News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine and Palestine …
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November 27, 2025
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-272
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Let’s watch the Russians do rocket science:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=OIAduLEqvTc&pp=ygUHbmFzYSB0dg%3D%3D
Posted by: lachaussette | Nov 27 2025 12:13 utc | 2
The confrontational approach in the RAND Corporation’s 2019 omnibus “Extending Russia” did not transfer at all to the October 2025 omnibus “Stabilizing the U.S.-China Relationship,” chiefly because cooler heads recognized that the tenets of confrontation/escalation utilized against Russia, in order to provoke the war in Ukraine, would not work against China. Such tactics would boomerang significantly against the U.S., affecting defense supply chains and the economy and resulting in other asymmetric blowback.
When “Stabilizing the U.S.-China Relationship” appeared in October, commentators & pundits surmised that Elbridge Colby had exercised great influence on the RAND researchers in tilting a policy paper so radically away from the historic stance that RAND scarcely resembled RAND. MoA posters recall a thread b introduced at the time, and we all weighed in. So the view was that Elbridge Colby was putting a distinctly America First spin on foreign policy, even auguring for a return to hemispheric issues a la sphere of influence. In fact, DJT’s pivot to Venezuela seemed a case in point.
Notably, the RAND Corporation removed “Stabilizing the U.S.-China Relationship” from its website after 2 weeks. A study that emphasized restraint, crisis-management channels and selective de-risking no doubt rattled the cage of China warhawks in the Beltway and was seen as a thrown gauntlet. Warhawks did not find in its 100-odd pages a robustly common-sensical approach to entwined geopolitical complexities but a shriveling.
Did “Stabilizing the U.S.-China Relationship” disappear from the RAND Corporation website on account of warhawk chagrin-?
Well, it disappeared.
BTW: the latest policy papers @ RAND which focus on China are an entry from 23 June—-“Coupled Competition: A Prototype Game to Explore the U.S.-China Relationship”—-and an entry from 11 November 2025—-“Assessing China’s Efforts to Boost Fertility,” both decidedly anodyne offerings.
Notably, the core mechanism for extending Russia involved “coercive pressure of the economic, military and geopolitical variety” while the core mechanism for stabilizing ties w/ China involved “guardrail competition based on rules, crisis-brakes and selective disengagement.”
In the case of extending Russia, the overarching message was “Push harder—-they will break.” For China, the overarching message was “Push carefully—-we might break.” The mood in both cases could not have been more stark. RAND saw the U.S. in confident tactical coercive mode w/ Russia but in a cautious, system protective defensive mode w/ China. It’s no wonder warhawks augured to have the latter policy paper withdrawn: wimping out is no way to project force, of course. Unrestrained U.S. capability and open-ended escalation are the preferred chin-jutting postures.
One cannot ignore the debacle of the U.S.’s proxy war against Russia as instructive in the minds of the researchers who drafted the reasonable & sober-minded “Stabilizing the U.S.-China Relationship.” The debacle has slowly-and-then-suddenly exposed American limitations, which have in turn placed the U.S.’s realistic capacities on a collision course w/ chest-thumping ideology.
Sanctions did not work. Alliance pressure did not work. Weapons escalation did not work. The U.S. wound up without leverage and without options: “He holds all the aces,” DJT said of VVP. How long can ideology hold sway under such sinus-clearing realities-?
RAND could not bridge that divide, so a tempered policy paper like “Stabilizing the U.S.-China Relationship” offered an adjustment to the ideology, a check-up-from-the-neck-up. Domestically even it’s impossible to fig-leaf the total dominance/maximum pressure required of a global hegemon.
It is difficult to believe that a RAND policy paper like that could have appeared in an environment where the defeat of the U.S.’s proxy @ Russia’s hands did not happen. “Stabilizing the U.S.-China Relationship” is not a win-win kumbayah token but it is meek. The results of the U.S.-led war in Ukraine undoubtedly seeded the ground for such rhetorical churn.
China has noticed the debacle. The RoW has noticed the debacle. Did RAND notice the debacle-?
Moreover, I’d wager that Project Ukraine—-coupled with what U.S. ideologues never cared to comprehend about Russian realities—-has thrown RAND itself into a tailspin, leaving it unable to project strategies, stances and selling points that convince anyone beyond the Beltway of continued U.S. hegemony.
BTW: Michael J. Mazarr, Amanda Kerrigan and Benjamin Lenain, senior RAND researchers, authored “Stabilizing the U.S.-China Relationship.”
Posted by: steel_porcupine | Nov 27 2025 12:18 utc | 3
https://halfreeman.wordpress.com/2025/11/06/what-happened-to-diplomacy/
…Venezuela is now another example of the lack of diplomacy in the U.S. Trump, as I have stated, has started killing innocent fishermen near Venezuela and calling them “narcoterrorists,” whatever that means.
The accusations of Trump and Marco Rubio are ridiculous. Remember: The Empire of Lies!
You can’t take a motorboat from Venezuela to Florida.
I spent six months on a ship, the USNS Harkness, in the Caribbean when I was in the Marines. We left Norfolk and sailed first to Guantanamo Bay.
After that we sailed around several islands and some coastal cities. All my buddies and I got seasick the first time we hit what was a mild storm for that area.
There is no way a fishing boat can get to Florida from Venezuela.
Maduro offered a very nice “deal” to the Americans if they wanted oil. We refused.
We want war.
Whether it is Gaza, Ukraine, Venezuela or wherever, the U.S. wants WAR !!!!!
Posted by: WD | Nov 27 2025 12:24 utc | 4
As I asked in the last open thread, what to make of Guiné Bissau ‘s coup?
if we take the latest Tass piece the former president was lately leaning toward RF, and the opposition full Sahel RF.
More bizarre the coup was by the military in charge of protecting the former president (so pretorians by any other name)
Adding the narco-state layer… can’t make head or tails of who’s doing what and who wins. Hints welcome.
Tass, hence RF , keeps it neutral but verbose, west just a modicum of usual “pro democracy and institutions” but not beyond minimal lip service. Maybe nobody knows how this will play out. A final note, the coup is presented as preemptive to a prepared coup (also not enough details on authors and supporters)
https://tass.com/world/2049695
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 12:24 utc | 5
Since this Afghan man in Washigton DC worked for the CIA, it’s clearly an inside job; meant to help Trump distract from his recent bad economic propects.
Posted by: Friul | Nov 27 2025 12:38 utc | 6
Nato and the West had to kill him – he gave too much away to his people.
“Reasons why Gaddafi was killed: 1. Libya has no electricity bill, electricity came free of charge to all citizens.
2. There were no interest rates on loans, the banks were state-owned, the loan of citizens by law 0%.
3. Gaddafi promised not to buy a house for his parents until everyone in Libya owns a home.
4. All newlywed couples in Libya received 60,000 dinars from the government & because of that they bought their own apartments & started their families.
5. Education & medical treatment in Libya are free. Before Gaddafi there were only 25% readers, 83% during his reign
6. If Libyans wanted to live on a farm, they received free household appliances, seeds and livestock.
7. If they cannot receive treatment in Libya, the state would fund them $2300+ accommodation & travel for treatment abroad.
8. If you buy a car, the government finances 50% of the price.
9. The price of gasoline became $ 0.14 per litre.
10. Libya had no external debt, and reserves were $150 Billion (now frozen worldwide)
11. Since some Libyans can’t find jobs after school, the government will pay the average salary when they can’t find a job.
12. Part of oil sales in Libya are directly linked to the bank accounts of all citizens.
13. The mother who gave birth to the child will receive $5000 14. 40 loaves of bread cost $0.15.
15. 25% of Libyans had all Ilisna diplomas.
16. Gaddafi has implemented the world’s biggest irrigation project known as the “BIG MAN PROJECT” to ensure water availability in the desert.”
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 13:49 utc | 7
Jackanory stories, settle down and we’ll begin
Now we’re up to page nineteen and it looks like the Indians will win
But just like life there’s a good beginning but there is no middle
So you may as well skip to the end…
It was a bleak grey afternoon, the kind that hangs heavy over the Thames and seeps into your bones, especially after the mess the world had made of itself in ’08. Me and Stanley, we’d just finished our reenactment of the old river trade. A bit of a laugh really, tossing around tales of the days when men like us were kings of the river, hauling timber, coal, whatever the City demanded. We’re part of the Thames Watermen Society see. A ragtag bunch keeping alive the memories of the watermen, the barrow boys, the old river trade that once made London tick. We dress up in old gear, row our little boats, and act out the stories of the past, pretending we’re back in the days when the river was the main highway, and the watermen ruled the tides.
Today, we’re in Beckton, East London’s forgotten corner, where the docks and the industry still whisper of a bygone era. The place’s got a kind of rough poetry about it. Battered warehouses, cranes standing sentinel over the river, and the smell of salt, the gas works, the sewage works hanging thick in the air. It’s a place where the old Thames still breathes, even if it’s battered and scarred. We met up at first light as usual, at the edge of the Thames near Gallions Point, where the river’s slow and dark, flowing past the remnants of dockyards and cranes that once made this place a hub of trade and toil.
We’d been there since dawn, preparing our gear, checking our boats, and swapping stories about how the old river trade used to be. Men hauling up lighters, the barges, the clatter of chains, the shouting of river pilots. It’s a pastime that’s about more than just fun; it’s about remembering the grit and the sweat of men who carved this city out of the mud and water. We pushed off from Beckton’s muddy banks, paddling out into the Thames proper, feeling the strength of the tide beneath us as we reenacted the old routines, pretending we were part of history, part of the river’s living memory.
After hours of rowing and drifting with the current, dodging the Woolwich ferry and rowing out midstream to navigate span E of the Thames Barrier as if we were proper ships, we dropped a lunch hook just off Greenwich beach by the Blackwall Tunnel and opened a flask of Rosie Lee as we calibrated our GPS. 0.000000 degrees longitude. Success! Then we headed round the Isle of Dogs, towards the Pool of London, the old heart of the trade, and the place where ships used to unload their treasures. We tied up on the shore alongside the Thames path at Wapping. The streets buzzed with the weight of history and modern hustle, and as we made our way into the city’s busy streets, we were tired but satisfied. That’s when we saw him, staggering into a boozer near Tower Gateway.
He was a sight that one. James, from 1 Canada Square, looking like he’d been dragged through a hedge backwards. Pinstripe suit, braces, all the trappings of a City man, but underneath, he wore a cheap tracksuit, no doubt a sign of the times, eh? That attire was a costume, a mask for a man who’d lost his grip, and you could tell by the way he lurched, like a ship caught in a storm. His face was all red and shiny, eyes glassy as if he’d been drinking more than his fair share of cheap spirits, or maybe some opiates to dull the pain.
He spotted us, and his voice went up a notch, all jumbled and slurred. “Oi, you lot! Listen to me. I’ve been done in by my Quants, right? Them bloody alg0bots, they’ve let me down, left me high and dry! I’ve really done my bollox this time Stanley. I’m finished, I tell ya!”
Stanley, the old Thames waterman, looked at him with a mixture of pity and annoyance, rubbing his chin. “Calm yerself, mate. You’re better than this. Remember your roots, how your father started out in Borough Market, haggling over fish and fags, not losing your marbles in some bloody crash.”
But James was beyond reason now, ranting about how he’d been betrayed, how the City had chewed him up and spat him out, a fallen prince of the Square Mile. His words spilled out like a broken sluice, all jumbled, full of anger and despair. I could see the fear behind his eyes, the kind of fear that comes when the ground shifts beneath your feet and you don’t know which way is up.
We tried to steady him, Stanley holding his arm, whispering about simpler days, about the old Borough Market, about the times when men knew their trade, their place, and kept their heads. I told him, “Listen mate. Remember where you come from. In the beginning, your father was a barrow boy, a proper Londoner, born and bred. That’s your true port of call. Forget the City’s gold, it’s all smoke and mirrors.”
He looked at us like a lost lad, and for a moment, the madness seemed to ebb. The Thames, that old river’s got a way of humbling you. A reminder of the ebb and flow, of the tides you can’t control. We clapped him on the back, told him to take a breath, to remember the old London, the true London. Rough, resilient, and unbowed.
And as he shuffled out of the boozer, muttering about his future, I looked at Stanley, and we both knew, no matter how high the City rises, down here in the shadow of Tower Bridge, we’re still the river’s men. Still part of this city’s battered, beating heart.
Calling “THEM” out from a Brixton rooftop:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=f68LvCwAArY&pp=ygUVZHViIGZ4IGZpcmUgZXZlcnkgZGF5
Posted by: lachaussette | Nov 27 2025 13:59 utc | 8
Friul @6:
Since this Afghan man in Washigton DC worked for the CIA, it’s clearly an inside job; meant to help Trump distract from his recent bad economic propects.
That is logically inconsistent. The Mockingbird mass media remains vociferously and obviously opposed to Trump’s policies and efforts. If we are to assume that Trump has succeeded in bringing the CIA to heel, then we must also assume that the Might Wurlitzer, the CIA’s most potent tool, has broken down, but the perfect choral synchronicity of the mass media remains. Who is directing the chorus if it is no longer the CIA?
No, Trump has not yet succeeded in leashing the dogs at the CIA. They remain rabidly antagonistic to Trump, so anything attributable to the CIA must be seen as in opposition to Trump.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 27 2025 14:02 utc | 9
steel_porcupine @3:
Nice analysis and good start to the thread. It provides clarity to some of the contradictions that are plaguing the Empire.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 27 2025 14:06 utc | 10
Today, I woke up to the news that Australia has put IRGC on a state sponsor of terrorist list.
To me, it looks like Australia has got its head so far up the empire’s arse, its eyes turned brown. How does this look to the Australian friends of the bar?
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Nov 27 2025 14:18 utc | 11
Nato and the West had to kill him – he gave too much away to his people. “Reasons why Gaddafi was killed: 1. Libya has no electricity bill, electricity came free of charge to all citizens.2. There were no interest rates on loans, the banks were state-owned, the loan of citizens by law 0%.3. Gaddafi promised not to buy a house for his parents until everyone in Libya owns a home.4. All newlywed couples in Libya received 60,000 dinars from the government & because of that they bought their own apartments & started their families.5. Education & medical treatment in Libya are free. Before Gaddafi there were only 25% readers, 83% during his reign6. If Libyans wanted to live on a farm, they received free household appliances, seeds and livestock.7. If they cannot receive treatment in Libya, the state would fund them $2300+ accommodation & travel for treatment abroad.8. If you buy a car, the government finances 50% of the price.9. The price of gasoline became $ 0.14 per litre.10. Libya had no external debt, and reserves were $150 Billion (now frozen worldwide)11. Since some Libyans can’t find jobs after school, the government will pay the average salary when they can’t find a job.12. Part of oil sales in Libya are directly linked to the bank accounts of all citizens.13. The mother who gave birth to the child will receive $5000 14. 40 loaves of bread cost $0.15.15. 25% of Libyans had all Ilisna diplomas.16. Gaddafi has implemented the world’s biggest irrigation project known as the “BIG MAN PROJECT” to ensure water availability in the desert.”
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 13:49 utc | 7
Back in the 80’s , 90’s , Lybia was presented in economics degrees (development subject), as a case study of escaping “dutch disease”.
And you forget the central crime, wanting to replace CFA franc with an african, solid, gold backed currency. That was the final drop and signing of his death warrant. First impacted would be france, but later it would kill all fiat dollar linked currencies as reserve currency.
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:19 utc | 12
Newbie (12).
Yes that last point is a very pertinent one.
Note – the Manchester Arena Bomber Salman Abedi and his brother – were backed and funded by Mi6 – to fight against Gaddafi.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 14:28 utc | 13
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:19 utc | 12
Superb post, thank you
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 14:29 utc | 14
Coincidence? I think not.
Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman): “BREAKING: RAHMANULLAH LAKANWAL, THE AFGHAN WASHINGTON D.C. NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTER WORKED WITH THE CIA He was in the partner force in Kandahar, Afghanistan Every. Single. Time TOLD YOU IT WAS A FALSE FLAG” | nitter.poast.org
The there’s this
Aff (@zed_98765): “Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan who shot two National Guard troops near the White House yesterday, was a CIA-backed commando in Kandahar for ~10 years. He came in on Biden’s 2021 Afghan airlift, got asylum this year. Incoming CIA Director Ratcliffe confirmed the CIA link and said “he never should’ve been let in.” No evidence it’s a false flag; just a vetting failure with a guy we literally trained. Trump already vowing mass re-examination/deportations of Afghan evacuees.⭕️ CIA-trained Afghan shoots U.S. troops in D.C. Blowback, not conspiracy.⭕️” | nitter.poast.org
And its not the first time either.
SAIHYA (@Saihya_): “The last Afghan shooter, Omar Mateen also worked for CIA! Omar Mateen, wasn’t just a random name. He even shows up in the 2012 award-winning documentary “The Big Fix,” working as a G4S security guard during the BP oil spill, sounding skeptical about the entire operation.” | nitter.poast.org
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 14:34 utc | 15
Whether it is Gaza, Ukraine, Venezuela or wherever, the U.S. wants WAR !!!!!
Posted by: WD | Nov 27 2025 12:24 utc | 4
Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. Hopefully without billowing mushrooms.
Posted by: MorePain4Cakes | Nov 27 2025 14:37 utc | 16
Newly appointed president of Bissau , Horta N’ta, also from former president’s staff (after being fired by government) , Soviet trained.
So either former president particularly bad at judging character or might be an extension of a losing president.
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:40 utc | 17
Superb post, thank you
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 14:29 utc | 14
thank you, as an added bonus let’s remember that Gaddafi thought he had paid enough politicians (off record and damning to said politicians ) for a coup and trial to be impossible . He was half right, coup and trial would be devastating, but coup and bayonet is just as effective and there seems to be a connection between lower and higher areas, stick a bayonet on the nether regions and talking regions talk no more (I think there is a lesson there for those that think they’re safe based on dirt they hold)
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:47 utc | 18
Superb post, thank you
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 14:29 utc | 14
thank you, as an added bonus let’s remember that Gaddafi thought he had paid enough politicians (off record and damning to said politicians ) for a coup and trial to be impossible .
He was half right, coup and trial would be devastating, but coup and bayonet is just as effective and there seems to be a connection between lower and higher areas, stick a bayonet on the nether regions and talking regions talk no more (I think there is a lesson there for those that think they’re safe based on dirt they hold)
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:47 utc | 19
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 13:49 utc | 7
[…]
Yeah well these ideological things are not really all that important as long as they happen outside the Garden, though they certainly made Gaddafi the target of continuous negative Western propaganda.
Gaddafi was promoted from negative propaganda to regime change because of two things which are a reflection of the pettyness of Western political leaders:
(1) Gaddafi gave a hero reception to the man that was convicted for bringing down a Pan American airplane over Scotland, the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. He deeply offended the egoes of the English and Americans political leaders with that demonstration.
(2) The other factor was his giving money to Sarkozy to win the 2007 French presidential election. This brought France onboard with the regime change project of the English/Americans, with the addition that Sarkozy wanted Gaddafi not just deposed, but killed, to better hide his crime of taking Lybian money, for which he is now doing time in a French prison, btw.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 27 2025 14:49 utc | 20
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 27 2025 14:49 utc | 19
Good post-but Sarkozy only served three weeks in prison-now he is out while his lawyers appeal the decision.
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 14:56 utc | 21
Johan Kaspar (19)
Its interesting to note – that you think it was a Libyan who brought down the Pan-Am flight – as for your second point yes I’ve read that story as well, if its true that is, I think Sarkozy went on to stab him in the back – I think it was Sarkozy, that aggressively pushed the EU to sanction Gaddafi – and he constantly parroted the – Gaddafi murdered his people constantly – every time a camera was pushed into his face.
The French and the Brits – along with the USA, took the lead rolls of 19 nations hellbent on attacking Libya and killing Gaddafi. The murderers of Gaddafi – flew a whopping 26,500 sorties over Libya – and on the first day of the illegal attack on Libya – the warhawks fired 110 Tomahawk missiles into Libya
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 15:07 utc | 22
Both US puppets – the latter a Mossad informant.
Monitor𝕏 (@MonitorX99800): “🇦🇷🇺🇳⚡- Argentine President Milei officially nominates the head of the United Nations Nuclear agency, Rafael Grossi, for the position of next Secretary-General of the United Nations.” | nitter.poast.org
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 15:15 utc | 23
“so anything attributable to the CIA must be seen as in opposition to Trump”
William Gruff
I’m not convinced this is the case. Trump has told CIA to begin the killing in Venezuela. A terrorism and sabotage campaign has already begun, courtesy of Trump’s enemy, the CIA. If they oppose Trump, why kill and destroy for him? They are not “in opposition” to him, they are helping carry out his policy vis a vis Venezuela
What about Mossad? Are they in opposition to Trump? The last I heard CIA and Mossad are fellow travellers, best buddies an’ all
Are Mossad part of “the Deep state” that Trump fights?
If GeorgeBush hadn’t occupied Afghanistan and Obama and Trump and the senile Biden had not continued this policy, this attack would not have happened. Both parties are culpable for this attack
Posted by: will moon | Nov 27 2025 15:20 utc | 24
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:19 utc | 12
You’ve got that one right.
Libya had the highest living standard (per capita) in the continent of Africa.
Then H. Clinton and Obama “neo-conned” them…
Posted by: Ledovik1 | Nov 27 2025 15:29 utc | 25
Republicofscotland@21…….you forgot Canada, they were one of the lead countries attacking Libya. Their army has learned to sneak in under the US umbrella to slaughter anyone who stands in the Imperial Way ……..it’s said, in Canada, where Old Lester is buried, steam rises off his grave he spins so fast….
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 27 2025 15:36 utc | 26
And you forget the central crime, wanting to replace CFA franc with an african, solid, gold backed currency. That was the final drop and signing of his death warrant. First impacted would be france, but later it would kill all fiat dollar linked currencies as reserve currency.
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:19 utc | 12
If there’s any such thing as a silver bullet to promote true democracy, i.e. power of the people and respect for individual rights, it’s this. Gold.
All wars are bankers’ wars. Get rid of fiat, get rid of Goliath, empire, standing armies, programs for weapons of mass destruction. If you can’t enforce a fiat regime, the people won’t finance these things.
Also, can’t finance socialism the way most of you would like.
Fiat for “good purposes” is truly the temptation preventing us from throwing this ring of power into Mount Doom.
This is also how we’ll know whether China or Russia are serious about defeating the empire, or merely replacing it. If they move to a gold standard, it would defeat the empire, practically immediately. Why are they trying to salvage this “baby” with the bath water? Because they’re also would-be tyrants. Hope I’m wrong though.
Posted by: HB Brian | Nov 27 2025 15:50 utc | 27
sean the leprechaun (25).
Thank you for that, I assumed that they were a smaller player – but you’ve put me straight.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 15:51 utc | 28
@ steel_porcupine | Nov 27 2025 12:18 utc | 3
you think rand is capable of looking at reality differently?
“The U.S. Army Air Forces established Project RAND with the objective of investigating long-range planning of future weapons.” that is like suggesting the usa focus on war thru the constant channeling of money to the military industrial complex is going to somehow have a 2nd thought on this habitual process.. i can’t see it myself..
“Rand was the first think tank to be regularly referred to as a “think tank”.[1]
RAND receives both public and private funding. Its funding sources include the U.S. government, private endowments,[11] corporations,[12] universities,[12] charitable foundations, U.S. state and local governments, international organizations, and to a small extent, foreign governments.[12][13] In the 2024 fiscal year, the think tank’s revenues and other support were $514 million,[4] of which $328 million was provided by the U.S. federal government.[12] “
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2025 15:52 utc | 29
@ William Gruff | Nov 27 2025 14:02 utc | 9
This comment of yours is very precise. I too have been astonished by the degree of unity in the US so-called “mainstream” media (MSM) on foreign affairs for many years, and more recently their unanimity against Trump. Allegedly, it is a free press, so the collusion is voluntary, but that isn’t very likely. It looks more centrally directed, like the presses of notorious dictatorships. And that direction, if it comes from any particular place, most likely comes from the CIA. Of course, the MSM journalists will mostly know their roles and what they can and cannot say, so self-censorship is no doubt a main theme. But I am sure there is also more than that that goes on behind the scenes, as the lives of the major journalists are not usually the subject of much scrutiny, and they have their contacts, who can certainly influence them. One can just look at the editorials of Trudy Rubin on Ukraine in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and she isn’t really even a well-known journalist.
A somewhat similar situation existed in Egypt 2012-2013 when Muhammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood was briefly president. This was portrayed as the awful Brotherhood, heaven forbid, having taken over the state, but they never even got close to that, as evidenced by the unanimity of the mainstream media of Egypt against Mursi and the subsequent ridiculous portrayal of the al-Sisi coup as a popular continuation of the Egyptian revolution. What a pack of lies! And the filthy vituperation against Mursi — not that he or the bumbling Muslim Brotherhood actually had any program or knew what they were doing — was over-the-top demonization, very reminiscent of the ridiculousness of the Russiagate accusations against Trump. The fact that Egypt’s press, which is definitely not under the control of the US or the CIA, but rather of the Egyptian military elite, can so closely mirror what has been going on in the US MSM shows that this is a universal structural problem connected with the whole problem of governance.
Posted by: Cabe | Nov 27 2025 15:52 utc | 30
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 15:07 utc | 21
[…]
I didn’t say the Lybian man brought down the Pan American airplane, I said he was convicted for that crime.
In the same vein as the reasons I gave you for the English/American/French attack on Gadaffi, let me tell you too that a big factor in the deeply emotional hatred of Putin by Americans is the fact that Putin offered sanctuary to Snowden. It is a very big factor. Putin very badly hurt the egos of American politicians and innerdeepstaters with that decision, and Putin totally knew what he was doing.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 27 2025 16:02 utc | 31
Johan Kaspar (29)
Fair enough on the Libyan thing, as for Putin – he’s no angel either – he was quite forceful when he asked for Russia to become a member of Nato – only to be told no, I also recall Putin and Blair – lavishly dining at the opera in St Petersburg, whilst Chechnya burned – Blair was in Russia – to protect the interest of BP among other reasons.
As for Snowden in Russia, yes I’m sure it must’ve went down like a lead balloon in Washington – but that kind of, I shalln’t call it defecting – its a two way street, and I’m sure the Russian oligarchs that robbed the dying Soviet Union and then fled to Britain and the USA, among other nations – not to mention agent defections, also hurt for the new Russia – its part and parcel of the game of oneupmanship, that nation play out among themselves.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 16:35 utc | 32
” I said he was convicted for that crime.”
Johan Kaspar (29).
It was a very unsafe conviction, and Mr Abdelbaset al-Megrahi’s final appeal would’ve have seen the charges against him quashed – that’s why the colonial admin in Scotland (mere micro cogs in a larger wheel) allowed him to go home on compassionate grounds, ie he was dying of cancer, however he lived quite awhile after his release.
It was rather surreal – to see a sea of Scottish Saltire flags near the runway, at Tripoli airport when al-Megrahi’s plane landed – interestingly, al-Megrahi was fitted with a bulletproof vest before he left Scotland for Libya.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 16:43 utc | 33
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:47 utc | 18
And the big cunt, Hillary, attempting to emulate Caesar intoned, “We came, we saw, he died”
The insidious monster.
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 16:51 utc | 34
Newbie (5).
Yes its not clear yet whether it was an internal coup – or a external backed coup, Trump spoke of turning Venezuelan generals to kill Maduro – and Pakistan has a clear history of overthrowing its leaders via the military – is this what happened – did an outside force turn high ranking military staff, or was it – a domestic coup a power grab – by an internal military man, without outside interference.
If it was the USA, which has strong history of interfering, it NED no longer posts which countries its lurking in – the NED funds unrest and regime changes, of course Perfidious Albion – has its own version of the US Terrorist states, NED – which you can read about in the link below – but who knows it could another nation at work.
Britain’s Secret Overseas Meddling Machine
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 16:54 utc | 35
Of course the US Terrorist state – doesn’t like it one little bit that SA, has brought a genocide case against Israel to the ICC.
“Several politicians and groups have come out in defense of South Africa’s participation in next year’s G20 Summit after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Washington would block Pretoria from attending.
Tensions between Pretoria and Washington reached a high this week after Trump’s announcement, including the immediate suspension of all US financial support to Pretoria.
The FW de Klerk Foundation issued a definitive statement on Thursday, asserting that South Africa is an equal, sovereign member of the G20 and that the nation “will not be bullied out of global forums by misinformation”.
The Foundation’s statement, issued by Ismail Joosub, directly confronted President Trump’s justification for the punitive action, which was based on allegations that the South African government ignores “horrific human rights abuses endured by Afrikaners and other descendants”.”
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 17:00 utc | 36
I was against allowing Afghan traitors who collaborated with the American occupiers to migrate to the US after the withdrawal of US troops. I do not think I misjudged these Afghans who were exploited by the US security state.
Posted by: Keme | Nov 27 2025 17:00 utc | 37
Posted by: will moon | Nov 27 2025 15:20 utc | 23
#####
Please stop asking good questions. You are making the MAGAs uncomfortable. 😂😂😂
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 17:12 utc | 38
And you forget the central crime, wanting to replace CFA franc with an african, solid, gold backed currency. That was the final drop and signing of his death warrant. First impacted would be france, but later it would kill all fiat dollar linked currencies as reserve currency.
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 27 2025 14:19 utc | 12
You forgot that he was paying other African leaders more money to not allow the US to build military bases in their countries than the US was offering to build them.
Posted by: drinky crow | Nov 27 2025 17:21 utc | 39
will moon @23:
The CIA doesn’t need any orders to kill. It’s what they do anyway. Telling a psycho killer to go out and kill, then it goes out and kills makes it look like one is in control. It is useful to Trump that some audiences think he has the CIA under control, even when it is obvious that he doesn’t (see the behavior of the mass media again as proof).
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 27 2025 17:40 utc | 41
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 14:34 utc | 15
It’s a false flag! it’s a false flag! combat troops vel sim never snap. it’s not just another outbreak of the routine ordinary that’s everywhere in the US.
Posted by: duck n cover | Nov 27 2025 17:42 utc | 42
Dear Barflies
I’ve started posting weekly updates on the Venezuela situation here.
Lots of maps! Aa the Busker writes, may be useful to some.
Happy thanksgiving!
Posted by: Alex Cox | Nov 27 2025 17:46 utc | 43
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 27 2025 17:40 utc | 39
#####
If Trump does not have the CIA under control, what else might he not have under control?
And if he doesn’t control a lot, then can he implement any sort of meaningful changes?
The paradox of MAGA. Trump is all powerful and yet the Deep State undermines him.
MAGA is making America Great Again, until someone talks about Israel, in which case, people fall silent.
Contradictions destroy everything over time.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 27 2025 17:48 utc | 44
“seeking the bubble reputation in the mouth of cannon fire”-Jacques, As You Like It.
somebody i believe here posted way back that 95% of combat casualties in the Ukraine theater are from artillery fire that the individual soldier on the ground in combat basically has zero chance to respond to. such heroism, taking a missile from someone stationed in Nevada or Rammstein AFB.
as anyone can see from the comments, the real heroes are military contractors. actual battlefield bravery is for “illegals,” “narco-fishermen,” starving peasants (Gaza, Yemen, Sudan, etc., etc., etc.), college kids protesting Nazi Israel, and the like.
Be a Real American Hero! Join ICE and send “illegal” Ukrainians back to the front where they belong! or recruit peasants in the Philippines for the same job. Be a hero. or better yet, join the IDF! listen to the Knesset praise you for raping starved tortured prisoners.
Posted by: duck n cover | Nov 27 2025 17:51 utc | 45
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 14:56 utc | 20
[…]
Yes, thanks for correcting that.
Posted by: Johan Kaspar | Nov 27 2025 17:54 utc | 46
Thank you, b — Happy Thanksgiving to all celebrating today!
Here is a wonderful rainy day video from Alex Christoforou — in beautiful Bulgaria!! He ends up … well, I won’t spoil it … enjoy!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4FBRMqTAUs
Posted by: juliania | Nov 27 2025 17:54 utc | 47
Keme (35).
Perfidious Albion, snuck 27,000 Afghan traitors into Britain at a cost to the taxpayer of £800 million plus – not only that some of the Afghan traitors, brought 14 family members with them – no one would’ve known about this – it was a leaked e-mail that exposed it.
As Chomsky said – or words to that effect, whatever you think your government is up to, be assured – they are up to far worse than you think.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 18:13 utc | 48
Cabe @28:
Of course, the MSM journalists will mostly know their roles and what they can and cannot say, so self-censorship is no doubt a main theme. But I am sure there is also more than that that goes on behind the scenes, as the lives of the major journalists are not usually the subject of much scrutiny, and they have their contacts, who can certainly influence them.
Perhaps you’ve run across the leaked list of names from the Epstein Files in your wanderings of the Internet. A very large number of “journalists” and mass media personalities are in that list.
Of course, that is just one tool for controlling the Mockingbird mass media. Ever wonder why all the major universities in the US (and likely elsewhere as well) have CIA operators on campus? Are they really scouting so much talent for their cubicle-dwellers in Langley? Not at all. They do a different kind of “recruiting”. An adjusted grade here, a covered-up indiscretion there, and an introduction to the right person to get the student’s foot in the door to a prestigious media spigot over there. Build up obligations and favors that need repayment and you have the new budding rising star in the industry under your control. The target likely won’t even know it is a CIA operator he has befriended and depends upon in the new career he is in over his head with.
Naturally, the horse-head-in-the-bed approach works too, as does the clandestine photos of a loved one going about their daily routine handed over with a veiled (or not so veiled, as the situation demands) threat. The CIA knows all the ways to install a control lever on their targets.
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 27 2025 18:14 utc | 49
Ukraine: The Tragedy of Unread History
A wise man once warned that humanity is cursed to repeat every lesson it stubbornly refuses to learn. If anyone ever doubted this eternal truth, they need only look at the burnt-out carcass called Ukraine—better known today as Country 404, an error message masquerading as a nation-state.
The late, great Dr. John Henrik Clarke reminded us that history is a compass. Today, we watch as the corrupt leadership class in Ukraine reap the consequences of their failure to bone up on their history.
Volodymyr Zelensky and his circus of corrupt courtiers (even Western media has grudgingly acknowledged it) are guilty, not of mere miscalculation, but of something far more profound and unforgivable: a proud, arrogant, and mind-numbing refusal to learn from the past. And for that crime, their country has paid in utter devastation and lost generations.
Since we cannot lament the destruction of a corrupt neoNazi Banderite regime, we can only marvel at the breathtaking folly that passes for geopolitical intelligence in Kiev.
Once one of the most developed regions of the USSR, Ukraine was sacrificed on the altar of Western delusion by a leadership that mistook applause in Washington for security and Vogue photo shoots for Mr and Mrs Zelensky for statecraft.
Mr. Zelensky—comedian, showman, now tragic icon of national ruin—should have spent less time practicing dramatic wartime poses and more time opening a history book. The answers to Ukraine’s survival were never hidden in Brussels or Washington. They could be found only in the dust-covered pages of Eastern European history.
The late erudite Ali Mazrui once remarked that geography is the mother of history. Mazrui wasn’t being poetic. He was announcing a geopolitical law—one you break only if you have a death wish.
Ukraine’s rulers broke it gleefully.
Squeezed between the Western European peninsula and the vast, continental power of Russia, Ukraine’s geography demands neutrality—not theatrical bravado. It demands shrewd diplomacy—not suicidal adventurism. It requires humility—not delusional fantasies of becoming NATO’s forward base at Russia’s doorstep. Anyone with an IQ above that of an Amoeba would have known that the Russians would never accept such an existential threat at their border, as they repeatedly warn ad nauseam.
Zelensky and his Kievian gang behaved like drunken gamblers at a casino table, convinced that they could defy the basic logic of the map. We would never know what diplomatic cocaine convinced these people that a country sharing thousands of kilometers of border with Russia could be weaponized as a battering ram against that same Russia?
Read the full article here: https://femiakogun.substack.com/p/ukraine-the-tragedy-of-unread-history
©️ Femi Akomolafe (1st Dan)
Blog: https://femiakogun.substack.com
My Mission: Ignorantia et stultitia delendae sunt / Ignorance and stupidity must be destroyed.
I thank you for reading my articles and watching my podcasts. I will continue to make them free, and I will not accept advertisements. But you can show your appreciation by pledging a future subscription. You won’t be charged unless you enable payments.
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juliania (45).
Thanks Squanto – now we’ll genocide much of the entire North American indigenous peoples, if only they had known – what was to come.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 18:19 utc | 51
LoveTDS @42: “And if [Trump] doesn’t control a lot, then can he implement any sort of meaningful changes?”
He’s got you dembot TDS victims’ brains all scrambled. That’s a fairly meaningful change… or were you people always this brain-fried?
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 27 2025 18:20 utc | 52
Republicofscotland@27……..it’s a long list but personally I believe the real reason behind the murder of Gaddafi and Hussein was their unabated continued support for the oppressed of Palestine and their noble cause. You would not see the free hand wielded by squatters from the US Russia and all points in between today if they where still active. Why did Russia not help Gaddafi…….squatters, he’s gone, why did Russia not help Hussein……squatters, he’s gone, Assad, phew he got really lucky who knows what torture treats the Squatters and their terror proxies had in store for him…….there are so many others….the main reason all the leaders of the “five in seven” are gone or dead, they stood in the way of the Bomb A Palestinian Day Care Fund…….
Cheers M
…… that might have been ‘seven in five’ …….quite a few either way, and I don’t think Rummy had the Ukraine and Venezuela in mind……. madness!
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Nov 27 2025 18:21 utc | 53
@ William Gruff | Nov 27 2025 18:14 utc | 48
i enjoy your ongoing commentary on the cia and how it works william.. thanks… it brings to mind the many comments from pat lang on this topic and how the cia has to be dismantled, or removed from having so much influence and control in gov’t affairs… how do you foresee this organization, created in 1947, ceasing to exist, or existing with some real oversight by another body or organization??
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2025 18:22 utc | 54
I did my own long walk yesterday, down to our local little store which caters to the community and any campers that might be here along the river (the Big River) nearby. I figured they would have cans of evaporated milk and they did, a long walk down but though it was cold the sun was shining and there was no wind. So then a long, long winding walk back uphill, and I had to make it in easy stages as the hill gets steeper, but so much better than such an attempt in the heat. It was early in the day; I didn’t encounter anyone, just a few cars passing to wave at. A good stiff thanksgiving walk.
So I got home finally and was just preparing to change into warmer slippers when there was a knock at the door — oh dear! A very small boy, togged up against the cold , had a request. He had been shooting a basketball up into a neighbor’s out front hoop, and his ball, very precious to him, had overshot the hoop over several roofs and onto mine! It sounded doubtful to me — he was very small and that was a long, long way for his ball to have travelled. Was he sure? Yes, he was.
Well, I won’t say my legs weren’t wobbly because they were, and I apologized to him for that, but I said his timing was excellent as I still had on my outdoor shoes. So up my stationary ladder I went, looked one way across, no, not there. But then southward, aha! there it was! It was out of reach from my ladder, even though I’d brought up my super duper grabber wand — it was nestled snugly,( even smugly! ) — appropriately into my neighbor’s higher gutterspace (we have adjoining homes) ; a really nice smaller wilson type it was, pale beige.
So, nothing for it but me to get up over the parapet (oy, carramba!) onto my flat roof. Some pools of ice to negotiate but I did it! Grabbed, and threw down Wilson to his owner. Mission accomplished. Off he went happily, and down I came … cautiously!
I’m no Alex Christoforou, but that’s my Thanksgiving adventure! Have a happy and safe one, everyone!
Posted by: juliania | Nov 27 2025 18:24 utc | 55
William Gruff
I take your point – but they act in concert on Venezuela and I remember a Trump admin message from a week or two back rather gleefully announcing the were siccing the CIA on Maduro, command/government elements and critical infrastructure. Such activities will necessarily cause collateral damage.
Do you think the CIA is involved in blowing up the boats? Extrajudicial murder is right up their alley after all. Or is this solely a White House initiative? Maybe a bit of both?
I’m open to your view that Trump faces opposition but surely examples of him working with the CIA, at least complicate the picture you suggested at the end of your original post?
Posted by: will moon | Nov 27 2025 18:28 utc | 56
@ juliania | Nov 27 2025 18:24 utc | 54
great story! what a sweetheart and thoughtful person you are juliania!! i knew this anyway, but in the spirit of thanksgiving you are a clear example of the term and meaning!
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2025 18:31 utc | 57
“All wars are bankers wars”
@HB Brian | Nov 27 2025 15:50 utc | 26
Thus say the anglosaxons for whom the bankers work
The British didnt select the jews because they had a mind of their own but because they, knowing how weak they are were very adaptable to the needs of the angloimperialists. And still are.
And the secret societies were there to handle any differences behind the scenes so the real power would never be scrutinised by the imperial grassroots.
They comfortably absorb the propaganda and, be aware, that the British elites took that task very seriously.
Making sure people dont know who really calls the shots.
Threats are not published for all to know.
I dont think any other culture is as advanced as Britain, when looking back.
Bankers being free to invest among the rivals of the angloempire would not have needed to be involved in supporting wars. The reason they did was due to their subservience.
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Nov 27 2025 18:32 utc | 58
@ petergrfstrm | Nov 27 2025 18:32 utc | 57
would you like to explain in some detail who the bankers are serving?? thanks in advance..
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2025 18:34 utc | 59
@james | Nov 27 2025 18:34 utc | 57
The empire. The only party who needs wars.
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Nov 27 2025 18:36 utc | 60
sean the leprechaun (51).
Yes I agree, though not just Putin – other nations (not Nato) leaders of the day should’ve done more to thwart what was basically an illegal invasion of Libya -the same can be said of (as you mentioned) Iraq which was also illegal – and even today we have an illegal invasion of Venezuela on the cards not to mention a genocide supported by some Western nations.
Putin is no saviour of the world – he’s just looking out for Russian interests, as are other nations leaders – though the rich folks interests always come first.
As for Assad, I did read that Assad was seduced by lies from the Gulf States and that Putin did warn him about it – but Assad paid little heed, and that’s why Russia put up a minimal defence in Syria prior to the takeover, whether its true or not I don’t know – I do know that Putin is desperate to keep his military bases in Syria, and Russia has spoken with the new regime of headchoppers (HTS) that are proscribed, but are now wearing suits, mind you many other nations including the UN have met with them in a congenial fashion.
Back in the day – the Western propaganda news machine Reuter did report this with Gaddafi and Putin in mind.
Putin: Libya coalition has no right to kill Gaddafi | Reuters
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 18:37 utc | 61
and who and what is ”the empire”? sorry for appearing to be a knob, but i am curious for more details.. thanks..
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2025 18:37 utc | 62
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 17:00 utc | 34
Yes, of course the US always has the Zionist back.
But to be fair, there has been a terror campaign against Boer farmers in SA and the SA government is doing fuck all about it.
One could maintain , say that those Boers deserve this reprisal as their forefathers severely repressed the Indigenous blacks -but if one says that, that one is an uncivilized, uncouth misfit.
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 18:42 utc | 63
My thanksgiving story starts out a bit like juliania’s, with a knock on the door – oh dear! – and even the bell rung. Twice. Turns out it was my neighbour, who wanted to bring me a slice of pizza. Just that.
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 18:53 utc | 64
the DC shooter was just engaging in workplace violence due to temporary insanity from fear of workplace automation.
no Kremlin or Tel Aviv plots, no MKUltra Deep State required. as Kent Brockman said, “Some people call it ‘The Army’. Others call it: A KillBot Factory.” just more routine ordinary everyday American Berserk.
Posted by: duck n cover | Nov 27 2025 18:58 utc | 65
@ petergrfstrm | Nov 27 2025 18:32 utc | 57
“would you like to explain in some detail who the bankers are serving?? thanks in advance..
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2025 18:34 utc | 57
I wouldn’t want to put words in Peter’s mouth but to answer your query , IMO, ” The bankers you see are serving their bigger banker bosses whom we don’t see or even know their names.
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 18:58 utc | 66
canuk (61).
I’m certainly not denying, that black South Africans and white South Africans murder each other – to what extent today – I don’t know, but this isn’t about that – well not to Trump anyway, who just took over the Presidency of the G20 by receiving the G20 Gavel – its a symbolic gesture to say the presidency has changed hands – and Trump immediately attacked SA”s human rights.
Now we know that the USA, is in bed with numerous dictatorships and despotic leaders, in which their countries human rights records are appalling to say the least, so why the outburst against SA – I think we all know why.
As for SA – which itself had and may still have a troubled past with racial murders in mind – should SA not be commended – for deciding to take a genocide case to the (ICC) against Israel – whilst other nations (mainly Western) back the genocide.
As Malcolm X once said – I f you are not careful, the media will have you hating the people who are being oppressed – and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Nov 27 2025 19:00 utc | 67
Do you think the CIA is involved in blowing up the boats? Extrajudicial murder is right up their alley after all. Or is this solely a White House initiative? Maybe a bit of both?
The boats were shot up from Reaper drones, which implies military chain of command. This, in turn, implies White House approval. They might be acting on CIA information to begin with. I don’t imagine that CIA can simply appropriate parts of the military and command them to do things. That said, I believe the Pentagon owes legal duty to protect CIA operations when necessary; this may have showed when Trump couldn’t get them out of Syria, and it may be one of the reasons for the massing of fleet assets in the Carribean now. The whole thing looks very much like an integrated hybrid war plan to me, and Trump is in on it.
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 19:07 utc | 68
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Nov 27 2025 14:18 utc
We’ve never had an independent sovereing foreign policy, so it looks very familiar. There’s not much left to say, but Clinton Fernandes’ book Sub-Imperial Power says it. In short, the US lets us play petty regional enforcer in exchange for total submission. In mafia terms we’re a local caporegime.
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 27 2025 19:08 utc | 69
I can imagine a translator snapping because he’s being replaced by Google. After what the US did.
I haven’t been following this story, partly because I was in DC when The Real DC Sniper (TM) was terrorizing the US metro capital area, as part of the family business: Uncle Sam, Uncle Sam’s sniper, and the sniper’s son. It’s a family affair. “He’s driving a non-descript white work van, shooting people at bus stops.” Fun times being a commuter. After 9/11, after the anthrax, after the shootings, after the Madrid bombings, boy were we glad the Patriot Act was on hand.
Posted by: duck n cover | Nov 27 2025 19:22 utc | 70
“LoveTDS @42: “And if [Trump] doesn’t control a lot, then can he implement any sort of meaningful changes?”
“He’s got you dembot TDS victims’ brains all scrambled. That’s a fairly meaningful change… or were you people always this brain-fried?”
Posted by: William Gruff | Nov 27 2025 18:20 utc | 52
I believe that Dumbass and his cohort were always ‘brain-fried’-however, they still maintained a shallow veneer of sanity but when contracting Trump Derangement Syndrome it sent them off to the proverbial deep end.
A good analogy would be covid: patients that had chronic morbidities (obesity, diabetes etc) such that when contracting covid (TDS) it was the mental straw that broke the camel’s sanity.
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 19:25 utc | 71
My Xmas wish list this year: for Santa to get flight training at a US flight school. Then he’ll know how to escape NORAD, like the 9/11 hijackers.
Growing up, every year, as a little kid, being told by the Universal Weatherman on every Christmas Eve, “Here’s NORAD providing us with its Santa Tracker!” damn, that’s money well-spent.
Posted by: duck n cover | Nov 27 2025 19:25 utc | 72
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Nov 27 2025 14:18 utc
Worth taking stock of November 11 too: 50 years since the coup that evicted Gough Whitlam, the only PM to assert a sovereign FP for Australia.
PS on imperialism: it always makes me smile that even those from the US who can critique their role in world can turn around, and in the same breath, assume that the RoW celebrates Thanksgiving. No one in Australia knows the context (and why would they?). In fact the whole affair sounds perverse translated into the Australian context: imagine those poor bastards sentenced for the terms of their natural lives in the world’s largest concentration camp imagining they anything to give thanks for… How do you know you are an imperial power? Your holidays are celebrated in the provinces. Now quick! Snap up those Black Friday bargains!
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 27 2025 19:26 utc | 73
Posted by: Alex Cox | Nov 27 2025 17:46 utc
Thanks for posting this Alex. Regards.
Posted by: spudski | Nov 27 2025 19:38 utc | 74
France is experiencing a rapid increase in the islamization of society (EADaily, November 25, 2025 — in Russian)
The majority of Muslims in France value Sharia law above national law, according to a survey conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP), which covers data from 1989 to the present.
The IFOP study, “Survey of Attitudes Toward Islam and Islamism Among Muslims in France,” was conducted for the magazine Écran de Veille. The survey was conducted by telephone from August 8 to September 2. It included 1,005 self-identified Muslims from a larger nationally representative sample of 14,244.
“The data not only fail to support the narrative of secularization among French Muslims, but, on the contrary, indicate a strengthening of religious practices, a hardening of positions on gender-mixing, and a growing sympathy for radical currents of political Islam… These data provide cause for concern for those who fear that the Muslim population is turning into a ‘counter-society,’ that is, seeking to organize its daily life according to religious norms that differ from or even contradict those of the majority society,” stated François Kraus, Director of Political Research at IFOP.
According to the published study, French Muslims aged 15 to 24, unlike older adults, clearly gravitate toward the strictest forms of religion. Moreover, 87% consider themselves “religious,” 59% believe that Sharia law should be applied in non-Muslim countries, 57% believe that the laws of the Republic should give way to Islamic norms, and 42% say they sympathize with Islamism.
Furthermore, over the past 36 years, mosque attendance among those under 25 has increased from 7% to 40%. In this age group, the number of those strictly observing Ramadan has risen sharply from 51% to 83%. Regarding the wearing of the Muslim headscarf, among girls of this generation, the figure has increased from 16% to 45%, which is three times higher than in 2003, when this issue was the subject of heated debate in the country.
Another indicator observed in recent years during numerous social events is the rejection of gender confusion. 45% of men under 35 and 57% of women of the same age refuse at least one form of contact, such as shaking hands, receiving medical assistance from someone of the opposite sex, or using a shared swimming pool. Almost one in two young people would refuse to greet someone of the opposite sex with a kiss on the cheek, as is customary in France.
This trend also extends to adherence to French laws: 57% of respondents aged 15–24 believe that French laws are inferior in importance to Islamic norms, and French law is “less important” than Sharia law. Meanwhile, across all ages, only 49% of Muslims would prefer to respect French laws (compared to 62% in 1995). Also, 65% of Muslims believe that religion is superior to science in the matter of creation (an average of 19% among all French people), and among young people, this figure rises to 82%.
The study notes the spread of radicalism among young people: 42% sympathize with Islamism, and 33% of all Muslims in the country view radicals favorably (in 1998, this figure was 19% across all age groups). The study identified six movements, but the Muslim Brotherhood enjoys the greatest support. A quarter of Muslims overall and a third of respondents under 25 expressed support for it.
Furthermore, the report notes that “all indicators point to an intensification of these trends in the coming years.” Only 12% of Muslims aged 15 to 24 in 2025 want a “modernization of Islam” (in 1998, this figure was 41%). Thus, the share of those in favor of reform has decreased almost fourfold.
…
Posted by: S | Nov 27 2025 19:47 utc | 75
Posted by: S | Nov 27 2025 19:47 utc | 75
Bullshit. IFOP has absolutely no credibility.
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 27 2025 20:08 utc | 76
THE NVIDIA FAIRY TALE IS OVER
0:00 Introduction
0:48 The Leaked Memo and Nvidia’s Strange 8-K Defense
3:52 Google Drops the TPU Bomb
5:58 GPUs Are Becoming the New 2008 CDOs
8:40 The Slow, Painful Unwind — Why Nvidia Won’t Crash Tomorrow
11:17 Conclusion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGr2U_PyaqE
Posted by: unimperator | Nov 27 2025 20:09 utc | 77
@ canuk | Nov 27 2025 18:58 utc | 66
thanks canuk… i would like to see this hidden empire exposed at some point… i suppose the folks serving them don’t like revealing them, but it would be good to get something concrete to use as a basis for dismantling the hidden agenda of bankers…
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2025 20:11 utc | 78
China is – after gold and silver – now taking control of the physical platinum market.
Platinum prices rise as China launches new futures contracts
BEIJING, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Spot platinum prices rose on Thursday as the start of the futures trading on the China’s Guangzhou bourse provided support to the overall liquidity for the metal.
The contracts are the first domestic price-hedging mechanism for platinum and palladium in the world’s second-largest economy, where the metals are used by auto makers and other industries, including jewellery and investment products.
Guangzhou’s platinum futures for June delivery jumped by 6% on their first day of trading, while palladium gained 1.5%.
Spot platinum prices in London were up 1.0% at $1,604 per troy ounce by 1226 GMT after hitting $1,641, their one-month high. Spot palladium was steady at $1,423.
China is the world’s largest consumer of platinum group metals, relying heavily on imports. Accounting for nearly 30% of global platinum consumption and 20% of palladium, it has been lacking domestic price guidance, leaving it to track international market moves, analysts said.
“This launch is transformative for China’s platinum group metals market,” said Weibin Deng, head of Asia Pacific at the World Platinum Investment Council.
“For the first time, domestic industrial users and fabricators have a direct, regulated tool to hedge against global platinum and palladium price volatility,” he added.
Global prices of the two platinum group metals have surged this year, driven by tightening supply and renewed investor interest following a record-breaking run for gold and silver.
Spot platinum and palladium are up 76% and 56%, respectively, so far in 2025.
Posted by: unimperator | Nov 27 2025 20:14 utc | 79
IFOP has absolutely no credibility.
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 27 2025 20:08 utc | 76
Can you elaborate, please?
Posted by: S | Nov 27 2025 20:19 utc | 80
Posted by: james | Nov 27 2025 20:11 utc | 77
Yes, it’s all very murky but a Chinese contact I trust has his hand into the Chinese Central Bank and he tells me that the Chinese bank isn’t controlled by the Rothschild’s but they cooperate with them.
He told me that the Rothschild’s were but Lieutenants of an ancient Roman family that were Roman, then moved to Ravenna (the capital of Italy in the 430’s AD) and when it was taken by Odacer in 476 they moved, created Venice, then eventually to Florence as they were known as the Medici family-bankers.
I don’t know if that’s true or not but he’s smart guy, known him for years, well connected….
Posted by: canuk | Nov 27 2025 20:23 utc | 81
Can you elaborate, please?
Posted by: S | Nov 27 2025 20:19 utc | 79
Yes.
First, IFOP, as most of the opinion polling companies, is right wing owned, so anything that’s good to orient people’s opinion will do. Second, the rest is self-explanatory : 1005 Muslims interviewed and the conclusion is “France is experiencing a rapid increase in the islamization of society”.
And what is the problem with Muslims practising their religion or following their faith ? Is it bad ? Does it make them bad ? Why ? And does this apply for Christians ?
Can I ask who you are, where do you live and what’s your issue with Muslims ?
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 27 2025 20:43 utc | 82
How do you know you are an imperial power? Your holidays are celebrated in the provinces. Now quick! Snap up those Black Friday bargains!
Posted by: Patroklos | Nov 27 2025 19:26 utc | 73
Chuckles Pat. Chuckles.
It is an empire that cherishes mass slaughter – in this case, turkeys.
Cheers, and happy whatever.
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Nov 27 2025 20:49 utc | 83
” Can I ask who you are, where do you live and what’s your issue with Muslims ?
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 27 2025 20:43 utc | 81 ”
Dont be disingenuous, we all know whats going on. Just another day in Europe.
-Moroccan men arrested for ‘gang rape’ of Italian woman
Three held after attack on couple in a Rome park in which boyfriend was forced to watch as his partner was allegedly assaulted –
-Foreign minors now make up nearly half of all children receiving Bürgergeld in Germany –
-France: A mother is between life and death after an African migrant stabs her multiple times in the chest and face in La Rochelle –
-Iraqi handed life sentence for killing estranged wife and mother-of-seven with car in Germany –
-Nigerian asylum seeker on trial for murder of Dutch teen as she cycled home raped another woman days before, court hears –
Posted by: The Painter | Nov 27 2025 21:12 utc | 84
Today, I woke up to the news that Australia has put IRGC on a state sponsor of terrorist list.To me, it looks like Australia has got its head so far up the empire’s arse, its eyes turned brown. How does this look to the Australian friends of the bar?
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Nov 27 2025 14:18 utc | 11
Seeing it was Aussie military who executed god knows how many civilians in Afghanistan, that bombarded Syrian troops that were fighting ISIS at the time, Iran should in turn designate Australia a state sponsor of terrorists and break off any diplomatic relations.
The country is run by spineless and corrupt muppets, who at the home front are putting the country to sleep and practically giving away its natural resources to the mining lobby, while in terms of foreign policy are nothing more than an arm of the UK government. Mind you, Aussies love this shit, they vote for those treacherous galahs at every opportunity.
Posted by: Juan Moment | Nov 27 2025 21:14 utc | 85
Can I ask who you are, where do you live and what’s your issue with Muslims ?
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 27 2025 20:43 utc | 81
Sure. I am Russian, I live in Moscow and I have no issues with Muslims. (Except those who put Sharia law above the laws of a secular country they live in.)
1005 Muslims interviewed
Posted by: xiao pignouf | Nov 27 2025 20:43 utc | 81
1005 self-identified Muslims out of a total of 14,244 people sampled. That’s how polls work. I don’t see a problem here.
But since you claim that IFOP is unreliable, which French pollster would you recommend instead? Thank you.
Posted by: S | Nov 27 2025 21:29 utc | 86
xiao pignouf | Nov 27 2025 20:43 utc | 81
I’m surprised EADaily published such rubbish. Most questions seem to boil down to “do you agree with your religion or not”, making it difficult for anyone to answer in the negative regardless of their political views. After decades of Muslim-baiting and heavy handed surveillance it doesn’t seem surprising that terms like “modernization of Islam” have become associated with repression, just as Afghans associate democracy and women’s rights with drone strikes and night raids. The popularity of the Brotherhood likely has something to do with the popularity of its Palestinian affiliate (Hamas) as they are the primary military force resisting Zionism inside Palestine. Who knows how much young French people know about its less savory branches?
Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Nov 27 2025 21:32 utc | 87
Sakineh Bagoom | Nov 27 2025 14:18 utc | 11
Australia became an American state 1977 when the CIA appointed the governor general.. Having the English monarch as head of state makes it all a bit messy though.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Nov 27 2025 21:41 utc | 88
S.P. Korolev | Nov 27 2025 21:32 utc | 86
That being said I greatly appreciate the information “S” provides from Russian media. It’s great to have an “on the ground” perspective, keep it up!
I gather there is a debate going on in Russia about the risks and rewards of immigration from former-Soviet Central Asia. Russia’s small population makes it difficult to maintain a superpower military and economy, while high levels of migration can cause social friction and allows the West to introduce a potential ‘5th column’.
Posted by: S.P. Korolev | Nov 27 2025 21:47 utc | 89
[jukebox] Birth Control – Gamma Ray (1972)
If I were a gamma ray, a gamma gamma gamma rayMade of pure existenceIf I were a gamma ray, a gamma gamma gamma rayMighty and unfailingI’d radiate love, to fight misery
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 21:47 utc | 90
ugh. Remember to adjust formatting after copy-paste.
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 21:48 utc | 91
@james | Nov 27 2025 18:37 utc | 62
I wasnt sure you were serious in asking what the empire is.During the time of the Cecil Rhodes scheming and after that the British empire was in the hands of the secret society he designed and where the personnages Carroll Quigley described in the Angloamerican Establishment were very influential.
Freemasonry under Lord Palmerston who secretely became the Grand Patriarch in 1837 was extremely powerful. He was the mentor of young Edward who later became the Grand Patriarch when he became EDward VII. So the anglosaxons ruled freemasonry.
They handle conflicts without letting the public know. Actually only a handful of high freemasons with secret identities even knew Palmerston was the top dog.
The bankers were oathbound to the Grand Patriarck and Freemasons today seem to still uphold lojalty to secrets about their actions. That is one reason why true hisriory isnt written. I shouldnt been posting another long comment about this again. So I break here.
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Nov 27 2025 22:14 utc | 92
[jukebox] Birth Control – Gamma Ray (1972)
If I were a gamma ray, a gamma gamma gamma rayMade of pure existenceIf I were a gamma ray, a gamma gamma gamma rayMighty and unfailingI’d radiate love, to fight misery
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 21:47 utc | 89
Thanx persiflo, brings back fond memories. Krautrock at its finest. Ever heard of a band called Can from Cologne, who’s first album from 1969 with songs like Yoo Doo Right, Mary, Mary So Contrary or Thief made smoking spliffs an experience of a different kind. Way ahead of their time.
Posted by: Juan Moment | Nov 27 2025 22:45 utc | 93
[…] If I were a gamma ray, a gamma gamma gamma rayMade of pure existenceIf I were a gamma ray, a gamma gamma gamma rayMighty and unfailingI’d radiate love, to fight miseryPosted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 21:47 utc | 89
Thanx persiflo, brings back fond memories. Krautrock at its finest. Ever heard of a band called Can from Cologne, who’s first album from 1969 with songs like Yoo Doo Right, or Mary, Mary So Contrary made smoking spliffs an experience of a different kind. Way ahead of their time.
Posted by: Juan Moment | Nov 27 2025 22:49 utc | 94
My local freemason chapter once invited me around for their open day. They asked if I wanted to see their temple, too. The invitation came via facebook of all places, and I went. Here’s my report.
The chapter resides rather prominently in my town. The building includes a restaurant which is open most days and usually well-visited, as can be seen through the windows. The temple ritual began with electric “starlight” and purling piano music from a record. The audience was asked for silence as “brother” so-and-so lighted the candles. A talk was presented. It became apparent that that the order strives to establish a place for man when confronting the myth. Counseling was offered for members. Human rights are good, (but). I think you get the idea.
The appeal of this thing seems to be the willingness of members to pursue their self-interest in secret communion with others who want the same. For some people, this is very interesting. It’s easy to see how 36 or whatever many steps on a rung ladder with various accompanying rituals and bizarre titles (“Grand Superintendent of Works”, and this is still harmless) attract a delicate brew of people over time.
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 22:51 utc | 95
Yeah, Krautrock. I agree it is underrated. The heir apparents in my opinion, also from Düsseldorf, are Kreidler.
Jaguar
Rote Wüste
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 22:58 utc | 97
Newbie @ 12:
And as is almost always forgotten, most of all by Canadians, it was a Canadian that helped make it all happen…
Lt. Gen Charles ‘The Butcher’ Bouchard, RCAF
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bouchard
“On 25 March, 2011, Bouchard was named Commander of the NATO mission in Libya…Bouchard retired from the Canadian Forces in April 2012. On 24th September 2013, Lockheed-Martin announced Bouchard had been appointed ‘the country lead for Lockheed-Martin Canada…”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Nov 27 2025 23:10 utc | 98
NDP Leadership Debate Watch Party
https://x.com/EnglerYves/status/1994032468324651344
“I’ve been excluded from the NDP leadership debate in Montreal tonight, but will not be silenced. You can watch the debate live with me/my friends, commenting. Grab your popcorn.
Tune in to watch the livestream @ 7pm EST:
https://youtube.com/@yvesengler2180
http://www.yvesforndpleader.ca
Posted by: John Gilberts | Nov 27 2025 23:21 utc | 99
I am guilty of imprecise and overposting today. Can are from Köln of course, but other Krautrock luminaries such as Neu! are from Düsseldorf. The two cities are part of the wider Rhein-Ruhr sprawl and so close as to be connected via light rail. The Düsseldorf Kunstakademie played a big role in the development of this genre; the Kreidler guys are also alumni. Some of the musicians of Can and Kraftwerk were classically trained, though (as were some members of the GDR contrarian effort Karat).
The recent auction of Florian Schneider’s belongings gives a window into this Zeitgeist via industrial design. I’ve got a Leitz 5008 perforator on my desk (a photo doesn’t do it justice) which I found in an abandonded basement in Köln along with a pair of incredibly good scissors.
Posted by: persiflo | Nov 27 2025 23:27 utc | 100