Posted by: Steve Harris | May 19 2022 13:41 utc | 2
The worst kept secret of NATO? Moreover, why is Kazakhstan targeted by UK/US and its national elite slowly corrupted – IMHO, it’s the soft underbelly of Russia and land bridge to the uighurs prepared to be sacrificed for a civil war in China. Would that affect Turkey’s plan to be the leader of the Turkic nations in central Asia? Turkey does not want to get involved in a fight with both Russia and China, especially that it benefits from BRI and Russian commodities and other exports. The other central asian stans are also being slowly prepared to burn in chaos, so that BRI is not achieved.

Posted by: Bloke from block 8 | May 19 2022 14:37 utc | 4

@Aleph_Null #1
I hate to break it to you, but Sacramento having temperatures in summer in the 100+ range is in no way unusual.
You can access the official Sacramento FAA weather station record here
Some samples:

06-25-1984 23:59 101 61
06-26-1984 23:59 102 57
06-27-1984 23:59 99 60
06-28-1984 23:59 94 62
06-29-1984 23:59 90 56
06-30-1984 23:59 94 55
07-01-1984 23:59 100 61
07-02-1984 23:59 107 66
07-03-1984 23:59 100 66
07-04-1984 23:59 101 65
07-05-1984 23:59 100 70
…
07-20-1986 23:59 100 60
07-21-1986 23:59 97 63
07-22-1986 23:59 87 59
07-23-1986 23:59 91 65
07-24-1986 23:59 90 60
07-25-1986 23:59 83 57
07-26-1986 23:59 85 55
07-27-1986 23:59 86 55
07-28-1986 23:59 86 53
07-29-1986 23:59 94 53
07-30-1986 23:59 99 58
07-31-1986 23:59 101 62
08-01-1986 23:59 99 60
08-02-1986 23:59 100 57
08-03-1986 23:59 102 59
08-04-1986 23:59 101 61
…
06-09-1991 23:59 99 59
06-10-1991 23:59 102 57
06-11-1991 23:59 100 63
06-12-1991 23:59 88 56
06-13-1991 23:59 91 52
06-14-1991 23:59 92 57
06-15-1991 23:59 91 54
06-16-1991 23:59 88 53
06-17-1991 23:59 92 52
06-18-1991 23:59 85 53
06-19-1991 23:59 80 53
06-20-1991 23:59 84 50
06-21-1991 23:59 81 52
06-22-1991 23:59 81 51
06-23-1991 23:59 76 52
06-24-1991 23:59 72 53
06-25-1991 23:59 79 53
06-26-1991 23:59 76 52
06-27-1991 23:59 75 57
06-28-1991 23:59 67 58
06-29-1991 23:59 81 54
06-30-1991 23:59 93 56
07-01-1991 23:59 101 63
07-02-1991 23:59 107 67
07-03-1991 23:59 112 70
07-04-1991 23:59 109 66
07-05-1991 23:59 100 64
…
06-25-1997 24:00 100 59
06-26-1997 24:00 92 57
06-27-1997 24:00 83 56
06-28-1997 24:00 80 54
06-29-1997 24:00 82 52
06-30-1997 24:00 80 56
07-01-1997 24:00 87 52
07-02-1997 24:00 90 54
07-03-1997 24:00 98 60
07-04-1997 24:00 96 59
07-05-1997 24:00 91 57
07-06-1997 24:00 98 60
07-07-1997 24:00 101 60
07-08-1997 24:00 104 62
…
06-26-2003 24:00 103 60
06-27-2003 24:00 105 64
06-28-2003 24:00 102 65
06-29-2003 24:00 93 59
06-30-2003 24:00 90 57
07-01-2003 24:00 89 57
07-02-2003 24:00 91 58
07-03-2003 24:00 92 57
07-04-2003 24:00 99 54
07-05-2003 24:00 94 60
07-06-2003 24:00 87 56
07-07-2003 24:00 81 55
07-08-2003 24:00 93 54
07-09-2003 24:00 100 59
…
06-27-2010 24:00 103 61
06-28-2010 24:00 103 67
06-29-2010 24:00 95 60
06-30-2010 24:00 87 58
07-01-2010 24:00 86 54
07-02-2010 24:00 88 57
07-03-2010 24:00 92 59
07-04-2010 24:00 99 58
07-05-2010 24:00 97 59
07-06-2010 24:00 82 55
07-07-2010 24:00 87 54
07-08-2010 24:00 87 55
07-09-2010 24:00 89 56
07-10-2010 24:00 97 58
07-11-2010 24:00 99 57
07-12-2010 24:00 82 57
07-13-2010 24:00 87 58
07-14-2010 24:00 95 58
07-15-2010 24:00 102 63
07-16-2010 24:00 102 65
…
07-25-2014 23:59 103 64 1
07-26-2014 23:59 102 69 1
07-27-2014 23:59 101 69 1
07-28-2014 23:59 96 62 1
07-29-2014 23:59 92 58 A
07-30-2014 23:59 92 58 A
07-31-2014 23:59 102 64 1
08-01-2014 23:59 107 65 1

This is by no means a complete data set; cut and paste from the displayed data table isn’t working so I browsed every few years. There is also weather data but I didn’t look into that since it likely is much harder to automatically parse to start with.

Posted by: c1ue | May 19 2022 14:41 utc | 6

@ c1ue | May 19 2022 14:41 utc | 6
What a strange post. Does anyone here understand your point? I certainly don’t.
I’m saying the stage is set for megafires in CA. What’s your problem?

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 19 2022 14:53 utc | 8

Also, have you ever used your Google or Apple Maps in satellite view to zoom into the northern Sierra? Wow, we are looking at unbelievable clear cutting, the area around Shasta and Lassen looks like Swiss cheese.
Posted by: Obamavirus | May 19 2022 14:54 utc | 9
California’s main problem is a huge, persistent marine heat wave in the northern Pacific. It’s a feature of atmospheric and marine currents repositioning themselves in the new climate regime. The jet stream slows way down and meanders like a lazy stream. It arcs over CA and delivers all the precip elsewhere. We’re now officially in our fourth year of extraordinary drought.
The cutting you observe is often referred to as “forest management”, and prescribed by the oblivious as a solution to our problems. (“Too many trees burning down? Okay, we’ll just cut them all down.”) California megafires of last year conclusively proved that such “forest management” did nothing to slow down megafires sweeping through. We even had a fire crest the
Sierras, near Tahoe: burning from west of the mountain range, clear over to burning on the other side. That’s never happened before. It’s because everything is so very dry, and because the winds are unbelievable.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 19 2022 15:07 utc | 10

@Aleph_null #11
I’ve lived in California for over 30 years.
Perhaps you are unaware: all of the major urban regions are effectively deserts, and so are most of the farming areas outside of Northern California. I’ve been driving by the San Luis reservoir since the 1980s – I’ve seen it chock full and I’ve seen it so low you could almost walk across the areas directly adjacent to the highway, on both sides, without getting your feet wet.
It is far from clear to me that the multi-year conditions you reference are, in fact, unusual or different.
The previous drought in California was far worse and for far longer; the residential districts in SF even lost their “Mordor” status for several years resulting in a bunch of newbies buying houses under entirely the wrong climate understanding…

Posted by: c1ue | May 19 2022 15:18 utc | 12

Assalaamu alaykum w w. I am very happy for this site! May God almighty reward you in this life and the next!
With love. Linus, Stockholm Sweden.

Posted by: Linus | May 19 2022 15:22 utc | 14

Tangentially related to Ukraine: we hear from Moscow that Vladislav Tretyak, the legendary Russian goaltender, will be re-elected unopposed to the post of president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation. (There’s a story behind this which I won’t get into now.) Tretyak, for anybody that knows anything about hockey, qualifies as GOAT. If you’d ever seen him play you’d know why. That started me thinking about another GOAT, Lev Yashin, the legendary Russian football goalie. Why, I wondered, were both stoppers not attackers? Is this a tiny insight into the true Russian soul? That they’re basically stoppers not attackers? Russia, unlike the west, rarely or never engaged in wars of conquest or colonialism. The wars it did and does fight are primarily about defense, security. In the 19th century it defeated the greatest conqueror of the age. In the 20th century it did so again. Is Russia destined to defeat the greatest conqueror of the age in the 21st century? History shows that wars are, ultimately, won by defenders not attackers. We’d better hope so, otherwise this poor planet is doomed.

Posted by: pasha | May 19 2022 15:33 utc | 16

Or there could be a rational lumber harvesting program.
Oregon used to have that. It ended 40 years ago when the eco-liberals took
complete control of the state.
And as a result, we have had giant fires for the last 15 years.
My area of Oregon has had some of the worst of it recently.
Welcome to smoke season , Californians.
Have a great another 10 years of massive fires.

Posted by: Cadence calls | May 19 2022 15:43 utc | 18

First, sorry about the long post and also I am non-English speaker so apologize in advance for all the grammatical errors. Comments are welcome, particularly critical ones.
Here’s a sketch of a theory I have, likely with lots of inferences – and definitely correctable ones. It is trying to link the individual behaviour (based on non-objective values) in a society with the status of the power structure, obviously in the era of globalization.
Extremely self-centered individuals with strong personality will most likely lack awareness of other people’s feelings. Therefore they will be rarely inclined to apply socially accepted moral behavior towards others.
If the underlying social “values” has a non-secular background – e.g. morality (which almost any society will need to have in order to sustain itself as a society), the extremely considered individuals with strong personality will end-up in the category of, known or unknown “saints”: lots of values to spare toward others, but still in need for real attention and kindness.
The third category of population, as a matter of fact the majority of them, are individuals in swing between displaying selfish or considerate attitude, with the former being the real attitude predominating in almost all circumstances of life and the latter being most of the time the appearance to beautify the real attitude.
The forth category are individual outside the above. I consider them fringe and will not apply them here to my theory.
The 2 steps indicating that crumbling of the moral fabric of society has started are:
1- When friendship and partnership breakups are so frequent, the best matches for friendship/partnership for all 3 categories become only between them and the 2nd category. Which brings the second category in a double-curse: giving all the kindness and not receiving any real ones.
2- And then, when and if the second category loses its belief towards the underlying morality, the whole thing start to crumble: society having ended up with no holders of moral values at all.
The Oligarchic Participatory Systems (which is almost all the big and regional powers) are usually in the second steps above.
I believe the Anglo-American society are in the late second step, Continental European countries – including Russia – and Middle-eastern, South-American and African regional powers (countries like Brazil or Iran for example) are in the middle of the second step and China in the early second step.

Posted by: ATH | May 19 2022 16:02 utc | 20

It hurts a lot to see 100s of millions of dollars of board feet of lumber burn down.
Posted by: Cadence Calls | May 19 2022 16:02 utc | 24
Oh my goodness… board feet!?
Said like a true late capitalist… Like a nicotine addict, still smoking through that little hole they cut in your throat. Were you to take a walk with me through the trees of California, you might acquire different kinds of hurts from your experience of Life on Earth.
The thing about our drought — it’s gone on so long now that moisture available to very deep roots disappears. Virtually all the parks around here (and SF Bay Area has plenty) are getting emotionally difficult for me: too many dying trees, too many species. Even our denigrated (albeit gorgeous) eucalyptus groves are dying, en masse. The various species have different ways of dying. Eucalyptus start by showing scattered yellow leaves, all over. Cypress go piece by piece. The pines are most dramatic: A dying pine makes a last-ditch attempt to cover itself with cones, before it falls.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 19 2022 16:20 utc | 22

Obamavirus | May 19 2022 15:16 utc | 13
You really should take yourself and your mentally crippled screed somewhere else.
Looking at the societal impact over many years and generations of deeply imbedded racism in the US, especially wrapped nicely in what for 100’s of years has been undeniable “white privilege” and thinking that it has been “countered” with “equal rights” legislation and a few decades of haphazard application, especially to the extent of pointing to “black” communities (and exactly why are they “predominately” black?) are more prone to violence and crime is an example of willful blindness most likely rooted in “racism” on your part.
You come off as being in deep denial, attempting to use ideological slight of hand and misused and less understood terms to promote your racism.

Posted by: doesitreallymatter | May 19 2022 16:49 utc | 24

I’d like to point to two items, one related to BRICS and its ongoing attempt to dedollarize, and this one dealing with the relationship between China and Indonesia.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2022 16:52 utc | 26

Why are forest fires necessary?
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 19 2022 16:44 utc | 26
Entropy, the arrow of time, makes any number of unpleasant things necessary, lately. It’s rather shallow to compare the megafires of today with salubrious fires of previous eras. People don’t seem to understand, no matter how many way I find to phrase it: We witness a transition, in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and parts north, from a forest ecosystem to something else. Something without trees.
You’re not seeing the forest for the trees, in a sense. The whole forest is dying, not just the trees. You can google-scholar on terms like “burnscar regrowth” to find scads of recent papers on the trouble with megafires: These huge fires incinerate the soil so thoroughly, new saplings aren’t getting started. Our forests are not growing back, after burning down.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 19 2022 17:00 utc | 28

@ 29
. . .[excellent] relationship between China and Indonesia
Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, with approximately 231 million adherents. That’s bound to soften some of the anti-China Uighur criticism, IMO.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 19 2022 17:04 utc | 30

Don Bacon @34–
Yes, I read the interview as being very positive with the high possibility that BRICS will add another I. Also, the collective power of ASEAN allows it to resist Outlaw US Empire attempts to co-opt its individual members.
Yesterday, I provided a snippet of Maria Zakharova’s Briefing. It is now available in English here and contains lots of important content.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2022 17:22 utc | 32

Doesit@35
LoL I’m not triggered, sorry you don’t get to throw out more random insults and walk away. You have not addressed anything I’ve said today with a logical response. You cannot “ compete in the arena of ideas” as Rush used to say.
You are ideological, not logical.

Posted by: Obamavirus | May 19 2022 17:30 utc | 34

Today brings yet another example of what I’ve been commenting about–the stressing of the UN Charter while promoting relations with Global South nations and organizations. Today’s example is Lavrov’s welcoming address to the participants of the VI Forum of Young Diplomats of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation where Lavrov makes the following observation that I’m sure will surprise barflies. The forum is being held as usual in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, which is Russia’s main internal Islamic state, on what Lavrov notes is an auspicious occasion: “It is symbolic that the Forum is held in the year of celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the adoption of Islam by Volga Bulgaria.” What follows is the example I noted:
“Russia’s relations with Muslim states continue to develop steadily. We are united by our commitment to building international life on the basis of the UN Charter, first of all, its main principle – respect for the sovereign equality of states. Our countries are consistent supporters of respect for the cultural and civilizational identity of the peoples of the world, their legitimate right to determine their own models and ways of development. We all reject the vicious practice of ‘exporting democracy’ and any other recurrence of neocolonial policies. We see in the unity of our approaches and aspirations a solid foundation for further building up diverse ties, including on the youth side, for the benefit of our citizens, in the name of strengthening regional and global stability.”
That core message is delivered to all nations, institutions and groups within the Global South, and IMO it’s easy to see its attractiveness.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2022 17:42 utc | 36

@Obamavirus | May 19 2022 15:42 utc | 20
Karl Marx ‘Das Kapital’, 1867-1883
English translations generally keep the German title, or sometimes ‘Capital’.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx
https://www.marxists.org/xlang/index.htm
40 languages, 21 authors especially V.I. Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Leon Trotsky
Marxists tend to overly cherish their classical literature.
I think almost everybody knows what “ignorant” means.
I also note your sentence :
“You and Arganthonios acknowledge that there is a phenomenon
and you criticize its classification as a type of Marxism
but then you just call us ignorant and walk away.”
It is quite disorganized and the big words are misused.
Although, I do not claim it is deliberately misleading.

Posted by: otter | May 19 2022 17:58 utc | 38

Cadence calls @37–
I too live in Oregon and before that I lived many years in California. As noted, most forest lands in BOTH states are “owned” and managed by the Feds, not the states or private timber corps. As with ALL extractive industries, they invade virgin territory and rape it for every penny of profit, which puts the workers who did the actual task out-of-work. To create a sustainable forest products industry required regulation, which was first recognized by the capitalists themselves. But the initial regulations didn’t go far enough as forest management practices greatly contributed to the killing off of salmon reproduction habitat in both states (and others) along with other dire ecological impacts that have yet to be 100% corrected. I could easily write another 10,000 words on this topic as it intersects with many others, but I won’t. The core of the problem exists at the Federal management level and with the multiplicity of vested interests that are pulling in every direction except for the direction that will provide a solution–and that’s been ongoing for decades. And the legal system hasn’t been any help either as interests take turns pursuing litigation, thus prolonging any hopes of reaching an equitable solution.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2022 18:03 utc | 40

Posted by: Steve Harris | May 19 2022 13:41 utc | 2:

It is hard to contemplate how this new Strategic Concept could emerge in the context of the worst fighting in Europe since the Second World War, unless one is willing to entertain that this is an intentional widening of the current conflict beyond Europe. Since the current conflict makes little sense on its face, perhaps China was the original strategic target all along.

China is the original strategic target all along! Even the need to first subdue Russia is related to this goal, because it is thought that Russia may side with China in an all out war, and Russia’s nuclear arsenal becomes the impediment to a western blackmail against China when such a war is launched.
I believe the western animosity against China is racially related, not ideological. Thus, as long as Chinese exists as a ethnic entity with conspicuous differences in appearances and culture, such animosity/hate would breed and grow, to higher intensity as China itself grows in strength and wealth. There is no antidote against this mental illness. It’s in the western DNA. It will be the catalyst for WW3. This catalyst actually started its work soon after the USSR breakup, early 1990’s, when the western MSM started demonization of China and Chinese, to the point that even Kissinger thought it dangerous.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 19 2022 18:19 utc | 42

Posted by: c1ue | May 19 2022 15:18 utc | 14:

The previous drought in California was far worse and for far longer; the residential districts in SF even lost their “Mordor” status for several years resulting in a bunch of newbies buying houses under entirely the wrong climate understanding…

True, there had been worse droughts in California in the past, but those were in eras with state populations in the twenty/thirty million counts. Now California population is over 40 millions, with life styles and vanity of McMansion never seen before. I am in Aleph_Null’s company of worriers.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 19 2022 18:32 utc | 44

It hurts a lot to see 100s of millions of dollars of board feet of lumber burn down.
Posted by: Cadence Calls | May 19 2022 16:02 utc | 24
Said like a true late capitalist… Like a nicotine addict, …
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 19 2022 16:20 utc | 25
I had a friend who grew up in a village in Greece, and we went for hikes. He definitely had an eye of what is edible, like tasty looking critters (woodchucks in these parts are most appetizing) or honey — a hole in a tree with substantial in-out traffic of beast made him plan an excavation.
More generally, a craftsman etc. sees things that he/she could work with and how they would look at different stages of processing. A deer is also 1. trophy 2. skinned and cleaned meat 3. tasty dinner, and the same with tree: it grows, it is in a pile of raw logs, it is a pile of planks or properly cut logs, it is a house, table or whatever. And it is kind of sad to have a lot of CO2 instead.
That said, a person I know was going to visit San Jose, and I recommended Big Basin State Park where I seen 300+ ft tall redwoods. But it seems that they are all (?) burned. They are as tall as sequoias, but they lack enormously thick that lets old sequoias survive big fires.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 19 2022 18:45 utc | 46

@Obamavirus
I think the term “cultural marxism” is worse, as it conflates two very different things (by design) as part of divide and rule social engineering by our “leaders”, against us.
As a fake replacement for Leftist values, obscuring the class struggle, the term “cultural marxism” seems designed to irritate folks on the right (with the irritating word “marxism”), enhancing the divide and rule effect.
When I first saw the term “identity politics”, its meaning wasn’t immediately obvious. It only became obvious in the context of divide and rule.
The term “cultural marxism” only obfuscates and obscures things, IMO.

Posted by: Featherless | May 19 2022 18:47 utc | 48

Posted by: Featherless | May 19 2022 18:02 utc | 43
BINGO! You got that number straight up,

Posted by: sln2002 | May 19 2022 18:58 utc | 50

@ Piotr Berman | May 19 2022 18:45 utc | 51
Last year was the year they wrapped a named redwood — the General Sherman — in tinfoil to protect it from a fire sweeping through the grove. Some of the trees California has irretrievably lost over the past three years are 3,000 years old. Clearly, redwoods are not regrowing quickly enough to re-establish themselves. There went the redwoods…

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 19 2022 19:01 utc | 52

They’re Pinky and The Brain
Yes Pinky and The Brain
Their twilight campaign
Is easy to explain <-- as I am trying to do To prove their mousey worth They'll overthrow the Earth They're dinky They're Pinky and The Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain ---- I guess that the rest of the lyrics here explains the motivation, the videos can even explain particular strategies ---

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 19 2022 19:21 utc | 54

Hi everyone I’m an overseas senior Chinese from Central Valley, CA… I’m gonna post a series of rants what’s in my mind!
First of PopMatta Slovakia she studied in Fudan University, Shanghai speaks better than so, so Putonghua… or Mandarin. Have Fun!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uJxExhKA-0
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTW7xYWZZVhQjI9pDGO6O1g/videos

Posted by: JC | May 19 2022 20:16 utc | 56

Yesterday, I commented about Putin’s meeting with Rostec’s CEO, which was very revealing. Today, Putin met with the head of another vital state corporation, ROSATOM’s CEO Alexey Likhachev, with a discussion that complements Rostec’s. As with Rostec, ROSATOM doesn’t just build nuclear power plants; it provides inputs throughout the spectrum of Russia’s economy. IMO, the most important aspect of both and their kin is that they’re public assets owned by all Russians which happens to be very socialistic and clearly rankles Western Neoliberals. As was revealed during the Rostec meeting, the illegal sanctions regime has proved to be a massive boon to the many public Russian assets as you’ll see again in the discussion that follows. The way Russia and China manage their public assets differ somewhat but the outcomes they provide for their nation’s political-economy are almost identical. And IMO their success is guaranteed as long as they follow the reason for their status–contributing to the wellbeing and continual uplifting of their nation and its citizenry instead of funneling the wealth generated into the pockets of a few, which is the essence of Win-Win.
What follows is the machine translation of the meeting sans corrections or emphasis by me. I will make note of the concluding remark which I see as central to Russia’s current experience:
“The harder they put pressure on us, the more work we have, the more the team is mobilized.”

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Rosatom, this year, in December, 15 years since the law on the establishment of Rosatom Corporation was signed. During this time, a lot of work has been done.
A.Likhachev: Yes. We treat the date of creation of the state corporation as very memorable for us.
In general, the industry is in its 77th year, we are the same age as the Great Victory, but at the same time, the creation of the state corporation marked a completely new stage in the development of the industry. Indeed, a group of enterprises created a single management mechanism with uniform economic indicators, with a unique corporate culture. At the same time, nuclear competencies were combined – from uranium mining to the creation and operation of nuclear power plants. And of course, new divisions were created literally from scratch: machine-building, logistics, digital and a number of others.
If we talk about performance indicators for 15 years, then there is no other way to call it a “quantum leap”: 4.5 times the growth of revenue, five times the growth of labor productivity, investments grow in a special way – 15 times the growth of annual investments. Science and research are actively developing, we have a 13-fold annual increase in patents.
Over the past five years, we have actively entered new products and the world market. Revenue for five years for new products almost doubled, foreign revenue increased by one and a half times.
Vladimir Putin: The most important thing is that labour productivity grows.
Alexei Likhachev: Labour productivity is growing at a faster pace, [faster] than wages, which is very important.
And digital revenue has grown a hundredfold. This, of course, has a low base. Of course, we will continue to develop.
Last year, we had a number of regular record figures. With one hundred percent fulfillment of the state defense order, revenue reached 1.5 trillion, and this is only in the open part, that is, so, of course, it is much more in our country. The record is 222 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Commissioning of new blocks, the second Leningrad, the first Belarusian blocks. And the Northern Sea Route also set a transportation record of almost 35 million tons.
We are implementing the decisions taken at your meeting on the Northern Sea Route. Under the leadership of the Government, we have already moved forward with the construction of nuclear icebreakers, the ATO [nuclear technology service] vessel, and the creation of a unified navigation management system on the Northern Sea Route. And I hope that in the shortest possible time we will put this work, as they say, on the usual track.
In the first quarter of this year, we have a serious increase: for the same electricity – plus two percent; revenue increased by 26 percent in the first quarter for new products and by 13 percent for foreign ones.
On the other hand, we understand that we have been living and working in absolutely new conditions in recent months and will continue to work like this, so I would like to draw special attention to a few points.
Vladimir Putin: Please.
Alexei Likhachev: On international projects. We continue to implement all our international projects as long as they go according to plan. We see the risks with certain individual projects, we develop appropriate compensatory measures. I hope that the vast majority of the projects will be successfully completed.
We have reached the second highest uranium mining in the world in recent years. We confidently hold the first place in enrichment and conversion and steadily enter the top three in fuel fabrication. In all areas, there are reserves aimed at further development.
We continue cooperation with IAEA, participate in the international large thermonuclear project in France (ITER). And I want to say again that in this sense, the international nuclear community is not yet severing ties while this cooperation is developing.
On the internal agenda. Our main service, in addition to the state defense order, is nuclear energy. In ten years, we have built 11 units, achieved an indicator of 20 percent of electricity in the country. You have given us an instruction to increase the share to 25 percent, and by increasing the share to 25 percent, we will have to build 16 more innovative blocks in the horizon until 2035. The government has approved the general scheme, so we understand where and what to build.
I would also like to thank you from the industry for adopting an executive order on April 14 to extend our national project until 2030. This is indeed a very serious decision, it creates a technological platform for the fourth generation of nuclear energy, and, most importantly, gives us the opportunity to build a specific facility on the ground. This is the Northern Proryv project, it is a multi-purpose fast research reactor, it is a tokamak thermonuclear installation with reactor technologies, a prototype of tomorrow’s thermopoison, it is a number of experimental reactors, and, of course, this is cooperation with Roscosmos, including on rocket engines for near space, for deep space. All this will be laid down in the extended national project.
What is important to stress is that 95 percent of Russia’s nuclear power plant, as they say, is made in Russia, and five percent is not critical. We see criticism of about half a percent of our value – electrical engineering, electronics, some types of diesel equipment, some types of pumping equipment, and in principle, we are already creating alliances with business on import substitution.
First thought. Russian nuclear technology is import-independent. And we don’t see any deterrents here.
Second thought. We will place at least a trillion rubles a year outside the industry as orders for the implementation of our national project. This, of course, is a very serious vector in the development of the engineering industry and the economy as a whole. And not only, as they say, in large orders, but also in innovations, the nuclear industry has always been famous for its advanced developments.
Vladimir Putin: Exactly.
Alexei Likhachev: I remember well how in Soviet times, even in the conditions of the Iron Curtain, mathematical modelling and work on security systems developed, all of which gave impetus to the creation of a whole programme of new products.
I myself was surprised to learn that over the past year we have satisfied the needs for high-tech products of more than 2600 Russian companies and enterprises, that is, the Russian industry is already returning a huge reserve to us as new innovative orders and directions.
I would like to share some very important ones, in my opinion. At the same meeting on the Arctic, remember, the management of NOVATEK raised the issue of LNG equipment. We built the first test bench in Europe in St. Petersburg at the Efremov Research Institute of Energy, and a solution has been prepared, it has been implemented, for cryogenic heat exchangers. It is the heart of all liquefying technology. We have learned how to make medium-tonnage – I think we will learn how to make large-tonnage ones.
We are actively receiving requests from the oil and gas industry both for specific equipment and, in general, for new approaches to technologies, including in the production of hard-to-extract hydrocarbons. Such work is underway, and, for example, we have exemplary cooperation with Gazprom Neft.
Completely closed the chain in composites and proceed to the production of specific medical equipment quite modern.
Vladimir Putin: Many people were helped with composites at once.
Alexei Likhachev: Yes.
Digitally, we are moving forward, creating alliances with enterprises – both small and private Russian companies, large ones, Rostec and Russian Railways.
We will be two years ahead of your instructions ourselves: in 2023, one hundred percent of software purchases for critical infrastructure will be done, and we will generally transfer Russian software to the rails at a faster pace.
On the quanta, we moved forward. We have been working on this topic for two years. According to experts, we have reduced the gap by about half from our foreign partners, some of our competitors. But in general, in fact, according to some technologies, they entered the top three. There is an opinion that a separate type of quanta, the qudit, is the most promising for the corresponding processors, and we now, along with the United States and Austria, have achieved a corresponding prototype of a quantum processor. And the first, by the way, made a real program, that is, software for a quantum algorithm in the interests of the nuclear industry.
I cannot but say a few words about the environmental project, which is also a series of your instructions.
A system for monitoring industrial waste of the first and second hazard class was launched, more than 25 thousand users. Seven plants are being created on the ground throughout the Russian Federation for processing, and I am sure that we will restore order in this direction.
Plus working with heritage. In September last year, we completed work on a household waste dump in Chelyabinsk. We go to “Krasny Bor” for practical work. And all the necessary priority work was carried out both in Usolye-Sibirsky and at the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill.
Vladimir Putin: And what did they do in Usolye-Sibirskoye?
Alexei Likhachev: The mercury electrolysis workshop has been completely dismantled there and all the consequences have been eliminated. We began to work with an oil lens, where there were dangers of waste going to the Angara. We have prepared all the design work in order to begin a full-scale system liquidation this year. There were several dozen extremely dangerous wells, and, in fact, no one knows what and in what volumes was stored in them. Therefore, their neutralization and blocking were also among the priority tasks.
And in conclusion, I wanted to say a few words about the team. Indeed, we are not just a technology leader, not just one of the leaders of the global nuclear industry. This is a unique team with its own traditions. We consistently occupy the first places in the ratings of employers. A very important indicator – involvement, people’s willingness to devote more to work every day – is at a level even higher than the best world indicators (84 percent). I would like to say that this figure has increased in recent weeks. That is, there is a certain unity of the team, and people roll up their sleeves and see this as their contribution to solving the problems and tasks that the country faces today.
Vladimir Putin: Rosatom is certainly one of our technological leaders. I hope that this trend will continue.
We talked about materials – many industries were helped at once, from aircraft construction to medicine.
Alexei Likhachev: Mr President, we are now very focused on the machine-building unit, we have strengthened our machine-building assets, and there are many orders.
And one more thought. The harder they put pressure on us, the more work we have, the more the team is mobilized.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2022 20:21 utc | 58

@ 63 aleph
Have you ever considered the notion that alien infiltration into a closed eco system is a natural phenomenon and that has happened routinely over geological deep time?
The asteroid which wiped out most of life on the planet was alien in origin, and, yet, here we are, breathing wonderful air and looking at an increasingly green planet.
Just as I have been afflicted by the deep psychospiritual virus of Christianity to my betterment, you have been afflicted by the psychospiritual virus of ecological original sin to your detriment.
My advice: get out of California and get around families more or else you are in danger of becoming this guy. But seriously, I enjoy your contributions and be well.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | May 19 2022 20:42 utc | 60

Otter@17
You and Arganthonios acknowledge that there is a phenomenon and you criticize its classification as a type of Marxism but then you just call us ignorant and walk away. Well, we are all waiting……. What is your erudite description of the phenomenon? Maybe you could educate us ? Describe the issue in your terminology please.
Posted by: Obamavirus | May 19 2022 15:42 utc | 20
No, you bullshit spewer.
I have explained it TWO TIMES already to you.
Posted by: Arganthonios | May 5 2022 8:51 utc | 324
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/on-lavrovs-spat-with-israel-who-is-right.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef0278807b7002200d#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef0278807b7002200d
Posted by: Arganthonios | May 16 2022 23:33 utc | 74
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/british-info-warriors-kill-abroad-and-sabotage-politics-at-home.html?cid=6a00d8341c640e53ef0282e155d7ae200b#comment-6a00d8341c640e53ef0282e155d7ae200b
But you’re all “I’m white, male, conservative, and American! I CAN CALL SHIT WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT!”
And you don’t really want to call it “identity politics”, because “identity politics” is the same shit you’re doing.
And now, read below for the actual unraveling of these american rightist delusions.

Posted by: Arganthonios | May 19 2022 21:13 utc | 62

Crooke’s latest I’ll link to from both threads since it straddles them. If you read the Rostec and Rosatom meetings and other economic reports I’ve provided, you’ll understand since at least half of Crooke’s essay deals with Geoeconomics. Also because of the publication being utilized, there’s far more emphasis on Occupied Palestine than Crooke normally provides. Here’s what I find important from that quarter:

In the Middle East (watching intently the direction of the wind), any weakening of Europe and the US will be studied closely – and “Israel” will be obvious as an island alone, on the ‘wrong side’ of the divide, in a world separated as West versus the Rest.
Iran will drift towards becoming increasingly a part of the strategic depth to Russia and China. The ramifications of a new Asian trading and credit system however, will begin to impinge on the distribution of the regional power infrastructure, as the monetary outline emerges from current negotiations.
Potentially, therefore, one disruptive effect of the Ukraine conflict implicates “Israel”. The latter has been obliged by Team Biden not only to support US criticism of Russia, but crucially to supply Ukraine with weapons that will be used to kill Russians.
The froideur that is already evident from “Israel’s” siding with Washington – against Putin – is straining a fragile relationship which, as the Russians recently reminded Tel Aviv, alone has preserved stability for “Israel” on the Occupied Golan. However, if Putin has wholly ‘given up’ on Washington and Europe in respect to Ukraine (and the wider global security architecture (and it would seem that he has), then Bennett or any other Israeli PM is no longer of use to Moscow as an intermediary channel. They become rather, an adversary.

Oddly enough, today we’re treated to this rather cryptic statement within this article:
“The US occupation of eastern Syria will soon be brought to an end, Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad has said.
“‘The illegal US presence in the Jazira region of northern Syria is reaching its end, and the regions occupied by American forces will soon come under the Damascus government’s authority,’ Mekdad said, speaking to Syria’s al-Ikhbariyah TV.”
Many barflies have long anticipated some action to occur in Syria. Perhaps this is it.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 19 2022 21:16 utc | 64

huge fires incinerate the soil so thoroughly, new saplings aren’t getting started. Our forests are not growing back, after burning down.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 19 2022 17:00 utc | 31
Some tree species have fire resistant seeds and they are adapted to sprout after a big fire when there is little competition. I am not 100% sure about redwoods, but their cones, if I recall, are very solid. Otherwise you get herbaceous plants first etc.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 19 2022 21:56 utc | 66

The true racism of the Buffalo shooting calls out is the fact that the victims of violence are most often attacked by people of their own race. Black people are many times more likely to be the victims of mass shootings than whites, but our media and government only seem to notice when whites are involved. Do they think people won’t care otherwise? Hmmm…
https://mass-shootings.info/

Posted by: Sideshow Bob | May 19 2022 22:14 utc | 68

@75 Cadence
They think no one will care if the victims are black, unless they can tag it as racism.
They refuse to acknowledge the black on black genocide in our country, which is its own racism related tragedy.

Posted by: Sideshow Bob | May 19 2022 22:24 utc | 70

I’m not sure when the Disinformation Task Force (Ministry of Truth) became a thing but it seems to be meeting some resistance. From left and right.
“Republicans, both moderate and further right, have also expressed concern that the board’s work, which is taking place under a Democratic administration, could be weaponised against conservatives.”
And Ms. Jankowicz has such a lovely smile.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61502509

Posted by: dh | May 19 2022 22:38 utc | 72

If you now maintain that Earth’s global temperature has held steady for forty years, then you exhibit stunning heights of deliberate ignorance, in this regard.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 19 2022 15:55 utc | 22
and @several
One aspect rarely discussed is the depletion of the water table. The main aquifer in CA is overused by orchardists etc. Just like humans trees get dehydrated too and therefore succumb to fire more readily.
Privatisation of water sources is the culprit in most places where fire is increasing. And who owns the water now? Coca Cola Amatil, Nestle and all their octopus subsidiaries bottling and exporting water away fro its natural home.
When people talk about human caused global warming, I think it is overlooked that there are so many factors also human induced, that are not directly related to fossil fuel extraction, but which all depend on it.
The water industry supports fossil fuel agriculture as well as petrochemical plastics for the bottles on the consumer side. Just one more factor to add to high temperatures and strong dry winds in CA.
Just because fake left liberals and greenies are pro renewables and of course are getting their pockets lined does not mean they are wrong about the worlds need to change how we do things.
Its a pity the discussion about the health of our natural world most often comes down to ideological side taking rather than open minded observation.

Posted by: K | May 19 2022 22:47 utc | 74

@K
The transition to sustainability needs to happen carefully or it’s going to cause massive death and destruction. We cannot simply go cold turkey like they tried to do in Germany, turning off their nuclear and coal plants. Fertilizer is a petroleum product. Cutting petroleum production reduces the food supply, all else equal, and raises prices across the board. They’re literally going to starve poor people to death with these sustainability regimes.
Anyone not talking about sustainability measures without discussing a role for nuclear energy is indirectly advocating mass genocide. Existing nuclear plant designs can produce cheap low carbon electricity safely. They can even use nuclear waste for fuel, solving another problem. Cheap, base load electricity, can power electric vehicles as well as create hydrogen.
Petroleum based vehicles can be hybridized to maximize fuel efficiency and battery utilization, i.e. a 10 mile range PHEV in 10 cars will have a far better battery utilization than a 100 mile range battery in one car. Also, those PHEVs will be used in urban environments where short drives are common and air pollution is an issue.
It’s nice to imagine a green world of pure clean renewables for power and electric vehicles everywhere, but it’s not realistic, and could backfire severely. Measured, marginal improvements are a better approach.

Posted by: Sideshow Bob | May 19 2022 23:49 utc | 76

Anyone with the time-it is long- and inclination-it is about France and the Yellow Vests-should read this article by Ramin Mazaheri.
“…there is no politician whom Macron resembles as much as Thiers, who colluded with occupying royalist Germans in 1871 to turn the Paris Commune into a bloodbath and into another failed French revolution which aimed to move away from autocratic oligarchy..”
http://thesaker.is/to-yellow-vests-hes-the-radical-macron-imposes-radical-centrism-for-brussels/

Posted by: bevin | May 20 2022 0:52 utc | 78

I really do hope that russia has a few dozen nukes I mean conventional Kinzhals and Sarmats set aside for war-mongering Warsaw and the dumb Pole Elites
https://westobserver.com/news/europe/prime-minister-of-poland-announced-the-need-to-destroy-the-russian-world/
Prime Minister of Poland announced the need to destroy the “Russian world”
“Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki announced his desire to destroy the monstrous ideology of the Russian world
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced the need to destroy the “Russian world”. The politician expressed his opinion in The Telegraph column.
The “Russian world” is a tumor that poses a mortal threat to the whole of Europe. We must completely eradicate this monstrous new ideology,” he wished.
Earlier, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev suggested that Moravetsky, who proposed imposing sanctions against members of United Russia, “went off the rails” on the basis of Russophobia. At the same time, the politician called Morawiecki a “pseudo prime minister.”…….”

Posted by: michaelj72 | May 20 2022 2:13 utc | 80

to Protagoras | May 19 2022 21:50 utc | 71
I was able to read Strategic Culture last night for the first time in weeks it seems, I had also been getting the 403 Forbidden. Now again it’s 403 Forbidden today when I checked earlier
they must be under attack again…. RT is also now down for me here in mexico, RT times out now – Before today I could connect but the format of the RT site was all screwed up
I am assuming that the Empire simply won’t allow for any serious discussion and dissent. South-front is up and running well here, though they too had been attacked at one point….

Posted by: michaelj72 | May 20 2022 2:23 utc | 82

@ michael 88
Strategic Culture & RT are fine in SoCal.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 20 2022 2:33 utc | 84

Those having internet access issues should look in to their DNS settings. Look it up if you don’t know what it is – basically it is the server that translates URLs to IPs. There are multiple vectors to the censorship but the main one seems to be via DNS servers – something extremely easy to circumvent.

Posted by: Ralph | May 20 2022 2:40 utc | 86

Regarding Syria:
SYRIAN ARMY DISPATCHES ELITE TIGER FORCES TO CENTRAL REGION IN PREPARATIONS FOR ANTI-ISIS OPERATION (VIDEOS)
(Sorry for the CAPS.)
“On May 19, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) elite 25th Special Mission Forces Division, also known as the Tiger Forces, dispatched a large force to central Syria as a part of ongoing preparation for a large-scale operation against ISIS cells in the region.
The force included dozens of battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, howitzers, multiple rocket launchers as well as hundreds of troops.
The operation, which will reportedly start very soon, will cover vast parts of the central region, from the eastern Homs countryside all the way to the eastern Hama countryside, the southern Aleppo countryside and the southern Raqqa countryside.

Posted by: Bemildred | May 20 2022 2:52 utc | 88

Karlofi 79
Thanks for the Maria Z. quote on Lithuania. Made my day to see the veil pulled off. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia should be renamed the Lunatic States.

Posted by: Moses22 | May 20 2022 2:57 utc | 90

@ 94 Syrian Tiger Forces
2016: The Syrian Arab Army’s (SyAA) answer to Erwin Rommel is a man named Suheil al-Hassan. Nicknamed “The Tiger” (al-Nimr), al-Hassan has emerged as the SyAA’s best-known commander in the current Syrian War. Since 2012 he and his “Tiger Forces” have achieved a string of battlefield victories
2018: On 30 September 2015, Russia officially entered the Syrian Civil War alongside the Syrian government. Russian air, artillery, and special forces immediately supported the Air Intelligence-backed Tiger Forces, a partnership that only grew deeper in the subsequent years. Russian generals, officers, and special forces soldiers have been pictured in the field alongside Tiger Forces fighters and commanders, indicating an intimate integration of Russian assets alongside their chosen partner force.
2022: Members of Syrian Brigadier-General Suheil Salman al-Hassan’s division (also known as the Tiger Force) are reportedly registering to join the Russian force in Ukraine. The division is one of the hundreds of Syrian combatants trained by Russia during its intervention. Other fighters were also reportedly former soldiers, rebels, and veterans who fought against ISIS in the Syrian desert for years.

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 20 2022 3:07 utc | 92

@vetinLA
You’re kinda late to the party, I think I answered that one adequately.

Posted by: Featherless | May 20 2022 4:10 utc | 94

Apparently Raytheon has a new laser they can shoot drones, and even mortar shells with :
https://sputniknews.com/20220519/raytheon-laser-weapon-on-stryker-vehicle-succeeds-at-shooting-down-incoming-mortar-shells-1095643990.html
So both Russia and the US have new laser weapons. How about that. I guess it’s the future now.

Posted by: Featherless | May 20 2022 5:18 utc | 96

I read an interesting opinion – that the Euro project cannot survive the loss of cheap Russian energy. The prediction was that it won’t last the decade.
The reasoning was that the Euro project was never stable. They had to save southern Europe with bonds and money printing – but this only works with low interest rates. Once stagflation takes hold, it all falls apart and they can’t fix it. Without Russian energy, they become uncompetitive. Add the costs of going green and it gets worse.
Posted by: Eighthman | May 20 2022 2:29 utc | 89
The foremost reasons they had to “rescue” anybody with funny money is that their productive economies had been already gutted long ago, their produce stifled with maximum quotas and outside imports, and they had been deprived of the authority to enact any possibly remedial measures on their own.

Posted by: Arganthonios | May 20 2022 6:50 utc | 98

sorry Smallpox

Posted by: ld | May 20 2022 8:50 utc | 100