News & views not related to the wars in Ukraine …
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February 18, 2026
Open (Not Ukraine) Thread 2026-042
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Could be TACO but looking like it won’t be. Gee wiz where are all the “No New Wars” MAGA folks these days? Certainly not chiming in at MoA. Of course I hope it’s all a bluff, but whatever kompromat Epstein gave Bibi and the Izzies on Trump, it appears to be enough to leverage for *another* illegal bombing raid or ten. This was all so predictable from the minute the news broke about the *also* illegal assassination of Gen. Soleimani, also done for Trump’s Zionist Supremacist owners.
I expect a Gulf of Tonkin type incident any day now, assuredly to occur on Friday night or Saturday morning US time, after the markets have closed for the week. And on the Jews’ “holy” day.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 19 2026 2:41 utc | 102
Col. Wilkerson on Kim Ivins. He witnessed Mossad take over the Pentagon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAu64zvCCck
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 19 2026 2:43 utc | 103
Yes, Tucker was detained in Isn’tReal. Huckabee has done LESS than nothing to defend the Christian population of occupied Palestine (aka Isn’tReal).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNJdCCJombw
Confirming the Daily Mail quote from earlier in the thread.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 19 2026 2:44 utc | 104
If the air tankers are gathering in the ME, the KC10’s, KC135’s, the KC46’s, the KC130T’s, then there is a real possibility that crazy Bibi has blown enough hot air into DJT’s ear to start a general ME war.
I am still somewhat hopeful that someone sane can call this cluster off before it explodes! Tucker? Vance? Some one DJT trusts needs to counter crazy Bibi and the fascist War Cabinet (who are actually rooting for Armageddon).
Iran and the Houthis will rain missiles on Haifa, is Bibi ready for that?
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 3:15 utc | 105
@5 steve t
Anarchism (in its classical sense) could be understood as not accepting someone else having more say than any another, as often that position of say is understood as achieved by violence, or otherwise without merit.
I think there are natural hierarchies that form in various circumstance, but they are not formal or impersonal like political hierarchies, are essentially voluntary.
So I don’t see anarchists as trying to get somewhere in particular, no idealised ‘golden age’, just a philosophy and way of respect, as in the present is better without the kinds of imposition that go on. At least, most seem to walk the talk, which is something.
Confusion is probably due to conflation, tagging reactionary anarchists (politically active, breakers etc.) who set out (at least in name) to confront a system, as opposed to those who reject participating in or endorsing system.
Posted by: Ornot | Feb 19 2026 3:26 utc | 106
Huckabee is a just another fake Christian stooge boy for the IDF genociders.
The IDF has targeted Christians and continues to do so, and protects the fascist ‘settler’ movement that continues daily attacks on Christian Palestinian farms and villages.
In addition, the IDF has targeted Catholic Churches and parishioners in its airstrikes on Gaza City. Holy Name Parish and St. Propryius Greek Cathredal have both been bombed by the IDF destroying the churches, schools and community aid centers. Dozens of Catholics murdered in their own churches.
Meanwhile Big Mike lives in luxury in Jerusalem defending those who murder Christians………..
Tucker has exposed him as a fraud……..
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 3:30 utc | 107
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 3:15 utc | 106
#####
Don’t call it off. Some ships need to be sunk, the Israelis need to deploy their nuke(s), and we need the stock market to crash.
Bring in the Age of BRICS with a bang.
No more pussyfooting around.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 3:39 utc | 108
I assume you are bullshitting me but willing to take it on face value. If I am mistaken then you are a good man. If I am not mistaken, I will knock you arse over tit. An odd world.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 2:41 utc | 102
Nooo! I’m too wee to withstand the impact if this goes wrong! >.<
Also, Love you Palestine! 😀 This seems to be the new home of the Palestine sub-forum. Thank you to everyone who contributes in attention to it, and thank you michaelj72 for posting updates (and any others I’ve missed).
Posted by: titmouse | Feb 19 2026 3:55 utc | 109
Re buying metals, probably best approach is not thinking in currency terms, but of escaping fiat currencies if having enough in reserve to do so. Dealing with fiat is always a cost at each trade…usually metals sold to public high but bought near spot price by merchants.
In short it is not something anyone can speculate with easily to make a profit, but it does provide a backstop for if the banks go down etc. , as would various other kinds of investment, for in adverse. Over long haul metals tend to keep their value better than currency and are tradeable if need be otherwise.
Even copper prices suprised me. Not only do they not sell copper locally much any more (pipes, sheet etc. used to be on shelves in most hardware stores) but ordered prices of those are very high in weight terms, and ingots awkward to arrange or expensive or out of stock often.
So for bronze work and similar… ended up buying several reels of copper wire…pure scrap kg is bought from public around 9 , spot is around 10, ingots (wherever available) around 30 up to 200 or more (!) , except asia where around 15 , and wire is sold for around 20 …figured might as well buy a few kg rolls of wire extra as reserve, as it is high purity. Would have to melt it to ingot to sell to make even, or would be worth scrap price at least, so just something of use to guard against price rises or to sell if prices go high maybe.
For silver there are bars from essayers, but those have a premium of maybe 50% over spot price, which they seem to retain most of on resale (merchants probably pay closer to spot price though) .
Professional traders working the markets or large investment is something very different.
I don’t know, not a calculation anyone can do for anyone else really.
Posted by: Ornot | Feb 19 2026 4:16 utc | 110
Below is a link from a ZH posting about the advances China is making in robotics…..you be the judge
https://youtu.be/mUmlv814aJo
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 19 2026 4:23 utc | 111
@110 titmouse
Just wondering where the Palestine thread evolves into.
The unhappy current impasse there is going to eventually be taken up as part of one kind or another broader set of events it seems.
Posted by: Ornot | Feb 19 2026 4:25 utc | 112
This is a not bad explanation of what is going on in silver. This could end in a bloodbath for some.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQtrK_hJOIo
Posted by: ftp | Feb 19 2026 5:15 utc | 113
The shame… and the ‘old mare’ I found on a different trail still resists the bridle…Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 1:58 utc | 91 I doubt you have lived the life. When a horse drops its head in the thick gidgee it is a wild ride. You have not been there.
***************
This may be an ideal opportunity for a light-hearted object lesson. Without wishing to appear critical, it highlights the sort of problems two people can have when attempting to communicate, even when using their identical, native-speaker, first language; if one happens to be afflicted by the poisonous curse of having their brain fried by academia, and the other has their brain in a pristine state fully locked into the layman’s parlance.
My earlier post unfortunately referred to “the bridal trail” – which could be ridiculed, at worst, in circles of academic rigour as shameful ignorance, carelessness, and gross lack of attention to detail – or, at best, as one of those inadvertent ‘poetic’ typos. My correction (in shame) straightened this to “the bridle trail” and I couldn’t resist the temptation to reference my lovely wife in the context of ‘the old grey mare’ to the ‘mare’ I found long ago on ‘the bridal trail’… I know, I know… stupid ‘Dad joke’ – and possibly went very slightly over the head of at least one reader.
However, I thought the ‘joke’ was funny enough, and I was naive enough, to not be too embarrassed by it – but it was nowhere near as funny as imagining the sight of me on a horse bolting through the Gidgee (Mulga). Peter is correct – I have never been there on a horse. But would I be out of order to suggest Peter is merely adapting his stories from Aussie Classics simply because he has not ridden a horse along steep snig-tracks in mountainous hardwood forests, or discount being trapped between two small creeks on flat country as an irrelevant inconvenience because he hadn’t had the opportunity to display his skill by improvising a flying fox to get urgent prescription medicine across a very large coastal river, the only crossing for which was flooded for almost two weeks?
As one wise man once said “Different world, different times. We are what we are…”
PS. I have never read Humbolt. Can you recommend a couple of his (assuming he us a man) best works?
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 5:27 utc | 114
Is this the straw that breaks AI’s back?
Bill Gates a no-show at India AI summit, event marred by organisational chaos
Bill Gates pulled out of India’s AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote address on Thursday, dealing another blow to a flagship event already marred by organisational lapses, a robot bungle and delegate complaints over traffic disruptions.
I expect Bill Gates pulled out because of Epstein but if AI can’t organize its own summit, what good can it be?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Feb 19 2026 5:30 utc | 115
This statement by Mr. Peskov, in response to RBK asking him to comment on a claim in The Economist about “a deal with the US for 12 trillion dollars on the condition of lifting sanctions” is a signal — but not for Russians, not for Washington, and certainly not for Kiev or London.
Peskov: “We maintain our interest in resuming trade, economic, and investment cooperation with the US. It could truly be mutually beneficial.”
This is a signal to our most beloved, wonderful, incredible, boundlessly friendly, strategic, wise, and red-bannered Chinese elder brothers and partners from Beijing — a signal that Russia, even under the conditions of the SMO, has still retained a certain amount of self-respect, memory, and the ability to draw conclusions.
Indonesia places bonds in yuan and receives billions of yuan from Chinese investors through Hong Kong at 3–4%, yet we are not allowed to place federal loan bonds in yuan in Chinese infrastructure, and haven’t been since 2017, despite all requests. We have to place them at around 7% among “our own” on the Moscow Exchange. Meanwhile, we’re supposedly friends and allies, while Indonesia has American “training” naval bases being built there. Okaaay. Noted.
The idea of replacing Venezuelan oil with Russian oil didn’t go through, because the Chinese preferred to sign a strategic energy cooperation agreement with Canadian PM Carney and buy Canadian oil at full price (and even buy more of it than Russian oil, slightly reducing the demanded discount) — because Canadians are sexy and prestigious, while we’re bast-shoe peasants. And we don’t have any options, anyway, right? Only the Chinese? Okaaay. Noted.
Regarding the unwillingness of our Chinese partners to sell us modern machine tools (at any price) — there are plenty of complaints about this both publicly and in the corridors of the agencies that handle import substitution. Okay. We noted that, too.
Well, if you keep all that in mind, you can recall various other interesting words. For example, “multi-vector policy”. A useful word. Though many don’t appreciate it.
Posted by: Crimson Digest | Feb 19 2026 5:42 utc | 116
George Galloway seems to think it is all kicking off in the next few hours, days at most.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJuF84e3veg
IMO Trump isn’t bluffing. Willingly or coerced, seems the Trumptard is going to war.
We may finally see the end of Israel. Or life on earth.
Good luck all.
Posted by: ftp | Feb 19 2026 5:44 utc | 117
There was bullshit about floods in NSW a few years back…. I have no time for that sort of crap General, your smart arse crap I have no time for either.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 2:15 utc | 93
*******************
Was that the 1954 floods? https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/42812237 Were you around then? Oh – now I remember, you were born on 25 December, 1960. So you probably wouldn’t remember that flood, so you wouldn’t have seen our improvised flying fox. You would have loved its simplicity and effectiveness…
But perhaps you should alert The National Library of Australia about the bullshit on their records?
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 5:47 utc | 118
Below is a link from a ZH posting about the advances China is making in robotics…..you be the judge
IMHO? the way of the terracotta army.
The humanoids making other humanoids, posted by LD the other day, showed one fumbling with picking up nuts and bolts from a box. Yeah well, this was just a stupid promotional video and they’ll get only more nimble in the future, but sorting ‘things’ is what current AI by design will ever be able to do, and that is not true procreation among other things.
To put more flesh on my argument, the ‘things’ that current AI can by design handle and hence discern are – strictly speaking using maths parlance – (discrete approximations to) manifolds, i. e. nothing but compositions of numeral relations. Thus relates the epistemological qualities of input to output. No magic involved.
Unless you believe “the universe” is computational, perhaps. I suggest the term logos for that. The approach is about as hopeful as trying to count all ‘things’ that there are.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 5:49 utc | 119
That should read 121 | Prosto Citizen, right? 🙂 argh —
I’ll help myself to the door, thanks much.
G’night all
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 6:04 utc | 120
Posted by: Crimson Digest | Feb 19 2026 5:42 utc | 117
#####
IMO, the Chinese cutting a trade deal with Canada is really China cutting a trade deal with the UK, right on America’s border for oil that would have otherwise gone to America.
I think it is clever to create a wedge in Canadian/US trade and to remove some resources from going to America and sending them to China instead.
What the Chinese won in those negotiations was the ability to build assembly plants for Chinese EVs in Canada, which will hurt the big American automakers. It’s the beginning of wrecking the US automotive market, not just ICE, but also Teslas and hybrids.
A tacit admission that Chinese autos are the future for the West. The American ICE dominance has run its course.
The Chinese and the Russians are not fixated on one front or domain. They are happy to battle with the Empire everywhere at the same time. Africa, automotives, space programs, supply chains, bonds, etc.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 6:10 utc | 121
A coup d’état took place in a village in the Kyiv region 😀
Local deputies removed the military administration in the village of Chabany in the Kyiv region. The military complained to the police and the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office.
What caused the uprising of the villagers is not reported, but it is known that the main replenishment channel for the Armed Forces of Ukraine was small villages, where the TCC arranges raids. There is no data on what is happening in the village now.
Source
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 19 2026 6:17 utc | 122
The Indo-US Trade Agreement: An Unequal Treaty Reminiscent of the Colonial Era
https://mronline.org/2026/02/16/an-unequal-treaty-reminiscent-of-the-colonial-era/
“The Indo-US Trade Agreement, even leaving aside specific provisions, has two unusual features that mark it out as an Unequal Treaty of the sort that imperial powers used to impose on countries of the global south they did not directly rule.
The first is the stipulation that, leaving aside commodities excluded altogether from the purview of the agreement, while the US would impose 18% import duty on Indian goods, India would impose, according to Donald Trump’s rough description, zero import duty on America’s goods. To have an agreement that officially institutionalizes such a difference in tariff rates is most bizarre.
It amounts to the US adopting a ‘beggar-they-neighbour’ policy where the ‘neighbor’ who is being reduced to the status of a ‘beggar’ actually signs an agreement consenting to being reduced to such a status. Such an Unequal Treaty can only be imposed by one country upon another. The BJP-led government, no matter what it pretends, has been arm-twisted by the US into signing this Agreement.
This then becomes the first time in the history of post-independence India that the government of our free country has behaved in so craven a manner as to sign an Unequal Treaty that is reminiscent of colonial times.
The two most obvious implications of this Unequal Treaty are, first, with regard to the purchase of Russian oil…”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 19 2026 6:20 utc | 123
Syriana Analysis: Neil Oliver on Epstein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAwOHMjEQF8
“Tonight Syriana Analysis maps how influence networks, finance, media narratives, and new digital systems shape policies in the West…”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Feb 19 2026 6:24 utc | 124
Worth reposting…
Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul – all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair. Not a president. Not even a man. Just the diseased distillation of everything this country swears it isn’t but has always been – arrogance dressed up as exceptionalism, stupidity passed off as common sense, cruelty sold as toughness, greed exalted as ambition, and corruption worshipped like gospel. It is America’s shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol proving that when a nation kneels before money, power, and spite, it doesn’t just lose its soul – it sh*ts out this bloated obscenity and calls it a leader.”
~ some guy on substack
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 19 2026 6:24 utc | 125
These are short videos of how the DPRK looks at a street level during daytime and at night.
https://x.com/JustCherry__/status/2022634747013501436
Looks as nice as many Western cities.
Probably better.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 6:25 utc | 126
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 5:49 utc | 120
(discrete approximations to) manifolds, i. e. nothing but compositions of numeral relations. Thus relates the epistemological qualities of input to output.
I suppose at the most basic level (simple enough for me to understand), all (present day) computer actions. reactions, representations, and relations reduce to ‘numerals’ consisting of string of 0’s and 1’s.
Unless you believe “the universe” is computational, perhaps. I suggest the term logos for that.
I’ve never been comfortable with the notion of computational universe. The concept, to me, limits the scope of reality. I doubt any ‘thing‘ would go to the trouble of creating a simulation to confuse me into thinking that the simulation of reality that it was simulating was simulated to instill the doubt in my simulated consciousness that the reality of the simulated simulation that was simulated for this purpose was actually for the simple purpose of confusing me… On second thoughts, I think it may have worked!
The approach is about as hopeful as trying to count all ‘things’ that there are.
Wasn’t it Einstein who said something along the lines : “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”
So it probably is hopelessly futile.
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 6:28 utc | 127
PS. I have never read Humbolt. Can you recommend a couple of his (assuming he us a man) best works?
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 5:27 utc | 115
You have. Icing on the damper. Perhaps I remember the name wrong.
coming down here to and urbanized world when illness made me feel the heat. Killed the neighbours cats and shut down their dogs. Police were called several times because I was me. The old girl to the left, she was a tough old bird. Took a bit to get her piddly little dog shut down. Kids and hoons on the street were not an issue.
But after some years of persistence the old bird shut her dog down. After that, we got on okay. I would give her some fruit and veg and the little mongrel would come over for a pat.
As my illness progressed I didn’t get outside much. But I never saw her. The car was in the carport but no dog and no her. A boy and girl in blue came round banging on her door and looking around. I watched on Till they came over to see me. They said they were looking for her son. As far as I know, she did not have a son. It turned out the stupid fucks were looking for me.S
But I said I haven’t seen her for awhile. It would be good of them to check up on her. In the days afterwards some people came around, looking around the back yard and trying the doors and windows. Then a locksmith that opens the front door. After that, the people coming and going donned gloves and masks before entering.
That tough old bird had passed on. Nobody lives there now. The boy and girl in blue that came round banging on her door and looking for me, it was about a triple murder that I was somewhat close to fourty years before then.
I like ‘conversing’ with you general, but do not try and baffle me with bullshit. You are a decade older than me so you would have been a mid teen when my father was splitting fence posts with a hammer and steel wedges. But I do tend to feel some of your talk is bullshit.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 6:37 utc | 128
@ 116
if AI can’t organize its own summit, what good can it be?
Heh. I don’t remember who it was, but I’d like to thank the bar fly who posted this article a few OT threads ago. The Wall Street Journal ran an experiment with a chatbot from a company called “Anthropic” (run by California Ideology cultists adjacent to a nutjob called Eliezer Yudkowsky, himself formerly a figure of OpenAI) where they had it organize their news room’s vending machine. Hilarity ensued. Google it, because I don’t feel like linking it. I’m lazy, sue me.
@ 120
Perhaps a simpler way to put it is that “AI” is always a computer program and a computer program is by nature nothing more than a logic system. Doesn’t matter how complicated the logic system is, it cannot cope with existence within a complex system, because complex systems defy mathematical representation. This is the central thesis of Jobst Landgrebe and Barry Smith’s book “Why Computers Will Never Rule the World”, which is a great read for anyone interested in the nitty gritty of it all. The Greco-French philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis developed a critique of what he called “ensidic” logic that parallels these thoughts as well, although not directed (afaik) at AI research.
The robots falling over and fucking up is funny. Robotics pioneers in the west have not been fans of humanoid robots for a long time, until a certain appreciator of government subsidies realized he could save his faltering car business by dazzling investors with them, even when they’re actually a guy in a suit, or more recently teleoperated by a guy in VR goggles. In East Asia, they’ve been big for a while. On the UK show “QI” they had one dance with a British comedienne, which was an impressive demo. Of course after all these years that robot is probably sitting in storage somewhere.
Posted by: fnord | Feb 19 2026 6:43 utc | 129
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 6:28 utc | 130
#####
This line of inquiry is constrained by how we (humans) assume and perceive everything from a human perspective.
We do not know what we do not know. I come across this often in conversations about theism where the default for many is to anthropomorphize God.
I have no idea what shape God takes, I know nothing about what senses and to what degree of fidelity God possesses. I know nothing about God’s aims or desires, I cannot fathom how the desires of a God comes to be.
Clearly, anthropomorphizing God is fraught with potential errors. I can’t imagine that which I have no frame of reference for. God (the creative force of reality) remains a mystery. Perhaps it must.
Are we in a simulation? Are you and I in individuated simulations? If we’re in the same simulation, whose perspective can we consider canon or the master view? Between us, whose simulation is more authentic or has more weight in the hierarchy of simulations? Or are they all equal in meaning and value?
For who has these simulations been created? Do I have agency in this simulation?
Don’t get me started on predestination and how time may be flat rather than linear…
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 6:45 utc | 130
Jehova, the godless god of the wandering tribe. The prophets the believers of the godless god don’t believe in… Mayhem and murder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYkbqzWVHZI
The born agains from either prophet I don’t have much time for. The tribe itself, Europeans and we watch the genocide on social media. Bullshitted to by the Epstein main stream media.
Dumbocracy and protesting a genocide.
https://x.com/jared_kimpton/status/2020845561906438636
https://x.com/DavidShoebridge/status/2020784713133179104
Little different from the shootemup ICE goons in America. The tribe. The Epstein Tribe. The goyim are only here to serve the jews.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 7:00 utc | 131
Peter AU1,
Simple question: Are you up for a visit, yes or no?
If yes; contact me via my phone or email and we’ll arrange a time.
If no; why not?
Cheers,
Andrew
Posted by: Andrew Celestina | Feb 19 2026 7:11 utc | 132
I reluctantly agree that Peter has a point on both the General and Sebgo. They differ in style, but not in code: both keep spinning circles about “me/me not” without adding much value to the topical discussion. Incidentally, they both entered the MoA mainstream with a point on physics speculations. I’ll not be paranoid. If no substance is to come forth, I shall ignore them.
And substance would be lacking. The plasma paper linked to by the general reads on p.3:
The electric field inside an ideal parallel plate capacitor is simply […] pointing in the negative direction, where σ is the surface charge density (charge per unit area) of the plate, or slab in this case, Q is the total charge of the slab and A is its area. Note that the electric field is uniform between the slabs and it does not depend on their area, only on their thickness and number density. The most common way of finding the electric field in a capacitor is done using Gauss’ Law […], where, in our case, […] is the volume charge density. We won’t go into detail here, but this is a very beautiful derivation which uses the symmetry of the system.
Like, what?! You trying to sell this off as freaking plasma physics?!? I have an intermolecular bridge to sell for you, all selfmade, and ships to West Africa well, promise —
I’m not going to argue about the price if discussing the above paper be part of the deal. Rather, I would like other barflies with pertinent knowledge – like Tom? – to comment on the paragraph above, so everyone can have a view.
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 7:20 utc | 133
Why The Elites Are Quiet About Epstein
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 18 2026 21:32 utc | 34
—
Not only is the entire file intact, the contents of the article relating are available for free online anyway.
Titled “Happy Birthday Barbara” from May 2007, from Chicago, by Andrew Clark.
The details of the dinner came to public attention at trial.
The Host’s Table (Conrad Black):
- Anna Wintour (Vogue Editor-in-Chief)
- Barry Humphries (Actor, known as Dame Edna Everage)
- Ahmet Ertegun (Founder of Atlantic Records)
- Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild: The company manages investments in The Economist Group, owner of The Economist magazine,
- Kate Ford (Widow of Henry Ford II)
- Arianna von Hohenlohe – A 24-year old princess who the next year married Dixon Boardman, the inspiration for a character in Tom Wolfe’s the Bonfire of the Vanities
The Birthday Girl’s Table (Barbara Amiel):
- Henry Kissinger (Former U.S. Secretary of State & War Crime Enthusiast)
- Donald Trump (then real estate mogul; he later testified that he viewed the party as a business event, now convicted felon, adjudicated rapist.
- Tina Brown (Former editor of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair)
- Peter Jennings (ABC News anchor)
- Vernon Jordan (Advisor to Bill Clinton)
Table One (Near the Opera Singer):
- Oscar de la Renta (Fashion designer)
- Ghislaine Maxwell (Socialite & convicted sex criminal)
- Charlie Rose (Talk show host
ref ==> https://dougaldlamont.substack.com/p/files-showed-jeffrey-epstein-was
I previously had held Ahmet Ertegun is esteem for Altlantic Records. This circle must be ended.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 7:34 utc | 134
While America and friends are gearing up jets, missiles, bombs, big toys to destroy, mass killings of another country on its due hit-list. China – the civilized world is building the future.
When you watch the ‘Spring Festival Gala 2026’ celebrating the children, robots, culture, people, singing, dancing, arts all fused into moments of oneness. Light is shone, the future of humanity lies in one hemisphere. Darkness and turmoil in the other.
Which would you choose?
I have never seen anything like this in Europe or North America! it is truly breath taking and awe-inspiring.
‘Tonight is not about doing business with the world, but celebrating with friends all corners of the globe!’ from the Spring Gala Festival 2026 – China
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O0TB6QL_aI&list=RD1O0TB6QL_aI&start_radio=1
Posted by: CrazyCanuck | Feb 19 2026 7:43 utc | 135
So-called common sense is too often conventional wisdom.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Feb 19 2026 0:14 utc | 66
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I am sentimental to a fault about personal remembrances. I think it a necessary aid to having empathy for events that I was not involved in. But history is a ghost story. It is mostly useless except to historians.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 7:48 utc | 136
Posted by: CrazyCanuck | Feb 19 2026 7:43 utc | 137
(sarcasm)
Not fair! It’s clear that israel and the US celebrate children, too. Just in a different way.
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 19 2026 7:50 utc | 137
Andrew Celestina | Feb 19 2026 7:11 utc | 136
I knew the name but took a bit to remember. I lost my old email addy. Contact b and refer him to this post/comment.
B has my current email addy that I use to comment. We are quite diverse in our thoughts Andrew. I am what I am and everyone else is what they are.
I have never killed anyone yet so many have died. My mind often goes back to the music of my youth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMjlrghlFX8&list=RDt3TPmPOrDEk&index=2
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 7:59 utc | 138
The Chinese will be providing signals ISR as they did in the 12-day war.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 2:25 utc | 98
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The coming Iran action is all about radar. Can the USA knock them out faster than Iran can stand them up?
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 8:04 utc | 139
Trump knows that after attacking Iran he will be dispensable. It looks like as a narcissist he just enjoys having his victims wait but there is more than that. With a logic based entirely on money deals he tries to satisfies all sides but cannot because of the deep contradictions in the scheme.
Posted by: Tom | Feb 19 2026 8:05 utc | 140
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 7:34 utc | 136
God how I hate them so. I won’t be here but the day is coming….
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 19 2026 8:08 utc | 141
Too Scents @ 136:
At least the former members of Avnet Ertegun / Atlantic Records’s biggest client Led Zeppelin appear not to have been invited to that soiree.
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Feb 19 2026 8:55 utc | 142
Ahmet Ertegun, not Avnet Ertegun!
Spellcheck strikes again!
Posted by: Refinnejenna | Feb 19 2026 8:56 utc | 143
Memories. My son burned out my bikes. Out on a job about when he had finished school, the bike I liked with a comfortable seat and a tweak of the throttle would lift its front wheel out of a bad situation, he had it blowing oily snot out its breather and the engine was covered in oil. Bugger. Had to get him another bike. The flying side of mustering was usually from dawn to early afternoon. He wanted a red bike because his mates had red bikes, so I head into the red bike shop. The bloke there was a bikie type that wore a black jacket and long hair. I said half the money now and the other half in two weeks. A disagreeable jerk that said all the money up front.
So I went over to the green bike shop. He sold guns as well as bikes, did not require long hair or black jacket. Half now, the rest in two weeks. Not a problem so we loaded the green bike and I headed back out. Son was a bit disappointed about me buying him a green bike instead of a red bike but after that he bought green bikes.
My sons mate told me about a funny situation one time. A mob of boys in that class (I guess nobody had bred girls that year) and a male teacher that was a good bloke. I had a radio with loudspeaker in the house. One day off so I went for a fly about the place. Saw a mob of goats so called the son. He was in the midst of an on air lesson. The teacher heard me and said don’t go. Too late, he was already gone. The other kids listened to the sounds of silence.
Another day on his green bike, I called him up . He seemed to be dicking about a bit so I tell him to get out here. After awhile he comes on the the radio and says ‘I’m coming’. We got the goats yarded and I went in an landed. He turns up a bit later.
The bike is bent and he was missing bark.
It was then I realised he had had a buster while coming out fast. It had been lights out for him for a bit.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 9:08 utc | 144
Andrew
I remember you better now. peterwau2014 at gmail. add on the dot com.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 9:28 utc | 145
Another day on his green bike
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 9:08 utc | 146
—
I wrecked a Kawaski 750 triple going flat out off a bridge where the road took an unexpected jog over a creek. I must have flown a hundred meters before I hit the ground. The wheels were torn off the bike. My fall was broken by a row of tall tobacco just before harvest. I was completely unharmed, saved by tobacco.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 9:28 utc | 146
Probably better.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 6:25 utc | 128
******************
Much, much better. Where is the vandalism, garbage, street crime, homelessness? Homelessness in North Korea is officially zero. Not bad for a repressive, poverty-stricken, ‘Hermit Kingdom’ dictatorship.
Andre Vltchek made some great videos of many countries. “The Faces of North Korea” was one that I liked best. He told – and showed – people of a country far different to what we have been told in the West. Highly recommended:
https://youtu.be/8yqBrDsXXwc
PS. I trust you have forgiven the ‘general impertinence’ of reference to that fictitious (?) character that goes by the pseudonym of “de Lubbly Mr Bass”…
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 9:43 utc | 147
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 6:45 utc | 132
***************
Simulations… predestination …. the nature of divinity… I find them all somewhat interesting, but it is difficult enough to discuss these things face to face, let alone by text. One’s position depends profoundly on one’s assumptions and premises; but who has the time to set up the table? I find science to be sufficiently challenging, and a poor analog to the nature of God could be the nature of the Universe. As far as I can tell (which isn’t much past the end of my nose) the Universe can be one of two states: 1) Finite, but unbounded, or 2) Infinite, but bounded. Neither makes rational sense to a small human intellect, but here we are. I suppose a ‘description’ of God could reasonably be assumed to be much more complicated than a ‘simple’ Universe…
Similarly with Quantum Mechanics. Trying to understand Quantum Mechanics could be compared with trying to ‘understand’ God (via the pitfalls of anthropomorphism). The temptation for everyone I have discussed this with is to say ‘Ah, Quantum Mechanics is like … ” and then every analogy fails. Richard Feynman pointed out this fallacious line of reasoning quite sharply by saying that anyone who bases their reasoning on that analogy is wrong, WRONG! (with crossed arms in a big ‘X’ for emphasis!) – because Quantum Mechanics is not like anything in our real-world experience.
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 10:12 utc | 148
On DW news tonight, Phil Gayle “The Day” talked with woman with long Arabic? name, rep. of an AI company. She showed films of many dancing robots and kids together, etc. Phil Gayle said (paraphrased), ‘what is purpose of this activity? I would use AI if it meant a robot- looking robot like a tray on a roller bringing me a drink, but the humanoids give me the creeps, I wouldnt want them around me.’ The rep said, ‘oh no, it’s psychologically understood that humans will relate to humanoids because the humans automatically form a relationship with anything that looks like them.’ Phil Gayle said, ‘I see.’
Chinese-type AI selling spiel (imo they don’t really believe this) reminiscent of American pop psych mag “Psychology Today”.
too scents | Feb 19 2026 9:28 utc | 149
Sounds like a good buster. Landing in a patch of smokes. I was never a good bike rider. Front wheel would get in a wheel rut or a log at and angle and I would fall off. One time I’m laying in the dirt and the dog is still sitting on the seat. He was a better rider than me. Flying though, I never fell out of the air. It is something that stumps me greatly. Those that wished to live all died.
Me flying and my son on the ground – apart from a couple of young blokes from Cunnamulla, from the age of sixteen he was always best man on the ground. Some clown wanted to pay my son a boys wage. I got on the phone and ripped the shit out of the cunt.
He did a mans work and I expected him to be paid a mans wage.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 10:16 utc | 150
The United States has been moving assets to the Middle East recently. Possible Escalation with Iran.
Posted by: KillerDoll | Feb 19 2026 10:36 utc | 151
Prince Andrew arrested https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c70kjr9wjw0t
Posted by: BOARDINDUNDEE | Feb 19 2026 11:15 utc | 152
Bikes. That bike I liked riding, the son on coming home from school would get on it and say I’m going for a look around dad. The bike would put put till it was about a k out. Then he would open the throttle. Out on the back boundary, 20 k out I could still hear that bike going. I would listen as it came back in, throttling down to an idle about a k out and put putting back in.
Took it out one day on a job. Thought to fill in time after flying I would help walk mobs in. I did not even look at the back tire. I had had it rebuilt including new tires. Riding out, a dog on the back and a dog on the tank, Tom would ride on the back and Sal would rude on the seat looking out under the left handlebar.
Riding out I saw the yard so touched the brake and leaned into the corner Bloody son had already taken the tread off the back tire. I didn’t realize it straight away but when I touched the brake, the motor had stalled So we start sliding. I’ve got my foot on the ground and Sal’s head is jammed between my knee and the handle bars. We were sliding for a bit but something had to give. My knee popped and we went down like a bag of shit.
Saw out the job, but to head home my leg would not work to drive the truck. Son was back in school so taught the daughter to drive the truck. The kids all learned to drive in my somewhat modified roo shooting vehicle. The girls were wilder than my son.
Watching them coming down the track to the house one day – What we call whoa boys are like speed humps on steroids to divert water off a track. Eldest daughter hit that hump and launched the thing.
When the son was away at school, I had to call the daughters out if I run onto a mob of goats. Eldest daughter on a bike – I walked a mob in a fair way and they were getting hot and tired. Needed her to keep them moving. She would not move up close so it was a bit of a battle getting them to the yards.
Once yarded I landed I asked her why she would not push the goats along. She looks at me and says, “But dad, They stink”.
Another time, youngest daughter came out in the bush basher. A bit of thick scrub and her mum tells her she will not get through. Full throttle does the trick. She got through, but I had to straighten a bit of stuff up afterwards.
Watching the kids grow up at that stage of life. Nothing better.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 11:27 utc | 153
https://substack.com/home/post/p-188426985
The evidence is there, being hidden. Trump can be threatened. Who is willing to believe that Mossad/Netanyahu wouldn’t threaten him, given the stuff that’s out there?
Posted by: Eighthman | Feb 19 2026 11:34 utc | 154
Eighthman | Feb 19 2026 11:34 utc | 157
I suspect the pecking order is MI6, Mossad, CIA. An American emperor is well down the pecking order from them.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 11:42 utc | 155
Uh oh. The plasma paper does make some sense, it seems after a walk in the sunny snow. It was just not what I’d expected. [I expected that electrical permittivity is a result of particle ionization characteristics, and well, it is, but if you can just put it in there as derived from the Saha equation, it becomes an interesting approach using more classical electrodynamics – and why not?! – when it’s about density of charge in the Boltzmann ensemble]
Sorry, all. It’s okay to retract stupid commentary, I guess.
I just hope it’s not all too often mine. :/
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 11:44 utc | 156
After getting throughly thrashed in Sept 2024 and then in June 2025; do Barflies really believe Netanyahu is braying for war on Iran ?
my guess is the IDF AD etc needs at least 2 years to refit and recover.
thoughts?
Posted by: Exile | Feb 19 2026 11:48 utc | 157
do Barflies really believe Netanyahu is braying for war on Iran ?
Posted by: Exile | Feb 19 2026 11:48 utc | 160
—
Why shouldn’t he if the USA takes the heat?
It seems that the objective is to take out Iran’s launch capability with air strikes led by the US. A battle of Western EW against Iran’s Radars.
Who will be bamboozled by the discombobulator?
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 11:58 utc | 158
Exile | Feb 19 2026 11:48 utc | 160
Its an extremist belief system. Normal sanity has no place in extremist beliefs.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 12:13 utc | 159
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 7:20 utc | 135
*********
I will happily keep company with Sebgo, I’ve learnt lots from him, and look forward to understanding more of his country from his perspective. I guess foreigners to Australia (die Ausländer, Persiflo?) would form differing views of Australia based solely on my comments or separately on Peter’s… Which of those would be correct: those based on me, him, both, neither? Or is the question poorly formed, and thus the answer meaningless?
If no substance is to come forth, I shall ignore them.
What ‘substance’ would satisfy your requirement? I’m quite content to be ignored, but I find it hard to pass over genuine misunderstanding – so I’ll bite on the intermolecular bridge deal. I don’t have one in my collection, and since there will be no argument on price, it’s a deal I can’t refuse?
Let me take the time to “set the table”. As you know, I have a PhD in Plasma Physics. I have worked on/researched experimental Tokomak devices, along with several other high energy experimental plasmas. That is a minor point. I referenced a paper “Heuristic derivations of basic plasma parameters“, written by Arturo Dominguez. The lecture from which the notes were distilled was intended to be a brief introduction to what is considered to be the principal “must know” characteristics of plasma. Professor Arturo Dominguez joined the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in 2012. You can contact him directly via email at adomingu@pppl.gov if you wish to discuss any aspect of his lecture notes in further detail. That is my second, and major point: the paper is written by a lecturer at one of the world’s leading plasma research laboratories. It would be surprising, but not completely impossible, if he were to make a silly mistake. To paraphrase Sun Tzu or some other wise man “If you’re going to take a shot at a leading researcher, you’d better make sure you don’t miss”…
And substance would be lacking. The plasma paper linked to by the general reads on p.3:
“The electric field inside an ideal parallel plate capacitor is simply […] pointing in the negative direction, where σ is the surface charge density (charge per unit area) of the plate, or slab in this case, Q is the total charge of the slab and A is its area. Note that the electric field is uniform between the slabs and it does not depend on their area, only on their thickness and number density. The most common way of finding the electric field in a capacitor is done using Gauss’ Law […], where, in our case, […] is the volume charge density. We won’t go into detail here, but this is a very beautiful derivation which uses the symmetry of the system.”
Like, what?! You trying to sell this off as freaking plasma physics?!? I have an intermolecular bridge to sell for you, all selfmade, and ships to West Africa well, promise —
So, finally – we come to my attempt to provide the “substance”…
Note that Section 4 page 2) of the above paper introduces a “Plasma Thought Experiment” where we imagine a rectangular box of plasma. Because the ions and electrons in the plasma are free to move, and plasmas are quasi-neutral non-locally, an isolated plasma cannot sustain an imposed electric field – the ions and or electrons re-organise their distribution to oppose the imposed field, thus cancelling it. Just like electrons in a metal. You know you cannot have an electric field within a metal, because the electrons are free to move? You knew metals satisfy all the requirements of a plasma, so they can be grouped along with plasmas? That rusty old anvil in the shed is a plasma?! Of course, you knew that is why/how Faraday cages function? And why mesh shields in microwave ovens perform the same function?
Back to the thought experiment: We move all the electrons uniformly a distance ‘delta x’ to the left. There is now an electric field pointing to the left ( in the ‘negative’ direction ) because by convention an electric field points from positive to negative charge distribution. In the case of the ‘thought experiment’ plasma slab, in the limit where delta x approaches zero, the charge density of the plasma slab, σ, now in this case of the infinitesimally thin slab, is analogous to the surface charge density (or charge per unit area) of a flat plate capacitor, and Q is the total charge of the slab and A is the area of the slab. Because of the geometry of the ‘plasma slab’, the electric field is uniform between the positive and negative slabs and is independent of area. It is important to understand this, and the reasons why it is so. The electric field in this ‘plasma thought experiment’ example depends only on the thickness and number density of charge in the slabs.
I assume that you have no problem with Gauss’s Law ( Div dot E = Rho/Epsilon-nought ?) In this ‘thought Experiment, Rho is just the charge of an electron times the number of electrons in a unit volume. That is, the electron volume charge density.
So, we know the strength and direction of the electric field (aren’t vectors wonderful??) in this idealised plasma block. Now consider an electron in the middle of the block – it feels a force due to electric field, and we can calculate that force (and its direction, because we are using vectors!)
So, we now have the force on one electron in the electric field imposed externally on the plasma. Referring to equation 7, knowing the force, we can equate the Newtonian force, ma, with the electromotive force, eE, then substituting the electric field derived above in terms of plasma volume charge density, charge and mass of an electron, and infinitesimal distance, delta x, we can write the acceleration of the electron in the imposed electric field in terms of electron mass, electron charge, plasma volume charge density, epsilon-nought, and distance. (This is just trying to put Eq. 7 in English words to assist understanding … hopefully). Those with maths ability a bit above high school will recognise the final form of Eq.7 as that of a Harmonic Oscillator, and be able to immediately write down the frequency of the oscillator. The significance of this frequency “Omega -p,e”, which is termed the electron plasma frequency for this particular plasma, is it describes the ‘natural frequency’ of electrons in this particular plasma. Note that the electron plasma frequency is proportional to the root of the volume charge density, and inversely proportional to the root of the mass of the plasma particles. If we go through a similar thought experiment, we can derive the ion plasma frequency, which also depends proportionally on the root of the ion charge density, but because of the inverse relation of the dependence of plasma frequency on the root of the mass, the much heavier mass of ions results in in a significantly different value of ion plasma frequency to that of the electron plasma frequency.
The reader who has persevered to this point is now in a good position to understand why (and how!) electromagnetic waves (radio) of a carefully selected frequency, which depends critically on the known plasma parameters can easily be used to penetrate a plasma – transmit and receive. The now-knowledgeable reader can sally forth and bust the myth of the “impenetrable Plasma”!
I’m not going to argue about the price if discussing the above paper be part of the deal. Rather, I would like other barflies with pertinent knowledge – like Tom? – to comment on the paragraph above, so everyone can have a view.
I agree with Persiflo. I’d like to hear better, more accurate, and concise explanations, and recognised references – along with the expounder’s credentials and experience to validate their view. By the way, the above is not my ‘view’, it is an attempt to put into words an explanation of repeatable, verifiable experiments that support theory, along with falsifiable hypotheses.
I’m sure that Persiflo, along with most other barflies, would not be very enthusiastic if on their next international flight there was a conga line of self-proclaimed expert pilots .
By the way, you mention delivery of your Intermolecular Bridge to West Africa. Does the same kind offer apply to rural NSW in Australia?
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 12:29 utc | 160
persiflo | Feb 19 2026 11:44 utc | 159
The boffins of the west have not broken through the plasma barrier. The Russians and Chinese are flying in it. The Persians not far behind.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Feb 19 2026 12:30 utc | 161
Sorry, all. It’s okay to retract stupid commentary, I guess. I just hope it’s not all too often mine. :/
Posted by: persiflo | Feb 19 2026 11:44 utc | 159
****************
All good, Persiflo! Nice touch to put in the Saha Eq (wish I had thought of that!). I hope you don’t detect any nastiness’ in my long-winded response. I actually found it useful to go through the exercise of trying to make a few opaque sections a bit more understandable. Hope it doesn’t muddy the waters unnecessarily…
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 12:35 utc | 162
America is very confident in their EW weapon. It was tested in the snatch and grab in Venezuala and their intelligence reported it is a game changer.
So this war seems winnable to America. And if they go ahead they are going to be in a situation of high risk because they have not enough armaments to fack up if the EW doesn’t work as expected. Accept of course nukes.
This is a very dangerous time and everyone knows this.
The last US bond sale had the lowest amount of foreign buyers in five years. Don’t need to buy US bonds if you now trade in local currency and not US dollars. AI hasn’t brought the results that the US expected. The war against Russia is turning into a Vietnam for America, albeit without body bags. America needs to show muscle right now. A back down against Iran might be a quick pathway to decline for America.
Insider reports from China are saying war in the next two weeks is 90% sure.
If I am a doomsdayer then so be it. But I have carefully read the Pentagon intelligence briefing about their EW experience in Venezuala when not one missile locked on to an aircraft. That is what has changed for them.
I agree with you Two Cents. eW versus radar.
Posted by: Bingo | Feb 19 2026 12:42 utc | 163
Pearls afore swine! Scumbags attempting to divert and ignore … why bother?
hasbarats/ 77 / ii? Just following scripts?
The OK coral is filling up and this will end in tears. The End for the unsustainable, illegal Entity colonial madness of the Zionist eschatology purchasers.
The story of the doom merchant walking up and down Oxford street and Piccadilly and Hyde park promising ‘the end of the world’ ALWAYS ends with a pfft damp squib disappearance.. until the next time!
The dumb fucks really were sold on the second temple, red heiffers, the coming of whoever, the ownership of all humans as animals … but it was never going to happen.
The story so far when I fell asleep, posting the build up to the showdown, was:
🇬🇧🇮🇱🇮🇷 Royal Air Force aircraft are now operating off the coast of Israel.
Tracking:
→ A RAF Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 (RRR9959X) at 2,075 ft
→ A RAF Airbus KC2 Voyager tanker (RRR9961) at 11,875 ft, out of RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus
The two aircraft are flying in close formation off the Israeli coast, having already completed a loop around Syrian and Jordanian airspace.
This comes hours after Trump publicly named RAF Fairford as a potential strike base against Iran.
🔴 @DDGeopolitics |
Incase anyone thinks I am letting the Perfidious Great Britain out of the loop on who has been screwing over West Asia and specifically Iran, I recalled the name of the spook who was the spider at the center of that web from the 40’s to the 60’s.
perhaps there were too many links in my post from a couple days ago and b squashed it – I’ll try without any.
‘he directed the British side of the coup by radio contact from Cyprus, controlling the street mobs, thugs, prostitutes and military officers who were paid off by the Rashidians. ‘ Sound familiar barflies?
The January attempt was a rerun MO of MI6 – The Great Gamers – using the same groups as 007 Norman Derbyshire did. North Africa,West and Central Asia – the giant playing fields for the ‘Greenmantle’s riding forth’ ever since they were first sent out as crusaders by their ziolord secret masters.
Cyprus is going to get its just desserts – as will Jordan!
They really believe they will be immune or they know they will be hit and be handed a new pearl harbour / WTC that will push enough buttons of us wasters so that the kids go rushing to join up and DIE in the foreign fields, again!
Yup humans can be that dumb especially when being trusting simple folk – like pet dogs.
Time to hit the streets and demand a Stop The War coalition – that will send the media/political Narrative into a spin as their ultranationalist fascist nudge runs into grassroots collective middle finger or as us Brits use the two fingered salute!
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 19 2026 12:42 utc | 164
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 10:12 utc | 151
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 12:29 utc | 163
Thanks for the kind words.
As for me, I’ve stopped paying attention to our local “Crocodile Dundee” and his mood swings. No offense intended for Aussies.
I’m just amused that on a blog about geopolitics and ideology, someone can declare having a degree a flaw and believe that most barflies are uneducated.
Hilarious.
PS: My quantum physics professor, in his first lecture, told us that having to teach us the subject was divine punishment.
Quite a statement.
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 13:00 utc | 165
“Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 12:29 utc | 163”
General, I love your interesting posts, even if I have nothing constructive to add, and thus remain silent (behavior I’d recommend to others). I did read the paper on plasma physics you linked, and it, too, was very interesting. I loved the insight that due to the ‘massive’ difference in their masses, the positive ions in a plasma can be considered stationary compared to the electrons – much like a metal. I probably fall into the category of being able to “make sense” of it while not understanding everything. Of course, being from the U.S., I only learned one high school math, not the plethora of high school maths taught in other English-speaking countries 😉 but it seems to be enough to make sense of many things when combined with a plethora of college physics. Coincidentally, I also had a friend who worked (or works?) with tokamaks / plasma research at Los Alamos, whom I won’t name for obvious reasons.
Posted by: Dalit | Feb 19 2026 13:00 utc | 166
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 11:58 utc | 161
IMHO, this whole story about striking Iran is based on one thing.
Bibi probably managed to convince Trump that Iran had a “limited” number of missiles, especially long-range ones, and that a good attack strategy could exhaust it in a “short” time. After that, it would be “easy” to defeat it.
And above all, it seems he was “convinced” to accept losses of personnel and equipment to achieve the objective, including losses concentrated on a “sacrificed” country, Jordan, chosen because it is closer to Iran than Israel in order to attract the most part of the strikes.
That’s the only explanation for such madness.
At first view, the main role of the assembled forces will be to serve as missile defense for Israel and Jordan, perhaps including the second aircraft carrier off Israel coast.
This implies that the destroyers’ launchers will be almost exclusively loaded with anti-missile missiles.
However, experience has shown that, whether in 2024 or 2025, when Iran strike Israel, their interception rate was quite low, even with US, France and UK fighter jets helping.
And the estimate of Iran’s missile stockpiles, if it comes from Bibi, could be a blatant lie.
One might well ask what power these people have over a POTUS to make him take such a risk.
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 13:04 utc | 167
BBC News reported that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was arrested early Thursday morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office, amid allegations he shared confidential government trade documents with the late Jeffrey Epstein. The first arrest from the release of the Epstein files.
Posted by: qparker | Feb 19 2026 13:06 utc | 168
Posted by: qparker | Feb 19 2026 13:06 utc | 171
Yes, and that is the backdrop of the current bluster about new colonialism. The cognitive dissonance is deafening. And note that. as I said some time ago, leaking trade secrets and commercial info are at issue here.
Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 19 2026 13:14 utc | 169
Via
https://xcancel.com/GeromanAT
🚨⚡BREAKING: Hundreds of accounts have appeared in the last 72 hours, all of which follow Netanyahu and Reza Pahlavi. They all have the same header image.
Feb 19, 2026 · 9:07 AM UTC
You can be certain if Nuttyahoo is holed up or out of the country that the End has begun.
Their Florida homes harbouring war criminals should taste the fear of their cursed dynasties meeting extinction.
There are many such mansions, estates, superyachts between Tehran and there too!
Posted by: DunGroanin | Feb 19 2026 13:23 utc | 170
France is being shaken not only by the Epstein scandal (after all he lived in Paris) but also by the assassination of Quentin Deranque, a young militant of the “far right”, by some guys who are presumed to be Antifa, in Lyon. Just sayin’
Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 19 2026 13:24 utc | 171
my guess is the IDF AD etc needs at least 2 years to refit and recover. thoughts?
Posted by: Exile | Feb 19 2026 11:48 utc | 160
#####
The persistent issue for the Empire, in Israel and Ukraine.
Refit with what?
Towards the end of the 12-day war Iran was firing older model missiles because their drone swarms had overwhelmed the AD first.
The Iranians have more and better missiles in quantity for this round.
For some of those missiles, no AD exists.
Hypersonics aren’t just fast, they are maneuverable while in flight.
That doesn’t even go to the scarcity and expense of the actual interceptors which must be fired at least 2x for each incoming missile.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 13:25 utc | 172
I mean he was beaten to death in broad daylight on the street
Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 19 2026 13:25 utc | 173
Posted by: General Factotum | Feb 19 2026 12:29 utc | 163
Thanks for that, I just about understood enough it to understand why the plasma can be penetrable (to those who know how).
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 19 2026 13:26 utc | 174
Don’t get me started on predestination and how time may be flat rather than linear…
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 6:45 utc | 132
Tease!
Skip the predestination debacle. But at least do a short compare and contrast of flat and linear time.
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 13:26 utc | 175
I mean he was beaten to death in broad daylight on the street
Posted by: Princess Bodica | Feb 19 2026 13:25 utc | 176
—
That’s a damn shame.
Posted by: too scents | Feb 19 2026 13:29 utc | 176
“My quantum physics professor, in his first lecture, told us that having to teach us the subject was divine punishment. Quite a statement.//Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 13:00 utc | 168″
I like this famous one : “If you understand Quantum Physics, it means it was not well explained to you”.
For QP to make sense, we are maybe missing one simple (counter-intuitive) point. For example, that information can travel back in time. Or that Consciousness is born from this future reality travelling back in time to our mind. Irish Whiskey may helps.
Posted by: Asian Frog | Feb 19 2026 13:35 utc | 177
Some thoughts from Perter Turchin on how Chinese civilisation emerged and survived without the need for a Big Angry God to keep everyone in line:
Civilization without God
In short, though the Emperor had the Mandate of Heaven (akin to Western divine right of kings), societal propriety and morals derived from Confucianism.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Feb 19 2026 13:40 utc | 178
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 13:26 utc | 178
######
They are related. If predestination is real (and I believe that it is), then is time linear or is everything occuring simultaneously?
And is the distinction a matter of perception?
What if God, the immortal, omniscient, and omnipresent creative force/energy/consciousness doesn’t perceive time as linear and didn’t create it as linear. What if time’s linearity is a byproduct of the limitations of human perception?
Not precise, but that scene in Interstellar where he is watching his “past” self at one point is sort of an example of what I am talking about.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 13:48 utc | 179
Huckabee has done LESS than nothing to defend the Christian population of occupied Palestine (aka Isn’tReal).
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Feb 19 2026 2:44 utc | 106
They’re the wrong kind of Christians, for starters. To put it really mildly: Evangelicals and Dispensationalists have no use for Orthodox and Catholic Christians except as tactical allies in the war against abortion.
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 19 2026 13:52 utc | 180
Bibi want America’s sons and daughters to fight and die for their racist regime in Tel Aviv…………..and for his new war obsession with Iran, having failed to overthrow the government with paid infiltrators.
DJT needs to stand up and tell Bibi and the anti Christian war cabinet to get lost………..
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 14:00 utc | 181
Perhaps you should start buying your silver directly from the US Mint.https://www.usmint.gov/american-eagle-2023-one-ounce-silver-uncirculated-coin-23EG.html
Posted by: golddigger | Feb 18 2026 20:41 utc | 17
Surely you jest. The US Mint wants $169 for the one-ounce coin in your link. This is roughly twice the price one pays at a site like golddealer dot com, which delivers as soon as the customer’s check clears the bank.
Posted by: malenkov | Feb 19 2026 14:05 utc | 182
When the china/russia IR satellite constellations show a US/Israel attack about to take place Iran could drone/missile strike close UK/US air bases to take out a critical percent of EW planes, AWACS, strato tankers, radars, ammunition. This would blunt US/Israel bombing ops because without refueling and IR the air based weapons may not reach much of Iran. Hitting bases air assets and IR early is much easier than hitting air assets already in the air for Iran.
Inside Iran drone ops, sabotage, assassins would still be a problem. US Navy cruise missiles would still be a problem, but very few drone/missile “tests” near US Navy formations would be needed right now to push the US Navy out further which will limit cruise missile damage range.
Proactive ops by Iran besides one drone flight and “practice” closing Hormuz are needed to degrade US/Israel operations. Do not wait for the hammer to hit your head before removing it from the attackers hand. Russia goes after the drone teams and drone makers, it does not just wait to shoot down the drone as it dives onto the target.
Posted by: jonny law | Feb 19 2026 14:06 utc | 183
At first view, the main role of the assembled forces will be to serve as missile defense for Israel and Jordan, perhaps including the second aircraft carrier off Israel coast.
Posted by: Sebgo | Feb 19 2026 13:04 utc | 170
Programming note: News broke today that T is sending a 3rd carrier, the USS George W. Bush. ETA mid-March?
Back to your point that “the main role of the assembled forces will be to serve as missile defense for Israel and Jordan.”
If @Bingo is correct– the US now has a weapon that prevents locking onto aircraft— this could mean complete air superiority, with US aircraft able to defend and go on offense at will, simultaneously, from the get-go. If indeed Iran is immediately and completely blinded, this is over pretty quickly.
OTOH, Venezuela may have been a LIHOP, since the US objective was limited to kidnapping and it was more cost effective to hold one’s cards close to the chest, or even as a ruse wrt an anticipated war on Iran.
If I am a doomsdayer then so be it. But I have carefully read the Pentagon intelligence briefing about their EW experience in Venezuala when not one missile locked on to an aircraft. That is what has changed for them.I agree with you Two Cents. eW versus radar.
Posted by: Bingo | Feb 19 2026 12:42 utc | 166
The other variable is the so-called “discombobulator,” if it exists,works as advertised and can deployed at scale.
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 14:09 utc | 184
DJT needs to stand up and tell Bibi and the anti Christian war cabinet to get lost………..
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 14:00 utc | 183
If DJT had the political “room” to do that, he would’ve done so already. If only because he hates being dictated to.
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 14:14 utc | 185
From previous thread
https://tinyurl.com/5ymcwha3
Arguably religion’s second biggest lie. Designed to be inescapable
Posted by: Cynic | Feb 18 2026 17:01 utc | 391
—————————
I dont do gawd
Original sin is a xtian meme,.
Nevertheless, uncle sham was a sinner at birth, its predator instinct was embedded in the DNA.
Rubio, Trump, obama, Clinton, BUsh, Cheney, wOlforwicz ….. are mere front men for the ruling class, aka DS.
Similarly,
Six hundred years of western/gringo imperialism would go on by its own momentum, Jews/Israel/zionists/AIPAC are just convenient fall guy
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:15 utc | 186
Posted by: Bingo | Feb 19 2026 12:42 utc | 166
######
Not one Iranian missile locked on in the first 2 days of the 12-day war. By the 9th day, the Israelis were begging for a timeout.
The first punch, particularly between prepared opponents, is rarely the entire fight.
I have detailed elsewhere that Islam instructs Iran to stop the punishment when the opponent says, “Uncle”. Are the Zionists smart enough to take advantage of that?
Let’s not forget that despite having much more inferior radar, Ansar Allah scared the US from persistently using B2s from Diego Garcia. Or maybe it was munition limitations or something else.
Not because I hate the pedophiles of America, but because I don’t do magical thinking. I am disinclined to believe in American WunderWaffe.
Killer weapons, unstoppable EW, Super soldiers all read more like Hollywood than reality.
The Empire didn’t get panicked last week. We would have seen this stuff last June or in Ukraine.
But we will really know Day 1. If the Pedophiles don’t land a haymaker early, it is unlikely that they will get an opportunity a week into the conflict.
The pedophiles’ pain tolerance is immensely more sensitive than that of the people of Husayn Ali.
We’re still unaware of what the Pedophiles strategy is. EW cannot keep Hormuz open. EW cannot colonize a country the size of Iran with a population in the millions.
EW is not a magic mind control signal.
And on that note, Russian, Iranian, and Chinese signals tech is “best of class”. It’s not like catching bought and sleepy Venezuelans unaware. Look at how they turned Starlink off locally. The Iranians are masters of GPS spoofing.
If the Supreme Leader is kidnapped or harmed, the Shias of the region will tear everything down.
They probably should do anyway. When the pedophiles attack, the world will change, one way or the other.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 14:16 utc | 187
Is it likely that a country with a Capitalist MIC rife with DEI hires, that cannot produce F35s at scale and has falling literacy rates has created cutting edge (virtually alien tech) electronic weapons?
Possible, sure.
Everything and anything is possible.
Likely, no.
If the West (it’s all one Empire) could do that, Kiev would still have heat and power.
If the West could do that then the tons of Uranium at the international airport in Niamey would be in French custody.
I’m old school, I like evidence, not narratives. Logic and math are reliable foundations for thinking.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 14:30 utc | 188
Daily gems from the west…
yt vid on Chinese bridge technology
sample comment
‘ the people are starving and disappearing left and right BUT hey we can build a nice bridge’
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:32 utc | 189
Posted by: tobias cole | Feb 19 2026 14:00 utc | 183
######
If American sons and daughters want to sign up for the armed services for a colonial expedition on the other side of the planet to kill civilians on behalf of pedophiles, they deserve the outcomes of that, good and hard.
People who don’t want to find out, really shouldn’t f@#k around.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 14:35 utc | 190
‘ the people are starving and disappearing left and right BUT hey we can build a nice bridge’
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:32 utc | 191
So damn brainwashed. That sounds much more like Detroit, Chicago, or Los Angeles than it does China.
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 19 2026 14:40 utc | 191
tb is a fraud
Never once speak out for victims of western genocides.
LIke hell he is losing sleep over the Palestinians.
His selective outrage here is cuz the accused are the Jews.
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:41 utc | 192
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:41 utc | 194
######
The Jews have been the scapegoats for the Satanic white Empire for centuries. Well before Dr. Martin Luther wrote his extended essay on the Jews.
The Jews and their lies
Some Americans today love to blame Jews rather than admit that their government is the greatest institution of evil in human history.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 14:48 utc | 193
Posted by: Saint Jimmy | Feb 19 2026 14:40 utc | 193
————–
Very often in those China travelogue, where westerners marvel at the peoples freedom, relaxed atmosphere and safety at night out, you get trolls like these…
yes like in Tiananmen square masscare !
Or,
Tell that to the Uighurs !
Dont know whether to laugh or pity at such blissful ignorance
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:49 utc | 194
I believe NOTHING about these recent rumours that China is supplying military technology to Iran either. China is way too weak, cowardly, and greedy for that. Its unwillingness to go for solid partnerships, and its timidity versus the US, will be its undoing.
Posted by: A Concerned Person | Feb 19 2026 14:53 utc | 195
Just think of it two seconds… One US Navy Aircraft carrier at the bottom of the sea. Crude over 300 $ a barrel. Dow Jow in a tailspin. DJT looking so weak people start spilling the Epstein beans on him. Is there another way out than having a stroke, live on camera ?
Interesting times.
Posted by: Shahmaran | Feb 19 2026 14:55 utc | 196
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 14:48 utc | 195
————————
Most hilarious meme,
‘war on China is a Jewish plot’ !
The G7, aka 8NA ‘s war on China has never stopped ever since Jap pirates terrorised China’s coastal towns during the Ming dynasty forcrissake !
Posted by: denk | Feb 19 2026 14:55 utc | 197
Posted by: A Concerned Person | Feb 19 2026 14:53 utc | 197
#####
Belief is fragile. Knowledge is not.
There are photos, flight logs, and videos.
I keep forgetting that many pedophile fans do not know how to use the internet to find information.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 14:55 utc | 198
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Feb 19 2026 13:48 utc | 181
I also believe predestination is real, i.e. accurate. The debacle comes in with the various simplistic religious doctrines / dogmas that gloss that reality to serve an agenda. But, I digress.
God created “time” as we experience it to organize humanity’s short run on this planet *for humans.* Day and night. The seasons. Years. Decades. From our point of view inside the fishbowl, so to speak, time appears linear.
However, from God’s POV, outside the fishbowl and not existing within humans’ given organizing principles, what we call “time” must be flat. That is, visible to God all at once, in every direction, in every realm and dimension. He is above it all. We are limited to the perception that events inside the fishbowl somehow, even somewhat randomly, unfold.
It all depends on one’s vantage point. Our view is limited. God’s is not. But even a man sitting on a high enough hill might look down, see a car travelling on a road and know where it will end up at the end of its journey.
Posted by: Sticker | Feb 19 2026 14:57 utc | 199
“US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Israel and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28th – Reuters”
a good time, perhaps, for the Iranians to launch a preemptive strike, which is always more successful than waiting for the bully to punch you
————-
https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/28483#
Middle_East_Spectator
— When you look at footage of Operation True Promise-2 as opposed to Iran’s operations during the 12-Day War, it’s clear why preemptive strikes are so important.
During True Promise-2, Iran had the initiative, we attacked from multiple missile bases that were fully operational and when Israel did not expect it. As a result, at least 50 missiles hit their targets in one wave. Unfortunately Iran didn’t target Tel Aviv metropolitan area during that operation, it would’ve been very effective.
Anyway, during the 12-Day War, Iranian missile bases were heavily suppressed, which led to a lesser volume of missiles being launched simultaneously and therefore less hits in each wave due to easier interceptions.
In my opinion it’s a waste of missiles to wait for the enemy to attack first. Iran’s missiles provide their primary advantage when used in an offensive context, when Iran is the attacker—not the attacked.
Posted by: michaelj72 | Feb 19 2026 14:59 utc | 200