News & views (not related to the war in Ukraine) …
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August 2, 2023
Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 183
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Today there was an awards ceremony: “The ceremony of presenting the highest state awards by the President was held in the Catherine Hall of the Kremlin of the Russian Federation.” There was one particular acceptance speech that stuck out as the recipient wasn’t a soldier but a writer. Here’s what Putin said of him prior to the presentation and his speech:
“A great contribution In the development of Russian literature contributes to the writer, scientist, public activist Brontoy Yangovich Bedyurov. In his work The Word of Altai extensive historical and folklore materials are presented, And most importantly, the book is filled with love for his native land, for his People. Keeper of the cultural and spiritual traditions of Altai Brontoy Yangovich I have always defended the unity of Russia, our great Motherland.”
What’s revealed in his speech is the one tangible factor Russia has that its enemies lack. Here’s what he said which should be clear despite the translation gaffs:
Boris Bedyurov: Dear Head of the Russian State, dear Vladimir Vladimirovich!
Starting with the Moscow tsars – Ivan the Terrible, Boris Godunov – the emperors of St. Petersburg and the Soviet leaders-general secretaries, no one spoke about our Altai, where I came from, and their foot [there] did not set foot.
I want to emphasize, Mr President, what are you doing firsthand You know all our regions, and we have 89 regions, compared to Europe, it is twice as large, and each region is special. You know the Altai Republic and our people firsthand, and we listen attentively, follow and worry about your tireless work in this responsible post of the head of our country. State.
On this significant day, twice – Ilyin the day and day of the full moon – in the capital of our eternal and great Motherland, Moscow, there is A special ceremony.
You mentioned me in your speech, and I naturally express my gratitude.
Russia– the state is multinational, located between three oceans from north to south, from east to west, and many peoples live in Russia, But in our country there are no superfluous peoples. Each The people, regardless of their number, are special and has its own functions. And that’s what I want repeat especially now that I see warriors in the current situation. Likewise Like 80-82 years ago, when he stood the question of fate, of the existence of our Motherland, today our soldiers, our peoples with a special feeling are aware of their belonging to Russia, to the Russian Citizenship.
It is especially important to emphasize that peoples, like children, grow out of children’s pants. We are special – Russian civilization. Russia is the heiress not only of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire, Russia inherits more and more large states of our stories from the time of the Scythians, Cimmerians, Sarmatians and other peoples. And during this period We went through a lot of school. Today, our peoples We have realized how important it is, I emphasize, to preserve the unity of our state, when the enemy is frankly speaks, like 80 years ago, about the destruction of Russia, encroaches on ours unity.
And today there is not a single nation that would not appreciate its own Russian citizenship. Our warriors of all nationalities (addressing the military in the hall) – I rejoice when I see you – Our peoples, Starting from Russians and ending with the smallest peoples: from the Abazins, Adygeans, Altaians to the Evenks, Yukaghirs, Yakuts – all as one protect their homeland. Where it has been seen to threatened the unity of our Motherland for our entire History? Where has it been seen that the leader of our state himself was threatened? This is not to be. They do not understand that Russia has not only The military, not only political forces. We have There are other forces as well. As a writer I want to emphasize the second side. We have another An army, also a great army, is a literary army army from Lomonosov, Derzhavin, Pushkin, Lermontov and ending with modern writers who were at the front in the very first days of the Great Patriotic War. There are many of us.
In this regard, I emphasize, Mr President, that Our literature is Russian and multinational. And there is no such thing in Europe, nor in the Americas: our peoples have preserved their culture – the Russian language, their languages, their literature, their way of life and way of life. This is the peculiarity of our civilization.
Therefore, in conclusion, I want to say that the literary army of Russia has never failed and will not fail. When I’m talking about literature, I mean all our creative people. We have The saying: live yourself – let others live. This applies not only to us as people, but also to peoples, because we, in our Russian civilization, value Our neighborhood, our brotherhood, our friendship. Therefore, it is especially important for me that I am for my own modest work was awarded the Order of Friendship. This is our peculiarity.
In conclusion, I will say: unlike bloody Rome, our peoples, who constituted a single civilization from the Danube, from the Carpathians, from the Neman to the east, to the Pacific Ocean, They have always lived not according to the principle of “divide and conquer”, but according to the principle of “unite and conquer”. We understand how much work, how much energy, how many nerves, Mr President, you you pay attention to the preservation of our Motherland, because the peoples – no one wants there to be no central government. When there is a threat to the integrity of the state, unity of the Motherland – at this moment the forces are awakened. This is a feature of our of the Russian civilization. Our solutions, our Trials make us stronger and stronger.
Thank you, Dear soldiers, for your work, for your military, military work.
Vladimir Vladimirovich, come to us, to Altai. You are always welcome in Altai.
I think the west is about to get smashed in west Africa especially after Pain alluded to the fact that it is time to protect the sovereignty of the borders of the countries that hike such precious minerals and the French in particular are going to get embarrassed like never before. I would love to see the battle plans of the African countries in conjunction with the Russians assisting. Can see how the west can Yelp about this especially after assisting Nazikraine with targeting information along the front. Should be very interesting. I hope the African Union comes out stronger in this regard to military force.
Posted by: Tonymike1918 | Aug 2 2023 16:17 utc | 2
Great speech. Thanks for posting it, karlof1.
Unity, one of whose necessary expressions is a strong central authority.
Diversity, one of whose glorious manifestations is a colorful mix of peoples, ethnicities, languages and regions.
Getting the balance is the art of being and running a nation/State/polity.
No easy answers. But Russia definitely seems on the upswing right now. They had a long, difficult century, but things are finally looking up again. We wish their people well.
Nuclear Option: US downgraded.
Last agency that tried that suffered consequences.
Posted by: jared | Aug 2 2023 16:35 utc | 4
The last part of:
Vladimir Putin’s New Year Address December 31, 2021
The New Year is about to begin in a few seconds. Many families, including our compatriots outside Russia, will offer the traditional New Year toast: “Happy New Year! May it be filled with new fortune!” These simple words have a special meaning to us, because they are passed down from generation to generation.
My sincere best wishes, and above all for good health! From that, success in your work, studies, creative endeavours and favourite pursuits will follow.
May every home have as many joyful moments as possible. May there be new families with new children. May they grow up to be healthy and intelligent, honest and free.
May love fill every heart and inspire us all to achieve our goals and scale the greatest heights. For the sake of our loved ones and for the sake of our only country, our great Motherland.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67514
Posted by: Toby C | Aug 2 2023 16:46 utc | 5
How propaganda works and how US politicians get American voters to vote for them. Video put together by American university students to show the absurdity of it all.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pCrn4lfwQLc&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fneweconomicperspectives.org%2F&source_ve_path=OTY3MTQ&feature=emb_imp_woyt
Are you scared yet ?
🙂
The truth about America borrowing from China in the propaganda video lol.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WS9nP-BKa3M&pp=ygUQU3RlcGhhbmllIGtlbHRvbg%3D%3D
🙂
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 2 2023 16:51 utc | 6
As we get closer to the American election. American voters are going to be drowned with this kind of stuff and China used as the bogyman under every bed.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 2 2023 17:03 utc | 7
https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/02/republicans-who-dont-impeach-biden-et-al-now-are-part-of-the-partisan-prosecution-problem/
This article goes through an extensive list of all the ways the republicans simply refuse to fight back, but then still insist they live in a constitutional republic.
A thought: Trump will be found guilty by the young black judge who has been sentencing his supporters arrested after January 6th to do longer time than the prosecutors requested. He will win later on appeal but for a long time the headlines will be filled with how he has been found guilty of Insurrection.
The GOP will take Trump off their ticket within hours of the verdict. By the time this happens it will be too late to form a Third Party.
Quite possibly he will continue as a write-in, perhaps even from jail (highly unlikely but). If the people get angry and rise up, well the FBI, most police bureaus and army have all been purged of conservatives so the crack-down – unlike with the race riots in 2020 – will be swift and severe.
However, it is quite possible that there will be no normal election in 2024 with the lowest voter turnout in history, or millions openly boycotting, or Trump getting dozens of millions in write-ins. Whatever. The country is headed into mayhem which is exactly there the Powers that Be want now to take it.
It is now a post-constitutional republic, a faux republic. The new republic may well be introduced once mayhem rules in 2024. The possibility that an orderly election respected by more than half the population will ensue is probably only around 10% at this point.
Though We The People dream on…
West Africa is problematic in terms of imperial overstretch, and that era is now for the US and Europe. Can the Biden admin run two hot conflicts at the same time? Is there enough ISR to really cover both fully? We should assume that a good number of the men the US would use for a small African conflict are currently sheep dipped and in Ukraine. Not all of them, same goes for France. But the issue is stretching capabilities. It’s the same issue with munitions for the US. They’re not all gone by any stretch but they can’t all be put in one place without making problems elsewhere.
Surely the US and France could prosecute a short, sharp conflict in Niger. But what if it isn’t short? What if there are casualties? Loss of reputation is dangerous (and especially for the egos involved). But letting another west African country fall out of France/NATO’s neo-colonial orbit has great danger too.
This problem is going to repeat itself. It could also be accelerated by multiple players, both for their own benefit and/or for the purpose of overstretching the US. Worse in an election year.
Posted by: Lex | Aug 2 2023 17:12 utc | 9
U.S. Credit Rating Down Graded—Trump Indictment is Distraction From Economic Upheaval
August 1, 2023 By Stephen Frank
At the exact same moment, within minutes, of the newest election interference by the Biden Crime Family announcing the indictment of President Trump, a REAL story broke.
Thank you for reading this post, don’t forget to subscribe!
“Fitch Ratings downgraded the credit rating of the U.S. on Tuesday, saying the country’s growing debt and repeated standoffs over the borrowing limit make it less trustworthy then before.
Fitch downgraded the U.S. from a rating of “AAA” to “AA+” after several years of high-risk partisan battles over the debt limit. Those battles, Fitch said, have led to a spiraling national debt and a lack of faith in the U.S. government to handle it.”
The D.C. does not want to let you know that when the credit rating goes down, interest rates will go up. That massive $32 trillion debt, which grew by $400 billion in just the last month is going to cost more in interest payments.
As written before, they should have shut down the government, made the cuts needed and stopped any increase in the national debt. Bidenonomics is killing the middle class—and they try to hide it with an indictment against free speech. Have the Biden Crime Family put the whole nation in a death loop?
Does anyone know of a good article or website to precisely explain what occurred in Niger and its after effects? Thank you.
Posted by: Jose Garcia | Aug 2 2023 17:26 utc | 11
Global Times observes the implosion of the political process within the Outlaw US Empire, “Trump indicted with high support rate as US democracy accelerates decadence”, where I find it very hard not to agree with the conclusion:
“The unfolding of the 2024 presidential election is dramatic enough but the political farce is far from conclusion. Since 2016, US democracy has entered an accelerated track of decadence and Americans have no alternative but to choose between the worse and the worst, Lü said.”
Well, the process has been ongoing much longer than from 2016 onward.
An update on superconductivity for our science sipping barflies, “Chinese scientists successfully synthesize magnetic levitation-enabled LK-99 crystal”, although it’s not the great breakthrough that’s awaited. However, it is advancement:
“Room-temperature superconductivity would enable long-distance lossless power transmission, leading to a new wave of global infrastructure development in the electricity network. Additionally, breakthroughs are expected in areas such as superconducting magnets, superconducting cables, and superconducting maglev trains, according to media reports.
“The breakthrough in room-temperature and atmospheric pressure superconducting materials would undoubtedly bring about revolutionary changes in various fields, including energy, transportation, computing, and medical diagnostics.”
Posted by: Scorpion | Aug 2 2023 17:10 utc | 8
If I was Trump, at the very last moment I’d withdraw, and instead push “Tucker Carlson for President”.
Posted by: Passerby | Aug 2 2023 18:12 utc | 14
I see that vile stain Trudeau has been left by his wife.
She saw the light.
Posted by: jpc | Aug 2 2023 18:19 utc | 15
One of the concerns about anything digital or computer related is the security of the system and integrity of the operators, and is one of the prime objections to digital currencies. I wasn’t altogether indifferent to that issue in my article on digital currencies, but I do want to share this article authored by an IBM team about the security in the quantum computing age that we’ll soon enter into. Published last December, it’s a tad dated, but remains quite relevant.
@11 Jose Garcia:
The latest by Simplicius76 includes a bit early on about Niger. Telegram channels also spotting report on it. Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso have declared that any intervention in Niger will be taken by then bas a declaration of war on them as well. Algeria, no lightweight, and whoever the hell is the government of Libya these days also expressed support to Niger. Macronistan and Italy are pulling citizens out of Niger. Nigeria was by some accounts planning an invasion but I’m sure they won’t dare to do it alone. If Nigeria loses or even gets bogged down it risks breaking apart. The Biafra secessionist movement is far from dead and Boko Haram can again seize Maiduguri and the rest of the North East.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Aug 2 2023 18:39 utc | 17
If you have a 15 mins, go watch Jimmy Dore’s RFKjr. interview on our open borders.
RFK makes the humanitatian case for why we need strong borders and in my mind it is irrefutable.
There must be a reason why this is taking place. Leftists will say it is for cheap labor. The right will say it is to scramble the demographics and render the country ungovernable that will lead to an opening for a total neo-feudal reality in the U.S. within decades.
Both the old leftists and the paleo-conservatives are right of course.
And if we are going to stop it, we are going to have to come together on these main issues/policies:
Univeral healthcare yes while abortion and euthanasia NO!
Strong national border and deportation of many illegals, yes/ closing of military bases and adventurism abroad
Dismantle fed/reorganize student load debts
Government can not espouse positions on culture/identity other than acknowledging all U.S. citizens the right to property, peace, and to be unmolested in their person (destroy the nanny-state which is just a cover for the dismantling of the U.S. in general towards hyper-centralization and neo-feudalism)
Above all, leftists need to be good-faith bargainers here and not desire to win everything they want. Government is equally about winning and conceding. Furthermore, if this pattern continues and the make-up of the U.S. is changed so much that the liberal worldview which gave rise to the left in the U.S. is replaced, I imagine a truly authoritarian neo-feudal reality to transpire. Leftists should consider the notion of freedom and property rights and how these are part and parcel of the liberal system in general, meaning the education you enjoyed and your freedom to discuss ideas in the public space.
Iow, your crazy, freedom-spewing, immigrant-hating republican-neighbor might be uncouth, but that doesn’t mean that he is entirely wrong.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 2 2023 18:39 utc | 18
@Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 2 2023 18:39 utc | 18
There must be a reason why this is taking place. Leftists will say it is for cheap labor. The right will say it is to scramble the demographics and render the country ungovernable that will lead to an opening for a total neo-feudal reality in the U.S. within decades.
Both the old leftists and the paleo-conservatives are right of course.
Well, only the leftists are right here. Removing impediments to the movement of labor makes labor a cheaper commodity over time in places where there are shortages of labor and laborers thereby presently can demand higher payment. It also ultimately means places where workers are leaving will have to contend with tighter labor markets, giving workers who stay behind better bargaining power. Unregulated immigration while there’s a free market in labor is bad for workers who currently enjoy above equilibrium wage rates, but deportations of people who have made a life here is inhumane and unethical, and no wage rate differential can ever justify it.
Ultimately as long as the US imperializes Latin America there will continue to be high immigration from Latin America to the US, legal or otherwise. A socialist US could relax its immigration policy on both sides, increasing freedom of movement for all (the “freedom spewing” conservatives only use “freedom” as a fnord) but eliminating the costs of that free movement on workers’ standards of living. RFK2 though is a member of the ruling class and an opponent of socialism. Birchite conspiracy theories like the ones he engages in intend to distract and divide people along racial lines and thereby to prevent the emergence of class consciousness in the belly of the beast.
Posted by: fnord | Aug 2 2023 19:16 utc | 19
Posted by: fnord | Aug 2 2023 19:16 utc | 19
Your comment entirely ignores the tens of millions of illegal immigrants speaking of them only as ‘labour.’ If such labour were really needed and desirable, there is no reason not to process immigrants into the country legally rather than keeping an open border allowing no end of sex and drug trafficking.
It is amazing how many people these days regard the sheer lawlessness of what is unfolding as entirely normal.
The republic fell but it seems its citizens haven’t the wit to see it.
Tucker does Devon Archer:
https://rumble.com/v345htv-tucker-carlson-sits-down-with-ex-hunter-biden-biz-partner-devon-archer-for-.html
No matter what happens, of course, Archer gets a pardon. That’s why he looks so cheerful all the time I guess…
Ho hum…
@19 fnord
You have utterly missed the point of the post so I will try to reconvey it in simpler terms.
But before I do, I would ask for you to reclarify how you think no borders helps the working person.
But I suspect you do not actually have the working person in mind and any rationale you give is just a guise in your attempt to completely erase borders, which, as Russia and China are currently showing, is not in the cards. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
Can you imagine a united China and India minus borders. What about an India and Pakistan? Explain to me how or show the map how we get there. And, once we are there, please guarantee me that happiness will prevail for all time aftwrwards.
You communists are just infinitely silly.
The point of my post was that in your rush towards utopia, you utterly miss the signpost that says, “Absolute Limit: Only fools tread firther.”
But I would say not only are you foolish, but utterly in the service of the society of corporations, the socialism for elites paradigm we currently are situated in. They (the elite) have no borders and it has proven a boon for them.
Now imagine a closed border country that demonstrates strates success. Solid affluency without the need for military adventurism (empire). It becomes an example for others. Where once those in the third world hoped to go one day now have no access to; the American dream is dead. . They are forced to live and exist in their own country and fight for their own land. They no longer fear their own government because they have nothing left to lose. Isn’t that what we should want: to live and die without fear in the face of tyranny?
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 2 2023 19:37 utc | 22
The room temperature superconductor went viral but most scientists think it’s a fraud until it has multiple scientists reproducing it, especially as it isn’t that hard to make theoretically.
Probably the biggest change the US could make is to bring the federal reserve under government charge. Big finance/Wall Street, including shadow banking, is currently more powerful than the US government, partly because almost no federal representative can get elected without their support. And this isn’t just in the US.
All wars have huge unreported economic forces behind them. Michael Hudson is such a great resource, and his recent books go back through all history to demonstrate the forces involved. Oversimplified, civilisations fall when an oligarchy takes total control and this is the general tendency in democracies. Both Russia and China have taken some steps to control the financial oligarchy, or at least make sure the government has some independence. Not all this is positive, but I’d say it’s better than the West.
Posted by: Matthew | Aug 2 2023 19:47 utc | 23
A map of how the sides have lined up in central Africa:
Current status of African states regarding post-coup Niger regime
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 2 2023 19:59 utc | 24
fnord clearly didn’t watch the video. RFK, Jr. interviewed the 300 people coming over the border one night, and only 2 of them were from Latin America. The rest were from all over the world, so the usual liberal self-flagellation that insists that American workers must pay the consequences of American empire’s crimes doesn’t even apply here.
These current migrants are solicited by immigration cartels, stripped of all money before they cross the border, and then are processed by the Border Patrol, asked where they want to go, and then given a plane ticket to that city, which, of course, puts a great burden on the citizens of the cities who have to pay for the housing, food and education of any children the immigrants bring along.
The way the US is set up, it is the local government who provides the amenities that make life in the US pleasant, like water, sewer, education, parks and recreation, etc.
Unlike the feds, local governments cannot create money, so all of those amenities must come from the pockets of the local population.
The feds mostly spend money on the military and homeland repression, although they do pass laws that say that local populations must provide ESL for all students, for example. These are called unfounded mandates, and they are legion.
So the immigrants are coming from all over the world, speaking 80 different languages, must all be accommodated by local public schools who are already struggling, due to high local unemployment, which leads to people unable to pay property taxes.
And that is just one of the problems. Of course the immigrants are brought here to provide a lowering of labor costs for US capitalists. More supply = lower wages. It is ridiculous for a self-proclaimed leftist to not understand that.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Aug 2 2023 20:12 utc | 25
For the covid crowd
Alberta Court of King’s Bench pass a ruling basically saying. The charter rights of Albertans were violated, Alberta Health services AHS and the UCP government did not provide enough proof, that covid was a health risk.(Did not follow their guidelines). Like one lawyer said this will open up the floodgates of lawsuits against Henshaw AHS UcP government. Alberta government has 30 days to appeal.
Ingram vs Alberta (Court case)
https://www.jccf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/2023-07-31-DECISION-Ingram-v-Alberta-Chief-Medical-Officer-of-Health-FILED-July-31-20238.pdf?mc_cid=15345efd14&mc_eid=4160c9b7a0
Lawyer talk but some interesting stuff for the Canadians visiting the board.
Posted by: heavymetal101 | Aug 2 2023 20:12 utc | 26
jpc@15….she sampled the forbidden fruit a few years ago, that she went back to that clown of a carpet begger.
Now Freeland is totally free to cuck Trudeau and Singh together.
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Aug 2 2023 20:21 utc | 27
@ Posted by: Lex | Aug 2 2023 17:12 utc | 9
And anyone wondering about the Grand Escalation in Africa or How the Atlanticists Lost It All At Once! Or The shortest Dominate phase of any Empire Ever.
I’ll repost my comment which disappeared in never ending Money Theory on the other thread.
Will sanctions ever work in a multipolar world?
It is warfare against civilians , as Cuba , along with others, has seen for all its existence as an independent country. Unfortunately for Cuba they left Guantanamo in possession of the tyrants and slavers.
What goes on in Niger? It seems there are multiple natzo forces there – US , Canadian, Italian and the effing French! Anyone know why?
The US apparently have a major drone base from which they attack North Africa.
The French mine uranium with poorly paid and children.
Fuck knows what the eyeties are grabbing there. Perhaps something to do with the pipelines planned to go from Nigeria, through Niger to Europe , into Spain and Italy, carrying all that stolen Nigerian Gas and making huge profits in European Markets having dispensed of the cheap Russian alternative.
It seems all the countries through which this transit will occur have supported the Nigeriens- the Massas in charge of Nigeria have ordered their Nigerian satraps to not support the new government of Niger and are making bellicose noises. Borders are open with all except Nigeria. I think they are expecting a sudden arrival of isis types to save them from themselves from the Nigerian ‘bases’.
There are the French who get 30% of their uranium there and a very large proportion from Russia (no sanctions on that!)
The trouble for unipolarists , even with all their natzo bases, is that when they attack, sanction, monster any one of the multipolarists, they are surprised that something explodes where they never expected it. A bit like whakkamole!
These lovely bases and beautiful runways, in a poor country, used to terrorise North Africa have been given marching orders. What’s Natzo going to do send in the 101st? The massed bands of English regiments blowing their bagpipes? Italian,Spanish conquistador scions? That’s how Colombian and other South American Nazis end up crying in the borderlands getting their arses handed to them!
Hell if they only had a mass of ready to die anywhere to keep the African down crazy Aryan Nazis ,they might succeed. Oops seem to be fewer of these daily …
The Belgian mercenaries with their hearts of darkness won’t get the same chance again. So it has to be the Nigerians and other bought African mercs to do the job as usual – it’s what slavers always did, use slaves to fight your wars.
These Never Ending Sanctions have been given their Final Rights – they end and civilians stop suffering or the Collective Waste ends up with No Gas and No Uranium and all the other commodities- including vegetables which are daily flown into European Supermarkets…
The only thing I worry about is how all the African independence fighters all dress in western type military garb. The berets, the strange gloves etc as if they all came out of the same training camps… perhaps it’s the Wagnerians and their Great Cook who has brought his recipes to the New Africans.
Are you paying attention yet barflies? This has never been about Ukraine, the Great Gamers have been Judo’d and have lost their Greatest Prize – abracadabra! Whoosh, some smoke and a flash and AFRICA disappeared!!! And they didn’t even land a knockout blow on their other Old Lust – Russia and its hundreds of different peoples , languages and UNITY.
That’s what I call Magic 😉
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 2 2023 11:42 utc | 236
https://nitter.kavin.rocks/Cyberspec1/status/1686684968981020672#m
Tony
@Cyberspec1
1h
The Niger situation is getting more interesting…
Niger forces closure of key US intelligence, surveillance & drone base.
⚡️Known as “Nigerien Air Base 201,” the US installation features a 6,200-foot runway for MQ-9 Reapers as well as manned aircraft.
The U.S. military has been using this base for drone operations in Northern Africa since 2019.
***
The military government of the Republic of Niger, announced the opening of air and land borders with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali and Chad…..but not with Nigeria
— GEROMAN — time will tell – 👀 —
@GeromanAT
Aug 1
If the situation in Niger is not stabilized according to the standards of the West, there will be nothing for the Trans-Saharan gas pipeline, which according to the contractor’s plans was supposed to supply the 🇪🇺 EU countries with as much as 30 billion cubic meters of Nigerian gas annually.
(ZOKA)
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 2 2023 20:43 utc | 28
Edward Snowden Cries “watch this before its DELETED”
10 mins, Posted on youtube July 29, 2023 — probably a rerun – but still relevant & interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjppOZ_590o
from transcript:
“… it’s important to understand when the government’s response to any Scandal… is not to make the activities of the person who was caught breaking the law comply with the law but instead make the activities of the person who is breaking the law legal right they make the law comply with what the agencies want to do rather than make the agencies comply with the law that’s a problem and that’s what happened…
“… these guys don’t care about the law these guys don’t care about the Constitution these guys don’t care about the American people they care about the continuity of government they care about the state right…
National Security… we hear this phrase over and over again… and we’re meant to interpret that to mean Public Safety but National Security is a very different thing from Public Safety…
Security National Security was a kind of term that came out of the Bush Administration to run cover for the fact that we were elevating a new kind of secret police…
When again in a democracy in the United States the public is not partnered to government the public does not hold the leash of government anymore but we are subject to government right we are subordinate to government and we’re not even allowed to know…
..we all know like the Patriot Act passed one of the worst pieces of legislation in modern history… why didn’t we get a vote
end transcript excerpt
==
==
“You can’t go about disclosure in the hope that it won’t spoil anybody’s dinner.” Julian Assange
==
==
(oddly enough? on my machine: a “show transcript” link appears under ‘show more’ before the comments when latest mozilla Firefox browser is used
while that option does NOT appear while using google’s latest Brave browser (all in windows 2010).
Posted by: Toby C | Aug 2 2023 20:54 utc | 29
@ Posted by: karlof1 | Aug 2 2023 18:09 utc | 13
Room temperature superconductors
This has been one of most attainable modern alchemy goals, unlike turning Lead into Gold using mysticism that even Newton spent years on!
Just like Fusion Reactors – which have been 10 years away for the last 70 years.
Modern Material Science does actually move ever further away from supercooling to make superconductivity viable as an industrial and then eventually a commercial reality.
Using your hand held mass spectrometer or something
Thanks for link I need to get back to some honest physics as the World War rages.
It will change everything. I can’t wait to get some and construct some mega sci-fi type kit.
Imagine being able to analyse everything you are about to Eat or Drink, down to its basic ingredients and molecules!
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 2 2023 20:55 utc | 30
The holy grail of room-temperature superconductivity apparently remains elusive, claims of a “new era for humankind” from a couple of weird Korean papers notwithstanding…
At present, all we know about LK-99 comes from the two arXiv papers, which have not been peer-reviewed. Both papers present similar measurements, though the presentation is unconventional. However, there are some differences in the content, and also in authorship, which does not inspire confidence.
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-viral-room-temperature-superconductor-excitementand-skepticism.html
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Aug 2 2023 21:12 utc | 31
Posted by: wagelaborer | Aug 2 2023 20:12 utc | 25
fnord clearly didn’t watch the video. RFK, Jr. interviewed the 300 people coming over the border one night, and only 2 of them were from Latin America. The rest were from all over the world, so the usual liberal self-flagellation that insists that American workers must pay the consequences of American empire’s crimes doesn’t even apply here.
These current migrants are solicited by immigration cartels, stripped of all money before they cross the border, and then are processed by the Border Patrol, asked where they want to go, and then given a plane ticket to that city….So the immigrants are coming from all over the world, speaking 80 different languages, must all be accommodated by local public schools who are already struggling, due to high local unemployment, which leads to people unable to pay property taxes.
===================================
And last year I read several different reports stating that many of them get debit cards with $800 USD per month being deposited (from NGO’s).
America is being deliberately and systematically taken down from within. Frog boiling with most of the frogs blissfully unaware…
Matthew | Aug 2 2023 19:47 utc | 23
DunGroanin | Aug 2 2023 20:55 utc | 30
Aleph_Null | Aug 2 2023 21:12 utc | 31–
Thanks for your replies to the superconductor article. Yes, the solution remains elusive but at some point Nature will have another secret revealed. If 70% of the resources used on weaponry were instead channeled into scientific research, the world would be a better place. And if all financial overhead were eliminated and used for humanity, imagine what sort of world we’d have then.
I was doing my usual thing, reading the Russian government meeting transcript when I was informed of this institution, Russian Electronic Library. I’ve yet to do any exploring but it looks very inviting.
I think Russia has everything to do with this. France has screwed Russia from 2014-2022 and this is payback in the hybrid war. Oil, gas – uranium, Russia is putting Europe’s balls in a vise. If it had not been for the hubbub of the Wagner “coup”
I might not have put the pieces together, Belarus (it’s Russia not Poland raising the pressure there) and now Niger, add in Russia cancelling the grain deal allowing it to heighten the military situation in the Black Sea, it seems to me it is Russia’s turn to drive the escalation, drive it hard.
A very bold chess move, you would think there would be more commotion in the pavilion, did the crowd miss it?
Algeria will support Niger in case of external military aggression, according to the Algerian publication Intel Kirby.
They reported on the potential invasion of Niger under the leadership of ECOWAS, stating that Algeria will not remain idle while its neighboring country faces an invasion.
There were already unconfirmed reports that the Algerian army has started increasing security measures and raising its level of readiness on the border with Niger.
https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/75384
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 2 2023 22:24 utc | 34
I do not know where RFK II went to interview supposed immigrants on the US southern border, but the majority at the moment are from Venezuela. This is of course due to the US sanctions on that country which stretch back decades and were really tightened by Trump with Elliot Abrams and other neocon imperialists advising him. The hatred for successful socialist governments such as that of Chavez and Castro in the Western Hemisphere is borne of Chomsky’s “the threat of a good example”.
https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/15819
I cannot watch the Jimmy Dore interview so I am not sure what smattering of anecdotal statements he received really consists of, but it’s also possible that several of these people have lied about where they are from knowing certain countries have slightly privileged status with US Customs and Immigration.
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/venezuelan-immigrants-united-states#
“In fiscal year (FY) 2022, U.S. border authorities encountered irregularly arriving Venezuelan migrants more than any other year on record—190,000 times—and the 65,000 encounters over the first four months of FY 2023 were more than in all of FY 2021.”
Here in Eastern Europe [Hungary] the situation is similar. Most illegal immigrants are coming because they are fleeing imperialist US and European wars [including economic warfare] in the Middle East and Africa, but also SW Asia.
If you Americans don’t want more illegal immigrants for whatever your “left” or “right” concerns, walls are not the answer – stopping your destructive foreign adventures and illegal economic wars is.
Posted by: crimeariver | Aug 2 2023 22:27 utc | 35
@15, @27
Read about it on CTV News. Now, when they post an article 4 brief links down “An American woman is charged with conspiring to kill her husband in the Bahamas,” it sends my thoughts a racing. So – that article was posted originally 7 hours. News of the Trudeau’s splitting, 50 mins ago, and immediately before that (1 hr ago) “Biden delays plans to restock nation’s emergency oil reserve”.
Then – also 1 hour ago – Willy the Texas rodeo goat, on the lam for weeks, has been found safe. It’s easy to get a bit carried away with these things..
RT:
https://www.rt.com/news/580738-trudeau-wife-separation-announcement/
BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66389069
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 2 2023 22:29 utc | 36
If you Americans don’t want more illegal immigrants for whatever your “left” or “right” concerns, walls are not the answer – stopping your destructive foreign adventures and illegal economic wars is.
Posted by: crimeariver | Aug 2 2023 22:27 utc | 35
This has been said before, but it cannot be said enough.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 2 2023 22:30 utc | 37
The Jimmy Dore interview spent a lot of time on RFKjr’s drug addiction particularly heroin, I must say America’s come a long, long way since his uncle and dad’s time that’s for sure. America has all through its history had great empathy for those who veered from the path of righteousness only to struggle back into virtue. It is maybe the USA’s last remaining folk narrative still tied to reality, and in a country overwhelmed by opioid trauma it will resonate strongly.
These admissions of struggle, redemption and forbearance will make RJKjr a hero. Biden refusing him secret service protection will elevate him to superhero.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 2 2023 22:44 utc | 38
Hungary has the tighest control on its borders and most unfriendly of governments for immigrants of any European country that I know. Some on this page have it backwards. The people fleeing to here [or to the USA] do not come because they fear their own governments. They fear not being able to eat, have jobs or their home and country being destroyed by outside governments or the tyranically evil puppet governments supported by the neo colonialists and imperialists. They do, as in the USA, fear our government and they still try to come. The same thing as in the USA. For certain some small minority does flee their home government but the waves and caravans and boatmen coming here and going there are leaving countries touched by the boot of American and European NATO imperialism. Or to say it differently in all of man’s history the movement of large numbers of people from one country to another is not political but economic. It is in the destination countries where the most of them face political repression.
Posted by: crimeariver | Aug 2 2023 22:55 utc | 39
“…..only 2 of them were from Latin America. The rest were from all over the world, so the usual liberal self-flagellation that insists that American workers must pay the consequences of American empire’s crimes doesn’t even apply here….” Scorpion@32
Your argument ignores Imperial crimes in, for example Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Palestine and very many more countries, including many in Europe whose lives have been ruined by IMF and other Washington inspired economic attacks on the poor and the peasantry in particular. These will include the victims of the various neo-salafi militias trained, armed and organised under US auspices.
There should be no need to mention the US crimes in East Asia which have been on a scale unprecedented in human history.
The US ruling class has been waging war against workers and peasants for decades- ask an American steel worker or small farmer.
What you call ‘illegal immigration’ has no impact on the living standards of Americans- their problems come from above, their own government, their own ruling class, not below where the steady influx of determined and angry people who know everything they need to know about US Imperialism, a subject taught at the highest level in every village in Guatemala, Colombia or Peru, can only strengthen the forces calling for real reform, democracy and a revolution in the relations of the few with the many.
Posted by: bevin | Aug 2 2023 23:01 utc | 40
These admissions of struggle, redemption and forbearance will make RJKjr a hero. Biden refusing him secret service protection will elevate him to superhero.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 2 2023 22:44 utc | 37
Umm, no. That redemption narrative works only when one Accepts Jesus Christ as One’s Lord and Saviour. Otherwise one remains damaged goods. Ask Tom Eagleton.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 2 2023 23:12 utc | 41
Posted by: Sentient | Aug 2 2023 17:28 utc | 16
####
On the uranium output of Canada.. Canada has reserves, yes, but the mining atm not really. 5 Mines all located in Saskatchewan. 2022, 2 were operating 3 idle. during the “virus” 1 was operating at reduced capacity. Last year approx 8000 tonnes of U3O8′ Don’t know about the refining process. To make up the shortfall, if one occurs due to the hostilities in Niger. I would think a major ramp up in production at those mines would have to happen.
Know firsthand. A lack of experienced manpower (remote mining) now is a major problem in Canada. After the “Covid shenanigans” Not many want to risk the camp life.
Posted by: heavymetal101 | Aug 2 2023 23:15 utc | 42
re Lira: any border crossing I’ve come a cross you must first pass the control of the country you are exiting before the one you are entering. Sometimes across friendly countries, in times of peace, one or the other might just wave people through, but these are not amicable times in Europe. I don’t know how Lira planned to avoid Ukrainian customs, that’s why the whole story is fishy. If he had said, last night I gave my phone to a homeless guy, this morning I paid a trucker to take my motorcycle with the SBU airtag in it back to Kharkov, now I’m off to crawl across the woods into Hungary I might have bought it.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 2 2023 23:15 utc | 43
malenkov @ 40
Umm, no. That redemption narrative works only when one Accepts Jesus Christ as One’s Lord and Saviour. Otherwise one remains damaged goods. Ask Tom Eagleton.
There’s a lot more to the American population than the Christian right. Like I said, the country has changed much since 1972.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 2 2023 23:23 utc | 44
There’s a lot more to the American population than the Christian right. Like I said, the country has changed much since 1972.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 2 2023 23:23 utc | 43
The country has changed, but its cherished narratives have not. So indeed one could argue that the USA hasn’t changed at all. And I’m going with that.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 2 2023 23:27 utc | 45
I see that the usual reactionaries are peddling the usual lies and distortions about immigrants into amerika. They fatuously claim that only native american migrants can claim to be victims of amerikan imperialism, theft, coups and wars powered in the name of amerikan profiteering. This of course completely ignores the reality that for more than 140 years amerikan governments and their bum-buddies in amerikan businesses have been raping, looting, murdering and destroying anything anywhere in the world that may benefit any amerikan greedy’s short term bottom line.
Until amerika is compelled to make full reparation for all the harm it has caused we can expect to see humans from all over this rock turning up in amerika seeking to right the personal harm that has befallen them and their families.
This isn’t a moral issue whichever light anyone on either side casts it; it is human nature determined by a need to eat and survive. It wouldn’t matter what fences are put up, how many machine-gun towers are installed, the impetus will remain and inevitably a way around the obstacles will be found. This has been proven literally millions of times over the millennia.
The obvious cure, to make staying in one’s ‘home country’ more palatable is not viable.
Why? Because it remains vital for amerika to keep governments in these nations who bow to amerika’s needs and since they are always comprised of the most greedy & corrupt citizens who can be found any attempt to right the balance by tipping a coupla billion hot off the printing press to a particularly troublesome population is doomed to fail and the bulk of the dosh will end up in a swiss bank account owned by their satrap local politicians.
The die is cast, there is no way around it. In the last centuries of the Roman empire it was dominated by ‘blow-ins’ that is citizens who were born in colonies far afield.
England hasn’t had an empire for 70 years and yet they still have thousands from former colonies arriving every day.
It is karma materialised as all the wealth generated in amerika has come by way of theft. amerikans are the first people to complain to government if some nation wants to prohibit an amerikan presence in their nation. Tame xtian evangelists are most often the initial shock troops. You walked into everywhere else and brutally made yourself at home yet you don’t like the obverse. Tough shit! There is nothing you can do but try to get along with the new arrivals, lest the greedies who caused this use new arrivals to divide you all and exploit you further. Something that is already happening (see above). Get used to it, get along and then address the problem at root by actually assisting your previous sucker nations to stabilise in the way they wish to, not the way that the greedies need them to.
As every empire before yours has learned at great cost, payback is inevitable and whilst you may resist for a while you cannot succeed, every act of resistance will accrue more payback. Betcha they didn’t tell you that when gas was 25 cents a gallon, did they? Yeah, yeah much of that gas came from land stolen from native amerikans, however amerikan control of foreign oilfields and sales to third countries meant that amerikans were being subsidised domestically.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 2 2023 23:30 utc | 46
“The D.C. does not want to let you know that when the credit rating goes down, interest rates will go up. ”
Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha, what a load of nonsense.
See Japan for details.
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=61035
If interest rates go up it is because when they hold their meeting to decide what to do and they want interest rates to rise then they’ll increase them. If they want to cut them they’ll cut them.
No bond vigilantes in America. America is fully sovereign. The EU on the other hand….
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 2 2023 23:55 utc | 47
To state that the latest efforts in superconductivity can be extrapolated out to long distance transmission, huge gains in electrical generation, etc. is absolute rubbish. It is indeed a fundamental breakthrough but the basic resources required to accomplish it and apply it broadly simply do not exist. To expand it beyond bench top or even highly specialised applications will cost trillions and will rapidly come up against limits. Bottom line is it is not a source of energy and will only perpetuate exponential demand for more FF energy and materials which are not there in the amounts to make any sort of difference.
But hey…magic just might happen…. this time.
Posted by: jef | Aug 2 2023 23:56 utc | 48
America, America… why would anyone who lives here in the US worry about immigration and the standard Mexicans are held to? With the low life people that live here, how can we say anything about anyone who crosses the border? Drug dealers? we already accept them here in America, cities are full of them. Sex traffickers yeah, we got lots of them in DC thanks to Epstein’s buddies in Washington. The way I see it, anything or anybody that crosses the border is head and shoulders above what we already have here in this country. And more than likely most Mexicans will be an improvement over most Americans! Besides Europe people in the world are in every way better than we are here in America.
Posted by: Dferg | Aug 2 2023 23:57 utc | 49
Pure and utter hatred for the average American on display here by the usual suspects. I didn’t ask my gov’t to go into Iraq. I didn’t want my gov’t to prop up dictators in Latin America. And I also didn’t ask for illegals to flood into the U.S. and drain our social services at the threat of not only our livelihoods as blue-collar wage-earners, but also their lives to the powerful organizations for human trafficking and the groups that seek to dismantle the homogeneity that is the only capable force of taking down the int’l elite that give the U.S. its marching orders.
These old leftists think that America is in the process of vanquishing and that will be good for the world.
But what if what is happening is that those with the power for legitimate dissent are actually being squashed and that the empire’s imperial hubris (under the guise of right-wing “American Naitonalism”…sure it is /sarc) will only strengthen under the fully open-border neoliberal paradigm.
America’s trajectory of centralization stands in perfect alignment with its reputation of imperial hubris abroad. From the victory of the north in the Civil War, to the advent of the Fed, to the backing of the Communists in WW2 against the desire of its inward-looking peaceful nationalists like Ford and Lindbergh.
The reality of America as an imperial golem is the result of what you leftists continually desire: centralization, open-borders, and world elite. Same as it has ever been.
Yet you blame Joe Wage-earner in the States. What a laugh!
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:07 utc | 50
“I didn’t ask my gov’t” writes the Hitler worshipper. As if it mattered what he did or didn’t ask.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 3 2023 0:12 utc | 51
I’ve produced a follow up article to the Russia-Africa Summit that provides the Russian government’s analysis on the affair along with a Niger update and Maria Z’s Summit analysis, and I finally discovered who was wearing the Putin shirt, “Post Africa-Russia Summit Internal Russian Government Reaction”.
@ malenkov
From what I have been so blessed to understand about Hitler after a lifetime of propaganda about the Good War and taking it to the evil Nazis…out of FDR, Stalin, and Hitler, Hitler was clearly the most honest and peaceful among them. Just got a little carried away thinking he could defeat the world, but the war was definitely not his fault.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:21 utc | 53
How propaganda works – the same old framing and some old narratives
Ratings agencies and higher interest rates
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=1731
I wonder if those traders who bet against the Japanese bonds because of the rating agencies and who survived. Have moved out of their card board boxes from under the free way yet ?
It wasn’t called the widow maker trade for nothing.
And when their propaganda marketing campaign framing and narratives break down…..
https://www.billmitchell.org/Podcast/transcripts/Episode_12_July_28_2023.txt
If what the propaganda and marketing campaign say is true and that – IF the public debt is necessary to ‘fund’ government deficits, as in the ‘debt bomb’ narrative and framing.
Why then do they be issue loads of debt debt when they were running budget surpluses.
🙂
You can beat them by simply using their own GROUPTHINK against them. Their government is like household logic never holds up to scrutiny.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 3 2023 0:25 utc | 54
@ Posted by: Scorpion | Aug 2 2023 19:24 utc | 20
If such labour were really needed and desirable, there is no reason not to process immigrants into the country legally rather than keeping an open border allowing no end of sex and drug trafficking.
The labor is so needed that many millions of work visas are granted so that farms in the west can have people work the harvest. Of course, it is always a surprise to hear Birchites argue that what we really need is more big government bureaucrats determining “need” instead of allowing the free market to determine that – if the illegal immigrants weren’t needed in the job market, obviously they wouldn’t find jobs, and yet they seem to always end up in jobs somehow.
The issue is of course the bureaucratic-regulatory regime which “processes” people. Racists don’t want brown-skinned people here, flat out. They want a lily white population by any means necessary, and so the bureaucratic aspect has been enlarged and it has been made impossible for Latin American immigrants to legally immigrate. Only a certain number of visas are rewarded each year, and this number is kept low by the conscious effort of white supremacists in the government.
Undocumented immigrants being “illegal” is of course an impediment to them being treated like American workers, subject to American labor regulations, and puts them in a worse bargaining position, lowering their effective wage demand, and making it more likely that any given individual in that group will have to resort to black market means to make a living. The obvious solution to this would be to make them legal, and thus more able to engage in class struggle, and thus also less pressured to scab or fall into the lumpenproletariat. Automatic citizenship for anyone who has worked here for a year would seem to be a smart interim policy for a socialist government to adopt, rather than the frankly cruel and sadistic policy of deportation of working people.
It is amazing how many people these days regard the sheer lawlessness of what is unfolding as entirely normal.
As a kind of an anarchist, in ethos anyway, I do in fact believe that lawlessness is often better than lawfulness. You won’t find a more lawful place than a prison or a concentration camp, which seems to be the model social institution for the right-wing everywhere.
@ Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 2 2023 19:37 utc | 22
The issue is that your thinking is confined to the present mode of production. In a worldwide capitalist system with established imperialist powers, workers in the core imperialist countries do indeed benefit from the maintenance of border regimes, insofar as lower prices for exploited labor overseas means lower prices for commodities in the core market and thus higher real wages for core workers. This is not sustainable, however. Eventually the world market tends towards equilibrium in the price of labor. We are seeing in real time this occur in Western Europe, where workers in e.g. the UK are seeing a declining standard of living as the national government is no longer able to pressure and coerce imperialized nations into unequal trade deals.
Under a socialist system, free movement of labor across the planet will be an expression of pure personal freedom and will enable workers to find the jobs and working conditions that best suit them. I think the limitations of your thinking are especially laid out with this:
imagine a closed border country that demonstrates strates success. Solid affluency without the need for military adventurism (empire).
Warmed over import substitution developmentalism that was ironically put into practice most monstrously by the Khmer Rouge, who thought they could close off Cambodia to the outside world and become an autarkic rice exporter. Cuba presently suffers under such a system which has been imposed on them by military force, the US blockade, and it has been a major struggle to end that blockade because autarky sucks, actually.
Free trade and free movement are progressive for the reason Marx outlined a hundred fifty years ago: it brings the contradictions inherent in the capitalist system to a head, forcing a final resolution and the overcoming of the capitalist system from within. The major mistake of reactionary socialisms is to seek to bring things back to a previous era, not understanding that the future is always contained within the conditions of the present.
Posted by: fnord | Aug 3 2023 0:34 utc | 55
Also just to add in response to another reply, which was full of other statements in the “shit someone just made up” category, RFK2 is simply not a reliable source about anything, let alone the demographic composition of undocumented immigrants. RFK2 is just a kook with a lot of money and powerful friends (actually, connections in the CIA, if you’re ever interested in following that rabbit hole), and anyone who knows this kind of asshole knows that these types just love to hear themselves talk.
Posted by: fnord | Aug 3 2023 0:40 utc | 56
How to avoid the one party nation state propaganda in 9 easy steps.
1. Deficit spending 101 – Part 1
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=332
2. Deficit spending 101 – Part 2
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=352
3. Deficit spending 101 – Part 3
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=3814
4. Will we really pay higher taxes?
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=1229
5. Will we really pay higher interest rates?
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=1266
6. Fiscal sustainability 101 – Part 1
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=2905
7. Fiscal sustainability 101 – Part 2
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=2916
8. Fiscal sustainability 101 – Part 3
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=2943
9. Functional finance and modern money
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=5762
You’ll never be fooled by the one party nation state again.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 3 2023 0:47 utc | 57
@54 fnord
Nice little theory you have there. Pity if someone were to mention a little thing such as culture and place.
Culture and place allow for philosophy to exist.
What you describe is a pure hellscape where workers have to uproot themselves at a moment’s notice to chase businesses that are constantly looking for the cheapest means of production.
But as I have said before: communism at bottom seeks the entire displacement of philosophy. Your happiness will be one not from understanding of the world and your place in it but rather as your ability to maintain consistent employment which will be challenging, depressing, and deadening, involving a complete dereliction of polite society and decorum. We can see early inklings of this in the states as it approaches S.African AND Brazilian levels.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:52 utc | 58
@ 55 fnord
RFKjr. is not claiming to be a migratory-scientist.
He is just reporting on what he has seen and doing it with convincing pathos.
If there was a dude who said he was an actual migration-scientist and was reporting, I would be infinitely more skeptical, as he would be probably receiving money from the government.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:57 utc | 59
Echo Chamber @ 46
A lower rating means increased risk so the USA will have to raise rates to attract risk averse buyers. Being a sovereign state doesn’t have much to do with it because the USA isn’t MMT and it doesn’t introduce money directly into the economy it creates money by selling bonds to markets and the market gives it the money, the buyer gets revenue/interest, the seller get money – that it could have printed directly – that’s the whole capitalist/reserve banking circle jerk scam right there, but there it is. Shouting it’s really MMT doesn’t matter much, there are real costs, to the society just not for the insiders, in fact for them there is only profit/interest, and the worse the situation, rising interest rates, the more profit.
Lower rating will cost the taxpayers as they believe the state will go bankrupt otherwise and will pony up. To prove it to them, to scare them, the insiders will cut services, after 40 neoliberal years it’s almost routine at this point. So, there is a real cost, just not for the govt. and the wealthy – who buy the bonds and now get more interest on them. Pointing out it’s all a scam doesn’t mean there’s no one on the receiving end of the hustle.
Getting rid of hegemony is sadly not going to get rid of reserve banking. I really doubt those de-dollarizing are much interested in proletarian justice.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 3 2023 1:06 utc | 60
re NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:21 utc | 52:
…q.e.d.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 3 2023 2:03 utc | 61
For some people who would believe Vladimir Putin saved Russia, https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/1589qd2 is a thread where Russians answered about this to sober all of you.
Posted by: La Mousse Blanche | Aug 3 2023 2:25 utc | 62
@ La Mousse Blanche | Aug 3 2023 2:25 utc | 61
Amazing how a bunch of “Russians” writing in perfect American English manage to reproduce such American stereotypes about Russia. And on Reddit, of all places! Whoda thunk?
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 3 2023 2:48 utc | 63
Oh, spit! I just lost the whole of a long post about Hiroshima Day (this Sunday) and various events/vigils/rallies that people might want to note and to go to, if near them.
Well, it was maybe too long anyway, but I’ll note that the making and release of the film Oppenheimer feels very ominous to me – as if it’s part of a propagandistic, softening-up exercise, to present nuclear weapons as:
a) a triumph of American individual exceptional brilliance, and
b) unhappy, but “necessary”
and that for that reason, for fear of what might be being subtly massaged to show that even more war is “necessary” again, I think noticing and taking action on Hiroshima Day is more important this year than it has been for some time.
Peace, all.
Posted by: Hope | Aug 3 2023 3:02 utc | 64
What stereotypes about Russia were reproduced ?
Posted by: La Mousse Blanche | Aug 3 2023 3:02 utc | 65
Re: “Illegal immigrants”
…If you Americans don’t want more illegal immigrants for whatever your “left” or “right” concerns, walls are not the answer – stopping your destructive foreign adventures and illegal economic wars is.
Posted by: crimeariver | Aug 2 2023 22:27 utc | 35
…This has been said before, but it cannot be said enough.
Posted by: malenkov | Aug 2 2023 22:30 utc | 36
Agree! My 2 cents: after more than 50 years of living in southern states (Texas,Florida, Alabama) it has become very clear that Latin Americans are on the whole very hardworking, humble, family oriented, good & noble people. Many of them are victims of one sinister Uncle Sam. What’s needed is more understanding of the cause of the problem and a bigger table, not a bigger fence.
Apparently too few know that John Perkin’s “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” (2004) explains why Latin America is so poor, and how the US has created that mess. The narcissistic, sleazy neocons in charge of US foreign policy have worked very hard to corrupt Latin American politicians, to keep their nations weak & desperate.
It seems the whole world is groaning, waiting for the US/Goliath to quit acting like a spoiled, violent, teenager on steroids & crack. Sadly, there are many
good reasons why many call the USA “the great satan, the empire of lies & the empire of shame”. Their days in power are ending now.
In his preface to this book, Perkins wrote:
Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization. I should know; I was an EHM….
Excerpts from the book & link to the full text:
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man
Watch interview: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions
November 09, 2004
https://www.democracynow.org/2004/11/9/confessions_of_an_economic_hit_man
John Perkins… realized that his job was to get countries to borrow dollars to build huge projects that could only be paid for by the country exporting more – which required breaking its labor unions and lowering wages so that it could be competitive in the race to the bottom that the World Bank and IMF encourage… [The World Bank’s]… job is to do in the financial sphere what, in the past, was done by military force… Instead of bullets, it uses financial maneuvering. As long as other countries play an artificial economic game that U.S. diplomacy can control, finance is able to achieve today what used to require bombing and loss of life by soldiers. In this case the loss of life occurs in the debtor countries. Population growth shrinks, suicides go up. The World Bank engages in economic warfare that is just as destructive as military warfare.” — Michael Hudson in The IMF and World Bank: Partners in Backwardness, CounterPunch, (5 July 2019)
In the U.S. there are signs of decadence almost everywhere nowadays. In the debasement of the dollar, in militarism, in the paucity of honesty and ethics, in mainstream media propaganda and even in educational standards and one could go on. The list unfolds like an ocean crossing tsunami …Can anyone of sound mind doubt that the U.S. eventually will get what it seems to deserve [karma] for the harm it has done worldwide as a crude and vicious military “empire”? Patience will prove it. The U.S. long ago tossed fair play, its cultural racism knows few bounds along with its arrogance and obtuseness, its environmental destruction is off the charts and support for Zionist Apartheid abroad and the lambent racism at home, especially by some GOP politicians, remains extant.
Weep or not, America is beginning to hurt seriously… —Tehran Times (October 24, 2021)
The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere… any decision-making… based upon lies or ignorance can’t lead to a good conclusion. —
Julian Assange
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish as fools. — MLK
Posted by: Toby C | Aug 3 2023 3:11 utc | 66
LK-99
‾‾‾‾‾
I’m just someone interested who has followed this a little bit from the initial public news over a week ago (very unscientific detour: time flies so fast, maybe “death” is our consciousness going too fast —or should that be slow— for our bodies?). Since I’ve got the links I might as well share them 🙂 (I haven’t gotten through the latest news from yesterday and I’ll be all spent by the time I post this (should be sleeping) so there is bound to be more out on the internet (but most of it rubbish since everyone and their cat jumped on this from the start lol (which is both good and bad (and I should stop thinking LISP is an English language structure (it happens when I’m very exhausted)))). I’ve only read bits and pieces of the papers and I’m not qualified to go into detail or offer much in way of my own independent opinions but I can sum up some of what seems to be reasonable comments and perspectives that I’ve picked up elsewhere.
These are to add on to Karof1’s link to a Chinese instance of successful replication of the Korean LK-99 and the videos they released; some of it explains why some people possibly mistakenly think it’s less successful or promising and also why it may turn out otherwise (better) than the gist of the Global Times news report.
There are four key scientific papers on the matter so far; the original two Korean papers (main and supplementary) and two theoretical investigations/simulations that quickly gained special interest and attention among those looking at this, one out of China and one out of the US.
The “99” in LK-99 refers to 1999 when some of the people involved first started working on the idea and material as (I believe) then high-school students (and/or undergrads). “LK” might be in reference to Sukbae Lee and Jihoon Kim (two of the six Korean authors of one the original papers) but that’s only a guess of mine and could be wrong.
LK-99, “Pb₁₀₋ₓCuₓ(PO₄)₆O”, and “copper-substituted lead phosphate apatite” all refer to the same material, it’s just different names for the same thing.
One can also say that this material is a doped material just as doping is used in materials for logic gates in the computer industry. Doping in this sense means the addition of tiny amounts of “impurities” of different atomic elements into a material to change its overall behavior and characteristics.
I’m in no position to hold this opinion but the approach is kind of neat and sort of elegant imo and I wonder what made them come up with the idea and approach all those years ago.
All links are to the Arxiv page of the papers rather than directly to the pdf files because that way one can easily see/find new versions/revisions. This is the right way to do it 😉
1. The original two papers:
The larger “The First Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor”
Plaintext URL:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12008
The smaller “Superconductor Pb₁₀₋ₓCuₓ(PO₄)₆O showing levitation at room temperature and atmospheric pressure and mechanism”
Plaintext URL:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12037
2. The Chinese Academy of Sciences reaction paper in the form of a theoretical study/calculation of the material which greatly supported and increased the likelihood that the Koreans were indeed onto something interesting:
“First-principles study on the electronic structure of Pb₁₀₋ₓCuₓ(PO₄)₆O (x=0, 1)”
Plaintext URL:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.16040
3. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reaction paper in the form of a theoretical study/calculation of the material which greatly supported and increased the likelihood that the Koreans were indeed onto something interesting:
“Origin of correlated isolated flat bands in copper-substituted lead phosphate apatite”
Plaintext URL:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.16892
The people behind both 2 and 3 above is said to have used at least some of the same software for their theoretical investigation/characterization.
The tricky part is that the material depends on a specific binding of atoms that is the one that is ordinarily the least likely to occur naturally; hence the issues with successfully creating the material and creating it with enough “purity” and why the four day long baking of it seems crucial so far.
Another tricky part identified is that it seems possible the material will only be superconductive along one specific axis and have other properties along different axis.
So it’s all a bit complicated and finicky despite its “simplicity” 🙂
One of the possibly big future developments is said to be the (theoretically) possibly more useful alternative with a similar material only using gold instead of copper.
It should also be pointed out that:
A: The method described by the original Korean paper is relatively easy and cheap.
B: However (as mentioned) one of the stages is a 4-day long baking process that a lot people who say they are trying to replicate the results are ignoring because they most likely mistakenly think other faster methods will be equal when in fact they most likely are not. This means that all the “early” (less than four days after public paper) results are kind of rubbish since they did not duplicate the method precisely (they may still find interesting things though but they’re doing their own thing and not testing the paper).
C: There is a mountain of work that has to be done even if the LK-99 paper is confirmed and even then LK-99 might be unsuitable to most imagined uses.
So far this is basic scientific research; engineering and practical use is all the way over on the other end of the scale and can easily be a generation away or more (although sometimes things move much faster and it could still turn out that way in this case).
However what seems both clear and certain is that the original Korean LK-99 papers have helped bring the practical and theoretical “landscape” in room temperature superconductivity forward. LK-99 itself may still turn out to be a blind alley but the novelty of/in the ideas within/behind LK-99 should remain regardless.
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Aug 3 2023 3:15 utc | 67
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:07 utc | 49
Pure and utter hatred for the average American on display here by the usual suspects. ….
The reality of America as an imperial golem is the result of what you leftists continually desire: centralization, open-borders, and world elite. Same as it has ever been.
Yet you blame Joe Wage-earner in the States. What a laugh!
===================================================
Well said. I have never really been able to understand the left-right stuff, or the class warfare view. The idea that the workers can take over is ridiculous. Well, of course they can take over but then within a few years there will be a reconfigured class system but still with an upper, middle and lower distribution, with most at the bottom and the fewest at the top. It’s inevitable no matter what system you adopt and to believe otherwise is extremely naive.
But I do understand a little about people and value their lives and life journeys and do not wish any of them harm. I wish Americans well; and the illegal immigrants well though I don’t think they should be encouraged to emigrate unlawfully. All my life I’ve seen my governments in England, US and Canada doing bad things. Maybe that means it is just that I and my children be punished and suffer for those crimes as many here in this commentariat clearly wish, but if you believe that then you believe, presumably, that the reason the immigrants are suffering so much is because they are paying for the karmic crimes of their own ancestors who were involved in war, slavery and all the rest of it. As the Buddha rightly said, ‘samsara and its suffering are endless.’
That said, I find the mentality of wishing others harm deplorably toxic.
And thus saddening.
And so it goes…
Absolutely no surprise to see that nemesis’ only rejoinder is ad-hominem combined with a large sprinkle of emotive deceits “I didn’t ask my govt. . . ” maybe not but you were content to enjoy the benefits of the rapes, murders & thefts committed by your government, otherwise you wouldn’t remain an amerikan would you? Your naive patriotism combined with your adherence to old wives’ tales reveals that much.
However it isn’t about nemesis or any of the other idiots who stupidly buy into the elites’ craftily created wedges which are driven between their ‘fellow country persons’ (lol), the issue is about millions of people from what seems to an amerikan to be the far flung corners of planet earth, decent humans who have been driven off their lands by the wars, famines and environmental disasters amerikan corporations, ably assisted by their voted for by the citizens’ government caused all over the world.
I betcha that not one in a thousand amerikans had any idea there was a nation called Niger before those three amerikan special forces troops were ambushed by extremely & justifiably angry Nigeriens and I betcha most of those confused it with Nigeria, england’s last colonial ‘earner’.
Do I hate amerika? I dunno, I certainly don’t hate amerikans having had a number of very close friends here and in other parts of the world including amerika. I hate the slaughter of native americans which wasn’t just vicious, it was completely un-necessary, a crime only committed by the anglo-germans who became amerikans; everywhere else in the americas which were nearly 100% colonised, no one found it necessary to butcher all the indigenous people as amerikans attempted.
I also find the post ww2 economic imperialism waged by amerika far more hateful than any previous imperialism which up until then had always required a large transfusion of the empire’s humans into the target nation; the reason amerika didn’t go that route being the most hateful of all, ie having lotsa ordinary amerikans in say Saudi Arabia, would kick off close interpersonal communication between ordinary Saudis and ordinary amerikans which would inevitably sabotage the more extreme measures such as coups & wars the amerikan empire uses to control errant portions of their empire.
While we’re on the subject of culture, one nemesis speciously gabs about, let us consider the only two art forms amerika has nutured to fruition; they are Jazz and movies. Nemesis is always rabbiting on about ‘culture’ in amerika yet the two worthy efforts are no product of mainstream amerika, all the jazz and modern music which so dominates western culture stems from african-american music.
Similarly, the amerikan movie industry is a product of jewish culture, manufactured & distributed by jewish amerikans back in a time when most amerikans wanted the government to “stop the jews coming here”.
In other words so-called amerikan culture isn’t a product of mainstream amerikan culture. It only takes a modicum of observation to discern that all the stuff amerikans consider to be culture eg visual arts, novels, dance etc is pure mimicry of what amerikans perceived to be ‘highbrow’ in 19th century europe, which of itself was largely inspired by europe’s imperialist adventures in other far older cultures.
I’m not saying that to put shit on amerikans, what I am saying is that making art (for want of a better word) is a result of living dangerously on the edge of a society where african-americans have always been and jewish amerikans once were.
If it comes down to it I cannot think of a culturally significant work of art produced by an englander since the days of elizabeth 1, I.E. before england had imperial ambitions.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 3 2023 3:55 utc | 69
Aye did not waaaahnt my country to invade and destroy allllll those countrues!!!
Did you join the protests against the invasion of Iraq? Did you show up at your government representatives offices and write emails and letters to them objecting? Do you join the American groups like Code Pink counter protesting in front of the Venezeulan embassy when Trump is trying to strangle that country or Cuba? Do you do anything? Did you go to the WTO organizing in Seattle or Occupy Wall Street meets? Did you complain when Trump’s cabal indicted Julian Assange? I thought you Americans had freedom to assemble. What is it do you fear being labeled Antifa and Lezbo sympathizer?
Those Americans who did not do any of that are the kindred spirits of the jerks that tried to brand the Vietnam protesters as hippies , commies and queers!!!! You’re cowards. Take action if you don’t like it! But when a politcian from your “team” comes along that says the right things, you shut up and go back about your usual business.
America is the destructor of the ROTW. YOU are to blame. YOU make YOUR own fate!!! Cowards that always put the blame on others.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 3 2023 4:36 utc | 70
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 3 2023 3:55 utc | 68
Couldn’t agree more.
P.S. And it looks like I’m back off of banned city? I emailed b when I couldn’t get my comments to post so maybe it was an IP block put on a do-not-allow list. Whatever.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 3 2023 4:38 utc | 71
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:07 utc | 49
Pure and utter hatred for the average American on display here by the usual suspects. ….
You are sounding more and more like Joseph McCarthy or the neocons that you claim to hate, but probably voted for twice in 2000 and 2004. Empty rhetoric. As always. Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be able to get along, but you’re truly losing the plot, man. Red Scare must’ve really done a number on your parents. Because you don’t have much in the way of logic or real articulable history to show for your EMOTIONS (not opinions for sure).
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 3 2023 4:41 utc | 72
There’s a lot more to the American population than the Christian right. Like I said, the country has changed much since 1972.
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 2 2023 23:23 utc | 43
LOL the SCOTUS sure hasn’t. And you’re dead wrong and at the same time right anyway. It has but it hasn’t. In all the wrong ways. Thanks in large part to the Christian (evangelical) Right, the Powell Memo and the Birchers-turned-Federalist-Society wankers.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 3 2023 4:44 utc | 73
Posted by: Toby C | Aug 3 2023 3:11 utc | 65
Shhh. Don’t tell any of that the the Scorpions and Nemesis Callings of the MoA site. They are too busy hiding their heads in the sand and pretending that those brown folk are all terrorists, welfare abusers or rapists/murderers. Nuh-uh. Duh USA had NOOOOH part in any of them comin here! We just good hard workin’ white Christians bein INVADED!!! Fucking clownworld (and Scorpion isn’t even an American, has never lived here, and has no business opining with as much psuedo-sincerity as he does about the US political landscape).
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 3 2023 4:47 utc | 74
That said, I find the mentality of wishing others harm deplorably toxic.
And thus saddening.
And so it goes…
Posted by: Scorpion | Aug 3 2023 3:44 utc | 67
And then what of Trump’s many comments on Venezuela, Cuba and the Palestinians? Or Iran? Yeah you routinely Stan for a real asshole here at MoA and yet you coda your commentary with fake sympathy and psuedo-emotion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lShcc8B-96E (HAHA!)
Not convincing anymore at all. Wonder……did you ever work for MI6? 5? CIA? Or just a corporate shill?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Aug 3 2023 4:54 utc | 75
maybe not but you were content to enjoy the benefits of the rapes, murders & thefts committed by your government..
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 3 2023 3:55 utc | 68
———————————————————————-
Exactly
Anybody here ever see Neme and his pal scorpion calling out USAss depravity in ROW ?
NOne, zero, zildh
Worse than that,.
The scorpion is a typical ‘wn’ nosey parker, who’s more interested in upholding ‘TW’s right to self determination,’ ‘the plight of Tibetan refugees’ blah blah…
From the horse mouth…
scorpion
Im here to right an imbalance, too much hatred for USA,.
BE careful what you wish for, China might be just another monster of different hue
As for USAss perpetual wars,
Dont blame us, its the Jews faults, we’r all fighting Israel’s wars
What about those psycho who run the USAss, who elected them ?
Well dont be too hard on them, they learned all that shit from the chicom
This is the prevalent ‘wn’ etho,
We dindunuthin, its the Jews/Chinese faults
Fact is, they’re conspiring to genocide us whitey !
Posted by: denk | Aug 3 2023 5:10 utc | 76
I saw many comments about the USSR by the Russians in their summit with the Africans. Interesting how Putin is having to follow the Soviet path in regards of geopolitics. How much is Russia involved in the Niger crisis?? The army just came out with their coup, now all of the sudden?? A new anti colonial Russian crusade would be just crucial to weaken the collective waste. Putin should have an eye on creating a couple more “Nigers” all over the world. Such a shame Castro and Chavez are not around anymore, they could have encouraged the warm spirited crypto leftists like Obrador and Lula to back Russian antiimperialists efforts.
Posted by: Mariátegui | Aug 3 2023 6:19 utc | 77
Posted by: Debsisdead | Aug 3 2023 3:55 utc | 68
Yes, thank you.
Your points are well taken (especially when you do not use overly cryptic metaphors:).
@TQC – back and in fine form I see. Good!
@denk – A+
Posted by: waynorinorway | Aug 3 2023 6:26 utc | 78
Posted by: Wondrous | Aug 2 2023 15:55 utc | 263
From the Ukraine thread.
I don’t know whether you’re asking in jest or seriously, but I cannot give an answer to you on how to deal in Russian shares in the London or Moscow exchange on this forum.
Also, I didn’t say or implied that I was dealing in Russian shares anywhere. I just said that I have bank accounts in US$ in non-US banks for commercial purposes to show that another poster (RB) was wrong when he/she argued that you can only have US$ and €s in Western banks to justify the decision by Elvira Nabiulina to keep Russian sovereign savings in US$ and €s in Western banks.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Aug 3 2023 6:48 utc | 79
Guy walks into a bar in Texas and sees an antique lantern on a table.
He asks the barkeep what it is. He says he doesn’t know, it was there when he opened.
Guy picks it up, dusts it off and suddenly there’s a cloud of smoke and a genie appears.
“Usual deal,” says the genie, you get three wishes.”
“Okay, my first is I want Governor Abbott to be transformed into a pregnant woman who is living alone in a tiny cramped house with no A/C and the temperature at 110 F.”
“Done,” says the genie who smiles, and continues, “By the way, you still have three wishes. That one was on me.”
Posted by: waynorinorway | Aug 3 2023 6:55 utc | 80
Thank you debsisdead, Tom-Q-Collins and the majority of commenters here on this subject.
The phrase…. the pen is mightyer than the sword comes to mind.
Were living in momentous times, History being made before our very eyes.
Comparable to the fall of the Roman empire.
I intend to step aside reducing level of comments. Its in good hands.
But i thank b for this singular media a veritable oases in a desert of msm.
Nemisiscalling…
Ya gonna need another testiment.
Posted by: Mark2 | Aug 3 2023 8:12 utc | 81
@Mariátegui | Aug 3 2023 6:19 utc | 76
Concerning the Miger coup
In the other thread somebody cited Simplicius about Canada and Australia having Uranium to offer and that France might have to buy that at a higher price. Similar to how Germany was forced to buy expensive energy from the US. But I dont know what the plans are for extending enrichement capacity within the Five eyes group.
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Aug 3 2023 8:28 utc | 82
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 3 2023 1:06 utc | 59
A very thoughtful reply buddy but still on the wrong track. However, It shows you understand what is going on. Please allow me to explain further.
“A lower rating means increased risk so the USA will have to raise rates to attract risk averse buyers. Being a sovereign state doesn’t have much to do with it because the USA isn’t MMT and it doesn’t introduce money directly into the economy it creates money by selling bonds to markets and the market gives it the money, the buyer gets revenue/interest, the seller get money ”
The USA is MMT as you don’t move to MMT. MMT just describes how it works. There is no moving to MMT apart from the job guarentee. MMT is what is happening now.
As explained in detail several times before there is no attracting anything. The government gives the primary dealers the funds to buy the bonds. Or the FED can just simply buy the bonds thenselves. Once you understand that you realise there are no funding constraints. Remember Japan and the EU offered negative rates and zero rates and the auction was sold out. The private sector still couldn’t get enough of them.
“Lower rating will cost the taxpayers as they believe the state will go bankrupt otherwise and will pony up. To prove it to them, to scare them, the insiders will cut services, after 40 neoliberal years it’s almost routine at this point. So, there is a real cost, just not for the govt. and the wealthy – who buy the bonds and now get more interest on them. Pointing out it’s all a scam doesn’t mean there’s no one on the receiving end of the hustle. ”
Nah, never happened before because of a rating agency decision. They use the tax payer money myth and government is like a household myth and the deficit myth to cut services.
But of course you are bang on the money regarding interest rate targeting being used a tool for the upper class and bondholders. The FED being a trade union for them.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 3 2023 9:19 utc | 83
The White House will ask Congress to fund arms for Taiwan as part of a supplemental budget request for Ukraine Financial Times
Ukraine against Russia, or Taiwan against China: same budget, same difference.
Posted by: Passerby | Aug 3 2023 9:25 utc | 84
Posted by: LightYearsFromHome | Aug 3 2023 1:06 utc | 59
This will help buddy….
Can the US Treasury run out of money when the US government can’t?
https://neweconomicperspectives.org/2019/03/can-the-us-treasury-run-out-of-money-when-the-us-government-cant.html
Not only does the FED just buy the bonds themselves sometimes and funds the primary dealers when they have to. They can also just run an intraday overdraft.
In the UK before the Maastricht treaty it was all done by an overdraft using the ways and means account.
Pre-1997 the UK government simply spent according to direction from Parliament and this was expressed as money injected into the economy via the Bank of England. Then the Bank of England issued gilts (though always a liability of Treasury) solely with an eye on monetary conditions. In cases where not all of the government spending was drained – because the monetary objectives didn’t require it – then Ways and Means account simply acted as a balancing item. The Ways and Means account was therefore basically analogous to an overdraft (as I know other folk in here have always understood it), an IOU of the Treasury.
So in this case, we have Treasury IOUs backing central bank money creation, but as explicit, overt, unequivocal money creation by government spending. And the only concern in this system was the monetary target, i.e. inflation.
Post-1997 we have the system that we have now. The Treasury (DMO – debt management office) is now responsible for cash management which means it has to clean up after itself by issuing gilts to neutralise its spending. This leaves the Bank to focus on regulating the economy only with respect to prevailing conditions rather than the additional complication of government cash flows. So now when the BoE needs to add more money to the economy it cannot use any of the government’s direct spending (i.e. only drain part of it off) as before because the DMO has already drained it all. So now it has to buy back some of the gilts that the DMO sold.
Again, we have net money added to the economy backed by a Treasury IOU, though this time it is a gilt rather than an entry in the Ways and Means account.
But apart from that, what else is really different? The only thing that stands out is that there are now two targets in the system: (1) the Treasury’s balanced cash flow target; (2) the Bank’s monetary target. In many cases the Bank will have to undo what the Treasury has done, instead of both simply acting together under one target as they did before.
The Maastricht treaty is when the neoliberal and neo conservatives took control of the system for themselves.
Posted by: Echo Chamber | Aug 3 2023 9:48 utc | 85
Back on the rice ban thing. … if pressure from the US primarily led to the export ban on non-basmati rice from India (potentially depriving non-India nations of dosas and idlys!) — then, perhaps, we can look at Arkansas’ Asa Hutchinson as a likely key influencer of that.
His Twitter/X account tells me he’s a GOP candidate for president. From May of this year (focus on Vietnam, Arkansas):
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/20/climate/rice-farming-climate-change.html
“…Dr. Lorence, a plant biochemist at Arkansas State University, is trying to find, particularly those that enable rice plants to survive hot nights, one of the most acute hazards of climate change.”
“Dr. Lorence is among an army of rice breeders developing new varieties for a hotter planet. Multinational seed companies are heavily invested. RiceTec, from which most rice growers in the southeastern United States buy seeds, backs Dr. Lorence’s research.”
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 3 2023 10:30 utc | 86
Canada and Australia having Uranium
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Aug 3 2023 8:28 utc | 81
—
I don’t know about Australian Uranium deposits but Canadian Urianium comes from hard rock mining. I’m pretty sure the Uranium found in Africa’s Sahel is in sedimentary rock lying on top of the igneous shield.
There is a huge difference in cost and difficulty with hard rock mining.
Posted by: too scents | Aug 3 2023 10:51 utc | 87
No offence, but I’m not sure these comments by this or that barfly really provide solid info on the uranium situation in Canada. For that, look for Cameco, headquartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Recently in the news on BNN Bloomberg:
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/cameco-reports-3m-in-adjusted-net-losses-on-strengthened-canadian-dollar-1.1953979
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 3 2023 11:01 utc | 88
Hello MoA. Today I’m going to pick up some loose ends going bavck to older threats and some of the thoughts I’ve been having since. There will be a personal twist, or even accent, on the matter I chose to develop my thinking a little further.
Bemildred had asked me to answer the why? of existence (Dasein; being-here-ness courtesy of scorpion) that I put up at the closing of my long post on materialism, which was still much too brief to handle the matter properly, and thus polemical in its nature – however I trust that it was still good as a sketch to outline some Ideengeschichte behind our current quasi-paradigma of metaphysics. I stated there, and will repeat here, that “materialism” is understood as a scientific methodology – basically empiricism, itself grounded in realism, and thus demanding final judgement on matters of knowledge/truth. This worked well for some time after the renaissance, but could not solve our seeking the meaning of life when roman-christian, totalitarian political(!) ideology lost its monopoly on being right on all things after some 1,000 years, which we now call the dark ages for a reason. Empiricism strives to learn about the Ding an Sich, or as you may put, it’s an approximation towards the transcendental “object out there”. As it turned ot since, the methodology is great for some things in our Lebenswelten, but not all of them. The quantum findings now show the naturalist (realist, materialist) position as beyond redemption, as exemplified by the most famous riddle of our zeitgeist, the mind-body “problem”, which I say is a non-issue because the whole mess arises withbthe bad premise: “there is only stuff (matter; substance), and complex stuff gives rise to sentience” can’t realign the two later because the distinction is bad. Again, the quantum findings should make this clear.
Now this does not mean maths, physics and engineering subjects are baseless fantasies. No, these are cases where the method (measure to get numbers, build mathematical ideas to compute a description of observables) works great, no one denies this. Another field where arguably objectivity is a good aim to go for in your studies is history; this to reign in Karlofi’s position on his academical profession – where the best you can get is always present narration, and must be dealt with accordingly: Hegel famously dubbed this unviewed off-space in all history its “other”. Interestingly, this is quite analogous to the notion of lat. object (basically a brick which you hit with your foot) versus germanic thing – the meeting point where all gathered to talk about the issues; such that all “things” are not by their nature and substance “transcendental” but merely intentional conscious acts as Husserls says.
So when I related this history, I made what I intended as a joke: devoid of god, hence devoid of meaning, we still are here, as sentient beings among others. But why? – and then, of course finished my last glass to leave the bar guessing until it gets boring enough to return usual pastimes of the place. But bemildred to give an answer, and now that is the absolute biggest compliment a philosopher can possibly get, methinks. So I’m really moved, and wish to express my most humble gratitude to all those present and interested in my deliberations. My full answer is, to skip some expectations here, not conclusive. Still, I think I can give an interesting analysis of the basic question that we face, and proceed to analyze a small number of typical (generic) answers, which might actually cover the full spectrum of imaginable answers at this point (of couerse, it’s resting on premises, so I call it speculative theology). The whole argument needs a little developing, so I’m asking for patience, plus another Talisker soda for me and debsisdead.
For now, IO have an answer that is surprisingly simple and, in the end .also quite correct, though it’s a statement given without elaboration of its veracity against theology and science. That’s fine, because the answer was given by John Cleese of all people. Here goes, paraphrasing him:
“Find something you like and enjoy doing, and then do that”. – John Cleese (attributed)
Stunning. He just nails it. So yours truly will kark it for today, and have another drink at the jukebox now. Maybe I’ll socialize.
I tried tpo socialize with Mr. Tom Collins, and failed, which still keeps my a little curious and baffled as to what happened, or rather, what this means in a more general sense; for me, and also for the bar as a social venue. More to this as it comes to me. – At this point, a short note to Juliana is in order: I haven’t answered yet on your wonderful suggestion to read Mater and Margarita in attempt to better understand Russia. Yes, I’m all for it! I actually read it some 20 years back, and didn’t really seem to catch it then, most likely lack od understanding on my part is to blame. I’d be very happy to learn with, and from you, Juliana!
Okay, now the juke box. For some obscure (to myself) reasons I replied to Mr. Collins reservations about me being a spy for the thought police etc. with sending him some frankly amateurish music I made and put on soundcloud during the lockdown period. I should have presented him my Dnj sets, of course! So here they are now, for all to hear what else I really enjoy doing. Still amateurish, but they are actually little postcards each narrating a certain year I lived through, and also they will settle the “five eyes spy” doubts on me as an original poster forever, because they are quite political and anti-imperialist at that.
10aus13 – a love story that magically seemed to take off, two voices piercing the noise and entangling delicately, before Johanna just vanishes (borderline disorder, I later learned). The realisation comes slowly.
10aus15 – energetic and vital throughout, many surprises, also a statement of projects to come (“trance metal”). Going full MoA towards the end …
10aus17 – crazy wild journey. I overcome Johanna, find myself being a spiritual person after all (and yes, drugs helped). Also I’m inviting a common loon to guest star at the concert hall.
Drinks on me, MoA.
– Niko
Posted by: persiflo | Aug 3 2023 11:03 utc | 89
🇪🇺🌾🇷🇺 EU warns that Russia aims to create new dependencies with cheap grain.
The European Union has warned developing countries that Russia is offering cheap grain “to create new dependencies by exacerbating economic vulnerabilities and global food insecurity,”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote to developing and Group of 20 countries on Monday to urge them to speak “with a clear and unified voice” to push Moscow to return to a deal that allowed the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain and to stop targeting Ukraine’s agricultural infrastructure.
“As the world deals with disrupted supplies and higher prices, Russia is now approaching vulnerable countries with bilateral offers of grain shipments at discounted prices, pretending to solve a problem it created itself,” Borrell said.
“This is a cynical policy of deliberately using food as a weapon to create new dependencies by exacerbating economic vulnerabilities and global food insecurity,” he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told African leaders last week that Russia was ready to replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa on both a commercial and aid basis to fulfill what he said was Moscow’s critical role in global food security.
🔗 “>https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-warns-that-russia-aims-create-new-dependencies-with-cheap-grain-2023-08-02/
Yeah, because it is a lot better from the point of view of developing countries to let EU gobble up all the grain and re-buy at 5x prices.
The thing EU/Nato is scared to death is that Russia could create direct logistical trade connection with the African countries.
Posted by: unimperator | Aug 3 2023 11:15 utc | 90
@ “… out of FDR, Stalin, and Hitler, Hitler was clearly the most honest and peaceful among them. Just got a little carried away thinking he could defeat the world, but the war was definitely not his fault.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:21 utc | 52 “
Well tongue in cheek or not that little morsel is like all Great Lies salted with some truth.
It is a highly crafted little paragraph , a Harry Potterish magic spell type of doggerel.
I’ll attempt to unpack it as I’m sure NameCaller wanted to start a dance! Get your clogs on kiddo or your toes might get mashed.
“out of FDR, Stalin, and Hitler” – whoa! there cowboy.
Did you forget to attach all the horses before setting of in your wagon?
What about that Scion of Empire and Banks , Churchill?
You know who his Daddy and Mommy were?
Just like FDR was American royalty, born and bred to lead in that carnage.
Do you understand Churchill’s trajectory as the Chosen One, to pass the Imperial baton to the American Century?
To behave like an English First Royalist to fool most of us here in Great Britain and colonies, by crowing about Empire and Civilisation, whilst selling us all out to the new Federal Reservists and the Reserve Currency transfer, following his failures in WW1.
The Xenophobic, murderous bastards myth persists. Endless hagiography’s, films still even , Hollywoodised with fictional scenes to get our soft minded newest generations to imagine and re-imagine the ‘Great Man’. He was clearly a psychopath as a child, which is the primary requisite of the Masters, for their future CEO’s. They are pampered , taught to parlay their dysfunctional love of pulling off butterfly wings and setting fire to things including live things , through Private Boarding Schools , run by sadomasochist teachers drawn for their imperial experiences, to inculcate that superior sense of entitlement and disregard for human life. The old Jesuit teachings of give them a child at six to make the man.
Just as Johnson, the clown PM of Eton and Bullingdon Oxbridge fame and his entourage, chosen to lead the latest long planned charge of the Light Brigades to Take Crimea Today and Russia Tomorrow.
He fanned the flames in Ukraine, the hard drinking, the Covid partying, the Coke snorting, the adultering, multi baby fathering , mini me Churchill.
His claim to fame as BrexShit Head in Chief, brought to popularity by the Mockingbird CIA owned and controlled mass media. A popular comedy show, followed by a popular Mayorality, the created character of a loveable buffoon, cheeky posh boy, nice but dim, personality. Fooled us Brits again, to the mass folly of the last 25 years to top off the previous 25 of destruction of the the Trente Glorious pacification of the common peoples across Europe, that was forced upon the Bankers that failed in their plans to Take Russia, again, in WW2.
Europe (except most notably in France) has largely seen the destruction of the Democratic Socialism, the Social Contracts that gave rise to the great National Health, Education, Housing and Welfare services across Europe to keep the populations pacified and away from overthrowing the decrepit old systems that insisted on two major murderous wars within 20 years.
The propaganda big lie , repeated has seen the handbag lady’s public/personal money conflation reduce the citizens mental capacity, believing the opposite of the truth. With the help of mindless tv and sport addiction.
So that’s dealt with the first part, I’ll try and make the next part briefer.
“Hitler was clearly the most honest and peaceful among them..”
Nemesis, kiddo, the guy started strutting around in uniform, people started Heil Caesaring his name, a political gesture that turned into a paramilitary salute! Even the young princesses Elizabeth, sister and Mum were practicing it. As well most of the Royals and Aristos of Europe and America.
Just like the little loveable darling Banderites have been taught in the ukraine for the last dozen or so years from their birth, bringing about a bunch of demented natzos , from their football terrace hooliganism to torturing and murdering Russian soldiers and their fellow countrymen with the Maidan. Psychopaths led by their modern psychopath shElensky – who in your (Nemesis) book would sit as equally ‘most honest and peaceful’ amongst the western ceos repeating history.
I’ll stop that dance here and summarise:
Nazis were set up by the West to take Russia, they failed.
Banderists are set up by the West to take Russia, they failed,
But this time we, the Collective West, have LOST IT ALL.
That’s why there is the gnashing and groaning. The call to escalate, to burn the place down, rather than let humanity have their rights to a secure life free of slavery and debt and subservience. The Old Masters must forever disappear and their progeny must be forever cured of their grand old folly.
So that never again can we be subjected to nice, dim, ‘honest and peaceful’ reimagining’s.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 3 2023 11:19 utc | 91
I’ll try it in smaller chunks.
@ “… out of FDR, Stalin, and Hitler, Hitler was clearly the most honest and peaceful among them. Just got a little carried away thinking he could defeat the world, but the war was definitely not his fault.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:21 utc | 52 “
Well tongue in cheek or not that little morsel is like all Great Lies salted with some truth.
It is a highly crafted little paragraph , a Harry Potterisg magic spell type of doggerel.
I’ll attempt to unpack it as I’m sure NameCaller wanted to start a dance! Get your clogs on kiddo or your toes might get mashed.
“out of FDR, Stalin, and Hitler” – whoa! there cowboy.
Did you forget to attach all the horses before setting of in your wagon?
What about that Scion of Empire and Banks , Churchill?
You know who his Daddy and Mommy were?
Just like FDR was American royalty, born and bred to lead in that carnage.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 3 2023 11:24 utc | 93
Part 3
@ Posted by: NemesisCalling | Aug 3 2023 0:21 utc | 52
“Hitler was clearly the most honest and peaceful among them..”
Nemesis, kiddo, the guy started strutting around in uniform, people started Heil Caesaring his name, a political gesture that turned into a paramilitary salute! Even the young princesses Elizabeth, sister and Mum were practicing it. As well most of the Royals and Aristos of Europe and America.
Just like the little loveable darling Banderites have been taught in the ukraine for the last dozen or so years from their birth, bringing about a bunch of demented natzos , from their football terrace hooliganism to torturing and murdering Russian soldiers and their fellow countrymen with the Maidan. Psychopaths led by their current modern psychopath shElensky – who in your (Nemesis) book would sit as equally ‘most honest and peaceful’ amongst the western ceos repeating history.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 3 2023 11:29 utc | 94
Must be part 2 the filter is having problems with – never mind. Another days dance perhaps.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 3 2023 11:31 utc | 95
DunGroanin, you can’t bring up Empire and Banks at this particular moment without mentioning that the Bank of England just now raised interest rates to 5.25% (I happened to be in the right place – BNN Bloomberg – at the right time to hear the latest.) And that’s a day after the USA’s rating was lowered. For those who understand how currency markets work (not me), that probably means something important.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 3 2023 11:31 utc | 96
something important.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 3 2023 11:31 utc | 94
—
The US Treasure is selling a boatload (> $Trillions) of Treasuries with durations of 20 and 30 years.
Interest rates are going to remain elevated for a generation.
https://wolfstreet.com/2023/08/02/here-comes-the-tsunami-of-longer-term-treasury-notes-bonds-monthly-auction-sizes-60-by-august-next-year/
Posted by: too scents | Aug 3 2023 11:38 utc | 97
@ Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Aug 3 2023 11:31 utc | 94
Bro it’s known as Lockstep.
All the Western Worlds National Banks are run by the same people, they even swap chairs internationally. We had a Canadian running the BoE for many years. Making sure that QE was played out as planned.
It is how the Bankers always operate. Load up the populace with cheap debt then give them a ‘haircut’ – dispossess them of the tiny amount of wealth they have actually gathered by bankruptcy. Bank the interest. Write off the magick money created debt. Get the state to sell you long term savings with massive interest that will always provide a never ending interest payments from the public purse. And use that as an excuse not to be able to do anything about genuine , wealth creating Public Services.
It’s also known as Fill Boots and Rinse and Repeat.
The solution? Break their backs so they can’t play the same scam over and over and hide behind division and wars as excuses. Now known as Multipolarity instead of Unipolarity.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Aug 3 2023 12:25 utc | 98
There it is …
Defending fundamental democratic values, and standing up for constitutional order, justice, and the right of peaceful assembly, are essential to the partnership between Niger and the United States. I call for President Bazoum and his family to be immediately released, and for the preservation of Niger’s hard-earned democracy.
Posted by: too scents | Aug 3 2023 12:30 utc | 99