News & views (not related to the war in Ukraine) …
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May 10, 2023
Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2023-111
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Eyewitness describes the horrific scene in Allen Texas as it happens, as gun violence continues to grow in the USA.
VIDEO https://twitter.com/AbrahamStein8/status/1654978893596577793?s=20
Posted by: Dave Oneil | May 10 2023 16:14 utc | 1
House Republicans laid out evidence of a vast network of Biden family dealings which reek of corruption
The MSM is giving it as little coverage as possible without ignoring it altogether. Within a day or two you won’t see another word about it. These are crimes that make Richard Nixon a saint by comparison. These are crimes, considering his position. bordering on treason. This while they persecute, and force me to defend, Donald Trump against charges that are obviously politically motivated attacks.
Dystopia is here and now. Everything of value and meaning has been lost and is already gone. Our democracy, our great experiment is long dead, replaced by a dystopian reality many as I do, call the Empire of Lies and Chaos.
I could go on and on…for weeks. America is done. It’s over. The people are broken and divided against themselves, totally unable to defend themselves in any way. Most are so lost, they don’t understand any of this at all. Lost in illusion and delusion they are more android than human.
Posted by: JustAMaverick | May 10 2023 16:42 utc | 2
“From rockets to tunnel machines, self-developed solutions attract eyes on China Brand Day” mostly made by China’s State Owned Enterprises. Here’s a short video of one such machine, the Jinghua tunnel boring machine:
The five-day expo being held in Shanghai is an eye-catching stage for Chinese SOEs to display products using their self-developed high technology, ranging from the Jinghua tunnel boring machine and China Space Station to China’s third-generation nuclear power technology Guohe One.
These products are the crystallization of China’s technological progress, as the country mounts efforts to research self-developed tech and break the monopolies of overseas companies. [My Emphasis]
Other news from China, “SCO working on use of national currencies in mutual settlement, says secretary-general”:
The central banks and finance ministries of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states have begun drawing up a roadmap to use national currencies in mutual settlement, SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming said on Wednesday.
Zhang also noted that they are discussing setting up an SCO development bank.
Zhang made the remarks in Beijing on Wednesday at a media briefing. When asked about the use of the national currencies in trade among member states, Zhang said that the SCO attaches great importance to pushing forward economic cooperation, and an expert group is working on creating conditions to realize this goal.
There was this brief note on SCO’s expansion:
“Currently, the SCO has eight member states, four observers and nine dialogue partners….
“In March, Saudi Arabia approved a memorandum on becoming a dialogue partner with the SCO. In the just-concluded Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in India in May, Kuwait and the UAE together with Myanmar and the Maldives signed a memorandum on becoming dialogue partners with the SCO. Iran will also become a full-time member of the SCO.”
Here’s some welcome news, “China appoints veteran banker to head top financial regulator, ‘better serving real economy'”:
China has appointed veteran banker Li Yunze to head a new financial regulator as part of a broader restructuring of the regulatory regime, to oversee the multi-trillion dollar industry.
Li, 52, who has been in the financial industry for 25 years, has been named as the Party Secretary of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, according to an announcement on the official website of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) on Wednesday.
Directly under the State Council, or the cabinet, the administration is in charge of regulating the financial industry except for the securities sector. The establishment of the bureau comes as China launches reforms to tighten government control of financial markets.
Industry analysts said that the most important consideration in the reform of financial regulatory agencies is to prevent and defuse major financial and systemic risks to better serve the economy.
Based on Li’s experience in major commercial banks, the appointment sends a clear signal that China will steadily push forward and expand the role of the financial industry in serving the real economy, Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute of the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
“The new head’s primary mission is to lead the bureau’s work in two important aspects. One is definitely to further advance China’s financial reform, and to further improve the efficiency and quality of the financial sector in serving the real economy. More measures in this area are expected to be rolled out,” Dong explained.
The second is to safeguard China’s financial security, in particular to deal with potential financial risks amid a volatile external environment, he noted. [My Emphasis]
It appears China has listened to Dr. Hudson regrading the importance of tightly regulating financial markets so they serve the real economy and are kept from becoming masters of the government.
JustAMaverick 2… Sadly, I agree with your entire post. I have wondered if maybe there is another place to live but the entire Anglo world has gone nucking futs. The “national divorce” will never happen because the Left needs to drain the resources of their own country and allies rather than those of innocent strangers with different languages and cultures. The multi-polar world will replace this corrupt empire but not without a lot of death and destruction.
There’s no escaping America for us.
Posted by: Phlogiston_Warrior | May 10 2023 17:13 utc | 4
China’s increasing investment in certain regions of the EU seems to correspond to those where energy flows remain stable as this article details, “Chinese battery makers flock to invest in Hungary amid pragmatic bilateral cooperation”:
EVE Power is not the first Chinese battery maker to choose Hungary as a production base in Europe. In 2022, CATL, which makes one-third of the world’s electric vehicle (EV) batteries, invested 7.34 billion euros ($7.6 billion) to build a battery plant for carmakers in Hungary.
Debrecen is located at the heart of Europe, and with close proximity to some auto plants of its customers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Stellantis and Volkswagen, CATL’s Debrecen plant will enable it to better cope with the battery demands of the European market, improve its global production network development, and accelerate e-mobility and the energy transition in Europe, CATL said in a statement on its website on August 12, 2022.
Hungary has emerged as a frontrunner of Europe’s EV industry. By 2030, Debrecen, a small city with population of 200,000, will be second only to Germany in battery production in Europe, according to media reports.
Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) have held a pragmatic attitude in cooperating with China and Chinese investments are welcomed, especially in Hungary, which has developed a friendly relationship with China, Feng Zhongping, director of the Institute of European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Chinese battery makers are eyeing not only the Hungarian market, but also the whole European market. By promoting green transformation, the EU bloc will become a large market for EV products, Feng noted.
Cooperation between China and CEECs is an important part of China-EU relations. Since 2012, China’s trade with CEECs has grown at an average annual rate of 8.1 percent, China’s Vice Minister of Commerce Li Fei told a press conference on Friday.
China’s direct investment in CEECs rose by 148 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year. In 2022, China’s investment in the entire EU bloc rose 21 percent year-on-year to $11.1 billion, with added investment focusing on new energy, automobiles, machinery and equipment, Li said.
Not all CEECs have the same energy flows that Hungary kept by not joining EUs self-defeating and illegal sanctions against Russian energy. Gas distribution from Turkey’s terminal will expand over the next several years to the great benefit of pragmatic nations devoted to enhancing their national interest.
Video: The Russians celebrated Victory Day on Norwegian soil with a parade of the Immortal Regiment
A parade was held in the Arctic, and in Antarctica – the march of the Immortal Regiment
The world’s northernmost Victory Day Parade was held in the Arctic, on the Svalbard archipelago. About fifty cars, special equipment and snowmobiles marched through the villages of Barentsburg and Pyramid. They were accompanied by a Mi-8 helicopter. And at the Antarctic station Vostok, in the coldest point of the planet, the march of the Immortal Regiment took place. In the conditions of the polar night, at minus 72 degrees Celsius, the polar explorers organized a solemn passage with portraits of their ancestors who passed the Great Patriotic War.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/45259
Maps: Barentsburg , Pyramiden
Posted by: Norwegian | May 10 2023 17:30 utc | 6
The Tucker Carlson Show is moving to Twitter, according to a tweet from TC.
And Elon has tweeted the following assurance…
On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever is said.
And, of course, anything misleading will get @CommunityNotes.
I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is…
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 10 2023 17:52 utc | 7
Rep. George Santos of New York is apparently under federal indictment, and in federal custody. Santos’s ride has been a wild one: after running an anti-i9mmigrant, homophobic and transphobic campaign, he was outed as a drag queen by a fellow queen from Brazil, where Santos previously lived. Santos in office pivoted to become something like a Log Cabin Republican, vocally advocating at least for gay rights, and hamming up his own now obvious homosexuality.
Part of me has to wonder if maybe Santos ran as a bit? Was it a joke to see how far he could take this thing without being outed? It’s shocking that the Democrats gave up this seat so easily, because opposition research would have been disastrous for the GOP in Santos’s race, as him being outed as a drag queen would have reduced the number of conservatives willing to vote for him.
I’ve mentioned on this site before that the most vehement homophobes are often closeted homosexuals themselves. The US media personality, professional racist, and professional homophobe/transphobe Steven Crowder also comes to mind. Recently his wife divorced him, leading for him to call for laws that prohibit no fault divorces. A fellow conservative media creep got into a feud with him over this divorce because of how poorly he treated his tradwife (who he rarely touched except to make a few babies with, remember he’s a “no sex before marriage” and “no fornication” guy which is probably easy for a closeted homosexual like himself and so many in the evangelical christian fold), arguing that Crowder is left with a “closet full of dresses and a broken home.”
Honestly, I liked Santos after the revelations came out and he pivoted to being a gay conservative. The niche once filled by the Libertarian Party of “people who really don’t think the state has any business policing the economy or everyday life” and who advocate for the legalization of recreational drugs, abortion, transsexual existence in public life and the abolition of prohibitions on gender affirming care, is now filled by precisely no one. Not that I’m a free enterpriser myself, but I’m thoroughly disgusted with how so many self-styled “libertarians” are reactionaries in all but name, from supporting bans on abortion (against thinkers like Ayn Rand, who believed that property rights extend to the body and that abortion up to the point of birth is permissible from a property rights perspective, akin to an eviction) to agitating against marijuana legalization, to supporting censorship in classrooms and universities. Where libertarian leftists and rightists used to could meetr halfway on issues relating to everyday life and even sometimes the economy, the really libertarian right has all but vanished, as it has been subsumed by the MAGA cult of personality and by right-wing reactionary traditionalist grievance politics.
Posted by: fnord | May 10 2023 18:11 utc | 8
🚨 #Pakistan’s Prime Minister addresses nation (that did not elect him) and warns Imran Khan supporters to immediately stop riots and “anti-state” activities otherwise serious action will be taken. He referred to former PM Imran Khan’s supporters as “terrorists”. 🇵🇰
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/61984
Posted by: Norwegian | May 10 2023 18:16 utc | 9
Oh yeah, forgot an additional piece of evidence for people who don’t know about Steven Crowder: he has a certain fondness for political drag performances. One of the most perverted bits he’s done is very old, from around 2009. He dressed up as Nancy Pelosi, skirt and all, and simulated a water boarding on himself as Pelosi. This was around the time he was defending the use of torture in GITMO. Truly a sick individual, but the sickness isn’t in the crossdressing. It’s the way he channels his desire to crossdress, subsuming it under conservative politics that affirm his otherwise macho conservative identity (in addition to the gender affirmative care he’s received for his pectoral muscles, as well as the hormone therapy he probably receives in order to look movie star buff). Did I mention he was also a theater kid?
Anyway, it’s not Crowder’s latent homosexuality that bothers me. It’s how he’s repressed himself and how he supports the legal repression of other homosexuals and transsexuals, despite him performing in drag and despite him receiving “irreversible” gender affirming care.
Posted by: fnord | May 10 2023 18:16 utc | 10
Surely Königsberg deserves its independence vote, monitored by EU peacekeepers. No Russians allowed, sort of a reverse of Donetsk etc. referendums.
https://twitter.com/EeldenDen/status/1655914827603230720
Or is the russian talk of peoples self-determination just a sick joke? I wonder…
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 10 2023 18:26 utc | 11
Oopsie! Somebody forgot to tell “Membrum Virile” that the preferred name is now “Krolewiec.”
Posted by: malenkov | May 10 2023 18:38 utc | 12
fnord: Sorry, can’t agree about Santos. Being gay is okay; proudly flying the Narcissistic Personality Flag is not.
Posted by: malenkov | May 10 2023 18:41 utc | 13
Posted by: malenkov | May 10 2023 18:38 utc | 12
“Oopsie! Somebody forgot to tell “Membrum Virile” that the preferred name is now “Krolewiec.””
No, I read that. But I understand that the people who live there prefer Königsberg. Still, I bet all of them agree that the name forced by occupiers must go.
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 10 2023 18:44 utc | 14
The Cradle offers another excellent look inside the Iraqi government that’s aimed at changing Iraq’s fortunes, “Exclusive: Iraqi finance committee deputy calls for diversification away from US dollar”, with this interview of Iraqi parliamentarian Hussain Mouanes, a member of the Finance Committee. The first Q&A shows the battle is to rid Iraq of Outlaw US Empire imposed Neoliberalism–Government by Bankers:
The Cradle: Does the federal budget presented in the parliament today actually address the necessary measures to reform Iraq’s economic system?
Mouanes: The Iraqi economic system has been built incorrectly. It has moved away from banks and financial institutions toward the bankers managing it. Iraq has been and continues to be a slave to the US dollar, even though every country’s economic strength depends on the strength of its currency.
Reforming and strengthening the economy starts with the federal budget. However, we face far greater challenges, such as reforming existing financial legislation like the Securities Commission Law, laws for private banks, and the Central Bank.
These laws must be in line with the global economic situation. The Financial Management Law should govern the budget, but instead, it is governed by the budget. The Parliamentary Finance Committee is seeking to establish a real political and economic system built on legislation, not on constant and continuous exceptions. For example, according to the Financial Management Law, the country’s deficit ceiling should be 3 percent, but the current budget allows it to swell to 18 percent. [My Emphasis]
As you proceed through the interview, you’ll gain an appreciation for the difficulties Iraq was saddled with and still struggles to overcome. Here’s the Q&A related to the headline:
The Cradle: We have heard about Iraq’s efforts to move away from the domination of the US dollar. How can this be achieved?
Mouanes: The current system of selling oil and transferring 100 percent of those revenues to the US Federal Bank – under the pretext of protecting Iraqi funds – is unsustainable. We need to develop real economic foundations to advance our country and break free from the dollar’s hegemony.
It is clear that Iraq is economically dominated by the US, and our government does not truly control or have access to its own money. This is evident in the new banking restrictions on Iraqi dollar bank accounts, any and all banking transactions in dollars, and America’s imposition of an electronic platform to register all Iraqi currency exchanges.
Currently, most of Iraq’s foreign investment generation is limited to the lucrative energy sector, ignoring other vital sectors such as agriculture, industry, and tourism. It is time for Iraq to diversify its sources, basket, and storage of currency, especially given that the whole world is moving in this direction.
The Iraqi dinar must be strengthened and consolidated within Iraq as the primary currency used in transactions and ultimately be part of the basket of international currencies. As an oil-rich country that exports about four million barrels daily, we have a strong financial situation that can be leveraged to increase the value of the dinar in the market.
We believe that it is crucial to move away from the hegemony of the dollar, especially as it has become a tool to impose sanctions on countries. It is time for Iraq to rely on its local currency or at least diversify its sources of income. [My Emphasis]
The above information makes it very clear that Iraq is not in any way sovereign and remains a pawn of the Outlaw US Empire despite its attempts to become politically independent. I do suggest reading the entire interview as it appears Iraq finally has a PM of substance.
Posted by: karlof1 | May 10 2023 17:03 utc | 3:
Thanks for the China links. You forgot one very important item to report: Tianzhou 6 was successfully launched 5 hours ago, carrying tons of supplies for astronauts (water, food, 70+ kilos of fresh fruits:-) and fuel supply for the space station. Tianzhou 6 module will be the Space Station’s warehouse, capacity 7.4 tons of cargos, to which China will continue to replenish supply three times every 2 years. The Space Station will serve as the live laboratory for supplying/supporting astronauts as well as how space living is to be sustained, as necessary data for sustaining the operations of a Moon Station in the 2030’s.
China’s space program is on schedule. Russia will soon join the program as collaborator.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 10 2023 18:48 utc | 16
Membrum Vitale:
Surely you’re aware that according to international treaties and law the former East Prussian inhabitants of what is now the Kaliningrad Oblast have the same voting rights there as their Bund der Vertriebenen buddies do in Poland and Czechia.
The few who are still alive, of course.
As for what you “understand” wrt the current and overwhelmingly Russian inhabitants, do you have any hard data?
Posted by: malenkov | May 10 2023 18:53 utc | 17
The frequency and intensity ( bi -annual arrests now) at european nato nuclear weapons sites is increasing, especially at Buchel. quote On May 8, the day Germans commemorate the end of a fascist regime and the end of World War II, seven opponents of war entered the Büchel air base. They nonviolently disrupted the preparation for nuclear war by obstructing construction work for the new runway. The new runway is a prerequisite for the deployment of new nuclear weapons that will soon be stationed in Büchel. unquote.
Not sure when Brian T. has to stop gardening and go to Netherlands for a trial, probably separate from his EU cohorts who all burrowed under to sit on top of the bunkers with the nukes. For those of y’all from EU, there should be civil disobedience again in August.
Posted by: paxmark1 | May 10 2023 18:59 utc | 18
url did not go through Nucleresistor.org Seven German war resistors, tryin url again.
http://www.nukeresister.org/2023/05/08/eight-german-war-resisters-interrupt-construction-work-at-buchel-air-base/
Posted by: paxmark1 | May 10 2023 19:01 utc | 19
A big picture geopolitical look at how the US is going to struggle to maintain a foothold in Eurasia:
https://www.beyondwasteland.net/p/ordered-off-the-world-island
Posted by: KevinB | May 10 2023 19:04 utc | 20
@fnord, #8:
The George Santos phenomena intrigues me in one respect: How can a proven lying, faking, and intellectually so f**king stupid crook be still accepted by his constituents???? As if he hasn’t done nuthin’ wrong??? Are voters in the United States of America really so zombified already as to have lost all senses???
I’m really worried.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 10 2023 19:05 utc | 21
Posted by: malenkov | May 10 2023 18:53 utc | 17
“As for what you “understand” wrt the current and overwhelmingly Russian inhabitants, do you have any hard data?”
I freely admit that polling in Königsberg is frowned upon by the occupiers. So no hard data. But you did read the link? Some protest on the streets, even though it fairly certainly gets them and their relatives a free trip to Siberia. Or perhaps now, more realistically, to the Donetsk front, ‘detecting mines’.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | May 10 2023 18:48 utc | 16
“China’s space program is on schedule. Russia will soon join the program as collaborator.”
Tells everybody whats the score regarding China-Russia relations. Russia, whose space technology has for decades been second to none, will soon join the Chinese space program as junior partners. Yippee!!
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 10 2023 19:07 utc | 22
Oriental Voice:
Members of Congress are not subject to recall.
Posted by: malenkov | May 10 2023 19:12 utc | 23
@ Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 10 2023 18:44 utc | 14
“No, I read that. But I understand that the people who live there prefer Königsberg. Still, I bet all of them agree that the name forced by occupiers must go.”
Funny how some people have right to self determination by voting. Everybody is sovereign if supported by enough military power. Königsberg/Kaliningrad has no military power itself. When Poles or Germans are strong enough, they will solve the problem. To what Russians will object and perhaps fight. And we all see how it looks like. I doubt that future Polish and German troops will be anywhere close to Ukrainians. They are good soldiers, soviet school, and quality of their obsolete soviet arms are yet to be matched by anything western.
Meanwhile, send you best wishes to Königsberg. Those wishes will come true, some time in a very distant future. Hope preserves spirit like nothing else. Keep wishing and dreaming.
Cheers
Posted by: Zidar | May 10 2023 19:13 utc | 24
Membrum Vitale:
Your link features a photo with tens, maybe even dozens of protesters. Not a terribly impressive turnout. What did happen to those protesters btw?
Posted by: malenkov | May 10 2023 19:15 utc | 25
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 10 2023 19:07 utc | 22
collaborator is not the same as “junior partner”. trolls paid a dime an hour to spout US/NATO bs might be entitled to call themselves “junior partners” but newsflash they are still gonna get paid the same.
Posted by: pretzelattack | May 10 2023 19:25 utc | 26
Posted by: karlof1 | May 10 2023 18:47 utc | 15
I hope he doesn’t get the Imran Khan treatment.
Posted by: pretzelattack | May 10 2023 19:27 utc | 27
Posted by: malenkov | May 10 2023 19:15 utc | 25
Yes, not terribly many. But Königsberg is not a big place, and the bravery of those few will encourage others. Even though they, and their families are currently being rounded up to be sent to the front.
However, Russia’s reckless actions open many issues, including Königsberg:
https://icds.ee/en/the-future-of-konigsberg/
I don’t support those ‘conclusions’, but the review of the legal status is illuminating.
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 10 2023 19:28 utc | 28
Posted by: pretzelattack | May 10 2023 19:25 utc | 26
“collaborator is not the same as “junior partner””
Indeed. And the check’s in the mail. I will pay back later. Would I lie?
Trust is so beautiful 🙂
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 10 2023 19:31 utc | 29
Re: Kômigsberg
Obviously, this is another Washington War Party attempt at destabilizing Europe. It’s patently silly. The locals are all fanatical Russians.
Posted by: Exile | May 10 2023 19:32 utc | 30
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 10 2023 19:31 utc | 29
you get paid a dime an hour by check? i hope the bank doesn’t collapse when it cashes it.
Posted by: pretzelattack | May 10 2023 19:34 utc | 31
Exile: There are a few thousand ethnic Germans in the Kaliningrad Oblast. I don’t know where their loyalties lie.
Meanwhile I should admit to having to stifle a chuckle over Zidar’s little fantasy. In the surpassingly unlikely event that Germans and Poles ever fight for the territory, they’d be fighting each other for it.
Posted by: makenkov | May 10 2023 19:38 utc | 32
Whats ZioAmerica planning ?
” Newly Released Images of Massive US Embassy Compound in Lebanon Prompt Questions
The photographs shared by the US embassy in Beirut on Twitter show a massive multi-building compound – expected to cover a huge 43-acre site. ”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/newly-released-images-massive-us-embassy-compound-lebanon-prompt-questions/5818780
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 19:49 utc | 33
Posted by: makenkov | May 10 2023 19:38 utc | 32
“In the surpassingly unlikely event that Germans and Poles ever fight for the territory, they’d be fighting each other for it.”
On this, I very much agree. Could even be a third contender from the north. Let’s hope it never gets to that.
Posted by: Membrum Virile | May 10 2023 19:51 utc | 34
Our democracy, our great experiment is long dead, replaced by a dystopian reality []
Posted by: JustAMaverick | May 10 2023 16:42 utc | 2
America was always about violence, cruelty, all-consuming greed, fathomless vampiric hunger (from which “consumerism”), destruction, lying and complete satanic inversion of reality. The sooner it all burns and fades away, the better. Hopefully it performs this final destruction by itself, because no other country should need to dirty its hands and soul. No Russian or Chinese bombs, just American guns, knives, chemicals, hatred and poison turned back into its black gaping heart.
It’s not biden, obama, trump, nuland, soros, zuckerberg or bourla manning those hundreds of military rape bases, those hundreds of bioweapon labs, monsanto factories, kermit the gates hell farms, torture camps, brainwashing operations, terrorist training programs, nazi instruction and education programs, ukrainian baby factories, drug cartels, organ trafficking, ngo’s, “embassies”, “charities”, three-letter spook hellholes, military underground bases, covid hospitals, hollywood pedo-central or mass media.
None of that would have been possible without the American people, nor would it ever have been even remotely possible in any other country.
Long past time to slit their own throat.
Posted by: Mike | May 10 2023 19:53 utc | 35
@ Vile Member & associated NeoCon chumps:
Anybody who wants to “liberate” Kaliningrad from Russia is more than welcome to re-litigate all of the outcomes of World War 2. Enjoy re-building Europe from the ashes and rubble!
Posted by: DougDiggler | May 10 2023 20:01 utc | 36
Interesting take on things.
” Stalin said without US they would’ve lost the war.
“Without Lend-Lease, we would’ve lost the war”
The Red Army wouldn’t have had half of its ammunition,aircraft and tanks. In addition,there would’ve been constant shortages of transportation and fuel
https://rferl.org/a/did-us-lend-lease-aid-tip-the-balance-in-soviet-fight-against-nazi-germany/30599486.html ”
https://twitter.com/EeldenDen/status/1644809371103240192
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 20:05 utc | 37
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 19:49 utc | 33
I look at that and two words come to mind:
Soft target.
Posted by: The ghost of Zanon | May 10 2023 20:07 utc | 38
” I look at that and two words come to mind:
Soft target.
Posted by: The ghost of Zanon | May 10 2023 20:07 utc | 38 ”
I’m sure the US has thought of that also, but what are they planning, because long term occupation looks like one of the goals.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 20:13 utc | 39
@Deplorable Commisar
Wild guesses:
– a real life tower of Sauron, to see all in Syria, Israel, Jordan, etc.
– overcompensate for the embarrassment of having been weighed on the scales and found wanting in Syria
– it appears to be on high ground and defensible but think swarms of drones laden with explosives. Maybe a keep for all the CIA assets fleeing from Al Tanf if it is about to get wiped off the map by Iranian missiles.
Posted by: Ghost of Zanon | May 10 2023 20:21 utc | 40
ZH has a posting up with the title
The Censorship-Industrial Complex: Top 50 Organizations To Know
This report is available through Racket News for those with relationship there.
Can we get trolls to identify which of these 50 organizations they are being paid from? Textual vomitoriums like Deplorable Commissar and shaddowbanned come to mind….paid by the value they detract from each thread.
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 10 2023 20:36 utc | 41
International law expert Christopher Black always has interesting things to say. In the link below he dissects the recent comments by China’s French Ambassador Lu Shaye on the “effective status” of ex-Soviet countries which created quite a stir.
https://journal-neo.org/2023/05/05/lu-shaye-states-some-facts-the-west-trembles/
It is common for western politicians and pundits to argue that Ukraine’s contiguous sovereign borders were legally set in 1991, and events in Crimea and eastern Ukraine since 2014 represent an egregious violation of these borders and international law. Black’s piece clarifies certainly the Crimean part of the argument – i.e. the west’s assertions are incorrect.
As well, the unconstitutional coup in 2014 effectively ended, or at least suspended, Ukraine’s legal status as established in 1991 – another point western opinion makers studiously avoid. The resolution to this problem was the UN Security Council backed Minsk Accord, which was never ratified, and of course eventually formally repudiated by the present Ukraine government. The massive increase in shelling by Ukraine directed at Donetsk / Lugansk in February 2022, set against the legal environment, is ever more clearly the initiatory act of aggression of the current conflict.
As Black states:
“no one in the western media or halls of power bothered to ask the question, are (Lu Shaye’s) statements correct? The answer is yes and the anger in the West is due to their recognition that he is correct, that the entire post-Soviet order in Europe is built on a foundation of sand.”
Posted by: jayc | May 10 2023 20:37 utc | 42
If Ukraine chooses NATO, it’s a sovereign country making it’s own decisions.
If Sudan chooses Russia, the USA organizes an civil war.
Posted by: Passerby | May 10 2023 21:07 utc | 43
karlof1 | May 10 2023 17:03 utc | 3
——
Thanks, karlof1. What a heretical idea China has there, regulating the financial industry. It’s a truly novel concept, akin to bridling a horse.
On Multipolarista, Ben Norton just interviewed Michael Hudson, who’s becoming increasingly direct and refreshingly irreverent. Norton suggests that Paul Krugman is straw-manning dedollarization concerns in his recent NYT piece. Dr. Hudson counters, no, he’s stupid. I know because I’ve met him, that’s how he won the [ig]Nobel Prize in [junk] Economics. Such scorn for reigning economists is well deserved, IMO. It’s worth watching.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iFxiuqE_wy8
Posted by: Doug Hillman | May 10 2023 21:10 utc | 44
Can we get trolls to identify which of these 50 organizations they are being paid from? Textual vomitoriums like Deplorable Commissar and shaddowbanned come to mind….paid by the value they detract from each thread.
psychohistorian | May 10 2023 20:36 utc | 41
——
“Textual vomitoriums” (vomitoria?):). Poor Zanon, left out.
Posted by: Doug Hillman | May 10 2023 21:20 utc | 45
I could go on and on…for weeks. America is done. It’s over. The people are broken and divided against themselves, totally unable to defend themselves in any way. Most are so lost, they don’t understand any of this at all. Lost in illusion and delusion they are more android than human.
Posted by: JustAMaverick | May 10 2023 16:42 utc | 2
I generally share your view but offer the following counterpoints:
1. Things can change rapidly: whether it is sudden earthquakes, the milk being fine until it suddenly boils over and pervades everywhere, or the onions being fine for a long while, even slightly browned, and then suddenly turning into inedible charcoal. That which seems impenetrable or indestructible can suddenly manifest as the opposite. So things might not be as terrible as they appear or even if they are, the pendulum might swing.
2.The constitution, though trampled over, is still there: it often seems to me that America is a post-constitutional Republic In Name Only (RINO). The takeover of the main organs of political and societal leadership and control is far too broad and deep to be repaired, let alone reversed. It’s over and done with already. But – and in accord with #1 above – things can change, sometimes rapidly. Though trampled over, it is still there. If people want to behave collectively as if the Constitution is real and meaningful, why then ‘bingo, bango, bongo’ there it is, right as rain, real and meaningful again. All this stuff, big as it seems, is actually no more than a state of mind stemming from belief (which is why it can turn on a dime as per #1). The Bad Guys telling tales convincing us we are of no worth, that our world is shredded beyond all recognition, they are casting spells which we allow to take hold instead of rejecting outright. We can choose the realities we wish to promulgate, serve, defend and celebrate. Nobody gets to make that choice in our stead.
3. Community, community, community. Might involve moving, might not, but it’s more important than which country you are in perhaps. Do you want to weather the storm in a crackhead neighborhood with high crime, unsafe streets, no jobs, no stores etc.? That’s a no-brainer. But there are many other middling areas that are sort of okay now but if things go pear-shaped….. Better to be in a strong community. Most people achieve this through shared religious faith, essentially affording them an extended family. Highly recommended – though many such extended families have more unsavory family issues than they let on, not to mention that cults, of course, must be avoided at all costs because they always end up feeding upon themselves. Each of us has our own style, background, needs and so forth. To some a leafy, clean suburb outside a city provides the best of all possible worlds whereas to others that would constitute a form of middle class hell. Small community in the country suits some, to others its purgatory and the right sort of inner city neighbourhood feels much better.
But no matter what, it’s relationships with people that count, not just people who will chip in to help after lightning strikes, but people with whom one can weather political or other storms, which means like-minded and like-hearted. So finding a good community, either place or faith based, seems to me to be more important than finding the right country.
If America comes crashing down with a hard landing, there won’t be that many places elsewhere that will prove both safe and economically stable. But in the US, for example, there will be many zones where things are relatively okay. I’m thinking Maine, upstate NY, Savannah GA (if they clean political stables), FLA panhandle, Arkansas, parts of Texas, the Dakotas, Montana, rural Idaho, upper Michigan and so many more such pockets where local communities will find a way through together. America is not nearly as bad as all the heady analysis of its many geopolitical crimes perpetrated mainly through the agency of criminal elites might lead one to believe. Part of the problem is that we listen to and then believe such twaddle. People are people. They love their children and parents and wish a good life for everyone they know. That’s baseline normal. And it’s still there.
Your references to American self destruction and dystopia are dead on! I’m an American and former Neocon Dupe until my eyes were opened to reality. This is why I know you’re right about the coming destruction of the Nazi Anglo-Zionist Empire of Lies and Hate. The Rules Based International Order is dying. NATO, the Suicide Pill for the World is dying. American hegemony is being overwhelmed by the emerging Multipolar World.
The vast majority of Americans are enthralled by Infotainment and propagandized to the hilt. They’re conditioned like Pavlov’s Dogs and Skinner’s Rats to react to stimuli from their Oligarch Masters. They’re living in the Narrative Matrix controlled by Plutocratic and military Institutions who have created an ILLUSION of democracy. Voters don’t count but Mega Donors do.
I’m old and don’t give a shit but now that I understand the reality of my existence and State of my corrupt nation, I’m staying, resisting and preparing to survive. Surviving is Winning. Ask the Vietcong and Taliban.
Screw the FBI, NSA and CIA! Screw the “Law Enforcement” Gestapo! January 6, 2021 was a crock of shit. If FJB is installed through fraud again there will be a Second American Civil War or Second American Revolution.
Y’all are right. With a nation awash in guns and gun purchases rising exponentially, the stage is set. It’s unusually quiet. No unrest. No demonstrations. It’s the Quiet Before the Storm.
I pray I’m wrong and expressing the worst case scenario and I hope cooler heads prevail. I hope America wises up and breaks the Neocon Nazi/Zio-Nazi spell. I have to wonder though. “God bless America” is a command, a demand. That’s a serious problem.
Posted by: Longtrail | May 10 2023 21:48 utc | 47
At least the Chinese are honest. The world is not a kumbaya love fest, only self hating Whites believe that drivel.
– Video Shows A Chinese Mother Teaching Her Daughter To Avoid Black People –
https://youtu.be/4qxbjr6IbpA?t=47
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 21:55 utc | 48
# 46
someone said it here before
western civilization is suffering
from “stockholm syndrome”
sympathizing with the “captor”.
a way of self-suffering and conditioned
to like.
conditions have to get more desperate
before any kind of real change
can occur
we are only human after all
Posted by: Dingo | May 10 2023 21:56 utc | 49
Posted by: Longtrail | May 10 2023 21:48 utc | 47
Cooler heads prevailing or not, any country that espouses a “pledge of allegiance” is for full on indoctrination from the beginning. Good luck.
Posted by: Digital Spartacus | May 10 2023 21:58 utc | 50
The only thing happening in America breaking the silence is mass murder by people filled with hate who snap. The other mass murders are perpetrated by gangstas at large gatherings or doing drive-by’s. There’s a major mental health crisis brewing and nothing is being done to address it. The nation is bankrupt but bankrolling Ukro-Nazis in Ukraine.
Pax Americana is going the way of its mother Pax Britannia as the hegemon’s grip is loosened by the majority of the World so sick, tired and fed up with the bullying, regime changes, sanctions killing millions and displacing millions more. It’s satisfying to watch.
Syria is back in the fold. Suni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran are beginning rapprochement. The Saudis are walking away from FJB. Ahanda Allah!
The leaders of Europe and America have a Nazi mindset and worship a false White Jesus Christ when Jesus Christ is a brown Middle Eastern Jew.
Again I write, “God bless America” is a command, a demand and the transgender insanity is turning America into a suicidal Sodom and Gomorrah lurching toward Armageddon.
Posted by: Longtrail | May 10 2023 22:03 utc | 51
# 51
we only know
and suffer our unique
understanding of “being alive”
so, we have that
in our favor
Posted by: Dingo | May 10 2023 22:22 utc | 52
Doug Hillman | May 10 2023 21:10 utc | 44–
Thanks for your reply. I read the transcript to that a few days ago and cited part of it in a comment.
Oriental Voice | May 10 2023 18:48 utc | 16–
Thanks for your reply. GT had a nice Infographic on that, but I decided to deal with what I provided. I do closely follow both China’s and Russia’s space programs. I thought about posting the news about China’s firm decision to build a solar collection array in orbit for energy transmission to earth and elsewhere, like the ILRS on the moon. I have a fairly good idea how China plans to solve its very long term energy supply regardless the success or not of fusion as it differs little from my formulations back in the 1980s.
Posted by: fnord | May 10 2023 18:11 utc | 8 and 10
Santos, Crowder and the rest of them are merely the highest proof distillates of long time GOP ‘IOKIYAR’ hypocrisy. In Santos’ case it rose to the level that actually required other members of the GOP to at least address it, albeit ultimately ignore it and look the other way in order to preserve a majority. There have been many hypocritical Democrats, but nowhere near as many as there have been Republicans. Santos happens to be an easily identifiable sociopath and criminal.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 10 2023 22:43 utc | 54
Re: the mental health (and really all health) crisis and mass shootings, the GOP at the state and federal levels have been reforming gutting the mental health system since Ronny Raygun was still Californicating. When a scumbag hypocrite like Greg Fagbott goes up on the podium or Twitter after the most recent mass shooting in Texas and attempts to blame mental health, the liberal corporate media never seems up to the task of pointing out his documented and easy-to-find-if-they-looked hypocrisy. Hmmm…I wonder why.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 10 2023 22:46 utc | 55
fnord # 8 & 10
Rep. George Santos of New York is apparently under federal indictment, and in federal custody. Santos’s ride has been a wild one: after running an anti-i9mmigrant, homophobic and transphobic campaign, he was outed as a drag queen by a fellow queen from Brazil, where Santos previously lived. Santos in office pivoted to become something like a Log Cabin Republican, vocally advocating at least for gay rights, and hamming up his own now obvious homosexuality.
Part of me has to wonder if maybe Santos ran as a bit? Was it a joke to see how far he could take this thing without being outed? It’s shocking that the Democrats gave up this seat so easily, because opposition research would have been disastrous for the GOP in Santos’s race, as him being outed as a drag queen would have reduced the number of conservatives willing to vote for him.
The word I arrived at is Turd, despicable manipulative turd.
And yet the two party system got together and shooed him into the Congress. Such is the depth of their contempt for the citizens, the totality of their dishonesty toward their constitution, the fraud of their fawning over their nations greatness and indispensable role in the world.
Every time I reconsider and raise a micron of hope for some better leader such as RFKjr or Tulsi Gabbard or any vaguely progressive candidate, I think of the Squad and its craven conversion to Squib, Fraudsquad, spineless trash.
And here is your post, fnord, to snap me back to the reality that my hope needs to be tempered with the cold reality that the USA economic and political machinery is a curse upon our planet and no good will come of it until the people of the USA dismantle it entirely.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 10 2023 23:27 utc | 56
anti-spiegel author Thomas Röper is to publish another book and this one dealing with the Biden Crime Family. Out this Summer ie June or July.
The pattern was clear, as the task force instructed social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and others to delete and censor anything that indicated the FBI’s previous transgressions, and most importantly, to censor anything that could have hurt Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. election campaign.
In doing so, the FBI has placed particular emphasis on censoring the information about Hunter Biden’s laptop, which clearly showed how corrupt the Biden clan is and that Hunter Biden has also committed tax evasion, sex and other crimes. So it was again a matter of keeping secret information that would not only have harmed Biden, but that would have cost him the election victory.
In addition, the FBI knew that the laptop and the information on it were genuine, because the laptop had already been in the possession of the FBI for some time at the time. Nevertheless, when Trump’s lawyer Giuliani released the information, the FBI claimed that it was – surprise! – Russian propaganda. With this reasoning, the FBI has asked social networks to censor all posts about it. Marc Zuckerberg later told us in an interview that this is how it went on Facebook (you can find the passage in this video from about minute 5.20) and from the Twitter files we know in detail how it went on Twitter.
In my new book, I go into the story in detail. The story is much bigger, what I have covered here covers only a very small part.
I trust we will hear the clatter of cartwheels as the Biden election wagon crashes through yet another road bump.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 10 2023 23:58 utc | 57
Tom_Q_Collins, from previous thread, sorry I didn’t reply sooner. I live about a 100 miles from the Oregon border. Temps in the summer have always been hot. I think 120° was the record. I poured concrete in Phoenix at 122°. There were many nights hotter than 91°. Believe it or not. I lived it and don’t much care what anyone says. Sorta like Hack. Peace brother.
Posted by: Immaculate deception | May 11 2023 0:15 utc | 58
John Helmer delivers a fine report on the ugliness of the englander colonial masters and in particular the english ambassador Sir Thomas Roe, between September 1615 and February 1619. The Great Game never ends until these interfering, war mongering rsoles are disarmed.
In the retelling of how the English thieving from India began, Nandini Das, a professor of English literature and culture at Oxford University, has revealed that when Roe first presented his credentials at the Indian court, he was embarrassed to discover the gifts he had brought from London were so paltry, the Indian courtiers scoffed at them.
“The presents you have this year sent,” Roe reported back to London, “are so extremely despised by those who have seen them.” The [crimson] velvet upholstery of the coach built for Jahangir by London craftsmen was “scorned [by the welcoming official who] said it was little and poor. [The velvet] had faded to a base tawny. [The mirrors in their leather-worked cases] are rotten with mould on the outside and decayed within. The other things are so decayed, as your gilded looking glasses, unglued, unfoiled and fallen to pieces…the burning glasses and prospectives [telescopes] such as no man hath face to offer to give, much less to sell, such as I can buy for six pence a piece; your pictures not all worth one penny… they laugh at us for such as we bring.”
When Das cross-referenced Roe’s letters and diaries with the Jahangirnama, Jahangir’s memoirs, she discovered that the emperor made no mention at all of the English ambassador at court.
In Das’s history, Roe’s reaction was a combination of racist superiority towards the Indian princes; sexism which prevented Roe from learning how the women of the imperial harem exercised political power; ignorance of Indian military command, control, and war-fighting capacities; and envy at the wealth the Mughal empire displayed, the splendour of its architecture and gardens, the quality of its arts and manufactures.
Roe, like others in his entourage, adopted towards the Indians what Das calls “an assumption of effeminacy”, to which was added the idea that they were best suited to be servants to power, and not the other way round. They are “very valiant at tongue-fight, though not with their weapons”, wrote Edward Terry, Roe’s chaplain and personal adviser, in a book of reminiscences of India published in 1655. The Indian armies, he said, were “incredible multitudes” but “not well learned [in] that horrid bloody art of war as the Europeans.” According to Terry, the Indians were “ill masters, but good servants…so faithful to their trusts unto whomsoever they engage, to the English as well as to any other, that if they be at any time assaulted, they will rather die in their [master’s] defence, than forsake them at their need.”
This English judgement lasted for another 330 years until Indian independence in 1947; it lingers still in current plotting by the Foreign Office and MI6 for regime change in Delhi next year.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 11 2023 0:16 utc | 59
Tom, I will add that those are temperatures in the shade. I have an outdoor thermometer in the shade, 6′ off the ground, which is what you use to gauge the ambient temperature. The last 3 or so years have been relatively cooler, but anything over 100° is still hot. 30 days over a hundred is not pleasant.
Posted by: Immaculate deception | May 11 2023 0:32 utc | 60
Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 21:55 utc | 48
I’m sure, like you, as I observed the materials on the wall behind her, I also thought, “if this kid can count to fifteen, she’s way ahead of most blacks.” and I felt comforted. she’s qualified to manage the for profit cantinas in the for profit US prison system that provides fine housing to people who didn’t graduate from HS. she can read their plea bargains, which they couldn’t understand themselves.
but she should also know, whatever blacks are up to, whitey gonna do to her what he did and is doing to her Asian ancestors. no, not the Opium Wars, the ones who walked to the “New World” millenia ago. to be wiped out by superior races, like you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ch-XK9wNow
Hundreds Of RVs Removed From Encampments
“this level of homelessness is unacceptable!” US Gov of Washington Jay Inslee. cuz America cares.
speaking of Opium Wars, happy US Fentanyl Day! may your Narcan be plentiful and the odds of a clean needle be ever in your favor!
Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 11 2023 0:41 utc | 61
medical science
a virtue in itself
the tireless pursuit
of prolonging human life.
the opposite is also true
Posted by: Dingo | May 11 2023 1:21 utc | 62
Sabby Sabs reveals from Daily Mail 9 May that Larry Page is a wanted man in the Epstein vs JP Morgan Virgin Islands suit.
Larry cant be found as his given addresses are invalid. Larry owns Hans Lollik and Little Hans Lollik islands in the US Virgin Islands group.
The prosecutors seek to subpoena Larry Page at Alphabet as he is a board member.
The press report Sabby references reveals that prosecutors have previously subpoenaed Sergei Brin (google), Jes Staley (JP Morgan) and Michael Ovitz (Disney).
Twenty minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHkQ4dCwTo
Posted by: uncle tungsten | May 11 2023 2:10 utc | 63
There are few things more fun than a good rant, especially when it is spot on, politically:
Undermining Deception
By Paul Edward
“…The Empire sees itself ready for two major wars at once and, well, if they go nuclear, what the hell. They feel bullish because they have old ICBMs from Cold War days that may still work, bombers made of 14k gold that don’t function, missile systems that reliably fail, nuclear subs that make fine marine coffins, and huge aircraft carriers that are the military version of pinatas. All this, to oppose an array of the most sophisticated hypersonic weapons ever devised, against which there is no defense.
” It is increasingly difficult to contend that the United States is a sane or viable nation. With a Congress of vacuous hillbillies that does nothing for The People and shovels billions in corporate welfare to the War Machine, a court system loaded with twisted sluts for Big Money, and two of the most disgraced, degraded, baldly incompetent sockpuppets for war and privilege ever to run for President, the prospect of total breakdown begins to seem preferable to continuity of this obscene Theater of the Absurd.
“Americans are displaying, in their zany style, awareness of this: some by suicide, some pushing a false Christianity of hate, and others by shooting people at random. Despair is the new hope.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57540.htm
Posted by: bevin | May 11 2023 2:18 utc | 64
Paul Edwards
Do we Americans have an unplumbed tolerance for abuse?
Is there really no limit to the shit we’ll eat when dispensed by dirty old Aunt Sam?
Those who run us, and our yoyo, yahoo “Democracy”, believe there isn’t, and with good reason.
OUch !
90 percent of Americans think China is a bigger threat than Russia
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57413.htm
Posted by: denk | May 11 2023 3:20 utc | 65
Just want to acknowledge the terrorist murders of civilians—many children—carried out by the apartheid Zionist regime. Free Palestine.
Posted by: Gengar | May 11 2023 3:38 utc | 66
@ Scorpion | May 10 2023 21:24 utc | 46, saying:
“If America comes crashing down with a hard landing, there won’t be that many places elsewhere that will prove both safe and economically stable. But in the US, for example, there will be many zones where things are relatively okay. I’m thinking Maine, upstate NY, Savannah GA (if they clean political stables), FLA panhandle, Arkansas, parts of Texas, the Dakotas, Montana, rural Idaho, upper Michigan and so many more such pockets where local communities will find a way through together.”
Trying to imagine just what that hard landing would be like, and particularly the steps it would go through, is speculative and hard. Dmitry Orlov likened it to the stages of the collapse of the Soviet Union, but said it would be harder, because the Soviet citizens were already inured to hardship, so they were more ready. He did emphasize community too, however, which I believe is key.
As for your list, though, apart from Maine, none of those places interest me, so I have a different list: first, Vancouver Island, the Garden of the Earth, a top candidate for best possible place, and it being in Canada helps. Maybe also Haida Gwaii, formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands. Going back into the US, Southeastern Alaska, then the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Otherwise, the Southern Hemisphere, specifically Southern Chile, Uruguay, and maybe Australia and New Zealand. Right now my daughter and her husband are in Melbourne doing MAs. I asked her on the phone whether they would stay in Australia, to which she said, if all the rest of the family would come, but my other daughter and son said, no way, we are not moving to Australia, so here we are in an old inner suburb of Philadelphia, and here we shall remain, making the best of what we’ve got. And this is good too for an old guy with 5,000 books not to have to move.
This would all be academic in the event of a general nuclear war, which remains a possibility, and whose failure to happen over the last 78 years since Hiroshima and Nagasaki I can only attribute to a divine miracle (but you can say a very improbable accident if you like, a peace accident). The unfolding of some slower meltdown is hard to guess in detail, because there are too many variables. It would seem likely, though, that the US will soon go through some internally-generated paroxysms of extreme violence, as the rage against the machine reaches a crescendo.
Also, @ Longtrail | May 10 2023 21:48 utc | 47, saying:
“It’s unusually quiet. No unrest. No demonstrations. It’s the Quiet Before the Storm.”
Yes.
Posted by: Cabe | May 11 2023 3:59 utc | 67
Forwarded from
So, Pakistan is the next hot spot, with ex PM Imran Khan arrested while turning to court so other thumped up charges. The elites have all curiously left the country. Wonder if the Army will do a Turkey style revolt?
IROP 🇵🇰
🚨🇵🇰 – Political & Military elite that allegedly fled the country:
👺 Prime Minister – right now in UK.
👺 Army Chief – right now in Oman.
👺 NAB Chief – whereabouts unknown.
👺 ISI Chief – whereabouts unknown.
👺 Punjab CM – whereabouts
unknown.
Posted by: Suresh | May 11 2023 5:01 utc | 68
It does look like the US is headed for a fall. Contrary to popular belief, there’s a lot of Americans that aren’t stupid. They don’t know what to do. The system in place doesn’t allow for any dissent. So, maegi, tell me the future. I’ll wait.
Posted by: Immaculate deception | May 11 2023 5:03 utc | 69
Posted by: Dave Oneil | May 10 2023 16:14 utc | 1
Hardly surprising. It would be nice if they published toxicology reports and history of drug taking – whether prescription mind-being drugs or narcotic street drugs
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 11 2023 5:39 utc | 70
[68]
Prime Minister – right now in UK.
He attended a Coronation then stayed on to visit his fugitive brother – Nawaz Sharif who is a bail-jumper, and visited London for “medical treatment” so he could abscond to his mansion in London – he needs to instruct his puppet as PM to carry out his instructions.
More important is the Indian-heritage PM in Downing Street who is silent when Imran Khan is maltreated and his party attacked before an election…………….then again Sunak has his own election in 2024 and a Pakistani diaspora inside UK influential in many seats
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 11 2023 5:42 utc | 71
From the earlier Ukraine thread, during which certain contributors seemed to be implying that the World Bank and IMF are something other than instruments of US hegemony:
Some of you are disingenuous fools who constantly bitch about orgs like the IMF. However, when I point out that China and Russia are full dues paying members, who must / should have influence on its policies you are to [sic] chicken shit to address the points. Fair enough, but quit bitching about those same org’s [sic] maleficence.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 9:16 utc | 201
For some information about voting rights in the IMF and World Bank, and on the genesis and operation of the Bretton Woods institutions in general, please look at The IMF and the World Bank in the time of Coronavirus: the failed campaign for a new image. The article is part of a 28-part series on the history and functioning of the World Bank and IMF. The series is available in book form.
Since it was created, the structure of decision-making within the IMF benefits the US and their victorious allies at the end of World War II. The distribution of power flouts any notion of equality since it is based on the rule 1 dollar = 1 vote, a rule questioned by emerging countries that want their share of the cake. To try and establish some pretence of democracy, and to meet the demand of those expanding countries, a reform on the increase of quotas [10] and the transfer of voting rights finally came into force at the beginning of 2016.
In fact, adopting a system that would allow all member countries to have a say was never considered; the aim was rather to accommodate “emerging countries” whose economic weight had become too important to be ignored. While the 6% of voting rights that were newly distributed went to the BRICS (South Africa excluded), those who lost out in the operation were predictably the poorest countries, whose voting rights the IMF cynically committed to preserve. [11] Surely Bangladesh felt it had more leverage given this commitment, with its 0.24% voting rights to defend the interests of its 155 million inhabitants!
The USA on the other hand scored a twofold victory. Not only did they keep their hold on the voting structure, since, as they had only relinquished 0.3% of their voting rights, they retain their veto power [12]; but they are still at the helm of one of the biggest international vessels since the reform also doubled the Funds’ resources that are now close to $660 billion.
“The IMF reforms reinforce the central leadership role of the United States in the global economic system.” Jacob Lew, US Treasury Secretary, 2015.
Posted by: Gene Poole | May 11 2023 5:44 utc | 72
@ Gene Poole | May 11 2023 5:44 utc | 72 with the further outing of Deplorable Commissar
Thanks for that refresh of the voting rights details.
To me it really comes down to the suppression of national sovereignty by a global cult of private finance folk that answer to no sovereignty but control many, which use to be almost all.
Deplorable Commissar is the sound of a failing form of social organization that has had some pigs superior to others for centuries behind the curtain…..Hey King Chuck and Pope Frank, how are things in God of Mammon cult land?
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 11 2023 6:01 utc | 73
In the late 1970’s, American scholar George Modelski proposed a concept of Long Cycles of Global Leadership. According to Modelski, there have been five long cycles of global leadership: Portugal (1516-1609), Dutch (1609-1714), Britain I (1714-1815), Britain II (1815-1945), and the USA (1945-current). Each cycle runs for around 100 year, the last 30 of which are a period of on and off global war to decide the next hegemon. The Napoleonic Wars and WW1-2 were respectively Global War 4 and 5. Today we are probably in the beginning of Global War 6:
https://www.beyondwasteland.net/p/declaring-global-war-6
I am amazed Peter Dutton, the Australian ultra right opposition leader and ex drug squad detective is now aboard the FREE ASSANGE campaign.
the honest and principled independent, Wilkie MP, has long been the foremost truth and justice advocate in parliament. Bravo.
https://popularresistance.org/australian-mps-meet-us-envoy-caroline-kennedy-on-assange/
Posted by: Paul GV | May 11 2023 6:22 utc | 75
@69 Immaculate deception | May 11 2023 5:03 utc – “…tell me the future. I’ll wait.”
Indeed. Roger that.
We should consider that, while some say that 90% of the people of the USA hold a certain view in mind, an entire 50% of that people don’t even vote in the 4-year presidential charade – so do we think those same people answer polls, or let their views be known without cause?
The full mind of the United States is not fully revealed until the ultimate hazard appears.
~~
Consider, too, what the breakdown – or the breakup – of the USA means. The fracture lines are along the state borders. Politically at least, the nation cannot collapse as a monolith, it can only fragment along its organic fault lines.
The union of the states has put a barrier line – or a web of barrier lines – between the national people and their national government, which makes the idea of popular revolution implausible, in the conventional sense.
If the USA breaks down, it will fall, not down but apart, and along the same lines of separation as the lines that join it together.
~~
If I live in the USA, I also live in a state. And I cannot fight the federal apparatus of thievery, because I cannot reach it, because of barrier lines. But instead, I can spend all my effort on my state government, which is reachable without barrier lines, and which I can encourage to oppose all federal injustice, even to the point of dissolving the Union if this is the best way forward for the people of the state, which is actually its own Republic.
Because these lines of demarcation are also lines of protection.
And as the jackboot comes down from the national apparatus, the force of protection arises in the states, and the only natural place of sanctuary is in the state. So these are the places where the anguish and the resistance will accrue, and gather themselves.
The USA must fall apart along its state lines.
The US Constitution set up the way the Union begins, and in so doing compelled the way the Union must end, if it is to end.
~~
ps..we can also see clearly that the military-industrial interest – a citizen of national and global thievery – may not see things this way. Well, sovereignty only ever exists because its citizens will fight for it.
Posted by: Grieved | May 11 2023 6:23 utc | 76
MAINSTREAM NEWS LINKS
France24: Why does Putin’s private army suddenly seek spotlight?
France24: Kyiv’s nightclubs and bars up and running?
BBC: Russia and Ukraine’s fight for the last streets of Bakhmut
Fox: Bidens reportedly received millions from foreign nationals
Al Jazeera: Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran hold high-level talks in Moscow
Al Jazeera: Imran Khan’s lawyer says his arrest is “unconstitutional”
Thanks to @karlof1 Comment #3 for his China news links, just note that the boring machine was linked to an unrelated topic. Here are a few options.
Posted by: Mike Hampton | May 11 2023 7:36 utc | 77
Finland’s “Dancing Queen” PM having sold the country into NATO servitude is now getting divorced………after 3 years marriage she and losing the election she has no need of such trappings……
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 11 2023 8:37 utc | 78
Grieved | May 11 2023 6:23 utc | 76
In the Ukraine thread, ed @ I think 166 put up a comment on revolution – violent revolution. I look at the five-eyes deep state and see they will use force and violence to maintain their control.
I look at the likes of Whitlam and Hanson here in Australia, Trump and possibly Kennedy in the US. All destroyed because they operated outside the five-eyes deep state. I assume there are many more.
In that regard I separate policies of the individuals from the fact that five-eyes took them down. Like with Lira there are aspects to him I disagree with but I look at why he was thrown into a nazi dungeon.
Many even here fail to see that aspect. Democracy for the dumbocracy.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2023 9:27 utc | 79
Paul GV | May 11 2023 6:22 utc | 75 “I am amazed Peter Dutton, the Australian ultra right opposition leader and ex drug squad detective is now aboard the FREE ASSANGE campaign.’
Be wary. He is part of the Abbott Morrison faction. Ultra right – As in fascism.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2023 9:32 utc | 80
” From the earlier Ukraine thread, during which certain contributors seemed to be implying that the World Bank and IMF are something other than instruments of US hegemony:
Posted by: Gene Poole | May 11 2023 5:44 utc | 72 ”
Of course it is, that was my point. However, Russia and China agreed to be in that organization knowing full well what the terms were, including the skewed voting process and the surrender of some sovereignty. Why cant they insist on a reformation of the rules ? They are not powerless entities, yet their silence is their acquiescence.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 11 2023 9:35 utc | 81
https://erenow.net/modern/the-devils-chessboard-allen-dulles-the-cia/2.php
This is an interesting read if you want to understand how US got the world to where it is today
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 11 2023 9:36 utc | 82
” Deplorable Commissar is the sound of a failing form of social organization that has had some pigs superior to others for centuries behind the curtain
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 11 2023 6:01 utc | 73 ”
Quit the psychobabble psychohistorian. Get back to us when China and Russia propose that all the nations of the world have an equal vote on all things in the UN, and the security council gets abolished. Till that happens, you’re just spewing Utopian BS.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 11 2023 9:39 utc | 83
” Posted by: rjb1.5 | May 11 2023 0:41 utc | 61 ”
Another fool speaks. I dont care about White supremacy or other Khazarian propagated distractions, just like Neo-Nazis groups, the KKK, and others.
What I care about is the survival of my people, primary Slavs, and the preservation of their homelands. Our collective population numbers are dropping, while the Khazar intentionally floods indigenous European lands will millions of foreigners causing chaos, mayhem, and unseeded strive. If the current trends continue, China will still be Chinese, India will still be Indian, Africa will still be full of Africans, Asia will remain Asian but Europe will be a hellhole of strive and violence because multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-ethnic nations are an impossibility. Too many competing interests, ideologies, hatreds, and believes.
If some of you are too stupid to understand this then so be it.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 11 2023 9:51 utc | 84
” I’m thinking Maine, upstate NY, Savannah GA (if they clean political stables), FLA panhandle, Arkansas, parts of Texas, the Dakotas, Montana, rural Idaho, upper Michigan and so many more such pockets where local communities will find a way through together.”
Posted by: Cabe | May 11 2023 3:59 utc | 67 ”
Why did you choose those particular spots ?
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 11 2023 9:57 utc | 85
Posted by: Cabe | May 11 2023 3:59 utc | 67
Great post. Thanks. I don’t share your optimism about the loyalist colonies (Canada, NZ, Australia) which are the most controlled populations in the world these days – at least so it seemed during covid. But maybe they are easier to persuade when health issues are involved and in a different type of existential crisis they would rally magnificently. Cities of course are tricky because so vulnerable to catastrophic system failures. If water and power go down for more than a few days who knows what will transpire. And if this is deliberately engendered no doubt organized rioting and looting will follow. But who knows? Maybe nothing bad will happen.
=======
Well, sovereignty only ever exists because its citizens will fight for it.
Posted by: Grieved | May 11 2023 6:23 utc | 76
That was the clearest and most eloquent explanation of States and Union I ever read. And heartening too. Have no idea how best etc but am now convinced that breaking the Union down is best way forward because it’s gone past the point of being reformable. That said two of the four leading contenders are running on Deep State reform platforms because a sufficient number of citizens are awake to their erstwhile Republic’s urgent need for substantive reform. So that’s something. Perhaps.
Grieved | May 11 2023 6:23 utc | 76
Well, sovereignty only ever exists because its citizens will fight for it
Yeah, even if one party is agreement incapable.
Posted by: john | May 11 2023 10:05 utc | 87
# 9 and # 68
Pakistan on the ropes.
Ex PM arrested on totally bogus charges. He was removed illegally by Supreme Court’s pro Coup, illegal interference in Parliament’s affairs (Parliament’s rulings are protected by the constitution) in April 2022. Ex PM Khan was arrested on 9 May, 23. Yes, and also beaten up at the time of arrest on bogus, cooked up charges. Saying no to the ruling elites is a crime.
Charges:Acquiring land to build a public educational institution for the people (not for profit). Education must be a heinous crime. Uneducated means easier control.
Posted by: sal | May 11 2023 10:07 utc | 88
Why did you choose those particular spots ?
Strong local community culture. Some are guesses based on reading (never been to Dakotas or Idaho). Many who live in cities and suburbs have lost a sense of this. Some cities have great spirit including particular neighborhoods therein, but again the systemic vulnerabilities are serious concern. Am no pepper type but for past 20 years have mainly lived in places with their own well water and always keep 3 months of rice and lentils in storage just in case.
Deplorable Commissar | May 11 2023 9:51 utc | 84
Assuming you are not simply lying, you comment comes across as a Galician Ukriod. Or perhapos a pole.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2023 10:42 utc | 90
Perhaps pole. Western slav. Assuming you are not bullshitting. Probably too much to assume but whatever. Poles seem to have correctly named themselves. The term “dumb as a lamp post” comes to mind.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2023 10:51 utc | 91
Re: social collapse in the US
Study up on the Spanish Civil War, not the big picture history but the ground level horrors. That’s our future.
Posted by: Exile | May 11 2023 10:55 utc | 92
” Strong local community culture. Some are guesses based on reading (never been to Dakotas or Idaho). Many who live in cities and suburbs have lost a sense of this.
Posted by: Scorpion | May 11 2023 10:22 utc | 89 ”
Is Cabe your sock puppet, or do you like answering other people’s questions. Very odd.
” Posted by: Cabe | May 11 2023 3:59 utc | 67 ”
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 11 2023 11:03 utc | 93
Deplorable Commissar | May 11 2023 9:51 utc | 84
Assuming you are not simply lying, you comment comes across as a Galician Ukriod. Or perhapos a pole.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2023 10:42 utc | 90
Where art thou deplorable one. A few typos in that but even weasels like you should get the message.
So where are you from west catholic slav pole. Or an eastern Clinton liberal slav. More to the point, you are simply a bullshit artist.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2023 11:24 utc | 94
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2023 9:32 utc | 80
Thanks Peter, I am wary of them all, just look at their track record. The bastards are like drunken poker players who have thrown away a great set of cards, and it shows.
Poor bugger me Guringee.
Posted by: Paul GV | May 11 2023 11:25 utc | 95
Just to clarify my previous Australianism, it all about land just like Palestine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8LcF0kwbjE
Posted by: Paul GV | May 11 2023 12:03 utc | 96
” So where are you from west catholic slav pole. Or an eastern Clinton liberal slav. More to the point, you are simply a bullshit artist.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2023 11:24 utc | 94 ”
Well, I’m not from the dump of a nation that you reside in. Here are your possible choices.
Russia, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 11 2023 12:22 utc | 97
Re Imran Khan.
@ “then again Sunak has his own election in 2024 and a Pakistani diaspora inside UK influential in many seats
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 11 2023 5:42 utc | 71”
Apparently yesterday at PMQ’s the Bankers moll Sunak and the Great Knight Dope Keith the Jailer of Assange and protector of necrophile and paedophile friend of the Queen Mother and King Charles the Turd and his bros, agreed that , this was same shit as Judas 2000 years ago – and like Pilate they wash their hands of it!
Or as the movie had it ‘Forget it Jack – it’s China Town “ . Unlike their daily petrol throwing on their natzo proxy cremation of Ukrainians as their lands are sold off to their boss Finksters, who really think they will be allowed to hang onto these treasures because they have a piece of paper with Hellenski’s signature on it!
‘It’s a contract goddammit, we are lawyers you know, we invented them – see it says ‘a pound of flesh’ right here… you must comply, etc etc !’ …
Sorry for the digression, back to the point –
I wonder if the Pashtuns will take this laying down? How will it go down in the various ghettoes of post industrial England and Scotland where tribal village connections still rule.
A reckoning of a godly scale is surely due at the butt end of the hubristic overlords we have been burdened by for too many centuries.
Posted by: DunGroanin | May 11 2023 12:28 utc | 98
@paxmark1 19
thx for the info!
This site I didn´t know:
“unintended nuclear war”
https://atomkrieg-aus-versehen.de/en/
with links
e.g. 140 page pdf on dangerous incidents
“False alarms, accidents and near-disasters involving nuclear weapons”
Posted by: AG | May 11 2023 12:36 utc | 99
Deplorable Commissar | May 11 2023 12:22 utc | 97
So what art thou deplorable one. Don’t be shy. I will be gentle on a fragile virgin like you. Where are you coming from. What is your foundations.???
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 11 2023 12:36 utc | 100