In the big bad world it currently seems to be business as usual in the new normal of the geopolitical hybrid war.
So back to my interest in the past.

https://media.australian.museum/media/dd/Uploads/Documents/38547/Indigenous%20Australian%20Canoes_Chronology%20Florek%202012.25c7d4a.pdf
Oceania
The oldest inferred watercraft of 44,000-50,000 years ago, was sufficient to bring numerous
‘immigrants’ to Sahul, but was presumably not capable of supporting colonization of the Pacific
Islands at that time. Those early settlers travelled on land and probably by coastal navigation to
occupy the entire Sahul landmass in a relatively short time. By 40,000 years ago the main parts of
this land were occupied and a little later Tasmania (then part of the mainland). The Solomon Islands
and Buka Island, some 180km distant from the then occupied New Ireland and New Britain, were
reached about 30,000 years ago. This was nearly three times the distance of the initial crossing from
Sunda to Sahul. The new island communities must have retained, and in time replaced,their boats
as it was vital to keep the connection with other people for the long term viability of the islands’
populations. Again, we don’t know how, or from what materials,these boats were made.

A somewhat outdated paper due to ice core temperature history as Aboriginal people traveled to Australia before what is known as Sahul (Tas Australia NG) existed and sea levels were presumably much higher, similar to today.
Earliest dated finds (to date) in the Americas do coincide with very low sea levels and the existence of Sahul.
Australian people crossed short stretches of sea to reach Australia 50,000 years ago or more. The earliest remains in the Americas is 15-20,000 years later so I would assume boat building and navigation would have advanced in that period.
Earliest maps of the southern oceans used by European explorers were derived from much early maps, presumably from the MENA area. These maps showed Australia as a land mass though somewhat different outline to modern maps, but indicate those earlier map makers knew about Australia.
Polynesian navigation and boat building. How far does that go back? Polynesians populated the pacific with blue water navigation 3500 years ago. When first seen by the Dutch or Portuguese, the outrigger canoes with sails were far faster than European sailing craft, being quite capable of 20 Knots in a light wind.
South American technology appears to have been lagging MENA technology by some thousands of years which gives time for those technologies and cultural aspects and so forth to travel around the warm belt in a then colder world via ocean going craft perhaps continued on and off as ocean levels rose.
By the book archaeology says similar or the same technologies developed independently of each other in various parts of the world, perhaps due the the belief that ocean travel is only a relatively recent phenomena. But much points them them spreading from the original point of development, some being repeated exactly the same, some developing with local characteristics on the original technology.
Wood and vegetable fiber traces are rare finds past a few thousand years ago. On Dogger Bank, both stone and bone tools are sometimes dredged up by fisherman. Dredging now underwater islands, particularly flat topped features for artifacts would likely shed some light on early sea travel.
Australian aboriginal short sea travel over 50,000 years ago, Göbekli Tepe 13,000 years – at or just before the earliest dated copper smelting in the region and at the start of the great turbulence of the climate changes that were to occur…
Monolithic stone building seems to span that era of great climate change and also span the era of sometime before and sometime after the technology of copper tools…
Stones capturing majic rays? I would assume a a major PPE requirement for working in a facility like that would be tin foil helmet and protective clothing but no evidence of that around those earliest sites. So unlikely they were used for capturing majic rays.
The story of Noah, one of the earliest oral histories to be put down in writing. Obviously relates to an island and sea level rising – I think probably the Persian gulf but could be the Med or the Black sea. Another place to dredge underwater features for artifacts.
Oral histories for the most part only go back to that period of cataclysmic climate change.
I sometimes watch a British video channel ‘Timeline’. One particularly interesting show was excavating and finding a site dating back several thousand years based purely on the still locally known oral history there.
Oral history takes us back from the earliest writing to the time of great climate change, but beyond that is only stone and occasional bone artifacts.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 16 2024 20:41 utc | 103

The culture of chutzpah
HOw could a senate hearing about online child safety turns into this..?
Ted Crux hissing to Ticktok CEO

WHAT HAPPENED ON TAM SQUARE ?

Forgawdsake…
TAM MASSACRE has been debunked decades ago by Gregory Clark, followed by many others.
yET you still find anglo/euro yapping ‘What about TAM’, ‘WHAT ABOUT those child squished under tanks in TAM’, in any thread about China !

What happened at TAM ?

i’LL tell you what happened in Fallujah, for a start.
No bullshit, well documented by USAss official mouthpiece…
From the horse mouth,….
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/wasting-fallujah-by-scott-morris/
The perp are still prancing around on world stage, assigning themselves the role of judge, prosecutor, executor.
Yet

China is our telfon enemy !

https://townhall.com/columnists/jeffcrouere/2023/02/13/china-our-teflon-enemy-n2619475

Posted by: denk | Feb 17 2024 1:21 utc | 105

denk | Feb 17 2024 1:21 utc | 105
Assuange’s ‘collateral murder’ comes to mind re Iraq.
Gorbachov’s visit to China to end the Sino-Soviet split, China opening up to the world, Gene Sharp in town (just coincidence… not)

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 17 2024 2:54 utc | 107

@denk, #105:
I believe Ted Cruz understands American far better than you. TAM being a hoax is not known to the vast majority of Americans (oh Europeans too), so Cruz’s stupid questions towards TikTok Zhou appears to most, most, most Americans as being anti-China. Now, right now being anti-China equates with being American patriotism. He does this kinds of stuff to win votes and boost his public image.
You don’t understand that the average American is burning with intense envy against anything Chinese. They love to hear this kind of tirades, lies or otherwise. 90+% of American politicians play this game every chance they get.

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 17 2024 4:01 utc | 109

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 17 2024 4:01 utc | 109
——————
I understand gringo alright…
‘Kept in the dark and fed bullshit all day long, like mushrooms’
Courtesy John Pilger
RIP
SOMEBODY should do an autopsy on Pilger.

Posted by: denk | Feb 17 2024 4:15 utc | 111

Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 17 2024 4:26 utc | 112
—————————
A pic worths a thousand words..
http://tinyurl.com/bdeudjaz
PS
Dont blame me, its somebody else idea !
[Im parodying our resident weasel words pop, every anti Chinese screed comes with a disclaimer ;-)]
signing off

Posted by: denk | Feb 17 2024 4:46 utc | 113

Xinhuanet has a posting up with the title
Munich Security Conference opens with focus on improving global order
https://english.news.cn/20240217/4677c12cb99942d3844e8132781f04c1/c.html
The quote

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his opening speech that today’s global order is not working for everyone. “In fact, I would go further and say it’s not working for anyone.”
The global community is “more fragmented and divided than at any time during the past 75 years,” he said, noting that the world is facing nuclear danger, the climate crisis, and the risks stemming from Artificial Intelligence.
Guterres referred to this year’s edition of the Munich Security Report published on Monday, which warned of the “lose-lose dynamics” of inter-governmental interactions amid growing geopolitical tensions and rising economic uncertainty.
The mentality of prioritizing relative payoffs may spur these lose-lose dynamics while jeopardizing cooperation and undermining the international order, the report noted.
“Global governance in its present form is entrenching divisions and fueling discontent,” Guterres said. “We must work for solutions based on justice, with renewed urgency and solidarity.”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 17 2024 7:12 utc | 115

Ecuador reverses plan to sell Russian weapons to US
https://www.rt.com/news/592578-ecuador-russian-weapons-us/
Moscow lifts Ecuador banana ban
https://www.rt.com/business/592564-russia-lifts-banana-restrictions-ecuador/
So for Ecuador their banana sales to Russia are more important than Western Values and the Rules-Based Order.
What’s the world coming to, lol!

Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Feb 17 2024 9:40 utc | 117

Lavrov’s Dog | Feb 17 2024 9:46 utc | 118
Similar to lake Mungo then.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 17 2024 13:14 utc | 119

Paying More to Live Worse is Bidenomics in a Nutshell
https://shorturl.at/chzEY

Posted by: Dogon Priest | Feb 17 2024 15:05 utc | 121

@Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 17 2024 4:01 utc | 109
Ted Cruz is your classic anti-communist Cuban emigre of rich parents who reflexively hates any communist regime. The average American is not “burning with intense envy against anything Chinese” in fact there has been widespread anti-China propaganda needed to change the generally positive view that Americans had of China a decade ago. This is classic “manufacturing consent” and you are just spreading oligarchic propaganda.
The average American is being doused in a daily dose of “hate China” messages from the MSM, the Mainstream Alternative Media, and social media – fully organized and driven by the US oligarchy who are threatened by a Party-state that does not allow for the capitalist class domination that they enjoy in the US. Once it was obvious that China would not “open up” and surrender to the US capitalist class the media and political messages started to change. Manufacturing consent for war with China.

Posted by: Roger | Feb 17 2024 16:34 utc | 123

@Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Feb 17 2024 9:40 utc | 117
The Ecuadorian elite are full on rapacious oligarchs who have trashed all the progress made during Correa’s leadership while also integrating with the narco-capitalists. Ecuador is now very much like Peru. At some point the massively increased levels of crime may be reduced as narco activities become better managed by the oligarchs. There is no going back now, the oligarchs have utterly destroyed the low crime and improving life of the majority in two presidential terms. That they value their banana exports above sucking up to the Yankee even more does not surprise me.
The Mexican government of course made the huge mistake of unsettling the managed narco capitalism at the behest of the Americans, and societal chaos ensued. Its almost as if the Americans wanted it that way …

Posted by: Roger | Feb 17 2024 16:45 utc | 125

The national security state is the main driver of censorship & election interference in USA.
“What I’m describing is military rule,” says Mike Benz. “It’s the inversion of democracy.”

Tucker’s latest!
https://tuckercarlson.com/uncensored-the-national-security-state-the-inversion-of-democracy/

====
“We must drag the machinations of the powerful into the daylight for all to see… we must be unapologetic about that most basic need of humanity – the desire to know.” Julian Assange

Posted by: Toby C | Feb 17 2024 17:11 utc | 127

THE U.S.A AT TURNING POINTS AKA IMMIGRATION. THE RUSSIAN VIES..
https://russtrat.ru/analytics/14-fevral-2024-1507-12385
Congress impeached Biden’s ally: the migration crisis has reached a new stage of aggravation
Now in the United States, events are taking place that will go down in its history as turning points. Usually, such historical events pass slowly and imperceptibly, only after a while, scientists can isolate them from the many episodes of the past. However, the crisis of illegal migrants that has now engulfed the United States is hard to miss
https://russtrat.ru/analytics/3-yanvar-2024-1423-12347
The Latin American Factor – in the present and future of the United States.
In the American establishment, more and more copies are breaking around the problem of migrants.
In the twenty-first century, the Latinos group, or, as they are more often called in North America, “Hispanic”, confidently came out on the second place in terms of number.

Posted by: MD | Feb 17 2024 17:38 utc | 129

denk | Feb 17 2024 17:37 utc | 128
Money, wealth = power. Your list/pyramid looks about right. I have been thinking if money is power, that would put Black Rock at the top of the power grouping, but it does seem to function something like a cartel.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 17 2024 17:45 utc | 131

What about AIPAC? Are they ranking servants of the Rothschild empire in Israel – an empire with trillions of dollars, who have had monopolies on the west’s energy & banking for centuries? Are they the clever creators of the juvenile sex honey trap black mail operations that have apparently ensnared a majority of the US congress, UK parliament, Japan & NATO officials & turned them into servants of Lord Rothschild’s operation? Is that empire trying to expand, via mass propaganda, fear mongering with boogeymen, endless dumb down, divide & conquer strategies, pipelines thru Syria, control of the petroleum of Venezuela, Palestine, etc? Are Rothschild & his chief servants (with representative$ in all western intel agencies) struggling in desperation to cling to their power – finding that their old solutions are no longer working? Are men who constantly lie & help screw the people, in touch with reality?
Analysts are urged to consider that ~2000 years ago western humanity was much like herds of unthinking animals who needed shepherds, than now. Most of us were illiterate and only a few were beginning to think. The ruling elite worked practically invisibly, from behind the scenes, thru their actors in the church & state – both then & now.
Now, most of us can read, & many are beginning to think! While many of us are much more emotional than mental & prefer to follow the leader/shepherd without questioning them, half or more of us are sick & tired of being led by shepherds who have the understandable, but out dated habit of treating the people like dumb, blind, easily controlled herds of cattle.
Many people are recognizing the importance of studying the facts surrounding situations, connecting the dots, and using logic while searching for solutions to the world’s problems -that our politicians – like actors in a mafia state – who see the problems as wonderful cash cows, not problems.
The old shepherds/ruling elite don’t understand the situation, and don’t want to let go of their prestige & power over the people.
Their resistance is 100% understandable & futile. The blind lead the blind. Just because many can’t or haven’t seen something that others have, is not proof that “IT” does not exist. Eventually, everyone will recognize/see that the same intelligence that created our solar system & every natural thing in it, know what They’re doing, and have a definite, unalterable plan for our planet – which is essentially a school, where conflict & crises are essential to our learning.
The best IS yet to come, but it won’t come easy. Eventually food, shelter, healthcare and education will be guaranteed rights of everyone, everywhere. BRICS nations are in the vanguard. Those struggling against evolution/human development & very big changes – to benefit the people, rather than a ruling elite, are acting like ignorant fools, on the wrong side of history.
These next 3,000+ years will be known as a golden era, prophesi

==============================
“There is no one who can get by without courage. Only utter madness whispers that everything will fall into place of its own accord — that cannot happen! -Morya
“He who feared that he would not succeed sat still….”Tommorrow we’ll be back on the vast ocean.” – Horace
“We are witnessing the death throes of a civilization & birth pangs of a new civilization. Turmoil and upheaval are inevitable in this process.” Benjamin Creme
“Lack of knowledge concerning all the factors and the failure to include them in our integral imposes false conclusions.” Buckminster Fuller
“It is essential that all thinking people should give time and thought to the consideration of the major world problems with which we are now faced… It must be recognized that the cause of all world unrest, of the world wars which have wrecked humanity, and the widespread misery upon our planet, can largely be attributed to a selfish group with materialistic purposes, who have for centuries exploited the masses and used the labour of mankind for their selfish ends… This group of capitalists has cornered and exploited the world’s resources and the staples required for civilised living; they have been able to do this because they have owned and controlled the world’s wealth through their interlocking directorates, and have retained it in their hands. They have made possible the vast differences existing between the very rich and the very poor; they love money and the power which money gives; they have stood behind governments and politicians; they have controlled the electorate; they have made possible the narrow nationalistic aims of selfish politics; they have financed the world businesses and controlled oil, coal, power, light and transportation; they control publicly or sub rosa the world’s banking accounts.
The responsibility for the widespread misery to be found today in every country in the world, lies predominantly at the door of certain major interrelated groups of businessmen, bankers, executives of international cartels, monopolies, trusts and organisations, and directors of huge corporations, who work for corporate or personal gain. p. 70/1 — Alice Bailey, The Problems Of Humanity (1944)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alice_Bailey
“We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.” – MLK
This too will pass!!

Posted by: Toby C | Feb 17 2024 18:21 utc | 133

signing off

Posted by: denk | Feb 17 2024 19:51 utc | 135

Plato says that: Socrates was in introspection. With his daemon. There are many testimonios of people who saw something rare in the Socrates’ behaviour. Not only that his body movements were a very tik tak to say “if you want to say something, do it”. Socrates was a guy who, indeed, his commons thought that it was better not to makes around. He was in the army as a guy fighting around the mess of 429: he was as a hoplite, infantry, but he did finish in the terrible war (413) between Atena and Sparta (It’s very clear that Socrates who was born in 469, was in military conflicts long before the Plato’ family). When Socrates was 40 years old, Aristo (beles), Plato, 449 BC, was born.
When Socrates did drink the Cikuta, Plato was out because he was terrified. Plato was out because his implication with his uncle was a problem in 399 . Crisias was his uncle, and Plato was involved in the mess of the 403, the thirties. The things were really bad, and Plato was involved, because the philosophical kings were politics. That is why Aristophanes is always, in the comedy “The Nimbs”, call Socrates and Plato “sophiste”, not different of the people who wants to make money by making the Greek jouth the object of a new cult.

Posted by: Lara | Feb 17 2024 20:57 utc | 137

psychohistorian | Feb 17 2024 7:12 utc | 115–
Thanks for providing that citation. I’ll bet he’s the only one who speaks a word of truth at Munich this year–a lamb in the lion’s den to be sure.

Posted by: karlof1 | Feb 17 2024 21:27 utc | 139

Jews are like ichneumon wasps; they sting the caterpillar, the spider, the prey, paralyze it then lay their eggs inside and, when the larvae are born, they devour the paralyzed bodies and then take their place.

Posted by: LEMMNING1 | Feb 17 2024 21:51 utc | 141

as i said – looks like 100% bullshit, but anyone have an alternative take here on this? thanks..
Posted by: james | Feb 17 2024 21:37 utc | 140
The flashy format, interactive media, functionality and high server bandwidth surely proves this site has major funding behind it. A site like this would take at least $2.4M to $4.95M a week to run, according to sources familiar with the subject who wish to remain anonymous due to personal safety.

Posted by: UWDude | Feb 17 2024 22:03 utc | 143

James, I guess I’m just as curious as a cat but to date it hasn’t killed me.
Just reading through a 2018 post by b.
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/01/sleuthhound-puppy-takes-deep-dive-into-my-story-funny.html
It seems it is mot advisable for bellingcat to f… with b.

The Twitter profile of Mr. Goldsmith links to an author-page at the notorious amateur sleuthing site Bellingcat.com. It says:
Jett Goldsmith is a journalist from Denver, Colorado. He currently serves as a freelance editorial columnist/essayist for Middle East Eye, and formerly co-founded the investigative reporting and geopolitical analysis outlet Conflict News. He is currently an undergraduate student in International Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 17 2024 23:06 utc | 145

pretzelattack | Feb 18 2024 1:02 utc | 127 from the putin thread.
Greenland icecore map. Only 20,000 years but a work in progress, very detailed.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Finfiniteunknown.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F10%2FEasterbrook-Natural_global_warming-1024×469.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=e4cc81cc4bc47885738cf07cc9a3d399d82ae7694255a67a1a667ac4d6aa7ca4&ipo=images
Only large image I could bring up but has the long addy.
This one much smaller but goes back nearly 500,000. The latest antarctic core goes back 800 but shows the same pattern.
http://glaciatedlandscapes.weebly.com/uploads/6/0/1/3/60132437/2463016_orig.gif
On that you can see the squiggly line of the current Holocene period as compared to past internationals. We are yet to peak up to reach temperatures of the past interglacials but due to the time period may instead drop back into the next glacial period.
From the detailed Greenland map, you can see we are in an extended 6-700 year cold period in the holocene. The only time it dropped lower was just a sharp downward spike 8200 years ago. This extended cold period is quite different from the sharp ups and downs of the holocene prior.
Although we are in a cold period (average high 4 degrees higher, average about two degrees higher for the holocene), if we get a bit of rain, true believers scream climate change, if we get a hot day, true believers scream climate change.
The blob says current climate change is purely man made. Indigo Jones who developed a reputation for accurate long range forecasts says that’s bullshit. The holocene has shown a normal variation of four degrees. the repetive glace interglacial cycling show a variation on average of about 25 to 30 degrees.
Nowhere in the climate change religion is there any attempt to separate natural from man made change.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2024 1:32 utc | 147

US stationed troops on Kinman island a few weeks back. https://www.google.com.au/maps/@24.4654482,118.3696958,12.08z?entry=ttu
Current headline in Reuters “China says no banned areas around Taiwanese islands after two killed”

February 18, 202412:15 PM GMT+11Updated 3 hours ago
BEIJING, Feb 18 (Reuters) – There are no off limits or restricted areas for fishing around a group of Taiwanese islands close to China’s coast and Beijing reserves the right to take further measures after two Chinese nationals died near the islands, the government said.
Taiwan on Thursday defended the actions of its coast guard after two people on a Chinese speedboat, which got too close to a frontline Taiwanese island, died when their boat overturned while trying to flee a coast guard ship. Two others survived.

That didn’t take long. Kinmen Island is basically in a a large bay of the mainland

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 18 2024 4:52 utc | 149

Amazing interview with Mike Benz, whom I didn’t know, by Tucker Carlson. Lucid explanation how one aspect of the empire works: censorship.
https://tuckercarlson.com/uncensored-the-national-security-state-the-inversion-of-democracy/

Posted by: RB | Feb 18 2024 7:19 utc | 151

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 17 2024 23:06 utc | 145
I bookmarked this. It is gold.

Posted by: UWDude | Feb 18 2024 7:31 utc | 153

Today on RT’s “Worlds Apart”: Interview with Jeffrey Sachs…
https://www.rt.com/shows/worlds-apart-oksana-boyko/592584-us-hegemony-politics-approach/
…on the reason for the apparent unflexibility of US politics, in particular with respect to Ukraine. While he emphasizes the MIC, lobbies in general and the role money plays in US politics, the Israel lobby is not specifically mentioned.

Posted by: grunzt | Feb 18 2024 12:45 utc | 155