Posted by: arby | Feb 5 2026 18:07 utc | 288
 
The situations in the three countries are quite different. But it’s entirely possible that Burkina Faso will follow Niger’s example.
 
Understand that, contrary to the commentators on MoA, the major concern for the Sahelian countries is not geopolitical.
 
The concern is security and economic. Economically, Burkina Faso is slightly better off than its two neighbors, but in terms of security, it’s the opposite.
 
The population is disappointed with the leaders because, despite the propaganda, there are no positive results in the fight against terrorism, and the economic situation is deteriorating.
 
The survival of the military regimes is therefore at stake if they don’t find a solution.
The only question is which will come first: bankruptcy or popular revolt.
 
Niger tried to intimidate the Chinese oil company operating there to get cash, but after a few disbursements, they refused to continue, which led to their expulsion. The support of its allies closed the door to any Chinese aid for the three countries.
 
Niger had to liquidate its pension insurance funds, but that is not enough; they need outside help, which Russia cannot provide.
The appeal to the US is therefore primarily economic, but in return, the US wants a military presence.
 
A drone base in the Sahel, given its geographical location, allows for the surveillance of a large part of the continent. And they fully expect to expel the Russian forces, not to coexist with them.
 
The junta in Niger thus believes they have nothing to lose by calling on the US for help, except perhaps Russia’s political support to maintain power, which the Americans can provide.
 
The White House old and new administrations have sent special envoys to Burkina for “secret” talks.
But for now we don’t know if a change is in the making.

Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 5 2026 19:13 utc | 304

ZH has a posting up from a very butthurt American
 
Is the Chinese Derivatives Tail Waging The Precious Metals Dog ?
 

Excessive and exuberant Chinese speculation, in my view, is wreaking havoc on the price discovery process for bullion. And the volatility seems to be developing momentum in a feedback loop in each direction, creating its own narrative, removed from the real market and its drivers. It is eating itself.
 
…
The Chinese market has always been highly speculative and volatile. The problem is, it’s now so large that it dominates and distorts the entire process. The grown-ups in the room (institutional players) soon realise the market feels more like a casino than a marketplace and step aside. Industrials re-double efforts to find substitutes, retail clients burn out, potential jewellery buyers walk away, investors look non-plussed and go elsewhere, while central bankers press the pause button … and before long the bullion trading landscape looks utterly desolate like a moon-scape. 
How does this end ? Well eventually the Chinese player driving these price swings discover they’re only talking to themselves… everyone else has gone homeNot helpful — not helpful at all.
 

LOL!!!
 
No admission of the suppressed and manipulated precious metals markets since 1971…..price discovery process for bullion….we are just now going through that process and he won’t like where it ends up, it sounds like.
 
And about everybody else going home…….how likely is that today, eh?
 
FEAR abounds

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 5 2026 19:14 utc | 306

bitcoin vs fiat–7 critical difference
 
1. Issuance Mechanism: Algorithm vs Authority

Bitcoin’s issuance is governed by an immutable algorithm programmed into its code. New bitcoins enter circulation through mining—a computational process where specialized computers solve complex mathematical puzzles. This process releases a predetermined amount of bitcoin (currently 6.25 BTC per block) approximately every 10 minutes.
In contrast, fiat currencies are issued by central banks according to monetary policies determined by governments. These authorities can increase or decrease the money supply at will through mechanisms like quantitative easing, reserve requirement adjustments, or simply printing more currency.
2. Supply: Finite vs Infinite

One of Bitcoin’s defining characteristics is its capped supply of 21 million coins, expected to be fully mined by 2140. This hard limit is encoded in Bitcoin’s protocol and creates digital scarcity—a property previously impossible in the digital realm.
Fiat currencies, however, have no theoretical upper limit. Central banks can create new units of currency indefinitely, potentially leading to inflation if money creation outpaces economic growth. The US dollar has lost over 96% of its purchasing power since the Federal Reserve was established in 1913.
3. Control Structure: Decentralized vs Centralized

Bitcoin operates on a decentralized network of thousands of nodes (computers) spread globally. No single entity controls the network, and changes to the protocol require consensus among participants.
Fiat systems are inherently centralized, with monetary policy decisions made by a small group of officials at central banks. This concentration of power gives these institutions significant influence over national and global economies.
4. Transaction Processing: Direct vs Intermediated

Bitcoin enables peer-to-peer transactions without requiring trusted third parties. When someone sends bitcoin, the transaction is broadcast to the network, verified by miners, and recorded on the blockchain—a public ledger visible to all.
Fiat transactions typically require multiple intermediaries, including banks, payment processors, and clearing houses. Each party in this chain introduces potential points of failure, delays, and additional costs.
5. Privacy Characteristics: Pseudonymous vs Identifiable

Bitcoin transactions occur between pseudonymous addresses—strings of characters not directly linked to personal identities. While the blockchain is transparent, showing all transactions, connecting addresses to real-world identities requires additional information.
Fiat systems have evolved toward comprehensive surveillance capabilities. Digital fiat transactions are tied to identifiable accounts, allowing financial institutions and governments to monitor spending behaviors and financial activities.
6. Value Foundation: Network Trust vs State Backing

Bitcoin derives its value from the trust in its network, the utility it provides, and its scarcity. There is no central authority guaranteeing its worth—its value emerges from collective belief in the system and its properties.
Fiat currencies are backed by government decree (“fiat” literally means “by decree”) and their status as legal tender. Their value ultimately rests on trust in the issuing government’s stability and economic policies.
7. Global Accessibility: Permissionless vs Restricted

Bitcoin is accessible to anyone with an internet connection. Creating a wallet requires no identification or approval, making Bitcoin particularly valuable in regions with limited banking infrastructure or unstable currencies.
Fiat systems typically impose significant restrictions based on geography, citizenship, and regulatory compliance. Access to banking services often requires extensive documentation and approval processes, excluding billions of people worldwide.
Real-World Applications

Bitcoin’s borderless nature has made it a lifeline for people in countries experiencing hyperinflation, such as Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Families can receive remittances without the excessive fees and delays of traditional systems.
Businesses like Microsoft, PayPal, and Square now accept or facilitate Bitcoin payments. El Salvador made history in 2021 by adopting Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar, seeking financial inclusion for its largely unbanked population.
Conclusion

While fiat currencies benefit from established infrastructure and government backing, Bitcoin offers a fundamentally different approach to money—one built on mathematical certainty rather than human discretion. Understanding these seven critical differences provides essential context for navigating our increasingly diverse monetary landscape.
As traditional and digital currencies continue to coexist, individuals and organizations that grasp these distinctions will be better positioned to leverage the unique advantages of each system for their specific needs.

Posted by: arby | Feb 5 2026 19:26 utc | 308

Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 5 2026 19:13 utc | 305
 
####
 
If the talks are secret, how do you know about them?
 
I’ll be honest, your story about being called Putin was good, but little you have posted has indicated to me that you are closely following what is happening in the AES.
 
You didn’t know about the French/terrorist coup attempt at the airport, sitting on a massive stockpile of uranium the French want to recover, and you haven’t commented on the data center built in Bamako. You didn’t have much to say about Damiba being tried for engaging in a coup attempt.
 
I’m not saying that you may not be who you claim to be, but you really don’t display up-to-date knowledge of a local when we see videos and African reports (from Nigeria) of what is happening.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 5 2026 19:36 utc | 310

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 5 2026 19:25 utc | 308
 
Every time we talk about the Sahel, you argue in bad faith, use dubious or even fabricated sources, and end up resorting to personal attacks
 
I don’t know why, but obviously you have an agenda.
 
So I’ll pass.

Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 5 2026 19:42 utc | 312

LoveDonbass | Feb 5 2026 6:43 utc | 189
*** An entire class of people that is still partying in public. ***
 
That’s one of the most puzzling things.
 
They get away with it. Again.
 
Are the public by now so trained by mass-media that they only react negatively about what they are told to?
 
Do they somehow compartmentalise the rest, even when noticed, as just a game show or fiction film?
 
How?
 

Posted by: Cynic | Feb 5 2026 19:48 utc | 314

Some Random Passerby | Feb 5 2026 11:00 utc | 231
*** It’s quite perturbing that the first thing Bliars government did after 17 years in the wilderness was removed the death penalty from the UK treason act ***
 
True.
Think they also removed an insistence on the Prime Minister being reasonably sane.
 

Posted by: Cynic | Feb 5 2026 19:57 utc | 316

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 5 2026 19:36 utc | 311
 

videos and <<African reports>> (from Nigeria) of what is happening.

 
I suppose it is the “good source” witch told you last week that our country launched a “new satellite” ?
 
Are you charged with promoting dubious sites and fakes?

Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 5 2026 20:01 utc | 318

Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 5 2026 20:01 utc | 319
 
#####
 
As a matter of fact, it was one. Do you have any sources on the problems you claim are happening in the AES?

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 5 2026 20:05 utc | 320

The short answer is that it is privately owned and operated just like the fiat US dollar….myth about its independence are just that
Posted by: psychohistorian
 
I am not defending or promoting bitcoin. You posted “owned by who?” 
 
 Good question and your supposed self answer leaves a lot to be desired as to  the WHO.
 
 
 
 
 

Posted by: arby | Feb 5 2026 20:08 utc | 322

Posted by: psychohistorian
 
 Do you have even a shred of evidence to your claim that bitcoin is privately owned?
 
 And operated just like a fiat currency– both fig newtons IMO. 
 
Obviously with even a very rudimentary knowledge
of bitcoin like I understand those two assertions are false.

Posted by: arby | Feb 5 2026 20:14 utc | 324

DunGroanin | Feb 5 2026 12:43 utc | 244
*** Dint forget she has multiple siblings – who have all managed to avoid any ostracism; her brothers were handed a free pass by the Serious Fraud Office after the shapshifter father Robert Hock disappeared when they were caught red handed having stole the Mirror Group Employee’s pension fund £400 million – a huge amount back in the 90’s.       The boys were on the board. They have never paid back. And still live a grand life.      Meet The Hocksters ! *** 
 
Recall there were two female — both later well known on tv, one as a game-show hostess — “journalists” working for Maxwell, who fervently denied that he was a crook who stole his workers’ pension funds
Till they discovered that theirs were gone too.
Immediate 180 degree turn in opinion …….

Posted by: Cynic | Feb 5 2026 20:17 utc | 326

Once again, what India does not buy, China will. China’s energy appetite is endless and voracious.
 
China, at least, is a good trade partner. The Indians, like the Americans, produce nothing the Russians absolutely need.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 5 2026 20:25 utc | 328

How big is the ledger these days? Some years ago it had got to 250GB, so somewhere there is quite a lot of data that needs immutable storage, not subject to bit-rot or RAID array failure/error.

Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Feb 5 2026 20:40 utc | 330

Russian Oil Sellers Cut Prices in China to Attract Demand as India Wavers
 
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russian-oil-sellers-cut-prices-china-attract-demand-india-wavers-2026-02
 
“…Chinese buyers have been benefiting from multi-year low discounts on Russian crude in recent months, to the extent that some have even reduced Iranian intake in order to absorb more Russian barrels,’ said Vortexa analyst Emma Li.
 
‘Given that India’s pullback is likely to trigger even deeper discounts, this behaviour is likely to continue in the near term. However, China has likely hit its limit for Russian crude imports if state refiners continue to sit out, traders and analysts say…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 5 2026 21:08 utc | 332

re: 334
google it.

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 5 2026 21:14 utc | 334

Posted by: arby | Feb 5 2026 19:26 utc | 309 Briefly commenting on each point in turn…

• A gold mine may have a fixed rate of production yet it is not clear how this is a good thing for the economy. 
• And that gold mine may have a fixed amount of gold to produce. It is not clear why a shortage of bitcoin one day is a Good Thing.
• As I said, the notion the market is the One True God is the worship of Mammon taken literally. It’s the most abstract form of international capital imagined so far.
• The network is not the so-called public, and the transactions are not transparent, which is advantageous to criminals, as I said. 
• Again, this repeats that bitcoin/crypto is good  for crime. 
• As explained before, fiat currency is not backed by a money commodity nor is bitcoin/crypto. As such, its so-called value is like that of a nonfungible token or a so-called collectible such as baseball cards or modern art (or maybe tulips, if you’re retro.) These so-called markets are set usually by collector’s catalogs or maybe insurance companies. Since there is no intrinsic value, not even the connection to a functioning economy, as for legal tender, there is no stability long run.
• Instead of a plain color revolution, bitcoin/crypto enables a color of money revolution, so that capital can flee any national controls. This is not a recommendation I think.

 
The notion that the dictator Bukele has liberated El Salvador is questionable. The bitcoin/crypto advocates love of crime seems to play a role there. 

Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 5 2026 21:46 utc | 336

So again Russia and especially China benefit at the expense of Iran.

I know it’s a Reuters report but they’re citing open financial info and consider that even if the part about a potential reduction in Russia to China oil sales is untrue Iran is no doubt getting a bit squeezed here.

For its part, Russia would probably rather sell at a higher price to multiple sellers than be locked into one low price for just China.

China is sort of akin to a Wal-Mart or Amazon on the international oil scene here, squeezing out the littler guys and creating a lower price than even the producers themselves can offer directly.

All put into motion by Donald Trump!

Or his handlers.

This also plainly illustrates – yet again! – how there is no true or effective bloc here.

No effective military bloc at all and no economic bloc because why would China and Russia squeeze Iran and why would China ‘artificially’ lower prices for Russian oil?

If they were a true consortium they would help each other even given Trump’s antics.

Someone suggested yesterday that China could effectively shield the rial from sanctions if it wanted to.

But no.

Have they kicked India out of BRICS yet?

‘On January 13, 2026, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar unveiled the logo and website for India’s BRICS chairmanship in 2026. The logo consists of a lotus as its centrepiece, enmeshed in a “Namaste” gesture, with the petals reflecting the vibrant colours of all BRICS members.

The theme for the year-long presidency is “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability”— a cleverly crafted expansion of the BRICS acronym.

New Delhi’s work as the BRICS chair is already cut out. It comes at a moment when global politics is unusually unsettled, the forum itself is internally strained, and India’s relations with its key partners, most notably the US, are under visible strain.

India has played the role of BRICS chair thrice earlier—in 2012, 2016, and 2021. However, this will be the first time since BRICS expanded to include five more members, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the UAE.’

https://frontline.thehindu.com/world-affairs/india-brics-chairmanship-global-tensions-us-iran/article70588382.ece

‘a cleverly crafted expansion of the BRICS backronym’

LMAO.

Posted by: Dan Kelly | Feb 5 2026 22:15 utc | 338

In response to
”
  Do you have even a shred of evidence to your claim that bitcoin is privately owned?  And operated just like a fiat currency– both fig newtons IMO.  Obviously with even a very rudimentary knowledgeof bitcoin like I understand those two assertions are false.
Posted by: arby | Feb 5 2026 20:14 utc | 325
”
 
Ownership……elementary my good soul.  If it were owned and operated by a sovereign government we just might know this, correct?  
So if it isn’t owned by a public focused organization like a sovereign government what do we call the ownership then?
PRIVATE
 
Since it is private we don’t know to what extent it meets all the fiat claims do we?  No transparency of ownership nor management, eh?
 
Who owns Bitcoin?

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 5 2026 22:30 utc | 340

Russian oil sellers cut prices in China to attract demand as India wavers

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russian-oil-sellers-cut-prices-china-attract-demand-india-wavers-2026-02-05/

Posted by: Dan Kelly | Feb 5 2026 22:37 utc | 342

Who owns Bitcoin?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 5 2026 22:30 utc | 342
 
I own a small bit of bitcoin so I hope it is not a scam. I own it like I own some Gold stocks. I own them because I think the US dollar is coming undone. I wanted an alternative.
As far as the poster who said that the chain had used up 250 gb of memory a couple of years ago. I checked my 6 year old phone. It has 150 GB of storage .
 I really am in no position to defend much less promote bitcoin but a lot of people were willing to pay over 100,000 yankee dollahs to buy just one and still are paying over 60,000. Are they all fools? I have a feeling that most vocal naysayers don’t have any satoshis and wish it to crumble and disappear to prove how clever they were to stay away from it. 
 
Maybe it is worthless and maybe it is worth a million. Right now it looks like the worthless side is winning .

Posted by: arby | Feb 5 2026 22:46 utc | 344

All this humans are our prey. You, included. General.  
Posted by: Bhavati | Feb 5 2026 22:34 utc | 343
 
******************
 
Ah, yes – don’t spare the truth, ‘Bhavati’…. You do seem to suffer from a permanent identity crisis?

Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 5 2026 22:57 utc | 346

I will always reply when I am asked to, if I can, and when fakes must be corrected.
 
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 5 2026 20:41 utc | 332
 
#####
Sources. Just provide sources, and you’ll be right as rain. You claim I lie, but I have provided sources, whatever you think of them, regularly.
 
You claim to be on the ground and know about secret meetings, which are supposed to be “secret”, and yet you can’t provide any sources for your counterarguments.
 
So, which is it? Do you have sources or not? Are we supposed to take your opinion as fact because you claim to be in Burkina Faso?

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 5 2026 23:06 utc | 348

Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 5 2026 22:57 utc | 352
 
 I don’t think it is ‘spare truth”– He not only talks crazy his text is littered with all kinds of punctuation thingys. 

Posted by: arby | Feb 5 2026 23:36 utc | 350

Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 5 2026 22:21 utc | 340
 
Thank you for your good words, and for your concern about losing time with unnecessary things.
 
Grandson mode off/
 
Our fellow barfly has friends who own websites and channels, whom he trusts and whose positions he defends.
 
These friends are on the ground in Africa, but they’ve chosen to lie about what’s happening, for their own reasons, which I can easily imagine.
 
I’m not going to support people who are destroying my country for their own interests, through my silence or my complicity.
 
Those who take it as a simple talk online, without emotion and personal implication will always mistake.

Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 5 2026 23:55 utc | 352

Oh, and I would also love to invite Sebgo to our musing, since he’s an experienced science teacher like you! Sebgo, I enjoy your presence here, this is something we have needed. I have myself always been interested in the ongoings in Africa but found myself constantly frustrated with the lack of good sources from there. Actually, one of the flagship newspapers in Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, had a really good correspondent in Africa, named Thomas Scheen, who sadly died in a traffic accident some years ago. By the way, I was acquainted with a man from Burkina Faso when he was studying administrative science in my old hometown on a grant; this would be the only university which offers this subject in Germany and thus can be viewed as specialized and somewhat ‘elite’ institution. This was back in or around 2000. We met when I was smoking a spliff with my friends on the doorsteps to the house where he lived, and we went on to go over his graduation paper (written in German) together. I will never forget how he served chicken on the occasion, eating it in the west African style with his fingers, which I find a truly lively memory and thing to do. He also smuggled a box of local Burkina weed on the plane after one of his visits back home for us to smoke, and was proud to buy a modest car which he shipped back home from the money he had available. I’m sure he made a career in government, but I couldn’t locate him since. 
 
The late father of my neighbour, friend and landlord was a graduate of the Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften as well. He used his knowledge as the mayor of Schenefeld, as well as dealing in real estate. One of his projects used all available means to maximize rent space in accordance with the regulations, such that they built the house around a tree which could not be felled, where it later died and left an inexplicable empty space in the structure. I think that’s rather funny, and also quite revealing about how law should probably not be handled in regards to the common good. Ah, the old west! I sure hope people learn how to focus on the truly important things in life here soon … such as having a sense of time that is more human than what we have now in the discipline-crazy country of mine. Something we can, and hopefully will learn from the many amazing people from Africa who arrived here in recent years. I learned about the very different concept of dealing with time from my Burkinabe friend first, when he explained to me a term they have in his language, loosely translated as “the rabbit walk” if my memory serves. It means that when you have visitor coming by, it’s in good style to walk them not just out of the door and to the garden fence in front of the house, but all the way back to his home. Or maybe it applied to situations where a friend accompanies one on the way home, I’m not sure now. Anyway, good stuff.

Posted by: persiflo | Feb 6 2026 0:26 utc | 354

Bernhard at his twitter account has reposted an AI video. 
https://x.com/ReturnOfKappy/status/2019050980554293336
 
Epstein taking selfies with the rich and powerful. The vampires ball. Take note of Gates, the oligarch that wants to vaccinate the world with American big pharma. He has a venereal disease sore on his lip.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 6 2026 1:16 utc | 356

Dave Troy | Feb 6 2026 1:07 utc | 377
 
Is trying to tell us that Epstein and all the rest of it — including the Talmud?? — is entirely a plot by the evil Russians and nothing whatever to do with US-neocons, their Straussian perverted ‘morality’, the armageddonist death-cult in control of US government … and above all (in their own view, aren’t they always!)  the perpetually conspiring megalomanic nut-cases, whether religious or secular, in Israel. 
 
So according to Troy, Rothschild is presumably a Russian creation as well, and there is zero NATO / Israeli association with human organ=stealing, child kidnapping, torture or ritual sacrifice?
 
And of course the politicians of the USA and Europe aren’t bought by the Zionists/Israelis and CIA.
It is just coincidence that they happen to vote as if they are, even though paid by Russia?
What a cunning disguise!

Posted by: Cynic | Feb 6 2026 1:30 utc | 358

Posted by: Peter AU1 |
Do you even know any Turks, or is this just about what you have been reading on the internet?

Posted by: Deniz | Feb 6 2026 1:52 utc | 360

You gonna die and you try to be free
No body evit to you to be who you want to be

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?t=385&v=lk60ObnbIOk

[ https://youtu.be/lk60ObnbIOk?t=385 ]

Posted by: Dan Kelly | Feb 6 2026 2:07 utc | 362

Dave you’re a bit behind the times. The Soviet Union is gone. How could you have missed it? 
 
Quick recap for you – US has been sole superpower for over thirty years. The CIA is active in over a hundred countries. US has over 800 military bases across the world. About seven years ago a CIA Director flew into Britain and announced to all and sundry who could not be elected. The head of the  FSB  has not done this as far as I’m aware
 
There is considerable debate as to whether US controls Israel or Israel controls US. Regardless the two criminals worked for “the intelligence community” that controls the West – we could call them Five Eyes plus One.
 
Whoever Maxwell and Epstein were working for (Epstein claimed he represented “the Rothschilds” in a email to P Thiel) I don’t think it was Putin. Maxwell was Epsteins handler. You might not know but her father Robert was called “Israels  super spy” by many and his career in intelligence started in the 194o’s, working for the British in the Balkans. When he died he was buried on Temple Mount, a consideration only afforded to the very highest in Israel. Ghislain Maxwell was the favourite child of Robert. I  think it likely she entered into the family business
 
If you do think “Putin dun it” how do explain the failure of all US intelligence agencies to protect the US with their colossal globe-spanning surveillance capability? If you are  right CIA, FBI, DIA, MI6 etc, etc all need to be replaced because they are not fit for purpose

Posted by: will moon | Feb 6 2026 2:19 utc | 364

karlof1@370:
 
“The Epstein Case & American Elite Morality: A Chinese Perspective…”
 
Thanks for posting this Chinese perspective  on –  ‘the level of American morality or lack thereof’, including by citing…’abetting the Zionist Genocide in Palestine…’
 
‘But what about China’s own involvement in these activities…?’
 
How China is Quietly Aiding Israel’s Settlement Enterprise
 
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/chinese-quietly-aiding-israels-settlement-enterprise-how
 
Furthermore, a country and government that is among the biggest exporters to Israel by far and the third biggest importer of Israeli goods, much of this trade through the port of Haifa which they fully own and operate,  whose population lacked any large demonstrations or protests against this awful support, rather undercuts an otherwise strong and convincing indictment.

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 6 2026 2:27 utc | 366

‘‘But what about China’s own involvement in these activities…?’

Indeed, and thank you as always for your passionate and informative posts John.

China also sells bombs to bomb Sudan and drones and surveillance tech to the apartheid-genocide entity for use on the Palestinians.

And then China turns around and gives a stern admonition at the UN that everyone ought to treat everyone well.

Posted by: Dan Kelly | Feb 6 2026 2:51 utc | 368

Dan Kelly @ 413:
Thanks. Yes. And Russia is the same. As is India. And many others as well. Pretending otherwise leads nowhere.  Which is why I continue to assert:
 
The ‘leaders’ are for USrael but the people are for Palestine. From the River to the Salish Sea.
 
Free Palestine!
 
 

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 6 2026 3:06 utc | 370

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 6 2026 3:05 utc | 415
From the ZH article:
Officially, Epstein died by suicide sometime before 6:30 a.m., however nobody has been able to find the actual noose allegedly used. 

Investigators asked what happened to the noose. 
“I don’t recall taking the noose off. I really don’t,” he replied. “I don’t recall taking the thing from around his neck.”
Noel, who remained standing at the cell entrance, told investigators she saw Thomas lower Epstein to the floor but did not see a noose around his neck.
The noose Epstein allegedly used has never been definitively identified. According to the inspector general’s report, a noose collected at the scene was later determined not to be the ligature used in Epstein’s death.

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 6 2026 3:29 utc | 372

With all the stuff that’s coming out, David Icke  must be in fine form.—HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwf671FjE9Utime come  
[I missed out a word when I first posted it. Anyway new page]

Posted by: tucenz | Feb 6 2026 4:02 utc | 374

Cuba’s Diaz-Canel (& vid)
 
https://x.com/upholdreality/status/2019446515962442232
 
“The naval blockade against Venezuela began in December. Since that date, no fuel has entered this country.’ Council of Ministers has prepared an updated decree based on the 1990s Special Period framework, the emergency measures enacted after the USSR collapse.”
 

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 6 2026 4:27 utc | 376

BTNews: ‘Cuba in the Crosshairs’
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBv734Gik9o
 
“Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio joins the show to discuss the Trump administration’s escalating attacks on Cuba, including a January 29 executive order declaring the country an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat.’
 
Cossio will discuss the human toll of the latest fuel blockade and explain how these measures are meant to deepen the suffering of the Cuban people to force regime change…”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 6 2026 5:27 utc | 378

The Trump team is not just attacking Cuba…..from Xinhuanet
 

WARSAW, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) — The U.S. Embassy will have “no further dealings” with Polish parliament speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty after he insulted U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose said on Thursday.
Rose said the decision followed Czarzasty’s “outrageous and unprovoked insults” directed at Trump. “We will not permit anyone to harm U.S.-Polish relations, nor disrespect (Trump)…” he wrote on X.
On Monday, Czarzasty said he would not support a motion to award Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, saying “he doesn’t deserve it.”
Czarzasty criticized Trump’s threats to annex Greenland and the imposition of tariffs on European countries, saying such actions were “a breach of politics based on principles and values, and often a breach of international law.”
In response to Rose’s remarks, Czarzasty told Polish news website Onet that he maintains his position on the matter.

 
The world is having to deal with a petulant man-child supported by his handlers/sycophants

Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 6 2026 5:35 utc | 380

 Suresh | Feb 6 2026 5:33 utc | 409
 
That clown is most certainly a snake in the grass when it comes to the Sahel. He is part of what the west terms opposition. Like that Navalny character now deceased.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 6 2026 5:47 utc | 382

It’s a wild ride in metals amid tightening liquidity conditions and CME just raised its margin requirements again (on behalf of some unnamed banks). Meanwhile per experts and their charts, the Dow Jones-to-gold ratio seems to be breaking down. It doesn’t exclude both could fall but Dow Jones could fall more than gold. Gold actually held pretty well, silver was brutal but gold will lead silver and PGMs again for a while.

Posted by: unimperator | Feb 6 2026 6:10 utc | 384

And the answer, historically speaking, is nothing.

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 6 2026 6:12 utc | 385
 
I see that in the peasants about me. Nothing. Nada. Jack shit.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 6 2026 8:38 utc | 386

Watching Krainer before and thinking about the Epstein files. Why were they released and why did Trump so readily okay that release? Epstein with  “The goyim are only there to serve the jews”. The connection of the Jews and London and the British mandate of Palestine. The Americans and London now divided. A bit to think about.
 
Trump has proven to be an American gangster and a master of distraction, but where is he and the money faction he fronts headed. Trump fronts for the American nationalist faction and sometimes I wonder if they are working toward taking down the Jews and the elite of London aka perfidious albion. That thought may be quite wrong though. I guess we got to be a fly on the wall or wait for hindsight.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 6 2026 10:25 utc | 388

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Feb 6 2026 4:03 utc | 151
 
My response (interleaved) to Mr Burger’s post (in italics)
 
In case people misunderstand that comment by “General Factotum” (and I think many would): do not put your finger into plasma or in front of any kind of torch (by torch I don’t mean a “British English” flashlight).
 
Thanks – I’m sure far fewer will misunderstand your comments, than mine. I was not advocating risky behavior, just using examples to illustrate phenomena which are frequently misunderstood. Think about fire-walking (magic, spirits, or simple physics??), fire breathing, or even my little childhood ‘trick’ of dipping my finger in alcohol and lighting it. All perfectly safe if done correctly… Plasma is by definition more energy dense than gas just as gas is more so than liquid, liquid more than solid matter, matter more than Bose-Einstein condensate.
 
None of that statement is correct without providing further qualifying information. For example, am I incorrect if I state that liquid is colder than ice? No – if I provide the further information that the liquid is propane at ambient pressure, and the ice is water ice, also at ambient pressure. So, would you say that a hydrogen plasma is more energy-dense than, say, argon gas at the same temperature and pressure? Now try a little thought experiment. Take a litre of gas (say, air) and a litre of water. Now heat both to 100C. Do you think you would need to plunge your hand into both the gas and the water in order to ne able to work out which one has the greater energy density? I would hope not – consequently,  there is no prize for the correct answer. With liquids and solids, the argument with respect to energy density turns on the relative specific heats of the materials in question. With some notable exceptions, solids generally have a higher specific heat than liquids, so separating special case exemptions, your statement is generally incorrect with respect to liquid and solid energy density. The last part of that paragraph “matter more than Bose-Einstein condensate” literally has no meaning whatsoever in the real world. Are you really suggesting that BOC’s are not “matter”???
 
Fluorescent tubes are a misleading example. Plasma is generally very hot. Lightning is naturally occurring plasma.
 
Fluorescent tubes are not a misleading example. I specifically chose that example to illustrate the distinction between temperature and energy density – a point you have obviously not yet grasped and understood, unless you are also determined to maintain that 20,000C is not hot?  To say Lightning is naturally occurring plasma” is not only misleading, but also technically incorrect. The flash of light that we refer to as ‘lightning’ is an electrical discharge through ionised air. Lightning is a very interesting phenomenon, too complex to discuss here (now). For example, consider this: the breakdown potential of air is of the order of 30,000 V/cm. Lightning bolts are of the order of kilometers in length, yet the static potential of a lightning discharge is a very small fraction of the many billions of volts that are seemingly required by the breakdown potential times the  arc length. Opportunity for some interesting homework! You can easily convince yourself that the flash of light (lightning) that you see is not (primarily) ‘plasma’ because the plasma produced by the electrical discharge takes a finite time to decay after the discharge ceases – and the flash has disappeared.
 
The plasma surrounding an ablative shield contains all the energy continually created/replenished by the drag minus that which is carried off by dissipating plasma; if there wasn’t a hell of a lot of energy there wouldn’t be enough to create or sustain the plasma… 
 
“a hell of a lot of energy” What are the SI units corresponding to that? Actually, depending on the circumstances, it may take very little energy to create and maintain a plasma. It is tempting to drift towards the high end when thinking about plasmas: for example, the sun is a plasma ball – extremely hot and extremely energy-dense. Outer space is also an almost fully-ionised plasma – extremely cold, with a very, very low energy-density. So it is critically important to specify which plasma we are referring to!
 
Consider water gas in the form of steam; a tiny bit for a very short while might not hurt you but too much will scold you and yet more will kill you
 
Can I presume on everyone’s goodwill to take the opportunity to introduce a bit of levity via a quite lame (Grand)dad joke? too much will scold you … no, no, no – it is General Factotum that will scold you (a fate worse than death), whereas steam will merely scald you, with a good chance that you will recover with your dignity mostly intact!
 
Apologies to the lone reader who persevered to the end.
 

Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 6 2026 10:57 utc | 390

Looks like they finally scared investors out of gold, silver and stocks into bonds – US 30 year yield is down 5 basis points.
Posted by: unimperator | Feb 5 2026 16:53 utc | 272

 
Note that gold and silver are still traded above levels from January 26.
voided was a 30day pricing rally, nothing more.

Posted by: MAKK | Feb 6 2026 11:15 utc | 392

Apologies to the lone reader who persevered to the end. 
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 6 2026 10:57 utc | 390
 
Your input is always good. The world of physics is quite different to the world we see and feel. A different discipline and requires a different line of thought. The neon light and the plasma cutting torch that I used in my mates workshop …..

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 6 2026 11:32 utc | 394

 unimperator | Feb 6 2026 11:05 utc | 391
 
Its a paper dump. Like dumping paper on a bonfire to smother it.  It can dampen the flames for a bit, but in the end it is just more fuel for the flames. Shanghai is buggering up London and New York business methods.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 6 2026 11:37 utc | 396

Thanks to b for the thread cleanup!

Posted by: malenkov | Feb 6 2026 11:59 utc | 398

339 General Factotum– “I’m dismayed by the tiff between Sebgo and LoveDonbass. I recognise ..”
 
Luvd is always looking to set someone up as a punching bag (truth is not important for it)– then it can brandish it’s plumes as the most virtuous, most know all of all.

Posted by: Lavieja | Feb 6 2026 12:22 utc | 400