Posted by: David Levin | Feb 4 2023 16:14 utc | 200
LOL, that seems a little far asunder. The article doesn’t even explain who or what the “White Hats” are.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 4 2023 20:39 utc | 204

Tucker Carlson outed himself as a damn warmonger. He lied three times in one broadcast.
(1) He called this Chinese weather balloon a “spy balloon”.
(2) Several times, he said it was a “dirigible”, which means the balloon can be guided. Dirigibles are long and have propellers with motors. But weather balloons are spherical or look like an inverted pear – and even if there was a propeller, it wouldn’t work. Carlson showed footage of the balloon taken by someone in the US. It was pretty round.
Weather balloons can’t control where they go, except only vaguely by adjusting their altitude to catch a prevailing wind, and those altitude changes can only be done a few times before you run out of ballast and/or battery power to compress gas. Altitude changes can’t put a balloon over some military base after thousands of miles of travel, and it’s nonsense to claim otherwise.
(3) Carlson said the Pentagon refused to shoot it down “because someone on the ground might get hurt”.
That last claim is bullshit that Carlson should have fact-checked. Anyone who knows weather balloons would have refuted the idea. Absolutely every weather balloon that’s launched falls to the ground. Ever hear of anyone hurt by a falling weather balloon? Me neither. No one gets hurt because there are design standards. I know this because back in the 1970’s, I had a friend who spent several years designing the payloads and launching globe-traveling weather balloons. They are designed to be safe. Back then, foreign governments were invited to inspect the balloons and take home all the blueprints – which China did, and that’s a separate story. Permission had to be gotten from China who had not allow balloon overflights until then. Safe? Yes. Toxic materials are forbidden. Even two teaspoons of glycol antifreeze is lethal and there’s no way to prevent a child or techno-illiterate goat-herder from finding the balloon payload. Therefore concentrated sugar-water was used as a thermal mass instead. Warms up in daylight to keep electronics working at night. 100,000 feet over the tropics can get below -40 degrees, C or F and the balloons need to keep working even then. Safe? Balloon payloads have a maximum allowed density of materials (e.g. thickness of sheet aluminum and circuit boards).
In short, if the Pentagon doesn’t want to shoot down the Chinese balloon, it might be that they want Americans to be afraid of an unknown object. “Spy balloon” fits the bill, if you don’t have anything scarier. However, the Pentagon also did say that a balloon (at 80,000 or 100,000 feet) can’t see as much as a spy satellite. So why, oh why would the Chinese do “spy balloons”?
It’s clear that Tucker Carlson is keen on creating an incident, and on giving the Biden administration, which he supposedly despises, a free pass on paving the road to war.
This pack of lies from Tucker Carlson took me by surprise. Until I saw this, I thought he was a good guy. No… He’s just another lying liar.

Posted by: JessDTruth | Feb 4 2023 22:24 utc | 206

Maskal | Feb 4 2023 19:42 utc | 203 Ethiopia
Thanks for making us bar visitors aware of this tragedy and crime.

Posted by: OttoE | Feb 4 2023 23:23 utc | 208

Gates dumps Pfizer shares and dons new clown suit.

Bill Gates secured hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from his foundation’s impeccably timed investment in BioNTech — the Pfizer partner for its mRNA Covid shots — before dramatically reversing course and proceeding to openly cast doubt on the whole of mRNA technology.
In reviewing SEC filings, The Dossier has found that the Gates Foundation’s holdings in BioNTech went from 1,038,674 shares to 148,674 shares over the course of the third quarter of 2021, downsizing the Gates position in the mRNA vaccine manufacturer by 86 percent of shares held.

Redefining “integrity”:

After selling his mRNA company shares, Gates changed his tune on the tech behind the “miracle cure.” Gates, who once claimed that vaccination with mRNA shots had a preventive effect and “helps your heart,” began to criticize the experimental injections.
In November of 2021, Gates, after dumping 86 percent of his BioNTech bag, shockingly declared that “we need a new way of doing the vaccines.”
“We didn’t have vaccines that block transmission,” Gates said, contradicting all of his previous interviews in which he continuously claimed the shots were safe and significantly block transmission. “We got vaccines that help you with your health, but they only slightly reduce the transmission,” he added.

Source: https://dossier.substack.com/p/bill-gates-secured-hundreds-of-millions

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 4 2023 23:50 utc | 210

It is assumed that the following historical fragment is both indicative of and what is meant by “the rules based international order”, because everyone is apparently following and applying the same “rules” outside of each respective national ‘sandbox’.
Project Babylon, the ‘Supergun’, and Gerald Bull:
“GERALD V. BULL was killed outside his sixth-floor apartment in a fashionable Brussels suburb on March 22, 1990, by two assassins who pumped five 7.65mm bullets from a silenced gun into his neck and back and then escaped.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1991/02/10/who-murdered-gerald-bull/bfce6e11-7dff-4964-864d-29db5e02753b/
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/gerald-bull
https://inteltoday.org/2021/03/22/on-this-day-gerald-bull-is-assassinated-in-brussels-march-22-1990-2021/
Or, “Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean someone isn’t watching you.”
Or, “Just because someone is out to get you, that’s no reason to feel paranoid.”
Or, “Even paranoids have real enemies.”
Because according to the:
Voice: You’ve got a persecution complex.
Yossarian: You’re damn right I have.
Dobbs: You admit it!
Yossarian: I admit I’m being persecuted.
Milo: No one’s trying to kill you, sweetheart. Now, eat dessert like a good boy.
Yossarian: Oh yeah, then why are they shooting at me Milo?

Posted by: deliriumtremens | Feb 5 2023 0:17 utc | 212

Venezuela celebrates victory, liberty and persistence:
Source: https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-Commemorates-the-Civic-military-Rebellion-20230204-0004.html

The Venezuelan people are gathering this Saturday at several points in Caracas to commemorate the popular rebellion of February 4, 1992, National Dignity Day.
In the activity – in which officials from several states of the country participate – was present the Mayor of Caracas, Carmen Meléndez, who highlighted the legacy of Commander Hugo Chávez, in the civic-military unity.
“We come from those rebellions and we are going towards rebirth.We celebrate the National Dignity Day, when that military youth revealed itself in union of the people, a civic-military union that Commander Chávez left us as a legacy”.
We have the experience, the historical project, the capacity, the civic-military union, the blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of #4Feb we will ride the future times and build the victories to come. Long live the historical legacy of Hugo Chávez!
“Here are the people of January 23 and February 4”, he said in statements broadcast by Venezolana de Televisión.
This Saturday, February 4 commemorates 31 years of the civil-military rebellion commanded by the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chávez, against the neoliberal policies of the Government of Carlos Andrés Pérez in February 1992.
For this reason, mobilizations will take place throughout the country, and the march in Caracas will have as its point of concentration and departure the Zona Renta station of Plaza Venezuela, and will reach the Paseo Histórico de Los Próceres.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 5 2023 0:28 utc | 214

China Appears Poised to Achieve through Cooperation in the 21st Century what Japan Sought to Achieve through Coercion in the 20th
A book review…
Source: Covert Action Magazine

A.B. Abrams[1] points out in the new revised edition of his book, Power and Primacy: A History of Western Intervention in the Asia-Pacific (New York: Peter Lang, 2022), that China is poised to achieve by cooperation in the next decade what Japan set out to achieve by coercion in the first three decades of the 20th century—the creation of a Southeast Asia power bloc capable of resisting Western empires that have ravaged Southeast Asia since the 16th century.
Predictably, U.S. elites have reacted to China’s rise not too differently than they did Japan’s—through a campaign of demonization and large-scale military buildup in the Asia Pacific along with the institution of economic warfare that threatens the outbreak of another world war.

The book covers a broad history of the colonial repression meted out by the USA over the past century:

U.S. military forces bombed PLA strongholds and carried out severe reprisals against communist guerrillas who had sunk deep roots among the local population.
General David Barr, head of the U.S. military mission in China, concluded that the Guomindang’s defeat, despite marked superiority in all types of equipment, was the result of the “world’s worst leadership,” “widespread dishonesty and corruption in the armed forces,” and “many other morale destroying factors that led to a complete loss of will to fight.”
The communists under Mao’s leadership by contrast had worked to increase the living standards of China’s peasants and built a reputation for honesty, having transformed themselves into “China’s most dynamic political force.”

China is well aware of the history of USA imperial adventures and the necessity to defend liberty and country from their mendacity and only a fool with an abject terror of balloons would try to think otherwise.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Feb 5 2023 0:51 utc | 216

@ Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 4 2023 20:37 utc | 204
Thanks for that. I read a fair number of US American authors, and imho James Baldwin is in a class by himself. Another Country vies for my very favorite novel.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Feb 5 2023 1:16 utc | 218

There’s a new substack blog Victims of Communism. Today it deals with the career of General John Singlaub who died last year aged 100 (only the good die young.)
“…Another decade later, CNN reported that in 1970, the Studies and Observation Group (SOG) used sarin nerve gas to “wipe out a Laotian village believed to be harboring American military defectors.” According to CNN, its exposé of Operation Tailwind was “based on eight months of reporting and interviews with more than 200 people.” After a fierce backlash from Washington, CNN retracted the story and fired some of the producers responsible, but the latter claimed that the network simply buckled under pressure. Bill Clinton’s Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered the Pentagon to “investigate” and in July 1988 held a press briefing with former SOG commander John Singlaub to refute the story.
“Singlaub claimed that he warned CNN producer April Oliver, who was fired, that Operation Tailwind had nothing to do with US defectors or nerve gas. “We would say, ‘April, it did not happen. You’re on the wrong track. It did not happen — either of those two accusations.” After Singlaub sued for defamation, Oliver sued him back, and revealed that Singlaub was one of her confidential sources. “He protesteth too much. He knows what he said to me. He knows the story is true,” said Oliver. According to her notes, this is how their last interview ended.
“Oliver: ”Just one last time, your own personal understanding of Tailwind is that it was a mission in which CBU-15, GB [deadly sarin nerve gas], was used at least twice on the village base camp and on extraction, and that the target was a group of American defectors.”
“Singlaub: ”You are not going to use my name on this, are you?”
“Oliver: ”No sir, you are on background as a senior military official.”
“Singlaub: ”Yeah, that’s my view.”…”
The story was new to me.
https://vocinfo.substack.com/p/john-singlaub

Posted by: bevin | Feb 5 2023 2:20 utc | 220

https://i.imgur.com/uwrVqvX.png
That makes the absurd American overreaction to the Chinese balloon fiasco so especially funny.
Their massive insecurity mental complex simply doesn’t allow them to believe its just an innocuous weather balloon. Or resist the urge to spend a minimum of a 8-figure cost to claim fake valor for an F-22 on an “enemy” built on a couple hundos.

Posted by: JW | Feb 5 2023 4:13 utc | 222

@203 Maskal Thanks for Sharing
Do you know why the Ethiopian political elites are trying to intervene in religious affairs? Isn’t it playing with fire? Who benefits from the act? Would love to get your take
Posted by: Thirsty | Feb 5 2023 0:38 utc | 216

Thirsty,
You raised valid questions. Yes this is playing with fire. The political elite want to control and shape in line with what they believe to create an Oromo ethnic group cultural dominance as opposed to Amhara dominance. The truth is Orthodox Christian come from all ethnic groups. Unfortunately the prime minister, true to his political convictions, could not take a neutral position as would a leader of a country. In fact this has shined light on his intentions. His team has succeeded destroying the social fabric and the Church has been the toughest nut to crack. The church has its own laws that cannot be violated by anybody, even by a prime minister. So it is rumored but clearly being witnessed that this government has taken sides by sending its military and transported goons to escort the clergy that were expelled. This supposedly is to benefit the elites of the Oromo ethnic group who desire “independence” from Ethiopia. This independence plan is preceded by ethnic cleansing and war of expansion. The prime minister crossed the line and lost an overwhelming support. This might end his rule and the perpetuation of ethnic based politics once for all. The move backfired to the detriment of the prime minister’s dictatorial escapades to ultimately benefit the Ethiopian people. But there will be bloodshed as there are highly organized and armed killer ethnic “liberators”.

Posted by: Maskal | Feb 5 2023 6:02 utc | 224

Another big, beautiful and timely essay about FDR’s guilt in inciting the Germans into war over at unz today. How terribly inconvenient for those who simultaneously venerate FDR and to denigrate America’s involvement in funding the Soviet Union and providing for its victory on the eastern front.
Once again, Ron Unz deserves all the credit in the world for being a host to such a disparate and important grouping of voices which dialectically serve to advance the interest of knowledge as it touches the most important issue of our time: namely, the pernicious globalist influence of western elites post-WW2.

This very lengthy reconstruction of our central role in the outbreak of World War II was published almost forty years ago but I only just read it recently. I think that the parallels with our own current confrontation with Russia are really quite remarkable, as I’ve previously emphasized in some of my own articles: American Pravda: World War III and World War II? — Ron Unz.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 5 2023 13:24 utc | 226