The MoA Week In Review - OT 2024-039
Last week's post on Moon of Alabama:
Middle East:
- January 29 - War On The Middle East - The Time Of Monsters
- February 2 - Boycott, Divestment And Sanctions
- February 3 - Ending The U.S. Presence In Middle East
Related:
- Yemenis ditch UAE–Saudi coalition for Gaza - The Cradle
- ISIS exploits US strikes to attack Iraqi forces in Anbar - The Craddle
- The Three Strands to the ‘Swarming of Biden' - Alastair Crooke / SCF
- Unfulfilled Promises: The Elusive Quest for Victory in Gaza - Elijah Magnier
- Israel says it will expand operations in Rafah, Gaza’s last refuge - Washington Post
- Democrats Are Demented Genocidal War Sluts - Caitlin Johnstione
- To Bomb or Not to Bomb Iran: That Is the Question - Macgregor / American Conservative
- [unlocked] Biden sacrifices American troops, and Mideast security, for US-Israeli hegemony - Aaron Maté
- US District Court Judge: “It is every individual’s obligation to confront the current siege in Gaza” - Juan Cole
- Over 800 Officials in U.S. and Europe Sign Letter Protesting Israel Policies - New York Times
- The World Needs to Stand by UNRWA - New York Times
By Espen Barth Eide - the foreign minister of Norway.
To understand how over its head the U.S. is here just read this confused AP summary report:
US, Britain strike Yemen’s Houthis in a new wave, retaliating for attacks by Iran-backed militants - AP, Feb 4 2024
The United States and Britain struck 36 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday in a second wave of assaults meant to further disable Iran-backed groups that have relentlessly attacked American and international interests in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. But Washington once more did not directly target Iran as it tries to find a balance between a forceful response and intensifying the conflict.
...
The U.S. warned its response after the soldiers’ deaths at the Tower 22 base in Jordan last Sunday would not be limited to one night, one target or one group. While there has been no suggestion the Houthis were directly responsible, they have been one of the prime U.S. adversaries since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
Ukraine:
- January 30 - Ukraine SitRep: No Chance To Win - Zero Democracy - Power Scuffle
- February 1 - Ukraine - The Power Scuffle Continues
Related:
- Ukraine informs U.S. about decision to fire top general - Washington Post
- Ukraine: Breakthrough on All Fronts Ahead of Schedule - Naked Capitalism
- In a sign of commitment, EU unlocks aid for Ukraine as it fights off Russia - Al Jazeerah
- Who really shot down Russia’s Il-76 plane? - Stephen Bryen / Asia Times
The mask is coming off:
Ivan Katchanovski @I_Katchanovski - 16:51 UTC · Feb 2, 2024Zaluzhny on eve of his expected firing by Zelensky shows his backing from far-right, which has power to overthrow Zelensky. Zaluzhny takes selfie with leader of far-right Right Sector & commander of Right Sector brigade of Ukrainian military in front of portrait of Nazi collaborator & far-right OUN leader Bandera & red & black flag of OUN-UPA & Right Sector.
link
bigger
Kim Dotcom @KimDotcom - 9:15 UTC · Feb 3, 2024A coup may come in Ukraine. Neither Nuland nor the CIA can protect Zelenskyy if the right-wing takes over. They only tolerated Zelenskyy because of Zaluzhny
Zelenskyy nicknames amongst Ukrainian Nazis: Homo Joker, Stuart Little, Pimple, Frodo, 1.5 meters, Mossad agent, Comedian.
---
Other issues:
Russia:
- Russophobia, think tanks, and the Eurasian future w/ Glenn Diesen (video)
- NATO Has Been Underestimating Russia’s War Machine, Estonia Says - Bloomberg
- The Russian Art of War: How the West Led Ukraine to Defeat - Jacques Baud / The Postil
- UN top court rejects most of Ukraine’s ‘terror financing’ case against Russia - France 24
- ICJ Delivers Preliminary Objections Judgment in the Ukraine v. Russia Genocide Case, Ukraine Loses on the Most Important Aspects - EJIl
China:
- Chinese New Economy and Globalisation - The Sequel - Dr. Eric Li (video) - Khazanah Megatrends Forum
- A group of Tsinghua students visited the U.S., here's what they thought - Beijing Channel
- Détente: Towards a balance of power between the USA and China - Pearls & Wisdom
- Mike Pompeo’s four China mistakes in one sentence - Asia Times
- China ignores US entreaties of mediation - Indian Punchline
Random stuff:
- Biden’s Generals in Pakistan - Counter Currents
- The US Toppling of Imran Khan - Jeffrey Sachs / Common Dreams
- Japan, Germany sign military supply-sharing pact amid China rise Kyodo News
- How the UK Security Services neutralised the country’s leading liberal newspaper - Declassified UK
- From inside the European Parliament building: a Holocaust remembrance worthy of the name - Gilbert Doctorow
Use as open (not Ukraine or Palestine related) thread ...
Posted by b on February 4, 2024 at 13:50 UTC | Permalink
next page »The only thing about the U.S. bombing the M.E. is the narrative.
1. The U.S. is an innocent victim of aggression from Iran
2. The reason it happened is because we showed weakness and appeasement.
We are addicted to the 'Hitler play', no matter how divorced it is from reality.
The Houthis are NOT attacking 'international shipping', they are targeting Israeli and now U.S. / U.K interests. The Houthis are NOT Iranian proxies, they have their own interests. They have clearly stated what they are doing and why they are doing it and how we can make it stop.
If you want to choose to bomb, then bomb but stop making it sound like it was the last and only choice we had.
Posted by: Christian J Chuba | Feb 4 2024 14:14 utc | 2
The only * important * thing about the U.S. bombing the M.E. is the narrative.
We in the U.S. do not care about facts, we only care about the story.
Posted by: Christian J Chuba | Feb 4 2024 14:16 utc | 3
https://www.yahoo.com/news/no-longer-top-level-fighting-070000553.html
The British military is becoming a joke. Artillery units can't function because they gave away their stuff to Ukraine. They are trying to recruit gamers and class clowns.
Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 4 2024 14:28 utc | 4
Aaron Maté :: Former UNRWA Spox Chris Gunness full interview
Posted by: too scents | Feb 4 2024 14:56 utc | 5
(This article + weblink (see below) was provided by "B" at the top of this thread.)
Quote:
"ISIS exploits US strikes to attack Iraqi forces in Anbar
The US has used the nearby Al-Tanf base in Syria to train ISIS forces in the past"
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/21763
My comment/question: Who is behind the "new" ISIS ? Were these ISIS guys trained by the US & UK ? It seems they are but does anyone know ? Is this part of the US-Israeli strategy of "death by a thousand cuts" ?
I know that already in 2010 the US & UK have set up training camps in Turkey to train rebels. Those rebels then were sent into Syria to fight the syrian government in the syrian civil war between 2011 and 2017 (???). But weapons provided to those rebels also landed in the hands of what was later called ISIS (2014 - 2017 ??).
Posted by: WMG | Feb 4 2024 15:11 utc | 6
Posted by: WMG | Feb 4 2024 15:11 utc | 6
IS ISIS Attack on the Soleimani remembrance festivities in Iran makes it clear
that they are a US tool.
Posted by: MAKK | Feb 4 2024 15:14 utc | 7
- I think Russia has no incentive to stop the war when the right wing party takes over from Zelensky and Zelensky is removed from power. Is a longer more protracted war the result of the removal of Zelensky ?
Was this the "surprise" Nuland was talking about ?
Posted by: WMG | Feb 4 2024 15:15 utc | 8
@WMG
U.S. relations with ISIS started in Iraq in about 2008. The whole crop of future ISIS leaders were in a U.S. prison camp for Sunni insurgents where they were free to proselytize and do leadership training (and also got recruited by the CIA). They were later released without anyone caring what they were going to do.
When they went to Syria as ISIS they were equipped and protected by the U.S. The U.S. bombed Syrian positions so ISIS could take them.
Only after ISIS got out of control did the U.S. intervene.
The then caught ISIS troops were given to the Kurds for putting them into a prison camp where they continue to train. Every few month several hundred get released to put more pressure on the Syrian army. They usually house in the Al Tanf area, protected by U.S. troops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnDWr2YLBgI
Great clip from Ben Norton at Geopolitical Economy Report on China’s developmental model. The implications are self-evident.
Posted by: KMRIA | Feb 4 2024 16:09 utc | 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnDWr2YLBgI
Great clip from Ben Norton at Geopolitical Economy Report on China’s developmental model. The implications are self-evident.
Posted by: KMRIA | Feb 4 2024 16:09 utc | 11
# The Cradle piece on Yemen is well worth reading ... note defections from Aden to Saana
# Jeffrey Sachs piece on Imran Khan also worth the time - the most popular politician in Pakistan done in because he wanted to remain "NEUTRAL" ... US covert with ISI and Pak Army - those jail sentences are ridiculous - and just before Election in which neither Khan nor his banned party are on the list ... simply 'not cricket'
Posted by: Don Firineach | Feb 4 2024 16:21 utc | 12
Posted by: b | Feb 4 2024 15:23 utc | 9
Perhaps what I heard on a random Tiktok is total BS but made me smile nonetheless about how we refer to the Mossad. Apparently it is not a building or the proper name you could put on an envelope. So they asked the Israeli government and asked them what they called it. The response was Israeli Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS).
even if it is fake news I liked it and think it could fit nicely
Posted by: dan of steele | Feb 4 2024 16:25 utc | 13
thanks b for all your work.. i also appreciate the incisive commentary from you @ 9..
i happened to notice the stephen bryen article you shared... here is a personal story.. i subscribed to stephen bryens substack page and would get his articles which i always enjoyed... but in the israel-palestine conflict after oct 7th, i brought up the idea that israel was committing genocide... he was very unhappy with me saying so and i now see ( today ) why i am not getting any of his articles from substack anymore.. while i like his articles, this difference of viewpoint on the topic of israel commiting genocide was enough for him to block me... for anyone who signs onto his substack - just beware of this..
Stephen Bryen blocked you
You are blocked from subscribing to Stephen Bryen and their publications
Posted by: james | Feb 4 2024 16:53 utc | 14
Johnstone: "Democrats Are Demented Genocidal War Sluts"
Most Demorats: "MAGA Putin-bot bullshit!" [dismisses without further thought]
Some: "Is that how others see me? How can that be? I only think the very best thoughts about Black people, no matter how criminal they might be! I always swear that I believe in my heart that 'Rachel' Levine and 'Lia' Thomas and Dylan Mulvaney and all the rest are beautiful women! I always sneer at and denigrate MAGA people as is my duty to my tribe! I furiously signal my virtue at every opportunity! Does my support of genocidal slaughter really justify others having such a low opinion of me?"
Ms. Johnstone's words might seem harsh, but some people require a rhetorical punch in the mouth before they will question their delusions.
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 4 2024 17:00 utc | 15
"confused AP summary report" about USUK strikes on Houthis
It looks like the kind of confusion which chatgppt and similar LLM are able to do.
Posted by: Parisian Guy | Feb 4 2024 17:28 utc | 16
Posted by: WMG | Feb 4 2024 15:11 utc | 6Posted by: WMG | Feb 4 2024 15:11 utc | 6
I recently read an excellent article in The Cradle about the "revival of ISIS" in the Middle East.
Posted by: ThirdWorldDude | Feb 4 2024 17:38 utc | 17
Agree. When ISIS is attacking iraqi troops then it's likely that these troops are trained (and used) either by the US, the UK or Israel.
I also remember that in the last final days of the battle against ISIS in Syria (in 2017 (???)) that the last (large ???) group of ISIS fighters were brought out of Raqah with busses to an unknown location. They were allowed to "fight another day". Seems these people now have been "re-activated" by the US (and supplied ????) to fight the iraqi security forces. Very conveniently at this moment.
Posted by: WMG | Feb 4 2024 17:48 utc | 18
Ms. Johnstone's words might seem harsh, but some people require a rhetorical punch in the mouth before they will question their delusions.
Posted by: William Gruff | Feb 4 2024 17:00 utc | 15
Seems very fair and objective to me.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Feb 4 2024 18:02 utc | 19
Isn't Zaluzhnyi allegedly being fired because he's expressed skepticism about Ukraine's ability to win the war, and for describing the war as a stalemate? Why would he then embrace a faction of people that problem want a more intense and brutal war against Russia?
Posted by: Inka | Feb 4 2024 18:03 utc | 20
NeoCon doctrine: When the shit is hitting the fan, add more shit! Eventually the fan cannot spray it all, so smothered it will be in shit. Thus the shit wins!
NeoCons are shit whisperers. ;)
Posted by: titmouse | Feb 4 2024 18:03 utc | 21
james | Feb 4 2024 16:53 utc | 14
Interesting- it seems Mr Bryen is subject to Zionist censorship. It certainly makes his reporting suspect.
Posted by: Divadab | Feb 4 2024 18:05 utc | 22
I look forward to...
1) Tucker Carlson interviewing Vladimir Putin
2) MSM and neo-cons having nose-bleeds, jitters, cerebral-vascular events, and diahorrea as they 'lose control of the narrative'
3) the wave of coordinated anti-Tucker sliming by the MSM... that will
4) Ensure EVEN MORE PEOPLE will watch the interview.
Posted by: scepticalSOB | Feb 4 2024 18:08 utc | 23
Regarding Zaluzhny wanting to overthrow Elensky: why would he? Among other considerations, a coup would give the west an out and make it very difficult to provide any visible support. Also, Zaluzhny knows that the war is lost, he'd be volunteering to become captain of the Titanic after it goes stern-up. And, a Zaluzhny government would have zero legitimacy. There's no reason the Russians wouldn't start launching decapitation strikes.
The only rational reason for overthrowing Elensky is to surrender to the Russians and stop the killing. Even if Zaluzhny found his heart and wanted to do this, his Nazi buddies would just assassinate him. If Zaluzhny is secretly negotiating with Russia, it's to betray his friends to save his head. He's in a better position to do that now than if he takes over the government of Ukraine.
Posted by: Honzo | Feb 4 2024 18:26 utc | 24
Even from the details of Zaluzhny's wiki it can be assumed he know where all the figural (and literal) bodies are buried. The intelligence asset value alone gets him a nice lifetime pension in Russia. As a soldier with high popularity among the troops you might expect him to cut a deal with Russia. He'd have a red phone on hand that's for sure. The Right Sector posturing could very well be bet-hedging, but he does have other form as a nationalist. He is a wild card and, I'm guessing, nobody's easy puppet. Use any of those nicknames with him and he'll give you a Liverpool kiss. Let's not forget July 1944: soldiers are loyal to themselves first.
Posted by: Patroklos | Feb 4 2024 18:54 utc | 25
@ Divadab | Feb 4 2024 18:05 utc | 22
i think his reporting when he is covering russia-ukraine, or russia-nato is generally very good.. but he appears to have blinders on with regard to israel... i was surprised he actually banned me, because i held a viewpoint different then his.. this implies a level of intolerance that i was surprised by..
Posted by: james | Feb 4 2024 19:06 utc | 26
ZH has a Premium postiong up with the title
A Record $10 Trillion In US Treasuries Coming To Market In 2024
Someone will need to buy more than $10 trillion in US government bonds in 2024. That is more than one-third of US government debt outstanding. And more than one-third of US GDP...
When empire is forced to fund its own bake sales, capitulation will come. Maybe Pope Frank and King Chuck have some spare change.....
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 4 2024 19:17 utc | 27
@ Inka | Feb 4 2024 18:03 utc | 20
You’ve answered your own question in part. No doubt Zaluzhny, as an actual military man (as opposed to elensky’s tiresome military cosplay), objects to the kind of warfare elensky has been demanding of him: high-profile attacks that accomplish nothing more than the loss of several thousand troops. The fact that elensky calls the shots has been quite the gift to Russia.
As for elensky, I’m sure the prima donna in him hates the fact that Zaluzhny is a possible rival—and much more popular than he is.
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 4 2024 19:17 utc | 28
ZH has a posting up with the title
Tucker Carlson Spotted In Moscow As Neocons Melt Down Over Potential Putin Interview
the quote
Russian media outlet "Mash" reports that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was seen at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow in recent days. On the social media platform X, there's enormous interest in Carlson's trip and speculation about whether he plans to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.As of Sunday morning, "Tucker" is trending on X with over 307,000 posts.
The journalist previously relayed a story about trying to set up a Putin interview, until a Washington, DC source briefed him about how the NSA spied on him:
"The NSA broke into my signal account, which I didn't know they could do," he previously said.'"I got a call from somebody in Washington. This person said: 'Are you gonna come to Washington anytime soon?' Yeah. Actually, I'm gonna be up in a week, meet me Sunday morning."
"So I go, and this person's like: 'Are you planning a trip to go see Putin?' And I was like, 'how would you know that?' I haven't told anybody. I mean anybody. Not my brother. Not my wife, nobody."
"How would you know that? 'Because NSA pulled your text with this other person you were texting.'"
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 4 2024 19:21 utc | 29
@ psychohistorian | Feb 4 2024 19:21 utc | 29
it is interesting how nsa got the info, which means no one has any privacy and you are being spied on 24/7... assange, snowden and all the reset of them were very prescient but more people in the west are very slow to see much or any of this, including carlson it would appear..
Posted by: james | Feb 4 2024 19:27 utc | 30
here is another article to add to b's lists of articles for consideration... indian punchline
Nuland leaves sense of foreboding in Kiev
"The fact of the matter is that the US and Russia are not at war and the Americans would have no hesitation to call such an outrageous incident as an act of war if a Pentagon plane were to be shot down with a Russian missile in the US airspace."
Posted by: james | Feb 4 2024 19:55 utc | 31
@ james | Feb 4 2024 19:27 utc | 30 with the follow up about Carlson
Carlson is part of the money party team but of the part that sees some of the handwriting on the wall...he is anti-China and never talks about public/private finance just like Scorpion and now Canuck
It should be interesting and maybe this is out-of-the-box but I am skeptical.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 4 2024 19:58 utc | 32
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 4 2024 19:21 utc | 29
This story has a bit of a smell about it. I find it completely unsurprising that NSA can read Signal traffic. IIRC it was widely reported that all of our communications are monitored and laws were passed explicitly making legal wiretapping between anyone living in the US and someone living outside the USA.
What stinks is Tucker saying someone told him this. What would be the purpose of him telling us that? I suspect self promotion more than anything else. I have always disliked Carlson and find him to a pompous frat boy who is having fun making others look bad.
Posted by: dan of steele | Feb 4 2024 20:26 utc | 34
- US District Court Judge: “It is every individual’s obligation to confront the current siege in Gaza” - Juan Cole
thanks for the update on this court case, b
To Posted by: KMRIA | Feb 4 2024 16:09 on China’s developmental model
those interested may also find this fascinating: https://globalsouth.co/2024/01/11/chinese-double-loop-trading-system/
I believe China has already "cleaned the usa's clock" so to speak, and that that is a good thing for the world and for the future. We in usa just don't know it yet. While usa gov/military goes around the world launching missiles creating violent chaos, China launches a charm project abroad and a broad prosperity program driven by intelligent efficiency that truly benefits humanity. Year of the Loong starts 6 days from now. Specifically the year of the wood dragon. I'm celebrating!
Posted by: DuchessAndBob | Feb 4 2024 20:26 utc | 35
All “secret” messaging apps are honey pots.
Posted by: Rae | Feb 4 2024 20:24 utc | 33
Just to correct the record, the term is "end-to-end encrypted" messaging app, as nothing available on Google Play or the Apple App Store is "secret." And Tucker or his source are incorrect on what happened if the allegation is true. There's no way in Hell Signal gave up the goods to NSA. The most likely scenario, and I confess I do not know the technical jargon for it, is a third party hack. I.e., you can have end-to-end encryption all you want, but it's the "ends" that matter. So if anything, the NSA installed a separate "app" or hack on their phones that allowed them to either log (read) keystrokes or the entire screen. Before or after a "secret" or "encrypted" message has been encrypted or decrypted, respectively, it's just text, readable by any person viewing the screen, typing, or hidden "app" or "backdoor" installed surreptitiously on a person's phone.
@WilliamGruff or one of the regulars who understands IT better than me could probably elaborate.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 4 2024 21:17 utc | 36
All “secret” messaging apps are honey pots.
Posted by: Rae | Feb 4 2024 20:24 utc | 33
I'm not sure what it was I wrote that triggered the "auto flush" in MOA's screening system, but I wrote a long reply to you just now that disappeared.
Basically, to set the record straight, Tucker and/or his source are wrong. Signal did not give up anything to the NSA. The most likely scenario, if in fact the allegations of being hacked or intercepted are true, is that the N S A installed a hidden "app" or hack on one or both of their phones that allowed them to read the messages (or log the keystrokes) BEFORE they were encrypted or after they were decrypted. So in essence nothing is safe. We already know that the Israelis and Saudis have used similar (or the same?) "technology" to spy on dissidents and Palestinians. However, I can virtually guarantee that Signal, the company, did not comply with any N S A request to hand over the messages.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 4 2024 21:24 utc | 37
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 4 2024 19:21 utc | 29
In addition to my comment at #36, I wanted to make sure everyone understands the more likely scenario. Unless the Signal app has been compromised (knowingly or unknowingly to them), and I do not think it has for several reasons too long to get into here, the N S A could not "pull" the messages from the app, and that would be the more difficult way to do it anyway (again, unless totally compromised). The more likely approach is a keystroke logger or other hack installed or back-doored surreptitiously onto one or both of their phones by the N S A that would allow them to easily see the messages prior to encryption or after decryption. Check out the stories on "Pegasus" from the past year or two.
If one is concerned about this kind of thing, then they should figure out a way to purchase a "clean" phone with no N S A access (such as a Chinese market Huawei) and maintain strict "hygiene" practices (never click on any links sent to you, never install any 2nd or 3rd party apps, etc.) and if possible, find an expert in the Android operating system to "root" the device and dig around in there before using it. Of course, this doesn't account for the fact you'll also need to find a SIM card that also isn't compromised, and for all I know every SIM sold in the USA is. Really, the best way to go is just talk in person AND make sure your phones are totally powered down (they listen to you all the time) or don't bring a phone with you at all.
Postscript: Please forgive me if this comment duplicates. Something in what I'm writing today is triggering the filtering system, so I have to keep editing and re-trying.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 4 2024 21:34 utc | 38
So very strange. I've had several comments flushed or filtered today, and I can't figure out what it is I'm typing that is causing it. All such comments have been in relation to the Tucker Carlson NSA thing. Managed to get #36 through, but about 4 others have failed. Hm....
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 4 2024 21:35 utc | 39
tom - it might be just a fluke..
craig murray article today worth reading.. the drawbacks of AI and how the intel agencies will use this shit against the people - propaganda.. involves australia directly but also any pro palestinian people...
Posted by: james | Feb 4 2024 21:50 utc | 40
I had a comment flushed the other day for no apparent reason.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 4 2024 21:59 utc | 41
@ dan of steele | Feb 4 2024 20:26 utc | 34 with the Tucker Carlson follow up
I agree about the smell and even the optics are a bit strange....call outs on social media about him being in Moscow.
So this event is being staged/Hollywood scripted for a reason or two. Since Tucker backs Trump, that leg of the money party must have a plan to blame the other leg of the money party....just a few bad apples.....
I wonder how Putin will play Tucker? That is going to be the fun part. Putin will catch Tucker in one of those internal inconsistencies that curtain the money party and Tucker will get that deer in headlights look that they will edit out of the showing....grin
Wag The Dog
Wag The Dog
Wag The Dog
Wag The Dog
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 4 2024 22:34 utc | 43
@ hes | Feb 4 2024 22:20 utc | 40
you think the picture is fake too? lol.. i think you might be the fake in fact..
Posted by: james | Feb 4 2024 23:11 utc | 44
@ psychohistorian | Feb 4 2024 22:34 utc | 41
that's funny! i certainly hope that carlson does get the interview with putin... the powers that be will have a harder time burying it, but they will do all they can to bury it.. i am reminded of the oliver stone interview with putin and on and on it goes.. i listened to a cbc show while driving in the car earlier today.. the reporter from the bbc was having an interview with the cbc reporter and at one point he said, it is better to put the drawbridge down, as opposed to keeping it up... i had to laugh at that when i think of how effective the western msm has been at keeping the drawbridge up with regard to russian views and etc... it will be the same if carlson gets his interview.. they will do their damnedest to keep the info off limits to the general public, just like they do with the words of putin, lavrov and maria - these folks can't be allowed to be heard as it flies in exactly the opposite direction of what our leaders and media constantly tell us...
Posted by: james | Feb 4 2024 23:15 utc | 45
oh and i do wish to thank karlof1 for tirelessly reporting just these views at his substack.. i highly recommend others sign onto it for just this reason..
Posted by: james | Feb 4 2024 23:17 utc | 46
Anna's remark in the article posted to Beijing Channel, that US society is in a state of decay, rings true. I would use the term putrefaction, but she is more polite than me.
The education system is failing, the health care system is failing, and infrastructure is failing. Quality of life is declining, basic provisions like electricity supply have become unreliable, large proportions of the food supply are metabolic poisons, and the entire private sector has fused itself with a federal government whose popular representatives are to the very end bribed and blackmailed to serve a transnational class of ethnic supremacists. The signs of rot are everywhere. And yet the billionaire class is excitedly talking about the singularity, the Enhanced Games (in which Olympic ideals are suffocated and replaced by a junkie free-for-all), and private cities rid of the presence of the irritating homeless, and their paid cheerleaders in the media are warning about manufactured crises, the need for everyone to assume the mantle of poverty and immiseration to "save the climate" (but do buy an overpriced and under-engineered EV right away!), and the need to inject everyone with untested bioweapons developed by sociopathic companies whose only concern is profit for shareholders. I could document a thousand more examples.
The empire of fraud is out of control, and the gaslighting is unrelenting; a monstrous tidal wave of utter bullshit fed to Americans since 1945 in ever-increasing quantities. Everything has been a lie, everything is a lie, and everything to come will be a lie.
Posted by: Matthew | Feb 4 2024 23:38 utc | 47
" a monstrous tidal wave of utter bullshit fed to Americans since 1945 "
1945 ? ?
I do "Remember the Maine". That was in 1898, not in 1945.
Posted by: Parisian Guy | Feb 4 2024 23:56 utc | 48
Parisian Guy, I can go one better than ghat —
“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Property. Oh wait, no, Happiness! We meant Happiness!
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 5 2024 0:04 utc | 49
@james, #14:
My appreciation to b also for providing the kind of incisive account @#9. This is the kind of info that real journalists are supposed to keep track of and report to mass readership for the record. None of the western MSM has done this since the 80’s, not even the Singapore media even though they have the financial resources to keep track of these kinds of matters for historical records. Global South, including China and Russia, simply don’t have adequate access or resources to undertake such errands. People such as the readership of MOA are therefore deprived of info that are of historical significances. 😞😞😞
b seem to have some access to Empire’s shenanigans in Iraq since Desert Storm (probably due to Germany being a member of NATO). But he is a lone soldier with limited resources. I wish heavyweight players such as think tanks in China would contribute to b’s coffer in amounts of millions of Euros a year so that these kinds of global matters can trickles to concerned audiences such as us at MOA.
Posted by: Oriental Voice | Feb 5 2024 0:28 utc | 50
About the selfie of the leader of Right-Sector with Zaluzhny under the picture of Bandera. The messagen is clear. Additionally Zaluzhny said at a meeting with Zelensky last week (resident or legitimity on telegram) that he needed 500,000 additional troops, that the conscription rate was too slow and that he expects the same number of casualties this year as last year. Combine this with statements of the leader of C17 last year that amounted to say that he wished Ukraine to become a form of dictatorship. All that points to a coup if eldnsky does not satisfy Zaluzhny's demands.
Posted by: Richard L | Feb 5 2024 0:46 utc | 51
@ Oriental Voice | Feb 5 2024 0:28 utc | 48
we are in full agreement on all of that.. its a great community here at moa too which includes you.. i too wish some bigger players would support b more financially to help him continue in the manner that he does..
Posted by: james | Feb 5 2024 1:20 utc | 52
Oriental Voice @48
Millions of Euros a year from China would compromise the independence of MoA, or do you think that they would "donate" that money without expecting anything in return.
Posted by: AJ | Feb 5 2024 1:23 utc | 53
Posted by: james | Feb 4 2024 21:50 utc | 38
Thanks james. Had some car repairs to do today that took up the whole afternoon. I'll check Murray out.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 5 2024 1:29 utc | 54
Alastair Crooke:
- The main force of Hamas is still intact.
- The hebrew press is reporting "large number of injuries, substancial losses on tanks and armoured vehicles".
- The IDF hasn't achieved any of its objectives and in that sense the IDF has been "defeated" by Hamas. The bombing of Gaza has collapsed Isreal's reputation. Also think: the case brought by South Africa before the ICJ.
- Israel is starting to do "soul searching" and is starting to think "what should we do next".
- The target here is to "change the paradigm" and the "paradigm" has changed. The old paradigm was that Israel could do whatever it liked to in both Gaza and the West bank. The actions of Hamas are "revolutionary" and should be seen as a "liberation movement".
- Hasan Nasrallah: this is a palestinian struggle and we will help them when the palestinians ask for it.
- There has been a sharp increase in the intensity of violence in the region. An "escalatory ladder" to put more pressure on e.g. the US and Israel.
- The Jerusalem Post reported of some "3 to 4.000 severly injured soldiers". The Golani brigade has lost some 25% of its troops in the first week.
- Some 250.000 israelis have been evacuated from the north of Israel and from the border with the Gaza strip. Galland wants these people to go back to their homes but these israelis refuse to go back to their homes until it's safe to go home. This has shattered the notion that israelis are free and safe to live anywhere in Israel and that was a crucial part of Zionism. As a result of that also the paradigm of Zionism has been severly damaged.
- To restore that notion that israelis are free and safe to live anywhere in Israel (also called "zionism") the IDF also has to take action in the north against Hezbollah.
- Israeli polls shows that there is ZERO support for a "2 state solution" or "living next to palestinians or Hezbollah" because A LOT OF israelis don't see palestinians in their daily life, don't come across arabs/palestinians.
- The case brought by South Africa to the ICJ in The Hague is not only a case against Israel but also a case against the West in general. "The south" wants to talk about all the other "genocides" as a result of "western colonialism".
- An israeli war with Hezbollah is "highly probable" ("a matter of weeks") because then the israelis can return to to their homes in the north of Israel. There was a decision, early on right after october 7, 2023, made by the israeli government to strike a severe blow against Hezbollah. Israel wants Hezbollah to withdraw north of the river Litani. But even assuming Hezbollah would do that, Hezbollah would still be able to hit A LOT OF targets in Israel.
- Blinken was told by Ganz and president Herzog that Netanyahu would stand by their decision to remove the threat of Hezbollah and the threat from Gaza. The US wants to contain the war to Gaza and southren Lebanon (Hezbollah) and doesn't it want to spread the "violence" to Iraq (think: 15 US bases) and certainly to not into a war against Iran ("one bridge too far").
- Israel has suffered a number of MAJOR setbacks and it needs desparately some sort of a victory (think: south Lebanon) and that could/will strenghten the zionist project. The entire zionist project (a.k.a. Israel, see above) is at risk breaking down . Israel is now - for the time being - an irrational actor.
- Biden and Austin already have given Israel the green light for an attack on Lebanon. They told Israel to wait until "all diplomatic options are exhausted".
Source:
https://rumble.com/v47q2wr-live-new-rules-podcast-w-alastair-crooke.html
Posted by: WMG | Feb 5 2024 1:54 utc | 55
From "Strategic Culture" (Alastair Crooke also publishes on that website):
1. "The tragic Self Destruction of an enraged Israel"
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/01/29/the-tragic-self-destruction-of-an-enraged-israel
2. "EU squandering billions on the Ukraine".
Posted by: WMG | Feb 5 2024 1:59 utc | 56
Illan Pape: Ilan Pappe on Israel: "We are witnessing the beginning of the end"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB2_wgUd8Os&pp=ygURaWxsYW4gcGFwZSBzaG9ydHM%3D
Posted by: WMG | Feb 5 2024 2:05 utc | 57
Does anyone have good links on the response to the Ukraine accusation that children were abducted by Russia? that's what underlies the supposed case against Putin, but if you go to Wikipedia or any search engine it's gavel to gavel the same claims about abducted/kidnapped children from DPR. Never even a word about Russia's response. My attempt to find the refutations I saw about a year ago produced little other than rehash of the same talking points.
If anyone has some good links I'll be most obliged. I appear to have misplaced mine in some folder somewhere and now can't resurrect them.
The propaganda BTW reads very much as Russiagate did. All one-sided, repeating word for word the claims from Ukraine with next to no substantiation.
Posted by: Merlin2 | Feb 5 2024 2:12 utc | 58
Posted by: Merlin2 | Feb 5 2024 2:12 utc | 56
Funny you ask. Just today I was at the Wikipedia page for "red lines" in the Russia Ukraine war. Stumbled on this hilarious opinion piece from Australia.
I don't think it answers any of your more detailed questions, however.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 5 2024 2:15 utc | 59
Posted by: DuchessAndBob | Feb 4 2024 20:26 utc | 35
Thanks for linking that article. As an American, living in the belly of the beast, unbiased sources of information about China are not easy to find. I’m convinced what we are fed by our media and government is full of lies. At the same time, I know that other powerful entities, like China, have their own agendas, which they promote with messages flattering to themselves. What’s undeniable is that this will be the Chinese century. The US will need to learn to go along to get along. We might just destroy ourselves instead.
Posted by: KMRIA | Feb 5 2024 2:16 utc | 60
Re: The ICC warrant for Putin, Merlin2 got me to wondering about it as well.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/international-arrest-warrant-issued-for-vladimir-putin-5130866 (not a fan of the Epoch Times, but in this case they provide Russia's take)
https://thegrayzone.com/2023/03/31/iccs-putin-arrest-state-dept-report/ (this one looks more interesting and informative)
An excerpt (recommend reading the whole thing) -
The ICC prosecutor appeared to have based his arrest warrant on research produced by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL). Yale HRL’s work was funded and guided by the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, an entity the Biden administration established in May 2022 to advance the prosecution of Russian officials.During an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Yale HRL’s executive director, Nathaniel Raymond, claimed his report provided proof that “thousands of children are in a hostage situation.” Invoking the Holocaust, Raymond asserted, “We are dealing with the largest network of children camps seen in the 21st century.”
Yet in an interview with Jeremy Loffredo, the co-author of this report, and in his own paper for Yale HRL, Raymond contradicted many of the bombastic claims he made to the media about child hostages. During a phone conversation with Loffredo, Raymond acknowledged that “a large amount” of the camps his team investigated were “primarily cultural education – like, I would say, teddy bear.”
Yale HRL’s report similarly acknowledges that most of the camps it profiled provided free recreational programs for disadvantaged youth whose parents sought “to protect their children from ongoing fighting” and “ensure they had nutritious food of the sort unavailable where they live.” Nearly all of the campers returned home in a timely manner after attending with the consent of their parents, according to the paper. The State Department-funded report further concedes that it found “no documentation of child mistreatment.”
Yale HRL based its research entirely on Maxar satellite data, Telegram postings, and Russian media reports, relying on Google translate to interpret them and at times misrepresented the articles in its citations. The State Department-funded unit conceded that it performed no field research for its paper, stating that it “does not conduct ground-level investigations and therefore did not request access to the camps.”
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 5 2024 2:19 utc | 61
The propaganda BTW reads very much as Russiagate did. All one-sided, repeating word for word the claims from Ukraine with next to no substantiation.
Posted by: Merlin2 | Feb 5 2024 2:12 utc | 56
That is the way that it is done nowadays. It explains why so many state organs involving so many countries have been involved in framing Assange- the one thing all are agreed upon is that the truth is too important a commodity not to be controlled and defined by the state.
I see this as an indication of the deep crisis in the capitalist system- the ruling class knows that thibgs have to change and is determined to do all that it can to retain its powers and privileges.
What is happening in Gaza is reflection, not of the power of strange religious nonsenses but, of the 'last ditch' determination of a ruling class hanging on to the forlorn hope that something miraculous might occur to save it from inevitable destruction.
Posted by: bevin | Feb 5 2024 2:22 utc | 62
Posted by: bevin | Feb 5 2024 2:22 utc | 60
You mention Assange. Funny coincidence #2 for me in this thread. It's astounding how many recent (and present) issues Wikileaks previously exposed. I have been arguing with a friend who once worked as a journalist about "The Houthis" or Ansar Allah and the whole "Iran-backed" nonsense that literally every single article written in the Western MSM uses verbatim. I was telling her that it would be a lot less obvious as propaganda if SOME, maybe 2 out of every 5 such articles DID NOT use the term "Iran-backed" but that because EVERY SINGLE ONE does, it's blatantly evident. That's how propaganda works, though. If you repeat something enough times it becomes "the truth" - and I'm positive that the CIA or some USG agency is directly engaged with the media on that and other topics (Russia/Ukraine: "UNPROVOKED" or "FULL SCALE" invasion, for examples).
Anyway to the point about Assange, yet again Wikileaks exposed the truth about the "Iran-backed" lie years ago through leaked cables they published around the time the phrased started being used.*
This Truthout article from 2015 lists and links to them: https://truthout.org/articles/how-false-stories-of-iran-arming-the-houthis-were-used-to-justify-war-in-yemen/
So for virtually every Imperial action: spying on citizens, wars, coups, assistance to other countries, and just "hostile foreign powers" in general, Assange and Wikileaks come up time and again. It's really no wonder that he's being persecuted and imprisoned. Not only does that (and a combination of other economic penalties) mean Wikileaks is less active, but it also sends a chill through society and media/journalism - an example for what you can expect if you do the same thing and provide embarrassing contradictory information to Imperial propaganda narratives.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 5 2024 2:36 utc | 63
Forgot to close the comment out with the explanation for my asterisk.
* In 2015 it's highly unlikely Ansar Allah was getting any kind of assistance from Iran. However, having been backed into a corner through USNATO given international pariah status (like Iran) and bombed relentlessly for almost a decade, it would be no surprise whatsoever if they DID end up reaching out to the Iranians for some assistance. An (intentional, I'd argue) self-fulfilling prophecy driven by the US DoS, CIA and MSM.
Also wanted to add to my first paragraph about propaganda by repetition. I think another reason that EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE written about "the Houthis" (great Mintpress interview with them up now, BTW) no matter what publication or website is that the propaganda pushers know that most people only read one or two sites regularly, so blanketing every single site with the phrase maximizes the likelihood that anyone who reads anything about it in the West is hit over the head with it no matter which "news" they read.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 5 2024 2:41 utc | 64
Here are three articles on some aspects of the great unraveling in the US, interconnected by a prime mover, money grabbing.
Beijing Anna’s observation of “decay” in NYC is a snapshot of the ongoing process in the heart of empire…empire exploits and discards its own people, does not invest in “human capital,” but relies on importing people, often illegal but also legal immigrants, as replacement labor, also charging ordinary people exorbitant prices because who’s to stop the thievery in a captured, bought system?
~~
First, Ramin Razaheri:
Talk to honest businessmen and they’ll admit it: charge your customer more than 30% profit and you’re cheating them.Keep in mind that you can only charge 30% for those few goods/services for which you have a real advantage. You are surely providing some goods/services at perhaps just a 3% markup - or at cost, or even at a loss - just to keep your customer returning/in the door.
So it’s not like you’re charging 30% across the board - if you did, your customer would quickly know that they are being cheated and take their business elsewhere. So your average profit margin isn’t 30% but more like 11%.
And, according to a recent report, for the 40 years prior to Covid corporate profits were responsible for just that: 11% of inflation. That makes sense, as the rule of thumb in business is that the standard profit margin is 10%.
However, per the headline, the same study found that corporate profit-gouging in the United States in the second and third quarters of 2023 were responsible for a stunning 53% of inflation.
The gross numbers show a huge jump in post-pandemic profit-taking: In December the US Bureau of Economic Analysis reported $3.3 trillion in corporate profits in Q3 2023 - that’s 50% more than Q3 2017’s $2.2 trillion in quarterly profits.
11% to 53% - a 382% worsening of societal norms - requires our discussion
https://raminmazaheri.substack.com/p/when-corporate-profits-force-53-of
(Links to source materials in original at sub stack)
~~
Next, from NEO author Simon Chege Ndiritu
US President Joe Biden’s administration’s efforts to stop Texas Governor Gregg Abbott from keeping illegal immigrants away shows that the US Empire is in dire need of foreign workers and talents. Major policy and media outlets including Forbes, (here), Financial Times (here), George Mason University and FWD.us (here), and the Council for Foreign Relations (CFR) (here) show that Washington’s empire cannot compete without immigrants ‘top’ global talents. [embedded links in original]…One thing the US Empire cannot stand doing is training and developing its human resources to get top global talents. It would rather yank them from other places and will keep immigrants coming…
The Biden regime’s move to sue Texas State makes no sense unless the federal government wants more illegal immigrants coming in the US. These intentions are revealed in various studies and media reports (CFR, CIS, CNN, FWD.us), which encourage the US government to bring in immigrants to maintain its global leadership and avoid a demographic crisis, but the empire has been timid to disclose its real intension to the public. [embedded links]
Leading media and policy think tanks (CIS, CNN, FWD.us), show that the US government is determined to allow immigration, to attain skills for its fixation with maintaining technological leadership and competing against China. Washington has not developed the desired skills within its population, despite its implementing deliberate policies to harvest the best skills and talents from across the world over the last century (here). Shockingly, these past skills and talents seem forgotten, underdeveloped, or incapable of raising equally talented offspring, showing a shortfall in the US system…
Is the Empire Complicating Demographics for Better Divide-and-Rule?
There may be efforts to change the US demographics to make it easier to control…illegal arrivals may never have their legal statuses regularized and will remain as underpaid laborers working for longer hours, beyond what citizens can accept…
~~
Last, a report on involuntary servitude and slave labour in the US under the 13th Amendment exception as punishment for crime I n carceral industrial complex, a longish read.
Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brandsANGOLA, La. (AP) — A hidden path to America’s dinner tables begins here, at an unlikely source – a former Southern slave plantation that is now the country’s largest maximum-security prison….
The goods these prisoners produce wind up in the supply chains of a dizzying array of products found in most American kitchens… They are on the shelves of virtually every supermarket in the country, including Kroger, Target, Aldi and Whole Foods. And some goods are exported, including to countries that have had products blocked from entering the U.S. for using forced or prison labor.
…with about 2 million people locked up, U.S. prison labor from all sectors has morphed into a multibillion-dollar empire…
A SHADOW WORKFORCE WITH FEW PROTECTIONS
In addition to tapping a cheap, reliable workforce, companies sometimes get tax credits and other financial incentives. Incarcerated workers also typically aren’t covered by the most basic protections, including workers’ compensation and federal safety standards. In many cases, they cannot file official complaints about poor working conditions.
These prisoners often work in industries with severe labor shortages, doing some of the country’s dirtiest and most dangerous jobs…
https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation
Posted by: suzan | Feb 5 2024 2:42 utc | 65
Merlin2 @ 56:
The Russian response to Ukraine's accusations has been that the children were being evacuated to Russian territory.
Children’s evacuation from Ukraine absolutely legal, Russia was saving them, says Putin
Ukrainian war zone children are in temporary Russian care, not adopted or abducted - envoy
Moscow acted correctly in moving Ukrainian children – Putin
It is very hard to find more details on the evacuation of the children to Russia, or on their return to their families, in English-language news media. I suspect a lot of such information is deliberately downgraded by Google and other search engines so that anyone looking may eventually have to give up for lack of time or is being blocked altogether.
Another article, related to the issue, is linked here:
SBU Plotting Disinfo Campaign About 'Forced Deportation' of Children to Russia
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Feb 5 2024 2:50 utc | 66
Dr Eric Li's presentation at the Khazanah Megatrends Forum is worth watching. He explains how venture capitalists end up creating monopolies and those monopolies kill creativity and innovation in the long run. Then the need for the state to sponsor the development of critical industries such as semiconductor chips. So Eric claims that the Chinese government will, at the same time, sponsor the local production of computer chips in China and also promote a new wave of globalization within the Gkobal South.
That combination will trigger an extreme reaction from Washington and a new wave of sanctions directed at China.
Posted by: Richard L | Feb 5 2024 3:06 utc | 67
@ suzan | Feb 5 2024 2:42 utc | 63 with the discussion and links about profit maximization and labor cost minimization.
In the old days when we had a country the price increases would not have occurred because of govt. and public oversight/regulation.....its all fiat numbers anyway...../s
The 2nd piece you wrote about seems odd to claim that top immigrant talent is coming into America over the Texas border when it has been obvious from forever that it is all about keeping wage levels depressed.
The thought I had in your 3rd piece about prison labor was the risk management decision of having convicted folks deals with human food provision in any way....aren't they there because they have been shown to be anti-humanistic is some way? And, we have tons of unemployed that might be more socially motivated but we refuse to pay them a living wage.
The final rant I have about the view of humans by the God Of Mammon cult relates back to a link that was provided of a Davos meeting about bio-electric reading of human neural networks with focus on productivity/safety/control. I am someone who has been able to use this emerging technology to heal my infancy trauma and the traumatic brain injury I got in 2006 when I was sideswiped riding my bicycle and took the side mirror off a SUV. The QEEG therapy has the potential to heal damn near every mental health (dysregulation of neural network) problems you can throw at it and it will only get better and easier to use.....AND LESS AND LESS PROFIT as people get healed and are not income streams anymore.
So, I am pissed that the self proclaimed futurist that did that presentation at Davos did not focus on the positive that is coming out of human oriented bio-electric neural network technology.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 5 2024 3:20 utc | 68
@ Richard L | Feb 5 2024 3:06 utc | 65
richard... b mislabeled that link - Chinese New Economy and Globalisation - The Sequel - Dr. Eric Li (video) - Khazanah Megatrends Forum
in fact is it felix zulaufs outlook... as shown below..
2024 Macro Outlook Not Rosy - Expert Felix Zulauf Explains
so what did you watch?
Posted by: james | Feb 5 2024 4:29 utc | 69
ICC children
Merlin2 | Feb 5 2024 2:12 utc | 56
Inside a Russian youth camp condemned by the ICC
the grayzone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDS1OSEIoz8
https://thegrayzone.com/2023/03/31/iccs-putin-arrest-state-dept-report/
reviews info you / Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 5 2024 2:19 utc | 59 mentioned
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/04/07/arresting-development-the-icc-arrest-warrant-for-putin-is-a-weapon-of-war/
News conference by Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia 339K subscribers (October 16, 2023)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8NA59NC464
Moscow - 4 April 2023
1. Russian commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova at news conference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c51Yab89QS4
The Russian Woman Accused of 'Stealing' Ukrainian Children | Exclusive Interview
VICE News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei4xLdv2gYE
***** Video of Maria Lvova-Belova testifying at the UN (blocked by the UK) - VERY GOOD WITNESSES
6 Apr 2023 UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS
UK and US diplomats walked out of the UN meeting and blocked the international webcast of Maria Lvova-Belova's speech. I guess this woman is such a supervillain that we are not even allowed to hear her side?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT379IrMb2Q
“Russia has not deported or taken children away since February 2022; it has received 4.8 million residents of Ukraine and the Donbass republics including 700,000 children. An overwhelming majority of children came to safe Russian region together with their parents or close relatives. Donbass orphanages were evacuated for the sake of children’s safety, ” the ombudsperson said.
She denied the claims that Russia had practiced adoption of Donbass children. In 2022, guardianship of 380 orphans from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics was established at the request of their leaders.
https://dan-news.ru/en/russia/russian-ombudsperson-exposes-kiev-fakes-about-donbass-children/
It is impossible to use google etc and find truthful russia reports of how the donbass children were cared for. total black out of reports not biased by west propaganda.
I saw one very good video once of a group that was organising care and activities for children for weeks at a time as respite from donbass fighting etc .... and another where east ukr orphans were relocated to russia for safety
THis whole issue is sickening how it's been twisted .. same as all the rest of the accusations.
Posted by: Lavrov's Dog | Feb 5 2024 4:39 utc | 70
As for the political strife in Kiev.....
Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake. –– Napoleon Bonaparte.
Posted by: Jeff Harrison | Feb 5 2024 5:13 utc | 71
Early - middle of night reading. Just a quick note on the DeClassified piece on the rag sheet Guardian Newspaper.
While I have been long aware of Kennard and Curtice as a bit gonzo. I have never really seen anything wholly exclusive and incendiary! They appear to skate on thin ice without ever being in danger of falling through. then again what do I know?
I do know that just about everything in that article is something I had posted on comments at the wretched Groaniad and other sites that I regularly read. As it was happening.
What is missing from the Declassified article is concerning
No mention of the Syria Campaign? The PR group. They’re White Helmets. They’re absurd ‘journalists’ who filed reports from Lebanese coffee shops pretending to be in Syria. The notorious fake chemical warfare accusations against Assad. The dodgy reports from ‘hospitals’ - i actually pointed out within minutes one report which supposedly showed one such hospital photograph of staff dealing with attacks by Assad as actually being a Syrian hospital with Red Crescent identified staff! The total opposite of what was being claimed.
There is a lot of other stuff. Deep breath:
Their siding with continued privatisations under NuLabour Incorporated going back to the late 90’s- their little man Blair. The whole coterie. Mandelsson, straw, the Mossad and Maxwell minder and thug Campbell; he who sexed up the dodgy wmd dossier …the ever ending wars. The continued oppression of Palestinians.
The backing of the destruction of high quality free education.
Destruction of the NHS.
The rancid support of the LibDems and the Tories.
The luke warm anti BrexShit positioning.
They’re anti Scottish independence, the kangaroo court anti salmond trial with fake accusers wholly tied with MI5 control of SNP. The absurd support of the controlled Sturgeon and beard husband. Control over Scotland. …
It is sick that they are portrayed still as ‘leftist’ when their whole history has been anti working class Labour - going back to their Zionist roots in Manchester as mouthpieces of slave owners and mill workers of the dark satanic mills , who were through Engels the backers of Marx’s works to create that new religion…
But most of all there is nothing about the deepshits who are the ‘senior’ presstitutes there - the wholly natzionists and Rusdophobes - Cohen, Freedman, Toynbee, gruesome twosome La Hyde & Hadley!
All who came out as demented Thatcherite , liars who insist Taxes pay for spending, now orthodox lies. They who moved from happy clappy smugs capturing soft minded Labour supporting readers with their metropolitan sophistication and house price increases dinner party conversation columns - to selling wholesale lies about Assange! Who they have direct responsibility for betraying.
As they now try and put into Downing street the great knight dope Herr starmtrooper, blairite deepshite, US controlled, ex head prosecutor defender of paedonecrophile celebrity best friend of queen mother, Saville…
There is so much missing from that DC piece.
I don’t know and I hope they are not just another limited hangout , controlled agit prop sites such as OffGuardian,GB News and others.
But I am not holding my breath based on the dire state of ‘British journalism’ ever since the zionazi funded Murdoch landed and cornered the news and entertainment media industrial complex.
As for the Groaniad . I have been long done with it.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 5 2024 5:18 utc | 72
DunGroanin @ 70:
That Declassified.org article on The Fraudian concentrated on the newspaper's links with British intel agencies since Edward Snowden's revelations. That focus did not extend to covering any connections with James Le Mesurier, his wife or their precious White Helmets, perhaps because Declassified does not have anywhere near the resources The Fraudian has.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Feb 5 2024 6:09 utc | 73
[trigger warning. outsized persiflo post ahead] . . .
Today I'd like to tell a little story from my just experience, only moments ago. I'll read this again before posting, because what occured is absolutely not fact-based in a classic sense; it could be anything, including insomnia-induced halucination. Some will upon reading perceive it as a fairy tale; then so be it.
I also have reasons to lay this out here. First, it illustrates in a specific case the difficulties a variety of fully experience-based empirical sciences, or quasi-sciences if you will, are facing. The german branch of systematic study of paranormal phenomena, one of less than a handful worldwide independent approaches, starts with Arthur Schopenhauer. While he was a naturalist, or metaphysical materialist, to the bone in regards to his system, he had the intellectual magnitude to leave a note to everyone else, in which he lays down some tales of "strange things" that were happening to him, of the type we'd today call manifestation. Arthur explains himself to the reader by stating that he's not interested in viewing himself as insane, and therefore will now scribe down what he had lived, stating that surely many men* throughout all times had to have made likewise experience of happenstance.
Another, quite sombre reason to come forward on this board is because I think that probably some of the gathered barflies might have had a very similar experience. I'd like to ask those to come forward also, so that we can try and typify this kind of experience, thus building toward actual empirical understanding of the phenomenon in question. - Some folks might want to disqualify this use of empirical here, but I do claim the term, due to my basic rooting of all science in awareness ("opinion"), and not in the realm of outside objects of substance an Sich (as all such notions logically must follow an inquiry by a wondering mind, and hence cannot be claimed to supersede the actual inquiry being minded by - you!).
Let me losely define "science" here quickly also, as an applied methodology, that allows statements - hypothesis, observations, "facts", but also conjecture - with a truth value function; that is, it proves helpful when properly applied to the things it was originally designed for; as all human endeavour is taking place in the Lebenswelt (E. Husserl).
Note that it follows that maths is an invention, too (mostly created by physicists when in need to describe something new, like when Newton invented calculous to prove his law of gravitation, which took him 20 years to do! or Paul Dirac, when he came up with an object dubbed a "distribution", which took an effort of fifty years by the mathematicians to finally make sense of), and not, as some claim, the true language of the logos (think of it as the source code of Dasein), or the language in which the creator-God crafted this place we're currently stuck in for some unknown reason. But I'm digressing here a tad ... well!
Aside from undertaking a typifying effort, the reach out to others who may have experienced such things as I just have, is also in line with a central task of parapsychology, as instituted in the Hans Bender Institut in Freiburg (one of just three independently funded institutes worldwide working fully open source, btw). There, they provide counseling to those afflicted with disturbing experiences, as these often are not "integrated" healthily; I assume, for lack of proper means of understanding, i.e. ressources of education that provide access to a concise and enabling language ("science") that allows to somehow grasp what is happening, so that you can make sense of it, thence being able to cope.
The anecdote I simply cannot withhold from the esteemed barflies at this point relates to an instance of Spuk/spook that took place in Rosenheim in the 1960ies. A lawyer's bureau was stricken with weird and abnormal malfunctions of phone and electricity lines etc, and the case is somewhat famous because it has been extensively studied by technicians of the utility providers, Deutsche Telekom engineers, the Braunschweig physics departement, and Hans Bender from the institute in Freiburg. The ongoings were measured, documented and witnessed by all those repeatedly; the spook ended when a young woman working at the place was taken out of her surrounding, in which she'd been harassed and probably assaulted (a typical instance where spook phenomena of this sort appear). Then, 4o years later, the Rosenheim Chronicle phoned Walther von Lucadou, then and now head of the Freiburg institute (IGPP), to ask him what he now thinks of the famous tale. Lucadou replies, "for us, it was a normal case of spook, of a kind we get reported hundreds of times in a year. We now usually don't drive out there anymore, as counseling by telephone is usually sufficient to resolve the problem". This must be one of the most mind-boggling moments in german newspaper history, methinks ...
Alas! So here's now, finally, my own little story, which I experienced immediately before coming home and starting to type this out.
On a monday morning, or rather a wintery night in Hamburg, at 5am I was walking home through light but still substantial rain and windgusts at temperatures just above freezing, a most common winter weather here in northern Europe. Unpleasant as it was, I still enjoyed walking, and my thoughts went to the poor sods on the battlefields of Ukraine ... immediately, my fairly blank and calm field of awareness became vivid and forceful. Concentrating on the images that rose into my consciousness - I liken this to the bubbles in a bottle of champagne after opening it; while at the same time you are giving Gestalt to the notions (Anschauungen) through the basic noetic power of synthesis, or synthetic apperception (the faculty which connects our senses, and generally the preconscious, with the mental images in the mind's eye) - I quickly had an intense image of a man who'd been badly wounded about now. I saw him shivering, pale, in terror of death, while his buddies were all around him, applying tourniquets etc. -- Let's analyze the image briefly. It's clear that even for a non-medically experienced person such as me, the scene is readily available for imagination. I of course of knew this, but I stiil allowed myself to get drawn into it. In no time I felt energetically involved, the wounded (and probably dying) man and I were somehow channeled, or so it seemed, and in his clinging to life, I felt as if he was asking for help ... sure, why not? I thougt, and began to channel him energy; wondering what his reason might be to cling so starkly to life - of course, a question of no further immediate relevance, but empathising in this moment was quite heavy on me. I broke the lihme connection when I felt my own energy spent; not completely, but down to a level where (as I imagine) some sort of disintegration of my own current self would ensue ... an entirely sensible idea, btw, as evidenced quite clearly from the placebo effect (and also theoretically well founded through refute of the naturalist answer/paradigm for the mind-body problem).
It took less than 50m of walking for it to end. My mind returned to the previous state of calm contemplation, and my final thought while being channeled was that, whatever the poor sod's reason for his will to life may have been, upon his death he would most likely be in a more comforting place than he was now ... but what about his loved ones? -- And right there, still within seconds of the actual vision, I realized that death and life cannot possibly be seperate states of being! (or existence, if you will)
Their logical incongruence can be readily seen by the opposition of two notions, A - being alive and not knowing about death, and B - being dead and not knowing about life. The moment of death belongs to neither of these notions, and therefore I claim that the whole thing is NOT understod well, when conceptualized thusly. --
Well, that is the bonus level here for the purposes of this comment, but still I feel it somehow belongs to the story. I've studied mathematics at the university, and upon showing up for our first lectures, us young folks would be told that "usually, the first idea turns out correct". This is true, to a startingly degree, especially considering that maths is absolutely clean in all of its deductions. Creativity is a sort of manifestation, too, I guess.
Will you believe me? Either way, I recommend this stunning paper FOIA'd from CIA archives, about the time some US Army command sent one of their staff to Chicago, to experience and then report on the courses Robert Monroe ("binaural meditation")was giving in his Monroe Institute in the early eighties ... authored by one Wayne McDonnell, who did a most brilliant job here. - Does anyone him? I imagine
him as a boots wearing tanker who somehow ended up writing this absolutely mental paper, in which he says, quoting from memory, consciousness is the guarantor of everything. I'm not aware of any english-speaking philosopher who said such a thing. Do you? It would make a worthy quote on his tombstone. If I had any means of moeny, I'd fund this blissfully. I don't, but still, if anyone knows about him, let me know.
That all being said, finally conclundig this wild one of a post, let me repeat also that I would love to hear from your experiences! I'd wager it has been occuring to some in this bar, simply because many of us will have, at one point in a long wintery dark, lit a candle for the guys in Avdeevka, saying a preayer for their souls, or sipping a glass of your ... whatever.
Oh, I'm having spanish Tempranillo -- can recommend.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 5 2024 7:40 utc | 74
Collecting quotations on the uneven pace of history, apposite current events, keeping to Lenin marveling the jaggeddiness of time as a keynote:
"There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen."
I've also got the Hemmingway bankruptcy and a physics teacher whose notion is much better remembered than his name:
"How did you go bankrupt?" Bill asked.
"Two ways," Mike said. "Gradually and then suddenly."
-- Ernest Hemmingway, The Sun Also Rises"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is man's inability to understand the exponential function."
-- Albert A. Bartlett, The Physics Teacher
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Feb 5 2024 7:43 utc | 75
addendum: much is helpful. But in the case of a "science" in a modern sense, the field would need to concurrently reason its own conduct; i.e. the confounding of a method and a methodology.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 5 2024 7:46 utc | 76
Larry Johnson, at 26 minutes into the show:
"You know, we lost three soldiers in Jordan and and that story is still not clear. You got one guy and two women killed and the missile struck the sleeping quarters. I'm going are they sleeping together? Normally you don't put men and women in the same bunk room."
Posted by: Passerby | Feb 5 2024 9:03 utc | 77
You can take just about any radical faction around the world over the last...100 years or so and see western colonial, particularly US influence. Funding (fat stacks of $ plopped on the table) which is used for recruiting in impoverished regions (aren't they all), arming, training, intelligence, tasking, including giving them a list of who to kill (read "The Jakarta Method") and more.
Contras
Mujahideen
Al Qaeda
ISIS
Nazis...
The list is long.
Posted by: jef | Feb 5 2024 10:23 utc | 78
Here is the link to the talk mentioned by Richard L @ 65:
Link to Eric Li’s talk in Malaysia: https://kmf.com.my/presentation/kmf2023-feature-address-day1/ on. China’s near future economy
Posted by: mjh | Feb 5 2024 11:01 utc | 79
I came to see if what I wrote last night made sense, thanks for reply Refinnejenna, I give benefit of doubt but am too old not to be sceptical now.
There is an amazing lack of sock puppets this morning - maybe they all been switched off or are waiting for new Narrative scripts, a bit delayed this Monday morning, any way we get treated to some interlude of foggy sleepy perception.
@ Posted by: persiflo ‘s version of Calvino’s
‘It was a dark and stormy night …’
“wintery night in Hamburg, at 5am I was walking home through light but still substantial rain and windgusts at temperatures just above freezing..”
No need for fake dumb metaphysics required to explain your waking dream all the clues necessary are in just these few words.
You are drunk or drugged up or hypothermic as your brain has cooled suddenly. It is well past your sleeping time and your brain is dreaming whilst you are sleepwalking. If you are experiencing such when you are not in such a state , you have probably got a brain tumour or minor stroke, get yourself to the neurology department for proper scans and cognitive tests.
Stop with the bullshit - you’ll be wanting to tell us about ufos and alien abduction and experimentation on you next to explain the pain and blood inyour arse and funny taste and stickiness in your mouth! 😂
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 5 2024 12:34 utc | 80
@ DunGroanin | Feb 5 2024 12:34 utc | 78
Calvino did a takeoff on Bulwer-Lytton? Do tell. Must read!
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 5 2024 12:59 utc | 81
@ DunGroanin | Feb 5 2024 12:34 utc | 78 again
I doubt that an obsession with metaphysics can be traced to repressed homosexuality — unless, of course, one has a fondness for beating Austrian schoolboys. More likely it’s a product of compulsive onanism — unless, of course, one has a dishy vixen like Hannah Arendt as a pupil.
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 5 2024 13:10 utc | 82
I just finished binge-watching Donald Glover / Hiro Murai’s latest, and had so many big-belly laughs. Strongly recommended for anyone wanting good and meaningful entertainment.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Feb 5 2024 13:18 utc | 83
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 5 2024 2:15 utc | 57
...Stumbled on this hilarious opinion piece from Australia.
I remember reading the first sentence of this at the time, but just checked the author now, very surprised to see it's Geoffery Robertson, probably Australia's most well known human rights lawyer (residing in London for most of his career) who has fought many a good fight, even represented Julian Assange at one stage. IMO someone who ought to know better, and if they don't should be capable of finding out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Robertson
Quite the propaganda piece, written by such a credible rep in Oz that very few would think to question it.
Posted by: Stan | Feb 5 2024 13:43 utc | 84
Passerby @75
I must say that the same question occurred to me, as well. Also, in my day, Sargeants and Privates were not bunked together. In those days, the only females around were army nurses, and they were nowhere near us grunts at night (unfortunately). Also odd is that the two Privates were posthumously promoted to Sargeant, but the actual Sargeant did not get a posthumous promotion.
Posted by: AJ | Feb 5 2024 13:45 utc | 85
@ malenkov | Feb 5 2024 12:59 utc | 79
Many decades ago I read it - was a bit young to get its whole meaning. Quite short like Cosmicomics, I probably have it in a dusty corner somewhere. Will need to dig it out for some re-reading.
‘If on a Winter's Night a Traveler is a marvel of ingenuity, an experimental text that looks longingly back to the great age of narration—"when time no longer seemed stopped and did not yet seem to have exploded." ‘
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 5 2024 14:19 utc | 86
Interesting drone flight dynamics from Chinese researchers. Relevant to extended cruise range / duration and maintaining flight control under failure scenarios.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkyC3VjRTaA
Lifting-wing Quadcopter Modeling and Unified ControlHybrid unmanned aerial vehicles integrate the efficient forward flight of fixed-wing UAVs and vertical take-off and landing capabilities of multicopter UAVs. We designed a new type of hybrid UAV, coined as lifting-wing quadcopters , which has a highly reliable structure, robust wind resistance, and reliable transition flight. This video presents the modeling, control, simulation, and real flight of lifting-wing quadcopters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmZZoT9rPFs
Uniform Passive Fault-Tolerant Control of a Quadcopter with One, Two, or Three Rotor FailureThis study proposes a uniform passive fault-tolerant control (FTC) method for a quadcopter that does not rely on fault information subject to one, two adjacent, two opposite, or three rotors failure. The uniform control implies that the passive FTC is able to cover the condition from quadcopter fault-free to rotor failure without controller switching. …
Posted by: anon2020 | Feb 5 2024 15:23 utc | 87
An article worth reading and thinking about, especially for those falling for the fascist propaganda against dealing with this most important problem.
"Too late? Climate Change Denial And The Rise of Fascism" by Dr Andrew Glikson (I'm not sure about that name)
https://countercurrents.org/2024/02/too-late-climate-change-denial-and-the-rise-of-fascism/
DunGroanin this sort of mental diarhoea is counter-productive. The Manchester Guardian's roots were not Zionist at all, although almost a century later Scott, who had succeeded the founders and their organisation did indeed become a Zionist, partly under the influence of a Chemistry lecturer at the oal University.
AS to the rubbish about Engels I suppose thhat you figure that there is a limit to what 'polite society' will let you get away with so regular references of a derogatory nature to Marxists work for you.
A mind is a terrible thing to waste and corrupt. Honesty, in the sense of writing what you understand and believe, rather than what will produce the most extravagant performance, is the best policy. And actually helps.
"....their Zionist roots in Manchester as mouthpieces of slave owners and mill workers of the dark satanic mills , who were through Engels the backers of Marx’s works to create that new religion…."
Posted by: bevin | Feb 5 2024 15:36 utc | 88
"Too late? Climate Change Denial And The Rise of Fascism" by Dr Andrew Glikson (I'm not sure about that name)
https://countercurrents.org/2024/02/too-late-climate-change-denial-and-the-rise-of-fascism/
Posted by: bevin | Feb 5 2024 15:36 utc | 86
The earth has had climate change for 3 billion years. The last ice age almost made mankind extinct with only 20 couples at the nadir. There is no such thing as "Man Made Climate Change."
"Well, we've waxed. So we can wane. Let's just hope we wane gently. Because once in our history, the world-wide population of human beings skidded so sharply we were down to roughly a thousand reproductive adults. One study says we hit as low as 40." (1)
And, cold almost killed us (no fossil fuels at that time it was a natural cycle change)one should be more worried about getting cold not warming.
Carbon is what we, animals and plants are-the more C02 in the atmosphere the more plants and animals can be grown and both these sustain human survival.
As a matter of fact today we are in a low C02 environment currently. 500 million years ago there was 500% more CO2 in the atmosphere and the planet did fine.
Unfortunately, the Powers that Be are trying to scare us, shame us so we live cheaper (eat bugs, use inefficient power sources, have few if no kids, no cars et al) and they can degrade our standard of living so they can pillage more.
Even strong minds whom usually do research to be prudent are tearing their hair out believing in this shit. 40 years ago the Club of Rome predicted an ice age; 40 years later the same group is promoting climate warming. People wake the fuck up!!
Kindly please read the piece below:
"This white paper summarizes the views of the CO2
Coalition, a new and independent, non-profit organization that seeks to engage thought leaders, policy
makers, and the public in an informed, dispassionate discussion of how our planet
will be affected by CO2 released from the combustion of fossil fuel. Available
scientific facts have persuaded Coalition members that additional CO2
will be a net benefit. Rather than immediately setting this document aside for promoting such
a politically incorrect view, readers would do well to act on the ancient motto of
Britain’s prestigious Royal Society—nullius in verba, “don’t take anyone’s word for
it,” or more simply, “see for yourself.”
Claims that “97 percent of scientists” agree that a climate catastrophe is looming
because of the emission of CO2 should be greeted with skepticism. Traditional
science has advanced by comparing observations or experiments with theoretical
predictions. If there is agreement with theory, confidence in the theory is increased.
If there is disagreement, the theory is abandoned or it is modified and tested again
against observations.
Scientific truth has never been established by consensus, for example, by “97
percent agreement.” History reveals many instances when the scientific consensus
of the day was later discredited. The widespread embrace and practice of eugenics
in the early 1900s; opposition to the theory of plate tectonics in geology; and the
dominance of Lysenkoist biology in the Soviet bloc, are a few recent examples. Given
the frequency of mistaken consensus, citizens everywhere should heed the Royal
Society’s motto and learn as much as they can about how increasing CO2
levels in the atmosphere will affect the planet.......
Progress over more than three decades is extremely unusual. In science, observational data are the ultimate test of theory and modeling.
Climate data show significant divergence between computer predictions and the
Earth’s actual climate record. Figure 2 shows average global temperature changes
during 1995–2015, as provided by NASA satellite data: despite a 13 percent increase
in atmospheric CO2 levels during this period, there is no statistically discernible
warming trend.3
The climate record is thus at odds with the IPCC’s Third (2001) and
Fourth (2007) Assessment Reports’ forecasts.4 During this 20-year period, the Earth’s
atmosphere warmed by only 0.05 C;5 but computer models predicted a far more
dramatic 0.4 C rise in global temperature." (2)
2. https://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/FC7C4946-11A3-4967-BF28-8D0386608D3E
Here's an interesting thing in the news. I only know it's been a trend over the years. Any comments?
New Northern Irish leader predicts vote on leaving UK
Michelle O’Neill, the only Irish nationalist to have ever been appointed as leader of Northern Ireland, has said that she anticipates a referendum on Irish unity to take place within the next 10 years.In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, O’Neill noted that her campaign was based on being the “first minister for all.”
“I am somebody who wants to be a unifier. I am somebody who wants to bring people together,” she stressed.
When asked whether she agrees with the statement of her party leader Mary Lou McDonald, that a United Ireland is “within touching distance” as opposed to “decades” away, O’Neill said that she believes that Northern Ireland is witnessing “a decade of opportunity.”
...
Prior to O’Neill, there had been 11 consecutive unionist leaders at the head of Northern Ireland’s government since Stormont was established 103 years ago.Sinn Fein has the stated goal of achieving a united Ireland, whereas the DUP wants it to remain part of the UK. A referendum on Irish reunification can only be held at the discretion of the British government.
Posted by: David G Horsman | Feb 5 2024 16:25 utc | 90
Lavrov's Dog | Feb 5 2024 4:39 utc | 68
***.. whole issue is sickening how it's been twisted .. same as all the rest of the accusations.***
But just think of the distress and deprivation that rescue of children by Russia may have inflicted upon really important people attending Bohemian Grove and Davos!
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 5 2024 16:32 utc | 91
Posted by: Stan | Feb 5 2024 13:43 utc | 82
(Australian 'lawyer' Geoffrey Robertson)
Geoffrey is an insincere dramatist, a waste of space, AND a 100% died-in-the-wool Zionist. He has a very commanding stage manner. He had a brief TV series called GR's Hypotheticals circa 20 years ago on abc.net.au.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 5 2024 16:43 utc | 92
Spy News from India
Indian police arrest Moscow embassy staffer accused of spying for Pakistan
An employee of the Indian Embassy in Moscow allegedly provided Pakistan with sensitive information.
==============
Suspected Chinese spy pigeon freed
The bird was detained last May after being discovered with a suspicious message inscribed on its wings
A pigeon suspected of conducting espionage operations on behalf of the People’s Republic of China has been released by Indian officials after eight months of detention following an intervention by PETA, the animal rights group has said.The bird was detained last May close to a port in Mumbai after it was discovered wearing two rings on its legs, with words that appeared to be Chinese inscribed on its wings, prompting concerns about its possible involvement in espionage."
I'm thinking they caught it trying to take off in a balloon...
Posted by: David G Horsman | Feb 5 2024 16:49 utc | 93
Dun Groanin with a physiological explanation of my "vision" tells sense, but I must remind him that fwiw the heuristic is formally a hypothesis, as is the possibility that I brought into play, that it might have been an actual vision. Now you can of course handwave away any notion of non-materialist interaction of "brains"/minds, but I highly doubt this position is actually defendable. I gave my arguments for the case here before, so they need not be repeated.
Those arguments allow, via the mind/body problem, for a natural extension into a space of questioning that was lost with european scientific modernity, and that spacer goes by the old name metaphysics. It's simply those questions reappearing after folks (or at least some folks) have realized that materialism has basic shortcomings that sets it up for failure to provide a solid solution. Believing the opposite is superstition; arguing the case while knowing about the counter-arguments by calling their proponent a drunken compulsive wanker is, uhm ... funny.
You also deal effective sabotage to my call for others to come forward. It's known that much more people are experiencing paranormal phenomena than common believe holds, but that many of them will not speak out in public (or even to family members) for fear of being ridiculed, or worse. We had an actual case here on the moon just recently. Many of the afflicted are disturbed by their actual medial abilities, and so it is no surprise that self-help groups are starting to spring up. I've visited one here, and it was intense to hear the stories there. As must be expected, not everyone there is entirely truthful, but this is another case of the first point I made in this post: you cannot refute a hypothesis A by providing another hypothesis B (when A and B are not mutually exclusive).
My whole "metaphysical" argument rests on this logic, actually. It is derived from a philosophical approach towards mathematics, in turn taken from a Husserlian point of view. You may want to argue with that. Or are you interested in my photography? malenkov had it right, I was never interested in the gay gaze, so I'm not sure if I can help. But do try hotpants if you've got the legs and ass for that, combine with a muscle shirt/dress, basecap, sandals, and pack tights for a summer night out on a festival. Study a little fashion history for more clues on how men can be dressed to actually look sexy, physique-wise.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 5 2024 16:56 utc | 94
That should read, more precisely, to refute hypothesis-A with h-B is only possible by them being mutually exclusive towards their premises; else they are possible alternatives.
It's a special of negation, "the negation towards the premise." Three other types exist in language-based reasoning, and I'll provide them here, for it is very useful knowledge. Sonderegger came up with it.
Negation towards the conclusion - as in producing an error in deduction; a non-sequitur.
Negation towards an added premise - here, the premises are correct and the deduction is sound, but the negation arises with the point that not all premises relevant to case have been included in the deduction. A simple example is when you adapt your usual time to commute after a construction site has been set up along the route, obstructing traffic.
Negation by performance - A speaker simply turns his back and walks away. Very much a reversal of violence, where the other party takes this speaker out, whether by abduction, intoxication or defamation, etc. - I'm sure some here will have ideas.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 5 2024 17:17 utc | 95
I just googled Tucker Carlson Putin Interview. It produced umpteen dozen responses. The Grauniad described him as a Far Right commentator, which is news to me. I caught his first 6 or eight interviews as an independent and liked his style i.e. he asked questions and then shut up when the subject was answering.
If TC gets face to face with Putin there's a better than even chance that VVP will speak in English which will win him a few tens of million fans in the West's Mock Democracies - IF the disgusting Western MSM reports it?
...........
Enigmatic China?
China has tried a Chinese-born Oz journalist, behind closed doors, on espionage charges, found him Guilty and handed down a death sentence. However, his execution has been suspended and if he passes a Good Behaviour hurdle it will be commuted to Life in prison.
Oz.gov is pretending not to know what to make of this non-outcome.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 5 2024 17:35 utc | 96
Good thing for climate change skeptics (let's just call them Tommy. Pete Townshend picked a nice name for them) the Petroleum Industry Marketing Lobby has their ignorant lying backs, and spreading that prefab manure should be effortless in an otherwise tightly controlled atmosphere of censorship and deceit.
Save us from those who would otherwise try to do something positive.
As if they exist in the corridors of power.
Nobody is stupid enough for this line of garbage.
That makes the perpetrators simply liars.
Posted by: Not Ewe | Feb 5 2024 18:03 utc | 97
On a further note, "not to wank" is not by itself a deed; as such, I cannot recommend it. Enjoy yourselves, people. But spare a thought about presence of others (if only for me, please), however remote they may be. Desire includes lust and intimacy; fullfilment hence necessitates encounter. The transgressive element coming into play here, the Ander-Ich, or Thou, makes things not just more interesting, but actually real in the first place ... for most, that is. Perhaps you sport a kink in hiding your emotions, or you are an objectophile, or you have arousing fantasies of flight, or with more abstract encounters - I heard God is a nice fellow in this regard, too. The girl who hinted me this could make her horse go backwards, when plucking from the large blackberry bush.
To mind comes Tom of Finland also. I was a Dj at two expositions of his drawings, in Hamburg-St. GAYorg, and then in Berlin at Salon Dahlmann. One of his drawings [family friendly, slightly cropped version] - to those unaware, he's famous for his gay pin-ups - made an especially lasting impression on me. I dedicated a mixtape to it that was played in loop at the Hamburg venue. Lennart Münchenhagen, who did the curation, stated that Tom's men are an emancipative gesture, not merely aestheticized porn, and I believe he has a very good point there. Tom desires a self-ideal, rather than an actual Thou, though the symbology may be useful in this regard too. It adds to the "iconografic vocabulary", I guess.
The lack of means and avenues for gay men (and assorted other groups) to self-express in public gets me riled up to no end, whenever the topic comes up. I mean, cum on, what the fuck should (and do) I care what other people do with their mates of choice!? When I was at the Berghain Club in Berlin, which is a quite gay/queer venue, I found myself unable to party, because so many folks there obviously were in a very strong need to fill a gap in their means of self-expression, the pumped-up steroid guys (who have their own corner there) being the starkest example. The basic problem is one of civilization, no less, and it afflicts women, too. Their tendency to experience themselves as "beings of love" by gifting their love away to those around them - their kids and family, or the wider community, depending on societal organization - is held to disregard, or even contempt, by the logic of capitalism. It is basically sin to gift oneself away "for free" ... perhaps this notion is crude for our Marxist barflies, but it's how I came to see it for now. I'd be happy to read some further elaboration on the point from the barflies!
On a final note, the lack of means of self-expression is also a huge issue for female sexuality in general. The disregard of the offensively signalling female is not just psychologically brutal, it also shows a remarkable lack of taste, methinks.
Unlike the Tempranillo, which I'm having to restock now. Thanks, Moa. Good night and sweet dreams to all --
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 5 2024 19:02 utc | 98
Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 5 2024 2:19 utc | 61
bevin | Feb 5 2024 2:22 utc | 62
Refinnejenna | Feb 5 2024 2:50 utc | 66
Lavrov's Dog | Feb 5 2024 4:39 utc | 70
Much obliged for the links, the excerpts and the comments.
If you are still on this board, just to share my feedback: the source, the manner and the substance of the information that came my way from one who is usually much more skeptical of what he reads, namely Wikipedia (!!) should probably tell us something: namely that we shouldn’t just dismiss these accusations as bogus and move on to the next nonsense propaganda that comes our way. There are many people in the world who don’t realize how heavily Wikipedia is edited and how wall-to-wall the propaganda can go on ALL search engines. To the point that 3 pages down I still could not find any of the links or information you all provided above, not even official Russian responses. And I mean Google, DDG, Brave, Firefox and all the usual alternatives. This should tell us something.
We who know what’s going on find it straightforward to dismiss the obvious lies like the 40 beheaded babies, the wall to wall Hamas rape stories, the Bucha massacres etc etc. But not everyone can.
I take it upon myself to try and turn some of the more intelligent and skeptically minded individuals out there to at least give a consideration to the fact that there’s another side to the story. If each of us do just this one tiny bit, directing 2 or 3 add’l individuals to alternative media like The Gray Zone, etc. we have already done a lot to contribute in the service of truth.
Yes, yes, I know it’s wearing but surely we can’t just leave it all to those few individuals the world over who do the good work and heavy lifting. Just spreading alternative views is something so they know there’s that other side, and that tiny seed of doubt is sown.
Posted by: Merlin2 | Feb 5 2024 19:15 utc | 99
Reuters has a posting title
King Charles diagnosed with cancer, will postpone duties and undergo treatment
How can the leader of the free world postpone his duties? How will the world continue to spin?
Given the ongoing genocide practiced by the British monarchy I offer no condolences to King Chuck and only hope his suffering leads to his renunciation of our sick Western form of social organization with his exceptionalism at the core.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 5 2024 20:22 utc | 100
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I thought the Neo Nazis were critical in driving cannon fodder forward and executing them if they run away. So, the next question is, will they keep doing that? I also heard that the British guard Zelensky personally so nobody kills him. Doomed as doomed can be.
Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 4 2024 14:09 utc | 1