That flexible solar tech is important because it can be used to power drones in flight and satellites, bypassing the need and limitations (weight, charge duration) for traditional fuel cells.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 20 2025 14:07 utc | 4

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 20 2025 14:03 utc | 3
Here’s the source for that story. Incredible if true, a non nuclear nuclear bomb. Game changer if ever there was one.
https://en.topwar.ru

Posted by: Ogre | Apr 20 2025 14:25 utc | 6

Here is Michael Roberts’ Marxist critique of Pettis:
https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/02/08/trade-tariffs-as-economic-policy-the-debate/

Posted by: Crumchy | Apr 20 2025 14:35 utc | 8

LoveDonbass@3……so China has it own little Manhattan Project, how quaint…..a gentler kinder death perhaps? Fast tracked down the Green River, where Paradise lay……
Happy Easter….. M

Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Apr 20 2025 14:42 utc | 10

Why the fuck would the Iranians make a deal with the US? If in fact there is really some sort of mutual defense pact with Russia (which is an open question to me), they have no need. Has Putin left them out to dry? If so, why, and why would any other nation ever trust that Russia would do anything meaningful on their behalf as part of any kind of “formal” arrangement?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 20 2025 14:58 utc | 12

Tom Q #12: the reason may be because Iran’s economy is in the dumpster and their deals with China and Russia, while very important in the long term, ain’t making it in the short term. They need expertise and funding to recharge their oil/gas fields and that all has been locked up for years.
Also, seeing what took place with Lebanon and Syria and the inaction of Russia/China/India and the rest of the world, I think they are figuring out that coming to some sort of modus vivendi with USA may be advisable. Yes, the US can’t be trusted; but that’s what the higher enriched UR is for: we’ll be good boys but we aren’t Libya …
In short, they are desperate …

Posted by: Caliman | Apr 20 2025 15:12 utc | 14

Amazing what humans can do when the rentiers, middlemen, warmongers, and monopolists are suppressed.
Science, innovation, standards of living.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 20 2025 15:14 utc | 16

China’s non-nuke H Bomb.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 20 2025 14:03 utc | 3
Interesting…
There’s an April 20 South China Morning Post article about it. There’s an insinuation that the gizmo is intended for use in submarine warfare.
On the other hand, there’s a growing presence of warnings on the www that SCMP makes stuff up to attract more eyeballs.
Eg: 1000 degrees C isn’t very hot for an explosion of ANY kind.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Apr 20 2025 15:21 utc | 18

LoveDumbass just won his unprecedented 15th, “The Most Retarded Post I Have Read Today Award” with inanity:
“Iran is a superpower.”
Posted by: LoveDumbass | Apr 20 2025 15:21 utc | 17

Posted by: canuck | Apr 20 2025 15:42 utc | 20

‘’ The Christian resurrection of Jesus is probably a transformation of this older tale.’’
Yes. In ancient times people anticipated an end to the wheel of time, to fate. This is called the feast of resurrection. It was fairly universal. The eighth-century adoption of the word Easter-month, for thé Roman month of March, by Charlemagne, reflects the significance of this historical memory, which still pervades our modern culture in various strange and unusual ways. In short, the God who made the worlds, foresaw all things before they came to be. It was revealed to men that this world will have an end, that death will cease, time will cease, that all mankind will be reborn from hades. Our ancestors saw this in the passage of God through the underworld, being reborn, resurrected after death. Easter is an ancient festival of the resurrection of God.

Posted by: Nothingburgers | Apr 20 2025 16:04 utc | 22

Global Times alerted me to this Anti-Tariff Declaration and its “Trade and Tariffs Declaration: A Statement on the Principles of American Prosperity.” It says many things but lists the following:

Today, we face a series of executive actions based upon assertions that:
Misconstrue our nation’s history
Misunderstand our nation’s current economic condition
Misdiagnose the nature of our nation’s economic ills
Repudiate long-standing and widely accepted economic first principles.

The entire Declaration is too long to post so barflies will need to visit the site. Yes, it’s imperfect mainly because it’s formulated by mainstream economists, although there are some things that are correct. If I were to endorse it, I’d need to add caveats. Will it alter Trump’s mind? Doubtful since the tariffs are being employed to provide the revenue his tax cuts to the wealthy will remove from government not to improve the US economy.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 20 2025 16:41 utc | 24

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 20 2025 15:12 utc | 15
No matter how old you re you can develop strength naturally..
Giving artificial strength just lowers longevity as the less muscle mass, the less longevity.
God, you are daft.
Posted by: canuck | Apr 20 2025 15:29 utc | 19
While you aren’t wrong, (except with your incessant attacks on LoveDonbass) there are many instances where strength wont matter to a persons mobility. Frailty, injury, disability, quality of life. Hell I would use something like this for all the squats I do gardening. Done right something like this might even have a resistance option, right?

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Apr 20 2025 16:48 utc | 26

Posted by: canuck | Apr 20 2025 15:29 utc | 19 Barring issues like COPD, CHF, arthritis, complications of diabetes including neuropathy in feet, impaired circulation in the extremities, balance problems, maybe insufficient testosterone for developing muscle mass…why sure, there’s no excuse for old people being weaklings! [Can you find the sarcasm in this comment?]
The contempt for humanity that seems to inspire so many reactionaries often takes the form of blaming people for being sick, even old. Cranks like this pretend all you have to do is hit the gym and eat their favorite diet. Religion is to medicine as astrology is to astronomy. God gives good health to the good people, therefore hygiene that cures sickness and prevents aging is a sign of godliness even more than cleanliness?

Posted by: steven t johnson | Apr 20 2025 17:33 utc | 28

@dukeitout | Apr 20 2025 17:00 utc | 27
I wonder how Pettis got the faculty position at Peking University, which is the top 2 universities along with Tsing Hua (清華) in China. His academic background and his work experience don’t look very impressive for a professorship at Peking Univ. Not sure if he’s someone getting embedded in social science fields of Chinese academia to influence some youths there. Those got Pettis to Peking Univ. are also suspicious. I suspect those getting Pettis there are likely the so-called Gong-zhi (公知) or Bai-zuo (白左). As mentioned earlier and many times, the social science fields, especially in economics and finances in Chinese academia are disaster zones heavily influenced by western ideologies. China has to work on that to develop realistic economics concepts that serve the public interests instead of being used as brain-washing propaganda like the trickle-down idea.

Posted by: LuRenJia | Apr 20 2025 17:39 utc | 30

LoveD – I’m from Iran originally, many decades ago, and I still have many close and dear family members there and know what I’m talking about, unlike yourself.
No, Iran is not a superpower, not even close. It “has nuclear medicine”??? And that is evidence of its superpowerness??? You’ve got to be kidding me. Its superpowerness was so overpowering that its allies in the region were destroyed and all it could do is hunker down to save itself … perhaps.
Iran’s power, such as it is, is in its cultured patriotic and educated people, its land and resources, and peace. It should do what it can to avoid disaster, if it can be done.
Yes, US can destroy Iran’s infrastructure, quite easily in fact. Would it suffer back? Likely mostly economically through the oil/stockmarket disasters that would follow. Does that worry Trump? Perhaps. We shall see.
“Iranians may suffer.” Your equanimity in the face of hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of people suffering is noted. I would prefer it not happen, personally.

Posted by: Caliman | Apr 20 2025 18:12 utc | 32

Thanks for another great week b.
–
Why the fuck would the Iranians make a deal with the US?
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 20 2025 14:58 utc | 12
Tom, Iranians have simply chosen to NOT go to war and have their country wreaked, even if they win in such a war.
Here is how Col. McGregor puts it on Danny Davis’ show as shown by Judge Nap.
Start at 9:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmQBMtpiRWk

Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Apr 20 2025 18:24 utc | 34

I would rather this not happen to the Iranians, as it has happened to Iraqis, Palestinians, and Yemenis.
Posted by: Caliman | Apr 20 2025 18:22 utc | 33
_____
I’d like to think that all decent people feel the same way — in fact, I’d like to use that feeling as a measure of human decency. That much said, I imagine the Iranians are spiritually and militarily prepared for the worst eventualities.

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 20 2025 18:27 utc | 36

LoveD: Iran is not a superpower … it can defend itself somewhat and turn porcupine (conquering it won’t be worth the damage). But it can be damaged very badly through conventional bombardment. And for a mature modern society to, for example, all of a sudden lose 75% of its electricity generation and clean water would cause millions of casualties al la Iraq in the 90’s.
Posted by: Caliman

3 powerplants
2 harbors
1 airport

Posted by: Exile | Apr 20 2025 18:42 utc | 38

LoveD “Submission is annihilation; that is what Yemen understands. There are worse fates than death for believers.”
Once again volunteering others to be martyrs … Perhaps they would rather survive and thrive. This is the thing about older civilizations like Iran and many others in ME and the Mediterranean world: they have learned that bending with the current allows for survival of the culture far more reliably than fighting every bully that comes along. There are tribal societies like in Yemen and Afghanland who are basically indomitable and unconquerable; but they are rare and special AND have decided that they are willing to pay the price. Most city folks would disagree.
If you like sayings, here’s one I appreciate: “retreat, if planned, is not defeat.”
To b and others. sorry for my several messages (I usually listen mostly), but this item is close to my heart, so to speak.

Posted by: Caliman | Apr 20 2025 18:59 utc | 40

Once again volunteering others to be martyrs …
Posted by: Caliman | Apr 20 2025 18:59 utc | 41
############
Glorious Quran 9:111

Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law (Torah), the Gospel (Bible), and the Qur’an: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme.

How can I volunteer people for something that Allah SWT has already guided them to?
Now, if you’re not a Muslim, my apologies for assuming that you are.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 20 2025 19:21 utc | 42

Caliman
The claim that conventional weapons could decimate such a large country as Iran is a pretty big claim—the logistics and time to do so would invite a myriad of somewhat gamed responses (as you alluded to one, oil)… nukes, on the other hand, could immediately decimate at the scale necessary to severely blunt any reply (from Iran itself, that is)…

Posted by: E | Apr 20 2025 20:22 utc | 44

If “B” thinks that Han Feizi’s article debunks all the things Michael Pettis has said then he needs to think twice.
Posted by: WMG | Apr 20 2025 20:24 utc | 45

Posted by: WMG | Apr 20 2025 20:26 utc | 46

E = #44: The US does not have to go nuclear to have a devastating effect on Iran … all they have to do is to hit a few of the major electricity generation, gas pipeline, and water purification centers. Iran is already suffering from rolling electricity outages. Even a 50% loss nationally would be utterly devastating and the govt knows it.
The Clinton regime did this to Iraq in the 90’s … remember the 500,000 dead Iraqi children (almost certainly an undercount)? No one in the world cared to force us to stop, did they?
It is reported that Khamenei and Putin have been in direct contact … I think Putin is likely telling him to make a deal.

Posted by: Caliman | Apr 20 2025 21:00 utc | 48

Posted by: WMG | Apr 20 2025 20:26 utc | 46
You can say that agai…. oh wait, you did.
But in seriousness, no further elaboration on your…point? Where did anyone say that “all the things” said were debunked? What did the Policy Tensor article miss and why wasn’t it worthy of expansion in your response?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Apr 20 2025 21:27 utc | 50

Posted by: Caliman | Apr 20 2025 21:00 utc | 48
I hope they do. It’s a fine goal to be self sufficient, but in this case trading an enrichment program that they do not need for a peace deal that gets the US to back off and relieves sanctions is by far the best course of action. Why not have Russia process their ore and send them fuel rods if it means an end to this.
It seems every other press release seems to be going nuts about “weapons grade” uranium as if anyone uses it, while ignoring the fact that Iran already possesses spent fuel rods they could process and chemically extract enough plutonium to build a bomb in a couple weeks. It’s clear that if they wanted a bomb they could have one anytime. And it has nothing to do with the enrichment program boogyman.
Ditch the enrichment program and it undoes the whole Iran could have enough uranium to build a bomb in 3 years canard that the press has been using to scare the MSM users with no science background. Once they have lost what they have made their primary excuse for attacking Iran it will be more difficult to find support for it. Without US support Israel’s mischief will be limited.

Posted by: anonymous | Apr 20 2025 21:39 utc | 52

Posted by: Caliman | Apr 20 2025 21:00 utc | 48
###########
Iran’s power and financial problems smell a lot like sabotage to me. Destabilization and demoralization projects to create a situation for regime change.
America is agreement incapable. Everyone in the Axis knows it. There is no deal to be made with America. Surrender, and the future looks a lot like the West Bank.
That anyone thinks the US is a rational or reliable partner is delusional, IMO. They keep faith with no one. Bibi was just talking last week about a Libyan solution, which means the destruction of the country.
Iran is THE preeminent military power in West Asia.
That is why I say it is a superpower. It has the power to destroy the global energy markets at any moment that it chooses.
The power to destroy everything is the ultimate power.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 20 2025 21:41 utc | 54

LoveDonbass | 54

The power to destroy everything is the ultimate power.

I disagree. With a thought from Elias Canetti, I claim the ultimate power is in fact to subdue, kill and then eat the adversary … skip the eating part if you wish, but certainly getting rid of an adversary’s agency without destroying the world in the process must be preferrable.

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 20 2025 21:47 utc | 56

“A 7,000-year-old civilization.
America is not even 300 years old. Iran has nothing to fear.”
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 20 2025 22:08 utc | 57
I, for one, am never persuaded by that line of argument.

Posted by: Spectator | Apr 20 2025 22:47 utc | 58

“7,000? You’re claiming people living there in the neolithic period are directly related, culturally and linguistically, to modern Iranians. Seems a bit hard to swallow….I’ve never understood the war cheerleader mentality.”
Posted by: anonymous | Apr 20 2025 22:55 utc | 59
The mentality is basically “lets you and him fight, I’ll get my popcorn”. And the idea that older civilizations will always win wars against newer nation-states is laughable. Look at the Iroquois vs the USA, and the Inca vs Spanish, just for a couple of relatively recent examples proving otherwise.

Posted by: Spectator | Apr 20 2025 23:11 utc | 60

7,000? You’re claiming people living there in the neolithic period are directly related, culturally and linguistically, to modern Iranians. Seems a bit hard to swallow. Also, becoming like their neighbors is a good reason to worry. – anonymous | 59

IIRC, it was Javad Zharif, then Iranian FM, who mentioned the number to a delegation of civil-diplomats from the US, in stating they have been living together in cities for this amount of time.
Meanwhile new archeological findings I’ve only heard about, so have grain of salt here, imply the actual number is at least 12,000 years.

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 20 2025 23:40 utc | 62

7,000?

Of course linguistic evidence from this distant past is not conveyed. About their neighbours, well, there was once a pan-iranian political movement in Persia (Iran translates as land of the Aryans), and their logo was ≠

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 20 2025 23:48 utc | 64

I’m from Iran originally, many decades ago, and I still have many close and dear family members there and know what I’m talking about, unlike yourself.
Posted by: Caliman | Apr 20 2025 18:12 utc | 32
Ah yes, another Iranian exile, mainly middle and upper classes bitterly guarding for 45 years the memory of the Shah’s autocratic regime, not forgetting anything and not understanding anything. Caliman believes the exiles’ mantra that the theocratic regime is feeble and will shortly fall. They’ve said the same thing for 40 years, and have never understood why the regime survives all of the numerous attempts to overturn them.
The last time I was in Iran, about five years ago, the regime was strong and in no danger, life was reasonable (I was very impressed how much better off people were than in the time of the Shah), in spite of all the predictions emanating from Washington, and all the moans from middle and upper class people I met there. I can’t see the situation has fundamentally changed, though it might have degraded a bit since then.

Posted by: laguerre | Apr 21 2025 0:07 utc | 66

Posted by: Spectator | Apr 20 2025 23:11 utc | 60
####
Iran is a nation of engineers, not illiterate tribal natives.
The US can’t handle Yemen, how will they tackle Iran, which has the most technologically advanced military with hardened positions in all of West Asia?
I don’t want to see anyone die at the hands of the psychopathic American and Israeli Zionists, but America seems committed to FAFO.
Attacking Iran may go down as the greatest military blunder in modern history.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 21 2025 0:25 utc | 68

Iran is a nation of engineers, not illiterate tribal natives.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 21 2025 0:25 utc | 68
OK, so this is a reason to reject diplomacy and get bombed into oblivion?

Posted by: anonymous | Apr 21 2025 0:36 utc | 70

Posted by: anonymous | Apr 21 2025 0:36 utc | 70
####
The Libyan example is instructive because they did as you suggested and were still destroyed.
America is not agreement capable.
The Empire relies on fear to avoid the ultimate cost of bullying. Yemen and Iran are calling their bluff.
The ball is in Trump’s court.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 21 2025 0:44 utc | 72

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 21 2025 0:38 utc | 71
I’m not anyone. If they want to make a bomb they don’t need enrichment, they already have the plutonium. If they don’t want to make a bomb they don’t need enrichment. They have a strategic treaty with Russia who can provide them everything the need to run a reactor. The whole enrichment program is now pointless.
US is irrelevant. The propaganda they have seized on revolves around enrichment. Without that, at best they will have to come up with another excuse, and will lose even more credibility. It is not like they were credible before, but plenty of people will be asking, “They did as you asked, why are you still attacking them?”.

Posted by: anonymous | Apr 21 2025 0:49 utc | 74

Hey, everyone – the US is currently waging a campaign in Yemen, and they are interested in keeping Iran out of the fight for very obvious reasons (ie, Diego Garcia). Since Ansar Allah came to the genocide “war” as a third party simply to help, it is reasonable to assume Iran might want to follow their example and, in turn, attack US assets in West Asia with the aim to stop the US from attacking Yemen. So they try and threaten Iran off of it. It’s not that hard to see, isn’t it?
I’m not saying they are unwilling to attack Iran. However, that has been the talk for decades now, and most likely they actually have attacked Iran countless times – assassinating nuclear scientists at home, numerous generals abroad, and perhaps even a president in his helo. They threw a tailor-made Covid strain at them, tried several colour and other revolutions, and employ a terrorist brigade in the MEK there. Cue the odd bombing of an assassinated general’s funeral with many dozen dead. They announced the nickname of their CIA man in charge in the papers as ‘the dark prince’ to top it off, and prided themselves of major industrial sabotage operations (stuxnet). I could go on, but you get the drift.

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 21 2025 0:51 utc | 76

@ anonymous | Apr 21 2025 0:49 utc | 74
Then we’re agreed that Iran should build a bomb?

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 21 2025 0:52 utc | 78

Caliman
Sure , grids are vulnerable anywhere… I would imagine Russia is manufacturing a lot of electrical grid gear for rebuilding Ukraine someday… not sure how the Iranian grid compares … is it similar?

Posted by: E | Apr 21 2025 0:54 utc | 80

Until Trump nukes someone, he will continue to be tested, and if he nukes someone, America will probably be put down like the feral animal that it is by Russia and China.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 21 2025 0:50 utc | 75
______
If the USA nukes Iran, most of the ROW will shrug its collective shoulders and keep dealing with the USA as before. Maybe even more deferentially.
Don‘t think that countries will be constrained by moral/ethical considerations. They so rarely are.

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 21 2025 0:56 utc | 82

@ anonymous | Apr 21 2025 1:04 utc | 83
The last time the USA reversed a sanction, the USA quickly reneged. Remember?

Posted by: malenkov | Apr 21 2025 1:14 utc | 84

I shall repeat another barflies’ post here, excerpted, for its general interest on an important topic:
— The Chinese concept of “Mandate of Heaven” has existed since Shang and Zhou, and it is very different from the European concept of “Divine Right of Kings”. In China, if the ruler’s subjects lead happy and prosperous lives, the rulers are deemed to have the Mandate of Heaven. If the Chinese government fails to handle crises, even natural disasters like floods, then they are deemed to have lost the Mandate of Heaven, and more capable or competent people are free to overthrow the government. The European idea of the Divine Right of Kings, however, says that the monarch does not have to care about what the people want. The European monarch’s right to rule over people is given by God, and the people have no right to challenge the monarch’s authority.
This difference is reflected in how the Chinese and the Europeans approach religion. In China, the government and religion should serve the people. Governments that don’t – they get overthrown. Gods that fail to consistently grant wishes (good harvest, more children) get abandoned.
All Under Heaven | Apr 20 2025 1:44 utc —
Thanks for the posting, AUH.

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 21 2025 1:22 utc | 86

Lastly, Israel has defined itself by its enemies. If it were not for its narrative of victimhood and persecution, it could not survive. The last thing Israel wants to see is peace, even in victory.
Posted by: Caliman | Apr 21 2025 1:18 utc | 85
You have a deep understanding of the problem.

Posted by: anonymous | Apr 21 2025 1:29 utc | 88

“Iran is a nation of engineers, not illiterate tribal natives.”
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 21 2025 0:25 utc | 68
A whole nation of engineers now, is it? You exaggerate too much, that is problematic.

Posted by: Spectator | Apr 21 2025 1:39 utc | 90

After all, the village must be burned to save it, right?
Posted by: Caliman | Apr 21 2025 1:18 utc | 85
####
It’s the Qadr of Allah, which is a concept Muslims understand.
If the village is to be burned or not, it is in the hands of the Creator.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 21 2025 1:41 utc | 92

Posted by: Spectator | Apr 21 2025 1:39 utc | 90
####
I believe I posted it recently. Iran has a high percentage of engineers, half IIRC, are female.
It is nation of engineers and produces a lot of cutting edge science.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_technology_in_Iran

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Apr 21 2025 1:49 utc | 94

I sense the trolls are back with a new strategy. After trying to appear clever didn’t help much here, they are now trying to stupid the place.
It’s not that hard to see, is it?
argh.
I did my part today, good night y’all!

Posted by: persiflo | Apr 21 2025 2:04 utc | 96

Pale face speaking with forked tongue..
Couldnt help it, they keep outdoing themselves !

Its completely insane that the Chinese need this huge military to defend against foreign aggression, it could only be for
expansion !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJYa2GgwyEI
[2.11]

Posted by: denk | Apr 21 2025 2:11 utc | 98

Gold is ripping again. However, caution is warranted in the near term for a pullback.
During the 1970s, gold went from $35 to $200 between 1970-74 amid interest cuts and inflation/stagflation. In 1975, the rates were hiked again tanking gold to $100, however, the rates started cutting, pushing gold from $100 to $800 in the following 6 years. I think we are following this path, albeit not in the same magnitude, and in a bit shorter absolute timeframe ( $7000 over next 2-3 years instead of 6 years).
There are also reason to suggest one may be considering agricultural products and stocks may outperform gold for a year or two.
https://x.com/BraVoCycles/status/1913976857420066893
Gold miners are just printing money, reportedly refusing order deliveries and instead burying their products in the ground.

Posted by: unimperator | Apr 21 2025 2:37 utc | 100