Paul Greenwood@243
re Garton Ash, you are far too kind.
uncle tungsten@220
As you know, South America took a large number of Nazis who subsequently thrived. The constant thorn in the flesh of Bolivian democracy is based on a Nazi nest in eastern Bolivia in Santa Cruz province.

Posted by: bevin | May 10 2023 15:10 utc | 303

In response to Deplorable Commissar@297,
Sorry if I hurt your feelings, but Slavs just aren’t white among other whites and you’ll have to come to terms with it sooner or later. You’re just like the Malaysian fellow I alluded to earlier and his delusions did him no favors either.

Posted by: Skiffer | May 10 2023 15:11 utc | 305

Slavs = Caucasian. Caucasian = white. Slavs = White.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 10 2023 15:14 utc | 307

” On the IMF and Russia and China. Who fucking cares? A supermajority is required for any vote to pass and Russia and China have like a combined 8% of the vote. So again, who fucking cares if they are members? What’s your point?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 10 2023 14:58 utc | 296 ”
You’re not very bright are you ? The IMF is responsible for raping numerous countries by destroying their social services , economies and putting their populations in perpetual debt. Especially in the, your favorite, third world. I guess China and Russia are helpless and cant demand changes or leave that demonic outfit, right ? Yet they continue to pay their dues. Poor things.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 15:17 utc | 309

Deplorable Commissar @ 303
You don’t get out much, do you?

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | May 10 2023 15:19 utc | 311

Russia and China…cOntINUe tO paY DUeS!!!!
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/dollar-dominance-russia-china-rouble-yuan-brics-reserve-currency-imf-2022-6

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 10 2023 15:21 utc | 313

It is a US system. It is the US who decides who can, and who cannot use that system. To think EU, Brussel’s are somehow actors independent of US is childhood naivety.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 15:20 utc | 313
Now you are proving yourself to be incorrigibly stupid.
SWIFT is NOT NOT NOT a US system – it is NOT even Australian
IT is headquartered in Belgium – it is OWNED by 11,000 Banks across 200 countries
IT is NOT NOT NOT NOT US
You seem incapable of learning – I even gave you a hint at [309]
It is incredible how US-fixated you are and incapable of learning !

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 10 2023 15:26 utc | 315

@ Mark2, §184:
Agreed, Mark.
The propaganda tsunami launched on the English over Putin and the Ukraine war is even greater than during the corona scam.
During corona, there were noble and eloquent critics like Lord Sumption, who was given platforms, e.g. at the Daily Telegraph. Not so with the Ukraine fiasco. The Telegraph leads with psychotic lunatics like Daniel Johnson or deluded fossils like de Bretton-Gordon, as well as policing all comments with the heavy hand of the 77th.
But thanks to brave souls like Andrew Bridgen, the truth about the corona scandal is emerging. The same will happen over this parliament´s reckless, obsessive & vengeful policies towards Russia.

Posted by: John Marks | May 10 2023 15:28 utc | 317

Stupidity is not acceptable.
https://www.swift.com
In 1973, 239 banks from 15 countries got together to solve a common problem: how to communicate about cross-border payments. The banks formed a cooperative utility, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, headquartered in Belgium. Swift went live with its messaging services in 1977, replacing the Telex technology that was then in widespread use, and rapidly became the reliable, trusted global partner for institutions all around the world. The main components of the original services included a messaging platform, a computer system to validate and route messages, and a set of message standards. The standards were developed to allow for a common understanding of the data across linguistic and systems boundaries and to permit the seamless, automated transmission, receipt and processing of communications exchanged between users.
Community
As a neutral global cooperative, Swift is defined by its community of users around the world. At Swift we believe we can achieve more together. By drawing from the resources of our global community, we are able to harness the potential of our franchise for the benefit of our users all across the world.
Close cooperation with our users helps us understand their needs and challenges, and allows us to adapt and innovate according to their needs. We cooperate closely with our community in setting standards, shaping market practice and developing new services.
We mobilise our community, collaborate to define our strategy, to solve problems, and to stimulate dialogue to address the business challenges of today and tomorrow. We think and act long-term. We look beyond quick fixes to craft affordable, sustainable solutions.
https://www.swift.com/about-us/organisation-governance/swift-board-directors

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 10 2023 15:31 utc | 319

https://www.swift.com/about-us/legal/compliance-0/swift-and-sanctions#how-is-swift-governed?
Swift is a cooperative company under Belgian law and is owned and controlled by its shareholders (financial institutions) representing approximately 2,400 Shareholders from across the world. The shareholders elect a Board of 25 independent Directors, representing banks across the world, which governs the Company and oversees the management of the Company. The Executive Committee is a group of full-time employees headed by the Chief Executive Officer.
Swift is overseen by the G-10 central banks (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland, and Sweden), as well as the European Central Bank, with its lead overseer being the National Bank of Belgium.
In 2012, this framework was reviewed and the Swift Oversight Forum was established, in which the G-10 central banks are joined by other central banks from major economies: Reserve Bank of Australia, People’s Bank of China, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Reserve Bank of India, Bank of Korea, Bank of Russia, Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Monetary Authority of Singapore, South African Reserve Bank and the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. The Swift Oversight Forum provides a setting for the G-10 central banks to share information on Swift oversight activities with a wider group of central banks.
What is the role of Swift in relation to financial sanctions that are imposed by regulators?
Swift does not monitor or control the messages that users send through its system. All decisions on the legitimacy of financial transactions under applicable regulations, such as sanctions regulations, rest with the financial institutions handling them, and their competent international and national authorities. As far as financial sanctions are concerned, the focus of Swift is to help its users in meeting their responsibilities to comply with national and international regulations.
Swift is only a messaging service provider and has no involvement in or control over the underlying financial transactions that are mentioned by its financial institutional customers in their messages.
Does Swift expel banks?
Swift is neutral. The Company is set up and operated for the collective benefit of its Shareholders, for the study, creation, utilisation and operation of the means necessary for the telecommunication, transmission and routing of private, confidential and proprietary financial messages.
As a neutral utility with a global systemic character, Swift plays a pivotal role in supporting the global economy through its provision of secure financial messaging services. We always act in the interests of the entire member community and in keeping with our mission of supporting the resilience and integrity of the global financial system.
Any organisation may be considered for admission as a Shareholder of the Company (“Shareholder”) which, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, i) is involved in the same type of business as the other Shareholders, and ii) is involved in financial message transmission.
Swift Shareholders are also Swift Users. Any other organisation may be permitted to become a User (without being a Shareholder) to make use of the services of the Company, provided that it complies with the firm’s eligibility criteria.
Swift has defined a number of Swift User categories. The generic eligibility criteria for each User category are approved by the General Meeting of Shareholders and are complemented by applicable local rules and regulations from the nation of each applicant. Any organisation that wishes to apply to become a Swift User must comply, and ensure continued compliance, with these eligibility criteria, as well as their local applicable rules and regulations.
Swift has documented, neutral and risk based processes in place to validate Swift Users on an on-going basis.
As a cooperative, the company’s mission is to act and operate in the interest of its entire member community, reflecting the global membership of Swift. As a utility with a systemic global character, Swift has no authority to make sanctions decisions. Any decision to impose or to lift sanctions on countries or individual entities rests solely with the competent government bodies and legislators.
Whilst sanctions are imposed independently in different jurisdictions around the world, Swift cannot arbitrarily choose which jurisdiction’s sanction regime to follow. Being incorporated under Belgian law it must instead comply with related EU regulation, as confirmed by the Belgian government.

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 10 2023 15:34 utc | 321

Posted by: Mexicana | May 10 2023 15:30 utc | 319
It really depends on the product and/or vendor. There are some things you can just go to Alibaba.com to order direct and there are others where you’d need to go to a specific vendor/mfg’s website. Personally I’ve ordered several pieces of electronics and electronic devices (transformers, resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc.) direct from China. Just an example as I doubt you’ll be in the market for such things in the near future, but I’ve ordered from these guys before: https://www.zidoo.tv/Product/allProduct.html#HIFI%20Audio
Some take crypto, others take PayPal or Venmo (the latter two of course mean money to Americans).
Many Chinese companies have finally done the work and created English websites (or hired English speakers to do so – which could mean money to Americans).

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 10 2023 15:38 utc | 323

Go an tell SWIFT that Peter AU1 knows better !
Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 10 2023 15:36 utc | 323
Peter had a point, though. While the SWIFT system may nominally be an internationally managed one, the US – as with many things – wields outsized power over it.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/why-the-u-s-will-continue-to-rule-the-international-payments-system-1535383142

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 10 2023 15:45 utc | 325

” Swift does not monitor or control the messages that users send through its system.
Swift is only a messaging service provider and has no involvement in or control over the underlying financial transactions that are mentioned by its financial institutional customers in their messages. ”
If anyone believes this crap then I feel sorry for them. The built in back doors into this thing would make Microsoft blush. Not to mention that the , Rothschild affiliated, central banks just share the info anyway. Keep “SWIFTing ” Russia.

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 15:56 utc | 327

Keep “SWIFTing ” Russia.
Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 15:56 utc | 328
They are done with it. Maybe a couple of Russian banks like Gazprom are still able to use the system, but the remaining ones were cut off with the sanctions packages. There is probably no going back, so Russia will not keep SWIFTing.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 10 2023 15:59 utc | 329

326.
Another own goal by our highly paid strategic geniuses in the alphabet agencies.
Let’s cut Russia out of SWIFT, thereby creating incentives for the world’s major growing economies to create an alternative.
It’s like the seizure of forex reserves. Cutting off nose to spite face-ism. The incompetence is staggering.

Posted by: Doctor Eleven | May 10 2023 16:03 utc | 331

re: major new Matt Taibbi
(this is OT but I see no better current thread)
I have not yet checked, but a long-read, by several authors of Racket:
“Report on the Censorship-Industrial Complex: The Top 50 Organizations to Know
The citizen’s starter kit to understanding the new global information cartel”
https://www.racket.news/p/report-on-the-censorship-industrial-74b

Posted by: AG | May 10 2023 16:07 utc | 333

Time to withdraw the presumption of safety for surveillance aircraft operating in international airspace? If they are providing targeting information, perhaps they should expect to be the subject of non-destructive countermeasures like jamming and blinding?
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/45299

The high-altitude reconnaissance drone RQ-4B Global Hawk of the US Air Force for several hours today showed particular interest in the coast of the Krasnodar Territory and Armenia.
It is in Armenia, to be more precise in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to a number of experts, that it may “blaze” again.
Against the background of Yerevan’s statements about its readiness to recognize the borders of the Azerbaijan SSR and the controversial results of the meeting in Washington, there is a high probability of a new armed conflict in the region.

Posted by: anon2020 | May 10 2023 16:10 utc | 335

Tom_Q_Collins @ 324
Mexicana @ 319
I’ve just started ordering from China, it does take longer, sometimes a lot if using post office, once a PCB never arrived but the eBay seller refunded me no problem. I still have my hang ups but I will note a couple of young friends, mostly engineers, order from China mostly AliExpress routinely without a second thought, none, zero, they have none of the China is second rate legacy prejudices and hesitancy older people have.
They also I must admit have lower standards, across life in general, they are not buying expensive stuff, warranty and service doesn’t matter to them, are not expecting things that work flawlessly for decades, they expect everything to be good a deal, good enough, and to break or wear out after a couple of years, which is also fine as they expect to buy the updated model every few years anyway.
It’s very much the wild wild west (or east) you can find everything, and from my asking the kiddies the stuff does arrive, Alibaba and Aliexpresses are not scam sites, the sellers are real just very expedient and brief in their transactions, many just come and go. If you can put yourself in a young person’s mindset ordering from China should be unadventurous.
Off topic, I know but this thread is nearing the end anyway.

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | May 10 2023 16:14 utc | 337

Ya’ll need to read the news: RT reported on 20 March 2023, “Russia bans SWIFT: Banks have been ordered to use the country’s domestic financial messaging systems for transactions.”

The Bank of Russia has forbidden Russian financial institutions to use the SWIFT messaging system for transactions inside the country, the regulator announced on Monday.
Starting from October, Russian banks will be obliged to only use domestic services for transferring messages on financial transactions. The use of SWIFT will be allowed only for international payments.
“This will ensure reliability, continuity and security of data exchange when conducting intra-Russian transactions,” the regulator said in a statement.
Information on such transactions will now need to be transmitted through the Bank of Russia’s own banking systems, services of third-party Russian companies, or through the Bank of Russia’s own financial messaging system, SPFS.
The SPFS was created by the regulator in 2018 as a substitute for SWIFT on the domestic market. While its coverage is still much smaller than that of SWIFT – which boasts 11,000 financial organizations globally – the spread of SPFS has been gaining momentum in recent months. In February, the Russian Central Bank announced that SPFS now has 469 participants, including 115 foreign entities from 14 nations. [My Emphasis]

Given the mass of illegal sanctions, relatively few international transactions are occurring. What is hilarious is the West is the one wanting Russian banks to use SWIFT. This article in Russian from 28 April 2023 describes the current situation well.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 10 2023 16:25 utc | 339

re …Agriculture like big pharma is a grotesque mafia. …
That’s a significant call. FOOD [incl Air and water] is the prime necessity for survival, whether life on Earth sprung from a lightning strike on a rock, simple transfer to a galactic concentration camp, or whatever.
D. Graeber/M. Hudson’s “Credit and debt existed before money” is an explosive fact in the universe of myths that formed our schooling…because the corollary is “agriculture”, AKA FOOD, as a tool of the creditor to pry wealth items from , say, tenured land holders since 5,000 years ago.
In terms of a more workable theory, perhaps the origin of the class called “creditors” is the parasitic lender who realized that “lending” as prime occupation is the way out of having to do stoop-labor. I.e., “Eureka! I can escape a lifetime of hard labor” anchored to a tiny plot. And that still rings true in present time. Ask Jamie D. of JPMorgan.
Creditor-debtor relationship is the winning tech used to game mankind’s cruel systems of survival. It inherently is legal because it includes gaming the justice system and all other manmade systems. Adding the use of “muscle” to overcome any resistant “obstacles” is, well…assassination inclusive.
Note: the origin of “money” did not come from a single individual, like a King X, it came from a large group such as the King’s entourage or court, etc. That means any money-system is WIDE-OPEN to infiltration/outside influence and corruption [other intentions]. I.e., gaming by the creditor-class.
By the way, any kind of money has no value unless FOOD is available [to purchase] for consumption before death by starvation. Agriculture, anyone?
Gaming our supply of FOOD is surely a target of the creditor-class, albeit Top Secret.

Posted by: chu teh | May 10 2023 16:32 utc | 341

Tom_Q_Collins | May 10 2023 15:27 utc | 317

…every other bank on the planet WAS using the SWIFT system and Russia hadn’t been cut off yet, there would have been zero reason to create an alternative. That calculus has changed now, however, and Russia, China, Iran, Brazil and others are in fact creating an alternative system.

Several systems are being developed. Defense in depth, don’t you know !
(More oxo !)

Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | May 10 2023 16:46 utc | 343

@oldhippie | May 10 2023 16:20 utc | 339

Bandera ideology says true Ukrainians are Nordic/Scandinavian.

That is equivalent to saying true Texans are Canadadian.

Posted by: Norwegian | May 10 2023 16:57 utc | 345

Posted by: Deplorable Commissar | May 10 2023 16:14 utc | 337
So Russia and China will need to supply every Bank in Africa with their terminals so they can PAY for fertiliser imports………
Lavrov instead suggested access to SWIFT so the EU sanctions dis-applied to Customers buying Fertiliser from Russia which is NOT sanctioned – then the Grain Deal would make sense for Russia

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 10 2023 16:58 utc | 347

You are starting to come across as just another troll for anglo empire
Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 16:07 utc | 335
You are certainly a troll and one who is clearly so

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | May 10 2023 17:00 utc | 349

karlof1 | May 10 2023 16:25 utc | 340
Much appreciate your updates on the changing world order. I cannot read the small print in blockquotes here, but your summaries are always good.
Swift is just part of Washington’s rules based order. We are now watching the RBO Anglo order being replaced by BRICS and the affiliated organizations within 80+% o9f humanity.
Monarchist Paul is having difficulties with that.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 17:03 utc | 351

Norwegian | May 10 2023 16:57 utc | 347
The typo is perhaps the better term, at least in relation to the government of Canadia. I guess that truckers protest in Canada and the protests in France show that many countries are two worlds, but until the western Reichstag’s are burned, a country is what its government is.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 17:10 utc | 353

Paul Greenwood | May 10 2023 17:00 utc | 350
Debsisdead often uses a term that best describes your royal belief in anglo supremacy. Tosh.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 17:14 utc | 355

Arch Bungle | May 10 2023 17:15 utc | 357
Russian Federation does have clear groups, both genetically and culturally. All lines do merge, but heritage can still easily be seen. I’m not sure what the eye colour of the Western Slavs are but certainly with the eastern Slavs, the eye color is a standout feature.
We watch Europe with its massive intake of freedom fighters, Little India, The jewel in India’s crown.
The ROW has distinct cultures and eccentricities. The west is more akin to a mob of homosexual feral rabbits.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 17:28 utc | 357

“eccentricities” ethnic groups…
The wonderment of booze and illiteracy.
Arch Bungle | May 10 2023 17:29 utc | 359
We watch the wheel turn. Serious Monty Python politicians leading the way on this downhill slippery slide.
Or like a mining dredge, the dirt or coal get dumped on a convener and if coal it goes into the furnace, if overburden, it goes to the waste dump.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 17:42 utc | 359

Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 17:28 utc | 358

The ROW has distinct cultures and eccentricities. The west is more akin to a mob of homosexual feral rabbits.

Oh, FFS ! I’ve just droppèd half a glass of ze good red wine on me strides !

Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | May 10 2023 17:47 utc | 361

Sarlat La Canède | May 10 2023 17:47 utc | 362
My apologies for my typos. Hopefully you have a good woman that will not waste all that red wine.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 17:54 utc | 363

Posted by: Peter AU1 | May 10 2023 17:03 utc | 352
«We are now watching the RBO Anglo order being replaced by BRICS»
We are actually watching the USA recreating the Cold War, with the isolation of the “second world” in their own sphere of influence, the “third world” is unaligned and playing both sides.
Except that compared to the first Cold War, the “second world” is much smaller (lost all of eastern Europe and most ex-soviet stans, plus Vietnam and large parts of Africa)) gained only Syria and Iran), and the “first world” is much larger, and most the “third world” is not that unaligned, they will never give up trade with the USA, Europe, Japan.
The one major thing going for the “second world” is that even if the RF is a cut down version of the USSR, the PRC has become a much richer and more developed place.

Posted by: Blissex | May 10 2023 18:11 utc | 365

Norwegian @ 346
Exactly my point.

Posted by: oldhippie | May 10 2023 18:26 utc | 367

How about….
Barry Brown-Ital rock youtube

Posted by: Mark2 | May 10 2023 18:54 utc | 369

Mark2
I don’t wish to alarm you as your type panics easily, but I believe you are leaking gender fluid.
By the way, I’ve not posted in this thread before now so I have no idea what got your panties in a twist.

Posted by: William Gruff | May 10 2023 19:30 utc | 371

Or maybe this one….
Martin Cambell-The narration of Jamaica/version youtube

Posted by: Mark2 | May 10 2023 20:31 utc | 373

Posted by: ASensibleMan | May 10 2023 16:45 utc | 343
lol you’ve read hundreds of cheap novels from the 1800’s? well that’s an education. regardless of what you’ve read, Italians and Irish were viewed as subhuman. certainly not as good as proper white folks.

Posted by: pretzelattack | May 10 2023 21:03 utc | 375

Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | May 10 2023 17:44 utc | 361

Pinkskin ?

Salamanders!
(ok, I’ll see myself out now …)

Posted by: Arch Bungle | May 11 2023 0:58 utc | 377

If Bernard has talked about Gonzalo Lira’s recent arrest, I didn’t see it.
Real journalists are becoming an endangered species.
https://bruceohara.substack.com/p/free-gonzalo-lira

Posted by: Bruce O'Hara | May 11 2023 4:03 utc | 379

Posted by: Bruce O’Hara | May 11 2023 4:03 utc | 380
Brian Berletic at The New Atlas also put up a short video to highlight Gonzalo Lira’s situation. “Arrested for stating facts already in the public domain.”
https://youtu.be/4DmN8tGNlGU

Posted by: GT Stroller | May 11 2023 8:33 utc | 381

The concept of “white supremacy” is internal propaganda, meant only to divide the US population, using hate and resentment, in a divide-and-conquer plan.
External propaganda extols the US melting pot, democracy, and the vibrant multi-cultural society that is the shining city on the hill.
People outside the US aren’t supposed to use the white supremacy narrative, only the shining city line. That is why it was hilarious when China did it at the Alaska meeting at the beginning of the Biden presidency.
The whole “white” narrative only started in the 90s (except in the old South, up until the Jim Crow laws were overturned 60 years ago).
They waited until most of the immigrants from Europe, who still identified as their home countries, died off.
Those immigrants came before immigration was mostly halted in 1924. So, most “white” people identified as “German-American” or “Polish-American” or “Irish-American”, etc. They had to be taught that they were “white” instead.
But obviously the concept is fluid. It basically means “anyone who does something heinous must be a white supremacist”.
So a black guy pushing an Asian woman in front of a train? White supremacy.
A Mexican-American shooting a bunch of white people? White supremacy.
A porn-addicted white guy shooting up a prostitution site? White supremacy.
See how it works? Too bad so many people fall for it.

Posted by: wagelaborer | May 11 2023 16:55 utc | 383

Posted by: chu teh | May 10 2023 16:32 utc | 342
*** Gaming our supply of FOOD is surely a target of the creditor-class, albeit Top Secret.***
Hardly secret — globalists have long proposed trans-world electricity grids, plus food and water distribution systems. Even indicated such arrangements as being instruments of power and control.
When there were big culls of livestock during the UK foot-and-mouth outbreak at the beginning of this century, neoliberal/neocon thinktank apparatchiks were advocating on mass-media that various countries/regions should be extremely specialised and exclusive in what got produced (an example being Southern South America for beef).
The deliberate ending of any significant degree of national self-sufficiency — instead, a food monoculturisation which would render all regions and peoples of the world totally dependent upon those who centrally control distribution.
Consider that alongside the genetic-modification and terminator-seed efforts of the likes of Bayer-Monsanto … another vector leading towards the ultimate monopoly.
With the corporate owned USA and its corrupt intenational agencies to act as enforcers.

Posted by: Cynic | May 12 2023 13:40 utc | 385