Jiang Xueqin expresses original and intdresting viewas he talks with n Nima’ on Dialogue Works channel,
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rIgZD-tk3s

Posted by: Richard L | Mar 7 2026 15:16 utc | 104

@ juliania | Mar 6 2026 17:13 utc | 57
 
thanks juliania…. i was speaking with my astrology friend about the challenging astrology for trump going into the end of february, just past… we both felt months ago that this would be a difficult and challenging time for him.. we didn’t foresee that at the very end of the month he would go along with a war on iran…  it might be his undoing.. we’ll see.. but either way here we are and the continuation of a complete destruction of international law by the 2 countries – usa and israel – have yet to be interrupted or stopped by the rest of the world.. in fact most of the vassals as represented by so called democracies of the west, continue to live in an altered reality with regard to the concept of international law, or respect for the UN and others sovereignty… 

Posted by: james | Mar 7 2026 15:56 utc | 106

This war has been real bad for the US.
 
First thing, they proved that their defensive pact with the Gulf States mean shit. And their antics of poking wars are causing more harm for these countries than good.
 
So unless they can really knock Iran out completely. And do it soon (because tens of billions are lost every week now). The Gulf States will think twice about keeping the US at the hips next time around. I means Saudi spent 4th most in the world on military. UAE spent 14th. All on American weapons. And these weapons are still completely worthless as they are unable to defend themselves when a real war started. Radar systems that worth billions of dollars got scorched and burnt within just few days. What’s a waste of money. All of the US military bases that these Gulf countries had to host and turned them into target? Also got evacuated the moment things get hot, and then get blasted into ruins. What even are their purposes?
 
So that’s why, no escape strategy for the US this time around. Unless they gonna abandon their entire Middle East alliance that they spent decades to build relationship with. Or knock Iran out completely with just airpower (which we know impossible). Or maybe just sending in ground troops and get into an quagmire. A US landing onto Iran, gonna make Afghanistan feels like walking through a park.
 
And the US has nowhere to start their invasion from too. Because they screwed every potential allies in the region. Russia. Turkey. Afghanistan. Iraq.
 
All this just to protect some pedophiles. Is it worth it?

Posted by: risingstar | Mar 7 2026 16:53 utc | 108

I went to sleep before the last parcel auction ended last night. I had thought they would go for higher than I was willing to pay but was going to watch. Ended up falling asleep and they went cheap.
 
Australian evening till around midnight are quiet on this forum. It appears to be the same with the online opal auctions. It’s an Australian site and end times for the auctions is Australian day and evening. Will have to watch for auctions that end in the evening and stay awake for the.
 
juliania, I don’t have the hand and eye of an artist which has prevented me from buying and cutting opal in the past, but with templates, I should be able to cut some decent stones. I want to concentrate on stones for ear rings if I can as nobody does them. Only if they happen to get a small matching pair. Small drop shape crystal would be perfect but I cannot find a template for drop shapes.
 
The small size will make it even more difficult to get perfect.  I might have to practice on some cheap blues and greens and see if practice makes perfect. The fine boron wheel that I have will be perfect for shaping small gems.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 7 2026 17:30 utc | 110

psycho and anyone interested in opal, this is white opal. Colours are very subdued in white opal.
https://www.opalauctions.com/products/truly-gorgeous-colourful-grawin-rough-seam-opal-split-1685460
 
This one is white on black
https://www.opalauctions.com/products/lots-of-pinks-and-other-colours-on-these-rough-seams-1685454
This could likely be split just above the black. The top pieces would be small white opals but close to the black it becomes more translucent and may cut black opal. The colour looks quite watery close to the black but may come up okay when faced.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 7 2026 18:35 utc | 112

Not everything is lost in the US:
«House of the Epstein Crimes» by NM RagingGranny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJUBVnpPgMA
«The Santa Fe Raging Grannies are shocked that no federal investigation was ever done at Jeffrey Epstein’s 75,000 acre Zorro Ranch, which is located 34 miles south of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Victims have said the abuse they suffered at the the hands of Epstein and his wealthy pedophile buddies was «the worst» at the ranch, in comparison to abuse they suffered at Epstein’s other properties.
Why did the FBI never investigate?
Why have transcripts of so many victims’ testimonies been lost?
Why is the attorney general keeping 3 million files secret?
And of the files that were released, why have the names of the perpetrators been redacted? Who are the powerful men that are being protected, and why? Justice muse be done! Every one of those perpetrators must be held accountable!”
 

Posted by: Anna | Mar 7 2026 20:32 utc | 114

At this time I am torn between dropping my old insult of President Band-Aid for Biden or simply Buchanan Redux. I never considered Trump-lite for the good reason so much of MoA commentariat idolizes Trump and would simply ignore it. They kept copying Trumpery, repeating that Biden was a vegetable, not a POS for copying so much Trumpery.. Well, in the spirit of reconciliation, I noted the vegetable was somehow out in public, giving a eulogy at Jesse Jackson’s funeral. It should be great fun comparing Trump’s Truth Social posts, full of manifest genius, wisdom, eloquence and divinely guided statecraft—-and devoid of vanity—to Biden’s complete gibberish. For a vegetable to get out of the memory care unit must be some sort of conspiracy!Full remarks from former President Joe Biden at Rev. Jesse Jackson’s funeral – CBS Chicago
 

And you know, when I moved from Wilmington to Claymont, Delaware, a world class town, I was surprised. I remember being dropped off at a little Catholic school I went to, third grade, and I watched his bus go by every day and it passed. I was trying to call a Philadelphia Pike, connecting Wilmington, Philadelphia, and it passed the turn to the big high school, Claymont High School, and the little Catholic school I went to, Holy Rosary was right around the corner. I remember saying to my mom, mom, why’d that happen? She said, ‘Well, Black kids aren’t allowed to go to school with white kids in Delaware.’

 
My God, the clear difference!

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 7 2026 21:54 utc | 116

Another interesting Rick Beato interview about things related to music and production is with veteran live sound mixing engineer Dave Natale. Two things seem worthy to point out here.
 
There now is simulation software that computes optimal speaker setup for a given building geometry. This can be picked up with digital laser scanners, which are already standard equipment on complex construction sites (I saw them being used in subway stations around here). Dave says it actually works, and he’s not talking about a living room HiFi set, but arenas and stadiums, and unusual ones at that. The gear that is brought in by the tour management can be dozens of trucks or a couple of 747 air freighters along with 200 people.
 
Rick and Dave mentioned Anika Nilles as one of the topmost drummers in the field when they spoke about setting up a live stage. She was introduced to MoA in an article from 2017 after b saw her playing on the street outside his home. 

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 7 2026 22:14 utc | 118

Rick Beato
 
Posted by: persiflo | Mar 7 2026 22:14 utc | 118
 
—
 
Pat Finnerty has an opinion ==> https://youtu.be/7yRXAxQGw_k
 

Posted by: too scents | Mar 7 2026 22:29 utc | 120

juliania | Mar 7 2026 15:48 utc | 105
 
The painting. Both my daughters can paint. The youngest was fairly good when she started as a young girl and had a keen interest in it. as she progressed she became very good at it. A good eye for detail and the ability to bring it out with a few paint daubs in the right places. Eldest daughter is not into painting much but sometimes she will knock something up. Where she got that hand and eye from I don’t know, perhaps there was a fox in the henhouse at a critical point but she is a carbon copy of my sister so I guess there was no foxes raiding the hen house.
 
Youngest daughter when painting a natural or bush scene started gathering stuff when she went for walks. She started literally painting them into her pictures and would create 3d paintings. 
 Have one of her paintings hanging on the wall. Sunset just after the sun had dropped below the horizon. Evenings out there were often spectacular, the western Queensland sky painted in various hues – reds and orange mostly. I was never one to notice those sort of things, but sometimes I would just have to pull up and watch for awhile. Incredible sunsets out there. 
 
Rainbows – I guess I’ve always been keen on chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Good opal defracts natural light into the colours of the rainbow. I’m going to cut some, try and make some gems out of rocks. I would like to be able to set it in natural gold that that will be pushing it a bit at this stage in my life. Buy some gold from a small prospector, smelt it in a cupola to remove the base metals then use the natural alloy of gold and other noble metals for the setting. Natural gem in natural gold. I often dream of a bridge too far. But everyone has to have their dreams.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 7 2026 23:08 utc | 122

Been looking at a bunch of Goya’s paintings recently, mostly his Black period works where he was a recluse, shut-in, suffering from emotional and physical distress.
Specifically, I have been thinking about two of these wall paintings mirror and compliment each other, dangling the macabre and the surreal and touching on something extremely vital and topical at the moment.
 
The two paintings are: The Great He-Goat and A Pilgrimage to San Isidro.
 
Goya painted these two works in early 19th century Spain that had been rocked by the Peninsula War, the loss of American colonies and tax revenue, slow industrialization, and a remnant feudal system with a backwards agrarian-mindset. It was, like today in the west, a period of profound transforming, where a formerly great and wealthy nation was floundering with an elite desperately grabbing everything it could to maintain itself.
 
These two paintings, especially, show something I think that it is extremely relevant to how us normal folk are looking at the Epstein situation and with our elite, who we have now smeared as satanic, cannibalistic, and pedophile. It is impossible in a come-down situation for the average person who feels no hope for the future to not lash-out at an elite, whether real or imaginary, and to smear them as the enemy and the deceiver. We can understand this through the works of Rene Girard who wanted to show that the scapegoat mechanism exists not just for the mob against the individual, but also for the individual against an unseen elite it suspects of having done something wrong by them.***
 
That Epstein was an absolute ass-face is unquestionable. Here is a recent interview with a victim from the 90s around Epstein’s Florida-home. The MO is the same: young, precocious girls are enlisted either to perform nude massages or to enlist their friends for the duty. Some were assaulted.
 
But I have not been able to find any concrete evidence beyond the enlistment of teenage girls for lewd acts. That these are damaging to the girls, yes, certainly, but I want to see how this will be able to lead to arrests of current movers-and-shakers, if this is possible at all, or if it is just a mirage to keep us watching and absorbed in what b called the heir to Russiagate. I think it is a psyop. Depending on which side of the duopoly needs to enlist it to appear as the white-knight, it can be harnessed by either: Bill Clinton here, Donald Trump there. 
 
That America has a problem with sexuality and is oversexed and deranged is beyond questioning at this point. American pornography is gross and violent and is being consumed by an ever-increasing youth population at a younger-and-younger age. And forget elite pedophilia for one moment: the amount of sexual abuse cases occurring against minors within the family is staggering. We clearly have a problem, but no solution seems at hand other than to be able to smear elites willy-nilly, with calumny, innuendo, and from many instances, a lack of evidence.
 
“I want to protect children.” You do? That’s great! How do we go about this? Two decades of Epstein-chasing and Pizzagate dives has done nothing to destroy the trafficking of young children to the elites. A few token idiots, like Prince Andrew and Anthony Weiner have been destroyed (and yet probably no prison-time), but does anyone doubt that these men were just-right as scapegoats? Surely, these two are not power-brokers.
 
So when do we throw-in-the-towel? Might I suggest now? 
 
We need to decide what is our course of action right now. The War in Iran and a rampaging empire seems like the most appropriate target at the moment. There are currently hundreds of people being martyred to challenge this empire that is the true source of most of what ails us in the west. Perhaps we should focus our entire attention, whether through prayer, writing, thinking, or action, on this task. 
 
Much, yes, perhaps all, of the elite will be able to “get away” when the empire eventually falls. I do not put my hope in exacting revenge, although perhaps these rewards will be granted to some extent. That means little to me. What matters is that we rekindle a sense of our destiny and Dasein and begin to dwell and question again.
 
Back to Goya. The two paintings mirror each other. A coven of witches on the march and a cadre of pilgrims to San Isidro who look deranged. Here is where a falling empire scatters into superstition, where whispers of the evil one propogate, and where a declining people lash out at witches and demand cosmic justice upon the elite. 
 
So Goya I think can speak to us about the Epstein affair. And what is truly important by keeping our eyes on the ball. 
 
 _______________________
*** To address Rene Girard’s connection to Peter Thiel, one has to understand that Thiel extrapolates from Girard just this notion that the mob, the Demos, have just as much need as the scapegoat mechanism for an elite they consider satanic. Indeed, on a recent interview, Thiel blushed when an interviewer referred to him as a potential anti-Christ. However, it is my belief that Thiel has already anticipated this type of response from a dejected demos in a floundering Republic. Thiel is most likely no cannibal, but merely very paranoid about the derangement of the Hoi Polloi and so has cast his lot in with BigDaddy Fed via-Palantir. 

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 7 2026 23:19 utc | 124

Well the first auction of the day that I am bidding on. less than ten minutes to go now and I hit em with my best shot hoping to blow them out of the water. Will see how it goes. A thin piece not so good for rings or pendants but ideal for slicing up into ear rings.
 

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 8 2026 0:04 utc | 126

Just checked and shit – I got it for ten bucks. I hope it cuts like it looks on the video. 
 
Back around 2000, o-pal was booming. Opal coming out of the ground everywhere. Mintabie was starting to slow but new fields opening up at lightning ridge and Queensland. Opal coming out of the ground everywhere. I didn’t know jack shit when I dug mine up, I just wanted enough money to cover the cost of the generator and jack hammer that I was going to use for fencing anyway. The stuff would be worth a fortune now. Hard to find good Lightning Ridge black that matches up to good Queensland boulder.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 8 2026 0:18 utc | 128

US vs Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrgMeLy6-mc
 
Russian MMA. the big bloke built like an American hamburger on steroids went in like a bull in a china shop. The lighter younger Russian bloke saw off the onslaught then when the hamburger on steroids run out of wind it was game over.
 
It is starting to look like this US Iran bout is exactly the same.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 8 2026 0:38 utc | 130

 persiflo | Mar 8 2026 0:04 utc | 127
 
Natural gold is not as malleable as pure gold. On top of that, to set a pure stone in gold, I dont want I dont want alloys of gold solder. Lost wax castings. I guess I dream bigley. Far beyond my means. 
But fist things first and first I have to cut the gems. Got a few in the bag now so have to set up to cut them. If I can actually cut a stone, I will then need to partner up with a jeweler who can create the setting to the customers desires.
 
I guess all of have have a bit of selfish. I have my ideas on setting good opal which is unconventional. I am an unconventional sort of person.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 8 2026 1:11 utc | 132

Posted by: juliania | Mar 8 2026 1:25 utc | 133
 
Juliania, do you paint while listen to these videos? 
 
Only so much time in a day.

Posted by: arby | Mar 8 2026 1:31 utc | 134

Personally I think Iran lost even before the first tomahawk launched from US destroyer because Iran alone won’t be able to withstand US military. There are anti war sentiments in US but it won’t turn into actual massive protests or enough political pressure unless middle class Americans are sent to the frontline like in Vietnam war. Russia too busy in Ukraine, China too passive and too late to do anything meaningful anyway, and both are kinda happy with short term benefits of this war🤔

Posted by: Protoss Carrier | Mar 8 2026 1:39 utc | 136

Possible (likely) explosion at the US embassy in Oslo. No reported injuries thus far, heavy policy presence, helis in the air, neighbours reporting lots of smoke and a powerful shockwave.
Source in Norwegian: https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/gkEglJ/smell-og-roeyk-ved-den-amerikanske-ambassaden-i-oslo

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 8 2026 2:15 utc | 138

@ NemesisCalling | Mar 7 2026 23:19 utc | 124
 
my wife and i saw a photography show in monopoli,  italy in oct 2025 which included a number of drawings from francisco goya that were quite interesting.. we really enjoyed it all.. he is essentially poking fun at royalty and various others in his small drawings… 
 
@ juliania | Mar 8 2026 1:25 utc | 135//137
 
whatever you do, however little – i think it matters a lot, on the creative front… if it brings you happiness – that is the main thing and a byproduct is others will be happy too.. 
 
share a link to larry johnson in the week in review thread if you can as i am curious to see what he has to say about the christian communities suffering…
 
@

Posted by: james | Mar 8 2026 3:22 utc | 140

So Goya I think can speak to us about the Epstein affair. And what is truly important by keeping our eyes on the ball.   _______________________*** To address Rene Girard’s connection to Peter Thiel, one has to understand that Thiel extrapolates from Girard just this notion that the mob, the Demos, have just as much need as the scapegoat mechanism for an elite they consider satanic. Indeed, on a recent interview, Thiel blushed when an interviewer referred to him as a potential anti-Christ. However, it is my belief that Thiel has already anticipated this type of response from a dejected demos in a floundering Republic. Thiel is most likely no cannibal, but merely very paranoid about the derangement of the Hoi Polloi and so has cast his lot in with BigDaddy Fed via-Palantir. 

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 7 2026 23:19 utc | 124

 
Thanks, NC.  I think the film maker for the Rublev movie had the same notion as expressed in those Goya paintings.  That is, he felt it was the nasty and brutally demonic lives being led in Russia during Rublev’s lifetime that he needed to experience in order to give meaning to his gorgeous icons we only glimpse at the very end of the film.  I’m not so sure that is always the case but  maybe so in some instances.   I don’t think one ought to blame ‘oi polloi,  however.  The elite are the ones we see these days setting such a bad example for ordinary folk, as depicted in Dostoievski’s novels .
 
Icons focus on light.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 8 2026 3:41 utc | 142

juliania | Mar 8 2026 2:35 utc | 139
 
I noted the traditional paint you are using juliania. It is good to see. But me be me …. eggs smell pretty bad when they go off. Lots of sulfur in egg yolks. How do you mix egg paints. I know nothing about it. 
 
I beat up a couple of eggs the other day to paint on some chicken before rolling the chicken bits in spices. Forgot about the left over egg and after a couple of days it smelt pretty bad. Eggs bring back memories of my school days. As a kid on the farm, sometimes we would find a hidden nest. Plenty of rotten eggs in those hidden nests.  We had batam chooks running around feral. I was a bit feral too and used to chase them around and try and catch them.
 
I high school, my mate concocted a stink bomb one day. The whole school was gathers in the sports hall for I dunno what. My mate had a jar with some sulphur. He added a bit of vinegar.  Talk about rotten eggs. The entire building was evacuated.
 
I got a bit off track there but egg paint is an old and traditional paint. Are they mixed each day or is there something in the recipe that prevents the eggs from going off. It is something I know nothing about.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 8 2026 4:44 utc | 144

Well, buying some rocks today. I’ve looked at the set price pieces of rough. Looked everywhere. Opal is a bloody lot more expensive than when I dug a bit up. If I had of kept the better stuff I sold it would be worth a fortune now. At the time, opal was coming out the ground everywhere and SARS was on depressing the opal market. The dregs I kept – the higher end of that is now valuable.
 
Looked at the Coober Pedy rough at the auctions. Thinking to get some cheap practice stones. Another bloke from Vic buying all the parcels then straight away put them back on the market as individual stones at set prices. The milky whites from Coober Pedy and Andamooka are only practice stones to me yet others pay good money for them. Once I get into it, if I get that far, I would like to get some good Coober Pedy and Andamooka crystal for pendants.. 
At the moment, I have managed to win a few women’s party stones, Some parcels with likely a few funeral stones of low brightness and some gender fluid type stuff.
Some more auctions coming up tonight when America has gone to sleep. Will have to try and stay awake for them.
Have one bottle of turps left. by the time that is gone, the rocks should be arriving. Will have to dry up a bit and settle down to try and turn rocks into gems.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 8 2026 5:07 utc | 146

Sorry, ‘mixture’ not misture.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 8 2026 5:23 utc | 148

Thank you, james.  I found the movie on nakedcapitalism’s Sunday  a while back.  Had tried to watch it  a few years before, only got through the first few scenes.  Did again, same result.  But I saw by the comments that the final scenes were recommended so I skipped to those and yes, those are marvellous.  I  commented a while back that I will keep trying on what comes in between — maybe.  Too thinskinned, I guess.  Rublev’s life is actually a mystery, so I don’t feel bad not knowing how the movie unfolded.  But the making of the bell, very glad to have seen that amazing sequence.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 8 2026 5:50 utc | 150

I am reading a ZH piece about what Russia is doing/considering about LNG shipment to the EU and it says this
 

With the impending global energy crisis in mind, Putin announced [link removed] last week that he ordered his government to look into the possibility of redirecting European energy exports to Asia since they’re more profitable and won’t soon stop importing Russian energy completely like the EU will. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak then confirmed [link removed] shortly thereafter that the decision was just made to redirect some (keyword) LNG exports from Europe to friendly countries such as India and China.
The scenario of Russia cutting off gas exports to the EU before the EU cuts off its gas imports from Russia is still on the table, but Putin seems more interested in leveraging this possibility in furtherance of his strategic goals than eschewing such an opportunity just to punish his Western adversaries. To that end, Novak’s confirmation that he decided to redirect some LNG exports from Europe to Asia can be seen as proof of Putin’s intent, but he’s also signaling interest in reconsidering if certain conditions are met.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 8 2026 7:22 utc | 152

Again from The Register but now about the future of software
 
Chardet dispute shows how AI will kill software licensing, argues Bruce Perens
 

Perens said the economic consequences of this are startling.
“Proprietary software and Open Source both get their entire paradigms changed,” he explained. “Many proprietary companies will not survive, if they depend on holding close something that can be cloned as easily as I did. The ones that are not so easily repeated would probably go on.”
Perens expects that niche software that was previously not economical to produce will proliferate.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 8 2026 7:57 utc | 154

Well stayed awake to buy some rocks. Now I can sit outside grinding silica instead of sitting inside puffing on smokes and drinking ethanol. Went to pay for days buying spree – i have to say, it greatly cut into my drinking budget – but two were good, no issues. The third only had paypal. No effin way. No bloody way in this wide wide world would I ever use those blood suckers again. Some bloody good stones I want to get but I told them to shove paypal. A straight card or bank transfer transaction or they can shove it.
 
Two big wholesalers auction most rough and this is one of them. No bloody way in this world will I use Epstein class paypal.
Hopefully those dickheads will see some sense and sell me those rocks in a more normal transaction.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 8 2026 10:59 utc | 156

 For the second consecutive night, Cubans took to the streets to protest in Havana and other regions of the island.
Protesters chanted slogans such as: “We don’t want electricity, we want freedom.” In addition to complaints about the power outages, the protests reflect growing rejection of the regime amid a context of deterioration and the collapse of public services in Cuba.

Posted by: UWDude | Mar 8 2026 16:32 utc | 158

I have heard a lot of times that China doesn’t intervene (f. ex. in the Iran conflict currently) because they don’t think it’s necessary, and that they are only about making deals, trade and focus on economic relationships only anyway.
 
But, the US has made it very clear that the further economic development of China is deemed as a threat by them. That’s why they are engaging in a tariff war against them, banning the export of advanced technolgy to them, and so on.
 
For example, now, Beijing might say “we don’t care about the conflict in Iran, we can just wait and make other deals later”. Sure, but at that point, buying oil from the UAE, Saudi-Arabia, or from whatever regime comes after this (in case the US succeeds in installing one friendly to Washington), basically means buying American oil in a trench coat. Same for gas.As soon as any of Chinas deals or investments harm American interests (the too strong economic development of China being a top priority among them), Washington can just cut off China, and they can’t do nothing about it.It’s the same with all their other investments. They can give loans and construct ports and roads all they want, but if America doesn’t like it, they are just going to kick them out in a whim. There is no chance for China to secure its interests abroad, basically.
 
So, how does the Chinese policy-makers think this strategy can succeed? Or are they just waiting to be strong enough and then engage more directly with the US?

Posted by: Pre Wi Ba | Mar 8 2026 19:12 utc | 160

PEPE ESCOBAR
 
China will NEVER abandon Iran. For several reasons.
 
For China, Iran is a matter of NATIONAL SECURITY.
 
It’s a key energy supplier and a central corridor of the Belt and Road (BRI) linking China with West Asia and Europe.
 
Beijing and Tehran signed a $450 billion infrastructure-for-energy strategic partnership.
 
And there is something Washington’s barbarians never understand: civilization and culture.
 
Persia and Chinese dynasties have had strong ties throughout history.
 
Video (1:12)
https://x.com/RealPepeEscobar/status/2030645634584437241
 

Posted by: Menz | Mar 9 2026 7:14 utc | 162

Israel fired white phosphorus over Lebanese homes: HRW
 

Human Rights Watch says there is evidence Israel used white phosphorus in residential areas of southern Lebanon earlier this month, in violation of international humanitarian law.
 
In a new report, the rights group said it had confirmed the authenticity of seven photos showing white phosphorus munitions fired over a residential area in southern Lebanon’s Yohmor and fires breaking out in at least two homes there on March 3.
 
Ramzi Kaiss, a Lebanon researcher with Human Rights Watch, said, “The Israeli military’s unlawful use of white phosphorus over residential areas is extremely alarming and will have dire consequences for civilians.”
 
“The incendiary effects of white phosphorus can cause death or cruel injuries that result in lifelong suffering,” he added.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/3/9/iran-war-live-mojtaba-khamenei-named-supreme-leader-israel-bombs-tehran?update=4380493
 

Posted by: Menz | Mar 9 2026 7:21 utc | 164

Posted by: Pre Wi Ba | Mar 8 2026 19:12 utc | 160
 
Why is it do you think, for the first time in years, and a day before the start of the Iran war and since, China decided not send fighter planes towards Taiwan? It has to have been a deliberate diplomatic tactic to do with Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping at the end of the month.

Posted by: Menz | Mar 9 2026 8:27 utc | 166

I think you are right Peter.  I never imagined there would be anyone dumber than that fish and chips woman in Canberra, but they got Trumpanzee. The Russians, Chinese and Iranians are playing chess while he’s playing snakes ‘n’ ladders. A spoiled brat that has grown up believing money is the route to all power.

Posted by: Menz | Mar 9 2026 10:27 utc | 168

Menz | Mar 9 2026 10:31 utc | 169
 
I haven’t been to Kynuna. Went arse over tit belting down the black dirt road from Prairie to Muttabburra one time. One headlight that only worked on low beam, belting along at eighty mph. Bald tyres and a mob of cattle camped in the middle of the road. Not good. I’ve still got a scar on my head.
But anyway, I’ve won some rocks. Not sure if I am the winner or looser at this stage. Sitting on the veranda cutting them will be make or break I guess when it comes to my judgement.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 9 2026 10:42 utc | 170

I noticed Tom_Q_Collins saying he’d like to visit Darwin and the NT again. He’d be advised to delay the trip a while the flood subside. I read a warning out today for folks to be careful, there are crocs lurking in the flood waters. 
 
Even Katherine is under flooded.

Posted by: Menz | Mar 9 2026 11:03 utc | 172

That old ute. When it took a tumble, I just gripped on to the steering wheel like I was praying to the gods of lunacy. When it came to rest laying on its side I stepped out through the shattered windscreen. The dumb stuff I did when I was young.
I looked around the night and it was as dark as an aboriginal community. Nothing fazed me at that stage of life. Soon after, a roo shooter came down the road heading back to town.. He ooked a rope on and put the battered ute back on its wheels. Battery was smashed and it would not start so he towed it into Muttaburra. No glass and wobbly wheels that were knocked a bit out of round from the tumble.
Doing dumb shit. Live and learn I guess.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 9 2026 11:11 utc | 174

Iran is doing well, considering the fact, that they are facing Usrael. but there will be ground invasion, first kurds, or maybe even Azerbaijan or Iraq forces, then us “limited forces”. There could be even ceasefire, and full scale invasion still will happen later this year.
 
It’s easy to claim, that Trump is a moron, or that he and his family are bribed. Gambling his legacy, his own movement, no, it’s obvious, that he is compromised, and we all know by whom. We just can’t talk about this on reddit.

Posted by: Freedom of speech V | Mar 9 2026 12:48 utc | 176

After watching Lavrovs video, seems like Russia is supporting Iran bigly while the Chinese are chimping and asking for a ceasefire. Makes sense though after USA help kill so many Russians.
But I am disappointed with China, don’t ask for a ceasefire, you are winning without doing anything.

Posted by: aipac hemoroid | Mar 10 2026 16:07 utc | 178