@b

Thank you!

Keep up the great work. Much appreciated.

Posted by: Don Firineach | Jun 11 2023 14:36 utc | 1

After Ted Kaczynski's death yesterday, his essay "Industrial Society and Its Future" has risen to the Number 1 position of popular texts at The Anarchist Library.

Posted by: Mark Mosby | Jun 11 2023 15:15 utc | 2

"Indeed, we still do not have enough of the latest weapons, but the arms industry, the country's defence industry is making strides, and I am sure that the defence industry will, without a doubt, fulfil its goals. The production of modern types of weapons is going at a fast pace."

V.V. Putin,
June 9, 2023 18:00
...............
That was the President Of Russia being delightfully vague/ambiguous to 'help' NATO decide whether to introduce some Mission Creep into the scheduled activities of Operation Air Defense 23.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 11 2023 15:19 utc | 3

The Branko Marcetic story is worth thinking about.

He describes a world in which the considered views of State Department professionals, civil servants and Congress people are increasingly marginalised as the ruling class's oligarchs insist that every government initiative be 'run past' them.

It's a world in which Think Tanks, responsible only to those who finance them, employ the media to help impose the preferred policies of the Deep State, which is basically, an axis of spy agencies and cops.

It's an old strategy- to cut the electorate out of any influence over government- but it has never before been so easily implemented, thanks to the unprecedented ability of the state to keep everyone and everything under surveillance. Which enormously increases its ability to control society.

Recent years have seen the ease with which the oligarchs have swatted away anything resembling 'maverick' politicians and 'radical' insurgencies- it really has involved almost no effort. There was a time when the likes of Bernie Sanders would have run the risk of assassination, but they are no threat now.

And this is not because they are 'sheepdogs' sold out in advance- that's a narrative which benefits the oligarchs- but because, between the media, the courts and the ability of the security state's organs to manufacture 'kompromat' materials, however flimsily based, the days when a radical electoral campaign could succeed are gone.

In the past decade we have seen- and are seeing-the rise and shocking decline of movements like Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain, Corbyn in the UK, Die Linke in Germany, not to mention the ease with which the Gilets Jaunes were batted away in France.

And we are left with the unchallenged rule of tame and corrupt political parties, all through the "West", busily rolling back the public sector, strengthening control over the media, including social media, banning public protests, castrating Trade Unions and purging the Academy.

Posted by: bevin | Jun 11 2023 15:25 utc | 4

thanks b and to the informative posters who grace this place...

here is an article from yesterday - john helmer..

LOSING THE WAR — WHAT COMES NEXT ON THE BATTLEFIELD, AND THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES

Posted by: james | Jun 11 2023 15:35 utc | 5

our very own moa poster ''roger'' has a great article up which is essentially an overview of where the many european countries stand now with regard to this ongoing proxy war in ukraine involving nato and russia.. i recommend it..

The West vs. The Rest, The Current State of Play; Europe.

Posted by: james | Jun 11 2023 16:04 utc | 6

It is clear that a huge economic war between China and the U.S.A. is approaching. This year so far, the import from China to the U.S.A. has crumbled. That is the result of draconian sanctions.

Posted by: SG | Jun 11 2023 16:07 utc | 7

i highly recommend this article... let me know what you think, if you find time to read it - 'the pair'...

The D-Notice: Very British State Censorship - Kit Klarenberg

Posted by: james | Jun 11 2023 16:39 utc | 8

"In 1990 the Club of Rome published a book, The First Global Revolution, which lays out what is now repeated regularly by people like Klaus Schwab: That the world and human society is in dire need of repair, and that governments are not up to the task for a variety of reasons: "There is need to bring many partners into the process — business and industry, research institutions, scientists, NGOs and private organisations — so that the widest available experience and skill is available. In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill." From To Agenda 2030 and Beyond

Posted by: kana | Jun 11 2023 16:54 utc | 9

Thanks for the link to WaPo's Tesla Autopilot hit-piece, b. My reaction is "What took the (((MSM))) so long to respond?"

Elon has been drawing attention to the number of Zionists filling senior roles in the West's Mainstream Media since 2018. The WaPo article is a non-story because EVERY vehicle maker offering "driver-assist" packages warns against leaving the car to its own devices.
And the Traffic Code warns drivers of cars with Autopilot that they are personally responsible for ANY & EVERY mistake the car makes.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 11 2023 17:24 utc | 10

@Posted by: james | Jun 11 2023 16:39 utc | 9

The role of the BBC has always been as state propagandist, I remember the 1980s Miners Strike from when I was still living in England. The state went far beyond legality in fighting it, with police stopping miners hundreds of miles away from pickets and turning them back and state benefits being cut off from miners families. Some of the mining towns were subject to a police occupation and at Orgreave we had a police riot that the BBC covered up by reversing the timelines on the tape, making it look like the miners attacked the police when it was the police who mounted an unprovoked attack and horse charge on the miners. When the BBC got a bit out of line on Iraq, pointing out the lack of real evidence and the "sexed up" dossier they were thoroughly smacked down by the establishment.

The history of the BBC and its Miners strike role: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tPNPTFfKog

The Battle of Orgreave Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ncrWxnxLjg

This was the pivotal moment for British capitalism after its party survived the depression it created in the early 1980s due to the winning of the Falklands War, the smashing of the working class vanguard union that had brought down the Conservative government in the early 1970s. Once they smashed the miners (aided by the idiot miners who got played in the Nottinghamshire mines who later lost their jobs anyway, and traitors/cowards across the rest of the union movement) they could smash/intimidate the rest of the British union movement.

After the strike they went out of their way to close even the most productive of the British mines, bankrupt the miners union and then the "dash for gas" in the 1990s that made the UK dependent on natural gas - now imported as North Sea production wanes. From the Thatcher revolution we got the working class hating and rich yacht and media owner loving Blair and now his heir Starmer (the "champagne socialists"). Thatcher once stated that Blair was her greatest achievement, neutering the Labour Party as a threat to the Uk establishment.

The Battle of Orgreave will never get the inquiry that Hillsborough got, with it very obvious that the mass police cover up of Orgreave provided the blue print for the cover up after the Hillsborough disaster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULZoaR1AxBE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1auPzjDVuM

Posted by: Roger | Jun 11 2023 17:27 utc | 11

Never read such utter drivel before:

"What lies behind Russia’s acts of extreme violence? Freudian analysis offers an answer"

Peter Pomerantsev
The Guardian
11th June

"The blowing up of a Ukrainian dam echoes a traditional cycle of destruction and self-destruction marking the country’s history"

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Jun 11 2023 17:28 utc | 12

Thanks b, and james and others.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 17:30 utc | 13

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 11 2023 17:24 utc | 10

Lol maybe but not every other car manufacturer is really a massive data gathering operation pretending to be about cars.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 17:33 utc | 14

@Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Jun 11 2023 17:28 utc | 12

Its the Guardian who were subjected to a state beating in the early 2010s and are now a cowered PTSD-suffering propagandist outlet of the British establishment, why would you expect anything but such drivel?

Posted by: Roger | Jun 11 2023 17:36 utc | 15

ThusspakeZarathustra@12
If you've never read such nonsense before you've not read Peter Pomerantsev. If you don't want to read worse -see Simon Tisdall- don't read The Guardian.

Roger is right about the 'beating' the Guardian took, but the truth is that the real nature of Manchester's mouthpiece has always been there. What has changed is the depth of the crisis- neo-liberalism and imperialism are backed up against a wall, and the knives have come out.

There is no room for the mild socialism of the Corbyns or Benns any more, no space for dissent or discussion, the paper from 'Potter's Plotting Parlour' as Cobbett called it is pushing the party line, Manchester-ism is in danger. It makes Peterloo look like a picnic.

Posted by: bevin | Jun 11 2023 17:52 utc | 16

...
Lol maybe but not every other car manufacturer is really a massive data gathering operation pretending to be about cars.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 17:33 utc | 14

LOL maybe. But if you think you own your cellphone, or that it's protecting your privacy from AmeriKKKa's NSA or Google, then your Tesla is the least of your worries :-)

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 11 2023 18:04 utc | 17

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 11 2023 18:04 utc | 17

My spy phone isn't made by Ford or GM.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 18:07 utc | 18

Elon fanbois are seriously annoying.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/tesla-autopilot-data-scope

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 18:08 utc | 19

Thanks b, james, Roger and others who post links with the extra info!

Roger@11

I have long noticed how biased and what a propaganda tool BBC is when reporting China, Russia, Syria, Iran, etc. Now thanks to your links/info, I get to see how BBC used the same approches to curate and spread dark dis/misinformation against British working class,

In fact, BBC is totally against any real forces that could challenge the Westen ruling elites.

It was a huge disillusion for a lot of people who have studied English via listening to BBC and who have been told that Western MSM is the epitome of "freedom of speech", "indepence of media".

Posted by: lulu | Jun 11 2023 18:38 utc | 20

Autopilot deaths calls into question so many ethical concerns regarding autonomous cars that Musk's Tesla imo should be sued to his eyeballs.

Autopilot should only be a government tech where it would take 15-20 years to roll out using massive test courses.

Much like rolling out experimental vaccines, you can see the profit motive here writ large with absolutely no accountability.

Imagine your child was a slain party due to a faulty tesla. My god...can you imagine the lives destroyed.

There is also the issue of tptb propping up Musl as a kind of neo-Ford, minus the inconvenient truths about Ford's worldview regarding Jewry. No, Musk mau be a POS but he's our POS and the useful quisslings out there need another sheep dog to keep them in the western somnambulent fold.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 11 2023 18:53 utc | 21

If anyone understands Italian, or Russian, this is worth watching, compare this commander to the one dimensional blustering hate spewing leadership of the USA/NATO/UKR.

...and, how do you say in Russian, "there ain't no atheists in foxholes"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JOsqki-XCs

Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Jun 11 2023 18:55 utc | 22

Thanks Roger and Bevin.

Know what you mean about Tisdall. I skip any of his articles. But this one from the Peter person came via the "Observer".
First time i heard of him. Now i know.

Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Jun 11 2023 18:56 utc | 23

thanks tom and lulu -

@ Roger | Jun 11 2023 17:27 utc | 11

you are much more knowledgeable on this then me! i think of thatcher, reagan and mulroney here in canada - who were all in power around 1980 as the beginning of global neo-liberalism.. they all pushed for this in there own way.. we are a byproduct of this messed up ideology they fostered.. perhaps my use of the term neo-liberal is different from the way it was originally used.. thanks again for your commentary..

Posted by: james | Jun 11 2023 19:03 utc | 24

Left a few replies to regulars over in the previous most recent Not-Ukraine O/T. Can copy-paste them here if needed.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 19:06 utc | 25

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 11 2023 18:53 utc | 21

In a rare occasion, I mostly agree with you there.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 19:07 utc | 26

Chinese envoy Li Hui, who visited Ukraine, Russia and someother European capitals, talked about his peace mission and impression recently:

- Neither Ukraine nor Russia closes the door for negotiations.

- To stop the war, save life and achieve peace, it is needed to stop pouring weapons to the battle ground. Otherwise, it only escalates the tension and the situation will get out control.

- China insists on ceasefire and peace negotiation, no matter how difficult and how big the difference (between Ukraine and Russia) is. China would do everything for a peaceful settlement.

Posted by: lulu | Jun 11 2023 19:32 utc | 27

Personally, I don't think Zelensky deserves such a benevolent China for what he has done to sanction Chinese companies: Ukraine Plans To Nationalize Jet Engine Producer Motor Sich From Chinese Investors .

Besdies, Ukrainian Defense Ministry even listed Taiwan under its list of "countries support Ukraine".

The infamous Azov Nazi went to Hong Kong in 2019/2020 HK rioters against Chinese government. When one of the them was de-nazified by Russia SMO, those HK "pro-democracy" idiots even held online memorial for this Nazi.

Posted by: lulu | Jun 11 2023 19:57 utc | 28

RE: the "Navalny" propaganda puff-piece film. I actually left a review for it after suffering through 3/4ths of it back in March on HBO. The review was quietly flushed/disappeared without notification to me. Here it is from the original email receipt that was generated at the time.

Let me start off by saying something that should be unnecessary but for the state of near totalitarian narrative management and information control that has been in place since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, and which has ramped up in the collective **democratic West** since the election of 2016, but also in a more subtle manner extending back to 2008 and then 2014, the years of the Russian military action in Georgia and the Maidan coup d’etat in Ukraine, respectively - then there is the Skripal affair. But since it has to be said I AM NOT A RUSSIAN, I’m not a **Putin sympathizer** and I’m not a paid troll or employee of a **troll farm** - see my review history for all the proof of that you need.

As far as the film **Navalny** goes I’ll give it one major compliment It was very well written and produced. It spins a very compelling tale and is visually engaging to watch.

As far as the criticisms, they center on the lack of balance and omission of critical information that is inconvenient to the story the film is telling. Let me enumerate them quickly.

1. It is far from conclusive what substance was allegedly given to Navalny, and the testing process was subject to criticism from those who follow geopolitics and clandestine affairs, especially related to the **great powers** (US, UK, Russia and China for this purpose) and their respective adversaries. By this I mean that there are other sides to the story, conflicting accounts from witnesses, a broken (and opaque) chain of custody for the evidence, and some disputed findings. None of them are addressed in the film except in a broad brush dismissal of anything that might countervail the **official** narrative as ‘Russian propaganda.’

2. Navalny got his start in Russian politics on the erstwhile **left** but was quickly booted from his associations for his white supremacist, nazi-like views. Since then he moved ever further to the right and became a straight up far right Russian ultra-nationalist far to the right of Vladimir Putin. He was expelled from the liberal Yabloko opposition party for colluding with the Russian neo-Nazi movement. Navalny is a arch nationalist who wants **Russia for the Russians** excluding all other ethnic groups. In 2013 he publicly endorsed a race riot against Russians of Chechen heritage.

His most commonly stated views align more with Alexandr Dugin (the guy whose daughter was just killed last year) than Vladimir Putin and If you want proof of this, I encourage you to use the Russian website Yandex.com to search for the many instances where Navalny has made openly racist statements and incitements to racial and political violence - on video. There are too many examples to name here. You’ll need to use Google translate or find videos with English subtitles. In an interview with the Guardian Navalny confirmed those views

Several years ago, Navalny released a number of disturbing videos, including one in which he is dressed as a dentist, complaining that tooth cavities ruin healthy teeth, as clips of migrant workers are shown. In another video, he speaks out in favor of relaxing gun controls, in a monologue that appears to compare migrants to cockroaches.

The interviewer says **I ask him if he regrets those videos now, and he’s unapologetic. He sees it as a strength that he can speak to both liberals and nationalists. But comparing migrants to cockroaches? **That was artistic license,** he says. So there’s nothing at all from those videos or that period that he regrets? **No,** he says again, firmly.

This, of course, was papered over in the film.

3. As detailed in the film, Navalny decided to run as the opposition candidate to Putin in I think 2017 during which time he came out with a couple of campaign videos espousing some VERY REASONABLE anti-corruption policies and, dare I say, socialist-left leaning ideas for the common people in the Russian Federation. Whether he was being genuine is anyone’s guess, but given everything he did before and after that, one should probably assume he would have reverted to his far-right roots should he have won the presidency of Russia.

4. Navalny is very unpopular in Russia and this is borne out by multiple independent and anonymous polls. For example, not long ago (2017), polls were conducted on the street protests - some of which were led by Navalny and his cohort. Public opinion was mostly in favor of the right to protest against Putin and various policies of his in the streets, but the public mostly held unfavorable views of the Navalny-associated protests. In another poll related to the mayoral race of Moscow, Navalny scored a meager 4% among voters who said they would definitely vote for him and another 10% who said **maybe yes.**

Don’t get me wrong, once the Kremlin recognized him as a potential political threat, they took many actions, some of which were likely illegal and put out a ton of anti-Navalny messaging. But in subsequent polls before the 2018 Russian presidential election, his popularity had nosedived to 4%. So he’s not this widely loved put upon opposition figure that poses a real threat to Putin’s power and he’s not a nice guy with typical Western liberal values, despite the one campaign I mentioned in which he claimed to be.

5. Finally and in building on the previous points, the ‘western’ media also try to connect the ‘poisoning’ of Navalny to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. That makes no sense at all. Navalny is no danger to Putin and is actually useful for him as he keeps other ‘liberals’ busy opposing the far-right (that is people and parties far to the right of Putin).

During years leading up to the incident which this movie centers on, Navalny made some enemies by uncovering corruption cases. His latest one was about the local governor of Tomsk. It was also the reason why he was on the flight. That is a far more logical suspect in his alleged poisoning than the Kremlin or Putin, which will be hard for most Westerners to swallow given the non-stop unverified stories of Putin poisoning person after person (again, including the Skripals).

Only the anti-corruption activities (which I think of as very positive, BTW) were depicted in the film **Navalny.**

On this basis I have to say I cannot recommend this movie unless you're very bored and/or you like digesting fictions on the evils of Russia and Vladimir Putin. The story told is compelling, but it is largely hogwash.

3/10 for technical merit.
Summary: Pure Propaganda

For whatever reason certain characters like " were replaced with **.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 20:06 utc | 29

Arrghhh....I left a review ^^^ at IMDB.com - I suggest other barflys do the same.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17041964/?ref_=tt_urv

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 20:07 utc | 30

@Posted by: james | Jun 11 2023 19:03 utc | 24

Neoliberalism was really facilitated in the US in the 1970s by Carter in the last two years of his presidency (he was the one who appointed Volcker), and James Callaghan the UK Labour Party leader plus his detestable chancellor Healey from 1976-1979 (they used an IMF intervention they really did not need as an excuse to go neoliberal, which caused the "winter of discontent" of 1979 that got Thatcher in). The Labour right-wing have always been class traitors, it didn't just start with Blair. Same with the MacDonald government in the 1930s in the UK.

The Winter of Discontent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYWsUXQrLYw

Tony Benn, true socialist who was blocked by the Labour eight-wingers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_o2tsp-E2I

Trudeau even did his little bit by ending the practise of the Bank of Canada funding large amounts of government spending, as they had done since the 1930s Great Depression, turning government "deficits" once again into interest bearing assets for the rich and the banks. Let's remember that it was really the Democrat Clinton who brought in full scale neoliberalism in the US, and the Liberals under Chretien who crushed federal spending transfers and did not reverse NAFTA or the GST as promised. What Chretien should have done is fire the Canada Central Banker who was strangling the economy with ridiculously high interest rates (doing well for his class in crushing the working class, once that was done lower interest rates were fine).

Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney brought full on neoliberalism in, but they needed class traitors to help them get into power and get the ball rolling, and then other class traitors to maintain and develop it (Clinton, Blair, Chretien).

Using the Bank of Canada the way the Chinese use their state banks, for economic development rather than QE that just drives up financial assets and house prices, aided by the removal of any quantitative controls on bank mortgage lending.

https://www.chroniclejournal.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/how-the-bank-of-canada-was-robbed-of-its-purpose/article_924a2116-c93a-11e6-878b-afca58175239.html

https://watershedsentinel.ca/articles/bank-canada-lawsuit/

Posted by: Roger | Jun 11 2023 20:08 utc | 31

Breaking...

Nicola Sturgeon denies that there was anything fishy about her oversight of the Party's funds.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jun 11 2023 20:20 utc | 32

@Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 20:07 utc | 30

Sad that the IMDB comments show that the Navalny propaganda pic is doing its job, showing a view of Russia that is utterly delinked from reality to those that do not have the knowledge to know that it is horseshit. It may even win an academy award!

Posted by: Roger | Jun 11 2023 20:24 utc | 33

Posted by: Roger | Jun 11 2023 20:24 utc | 33

LOL. Yeah, I actually watched and left my review immediately after it *DID* win an Academy Award. Pathetic. Recall the previous propaganda puff-piece to receive the same "honor": "The White Helmets"

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 20:37 utc | 34

Say what you will about Elon Musk, if you are a capitalism fan boy (that includes the "woke" kind who fixate on racism, misogyny, and "transphobia" as the world's biggest problems), Musk is the only thing going for you right now. There is literally nobody else providing any direction for capitalism whatsoever. The only other thing being pursued with any vigor in the West is "Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equity". DIE. As with Gen Z being the last generation of western culture, the label "DIE" is likewise oddly appropriate and prophetic.

I think Musk realizes that western culture is at its end, which is why he would prefer to spend his last days in an aluminum can on Mars rather than watch western society's death throes from close up. We may be able to somehow avoid nuclear Armageddon, but the West dying with a whimper will be a whole lot worse than most people can imagine as well.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 11 2023 20:46 utc | 35

really a massive data gathering operation

Posted by: Rae | Jun 11 2023 20:53 utc | 36

Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 11 2023 20:46 utc | 35

Muskrat got "woke" himself but in the manner of finally realizin' that all the money comes from grifting off the government. So like Bozos, he started contracting with the feds and lobbying for all sorts of tax writeoffs and subsidies.

Woke/Rainbow Capitalism, as you point out, is their desperation play and comes with the added benefit of keeping the working class pissed off and paranoid about their kids being turned into hermaphrodites.

And to add to your last point, IMO the nukes won't fly and the AI Terminator drones/bots won't be turned loose on us rabble UNTIL the Muskrat billionaires have established luxury colonies in orbit or on Mars. Because as soon as they know they and their offspring can survive a nuclear war, they probably won't push us quite to that point. Once they have built sustainable colonies, they will likely have found that space, the last frontier, is capable of providing all the raw materials like metals and semiconductors they'll ever need.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 20:58 utc | 37

Canadian government orders seizure of Russian cargo plane at Toronto airport.

Posted by: Passerby | Jun 11 2023 21:02 utc | 38

ThusspakeZarathustra @ 12, Roger @ 13:

I hear that Fraudian regular Nick Cohen has disappeared from that newspaper's "hallowed" columns under a large cloud of complaints of sexual harassment of younger, junior women journalists working there. All these complaints were either ignored or suppressed by chief editor Katherine Viner, until recently.

The Fraudian looks seedier than ever, with its hypocrisy about championing the rights of victims and other marginalised groups now exposed by its own sexual harassment scandal.

I was reading Tony Greenstein's blog on this scandal.

Posted by: Refinnejenna | Jun 11 2023 21:02 utc | 39

A strong confidant nation doesn't need to stoop to the sort of tricks and conivences this Global Times editorial details, "Let’s see how this play staged by the US will end". I was reminded of the Mothy Python skit with the Pantomime Horses as I read this.

The rumor made up by the Wall Street Journal that China would spend billions of dollars to build an "electronic eavesdropping facility" in Cuba is still fermenting in the US. This has been enough to confirm the previous assumptions of many people, including us, that there is a direct and close relationship with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's reported China visit.

It is obvious that some people in the US want to spoil the possible visit again, and the White House's subsequent performance is not so much refuting the rumor, but a rumor-style explanation. It wanted to extract itself from the rumor, and at the same time, it did not forget to add some newsy elements to it. It makes people feel that the role played by the US government in this matter is not simple. If there hadn't been a round of hype about the "balloon incident" in the US in February, the current show might have a little more novelty. The US side has always directed and acted by itself, and this time the screenwriter has added some new exciting elements, but the script as a whole is still old-fashioned and crappy. The more serious the actors pretend to be on stage, the more ridiculous they appear. Every detail makes people feel absurd.

The rumor itself this time is too absurd to be analyzed with professional knowledge. Normal people think it is impossible when they hear it. There are two main feelings from the Chinese people: One is that Americans are really good at acting, and the second is that let it perform, while we are not interested at all. Some US officials most want to see China prove its innocence in a panic, but people can never prove what they have not done. If we don't join the show, we won't be led by them. Their performance with ulterior motives will become a de facto international shame.

Do read the rest. Cuba is as much a target here as China. China could answer back sensibly that it's merely keeping as close watch on the Gitmo Human Rights Violating Prison, which would be a good cold slap in Uncle Sam's face. Whiny attempted psy-ops are very weak tools displaying the Empire's nudity to the world.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 11 2023 21:06 utc | 40

Now that Boris Johnson has resigned from Parliament in a supposed fit of pique against his fellow back-stabbing psychopath kleptocrats in the Tories, I suppose he will now spend the northern summer on holidays with his missus and brood (and perhaps add another baby to it next year) and perhaps make another unexpected visit or two to Kiev to summon up support from Zelensky for his (Johnson's) candidacy for NATO secretary-general in September when that job goes vacant. Anyone like to agree or disagree with me?

Posted by: Refinnejenna | Jun 11 2023 21:10 utc | 41

space, the last frontier, is capable of providing all the raw materials like metals and semiconductors they'll ever need.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 20:58 utc | 37

I should have added that when the Earth is a smoldering pile of ashes, with no strong nation states or well organized groups capable of exercising power, it'll be a lot easier to send the mining ships down to the planet's surface to take whatever resources they want. It is going to happen, the question is when.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 21:11 utc | 42

Some other recent items not on b's list barflies could've easily missed:

"‘Give War a Chance’ – A ‘War That Even Pacifists Can Get Behind’"--Alastair Crooke.

"The Hegemon Will Go Full Hybrid War Against BRICS+"--Pepe Escobar.

"The ‘Fourth Turning’ that will Define our Century"--Alastair Crooke.

"Buying US Debt Subsidizes Imperialism"--Michael Hudson.

Michael Hudson interviewed by Dimitri Simes for Sputnik's "New Rules" Podcast--"In this week’s episode of the New Rules podcast, host Dimitri Simes Jr. speaks with economist Michael Hudson about the Biden administration’s ‘class war’ against working Americans, why US reindustrialization efforts are unlikely to succeed, the real purpose of sanctions, and de-dollarization."

"ATLANTIC COUNCIL MEMBERS RE-DEFINE CRAZY WITH RESPECT TO UKRAINE"--Larry Johnson.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 11 2023 21:23 utc | 43

@ Roger | Jun 11 2023 20:08 utc | 31

thanks.. any hope for the idealism for a renewed bank of canada as described in the bottom 2 links?? i am curious.. what has to happen for that to happen??

Posted by: james | Jun 11 2023 21:24 utc | 44

Hudson’s latest interview referred to here is very interesting.

He states that dedollarization and deindustrialism will lead to a constricting combination of lower wages and inflation leading to a further polarization of wealth.

The only way out of this is revolution made more difficult by police states.

Enter Russia exposing massive levels of western corruption with the clout to not only expose but possibly bring to justice. Interesting.

Posted by: financial matters | Jun 11 2023 22:10 utc | 45

Tom_Q_Collins @ 37 & 42

What really worries me is these "space billionaires" getting their hands on small nuclear reactors. Nuclear reactors are ideal for providing the large amounts of power required for settlements in orbit or the Moon and Mars, especially in places like the permanently shadowed craters at the lunar south pole where most of the Moon's water resources are found. The US is also providing funding to private companies to develop nuclear propulsion.

Most small reactors designed for use in space use Highly Enriched Uranium, that can be easily adapted to create a nuclear weapon. Maybe Musk will sneak in a few nuclear EMPs among all those Starlink satellites and declare himself Emperor of Mars, threatening to send us back to the Stone Age if challenged.

Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Jun 11 2023 22:19 utc | 46

A very refreshing break from war porn and other troubles is provided by the combination of first reading this article, "Docking completed on Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge undersea tunnel" followed by watching this outstanding video about the bridge/tunnel's construction. The video is just one of many provided by RT's Documentary Channel, and you can get to see what else is available from the above link. The narration's in English with subtitled translations. If you want to see modernity, watch this video. Personally, I can't conceive of the Outlaw US Empire doing anything of that sort today, although it did once upon a time in the past.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 11 2023 22:25 utc | 47

@ karlof1 | Jun 11 2023 21:23 utc | 43

thanks karl.. i liked the michael hudson article..

Posted by: james | Jun 11 2023 22:47 utc | 48

Kit Klarenberg writes at mintpressnews.com on the Pentagon “Influence and Perception Management Office”. This report details the background and activities of this extra legal pentagon operation and the enormous reach it exercises across the planet.

Below is a snippet that may be coincidental to the forthcoming NATO December23 operation somewhere in europe:

Fittingly too, in December 2022, independent journalist Jack Murphy published an investigation alleging the CIA was “using a European NATO ally’s spy service to conduct a covert sabotage campaign inside Russia under the agency’s direction,” in which JSOC was a key player. The Command purportedly supports these operations “with targeting information from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, such as drones, that can see and hear deep into Russia.”

It is a worthwhile read. Just goto mintpressnews.com and you will find a basket of goodies.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 11 2023 22:49 utc | 49

Refinnejenna:

BoJo as NATO secretary-general?

Where do I sign the public campaign in favor of this? Could be the final straw in the UK.

}:)>

(Oh and please do compost, no wait, mulch, Stoltenberg appropriately in an ecological manner. Mixing his remains with nuclear waste sounds about right or they could export it to Israel, maybe both?).

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jun 11 2023 23:15 utc | 50

Tom_Q_Collins #20:58 utc | 37

Once they have built sustainable [space] colonies, they will likely have found that space, the last frontier, is capable of providing all the raw materials like metals and semiconductors they'll ever need.

I think that scenario is flawed. All the mineral deposits that may or may not exist still have to be mined. On earth this mining is conducted on a large scale, requires enormous energy inputs but most of all the furnaces and processes accompanying refineries requires oxygen, and in enormous volumes. Earth seems to be the only planet so endowed.

Trashing the earth and its biosphere would turn off the oxygen pump in the forests.

IMO the next century might see some mining on the moon for exotics not readily available on earth. But mainly the resource most sought after is the thirst for knowledge and the development of technology to search that far.

The elite just want to dominate and accumulate as they are likely aware of the oxygen equation and the equations applicable to other exotic gases like neon etc.

The WW3 scenario is nonsense when it is conjured as a deliberate malign ploy. An accidental outcome ? perhaps.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 11 2023 23:26 utc | 51

@Posted by: james | Jun 11 2023 21:24 utc | 44

"thanks.. any hope for the idealism for a renewed bank of canada as described in the bottom 2 links?? i am curious.. what has to happen for that to happen??"

All our politicians are bought and paid for, it would need another Great Depression that strips the propaganda off peoples brains and forces the elites to give up some of their power. Or perhaps an alien invasion ....

Posted by: Roger | Jun 11 2023 23:36 utc | 52

news report.. .
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to China next week for long-delayed talks aimed at stabilizing tense relations, and a U.S. official said he is expected to be there on June 18.

We recall the last high-level meeting of the two countries.

from wikipedia--

The United States–China talks in Alaska, also referred to as the Alaska talks[1] or the Anchorage meetings,[2] were a series of meetings between representatives of China and the United States to discuss a range of issues affecting their relations. The talks took place in three rounds during a two-day period between March 18 and 19 of 2021.
. . .Following the first day of the talks, both sides publicly denounced each other to the media. After the second day, some agreements were made, and the talks were called constructive, as well as substantive.
. . .The conference ended on the second day without any joint statements. The Americans agreed to continue to uphold the one-China principle,[18] whilst also stating that the issue of Taiwan was one that the American government was "fundamentally at odds"[18] with the Chinese government. However, both sides agreed on the value of using the talks as an opportunity to hear and better understand each other's issues[13] and to continue cooperation on issues related to climate change.[3] . .here

Actually the US on Taiwan is fundamentally at odds with itself. It is a published US statement that the US does not support Taiwan independence, yet it provides military support to the island to support its independence from China.
We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means. . . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 11 2023 23:37 utc | 53

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 11 2023 23:26 utc | 51

I suppose I was looking pretty far ahead into the future. That said, I did account for their ability to utilize the Earth once everything has been shattered and is no longer protected/able. But all you have to do is look to science fiction literature regarding how space mining and exploration might happen. For example, Total Recall sees Mankind having colonized Mars and setting up large scale mining operations. The point here isn't to take technical lessons from fiction, but as a means of imagining it using the science knowledge we already have or which is on the foreseeable horizon, hence science-fiction.

Regarding the scenario(s) that might lead to nukes and Terminator bots wrecking the Earth, it wouldn't even need to be an easily definable WWIII type event. In my obviously hypothetical future, the mega billionaires have harnessed the technology necessary to explore, build and populate their new home in space. As mentioned they have also developed the ability to mine for materials (and either capture or land on moving space bodies like asteroids do do the same) or synthesize new ones where they are. This is a long way off, so by then they'll already have functioning government of some kind and less interest in preserving the Earth as a hospitable place for *humans* than they do now, all corporate greenwashing and other PR bullshit aside. In this scenario, what happens could be a combination of things including wanton use of nuclear weapons and massive pollution from ground and sea wars, including oil wells flowing into the sea or onto the desert. Or like you invoke, a series of cascading accidents and bad decisions leading to the same.

UNLESS something changes with respect to capitalism and how we choose to use the finite resources of Mother Earth, or there does happen to be WW3 scenario due to any of the hypothesized causes, all of this is probably 2.5 centuries away.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 23:38 utc | 54

Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Jun 11 2023 22:19 utc | 46

I was just reading about LENRs/cold fusion the other day at a rather conspiratorial Substack page that the author has dedicated to his own perceived persecution and the persecution of people who were supposedly surpassing unity (i.e. violating the 2nd law of thermodynamics). For the life of me I cannot find it, but the guy has post after post about how governments and billionaires have suppressed inventors and scientists that either succeeded in achieving perpetual energy creating devices or were on the verge of "beyond unity." Some regular barflys might be familiar with one of his favorite topics, the Canadian inventor (and crackpot?) named John Hutchison. Kinda off topic, I guess, but when I was reading his musings I was reminded of Steorn, the Irish startup from back in 2005/2006 that promised perpetual energy products called Orbo...ANY DAY NOW! They had failed demonstration after failed demonstration, but it was fun to follow for a while before the whole thing petered out and the company founders went broke and lost all their investors' money.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 11 2023 23:55 utc | 55

Ha! I found it. https://arcanus.substack.com/p/the-suppression-of-energy-science

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 12 2023 0:16 utc | 56

Finally located the video interview between Judge Napolitano and Alastair Crooke from 6 June where some important news and views dealing with Europe are expressed. For example, Crooke tells us about a very important news item that was published by Die Welt that Germany is now majority immigrant--German's are a minority within Germany--that will have major political repercussions. IMO, 25 minuets of time well spent.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 12 2023 0:26 utc | 57

French government nationalises nuclear generator:

The French government has completed the nationalization of the country’s largest energy utility, EDF, with the company officially removed from the Paris stock exchange, according to a release issued by the finance ministry on Thursday.
The takeover follows the company suffering a record loss last year, with nuclear output falling to a 34-year low.
https://www.rt.com/business/577707-france-nationalizes-energy-provider/

source: https://t.me/two_majors/8347

As I recall, EDF in conjunction with the French Trade Union peak body - Confederation General de Travaille (CGT) bought the UK power generators immediately Thatcher sold off the public utilities. So does this news mean that the French workers and people's representative government outright own the UK energy system?

I like that idea.

Perhaps the UK Trade Union peak body should enter into a workers confederation with the CGT as a first step in energy solidarity.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 0:34 utc | 58

@ Roger | Jun 11 2023 23:36 utc | 52

i think the concept of total collapse was that orlov guys viewpoint as well.. thanks..

----- uncle tungsten and karlof1.. thanks for the suggestions.

Posted by: james | Jun 12 2023 0:49 utc | 59

uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 0:34 utc | 58--

Hard to tell at the moment but France may be trying to save itself as energy generation ought to be a public utility. Let's see if that action's followed by something similar. Germany might drown in its energy less future, but France does have options AND will be eying becoming Europe's economic engine--a goal it wanted for decades. Politically, that change in direction could salvage Macron and his backers.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 12 2023 1:31 utc | 60

Many links are great follow-ups to important topics, but this Anatol Lieven guy in Responsible Statecraft is a load of crap again.
Well it's 80%-90% crap, I guess that puts him above the fray, one might think.
I would argue, that it might be the worse than the usual propaganda, because he tries to weasel Western truthisms into his oh so "neutral" analyses.

In the link above he pulls this "well we are not so innocent either" - shtick. Many accusations against Russia are just presented as fact. His justification for listening a bit to the evil Russians is that they have a somewhat understandable, quasi-primitive interest in exerting their influence over their neighbors. As if NATO and the West wouldn't actually threaten the Russian state. As if the Ukrainians didn't actually discriminate against all non-ukrainians and as if they didn't just slowly murder their Russian minority over many years. As if the West wasn't doing EXACTLY that to a much greater extent.
And I think it might try to warm the Western audiences to the idea that the West isn't just the good guy, but still far better than the evil Russians. This is probably necessary now that it became apparent the Ukros won't win and their frenzied and propagandized petit bourgeoisie citizen-dolts need to be prepared for the shift in the official narrative. Or maybe he mostly doesn't want to die in a nuclear war, I guess that's something. Otherwise it really is mostly just garbage.

His last article was on Kosovo btw. Again he tried to reduce the "good vs evil" part only to "maybe they are not evil, but simply more primitive than we are". The presence of NATO troops is presented as a good thing for the region. As if the West hasn't pushed for the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia and destabilization for more than two decades now.
It has crappy pieces like:

A more sensible approach draws upon law, but combines this with humanity, reality, enlightened U.S. and NATO self-interest, and sheer common sense.

If this guy is not a paid actor he is an educated idiot.

Posted by: Roland | Jun 12 2023 1:31 utc | 61

james | Jun 12 2023 0:49 utc | 59--

Thanks james. The world is wide and wonderful with a great many other happenings besides what's ongoing in Ukraine.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 12 2023 1:34 utc | 62

@ bevin | Jun 11 2023 15:25 utc | 4

You omitted the stunning crushing of OWS by the US Federal government in a single weekend.

As for the political infiltrations of "the Left" (any group even nominally posing some disadvantage to plutocracy), take for example the situation where a few real "Greens" form a embryonic Party in the US: It will be under intense "police" surveillance from the first, and its ranks rapidly filled with the Mob princes and princesses of the plutocratic elite and their hangers-on and wannabes, who will rapidly convert it to a typical "progressive" Party, with LGBTQ+, BLM and maybe even Me Too its primary concerns, and any actual ecological concerns relegated to a distant third or fourth place if that.

Posted by: John Kennard | Jun 12 2023 2:17 utc | 63

bevin # 15:25 utc | 4

In the past decade we have seen- and are seeing-the rise and shocking decline of movements like Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain, Corbyn in the UK, Die Linke in Germany, not to mention the ease with which the Gilets Jaunes were batted away in France.

And we are left with the unchallenged rule of tame and corrupt political parties, all through the "West", busily rolling back the public sector, strengthening control over the media, including social media, banning public protests, castrating Trade Unions and purging the Academy.

IMO the largest contributor is the concentration of media ownership. Since neo-liberal economics was let off the leash many nations now have a scenario where all broadcast and print media are concentrated in just a few oligarch hands. This leads to a hugely unified propaganda wall until humans lear to switch it off - if ever.

I assume the resistance grows and we now see the US media freakout over Tucker Carlson doing a pied piper trick and even growing as a result.

When the combined effect of media concentration and special interests financing entrism into small political parties such as the Greens, the result is an expanding colonising of the political representation field. The coordinated efforts of the state apparatus in its various guises are quick and well resourced to overwhelm small community based political machinery and turn it into slick marketing strategies. The German Greens are but one small example of the results. It certainly has been the case in large political parties where there is a constant manipulation to select 'ideal' candidates for election/office.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 2:42 utc | 64

karlof1 # 0:26 utc | 57

IMO, 25 minuets of time well spent.

Thank you that was a goodie. Sad that it was so brief - another hour of penetrating analysis and history from Alastair Crooke would be an excellent investment. I really would appreciate his deep insight into the machinations of the UK in its hatred of Russia, how it was flogged, trounced and ejected once Putin consolidated his grip and how the EU - UK tensions evolved and are currently managed.

Thank you james. With luck and serendipity I may find some more links worthy of the time.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 2:49 utc | 65

. . .on a lighter note, from Philippines, The Manila Times . .

FOR the first time in Philippine chess history, the title of National Master was given to a female player.
Grandmaster Jayson Gonzales, chief executive officer of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines, confirmed in a social media post on Saturday that the NCFP has bestowed the title of National Master on 10-year-old Nika Juris Nicolas of Pasig City.
The title is usually conferred on male players who compete in open tournaments dominated by males. . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | Jun 12 2023 2:55 utc | 66

The British Intelligence Hand Behind the NED and Modern Color Revolutions

From: https://www.unz.com/article/the-british-intelligence-hand-behind-the-ned-and-modern-color-revolutions/

report from Matthew Ehret June 7th.

I haven't check out all the links but the report is solid as is Matthew.

Contrary to popular opinion, the British Empire did not go away after WWII, nor did it hand over the “keys to the kingdom” to America. It didn’t even become America’s Junior Partner in a new Anglo-American special relationship. Contrary to popular belief, it stayed in the drivers’ seat.

The post WWII order was largely shaped by a British coup which didn’t take over America without a fight. Nests of Oxford-trained Rhodes Scholars, Fabians and other ideologues embedded within the American establishment had a lot of work ahead of them as they struggled to purge all nationalist impulses from the American intelligence community. While the most aggressive purging of patriotic Americans from the intelligence community occurred during the dissolution of the OSS and creation of CIA in 1947 and the Communist witch hunt that followed, there were other purges that were less well known.

As an organization which was beginning to take form which was to become known as the Trilateral Commission organized by Britain’s “hand in America” called the Council on Foreign Relations and international Bilderberg Group, another purge occurred in 1970 under the direction of James Schlesinger during his six month stint as CIA director. At that time 1000 top CIA officials deemed “unfit” were fired. This was followed nine years later as another 800 were fired under a list drafted by CIA “spymaster” Ted Shackley. Both Schlesinger and Shackley were high level Trilateral Commission members who took part in the group’s 1973 formation and fully took power of America during Jimmy Carter’s 1977-1981 presidency which unleashed a dystopian reorganization of American foreign and internal policy outlined in my previous report.

And much, much more.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 3:08 utc | 67

Tom Sunic introduces his report Marx, Moses and the Pagans in the Secular City at UNZ:

Intro: Below is my essay published first in 1995 in quarterly CLIO (A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History). In view of century-long and still ongoing scholarly disputes about the genesis of totalitarian temptations, intellectual repressions, as well as modern “wokeism” in the EU and US – it may be worthwhile to reexamine the debate between proponents of monotheism and polytheism (“mono-poly”!) from a new vantage point. Which is the genuine religious and intellectual homeland of Whites in America and Europe? Athens or Jerusalem? The Bible or Homer?

...Two thousand years of Judeo-Christian monotheism has left its mark on the Western civilization. In view of this, it should not come as a surprise that glorification of paganism, as well as the criticism of the Bible and Judeo-Christian ethics-especially when they come from the right-wing spectrum of society-are unlikely to gain popularity in the secular city. It suffices to look at American society where attacks against Judeo-Christian principles are frequently looked at with suspicion, and where the Bible and the Biblical myth of god’s “chosen people” still play a significant role in the American constitutional dogma.[12] Although the secular city has by now become indifferent to the Judeo-Christian theology, principles that derive from Judeo-Christian ethics, such as “peace,” “love,” and “universal brotherhood,” are still showing healthy signs of life. In the secular city many liberal and socialist thinkers, while abandoning the belief in Judeo-Christian theology, have not deemed it wise to abandon the ethics taught by the Bible.

Whatever one may think about the seemingly obsolete, dangerous, or even derogatory connotation of the term “European paganism,” it is important to note that this connotation is largely due to the historical and political influence of Christianity. Etymologically, paganism is related to the beliefs and rituals that were in usage in European villages and countryside. But paganism, in its modern version, may connote also a certain sensibility and a “way of life” that remains irreconcilable with Judeo-Christian monotheism. To some extent European peoples continue to be “pagans” because their national memory, their geographic roots, and, above all, their ethnic allegiances-which often contain allusions to ancient myths, fairy tales, and forms of folklore bear peculiar marks of pre-Christian themes. Even the modern resurgence of separatism and regionalism in Europe appears as an offshoot of pagan residues. As Markale observes, “the dictatorship of Christian ideology has not silenced those ancient customs; it has only suppressed them into the shadow of the unconscious.”[16] The fact that all of Europe is today swept by growing nationalism bears witness to the permanency of the pagan sense of tribal historical memory.

and much more than that small extract.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 3:42 utc | 68

Do read the rest. Cuba is as much a target here as China.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 11 2023 21:06 utc | 40

Yeah, my 'puter opens to Yahoo's homepage and I just saw that headline yesterday. Didn't bother
to read but had the immediate thought of it being an effective two-fer for the Outlaws.
Also made me think of my HS biology Nat. Guard teacher who got called up and had to leave us
for a few weeks back during USSR/Cuba affair.
One more for the history repeats as farce pile, eh?

Thanks for your continued work/postings and focus on inter-galactic affairs.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Jun 12 2023 4:19 utc | 69

@ uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 2:42 utc | 64 - "IMO the largest contributor is the concentration of media ownership [...leading to...] a hugely unified propaganda wall until humans learn to switch it off - if ever."

Oh, I think we'll learn to switch it off. It's actually being switched off right now, as we talk - in fact, because we talk.

~~

There are many metrics one could consider to see that the independent thinking commentary of the world is larger and more influential than that corporate wall of narrative you point to. I don't have any proof of this to hand, nor does anyone else, because we don't specialize in solid walls of consensus, we who think independently of the corporate media. And there are many of us, each in many different ways and fields.

We can only observe events and the spontaneous overturning of the managed narrative to see that not only are "we" bigger than "they" but also we reject their lies in matters of practicality as personal choice comes into play. Who told anyone to watch Tucker Carlson on Twitter instead of Fox News? Who told anyone to shy away from the unproven vaccine against all organized persuasion?

No one said to do these things, or countless others, they were purely the products of groundswell.

There are countless other examples of the groundswell, each of them seeming smaller than the organized opponent - namely, the organized narrative - but only because each of them seems to be separate from the other.

But in reality, they are part of a whole that we do not yet see clearly, and that does not yet speak in one voice, and does not yet have the legs to stride across the establishment and brush it aside, into the ditch of history.

Maybe that unified organization will never come. Maybe it shouldn't. I don't know. It's not clear yet. But it's coming. That clarity is coming.

~~

For some years now, I have looked every day for commentary that will pin down the structured lies of the corporate media - the Vichy press, as I think of them in my own mind - but never yet have we come up with the perfect terms to describe this traitor.

And yes, it is a traitor, to each country it claims to be a citizen of, and to all of humanity. It purports to describe and report on the facts of the world, but actually it creates a wall of lies deliberately for actors in the world to hide behind as they commit crimes. It is more evil than the criminality it conceals.

It is not simply a force off to the side that obscures the facticity of occurrence. It is an actor in its own right that commits the unpardonable crime of hiding the truth, in collaboration with crime. It is a conspirator, a colluder, a collaborator, a partner in crime, a witting evildoer.

And we still don't have the words to call it out and drag it to the guillotine.

~~

But this lack of words to put our point of view and to throw down the liar is not a fault, and we are not lagging behind any necessary actions of a maturing world. The words will come. The consensus will cohere.

And I begin to suppose that this quality of knowing and saying will come after the fact of acting. It may be that we see the mass rejection of the managed narrative in action, as a product of some groundswell from the people, before we even find the words to describe what it was that just won, and what it was that we just defeated.

I don't know. But not knowing will not stop one from fighting against the evil. And maybe the words will come after. Perhaps only time will tell.

But I look for them every day, those perfect words to describe the enemy of humanity - the liar - and to cast it down.

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 12 2023 4:28 utc | 70

@ uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 2:49 utc | 65

ha ha! thanks to you.. you give me too many options to choose from, lol.. cheers..

Posted by: james | Jun 12 2023 4:48 utc | 71

karlof1 @ | Jun 11 2023 21:06 utc | 40

Thank you for your links in addition to b's recap and additional links from the week in which the dam gave way - the hows and whys like the surging foam, waters in such quantities hurtling southward and spreading wide... I live not far from what I have been told is the seventh largest earthen dam in the US, or perhaps in the world -- it really doesn't matter which it is; it's big.

I'll just repost a segment of your first link here - maybe unconnected, maybe not.

"...When Chinese people have a more comprehensive understanding and psychological preparation for American political integrity, they will have stronger immunity and resistance to US' breaches of promises, flip-flopping, or hypocrisy. This will allow us to completely abandon our illusions about the US and focus our main efforts on doing our own things well..."

Well, yes - there's that word 'breaches'. This was the week of that. I love that simple phrase: "...doing our own things well..."

To rephrase: When allpeople have a more comprehensive understanding ...

Thank you, b - and karlof1 - for assisting us in abandoning illusions and focusing efforts on doing our own things well!

Posted by: juliania | Jun 12 2023 5:14 utc | 72

Sabby Sabs checks up on Kamala Harris SHADY Caribbean Trip

Invade Haiti!! and why not - its a USA elite thing to kick the poorest nation on earth around the ring - again and again and again :/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zElQ7en92pQ

some commenters point out:

Haiti being forced to pay some 30 billion dollars in reparations to France was completely criminal! Haiti has basically never had a chance and exploitation has been the norm for decades and decades!

9 hours ago (edited)
Not only did Haiti have to pay reparations to France, also, the United States would not recognize Haiti as a country and would not trade with Haiti unless they paid reparations to France. Citibank benefited from this.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 5:16 utc | 73

Posted by: Grieved | Jun 12 2023 4:28 utc | 70

Ah Grieved!

"...the mass rejection of the managed narrative in action ..."

We are on the same wave length - ^ - ^ - ^ - . . . _ _ _!

Posted by: juliania | Jun 12 2023 5:25 utc | 74

@ Grieved | Jun 12 2023 4:28 utc | 70 who wrote
"
But I look for them every day, those perfect words to describe the enemy of humanity - the liar - and to cast it down.
"

My words may not be perfect but the words below I wrote to a local Google listserv in response to a thread about homelessness in our city

I tell people that humanity is going through a civilization war about public/private finance with the China/Russia axis on one side and the "West", with the face of America, on the other.
The America I grew up in had the original motto of E Pluribus Unum (Out Of Many, One) which was changed in the early 1950's to In God We Trust in order to fight "godless communism". Unfortunately, the God that was given motto-hood is the God of Mammon that never forgives debts and maintains the inherited private finance oligarchy that sets the rules by how we live....its top down, not bottom up.

In the early 1970's I participated in the "last attempt at" comprehensive public policy planning at the state level called the Washington 2000 project. Think tanks provide those services to the private side of our society exclusively now and social services are costs that the profit oriented folk want to see eliminated. We can argue all day about the balance of support society should provide and the consummate social responsibilities that go along with those benefits but unless/until control over finance is turned into a public utility (NOT to be given to the current set of mostly financialized puppets we call Congress critters), financial control to do things the public wants will not happen.

Back to our local situation. You are correct to point out that we are creating the situation we have by our humanity but not managing it well because of stovepipe funding, jurisdiction excuses and the lack of comprehensive planning/coordination.....its a feature, not a bug, of what the elite have made of America through the media brainwashing....sad.

I am just the piano player here folks....we tried to make a difference in the 1960's, with the Occupy movement and now the rest of the world is standing up to the cult that runs the Western part of our world. I have been watching for 50+ years and never thought I would live to see what is happening in our world. Americans need to take their country back from the global private money mafia and maybe even change the motto back to the original.

This is a first for me to write such to a local medium and maybe it won't be received well but we have to try, IMO

Best to you

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 12 2023 5:32 utc | 75

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 12 2023 5:32 utc | 75

Nice piece you wrote there and a good example of 'thinking globally, acting locally'. We all should do
more of that kind of 'influencing'.
I went to HS and Portland State there back in the '60s so I'm always interested in things concerning the
Rose City. Recently there have been some reports of mini-cities for the homeless being opened up. A word
from you about that here would be welcomed.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Jun 12 2023 6:12 utc | 76

Grieved # 4:28 utc | 70

But I look for them every day, those perfect words to describe the enemy of humanity - the liar - and to cast it down.

Thank you for the words vichy press and that then inspired me to suggest quisling press as they encompass the concept of the treacherous lie or betrayal of any element of integrity to pursue their grasping pocketful of silver coin.

Indeed there is a massive turning away in these times and a desire for an honest voice as Fox news is now dealing with.

Here are some other voices of integrity:

Russia and China are WINNING and the Neocons Are Furious w/ Garland Nixon and Carl Zha

Twenty five minutes of delight hosted by Danny Haiphong.

Stay well brother.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 6:24 utc | 77

@ waynorinorway | Jun 12 2023 6:12 utc | 76 with the follow up about homeless

I am in Corvallis since 2018 after 28 years in Portland. It is my understanding that homeless are being sent to and gravitating to places like Corvallis because the rich locals are trying to provide shelter and minimal services. So now Corvallis is overwhelmed and trying to keep the homeless out of the parks on two rivers....sigh....playing whack-a-mole with the excess and spending big bucks on follow up cleaning as they move folks around.

I have seen a fenced in/gated and staffed facility next to a church with rows of 8 foot square buildings....maybe 40-50. There is also an old motel on Hwy 99W over where I live that has been converted into a mens shelter..again, gated and staffed.

In the depression we had the WPA and the CCC and in the early 1970's the US had CETA Public Service Jobs for a few years to provide parks and social service work for some of the unemployed.

As I said in my words to the locals, We can argue all day about the balance of support society should provide and the consummate social responsibilities that go along with those benefits but unless/until control over finance is turned into a public utility (NOT to be given to the current set of mostly financialized puppets we call Congress critters), financial control to do things the public wants will not happen.

And that is where we are today

The shit show continues until it doesn't

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 12 2023 6:35 utc | 78

playing whack-a-mole with the excess and spending big bucks on follow up cleaning as they move folks around.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 12 2023 6:35 utc | 78

Thanks PH. That seems to be the story most everywhere, in the west US at least. Same as my friends report from Sacramento.
I follow Paul Kirk Haeder who lives over in Karlof1's neighborhood and writes some at Dissident Voice. He's worked the streets
in the Spokane and Portland areas and paints a pretty grim picture. I agree completely with your 'God of Mammon' pov.

Posted by: waynorinorway | Jun 12 2023 6:58 utc | 79

@ Grieved | Jun 12 2023 4:28 utc | 70

I go for three reasons for "(real) democracy (sneered at and deliberately confounded with 'strong-man' dictatorship) versus that variety of aristocracy called 'plutocracy' ":

(1) It seems to fit the facts.

(2) The American Constitutional Convention tossed the other two varieties of British aristocracy, actual monarchy-aristocracy by birth and theocracy, while retaining its 'pay-for-play' electoral and legal practices (guess who they don't favor?), no more than you would expect from a houseful of lawyers, the Anglo-American legal profession having wallowed luxuriously in that system for centuries.

And (3) perhaps most importantly, corruption automatically engenders plutocracy:

After all, if government is for sale, who would you expect the highest bidders to be?

Posted by: John Kennard | Jun 12 2023 7:14 utc | 80

Chen Weihua DESTROYS US Propaganda on Ukraine, Taiwan, and the Rise of China

Danny Haiphong and Chen Weihua yarning on a street in Brussels :) A good background to Blinkens blunder in the Orient stage 2.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 7:15 utc | 81

I posted this yesterday. I am posting it again today under the heading of CENSORSHIP, not Ukraine.

The media have been following a command and control self censorship narrative for decades with their obviously biased coverage and skewed reportage of the Middle East.

Newsflash. SNAP, SNAP, SNAP.

Radio NZ journalists deviated from the uniparty line and created a crisis in the RNZ boardroom. Reuters is horrified. Politicians in apoplexy. The truth really hurts. Worse than sticks and stones.
RNZ investigating Kremlin-friendly story edits

“The conflict in Ukraine began in 2014 after a pro-Russian elected government was toppled during Ukraine's violent Maidan colour revolution. Russia annexed Crimea after a referendum, as the new pro-Western government suppressed ethnic Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine, sending in its armed forces to the Donbas."

RNZ’s 4pm news bulletin on Friday said the version published by RNZ "included a false account of events" and RNZ is investigating how the story was “changed to reflect a pro-Russian view.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018893783/rnz-investigating-kremlin-friendly-story-edits

Posted by: Pau

Posted by: Paul GV | Jun 12 2023 7:18 utc | 82

Just in time to take our minds off the Fukushima radioactive waste water gurgling into the Pacific Ocean Oliver Stone releases a new movie extolling the virtues of and urgency for a nuclear power future.

Katie Halper and Aaron Mate speak with the nuke power advocate, Oliver Stone.

How about that.

We are being told that this disastrous industry is good for us from a team assembled in the USA who has drastically increased the CO2 output of Europe by refrigerating natural gas and then transporting it from the USA to Europe at immense CO2 cost than would be the case if they had continued with the Nord Stream pipeline.

This nuclear industry advocate representing one of the most poorly regulated nations on earth trying to whitewash serial nuclear industry disasters - especially the GE reactors constructed in its colony Japan.

Here Oliver Stone is telling us where our salvation lies from one of the most corrupt empires on this earth with a track record of failed industry regulation (C8 and Dupont for example) or the banking and financial sector or the fossil fuel industries or perhaps the Military Industrial Complex!!

It sure is a mountainous pile of graves that Oliver Stone has to descend to bring us his DU tablets of wisdom.

How far they fall.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 8:30 utc | 83

US Air Force has proudly announced USAF operates intensively over the East China Sea, around 30 nm to the territorial baseline of mainland China.

This just illustrated US' understanding of international space/water.

"Unprovoked", indeed!

Posted by: lulu | Jun 12 2023 13:32 utc | 84

Meanwhile, the whole US politicians and media propagandise the whole world: China is aggressive.

Posted by: lulu | Jun 12 2023 13:41 utc | 85

At the same time, US seeks China to buy up its debt, Blinken to visit Beijing while puts Chinese companies and Chinese Defense Minister under sanctions.

Insane.

Posted by: lulu | Jun 12 2023 13:45 utc | 86

US allow S. Korean and Taiwan chip makers aintain and expand their existing prouduction in China.

If true, it is highly probable that Chinese local manufacturers have made a breakthrough.

US needs S. Korean and Taiwanese chip makers to lower the prices and dump their chips onto the market to drown the Chinese local manufacturers.

They have used the same tactics many times before killing many local manufacturers.

Posted by: lulu | Jun 12 2023 14:23 utc | 87

Comment on the death of Silvio Berlusconi: "Vladimir Putin gave Comments to Rossiya 1 journalist Pavel Zarubin on the death of former Prime Minister of the Italian Republic Silvio Berlusconi." Somewhat raw translation follows:

Pavel Zarubin: Good afternoon, Mr President. Excuse me, please, I can ask you literally for one minute. Straight before the ceremony [of awarding medals of the Hero of Labor and State Prizes Russian Federation] came the tragic news of the death of Silvio Berlusconi. You've been tied up special, friendly relations. I can ask you to say a few words about his His role in Russian-Italian relations, his role in global politics?

Vladimir Putin: Yes. Of course, he was a politician European, one might say, and global scale. There are few such people in the international arena now. He was a great friend of our people and many things did it in order to develop business-like, friendly relations between Russia and European countries.

He was initiator of the development of relations between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance, It was with his participation that the appropriate mechanisms of interaction were created - and on his initiative.

But first He was, of course, an Italian politician. For a politician, he was a man unusual, because he was very sincere and open and had such a privilege, which does not have a policy of this magnitude: the privilege was that He said what he thought.

It's a pity. I wish to express my sincere regret and condolences to the Italian people and all Mr. Berlusconi's relatives. This is a great loss not only for Italy, but also for world politics.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 12 2023 15:11 utc | 88

Some more background on why the Guardian became such an establishment rag, the government beating that was delivered: How The Guardian Newspaper Became A Pro-War Garbage Rag.

And the UK government complains about freedom of the press in other countries, absolute hypocritical bullshit. Then of course, there is the jailing of the journalist Assange...

Posted by: Roger | Jun 12 2023 17:40 utc | 89

Some more background on why the Guardian became such an establishment rag, the government beating that was delivered: How The Guardian Newspaper Became A Pro-War Garbage Rag.

And the UK government complains about freedom of the press in other countries, absolute hypocritical bullshit. Then of course, there is the jailing of the journalist Assange...

Posted by: Roger | Jun 12 2023 17:41 utc | 90

Some more background on why the Guardian became such an establishment rag, the government beating that was delivered: How The Guardian Newspaper Became A Pro-War Garbage Rag.

And the UK government complains about freedom of the press in other countries, absolute hypocritical bullshit. Then of course, there is the jailing of the journalist Assange...

Posted by: Roger | Jun 12 2023 17:42 utc | 91

Sorry for the multiple identical posts, they were not showing up when I refreshed...

Posted by: Roger | Jun 12 2023 18:22 utc | 92

Yesterday Russian Telegram channel Razgruzka Vagnera has published reactions of several Wagner commanders to Russian MoD’s order to integrate Wagner into the structure of the Russian Armed Forces. Needless to say, they are livid.

Paladin, Wagner commander, Hero of Russia (link):

I left back in 2004. At that time, Russia’s MoD has already began its fall. Corruption and ass-licking flourished everywhere, real combat commanders were massively pushed into the background and forced to quit.

In 2014, I left business and joined [Wagner]. Because there is only one Motherland. And I found a new family in the form of the Wagner PMC brotherhood, where everything is fair and just, where the most experienced and qualified adequate fighters and commanders have gathered. Where there are no prosecutors and no committee of soldiers’ mothers who turned the army into a kindergarten.

As a result, 19 years later, what do I see… I see the same thing, rotten to the ground, only in a new wrapper. The ears of Western states and corporations are sticking out everywhere. There is no crime that a capitalist would not commit. For a profit of 300%. And what awaits us in such a future???? Shoygu demands that we come under his banner… not fighting for the Motherland, not saving the Fatherland… but ending up in his power.

Show me at least one of his victories. This is a truth known to everyone since childhood. You copy those you hang out with. Therefore, his goal of “divide and conquer” is a pure betrayal of the Motherland. Because whoever goes under the banner of a weak and stupid leader will never win. And we have no choice, either victory or the country will cease to exist. The final enslavement by the West or the becoming the doormat of China is a very shitty prospect for the Russians, because we will not rest.

Salem, Wagner commander, Hero of Russia (famous for losing two legs and an arm during the assault in Bakhmut, where he alone was pitted against three tanks) (link):

We are defending the Motherland, and what prevents us from defending the Motherland is the state. Shoygu with his bureaucratism is exactly that: the state. I served 21 years in the army and I saw and felt personally how under Serdyukov, and later under the current Minister of Defense, the army was falling apart and was being plundered, and favorites, ass-lickers and fairy tellers were rising by leaps and bounds, people who never fought, in the rank of lieutenants, were becoming commanders of detachments, brigades. And the desire to subdue everyone directly as soon as possible is panic and convulsions of the Ministry during the counteroffensive of the AFU, and they also want to remove the dissatisfied and the best, because the people see everything, they see the strongest ones. And it is the people of the country who are one of the main components of the Motherland.

Koldun, Wagner commander, Hero of Russia (link):

In 2014, I resigned from the RuAF and was immediately accepted into our organization—Wagner PMC.

In Wagner PMC I had the opportunity to realize myself as a warrior, as a manager!!! Unlike under Russia’s MoD, where, starting with Serdyukov and his Order 400, which divided officers into worthy and unworthy, or worthy, but not very much so, with the same workload and work. The result of that order: the military comradeship destroyed, replaced with sycophancy!!!

And the “cherry” on the cake was Comrade Shoygu in the role of RF’s Minister of Defense, under whom, instead of critical thinking and unconventional approaches, the Armed Forces started valuing servility and sycophancy!!!! Under him, the concept of photo- and video reports, endless video conferences was introduced!! The optics became more important than the substance!!

Shoygu is the one who has no idea what military service, garrisons, field exits, all kinds of hardships and deprivations, which I can list for a long time, are!!! And finally, he has no idea what WAR is!!!

Shoigu is the man who instilled the People of Russia with a false sense of confidence in our valiant Red Army!!! With endless parades, beautiful uniforms and big salaries!

A person who attributed to himself what he had nothing to do with… but would like to!!! I’m talking about glorious victories over ISIS terrorists in Syria, namely: first Palmyra, second Palmyra, Akerbat, Deir er-Zor, Damascus!!! Although those in the know know exactly who played the main violin in those victories!!!

A man who did not learn anything from the conflicts in the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali!!!

After the defeat of Armenia by Azerbaijan, where the Armenian army was a carbon copy of the Russian army… nobody in Russia’s MoD learned anything!!!

And now, when trouble has come to our country… the country that gave birth to Aleksandr Nevskiy, Dmitriy Donskoy, Potyomkin, Aleksandr Suvorov, Kutuzov, a whole galaxy of Great Patriotic War commanders under the leadership of Comrade Stalin..... Shoygu again wants to rake in the coals with other people’s hands!!!

This man is not worthy that the faithful sons of their Fatherland, who are defending its interests in many conflicts, who passed trials by fire, water and vanity, who lost their comrades-in-arms not on paper, but in life… entered into a contract with a KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF MALTA!!!

We say NO!!!!!

Aysmen, Wagner commander, Hero of Russia (link):

I left our valiant army in 2005, cancelled my contract, which I don’t regret for a moment. I got tired of the stupidity and incompetence of the commanders who received their positions and ranks by licking the asses of the higher command. I could not look at how the army was being plundered and the positions were being given not to those who deserved it, but to those who had a rougher tongue. Perhaps our government wants to make toy regiments out of the army!? An analogue of the children’s army for games and fun of uppity adults with the mental development of a 5-year-old child.

They seem to have forgotten, “Those who do not want to feed their own army will feed someone else’s.”

Here, in the ranks of Wagner PMC, I met worthy and militarily competent, honest patriots of our country who are ready to lay down their lives rather than become a coward and a traitor. These people will not give up even a meter of their native land, which their ancestors have been conquering for centuries.

It is an honor for me to fight in the ranks of this unit, which proved its effectiveness not in words, like Konashenkov, but in practice.

Dikiy, Wagner commander, Hero of Russia (link):

Most commanders from the Ministry of Defense will agree with me that the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is a community of amateurs who not only cannot lead our army to victory, but are dishonoring it at every step. Therefore, I propose a similar document, only in reverse order. That Wagner PMC is ready to accept fighters from the Ministry of Defense into its ranks, on general, fraternal conditions. We are ready to continue fighting together, shoulder to shoulder, until the Victory of Great Russia.

As for Shoygu and his retinue. I propose not later than Jun  20 to pass a qualification exam in our field camps and additional training. As a result, after training and a test of trust, if someone ends up with the result of “crapped himself,” he surrenders his position, shoulder boards and undeservedly acquired awards. They also return their children from abroad and cancel their dual citizenship, and transfer their real estate abroad to a fund helping the relatives of those who died during the SMO.

Zombi, Wagner commander, Hero of Russia (link):

Having served in the RuAF for 15 years, I can state with accuracy: everyone went to PMCs in order to serve the Motherland. Not for rubles, not for apartments and benefits. We do not have these privileges. We left the army to escape the tyranny of the higher-ups, sycophancy and bullshitting that flourished in the army. In the army before the SMO, they served for material benefits, and even among the people they were called “mortgagors.” But when the SMO began, they started quitting en masse, because serving for an apartment is one thing, and dying for the Motherland is another. During the SMO, we interacted with the MoD, and the situation has not changed in any way—it looks depressing. The regimental commanders are in a hurry to report on the successes, exaggerating to the results. The battalion commanders are withdrawing from the conduct of combat, since they have no experience in waging war, they have no understanding of the situation, and it is Vanka the company commander and the Russian soldier who are fighting, thrown to death by their superiors without communication, without support, without help. So here’s the thing: we strongly disagree with going to death and dying stupidly. It’s easy to die, but to survive, to win, to return to your relatives—that’s something else!!!!! We want to benefit our Motherland with our actions, and with the transfer to the MoD everything will become the same as where we all left from. We are not mercenaries, we are PATRIOTS!!!!!

Pioner, Wagner commander, a participant of campaigns in Syria, Central Africa, Sudan, Mali and other countries, recipient of five Orders of Courage (link):

When issuing the order on volunteers, Shoygu’s goal was not to provide them with legal status, not to control the activities of military formations, but to deprive them of opportunities in equipping, supplying arms and ammo to Wagner PMC, despite the lack of human resources and combat-ready units at the front. He does not want what he considers a competitor, a competitor to his personal ambitions. The fear of losing the loot (the only way to put it) forces him, by using his official position, to solve personal goals, this can’t be explained in any other way. After this order, members of the Duma, former like-minded generals and henchmen of the Minister of Defense will try to “push through” a law on PMCs in order to recognize such military formations as illegal for good, followed by prosecution and the ensuing criminal cases. His official position and administrative resources will allow him to implement this entire mechanism to eliminate, first of all, the leadership of the Wagner PMC, which greatly hinders the “prosperity” of his clan, the Shoygu clan. One man declared himself the arbiter of the human fates of an entire country. He practically got out of control of the Supreme [Commander-in-Chief], everyone is afraid of Shoygu, because he has a monopoly on weapons and therefore on the lives of people and the Russian Federation as a whole.

Having once sworn allegiance to my people and the Fatherland, I am still ready to defend Russia with weapons in my hands both from external enemies and internal ones who are putting their own personal [desires] above the values of the citizens of the country and the state as a whole.

Posted by: S | Jun 12 2023 19:12 utc | 93

US 'preparing to evacuate Americans in Taiwan' as China tensions boil over
Story by Adam Chapman, Matthew Dooley • 6h ago

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-preparing-to-evacuate-americans-in-taiwan-as-china-tensions-boil-over/ar-AA1croNO

Washington is preparing evacuation plans for US citizens living in Taiwan as Sino-American tensions boil over, according to multiple sources.

The planning has reportedly been underway for a minimum of six months, although "it's heated up over the past two months or so," according to a senior US intelligence official speaking on the condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue told The Messenger.

He added that a "heightened level of tension" had driven the preparations but said "It's nothing you wouldn't read in the news. Forces building up. China aligning with Russia on Ukraine."

Another source familiar with the matter cited Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as a major driver of the planning. They said: "Ukraine drove a relook at the plans."

Posted by: Babel-17 | Jun 12 2023 19:54 utc | 94

ZH has a posting up with the title

Fox Slaps Tucker Carlson With Cease & Desist Notice Over Twitter Show

The quote

Since Carlson's ouster in April following Fox News' $787 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems (which Carlson says a board member told him was part of the settlement), Carlson has accused Fox of fraud, accusing senior executives of reneging on promises made to him "intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth."

Carlson's legal team have also argued that Fox broke their promise to him not to settle with Dominion "in a way which would indicate wrongdoing" on the part of the former host.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 12 2023 21:36 utc | 95

ZH has a posting up with the title

The Shanghai International Gold Exchange And Its Role In De-Dollarization

This is not an easy read but important as the financial worm turns. My take away from the article is the the PBoC is in control unlike the private control of the other two exchanges in London and NY.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 12 2023 21:52 utc | 96

Roger #89, 90, 91, 92

:)) thrice was the spell uttered and cast out was the demon.

If only.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 23:33 utc | 97

S # 19:12 utc | 93

That is a resounding gauntlet. One can be sure the elite plunderers of the Russian Army will be most unhappy. It will be interesting to see if Shoygu requires legislation to give full effect to his orders and whether the Russian State Duma will oblige. If no legislation is needed then the silence of the State Duma will be the measure of support for these Wagner heros.

Interesting times indeed.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2023 23:55 utc | 98

S | Jun 12 2023 19:12 utc | 93--

Those are rather curious testimonials. So, the Red Army was in great shape after the Yeltsin decade and Shoigu ruined it? I'd say the bureaucratic culture that existed when several of those cited quit in 2004 was most likely still unchanged from the Yeltsin Era, and the Soviet Era that came before. One must ask what they did to protect Russia from the devastation being wrought by Yeltsin and the Oligarchic Crew. Another question based on this description by Wikipedia:

"The Ministry of Defence is managed by a collegium chaired by the Defence Minister and including the deputy Defence Ministers, heads of Main Defence Ministry and General Staff Directorates, and the commanders of the Joint Strategic Commands/Military Districts, the three Services, and three branches, who together form the principal staff and advisory board of the Minister of Defence." [My Emphasis]

"Collegium" suggests decisions being reached by consensus, not the diktat of one man as the testimonies imply. And why is Putin not mentioned by any of them? Isn't he the ultimate decider? I wonder how well the testifiers would fare if faced with the same big issues in this war that no one before has ever had to face? I see a huge problem advancing through modern minefields given the new capability to lay mines via artillery. The assets needed to advance now become even more complex; and once you make headway, you must somehow prevent the area you just cleared from being resown with mines, which both sides are able to do. Some sort of canopy erected over the cleared area that sluffs the new incoming mines off to the side seems to be the only potential solution.

Anyway, those are some musings I have in response. Martyanov is constantly raging against those who've never fought this sort of war before, but he never mentions the fact that Russian's haven't fought this way before either--that this is a learning experience for all. Bureaucratic Culture seems to be universal. The same issues the West has also exist in Russia, and likely in China too given the reports about corruption I've read over the years.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jun 13 2023 0:04 utc | 99

I messed up or this is a repeat of a comment in limbo

ZH has a posting up with the title

The Shanghai International Gold Exchange And Its Role In De-Dollarization

It is a difficult read and basically says that the PBoC controls the exchange of gold while private folks run the two other exchanges...

How gold is leveraged into BANCOR backing for global exchange is the nut to crack and manage to the benefit of society instead of the private money/exchange folk.....details to follow in August hopefully

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jun 13 2023 0:06 utc | 100