Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2023-39
News & views NOT related to the war in Ukraine ...
Posted by b on February 15, 2023 at 15:03 UTC | Permalink
next page »for those interested in the recent resignation of Nicola Sturgeon
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2023/02/nicola-sturgeon-used-and-discarded/
Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 15 2023 15:43 utc | 2
Wagner boss says Bakhmut will be taken in 1 to 2 months. Seems like a sensible forecast.
US/NATO are "training" Ukraine on how to conserve ammo shells. LoL
Posted by: Comandante | Feb 15 2023 15:50 utc | 3
Posted by: mtw | Feb 15 2023 15:29 utc | 1
After the abrupt conclusion of the last Democratic primary, I lost many expectations. Taibbi, quite wrongly, wrote that Democrats latched to Russiagate because they did not have any constructive program. I say wrongly, because the program existed but was squashed. A combination of media domination AND backroom maneuvers. Mind boggling how they arrived at Biden as a person to anoint. I guess that controllability was the paramount consideration. Twice the deep-statish leadership prefer risking political losses, paving Trump's road to power and nearly allowing to extend it, rather than allowing a president and thus party leader with an actual attractive and constructive program.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 15 2023 15:52 utc | 4
@Comandante | Feb 15 2023 15:50 utc | 3
What did a cold fish like sturgeon expect?
Fish heads and guests stink after three days.
She clung on for nine years
Scotland should just UDI the Sassenachs (and nationalize the crown holdings).
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 16:06 utc | 5
ADJUSTED HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX :
United States : 0.819.
Russia : 0.751.
China : 0.651.GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT AT PURCHASING POWER PARITY PER CAPITA :
United States : 75.180.
Russia : 31.967.
China : 21.291.
Despite sanctions, Russia is more developed with a wealthier population than China.
A coalition between Berlin, Moscow and Paris would be the real threat for Washington's hegemony.
Posted by: La Tousse | Feb 15 2023 16:11 utc | 6
Piotr Berman@4
You are absolutely correct- there is no doubt that Sanders, like W J Bryan, had many failings but his challenge in successive primary campaigns was important and real. And the machine democrats knew it. What they did in the primaries (the fix was incredibly clear in the results of the NY State primary in 2016) effectively discredited one of the few remnants of democracy in the USA.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 15 2023 16:16 utc | 7
ADJUSTED HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX :
United States : 0.819.
Russia : 0.751.
China : 0.651.
But which one of the 245 genders is most developed?
Posted by: Vikichka | Feb 15 2023 16:19 utc | 8
Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 15 2023 15:43 utc | 2
Good reading, and so writing comments at Craig Murray's site is so nice. For example, I never had a problem with editing the entry only to be notified that I took too much time, and when you post, you get 4 minutes to edit it, removing mistakes etc. Mind you, editing on an editor is not a pleasant solution because cut-paste can create line breaks and other effects...
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 15 2023 16:20 utc | 9
Sanders embrace of Russiagate and support of the US policy in Ukraine was disillusioning, on top of his meek acceptance of the cheating by the DNC during the primary season.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 15 2023 16:21 utc | 10
dont know how significant this poll is, but I'm glad to see it.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-aid-support-softens-us-050949152.html
Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 15 2023 16:27 utc | 11
pretzelattack@10
Agreed.
Thanks for the Murray link. I'd forgotten about the missing money.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 15 2023 16:28 utc | 12
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Feb 15 2023 16:20 utc | 9
There is slightly more moderation there than I would prefer, and I don't agree with him on some things, but it's a worthwhile site to visit.
Posted by: pretzelattack1 | Feb 15 2023 16:35 utc | 13
@5 "Scotland should just UDI the Sassenachs (and nationalize the crown holdings)."
50% of the population disagree apparently. Maybe because they have strong Sassenach connections or they like being part of the UK.
Posted by: dh | Feb 15 2023 16:38 utc | 14
"But which one of the 245 genders is most developed?" WGAF? And by the way, what does this topic have to do with the war in Ukraine?
Posted by: William Verick | Feb 15 2023 16:39 utc | 15
Posted by: William Verick | Feb 15 2023 16:39 utc | 15
well, this is the open, not-Ukraine thread.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 15 2023 16:43 utc | 16
@mtw | Feb 15 2023 15:29 utc | 1
I think it's significant that the Texas Republican Party convention called for a vote on secession a day or two before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The way I see it, the clock is ticking toward an existential crisis for the U.S.A.
Posted by: John Schmeeckle | Feb 15 2023 16:44 utc | 17
In response to
"
"But which one of the 245 genders is most developed?" WGAF? And by the way, what does this topic have to do with the war in Ukraine?
Posted by: William Verick | Feb 15 2023 16:39 utc | 15
"
I smiled at the remark and please keep your threads straight....this is the Open Thread where such remarks as that from Vikichka are "appropriate".
Your ignorant comment says more about you than Vikichka
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 15 2023 16:46 utc | 18
Re: Comandante | Feb 15 2023 15:50 utc | 3
You wrote:
":Wagner boss says Bakhmut will be taken in 1 to 2 months. Seems like a sensible forecast."
Paul Craig Roberts: The problem in the Ukraine conflict is not tanks and F-16s. The problem is the unwillingness of the Kremlin to use sufficient force to bring the conflict to a quick Russians victory before the West adds provocation upon proocation and widens the war into a general war between the West and Russia. It is the inability after one year of the Kremlin to act decisively that is turning the conflict into a world war.
The longer the conflict continues, the more involved the West will become. At some point a Russian victory will become unacceptable to the West, and then a general war will unfold. The inability of the Kremlin to understand this is leading to nuclear war.
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 15 2023 16:56 utc | 19
This is an "open" thread not about *kraine correct?
So, can I speak my mind?
I just want everyone to know I love balloons and I don't care if you think that is crazy....
using balloons to understand wind patterns might allow us one day to use dirigibles again.
And being I've made a determination to never fly in an aeroplane ever again (it is such a hassle in the airport)...
I sure hope dirigibles are just one of many ideas blowing in the wind that get reconsideration.
Don't you love a balloon floating in the sky?
I do, so please excuse this expression of sentiment....I mean yesterday was Valentine's Day, so you can't blame a fella for wanting to impress his lady, and really - how many roses are needed?
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 16:59 utc | 20
@Piotr Berman | Feb 15 2023 15:52 utc | 4
Biden is as "Deep State" as they come, comparable to George H.W. Bush. Biden stole the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders, with the Massachusetts primary being the most egregious example:
https://tdmsresearch.com/2020/03/04/massachusetts-2020-democratic-party-primary/
Posted by: John Schmeeckle | Feb 15 2023 17:01 utc | 21
Response to AI - I don't think "Ukraine" exists anymore....that is why I refer to that place as *kraine.
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 17:03 utc | 23
Piotr Berman | Feb 15 2023 15:52 utc | 4
After the abrupt conclusion of the last Democratic primary, I lost many expectations.
So did I. Joe Biden did not run well until Obama intervened in his favour, in the background on the telephone, persuading hopeful Pete Buttigieg to leave the race, and undermining Bernie Sanders. I still can't see how people selected, of all candidates, Joe Biden, whose only asset was his experience.
He started with the same senior staff and the same ideas as Obama's second term, allthough I would never have expected this group to stick this close to their script of regime change in Russia and elsewhere. Some barflies believe that Obama is still involved, as Biden's chief "handler" and advisor. So I wonder if he is seen much around the White House.
Posted by: grunzt | Feb 15 2023 17:06 utc | 24
@bevin | Feb 15 2023 16:16 utc | 7
Here was my analysis of Sanders (who only entered the race to block Gabbard) vs Gabbard from before the farce of the manipulation of the debates to exclude Gabbard. Note that my estimates have been validated both by the elections and the Gallup poll reflecting that some 63% of Americans feel that a third party is needed to represent them. They are, as usual wrong. The problem is the rigged system to preserve the oligarchy, not the parties that serve them.
Sanders works for the DNC. His job title is "Director of outreach". His job is to persuade gullible independents to support the Democrats and to help prevent the formation of an actual progressive alternative that could beat the Democrats and Republicans together.
Sanders describes his work as, "I am a member of the Democratic leadership in the United States Senate. I’ve been a member of the Democratic caucus in the Senate for the last 13 years and in the House for 16 years before that. Won the Democratic nomination in my state, but in Vermont, I have chosen to run as an independent because it goes way, way back." ... "the truth is that more and more people are disenchanted with both the Republican and Democratic Party, and especially young people. They are registering as independents or not affiliated folks. And I think as somebody who was an independent, we can bring them into the Democratic Party to help create a party which will stand with the working families of this country and have the courage to take on the very powerful special interests who wield so much economic and political power in America." [CNN Townhall with Bernie Sanders, Feb 25, 2019, https://www.gotbernt.com/if-you-gotbernt/]
Sanders knows that he will not be nominated, and is OK with that. He will campaign for whoever the DNC decides in smoky backrooms will be their nominee in 2020, as they did in 2016. Most likely Biden, but if not Biden then maybe Bloomberg or perhaps Buttigeig. And of course, baring major shenanigans (propaganda, indictments, Russia, election manipulation) that will mean that the Democrats will lose to Trump/Pence again, as they did in 2016.
It is trivial to show that demographic realities mean that of all the Democrat candidates, only Tulsi Gabbard can readily overcome the incumbent's advantage to defeat Trump/Pence.
This analysis makes the assumption that candidates optimize their campaigns, that people support and fund them, and that we avoid a state of emergency or thermonuclear war when the oligarchs realize what may be happening.
It does not make the assumption, as the Democrats do, that millennials and post-millennials, the vast majority of them progressives, will vote at all or for any one particular group.
This is fair. 2016 unadjusted exit polls showed that 82% of those voting Democrat or Republican in 2016 were 45 and older, an inversion of demographic realities.
I use the following estimated demographics for November 2020:
16% Independent Right
20% Republican
24% Democrat (may be a little high. They are bleeding support at a higher rate than Republicans).
40% Independent progressives.
Let's look at Democratic candidates' likely appeal.
Sanders
Half the millennials and younger not only think he is too old, but more than half the independent progressives very sensibly no longer trust him after he betrayed them and supported Clinton in 2016 and turned into a warmonger spreading stupid lies about RussiaGate. In addition, the Clintonites hate him more than ever for making their heroine lose.
In a best case scenario Sanders might bring 1/2 the Democrats (12%) + 1/2 the independent progressives (20%) to the polls. That is 32%.
Meanwhile the threat of Sanders will bring the Independent right (16%) and wavering Republicans (20%) out to the polls like nothing else can. Also 32%. But that is a win for the Republicans. In 2016 they won with 32% against 37% Democrats in unadjusted exit polls.
Warren and Yang
Both Warren and Yang appeal to Clintonites and other neocons (24%). Warren is an anathema to the progressives (after betraying Sanders, and supporting DNC cheating and Clinton as a Superdelegate) so while Yang might get a little support (10%) from those of them terrified of Trump, Warren will not. Yang will also get some support from the libertarian independent right (say 4%).
So Warren about 24% and Yang about 38%.
Harris, the DNC's great hope, was destroyed by Gabbard in the second debate. The other eminently forgettable DNC candidates (outside of Williamson who does not have the experience or the support needed to meaningfully change the race) were positioned as candidates only to deny any chance of a progressive taking the White House by allowing the DNC to push the selection to the second round and use their superdelegates to neutralize any populist candidate, and like Warren, having all been Clinton superdelegates in 2016, will fall between these two.
This is an all but certain loss against the Republicans (20%) and the rest of the independent right (say 12%), as this is very close to the 37%:32% result of 2016 which gave us Trump, so unless the Democrats have become much better at cheating, and the Republicans a lot worse, it is almost certain to result in a second term for Trump. Particularly as the incumbent has many advantages.
That is why Trump is not looking worried at this point. The DNC is doing his work for him, attacking the one candidate they have who could win.
So who is left?
Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard would bring most Democrats (including those 5% who voted for Trump last time) (24%), many of the Independent right (lets say half at 8%), some Republicans tired of Trump (say 1%), most direct family members of service people (I won't count this, even though it is about 26% of eligible voters, as it largely overlays the other groups), and most millennials and post millennials (say 75% so about 30% of the total vote) That is 24% + 8% + 1% + 30% or about 63%.
Against Trumps 19% (remaining Republicans) + 8% (remaining independent right) or about 27%. That is why Gabbard would win for the Democrats and any other potential candidate would not.
Now look what happens if the Democrats continue to cheat, and Gabbard responds by switching to run as an independent, with or without alliances to other parties.
I will ignore the 30% to 50% of Democrats that might join her, and focus only on the progressives and millennials that would prefer her without the baggage of the Democratic Party, having proved she is not in it as a pawn (40%). I'll give her half the independent right (8%), and the 1% of discontented Republicans, So 40% + 8% + 1% = 49%.
Against the best the Democrats could do assuming nobody defected, 24%
And against the remaining Republicans and the rest of the Independent right. 19% + 8% = 27%
And that is why Gabbard looks like a winner no matter what she does, and Sanders is a guaranteed loser no matter what you do.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 17:10 utc | 25
Hermit @ 5
>Scotland should just UDI the Sassenachs (and nationalize the crown holdings).
That will be fun since the Scottish Government has not shown even the marginal competence we expect from Westminster.
Posted by: Hereward | Feb 15 2023 17:12 utc | 26
@dhfew | Feb 15 2023 16:38 utc | 14
that would be those who still follow the media, and will believe anything. They even voted to overthrow 50 years of sly manipulation of the EU to the massive advantage of the UK, and voted for an economy wrecking Brexit, leaving the UK dependent on the few colonies it still controls and whatever largess a failing USA provides. Too sad.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 17:16 utc | 27
@ pretzelattack.. thanks for your posts! pretty much always agree with you here at moa..
as for scotland and sturgeon... she was a useful tool for the british empire... i wonder who they replace her with? scotland still getting screwed by the british.. who would have thought? lol...
Posted by: james | Feb 15 2023 17:18 utc | 28
@1 MTW
Perhaps you just need to reframe the situation in your head and the way you perceive it. No one should choose to live in the world with worry or fear.
I merely choose to see what is happening currently as the great entrance into light, beauty, and liberty while we have been stuck in the throes of obscurity since the last time the liberal world order was challenged, as this was not by the Soviets.
So take heart...we have already been living in a disgusting and unnatural period of history. Globalism by these western elites is a lying and pernicious way to rule and be a vessel for the empire.
Are you worried because the west will get their comeuppance and so we will suffer more than what we deem normal? This is true in a materialistic degree but what will come will offer the opportunity for true leadership again...true statecraft...at the hands of true statesmen. If you give them time, they will be able to convince you that the sufferings you are offering are beneficial to the state and its posterity and you will be happy to endure the "coming down-effect" in the after-light of globalism.
For myself, I have grown far too disgusted in the way life has become nothing more than paycheck-to-paycheck, than waiting for "the other shoe to drop," or for waiting to deliver myself to the slaughterhouse at our elites' design.
The future is messy. But nothing grants opportunity more than watching the hold of power slip the hands of those who have not taken care of this empire.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 15 2023 17:24 utc | 29
@27 The Scots were the right hand of British colonialism. Nowadays they don't all run around the glens in kilts playing bagpipes. There are all kinds of people living in Scotland. It has become diverse.
Posted by: dh | Feb 15 2023 17:24 utc | 30
@grunzt | Feb 15 2023 17:06 utc | 24
Actually it was completely predictable. See my I Love Trash!. Note the last two lines of the except below (emphasis added).
Extracted from that (Every Candidate was examined):
This will be our company for the next two years
A litany of losers that will drive you to tears
Desperately seeking for their campaigns
To relieve you of money, to dump in the drains
The result will be a foreordained conclusion
Whoever gets the nod from the oligarch fusion
That rules this country with an iron fist
Screwing everyone over, until we're pissed
Exhausted, tired and feeling mean
Please can we bring back the guillotine!
Oh I love trash!I love my trashy politicians
Bending us over into strange positions
Ravishing the public
Looting our purses
A dreadful, harmful two ring circus.
Anything dirty or sleazy or rotten
You'll find a politician fondling its bottom
Unless the politician is Sleazy senile Joe
Who prefers sniffing girls if he can't get cash or blow
I'm American and rather rash,
I'm an American and I love trash!I have here a sneaky bitch tattered and worn
She lead the DNC, views voters with scorn
She foisted Hildemort onto the people
And lost an election, that was a steep pill
Wasserman Schultz rigs elections
With Schumer and Pelosi to prevent defections
Keep members toeing the party line
Screwing the voters ‘cause it feels divine
Making themselves fortunes, but that’s legal and fine
Oh, I love trash!Here comes St Bernie with his fluffy hair
Pretends to be socialist, pretends to care
But everytime that there is a war
He votes to fund it, He's such a whore
He is a sheepdog and a shill
His job, leading progressives to the kill
Supported Clinton, will support Joe next
And leave the rest of us broken wrecks
Yes I love trash!I have here next John Delaney
A loan shark and bankster, really shady
He found he could make more as a Congressman
And will totally screw you if he can
He would really like a war with China
And socialist policies give him angina!
Yes I love trash!Next up we have Andrew Yang
A new age, touchy-feely man
They say he's done a lot for charity
But I don't know what he thinks he can do for me
He's not really visible, which might be a shame
But at least I can figure out how to say his name
Unlike Amy Klobuchar the corporate shark
Who reminds me of Clinton in waters dark
She is a "centrist" which means to the right
Of Mussolini and Hitler and the whole Third Reich
Paid for by lawyers and others of that class
Anyone who supports her is a corporate ass
I’ll make a bet when the chips are down
That they’ll support Joe the senile clown
Yes I love trash!
And if you still imagine that Sanders was anything but a shill, please see my Contra Sanders
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 17:25 utc | 31
“What is the left known for today? Mostly for Identity politics and climate change activism. What happened to the anti-Wall St and anti-War left? Were they bought out, transformed, defanged, and purposefully refocused for the benefit of the corporate world — by changing their driving ideology into being singularly concerned about racial and ethnic issues, cultural issues, sexual and gender issues, and climate?” From The New Progressive World Order or: Rage Against The Deus Ex Machina
Posted by: kana | Feb 15 2023 17:27 utc | 32
I think this place, the bar of it, could use a riddle.
Anybody got something to proffer?
If not, let me ask you this.
Have you studied the data over the poles of Planet Earth at 10 hPa (high up there because Pascal is a unit of pressure) over the poles in particular?
If so, did you notice how the winds are so circular sometimes with plenty of velocity?
There must be some energy in that, but maybe the Old Farts just prefer war?
If so, I suspect Justified Retribution is on the way for them.
Is that a "riddle" or is it the conclusion of a sane peasant who pays attention?
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 17:36 utc | 33
@La Tousse | Feb 15 2023 16:11 utc | 6
Ask yourself:
1) Who does the adjustment
2) What the per capita part has to do with anything, when, if the top 1% of income earners in the US were to move elsewhere, that the US per capita income calculated as an average would halve to about $16,000 per year?
reality is that China is by far the leader in almost every possible good metric, the USA leads in every bad metric, and Russia is closer to China than the US, but still leads in military capacity.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 17:37 utc | 34
Moreover, and because I haven't been "banned" yet, was that even a riddle?
Nonetheless, some things are obvious and if you can't sense that....then time will tell.
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 17:38 utc | 35
Hermit, not to contradict myself, but really, you need to grow a garden rather than cast aspersions.....I need to do the same, so take that with a grain of salt, and I'll study the #10 paper, but if you could summarize it first that would be appreciated.
~
From one potential hermit to another of course.
BK
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 17:40 utc | 36
@27 The Scots were the right hand of British colonialism. Nowadays they don't all run around the glens in kilts playing bagpipes. There are all kinds of people living in Scotland. It has become diverse.Posted by: dh | Feb 15 2023 17:24 utc | 30
Correct. Scots, relative to the southern UK, had an outsized influence on business and politics in Canada for sure.
The elites in Scotland and England were on the same team, and the working class were the exploited. It is little different now, except the working class is imported.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 15 2023 17:42 utc | 37
More crap from Seymour Hersh
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-crap-on-the-wall
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 15 2023 17:42 utc | 38
@dh | Feb 15 2023 17:24 utc | 30
So were the Irish and for the same reason*.
The Enclosure Laws and depopulating Ireland and Scotland with fences, starvation and vagrancy laws provided the English not just with workers to exploit through industrialization but soldiers with which to colonize the world.
Giving the English two right arms to go with their two left feet.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 17:43 utc | 39
Re: Perimetr | Feb 15 2023 16:56 utc | 19
I don't think Russia is prioritizing winning the war quickly. Look at whats happening to western arms, Russia is destroying them faster than they can be replenished. All the recent activity across the entire front is simply to take high ground and better defensible positions to increase the already 8 to 1 or 10 to 1 KDR for enemy equipment and manpower even further. I think they are happy to watch waves of enemy reinforcements and equipment get chewed up at the front line.
I'm pretty sure RF is slow rolling this thing, looking just weak enough to bait their enemy into committing even more forces to the fight. Eventually they will apply enough force to break the spine of Ukrainian Army and the whole thing will turn into an enormous rout. At which point RF will blow the bridges on the dnieper to trap the equipment in the east, and half the UA will drown trying to swim back another quarter will surrender and the last quarter will take heavy losses from arty on the far bank. This will make the afghan withdraw fiasco look like PR victory.
I think the original tactics of the SMO failed for Russia, then they regrouped and discovered they could achieve a strategic victory over the entire west by grinding down our ammunition and stockpiled equipment and developing counter measures to our over priced high tech marginally manufacturable weapon systems.
Now Russia has bled her entire standing armed forces into battle hardened tactical assault badasses, has exposed the western military forces to be the paper tiger we are, depleted our resources, while reenergizing their entire MIC to the point where they are turning out more weapons with greater effectiveness at 1/10th the cost.
They have accomplished this using only a fraction of their total forces immeadiately available to them, with roughly only 25% of their combat power committed to the FLOC at any one time(remember the 3 full combined arms armies being held in reserve in Russia and Belarus). At this point all 4 of these armies have significant battle experience as they are constantly being rotated to the front. Russia can drop the hammer at anytime but hasn't because they are in the business of killing Ukrainians and blowing up western equipment, and business is BOOMING.
Posted by: Angry Minuteman | Feb 15 2023 17:46 utc | 40
Posted by: Angry Minuteman | Feb 15 2023 17:46 utc | 40
I think that is a fair assessment, but it is flawed because things are happening quickly now and the early bird gets the worm.
I also think the UK is toast and Scotland ought separate and Ireland ought get back to its namesake and Wales can do whatever the hell they think makes sense.
I think the EU is most dysfunctional, just like the UK is - not united nor a kingdom.
The us of a has contradicted its ownself and become balloon killers out of DC - and that must be the most pathetic of all.
Just a big drain of ignominy it all will resolve upon I reckon.
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 17:49 utc | 41
Norwegian no. 38
It's a crap day:
"Spy balloons' shot down over Kyiv"
Russian "spy balloons" have been shot down over Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have said.
Six balloons, which could have been carrying reconnaissance equipment, were spotted over the capital, its military administration said on Telegram
(Sly news)
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Feb 15 2023 17:51 utc | 42
@37 "The elites in Scotland and England were on the same team..."
They were all Normans. Some people have a sort of Braveheart view of Scots as victims. True many were not much more than serfs but the ones that left did well in the colonies. Backbone of the British army too.
Posted by: dh | Feb 15 2023 17:51 utc | 43
@ Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 15 2023 17:42 utc | 38
So we need to pay to read Hersh now? I won't.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 15 2023 17:53 utc | 44
@39 Yes indeed. Excellent soldiers. Fierce, loyal, the Thin Red Line.
Posted by: dh | Feb 15 2023 17:54 utc | 45
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 15 2023 17:53 utc | 44
Neither will I.
that is when I stopped as well....
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 17:55 utc | 46
@Opport Knocks | Feb 15 2023 17:53 utc | 44
So we need to pay to read Hersh now? I won't.I don't pay for crap on the wall either.
Those who want to analyse based on motives only: There's a motive for you.
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 15 2023 18:04 utc | 47
Hermit @34
I was disappointed with Sanders too, but I still respect him because he moved the conversation to the left and he kept socialism alive for future generations to consider. Without Sanders, millions of Users would not be aware that Medicare for all is possible and is the norm in most of the world. Millions would not know that "Wall Street regulates Congress" and not the other way around. If not for Bernie, millions of Users would not be aware that power and wealth is concentrated into a tiny handful of people, one-tenth of one per cent. Because of Bernie, some more radical candidate in the future will have a head start.
Posted by: Chas | Feb 15 2023 18:06 utc | 48
@Chas #48
Sanders is a war monger. Billions of users have been aware that wealth and poverty has been increasing at the pole ends of the .1% and 99.9% - since Marx and Engels, not Sanders. Because of Bernie, more citizens have been recruited to the war party. Universal healthcare (Medicare for All) owes more to the NHS than Bernie. And, it's still not sufficient because it keeps workers tied to social democracy - which is what Bernie represents. Rather than workers taking control, keep going to polling booths and make and "X" so someone else can represent you....
Posted by: zeke2u | Feb 15 2023 18:17 utc | 49
Just read Pepe Escobar's latest on Hersh over at The Saker.
I call bullshit. The only real complaint Escobar has is that Hersh didn't spent a hundred pages discussing the background to the war, all the prior involvement of the UK, Mi6, the Poles, etc. - none of which is the actual content of Hersh's story.
It seems Escobar is annoyed at having been "scooped" by Hersh on the details of the story.
Escobar lists the members of the President's Intelligence Council and then assumes that Hersh's source is not someone in that list and therefore doesn't know all the details, or, again completely speculating, that the source played Hersh.
Escobar constantly complains that "the CIA is left to get off scot-free." Well, if Hersh had more details on the CIA's involvement, details he could prove, he would have included them. Does Escobar have any such details? If so, he doesn't mention them either. So why bitch at Hersh for not spending more time on the CIA's involvement, when it's quite possible his source doesn't even know those details. Would that be Hersh's fault? I can't see why. So this is just Escobar nit-picking based on his own speculations.
Hersh in his interview with the Germans specifically said that other intelligence agencies were involved which he didn't write about. Obviously this was done because he doesn't have the necessary corroboration.
Escobar also complains that Hersh doesn't specifically come down on the US' policy toward Ukraine and Russia. That's not the point of Hersh's story, nor does it need to be. Hersh was reporting on the fact that the US authorized and carried out a military operation against assets owned by Germany and Russia. Period. End of story.
Someone at The Saker noted that a lot of so-called "journalists" seem to want to spend a lot of time philosophizing and attempting to appear more worldly than is necessary in a story. While not naming any names, he clearly was referencing Escobar who spends a lot of time in interviews doing just that.
I like Escobar and I don't mind his occasional speculations beyond the available evidence. But he's in no position to be criticizing Hersh's coverage of the central story based on those speculations and his butt-hurt at having been behind the curve of investigating this event. It would be more profitable for everyone if he were to use his own sources to corroborate and expand = with actual facts - what occurred around this event.
I've been irritated for some time at the propensity for people like Glenn Greenwald, Jimmy Dore and others to spend most of their time bitching and moaning at the mainstream media. Not that the MSM doesn't deserve it, but there are plenty of more important issues in the world that they could be covering and analyzing and putting in content for their audiences, most of whom already know the MSM is not trustworthy (and never was, even in the days of Walter Cronkite.) These tit-for-tat spite attacks between the MSM and so-called "progressive" journalists are a waste of everyone's time.
I hadn't expected Pepe Escobar to be partial to that behavior - until now.
Cut the bullshit and get back to the main task of exposing the actions of the corrupt "leaders" of the West.
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 15 2023 18:20 utc | 50
Perimetr | Feb 15 2023 16:56 utc | 19
Re the PCR quote (or you?, not clear) ;" The longer the conflict continues, the more involved the West will become. At some point a Russian victory will become unacceptable to the West, and then a general war will unfold. The inability of the Kremlin to understand this is leading to nuclear war."
It is also probable that the Russians understood this from the start. That after Minsk fiasco, that the EU and the US would try to over-extend Russian forces - who would by by then, occupy all of Ukraine - and become vulnerable to all sorts of internal social disruptions. Of which the US is past master.
Seen from the start of the SMO, it could have been realized that it was a long term "war". Thus an overall physically defensive position would be advantageous over a longer period. The icing on the cake is the actual problems the EU and US are finding in having a realistic response and enough ammunition/vehicles and cohesive policies. Rather than being on the outside and poking the Bear relatively easily, they (EUUS) are inefficient, corrupt and greedy. The RoW can see that they cannot, rather than will not, be able to create the situation that they counted on earlier.
The Russian SMO does not allow them to either use their "full" force, as they are nominally not part of the war, but is causing unforeseen problems, not least of which is their loss of credibility. Whereas inversely a "quick" Russian victory could be used as a rallying call against them.
Call it de-NATOfying.
*****
Oh look over there, yet more ballooons***
* Epstein's "kiss list" is going to be published.
* Ohio is an environmental disaster. 5 million US citizens are right to be scared.
* The excess death rate is going to go off the charts. VERY scary.
* Corruption, (think of Ursula Fond-of-lying, who is now being sued by the Americans (Wash post?) to find out the contents of the emails she had with the CEO of Pfizer. Which might in turn give us a clue why she bought 4 billion doses. Maybe she could ask her husband as he is a Pfizr CEO. (Aside; Borrell was named in the Qatar cash payments but I have not seen any follow-up)
*to name just a few.....
🇷🇺 🇺🇳 In the light of new information regarding the undermining of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, we requested a meeting of the UN Security Council - the first deputy. Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskyand again on February 22, well, what would you do
https://t.me/intelslava/44550
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 15 2023 18:36 utc | 52
The longer the conflict continues, the more involved the West will become... The inability of the Kremlin to understand this is leading to nuclear war.
@ Perimetr | Feb 15 2023 16:56 utc | 19
Your post relates an opinion from Paul Craig Roberts -- that's the subject-matter of this response (not Ukraine proper). Roberts has consistently weirded me out with his generous advice for the Russian military. Why does he regard himself as qualified to dispense such advice? That's my number-one question. There's no real answer. PCR relishes wallowing in murky waters beyond his depth, to the point I've learned to ignore the egomaniac.
What do you do if forced into military conflict with a tottering, demented global hegemon? So far, the Kremlin proceeds like the joke about how porcupines mate: very carefully. No sudden moves, buddy!
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Feb 15 2023 18:43 utc | 53
@zeke2u | Feb 15 2023 18:17 utc | 49
You undoubtedly get it!
People don't think through the full implications of the job of shill which Sanders indubitably is.
The shill brings marks to the game so that they can lose their shirts, their dignity and their hope. As I point out in my Contra Sanders< Sanders is merely the latest in a long line of shills.
He did his job, as the DNC's "Director of Outreach", trying to attract progressives into the Democrats, and then, like all the other shills for the Democrats before him, started his own organization to distract progressives.
Bernie Sanders, Our Revolution
Dennis Kucinich, Progressive Democrats of America
Howard Dean, Democracy for America
Jerry Brown, We the People.
Jessie Jackson, Rainbow PushI could go on back through the 1960s. The recipe is blatantly clear to anyone who takes the time to look.
Sanders did, however, go further than the above in taking the post of official shill, also known as Outreach Director" for the Democrats with whom he had had an agreement from the beginning, even as the Democrats marginalized those few progressives that had actually managed to achieve an appearance of viability.
Sanders is not leading a revolution against the DNC in any form, he does not mention their rigging and cheating, repeats their anti Russian and anti-socialist rhetoric and raises large amounts of money for them, Sanders is an employee and a loyal one.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 18:44 utc | 54
re: Stonebird | Feb 15 2023 18:21 utc | 51
Thanks, your arguments make a lot of sense. The quote is from PCR; I attempted to include a link, but if it doesn't work, it came from his latest interview posted on his website.
I get the impression that PCR believed that Russia had the ability to take all of Ukraine in a matter of a few days, but chose not to. Based on the events of last year, I am not so sure that was a possibility a year ago.
I do think there is a risk that the crazed neocons will push to get Poland/Romania/US troops sent into western Ukraine, so Dr. Roberts may be correct that the longer the war continues, the more likely such intervention becomes.
Posted by: Perimetr | Feb 15 2023 18:49 utc | 55
Bernie screwed progs twice the last two Presidential election cycles. - once withdrawing and telling followers to vote for Hell Harpy Clinton.
And again, "Vote for my good friend, Joe Biden".
For many outside this forum, apparently this treachery does not register.
Bonus: Bernie's war voting record is as solid as any Zio9nist warmonger, except perhaps when a nay vote won't matter.
Gabbard often talks a great game, but she's active in a clandestine (CIA) branch of military intelligence. And she's off base on "Islamist terra".
Posted by: Chaka Khagan | Feb 15 2023 19:05 utc | 56
I’m not sure where the discussion is now but I thought I’d post something on that train derailment in Ohio from a Canadian viewpoint.
“While U.S. officials couldn’t provide details about the threat to surrounding areas caused by the huge cloud of smoke and ash that came with the burn, Environment Climate Change Canada said to Global News that areas of Canada were “highly unlikely” to see any impacts from the rail disaster.
“Typically, the chemical involved in the controlled release to the air, vinyl chloride, only lasts in the atmosphere for less than 24 hours. With Southern Ontario being directly north and northwest of the event location, and with the prevailing winds being from the west and southwest, it would have been highly unlikely that the region would have seen any effect,” the statement read.”
Prevailing winds from the west (would blow east towards Pittsburgh, NYC?) and southwest (would blow NE towards Albany, Boston?)
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Feb 15 2023 19:07 utc | 57
chas@48 You are right. The importance of Sanders lay in just that-that he moved the conversation to the left. I am familiar with the viewpoint that Hermit puts forward, anyone who read this blog in 2016 or 2020 would be. The theories regarding the grand conspiracies behind Sanders candidacy-it was all about stopping Tulsi is merely one among many- are all irrelevant. As are the 11th hour discoveries that Sanders' social democracy contains large elements of fraud and stark betrayals. There is nothing new about that. As I mentioned in my first post he is one in a long line of candidates, the most famous of which was Bryan catapulted by "the hour" into positions in which they can, almost without understanding what they are doing, wrench the political debate into a new direction.
I'm not going to discuss the matter further. I know what the next contribution is -"Bernie the Sheepdog" coming to the rescue of the capitalist class and getting a mansion for his troubles.
Richard Steven Hack@50
Thanks for this. It needed saying. Pepe is making an idiot of himself here. A real pity.
Aleph_Null@53
You are right. I was going to make the same points. PC Roberts has become so wedded to his long held view that he should be directing Russian military affairs, (the way he, and his colleagues, so cleverly guided Reagan's military adventures), that he gets more and more irritated as nobody in the Kremlin follows his suggestions.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 15 2023 19:13 utc | 58
The Guardian posted an article which indicated that phosgene, a deadly ww1 chemical weapon was released in the train wreck fire.
It takes a day or two for phosgene to kill by producing fluid in the lungs.
Of course, sufficient quantity and other factors...
Smells like wet straw. I'd recommend leaving the area if I smelled wet straw.
Posted by: Chaka Khagan | Feb 15 2023 19:14 utc | 59
In regard to PCR's and the general direction of the war, we must judge a go slow approach against blitzkreig ideas. With Go Slow, casualties are minimized and domestic unrest likely reduced. And NATO gets demilitarized, ironically.
The US defeat by Vietnam was bad but the defeat by Afghanistan was far worse. The critical takeaway is that the US loses interest eventually. It is truly astounding that the (supposedly) mightiest military on earth was defeated by poorly trained irregular fighters who lacked an airforce or anti aircraft systems or much of anything really. So, we hope Ukraine goes the same way and nuclear war is avoided.
Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 15 2023 19:17 utc | 60
I have to admit the idea of burning HCl to get rid of it would not have occurred to me.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 15 2023 19:17 utc | 61
A "controlled burn" for PR purposes sounds like something better than an uncontrolled explosion.
In either case, damn the consequences. People are going to breath poisonous chemicals.
Then, the brain trust, apparently held back Buttigieg (preserve his reputation?) from making a statement for ten days. (bad optics!)
With any luck, Buttigieg won't be rehabilitated to run for President.
He's such a clown.
Posted by: Chaka Khagan | Feb 15 2023 19:25 utc | 62
@Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 17:40 utc | 36
Madison was responding to criticism that the proposed federal government was too large and would be unresponsive to the people. He noted that democracy does not work for large groups, and raises a false dichotomy (There are two methods of curing the mischiefs of faction: the one, by removing its causes; the other, by controlling its effects.). And a whole shoal of red herrings (There are again two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests), His solution is an oligarchy (whose enlightened views and virtuous sentiments render them superior to local prejudices and schemes of injustice) masquerading as a representative Republic with trappings of democracy.
Introducing the government of today, minus the"enlightened views and virtuous sentiments" along with the pretence that any but the oligarchs are represented.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 19:27 utc | 63
RE: Eighthman | Feb 15 2023 19:17 utc | 60
"It is truly astounding that the (supposedly) mightiest military on earth was defeated by poorly trained irregular fighters who lacked an airforce or anti aircraft systems or much of anything really."
I think calling the Taliban poorly trained doesn't give them enough credit. Those people have lived and breathed warfare for centuries without rest. They don't have TV, they tech their 8 year olds combat tactics around the campfire for entertainment. Irregular backwater cavemen with no access to technology yes, poorly trained no.
Posted by: Angry Minuteman | Feb 15 2023 19:35 utc | 64
Searching CNN today for 'Seymour Hersh' brings up nothing, nada, goose eggs, bupkis.
Maybe I mistyped it or maybe CNN is a warmongering, fascist rag. I don't know what to think.
Posted by: Elmagnostic | Feb 15 2023 19:39 utc | 65
@Chaka Khagan | Feb 15 2023 19:05 utc | 56
She's off base on a lot of things, but they are peccadillo's to the threats she sees and for which, unlike Sanders, she proposed good answers that could actually have achieved something meaningful when it might help, that is, immediately.
Most interesting, if she broke past the media blackout and people heard about her she could be elected in a heartbeat. It will be interesting to see where that goes if anywhere.
I'd vote for her in a heartbeat, because she is anything but business as usual.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 19:39 utc | 66
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgwKZAMx_gM
Hollywood/Netflix movie about a train derailment/toxic burn released November 29, 2022. Filmed on location in NE Ohio. Train derailment scene set in East Palestine, Ohio. Movie extras for the evacuation scene have now evacuated for real.
They are playing us. It is all a setup. They are laughing.
Burning vinyl chloride releases phosgene, furans, and lots of dioxin. Phosgene breaks down with time, the others mostly don't.
It is not about reform or third parties or making anyone listen or be smarter. It is about Evil. It is about Demons.
Posted by: oldhippie | Feb 15 2023 19:42 utc | 67
NYT on Projected Budget
Currently, the Congressional Budget Office is projecting a 19 TRILLION uptick in the budget (along with higher interest rates (and more inflation) over the next ten years. The proposed "solution" is likely to be CBDC or Central Bank (the "Fed") Digital Currency. Read it and weep. Total financial control is coming soon to a nation near you.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 15 2023 19:47 utc | 68
Old Hippie @67
Another aspect as to why they are laughing at is is the fact that foreign new outlets such as the Daily Express in England and Global Times from China are giving the tragic event full coverage with photos, interviews and videos while from the likes of the NYT, WaPo, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN ad nauseam: CRICKETS.
Posted by: Aristodemos | Feb 15 2023 19:50 utc | 69
Perimetr | Feb 15 2023 18:49 utc | 55
Unfortunately the Neocons and the US military establishment may just see Romania and Poland as useful cannon fodder to take over from the Ukrainians!
The US and NATO forces would be there as well but in disguise (drag?), to use the weapons - that the US does not have enough of - etc.
To watch, but one thing is sure, if the NATO'r'US are having supply and manpower problems now then I would not count on their support if Taiwan-China takes off.
@50 RSH
The cultural issues like transgenderism, racial divisiveness, and climate change are what keeps the midwits on both the right and left in the firm grasp of the central centrists. The reason jewtube and other globalist outlets allow quasi-populist reporting from those you mentioned (Greenwald, Jimmy Dore, etc.) is that they also dabble in cultural issues that obscure the obvious pressing ones, such as global-finance, west hegemony, and the war against Russia.
This allows a controlled-venting of popular frustration about our increasingly opaque reality that globalism has rendered completely unintelligible. By being hooked into an IV dripping truth on jewtube, one thinks they are getting the full picture...but like people say about voting (they wouldn't let you do it if it had significance), the actual on-point reporting has been removed or censored akin to the "Precogs" of Phillip K. Dick's 'Minority Report.'
Indeed, 'controlled-venting' of popular angst about their reality is the story of our time. So far, this dude had the quote of the century IMO. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do'. TPTB are consistently ahead of the game in some regards, though those that can see know when they are being taken and realize that push is about to come to shove.
Don't look for any kind of full-spectrum truth drops on any platform. You are responsible as a citizen to take what you can, glean what you are able, and disseminate in the interest of truth.
p.s. The other reason why these voices are left somewhat unmolested on the interwebs is that they are through-and-through statists. Iow, they think that if you merely input y here instead of x, the problems of the world will melt away and a utopian bliss will emerge. Statists are allowed to remain because, generally, they will not attack things like parasites where if you remove them, you will immediately see an improvement. IOW they are not philosophical...they do not see removal of problems, the unwinding of knots, as a possible solution.
History has proven this Marxist-thesis wrong again and again. The levers of power should not be on the other side of this fence.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 15 2023 19:53 utc | 71
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 17:37 utc | 34
«What the per capita part has to do with anything, when, if the top 1% of income earners in the US were to move elsewhere, that the US per capita income calculated as an average would halve to about $16,000 per year»
That's why one has to choose wisely which numbers to use.
To understand how most people live a good number is the median wage of 18-to-64 or 24-to-55 males, together with their employment rate.
Posted by: Blissex | Feb 15 2023 19:54 utc | 72
@Bemildred | Feb 15 2023 19:17 utc | 61
A Short Sonnet on a Toxic Train
The train was a pain
But the acid was worse
Being pure hydrochloric
The train was derailed
And Buttigeig cursed
What the hell can we do
With this damn toxic stew
Durn it
Burn it
Some might die, send a hearse
but the rest will disperse
Eliminating feelings and people dysphoric.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 19:57 utc | 73
The Enclosure Laws and depopulating Ireland and Scotland with fences, starvation and vagrancy laws provided the English ruling class not just with workers to exploit through industrialization but soldiers with which to colonize the world.Giving the English ruling class two right arms to go with their two left feet.
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 17:43 utc | 39
Fixed it for you...
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 15 2023 19:58 utc | 74
Hermit @54
Kucinich may be the single exception from your listing. He's being quite forward in the Rage against the War rally on the 19th. Also, the world's #1 genuine anti-imperialist, Diana Johnstone, is fully backing the occasion.
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 15 2023 19:59 utc | 75
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 17:10 utc | 25:
Here was my analysis of Sanders (who only entered the race to block Gabbard) vs Gabbard from before the farce of the manipulation of the debates to exclude Gabbard. Note that my estimates have been validated both by the elections and the Gallup poll reflecting that some 63% of Americans feel that a third party is needed to represent them. They are, as usual wrong. The problem is the rigged system to preserve the oligarchy, not the parties that serve them.
I've always enjoyed reading your comments since you came into this bar some 3-4 months ago, but in this quote of yours regarding DNC blocking Gabbard from the debate, it seems you still buy the BS of the so-called "democratic process" of this sick nation as being genuine and functional. You rightly pointed out the system is rigged but you still thought the process is worthy of notices. I think that notion is wrongly entrusted.
The campaign debates and town hall meetings and caucuses and campaign speeches are just dogs and bunny shows of this corrupted setup of politiking, they call a democratic process. They don't mean a thing. They are there to be used and manipulated by the ones behind the scene, to generate false impressions or ideas to spin issues towards a narrative that the Hands-Behind-the-Scene want. To generate 'legitimacy' of the end results. They are all part of the "wool pulled over people's head". In this nation of brainwashed zombies, this process works wonders so far.
I came to the US 55+ years ago as a college freshman and was caught up in all the hoopla of "democracy" like everyone else. Those were the Vietnam days. I tuned into too many rallies and national conventions over 25 or so years. For a long time I was brainwashed too. But since the shenanigan of the Reagan years, I've learned to see through the true nature of politics in the US of A. The last National Convention I watched was the DNC in 1992 on a Wednesday night when Clinton was the keynote speaker. He came on at around 12:30 AM. It was late, but that weasel of a man wouldn't let go of a chance to advertise himself. So, he talked, and talked, and talked...., in total disregard of conventioneers wanting to retire to their hotel rooms (and the camera showed many yawning:-). Well, what you know, the next morning press report raved about the Clinton speech. Four years later Slick Willy won the Dem nomination! Hahahaha...... By the way, no one that I know of remember shits of whatever the hell he said as the keynote speaker. I've never watched a Dem or Rep convention since.
This kind of circus is still going on. Don't be too upset if any candidate you favor did or didn't participate. They don't mean a damned thing.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 15 2023 20:02 utc | 76
stonebird@51
Imagine what it will be like for residents of East Palestine and surrounds, also downwind and downstream who have taken one or more of the Covid jabs and now this.....Megadeath perhaps?
Posted by: aristodemos | Feb 15 2023 20:02 utc | 77
In response to #73...a hermit.
If you think hydrochloric acid is bad, let me tell you I've been in clouds of it, not like that WWII vet - but he had lungs of steel.
Hyroflouric on the other hand is a whole nether level of nasty gas.....and if any of it drips on you as a liquid, I hope you have remedy soon because it replaces calcium precisely and that is a recipe for death.
vinyl chloride is nasty and who knows what the effing state and fed EPA were thinking, but it is evident - they are dimwits.
Too bad the lawyers are circling around as I'm sure they are, and really - can anybody kick them out of the room.
If not, then nothing will be resolved and it will be more of the same.
I know because this is my career as an ESHA professional, and I don't know about you, but I'm fedup with dimwit actions.
BK
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 20:05 utc | 78
@NemesisCalling | Feb 15 2023 19:53 utc | 71
What "Marxist thesis"?
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 20:07 utc | 79
Memory is failing me. I remember the year wrong on the Clinton Keynote Speech at DNC. It was 1988.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 15 2023 20:09 utc | 80
@aristodemos | Feb 15 2023 19:59 utc | 75
Others have made the same point. I'm not saying he did not mean well*, but he still was the "liberal attractor" (to coin a phrase) in that election. I facetiously suggested that if he was serious about defeating the warmongers of both oligarch parties that he should have joined up with Ron Paul (who also meant well) outside of both parties and the two of them could have won the election.
*And he "meant well" is the politician's epitaph
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 20:14 utc | 81
So what should have done is as follows:
1. Place booms in the river to absorb the pollution to the extent possible.
2. If possible, create a dam to keep the pollution contained.
3. Approach the railcars with care and place booms precisely - do we not have members of the military capable of such actions?
4. Be honest with the public and tell them to stand in place inside their homes but evacuate them honestly if neccessary.
5. Contain the spills and find the root cause of the accident after it is contained.
6. Learn from mistakes made, and then do better next time as any root-cause analysis strives for assuming it is transparent.
~
If it ain't transparent, then all bets are off and if you act like a terrorist then expect consequences in response.
BK
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 20:15 utc | 82
From Donbass Devushka:
Latvian journalist Armands Puce on DelfiTV:“We cannot say that it is only about Putin. The entire Russian society is moth-eaten. In fact, we are talking about ridding the world of lice. We must rid the world of this terrible plague."
His colleague Aivis Cerins: "I agree with what my colleague Armands said. We need to rid the world and Latvia of the Russians."
LOL... if the ethnic Russians all left Latvia, their downward demographic spiral would become a freefall.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 15 2023 20:16 utc | 83
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 15 2023 19:58 utc | 74
Billhooks, I corked up the formatting again :(
Ah well, vi or emacs anyone?
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 15 2023 20:16 utc | 84
aristodemos | Feb 15 2023 20:02 utc | 77
I am not sure of the chemistry but they are talking about Dioxin being formed.
I suppose dying multiple deaths would be useful for an AI robot as in films, but the ability for us to zap to the next level doesn't seem to exist in this one.
Surprised no one has posted the USA's latest foray with a new color revolution attempt in Hungary. I am equally surprised Orban has not already banned USAid from operating there.
Samantha Power speaks...
https://t.me/DonbassDevushka/44721
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 15 2023 20:24 utc | 86
@ Posted by: Comandante | Feb 15 2023 15:50 utc | 3
Per RT: And the Wagner pilot says F-16s will be useless in UKR.
= = = = = = =
@
More crap from Seymour Hersh
https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-crap-on-the-wall
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 15 2023 17:42 utc | 38
Respectfully, you continue to shoot the Messenger. Hersh's reputation is stellar.
Connect the dots. If you think Hersh is wrong on the Norway connection, (I have been taking note of your angst); How is it there is nary a word from the Norwegian government. No Denial. No protest. No taking legal action for defamation?
One is compelled to conclude in their silence, Norway government has taken the 5th on self-incrimination...illuding claim for damages in some $35 billion, base entry plus loss of revenues, Prejudice arising from an Act of War.
In Hersh’s previous exposing of criminal activities over 50 years all were then proven true.
= = = = = = = =
Hersh just let it be known after his two interviews days ago, More to Come. Stay tuned. We are only on first base.
Hersh’s interview in Germany was helpfully posted in English by Richard S. H on the previous thread.
RT: February 15, 2023
More Nord Stream ‘bombshells’ to come – Seymour Hersh
The legendary reporter slammed the mainstream media for ignoring his story, which pinned the act of sabotage on the US
In a post to his Substack page on Wednesday, Hersh slammed the mainstream media – singling out the New York Times and Washington Post – for refusing to “run a word” on the pipeline story, and for ignoring Russia and China’s calls for an international investigation.Both papers, he said, published his exposés on the US military’s war crimes in Vietnam, but are now seemingly uninterested in “national security or matters of war and peace.”[.]
The President of the United States would rather see Germany freeze than [see] Germany possibly stop supporting Ukraine,” he asserted.
“There may be more to learn about Joe Biden’s decision to prevent the German government from having second thoughts about the lack of cheap gas this winter,” Hersh wrote on Wednesday. “Stay tuned,” he said. “We are only on first base…”
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 15 2023 20:25 utc | 87
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 15 2023 20:16 utc | 83
Regarding Donbass Devushka, I received a nice Spetsnaz T-shirt today. Ordered on 22/01. Not very quick but I think nothing unusual to get to western Europe. I'll probably order more from their online store.
Take care everyone.
Posted by: Pierrot | Feb 15 2023 20:27 utc | 88
Posted by: Stonebird | Feb 15 2023 20:16 utc | 85
~
"Dioxin" is the last of the concerns of this moment, but sadly the damage seems to have been done.
And to think, this could have been a rescue mission that got some tractions, but the dimwits don't recognize an emergency when it is in front of their faces - assume they didn't create it in the first place.
~
the problem is when chlorinated chemicals seep into the ground, they have a tendency to stick around and cause future trouble for drinking water supplies and whatnot, but all the gases got into the air, I reckon they are going to have a long-term effect. No denying that, just like no denying the EPA entities, be they state or federal, must be populated by woke dimwits who don't really understand proper response to an accident or lets call it a derailment.....so it is a lose-lose all around, and I don't know about you, I don't live in Ohio nor in Pittsburg, but if I did I'd be even more upset about not getting my money's worth from gubment - so begs the question - why do we even have it, if they are just full of dimwits can't even respond to an emergency with professional capability? That is a fair question and it speaks to troubles only beginning to surface you want my opinion.
~
I've been there first-hand when emergency response was required and there are some principles we based our response upon and I think they have been defiled and it makes me so indignant.
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 20:30 utc | 89
I am surprised that no one here has commented of the USA's recent initiation of the color revolution process in Hungary. I am more surprised that Orban has not banned USAid from operating there.
Samantha speaks...
https://twitter.com/PowerUSAID/status/1625286662564577280
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Feb 15 2023 20:31 utc | 90
Dioxin from East Palestine train wreck?
https://twitter.com/PavewayIV/status/1625891937331863553?cxt=HHwWgoCz_ciGqpAtAAAA
@ Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 20:05 utc | 78
I know hydrofluoric acid well enough to keep it in polyethylene bottles. My partner says that the safest way to store the alchemist's "universal solvent" is as a supersaturated solution of borosilicate reagent bottles, and hydrofluoric is worse ;-)
ESHA OR OSHA?
Posted by: Hermit | Feb 15 2023 20:32 utc | 92
Pierre Servent would think Moscow is using human waves.
https://twitter.com/Qofficiel/status/1625945540990222340
Posted by: L'Amante de Capri | Feb 15 2023 20:32 utc | 93
@79 Hermit
Lately, I have been thinking that Marxism perfectly usurps and replaces the need for humans to think beyond themselves into the realm of eternity. In this way, Marxism can certainly be compared to historical religions. This is not to say that Marxism can compare with the essence of say Christianity with the Logos, per se, but it satisfies the needs of a people to be organized under a central, all-powerful thesis. The same way Christianity is harnessed by historical states is the same way that Marxism controlled Russians and other states.
But whereas Christianity is, according to Nietzsche, watered-down Platonism, and where true, thoughtful Christians have usually spoken truth-to-power when the excesses of a state were exhibited under the banner of Christendom, Marxism was, from the beginning, an anti-philosophical endeavor. That is to say, an anti-Logos means of organizing.
To picture this, I want you to remember the Martyrs of Christianity that gave their lives for justice and were often savagely killed for their belief-based actions. Now I want you to think of Stalin's Order No. 270. The same type of religiosity is present in Stalin's conviction that soldiers of the Red Army should not be taken prisoner but should fight to the last. And divine punishment would be administered to the surviving family members of these "deserters" if they were to be discovered as taken prisoner by the Wehrmacht.
Obviously, it is easy to see the parallels here. The centralizing Marxists hate religion, for obvious reasons, yet they replicate religion's own religiosity down to the letter.
Thoughtful Christians can be an element to curb the excesses of a state that has become victim to religiosity. This is done through the commandment to seek Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the light. Even if it is watered-down Platonism, I would still take Christianity every day and twice on Sunday then to succumb to the utter religiosity-sans-Logos of Marxist statism.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Feb 15 2023 20:33 utc | 94
Haven’t visited Craig Murray’s site for ages, mainly because I disagreed with his British Establishment stance about the SMO, which kind of left a sour taste after his principled stance over the Sturgeonistas stitch-up of Alec Salmond, eventually leading to Mr. Murray being stitched up himself.
Posted by: West of England Andy | Feb 15 2023 20:34 utc | 95
Democrat, Republican, the vote.
Believe what you want, but I won’t. When the highest authority in the land — the POTUS — OK, yeah, he was orange — tells you that the vote was stolen, I tend to believe him, and I am not whitewashing the 16 lies/day, 20K+ total he told while in office.
Keep talking as if the vote in US actually makes a difference.
When you are an electoral ( of college variety) that’s when your vote counts. Or, better yet, when you are a Supreme Court judge ala Y2K (5-4).
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Feb 15 2023 20:37 utc | 96
Hermit #91....I've been an ESHA professional since 1991 after I graduated in from UNC-Chapel Hill when I walked the halls with Ralph Baric and should have beaten the shit out of him knowing now what I didn't know then.
I worked at a facility where hydrofluoric acid was one of the main raw materials to make what we desired to produce there, but that place no longer is in operation and we were smart then and none of the operators while I was there ever suffered from exposure to HF, but we were well trained - no matter, one night an operator in the tank farm made a big mistake and then a whole railcar of carbon tet I think it was spilled into the sand and I suspect they are still paying money to clean that up from a remediation standpoint.
~
After that, I left my job, I'd being eating too many donuts anyhow and the California girls did not appeal to me (and vice-versa), so I went back home to commence my career in Environmental Safety Health Administration - ESHA is not the same as OSHA - not even close.
~
Any more questions?
Don't be a Hermit and you must not be if you are posting here, so really - any more questions?
I'll answer if I can.
Ken
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 20:42 utc | 97
Posted by: Buffalo_Ken | Feb 15 2023 20:15 utc | 82
Yes. There is a tried methodology for such spills and civilized countries have in place emergency response teams with expertise. Not normally the military but in the fire department often or in EPAs or sometimes even sewage authorities. rail authorities might have their own team too.
first call is to get the manifest (ie what was the train/truck carrying.
If there is any gas then evacuate all people down wind immediately and call in an expert to say if and when that wind might chance and prioritise evacuation of all others.
Then go in in fill protective gear, including respirators to as you say dam the spill but actually the technical name is to create a bund, to prevent spreading into waterways. The bund needs to be big enough to contain rain and probably a large quantity of fire hose water.
Call in a registered liquid waste disposal truck/s and suck up as much liquid as possible.
Once all the liquid is pumped up cover the absorbent solid eg sand or specialized spill kit material
When possible call in hazardous waste vehicles able to carry solid waste and remove all the sand and contaminated material for disposal at secure, well managed hazardous waste disposal facilities.
Finalise the soil removal by testing the area and surrounds for contamination. Remove more soil as needed.
None of this is new and indeed these practices were developed in the USA. So how on earth did a third world approach such as the one that occurred in Ohio be possible. Seems as if Ohio is not part of the developed world. What a disgrace.
Posted by: watcher | Feb 15 2023 20:44 utc | 98
@Likklemore | Feb 15 2023 20:25 utc | 86
Respectfully, you continue to shoot the Messenger. Hersh's reputation is stellar.I am citing the title of his latest work, using hist own words.
Connect the dots. If you think Hersh is wrong on the Norway connection, (I have been taking note of your angst);Show me the actual dots, please. All we need is the hard evidence, then I will accept it. But this is such a serious thing that allegations do not stand on their own feet.
How is it there is nary a word from the Norwegian government. No Denial. No protest. No taking legal action for defamation?As far as I know, Hersh is now calling the Norwegian government liars for denying their involvement. How does that compute? Notice I do not say they did not lie or were not involved, but there are too many loose allegations and contradictions here.
Show the evidence.
One is compelled to conclude in their silencePrejudice is a fine art until it is shown to be based on .... prejudice.
Once again, I do not exclude the possibility that the Norwegian government did what is claimed, but until the evidence is presented it is not a fact.
Posted by: Norwegian | Feb 15 2023 20:51 utc | 99
Posted by: Likklemore | Feb 15 2023 20:25 utc | 86
And the post I made above criticizing Escobar and Helmers for their stance on Hersh's report is now on my Substack site and has been emailed to my subscribers.
Read it here:
https://richardstevenhack.substack.com/p/a-quick-comment-on-the-sy-hersh-nordstream
Posted by: Richard Steven Hack | Feb 15 2023 20:52 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
As an older American, I am so sad and afraid for my country.
When I was younger I tried to be involved with a third party trying to make a difference in the political process and it was pretty much an abject failure. Even back then, the Republican/Democrat hold on the process made it difficult to make any inroads against their viselike grip. Today with the centralization of corporate, media, and political control it is even worse. I think most Americans know that there are huge fundamental errors playing out in our country but feel powerless to stand up and get them corrected since they are features and not bugs in the current system. I don't see how this airplane limping along on a damaged engine can come to anything but a crash landing and fear for what will happen to my children and grandchildren as things turn south.
I am so thankful for b and for all of you commenters that at least help me feel like I'm not the only one that sees what is on the horizon. Especially juliania whose posts I can always pick out without looking at the author because of the hope and love radiating from them. (I look forward to reading other posters too!) It is so needed in this painful time. May all of you be blessed.
Posted by: mtw | Feb 15 2023 15:29 utc | 1