104
I should have said that the religion of Islam as practiced by the Rabbis in Jesus’ time pbuh is what we would now call zionism or political Islam.
Political Islam, the seeking of political power by force, intrigue, spying and populist dog-whistle takfirism and racism, is now practiced by the Israeli state, but not necessarily by all Jews, and what is practiced by Erdogan, but not necessarily the Turkish people.
Nobody thinks Islamic State represents Islam, except admirers of psyops, rape , savagery and plunder, from their safe , free, suburban houses provided on benefits in the nest of useful foreign spies in London

Posted by: Giyane | Jun 30 2023 9:05 utc | 103

France had 40,000 cops out on the streets last night. It didn’t stop the riots, which were worse than the two previous nights. I suggest they bring in the Wagner boys, who are at a loose end, highly experienced and could probably do with some euros.
I will make no comparison between France, where Macron’s war against the people continues, and Russia, where a ‘weakened’ and ‘humiliated’ Putin ‘battles to stay in power’ in a country mocked in the French media this week as being in a state of ‘chaos’. What’s that proverb again about people in glass houses?

Posted by: B. Wildered | Jun 30 2023 10:04 utc | 105

B. Wildered # 10:04 utc | 107
Wagner in Paris helping out the State that fully backed the nazi UKraine Regime that was busy killing and torturing Wagner. Yep that might not end well IMO. Once they have cleaned up a poverty class they might just do some exercises on the millionaire class as a calming meditation. But then perhaps they might reverse the order.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 30 2023 10:33 utc | 107

Wagner in Paris helping out the State that fully backed the nazi UKraine Regime that was busy killing and torturing Wagner. Yep that might not end well IMO. Once they have cleaned up a poverty class they might just do some exercises on the millionaire class as a calming meditation. But then perhaps they might reverse the order.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 30 2023 10:33 utc | 109
I was being a bit ironic in my last post, but I like your last suggestion. Bring in Wagner to clean out the neoliberal Macron regime, good one.

Posted by: B. Wildered | Jun 30 2023 10:50 utc | 109

France is finally pushed to the neoliberal breaking point – this occurred in the U.K. in the early to mid 80’s under the Thatcher and the Chicago School doctrines. These philosophies which after two generations have revealed themselves as the grandfather forever fascists who have maintained their control of the majority by use of a minority that works for a handful of the oldest Slavers and Bankers.
France will now have the riots born out of ghettoes that Britain had.
The plan is to finesse that into the dissolution of state ownership of resources in the name of Freedom and Choice. A wholesale transfer of the French Family Silver which will be bled dry of its blood wealth. Privatised, fractured, bought and sold over and over and ultimately left in the hands of some hedge funds probably in Chicago! When they have drained it dry it will end up as decrepit , undermaintained, scrap – not fit for purpose.
E.g look at Thames Water plc this week. Along with every other privatised industry in the U.K. since the 80’s. You start with social unrest, cancel and destroy Unions, put traitors in charge of the remains and voila – the Bankers win again!
So either a Sixth republic or another basket case ex-colonial power.
The choice is the for the ‘peasants’ to make.
And for sure they have to no longer retain the wealth of their colonies which are only owned and benefit only the same old Slavers and Bankers using immense violence against unarmed locals as they have always done.
Btw I suspect Sprinter / Spriteer got whacked again yesterday because they were posting a lot of the riots and the original shooting video… in fact I recall they posted some kind of poll. Expecting to be censored again.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Jun 30 2023 11:38 utc | 111

Posted by: Giyane | Jun 30 2023 8:23 utc | 104
Let us not forget most Kurds are well-integrated into Turkish society and have been so since Ataturk’s time. Many Turkish Presidents / leaders have been at least half-Turksih. Since the 1890s the Kurds were considered “Turks” by all and sundry , and especially by the natives of Anatolia; the Christians. As Turks they are responsible for much of the Armenian and Assyrian Massacres in What is now Turkey,Iraq, Syria etc.
Of course, Ataturk’s Turkicisation movement, where all “Turks” of the former Ottoman Empire had to become secular , wordly and just Turks(not Kurds, Yoruks, Kizilbasil etc) , put many Kurdish noses out of joint. They didn’t slaughter those Christians for nothing. Who will they lord it over now? Secularism and redistribution of lands also helped take away their feudal power. They of course rebelled , and Ataturk massacred many of them in the Twenties and Late Thirties and it serves them right for being blood-thirsty slaughterers of the Christians.
Now of course, some Kurds still rebel, and we hear of them in Syria (where their grandparents were graciously given refuge by the Syrian Arabs but their descendants are now ungrateful to Assad etc) .Some of course rebelled in Iraq and Iran . Other important ones turned traitor and are now key pals of Turkey ie Talibani. Illegal oil profits make marriages of convenience.
I have a pragmatist’s perpective on the Kurds; they are not the romantic freedom-fighters we are shown in the media. You do know they have clamped down on Christians in their native Syria right? No Christian worship allowed ,some are murdered ,and let us not forget the initial key leaders of ISIS were Kurds.

Posted by: Boy | Jun 30 2023 11:52 utc | 113

Tesla skunkworks perhaps?
Or maybe the spaceX design mindset?
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 29 2023 23:44 utc | 48
There’s an article out there by or about the director Cameron who is a leading expert in deep sea submersibles and he says
1. The carbon fiber construction design does not resist implosive force so well and
2. They used it too often. It started creaking loudly several dives earlier.
So: wrong material, improper usage. Billionaire amateurs .

Posted by: Scorpion | Jun 30 2023 12:00 utc | 115

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 30 2023 2:11 utc | 67
Yes but subs don’t go down nearly as deep. it might be good for mini submersibles for weight reduction etc. Titan was going down into bathysphere territory and did do successfully many times. They just over-used it.

Posted by: Scorpion | Jun 30 2023 12:10 utc | 117

UWDude | Jun 30 2023 4:38 utc | 92
*** 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.***
Israel is not in the above list. But didn’t they do at least a couple of atmospheric tests (over ocean areas) though locating these tests and false-flagging them as if “South Africa”?
*** I think of there ever was an attempt to eliminate nuclear weapons, it would result in nuclear war.***
Beware of “disarmament” if it is the sort that was advocated by front-groups such as the United World Federalists (afaicr, Ronald Reagan was reportedly a member, at least in the 1950s, of one of these groups). Basic idea being that all countries would supposedly be disarmed — but instead of the weapons being done away with they were to be handed over to a new worldwide regime, which would thereafter nuke any country attempting to escape from its dictatorship.

Posted by: Cynic | Jun 30 2023 12:23 utc | 119

Are gilets jaunes joining in?
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 30 2023 12:18 utc | 119
that would be unlikely. the gilets jaunes were mainly far right, though at the beginning there were a lot of unpolitical. Like a lot of French, they complained about living in a rich country, because things weren’t perfect perfect.
It’s mainly Maghrebi youths. and particularly young, who are breaking up the place. The shop they pillaged in Les Halles sold Nikes, not surprisingly. Also, less obviously, a branch of Zara, but it was guys walking off with the women’s clothes, not girls.

Posted by: laguerre | Jun 30 2023 12:28 utc | 121

UWDude | Jun 30 2023 7:08 utc | 102
*** 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.***
Doubt it is Erdogan who would have difficulty — but the NATO liberal dictatorships and their wokist mass-media certainly might, when the burners got arrested and jailed for so-called “hate crime”.
Unless they didn’t report any of it, so it could not (apart from the actual jailing) have happened….

Posted by: Cynic | Jun 30 2023 12:40 utc | 123

Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 12:40 utc | 125
i think they’ve had them for decades. I mean whether what some released prisoner looks like to you is a slender straw to build a case against it.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jun 30 2023 12:52 utc | 125

was your claim that Israeli nukes are “useless” one of the strong ones? cause MAD is not useless.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Jun 30 2023 13:17 utc | 127

In a politically correct age, I continue to be amused by the French National Anthem.
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/national-anthems/marseillaise-french-lyrics-meaning/
Brutal, blood thirsty, nasty. Worse than any heavy metal song I know.
But it’s no big deal. It’s not like they are going put down their crossiants and morning coffee and tar and feather Macron. Ho – hum.

Posted by: Eighthman | Jun 30 2023 13:52 utc | 129

Carbon fiber submersibles are stupid, Just like carbon fiber orbital launchers (Musk figured that out early).
Carbon fiber = FRP (fiber reinforced plastic)
It is basically fiberglass only using a much stronger fiber than glass. It is fibers held in a particular arrangement in a resin (plastic) matrix. Yes, carbon fibers are quite strong, but composite materials made from them are still just fibers embedded in plastic. You are relying upon plastic to keep the fibers oriented so that mechanical stresses are taken by those fibers’ strengths (tensile). That is, the stresses are pulling along the fibers’ length. When compression stress is applied you are relying much more on the stiffness of the resin matrix than the tensile strength fiber.
The engineers who designed the submersible must have been diversity hires.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 30 2023 14:16 utc | 131

Real basic question about France. Who is rioting?
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 30 2023 12:18 utc | 119
If it’s about France, read fdesouche. If it’s about Germany, read Politikversagen.
You’ll need Google Translate, Yandex Translate, Deepl, or Baidu translate.

Posted by: Passerby | Jun 30 2023 15:00 utc | 133

B. Wildered no. 107
“At a loose end. 😂🤣😂🤣

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Jun 30 2023 15:16 utc | 135

@138 Cont’d–
On the linked Eurasian Peoples’s Assembly:
“The Assembly is open for a broad dialogue with everyone who shares the ideas of harmonious interaction, coordination and complementarity of efforts of state and non-state actors in preserving peace and strengthening friendship between the peoples of the Eurasian countries.
“The first Congress of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly was held on May 27-30, 2017 in Moscow; it was attended by more than 2,500 representatives from 67 countries.
“At the Constituent Assembly on May 27, the governing bodies: the Secretary General, the General Council, the Head of the General Secretariat of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly were elected.”
Rather large democratic non-governmental body I’d say that few if any barflies have heard about. Yet another indicator of the growing amount of soft power that’s a reality most of the West is unaware of. The last paragraph from its About Us page:
“The Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly is not just another public international association. The formation and development of the Assembly comes from a conscious need to strengthen integration processes at the public level. Along with the expansion of mutually beneficial economic ties between States within the Eurasian partnership, it is important to simultaneously intensify cultural and humanitarian cooperation between peoples, strengthen the interaction of non-governmental organizations, and create public structures aimed at the community. It is on this affirming, basic principle of the community that the main activity of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly is formed.”

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 30 2023 15:47 utc | 137

Four days ago, Time magazine wrote about Wagner’s mutiny:

the short-lived uprising against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government nonetheless highlights concerns in Washington about the safety and security of Russia’s nuclear weapons.

Today there are riots in France, a nuclear power. Yet there are no articles about the dangers of France’s nuclear weapons falling in the wrong hands. Or how next years’ riots might look like, should some of the arms France shipped to Ukraine find their way back to Paris.
The future is politically incorrect, which is why newspapers avoid the subject.

Posted by: Passerby | Jun 30 2023 16:40 utc | 139

I hope that there are some who work for France in the government who visit these open threads here regarding an idea as to how to handle this mess that they find themselves in. Well, it just so happens that I was brainstorming movie ideas and I came across one that can not only potentially solve the problem right now in the streets of Paris but can also make some money for those with deep-pockets in the movie industry (you know who you are!).
Working title – For Whom Chef Ragu Toils
Cast:
Geppetto Marceau – A helicopter pilot that grew up in the French-Riviera. Has tough, conservative views on issues but is also engaged to a political-science major with a heart of gold that balances his right-wing nature with her gleeful acceptance of all leftist policies
Sophie Durand – A poltical science major that had rich, encouraging parents. Her hero is her father who gladly accepted his wife’s divorce to marry a young, virile Algerian refugee. The daughter and father talk on the phone constantly where the father tries to persuade Sophie that Geppetto is a racist, dinosaur
Racist dinosaur – lives at the bottom of the ocean. Like Godzilla, comes on to the scene in times of great, domestic peril, destroying everything in its path.
Ahmed Aziz – leader of the Algerian youth movement that is at odds with the leader of the Paris Youth Movement, Jacques Phillipe. Lives in a 4-star penthouse hotel room, his stay sponsored by the French government. He is in constant communication with his Lieutenants at street level and often meets on the rooftop with Jacques Phillipe to discuss the terms on combining their forces. In his downtime, he often stares forlornly out of his 17th story window at the Paris city scape. When not being attended to by the hotel’s female attendants during bathing or having room service deliver meals created by the Hotel’s celebrity chef, Chef Emeril Boyardee-Ragu.
Chef Emeril Boyardee-Ragu – Chef Ragu is often speechless going about his tireless work in the Hotel’s kitchen. A devout Catholic, his inner-office has been converted to a shrine where he prays on breaks.
Jacques Phillipe – Paris Youth Leader. Like Ahmed, is in constant contact with his lieutenants, out on the street, dictating the level of destruction and hooliganism that the Paris Youth engage in. Has hopes to brings Ahmed’s forces under the umbrella of the PYL (Paris Youth League). His mother is Jewish
—
Scene 1:
-exterior-
A group of PYL hooligans are snapping their fingers in unison, slowly approaching a group of Algerians who are approaching the PYL group from the other direction, also snapping their fingers. Cars are on fire in the background and trash litters the street. Yellow vests are being trampled on by both groups as they approach the other.
-cut to hotel roof, exact same time-
-exterior-
Jacques Phillipe and Ahmed Aziz are side by side, looking out over the destruction of Paris with their armies in their view on the street, approaching each other.
Jacques Phillipe smiles to himself and looks over at Ahmed who is staring forlornly out into the distance.
JP – “So do we have a deal?”
AA – sighs. “I need another day. I feel dirty. I need a bath.”
Ahmed looks behind them to the female hotel attendants who are staring at Ahmed dutifully.
JP – “No time. You know we don’t have the time. The Racist Dinosaur is being summoned as we speak. The streets of Paris can not take much more litter and I don’t presume that you would want to rule over its ashes, eh?”
Ahmed turns his attention from the female attendants to Jacques and frowns. His gaze returns to the Paris cityscape.
AA – “I will give you my decision after dinner.”
JP – “I see you are a man who does not come to these decisions easily. Just know this. The longer Paris burns, the greater the risk of that monster unleashing his century-old complaint. The balance is all. You are playing with fire.”
AA – Angrily, “I know exactly what I am playing with.” Ahmed looks again back to the female attendants.
JP – “I see.” A beat. JP reaches brings his radio up to his mouth. “Ragu better be on point tonight. We need some serious magic.”
-cut to Hotel kitchen, interior, exact time-
Chef Ragu is sitting in his darkened shrine, hands clasped together and bracing his sunken head. His radio erupts.
Radio – “Ragu, come in.”
The Chef drops his hands slowly and looks up, staring at his crucifix. A beat.
Radio – “Ragu, we need you.”
Ragu sighs deeply and reaches for the radio.
Chef Ragu – “Allo. Dis est Ragu.”
-cut to helicopter interior, flying, day, indefinite time-
Gappetto and Sophie are flying in Gappetto’s helicopter, Sophie occupying the co-pilot spot. They are talking over the headset intercom. They are having an argument.
Gappetto – “I am just saying, Sophie. What do you think is going to happen? The immigrants will outbreed us and they are not French. You will be wearing a Burka in 50 years and our daughter will have an arranged marriage by an Imam with a husband she will have never met until her wedding day.”
Sophie – “I don’t care. They are human beings. I want our daughter to live in a society of Egalite, Fraternite, and…uh…”
Gappetto – Finishing her sentence, “Liberte?”
Sophie – “Uh…sure, yeah that’s it.” She gazes down at her stomach area and begins to caress her belly in a motherly demeanor.
Gappetto – sighing, “If that is the future you want for Belle, I suppose it will have to be. That damn Racist Dinosaur is going to wake up any second and we’re all dead at that point. The Eiffel Tower has been destroyed in many disaster films I have seen. But this is real life. I can’t…” Gappetto tightens his fist in the air, “No…I won’t let that happen.”
Sophie – looking over to her determined fiancee, picks up her radio and speaks into it, “Jacques, this is Sophie. Operation: Kicks-Drop is a go.”
-cut to interior, Ahmed’s hotel room, exact time-
Ahmed is busy with his meal with Jacques staring on as Jacques’ radio erupts.
Radio – “Jacques, I repeat, Operation: Kicks Drop is a go.”
JP – “Ahmed, the drop will be on time. You have bathed and eaten. The time for decision is here.”
Ahmed slurps his last spaghetti noodle slowly and loudly, splattering marinara grease on his face and white bathing robe. The hotel female attendant notices this and quickly jumps in with a napkin to wipe Ahmed’s face. As she moves away, she bows and her eyes are welling up with the tears of a servant.
AA – “Two years I came to this country. I was promised something that when I got here I did not see, but yet still believed I would. I can not tell you of the horrors of MY country. But here, it is just the same.”
Ahmed gets up. With his complimentary hotel slippers and plush, bath robe, he shuffles over to the floor-to-ceiling window and gazes out over the cityscape and looks out forlornly.
JP – seeing this, speaks quietly to himself, “Jesus. Not again.”
AA – “The promise has been made. The helicopter will drop the container full of Nike sneakers at the agreed-upon point. My people will get their kicks. And you…” A beat as he looks back at Jacques to size him up one last time. Looking back towards the cityscape, “You will get your army.
But I do not know who is worse, you or them.”
JP – “I am afraid you will just have to see. That monster from the deep can not be unleashed. We will be united under the PYL-banner and we will storm the Parliament building from the street. We will stop this monster.”
…
work in progress.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 30 2023 17:33 utc | 141

Burning of the Koran is permitted by the police in Sweden because they see it as a form of expression, and they have to uphold freedom of expression.
Whether or not it’s a hate crime hasn’t been tried in court because the prosecution doesn’t press charges.
Reading the law on hate crime I really don’t understand why. I would say that the staged burnings are easily identified as such.
I think the only reason that there are no convictions despite a law that isn’t hard to interpret and ample evidence is that Sweden is a deeply anti Muslim country. It’s not a crime because disrespecting and threatening muslins is okay.

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Jun 30 2023 18:37 utc | 143

sadly actor Alan Arkin passed away yesterday
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/alan-arkin-dead-little-miss-sunshine-1235526918/
“His parents were teachers, and he said they were communists.”

Posted by: AG | Jun 30 2023 19:09 utc | 145

Jörgen Hassler | Jun 30 2023 18:37 utc | 145–
Turkish response to Sweden: We understand your “freedom of expression”; here’s ours: No NATO membership for you!!

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 30 2023 20:27 utc | 147

I think the only reason that there are no convictions despite a law that isn’t hard to interpret and ample evidence is that Sweden is a deeply anti-Muslim country. It’s not a crime because disrespecting and threatening muslins is okay.
Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Jun 30 2023 18:37 utc | 145
—————————————————————–
I wonder if burning the bible or the Torah is a hate crime in Sweden? At any rate, Sweden is supporting Zelensky who is making illegal to speak, read, or write the Russian (and other languages) in Ukraine. Also, the Russian Orthodox Churches are banned in Ukraine.
Naw! This can’t be about freedom of speech.

Posted by: Ed | Jun 30 2023 21:43 utc | 149

And now the utterly stupid moron Elon Husk has completely locked down Twitter to only those people who create an account and/or pay for a dumb blue check. His alleged reason is that after they started charging $40K(!!) to developers for access to the API, a bunch of people/orgs started scraping the site instead. LMFAO.
So do you take the over or under on how long before that platform is dead…I’ll set it at 1 year.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 30 2023 22:00 utc | 151

New evidence from Nord Stream underwater expedition refutes official claims (The Grayzone, Wyatt Reed & Max Blumenthal, June 27, 2023)
As a result, the second explosion at NS2-A occured after the strand has already been depressurized, allowing researchers to calculate the true mass of the charges by inspecting the damage site of the second explosion. Their result is 50 kg TNT.
That is, the entire operation only required 200 kg TNT (or 160 kg HMX) of explosives.
(Of course, that doesn’t mean that the operation could be carried out using the Andromeda sailing yacht, as it would require lots of specialized equipment for working at the depth of 80 m.)
Posted by: S | Jun 30 2023 17:46 utc | 144
—————————————————
I have one problem with this comment and the Grayzones article. What the fuck is the “official claim?”

Posted by: Ed | Jun 30 2023 22:42 utc | 153

“…Lavrov as usual minces no words as he continues to layout the situation from Russia’s perspective. As with all of Lavrov’s statements and answers to questions, they are Must Reads.”
Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 30 2023 20:49 utc | 150
Enormous thanks to you, karlof1! I went first to the link you have given to the Russian original text – usually my Google translate on the computer I use aIlows the text to be translated. No longer. So I am additionally grateful that you have given it, and I agree that it is a Must Read in its entirety.
Lavrov begins and ends by pointing out the fundamental rigor and adherence to international law that is the very foundation of the United Nations. And twice in the course of his conversations with questioners he describes the “crushing” of UN Secretariat compliance with its own founding charter laws by the west.
One question and answer I greatly appreciated was the one where a distinction was made between official national organizations and the peoples themselves. I will go back and restore that conversation as I loved Lavrov’s answer there.

Posted by: juliania | Jun 30 2023 23:40 utc | 155

karlof1 | Jun 30 2023 23:16 utc | 156
Apparently Musk says this is only temporary while he figures out how to stop the scraping. It’s annoying because half my feeds are Twitter, and I’m not about to join. There goes a shitload of very important news. It will take a lot of time and confusion for all that to migrate elsewhere, and then somehow the word has to get out to the old readers.
If/when it becomes free to read again, it’ll be interesting to see what readership these feeds lost – it must be wracking for them, and I suppose some may simply stop posting if not enough people are reading – and it sure leaves people like me at a loss.
I hope he brings it back before he loses the whole thing.

Posted by: Grieved | Jul 1 2023 0:00 utc | 157

In response to
”
What does “intrinsic value” mean to you?
Posted by: sln2002 | Jun 30 2023 16:33 utc | 140
”
Good question
Intrinsic means inherent and things like food are better examples than gold but that is where we are. I would expect that in time the breadbasket approach that has raw materials, food, energy and nations currencies(skin in the game) will happen but now the markets for many of those things are highly manipulated by the private finance folk and so the crash needs to happen to wrest market control of many things into sovereign hands.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 1 2023 0:51 utc | 159

Posted by: UWDude | Jun 30 2023 13:06 utc | 128
And how many do you think they have… …after decades? Where do you suppose they store them? In silos in the middle of the desert? Desert, roads… How do they hide them?
========================================
Hide ’em in plain sight, of course.
In “US Outlaw Empire” submarines!!

Posted by: Scorpion | Jul 1 2023 0:55 utc | 161

“by: uncle tungsten | Jun 30 2023 10:24 utc | 108”
“The French have bitter memories of the consequences when they last supported a nazi regime. So – burning out the cancers is what they seem to be doing.”
According to the latest article I read, there have been 917 arrests since the rioting started, and “their average age is 17.” To get 17 as an average, you’d need a lot of them under that. They don’t have bitter memories of 2003, let alone 1943. So I doubt that’s much of a factor for most of them. Still, I’ll admit that this could be the beginning of the end for NATO and EU support for the Nazis currently running Ukraine as U.S. puppets.
They say the riots were “sparked” by the shooting of the delivery driver (never mind that he was speeding, running red lights, and attempted to evade custody). I agree that the ‘spark’ ignited fuel that was already there.

Posted by: Dalit | Jul 1 2023 1:13 utc | 163

psychohistorian | Jul 1 2023 1:00 utc | 164
I’m with you on that, but in this parasitized economy it’s a miracle we get anything free. I’m old school Internet, as I imagine you are, and I expect everything to be free – and I can argue all the reasons for that. It’s Musk’s problem to make a profit from Twitter, but it’s not mine. As I’m sure you would be the first to say, when operations get big enough, they should be broken up or nationalized.
It does occur to me: just as the Fed rate hikes are stagnating the economy, as they’re intended to do, and moving transaction velocity several degrees toward zero – I wonder how many Twitter readers/viewers are not signed up? If it’s a lot, and all that population goes away, then the velocity of information exchange slows significantly. So I would expect over time to see less and less being put out in the blogs and news sites, because a lot of this moves through Twitter.
Good one, Elon – how to stagnate information flow overnight. I would tell him too, but I’d have to sign up to do it 😉 And since he’s blocked profiles also, we can’t even see what other platforms a tweeter is using.
It’ll probably all sort out.

Posted by: Grieved | Jul 1 2023 1:17 utc | 165

juliania | Jun 30 2023 23:51 utc | 158–
Yes, “We do not have unfriendly peoples. It would be more accurate to say that we have unfriendly governments.” Like I wrote last night: “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.”
Grieved | Jul 1 2023 1:38 utc | 168–plus–
On Twitter, Musk has erred greatly as he does on occasion. As psychohistorian pointed out, the founders knew some things that promote and serve the public interest AND that of the nation ought to be public utilities, which is what the USPS was conceived as. IMO, all such institutions ought to be such, but natural monopolies are perfect Rent makers for Oligarchs, which is what’s happened to them here and wherever Neoliberalism has gained purchase. And that’s part of the Big Picture battle.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 1 2023 2:32 utc | 167

Interview with the author of the most comprehensive book on Stepan Bandera.
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sovietgeorgia/episodes/Episode-27-Stepan-Bandera-The-Life-and-Afterlife-of-a-Ukrainian-Nationalist–Fascism–Genocide–and-Cult-with-Grzegorz-Rossoliski-Liebe-e260ltu

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 1 2023 3:00 utc | 169

Behind closed door…G7
Harold Wilson,

‘We need a vehicle where we can find solutions for these challenges [the growth of China and India] together—so when these monsters arrive in 10 years, we will be able to deal with them’.

gARDen consensus…

This planet aint big enuff for all of us, the jungle, especially the chinaman, gotta be culled.

Mean while at the bar,
the resident prof of philosophistry

Personally, I want to trust the PRC but cannot: I think they are too huge for comfort, like ants or something

Then he spent 15 min telling us why PRC would just be another monster.
For good measure, say the prof, those chicom are like mushrooms, fed BS all day about a garden out there waging imaginary wars on China.
For sheer malarkey, this guy is right up there with the g7 elites
With barfly like these, who needs the CNN ?
Im not here to dictate who should be talking to whom, just wondering, what chance is there for a rev ?
Just saw someone from UNZ, intelligent design, telling us why he’s voting for repug….OUch !
Ants…
https://tinyurl.com/v8r2shx8
monsters
https://mronline.org/2023/05/27/the-group-of-seven-should-finally-be-shut-down-the-twenty-first-newsletter-2023
The solution
https://tinyurl.com/2p9fakue
[comment 50]
the 15 min speech on the Chinese monster.
https://tinyurl.com/a8894res
SIGNING OFF

Posted by: denk | Jul 1 2023 3:23 utc | 171

Heidegger an even bigger Nazi asshole than most people know.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 1 2023 3:01 utc | 172
That’ll be Nemesis Calling calling.
I just skimmed thru that link. Off to climb a mountain today, but thanks
for providing my Sat. evening of getting into it a little more. Noticed that
A. Dugin and Steve Bannon were fans. hmmm.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Jul 1 2023 3:49 utc | 173

Putin met with the head of Roscosmos, Yury Borisov, today. I found the conversation illuminating. The ASI forum they talk about initially I linked to and now relink, ASI Forum. Here’s the talk between Putin and Borisov:

Vladimir Putin: Yesterday at the ASI forum-you probably noticed – the issue of creating and using a low-orbit constellation was discussed-this is up to 200 kilometers, right?
Yu.: Yes.
Vladimir Putin: There are problems with the engine primarily to keep this altitude.
Yu.Borisov: Yes.
Vladimir Putin: These are private companies. We talked about this recently, and you yourself said that it is necessary to involve private companies in this work – not in this work, but in space in general.
How do you assess the proposal that was made yesterday? I know that the groundwork has been made.
Yu.Borisov: Yes, Mr President. First of all, we immediately contacted Vyacheslav Temkin yesterday – a scientist from Sergiev Posad, who is actively working with Fiztech. We know about these works, but nevertheless we will meet with him in addition and discuss all his achievements.
He is absolutely right that interest in low orbits – 200 kilometers – is very high today, because, say, the resolution of optics from this orbit and from 500 kilometers, of course, is different: 200 is better.
But there are objective problems with the existence of a grouping in these orbits, because in orbits of 200 kilometers, the atmosphere is discharged, and the ballistic movement is completely different from that at 500 kilometers. It is necessary to keep the spacecraft in a given orbit precisely at the expense of these small plasma engines. There are also other problems: atomic hydrogen actively affects the performance of solar panels. In general, these are the main problems, and this is not an easy task. Nevertheless, I would like to thank the scientist very much for drawing your attention to this problem.
Indeed, we have developed some of the best competencies in the world for creating such engines. Our company “Fakel” in Kaliningrad produces a wide range of similar engines, they are in demand not only in our country, but also abroad: until recently, Western companies actively purchased these engines – in particular, the OneWeb group was formed with the participation of this enterprise, which supplied these engines.
Today, in the face of sanctions, we have reoriented ourselves, and the interest in these engines is very serious in the countries of Asia, China, India, and Africa – I will tell you more about this when I visit Africa.
Therefore, the colleague is absolutely right, we will find an opportunity to support all his research. He is in the right direction and correctly drew your attention to this problem. We are working on it.
Vladimir Putin: We would also like to report on a number of issues, please.
Yu.Borisov: Mr President, first of all, I would like to report to you on the current state of the Russian space group.
The launch program for 2023 is still being implemented without disruptions and postponements, which made it possible to qualitatively and quantitatively increase the Russian space group. At the moment, we have 225 satellites. If you remember, at a meeting with you on April 12, I reported that we have a group of 185: that is, this is not only a quantitative increase in the group, but also a qualitative one.
During these six months, we have managed to launch the Condor remote sensing satellite with a good resolution of less than one meter, which is able to monitor the Earth in any weather, at any time of the day. In particular, it is very useful for monitoring the ice situation of the Northern Sea Route. Now we can [get] information about the state of the ice situation.
During these six months, we have completed the formation of a group of spacecraft at the geostationary station in the interests of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Now we have no problems with the weather forecast. Also recently, on the 27th, the Meteor spacecraft was launched into a sun-synchronous orbit. By the way, this device also had a repeater for the signals of the COSPAS rescue system-SARSAT, and by launching this device we have closed all our international obligations in this regard. We have two machines with this equipment, and recently my colleagues from the Ministry of Transport and I tested this system, it is functional, so everything is closed in this regard.
We support the GLONASS grouping, which gives the appropriate accuracy. In August, we plan to launch a new generation Glonass-K2 device, which will have a longer active life and better technical accuracy characteristics. This is a new page in the development of the GLONASS navigation system.
We are especially looking forward to the launch of a scientific satellite: we are returning to the moon after a 46-year hiatus. We are going to launch “Luna-25” (“Luna-Glob”): this mission involves landing near the South Pole. No one else in the world has ever done such things: before that, we sat down all the time at the lunar equator. Of course, such missions are always risky: all over the world, the probability of successful completion of such missions is estimated to be somewhere on the order of 70 percent. Therefore, we are now intensively conducting possible simulations to eliminate all possible nuances in this mission. Of course, I would like it to be successful.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, regarding public-private partnership. The last launch, on June 27, together with Meteor, we launched 39 more small satellites developed by our private companies and universities – this is a serious step. Plus three more satellites that were developed in the interests of Malaysia, South Africa and Belarus: we continue to provide our launch services to friendly countries.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, this concerns the space group. I think that by the end of this year, by implementing the launch program, we will significantly improve the state of our remote sensing group, which, as you understand, is currently in the most demand.
We are working at full speed on the development of the Russian orbital Station. By the Government’s decision, the operation of the International Space Station of the Russian segment has been extended until 2028, but, unfortunately, we must state that after 2030, the station will most likely cease to exist in the form it currently exists: either it will be controllably flooded, or it will be reoriented for other purposes.
We are now facing a serious question about the continuation of the Russian manned program. Starting in 2024, we need to start full-scale work on the formation of the Russian Orbital Station, complete their main work by 2030, and fully form the station by 2032. Vladimir Vladimirovich, this event is not cheap, and we are constantly in the zone of criticism of our colleagues from the financial and economic bloc, so we draw conclusions.
First of all, we are working on the effectiveness of future planned activities in the interests of not only pure science of near-Earth space exploration, but also obtaining practical results. We have expanded the pool of participants in the formation of the scientific program: in addition to the leading enterprises of Roscosmos, institutes of the [Russian] Academy of Sciences and university science take part. We are actively working with colleagues from the FMBA [Federal Medical and Biological Agency], so we hope that the efficiency of the future station will be significantly higher than that of the Russian segment of the International Space Station.
In our opinion, it is impossible to stop the manned program, otherwise we will lose serious competencies that we have in this area in Russia, and we, perhaps, have the greatest reserve in this area around the world. Everyone uses our experience.
Vladimir Putin: Yes.
Yu.Borisov: Mr President, I would also like to say a few words about the preparations for the Russia-Africa forum. I just recently paid a working visit to Egypt and Algeria. By the way, just before this visit, the President of Algeria arrived and paid a state visit to Russia, and an intergovernmental agreement on outer space was signed. As part of this intergovernmental agreement, we held working meetings with the heads of national [space] agencies of these countries, listened to their plans, and talked about possible areas of cooperation – in almost all space areas. This is also a satellite issue: we already have a rich experience of working with these countries, we have made remote sensing satellites for them, and they are interested in continuing further work. We talked about the creation of multi-satellite low-orbit clusters, launch services, and manned space.
I offered them full participation in the Russian Space Station – not just cosmonaut training, but even the construction of national modules. I will say that the interest in our proposals is very high. I hope that my colleagues and I will be able to fill the space program of the forum, which will be held in St. Petersburg, with real projects.
Vladimir Putin: Very good. There will be a very interesting additional topic.
Yu.Borisov: Africa is a very promising continent, Mr Putin, and they are creating an African Space Agency. All the countries that have national space agencies have decided to create a single African space agency, and we are now building relations. The building is already under construction in Cairo and will probably start operating fully in 2024. And we are already starting to work with this future body.
Vladimir Putin: Very good.
Thank you.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 1 2023 4:32 utc | 175

…the US Postal Service that the private folk are continually trying to kill… posted by psychohistorian @ 164
It’s not just the US Postal Service that the privateers are trying to kill off; it’s more especially the Universal Postal Union, established by international treaty in 1874.
Hugely important for many reasons, not least as a time-proved working model of international co-operation.
Don’t let it be dismantled without a fight! Send a postcard to someone today, everybody!

Posted by: Hope | Jul 1 2023 4:53 utc | 177

The problem with everything, run by government or corporation, is the government or corporation.
Its like the philosophers of old arguing benevolent monarch is the best system…
…well, benevolent anything would be good, by definition. It really doesn’t help solve the problem of humanity, though.
I horrified at the thought of my government in charge of anything, especially after covid.
It really killed any socialist tendencies I had. I see no solution for humanity, or justice, or anything, short of those 20 years after a revolution, before it turn back into a corrupt oligarchy.

Posted by: UWDude | Jul 1 2023 5:04 utc | 179

haven’t seen anyone mention Michael Hudson’s newest essay, America has Just Destroyed a Great Empire –
with a great story from antiquity of arrogance, hubris and pride and the destruction of Croesus’s great Greek/mediteranean empire because of its attack on Persia.
https://michael-hudson.com/2023/06/america-has-just-destroyed-a-great-empire/
“….After eight years of provocation, a new military attack on Russian-speaking Ukrainians was conspicuously prepared, ready to drive toward the Russian border in February 2022. Russia protected its fellow Russian-speakers from further ethnic violence by mounting its own Special Military Operation. The United States and its NATO allies immediately seized Russia’s foreign-exchange reserves held in Europe and North America, and demanded that all countries impose sanctions against importing Russian energy and grain, hoping that this would crash the ruble’s exchange rate. The Delphic State Department expected that this would cause Russian consumers to revolt and overthrow Vladimir Putin’s government, enabling U.S. maneuvering to install a client oligarchy like the one it had nurtured in the 1990s under President Yeltsin.
….A nationalist reaction against U.S. dominance is rising throughout European politics, and instead of America locking in its control over European policy, the United States may end up losing – not only in Europe but most crucially throughout the Global South. Instead of turning Russia’s “ruble to rubble” as President Biden promised, Russia’s balance of trade has soared and its gold supply has increased. So have the gold holdings of other countries whose governments are now aiming to de-dollarize their economies….”

Posted by: michaelj72 | Jul 1 2023 5:56 utc | 181

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Jul 1 2023 5:35 utc | 182
“Blasphemy” used to be a criminal offence per se……..it is still in many countries
Nevertheless “Incitement” is a crime in most polities – and “Offences against Public Order” are almost universal in most legal codes – UK has Public Order Acts 1936 (against Oswald Moseley) and 1986 etc etc

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Jul 1 2023 8:46 utc | 183

Thanks l as usual karlof1 for helping many hear the words of Lavrov and co. , I rely on your posts to do so.
————-
IMO
It’s true that the SCO is the primary kernel of the multipolar world.
OPEC+ is second and BRICS (+) is the least important but the most high profile. That’s where the wormtonguery has a foot in the door.
The idea of a new Reserve Currency is exactly what the Old Owners want. They have always replaced one by the next and the next – it’s part of the ‘haircut’ method they use to turn Money into actual Wealth. Anyone interested can just go look at the tenure of Reserve Currencies over the centuries before the $ last century – they only ever last about a hundred years.
So anyone calling for a new Reserve is actually an agent of the Old Bankers who will shapeshift into the new citizens of that land and carry on as they have always done. Keeping control of the Monetary World is their prime concern.
Unless they are NOT ALLOWED!
That is why they are ratcheting up on their failure and threatening to burn down the house rather than cede control of it after all those centuries.
SCO has well considered treaties that allow for mutual security. That will match and scare the shite out of any bs Article 5 natzo threats.
Iran and Belarus becoming full members any day now means an end to all the adventurism in the ME. Don’t believe it? China has already stated the intentions by making sure that everyone knows that there is a new sheriff in town and a Road Map that is a real one for Palestinians not the make believe WMD YoBlair’s poisonous lies of 20 years ago.
India, Brazil and South Africa as the colonial victims, Stockholm syndromed, with many a traitor to their populations. They have been long captured by the Western Elites, through education, property and corporatocracy – will have to jump off the fence soon and be forced to stand militarily against the SCO, as they will have failed to subvert the emerging multipolar for their unipolar shadow Masters.
Africa can finally see the chains breaking and the few captured elites backed by Western Mercenaries, wholly controlled by the natzo centres , will be the deciding force and when they start fully joining the SCO – any time now – there will be no return to the Old Masters and the West will embrace its crumbling monuments as the Collective Waste.
When will our peoples finally wake up? They are to demented at the moment in their fake woke idealistic saviour syndrome.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Jul 1 2023 12:45 utc | 185

LightYearsFromHome | Jun 30 2023 21:58 utc
The problem with polls is that they’re representative at best. More realistically, they are tools of oppression. There was a time when no self respecting editor would have touched a poll. Sadly those days are gone.
The poll showed has 1009 respondents. Who are they exactly? Are they a genuine slice of France or are they;
500 car owners
300 shop owners
150 Les flics
59 legal/politicians
There’s your 70%. Now ask 1009 rioters what they think. I don’t think the same results will appear.

Posted by: Some Random Passerby | Jul 1 2023 13:29 utc | 187

Posted by: Paul Greenwood | Jul 1 2023 8:46 utc | 185
Blasphemy hasn’t been a crime in Sweden for a very long time. The law is there to prevent incitement to violence. It’s actually very old, it dates back to 1776.

Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Jul 1 2023 13:48 utc | 189

In other words, Prigo wasn’t just performing to the MoD etc., he was mainly performing for those in Wagner making a grand Russian gesture that, again, any anti-State types would buy into, thereby exposing them.

Posted by: Scorpion | Jul 1 2023 14:10 utc | 191

“Does a falling tree in the woods make a sound if nobody is around to hear? Answer: It makes no sense to speak about sound when nobody is involved to make a conscious experience of a sound.”
A neat demonstration of why so much “philosophy” is garbage. Surely the animals who ran away from the falling tree heard something that motivated their flight, after all. The statement above has meaning only if one defines “sound” as something consciously (and why only consciously?) experienced by a human. (Empirical measurements in kHz be damned, of course.) At that point all we’re doing is playing lexicographical Calvinball. Tather reminiscent of Chomsky’s de facto definition of language as “whatever it is, it’s something only people can do.”

Posted by: malenkov | Jul 1 2023 14:25 utc | 193

@malenkov – you just altered the thought experiment by adding animals. I didn’t answer to that! Also, sound measurement (and reproduction) is not music, as Douglas Hofstadter wrongly claims. If we microfone the tree and retrieve the signal, we can tell that there was noise. Just as is the case when we retrieve the data from double slit, upon which point the wave function collapses. I.e., we know it only then.

Posted by: persiflo | Jul 1 2023 14:36 utc | 195

I’m taking the polite route here, and inform that I am not going to further discuss with malenkov. He’ll be happy, too, lest we end up in Auschwitz.

Posted by: persiflo | Jul 1 2023 15:02 utc | 197

R. Kipling
Also, I remember, paraquoting from the same source, ‘ Now I must see into the causes of things. The boat of my soul reels.’
Posted by: suzan | Jul 1 2023 4:08 utc | 176
———————–
Hello Suzan,
Ah yes, R Kipling who wrote this paean to USA’S conquer of Philippines…

Take up the White Man’s burden–
Send forth the best ye breed–
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild–
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.
…………
Take up the White Man’s burden–
The savage wars of peace—
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought

The gringo took the cue and never look back since….
William McKinley

..there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all (all of Spain’s possessions) and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow men for whom Christ also died.”
…………….
We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world,”
“Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Georgraphy answers the question. China is our natural customer….The Philippines give us a base at the door of all the East.”

.

Posted by: denk | Jul 1 2023 15:43 utc | 199