May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-) Skepticism and critical thinking is not panacea, but can help to understand the world better
Neoliberal war on reality
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the
American public believes is false" ~
CIA Director William Casey (attributed)
"Empire of illusions": The triumph of entertainment and fake news under neoliberalism
"The truth is that the newspaper is not a place for information to be given, rather it is just hollow content, or more than
that, a provoker of content. If it prints lies about atrocities, real atrocities are the result."
Karl Kraus, 1914
WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
1984
We are the world, we are exceptional, we cannot fail. The elite will lie, and the people will pretend to believe
them. Heck about 20 percent of the American public will believe almost anything if it is wrapped with the right prejudice and
appeal to passion. Have a pleasant evening.
Controlling the narrative is how society operate -- it is a tool for preserving the society cohesion. Which is a good thing, unless
the
price is too high. If the question of controlling the narrative arise, that means that the elite became too detached from the regular
people ("let them eat cakes" situation), and there are cracks in the society facade, like now there are obvious cracks in neoliberals facade.
They are patched with lies and distortions. In this sense Russiagate is a completely natural reaction on the US neoliberal
elite on the loss of legitimacy (which actually happened in 2008 and only accelerated under Trump) -- an attempt to find a scapegoat
for the society ills. And such strategy works until it does not. In this sense Trump provided to be a huge wrecking ball that
created more cracks on the facade of neoliberal society and this is one of the few positive things about its administration.
In such cases the elite usually resort to policies which in the USA are called McCarthyism: attempt to smear and suppress dissidents
claiming that they are associated with the particular (presented as hostile like Russia today, or really hostile like the USSR was)
power.
While MSM supporting the "Party line" are masquerading as independent new outlets for all practical purposes they serve
as an extension of the USA intelligence agencies and the State Department. This is especially visible in the area of foreign policy
and the most contentious US internal issues like the question of the integrity of the recent US Presidential elections.
Correlation with the foreign power policies might be actually accidental if this particular power "see future deeper" as unforgettable
Madeline "Not So Bright" Allbright quipped. For example, now RT coverage does undermine the US foreign policy. We need
only decide whether this is a good or bad thing and whether the US imperial policies are good for American people, or only for large
transnational corporations. I think Tucker Carlson also undermines the US foreign policy and as such you can find a correlation between
his positions and RT position. Now what ?
In such case elite presents association with the foreign power as the "politically correct" reason for suppression.
Which is a blatant hypocrisy. But that's how all societies work and in this sense there is nothing special in the fact that dissident
voices are suppressed. In middle ages heretics were burned at the stake. They were send to the GULAG in the USSR. If you are a dissident you fate in most societies are far from rosy.
The current situation in the USA is interesting because neoliberalism is definitely on the decline and as such represent now (unlike
say 10 year ago) a rich target of attacks. And as the USA imperial power which it acquired since WWII, and expanded after collapse of the USSR
is starting to collapse. Attempt to preserve the neoliberal empire necessitates the attack on dissidents, as dissidents usually
undermine the legitimacy of the US foreign policy and ask inconvenient questions about neoliberal elite handing of foreign and
domestic affairs. The real question about dissidents is what alternative the particular dissident outlet proposes -- the
return to the New Deal Capitalism in some form or shape, or new socialist experiment is some form of shape, or some far-right
utopia.
We all agree that neoliberalism with its unlimited rule of financial oligarchy and lowering of the standard of living of lower
80% of population is bad and probably will self-destruct like Bolshevism in the past. But the real question is what social order
will replace it ? It this is a some variant of neo-fascism you might regret its destruction.
Meanwhile the US became "an empire of illusions", when both elite and common people entertain various myths, which have
nothing to do with the reality, the process that started after WWII and entered a new phase in 1962, when an important historic
event (JFK assassination) became distorted by the CIA and part of government bureaucracy who were discontent with JFK's policies,
which fabricated a false narrative. The narrative which eventually became an official version of the event (The
United States of America’s Doll House, by Edward Curtin):
In a 1969 interview, Jim Garrison, the District Attorney of New Orleans and the only person to ever bring to trial a case involving
the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, said that as a result of the CIA’s murderous coup d’état on behalf of the military-industrial-financial-media-intelligence
complex that rules the country to this day, the American people have been subjected to a fabricated reality that has rendered them
a nation of passive Eichmanns, who sit in their living rooms, popping pills and watching television as their country’s military machine
mows down people by the millions and the announcers tell them all the things they should be afraid of, such as bacteria on cutting
boards and Russian spies infiltrating their hair salons. Garrison said:
The creation of such inanities as acceptable reality and unacceptable reality is necessary for the self-preservation of the
super-state against its greatest danger: understanding on the part of the people as to what is really happening. All factors which
contribute to its burgeoning power are exaggerated. All factors which might reveal its corrosive effect on the nation are concealed.
The result is to place the populace in the position of persons living in a house whose windows no longer reveal the outside but
on which murals have been painted. Some of the murals are frightening and have the effect of reminding the occupants of the outside
menaces against which the paternal war machine is protecting them. Other murals are pleasant to remind them how nice things are
inside the house.
But to live like this is to live in a doll’s house. If life has one lesson to teach us, it is that to live in illusion is ultimately
disastrous.
That is not the case for most Americans. When approximately 129 million people cast their votes for Donald Trump and HilIary Clinton
in the 2016 presidential election, you know idiocy reigns and nothing has been learned. Ditto for the votes for Obama, Bush, Clinton,
et al. You can keep counting back. It is an ugly fact and sad to say. Such a repetition compulsion is a sign of a deep sickness,
and it will no doubt be repeated in the 2020 election. The systemic illusion must be preserved at all costs and the warfare state
supported in its killing. It is the American way.
It is true that average Americans have not built the doll’s house; that is the handiwork of the vast interconnected and far-reaching
propaganda arms of the U.S. government and their media accomplices. But that does not render them innocent for accepting decades
of fabricated reality for so-called peace of mind by believing that a totally corrupt system works. The will to believe is very powerful,
as is the propaganda. The lesson that Garrison spoke of has been lost on far too many people, even on those who occasionally leave
the doll house for a walk, but who only go slightly down the path for fear of seeing too much reality and connecting too many dots.
There is plain ignorance, then there is culpable ignorance, to which I shall return.
In many respects, the media creates reality, so perhaps the most effective route toward changing reality runs through the media.
"Controlling the narrative" is the major form of neoliberal MSM war on reality. By providing "prepackaged" narrative for a particular
world event and selectively suppressing alternative information channels that contradict the official narrative, neoliberals control
and channel emotions of people in the direction they want. Often in the direction of yet another war for the expansion of the
global neoliberal empire led from Washington, DC.
Maybe this is the same kind of clinical detachment doctors have to cultivate, a way of distancing oneself from the subject,
protecting yourself against a crippling empathy. I won’t say that writers or artists are more sensitive than other people,
but it may be that they’re less able to handle their own emotions.
It may be that art, like drugs, is a way of dulling or controlling pain. Eloquently articulating a feeling is one way
to avoid actually experiencing it.
Words are only symbols, noises or marks on paper, and turning the messy, ugly stuff of life into language renders it
inert and manageable for the author, even as it intensifies it for the reader.
It’s a nerdy, sensitive kid’s way of turning suffering into something safely abstract, an object of contemplation.
I suspect most of the people who write all that furious invective on the Internet, professional polemicists and semiliterate
commenters alike, are lashing out because they’ve been hurt — their sense of fairness or decency has been outraged, or they
feel personally wounded or threatened.
It is hard to disagree with the notion which was put by several authors that American society is living in a cocoon of illusion
which conveniently isolates them from reality: entertainment and escapism infuse our society, economy, and political system with severe
consequences. Among such authors are Aldous Huxley, C. Wright Mills, Sheldon Wolin, Ralph Nader, Karl Polanyi, Jared Diamond, Paul Craig
Roberts, Chris Hedge and several others.
If we compare dystopias of Huxley and Orwell, and it clear that Huxley in his famous
New Brave World predicted the future much better:
"Huxley feared was that would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one... the truth would
be drowned in a sea of irrelevance."
The central idea here is that we now live as a society in which citizens become so distracted (and by extension detached) from reality
that they lost any ability to influence their political or economic destiny. Droning anything inconvenient to the elite in a sea of
irrelevance proved to be very successful tactic and less brutal then direct repression in the style of 1984. It is the same phenomenon that
later was described by the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin in 2003 under the label
of Inverted Totalitarism.
This is one of the truly malevolent aspects of today's modern neoliberal world order and we need to confront it. It allows the old
game of blaming the weak and the marginal, a staple of neo-fascist and despotic regimes; this illusion empower the dark undercurrents
of sadism and violence in American society and deflect attention from the neoliberal financial vampires who have drained the blood of
the country
"The tragedy is that we have become a screen culture, televisions, computers, phones, tablets, etc. Our electronic hallucinations
have produced a society that has little time or patience for introspection or deep thinking. It reinforced my decision to maintain
a television free life. For some, what Chris has to say may cut to close to the bone. But those with the courage to do so are usually
the ones that care the most."
The biggest and most invisible elephant in the American psyche is this: our government has long since abandoned the goal of managing
this nation as a nation. Instead, America as a nation is managed as a means to global empire.
For example the loss of the critical skills of literacy (seven million total illiterates, another 27 million unable to read well
enough to complete a job application, and still another 50 million who read at a 4th-5th-grade level) have led large part of the
US population to become incapable of thinking for ourselves.
In fact they have become as malleable as children. 80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a single book in a year.Despite technology and internet access we are becoming a society of functionally ignorant and illiterate people.
For example there is widespread illusion of inclusion. This is the illusion that we are or will be included among the fortunate few
because misfortune happens only to those who deserve it. There are plenty of people who understand that the corporate model is one in
which there are squeezers and those who are to be squeezed. So the illusion of inclusion provides what can be called "a plantation morality"
that exalts the insiders and denigrates the outsiders. Those content with this arrangement obviously view themselves as insiders even
when they work for companies that are actively shedding employees. Many of these people are happy to be making good money for digging
graves for others, never stopping to wonder if maybe someday one of those graves might be their own.
One of the first recorded metaphors which explained this phenomenon of substitution of reality with illusion was Plato's tale
about cave dwellers, who thought the shadows on the wall were the actual reality. Illusion can also serve as a deliberate distraction,
isolation layer that protects form unpleasant reality. The point is that now it is illusions that dominate American life; both for those
that succumb to them, and for those that promote and sustains them. It is the use of illusions in the US society that become
prevalent today, converting like into the cinema or theater, where primary goal is entertainment.
Modern MSM are driven by postmodernism which includes among other things substitution of reality with artificial reality, fragmentation
of history and push for historical amnesia, substitution of the subject with emotions, and juxtaposition of opposites. But the
key feature is controlling the narrative.
The Journalist Udo Ulfkotte ashamed today that he spent 17 years in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. ...he
reveals why opinion leaders produce tendentious reports and serve as the extended Arm of the NATO press office. ...the author
also was admitted into the networks of American elite organizations, received in return for positive coverage in the US even a
certificate of honorary citizenship.
In this book you will learn about industry lobby organisations. The author calls hundreds
of names and looks behind the Scenes of those organizations, which exert bias into media, such as: Atlantic bridge, Trilateral
Commission, the German Marshall Fund, American Council on Germany, American Academy, Aspen Institute, and the Institute for European
politics. Also revealed are the intelligence backgrounds of those lobby groups, the methods and forms of propaganda and financing
used, for example, by the US Embassy. Which funds projects for the targeted influencing of public opinion in Germany
...You realize how you are being manipulated - and you know from whom and why. At the end it becomes clear that diversity
of opinion will now only be simulated. Because our "messages" are often pure brainwashing.
Controlling the narrative means control and deliberate selection of the issues which can be discussed (and by extension which are
not) in MSM. It represents real war on reality. Non-stop, 24 by 7 character of modern media help with this greatly (The
Unending Anxiety of an ICYMI World - NYTimes.com):
We used to receive media cyclically. Newspapers were published once (or sometimes twice) a day, magazines weekly or monthly. Nightly
news was broadcast, well, each night. Television programs were broadcast on one of the major networks one night a week at a specific
time, never to return until a rerun or syndication. Movies were shown first in theaters and on video much later (or, before the advent
of VCRs, not until a revival). There were not many interstices, just discrete units — and a smaller number of them.
Now we’re in the midst of the streaming era, when the news industry distributes material on a 24-hour cycle, entire seasons of
TV shows are dumped on viewers instantaneously, most movies are available at any time and the flow of the Internet and social media
is ceaseless. We are nearly all interstitial space, with comparatively few singularities.
Media became out windows to the world and this window is broken. The notion of 'controlling the narrative' points to dirty games
played by PR gurus and spin merchants with event coverage (especially foreign event coverage) to ensure the rule of elite. A good
part of the White House budget and resources is spent on controlling the narrative. Creation of the narrative and "talking points" for
MSM is the task of State Department. Former State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki was a pretty telling "incarnation" of the
trend.
And MSM are doing an exemplary job controlling the political narrative. This way they demonstrate their faithful service to the state
and the ruling political class. Nowhere is more evident then in coverage of wars.
Only social media can smash the official version of events. And in some case that has happened. The USA MSM honchos are now scratching
heads trying to understand how to control their version of events despite Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.
On Ukraine, despite the most coordinated propaganda offensive of Western MSMs, the Western elite failed to fully control the narrative:
a sizable number of Europeans are still clinging to the notion that this story had two sides. You can see this trend from analysis of
Guardian comments (The Guardian Presstitutes Slip Beyond the Reach
of Embarrassment ). More importantly the EU political establishment has failed to maintain a central lie inside official narrative
-- that the EU is benign and a force for good / peace / prosperity. EU elite has shown its ugly face supporting Ukrainian far right.
Another example were initially MSM totally controlled the narrative (the first two-three weeks) and then when the narrative start
slipping away they need to silence the subject Shooting down Malaysian flight
MH17
The thing is, once you've lost control of the narrative, as happened with coverage
MH17 tragedy, there's no way back. Once Western MSM lost it, no-one any longer believed a word they said about the tragedy.
And little can be done to win back that credibility on the particular subject. Moreover, due to this Europeans are becoming more
and more receptive of a drip of alternative media stories that completely destroy official EU narrative. They came from a multitude
of little sources, including this site and they collectively cements the loss of trust to the EU elite.
There also more subtle nuances of controlling the narrative. Actually controlling the narrative does not mean that you
need to suppress all the negative news (like propagandists in the USSR often did -- leading to complete discreditation of official
propaganda in minds of the USSR people -- it simply became the subject of jokes). As John V. Walsh noted:
There is a simple rule that is followed scrupulously by U.S. commentators of every stripe on world affairs and war – with a very
few notable exceptions, Paul Craig Roberts and Pepe Escobar among them.
This rule allows strong criticism of the U.S. But major
official adversaries of the U.S., Iran, Russia and China, must never, ever be presented as better than the US in any significant
way. The US may be depicted as equally bad (or better) than these enemies, but never worse.
In other words, any strong criticism of the US presuppose scapegoating and vicious propaganda campaign against major
official adversaries of the US such as Russia. It must never, ever be presented in a better light then the US in any significant
way. In selected cases, the US may be depicted as equally bad, but never worse.
The most recent incarnation of this rule was during Hillary Clinton campaign for POTUS in 2016.
The informational function of the media would be this to help us forget, to serve as the very agents and mechanism for our
historical amnesia.
But in that cast of two features of postmodernism on which I have dwelt here -- the transformation of reality into images,
the fragmentation of 'me' into a series of perpetual presents -- are bother extraordinary consolant with this process.
... We have seen that there is a way in which postmodernism replicates or reproduces -- reinforces -- the logic of consumer
capitalism.
Chris Hedge
Empire of Illusion is a penetrating analysis of this effort of "entertainment society" and converting everything including
politics into entertainment. It was published in 2010. Hedges discuss complex issues and a clear, succinct way. You might agree
with him, you might disagree with him but you will enjoy his brilliant prose.
Those who manipulate from the shadows our lives are the agents, publicists, marketing departments, promoters, script writers,
television and movie producers, advertisers, video technicians, photographers, bodyguards, wardrobe consultants, fitness trainers, pollsters,
public announcers, and television news personalities who create the vast stage for the Empire of Illusion. They are the puppet masters.
No one achieves celebrity status, without the approval of cultural enablers and intermediaries. The sole object is to hold attention
and satisfy an audience. These techniques of theater leeched into politics, religion, education, literature, news, commerce, warfare,
and even crime. It converts that society into wrestling ring mesh with the ongoing dramas on television, in movies, and in the news,
where "real-life" stories, especially those involving celebrities, allow news reports to become mini-dramas complete with a star, a
villain, a supporting cast, a good-looking host, and a neat, if often unexpected, conclusion (p. 15-16).
The first big achievement of Empire of Illusion was "glorification of war" after WWIII. As the veterans of WW II saw with great surprise
their bitter, brutal wartime experience were skillfully transformed into an illusion, the mythic narrative of heroism and patriotic
glory sold to the public by the Pentagon's public relations machine and Hollywood. The extreme brutality and meaninglessness of war
could not compete against the power of the illusion, the fantasy of war as a ticket to glory, honor, and manhood. It was what the government
and the military wanted to promote. It worked because it had the power to simulate experience for most viewers who were never at Iwo
Jima or in a war. Few people understood that this illusion was a lie. p. 21-22.
Media evolved into branch of entertainment. He gives great insight on American society. Several chapters should be a required read
for all sociology, film, journalism students, or government leaders. Much like Paul Craig Robert's How America Was Lost you might feel
unplugged from the matrix after reading this book. This is the book that corporate America, as well as the neoliberal elite, do not
want you to read. It's a scathing indictment against everything that's wrong with the system and those that continue to perpetuate the
lie in the name of the almighty dollar. In a way the USA as the rest of the world are amusing itself into a post apocalyptic state,
without an apocalypse. It is simply cannibalizing itself.
That books also contains succinct, and damning condemnation of globalization (and, specifically, the USA's role in it). You can compare
it with Klein's 'Shock Doctrine', but it cuts a wider swath.
The discussion the follows was by-and-large adapted from
D. Benor Amazon review of the
book
We consume countless lies daily, false promises that if we buy this brand or that product, if we vote for this candidate, we will
be respected, envied, powerful, loved, and protected. The flamboyant lives of celebrities and the outrageous characters on television,
movies, and sensational talk shows are peddled to us, promising to fill up the emptiness in our own lives. Celebrity culture encourages
everyone to think of themselves as potential celebrities, as possession unique if unacknowledged gifts. p. 26-7. Celebrity is the vehicle
used by a corporate society to sell us these branded commodities, most of which we do not need. Celebrities humanize commercial commodities.
They present the familiar and comforting face of the corporate state. p. 37.
Reporters, especially those on television, no longer ask whether the message is true but rather whether the pseudo-event worked or
did not work as political theater for supporting particular (usually State Department in case of foreign events) talking points.
Pseudo-events are judged on how effectively we have been manipulated by illusion. Those events that appear real are relished and lauded.
Those that fail to create a believable illusion are deemed failures. Truth is irrelevant. Those who succeed in politics, as in most
of the culture, are those who create the most convincing fantasies. This is the real danger of pseudo-events and why pseudo-events are
far more pernicious than stereotypes. They do not explain reality, as stereotypes attempt to, but replace reality. Pseudo-events
redefines reality by the parameters set by their creators. These creators, who make massive profits selling illusions, have a vested
interest in maintaining the power structures they control. p. 50-1.
A couple quotes: "When a nation becomes unmoored from reality, it retreats into a world of magic. Facts are accepted or discarded
according to the dictates of a preordained cosmology. The search for truth becomes irrelevant." (p. 50) "The specialized dialect and
narrow education of doctors, academics, economists, social scientists, military officers, investment bankers, and government bureaucrats
keeps each sector locked in its narrow role. The overarching structure of the corporate state and the idea of the common good are irrelevant
to specialists. They exist to make the system work, not to examine it." (p. 98) I could go on and on citing terrific passages.
The flight into illusion sweeps away the core values of the open society. It corrodes the ability to think for oneself, to draw independent
conclusions, to express dissent when judgment and common sense tell you something is wrong, to be self-critical, to challenge authority,
to grasp historical facts, to advocate for change, and to acknowledge that there are other views, different ways, and structures of
being that are morally and socially acceptable. A populace deprived of the ability to separate lies from truth, that has become hostage
to the fictional semblance of reality put forth by pseudo-events, is no longer capable of sustaining a free society.
Those who slip into this illusion ignore the signs of impending disaster. The physical degradation of the planet, the cruelty of global
capitalism, the looming oil crisis, the collapse of financial markets, and the danger of overpopulation rarely impinge to prick the
illusions that warp our consciousness. The words, images, stories, and phrases used to describe the world in pseudo-events have no relation
to what is happening around us. The advances of technology and science, rather than obliterating the world of myth, have enhanced its
power to deceive. We live in imaginary, virtual worlds created by corporations that profit from our deception. Products and experiences
- indeed, experience as a product - offered up for sale, sanctified by celebrities, are mirages. They promise us a new personality.
They promise us success and fame. They promise to mend our brokenness. p. 52-3.
We have all seen the growth of a culture of lies and deception in politics, banking, commerce and education. Hodges points out how this
has been facilitated by our abandoning the teaching of values and analysis in our schools.
The flight from the humanities has become a flight from conscience. It has created an elite class of experts who seldom look beyond
their tasks and disciplines to put what they do in a wider, social context. And by absenting themselves from the moral and social questions
raised by the humanities, they have opted to serve a corporate structure that has destroyed the culture around them.
Our elites - the ones in Congress, the ones on Wall Street, and the ones being produced at prestigious universities and business schools
- do not have the capacity to fix our financial mess. Indeed, they will make it worse. They have no concept, thanks to the educations
they have received, of how to replace a failed system with a new one. They are petty, timid, and uncreative bureaucrats superbly trained
to carry our systems management. They see only piecemeal solutions that will satisfy the corporate structure. Their entire focus is
numbers, profits, and personal advancement. They lack a moral and intellectual core. They are as able to deny gravely ill people medical
coverage to increase company profits as they are to use taxpayer dollars to peddle costly weapons systems to blood-soaked dictatorships.
The human consequences never figure into their balance sheets. The democratic system, they believe, is a secondary product of the free
market - which they slavishly serve. p. 111.
I quote Hodges at some length because of his cogent, clear summaries of the problems leading us to self-destruction and to ways we might
someday restructure society to be supportive and healing to the individual - rather than exploiting people and viewing them only as
valuable as they can be manipulated into being gullible consumers.
This is one of the clearest and best focused discussions I have seen on the problems of modern society that are leading us to societal
suicide
Hedges points out how a cycle sustains itself between elite educational institutions (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.), the Government
(think Congress in particular) and Corporations. Ivy league schools basically turn-out lackeys that do whatever is necessary to maintain
their elite, self-absorbed status. The last chapter is entitled, "The Illusion of America," and this is where Hedges does a fantastic
job of pulling together all the elements of this dysfunctional society. Other books touch the same themes, sometimes more forcefully
but in this book most important elements of this picture put together.
The book Gekaufte Journalisten by
Udo Ulfkotte was a revelation. Of cause, we suspected
many things he described, but now we know detailed methods and mechanisms of suppressing alterative opinion in German society,
methods that are probably more effective that anything propagandists in the DDR and the USSR ever attempted. One of the central
concept here is the concept of "Noble Lie".
Guardian became neoliberal as soon as Tony Blaire became Prime minister. As any neoliberal publication is subscribes to the notion
of "noble lie". The latter actually came from neocons playbook. No they knowingly try to dumb down their reader substituting
important topic with celebrity gossip and hate speech. Even political issue now are "served" to the public as dishes under heavy sauce
of personalities involved, which is a perfect way to obscure the subject and distract the readers.
geronimo -> MurkyFogsFutureLogs 14 Mar 2015 12:31
Indeed...
Under the retiring editor, all politics seems to have been reduced to 'identity' politics. Forget about class, war, class war
and so on... If it can't be reduced to Hillary's gender or Putin's, er... transcendental evil... then it's barely worth a comment
above the line.
As I've said before, for the Guardian 'the personal is the political' - or rather, for the Guardian as for Hillary, the political
reduces to the personal.
A marriage made, not so much in heaven, but somewhere in political-fashionista North London.
"The CIA currently maintains a network of several hundred foreign individuals around the world who provide intelligence for the
CIA and at times attempt to influence opinion through the use of covert propaganda. These individuals provide the CIA with direct
access to a large number of newspapers and periodicals, scores of press services and news agencies, radio and television stations,
commercial book publishers, and other foreign media outlets."
According to the "Family Jewels"
report, released by the National Security Archive
on June 26, 2007, during the period from March 12, 1963, and June 15, 1963, the CIA installed telephone taps on two Washington-based
news reporters. Church argued that misinforming the world cost American taxpayers an estimated $265 million a year.[20]
In February 1976, George H. W. Bush, the recently appointed Director of the CIA, announced a new policy:
"Effective immediately, the CIA will not enter into any paid or contract relationship with any full-time or part-time news correspondent
accredited by any U.S. news service, newspaper, periodical, radio or television network or station." He added that the CIA would
continue to "welcome" the voluntary, unpaid cooperation of journalists.[21]
But at this point only handlers and methods changed, not the policy. They are still all controlled by
deep state. The most recent revelations of this fact were published by
Udo Ulfkotte’s in his bestseller book
Bought Journalists. Here is one Amazon review of the book:
Unicorns & Kittenson May 1, 2015
I've managed to read a bit of the German version ...
I've managed to read a bit of the German version and now I think I understand why this is still not available in English although
it was supposed to be released in this and other languages seven months ago. I will be very surprised if this shocking and destabilizing
book (which names names) is made available to Americans ... even though it's primarily about the abusive tactics of American intelligence
agencies. Please keep asking why it isn't published - despite being a best-seller in Germany -- and how we can get it here on
Kindle.
As one Amazon reviewer said "This book will change for ever the way you read and watch the mainstream media! " Here is some
additional information from russia-insider:
... ... ...
Ironically, however, it’s likely that one of the biggest threats (especially in Europe) to Anglo-American media credibility about
Ukraine and other issues is coming from a very old-fashioned medium – a book.
Udo Ulfkotte’s bestseller Bought Journalists has
been a sensation in Germany since its publication last autumn. The journalist and former editor of one of Germany’s largest newspapers,
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, revealed that he was for years secretly on the payroll of the CIA and was spinning the news
to favour U.S. interests. Moreover he alleges that some major media are nothing more than propaganda outlets for international
think-tanks, intelligence agencies, and corporate high-finance.
“We’re talking about puppets on a string,” he says, “journalists who write or say whatever their masters tell them to say or
write. If you see how the mainstream media is reporting about the Ukraine conflict and if you know what’s really going on, you
get the picture. The masters in the background are pushing for war with Russia and western journalists are putting on their helmets.”
[8]
In another interview, Ulfkotte said:
“The German and American media tries to bring war to the people in Europe, to bring war to Russia. This is a point of no return,
and I am going to stand up and say…it is not right what I have done in the past, to manipulate people, to make propaganda against
Russia, and it is not right what my colleagues do, and have done in the past, because they are bribed to betray the people not
only in Germany, all over Europe.” [9]
... ... ...
Apparently, Pomeranzev has forgotten that important October 2004 article by Ron Suskind published in the New York Times Magazine
during the second war in Iraq (which, like the first, was based on a widely disseminated lie). Suskind quoted one of George W. Bush’s
aides (probably Karl Rove): “The aide said that guys like me [journalists, writers, historians] were ‘in what we call the reality-based
community,’ which he defined as people who ‘believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality…That’s
not the way the world really works anymore,’ he continued. ‘We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.
And while you’re studying that reality – judiciously, as you will – we’ll act again, creating other new realities which you can study
too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do’.”
[12]
It’s a rather succinct description of Orwellian spin and secrecy in a media-saturated Empire, where discerning the truth becomes
ever more difficult.
That is why people believe someone like Udo Ulfkotte, who is physically ill, says he has only a few years left to live, and told
an interviewer,
“I am very fearful of a new war in Europe, and I don’t like to have this situation again, because war is never coming
from itself, there is always people who push for war, and this is not only politicians, it is journalists too… We have
betrayed our readers, just to push for war…I don’t want this anymore, I’m fed up with this propaganda. We live in a banana republic
and not in a democratic country where we have press freedom…” [13]
Recently, as Mike Whitney has pointed out in CounterPunch (March 10), Germany’s newsmagazine Der Spiegel dared to challenge the
fabrications of NATO’s top commander in Europe, General Philip Breedlove, for spreading “dangerous propaganda” that is misleading
the public about Russian “troop advances” and making “flat-out inaccurate statements” about Russian aggression.
Whitney asks, “Why this sudden willingness to share the truth? It’s because they no longer support Washington’s policy, that’s
why. No one in Europe wants the US to arm and train the Ukrainian army. No wants them to deploy 600 paratroopers to Kiev and increase
U.S. logistical support. No one wants further escalation, because no wants a war with Russia. It’s that simple.” [14] Whitney argued
that “the real purpose of the Spiegel piece is to warn Washington that EU leaders will not support a policy of military confrontation
with Moscow.”
So now we know the reason for the timing of the April 15 U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, “Confronting Russia’s Weaponization
of Information.” Literally while U.S. paratroopers were en route to Kiev, the hawks in Washington (and London) knew it was time to
crank up the rhetoric. The three witnesses were most eager to oblige.
20201021 : Information Clearing House by President Adams. I had been searching within myself for a reason as to why we humans and American citizens, in particular, appeared to be so easily manipulated as to believe that Iraq was responsible for the carnage that occurred on September11, 2001. ( Oct 21, 2020 , www.informationclearinghouse.info )
I view the 2008 election as the major failing-to-turn-back-when-we-had-the-chance
point. Obama could have undone Bush's worst policies, but instead he cemented them into place
forever.
Our elites are both stupid and evil, but Bush is more stupid and Obama is more evil
.
I like to verify things myself and you can do so as well by reading the California
Department of Education Mathematics
Framework .
In its framework, the Department of Education seeks " Culturally responsive mathematics
education ."
Introduction Highlights
Active efforts in mathematics teaching are required in order to counter the cultural
forces that have led to and continue to perpetuate current inequities. Mathematics pathways
must open mathematics to all students, eliminating option-limiting tracking . [i.e. no
advance classes].
implementation of this framework and the standards, teachers must be mindful of other
considerations that are a high priority for California's education system including the
Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) which allow students to examine issues of
environmental and social justice .
Teaching for Equity Highlights
The evolution of mathematics in educational settings has resulted in dramatic inequities
for students of color, girls, and students from low income homes.
Teachers are encouraged to align instruction with the outcomes of the California ELD
Standards, which state that linguistically and culturally diverse English learners receive
instruction that values their home cultures.
Need to Broaden Perceptions of Mathematics
I did not go through all the chapters. Reason uncovered these gems.
The inequity of mathematics tracking in California can be undone through a coordinated
approach in grades 6–12 .
Middle-school students are best served in heterogeneous classes.
The push to calculus in grade twelve is itself misguided.
To encourage truly equitable and engaging mathematics classrooms we need to broaden
perceptions of mathematics beyond methods and answers so that students come to view
mathematics as a connected, multi-dimensional subject that is about sense making and
reasoning, to which they can contribute and belong.
Sabotage the Best
Reason concludes, and I agree " If California adopts this framework, which is currently
under public review, the state will end up sabotaging its brightest students . The government
should let kids opt out of math if it's not for them. Don't let the false idea that there's no
such thing as a gifted student herald the end of advanced math entirely."
Instead, and in the name of "equity", the proposed framework aims to keep everyone learning
at the same dumbed down level for as long as possible.
The intention is clear. The California Board of Education intends to sabotage the best and
brightest, hoping to make everyone equal.
The public does not support these polices. Indeed, it is precisely this kind of talk that
nearly got Trump reelected.
Biden should speak out against such nonsense, but he won't. He is beholden to Teachers'
Unions and Boards of Education.
Care to complain? If so the California Department of Education posted these
ways.
Phone Number and Address
Phone: 916-319-0598
Instructional Quality Commission
1430 N Street, Room 3207
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax: 916-319-0172
It's easy to become inured to the daily procession of flagrant falsehoods, tendentious
misrepresentations, deceitful exaggerations and narrative-driven editorial distortions from
many of the nation's leading media outlets. As opinion surveys suggest that most of these
organizations now rank in public trust a little below emailed pleas from deposed Nigerian
princes, it's easy to think the power they once wielded has been so diminished that they are
little more than a mildly diverting source of contemporary color in our lives.
Anytime I hear the word "justice" it makes be wary. Justice has always been in the eye of the
beholder, but now there is only one justice - the woke justice. It is catching on like a fire
and there are few media outlets left to describe that it is anything but justice.
Anytime I hear the word "justice" it makes be wary. Justice has always been in the eye of
the beholder, but now there is only one justice - the woke justice. It is catching on like
a fire and there are few media outlets left to describe that it is anything but justice.
"It's quite stupid to jump in the middle of a highly controversial issue," he told
reporters.
The colorful language from the typically reserved Republican leader shows the dilemma ahead
for the party in the post-Trump era. Many Trump-styled lawmakers are bucking big business and
leaning more heavily into the populist, working-class themes championed by the former president
â€" even as they rely on deep-pocketed business donors to fuel their political
campaigns.
By wading into the debate, McConnell is situating himself in the emerging culture wars on
the opposite side of progressive groups that are pressuring business not to sit by silently on
voting rights, gun violence and other big issues before Congress.
This is sort of like how Chelsea Clinton is thumping for the removal of Tucker Carlson from
Twitter; she doesn't like the back talk, something captured succinctly in this response to her
effrontery:
'Mocking Clinton, journalist Glenn Greenwald simply wrote: "Please remove from the internet
any content that displeases or otherwise causes any discomfort for Chelsea Clinton."'
So, yeah, the same principle applies here. Screw these "whited sepulchres". How I conceive
of them is as follows; those who wish these sepulchres to be venerated take great pains that
they be thickly slathered with an oh so respectable, dissimulating coating of whitewash, but in
reality, as tombs, their genuine function is as repositories for corrupt, rotting meat.
Putin promises 'asymmetrical' response to any threats made against Russia, promises those
provoking Moscow will come to regret it
Russian President Vladimir Putin has given a stern warning to anyone threatening the
national security of Russia, telling officials that those responsible will "regret their
actions like they have never regretted anything before."
IMHO NATO and D.C. need to pull their heads out of their arses, for mankind's sake.
Speaking of "hygiene theater," think of all the billions of dollars of hand sanitizer that
has been sold to prevent people from contracting the virus on surfaces. Which the recent
study shows happens in only 1-in-10,000 cases!
Ah, "never mind" .... but the makers of hand-sanitizer are a thankin' you.
Give Me Some Truth 39 minutes ago
My wife is a high school teacher. It's surprising her elbow hasn't fallen off by now from
all the scrubbing she's done of classroom desks. I guess it was good exercise for her.
Demologos 15 minutes ago
Would have been better to repurpose the alcohol as vodka.
The Tsunami of COVID-19 Bullsh!t and disinformation has Fauci's face on it. Looks like
Anthony "surprise outbreak" Fauci took just 13 months to go full circle from no masks needed
outside https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRa6t_e7dgI to
everyone should wear two masks, to no mask needed outside. The man is a national
embarrassment...
Didn't this twat say just 2 months ago we should be wearing TWO masks?
Krink26 2 hours ago
Unfortunately yes. So wear three masks...
cpt. carptastic 1 hour ago remove link
Have you been outside of your basement lately? There are idiots driving in their car alone
wearing a mask. I see people riding their bikes with masks on, and people walking around my
block wearing a mask.
So yes, plenty of morons still listen to him.
LetThemEatRand 2 hours ago
And the smug Karens who confronted people for failing to wear masks outdoors will go along
without the slightest twinge of regret for having been wrong the whole time. And they will
still be the first to be vocal and certain of the correctness of their next baseless
Karanical instructions to the rest of us.
in4mayshun 1 hour ago
Dictionary Term
KAREN , noun (karanical, karanny, karenish): to direct exacerbation, frustration, or
criticism at a person or persons while in a heightened state of illogical virtue signaling
panic; the disphoria exhibited when victimizing ones self, while projecting unrealistic fears
onto otherwise innocent bystanders, often fueled by the leftard media. 2. a person who is
Gullible; will accept any and all propaganda delivered from "official" channels. 3. An
insult, often labeling a person who overreacts. 4. A form of entertainment for politically
right-leaning persons
beekeeper 2 hours ago remove link
The highest paid employee in the federal government is an idiot. That explains a lot.
Global Hunter 1 hour ago
All the brainwashed Karens in Canada will pretend they didn't see this as it doesn't fit
their agenda. The masks have become part of their identity.
Suzy Q 1 hour ago
Do Canadian Karens have face masks made to match their outfits like Fancy Nancy does?
"Brussels and D.C. started to suspect that Russia doesn't 'want' Ukraine. What Russia
wants is for this country to rot and implode without excrement from this implosion hitting
Russia. West's paying for the clean up of this clusterf**k is also in Russian plans for
Ukrainian Bantustan"
I hate to admit it, but it sounds like Putin's got a plan.
Volkodav 15 hours ago
"The Russians saddle their horses slowly but ride fast".
- Otto von Bismarck
Malkavian 13 hours ago
"God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America." - also
Otto von Bismarck
jusstpassinthru 10 hours ago (Edited)
"The division of the United States into two federations of equal force was decided long
before the civil war by the high financial power of Europe. These bankers were afraid that
the United States, if they remained in one block and as one nation, would attain economical
and financial independence, which would upset their financial domination over the world. The
voice of the Rothschilds predominated. They foresaw the tremendous booty if they could
substitute two feeble democracies, indebted to the financiers, to the vigorous Republic,
confident and self-providing. Therefore they started their emissaries in order to exploit the
question of slavery and thus dig an abyss between the two parts of the Republic." -- Otto von
Bismarck, 1876
Somehow the US public school system left that part out.
" Time flies like an arrow ; fruit flies like a banana" Groucho Marx
Dragon HAwk 19 minutes ago remove link
Takes a long time to sort thru documents deciding which ones are useless and can be
released. come on man give the FBI a break they are on Our Side. /s
uhland62 9 hours ago
Maybe Ghislaine knows?
And why did the sketches of two 'wanted' in Madeleine McCann case resemble the Podesta
brothers?
novictim 10 hours ago
So the FBI determined that the assassin was Jeffrinovich Epsteinokova, who, according to
signal intelligence and bar chatter, subsequently hung himself, destroying all the evidence
with him.
Which was a real shame because they really wanted to get to the bottom of it.
uhland62 9 hours ago
Good idea, but -ovich is the ending for a make and -kova for a female. Nothing is
impossible these days, but it still reads bizarre, even though the direction is
excellent.
"... The élites come to believe their narrative – forgetting that it was conceived as an illusion created to capture the imagination within their society. ..."
"... Harvard Business School ..."
"... "Over the last two decades, I've observed the consequences of our surprising metamorphosis into surveillance empires powered by global architectures of behavioural monitoring, analysis, targeting and prediction – that I have called surveillance capitalism. On the strength of their surveillance capabilities and for the sake of their surveillance profits, the new empires engineered a fundamentally anti-democratic epistemic coup, marked by unprecedented concentrations of knowledge about us and the unaccountable power that accrues to such knowledge." ..."
"... "This is the essence of the epistemic coup. They claim the authority to decide who knows [and] which now vies with democracy over the fundamental rights and principles that will define our social order in this century. Will the growing recognition of this other coup finally force us to reckon with the inconvenient truth that has loomed over the last two decades? We may have democracy, or we may have surveillance society, but we cannot have both. " (Emphasis added). ..."
The élites come to believe their narrative – forgetting that it was
conceived as an illusion created to capture the imagination within their society.
Pat Buchanan is absolutely right – that when it comes to insurrections, history
depends on who writes
the narrative. Usually that falls to the oligarchic class; (should they ultimately prevail.)
Yet, I recall quite a few 'terrorists' who subsequently to were become widely-courted
'statesmen'. So the wheel of passing time turns – and turns about, again.
Of course, fixing a narrative – an unchallengeable reality, that is perceived to be
too secure, too highly invested to fail – does not mean it will not go unchallenged.
There is an old British expression that well describes its' colonial experience of (silent)
challenge to its then dominant 'narrative' (both in Ireland and India inter alia ). It
was known as 'dumb insolence'. That is, when the performance of individual acts of rebellion
are both too costly personally and pointless, that the silent, sourly expression of dumb
contempt for their 'overlords' says it all. It infuriated the British commanding class by its
daily reminder of their legitimacy deficit. Gandhi took it to the heights. And it his narrative
ultimately, that is the one better remembered in history.
With global Big Tech's control of narrative, however, we have entered into an entirely
different order of things, to those early British efforts at keeping down dissidence – as
Harvard Business School Professor Shoshana Zuboff succinctly
notes :
"Over the last two decades, I've observed the consequences of our surprising
metamorphosis into surveillance empires powered by global architectures of behavioural
monitoring, analysis, targeting and prediction – that I have called surveillance
capitalism. On the strength of their surveillance capabilities and for the sake of their
surveillance profits, the new empires engineered a fundamentally anti-democratic epistemic
coup, marked by unprecedented concentrations of knowledge about us and the unaccountable power
that accrues to such knowledge."
Narrative control has now jumped the shark:
"This is the essence of the epistemic coup. They claim the authority to decide who knows
[and] which now vies with democracy over the fundamental rights and principles that will define
our social order in this century. Will the growing recognition of this other coup finally force
us to reckon with the inconvenient truth that has loomed over the last two decades? We may
have democracy, or we may have surveillance society, but we cannot have both. " (Emphasis
added).
This clearly represents a quite different magnitude of 'control' – and when allied
with the West's counter-insurgency techniques of 'terrorist' narrative disruption, honed during
the 'Great War on Terrorism' – is a formidable tool for curbing dissent domestically, as
well as externally.
Yet it has a fundamental weakness.
Quite simply, that being so invested, so immersed, in one particular 'reality', others'
'truths' then will not – cannot – be heard. They do not stand out proud above the
endless flat plain of consensual discourse. They cannot penetrate the hardened shell of a
prevailing narrative bubble, or claim the attention of élites so invested in managing
their
own version of reality .
The 'Big Weakness'? The élites come to believe their own narratives –
forgetting that the narrative was conceived as an illusion, one among others, created to
capture the imagination within their society (not others').
They lose the ability to stand apart, and see themselves – as others see them. They
become so enraptured by the virtue of their version of the world, that they lose all ability to
empathise or accept others' truths. They cannot hear the signals. The point here, is that in
that talking past (and not listening) to other states, the latters' motives and intentions will
be mis-construed – sometimes tragically so.
Examples are legion, but the Biden Administration's perception that time was frozen –
from the moment of Obama's departure from office – and somehow defrosted on 20 January,
just in time for Biden to pick up on that earlier era (as if time was uninterrupted), marks one
example of a belief in one's own meme. Whilst the EU's unfeigned amazement – and anger
– at being described 'as an unreliable partner' by FM Lavrov in Moscow, is just another
example of how élites have become remote from the real world and captive to their own
self-perception.
"America is back" to lead, and 'to set the rules of the road' for the rest of the world, may
be intended to radiate U.S. strength, but rather, it suggests a tenuous grasp of the realities
facing the U.S.: America's relations with Europe and Asia were growing increasingly distant
well before Biden entered the White House – and, therefore, from before Trump's
(purposefully disruptive) term, too.
Why then is the U.S. so consistently in denial about this?
On the one hand, after seven decades of global primacy, there is inevitably a certain inertia
that would hinder any dominant power from registering and assimilating the significant changes
of the recent past. However, for the U.S., another factor helps explain its' 'tin ear': It is
the wider Establishment's fixation on preventing the 2020 presidential election from validating
the previous one's results. That really overrode all else. Nothing else mattered. The focus was
so all-consuming it obscured notice of the world changing – right there – outside
of their windows.
This is not unique to America. It is easy to understand why the EU was so blind-sided by FM
Lavrov's labelling of the EU as 'unreliable partner' (which it patently has been). As former
Greek FM, Yanis Varoufakis has written from his own experience of trying to get the EU to
listen to his detailed summaries and proposals in respect to his country's financial crisis:
'They (the Euro Group) just sat grim-faced, taking not one jot of notice: I might as well have
sung the Swedish national anthem, for all the attention they gave to my contributions',
Varoufakis later related. His experience was standard EU modus operandi. The EU does not do
'negotiation'. Supplicants, whether Greece or Britain, must accept EU values – and its
'club house-rules'.
The High Representative Borrell, arrived with his long list of complaints, culled from 27
states (some of which have a historical list of complaints against Russia). He read the
demands, and no doubt, expected Lavrov, like Varoufakis, to sit quietly, as he accepted the
reprimands – and the 'club rules' appropriate to any aspirant contemplating some sort of
working relationship with the worlds' 'biggest consumer market'. This is the EU culture.
And then, the following infamous press conference at which the EU was called 'unreliable'.
Anyone who has attended a EU decision-making making body, knows the protocol – but let a
former EU high official describe it: The
Council handles Chefsachen – the stuff of high politics, not low regulation
– in closed sessions. At these, van Middelaar can report, all 28 heads of government
(pre-Brexit) call each other by their first names, and may find themselves agreeing to
decisions they had never even imagined beforehand – before emerging together for a
beaming 'family photograph' in front of the cameras of the one thousand reporters assembled to
hear their tidings, whose presence makes 'failure impossible', since every summit (with just
one upsetting exception) ends with a message of common hope and resolve.
Lavrov, like some 'rough-diamond' distant family relative, didn't know to behave in polite
EU society; you don't call the EU names. Oh no!
Varoufakis
explains : "Unlike nation states that emerge as stabilisers of conflicts between social
classes and groups, the EU was created as a cartel with a remit to stabilise the profit margins
of the large, central European corporations. (It began life as the European Coal and Steel
Community). "Seen through this prism, the EU's stubborn faithfulness to failed practices begins
to make sense. Cartels are reasonably good at distributing monopoly profits between oligarchs,
but terrible at distributing losses". We also know that, unlike proper states, cartels will
resist any democratisation or outside input into their tight circle of decision-making.
This incident in Moscow might all be faintly amusing, except for the fact that it underlines
how Brussels' navel-gazing (in a separate way to that of Team Biden), produces a similar
result: It becomes out of touch with the world beyond. It 'listens', but does not hear. The
West's hostile strategy to Russia, as Pepe Escobar has observed in his
strategic analysis of Russia's position, is conditioned on the notion that Russia has nowhere
else to go – and therefore must feel pleased and honoured by the notion of the EU
condescending to push-out an 'octopus tentacle' towards Eurasia. Whereas, now, with the centre
of geo-economic gravity shifting to China and East Asia, it is realistically more a question of
whether the Greater Eurasian heartland, with its 2.2 billion population, feels it worthwhile to
extend its tentacle out towards the rule-bound EU.
This is no small matter: The EU having a hissy-fit over Lavrov's put-down of the EU in
Moscow is one thing. The potential however, for the U.S. to listen, but not hear, on Russia and
China, is quite another. Mis-hearing, mis-conceiving these two states, touches on matters of
war and peace.
...The view from Moscow is very different, fueled by a sense of grievance that the West is
determined to weaken Russia and stoke a pro-democracy "color" revolution to topple Putin. By
this reading, the U.S. and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies have repeatedly
betrayed Russia, abandoning missile treaties and expanding ever closer to its borders, since
Putin became the first foreign leader to offer help to Washington after the Sept. 11, 2001
terrorist attacks in the U.S.
"The Kremlin feels in a fortress, under sustained pressure from the U.S. and the West in
general. With its aggressive actions, Russia is trying to deter the U.S., but Washington is
just responding with stronger measures," said Oksana Antonenko, a director at Control Risks in
London. "We are certainly at the most dangerous point since the Soviet Union collapsed."
... ... ...
On Wednesday, the day before Russia announced its troop withdrawal, Putin warned rival
nations not to cross Russia's "red line" in his annual state-of-the-nation speech, saying
pressure on his country had become "a new form of sport." But he also held out an olive branch
of talks on strategic security.
... ... ...
Prosecutors this month asked a Moscow court to declare Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation
and his campaign offices to be extremist organizations, which could subject staff and
volunteers to criminal prosecution and imprisonment. They accused them of plotting to stage a
"color" revolution in Russia on the instructions of unnamed foreign states.
A top Putin ally, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament,
described Navalny as a "tool of American policy" that allowed himself to be used for
interfering in Russia's domestic affairs.
... ... ...
In his call with Biden, Putin raised an alleged plot to stage a coup against Belarusian
President Alexander Lukashenko hatched in consultation with the U.S., according to the Kremlin.
Lukashenko, who's ruled Russia's neighbor and closest ally since 1994, has faced months of
pro-democracy opposition protests since disputed elections last August.
"The practice of organizing coups and planning political assassinations, including of top
officials, that's going too far," Putin said in his annual address. "They've overstepped all
boundaries."
In talks with Lukashenko in Moscow next day, Putin said Russia is tightening military and
security cooperation with Belarus.
... ... ...
Putin insisted in Wednesday's address that "we really don't want to burn bridges" with the
West, before adding that anyone who mistakes Russian intentions for weakness "must know that
Russia's response will be asymmetrical, swift and tough."
Comedian Ryan Long released a now viral video with Danny Polishchuk called "When Wokes and
Racists Actually Agree on Everything," poking fun at the nation's unfolding debates on
race.
The video depicts two friends, Brad and Chad, one "woke" and one "racist," agreeing on very
fundamental parts of their ideologies.
"Your racial identity is the most important thing. Everything should be looked at through
the lens of race," the men say before one of them jinxes another.
Whether it's about privilege, interracial dating, discrimination, segregation of cultures
and arts, appropriation, the two men appear to agree on pretty much everything.
"We both have a lot of opinions about people of color," one of the men quips while the other
nods in agreement.
The end of the video shows the "woke" character claiming that the only disagreement between
the two is that one believes "white people are the root of all evil." The two eventually
resolve the tension by agreeing that Jews should be the subject of their wrath.
"Technically I don't consider Jewish people white," the "woke" character says.
"Neither do I!" the "racist" character interrupts.
... ... ...
Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University
where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.
The Bidet Administration Goes Haywire 3 hours ago (Edited)
We are ruled by wicked, immoral and un-intellectual idiots who are getting far too high on
their own supply
I Write Code 2 hours ago
So Russia claims Donbas, China invades Taiwan, US annexes Greenland, Idaho claims half of
Oregon, and Mexico reclaims California. And Quebec just sits there and stews.
williambanzai7 PREMIUM 2 hours ago
And BLM claims Manhattan...
Jade_Dragon 1 hour ago
My 77 year old mom is as upset as anyone but is also still optimistic. I have other
reasons for spending May and possibly the summer in Mexico (if I get an English teaching job)
but I see little if any reason to come back if things are going well down there. America has
gone psycho. At the very least, I'm afraid the entire country will be run like California
before long
dead hobo 1 hour ago (Edited)
Agree. I'm old and set. My home is paid for and I've lived in it for over 20 years. It's
set up just like I want and a new place would have less going for it. Moving would be highly
disruptive, not to mention expensive.
Yet, I am still considering possibilities. Mexico cartels vs Democrat incited BLM mobs?
Hmm, which is better? Free states in the US offer alternatives. I live in Illinois, soon to
be a California level mess. Belize is English speaking.
The next 2 years or so will tell the tale.
2thelastman 1 hour ago
In two years you could easily see a wall built to keep people IN.
Five million people in this country die of natural causes every year. Some of them happened
to have Covid when they passed. You might just as well say they died of tooth decay.
With
rioting continuing in Brooklyn Center , Minn. and around the country, Rep. Maxine Waters,
D-CA, went to Minnesota and told the protesters that they "gotta stay on the street" and "
get more confrontational ." The statement is ironic since Waters is one of the House
members currently suing former President Donald Trump and others for inciting violence on
January 6th with his words on the Mall. Waters insists that Trump telling his supporters to go
to the Capitol to make their voice heard and "fight" for their votes was actual criminal
incitement. Conversely, Waters was speaking after multiple nights of rioting and looting and
telling protesters to stay on the streets and get even more confrontational. There was violence
after the remarks, including a shooting incident where two National Guard members were
injured.
... ... ...
After Waters remarks,
protesters confronted reporters in a tense scene. Also protesters descended upon the home
of the prosecutor responsible for the second degree manslaughter charge against the officer who
killed Daunte Wright. Also the
Minnesota National Guard was fired upon , injuring at least two Guardsman. That is not to
say that Water incited such actions but that the same claimed nexus could be raised in making
such an allegation as was done in the Trump impeachment.
Carl Jung once said that "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an
understanding of ourselves". That certainly seems to be the case with Waters and Trump. It is
also why Waters could prove the only witness that Trump needs to call to defeat her own
lawsuit.
"" Lord, if it be your will, harden my heart. Stop me from striving to see the best in
people. Stop me from being hopeful that White people can do and be better."
I wonder if this sick woman has any idea, how many good people trapped in the violence of
hoods...could feel exactly the same way about blacks?
Justifiably...
Liesel 24 minutes ago
Dear God, please help me to stop spending money on Amazon and doing Google searches...
Liesel 27 minutes ago (Edited)
If we refuse to spend money at all these businesses that are "woke", there would literally
be no place left to shop. It's really getting that bad. However, please remember the powers
that be want people divided and hating each other. In their eyes, people who are united are
the most dangerous them.
Darth-Budice 34 minutes ago
Been 7 years since I stepped foot into a Target.
If they think 13% of the population + the soy-infused can support them...
I have a different take on this. The US should move to take back Cuba. Let Russia have
Ukraine, we take back Cuba. After Cuba take back Venezuela. Then Russia and China have no
ports in the Americas. Much bigger win for the US.
permanent victim 1 hour ago
Take back?
libfrog88 56 minutes ago
That is the usual word for Americans for stealing.
"Our education and health issues come together in this alarming statistic: Seventy percent
of today's youth (ages 17-24) are not eligible for military service , essentially due to a
lack of proper education (basic reading and writing skills) or health issues (commonly
obesity or diabetes)."
When you have no standards, SJW everyone is equal, then you have ****ty results.
5G-Powered Nanobots 3 hours ago
Good. Lets cut "defense" by 25% a year for the next 10 years
Clockwork Orange is complete, unbelievable nonsense. Our current leaders would not have
cured Alex, they would have appointed him an Ambassadorship to Syria or made him Vice
President, perhaps even given him a shot at Prime Minister or President one day.
Yes, but on condition that the 'Alexes' play the game. Deep State is full of sociopaths but
they spent their years in elite schools, not stealing cars and invading homes. Go to school,
get your degree, and then you can invade entire nations and kill many more people. Turk 152 says:
April 2, 2021 at 9:33
pm GMT • 4.8 days ago ↑ @Priss Factor
I suppose it is pretty tough these days to be a mass murderer on a global scale without
Harvard or Yale on your resume. In the old days, Truman was able to drop 2 atomic bombs and
firebomb Dresden with merely a degree from Spalding's Commercial College.
Other that that this ilist is just another sign of the crisi of neoliberlaism in the USA
and elsewhere. That why neoliberal elite badly needs a scapegoat to avoid the possibility to
be hanging from lampposts. The high level of hate toward neoliberal elite( parcially
redirected by "woke" movement toward whites ) and the loss of legitimacy is not
undeniable.
...Bryan MacDonald's thread is a good opportunity to update our list of all the issues,
ideas and things Russia has weaponized.
Even while the list below now includes 111 entries - like robotic cockroaches,
postmodernism and 14-legged squids - it is likely far from being complete:
I am deeply troubled that you conveniently neglected to include another fearsome Russian
Super-Dooper Weapon: the children's cartoon Masha and the Bear .
It's obvious that Masha and the Bear is a nefarious Russian plot to steal the precious
bodily fluids of our children!
We must be constantly vigilant. The CIA, FBI, MI6, NSA, and Homeland Security must be
notified about the Masha Threat. YouTube must censor Masha. And blue check-marked Twitter
police must condemn anyone who watches Masha.
This one didn't have the word 'weaponize', close though: "opening a new front in its spy
battles".
accusing the Kremlin of opening a new front in its spy battles with the West amid the
worldwide competition to contain the pandemic.
...
American intelligence officials said the Russians were aiming to steal research to
develop their own vaccine more quickly, not to sabotage other countries' efforts. There was
likely little immediate damage to global public health, cybersecurity experts said.
The U.S. media is weaponizing ignorance. The more one absorbs their reporting, the more
the brain is reduced to mush.
I can only manage a few hundred works and I become irritated and disoriented. My hat is
off to people who can somehow look at that stuff and remain sane. Or are they...hmmm...
"... Do Mr. Biden and his people claim that the dogmatic and occasionally hysterical certitude of the woke is sufficient warrant to turn the country upside down? ..."
"... If the 2020 election meant anything, it confirmed the irreconcilable differences -- a standoff of the cobra and mongoose. The election certainly didn't give Mr. Biden marching orders from the American people to open the southern border to all comers, or to redesign the natural order of biology (in regard to gender identity and all the social arrangements that have flowed from the difference between the sexes since time immemorial), or to change the country in a hundred other ways, bundling it off on an expedition to the far left fringes of reality and grievance. What the new administration proposes may be less a transformation than a hijacking. Half the country doesn't want to be reinvented -- not on Mr. Biden's terms. ..."
"... He and his people have gone into business with a bogus, echo-chamber mandate: They manipulate a media illusion of unanimity, and presume to impose a moral narrative. The Bolsheviks, a tiny but ferociously focused minority, proceeded in this way in 1917. ..."
While Trump was rejected by electorate (Biden got 7 million votes more -- mainly in costal
states and large cities), Biden was elected only because of extention of mail-in voting and
because he was not Trump. Now people regret their choice, while main-in voting "irregularities"
deprive Biden administration of the legitimacy. Moreover due to Biden neocon foreign policy and
pandering to woke Bolsheviks, many people have "post-election remorse," But in two-party system
you can do nothing about it: the train already left the station.
Now the Biden administration, headed by a man a few years too old to be a boomer, entertains
ambitions to take a great leap forward. But wait. Does a transformation require a mandate? By
what mandate does the Biden administration undertake the work of irrevocably altering American
society? Do Mr. Biden and his people claim that the dogmatic and occasionally hysterical
certitude of the woke is sufficient warrant to turn the country upside down?
There was no mandate in the outcome of the last election. November 2020 merely confirmed
that the U.S. remains split precisely down the middle, 50-50, as it has been for more than 20
years, since the deadlock of Al Gore and George W. Bush and the hanging chads of Florida.
If the 2020 election meant anything, it confirmed the irreconcilable differences -- a
standoff of the cobra and mongoose. The election certainly didn't give Mr. Biden marching
orders from the American people to open the southern border to all comers, or to redesign the
natural order of biology (in regard to gender identity and all the social arrangements that
have flowed from the difference between the sexes since time immemorial), or to change the
country in a hundred other ways, bundling it off on an expedition to the far left fringes of
reality and grievance. What the new administration proposes may be less a transformation than a
hijacking. Half the country doesn't want to be reinvented -- not on Mr. Biden's terms.
He and his people have gone into business with a bogus, echo-chamber mandate: They
manipulate a media illusion of unanimity, and presume to impose a moral narrative. The
Bolsheviks, a tiny but ferociously focused minority, proceeded in this way in 1917.
... ... ...
Mr. Morrow is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His latest book
is "God and Mammon: Chronicles of American Money."
Peter Von Nessi SUBSCRIBER 29 minutes ago "A man of his age --
fearing that he may amount to nothing more than the great Obama's onetime sidekick -- is apt to
react to the surprise of waking up in the White House by pandering to the flashiest ideas of
the young people and their hero Bernie Sanders. Mr. Biden can, for a moment, forestall death if
he veers way left and makes his mark, however chaotically."
I think the author gives too much credit to Biden and not his handlers. After all Pinocchio
was made of wood. When was the last time you saw a piece of wood think....about anything? SHOW
MORE REPLIES
N Neil Steinhoff SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago Joe did not know which state he was in, what office
he was running for and said 150 million Americans have died of Covid Here is an update from
Joe. "I have been in government for 180 years". "I wake up every morning, look at Jill, and say
'where the he- are we?'" on February 17, 2021. What could possibly go wrong? Greg Caldwell SUBSCRIBER 58 minutes ago (Edited) Mr. Ferrara: Many
people voted for Joe's ideas because he claimed to be more of a centrist while he was running
for office. I know of quite a few people who voted for Joe (1) because he wasn't Trump, and;
(2) he claimed he would govern from the middle-left.
Those people are now saying they didn't vote for anything he has done to the jobs, to
energy, nor do they buy his lies about Covid Relief (only 9% of over $1.9T actually went to
Covid); the Infrastructure bill (of which only 7% actually has anything to do with our
infrastructure); or, finally the repeated outright lies about the Georgian Voting Law. People
who voted for him are paying attention and many are not happy.
Like thumb_up Reply reply Share link Report
flag
M Melissa Firestone SUBSCRIBER 49 minutes ago Vote counting continued on and on in pivotal
states in 2020. That's why 2016 was so different than 2020. And in 2020, pivotal states were
decided by less than 21,000 votes - WI, AZ, and GA. And PA and MI were more competitive than
the polls showed going into election night. Votes continued to be counted days after the
election and as we know in some cases weeks. That's why this wasn't a mandate for Biden. It was
a rejection of Trump by the marginal voter - the ones who in tight elections determine
outcomes. The same was true for Trump when he won - Hillary was so hated by so many voting
blocks the Republicans could have run any of their potential nominees and would have won.
G George Nesterenko SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago Claiming the WH, and both chambers of Congress
is, in deed a mandate.
The only measure by which the election was 'close' was the electoral college. By the number
of.. you know... actual people... there was no, and is no contest. That's is also, indeed, a
mandate.
And as demographics shift, the mandate deepens. Which is why the GOP is so adamant against
preventing a DC or Puerto Rico statehood. An unpopular, shrinking minority is desperately
holding on to any iota of power. Not 'half the country', as Mr. Morrow repeats on several
occasions.
A national rebirth is desperately needed. Although I doubt it will happen under Biden, we
can at least get on our way.
"... The adjectives used in the FAZ to describe Putin had overwhelmingly negative connotations, including: threatening, rough, aggressive, confrontational, anti-westem, power-political, untruthful, cool, calculated, cynical, harsh, abrasive, non-substantive (arguments) and implausible (arguments). ..."
"... The words used to describe Obama had a completely different tone: committed, fanatically welcomed, enthusiastic, conciliatory, praised, hopeful and resolute ..."
"... The former FAZ Washington correspondent Matthias Rub wrote the adulation to US President Bush cited above shortly before the Iraq War began in 2003, in violation of international law. One year later he received the Arthur F. Bums Award for a different article. The Arthur F. Bums Award is presented by Germany's Foreign Minister. So, who selects the winners today? ..."
An interesting undergraduate thesis from Munich put together a list of the adjectives and
adverbs used in select articles about Obama (USA) and Putin (Russia) in the Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung between 2000 and 2012.
The words selected were ones that implied a value judgement in their description of Obama or
Putin. The adjectives used in the FAZ to describe Putin had overwhelmingly negative
connotations, including: threatening, rough, aggressive, confrontational, anti-westem,
power-political, untruthful, cool, calculated, cynical, harsh, abrasive, non-substantive
(arguments) and implausible (arguments).
The words used to describe Obama had a completely different tone: committed, fanatically
welcomed, enthusiastic, conciliatory, praised, hopeful and resolute :' In plain language:
The reporting in the once renowned FAZ newspaper is definitely not neutral, independent,
unbiased nor objective these days. So where is this bias coming from? Does this style of
reporting possibly have anything to do with the closeness that the FAZ's writers have to
certain elites and powerful circles? In the following chapters, we won't only be considering
the FAZ when it comes to this question. We will also look into why the mainstream media doesn't
even want you to imply that they're close to the elite.
Chapter one, scene two: A few years ago, the reporter Thomas Leif painted a rather
conspiratorial picture in the ARD television documentary Strippenzieher und Hinterzimmer
(Puppet Masters and Back Rooms). In it, journalists, ministers and party officials appeared to
all be sitting in the same boat, isolated from the common folk and getting along like
gangbustcrs. Viewers got to see how politics is made in secret meetings behind the scenes. The
film was about a corrupt world of cozy connections.4 What was being shown, however, wasn't a
conspiracy theory.
The film was controversial, because die people being shown in it were the perpetrators. They
thought that this form of corruption was completely normal. The journalists portrayed in the
documentary took it as an affront when they were simply asked about these secret networks
operating in the background.
... ... ...
The manipulation of the readers has been noticeable at the FAZ for many years. Dr. Heinz
Loquai gave a famous speech in 2003 where he said the following about the FAZ:
We learn from the FAZ's Washington correspondents that, among other things, Bush
studies the bible every day, prays regularly and bases his actions on the question, "What
would Jesus do?" The president is a "paragon of modesty and close to his people." There may
be "an arrogant bone or two in Bush's body," but he is "a man of love." His "portion of
missionary fervor" is "softened by statesmanlike prudence," through "patient waiting," the
"natural political talent's decision" has been "expressed." Although Bush may know that he is
not an intellectual, he can rely on "his political instinct, his wisdom and his natural
wit."
So (...) lectured, we can continue to count on the judgement and objectivity of leading
German daily and weekly newspapers' America correspondents! Embedded with the allied troops,
embedded in the political-media network in Washington - what's the difference? 16
The former FAZ Washington correspondent Matthias Rub wrote the adulation to US President
Bush cited above shortly before the Iraq War began in 2003, in violation of international law.
One year later he received the Arthur F. Bums Award for a different article. The Arthur F. Bums
Award is presented by Germany's Foreign Minister. So, who selects the winners today? The
jury includes, for example, the journalists Sabine Christiansen and Stefan Kornclius
(Sflddeutsche Zeitung).17 Keep these names in the mind. We will come across them and their
interesting connections quite often.
In truth, the West has a very long list of reasons for which to hate Putin and everything
Russian, but I believe that there is one reason which trumps them all: the western leaders
sincerely believed that they had defeated the USSR in the Cold War (even medals were
made to commemorate this event) and following the collapse of the former superpower and the
coming to power of a clueless, alcoholic puppet, the triumph of the West was total. At least in
appearance. The reality, as always, was much more complicated.
The causes and mechanisms of the collapse of the Soviet Union are not our topic today, so I
will just indicate that I believe that the USSR never "collapsed" but that it was deliberately
destroyed by the CPSU apparatus which decided to break up the country in order for the Party
and Nomenklatura to remain in power, not at the helm of the USSR, but at the helm of the
various ex-Soviet republics. Weak leaders and ideologies which nobody really believes in do not
inspire people to fight for their rulers. This is why the Russian monarchy collapsed, this is
why the masonic democracy of Kerenskii collapsed and this is why the Soviet Union collapsed
(this is also one of the most likely reasons for the final collapse of the US as a state).
Putin, who was not very well known in the West or, for that matter, in Russia, came to power
and immediately reversed Russia's course towards the abyss. First, he dealt with the two most
urgent threats, the oligarchs and the Wahabi insurrection in the Caucasus. Many Russians,
including myself, were absolutely amazed at the speed and determination of his actions. As a
result, Putin suddenly found himself one of the most popular leaders in Russian history.
Initially, the West went into a kind of shock, then through a process reminiscent of the
so-called " Kübler-Ross model " and,
finally, the West settled into a russophobic frenzy not seen since the Nazi regime in Germany
during WWII.
In this sequence, Russia committed two very different types of "crimes" (from the
AngloZionist point of view, of course):
The minor crime of doing what Russia actually did
and The much bigger crime of never asking the Empire for the permission to do so
The West likes to treat the rest of the planet like some kind of junior partner, with very
limited autonomy and almost no real agency (the best example is what the USA did to countries
like Poland or Bulgaria). If and when any such "junior" country wants to do something in its
foreign policy, it absolutely has to ask for permission from its AngloZionist Big Brother. Not
doing so is something akin to sedition and revolt. In the past, many countries were "punished"
for daring to have an opinion or, even more so, for daring to act on it.
It would not be inaccurate to summarize it all by saying that Putin flipped his finger to
the Empire and its leaders. That "crime of crimes" was what really triggered the current
anti-Russian hysteria. Soon, however, the (mostly clueless) leaders of the Empire ran into an
extremely frustrating problem: while the russophobic hysteria did get a lot of traction in the
West, in Russia it created a very powerful blowback because of a typical Putin "judo" move: far
from trying to suppress the anti-Russian propaganda of the West, the Kremlin used its power to
make it widely available (in Russian!) through the Russian media (I wrote about this in some
detail here and here ).
The direct result of this was two fold: first, the CIA/MI6 run "opposition" began to be
strongly associated with the russophobic enemies of Russia and, second, the Russian general
public further rallied around Putin and his unyielding stance. In other words, calling Putin a
dictator and, of course, a "new Hitler", the western PSYOPs gained some limited advantage in
the western public opinion, but totally shot itself in the leg with the Russian public.
I refer to this stage as the " phase one anti-Putin strategic PSYOP ". As for the
outcome of this PSYOP, I would not only say that it almost completely failed, but I think that
it had the exact opposite intended effect inside Russia.
A change of course was urgently needed.
The redirection of US PSYOPs against Putin and Russia
I have to admit that I have a very low opinion of the US intelligence community, including
its analysts. But even the rather dull US "Russia area specialist" eventually figured out that
telling the Russian public opinion that Putin was a "dictator" or a "killer of dissidents" or a
"chemical poisoner of exiles" resulted in a typically Russian mix of laughter and support for
the Kremlin. Something had to be done.
So some smart ass somewhere in some basement came up with the following idea: it makes no
sense to accuse Putin of things which make him popular at home, so let's come up with a new
list of accusations carefully tailored to the Russian public.
Let's call this a " phase two anti-Putin PSYOP operation ".
And this is how the "Putin is in cahoots with" thing began. Specifically, these accusations
were deployed by the US PSYOPs and those in its pay:
Putin is disarming Syria Putin will
sell out the Donbass Putin is a puppet of Israel and, specifically, Netanyahu Putin is a
corrupt traitor to the Russian national interests Putin is allowing Israel to bomb Syria (see
here )
Putin is selling the Siberian riches to China and/or Putin is subjugating Russia to China Putin
is corrupt, weak and even cowardly Putin was defeated by Erdogan in the Nagorno-Karabakh war
The above are the main talking points immediately endorsed and executed by the US strategic
PSYOPs against Russia.
Was it effective?
Yes, to some degree. For one thing, these "anti-Russian PSYOPS reloaded" were immediately
picked up by at least part of what one could call the "internal patriotic opposition" (much of
it very sincerely and without any awareness of being skillfully manipulated). Even more toxic
was the emergence of a rather loud neo-Communist (or, as Ruslan Ostashko often calls them
"emo-Marxist") movement (I personally refer to as a sixth
column ) which began an internal anti-Kremlin propaganda campaign centered on the
following themes:
"All is lost" (
всепропальщики
): that is thesis which says that nothing in Russia is right, everything is either wrong or
evil, the country is collapsing, so is its economy, its science, its military, etc. etc. etc.
This is just a garden variety of defeatism, nothing more. "Nothing was achieved since Putin
came to power": this is a weird one, since it takes an absolutely spectacular amount of mental
gymnastics to not see that Putin literally saved Russia from total destruction. This stance
also completely fails to explain why Putin is so hated by the Empire (if Putin did everything
wrong, like, say Eltsin did, he would be adored in the West, not hated!). All the elections in
Russia were stolen. Here the 5th (CIA/MI6 run) column and 6th column have to agree: according
to both of them, there is absolutely no way most Russians supported Putin for so many years and
there is no way they support him now. And nevermind the fact that the vast majority of polls
show that Putin was, and still is, the most popular political figure in Russia.
Finally, the big SNAFU with the pension reform definitely did not help Putin's ratings, so
he had to take action: he "softened" some of the worst provisions of this reform and,
eventually, he successfully sidelined some of the worst Atlantic Integrationists, including
Medvedev himself.
Sadly, some putatively pro-Russian websites, blogs and individuals showed their true face
when they jumped on the bandwagon of this 2nd strategic PSYOP campaign, probably with the hope
to either become more noticed, or get some funding, or both. Hence, all the nonsense about
Russia and Israel working together or Putin "selling out" we have seen so many times recently.
The worst thing here is that these websites, blogs and individuals have seriously misled and
distressed some of the best real friends of Russia in the West.
None of these guys ever address a very simple question: if Putin is such a sellout, and if
all is lost, why does the AngloZionist Empire hate Putin so much? In almost 1000 years of
warfare (spiritual, cultural, political, economic and military) against Russia, the leaders of
the West have always hated real Russian patriots and they have always loved the (alas, many)
traitors to Russia. And now, they hate Putin because he is such a terrible leader?
This makes absolutely no sense.
Conclusion: is a war inevitable now?
The US/NATO don't engage in strategic PYSOPs just because they like or dislike somebody. The
main purpose of such PSYOPs is to break the other side's will to resist . This was also
the main objective of both (phase one and phase two) anti-Putin PSYOPs. I am happy to report
that both phases of these PYSOPs failed. The danger here is that these failures have failed to
convince the leaders of the Empire of the need to urgently change course and accept the
"Russian reality", even if they don't like it.
Ever since "Biden" (the "collective Biden", of course, not the potted plant) Administration
(illegally) seized power, what we saw was a sharp escalation of anti-Russian statements. Hence,
the latest " uhu, he is a killer " -- this was no mistake by a senile mind, this was a
carefully prepared
declaration. Even worse, the Empire has not limited itself to just words, it also did some
important "body moves" to signal its determination to seek even further confrontation with
Russia:
There has been a lot of sabre-rattling coming from the West, mostly some rather
ill-advsied (or even outright stupid) military maneuvers near/along the Russian border. As I
have explained it a billion times, these maneuvers are self-defeating from a military point of
view (the closer to the Russian border, the more dangerous for the western military
force). Politically, however, they are extremely provocative and, therefore, dangerous. The
vast majority of Russian analysts do not believe that the US/NATO will openly attack Russia, if
only because that would be suicidal (the current military balance in Europe is strongly in
Russia's favor, even without using hypersonic weapons). What many of them now fear is that
"Biden" will unleash the Ukronazi forces against the Donbass, thereby "punishing" both the
Ukraine and Russia (the former for its role in the US presidential campaign). I tend to agree
with both of these statements.
At the end of the day, the AngloZionist Empire was always racist at its core, and that
empire is still racist : for its leaders, the Ukrainian people are just cannon fodder, an
irrelevant third rate nation with no agency which has outlived its utility (US analysts do
understand that the US plan for the Ukraine has ended in yet another spectacular faceplant such
delusional plans always end up with, even if they don't say so publicly). So why not launch
these people into a suicidal war against not only the LDNR but also Russia herself? Sure,
Russia will quickly and decisively win the military war, but politically it will be a PR
disaster for Russia as the "democratic West" will always blame Russia, even when she clearly
did not attack first (as was the case in 08.08.08, most recently).
I have already written about
the absolutely disastrous situation of the Ukraine three weeks ago so I won't repeat it
all here, I will just say that since that day things have gotten even much worse: suffice to
say that the Ukraine has moved a lot of heavy armor to the line of contact while the regime in
Kiev has now banned the import of Russian toilet paper (which tells you what the ruling gang
thinks of as important and much needed measures). While it is true that the Ukraine has become
a totally failed state since the Neo-Nazi coup, there is now a clear acceleration of the
collapse of not only the regime or state, but of the country as a whole. Ukraine is falling
apart so fast that one could start an entire website tracking only all this developing horror,
not day by day, but, hour by hour. Suffice to say that "Ze" has turned out to be even worse
than Poroshenko. The only thing Poroshenko did which "Ze" has not (yet!) is to start a war.
Other than that, the rest of what he did (by action or inaction) can only be qualified as "more
of the same, only worse".
Can a war be prevented?
I don't know. Putin gave the Ukronazis a very stern warning (" grave consequences for Ukraine's statehood as such ").
I don't believe for one second that anybody in power in Kiev gives a damn about the Ukraine or
the Ukrainian statehood, but they are smart enough to realize that a Russian counter-attack in
defense of the LDNR and, even more so, Crimea, might include precision "counter-leadership"
strikes with advanced missiles. The Ukronazi leaders would be well-advised to realize that they
all have a crosshair painted on their heads. They might also think about this: what happened to
every single Wahabi gang leader in Chechnya since the end of the 2nd Chechen war? (hint: they
were all found and executed). Will that be enough to stop them?
Maybe. Let's hope so.
But we must now keep in mind that for the foreseeable future there are only two options left
for the Ukraine: " a horrible ending or a horror without end " (Russian
expression).
The best scenario for the people of the Ukraine would be a (hopefully
relatively peaceful) breakup of the country
into manageable parts . The worst option would definitely be a full-scale war against
Russia.
Judging by the rhetoric coming out of Kiev these days, most Ukrainian politicians are firmly
behind option #2, especially since that is also the only option acceptable to their overseas
masters. The Ukrainians have also adopted a new military doctrine (they call it a "military
security strategy of Ukraine") which declares Russia the aggressor state and military adversary
of the Ukraine (see here for a machine translation of the official text).
This might be the reason why Merkel and Macron recently had a videoconference with Putin
("Ze" was not invited): Putin might be trying to convince Merkel and Macron that such a war
would be a disaster for Europe. In the meantime, Russia is rapidly reinforcing her forces along
the Ukrainian border, including in Crimea.
But all these measures can only deter a regime which has no agency. The outcome shall be
decided in Washington DC, not Kiev. I am afraid that the traditional sense of total impunity of
US political leaders will, once again, give them a sense of very little risk (for them
personally or for the USA) in triggering a war in the Ukraine. The latest news on the
US-Ukrainian front is the delivery by the USN of 350 tonnes of military equipment in Odessa.
Not enough to be militarily significant, but more than enough to further egg on the regime in
Kiev to an attack on the Donbass and/or Crimea.
In fact, I would not even put it past "Biden" to launch an attack on Iran while the world
watches the Ukraine and Russia go to war. After all, the other country whose geostrategic
position has been severely degraded since Russia moved her forces to Syria is Israel, the one
country which all US politicians will serve faithfully and irrespective of any costs (including
human costs for the USA). The Israelis have been demanding a war on Iran since at least 2007,
and it would be very naive to hope that they won't eventually get their way. Last, but not
least, there is the crisis which Blinken's condescending chutzpah triggered with China which,
so far, has resulted in an economic war only, but which might also escalate at any moment,
especially considering all the many recent anti-Chinese provocations by the US Navy.
Right now the weather in the eastern Ukraine is not conducive to offensive military
operations. The snow is still melting, creating very difficult and muddy road conditions
(called " rasputitsa " in Russian) which greatly inhibit the movement of forces and
troops. These conditions will, however, change with the warmer season coming, at which point
the Ukronazi forces will be ideally poised for an attack.
In other words, barring some major development, we might be only weeks away from a major
war.
We must not forget President Putin's outrageous opinion piece in the New York Times of
September 11th 2013: delivered at the same time as he had the impertinence to propose
the voluntary relinquishment of all chemical weapons by Syria -- thwarting the traditional
wholesale bombing campaign that the "Allies" were working up to. This was an unforgivable
affront to the USA -- and to Obama in particular; who had only just invoked his "red line".
It made him look ridiculous -- and a man in his position can't afford to look ridiculous.
This behaviour by Mr. Putin has never been forgotten or forgiven and it will be quite a
while before the New York Times prints another oped by him.
Russia was "back": in 2013 Russia stopped the planned US/NATO attack on Syria (the
pretext here was Syrian chemical weapons). In 2014 Russia gave her support to the
Novorussian uprising against the Ukronazi regime in Kiev and, in the same year, Russia also
used her military to make it possible for the local population to vote on a referendum to
join Russia. Finally, in 2015, Russia stunned the West with an extremely effective military
intervention in Syria.
Don't forget what Russia did the Georgia's American trained and supplied military in
2009.
This was an unforgivable affront to the USA -- and to Obama in particular; who had only
just invoked his "red line". It made him look ridiculous -- and a man in his position can't
afford to look ridiculous.
Excellent observation.
To deal with contemporary western elites is, to a great extent, to deal with Satan
himself. The devil- and presumably, his minions- does not mind confrontation or opposition
anywhere as much as he hates being the object of derision.
"The devil the prowde spirite cannot endure to be mocked." -- St. Thomas More
"why does the AngloZionist Empire hate Putin so much?"
I have an explanation, but that would tend to get me labelled a "sixth columnist".
It is obvious to anyone who does not believe that Putin is the Saviour Of Russia, but just
a neoliberal politician who is moderately better than Yeltsin, and whose real alternatives,
not Quislings like Navalny but real alternatives, are all far more nationalist and not
beholden to international capital than he is. Since the 90s are now over, and the attempt to
destroy Russia has failed, how does one ensure that the country does not become even stronger
and, crucially, more assertive?
One possible answer is interesting: keep demonising the man in power, *even though you
know that demonising him hardens support behind him*. Especially since it hardens support
behind him. As long as you keep attacking him, the Russian people support him more, making it
less likely for someone who would be more nationalist and less neoliberal to take charge.
I've come to think that the whole "Putin the Devil" thing is pushed so hard by the
corporate-communist-left (aside: I do struggle these days with what to call them) mostly as a
distraction. "Hey! Look over there! A BAD MAN!" (and pay no mind to what I'm doing over here,
flooding the country with replacements, thrashing the constitution, coming up with vaccine
passports and enabling a totalitarian technocracy).
In fact, it's a necessary hallmark of ALL totalitarian leftist regimes to have a huge
"outside enemy" who threatens the very existence of the state and is used to distract from
domestic troubles. Try to find a single totalitarian state without one.
So the U.S. has everything to gain and little to lose (Biden gov thinks anyways) by
goading Ukraine into "taking back Crimea." The U.S. is committed to fight that war down the
very last Ukrainian.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced this week that the country's National
Security and Defense Council had approved a strategy that is aimed at retaking Crimea and
reintegrating the strategically important peninsula.
Christopher Caldwell delivered what I thought was a good assessment of Putin in 2017, and
this excellent piece by The Saker complements and updates it for me. I think Putin is even
more reviled than ever by the U.S. Dems, because Putin = a national-sovereignty proponent =
Trump.
I play online chess -- speedy games, and so I have a lot of experience with players from
Russia and Ukraine. They tend to favor what chess players call "quiet moves." Is this a
manner of thought, a philosophy, that can be extrapolated to government? (U.S. players, by
contrast, tend to be more impetuous and impulsive in their chess style.)
One thing which separates Russia and China from Western 'thinking' is that the People's
Government in each country has rules in place to prevent Billionaires from buying/owning
politicians.
THOMAS QUICK SUBSCRIBER 1 hour ago I doubt it. Vaccination doesn't cure chronic grifters.
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N N Z SUBSCRIBER 2 hours ago "Medical science is making such remarkable progress that soon
none of us will be well.'' ---Aldous Huxley
I will bring up a "human right" that rarely is discussed in the MSM: the right to relieve
one's bladder & bowels when traveling in public places. In many cities in the U.S., there
are NO public restrooms, not even in the railway stations and bus depots! Oh, sure -- all the
airports have them because they cater to the well heeled.
Here in the two biggest California cities SF and LA, one has to find a restaurant (good
luck during the pandemic) or supermarket or else a secluded spot. I live next to an alley
where the homeless people frequently dump, and we the neighbors have to clean it up because
the city won't bother.
The authorities claim that setting out Porta-potties can't be done because homeless
addicts would use them. WTF -- those people would do drugs in their own place if they had
one. But this isn't just an issue about homelessness, which is an enormous violation of human
rights in itself, but more broadly one of DECENCY that barely exists in this society.
The authorities claim that setting out Porta-potties can't be done because homeless addicts
would use them. WTF -- those people would do drugs in their own place if they had one. But
this isn't just an issue about homelessness, which is an enormous violation of human rights
in itself, but more broadly one of DECENCY that barely exists in this society.
CHOLERA is gonna get ya.
It is sad but what has happened to the USA through neoliberal economic rules based society
is the abdication of memory and learning over centuries.
"... It is natural for bullshitters to think the world runs on bullshit. In a away, that capsulizes the entire problem that the US' establishment is having now. They have been relying on bullshit for so long that they think that's all there is. ..."
"... It is natural for bullshitters to think the world runs on bullshit. In a away, that capsulizes the entire problem that the US' establishment is having now. They have been relying on bullshit for so long that they think that's all there is. ..."
“ I wish I could summon a strong argument against it, but I can find none.”
It is natural for bullshitters to think the world runs on bullshit. In a away, that
capsulizes the entire problem that the US' establishment is having now. They have been relying
on bullshit for so long that they think that's all there is.
The truth is we have no way to know what underlies our "reality", if anything. We don't have
the tools, the senses, yet. At the limits everything dissolves into probability mush, or the
lack of time for anything to get from there to here at the speed of light, or complexity we
have no way to impose order on.
If they want to go live in the computer, I say good riddance.
@ maahaa | Mar 24 2021 17:46 utc | 5:
“ I wish I could summon a strong argument against it, but I can find
none.”
It is natural for bullshitters to think the world runs on bullshit. In a away, that
capsulizes the entire problem that the US' establishment is having now. They have been
relying on bullshit for so long that they think that's all there is.
The truth is we have no way to know what underlies our "reality", if anything. We don't
have the tools, the senses, yet. At the limits everything dissolves into probability mush, or
the lack of time for anything to get from there to here at the speed of light, or complexity
we have no way to impose order on.
If they want to go live in the computer, I say good riddance.
"... It is natural for bullshitters to think the world runs on bullshit. In a away, that capsulizes the entire problem that the US' establishment is having now. They have been relying on bullshit for so long that they think that's all there is. ..."
"... It is natural for bullshitters to think the world runs on bullshit. In a away, that capsulizes the entire problem that the US' establishment is having now. They have been relying on bullshit for so long that they think that's all there is. ..."
"High-profile proponents of what's known as the "simulation hypothesis" include SpaceX
chief Elon Musk, who recently expounded on the idea during an interview for a popular
podcast.
"If you assume any rate of improvement at all, games will eventually be indistinguishable
from reality," Musk said before concluding, "We're most likely in a simulation."
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson agrees, giving "better than 50 -- 50 odds" that the
simulation hypothesis is correct. " I wish I could summon a strong argument against it, but I
can find none."
I guess that is one way for Musk to avoid the guilt over those people his coup in Bolivia
killed. They didn't really die because it is all just make-believe; a simulation.
“ I wish I could summon a strong argument against it, but I can find none.”
It is natural for bullshitters to think the world runs on bullshit. In a away, that
capsulizes the entire problem that the US' establishment is having now. They have been relying
on bullshit for so long that they think that's all there is.
The truth is we have no way to know what underlies our "reality", if anything. We don't have
the tools, the senses, yet. At the limits everything dissolves into probability mush, or the
lack of time for anything to get from there to here at the speed of light, or complexity we
have no way to impose order on.
If they want to go live in the computer, I say good riddance.
@ maahaa | Mar 24 2021 17:46 utc | 5:
“ I wish I could summon a strong argument against it, but I can find
none.”
It is natural for bullshitters to think the world runs on bullshit. In a away, that
capsulizes the entire problem that the US' establishment is having now. They have been
relying on bullshit for so long that they think that's all there is.
The truth is we have no way to know what underlies our "reality", if anything. We don't
have the tools, the senses, yet. At the limits everything dissolves into probability mush, or
the lack of time for anything to get from there to here at the speed of light, or complexity
we have no way to impose order on.
If they want to go live in the computer, I say good riddance.
According to the Austfailian media, it was a triumph. I kid you not. They will lie and lie
and lie again about Biden's dementia, until the bitter end, and at his stage, once the meds
lose their effectiveness, the end can come quickly. Perhaps he'll rip off his nappy and fling
faeces at the fawning presstitutes. Dream on. Or, as in the comedy, Bidet will mutter 'I'm
going to the toilet. I mean, I'm going to the toilet NOW!'.
It is always helpful to remember the words of "Arthur Jensen": "You are an old man who
thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are
no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only
one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate,
multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks,
rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which
determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things
today."
"... Apparently Biden was either too senile or too inherently stupid to realize what gangrenous filth the subhuman Clintonite scum Stephanopoulis is, was and always will be. And put his stupid senile foot into Stephanopoulis's clever little bear trap. ..."
"... Pretty sure this was exactly the message Biden's people wanted to send, whether because they really think this sort of thing will "work" on the world stage or because they've gunned up the Russia nonsense so hyperbolically for so long that their domestic audience now demands it. ..."
Apparently Biden was either too senile or too inherently stupid to realize what gangrenous
filth the subhuman Clintonite scum Stephanopoulis is, was and always will be. And put his
stupid senile foot into Stephanopoulis's clever little bear trap.
Well, those are hardly trick questions or subtle ones. And Biden temporizes perfectly well
when he wants to. He didn't want to. I'd be mildly surprised if he hadn't been told to expect
these particular questions. Stephanopolous has form for lobbing cooperative softballs at the
right sort of democrats.
Pretty sure this was exactly the message Biden's people wanted to send, whether because
they really think this sort of thing will "work" on the world stage or because they've gunned
up the Russia nonsense so hyperbolically for so long that their domestic audience now demands
it.
If your interpretation of "what Stephie-poo was thinking" and what Biden was expecting are
correct, then Biden is indeed the same sort of Clintonite filth that Stephanopoulous himself
is.
And that would be very unfortunate. It means that Biden is just as war-risky with Russia
as Clinton would have been. And yes, the massed millions of "Putin stole the election" Pink
Kitty Kap Klintonites want, need and demand this sort of agitprop. They and their precious
spokes-creeps like that anti-Russianitic MSNBC news show hostess whose name I absolutely
cannot remember just now.
And do you remember who her mentor was? Roger Aisles. Yeah, him. And after an extensive
education, including a Rhodes scholarship, she sells her integrity out on her program for
about $30,000 a day now-
Maybe she never had any integrity to begin with. Maybe she was always and only about
working the media rackets, just like her reciprocal one-schtik-phoney opposite number Tucker
Carlson over at Fox.
Let's start with comic relief: the "leader of the free world" has pledged to prevent China
from becoming the "leading" nation on the planet. And to fulfill such an exceptional mission,
his "expectation" is to run again for president in 2024. Not as a hologram. And fielding the
same running mate.
It goes back to The Democrat Run Mainstream Media's narrative that Black men can only be
the poor helpless victims and NEVER the apex predators.
Which is why they only say that Black men are murdered by guns but NEVER that Black men
are murdered by other Black men. The only time they do not blame the guns is in the much less
common man bites dog White male on Black male murders.
You know the perpetrator is a Black male and not a White male when the headline is a gun
all by itself murdered a Black man!
"... This whole process was intended to be for seriously delinquent kids/parents, but, you know bureaucracy – gotta check the boxes rather than just have a 30 second phone call "please email Mrs. ABC when your kids have been absent." ..."
If underfunded means you have to use old textbooks from the 1950s through the 1970s and have no tablets or computers on class,
I'd choose an underfunded school for a better education.
@Jonathan Mason on an attendance remediation plan. The first words out of my mouth were "so this is where my tax money goes."
It went on for 15 minutes, signing forms and shit. This whole process was intended to be for seriously delinquent kids/parents,
but, you know bureaucracy – gotta check the boxes rather than just have a 30 second phone call "please email Mrs. ABC when your
kids have been absent."
After that BS, we got another certified letter, so I went to the school. "I thought we had this thing settled. What do we have
to do now?" "Oh, nah, we just sent one to everybody. It was easier that way. You're fine." How much do certified letters cost
now, Jonathan? Oh, it's free though, right?
They've got plenty of money, all of them. Wait until the SHTF. Then we'll see some frugality and some legitimate complaints.
California public schools get their funding according to the number of students present. So if your kid is a half hour late,
you get an urgent call from the attendance office. Every kid is worth money to them. Maybe something like that is driving the
overreaction you describe.
I can see why this is unfinished work, with lots more research required, requiring quite a bit more grant money. It's hard
work getting around the simple truth. Steve here had a good handle on the reasons for the big uptick in violent crime half a year
ago, without even hitting the taxpayers up for a lot of grant money. It's just that his was not the answer that the Establishment
was looking for. Try harder, Steve.
@anonymous ay. A play to gain advantage, to publicly make the Chins look weak, subject
them to a media diplomatic humiliation, and as usual control the narrative."
It is talked about in Chinese Internet that before Chinese diplomats attending the meeting,
they went through 20 (or so) different scenarios of what the other side would say or do, and
practiced the responses accordingly. So it is not a surprise they could handle this rather
obvious case easily.
You think US would do such preparation? Probably not. They probably didn't even bother to
look up basic things like Yang and Wang's backgrounds.
Like what Sun Tzu says, know yourself and know your enemy
I have written of the decline of the US likening it to a malignant tumour yet the recent
gaffs with Russia and China make it likely the hospitalisation of the patient may be more
urgent. Regarding sanctions and thier use on poor countries .
Goya and Sanctions: with some satirical nudity. Satire is a bellweather indicator of the
sophistication and progress of a civilization. When satire and humor dies history teaches us
so will that civilization. Sadly I don't expect this video to be allowed on US youtube.
Not the OP, but I'll answer. American expat here. I spent years trying to get people to at
least talk with me on issues. They just wanted to watch TV and eat fast food and let the
plutocrats run things into the ground. So I left, 10 years ago, to seek meaning and adventure
elsewhere. Haven't looked back.
I settled into a "third world anti-freedom authoritarian regime", where I enjoyed all the
freedoms I hadn't realized I had not known in America, and built a life for myself. When
I'd talk to people back home they'd tell me I was crazy for wanting to stay in an
"authoritarian nation", and ask wasn't I afraid? They didn't understand why I didn't want to
come back home. I haven't visited America in ages. I can no longer relate to America's
Afro-centric, virus-mania culture. Turning on American MSM shows is like watching the news from
Mars.
Would I leave the life I've created for myself to go back to the place I grew up and help
save the people there if I thought there was enough of them willing to fight? Maybe, if I could
do it without jeopardizing my family here. A part of me would like to.
But the sad reality is, the people in the United States do not want to be saved .
They're comfortable . Half the people I talk to back there brag to me about the vaccine
they got. I just talked to one who boasted how it "wasn't available to the masses yet" and she
had to trick her way into getting an mRNA shot. 130 million doses have been administered in the
US already, to a nation of 330 million. That doesn't seem like something "unavailable to the
masses."
So, do I want to go back to the US, to stand there screaming at people on the street like
some homeless bum as they line up to get their COVID shots, as armies of them march with
#BlackLiveMatters signs, surrounded by police protection, as the idiots on the left scream
about Russia and the idiots on the right scream about China, while nobody talks about the #1
foreign influencer of American public policy by far, because to mention its name is to have
one's life destroyed? I have better things to do with the precious few years I get on this
Earth.
When enough of the people wake up, when they are ready to be led, I may yet answer the call
to leadership when that call seriously goes out, 15 or 20 or 25 years from now. But at the
present moment, the American people are still so far from wanting anything other than football,
fast food, and racial equality that it really is not a place I have any interest in being, nor
one I have anything much to offer.
Five_Black_Eyes_Intel_Agency 2 hours ago (Edited) remove link
israel-firsters and the CIA love to milk their sugar daddy, meanwhile people are all
choked up about the Left and Right charade
Weihan 59 minutes ago remove link
Great article from Greenwald! And remember: by "domestic terrorists" and "violent
extremists," they're referring to anyone who still believes a country should have a
recognizable and enforceable border.
This uncomfortable thought came to me while listening to Joe Biden talking about "soulless
killer" Vladimir Putin. Smaller insults have sparked off wars. The "Footless, yellow
earth-worm" slur moved Kaa the Rock Python to devour Bandar Log. Luckily, easy-going Putin
replied with a smile. He said that in his
childhood, kids responded with "I am rubber, you are glue; bounces off me and sticks to you";
he only wished good health for the American president and proposed to debate him online, so
that Americans and Russians, as well as the whole world, could form their own opinion. Biden
evaded the challenge. It's not clear he remembered who Putin is. An empty suit with a
teleprompter, called him Donald Trump Jr . Biden
said Putin meddled in the US elections and he will pay a price for it. Alas, Putin couldn't
influence the US dead, and they swung the elections as they voted for Biden by whole
cemeteries. Yes, Biden is a senile dummy that couldn't even board Air Force One without
stumbling thrice
the next day, but there is somebody who operates the teleprompter, and that is the problem.
The Russians were visibly furious. When US leaders drop such invective, it's like pirates
passing a 'black spot' in Treasure Island .
It's a signal that the foreign leader has to be deposed or killed outright. That's how they
spoke of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gadhafi; both were killed and their 'rogue states'
devastated. It was clearly a show of hostile intentions, not just from Biden but also from the
US establishment speaking like ventriloquist through the current White House tenant.
Afghanistan is a great base from which to invade Central Asia and threaten Russia from the
south. The country has been occupied by the US for 20 years, and Trump was determined to pull
out the troops. Biden has already hinted that the US will renege on its agreement with the
Taliban to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. The withdrawal was supposed to be completed by
May 2021; it will be "tough" for the United States to withdraw forces from Afghanistan in six
weeks, he said. Biden has also scrapped Trump's plan to withdraw forces from Germany, and with
good reason. His administration wants Germans to drop the Nord Stream II project, and it is
easier to convince a country if you have forty military bases there.
Fighting against Iran never stopped. When the US isn't doing it her best friend Israel is
acting. It has emerged that during the last two years, Israeli frogmen sabotaged 12 Iranian
tankers, reported the Wall
Street Journal . But it all backfired. On February 16, the entire Mediterranean coast of
Israel was covered with sticky black mess.
... ... ...
The blow to Israel was terrible – animals, plants and fish died; for a long time it
will be impossible to swim and sunbathe on the oily shores. Only now the sad truth has begun to
leak out: 'the worst pollution of the century' had been done by Israelis. The first to speak
about the source of the pollution was Israeli Minister of the Environment Gila Gamliel. She
said the oil was released by the Iranian tanker Emerald carrying a cargo of
US-sanctioned oil products to Syria. This is Iranian eco-terrorism, she said. But Gila was
quickly gagged – the Israeli military censorship forbade discussion of this topic, except
in the most general terms. It appears Gila Gamliel was right – up to a point. The Israeli
dissident
Richard Silverstein wrote about it:
It was a deliberate attack by Israel on the Iranian vessel. Israel's naval commando unit,
Flotilla 13 covertly attached a mine to the Emerald . The intent was to cause minor
damage that would send a message to Iran that its own attacks on Gulf shipping would bring a
cost. This Times of London
report written by Haaretz columnist Anshel Pfeiffer confirms my source. However, the
commandos didn't realize that the Emerald was a rusty old hulk in desperately
ill-repair. The Israeli mine, which was supposed to cause minor damage, actually ripped a
hole so big that much of the contents of the ship's hold leaked into the Mediterranean. This
is what caused the Israeli environmental disaster: Israel itself.
Biden voted for Gulf War Two. Why? Because as he admits, he is a Zionist. Zionists are
traitors, terrorists and murderers. Yet Biden the terrorist accuses Putin of being a
killer?
The illusion of a US president having any actual authority is pretty much being dispelled by
this ventriloquist's dummy Biden signing whatever is placed in front of him and parroting
whatever is on the teleprompter. A stupid egotist his entire life, his mental decline isn't as
apparent as it might be quite yet because he's been carefully stage managed so far. They're
being extremely careful not to let the cat out of the bag in letting people get a glimpse of
what he's really like. And it's downhill from here.
The virus hysteria has been a test case lab in assessing what works, what doesn't, how to
improve on herding and suppressing the population, etc. Insofar as dead foreign leaders goes,
who really knows?
When tens of millions of dollars are available lots of people in some leader's circle might
be tempted to expose the target to some form of poisoning or lethal radiation. Hugo Chavez
expressed suspicion at how he and other leaders opposed to US diktat seemed to come down with
cancer.
The US itself has claimed some of it's diplomats were possibly targeted by mystery rays in
Cuba so the idea of something like this is not far-fetched; it's just a case of projection,
accusing others of what one is guilty of.
LOL, you don't know how many times, since his campaign and now as (fake) POTUS that Biden
has reminded me of Chauncey Gardiner. It's the perfect comparison.
(But, Jobotomy Xiden will be gone soon and then the bi-racial, sociopathic Hillary 2.0 will
be inaugurated. Excuse me while I go hurl.)
Think of the hysteria and histrionic nation wide wailing and teeth gnashing over Trump
calling it "the China virus" and the dead silence when Biden calls Putin:
A soulless killer. .
I wish Putin would take revenge and pull a Soleimani on Biden & Co. but perhaps he
laughs & chalks it up to the senile, demented ramblings of a clown.
Is this more theater?
To add to the insanity, the embrace and total absolution of the pathological liar, war
criminal and mass torturer and murderer, George W. Bush leaves me .stunned:
Bush on Putin, 2001:
"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We
had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul ; a man deeply
committed to his country and the best interests of his country."
Biden is a sociopath, one of limited intelligence. But a sociopath nevertheless.
If he is instructed by his controllers to initiate a nuclear war, he will do so
unhesitatingly.
I would not be surprised if both Joe and Hunter were somehow benefiting from drug traffic
across the border. Actually, I expect that is largely what is behind Biden's open border
policy.
It's impossible for normal people to understand sociopathic behavior. The American political
class has been selected for sociopathy now for generations.
"Americans should write a letter of apology to Putin, apologizing for our rude and senile
leader (and the degenerate lunatics that surround him) and ask for President Putin's
understanding and patience. "
Not a bad idea at all. I would formulate some things differently though, the idea is that
the letter should also circulate, so mind the crude tone, show that even Americans can be
tactful gentle-man. Even that would impress the whole world.
Thanatopia's attacks on Putin differ vastly from its deranged Sinophobia. Thanatopians want
Putin gone, replaced by a New Yeltsin, and Russia vivisected for further pillage. But they
don't want Russians dead, because this 'Free Russia' will be needed for the Great Purpose-the
destruction of China.
The truly Evil campaign to entirely falsely accuse China of genocide in Xinjiang, is a call
not just to war, but to genocide. A China devastated would still rise again, even if the USA
and its villainous stooges succeed in breaking it up, again, as was nearly achieved in the 19th
and 20th centuries.
The USA and the Western vassals promote, train and finance separatists in Xinjiang, Tibet,
'South' Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, even 'Manchuria'. Such civil discord would cause millions
of deaths, but it gets worse.
The Imperial hatemongers never cease to vilify the CCP. The 'New Nazis', 'It is 1939 again,
and 'appeasement' is treason', human organ harvesters etc. All lies, all the crudest
projection. But the CCP is 100 million strong, and the Chinese CCP Government enjoys 95%
satisfied or highly satisfied rating from the populace, according to the latest Harvard poll.
So the entire population is complicit, 'Xi's willing executioners' etc, and must be punished.
SARS CoV2 was obviously meant to kill millions of Chinese and devastate the economy, but the
'blowback' has been cosmic retribution, and that has only made the Western genocidists even
more enraged.
The Western oligarchy does not do mass high kultur. Kultur is a commodity and a venue for
narcissistic display and mass kultur is base, exploitative and mind-destroying, keeping the
plebs permanently obtunded, morally, intellectually and spiritually. 'Feed 'em muck' as Nellie
Melba recommended.
Worldometer/coronavirus today: Tanzania population >60 million; CV19 cases <600. Dear
Scott, that cannot be correct! (If all the brainwashing serves me right.)
RIP President Magufuli, the man who busted WHO with their fraud -- or scientific
incompetence. Ha. This story could have been the lead paragraph, and no stone should be left
unturned to find out if Magufuli was murdered. This especially includes death by a deadly viral
infection, ala Operation Zyphr ?
Minor correction: Biden does not represent the American people. Those who think they support
him are unaware of their Stockholm syndrome.
Now, let's arrest our schadenfreude about Israel's acts of sabotage spoiling their own
coastline. Our fragile seas are too precious for that sort of vindictive spirit. Nevertheless,
it is okay be encouraged about this colossal blunder, because it proves the controllers are
really not in control at all. And they damn well know it.
Finally, forget not Shere Khan totally trumps Kaa. But as fate would have it even he loses
in the end.
Unless neocons are insane, I don't think that they want to start a war with Russia and much
less China. The U.S. can't even win a war against goat herders with homemade explosives. The
U.S. military is more concerned about having black transgender soldiers than about being
efficient.
Also, China practically owns the U.S. and Canada at this point.
This is probably just another distraction to keep people from noticing that they are
(again!) being fleeced and raped.
It now appears the Russians and Chinese are using our woke BS against us like a deflector
shield.
Putin's speech of the US projecting its own psychology on others, mentioning BLM and racism
plus the Chinese mentioning the US "persecution of blacks".
They inflict this woke shit on us but didn't realize it could also be used by their
enemies.
Ultimate blow back for the dumb fuckers in Washington. Totally hilarious.
"Holy cow: 42% of Americans report undesired weight gain during Covid 19. The average weight
gain is 29 lbs. And 41 lbs for Millennials! "
Individuals are limited to one donut, but the offer can be redeemed once per day. Meaning
anybody who receives the COVID vaccine can swing by for a free glazed doughnut every day between
now and the end of the year.
Let's hope Krispy Kreme is working on a vaccine for diabetes, because it's latest
promotion isn't exactly a net-positive for the public welfare.
The donut-maker has announced that, starting Monday, anybody who presents proof of
vaccination at any Krispy Kreme location can receive one free glazed donut per visit.
"Krispy Kreme is finding ways to be sweet as the U.S. continues to scale COVID-19
vaccinations. To show our support for those who choose to get vaccinated, starting Monday,
3/22, anyone who shows their COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card will receive a free Original
Glazed® doughnut."
... ... ...
play_arrow
Ideology in Practice 4 hours ago
If you get vaccinated over a free donut, you deserve everything you get.
Donut included.
StuffyourVAXX 5 hours ago
Today, show your vaxx card to get a free donut.
Tomorrow, show your vaxx card to buy basic groceries.
Next week, show your vaxx card to keep your kids from getting taken away from you, you
@#$@ing super spreader.
reddpill 4 hours ago (Edited)
1939: "Work Sets You Free"
2019: "Vaccination Sets You Free"
Average weight gain 29 lbs ???? 41 for millenials ????
WTF??? That isn't trivial, that is huge. This a far bigger health risk than the wuphlu
!!!!
espirit 4 hours ago
Welcome to the Gates of Hell.
Have a free donut...
neocons on meathooks 4 hours ago
One of the reasons the new feudalism has such a bright future is that the serfs are
allowed to feast like kings and queens on rich animal-based, fiberless and highly processed
foods 21 times (or more) a week -- and they have the gout, heart disease, strokes,
diabetes, cancers and medical bills to prove it. Once you're woke you'll understand the
sexism of thinking obesity and sickness shouldn't be accepted. But exercise, weight loss
programs and public education (a la smoking cessation) aren't nearly as profitable as
injecting Bill Gates's poison into 7 billion customers and tracking and controlling human
movement. Sorry to cause dissension but I just got my paycheck from Vlad.
Automatic Choke PREMIUM 5 hours ago
Lemme know when the Heart-Attack-Grill starts offering free
quadruple-bacon-chili-burgers free for the jab.
Rockatanski 5 hours ago
as Mussolinil said, the fusing of goverenment and corporate give you full facism and
that is what we are seeing now.
It's a FOX World why does their stupidity bother me so much?
They develop the talking point first and then alter the 'facts' to support it. How can a
brain survive on such a diet?
FOX on the U.S. meeting w/China in Alaska re-visited the consensus from all of the
dimwitted hosts is that it was a dark day for the U.S. because ...
1. China insulted us because Biden is weak.
2. China insulted us because the Democrats have torn down our country for 4yrs
3. China insulted us because the Democrats helped BLM burn down our country
4. China insulted us because the Democrats emboldened them ! ! !
There is actually a much, much, more straightforward explanation that never occurs to
these dimbulbs, China insulted us because we insulted them for 10 minutes. We
accused them of aggression, genocide, crushing democracy and being evildoers. Only a Neocon
slaps someone in the face and expects them to smile back at you.
Old neocon still is dreaming about imperial greatness and full spectrum Dominance, when the
country is significantly and irreversibly crippled by neoliberalism and its accumulation by
dispossession which eliminated a large swats of well paid workers and professionals. It is now
the country where the Congress is now hiding from people behind barbed wall.
It is difficult to teach old dog new tricks. Intimidation of the opponent replaced diplomacy.
Semi-Dementia mixed with arrogance in action. "White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden
would continue to look to cooperate on efforts to stem Iran's nuclear program and, more broadly,
nuclear nonproliferation. But she said Biden did not regret referring to Putin as a killer and
pushed back against suggestions that the rhetoric was unhelpful."
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Director of National Intelligence came out with a report today saying
that Vladimir Putin authorized operations during the election to under -- denigrate you,
support President Trump, undermine our elections, divide our society. What price must he
pay?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: He will pay a price. I, we had a long talk, he and I, when we -- I know
him relatively well. And I-- the conversation started off, I said, "I know you and you know me.
If I establish this occurred, then be prepared."
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You said you know he doesn't have a soul.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I did say that to him, yes. And -- and his response was, "We understand
one another." It was-- I wasn't being a wise guy. I was alone with him in his office. And that
-- that's how it came about. It was when President Bush had said, "I looked in his eyes and saw
his soul."
I said, "Looked in your eyes and I don't think you have a soul." And looked back and he
said, "We understand each other." Look, most important thing dealing with foreign leaders in my
experience, and I've dealt with an awful lot of 'em over my career, is just know the other guy.
Don't expect somethin' that you're-- that -- don't expect him to-- or her to-- voluntarily
appear in the second editions of Profiles in Courage.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So you know Vladimir Putin. You think he's a killer?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Uh-huh. I do.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So what price must he pay?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The price he's gonna pay we'll-- you'll see shortly. I'm not gonna--
there's-- by the way, we oughta be able that ol' -- that trite expression "walk and chew gum at
the same time," there're places where it's in our mutual interest to work together.
That's why I renewed the start agreement with him. That occurred while he's doin' this. But
that's overwhelmingly in the interest of humanity, that we diminish the prospect of a nuclear
exchange. But that and SolarWinds as well. He's been -- they've done some mischievous things,
to say the least. And so we're gonna have -- I'm not gonna announce what I'm doing, but he's
gonna understand that --
Vladimir Putin issues new 'kill list' - and six of the targets live in Britain
EXCLUSIVE: The warning of a deadly post-pandemic campaign comes from same spy who alerted
that Salisbury novichok victim Sergei Skripal was earmarked for assassination
Biden does seem to be keeping one promise he made from the campaign, namely that "nothing
will fundamentally change", he is basically continuing all of Trump's terrible foreign
policies (Iran, China, Russia, Syria & Venezuela). In many ways he's being even more
hawkish, issuing clownish threats to both Russia and China and even to the steadfast US
vassal Germany over Nord Stream 2. One has to ask the question, just how much of Trumps
foreign policy was his own. Afghanistan and Suria I think yes; Israel and Saudi Arabia maybe;
China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela and Germany; I think the interagency consensus (aka the "Deep
State") is setting those policies and will push it into overdrive under the Biden/Harris
Regime.
With Respect to Biden, I saw that Max Keiser is already comparing Joe Biden to Borris
Yeltsin as a President who presided over the near breakup of the State and the rise of a
economic oligarchy.
recently installed "president" who can't make it up a flight of stairs or give a press
conference, who has the nuclear football following him around 24/.7. <- Posted by:
Perimetr | Mar 19 2021 22:55 utc | 54
History of American presidency had worse falls as we are reminded by New
York Post .
"President Biden's wince-inducing series of stumbles while boarding Air Force One on
Friday calls to mind Gerald Ford's 1975 fall on the same stairs -- a minor tumble that
forever tarred him as a clumsy oaf.
Chevy Chase pilloried Ford in a series of ruthless and hilarious "Saturday Night Live"
skits -- even though the object of his ridicule was just 62 years old, and an ex-University
of Michigan football star who avidly skied and golfed."
It was the very athletic ability of Gerald Ford that magnified his fall, all the way down.
When Biden started cautiously and kept his hand on the rail at all times, Ford climbed "with
a spring in his step", but, alas, he missed one step.
I'm slightly curious: if the USA insists that there is a "rules-based international order"
then - by definition - there must exist a rule-book i.e. a compendium of those rules.
That is axiomatic, because how else would anyone know if they are a rule-breaker, or when
they are in compliance with the rules.
Otherwise this isn't a "rules-based" system at all, it is merely a world based upon US
dictates.
Has any reptile of the press ever asked a State Department flunky for a copy of "the
rules"?
Wouldn't it be nice if the CPC starts backing the CPUSA with the kinds of resources that
the US backs their regime change operations through NED and USAID? That would be a game
changer.
I suspect Blinken/Sullivan/Biden need to show that they are "tough" to the Chinese in
public because otherwise, they will be roasted by the 78 millions Trump supporters for being
"weak" to China compared with Trump. Behind the close door, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi
characterized the talks to be NOT "very tense." I believe Biden actually is quite keen to get
some "achievements" from the Chinese side, probably not realistically in this meeting, but
hopefully in the near future.
Ha, but the weather is cold, the hotel is shoddy, and the Chinese delegate had to have
instant noodle for lunch - that sounds like a very low budget "Hongmen Banquet" by the
Americans. Maybe they are still waiting for their 1.9 trillion stimulus check?
That's a lovely little compilation about Putin and his family, thanks.
The narrative says that Putin's mother survived the siege of Leningrad, but it doesn't go
into the details. You can get the story from one of the several Russian documentaries about
Putin - I forget which one but I could dig for it if pressed.
Putin's father came back from the front, wounded and on crutches. He showed up just as
medics were taking his wife out to whatever transport they were using to clean up the dead
bodies - she was practically dead, and the witness to this says she was "washed up". Putin's
father fought the medics away with his crutches and took his wife back into their home, and
nursed her back to life.
Thus runs the story, and this is the woman who later gave birth to Putin, already with two
brothers dead that he never knew. It sounds exaggerated when I write out the story like that,
but I never disbelieved it when I heard it, and I still don't.
So this is the depth of the man who heads the Russian Federation. Personally touched by
war, personally grieving for the losses of Russia, personally committed to the safety of
civilians and to minimal death in general.
~~
While I'm on the subject, two other stories occur to me. One was when he first took
command of Russia and addressed the war in the Caucasus - his famous episode with his
military commanders in the tent, when he said they would not drink to success until they had
achieved it (I paraphrase), and put his glass down untouched. To drink prematurely, he said,
would be to dishonor all those who had already died in this war. First, to stop the
dying.
But the story I wanted to say about that was that he also forcefully told his generals to
be very careful how they conducted operations: they were entering places where civilians
lived - old people, those who had fought in the Great Patriotic War, those to whom everyone
present owed their lives. He was very serious about taking great care not to harm those most
honorable people.
The second story is when the Berlin Wall went down, and crowds surged to invade the Stasi
building, ripping its secrets into the open. They also came to the KGB building. The chief of
that bureau fled, leaving by the back way. That left Putin as next in command. He went down
to address the crowd. He stood in front of them and they asked who he was and he lied and
said that he was "the interpreter". He said that this building was the property of the USSR.
In his gun he had twelve bullets, he said, eleven for those whom he faced and the last for
himself. The crowd understood that this building was not East Germany but the Soviet Union,
and that this officer would defend it with his life. Whatever they thought, they turned away
and left the building unmolested.
~~
I'm impressed with the character and caliber of this human being called Putin, for good
reasons, I find. There's a heroic scale to him that comes from Russia itself and the
experiences that Putin was born into and from. And yet he personally is a naturally modest
man. He bears that heroic dimension of scale with the grace that comes from ordinariness. He
loves ordinary people. He renews his own mental health from being in their company. The
security state of Russia chose the best person it could find, in a last-ditch attempt to save
their country. It worked.
[D]ifficult, dramatic, and bloody events abound in the history of every nation and every
state. But when we evaluate other people, or even other states and nations, we are always
facing a mirror, we always see ourselves in the reflection, because we project our inner
selves onto the other person.
You know, I remember when we were children and played in the yard, we had arguments
occasionally and we used to say: whatever you call me is what you are called yourself.
This is no coincidence or just a kids' saying or joke. It has a very deep psychological
undercurrent. We always see ourselves in another person and think that he or she is just
like us, and evaluate the other person's actions based on our own outlook on life.
There is an additional passage of interest which sets out rules for future talks that I
have not seen reported in 'western' media:
I know that the United States and its leaders are determined to maintain certain
relations with us, but on matters that are of interest to the United States and on its
terms. Even though they believe we are just like them, we are different. We have a
different genetic, cultural and moral code. But we know how to uphold our interests. We
will work with the United States, but in the areas that we are interested in and on terms
that we believe are beneficial to us. They will have to reckon with it despite their
attempts to stop our development, despite the sanctions and insults. They will have to
reckon with this.
We, with our national interests in mind, will promote our relations with all
countries, including the United States.
The 'takes one to know one' quote is not a direct quote from Putin, it is a claim by
Biden.
Here is the Daily Beast's take on it. (Yeah, I know it's a ridiculous source, but it
was the first source I found that correctly attributed that quote to Biden.)
Biden recalled: "We had a long talk, he and I, when we... I know him relatively well. And
the conversation started off, I said, 'I know you and you know me. If I establish this
occurred, then be prepared.'"
The president also confirmed that, some years ago, he was alone with Putin in his
office and he brought up the topic of Putin's lack of a human soul. "I said, 'I looked in
your eyes and I don't think you have a soul,' and he looked back and said, 'We understand
each other.' The most important thing of dealing with foreign leaders... is just know the
other guy."
The Guardian's translation of "it takes one to know one," which has been amplified by
western media and social media, is absolutely incorrect. It implies that Putin is
admitting that he is a 'killer,' which he absolutely does not do. Anybody that has a
working knowledge of Russian will be able to translate the saying that Putin uses to mean
that he is suggesting that Biden is projecting. In fact, Putin provides context for this
statement by referring to US History.
I say bullshit. "It takes one to know one" - suggests some equivalence for the two
people. That meaning is not in Kremlin transcript of Putin's words. Putin is saying "you
are projecting (your own problem)".
I understand that this is just semantics, but something as widespread as this has become
in western media can have a big impact on perception of lazy westerners if the
interpretation is incorrect. This should be obvious, regardless of the supposed "elegance"
of the phrase.
"Takes one to know one" does not imply projection, it rather implies hypocrisy. Putin is
not accusing Biden of hypocrisy, he is accusing Biden of projection. "Takes one to know
one" gives a western audience the suggestion that Putin qualifies an admission of being a
killer with an accusation that Biden is also a killer. Putin, in fact, does not do
this. He only suggests that Biden is projecting and only projecting.
Minister Lavrov today confirmed Putin's words,
saying " [We] will be ready to cooperate only in those areas that are of interest to
us, and only on terms that are beneficial to us ".
In my opinion, the Chinese representatives gave a good answer to the American side,
although this answer will obviously not be heard.
The Americans have completely lost the culture of negotiation. If there are no elementary
human manners, then what kind of agreements can we talk about?
A sad picture. And dangerous. A madman with nuclear weapons (and chemical weapons, by the
way) is not the best option for a reliable negotiating partner.
"In a desperate bid to thwart the strategic partnership between Russia and Europe,
Washington is resorting to ever-more frantic threats of sanctions and other disruptive
measures. Biden is playing the personal insult card in a gambit for blowing up bilateral
relations with Russia as a way to sabotage Nord Stream 2.
"It's a pathetic move, one that actually speaks more of America's historic enfeeblement
rather than pretensions of power. Russia would do well to stay calm and let the Americans
make fools of themselves."
It seems Russia's doing just that--attending to the vital business of developing its
nation and peoples. Russia's geared for numerous patriotic celebrations throughout the
year, and Biden's comments were made on the eve of Crimean reunification with Russia, which
only served to cement Russians closer and hold Putin in even greater esteem. Talk about an
Own Goal!
Outlaw US Empire Nord Stream policy is close to being the same as literally torpedoing
it, making it an act of war against the EU and Russia. Somehow, I don't think Blinken
understands that fundamental fact.
"I know that the United States and its leaders are determined to maintain certain
relations with us, but on matters that are of interest to the United States and on its
terms. Even though they believe we are just like them, we are different. We have a
different genetic, cultural and moral code. But we know how to uphold our interests. We
will work with the United States, but in the areas that we are interested in and on terms
that we believe are beneficial to us. They will have to reckon with it despite their
attempts to stop our development, despite the sanctions and insults. They will have to
reckon with this."
This statement is a positive, that is the mark of a government that adheres to real
values, beneficial to the growth of humanity, and not just for the enrichment of a greedy
minority of it's citizens.
The most peculiar aspect of Biden's outburst is its timing.
If there was one moment in time when it would be ill advised for even the most brass
necked, cynical American exceptionalist not to restrain himself from accusing anyone of
murder, it would have to be that moment in which the bulkiest object in the "Out" tray on
the Presidential desk happened to be a crude coffin like box containing the butchered
remains of the Washington Post journalist and long established CIA asset Adnan
Khashoggi.
Now there was the victim of a killer, the Crown Prince, acting with the permission of
the US government and in the spirit of the Deep State which put Joe Biden in office.
Joe was perhaps thinking of Khashoggi-a beltway denizen he must have run into in one of
the cocktail parties or brothels on the circuit- when he murmured admiringly, to himself,
blissfully unaware of the presence of George Stephanopolous- one of the grande horizontales
of American culture- and the TV camera, "That guy, whatsisname, the one from whatsitcalled,
Russia, is a killer."
Putin fell into a trap. He should have not said a damn thing after Biden spouted off
about him being a killer. The western MSM on both sides of the Pond are now running with
the incorrect translation and narrative that Putin admitted to being a killer. The western
MSM is now also claiming that Putin's wishing Biden good health means he's threatening to
poison him.
Putin should have heeded Mark Twain's wise words:
"Don't wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it."
The western media was captured many years ago and serves only its propaganda business
model.
America is number one instigator and developer of conflict across the entire planet and is
increasingly unworthy of anyones trust or respect.
The US media has degenerated into a slave to the propaganda business model that it has
chosen to adopt.
The US is the Number One instigator and manipulator of conflict across the planet and is
unworthy of anyones trust or respect. The American way defines all that is devious and
corrupt.
None of this is new. There was some disruption for a few years recently, but now that all
obstacles are permanently neutered the destruction of the future for personal gain can get
back into top gear once again.
@Boogity | Mar 20 2021 19:42 utc | 141, and others Barflies...
Putin don't wrestle with the pig.
1) as b., and thanks for his Job, all of us must go to the original and extensive
version. MSM and chats are narrative tools reducing and calibrating our souls.
2) with regards to China and Russia stay tune about context
3) be careful about "translation".
To Biden as an old man, Putin just wish him Good health.
"I would say "stay healthy." [... ] I am saying this without irony or tongue in
cheek."
But "secondly, taking a broader approach to this matter" "to the US establishment, the ruling class – not the American people who are
mostly honest, decent and sincere people who want to live in peace and friendship with
us", he said something like [you are not qualified to speak to Russia from a position
of strength]
their mindset [of US ruling class] was formed in rather challenging circumstances which
we are all aware of. After all, the colonisation of the American continent by the
Europeans went hand-in-hand with the extermination of the local people, the genocide, as
they say today, outright genocide of the Indian tribes followed by a very tough, long
and difficult period of slavery , a very cruel period. All of that has been part of
life in America throughout the history of the United States to this day. Otherwise,
where would the Black Lives Matter movement come from? To this day, African Americans
face injustice and even extermination.
The ruling class of the United States tends to address domestic and foreign policy
issues based on these assumptions. After all, the United States is the only country to
have used nuclear weapons , mind you, against a non-nuclear state – Japan, in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WW II. There was absolutely no military need for the
bombing. It was nothing but the extermination of civilians.
I am bringing this up, because I know that the United States and its leaders are
determined to maintain certain relations with us, but on matters that are of interest to
the United States and on its terms. Even though they believe we are just like them, we
are different. We have a different genetic, cultural and moral code. But we know how to
uphold our interets .
[...]
despite their attempts to stop our development, despite the sanctions and insults. They
will have to reckon with this.
We, with our national interests in mind, will promote our relations with all
countries"
And he said that on March 18th, 7th anniversary of Crimea reuniting to Russia.
Yang Jiechi stated China's position at his opening remarks, saying China hopes this
dialogue is sincere and honest.
Opening remarks were for 8mn (4x2mn),
But after Yang Jiechi spoke Blinken broke protocole agrement, recall journalists in order
to show is strength. They came to 90mn press conference.
Strength was on chinese side:
"we thought the US would follow the necessary diplomatic protocol In front of the Chinese
side, the US side is not qualified to speak to China from a position of
strength"
"the US must focus on its own human rights issues -- like the Black Lives Matter
movement -- and not meddle in the country's internal affairs "
Putin's elaboration of the history and founding culture of the USA was brilliantly well
done, I thought. As an academic lesson it could hardly be more concise, nor more
penetrating and accurate.
He was speaking to his home constituency of Russia, but he was well aware that the whole
world would listen. The so-called Global South listens to these words for the same reason
we do, to know what has now been said out loud and thus can now be referenced in future
discussions and in future geopolitical positions and stances.
In this sense, all of these words, and words like them, are strength to the backbone of
the world. It clarifies what Russia is now prepared to say out loud, and it suggests very
clearly where a lesser nation might stand, perhaps, and even solicit the support of Russia
- at the UN or in diplomacy at least, if not with S-400s.
And so as these words are sent out into the real world as things that can now be
"noticed", to use the judicial sense of the word, the growing world alliance coheres around
these words, and the world changes in its global attitude.
Those who believe that none of this matters - and this would obviously include the
ruling class of the US, described so perfectly by Putin - are in for a shock.
I can't easily demonstrate how greatly these words matter, other than to remind us how
things used to look half a dozen years ago, when the US was such an ogre, and how things
look now, when the US is more literally a dotard than ever before, and when the fear of
challenging the US is beginning to disappear from the world, overcome by disgust.
These are dangerous times - for the US. Being described accurately is a small step from
being in someone's cross-hairs.
"... Since the CIA controls much of the European media and their ruling class it would take quite a lot for Europeans to drop their status as vassal states ..."
I notice a lot of accusations that Washington is "stupid" but that's not true. You have to
understand how Washington works before you make such statements. The Deep State knows that it
can control the minds of most Americans by inventing "truths" without any need to prove
anything. Since Washington is now in conflict with a goodly part of the public it sees that
creating foreign policy crises and enemies as an excellent course of action to shore up
support. Americans are always ready to react against enemies no matter how slender the proof
of the wrongdoing ascribed to the enemy. There is never a penalty to pay for lying in the US
if you are in the mainstream media or in the political arena.
Since the CIA controls much of the European media and their ruling class it would take
quite a lot for Europeans to drop their status as vassal states . Remember, Washington
can throw endless amounts of money around and fund everything from terrorism, crime waves,
sexual indiscretions a la Epstein (the CIA had it's own whorehouse which my father pointed
out to me decades ago--it was in Roslyn Virginia and it used underage girls and boys to
improve its soft-power). So far, no one has paid a penalty for lying or corrupt practices in
Washington if they were "made" men or women (Trump never got that far).
As long as Europe, Japan and some other countries continue to be vassal states the US can
and will get away with anything. Nordstream 2 is the issue that may change all that. Once
Germany rebels the rest may follow.
Is not that what we see now was always the true cost of "electing" (via cheating) the
greatest crook of them all plus a dementia sufferer? Both POTUS and the vice are completely
useless but highly manipulable. This why they were pushed forward and why the presidency was
delivered into their lap. But the main problem with manipulable is the inconsistency of the
manipulation usually due to the disagreement amongst the manipulators due to their differing
interests. Simply, the model of a dummy in the spotlight and the multiple string pullers in
the shadow is not a stable model. It is a model on the opposite extreme of the good
leadership, which is stable as long as the leader lasts (cough, cough ... Putin).
Regarding all the doomsayers on US who Martyanov joined lately and unoriginally (concept
sold long ago and much better by another Russian - Dimitry Orlov), they are not completely
wrong but wrongish. Whenever I read of some crap in the US, I think - was this the way it was
in the Chinese Empire, the seemingly endless corruption, depravity and complete and constant
lying? But look at China now. If US does not manage to destroy the World during its decline,
it will come back better and stronger. But one or two generations will suffer and many
contemporaries will run away, as they are running away from the cities right now. As things
get even worse they will start running away from the country en masse.
17 March Russia withdraws it's US Ambassador for consultations:
"Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has been summoned to Moscow
for consultations in order to analyse what needs to be done in the context of relations
with the United States.
The new US administration took office about two months ago and the symbolic 100-day
mark is not too far away, which is a good occasion for trying to appraise what Joe
Biden's team has managed to do and where it was not very successful.
The most important thing for us is to identify ways of rectifying Russia-US
relations, which have been going through hard times as Washington has, as a matter of
fact, brought them to a blind alley.
We are interested in preventing an irreversible deterioration in relations, if the
Americans become aware of the risks associated with this."
Pres. Putin invite Pres. Biden for a live on-line public discussion of issues:
"I want to invite President Biden to continue our discussion, but on the condition that
we do this actually live, as they say, online. Without any delay, but directly in an
open, direct discussion. It seems to me that it would be interesting for the people of
Russia, for the people of the United States, and for many other countries", Putin said
on air on the Rossiya 24 broadcaster.
The talk to be tomorrow (Friday). If not, then Monday, as he is spending free time in
the Taiga (oblique reference to North Korea going up the sacred mountain to re-majorly
rethink policy). This also places a live face to face in Prime media time, avoiding the
dead news weekend.
Biden is an intelligent man, but can't appear on an unedited live TV show with Putin -
not because of his age-related related memory recall difficulty - this is normal - but
because it risks exposing the cartoon-like tropes, lies, racism, & duplicity of the US
Govt. approach.
Especially when compared and contrasted with the serious and adult approach of the
Russian President. Nearly 100 days in, USA Govt. has been given the chance, and it is
clear USA Govt aggression and attempts to interfere in Russian domestic policy will
continue. Should Russia abandon soft diplomacy and strategic patience with USA?
Perhaps it is all theatre, coordinated by the Presidential envoys.
Perhaps a 'crisis' is created, Ukraine creates a threat to Europe, climate must be
cooperatively addressed, the Middle East could explode at any moment, a new peace treaty
in the Gulf required, blah blah, blah.
A live face to face airs the issues from both sides publicly, done respectfully,
sensibly, no political point scoring or spittle-mouthed fabrications from the US Govt
side.
The Press filter is sidestepped - a Trump tactic. It would be intended as a circuit
breaker, and the start of a new course for USA Govt. Russia is ready, has been for years,
and repeated it over and over.
If the USA Govt fails to step up it will hardly be the end of the world. But it will
show what a lot of short-sighted, self-interested, careerist, and functionally useless
time-servers most of the US political class are.
They will identify themselves as impediments to the health and welfare of the American
people.
The president named the fight against the pandemic, regional conflict resolution, and
strategic stability issues as possible topics, noting that he would be ready to talk to
Biden on Friday or Monday in an "open" chat.
"I would like to suggest to President Biden that we continue our discussion, but on the
condition that we actually do it live, without any delays, directly in an open, live
discussion," Putin told the Russia 24 TV channel on Thursday. "I think it would be
interesting for the people of Russia and the people of the United States and many other
countries," he added.
It would be so delicious to actually witness such a debate. By asking for it to be
streamed live, Putin is subtly calling out Biden's lie that he "told Putin he had no soul"
(whereas it's unlikely that Biden actually had a 1:1 meeting with Putin during the Obama
administration) as well as making Biden look weaker when Crash Test Dummy doesn't respond to
the invite.
Biden"s time is limited. Cannot be trusted near a microphone, no matter how well prepared
or how thoroughly edted. Has trouble walking, begins to have trouble standing up.
Kamala is still very much a problem. First, no one likes her. Not the public, not her
peers. The public is not prepared for her accession. Her competence is possibly even lower
than Biden's. She may be better able to read a TelePrompter, she still annoys everyone when
she speaks. May turn out to have some aptitude for riding herd on the advisors, we shall see.
She may be able to function as some sort of ringmaster but will contribute nothing, she knows
nothing.
It shall be government by advisors and functionaries and hidden hands. The advisors and
functionaries are all steeped in hegemony and exceptionalism. They have no idea of anything
else. Anyone who ever had a thought in their head was weeded out of academia and out of
public life a long time ago. That leaves the hidden hands. We will never know much about
that. It does appear they are perhaps ready to close down the American project and move
on.
If those within the US government were so stupid as to swallow Russiagate's bullshit thus
resulting in a "deep hatred of Russia," why would Russia want to deal with such obtuse idiots
incapable of logic or critical thinking?
IMO, the current goal of Russia/China/Iran is to completely ice-out the Outlaw US Empire
from having any practical impact on global affairs. The new initiative to Re-ratify the UN
Charter is a case in point for such a policy. The not agreement capable nation now has a
figure head that can't be allowed to talk without minders, a fact Putin would like the entire
world to observe. The world has no way to deny that it sees a nation talking like a Gangster
and acting like a Gangster as its recent behavior's been very explicit and public. IMO, such
behavior hasn't been observed since 1938, but there'll be no appeasement or betrayal of
another nation this time. China's already invited Lavrov to Beijing once its diplomats return
from Alaska. Yet the Empire lies to itself when it says it has more tools to deal with
Russia. The reality is it has no more cards to play--not even its nukes.
Absolutely no difference in foreign policy?
B, I think you're pandering to your audience.
I wonder what President Putin would think- or perhaps "feel" about teamBiden versus
Trump?.
How would you like to be called a "killer, without a soul"? Not withstanding all the
theatrical bellicosity of Pompeo, Putin at least understood that Trump admired him as a
person. I contend this is a big difference.
Do you think the Dems want any comparison with the Trump administration? They are after
contradistinction.
The Dems, the internationalists and the Blairites imagine themselves to be on a roll. Putin
is in their crosshairs.
This time the belligerence is the real thing.
International Music Festival volunteer coordinator and representative of Crimea Federal
University Polina Bolbochan: Mr President, I have a somewhat personal question for you.
Yesterday, President Biden got quite tough in his interview, including with regard to you.
What would you say to him?
Vladimir Putin: With regard to my US colleague's remark, we have, indeed, as he said,
met in person. What would I tell him? I would say "stay healthy." I wish him good health. I
am saying this without irony or tongue in cheek. This is my first point.
Secondly, taking a broader approach to this matter, I would like to say that difficult,
dramatic, and bloody events abound in the history of every nation and every state.
But when we evaluate other people, or even other states and nations, we are always
facing a mirror, we always see ourselves in the reflection, because we project our inner
selves onto the other person.
You know, I remember when we were children and played in the yard, we had arguments
occasionally and we used to say: whatever you call me is what you are called yourself. This
is no coincidence or just a kids' saying or joke. It has a very deep psychological
undercurrent.
We always see ourselves in another person and think that he or she is just like us, and
evaluate the other person's actions based on our own outlook on life.
With regard to the US establishment, the ruling class – not the American people
who are mostly honest, decent and sincere people who want to live in peace and friendship
with us, something we are aware of and appreciate, and we will rely on them in the
future – their mindset was formed in rather challenging circumstances which we are
all aware of.
After all, the colonisation of the American continent by the Europeans went hand-in-hand
with the extermination of the local people, the genocide, as they say today, outright
genocide of the Indian tribes followed by a very tough, long and difficult period of
slavery, a very cruel period.
All of that has been part of life in America throughout the history of the United States
to this day. Otherwise, where would the Black Lives Matter movement come from? To this day,
African Americans face injustice and even extermination.
The ruling class of the United States tends to address domestic and foreign policy
issues based on these assumptions. After all, the United States is the only country to
have used nuclear weapons, mind you, against a non-nuclear state – Japan, in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WW II. There was absolutely no military need for the
bombing. It was nothing but the extermination of civilians.
I am bringing this up, because I know that the United States and its leaders are
determined to maintain certain relations with us, but on matters that are of interest to
the United States and on its terms.
Even though they believe we are just like them, we are different. We have a different
genetic, cultural and moral code .
But we know how to uphold our interests. We will work with the United States, but in
the areas that we are interested in and on terms that we believe are beneficial to
us.
They will have to reckon with it despite their attempts to stop our development,
despite the sanctions and insults.
They will have to reckon with this.
My bolds, to bring out the essence.
Essentially, he is saying 'We reject your posturing and rudeness, do what you want. We are
ready, and will go our own way. You are not worthy of our cooperation. It' over'.
So, the ball, once again, is in the USA Govt court.
The problem with coronavirus vaccine is similar to the problem with flu vaccine: the virus
mutates and it is unclear how effective the vaccination will be against the next dominant
strain.
Did you know that "49 percent of GOP men say they won't get vaccinated"? It's true.
According to a recent article in The Hill:
"Nearly half of U.S. men who identify as Republicans said they have no plans to get the
coronavirus vaccine, according to a new PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll released Thursday.
The study, which surveyed 1,227 U.S. adults from March 3 to March 8, found that approximately
30 percent of Americans overall said they do not plan on getting vaccinated.
The poll found a higher amount of opposition among Republicans, with 41 percent saying
they would not get one of the three federally approved coronavirus vaccines and 49 percent of
Republican men saying the same. Fifty percent of GOP men said they would get the vaccine or
had already got it. One percent was unsure.
I believe that people who refuse to take the vaccine will be ridiculed, humiliated,
scapegoated, deprived and isolated. Judging from the COVID 19 situation we are already living
in fascist society where people are treated as the state property.
Once you you look at the vaccination statistics, it is clear that the psychopaths are
winning. There is no escape from them. Sooner or later they will come for people like me. I
am trying to prepare myself for a painful and slow death from starvation/disease/maltreatment
in a detention/concentration/reeducation camp.
My hat is off to Mr. Whitney for an excellent article. And thank God for a real human
being and American patriot as Gov. Kristi Noem. I thought there was no such thing in
politics. This woman should be our president not the fake and false "woman of color" standing
in the wings salivating. The media can't tell if she's African or from India. Does it matter
that she was the least favored candidate in the primaries? Not to to demoncrats. All they do
is pander to color and gender confusion. This should be an insult to any real person of color
like me and it most definitely is. When are people going to realize that they are being
exploited and manipulated? We are all citizens and those sincerely aspiring to be citizens.
Not pawns in a politica chess game that no one wins but the politicians...
Apparently Chuck Todd is a
climatologist and virologist . He doesn't ASK Fauci if climate change will cause more
pandemics - or how even soon that might happen - he simply states as fact that
it will happen. For his part, Fauci largely avoids the issue, responding as generically as
possible. LOL!
In this indirect way, Americans have now been put on notice: expect more pandemics and
continuing restrictions in the not-too-distant future.
Who says our media aren't informative?!?!/sarc
Expert Chuck Todd fails to note that the world was long overdue a pandemic. Chuckie also
fails to note that highly-paid health authorities - that planned for years for the next
pandemic - failed miserably in protecting us. What health authority questioned Trump's early
lies that SARS-COV-2 was no worse than the flu?
Of course Biden is senile, but from the speech it is clear that his clique is also far from
being the sharpest knifes in the drawer.
The problem with coronavirus vaccine is similar to the problem with flu vaccine: the virus
mutates and it is unclear how effective the vaccination will be against the next dominant
strain.
Also it is unclear whether for people, say, over 70 the danger of vaccine outweighs the
danger of the virus (especially if they live alone with no children in the household -- children
usually bring new infection into the family). Half of Covid-19 deaths are over age 80 (median age
of victims is 82). If you are over age 80 and live in a big city or in a family with children ,
you have elevated, probably a 1 in 6 chance of dying from Covid-19
And again big difference is whether you live in the large city like NYC or somewhere in the
suburbs, say 70 miles from the nearest large city. People in the city are in much higher danger
to get the infection.
"Trust the government", says Biden, and yet, in survey after survey, we see that trust in
government is lower now than any time in our 245-year history. And, for good reason: the public
health officials, the media, and their Democrat allies in the statehouses have consistently and
deliberately misled the public on nearly every aspect of the pandemic...
Take a look:
"When I came into office you may recall I set a goal that many of you said was kind of way
over the top. I said I intended to get 100 million shots in people's arms in my first 100
days in office . Tonight, I can say we're not only going to meet that goal, we're going
to beat that goal. Because we're actually on track to reach this goal of 100 million shots in
arms on my 60th day in office. No other country in the world has done this, none. And I want
to talk about the next steps we're thinking about.
"Tonight, I'm announcing that I will direct all states, tribes, and territories to make
all adults, people 18 and over, eligible to be vaccinated no later than May 1. Let me say
that again. All adult Americans will be eligible to get a vaccine no later than May 1. That's
much earlier than expected.
"And let me be clear. That doesn't mean everyone's going to have that shot immediately,
but it means you'll be able to get in line beginning May 1. Every adult will be eligible to
get their shot. And to do this, we're going to go from a million shots a day that I
promised in December before I was sworn in, to maintaining, beating our current pace of 2
million shots a day, outpacing the rest of the world "
What does that mean?
It means the virus is on its last legs . It means there is enough immunity in the
community that the rate of infection is falling like a stone . Viruses don't suddenly
decide to pack their bags and leave town. No. They run out of susceptible hosts to infect. And
the reason they run out of susceptible hosts to infect, is because more people have already had
the infection and either survived or died. Either way, the pool of susceptible hosts has shrunk
dramatically. This is a long way of saying that ' At present, there is no reason to get
vaccinated.' There is no reason to inject an experimental and potentially-lethal substance
into your bloodstream to counter an infection that is nearly kaput. Capisce?
Biden knows this, his speech writers know this, and the deep-pocket oligarchs who shoehorned
his sorry a** into the White House by dumping truckloads of mail-in ballots at voting stations
around the country in the wee-hours of the morning; they know it, too.
...
Of course, he knows it. He knows the whole thing is a fraud, but that won't stop him from
doing what he's been doing for the last 50 years; carrying water for corporate honchos and
billionaire busybodies who see vaccination as an essential steppingstone to their glorious new
order. Biden is merely the face-man for this sinister project; a pallid, inconsequential
cog that helps to move the machinery of tyranny forward. That's Biden in a nutshell. Here's
more from the speech:
"I need you, the American people. I need you. I need every American to do their part. I
need you to get vaccinated when it's your turn and when you can find an opportunity.
And to help your family, your friends, your neighbors get vaccinated as well. Because
here's the point.
"If we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by July the 4, there's a
good chance you, your families and friends, will be able to get together in your backyard or
in your neighborhood and have a cookout or a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day."
Get it? In other words, either you get vaccinated or no 4th of July for you!
... Do these people have any idea how despicable they are? The government's job is to
provide accurate, well-researched, empirical information on matters of public interest, like
vaccines. The government has no right to employ private contractors to persuade,
indoctrinate or brainwash the American people in order to promote the cynical and
self-serving agenda of power-mad elites and money-grubbing corporations. That is a massive
"overreach".
Last spring, the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered nursing homes to admit patients who
had recently been treated for Covid-19.
This led to a spike in Covid deaths inside nursing homes, which are filled with elderly
people in the highest risk category for serious Covid-19 cases.
When the State Health Department issued a report on the nursing home deaths, one of Cuomo's
aides rewrote it to remove the total count of 9,250 deaths related to the policy.
The reasoning was that the death count outpaced New Jersey's -- with the second highest
nursing home death rate in the county -- by almost 3,000.
The aide who rewrote the report with the intention to mislead the public worked as a
Professor of Government Ethics at NYU's law school, before joining the Cuomo administration in
"ethics and law enforcement matters."
"The aide who rewrote the report with the intention to mislead the public worked as a
Professor of Government Ethics at NYU's law school, before joining the Cuomo administration
in "ethics and law enforcement matters."
I worked in medical ethics for a decade, so I'm not surprised. Especially since he did
that work at a LAW SCHOOL . If we didn't already know it, the focus at law schools is on
teaching students that it is their professional duty to argue for any point of view they are
paid for. And it is the professional task of "ethics experts" to make the argument that the
course of action preferred by their bosses or their institutions is the most "ethical" among
alternatives. Never mind that it's generally the most profitable as well. Pointing out the
actual moral destitution of the chosen acts is NOT conducive to a long career. Trust me on
that one.
The short-cut through the verbiage is generally, if someone refers to "morality", they're
actually talking about what's Right or Wrong. When they mention "ethics", however, they're
discussing what you can get away with.
Cityzerosix 1 day ago
Ethics; underlying morality.
Ethical- relating to beliefs that are morally right or wrong
4
weeks ago I was just watching an NBA game and thought it would be so much more enjoyable if
there was more diversity on the court. Maybe they could lower the baskets so more whites and
Asians could play in the league.
Deep State Operator: "I'll have the staff start drawing up plans for that."
Trump: "I want them out NOW!"
Deep State Operator: "Ah... that's complicated. We can't just leave right away and
leave all of our stuff there."
Trump: "OK, then make those plans! Tell me why these plans were not prepared yet? You
knew that I wanted the troops home. That was one of my campaign promises."
Deep State Operator: "But you never asked us!"
[six months pass]
Trump: "So, how about those plans?"
Deep State Operator: "What plans?"
Trump: "The ones about withdrawing from Syria that I ordered you to have
ready."
Deep State Operator: "Oh, those plans. We have our best people working on them. I'll
find out their status and get back to you."
[three months later]
Trump: "The plans!"
Deep State Operator: "What plans?"
Trump: "Do you have brain damage or something? The ones about withdrawing from Syria!
You said you would look into their status and get back to me!"
Deep State Operator: "We're doing the best that we can! There have been some
complications, but we'll have them straightened out soon!"
[three more months pass]
Trump: "The plans."
Deep State Operator: "What plans?"
Trump: "To get out of Syria."
Deep State Operator: "Oh, those plans! You never filled out the necessary paperwork. We
cannot proceed without the orders in writing. You have to be specific about what you mean by
wanting the troops out. Which parts of Syria do you want them out of and which troops do you
want the operation to apply to? Like I said before, this is really complicated."
[incredulous look from Trump]
[six months later]
Trump: "The plans."
Deep State Operator: "What plans?"
Trump: "To get out of Syria."
Deep State Operator: "Oh, those plans! You wouldn't believe this but a dog ate the
orders that you gave us. We couldn't tell which troops to get out of where, so the plans have
been developing rather slowly."
Trump: "You are right. I don't believe you. You're fired!"
Deep State Operator: "You can't fire me! I am a civil servant!"
Trump: "I can't? OK then, you're promoted to cleaning toilets at McMurdo Station.
Bye."
[six months later]
Trump: "Those plan? Or do you want to join your predecessor at McMurdo
Station?"
New Deep State Operator: "You ask too much! It takes time to learn the intricacies of
this interdepartmental work! I've just started!"
[six months later]
Trump: "Plans!"
Deep State Operator: "Can I go to McMurdo Station?"
[and so on]
[after deep state/business elites frauded election]
Deep State Operator: "Welcome Mr President, and can I say how please I am at your
victory?"
Biden: "You can say whatever the hell you want, whoever the hell you are."
Deep State Operator: "I am your Deep State interdepartmental
facilitator and liaison."
Biden: "Ah, good. They want me to ask you to get the troops back in Syria."
Deep State Operator: "Right away sir. The plans are already prepared and troops will
begin moving before the end of the hour."
Everyone knows the Deep State works this way. Infinite resistance against what the Deep
State doesn't want and immediate action on what the Deep State desires.
Vladimir Putin, you may have noticed, is everywhere. He has soldiers in Ukraine and Syria,
troublemakers in the Baltics and Finland, and a hand in elections from the Czech Republic to
France to the United States. And he is in the media. Not a day goes by without a big new
article on "
Putin's Revenge ", " The Secret Source of
Putin's Evil ", or "10 Reasons Why Vladimir Putin Is a Terrible Human Being".
Putin's recent ubiquity has brought great prominence to the practice of Putinology. This
enterprise – the production of commentary and analysis about Putin and his motivations,
based on necessarily partial, incomplete and sometimes entirely false information – has
existed as a distinct intellectual industry for over a decade.
...At no time in history have more people with less knowledge, and greater outrage, opined
on the subject of Russia's president. You might say that the reports of Trump's golden showers
in a Moscow hotel room have consecrated a golden age – for Putinology.
...
Compared to the 40-year cycle of US deindustrialisation, during which only the rich gained
in wealth; the 25-year rightwing war on the Clintons; the eight-year-old Tea Party assault on
facts, immigration and taxes; a tepid, centrist campaign; and a supposed late-breaking
revelation from the director of the FBI about the dubious investigation of Clinton's use of a
private email server – well, compared to all those factors, the leaked DNC emails must
rank low on the list of reasons for Trump's victory. And yet, according to a recent report,
Hillary Clinton and her campaign still blame the Russians – and, by extension, Barack
Obama, who did not make a big issue of the hacks before November – for her electoral
debacle. In this instance, thinking about Putin helps not to think about everything else that
went wrong, and what needs to be done to fix it.
This evasion is the essence of Putinology, which seeks solace in the undeniable but faraway
badness of Putin at the expense of confronting the far more uncomfortable badness in front of
one's face. Putinology predates the 2016 election by a decade, and yet what we have seen in
connection to Trump these past few months has been its Platonic ideal.
I was joking about Biden being reanimated, but judging from campaign videos etc. he has
troubles with longer answers to questions, looses track and temper and prattles, and he react
badly to some trigger words. That said, like Trump, he cannot be an attentive boss, so
whoever made that leak, clearance from the top was not necessary...
Just imagine how differently the Epstein story would be covered by the media if Epstein
and Maxwell were ethnic Russians, and if Maxwell's father had received a State funeral in
Russia.
Not really. They know the President's condition merely means someone else is currently
enjoying the highest form of power: power without responsibility.
"
Huawei's Harmony OS Extends to All Devices in 2021 in Bid for Tech Self-Sufficiency Amid US
Trade War."
This is interesting. Tech commentators have pointed out, correctly but without too much
insight, that Huawei will have a hard time selling phones with Harmony outside of China because
Trump cut the company off from using the Android operating system's app store. Google." Huawei
is now preloading Harmony on all of its product, making it independent of Google.
Now we have.
Huawei May Allow Chinese Smartphone Firms to Use Harmony OS to Counter Trump Trade
Bans,
This means that all of China's phone companies are independent of Android, at least in
China, as, if threatened by the US, they just switch to Harmony. It also means that China,
should it choose, could ban Android in Chinas as Trump banned Huawei in the US, and perhaps ban
iOS also, thus losing the entire Chinese market for Google and Apple. Forcing a large,
resourceful country to build competing products might charitably be called preternaturally
stupid.
Which brings us to the new Cold War, which is exactly what Trump II is engaged in. The
Beltway China hawks want to cripple China's tech industry by denying it advanced semiconductor
technology, chiefly from America's vassal states of Holland, Taiwan, and South Korea. Will this
work? I dunno. But there is a clear pattern in China's response. A sort of techy example, that
sensible readers can skip.
There is a company in Wuhan,
YMTC, Yangtze Memory Technology Company, that has developed an advanced 192-layer
dual-wafer NAND ("flash") chip using Chinese technology. Flash memory is used in huge
quantities in everything from smartphones to French fries (well, maybe not French fries.) There
is some doubt as to whether the company will be able to produce in volume, but it is building a
second fab line, so it must think it can.
If it does, American companies, notably Micron, will lose the (very large) Chinese market
for flash. Then the Chinese, nothing if not commercial, will probably flood the world market
with discount flash.
This tech-wide lunge for self-sufficiency, if Washington does not succeed in crushing it,
will close the Chinese market progressively for American firms. Well, who needs 1.4 billion
customers? The China hawks may be poking the wrong bear.
The most important thing Fred wrote in an overall great piece:
Education. China finds its brightest students with a grueling entrance exam. America
dumbs down elite high schools because they don't have enough unqualified minorities.
Thomas Jefferson High School in Virginia has already been enstupidated, and the NYC
schools are on the block. The purpose of schools is to admit students who can't do the
work.
Huawei's AppGallery has attracted over 530 million active monthly users, and 384 billion
installs in 2020–an 83% increase YoY. There are 2.3 million registered developers
working on mobile applications for AppGallery, up 77% over 2019.
Tibet, yes, that Tibet, has broader, faster 5G coverage than the San Francisco
Bay Area.
Sure. Biden has been in office 5 weeks, and that's why China is ahead of us on all of
these technologies. Maybe Marjorie Green can get us all caught up.
Congratulation to the Chinese for the economic advances of recent decades. Not all their
advances are brilliant.
Take Maglev trains. That is an extraordinary expensive technology for moving a few score
people per car. Trains make sense for moving heavy loads long distances. Loads of coal,
petroleum, cattle, lumber and manufactured goods are natural cargoes. It is a waste of
resources to move human passengers in the massive trains. To engineer trains to travel at
300 or 500 mph is a fool's errand. Might as well attach lasers to ox carts. Trains are 19th
century technology and still useful for limited purposes. If you want to ship people at
hundreds of mph use aircraft. The only profitable passenger trains were a few of the
trolleys early in the 20th century.
Fusion reactors: it is said to be the next big thing. Funny, it has had that status
since the 1950s. I hope some practical application is developed by someone.
Hydrogen fuel: it is a wonderful clean burning fuel. Minor problem: where does the
hydrogen come from? Answer: natural gas is the cheapest source but why not save a lot of
expenses and just burn natural gas? Methane fuel cells are possible although perhaps not
practical. There is a endless supply in water but the separation by electrolysis requires
more energy input than the energy yielded when hydrogen is burned.
Solar panels: a great source of electricity when reliable electric power isn't desired.
If Chinese rely on solar for 32% of their electricity they will face an imminent energy
crisis. A coal burning plant has to be running hot 24 hours per day in case there are
clouds. And there is no solar at night.
The clever Chinese do a lot of the dumb things Americans do. They imitate stupid things
as well as practical technologies. I do not doubt the Chinese will make unique
contributions eventually.
We have a criminal regime in power now, a junta, complete with troops and barbed wire.
Laws don't apply to them because all 3 branches are corrupt. The press is a near total
failure, and has simply become Pravda on steroids.
Gimmie My Stimmy 5 hours ago
Actually, razor wire. All that's really missing are the german sheppards.
ThorAss 6 hours ago
...the media and the alphabet [agencies] are all owned by the same people. Guess what,
it's a big club ......
...Additionally, groups need uniting myths which are now called narratives -- perhaps
someone can foresee the next word for myths to by used when narratives will became as
discredited as myths. Yesterday I read about "ideogems", that was used in Ukrainian,
prosecutors accusing someone of state treason committed by popularizing "ideogems that are
convenient for the Russian Federation". with a phrase "false ideogem". Perhaps "ideogem" is a
component of a "narrative".
All the democrats have to do is inact standard mail in voting as a federal law. They will
never have to worry about losing another election. Who is going to stop them? It has done
wonders for California. They have it down to an art form. Every state will have a Diane
Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi. Mindless ramblings about the glories of democracy. Fairness and
equality for all types! But especially powerful politicians smart enough to marry
investment bankers.
Just as a pointless aside, I dragged out my old DVD of a mid-1980s British comedy called
"Whoops Apocalypse", about the events leading up to nuclear Armageddon. Hilarious, despite
the grim plot.
The US President is a man way out of his depth (obviously Ronald Raygun), while the
British PM is clinically insane.
So far, so normal...
But it was the depiction of the Soviet leadership that is most striking: apparatchiks so
interchangeable that when the Soviet Premier has a heart attack while meeting the US
Ambassador they simply drag the body out and wheel in a replacement as if it were the most
natural thing in the world.
But look at the world now: the recent Presidential election was between two men of
pensionable age, with the "winner" showing definite the signs of dementia. While over in the
Kremlin there is a man who - whatever faults he may have - is definitely not an apparatchik
and certainly is not sclerotic.
Difficult to come by, but if you ever get the chance then do yourself a favor and watch
the show. It is a work of absolute genius from start to finish.
Biden front of camera (and barely managing that) with Chief of Staff Klain running the
show.
Reminds me of Obama front of camera (managing that extremely well) with Rahm Emmanuel
running the show, ensuring the interests of those who put Obama where he was.
Rahm left the position after two years to run for Mayor of Chicago, following Richard M
Daley, who's brother, William, took over the role of White House Chief of Staff (after Rouse
was interim for several months), also to ensure the interests of those who put Obama where he
was.
Why do people lose sight of Obama's political origins?
"This will likely cost them their House majority in 2022"
So what? Yes every congresscritter greatly cares about his own seat, but for the Dem
Party it only leads to embarrassment. "It was politically unfeasible", "Those evil
Repubs made us do it"--that's when Dems are in their element; Obama also ditched the
overall majorities he rode in on as soon as he could. The Dems need to look relevant, and to
have a little something to block Republican plans they don't care for, and all is good. And
'24... who knows; one way or another, Biden just beat Trump; why could't he, or his stuffed
corpse, do it again?
Anyway, the real arbiters here are the donors. And they like their pendulum swings, lest
their puppets get too uppity, and because one-party rule would be too ... overt. This is what
gloomy Repubs fail to understand these days.
"Neither the European U.S. allies, nor the Asian ones, have any interest in following the
U.S. into a confrontation with China."
Beg your pardon? Both the Canadian and Dutch parliaments have just lobbed genocide
accusations against China. Now that Bad Man Trump is gone, they're desperate to show
their servility. Fundamentally, this is who they are.
This post is an excellent diagnosis of the Anglo-American malady.
Quoting PlutoniumKun: "So in the UK they have a government run by a buffoon surrounded by
lightweights, that has made an appalling mess of Covid, screwed up Brexit, has destroyed the
UK's standing internationally, and has driven the country into an unnecessary steep
recession. But is still incredibly popular."
In the U S of A, the Monoparty, Aqua Wing plus Mauve Wing, have driven the country into
declining life expectancy, a constant petty low-level civil war, greater and greater income /
wealth inequality, and visible decline–streets falling in, broken sidewalks, tatty post
offices no longer maintained, and so on.
Yet there is no indication that the Monoparty can be broken up. Meanwhile, minimum wage is
maintained at an obscene level, the government quibbles over unemployment benefits (let alone
the manipulated unemployment rate), and the stimulus is a guaranteed shambles. Large numbers
of Americans have a sense that the whole shebang is "rigged," yet being American, they want
to fall into racial panic rather than breaking down the system of oppression.
And Joe Manchin, oh-so-conveniently, is president of this mess.
It doesn't take much to understand that the Iranian government has some eighty years of
reasons for not wanting to deal with the U.S. government. Justifiable reasons. Yet the U.S.
is still deluded enough to think that it is the center of Empire. Talk about
lightweights–the U.S. foreign policy establishment and the "intelligence communit" have
produced one disaster after another, with impunity.
As a resident of Joe Manchin's country, it is pleasing to see that the discussion of the
idiocy of what is happening politically in the US and that the discussion of MMT are finally
being presented in a rational way.
The opening of this entire blog hit it on the head – money is not an issue for a
sovereign monetary country. The EU could adopt the MMT point-of -view, whereas the individal
countries making up the EU cannot. There is only one party in the US, the party of those who
have enough money to buy the politicians.
With the above admitted, NC can now retire; there is nothing more to discuss except how do
we get rid of these problems with the governments in power?
...Hillary failed. She was organised by self confident, privileged, idiotic fools,
example: Podesta use 'password' as his password for his most confidential emailer. The
hackers had both Hillary and Podesta by the short and curleys: they were extreme risk.
The likelihood of the entire Clinton home server contents being in the possession of more
than two contending nations is quite high IMO. Add the Debbie Wasseman Shultz hacking debacle
and you get a 'trust and confidence' deficit. Trump had none of that baggage.
Better for the oligarchs to go with the guy who confessed to grabbing women by the short
and curleys than to throw your lot in with morons and where you had to share 'control' with
the hacker universe:
Trump was elected by the democracy that the USA fears to amend. Live with it.
DJT was supposed to be thrown under the bus more than four years ago. From that
perspective it was the 2016 election that was stolen... by the electorate. That wasn't
supposed to happen which is why the establishment totally lost their shi... uh, cool.
Biden is the most fitting US President in modern history. He is a fantastic representation
of the political system that has metastasized around the institutions of government. He's
almost redundant, that's not intended as an insult.
An empty husk has its political uses and as simple continuation device for the forever
war's he should do fine.
It looks almost certain that it's a question of when not if the cognitive wheels will
grind to a halt. Despite his grim determination to remember his lines you're left wondering
if the effort is even worth it. If the systems barely functioning meat suit simply drooled
over the lecturn at his next engagement what would be the substantive difference for the US,
it's people and policies.
Trump was nothing more than entertaining distraction but cucked almost every decision he
had to make and was dealt with easily by the systemic, vested interests groups mitigating the
slightest correction, the smallest bit of change. Biden is a real life deepfake, an illusion,
just like the bona fides of the American political system claiming to represent the
people.
The vested interests will continue to gorge themselves on wealth and power while Biden
gazes vaccously into the nearest camera.
How many repeat performances with known end would be required and how many acts to conceal
the crime, er, tort, before a lawyer stands up and says that pile of dead bodies was put
there by a perp?
How many dead bodies before a journalist decides there is a story?
How many times will public be fooled before wising up? Well, that one I know the
answer.
Speaker Pelosi eagerly
cancelled voting Thursday because of the bogus threat. This freed up Representative Al
Green, a Democrat from the Houston area, to undertake a stunt of surpassing stupidity that was
taken with deadpan seriousness by much of the media. The DC insider publication,
The Hill , bought into the stunt:
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas)
is sending a message to QAnon and right-wing extremist threats by sitting on the Capitol
steps on Thursday, the date authorities warned militia groups were potentially planning
another breach of the building.
"I want to make a statement to let people know, those who would threaten those of us who
cherish this freedom that we have here that we refuse to allow those threats to negate our
freedom," he told The Hill.
Green himself touted his bravery:
... The only problem is that Rep. Green was sitting behind a large protective cordon,
including National Guard troops and fencing, facing no danger, even if the phony insurrection
reports had been true.
Tucker Carlson called them out in his introductory segment Friday. It's worth watching
here .
"US announces sanctions on top Ukrainian oligarch & Zelensky ally Kolomoisky for '
undermining democratic processes ' in country." [My Emphasis] Here .
Okay, so when will the Democratic National Committee and its Republican counterpart be
sanctioned for doing the same within the USA?
TRUMP fans clashed with Antifa and BLM supporters while carrying a massive flag depicting Nancy Pelosi as a demon during a march
on Friday.
The MAGA supporters marched along Fifth Avenue in
Manhattan
towards
Trump Tower with all sorts of pro-Trump flags waving.
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Trump supports marched in Manhattan on Friday
Credit:
Alamy Live News
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The MAGA fans unveiled a large flag depicting
Nancy Pelosi as some sort of demon
Credit:
Getty Images - Getty
One of those flags, unfurled right in front of the former president's namesake tower, featured
House
Speaker Pelosi
fashioned as some sort of demon.
CLAIM: The White House cut President Joe Biden's feed at a virtual event with top House
Democrats because they did not have confidence in him answering questions.
AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. Biden did take questions after his introductory remarks at the
House Democratic Caucus Virtual Issues Conference on Wednesday but the event was closed to
the press after the initial comments, so the video feed was cut.
THE FACTS: Posts online are suggesting that the video proves that the White House is
limiting the president's talking time.
"'Man Has No Idea What He's Doing': Biden Says He's 'Happy to Take Question' But WH Cuts
Feed."
"' I'd be happy to take questions if that's what I'm supposed to do , Nance,' Biden
said. ' Whatever you want me to do .'" [My Emphasis]
I've refrained from calling Biden a walking corpse or otherwise making fun of his dementia
because I cared for my mom during her losing battle with Alzheimer's, and it's extremely
tragic and not at all funny. But given this evidence and the fact that his minders cut him
off, it ought to be very clear that Biden is in no way in control of his administration or
even of himself. So, there's absolutely no way that he ordered the missile strike on the
Iraqi troops, or is making any other policy decisions. The voting public can rightfully say
it was defrauded.
...it started with Teresa May alleging a "chemical weapons attack" on European soil (re:
the Skripals) and now has morphed into an alleged active Russian Chemical Weapons/WMD program
requiring sanctions and public outrage (re: Navalny).
The decline of the West can be measured by the level of constant BS.
Call it payback for the December restaurant shutdowns.
It took a few minutes after the BLS reported the impressive February jobs report, which
showed a whopping 379K total jobs added in February (and 465K private payrolls, or more than
double the 195K expected), for traders to read between the lines and realize that there was
much less than meets the eye in the latest jobs report.
To wit: of the 379K jobs, a whopping 355K, or 93%, were in leisure and hospitality, and
within this category the one and only sector that truly boomed the most under the Obama admin
was on top: employees food service and drinking places, i.e. waiter and bartenders, accounted
for a massive 286K jobs, or 75% of the total job gains in February. Call it payback for the
December collapse in restaurant workers when nearly 400K jobs were lost amid the latest round
of restaurant shutdowns.
Honest Joe is old, weak, frail, incompetent, corrupt, traitorous to his own people, and
some say maybe even a little bit sexually perverted.
You meant to say Donald Trump. Maybe Biden isn't much better, but it can't be good for the
US when the same description is perfectly valid for both rivals for power.
At the end of January, Putin was given the opportunity to address the World Economic Forum
(WEF) in Davos, Switzerland (online). The WEF is a prestigious assembly of political leaders,
corporatists and billionaire elites many of who are directly involved in the massive global
restructuring project that is currently underway behind the smokescreen of the Covid-19
pandemic. Powerful members of the WEF decided that the Coronavirus presented the perfect
opportunity to implement their dystopian strategy which includes a hasty transition to green
energy, A.I., robotics, transhumanism, universal vaccination and a comprehensive surveillance
matrix that detects the location and activities of every human being on the planet. The
proponents of this universal police state breezily refer to it as "The Great Reset" which is
the latest make-over of the more familiar, "New World Order". There's not a hairsbreadth
difference between the Reset and one-world government which has preoccupied billionaire
activists for more than a century. This is the group to which Putin made the following
remarks:
"I would like to speak in more detail about the main challenges ..the international
community is facing . The first one is socioeconomic .. Starting from 1980, global per capita
GDP has doubled in terms of real purchasing power parity. This is definitely a positive
indicator. Globalisation and domestic growth have led to strong growth in developing
countries and lifted over a billion people out of poverty .Still, the main question is
what was the nature of this global growth and who benefitted from it most ..
developing countries benefitted a lot from the growing demand for their traditional and
even new products. However, this integration into the global economy has resulted in more
than just new jobs or greater export earnings. It also had its social costs, including a
significant gap in individual incomes . According to the World Bank, 3.6 million people
subsisted on incomes of under $5.50 per day in the United States in 2000, but in 2016 this
number grew to 5.6 million people.. ..
Meanwhile, globalisation led to a significant increase in the revenue of large
multinational, primarily US and European, companies In terms of corporate profits, who got
hold of the revenue? The answer is clear: one percent of the population .
And what has happened in the lives of other people? In the past 30 years, in a number
of developed countries, the real incomes of over half of the citizens have been stagnating,
not growing . Meanwhile, the cost of education and healthcare services has gone up. Do
you know by how much? Three times
In other words, millions of people even in wealthy countries have stopped hoping for an
increase of their incomes. In the meantime, they are faced with the problem of how to keep
themselves and their parents healthy and how to provide their children with a decent
education .
These imbalances in global socioeconomic development are a direct result of the policy
pursued in the 1980s , which was often vulgar or dogmatic. This policy rested on the
so-called Washington Consensus with its unwritten rules, when the priority was given
to the economic growth based on a private debt in conditions of deregulation and low taxes on
the wealthy and the corporations .
As I have already mentioned, the coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated these problems.
In the last year, the global economy sustained its biggest decline since WWII. By July, the
labour market had lost almost 500 million jobs . In the first nine months of the past year
alone, the losses of earnings amounted to $3.5 trillion. This figure is going up and,
hence, social tension is on the rise." (" Session of Davos Agenda 2021Online Forum,
Putin Addresses World Economic Forum, Jan 27, 2021)
Why is Putin telling his elitist audience these things? Does he think these fatcats don't
know how the system works or how it was originally set up? Does he think they are unaware of
the glaring flaws in a system that shifts all of the profits to obscenely wealthy corporations
and scheming elites while working people slip further into debt and desperation?
Putin knows how globalisation works, just as he knows who it was designed to benefit. It's
no secret. Check out this quote from the Russian president in a speech nearly 5 years ago:
"Back in the late 1980s-early 1990s, there was a chance not just to accelerate the
globalization process but also to give it a different quality and make it more harmonious and
sustainable in nature. But some countries that saw themselves as victors in the Cold War,
not just saw themselves this way but said it openly, took the course of simply reshaping the
global political and economic order to fit their own interests.
In their euphoria, they essentially abandoned substantive and equal dialogue with other
actors in international life, chose not to improve or create universal institutions, and
attempted instead to bring the entire world under the spread of their own organizations,
norms and rules. They chose the road of globalization and security for their own beloved
selves, for the select few, but not for everyone." (President Vladimir Putin, Meeting of the
Valdai International Discussion Club)
"To the victor belongs the spoils"? Isn't that what Putin is saying, that Washington figured
its Cold War triumph entitled them to create a system whereby they could pillage and loot the
rest of the world with impunity?
Indeed, that is precisely what he's saying. And he knows what he's talking about, too.
Putin has followed developments in global trade for over 20 years. He knows the system is
rigged and he knows who rigged it. And now he's telling them in no uncertain terms that they
are responsible for the mess the world is in today. "The world is in crisis, because you
fu**ed up." That's what he's saying. It's not a subtle message, he's simply laying it on the
line. Check out this blurb from an earlier speech by Putin where he shows that he's not just a
capable leader but also an astute critic of social trends linked to globalization:
"It seems like elites don't see the deepening stratification in society and the erosion
of the middle class (but the situation) creates a climate of uncertainty that has a
direct impact on the public mood. Sociological studies conducted around the world show that
people in different countries and on different continents tend to see the future as murky
and bleak . This is sad. The future does not entice them, but frightens them. At the same
time, people see no real opportunities or means for changing anything, influencing events
and shaping policy. As for the claim that the fringe and populists have defeated the
sensible, sober and responsible minority – we are not talking about populists or
anything like that but about ordinary people, ordinary citizens who are losing trust in
the ruling class. That is the problem . " (President Vladimir Putin, Meeting of the
Valdai International Discussion Club)
In this one brief comment, Putin shows that he has a better grasp of 'what is going on' in
the west than any of the numbskulls in congress today. And notice how he ignores the hype about
"racial justice", BLM, "white supremacy" and the other "racialized" bunkum that's
propagated in the media today. He's not hoodwinked by that nonsense. He knows it's just
another diversion promoted by the cadres of dirtbags who use race and identity politics to
conceal their role in the ongoing class war. That's what's really going on. The men that
Putin is addressing in his speech are the very same men who are doing everything in their power
to eviscerate democracy, skewer the middle class and grind America's working population into
dust. It's plain old class war dolled-up to look like racial unrest. Here's more from
Putin:
" During the past 20 years we have created a foundation for the so-called Fourth
Industrial Revolution (AKA–"The Great Reset")based on the wide use of AI and
automation and robotics. The coronavirus pandemic has greatly accelerated such projects and
their implementation . However, this process is leading to new structural changes, I am
thinking in particular of the labor market. This means that very many people could lose
their jobs unless the state takes effective measures to prevent this . Most of these
people are from the so-called middle class, which is the basis of any modern society.
. The rise of economic problems and inequality is splitting society, triggering social,
racial and ethnic intolerance . Indicatively, these tensions are bursting out even in the
countries with seemingly civil and democratic institutions that are designed to alleviate and
stop such phenomena and excesses.
The systemic socioeconomic problems are evoking such social discontent that they
require special attention and real solutions. The dangerous illusion that they may be
ignored or pushed into the corner is fraught with serious consequences." ( Putin, WEF)
Putin understands that the Covid-related lockdowns and closing of "non-essential" businesses
is merely prelude for the massive societal restructuring project elites have in store for us.
They've already put millions of people out of work and expanded their surveillance capabilities
in anticipation of the social unrest they are deliberately inciting. Putin thinks this
futuristic strategy is unnecessarily reckless, disruptive and fails to account for intensifying
social animosities and widening political divisions that are bound to have a catastrophic
impact on democratic institutions. But Putin also knows that his appeal for a more cautious
approach will be brushed aside by the billionaire powerbrokers who set the policy and call the
shots. Here's more:
" Society will still be divided politically and socially. This is bound to happen
because people are dissatisfied not by some abstract issues but by real problems that concern
everyone regardless of the political views that people have or think they have. Meanwhile,
real problems evoke discontent. "
This is a recurrent theme with Putin and one that shows that he has a deeper understanding
of what is really happening in both the United States and Europe than any of his peers.
Populist candidates, like Trump, have not gained momentum due to thier abilities and charisma,
but because the financial situation of millions of Americans continues to deteriorate forcing
them to seek remedies outside the establishment candidates. The economic distress is real and
widespread and, as Putin notes, it is expressing itself in outbursts of discontent, frustration
and rage. Here's more:
"So, the key question today is how to build a programme of actions in order to not only
quickly restore the global and national economies affected by the pandemic, but to ensure
that this recovery is sustainable in the long run, relies on a high-quality structure and
helps overcome the burden of social imbalances. Clearly economic growth will largely rely on
fiscal incentives with state budgets and central banks playing the key role.
Actually, we can see these kinds of trends in the developed countries and also in some
developing economies as well. An increasing role of the state in the socioeconomic
sphere at the national level obviously implies greater responsibility and close
interstate interaction when it comes to issues on the global agenda.
Calls for inclusive growth and for creating decent standards of living for everyone
are regularly made at various international forums. This is how it should be, and this is an
absolutely correct view of our joint efforts.
It is clear that the world cannot continue creating an economy that will only benefit a
million people , or even the golden billion. This is a destructive precept. This model is
unbalanced by default. The recent developments, including migration crises, have reaffirmed
this once again." ( Putin, WEF )
Putin's recommendations, of course, are going to be dismissed with a wave of the hand by the
men in power. The last thing these sociopaths want is "inclusive growth.. and decent standards
of living for everyone." That's not even on their list, and why would it be. After all, they
know what they want. "They want more for themselves and less for everyone else." (George
Carlin) Which is why the system works the way it does, because it was constructed with that one
solitary goal in mind.
Putin also acknowledges the need for greater state intervention in the economy to
counterbalance the more destructive effects of "smash and grab" capitalism. And, while he
rejects the swift and far-reaching structural changes (The Great Reset) that would precipitate
massive social upheaval, he does support a larger role for the state in providing essential
fiscal stimulus, employment and a more equitable distribution of the wealth. This does not
imply that Putin supports state socialism. He does not. He merely supports a more regulated and
benign form of Capitalism that veers from the "scorched earth" model backed by powerful members
of the WEF and other elitist organizations.
With that in mind, Putin makes these specific recommendations:
"We must now proceed from stating facts to action, investing our efforts and resources
into reducing social inequalit y in individual countries and into gradually balancing the
economic development standards of different countries and regions in the world. This would
put an end to migration crises."
The focus of this policy aimed at ensuring sustainable and harmonious development
are clear. They imply the creation of new opportunities for everyone, conditions under which
everyone will be able to develop and realize their potential regardless of where they were
born and are living
I would like to point out four key priorities , as I see them.
First, everyone must have comfortable living conditions, including housing and
affordable transport, energy and public utility infrastructure. Plus, environmental
welfare, something that must not be overlooked.
Second, everyone must be sure that they will have a job that can ensure sustainable
growth of income and, hence, decent standards of living. Everyone must have access to an
effective system of lifelong education, which is absolutely indispensable now and which will
allow people to develop, make a career and receive a decent pension and social benefits upon
retirement.
Third, people must be confident that they will receive high-quality and effective
medical care whenever necessary, and that the national healthcare system will guarantee
access to modern medical services.
Fourth, regardless of the family income, children must be able to receive a decent
education and realize their potential. Every child has potential." (Putin, Davos )
What does it mean that the current president of Russia is now throwing his weight behind
a program that is nearly identical to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's economic Bill of
Rights? Doesn't that seem a bit odd? After all, Putin is a devout Orthodox Christian, a
strong proponent of the traditional family, a self-avowed social conservative, and a
hardscrabble survivor of the failed Soviet state. Who would have thought that such a man
would support a program that provides a decent standard living to every member of society
regardless of their circumstances?
But it makes sense, doesn't it? Putin is pushing for a return to the heavily-regulated
"Heyday" of 20th Century capitalism, when workers' wages were still on the rise, when college
tuition and health care were still affordable, and when the American Dream was still within
reach of the average guy. People were happier then, because they felt that if they applied
themselves, worked like hell, and stashed their savings in the bank; they'd eventually reach
their goal. But that's not true anymore. People are much more pessimistic now and no longer
believe that America is the land of opportunity.
Putin wants to rekindle that optimism. He wants to avoid social unrest by implementing
programs that provide a more equitable distribution of the wealth. This isn't a return to
Communism. It's sensible way to soften the harsher effects of unrestrained capitalism ,
which is presently ravaging the West. Here's Putin again:
"This is the only way to guarantee the cost-effective development of the modern economy,
in which people are perceived as the end, rather than the means . A strategy, also being
implemented by my country, hinges on precisely these approaches. Our priorities revolve
around people, their families, and they aim to ensure demographic development, to protect the
people, to improve their well-being and to protect their health. We are now working to
create favourable conditions for worthy and cost-effective work and successful
entrepreneurship and to ensure digital transformation as the foundation of a high-tech future
for the entire country, rather than that of a narrow group of companies.
We intend to focus the efforts of the state, the business community and civil society on
these tasks and to implement a budgetary policy with the relevant incentives in the years
ahead ." ( Putin,
Davos )
Imagine a political leader who actually put the needs and well-being of his people before
the special interests of his deep-pocket donors and shady corporate buddies. Imagine a leader
who stood eye-to-eye with the big money guys and told them that their system "sucked" and that
they were taking too much for themselves leaving nothing for anyone else. Imagine a leader who
invited more criticism, hectoring, demonizing and punitive
J says: April 21, 2021 at 9:20 am
Peter Von Nessi SUBSCRIBER 29 minutes ago "A man of his age -- fearing that he may amount to nothing more than the great Obama's onetime sidekick -- is apt to react to the surprise of waking up in the White House by pandering to the flashiest ideas of the young people and their hero Bernie Sanders. Mr. Biden can, for a moment, forestall death if he veers way left and makes his mark, however chaotically."
Greg Caldwell SUBSCRIBER 58 minutes ago (Edited) Mr. Ferrara: Many people voted for Joe's ideas because he claimed to be more of a centrist while he was running for office. I know of quite a few people who voted for Joe (1) because he wasn't Trump, and; (2) he claimed he would govern from the middle-left.
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