Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
September 3, 2023
The MoA Week In Review – (Not Ukraine) OT 2023-208

Last week's post on Moon of Alabama:

Someone should tell the Chinophobe lunatics at the NY Times that the New York Metropolitan Transport Authority and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security since 2001 have a copyrighted campaign called "If You See Something, Say Something®".


Other issues:

Empire:

Ukrainian corruption:

Ivan Katchanovski @I_Katchanovski – 7:27 PM · Sep 2, 2023

Zelensky-controlled SBU & GPU charge his ex-patron on his order to placate his current patron, Biden administration, which de facto controls NABU anticorruption agency in Ukraine, before Zelensky's US visit: "Ukraine's main security agency accused tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky of fraud and money laundering on Saturday, naming one of the country's most prominent businessmen a suspect in a criminal investigation."
Ukrainian tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky detained in fraud case

Ukrainian Nazism:

Middle East:

Wimps:

Use as open (not Ukraine related) thread …

Comments

Featherless: Right now it might be more appropriate to talk about legionella on the Banderastani front lines, but what the heck.

Posted by: malenkov | Sep 5 2023 23:26 utc | 201

Featherless: Right now it might be more appropriate to talk about legionella on the Banderastani front lines, but what the heck.

Posted by: malenkov | Sep 5 2023 23:26 utc | 202

@malenkov
OK I guess we’ll talk about it later.

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 5 2023 23:43 utc | 203

@malenkov
OK I guess we’ll talk about it later.

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 5 2023 23:43 utc | 204

juliania @ 61
A potted history is one that might be committed after downing a few pints of ale. Or pots of grog.
I am an oldtimer. I remember back in 70s when the Larouchies would come to lefty meetings and break them up with fistfights. Which was actually a bit of a thing back then, the RCP did exactly the same. And PLP. All of the above were basically agents. Larouchies always gave the vibe that they were salaried bureaucrats and had come to meeting direct from a training class.
I went to the trouble of reading some of your link because I’ve not scanned any of their literature for a long time. Favorite mess this time was “anarchist freemason”. What the heck might that refer to? Lyndon’s acolytes aways try to create the impression that they know everything, have the universal key to understanding history. They do not. They have rhetorical tricks. And heaps of BS.

Posted by: oldhippie | Sep 5 2023 23:45 utc | 205

juliania @ 61
A potted history is one that might be committed after downing a few pints of ale. Or pots of grog.
I am an oldtimer. I remember back in 70s when the Larouchies would come to lefty meetings and break them up with fistfights. Which was actually a bit of a thing back then, the RCP did exactly the same. And PLP. All of the above were basically agents. Larouchies always gave the vibe that they were salaried bureaucrats and had come to meeting direct from a training class.
I went to the trouble of reading some of your link because I’ve not scanned any of their literature for a long time. Favorite mess this time was “anarchist freemason”. What the heck might that refer to? Lyndon’s acolytes aways try to create the impression that they know everything, have the universal key to understanding history. They do not. They have rhetorical tricks. And heaps of BS.

Posted by: oldhippie | Sep 5 2023 23:45 utc | 206

oldhippie | Sep 5 2023 23:45 utc | 103–
My substack article showcasing Putin’s meeting and discussion with the Pobeda Committee deals with the weaponization of history and how to combat it. You’ll see Putin’s very charged about the issue and means to fight it hard. One of the papers I cite in reference to the issue is actually rather old, beginning of 2014, “Historical Memory Policy”. Medvedev’s recent statements ought to also be seen in this light.

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 6 2023 0:05 utc | 207

oldhippie | Sep 5 2023 23:45 utc | 103–
My substack article showcasing Putin’s meeting and discussion with the Pobeda Committee deals with the weaponization of history and how to combat it. You’ll see Putin’s very charged about the issue and means to fight it hard. One of the papers I cite in reference to the issue is actually rather old, beginning of 2014, “Historical Memory Policy”. Medvedev’s recent statements ought to also be seen in this light.

Posted by: karlof1 | Sep 6 2023 0:05 utc | 208

re “Ehret includes a lot of actual facts, but then spins utterly ridiculous yarns around them.” and other matters.
@Roger | Sep 5 2023 20:52 utc | 90
@juliania | Sep 4 2023 17:35 utc | 61

My view, is probably obvious anyway, but with the US ruling class everyone, including whole states, are expendable, useful tools to be used and discarded at will.
Iraq is a good example of being a champion for the ‘west’ fighting Iran in the 80s when suddenly (‘as if’ without warning) becomes an evil pariah in the 90s. The US have made tools of so-called ‘evil dictators’ all over especially in the Americas. They are doing it now. It’s never stopped, and will never stop until the US is stopped. But how?
My own feeling, is no matter how accurate or not Ehret and others are on the details, the relevance of comparisons back to WW1, the depression, Hitler and FDR really are over baked. No matter how many things are “presented” to appear ‘as if’ they are the same as today and the last 30 years – because they aren’t. Hitler doesn’t matter now, but Jeffery Epstein and Antony Blinken does.
Patterns can be found in almost anything being presented – because those doing it choose what is included and what is excluded, and then hey presto: “Look at what we have here people! Hiding in plain view all the time!”
It’s not an accident. People write about the things they think/imagine they can see clearly before they start writing. But is it actually important or make a real difference to help change or fix anything? No. It is a mere entertaining curiosity. (Each to their own there, we love a good thriller right?)
But to understand today’s geopolitics and ruling classes one needs only to focus on what is actually happening today and what has recently led up to now during the last 3 decades. Or from the 80s era when capitalism on steroids killed the ‘social welfare’ norms, and what was called then ‘economic rationalism’ (later globalist neoliberalism) and the “greed is good” period took over western culture and politics for good.
Thrown into the mix were individual players with extreme megalomania (psychology is always key.) The front men/women for the Ruling Class, the leaders for the US Cult of Narcissists, the corporate cabals and everything can be explained from there. Glass-Steagel GFC 9/11 Iraq2 Cheney Gitmo Obama Libya Ukraine Trump QE Neoliberacons Private Prisons Plea Deals the Sackler’s Opioid ‘epidemic’ BLM Empire everything.
The US empire’s cultural and political toxicity progressively poisoned the entire western world and most of the rest as well. No deep Depression era Banking corruption, Hitler or FDR and WW2 analysis is required in my view.
I really think these past historical issues only ‘muddy the waters’ instead. They promote unrelated and unnecessary themes which then get extrapolated out into self-defeating century long ‘conspiracy theories’. These are only unproven theories and conjectures, not a facts. It’s all too wishy washy in a fog of the distant past. Even if parts of it are true with some similarities or connections to what was happening in the 1920s – so what?
It doesn’t matter now one bit. There are no successful lessons there on how to fix today’s problems.
Focusing on the ‘factual criminal conspiracies’ playing out today in front of our eyes is more than enough to deal with or to help prove a point about where we are right now and why.
And yet still I and all these self-published commentators do not have any answers of what to do about it anyway. The most important thing above everything else, surely?
And what I have said is probably wrong and another unnecessary distraction too. Regards. 🙂

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Sep 6 2023 1:11 utc | 209

re “Ehret includes a lot of actual facts, but then spins utterly ridiculous yarns around them.” and other matters.
@Roger | Sep 5 2023 20:52 utc | 90
@juliania | Sep 4 2023 17:35 utc | 61

My view, is probably obvious anyway, but with the US ruling class everyone, including whole states, are expendable, useful tools to be used and discarded at will.
Iraq is a good example of being a champion for the ‘west’ fighting Iran in the 80s when suddenly (‘as if’ without warning) becomes an evil pariah in the 90s. The US have made tools of so-called ‘evil dictators’ all over especially in the Americas. They are doing it now. It’s never stopped, and will never stop until the US is stopped. But how?
My own feeling, is no matter how accurate or not Ehret and others are on the details, the relevance of comparisons back to WW1, the depression, Hitler and FDR really are over baked. No matter how many things are “presented” to appear ‘as if’ they are the same as today and the last 30 years – because they aren’t. Hitler doesn’t matter now, but Jeffery Epstein and Antony Blinken does.
Patterns can be found in almost anything being presented – because those doing it choose what is included and what is excluded, and then hey presto: “Look at what we have here people! Hiding in plain view all the time!”
It’s not an accident. People write about the things they think/imagine they can see clearly before they start writing. But is it actually important or make a real difference to help change or fix anything? No. It is a mere entertaining curiosity. (Each to their own there, we love a good thriller right?)
But to understand today’s geopolitics and ruling classes one needs only to focus on what is actually happening today and what has recently led up to now during the last 3 decades. Or from the 80s era when capitalism on steroids killed the ‘social welfare’ norms, and what was called then ‘economic rationalism’ (later globalist neoliberalism) and the “greed is good” period took over western culture and politics for good.
Thrown into the mix were individual players with extreme megalomania (psychology is always key.) The front men/women for the Ruling Class, the leaders for the US Cult of Narcissists, the corporate cabals and everything can be explained from there. Glass-Steagel GFC 9/11 Iraq2 Cheney Gitmo Obama Libya Ukraine Trump QE Neoliberacons Private Prisons Plea Deals the Sackler’s Opioid ‘epidemic’ BLM Empire everything.
The US empire’s cultural and political toxicity progressively poisoned the entire western world and most of the rest as well. No deep Depression era Banking corruption, Hitler or FDR and WW2 analysis is required in my view.
I really think these past historical issues only ‘muddy the waters’ instead. They promote unrelated and unnecessary themes which then get extrapolated out into self-defeating century long ‘conspiracy theories’. These are only unproven theories and conjectures, not a facts. It’s all too wishy washy in a fog of the distant past. Even if parts of it are true with some similarities or connections to what was happening in the 1920s – so what?
It doesn’t matter now one bit. There are no successful lessons there on how to fix today’s problems.
Focusing on the ‘factual criminal conspiracies’ playing out today in front of our eyes is more than enough to deal with or to help prove a point about where we are right now and why.
And yet still I and all these self-published commentators do not have any answers of what to do about it anyway. The most important thing above everything else, surely?
And what I have said is probably wrong and another unnecessary distraction too. Regards. 🙂

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Sep 6 2023 1:11 utc | 210

PS @Roger — the article
https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/the-ashes-will-come-first
@Posted by: morongobill | Sep 5 2023 16:37 utc | 85
Is what pushed me over the edge to respond. While I can agree with some of his ideas in the article – “Representative democracy in the United States is irredeemably corrupted.” – the Alexis de Tocqueville ref from the 1850s is really a complete waste of time.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Sep 6 2023 1:24 utc | 211

PS @Roger — the article
https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/the-ashes-will-come-first
@Posted by: morongobill | Sep 5 2023 16:37 utc | 85
Is what pushed me over the edge to respond. While I can agree with some of his ideas in the article – “Representative democracy in the United States is irredeemably corrupted.” – the Alexis de Tocqueville ref from the 1850s is really a complete waste of time.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Sep 6 2023 1:24 utc | 212

@ karlof1 | Sep 6 2023 0:05 utc | 104
Both refs there are very good. Thank you.
I am no Russia expert that’s for sure. But when I come across new items I have not heard of before (because I am looking harder now and new english trans are available via Russia and people like yourself), things like this “The Historical Memory Policy” pop up and I am always very impressed by what they are doing and what they value and how they go about it and why. It’s the sincerity and commitment behind such projects that really gets me. The meeting with Putin is a good example of this.
It’s sickening how distorted the image of Russia and it’s people are in the west.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Sep 6 2023 2:40 utc | 213

@ karlof1 | Sep 6 2023 0:05 utc | 104
Both refs there are very good. Thank you.
I am no Russia expert that’s for sure. But when I come across new items I have not heard of before (because I am looking harder now and new english trans are available via Russia and people like yourself), things like this “The Historical Memory Policy” pop up and I am always very impressed by what they are doing and what they value and how they go about it and why. It’s the sincerity and commitment behind such projects that really gets me. The meeting with Putin is a good example of this.
It’s sickening how distorted the image of Russia and it’s people are in the west.

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Sep 6 2023 2:40 utc | 214

@Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Sep 6 2023 1:24 utc | 106
Interesting that the author doesn’t really want to investigate the question of by whom the democracy is corrupted, that would mean dealing with the reality that the US has always been ruled by the ownership class – from the Framers’ Coup (with the Framers being the rich members of society, including those that had speculated in war debts) down to today. Conflicts such as the Civil War and the 1930s struggles represented intra-elite conflicts.

Posted by: Roger | Sep 6 2023 5:29 utc | 215

@Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Sep 6 2023 1:24 utc | 106
Interesting that the author doesn’t really want to investigate the question of by whom the democracy is corrupted, that would mean dealing with the reality that the US has always been ruled by the ownership class – from the Framers’ Coup (with the Framers being the rich members of society, including those that had speculated in war debts) down to today. Conflicts such as the Civil War and the 1930s struggles represented intra-elite conflicts.

Posted by: Roger | Sep 6 2023 5:29 utc | 216

Posted by: Roger | Sep 6 2023 5:29 utc | 108
i think that makes the history more relevant. we aren’t going to get a detailed blueprint of solutions, but some solutions of the past (if possible now) could mitigate the damage–enforcing antitrust, revoking corporate personhood, strengthening unions who have mostly been corrupted and getting rid of the thicket of laws that make it so difficult to organize at least point to an agenda. make it possible for a third party to get on the ballot in opposition to the two political machines. I’m hoping eventually there will be so much popular discontent that a general strike is possible. if not, we may get another revolution.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Sep 6 2023 6:35 utc | 217

Posted by: Roger | Sep 6 2023 5:29 utc | 108
i think that makes the history more relevant. we aren’t going to get a detailed blueprint of solutions, but some solutions of the past (if possible now) could mitigate the damage–enforcing antitrust, revoking corporate personhood, strengthening unions who have mostly been corrupted and getting rid of the thicket of laws that make it so difficult to organize at least point to an agenda. make it possible for a third party to get on the ballot in opposition to the two political machines. I’m hoping eventually there will be so much popular discontent that a general strike is possible. if not, we may get another revolution.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Sep 6 2023 6:35 utc | 218

As much as I respect this wonderful high-brow establishment and all its perps/peeps, nobody else here except me has mentioned the incoming COVID thing to be sweeping over us again. Maybe my name is just not prestigious enough.
So does anybody have any thoughts on the incoming COVID 2.0 ?

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 16:37 utc | 219

As much as I respect this wonderful high-brow establishment and all its perps/peeps, nobody else here except me has mentioned the incoming COVID thing to be sweeping over us again. Maybe my name is just not prestigious enough.
So does anybody have any thoughts on the incoming COVID 2.0 ?

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 16:37 utc | 220

and remember : Snobbery is just another form of LBTQ+

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 16:41 utc | 221

and remember : Snobbery is just another form of LBTQ+

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 16:41 utc | 222

OK well see you guys later when we’re in the thick of it.

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 16:51 utc | 223

OK well see you guys later when we’re in the thick of it.

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 16:51 utc | 224

Covid could get violent this time.

Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Sep 6 2023 16:57 utc | 225

Covid could get violent this time.

Posted by: SwissArmyMan | Sep 6 2023 16:57 utc | 226

… how ?

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 16:59 utc | 227

… how ?

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 16:59 utc | 228

As a Canadian I fully support this brutally truthful and comedic take on who really runs my country. More truth in Juice Media takes (they started out doing this to Australian politics and have now branched out) than all of the mainstream media combined:
Honest Government Ad | Canada 🇨🇦

Posted by: Roger | Sep 6 2023 18:55 utc | 229

As a Canadian I fully support this brutally truthful and comedic take on who really runs my country. More truth in Juice Media takes (they started out doing this to Australian politics and have now branched out) than all of the mainstream media combined:
Honest Government Ad | Canada 🇨🇦

Posted by: Roger | Sep 6 2023 18:55 utc | 230

@ Roger | Sep 6 2023 18:55 utc | 115 with the YouTube link to the “Honest Government” video
I wonder how long it will stay available on YouTube? Thanks for showing that some are paying attention

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 6 2023 19:20 utc | 231

@ Roger | Sep 6 2023 18:55 utc | 115 with the YouTube link to the “Honest Government” video
I wonder how long it will stay available on YouTube? Thanks for showing that some are paying attention

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 6 2023 19:20 utc | 232

ZH has a posting up with the title
France Negotiating With Junta For Withdrawal Of Its Troops From Niger
The quotes

France has some 1,500 troops in Niger, along with other Western allied troops – including Americans – but their presence has been unwelcome given Paris has supported threats from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to intervene militarily to reinstate ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.
France has sought to stress that any formal talks with the junta led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani should not be taken as recognition of the coup government.
According to new details in Al Jazeera:

France is reported to be in talks with Niger’s military about possible withdrawal of French troops from the West African nation in the wake of the fraying of ties following a coup in July, according to French media reports.
Confirming the news, former French ambassador to Mali and Senegal Nicolas Normand told Al Jazeera that according to his sources, talks were ongoing between the French and Niger militaries to “partially” withdraw troops.

The piece also reports in a Twitter posting that

France bought Uranium from Niger’s former Bazoum regime at 80 cents per kilo. Now #Niger is selling it for 200 euros per kilo, at its actual trading price i.e. like that of Canada.
France used to rip off Niger with 250 times below Uranium’s trading value.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 6 2023 19:30 utc | 233

ZH has a posting up with the title
France Negotiating With Junta For Withdrawal Of Its Troops From Niger
The quotes

France has some 1,500 troops in Niger, along with other Western allied troops – including Americans – but their presence has been unwelcome given Paris has supported threats from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to intervene militarily to reinstate ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.
France has sought to stress that any formal talks with the junta led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani should not be taken as recognition of the coup government.
According to new details in Al Jazeera:

France is reported to be in talks with Niger’s military about possible withdrawal of French troops from the West African nation in the wake of the fraying of ties following a coup in July, according to French media reports.
Confirming the news, former French ambassador to Mali and Senegal Nicolas Normand told Al Jazeera that according to his sources, talks were ongoing between the French and Niger militaries to “partially” withdraw troops.

The piece also reports in a Twitter posting that

France bought Uranium from Niger’s former Bazoum regime at 80 cents per kilo. Now #Niger is selling it for 200 euros per kilo, at its actual trading price i.e. like that of Canada.
France used to rip off Niger with 250 times below Uranium’s trading value.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 6 2023 19:30 utc | 234

No Featherless, you’re not the only one watching the Covid train bearing down on the ‘excess’ population of the USA USA USA (and everywhere else–keep flying, assholes!!)
It’s amazing to witness.

Posted by: furies | Sep 6 2023 20:16 utc | 235

No Featherless, you’re not the only one watching the Covid train bearing down on the ‘excess’ population of the USA USA USA (and everywhere else–keep flying, assholes!!)
It’s amazing to witness.

Posted by: furies | Sep 6 2023 20:16 utc | 236

Thanks Furies, for a second there i was wondering if I was a ghost.

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 20:20 utc | 237

Thanks Furies, for a second there i was wondering if I was a ghost.

Posted by: Featherless | Sep 6 2023 20:20 utc | 238

Featherless, Archbishop Vigano has something to say about it.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2023/09/06/the-most-accurate-description-of-the-western-world-today-seems-to-be-in-the-book-of-revelation/

He warned against an excess of misplaced “servility” that “sins by excess, submitting to unfair orders or orders given by an illegitimate authority.”
“The good citizen should know how to disobey civil authority, and the good Catholic how to do the same with ecclesiastical authority, disobeying whenever the authority demands obedience to an iniquitous order,” he said.
Obedience is owed only to “legitimate authority in the measure in which its power is exercised for the purposes for which authority has been established by God, he said, namely “the temporal good of citizens in the case of the State and the spiritual good of the faithful in the case of the Church.”
Orders from an “illegitimate” authority “are null,” he added.

Posted by: Scorpion | Sep 7 2023 1:08 utc | 239

Featherless, Archbishop Vigano has something to say about it.
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2023/09/06/the-most-accurate-description-of-the-western-world-today-seems-to-be-in-the-book-of-revelation/

He warned against an excess of misplaced “servility” that “sins by excess, submitting to unfair orders or orders given by an illegitimate authority.”
“The good citizen should know how to disobey civil authority, and the good Catholic how to do the same with ecclesiastical authority, disobeying whenever the authority demands obedience to an iniquitous order,” he said.
Obedience is owed only to “legitimate authority in the measure in which its power is exercised for the purposes for which authority has been established by God, he said, namely “the temporal good of citizens in the case of the State and the spiritual good of the faithful in the case of the Church.”
Orders from an “illegitimate” authority “are null,” he added.

Posted by: Scorpion | Sep 7 2023 1:08 utc | 240

Posted by: oldhippie | Sep 5 2023 23:45 utc | 103
Thanks very much for answering, oldhippie. I had missed “anarchist freemason” — I guess because I was more interested in the sequence of events than the characterizations; I think I automatically gloss over such, as personality quirks of the essayists in question, not as important as what they are talking about. For instance, FDR’s handling of the banking situation. I was asking as one feeling on shaky ground but seeing similarities to our bogged down financialism whether the lessons from FDR were worth following. The quotations from his speeches were what grabbed me, not Ehret himself.
But I can see,if one is already familiar with those quotations, one’s attention would focus on the characterizations. (PS I grew up in a country somewhat remote from US influences, nor was I much interested in politics and policies in the ’70s as I was raising a young family then — cloth diapers, natural childbirth and the like.)

Posted by: juliania | Sep 7 2023 4:40 utc | 241

Posted by: oldhippie | Sep 5 2023 23:45 utc | 103
Thanks very much for answering, oldhippie. I had missed “anarchist freemason” — I guess because I was more interested in the sequence of events than the characterizations; I think I automatically gloss over such, as personality quirks of the essayists in question, not as important as what they are talking about. For instance, FDR’s handling of the banking situation. I was asking as one feeling on shaky ground but seeing similarities to our bogged down financialism whether the lessons from FDR were worth following. The quotations from his speeches were what grabbed me, not Ehret himself.
But I can see,if one is already familiar with those quotations, one’s attention would focus on the characterizations. (PS I grew up in a country somewhat remote from US influences, nor was I much interested in politics and policies in the ’70s as I was raising a young family then — cloth diapers, natural childbirth and the like.)

Posted by: juliania | Sep 7 2023 4:40 utc | 242

The government of Canada has selected a judge from Quebec to head its inquiry into foreign interference, from Beijing, allegedly. Former Governor General David Johnston was previously selected but resigned due to controversy. I suspect the concern is he is part of an establishment network that winds its way back to King Charles, and not the State Department in Washington. Speaking of which, I wonder what they think about this selection. (Interesting times.)
https://globalnews.ca/news/9944374/ottawa-quebec-judge-foreign-interference-inquiry/
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/national/2023-09-07/ingerence-etrangere/la-juge-marie-josee-hogue-presidera-l-enquete-publique.php

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Sep 7 2023 13:59 utc | 243

The government of Canada has selected a judge from Quebec to head its inquiry into foreign interference, from Beijing, allegedly. Former Governor General David Johnston was previously selected but resigned due to controversy. I suspect the concern is he is part of an establishment network that winds its way back to King Charles, and not the State Department in Washington. Speaking of which, I wonder what they think about this selection. (Interesting times.)
https://globalnews.ca/news/9944374/ottawa-quebec-judge-foreign-interference-inquiry/
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/national/2023-09-07/ingerence-etrangere/la-juge-marie-josee-hogue-presidera-l-enquete-publique.php

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Sep 7 2023 13:59 utc | 244

The government of Canada has selected a judge from Quebec to head its inquiry into foreign interference, from Beijing, allegedly. Former Governor General David Johnston was previously selected but resigned due to controversy. I suspect the concern is he is part of an establishment network that winds its way back to King Charles, and not the State Department in Washington. Speaking of which, I wonder what they think about this selection. (Interesting times.)
https://globalnews.ca/news/9944374/ottawa-quebec-judge-foreign-interference-inquiry/
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/national/2023-09-07/ingerence-etrangere/la-juge-marie-josee-hogue-presidera-l-enquete-publique.php

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Sep 7 2023 14:00 utc | 245

The government of Canada has selected a judge from Quebec to head its inquiry into foreign interference, from Beijing, allegedly. Former Governor General David Johnston was previously selected but resigned due to controversy. I suspect the concern is he is part of an establishment network that winds its way back to King Charles, and not the State Department in Washington. Speaking of which, I wonder what they think about this selection. (Interesting times.)
https://globalnews.ca/news/9944374/ottawa-quebec-judge-foreign-interference-inquiry/
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/national/2023-09-07/ingerence-etrangere/la-juge-marie-josee-hogue-presidera-l-enquete-publique.php

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Sep 7 2023 14:00 utc | 246

@Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Sep 7 2023 14:00 utc | 123
If it was actually a good faith inquiry the overwhelming interference of US state and corporate entities in Canadian politics would be the resulting headline, but that would mean that the judge wouldn’t be safe visiting the US and she would be blacklisted in Canada. Of course, such a finding would also just be disappeared by our “free” oligarch-owned media and our version of Pravda – the CBC.
Instead, Canada will put even more nails in the coffin of relations with China. Exactly who is going to buy all that natural gas from the Montney Shale play?

Posted by: Roger | Sep 7 2023 16:46 utc | 247

@Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Sep 7 2023 14:00 utc | 123
If it was actually a good faith inquiry the overwhelming interference of US state and corporate entities in Canadian politics would be the resulting headline, but that would mean that the judge wouldn’t be safe visiting the US and she would be blacklisted in Canada. Of course, such a finding would also just be disappeared by our “free” oligarch-owned media and our version of Pravda – the CBC.
Instead, Canada will put even more nails in the coffin of relations with China. Exactly who is going to buy all that natural gas from the Montney Shale play?

Posted by: Roger | Sep 7 2023 16:46 utc | 248

Helmer is back from vacation:
1) HOW PUTIN RULES RUSSIA – THE SINK-OR-SWIM SHIPPING STORY WHICH PLAYED OUT IN THE LONDON COURTS HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD BEFORE
What’s the truth of how Putin rules Russia?
The longest-serving foreign correspondent in Russia has followed Putin since their first meeting in St Petersburg in November 1991. This is the Putin story which has taken more than thirty years to prepare. It’s the story which the western and Russian media have missed.
Based on thousands of pages of court testimony in London and Moscow; 76 days of cross-examination of witnesses, including the only Russian minister of state ever to go into the High Court witness box; and the findings of fact and law by thirteen British judges up to the UK Supreme Court, this is the only book to investigate the truth.
And to reveal how it bears no resemblance to US and NATO war propaganda.
Sovcomplot is the story of Russia’s dominant shipping company, with the largest oil and gas tanker fleet in the world. It is a lifeline for Russia’s most important exports, and also of the world’s energy consumers. In the war to destroy Russia’s economy, Sovcomflot is a strategic line which must be defended at all costs. State owned since its creation in the Soviet Union, Sovcomflot has also been the target of privatisation and privateering schemes for twenty years. US banks, oligarchs, Russian government officials, oilers, traders, and mariners have all played their part in what they hoped would be a four billion-dollar payoff.
https://johnhelmer.net/how-putin-rules-russia-the-sink-or-swim-shipping-story-which-played-out-in-the-london-courts-has-never-been-told-before/#more-88487
2) END OF THE WAR, END OF US EXCEPTIONALISM
“Doctors in hospitals for the criminally insane have reported that the sharpest pain patients with superiority complexes suffer is the belief there are others who are more superior than they are. Unless they are stopped, they kill to cure.
US exceptionalism is a disease of this type. The American exceptionalists believe that if the US isn’t conquering and victorious — great again as in MAGA — it is defeating itself because, they think, the US can never be beaten by a foreign adversary on the field — not on the battlefield, nor in the marketplace, nor in the mind and on the page. So this is where the whitecoats arrive today: the Russian General Staff and the Stavka are defeating the Americans on every front, weapon system, intelligence summary, and mind. This has never happened before. Failing to see and understand this is delusional; those who kill to cure this aren’t all hospitalised.
A book repeating the US, NATO and Ukrainian version of how and why Russia’s Ukrainian battlefield campaign began on February 23, 2022, is symptomatic, nothing new. “We have no idea of exactly how the conflict will end”, concludes Owen Matthews (aka Bibikov) in a fresh publication from the state-subsidised printing press of Rupert Murdoch. But “we already know how it will not end. There will be no complete victory for either Russia or Ukraine. NATO is too invested to allow Kyiv to fall to the Russian army… this war will eventually end — with a negotiated peace.”*”
https://johnhelmer.net/end-of-the-war-end-of-us-exceptionalism/

Posted by: daffyDuct | Sep 8 2023 1:10 utc | 249

Helmer is back from vacation:
1) HOW PUTIN RULES RUSSIA – THE SINK-OR-SWIM SHIPPING STORY WHICH PLAYED OUT IN THE LONDON COURTS HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD BEFORE
What’s the truth of how Putin rules Russia?
The longest-serving foreign correspondent in Russia has followed Putin since their first meeting in St Petersburg in November 1991. This is the Putin story which has taken more than thirty years to prepare. It’s the story which the western and Russian media have missed.
Based on thousands of pages of court testimony in London and Moscow; 76 days of cross-examination of witnesses, including the only Russian minister of state ever to go into the High Court witness box; and the findings of fact and law by thirteen British judges up to the UK Supreme Court, this is the only book to investigate the truth.
And to reveal how it bears no resemblance to US and NATO war propaganda.
Sovcomplot is the story of Russia’s dominant shipping company, with the largest oil and gas tanker fleet in the world. It is a lifeline for Russia’s most important exports, and also of the world’s energy consumers. In the war to destroy Russia’s economy, Sovcomflot is a strategic line which must be defended at all costs. State owned since its creation in the Soviet Union, Sovcomflot has also been the target of privatisation and privateering schemes for twenty years. US banks, oligarchs, Russian government officials, oilers, traders, and mariners have all played their part in what they hoped would be a four billion-dollar payoff.
https://johnhelmer.net/how-putin-rules-russia-the-sink-or-swim-shipping-story-which-played-out-in-the-london-courts-has-never-been-told-before/#more-88487
2) END OF THE WAR, END OF US EXCEPTIONALISM
“Doctors in hospitals for the criminally insane have reported that the sharpest pain patients with superiority complexes suffer is the belief there are others who are more superior than they are. Unless they are stopped, they kill to cure.
US exceptionalism is a disease of this type. The American exceptionalists believe that if the US isn’t conquering and victorious — great again as in MAGA — it is defeating itself because, they think, the US can never be beaten by a foreign adversary on the field — not on the battlefield, nor in the marketplace, nor in the mind and on the page. So this is where the whitecoats arrive today: the Russian General Staff and the Stavka are defeating the Americans on every front, weapon system, intelligence summary, and mind. This has never happened before. Failing to see and understand this is delusional; those who kill to cure this aren’t all hospitalised.
A book repeating the US, NATO and Ukrainian version of how and why Russia’s Ukrainian battlefield campaign began on February 23, 2022, is symptomatic, nothing new. “We have no idea of exactly how the conflict will end”, concludes Owen Matthews (aka Bibikov) in a fresh publication from the state-subsidised printing press of Rupert Murdoch. But “we already know how it will not end. There will be no complete victory for either Russia or Ukraine. NATO is too invested to allow Kyiv to fall to the Russian army… this war will eventually end — with a negotiated peace.”*”
https://johnhelmer.net/end-of-the-war-end-of-us-exceptionalism/

Posted by: daffyDuct | Sep 8 2023 1:10 utc | 250

The Register has a posting up with the title
Toyota servers ran out of storage, crashed production at 14 plants in Japan
https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/07/toyota_outage_storage_server/
the quote

Toyota has revealed a server running out of disk space after botched maintenance was the cause of an outage that forced it to shut down 14 manufacturing plants across Japan last week.
“The system malfunction was caused by the unavailability of some multiple servers (sic) that process parts orders,” states a company announcement posted on Wednesday.
Those servers went down after regular maintenance work was performed on August 27. But someone botched that job.
“During the maintenance procedure, data that had accumulated in the database was deleted and organized, and an error occurred due to insufficient disk space, causing the system to stop,” Toyota’s announcement explains.
“Since these servers were running on the same system, a similar failure occurred in the backup function, and a switchover could not be made. We think that means Toyota’s production and backup servers are identical, so failover failed because the backup rig was also out of space.”
Whatever the exact circumstances, the mess led to the plug being pulled on vehicle production.

Vehicle production was down for about 36 hours…..grin
Who didn’t plan for/approve/insure adequate storage?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 8 2023 3:46 utc | 251

The Register has a posting up with the title
Toyota servers ran out of storage, crashed production at 14 plants in Japan
https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/07/toyota_outage_storage_server/
the quote

Toyota has revealed a server running out of disk space after botched maintenance was the cause of an outage that forced it to shut down 14 manufacturing plants across Japan last week.
“The system malfunction was caused by the unavailability of some multiple servers (sic) that process parts orders,” states a company announcement posted on Wednesday.
Those servers went down after regular maintenance work was performed on August 27. But someone botched that job.
“During the maintenance procedure, data that had accumulated in the database was deleted and organized, and an error occurred due to insufficient disk space, causing the system to stop,” Toyota’s announcement explains.
“Since these servers were running on the same system, a similar failure occurred in the backup function, and a switchover could not be made. We think that means Toyota’s production and backup servers are identical, so failover failed because the backup rig was also out of space.”
Whatever the exact circumstances, the mess led to the plug being pulled on vehicle production.

Vehicle production was down for about 36 hours…..grin
Who didn’t plan for/approve/insure adequate storage?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 8 2023 3:46 utc | 252

Wall Street On Parade has a posting up with the title
Study Finds 75 Percent of U.S. Banks Didn’t Hedge Interest Rate Risk; Unrealized Losses on Securities $516 Billion at End of First Quarter
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/09/study-finds-75-percent-of-u-s-banks-didnt-hedge-interest-rate-risk-unrealized-losses-on-securities-516-billion-at-end-of-first-quarter/
The quote

A group of academics have conducted a study that found that during the fastest pace of Fed interest rate hikes in 40 years, the majority of U.S. banks failed to hedge their interest rate risk. The report’s findings include the following:

“Over three quarters of all reporting banks report no material use of interest rate swaps.”
“Only 6% of aggregate assets in the U.S. banking system are hedged by interest rate swaps.”
“Banks with the most fragile funding – i.e., those with highest uninsured leverage — sold or reduced their hedges during the monetary tightening. This allowed them to record accounting profits but exposed them to further rate increases. These actions are reminiscent of classic gambling for resurrection: if interest rates had decreased, equity would have reaped the profits, but if rates increased, then debtors and the FDIC would absorb the losses.”

Those losses are over 1/2 trillion dollars folks…..in one quarter…..think of the multiplier effects of these losses because of excess leverage……the money trust balloon is going to burst soon, IMO

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 8 2023 4:01 utc | 253

Wall Street On Parade has a posting up with the title
Study Finds 75 Percent of U.S. Banks Didn’t Hedge Interest Rate Risk; Unrealized Losses on Securities $516 Billion at End of First Quarter
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/09/study-finds-75-percent-of-u-s-banks-didnt-hedge-interest-rate-risk-unrealized-losses-on-securities-516-billion-at-end-of-first-quarter/
The quote

A group of academics have conducted a study that found that during the fastest pace of Fed interest rate hikes in 40 years, the majority of U.S. banks failed to hedge their interest rate risk. The report’s findings include the following:

“Over three quarters of all reporting banks report no material use of interest rate swaps.”
“Only 6% of aggregate assets in the U.S. banking system are hedged by interest rate swaps.”
“Banks with the most fragile funding – i.e., those with highest uninsured leverage — sold or reduced their hedges during the monetary tightening. This allowed them to record accounting profits but exposed them to further rate increases. These actions are reminiscent of classic gambling for resurrection: if interest rates had decreased, equity would have reaped the profits, but if rates increased, then debtors and the FDIC would absorb the losses.”

Those losses are over 1/2 trillion dollars folks…..in one quarter…..think of the multiplier effects of these losses because of excess leverage……the money trust balloon is going to burst soon, IMO

Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 8 2023 4:01 utc | 254

“Wall Street On Parade has a posting up with the title
Study Finds 75 Percent of U.S. Banks Didn’t Hedge Interest Rate Risk; Unrealized Losses on Securities $516 Billion at End of First Quarter
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 8 2023 4:01 utc | 127”
Interest rate swaps are derivatives, which depend of the other party being able to cover the “bet” when the time comes.

Posted by: daffyDuct | Sep 8 2023 13:38 utc | 255

“Wall Street On Parade has a posting up with the title
Study Finds 75 Percent of U.S. Banks Didn’t Hedge Interest Rate Risk; Unrealized Losses on Securities $516 Billion at End of First Quarter
Posted by: psychohistorian | Sep 8 2023 4:01 utc | 127”
Interest rate swaps are derivatives, which depend of the other party being able to cover the “bet” when the time comes.

Posted by: daffyDuct | Sep 8 2023 13:38 utc | 256