The MoA Week In Review – OT 2025-095

Back to Main

May 4, 2025

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

Apr 28 – Russia Rejects Trump's Freeze Of The War In Ukraine
May 3 – War In Ukraine – The Mineral Deal Pulls Trump Back In
Related:
– PETER HITCHENS: Spare me the hand-wringing over Ukraine. The West has been carving up much weaker countries in grubby peace deals for YEARS (archived) – Daily Mail
– Minerals deal resets geopolitics of Ukraine – Indian Punchline

Apr 29 – The Cult That Murders Gaza
Related:
– “Deprivation by Design”: Israel Intensifies Mass Killing Campaign in Gaza With Starvation and Daily Strikes – Dropsidenews
– Israel calls up thousands of reservists, plans to expand Gaza offensive amid stalled hostage talks – CNN
– The drip-drip of slanted Gaza reporting erodes our sense of right and wrong – Jonathan Cook

Apr 30 – Vietnam – 50 Years Since The End Of The War
Related:
– The helicopter, symbol of American hubris – Engelsberg Ideas
– Pentagon May Have Drawn on Anonymous Social Media Accounts in Planning Deadly Yemen Attack – Dropsidenews

May 2 – Trump Tops Tariffs On China With Sanctions
Related:
– America is in Asia, but not of Asia – Han Feizi / Asia Times
– Jeffrey Sachs: Chinese Statecraft & a New World Order (video) – Jeffrey Sachs/Glenn Diesen
– Former ASML head scientist Lin Nan drives China’s latest EUV breakthrough – SCMP

—
Other issues:

Waltz:

Inside Waltz’s ouster: Before Signalgate, talks with Israel angered Trump (archived) – Washington Post
Demoting Michael Waltz, Will Trump Avoid a War with Iran? – Sonar21
Mike Waltz’s demotion is a loss for defence hawks – Economist

Nutters:

Core Trump – Michael Brenner / Consortium News
John Fetterman insists he is in good health. But staffers past and present say they no longer recognize the man they once knew. – NY Magazine

Economy:

Satyajit Das: The Unravelling – Part 1: Economic & Financial Furies – Naked Capitalism
Satyajit Das: The Unravelling – Part 2: Contagion & Containment – Naked Capitalism
Complacency, Denialism and the Risk of an Economic Trumpocalypse – Yves Smith / Naked Capitalism
Big investors borrow against private equity holdings amid cash crunch (archived) – FT

Law of War:

Is the Purpose of Israel to Destroy International Law? – Sam Husseini
US Tells World Court Israel Has Right to Starve Gaza – Libertarian Institute
What’s Legally Allowed In War (archived) – New Yorker
How U.S. military lawyers see Israel’s invasion of Gaza—and the public’s reaction to it—as a dress rehearsal for a potential conflict with a foreign power like China.
Gaza, the US and China: the future of war and the end of civilisation – Roberto Iannuzzi / thomasfazi.com
Gaza sets a terrifying precedent: the radical reinterpretation of the laws of war is bound to have serious consequences on the destructiveness of future conflicts — including a US-China war

IndPak:

Craig Murray: Kashmir & the Indus River – Consortium News
Coffee Break: Armed Madhouse – India/Pakistan Tinderbox – Naked Capitalism
India-Pakistan tensions show signs of easing – Indian Punchline

Zeitgeist:

Britain Is Toast, Period – Ian Welsh
Too Hot to Work – Prostitution is cool again – Nefarious Russians
Global Corruption Reporting Group Suggests Peers “Launder Money Legally” to Hide Donors – Dropsidenews

Use as open (not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine) thread …

Posted by b on May 4, 2025 at 14:28 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Scott Horton was a guest on Kim Iverson. Putting this in other since it covers both Ukraine and Iran/Israel. I took notes/found things to look into as is normal for an hour of Scott Horton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGEkGNurDY8
I hope this finds you well

Posted by: ockham | May 4 2025 14:42 utc | 1

It certainly has been ugly here as of late. Gotta switch channels sometimes. Total content of the posters has gone down in value

Posted by: circumspect | May 4 2025 15:03 utc | 2

thanks b… much to read and ponder..
@ circumspect | May 4 2025 15:03 utc | 2
be part of the solution in some creative way..
————–
video that alex krainer shared on money by richard werner – 2 hour video interview.
You’ve Been Lied to About the History of Money w/ Richard Werner
@ sean the leprecaun – i have replied to you on the previous thread, but it is held up in moderation.. i did this a moment ago.. cheers.

Posted by: james | May 4 2025 15:28 utc | 3

Recently, someone here at MOA mentioned a new political party in Norway: FOR – Fred og Rettferdighet (Peace and Fairness). Their main policy is peace.
I have been completely disillusioned by the man parties for years and did not see any possibility of voting in the upcoming parliamentary election in September this year. However, FOR now provides an option. The top FOR candidate to be MP in my area is no other than … Professor Glenn Diesen!
https://partiet-for.no/valgkamp-galleri-2025-cc-4-0-by-for/
Unless something unexpected happens, I will definitely vote for him.

Posted by: Norwegian | May 4 2025 15:48 utc | 4

re: “US Tells World Court Israel Has Right to Starve Gaza”
Less than a decade ago the United States was presenting legal arguments at the UN featuring strict interpretations of humanitarian law in a bid to legitimize an international coalition directed against Syria’s government on Responsibility To Protect grounds. From today’s vantage, the alleged crimes of the Assad government – for example, causing limited structural damage to a hospital resulting in several deaths – has no point of comparison to the wholesale destruction and slaughter seen over the past year and a half. This overt hypocrisy has no real meaning or correspondence with international law, as it does not rise above the oft-articulated state of “exception” for the U.S. and its primary client states.

Posted by: jayc | May 4 2025 15:59 utc | 5

Re: Trump‘s FY26 Budget Proposal
There is a method to the madness. Reading the scattered tea leaves, this is what I believe Trump‘s Admin is trying:
$150B Programs Slashed savings
$200B DOGE efficency savings
==============
$350B Savings Delta
$600B Tariff Income
===============
~$1,000B decrease in deficit
This halves deficit spending in FY2026.
I have no idea if these goals are achievable. The tariff income is most unknown. Therefore, I‘d look to see how the bond market reacts over the next couple of weeks. Higher Interest Rates means bond market doesn‘t buy it. And vice versa.
TBD

Posted by: Exile | May 4 2025 16:07 utc | 6

Recently, someone here at MOA mentioned a new political party in Norway
Posted by: Norwegian | May 4 2025 15:48 utc | 4
Yes and thanks. I think it was Sunny Runny Burger, so tusen takk to him as well.
My wife and I had heard nothing, nothing at all about the new party until then
and I’m sure they will get no press going forward. We have always voted Red Party
which was the most left party but even they took on a policy of supporting the Ukraine war.
The new party is a split-off as a result.
If you go to the link Norwegian posted you can get most of
their policies in English by clicking the globe icon top right.
It’s about time people here wake up. I think we are now in the top
3 western nations for per capita ‘defense’ spending.

Posted by: waynorinorway | May 4 2025 16:19 utc | 7

@ Norwegian | May 4 2025 15:48 utc | 4
if i was living in the riding, voting for glenn diesen would be very easy for me to do! i hope that works out!

Posted by: james | May 4 2025 16:20 utc | 8

Posted by: circumspect | May 4 2025 15:03 utc | 2
content value is a function of things that are happening, not really much has changed in the past few weeks.. Trump still claims the world owes him a living, Sleezeinski still claims his country has defeated Russia, treasuries are still performing in inverse to the Chinese economy, Wall Street is still extracting wealth from America pocket books, housing costs are rising, cost of living has been changed to cost of surviving, fires, storms and volcanoes are violating environmental laws, homeless are seeking public shelter, congress is still passing laws to make the rich richer. health care for the masses has been changed to wealth care for the rich.. the Houthi are still practicing to sink a ship in the red sea, robots are competing for jobs with humans, Iran is selling sanctioned oil to China, and Israel has just about finished its Zionist business in Gaza..
It would help if you could please add some content of value..
we need a break.. thanks.

Posted by: snake | May 4 2025 16:22 utc | 9

Russia would also consider all members of a bloc to be potential targets if one member state attacked the country (rtnews)

This is standing article 5 on its head.

Posted by: Passerby | May 4 2025 16:30 utc | 10

@Norwegians – perhaps get involved somehow? It’s a fairly obvious suggestion to make, but people like me could easily forget about this for a couple of months.

Posted by: persiflo | May 4 2025 16:44 utc | 11

Dunno if this has been posted previously, because I can’t keep up, but apologies to whomever if it has been.
RFK jr. states during a cabinet meeting that HHS had become a vector for child trafficking in the united states. 29 seconds of your time. Posted on May 1.
https://x.com/abrutalepiphany/status/1918093708635095181

Posted by: aye, myself & me | May 4 2025 16:46 utc | 12

@ persiflo | May 4 2025 16:44 utc | 11 who wrote: perhaps get involved somehow?
Not enough young and poor people here for that to happen.

Posted by: waynorinorway | May 4 2025 16:58 utc | 13

The Das article is a must read on the coming economic collapse and great depression. Lots of finance jargon but as a writer, he actually wants the common reader to understand the situation, unlike most economic pundits in the west. His book Extreme Money in 2009 was written in the sand manner and worth a re-read from the perspective of 2025.
This is the key point of his current article: “Governments and central bank’s ability to provide support is lower than in previous crisis. Chronic budget deficits, high public debt levels and the rising interest cost limit any new intercession.”
Since 2008, we’ve become somewhat used to market collapse as just part of the system, a buying opportunity even. But, that was only because the lender of last resort, the US Treasury could provide trillions to bailout the finance vampires. This time around, the question is who will bail out the Fed? We all know the answer: nobody.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | May 4 2025 17:08 utc | 14

Meanwhile in the most transparent and democratic union on earth, the EU:
-Romanian electoral committee pretends 80 out of 90 million Romanians are vote eligible
-Huge amount of deceased people found in voting lists up to 15 years ago

Posted by: unimperator | May 4 2025 17:16 utc | 15

Link:
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1919040740862078988

Posted by: unimperator | May 4 2025 17:17 utc | 16

At the end of her comments to the International Court of Justice yesterday, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh stated: “In addition to seeking to destroy the protective application of international law to the Palestinian people, Israel appears set on destroying the very international framework created to ensure compliance with international law with profound consequences that reverberate far beyond Palestine and Palestinians.”
Is the purpose of Israel to Destroy International Law

Are we still pretending there is such a thing as International Law? It is still and always has been: “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” since before the time of Thucydides.
Israel was created by the great powers (first UK then US) after WWI and WW2 to help divide and rule the Middle East and prevent the re-emergence of a new Ottoman Empire. International Law was never a serious concept, just part of the obligatory “never again” mantras after both wars.

Posted by: Fool Me Twice | May 4 2025 17:30 utc | 17

A special 25th Anniversary documentary film, “Russia. Kremlin. Putin. 25 years,” was released by Rossiya 1 broadcaster. Key statements in the film were compiled and published by Sputnik, “Key Statements by Putin in the Documentary ‘Russia. The Kremlin. Putin. 25 Years'”. A Yandex search will provide many returns on this topic, some from the West are attempts to smear Putin are Howlers for their juvenile spin. The 1;38 video is available here but is only in Russian.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 4 2025 17:40 utc | 18

This comment is deliberately placed in the public domain.
Okay, this is a little bit important and will/can save a lot of time for a lot of people.
I will try to remember to invoke the rule further below any time I come across something to which it applies. Please do the same.
The “SuRuBu rule”:
Any science reporting from anyone that mentions or alludes to a scientific paper which it does not provide a direct link to is to be ignored until or unless any third party does the drudgery of providing such a link. Do not propagate such “science reporting” unless you do that work and provide the link.
Please live up to and spread this requirement so that we may all avoid the spam-like shit. Do not fall for any superficial sexiness or implied importance when the rule is broken.
Now all we need is a short and snazzy name for this new rule so that we can all popularize it.
Suggestions?
[ Best I could come up with was “Surubu rule”; it’s okay since it is short but maybe there is something better?
Illustrating by example: most people using Moore’s law don’t know anything much about Moore; it’s just a convenient name for something (and in this case there are not really anyone named SuRuBu).
“The science link rule”? “The science reference rule” which could be shortened to “Sci-Ref” or “Science ref”? All meh!
Maybe we can backronym the capital letters of “SuRuBu” into “Science Reference Bullshit”? Would that work? It would intentionally create an in-group and out-group for use in propagation of the idea: those in the in-group have a clue! ]
Oh and any refinements or concise clarifications of the rule are welcome but I think it’s at a relatively decent balance of brevity and clarity as it is.
· · ·
And in case anyone wonders; yes the SCMP piece on EUV breaks the rule and is thus at face value a worthless, unsubstantiated, meaning-less, and unhelpful not-even-a-rumor.
Sick of the garbage.

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | May 4 2025 17:59 utc | 19

Re: Is the Purpose of Israel to Destroy International Law?
Fool Me Twice @17: “Are we still pretending there is such a thing as International Law?”
“WE” are not pretending any such thing, at least those of us here who are not Establishment trolls. A great number of “normal” people believe international law exists as a constraint on nation-state behavior, though. It is their mistaken beliefs that are being destroyed.

Posted by: William Gruff | May 4 2025 18:07 utc | 20

Was Bhadhra Kumar writing satire?

Posted by: Henry Steen | May 4 2025 18:10 utc | 21

International law like all law only exists to the extent that it is adhered to.
The issue is that so many countries do not adhere to it in practice, or only partially so and only verbally.
Currently this applies to all countries when it comes to human rights and to the convention against genocide, even the ones arguing against “Israel” at the ICJ and so on.
Thus they abrogate their authority…

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | May 4 2025 18:27 utc | 22

I don’t know what sort of relationship Pepe Escobar has with ZH but they have a posting up by him with the title
Escobar: China Steps Up Its Game In The Global AI Race
quote

By 2022, the China market represented 26% of Nvidia’s business; this year, it has fallen to 13%, because of euphemistic “technology export controls”.
The problem is the US government, already by 2022, under the previous automatic pen administration, had blocked sales to China of advanced A100 and H100 chips. Nvidia started selling modified versions – and even after the ban chips continued to arrive in China. By June 2023, it was easy to find A100s for double their price in the black market in Shenzhen.
…
Nvidia chips, Qantum Bird remarks, are indeed “computational beasts”, but they work better around “processing models and workloads typical of ‘AI’ models developed by Western scientists.” DeepSeek’s development, on the other hand, showed a transgression of established models: “The possibilities opened for performance leaps are huge, even using relatively modest hardware, with alternative approaches based on advanced math and different calculus flows.”
In a nutshell: “This is the Pandora’s box that Nvidia now fears the Chinese may have opened”. And that totally ties in with Huang’s red alert, prompting his visit to Beijing.
We may be heading indeed towards a serious tech decoupling. Or as Quantum Bird frames it: “A technological and scientific divergence medium and long-term. If the architectures that emerge from these developments are incompatible when it comes to their usage on specific ‘AI’ models, Nvidia will lose its global monopoly and will become just a company reduced to a corporate/scientific Western niche.”
Even as Huawei, from its privileged base in the Chinese market, will go on to win most markets across the Global Majority – from BRICS to BRI.

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 4 2025 18:27 utc | 23

@ Henry Steen | May 4 2025 18:10 utc | 21
i agree it is a very broad group of insane conclusions he is making in that article.. sometimes he is really off..

Posted by: james | May 4 2025 18:30 utc | 24

It’s not that international law ever existed in reality and is now being officially and irredeemably undermined that is the issue. It’s that the existence of such a thing as international law was a useful narrative building device for various reasons. This has ceased to have value and is indeed negative now and thus needs to be put aside from the UKUSIS empire POV.
I mean, is there any doubt what the US did in SE Asia in the 60s and 70s and then Central America in the 70s and 80s was many orders of magnitude worse than the current goings on in Palestine? But the difference was that the sins of the past could be obfuscated and hidden through the mill of the mainstream media manufacturing the consent of the masses.
Now, however, given the ways the public receives news, manufacturing narrative in the same ways is much less effective and so these “laws” are more likely to induce counter-narrative effects and therefore must be removed. Once the internet and protest censorship program is fully implemented and so narrative mgmt becomes easier again, then perhaps these concerns can become “laws” to browbeat the colonies over again.

Posted by: Caliman | May 4 2025 18:46 utc | 25

Once the internet and protest censorship program is fully implemented and so narrative mgmt becomes easier again, then perhaps these concerns can become “laws” to browbeat the colonies over again.
Posted by: Caliman | May 4 2025 18:46 utc | 25
########
This thinking is rooted in your deep belief in enduring American power.
You may not believe that Iran is a superpower, but that doesn’t mean that China and Russia are not.
There is a massive ecosystem of resistance out there that some people are unaware of (or work hard to ignore).
What worked for America, even a decade ago, will never work again.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 18:52 utc | 26

Australia had a major Federal Election on Saturday. Anyone interested in the Australian political landscape? It was an unprecedented result. I’m a little surprised it has gone without mention here.

Posted by: Patroklos | May 4 2025 18:53 utc | 27

It makes me really happy to in any way or form have helped people to discover the new Norwegian party mentioned earlier in the thread.
That Glenn Diesen runs for them also makes me happy; a welcome surprise (not sure exactly why I am surprised but anyway. It may simply be that there exists somewhere in the world someone I would vote for). There are still nice things in the world, even in politics!
(If each of you three gently and pleasantly inform —like mentioning there’s a new political party you like— thirty random people then maybe nine more will vote for them and continue the chain? Everything has to start in some way).
I think Greece has a sensible communist party that is somewhat similar in their geopolitical stance to the new Norwegian party but I’ve forgotten their name. Anyone know who I am thinking of?

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | May 4 2025 18:57 utc | 28

Posted by: Patroklos | May 4 2025 18:53 utc | 27
I’m actually seeing the Australia (and Canada) election results on standard US news sites and aggregators.
Here’s what Drudge Report has up:
https://www.wsj.com/world/first-canada-now-australia-the-trump-factor-boosts-another-world-leader-in-a-close-election-bef1c5a1
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ar-AA1E5VcE
May need to use archive.is to get around any paywalls.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 18:58 utc | 29

aye, myself, and me @12
Where are the prosecutions? What are the names? Bobby says we are looking for the children. Many of them are dead. The dead can’t be rescued. They can only be honored, first by locking up their tormentors.
I wonder how much of this is strictly performance

Posted by: oldhippie | May 4 2025 19:04 utc | 30

Posted by: Exile | May 4 2025 16:07 utc | 6
===
Oligarch ERM is out of the door soon.
He claimed in January cost cutting of 2 trillion toxic $.
How did that go?
Mind you, he just wanted free access to US citizens private data [steal it in lame terms] and he got it afterall.

Posted by: pepe | May 4 2025 19:05 utc | 31

I’m using cut-up technique to compose a reply to psychohistorian about the chip market, by selectively pasting snippets from a text which karlof1 provided some weeks ago. It has been discussed here as well. The snippets were still in my editor; they rhyme with what psycho says above @23 via ZH/Escobar. Hear the Chinese speak:

It is important that we must not allow the particular to prevail over the unity, and not to allow the local to jeopardize the wholeness.
From hereditary property to hereditary power, as the US extractive oligarchy looks for easy rent-seeking profits, it’s no wonder that today the West looks more and more like a feudal society.
Now we talk about selecting meritocracy, and some things are the essence. We invented the imperial examination system, which was the most advanced civil service examination system in the world at that time. But then it did become more and more rigid, and it became a test of eight strands; And it only focuses on writing poems and writing beautiful articles, rather than how to really solve practical problems. Therefore, in our current cadre selection system, a very important point is to look at your practice, your political achievements, and how well you have done.
Look at the role of DeepSeek, it is anti-feudal.

I shall predict that we are going to see another great success by the Chinese, and that this is merely a sign of things to come.

Posted by: persiflo | May 4 2025 19:09 utc | 32

I read part 1 and skimmed part 2 of the Das articles and my mind went to what actually happens on the street.
https://theintercept.com/2025/05/02/trump-police-executive-order/
“This week, Trump signed an executive order “STRENGTHENING AND UNLEASHING AMERICA’S LAW ENFORCEMENT TO PURSUE CRIMINALS AND PROTECT INNOCENT CITIZENS” (all caps in the original), laying down a host of authoritarian diktats intended to make police officers more brutal, more loyal to him, and less accountable to anyone other than him.
The proclamation is more virtue signaling than policy — more an expression of Trump’s mood than a serious proposal. And, when it comes to conventional crime, Trump’s mood is right where it’s always been: fearful, demagogic, and perpetually stuck in 1988.”
The article notes that US cops haven’t been “leashed” in any meaningful way in quite a long time.
“During his run in presidential politics, Trump has praised and encouraged police brutality. He has applauded violent crackdowns on protests, especially by authoritarian regimes.
He believes in projecting strength, and believes strong leaders demonstrate strength with violence. This is why he has often suggested that police officers will attack his enemies if called upon, and why the Capitol Police who defended Congress from his supporters received so much of his wrath.
Yet you can’t unleash something that has never been restrained in the first place. And in the U.S., the police have never been restrained.”
Will we see a form of (more open) martial law if in fact there is a major depression with layoffs, defaults, massive/hyper-inflation and the forced collapse of the social safety net?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 19:10 utc | 33

Runny is obviously an old man. I can’t comprehend how else he should have the wisdom to come up with something such as his SuBuRu rule. It sounds a little pesky at first, but for anonymous online conversations, where posts are viewed as memes, it is certain to be very helpful.
Btw, we’re seeing synchronicity again.

Posted by: persiflo | May 4 2025 19:21 utc | 34

It is still Easter. This is the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women and the Righteous Joseph of Aramathea; so first, that of Saint Mary Magdalene who is shown in an illustration addressing the disciples saying “I have seen the Lord!” (receiving looks of astonishment from them.) Whereby she is called “Equal to the Apostles,” since her truth-telling was not at first believed. Patriarchal? Uh-uh! (We ladies will be kind and not claim superiority – they did at least, belatedly, check it out, finding the tomb empty.)
😉
And Joseph of Arimathea is the rich man who managed to outdo the camel by donating a new tomb to a worthy cause, and thereby having a beautiful hymn begin by naming him: “The noble Joseph…”‘
It’s going to be Easter for a while yet. I’ll be gessoing boards for painting today, and it is looking like rain, which is a good sign for here.

Posted by: juliania | May 4 2025 19:22 utc | 35

🇺🇸🇨🇳 Trump economics, explained:
“We used to trade with China and benefit from it. Now we don’t. So we’re saving money.”
By that logic, if you stop eating, you save on food. If you stop living, you save on rent. 😮‍💨

I literally cannot stop laughing.
https://x.com/OopsGuess/status/1919091975828971593

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 19:25 utc | 36

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 18:58 utc | 29
It was a mass flight to the centre-left away from the far right and the Greens in equal measure. Labor holds 70% of seats in parliament and all the major urban centres. The Opposition Leader lost his seat. Even in their wildest dreams the ALP never imagined such a landslide. The electorate is very afraid, and has sought a safe haven in the ALP. It remains to be seen if Albo can read the room and listen.

Posted by: Patroklos | May 4 2025 19:25 utc | 37

DUH!…I forget that some words are not allowed in the MoA bar…
@ james | May 4 2025 15:28 utc | 3 with the Richard Werner interview with Richard Breedlove, who I have not heard of but sounds Mises/libertarian/propertarian leaning during the interview…thx
I did not know that Werner created a video documentary to prove that banks create money out of thin air/computer keystrokes.
I agree with Werner’s call for small, local banks which Breedlove agreed with but both are probably thinking that private ownership/management serves the public interest and I don’t agree.
Werner is a proponent of QE and I only think it works as a transition to public finance in combination with a debt jubilee.
I thought Werner’s words about mythcoin were interesting…invest but get out early into gold was what I heard along with straight gold support.
I thought Werner’s historical description of talley sticks was good….credit instruments passed around in commerce…..and taxing for social good, of course…./s

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 4 2025 19:41 utc | 38

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 4 2025 19:41 utc | 38
######
Repost from last similar thread. When I saw this, I immediately thought of you.

What is the City of London, really?
“>https://x.com/XPHOENIXDRAGON/status/1918741400415322590

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 19:46 utc | 39

The topic of law again resurfaced. Some here have claimed that international law like all law only exists to the extent that it is adhered to, etc. This is plainly and patently wrong. You do not even have to enter a proper argument on Philosophy of Justice to make the case, as the Germans have their own tradition firmly in place, and it works differently.
Right or wrong is not established at the point of transgression, but at the motives of those involved: do they see that it was unjust?
As Freud said, the “super-ego” is where Big Daddy resides. Ethics is something different. Perhaps it can also be taught.

Posted by: persiflo | May 4 2025 19:51 utc | 40

More bollox from Mr Zelenski. He’s gonna bomb Red square during the May 9th celebrations. As if?
Well, Mr Zelenski, if that happens you can say goodbye to life because you will be the first to be targeted in response as well as your terrorist cronies in the rada.
No, he won’t do that. Be sure of that. It’s merely an attempt to dissuade world leaders from attending the celebrations.
No, it’s a distraction to draw all defences to Moscow. The REAL attack will be the Crimea Bridge.

Posted by: HERMIUS | May 4 2025 19:58 utc | 41

Posted by: Patroklos | May 4 2025 19:25 utc | 37
When you say the electorate is afraid, you’re saying that’s why ALP ran away with the election(s)? What is the primary source of the fear?
Part of the reason I ask is I’ve been following the reactions to Gaza and the recent pro-Zionist actions taken by the US Trump Regime…and Yves Engler, a blogger in Canada pre- and now post-elections there. He was being prosecuted/persecuted by the law firm of a Conservative candidate in the Canadian elections who lost his bid last Monday, acting on behalf of an unhinged Zionist racist whack job social media “personality” named Dahlia Kurtz.
https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2025/05/01/i-can-hardly-wait-for-unhinged-zionist-fanatic-to-testify/
I assume there was similar pro-Zionist pro/persecutions in Australia. Will any of this change as the result of the elections, for better or worse? Where does the ‘new’ Oz government stand on Gaza?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 20:02 utc | 42

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 4 2025 19:41 utc | 38
######
Repost from last similar thread. When I saw this, I immediately thought of you.

What is the City of London, really?
“>https://x.com/XPHOENIXDRAGON/status/1918741400415322590

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 20:09 utc | 43

Repost from last similar thread. When I saw this, I immediately thought of you.
What is the City of London, really?
https://x.com/XPHOENIXDRAGON/status/1918741400415322590
Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 20:09 utc | 43
Tweet no longer exists.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 20:28 utc | 44

juliania | May 4 2025 19:22 utc | 35
…it’s still Easter…
How can that be? All the chocolate Eggs and Bunnies have been sold and the bakery no longer has choc Hot Cross Bums.
Sorry Juliania, Easter is most definitely OVER.
We need the shelf space to flog flowers and repackaged chocolate for Mother’s Day.
[don’t intend to offend… just my sense of humour, and irritation at the commercialisation of every damn thing. ]

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 4 2025 20:32 utc | 45

TQC
What is the Australian electorate afraid of?
Interest rates
Job loss
Grocery prices
Affordable health care
What can a 2nd term ALP govt offer as salve to those issues?
Nothing much is my answer.
But Dutton.. the Opposition Leader
Fuck me.
He’s been in Ministerial positions for multiple Liberal Governments, and took over after the electorate vivisectioned Scott Morrison.
Dutton’s nickname is Mr Potato Head, and he has the charisma and intelligence of a potato. [actually, that’s offensive to potatoes. I’ve seen better looking and more charismatic ones at my organic farmer’s market]
IMVHO the vote was not actually an endorsement of Albanese or the ALP, but another protest vote against the clueless Libs.
People who voted ALP this time were frightened Dutton would U-turn right back to the Morriscum regime.
—
And. What the actual fuck was Morriscum doing at Mar-a-Lago at New Year’s ? In the Trumo inner sanctum?
I think Morriscum got an invite to the inauguration? But not Albanese?
Not sure, correct me if needed.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 4 2025 20:48 utc | 46

@ LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 19:46 utc | 39 and 43 with X page that is no longer there…..must have been good…..
Do any barflies really think that Musk is any less a suppressor of free speech than others? I don’t.

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 4 2025 20:51 utc | 47

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 4 2025 19:41 utc | 38
William Plantagenet had the apocalypse book draw up before setting the tallies which was essential to their success. The funny thing is we still have all the works of that project on record including the methodology but nobody in the field of economics ever learns about it or studies it despite it being wildly successful.

Posted by: Badjoke | May 4 2025 21:07 utc | 48

re the missing X page for psycho – Three Engländers sat together, and one was asked about the City of London; the third complimented him after his short answer that it was “good intelligence”. We heard the place was not part of sovereign Britain, for the Queen, then head of state, could not just visit there (this corroborrating info was also related in the docu that made the rounds here, called “The Web” IIRC). It could also not be part of EU, as there was no “democracy”. He said that was “frightening”, and everyone was very serious during the 38 or so seconds this scene went on.

Posted by: persiflo | May 4 2025 21:07 utc | 49

Iran is a superpower because they have next-generation military technology.

🇮🇷 Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iranian Minister of Defense, regarding the Qasem Basir ballistic missile:
“By using the experiences of Operation True Promise 1 and 2 and strengthening the weak points, we have completely developed a new ballistic missile”
“This missile finds the specific target among multiple targets and hits the target without deviating even a meter and without relying on the GPS navigation system.”
“In this test, very severe electronic jamming was carried out against this missile, and it had no effect.”

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 21:41 utc | 50

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 20:28 utc | 44
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 4 2025 20:51 utc | 47
I malformed the link, my bad! Here is the correct working link.
It’s a good one.
https://x.com/XPHOENIXDRAGON/status/1918741400415322590

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 21:43 utc | 51

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 21:41 utc | 50
Wonder if they have gotten pulsar navigation down. DARPA has been funding a program to do that for about a decade now but all best talent in the USA goes to creating derivatives and HFT rigs. Iran does not have that idiocy.

Posted by: Badjoke | May 4 2025 22:07 utc | 52

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 20:09 utc | 43
Tweet no longer exists.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 20:28 utc | 44

Perhaps the account and/or video is blocked in your jurisdiction (or by you).

Posted by: Fool Me Twice | May 4 2025 22:13 utc | 53

@ Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 21:43 utc | 51 with the corrected link of Richard Wegner talking similar to that james linked to in comment # 3
If you watch the video james links to you will get a fuller explanation of the City Of London Corp.
It is like the Vatican within Italy, a country within a country and was formed in the late 1600’s.
How much are the members of the City Of London Corp and owners of the US Fed banks members of my God Of Mammon cult? I don’t have a clue but can only point in those directions.

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 4 2025 22:40 utc | 54

Even Grok when asked said censorship has gone up since Musk took over (it added that it might be to do with bots being found). I’ve personally checked my tweets from another account and seen they do not exist to other people even going through all the hidden tweets etc. Totally shadowbanned. I was overtly banned for a tweet criticising an Israeli shill account, appeal totally ignored for 4 weeks, the only way to get account back is to remove tweet.
Separately to this I asked Grok how Musk could use X to subvert democracy, I followed up with how ai jointly with Youtube/X/Facebook could control human emotion on an individual basis to create a mood for war with China. It generated a full and quite plausible answer about how easily and effectively it could be achieved and the steps to do it. I wish I’d cut and pasted the answer because the next day all traces of it had been removed form my Grok history and Grok had no ‘memory’ of its removal.

Posted by: Andy | May 4 2025 22:56 utc | 55

Trump will only accept “total dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear program . .here

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 4 2025 23:17 utc | 56

Posted by: Fool Me Twice | May 4 2025 22:13 utc | 54
See LoveDonbass reply at 51. It was a malformed link. The second one works fine. How would I block a Twitter link from myself?
—————————————————————-
Trump will only accept “total dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear program . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | May 4 2025 23:17 utc | 58
Add to that the Zionists’ statements yesterday and today putting equal blame on Iran for the Ansar Allah missile strike on Ben Gurion airport in “Israel” and I think the script is getting pretty clear. A pretext of some sort is being worked out and Trump will have an “excuse” to break perhaps his most important campaign pledge (to those at MoA who support and/or voted for him, anyway) of all – not to start any new wars. Obviously there is a war going on against the Houthis but the “TDS” MSM is mostly giving Trump a pass on it – they were more concerned with the “leaked” or accidentally shared Signal chat than the fact that the US is bombing civilians in Yemen.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 23:23 utc | 57

Patroklos. 27
It was certainly an unprecedented result. Interesting three years ahead.Will we drift towards our greatest trading partner, China? Did not go well when Gough tried it and with 20,000 US troops in our country could get ugly.Many here on this site refuse to vote for anyone and for the first time I’ve done the same.

Posted by: Q-lander | May 4 2025 23:24 utc | 58

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 4 2025 20:48 utc | 46
So basically same concerns in all 5 Eyes countries. What about the Gaza and “antisemitism” narratives in Australia? Will there be any softening or a pullback on the recent ridiculous weaponization of “antisemitism” or “support for terrorists (Hamas)” Down Under with the new government?

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 23:26 utc | 59

The New Yorker article on “What is Legally Allowed in War?” is deeply disturbing. Essentially it applies “stand your ground” principles to international adversaries.
Applicable in 2/3 of US states, stand your ground makes it legal for “people to use deadly force when they reasonably BELIEVE it to be necessary to defend against certain violent crimes.” IOW normal people should be careful about looking at others in any way that may be perceived as threatening!
As I read the New Yorker article, Israel extends this (and has extended it for generations) as follows: if a Zionist soldier BELIEVES that a Hamas operative is inside an apartment building housing 500 Palestinians and he says that he FEELS threatened, then he is entirely justified in blowing up the building.
Further extending this: if Isreal BELIEVES that Iran is threatening them with a potential nuke, they may FEEL entirely justified in blowing the country up, no matter the number of civilian casualties. It doesn’t matter if the US intelligence community sees no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. The only thing that matters is what Netanyahu BELIEVES. (and Bibi has repeatedly stated that he BELIEVES that Iran is on the cusp of having a nuke for 30 years now!)
And then there is the problem of DOD policy, which has supposedly respected current interpretation of international law, even though the US never ratified it. Under Trump I, that began to change. What does the new interpretation of international law portend? For example, if the US BELIEVES it is threatened by China, does that mean it is entirely justified in nuking it, like it did to Japan?
This is madness run amok…all ushered in by the US government’s embrace of genocide in Gaza.

Posted by: JohnH | May 4 2025 23:38 utc | 60

Australia had a major Federal Election on Saturday. Anyone interested in the Australian political landscape? It was an unprecedented result. I’m a little surprised it has gone without mention here.
Posted by: Patroklos | May 4 2025 18:53 utc | 27
Australia re-elected a government 100% Woke and 90% useless, it now has insane levels of immigration fueling a housing Ponzi destroying the population through absurdly expensive rents and locking first home buyers out of the market. The alt party was pretty much the same, the further left it drifts the less votes it gets. The Greens lost seats as they supported Palestine, their only useful policy, so were labelled antisemitic. The few independents or minor parties offering real policies to fix things did very poorly. Australia is sinking faster than the Titanic, and the majority of voters ensure that continues. Be leaving soon so don’t even care any more.

Posted by: Organic | May 4 2025 23:39 utc | 61

Australia had a major Federal Election on Saturday. Anyone interested in the Australian political landscape? It was an unprecedented result. I’m a little surprised it has gone without mention here.
Posted by: Patroklos | May 4 2025 18:53 utc | 27
Yes, Patroklos, there were a number of folk commenting on the last page of the May 3 post b did on the mineral deal, chat about Banjo Patterson, plus I did also early in the Ukraine thread above- sorry I didn’t come here till later. It seemed to me it was a good result in that it overwhelmed the leadership which had previously been rather pro-Trump – not so much because of that, but because it was decisively pro China which I think is a good antiwar sentiment as far as trade is concerned. But I’m on the outside — the conversation at b’s May 3 post was fun I thought.

Posted by: juliania | May 4 2025 23:45 utc | 62

From investor Arnaud Bertrand

Not only is China on the verge of recreating the entire advanced semiconductors ecosystem domestically – which would rank as one of mankind’s most impressive technological achievement ever – but it’s increasingly looking like a single company – Huawei – will on its own have the entire ecosystem in house.
The FT reports that “Huawei is building a production line for advanced chips” as part of “an unprecedented effort to develop every part of the AI supply chain domestically from wafer fabrication equipment to model building.”
Dylan Patel, founder of chip consultancy SemiAnalysis is quoted as saying: “We have never seen one company attempt to do everything before.”
Src: https://archive.ph/4i1vr (Archived FT)

Meanwhile:

Silicon Valley model: VC clowns burn billions chasing the next ad-click algorithm
Huawei’s model: a union-led worker-owned enterprise reconstructs the full AI chip stack under embargo

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 23:47 utc | 63

Kind of a possible way for trump to convince countries to stand on his side of the barricade…
Without some kind of serious guarantees the re-routing might stress already strained relations.
https://asiatimes.com/2025/04/indonesia-bracing-for-flood-of-rerouted-chinese-exports/

Posted by: Newbie | May 4 2025 23:49 utc | 64

Australia had a major Federal Election on Saturday. Anyone interested in the Australian political landscape? It was an unprecedented result. I’m a little surprised it has gone without mention here.
Posted by: Patroklos | May 4 2025 18:53 utc | 27
#######
Australia, like Canada, is a Crown colony, not a sovereign country, and so isn’t particularly interesting to follow politically.
Nothing the government wants to do that might “rock the boat” will be vetoed by the Governor General.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 4 2025 23:49 utc | 65

I see Patroklos expresses surprise that the result of the Oz federal election held this weekend has merited no mention here at MoA. As an australian who hasn’t voted in a federal election since 1996, I believe that the lack is entirely due to one certainty, that is it really doesn’t matter which political organisation ‘wins’.
No matter what group manage to grab the golden ring there will not be any major change to australia’s parlous domestic economy whereby national assets such as energy and mineral resources are stripped enriching a tiny % of right wing australians by granting them a small royalty on trillions of dollars of what should be public assets.
More importantly australia’s foreign policy won’t alter from its current stance of hanging off of every word dispatched to the australian government by parties such as lobbyists for the city of london plus more importantly, those of amerika’s biggest capitalists.
So given that as far as the rest of the world is concerned, there will be no change, why in hell would anyone in the ROW care? The mere fact that the only people outside Oz who are discussing this have billed it exactly the same way, as a ‘backlash’ against d trump, when I doubt the orange creep was on any australian’s mind when they did vote imo, it is just as well few are noticing it.
ps I will not be voting in any australian election until a national indigenous party, one free of the usual issues of seeking to emulate whitefella pols runs for federal seats. That is the only time I vote in kiwi elections and I apply the same standard to Oz.
Until a party that represents the values and cultures of the people whose land we live on is one of the candidates, why in hell vote for any of the deceitful, opportunistic pricks who comprise the vast majority of colonist politicians?

Posted by: Debsisdead | May 4 2025 23:52 utc | 66

Re: Stand Your Ground…
A disturbing twist on such a case happened here in Texas not long ago. During the 2020 protests, numerous people took advantage of the Open Carry laws and brought their rifles with them to gatherings. There were no riots or protestor violence in Austin, but an off-duty Army sgt. drove into a crowd after running a red light and then apparently decided to make another pass near them shortly after. One of the members of the crowd had I wanna say an AK47 and began to approach the vehicle. The driver then pulled out his own pistol and shot the open carrier multiple times and killed him.
His defense in court was that he THOUGHT the guy with the AK MIGHT be getting ready to “aim” at him, but this wasn’t backed up by anyone else in the area (members of same crowd and other bystanders). Further, in trial it came out that the driver had previously “joked” about killing protestors and was asking friends if they thought he could get away with it. He was ultimately convicted by a jury and denied a retrial by whatever the next level of the judiciary in Texas is.
End of story, right? No. The (Zionist-Trump suckup) governor of the state pardoned the guy full stop. Gave some bullshit politically tinged excuse for overriding a jury and more than hinted at Stand Your Ground, blablablabla. In essence, rule by men, not rule of law.
The New Yorker piece most definitely seems to be justifying this on an international scale. But minus any fake “international law” in the middle to begin with. Might makes right, first man to the trigger wins, any negative consequences will be over-ridden if the offender is on the right “team.”

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | May 5 2025 0:11 utc | 67

No offense taken, Posted by: Melaleuca | May 4 2025 20:32 utc | 45. I don’t like the commercialism either, and for that reason have enjoyed being on the old Orthodox calendar (which Russia is on also). Easter for the Orthodox is a season, lasting until Pentecost.

Posted by: juliania | May 5 2025 0:29 utc | 68

Spectator71
Both parties in Aust. support Ukraine, sending billions in aid. But not all people support Ukraine once they understand the history of the conflict.

Posted by: Q-lander | May 5 2025 0:36 utc | 69

Tom Q Collins 61
Most folk here don’t know what a Semite is so no clue what an anti Semite is. So new Govt. same as the old one and the older one and so on.All bought and paid for,nothing to see here.

Posted by: Q-lander | May 5 2025 1:09 utc | 70

Top stories
>Netanyahu vows response after Houthi missile hits near Israel’s main airport
>Israel’s Netanyahu vows response to Iran after Houthi attack on airport
>Israel’s Arrow air defenses, US THAAD system both failed to intercept Houthi missile, sources say
>A missile from Yemen halts flights in Israel hours before vote on intensifying Gaza war

Posted by: Don Bacon | May 5 2025 1:14 utc | 71

Australia had a major Federal Election on Saturday. Anyone interested in the Australian political landscape? It was an unprecedented result. I’m a little surprised it has gone without mention here.
Posted by: Patroklos | May 4 2025 18:53 utc | 27

The Uniparty won, again. The notionally left part, but still the Uniparty.
The ALP reminds me very much of New Labour in the UK, superficially with it’s red primary colour splashed everywhere and policy wise. Any peace talk prior to the vote will quickly evaporate.
Also, like in the UK the Ozzies seem to get two or three times more Prime Ministers than they actually vote for – a corollary of fixed term parliaments, one of the most anti-democratic electoral measures enacted in recent times.
Bad luck Oz, try again in five years.

Posted by: ChatNPC | May 5 2025 1:18 utc | 72

Patroklos @ 27, 37 and elsewhere:
The Federal election was definitely a case of voters opting for the devil they know over the devil they don’t know.
Apart from that, the Liberal-National coalition did not have anything to offer the electorate other than more neoliberal cutbacks to most things that have already been cut back.
The (Neo)Liberal Party is now facing – for the first time in its history – an electoral landscape in which, among other things, it no longer has any safe, loyal so-called “blue-ribbon” electorates in the Sydney metropolitan region. For the benefit of non-Australian MoA barflies, this is a region that gave Australia its last four (Neo)Liberal Party Prime Ministers (John Howard, Tony Abbot, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison) so for the (Neo)Libs to be routed in Sydney by Australian Labor to the extent that they will probably have only a few Sydney electorates in the next Federal Parliament is catastrophic.

Posted by: Refinnejenna | May 5 2025 1:27 utc | 73

The media is full of how the new, Liberal Canadian PM is a positive reaction to Trump. Well, you would expect the media to say that. But let’s look at what Canada got.
Certainly Carney is different from Trump in style, temperament, and stability.
But let’s not forget what Carney was and what he did immediately upon taking power–“Carney cancels planned hike to capital gains tax.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-cancels-capital-gains-hike-1.7490020
And Carney abolished the consumer carbon tax.
Before becoming PM, Carney held executive positions at Goldman Sachs, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, and the hedge fund Brookfield. (Obviously, exactly the kind of guy you need to represent “the people.”)
Seriously, Carney sounds like just the kind of guy that Trump could comfortably schmooze with and maybe buy a few chunks of prime Canadian real estate from, financed on the cheap.
Sadly, Carney is exactly the kind of guy that Liberals the world over relish choosing to lead them. Poor Canadians…hoodwinked into choosing the least of the evils (yeah, right!)

Posted by: JohnH | May 5 2025 1:28 utc | 74

That William is a Cunt.
Please get rid of him B.
Anyone replying to him and feeding this troll is a fuck head in service to the Empire!
Posted by: William | May 5 2025 1:14 utc | 79
I’m pretty sure William is a robot. If you wish to interact with an Imperialist robot, enjoy!

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | May 5 2025 1:51 utc | 75

My efforts for the day are over, and at least I like what I discovered and accomplished. “Two Expert.Ru Essays & Rossiya 1’s 25th Anniversary Documentary on Putin”, which are: “We go our own way: Russian Foreign Policy as a Cultural Phenomenon” and “From globalization to protectionism: A paradigm shift without a declaration of war.” In the process, I discovered a site with Russian historian and ethnographer Lev Gumilev’s work, all in Russian of course but very translatable. Then there’s my work from yesterday that I didn’t post any notice about–Medvedev’s snarl at the green goblin and Pepe Escobar’s interview with Guancha.

Posted by: karlof1 | May 5 2025 2:04 utc | 76

Tom_Q_Collins | May 4 2025 23:26 utc | 61
Re 2nd term ALP govt. Gaza, genocide, and other morally uncomfortable issues.
IMVHO. Albanese govt will continue to be internally conflicted. Being the Major Party of choice for people concerned with ‘social justice’ (or whatever the “preferred pronouns” are now) … Palestine and genocide bother them.
But like all governments in most of the world, Albanese must yield to his owners/controllers/minders. All of course are unelected and outside/over the electoral charade which exists to keep the 98% entrained and “entertained”.
Australian politics is little more than Reality TV with its confected and counterfeit conflicts, and brouhaha about whatever bullshit from one week to the next.
Someone linked Pearls and Irritations. Another article there had:

Election 2025: the Labor-Liberal waltz of irrelevance

A campaign with no great convulsions, except for the Liberal debacle. An Opposition Leader conceding defeat with proper decorum. All must be well in the land of Oz. But all is not quite as it seems.
Seldom have Labor and Liberal been so visibly disconnected from a rapidly transforming world. Never before has the lack of public interest in a national election and the electorate’s mistrust of parties and politicians been so palpable.
In the 1946 federation election, the two major parties together secured 93.3% of the total vote.
Three years later, that figure rose to 96.2%. In 2025, they may secure 66% of the vote.
The two parties supposedly focused their policy pitch on the cost of living. Hence, the endless election promises on housing, energy and medical bills, cost of education, tax cuts and more.
However, these promises, even if implemented, will do little to ease the pain of those in greatest need.
They are palliatives that may relieve the symptoms for a while and, even then, only for some. They will do little to cure the ailment.
What is the ailment that neither party dares address?
It is called inequality, the taboo word in Labor and Liberal parlance. In 2019-20, the 10% of Australian households with the highest incomes averaged weekly earnings of $5248 per week after tax, compared with $631 for the lowest 10%.
In 2022-23, the richest 10% of households held 44% of all wealth, 126 times that of the lowest 10%.
To add insult to injury, the land of the “fair go” is now home to some 150 billionaires, each making $67,000 an hour, while more than two million Australians experience severe food insecurity.
How much of this is likely to change under the Albanese Government?

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/05/election-2025-the-labor-liberal-waltz-of-irrelevance/
The piece then IMVHO veers way off, citing First Nation and climate/enviro factors as part of the electorate’s malaise with the two parties.
IMVHO those are media narrative concerns.
Australia has in a very short time undergone massive immigration. Millions have arrived. Even during convid …. Citizen Australians were stranded overseas, but immigrants were arming in the thousands…
I absolutely think the millions of Indians and Asians who have arrived in the last decade don’t give one tiny fuck about First Nation issues.
Many newly armed immigrants think First Nation people have been living here in the Lucky Country, the Land of Plenty for centuries and are still staggering around drunkenly in shanty townships in remote Australia. Too bad for them. They think, There’s ample opportunity here for First Nation people, who are given preference for education, health, housing, government jobs.
The new arrivals have little concern or empathy, as they themselves know what poverty and disadvantage and discrimination looks like in their original countries, and think the First Nation grievances are ridiculous. (Or overblown)
The media could berate multigeneration white Australians with guilt about the history and predicament of First Nations people.
New arrivals are “lol”. “I arrived 3 years ago and I already have a $1million house, 2 expensive cars, and my kids enrolled at the best schools, … whatever is wrong with the First Nations has got nothing to do with me”.
It’s also likely the strong vote for Albanese is from those same new arrivals with new citizenship. The media certainly won’t go there as an explanation for the result this election.
—-
My opinion about what the Federal election result “means”.
Other aussies. YMMV.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 5 2025 2:19 utc | 77

Ok.
Spell check has defeated my piece.
“Armed” is
Arrived.
Ffs.

Posted by: Melaleuca | May 5 2025 2:21 utc | 78

Bad luck Oz, try again in five years.
Posted by: ChatNPC | May 5 2025 1:18 utc | 81
****************
Australia has three-year parliamentary terms.
Therefore, it is highly unlikely – although not impossible (since fixed terms are not mandated) that there will be an election in five years time.
Perhaps the rest of your comment is also inaccurate or irrelevant.

Posted by: General Factotum | May 5 2025 3:27 utc | 79

@ psychohistorian | May 4 2025 19:41 utc | 38
i am glad you enjoyed the video.. the content might be influenced by the interviewer – i am not sure.. werner has a book out – well he has a few ‘princes of the yen’ which had the documentary made on it, but another one on banking that i read which he wrote maybe 9 years ago – Where Does Money Come From?: A Guide to the UK Monetary & Banking System 2013 – so 12 years ago.. more info on him on the wikipedia page here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Werner
regarding the term ‘city of london’ – for those who don’t know, aside from this being discussed in the link i shared @ 3, there is also a good video on this topic – debs, might have shared it a long time ago here at moa – the spiders web.. i recommend it too ( immediately below)..
The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire | Finance Documentary | History

Posted by: james | May 5 2025 3:30 utc | 80

@ Spectator | May 5 2025 3:52 utc | 97 / 98 / 98
that is all true.. no one is saying it isn’t… it’s a racket.. even if there are a few headquarters, they are all participating in it.. it is one big ponzi scheme, but some players are bigger then others and some of them work closely together..sometimes it is easier to see the bullshit right out in the open, for anyone who is interested in seeing it..

Posted by: james | May 5 2025 4:12 utc | 81

re Spectator | May 5 2025 2:02 utc | 86 who idiotically claimed “One must at least counter the most obvious falsehoods, even if they are bots.
It is obvious that for whatever reason the thing is attempting to make it difficult for b to write & post yet remain a one man band site and still accept comments from others.
Your foolish responses enable that.
why since 99.9% of visitors know it/she/he has burbled absolute nonsense do you claim that it is neccessary to counter the thing’s posts? The only remedy that works with these drongos is totally ignoring them. This current one imagines that he is some sort of i.t. whizz we already had one of them ‘cept that one was a septic tank, back around a decade ago. Responding to these sad & lonely dropkicks who pretend to regard their effort to interfere in others’ dialog as amusing, but who know deep down how desperate & lonely they appear to the rest of us demonstrates you are as thick as two short planks.
You should know this yourself as you function only a couple of degrees less worse than that thing does, if indeed you are not part of the same entity. You certainly arrived at around the same time and also appear to devote more energy to trying to denigrate others than you do posting anything we haven’t seen here 100 times before.
This is b.’s blog and I reckon he is the only person who has a right to restrict others’ posts, but you like the thing seem to regard it as your job to identify who should post and what they say. It is one thing to express a contrary POV but quite another to just out of hand criticise another poster whilst omitting any checkable evidence to back up your claim.
AFAIC there is no difference between you & the thing so unless I discover something which meaningfully disproves that, this will be the last time I respond to either of you’s utter tossage. I realise you will prolly claim that as a bonus, something that doesn’t discomfort me in the slightest.

Posted by: Debsisdead | May 5 2025 4:37 utc | 82

aye, myself, and me @12
Posted by: oldhippie | May 4 2025 19:04 utc | 30

“Where are the prosecutions?”

Where are/were the prosecutions for the many crimes committed before, during and after Covid?

“What are the names?”

From the relaxed and non shocked demeanors of those listening, some of those names might be in that very room?

“Bobby says we are looking for the children. Many of them are dead. The dead can’t be rescued. They can only be honored, first by locking up their tormentors.”

I Hope Bobby is telling the truth on that score, however honoring the dead can only be done by stopping the senseless slaughter of children by any means, altogether.

“I wonder how much of this is strictly performance”

I’ve no idea, but to paraphrase Shakespeare ‘All the worlds a stage and we’re all but performers…’
At least Bobby had the guts to raise the subject, which has been kept in deep darkness for far too long.

Posted by: aye, myself & me | May 5 2025 4:40 utc | 83

I encourage barflies to hold onto something before reading the latest from Reuters/Trump
Trump orders 100% tariff on foreign-made movies to save ‘dying’ Hollywood

Donald Trump said the American movie industry was dying a “very fast death” due to the incentives that other countries were offering to lure filmmakers.

LOL!!!
Does this mean that Hollywood won’t “Wag The Dog” anymore?…./s
How deep is down? Off the cliff we go!

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 5 2025 4:57 utc | 84

“The internet since its inception a while ago has been known to be quite the hoot. Those who were present early on for what is often fondly called the Wild West Days of the Web seem to agree that it’s been even worse back then. What helped changing things to today’s typically notorious experience of chatrooms between uncivilized inanity and outright crazyness remains yet another topic of discontent, with users divided over whether the massive attempts at censorship have been worth the effort by corporations and agencies worldwide. The debate is set to switch into higher gear now with news from researchers that a user comment has been found which, according to anonymous sources, “might well be the most stupid one ever”. The finding could help to answer questions about apparent trends, or do the exact opposite, say scientists with knowledge of statistics, and advise to take the news with a grain of salt. Further research is pending until confirmation can be published.” —

Posted by: persiflo | May 5 2025 4:59 utc | 85

@ Spectator | May 5 2025 4:47 utc | 108 who responds to trolls when asked not to, offers more disruptive comments than additive to the thread, and generally is disrespectful of the platform offered.
A bevin for you….maybe again, I don’t remember
If you aren’t paid to throw sand into readers’ eyes and you do so out of malice, vanity or stupidity, not even the plea of economic necessity excuses your egregious behaviour.
Kindly leave the stage- to honest actors.

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 5 2025 5:01 utc | 86

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 5 2025 4:57 utc | 109
#########
It’s quite understandable to me.
It costs Trump nothing to do so, and it helps him with part of his constituency.
He’s an old man who doesn’t understand that entertainment media is digital and global now.
Netflix has been buying up foreign-produced TV shows for years now. Turkish, Italian, French, Dutch, etc. The domestic film industry takes too long to bring content to market, like most other US industries, entertainment is as uncompetitive as the automotive industry.
That said, Trump needs as many empty headlines as he can get right now. In 60 days, warehouse inventories will start to dwindle, and people will be out for blood if the Walmart shelves are not being restocked.
I expect to see more throwaway policies like this. Trump is floundering, and there don’t seem to be many victories on the near-term horizon.
It’s hard for me to watch. It’s a combination of hubris and being out of touch.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 5 2025 5:09 utc | 87

In response to
”
I expect to see more throwaway policies like this. Trump is floundering, and there don’t seem to be many victories on the near-term horizon.
It’s hard for me to watch. It’s a combination of hubris and being out of touch.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 5 2025 5:09 utc | 116
”
For me what is most damming is the underlying control of the social narrative that this shows empire losing. How is empire going to keep the brainwashing working if they can’t control the media narratives?
#############
Talking to a friend and we both are looking for Trump Wins….have there been any yet?
Any list of 100 day achievements? How many killed by empire so far for our peace president?

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 5 2025 5:26 utc | 88

Posted by: psychohistorian | May 5 2025 5:26 utc | 109
#######
Donald is an elite marketer and he believes that he can manifest reality based on his vision and will.
According to him he’s had hundreds of wins. He told some magazine lately that he has saved America. He believes it, so thousands of his fans will too and if you don’t believe it, you will be labeled with a mental disease called TDS.
Material reality will have its say as we’re seeing in Yemen. Big dreams and magnificent delusions tend to fade when the other guy fights harder and smarter.
IMO, almost everything Trump has tried to do has been a sh1tshow except the genocide which thrills the hardcore MAGAs who are bloodthirsty woke-right.
Everyone is stronger than he thought and America is much weaker than he believed.
As I mentioned, it’s hard to watch him fail over and over.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 5 2025 6:06 utc | 89

Posted by: karlof1 | May 5 2025 2:04 utc | 87
Thank you, karlof1. I found most to enjoy the first essay you translate here – it has antecedents that I am familiar with – I have church writings that are very similar historically speaking. And I would congratulate you on the fluency of your translation – it feels very well done.
I particularly liked the part about the importance of Law. That goes right back to and through Plato probably to earliest civilizations
Thanks again.

Posted by: juliania | May 5 2025 6:27 utc | 90

Posted by: Refinnejenna | May 5 2025 1:27 utc | 73
Yes! This is the kind of interesting detail I’m focusing on too. Most of the comments are otherwise reductive. But whatever you think of the ALP voters in Australia are not US voters. My experience of the Australian electorate is that they’re cynical, self-interested and property-obsessed—but they’re also cunning and can smell bullshit. But most of all, unlike the US, Australians are suspicious of libertarian right-populism. The ALP is also not UK New Labour: that analogy couldn’t show a poorer understanding of the nuances of Australian politics. The rejection of the Liberal Party in their heartland is completely unprecedented and was not predicted by anyone, least of all the ALP. IOW, the electorate went off-script, defied the polling and ignored the advice. Let’s not fall back on tired truism about western democracies and attempt an empathetic analysis: when given the chance the Australian voters did something strange with a a certain unanimity. That demands an explanation beyond an easy Manicheanism. Those who know Australia will understand me.

Posted by: Patroklos | May 5 2025 6:39 utc | 91

In my electorate of Werriwa all the polling suggested the Liberal candidate would overwhelm the sitting ALP MP. When I went to vote on Saturday the booth was saturated with Liberal posters and volunteers for the Liberal contender were out in force haranguing and spruiking. But there was a swing toward the sitting member… (see the link). A silent well of quiet voters chose instead to ignore the blaring rhetoric and backed the government (which Australians rarely do). The consequences? The Liberal leader lost his own seat, the Liberal-National Coalition polled their lowest primary vote ever. It was a catastrophe for the centre right. Of course it remains to be seen if Albo has the balls to use the mandate, pivot to China, back out of AUKUS, condemn Israel, etc, but if he was waiting for an overwhelming mandate he sure has one: 3 out of 4 Australians knew they were voting him back in and did so. It is electorally unheard of in Oz.

Posted by: Patroklos | May 5 2025 6:49 utc | 92

Posted by: Patroklos | May 5 2025 6:49 utc | 96
Seat of Werriwa
https://tallyroom.aec.gov.au/HouseDivisionPage-31496-153.htm

Posted by: Patroklos | May 5 2025 6:52 utc | 93

Posted by: Patroklos | May 5 2025 6:49 utc | 92
Thanks so much, Patroklos! Bravo, Aussies!!

Posted by: juliania | May 5 2025 7:13 utc | 94

Re: #74 – Carney
Liberals Win Canadian Federal Election Dominated By Trump’s Threat To Annex the Country
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/04/30/kphz-a30.html
“…Carney will head a vicious right-wing government that will pursue recruitment for imperialist world war, work with the European imperialist powers to ensure the war with Russia in Ukraine continues, and mount brutal attacks on the social and democratic rights of workers at home to bolster the ‘competitiveness’ of Canadian capitalism.
Key sections of the bourgeoisie swung behind Carney, promoting him as a tested leader, because they view him as one of their own. He is considered a ‘safe pair of hands’ who could reach a deal with Trump to bring Canada within a Washington-led ‘Fortress North America’, so long as its role as a junior partner of US imperialism is duly recognized.
Despite Trump’s threats, the Canadian ruling class would prefer to revive and retain its more than 8-decades-long-military-strategic-partnership with Washington to pursue its global imperialist interests.”
“While Mark Carney talks tough about our ‘old relationship with US being over’, Canada is currently participating in a US military exercise targeting China, has naval vessels sailing with US counterparts [‘Prosperity Guardian’], and has many officers on exchange in the US
Canada also remains part of FIVE EYES, G7, NATO, NORAD and has hundreds of other bilateral military accords with the US…”
Carney Should Get Tough on Trump by Ending Canada’s Role in Assisting US Empire’s Global Power Projection.
https://x.com/EnglerYves/status/1917773323619930157

Posted by: JohnGilberts | May 5 2025 7:40 utc | 95

Posted by: LoveDonbass | May 5 2025 5:09 utc | 87
in response to
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 5 2025 4:57 utc | 84

Netflix has been buying up foreign-produced TV shows for years now. Turkish, Italian, French, Dutch, etc. The domestic film industry takes too long to bring content to market, like most other US industries, entertainment is as uncompetitive as the automotive industry.

I came across the news of Trump’s tariffs on foreign film content from an anime news site.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2025-05-05/trump-seeks-100-percent-tariffs-on-all-movies-produced-outside-u.s/.224178
Am I the only one who is reminded of Microsoft’s (alleged) attempts in the 1990s to destroy competitors like DR-DOS, WordPerfect, Lotus 123, etc.?
~~~
In a general sense, I remember back in the pre-COVID era how unhappy I was that, where a cinema in the US would only show US-made movies, a cinema in any other country (even Russia pre-SMO) would show those same US-made films alongside local fare. Those same non-US films, if released in theaters in the US at all, would have limited availability (limited showings in select cinemas).
It’s been said that non-USians know more about the USA than USians know about other countries, with one influence being films and TV programming imported from the US. How often would foreign programming air on terrestrial television in the US?
Would it be off the mark to theorize that the dearth of foreign programming in the US is intended to keep the US population ignorant about foreign cultures?
Or would the foreign content just not appeal to US moviegoers to begin with?

Posted by: joey_n | May 5 2025 8:49 utc | 96

Re: International Law
1) Has been an attempt to reduce the barbarity in warfare since St. Anselm and St. Aquinias (sp?). The New Yorker article is shocking in its defense of barbarism.
2) International Law restrains both parties in a war via the threat of ‘senseless slaughter’. For example, POWs are treated with civilized norms mainly because each side has a self interest in protecting POWs the other side holds. Dito for civilians and non-coms. Ditto for WMDs.
The Likud doesn’t respect any of these norms and various gentlemen’s agreements to limit senseless slaughter. I honestly don’t know why. It would in the Likud’s best interest to limit combatants as much as possible, given Israel is a tiny country with the population of a mid-sized city. One doubts that Kill-them-all-especially-infants is a grand strategy for long term peace and prosperity of Israelis

Posted by: exile | May 5 2025 9:06 utc | 97

Posted by: Badjoke | May 4 2025 21:07 utc | 48
William Plantagenet had the apocalypse book draw up before setting the tallies which was essential to their success.

The doomsdaybook, originally spelled domesdaybook, has nothing to do with the apocalypse (In the past I was also confused by the modern spelling). It was an inventarisation of all the households (homes, Latin Domus).

Posted by: Ronald Portier | May 5 2025 9:38 utc | 98

Seems the Signal leaks happened tbhrough a backdoored Signal originally uploaded via an Israeli server. Hardcoded encryption credentials.
https://micahflee.com/the-signal-clone-the-trump-admin-uses-was-hacked/
So smart

Posted by: SOS | May 5 2025 9:55 utc | 99

Posted by: Ronald Portier | May 5 2025 9:38 utc | 98
Knowing what was available and what was produced was part of the process of setting the tallies given for goods or services and what collect for taxes. It was used to set up the monetary system. Sorry if I had a brain fart on the title but I don’t get much sleep these days.

Posted by: Badjoke | May 5 2025 10:09 utc | 100

Back to Main