News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine …
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November 12, 2025
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-263
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psychohistorian | Nov 16 2025 6:01 utc | 500
Yeah. We are starting to see a general collapse of the front lines there trying to hold those cities inside the cauldron has cost Kiev a lot of its better units. The Europeans were talking about keeping the war going to 2029 and I assume hope for a US leadership that would take the US into the war. To keep European funding coming in, Zelensky had to show he could hold the frontlines.
From the Resident TG channel
If the war continues for another few years without any breakthroughs or full-fledged external support, the country may face a sharp demographic decline, a collapse of its energy system, and a new wave of mass migration. In fact, Ukraine will lose another 2-3 million men on the front lines, leaving it with a completely depleted energy sector. Once another 10-12 million refugees leave Ukraine, which will be plunged into darkness, the country will cease to exist.
Have now watched the second part of the Sleboda interview on Venezuela. A few interesting bits there. He like a number of others are thinking US has to attack at some point due to the public show the Trump regime has put on. Backing out now would be worse for them than getting tangled in another quagmire.
He also mentioned the Venezuela strategic partnership with Russia and considered that a further reason on top of the oil for a US attack. US showing the world that Russia cannot protect smaller countries type of thing. Quite a bit will depend on if the US has been able to purchase any of the military leadership. If not I think Russia will be able to defend Venezuela. US depends completely on air power. The militias will I think defeat in proxies the US sends in or whatever in the way of militias the US has created inside Venezuela.
I believe some time back, Russia and China jointly announced they would defend smaller countries from US attack.
Those Russian cargo planes flying into Venezuela were carrying BUK systems, Manpads ect. I think all Russia has to do is send in enough equipment to defend Caracas from US air attack – planes and cruise missiles , keep Maduro alive and an American attack will fail.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 7:07 utc | 501
I dont know why helicopters have tail rotor to counter the torque of a single lift rotor.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 2:16 utc | 485
Newton’s Third Law.
Ever laid on a trolley bed under a truck and tried to undo a tight nut? Which way does the trolley go? A leg out the side on the chassis is the poor man’s tail rotor…
Hey – and did you ever cut the power on the gyro prop and let the gyro ‘hang’ on the momentum of the rotor (just for a lark)? Which way does the frame rotate? (and why, for another round on my tab 🙂 .
Posted by: General Factotum | Nov 16 2025 7:09 utc | 502
@ Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 7:07 utc | 503 about the Ukraine and Venezuela situations
We don’t really know the military situation in Ukraine but what we know sounds dire and I don’t see the situation evolving into EU/UK/US “real” boots on the ground so it has to end in military defeat on lines of contact, IMO
I really wonder if Venezuela is a distraction ploy and if it will work on Ukraine loss and Epstein perfidy exposure???
I keep thinking there has to be a plan B for empire that goes beyond Trump bully tactics but maybe nukes come next……what a shit show.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 16 2025 7:22 utc | 503
General Factotum | Nov 16 2025 7:09 utc | 504
Yah I realize why single rotor helicopters require the tail rotor , What I dont understand though is why more aren’t built using the counter rotating double rotor system. They appear to be very reliable and are more efficient. Ive seen a few videos of tail rotor strikes when landing or taking off.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 7:36 utc | 504
psychohistorian | Nov 16 2025 7:22 utc | 505
Its hard to know which way US is headed. Intentions are fairly plain – get the Venezuela oil then attack Iran which would shut down the Persian Gulf and at some point pull the trigger on Taiwan, the primary US target China.
Russia and China will be working to counter the US moves.
Ukraine – Lavrov has stated Russia is not stopping now until Ukraine has been denazified and he pointed ot Zelensky publicly handing out medals to neo-nazi units.
At some point they’re likely to draw back behind the Dnieper and try and form a defense line there. Germany now introducing military conscription and beginning remilitarization on borrowed money.
With China, US is likely waiting for rare earths production to ramp up in Australia and Canada. Hold up there I assume is the final processing facilities. I though the Pentagon was building one.
Brazil is greatly ramping up its rare earth facilities. I think it has been refining around 2500 tons a year but is ramping that up to 20,000 tons. Not sure when that will be in operation.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 7:55 utc | 505
@ Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 7:55 utc | 507
The US needs Venezuela, as Krainer says, for financial collateral.
What I didn’t hear from Sleboda was anything about the reported two Russian ships next to Venezuela coast in sight of US ships. What do they do when the shooting starts?
Dream time for me…keep the rowdy’s in check
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 16 2025 8:06 utc | 506
Around the 16th October, Trump authorised covert CIA operation inside Venezuela.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-16/trump-confirms-cia-conducting-covert-venezuela-operations/105899100
Now –
Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez
@RepCarlos🚨 BREAKING -> We are tracking reports that the Maduro narco-regime may be preparing to sabotage key Venezuelan infrastructure, including major bridges, tunnels, and refineries, and later blame the United States or the democratic opposition.
While unverified, these claims match the desperate tactics of a collapsing dictatorship. The United States will continue to stand firmly with the Venezuelan people against tyranny, corruption, and any attempt by the regime to manufacture chaos or manipulate the truth for political survival.
Election Wizard@ElectionWiz⚠️Three electricity transmission towers in Venezuela’s Juan Antonio Sotillo municipality, Anzoátegui state, were allegedly ATTACKED and TOPPLED.
The country’s electric corporation claims it was SABOTAGED.
……………….
Looks like CIA sabotage operations inside Venezuela have begun.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 8:18 utc | 507
“It’s Bannon turn in the barrel”
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/T_cHsEzZqeU (length: 1 minute )
Steve Bannon recorded some 20 hours of video with Jeffrey Epstein and should be held accountable in the Epstein case. MAGA wants the Epstein files to be released but Trump, Pam Bondi and others don’t want to do that.
Posted by: WMG | Nov 16 2025 8:27 utc | 508
We are tracking reports that the Maduro narco-regime may be preparing to sabotage key Venezuelan infrastructure, including major bridges, tunnels, and refineries, and later blame the United States or the democratic opposition.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 8:18 utc | 509
—
Here comes the parade of Israeli ass kissing stooges telling us how things are going in Venezuela.
Posted by: too scents | Nov 16 2025 8:28 utc | 509
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/03/pastor-robert-morris-pleads-guilty
The founder and pastor of one of the largest megachurches in the US, Robert Morris, has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in Oklahoma in the 1980s.
Morris, 64, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Osage county district court on five criminal counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child. He was sentenced to 10 years in custody, but as part of a plea deal will serve only six months in county jail.
He will register as a sex offender and pay $250,000 in restitution……..
………He also became a spiritual adviser to Donald Trump. He joined the White House spiritual advisory committee during the first Trump presidency and was part of a campaign to mobilize evangelical voters for him in last year’s presidential campaign.
Trump also visited Gateway church in 2020 where he praised Morris and his senior team as “great people with a great reputation”.
Trump and pedophiles….
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 8:35 utc | 510
psychohistorian
Re Sleboda on Zelensky and my thought that he is being regime changed by the Brits and Europeans. I just run onto this.
https://x.com/IslanderWORLD/status/1988684874400805218
The Spectator article https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-scandal-that-could-bring-down-volodymyr-zelensky/
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 9:20 utc | 511
In sum, the fundamental problem with the governing ideology of Europe we have called “multicultural liberalism” is that it grants immigrant communities in Europe both individual and group rights, while recognizing only individual rights for natives.
https://www.unz.com/article/the-genocide-of-native-europeans/
The use of the term ‘genocide’ clearly is bombastic but apart from that the article is worth reading.
The rationales usually offered by Europe’s rulers to justify mass immigration are low native birth rates and an aging population. Europe can hold its place on the world stage, they argue, only by importing a new population to replace Europeans. These ideas were developed in a 2001 UN report called Replacement Migration: Is It a Solution to Declining and Aging Populations? It offered five possible scenarios, of which Dr. Ellis discusses two:
“1) immigration to keep the size of the working population constant. This would require bringing in 80 million persons, or 1.6 million per year. By 2050 persons with a non-European background would make up over 25 percent of the EU population. This scenario is fairly close to what has actually been happening.
2) immigration to maintain the ratio between the working and retired population. This would require nearly 700 million newcomers, or 13 million per year. Within a few short generations, native Europeans would be reduced to a status something like that of American Indians in North America.”
This UN report sees humanity in economic terms and people as interchangeable producers and consumers. It also assumes that unending economic expansion is both possible and morally necessary in spite of our finite planet.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 16 2025 9:40 utc | 512
Latest market news. China is now no longer allowing gold futures without physical gold deposits backing it.
Just as a reminder the ratio of gold futures to physical gold in LBMA/COMEX is around 130:1. This will also start spreading to other precious metals.
London is done as a trading center.
Meanwhile Boris Johnson demands Britain to confiscate Russian gold (do they hold it in England? Don’t think so).
Everything is unravelling quickly now for the west.
Posted by: unimperator | Nov 16 2025 9:45 utc | 513
Major Update From Swiss Metals Expert J. Staiger China just pulled the trigger on Silver. They stopped metal deliveries entirely and are now requiring physical metal on deposit for Gold and Silver futures. The flow out of China is over. A London LBMA contact says China and BRICS central banks are driving Gold higher through de-dollarization and that Silver is next. Russia already bought $500M in Silver for its central bank last year. If this trend goes global the setup gets explosive fast. Buckle up.
https://x.com/WSBGold/status/1989827095980298596
Posted by: unimperator | Nov 16 2025 9:51 utc | 514
Lord Bebo@MyLordBebo🇻🇪 Venezuelan Air Force F-16A fighter shot down an unidentified C-210 type aircraft that illegally entered the airspace.
https://x.com/MyLordBebo/status/1989726078026629128
From wikipedia –
“The Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engined, high-wing general-aviation light aircraft. First flown in January 1957, it was produced by Cessna until 1986.”
……………………..
The other thing is that US has moved from colour revolution to what are now being called Gen Z revolutions like the one that occurred in Nepal. One occurring now in Mexico.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 9:56 utc | 515
In sum, the fundamental problem with the governing ideology of Europe we have called “multicultural liberalism” is that it grants immigrant communities in Europe both individual and group rights, while recognizing only individual rights for natives.
https://www.unz.com/article/the-genocide-of-native-europeans/The use of the term ‘genocide’ clearly is bombastic but apart from that the article is worth reading.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 16 2025 9:40 utc | 514
The title of this article is not only “bombastic”, it’s just profoundly idjit clickbait.
In the EU, “collective rights” do exist for the “Natives”, so that’s a lie among others. Do you need a list ? I wouldn’t be surprised, since it comes from a racist media, that what the author means is “community-based laws”. Yeah, of course, it does exist. But it’s not to give special rights to one or another group, it emphasises and certifies it has the same rights as the majority because they were deprived of it. However there are some exceptions for ethnic groups with special needs, such as Gypsies and Romanies, or to protect regional cultures such as dialects. But “special” rights also exist in China for instance.
“Native” is such a hypocrit word to avoid saying “White”. I’m French born in Germany, so I’m less of a “native” than, say, my colleague Ahmed who’s born and raised in France.
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 16 2025 10:04 utc | 516
Guan Video posted a 1 hour video interview with Aleksandr Dugin on Western liberalism. In English!
https://youtu.be/1lmt5yXvNVQ
Posted by: too scents | Nov 16 2025 10:42 utc | 517
@General Factotum | Nov 15 2025 21:54 utc | 464
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rational-and-irrational-thought-the-thinking-that-iq-tests-miss/ Highly recommended. I have a subscription, but I think the above link is open access.
Thank you for that link, quite interesting.
I have a decade of Scientific American magazines in my shelf, but I cancelled my subscription 30 years ago when the quality fell through the floor. This one was good though.
Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 16 2025 11:31 utc | 518
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 16 2025 9:40 utc | 514
The multicultural project in Europe will not succeed.
Sadly, it will end in civil war, the Ahmeds against the Larses, Ottos, Pietros, Pierres, Juans, and that will happen before the Ahmeds grow as much in numbers as to be able to win the civil war.
AI-historians of the future will discuss the folly of believing that individuals of different races (which in strict empirical biological terms are sub-species) were interchangeable after hundred thousand years of evolution.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 16 2025 11:44 utc | 519
Sonar 21 and a video of the last Johnson interview with Davis. A fair bit of it is on the Zelensky gang corruption – 48 billion stolen according to a ongoing pentagon investigation. But the last part is on Trump announcing resumption of nuclear tests. He puts up a clip of Lavrov speaking about it. Basically US using nuclear testing to threaten other countries and or launch nuclear war against other countries. All of it is worth watch but especially the section on US and nuclear tests.
Under Trump, the massive US military spending has only increased so I take it for granted he does intend to start wars rather than just threats and bluff.
https://sonar21.com/it-aint-money-laundering-it-is-theft/
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 16 2025 11:51 utc | 520
the quality fell through the floor.
Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 16 2025 11:31 utc | 520
—
The magazine shills for Big Pharma, targeting “policymakers, researchers and business leaders” with branded content in the magazine.
https://partnerships.nature.com/case-studies/immunomic-therapeutics/
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Scientific_American
I used to like Martin Gardner’s regular “Mathematical Games” articles, where I first read about fractals and Conway’s cellular automata game “life”.
The magazine lost its inquisitive curiosity during Reagan’s Star Wars putsch.
Posted by: too scents | Nov 16 2025 11:56 utc | 521
Posted by: too scents | Nov 16 2025 10:42 utc | 519
Thanks for this, very good.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Nov 16 2025 11:57 utc | 522
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 16 2025 11:44 utc | 521
Reading this post makes me think that Ahmeds replacement of the Johans will be an improvement.
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 16 2025 12:07 utc | 523
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VSOm0i-FHW0
“I am in favor of completely open borders… but only on Sundays!“
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 16 2025 12:18 utc | 524
The tragedy of Bayesian is a stark reminder that no amount of statistical modeling can replace the raw, testable laws of nature, especially at sea. The vessel, a massive sailing yacht with a lifting keel, was designed with the assumption that data and probability could predict safety in storm conditions. But the moment she sought refuge in shallow waters—lifting her keel to avoid the storm—she entered a zone where stability was no longer assured.
Bayesian’s owners relied on probabilistic models, Bayesian analysis, fuzzy logic—whatever the latest rationalization—believing that these abstractions could tame the unpredictable power of the sea. Yet, the fundamental principle of marine engineering is simple: the angle of vanishing stability is a testable, physical property. When the keel was lifted, that stability was compromised, and no amount of Bayesian probability could reverse the physics.
The lesson here is clear: the sea does not care for models or probabilities. She is governed by the immutable laws of physics—hydrostatics, gravity, and the geometry of the hull. No formula, no statistical analysis, no fuzzy logic can fully account for her fury. The moment you think you can outsmart her with data alone, you risk catastrophe.
The Bayesian yacht’s sinking underscores a fundamental truth: “don’t take the piss out of the sea.” Empiricism—testable, repeatable physics—trumps any model built on uncertainty. When facing nature’s forces, it’s humility, not optimism in probability, that keeps you afloat.
https://profmattstrassler.com/2024/04/25/why-a-wave-function-cant-hurt-you/
Posted by: lachaussette | Nov 16 2025 14:41 utc | 525
@too scents | Nov 16 2025 11:56 utc | 523
I used to like Martin Gardner’s regular “Mathematical Games” articles, where I first read about fractals and Conway’s cellular automata game “life”.
I taught myself object oriented programming at the time and created a program called ‘life’ based on what I had read in Scientific American. It ran for hours on an old 286 DOS machine, great learning.
I was so disgusted by the changes in the early 1990’s that I threw them out and never looked back.
Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 16 2025 16:08 utc | 526
I have a decade of Scientific American magazines in my shelf, but I cancelled my subscription 30 years ago when the quality fell through the floor. This one was good though.
Posted by: Norwegian | Nov 16 2025 11:31 utc | 520
****************
I know what you mean about ‘quality’. My collection goes back to the early 60’s – big, fat stapled magazines packed full of goodness. Now about 1/3rd the content and getting difficult to read. Still – just goof enough to maintain a subscription.
Posted by: General Factotum | Nov 16 2025 19:57 utc | 527
I’ve just found out than China is building its own EUV lithography machines, of course cheaper and more compact than Western ones. Now they can produce their own modern 3nm chips! They already sell chips to Russia.
Posted by: V for Vendetta | Nov 18 2025 13:57 utc | 528