Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
December 4, 2022
The MoA Week In Review – (Not Ukraine) OT 2022-216

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

BBC is designating targets:

BBC News (World) @BBCWorld – 13:32 UTC · Dec 3, 2022
New images show Russian army base built in occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol


bigger

The building is a civilian hospital:
Donbass | Medical center in Mariupol: from scratch and turnkey – in just 85 days (video) – VSK


Other issues:

WW III:

Ziofascists:

Rayan Dawud @rayandawud – 16:44 UTC · Dec 3, 2022
Since @Netflix’s #farhafilm has ignited a global debate around the Nakba (catastrophe) I thought I’d share an Al Nakba 101 🧵. Context: I have a degree in Palestinian & Zionist political history. I speak Hebrew and I lived in Palestine.

Random Stuff:

Use as open (not Ukraine related) thread …

Comments

Michael Hudson was interviewed by al-Mayadeen TV and published the transcript December 1st, “EU Pressures”, although the overall global situation is the actual topic. On the one hand, US Imperial policy aims at deindustrializing Europe so that it sends its factories where energy’s cheaper and not Russian; yet on the other hand, US Domestic policy is to destroy labor and raise the cost of doing business via Fed policy. Hudson:
“The aim of cutting back credit is to reduce employment by bringing on a new recession, there by rolling wages back – and also making working conditions much harsher, blocking labor unionization, and cutting back public programs on social spending. The economy is to be Thatcherized – all by riding the crest of the American anti-Russian sanctions and claiming that this creates a crisis requiring dismantling of public infrastructure and its privatization and financialization.”
How many European industrialists will want to move from one intolerable situation only to face another? IMO, many will prefer to move to other Eurasian locations where energy is even cheaper than the Outlaw US Empire and banking/development policies are more favorable–all the Stans and others qualify, are closer to home AND are within the main globally expanding marketplace.
If I’m BASF’s CEO, I’m far more interested in moving to Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan where the feedstock for my products is very plentiful and inexpensive–AND–those products will have access to the global market via a very advanced transport network. The big mistake being made by the Outlaw US Empire is its belief that European corporations have nowhere else to go but North America. Yes, this ties into my comments on the current Ukraine thread for they’re all about the Big Picture.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 5 2022 20:53 utc | 101

If I’m BASF’s CEO, I’m far more interested in moving to …
Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 5 2022 20:53 utc | 101

BASF has a megaprojecct in China’s Guangdong Province.
… one of the world’s largest chemical projects. It’s being built by BASF, a German chemical giant and the world’s largest chemical producer. ==> https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-11-04/VHJhbnNjcmlwdDY5MjI1/index.html
BASF is co-locating their factory with Chinese chemical engineers.

Posted by: too scents | Dec 5 2022 21:11 utc | 102

In MSM news, the crown is being modified for king charlie. With an Indian PM, mighty Britannia is now the jewel in India’s crown. I wonder if that oversized diamond from India will be removed in the refit.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 21:21 utc | 103

Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 6:14 utc | 65
Old Canadian isn’t wrong. You could do what I did as well as many others and start reading everyone’s links here for a long time. You can then also look at the sites they are linking and start following those sites on your own. Then start reading the sites those sites are linking. Very simple.
Fully agree with what he said about no shortcuts.

Posted by: dust | Dec 5 2022 21:43 utc | 104

i’m with featherless…

Posted by: james | Dec 5 2022 21:45 utc | 105

Yeah, so you guys would rather give me a 5 minute sermon than a bloody link or website. You guys deserve each other.
Fluffy duster…

Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 21:47 utc | 106

@ james – thank you Bro ;1
these fuckin noobs could learn a thing or two about goddamn CIVILITY.

Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 21:49 utc | 107

Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 21:21 utc | 103
“With an Indian PM, mighty Britannia is now the jewel in India’s crown. ”
🙂
Speaking of jewels, that quip is a bloody gem mate.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 5 2022 21:50 utc | 108

from
Slavyangrad
Ankara’s efforts to shield itself from US and EU sanctions have triggered a traffic jam of Russian oil tankers.
The Turkish authorities are demanding a letter from insurance companies confirming that P&I insurance (Protection and Indemnity Insurance) has been provided for the ship.
It is highly probable that Erdogan is thus showing his European partners that he can exert unprecedented pressure on the EU energy market with the help of sanctions. I wonder what will happen when he has the world’s biggest gas hub in his hands?

Posted by: james | Dec 5 2022 21:53 utc | 109

You won’t last long here, buddy, people are gonna hate you.
Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 19:56 utc
Assuming you’re talking to me…
Obviously you are new. I have been here for many years.
Straight, factual talk is valued. I can respect someone who brings solid info and states it plainly.
I have gone from thinking gov’t arguments for gun control were a good idea, to understanding that when push comes to shove, the citizens need to have the means to defend themselves against a corrupt, treasonous gov’t.
I used to believe human-caused Global Warming(tm) (current moniker, Climate Change(tm)) was real, but not now. Vehicles these days pollute at a nearly imperceptible rate compared to the 50’s/60’s/70’s pollution-belchers of my youth. Fossil fuels were just pollution of the worst order… but now I know that CO2 and nitrogen are NOT pollutants, they are a major component in what makes life on earth possible. Do we need to minimize the WASTAGE of petroleum products? ABSOLUTELY. But not as the WEF/WWF and the Rothschild-class wish to do it.
Start by reducing the military use… the US military, if it were a country, comes in at about 10th place (I haven’t looked recently), and is one of the largest single-entity pollution generators in the world. But ya don’t hear St. Greta advocating world peace as a means to reduce pollution.
I once thought the WEF/Davos/Bilderberg crowd was just a bunch of whiney rich bastards trying to figure out ways to avoid paying taxes. If you don’t see the Great Reset for the insane power-grab it is, you are missing the point of it. “You will own nothing…”
So my understanding of the world has been altered drastically by listening to THE EVIDENCE.
Indistinct, unfocused, uninformed and ambiguous posts are the bane of any blog.
And I am not here to be “liked”. Posters are welcome to correct me where I’m wrong, but bring the best A-game with LOTS of verifiable references.
I have done my research before I type.

Posted by: Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 21:56 utc | 110

@Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 18:01 utc | 93
“…National Geographic? What a prestigious medical journal…. To interpret the incidence-time curves, it doesn’t take a medical degree. The correlation is striking enough to claim causality.
As for the middle ground fallacy: Your fundamentalism is IMHO more dangerous. Simple minded people may take your elaborates at face value and abstain from jabs regardless of the disease and the underlying bio technology for their production. We did have these “free thinkers – no vaxxers” here in Germany, where, at certain (pseudo-religious) private schools, mass outbreaks of measles happened. Parents with a pinch of Darwinism towards their children. But hey, no jabs!
Another instance of fundamentalism is to use “…To fully protect against airborne micro-pathogens…” in a discussion about masks worn in public (a different case than, say, in a bioweapons lab). Many people don’t understand statistics. “Fully” is seldom a fact, at least in biological matters. (OK, just a rule, not a law. The amount of carps orbiting the moon is “fully zero”.)
The actual mask standard, at least here in Germany, is FFP2. They reduce the infection risk to fractions of a percent (20 minutes exposure; versus almost 100%, 5 minutes, 3 m distance unprotected). Source. (Note: The claims made by this (reputable) source are quite easy to confirm/disprove by other experts. Lying there bears the risk of lawsuits.)
Remains the question what you mean by saying “mask” and “wear”. Of course, they must be seal-wise put on correctly and worn over mouth and nose. Both conditions were not given during the pandemic, as too many people thought they can show society how much they detest the ruling class / government / pharma establishment. Or whatever. Japan is an exception to this kind of disobeyance. They do wear masks, distance socially, wash their hands,… The fact that they had significantly lower hospitalizations for lung malfunction and lower (factor 4 vs. US) extra mortality may be pure coincidence. Given the severity of many cases (see previous post, Guaya province), it’s till worth the effort.
ONE THING REMAINS SURE, regardless of the above: If nobody wears a mask but you, YOU DO REDUCE YOUR RISK to contract the pathogen. “Wear” and “mask” must fulfill certain standards, though.
Next: Your (my words as I understood it) “…just invest enough time and you will come across an opinion that supports my claims…” is an archetypical trolling technique. The internet does almost always show the full spectrum between scientifically solid to manifestly ridiculous. Your approach keeps people busy, where a simple link sufficed for the discussion partner to ascertain the claimed facts, and (in the second place) evaluate the credibility of the source. Impolite, it is.
Finally: (1) I am used to my own research. I don’t hold more than a handful of patents for nothing. Mainly physics, though. (2) I don’t give a damn what you posted how many times before, and how tired you are from that strain. I came across your post here, stumbled into disputable theorems and asked. I frankly think it is “normal” and “human” (especially in a bar) to go forward from that question and answer. To point to one’s own previous statements, which one can expect to be of the same nature, is pointing to redundancy. Repetition does not create facts/truth. If you insist in such backwards-oriented discussion culture, I recommend you to use respective disclaimers ahead of your posts. Or, tell your scientific clear name. If you have a certain capacity, people will volunteer to search your works. Such reputation must be earned, however. You have a chance here…

Posted by: OttoE | Dec 5 2022 21:58 utc | 111

Bald birds only look good in the cooking pot. This is starting to look like MoA chicken dinner.
I guess many choose anonymity to comment here but featherless was a bad choice.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 22:04 utc | 112

@ Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 21:56 utc | 110
I actually agree with all your substantive points. My compass says the same thing.
I’m sorry I don’t have any additional info to contribute right now.
I’m just saying you don’t need to be an asshole about it.

Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 22:04 utc | 113

Interesting times indeed!
Dr. Anthony Fauci sat down with his friend and colleague Dr. Larry Corey in the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center campus in Seattle, Washington to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking to the Covid czar, Corey noted that the event was being held in the state of Washington, “at the epicenter of the initial outbreak.” He was apparently referring to the first case of Covid-19 on US soil, which was brought in by an American who had returned home to the Seattle area after visiting Wuhan, the Chinese city from which the virus apparently originated.
Fauci, however, responded with a joke. “No, I developed the ancestral model strain. I created it.”
“You let it loose,” Cory interjected as the audience broke into laughter.
“I was in my kitchen, and…” Fauci said, making a gesture to suggest he dropped something.
On a more serious note, the White House health adviser said his team is expecting another surge in Covid-19 cases in the US this fall. He also voiced concerns about how much misinformation is being spread about coronavirus and vaccines, even as the pandemic is about to enter its third year.
“It’s still amazing to me that people can still hold onto such untruths. They have so much going on in their lives, that they just accept it as fact,” he said. “And all of a sudden, lying becomes normal.”
It also seems many of Elon’s twatter lies are told often by users. Cannot understand witticisms. Or willingly fail to understand sarcasm.
Source RT. 🙂 lol

Posted by: Bad Deal Motors On | Dec 5 2022 22:05 utc | 114

@ Peter
Could you please clarify ?

Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 22:06 utc | 115

Nov 29 – More On The Crypto Scam – “There’s A Sucker Born Every Minute.”
Related:
– FTX’s Collapse Was a Crime, Not an Accident – Coindesk
– Sam Bankman-Fried’s Self-Incrimination Tour – Coindesk
– Sam Bankman-Fried Blames ‘Huge Management Failures’ for FTX Collapse – New York Times
Scooby doo where are you?? “Eventually, the kids come to realize the paranormal activity [SBF and FTX] is actually an elaborate hoax [fraud, scam, larceny, ect., ect.].”
Meanwhile, the asleep at the wheel gang were all deadly quiet, looking the other way for the last three years even as the grandest of grand larceny was being celebrated in the MSM and by the various celebrity/political/investment complicit and well paid cheerleaders, shills, and stooges.
“Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, Alameda Were Accused of Conspiracy, Racketeering, and Market Manipulation 3 Years Before FTX Collapsed”
https://news.bitcoin.com/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-alameda-were-accused-of-conspiracy-racketeering-and-market-manipulation-3-years-before-ftx-collapsed/
“Plaintiff BMA is informed and believes and thereon alleges that during the time period from about November 20, 2017 and until present time (“Relevant Period”), Defendants Bankman-Fried, Wang, Croghan, CWang, Wong and Ellison conspired to participate and participated in a long-running enterprise, within the meaning of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1961(4), engaging in a continuing pattern of racketeering activity involving, among other unlawful acts, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1960(a), money laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a), engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957(a), wire fraud in violation 18 U.S. Code § 1343, interstate transportation of stolen property in violation 18 U.S. Code § 2314 and perpetrating a manipulative, fraudulent and deceptive scheme to manipulate the prices of certain cryptocurrency derivatives, including, without limitation, bitcoin future contracts, bitcoin swaps, as well as the cash prices of cryptocurrencies, including, without limitation, cash bitcoin in violation of 7 U.S.C.”
https://www.morrisoncohen.com/siteFiles/files/2019_11_02%20-%20Bitcoin%20Manipulation%20Abatement%20LLC%20v_%20FTX%20Trading%20LTD,%20et%20al.pdf
“Banana Republic”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbkJ9_HgJJU
You want the obvious? You’ll get the obvious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VipG2mpQWc

Posted by: deliriumtrmens | Dec 5 2022 22:12 utc | 116

I wonder what will happen when he has the world’s biggest gas hub in his hands?
Posted by: james | Dec 5 2022 21:53 utc | 109
The gas hub and MENA. Russia knows how to play its cards.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 22:12 utc | 117

Featherless | Dec 5 2022 22:06 utc | 115
You come across as genuine, Old Canadian is rock solid. I always wonder about choice of user names. Many here post under their real names or what they believe in.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 22:20 utc | 118

@ Peter
My name is Marc, from Quebec, Canada. English/French/polyglot.
I love this bar, cause it contains so many good people having interesting conversations, which I can learn from.
I can’t stand assholes anymore. If this were a real bar, I would throw them out, and b could give me shit later.

Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 22:23 utc | 119

Featherless
Being an Australian, I guess if I were to use a pseudonym it would be something like ned kelly or the tree of knowlage.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 22:28 utc | 120

Featherless | Dec 5 2022 22:23 utc | 119
Thanks. You become a real person. This internet can be an impersonal space. I guess I was writing my 120 when you posted 119 which covers/answers it.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 22:35 utc | 121

@ Peter – Ned Kelly, what a Mensch. Holy crap.
maybe « fellow tree of knowledge ».
Hi Peter, I’m Marc. Pleased to meet you.

Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 22:36 utc | 122

https://youtu.be/_aNMOEQ0248
The 2022 Holberg debate between John Mearscheimer and Carl Bildt.
If you haven’t seen it give it a look. The way John reponds to Carl is truly masterful.
Trigger warning to troll haters. The rhetoric coming from Carl Bilt is an exact copy of the lame troll efforts here. It is hard to listen to but it’s important not to skip Bildt’s utterances so you get the full beauty of watching a master at work.
I have been watching John since 2010. I find him a remarkable human being.
After watching this my conviction that Empire Governors and apparatchiks really believe their own propaganda is stronger than ever.
It bodes ill for the Empire.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 5 2022 22:36 utc | 123

Featherless | Dec 5 2022 22:36 utc | 122
Many of us here use our given names. I guess a lot of different thoughts but all are genuine. Use your given name and if necessary something after it. No problems at b’s bar. simply announce it and do it. This is an effen shit era we are going through Marc.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 22:46 utc | 124

Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 21:21 utc | 103
Given that the UK government and the British Museum are refusing to return the Parthenon marble panels to Greece, I doubt they will return the Koh-i-Noor to India. The crown needs to be adjusted to fit the new monarch’s head size.

Posted by: cirsium | Dec 5 2022 22:48 utc | 125

Membrum Virile | Dec 5 2022 17:19 utc |
“LOL”
I really hate that puerile expression.
Wheres my discombobulator !?
No reflection on you penis person I have used it myself.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 5 2022 22:49 utc | 126

The crown needs to be adjusted to fit the new monarch’s head size.
https://www.bigmensclothing.com.au/?msclkid=d33cc10151251b4f5e3ea28f2650c1b8

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 22:58 utc | 127

@featherless
Don’t want to be construed as attacking anyone., but do you know how many times I asked for links over years of lurking around? Zero. Took the time to learn on my own and develop the necessary skills to navigate the bs. Sovereignty… Websites and links are known to disappear when people link them.
IMO you have proved yourself not genuine at this point. Good luck in whatever it is you are trying to accomplish.
p.s. Some people can’t post under real names bc it has brought security services to their homes.

Posted by: dust | Dec 5 2022 22:59 utc | 128

Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 21:56 utc | 110
Good post.
Saw the following in skimming through some Twitter posts and thought that it summed up the situation
“We are the carbon they want to reduce”

Posted by: cirsium | Dec 5 2022 23:00 utc | 129

@ Peter
Thank you for the blessing !
I’ve been here since between Skripal and Douma.
(Have you tried CBD ?)
🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷
Yeah, this is my coming out party : WOO – HOO !!!

Posted by: Marc (Featherless) | Dec 5 2022 23:01 utc | 130

cirsium | Dec 5 2022 22:48 utc | 125
Give the Indians a few years. They could buy it for a song given the UK sold all it’s gold at the bottom of the market between 1999 and 2002, in what ranks in the top 5 stupid economic mistakes of all time .
Yep The UK ruling class is hopeless.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 5 2022 23:02 utc | 131

103@PeterUA1, isn’t that diamond from pakistan? although the brits have looted so much & the crown is rife we may be referring to different stones. thank you for your work & sanity.

Posted by: emersonreturn | Dec 5 2022 23:04 utc | 132

Marc (Featherless) | Dec 5 2022 23:01 utc | 130
I like your new user name. Now if we ague we can argue as genuine people. I don’t think we will Cheers.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 23:11 utc | 133

@ David Levin
If I’m not mistaken, Rockefeller was involved, and it was an inoculation on the soldiers that went to the front.
Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 20:12 utc | 100

Indeed, the document I cited regarding the 1918 Fort Riley vaccinations indicates that they were supplied by the Rockefeller Institute and administered to soldiers who would soon be headed to Europe.
One has to wonder why any credibility should be given to medical institutions that continue to falsely cite the “Spanish flu” as an example of why vaccines are necessary, despite the autopsy records having indicated otherwise for more than 100 years.

Posted by: David Levin | Dec 5 2022 23:12 utc | 134

CHEERS !!!

Posted by: Marc | Dec 5 2022 23:12 utc | 135

Posted by: Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 21:56 utc | 110
most of your post is just straight up fossil fuel propaganda bs. the science keeps getting stronger, all over the world. under every system. China, Russia, the corrupt west which pays lip service to dealing with climate change while continuing its course of being run by oligarchs and giant corporations (ever heard of the 7 sister?). there is nothing which would lead you to rationally believe that the science is a 200 year old plot to raise taxes, or that gigantic fossil fuel companies are helpless against the onslaught of a few scientists. that’s not the way this system works. Giant defense contractors are not helpless victims of antiwar activists, Big pharma is not a helpless victim of people who don’t want to be forced to take vaccines, and oil and coal companies are not helpless victims of Greta Thunburg and Al Gore.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Dec 5 2022 23:15 utc | 136

open thread has come to a standstill. Why is that?
Marc james is into jazz I like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es3Vsfzdr14

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 23:47 utc | 137

YOU DO REDUCE YOUR RISK to contract the pathogen
Posted by: OttoE | Dec 5 2022 21:58 utc
Not true, in any meaningful way. If you searched out and read PRE-covid research as I suggested, you would know that.
But here you go, took me a little longer than the usual few seconds, the post-covid rigged studies have been jammed to the top of engine results. That’s what happens when the gov’t gets Big Tech and social media to censor everything.
https://www.dailyveracity.com/2021/07/26/over-50-scientific-studies-conclude-masks-do-nothing-to-prevent-the-spread-of-illness-so-why-do-people-keep-claiming-they-work/
The poorly constructed post-covid studies will eventually be withdrawn or ignored as bad science in the future. Most older studies say “no benefit”, “marginal at best” or words to that effect.
https://centerforneurologyandspine.com/do-masks-work-see-the-review-of-over-150-studies-below/
I have clearly demonstrated with solid information that your mask premise is wrong. National Geographic was wrong.
You can still believe the “medical experts” you have been believing, but stop telling people masks work against airborne pathogens like the flu or covid.
They don’t.

Posted by: Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 23:51 utc | 138

Plants don’t grow at 180ppm CO2 or lower.
Ice cores show CO2 ppm many times higher than present day, while dinosaurs and plants were so huge as to stretch our imaginations.
many greenhouses pump in CO2 to many times current levels to increase yields, decrease growing time. The greenhouse workers don’t die.
90% of the carbon in most plants is derived from THE AIR. The lower the CO2 levels, the bigger the stomata become, losing moisture and therefore increasing irrigation requirements.
You are listening to the same people saying “By 2030 you will own nothing…” Big Oil has a lot to answer for, but CO2 and nitrogen is not the problem.

Posted by: Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 23:58 utc | 139

too scents @102–
Thanks for that! I just pulled BASF out of the air for use as an example; I had no idea they were already in the process of doing what I suggested.

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 6 2022 0:03 utc | 140

@ Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 23:47 utc | 137
i like that music too peter! great song and the singer off the top is a really great singer..
@ featherless/ marc – you’ve been here for a good length of time.. i like your energy… featherless, or marc – doesn’t matter to me what you go by.. cheers..

Posted by: james | Dec 6 2022 0:10 utc | 141

You can still believe the “medical experts” you have been believing, but stop telling people masks work against airborne pathogens like the flu or covid. They don’t.
Posted by: Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 23:51 utc | 138
===============================
https://brownstone.org/articles/not-even-n95-masks-work-to-stop-covid/
Recent article. I think you are right, btw. I also have the very subjective pov that living in fear of the invisible enemy, a microscopic something-or-other, is bad for one’s mental health as well as the so-called immune system. So I refuse to do it.
Was the first person in my town to wear N95s (genuine 3M article at $7.50 each bought a month or two earlier). After 30 minutes was dizzy. Then I found out that if I was infectious/shedding then was breathing OUT pathogens through the exit hole so the only purpose of N95 was to protect myself not others (the opposite of what liars like Fauci were saying to guilt trip people into wearing them). At which point I ditched them for useless cloth masks which I could let slip below the nose and feel much, much better. Now I cheerfully breath IN pathogens in the belief that whatever God is throwing at us is just fine thank you very much!
Then of course they never pushed N95, rather the graphene-shedding blue surgical masks which don’t do diddly squat (obviously) nor cloth masks (no less obviously). And yet people were told they had to wear them and many were leaping up to get others to wear them. Theater. Group neurosis engendering. Truly scary. Much scarier than the virus.
And you can go down the line with the vaccines. So many inconsistencies, so much obfuscation, lying and so forth. I commend you for going through such matters with detail and vigor and always enjoy your posts. For myself cannot take it any more and read as little as possible about it albeit am trying to stay at least occasionally abreast of latest all-cause death numbers because it seems like something is going on there.
Seems. Very hard to tell what’s going on with anything these days. Definitely a high BS quotient, though, that’s for sure.

Posted by: Scorpion | Dec 6 2022 0:15 utc | 142

@ Posted by: PP | Dec 5 2022 17:46 utc | 92
O’really?
Says WHO?
The fake experts?
The under-informed paid shills and parrots?
A Ph.D. in education claiming medical expertise?
The average under-informed USSA daily trash conspiracy theorist? All who have a hit rate of one truth in a million hits!
One very confused believer in free speech. Was even penalized one billion air dollars recently for openly telling lies. He neglected to read up on the current USSA libel/slander law. All passed after the amendment was ratified by congress.
Certainly not the real trained and educated health care experts! The dumb and dumber paid to lie often for “thirty pieces of silver”. The average USSA Political science major with absolutely zero education in health care.
Take for example an alleged fake GOP-proclaimed democracy. A country said to be full of tens of millions of fake donkey voters. No evidence was asked for and none was supplied either. Because of the new national DJT habitual trait!
The population of USSA is a mere 330 million. Death toll in USSA to date is one million plus and rapidly rising. A fall infection rate of 1 million. Increasing daily as we speak. No mask/lockdown is mandatory. A country awash in dying anti–vaxxers dying from SARS-COVID-19. A broken underperforming/understaffed dying revolting price-gouged health care system. Basically, the USSA national trait is summed up in the words “Lying to oneself is the new normal”.
China. Population one point four billion citizens with strict infection control. Mandatory masks since the mid-1950s. Lockdown regime. Testing rated by the billion-plus. The health care system in China. Make the one in the USSA look like a primitive nineteenth-century throwback. The death toll from SARS-COVID-19 is not four million. The daily infection rate is not Four million plus.
Thus one has two choices in the fallen bankrupt monopolar superpower the USSA. Listen to the lies and die. Or. ignore the liars and live! Choices/s
A simple background check on the source. Will reveal the lies for all to see!

Posted by: Bad Deal Motors On | Dec 6 2022 0:18 utc | 143

@141 Isn’t MOA wonderful! Peter AU finds a new mate (to compensate for losing SeanAU) and featherless/marc gets the james seal of approval. It’s truly heartwarming.

Posted by: dh | Dec 6 2022 0:20 utc | 144

@ dh | Dec 6 2022 0:20 utc | 144
and it ain’t even christmas, lol… what would boris do here? you’re the uk specialist!

Posted by: james | Dec 6 2022 0:23 utc | 145

@144 Boris who? I just think it’s wonderful the way we all get along here in the bar. All credit to b for the magical glue that keeps us all together. Putin and Zelensky could learn a lot from MOA. Merry Christmas! (yes I know it’s an old pagan ceremony co-opted by evil Christians)

Posted by: dh | Dec 6 2022 0:55 utc | 146

https://youtu.be/_aNMOEQ0248
The 2022 Holberg debate between John Mearsheimer and Carl Bildt.
If you haven’t seen it give it a look. The way John responds to Carl is truly masterful.
Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 5 2022 22:36 utc | 123
——————————————————
Klaatu,
I did see the debate, and I also recommend it to everyone at the Bar. I do have a few problems with J.M. today. It appears to me that lately ha has yielded do pressure from the dark side just a bit. The following is a fragment from my comment yesterday @ #54, where I describe some of J.M’s compromises. Don’t get me wrong, I think Mr. Mearsheimer is honest and a great debater who knows his stuff, and I continue to watch him every chance I get.
John Mearsheimer’s work covers many of the same topics as [Seshadri Kumar], or at least he used too. In his last debate with Carl Bildt at the [2022] Holberg Debate, I noticed that Mearsheimer has made some concessions to the US narrative on things like how Russia is fighting poorly and is in danger of losing [the war] in Ukraine, and he now, as opposed to the past, [J.M.] avoids the subject about the Obama / Biden 2014 coup. And now Mearsheimer often leads with the proverbial; “It is true that Vladimir Putin started this war….”
I am now very leery of J.M. as I am Seshadri Kumar (though I will keep reading his work) because how can someone make all those incredibly good points about the US and the collective West’s long history of NATO expansion and still say that “Vladimir started this war.” Clearly the US started this fucking war.
Posted by: Ed | Dec 5 2022 2:01 utc | 54

Posted by: Ed | Dec 6 2022 1:13 utc | 147

@146, 144, 141 and featherless et al for some perspective and balance about misconstruing reality by believing in fantasy instead.
A delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some other misleading effects of perception, as individuals with those beliefs are able to change or readjust their beliefs upon reviewing the evidence.
However:
“The distinction between a delusion and a strongly held idea is sometimes difficult to make and depends in part on the degree of conviction with which the belief is held despite clear or reasonable contradictory evidence regarding its veracity.”
So no one can really say one way or another. However, what is real is Peter AU never had ‘a mate’ to lose.

Posted by: SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 2:11 utc | 148

Thx for the 2022 Holberg debate between John Mearsheimer and Carl Bildt video.
JM has settled on his current emphasis pov in recent talks, eg the big power diads. He has to tailor his talks to the particular audience too. No point switching people off by being too confrontational all at once, considering the venue. It’s just a minor talk, debate n Q&A. It’s not going to be that popular or start trending on Instagram.

Posted by: SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 2:21 utc | 149

Ed | Dec 5 2022 2:01 utc | 54
Putin did start the war. Fact.
He did it under article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.
You watched that fantastic display of diplomacy and logic as well as self restraint and thats all you came away with.
“I am now very leery of J.M. as I am Seshadri Kumar (though I will keep reading his work) because how can someone make all those incredibly good points about the US and the collective West’s long history NATO expansion and still say that “Vladimir started this war.” Clearly the US started this fucking war.”
Your going to have to try harder young fella. Causing a war and starting one are two different things.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 2:51 utc | 150

the science keeps getting stronger…
pretzelattack | Dec 5 2022 23:15 utc | 136

Sure, but the scientists collective ability to effectively communicate their knowledge and findings keeps getting worse. It’s so bad it’s extremely painful. And besides that, Hayek said Capitalism and the Market will fix everything. 🙂
Anyway Mr Pretzel it’s hardly worth speaking about or trying to counter the disinformation and entrenched beliefs out there. You won’t change any minds trying. Many academic studies have shown this and why it is so.
I’m now quite content knowing the current economic paradigm is utterly doomed, both in the west and everywhere else for that matter. So there’s that major turning point coming our way soon. It has already begun – slowly at first and then suddenly.
The increasing global energy demand is unsustainable in the short term, next 10-30 years the whole thing will implode. That the catastrophic effects of climate change can only increase from here is a given, and even if they didn’t (pretend it is all a big lie by scientists over 100+ years) the rapid ongoing destruction by humanity (massive consumption) of our living ecosystems is unrelenting. This is going to collapse our life support systems across the board. Climate change impacts only make it all the worse and sooner. No conspiracy or WEF Great Reset is required … this planet has speeding toward an unstoppable great reset dead ahead.
So I say allow let the likes of ‘Old canadian’ live out their fantasies in peace. It makes no difference, really, it doesn’t. Save our energy for better things of value and service.
I like this – it’s written for the wise, the aware, the intelligent, and the proactive problem solver who is only missing some knowledge they never thought of before – things like this can do all the work and the ‘sales pitch’ for you Pretzel:
https://read.realityblind.world/view/975731937/i/
All in my humble opinion and hard earned life experience.

Posted by: SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 2:52 utc | 151

Climate change debate.
Best blog Climate etc.
Best commentary Climate etc.
Take it there and argue with the big guns.
Climate change is not an existential threat to the global civilization, Nuclear war is.
Priorities people !

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 3:25 utc | 152

SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 2:52 utc | 151
CO2 is a small proportion on the non oxygen non nitrogen gasses that make up our atmosphere.Any predicted climate change is minuscule compared to what has occurred in the past. Most humans, at least in the west seem to have the minds of goldfish.
Here the soil temp is still too cold for vines. Global cooling? Tried weeding my weed patch but fell over and had a sleep. Was wakened by the warm green sun. Soil temp is a good indicator of climate change and here it gets colder and colder each year.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 6 2022 3:46 utc | 153

Below is a quote from a ZH piece about Twitter abuse where Musk states the case clearly


As the documents were being released, he tweeted, “Twitter acting by itself to suppress free speech is not a 1st amendment violation, but acting under orders from the government to suppress free speech, with no judicial review, is.”

And that is before we start talking about the information that was blocked from public view which could/should lead to additional prosecution

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 6 2022 3:55 utc | 154

Climate change.
Vaccines.
Reset.
etc.
The difficulty – actually unsurmountable though rarely perceived as such – is that all such issues are abstractions. Let’s stick with climate.
Nobody has experienced climate. We all experience weather. We don’t experience 200-year cycles. We don’t experience the sun’s magnetic wind particles. We don’t experience ocean currents. They are all abstractions, all unknowable let alone verifiable. So we bounce from opinion to opinion. Two reasonable, sincere and intelligent scientists can look at climate data and make different deductions. Why? Because the scientific method ultimately depends upon basing opinions on verifiable data coming from phenomena which can be experienced, witnessed.
We need to get back to noos, experience and let go of endless speculations and arguments about abstractions, none of which can be verified and thus no arguments about which can be conclusively determined. They just persist, like quarrelsome family members.
It is indeed time for a Great Reset!

Posted by: Scorpion | Dec 6 2022 3:59 utc | 155

Below is a current posting title at Reuters
Chinese hackers stole millions worth of U.S. COVID relief money, Secret Service says
Think about what that says if true
The US so corrupt that it can’t validate organizations or the Covid corruption is/was there for US abuse as well?
What is the Secret Service doing bringing this accusation forward? Why not the NSA/CIA/FBI?
Maybe the message is China bad, corruption good.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 6 2022 4:06 utc | 156

SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 2:21 utc | 149
His remarkable composure in the face of a stream of logical fallacies from two Empire shills was a pleasure to watch . The only other person that impressed me so much recently for his calm under fire is Jordan Peterson but intellectually he is no match for John.
John has an interview with a hungarian youtuber done recently. In it he is far more relaxed. He is looking and sounding good these days.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 4:06 utc | 157

Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 4:06 utc | 157
https://youtu.be/eL-kZhjYjlo

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 4:10 utc | 158

Scorpion | Dec 6 2022 3:59 utc | 155
A sageous comment. 200 years is short term noise. 2000 years is short term noise. 20000 years is where real trends become discernable. Human life spans are as significant as a mayfly in the scheme of things.
Such is life.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 4:21 utc | 159

Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 4:10 utc | 158
Bush – you are either for or against still stands.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 6 2022 4:22 utc | 160

Most humans, at least in the west seem to have the minds of goldfish.
Peter AU1 | 153
No argument on that point from me. It is unfortunately quite self-evident.
@ Klaatu on JM.
Yes. He’s good. A pleasure to listen to. Much like Steven Cohen was. Bildt was a scratched record incapable of hearing what is said or why. I am not surprised, because it is the norm.
And I do not argue over climate change science, unfccc etc. Gave that up long long ago. Feel so much better for it.

Posted by: SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 4:26 utc | 161

James, forgive me for being a neanderthal but your comment about being a Luddite was worthy of thought. Taking luddite to its conclusion we would be running around starkers and eating berries and grubs.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 6 2022 4:38 utc | 162

SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 4:26 utc | 161
Good keep it that way. Storms in teacups comes to mind.
The minute our Goverments and Oligarchs took up the cudgel and started beating our brains with it the alarm bells should of gone off. For me that happened when Thatcher became a cult member, cynically as was her style, to beat the miners down. That was my red pill moment for climate change.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 4:41 utc | 163

2000 years is short term noise. 20000 years is where real trends become discernable. Human life spans are as significant as a mayfly in the scheme of things. Such is life.
Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 4:21 utc | 159
===================
HA hA Ha!
Now THAT’s what I call professional level one-upmanship!

Posted by: Scorpion | Dec 6 2022 4:44 utc | 164

Peter AU1 | Dec 6 2022 4:38 utc | 162
The Brits sent quite a few to the colonies after they brutally crushed the rebellion.
Nuff said. 🙂

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 4:47 utc | 165

Taking luddite to its conclusion we would be running around starkers and eating berries and grubs.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 6 2022 4:38 utc | 162
Sounds good to me.
We just spent a couple of hours opening up macadamia nuts from our trees and soon they will be delicious milk (thanks to our $20.00 blender!)
The early settlers in the US had a big problem not often recorded in the histories: their best men kept wandering off and not coming back. Why? They found life much better in the Indian tribes. The most capable hunters and woodsmen….
Years later:

»U.S. Government Official:
“You have observed the white man for 90 years. You’ve seen his wars and his technological advances. You’ve seen his progress, and the damage he’s done.”
(The Chief “Two Fagles” nodded in agreement while The Official continued.)
»U.S. Government Official:
“Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white men went wrong?”
(The Chief stared at the government official then replied.)
»Indian Chief Two Fagles:
“When white men find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night making love.”
(The chief leaned back and smiled.)
“Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that.”

Posted by: Scorpion | Dec 6 2022 4:53 utc | 166

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 23:47 utc | 137
Posted by: james | Dec 6 2022 0:10 utc | 141
Playing For Change rocks.Here they are in your ‘hood Peter:
Teach Your Children
In your neck-o’-woods, James:
Don’t Worry
And my fav:
Guantanamera Eva Grinan, so sultry!
Check ’em out, it’s a gold mine of fantastic music and people mixes from everywhere around the world.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 5:01 utc | 167

Are there Rules of Reality that Apply to Everything?

Yet we are no longer functioning as small tribes comprising a tiny part of
the ecosystem. We have taken control of the Earth’s ecosphere—but have
done so using the same stone-age thinking, biases, and inborn agenda left to
us by the unthinking mechanisms of evolution. We will delve more deeply
into this because it highlights our major problem: Humans never evolved
to face planetary limits and are running into them at full speed.
Since our minds can imagine far more scenarios than are physically valid,
understanding the physical world is about whittling down those scenarios
by seeing which ones conflict with the “rules of reality.”
One suggested filter is whether a proposition conflicts with basic physical
sciences like physics and chemistry. If it does, it is almost certainly wrong.
Another filter is whether that proposition conflicts with the laws of
thermodynamics. If it does, it is wrong. The confabulated, myth-based and
systematically incorrect storylines and feelings generated by our brains to
navigate our social situations require a long list of filters to work in the
physical world. As a result, we trust in breakthroughs to fix our
predicament – breakthroughs that are not scientifically possible. Cars will
not run on water instead of gasoline. Mars is not inhabitable. The danger
of nuclear war is not trivial.
[…] The most useful mental tool a young 21st century human could develop
would be to open their mind to the possibility that a lot of the stuff much
of your species believes is not real, but that physical reality (subject to
firm rules) is absolutely real. You don’t have to be trained to learn these
rules of reality, simply to realize and accept that they exist.
[…] Being aware that much of what you know is wrong opens the door to
temporary suspension of the various consensus trances of your culture. But
to what extent a young human can really apply a lot of this abstract-seeming
stuff about virtual worlds, biases, and delusion to their inner processes, as
opposed to it all seeming like a silly story, remains an open question for you
to explore.
There are physical rules of reality. We find and describe them with science.
https://read.realityblind.world/view/975731937/15/
Humans evolved to be small-tribe hunter gatherers. [We] still react to
the world primarily as such, even though recently occupying a very
different world. The evolved brain’s highly distorted worldview is the
emergent result of the “gene agenda”. It was distorted to relentlessly
err on the side of survival, but to err nevertheless. So, we worry
more about snakes than car crashes, about being unpopular rather
than nuclear war, and about acquiring “stuff” rather than preserving
a healthy environment. Just like a fish doesn’t understand it lives
in water, neither do we consider that we adhere daily to “an agenda
of the gene,” but we do. As our bodies and experiences walk forward
in time, the genes which programmed our behaviors are effectively
looking backwards, because they were shaped solely by past survival
success.
The gene agenda works really well for a snail. It works less well for
a population of reindeer on an island with no predators. And it is
spectacularly deficient for fire-apes with nuclear launch codes.
We are born with heritable modules prepared to react to context in
predictable ways –the ‘agenda of the gene’. This ‘agenda’ is not
set in stone but creates tendencies—in the same way water ‘prefers’
to flow downhill. Water can and is redirected. Our behaviors can be
as well.
https://read.realityblind.world/view/975731937/44/

Can be does not equate to will be. Though some might make it through ‘the eye of the needle’ and out to the other side.

Posted by: SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 5:18 utc | 168

waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 5:01 utc | 167
It is a wild wild world and I drunkenly look on.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 6 2022 5:31 utc | 169

SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 5:18 utc | 168
Meh, I prefer Schoppenhauer.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 5:35 utc | 170

Peter AU1 | Dec 6 2022 4:22 utc | 160
Both of them were hopeless but Snr was not stupid. The Son and his braindead cohort of neocons declared war on Russia and in their arrogance ignored it and started ramapaging through the middle east. That gave the RF a 14 year lead. Now everyone wonders why Russia has so much advanced ammo and weapons. Ignore the propaganda because the Pentagon is surprised and dismayed at Russias capacity to produce terrifying weapons.
I assume you are referring to POTUS 41 and 43. If not please correct me.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 5:53 utc | 171

@ Klaatu # 150
Ed | Dec 5 2022 2:01 utc | 54

“Putin did start the war. Fact.
He did it under article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations.
You watched that fantastic display of diplomacy and logic as well as self restraint and thats all you came away with.”

I disagree with everything you’ve stated in your post at 150 and entirely agree with Ed, though i think he was being most kind to Mearsheimer.
Firstly however, america started this war in 2014 with the maiden coup, which began a civil war between the new regime in Kiev against the traditionally Russian speaking regions in eastern Ukraine. Putin did indeed declare article 51 for his R2P, (Responsibility to Protect),just after recognizing the two regions that’d been in civil war for eight years, with no end in sight for that conflict either, other than it appeared the Ukrainian nazis were well enough armed with smuggled western weapons to escalate an evens greater conflict. Russia stepped in Feb. 24 as a special military operation, (All legal according to international law, which was opposite of the conflict being waged in the Ukrainian civil war)to protect the two regions. That is clearly not starting a war by anyone’s definition. Russia’s defending two regions against nazi extremist who’ve been procured by western agencies, since the collapse of the Soviet Union and which culminated with the maiden coup in ’14.
Now that’s not to say a war isn’t gonna break out, with a hugely bigger force and the ground freezing, seems to me the Ukrainian’s are on the brink of disaster. Beyond that nato is history, as the Russian’s proclaimed back in Dec. 21 and what’s that say for the eu?
For the two louts in that debate you and Sean are raving over speaks volumes who you listen to. They both are completely tied to the narrative spouted daily on msm. Drivel with a capital D. Neither, imo are much connected to reality.
Imo, as long as y’all are here you need to read more and post less. Learn some history Klaatu, this is the place to study.

Posted by: aye, myself & me | Dec 6 2022 6:00 utc | 172

@ Klaatu | 163
That looks awfully like you attempting to argue with me.

Posted by: SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 6:02 utc | 173

are raving over ?
Calm down! @ 149 & @160 tells a completely different story entirely.
speaks volumes who you listen to ?
It says absolutely nothing about who I listen to or about myself.
Please ease up on the blanket exaggerations and the hyperbole.

Posted by: SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 6:19 utc | 174

Woke up too early to such fine chinwagging here – in no particular order or reason i’ll pipe up. Feel free to ignore.
@ “Causing a war and starting one are two different things.”
Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 2:51 utc | 150
Ha ha ain’t that the truth! Or as we used to say in my scouser infested schooling days – ‘some one is cruising for a bruising’😜
@ Posted by: SeanAU | Dec 6 2022 2:52 utc | 151
“No conspiracy or WEF Great Reset is required … this planet has speeding toward an unstoppable great reset dead ahead.”
Come on man that is full on chicken little territory – Unless you know exactly when we are heading into the comet field that the solar system does in one of its regular orbits of something, then you are just dooming.
If it is so doomed how come blackrock is trying to buy up the whole world? Who tf is blackrock anyway? How tf has Oz got a powerful oligarch tendencies from importing a few million sheeple and hundred million actual sheep and rabbit?
There are more things in heaven and earth than the modern dystopian fairy tales and pornification of the Collective Waste.
Most such ancient memory resides with the most ancient civilisations extant on the planet – guess where they are?
Or as succinctly put above by Scorpion :
“It is indeed time for a Great Reset!”
Posted by: Scorpion | Dec 6 2022 3:59 utc | 155
“Such is life.”
Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 4:21 utc | 159
Indeed my fellow bar flies, indeed,
I haven’t yet quite got past Mearsheimers old narrative building against China’s rise as being more dangerous than Russias failure to roll over and capitulate with every few generations of Western European and more recently North American mercenaries attempt to conquer it, at the behest of the self appointed Ancient Slave Owners of the Earth .
The professor after all is a bishop in the church of academia built and owned to be the front office, public face of their Foundations. Isn’t he?
Just as the mass media Ken’s and Barbies are no more than the modern day village Witch Doctors that tell us the truth of the deities we must believe and obey without question.
Anyway pardon my sleepy musings bf’s, I’m off back to bed with a nice cuppa , got up a bit too early.
Always a pleasure to jaw jaw in simulacrum of a watering hole. 😉

Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 6 2022 6:30 utc | 175

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Dec 5 2022 22:28 utc | 120
Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 22:36 utc | 122
Love when people out themselves like this:) Noted.
What a great secret society to be part of. Super secret.

Posted by: dust | Dec 6 2022 6:33 utc | 176

aye, myself & me | Dec 6 2022 6:00 utc |
It is irrelevant what you think. Only what the Kremlin thought.
William J Burns warned Bush jnr in an email prior to the Belgrade NATO conference that declaring Ukraine and Georgia would enter NATO was the reddest of redlines. This is a matter of record. Merkel and Sarkozy also warned him not too but he did. You can still see him smirk as he declared that Ukraine and Georgia would join NATO. It too is on record.
A few weeks later the RF invaded Georgia. This is a matter of record. Still the neocons mocked and laughed. That same year the RF began developing their latest weapons, Khinzal etc etc. This was all in 2008.
Putin spent up to 2012 basically begging the Empire to back off and listen to Russia. He even brought together heavyweights of the western press to take his warnings back to their people. A matter of record.
By 2014 The RF already had a four year head start. The only thing 2014 did was signal the mobilization of the RF MIC. The Russians knew the Yanks were coming.
Meanwhile the war party was now in charge and once again mocking and ignoring Russia and its president. The last G20 V.V.P attended was a disgusting display of nasty puerile behaviour, I will never forget it. Thank heavens Trump won or the nuclear clock would have reached midnight. Ms Clinton is a true psychopath, not sociopathic like all the neocons but a ridgey didge true blue dyed in the wool psychopath.
So I respect your opinion but it is irrelevant. Some logic in your argument but your premise is flawed. The Russians knew the Empire wanted to crush them in 2008. Not just V.V.P. but the entire Kremlin knew this. Thats why they are winning. Thet were prepared.
I am not a Putin fan. He made one huge mistake. He went to war when it was not necessary. He did it because the other way was too hard and too slow, but thats another saga.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 6:44 utc | 177

Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 6:44 utc | 177
6 year start
Too many trips around the Sun.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 6:50 utc | 178

@ Peter AU1 | Dec 6 2022 4:38 utc | 162
modern day savagery, lol. in william ophuls book – platos revenge – he talks about this concept… its an intriguing concept and i don’t profess to understand it.. what is the past can quickly become the future and vice versa…
@ waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 5:01 utc | 167
i have only played on that stage once, back in the 90’s.. great room for seeing live bands… i saw zz top on that stage back when they came out with tres hombres.. after that gig, they always played the really big stadiums, so it was cool seeing them at the commodore… i also have seen billy cobham, john luc ponty, dixie dregs and a bunch of other bands there too – ornette coleman and etc. etc…
that last track is such an uplifting song… i’ve always loved that song! thanks waynorinorway… just got home for a show with a band from toronto who used my drum kit.. off to bed..

Posted by: james | Dec 6 2022 6:59 utc | 179

DunGroanin | Dec 6 2022 6:30 utc | 175
J.M is the greatest scholar of the realpolitik school of IR. When he speaks its comes from the mind of a scholar devoid of emotion. Ironically enough John is very popular in China and Russia much more so than in the Empire. He reads his audience well and does excellent work.
Those remarks he made about China he qualified that as a US citizen who wants his side to win. The Chinese loved it.
J.M. is a genius. Hell he predicted this very mess years ago…2010 from memory, but definently 2015.
Just remember he takes no sides unless he does so as a rhetorical device. He does warn when he does it.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 7:02 utc | 180

@ Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 2:51 utc | 150 / Dec 6 2022 6:44 utc | 177
See waynorinorway | Dec 5 2022 7:52 utc | 68.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 7:16 utc | 181

waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 7:16 utc
I find Kumars analysis flawed although I can follow his arguments.
Putin did not have to go to war. Unfortunately he was slow on the uptake. When Ukr started marching 160,000 soldiers on the front and assembled a huge force the RF should have just hung back until Ukr attacked.. But to do that they had to have already reduced their foreign reserves to a few hundred million USD and done an orderly evacuation of all citizens to Russia.
Next step would have been to shut off the gas. Not reduce it gradually just shut it off.
The next step was to go to an active nuclear alert. All ships to Sea, all planes locked and loaded with Nukes and missiles set to ready mode.
I am sure at that point the Empire would have backed down. When the Empire complained Russia should have simply denied all accusations but opened up the back channels.
This is basically Kennedys playbook.
Only once Ukr attacked was it prudent to resort to war. Not before.
Putin had choices but he made the wrong one IMO.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 9:31 utc | 182

Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 9:31 utc | 182
I referred you to my post of Dec 5 2022 7:52 utc | 68. only because you basically said @ Dec 6 2022 2:51 utc | 150 what I had
already pointed out, ie Ed’s criticism of Kumar was weak and that starting a war and causing one are not the same.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 10:23 utc | 183

waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 10:23 utc | 183
Sorry W…very distracted.
We think alike then ? I better re read your post and the link.
Waiting for Mike…iearlgrey… with a tea
https://youtube.com/shorts/9C5aGplJhsM?feature=share

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 10:53 utc | 184

We think alike then ?
Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 10:53 utc | 184
Well somewhat about Ed’s take on Kumar, but the other stuff that you & AyeMaye we’re going
on about is not what I’m interested in doing.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 11:27 utc | 185

Ho ho ho. Bolton is auditioning for amateur stand-up comedy now ?

Bolton mulls presidential run to ‘stop’ Trump
The ex-official said he would throw his hat into the race if Republicans fail to “repudiate” former President Donald Trump
Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has said he may soon launch a 2024 presidential campaign, saying he is mulling the decision after ex-President Donald Trump suggested the Constitution could be ‘terminated’ due to alleged fraud in the last election.

& US Mil recruiting major shortfall, yet again …

Top general blames jab mandate for US recruitment woes

All branches of the US military are struggling to meet their recruiting quotas. For instance, the US Army missed its fiscal year 2022 recruiting target by about 25%, or 15,000 soldiers, even as it boosted enlistment bonuses to as much as $50,000. The Army has gone so far as to eliminate weight limits for re-enlisting troops if they can pass physical fitness tests. More than three in four young Americans are ineligible to join the military because of disqualifying factors, especially obesity, according to a Pentagon study.
US Representative Michael Waltz, a Florida Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon is on the verge of discharging nearly 20,000 troops …

Posted by: Outraged | Dec 6 2022 11:28 utc | 186

Posted by: Outraged | Dec 6 2022 11:28 utc | 186
Bolton is a ridiculous figure. Trump once famously said there isn’t a war that John don’t like. The guy is a loon.
The US military decay is a classic failing empire symptom. Can’t happen soon enough.

Posted by: Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 11:45 utc | 187

You won’t last long here, buddy, people are gonna hate you.
Posted by: Featherless | Dec 5 2022 19:56 utc | 98
Some of us skip over most of his/her posts. I wouldn’t bother wasting hatred. And, by the way, I don’t think the *old* in the u/n necessarily reflects mental age, just as, I suspect, you aren’t a plucked chicken nor I a rock.
[And then there’s the “old” (but not wise) one’s telling you to learn to “use search engines” but then coming to this site to read b’s conveniently digested summaries and gathered links. Too funny for words.]

Posted by: petra | Dec 6 2022 12:10 utc | 188

@ Klaatu | Dec 6 2022 11:45 utc | 187
A more in-depth, targeted, though concise followup, with embedded links/refs … this has been getting worse & worser(sic) ever since 2003, along with reduced re-ups/retention, especially re NCOs & junior Officers. Hence, Milley & Austin …

America’s incredible shrinking military recruiting pool is getting smaller and smaller Task&Purpose Nov3022
The most common reasons for disqualification from service were obesity, drug and alcohol abuse, and health and medical issues.
More than three-quarters of young Americans do not currently qualify for service in the U.S. military due to their weight, drug use, or other health issues, according to a recent Defense Department study.
The results of the Pentagon’s 2020 Qualified Military Available Study, the contents of which were reported by Military.com, revealed that 77% of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 would be ineligible for military service without a waiver.
That level marks a 6% increase over the 71% of young people who did not qualify for service in fiscal year 2019 “because of obesity, drugs, physical and mental health problems, misconduct, and aptitude,” according to the latest public data from U.S. Army Recruiting Command.
The most common reasons for disqualification for military service under the study were obesity at 11%, drug and alcohol abuse at 8%, and medical or physical issues at 7%, although 44% of most young people were disqualified for multiple reasons, according to Military.com.

Posted by: Outraged | Dec 6 2022 12:12 utc | 189

The most common reasons for disqualification for military service under the study were obesity at 11%, drug and alcohol abuse at 8%, and medical or physical issues at 7%, although 44% of most young people were disqualified for multiple reasons, according to Military.com.
Posted by: Outraged | Dec 6 2022 12:12 utc | 189
Well obviously the qualifying standards are the problem. Too high. They’ll lower ’em soon enough,
after which I wish Rummy was still around to tell the people once again, ‘You go to war with the army you have’.
So to continue with norsk language lessons, the phrase for Good Luck is ‘lykke til’.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 12:43 utc | 190

@ waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 12:43 utc | 190
Yeah, but. Those standards as we know have been progressively lowered year after year for what, coming up on two decades now.
44% multiple reasons disqualification is a hoot. Read elsewhere, even IF minimally acceptable, many youngins are still rejected because their bone structure is too soft & prone to disabling fractures in non stress situ … from birth to majority … 100% sedentary lifestyle.
Yeah, do remember that live presser with the prompting journo, transport drivers dislike of suicide supply runs in soft skinned trucks, forced to use home made scratch HillBilly armor.
Oops!” Famous last word from a French swordsman. Norsk for: Shit outta ‘lykke’ is ?
Empire been in terminal decline for many a decade now. Wonder what the data is for EU/NATO recruits ?

Posted by: Outraged | Dec 6 2022 13:06 utc | 191

Norsk for: Shit outta ‘lykke’ is ?
Posted by: Outraged | Dec 6 2022 13:06 utc | 191
We have two language forms.
In nynorsk the word is ‘Ukraine’.
In bokmål the word is ‘Zelensky’.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 13:16 utc | 192

The world’s oldest virus lab is in Germany on the isolated Baltic island Riems -BSL-4; I never understood why later labs were build next to mega cities like Hamburg, Berlin or Wuhan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUuhpwgyZsA

Posted by: Antonym | Dec 6 2022 13:18 utc | 193

Posted by: Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 23:51 utc | 138
In March of 2022 I initially thought that perhaps I should pull out those surgical masks I bought when for a short time the narrative Bird Flu will destroy the world campaign was on full blast. But that was just a momentary reaction, for it motivated me to look deeper into the subject. To do searches on available research papers on the mask effectiveness to prevent infection is not all that difficult. From what I found, it seemed that pre-2020 masks were not deemed to be very effective against infection. Here’s one from 2015 and there are many many more.
“Despite clear evidence that facemasks act to protect the theatre staff from macroscopic facial contamination, there are studies to suggest that they fail to protect surgeons from potentially hazardous sub-micrometre contaminants.21 This corresponds roughly to the size range of infectious bacteria while viruses are even smaller. Therefore, the protection that masks confer in the form of macroscopic facial contamination may not necessarily extend towards any microscopic infectious agents present within that contamination.
Proponents of the surgical facemask may argue that even if they fail to completely negate the risks of infection they are likely to reduce exposure in a dose-dependent manner. While this field has not been extensively investigated, preliminary work suggests that facemasks fail to confer any degree of protection from infection due to streptococcal and staphylococcal bacterial species22 or hepatitis B virus.23 Furthermore, a facemask splash may promote a false sense of security, as surgeons may be less likely to report these as an occupational exposure to bodily fluid compared to frank facial contamination.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4480558/
Then there is this recent study on lockdowns,
https://sites.krieger.jhu.edu/iae/files/2022/01/A-Literature-Review-and-Meta-Analysis-of-the-Effects-of-Lockdowns-on-COVID-19-Mortality.pdf
In my opinion, whoever wants it let them have/use it, but don’t force people by the use of threats to their livelihood. Post 2022 Science is just another form of Politics.

Posted by: Tom_12 | Dec 6 2022 13:37 utc | 194

@ waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 13:16 utc | 192
My shout! 😉

US losing credibility with allies over its manipulation of Ukraine crisis — media
As the paper emphasized, “a true international order should put the UN Charter at its core and pursue the goal of building a human community with a shared future, rather than the one based on Washington’s long-arm jurisdiction
BEIJING, December 6. /TASS/. The United States is losing the trust of its allies and the international community over its attempts to exploit the Ukraine crisis to gain competitive advantages, the China-based Global Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.
In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Washington urges Europe to suppress Russia constantly and, on the other hand, launches a vicious competition to worsen the European economy. As a result, US’ credibility with its allies and the international community continues to collapse, and so does its hegemony that disguises itself as a ‘rules-based international order,’” the paper said.

Posted by: Outraged | Dec 6 2022 13:39 utc | 195

The United States is losing the trust of its allies…
Posted by: Outraged | Dec 6 2022 13:39 utc | 195
Not fast enough!
Thanks for that glimmer of hope, tho’.
I’m atheist so every night I heed George Carlin and kneel down
at my bedside and pray to Joe Pesci that my countrymen in power
down in Oslo will see the folly of our allegiance to US/NATO.
We’re hanging OK for now thanks to our hydro and oil but our
leaders have little more vision than the rest of the Euros. Up north
here we’ve managed to keep some of the trade with Russia going on
but still we’re buying jets we don’t need and the US/NATO military
just keeps rolling in. Kearsarge was here just before the NS sabotage
in a harbor right down the shore from me that we had to revamp
just for her. U.S. sailors in the streets of Tromsø, yecch!
Euro folk just gotta start looking East, the West is dunking on us.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 14:09 utc | 196

Unipolar world order is gone; US, Russia back to Cold War — expert
“A new bipolarity is a fact of life, with the United States and other NATO countries at one pole, and Russia and China at the other,” Alexander Dynkin said
MOSCOW, December 6. /TASS/. The unipolar world order and its key attribute – the dominance of the West – are a thing of the past. The Northern Hemisphere has seen a return to the Cold War and the confrontation of the two poles – the US and NATO, on the one hand, and Russia and China, on the other, the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute Of World Economy And International Relations (IMEMO), Alexander Dynkin, said at the opening of the Primakov Readings international forum of experts on Tuesday.
“A unipolar world with its mode of global governance that defies the diversity of the modern world and the rise of other non-Western states is a thing of the past. It is premature to judge what the structure of a future world order will be. It is obvious, though, that the Cold War is back in the Northern Hemisphere. A new bipolarity is a fact of life, with the United States and other NATO countries at one pole, and Russia and China at the other,” he said.

&

Russia, China to intensify defense cooperation in response to NATO moves — expert
“The available contracts and agreements that we have already signed have enabled us to put into practice any forms of practical cooperation on specific defense issues,” Vasily Kashin concluded
MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/. Moscow and Beijing will intensify their military and technical cooperation in response to NATO’s actions, a Russian expert said on Tuesday.

@ waynorinorway | Dec 6 2022 14:09 utc | 196
Same here. Was brought up ‘strict’ Irish-CATHOLIC. Christian Brothers education, a few clearly clinically insane, a pedo predator prowling here & there, & the worst of all, the Jesuits. Renounced Catholicism or any form of orthodox religion on the day of my majority. Never looked back.

Posted by: Outraged | Dec 6 2022 14:48 utc | 197

If this earlier posted, apologies. From WSW:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/12/04/xsnn-d04.html

UK government prepares “emergency powers” to smash strikes
Robert Stevens
4 December 2022
The Conservative government is preparing to deploy the armed forces to smash upcoming strikes this month by hundreds of thousands of workers, including a 48-hour nurses walkout. Plans are also being forwarded to impose new anti-strike legislation aimed at making industrial action largely ineffective.

Upcoming strikes may feature:
100,000 Royal College of Nursing members; also:
“Postal workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are continuing a series of national strikes, with last week’s walkout of 115,000 workers to be followed by stoppages on December 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24.
40,000 rail workers in the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will continue their strike against Network Rail and 14 train operating companies in a series of 48-hour stoppages on December 13, 14, 16 and 17 and on January 3, 4, 6 and 7, 2023.”

And 80,000 ambulence technicians are slated to strike next month.
Of course this is part of the concerted take-down of the West. And of course it is all blamed on Russia Russia to deflect blame from the elites actually pulling the strings:
“To justify repression against workers fighting low pay, the destruction of their conditions and threat of thousands of job losses, the government once again denounced them as stooges of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”
And of course this is all just naturally happening at the same time, an organic bottom-up revolution from your worker-friendly union capos…. nothing to see here, move on, blame Putin, etc. etc.
Meanwhile just in case:
‘Decisions are yet to be taken on deploying troops to these tasks but they are part of the range of options available should strike action in these areas go ahead as planned.’
This will be a test run. Then later we’ll see the same again in the US, France et alia….

Posted by: Scorpion | Dec 6 2022 16:32 utc | 198

@Old canadian | Dec 5 2022 23:51 utc | 138
I appreciate your feedback.
Link #1 you posted delivers for the first 12 entries the following snags:
#1) analyzes surgical masks
#2) Double layered cloth masks
#4) Surgical masks (20% suppression, though) – Cloth masks (10% suppression)
#5) #6) Analyses of mask mandates based on clinical (statistical) evidence. Analyses do not consider t mask quality and adherence to wearing requirements
#7) just cloth masks and face coverings, complaint about poor data
#8) Masking is declared unnecessary, as the infection risk at 6 ft distance is low; Masking requires additional measures, when in physical contact (care workers) with infected persons: Gloves, eye protection, hand hygiene
#9) In community settings somewhat reduced risk; For healthcare workers = No difference between N95 and surgical masks (protection not quantified); cloth masks inferior
#10) Analysis of influenza 2009 (where?, Mask wearing virtually unknown in EU / US at that time)
#11) “…high-efficiency masks…still offer substantially higher apparent filtration efficiencies (60% and 46% for R95 and KN95 masks, respectively) than the more commonly used cloth (10%) and surgical masks (12%)…”
#12) Exercising with masks, CO2 exchange impaired; no statements about protective qualities
My takeaway:
Inferior masks don’t help. Quality masks do help. Community impact is limited due to undisciplined members and spreading in the many settings (family,…) where masks are off. The wearing person enjoys protection if the family is clean. Complementary hygiene measures are beneficial. Social distancing helps (see #8)).
There are many studies and meta-analyses on the internet which do exactly claim the opposite of your sources. Example

”…Meta-analyses suggest that mask use provided a significant protective effect (OR = 0.35 and 95% CI = 0.24–0.51). Use of masks by healthcare workers (HCWs) and non-healthcare workers (Non-HCWs) can reduce the risk of respiratory virus infection by 80%…”

As I said before, the internet almost always delivers opinions between scientifically sound and outright ridiculous. Sadly, the latter often simultaneously in many different variants. I am not averse to support a “fringe” opinion, if it is plausible / credible, free from contradictions within itself and free from financial conflicts /partisan interests. (Fringes may only be fringes, because all opposition is bought and/or scared away; In the political field this is more evident and the (left-right) fringes have been illustratively “dubbed “poles of a horseshoe” and the (compliant, mainstream) rest the “Extreme Centre”).
Radical views satisfying my above mentioned criteria are the exception. The middle ground appears in this environment as a must, if one is not a state-of-the-art expert in the particular field. And they can err, too. It boils down to credibility (source quality) and trust. Personal example: In spite of having suffered two strikes of lung embolism after deep vein thrombosis before, and being (afterwards) since then on blood thinners, I decided to take the COVID shots (two different types, mRNA including). Trust and data availability are key here. Blood thinning to preempt clots (you discussed that on MoA) being reassurance enough. Also, TeleSur’s Guayas report helped to push me into this direction. Input like received from you is of newer date. I will continue to follow and try to understand.
Thanks.

Posted by: OttoE | Dec 6 2022 16:39 utc | 199

Hi everyone, trolls included.
Not sure if this is the right place to post but I just noticed that the fallen icon of journalism that is the Financial Times, has just deemed Zelensky to be the ‘person of the year’ for being ‘….a standard bearer for liberal democracy’
Perhaps they think banning opposition parties and closing publications is what liberal democracy entails now. No wonder alot of the old FT hands left the paper…

Posted by: Judge Barbier | Dec 6 2022 16:42 utc | 200