“The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted a resolution declaring that Syrians and Palestinians have sovereignty over their natural resources in the Israeli-occupied tracts of land in the strategic Golan Heights and the West Bank, including East al-Quds.
The UNGA passed the resolution on “permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” including East al-Quds, and of “the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources” on Wednesday, with 159 votes in favor.
Eight member states, namely Canada, Chad, Israel, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and the United States, voted against, and there were 10 abstentions.”
Meanwhile the USA sets up a new base in Syria, a sovereign nation Syria doesn’t want the USA a foreign power on its lands attacking its people and government using proxy troops, imposing sanctions on the people sanctions are war by other means.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/12/15/694547/UN-adopts-resolution-on-Syrian,-Palestinian-sovereignty-over-natural-resources-in-Israeli-occupied-territories

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 16 2022 17:02 utc | 3

re: USGA resolutions against Israel
>news
2022-2023 UNGA Resolutions on Israel vs. Rest of the World
• Resolutions on Israel: 15
• Resolutions on Rest of the World: 13 . .here
>wiki
As of 2013, the State of Israel had been condemned in 45 resolutions by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 16 2022 17:09 utc | 5

USA wants Aussie pilot extradited to the US for training Chinese pilots, Aussie cops arrest the pilot in Australia at the request of chiefs at US spy base in Australia.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 16 2022 17:09 utc | 6

From the article:
“Therefore the extradition would fail on the basis it does not meet the requirements of dual criminality.”
There was the same legal issue regarding the detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Canada. But Canada detained her and was proceeding with the extradition process in order to please the Empire in any case.

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Dec 16 2022 17:17 utc | 7

From the department of good deeds leading nowhere…
Several days ago, I noticed a jarring typo in a TASS article. Naturally, I wanted to inform the agency. The most suitable email address at its contact webpage seemed to be web at tass dot com, so I sent it an email. This would have been in the morning.
Not quite 24 hours later, an automated email from my email provider advises that a message from tass dot com has been blocked. So, I called to have the message released, which was promptly done. Care to guess the content of the message from tass dot com? Perhaps an automated reply assuring me that my input was valuable?
Nope. The message from tass dot com said that my attempt to reach the “web” email address failed owing to no such user. Great. So, I go to the trouble to have a reply released from spam quarantine, only for that reply to say that my sending attempt had been futile.
I then tried sending to a theoretically less suitable but possibly working tass dot com email address. This was several days ago, and I haven’t heard anything, nor has the typo in TASS’s article been fixed. I guess it’s “old news.”

Posted by: David Levin | Dec 16 2022 18:58 utc | 9

“…Eight member states, namely Canada, Chad, Israel, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and the United States, voted against, and there were 10 abstentions.”
As to Chad, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Palau this annual vote for Israel must comprise a large part of the nations’ budgets- a sort of ritualistic disfigurement that keeps the political caste in prosperous circumstances.
Of course the same might be said of Canada, too, where the political parties all follow Washington’s diktats, for fear that, if they should stray from the line, the media will turn on them and tear them to pieces.
We see similar forces at work in the UNGA vote against Nazism, which received record low levels of support this year with, as Moscow points out, all the Axis powers now standing up proudly for the cause that their grandparents, willy-nilly, were enrolled in.
The reality is that “western civilisation” is now dominated ideologically by fascist ideas and calculations. When they think of Auschwitz nowadays NATO’s politicians see not the dying prisoners but the well fed stalwart Ukrainian guards fighting in the cause of hatred of Russians and of working people too- the core of the OUN and an inspiration to all fighting to be allowed to proceed with genocide in the Donbas.
In closely related news the Canadian programme to save money buy promoting suicide among critically ill patients is, according to the Globe today, being reviewed. Probably in order to expand its reach: to unhealthy people? to poor people? to the unwoken? to critics of Foreign Policy?

Posted by: bevin | Dec 16 2022 19:10 utc | 11

Here’s a link for Finn Cunningham interview of Former senator for Virginia. He feels the war against Russia is revenge for the war in Syria which Russia is helping Assad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZouDrBd5pM

Posted by: Jaz | Dec 16 2022 19:23 utc | 13

a “treat to national security”.
Posted by: Vikichka | Dec 16 2022 19:34 utc | 14
—
Chef’s kiss.

Posted by: too scents | Dec 16 2022 19:45 utc | 15

Happy Friday everyone! Here’s one of my fave music videos. I finally got around to translating the many Russian comments and was surprised this song sung in English was played every morning in Siberia during the early 80’s. Don’t need to understand the words to appreciate the beautiful voice. Can someone please alert Andrei Martyanov to this, I think he’ll love it
Sydne Rome Hearts 1982
All the best

Posted by: Nathan in WA US | Dec 16 2022 20:03 utc | 17

Have been spending some time researching the recent shooting in Queensland. There has been much Murdoch style infotainment in the media plus a few things police were saying weren’t adding up.
Nathaniel the school principle had left the NSW department of ed due to the vaccine mandates. He had just had a year or so of work due to heat issues which he had recovered from. Highly regarded in Queensland where he previously worked and also in NSW. He had separated from his first wife and remarried and had a family in Walgett. His current wife is also a teacher and she kept teaching in Walgett and it seems he headed to his brothers farm in Qld.
His former wife Stacey had married Nathaniel’s brother Garath. She also was a teacher and was working locally until the vax mandate, leaving the day prior to the mandate coming into force.
Garath had been what he called homesteading on the farm for five years (self sufficiency survival type stuff) but haven’t found what he did before that. He and Stacey were into some sort of home grown end of days religion and apparently using a bible with an extra book in it.
The Train’s Father also had some form of home grown religion that he preached. The brothers had been estranged from there parents for 20+ years.
He was paranoid and had the place set up with cameras and motion sensors. Between the three of them, due to the vax mandate there would have been no income.
As Nathaniel had not contacted his family since October he was reported as missing, by his wife I assume, to the NSW police. NSW police put out a missing person notice 8th December.
It was in response to this that four police went out to the farm. Apparently police had been going there for ‘welfare checks’ prior to this event.
All the Rubbish about a preset ambush and enticing the four police into a trap is bullshit that came from the head of the police union.
The recent incident in NZ were a baby was removed from its parents by I think court order as they would not let the baby have a blood transfusion unless it was determined as vax free seemed to have tipped Garath and Stacey over the edge. When the police came out to the property due to the missing person report, they started shooting.
These look to be the best to reports though I have looked at a lot of others trying to sort a bit of fact from much bullshit. Link to the missing person report in the Crikey article.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/as-a-principal-he-was-feted-for-his-success-now-he-s-linked-to-two-police-killings-20221213-p5c601.html
https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/12/16/queensland-wieambilla-shooting-youtube-video-online/
Garath Train was a bit of a nutter but it does appear to be the vaccine mandate that triggered the shooting.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 16 2022 20:37 utc | 19

In 2009 European Union issued a set of laws, commonly called “Third Energy Package”. Some parts of these laws seem made especially against Russia. The end result was that Gazprom would only be able to use half the capacity of the pipeline from Russia to Germany. So, if anyone says EU sanctions began in 2021, “after Russia invaded Ukraine”: no, the economic war began in 2009.

Posted by: Passerby | Dec 16 2022 20:49 utc | 21

@psychohistorian
@juliania
From my Religion considered Harmful (and the Ungoodness of Prayer).
History and Function of Religion
The evidence is that government, city building, religion and war all co-evolved on an Earth that was rapidly drying, leading to enormous stress on previously easy-going hunter gatherers. We can see in history, as today, that religions sustain and exacerbate UTism (US-versus-THEM-ism), supporting the banding together of religiots in groups of “US” (ingroups) larger than family, clan and tribe; and to fear, hate and depersonalise the “OTHER” (outgroups) also defined as groups going beyond family, clan and tribe; and so for the “US” to do things to the “OTHER” that go far beyond mere cruelty (outgroup derogation), so making wars larger, nastier and more decisive than they would otherwise be. Which is why religion is a social phenomenon which does not address questions, or provide answers, outside of answering the question, is that person part of US or part of THEM, by carefully evaluating, down to fine nuances, whether other people vest in similar ridiculous things to ourselves, and if not, to depersonalise the THEM, depressing empathy in order to make THEM easier to abuse or kill. As research reflects is generally the case, the impact of attacks on outgroups are invariably far worse than any amount of benefits obtained through ingroup favoritism. History proves that religion, while not the exclusive source of UTism, is remarkably good at that job, and that of the world’s religions, the so-called Abrahamic religions, are much more effective than others.
If this were not the case, Emo Philips’ “Best God joke ever” would not be funny.

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”
Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.

If you imagine that you see any other more fundamental role for the world’s many religions, you are deluding yourself.

Posted by: Hermit | Dec 16 2022 20:55 utc | 23

The end result was that Gazprom would only be able to use half the capacity of the pipeline from Russia to Germany. So, if anyone says EU sanctions began in 2021, “after Russia invaded Ukraine”: no, the economic war began in 2009.
Posted by: Passerby | Dec 16 2022 20:49 utc | 21

Gazprom and Russia are not stupid. That is precisely what Gazprom got 5 major European Corporations to invest in 50% of the capital expense for NS2.
“For Nord Stream 2, the loan from Uniper, Wintershall Dea, OMV, Engie, and Royal Dutch Shell covers 50 percent of the projected costs of €9.5 billion. The rest is being financed by Gazprom.”

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Dec 16 2022 21:09 utc | 25

Tom_Q_Collins@26
Curiously the article you refer to is bylined By Jeffrey St Clair and Alexander Cockburn and dated 2022.
That is most peculiar, Cockburn being long dead. St. Clair is obviously the author of the article. He does Cockburn’s reputation no favours by attributing these ‘thoughts’ to him.
The truth is that St Clair is no innocent in the debauching of Counterpunch which, I suspect, was motivated by financial necessity or, as we used to say, greed.
There really is no excuse for calling what is happening in Ukraine “Putin’s War’ thus aligning the site which Cockburn made famous with the lowest media of the liberal bourgeoisie.
It will take a lot more than articles such as this one to earn Counterpunch the forgiveness of those it betrayed when it really mattered.

Posted by: bevin | Dec 16 2022 21:40 utc | 27

Video of the recent crash of an F-35B in Ft Worth here . . . scroll down.
The B is the Marine Corps version, short take-off vertical land. The idea is that this model could be used in austere conditions without conventional airfields.

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 16 2022 21:49 utc | 29

#29
takes helicopter pilot skills for that kind of landing…which, coming down as fast as it did, that pilot obviously did not have the skills. He should bless his luck that he wasn’t ejected straight into the pavement.

Posted by: Nathan in WA US | Dec 16 2022 22:08 utc | 31

@Tom_Q_Collins 26
On a point of order, the Democrats were the party that defended slavery and after that Jim Crow laws, fought communism and socialism in the 1930s and 1940s when a plurality of Americans were one, the other or both, and have done far more for the oligarchs than the Republicans ever have (see the list of Biden’s successful legislative sponsorships and the justices appointed by committees headed by Biden).
If the Democrats ever had a “pretty fair notion of what the rich were up to”, it is because they were the über-wealthy, or were serving them as assiduously as anyone else ever has.

Posted by: Hermit | Dec 16 2022 22:14 utc | 33

takes helicopter pilot skills for that kind of landing…which, coming down as fast as it did, that pilot obviously did not have the skills. He should bless his luck that he wasn’t ejected straight into the pavement.
Posted by: Nathan in WA US | Dec 16 2022 22:08 utc | 31

The plane did not look to be descending that fast to me. It appears the plane bounced slightly and the rear thrusters had not been shut off, so the rear went up and the nose went down, snapping the front wheel. Too soon to blame the pilot.
He would have had lots of time in a simulator before being allowed to fly. Just another chapter in the greatest military swindle in history

Posted by: Opport Knocks | Dec 16 2022 22:29 utc | 35

Posted by: Hermit | Dec 16 2022 22:14 utc | 33
Yes, Democrats were the party of slaveowners and the slave economy, however just as today, the vast majority of their voters were not among the wealthy 1% and there was a strong current of economic populism among Democrats, even in the south – Representative Wright Patman of Texas is a good example.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Patman
So while they were indeed all about Jim Crow, then redlining, then anti-busing, and anti-communist, the Democrats were still the party of the lower economic strata and the workers. Don’t get me wrong, I know that the Democrats played a role in crushing third and fourth parties from emerging or gaining traction and we’ve all seen how they have morphed into a corporate part, run like a corporation and anti-democratic.
So the short version is, despite its many evils, the Democrats were at one time the only available populist economic party. This of course changed under Carter, then Clinton.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 16 2022 22:43 utc | 37

Opport Knocks | Dec 16 2022 22:29 utc | 35
Looked like the front thruster failed to an extent or perhaps the back down thrust did not reduce. Just a minor software glitch somewhere in the approx 25 million lines of code.
Flying on microsoft and a song and prayer.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 16 2022 22:47 utc | 39

so the employees don’t go on strike, the customers don’t boycott and the shareholders don’t fire them.
Posted by: Vikichka | Dec 16 2022 21:48 utc | 28
Yeah, but the way they go about making sure employees stay “satisfied” and don’t go on strike is primarily through union busting, lobbying Congress and state houses, and other unsavory tactics. Fact of the matter is the vast majority of CEOs are hugely overpaid and there have been studies demonstrating that CEO pay is in no way tied to actual CEO performance. That CEOs (and other C-suite officers) are paid an order of magnitude or more than the average employee isn’t written in some kind of ancient stone either. The practice of overpaying the C-suite originated in the US and UK back in the late 60s and really took off under Reagan, Bush I and Clinton.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 16 2022 23:02 utc | 41

RE: CEO “compensation” – https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-compensation-2018/

Summary
What this report finds: The increased focus on growing inequality has led to an increased focus on CEO pay. Corporate boards running America’s largest public firms are giving top executives outsize compensation packages. Average pay of CEOs at the top 350 firms in 2018 was $17.2 million—or $14.0 million using a more conservative measure. (Stock options make up a big part of CEO pay packages, and the conservative measure values the options when granted, versus when cashed in, or “realized.”) CEO compensation is very high relative to typical worker compensation (by a ratio of 278-to-1 or 221-to-1). In contrast, the CEO-to-typical-worker compensation ratio (options realized) was 20-to-1 in 1965 and 58-to-1 in 1989. CEOs are even making a lot more—about five times as much—as other earners in the top 0.1%. From 1978 to 2018, CEO compensation grew by 1,007.5% (940.3% under the options-realized measure), far outstripping S&P stock market growth (706.7%) and the wage growth of very high earners (339.2%). In contrast, wages for the typical worker grew by just 11.9%.
Why it matters: Exorbitant CEO pay is a major contributor to rising inequality that we could safely do away with. CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay, not because they are increasing productivity or possess specific, high-demand skills. This escalation of CEO compensation, and of executive compensation more generally, has fueled the growth of top 1.0% and top 0.1% incomes, leaving less of the fruits of economic growth for ordinary workers and widening the gap between very high earners and the bottom 90%. The economy would suffer no harm if CEOs were paid less (or taxed more).
How we can solve the problem: We need to enact policy solutions that would both reduce incentives for CEOs to extract economic concessions and limit their ability to do so. …

I’ve also seen studies that show average or below average performing* CEOs are often way overcompensated while good performing CEOs lag behind in compensation.
*As far as performance goes, the main metrics taken into account, of course, were profits and shareholder returns.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 16 2022 23:07 utc | 43

In her weekly briefing yesterday, Maria Zakharova provided an interesting answer to a question about the Kosovo crisis. She was later asked a follow up question. I’ll provide both below:

Question: Belgrade plans to request permission to introduce its police into Kosovo on December 15. All this does not contradict the UN Security Council resolution. At the same time, the same Berlin calls this proposal unacceptable. It turns out that NATO, and the EU, are leveling the role of the UN in resolving crises? What mechanism in this case can be considered effective in the peaceful settlement of conflicts?
Maria Zakharova: This is the essence of the “collective West” – to replace the role of the UN. They couldn’t destroy it. In the early 2000s, there was a plan to get rid of the Organization. A series of scandals launched at the instigation of Western special services involving Secretariat employees. Everything happened according to the well-known “patterns”. The UN Secretariat and the Organization itself were shaking. There was scandal after scandal, necessary to cause the collapse of the structure, to block its work. It didn’t work.
The international community, most countries and peoples of the world have said a resolute “no” to Washington’s attempts in the first place to get rid of the UN. Let me remind you that it was American politicians who claimed that the UN was outdated and became a vestige of the past. Like, you need to get rid of it.
After this failed, they began Plan B – replacing international law with the concept of a “rules-based world order”, directing pontoons (in the form of various forums, dialogue platforms) from their own ideas about how it should be implemented in order to replace international organizations and, first of all, the UN.
On all the issues discussed in the relevant committees of the UN General Assembly, where the special rapporteurs spoke, numerous forums were invented, held, including at the level of heads of state: on climate, freedom of speech, human rights.
There is a universally recognized collective format that has a charter, clear laws, and international legal norms. We didn’t want to work together. The entire UN agenda was “sorted out” in non-state formats, of which there were a large number. They were held in Paris, London, in various parts of Europe, in the United States. A modern example is the Summit of Democracies.
No one is against discussing a non-UN topic. If it is UN, but it needs to be given an additional (for example) regional dimension (the UN and the African Union deal with African issues, regional formats) – this is how it should be, but not when the topics and problems discussed by professionals in the UN are replaced by conversations of politicians or non-professionals on some one-day platforms.
This is the essence – the replacement, the blurring of the role of international legal institutions, the main of which is the UN.
The international legal basis for the settlement of the Kosovo problem is UN Security Council Resolution 1244. It establishes the possibility of returning up to a thousand representatives of serbian security forces to the territory of the province to protect the Serbs living there, which in the current conditions would obviously be the best way to stabilize the situation. A request for the implementation of this measure by Belgrade would be absolutely legitimate and effective. As well as the convening of a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss this issue.
Not for the first time we see the desire of Western countries to use the “field presences” of the EU and NATO for selfish geopolitical purposes. In this sense, Kosovo is not just an exception, but a clear example that confirms the global plans of the European Union and the alliance.
Trying to give their actions the appearance of legality, they deliberately “forget” about the decisive function of the UN Security Council to ensure peace and security. No matter how zealous the West is in imposing the notorious “rules-based order,” no attempt to blur the current framework of the settlement will be able to cancel the fact that the UN Security Council and the decisions approved by it play a central role in Kosovo affairs.

Now that’s a very curious revelation. Surely the UN and UNSC was used as a tool via Outlaw US Empire lies, blackmail and the usual corruption, but a concerted, overt attempt to disband the UN is news to me. Here’s the follow up Q&A:

Question: 22 and a half years ago, on June 9, 2000, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern about the implementation of Resolution 1244. A number of problems were recorded, ranging from “some actions of the leadership of the UN mission” to the issue of “the return to the region of a limited contingent of the Yugoslav army and police.” Belgrade, referring to this resolution, is still waiting for the permission of the NATO peacekeeping mission to deploy its police in Kosovo. Maybe is this also an attempt by the West to buy time, almost like in the story of the Minsk agreements?
A: This is a complex question. I have already partially answered it today. The development of events around Kosovo after the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999 and the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, and especially since 2008, when the Kosovo Albanian elite unilaterally declared the “independence” of this Serbian province, is filled with examples of cynical disregard by the West and Kosovars (with external support) of the international framework and the terms of the settlement laid down in the above-mentioned UN Security Council resolution.
As for the main “irritant” – the possibility of returning a limited contingent of Serbian military and police to the region, the Westerners and their Kosovo wards “from the threshold” reject this option, call it “unacceptable”. How are they doing with international law? It is clear that they are afraid of a direct clash that could bury the plans for the illegal sovereignization of Kosovo, and will do everything to prevent the appearance of Serbian security forces there. At the same time, they will not put a finger on the finger to remove the root cause of such a scenario, which is the purposeful oppression of Serbs in Kosovo.
In this sense, we can say that the opponents of a just settlement are really dragging their feet, trying to blur, “wash out”, wrap up the fundamental provisions of resolution 1244, including the possibility of the return of the Serbian military and police to the province. However, this decision of the UN Security Council does not lose its relevance and legal force.
You can see what the mediation efforts of the West and the European Union have led to. Collapse. Westerners have the audacity to declare themselves as mediators in some other conflicts. They do not have a single example of normalization of the situation.

Zakharova really doesn’t need to confirm the Minsk ruse is being employed again as that’s quite obvious. Will Serbia stand for it, or after the UNSC meeting will it move forward and deploy its security forces as it should? If Serbia asks Russia for help, Russia must act decisively and boldly as NATO must be defeated in Serbia and the Kosovo bandits driven back to Albania and other points of origin.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 16 2022 23:15 utc | 45

or you could go back to Truman, who fired Wallace, or the democratic party honchos who pushed Truman when the voters preferred Wallace.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Dec 16 2022 23:18 utc | 47

Corporate “journalists”{stenographers} are having an industry-wide conniption because Elon suspended the accounts that were posting real time tracking of his location (some accounts were associated with the attack on a car transporting his youngest child, other accounts were retweeting..)…
#Freeeespeeeech they screeeech.
Content creator/blogger Tim Poole has offered to crowdsource, so that everyone of those banned corporate journos, along with the corporate journos crying for them, can be tracked real time 24/7 …. And their entire families…
No one seems interested in that “track me, I’ll track you” solution.
New Management at twitter and the change in power/control has caught corp journos by surprise.
They thought they could bully Musk…. Just as they’ve become adapted to bullying everyone from Trump/President down… But they didn’t factor Musk actually owns the hammer they use to bludgeon..
The band have revealed just how addicted to twitter journos are ..
One is now using his dog’s account to bypass the ban.
Alleged comedian Kathy Griffin (with the severed head of Trump) … used her dead mother’s account to ban evade… she couldn’t stay off the platform for even one day.
If I had a twitter, I’d tweet
#JulianAssange at every journo every day….

Posted by: Melaleuca | Dec 16 2022 23:28 utc | 49

Who ate all the chips?
‘US turns to ‘entity list’ again after running short of cards against China’s chip rise
By Xie Jun and Li Xuanmin
Published: Dec 16, 2022 10:40 PM Updated: Dec 17, 2022 12:41 AM’
“The US side generalized the concept of national security, abused export control and other measures, and used national power to expand the crackdown on Chinese enterprises and institutions, which is a typical practice of market distortion and economic hegemony,”
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202212/1282032.shtml
One of a few excellent quotable paragraphs on the latest playbook action by the retreating unipolar empire aimed at destroying its International partners economies as it steals all their manufacturing base, buys up their public funded services for the usual suspects and heads for the exit door with the dollar as a worldwide reserve currency, attempting to retain it for its own Dominate days by shutting itself off from Russia , China as it has from Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Syria and it seems from its backyard in South America, the oilfields and gas of the ME and its markets in the ASEAN countries. Along with Bidens dumb racist words to the few African leaders who visited him yesterday, there is now no pretence that this is all planned to the last detail.
A genuine long term plan to actually believe they can build a castle around the fairytale of the modern world as envisioned by a hundred years of the Feds control of the Worlds Reserve Currency.
It’s ‘citizens’ reduced to uneducated, individualistic personalities and genders, the death of traditional families and hence communities- reduced to the slave/serf status whilst the elites lord it up with a neo middle class managerial house slaves. A full circle to the way it all started of centuries ago.
It is going to work of course. As we have been conditioned by perception management through several generations now and can be made to believe anything as long as it’s on TV, mentally retarding super hero universes, sport watching addiction and computer games with a fully owned news media as our self administered chains – the latest orthodoxy.
The Church of Woke and New Eden.
Many will leave. Mostly to the warm places and civilisation of the multipolar world where the citizens will have public services and family security. The actual chips that matter.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 16 2022 23:45 utc | 51

@pretzelattack –
Points taken. Re: JFK, on a different note, you may have seen me comment at times here that the “depletion allowance” angle is one that isn’t often discussed when talking about theories behind his assassination. That would have been a huge hit to a certain segment of the rich. And like the secrecy that still shrouds so many of the documents that should have all come out in 2017, the “depletion allowance” continues to this day.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Dec 17 2022 0:22 utc | 53

RIP Zero Covid
Posted this at the end of a dead thread yesterday so will pop it back here.
Continuing the story, the acceleration of relaxation of controls in China continues.
China/Hong Kong border to fully reopen early January. As there are already minimal restrictions on entering Hong Kong I guess this means China will then be all but fully open to the rest of the world at least through that route. That Chinese New Year holiday in the Philippines is becoming a reality: it wasn’t the going out that was so much of a problem as the getting back in.
https://www.frontpages.com/south-china-morning-post/
Heard from my son in the UK this morning that he and his wife have just recovered from bouts, now it looks like it’s going to be our turn. Reported case figures here now ignore asymptomatics and will of course miss most, who don’t get tested. Just one case reported in Nanshan district yesterday, ha ha.

Posted by: Walt | Dec 17 2022 1:04 utc | 55

Below is a Reuters posting title showing past values versus reality in financialized America
Child workers found throughout Hyundai-Kia supply chain in Alabama
The next time you are told about treatment of humans in other countries, tell them about the hypocrisy that is now the reality of the American Dream

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 17 2022 1:18 utc | 57

Also at The Saker: An interview with the most important public intellectual in the world today, Michael Hudson.
https://thesaker.is/michael-hudson-gives-an-interview-to-a-german-magazine/
“Criminals are the ultimate Chicago School free market libertarians”
Here is just a taste of the interview
“…Crime is what made crypto a growth sector for the past few years. Investors bought crypto because it is a vehicle for the fortunes being made in international drug dealing, the arms trade, other crime and tax evasion. These are the great post-industrial growth sectors in Western economies.
“Ponzi schemes often are good investment vehicles in their take-off stage – the pump-and-dump stage. It was inevitable that criminals would not only use crypto to transfer funds, but actually set up their own currencies “free of oppressive government regulation.” Criminals are the ultimate Chicago School free market libertarians….”

Posted by: bevin | Dec 17 2022 1:34 utc | 59

Posted by: Bad Deal Motors On | Dec 17 2022 1:23 utc | 58
EU is downgrading its ability to sustain agriculture. In the Netherlands, they are talking about 3000 farms shutting down due to EU regulations. In Germany, they planned to significantly reduce fertilizers in pursuit of EU defined climate goals.
This all is connected to the 4th industrial revolution, Agenda 2030, great reset or whatever you want to call it, but effectively it is resulting Russian grain exports becoming more valuable to the world. Also, the EU seems to be very concerned in gaining influence in Africa, or denying Russia from gaining influence there – Russian grain will win the influence game in Africa too, at the end of the day. EU’s own actions contribute to this. EUvassals are below mediocre and more stupid beyond belief.
Also, it’s a terrible thing to bring up but with the mRNA sterilization of majority of EU population, the prospects are very bad. There is nothing that would be able to sustain a war with Russia that NATZO envisioned. This all correlates that Russians will win the west just by sitting and beating their spasmodic attacks in Ukraine and just destroying anything Nato sends there.

Posted by: unimperator | Dec 17 2022 1:42 utc | 61

@Don Bacon 34
It’s is not just a matter of reporting. Humans are failure prone. If it does not involve an F-35, any accident sequence other than catastrophic, non-recoverable structural failure, and sometimes even then, usually involves human errors, generally most proximally by the pilot flying and often by a pilot-in-command if monitoring rather than flying. The reason for the F-35 exception is that it is a fetid pile of crap which does not bother to hide its innate desire to shed its wings and kill its pilots, while devouring maintainance hours like the fragile princess it is. This time however, even though it involved an F-35, the pilot appeared to be behind the airframe throughout the video, which means that no matter what went wrong (loss of forward thruster after initial impact?), the pilot likely contributed to it, even if the airman’s mistakes did not instantiate the event sequence. Outside of the perfectly sane self-preservation instinct which leads rational people to stay as far away from F-35s as possible, but which shouldn’t apply to those who want to try to fly the POS, the late ejection appeared entirely unnecessary. That’s the way $400 million goes, pop goes the nose wheel!

Posted by: Hermit | Dec 17 2022 1:49 utc | 63

No sooner than MOngolian prez came back from his sojourn to China, when anti govn riots erupted in the capital, then morphed into anti Chinese mayhem
must be just another coincidence eh ?
[1]
—————–
A sample of headlines on the agni 5 test…

agni 5 missile test: India’s successful Agni-5 tests a warning to China …
Agni 5 Missile Test explained: India roars back at China after Tawang …
Can India’s Agni-5 cover entire China? Here are 5 things to know about .
Beware Beijing: India’s Agni 5 capable of reaching most cities in China…
Is India’s Agni-5 Nuclear Missile Capable of Covering China?
Air drill & Agni-V test: India signals to China
blah blah blah

Never fails, every time the Indian test a new missile, they make sure everybody knows its all about China.
In fact , every stage of missile prog was tagged by the city in China it could reach, announced to all and sundry, no mincing words,.
I dont recall China doing anything similar.
If it did, the entire garden would jump on it like a ton of bricks and declared ‘Chinese belligerence.’ !
I guess such ‘freedom of speech’ is garden prerogative eh ?
——————
I thought ‘The Chinese have stood up’ ?
Then why is that mofo burns not given 24 hrs to get the fuck outta China ?

Wang also criticised comments on Saturday by Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China, as being “full of lies and prejudice”.
Burns had said the United States remained “deeply concerned” over what it saw as China’s failure to live up to its international commitment to protect rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in areas such as Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang.
“We urge the U.S. side to stop…….

Urge your ass !
You have to earn your respect, stop behaving like a cry baby..
Dont get mad, get even.
[1]
https://tinyurl.com/5d9sxhsh
—————
Meanwhile, yet another ‘terrorists’ attack targeting Chinese,

China ‘shocked’ at Kabul hotel attack that injured its five citizens
More than 30 Chinese citizens were in the hotel at the time of the attack, Yu Ming Hui, the head of the China Town business com

[IS claimed credit for the attack ….]

Posted by: denk | Dec 17 2022 2:40 utc | 65

Reuters is always pushing the empire meme as evidenced by the posting title below and opening quote
New COVID model predicts over 1 million deaths in China through 2023
quote

China’s abrupt lifting of stringent COVID-19 restrictions could result in an explosion of cases and over a million deaths through 2023, according to new projections from the U.S.-based Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).

Think about the sick mental state of folks that write this BS for a living….the US Covid deaths are over a million and small fraction of China’s population….how to lie with statistics…. They are directed to create a story that shows China in a negative light knowing that they will never be called on their BS at the end of 2023 or have whatever Covid deaths/China information put into a context with the rest of the world Covid deaths, including the West.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 17 2022 3:51 utc | 67

Matryoshka. I have never seen anyone pick what Russia will do. Dolls within dolls, “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”
Some time ago – around the time of the Trump election or perhaps Showergate when I still read Pat Crazy’s blog, TTG wrote about a Soviet method of influence that I thought was bullshit at the time. I think there was a name for it but cannot remember.
I now watch Russia do what TTG described. It is about making a move that will cause the opponent to react in a desired way. Pysops as we know it is mostly aimed at the masses though it can be used on idiot politicians and is what the west has studied and used. We get all this crap about Russia losing the information war because our own governments… or empire is good at brainwashing the majority. Sort of stuff used in color revolutions.
Early on Karl voiced the though that Russia had left large reserves out as bait. At that time I did not think so but now more and more I think Karl may have been be right. Its slowly slowly, gently gently but Russia is causing nuclear armed terrorist state to slowly move in the right direction. Bring the perfect storm against the US but in such a way there is nothing to strike out at. Roves empire upended.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 17 2022 4:43 utc | 69

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 17 2022 3:51 utc | 67
I don’t suppose they reported that emergency fever clinics would be set up. Shenzhen promised 4,000 and just announced that 758 are already open. Mind you with a population of 18 million they are going to be pretty kept busy.
I don’t recall any other country reacting similarly.

Posted by: Walt | Dec 17 2022 4:48 utc | 71

An accident on the Soyuz MS-22 has profound consequences for the International Space Station. Orbiting astronauts probably need to find a new ride home.
Nasa reports:

On Wednesday, Dec. 14, an external leak was detected from the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module on the International Space Station. The external radiator cooling loop of the Soyuz is the suspected leak source.
The Roscosmos Mission Control team in Moscow postponed Wednesday evening’s planned spacewalk with two cosmonauts to evaluate the situation and data from the Soyuz spacecraft.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2022/12/15/nasa-provides-update-on-international-space-station-operations/

Posted by: too scents | Dec 17 2022 6:05 utc | 73

Below is a link to the latest from Pepe Escobar at The Cradle
Xi of Arabia and the petroyuan drive
I like how Pepe ends it

All aboard…the Sovereign Train.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 17 2022 6:33 utc | 75

Below is the latest from Wall Street On Parade
A Sam Bankman-Fried Company that Was Not in Bankruptcy Has Gone Poof; Regulators Are Drawing a Dark Curtain
I think that the SBF story could be easily turned into multiple Hollywood blockbusters and still not cover all the financial perfidy displayed by this man and his team

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 17 2022 7:30 utc | 77

You mean King Chuck?
@psychohistorian | Dec 17 2022 7:36 utc | 78
—
I was thinking of the plentiful Arabian princeling classes. The British sovereigns are already finished.

Posted by: too scents | Dec 17 2022 7:48 utc | 79

When Eastern Europe joined the European Union, the birth rate suddenly dropped below two children per woman. In a recent interview, Michael Hudson says:
“This kind of demographic shrinkage is what the Baltic states have experienced. It is a byproduct of neoliberal policies.”

Posted by: Passerby | Dec 17 2022 8:20 utc | 81

@24 Sunny Runny Burger

I am not saying the following is the case, I’m only saying it’s getting really weird and that all sensible explanations are beginning to seem lacking —to me at least.
Concerning “the west” it is hard to fathom what “success” of the nazis inspires any of the “elite” to want to try it again since there weren’t any successes at all as far as I can tell (unless one counts motorways or tourism or similar but that is just plain silly).
Do they genuinely suffer from some kind of physical brain damage?

The key to understanding any and all wars is not to accept the failure or brain damage hypothesis, but quite the opposite.
Assume that war is highly successfull, everything works out as planned and all objectives have been reached at the end of it. Also assume that leaders on both sides are bad people who secretly conspire together. As Ralph Epperson explains it, the conspirational view of history vs the accidental view of history. Start from there and at some point it all makes sense.

Posted by: RON | Dec 17 2022 8:55 utc | 83

@ Jen | 84
That video shows Chinese soldiers over the long stone wall border on the Indian side, how disciplined. The video sound is only from the Indian side. The is a Himalayan agreement not to shoot, get up dated.
That the LPA needs provocations to distract the public eye from the PRC Covid mess is clear from this Tawang episode once again.

Posted by: Antonym | Dec 17 2022 9:36 utc | 85

@ Jen or any other CCP fans:
Who invaded Tibet in 195O and hold it till today, India or China? It should have been a neutral buffer state between the two like Ukraine should have been between Russia and USnato. I won’t mention Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia or Manchuria.

Posted by: Antonym | Dec 17 2022 9:55 utc | 87

Posted by: Don Bacon | Dec 16 2022 17:03 utc | 4
It is most important Germany buys Lockheed Yak-141 derivatives !
The Luftwaffe was bought by the US to lobby for something to carry B61-12 weapons stored at Buchel which under Non-Proliferation Treaty Germans should not have access to.
The proposed Franco-German-Spanish Future plane is thus sidelined and Franco-German cooperation rendered moot. UK has linked up with Italy and Japan to make its own even though it has bought/reduced/leased F-35s which the Pentagon tricked them into by having Rolls-Royce as engine-supplier then ditching it for GE solus deal.
It is essential Germany have a plane controlled by US software and satellites which can be regulated and restricted according to subscriptions and moods. Lambrecht is another ridiculous German Defence Minister with about as much awareness as vdL………but who really cares – Germany will never see these aircraft.
It will be years before US even builds them with their own non-combat replacement needs……..and Germany will have fun re-painting them after each flight – especially when Hensoldt boasts its radars track them.
This is another white elephant but Germany leased drones from Israel at higher cost than buying from USA just to boondoggle………..procurement in Germany is a scam.

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Dec 17 2022 10:34 utc | 89

Posted by: Antonym | Dec 17 2022 9:55 utc | 87

Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia or Manchuria.

When you mention these places, please also mention Hawaii, Guantanamo Bay….everything west of the Louisiana Purchase….hell, you should even mention everything east of the Louisiana Purchase.

Posted by: littlereddot | Dec 17 2022 10:39 utc | 91

Posted by: Antonym | Dec 17 2022 11:08 utc | 92
Still arguing?
Since you did mention Inner Mongolia…

The Manchus gained control of the Inner Mongolian tribes in the early seventeenth century, then invaded Ming China in 1644, bringing it under the control of their Qing Dynasty. Under the Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), Mongolia was administered in a different way for each region…

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Inner_Mongolia
Two down…

Posted by: Walt | Dec 17 2022 11:15 utc | 93

Following up last nights post from Global Times on the attempted HiTech Chip sanctions being the next step in the dying by Empires playbook.
A link that illustrates that the Dollar hegemony is being unwound, to declare it dead as a Reserve Currency.
‘China, Japan again sell US debt; China’s holdings hit 12-year low’
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202212/1282025.shtml
And today is what must be my favourite headline of the day so far, in 10 words synthesises what most of us bar flies know and keep proving daily. Next I hope the Chinese experts do the Bankers of the City – after all gangsters need to launder their loot!

US is like ‘a mafia boss in his later years’: expert at GT annual conference

‘”The US is not in its prime of life, no longer the protagonist of movies like 007 who are handsome, elegant, quick in its action and reaction. Today’s US is like a mafia boss in his later years, can barely walk but still holds particularly large power. Today, US’ position is largely determined by its system,” Jin said.
Jin noted that the US system creates a world market system, full of opportunities, which lures people in and then controls them by all means. On the surface, financial hegemony, high-tech monopoly, pricing power, international rules, procedures, media appear to be under US control, but in fact, violence is its basic method used in controlling the world.’
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202212/1282051.shtml
As usual there’s more zombie zingers, quotes from experts, in that article.
I like the journalistic style that GT is using. Sparse, detailed, poetic, clear.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 17 2022 11:32 utc | 95

Posted by: Antonym | Dec 17 2022 11:28 utc | 94
Chinese bases probably in response to the continuing encirclement of China by US bases. I’ll ask Xi when I am next in Beijing. How many Chinese bases surround the USA? Clue. It’s a round number.
As for the documents, presumably it shows that there were Indian and Tibetan speakers in Tibet. Who knew?

Posted by: Walt | Dec 17 2022 12:08 utc | 97

Child workers found throughout Hyundai-Kia supply chain in Alabama
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 17 2022 1:18 utc | 57
Reuters. the same agency that told pure unadulterated lies about “Mariupol”. Then there was also Venezuela too.
To be honest, must have been a really-really-really slow news day at ‘UR’ Liars International Central.
The way back machine “Mica Rosenberg, Joshua Schneyer and Hyunjoo Jin
August 23, 2022 =Hyundai supplier accused of child labor violations by U.S. authorities”
Since last November, SL Alabama “repeatedly violated” labor regulations by “employing oppressive child labor” and “minors under the age of 16,” the DOL said in a six-page complaint.
In a statement to Reuters, SL Alabama admitted children had worked at the plant, which makes headlights, rear lights and other components for companies including Hyundai and its Kia affiliate. SL said the minors had been hired by an outside labor recruitment firm, which it didn’t identify.
SL Corp Korea “SL Corporation’s origins date back to 1954 and the establishment of Samlip Motor Works as a manufacturer of bicycle parts. In 1968 the company was incorporated into Samlip Industrial Co. Ltd. (hangul:삼립산업) and in 1969 it began manufacturing head lamps for Hyundai Motors. The name was finally changed to SL Corporation in 2004 under the leadership of Lee Choong Kon, CEO. Currently SL Corporation manufactures various products for the automotive industry. SL Corporation received the GM Supplier of the Year award for sixteen straight years (1997–2012) as well as the Five Star quality certificate from Hyundai-Kia Motors.”
Which is one guilty
A/ Hyundai?
B/ SL CORP? (sub contractor)
C/ SMART?
D/The el cheapo fast make an air buck/cut corners use undocumented workers US employment contractor? (sub-sub Contractor)
E/ GM?

Posted by: Bad Deal Motors On | Dec 17 2022 14:04 utc | 99