Assorted news from Canada
Nov. 1, 2023 marks the first annual Lebanese Heritage month.
https://x.com/CanadianPM/status/1719702479112114377
Mark Carney, of Bank of Canada & Bank of England fame, doesn’t rule out run for Liberal party leadership (that’s Trudeau’s party), reports the Globe & Mail. (Trudeau in power is an example of how much Canadians love to vote for Anglo bankers. … who the heck’s idea was that??)
Now this interested me: former premier of Canada’s westernmost province, with the long Pacific coastline, British Columbia, is the new ambassador to Germany. And he’s a bit of a West coast leftie, although West coast politics being what they are… well.
https://vancouversun.com/news/politics/ohn-horgan-canadas-next-ambassador-germany
From that article, current BC premier, David Eby joked, “he’s sure Horgan is already practising saying: “Ich bin John aus Langford” (German for “I am John from Langford).”
Here is Langford, for the curious (james lives not extremely far from there!):
https://langford.ca/heres-why-you-should-move-to-langford-one-of-b-c-s-fastest-growing-communities/
(Seriously, you should visit.)

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 2 2023 12:08 utc | 3

One thing that seems to be completely absent from main stream media is the ongoing conflict in Myanmar. Recently, heavy clashes have erupted between the government and several ethnic militias. Brutal fights with heavy losses on all sides. On Chinese social media, many videos were posted showing how close the fight was on the Chinese/Myanmar border. Several schools had to be evacuated because of how close the shelling was between the groups. In response, the PLA dispatched heavily armed forces to the border regions, including tanks, attack helicopters, armored vehicles and so forth. China was already struggling with criminal gangs based in Myanmar kidnapping Chinese people for forced prostitution and scam rings. A few weeks ago, Chinese police forces with the help of local government and militias could strike against multiple criminal gangs in Myanmar, arresting more than 1000 people and rescuing many Chinese citizens. The conflict and the involved factions are complex and difficult to understand – many militias vying for support from China, because they are of Han ethnicity including the Wa people.
Some are speculating that China will enter the conflict in a limited manner, trying to stabilize the border region and reigning in the ongoing violence. This would be the first time, since the Chinese/Vietnamese war, that China would cross their border in an armed conflict. Some are saying that China will not intervene, based on principle, but will try to negotiate with the different factions. One thing is clear, China needs to act to stabilize its border region, the moment the first Chinese dies from collateral damage is the moment China will have to act, one way or another. This will be a huge test in regards to China’s foreign policy and military strategy and doctrine.

Posted by: BurningArc | Nov 2 2023 12:11 utc | 5

23 september. Yolanda Diaz, Minister of Labor, Spain, at a political meeting.

These immensely rich people are aware that we are going to hell. What they are doing is designing a plan B based on fleeing the world, to protect themselves, them and them alone. It is the world of rockets to escape from Earth. It is the world of the metaverse. It is also the world of fortress mansions, for example, in New Zealand.

Posted by: Passerby | Nov 2 2023 12:27 utc | 7

An inquiry into the Covid epidemic in the UK is discovering that the Tory government and the Capitalist class regarded the virus as a providential way of getting rid of eldrrly and vulnerable “useless eaters” and would benefit the economy by doing so.
That, of course was the attitude of many in the West including the posters here who regularly deny the rreality of the pandemic and trivialise the efforts that China’s government made to savelives even at the expense of economic growth and profit.
Those on the same side as the Koch brothers and the Great Barrington Declaration, Bolsonaro, Johnson and Trump were on the side of democide and profits before people.
This article in The Canary includes a tweet by Michael Rosen
‘You’re missing the point guys. What was unleashed in 2020 was various forms of ‘demicide’ – who is it OK to let die? The govt helped unleash a country divided against itself, people dismissing the medical profession and willing to dispense with 100s of 1000s of others.”
“…a term coined by political scientist R. J. Rummel for “the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder”… Democides are not the elimination of entire cultural groups, but rather groups within the country that the government feels they need to be eradicated for political reasons and future threats.
“So Rosen is arguing that Johnson and his government were willing to kill members of certain groups of people for political reasons – based on the evidence from the Covid Inquiry.
‘Let the old people get it’
As the Financial Times (FT) reported, the Covid Inquiry heard that:
“Cain said Johnson did not believe Covid was a “big deal” and thought “his main danger [was] talking [the] economy into a slump”.
“The article went on to state that:
“Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s former chief scientific adviser, wrote that Johnson appeared “obsessed with older people accepting their fate” and considered the virus to be “just Nature’s way of dealing with old people”.
“In December 2020, weeks before England entered a third national lockdown, Vallance wrote: “Chief whip [Mark Spencer] says ‘I think we should let the old people get it and protect others’. PM says ‘a lot of my backbenchers think that and I must say I agree with them’.”
“Further to this, the health secretary during the early stages of the pandemic, Matt Hancock, allowed hospitals to discharge people into care homes without testing them for coronavirus. Over 40,000 people in care homes’ deaths involved Covid. This is a clear example of the state actively enabling the deaths of older people for political reasons – that is, because it believed the NHS would not cope with the pandemic. The High Court eventually ruled that Hancock’s actions were unlawful.
“Furthermore, campaign groups have questioned the legality of the NHS putting blanket Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) notices on clinically vulnerable people – like chronically ill and learning disabled people. Around 500 of these DNRs breached people’s human rights. Again, the state – via the NHS – was actively encouraging the deaths vulnerable groups of people for political reasons.
“So, Rosen’s reference to democide is apt. He’s not the first person to posit this, though. As the Canary reported in 2022, the People’s Covid Inquiry – led by barrister Mike Mansfield QC – noted that:
“The question is raised as to whether this amounts to democide (‘the killing of members of a country’s civilian population, as a result of its government’s policy, including by direct action, indifference, and neglect’), ‘social murder’, gross negligence manslaughter, or misconduct in a public office?
“However, the idea that – as far as the state is concerned – certain groups of people can die for political reasons is hardly new or shocking….”
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2023/11/01/covid-inquiry-democide-johnson/

Posted by: bevin | Nov 2 2023 14:33 utc | 9

Bahrain suspends economic ties with Israel & recalls Ambassador.
https://tass.com/world/1700855
The Council of Representatives acknowledges that the Ambassador of Israel to Bahrain has left the Kingdom and Bahrain made the decision to return the Kingdom’s Ambassador to Israel back to the country. Economic relations with Israel are also suspended,” the Council said in the statement posted on its website.
“This decision “is the confirmation of the historical and firm position of Bahrain to support the Palestinian issue and lawful rights of the fraternal Palestine nation,” the legislative body noted. The Council of Representatives of Bahrain has to demand taking measures to preserve lives of innocent people in the Gaza Streip and other Palestine regions in view of “continued war and military operations and continuing Israeli aggression in light of the non-observance of international humanitarian law,” it added.”

Posted by: Trubind1 | Nov 2 2023 14:49 utc | 11

@Trubind1 – the parliament in Bahrain has no say in such issues.
The Israeli ambo stays – for now.

Posted by: b | Nov 2 2023 14:59 utc | 13

Russian historian, head of the Historical Memory foundation, Aleksandr Dyukov on proper description of Nazi genocide in the Soviet Union:

Which is the proper way to put it: genocide of the Soviet people or genocide of the Soviet peoples?
Since a genocide can only be planned, here we must start by looking at Nazi plans.
There is evidence of plans to exterminate Jews.
There is evidence of the existence of plans to exterminate Russians/Great Russians.
But at the same time, the destruction of Ukrainians as an ethnic group was not planned. Ukrainians were being released from POW camps in 1941, while Russians were exterminated in these camps.
And we don’t see destruction of a number of other Soviet peoples. Neither Lithuanians, nor Latvians, nor Estonians, nor Uzbeks, nor Tajiks.
So it is correct to talk about the destruction of a number of peoples of the USSR: Russians, Belarusians, Jews, Gypsies.

Posted by: S | Nov 2 2023 15:22 utc | 15

BurningArc | Nov 2 2023 12:11 utc | 3–
Global Times editorial on the Myanmar situation covers lots of ground and opens with the following information:
“Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong visited Myanmar, where he held a meeting with Myanmar’s Chairman of the State Administration Council Min Aung Hlaing, and co-chaired the seventh China-Myanmar ministerial meeting on law enforcement and security cooperation with Myanmar Union Minister for Home Affairs Lt-Gen Yar Pyae. Wang also met with Myanmar’s Union Minister for Immigration and Population U Myint Kyaing.”
The editorial continues and frames the situation as one of fundamental security enforcement that ought to be seen as an example of China’s policy by the Global majority:

Northern Myanmar is a significant hiding place for fraudsters. For a long time, criminals have not only perpetrated false investment and financial scams, online shopping scams, and internet loan fraud against the people of China and various Southeast Asian countries, but have also spawned various illegal activities, including illegal detention, kidnapping, and human trafficking. With the advancement of technology, the methods used for cross-border telecommunications fraud are becoming increasingly covert and cost-effective, causing great distress to the local population and even leading to the destruction of families and loss of lives. The general public has suffered from telecommunications fraud for far too long….
Some Western media outlets, upon seeing Chinese security officials visiting Myanmar, instinctively interpreted the “collaboration” in security from a Western perspective. Some, with ideological glasses, implied that Myanmar is still an “outlier” in the international community and was highly vigilant about China and Myanmar getting closer in security cooperation. Some also linked the visit to the recent conflict in northern Myanmar, portraying China as a powerful force attempting to intervene or even manipulate Myanmar’s internal affairs. It must be said that these imaginations are highly Westernized, which reflects the security views in the minds of Western political elites do not accurately reflect the reality on the ground.
Whether it is Chinese officials visiting Myanmar or joint law-enforcement actions with Southeast Asian countries, it is not difficult to see that this is another successful practice of China’s vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. Under the premise of mutual respect and sovereign equality, all parties take coordinated action for the same security goal, and the final results are shared by all the people, and those results can be truly felt by everyone. Now, in addition to Southeast Asian countries, organizations and institutions such as ASEAN and the United Nations have also joined in, and the strength to combat cross-border telecommunications fraud and strive for common security is constantly growing. This fully demonstrates the international appeal and leadership of China’s Global Security Initiative.
China-Myanmar pauk-phaw friendship runs deep. Neighbors wish each other well, just as loved ones do to each other. China hopes for Myanmar’s swift stability the most and will always maintain the attitude of cooperating and seeking development together with Myanmar. This is not only reflected at the national level but also represents the genuine attitude of Chinese society, as “common security” also enjoys a broad and firm consensus within Chinese society. However, our way of achieving it never involves forcefully interfering in other countries’ internal affairs or attempting to transform other countries according to our own wishes. China has never done such things in the past and present, and will not do so in the future. Our choice is to prioritize the well-being of the people, and on the basis of mutual respect, use cooperative and win-win means to eliminate those issues that cause pain to the people. The fight against fraud in Northern Myanmar is a typical example of this.

The sort of international crime occurring in Myanmar is of the type promoted by the West to foment destabilization and that region being part of the “Golden Triangle” has a very sordid history of CIA involvement. The style of Western media’s spin is thus to be expected. The Outlaw US Empire doesn’t want Harmony to reign in the world as Putin described very well in his Security Council address. It has many people employed to cause chaos and harm and it will pour gasoline onto any suspected fire anywhere to further its interests.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 2 2023 15:29 utc | 17

S | Nov 2 2023 15:22 utc | 8–
Thanks for that S. As you know, I see the Slavs as the #1 victims of the Nazi’s actions, not the Jews, and thus the illegitimacy of that group having usurped the “distinction” of being the Nazis main target, which has greatly disrupted historical accuracy and related policy since 1945.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 2 2023 15:34 utc | 19

bevin | Nov 2 2023 14:33 utc | 5 (quoting)
*** “The question is raised as to whether this amounts to democide (‘the killing of members of a country’s civilian population, as a result of its government’s policy, including by direct action, indifference, and neglect’), ‘social murder’, gross negligence manslaughter, or misconduct in a public office?
“However, the idea that – as far as the state is concerned – certain groups of people can die for political reasons is hardly new or shocking….”
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2023/11/01/covid-inquiry-democide-johnson/ ***
The question *still* never asked by UK mass-media and politicians is why the experimental ‘vaccine’ by Pfizer/Moderna has been given monopoly status … despite conventional vaccines by Valneva (French though developed in Scotland) and Novavax (American) having passed all safety tests and thus being *theoretically* available — but in reality, still deliberately *not* being made available to the British public.
Despite the government/NHS currently urging people to get (exclusively Pfizer/Moderna, of course) “boosters”.
Not that the regime’s alleged “opposition” cares — it’s just the same corrupt, dictatorial, anti-British crap in a very slightly different wrapper. So it will never ask.

Posted by: Cynic | Nov 2 2023 15:39 utc | 21

Decolonize Russia (The Atlantic, Casey Michel, May 27, 2022)
To avoid more senseless bloodshed, the Kremlin must lose what empire it still retains.
The Decolonization Narrative Is Dangerous and False (The Atlantic, Simon Sebag Montefiore, October 27, 2023)
It does not accurately describe either the foundation of Israel or the tragedy of the Palestinians.
(h/t Aleksandr Dyukov)

Posted by: S | Nov 2 2023 15:40 utc | 23

bevin | Nov 2 2023 14:33 utc | 5
Democide. Perhaps just coincidence but that was a virus that struck the elderly the hardest. About a year back we saw the near collapse of the British pension fund.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 2 2023 15:44 utc | 25

@5
@13
As the Democide of Palestine continues, tis a huge step for anyone to claim the government sponsored the release of a ‘virus’ to kill the old and infirm (take advantage of? well they are fucking bastards)….some doctors would argue, with sufficient data, that the government mandated antidote will kill more across all ages. “If we can’t kill them off with the disease, we’ll get em with the antidote”……the seasonal flu, at times, kills more old than the ‘thingy’ did….but to balm the sore, I guess it’s a start.
I see the seasonal flus shots (plural) are combined now with the new and improved thingy antidote….what could go wrong with that, eh…..
Cheers M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 2 2023 16:00 utc | 27

Mark Carney, of Bank of Canada & Bank of England fame, doesn’t rule out run for Liberal party leadership (that’s Trudeau’s party), reports the Globe & Mail.
Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 2 2023 12:08 utc | 2
He will win like Draghi and Tusk. Democracy is a sham.
Under a gold standard, for instance, banks must be careful when creating loans that they have sufficient gold or central bank reserves to meet depositor outflows or legal reserve requirements. This is the fractional banking, money multiplier system standard in the economics textbooks. If there is an inflow of gold, then bank deposit creation can increase and prices can rise. The same can occur if the central bank raises the quantity of reserves circulating relative to its own gold reserves.
But that’s not the case under modern monetary systems with flexible exchange rates. Why the textbooks in every university should be burned.
In Canada, reserve balances had been effectively zero for over a decade, and bank lending continues as it does anywhere else.
In Japan, under the so-called quantitative easing regime of 2001-2005, reserve balances reached around 15% of GDP, and the monetary base (reserve balances plus currency in circulation . . . often termed “high powered money”) reached 23% of GDP.
But Japan has, if anything, experienced deflation during this period, which is not surprising, since—again—the rising quantity of reserve balances did not enhance Japanese banks’ abilities to create loans.
https://neweconomicperspectives.org/2009/06/dont-fear-rise-in-feds-reserve-balances.html
Carney knew all of that and he was head of the Canadian central bank at the time.
Yet, when he came to London he lied through his teeth and increased reserves by billions. Said it was because banks were not lending so reserves had to be increased so banks would lend again.
A charlitan, a fraud, a war mongering neoliberal, globalist pig. It will be a disaster for working class Canadians when he wins. A liar never to be trusted and worships at the alter of interest rate targeting – the devil.
He will be the globalists chosen one like Drahgi and Tusk.

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Nov 2 2023 16:29 utc | 29

IMO, this interview of Russia’s Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Second CIS Department Alexander Polishchuk with TASS belongs in this thread although it’s generally about Ukraine:

Question: Following a recent meeting with President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Beijing, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the Russian leader’s answer to the question of when the conflict in Ukraine would end was “not at all encouraging.” Does Moscow have an understanding of when the NWO can be completed? Are there any opportunities to speed up the process of a political settlement?
A: At present, no one will be able to name the exact date of the end of the special military operation. Neither diplomats, nor military, nor politicians. However, the very questions about the timing of its completion are revealing. They demonstrate a growing fatigue from the Ukrainian crisis, which is increasingly felt around the world and especially in the West.
As we have said many times, the NWO will end when its goals are achieved and the tasks are completed. The main thing is that the threats to Russia’s security emanating from the territory of Ukraine must be eliminated. These threats were artificially created by the United States and its satellites, which brought NATO’s military infrastructure close to our borders and turned friendly Ukraine, which has always had a neutral non-aligned status, into a Nazi “anti-Russia” that hates and destroys everything Russian. The start of the NWO was a forced measure. Any other power in our place would have acted in the same way and even more harshly. Such examples are in plain sight today.
At the same time, we have never rejected the possibility of achieving the goals of the NWO by political and diplomatic means. In the spring of last year, we held negotiations, which Kiev first asked us to do, and then withdrew from them at the behest of Western patrons. Later, he legally forbade himself to continue them, putting forward a set of ultimatums to Russia called the “peace formula.” Now he is running around with this “formula” as if it were a piece of paper, trying to deceive it into increasing the number of its supporters. It turns out badly.
Accordingly, the possibilities of a political settlement that you are asking about depend on Kiev. Unfortunately, Ukrainian politicians do not yet have the courage or wisdom to do this.
Question: On October 28-29, an international meeting on Ukraine was held in Malta. What is Russia’s assessment of the holding of another such event, and did it make any practical sense?
A: Such meetings do not make any practical sense. The so-called “Copenhagen format” is a mechanism invented by Kiev and the West to push through Ukrainian ultimatums. It is incapable of leading to peace.
The meeting in Malta was the third after Copenhagen and Jeddah. Their added value tends to zero. The initiators of these events – Ukraine and the United States – are trying to persuade the states of the Global South to support Zelensky’s “formula” by deception and blackmail. By doing so, they are trying to lure new countries into their anti-Russian club, and at the same time ruin truly constructive proposals, peace and humanitarian initiatives put forward by other states.
Unscrupulous methods are used. The new participants are first involved in discussions on such seemingly neutral issues as food, energy, nuclear and environmental security, and then presented as support for the entire “formula”, the central element of which is the defeat and punishment of Russia. Speaking at the UN General Assembly in September, Zelensky said that the “formula” of his “peace” was allegedly supported by more than 140 countries. Of course, this is another lie.
Question: Head of the Defence Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Kirill Budanov admitted that his special forces made three attempts to attack and seize the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which were repulsed by Russian forces. Has Russia received the IAEA’s response to this statement? Has it been heard in the West? Why, in your opinion, could the Ukrainian side decide to recognize this fact?
A: Ukrainian attempts to seize the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are well known. One of them took place immediately before IAEA Director General Robert Grossi’s visit to the plant on September 1, 2022.
Due to the fact that Western countries continue to arm Ukraine, and their representatives kiss Kiev officials and at the same time avoid condemning the terrorist actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Zelensky has the impression that any of his actions will go unpunished, and possibly will be approved.
Nevertheless, all attempts to seize the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were effectively repelled by the Russian Armed Forces. We have informed the IAEA Director General about this.
Today, Ukraine does not comply with the “seven principles” formulated by R. Grossi to ensure nuclear safety and security in an armed conflict, as well as the “five recommendations” to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
We condemn such actions by Kiev and call on Western countries not to turn a blind eye to its dangerous “games with fire”, with nuclear fire.
Question: The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has already adopted in the first reading a draft law prepared by the Cabinet of Ministers on behalf of Vladimir Zelensky, which makes it possible to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. What are the consequences of such a decision?
A: Indeed, on October 19, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading a government bill aimed, in fact, at banning the canonical UOC and its subsequent absorption into the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which is a political project of Washington and Constantinople.
We have already said that this document is legally null and void and contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine. Such an “initiative” is part of Kiev’s broad information campaign to discredit the UOC and its clergy. Such destructive steps are causing a split in Ukrainian society and affecting the feelings of tens of millions of Orthodox believers. Obviously, the consequences of such a policy can be very serious.
The history of canonical Orthodoxy on the territory of modern Ukraine dates back more than a thousand years. The Orthodox faith has survived many tragic events, including the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Union of Brest-Litovsk, numerous wars and other large-scale cataclysms. We are confident that the current attempts to artificially schism Orthodoxy will also be overcome.
We have consistently called on the international community to condemn the lawlessness taking place in Ukraine, and on international organisations to demand that the Kiev regime abandon its policy of church repression.
Question: The Western press, in particular Bloomberg, claim that Ukraine has begun to use an alternative route for exporting grain through the Black Sea, which is longer than the one under the grain deal. In this regard, are the repeatedly voiced Russian conditions for returning to the implementation of the “grain deal” still relevant for Moscow? In your opinion, how realistic is its renewal in the future?
A: The Ukrainian authorities have always had alternatives to the maritime humanitarian corridor that operated as part of the Black Sea initiative. These are, first of all, land routes, the so-called “solidarity corridors”, launched in March 2022, through which Kiev allegedly exported over 51.5 million tons of grain to the EU countries.
At present, according to incoming information, “coastal navigation” of vessels in the territorial waters of the Black Sea has been added to these schemes. Obviously, the costs of such food transportation are much higher. A heavy burden also falls on the Eastern European transit countries – Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. But in the West, apparently, a political decision has been made to export grain from Ukraine at any cost.
For our part, we take a conscientious and responsible approach both to the fulfillment of obligations under commercial contracts for the export of agricultural products and fertilizers, and to the implementation of humanitarian actions. By the end of the year, we plan to donate another 200,20 tonnes of wheat to six African countries – Somalia, the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali and Eritrea. Together with WFP, we have already sent 34,23 tonnes of fertiliser to Malawi and 34,55 tonnes to Kenya. Three more deliveries are at the final stage: <>,<> tonnes to Zimbabwe, <>,<> tonnes to Nigeria and <>,<> tonnes to Sri Lanka.
As for the feasibility of the scenario for the resumption of the Black Sea Initiative, Russia’s position remains the same: first, it is necessary to fully fulfill the tasks within the framework of the Russia-UN Memorandum on the normalization of domestic agricultural exports. So far, despite the efforts of the UN, we have not seen any progress in lifting sanctions restrictions on our economic operators involved in production and exports, including in the areas of bank payments, insurance, transport logistics and the supply of spare parts to Russia.
Question: The Foreign Minister of Transnistria said that “demonstrative infusions” into the Moldovan army “can hardly be interpreted as anything other than military preparations.” Does the Russian side see a danger that Chisinau may try to solve the “Transnistrian problem” by force in the near future, including in order to move forward on the issue of joining the EU?
A: We hope that the assurances of Moldovan officials about Chisinau’s commitment to the Transnistrian settlement exclusively by peaceful means, which are declared from time to time, correspond to reality.
At the same time, we understand Tiraspol’s concerns. The massive pumping of the Moldovan army with equipment and finances under far-fetched pretexts cannot but raise questions, given the neutral status of the Republic of Moldova.

Moldova remains a concern that will continue until Russian forces capture Odessa and link to Transnistria.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 2 2023 16:31 utc | 31

Bevin – It would be odd for the Tories (and their equal in the US, the R’s) to purposely kill the elderly … that’s their main voter base: older, richer white people who disproportionately vote.
So I doubt if this was anything deliberate. However, there certainly was/is a train of thought that communicable viruses like Covid and the flu etc. that kill less than 1% of the people who get them are simply things we have to deal with as a society and one cannot shut down the entire nation in a futile attempt to stop the virus. As has been shown, the virus will eventually have its way and we will all get it (I’m getting over my second illness as we speak). Even China agrees with this now.
What the lesson of this tragedy should have been: invest in clinics and bed availability at a regional level and even more importantly invest in programs to minimize obesity and heart disease.

Posted by: Caliman | Nov 2 2023 16:36 utc | 33

“..It would be odd for the Tories (and their equal in the US, the R’s) to purposely kill the elderly … that’s their main voter base: older, richer white people who disproportionately vote…”
Caliman@17
Most old people in the UK are not rich. Many are close to being destitute, forced to live in “care” homes (Orwell missed that one) where they are at the tender mercies of the authorities and greed. They were defenceless in the face of an illness that required nursing, assistance and care.
As to the effect on Tory voters- the wealth, if any, gets passed down a generation and everyone gets older.
If you think about it, and I know that you do think, real Tories have so much contempt for democracy that they don’t care if their supporters are hardest hit- there are always more of them. What they care about is whether the Capitalists are happy. If they are they will assist in harvesting votes come election time. If not the Tories are in trouble.
I think the Chinese have resigned themselves to the reality that, their good example not having been generally followed (though it was in much of East Asia) they have no choice but to adjust to a world in which Covid is regarded benignly by a civilisation that is increasingly revealing its cannibal propensities.

Posted by: bevin | Nov 2 2023 16:56 utc | 35

Kurt Campbell nominated as Deputy Secretary of State. He was the architect of the pivot to Asia during the Obama administration. Don’t know much about him and where he stands relative to the rest of the Biden admin foreign policy team. Is the Israel Lobby nervous about him? He doesn’t seem to have pro-Israel bonafides and is likely to fight against them for resources in debates about the Middle East or China.

Posted by: chickenwings | Nov 2 2023 17:16 utc | 37

Maria Zakharova’s weekly briefing transcript has yet to be completed as it’s longer than usual. I again plan to provide a few specific outtakes at my substack where I’ve already posted a long report about Russia’s Space Industry, “Russian Space Industry & its Scientists”, that was held back to deal with Palestine issues. Since the Moldovan elections are on 5 November, it’s appropriate to provide that portion of the Briefing which details the nefarious behavior of Sandu’s government as it tries to please its Outlaw US Empire sponsor:

We are closely monitoring the situation on the eve of the general local elections, which will be held in 898 localities and municipalities of Moldova on November 5. The election campaign is in full swing, candidates are presenting their programs and fighting for votes.
The central authorities of the Republic are also actively involved in this process, but in their own way. The main “slogan” of the Moldovan leadership remains the thesis of a non-existent “Russian threat”, which is used to divert attention from its own managerial failure.
Moldova’s State of Emergency Commission and the Intelligence and Security Service continue to purge the country of any manifestations of dissent, using repression against political opponents who have already reached an extreme point.
On October 30, the authorities suspended the licenses of six TV channels for allegedly “promoting foreign interests.” Moldovan President Maia Sandu is a Romanian citizen, and Russian channels promote the interests of other countries? Is everything okay with logic? A Romanian citizen, being the leader of Moldova, renamed the Moldovan language to Romanian. But are Russian channels “promoting foreign interests”? Some kind of looking glass. People can’t be so sure that any fake can pass.
The Moldovan authorities have blocked 31 information portals. All of them are allegedly “used in the information war against the Republic of Moldova” and “distort information”. Let me remind you that a few days earlier, on October 24 of this year, 22 Russian-language news websites were blocked.
Moldova itself has already assessed these steps. They were called a desecration of the media space, another attack on independent media and freedom of speech. It is indicative that even local pro-Western non-governmental organizations expressed concern about what was happening and called for an assessment of the proportionality of such interference in the media sphere. At the same time, these and other gross violations by Chisinau of its international obligations in the field of protecting the rights of the media – a form of desecration of the very principles of pluralism of opinions and freedom of access to information – in the usual manner do not receive any reaction from the relevant international structures. We understand why. These international structures, including the OSCE with its “package” of authorized and specialized bodies, work only “for the sake of appearance”. They just continue to be called so, receive a lot of money, go on business trips, use their mandates (it’s not clear why), go to canteens. Where is the odious OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Timo Ribeiro? It used to be said that they were engaged in “quiet diplomacy”. Only the results of this pseudo-activity are loud, scandalous, “screaming”.
The Moldovan authorities do not stop at the infringement of freedom of speech. On October 29 this year, the candidate for mayor of Chisinau from the Party of Communists, D. Caraman, was denied the right to participate in televised debates only because she spoke Russian. This is despite the fact that 80% of Moldovans know and constantly use the Russian language. Insanity is different, let’s go back to language. You can’t speak Russian. Why? Six months ago, it was impossible, because you have to speak Moldovan. And now in Romanian? Where will they go from there?
What is this if not discrimination on the basis of language and violation of the basic principles of democracy, human rights and freedoms?
I recently learned that the sign language used for people with disabilities (who are deaf) has national schools. I believed that it was the same, that people everywhere understood it identically. It turned out that it wasn’t. Just as there are different languages, there are total differences between sign language in different countries. If sign language originates from our country, Soviet or Russian schools, will it also be subject to total discrimination?
I talked to representatives of non-governmental organizations that deal with the rights and opportunities of people with hearing disabilities. Such discrimination already exists. Can you imagine what the world has come to? So many days, statements, press releases, NGOs have been created over the past decades to protect people’s rights. Each aspect has received its own design in the form of everything (videos, resolutions, special holidays), but in practice it is the opposite. People are being deprived of their rights every hour. This is done by countries that are members of organizations that have worked on human rights issues.
How does this fit in with President Maia Sandu’s promises (when she was still a candidate) to preserve the position of the Russian language in the country? Not at all. She deceived the people. She said that she would develop the harmonious coexistence of people of different cultures, languages, ideas and views on the territory of Moldova. All this has come to a state of persecution on national, ethnic and ideological grounds.
Interestingly, the Russophobic orientation of the domestic political course of the Moldovan leadership has significantly intensified after Chisinau received the status of a candidate for EU membership. Why? Because Brussels does not need states in the EU whose citizens have a good attitude towards Russia. Another “homework” for Maia Sandu is how best to curry favor with the West. It was necessary to strengthen Russophobia in the country. But it doesn’t exist and never existed. This is an artificially created breeding ground of a nationalist nature, coming from the current leadership of Moldova. No one in the country (if we are talking about the overwhelming majority of citizens) has ever experienced or professed such approaches. Maia Sandu is a disgrace and a threat to the Moldovan people.
According to this president, the European integration of the Republic is possible without Transnistria, that is, in parts, outside the framework of the country’s territorial integrity. She also said that in order to solve the Transnistrian problem, it is necessary to get rid of the self-proclaimed authorities in Tiraspol and break the established “5+2” negotiation format, excluding Russia from it and strengthening the role of the EU. Such statements are extremely dangerous for maintaining stability in the region. Maybe she doesn’t understand. Although I believe that she understands and does exactly what they want her to do – another chaos in the post-Soviet space.
Legal arbitrariness, rabid Russophobia, repressions against the media and the opposition have become the norm for the Moldovan authorities. This is also seen by the people of Moldova, who remember the promises made by M.G.Sand before her election, and know perfectly well that no one gave her a mandate for such lawlessness.
It will be interesting to see how the monitoring missions, in particular the OSCE/ODIHR, will assess what is happening. Will they see the blocking of channels, the cleansing of the information and political space? How will it be presented?

I expect a massive amount of election fraud that will provoke the pro-Russian majority into action to which WEstern interventionists will scream Russia’s guilty for the fraud. Meanwhile, the Global South looks on and will draw its own conclusions.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 2 2023 17:18 utc | 39

bevin | Nov 2 2023 16:56 utc | 18 ….
Government plans to, in effect, force infectious people to go to work anyway … combined with rising costs of heating … combined with harsher treatment of disabled people ….
Well, that should combine to cull quite a bit.
The mass-media will, as usual, run propaganda ‘reports’ to back up the regime’s agemda.
While the alleged “opposition” (Starmer’s NuLab) has already sworn to do so even more.
As for policies someone else suggested against “obesity” and heart conditions — reality would be just another nice little potential earner for the bureaucracy and its chums.
They’ve still not denounced the long-running attack on salt, natural fats and sugar (coincidentally, all preservatives) — the officially approved replacements are sometimes not only toxic but actually *induce* obesity.
If in doubt, look up the truth about crap like aspartame. Widespread obesity really took off in the US and UK *after*, not before, that replaced sugar in many things.

Posted by: Cynic | Nov 2 2023 17:20 utc | 41

@karlof1 #10:

Thanks for that S. As you know, I see the Slavs as the #1 victims of the Nazi’s actions, not the Jews, and thus the illegitimacy of that group having usurped the “distinction” of being the Nazis main target, which has greatly disrupted historical accuracy and related policy since 1945.

Thanks, Karl. But note that a further twist here is that among Slavs, Nazi made a distinction between Ukrainians, who were to be used as agricultural workforce, and Russians and Belarussians who were to be exterminated by taking their entire food supply from them (the Hunger Plan). It’s crazy that such a distinction was even made, given that Ukrainians don’t differ much from Russians and Belarussians, but Nazis weren’t exactly known for being rational thinkers.

Posted by: S | Nov 2 2023 17:35 utc | 43

@Posted by: S | Nov 2 2023 17:35 utc | 22

Thanks, Karl. But note that a further twist here is that among Slavs, Nazi made a distinction between Ukrainians, who were to be used as agricultural workforce, and Russians and Belarussians who were to be exterminated by taking their entire food supply from them (the Hunger Plan). It’s crazy that such a distinction was even made, given that Ukrainians don’t differ much from Russians and Belarussians, but Nazis weren’t exactly known for being rational thinkers.

Actually makes sense to me. The Western Ukrainians had displayed a hatred for the Russians (and Polish) during the Soviet civil war post-WW1 and quite a few were very happy to be fascist. Also, a workforce was required to produce the crops for the homeland from Ukraine’s dark earth; a nice compliant “semi-slave” population with the Germans as the new landlords. Also, the Germans (and other axis powers) simply did not have enough spare people to populate the whole of the Western USSR – so a semi-slave population in the huge Ukraine would come in useful. The Russians and Byelorussians were also fully behind their government.
Europeans don’t differ much from each other but it hasn’t stopped them trying to wipe each other out for many centuries, just look at the 30 years war, over questions of religion and nationalism.

Posted by: Roger | Nov 2 2023 17:52 utc | 45

Bevin #18 – I think you are right that I may be overestimating Torie concern for the well-being of their (partial) voter base … almost psychotically unempathic, these people, as we see in re to Gaza.

Posted by: Caliman | Nov 2 2023 18:02 utc | 47

S | Nov 2 2023 17:35 utc | 22–
Thanks for your reply. I interpreted the German “logic” as seeing Ukrainians as useful just as the West does now while the remainder of the Slavs were useless. That part of Plan Ost was omitted from Western WW2 histories.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 2 2023 18:20 utc | 49

I owe apology for the emotional post some time ago to b. and all the barflies.
I was wondering, while totally destroyed by the pictures of killed palestinian children, why the multipolar emerging world was not reacting more agressively, why they were not introducing sanctions to Israel as they should and could ( cut the bust…rds from the oil and food, very easy to do now).
Israel being and island in the middle of the desert, totally dependant on USA should be very easy to cut off from everything and starve it to death, as they are doing to Gazans.
So sorry, but the reaction of the RFederation is too little and too late, also Hesbollah, fuck your international order of law. Too little and too late, exactly like with Lugansk, doneck.
FU

Posted by: stranger | Nov 2 2023 19:17 utc | 51

stranger | Nov 2 2023 19:17 utc | 26
***… too little and too late, also Hesbollah … ***
Nasrallah will be making an announcement tomorrow.
Hezbollah has been right to hold back from the main Hamas/Israel fighting — its role is not within Gaza, but north of it and on the Syrian border while also protecting Lebanon.
It has already been in action, destroying Israeli military infrastructure and blocking the US, Israelis and other enemies from attacking and invading such areas, which they would otherwise have done.
The alternative you seem to think they ought to be doing — charging around having shootouts within Gaza city — might have appeared quite dramatic, but would be of far lessser impact and importance to the overall conflict situation.

Posted by: Cynic | Nov 2 2023 19:48 utc | 53

From Guardian report 02 November 2023 : ** The most advanced technology companies will allow governments to vet their artificial intelligence tools for the first time, Rishi Sunak has announced, as the prime minister looks to combat a threat that he says is potentially as serious as nuclear war. **
Oh, great …. now we can all feel so much safer knowing that the morally defective “political” front-persons of the corporate owned Deep State dictatorship, will themselves get to decide which surveillance and control systems to deploy against the public.

Posted by: Cynic | Nov 2 2023 20:10 utc | 55

Brian Berletic on the Phillipines today:
https://journal-neo.su/2023/11/02/us-shapes-philippines-into-southeast-asias-ukraine/

Posted by: bevin | Nov 2 2023 21:47 utc | 57

Our species is challenging a form of social organization that in some ways is over 2K years old and at least many centuries old depending on what parts you focus on.
I would encourage barflys not to expect the process to evolve as fast as we might want….it seems certainly slow in some ways to me but I am amazed it is happening at all in another breath.
From a world view, it is good to see the monotheistic religions dealing with their own shit and not forcing the bigger world to step in and call BS.
Fascinating to watch the proxy wars about our conflicting forms of social organization that are not discussed openly and in depth…..we just bloviate about the carnage and associated methods of killing each other.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 2 2023 22:03 utc | 59

Caliman @ 17, Bevin @ 18:
The Tory plan is to privatise (eventually) the entire National Health Service in the UK and turn over all hospitals and medical clinics to the highest bidders … who no doubt will handsomely repay the Tories by throwing some of their profits into individual Tory candidates’ election war campaigns.
Saying that the Tories should have invested more money in building more clinics and supplying more beds at regional or council levels is beside the point: that’s the last thing the Tories would do.
Come to think, that’d be the last thing Sir Kid Starver …er, sorry, Sir Keir Starmer and his neo-Labour Party would do as well.
The priorities of the two main parties in Britain (and the same goes for the dominant parties in countries in the rest of the Anglosphere) are a complete reversal of what ought to be their priorities if their aim is to fairly represent their electorates and the wishes of their voters.

Posted by: Refinnejenna | Nov 2 2023 22:25 utc | 61

Refinnejenna@31
I expect that caliman would agree. As would I.
This has been the aim of the neo-liberals since Dr Charles Hill fought tooth and nail against the establishment of the NHS seventy five years ago…and every day since. The idea of capitalists sacrificing the ultimate profit centre of healthcare is incredible. It is one of the most compelling arguments for ending capitalism.
It was one of the historic failures of the opponents of this socio-economic system that they did not exploit the opportunity of the pandemic to demand with one voice: Free Medicare; free medicine; free hospital treatment and the rest of the socialist programme.
Instead, well, everyone knows what we had instead…and the net result is that everywhere, including here in Canada and in the UK there is a return to the old days of medicine for profit and millions dying annually because the cost of treatment is beyond their resources.

Posted by: bevin | Nov 3 2023 2:24 utc | 63

I have been wondering how the whipsaw adjustment in precious metals and other commodities was going to occur and the posting at ZH with the title below answers my question a bit
Why Have All Chinese Banks Disappeared From The LBMA Gold Price Auction
In 2015 the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) was created to respond to the claims of price fixing at the time and the creation in 2014 of the Shanghai Gold Exchange International (“SGEI”) which is registered in Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone and fully owned by the PBOC.
Some China banks initially joined the LBMA and one hung around until recently when they asked to be suspended from the exchange.
If this link makes it you can see the current difference between the LMBA gold price and the SGEI price…significant and growing. I believe the same is happening with other precious metals and commodities of all sorts….an adjustment is coming.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 3 2023 3:42 utc | 65

On the border fights (skirmishes) Myanmar / South-west China, here is a longigsh twitter thread by Zhao DaShuai . Mirror on Nitter here.

Posted by: phiw13 | Nov 3 2023 4:26 utc | 67

“The unspoken fear the unusual death of Li Keqiang has caused”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj-W0EPoAgc

Posted by: Antonym | Nov 3 2023 4:52 utc | 69

“Former Chinese finance minister Jin Renqing dies after fire at home: report”
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3146760/former-chinese-finance-minister-jin-renqing-dies-after-fire
Who would believe that deaths of Chinese top guys were accidental? Only little pinks around.

Posted by: Antonym | Nov 3 2023 5:13 utc | 71

Below is a Xinhuanet link to a story that is very interesting and then check out this link from a comment at The Register about the same story that is way cool
Huge blobs in Earth’s mantle might be relics from moon-forming collision: study

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 3 2023 6:17 utc | 73

I want to take out the word “then” in the last comment

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 3 2023 6:19 utc | 75

Below is a Xinhuanet posting about a China advance in technology that says to me they are leading
Chinese scientists develop super-efficient all-analog photoelectronic chip
The quote

Tests showed that ACCEL is able to recognize and classify objects with a degree of accuracy comparable to those of digital neural networks. Furthermore, it classifies high-resolution images of various scenes of daily life more than 3,000 times faster and with 4,000,000 times less energy consumption than a top-of-the-line GPU (graphics processing unit).
A review by Nature editors said that the team had minimized the need for energetically costly analog-to-digital converters. “This refreshing and pragmatic approach to artificial-intelligence hardware that is highly energy efficient makes the most out of both electronic and photonic computing technologies,” it said.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 3 2023 6:24 utc | 77

Then let me say this is (once more) an incredible thread. Karlofi’s 20 made me tear.

Posted by: persiflo | Nov 3 2023 6:25 utc | 79

What the lesson of this tragedy should have been: invest in clinics and bed availability at a regional level and even more importantly invest in programs to minimize obesity and heart disease.
Posted by: Caliman | Nov 2 2023 16:36 utc | 17
How can they when they have potty trained the nation to believe their taxes will have to increase to fund it. Then push through privatisation under the guise of that myth. From which to extract rent from clinics and bed availability, obesity and heart disease. At the same time extracting even more skills and real resources from the NHS.
Nothing will change until….
a) Voters fight back by understanding money better
Or
b) Some leading politician stands up and tells the truth and reveals the myth and fraud that stems from it.
And ” How are you going to pay for it ” is removed from politics.

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Nov 3 2023 9:07 utc | 81

‘Former Shanghai mayor Yang Xiong passes away at age of 68″
https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2104127384/

Posted by: Antonym | Nov 3 2023 9:17 utc | 83

They’ve privatised dentistry in the UK and costs now are astronomical.. There used to be at least 30 dentist surgeries were I live now there are 4.
Just received an email saying that NHS patients will no longer get 6 monthly check ups it will be every 24 months. NHS treatments will be more expensive.
I watched it, consortiums moved in and consolidated 30 NHS dentist surgeries into 4 private ones. The myth is like the trickle down myth. Competition will drive down prices when the opposite is always the case as these 4 just now rig the prices between themselves.
Sound familiar ?

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Nov 3 2023 9:17 utc | 85

S | Nov 2 2023 17:35 utc | 22 “But note that a further twist here is that among Slavs, Nazi made a distinction between Ukrainians, who were to be used as agricultural workforce, and Russians and Belarussians who were to be exterminated by taking their entire food supply from them”
The history of Galicia must be taken into account. For 150 years or so, Galicia was under Austrian control. In that time a lot of German farmers had moved to west Galicia. I’m not sure if east west Galicia was originally Keivan Rus territory or it had been added on, but the descendants of Kiev Rus mostly lived in the east and Germans in the west. Long before the CIA, Austria used the Kiev Rus Galicians to foment rebellion/nationalism within the Ukraine part of the Russian empire. Plus at some point had converted to Catholic.
Although there would have been a few from other parts of Ukraine joined the Galicians, It is perhaps more accurate to define the Ukraine nazi collaborators as Galicians rather than west Ukraine.
But it is likely due to the time living as part of Austria that they were viewed differently to Russians and Belorussians by the Nazis.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 3 2023 9:33 utc | 87

Re: De-dollarization
De-dollarization continues steadily

Posted by: Exile | Nov 3 2023 9:42 utc | 89

@ 15, not to nit pick, but they weren’t Anglo bankers. (Former British colony, border with New York State …)
Canada’s Minister of Global Affairs is elected from Montréal. Who appears to be turning up the heat on her a little. An opinion piece from Montréal’s La Presse:
Le moment irakien de Mélanie Joly
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/chroniques/2023-11-03/israel-et-le-hamas-en-guerre/le-moment-irakien-de-melanie-joly.php
Excerpt
“Difficile d’être contre la vertu, mais tous ces « doit ceci » et « ne peut pas cela » semblent quelque peu abstraits et hypothétiques alors que des milliers de bombes israéliennes sont déjà tombées sur l’enclave où 2,2 millions de Palestiniens cherchent, en vain, à se mettre à l’abri et peinent à subvenir à leurs besoins les plus élémentaires : manger, boire, dormir, se garder au chaud et se soigner.”
Premier François Legault has decided to skip COP28 in Dubai at the end of November.
« Dans un courriel, l’attaché de presse de M. Legault a expliqué qu’« un tel déplacement s’avère trop risqué à ce stade-ci » pour le premier ministre. » so reports The Canadian Press.
News on Hydro Quebec:
https://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/economie/2023-11-02/plan-d-investissement-de-100-milliards/les-profits-d-hydro-pourraient-fondre-previent-fitzgibbon.php
Action Plan for 2035
https://x.com/hydroquebec/status/1720100294359417251

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 3 2023 10:48 utc | 91

“Rosatom proved that the closed nuclear fuel cycle technology is ready for industrial scale implementation
The fourth power unit of the Beloyarsk NPP with the BN-800 fast reactor operated for a year at almost full load with uranium-plutonium MOX fuel consisting of products left over from classical nuclear power plants and waste from uranium enrichment facilities.
Thus, it was proved for the first time not in theoretical developments, but based on the results of real experimental-industrial use, that the technology of the closed nuclear fuel cycle is ready for industrial application.
“MOX fuel is called the fuel of the future, because the implementation of the closed nuclear fuel cycle on an industrial scale will make it possible to increase the fuel base of Russia’s nuclear power industry tenfold and reduce the generation of radioactive waste.
Our next step on the way to a new two-component nuclear power industry, in which fast and thermal neutron reactors will work together, exchanging fuel, is the construction of a power unit with the head model of the BN-1200M serial reactor. This will make it possible to fully realize all environmental and economic advantages of fast reactor technology,” said Ivan Sidorov, Director of Beloyarsk NPP.

https://t.me/Slavyangrad/72027

Posted by: Down South | Nov 3 2023 11:48 utc | 93

This was mentioned by Zakharova in her briefing which I included in my selections from it, “Complexities & Conundrums: Zakharova’s Briefing” and is the topic of this short Q&A with Lavrov:

Question: You have seen the statement of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that there can be no collective responsibility in connection with the conflict in the Middle East, but only individual responsibility. How do we feel about this?
Sergey Lavrov: I was not the only one who saw this statement. Our Ministry has already responded.
This is outrageous. Once again, we see an example of bias and inadequacy of the IOC, which has repeatedly proved its political bias. He actively supports everything that meets the interests of Western countries, primarily the United States, and is trying to find wording that will approve this policy. And what is not responsible (especially as far as the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus are concerned) is trying to present as restrictions that do not violate the Olympic Charter.
Ashamed. The International Olympic Committee has greatly discredited itself. It is not for nothing that we are organising a number of sporting events at the initiative of President Vladimir Putin. They will be truly international, universal and respectful of the principles of the Olympic Charter, which the IOC flagrantly violates.

The IOC has indeed shown it’s merely another Anti-Russian tool in the Outlaw US Empire’s kit. IMO, it needs to be dissolved and completely reformed while at the same time removing the commercializing pollution its suffered over the last 30 years.

Posted by: karlof1 | Nov 3 2023 12:21 utc | 95

First visit by a Swiss president to Canada (I’d speculate that the UK may have some influence over that.) What’s remarkable to me is that in the brief posts about the purpose of the visit, abstract terms are used exclusively but never the word “humanitarian”! How about that. He opened the Francophone Film Festival in Quebec as well, lots of films from Switzerland included there.
“Swiss President @alain_berset will hold talks with @CanadianPM@JustinTrudeau in Ottawa on Thursday. In addition to bilateral relations and the French-speaking world, the talks will focus on current international affairs and the @UN Security Council. @EDI_DFI”
https://x.com/SwissGov/status/1719372199415439539
“First visit by a Swiss president to Canada. Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau and I discussed various aspects of bilateral relations between 🇨🇦 and 🇨🇭, the defence of multilateralism and the need to promote respect for international law in the current context of crises.”
https://x.com/alain_berset/status/1720145287358885916

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Nov 3 2023 12:34 utc | 97

On the Question of God
I shall try and briefly point out what can be said about HIM.
First, the indogermanic term for the highest deity (german: Gott) roots back to the persian word Yazd, and since the persian language knows only two (grammatical; not to be confused with sexes) genders, it had to be HIM or HER.
Originally, the german word Gott was of the neutral gender, and meant as much as Das Anzurufende – “the one who is to be called”; with call in the sense of yelling.
Fun fact: the parallel meaning of to phone is somehow also present in german, and I shall give a little ancedote here. – A friend of mine, a young jewish poet (in Berlin; originally from Kharkov), met HIM once, in a bar or some such, and was able to get HIS telephone number, and it’s 0-800-π
We’ve already understood a lot about the problem at this point. – But will HE ever come visit? I, for one, think it might depend on our invitation, and if ever the aliens show up here, I will suggest throwing a party together and turn the whole cosmos into one groovy funky dancing ensemble, to act as a phone of sorts, and then see if he shows up.
That is better than the materialist choice, who has already decided to ignore him even as a possibility! (an argument known as Pascal’s proof)
But we can deduce even more.
With Edmund Husserl, whose Begriff “intentionales Bewusstsein” denounces the fact and the ability to consciously direct our awareness, we can see that kind of [noetic] potential is also the highest form of consciousness we can poasibly imagine. That again means that either god has created us as his peers (equal), or he made us intentionally lesser beings (which is frankly absurd), so IF he created the cosmos and us, the whole of creation is to be thought of as the product of intentionales Bewusstsein as well. Hence, to assume HIM is actually logical.
What I do not know is: why?
I heard a muslim from Iran saying the Qu’ran was HIS “latest message”. Now, I’m not particularly into monotheistic religions of the book, but the idea behind this wording is great. In other words – if there is a relevation, it is probably ongoing. I would like to add that this gives everyone the chance to meet HIM/HER themselves; and everyone who says that you can’t do so is probably misguided.

Posted by: persiflo | Nov 3 2023 12:39 utc | 99