@ Ismaele | Jul 17 2025 21:20 utc | 102
hi ismaele.. i don’t know if you saw thomas fazis article from yesterday discussing moldova.. apparently it is only propaganda when russia does this kind of stuff, lol.. read the article if interested.. it’s quite good and to the point..
Moldova: pro-EU government turns increasingly authoritarian
The EU is actively interfering in the country’s internal affairs, tolerating state violence and repression when it serves the purpose of expanding and consolidating its influence
Thomas Fazi
Jul 16, 2025

Posted by: james | Jul 17 2025 21:23 utc | 103

james | Jul 17 2025 21:23 utc | 103–
Moldova was the subject of three points made by Maria Zakharova in today’s briefing that I intend to make into an article. There’s also a Q&A about Armenia that I’ll include.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 17 2025 21:33 utc | 105

Cane sugar is less bad than HFCS, but it’s an abuse of language to say that it’s “better”.
@ malenkov | Jul 17 2025 17:51 utc | 71
Thank you for pointing that out. Sugar can work just like an addictive drug in your metabolism, delivering little hits to keep you going another hour or so. (Story of my professional life: cigarettes and candy-bars — practically a speed-freak software engineer, me oh my.)
The damage to your body from a sugary regimen is on a level with alcohol abuse. US Americans continually get more obese and way more diabetic; Mainly because they stuff too much sugar in their pie-holes.

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Jul 17 2025 21:35 utc | 107

I have never thought it likely that Epstein was running a blackmail operation. And the default position of Americans when faced with wrongdoing “It wuzn’t me, it was Israel/Mossad/the Jews” never rang true either.
You don’t buy and maintain the largest mansion in Manhattan, another in Palm Beach, a private 727 jet, two private islands, a 7,5000 acre ranch in New Mexico, complete with compound, an apartment in Paris, and throw endless parties, without any visible means of support, from blackmail money and/or a Mossad salary.
Thankfully, Mike Benz is a researcher extraordinaire, and he is following the money, although there are a lot of dead ends.
In only 23 minutes, he lays out a lot of connections which may help explain why the Trump people suddenly backed away from releasing the files.
Epstein was involved with the BCCI and Adnan Khassogi (Pakistan and Saudi Arabia), the Iran/Contra operation (Israel and the USA), and many other countries and their intelligence agencies. That may be the connections the Trump team is protecting, not necessarily random pedos like Bill Gates.
I found it interesting that the State Department confiscated Iran’s property in Manhattan in the 80s, and then leased it to Epstein!! How the hell does that kind of windfall happen to some 30-something year old ex-teacher? (Hired at 21 y.o. by Bill Barr’s father to teach in an exclusive prep school in Manhattan, although he was a college dropout.)
Something is very fishy about the entire Epstein saga, but it isn’t “blackmail”, imo. Mike brings up an earlier example of an operative being protected by the CIA, back in the 60s. That could explain the backing off, but it doesn’t explain where all the money came from. But at least people can maybe get past the narrative the msm puts out for them to swallow.
Worth a watch. Maybe it will widen some people’s horizons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD3XZOPCqH0

Posted by: wagelaborer | Jul 17 2025 22:50 utc | 109

@wagelaborer
It’s not about blackmail for money, but about kompromat that opens up doors. A person becomes willfully compromised by engaging in something criminal and taboo. In exchange, the entity providing the compromising offers special access or favours to the compromised person, but only on condition the latter remains obedient.
The act(s) that provide the kompromat are a ritual of accession, much like a gang member being “blooded” (murdering someone).

Posted by: Featherless | Jul 17 2025 23:22 utc | 111

Context 1:

I could put 20 scientific papers that prove my point but why bother when you guys are Sheeple on this issue; I had the same problem illustrating the Aztecs were much more violent than the Spanish (in 1490 80,000 Indigenous prisoners-many women and children were sacrificed by the Aztecs in three days)
If you dopes want to believe the fossil bullshit story be my guest.
Posted by: canuk | Jul 17 2025 13:27 utc | 372

Context 2:

canuk | Jul 17 2025 16:06 utc | 38
You write, again and again, the Aztecs sacrifice people well before the Europeans arrived to America.
Now, you write that pederastia was a common practice in the times of Plato.
Posted by: Esophagus | Jul 17 2025 17:01 utc | 51

To put it simply, canuk is a white supremacist.
When exposed, canuk will resort to claiming that he’s Irish and that the Irish were victimized as a group and are not recognized as white until relatively recently. This is the same defense used by Zionist Israelis who claim that their/their ancestors’ oppression under the Nazi regime gives them permission to perpetrate all manner of horrors on the Palestinians.
Canuk keeps bringing up the supposed barbarity of other civilizations because he believes that it justifies the European colonial powers’ genocide against the natives. This is the same defense used by American colonialists when they call for the extermination of Native Americans because they are “Canaanites and Amalekites”—savages, in other words. The irony here is that these colonialists fled to America to escape religious persecution in Europe. Churchill regarded Indians as savages, which was why he played an enabling role in the Bengal famine. In Churchill’s words, “I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion. The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.” To this day, the British justify their colonization of India by pointing to practices like sati—it’s the classic White Man’s Burden defense.
Bringing up the supposed barbaric practices of foreign peoples to justify aggression against foreign peoples isn’t a historical tactic. It still remains in use today. You can see this in Zionism. In addition to abusing their historically oppressed status to commit genocide, the Zionist Israelis also love to bring up the supposed backwardness of Muslims to justify Israel’s extermination campaigns against the Muslims. However, the rest of the world has begun to adopt DEI, LGBT etc and they have also noticed that the West is very inconsistent when it comes to accusing someone of being a human rights violator. Consequently, the false “human rights” justification used to bomb, coup and invade foreign countries no longer has the persuasive power that it did before, which is why the West is rapidly abandoning the “human rights” facade and returning to their more openly fascistic roots. It’s not because DEI, LGBT etc are inherently bad (they’re not), but because human rights are no longer a useful tool for imperialism.
Israel bombing Syria because Israel claims that doing so is necessary to protect the Druze is something that canuk would love to defend, if only the Israelis’ meticulously documented ongoing genocide of the Palestinians did not make it nigh impossible to do so.
Since canuk insists on bringing up his Irish heritage, I would be remiss not to mention the Great Irish Potato Famine. This incident is canuk’s dilemma. If canuk agrees that the English colonization of Ireland was a net benefit because it was necessary to civilize the savage Irish, then the famine would be a nothingburger in the grand scheme of things. As a result, canuk cannot claim that being Irish is the same as being part of a historically oppressed group. If canuk were to say that the the English starving the Irish was an unforgivable crime despite the Irish being savages from the English point of view, then canuk cannot turn around and claim that European colonization benefited the indigenous people of the Americas. Of course, I’m assuming that canuk holds a consistent standard instead of being a typical hypocritical white supremacist.

Posted by: All Under Heaven | Jul 17 2025 23:27 utc | 113

@ Aleph_Null | Jul 17 2025 21:52 utc | 108
At least switch to yandex .
Seems to me like DDG no longer provides results I’ve queried before for bash-fu and other non-political technical info.

Posted by: I forgot | Jul 17 2025 23:38 utc | 115

Posted by: karlof1 | Jul 17 2025 21:06 utc | 99
Thanks very much for focussing on these innovations so rapidly coming into existence, something like the rapid leaps in communications we’ve had since my parents were living out their lives. It’s a bit mind boggling, not to be sounding negative.
A couple of days ago I simply took a bus to a train to go grocery shopping. I could sit back and enjoy a cool environtment and lovely scenery the way one might wish for the automatic automobile, but there were humans at the wheel or the traintrack, so I guess I have been left behind in thinking this is a wonderful way to travel. None of it went above about 65 miles an hour, so it took more time to go here to there, but I wasn’t in a hurry, old fashioned me.
The countryside is beautiful right now as we’ve had a solid rainy season that started early this year. I started to think that if the US is being left behind as far as rapid progress goes, maybe we could invent a really nifty version of the Amish horse and buggy? There used to be a horse and carriage ride around parts of Vancouver Island. Santa Fe could use something like that, I think. Maybe Moscow as well?

Posted by: juliania | Jul 17 2025 23:44 utc | 117

I’ve only commented once to date [previous thread] on the whole sordid Epstein paedo-intelligence kompromat affair – billionaire donors, mo$$ad, cia etc
… which was to agree with P. Craig Roberts plausible argument that the Zionist PM’s most recent trip to Washington was to add to the power-posse placing pressure on Potus to ensure that ‘names’ would not be made public [ever] – h/t to james for the link
I also tuned to The Judge with Ryan [whatshisname?] who has conducted extensive research on same ….
Nothing surprises me anymore.
# Six months in this Potus admin is a lame duck – a puppet – as are all Potus-ez
# Meanwhile WWIII, a very dirty war, continues.

Posted by: Don Firineach | Jul 18 2025 0:29 utc | 119

https://x.com/essenviews/status/1945870392742359433?s=46
Well, that’s interesting. The Butler assassination(?) attempt from a previously not seen angle.
“Odd behavior shows how they staged the famous photo.”

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 18 2025 0:36 utc | 121

Posted by: Featherless | Jul 17 2025 23:22 utc | 112
You can cling to the Official Narrative if you want, but it doesn’t answer where Epstein got his billions.
It doesn’t explain how he got Khashoggi as his first client, or how he became involved in Iran-Contra, or why he was the one who brokered the sale of the CIA Air American plane, or why the State Dept. leased him stolen Iranian property, or why Wexner made him power of attorney of his business….all before his parties started, as far as the timeline goes.
I’m not saying that I know what happened, but the whole “He was running a blackmail operation on the rich and famous” doesn’t pass the smell test to me.
The rich and famous have 7 ways to Sunday to kill you if you threaten them, as we can see from his “suicide” in protective custody.
They wouldn’t let some punk kid from New York blackmail them without consequences.

Posted by: wagelaborer | Jul 18 2025 0:40 utc | 123

Here’s the report on future “Israeli” air strikes on Iran.
https://nationalsecurityjournal.org/israel-is-preparing-to-bomb-iran-again/
Needless to say, the Zio-friendly, Trump-loathing mass media is trotting out the “TACO” meme where it comes to having failed to “obliterate” or “decimate” Iran’s ALLEGED nuclear weapons program.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ar-AA1INARm

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 18 2025 0:46 utc | 125

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 18 2025 0:50 utc | 127
#######
That’s what I am talking about. Things will be constantly produced and narratives created.
RussiaGate painted Trump as a traitor. That’s bad.
EpsteinGate paints him as a sexual abuser/collaborator, which is much, much worse.
The Trump Administration has already produced no meaningful legislation this term, except tax cuts for the rich. With the losses in the midterms looming, there is less and less chance that anything gets corrected or fixed in the country.
Jimmy Dore’s show was hypothesizing that once the Build Back Better bill passed, they don’t need Trump, and it is time to pivot to JD Vance so that he can run as an incumbent in ’28.
What a mess.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jul 18 2025 1:03 utc | 127

@ karlof1 | Jul 17 2025 21:33 utc | 105
thanks karl..i read the article you shared earlier and left you a video you might like to watch.. i also echo @ Don Firineach | Jul 18 2025 0:36 utc | 121 comment which is relevant too..
@ wagelaborer | Jul 17 2025 22:50 utc | 110
thanks for the 23 minute video.. i enjoyed it and think it is relevant and has to be included in any analysis of what is happening here… if i can break it down simply in my own terms for others – the cia, in collaboration with other intel agencies, want their actions to remain hidden and secretive and this applies both to the present, and future and especially the past… obviously if ordinary people knew just what these intel agencies were doing,or are preparing to do, there would be a lot more people asking questions, and showing a real lack of trust in the system they presently live in… so for the sake of trumps admin, and more broadly for any admin here forward – this info can’t come out, or it will be a type of death to the illusion of ” we’re good, and we are going after the bad guys”… in fact, it would do just the opposite.. a person could no longer maintain any illusion on just who the good and bad actors were/are..
thus – it all has to remain ”top secret” and any revelation can only be released to the public 75 years down the road, or never… you know the drill.. i think the other angles to the epstein story have merit as well, but the immediate connection with epstein and the cia is most obvious… and, it is most obvious why it must all remain ‘top secret’… trump is good at blowing a lot of hot air, prior to winning his election ( what politician is any different? ) but when it comes down to actions, trumps actions come up empty… it is his words everyone is supposed to get sucked into believing, for all the obvious reasons – maga and etc, lol… he didn’t say ”make the cia great again” did he? and if he knows what’s good for him – he won’t!!

Posted by: james | Jul 18 2025 1:08 utc | 129

Posted by: james | Jul 18 2025 1:08 utc | 130
#######
Occam’s Razor.
The West has been ruled by a pedophilic and Satanic elite for some time.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jul 18 2025 1:14 utc | 131

@ LoveDonbass | Jul 18 2025 1:14 utc | 132
well the role of cia/epstein certainly is part of the occams razor approach here too, but one that some are ignoring..

Posted by: james | Jul 18 2025 1:19 utc | 133

Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 18 2025 0:50 utc | 127
…Trump’s personality, …where there is smoke…
Years ago I read the court filings where 13year old Katie Johnson gives testimony that she was forced, along with a 12 year old Maria Doe, to fellate Trump. (At Epstein’s NYC home)
Johnson says, after Trump ejaculated, as he was putting on his trousers, he berated the girls for their “horrible” and “terrible” performance.
I read that, what, 10 years ago and just thought… he’s running for president and they are manufacturing all sorts of shit.
But now, 2025, with a decade of Trump in the media… it sounds so exactly like him.. to complain that tweens can’t provide him with oral sex to the standard he expects.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jul 18 2025 1:26 utc | 135

Posted by: james | Jul 18 2025 1:19 utc | 134
######
At the risk of sounding simple or lazy, I try not to overfocus on details.
The main thing is important to keep front of mind. I believe that excessive focus on minutiae and details is used to hinder thinking. Not saying you were, but many people get lost down rabbit holes and end up missing the key conclusion.
Yes, the intel agencies are involved. EVERYONE is involved.
Judges, professors, police chiefs, Colonels, Ambassadors, NFL owners, musicians, and famous artists.
The whole point of a conspiracy is to recruit so many people that discovery is meaningless. Like Zionism.
When everyone is a Zionist, what changes when a genocide is exposed?
I don’t know with specific evidence, but I believe that no amount of evil is beyond humans. People will do terrible things to other humans for reasons I will never understand.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jul 18 2025 1:28 utc | 137

There have been certain commentators (e.g. Sean Foo) talking very simplistically about a Japanese financial crisis due to rising interest rates on Japanese government bonds. I did an analysis on this and show that (i) the net debt is much lower than gross debt (ii) half the debt is owned by the central bank that is owned by the state (iii) 90% of the debt is held domestically (iv) state assets earn greater returns than government debt (v) Japan as a whole has a huge net foreign asset position which is about 90% of GDP (vi) Japan runs a 4%+ of GDP current account surplus due to the earnings on foreign holdings (v) government budget deficit of only 1.2% of GDP. The Yen has been weak over the past decade or so because of the large portfolio outflows as Japanese domestic entities purchase more and more foreign assets.
The above makes the huge scale of QE carried out by the Japanese central bank not an external funding issue. Japan also still possesses a significant manufacturing sector that can supply increased demand for goods.
In my analysis, Will The Japanese Economy Finally Break? No, but the United States Economy Might, I identify that it is in fact the US that is running a larger and larger possibility of a foreign funding crisis that will drive massive QE and a falling dollar.

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Jul 18 2025 1:38 utc | 139

Posted by: james | Jul 18 2025 1:47 utc | 141
#######
I tend to be hyper vigilant. Different life experiences yield different expectations.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jul 18 2025 1:54 utc | 141

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Jul 18 2025 1:26 utc | 137
All other variables remaining as they were the previous time around (“12 Day War”) I agree with you. I hope Israel tries their luck again and gets wiped off the face of the ME.
That said, I don’t think things tend to follow the same script once lessons have been learned – and – the geopolitical/political calculus is different now both in Iran and in Israel/USA, and that’s not taking the other Gulf satrapies into account. TMK they all kept their powder dry, other than the base in Qatar. So I think IF Israel does attack Iran again, it won’t happen in a ‘vacuum’ like it mostly did last time. There will need to be a reliable trigger to bring the US and maybe even other ME nations into a larger, regional war. Because otherwise it happens like you said, history repeats but more harshly and Israel is destroyed. So I don’t think Israel is going to attack Iran again without a failsafe of some kind, be that a false flag to draw the US in or something else major “happening” in the region.
Then you have the implicit Israeli threat to use nukes, aka the “Samson Option” – which, if they were to do that, I think they would likely be kissing any global political/economic capital goodbye. If agencies like the UN allowed a country to unilaterally start a shooting war and then use nukes to try ending it and remain in good graces, then the end of the “international order” (real, perceived or a combination of both) is truly and finally over.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 18 2025 2:02 utc | 143

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jul 18 2025 1:26 utc | 136
IMO there’s a small, tiny even, likelihood that Trump is telling the truth about something being “manufactured” and trotted out now when, in fact, they have already had more than a decade to destroy his political career with such deviant allegations.
That said, yes, he’s making way too big a deal out of this. In a manner consistent with a person who prides himself on being a ‘dealmaker’ and seeing one of his ‘deals’ vanish in a puff of smoke. I think this is the more likely scenario. The files are being withheld by this administration because releasing them now violates the mutual terms of something Trump/MAGA agreed to with the DNC and 3LAs at some point in the past. “We’ll keep your dirty laundry under wraps if you do the same for us.” Of course, there could also be some sort of threat levied against Trump by someone or some very powerful group named and shamed in the dossier – 3LAs, megadonors, high level UK or Israeli interests, etc.
My personal theory, pending new developments, is that they’re protecting important CIA, MI6 and/or Mossad operations and operators in a similar manner to how the JFK files have been treated over the last 60 some-odd years. Having the truths contained in them known endangers the very foundations of the US tripartite state because the intelligence community will be exposed. I also am beginning to agree with your take that yeah, Trump probably shows up in there an uncomfortable number of times in much more lurid scenarios than have been heretofore talked about in polite company. It could bring down his administration.
The TL/DR version? The lady doth protest too much.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 18 2025 2:12 utc | 145

Bibi King | Jul 17 2025 17:26 utc | 61
🥃🥃🥃 So much….winning!
———
Aut | Jul 17 2025 17:59 utc | 73
It was a female astronaut on board who vandalised. They have it on cctv. She admitted it.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jul 18 2025 2:17 utc | 147

Whom to believe ?
Ask Chief Big Foot

Pale face speak with forked tongue

Posted by: denk | Jul 18 2025 2:49 utc | 149

Garden’s culture of Deceit..

Posted by: denk | Jul 18 2025 3:13 utc | 151

I want to add a thought to the speculation that Bibi came to see Trump to convince him to drop the Epstein exposure.
My thought is that Bibi brought some bit of Trump/Epstein evidence that is not in the stuff held by the DOJ/CIA…..my thinking is that it had to be personal to get Trump to flip like he has.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jul 18 2025 4:43 utc | 153

@Naive
Hey, of course all Watcher has is conjecture and assessment drawn from Stuff on the Internet.
In that regard, he’s right up there with Martyanov, the dirge Duran Duo, anyone on JudgeNap…. Even my personal hero, Berletic.
Everyone …*everyone* is only able to collate what they can from internet sources…and make their own assessments.
I asked about Zelenskyyyyy’s Kryvyi Rih (Krivoy Rog) because I have long ..long.. long ago given up seeking daily updates.. there was a time in early 2022, where one of the first things I did of a morning (my time) was click on Dear St Dima… but I’ve long since dismissed him as a well meaning but mostly useless source.
Yet, even while not paying any real attention, I’m kinda aware the Russians Are Coming… and I for one want to savour the schadenfreude of the Krivoy/Kiev Kokehead’s humiliation when his home town is lost.
—-
Here’s a tip, there’s plenty of ratbags posting here..have at one of them before having a whack at Watcher…

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jul 18 2025 5:31 utc | 155

Posted by: Nick | Jul 18 2025 5:46 utc | 159
Bro Mossad was literally who turned that out. For FUCKS sake up the hasbara game or go home.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 18 2025 6:07 utc | 157

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jul 18 2025 1:26 utc | 136
Alot of the information is already out there from all the other court cases relating to JE. The thing to note is Epstein was arrested, sentenced and murdered on Trump’s 1st watch.
The Dems would have crucified Trump if there were incriminating evidence implicating him and Trump wouldn’t have made releasing the files a campaign promise.
I quite like how on Epstein’s 1st suicide attempt, all camera footages were “accidentally” wiped, including from the backup server, fun times.
Now Horror writer Stephen King has implicated himself with comparing the list to UFOs. He always did looked like a pedo to me. And his stories were all shit.
But I digress. I wonder if Mossad got tips from MI5 on how to run a Pedo ring.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-mi5-is-helping-to-cover-up-sexual-abuse/

Posted by: Suresh | Jul 18 2025 6:39 utc | 159

Suresh | Jul 18 2025 6:39 utc | 162
Yep. Everything that’s circulating on Epstein right now was known since like 2006…and certainly the 2010 court cases.
But people here are still curious, and seemingly not well conversant, on ground that’s been hoed over again and again and again.
But new for me was Epstein’s centrality to the Bear Stearns CDOs and the GFC.
It seems Epstein and JPMorgan vacuumed $44billion in bailouts in 2 weeks…
Epstein was the president of Liquor Funding Ltd which pioneered the CDOs that avalanches into the GFC.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jul 18 2025 6:46 utc | 161

@Tom_Q_Collins | Jul 18 2025 0:36 utc | 122

https://x.com/essenviews/status/1945870392742359433?s=46
Well, that’s interesting. The Butler assassination(?) attempt from a previously not seen angle.
“Odd behavior shows how they staged the famous photo.”

Indeed interesting. I would call that evidence. Even lowering the flag during the “confusion” to help it fall into the frame of the photographers being helped into position.

Posted by: Norwegian | Jul 18 2025 7:21 utc | 163

About leftists and cashing in (from the establishment) in the 80’s
Ahenobarbus | Jul 17 2025 15:50 utc | 30
fnord | Jul 17 2025 15:55 utc | 34
Leftists who get to have a platform may or may not be completely cynical about
selling out to their purported enemy.
But leftist never even invented their own ideology!
Therefore an improvement of the debate would be for current
adherents of some variant of leftism could consider comparing their beliefs and aims to those who really attempted to reform politics in the US and I dont mean any brand of socialism but just the constructive idea of building a
well-functioning creative and competitive society rather than being obsessed with egalitarianism. Alexander Hamilton did have such plans.
It was neither socialism nor any obsession against state power.
It was a rational approach to nation building. Period.
American leftists in particular should learn about your own history.
When Michael Hudson shares his learning he doesnt encourage leftists to rethink their own aims.
Instead it is just a look into the past.
Leftists, unless told, assume the later events show how their great ideas surpassed such old “capitalistic” systems.
If Hudson was attempting to alter leftists they would probably not listen assuming he sold out.
So I dont blame him.
I blame leftist in general for being intellectually lazy
…..
“The Chris Hedges Report: Nick Bryant”
JohnGilberts | Jul 17 2025 16:04 utc | 37
I am not critical in general however as usual what pops up in leftists historical overview
the empire caused the 1953 events in Iran
while the 1979 events are left unmentioned.
I mean that just like in 1953
it was an angloamerican regimechange operation
The fact that the opposite camp to the leftists nor mentions it is more natural since their own side caused it for the motives it usually does.
The perpetuation of anglosaxon imperial dominance
Also as usually various evil actions against Cuba are mentioned while the actual american hand behind bringing Castro to power is omitted.
Since that was confirmed under oath by three US ambasadors who did not fall from grace afterwards it isnt something one can honestly disregard no matter
what explanation one prefers.
It was no misunderstanding and the last ambassador in a book published in 1962 added the explicit assertion that the CIA handed over weapons to the rebels.
In the senate hearings one year earlier he said the CIA supported the rebels and that his own task of supporting Battista and later some kind of democratic reform was rendered hopeless by the actions of CIA.
I claim that all leftists who handle the truth in the way I just cited are effectively gatekeepers who maintain the status quo.
While I am not accussing them for being always paid for it.
It is a lasting intellectual shortcoming on the leftist side and since the imperial oligarchy is behind ALL important radical ideologies it isnt getting better
as long as leftists dont change.

Posted by: petergrfstrm | Jul 18 2025 8:13 utc | 165

If you want to learn the truth about yield curve control and not the hype from the usual suspects then these 2 videos are excellent.
Why did the 10 year yield spike up to 4.5% today?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JlxVBRE-0gA
Everybody’s talking about yield curve control. YCC.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tHHNsTyY_Hs
The way I’ve always thought about it is the following. If the FED suddenly said we are going to have zero rates – Permanent ZIRP.
What we recommend
Here:
https://new-wayland.com/blog/zirp-primer-summary/
To get rid of the parasitic FIRE sector once and for all.Then rates will fall to zero. Everybody should understand this because Japan and the EU followed this policy for a long time.
So if they set the rate at 4.5% then what happens ?
It moves to 4.5% sometimes a little bit higher sometimes a little bit lower. Because the FED uses a range to manage things. That’s exactly what we have seen as it moves and gravitates towards 4.5% sometimes a little bit higher sometimes a little bit lower.
What happens if the FED moved it to 6% – same thing.
They set the rate. There’s no bond vigilantes in America. So There’s absolutely no need to point at at. They tell where they are going to set it.

Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Jul 18 2025 8:41 utc | 167

Set the rate at zero
Stop issuing debt as it is a left over from the gold standard anyway.
Domestic households save in tax free non tradeable granny bonds. Everybody else is left with a reserve balance.
Reintroduce strong bank regulations meaning they can only lend for productive purposes and not speculative purposes. Kills asset inflation.
Introduce a transition job ( job guarentee) that allows people to move between the public sector and private sector without becoming unemployed. Which also acts as a fantastic price anchor.
You have just destroyed the parasitic FIRE sector. Now these people who worked in it can go and do something more worthwhile in society than trading people’s savings.
You KILL the problem at source. That’s how you do it.
Instead of using tax or a Tobin’s transaction tax. The horse has already bolted it is too late. Kill it at source.
Here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=urXHOddxwAE&pp=ygUZV2FycmVuIG1vc2xlciBmaXJlIHNlY3Rvcg%3D%3D
By Killing the FIRE sector at source you solve a hell of a lot of problems later on.

Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Jul 18 2025 9:04 utc | 169

Posted by: petergrfstrm | Jul 18 2025 8:13 utc | 166
Sorry Peter but this is a load of rubbish. It does not really matter whether the USA (some versus Others) were supporting the white hat goodies or the black hat baddies). The USA neither CIA nor state department had any business supporting either. Sure we know imperialist powers do this all along but it does not make it right.
I am and always have been a leftist and proud to be so. What you see as the gooddies (white hats) are for me not much better than the baddies. They are ALL into exploitation and inequality.
Yes I am for as much equality in society as can reasonably be managed and which is fair. Not a single US government in my lifetime qualifies as a real social justice party. Every single one exploits the workers (especially the black and Latino) and the result is a shockingly unequal society that is closer to the injustice of aristocracy run governments than anything resembling a truly democratic nation.
What the hell do you mean when you say leftists did not invent their own ideology. I am a socialist and i am pretty sure if you study it it arose from a long history of first Fabian type “do-gooders” mixed with a solid dose of unionised collective pressure. The Tolpuddle martyrs predated Marxism or communism and were clearly of the Left. I am proudly what i would call a Democratic Socialist (NOT A SOCIAL DEMOCRAT). For me that means policies which help as many people as possible, prevent malignant accumulation of wealth to the selected few, while as far as is practical ensuring there is a truly democratic system based on on vote one value, where all adults can participate. Freedom of speech is a fundamental precursor to this system.
Your precious Hamilton and all your founding fathers operated from a basis where the richest in society were bloody despicable slave owners. Please do not hold them up as models for anyone to follow. What your precious revolution was all about was a rebellion of the wealthy middle classes against British taxes. They wanted the graft and exploitation for themselves not for the British aristocracy.
As for your specifics re Iran, it was the intent of the democratically elected government to nationalise their OWN oil production to enrich their own people rather than have it taken by British and US monopolies, that led to the coup against Mossadeq. there is even evidence (cannot vouch for this one) that it was because the Shah was getting a bit uppity and nationalistic that the US organised his removal. Trouble was that they lost control of their puppets and the rest is history. Similar thing happened with Osama bin laden, originally a US/CIA puppet used against Russia but he got a bit too uppity. Egypt too when the CIA puppets the Muslim brotherhood tried to be independent an do ended the “Arab spring and we had a return to dictatorship. the Syrian head choppers also are not behaving with suitable deference to Israel and will be replaced by another set of head choppers.
As for Cuba, all you are saying is that in the post war period some rational yankees liked Castro, who despite the US hype was a pretty decent guy. The place was not riddled with corruption, he and his family were not obscenely wealthy and he bloody well saved the lives of millions be a decent and truly excellent health care system. Well organised social infrastructure also meant that when hurricanes hit there was ordered evacuation, saving lives, rather than the humiliating debacle that was Hurricane Katrina. Cuba’s problems were all because you yankees (both of the Tweeldle dum/dee parties) wanted a return to the profit mongering and gauging of the colonial era.
That is how i and most genuine lefties see the issue.
By the way do not be a confounded idiot and conflate the modern wokism with real economic leftism. There was a time when the two approached travelled hand in hand with a shared objective of justice unfairness but the two have long since parted company.

Posted by: watcher | Jul 18 2025 9:34 utc | 171

The interview of Bryant by Chris Hedges yesterday on yt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GK114NGCM8 reveals that as much as 1 on 4 American has been raped within the family circle or outside it. So contrary to what the Donald thinks, a lot of people feel concerned by the Epstein story.
This of course cannot reach the frontpage in Europe because they excel at burrying this king of stories: the handlers of Dutroux, the perpetrators of the Betharram scandal more recently, or the suicided Brunel, are all cases of the last 30 years for which no genuine trials of the top guys ever happened.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9tharram_scandal

Posted by: Tom | Jul 18 2025 9:52 utc | 173

Everybody else is running around the countryside with a butterfly net trying to catch a Clydesdale horse after it has bolted.
You just make sure it doesn’t leave the stable in the first place. Kill it stone dead at source.
No More Bank Rate Manipulation:
The central bank ceases using interest rates as a policy tool. Constant rate adjustments create instability, disrupting businesses and hindering long-term planning. A stable zero rate provides certainty, enabling businesses and households to plan with confidence.
End debt Issuance:
Government borrowing is not required to fund spending. Debt issuance is a relic of the gold standard era, serving no functional purpose today. Eliminating treasuries removes an unnecessary drain on public funds. It stops financial markets from extracting risk-free profits at the public’s expense.
Banks as Public Agents – With Accountability
Banks operate as extensions of the public monetary system, lending only for productive purposes. This ensures that finance supports real economic growth, not speculation.
Banks receive an unlimited overdraft from the central bank at 0%, directly exposing the Bank to commercial banking risks. This necessitates strict loan regulation:
The central bank takes on ultimate responsibility for every loan issued.
Regulators must set clear criteria for acceptable loans that will promote productive investment.
Regulators must ensure a commercial bank has enough capital to cover any issues with its regulated assets.
If a bank fails, the regulator and the central bank governor are held accountable. Liquidating a bank becomes a resigning matter for both and jail time.
This system forces regulators and bankers to act responsibly, knowing that failure means professional consequences. Mismanagement isn’t just a policy mistake; it’s a career-ending event.
Bank Deposits = Money
Every deposit in the banking system becomes actual money, regardless of size. This ensures secure access to funds for businesses and individuals. Deposit insurance schemes and special protections for large institutions become unnecessary.
Loans Must Fund Real Investment
Banks can only lend for activities that grow the real economy, such as housing, infrastructure, and business investment.
The central bank maintains a list of approved loan types, such as residential mortgages at sensible ratios, working capital funding and business development loans.
If a bank breaks the rule – by lending for speculation or financial manipulation, for example – the courts won’t enforce repayment. Banned loans become shareholder gifts.
This prevents banks from misusing their monetary powers and directs finance toward productive uses. No loopholes. No bailouts. Just real lending for real growth.
Stronger Banking Oversight – No More Bailouts
The central bank holds debentures over regulated banks. If a bank is mismanaged, the Bank can place it into creditor administration at any time.
If that happens:
Shareholders and bondholders are wiped out – no bailouts.
The payment system remains protected, ensuring depositors always retain access to their money.
The central banks balance sheet absorbs the impact of bank liquidations, but failure reflects directly on the regulator.
If a regulated bank collapses, it is a resigning matter for the financial regulator and jail time along with the central bank governor. This ensures strict, responsible oversight focused on stability.
Job Guarantee as the Price Anchor
Instead of using interest rates to control inflation, you implement a Job Guarantee ( transition job) :
Anyone willing to work can always find a job at a fixed living wage.
The Job Guarantee acts as an automatic stabiliser, expanding during private sector slowdowns and contracting during growth.
A constant yet disciplined fiscal policy allows the Job Guarantee buffer to keep prices stable, negating any concerns that ZIRP could lead to inflation.
This eliminates the need for monetary policy adjustments, creating a stable economic environment for businesses and workers.
The Benefits of ZIRP:
1. A More Stable Economy
Eliminating interest rate manipulation removes uncertainty, boosting investment and job creation. Businesses and households can plan ahead with confidence.
2. More Housing and Infrastructure Investment
Under ZIRP, asset prices are no longer artificially suppressed. Investment in tangible assets – particularly housing – accelerates, increasing supply which then drives affordability for owners and renters.
3. Lower Borrowing Costs for Everyone
With ZIRP, mortgage rates stay low, helping families achieve the dream of homeownership and providing stability for future generations. Businesses can expand without fearing sudden spikes in debt costs. No more boom and bust.
4. Financial Markets Serve the Real Economy
Without free money from government bonds, investors must fund real businesses, innovation, and infrastructure to generate returns. This strengthens the real economy and reduces financial speculation.
5. A Leaner, More Efficient Financial Sector
ZIRP eliminates unnecessary complexity caused by interest rate manipulation. The financial sector shrinks to a natural size, redirecting talent and resources into productive industries.
6. A Transparent, Accountable Banking System
With regulators having skin in the game, they must enforce strict loan regulations and ensure banking stability. Mismanagement leads to real consequences for those in charge.
7. An Economy That Works for the Many, Not the Few
ZIRP gradually eliminates the largest unearned income stream in the economy – interest payments on government debt. Wealthy individuals and institutions must invest in real growth rather than extracting risk-free returns from the state.
8. A Seamless Transition to Digital Currency
With ZIRP, bank deposits become money at all amounts, just like physical banknotes, making digital transactions as simple, safe, and universal as cash.
Historically, private mints charged fees for coins until they were replaced by a single Royal Mint. ZIRP does the same for electronic money by eliminating middlemen and allowing seamless, fee-free digital transactions.
The myth that they will be able to see what you are doing is exactly that. With cash they can ALREADY see what you are doing. Go an try and take a large amount out of a bank today and see how you get on. Regulation can be out in place to protect everyone.
A Fairer, More Stable System:
ZIRP isn’t just about setting interest rates to zero. It’s about creating a financial system that supports the real economy rather than draining it.
No more economic instability from rate hikes and cuts.No more free money giveaways to the wealthy.More housing, infrastructure, and business investment.A stable economy where financial regulators are held accountable.
No more leeching and taking a cut from people’s savings/ pensions. The middle man can no longer trade With people’s savings. Households directly invest in tax free NON TRADABLE granny bonds.
Government bonds are nothing more than tradeable welfare payments, and welfare payments should be democratically targeted not market purchasable.
We need National Savings annuities, where an individual can build up an annual additional pension by purchasing ‘Granny Bonds’ directly. They would have limited residual capital value and no capital uplift, but they would give a secure additional income in retirement for ordinary people who decide to be thrifty and save.
Foreign holders of your currency hold that money for neo-mercantile purposes due to a belief in ‘export-led growth’.
They need to spend it, invest it properly, or be left, once again, with the default investment of a deposit in a bank.
There is no reason why households should be propping up capital values in the Norwegian Global Pension Fund (or any other foreign pension fund or central bank) with public interest payments.
With a zero interest rate and strong banking oversight and STOP issuing debt. It kills this at source. Foreigners will be left with a reserve balance paying 0%. Use it or lose it to inflation should be the new mantra.

Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Jul 18 2025 9:55 utc | 175

@ SoA
ZIRP isn’t just about setting interest rates to zero. It’s about creating a financial system that supports the real economy rather than draining it. …. No more economic instability from rate hikes and cuts.No more free money giveaways to the wealthy.More housing, infrastructure, and business investment.A stable economy where financial regulators are held accountable.”
The concept of “setting an interest rate” is orthogonal to the other items you said. ZIRP *is* literally “zero interest rates”.
Don’t bundle these concepts. You’re confusing everyone.
It’s evident that the ZIRP of 2010’s was a giveaway to the wealthy. Or, if you prefer, “accompanied” by giveaways to the wealthy. Dropping interest rates to zero solves none of our problems. If you want to solve other problems, solve those other problems.

Posted by: I forgot | Jul 18 2025 10:15 utc | 177

Re: Epstein
The real question is why was the Epstein/Maxwell operation shut down ?
Some background on Maxwell‘s Father….
https://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/the-maxwells-mossads-first-family-of-spies/
https://www.unz.com/wwebb/the-maxwell-family-business-espionage/?highlight=Maxwell+holocaust+denier

Posted by: Exile | Jul 18 2025 10:31 utc | 179

The real question is why was the Epstein/Maxwell operation shut down ?
Posted by: Exile | Jul 18 2025 10:31 utc | 180
—
They grew too old to remain an interesting value proposition.

Posted by: too scents | Jul 18 2025 11:07 utc | 181

@Exile
“The real question is why was the Epstein/Maxwell operation shut down?”
Another question might be what was it replaced with?

Posted by: Fred777 | Jul 18 2025 11:30 utc | 183

Posted by: watcher | Jul 18 2025 9:34 utc | 172
Any one in western politics who identifies “left” has its analog in female penis’s. It doesn’t match reality. There is barely a center anymore. It’s ALL right of the traditional center. Zero has been done for the people in any of these countries for at least 70 years. ZERO.

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Jul 18 2025 12:02 utc | 185

Posted by: Tannenhouser | Jul 18 2025 12:02 utc | 186
That is just a little unfair. In Australia at least the existence of the real left achieved a great deal up until about 1975 and after that a few things, but not much. I guess 1985 was an easy marker for decline of the actual left (in Australia). So 40 not 70m years. The previous 30 years did see quite a lot of positives (especially improved public health system and university education). A few other things too.
I think the real left lasted a bit longer in Scandinavia.

Posted by: watcher | Jul 18 2025 12:20 utc | 187

No!!! The FED does not set the interest rate for Treasury debt. They set the rates for intra-bank borrowing within the Federal Reserve System.
Posted by: too scents | Jul 18 2025 11:05 utc | 181

Unless there is QE or Operation Twist, or they are paying interest on reserves and therefore changing the whole investment landscape … and maybe also if they are running a “Special Vehicle” to buy corporate bonds and change the investment landscape even further … then there’s the bank bailouts … and that time when they purchased underwater mortgage debt … and all the other times.
But if you ignore all that, then yeah.

Posted by: Tel | Jul 18 2025 12:44 utc | 189

@Karlof1
Great find Karl,

I found the clip’s URL, “>https://yandex.com/video/preview/5504325719003379933

Thirtesn years ago the Chinese car company Jili bought Volvo. Look how fast the Chinese car industry has progressed in such a short period of time.
Here is a correction to the speaker statsment that Google does not support cars: Google has Android-Auto. Probably not up to what the Cinese offer.
If the US government had been serious about rrecreating the US manufacturing capabilities back then the US wouldn’t feel so humiliated right now. Instead the US went for chaos generation through regime change and the promotion of terforist groups and atrocities. And then the US wants to use military intimidation againxt China because the US can’t compete. Come on!
Different aims lead to different results.

Posted by: Richard L | Jul 18 2025 12:48 utc | 191

(Slowly reading backwards).
“juliania” ( Jul 17 2025 23:44 utc | 118 ) wrote:

“… I could sit back and enjoy a cool environtment and lovely scenery the way one might wish for the automatic automobile, but there were humans at the wheel or the traintrack, so I guess I have been left behind in thinking this is a wonderful way to travel.”

No you haven’t been, at least not yet, I’m 100% with you on this 😀
And also real (unionized and organized, responsible, accountable) cabbies too, a magnificent luxury imo to have someone (a real person) willing to drive you wherever you want to go in a city. Maybe talk too, or not. I don’t often use taxis (it is or can be pricey) but boy am I happy they’re available for when I do need them 🙂

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jul 18 2025 14:43 utc | 193

@ Norwegian | Jul 18 2025 7:21 utc | 164
it is indeed an interesting angle shown in the link @ 122 from tom… thanks tom..

Posted by: james | Jul 18 2025 15:12 utc | 195

@Sunny Runny Burger

Something cold to everyone at MoA 🙂

Weinschorle. Prost!
The people who create the war games NATO acts upon might know something about your query. They write about it, too: I checked a book from my uni library written by an academic working for US Navy in the late eighties; it was mostly concerned with modelling of PDEs. Instead of digging deeper, I went the other way in a now two decades long reflection on the problem, and assume that complex modelling will likely not give good results for two reasons mostly: 1, if your model has too many variables, it can produce too many results all too easily to be worthwhile in seeking out for the driving factors, and 2, for reasons of epistemology – an ideology just can’t be modelled.
Nowadays AI is used, we have a post right over in the Ukie thread where some NATO loser invokes Palantir to crush Kaliningrad, boasting “we are ready”. That comes with its own problems. As a rule of thumb, I would suggest to look for lower boundaries/minimal norms such as “Ohne Mampf kein Kampf” /no Weinschorle, no posting.

Posted by: persiflo | Jul 18 2025 16:29 utc | 197

So Grant Shapps – the Tory politician who okayed the smuggling into Britain of 24,000 Afghan traitors, at a cost of over £800 million quid to the taxpayer, said he do it again if he had the chance.
The Afghans he smuggled in to Britain – worked for the the foreign invaders of Afghanistan such as the US and Britain.
Yet countless English governments prattle on about immigrants coming into Britain – and how they want to stop them.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jul 18 2025 17:53 utc | 199