News & views (not related to the war in Ukraine) …
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June 29, 2023
Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2023-153
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War situation in France. Paris People’s Republic has begun their quest for independence. Macron’s regime is in major trouble. Even a large prison has been raided!
https://twitter.com/MapsUkraine/status/1674158482075926528
Posted by: unimperator | Jun 29 2023 14:06 utc | 1
The Chinese government has put out significant broadcasts in the last two hours:
– a strongly-worded rebuke of US policy/comments by Blinken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PACo7kgmkJc
and
– an assertion of their ability to crush separatist attempts in Taiwan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6eSUcN0N_g
Posted by: Hope | Jun 29 2023 14:45 utc | 2
unimperator @ 1
Please post any links you can find. Google seems to be blocking news. The twitter feed you give is almost entirely restricted access. I suppose I could join, sign in, register, whatever they want, it just feels too much like selling my soul or purchasing indulgences.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 29 2023 14:55 utc | 3
unimperator @ 1
Looks like the preferred English search term is “protests”. The news I can find feels very controlled.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 29 2023 15:13 utc | 4
I found this incredible, and little amazes me these days. I have long seen our slide into fascism in the west but not so much, so fast. They calculatedly destroyed the radical left at the end of the 60s through the 70s, then started marginalizing the main stream left through the 90s and 00s, relegating survivors to alt media and self publishing.
Now they are purging the right of any dissent, Trump, Carlson, Farage, etc, are no threat to the system, Trump is an exemplary American Oligarch, to be frank, whatever side of the spectrum you are on, most of these right wing “dissenters” are a bunch of muddleheaded, sophomoric, useless dorks, what they are however is a threat to the small military and financial group of neocon fascists that has usurped power in the west. Anything still standing on the left, like NPR or Democracy Now, has been revealed for what they always were, a limited hangout. In the USA when the grass roots progressive and 1960s left tide went out you got to see who was swimming naked.
Anyone think this isn’t a frighting forewarning? Again, Farage is a dork, if he’s a threat to the UK then at least half their own population is a threat to the UK, at least!
Farage: Why I might be FORCED to leave the UK
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jun 29 2023 15:27 utc | 5
LightYearsFromHome | Jun 29 2023 15:27 utc | 5
Gradually then suddenly, that’s how these thing happen. The signs have been there for decades but nobody seems to have noticed. It’s similar to Joe Biden who never once hid his corruption, predilections, warmongering or racism, in fact if anything he would boast of it. People would just laugh and then support his rise to the Presidency. Now they sit and wonder how such a man could be their leader. This like fascism happens when the masses surrender their critical thinking to other people. It’s consequence are inevitably terminal…
Posted by: JustAMaverick | Jun 29 2023 15:40 utc | 6
The Titan submersible.
Most of the big bits of wreckage have been recovered, making an investigation feasible and potentially productive. But the experts consulted by the MSM knew that the design didn’t comply with any relevant standard.
The most surprising aspect of the Titan tragedy for me is that there have been 9 or 10 deep-diving gizmoes built since the late 1940s, and all of them performed as intended. i.e. Titan is the first and only one to fail.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 29 2023 15:40 utc | 7
Putin’s appearance at the 3rd ASI (Agency for Strategic Initiatives) Forum reveals another aspect of his new political-economic formula. The theme for this year’s event, Strong Ideas for a New Time. The transcript is still incomplete, although Putin’s opening address is there. Usually much can be gained by viewing the photos related to the event, but not so much this time, although the work station pictured looks awesome–I’d like one.
Putin introduced his new political-economic conception at the SPIEF–Supply Side–but didn’t provide a simple explanation of what he meant. At the ASI Forum he said this:
“Using The best solutions, proposals put forward by our citizens, business and others associations, we need to set high standards of social support, improvement of cities and towns, to form a supply-side economy – in other words, an economy that does not live at the expense of the consumption of someone else’s, imported, and she creates, produces modern goods, services, technologies.” [My Emphasis]
As you read, very different from Reagan’s “Supply Side” Trickle Down” bullshit that was actually the escalation of the Neoliberalism that was begun under Carter. And when you read the intro by hostess Svetlana Chupsheva, you’ll learn Russia is even more strongly behind Putin than ever.
Posted by: unimperator | Jun 29 2023 14:06 utc | 1
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 29 2023 14:55 utc | 3
If it’s of any help, @Portfolio Armor at Z.Hedge has posted this link to a Threadreaderapp consolidating the tweets from @UkraineMaps here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1674158482075926528.html
Posted by: West of England Andy | Jun 29 2023 15:56 utc | 9
Yes, Maria Zakharova did deliver her Weekly Briefing yesterday, but I never found time to post any of it. Here’s a Q&A of interest from today:
Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s answer to a media question following the publication of the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper “Where Memory Becomes a Weapon”
Question: On June 19, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung published an article about the Berlin-Karlshorst Museum, in which, with reference to the museum’s management, the Russian side is credited with “propaganda aspirations” in organising the work of this institution. It is also argued that the exposition is overly focused on Russia, and taking into account, as indicated in the material, “the aggressive war unleashed by our country against Ukraine”, the preservation of the museum’s structure in its previous form is unthinkable. Could you comment on this?
Maria Zakharova: We consider it appropriate to recall that the German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst, as it was called until recently, as the only museum institution in Germany jointly with Russia dedicated to the history of World War II and our post-war relations, was founded in 1967 initially as a museum of the surrender of Nazi Germany. It was in this building in the Karlshorst district of Berlin in May 1945 that the act of unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht was signed.
The museum acquired its current status in 1995 in accordance with the Russian-German intergovernmental agreement of 1994, which, among other things, establishes the obligation to ensure the representation of the Russian side in its governing bodies. The Board of Trustees of the institution included representatives of ministries, departments, museums of Russia and Germany, later – from the Belarusian and Ukrainian museums of the Great Patriotic War. Most of the exhibits, including military equipment, are provided for use by the Central Museum of the Armed Forces in Moscow.
The current German government curators of the museum, for the sake of the political situation, are trying to emasculate its original purpose, following the “culture of oblivion” cultivated in modern Germany of the causes and results of the Second World War, rewriting the history of the Nazi period, denying the decisive role of the Red Army in liberating the world from the “brown plague”. The initiators of this venture can be sure that the Russian side will not allow them to forget about the war of annihilation waged by Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union, and how it ended for the “Third Reich”.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 29 2023 15:40 utc | 7
well they all underwent rigorous testing and inspections. this idiot billionaire was gonna innovate his way out of all that with a game controller and a hull made from recycled material. he gave his client’s an “immersive” experience all right.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Jun 29 2023 16:03 utc | 11
@ West of England Andy | Jun 29 2023 15:56 utc | 9
thanks for that… looks crazy..
@ karlof1 | Jun 29 2023 16:00 utc | 10
thanks karl..
Posted by: james | Jun 29 2023 16:06 utc | 12
Something similar earned Putin war crimes charges.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-camps-canada-accused-cruelty-over-ultimatum-mothers-give-children
The Russians were moving children out of an active war zone, and reunited them with parents if it was the case. Canada? Not so much. Don’t expect to see it on the docket.
Posted by: jayc | Jun 29 2023 16:14 utc | 13
Perhaps another angle to the Titan Submersable story is they were not supposed to be there. Miles W Mathis has republished his essay of five years ago contending the Titanic was a fake insurance scam. In it he covers the long history of suspicions concerning this event.
http://mileswmathis.com/titan.pdf
Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Jun 29 2023 16:17 utc | 14
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jun 29 2023 15:27 utc | 5
That would be nice if he took Arlene Foster with him.
Posted by: sln2002 | Jun 29 2023 16:21 utc | 15
War situation in France. Paris People’s Republic has begun their quest for independence. Macron’s regime is in major trouble. Even a large prison has been raided!
Posted by: unimperator | Jun 29 2023 14:06 utc | 1
No, it’s not like that. As it happens, the kid who was shot dead lived just round the corner from where I live. Certainly many are up in arms. It’s justified: the cop should not have shot, and quite rightly he’s been put on a homicide charge. French cops (les flics) don’t behave very well. But Macron is not about to be overthrown. It’s very difficult, under the French constitution, to get a sitting president out of office. It’s deliberate, to preserve stability. The only thing which might create a crisis is the Ukraine policy of the EU, a disastrous mistake led by the Germans, which Macron supports for the sake of European unity. (That doesn’t mean the breakup of the EU, as many on MoA appear fervently to desire, but it does mean a whack, affecting everybody’s living standards).
Posted by: laguerre | Jun 29 2023 16:26 utc | 16
Andy @ 9
Yes, that helps. Thank you. Keep them coming.
I don’t get the feeling of understanding much. That something big is happening, that much is clear.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 29 2023 16:32 utc | 17
Hoarsewhisperer @ 7
The most surprising aspect of the Titan tragedy for me is that there have been 9 or 10 deep-diving gizmoes built since the late 1940s, and all of them performed as intended.
Ever see the movie Idiocracy? I thought it was a comedy, but it seems more and more like a documentary, maybe humanity might go out in a nuke bang, maybe in fizzle of idiocy. I don’t know for a certainty what the RoW brings to the equation but I don’t see them showing up with a big bag of dumbass like the “golden” billion.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jun 29 2023 16:37 utc | 18
Perhaps another angle to the Titan Submersable story is they were not supposed to be there.
Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Jun 29 2023 16:17 utc | 14
That seems plausible to me. Don’t have references handy (sorry), but I’ve heard that (1) ship captains of that time testified that it was routine to plow through icebergs because they couldn’t harm a metal vessel, and (2) the Titanic was deliberately rammed by another ship because among the former’s passengers were influential persons who opposed creating the Federal Reserve.
Posted by: David Levin | Jun 29 2023 16:46 utc | 19
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 29 2023 16:32 utc | 17
There’s a bit more of a summary at Z.Hedge here.
Posted by: West of England Andy | Jun 29 2023 17:38 utc | 20
To continue the discussion of @ Grieved | Jun 28 2023 4:35 utc | 233 on the previous open non-U thread:
Grieved, that was some comment. You really summed up very clearly the stranglehold the elites have on us and how their vigilance makes it very difficult to imagine how they could be overthrown. You state how you are tired of hand-wringing despair and would like some practical solution, where you say, “The matter at hand is not to cry out loud about it. The matter at hand is to discover if there is yet a way that the constitutional apparatus of the United States can find a way to overthrow this vampire,” and, “Now please, let’s get on with working on ways to escape this peonage that has held us down for millennia.”
First, it is not likely that there will ever be any constitutional means to overthrow the blood-sucking vampires. They have learned to game the system and they control it. Nor is it likely that any traditional revolutionary movement has the least chance of success, because they have all that controlled and are ready to nip any such movement in the bud. Nonetheless, their system cannot and will not continue for several reasons.
The first is the fact of the dispersal of nuclear weapons under several independent sovereignties, with the US and Russia having actual parity in mutually-assured destruction (MAD). This guarantees that the US (and “western”) elite’s goal of full-spectrum dominance will never be achieved. As the possibilities of annihilating weaponry get more and more developed, that goal becomes ever more impossible, and total destruction becomes increasingly likely. After such a destruction, assuming some humans survive, nothing of the previous dispensations in the world will continue to exist, and there will be no more US, no more financial control, and no continuation of the elite status of the elite.
Secondly, assuming the miracle of no nuclear war continues, the system presided over by the elite cannot continue because it is unsustainable and unstable. The likely outcome there is a slow path to total ruin, while nuclear war is the swift path. Signs of the incipient disintegration of capitalism are everywhere, as described in detail particularly by Michael Hudson. The denouement is likely to be economic and financial, which could lead to a fatal split in the elite. It is important to remember, hard as it seems sometimes, that the elite are humans and not the Borg. As humans, they are full of difference, despite their cooperation, and they will split apart, especially when their vital interests and existence are threatened. So to some extent, we have to await developments, and to keep nimble and able to react to a variety of changed circumstances.
It would seem to me that the first item now has to be a rejection and refutation of elite militarist discourse, a delegitimation of it. To me, it would seem that the ruling MICIMATT militarists are in fact traitors to the people and structures of the United States and their interests. Also, their efforts and positions are completely detached from reality. The overseas imperialism and its accompanying militarism are what drain all the resources away from solving all the internal problems of the US. Militarism is literally beggaring the majority of the US citizenry. If the option of foreign wars is eliminated completely, all discourse will have to be complaints about internal matters and internal injustice, which can then help us focus on those problems: financialization, medical care, education, transportation, work, and homelessness.
Posted by: Cabe | Jun 29 2023 17:58 utc | 22
The SCOTUS just struck down Affirmative Action (for universities, anyway), but it’s pretty clear to me that the whole concept is one its way out. This is very, very big.
Posted by: Intelligent Dasein | Jun 29 2023 18:13 utc | 23
Intelligent Dasein @ 23
The SCOTUS just struck down Affirmative Action (for universities, anyway), but it’s pretty clear to me that the whole concept is one its way out. This is very, very big.
Who needs Affirmative Action when you have gone Over The Rainbow?!
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jun 29 2023 18:55 utc | 24
re: France, Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité – the Gilet jaune, pension protest, and now immigrant protest, must all come together to bring down Macron, and then force reform of the state. I doubt it will happen and this immigrant protest might not be spontaneous and in solidarity with all the rest but an agent provocateur event (the cop) to drive a wedge among the poor and working class. Done to scare whites, Christians, the middle class, and to bring down an iron fist on all the protesters in France.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jun 29 2023 19:06 utc | 25
Posted by: laguerre | Jun 29 2023 16:26 utc | 16
Dear laguerre, governments don”t get overthrown according to a constitution, they get overthrown because under the constitution a government no longer wanted by the people can not be removed.
And, yes,the EU will fall apart, but not because some at MoA, as you say, desire it, but because it is unsustainable. It benefits only the ruling class, has become a straitjacket and is causing serious harm to European citizens.
Posted by: JB | Jun 29 2023 19:12 utc | 26
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 29 2023 15:52 utc | 8
Agreed. This isn’t reagonomics supply side voodoo. I read this as a mildly planned economy with a focus on industrial capitalism. That is, on production of goods as opposed to services, particularly financial services.
All of this ties to the Prigozhin Mutiny insomuch as what Putin is describing will be problematic for the remaining Russian oligarchs (Prigozhin being one of them). Those that remain made their deal with Putin back in the early 2000’s. He’s been pretty clear since the beginning of the SMO that his main requirement in that old deal is now coming due. What Prigozhin May have initiated is the final cleansing of the 90’s/early 00’s oligarch class in Russia. That will not necessarily be easy for Putin. It will be very delicate and it will always have an element of real risk for him.
But if he’s successful and gains one more term as president he can set Russia on a sustainable path both economically and politically. My read of the Russian political analysis world is that changes are needed, one of them being to bring younger people into the ranks of power. I started reading a TG channel by a group of these younger people, and at least on first reflection they will very likely be good for the country. And the “vertical” as Russians call it may have saved these young people from some of the neo-liberal grooming we see in western, government career development.
Posted by: Lex | Jun 29 2023 19:16 utc | 27
oldhippie @ 3:
I found a Telegram channel aggregating videos:
https://t.me/France_Riots
Posted by: Palm & Needle | Jun 29 2023 19:38 utc | 28
Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Jun 29 2023 16:17 utc | 14
That clown says the Las Vegas shooting was a hoax. It wasn’t.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 29 2023 20:24 utc | 29
The Brits are some sLimey bastards.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/06/29/records-destroyed-of-starmer-trips-to-dc-during-assange-case/
Starmer, what a rat.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 29 2023 20:33 utc | 30
Just now on Twitter I was reminded of Mark Twain’s The War Prayer.
Imo it deserves enshrining right next to all the Constitutions of all nations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Prayer
Read it here: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_War_Prayer
A video adaptation here: https://youtu.be/0ZmEAZCOYSE
Posted by: Babel-17 | Jun 29 2023 20:35 utc | 31
Since I brought it up (Week in Review @206, 210, 211), there was an announcement today about a Canadian military deployment. Two ships will join Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 to hunt for mines in the waters of Northern Europe (is that like an admission that there are explosives in the waters of Northern Europe??)
Anyway – Defence Minister Anita Anand is in the UK, had a joint press conference with UK’s Ben Wallace. So many talking points, so difficult to get down to who’s doing what to whom, and it’s all very expensive.
https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1674368954997919744
And – the Department of National Defence also announced a joint project with the US today.
“Canada and the U.S. are strengthening cooperation on #DefenceScience, including collaborative research in persistent surveillance of North America and Arctic defence and security through the Defense Science and Technology Executive Working Group. 1/2”
https://twitter.com/NationalDefence/status/1674488733213532160
Sigh. See my comments on Canada + Nordic Council statements. I’m not seeing an easy peace on the horizon. First the lettuce in the Bahamas (not California) now the Arctic.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jun 29 2023 20:51 utc | 32
Orange skies return to hundreds of millions from Ohio to New York. Blame Canada. People who look up at the sky and notice anything different about it don’t hang out in bars, I guess. The subject of the sky, no matter how weird it gets, seems OT even in this here OT thread, doesn’t it?
But, as with the perplexing psycho-mystery of what’s going on in Prigo’s head, some of us can’t help searching for some tentative explanation of what’s going on in Earth’s ocean, troposphere, and stratosphere. Judah Cohen has the best weekly blog (the best I’ve found, anyhow) about long-term weather trends, if you’re interested:
https://www.aer.com/science-research/climate-weather/arctic-oscillation/
Cohen generally directs our attention to geopotential height anomalies, ridges and troughs that guide tropospheric currents. People paying attention to high and low pressure systems notice they don’t move much, the way they used to. They stick in place week after week, like the heat dome cooking Texas right now.
What’s up with that? Aleph’s wild-ass guess is that the NH jet stream is basically dying, up there. Running out of steam. The most basic source of energy driving Earth’s oceanic and atmospheric currents is the difference between polar and equatorial temperatures. The Arctic is warming up about 4X more quickly than the tropics. Earth’s weather-energy source has been sapped by Arctic Amplification.
This was predicted by Jennifer Francis many years ago. Then refuted, then reasserted, and so forth. Time and data seem to be on Francis’s side now:
Summer atmospheric circulation over Greenland in response to Arctic amplification and diminished spring snow cover
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39466-6
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 29 2023 21:01 utc | 33
Aleph @ 33
Posted this here just a few dayd ago and it is again appropriate.
https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/todays-weather/?var_id=ws500-gph&ortho=1&wt=1
That is the 500hPa jetstream. Click on the map to view the globe from different angles. Basically at the moment there is no Northern Hemisphere jetstream. Southern Hemisphere has an odd and fractured jetstream, at least is is there. Same site you can also view the 250hPa jetstream (well you can’t for Northern Hemsisphere because we ain’t got none) and the geopotential heights.
Seriously, there is currently no jetstream. It is simply not possible to guess what happens next. We haven’t run this experiment before and we likely get only the one chance.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 29 2023 21:36 utc | 34
There’s an American beer brand “Bud Light” that’s struggling. The company and their customers have a difference of opinion. But instead of the customers reacting by doing something and setting themselves up for criticism, the customers are reacting by not doing something – the customers are not buying the beer.
US and Europe might end up receiving similar treatment. Right now, if a country voices disagreement with US policy, the country ends up with color revolutions, invasions, the national currency loses value, there are trade sanctions. As a result, no country wants to be in the US crosshairs. Experience shows it is best not to attract too much attention. Instead of a country doing something and getting sanctions, it is better to react by not doing something. Not buying US treasury bills. Not storing your gold reserves in London or New York. Avoiding US and EU products, just in case. Shunned, without having anyone you can point fingers at.
Posted by: Passerby | Jun 29 2023 21:57 utc | 35
Lol. They killed Kenny (Spriter Team
@Sprinter99880) again! Bastards. 😂
How many times is that now? Elon’s losing his glow. Not.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Jun 29 2023 22:10 utc | 36
Thank you,Cabe | Jun 29 2023 17:58 utc | 22, for your link back to Grieved’s final entry on the previous Week in Review thread. I was shopping yesterday, so had missed final posts there. Here is one I am very glad to have found:
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 28 2023 3:44 utc | 227
Way to go ph.
Your sign and all the gardening talk brings up one of my all-time favorite poems:
FUELED by Marcie Han
Fueled by a million man-made wings of fire –
the rocket tore a tunnel through the sky –
and everybody cheered.
Fueled only by a thought from God –
the seedling urged its way
through the thicknesses of black –
and as it pierced the heavy ceiling of the soil –
and launched itself up into outer space –
no
one
even
clapped.
We have to change that!
Posted by: waynorinorway | Jun 28 2023 4:04 utc | 231
waynorinorway, that far surpasses my diptych from last night in loveliness! As to james and others on garden successes, one of mine is Russian kale, both the red and the white kind. It’s more delicate than regular kale, can be used chopped into omelets or other stirfry type cuisine, and it seems to be continuing that tenderness even whilst going to seed. I’m hoping it can be easily reseeded in place, but certainly will save some of that seed for fall planting again.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 29 2023 22:17 utc | 37
Aleph Null #33
A real quality source, that is not easy to digest. People do post things from Dr. Cohen at ASIF and I stagger through it hoping some poster there will mention the salient parts. Dr. J. Francis really got slagged over her stance that there is a wavier jet stream almost a decade ago. I am not getting as much out of her newer talks.
I have been semi-fixated on the Nato-Ukraine vs RF war, but as always in the back of my head is the infrared spectroscopy of CO2 and the exponential growth of same.
As I believe was cited here, John Helmer has a good article about the atmosphere around Chelyabinsk. Bit of an outlier from his usual forte, but nice.
https://johnhelmer.org/chelyabinsk-does-not-believe-in-tears/
Posted by: paxmark1 | Jun 29 2023 22:24 utc | 38
Idiocrasy suggests that it would take centuries to reach such a society…But at the current pace of dumbing down, it might be only 50 years or so…Look at the pace of South Africa’s collapse…
Posted by: pyrrhus | Jun 29 2023 22:38 utc | 40
Cant find any news about france on Google or Bing.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 29 2023 22:30 utc | 40
All by design. Give it some time. Eventually it’ll show up most likely on non-Western social media platforms.
Posted by: Ian2 | Jun 29 2023 22:48 utc | 41
Montreal’s La Presse has some coverage, including a cel phone video of the actual shooting (midway down the page). I also saw quite a bit of CNN coverage (with facts and everything! Kind of surprising) not with videos though.
https://www.lapresse.ca/international/europe/2023-06-29/adolescent-tue-en-france/le-policier-s-excuse-crainte-d-une-generalisation-des-violences.php
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Jun 29 2023 22:54 utc | 42
https://johnhelmer.org/chelyabinsk-does-not-believe-in-tears/
Posted by: paxmark1 | Jun 29 2023 22:24 utc | 39
Thank you, paxmarki.
I echo waynorinorway above: We have to change that!
Posted by: juliania | Jun 29 2023 23:05 utc | 43
Michael Saylor’s Micostrategies is now in the green 2%.
Currently holds 152,333 bitcoin.
Nayib Bukele started accumulating bitcoin at about its height. Currently down 26.7% holding 2828 bitcoin.
You can track them at the websites set up to mock them, nayibtracker or saylortracker dot com.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 29 2023 23:37 utc | 44
Lex | Jun 29 2023 19:16 utc | 27–
Thanks for your reply. Putin’s been openly adamant about breveting those showing initiative and courage in combat into higher management rank levels, O-5-6–Lt. Colonel/Colonel instead of making them go through the bureaucratic hoops; and he’s been doing similar promotion in the private sector since 2014 if not earlier. I’ve commented on the general nature of bureaucracy before, and the Russian government differs little from any other in that regard. PM Mishustin has done a very good job as have others but many more like them are needed, and those types of managers are rare. So, the promotion of entrepreneurs youth knowledge organizations, intellectual and other sorts of competitions like ASI are promoted and get massive responses. The Who’s going to replace Putin and Lavrov? question gets asked here often and is certainly on many minds. Putin’s no narcissist, but he knows that question’s on the mind of most Russians too. I’ve predicted he’ll remain president until 2030 when he won’t run again; so, by that time he must accomplish many things to set Russia and his successor up for success. And the same goes for the Russian governmental complex at all levels. Big Picture-wise, Russia must succeed for the Multipolar World to succeed as it’s a Cornerstone along with China. Putin likely rarely ever thinks of that being a burden as to do so IMO would be counterproductive. Together with Xi Jinping, they know they’re going down the proper path and will continue along at their own pace in their own style.
So yes, the SMO is important and vital in its way; but, they’re many other things that have a similar level of importance that are vital in their own way. That’s why Putin’s the busiest president on the planet next to Xi. In comparison, Biden’s a sloth.
Thanks Bruised Northerner @43
Three years of highschool french means I can read French and Spanish fairly well.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 29 2023 23:41 utc | 46
Hoarsewhisperer # 15:40 utc | 7
The most surprising aspect of the Titan tragedy for me is that there have been 9 or 10 deep-diving gizmoes built since the late 1940s, and all of them performed as intended. i.e. Titan is the first and only one to fail.
Tesla skunkworks perhaps?
Or maybe the spaceX design mindset?
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 29 2023 23:44 utc | 47
The MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) doctrine may have been correct for its day 60 years ago. However, for today it may not be so accurate.
Those who have bought into the MAD doctrine are pretty much brainwashed. Not only are they in denial, they don’t want others to mention that nuclear war is a possibility. Sometimes, they even get rabbid about their self imposed censorship. Yet, nuclear arsenals within the West and within Russia are a reality. And the Russian nuclear arsenal is much more deadly, especially if Russia gains the first strike advantage.
For one Russia has an extensive network of public fall out shelters which would allow a much higher percentage of its populations to survive. The West has very few public fall out shelters. A few preppers have these facilities. However, for most within the common ranks, there is no hole to hide his/her head in the advent of a nuclear attack.
For two Russia has hypersonic missiles to deliver its nukes. These missiles are pretty much impossible to shoot down. Also, Russia has a much better air defense system than the West. So more western nuclear armed missiles would be shot down than incoming Russian missiles.
Third, the side which gets the first strike advantage may possibly be able to neutralize a retalitory strike to some degree. Since, Russia’s hypersonics and nuclear torpedoes would impact the West much quicker after launch, it is possible for Russia to neutralize a large segment of the West’s nuclear strike capability with a first strike advantage.
The conclusions drawn from MAD 60 years ago, may no longer be valid.
Before trusting an outdated and obsolete doctrine that is over 60 years old, think things through for yourself. It is best to examine the facts of what would really happen in a nuclear exhange. Determine for yourself if either side, that is the USA or Russia is willing to risk a nuclear war and under what circumstances.
Don’t allow a 60 year old doctrine promoted by the CIA and a very corrupt system guide you into believing a nuclear war could never happen. Such could be a fatal mistake.
Posted by: young | Jun 29 2023 23:52 utc | 48
UWDude # 22:30 utc | 40
“Cant find any news about france on Google or Bing.”
Why even bother with those idiot CIA search engines? They are there TO CONTROL YOU!!
andisearch.com reveals all news in USA and then beyond to world sites.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 29 2023 23:52 utc | 49
The old ones were probably built like old diver’s bells super thick metal, rounded every where, tiny windows.
The Titan was built of Titanium, cylindrical, viewing bubble of glass. Somebody posted a link here somewhere,I think, of the folly of design of the Titan.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 29 2023 23:54 utc | 50
@46 Cont’d–
One last observation: Putin exhorts people to give feedback to officials at all levels, especially political party members. There are several examples of that during the ASI Forum meeting. That sort of feedback is what happens in China and is the basis for its whole system democracy–Civic minded people that contribute to their government and persist in doing so usually make for a much better, stronger governance and nation. When the people consistently get ignored they stop doing their part in self-governance, which is one reason why the USA is so sick. Yes, they stopped listening, but the people didn’t escalate their persistence. Put the people in the center of development at all levels and you’ll have stronger people and a stronger nation. And that’s not new logic; it’s ancient.
@tungsten
Mostly because I am on my phone, and dont search very often for anything anymore. I tried Yandex too, but it doesn’t have a news search filter, so it was all wikipedia and tourism type stuff.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 29 2023 23:57 utc | 52
“Bullying Empire: US promotes ‘digital colonialism’ to maintain hegemony, exposes American democracy hypocrisy”: The article opens thusly then continues undser the heading: “Deconstructing digital conquest”–
It has been a decade since the PRISM scandal which enraged the world was exposed by Edward Snowden. Under the guise of so-called national interests, the US government and its related intelligence agencies utilize their technological and first-mover advantages to conduct cyber surveillance on and attack the rest of the world.
Relying on its hegemony in cyberspace, the US has used its cyber capabilities as one of its tools in hybrid warfare. Just like other tools such as economic sanctions, terrorist activities, and military intervention, the US has used cyberwarfare to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs for political gain. To maintain its hegemony, the US has conducted “digital colonization” over other countries and committed various covert crimes, marking itself as a “surveillance empire,” an “attacking empire,” and a “bullying empire.”
In the sixth installment of this series, we invite Lu Chuanying, director of the Research Center for International Cyberspace Governance under the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, to reveal how the US bullied the world through its digital hegemony, harming the national security of other countries while advancing its own interests and gaining access to information.
The US is the most powerful country in the digital space. However, this power is entirely built upon its own digital technological capabilities, including its hidden efforts to achieve global digital dominance.
The US government has openly stated in its cybersecurity strategy that US digital primacy is a pillar for the maintaining of its real-world hegemony. In reality, the US has indeed acted in this manner.
The US digital conquest operates under a certain level of stealth, making it difficult to detect. Moreover, it is challenging to assess the severe damage caused by these actions in terms of national security, user privacy, and the digital economic development of other countries.
Do read on at the above link. People need to be concerned about other things beyond Russia’s SMO.
@young
Trolls tried derailing Ukraine thread.
Also, post strike, I guarantee the survivors in Russia would band together, while in America, it society would be ripped apart in days. Gun behind every blade of grass, and America has never been so divided. (Id say it was even less divided during the civil war, but that is another topic i dont feel like debating)
A couple other things ive mentioned before:. About 520 atmospheric explosions in 20 years, no nuclear winter.
Americans dont fear nuclear war anymore, hence they do t care about foreign policy anymore, although it is the greatest threat to their existence, by far.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 0:06 utc | 54
Seriously, there is currently no jetstream.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 29 2023 21:36 utc | 35
I found these two computer model maps to predict where the CHINESE SPY BALLOON was headed.
Netweather.tv (only 2 layers)
Null School (multiple layers)
Posted by: sln2002 | Jun 30 2023 0:09 utc | 55
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 0:06 utc | 55
UW. 520 atmospheric nuclear explosions? Even if correct , maybe it is because they are all of only Nagasaki-sized nuclear payload. We are told that all major nuclear powers have very many more than in 1945 and much much more powerful ie at least two orders of magnitude larger than Nagasaki ie so at least 100 MT ? Maybe if all those went off we would have a “nuclear winter”?
Posted by: Boy | Jun 30 2023 0:32 utc | 56
Seriously, there is currently no jetstream. It is simply not possible to guess what happens next. We haven’t run this experiment before and we likely get only the one chance.
@ oldhippie | Jun 29 2023 21:36 utc | 35
My standard glance is this 250hPa view from nullschool:
https://classic.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/250hPa/anim=off/orthographic=-45,80,350
As you say, not much of anything resembling a jet stream in sight, this Thursday afternoon. Earth’s center of coldness is off-center, over Greenland instead of the North Pole. To me it’s a fascinating, unprecedented experiment. Judah Cohen consistently addresses stratospheric anomalies which increasingly impact our troposphere. Instability between atmospheric strata — to me that’s a very grave signal.
@ paxmark1 | Jun 29 2023 22:24 utc | 39
I admire Helmer greatly, but this piece did nothing for me. Some folks don’t want to understand the gravity of signals we’re getting from a global ocean with unprecedented surface heat, from Antarctica stepping out in front of the Arctic in terms of which goes sea-ice-free first, from the demise of the jet stream. Far worse, much more insidious than fossil-fools, who deny the existence of any climate issue, are hypocrites like Bill McKibben who ceaselessly bleats for the heroic arrival of our old friend, Political Will. Serious people are hard to come by, on this one.
Judah Cohen is serious about it. John Helmer is not, with his semi-inspirational tale of municipal emissions reductions.
Someone once said:
We are confronted with a fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 30 2023 0:32 utc | 57
Another useful jet stream view, this one with a forecast:
https://weatherstreet.com/models/gfs-jetstream-wind-forecast.php
This animation speaks for itself. I’ll shut up about it for awhile now, I promise.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jun 30 2023 0:48 utc | 58
For the barflies that missed it, Hudson’s latest essay, “America has Just Destroyed a Great Empire”. A taster from the beginning:
“Fast-forward to today’s drive by the Biden administration to extend American military power against Russia and, behind it, China. The president asked for advice from today’s analogue to antiquity’s Delphi oracle: the CIA and its allied think tanks. Instead of warning against hubris, they encouraged the neocon dream that attacking Russia and China would consolidate U.S. control of the world economy, achieving the End of History.”
paxmark1 # 22:24 utc | 39
Thank you and it confirms my understanding that Moscow is unmoved by tears. It takes action to achieve any progress. Moscow is not alone.
apologies for using the dread: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Does_Not_Believe_in_Tears#:~:text=Moskva%20slezam%20ne%20verit%2C%20translated,solve%20your%20problems%20by%20yourself%22
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 30 2023 1:11 utc | 60
@ karlof1 | Jun 30 2023 1:00 utc | 60
thanks karl… psychohistorian will enjoy reading this.. here is an excerpt below..
“The upshot will be civilizational in scope. We are seeing not the End of History but a fresh alternative to U.S.-centered neoliberal finance capitalism and its junk economics of privatization, class war against labor. The idea that money and credit should be privatized in the hands of a narrow financial class instead of being a public utility to finance economic needs and rising living standards is finally facing its reckoning.
The irony is that America’s historical role has been that although it itself was not able to lead the world forward along these lines, its attempts to lock the world into an antithetical imperial system by conquering Russia on the plains of Ukraine and trying to isolate China’s technology (from breaking the U.S. attempt at IT monopoly) have been the great catalysts pushing the global majority away from them.”
Posted by: james | Jun 30 2023 1:32 utc | 61
For ALL barflies at Moa: Xi Jinping’s 180 degree change after half a bottle of Mao-tai
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yOSvyV1yj4
Hs idol: Mao the man, had no qualms losing 2/3 of all Chinese in battle. The CCP top would be fully in the remaining 1/3 of course.
Go on, deny it instinctively.
Posted by: Antonym | Jun 30 2023 1:42 utc | 62
@Boy
Nope, some of the biggest bombs in history were tested above ground, including the 58 MT tsar bomb in 1961.
Indeed, the tests usually were to test bigger and bigger bombs.
The fact you said “even if correct”… About 520 tests, (522 overall, counting hiroshima and nagasaki) means you are guessing.
Here is Isao Hashimoto’s time lapse map of all nuclear tests up to 2003-ish, at double time.
As you watch, also think about what those areas are like radiologically…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8pG5oYhpXg
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 1:43 utc | 63
Helmer update on Prigozhin is a short and intersting read and includes a podcast discussion at Gorilla Radio:
https://johnhelmer.org/political-power-out-of-the-gun-barrel-billions-of-dollars-too-gorilla-radio-investigates-the-end-of-all-three-for-yevgeny-prigozhin-mikhail-khodorkovsky-too/#more-70999
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 30 2023 1:48 utc | 64
I came a cross an article a few days back (i wish i could remember where) which explained to me anyway what the most likely cause of Titan’s failure was. It quoted a number of engineers who had built numerous other submersibles who explained why they had opposed Titan from the get go. If you look at the remains brought up shown in most fishwraps a few days ago, you will see that there are two large metal hemispheres and then some of the inner components of the submersible with sheets drawn across a coupla parts where human remains were smeared during implosion no doubt.
The Titan’s hull was made up of those titanium caps one at each end with a carbon fibre composite cylinder between the two caps making up the hull of the vessel.
Titanium is a very expensive substance, particularly in the thickness & strength required to withstand pressure 5 miles under the sea, so Titan’s makers decided to use carbon fibre composite for the bulk of the hull, economy aka greed what else?
Anyway carbon fibre is great for missiles and space ships because it is light and less costly than titanium but there it is used to keep a pressurised vessel from exploding in a near vacuum, which it is good for, however testing over the decades has shown that it is less capable of keeping something of much lower pressure stable in a high pressure environment, preventing implosion. In those circumstances carbon fibre is subject to fatigue, it becomes weaker each time it is used.
The investigations revealed the titanium caps but there was no sign of the biggest bit, the carbon fibre tube. All there was were thousands of tiny pieces of carbon fibre scattered about the crash site. These engineers say that the three previous dives had weakened titan and on her last dive Titan finally succumbed to extreme pressure imploding catastrophically & instantly mashing fragile humans inside.
That appears to be the industry opinion, we shall see the enquiry results in a good long while.
It really is a bit of a non-event equivalent to a family out fishing blowing up from accumulated petrol fumes on their launch – local news for sure but beat up by media looking for diversions, taking advantage of the fact there were some very rich people on board.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Jun 30 2023 1:54 utc | 65
Debsisdead | Jun 30 2023 1:54 utc | 66–
Thanks for that report. If carbon fiber had that property, the military would have a fleet of subs made from the stuff, but it doesn’t. IMO, a high school physics student could tell anyone why.
It’s pretty clear to me that Russia has a numerically superior quantity of nuclear weapons and unquestionably superior means of delivering them.
It’s also pretty clear to me that the Russian leadership has a much less cavalier attitude toward using them — and killing millions of civilians in the process — than certain barflies here, including but not limited to those who derive their insights from Bronze-Age genocidalists.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 30 2023 2:26 utc | 67
The Mongols were middle ages, and they had no problem nuking cities.
Plus, the pearl clutchers think I am advocating nuclear war. I am not. But I will talk about it, as it is the spectre that has haunted the worlds conflicts since 1945.
They did indeed bring some modicum of peace, if compared to the hypothetical of a world without them, as they probably stopped many conflicts like Vietnam and Korea to reigniting into world wars.
I think I see Putins strategy, and I think it is one specifically designed to avert nuckear war, but also to no longer have to kow-tow to NATO.. ..which is bronze age thinking, as Sima Yi did it almost his whole life to the Cao clan, only to emerge the leader of Wei, and his family the leader of a re-united China and the Jin dynasty.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 2:45 utc | 68
“The Mongols were middle ages, and they had no problem nuking cities.”
I stopped reading right there, sensibly enough.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 30 2023 2:47 utc | 69
Several people have pointed out that recent news about France is hard to find. I didn’t know what they were complaining about, but then, I go to RT first for news.
https://www.rt.com/news/578944-france-nahel-shooting-riots
https://www.rt.com/news/578916-police-france-teen-death
https://www.rt.com/news/578877-france-nahel-riots-macron
https://www.rt.com/news/578822-paris-nanterre-riots-police
From what I read there, I don’t think the case is nearly as clear-cut as the rioters seem to believe. It certainly merits a trial to judge the facts, but it certainly doesn’t merit burning down the country.
Posted by: Dalit | Jun 30 2023 2:50 utc | 70
Says talking about nukes is bronze age thinking…
…but middle ages nukes are ridiculous.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 2:55 utc | 71
Dalit | Jun 30 2023 2:50 utc | 71–
France is in flames in many locales. Try this link, https://twitter.com/SpriterTeam
UWDude: my reference to people who derive their view of the future from Bronze-Age genocidalists was a reference to user “young,” who has repeatedly based his nuke prophecies on the Book of Daniel. You’re not a noob here, so don’t play dumb.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 30 2023 2:59 utc | 73
The expose’ continues…
Caitlin
Yanki get the fuck outta TW straits
Every barfly worth his salt knows this..
1] Its China USAss who mess up the status quo in TW , embolden the separatists, in order to provoke a mainland reaction.
2] gringo purporting to champion TW right to delf determination is rank hypocricy
Yet this is what the resident prof of philosophistry had to say on his very first debut…
What hypocrites, those chicom calling USAss bully !
https://tinyurl.com/mrxmburn
https://tinyurl.com/ammaa434
Posted by: denk | Jun 30 2023 3:01 utc | 74
Vaccine manufacturers in the US have NEVER tested the safety of the vaccines included in the schedule of vaccinations essentially required for all babies and infants in the US.
We know this from Turtles All The Way Down – Vaccine Science and Myth, the first chapter of which was placed online** as a free read.
Now there’s a useful tweet of 7 paragraphs that does an excellent job of summarizing the main point of that important first chapter. (It’s the first chapter that shows in detail how all the vaccines were tested.)
~~
For those interested, this comes from a response by Aaron Siri to a tweet from Dr, Paul Offit, a vaccine inventor and also advisor to the FDA.
Siri repeats what we learned from Turtles, that of all the childhood vaccines, none was ever tested properly against an inert placebo. After the first ones, those that followed were tested using earlier vaccines as placebos.
Dr. Offit stated that the vaccines had all been tested using “immunologically inert” placebos – this is weasel language and Siri challenged him on it.
Siri’s tweet is useful as a keeper because it very succinctly explains the heart of the matter around the safety of the childhood vaccines – namely, that they are tested for efficacy, not for safety.
If this interests you, I recommend Siri’s tweet. You may have to read it more than once, and it probably helps to have read that first chapter. This tweet is a keeper, in my view, for what’s being said here. It’s a useful little cheat sheet:
https://twitter.com/AaronSiriSG/status/1673483027618623489
“Dr. Offit, your revised definition of “placebo” as “immunologically inert” would focus on testing efficacy, not safety, which is precisely the substantive concern raised by @RobertKennedyJr
and others when explaining that childhood vaccines are virtually never licensed based on trials that included a control group receiving an inert substance.”
~~
This is a very public admission that the vaccines have not been tested for safety, and could have turned into a useful discussion – but Offit will never respond to Siri, apart from blocking him.
**As for that first chapter, I gave my copy away and can’t find a link for that online chapter. I may be able to come back with a link later.
Posted by: Grieved | Jun 30 2023 3:03 utc | 75
The Titanic is a tragedy alright.
But Americans at play oversea is just as deadly as Americans at war.
In case you forget, the sinking of Ehime Maru
https://original.antiwar.com/justin/2001/02/23/the-sailors-who-fell-from-grace-with-the-sea/
Whether at play or at war, yanki please go home and do it at your own risk, without endangering the row.
Posted by: denk | Jun 30 2023 3:06 utc | 76
Grieved: While there are indeed some safe vaccines, the only safety test I know of is the class action lawsuit.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 30 2023 3:06 utc | 77
Karlof – 73,
Thanks for your response. I don’t dispute that France is burning in many places (the articles I linked also had links to twitter videos), but I dispute that this particular case justifies such a response. The age of the driver, or his occupation, or his origins, ought to be irrelevant, but is being used to fuel the rage. His actions in attempting to evade custody are relevant, and it should be up to a court to decide that, not up to a mob of looters.
Posted by: Dalit | Jun 30 2023 3:15 utc | 79
No response from denk on my Mao / Xi post @ 63, so that make me the champion if all normal Chinese, and him the shill for the CCP elite only. Racist!
Posted by: Antonym | Jun 30 2023 3:29 utc | 81
oldhippie@3 send your links to westernrifleshooters.us . Almost a guarantee he will post them. His site has a couple million of hits a day
I consigned the troll anton into my bozo
file years ago, meaning not worth engaging.
Everybody knows this.
This would be the last reminder.
signing off
Posted by: denk | Jun 30 2023 3:40 utc | 83
I keep wanting to know what’s next and I expect I am not alone
If the neutron bomb of an alternative “Reserve”Currency” and associated financial structure that we are reading being “moved forward” by the BRICS+ in August happens then the time between then and now should be very interesting.
I say that because the God Of Mammon cult knows what the BRICS+ will propose and when it “will explode”……think of a global sucking sound as investments all around the world come out of anything tradeable only in fiat/worthless US dollars and buy the new Bancore underpinning bonds that propose to have an intrinsic value related to gold.
Can empire stop the BRICS+ financial deal from happening?
Is Modi the Trojan Horse spoiler in the deal come August?
What sort of proxy war(s) could impinge on its creation?….nuke/biological?….where?
What happens as the financial bomb goes off is another avenue of speculation…..the primary focus for me is on how the US dollar is linked to the intrinsic value based BRICS+ money?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 30 2023 3:42 utc | 84
@ Grieved # 76
Grieved, I saved your suggested pdf link to the book, Turtles All the Way Down: Vaccine Science and Myth, from some time ago — posted below. What is so appalling is that the captured agencies are believed and quoted ad infinatum by so many layers of professionals who pretend to work in the public interest. Feet of clay.
Thank you so much for keeping us informed of your discoveries and thoughts. I watched some of the Chicago live forum with the courageous candidate Kennedy Jr and was impressed although we know it is not only the leader person but the institutional structures which must be transformative/transformed. I agree with him, the people must be told truths as a prerequisite to healing and justice.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eMhzsB_-RT9KFhJcLJFhzJdIgIAou-W8/view
Posted by: suzan | Jun 30 2023 3:59 utc | 85
UWDude | Jun 30 2023 1:43 utc
I am not wed to any position due to ideology as in this case- like most- I like facts and figures. In any case ,ideologically , I believe every country should have them , or none at all, but anyway.
The numbers came from you -as I have no reason to distrust you on this and thus doublecheck for myself- so I just rounded them off.
Interesting. Let’s see if anyone else can comment.
Posted by: Boy | Jun 30 2023 4:00 utc | 86
Posted by: Grieved | Jun 30 2023 3:03 utc | 76
And yet many vaccines have actually worked? NO vaccine has EVER been subjected to trials?????????????????????
Jesus.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 30 2023 4:24 utc | 87
Is c1ue back under a new, non-vaccinated tobacco and oil industry stolen handle?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 30 2023 4:25 utc | 88
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 2:45 utc | 69
The Mongols were middle ages, and they had no problem nuking cities.
Now there’s a steampunk Netflix script I can get behind …
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Jun 30 2023 4:35 utc | 89
@Boy
If you did not watch the video posted, ill sum it up:
2000+ nuclear weapons tests by seven countries by the year 2000, America, USSR, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan. North Korea has done one or two since.
I think of there ever was an attempt to eliminate nuclear weapons, it would result in nuclear war.
Having nuclear weapons, or hosting them is dangerous, and I think every country should weigh the pros and cons. It is an unstable environment, as coups and revolutions can happen, and that could lead to a government willing to use them. So its hard for me to say I think all should have them, though I wish many countries did, there would be a lot more respect in the world between nations.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 4:38 utc | 90
Grieved | Jun 30 2023 3:03 utc | 76–
Many thanks, Grieved. My daughter’s due in November and will need to make some decisions. This will help.
Dalit | Jun 30 2023 3:15 utc | 80–
Such a response should never occur. However, French society isn’t rioting over that issue–it’s being used as an excuse to attack the system. The difference between France and Russia in that regard is huge for reasons that ought to be obvious for those without blinders.
Frances national Anthem is pretty extreme, and they still view the French Revolution with pride, many still like Napoleon too.
They jave been bristling with revolution for four years now. The only thing that stopped the yellow jackets after a year of large, often violent weekend protests was Covid lockdowns. And it was only a few months ago Macron raised the retirement age, and France went mad again.
So I agree, but I do not think left and right are ready to join in france over this one. But who knows, the next one might be the last for Macron, and even a blow to NATO. France is one of the less committed members of NATO, having withdrawn their military from its command from 1966 – 2009, and not allowing NATO forces on its territory for decades, and a lot of that was because France was not really eager to help West Germany in case of Attack by the USSR.
The other, of tenuously committed is Turkey.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 4:54 utc | 92
Boy | Jun 30 2023 4:00 utc | 87–
UWDude | Jun 30 2023 4:38 utc | 92–
On the Nuke question. Ideally no nation should have any weapon capable of mass destruction just as there should be no weapons in outer space. Ideally Asimov’s Three Laws on Robotics should have been debated and adopted in the 1950s. Ideally humans should cooperate collectively to advance the common good instead of seeking to be king of the hill. Ideally it should be agreed/admitted that all humans are human–there’s only one race: The Human Race. Ideally.
Clearly, we as humans have a long path to travel to attain most of the above ideals. The current Big Picture deals with the various conflicts now occurring as humanity travels that path. As animals within Nature, we are very young and still have a great deal to learn, but too few look at life that way. Ideally humans need to comprehend their place within Nature and work with not against it. Ideally
A day or two ago Muslim aggression in I think Sweden was mentioned on the Ukraine thread. The statement that Muslims are threatening a peaceful society can be seen in many different ways.
Firstly, that when two completely different sets of rules, social democracy and Islam, are living dide by side, the differences are confusing, and can become a source of tension.
Where the Law is unclear, people fall between the gaps of the rules.
Secondly Scandinavian racism exists and Muslim racism exists. I’ve lived in the British Muslim community for 25 years and am ground down by Muslim racism on a daily basis, because Muslims from countries with no electrical safety rules refuse to comply with British electrical rules, hence no work for me in this community.
Thirdly, in Countries colonised by Britain and the US, the colonisers established brutal dictators forvtheir colonies, buggering their young men with glass bottles and electrocuting the testicles of the elders, while in their own countries weeping socialism bailed out each and every victim of poverty, or of oppression. The victims of dictator brutality know 100% that the colonisers imposed state brutality in their countries, while the locals in Europe are totally unaware of this evil piece of Divide and Rule.
Fourthly, the teachings of the Gospels are adulterated, and the teachings of Islam have also been adulterated by colonial rulers. So there is , entirely intentionally, no touchstone of truth by which the Western tyrants or the Colonial imposed tyrants can be penalised.
The West flourishes in its imposed chaos, leaving us ordinary citizens fighting amongst ourselves. There is a better way, and the first step is to consult the scriptures that God sent to help us find a way of Peace, and the second step is to identify cui bono this divide and rule.
It isn’t just US and UK that deployed colonial brutality. Every
Empire that has ever existed has over reached the limits of decency and collapsed in rebellion against corruption. We are not unique in witnessing either the Reformation of Russia and China or the collapse of European empires including the US and Japan.
Ebb and flow is the nature of life.
But finally , my brothers and sisters of Adam kind, Jesus pbuh said ‘ If salt loses its flavour, with what will you salt it? ‘. Judaism was cancelled 2000 years ago. Chritianity was cancelled 1440 years ago, when the Qur’an was revealed. In my humble opinion the Jewish and Christian Empires deliberately oppressed and continue to oppress the followers of the new and final version of Islam revealed by God.
Their only hope was and still is to delay the spread of anti-Empire by sowing conflict between communities.
The only way to defeat Empire and its selfishness is to practice patience and understanding. Empire wants war. People need peace.
Posted by: Giyane | Jun 30 2023 5:16 utc | 94
on garden successes, one of mine is Russian kale, both the red and the white kind.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 29 2023 22:17 utc | 38
Geez, I hope you don’t get sanctioned!
So I googled Ukraine kale and got a page called Ruthie’s Ukrainian kale with the
scientific name ‘Brassica napus’. So I googled ‘Brassica napus’ which led to a page
that said it was rapeseed. So then I decided to just go water my potatoes.
🙂
Posted by: waynorinorway | Jun 30 2023 5:16 utc | 95
Below is a recent Reuters posting title and sub-title worth a chortle
EU leaders to pledge de-risk from China and debate what this means
European Union leaders are set on Friday to commit to reducing the bloc’s dependence on China and debate how to strike the balance between “de-risking”and…..
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 30 2023 5:51 utc | 96
@ psychohistorian | Jun 30 2023 5:51 utc | 98
—
Inflation is going to the moon!
Posted by: too scents | Jun 30 2023 6:11 utc | 97
Stoltenberg said burning the Quran is not bad nor illegal in Sweden, further saying that Turkey will approve Sweden soon.
They made a big FU to Erdogan and muslim world. It’s hard to find a logical reason why they did that..? The arrogant hubris is high.
Posted by: unimperator | Jun 30 2023 6:19 utc | 98
They made a big FU to Erdogan and muslim world. It’s hard to find a logical reason why they did that..? The arrogant hubris is high.
Posted by: unimperator | Jun 30 2023 6:19 utc | 100
The only reason is that comes to mind Nato sucking up to the neo-nazis in northern Europe, and make them more mallable for cannon fodder purposes against Russia. USA or Nato makes no sense to piss off the Turks.
Posted by: unimperator | Jun 30 2023 6:22 utc | 99
Funny, i was just thinking some right wingers should hold a mass pride flag burning. Watch Sweden arrest them, make headline news. Turkey sees burning Koran ok, burning pride flag not, therefore pride flag more sacred than Koran , (at least in us, burning pride flag is a hate crime) Put Erdogan in a real tough spot.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 7:08 utc | 100