes to develop WMD, delivery systems and other weapons…”.
By using such words, Washington actually acknowledges Ukrainian experts’ work on the development of weapons of mass destruction delivery and use, and considers it appropriate to continue funding them.
Here are the names of the officials who were involved in the military-biological programmes.
The post of STCU executive director is held by Bjelajac Curtis Michael, a US citizen. Born August 27, 1968 in California, he studied at California’s Anderson University of Management. He holds a master’s degree in international finance and has worked in Ukraine since 1994.
The European Union chairman of the STCU board is Maier Eddie Arthur; the US chairman is Phil Dolliff, who is the State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security and WMD Nonproliferation Programmes.
Documents received by the Russian Ministry of Defence confirm STCU’s ties to the US military department. The slide shows a formal recommendation from the US State Department endorsing the STCU’s cooperation with the Pentagon’s main contractor, Black & Veach. The correspondence expresses the willingness of Matthew Webber, the company’s vice president, to work with the STCU on ongoing military-biological research in Ukraine.
Between 2014 and 2022, the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre implemented five hundred R&D projects in post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan).
US supervisors were primarily interested in dual-use research, such as project 6166, Development of Technologies for Modelling, Evaluation and Prediction of Effects of Conflicts and Threats of Mass Destruction Weapons Spread, and project 9601, Transfer of Ukrainian Technologies for the Production of Complex Dual-Use Materials to the European Union.
Many of them are aimed at studying potential biological weapons agents (plague, tularaemia) and pathogens of economic importance (pathogenic avian influenza, African swine fever).
Projects P-364, 444, and 781, aimed at studying the spread of dangerous pathogens through insect vectors, wild birds, and bats, were funded by the Centre directly in the interests of the military department.
Note the documents of Project 3007 “Monitoring of the epidemiological and environmental situation regarding hazardous diseases of aquatic origin in Ukraine”.
During the work, Ukrainian specialists, supervised by American scientists, systematically collected water samples in a number of major Ukrainian rivers, including the Dnepr, Danube and Dniester, as well as in the North Crimean Canal, to determine the presence of particularly dangerous pathogens, including cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and E pathogens, and draw conclusions about their possible waterborne spread.
The project assessed the damage properties of the selected samples and deposited the strains in a collection and subsequently exported them to the USA.
This is a map of Ukraine’s water resources. Its analysis shows that the results of this work can be used to create an unfavourable biological situation not only in the Russian Federation, but also in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, as well as in Eastern Europe – Belarus, Moldova and Poland.
Our concern about Washington’s activities in Ukraine stems from the fact that, contrary to its international obligations, the US has retained norms in its national legislation that allow for work in the field of biological weapons.
The ratification of the 1925 Geneva Protocol by the United States was accompanied by a number of reservations, one of which allows for the retaliatory use of chemical and toxin weapons.
Under the US Federal Unity and Cohesion Against Terrorism Act, research into biological weapons is permitted with the approval of the US government. Participants in such research are not criminally liable for developing such weapons.
Thus, the US administration is implementing the principle that domestic law takes precedence over international law in this area. The most ethically controversial research is conducted outside national jurisdictions.
Thus, during the special operation in Ukraine, it was established that US scientists from a laboratory in Merefa (Kharkov Region) were testing potentially dangerous biological drugs on patients of the regional clinical psychiatric hospital No 3 in Kharkov between 2019 and 2021.
Persons with mental disorders were selected for the experiments on the basis of their age, nationality and immune status. Special forms were used to record the results of 24-hour patient monitoring. The information was not entered into the hospital database and the staff of the medical institution signed a non-disclosure agreement.
In January 2022, the laboratory in Merefa was shut down and all equipment and preparations were moved to western Ukraine.
There are a number of witnesses to these inhuman experiments, whose names we cannot disclose for the sake of their safety.
Finally, in a previous briefing we described a technical device for the delivery and application of biological formulations that has been patented in the US.
At the same time, it was noted that Ukraine had sent a request to the manufacturing company regarding the possibility of equipping the Bayraktar drones with aerosol equipment.
It is a matter of concern that on March9, three unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with 30-litre containers and equipment for spraying formulations were detected by Russian reconnaissance units in Kherson region.
In January 2022, Ukraine reportedly purchased more than 50 such devices through intermediary organisations, which can be used to apply biological formulations and toxic chemicals.
We continue to analyse the evidence of crimes committed by the US administration and the Kiev regime in Ukraine.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 1:44 utc | 55
MoD Russia twitter account https://twitter.com/mod_russia/status/1514610327186378756?cxt=HHwWiMCo0auE_YQqAAAA
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 1:50 utc | 56
rjb1.5 #53
Thank you for your persistence. I am quite happy to acknowledge China’s success in the covid virus attack. They were expecting it then and are currently anticipating another assault on their nation and the chinese genome. China has been repeatedly attacked by the USA in its pig, chicken, cultivation industries and each time it has cost them dearly. If covid is a precursor virus to a future deadly attack, China is best prepared and they appear to consider it a cost worth paying for the protection of their people.
China is well aware of the shenanigans of the USA with its matrix of CBW installations across the planet and is undoubtedly alarmed at their capers in Ukraine. One thing is certain – the UKUSA are a persistent threat and never relent. So China maintains social readiness and affirmation of the state’s role to defend the people from aggression. This is why they will succeed in sustaining Taiwan in their national envelope.
Here again Matthew Ehret. https://tinyurl.com/4cj4y64j
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 15 2022 1:59 utc | 57
Perhaps this has been posted here before, but BoJo announced that all illegal immigrants (e.g.: asylum seekers) shall henceforth be deported to Rwanda.
Tory minister (i.e.: one of Bojo’s own people) claims the whole announcement/agreement is a charade invented to distract from the “party-gate” scandal that Bojo’s currenntly embroiled in.
Be that as it may, the agreement has already been signed and “hailed” by Priti Patel (may she burn in everlasting hell) as a groundbreaking new “collective” solution that’s a win-win-win for all involved, while BoJo’s referring to it publicly as a “deterrent”.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:03 utc | 58
For those who might like more information on the Shanghai situation, today’s distillation at the Saker of China events is pertinent:
Here comes China: The world rotated one more time
This is a compilation by Amarynth largely drawn from the newsletter by Godfree Roberts – and those familiar with both those names will know the information quality is 24-carat.
This edition contains several sources from Shanghai. Evidently, group-buying of food and other products is being ramped up at the citizen level to help substitute for the regular supply-chain channels currently impacted. Very interesting.
Despite the gripes we hear from others, and certainly in the face of massive propaganda from the usual western ignorance, not everyone in Shanghai is terminally aggravated by the situation, and as always, citizens regard themselves as an integral part of the government, and have a good working trust of its actions.
Posted by: Grieved | Apr 15 2022 2:10 utc | 59
Has the Saker become a filtered URL for the moment? Oh well, try today’s “Here Comes China” roundup for some good local Shanghai sources.
Posted by: Grieved | Apr 15 2022 2:12 utc | 60
I also just came across this: China has apparently completed development on hypersonic heat-seeking missiles.
The significance of this is rather startling for the US, which has wasted 1.5 trillion dollars on development of the F-35, a supposedly “stealthy” plane that can be “easily” repurposed for any potential use, but which has famously been criticized because it “flies hot”, making it a brightly burning, highly visible long-range target for Chinese and Russian land- and air-based IR detection systems.
Add to that China’s development of hypersonic missile swarms, and the speed with which China and Russia are overtaking US military dominance is breathtaking.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:37 utc | 61
@ Tom Pfotzer | 4
Excellent advice, and well said.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:39 utc | 62
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 19:19 utc | 22
I’m sure you’re right about that, I keep feeling more and more squeezed.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 3:27 utc | 63
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:03 utc | 57
see Craig Murray’s latest article. I haven’t read it yet, but he is usually good on subjects he knows something about; (unfortunately Ukraine is an exception.)
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 3:31 utc | 64
One man’s troll is another man’s truth-teller.
I imagine if we tried to comment on a pro-ukie blog, they’d immediately dismiss us as trolls.
Posted by: Robert Macaire | Apr 15 2022 3:32 utc | 65
@ Pacifica Advocate 59
Yes: wasted 1.5 trillion dollars on development of the F-35
NATO planners put the F-35 front and center in European nuclear deterrence
WASHINGTON — Following Germany’s decision to buy a fleet of F-35s, NATO planners have begun updating the alliance’s nuclear sharing mechanics to account for the jet’s next-gen capabilities, a key NATO official said this week.
“We’re moving fast and furiously towards F-35 modernization and incorporating those into our planning and into our exercising and things like that as those capabilities come online,” said Jessica Cox, director of the NATO nuclear policy directorate in Brussels. . .here
The F-35 mistake-jet can’t carry nuclear weapons and. . .
1. The F-35 is still in development, after twenty years, with full production not allowed. After more than twenty years in development it has not passed operational test and evaluation.
2. The currently available F-35 prototype from limited production is a crappy poor performing expensive aircraft with 61% availability. Its publicized low purchase cost of less than 100 million comes from Lockheed, with no government audit permitted. A recent Air Force report on a totally destroyed F-35 put the value at $175,983,949. They are over $200 million each with initial spares, helmet etc. . . Five for a billion, and maybe three of them will fly!
3. The F-35 hourly operating cost is about $36,000 which is almost 50 percent more than what an F-16 costs to fly. It’s too expensive to fly for routine training even when it does get off the ground. So pilots spend more time in a simulator rather than in the cockpit which affects pilot morale and contributes to an Air Force critical shortage of 2,000 pilots.
4 . A $14 billion Pentagon software upgrade for F-35 jets is being installed on these ‘flying computer’ planes that are already deployed even though it’s “immature, deficient and insufficiently tested,” according to a new assessment by the Pentagon’s testing office; in total there are more than 800 unresolved software and hardware deficiencies of varying severity that could undercut readiness, missions or maintenance.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 3:41 utc | 66
Posted by: Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
I think the Shanghai government bears a lot of blame for how things are going. There wouldn’t be burnout if they’d just locked things down like Shenzhen did at the beginning. Those of us elsewhere in the country are definitely hoping to see some officials removed.
As for the dailyexpose bit that you posted the other day…idk, I feel like most of us here in China (at least those of us who aren’t 5th columnists taking US$$$$) already accept that COVID-19 was a bioweapon attack against us, so I didn’t comment.
Posted by: Beatrice | Apr 15 2022 3:50 utc | 67
@ 57
news report
Migrants arrive in D.C. on buses sent by GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
“Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administration’s failure to secure our border,” the governor said.
The migrants, from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, were being dropped off between Union Station and the Capitol as “part of Governor Abbott’s response to the Biden Administration’s decision to end Title 42 expulsions,” his office said.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 3:54 utc | 68
Posted by: Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
I got drawn into an off topic exchange yesterday and was duly chastised by a self-appointed moderator. There seems to be interest in this anyway so I will fill you in here.
Buddy, give it rest. You F’d up: if it had only been ONE posting I might not have bothered to comment on that, but then another came, and, well.. Own up to it.
Appreciate the information (more so that it’s posted in the PROPER location [one that’s not dedicated to Ukraine- “OPEN THREAD”]).
Keep in mind that all of this, the good and the bad, will get increasingly more amplified: in case people have been asleep the US, and now “NATO”, are essentially plunging into war against China.
I appreciate China’s efforts and sacrifices in providing the world with a control group. Not being snarky. Point is is that having different case studies for use in dealing with future issues IS important. Do I like the [claimed/documented?] suffering? Not a chance in hell. I cannot say one way or another as to the actual “goals” of the Chinese government, whether it’s persistence knowing something that we all don’t or it’s great example of poor leadership. Over-reaching/acting due to it’s own complicity in, say, a lab leak? No matter, how China gets around to dropping all such lockdowns WILL be interesting. I look forward to facts on all this.
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 3:55 utc | 69
@ ptb 49
from Global Times
US lawmakers visit Taiwan to pacify DPP after Pelosi’s farce
To squeeze more benefits from DPP on military sales: experts
About a week after the farce of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s aborted plan to reportedly visit Taiwan, a delegation composed of six US congressmen from the military, intelligence, foreign affairs, justice and finance committees arrived on Taiwan island, kicking off a stopover that analysts said targets the Chinese mainland with the Taiwan card and boosts more military sales to the island by hyping “mainland threats.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly opposes the visit, with spokesperson Zhao Lijian saying that China firmly opposes official exchanges between the US and Taiwan in any form, and US congressmen should abide by the one-China principle pursued by the US government. . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 4:00 utc | 70
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:37 utc | 59
the US, which has wasted 1.5 trillion dollars on development of the F-35
Imagine the above with a strike-through of “wasted” and substituted with “profited.” NOTE: [latest report] US corporations had their greatest profits margins ever. EVER! Continuing to add to this dystopia…
As Don Bacon noted above, NATO is now going to look to arm these flying pigs with nukes: imagine Poland with such! Human race isn’t fit to survive…
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 4:02 utc | 71
@ fm 39
In any case, participation in the new economic system will not be constrained by the obligations in the old one. Countries of the Global South can be full participants of the new system regardless of their accumulated debts in dollars, euro, pound, and yen. Even if they were to default on their obligations in those currencies, this would have no bearing on their credit rating in the new financial system. Nationalization of extraction industry, likewise, would not cause a disruption. Further, should these countries reserve a portion of their natural resources for the backing of the new economic system
I’m thinking about Afghanistan, with a trillion dollars worth of lithium in the ground. It’s a new world! and we live in it.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 4:07 utc | 72
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 3:54 utc | 66
Excellent logic! It is, after all, DC’s policies that are creating all these immigrants: stop f-ing around in South America! But, history tells us that this is a desired feature. Look up the Bracero Operation. And then there’s EB-1C(?).
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 4:10 utc | 73
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 3:55 utc | 67
Buddy, give it rest. You F’d up: if it had only been ONE posting I might not have bothered to comment on that, but then another came, and, well.. Own up to it.
Appreciate the information (more so that it’s posted in the PROPER location [one that’s not dedicated to Ukraine- “OPEN THREAD”]).
Reprimand accepted. I don’t initiate O/T but felt compelled to respond.
Happy that you found it informative.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 4:24 utc | 74
Posted by: Antonym | Apr 14 2022 15:10 utc | 1
Complete load of bollocks
Posted by: Bo Robinson | Apr 15 2022 4:34 utc | 75
next up…
Asian NATO to include TW ?
NAATO on the card ?
At a press conference on 8 April 2022, in the context of a meeting of Foreign Ministers of NATO and allies (including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan), NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg announced that NATO heads of state and government would approve a new Strategic Concept, to formalise extending NATO’s reach into the Asia/Pacific region, with the explicit aim of countering “China’s growing influence and coercive policies”.
[1]
NAATO = North America Asia Treaty Organization
A India/USAss proposition broached in 2003, coming to fruition today ?
[1]
https://johnmenadue.com/nato-western-colonial-shadow-looms-over-asia-again/
Posted by: denk | Apr 15 2022 4:53 utc | 76
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 4:24 utc | 72
And my apologies for coming down so hard. And note that I had not caught that you were replying to someone else. Just a bit frustrated in seeing lots of threads totally derailed (mostly from trolls, which I know you are not). I’m not here to make enemies (nor do I go anywhere else to do so- not my goal in life).
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 5:01 utc | 77
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 5:01 utc | 75
And my apologies for coming down so hard.
Agreed, and accepted without reservation.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 5:06 utc | 78
Thanks, karlof1 @ 50 for the Glazyev article. He’s not as easy to understand as Prof. Hudson, and not being an economist myself, it was heavy going until I got to this section:
…
The fatal events of February 2014, with the coup d’etat in Ukraine and widespread chaos, were just the final chord of a major special operation, the key goal of which was to establish the anti-Russia platform in Ukraine, in the spirit of the already textbook narratives. In the historically determined field of conflict and aggression of the West against Russia, moving its “Drang nach Osten”, Ukraine has always been given the title role. Bismarck expressed the most vivid attitude of the West towards Ukraine, saying: “Russia’s power can only be undermined by the separation of Ukraine from it… it is necessary not only to tear off, but also to oppose Ukraine to Russia. To do this, you just need to find and nurture traitors among the national elite and with their help change the self-consciousness of one part of the great people to such an extent that they will hate everything Russian, hate their kind, without realising it. Everything else is just a matter of time”…
Wow.
The final part relating to the Central Bank and its affinity with international ‘norms’ helped me glimpse why the Biden move to hang onto the reserves would sever that relationship, as hopefully it has done now. You were correct to emphasize Putin’s focus on unipolarity at the presser with Lukashenko. I was also struck that he highlighted the threesome – Russia, Belarussia and Ukraine – they were both most emphatic that they could survive on their own resources, and although they didn’t say, surely being freed from that chained economical slavery was crucial. (In a positive way, echoes of Putin’s ‘Do you know what you have done?) I remember how in ‘The Shock Doctrine’ South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, freed but not freed, had to give up on many positive programs under similar duress.
It’s my bedtime, but thanks – we need to put our minds on these aspects of what is happening. So much we can’t know for now, but there must be a better outlook for Ukraine going forward as ally rather than enemy to its neighbors. (And for Pakistan as well – surely they don’t want to return to the chaotic past?)
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 5:25 utc | 79
Posted by: Lex | Apr 15 2022 0:13 utc | 44
Thank you, Lex! I had fun with that. I could remember from past reading how Raskolnikov counts his steps even, and there was a Pevear note that Dostoievski even took his new wife to the very spot where the stolen objects had been hidden…shivers up my spine…
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 5:41 utc | 80
A very late thank you, Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40, for a helpful description of matters covid lately in Shanghai. I look forward to your promised post on the China – Pakistan situation. Tectonic plates…stay safe.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 5:53 utc | 81
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 5:53 utc | 79
I look forward to your promised post on the China – Pakistan situation.
Going for a swim – pool open again!
Will finish and file when I return.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 6:23 utc | 82
The F-35 Joint Program Office has released a bunch of images showing DCA (Dual Capable Aircraft) tests involving the release of inert nuclear bombs. https://theaviationist.com/2020/06/22/here-are-the-first-photos-of-the-f-35a-jets-dropping-inert-b61-12-nuclear-bombs-during-dca-tests/
Posted by: Laurence | Apr 15 2022 6:24 utc | 83
The world of 2047 will hopefully be a brighter one, with all of earth’s current geopolitical problems rendered obsolete. Something close to the “med bed” thing will have completely revolutionized contemporary medicine long ago. People will hopefully look back on c0v1d like it was a “war of the worlds” supercivilizational prank allowed to go on for too long. That which is beyond earth will hopefully be within reach for more everyday people!
If Tom Friedman’s “Russian collapse” scenario doesn’t come to pass, they will likely have a slice or two of Ukraine and other former Soviet republics by 2047. Perhaps even a conflict of some kind with Sweden and/or Finland!
The Chinese will probably be more nationalist in imagery rather than “communist.” Imagine a Beijing more along the lines of Putin’s Russia from the 2000s, only they don’t go through the awkward Yeltsin “Weimar” stage following an inevitable collapse of the CCP system, or otherwise at the bare minimum, a more sane faction overtaking another one. Even Russia wants the CCP gone, or at least rebranded. When the Russians entered Kazakhstan in January, they arrested the country’s longtime intelligence chief that’d been a key spy partner for Beijing and a close friend of the former Vice President Biden’s son, the one with the laptop. Expect details of which to surface soon. Pretty much all the world’s powerful with unfathomable blackmail – how the whole sick power game’s been held together f6so long historically. That comes to light, and then suddenly, a Renaissance! Hopefully one that lasts. We all remember how much we almost lost, and then, almost like magic, we build back a lot better than previous generations considered possible!
America lasts. We’ve weathered tough seas before. A lot of the next century in the US could quite conceivably rival the 20th – Imagine a remix of the best parts?
Scottish independence seems likely. Taiwan may eventually go their own way whether a nationalist or communist Mainland seeks to subdue them or not.
Posted by: Mikhail-Raygun 19772 | Apr 15 2022 6:32 utc | 84
Finding uplift from the weary times…
Tom Pfotzer | Apr 14 2022 15:57 utc | 4 is right on there, especially: “One of the goals is to perfect
our own situational analysis. The other goal is to help others do the same. Numbers count.”
rae@28 I’m sorry- I took your point and repeated it, inadvertently.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 15 2022 0:25 utc | 47
Nice to see things like that bevin. Likewise, very nice to see the congeniality between seer and Walt.
Kudos and a shot of aquavit for each of you!
Easter weekend here in norge. Good Friday (langfredag) today so I wish a very good Good Friday to all MoA folk.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Apr 15 2022 6:37 utc | 85
Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
I have been skipping most of the covid comments but when I noticed you were in China went back and read yours. Just a couple of thoughts on the zero covid policy.
First is that although China has been able to contain it and usually get outbreaks back to zero new infections it will be an ongoing challenge as the majority of the world has made no effort to eradicate it and it may be around in various strains for quite sometime.
On the other side of the coin, due to the previous one child policy, China’s age demographic probably means they have a high proportion in the most at risk age group so would be particularly hard hit.
You mentioned bio weapons. Due to the circumstances I strongly lean towards this being a bio weapon. The timing – it came at a time when Trump was quickly ramping up the pivot on China – sanctioning breaking supply chains ect. Also the fact no intermediary host has bee found and the outbreak at a place close to a virus research lab in China. Develop it a pentagon lab the release it near the Wuhan lab as a false flag. The Wuhan lab worked in conjunction with universities around the world and research was published and was cleared by I think the WHO investigation.
I looked up the Kazakhstan Pentagon lab when Russia secured the government sites there after the attempted coup. That seemed to be mostly involved i collection of viruses and just a little research by to local researchers, but one of the viruses they were collecting was coronavirus from bats in caves near the Chinese border. Then it came out in one of the mod briefings that according to the documents they had, Pentagon had been researching coronavirus in its labs in Ukraine, off memory that research was conducted in the several years prior to the outbreak at Wuhan.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 7:04 utc | 86
This is always off-topic, even when there’s no particular topic: Here in continental USA, an unremitting Spring onslaught of violent storms keeps pounding the heartland (the other white apocalypse). One more terrific fire season is just getting warmed up with the outbreak of the deadly McBride fire in New Mexico. Relative humidity as low as 2%. Tornados such as even Dorothy from Kansas never saw the likes. Many pretty twisters, mainly over Texas, where someone took a snapshot of a 5 1/2 inch hailstone.
(This is from Masters & Henson — the WeatherUnderground guys.)
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/04/texas-twister-injures-23-mcbride-fire-engulfs-150-structures/
USA’s heartland tornados have always been something special. Combine winds from different directions mixing at different heights over such a vast, flat basin… thence emerge your roof-ripping “supercells”. I’ve heard tornado frequency has not increased, but intensity has. Monitoring US American news broadcasts, it feels like a back-to-back sequence of amazingly nasty storms never letting up, not for a single day.
A few years ago, we enjoyed the premiere of the “firenado” — perhaps when Paradise burned down up the road a piece in Butte County, California. Nobody dreamed up that one in advance. Just heat and turbulence producing new, creative physical phenomena for a new millenium. Hard to believe it’s not made up, it’s so fearsome: fire-driven storms racing at freeway speeds.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 7:31 utc | 87
Regarding COVID-19… Let this one sink in…
Ukrainian military personnel competed at the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan.
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 7:39 utc | 88
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 7:31 utc | 85
damn, I remember going to Ruidoso on a family vacation as a kid. A friend in Colorado told me the fire season is year round there, now.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 8:05 utc | 89
fire season is year round there, now.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 8:05 utc | 87
And I didn’t expect to be situated smack dab in a climate (drought & fire) epicenter, here in the Bay Area. The strongest statistical confirmation I can offer of what I’m seeing out here (general tree mortality, for instance, is astonishing) would be the time series chart of US Drought Monitor:
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/TimeSeries.aspx
This chart first appears in a national view of the multicolor USDM index — which looks dire enough. If you narrow the view to Other Regions / Western US, and the index to the purple DSCI index, you see our drought condition (which tracks exactly with our fire vulnerability) going way off the top of the chart a year and a half ago: Sept 2020.
Michael Hudson thinks this war is our little way of preserving fossil fuels forever, despite it all.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 8:41 utc | 90
Pakistan, the coup, and China
I was slightly surprised recently to see Alex Mercouris downplay the significance of the coup against Imran Khan. I tried to comment below his video, but it was soon drowned in an ocean of one liners and anyway I think I am still shadow banned for, shall I say, strident comments on other channels. I also hoped to see some discussion on other web media but so far no show. Well, here I go. This is undoubtedly the best place for it.
China of course has huge trading volume with the rest of the world. A very large proportion heads west by sea. Take a look at a map of south Asia and focus on southern Malaysia. Between Malaysia and Sumatra lies the Malacca Strait. Britannica says:
“As the link between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca is the shortest sea route between India and China and hence is one of the most heavily traveled shipping channels in the world…. The strait was successively controlled by the Arabs, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British. Singapore, one of the world’s most important ports, is situated at the strait’s southern end.“
Now you know why the British created Singapore.
Wikipedia says it is the busiest strait in the world. It is part of China’s Maritime Silk Road.
Now ease back and look at the context. If China cannot ship through the strait, it has a very long detour to negotiate — the nearest gap is at the Sunda strait which is shallower and narrower. China fears that at some point during future hostilities, the USA will set up blockades. A web search on “blocking the Malacca Strait” brings up some fascinating sites which I will not copy at length, you can do yourselves if interested. Just a few quotes:
“If the Strait is blocked due to some reasons, the entire Asian economy will be thoroughly affected.”
“The focal point of this blockade would be the Strait of Malacca and nearby archipelagic straits through Indonesia.”
“Very often, the blockade of the straits of Malacca for disruption of Chinese energy sources and trade is being offered as a possible Indian strategic deterrence option against China in a conflict scenario.”
What are China’s alternatives? The Belt and Road project is setting up a network of rail routes across Asia. The USA has recently attempted to interfere in Kazakhstan and Belarus but fortunately was squared off, but now it seems its European wing will be terminated at the border with Russia. But China’s Get Out of Jail Free card was to be a port on the Arabian sea, linked by rail to China, a very direct link near to the Persian gulf, in the province of Baluchistan. And Baluchistan, of course, is in a country with which China shares a substantial border: Pakistan.
QED.
I suppose a longer route through Afghanistan, whom China is cultivating, and Iran is possible? Talk about three dimensional chess!
POSTSCRIPT: I just sent a Wechat message to Sam, a Pakistani I met a couple of months ago, and we then discussed the Baluchistan project, asked him for a insider comment, will post later if it turns up. Meanwhile it is almost Friday night: a steak at Maggie’s, and live music from a Filipino band at Haishangshijie, all washed down with ample draughts of red wine. Enjoy your weekend.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 8:42 utc | 91
Elon Musk Wants to Make Twitter’s Algorithm Open Source, Enable Free Speech https://sputniknews.com/20220414/elon-musk-wants-to-make-twitters-algorithm-open-source-enable-free-speech-1094769971.html
Musk called Twitter a “town square” and that having free speech in that space is important for civilization’s survival, though he emphasized that Twitter, like all public forums, are beholden to the laws of the countries they operate out of. Calling for direct violence on someone would not get a free pass on Musk’s Twitter, but most other forms of speech would.
May not be the Catch-22 that appears to be. Could be a thread topic. In other Twitter news:
Elon Musk Makes Over-The-Odds $41 Billion Twitter Takeover Bid https://sputniknews.com/20220414/elon-musk-makes-over-the-odds-41-billion-twitter-takeover-bid-1094757353.html
& Long-Time Twitter Shareholder Saudi Prince Alwaleed Rejects Musk’s Takeover Bid https://sputniknews.com/20220414/long-time-twitter-shareholder-saudi-prince-alwaleed-rejects-musks-takeover-bid-1094767643.html
Posted by: Laurence | Apr 15 2022 8:48 utc | 92
@ karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 17:04 utc | 12
After reading the Medvedev’s Telegram post you kindly repost, I couldn’t help chuckling
at the naivety of some Russian officials up to this point. It amazes me that someone like Medvedev is just realizing that “you can not take the word of the authorities of European countries.(And) Their letters of guarantee are not worth the paper on which they are printed.”
Everyone all over the world knows that. President Bashir Assad of Syria is fond of reminding the Western journalists that the West has no credibility among the people of the Middle East.
Posted by: Steve | Apr 15 2022 8:57 utc | 93
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 8:41 utc | 88
I’m sure the war serves multiple purposes, to maintain the status quo in general. locally here in Texas the main difference I’m seeing is this constant wind, and just more variance in the weather in general. more thunderstorms, and rising more quickly, sometimes with hail and tornadoes. But I feel we’ve been fortunate in comparison with the western states, and California in particular. I’m glad most of the Redwoods have survived, so far.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 9:00 utc | 94
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 7:04 utc | 84
Back to Covid.
Thanks for your comments, very apposite.
I just want to mention something I meant to put up before which is that, not being a virologist, I had been reliant on the opinions of experts in the field, and the majority seemed to say that covid-in-a-lab was conspiracy theory, the chances were really next to zero, and the Yanks were just adopting it to slander China: the “Wuhan virus”. However, the boot seems to be on the other foot just now and as John Maynard Keynes is said to have put it, “When the facts change, so does my opinion”.
One of the many strange facts that has emerged which seems to have been under explored is that following Wuhan, a very early (earliest?) outbreak occurred in Iran. Now I remember that perhaps the earliest outbreak outside China that was well publicised in the West was in Italy. Looking back at Worldometers, those first cases were dated 12 March. Iran, however, began on 2 March and has never touched zero since. India, for example, didn’t get started until 10 May.
I wonder how it got kick started in Iran. Another conspiracy theory? Maybe. But I do think there is much yet to be revealed, and I think we will be hearing it soon.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 9:12 utc | 95
@Walt | Apr 15 2022 8:42 utc | 89
The Thai canal may become a reality at some stage. It would connect the Gulf Of Thailand with the Andaman Sea, bypassing the Malacca Straight.
Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 9:16 utc | 96
The Thai canal may become a reality at some stage. It would connect the Gulf Of Thailand with the Andaman Sea, bypassing the Malacca Straight.
Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 9:16 utc | 94
Yes, interesting, I hadn’t read about that until few hours ago looking stuff up for this. Brian Berletic, resident in Thailand, of course is very strident on YouTube about US interference there. It’s like a light coming on isn’t it, suddenly everything falls into place and you just have to lean back and say: ahhhh!
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 9:24 utc | 97
@Walt | Apr 15 2022 9:24 utc | 97
You also have the “Rohingya” business in Myanmar, designed to cause trouble for Chinese access to the Bay of Bengal via Myenmar.
Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 10:30 utc | 98
Israel is currently using the pinning down of Russia and Western media attention in Ukraine to bomb Damascus.
Posted by: Altai | Apr 15 2022 10:33 utc | 99
Posted by: Steve | Apr 15 2022 8:57 utc | 93
Paul Craig Roberts is making this point again in one of his latest salvos. I was sceptical of his stance in the begining, but it looks like with the benefit of hindsight that he might have been right and the limited SMO is not sufficient:
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/04/14/the-kremlin-has-missed-the-opportunity-to-end-the-provocations-of-russia-that-are-bringing-the-world-to-nuclear-war/
As I emphasized from the beginning, Russia’s intervention in Ukraine was far too little and far too late. I have no doubt that the Kremlin will achieve its goal of cleansing the Donbass republics of the Western-supported Nazi Azov brigade and the Ukrainian army, but the Kremlin has pissed away the far more important opportunity to end all Western provocations of Russia.
If Russia had hit Ukraine with a devastating conventional all-inclusive attack, the war would have ended before it started. No members of the puppet Ukrainian government would be alive. There would be no communication and transportation capabilities in Ukraine except Russian military ones. An awesome demonstration of what happens when you over-provoke a superior military power would have European countries scrambling to get out of NATO, not join as Finland and Sweden evidently are. Instead of scaring off would-be provokers, the Kremlin’s ill-considered go-slow limited intervention has encouraged more encirclement of Russia and more aggression on the part of Washington, NATO members, and Ukraine.
…
Going after the “command and control” centers after almost 2 months of SMO shows how exasperated and naive the Russians were to believe that giving one last chance for a diplomatic solution will work, and that it predictably – well, at least for people that know the belly of the beast like Paul Craig Roberts – did not work. Moreover, the strategy of increasing the pain dial so far has produced a reciprocal military and economic pain dial from NATO. At the moment, after 2 months we’re back to a conventional war with a chance for nuclear confrontation.
On the other hand, to get the support for a full scale war from China and India would have been much harder. But this is where we are and things are looking gloomy.
Posted by: Boo | Apr 15 2022 10:38 utc | 100