Expectations for ukraine:

West is cracking at the seams about what to do next.
Won't keep on locked step for long, may be weeks, may be months ...
Help to ukraine to become out of fashion ...

Ukraine to lose more ground to Russia look Donbass, look Nikolaev-Odessa, look Krivoi-Rog. Zelensky regime to refuse to acknowledge any loss to Russia.
Likelihood of coup growing - regime insiders seeking opportunities for self improvement / military seeking some way out from crushing defeat.

Oil price to stabilize around USD $120/barrel for a long while.
Russia having huge budget surplus as well as all OPEC.
NG prices to increse steadily as EU reserves remain low.

Wheat price getting lower as vessels from the world will be able to load in Novorossiik and Mariupol will soothe world famine panic ...

Actual negotiations to take place in the fall on the basis of Russian Memorandum from December 2021 - minus all conquered ground in Ukraine.

Posted by: Greg Galloway | Jun 5 2022 13:30 utc | 1

Richard Wolff on how US addressed inflation crises in past. Supply chain/war are excuses. Pure greed at work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjNaCvzRTyA

Posted by: Joe | Jun 5 2022 13:41 utc | 2

Below is a quote w/o comment from a ZH posting

"
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has told the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog that the Jewish state is ready to use its "right to self-defense" to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons.
"

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 5 2022 14:05 utc | 3

Greg Galloway #1 Agree with most of that
except for "...- minus all conquered ground in Ukraine...."
It has been my opinion since the start of the operation (and extending way back to the breakaway of LDNR in '14) that we shall see all seceded parts except the Crimea re-incorporated (with RF's nudging if needed) into a _highly_ federalised Ukraine, with all the demanded guarantees in place for true neutrality, rights, de-nazified media, political system, schooling, etc. etc.

Posted by: petra | Jun 5 2022 14:09 utc | 4

the Jewish state is ready to use its "right to self-defense" to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons.

My, that is twisted logic. So Dimona is not perceived as a threat to surrounding states in the hands of a rogue regime which fails to adhere to UN Security Council Resolutions and which recklessly invades the airspace of other states and causes the death of Russian servicemen in an unarmed plane by criminal "human shield tactics" of hiding in radar signal of unarmed aircraft.

Quite how Israel became so psychotic and home to swindlers, fraudsters, and gangsters from Eastern Europe and predators from USA is something the neighbouring states should ponder when living near a country with ABC weapons and a failure to be open to inspections or treaties relating to chemical and biological weapons - let alone nuclear.

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Jun 5 2022 14:22 utc | 5

Ah Petra, into a _highly_ federalised Ukraine, with all the demanded guarantees in place for true neutrality, rights, de-nazified media, political system, schooling, etc. etc.

you dream..........

Germany was separated for 45 years and still has not welded together - it is more akin to Anschluss than integration - GDR was absorbed under Art 23 GG (old Constitutional Art 23) INTO West Germany and everything ran on West German lines with West German judges, businesses, politicians running The East.

So by all means re-integrate Donbass and let Kiev send new rulers, soldiers, bureaucrats to integrate it back into Ukraine..........

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Jun 5 2022 14:27 utc | 6

It has been a persistent error (over-simplification) that many western commentators have evinced over the past 8 years (e.g. Duran writers, Escobar, many of Sakr's guest writers (though not Raevsky himself), etc.) as well as much of the informed commentariat, that the Russian/Russified Ukrainian component of the Ukrainian population somehow ends abruptly at [you name it/the Lugansk/Donetsk western borders/the Dniepr/somewhere near Kiev/the Dniestr/etc.]; whereas in reality, the Russian/Russified Ukrainian population extends almost as far as the tiny Galizian segment in the far west. Even Mearsheimer himself in his seminal talks from a few years ago makes this miscalculation (simplistically basing his conclusions on voting patterns in the pre-coup general elections). Obviously Russia knows this only too well, one reason for the reluctance overtly to recognise breakaway LDNR over the years (until the recent "recognition" effected as part of the SMO and broader RF strategy). Russia has always regarded permanent secession (to independence or into RF) as a betrayal of the Russians/Russia-leaning Ukrainians who would remain in rump-Ukraine. That's why the only sustainable and acceptable outcomes would be incorporation of the entire fU into RF (barring tiny Galizian piece and possibly tinier magyar ZK piece) or an entire, sovereign, federalised Ukraine (barring the Crimea, of course), with all the guarantees of neutrality, etc. in place...

Posted by: petra | Jun 5 2022 14:36 utc | 7

Mozgovoi... How might he have grown? He seemed to have something that other "names" in those early LNR & DNR days wanted. More than simply a military man, far less a functionary politico. Have always felt here was a lost opportunity in the vein of a Hani or a Lumumba.

Posted by: petra | Jun 5 2022 14:51 utc | 8

It is the Sunday before Pentecost, Orthodox calendar, and I am not quite halfway through rereading "The Master and Margarita". The Master makes his appearance and Ivan is informed by him that the mysterious visitor is Satan. There are connections between the two - the story of the Crucifixion that Ivan originally heard from Satan is related to the Master's novel about Pilate. Are the two narratives one and the same? They seem to be so far. That narrative has yet to continue...

And meanwhile, more and more Moscovite citizens are becoming discombobulated. (Sort of like us here now in the USA, and other places.)

;)

Posted by: juliania | Jun 5 2022 14:54 utc | 9

Apologies, just realised I am using the wrong thread here for these Ukrainian thoughts.

Posted by: petra | Jun 5 2022 14:56 utc | 10

Posted by: petra | Jun 5 2022 14:09 utc | 4

There is one good reason for going towards a federalized Ukraine: if most of Ukraine remained out of reach from Russia, keeping pro-Russia regions inside it would be some guarantee that it would remain neutral ...
With the passing of time and the Russian capture of regions, this thinking would lose its attractiveness for the Kremlin, and referenda of not taking over pro Russian oblast would become the best way.

Posted by: Greg Galloway | Jun 5 2022 15:37 utc | 11

Ah, b with the Sunday review… which you would have to start with that gibberish rainbow and unicorns RAND written Foreign Policy article. If US and Israel can be guarantors for Ukraine, then I insist on Mexico and Madagascar as well. About that Istanbul communiqué

“…when the Russian government subsequently agreed to talks it also made several extreme demands—such as Ukrainian recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea—that were absent from the Istanbul communiqué. Moreover, Russian hard-liners lambasted the proposals to accept a U.S. security guarantee to Ukraine and to support Kyiv’s EU membership. But two days after arriving back in Moscow, Medinsky appeared before the cameras and gave a very upbeat assessment of the Istanbul plan. It seems highly unlikely that he would have done so without having first consulted Putin.” [highly unlikely!]

I was unable to open Alastair Crooke’s piece but found it at Katheon.
https://katehon.com/en/article/disquiet-davos-and-unsaid-fear-failure-first-shoots-us-ukraine-shift

“Schwab’s target was the assembled crème de la crème of the world’s business leaders assembled there …. NY Times had run a piece… albeit couched as advice to Kiev – its target was evidently Washington and London (the arch belligerents). …. Of course, the $40 billion is not all going to Ukraine. Not at all. … i.e. it is a deep state budget with Ukraine packaging. The six billion allocated directly for new arms to Ukraine in fact comprises both training and weapons, so much of that will end in the pockets of states such as UK and Germany, giving ‘out of theatre’ training to Ukrainians in their own, or in neighbouring countries’ territory. …. In short, ‘victory’ would be quick – if not immediate. We know this, because U.S. officials and the French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire bragged about it publicly. …. This is the unspoken fear disquieting Davos attendees – fear of another débacle, following that of Afghanistan. …”

British diplomat speak.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jun 5 2022 15:53 utc | 12

Orders of temporal magnitude:
40 years ago, in June of 1982, atmospheric CO2 was about 341 ppm, compared to today's 421 -- a difference of 80 parts per million, or 20 per decade.
400 years ago, in 1622, the system-upgrade of chattel slavery had only recently been joined to rampant slaughter of indigenous, cementing iron-clad foundations of global colonialism.
4,000 years ago, in 1978 BCE, anthropologists roamed the earth, reaching some of the higher leaves of nascent and senescent civilisations due to their extraordinarily long necks.
40,000 years ago, graphic wizards -- my own cherished forebears -- found some special berries and extracts to make the pigments of their cave-paintings persist forever (almost, anyhow).

There's much to say, and not much to say about 400,000 years ago, because the human species was just barely getting started, getting reoriented after merging with and wiping out the other hominids. Today's CO2 milestone is yet one more step back on that magnitude scale:

There is more carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere than at any time in the past four million years, as the world's continued dependence on fossil fuels keeps humanity hurtling toward a "global catastrophe," officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned on Friday.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/03/racing-top-speed-towards-global-catastrophe-noaa-says-co2-levels-highest-human

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 15:57 utc | 13

Hmmm... Thinking about it. Pahlavi (The last Shah) didn't have it so great after he lost Iran. He was the West's darling until he lost power. He was treated like a hot potato afterwards. Nobody wanted anything to do with him once they realized he would never be leader of Iran again. We supposedly got out with about 2 billion dollars but trying to keep it, find decent medical care, and find a place to live where government's weren't trying to steal your assets was nearly impossible. Is this to be Zelensky's fate? Power politics is fickle. My guess is he isn't in as good a position as he thinks he is. Rather than florida real estate might I suggest Bitcoin and bullion? LOL. You gotta protect yourself... it won't be long before he loses his luster.

Posted by: goldhoarder | Jun 5 2022 15:58 utc | 14

@Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 15:57 utc | 13

This is not a religious blog

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 5 2022 16:05 utc | 15

thanks b..

thanks northern bruiser for a link to read Alastair Crooke’s piece... i can't access scf either here in canada..

@ Paul Greenwood | Jun 5 2022 14:22 utc | 5 - well said.. i share your viewpoint.... dito @ 6 for the most part too.. thanks..

Posted by: james | Jun 5 2022 16:08 utc | 16

bruised northerner, lol.... got your tagged backwards and wrong.. apologies james

Posted by: james | Jun 5 2022 16:09 utc | 17

This is not a religious blog
@ Norwegian | Jun 5 2022 16:05 utc | 15

No shit, Sherlock!

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 16:18 utc | 18

people talk about climate change all the time.... i find it boring myself, but others don't!

Use as open (not Ukraine) thread ...

what could that possibly mean? lol...

Posted by: james | Jun 5 2022 16:24 utc | 19

two sites that are fun reading on imaginary digital dogface drugs money:

https://web3isgoinggreat.com/

https://cryptocriticscorner.com/

the latter focuses a lot on el salvador which isn't really in the news enough considering how crazy it's getting down there.

when i think of crypto i think of peter griffin's take on neck tattoos: "they're drugs. anything above the collar bone is drugs." see also: javelins and such on onion domains.

seems like an ideal currency for ukraine; it gets drugs and weapons and it doesn't actually exist.

Posted by: the pair | Jun 5 2022 16:26 utc | 20

goldhoarder #14. Just a snippet of reminiscence. Shah Pahlavi was provided with a house in a plush Pretoria suburb, where he and his family lived in some sort of low-profile exile in the 60s, during the dark era when the Afrikaner Nationalist government were at the height of their arrogant power. The Shah's family later moved on (to the USA?). Also sheltering in those leafy Pretoria suburbs at that time was the (Ruritanian-sounding) king of Albania, King Zog, exiled by Enver Hodja. It was a time when the few Japanese living in the RSA were granted "honorary white" status by the Nat government, in contrast with the more numerous Chinese traders, who were a sub-group of "non-white". Later, when the Afrikaner regime was feeling more fragile, the ROC (Taiwan) was embraced as a fellow-pariah and the status of the Chinese raised in the race classification system.

Posted by: petra | Jun 5 2022 16:34 utc | 21

@15 Norwegian

Hands-down best comment of the thread. It's early, but I am calling it.

Hats off...

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 5 2022 16:37 utc | 22

To dissolve the distinction between scientific knowledge and religious faith is a permanent feature of anti-science propagandists from the very earliest days of testing out industrial-scale mind-control techniques, on the part of the Tobacco Lobby. The story of USA's petrochemical disinformation industry has been quite well-chronicled, both on the scholarly and popular side, by Naomi Oreskes and many colleagues, for years.

But what good is a story nobody wants to listen to? What's the problem with deciding to summarily dispose of inconvenient science and scientists? The question is tantamount to asking why science is a necessary component of human liberty. "Cranked up to eleven" we are constantly assailed by agents of misinformation -- some pros, some dupes. We need some kind of defense of our own craniums from hailstorms of nonsense, but how?

This is the goal of our new religious campaign here: Practice Safe Epistemology, or Don't Believe Everything You Think! Especially today, with all thoughtfulness isolated into cauldrons. Many previously trusted commentators egregiously fail us in the Ukraine proxy-war. Each one of us needs our own helmet, a filter to distinguish what is and is not news (I do, anyways). Which facts, among the millions swarming the surface, are most consequential to us, here on planet Earth?

You can't trust any authority to hand you a filter, because you'll get suckered by Colonialism again. Please imbibe, just a moment: Colonization infects the mind of the colonizer himself, as well as everything around him (or: It's turtles all the way up!) De-colonize your mind to free yourself from cognitive predators -- those with a vested interest in shutting down intelligent dialectic. Any shitstorm will do for a cheap distraction, so it's hard work to maintain consistent rigor -- meaningful standards of truth -- against incessant well-financed assaults.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 16:51 utc | 23

The Empire never sleeps and is constantly plotting to start new wars, new ethnic divides and new massacres. It aims at producing bloody mayhem and rests only when it has a genocide to drool over as it fondles its genitals, and its eyes swivel towards the next potential target, where people are attempting to meet the daily challenges of life on earth.
Which is a NO-NO, in Washington which views the human race as its prey, to be toyed with and devoured.
(I know: this is not a religious blog.)

According to Vladimir Platov the most recent attempt was in, Afghanistan's neighbour, Tajikistan.
https://journal-neo.org/2022/06/05/us-attempt-to-stage-an-armed-conflict-in-gbar-has-failed/

This is not much more than a month since the US coup in Pakistan and not much longer since the attempted 'revolution' in Kazakhstan.

Posted by: bevin | Jun 5 2022 17:21 utc | 24

@24 bevin - Thanks for that link about Tajikistan. To add to your list, Belarus last summer.
One could almost admire them for their tenacity.
I saw a funny thing on intel-slava. A nice break, since lot of their content brings me to tears. There was a post where they referred to a Ukrainian mayor (or some such official) with the title of Gauleiter. Such is the state of 404.
Thanks everyone.

Posted by: lex talionis | Jun 5 2022 17:32 utc | 25

(I know: this is not a religious blog.)
Posted by: bevin | Jun 5 2022 17:21 utc | 24

How about Amarynth's sitreps at the Saker -- can we allow him religious references?

True story: my prose style was much more profane (and scatological -- father forgive me, for I have wind) before making some attempt to minimize my innate obnoxiousness, here at MoA. Long ago, I had a whack at joining Quaker services, nearby in Berkeley. Very unusual style of convocation, and nothing to do with anything, but it's the last time I've been in the presence of so many sincerely religious people, as we have reading this international blog. So now I'm affecting mock oaths such as "dag-nab it!" to avoid taking the Lord's name in vain and all that -- even though the closest I've been to real religion was with those Quakers, way back when.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 17:44 utc | 26

"
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has told the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog that the Jewish state is ready to use its "right to self-defense" to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons.
"
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 5 2022 14:05 utc | 3

That's nothing new. Israel has been saying the same for over a decade. They don't do it because the military said no, and things haven't changed. And nobody knows if there's any such effort. (But Israel needs an enemy, much like the US does - an evil ogre who can be depicted like Putin.)

Posted by: laguerre | Jun 5 2022 17:45 utc | 27

@ laguerre | Jun 5 2022 17:45 utc | 27 - quote "But Israel needs an enemy, much like the US does" religion seems to need an enemy too.. funny that... my god is bigger, better and badder then your god, lol... talking politics or religion - there is a lot in common between the 2..

Posted by: james | Jun 5 2022 18:14 utc | 28

How many times did Barack 'hope & change" Obama say: "All options are on the table." . .and they stayed on the table, because even the mighty US doesn't mess militarily with Iran.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 18:16 utc | 29

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 17:44 utc | 26

careful, next you might catch yourself saying "dadgummit".

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jun 5 2022 18:21 utc | 30

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 18:16 utc | 29

The US won't do anything except continue the crushing economic and other sanctions - Until another Ziohawk like Trump or Tom Cotton becomes preznit. The Zionist settler colonial apartheid state will continue the murders of Iranian scientists and other officials until another Ziohawk like the aforementioned (mostly) Republicans come back into power.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:04 utc | 31

Posted by: bevin | Jun 5 2022 17:21 utc | 24

Let me see if I can find the Koch-funded opinion that Pakistan wasn't actually a CIA or American operation....

Responsible Statecraft doesn't believe this one was CIA

FWIW

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:07 utc | 32

(From the Ukraine Open thread 2022-81)

@MD, #10: ...By the way, Guancha is owned by Eric Li.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Jun 5 2022 18:32 utc | 47

Yes, Eric Li is sharp. Here's Li interviewing Imran Khan in Feb. before Khan was ousted.
Khan gives some insights into Pakistan's positions as well as some interesting views of the region
Imran Khan

Posted by: waynorinorway | Jun 5 2022 19:09 utc | 33

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:07 utc | 32

How did I forget to mention that responsiblestatecraft.org is not only funded by the arch-economic-libertarians, but also George Soros.

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Quincy_Institute

What would our resident right wingers think about this partnership, one wonders.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:11 utc | 34

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 5 2022 16:37 utc | 22

The Christo-Nazi weighs in?

https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Reich-Conceptions-Christianity-1919-1945/dp/0521603528

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:12 utc | 35

@ Tom_Q_Collins 35
The Christo-Nazi weighs in?
That reminds me of Manifest Destiny.
. . .from the web
It is claimed that America had a destiny, manifest, i.e., self-evident, from God to occupy the North American continent south of Canada. . . .Manifest Destiny was Americans believed god told them to move West.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 19:29 utc | 36

Regarding cryptocurrencies and the scam ecosystem that has grown up around them; that's hard to dispute. It's still the Wild Wild West. Caveat emptor, buyer beware. And that's the difficult part in a very similar manner to Wall Street investing. Bad actors will always prey on the uninformed. It is - as is most of capitalism - a game of which party, the buyer or seller, has the most knowledge. Wall Street (in addition to rampant but uninvestigated insider trading) prospectuses openly state in the fine print that these "banks" are most likely actively taking positions against the one you've taken out with them. It's all too complicated for most investors; on purpose. Eventually when the crypto ecosystem coalesces or is more heavily regulated, that's what you're going to see. That is, assuming WWIII doesn't wipe out the Internet and all life on Earth.

This is by no means a suggestion to anyone*, but I've taken a very long position on a particular coin using some disposable income and I won't be financially hurt if it goes sour. I operate according to the following principles: Never keep your money - fiat or crypto - in an exchange - and don't buy shitcoins (my own personal bet is that BTC eventually becomes one). Do not spend any more than what you consider to absolutely be disposable money on crypto if you're going long and immediately transfer any holdings to an offline wallet. I have no advice to traders and they wouldn't take it if I did. Again, it's still the Wild West.

*-If it was a suggestion, I'd name the coin(s) I'm hoping on, but I am definitely on the fence about the whole thing. It's a very risky investment whether or not you've bought into one of the many Ponzi schemes (and I may well have).

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:35 utc | 37

Tom_Q_Collins @32

Imran Khan is quite vocal that the US is behind the coup in Pakistan, so of course there will be targeted efforts to deny it. The denial is knee-jerk; automatic.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 5 2022 19:36 utc | 38

Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 5 2022 19:36 utc | 38

I was just surprised to see Responsible Statecraft's house author and investigative journalist - a guy who normally has no qualms calling out US-sponsored coups and whatnot - make the claims that he did in that article.

What they're arguing is "smoke but no fire (yet found)", again FWIW.

After reading the article, I did have a little chuckle I must admit. They basically laid out every reason for why it was a US-backed coup and brushed it off as mere coincidence, albeit one that is very, very desirable in Washington D.C. LOL

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:41 utc | 39

@ 37
What isn't "a very risky investment" currently, I wonder.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 19:41 utc | 40

The US has had the Pakistan military on the payroll for years, while they supported the Taliban against the US. The Pakistan plan then was to keep India from increased interest in Afghanistan. Obama was told that in the McChrystal report, August 2009. Obama continued to support Pakistan anyhow (and send 70 thousand US troops to the graveyard of empires).

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 19:48 utc | 41

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 19:29 utc | 36

You can bet the mortgage that the party in question is fully on-board with the continuation of manifest destiny and likely the Monroe Doctrine too.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 19:41 utc | 40

Virtually nothing. Most people I know who are 'investing' in crypto in this inverted totalitarian late-stage capitalist economy are basically playing the lotto because they have no other hopes of a comfortable retirement anymore. Most Americans don't have any disposable income and those that do only have enough to make small, incremental purchases (which rules out most real estate and purchases of sufficient stocks to actually amount to anything in the future). From the amount of 'wealth' that is generated and then incinerated with each of these cycles (crypto and Wall Street), I'd say that crypto has a slightly higher chance of delivering than the idiot tax (lotto) does and is a smarter small/incremental/recreational bet than Wall Street, but YMMV.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:48 utc | 42

Posted by: goldhoarder | Jun 5 2022 15:58 utc | 14

A daughter of the Shah burned her mansion, built like a Persian castle with ziggurat crenelations along the roof line, to the ground and filed on her vast jewelry collection in Malibu a few years ago. I guess Jewish lightening is universal.

Posted by: Pahlavi's Dog | Jun 5 2022 19:52 utc | 43

@35 Tom

It's fine if you want to label me that. I have no qualms with someone who I probably wouldn't respect face to face calling me a loaded perjorative on the interwebs. Cheers.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 5 2022 19:53 utc | 44

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:48 utc | 42

The more impoverished the society, the brisker the sales in lotto tickets. You can buy them on practically every street corner in Thailand and Laos, for instance. And, as you note, they seem increasingly popular in God's Own US of A.

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 5 2022 19:54 utc | 45

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 5 2022 19:53 utc | 44

That isn't exactly a denial, is it. Is Christo-Fascist better? I strive for accuracy with my loaded pejoratives, both online and face-to-face.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:55 utc | 46

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:55 utc | 46

I wouldn't overthink it. Either is close enough, and more thought on the matter isn't worth the intellectual expenditure.

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 5 2022 19:59 utc | 47

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 5 2022 19:54 utc | 45

I guess with the lotto, at least, your odds of winning are printed right there on the ticket. And yeah, it's the same here - everywhere I've ever lived - every convenience store/gas station sells every type of ticket that they can because they too are playing the lotto with the rest of us. They get a percentage of sales and a modest cut if someone strikes it rich.

Even in Texas where gambling is still not fully* legal, there are these mini slot machines popping up in corner stores and truck stops and they're always in use every time I go in. Needless to say in states where it's legal (mainly as a concession to the Indian tribes who got screwed in every other way**) there are even more of them around.

*-I believe the distinction is "low stakes" vs. "high stakes."

**-Including recently

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 20:05 utc | 48

Norwegian | Jun 5 2022 16:05 utc | 15
it's funny, cuz there's nothing to do but laugh, but everyone around here sure seems to agree with you, despite what was happening to their eyes, ears, noses, skin, lungs, etc., just one year ago, here in the Pacific NW.

oh no, bitching about how it's too cool and too much rain to have an enjoyable Memorial Day. where is the 110F and 450 AQI?

talk about your religious fantasies. who you gonna believe, your own lying senses, or the pile of gmo manure you vomit here whenever you open your mouth?

why believe your senses? why believe what every scientist who is not the bastard child of Rexxon says?

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 5 2022 20:07 utc | 49

Posted by: petra | Jun 5 2022 16:34 utc | 21

LOL. That's cute. The Shah wasn't deposed until February 79. He then went to Egypt, Morocco, The Bahamas, and Mexico before settling in the US in October. Your parallel theory of history is just that, full of holes and the timeline is pure fantasy.

Posted by: Shah Shah A Go Go | Jun 5 2022 20:08 utc | 50

Virtually nothing. Most people I know who are 'investing' in crypto in this inverted totalitarian late-stage capitalist economy are basically playing the lotto ...

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 19:48 utc | 42

However, even more people play actual lotto, so many that "they cannot be all wrong".

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 5 2022 20:09 utc | 51

talk about your religious fantasies. who you gonna believe, your own lying senses, or the pile of gmo manure you vomit here whenever you open your mouth?

why believe your senses? why believe what every scientist who is not the bastard child of Rexxon says?

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 5 2022 20:07 utc | 49

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 5 2022 20:17 utc | 52

Chief justice warns against political attacks on judicial independence | CBC News https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/judicial-independence-supreme-court-richard-wagner-1.6473754

Richard Wagner (judge) - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner_(judge)

Posted by: Laurence | Jun 5 2022 20:28 utc | 53

here's the opening of "42nd St," via Busby Berkeley. all done on a sound stage, not a pixel of cgi crap to ruin it.

at the 4:30 mark, the amorous protagonists pull down a window shade on their proceedings that bears the name

ASBESTOS.

with all the asbestos around here, i totally get why people have no concern about global warming.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 5 2022 20:34 utc | 54

james @ 16, 17
No worries on the reversed handle, I’m the very last commenter who can criticize or take offense for spelling and name errors!!

Glad you could make use of the link. I admit, I did wonder why can I access Katheon… if Strategic Culture Foundation is blocked?? How are they different?? Don’t know, just glad I got to read Crooke’s article.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jun 5 2022 20:40 utc | 55

RE: Strategic Culture, I'm still getting the 403 error in Cyrillic from my ISP. For a week I figured it was a screwup in the hosting or domain name resolution, but it has to be intentional at this point. The curious thing is that when using an IP address in other states, even other places in TX, I'm able to view the page.

I'm going to contact our ISP about this bullshit. I want a straight answer (yeah right).

As political censorship in the West is growing, non-mainstream media are bullied, denied access to financial services such as PayPal or simply blocked. If you cannot access our website, you can use a VPN service, but a better option would be signing up for our Telegram channel, where all of our articles are available from anywhere in the world. Stay tuned and support independent media!

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 20:46 utc | 56

@Laurence 53
"It makes you think that there is nothing sacred in some countries and that an institution can be weakened very quickly."

This by the Canada Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner. He believes his supreme court is sacred? All this about somebody leaking a coming finding of the US Supreme Court which attacks the human rights of female citizens.

Wagner's US counterpart John Roberts has said that there is no right to abortion in the US Constitution, a document written by a couple dozen rich white men to constitute the government. The doc later took on some amendments limiting the government on curtailing some rights, but abortion wasn't one of them, which means to stupid Roberts that the right doesn't exist.

So I say fine, weaken the institution, at least in that regard.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 20:50 utc | 57

This is from the wsws, re Shanghai reopening:
"On Wednesday, nearly one million passengers rode the subways carrying passengers to work as stores and malls are rapidly opening for brisk business. Close to 330,000 cars were traversing the city streets. Shanghai’s landmark Yuyuan Garden Malls reopened operating under normal hours. Supermarkets have opened their doors to local customers. Even Shanghai’s top automaker SAIC Motor reported that production is at 80 percent of capacity."

Karlof1 earlier, yesterday I believe, posted a comment from Putin yesterday about the auto industry booming in Russia.

i totally get why people don't believe in global warming. even those "scientific Marxists" (lol) thinks it's a wonderful thing that Shanghai's car industry is combusting, and that workers are back to work! what else is a 'working class party' for except for people working?

an actual scientific policy would be for 95% of those people to stay home, never going back to work, ever, and 0% of those vehicles ever going back on the roads.

but hey, china is battling covid and russia is battling nazis so that car culture can shift to the east.

these people are no more scientific than Foghorn Leghorn. they want their tonka trucks back up and running! cuz it means they are kicking nature's ass.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 5 2022 20:55 utc | 58

On Pakistan and Imran Khan's ouster, he was saying nice things about India and getting closer economically as one would expect via their SCO memberships, which most likely upset some of the virulently avid India haters within Pakistan's military and security service, which teamed with CIA to buy enough votes to get him out. So, I'd say the effort was a joint play, although Sharif has gone out of his way to reassure China of Pakistan's loyalty and trustworthiness as major BRI partner. It's going to take some time to weed out Pakistan's bad apples. Showing who's on which side via the coup is helpful in that pursuit. If Khan can remain alive, he'll very likely win the PM job back. If the aim was to fuck with BRI, I haven't seen any indication from China of any such activities, although I sure China's watching all events extremely closely.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 5 2022 20:55 utc | 59

RT Headline: "Massive leak alleges deep-state Brexit conspiracy: Those implicated by the publication downplayed it as ‘legitimate lobbying’ and dismissed it as Russian ‘disinformation’ at the same time."

The opening paragraph informs us:

"An elaborate high-profile conspiracy allegedly run by shadowy figures within the British elite was exposed in a massive leak released by a group of hackers late in May. The cache of documents and emails alleging a deep-state plot by hardcore Leavers to deliver the ‘hardest’ Brexit possible is now available on the website ‘Very English Coop d’Etat’."

Since it's the UK, the target for blame is Russia as it is always. Here's a bit of what's written about that:

"Those allegedly involved in the conspiracy who made public comments on the exposé have not tried to disprove the authenticity of the documents and emails, but have focused on blaming Russia for the leak....

"The damage control efforts were mocked by the spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, who said the whole conspiracy was perfectly in line with the 'English tradition' of regime change.

“'Of course, both Richard Dearlove and the pocket ‘experts’ have immediately blamed the Russians for the ‘leaks’. If I understand it correctly, the Britons can only learn the truth about their democracy from Russia? Is that why London banned RT broadcasting?' Zakharova said in a social media post on Saturday."

Given what we know of the affair, such a conspiracy makes complete sense as it explains why many events transpired in the manner they did.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 5 2022 21:18 utc | 60

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 20:50 utc | 57

I think John Roberts might actually have come down on the other side. I'm not positive about that, but I do know that it was Samuel Alito whose draft was leaked; he's the most blatantly political-activist judge in SCOTUS other than Clarence Thomas.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 5 2022 21:21 utc | 61

Did anyone else read this "War Crimes, From Nuremberg to Ukraine - Ellan Taylor / Counterpunch" from the post by b?

I was impressed. I didn't agree with every point she made, but I think she did a wonderful job of explaining how we came to be at this point, and why Russian feels the way they do.

I almost never share things with people outside of face to face conversations, and even then, the people I deem worthy of talking to a far and few between.

I am going to share this with two friends I believe are open minded enough to perhaps be able to see another perspective. We'll see.

Posted by: David F | Jun 5 2022 21:21 utc | 62

rjb1.5 @58--

Actually, I wrote that Europe's car manufacturing industry would die and move to China while the new Donbass nations will become a new auto manufacturing center. I also wrote that Russia would have a Car Culture long after it dies elsewhere thanks its massive hydrocarbon reserves.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 5 2022 21:22 utc | 63

why believe what every scientist who is not the bastard child of Rexxon says?
@ rjb1.5 | Jun 5 2022 20:07 utc | 49

I appreciate the question, but even if most scientists say so, there doesn't need to be any accommodation of belief per se, imho. Philosophers go to some trouble clarifying categories of things, such as facts and judgements. I place the "fact" in the objective world, the "judgement" within my head or yours. Judgement -- an entirely psychological reflection of reality -- entails two key dimensions:

(1) Priority: which of these facts are more significant than others?
(2) Confidence: how likely do we regard the accuracy of this judgement?

I can get useful thinking accomplished without consulting belief, by focusing on such modest judgements. I don't have to insist that my own prioritization or level of confidence need be shared by anyone -- this is a key distinction from belief: When I present judgements in this sense about the near-future for atmospheric CH4 on planet Earth, I'm hoping for the opposite of persuasion. Nothing would please me more than to see my gloom dismissed convincingly -- based on reasonable interpretation of ongoing geophysical data.

Instead, I'm more likely to hear astonishingly silly stuff, such as the shopworn insistence that "carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, it's essential for plant growth." I couldn't believe someone was peddling that old saw in here a day or two ago. CO2 is a greenhouse gas. There's no real dispute about this 200 year-old discovery of the great Joseph Fourier. Whether you want to call it a "pollutant" is semantics, meaningless personal preference. Our concerns with the molecules CO2 and CH4 involve their greenhouse insulative properties. We're not slandering these molecules with meaningless invective, for crying out loud!

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 21:31 utc | 64

I put this here as a curiousity to read about being batsh*t crazy about birdsh*t.

Why is a DoD supported lab working on Bat viruses on an island in the Pacific where there are no Bats? Jarvis island is a "nature reserve with restricted access".

The people; "(For years before the COVID-19 pandemic, EcoHealth sent U.S. funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and collaborated with Wuhan’s scientists on bat virus studies.)"

Includes an addition about a Russian virus; "Is DOD looking for the dangerous Saumarez Reef Virus, which is similar to the Russian Tyuleniy Virus?" Both of which are found in Guano (Birdsh*t) ticks.

"They wrote that they isolated the Saumarez Reef virus, “from seabird ticks collected from four localities […] off the east coast of Queensland, Australia.”

It was determined that the new sooty tern-related SREV virus most closely resembled the Tyuleniy virus (TYUV), which was discovered from ticks collected from seabird nesting grounds in 1969, in the then-USSR’s Tyuleniy Island, Sea of Okhotsk."

https://capitolsheila.substack.com/p/did-dod-pay-ecohealth-alliance-to?s=w

Curious...no?

Posted by: Stonebird | Jun 5 2022 21:35 utc | 65

@ rjb1.5 58
Close to 330,000 cars were traversing the city streets. Shanghai
I have memories of some years back being in a taxi in Shanghai traffic, from a harbor-side bar to our hotel. Buicks and BMWs and others all trying to fit thousands of cars in a space for hundreds. Well I exaggerate, but it was a nail-biting merge on the freeways that I especially remember. Creeping along ever so slowly, just millimeters between us and the surrounding mergers. It was amazing, cars all over the place quietly going about their business. No road-rage, no beeping, just a tacit acceptance that this is the was it is. . . . We made it.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 22:03 utc | 66

In Lavrov's interview I posted and commented upon yesterday, there was something very important aside from the very strong language he employed I told readers to look for. There were no replies related to that content, so I'm providing what ought to be headlines:

Lavrov: We are learning from all of this [the sanctions, et al]. Never again should we rely on these people. That doesn't mean we won't talk to them at all. When they get 'crazy,' we'll see what they tell us. In no case, from now on and forever, should we allow any critical spheres of life of our state, the lives of our people to depend on investments and technologies from Western countries. [My Emphasis]

Bye, bye West! Kiss Russia goodbye!! No Russian market to export to or invest in, meaning no income from any Russian activity--except for those very few European nations sane enough to remain friendly with Russia. I await the shoe to drop from the Duma in the form of legislation requiring all purchases of Russian exports by those nations on the Unfriendly List to be made in rubles or gold.

Related to this is this article suggested by Peter AU1 a few days ago that deals mostly with Kissinger's shocking words said at Davos. For all his faults, Kissinger remains astute enough to see the folly in the Outlaw US Empire's gameplan for decoupling Rusia from Europe, for that also greatly harms the Empire's interests as it will create an impoverished EU incapable of purchasing its overpriced goods. From the article:

"The main external source of Russian self-confidence has been an objective assessment of the state of the international political and economic environment, in which even a complete break with the West would not be mortally dangerous for Russia from the point of view of solving its main development tasks. Moreover, it is precisely the need for more active rapprochement with other partners, which Russia has not experienced until recently, that may turn out to be a much more reliable way to survive in a changing environment.

"This is what is understood in the US and Europe with the greatest concern. In the event that Russia, during the years of the emerging disengagement from Europe, creates a comparable system of trade, economic, political, cultural and human ties in the South and East, the return of this country to the Western area will become technically difficult, if ever realisable. So far, such a development of events is hindered by a colossal number of factors, among which in the first place is the inertia of close interaction with Europe and active mutual presence accumulated over the past 300 years. Moreover, it was Europe that was the only constant partner of Russia after the appearance of this power in the arena of international cooperation. However, in the event that the acute phase of the conflict in Ukraine really turns out to be very long, which, apparently, is the case, then the elementary needs of survival will force Russia to get rid of what binds it to Europe. This is exactly what those Russian scholars and public figures are calling for, who in every possible way emphasise the existential nature of the confrontation taking place on our western borders." [My Emphasis]

All top Russian leaders are saying the same things as Lavrov just did but in differing contexts. I should add that it's also important to listen to what Belarus's Lukashenko says. From following the MFA's website, I can say that since the new year began interaction with all Global South regions have rapidly accelerated. The result is increased desires by multiple nations to join BRICS, SCO, EAEU, CSTO, and the Union State. Plus, all these nations and their blocs agree on the paramount importance of the UN Charter and its International Law while overtly rejecting the Outlaw US Empire's rules based order. And most noticeably is Putin's directives in his meetings on the economy to speed up development in every sphere, especially import substitution and reverse engineering since Russia no longer recognizes Western patents in response to the illegal sanctions regime.

The Great Global Turning is happening and not on the WEF or Outlaw US Empire's terms.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 5 2022 22:04 utc | 67

@ Tom_Q_Collins re Strategic Culture:

Several days ago someone on this site posted a comment suggesting that Strategic Culture is blocking several IP ranges from which it has experienced the most frequent and damaging DDoS attacks. Sounds plausible to me, but I'm no expert in such matters.

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 5 2022 22:07 utc | 68

@ karlof1 67
Bye, bye West! Kiss Russia goodbye!!
Unfortunately that burns China. . .
. . .from Journal0fCommerce. . .

More than 90 percent of all rail cargo from China to Europe is transported via Russia and Belarus. However, in the days following Russia’s invasion, a host of global forwarders announced a stop on handling rail freight that traveled via Russia and Belarus, in addition to their suspension of all cargo bookings to and from both countries. Among those forwarders were Kuehne + Nagel, CEVA Logistics, DHL, and DSV. Maersk has also suspended moving rail cargo through Russia.
“Compared with the northern route, the costs are much higher and transit time is long,” Yan said, pointing out that where the northern route was less than two weeks, it took more than 40 days to send cargo via the Caspian Sea and Turkey to Europe. “So it is not competitive with ocean.”
“In the middle corridor you need to communicate with Kazakhstan, with someone in the Caspian Sea, with Azerbaijanians, Georgians, whomever in the Black Sea, with Turkey, Romania,” he said. “There are so many more interests that need to be brought into the product.” . . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 5 2022 22:25 utc | 69

Don Bacon @69--

Thanks for your reply, Don. Well, another line will be built. But IMO, the main problem will be the ability of Europeans to have any remaining discretionary income to spend on Chinese products given the inflation and mass unemployment that will soon occur throughout the EU. Plus, what will EU nations be able to manufacture to send to China to pay for the imports? IMO, the EU and Europe's national misleaders have fucked-up massively and not only screwed the pooch, but also killed it in the process. Someone compared what's headed the EU's way to the Neoliberal Rape of Russia. Given the EUCB rules of only running 3% deficits, we're going to see some massive problems and likely massive social upheaval--finally.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 5 2022 22:43 utc | 70

karlof1 | Jun 5 2022 22:04 utc | 67

About the phenomena of choosing wrong targets...

Thx for those hilites from Lavrov interview.

I had just viewed Li's February interview with Imran Khan before reading your summary from Lavrov.

Together, brings to mind how badly misunderstood is the {French] cliche, "The more things change, the more they stay the same"...because the remedy has been missed. Namely. the cliche is explained by...wrong targets!.

Keep getting "wrong results" or "no results" after repeated attempts to effect change, means the targets were mis-chosen.

In Khan's case, he selected "correct targets"...then suddenly, after that public interview, the "correct targets" immediately and desperately reacted to unelect him as Prime Minister!

Khan became the "correct target" for the Deep State.

Please, let's promote whatever it takes for the 99.9% to select correct targets.

Posted by: chu teh | Jun 5 2022 23:23 utc | 71

karlof1@67. thank you for your links, views & take. as you know i cannot send links however i hope you google this: english.almayadeen.net

alastair crooks:Europe in a sleepy summer hiatus---just as in 1914...

i believe it is his finest article & spot on.

Posted by: emersonreturn | Jun 5 2022 23:24 utc | 72

This is a hindcast/forecast animation of Arctic weather, from the University of Washington's Department of Atmospheric Science -- of May 29 to June 13 at this writing. Like candy to a baby -- this legible moving graph of Arctic air pressure and wind-speed is just primo data-dope, for incorigible ice geeks:

https://a.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/wxloop.cgi?npole_h250_wind+/-168//

My eye picks out a messy melt-season ahead. Air-pressure patterns are quite transient -- scattered all over. Wind patterns seem relatively haphazard, lazy. Subjective, thumbnail diagonsis of patient Arctic: she seems all tired out.

Every year the ice-geek community (I have in mind Nevin's Arctic Sea Ice blog) starts laying odds on whether this September will bring us the BOE. Only quite recently, the anticipated arrival of our first Blue Ocean Event -- an essentially "ice-free" (less than a million square kilometers) Arctic Ocean in Summer -- was rescheduled to a much earlier timeslot, from out in the 2050's to pretty darn soon. Three and a half years ago, this paper bet on around 2022:

The Arctic air is warming at more than double the rate of the global temperature increase, and is expected to experience the most intense warming over the remainder of this century. As a result of this warming, the extent and volume of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean during the summer has exhibited exponential decline, and if the current exponential trend continues, it appears likely that the Arctic will experience the first ice free period sometime within the next 5 years, with a best guess around the year 2022.

https://stuartheinrich.com/reports/ESAS_methane_risk.pdf

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 23:33 utc | 73

chu teh | Jun 5 2022 23:23 utc | 71

More on Khan interview linked above [at 3:15]:

...because I realized that our country was being destroyed by crooked politicians. My belief is that countries are poor only because of corruption. And corruption is a symptom of not having Rule Of Law, and by Rule Of Law, I mean that a country that cannot bring the powerful crooks under the Law, they become Banana Republics; they be come poor countries. ..."etc.

Posted by: chu teh | Jun 5 2022 23:37 utc | 74

emersonreturn @72--

Thanks very much for your reply and FYI. "Europe in a sleepy summer hiatus – just as in 1914 ...". Crooke poses some interesting historical parallels, but there's one major omission--Russian hydrocarbons are irreplicable for an industrial Europe, and especially for Germany to remilitarize. Now I'm curious to read what Crooke writes for Strategic Culture, for he doesn't duplicate his articles.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 5 2022 23:45 utc | 75

At a rather old age, I have received a vision of what the real world actually is. The real world is Ubiquity. Ubiquity is everywhere. It is somewhat like the Tao, but perhaps not. Who knows? They call me 'blues' but really I am RKJoyce, and I am the Prophet. You must learn about Ubiquity, become a Ubiquitan. Stop worrying about 'good', 'evil', and all suchlike. The people who live the 'high and mighty' narrative are always the most dangerous ones. They are afflicted with surdignifism, have way too much 'self-esteem'. This automatically entails the existence of people afflicted with subdignifism, who live the 'low and soiled' narrative. Once you find the truth of Ubiquity, you will shed such absurd extremes as much as you can, as although they be inbuilt and instinctive, they are harmful to the true self-narrative. Then, you will strive for apodignitism, where peace and equalitarianism become your true self-narrative. May Ubiquity show you the way to great blessings.

Posted by: blues | Jun 6 2022 0:08 utc | 76

karlof1@75. thank you for your reply. i agree russian hydrocarbons, as well as an array of essentials such as neon, which shall effect all dependent upon circuits. brilliant insights often seem obvious notwithstanding this article illuminated events & motives uniquely.

Posted by: emersonreturn | Jun 6 2022 0:15 utc | 77

Weird and disturbing.

Russia announced stopping export of noble gases and metals to "unfriendly countries", and among metals, Russia provides 35% of palladium that is essential for catalytic converters, now required in every new cars. Then I checked what happened to the price of palladium: down! One third from the peak price. Still above the gold, so not cheap per se, buy why? "Wordwide fall in car production". There are local reason, plus the shortage of microchips. Microchip making requires noble gases.

In short, escalation of mutual sanctions can depress world economy in many ways besides energy and food production.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Jun 6 2022 0:20 utc | 78

B recommends this article. It is in Counterpunch which is no longer a recommendation to most anti-imperialists but on the whole this is an excellent summary of the context of the SMO. For those with relatives or friends who need convincing this is worth recommending.
And thanks again to b who reads Counterpunch so the rest of us don't need to.

War Crimes, From Nuremberg to Ukraine - Ellan Taylor / Counterpunch

Posted by: bevin | Jun 6 2022 1:32 utc | 79

I see that David F@62 anticipated my point.
Thanks David I agree.

Posted by: bevin | Jun 6 2022 1:38 utc | 80

@ Bruised Northerner | Jun 5 2022 20:40 utc | 55

i think it has to do with censorship... censor big names, and skip over the smaller less known ones.... strategic culture is a big name... katheon isn't... cheers..

@ David F | Jun 5 2022 21:21 utc | 62

thanks for drawing it to my attention.. i enjoyed it.. however, there is on glaring error in the article to which i quote - ""Although there were separatist revolts after WWII in Ukraine, mainly instigated by eastern Ukrainians who had fought with the Nazis"... this ought to say western ukrainians, not eastern ukrainians... it is an important distinction and error on the authors part as i understand it...

Posted by: james | Jun 6 2022 2:54 utc | 81

Hopefully the socioeconomic state of the West will get so bad in the next few years that the probability of targeted assassinations of Western leaders will grow high enough to make it happen. I would laugh if Trudeau, Biden, Johnson, Macron, Scholz, Draghi, and all the other child molesters and grifters were beaten to death in public, on television, for the world to enjoy. To see them bleed out, crawling, screaming, gasping for their last breaths...what euphoria that would bring.

Posted by: Dan | Jun 6 2022 2:56 utc | 82

on - one..

Posted by: james | Jun 6 2022 2:57 utc | 83

Hopefully the socioeconomic state of the West will get so bad in the next few years that the probability of targeted assassinations of Western leaders will grow high enough to make it happen. I would laugh if Trudeau, Biden, Johnson, Macron, Scholz, Draghi, and all the other child molesters and grifters were beaten to death in public, on television, for the world to enjoy. To see them bleed out, crawling, screaming, gasping for their last breaths...what euphoria that would bring.

Posted by: Dan | Jun 6 2022 2:56 utc | 82

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 6 2022 3:02 utc | 84

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 5 2022 22:07 utc | 68

I have no idea why they are blocking my particular IP address/ISP, but it's not due to DDoS or anything like that. The reason I know is that I can ping them non-stop both via ISP addy and their URL (which my DNS resolves) and I get all my pings back and quickly. DDoS attacks use (not sure if only) pings, so they'd have immediately turned off ping-back were that the case. But what do I know...I guess only that it's not my ISP doing the blocking but something on Strategic Culture's side.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 6 2022 3:28 utc | 85

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 21:31 utc | 64

LOL I do a lot of writing for a living and I was about to scold you for "judgement" (and using it 3X) LOL, so I decided to look it up and whaddaya know, "judgement" is an acceptable spelling for it despite yeeeeaaaarrs of being rapped on the knuckles for insisting on that spelling over the one with no 'e' in K-12. Go figure, learn something new every day.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 6 2022 3:31 utc | 86

message from ellen e taylor - lady who wrote the article b shared which david f and bevin encouraged others to read... i e mailed her about it..

Thank you so much James, bad mistake
Of course you're right
...I'll fix it

Posted by: james | Jun 6 2022 3:56 utc | 87

@ malenkov | Jun 6 2022 3:02 utc | 84

knitting is a nice past time... a musician friend of mine - male - does it, and finds it quite relaxing and therapeutic..

Posted by: james | Jun 6 2022 3:58 utc | 88

@ petra | Jun 5 2022 16:34 utc | 21 and @ Shah Shah A Go Go | Jun 5 2022 20:08 utc | 50

The exile of a Pahlavi shah in South Africa did occur: It was Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878-1944), the father of the later deposed shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-1980). The Pahlavi dynasty consisted of only two rulers: Reza Shah Pahlavi, who reigned 1925-1941, and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who reigned 1941-1979, although he was not really in power until the coup against the nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh orchestrated by the CIA in 1953.

Reza Shah was removed by the British-Soviet intervention in 1941. While his son was placed on the throne as nominal ruler, Reza himself was exiled, first to Mauritius 1941-1942, then to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he died in 1944. Thus, his South African exile only lasted for two years. After his death, his body was moved first to the al-Rifa`i Mosque in Cairo, Egypt, where members of the Egyptian royal family were interred, but his son had it moved again in 1950 to a new mausoleum built especially for his father in Tehran. This mausoleum was destroyed by the Iranian revolutionaries in 1979; the final fate of Reza's body remains uncertain. But his son died in exile in Cairo in 1980 and was entombed in the same al-Rifa`i Mosque there that his father had previously been buried in.

Posted by: Cabe | Jun 6 2022 4:03 utc | 89

@malenkov | Jun 5 2022 20:17 utc | 52

I'm not exactly your REI granola type, but even I know that homo sapiens is the only species on the planet -- except maybe for air-conditioned house pets -- that doesn't accept the reality of climate change.

The Younger Dryas comet impact, 12,800 years ago

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 6 2022 5:21 utc | 90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SceoZbmvS4

UKRAINE WAR DEBATE vs Destiny & Adam Something w/ Haz of Infrared
66,662 views. about 2-1/2hs long

An excellent debate between Jackson Hinkle and..... Remember Victoria Nuland.... Euromaidan riots and Coup d’état.... a Malaysian Airlines being shot down...... ... he's recaps... the debates.. I have forgotten the names... but Watch Jackson Hinkle vast experiences and extremely knowledgeable of the events leading to the end of Ukraine... I stumbled onto Jackson two weeks ago... he is good really good.. Watch his prediction what’s expected of China, China after Russia, Russia... next Video..

This Won't End Well... 10,133 views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTpHydVAs4Q

Posted by: JC | Jun 6 2022 5:34 utc | 91

@Aleph_Null | Jun 5 2022 23:33 utc | 73

it appears likely that the Arctic will experience the first ice free period sometime within the next 5 years, with a best guess around the year 2022.

Scientists predict seasonal ice-free Arctic by 2015
The End of the Arctic? Ocean Could be Ice Free by 2015

And, the ultimate prediction from March 2000 (tinyurl.com => web.archive.org => independent.co.uk )

Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past

By Charles Onians
Monday, 20 March 2000

Britain's winter ends tomorrow with further indications of a striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives.

Britain's winter ends tomorrow with further indications of a striking environmental change: snow is starting to disappear from our lives.

Sledges, snowmen, snowballs and the excitement of waking to find that the stuff has settled outside are all a rapidly diminishing part of Britain's culture, as warmer winters - which scientists are attributing to global climate change - produce not only fewer white Christmases, but fewer white Januaries and Februaries.

The first two months of 2000 were virtually free of significant snowfall in much of lowland Britain, and December brought only moderate snowfall in the South-east. It is the continuation of a trend that has been increasingly visible in the past 15 years: in the south of England, for instance, from 1970 to 1995 snow and sleet fell for an average of 3.7 days, while from 1988 to 1995 the average was 0.7 days. London's last substantial snowfall was in February 1991.

Global warming, the heating of the atmosphere by increased amounts of industrial gases, is now accepted as a reality by the international community. Average temperatures in Britain were nearly 0.6°C higher in the Nineties than in 1960-90, and it is estimated that they will increase by 0.2C every decade over the coming century. Eight of the 10 hottest years on record occurred in the Nineties.

However, the warming is so far manifesting itself more in winters which are less cold than in much hotter summers. According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia,within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".

"Children just aren't going to know what snow is," he said.

The effects of snow-free winter in Britain are already becoming apparent. This year, for the first time ever, Hamleys, Britain's biggest toyshop, had no sledges on display in its Regent Street store. "It was a bit of a first," a spokesperson said.

Fen skating, once a popular sport on the fields of East Anglia, now takes place on indoor artificial rinks. Malcolm Robinson, of the Fenland Indoor Speed Skating Club in Peterborough, says they have not skated outside since 1997. "As a boy, I can remember being on ice most winters. Now it's few and far between," he said.

Michael Jeacock, a Cambridgeshire local historian, added that a generation was growing up "without experiencing one of the greatest joys and privileges of living in this part of the world - open-air skating".

Warmer winters have significant environmental and economic implications, and a wide range of research indicates that pests and plant diseases, usually killed back by sharp frosts, are likely to flourish. But very little research has been done on the cultural implications of climate change - into the possibility, for example, that our notion of Christmas might have to shift.

Professor Jarich Oosten, an anthropologist at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, says that even if we no longer see snow, it will remain culturally important.

"We don't really have wolves in Europe any more, but they are still an important part of our culture and everyone knows what they look like," he said.

David Parker, at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Berkshire, says ultimately, British children could have only virtual experience of snow. Via the internet, they might wonder at polar scenes - or eventually "feel" virtual cold.

Heavy snow will return occasionally, says Dr Viner, but when it does we will be unprepared. "We're really going to get caught out. Snow will probably cause chaos in 20 years time," he said.

The chances are certainly now stacked against the sortof heavy snowfall in cities that inspired Impressionist painters, such as Sisley, and the 19th century poet laureate Robert Bridges, who wrote in "London Snow" of it, "stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying".

Not any more, it seems.

No worries regarding heating then, they knew this 20 years ago. Lol.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 6 2022 6:01 utc | 92

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 6 2022 5:21 utc | 90

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5W4iqLglHM

..The hilarious thing is that it is you guys who insist the climate must be constant, instead of constantly changing like it always has and always will. Why are you denying climate change?

Climate changes..?. the HUB Wang Guan interviewed British Kenton Cool climbs mount Qomolangma 16 times.... watch what he said about water pools in one of the glacier... the earth indeed warming at mt. Qomolangma but also in Africa highest mountain...

Posted by: JC | Jun 6 2022 6:21 utc | 93

Quick, has anyone told Bernhard of this?

Germany facing cigarette deficit – media

A shortage of cigarette packaging paper could affect smokers in Germany, with some brands almost impossible to find in retail stores, Bild newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the paper, one of the causes for the problem was the shutdown of a Philip Morris plant for the production of cigarette packs in Ukraine. The tobacco giant had previously suspended operations in the country, including at its factory in Kharkov, where, until recently, a considerable part of the paper for cigarette packs was produced. The company owns popular cigarette brands such as Marlboro and L&M.

“Due to the tense situation in the world markets for raw materials and the shortage of cardboard packaging, there may indeed be a shortage [of cigarette packs],” a Philip Morris spokesman told the newspaper. “We are continuously adjusting our supply chains,” he added.

According to the German wholesalers interviewed by Bild, the deficit is especially acute with varieties of Marlboro cigarettes like Red and Gold. It is expected to be more difficult for smokers who prefer to buy cigarettes in vending machines, where the Marlboro brand is almost completely sold out.

All Marlboro smokers in Germany will probably be up in arms over this news!

Posted by: Jen | Jun 6 2022 6:26 utc | 94

@Jen | Jun 6 2022 6:26 utc | 94

For some unknown reason, I am always referred to the evil tobacco companies in climate change debates. I am guessing that too will be 'a thing of the past' now, lol!

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 6 2022 7:04 utc | 95

@JC | Jun 6 2022 6:21 utc | 93

I can see water pools from melting ice outside my door every year, it must be climate change!!

Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 6 2022 7:05 utc | 96

from a man still resident in my country

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1533524778610348032.html
https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/1533524810797420544

Kim Dotcom: "Without a controlled demolition the world will collapse for all, including the elites. The world has changed so much and nothing seems to make sense anymore, the blatant corruption is out in the open, the obvious propaganda media, the erosion of our rights.

What’s the end game?"

Re: Jen 94
Thanks, just in case I'll be stocking up on rolling papers so I don't run out when turmoil appears.

Posted by: tucenz | Jun 6 2022 7:19 utc | 97

This was also posted in German on Spiegel, I was a bit suprised.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/06/01/putin-war-ukraine-west-misconceptions/

Posted by: 4kk1 | Jun 6 2022 7:41 utc | 98

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 6 2022 3:31 utc | 86

I (nearly) misspelled "judgment" on purpose, as a snare to trap grammar-Nazis! Not really, though -- The omitted e hardens the g, so spelling it more conventionally looks ugly to me. Judgement. Ahhh...

Have you ever had your prose completely murdered, then resurrected upside-down, by a stuff-for-brains "editor"? Under your own proud byline, to find words connoting the exact opposite of what you wrote... that, and the unconscionable crucifixion of Gary Webb (of the San Jose Mercury, author of "Dark Alliance"), was enough for me to swear off any hopes of a journalistic profession, many years ago.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 6 2022 14:01 utc | 99

All Marlboro smokers in Germany will probably be up in arms over this news!

Posted by: Jen | Jun 6 2022 6:26 utc | 94

Posted by: malenkov | Jun 6 2022 14:46 utc | 100