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April 3, 2025
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-068
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Canada should get close to having the Bomb.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/international/2025/03/29/should-canada-explore-developing-a-nuclear-weapons-program/
“Bélanger argued that there may come a time when Canada can no longer rely on more powerful military allies for protection, and that creating a nuclear weapons program of its own may be a necessary deterrent against the threat of foreign aggression.
He said developing nuclear capability does not necessarily need to happen now, but Canada should be thinking about “shoring up” its nuclear latency “to the point where if we are in need and if we decide (to) as a nation… we’ll be ready to go.””
Posted by: Poul | Apr 3 2025 15:35 utc | 1
In law, there is presumption of innocence for the accused, and presumption of impartiality for the judges. IMHO, the way things are going judges are not doing anything to merit that presumption.
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 3 2025 15:46 utc | 2
Atilio Borón in an op-ed published at TeleSur English recognizes the impossibility of Trump’s quest to return to the past. Described by Toynbee as archaism, an attempt to return to some glorious past is a doomed response to a disintegrating civilization.
It should come as no surprise that in the face of these threatening changes (that had been manifest since the beginning of the frustrated “new American century”) some scholars, pundits and government advisors have made emphatic calls for the American leadership to exercise naked power, leaving aside all conventionalisms or adherence to international legality. One of them, Robert Kagan, substantiated this advise in a long and highly influential article published the year after the 9/11 attacks. Unlike Europe, he said, the U.S. leadership must be aware that “we live in an anarchic, Hobbesian world in which international laws and norms are insecure and uncertain. In such a scenario true security, defense and promotion of a liberal order depend on the possession and use of military force.” For Kagan, the world’s need for a “global gendarme” – an updated version of Hobbes’ Leviathan- was indisputable, and Washington was the only one with the will and capacity to fulfill that critical role. Hence the doctrine of “Preventive War” proclaimed by George W. Bush (Jr.) shortly after 9/11, which established that countries or governments that according to the White House standards are outside the law – namely, those that do not accept the lying “rules-based world order” designed to favor the United States and its vassals – must be neutralized or destroyed.(3) Kagan tops off his proposal by appealing to the vicious reasoning of a senior British diplomat, Robert Cooper, who argued that in dealing with the world outside Europe (or the “Anglosphere”, or the receding West) “we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era – force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century world of every state for itself. Among ourselves, we keep the law but when we are operating in the jungle, we must also use the laws of the jungle.” (4) The jungle is obviously all the rest of the planet outside the North Atlantic and most especially the outlying regions of the empire.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/trump-and-his-impossible-return-to-the-past/
Posted by: Keme | Apr 3 2025 15:50 utc | 3
The Zionist war criminal Netanyahu – praising Hungary’s leader, Orban for ignoring his arrest warrant.
“Netanyahu insisted that it is “important to stand up to this corrupt organization,” expressing confidence that Budapest will not be the last capital to abandon the ICC.”
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 3 2025 16:03 utc | 4
Surely the ICC has gotten it right this time – with arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant – Orban has picked a Zionist war criminal over the ICC – which granted, is a political tool of the Wests – but Netanyahu IS a war criminal and to side with him over the ICC is disgraceful, any respect I might have had for Orban on holding the EU to account has gone.
“Hungary will pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC) because it has become a “political tool,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.
The announcement coincides with a visit to the EU and NATO member-state by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the Hague-based body for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza.
During a joint press-conference with Netanyahu on Thursday, Orban said that in recent years the ICC had stopped being impartial and turned into “a political court.”
Hungary, which is a “democratic state governed by the rule of law, cannot participate in this,” he insisted.”
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 3 2025 16:11 utc | 5
I am happy Orban has revealed himself as an American lackey.
All of the signs were there.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 3 2025 16:11 utc | 6
Posted by: Poul | Apr 3 2025 15:35 utc | 1
##########
Canada should diversify its trade partners.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 3 2025 16:18 utc | 7
The French are chomping at the bit to go to war with Iran, even though Iran is no threat to France – if Iran doesn’t comply with the US on nuclear weapons – but why would Iranian leaders trust Trump on nukes, when he openly and forcefully reneged on the JCPOA deal in his last term as POTUS.
For me Iran should continue to plow ahead and develop nukes – without nukes it is vulnerable – and it will always be vulnerable until it possesses them.
“A military conflict with Iran would be highly likely if attempts to renegotiate a new nuclear deal fail, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot has warned.
US President Donald Trump has threatened Tehran with a bombing campaign if it does not concede on its nuclear program, which Washington alleges is aimed at developing atomic weapons. The Iranian government, which vehemently denies the claims, has vowed to retaliate against any attack.
Addressing French MPs on Wednesday after an Iran-focused government meeting led by President Emmanuel Macron, Barrot stated that without a new agreement, “a military confrontation would appear almost inevitable,” warning that such a scenario could further destabilize the Middle East.”
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 3 2025 16:20 utc | 8
Is Trump gearing up for a war on Iran.
“The US military has broken the record for militarization in West Asia by carrying out its largest offensive deployment to the region since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon in October 2023, Haaretz reports.
According to the Israeli newspaper, the US has beefed up its military presence in West Asia by sending additional squadrons of fighter jets, stealth bombers, and large quantities of weaponry in recent weeks.
The deployment amounts to a roughly 50 percent increase over the previous monthly peak in US military flights to the region.
It also includes transport and refueling aircraft, as well as numerous fighter jets from bases in the US and Europe.
At least six B-2 stealth bombers – one-third of the military’s fleet – have reportedly been deployed to the US airbase on Diego Garcia, a remote island in the Indian Ocean occupied by the US for military purposes.
The B-2 is the only aircraft that can deliver the massive GBU-57. The nine KC-135 air refueling tankers stationed at Diego Garcia reportedly give these stealth bombers the range to conduct bombing raids in West Asia.
The base has previously been used by the US military to bomb Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen.
Over 20 US military cargo planes have been deployed to the Persian Gulf from Japan and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, carrying Patriot and THAAD missile defense batteries.
Furthermore, US transport planes have landed in Djibouti and at a Saudi Red Sea airfield, equipping the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, which has been operating in recent months, particularly targeting Yemen.
At least 100 US F-35, F-15, and F-18 fighters are stationed in the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, and aboard the USS Truman. The USS Carl Vinson strike group is also on its way to the region.”
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 3 2025 16:41 utc | 9
Will Iran comply – or is an attack on Iran inevitable by the US, to protect is Zionists in Israel.
“Russia’s deputy foreign minister has warned the United States that any military attack on Iran’s nuclear sites would have “catastrophic” consequences for the entire region.
Sergei Ryabkov made the remarks during an interview with the International Affairs journal on Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran if it fails to come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program.
“Threats are indeed being heard, ultimatums are also being heard,” Ryabkov said, noting that “The consequences of this, especially if the strikes are on nuclear infrastructure, could be catastrophic for the entire region.”
He said Trump’s latest comments will only increase tensions and “complicate the situation” regarding Iran.
“We consider such methods inappropriate, we condemn them. We consider them a way for (the US) to impose its own will on the Iranian side,”
In letter to UN, Iran condemns Trump’s ‘reckless, belligerent remarks’
In letter to UN, Iran condemns Trump’s ‘reckless, belligerent remarks’
Iran has strongly condemned Trump
Iran has strongly condemned Trump’s threats against the country, describing them as a flagrant violation of international law and principles of the UN Charter.
On March 7, Trump announced he had written to Iran to call for nuclear negotiations and threaten military action. The letter was delivered to Tehran on March 12 by UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on March 21 that US threats “will get them nowhere” and warned of reciprocal measures “if they do anything malign” against Iran.”
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 3 2025 16:50 utc | 10
The US took control of a major airbase no ear Damascus yesterday
https://southfront.press/u-s-forces-took-over-key-air-base-near-syrias-damascus-war-monitor/
A reconnaissance force from the United States military accompanied by hundreds of fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Free Army (SFA) had entered al-Dumayr Air Base close to the Syrian capital, Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on March 31.
The air base, one of the largest and most fortified in Syria, is located some 40 kilometers to the northeast of Damascus and just under 20 kilometers to the east of the strategic M5 highway leading to the capital….
….In its report, the SOHR said that the U.S. was planning to take over al-Dumayr and turn it into a base for its forces. The new Syrian military and the SDF would later launch joint operations against ISIS cells in the Syrian desert from the air base, the London-based monitoring group added.
Posted by: Mary | Apr 3 2025 16:58 utc | 11
Daily Mail reports from Tel Aviv
https://archive.vn/2025.04.02-204054/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14562745/Trumps-bomb-Iran-DAN-HODGES-nuclear-chilling-War-coming.
EXCLUSIVE Trump is about to bomb Iran: Top Israeli sources reveal planned attack on nuclear sites and deliver chilling ‘war is coming’ warning – DAN HODGES
By DAN HODGES FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Published: 11:53 BST, 2 April 2025 | Updated: 13:10 BST, 2 April 2025
This morning the world’s focus is on Donald Trump’s decision to launch a global trade war. But in a few weeks’ time, the man who last month pledged to deliver ‘peace through strength’ is planning to embark on a real war.
I’m currently in Tel Aviv, and according to several senior political, military and diplomatic sources, the United States and Israel are preparing to launch a strike on Iran that will finally eradicate the threat posed by the country’s nuclear weapons programme.
Posted by: Mary | Apr 3 2025 17:02 utc | 12
Re: Netanyahu visit to Hungary
Which EU countries allowed overflight ?
Posted by: Exile | Apr 3 2025 17:20 utc | 13
Canada should diversify its trade partners.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 3 2025 16:18 utc | 7
Agreed. Also in an election year Canadians should ask themselves where the 45b raised through carbon taxes went? Almost half went to fund Ukraine.
Who was at the helm for this fiasco? Why except for carney they are still elected? carney freeland and trudeau.
Architects of a slush fund they spent on Ukrains future. The other half? Probly used to entice battery plants that will in all likelihood not happen. Canadians have a biblical opportunity to kick the money changers outa office.
Posted by: Tannenhouser | Apr 3 2025 18:19 utc | 14
it makes sense to criticize the west, but does anyone believe the rest of the world would treat the west better than the west treats them, if the tables were somehow reversed? not trying to ask a rhetorical question, if you think so please explain why, but the point im getting to would be to attack the point of view or way of thinking of people in power over the west, which may be something they don’t publicly say, like that they feel like they are genetically better people or something. just saying it can get a little repetitive reading hour after hour about how evil the west is without acknowledgement that the same paradigm might/probably would happen again should the tables be turned, especially with revenge being a likely existing motivation. unless the argument is that multipolarity would create stability and fairness. theres some logic in that but how do we basically take inherent human greed out of the equation altogether? do we try to have non-greedy ai rule over humanity? how else would you stop some kind of human(s) doing whatever it takes to seize power, no matter how disgusting or immoral? how do you stop psychopaths from winning when stabbing people in the back seems to be very effective yet ultimately something that comes back around in various ways, leading to a lot of destruction and a lack of safety for everyone?
Posted by: banked | Apr 3 2025 18:26 utc | 15
scmp
PLA wraps up drills aimed at ‘paralysing’ Taiwan and sending message to US and Japan
The joint exercise Strait Thunder-2025A ‘achieved its intended objectives’, according to a military spokesman
Mainland Chinese ground forces wrapped up drills targeting mock ports and energy facilities in the East China Sea on Wednesday, as part of the PLA’s military exercises near Taiwan.
A military analyst said the exercises also carried a strategic message of deterrence for American and Japanese forces stationed in the Ryukyu Islands.
The precision-strike exercise “achieved its intended objectives”, Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command, told state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday.
He added that the PLA had “successfully completed” various tasks during the exercises.
The long-range firepower drills marked a new phase in the joint operations launched on Tuesday, which have included land, sea, air and rocket forces in the Taiwan Strait and on the island’s eastern side.
Mainland military officials described the operation as a direct response to what they called escalating separatist activity from the Taiwanese leadership. The drills were aimed at strengthening strike capabilities and demonstrating Beijing’s resolve to deter independence moves, they said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Shi said the PLA was continuing its military exercises – code-named Strait Thunder-2025A – in the central and southern Taiwan Strait, with a focus on blockade enforcement.
The drills focused on tasks that included verification and identification, warning and expulsion, interception, and detention, with the aim of testing the troops’ capabilities in area control, joint blockade and precision strikes, he said.
Zhang Chi, a professor at the PLA’s National Defence University, said the live-fire drills demonstrated the military’s ability to strike across the full breadth of Taiwan with precision and efficiency.
Zhang told state broadcaster CCTV that the long-range rocket artillery used in the exercise could cover the entire island, with guided munitions capable of metre-level accuracy even at ranges of several hundred kilometres.
According to Zhang, the weapon systems combined extended range, high precision, concentrated firepower and lower costs, offering a strategic advantage over conventional missiles.
“A single salvo can deliver dozens of warheads, and its affordability compared to traditional missiles allows for sustained operations if needed,” he said. . . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 3 2025 18:27 utc | 16
Re: Netanyahu visit to Hungary
Which EU countries allowed overflight ?
Posted by: Exile | Apr 3 2025 17:20 utc | 13
______
All of them. Europe has effectively abandoned the ICC, with Orbán and Merz (strange bedfellows?) leading the way.
Posted by: malenkov | Apr 3 2025 18:31 utc | 17
IMO If we look at what has sustained the world in the past decades the primary factor is affordable energy. Literally everything including food is created with it. This requires energy transit. The second is the just in time supply chains and interconnected economy’s that have created unparalleled efficiency. These are the way that the planet has sustained the ever growing population.
There are several ways that these things are fragile. They are dependent on a financial system thats basis is rather abstract. Physically the infrastructure is not hardened or able to be defended adequately from war. The supply chains basis is agreements that allow profit to be made.
Abandoning other paradigms what we witness is actions that represent a disassembly of these fundamental physical things that have allowed the life we know. Tarrifs represent a end of the agreements that have formed the basis of supply chains. This is because of the reality of affordability. consumers simply can not afford to pay 25% more so they will consume 25% less. This means profit margins are destroyed and uncertain destroying necessary capital investment.
A more radical disassembly would be war that effects energy transit. We have yet to see if Trump will do that. I would be shocked but not surprised. What we witness is disassembly of key components that have allowed industrial civilization in its current form. If it is opined that Trump is not disassembling but holding these things as hostage in a equivalent of nuclear weapon use that may be correct. Regardless the effect is quite similar. With the security of the power of agreements gone with the power of diplomacy gone the future is uncertain. Investments can not be made and that is everywhere including the united states. Factor in the reality of affordability and there is no way to calculate whether profit is possible,
The third factor I will mention is it is the USA debt and the reserve currency status that made the affordable energy and the supply chains possible and this is completely unsustainable. Its artificial nature makes it subject to disassembly from the thing regarded as financial crisis that is actually the reality that the dollar is imaginary. Industrial civilization as we know it requires a near infinite credit source for exchanges to provide efficiency. Using regional currency’s is not far from barter. It requires evaluation of what the currency received is able to buy. This is fundamentally inefficient. Only a universal token allows exchanges to take place in abundance and with efficiency.
All of these things must function and function efficiently for the thing we regard as industrial civilization to have continuance.
Whether Trump understands it or not is a philosophical question. That Trump implements Greta goals is not. Who better to oversee the main event we see unfolding?
Posted by: LosBanos | Apr 3 2025 19:11 utc | 19
LoveDonbass | Apr 3 2025 16:18 utc | 7
Orban has welcomed Netanyahu, but by leaving the ICC he is now free to ALSO welcome Putin. Meaning that Hungary has now been turned into a possible “neutral” platform for negotiations etc. Orban did vist Moscow some time ago (years?) to try to arrange meetings/new parameters.
During a joint press-conference with Netanyahu on Thursday, Orban said that in recent years the ICC had stopped being impartial and turned into “a political court.”
Hungary, which is a “democratic state governed by the rule of law, cannot participate in this,” he insisted.”
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Apr 3 2025 16:11 utc | 5
I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. Perfectly consistent with his nationalist capitalist perspective. His opposition to Soros and the EU, etc seems praiseworthy but it’s always from the perspective of his tiny little domain of Hungary. His support for Russia and critique of Ukraine: same thing.
Orban, like Trump, is no revolutionary. Just the opposite. When compared to the nihilistic capitalist globalists, his reactionary, traditional perspective appears a saner alternative. Same with Mersheimer too.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 3 2025 19:27 utc | 21
dow jones plummeted 3.5% today
Posted by: UWDude | Apr 3 2025 18:56 utc | 18
The rout will last awhile. Within a couple months we’ll be able to see the true impact of Trump’s big, crazy roll of the dice.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 3 2025 19:30 utc | 22
At least 100 US F-35, F-15, and F-18 fighters are stationed in the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, and aboard the USS Truman. The USS Carl Vinson strike group is also on its way to the region.”
Surely a target rich environment
Posted by: Exile | Apr 3 2025 19:34 utc | 23
Re: Netanyahu visit to Hungary – Which EU countries allowed overflight ?
Posted by: Exile | Apr 3 2025 17:20 utc | 13
Greece, North Macedonia and Serbia, according to this report :
https://skwawkbox.org/2025/04/03/hungary-withdraws-from-icc-to-avoid-arresting-netanyahu/
Same article says that “technically, the withdrawal does not take effect until a year after Hungary formally notifies the ICC.
“The Court’s spokesman Fad El-Abdullah said:
“On the visit of Mr Netanyahu, the Court has followed its standard procedures, after the issuance of an arrest warrant. The Court recalls that Hungary remains under a duty to cooperate with the ICC. ”
Posted by: Red Star | Apr 3 2025 19:38 utc | 24
Unconfirmed from Axios:
Several members of President Trump’s embattled National Security Council have been fired, a U.S. official and a second source familiar told Axios on Thursday.
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/03/trump-laura-loomer-fire-national-security-council
Posted by: Mary | Apr 3 2025 20:01 utc | 25
Daily Reminder:
Virology = Pseudoscience
Contagion = Superstition
Vaccines = Eugenics
“COVID-19” Genocide: 30,000,000+ dead
https://denisrancourt.substack.com/p/breaking-our-largest-study-of-its
Posted by: KOB | Apr 3 2025 20:20 utc | 26
Keme #2. Robert Kagan is the husband of the infamous former Act. Sec of State Victoria “Cookies” Nuland, who oversaw the bloody coup against the elected government of Ukraine in 2014. Her immediate boss was Killery Clinton, aka “we came, we saw, he died…hahaha”. Bribem was Vice President to O’bomber. O’bomber of course as we know spent part of his senatorial years in company with Lieberman setting up bioweapons labs in Ukraine.
Bribem’s son Hunter, of Burisma fame, in company with the step son of John Kerry (“the first amendment gets in
the way of efficient government”) cashed in big time.
Yes indeed. These are the people talking about lawlessness. Nauseating.
Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Apr 3 2025 20:22 utc | 27
@Posted by: Red Star | Apr 3 2025 19:38 utc | 24
They’re dismantling the world order, using the Jews as one of their tried and trusted methods.
Posted by: KOB | Apr 3 2025 20:24 utc | 28
@Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Apr 3 2025 20:22 utc | 27
The rule of law collapsed in Ukraine after the government was decapitated (US backed coup in 2014) so the country fell apart.
Posted by: KOB | Apr 3 2025 20:28 utc | 29
@ Posted by: banked | Apr 3 2025 18:26 utc | 15
My heart says the dark side (zero sum) wins in the short term but the light side (win win) wins in the long run.
My brain says the dark side wins in the short term and this just compounds with time.
It is a problem. Wish this was a real bar.
Posted by: Rae | Apr 3 2025 20:46 utc | 30
In late March a mass of US Air Force in flight refueling tankers were seen staging all across the Pacific Ocean from California. This indicated that an air armada was being formed and needed nonstop inflight refueling.
Within a day, six B2 Spirit stealth bombers were detected landing in Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I’ve been to Diego Garcia many times and the only way to describe it is rocky sand island with an airstrip. It has always been the US Department of defense strategy, when using the B2 was to fly nonstop round the world to their target zone, release their ordinance and then return back to Missouri, or continue on and land in Guam for refueling. Virtually every previous mission was flown by a single aircraft. To see six of them stage together with all of their maintenance and armaments crews is a clear indicator that Trump intends to send a signal to Iran that he is putting in place resources to be able to attack them. Why?
https://malcolmnance.substack.com/p/a-war-is-coming-where-will-the-blow
Posted by: Keme | Apr 3 2025 21:03 utc | 31
IMHO, the way things are going judges are not doing anything to merit that presumption [of impartiality].
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 3 2025 15:46 utc | 2
The recent case of Marine Le Pen’s ineligibility is a case in point. See this article by Régis de Castelnau, a French lawyer, published on his site “Vu du droit”, which I highly recommend:
https://tinyurl.com/3skumvvj
Posted by: Leuk | Apr 3 2025 21:18 utc | 32
Every aspect of the Presidential declaration of emergency tarrifs is fake. The legality is fake. The premise of a trade deficit being the result of unfair trade practices is fake. The metrics cited to support the fake premise are fake.
“the destruction of the system of trade”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0alGvV0Sjc
Its improbable that anyone could be stupid enough to think that the actions taken have validity for the reasons taken.
What the dollar has enabled is the world consuming more than it ever has exponentially. No one has benefited more than citizens of the USA in terms of consumption but the whole world has used the dollar to consume.
Why is the dollar the world reserve currency?
Why do Russia China and every other nation use the dollar?
Yes the bank of Russia will still convert as many Euros to rubles as your heart desires. The euro is freely exchanged with the dollar.
The dollar is credit. It is a token created for exchange . Usually use of credit involves a fee that is time based. You pay for your balance at regular time based intervals intervals. Thats not true with the dollar. There is one fee then it has unlimited uses. It can be used till the end of time for exchanges. Thee price paid is the supporting the first time the dollar is used. Each dollar is spent into existence but since each dollar can be used infinitely this amounts to almost nothing. The dollar has represented credit of a unprecedented low cost. It is this low cost that has allowed the scale of consumption of the last 70 years. This low cost is why nations that dislike many of the actions of the USA state department intensely continue to use it. The sole way the dollar comes into existence is the sale of treasuries. The unpayable debt is the basis for the dollar. Every nation and consumer on the planet uses the dollar because its basically free credit. The cost is borne by the USA in its unpayable debt. The USA is ultimately the chump in this play but not by other nations by the designers of this Ponzi. Other nations are simply took advantage of the offer. Free drinks on the house.
I repeat. It is this low cost (free) credit that has allowed the world wide consumption that we consider industrial civilization.
The basis for the existence of the dollar is world trade.
Like all deals where one party operates at a loss it could not last. Now its being shut down. I guess so a credit token that has cost based on time interval or perhaps other purposes is implemented. Thats a guess no more. The “tarrifs” are the end of world trade. This is the end of the dollar. It was doomed from the end of bretton Woods perhaps earlier. This has very little to do with the USA per se. The financiers are simply shutting down the ponzi. They got their loot. The USA is the bag man. No one cares about what happens to the USA. Thats just the fake cover story. A “blunder” is not being made. The level of consumption was not sustainable either not just the Ponzi design itself. There were no “cruel” checks and balances of a natural eco system. That was the whole point. The Ponzi has netted what it can. It was the mother of all looting jobs. They have pulled the pin. The dollar folds in on itself.
Dissolved.
Trump implements Greta goals.
You aint seen nothing yet.
Best to determine what you consider your core beliefs. No not the fake required ones.
Posted by: LosBanos | Apr 3 2025 21:24 utc | 33
This explains why tariffs alone will not restore American manufacturing to a what it used to be. It is part of a much longer discussion at THE DEVIL AND J.D. VANCE: Neoliberalism, Globalization, and Technocracy:
Me: Do mainstream economists have a realistically superior theory to that of Michael Hudson on how to revitalize the American middle class in the face of the impact that financialization and globalization has had on the American economic outlook and for the working classes?
ChatGPT said:
Mainstream economists generally do not offer a theory that is realistically superior to Michael Hudson’s when it comes to revitalizing the American middle class in the face of financialization and globalization. Instead, their approaches tend to either ignore financialization’s harmful effects or propose partial, market-driven solutions that fail to address the structural causes of middle-class decline.
Mainstream Economic Theories vs. Hudson’s Analysis
1. Mainstream Economists Minimize the Role of Financialization
Most neoliberal and Keynesian economists treat financialization as a neutral or even positive force, arguing that financial markets efficiently allocate capital.
They focus on GDP growth, stock market performance, and inflation control while ignoring how the real economy (wages, industrial investment, and public infrastructure) has deteriorated.
Many believe deregulated finance creates prosperity, even though it often leads to asset bubbles, debt traps, and wealth extraction from the working class.
Example: The 2008 financial crisis was caused by Wall Street speculation, but mainstream economists responded with bank bailouts, not structural reforms to curb financialization.
Hudson’s Critique:
Financialization doesn’t produce real wealth — it extracts it from wages, production, and public assets.
The dominance of finance over industry leads to wealth concentration rather than economic expansion.
If financialization is not reversed, working-class Americans will remain trapped in debt servitude.
2. Mainstream Solutions Fail to Address the Structural Causes of Middle-Class Decline
A. Education & Worker Retraining (Flawed Approach)
A common mainstream argument is that globalization and automation have displaced workers, and the solution is retraining them for “higher-skilled” jobs.
However, this doesn’t solve the real issue — manufacturing jobs didn’t disappear because of a lack of worker skills; they were offshored for corporate profit.
Example: Since the 1990s, millions of U.S. factory jobs moved to China and Mexico not because American workers lacked skills, but because corporations wanted lower wages and weaker regulations.
Hudson’s Alternative: Instead of forcing workers into unstable service-sector jobs, the U.S. should rebuild its industrial base through public investment and trade policies that support domestic production.
B. Market-Based Housing Solutions (Do Not Work)
Many mainstream economists argue that housing affordability can be fixed by increasing mortgage subsidies or tax breaks for homebuyers.
However, these policies inflate home prices even further because they funnel more money into a financialized real estate market controlled by banks and hedge funds.
Example: The mortgage interest deduction primarily benefits wealthy homeowners, not middle-class renters or first-time buyers.
Hudson’s Alternative: Reduce the cost of housing by taxing land speculation, expanding public housing, and breaking up real estate monopolies.
C. Tax Cuts & Deregulation (Benefit the Rich, Not the Middle Class)
Many supply-side economists claim that tax cuts and deregulation will stimulate investment and job creation.
In reality, tax cuts for corporations often go into stock buybacks and executive bonuses rather than wages or new factories.
Example: The 2017 Trump tax cuts were justified as job creators, but companies spent most of the money on stock buybacks instead of wage increases or reshoring jobs.
Hudson’s Alternative: Stop tax breaks for financial speculation and instead tax rentier income (banks, landlords, monopolies) while investing in infrastructure and social programs.
3. Why Mainstream Economists Can’t Solve the Problem
They are trapped in neoliberal ideology.
Many mainstream economists still believe that free markets and deregulation will somehow lead to prosperity, despite decades of evidence showing the opposite.
2. They ignore power dynamics and wealth extraction.
Hudson’s analysis focuses on how financial elites extract wealth from workers through debt, rent, and monopolization. Most mainstream economists don’t account for this.
3. They don’t challenge financial-sector dominance.
The U.S. economy is run by Wall Street, and mainstream economists largely serve the interests of financial institutions, not workers.
5. They fail to see that wealth inequality is systemic, not accidental.
Rising inequality is not just a side effect of capitalism — it’s the intended result of financialized policies.
Posted by: kana | Apr 3 2025 21:39 utc | 34
On the political front, the US President Donald Trump’s administration has finally admitted that it is unlikely to reach a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine before Easter (April 20). The lack of progress in peace negotiations is a political blow for Trump, given his pre-election promises.
The White House reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth will miss the Ramstein format meeting on providing military aid to Ukraine, failing to join even by video call.
Recent Ukrainian drone attacks on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium infrastructure caused significant damage to American companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil, increasing frustration in the White House.
Analysts note that Kiev is aiming to demonstrate its independence and strengthen its negotiating position with the West by targeting U.S. interests. These developments raise questions about further support for Ukraine.
https://southfront.press/overview-of-military-situation-in-ukraine-april-3-2025/
Posted by: smartfox | Apr 3 2025 21:45 utc | 35
🇷🇺🇧🇫In a stunning geopolitical twist, Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traoré has been personally invited by Vladimir Putin to stand beside him during Russia’s 80th Victory Day Parade in Moscow—an honor reserved for the most trusted allies of the Kremlin.
From his military uniform appearance in St. Petersburg, to requesting a nuclear plant for Burkina Faso—and getting it—Traoré has emerged as Africa’s boldest voice on the world stage. This invitation, confirmed by Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov via PRAVDA, signals a new chapter in Africa–Russia relations.
The young people in Africa would like Traoré to be the leader of the entire Continent.
He has worked wonders in Burkina Faso in only a few years. Servant leadership. The French (among others) have tried to assassinate him dozens of times.
This is a big move for Russia in Africa going forward.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 3 2025 22:01 utc | 36
🇺🇸⚔️🇺🇸 US President Donald Trump has fired three National Security Council staff members for disloyalty.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
It does give Trump an offramp in the Gulf now. He can blame the disloyal staff for the deployments.
I hate that I think like a politician now.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 3 2025 22:03 utc | 37
Everyone’s favorite musician from Wagner
Aleksey Berezutski 🇷🇺🎖
🚨BREAKING NEWS: URSULA VON DER LEYEN AND KAJA KALLAS, WHO CAN’T STAND TRUMP’S TARIFFS, ANNOUNCED THAT THEY WILL START WORKING AT RED LIGHT IN KIEV
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 3 2025 22:06 utc | 38
“Hudson’s Alternative: Stop tax breaks for financial speculation and instead tax rentier income (banks, landlords, monopolies) while investing in infrastructure and social programs.”
This assumes that there is a vast pool of resources that is being withheld from consumption because of greed. Certainly there are pools of financial credit and disproportionate levels of consumption. There are not vast pools of resources in pools ready for consumption. Whether those disproportionate levels of consumption have a moral or ethical basis is irrelevant. Whether you realize it or not that is the basis of your argument. Fundamentally whether disproportionate levels of consumption are appropriate is the basis of “economic” arguments and all of them are perspectives that have their basis in seeing more consumption by some and less by others. The way this has been managed in the past is the creation of infinite money with distributions to all based on certain behaviors. What behaviors are appropriate for higher levels of consumption is the topic of debate, The topic of “economics”.
Infinite money distribution is ending. What behaviors I or you you favor for infinite money distribution is irrelevant. Certainly the epitomy of resource distribution- force- will be instituted as people enforce (en-force) their sacred models of infinite money distribution. Are people going to burn it all down because they think its unfair? You bet. will they will destroy the very infrastructure they need to live in protest then starve complaining all the way? You bet. Are they going to act out on the petty way they perceive themselves as a victim and manifest that in unjustified force? You bet. Will they care that the reality is control of infinite money is not control of resources? No.
All economics have a basis of ownership. The basis of ownership is force. We will tax this but not that. As if that will be retained as a method of distributing resources. As if one of those is right one is wrong.
Posted by: LosBanos | Apr 3 2025 22:18 utc | 39
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR)
🥴🥴🤑
Mary | Apr 3 2025 16:58 utc | 11
The SOHR was outed years ago as a one-man living in a bed sit, above a chippy (fishnchips) in northern England.
About the same level as Bellingcrap as a source.
—-
And. A mea culpa from me, citing an equally unreliable source re the “””assassination attempt””” on Putin.
The story eventually unravelled to a car, an Aurus, catching fire in a Moscow street “near” (a kilometre.) the FSB building.
In my defence, it was “””breaking””” news, and it flooded the feed. = it’s not like there’s a dozen intel and oligarch operatives wanting and working toward a Putin death) |~ | the @bar did what the @bar does best.. killed the nonsense stone dead in 1-2-3 posts (especially as Karl was online at the time)
Posted by: Melaleuca | Apr 3 2025 22:48 utc | 40
Major Global Bank Warns of Potential Dollar Crisis
https://www.rt.com/business/615201-dollar-confidence-down-tariffs/
“Deutsche Bank has raised concerns over a possible erosion of trust in the US currency amid escalating trade tensions…”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Apr 3 2025 22:52 utc | 41
For the handful of anti-Imperialists at the bar.
Sony Thang is excellent at articulating the history of Western Imperialism around the world.
America has repressed its shadow for too long
An amazing essay: https://x.com/nxt888/status/1907807512533020752
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 3 2025 23:01 utc | 42
Kobe, I believe my post made that clear. Perhaps I was too circular. One could easily argue that the rule of law collapsed long before Ukraine…Clinton and Kosovo? Bush Boy and his white powder? The list is very long clearly. The irony is Kagan babbling about “law.” Let’s see. Kissinger is an entire chapter of law breaking. Sigh.
Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Apr 3 2025 23:11 utc | 43
The rout will last awhile. Within a couple months we’ll be able to see the true impact of Trump’s big, crazy roll of the dice.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 3 2025 19:30 utc | 22
hopefully.
Posted by: UWDude | Apr 3 2025 23:34 utc | 44
My take on the retreat of Mr Musk from such a public position and the general brand suicide that he has committed, exacerbating the underlying negative trends for the Tesla car company. I think that was have passed “Peak Musk”.
FAFO: Musk Brand Suicide
It does look like Trump is popping the stock market bubble whether he intended to or not, and Musk is truly a creation of the post-GFC bubble period.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 3 2025 23:47 utc | 45
@Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Apr 3 2025 19:30 utc | 22
“The rout will last awhile. Within a couple months we’ll be able to see the true impact of Trump’s big, crazy roll of the dice.”
Yep, what Trump is creating with these tariffs is a very fundamental realignment where US corporations will no longer be able to so freely offshore production and reap colossal profits through labour arbitrage. That is why the biggest knee-jerk reaction has been from stocks like Apple and Nike. The full impact upon US corporate profits and domestic prices has not yet been fully understand, and I think that the more that it is understood the worse it will be viewed. Especially with the retaliatory actions of other nations.
What the tariffs really are is a huge increase in regressive taxes (the poor pay the most as a share of their income) to help fund the keeping of Trump’s 2017 rich-friendly tax cuts and more, and more war spending. The other part of the funding is from DOGE, slashing the administrative state and any other government spending that does not benefit the rich. Through the use of tariffs, Trump is trying to hide this massive transfer of income to the rich from the rest; including his whole MAGA base who will feel it as an increase in inflation rather than as a direct tax.
The average American will not be better off at the end of Trump’s term, but the rich will still be making hay.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 3 2025 23:58 utc | 46
The fact that this CIA asset is one of Putin’s closest advisors confirm that we will get another Minsk deal. It also confirm that the relationship with the US will become “normalized”. I really wonder why ordinary Russians accept that a traitor like Dmitriev have power in Russia.
Posted by: Ivan Darius | Apr 4 2025 0:10 utc | 47
Is Trump gearing up for a war on Iran. – @Republicofscotland | Thu, 03 Apr 2025 16:50:00 GMT | 10
“The US military has broken the record for militarization in West Asia by carrying out its largest offensive deployment to the region since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon in October 2023, Haaretz reports.
According to the Israeli newspaper, the US has beefed up its military presence in West Asia by sending additional squadrons of fighter jets, stealth bombers, and large quantities of weaponry in recent weeks.
The deployment amounts to a roughly 50 percent increase over the previous monthly peak in US military flights to the region.
If source is correct, then no.
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 4 2025 0:12 utc | 48
Virtually every previous mission was flown by a single [B-2] aircraft. To see six of them stage together with all of their maintenance and armaments crews is a clear indicator that Trump intends to send a signal to Iran that he is putting in place resources to be able to attack them. Why?
Keme | Thu, 03 Apr 2025 21:03:00 GMT | 31
To restrain them from blowing up Diego Garcia while the US is safeguarding “freedom of navigation” around the Bab al-Mandab. – ?
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 4 2025 0:22 utc | 49
Posted by: KOB | Mar 14 2025 23:26 utc | 145
“viruses” are a belief system, not science. They have never been proven to exist.
——
Posted by: KOB | Apr 3 2025 20:20 utc | 26
Daily Reminder:
Virology = Pseudoscience
Contagion = Superstition
——
You try to slip this crap in by mixing it with legitimate criticism of mRNA vaccines. You continue to push that crackpot Denis Rancourt. Once a week you post this flamebait, and I will continue to post mine until you respond, which you have not to date.
—————-
Weekly rebuttal:
We have electron microscope pictures of viruses. Some viruses are quite physically large. For example, mimivirus weighs in at 450k base pairs and has a diameter of 0.4 microns. Try looking at the picture. Duh.
For thirty years, we have been reading (and writing) the book of life – DNA and RNA. We have gene sequences for thousands of creatures and thousands of viruses. Viruses exist. You can trace their evolutionary development by their sequences. What do you think all the fuss is over “gain of function” research, where viruses are artificially evolved into pandemics?
—-
Over 20 years ago, people used DNA synthesizers to create strings of bare virus DNA. They inserted those strings into animal cells. Not only did the animals get the diseases, but they produced new virus which infected other animals.
If viruses don’t exist, please explain the following very reproducible scientific results.
Poliovirus Baked From Scratch
Because RNA is chemically unstable, the group first created a DNA version of the virus. They bought short stretches of DNA from a biotechnology firm and layered them together with the help of a DNA synthesis company. The team inserted 19 markers to distinguish the synthetic virus from natural strains, then used enzymes to convert the construct back to RNA. Mice injected with the synthesized virus became paralyzed after about a week
You can read the scientific paper here
—-
In 2017 someone reconstituted an extinct poxvirus.
How Canadian researchers reconstituted an extinct poxvirus for $100,000 using mail-order DNA
A study that brought horsepox back to life is triggering a new debate about the risks and power of synthetic biology
A HREF=”https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0188453&type=printable”>Here is is a link to the scientific paper.
—-
You are a flat-earther. Your Gish Gallop of baloney is used by the folks pushing the not safe, not effective “vaccines” to discredit any legitimate pushback to the WHO agenda by pointing to crackpots like Rancourt.
Posted by: john brewster | Apr 4 2025 0:37 utc | 50
Posted by: Melaleuca | Apr 3 2025 22:48 utc | 40
Well I guess I’ll give up on Southfront then. Funny, I keep accidentally deleting it from my tabs. Maybe someone trying to tell me something…
Posted by: Mary | Apr 4 2025 1:43 utc | 51
Western ‘statecraft’
We dindunuthin, its their fault
Exhibit A
William Cohen blaming others engaging in ethnic bioweapon projects
Exhibit B
Dont laugh !
gringo, of all people, chafing at Chinese MIC !
Are u kidding me ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alPOeZ8t7YI
[9.33]
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2025 1:49 utc | 52
Wealthy Americans have death rates on par with poor Europeans
The study, led by researchers at Brown University, found that the wealthiest Americans lived shorter lives than the wealthiest Europeans. In fact, wealthy Northern and Western Europeans had death rates 35 percent lower than the wealthiest Americans, whose lifespans were more like the poorest in Northern and Western Europe—which includes countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
“The findings are a stark reminder that even the wealthiest Americans are not shielded from the systemic issues in the US contributing to lower life expectancy, such as economic inequality or risk factors like stress, diet or environmental hazards,” lead study author Irene Papanicolas, a professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown, said in a news release.
https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/04/wealthy-americans-have-death-rates-on-par-with-poor-europeans/
The faster the US dies, the better for the world.
Posted by: Zet | Apr 4 2025 2:13 utc | 54
They say the difference bet China and USAss is, the former governed by engineers, the later run by lawyers, bankers shysters.
It shows.
We all know Newton’s law..
Action => Reaction
These bunch turn Newton’s law on its head !
Dont blame us, China started it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL9SNCD9yT8
[12.04]
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2025 2:30 utc | 55
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2025 2:30 utc | 55
################
Great share, Brother denk. Thank you.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 4 2025 2:38 utc | 56
That video reinforces how infantile the Americans and Europeans are.
They drop multiple bombs on humanity and then say, “You started it”.
How to treat these people except as children? Emotionally retarded children with nukes…
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 4 2025 2:43 utc | 57
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 4 2025 2:38 utc | 56
—————-
Thank you !
We need more barfly like you to swap away the bar flies !
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2025 2:44 utc | 58
How to treat these people except as children? Emotionally retarded children with nukes…
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 4 2025 2:43 utc | 57
———————-
China vs garden kinda like a nerd confronted by pirates, [thats how they made their first pot of gold.]
Thats why these days China would speak in the only language they understand…
The only truth lies within the range of our cannon
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2025 3:00 utc | 59
“We need allies!” – Who is an ally to the United States today? – “Well, that’s a technical term …”
lol
[h/t denk]
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 4 2025 3:15 utc | 60
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 4 2025 3:15 utc | 60
———————
BUsh
JP is our greatest ally, its kinda like an ATM that needs no pin no
Posted by: denk | Apr 4 2025 3:24 utc | 61
My guess is that Orban’s chatfest with Bibi was about the distribution of shekels among Hungarian politicians if/when Hungary.gov decides to accept DONATIONS from Wasrael – like the rest of NATO/ZATO.
Orban’s not an isolated idiot and has probably figured out how jewed-up his Eurotrash/NATO neighbors, and AmeriKKKa, are. He needs to know if jewish donations will be good for Hungarian politicians but bad for Hungary?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 4 2025 3:37 utc | 62
Ok, it being friday, once more I reckon it has been a long time since I listened to violinist jan luc ponty playing Frank Zappa, so there it is.
Posted by: Debsisdead | Apr 4 2025 3:47 utc | 63
Well I guess I’ll give up on Southfront then. Funny, I keep accidentally deleting it from my tabs. Maybe someone trying to tell me something…
Posted by: Mary | Apr 4 2025 1:43 utc | 51
Southfront is the only website that has had its .org stripped by the USDepartment of Treasury. They often quote Israeli defense ministers as well because what people say is important.
Southfront was one of the first youtube channels to ever be banned, banned before infowars. It is clear toe Southfront does it right.
Southfront covered Yemen daily when oone else did, Southfront covered Ukraine the entire war, starting in 2014. Southfront covered the Syrian War, almost every day, for the entire conflict, and still does.
Southfront got the first and most flak.
Posted by: UWDude | Apr 4 2025 3:51 utc | 64
Posted by: Zet | Apr 4 2025 2:13 utc | 54
most Euros amd Canadians cant fathom living in a first world country where you can find out you have cancer, and your first thought is, “fuck, there goes my house I just finished paying off the mortgage”.
The financial stress in the USA related to healthcare is horrendous.
Posted by: UWDude | Apr 4 2025 3:54 utc | 65
Simplicius has a new piece re Trump’s tariffs.
Former President Yoon of Sth Korea has been found guilty of attempting a coup.
Yemen shot down 3rd MQ9 just this month, making an impressive kill of 17 in total.
Looking like both Israel and the US backing down from attacking Iran.
Musk story about resignation fake information.
Hungary proves Nazi roots too strong by kissing up to Bibi, on plus side. This will be the death of neo colonial ICC.
Posted by: Suresh | Apr 4 2025 4:00 utc | 66
at the end of Trump’s term, but the rich will still be making hay.
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 3 2025 23:58 utc | 46
—
At the end of Trump’s term the Rich will be eating their seed corn, which in turn might be what ends Trump.
Posted by: too scents | Apr 4 2025 4:13 utc | 67
So JD Vance said, “”We borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture”.
There are people fanboying for this moron and policing criticism of him. He’s no more working class than Lone Skum or King Donald of Orange.
How can peasants have more money than US Capitalists? And be lending it to them. Its been America flooding Earth with dollars for half a centuries and enslaving it with debt. Like zionazi genociders, every accusation is a projection onto the victims the crimes of the villain.
Posted by: UK Defektor | Apr 4 2025 4:30 utc | 68
Red Star – thanks for the information re: Overflight on Netanyahu.
SFSN
Posted by: Exile | Apr 4 2025 4:34 utc | 69
Posted by: UK Defektor | Apr 4 2025 4:30 utc | 68
############
Don’t say that around the hardcore MAGAs. They think JD is the second coming because he put his name on a ghostwritten book about poor whites.
People keep falling for these carefully manufactured personalities; it’s sad.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 4 2025 4:52 utc | 70
@Posted by: too scents | Apr 4 2025 4:13 utc | 67
Exactly, this is End of Empire stuff. The Roman oligarchs did this in Late Rome, sucking up all the domestic productive lands and extracting as much as they could from the vassals – the real reason Rome fell, the oligarchs ate all the corn and the seed corn. The position I take in my latest piece Tariff Mania: The US Helps China Destroy The Western Vassals; Whilst Also Degrading US Relations With All Other Nations
Trump is now greatly aiding the Chinese in moving to a new multi-polar word with China as primus inter pares. He has even brought Japan, South Korea and China together to respond to the tariffs and build deeper trading relations between each other!
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 4 2025 5:39 utc | 71
Forget about shared values. Trump already knows what to expect from Europe. IMHO, Trump doesn’t care if the tariffs upset Europeans – they don’t vote him. And if the tariffs upset European socialists – that’s a feature, not a bug.
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 4 2025 6:03 utc | 72
Breaking news, KOB.
Get the shingles vaccine, it will keep your Alzheimer’s from progressing.
Posted by: drinky crow | Apr 4 2025 6:47 utc | 73
Laura Loomer at large:
Gen. Timothy Haugh, who also heads U.S. Cyber Command, was let go along with his civilian deputy at the NSA, Wendy Noble, according to the officials. Like others in this report, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel moves.
The firings were advocated for by far-right activist Laura Loomer during a meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, she confirmed to The Washington Post on Thursday evening.
In the meeting, Loomer, a fervent Trump supporter, pressed for the dismissals of a number of officials besides Haugh and Noble — in particular, National Security Council staff whose views she saw as disloyal to the president.
At least five key National Security Council aides were fired Thursday.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/03/nsa-director-fired-tim-haugh/
Posted by: too scents | Apr 4 2025 7:03 utc | 74
I want to say a few things about Martin Heidegger. Skip if you’re not interested in Martin Heidegger. – So Martin Heidegger doesn’t really know about the world-at-large, as he states himself, to then proceed (quite famously) to talking about time instead. Hence the title of his somewhat notorious scribble, Sein und Zeit (1927). He calls this precarious situation Dasein, and claims he’s been thrown into it (Geworfenheit). So far, so good.
However, a number of problems arise with this idea rather immediately. For one, why, exactly, is he even making such a fuss about the world-at-large in the first place? As he affirms himself, it is because he’s anxious. Hoo-boo, the world-at-large!
Allow me to cut short of his further elaborations, so as not to blow this here comment out of proportion, and recount where he arrives at. Basically he says that man is the ‘keeper of Being’, much like a herder keeps his flock (of things?) together. That’d be our job down here, he says, which is a tad romantic – pastoral, as they say – but also frankly dubious. Does poor Heidi call to tame the big bad wolf, hoping that things will turn out alright, if only given enough time? That’s my impression indeed.
– For NemesisCalling, who asked me about my opinion on his interview Only a God Can Save Us.
* * * * *
SPIEGEL: What now takes the place of philosophy? – Heidegger: Cybernetics. […] I say that up to the present we have not yet found a way to respond to the essence of technicity.
I call bullshit. He’s betraying Husserl, wittingly or not. I wrote a lot about this here in the past, and will continue to do so every now and then.
Thanks for reading.
Posted by: persiflo | Apr 4 2025 7:26 utc | 75
To show just how much trouble Europe is in:
If you are self-employed in Europe, what is the smallest social security payment you can make? These are ballpark figures, in euro per month.
Portugal 30
Ireland 46
Belgium 62.5
Greece 140
Latvia 175
Bulgaria 175
Italy 250
Hungary 250
Slovakia 250
Lithuania 250
Estonia 250
Cyprus 250
Austria 250
Germany 250
Spain 294
Croatia 350
Romania 400
Slovenia 400
Poland 450
Netherlands 450
Finland 450
Luxembourg 550
Denmark 550
Sweden 600
Spain, Romania, Sweden – these are countries with 20% to 25% youth unemployment. No way an unemployed person is going to pay the government this kind of money for the permission to work.
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 4 2025 7:36 utc | 76
“for the permission to work”
WTF
is for the retirement pension
Posted by: Simon | Apr 4 2025 8:27 utc | 77
(Whoops didn’t see new threads! Repost from previous)
There is no madness here.
It is a plan to bankrupt and then buy up assets cheaply.
It’s always the plan that’s how the eternal bankers capture wealth.
The whole pantomime is a show.
A Punch and Judy show.
Naughty Punch Trump.
Poor European Judy.
‘Ooh you brute you bad Punch..’
If you don’t know the plot of the show, watch it.
This time when they have the assets, they won’t allow as many people to accumulate again.
Because the plan is for them Never to Own Anything, but still be Happy!
It’s not Humpty Trumpty’s plan. It’s WEF, it’s Soros and his Chosen Son, SorryArse, plan.
It’s the shapeshifters plan. As they create the huff and puff and flash bang to cover their escape!
With the booty. Pretending they had nothing to do with anything instead of being the chief fire starters.
Through their decades of control of the Deepstate apparatus, through elite academia and brainwashing of the elite rich kids and some poor but clever sociopaths.
They are not dividing the world into bipolar – that is their dream.
Golden Billion and the rest Useless Eaters.
Garden and Jungle.
But there can be NO bipolarity in a multilateral world.
The Majority of humanity in harmonious exchange and mutual security.
No Them and Us!
Just some deranged crazy Collective Wasters led up the Garden Path.
Robbed of their lifetimes wealth accumulation and nothing left for our kids and grandkids.
Pretending we are liberal, moral, well deserving;
and still better off than being part of the multipolar.
These bars of our own zoo that we so spectacularly and foolishly
have allowed ourselves to walk into.
With decades of total crap about what Money is, how it is created and by whom.
Lies about Tax and Spend.
Lies about being guardians of the Planet.
Lies about Climate, Covid and the rising Multipolarity.
So the braying from Eurocrats and all the satraps is a show.
The only bipolarity is only in their minds and those of us propagandised.
The RoW will in a generation just look at us with sympathy as we refuse to get out of our own cages.
Because we will believe that without the zoo keepers who will feed us,
through the universal income, we are still better off than the majority of the world!
Drumpff has made it obvious to call him out for his lack of fine trousers.
Because while we point and laugh the shapeshifters escape with the loot.
Crying Wolf.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Apr 4 2025 9:39 utc | 78
“Exactly, this is End of Empire stuff. The Roman oligarchs did this in Late Rome, sucking up all the domestic productive lands and extracting as much as they could from the vassals -”
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 4 2025 5:39 utc | 71
You really don’t know your ancient history.
During Hannibal’s invasion of Italy in the early 200’s BC the aristocrats gave their gold and valuables to the Roman treasury to finance the fight against Hannibal.
In 202 BC the Roman consul Scipio- who be given the name ‘Africanus’ defeated Hannibal in Africa at the battle of Zama.
Traditionally in Rome, after such a conquest, the land conquered or arable land in Italy under the State’s ownership would be given to the soldiers as a reward for their service. Not this time- the aristocrats even though after giving their gold , silver et al to the treasury as a gift they demanded the State lands be given to them instead of the soldiers-and the State acceded to their request.
The Western Roman Republic then Empire lasted another 676 years (476 AD) after this first instance of aristocratic privilege.so your ‘idea’ that this is ‘End of Empire stuff’ is absurd; indeed, it is laughable..
Daily Reminder:
Virology = Pseudoscience
Contagion = Superstition
Vaccines = Eugenics
Daily reminder: the first two do not follow from the third, no matter what controlled opposition creeps you listen to. It’s extremely easy to fake something like a moon landing, which is only observable by a few hundred people, whereas having every single virologist in the world playing a huge con game for centuries is impossible and pointless.
Explain, with something other than viruses, chicken pox, rabies and the viral diseases that your house plants have, and then we can talk.
Cherrypicking meaningless vague examples like the common cold or flu or covid gets you nowhere. Yes, the whole of western medicine is a criminal racket. Yes, the PCR tests are a scam. Yes, the vaccines are an american weapon of genocide. But your first two claims don’t follow from those. Explain chicken pox with something other than viruses.
Posted by: Jack M | Apr 4 2025 10:47 utc | 80
Is on like Donkey Kong!
China to impose tariffs of 34pc on all US goods from April 10
China on Friday announced a slew of additional tariffs and restrictions against U.S. goods as a countermeasure to sweeping tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Finance Ministry said it would impose additional tariffs of 34% on all U.S. goods from April 10.
Beijing also announced controls on exports of medium and heavy rare-earths, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium to the United States, effective April 4.
“The purpose of the Chinese government’s implementation of export controls on relevant items in accordance with the law is to better safeguard national security and interests, and to fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation,” the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.
It also added 11 entities to the “unreliable entity” list, which allows Beijing to take punitive actions against foreign entities.
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/3/231551/China-to-impose-tariffs-of-34pc-on-all-US-goods-from-April-10
Posted by: too scents | Apr 4 2025 10:57 utc | 81
China hits back at US tariffs.
Done talking since US sweet talks but pushing for real shooting war.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bi6qun4Qq/
Posted by: Surferket | Apr 4 2025 10:58 utc | 82
Posted by: too scents | Apr 4 2025 10:57 utc | 81
Should add super magnets too since US is using these to make weapons to attack China.
Posted by: Surferket | Apr 4 2025 11:00 utc | 83
@Surferket | Apr 4 2025 11:00 utc | 83
—
China bans exports of rare-earth magnet technologies
New restrictions also cover processing as Beijing tightens grip
December 21, 2023
BEIJING — China on Thursday banned exports of technology for making rare-earth magnets and imposed other restrictions related to the vital industrial metals, in an apparent response to moves by the U.S. and Japan to reduce their reliance on Chinese suppliers.
full story ==> https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade/China-bans-exports-of-rare-earth-magnet-technologies
Posted by: too scents | Apr 4 2025 11:06 utc | 84
VIX breaks 30 on China’s tariff response ==> https://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?p=i30&t=VX
Simultaneously, DOW futures off over 1000 ==> https://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=YM&p=i30
Posted by: too scents | Apr 4 2025 11:12 utc | 85
If Trump imposed sanction on an island in the southern Indian Ocean with a population of penguins, then you know the story of ‘there being no trade between Russia-US’ is BS.
The real reason Trump didn’t impose sanctions on Russia and Belarus is because they already have tons of agreements of US companies operating within those states. I said earlier, US companies also gain access to imports from the wider BRICS (non-west) through Russia.
The EU is still intent on killing itself based on old cold war racism and dichotomies, while US already moved on and wants to survive. Meanwhile US is forcing EU to spend 5% of GDP for military products (large proportion goes to US).
That is why I maintain EU is done, US is in survival/scramble mode but has to sacrifice the imperial possessions, control and currency dominance in the process.
Posted by: unimperator | Apr 4 2025 11:18 utc | 86
lara Loomer is also a fervent Jewish zionist, and constantly makes wild personal accusations against anti-zionists in alt-right media
amd each time she goes under the knife she comes out more hideous than she was before.
Posted by: UWDude | Apr 4 2025 11:18 utc | 87
each time she goes under the knife she comes out more hideous than she was before.
Posted by: UWDude | Apr 4 2025 11:18 utc | 87
—
Being hideous is Loomer’s cartoonish superpower.
Posted by: too scents | Apr 4 2025 11:22 utc | 88
@75 persiflo
Thx for the comment.
Couple things:
I am no Heideggerian scholar. I can only say that “Introduction to Metaphysics,” his lecture course during his short stint as rector at Freiburg changed the course of my thinking and arrived at a moment in my life that has had supreme importance up until now.
In the interview you read, it touches on the importance of the timing of that lecture course in the swirling/gathering period of National Socialist Germany.
“Europe is caught in a pincer, between the twin-metaphysical states of America and the Soviet Union.” (Introduction to Metaphysics; it’s funny that Heidegger here hints at twins, which I have been elaborating on in my reading of Rene Girard–Heidegger, for all his love of Nietzsche, seems more intent to examine the role of myth and tragedy as fleshing out humanity’s or a people’s failure, rather than liberalism’s psychoanalysis solely as it pertains to individuals in a neutral system.)
Der Spiegel picks up the implications of what Heidegger is saying and utters the downright blasphemous (enough to get one canceled nowadays in our even further “enlightened” times): that National Socialism was simultaneously the last, best, worst, and only hope of establishing a satisfactory relationship with technicity. “Last” meaning perhaps the last attempt…Heidegger is never hopeless.
When it comes to cybernetics, I don’t think he is far off. We carry with us now everywhere we go a device that connects us to a digital realm of avatars and instant information. So was Heidegger terrified of such a burgeoning moment or was he mildly curious to say the least because he was a curious fellow? I am personally not happy with this so called “advancement” of human reality. But this is what liberalism has provided for us.
So what is liberalism, then, broadly defined? I think Heidegger takes it as an orientation that seeks to
1) establish itself as the final orientation of history (Hegel through Fukuyama)
2) suspend the essential questioning of man as it pertains to Dasein or to smear/render the questioning as a foolish endeavor, harkening back to liberalism’s attempt to place Greek tragedy solely in the realm of the psychoanalytical through Freud: Oedipus is the enemy through and through, even though he solved the riddle of the Sphynx (see Girard’s interpretation of Greek Tragedy). Indeed, Heidegger’s first order of business as Rector was to reorient the sciences/all of learning to re-place philosophy to its original position that had been foolishly leveled amongst the other physical sciences, etc. due to liberalism saying essentially: “there is no question of Being.”
3) sustain itself by continually grinding out a priestly, elite class whether in Academia, the Arts, or what have you that are always doubling their efforts to keep spirit in the bottle. A lot of times, they do not know what they are doing, but they are hostile to philosophy because the mere notion enkindles terrible thoughts that produce disloyalty, anxiety, and the capacity for arriving over an abyss.
But the safety of liberalism’s hearth is fleeing right before our eyes. This is evident in liberalism’s failure to grant to humanity even its basic reasons-for-being. The protection of individuals and their liberty. We do not see this is Gaza, we do not see this in TPTB’s scrambling of nation/culture, and contrary to what they have attempted, we can not feel the enmity for Russia, our Evil Twin, that establishes a moral certainty about our own identity.
You can say that these aren’t fixtures of liberalism, these are problems stemming from our elite.
I think Heidegger, and many here, would say that it is precisely the force of liberalism that has enabled these gross abuses and will continue to do so because any questioning of its supreme authority will land you in hellfire.
Heidegger has a great passage near the beginning of Introduction to Metaphysics where he establishes what is and how do we enter into the question of Being. To be sure, he offers no formula for such a task, only that in time it always seems to rear its head.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Apr 4 2025 12:09 utc | 89
[…] is for the retirement pension
Posted by: Simon | Apr 4 2025 8:27 utc | 77
In Germany, for example, only those self-employed with no employees, or working for only one client, are obliged to pay into the government pension system.
Lets assume one of those solo self-employed business owners, say a tradesperson or insurance broker, starting out at age 30, puts away €250 per month into a private superannuation fund that compounds monthly at an average 5% interest pa. And lets say that someone increases their mthly saving year on year by 2%, ie €255 in year 2 and so on, they would end up with approx €4.5 million by the time they retire at age 65.
Assuming they have the €4.5 million invested at 5% pa, earning €225’000 pa in interest, they’d have about €18’750 per month retirement income. A sum they can rather comfortably live off, till the day they die. And when they pass away, still have a few € million in the bank to pass on to their kids.
Instead they are forced to pay those monthly contributions into the government pension system, who will pay them, say in Germany as of today approx €1’620 per month when they retire (average for someone having paid into the pension system 35 years). If we further assume a generous average 4% per year indexation of the government pension, they can expect in 35 years a monthly payment about €6’200. About a third of what they’d have in income if they had invested their lifetime contributions privately. And haven’t got a wealth fund to pass on to their kids.
If I had a choice, I know which option I’d prefer. So does the government. That’s why there is no choice.
The compulsory aspect makes sense, too many solo small business owners end up otherwise dirt poor in old age, as many of them generate relatively little income, and of that, they wouldn’t put much aside for retirement. But to force them to pay into the government system, at such low returns, instead of giving them the option to pay into private superannuation funds, is a rip off scheme designed to prop up a notoriously underfunded government pension system.
Posted by: Juan Moment | Apr 4 2025 12:11 utc | 90
“China to impose tariffs of 34pc on all US goods from April 10
China on Friday announced a slew of additional tariffs and restrictions against U.S. goods as a countermeasure to sweeping tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.”
What’s really needed now is for China to reassure the country of Hawaii that there are no tariffs against that country’s goods.
Posted by: Dalit | Apr 4 2025 12:20 utc | 92
“China to impose tariffs of 34pc on all US goods from April 10
China on Friday announced a slew of additional tariffs and restrictions against U.S. goods as a countermeasure to sweeping tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.”
What’s really needed now is for China to reassure the country of Hawaii that there are no tariffs against that country’s goods.
Posted by: Dalit | Apr 4 2025 12:20 utc | 93
Barflies regularly recommending and quoting from Heidegger and Nietzsche explains the pervasiveness of fascistic beliefs infusing the comments in the bar. The labor aristocracy favoring their philosophies reflects the fact that the labor aristocracy are, well, aristocrats.
Posted by: All Under Heaven | Apr 4 2025 13:01 utc | 94
Trump playing the Age Old Card:
US ten year 3.92 this morning-create a crisis and investors still will send their money to Safe Harbour-US bonds from the high of 4.8 or so it saves govt. about 350 billion annually.
Though, some of the bond buying will be investors selling their stocks and buying treasuries.
Trump will force the Fed to lower the rates even if to do so he has to blows up Wall Street
https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/4/0/543972/Opinion//America%E2%80%99s-AI-Iron-Curtain.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmxYhi5cxZ0
Freeman at Diesen
Posted by: Tom | Apr 4 2025 13:38 utc | 97
“Barflies regularly recommending and quoting from Heidegger and Nietzsche explains the pervasiveness of fascistic beliefs infusing the comments in the bar. The labor aristocracy favoring their philosophies reflects the fact that the labor aristocracy are, well, aristocrats.”
Posted by: All Under Heaven | Apr 4 2025 13:01 utc |
I am not familiar that familiar with Heidegger, but Nietzsche was certainly not a Fascist; kindly please educate yourself:
Nietzsche’s philosophy, while often misinterpreted, is not fascist because he was anti-nationalistic, despised mass movements and socialism, and valued individual genius and ethical action over blind obedience or state control:
Anti-Nationalism and Pan-Europeanism:
Nietzsche was critical of nationalism and the state, advocating for a pan-European vision rather than a narrow, nationalistic one.
Contempt for Mass Life:
He was unapologetically critical of “mass life” and the “mob,” emphasizing the importance of individual genius and exceptional individuals.
Critique of Socialism and Egalitarianism:
Nietzsche was a strong critic of socialism and egalitarianism, viewing them as stifling to individual growth and the development of a strong, “Übermensch”.
Emphasis on Individual Ethical Action:
Nietzsche’s philosophy focused on individual ethical action and the pursuit of self-overcoming, rather than blind obedience to authority or the state.
Nietzsche’s views on Jews:
While his writings on Jews are open to differing interpretations, his emphasis on individualism and contempt for German nationalism and anti-Semitism put him at odds with Nazi ideology.
Nietzsche’s views on Christianity:
Nietzsche despised Christianity, which he saw as a force that promoted weakness and self-denial, rather than strength and self-affirmation.
@Posted by: canuck | Apr 4 2025 10:38 utc | 79
So predictably … wrong. The Western Empire collapsed in 476 AD (after splitting from the Eastern Roman Empire in 395 AD). Your example is SIX CENTURIES off, six centuries during which the oligarchy turned into a rapacious self-serving one. Its like quoting US GDP growth in the 1950s in an attempt to refute criticism of the neoliberalism of the past decades. Using an example from more than SIX CENTURIES before the collapse is truly laughable. Maybe you got confused between BC and AD …
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Apr 4 2025 13:50 utc | 99
@persiflo | Apr 4 2025 7:26 utc | 75 & NemesisCalling
Thanks for the link to that interview …
…just read through – need a few more readings …
One thought that really struck me was the parallel with Germany in 1933 and the US, UK and Germany today … on the invasions of ‘The University’ and the ‘thought police’ be they National Socialists or Zionists ….
We are familiar with Columbia, Harvard, etc
# Germany is now deporting pro-Palestine EU citizens. This is a chilling new step
Acrackdown on political dissent is well under way in Germany. Over the past two years, institutions and authorities have cancelled events, exhibitions and awards over statements about Palestine or Israel. There are many examples: the Frankfurt book fair indefinitely postponing an award ceremony for Adania Shibli; the Heinrich Böll Foundation withdrawing the Hannah Arendt prize from Masha Gessen; the University of Cologne rescinding a professorship for Nancy Fraser; the No Other Land directors Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham being defamed by German ministers. And, most recently, the philosopher Omri Boehm being disinvited from speaking at this month’s anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald.
In nearly all of these cases, accusations of antisemitism loom large – even though Jews are often among those being targeted. […]
… Authorities are now moving to deport foreign nationals for participating in pro-Palestine actions. As I reported this week in the Intercept, four people in Berlin – three EU citizens and one US citizen – are set to be deported over their involvement in demonstrations against Israel’s war on Gaza. None of the four have been convicted of a crime, and yet the authorities are seeking to simply throw them out of the country. [Two of these EU citizens are Irish]
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/03/germany-deporting-pro-palestine-eu-citizens-chilling-new-step
I’m Waiting for Godot! Or not!.
Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 4 2025 14:10 utc | 100