“You Didn’t Even Post. So What Did You Do Today?”

February 12, 2024

I have had no idea what serious issue to post about today.

But this:

When I say that running MoA is a full time job it raises doubts and I may even get laughed at. But it is. Even when I don't post.

I have to read, every day, a large number of pieces and/or watch videos to collect new ideas. It takes time to process those into conscious contexts and then those into blog posts.

Today, like every day, I have of course skimmed over of the usual mainstream stuff, NYT and WaPo nonsense, but found little in it to take note of.

I then skimmed through the comments at this blog and cleared up the spam list.

Then I walked through what my various news feeds provide. It is often quite a lot.

Here is what I consumed (read or watched) today and found worthy enough to copy URL, headline and some excerpts.

Middle East:

The World’s Gyre – SCF
Biden may see himself needing some ‘grand victory’, as much as does Netanyahu, Alastair Crooke writes.
Alastair Crooke: Regional Armageddon in Middle East (video) (30min) – Judge Napolitano
U.S. strikes on militias, some backed by Iran, rile key ally in Iraq – Washington Post
Israel Weaponizes Sympathy And Victimhood – Caitlin Johnstone

Ukraine-Russia:

Ukraine May Have Deployed One Its Best Brigades To Try To Save Avdiivka – Forbes
BAD ASSUMPTIONS, BAD RESULTS (BY HELMHOLTZ SMITH) – Sonar21
Planning for the Aftermath (looong) – RAND
Assessing Options for U.S. Strategy Toward Russia After the Ukraine War
Erich Vad im Interview: „Über das Schicksal der Ukraine wird in Washington und Moskau entschieden“ – Berliner Zeitung
GALICIAN NATIONALISM: UKRAINE’S DISASTER: PART ONE – M Bastal
In Memory of Gonzalo Lira- Galician Nationalism: Ukraine's Disaster: Part 2 – M Bastal
Former CIA Analyst Issues Warning to Zelensky – Newsweek
Zaluzhny firing not even a band-aid as Ukraine strategy bleeds out – Responsible Statecraft
Zelensky names Ukraine’s new army chief after removing Zaluzhny (archived) – London Times
Jacques Baud n’aurait-il pas plutôt annoncé et répété très tôt une vérité que personne ne voulait entendre à l’ouest? (video 1h30m) (In French: I used CC and autotranslate to make sure I get it.)
Zelensky enacts strategy for de-occupation and reintegration of Crimea (Mar 2021) – Ukrinform
The Republican Plot Against Donald Trump – American Conservative
The inside story of how Congress is pursuing endless war in Ukraine—and trying to stop a Trump election.

China:

China will not fall into ‘trap’ of war in Taiwan Strait: former envoy Cui Tiankai – SCMP
The Red Sea Crisis Proves China Was Ahead of the Curve – Foreign Policy
The Belt and Road Initiative wasn’t a sinister plot. It was a blueprint for what every nation needs in an age of uncertainty and disruption.

Other stuff:

Glaring irregularities – Editorial – DAWN
The Hole In Boeing’s Inspection Program – Lever News
Sam Altman's chip ambitions may be loonier than feared – The Register

That is all I did for the day. It feels like a lot. And that was without writing a real piece for the blog.

Oh, not to forget – I also bought food and prepared a meal for myself.

Later today I will read the Strana.news summary of the day (usually out at 18:00 UTC). At 20:30 UTC I will listen to Dima's Military Summary (well, at least to the first 10 minutes of it).

Then it will finally be the end of my day.

So what did you do today?

Posted by b on February 12, 2024 at 17:46 UTC | Permalink

Comments

This is psyvhogical warfare. Rather than attack our wise and conscientious host, they pay some waster shill to play games with him.
Nil carborundum

Posted by: Giyane | Feb 13 2024 15:38 utc | 201

Looking for good stuff? Check out Ben Norton’s take on Tucker and Putin and the US war on China:
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2024/02/10/putin-tucker-carlson-china-cia/

Posted by: bill wolfe | Feb 13 2024 15:46 utc | 202

Apparently the Israelis really believe they are a master race:
Sperm from 91 fallen soldiers retrieved, bill to allow use awaiting Knesset approval
By WALLA! FEBRUARY 8, 2024

Sperm has been recovered from the bodies of 91 fallen soldiers since the beginning of the ground operation in Gaza, according to part of a report from the Knesset’s health committee on Wednesday.
According to the Health Ministry, since October 7, there have been a total of 120 successful sperm preservation cases, of which 110 involved soldiers. The committee also claims that 82 of these cases were carried out at the request of the parents.

So either a spouse or a parent can request the use of the sperm. In case of parent perhaps into a surrogate?

Posted by: Laura Roslin | Feb 13 2024 16:17 utc | 203

If I may add to this magnificent post by b, know, many of you found your way to Moon via news aggregators. One can take b’s day as a baseline, and easily add another 200 – 300 more story headlines scanned and roughly 30 – 50 articles scanned and/or read thoroughly . This number doesn’t include breaking stories, video interviews, hearings, etc.
After researching one has to synthesize the information, and in b’s case, write a full post while also formatting it and then publishing it in a timely fashion. Few indy’s have editors much less anyone we can delegate any work too. This gig is totally one-hundred percent driven by passion – I think after following b all of these years I can say he/we are motivated by the facts/truth and he/we are driven by the need to tell them in the most educational way possible.
The only part of my news hunting day where I know unequivocally the content of a post is factually based (it’s all I link to at my site), the writer’s articulation aka style captures the essence of what is happening in real time, and is educating a ‘big picture’ understanding of the subject at hand is right here at Moon.
b is the most consistent, factually based while also very educational national security/foreign policy writer anywhere found on the web. I’ve been reading his work daily for more than a decade now and link to his work a couple of times a week. I also skim the first page of comments b/c y’all are some of the savviest arm-chair pundits on the internet and your opinions, thoughts, links help me to have a more solid, robust understanding of the subject du jour.
Taken all together, it is easy for me to say Moon, b and the barfly comments are by far some of the most informed foreign policy/national security site found anywhere on the information highway.
I never sat at Billmon’s Whiskey Bar, but I surely have sat here at Moon’s. How lucky we are to have such a place to learn and share what we’ve learned about some of the most difficult, twisted, tragic, historical events seen in a lifetime.
Cheers to you b, and to all of you interested and engaged barflies!

Posted by: h | Feb 13 2024 16:29 utc | 204

I have often wondered how your day is going and how much i appreciate your mind, the way you think and process, how you always seem to land on the most timely of topics and what my life would have been like without you in it. really. it’s immeasurable how much you have impacted my world of thought and perspective. thank you b, from the bottom of my heart.

Posted by: annie | Feb 13 2024 16:31 utc | 205

It was wonderful concert.
Posted by: canuck | Feb 13 2024 12:32 utc | 175
No doubt.
I’m familiar with the Who, although I never saw them live. I was just surprised to be compared to them, as I make every attempt to keep my posts in the realm of reasoned discourse and the Who, while certainly promoting some of the same messages, were more about stimulating an emotional response. I’m not offended by the comparison, just surprised.

Posted by: Honzo | Feb 13 2024 16:32 utc | 206

As an old barfly I just have to note that we now have more than double the comments for this posting than b got from his latest fund raising post.
I can only hope that all the commenters here and others help financially support this ongoing oasis for our corner of humanity and thank you for that.
Peace and love to all

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 13 2024 16:35 utc | 207

“So either a spouse or a parent can request the use of the sperm. In case of parent perhaps into a surrogate?”
Posted by: Laura Roslin | Feb 13 2024 16:17 utc | 203
I don’t think this answers your question very well but the Old Testament has a bunch about fluids.
Can anyone who is more knowledgeable [not a high bar, editor] than tell me Now why is the Old testament in Latin and not Hebrew?
“Sera lavetela. Semen in vain. Scripture was clear: wet dreams, masturbation, (Deut. 23:10-12; Lev. 15:16–17), and rape (Deut. 22:23–26) are all polluting (although battlefield sex or ”marriage” is permitted). James Aho: “After all, ancient Israel was a patriarchal society, and each of these acts entails seminal discharge into something that might confuse or frustrate male lineage.” One ancient rabbi in the Gemara, Rabbi Johana, is quoted as saying, “whoever emits semen in vain deserves capital punishment.”
Uncontrollable emissions are compared to menstrual blood, which is so unclean that Leviticus 15 says women, after they are totally done discharging, have to wait another week and then take two young pigeons to the priest who offers one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to make atonement for the “discharge of her uncleanness.”
Fluids matter in Hebrew cultures, and in all cultures that want so desperately to feel clean and pure. If you want to feel pure, and you want your group to feel pure, then you have to construct ideas of impurity (concepts of impurity strengthen and affirm what is “pure”).
And there appears nothing more impure and sinful, within Judaism, than failed sex. Remember Onan, in Gen 38, dies after spilling his semen, which really freaked people out. Anxieties around wet dreams were also linked to and energized by a belief that semen was sentient, and if spilled could give birth to demons. (1)”
1. https://davidtitterington.medium.com/jewish-wet-dreams-9b87a441ddf8

Posted by: canuck | Feb 13 2024 16:39 utc | 208

On waking every morning, I make a pot of tea (strong enough for a mouse to dance on, per my Irish great great grandmother) then check, in this order: NY Times (gotta know what the ruling class wants us to think … and their recipes are excellent,) Moon of Alabama, and Naked Capitalism.
Posted by: Eclair | Feb 13 2024 15:36 utc | 200
I’m not sure what ‘us’ you belong to, but I know the NYT doesn’t care what I think. They are primarily water-cooler fuel for people well embedded in the system. Good corporate drones, bureaucrats and academics know what to think when they read the NYT. Or, at least what to say. Thinking is optional. I think Naked Capitalism is directed more at shaping what people more on the fringes think.
The MSM is a good guide to what the PTB would like ‘ordinary’ people to think, and, reading between the lines, to what the PTB is doing, or plans to do, which usually is not the same as what it wants the plebes to think it’s doing. For example, for many years they’ve been telling us they want a war with Russia and a war with Iran and a war with China, when all three of those ‘initiatives’ were about a war with Europe, which we are now experiencing.

Posted by: Honzo | Feb 13 2024 16:40 utc | 209

BZ b. The Russians learning how to use JDAM-like ordnance for precision strikes puts the nail in the coffin of this artillery war, taking out people and equipment with no risk. You can have a million drones and no drone operators. The Afghans became gunsmiths and the graveyard of empires. Gazans are making their own 50 cal rifles and now have the sympathy of the world, not unlike the Vietnamese in that exercise of hubris. To me this is a kind of inside information that we should be profiting from. Any ideas?

Posted by: RogerBall62 | Feb 13 2024 17:34 utc | 210

Thank you b for the interview of Baud. A must see and an amazing lecture on 20th c. history. I would add three small points. At 35′ he mentions the role of snipers shooting both side of a demonstration and leading to the polarization of the Ukrainian population: the same script had been used in the ‘Arab Spring’ countries and even in Iraq (maybe even before 2011 for Iraq). At 1’03, about the naivety of the Ukrainian regime in thinking it would get some real help from the West, it seems they had not been following previous Western betrayals of their puppets such as the one of the southern Iraqi Shiites in 1991 or that of the Syrian ‘rebels’. Finally, about the ‘narrative’ at 1’21, the very same method was used about Syria.

Posted by: Tom2 | Feb 13 2024 18:18 utc | 211

It was wonderful concert.
Posted by: canuck | Feb 13 2024 12:32 utc | 175
“No doubt.
I’m familiar with the Who, although I never saw them live. I was just surprised to be compared to them, as I make every attempt to keep my posts in the realm of reasoned discourse and the Who, while certainly promoting some of the same messages, were more about stimulating an emotional response. I’m not offended by the comparison, just surprised.’
Posted by: Honzo | Feb 13 2024 16:32 utc | 206
Honzo, you are giving me too much credit. Attempting to align a musical group or theme to a poster is a fools errand at best yet as a slightly drunk (1/2 bottle of Bordeaux)and some fantastic weed (my son had it I don’t now it’s providence) I figured to to do the task as homage to b as I imagined the bar with diverse music was a metaphorical tool to describe the inclusiveness (little censorship), variety of the bar b created; not by me, not by you, not by the posters: it was b’s.
And if I did it again the thing again it would be much longer and I would take my time [don’t think canuk would have done that as he would have sobered up and realize he was an idiot doing such an endeavour, editor] as I missed many of the great MOA posters.
Anyways, in your case the raucousness (smashing of the guitars et al) of “The Who” does not fit at all with my perception of your posts, and, ultimately of yourself.
On the other hand, the lyrics did-you see through the bullshit: “the new boss, the old boss” regardless of the political angles its repression.
I told you I was inebriated-at the time I imagined my comparisons were genius!!!

Posted by: canuck | Feb 13 2024 20:03 utc | 212

DunGroanin | Feb 13 2024 14:54 utc | 192
“…most of the US players are afroamericans!”
So what?
NFL players are (1) physically superb (2) mentally tough (3) exceptionally intelligent
If you lack any one of those, you ain’t gonna make it in the NFL, I don’t care what color you are.
It will be interesting to see how that Louis Rees-Zammit does.

Posted by: Johnny Dollar | Feb 14 2024 1:07 utc | 213

I think Simplicius the Thinker had a similar complaint recently. Maybe both these complaints are cyberwarfare.

Posted by: Edward Q | Feb 14 2024 1:11 utc | 214

Impressive. I accidentally found your site mid January 2020. You observations at the time were very astute but contrary to the media narrative. I’ve noticed that even some elites are aware posts here.
Thank you for all your work. I’ll make sure to send something to help with expenses.

Posted by: Bismarck | Feb 14 2024 4:40 utc | 215

178 Jane. Thank you for this informative post.

Posted by: Lavieja | Feb 14 2024 7:57 utc | 216

178 Jane.
Yes, bottom line if you vote in any election in West, national or local, do not vote for a genocider!

Posted by: Lavieja | Feb 14 2024 8:12 utc | 217

Rarely. That type of progress is characterized by short cuts and cheap rubbish/poor quality work.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 12 2024 22:37 utc | 104
Evidence abounds in my industry (software development).

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Feb 14 2024 8:15 utc | 218

Thank you b for all your work.

Posted by: Lavieja | Feb 14 2024 8:19 utc | 219

@ Posted by: Johnny Dollar | Feb 14 2024 1:07 utc | 213
Johnny Johnny Johnny I put up a piece of bait and you swallow it hook line and sinker!
I ALSO don’t care about skin colour when it comes to success.
The point I was making is the unequal demographic in the sport against the population as a whole.
What you should consider is why and How that has come about in US athleticism?
Well do you have any idea?
Here’s a clue – American Football has a Draft and an AUCTION.
Players are property.
Your language of merits resembles how racing horse owners talk of their champions. Farmers speak of their breeders …
Do you follow what I’m trying to say?
Reese-Zammit will do fine – he will get a lot of sponsorship and make money. He will be targeted as a pretty boy. He will make great friends especially with the afroamericans for whom he will have the highest respect for their ability and he will be shocked by how much systemic racism that exists with US society still going back to its slave owning foundations and trading of humans which meant that the physically fittest and smartest survived to ‘breed’ giving the US the inadvertent superiority in AfroAmericans athleticism which is only matched by some Africans – even though there are many orders more Africans than Acroa-Americans.
I am not calling you a racist, I was just responding to your o/p on the greatest game ever! And wanted to throw a bit of cold water over that sport by citing the current Six Nations in Europe. The World Cup was good too last year. But the game is not as widely played as it should be. It is unlikely to survive in the long term. Particularly as it has become obvious what the long term damage of concussions are and the players nowadays are professional, ultra fit and make and take much more impacts than just a generation ago. The professional game is almost ‘lethal’.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 14 2024 14:53 utc | 220

MOA is number one. Always has been, always will be.

Posted by: Michael T | Feb 14 2024 19:41 utc | 221

b. I don’t know how you do it. And you’ve been doing it for such a long time. Anyone who cares knows how much of a difference you make in our world. You are one amazing man [and a smashing host too]

Posted by: beq | Feb 16 2024 0:21 utc | 222

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