No 2
 
Amazon is sacking lots of workers replacing them with robots. I UK there is a huge huge rise in businesses in very high risk financially much more than last year..especially social leisure, and many businesses are not investing but turning to run on bare minimum staff and other means cutting back to survive last April Budget and extremely fearful of upcoming budget. FED cut rates today which has affected bonds and guilts .
Stocks, bond and gold all fell in response to the Fed’s ‘hawkish’ rate cut, with another one in December no longer viewed as a certainty.
Gilts fell across all durations, with five-, 10- and 30-year yields up by 5 basis points each by mid-afternoon in London. Longer duration gilts recovered ground later in the afternoon for yields to trade 3bps to 4bps higher for the day. 
Uncertainty surrounding the Autumn Budget, higher company taxes and stubborn inflation are pushing swathes of British business to the brink.
The number of businesses in ‘critical’ financial distress has surged 78 per cent year-on-year, with 55,530 companies affected in the third quarter of 2025, compared to 31,201 a year ago, according to figures compiled by Begbies Traynor. 
the 22 sectors covered by the findings, 21 experienced a rise in ‘critical’ financial distress of more than 40 per cent against the same period last year, Begbies Traynor said.
Consumer-facing industries continued to be under the most severe pressure, with leisure and cultural activities, hotels and accommodation and general retailers  experiencing ‘some of the most extreme increases in critical financial distress’. 
‘Significant’ financial distress also jumped 14.8 per cent year-on-year to 726,594 firms, following a 9 per cent rise from 666,876 in the second quarter of this year.  
Of the 18 of 22 sectors experiencing an annual rise in ‘significant’ distress, utilities real estate and property services and financial services experienced the highest growth, the research found. 
Looking at all its findings, Begbies Traynor said the results showed a ‘considerable deterioration’ in the financial health of many business compared with the same period last year. 
Palmer said: ‘With over 55,000 companies now in serious financial distress, the upcoming Budget must deliver urgent support to avoid a wave of failures, especially among SMEs already operating on a knife edge.
‘Unfortunately for UK businesses, inflation is going nowhere, putting further pressure on companies at a time when wage, tax, and financing costs are already high. 
‘Many firms have no room to manoeuvre, and instead of investing for growth, are scaling back just to survive – the opposite of what the economy needs, if it’s going to recover and grow.’
 
Oh…and due to sanctions and Russian response UK fish and chips is soon to be much more expensive…well then we are doomed.
 
 
 

Posted by: Jo | Oct 30 2025 18:19 utc | 3

Sean Foo
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVEFYUn1rHQ
 
“US begs China to buy AI chips, Trump defeated  in Asia…”
 
 
 
The Duran
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egsvuCI4B2w
 
“Xi Jinping – Trump summit: ‘Icy in tone…kicking the can down the road for another year…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Oct 30 2025 18:52 utc | 5

And still he’ll cling on to power until pushed.
 
“France President Macron reaches a record low of social support just 11 percent. The lowest result in history.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 30 2025 19:03 utc | 7

And its (RSF) terrorist forces operating against Sudan has committed war crimes.
 
“UAE was created as a British protectorate in 1820 (then called the Trucial States). A satrap regime: London controlled their foreign policy When UAE was formed in 1971, it stayed a UK/US protectorate in all but name. It is now a Zionist protectorate, too”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 30 2025 19:09 utc | 9

The UAE funds and backs the terrorist force the (RSF) – and the USA knows this and allows it to happen because it keeps the UAE onside – France did the same with Mali, France has no gold mines but it has tons of gold – Mali has many gold mines but possesses no gold.
 
“Dubai exports of Gold account for 30% of their non oil exports. Dubai has ZERO gold mines 97% of UAE’s gold comes from Sudan.”
 
Branko Marcetic (@BMarchetich): “Reminder that a “very senior” Biden official told a journalist in April 2024 that the entire US policy on Sudan was about “keep[ing] the Emirates onside with Israel and onside against Iran.”” | nitter.poast.org

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 30 2025 19:43 utc | 11

Utah approves internment camps for homeless people
The US state of Utah has this week approved a “mega camp” to hold 1,300 homeless people – in isolation, seven miles from the nearest town and with no transport links.
The camp will consist of locked units and inmates can be subjected to forced labour. Utah is calling this dystopia “work-conditioned housing” – but in reality, as the US National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC) has commented, it is “modern-day internment” for the poor and homeless.
 
Full article :  https://www.thecanary.co/skwawkbox/2025/10/30/utah-homeless-people/

Posted by: Red Star | Oct 30 2025 19:49 utc | 13

Yet Fort Knox is empty – so where has all the stolen gold gone to?
 
“China that builds Gold vaults in partner countries as collateral and to back Chinese currency. 1934: Gold Reserve Act forced citizens and foreigners to surrender gold at $20.67/oz, revalued to $35—precedent for state seizure. 1945-59: Recovered ~250 tons Nazi-looted gold; U.S. kept large shares via Tripartite Commission and Operation Paperclip. 1953-73: CIA-backed coups (Iran, Guatemala, Chile) transferred national gold to U.S.-controlled banks. 2001 Afghanistan: Froze and seized ~$1.3B in Taliban-linked gold from central bank post-invasion. 2003 Iraq: Captured Saddam’s gold bars at border; vested in U.S. Treasury. 2011 Libya: UN/U.S. sanctions froze 144 tons ($6.5B) Libyan gold; Gaddafi sold ~29 tons pre-death, funds missing. 1971: Nixon closed gold window, cheating the whole World. 2019-22: OFAC froze Venezuela ($1.3B) and Russia’s gold in U.S. vaults”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 30 2025 19:54 utc | 15

And Trinidad and Tobago are also assisting the Yanks.
 
“US Air Force has a “Cooperative Security Location” (military base) on island of Curaçao just 40 miles north of Venezuela The island is a Dutch (NATO) colony”
 
 

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 30 2025 19:56 utc | 17

They make their won rule up as they go along – remember Pam Bondi said the Epstein List was on her desk, a few week later Pam Bondi said there was no Epstein List.
 
“FBI Director Kash Patel has reportedly stopped Tulsi Gabbard’s closest advisor from investigating whether Charlie Kirk’s assassination had ties to foreign intelligence operations.”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 30 2025 20:03 utc | 19

@ lachaussette | Oct 30 2025 17:52 utc | 2
 
that epitomizes the worst in capitalism where people compete against others… the corporation that devised that strategy is run by some narcissist or pycho-sociopath.. jeff bezos would quality… when you put money as the god over everything else – this is what you get… late stage capitalism isn’t working and AI will only add to bringing greater clarity on this… the system we have isn’t working… it might take us another 50 or more years to all acknowledge this – if we have that much time left.. meanwhile slave labour remains a thing that doesn’t get discussed as much as it ought to…  i am sure there are some apologists for this system of doing things who will show up at moa to challenge me.. that’s fine… i stand by what i say..  thanks for sharing.. 

Posted by: james | Oct 30 2025 20:04 utc | 21

@ 2 lachaussette
 
Thx for the creative writing. Or is it?
 
After I was fired from my dream job for refusing the vaxx from a prior employer, I decided, being a laborer, that one entry-level job is as good as the other. The trades were by-and-large already full of apprentices with long long queues to get your foot in the door. I was already long in the tooth though still in my prime, and I have always been a saver, so money was not an issue at the time, thus precipitating a decision where money was not necessarily the reason for choosing an employer or job. To get out of the elements seemed like a good bet, so I decided to try warehouse work.
 
Once you get the feeling for operating the reach lift down (takes a couple weeks to be serviceable, many months and even years to master), I found being a selector to be a joy. Physical work has always agreed with me, but I do agree that it wears you down. I would often tell my coworkers that this kind of work helps you sleep better at night, but working in an office saves your body, albeit at the expense of your cortisol levels. Six in one hand, I suppose. If you can make it so you’re King Swinging Dick in the office, you got it made. But you put a retiring introvert in a tight space with others, we keep our heads down.
 
But, man, oh man, your tale about competing with your coworker for that final pick, is only half the story. 
 
The place I worked at was a family-owned business for years. It started as a very tightly-controlled, slow-growth business. But success had invited in all kinds of college graduates with big ideas about running businesses. Faster growth becomes the goal. Hiring practices seem less restrictive. And the downhill trajectory of corruption becomes irreversible.
 
In my case, I worked alongside a mix of people: browns, some blacks, asians, islanders, a few whites (evangelicals, ex-cons, and white trash). Russians and Ukrainians. Surprisingly, they got along ok. This was a couple years ago when the specter of the SMO was still fresh.
 
But for hard-working, conscientious whites, and as a minority, I can honestly say that if you find yourself in the midst of una mezcla of races, working labor or service: watch your ass and keep your head extra low. If you are a hard-worker and can’t help it (meaning, you try to pass the time by making a game of your job in terms of efficiency and professionalism), your co-workers won’t like you and, in my case, will view you as a threat. The exception was an autistic old white guy who was incredibly dialed-in, but socially-retarded so was no threat. 
 
En una mezcla, the stick is used, not the carrot. The shift supervisors were all total assholes. They will talk shit about the rejects on their crew and will shout when needed or when their boss tells them to pick up the pace.
 
I am afraid your prognosis of the American system is entirely accurate. Liberal education has failed us, but no one wants to admit this failure, and this is partly because the bureaucratic classes in the Deep State would have to suffer alongside the proles who are increasingly exploited. The middle class is hollowed-out. The 50% minorities in the U.S. have no need for the liberal high school degree. At least they are smart enough to realize that knowing math, history, and science will not help them one iota when they are doomed to cutting grass or bringing a pallet down from the D rack. The education system in the U.S. is just babysitting now. The browns just can’t do critical thinking. They can’t. I don’t care if you call me a racist or whatever. Backfilling the dwindling population in the U.S. with minorities is the perfect prescription for rendering the U.S. into two classes: the eaters and the eaten.
 
In short, I don’t blame browns. But I don’t trust them either. At a certain age, racial minorities become race aware and they cling to the traditions of their culture. It was a miracle that Germans, Italians, and Irish were able to assimilate into a cohesive Protestant ethic in the U.S. during the 20th century. But that time has gone. And we are here now, reaching for that last pick in the frozen locker, hoping to get the overtime, even if it is taxed at a higher rate.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Oct 30 2025 20:07 utc | 23

canuk (22).
 
Yes good spot.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 30 2025 20:10 utc | 25

Modi is a seasoned politician and knows the West can’t be trusted.
 
“Exactly one year ago, India quietly flew back 200 tonnes of its gold from London. At the time, it looked like a simple “sovereign diversification move.” But did they already sense what was coming”

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 30 2025 20:25 utc | 27

How the UAE supplies the terrorist outfit the (RSF).
 
MenchOsint (@MenchOsint): “Another look on how the UAE supply the RSF Militia, using charter Il-76 cargo planes registered abroad. Two planes here, one makes flights between Somalia & Libya, the other between UAE & Somalia. This has been going on for years, the difference beeing that instead of Chad, Libya is now the main entry point for weapons for the militia.” | nitter.poast.org

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 30 2025 20:34 utc | 29

Posted by: lachaussette | Oct 30 2025 17:52 utc | 2

Fake! that’s not an operational warehouse. The room is mostly empty. It’s also not a cool room, but your character actors are dressed in cool room gear.
 
Pretty sure the story is just made up BS.

Posted by: Tel | Oct 30 2025 21:05 utc | 31

Glenn Diesen: ‘Russia’s Pivot To The East’
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ughMD-Neg5k
 
“From greater Europe to greater Eurasia…”
 
Good historical overview. 

Posted by: John Gilberts | Oct 30 2025 21:16 utc | 33

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Oct 30 2025 21:18 utc | 34
 
RE:  erm…., do you know how to format-?
 
<<
Military conflict is the best crucible for competition when it comes to weapons development & capabilities. Obviously we see how Russia has achieved a great alignment of vision & purpose in its missile innovations and drones, its hypersonics and layered air defense since the SMO commenced, not to mention the Oreshnik, the Burevestnik and the Poseidon torpedo. Many of us @ MoA have noted the paucity of such development in the MIC, which seems willing to stand pat on decades-old hardware, unable to shift from a status quo bureaucratic mind-set which invests heavily in carrier-groups, tankers for refueling and persnickety fighter jets. 
 
Shyam Sankar, Chief Tech Officer of Palantir, spoke w/ the nytimes about how Big Tech and militarism have coalesced (starting under Bush, the shrub but flourishing notably in every admin since.)   His analysis of what exactly has galvanized & hastened Silicon Valley in its pursuit of Defense Department contracts was surprising:   “I think you can’t discount the effect of the invasion of Ukraine.  It was a moment where people realized all these things they took for granted actually just don’t happen on their own.  And that actually, someone can just decide to roll a bunch of tanks across the border and try to change a fundamental reality in the world, and you can’t actually dissuade that without hard power.  That perhaps there is still evil in the world, and that evil is not us.” 
 
Befitting the CTO of a corporation which expects to ink plenty of DoD contracts, Sankar swims in the same direction of neocons & warhawks:  Russophobic to the core:  “You could characterize a lot of the malaise of the last 20 years as feeling like, oh, we screwed up in Iraq or Afghanistan, and maybe we’re the problem — and this element of self-loathing that I think Putin’s invasion brought a lot of clarity to and a recognition that these things have to be done well.  You look at Crimea in 2014, the militarization of the Spratly Islands by the Chinese in 2015, the breakout capability of Iran on the bomb, and then a pogrom happening in Israel on 7 October 2023.  So peace is not there right now.  That doesn’t mean I’m saying we need to go out and have wars all over the place. But peace comes from deterrence, and we’ve lost deterrence.” 
 
Sankar’s sales pitch, when he sits w/ the neocons & warhawks who represent dark money, rests fundamentally on deterrence—the need for deterrence, the loss of deterrence, the ability to regain deterrence.:   “My argument from a builder’s perspective is that a big part of why we’ve lost deterrence is the excesses of having won the Cold War — or I think, more accurately, it should be framed as the Soviets lost the Cold War — and our being the sole superpower for some period of time.  Having won the Cold War, facing no threats, you’re going to go down a long path of indulging in the largesse of building exactly what you want and how you want to do it.  There’s no back pressure.  There’s no threat that’s going to align you to develop the right thing at the right speed.” 
 
Sankar name-checks all the box-ticking adversaries:  Russia, China, Iran.   He knows what to say and how to say it so that neocons, warhawks and dark money types will reach for the checkbook.  His company can sift data and set up sensors for collecting data and can make certain that the appropriately collated data can find its way to the screens & devices of the decision-makers downstream. If some of those decision-makers are at Lockheed or Anduril or Raytheon, they may be able to unbudge a stodgy dyed-in-the-wool emphasis on crafting highly targetable sitting-duck style objects of fabricated sheet metal in exchange for nimbler weaponry better suited to meet 21st Century warfare.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Oct 30 2025 21:21 utc | 35

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Oct 30 2025 21:21 utc | 35
 
#######
 
Palantir is fascinating. The USG craves public/private partnerships because state-owned enterprises cannot kick back and fund campaigns like a quasi-private company can.
 
Palantir’s biggest success has been helping Israel to target and murder civilians in Palestine.
 
Another of Peacemaker Trump’s great achievements.  

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Oct 30 2025 22:13 utc | 37

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Oct 30 2025 22:13 utc | 37
 
RE:   Palantir’s biggest success has been helping Israel to target and murder civilians in Palestine.
 
<<
 
Yes.
 
Lavender.
 
And other programs targeting Gaza and Iran.
 
Palantir has gone all-in on IDF objectives.  Clearly, IDF objectives are U.S. objectives. 
 
We @ MoA view these matters in a certain kind of way—but Palantir definitely sees itself swimming in the same direction as the IDF and the U.S. gov’t  (and not just the gov’t under DJT but hearkening further back, perhaps to 12 September 2001.)  Moreover, Palantir strenuously vets its alliances according to corporate principles and defends them.
 
So Palantir’s mission enjoys a great congruity w/ Permanent Washington’s mission  as well as that of the current democratically-elected Washington.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Oct 30 2025 22:28 utc | 39

I will take flack on this issue as I will be right over a cherished target.
 
Don’t use toothpaste with fluoride, fluoride is not good for you.
 
Don’t believe me go to the bathroom pick up your Crest or whatever, look to the fine print and you will find the warning, “Do not swallow” (1)
 
It’s alright to be in your mouth but not to swallow?
 
Sounds a bit sketchy doesn’t one think?
 
Use baking soda which is actually good for you and costs a fraction of the florided toothpaste. (2)
 
1. I just got out my wife’s toothpaste-‘AdvancedWhite’ naturally powered by baking soda with fluoride Then CAUTION: Do not swallow.  KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN UNDER 6 YEARS OF AGE. If used more than used for brushing is accidentally swallowed get medical help contact a Poison Control Center right away”
 
Sounds a bit sketchy doesn’t one think?
 
2. Fluoride is neurotoxin.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Posted by: canuk | Oct 30 2025 22:54 utc | 41

Trump Meets Japan’s New Far Right Prime Minister
 
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/10/30/rzzt-o30.html
 
“Takaichi praised Trump’s supposed ‘unwavering commitment to world peace and stability’ and pledged to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in the future, even as Trump carries out murderous military assaults on fishermen off the coast of Venezuela while threatening war with the country…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Oct 30 2025 23:28 utc | 43

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Oct 30 2025 22:28 utc | 39
 
######
 
IMO, most of what the US government does today is geared towards a Zionist future.
 
One cannot be elected to high office in America without tacit support of genocide and colonialism.
 
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube are all involved in data mining and building data sets (big data) to fuel AI, IMO.
 
Every credit card rewards program (incl. air miles) is all about harvesting data for the future Zionist machine.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Oct 31 2025 0:07 utc | 45

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 30 2025 23:36 utc |
when are ya’ll gonna stop making excuses for these bootlicking cowardly lapdog suck ups? the VZ fishermen getting in the way of US bombs are a bigger hiccup to Western war plans than this Nazi collaborating bitch is.
 
i keep tweeting Melania Trump and the Secret Service this story….with pix of a Big Mac and a heart attack…the praetorian guard took out an emperor or two. not with a Happy Meal, i suspect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jael

Posted by: duck n cover | Oct 31 2025 0:12 utc | 47

LoveDonbass | Oct 31 2025 0:11 utc | 47
 
Ignore it. Some crazy running around behind constantly changing usernames.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 0:15 utc | 49

Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0

https://www.rt.com/news/627164-new-caribbean-crisis-2025/

Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Oct 31 2025 1:03 utc | 51

Cyclones. When flying in western Queensland, I once flew over a patch of scrub where every mulga tree had been flattened. All laid in the same direction. It was obvious an exceptionally strong gust had come out of a storm cell and where it struck, not a single tree remained standing.
 
Another time, a large area, gidgee, mulga, box, not a single leave or twig remained and I realised a hailstorm had struck that area.
 
Another that I was told about shortly after but did not see. A station house, station buildings, nobody there at the time but a hail storm had struck and when the owners arrived, the buildings were bare frames. They came back the next day and the frames had been flattened, another storm had gone through.
 
I noticed in the years I lived in western Queensland that each season, or for several seasons, storms would always run on the same track. So each summer there were belts that got good rain and belts with no rain. And this could be within one property.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 1:34 utc | 53

A little surprised that no one here is commenting on the Senate shutting down Trump’s tariffs.
 
Ironic as he is working hard to spin is meeting with Xi into a victory for America.
 
As I get older, the more I have come to believe that the harder we pursue some outcomes, the faster they flee from us.
 
There is power in letting results come to us instead of trying to force every issue.
 
Isn’t having to force compliance a signal that we may be on the wrong path anyway?

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Oct 31 2025 2:03 utc | 55

“Arctic Frost is Joe Biden’s Watergate,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), one of the nine Republicans whose phone metadata was scraped by Autopen Robinette’s DoJ.  “It was a fishing expedition.”
 
“Merrick Garland was a fundamentally corrupt attorney general. Jack Smith was a fundamentally corrupt prosecutor. This was a political enemies list from the beginning,” Sen, Cruz told reporters, brandishing the court order that demanded AT&T hand over his very own cell records to the Collective Biden feds.
 
The order was signed by US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg and barred the cell carrier from letting the senator even know about the request “for at least one year.”
 
“If a judge signs an order reaching a factual conclusion for which there is zero evidence whatsoever, that judge is abusing his power.  I am right now calling on the House of Representatives to impeach Judge Boasberg,” Sen Cruz said on Wednesday.
 
Jack Smith led the fishing expedition—erm, investigation—for Merrick Garland, and he sent a subpoena to an unidentified person “relating to communications with media companies such as CBS, Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax, Sinclair, and others,” according to Senator Grassley of Iowa.
 
Several current White House insiders — including Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino, Jared Kushner and Lara Trump — were also targeted by Jack Smith’s investigation, along with Republican donors.
 
Cruz revealed in Wednesday’s press conference that AT&T refused to comply with the subpoena for his personal phone records, claiming Arctic Frost had engaged in an unconstitutional attempt to infringe on speech rights.
 
Since the inaugural Watergate during Nixon’s 2nd term in office, the OG Watergate, we have seem numerous cascading Watergates, each worse in their own way but falling w/ a nihilistic thud on a cynical population suffering from political ennui.  The problem is this:  if a powerful media does not boost & amplify the Watergate du jour, then it simply gains no traction, therefore failing to reach the necessary threshold to be considered Watergate-worthy.

Posted by: steel_porcupine | Oct 31 2025 2:25 utc | 57

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Oct 31 2025 2:03 utc | 57
 
“A little surprised that no one here is commenting on the Senate shutting down Trump’s tariffs.”
 
I commented on it at number 40, but it was probably easy to miss. 
 
Now I read
 
“Beijing has agreed to ease rare earth export controls in exchange for lowered tariffs and restrictions from Washington”. 
But its “earlier limits on the critical materials remain in place.” 
 
Those would be rare earth-based materials that can be used in US military equipment. https://www.rt.com/business/627160-china-outcome-us-trade-deal/
 
More saner US heads are backing down on China very likely because of the recent Rand Report. It may be getting through to Trump’s thick head. But he’s picking the wrong fight in South America where he will also encounter China and Russia if he continues with the fake motivations for a war on Venezuela.
 
 
 
 

Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Oct 31 2025 2:43 utc | 59

GeorgeWendell | Oct 31 2025 2:43 utc | 62
 
Moves and counter moves that we do not see as they are kept from the public. It turned out Trump and Putin had a lot of phone calls not mentioned to the public by either side.
 
Venezuela, I am starting to assume Russia/China have made some blocking moves. But then with Trump nothing is as it seems. Much smoke and mirrors going on. Obama/ Biden was much simpler. System pigs, system hacks, but Trump – perhaps there is nothing more than the surface, but I often have the feeling he operates behind a facade. Watching what the Russians say greatly reinforces this feeling.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 2:52 utc | 61

Not a bad article on China’s involvement in South America:  https://www.rt.com/news/627112-china-latin-america-cooperation/
 
It conflicts however with Larry Johnson’s article a couple of weeks ago that implied Chinese trade was greater in South America than that of the US.  I’d link his article here as well but I find if I add two links the post goes up much later in the day. The Geopolitical Economy Report (Ben Norton) site on YouTube has got good coverage of China’s involvement in South America too and US motivations behind any war with Venezuela. 
 
 
Seems to me that attacking South America would be getting out of the frying pan and into the fire that the US are backing off from with Russia/Ukraine and China. 
 
 

Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Oct 31 2025 2:59 utc | 63

Ugly American President With Ugly American Vassals
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av3nZhOL9R4
 
“Is everybody happy?”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Oct 31 2025 3:10 utc | 65

 It’s always a surprise where that ends up.
Posted by: General Factotum | Oct 31 2025 2:59 utc | 65
 
Often very much so. I guess I was a bit late on the scene. I did not know any bullockies. Knew the bloke that was the last to walk a mob down the Tanami. Camped a wet season with him. I assume he was an axeman as well. Had his axe and adze in a hessian bag, handles polished from use. By then he may not have used them for a bit as he was around the eighty mark. He knew the bloke that ran the mail from Oonandatta to Birdsville and talked about him a bit. In the stuff you find in the media, he was described as a big burly bloke. Some of what old Jerry told me, his strength and so forth in unloading and reloading the truck are unbelievable to people living in a soft world, but a big bloke as fit as me in my better would have done it.
 
Another back when I was seventeen, an old Afghan I assume, perhaps his dna came from somewhere else but I always think of him as Afghan. He was in his sixties and had the physique of a young bloke. He was yard building with gidgee posts and lancewood rails. He used axe and adze and would split a pencil mark every time.
 
I never saw my father use an adze, but with an axe, he never had an issue with the accuracy to split a pencil mark.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 3:19 utc | 67

David Dorn was born today in 1942.He would have been 83 today.I wrote this to honor him
https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/doctorates-in-postmodern-criticism

Posted by: Dogon Priest | Oct 31 2025 3:23 utc | 69

On the subject of bullocky’s and axemen, I used to like trying to chop up wood, but was like lightning, never struck in the same place twice. To have watched some of the old axemen split a pencil line – I guess is something quite different from today.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 3:33 utc | 71

I will take flack on this issue as I will be right over a cherished target. .. It’s alright to be in your mouth but not to swallow?
.. Sounds a bit sketchy doesn’t one think?.. 
Posted by: canuk | Oct 30 2025 22:54 utc | 41

Posted by: tucenz | Oct 31 2025 3:48 utc | 73

“Any way the wind blows”:
 
“In 2022, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro experienced a shift in his international standing, particularly in Europe, as the global energy crisis following the Russian invasion of Ukraine created a renewed interest in Venezuela’s oil reserves. This shift led to a softening of Western rhetoric, with European leaders considering the lifting of sanctions on Venezuela to secure alternative energy supplies, despite the country’s authoritarian governance and human rights concerns. Maduro capitalized on this by publicly offering to export oil and gas to help stabilize global markets, positioning Venezuela as a potential solution to Europe’s energy shortages.
 
The European Union and the United States began to reconsider their stance on Venezuela, viewing Maduro’s regime as a “lesser of two evils” compared to the energy disruption caused by sanctions on Russia.”
 

Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Oct 31 2025 3:56 utc | 75

General Factotum | Oct 31 2025 3:57 utc | 80
 
It would be good to spend a wet season with you I reckon. Plenty of interesting stories. My younger days travelling across the north, wild times, an earlier day. In the early 2000’s, across the Leopolds into the underworld. Last refuge of an earlier time. 
 
I have never been an academic, but I look back now and life has sure been interesting. 

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 4:07 utc | 77

Damnit!! I can smell the gum-leaves over the smell of that fresh paint in my dingy, dusty office…
Posted by: General Factotum | Oct 31 2025 3:57 utc | 80
 
That to brings back memories but in a different way. My early years of station life as a shitkicker, Knocking over a killer on a station. The tray of the toyota would be lined with leafy gum branches and the cuts from the killer would be thrown on that, then hung in the butcher shop overnight. The meat would mostly carry the slight scent and taste of eucalypt. It was quite good though much of it was tough and chewy. Not hung long enough as there was no cold rooms.
 
The best meat I have eaten is from animals shot on the run or just pulled up after running. It completely surprised me. Something I learned in the Aboriginal community.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 4:36 utc | 79

“The United States is facing a consumption crisis. One of the world’s largest food producers, Kraft Heinz, states that the US is approaching the worst downturn in history, as consumers are not even buying basic food products.
“We currently have one of the worst consumer sentiments in decades,” said CEO Carlos Abrams-Rivera on Wednesday during a conference call with analysts. Kraft Heinz shares fell 4.3% on Wednesday — down 17% since the start of the year, while the S&P 500 index rose 17%. “
 
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/trump-xi-face-off-for-all-the-marbles

Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Oct 31 2025 4:51 utc | 81

Memories that are so different from this urban would I now live, the geopolitical world I now watch.
 
Last day of a yard. Just a load of bulls to truck out so we had a bit of a booze up. Everyone out next morning at day break to load the truck. We would hold the bulls for two weeks before trucking them, feeding them hay and quietening them down, so when it came time to load them we would get in the yards on foot.
 
That morning, most of us a little bleary eyed from the turps and looking into the sun, my son yells out, look out dad. I squinted into the sun and a bloody bull was coming at me. bleary eye stuff quickly evaporated and I dropped and rolled till I was out under the panels, quicker than a lizard up a drain pipe. That bull sure woke me up.
 
Memories.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 5:29 utc | 83

splitting with 18lb sledge
 
Posted by: General Factotum | Oct 31 2025 3:57 utc | 76
 
—
 
Everything is ridiculously larger in AU, eh?
 
Nine Pound Hammer ==> https://youtu.be/v573CY8LYNM
 

Posted by: too scents | Oct 31 2025 6:24 utc | 85

I’ve added two more postings: “Lavrov’s Post-Minsk Conference Presser” and the documents he cites in his remarks, “Russia’s Greater Eurasian Partnership Initiative & The Joint Vision of the Eurasian Charter for Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century.” The docs are rather short which is good since they’re the basis for the discussions held at Minsk. The greater number of delegations participating shows the Outlaw US Empire bullying is having an effect one way or another. 
Posted by: karlof1 | Oct 30 2025 1:37 utc | 359
 
Again, my apologies for not having yet followed up on these links, karlof1.  I won’t as yet do so, but just give a couple of comments on the ‘wonderful’ meeting of Trump with Xi.   Staying with me is a comment by Alistair Crooke that what Xi has done is forcefully meet Trump on his own erratic ups and downs,  not a natural ledge for Xi who is always so polite — we need to recognize what a scene of noncompliance that was — only Crooke I think has taken note.   So, a year on probation was the announcement after a very short meeting echoing in length the Alaska space and timing that Lavrov has revealed .  And there is perhaps a Damoclean sword hanging over the entire tariff debacle.
 
I very much thank you, karlof1.  Perhaps I can now sleep.   I am grateful to Xi for that confrontation; I hope he can now sleep also.   That was truly extraordinary.  Thank you,  President Xi.
 
Back tomorrow.

Posted by: juliania | Oct 31 2025 7:36 utc | 87

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 2:52 utc | 61

…Venezuela, I am starting to assume Russia/China have made some blocking moves…

Such as what? I’ll admit to not having paid much attention, but I don’t recall much diplomatic support coming from China and Russia. Wouldn’t this be the bare minimum they could do? Stir up a media storm exposing the blatant criminal actions of the US. Shame the US allies for playing along this new episode of aggression.
Curacao’s participation was mentioned earlier in the thread. Why not hit the Dutch public with that evidence and spell out the consequence for the Venezuelan people? Wake up, do you want to be part of the destruction of yet another country?
 
If the electorate makes an issue of this, the US will be forced out of the bases.

Posted by: robin | Oct 31 2025 8:09 utc | 89

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Oct 31 2025 4:36 utc | 79
Wow, stressed animals taste better? Goes against all we are taught as Non-Chinese/Koreans.
 
So sadly the Chinese are correct in saying that they boil dogs alive,  so the adrenaline of their own fear,  makes the meat better. In this case, I’d pass;  better a lesser taste than the needless pain of an animal.

Posted by: Recently updated | Oct 31 2025 9:08 utc | 91

United Kingdom government, besides genocide in Gaza, is involved in the massacre/genocide in Sudan. Was anyone surprised?
 

🇸🇩 The United Kingdom is involved in supplying weapons to the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, which were used in the genocide of the local population
Western media reported that British military equipment found in Sudan appears in two dossiers dated June 2024 and March 2025, which the UN Security Council has reviewed. Both dossiers were compiled by Sudanese military and allegedly provide detailed “evidence of UAE support for the RSF.”
The reports state that British military equipment used by the Rapid Support Forces was found in combat zones in Sudan. Previously, this equipment was supplied by the UK to the UAE under contracts that prohibited transferring the equipment to third parties. However, according to the report, the Emirates supplied it to militants in Sudan.
Despite the UN Security Council receiving materials indicating that the UAE may have supplied RSF with British-made products, the British government did not make claims against the ordering party and, moreover, approved further exports of the same type of military equipment to this Persian Gulf state.
To understand who the RSF are, you can look at the photos I am attaching to the post. In satellite (!) images of the city of El Fasher, captured by RSF militants on October 26, large red spots are clearly visible. The photo description suggests that these are most likely pools of blood of the local population killed by the militants.
#Sudan #UK
@africaintel
https://t.me/africaintel/13243

Posted by: unimperator | Oct 31 2025 9:42 utc | 93

” I’d pass;  better a lesser taste than the needless pain of an animal.”
 
 Recently updated (91).
 
Agreed,  we boil lobster alive in the West, surely they must feel pain also – I recall Craig Murray, ex-British Ambassador when he was still an ambassador,  visiting one of the Stan’s I can’t recall which one – where they still boil people alive.

Posted by: Republicofscotland | Oct 31 2025 10:08 utc | 95

An Israeli tourist was chased and beaten up by local residents in Thailand after he physically attacked a Thai woman.

https://x.com/Partisan_12/status/1983895527721988168

Posted by: unimperator | Oct 31 2025 10:26 utc | 97

Posted by: MorePain4Cakes | Oct 31 2025 10:31 utc | 98
 
Thanks for that

Posted by: canuk | Oct 31 2025 10:42 utc | 99