Reading about the attack in Kharkov, I noticed Zelensky is in Granada, Spain. Just for the records today, there is a bit of news today involving Grenada over here in the Americas.
“The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced that he will welcome leaders from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to Ottawa for the first Canada-CARICOM Summit on Canadian soil. He will co-chair the Summit, which will run from October 17 to 19, 2023, alongside the Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, the current Chair of CARICOM.”
http://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2023/10/04/canada-welcome-caribbean-leaders-ottawa-strengthen-ties

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Oct 5 2023 14:49 utc | 3

Putin’s speaking at the Valdai Club today. Will have that report and more later in what will be a very busy day.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 5 2023 14:57 utc | 5

The Venezuelan government is about to lose ownership of its US-based oil company Citgo, which will be auctioned in the US for an expected $32 to $40 billion. This is theft by the US government and almost no one is paying attention because the background is so convoluted and requires knowledge of US litigation procedure and corporate law. A law professor gives the run-down. Although highly biased it includes the important technical points.
https://www.ft.com/content/6f0f7b92-e6dc-45d1-b065-58acf314e8a9
“Why did these debts grow so rapidly? The answer is that a large share of creditors successfully argued that the Venezuelan government was using Citgo for its own purposes. In legalese, they showed that PDVSA was an alter ego (literally, “another self”) of Venezuela. Once you do that, limited liability goes out the window, and a creditor has free rein to claim the assets of a firm owned by the debtor. Of the $24bn in liabilities shown above, $19bn have their origin directly in this decision.
What is most striking about the Delaware Court’s decision is that it had nothing to do with Maduro. Rather, it is based on the finding that the opposition-led interim government had used Citgo as its instrumentality. (The decision was recently upheld by the Third Circuit on appeal.)”
The law professor points out obvious self-sabatoge by the fake government: “Why the interim government took decisions so clearly prejudicial to the nation remains unclear. It should trouble us to learn that one of the firms that materially benefited from the Delaware ruling had also formerly employed the official responsible for many of these decisions. The existence of grave and serious conflicts of interests of this magnitude would, at the very least, merit the opening of a thorough and transparent investigation. Regrettably, to this date the opposition leadership has remained deafeningly silent.”
TOO LONG DIDN’T READ
The US government gave control of Citgo to the fake opposition government. The fake opposition government used the company as its slush fund. Based on the fake Venezuelan government’s actions, a US federal court decide that Citgo is no longer a distinct corporate entity from the real Venezuelan government. Creditors of Venezuela’s government with tens of billions of dollars in claims are now able to seize Citgo to pay off the debts.

Posted by: remotedji | Oct 5 2023 15:16 utc | 7

Re: Citigo
Was Citigo in arrears on its debt payments ?

Posted by: Exile | Oct 5 2023 15:26 utc | 9

Posted by: remotedji | Oct 5 2023 15:16 utc | 4
jesus, the corruption is bottomless. there is no legitimate alternative government. just another blatant theft by the US under cover of legalistic bullshit.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 5 2023 15:31 utc | 11

Posted by: Exile | Oct 5 2023 15:26 utc | 5
From the FT article: “Venezuela owed around $150bn in external debt, but as of early 2019 only a tiny fraction of that — $3.4bn, to be precise — was tied to instruments that gave owners a firm legal right to seize Citgo shares. There’s a big difference between being an unsecured creditor of Venezuela and having a claim on Citgo.”
In 2019, the fake government was given control of Citgo by the US. At the time Citgo had only $3.4 billion in debt which would entitle the creditors to seize the company. After the fake government starts to use Citgo as a slush fund, a US court determined Citgo was no longer distinct from the Venezuelan government. Therefore creditors holding tens of billions of dollars of debt owed by the Venezuelan government could now seize Citgo.
TOO LONG DIDN’T READ
The US government has now developed a new tactic. If it doesn’t like an adversary government and the adversary government owns companies in the US, then the US gov will give control of the companies held by the adversary government to a fake version of the adversary government, which will then act in a way that exposes the companies to claims and seizure by the debt holders of the legit adversary government.

Posted by: remotedji | Oct 5 2023 15:34 utc | 13

The US government has now developed a new tactic. If it doesn’t like an adversary government and the adversary government owns companies in the US, then the US gov will give control of the companies held by the adversary government to a fake version of the adversary government, which will then act in a way that exposes the companies to claims and seizure by the debt holders of the legit adversary government.
Posted by: remotedji | Oct 5 2023 15:34 utc | 7
thanks for summarizing this in an easily comprehensible form.

Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 5 2023 15:38 utc | 15

Drone attack on military academy in Syria’s Homs kills at least 60
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/10/05/Drone-attack-on-Homs-military-college-causes-large-number-of-casualties-Report

Posted by: Apollyon | Oct 5 2023 15:45 utc | 17

The New York Times has not written about Citgo from checking articles in 2023.
The Wall Street Journal has written once about Citgo in 2023. https://archive.ph/vz6Ms
“The U.S. government indicated it would no longer protect Venezuela’s state-owned oil refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp. from seizure, backing a forced sale of the company to satisfy the South American government’s foreign creditors.
The Treasury Department intends to approve the sale of Venezuela’s ownership stake in Citgo once a winning bidder emerges in a court-supervised auction process, according to filings by a special master appointed in Delaware federal court to oversee the potential transaction.”
…
“The U.S. gave control of Citgo to Venezuelan opposition leaders in 2019 as part of a pressure campaign against the country’s president Nicolás Maduro, while imposing sanctions that prohibited bondholders and other creditors from foreclosing on the company.”
…
“Any change in Citgo’s control requires a license from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which said last year that ending the company’s Venezuelan ownership would undercut the U.S. interest in supporting Venezuela’s opposition movement. Since then, Venezuelan opposition has lost sway, its parallel government has dissolved and its onetime leader Juan Guaidó fled to the U.S.”
The Wall Street Journal doesn’t say anything about the fake Venezuelan government using the company as a slush fund and exposing Citgo to seizure by a huge mass of creditors who had no dealings with Citgo.

Posted by: remotedji | Oct 5 2023 15:51 utc | 19

well at least one white house resident was removed, now for the rest of them…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2JLn_7Ef9Y
(Biden’s dog removed for repeatedly biting innocent bystanders)

Posted by: pretzelattack | Oct 5 2023 15:52 utc | 21

https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/something-has-turned-people-into?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
This concerns something I sense strongly about US culture. Irrational, suicidal behavior is becoming common in ways that didn’t exist before. While some blame the Devil or vaccinations or just a cultural change, I think the answer is right in front of us: psychoactive medication and drugs.
The admitted side effects can include suicidal ideation, issues with judgement, impulsive behavior. Millions of Americans are affected.
Suppose you had an invention that could broadcast insanity? If you cranked it up v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, would anyone notice? Or would they gradually accept the new reality? Actually, this process applies to Ukraine as well. Do war slowly enough and no one notices approaching demographic extinction.

Posted by: Eighthman | Oct 5 2023 16:12 utc | 23

An operation by Gladio or an intelligence agency?
AfD co-leader suffers similar “accident” as Nawalny.
The situation is more serious than expected. Tino Chrupalla is still in hospital, is not responsive.
The difference:Merkel does not rush to the hospital bed…
Und die MSMedien schießen Nebelgranaten

Posted by: Oberbayer | Oct 5 2023 16:31 utc | 25

Global Times has conducted an extensive interview with RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan. Here’s one of the Q&As:

GT: Not long after the Russia-Ukraine conflict, RT America was shut down. The EU also suspended RT and Sputnik on the grounds that Russia was engaging in a “systematic, international campaign of media manipulation and distortion of facts.” What do you think of such moves?
Simonyan: Western establishments have been distorting the facts about what is going on in Ukraine for a decade. They tried to silence RT for years before the Special Military Operation because they couldn’t let their audiences decide for themselves what to believe about events in Ukraine, in Russia, around the world and in their own backyards. This is why they implemented any way possible, including illegal and illegitimate, to shut us down and shut us out wherever they could.
By banning RT, the facade of free press in Europe and the US completely crumbled. During all this time nobody had pointed to a single grain of evidence that what RT has reported or continues to report, is not true. Instead, what the members of the Western establishments have said is that what RT brings to its audience is not allowed in their supposedly free media environment. When it comes to the Russian voice, or just a different perspective from theirs, it is simply not allowed to exist.

IMO, the interview complements Putin’s Valdai Club speech.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 5 2023 16:33 utc | 27

On Citgo, the USG made it impossible for Venezuela to support its business interest though a series of illegal takings and sanctions, and thus the theft is exactly that–theft, and par for the course for an Outlaw Nation like the USA.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 5 2023 16:36 utc | 29

The Citigo siezure is going to accelerate de-dollarization. It’s blatant theft. Foreign Companieds and Investors from BRICs countries will be ( quietly) pulling out of the U.S. and US vassals as fast as they can .
The War Party must be desperate to have shredded rule-of-law.

Posted by: Exile | Oct 5 2023 16:45 utc | 31

Suppose you had an invention that could broadcast insanity?
Posted by: Eighthman | Oct 5 2023 16:12 utc | 12
—
That reminded me of something. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGsv0pJemTY

Posted by: Nobody | Oct 5 2023 16:47 utc | 33

https://www.wsj.com/world/u-s-jet-shoots-down-turkish-drone-over-syria-21634844
NATO on NATO over Syrian oilfields…Anybody long popcorn?

Posted by: NoPasaran | Oct 5 2023 17:02 utc | 35

Given B’s recent Tweet https://x.com/MoonofA/status/1709660442832912880?s=20 about the transformative nature of The Greyzone, and then the transmission of this video https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1709662106277105744?s=20, how is it so difficult to translate the mindset of someone (or a groupset of persons) who are at first in favour of a “pro-formative Al Queda”, to then being “pro Assad”, to then being “pro Putin” and then admitting a relocation to China with shiny blue eyes? I know I am confusing it all between two persons. All I will say is that someone has lots of money. I wish I had the same.
All of us have the right to learn, all of us have the right to state our misunderstanding of the world. Not all of us have the confidence to pontificate on such events, to then to minimalise our previous cash making opinion, and then to make many thousands of dollars per month on our change of opinion.
Well done B!

Posted by: Andrew | Oct 5 2023 17:17 utc | 37

Intel Slava Z telegram channel reports..
https://t.me/intelslava/51632
New Orleans bracing for major threat to drinking water supply
Salt water creeping up the Mississippi River is threatening the drinking water supply in New Orleans for the first time in more than 30 years.
The water supply for more than 1.2 million people is expected to become unsafe to drink by late October. If contaminated, it could be weeks or months before freshwater returns, unless there is significant rainfall, leaders say.
Rome burning while Nero fiddles…
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Oct 5 2023 17:20 utc | 39

🇺🇸🌾 Mississippi River Near Historic Lows Putting Grain Exports at Risk
The Mississippi River at near historic lows & what that means for grain exports, bulker operations & the importance of the river in American trade.
Explore… the whole New Orleans Delta is in dis-array….
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Oct 5 2023 17:22 utc | 41

@Posted by: Exile | Oct 5 2023 16:45 utc | 16

The Citigo siezure is going to accelerate de-dollarization. It’s blatant theft. Foreign Companieds and Investors from BRICs countries will be ( quietly) pulling out of the U.S. and US vassals as fast as they can .
The War Party must be desperate to have shredded rule-of-law.

Exactly, the US is doing irreparable harm to its financial system and the general reputation of its legal system with actions such as this, the Russia sanctions, and the repeated seizures of foreign governments exchange reserves etc. Other nations, and foreign corporations, must now treat doing business in the US as dealing with a hostile power that may steal their assets. Those nations and foreign corporations will adjust their practices with respect to foreign exchange reserves, decisions on where to be located (much better to be based in Mexico and serve the US market from there?) etc.
Also, two can play at that game. This is the main reason why Western governments have not already just stolen the “frozen” Russian foreign exchange reserves and given them to Ukraine, as there are an awful lot of Western assets in Russia.
With the giving of the seized Iranian weapons to Ukraine the US is yet again displaying its contempt for international law and fair dealing, the true nature of the “Liberal International Order” – a Mafia-style international order.

Posted by: Roger | Oct 5 2023 17:31 utc | 43

Suppose you had an invention that could broadcast insanity? If you cranked it up v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, would anyone notice? Or would they gradually accept the new reality? Actually, this process applies to Ukraine as well. Do war slowly enough and no one notices approaching demographic extinction.
Posted by: Eighthman | Oct 5 2023 16:12 utc | 12
Yes, so much pernicious crap is being marketed as “medicine” these days.

Posted by: Bemildred | Oct 5 2023 17:48 utc | 45

CIG Telegram Channel Reports..
https://t.me/CIG_telegram/36487
Putin says successful test carried out of new nuclear-powered strategic missile
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia has successfully carried out a test of a new generation of nuclear-powered cruise missile.
State news agency RIA Novosti quoted Putin as saying the “last successful test of the Burevestnik, a global-range cruise missile with a nuclear installation, a nuclear propulsion system, has been conducted.”
Another game changer…
INDY

Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Oct 5 2023 18:11 utc | 47

Colonelcassad
Pashinyan gave several more villages to Azerbaijan, recognizing the villages and their territory as part of Azerbaijan. This is already the territory of Armenia being handed over.
Pashinyan also once again confirmed the complete surrender of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan.
I hope the Armenians are happy with this voluntary surrender of Armenian territories.

I don’t know why the Armenians are so passive against Pashinyan. All the losses have been under his rule, yet many of them blame Putin.

Posted by: MiniMO | Oct 5 2023 18:14 utc | 49

…a global-range cruise missile with a nuclear installation, a nuclear propulsion system, has been conducted.”
Another game changer…
Posted by: Dr. George W Oprisko | Oct 5 2023 18:11 utc | 24
—
I wonder what that could be, given that nuclear power plants are basically just steam engines. Maybe something along the lines of steampunk?
(Not meant seriously.)

Posted by: Nobody | Oct 5 2023 18:30 utc | 51

September hottest on record by ‘extraordinary’ margin, says EU monitor
1.75 degrees centigrade above the 1850-1900 UN benchmark, more like 1.95 degrees above actual pre-industrial times of 1750. Welcome to an El Nino sat atop the climate trend, a taste of the not too distant future. But our governments are all too busy trying to get more money and weapons for Ukraine.

Posted by: Roger | Oct 5 2023 18:50 utc | 53

Good read
“This does not mean stopping the US aid to Ukraine. The administration has enough resources to support Kiev over the next month and a half and, above all, it is too far-fetched to expect any serious changes in the Ukrainian direction of US foreign policy before the 2024 election. But the salience lies somewhere else — namely, the topic of assistance to Ukraine is frothing in the cauldron of disputes between Republicans and Democrats and is becoming inseparable from the tendentious issues of social programmes that tear apart the American society and become fodder for its combative politicians. ”
https://www.indianpunchline.com/war-fatigue-complicates-wests-aid-to-ukraine/

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 5 2023 19:18 utc | 55

Eighthman | Oct 5 2023 16:12 utc | 12 “This concerns something I sense strongly about US culture. Irrational, suicidal behavior is becoming common in ways that didn’t exist before. While some blame the Devil or vaccinations or just a cultural change, I think the answer is right in front of us: psychoactive medication and drugs.”
I believe there is a little more to it. Religion in the west began to be discarded in the west perhaps in the sixties and seventies with the hippy movement.
In most religions there is a number of purely religious laws or beliefs that can be safely discarded. But amongst those beliefs are generally also the laws of nature that cannot be changed or discarded. These come from a much earlier period learned from the very earliest human existence and cannot be discarded or changed.
Without the understanding of those laws of nature as a foundation, most are adrift in an uncertain world.
Many take up other beliefs to replace religion – climate change, trees and the environment, the current woke movement, fact free human rights beliefs ect.
As my sister said to me swhe makes decisions according to her emotions, not facts. To me that is the decision making method of lynch mobs and witch burners and many forms of extremism.
To me, our emotions should drive us to look for facts.
I think the drug problem in the US should be looked at as a symptom rather than the cause.
People need a solid foundation to stand and hope for the future. In general, western populations have neither.
No matter we are created by a god as mammals and primates or simply evolved as such, we are mammals and subject to the laws of nature the same as all other mammals.
With the rejection of mainstream religion plus the greatly increased urbanization of populations, these laws have been discarded and lost with the result that people are adrift in an endless ocean and clutching anything they can find.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 19:24 utc | 57

Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 19:24 utc | 29–
Putin said the basis of cultural relations between Russia and Europe are based on Christianity but implied that in Europe the Christian way is being ignored, which is one source of friction between Russia and Europe–and by Europe IMO he means the EU. Hopefully, the transcript will be completed soon so I can post it. As usual, there were some very important points made.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 5 2023 19:43 utc | 59

Roger | Oct 5 2023 17:31 utc | 22
https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/carbon-dioxide/#:~:text=Since%20the%20onset%20of%20industrial,ice%20age%2020%2C000%20years%20ago.
“…the amount of CO2 rises from 365 parts per million (ppm) in 2002 to over 420 ppm currently. It’s important to understand that “parts per million” refers to the number of carbon dioxide molecules per million molecules of dry air.”
I believe that works out at 0.0365% to 0.0420% of the total gas mix in the atmosphere.
I have been thinking about how much of the global warming is natural and how much is man made. With the warming trend, permafrost is melting and releasing carbon dioxide plus many Forrest fires in the northern hemisphere. These would account for a good part of the atmospheric CO2 rise since 2002.
The atmospheric gas mix when looked at as parts per million… I suspect that is responsible for very little warming. I guess a good test for this would be to have a number of sites that have two geenhouses built. the atmosphere in one greenhouse at each site could have CO2 increased the equivalent of atmospheric increase since records begun and the temperatures in each recorded. Doing this over a period of time at a number of sites would give a good indication of temperature rise if any due to minuscule changes to CO2 levels.
I have never read of this being done to test various theories.
According to ice core temperatures, from greenland I think, The period when instruments for measuring temperature were first invented when global temperatures were at their lowest in 8000 years.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 19:48 utc | 61

karlof1 | Oct 5 2023 19:43 utc | 30
I believe Russia has four official religions and Putin treats them all with equal respect. He does not seem particularly religious himself so it would be interesting to know his thoughts or philosophy behind this. Whether it is a means to retain cultures or like me, he sees them as also containing the unchangeable laws of nature.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 19:57 utc | 63

@Roger | Oct 5 2023 18:50 utc | 27

1.75 degrees centigrade above the 1850-1900 UN benchmark, more like 1.95 degrees above actual pre-industrial times of 1750.

Something to consider (note the dates)
There are no precise temperature measurements pre 1750. There are no precise temperature measurements today.
Temperature is an intensity.
Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past
https://web.archive.org/web/20101125082440/http://www.independent.co.uk:80/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-%20past-724017.html
Great Britain covered in snow in satellite image – picture

Posted by: Norwegian | Oct 5 2023 20:11 utc | 65

As my sister said to me swhe makes decisions according to her emotions, not facts. To me that is the decision making method of lynch mobs and witch burners and many forms of extremism.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 19:24 utc | 29
—
Sola dosis facit venenum. 🙂

Posted by: Nobody | Oct 5 2023 20:14 utc | 67

“swhe”… a bad typo in the age of alphabet genders.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 20:23 utc | 69

@29
Your starting point is human nature.
Those who dont believe in human nature but see us as tabula rasa to build a new man on will never understand you. Utopia, doesnt care about your nature.
I guess there are a lot of points to add. Its not only religion itself but all the substitutes that got erased. A nation is good enough as a substitute (with all its potential downsides) but that isnt allowed neither anymore.
The city and later the internet doesnt allow for a lot of human experience anymore. People detach.
Immigration is another topic because it undermines trust in your neighbour. And 1000 reasons more.

Posted by: Orgel | Oct 5 2023 20:24 utc | 71

On the subject of climate, ref. the onset of The Younger Dryas cool period 12900 years ago

Rejected! Saginaw Bay as an extraterrestrial impact location
This presentation discusses the rejection by some geologists of Saginaw Bay as an extraterrestrial impact location 12,900 years ago. The major objection is that Saginaw Bay was not covered with ice at that time, and thus, no glacier ice boulders could have been launched from that location by an extraterrestrial impact.

The evidence for a major event 12900 years ago is mounting. Prior to that time, evolved human cultures existed as is evidenced in many places around the world.

Posted by: Norwegian | Oct 5 2023 20:29 utc | 73

…so it would be interesting to know his thoughts or philosophy behind this.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 19:57 utc | 32
—
I have asked myself the same several times. My first guess was that one of his major historical influences could be Peter the Great. But lately I have been leaning more towards this man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_the_Great
This is of course purely speculative. When it comes to history, I am more of an amateur.

Posted by: Nobody | Oct 5 2023 20:32 utc | 75

the atmosphere in one greenhouse at each site could have CO2 increased the equivalent of atmospheric increase since records begun and the temperatures in each recorded. Doing this over a period of time at a number of sites would give a good indication of temperature rise if any due to minuscule changes to CO2 levels.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 19:48 utc | 31

More carbon dioxide inside a greenhouse has no effect on how much the greenhouse, a closed box, retains heat. It’s not a model of a planet.
And carbon dioxide itself is a strawman for both the elite and you to happily and willfully ignore the actual issues of habitat collapse, loss of species both wild and cultivated, pollution by heavy metals, plastics, hormones and chemicals, and increasingly dead oceans.
Sad to say, but it looks like far too many of the otherwise perceptive people who saw through the covid scam and the “russia/china are bad” scam still fell for the “caring for the environment is just a deep state psyop” scam. Even though it’s the most crude and obvious one.

Many take up other beliefs to replace religion – climate change, trees and the environment,

Horrible eh? Caring for trees and the environment is bad now? Are you sure that’s not exactly what the elite has conditioned you to think for the past forty years, up until a few years ago when they flipped it 180 degrees and started the thoroughly fake (and in reality anti-environment) greta movement to create yet another point of division between people?
The rich feel at ease when you hate and blame muslims/the unvaccinated/russians/vegetarians/environmentalists/lgbt/straight people/etc and put your energy into fighting them.
Religion and spirituality came from nature and natural laws by the way, not from some middle eastern man, and it’s exactly nature (and trees) that we should turn back to.

Posted by: Michael A | Oct 5 2023 20:44 utc | 77

Nobody | Oct 5 2023 20:32 utc | 38
My thought is Putin is natural student of history, mistakes of the past to avoid, things that are good to promote – the foundation of accumulated knowledge from which he uses original thinking to solve todays problems

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 20:45 utc | 79

Michael A | Oct 5 2023 20:44 utc | 39 “More carbon dioxide inside a greenhouse has no effect on how much the greenhouse, a closed box, retains heat. It’s not a model of a planet.”
There is an experiment I watched one time. One glass jar with air, the other filled with CO2. Both with identical thermometers inside. The CO2 filled glass jar rose to a higher temperature than the air glass jar. That is my reason for being interested in a much larger scale experiment using gas percentages as per increased increased atmospheric CO2 that climate change is attributed to.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 20:56 utc | 81

Putin about the plane crash where Prigozin was killed
“We know about the plane crash.
The head of the Investigative Committee briefed me just the other day.
Fragments of hand grenades were found in the bodies of those killed in the crash.
There was no external impact on the plane

Posted by: petergrfstrm | Oct 5 2023 21:02 utc | 83

“Putin at Valdai Club Plenary Session” is now available. The session lasted for about four hours, so be prepared for a very long read. There’re numerous outtakes that have probably already been published but just as many will be omitted.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 5 2023 21:03 utc | 85

..so it would be interesting to know his thoughts or philosophy behind this.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 19:57 utc | 32
—
My impression is that Putin is religious. Some years ago I read that he spends about 10 days a year on retreat at a monastery … I am unable to find the article today, however I found the following, and if one keys in Putin and monasteries, there are a number of articles in this regard.
https://time.com/4475613/putins-pilgrimage/ ‘Russia’s President Putin Casts Himself as Protector of the Faith’
Julianna may be able to speak to this aspect of Putin…

Posted by: crone | Oct 5 2023 21:06 utc | 87

Eighthman @12, “I am the slime”, Frank Zappa.

Posted by: Immaculate deception | Oct 5 2023 21:09 utc | 89

Karlof1 Oct 5 2023 21:03 utc | 43
Karl, thank you for all that you do to bring these translations to us… I find them to be helpful in changing the negative view so many Americans have of Putin and Russia … so I spread them far and wide! You are a treasure.

Posted by: crone | Oct 5 2023 21:11 utc | 91

karlof1 | Oct 5 2023 14:57 utc | 3
…Putin’s speaking at the Valdai Club today.
Yippee.
I still lol at Megan Kelly, CNN Zakaria, and Resting Bitch Face all trying for “gotchas” on the stage, … but I think that was SPB Economic Forum, not Valdai.
———
remotedji | Oct 5 2023 15:51 utc |
Thanks for your Venezuela posts.
JFC. That was Trump. He’d know that snazzy piece of bizlawfate.
(With help, of course)
——-
>… “Biden’s dog removed for repeatedly biting innocent bystanders”
Dog is channeling its owner’s malignant mindset. Biden barks, dog bites.
——
@aussie barflies.
So I’m riffing thru the AEC Voice referendum booklet, seeking to confirm the date…. It’s nowhere. I flick, front to back, back to front. Now the looking is taking way more time than I wanted to invest. Eventually find a paragraph: “when is voting day”.
You have to fking scan a QR code, or visit the aec website.
Why?
Anyone got an explanation on why they print a 20-page booklet and not include the fking *date* of this piece of performance?

Posted by: Melaleuca | Oct 5 2023 21:14 utc | 93

Peter AU1 @32–
Thanks for your reply. Here’s a question posed to Putin that’s similar to yours:

Pierre de Gaulle: Mr. President, I am Pierre de Gaulle, Chairman of the Association “Mir France and Francophonie”. I am a true friend of your country. Just like my family, I stand for friendship between Russia and France. More and more people in France and Europe share the same points of view.
Friendship and partnership between Russia and France were one of the pillars of my grandfather’s [Charles de Gaulle’s] policy, and I want to restore that. France is based on fundamental values, such as family, patriotism and spiritual responsibility, which are now disappearing in the Western world. It seems to me that these fundamental values are very important for creating peace and mutual understanding between peoples.
Therefore, it seems to me that the conflict in Ukraine is an ideological conflict, it is even a conflict of civilizations. Because, on the one hand, there is the Western world, which has lost its soul, which has exchanged everything for ego, for momentary enjoyment. History has shown us that civilization cannot live like this. On the other hand, there is a multipolar world under the auspices of Russia, China, India, African countries, and Arab countries. These people, these peoples are ready to fight for their traditional values, fundamental values. For me, Mr. President, this is an ideological conflict. That is why I believe that it will continue and expand.
What do you think?

The main substance of Putin’s answer reflects what he stated in his speech:

Yes, today the situation is different, today France is led by completely different people – and it is not a matter of age, but of views on the role, on the significance of France, even, perhaps, on its history, on its future. I will not give any estimates – this is not our business, this is the business of the French people themselves. But I know that there are many people with the views that you represent, true friends of Russia in France, and their number is growing.
Will this situation continue to worsen in terms of the development of the situation in the world, given the fact that, as you said, such an ideological confrontation will continue? It will never end, obviously. These different currents, no matter what shape they take, of course, will always fight among themselves, this is obvious. But, in my opinion, awareness of the importance and enduring significance of national values and traditions will gradually gain momentum in European countries and in the United States itself.
And in this sense, I think that yes, the ideological confrontation will continue, but still the future belongs to the national-oriented forces in the world. And the balance between them on the world stage should be achieved, as I said in my speech, by finding compromises between civilizations.

Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 5 2023 21:14 utc | 95

crone | Oct 5 2023 21:06 utc | 44
That trip to the monastery is interesting. Traveling back to the roots of slavic Russian culture that began with Kievan Rus and their conversion to orthodox Christianity, I think around 1045.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 21:18 utc | 97

With the rejection of mainstream religion plus the greatly increased urbanization of populations, these laws have been discarded and lost with the result that people are adrift in an endless ocean and clutching anything they can find.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 5 2023 19:24 utc | 29
Wise words Peter, there is no anchor for Western Society anymore and the New Western God is consumerism. Fill that hole in your sole by shop shop shop, til thy drop or run out of credit.
Some smart people have a way of encapsulating your overall point about Religion as a vehicle for guidance and one fella I came across some years ago on the internet was a Master of condensing the essence of the masses need for simple guidance.
Unfortunately tho, religion became commercialized by the greedy and manipulated for multiple purposes which all revolved around power, wealth and influence in some way or other. Saudi’s nurtured extreme Islam, America, and friends manipulated it.
That said, an American Jewish comedian Lewis Black did a 10 minute skit that explained so much of why religion was/ is necessary. He called it The Old Testament. Apparently it offended some many folks and after a while the internet Gods started to chop it up. First they cut in half, then down to a couple of minutes. Now it’s basically gone.
They way he presented his view was entertaining, challenging and intelligent. But apparently the US 1st amendment wasn’t enough to protect that gem, or someone asked ‘vut’s your price’ to make it go away?
I wonder now, are the goals of those who determine policy actually designed to give more freedom or to take it away and simply prey upon the empty vessels their works have created? Consumerism and being a target for those who peddle debt isn’t much of a belief system.
Diminished morality, except for what social media Corp’s and MSM promote, void of purpose other than to consume stuff, and lacking any vision as to how to change the equations spells troubled waters imho.
I gained more strength of character standing in my swamp making fence in the spring with the bone chillingly cold water running into my rubber boots than I ever gained from listening to the new age false Messiah’s.
But I guess I’m just an unsophisticated rube who doesn’t understand owning the latest high end model Beamer and a deluxe apartment in the sky is the measure of what a man should aspire to accomplish.
But I still maintain my sense humor, and by God that is the one thing they can’t take from me. Hat tip to Lewis Black.

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 5 2023 21:22 utc | 99