- Putin apologises for Lavrov’s Hitler remarks, Israel’s PM says - Al jazeerah
- Telephone conversation with Prime Minister of Israel Naftali Bennett (no apology in there) - Kremlin.ru

Well intuitively it seems obvious that Bennet is lying. Is there anything uncharacteristic about that? "No comment" from Putin - that is also unsurprising: always diplomatic, he is hardly going to explicitly show up Bennet as lying. In effect, "No comment" is confirmation that there was no apology; if he had apologised (what justification could there be anyway?), he would surely be open to that fact.

Posted by: BM | May 8 2022 14:36 utc | 1

thanks b...

@ 1 bm - i agree with you... on the bigger picture - whose side is israel on here? i think they have to be on the uk-usa's side, but i suspect they are confused about all this as we edge closer to regime change in saudi arabia...

Posted by: james | May 8 2022 14:59 utc | 2

the mintpress article on tiktok is fascinating... thanks for sharing that..

Posted by: james | May 8 2022 15:19 utc | 3

whose side is israel on here?
Posted by: james | May 8 2022 14:59 utc | 2

Well, their own, naturally. Have you ever heard of Israel being on any side but their own?

Posted by: BM | May 8 2022 15:47 utc | 4

@ bm... that is always true and a good place to start when trying to understand geo politics and international affairs..

Posted by: james | May 8 2022 15:50 utc | 5

Diesel fuel prices in the US have gone up nearly 10% in the last month - after the SPR release. This includes literal new record prices every single day for several weeks.

Gasoline in turn is going to take a serious shot at setting new records this week.

Gasoline (Record price 4.331 set on 3/11/2022)

Current Avg. 4.317

Yesterday Avg. 4.301

Week Ago Avg. 4.187

Month Ago Avg. 4.139

Year Ago Avg. 2.960

Diesel (Present price is record)

Current Avg. 5.539

Yesterday Avg. 5.531

Week Ago Avg. 5.296

Month Ago Avg. 5.062

Year Ago Avg. 3.109

And yes, gasoline and diesel prices in the UK and Europe are higher...but the average Brit household drives 7,400 mile per year; the average European household drives 7062 miles per year vs. the average American household drives 14,200 miles per year (depending on source)...and has a far worse average gas mileage on top of that. US average MPG = 25, UK = 38.8, presumably EU slightly higher than the UK.

It is furthermore not the least bit clear that the average American household can significantly reduce the amount of miles driven.

And sure, a doubling of gas prices means only $500 more spending a year in the US - but again the effect of fuel and food price increases is always the greatest on the poor.

The rich effectively don't care, even if they weren't less affected to start with due to newer cars/higher average mpg or EV ownership.

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 16:06 utc | 6

Thanks, b. Excellent digest for Sunday morning.

That was a very good article from New Left Review and it drove home the fact that even with the unprecedented attempts at narrative control (and unprecedented success, I must say) the truth somehow trickles through. I s'pose NLR will have their Paypal and Venmo funding channels cut off now.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 16:22 utc | 7

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 16:06 utc | 6

Yep. Just yesterday my wife and I were out to pick up some food in NW Houston and regular unleaded is up to $3.99/gallon with diesel nearly $5.00 US. And this is in a place with a lot of energy industry presence including refineries and off-shore wells.

When I was in the Phoenix area in March, I paid $5.59 for 93 octane (which my car allegedly requires) and can only imagine what prices are like there now. That said, if there's a nuclear war, I'll go there anyway.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 16:25 utc | 8

Not that anyone else cares or will 'fact-check' me, but I was wrong. I paid $5.59 for 91 octane as you cannot get 93 in the desert southwest.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 16:27 utc | 9

Re: Streeck

Interesting subtext regarding German politics, if I am understanding correctly: that the reason for Scholz' utter lack of sovereignty (or balls) is that his party (the SPD) via Steinmeier is being positioned as the punching bag/bag holder for the failed German policies of both Merkel and the Greens.

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 16:31 utc | 10

@Tom_Q_Collins #8

AAA's gas price page is nice because you can see the state level data as well.
Premium gas prices in Arizona have been fairly steady at $5.196 vs. $5.163 a month ago.
But Texas is a different story: it was $4.606 now vs. $4.403 a month ago.

As for where to go in nuclear war: Arizona ain't it. It is far, far too close to all manner of military bases in Nevada plus many bases in Arizona itself, mody of which would be top of any targeting list.

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 16:38 utc | 11

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 16:38 utc | 12

Oh yeah I know, trust me I looked up the map of likely targets when I was there in March. I've also been to Nellis and Creech as well as Luke and Davis-Monthan; won't say why.

In any case, we were in the mountains N of Peoria in a very primitive setting. Everyone there has spring water that flows via gravity from mountain tops along with cattle and other means of sustenance. It's probably 90 miles NW of PHX and not accessible via paved roads. Took me an hour and 15 minutes to drive the final 20 miles on what are literally labeled "primitive" roads. If I was in a 4X4 it might have been a little quicker, but there are people living there and the posted speed limit is 12MPH to reduce dust. I'm pretty sure that would be a better place than Houston in the event of a nuclear war, but I've also got family and friends in the Alpine (TX) area near Big Bend, so maybe that would be an option.

As far as gas prices, I definitely wasn't shopping around or trying very hard to find Costcos, but premium unleaded is probably six bucks in Peoria now. It also helps to have an Albertsons membership, saved my buddy about $1.25/gallon (regular unleaded).

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 16:47 utc | 12

As for where to go in nuclear war: Arizona ain't it. It is far, far too close to all manner of military bases in Nevada plus many bases in Arizona itself, mody of which would be top of any targeting list.

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 16:38 utc | 12

That, and it's difficult to imagine a less pleasant place to be stuck in when infrastructure collapses -- no air conditioning, little in the way of local food supply, and a severely stressed drinking water supply. Death Valley, maybe.

And sure, a doubling of gas prices means only $500 more spending a year in the US - but again the effect of fuel and food price increases is always the greatest on the poor.

The rich effectively don't care, even if they weren't less affected to start with due to newer cars/higher average mpg or EV ownership.

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 16:06 utc | 6

Your point is good, but I'm curious: Is that increased $500 a cost increase paid directly at the pump, or does it include fuel price increases baked into the price of literally everything that needs to be transported?

Posted by: malenkov | May 8 2022 16:48 utc | 13

@Tom_Q_Collins #13

The main issue with Arizona is that the entire state is basically dry. It isn't just the drinking water issue malenkov noted, it is that radioactive dust will go forever.

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 17:00 utc | 14

@malenkov #15
No, the $500 is solely the gasoline/diesel price increase impact on household budgets.
The effects of high diesel prices, as well as the general commodity supercycle, on everything else via increased production/transport costs is extra.
The impact on utility bills is also going to be significant; California is already forecasting both potential brownouts and a 4% to 9% utility bill increase. I will not be the least bit surprised if the increases are far greater; US natural gas prices seem clearly to have exited the $2 range into a $4 new normal, but global natural gas price indexes are $8+ - or in more simple terms, at highs even beyond late 2021.

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 17:05 utc | 15

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 8 2022 16:47 utc | 14

"1/ VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: Premier Dan Andrews is passing a bill that prohibits people from growing their own food.

https://twitter.com/apexworldnews/status/1522277619974217729
"

Unbelievable. But Australia seems to be the cutting edge of the totalitarian thrust threatening to engulf us all. This thrust is the big story right now, far bigger than what's happening in Ukraine. I still can't shake off the suspicion that Russia and China are on board with this thrust somehow. Or maybe the rest of the multipolar world will be relatively free and open but the wicked West will be a gulag archipelago for a while until we've learned our collective lesson?

In any case, thxs for the heads up.

Posted by: Scorpion | May 8 2022 17:14 utc | 16

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 17:00 utc | 16

You guys aren't reading what I wrote. Look up Champie School or Morristown. Almost all of the drinking water in those very sparsely populated areas is from mountain springs. Also search for Castle Hot Springs Resort for a better idea of how it works. There's no infrastructure to speak of there, LOL. I wouldn't be caught dead in Phoenix nuclear war or not. That place sucks.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 17:16 utc | 17

RE: Deserts being "dry" no kidding. If you have some survival skills, however, you can make it for quite a while. Barrel cacti are a good source of water in an emergency, but again, the springs where I was are enough to raise herds of cattle. Believe it or not, there is ranching in the mountainous desert.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 17:17 utc | 18

Posted by: malenkov | May 8 2022 16:48 utc | 15

Apologies to the thread for repeated posts on the same topic.

RE: "air conditioning is non-existent" is rubbish. There's more air conditioning in Arizona than there is in NYC. And guess what; it's evaporative cooling - very electricity efficient. You don't even need potable water for it. Humidity being as low as it is, you can effectively cool a large building with a generator or PV array & inverter and a supply of dirty water.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 17:20 utc | 19

Lula Proposes Latin American Currency to "Be Freed Of US Dollar" Dependency

"Brazil’s left-wing leader Lula da Silva says if he wins the 2022 presidential elections, “we are going to create a currency in Latin America,” called the Sur ('South'), to combat 'the dependency on the dollar'....

"Lula explained that countries in Latin America could still keep their sovereign domestic currency, but they could use the Sur to do bilateral trade with each other, instead of having to exchange for US dollars.

"The Sur could also help to contain inflation in the region, Lula argued.

"Lula said the goal of the currency would be to deepen Latin American integration and strengthen the region’s economic sovereignty, weakening its dependence on the United States."

Posted by: Vintage Red | May 8 2022 17:22 utc | 20

Posted by: Vintage Red | May 8 2022 17:22 utc | 22

This came up in another thread; can't remember which. Lula is setting himself up to be Qaddafi'd.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 17:25 utc | 21

SNAKE ISLAND: team Russia gets pounded by Ukrainian drones and Jets. All on video. Russian MoD makes... unsubstantiated claims. Are Russia's military and state media trying to outdo each other with stupidity and incompetence?

This has to be the weirdest war ever fought. Russia says it wants to demilitarise Ukraine, but somehow after more than 2 months in, Ukraine still operates its air force jets and helicopters, propeller driven drones commit mass murder, enough air defences still operate to prevent Russian jets flying over most of the country and C4 centres in Kiev/Lviv haven't even been touched. Are they waiting for another ship to sink? If actionable threats were a bad deterrent, empty ones are even worse.

Looking more like a Special Needs Operation if you ask me. Who would ever want to join the Russian armed forces after seeing this??? so much for claims the S 400 being able to cover the entire Back Sea... can't even take down drones and old jets in time to protect their own men on the only friggin Island in it!

https://southfront.org/battle-for-snake-island-russian-forces-left-positions-but-prevent-ukrainian-from-gaining-foothold-videos/

Posted by: Et Tu | May 8 2022 18:02 utc | 22

@ Et Tu | May 8 2022 18:02 utc | 24

Use as open - Not Ukraine - thread ...

i guess you missed that... it implies english is not your first language, or your retention skills are not great..

Posted by: james | May 8 2022 18:10 utc | 23

@ Posted by: james | May 8 2022 18:10 utc | 25

LOL thx for the patronising roasting. just didn't pay attention

Posted by: Et Tu | May 8 2022 18:38 utc | 24

From the ukraine-open-thread-2022-60

Michael Parenti's book, To Kill A Nation: The Attack On Yugoslavia, provides an outline and
much more about the tactics of the CIA, ... Same basic formulae are used again and again.
Posted by: Chaka Khagan | May 7 2022 16:32 utc | 13

Thanks for the bump back to that book. Yes, same formulae. I just reread Parenti's
introduction and if you sub in Ukraine whenever he mentions Yugoslavia you would be up to date.

I've always favored Parenti over Chomsky. He's a far better speaker.
He has a YouTube by that same name. The first 25 minutes outline exactly
how the capitalists work their evil.
To Kill A Nation

Posted by: waynorinorway | May 8 2022 18:53 utc | 25

RE: "air conditioning is non-existent" is rubbish. There's more air conditioning in Arizona than there is in NYC. And guess what; it's evaporative cooling - very electricity efficient. You don't even need potable water for it. Humidity being as low as it is, you can effectively cool a large building with a generator or PV array & inverter and a supply of dirty water.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 17:20 utc | 21

In any decent-sized nuclear war -- that was the context, wasn't it? -- I think it would be foolish to anticipate the survival of any electricity infrastructure. So much for your swamp cooler unless it runs on a perpetual motion machine.

Posted by: malenkov | May 8 2022 19:09 utc | 26

This came up in another thread; can't remember which. Lula is setting himself up to be Qaddafi'd.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 17:25 utc | 23

***

Didn't see it, apologies. Hopefully Lula won't suffer the same fate. Libya was regime-changed over a decade ago, I'm hoping the global balance of forces has changed enough that the US can no longer murder heads of state with impunity. At least not among the BRICS.

Posted by: Vintage Red | May 8 2022 19:09 utc | 27

Lula is setting himself up to be Qaddafi'd.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 17:25 utc | 23

Absolutely, although I suspect it's more likely he'd get Torrijos'd or Kennedied.. But then, I'm surprised that this hasn't happened to AMLO yet. Guess we're losing our touch.

Posted by: malenkov | May 8 2022 19:11 utc | 28

Posted by: Vintage Red | May 8 2022 19:09 utc | 29

the US just deposed Imran Khan. i don't think they would stop at murdering him, or Lula, or Maduro, or anybody else really. that's part of what his war is about, to protect the US "right" to order the world as it sees fit.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 19:13 utc | 29

Posted by: waynorinorway | May 8 2022 18:53 utc | 27

and as far as I know, he hasn't functioned as a gatekeeper, as Chomsky has recently.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 19:15 utc | 30

Tom Friedman's NYT article is such ridiculous bit of propaganda and lies I wonder why you link to it here. He's right about CIA leaks about US intelligence being used to sink ships and kill Russia generals is a very dangerous provocation. He also states many ridiculous lies, such as that Russia planned to take Kyiv but failed, the liberation of Donbass is still in question, that Putin is looking for an off-ramp and is desperate.etc. Friedman-"Its hard to exaggerate what a catastrophe this war has been for Putin so far" "Alas we have to be alive to the fact that its not only Russians who would like to involve us more deeply" "we are dealing with a politically wounded Putin." Even the most pro-US polling organizations say that Putin's popularity in Russia is at an all time high, the Ruble has rebounded, the operation seems to be going exactly as planned, and the idea that Russia wants US/NATO to enter the war and start a world war with one of the most powerful militaries that could lead to a nuclear exchange is idiotic nonsense. Friedman is an overpaid a clown living in a fantasy world. Its amazing that the NYT continues to publish these delusional perspectives at this point. What are they going to do when the whole East is under Russian control, the AFU is 3/4s eliminated and Russia than actually moves to take Kyiv, act like its a surprise that they never saw coming? Whats really scary is the doubling down on the US/MSM lies about this war, because as their lies become increasingly untenable they will be the ones who are in a corner and may do something stupid.

Posted by: james c | May 8 2022 19:15 utc | 31

Any other way to get to read the Alastair Crooke article at SCF? I cannot access it at my locale.

Posted by: Kouros | May 8 2022 19:16 utc | 32

Torrijos, Quaddafi and Lula oppose the US empire. Kennedy embodied it.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 19:20 utc | 33

Torrijos, Quaddafi and Lula oppose the US empire. Kennedy embodied it.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 19:20 utc | 35

All very true, although Kennedy was beginning to have his doubts about the CIA.

Less than absolute loyalty is absolute disloyalty, dontcha know.

Posted by: malenkov | May 8 2022 19:23 utc | 34

i'm not sure where in the US or Mexico or Canada to go if the shit really hits the fan, assuming that is that significant numbers of people survive the nuclear attacks and the initial behavioral sink that follows the collapse. drinking water, food, defensible position are requirements.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 19:25 utc | 35

well, they hadn't succeeded yet in assassinating Castro, as he wanted them to do, but then they wanted to depose Castro, too. and the CIA was much more prone to using the press to undermine a president that opposed it, see Jimmy Carter.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 19:28 utc | 36

or Donald Trump for that matter.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 19:29 utc | 37

Happy Mother's Day (US).

Saw the new Doctor Strange movie.

It gets a score of 35 out of 35 for 3D.

You must read this article first before you go
so you can know what the heck is going on.
Unless of course you are a zealously dedicated Marvel nerd
that already knows everything there is to know in all universes.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/05/doctor-strange-multiverse-madness-marvel

If you don't see it in 3D then you didn't see it.

Posted by: librul | May 8 2022 19:29 utc | 38

the US just deposed Imran Khan. i don't think they would stop at murdering him, or Lula, or Maduro, or anybody else really. that's part of what his war is about, to protect the US "right" to order the world as it sees fit.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 19:13 utc | 31

***

Yes, had just thought about this after posting @29.

By "Qaddifi'd" I was taking as meant the full mercenary-assault with NATO (or whatever "coalition of the willing" equivalent) air support, leading to Lula's capture/murder, as opposed to the recent parliamentary regime-change in Pakistan.

The US wouldn't hesitate at murdering anyone, including its own citizens, whenever it deems them inconvenient. But the "with impunity" applies less and less. I remember some here describing the turning back of the US headchopper proxies in Syria as this age's "Stalingrad"; today we may be seeing "Kursks" in such ops as Kazakhstan and now the Ukraine—the US still able to launch offensive moves but seeing them fail miserably, or perhaps achieve Pyrrhic victories at best. We can't ever underestimate the Empire's capabilities or criminal nature but we can hope that with each passing year its capacity for offensive action wanes to the point that countries of any size, with Multipolar world support, can defend themselves.

Posted by: Vintage Red | May 8 2022 19:34 utc | 39

@ Tom_Q_Collins | May 8 2022 16:47 utc | 13

W. C. Fields allegedly said, when confronted with the likelihood of his going to hell in the afterlife, "On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia." But unfortunately Philadelphia and the US East Coast would be no place to be in the event of a nuclear war and would probably approximate typical portrayals of hell in such an event. So I would say, as I heard someone say long ago in Seattle, "In the event of nuclear war, I'd rather be in Kalaloch."

Posted by: Cabe | May 8 2022 19:53 utc | 40

By "Qaddifi'd" I was taking as meant the full mercenary-assault with NATO (or whatever "coalition of the willing" equivalent) air support, leading to Lula's capture/murder, as opposed to the recent parliamentary regime-change in Pakistan. [snip]

Posted by: Vintage Red | May 8 2022 19:34 utc | 41
Oh, I doubt that kind of assault would be necessary. The Brazilian military seems somewhat embarrassed by Bolsonaro, but I'm sure it could be easily inspired to pick off Lula, or stand aside while some mysterious assassin or gang does the job.

Posted by: malenkov | May 8 2022 20:26 utc | 41

@ pretzelattack | May 8 2022 19:25 utc | 37

Where to be to survive nuclear war?

First of all, Herman Kahn, the famous US nuclear war planner, who always argued for survivability and is even thought to have been one of the inspirations for the character Dr. Strangelove, stated that in event of nuclear war, he would prefer to be at ground zero. So even he didn't really think total nuclear war would be worth surviving.

But some would survive, as we have discussed before. The best places for that would be: South Africa, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, none of which would be likely to be targeted. One could add to that list New Zealand and Australia, if one could be confident that their being allied with the US would not attract similar nuclear annihilation to be rained down on them. Southern hemispheric countries would even possibly be able to survive as organized states, though they would still suffer and quite possibly also experience a severe population loss owing to the collapse of the world distribution system.

In the US, it would only be areas in the West where survival would mostly be possible, preferably on the Pacific Ocean coast. In Canada, it would be northern and western Vancouver Island or the Queen Charlotte Islands (now known by their Haida name Haida Gwaii).

It is likely that a downward spiral would affect the survivors with continued mass death, and that most people who did not die in the blasts or from radiation sickness would succumb to starvation, even without the nuclear winter scenario that is controversial as to its extent and effects. In the worst nuclear winter scenario, it is possible that the human race would almost go extinct, though it seems most likely that some persons, and not necessarily the best persons, would survive.

Posted by: Cabe | May 8 2022 20:27 utc | 42

And yes, gasoline and diesel prices in the UK and Europe are higher...but the average Brit household drives 7,400 mile per year; the average European household drives 7062 miles per year vs. the average American household drives 14,200 miles per year (depending on source)...and has a far worse average gas mileage on top of that. US average MPG = 25, UK = 38.8, presumably EU slightly higher than the UK.

It is furthermore not the least bit clear that the average American household can significantly reduce the amount of miles driven.

And sure, a doubling of gas prices means only $500 more spending a year in the US - but again the effect of fuel and food price increases is always the greatest on the poor.

The rich effectively don't care, even if they weren't less affected to start with due to newer cars/higher average mpg or EV ownership.

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 16:06 utc | 6

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 8 2022 20:31 utc | 43

think that this is related to Ukraine operation, attempts by US-centralized Empire to sink the ruble and the Russian economy
....what's sinking is the approval ratings of the leaders of the West.
I wonder how 'popular' those wankers Stoltenberg (head of nato), von der Leyen (head of the EU commission) and Borrell (head of EU 'foreign policy') et. al. are?

https://twitter.com/GonzaloLira1968/status/1523335971747639297
Gonzalo Lira @GonzaloLira1968

Leaders' internal approval ratings:

►Biden: 41%
►Boris: 30%
►Macron: 36%
►Scholz: 36%
►Trudeau: 41%
►Vladimir Putin: 81%

Sources: https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/

Posted by: michaelj72 | May 8 2022 20:47 utc | 44

It is furthermore not the least bit clear that the average American household can significantly reduce the amount of miles driven.

And sure, a doubling of gas prices means only $500 more spending a year in the US - but again the effect of fuel and food price increases is always the greatest on the poor.

The rich effectively don't care, even if they weren't less affected to start with due to newer cars/higher average mpg or EV ownership.

Posted by: c1ue | May 8 2022 16:06 utc | 6

Three aspects here.

1. The inability to edit comments results in posts like my previous, and much worse. I would generously contribute to crowdfunding of that: relatively high quality of posts here (even trolls try their best, a kudos to them too!) is an important attraction, but it could be even better.

2. Poor Americans! Vehemently oppose rises of gas taxes, and then yokels in my neck of the woods have potholes (Pennsylvania has a bad ratio of gas taxes to the length of roads). But taxes on cigarettes go up and up, "for your own good". As a bicycling smokers I would [deleted after much thought]

3. Example of Green thinking (a.k.a. mental salad). A year ago a friend of mine got a hybrid car for the same price as an efficient non-hybrid at the time. As an urban driver, the person decreased gasoline consumption almost twice (allegedly, 45-50 mpg). The price was a nice surprise, all because the zazz is in electric cars that have some unresolved problems:
a. working class sods who have long commutes -- jobs in places where they cannot afford to live -- cannot afford them.
b. even if these cars were gifts, electricity is more expensive than gasoline (both go up) in California and Massachusetts (a lot of urban driving)
c. and how is this electricity made?

In the same time, hybrids (and using compacts/subcompacts) would half carbon emission, and because they became so economic, with dedicated credits and programs like subsidized trade-in of gas guzzlers, such a program could quickly save a lot of hydrocarbons, carbon, and even lift the available incomes of working class folks like my hair dresser (she has some shift relatively closer to home, but this is a poor affordable area, so she has to have some shifts here, one hour driving each way).

But no! Hybrids became un-pure and un-worthy. Cool people must buy electric! And roof solar panels. Forget that the problem cannot be solved if less than 10% can afforded it (this is of course even larger issue on global scale).

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 8 2022 20:49 utc | 45

►Biden: 41%
►Boris: 30%
►Macron: 36%
►Scholz: 36%
►Trudeau: 41%
►Vladimir Putin: 81%

Sources: https://www.statista.com/statistics/896181/putin-approval-rating-russia/

Posted by: michaelj72 | May 8 2022 20:47 utc | 46

At least, in UK everything is under control. It took some effort, but Boris is dispensable, as Labour was purged of undesirables. On the list, only Macron is important to keep, and there is a chance that parliamentary elections in France will disappoint the Empire.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 8 2022 21:01 utc | 46

Posted by: Vintage Red | May 8 2022 19:34 utc | 41

Oh, I doubt that kind of assault would be necessary. The Brazilian military seems somewhat embarrassed by Bolsonaro, but I'm sure it could be easily inspired to pick off Lula, or stand aside while some mysterious assassin or gang does the job.

Posted by: malenkov | May 8 2022 20:26 utc | 43

***

I agree. In retrospect I posted too quickly, not considering the many possible kinds of regime change and being too literal in my reading of "Qaddafi'd".

Hoping as well for Libya to win back its own sovereignty, with the solidarity of the Multipolar world

Posted by: Vintage Red | May 8 2022 21:30 utc | 47

B names Return of the King by Wolfgang Streek as this week's must-read. I agree: the article is very good on the Ukraine's recent past, its present predicament, and its likely future.

One sentence really caught my eye: Rumours have it that the numerous wargames commissioned in recent years from military thinktanks by the American government involving Ukraine, NATO and Russia have one way or other all ended in nuclear Armageddon, at least in Europe.

It's a rumor but a very plausible one. Nuclear armaggedon, at least in Europe, seems likely if the neocons in Washington keep doubling down, as is their wont. This leads to another thought: the US knows that Europe will probably be destroyed, yet it continues to stoke the conflict. Therefore, the death of a large economic competitor, namely Europe, is what the US -- or a least a faction of the US -- wants!

To Europeans: is Europe's death what YOU want? Not importing energy from Russia will destroy your economy, but you won't need an economy if you are dead.

To the nutcases in Washington DC: How would a dead Europe help you in the fight against China?

Posted by: Cyril | May 8 2022 21:36 utc | 48

@ Cabe with the BS about nuclear survivability

As a native Washingtonian you set me off with your Kalaloch reference as a safe place. Why don't you look up Bangor, WA and see how far away Kalaloch is from there. Bangor is the US West coast nuke base and would be ground zero in the first round of strikes.

I am too lazy to find links but I have read and believe that there is minimal, if any, human survival from a major nuclear war. If the radiation don't get you right away, it does cover the globe eventually and spread everywhere and into everything.

If you live in the West like me, you know that our social contract has a private cult owning the levers of finance, which they have for centuries. We have seen them use nukes at the end of WWII and more recently, biological warfare.

If the God Of Mammon cult fear retribution more than they love their children then our species may face the extinction path.....its above my pay grade to know.

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 8 2022 21:59 utc | 49

Cabe @44

As 5 Eyes members Aus & NZ have always been in the Nuclear firing line. Growing up in NZ during the 1980s it was well know that the GCSB (branch office of the NSA) operated a direction-finding array for monitoring the Soviet Navy that was situated only ~10-20km from my home town. My parents told me that if we were home alone and saw a bright flash in the western sky I was to fill the bathtub and sinks with water and put wet towels under the doors. If it's still there I bet a submarine-launched nuclear cruise missile has it dialed in.

Posted by: S.P. Korolev | May 8 2022 22:15 utc | 50

Streeck's essay is an odd one. He accepts tacitly that the US is run by rational policy makers, that Russia will be weakened by the war, that NATO resupply will be enough to keep Ukraine fighting, and that the crippling effects of the sanctions war will not cause social and political chaos in Europe (even without them Le Pen lost by a whisker—no mention of that in his essay). His picture of a rump Russia dependent on China for tech (?) is also odd.

b, why did you think it was a 'must read'?

Posted by: Patroklos | May 8 2022 22:25 utc | 51

@41 Vintage Red | May 8 2022 19:34 utc - We can't ever underestimate the Empire's capabilities or criminal nature but we can hope that with each passing year its capacity for offensive action wanes to the point that countries of any size, with Multipolar world support, can defend themselves.

Thank you. I think your entire concluding paragraph is an excellent summary of the geopolitical state of play and the genuine reason to feel genuine hope.

Posted by: Grieved | May 8 2022 22:25 utc | 52

@Cyril 50
"B names Return of the King by Wolfgang Streek as this week's must-read. I agree: the article is very good on the Ukraine's recent past, its present predicament, and its likely future."

I strongly agree with this. Streeck's main claim to fame is his razor sharp deconstructions of the EU's neoliberal nature and its subservience to the US empire - and in this article he does an excellent job tying this in with the EU's role in the west's war against Russia in the Ukraine. It's also a good article to share with more "mainstream" type people who might have some skepticism about the war but don't know how to put it into context.

Posted by: Antiwar Dinosaur | May 8 2022 22:26 utc | 53

Matthew Ehret on bio labs here on rumble.

This week, I was invited to speak on the Mel K Show in order to shed some light on the strategic roots of the Pentagon's global bioweapons complex running 320+ biolabs across the world.

How did this opaque and dangerous network grow out of the 2001 Anthrax attacks which began on Sept. 18, 2001 and the earlier Dark Winter exercises? How is this connected to the absorption of General Hiro Ishii's Unit 731 bio terror network into Fort Detrick after WWII? How were plans for a post-war age of win-win cooperation sabotaged by the same machine that funded and directed the rise of fascism both prior to and even during WWII?

During the interview, a sober assessment of the growth of the US full spectrum “containment” policy encircling both Russia and China, and the various US military satraps of the Pacific whose sovereignty is in name only. Among those military colonies, we discuss South Korean, Japan, Taiwan, Guam and even increasingly the Philippines.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 8 2022 22:46 utc | 54

Thanks to b and commenters on his 'must read'. I've had two stabs at it, mostly because the language requires cogitation and my facility in that seems to be degenerating (age I fear). I do agree it is worth reading, so would encourage others.

I have a 'however' however -- would like very much those who would agree with the essay to give me some proof of the veracity of the following statement near the end of the piece:

"...Very likely, what Europe can deliver to the United States would exceed what Russia can deliver to China, so that a loss of Russia to China would be more than compensated by the gains from a tightening of American hegemony over Western Europe..."

I'm not seeing that as 'very likely' at this point; but who am I to know?

Posted by: juliania | May 8 2022 22:51 utc | 55

Anyone noticed the Philippines presidential elections ? BBM is popular with the young and the northern region. BBM is not the preferred US candidate.

VP is also important and is elected on a separate count. Sara Duterte, the VP candidate, is popular in the south and unlikely to agree to the extradition of her father. Not the favourite US embassy choice.

Like the US, others usually saddle the president with a more compliant VP. Not in this case.

Think of JFK saddled by LBJ.

https://johnmenadue.com/the-philippines-another-marcos-presidency/

Posted by: Paul | May 8 2022 23:03 utc | 56

ok since JFK chose LBJ to win the south, why am I supposed to think of JFK being saddled with him. He didn't like him, had the typical east coast Ivy League disdain for "flyover country", similar to the current east coast Ivy League disdain toward Trump.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 23:11 utc | 57

@ juliania | May 8 2022 22:51 utc | 57

I don't care for the sort of prognostication you excerpt from b's "must read" ("The Return of the King"). For my taste, there's too much of such forecasting around here, in this bar. I don't buy the basic concept that insightful people can see into the future like that. I've said (not "for many years") that Martyanov is practically a model of truthfulness to me, scrupulously professional, avoiding speaking whereof he does not know -- holding back on conclusions about past events (let alone the future) absent sufficient evidence. Facts are more to my taste, rather than grossly speculative forecasts whether Europe shall flip this way or that.

There's a reason most political prognostication seems like children's fairytales to me: I've been paying attention to greenhouse gasses for many years. Seldom do such forecasts take into account GHG accumulation non-accidents inexorably proceeding in Earths ocean and atmosphere. We're usually looking at forecasts for yesterday's planet, not tomorrow's.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 8 2022 23:21 utc | 58

Will it be illegal to grow your own food in Victoria?
1/ VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: Premier Dan Andrews is passing a bill that prohibits people from growing their own food.
The Agriculture Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 has had its second reading in parliament.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 8 2022 16:47 utc | 14

Is this real or a beat up? I've had a quick search on the bill and I can't find the problem for urban gardening. Could you please provide references in the actual Bill rather than generalisations? People are already spreading this story around from social media with no proof.

Posted by: K | May 9 2022 0:03 utc | 59

"...To the nutcases in Washington DC: How would a dead Europe help you in the fight against China?"
Cyril@50

By not being part of the Chinese BRI. In effect a dead Europe would not be part of an integrated Eurasia.

It is the obvious benefits and synergies that integration in to a Vladivostok to Lisbon trading bloc would bring to, particularly, western Europe that make the US so intent on preventing any intensification of relations within Eurasia.

Posted by: bevin | May 9 2022 0:12 utc | 60

Scot Ritter has a stark warning for Finland: Join NATO and you will get nuked!

Scott Ritter; Ukraine, Finland and Nato, a Warning to the People of Finland

An interview with Scott Ritter, former Marine and U.N. weapons inspector, about the war in Ukraine and what will happen if Finland and Sweden join Nato.

The warning to Finland starts at about 29 minutes.

Posted by: Petri Krohn | May 9 2022 0:24 utc | 61

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 8 2022 23:11 utc | 59

"ok since JFK chose LBJ to win the south, why am I supposed to think of JFK being saddled with him. He didn't like him, had the typical east coast Ivy League disdain for "flyover country", similar to the current east coast Ivy League disdain toward Trump."

Hi pretzelattack,

Yes JFK was 'saddled'. Just like Biden is saddled by VP Harris.

I believe JFK was distrusted by the "Washington establishment" on Israel issues because of his father, Joseph Kennedy. LBJ was much more ideologically disposed to Zionism , look how he twice recalled the US carrier born aircraft sent to save the USS Liberty.

Is Texas "flyover country"?

The latest rumor from the Philippines is: considering that BBM and Sara Duterte have already declared victory and held a celebration. There will be a blackout or brownout tonight to switch the votes. Not unusual for the Philippines. This will cause trouble to say the least.

Posted by: Paul | May 9 2022 0:31 utc | 62

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 8 2022 23:21 utc | 60

Thank you, Aleph_Null. You express my own difficulties better -- and I agree.

Posted by: juliania | May 9 2022 0:32 utc | 63

From the Streek article:
"Ukrainian politics apart, an American proxy war for Ukraine may force Russia into a close relationship of dependence on Beijing, securing China a captive Eurasian ally and giving it assured access to Russian resources, at bargain prices as the West would no longer compete for them. Russia, in turn, could benefit from Chinese technology, to the extent that it would be made available."

Is it just me or does this statement sound naive as to the already publicly stated cooperation and special status between China and Russia?

The USA already and long since had anything, zero, zippo to say or do relative to cooperation between China and Russia. All this talk of driving Russia into China's arms is just more out of touch American exceptionalism, it seems to me.

The author's conclusions may be right about the EU and USA but I do not think this is a time in history to be banking on the empire's success anywhere in the world for much longer.

Posted by: K | May 9 2022 0:43 utc | 64

India must continue to insist on restoring the status quo ante, while dealing with what has been a clear change in China’s behaviour since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013, says Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda (retd.)

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/the-lac-crisis-has-been-a-wake-up-call-in-how-we-deal-with-china-says-former-northern-command-chief-lt-gen-ds-hooda/article65394688.ece

Posted by: Antonym | May 9 2022 0:47 utc | 65

All this talk of driving Russia into China's arms is just more out of touch American exceptionalism, it seems to me.

The author's conclusions may be right about the EU and USA but I do not think this is a time in history to be banking on the empire's success anywhere in the world for much longer.

Posted by: K | May 9 2022 0:43 utc | 66

I view it as the lack of comprehension that there may be a relationship not based on one party imposing its will on the other one to the largest possible extend. To such a person, if a husband is not beating up his wife, this means that she is actually stronger and is beating up him. To be pedantic, there is an important variation: both parties have a relationship with a yet stronger party, in which case that yet stronger party decides who can beat up whom (rule based world order!).

But if Russia and China are in a relationship, and neither avails itself to American patronage, the one of them has to beat up the other.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 9 2022 2:14 utc | 66

Below is a quote from Pepe's latest at The Saker

Alastair Crooke called my attention to a startling, original interpretation of what’s goin’ on, offered in Russian by a Serbian analyst, Prof. Slobodan Vladusic. His main thesis, in a nutshell: “Megalopolis hates Russia because it is not Megalopolis – it has not entered the sphere of anti-humanism and that is why it remains a civilization alternative. Hence Russophobia.”

Vladusic contends that the intra-Slav war in Ukraine is “a great catastrophe for Orthodox civilization” – mirroring my recent first attempt to open a serious debate on a Clash of Christianities.

Yet the major schism is not on religion but culture: “The key difference between the former West and today’s Megalopolis is that Megalopolis programmatically renounces the humanistic heritage of the West.”

So now “it is possible to erase not only the musical canon, but also the entire European humanistic heritage: the entire literature, fine arts, philosophy” because of a “trivialization of knowledge”. What’s left is an empty space, actually a cultural black hole, “filled by promoting terms such as ‘posthumanism’ and ‘transhumanism’.”

And here Vladusic gets to the heart of the matter: Russia fiercely opposes the Great Reset concocted by the “hackable”, self-described “elites” of Megalopolis.

I simplify the contrast of paradigms into the social organization effects of having public finance as a utility versus having the levers of finance owned and operated by and for a historical elite of "Anglo Saxons" as Pepe continues to call the God of Mammon cult.

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 9 2022 2:27 utc | 67

@bevin | May 9 2022 0:12 utc | 62

[A dead Europe would help the US by] not being part of the Chinese BRI. In effect a dead Europe would not be part of an integrated Eurasia.

A dead Europe would hurt the US far more than China.

At the moment, the US and EU have roughly the same GDP. Let G be that amount. Assume China's economy grows to 2G, double the size of the US's present GDP (the Middle Kingdom has already zoomed past G in PPP terms). In the same timeframe, assume the US and EU both grow to 1.2G.

A dead Europe would cost a US+EU alliance 1.2G / (1.2G + 1.2G) = 50% of its potential GDP.

A dead Europe would cost a China+EU alliance 1.2G / (2G + 1.2G) = 37.5% of its potential GDP.

So if Europe died in a nuclear armageddon, the US would be at a greater disadvantage relative to China than if Europe thrived.

Of course, I'm assuming that China's growth stopped at twice the US's current GDP. There's no reason for the Middle Kingdom to stop there. If China's GDP grew to 3G, the loss of Europe would cost the China+EU alliance only 1.2G / (3G + 1.2G) = 28.6% of its potential GDP. The US would be even more crippled in comparison.

Posted by: Cyril | May 9 2022 3:09 utc | 68

KOURAS
The path from sanctions to military escalator - paved by misconceptions
Alastair CrookeAlastair Crooke
Source: Al Mayadeen English
8 May 16
https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/the-path-from-sanctions-to-military-escalator---paved-by-mis

Posted by: downtownhaiku | May 9 2022 3:20 utc | 69

@pretzelattack #37
There are a lot of places to go - the main concerns are the proximity of nuclear targets, large populations of people within driving distance and some reasonable amount of rainfall to tamp down the radioactive dust.

The problem is once you get past the short term. Living in Idaho without trucked in food/fuel is a major issue as would living in the badlands of Wyoming. The no-people part of Oregon?

Canada - the food producing provinces are unfortunately on the same flat part of central North America as all the missile silos. Coastal populations are such that there will be no survivors, but there's always being an Inuit, I guess.

Mexico, however, looks like a much better bet. Areas which raise food but don't have enormous urban populations.

Posted by: c1ue | May 9 2022 3:26 utc | 70

The Psychology of Manipulation: 6 Lessons from the Master of Propaganda

https://off-guardian.org/2022/04/26/the-psychology-of-manipulation-6-lessons-from-the-master-of-propaganda/

1. If you manipulate the leader of a group, the people will follow
2. Words are powerful: the key to influencing a group is the clever use of language
3. Any medium of communication is also a medium for propaganda
4. Reiterating the same idea over and over creates habits and convictions
5. Things are not desired for their intrinsic worth, but rather for the symbols that they represent
6. One can manipulate individual actions by creating circumstances that modify group customs

-------

Posted by: librul | May 9 2022 4:10 utc | 71

Posted by: Paul | May 9 2022 0:31 utc | 64

yeah Paul JFK chose him. JFK WAS the washington establishment. he was a dedicated commie basher and war hawk, just like his dad. he picked LBJ to win the south, a common political calculus at the time. and yes, Texas was widely despised by the Washington establishment at the time, look at how many people blamed the city of Dallas Texas for the JFK assassination--eg a climate of hate. there were such articles all over the national press at the time.

LBJ, just like Kennedy, was a dedicated warmonger--there has been an ideological consensus on warmongering as foreign policy since FDR. both the Kennedys and LBJ supported Israel, don't know if JFK would have recalled the planes, but remember Sirhan Sirhan shot RFK because he did not support Palestinians. I think Israel benefited by the Vietnam War going on at the time, LBJ said he didn't want to attack an "ally" at the time because it would interfere with the great proxy war against the USSR and China. and of course Israel was a key piece in the great containment strategy toward the USSR, which the US is still implementing even now with its proxy wars against Russia and NATO expansion.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 9 2022 4:23 utc | 72

Recently, there have been a spate of terrorist attacks by Balochistan "freedom fighters" targeting China's CPEC economic project in Pakistan.

Far from being an isolated incident or merely a local Balochi suicide bombing, however, this attack is part of broader terrorist campaign, which likely has foreign sponsorship.

The question is which nations would be sponsoring these terrorist attacks?

Cui Bono--who benefits from this Balochi terrorist campaign against CPEC?

The nations that benefit from this terror bombing are America and India, as both of these "democracies" have been trying to sabotage for CPEC for years....

Indian state-sponsored terrorism in Balochistan
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/751520-indian-state-sponsored-terrorism-in-balochistan

Posted by: ak74 | May 9 2022 4:26 utc | 73

But if Russia and China are in a relationship, and neither avails itself to American patronage, the one of them has to beat up the other.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 9 2022 2:14 utc | 68

Good point thanks, I had not seen it that way. Good old Colonial power dynamics.

Posted by: K | May 9 2022 4:39 utc | 74

Posted by: c1ue | May 9 2022 3:26 utc | 72

otoh Mexico, which will get lots of nuclear fallout if no direct strikes, is not going to be very favorably disposed to hordes of US refugees, refugees from the very country that provoked the war which exposed a lot of Mexicans to radiation poisoning. or maybe they will take the opportunity to get their land back, who knows.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 9 2022 5:05 utc | 75

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 9 2022 4:23 utc | 74

JFK insisted on Israel permitting inspectors look at the Dimona nuclear plant and wrote a stern letter to Ben Gurian demanding further US inspection and Israel to join the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty before his murder, see "the Sampson Option", by Semour Hirsch, Laurent Guyénot, et al.

Barfly, Andrew S MacGregor transcribed the missing and censored 6 paragraphs from "Spycatcher" on JFK's murder recently. It fits and is very convincing. The CIA/UK SAS did it.

Posted by: Paul | May 9 2022 5:23 utc | 76

An intriguing possible solution to Nostradamus naming Hitler as Hister
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

(This one could have gone in the Ukraine open thread but is mostly about Hister.)

Loose ends on Hitler, Hister (Nostradamus), the Danube (sometimes Hister in Latin), and Snake Island.

Recent events reminded me of this and I thought I might as well share this loose end or two since it shouldn't cause anyone any problems.

Please also note:
· I think Hister was also used for a geographic area and people in this region along the Black Sea and that they gave their name to the river but this is by memory and might be wrong.
· Snake Island was known as the Island of Achilles to the Greeks according to Wikipedia etc. I expect people know about Achilles :) The island is to the east of the mouth/delta of the Danube (Hister).

Using the looped alphabet:
...abdcefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabdcefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz...

The shortest distance to go from "s" to "t" is one step forwards.

The shortest distance to go from "t" to "l" is eight steps backwards.

A simple obfuscation code giving the absolutes of 1 and 8 which when substituted with the 1st and 8th letter in the Latin alphabet in turn becomes A and H; the initials of Adolph Hitler.

All these loose ends might connect somehow in the mind of someone out there (correctly or incorrectly, for good or evil).

- - -

As usual (for too long) it is unlikely that I will be able to read or respond to replies. I try once in a while; I read most of the last open post on Ukraine.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | May 9 2022 7:54 utc | 77

There could easily be more in it that escapes me but which might interest some:
· The plus for the vowel and the minus for the consonant could mean something (it is two bits of information after all). Or vice versa if going in the opposite direction.
· Removing the letters in question returns "Hier", German for "here".

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | May 9 2022 8:17 utc | 78

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 9 2022 4:23 utc | 74

Sirhan Sirhan did not kill RFK! Read Lisa Pease's book on it

Posted by: v | May 9 2022 9:46 utc | 79

Re: Boeing.

Boeing's root problem is that it has been taken over by finance/marketing types.
Boieng has no enginer on its board that has risen through the ranks of Boeing engineering.
All engineers on the board are outsiders.
There is one engineer who worked at GE, another engineer from Qualcom.
I do not count the military rolling dooors lobbyists on the board.

Bottom line:
Boeing is a high technology aviation engineering company, yet none of its senior leadership have been promoted to their position from than engineering background. Boeing is doomed.

Posted by: Ltexpat | May 9 2022 10:38 utc | 80

Thanks for another weekly review, b! I look forward to reading through it. In this comment, I’d like to talk about Poland. Actually, just to post some Tweets pertaining to Canada-Poland-Ukraine relations. Inspired by PM Trudeau flying from Rzeszow back to Ottawa today.

But first a safety announcement from Canada’s Communication Security Establishment (CSE), that’d be the Five Eyes - Two Eyes department. Thread posted on April 1st —
https://twitter.com/cse_cst/status/1509872757131124741

June 2 is the provincial election for the province of Ontario.
From Poland’s embassy in Toronto —
https://twitter.com/PLinToronto/status/1523369050964865026

From Ontario city of Mississauga —
https://twitter.com/BonnieCrombie/status/1521598322145906688

Editorial note that Red Dress Day for Canada’s First Nations people is on May 5.
https://globalnews.ca/news/8813915/downtown-edmonton-national-red-dess-day-mmiwg/

Canada’s Immigration Minister Sean Fraser in Poland recently —
https://twitter.com/MUW_RP/status/1521857927505711106

Translation by Google:
“Sean Fraser, Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship, along with the delegation, and the Canadian Ambassador to Poland, Leslie Scanlon, visited the temporary accommodation point for refugees at Global Expo. Mazovia province governor
@Radziwill_K showed the guests around the facility.”

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | May 9 2022 12:23 utc | 81

Boeing is a high technology aviation engineering company, yet none of its senior leadership have been promoted to their position from than engineering background. Boeing is doomed.

Posted by: Ltexpat | May 9 2022 10:38 utc | 82

I suspect, there is also a power dynamic involved. To improve, Boeing would need to replace the leadership, perhaps better for the company -- but the social position and income of the current "rulers" would dive, and they have a means to perpetuate themselves, or they can be replaced with like-minded financiers, because this trend/business ideology affects is very wide, by no means restricted to Boeing.

For example, to improve, director hire consultants etc.

On yet larger scale, the same happens to the "collective West". An economic war was declared, but economists were send back to their cubicles, even so august as Janet Yellen, which is to sane to influence important decisions.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | May 9 2022 13:53 utc | 82

Correction: ± is of course 1 bit of information, not 2.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | May 9 2022 13:57 utc | 83

Does anybody understand what's going on in Sri Lanka? Another "spontaneous uprising", perhaps?

Posted by: farm ecologist | May 9 2022 14:00 utc | 84

@ psychohistorian | May 8 2022 21:59 utc | 51

I am also a native of Washington State (Seattle), but I live in Philadelphia.

I remember well a map of Washington we studied in 9th-grade science during the Cuban missile crisis which showed all the projected targets in Washington in a nuclear war; even Aberdeen and Hoquiam (small cities) were targeted, and it looked like most of the population would be killed by blast damage. The remark I made about Kalaloch was kind of a joke, because, as my father said at the time in declining to build an underground shelter, "Who would want to survive a nuclear war?." Still, only the ocean front would not be immediately affected by blast or fallout. I know that Bangor would be the first target in the state, but the blast would likely be blocked by the Olympic Mountains on the west, and the fallout would also be blown east. That it, assuming that no stray missiles fell west of the Olympics.

I don't believe longterm survival in any of those places would be easy, and life would become immediately unpleasant and desperate, so that dying earlier of blast or radiation might be preferable. As production would cease, people surviving underground in shelters or in areas not damaged directly would face starvation when their food ran out. This would be a main problem. Growing one's own food after not knowing how to do it would be hard. As for radiation, some longterm radiation would spread over the world, but, as it became reduced through radioactive decay, it would not be enough to kill people directly by acute radiation disease in places not irradiated early. However, longlasting isotopes would probably cause a lot of later cancer, and there would be no medical treatment available.

There is a set of maps showing targets in the US at https://modernsurvivalblog.com/nuclear/us-nuclear-target-map/ ; if anything, these maps are too conservative in their picture of destruction.

A comment also at that site that I would endorse, after my editing of it, states:

"All 12000 missiles would be launched, many to Europe and other strategic places. Military and possible sources of retaliation would not get one or two but twenty missiles to ensure complete destruction and if at all possible preventing counter launch. Then, the cities, airports and what not are all secondary. The attack...would read like this:...0300 AM while most are asleep and military has less brass awake, cyber attack nationwide. 0301 missiles launch in massive salvo. 0302 massive EMP from orbit. [In US,] nuclear sites pounded with two dozen missiles each, some shot down, some burnt in atmosphere, some just didn't work, most intended targets annihilated. Minor targets...civilian airports, small to medium cities may escape damage from the random missiles interception. Power out, welcome to primitive living. 200 million dead. 100 million burnt and dying. 20 million lucky sheltered, bunkered, mostly West Texas [except what about El Paso?], Oregon [meaning part of Oregon, mainly ocean front], and a few scattered small towns.

"Meanwhile, in the rest of the world... either by man, or by computer-operation, spoil sport begins. Everything from Germany to Moscow is leveled, burnt, and massive fires consume all to bedrock... China no longer exists either except the high mountains.
So then, as fallout encompasses the globe, the global population falls to a few million in a week, a million in three weeks, and perhaps 100,00 globally in a year. Nuclear winter is very exaggerated, but it does exist. The biggest problem is long lasting strontium [90] or whatever is sprayed about. Thirty to one hundred years later, a few tribes living like American Indians from remote and untouched parts of the globe walk a new world and only the stories of the old world remain."

The only caveat is that possibly some Southern Hemisphere places might fare better, but they would hurt too and also suffer mass death from starvation.

Posted by: Cabe | May 9 2022 15:49 utc | 85

May not be all that appealing to some here (like Soderberg's "Contagion" during a pandemic, perhaps) -- I've recently rewatched a couple of US American nuclear classics from back in the day: Testament (1983) and The Day After (also 1983). Fretting about nukes? How very quaint!

Testament hit me pretty hard the first time around, and just as hard today. Farther from the metropolis, everything decays gradually and inexorably, like fallout. One scene touches me with unparalleled poignance: as teenage daughter (Roxanna Zal) asks her mother (Jane Alexander) to describe what making love is like.

I must not have been paying as close attention the first time I saw The Day After. I experienced one of those rare re-viewings in which the piece looks much stronger than my previous impression. Jason Robards poured all he had into his role, with John Lithgow in a very early performance, and confident -- at times daring -- direction & screenplay. There's a glaring, forgivable flaw in the script: Lithgow, huddled in a university basement, can't raise anyone anywhere via shortwave -- then inexplicably, there's a presidential address for the students to listen to, over some magical radio device. Sorry about that. Narrative license, or something, allowing the students to ask, near the film's conclusion: "But who started it?"

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 9 2022 16:45 utc | 86

@ cabe 42 / 85.... scary thoughts..... i like northern vancouver island, but was unable to convince my wife to move their.. we are visiting in july... we presently live on the eastern part of vi... cheers.. philidelphia has a great music scene... if i could, i would live their for that!

Posted by: james | May 9 2022 16:45 utc | 87

@pretzelattack #75
Yes and no.
First of all, there are A LOT of ex-Mexico, ex-Central America, ex-South America nationals in the US and their kids. Going to be awful tough telling who is a gringo and who isn't - even if the government of Mexico is capable of such drastic and effective action (which I have my doubts).

Secondly, the number of refugees isn't going to be that many in a real nuclear war. The cities are going to be the epicenters of 500 mile+ death zones extending from the mid-suburbs outward, because if food/fuel infrastructure is disrupted then the massive populations of those areas will have no food and no way to go anywhere. These death zones would cover pretty much the entire East Coast down to the Carolinas and west through Pennsylvania, plus the areas around Chicago, SF Bay Area, LA, Portland, Seattle etc.
How much population is left outside of these zones?

Posted by: c1ue | May 9 2022 18:50 utc | 88

This is why gasoline prices aren't going down any time soon:

IMGUR pic of capex vs. oil price history since 1999

Note the enormous disconnect between oil prices right now vs. oil industry capex spending. In all 3 previous oil price ramps, oil industry capex increased more or less on par with oil prices increases.

This time, almost zero correlation. We're past COVID so it isn't COVID's fault - ESG is the only culprit left...

To me, this reads as oil going to $150 with peaks possibly to $200. It means more nuclear power plants. It means increased pressure on natural gas as CNG becomes more of a thing in the 1st world.

Posted by: c1ue | May 9 2022 18:55 utc | 89

Posted by: c1ue | May 9 2022 18:55 utc | 89

Have you seen this? The producer did a good job unwinding 10Y price moves without getting hung up on the KSA "consortium" that westerns love to hate. If he had, some one might question US title to Greast Net-exporter --especially since shale + tar sands isn't winning hearts and minds anywhere. OPEC totally played wildcats on the ride up; on the downside, they cemented true market power. No wonder OPEC is thumbing noses at EU/US kowtowing for "spare capacity." The ARAMCO IPO was the first cue diverting investment from crude drilling to refining distillates/feedstock P&E. OPEC+ is set to climb the value chain with ASEAN (notably China) material facilities: intermediate + finished.

Why Gas Got So Expensive (It’s Not the War) "Moving to a carbonless world will take time, and the oil industry can shrink faster than renewables can grow. ...The era of high fuel prices is here to stay": This is the penultimate statement of the presentation. Indisputable. Western consumers are not prepared to go "green" at all -- in times of peace or war.

Posted by: sln2002 | May 9 2022 23:46 utc | 90

I dunno what to say think about the result of the Philippines' election.
This is lesser evilism gone crazy - I have been deliberately not following this vote as soon as it became apparent that the 'lesser evil' was the son of Ferdinand Marcos, a total crook & creep who had some good comrades slaughtered back in the day, while his running mate is the daughter of another creep, this one currently retiring as president, who had levelled the towns & villages my former comrades came from, on the always oppressed (especially since amerikan colonisation of the Philippines from August 1898 onwards) island of Mindanao. Marcos Snr butchered in the name of fighting communism and Duterte Snr slaughtered, vandalised & tortured in the name of fighting 'islamic terror'.

Both lied as both were trying to silence the resistance to theft of indigenous land on Mindanao plus the forced transmigration (there is no literal definition in Tagalog, the ruling class language, but here is an Indonesian account of the same thing of 'undesirables' (ie poor, disabled & troublesome) from Luzon to Mindanao.

Yeah I realise the opposition to this pair is likely even worse than they, being comprised of amerikan arsehole kissing neoliberals, but I know this pair are awful humans who are perfectly capable of sucking amerikan dick should the situation demand.

My heart & mind goes out to the tens of millions ordinary decent people of the Philippines: on Luzon, Mindanao and all the other islands in the Philippine archipelago, people who have never, ever, had the opportunity to vote in a ballot where amerika doesn't have one appendage or another on the scales.
There is nought to celebrate, but much to mourn.

Posted by: Debsisdead | May 10 2022 6:37 utc | 91

Recall that USAss had recently rammed the MCC 'gift package' down Nepalese throat, whereas the Sri Lankans chose to 'look the gift horse in the mouth' ?

Well now Sri Lanka is in turmoil,
Riots in streets, Bankrupted by the skyrocketing fuel and food price thanks to WEF economic reset, the Sri Lankans are now at the tender mercy of IMF and world bank.

tHAT manufactured Covid 19 'pandemic',
Engineered fuel crunch, food crisis, proxy wars...
cui bono ?

USAss...
MIC
BIG PHARMA
WAR STREET
BIG OIL
BIG AGRI

While western rubes and third world countries are bankrupted and ripe for asset stripping by the usual usual suspects.

Own nuthin and be happy.

In the final analysis, questions arise if Sri Lanka, ruled by a hybrid Rajapaksa family composed of dual American citizens, is being targeted for hybrid economic warfare? With the USD increasingly weaponised also against sanctions-hit Russia and other emerging economies? This is not just a theoretical question. Is the debt crisis staged by local and global networks of financial corruption at play in this strategic island in order to deliver Sri Lanka on a platter to Washington and its Consensus? After all, we live in a post-COVID 19 world where conspiracy theories increasingly seem to come true.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/24/nepl-f24.html

https://www.ft.lk/columns/Staged-default-Sri-Lanka-s-sovereign-bond-debt-trap-and-IMF-s-Spring-Meetings-amid-hybrid-Cold-War/4-734045

Posted by: denk | May 10 2022 6:42 utc | 92

@sln2002 #90
The video wanders about and is deficient in a number of very key areas.

Ultimately, the part that matters is around the 17 minute mark where the video producer notes that the capital expenditure in the very recent past and now is extremely low.

Said video producer makes no reference to either COVID or ESG, thus is not credible. The key message is exactly what the graphic I posted from the most recent Harris Kupperman KEDM note.

Other commentary which is "incomplete" (i.e. wrong):

1) California gasoline prices being due to geography is a small part of the truth. The larger part of the truth is the CARB (California Air Resource Board) requirement that California refine and exclusively use a different formulation of gasoline than the rest of the world (and the US). The proof is that California has had periods where this requirement was relaxed, and gasoline prices then fell...

2) Azerbaijan/Baku: meh. Azerbaijan production is like 700K barrels per day. Not insignificant but not a major player - this would put them around #18 in the top 20 oil exporters - assuming 100% of their production was exported (which it is not).

3) Refining: I can't speak to the world picture - I haven't looked at it. But US oil refining total capacity has actually fallen in the past 2 decades. Oil refining is not a highly profitable activity in the US; hard to see how that is significantly different elsewhere since the US exports huge amounts of refined petroleum to Central and South America. For example: Mexico, despite being an oil producer, is a net petroleum product importer from the US because of this...

4) Shale: depletion rates etc are all interesting and what not, but all that really matters is if shale is anywhere remotely approaching capital expenditures for "regular" oil. Or in other words, unless shale oil is produced at 1/10th the cost of regular oil in terms of exploration, leasing, drilling, transport etc - the low capital expenditure rate means very few new wells are being drilled for the next 12-18 months at a minimum, and that the supply situation isn't going to improve as a result.

5) Oil is a bad investment. This is risible at its face: if oil prices are going to be high for the short term foreseeable future - why exactly is it a bad investment? The video author carefully avoids delving into why this perception exists. Kuppy says it is ESG; others say it is pay off the investors time. Whatever the reason, the actual economics of the oil business are clearly positive - so why again it is a bad investment?

From my personal view: I don't think the vast majority of people care about green one way or another - in terms of actual, deliberate personal sacrifice.

However, I do think that the US and EU ruling classes believe in everyone sacrificing. Their relative wealth means a doubling of energy costs is insignificant to their prosperity even if they don't directly benefit (climate researchers, alternative energy shills, government agencies, "climate influencers" etc), and a high energy price makes the high energy costs of present alternative energy look less bad.

So what we are going to see in the next decade plus is a wealthy 1st world with high energy costs vs. a 2nd/3rd world with significantly lower energy costs. Should be interesting.

Posted by: c1ue | May 10 2022 14:52 utc | 93

Something unusual caught my ear this morning: AMLO bringing some static for USA's president:

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday during a visit to Cuba that he will emphasize to his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden that no country should be left out of the U.S.-hosted Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles in June.

"Nobody should exclude anyone," Lopez Obrador said at a public event.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-president-says-no-country-should-be-excluded-americas-summit-2022-05-08/

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 10 2022 16:29 utc | 94

lofl you forgot fossil fuel companies. it is possible that they might also benefit from a doubling of fossil fuel prices. not in the long run, because it will make it even more obvious that the world has to find alternative energy sources, but they think they need to make the money now and they are likely right.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 10 2022 16:53 utc | 95

@ Scorpion | May 10 2022 17:17 utc | 356 (of the Ukraine thread)

Responding in here, because I agree the Ukraine thread is better reserved for WWIII. I have a feeling it'll be the Ukraine/Taiwan thread before too long, so there's plenty to fill that one out.

I had another look at the video you proffered, for a few minutes, without hearing anything about "the royal hand" or stones exactly one meter long. That would be a terrifically interesting coincidence, imho, if it really happened. If there's a single source for the length of a meter, going back centuries, the question is: How were early people privy to the same source? If more than one physical source determines 1.0000 meters, well then that would be a heck of thing.

I heard (from my mentor Glenn -- someone experienced with a balance-scale) that a USA dollar bill weighs exactly one gram! Heck of a thing.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | May 10 2022 17:38 utc | 96

Wondering if there are any good viewpoints/insights into what is happening right now with Brazil.

It seems that the Fascist dictator Bolsonaro has chosen to side with Russia but then I hear about his leftist challenger seeking to establish a Latin/South American currency. I am all for this, of course, but am wondering about Bolsonaro's stance on this.

Brazil is quite a different nut than Libya, with regards to what Ghadafi proposed for a gold-backed African Dinar.

What do leftists there who would side with Bolsonaro's challenger think of Bolsonaro's backing of Putin and Russia? Is this not good enough for them? What is Bolsonaro's popularity and does the challenger stand any chance?

If anything, it looks like that, similarly to the DJT phenomenon, Bolsonaro is shifting the Overton Window in South America by bucking the west wrt Russia. Seems like some kudos are in order to the alleged Fascist Dictator in Bolsonaro.

Any thoughts?

Posted by: NemesisCalling | May 10 2022 18:32 utc | 97

If ever there were a story to encapsulate the perils of Globalism with all of its false-trappings and empty-promises and it's terminally-retarded characteristic of selling the collective future of a people down the road, I present this gem about a couple of retards that instead of putting down roots, rock themselves to sleep every night by a cruise liner that shows them the world and in the process destroys any identity or affinity that is tied to a land or ground.

Rootlessness is what the globalists desire for humanity. So that we are all travelling debt-slaves incapable of establishing culture or deep, spiritual ties to ground.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | May 10 2022 18:37 utc | 98

Marcos has won the Philippine presidential elections. Yes, the dictator's son. China expects relations to remain positive. Also, China's Vice-President, Wang Qishan, attended Yoon Suk-yeol's, the new South Korean President, inauguration, which is a first for China to send such a high-ranking officer for that event.

Given the historical relationships between those two nations and the Outlaw US Empire, how relations with China develop will bear close watching. China has announced it sees continuity prevailing, although it too is cautious.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 10 2022 18:45 utc | 99

Thanks to Patroklos, Juliania and Aleph Null I have saved myself from the 'must read' - (trying to get the sense of the long article), recommended by 'b'. I also like facts and not predictions.

Posted by: fanto | May 10 2022 20:33 utc | 100