Imran Khan Archives - Page 2 of 2

Many Americans don't trust the electoral process.

We watched the 1960 election stolen.

The difference between the steal in 1960 and what happened recently is that Nixon decided not to contest the election, despite clear evidence that it was stolen.pic.twitter.com/QHXZoeahl2

— Douglas Macgregor (@DougAMacgregor) August 9, 2023

RFK Dore

.@RobertKennedyJr tells @jimmy_dore: "We watched about 150 people come across the border… They're from Peru, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, India, China, Tibet, and Nepal…

In total, over three years, 7 million people have come across the border illegally… pic.twitter.com/cfy8pVhDLl

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) August 9, 2023

Watters

Kamala and Biden’s golden boy just filed for bankruptcy. Taxpayers were funding Proterra, America’s biggest electric bus company, and now the money’s missing. The whole thing was a political pump and dump scheme and top Democrats were all involved. pic.twitter.com/ZPzTgDMn2S

— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) August 9, 2023

“CNN is telling it as it sees it, in its own limited way. “

• Ukraine Defeat Ominous to Team Biden Admitted by US Press (Sp.)

Having lauded the Kiev regime’s resolve and the Ukrainian military’s resourcefulness for quite some time, the US mainstream press has suddenly changed its tune, being forced to admit that the well-advertised Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed. Some established American newspapers went even so far as to report that the US military tactics had proven almost useless on the Ukrainian battlefield. “After two months of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, the US press is finally waking up to the fact that the offensive is going extremely poorly,” Daniel Lazare, an independent journalist, author, and writer, told Sputnik. “Ukraine has made minimal gains due to very dense Russian defenses, including mines and drone swarms, which are completely changing the battlefield equation. This is devastating news for the Biden administration, which after the disastrous retreat from Afghanistan in August 2021, is now two years later facing an equally dangerous situation in Ukraine.”

As of August 4, Ukraine had lost more than 43,000 soldiers and over 4,900 units of various weaponry, including 26 planes, nine helicopters, 1,831 tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, including 25 German-made Leopard tanks, seven French-made AMX wheeled tanks, and 21 US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), as well as 747 field artillery guns and mortars, since the beginning of Kiev’s counteroffensive, per Russia’s Ministry of Defense. Thus, Ukraine’s attrition rate is so high it could hardly be ignored by Western politicians and corporate press. “These articles are not a ploy. That’s not how the US mass media works. They’re honest,” Lazare said. “CNN is telling it as it sees it, in its own limited way.

And after months of pro-Pentagon propaganda, where CNN essentially toed the Defense Department line all the way, essentially now it realizes it can’t do that much longer because the facts are running strongly against it. So CNN, The New York Times, Politico, etc., are forced to recognize the reality of what’s happening in Ukraine. And it’s extremely negative from a US perspective. I think it is a sobering-up process. They are alerting their readers to how dangerous and negative the situation in Ukraine is becoming in terms of American strategic interests. And therefore, they are preparing them for worse to come. But it’s honest in the sense that no one is bribing CNN and it has no ulterior motive in mind. It simply is telling the truth in its own half-witted, politically distorted fashion.”

Still, those who have followed the Ukraine conflict from the very beginning have already noticed that the US media’s prognoses don’t work. So, for them the Ukraine counteroffensive failure was hardly surprising, per US independent journalist and geopolitical analyst Max Parry. “There is no way anyone could follow this conflict closely without noticing Western corporate media’s continuous pattern of failure in its predictions about the outcome of the war in favor of Kiev and then backtracking each time only to come up with excuses as to why its prognostications have been wrong,” Parry told Sputnik. “As a result, it has only revealed the incompetence of Washington’s military strategists and NATO, whose forces have trained Ukraine, and the media’s own role as a propaganda arm of the US.”

“..its coveted superior role of “being the world policeman that the laws don’t apply to” slipping from its grasp..”

• US Stokes Tension in Persian Gulf as It Loses Control, Needs More Wars (Sp.)

The Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, which plays a crucial role for global trade, have yet again found themselves in the focus of the US military, as Washington has accused Iran of “seizing and harassing” civilian vessels – a practice that the Islamic Republic has resolutely denied employing. The United States realizes that it is losing control, and cannot maintain it without creating more wars, which explains why it is stoking tension in the Persian Gulf, Laith Marouf, a broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, told Sputnik. With increasingly more countries rejecting the US-driven so-called “rules-based order,” and America feeling that its coveted superior role of “being the world policeman that the laws don’t apply to” slipping from its grasp, Washington is desperate to fan hostilities in the region, Marouf underscored.

According to the US press, thousands of US Marines and sailors have been brought to the Persian Gulf by the USS Bataan and the USS Carter Hall, as part of a buildup ongoing for months. On August 4, unnamed US officials told the press that the Pentagon was considering putting armed personnel on commercial ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, as a part of an intensified response from Washington to the allegedly destabilizing activity caused by Iran’s “harassment and seizure of merchant vessels.” The Iranian Foreign Ministry dismissed the US’ claims as untrue. “In the last two years, we saw multiple ships confiscated by the United States – some in international waters – that belong to Iran,” Laith Marouf pointed out, adding:

“It seems like the United States wants to police the world, and in this situation, they want to become a valet service for these international shipping companies that are looting oil from the Gulf… The more the United States acts in such pirate ways, the more we will lose control of the situation.” Reports of more than 3,000 US military personnel having arrived in the Red Sea on board two warships following Washington’s allegations of Iran “seizing” several civilian ships in the waterways is a dangerous escalation, Mazda Majidi, long-time antiwar and social justice activist from Iran, told Sputnik. “It’s really an escalation that’s not really called for by actual developments on the ground,” the activist said, underscoring that it was pretty much a “war footing.” Washington accuses Iran’s Navy of no less than 20 such incidents involving commercial vessels over the past two years.

“The average, accordingly, is less than one a month,” underscored Mazda Majidi, who has written extensively on the nuclear deal and other issues pertaining to Iran and the Middle East. He added that, like the Iranian Navy has said, some of the instances were a reaction to a distress signal, when they went in to see if they could help. “But in the bigger picture, the ongoing problem is the continual US seizure of Iranian oil tankers around the globe. And while the US claims that these are based on the sanctions on Iran, that sanctions that the US has placed on Iran. Those sanctions do not apply to international waters. In other words, the US Navy has no legal right to seize Iranian oil tankers anywhere it sees fit. So in that sense, the Iranian reaction is related to what the US has been doing to tankers carrying Iranian oil,” Mazda Majidi said.

“Russia will achieve peace on its own terms.”

• West’s ‘Neo-Colonial Geopolitical Crusade Against Russia’ Is Doomed – Moscow (RT)

The West is treating Ukraine the same way it treated Georgia, as a proxy against Russia to be used and abandoned, Moscow’s deputy envoy to the UN Dmitry Polyansky has said. August 8 is a “sad day in Georgian history,” Polyansky tweeted on the anniversary of the 2008 conflict. “It’s very hard to rectify the bloody mistakes of [the] Saakashvili regime which acted in 2008 as a puppet of the West. Now Saakashvili is in prison in Georgia but his poisonous legacy is still felt.” The “Kiev regime is doing a far more nefarious mistake right now naively hoping that the West will not abandon it after NATO’s proxy war with Russia until the last Ukrainian,” Polyansky added. “And Washington and its allies are still bringing death and devastation to the post-Soviet space in their futile neo-colonial geopolitical crusade against Russia.”

Mikhail Saakashvili became the president of Georgia in the US-backed ‘Rose revolution’ in 2003. In August 2008, as the world’s attention was on the Beijing Olympics, he launched an attack on the breakaway region of South Ossetia, hoping to overwhelm the Russian peacekeeping battalion stationed there since the 1990s. Moscow’s quick reaction surprised both Tbilisi and Washington. Georgia’s Western-trained military was dismantled within five days. Saakashvili lost the 2012 election and went to the US, then to Ukraine after the US-backed coup in Kiev. Russia’s president at the time, Dmitry Medvedev, also commented on the anniversary of the conflict. In a Telegram post, he said that Saakashvili had been a proxy of the West, “which was trying to stir up the situation in the immediate vicinity of Russia’s borders even then.”

Washington and its vassals are “once again waging a criminal war by proxy” against Russia, Medvedev added. “Just like in August 2008, our enemies will be crushed, and Russia will achieve peace on its own terms.” The US and NATO have sent over $100 billion worth of weapons, equipment and ammunition to Kiev, as well as cash to keep the Ukrainian government afloat, while insisting they were not a party to the conflict with Russia. Earlier this year, they supplied modern Western tanks to the Ukrainian military, with the expectation of a grand spring-summer offensive that would push the Russians into the sea. Kiev launched the offensive in early June, but has achieved little while losing 5,000 vehicles and 43,000 soldiers, according to Russian Defense Ministry estimates. Earlier this week, senior US and Western officials told CNN that it was “extremely, highly unlikely” the Ukrainians could make progress on the battlefield that could change the balance of the conflict.

Smells like Nuland around here.

• US Told Pakistan To Remove Imran Khan From Power – Intercept (RT)

The US State Department pressured Pakistan to remove its popular prime minister, Imran Khan, last year over the latter’s neutrality regarding the conflict in Ukraine, The Intercept reported on Wednesday, citing a secret diplomatic cable obtained from a Pakistani military source. The cable documents a meeting between US State Department officials and Pakistan’s ambassador to the US on March 7, 2022. “People here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position” on Ukraine, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu warns his Pakistani counterpart in the cable, blaming the PM alone for the offending policy.

While Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan attempts to correct the American, pointing out that Pakistan’s position on Ukraine is shared across the government, Lu counters that it is the PM’s behavior that is the problem, but that “if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington.” “Otherwise, I think it will be tough going ahead,” he threatens, adding that Europe will follow the US’ lead in the “isolation of the prime minister.” Ambassador Khan reflects in his notes that the threat seems to be coming directly from the White House and suggests a strong diplomatic response. Khan, who apparently obtained a copy of the cable in the weeks following the meeting, pointed at the US as the director of his ouster after he was removed following a no-confidence vote last April – just as Lu had suggested.

His successor, Shehbaz Sharif, admitted the cable existed and that some of its messaging was inappropriate, but stopped short of acknowledging its confirmation of Khan’s claims. Washington has categorically denied pressuring Islamabad to remove Khan. While the document obtained by The Intercept does not technically constitute a direct order, it attaches strongly-worded threats to noncompliance, hints at rewards for obedience, and confirms both were viewed as coming directly from President Joe Biden. Immediately following Khan’s ouster, Pakistan reversed its neutrality on Ukraine, demonstrating its fealty to Washington by supplying copious amounts of weapons to Kiev.

Its military was reportedly rewarded with a defense pact covering “joint exercises, operations, training, basing and equipment.” While polls have suggested Khan would easily win an election were he permitted to run again, he was sentenced to three years in prison last week on corruption charges, blocking him from contesting elections expected to take place this year. He has been charged with numerous crimes since his ouster, from insulting state officials to terrorism, and last month it was announced he would be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act for revealing the contents of the cable documenting the conspiracy to oust him.

Full interview: Julian Assange interviews #ImranKhan for the World Tomorrow (2012) pic.twitter.com/uySRqImqkF

— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) August 9, 2023

I meant Karen.

• US Regime Change Karen Wants To Speak To The Manager In Niger (Marsden)

France has been kicked out of Niger by its new military government, by extension placing US interests there in peril. Who would ever have thought that the US footing the bill for training Nigerien soldiers would result in a net gain for Russia and China? Apparently not the US State Department. Enter Victoria Nuland with demands to speak to those in charge. Officially the acting US deputy secretary of state, Nuland should really change her title to ‘Regime Change Karen’. In modern parlance, a ‘Karen’ is a middle-aged woman “who uses her privilege to get her way or police other people’s behaviors.” Karens can often be spotted at the customer service desks of big box stores demanding to speak to the manager – or in this case, the military leaders now in charge of Niger.

Nuland rocked up to Niger and demanded to speak to the ousted president, but was refused the opportunity. Instead, she got to meet with one of the coup leaders – the new army chief of staff, Brigadier General Moussa Salaou Barmou, who not only trained at Fort Benning and at Washington’s National Defense University, but was photographed alongside US Special Operations in Africa Commander Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga just a few weeks ago at a US drone base in Niger. In a State Department teleconference on Monday, Nuland said that she was in Niger “because we wanted to speak frankly to the people responsible to this challenge to the democratic order.” That didn’t actually require a foreign trip, though. She could have just stayed home and called a staff meeting. You made this mess yourselves, guys. “The benefit from the joint mortar training event is twofold – providing Nigerien soldiers with a tangible skill, while also bolstering the partnership between US and Niger forces,” the Pentagon said in 2021 of a joint training exercise. Looks like all those skills came in handy when it came to kicking out US-allied France.

“We met with the self-proclaimed chief of defense of this operation, General Barmou, and three of the colonels supporting him,” Nuland said. “I will say that these conversations were extremely frank and at times quite difficult because, again, we were pushing for a negotiated solution.” Interesting how peace and negotiations suddenly appear on the table when Washington loses its foothold, finds itself in too weak or precarious a position to start dropping bombs, and needs to buy some time to regain the upper hand. Such was the case with the Russia-Ukraine Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015, which used peace as a pretext for better arming Kiev against Moscow as Western allies trained and supplied Ukrainian neo-Nazis at Russia’s doorstep. Nuland not so subtly hinted at Washington’s priorities when she said that she “had a chance first to sit with a broad cross-section of Nigerien civil society,” describing them as “long-time friends of the United States.” In other words, to better shore up the in-country proxies to defend US interests.

Not what Russia needs right now. That’s why it’s happening.

• All-Africa War Possible – Ex-Presidential Aide (RT)

A military intervention in Niger could set off a broader war, Antinekar al-Hassan, a political adviser to the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday. “I don’t think ECOWAS will make the mistake of intervening militarily in Niger, because if they intervene militarily, that means all of Africa will be at war,” al-Hassan said. Bazum was arrested on July 26, by a group of Nigerien military officers led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has threatened to deploy troops unless he was restored to power, but their ultimatum to Niamey expired on Sunday. In the meantime, the bloc has closed borders and stopped all trade and transactions with Niger. Al-Hassan said he was against these sanctions, calling them “illegal and illegitimate.” “We’re against the sanctions. They will hurt the people of Niger, not the junta,” he said.

The new military government has refused any talks with the ousted president, who has no intent of stepping down, according to al-Hassan. “He did not sign anything and is not preparing to resign. He would rather die than resign,” al-Hassan said. In an op-ed supposedly written from prison and published in the Washington Post on August 4, Bazoum had appealed to the “US government and the entire international community to help us restore our constitutional order.” ECOWAS military chiefs reportedly finalized their war plans last Friday, but noted the actual intervention requires a political decision by the bloc’s governments. Chad and Guinea have opposed both sanctions and intervention in Niger, while Burkina Faso and Mali said they would regard any military move against Niamey as a declaration of war against both of them as well.

According to the French broadcaster RFI, which was banned in Niger, ECOWAS was mustering a force of about 25,000 troops, most of them from neighboring Nigeria. The new military government in Niamey accused France on Wednesday of setting free terrorists so they could attack a military camp in Niger and violating the country’s airspace as part of a campaign of destabilization. Paris denied that any terrorists were set free, or that any attack took place, and insisted the French aircraft were operating in Nigerien airspace under a military pact with Bazoum’s government. France refused to recognize the generals’ repudiation of the deal last week, and vowed to keep some 1,500 troops in the Sahel country.

How much more proof is required? Asking for a friend.

• GOP Memo: Hunter Sold ‘Biden’ Brand for At Least $20 Million As Joe Was VP (Sp.)

Companies related to the Biden family received a whopping $20 million from foreign nationals during Joe Biden’s vice presidency, as per the GOP-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee. On August 9, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability Majority Staff released a third bank records memorandum within the framework of the ongoing investigation of the Bidens’ alleged influence peddling schemes. The committee identified over $20 million in payments from foreign sources to the Biden family and their business associates during Joe Biden’s vice presidential tenure. Per House GOP investigators, Biden family members and partners routinely collected money from Ukrainian, Kazakh, Chinese, Russian, and Romanian nationals in exchange for protection, assistance, and access to then-Vice President Joe Biden.

“Joe Biden was ‘The Brand’ sold around the world to enrich the Biden family and he was used to ‘signal’ their access, influence, and power,” the congressional memo reads. “Then-Vice President Biden met – in person, for significant periods of time – with those individuals or their representatives. Then-Vice President Biden joined approximately 20 phone calls on speakerphone with Hunter Biden’s foreign business associates and attended dinners with foreign oligarchs who paid huge sums of money to Hunter Biden. Joe Biden, ‘the brand,’ was the only product the Bidens sold.” The memo also referred to the change of the White House’s narrative regarding Joe Biden’s apparent involvement in his son’s business dealings.

While, previously, Team Biden had claimed that Joe was unaware of Hunter’s financial activities and never discussed them, now they say that the “President was not in business with his son.” Still, the White House staff refuses to comment about this departure from previous statements, the memo noted. Commenting on the release of the third memo, Committee Chairman James Comer opined that the data obtained by the committee confirms the assumption that the Bidens, including Joe, were involved in “pay-for-play.” Comer particularly drew parallels between bank records and Hunter’s partners getting access to then-Vice President Biden, including two dinners in April 2014 and 2015 at Washington, DC’s Café Milano.

Most recently, US renowned legal scholar Jonathan Turley brought focus on the discussions surrounding Joe’s visits to Café Milano. The lawyer noted that the testimony by Devon Archer – Hunter’s longtime business partner – indicated that the elder Biden had indeed spent time with his son’s clients and was aware of Hunter’s business schemes. “Then-Vice President Joe Biden dined with oligarchs from around the world who had sent money to his son. It’s clear Joe Biden knew about his son’s business dealings and allowed himself to be ‘the brand’ sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States,” Comer emphasized.

By the balls.

• Trump: Biden ‘Petrified of China’ Because They Pay Him Millions of Dollars (Sp.)

Former US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he believes incumbent President Joe Biden is “so petrified of China” because they are paying him “millions and millions of dollars.” “I believe we have a compromised president. I believe he’s so petrified of China because they know how much money has been given to him, and they know where it is,” Trump said during an interview with US media. “As of today, I think $32 million that went into his accounts, the various accounts of the family. That’s a tremendous amount of money. And nothing was done for it. It was just a bribe … I’m amazed nothing was ever done.”

Trump added during the interview that Biden “is so afraid of China, and the reason he’s afraid is because I believe they paid him a tremendous amount of money, and he doesn’t want people to find out about it.” The former US president claimed that he believes China paid the Bidens “a lot more than that.” “You look at the University of Pennsylvania, you take a look at what’s going on over there, where China pays millions and millions of dollars at Biden’s center. I guess they’re paying him a million dollars a year, or I think they have it at 999,000 dollars a year.

That way you don’t have to maybe reproach because it’s under a million,” Trump claimed. The former commander-in-chief claimed that all signs point to China paying Biden “a fortune” because he has not seen “anyone so weak on China” before. Trump went to reference Beijing’s influence in Cuba and South America over the last three years. At one point during the interview, Trump went so far as to describe Biden as a “Manchurian candidate,” otherwise known as an individual who has become a puppet for a foreign nation. Trump later shifted and called on congressional lawmakers to undertake impeachment proceedings against Biden over evidence gathered by the House Oversight Committee regarding the Biden family’s business dealings.

Michael Tracey: “Amazing: Jack Smith tried to impose a gag order on Twitter by arguing Trump was likely to “flee from prosecution” if it came out that his account had been seized. DC district court then *affirmed* the validity of this claim. Later, the claim was mysteriously retracted as “errant”.

“..may have included unpublished posts..”

• Search Warrant Was Issued For Donald Trump’s Twitter Account (BBC)

The US special counsel investigating Donald Trump obtained a secret search warrant for the ex-president’s Twitter data in January, unsealed records show. Jack Smith requested “data and records” relating to Mr Trump’s account which may have included unpublished posts. After initially resisting the warrant, Twitter eventually complied, but missed a court-ordered deadline by three days. The delay resulted in the company being handed a $350,000 (£275,000) fine for contempt of court. The existence of the search warrant and the legal fight over it was revealed in court documents unsealed on Wednesday. According to the unsealed ruling, which still includes some redactions, Twitter’s lawyers did not object to the warrant itself, but disputed the nondisclosure order which kept it secret.

The company, now known as X under the ownership of Elon Musk, argued that it should be allowed to notify customers whose accounts are subject to search warrants. X handed over the data in February, but appealed the fine. Its case was rejected by a US appeals court last month. There is little indication in the documents about what exactly Mr Smith was seeking, with the court filing noting that only that the warrant directed the company “to produce data and records” related to Mr Trump’s account. The US congressional panel investigating the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot found that Mr Trump had drafted – but never sent – a tweet urging his supporters to come to Washington. It said: “I will be making a Big Speech at 10 a.m. on January 6th at the Ellipse (South of the White House). Please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the steal!”

The @realdonaldtrump account, which has 86.5m followers, was suspended after the riot. It was reinstated in November 2022 after Mr Musk ran a poll asking users whether the former president should be allowed back on the platform. Mr Trump has not posted on X since being reinstated, instead preferring to use his own Truth Social network. Experts have noted that his Truth Social business contracts mean he potentially stands to lose millions if he resumes posting on X. Mr Trump responded to news of the search warrant on Truth Social, writing that it was a “major ‘hit’ on my civil rights… These are DARK DAYS IN AMERICA!”

Casus belli?

• Critical Mineral Shortage to Put US Energy Security at Risk (Sp.)

Last week, the US Department of Energy (DOE) in a new assessment expanded its list of critical materials, defined as those indispensable to the clean energy transition with high supply risks, adding six new elements in 2023. The DOE warned the list will only grow bigger amid the global race to net-zero emissions and underscored the importance to energy security of establishing reliant and robust critical mineral supply chains.
Nickel, platinum, and silicon carbide join lithium and magnesium as critical in the medium term (2025-2035), while graphite, terbium, and iridium join cobalt, gallium, dysprosium and neodymium as elements considered critical in both the short and medium term (from now until 2035).

The DOE raised the status of copper and aluminum from non-critical to “near critical” in the medium term largely due to their importance to electrification across a wide spectrum. The report, citing International Energy Agency (IEA) data, said critical mineral demand will have to grow by up to 600% by 2040 if the world is to achieve net-zero by 2050. The demand for critical minerals is being driven by a surge in the adoption of electric vehicles, which the IEA says could account for 60% of all auto sales by 2030. The swift growth in EV sales and green electricity networks boosted demand for vital components such as lithium-ion batteries and rare earth magnets, the report noted. The report was released just as the US-China trade war escalated even further, with Beijing’s export controls on gallium going into effect, unveiled last month in retaliation to Washington’s restrictions on Chinese technology.

The US, and many Western allies, have invested heavily in trying to achieve supply chain independence from China. The Biden administration intensified efforts last week in discussions with Mongolian officials about “creative ways” to extract rare earth minerals from the landlocked country, which neighbors both China and Russia. The US faces a daunting task in breaking its mineral dependence on China. For example, China is the leading producing nation for 30 of 50 minerals the US Geological Survey classified as critical to the economy with vulnerable supply chains.

Jonathan Poston, a business strategy consultant for Artax Consulting, shed more light on the implications involving China’s dominance of key critical minerals, most particularly, rare earth elements. “Rare earth elements are a group of 17 elements that are essential for a wide range of clean energy technologies, including magnets, batteries, and catalysts,” Poston told Sputnik. “China is the world’s leading producer of rare earth elements, along with graphite – critical to lithium-ion batteries – and there are concerns about China’s control of the global supply chain.”

To be replaced with Barbie.

• Shakespeare Banned In US School Districts Over ‘Sexual Content’ (RT)

Multiple Florida schools leery of running afoul of a controversial new law banning books with sexual content are dropping Shakespeare plays from their curricula, the Tampa Bay Times reported on Wednesday. Hillsborough County public schools will only be assigning excerpts from the works of Shakespeare during the coming academic year, district officials revealed. While they told the Times they had altered their instructional guides for teachers because of “revised state teaching standards and a new set of state exams that cover a vast array of books and writing styles,” district spokeswoman Tanya Arja admitted the decision was “also in consideration of the law,” referring to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law.

Better known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, the measure took effect last month, requiring schools to suspend access to reading material alleged to contain pornography, depictions or descriptions of sexual conduct, pending resolution of any complaints from parents or the state. “I think the rest of the nation – no, the world, is laughing at us,” Joseph Cool, a teacher at Gaither High, told the Times on Tuesday, pointing out that “taking Shakespeare in its entirety out because the relationship between Romeo and Juliet is somehow exploiting minors is just absurd.” Because of uncertainty over what constitutes forbidden content, school districts have been preemptively removing books from their libraries in order to avoid parental challenges while trained “media specialists” screen the contents for anything that could potentially run afoul of the law.

If the specialists flag a book, a district-level panel is required to review it and make the final decision on whether it remains in the library. Parents may also file a complaint about any book on the school district’s website, requiring the district to pull the title within five days and keep it out of libraries until it can be reviewed. Local CBS affiliate WJAX found earlier this week that Duval County had removed 19 titles from its shelves ahead of the 2023-2024 school year, while St. Johns County had dropped 31 books and Clay County pulled 115.

Zero Hedge lifts out a reference to Obama’s presumed homosexuality, but the David Samuels interview for Tablet Magazine with David Garrow has a lot more.

• The “Magic Negro Of The Billionaire Industrial Complex” (ZH)

“I also found the Cuba thing deeply puzzling and offensive,” Garrow said. “It’s a fucking dictatorship that imprisons all sorts of truly progressive, creative people.” Many of the regime’s political prisoners are black but in the style of Frank, Obama is basically uncritical of the regime’s all-white Stalinist dictatorship. But then, as David Garrow says, the composite character is not a normal politician or human being. In one of his first actions, Obama canceled missile defense for U.S. allies Poland and the Czech Republic, and Garrow laments his “failure to object to Russia taking Crimea and the Donbas.” “For Barack, everything has to be a success,” Garrow explained. “Everything has to be a victory.”

And on his own terms, Obama may be the most successful president ever. He transformed the nation into a place where the outgoing president picks his successor and deploys the FBI and DOJ to help Hillary Clinton and harm candidate and President Donald Trump. “From the first time I saw it,” Garrow said, “I realized that Christopher Steele’s shit was just complete crap. It was bad corporate intelligence, even. It was nonsensical.” Samuels is also concerned. “A new milieu had been created consisting of party operatives, the people in the FBI and the CIA who are carrying out White House policy, and the press,” Samuels explains. “That’s something people still seem loathe to admit, even to themselves, in part because it puts them in a state of dissonance with this new kind of controlled consensus that the press maintains, which is obviously garbage. But if you question it, you’re some kind of nut.”

The interview keeps returning to Dreams from My Father, which biographer David Garrow exposed as a novel, infuriating the president. “There was something about this fictional character that he created actually becoming president,” contends Samuels, “that helped precipitate the disaster that we are living through now.” The nation has been transformed into a “Gilded Age oligarchy” by Obama, the “Magic Negro of the billionaire industrial complex.”

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Debt Rattle August 9 2023

Aug 092023

August 9, 2023 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:14 am Finance Tagged with: Elon Musk, France, Imran Khan, J6, Jack Smith, Niger, organ trafficking, Trump 29 Responses »

Edward Hopper Excursion into Philosophy 1959

• Ukrainian Counteroffensive ‘Highly Unlikely’ To Succeed – US Officials (RT)

• Authorities Cannot Be Unaware Of Organ Trafficking – Hague Lawyer On Kiev (RT)

• Ukraine Claims It Foiled Major Assassination Plot Against Zelensky (ZH)

• Trump Derangement at The Post (RCW)

• Rep. Justin Amash Defends President Trump Over 2020 Election Indictment (ZH)

• Proving a Lie Will Not Necessarily Secure a Conviction for Jack Smith (Turley)

• J6 Committee Failed To Preserve Records, Has No Data On Security Failures (Fox)

• Is A Second Anti-Colonial Liberation On The Horizon? (Denis Rogatyuk)

• Crisis in Niger: How France’s Interests in West Africa Are at Stake (Sp.)

• Poll: Over 60% Of Nigeriens Consider Russia Most Reliable Partner (TASS)

• Goal of Imran Khan’s Arrest to Keep Ex-Pakistani PM ‘Out of Elections’ (Sp.)

• Imran Khan’s Supporters Are Silenced But Determined (BBC)

• Musk’s Cage Match With Zuckerberg in Jeopardy as Neck & Back Woes Emerge (Sp.)

Nap Macgregor

The only people willing to go public and make ridiculous statements that Putin has lost the war are President Biden and perhaps his NSA.

This is nonsense, he absolutely hasn't and everyone knows that. pic.twitter.com/pd1kW0EKbR

— Douglas Macgregor (@DougAMacgregor) August 8, 2023

Fat pig

Holy sh*t Trump just bodied Chris Christie

“No Christie’s eating right now”

“Sir please don’t call him a Fat Pig — that’s very disrespectful” pic.twitter.com/5voRsgDc4N

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) August 8, 2023

Born
https://twitter.com/i/status/1688864958497325056

On CNN of all places…

• Ukrainian Counteroffensive ‘Highly Unlikely’ To Succeed – US Officials (RT)

Kiev’s Western backers are losing faith in the ability of the Ukrainian military to penetrate Russian defenses and turn the tide of the conflict, US and other Western officials told CNN on Tuesday. “[The Ukrainians are] still going to see, for the next couple of weeks, if there is a chance of making some progress. But for them to really make progress that would change the balance of this conflict, I think, it’s extremely, highly unlikely,” an unnamed “senior Western diplomat” told the American broadcaster. Illinois Representative Mike Quigley, a Democrat who recently met with US commanders in Europe, described their briefings as “sobering.” “We’re reminded of the challenges [the Ukrainians] face,” he said, adding that “This is the most difficult time of the war.”

Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russian forces in early June, assaulting multiple points along the frontline from Zaporozhye to Donetsk regions. However, the Russian military had spent several months preparing a dense and multi-layered network of minefields, trenches, and fortifications, which the Ukrainian side has thus far failed to overcome. Advancing through minefields without air support, Ukraine’s Western-trained and NATO-equipped units have suffered horrendous casualties, losing 43,000 troops and 4,900 pieces of heavy weaponry in just over two months, according to the most recent figures from the Russian Defense Ministry. “[The] Russians have a number of defensive lines and [Ukrainian forces] haven’t really gone through the first line,” another anonymous Western diplomat told CNN.

“Even if they would keep on fighting for the next several weeks, if they haven’t been able to make more breakthroughs throughout these last seven, eight weeks, what is the likelihood that they will suddenly, with more depleted forces, make them?” Despite the best efforts of Ukraine’s armed forces chief, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, to convince the US that “the initiative is on our side,” officials told CNN that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky could soon be pushed to sue for peace if progress remains stalled. A senior US military official predicted that Kiev would rely more and more on piecemeal strikes within Russia – like the recent drone attacks on Moscow – to compensate for its shortcomings on the battlefield. The Kremlin has drawn similar conclusions from these attacks, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov declaring last week that Kiev was launching “terrorist strikes” as “acts of desperation” to distract from its failing counteroffensive.

Always be aware of who and what you fund. Before you know it, it belongs to you.

• Authorities Cannot Be Unaware Of Organ Trafficking – Hague Lawyer On Kiev (RT)

Illegal organ-trafficking is not possible without a cover-up from the authorities, Zoran Zivanovic, a lawyer who defended a number of Serbs in the Hague Tribunal in 2005, told RT Balkan on Monday. Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that officials in Kiev could be engaged in an organ trafficking business that also involves former Kosovo militants who had run similar operations. No accusations of organ theft and trafficking in Kosovo and Albania in 1999 led to any major prison sentences for those accused, Zivanovic said, adding that “some [of those involved] had been charged and … spent some time in jail,” he told RT Balkan. None of them received sentences “warranted by such serious crimes,” he added.

The network of those involved in the 1999 crimes likely included officials not only in Kosovo but also Albania, Zivanovic claimed. “It is hardly conceivable that the Albanian authorities were unaware of it. This [illegal business] entails organized participation of a large number of people. Captives who were harvested for organs were brought from another country, from Serbia, Kosovo, and Metohija. It cannot be that the authorities noticed nothing,” he said. On Monday, Zakharova said in an article published by the Russian Foreign Ministry that “there is data” showing that a black-market store selling organs of dead Ukrainian soldiers could be cooperating with “those linked to the Kosovo Liberation Army.” The former militants could also operate in Ukraine as mercenaries, she added.

The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman also accused members of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s administration of being personally involved in the organ trafficking scheme and of covering it up. Zakharova called Ukraine a world leader in the black-market organ trade. Rumors about organ trafficking in Kosovo and Albania have been circulating since the 1999 war between Serbia and its breakaway province, which ended in a NATO intervention that forced Serbian troops to withdraw from Kosovo. Various sources estimated the number of victims of organ traffickers that supposedly had strong links to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to be between 50 and 300. Media reports claimed that people – mostly Serbs, Roma, and Albanians opposing the KLA – were specifically kidnapped and killed for that purpose.

The allegations were detailed by the then-chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, in her book, ‘The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals in 2008’. They were also the subject of several journalistic investigations in the 2000s. In 2010, Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty presented a report on the issue to the Council of Europe, in which he described the “indications” of an illegal trade in human organs going back over a decade at the time. The Council of Europe supported the report and called for an investigation. The case was dismissed by the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo and a number of EU MPs.

Morgue

Harvard was just caught organ trafficking… The Director of the morgue was selling body parts and skeletons to people on the black market to create dolls and leather for sale on the market pic.twitter.com/2VwLi4qHHC

— illuminatibot (@iluminatibot) August 8, 2023

Q: why would Russia want to kill Zelensky?

• Ukraine Claims It Foiled Major Assassination Plot Against Zelensky (ZH)

Ukraine’s security services say they have thwarted a major assassination plot which targeted President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the country’s Secret Service (SSU) on Monday. A woman who lives in Ochakov in southern Ukraine has been arrested, allegedly for planning to inform Russian intelligence of Zelensky’s precise whereabouts as be visited the Mykolaiv region where the southeastern front with Russian forces is located. Security officials say she was “caught red-handed”. The SSU described that the detained woman, who hasn’t been identified, worked on a military base as a clerk in one of their military stores. She’s accused of “gathering intelligence” in order to pass the info along to her Russian handler so that a large-scale airstrike could be executed, specifically during Zelensky’s trip to the region in late July.

He had at that time visited a medical facility in Ochakiv along with other places in the southern region. She was caught in the act, Ukrainian officials allege, with Ukraine media sources saying “The suspected Russian agent tried to find out the schedule of the presidential route in the region. “The SBU managed to stay ahead of her actions and caught her in the act,” one Ukrainian media report reads. “She also traveled to photograph electronic warfare systems and ammunition warehouses in the area near Ochakiv on the Black Sea coast, as well,” it alleges further. Ukrainian intelligence officials say they received a tip about the woman’s alleged activities, which included mapping out the locations of key military locations and filming sensitive facilities.

Kiev officials have in the past during the conflict indicated there have been multiple assassination plots against the president uncovered and thwarted. But this case appeared to be the most serious, as the woman was caught “trying to pass intelligence to the invaders” in preparation for airstrikes which would coincide with Zelensky’s visit. In March, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak went so far as to suggest Zelensky has survived over a dozen assassination attempts. “Foreign sources talk of two or three attempts. I believe that there have been more than a dozen such attempts. We are constantly receiving intelligence that there are certain reconnaissance groups trying to enter government quarters and the like,” Podolyak has previously been quoted in Ukrainska Pravda as saying.

But these dramatic stories of thwarted plots also tend to be coupled with desperate appeals for more weapons and funding from the West. However, it is likely that there really are threats and plots against the Ukrainian leader given there’s an active war unfolding, even if perhaps accounts are exaggerated in some instances—also for the purpose of Western media consumption.

No, this topic is much broader.

• Trump Derangement at The Post (RCW)

The Washington Post has a Donald Trump obsession. Some might call it a vendetta. Although the flamboyant former president has been out of the White House for more than two and a half years, he gets far more front-page coverage in the Post than the current president, Joe Biden. And nearly all of the Post’s reporting on Trump is negative. To be sure, Trump’s endless legal troubles are big news and should be thoroughly covered. But in the pages of the capital city’s venerable daily paper the nation’s economic, social, educational, health, and foreign affairs problems facing the incumbent president take a back seat to Trump’s ongoing indictments of one kind or another. For June and July – a period of 61 days – Trump’s name appeared 33 times in Washington Post Page-One headlines. Biden, who is the current president, skated away with just 14 Page-One mentions.

Moreover, 31 of the 33 headlines with Trump’s name in them were negative. For example: “Justice Dept. reveals damning details in Trump case” “U.S.: Trump flouted law all along way” In contrast, eight of the 14 Biden mentions were positive, such as these: “Biden announces new loan forgiveness” “Biden’s border authority affirmed” Something is wrong here. Trump is not the president; Biden is. That is not to say that Trump is not newsworthy. He is. After all, polls show he is the leading Republican contender for the 2024 presidential nomination. But more than twice as much front-page coverage of Trump as of Biden seems a little over the top. Is news about Trump more important than news about the man who is currently charged with leading the nation through these perilous times and who is making decisions that affect our lives every day? And isn’t the front page where we expect to find coverage of the day’s most important events?

Editors running the Post apparently think their readers care more about Trump’s legal troubles than Biden’s leadership through these perilous times. Maybe they do. We live in highly partisan, and highly polarized, times. To be sure, every newspaper is free to place stories anywhere their editors decide to put them. There are no formal rules for what must be played on the front page. Each newsroom is free to make its own choices. Most newspapers have what is called a daily Page-One meeting. There, the paper’s top editors gather and discuss the stories they think should be placed on Page One. Each editor makes a pitch for their favorites. Clearly, Post editors agree with robot-like regularity that Trump, not Biden, is the top story of the day.

This past week Trump was in the media spotlight for being indicted again by a federal grand jury and appearing in court in Washington to plead “not guilty” to charges stemming from the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Tons of Page-One coverage of that in the Post, as it should be. But where was Biden when all this was coming down? He was on vacation at his Delaware beach house, riding his bike, and sunning himself on the sand: lots of nice pictures for TV. Do you think it was by accident that Biden just happened to be on vacation while Trump was in the dock? Or do you think Biden knew the indictments were coming down – after all, it was his own Justice Department that brought them – and decided to get out of town and leave the big news spotlight all to Trump? My guess is the latter.

Amash detests Trump.

• Rep. Justin Amash Defends President Trump Over 2020 Election Indictment (ZH)

Former U.S. representative for Michigan’s 3rd congressional district and founder of the Liberty Caucus, Justin Amash, who was the first Republican congressman to call for the impeachment of President Trump, has now taken to Twitter to defend him. On Sunday, Amash – who is well known for his distaste of President Trump – made a post on Twitter outlining why he believes Trump’s indictment is in error because of Trump’s actions being “political contention”. “I may not like Trump, but I love our Constitution, so I feel compelled to speak out. The latest indictment, which I encourage everyone to read, attempts to criminalize Trump’s routine misstatements of fact and law in connection with the 2020 election,” Amash wrote. “But this is precisely the sort of wrong that must be addressed politically under our Constitution, not criminally.”

“Our system can’t survive if political disputes are removed to the criminal realm. There’s no limiting principle to such an approach,” he continued. He wrote: “Remind me again which former presidents have been indicted for going to war without congressional approval, spying on Americans in violation of the Fourth Amendment, abusing emergency declarations to bypass checks and balances, or ignoring legal advisers to pursue a clearly unlawful policy.” “We don’t criminalize these actions, egregious as they are, because they are matters of political contention. We’re allowed to disagree about the workings of our constitutional system without fear of criminal reprisal,” he continued. Amash added: “Politicians are constantly misguided and just plain mistaken about a lot of things—often remarkably so.

It endangers all Americans to begin treating politicians’ false beliefs regarding political or constitutional matters, even when they’re obviously wrong, as criminal offenses.” “We impeach people for violating the public trust—for political misconduct or serious incompetence. We reject them. We vote them out. We never again elect them. We don’t imprison them,” he wrote. Finally, he concluded: “As an aside: Even on Jack Smith’s own terms—even assuming the applicability of the cited statutes to a political dispute—the indictment falls woefully short. Showing that others repeatedly told Trump he was wrong is not sufficient to prove he sought to defraud the United States or to corruptly obstruct an election. Proving Trump’s state of mind beyond a reasonable doubt—proving fraudulent or corrupt intent—requires much more than Smith alleges.”

Protected speech.

• Proving a Lie Will Not Necessarily Secure a Conviction for Jack Smith (Turley)

The latest federal indictment of former President Donald Trump was handed down this week with all of the authority of papal infallibility. Pundits lined up to proclaim that case as the greatest prosecution in history. Former Obama administration acting Solicitor General Neil Katyal even declared that the indictment touched off “the biggest legal case in our lifetimes, perhaps almost ever. It’s up there with cases like Dred Scott, it is up there with Brown v. Board of Education.” What was missing was any serious consideration of the implications of allowing the government to criminalize false statements in a campaign. Trump was not charged with conspiracy to incite violence or insurrection. Rather, he was charged because he “spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won.”

In order to secure convictions for this, Special Counsel Jack Smith would need to bulldoze through not just the First Amendment but also existing case law holding that even false statements are protected. The government acknowledges that the Constitution protects false statements made in campaigns, but it insists that Trump must have known that his statements were false and therefore was engaged in fraudulent statements to obstruct or challenge electoral results. As a threshold matter, one problem is immediately evident. If Trump actually did (or does) believe that he did not lose the election, the indictment collapses. And so in an effort to demonstrate his knowledge, the indictment details how many people told Trump that he was wrong about the election and wrong about the law. I was one of those voices. Trump did not listen to me, most legal analysts or even his White House counsel.

Instead, he listened to a small group of lawyers who assured him that a challenge might succeed and that there was evidence of massive election fraud. But Trump is allowed to seek out enablers who tell him what he wants to hear. All presidents do this. (Joe Biden, for example, ignored virtually unanimous legal opinion and relied upon a single law professor’s say-so to justify an obviously unconstitutional executive action that later had to be reversed). This case, which criminally targets the sitting president’s leading opponent, is much more dangerous because it sets up the federal government as the arbiter of truth. This indictment essentially charges Trump with not accepting the “truth.” There is no limiting principle to this indictment. The government would choose between which politicians are lying and which are lying without cause.

“The Democrat-controlled January 6th Committee destroyed evidence that might have exonerated the protesters and the president as well as evidence that implicated Speaker Pelosi and the FBI/DOJ in criminal activity.”

• J6 Committee Failed To Preserve Records, Has No Data On Security Failures (Fox)

The House select committee that investigated the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 failed to adequately preserve documents, data and video depositions – including communications it had with the Biden White House that are still missing – according to the Republican lawmaker overseeing the GOP investigation into the committee’s work. The now-disbanded “J6” committee, which was run by Democrats and included only two GOP members, has also failed to provide any evidence that it looked into Capitol Hill security failures on the day of the riot, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight for the Committee on House Administration, told Fox News Digital. Loudermilk said his staff has had difficulty gathering all the information it needs to investigate Rep. Bennie Thompson’s handling of the J6 investigation.

“Part of our task as this oversight subcommittee is to actually address the security failures, look into how did it happen… how were these folks able to get into the Capitol,” Loudermilk said. He said the documents they obtained came over in boxes and was completely unorganized. “Nothing was indexed. There was no table of contents index. Usually when you conduct this level of investigation, you use a database system and everything is digitized, indexed. We got nothing like that. We just got raw data,” he said. “So it took us a long time going through it and one thing I started realizing is we don’t have anything much at all from the Blue Team.” The “Blue Team,” as described by Loudermilk, represents the group within the J6 committee that was directed to investigate security failures at the Capitol.

Loudermilk explained that sources have told him the Blue Team was essentially “shut down” by the committee in order to focus on placing the blame on former President Trump. “We’ve got lots of depositions, we’ve got lots of subpoenas, we’ve got video and other documents provided through subpoenas by individuals. But we’re not seeing anything from the Blue Team as far as reports on the investigation they did looking into the actual breach itself,” he said. “What we also realized we didn’t have was the videos of all the depositions,” Loudermilk added. Loudermilk said he has been contacted by a defense attorney that needed access to key information in one of the video depositions, and the committee realized it did not have the videos he was seeking.

Fox News Digital obtained correspondence letters between Loudermilk and Thompson’s offices in which the two disagreed on whether the J6 committee preserved what it was required to under House rules. Loudermilk says Thompson’s committee was required by law and House rules to preserve and turn over all data related to their investigation at the end of the congressional term in December, and Loudermilk said as much to Thompson in a letter on June 26. In response, Thompson wrote a letter saying that Loudermilk’s letter had many “factual errors” and claimed his committee had followed the rules and turned over “4 terabytes” of data. Loudermilk told Fox News Digital that his committee has only received 2.5 terabytes of data and said the first footnote in Thompson’s letter to him on July 7 acknowledged they did not keep what they were supposed to.

Excellent overview of Niger et al.

• Is A Second Anti-Colonial Liberation On The Horizon? (Denis Rogatyuk)

Africa is the cradle of human civilization and the planet’s richest continent in terms of natural resources. But according to Captain Ibrahim Traore, the president of Burkina Faso, younger generations cannot understand why, despite its riches, Africa continues to be the poorest. Across the continent we have seen uprisings and armed rebellions by anti-colonialist military leaders who have sought to reclaim their sovereignty from European imperialist powers, particularly France. Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger are just some of the countries that make up the collective of former French colonies in West Africa. They have long served as the key source of natural resources for France and other European powers. Niger supplies 15% of the uranium needed for French nuclear reactors. Burkina Faso is a key exporter of gold, while Guinea is a crucial entry and exit point for trade between France and its former colonies. Mali is another major exporter of gold, and has been a battleground between the government and various armed Islamist groups.

The map of West Africa began to change radically in 2021. Like dominos, pro-French regimes began to fall to military uprisings, starting with Mali in May 2021 and the coup led by Assimi Goita, who immediately demanded that the French military leave the country. The Central African Republic also expelled French troops in June 2021. This was followed by the military takeover in Guinea by Mamady Doumbouya, a former French legionnaire, in September 2021. One year later, Traore became the world’s youngest president after seizing power in Burkina Faso, and he proceeded to expel the French military in January 2023. Finally, the military rebellion in Niger on July 26 led by Abdourahamane Tchiani, now assuming the presidency, also expelled French forces and banned the export of uranium to France.

The case of Burkina Faso and Traore is particularly interesting. During his recent trip to St. Petersburg for the Russia-Africa summit, Traore gave a speech in which he called Russia part of the African family. He condemned the looting of the continent by European powers, and ended with the slogan “Homeland or death! We shall win!” – echoing the words of Ernesto Che Guevara and the national motto of Cuba. Many have compared Traore to Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987, who was also called the “African Che Guevara.” Sankara likewise expelled French forces, nationalized the country’s resources, and implemented socialist policies of redistribution, before being assassinated in a pro-French coup.

So, what are France and its partners likely to do now? The United States and Britain have already cut all aid to Niger and its allies in response to their ban on exports of uranium to France. On July 30, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a confederation that includes many of France’s former colonies, issued an ultimatum to Niger – Tchiani has one week to step down or a military intervention would begin with the backing of France. Nigeria, a key French ally in the region and the leader of ECOWAS, was chosen as the launchpad for a possible military intervention into Niger. However, the senate of Nigeria rejected the demand of the highly unpopular president, Bola Tinabu, to authorize military action against its neighbour. The ultimatum has since expired, and Niger proceeded to close its airspace to any commercial aircraft.

The presidents of Burkina Faso and Mali have responded that any military intervention in Niger will amount to a declaration of war against them. But the African states also have an ace up their sleeve – their long-time friendship with Russia. At the recent Africa-Russia summit in St. Petersburg, delegations from 49 African countries were in attendance. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared support for Africa’s battle against neo-colonialism, stating that Moscow had written off $23 billion in African debt and that more than 50,000 tons of grain will be delivered free of charge to the continent.

“France has a strong foothold in West Africa through its control of the CFA franc..”

• Crisis in Niger: How France’s Interests in West Africa Are at Stake (Sp.)

To understand how the coup could affect France’s interests in West Africa, Sputnik Africa spoke to Dr. Ismael Buchanan, a senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science and International Relations of the Univeristy of Rwanda’s School of Governance. According to Buchanan, France has a strong foothold in West Africa through its control of the CFA franc, a currency used by 14 West African states that is pegged to the euro and backed by France. He said that some of those countries’ reserves are in the hands of France, and that it is Paris that has control over the printing of the currency. “It is the French government that has over control in printing the CFA currency for the 14 African states in West Africa, which sometimes people in those countries have complained about on how the CFA is pulling down African economies,” Buchanan said.

The political scientist also said that Paris’ presence in West Africa has given it access and opportunities to dominate many positions and lucrative contracts in the Francophone African economies in sectors such as power generation, transportation and logistics, infrastructure development, telecommunications, mining concessions, oil and gas, agro-processing and light manufacturing. “When it comes to the mining and energy sectors, you know very well that major French companies are the main players in these two sectors,” he noted. “So whatever sovereign rights these African countries have, they still need these French companies that have the technology and the capital to make good use of some of their resources, and this is very important and beneficial for France.”

Buchanan cited the example of French company Orano’s (formerly Areva) operations in Niger, which has the seventh-largest uranium reserves in the world and the second-largest uranium production in Africa after Namibia, according to the World Nuclear Association (WNA). Orano operates three uranium mines in Niger: Arlit, Akokan and Imouraren. Uranium from Niger accounts for approximately 20% of France’s nuclear power production, according to the French news outlets. Orano has said it will not leave Niger, despite the tensions in the wake of the July 26 military coup.

Ovigwe Eguegu, a Nigerian policy adviser at the Development Reimagined consultancy, echoed Buchanan’s sentiment, noting that both France and the EU heavily benefit from Niger’s uranium exports. He pointed out that, following the eviction of French troop contingents from Mali and Burkina Faso, some of these troops have since been relocated to Niger, a country that served as a “cornerstone of US, French and European Union regional strategies” and that played an important role in France’s “energy security.” “That is why we are seeing this reluctance to exit Niger the way they exited Mali and exited Burkina Faso,” Eguegu said referring to Paris. He added that, due to its control of Niger and because of the fact that “the European Union has considered nuclear energy as green,” France “has always prioritized nuclear energy materials.”

France’s fear.

• Poll: Over 60% Of Nigeriens Consider Russia Most Reliable Partner (TASS)

More than 60% of Nigeriens deem Russia to be the country’s most reliable foreign policy partner, the Economist reported, citing data from a survey conducted by Premise Data. According to the poll, less than 10% of Nigeriens named Saudi Arabia as being the country’s most loyal partner, and about 5% of respondents named the US. Even fewer respondents listed China, France and the UN. According to the results of the survey, none of the respondents mentioned the United Kingdom. At the same time, while 54% of respondents opposed foreign intervention in Niger, half of those who favored such a scenario said they would support Russian intervention, so long as the country sides with the rebels.

US intervention was supported by 16% of respondents, the African Union by 14% and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by only 4%. The poll was conducted among highly educated male citizens, 62% of whom live in the capital, Niamey. Nearly 80% of respondents supported the coup. On July 26, military rebels in Niger announced the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum, closure of national borders, introduction of a curfew and suspension of the constitution, as well as a ban on political parties. On July 28, they declared that General Abdourahmane Tchiani had become head of state. During the coup, Tchiani headed the presidential guard, units of which physically seized President Bazoum and continue to hold him and his family at his residence.

At an emergency summit on July 30, ECOWAS leaders demanded that the rebels reinstate the president and restore constitutional order to the country. The ECOWAS states gave Niger rebels one week to meet these demands. On August 4, the militaries of the ECOWAS member states announced that their emergency meeting had developed a contingency plan for intervention in Niger. The ECOWAS ultimatum expired on August 7. However, the Al Arabiya TV channel reports, citing a statement by the regional organization’s defense ministers, that the ECOWAS military leadership recognized the inadvisability of using force against Niger. At the same time, it decided to increase sanctions pressure to force the rebels to release Bazoum.

Exact same as Trump.

• Goal of Imran Khan’s Arrest to Keep Ex-Pakistani PM ‘Out of Elections’ (Sp.)

Pakistani authorities arrested former Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 5 after a court sentenced him to three years in prison on corruption charges. Khan’s lawyer condemned the court’s decision as a “murder of justice,” with supporters of the ex-PM perceiving the conviction as political interference ahead of the elections. Imran Khan’s arrest on Saturday shows that Pakistani government officials are prepared to go to great lengths to keep the former prime minister “out of elections,” Waqas Ahmed told Sputnik. The cricket legend-turned-political leader was arrested after an Islamabad court sentenced him to three years in prison on charges of corrupt practices in the Toshakhana case, with the move clearly being another attempt at political suppression of the ex-PM, the Pakistani journalist argued.

The conviction, unless overturned by an appeals court, would disqualify the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), also called the Pakistan Movement of Justice, the political party founded in 1996 by Imran Khan, from running in a national election for five years. Last October, Pakistan’s Election Commission stripped Khan of his parliamentary mandate after finding him guilty of “illegally” selling 52 valuables stored in the Toshakhana – Pakistan’s national treasury – and keeping hidden information about gifts he had received personally. According to current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Imran Khan sold state treasures in Dubai worth a total of 140 million Pakistani rupees ($500,000). Waqas Ahmed took issue with claims that the aforementioned gifts were disposed of “illegally.”

According to the rules, gifts received by a government functionary from a leader of another country are deposited in the nation’s treasury. However, if one seeks to retain the abovementioned gifts, this can be done by paying a specific amount of their value, which was 20% at the time of Khan’s prime ministership. These rules were revised in December 2018 to require a payment of 50%. “What you do after that gift is not written in the law,” underscored the journalist, and the judge in the case against Imran Khan was “obviously biased against him,” and “backed by the military establishment.” The sentencing by an Islamabad court came days before incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government was expected to dissolve parliament, allowing a caretaker assemblage to organize new elections in Pakistan.

Shortly after the court’s verdict, Khan’s supporters and his legal team questioned the ruling, slamming it as politically motivated and targeting a man who remains the most popular politician in Pakistan. “We weren’t even given a chance. We weren’t even allowed to cross [question], to say anything in defense or conduct our arguments. I haven’t seen this kind of injustice before,” Barrister Gohar Khan was quoted by the Pakistani press as saying, decrying what had taken place as a “murder of justice.” Despite attempts by the Pakistani military and the Pakistani government parties to undermine Imran Khan and his PTI, they have been unable to do so, Waqas Ahmed said. [..] “So it’s such a myth. That’s why […] despite this massive crackdown […] despite putting 10,000 people in jail […] putting him in jail, PTI keeps winning,” said the journalist.

They think voting will do the trick.

• Imran Khan’s Supporters Are Silenced But Determined (BBC)

When former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested over the weekend over corruption allegations, there was barely a whimper of protest. Not a single major demonstration was reported anywhere in the country. Compare this to a few months ago, when the 70-year-old was arrested and taken from a court complex in Islamabad on 9 May. It sparked protests around the country, which also led to violence in some places as Mr Khan’s supporters clashed with security forces. Some protesters raided military buildings and even ransacked the home of the most senior military commander in Lahore. But this time around, when Mr Khan was sentenced and then taken to a prison in Attock city, authorities were ready. His destination was kept secret and reports say there were a number of decoy convoys to deceive the media.

Police and the military were on high alert across all major cities, and dozens of people were pre-emptively taken into custody. Pakistan’s governing party and the army have pointed to the lack of protest over Mr Khan’s arrest as a sign that the former PM no longer enjoys the support of the people. But his Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) party and supporters say they have been forced into silence by a swift crackdown. The BBC also understands that media outlets were told not to cover PTI’s activities or even mention Mr Khan’s name on air following the mass protests in May. Thousands of Mr Khan’s supporters have been arrested since May. The army has said they intend to try them in military courts, which human rights groups have said is against international law. The PTI has also been systematically gutted, with numerous party workers and leaders being arrested, or facing court cases.

Mr Khan himself still faces some 200 cases. Several PTI members have since defected or quit politics altogether. Ali Akbar, a senior political analyst, said this is why Mr Khan’s calls for a protest went unheeded this time – not only did workers and supporters fear arrest, but they were also unable to mobilise support because of the lack of leadership left in PTI. Fatima, a PTI supporter whose name has been changed on request, said police action against party leaders had frightened her into silence – even online. “I used to still support the party on Twitter, but one day I received a phone call from an anonymous number warning me against posting such tweets. I got scared and my parents also advised me to delete my Twitter account as they said no-one would be able to help me if I were arrested,” she said.

Ha ha ha!

• Musk’s Cage Match With Zuckerberg in Jeopardy as Neck & Back Woes Emerge (Sp.)

Tech magnate Elon Musk’s much-anticipated cage match against rival Mark Zuckerberg is facing a potential setback, as the billionaire revealed concerns about his neck and upper back health. Musk, who recently flaunted his weightlifting prowess in a livestream, now faces the possibility of surgery before stepping into the ring with Zuckerberg. Despite the excitement surrounding the showdown, the exact date of the clash remains uncertain. “Exact date is still in flux. I’m getting an MRI of my neck & upper back tomorrow. May require surgery before the fight can happen. Will know this week,” Musk wrote on the platform formerly as Twitter. Musk’s injuries came to light after his announcement that the fight would be livestreamed on his platform, X, with the proceeds directed towards charity for veterans.

Musk had been diligently training for the bout, even engaging in a training session with renowned UFC fighter Georges St-Pierre. His recent livestream, in which he demonstrated his weightlifting prowess, was seen as a test of X’s live video feature. This is not the first time Musk’s medical issues have surfaced. In a past encounter, Musk participated in a sumo match that prompted injuries to his neck and back. “Managed to throw him, but it cost me smashing my c5-c6 disc & 8 years of mega back pain! Finally fixed with c5-c6 disc fusion,” Musk said at the time. While Zuckerberg had suggested a date for the face-off, the delay comes as no surprise to him. Zuckerberg remarked: “I suggested Aug 26 when he first challenged, but he hasn’t confirmed. Not holding my breath.”

Splain

Can anyone explain this? pic.twitter.com/MTtDf4Fwtg

— illuminatibot (@iluminatibot) August 9, 2023

Abandoned
https://twitter.com/i/status/1689002375564931072

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Debt Rattle August 6 2023

Aug 062023

August 6, 2023 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:11 am Finance Tagged with: cash, Imran Khan, Musk, Nazism, Niger, peace summit, Wagner, X 37 Responses »

El Greco St. Paul and St. Peter 1595

• Asians Are Less ‘Humane’ – Ukrainian Security Chief (RT)

• Who is Responsible for Ukraine’s Failed Counteroffensive? (Scott Ritter)

• What Should Russia Expect From Saudi Arabia’s Ukraine ‘Peace Summit’? (RT)

• Ex-Pakistani PM Imran Khan Jailed For Three Years (RT)

• DOJ Seeks Protective Order in Election Case (ET)

• A Successful Prosecution Would Fold Space And Time (Taibbi)

• Niger Junta Turns To Wagner For Help – Media (RT)

• X to Fund Legal Bills of People ‘Unfairly Treated’ for Posts, Likes on X (Sp.)

• Austrian PM Proposes Constitutional ‘Right to Cash’ (Sp.)

Macgregor

Those who today are arguing for globalism are very similar to the people who wanted to go to Vietnam.

What they were interested in doing, particularly today's group is erasing national identities.pic.twitter.com/aICD6pUlSr

— Douglas Macgregor (@DougAMacgregor) August 6, 2023

Full German Nazism, complete with Untermenschen etc. This is what you fund.

• Asians Are Less ‘Humane’ – Ukrainian Security Chief (RT)

Russians are “Asians” and, therefore, lack the “humanity” that Ukrainians purportedly possess, Aleksey Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, has claimed. The top official made the remark as he spoke live on Ukrainian TV, which has been heavily censored and turned into a state-approved “broadcasting marathon” amid the ongoing conflict. “I’m fine with Asians, but Russians are Asians. They have a completely different culture, vision. Our key difference from them is humanity,” Danilov stated. The security chief, as well as other top Ukrainian officials, have repeatedly made hateful remarks about Russians during – and even well before – the ongoing hostilities between the two countries broke out back in February 2022.

Danilov has repeatedly promised to “kill” Russians anywhere across the globe, with similar extreme statements consistently made by Mikhail Podoliak, the top aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. Podoliak has repeatedly claimed that all Ukrainians universally “hate Russians,” as well as voiced calls to “kill Russians” on a daily basis. Similarly radical remarks have been repeatedly made by the Ukrainian military spy chief, Kirill Budanov, who also expressed the same urge. Threats by the latter have been addressed by Russia’s permanent envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, who branded them a “blatant example of hateful remarks, Russophobia and incitement of violence based on nationality.”

“.. the fetid stench of rotting corpses, abandoned by their comrades who fled for their lives.”

• Who is Responsible for Ukraine’s Failed Counteroffensive? (Scott Ritter)

On a normal summer’s day, the road to Rabotino would be empty, save for the odd combine tractor and the vehicles driven by farmers and their families as they tend to the fields of crops they had planted in spring. The summer’s heat would reflect off the horizon, creating glimmering mirages, while the still air would echo with the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects. On a normal summer’s day, the road to Rabotino would resemble paradise. Today, the road to Rabotino can best be described as a highway to hell: the serene landscape scarred with craters made by artillery shells, bombs, and mines. Fields that once grew crops intended to feed the world now seem to produce another crop—the torn, burned-out hulks of Ukrainian tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and other military vehicles of all shapes and sizes.

The air buzzes not with bees, but bullets, and the sky above is torn by the sound of shells passing overhead, on their way to their intended target, often consisting of a new crop of military metal waiting to be consumed by fire. The smell of fresh soil, young crops, and flowers of the field has been replaced by the fetid stench of rotting corpses, abandoned by their comrades who fled for their lives. The Russian Ministry of Defense has assessed that, since the Ukrainian counteroffensive began in early June, the Ukrainian Army has suffered some 43,000 casualties, with more than 4,900 pieces of equipment, including 1,831 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles (among which are included 25 German-made Leopard tanks and 21 US-made M-2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles) having been destroyed.

Russian casualties, while unspecified, have been alluded to by President Putin, who stated that the kill ratio was 10:1 in Russia’s favor. That equates to 4,300 casualties: the brutal blade of war cuts both ways. The casualties suffered by Ukraine roughly align with the casualties suffered by German forces during their offensive operations against the Soviet Army in the battle of Kursk, fought in the month of July and August 1943. The Kursk battle was one of the largest during the Second World War.This should give one an idea of the scope and scale of the violence which has transpired in and around the village of Rabotino, and elsewhere in the Zaporozhye and Donetsk regions where Ukraine and Russian forces are confronting one another.

When an army suffers a defeat of the scope and scale of that suffered by Ukraine near Rabotino, and in other fields and villages across the line of contact with Russia, it is normally incumbent upon the leadership of the defeated forces to ascertain the reasons why the defeat occurred, and then to undertake remedial action to correct the problems identified.It came weeks after being on the receiving end of criticism from their erstwhile allies and partners in NATO, who provided Ukraine with both the material used to equip the Ukrainian Army, and training on how this equipment was to be used in battle against the Russians.

Where’s China?

• What Should Russia Expect From Saudi Arabia’s Ukraine ‘Peace Summit’? (RT)

Political expert Andrey Dubnov:

The goal of the conference is not to formulate “agreements acceptable to all parties.” Russia has not been invited to this event, and this makes sense, because otherwise the meeting would have been doomed to failure. It is obvious that Moscow’s position has been articulated; the last time it was expressed was at the Russia-Africa summit. Moscow’s main position is essentially an arrangement that can be called a ceasefire, based on Russia’s retention of the Ukrainian territories now organized as four Russian regions. It is difficult to imagine that Moscow is prepared to abandon this as its main negotiating position. On the other hand, Kiev’s stance on peace is articulated as being possible only if Russia withdraws its troops to the 1991 borders. With such positions of the parties, a general meeting would be pointless.

What is the purpose of the summit in Saudi Arabia? Since this initiative comes mainly from Kiev and is backed by the US, it is now about consolidating the whole wider world – not just the West, but the big South, including the BRICS member countries (India, Brazil and South Africa). It is an attempt to find a consolidated expression of support for the Ukrainian peace plan. Within this “formula of support” there are some limits regarding the flexibility of Kiev’s negotiating position: under what conditions it is ready to give up its categorical demand to return to the 1991 borders and to compromise with Russia? Clarifying this kind of flexibility may be one of the ulterior goals of this conference. But practice shows that such diplomatic conferences look first and foremost like big, big PR. Diplomacy needs silence and confidentiality. The Saudi initiative does not yet provide for this silence and confidentiality, so it is still more of a political meeting than a search for a diplomatic solution to the problem.

President Vladimir Zelensky’s peace plan will be at the center of the Saudi initiative. Within this framework, an attempt will be made to somehow find acceptable windows in which Kiev, I repeat, will be prepared to make further compromises with Moscow. But at the end of the day, everything will depend on the outcome of the military operations on the ground, which are being actively pursued. No peace plan for Ukraine can become a reality without China’s participation. The meeting in Saudi Arabia could be a precursor to a financial and economic assistance plan to rebuild Ukraine. This is how the plan to help Afghanistan began at the Bonn conference many years ago.

Remarkable how similar his story is to Trump’s. One man vs the establishment.

• Ex-Pakistani PM Imran Khan Jailed For Three Years (RT)

Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was issued with a three-year jail sentence by an Islamabad court on Saturday after he was found guilty on corruption charges. The verdict means that Khan, who claims the prosecution was politically motivated, will not be able to contest elections later this year. In a pre-recorded statement released on X (formerly Twitter), Khan told his supporters: “I have only one appeal, don’t sit at home silently.” Judge Humayun Dilawar declared in court that Khan, 70, had “deliberately submitted fake details” after he was accused of illegally profiting from the sale of gifts he received while serving as Pakistan’s head of state between 2018 and 2022. After issuing the three-year custodial term, the judge also ordered Khan to be banned from politics for a period of five years.

Following the verdict, Khan, who was not in court, was arrested at his home in Lahore and taken into police custody. The claims against the former prime minister are a case of “political victimization,” according to his lawyer Intezar Hussain Panjutha. “Khan was not given an opportunity to defend himself and say his side of the story,” he said after the verdict. “We wanted to provide witnesses in his favor but he was not allowed this opportunity. Khan was not given a fair trial.” Khan’s barrister, Gohar Khan, added in comments to The Dawn newspaper that the court’s verdict had been a “murder of justice.” However, opponents of the former politician appeared to celebrate the court’s judgment outside the building, with some chanting: “Imran Khan is a thief.” More than 150 cases have been brought against Khan, the former sports star turned populist political figure, since he was ousted from office last April following a no-confidence vote. He has denied all wrongdoing.

Barring a successful appeal, Khan’s conviction means he will be prohibited from standing in Pakistan’s general elections, which are expected to take place in October or November. Khan, who had unsuccessfully called for early elections to take place, has previously stated his belief that Pakistan’s military authorities have attempted to obstruct his Tehreek-e-Insaf party from regaining political power. It’s the second time in recent months that Khan has been arrested. Around 100 paramilitary troops were involved in his detention last May in connection with one of the numerous cases against him. Khan has alleged that Pakistan’s military is responsible for attempts to subdue his political influence. He has also claimed that the United States has conspired with Pakistan’s government to prevent him from returning to political power.

“IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

• DOJ Seeks Protective Order in Election Case (ET)

Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith on Aug. 4 requested the federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s case to issue a “protective order” in light of a social media post made by the former president. The Aug. 4 Truth Social post by Mr. Trump said, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Following this, Mr. Smith urged U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to “enter a protective order governing or restricting discovery or inspection” of case details, to restrict what Mr. Trump can share publicly about the case and evidence. “Such a restriction is particularly important in this case because the defendant has previously issued public statements on social media regarding witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him,” argued Mr. Smith in a filing, citing the Truth Social post.

“If the defendant were to begin issuing public posts using details—or, for example, grand jury transcripts—obtained in discovery here, it could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect the fair administration of justice in this case,” Mr. Smith said, adding that such posts may influence jurors.A spokesperson for Mr. Trump responded immediately to the filing implying that the post was not a retaliation against Mr. Smith’s charges. “The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech, and was in response to the RINO, China-loving, dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs, like the ones funded by the Koch brothers and the Club for No Growth,” said the brief statement.

“I don’t care about a link… I have a much better link,” and “I have a lot of friends in Detroit… Detroit is totally corrupt.”

• A Successful Prosecution Would Fold Space And Time (Taibbi)

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment is a case within a case, a prosecutorial enchilada filled with things for people of all political persuasions to hate. The outside is a shell of a conventional conspiracy prosecution, and these parts are genuinely damaging for Donald Trump. Inside, it’s a deranged authoritarian fantasy, at times reading more like a 45-page Louise Mensch tweet than an indictment. This radical core is somehow scarier than the allegations against Trump and co-conspirators like Rudy Giuliani, John Eastment, Sidney Powell, Jeffrey Clark, and Kenneth Cheeseboro. Despite early criticism describing the case as entirely about protected speech, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s case does focus on some overt acts, and these sections are buttressed by witnesses who could be convincing across the spectrum.

Former Arizona Speaker of the House and onetime Trump supporter Rusty Bowers will describe being asked not to certify the results by, among others, Trump and Giuliani. Ronna McDaniel, chair of the RNC, will say she was told votes by so-called “fraudulent electors” would only be deployed if election litigation was successful. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is rumored to be running for president and took instant advantage of indictment news Tuesday, will testify Trump told him, “You’re too honest,” in response to prods to refuse to certify the outcome.

If Smith simply focused on those damaging episodes in states like Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia, or on Trump’s interactions with Pence, this prosecution would be an easier sell to the general population. Instead, Smith has tried to pen a Unified Field Theory of insurrection that would massively expand the meaning of concepts like incitement to include false statements, tweets, and other forms of protected speech, down to classic Trumpisms like “I don’t care about a link… I have a much better link,” and “I have a lot of friends in Detroit… Detroit is totally corrupt.”

In fact, if rumors are true and the four counts filed by Smith this week are later complemented by a superseding indictment, this document may end up expanding the definition of “seditious conspiracy” to include those things as well. As Adam Kinzinger said this week, he hoped additional counts will hold Trump “accountable” for all the actions of January 6th. It’s not hard to read this and see the framework of an argument that Trump’s ideas, tweets and “knowingly false statements” were elements of the same conspiracy to “violently disrupt” the election for which people like Oath Keepers Elmer Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs have already been convicted and sentenced to 18 and 12 years in prison, respectively. A successful prosecution would fold space and time to make legal speech felony violence.

Flammable.

• Niger Junta Turns To Wagner For Help – Media (RT)

One of the leaders of last week’s coup in Niger has reportedly sought the assistance of Russian defense contractor Wagner Group PMC as the junta nears a deadline to either return the country’s ousted president to power or face a possible military intervention by neighboring nations. General Salifou Moody allegedly made the request during a visit to neighboring Mali, where he met with a Wagner representative, the Associated Press reported on Saturday, citing French journalist Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center. The meeting was first reported by France 24, and Nasr said he had confirmed the talks with a French diplomat and three people familiar with the matter in Mali.

“They need (Wagner) because they will become their guarantee to hold onto power,” Nasr told the AP, claiming that Wagner is considering the request. Neither Wagner nor Russian government officials have commented on the junta’s alleged request for help from the contractor. The Kremlin said on Friday that any interference in Niger from powers outside the region wouldn’t likely improve the situation. “We continue to favor a swift return to constitutional normality without endangering human lives,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has called the coup a “justified rebellion of the people against Western exploitation.”

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has threatened to send troops into Niger if the coup leaders don’t return President Mohamed Bazoum to power by Sunday. Bazoum has been under house arrest since his ouster and has asked the US “and the entire international community” to restore his government. The militaries of several ECOWAS members, including Nigeria, have agreed on a plan for their intervention in Niger. Wagner has become a major player in the African security landscape, though it’s unclear how its influence on the continent stands after its failed mutiny against Moscow in June. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that the future of the contracts Wagner signed with various African countries is a matter for those client governments to decide. The firm’s troops have reportedly operated in such countries as Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Mozambique and the Central African Republic.

Mali and Burkina Faso are among the ECOWAS member states that have sided with the Niger junta following the coup. Bazoum accused the two neighbors of employing “criminal Russian mercenaries.” African Freedom Institute President Franklin Nyamsi warned in an RT interview on Thursday that if ECOWAS carried out its threat to send troops into Niger, it would be seen as a declaration of war on the junta’s allies, including Mali and Burkina Faso. Such a conflict could escalate dramatically as the warring factions seek help from the world’s military superpowers, he said, adding, “We are now at the door of a world African war.”

Wonder how the idea would work out in practice.

• X to Fund Legal Bills of People ‘Unfairly Treated’ for Posts, Likes on X (Sp.)

US billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk pledged on Saturday that his social media platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), will pay legal bills of those people who were “unfairly treated” at workplaces by their employers for posts and likes on the platform. He added that there would be “no limit” to funding the bills and called on people to inform the platform of such cases. “If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill,” Musk said on X. In late October 2022, Musk finalized the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, a US company founded in 2006 and headquartered in San Francisco, California. Twitter Corporation ceased to exist as a separate company as a result of its merger with X Corp. founded by Musk in 2006. In late July, Twitter’s logo was changed from a blue bird to a black-and-white X logo. Musk specified that the new logo symbolized “the imperfections in us all that make us unique.”

“..the right to cash was worthless if “there won’t be a single ATM left in Austria..”

• Austrian PM Proposes Constitutional ‘Right to Cash’ (Sp.)

As cashless payment methods proliferate across Europe, Austrian Prime Minister Karl Nehammer has moved to legally preserve paying in the old-fashioned way, with banknotes and coins. Speaking on Friday, the conservative Austrian leader proposed a “constitutional protection of cash as a means of payment,” saying he would direct Finance Minister Magnus Brunner and the country’s central bank to come up with a plan in the coming months to ensure a “basic supply” of cash remains in the economy. “Everyone should have the opportunity to decide freely how and with what he wants to pay,” he said. “That can be by card, by transfer, perhaps in future also with the digital euro, but also with cash. This freedom to choose must and will remain.”

“More and more people are worried that cash could be restricted as a means of payment in Austria,” Nehammer said, adding that people have a “right to cash.” Nehammer noted that his comments are in response to claims circulating on social media that the country could soon do away with cash payments, forcing customers to use bank cards or payment apps. According to the Austrian leader, €47 billion is withdrawn from ATMs every year in Austria and the average Austrian carries €102 in cash. Further, two-thirds of payments under €20 are made in cash, he said. Roughly 9.1 million people live in the Central European country, which is part of the European Union and the Eurozone.

The debate isn’t new to Austria, and Nehammer’s proposal was criticized by both left and right politicos. Philip Kucher, an MP from the Social Democratic Party, said the right to cash was worthless if “there won’t be a single ATM left in Austria,” while the right-wing Freedom Party accused the prime minister of stealing their idea. While the Eurozone nations have been increasing options for cashless payment, the European Central Bank has also committed itself to preserving cash as a payment form. The Eurosystem Cash 2030 strategy was launched in 2020. A study published by the ECB in March found that within the Eurozone, cash is still the most frequent payment method, accounting for 59% of transactions. However, 55% of consumers said they preferred cashless payments. They also found that the value of card payments had exceeded the value of cash payments for the first time, rising to 46% of transactions.

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Debt Rattle June 12 2023

Jun 122023

June 12, 2023 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:20 am Finance Tagged with: Adam Schiff, botched, counteroffensive, De-Dollarization, Digital Services Act, hybrid war, Imran Khan, NATO, Sy Hersh 54 Responses »

George Bellows The Lone Tenement 1909

• NYT Reveals Western Definition Of Success For Ukraine’s Counteroffensive (RT)

• Botched Start of Counteroffensive Likely Extremely Frustrating for Biden (Sp.)

• Most Countries Side With Russia in Ukraine, US Credibility Slips – Hersh (Sp.)

• More Than 10 of 31 NATO States Don’t Support Ukraine’s Bid – Kiev (RT)

• West Has Zero Chances To Bring Russia To Its Knees, Says Top Senator (TASS)

• Losing The War – What Comes Next On The Battlefield (Helmer)

• Ukraine’s Propaganda Machine Is Vital For Zelensky (Lavrenin)

• The Hegemon Will Go Full Hybrid War Against BRICS+ (Pepe Escobar)

• Rand Paul: My Colleagues Are ‘Beating The Drums’ For ‘War With China’ (RS)

• Imran Khan Claims US Plotted Against Him After Russia Deal (RT)

• One Document Americans Should ‘Demand’ That Will Topple Biden (CB)

• Schiff Complains About $16 Million Fine Over Trump-Russia Collusion Claim (CB)

• De-Dollarization is Remedy Against US Militarism (Michael Hudson)

• Europe’s Digital Services Act Puts Free Speech at the Mercy of Eurocrats (BI)

RFK
https://twitter.com/i/status/1667826698476453889

4 U.S.Code Ch. 1, Sec. 7(e): “The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags…are grouped and displayed…”

RFK event 201
https://twitter.com/i/status/1667890309668192256

Ratcliffe

Former DNI John Ratcliffe says the FBI/DOJ is not applying the law evenly, as the clear-cut case of prosecuting Senator Joe Biden, who had no valid legal excuse or justification for possessing classified documents at his home, is being overlooked:

"As a former federal… pic.twitter.com/TYnl1smRZR

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) June 11, 2023

COP28

This is a must listen…. #Climate #hypocrisy #Energy #COP28 pic.twitter.com/NnC3wrHqBB

— Anas Alhajji (@anasalhajji) June 10, 2023

The left celebrated Trump until he ran for president. The Emmy’s 2005: pic.twitter.com/xNNnPan7tM

— @amuse (@amuse) June 12, 2023

Xi Jinping: Stop blaming China. China does not help the Russian Federation, but if it decides to help, God will not help you. Almost the whole world helps Ukraine. If we see the threat of World War III, we will help the Russian Federation, but for now, relax and watch how Russia single-handedly defeats more than 50 countries of the world.

“..retake key areas lost to Moscow or deliver a “debilitating” blow to Russian forces..”

“..Kiev’s forces have been suffering far heavier casualties in those failed attacks than the “classic” three-to-one ratio..”

• NYT Reveals Western Definition Of Success For Ukraine’s Counteroffensive (RT)

The West would consider Ukraine’s counteroffensive a success if Kiev were to retake key areas lost to Moscow or deliver a “debilitating” blow to Russian forces, the New York Times has reported, citing US and EU officials. “Much rides on the outcome” of the counteroffensive as it will likely impact further Western military support for Ukraine and future discussions on security guarantees for the country, the US paper said in an article on Saturday. Publicly, US and EU officials claim it’s up to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to decide what to define as a success in the long-awaited operation, the NYT noted.

Zelensky previously said he wanted his forces to win back all land lost to Moscow, which includes Russia’s newly incorporated territories – the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions – along with Crimea, which became part of the Russian Federation in 2014 following a referendum, launched in response to a coup in Kiev. “Privately, US and European officials concede that pushing all of Russia’s forces out of occupied Ukrainian land is highly unlikely,” the NYT wrote. Two main outcomes are being discussed in the West as ideas of a success in the counteroffensive, according to the paper. The first is that “the Ukrainian army retake and hold on to key swaths of territory previously occupied by the Russians,” and the second is if Kiev’s troops deliver “a debilitating blow that forces the Kremlin to question the future of its military options in Ukraine.” On Thursday, news website Politico reported that the White House was “anxiously watching” the progress of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, as administration officials believe President Joe Biden’s reputation depends on its results.

Kiev was expected to launch a major counteroffensive at some point in spring, having been supplied with Western armor intended for the task, but the operation has been delayed on numerous occasions. On Saturday, Zelensky finally confirmed that Ukrainian “counteroffensive actions” were underway. This followed a week of intensified attacks on Russian fortified positions across the frontline by Kiev’s troops. They involved German-made Leopard 2 tanks and US-supplied Bradley fighting vehicles, some of which have already been destroyed. President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia’s military has so far prevented all attempts to advance by Ukraine. Kiev’s forces have been suffering far heavier casualties in those failed attacks than the “classic” three-to-one ratio often expected during offensive operations, Putin insisted.

“Destruction of Leopard stopped the US from sending Abrams tanks to Kyiv. Military observer, retired colonel Viktor Litovkin told the media that the destruction of Leopard tanks in Ukraine showed Washington the pointlessness of sending its Abrams tanks to Kyiv. According to the expert, the United States knew that Leopard tanks would “burn” in Ukraine, so they did not let Abrams into the special operation zone. Washington did not want the destruction of American tanks by Russian troops to deal a blow to the image of their military equipment.”

• Botched Start of Counteroffensive Likely Extremely Frustrating for Biden (Sp.)

With Russia continuing its special military operation in Ukraine, it is safe to say that Kiev’s much-hyped counteroffensive kicked off with “not really a good start,” international relations and security analyst Mark Sleboda told Sputnik. President Vladimir Putin announced earlier this week that Kiev’s use of strategic reserves during recent attacks means it can be “stated with absolute certainty” that the much-anticipated counteroffensive had begun. He stressed that thus far, Ukrainian forces have failed to achieve their objectives and that their advance-related plans had been thwarted by Russian troops.

All this “has got to be extremely frustrating” not only for the political figures of the Kiev regime, but for US President Joe Biden as well, given his murky past regarding Ukraine, Sleboda pointed out, claiming that the POTUS “has been intimately involved with Ukraine since the Obama presidency.” The analyst was apparently referring to Biden facing allegations that he was purportedly engaged in a spate of corrupt activities related to the employment of his son Hunter Biden by the Ukrainian gas company Burisma while he was the US vice president under Barack Obama. Biden has repeatedly rejected the allegations that he withheld loan guarantees to pressure Ukraine into firing a prosecutor to prevent a corruption investigation into Burisma and protect his son.

Sleboda recalled in this regard that a US news outlet recently claimed that “Biden’s reputation is on the line in Ukraine,” which, he said, is “an interesting political salvo at POTUS considering the situation.” Touching upon the counteroffensive, the analyst said that while the Ukrainian military “hasn’t committed the majority of their forces yet, everything they’ve thrown so far has failed to breach Russian lines for any significant period at any place for an entire week now.” “That has got to have him [Biden] worried if his political legacy is on the line,” Sleboda underscored. “From everything that we have seen so far, I expect them to make some headway eventually, but they’re not off to a really good start. “I expect some dirty tricks, some cunning maneuver to be pulled out of the bag,” Sleboda concluded.

“Much more than a half of the world’s population supports Russia in the war and not the United States. This was never the way it was..”

• Most Countries Side With Russia in Ukraine, US Credibility Slips – Hersh (Sp.)

Most of the world’s population supports Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, while the United States lost its credibility, Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said on Sunday. “The percentage of the [countries], particularly of the African and Central Asian and South Asian countries, that have changed from being pro-America to being pro-Russia is really quite dramatic. Much more than a half of the world’s population supports Russia in the war and not the United States. This was never the way it was,” Hersh said in an interview with talk show host George Galloway. The journalist opined that “things are not as good as they used to be in Russia” amid Western sanctions, but “the idea that they are desperate is just wrong.”

Hersh also argued that Washington “lost so much credibility around the world,” citing Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic rapprochement with Iran as an example. “It’s happened because, I think, because of Ukraine and dislike of the war. Saudi Arabia, by the way, they’re selling 25% of [their] oil to China, as I have mentioned, but the Saudis immediately cut a deal. And the Iranians immediately responded … They have a lot of control in Yemen over the Houthi tribes,” Hersh said. Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, following calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. The world has split into those who support Moscow and accuse NATO of provoking the conflict, and those who condemn Russia’s actions and impose sanctions on the country, while also ramping up their financial and military aid to Kiev. Some countries have avoided taking sides in the conflict.

“..another stage of preparation for the successful NATO Summit in Vilnius in July..” Huh?

• More Than 10 of 31 NATO States Don’t Support Ukraine’s Bid – Kiev (RT)

More than ten NATO member states out of 31 don’t want Ukraine to join the US-led military bloc, Igor Zhovkva, the deputy head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office, has stated.Kiev already has 20 signed declarations of support for its NATO bid, Zhovkva wrote on Facebook on Saturday. This means that 11 member states have so far refused to back Kiev’s application. Zhovkva published his post hours after Zelensky and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed a document in Kiev that signaled Ottawa’s consent to Ukraine becoming a part of NATO. “The joint declaration clearly fixes backing for Ukraine’s membership of NATO from the Canadian side as soon as conditions permit this. This is the strongest wording among all G7 countries that are NATO members,” Zhovkva wrote. A similar declaration has also recently been signed with the government of Romania, Zhovkva added.

According to the deputy head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office, those developments were “another stage of preparation for the successful NATO Summit in Vilnius in July” for Ukraine. Earlier this week, US envoy to NATO Julianne Smith told Politico that “a proper invitation” into NATO for Ukraine is “unlikely” as long as Kiev remains in conflict with Moscow. However, Smith pointed out that during the upcoming gathering in the Lithuanian capital, the bloc still wanted to send a message to Kiev that it was determined to keep helping it in the long term. There’s an “array of options” for NATO to do so, she added. Russia, which sees NATO’s eastward expansion as a major security threat, had singled out Kiev’s push to join the US-led military alliance among the main reasons for launching its military operation in Ukraine more than a year ago.

“..it must be strong in all respects, technologically, economically, socially and morally and, what is especially important today, militarily and in the security sphere..”

• West Has Zero Chances To Bring Russia To Its Knees, Says Top Senator (TASS)

The months that have passed since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine have shown that the West has zero chances to crush Russia and bring it to its knees, Chairwoman of the Federation Council (the upper house of Russia’s parliament) Valentina Matviyenko said on Sunday. “If we speak about our actions inside the country, the main conclusion is perfectly clear: Russia must be strong. Moreover, it must be strong in all respects, technologically, economically, socially and morally and, what is especially important today, militarily and in the security sphere,” the top senator said on her blog on the eve of Russia Day celebrated on June 12. “Today, 15 months after the start of the special military operation, it is perfectly clear that there are zero chances to crush our country and bring it to its knees. Russia’s victory in the conflict around Ukraine is inevitable,” Matviyenko stressed.

The Russian authorities have managed within the shortest time possible to adapt the state, society and the economy to new realities, she pointed out. “They have managed to do this without deteriorating the quality of people’s life, without any flip-flopping in the public and political sphere, without even the slightest restrictions of citizens’ rights and freedoms. Without abrupt changes in economic management, although there were plenty of calls for that,” the top senator said. “Of course, we are fully aware that we will have to face new serious challenges and we need to address them fully prepared, which will, undoubtedly, require a new quality of interaction between the authorities and society. We will ensure this because over the thirty years of Russia’s newest history we have put a reliable and strong foundation under our state and public system,” Matviyenko stressed.

“..demilitarization will be run by the Russian General Staff until there are no strategic reserves left on the territory – not east of the Dnieper River, nor west..”

• Losing The War – What Comes Next On The Battlefield (Helmer)

On May 30 Putin signaled that in the outcome of the war, the Ukraine will cease to exist. “Basically, the territory that is called Ukraine”, Putin said, using the geographic term instead of the political and legal one, “was virtually controlled from the very beginning by people who, being led by the West, took the path of not just confronting Russia, but creating an “anti-Russia” on that territory… We are striking at the territory of Ukraine, but with long-range precision weapons, at military infrastructure facilities only, either at ammunition or fuel and lubricants warehouses used for combat operations. We have talked about the possibility of striking at decision-making centres. Of course, the headquarters of Ukrainian military intelligence is one of them, and a strike at this target was carried out two or three days ago. In response, the Kiev regime has chosen a different path – attempts to intimidate Russian citizens with strikes at residential buildings. This is an obvious terrorist approach.” In short, the Russian campaign is not against a state but on a territory run by terrorists.

The terrorist operations, it was implied, include the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines on September 26, 2022; the Crimean Bridge bombing of October 8, 2022; the drone attacks on Russian targets, including the Kremlin, last month; and the subsequent operations against the Kakhovskaya dam and the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline on June 5-6. Putin’s May 30 statement was followed by a second, also apparently impromptu comment on the evening of June 9. The novel elements in what follows are the references to Ukrainian “strategic reserves” and to the Russian General Staff. “First, we can safely state that the offensive has begun. We know this from the fact that the Ukrainian army tapped its strategic reserves. This is my first point. Second, the Ukrainian troops failed to achieve their goals in all combat sectors, which is clear as day…I cannot say that the offensive has got bogged down. All I can say is that the counteroffensive attempts that have been made so far failed. But the offensive potential of the Kiev’s regime is still there. I believe Russia’s military leadership is realistic in its assessments of the situation and will proceed from these realities as it continues to plan up our actions in the short term.”

Since the commander-in-chief is doing the talking, he’s saying that he is letting “Russia’s military leadership” do all the running now, and it will be the military “realities” which will dictate the politics of the outcome. This also means that the “realities” of the territory of the Ukraine will be decided by military operations which, on the Russian side, have yet to get fully under way until the Ukrainian “strategic reserves” have been fully committed and defeated on the battlefield. Putin’s reference to “strategic reserves” includes the US and NATO weapons which have been committed so far, and destroyed — and those still to come from stocks in Poland, Romania, Germany, and in the western territory around Lvov. Against them, Putin noted “the high effectiveness of Russian weapons, especially the latest weapons. Indeed, we still do not have enough of the latest weapons, but the arms industry, the country’s defence industry is making strides, and I am sure that the defence industry will, without a doubt, fulfil its goals. The production of modern types of weapons is going at a fast pace.”

What does this mean? In the first place, demilitarization will be run by the Russian General Staff until there are no strategic reserves left on the territory – not east of the Dnieper River, nor west. If the NATO summit scheduled for July 11-12 in Vilnius is planning to place the rump of the Ukraine under NATO protection – “a certain order of accession”, according to Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Gavrilov — then Putin is warning that there will be a Russian military solution to ensure that this cannot happen.

“Today, information warfare is the core structure of any war..”

• Ukraine’s Propaganda Machine Is Vital For Zelensky (Lavrenin)

In more than a year of hostilities, Kiev’s use of symbols and memes to raise or maintain morale and help control the narrative has been streamlined to a surprising extent. Google’s ranking of top Ukrainian search queries in 2022 is more proof. For example, in the “person” category, Ukrainians most often Googled “Alexey Arestovich” and showed interest in the “ghost of Kiev,” a legend of a supposed hero pilot which The Wall Street Journal admitted was fake military propaganda intended to raise morale. In the “purchase of the year” category, the postage stamp “Russian Ship” was among the most popular search queries. This was a stamp issued in honor of the soldiers on Snake Island who, as the fake story went, responded in abusive language to an offer from a Russian ship’s crew to surrender and fought to the death.

These border guards were “posthumously” awarded the Hero of Ukraine decoration but later it was revealed that all of them had voluntarily surrendered and were alive. The triumph of these symbols, which have endured long after being confirmed as fake, is a result of the information bubble in which Ukrainian society and much of the West has found itself. In the past year and a half since opposition media was blocked, government-controlled outlets are often the only source of information for Ukrainians. “Today, information warfare is the core structure of any war. It is very important to have influence over a society that is involved in combat. Moreover, it is essential to convince the world community of the rightness of our actions in order to receive further support. Not only authorized persons can take part in this information war, but also regular citizens who ‘fight’ at their own discretion,” Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Anna Maliar said in February.

Information and Psychological Operations (IPsO) are intended to brainwash people and shape public opinion, and they are among Kiev’s most important strategies in the conflict with Russia. In combat conditions, these operations are primarily aimed at demoralizing and disorganizing the enemy’s front and rear and inspiring a hopeless, doomed atmosphere. Usually, their main task is to discredit the military and political command and highlight defeat and failure.

“..the swing state manifesto..”

• The Hegemon Will Go Full Hybrid War Against BRICS+ (Pepe Escobar)

U.S. Think Tank Land – inebriated by their self-created aura of power – always telegraphs in advance what they’re up to. That was the case with Project 9/11 (“We need a new Pearl Harbor”). That was the case with the RAND report on over-extending and unbalancing Russia. And now that’s the case with the incoming. It’s always painful to suffer through the intellectually shallow Think Thank Land wet dreams masquerading as “analyses” but in this particular case key Global South players need to be firmly aware of what awaits them. Predictably, the whole “analysis” revolves around the imminent, devastating humiliation to the Hegemon and its vassals: what happens next in country 404, also known – for now – as Ukraine. Brazil, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are dismissed as “four major fence-sitters” when it comes to the U.S./NATO proxy war against Russia.

It’s the same old “you’re with us or against us” trope. But then we are presented with the six major Global South culprits: Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey. In yet another crude, parochial remix of a catch phrase referring to the American elections, these are qualified as the key swing states the Hegemon will need to seduce, cajole, intimidate and threaten to assure its dominance of the “rules-based international order”. Saudi Arabia and South Africa are added to a previous report focused on the “four major fence sitters”. The swing state manifesto notes that all of them are G-20 members and “active in both geopolitics and geoeconomics” (Oh really? Now that’s some breaking news). What it does not say is that three of them are BRICS members (Brazil, India, South Africa) and the other three are serious candidates to join BRICS+: deliberations will be turbo-charged in the upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa in August.

So it’s clear what the swing state manifesto is all about: a call to arms for the American war against the BRICS. The swing state manifesto harbors wet dreams of near-shoring and friend-shoring moving away from China. Nonsense: enhanced intra-BRICS+ trade will be the order of the day from now on, especially with the expanded practice of trade in national currencies (see Brazil-China or within ASEAN), the first step towards widespread de-dollarization. The swing states are characterized as “not a new incarnation” of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), or “other groupings dominated by the Global South, such as the G-77 and BRICS.” Talk about exponential nonsense. This is all about BRICS+ – which now has the tools (including the NDB, the BRICS bank) to do what NAM could never accomplish during the Cold War: establish the framework of a new system bypassing Bretton Woods and the interlocking coercion mechanisms of the Hegemon.

As for stating that BRICS has not “packed much punch” that only reveals U.S. Think Tank Land’s cosmic ignorance of what BRICS + is all about. The position of India is only considered in terms of being a Quad member – defined as a “U.S.-led effort to balance China”. Correction: contain China. As for the “choice” of swing states of choosing between the U.S. and China on semiconductors, AI, quantum technology, 5G and biotechnology, that’s not about “choice”, but to what level they are able to sustain Hegemon pressure to demonize Chinese technology.

“My goodness, shouldn’t we be talking about how to avoid war with China, not making it inevitable?”

• Rand Paul: My Colleagues Are ‘Beating The Drums’ For ‘War With China’ (RS)

Senator Rand Paul acknowledged Thursday that his fellow Republicans are obsessed with China — war with China, that is. The Kentucky Republican told an audience at the American Conservative’s annual foreign policy conference that he is concerned that hawks on Capitol Hill are going to march the country right into a conflict. “You come to my Republican caucus and you’ll hear the beating of drums. These are drums for war with whomever, but primarily war with China. Everything is about war with China.” Not everyone is high on the idea of conflict, he added. “I was in Hawaii recently, talking with some folks from our military out there in the Pacific. One of the higher ranking members came up to me and said, ‘take this message back to your fellow Senators: war with China is not inevitable.’”

“My goodness, shouldn’t we be talking about how to avoid war with China, not making it inevitable?” “We have had an uneasy peace with China, we’ve have an uneasy relationship between China, the U.S. and Taiwan,” Sen. Paul noted, but in the Committee on Foreign Relations, where he holds a seat, “there’s a new bill out each week on Taiwan, which usually includes harsh language on China, on how we’re going to war-plan, and what we’re going to do when China does this or that.” Paul added: “My point is that the less ambiguous you make your policy, the more you rant and rave, the more you make your policy more explicit for war,” the more dangerous and less leverage the U.S. has in the situation. “Strategic ambiguity has kept the peace for 50 years,” Paul charged.

The senator reinforced the importance of seeing foreign policy through the lens constitutional conservatism, something that his colleague Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) espoused in his own remarks at the conference. Paul said he would continue to push for the repeal of the 2001 AUMF (Authorization for the Use of Military Force), and is poised to criticize any use of a future Ukraine aid bill or emergency spending to pad the Pentagon budget. He also doubted that there has been enough effort to end the war in Ukraine (he had signed a letter to President Biden earlier this year opposing new Ukraine aid without a strategy for peace). “That country is being destroyed. Give it another year and it will be more destroyed. There ultimately must be a peace. If you think wars are going to end by the good defeating evil you are not being realistic. You need a negotiated peace.”

Pakistan is a nuclear power. These are dangerous games.

• Imran Khan Claims US Plotted Against Him After Russia Deal (RT)

Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, who was arrested last month on corruption charges, has claimed in a wide-ranging interview with Newsweek published on Saturday that the United States exerted diplomatic pressure to remove him from office last year. Speaking to the US publication, Khan said he visited Russia on the same day that Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022 – and that while he didn’t agree with the motives behind the offensive, he refused calls to condemn the action, so as to not jeopardize a trade agreement. The US “wanted us, through the United Nations, to condemn Russia,” said Khan, who explained that his government had arranged an agreement to import “cheap oil”and wheat from Moscow. “If we condemn them right now, what about the impact it’s going to have on our population?”

Khan added that, after a meeting in early March of 2022 between Pakistani and US diplomats, he was informed that unless he was removed as prime minister, there would be “consequences.” “Next day, there’s the no-confidence motion tables in the National Assembly,” Khan said. “And before that, we see that the American Embassy is meeting our parliamentarians, our backbenchers.” He added that he was “puzzled” as to why the US would “object to a deal.” The US has said there is “no truth” to Khan’s repeated claims of a Washington-backed conspiracy against him. Khan has been accused of an array of charges, ranging from corruption to sedition, since he was ousted from power last April after losing a no-confidence vote. He denies all accusations of wrongdoing.

Khan, a former cricket star, has accused what he referred to as Pakistan’s “undemocratic” military chief as being behind his May arrest, which sparked a wave of protests among his supporters. He is accused by the authorities of exchanging political favors for cash while in office. Charges against Khan have inflamed what was already a precarious political balancing act in Islamabad, as the country of 231 million people grapples with soaring food prices, an extended economic crisis, and extremist violence. Discussions with the IMF over an economic bailout have also stagnated amid the political rancor. Earlier this week, Khan was named by Pakistani police in connection to a case against unidentified gunmen following the murder of a lawyer who was investigating sedition charges against the former premier.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1667889468672466944

Wonder what Burisma is doing these days.

• One Document Americans Should ‘Demand’ That Will Topple Biden (CB)

A former chief prosecutor from Ukraine identified a document he said Americans should “demand” that allegedly proves beyond any doubt that President Joe Biden is corrupt. The prosecutor, Victor Shokin, was targeted for dismissal by Biden when he served as Barack Obama’s vice president and was the Obama administration’s point man on Ukraine at the time. On Friday, Chanel Rion, a White House correspondent for One America News, re-posted a 2019 interview she had with Shokin where he explained the allegation. At the time, the Democrat-controlled House was preparing to impeach then-President Donald Trump for the first time, alleging he engaged in a “quid pro quo” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Democrats charged that Trump threatened to withhold military aid unless Zelensky assisted in an investigation into alleged corrupt actions by Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, the latter of whom was serving a profitable stint on the board of a Ukrainian energy company that Shokin had once been investigating. The Senate found Trump innocent of the allegation. Biden, meanwhile, was seen in a video clip that surfaced explaining that he, as VP, actually threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid from then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko unless he fired then-Prosecutor General Shokin. Poroshenko did just that.

In his subsequent interview with OAN, Shokin told Rion that the transcript of a phone call between Biden and Poroshenko would allegedly prove he was using a quid pro quo bribe to force the Ukrainians to halt a corruption investigation into a company his son was serving on as a board member for a reported $50,000 a month. “The transcripts of Biden’s telephone conversations with Poroshenko is where the truth will show itself. Americans must demand it. And if they do, they will see, broad as day, Joe Biden was illegally influencing foreign officials in order to protect his son Hunter and shield illegal money laundering activities,” Shokin told Rion. In a tweet containing a video clip of her interview, Rion added: “Just 1 yr after this interview in Kiev, I found the recordings and reported on it. Shokin confirmed their authenticity.”

Meanwhile, on Friday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) noted that there are two additional FBI forms containing damning information about Biden besides the one that the House Oversight Committee has under subpoena. Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has said that the FD-1023 document, created by the FBI based on a “highly credible” source, indicates Biden’s involvement in a pay-to-play scheme during his tenure as vice president. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller, Greene disclosed the contents of the document that she read at a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF). She mentioned that she and fellow members were prohibited from making copies or taking notes, but she disregarded these restrictions and managed to take “very detailed notes” anyway.

Greene told the Caller that information in the subpoenaed document “implicates Joe Biden in a pay-to-play scheme bribery scheme to get a prosecutor fired that was investigating Burisma where Hunter Biden sat on the board.” In addition, she said the FBI informant is “extremely credible” and added that the document “implicates our national security” because it puts Americans “at risk” regarding the war in Ukraine. “This is an impeachable document. President Biden should be impeached. Secondly, he should be prosecuted. This is unbelievable. It’s a pay-to-play scheme. He took a bribe from a foreign national in a foreign country that paid millions of dollars,” Greene told the outlet. “He needs to be prosecuted for this, and I would argue that he should serve jail time.”

“Back down from what Adam? Name one Republican that won’t vote to censure you? America and I are wondering,” she wrote, adding: “It’s not up to you.”

• Schiff Complains About $16 Million Fine Over Trump-Russia Collusion Claim (CB)

Former House Intelligence Committee chairman and current U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Adam Schiff was blasted by Republicans after he complained on Friday about potentially being fined $16 million for falsely claiming for years to have evidence that then-President Donald Trump “colluded” with Russia to win the 2016 election. Last week, Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna discussed the House Oversight Committee’s ongoing efforts to hold former Schiff accountable during an interview with Fox News. “I will speak to Adam Schiff. Maria, I have a privileged resolution that I’m bringing to the floor, and we are going to fine that man 16 million dollars for using his position to lie to the American people and ultimately push something that not only destroyed our country but ripped us apart and I believe, maybe even permanently damaging foreign relations. He is a criminal, and Adam Schiff, you will be held accountable,” Paulina Luna said.

“And yet, he was privileged to information that not even I or many of my colleagues would be able to see,” Paulina Luna went on to say. “He used that position. He absolutely aided and abetted a corrupt FBI into investigating a sitting president.” That led Schiff to respond on Twitter: “Last week a GOP Representative filed a motion to expel me from the U.S. House of Representatives. Just now that same representative filed a motion to censure and fine me—to the tune of $16 million. They aren’t getting the message: It will not work. I will not back down.” His response, in turn, drew one from Luna, who roasted him for it. “Back down from what Adam? Name one Republican that won’t vote to censure you? America and I are wondering,” she wrote, adding: “It’s not up to you.”

Luna introduced her resolution in May to fine Schiff for making claims that she says triggered several pointless and unnecessary — and costly — investigations. “I just filed a privileged resolution, H. Res. 437, to censure, condemn, and fine Rep. Adam Schiff $16 million (1/2 the cost of Russia investigation) for his egregious abuse of trust. I, with my GOP colleagues, look forward to an imminent vote to hold this feckless man accountable,” she wrote on Twitter. Luna also introduced a measure to expel Schiff from the House of Representatives after Special Counsel John Durham’s report revealed he repeatedly lied about “collusion” between former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

“You have to make the American labor force the poorest labor force in the West..”

• De-Dollarization is Remedy Against US Militarism (Michael Hudson)

Creating an alternative to the US dollar is the only way to prevent the world from the Washington-led militarization, Prof. Michael Hudson, a US economist and former Wall Street analyst, told Sputnik’s New Rules podcast. The de-dollarization trend is gaining momentum, with American scholars warning that there is seemingly no way back. Washington’s decision to freeze Russia’s Central Bank’s foreign reserves over Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine has seemingly became the last straw for the countries of the Global South, which have increasingly started to look for an alternative to the US dollar. “For the last year and a half, America has said, ‘if other countries hold their dollars and European banks or American banks and they do something that we don’t like, we have a right to grab all of their dollars and simply take them’,” Prof. Michael Hudson told Sputnik.

“For instance, Venezuela wanted to have a socialist government. So America told England, ‘Take all of Venezuela’s gold and seize it, and we will designate somebody we think should be president of Venezuela, Mr. Grito, or Guaido’. And so Venezuela lost its gold supply. A year ago in February, America simply grabbed all of Russia’s savings in the West. Americans told China, Iran, other countries: ‘If you don’t impose the sanctions against Russia and China, if you don’t commit economic suicide by letting America colonize you financially, we will just grab all of your money. Everything’s fair play. You’re holding dollars. We get to grab it’.” So, the US showed everyone in the world that the dollar is no longer safe, that the greenback is now a political currency, the professor continued. But that’s half the story, according to him. One might ask: how are these dollars being pumped into the world economy?

“Ever since the Korean War, the major factor in the American balance of payments deficit that sent dollars abroad has been military spending,” Hudson said. “So, when other countries keep their foreign exchange reserves in dollars – Europe, Russia, China – they hold these dollars safely in Treasury securities. Buying the Treasury Security has been the way of funding America’s 800 military bases surrounding them. So, foreign countries have paid for America to surround them with military bases and to fund America’s military, because the dollars that are in the world are the monetization of American military spending. That’s what my book ‘Super Imperialism’ was all about. This was a very conscious policy by the United States, by the Defense Department.”

[..] the New Development Bank (NDB), an international financial organization established by BRICS in 2014, could become a sort of clearing center that would simplify the issue of payments for mutual deliveries of goods, the minister explained. BRICS nations have also proposed that the new common currency might be secured not just by gold, but also by other groups of products, such as rare-earth elements. “When it is finished being discussed, people will not have to deal with dollars at all anymore,” Hudson assumed. “And in fact, of their trade with the United States, they can say, well, if you want to buy something from China, you pay in our currency. We’re not going to cut back our spending on the United States.

And all of a sudden, if the United States is unable to have other people keep their savings in dollars, meaning buying Treasury securities, then how are they going to pay the international balance of payments cost of their military spending? They won’t be able to spend it militarily abroad.” “The only way they can do it is drastically cut back imports in America. And to do that, you have to cut wage rates by 20%. You have to make the American labor force the poorest labor force in the West so that all of the balance of payments, money that’s spent, is not on buying goods and services to consume, but only for military spending.

Civil servants that smell power. “..voluntary code of practice against disinformation.”

• Europe’s Digital Services Act Puts Free Speech at the Mercy of Eurocrats (BI)

The European Union’s Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, was apparently miffed that Elon Musk withdrew Twitter from the EU’s “voluntary code of practice against disinformation.” He was sufficiently put out by Twitter’s withdrawal from the “voluntary code” that he felt the need to publicly reprimand Twitter for not gratefully submitting to the European Union’s expert guidance: “You can run but you can’t hide…Beyond voluntary commitments, fighting disinformation will be legal obligation under Digital Services Act as of August 25th.” The declared aim of the new Digital Service Act is “to contribute to the proper functioning of the internal market for intermediary services by setting out harmonised rules for a safe, predictable and trusted online environment that facilitates innovation and in which fundamental rights enshrined in the Charter, including the principle of consumer protection, are effectively protected.”

Who can argue against a “safe, predictable and trusted online environment?” Who would argue against “consumer protection?” And who would argue against Mr Breton’s commitment to the fight against “disinformation?” I certainly would, because when a person or institution in a position of great power endorses values like “predictability,” rails against “disinformation,” and promises to keep us all “safe” on the internet, you can be sure that it will be “safety,” “predictability,” and “disinformation,” as viewed from their self-serving ideological and political perspective. I am just as worried as Mr Breton about “disinformation,” but my chief concern is with disinformation coming from official sources, which can do an extraordinary amount of harm due to the extraordinary reach and prestige of official organisations.

It is these same organisations that Mr Breton would like to put in charge of policing “disinformation:” organisations like national governments, that have been among the most frequent perpetrators of false and misleading information, on matters of no small moment, from the efficacy and safety of Covid vaccines, masks and lockdowns to the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the true standing of climate “science,” and the potential harms to the economy and food supply chain of aggressive climate interventions such as the expropriation of farmland. The Digital Services Act is an endless maze of complicated regulations worthy of a team of lawyers. Seeing as I don’t have a budget to hire a team of lawyers, I decided to skim through the Act for myself.

It does not make for pleasant bedtime reading, not only because it is a morass of complicated legalese, but also, because what hides behind this legalese is an attempt by EU politicians to get social media platforms under their thumb, through • the obligation on the part of social media companies to periodically submit content moderation and “risk mitigation” reports to EU bureacrats • EU supervision of social media platforms’ policing of “harmful” information, which could potentially include health misinformation as well as “illegal hate speech” • the creation of new emergency powers in the European Commission to “require” social media platforms to take actions to “prevent, eliminate or limit” any use of their services that might “contribute” to a “threat” to public security or public health …and all backed up by crippling fines of up to 6 percent of a company’s worldwide turnover for non-compliance. Yes, you heard that right: up to six percent of a company’s worldwide turnover.

‘The 9 Rules For All Roadrunner And Wile E. Coyote Interactions’ – a fascinating & fantastic guide by animation director and creator Chuck Jones for all the animators working on the Cartoon.

Great white

On January, 15th, 2019, Ocean Ramsey and her team encountered what is possibly the largest great white shark ever recorded, approximately 6 meters long (~ 20 feet)

[full video + read more: https://t.co/UeFVrws9xO]pic.twitter.com/qkA1XqqqiG

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 11, 2023

The takin is a large and now rare species of ungulate of the subfamily Caprinae found in the eastern Himalayas. Largely due to overhunting and the destruction of their natural habitat, takin are considered Endangered in China and Vulnerable per the IUCN https://buff.ly/2LTaRNS

Ants

You may believe ants live underground but Australian green ants live on trees. They build their home by sewing together leaves. How? Here comes the weirdest part: with silk ticked out of their newborn larvae

[Smithsonian Channel: https://t.co/pm5lfmEOTU]pic.twitter.com/iTqcrwdaXa

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 11, 2023

Still one of the best results of bus advertising: a giant constrictor snake squeezing Copenhagen citybus as part of a campaign for the city zoo

Transfo
https://twitter.com/i/status/1667925448511160321

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Debt Rattle June 4 2023

Jun 042023

June 4, 2023 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 8:40 am Finance Tagged with: demon, Elon Musk, high treason, Imran Khan, Jan 6, Patriot, Russiagate, Slava Ukraini, western weapons, Zelensky 27 Responses »

Vincent van Gogh The harvest 1888

• Kiev Demands $55 Billion Worth Of Weapons From West (RT)

• Ukraine ‘Ready’ To Launch Counteroffensive – Zelensky (RT)

• Russia’s Newest Satellites To Change Course Of Ukraine Conflict – Ritter (TASS)

• Zelenskyy To Be Investigated For “High Treason” In Ukraine (Muir)

• Western Weapons Used In Ukrainian Raid Inside Russia – WaPo (RT)

• Croatian President Blasts Use of ‘Slava Ukraini’ in Croatia (Sp.)

• Russia Controls $12.4 Trillion Worth Of Ukraine’s Resources (BI)

• Possible Outcomes Of War In The Ukraine (Jim)

• The Demon in America’s Sacred Narrative (Vlahos)

• J6 Panel Added Audio To Silent Security Video For Primetime Hearings (JTN)

• The Overzealous Prosecutors of January 6th (Ted Rall)

• Why Elon Musk’s Visit Is Important For China (Fomenko)

• Russiagate’s Missing Pieces (Seymour Hersh)

• You Need a War Strategy – Catherine Austin Fitts (USAW)

• Pakistani Military Ordered Press To Stop Covering Imran Khan (IC)

Play by play
https://twitter.com/i/status/1664699543789752328

Macgregor: Russia is going on the offensive

Nap/Ritter

Bunch of boring old fools

TSLA

Cool animation showing $TSLA stock’s performance vs the S&P 500 since Tesla’s IPO in 2010.

2020 was wild lol pic.twitter.com/PmBh4hbmzB

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 3, 2023

@GeromanAT tweets: MOD Reports: 280 new units have been formed from the 300,000 mobilized last Autumn. It is described as the largest such callup in Russia’s history since WW2.

Some thoughts on this, as an often asked question in chat has been, “where are the mobilized men?” At this point I think the answer is clear: they have been training and working behind the line of contact. That is, Russia did not simply scoop up 300,000 men and throw them to the front as Ukraine has been doing some 7+ times now, but actually formed an entirely new, professional Army with them It’s worth noting that the size of the entire U.S. Marine Corps is around 180,000 in total (including admin, clerical, maintenance, etc). This is yet another sign that Russia is in no hurry and is quite comfortable taking the time to properly re-train and equip these men and form new units proper.

It should also be noted that this new army is cohesive. Same uniform, same training, same language, same communication, same doctrine – and a training regimen born from experience in the SVO. Meanwhile Ukrainian units are being trained in multiple countries by different instructors with multiple incongruent programs, doctrines, and kit. Ukraine itself is aware of this problem, which is why they have allocated Leopard tanks to one unit and Bradley IFVs to another and so forth, instead of mixing them up across the board.

The problem for Ukraine nonetheless remains: a lack of consistency in doctrine and kit across units. There is no “universality” in such, and as such, Schroedinger’s Offensive remains in the box because these units cannot effectively coordinate together. Meanwhile, Russia now has a second modernized and cohesive Army formed in addition to the small portion of it’s existing Army already dedicated to the SVO. Where and how this new Army will be employed (defense in depth, counter offensive operations??) I can not say. But that MOD now makes this statement inclines me to believe the mobilized Army is increasingly ready for work.

Via Slaviangrad

They’ve “only” gotten $37 billion so far.

• Kiev Demands $55 Billion Worth Of Weapons From West (RT)

Ukraine needs dozens of US-made Patriot air defense system batteries if it hopes to protect its infrastructure and troops on the battlefield against Russian air superiority, President Vladimir Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in an interview published on Saturday. The total cost of his demand exceeds the amount of money Washington has already spent on military assistance for Kiev. Patriot is the “only system in the world” capable of intercepting certain advanced types of Russian missiles, Zelensky claimed, adding that “there is a weapon” supposedly capable of drastically reducing Russian capabilities when it comes to airstrikes and missile attacks.

In May, Kiev claimed its troops had managed to intercept a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile using a Patriot air defense system. Moscow denied those claims, adding that Ukraine routinely exaggerates the effectiveness of its air defenses. In the interview, Zelensky maintained that as many as 50 Patriot batteries would be needed to sufficiently protect Ukraine’s cities and its troops on the battlefield ahead of the much-touted counteroffensive. Launching the operation without such air defenses means “a large number of soldiers will die,” he said. “Everyone knows perfectly well that any counteroffensive without air superiority is very dangerous,” the president added. Each Patriot battery costs around $1.1 billion, according to estimates by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank, cited by Forbes.

The total cost of Zelensky’s demand thus translates to a military aid package worth $55 billion, which is more than the total amount of US military aid allocated to Kiev thus far. Washington has provided Ukraine with $37 billion worth of military assistance since its conflict with Russia escalated in February last year. This has included only two Patriot batteries so far. The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that both went on combat duty in April. Kiev has repeatedly asked its Western backers for more air defense systems, as well as Western-made aircraft – something the US and its allies were reluctant to provide until recently. Ukraine’s problems with air defenses were exposed in purportedly classified Pentagon assessments leaked online. Analysis in late February predicted that most types of Soviet missiles would be gone by May, according to a WSJ report.

In late April, Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov admitted that Ukraine’s missile stockpiles for the Soviet air defense systems were depleting. “We need to replenish them with something else,” Reznikov said at that time. Apart from Patriots, the US and its allies have also provided Ukraine with other air defense systems, including the US-made NASAMS, Germany’s IRIS-T air defense missile systems, and Gepard anti-aircraft tanks. In February 2023, the head of the German Armed Forces Association (DBwV), Colonel Andre Wustner, warned that the $2 billion worth of military aid Berlin provided to Kiev had left Germany’s military with a shortage of essential hardware.

Launch it when? 2025?

• Ukraine ‘Ready’ To Launch Counteroffensive – Zelensky (RT)

Ukraine is ready to launch its long-awaited offensive, President Vladimir Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in an interview published on Saturday. He did not reveal the exact date, but said Kiev can no longer “wait for months.” The operation is likely to inflict heavy losses on the Ukrainian troops, and might not go exactly as planned, Zelensky admitted, adding that Russia retaining air superiority would inevitably mean Kiev’s forces will be exposed to enemy fire. “I don’t know how long it will take,” Zelensky said, commenting on the operation’s potential timeframe. He added that “it can go a variety of ways, completely different.” The president admitted that the military equipment and weapons supplied to Ukraine by its Western backers are still not enough. “We would like to have certain things, but we can’t wait for months,” he said.

Zelensky also highlighted the need for stronger air defences, and claimed that the US-made Patriot systems are virtually the only ones in the world capable of countering certain Russian missile types. He said Ukraine would need as many as 50 Patriot batteries to ensure sufficient air defenses. The lack of such protection means “a large number of soldiers will die,” during the offensive, he added. In May, Kiev claimed that its forces had managed to intercept a Russian hypersonic Kinzhal missile, using a Patriot air defense system. Moscow denied the claim, and accused Ukraine of routinely exaggerating the effectiveness of its air defenses. Ukraine has long been discussing a counteroffensive against Russia to reclaim territories that Kiev considers as its own. It has postponed the operation several times, citing a lack of ammunition, weapons, and even adverse weather conditions.

Back in mid-May Zelensky claimed Kiev was ready to launch the offensive, while maintaining it needed more Western weapons. Ukrainian troops have suffered massive casualties since the start of the conflict, according to various estimates. A Pentagon document leaked earlier this year and cited by The Washington Post said that between 124,000 and 131,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed or wounded since the start of the hostilities. Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov has rejected this assessment, saying the number of his troops killed in the conflict was less than the death toll from the earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria in February. The combined estimated fatalities in the two countries amounted to more than 55,000. Reznikov later apologized for the comparison, deemed insensitive by some people in the affected areas.

In May, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said the Ukrainian armed forces had sustained over 15,000 battlefield casualties in April alone. And in April, Ukrainian Brigadier General Sergey Melnik, deputy commander of the Ukrainian force grouping stationed in the northeastern Kharkov Region, admitted to Spanish newspaper El Pais that Ukraine had already lost most of its experienced troops to deaths and injuries. “The problem is that we have a lack of people and equipment,” he said at the time, adding that Kiev had to rely on “people without military experience.”

“It can see through clouds, it can see through rain. It can see through everything. High resolution radar, and they are seeing everything right now,” he said.

• Russia’s Newest Satellites To Change Course Of Ukraine Conflict – Ritter (TASS)

Russia’s new radar surveillance satellites will allow Moscow to change the course of the conflict in Ukraine, former US intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector to Iraq Scott Ritter said. Ritter pointed out that the Russian Federation recently launched “the first of several radar surveillance satellites that have a resolution of up to one meter, which means it can see everything.” “It can see through clouds, it can see through rain. It can see through everything. High resolution radar, and they are seeing everything right now,” he said.

“You can’t hide anything from the Russians anymore,” Ritter stressed. “And it’s going to have a fundamental shift in how this [Ukrainian] conflict goes because all that stuff that’s been brought – can’t hide it,” he continued, referring to Western weapons coming into Ukraine. “They [the weapons] are all detected now and they’re all getting programmed into the Russian target database. And the Russians are gonna start hitting this stuff, more and more and more and we see evidence of this already,” Ritter pointed out, adding that in his opinion this conflict would become “unsustainable for the Ukrainian sometime by the end of summer, early fall.”.

“..these appointments have led to tens of thousands of dead Ukrainians. The MP demanded that the traitors be held accountable for serious crimes against the Ukrainian people.”

• Zelenskyy To Be Investigated For “High Treason” In Ukraine (Muir)

The Pechersk District Court of Kyiv issued a ruling to oblige the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation to start a pre-trial investigation in connection with the possible treason of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, former Verkhovna Rada deputy Geo Leros said on May 30 in his Telegram channel. “Let me remind you that the pocket SBI refused to investigate Zelenskyy’s high treason when he appointed FSB agents to key positions in the SBU, but we were obliged by the court to enter information into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations and begin a pre-trial investigation,” the former deputy said. He cited a photograph of a copy of the ruling of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, by which the court obliges the State Bureau of Investigation to conduct a pre-trial investigation at the request of Leros.

In his message on the Telegram channel, the deputy clarified that the court ordered to initiate a criminal case “against Zelensky and co” under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason). According to Mr Leros, Zelenskyy himself, the head of the presidential office Andriy Yermak, his deputy Roman Mashovets, as well as the ex-chairman of the SBU Ivan Bakanov and the former deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Ruslan Demchenko are the main defendants, thanks to whom FSB agents were allegedly appointed to the special services. According to Mr Leros, these appointments have led to tens of thousands of dead Ukrainians. The MP demanded that the traitors be held accountable for serious crimes against the Ukrainian people.

Here is a Translation of the text: This is the letter translated: PECHERSKY DISTRICT COURT OF THE CITY OF KYIV Case No. 757/21124/23-k RESOLVED IMEHEM OF UKRAINE On May 30, 2023, the Investigating Judge of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv – T.V. Ostapchuk, under the secretary – K.S. Lymar, with: complainant – Leros H.B. representative of the complainant – lawyer Sayenka V.V. having considered in an open court session in the courtroom in Kyiv the proceedings on the complaint of Leros Geo Bagratovych about the inaction of the investigator, regarding the failure to submit information to the EDPR according to the application dated April 26, 2023 Mo23d9/7-2023/88804, – Guided by Part 2 of Art. 376 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, investigating judge, – RESOLVED: Complaint of Leros Geo Bagratovych against the inaction of the investigator, regarding the failure to provide information To ERDR by request from 04/26/2023 N2379/7-2023/88804 on the commission of a criminal offense and to start a pre-trial investigation, about which to inform the applicant. Praise is not subject to appeal. The full text of the resolution will be announced on June 2, 2023 at 1:50 p.m. T. B. Soup *2606*82433888*1*

Donbass
https://twitter.com/i/status/1664645106220056580

Everybody knows. But now it’s out in the open.

• Western Weapons Used In Ukrainian Raid Inside Russia – WaPo (RT)

Military equipment and small arms provided by several NATO nations, including the US, ended up in the hands of militants who launched a cross-border raid into Russia’s Belgorod region in May, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing sources linked to US intelligence. At least four tactical vehicles initially supplied to the Ukrainian military by the US and Poland were employed in the May raid, raising concerns about Kiev’s commitment to fulfilling the demands of its Western supporters, the sources told WaPo. The US and its Western allies have consistently expressed opposition to the use of Western arms by Ukraine in attacks on Russian territory. They also urged Kiev to “carefully track the billions of dollars’ worth of weapons that have flowed into the country,” WaPo reported.

The attack in question occurred in late May, and in response, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that “over 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armored combat vehicles, and five pickup trucks” had been destroyed in the clash in Belgorod. The remaining militants were subsequently forced back into Ukraine and targeted by Russian artillery. The incursion resulted in one civilian death and 12 injuries, according to Russian authorities. The Russian military shared a series of photographs showing what appeared to be destroyed Western equipment abandoned by the militants. Some of the images depicted two M1151A1 Humvee armored cars stuck in bomb craters, while others displayed two M1224 MaxxPro armored vehicles. An AMZ Dzik-2 armored car, manufactured in Poland, was also visible in the images.

Kiev attempted to distance itself from the raid by claiming it was carried out by the “Freedom of Russia Legion” and the “Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK),” the neo-Nazi units responsible for a similar attack in the Bryansk Region in March. The Pentagon and the US State Department expressed doubts regarding the authenticity of the images. The State Department also said that the US “does not encourage or enable attacks inside of Russia.” Washington also does not “support the use of US-made equipment … for attacks inside of Russia,” it added. According to the Washington Post, videos published by the “Freedom of Russia Legion” and the RDK militants themselves showed fighters using the Czech-made CZ Bren and Belgium’s FN SCAR assault rifles.

Both types of weapons were provided to Ukraine by the respective nations, the paper said, adding that “Bren and SCAR rifles are commonly distributed to Ukraine’s soldiers” and foreign fighters who travel to Ukraine to combat Russian forces. A spokesperson from the Belgian Defense Ministry informed the Washington Post that they only provided weapons to “official authorities and the regular army” in Ukraine, placing responsibility on Kiev for their usage. [..] The use of Western military supplies in an attack on Russian territory raises the issue of Kiev’s accountability, Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think-tank, told WaPo. The Ukrainians “are clearly complicit here,” Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps officer, added.

“I’ve been suffering like Jesus to get people to stop using ZDS,” Milanovic said, but at this point, “if you don’t understand why, I can’t educate you.”

“That’s the chant of the most radical chauvinists of Western Ukraine, who worked with the Nazis and killed thousands of Jews and Poles..”

• Croatian President Blasts Use of ‘Slava Ukraini’ in Croatia (Sp.)

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said Wednesday that there’s “no difference” between the phrase “Slava Ukraini” (‘Glory to Ukraine’) and the chant used by the World War II-era Nazi collaborationist regime in Croatia. Using shorthand for the Ustasha slogan “Za dom spremni” (“For the homeland, ready”), Milanovic told reporters: “There’s no difference between ZDS and Glory to Ukraine.” “That’s the chant of the most radical chauvinists of Western Ukraine, who worked with the Nazis and killed thousands of Jews and Poles,” Milanovic explained, adding, “I don’t want to hear it in Croatia.” “I don’t care that some leaders seem to like it,” he continued. “They should come up with a different slogan.” “I’ve been suffering like Jesus to get people to stop using ZDS,” Milanovic said, but at this point, “if you don’t understand why, I can’t educate you.”

Like their counterparts in Ukraine, nationalists in Croatia have long embraced the chant in spite of — or in many cases, because of — its strong associations with the terrors of the Third Reich.And like “Slava Ukraini,” the Croatian chant came into frequent use after the Ustasha declared an independent state in April 1941 following the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. Mass murders of Serbs and Jews quickly ensued — well before Nazi Germany officially enacted its Holocaust policies. Milanovic has argued on multiple occasions that the usage of the notorious Ustasha chant does more harm than good for the country’s image. But it’s possible there are political considerations at play as well.

In those same remarks to reporters, Milanovic urged Croatian politicians to “stay away from both Russia and Ukraine” because “Kiev is far away, and Moscow even farther. Milanovic has long criticized EU and NATO policy towards Russia and has condemned Western governments for intentionally pushing Moscow to intervene in the hostilities in Ukraine. He was placed on Kiev’s semi-official Myrotvorets ‘hit list’ in January for allegedly spreading “Kremlin propaganda” months after publicly ruling out the possibility of Ukrainian troops training in Croatia. As a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) that succeeded the Croatian Communist Party, Milanovic has faced serious pushback from the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which has spawned numerous political crises with its use of the ZDS slogan but currently holds a majority in parliament.

From August 2022. But valuable background.

• Russia Controls $12.4 Trillion Worth Of Ukraine’s Resources (BI)

Russia now controls at least $12.4 trillion worth of Ukraine’s key natural resources, including energy and mineral deposits, according to an analysis for The Washington Post by SecDev. If the Kremlin succeeds in annexing Ukrainian land seized during Russia’s invasion, Kyiv would lose almost two-thirds of its deposits, the report said, denying the country of its essential economic pillars. Based on SecDev’s review of 2,209 deposits, Moscow controls 63% of Ukraine’s coal, 11% of its oil, 20% of its natural gas, 42% of its metals, and 33% of its rare earths, including key minerals like lithium. Some of that was seized during Russia’s takeover of Crimea in 2014 or the war with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. But since its invasion began in February, Russia has steadily increased its advance into Ukraine while overtaking the country’s economic strongholds.

Using a tally from SecDev and Ukrainian industry, the Washington Post reported that Russia has seized 41 coal fields, 27 natural gas sites, 14 propane sites, nine oil fields, six iron ore deposits, as well as several sites for titanium, zirconium, strontium, lithium, uranium, and gold. While Ukraine is known as a top exporter of grains, the report said it also possesses 117 of the 120 most widely used minerals and metals, while also serving as a top source of fossil fuels. Ukraine still has control over most of its oil ans gas reserves. But the vast majority of its natural resource wealth that’s under the Kremlin’s control is comprised of coal deposits. SecDev estimated that about 30 billion tons of hard coal deposits worth $11.9 trillion are in Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine.

“My guess is that Global American Empire nukes stopped working a long time ago, but some Russian nukes still work.”

• Possible Outcomes Of War In The Ukraine (Jim)

In World War I, the incapacity to mount further attempts at war of movement was followed by 100 days of increasingly rapid and costly German defeats and retreats in attritive warfare, and it became apparent that if the Germans did not make peace on any terms they could get, then eventually there would be attritive warfare all the way to Berlin, most German men would die, and Berlin would be flattened. So they cut a deal where they handed over their heavy weapons, but the army and the nation remained an army and a nation. Without that deal, the war would likely have gone on for years, with enormous costs for everyone, but by far the greatest costs for Germans. And a sane and capable Global American Empire would accept, in a hundred days or so, the deal that Putin has been offering – assuming it will still be on offer after major retreats and losses in attritive warfare.

But a sane and capable Global American Empire would probably have been capable of winning. So a possible and likely outcome is that the war goes on till Kiev starts being flattened and most Ukrainian men are dead. Which may well take quite a while. At which point there is a significant likelihood that Nato will be thrown in to relieve Kiev. In a full war between Russia and Nato, neither side has any incentive to refrain escalating all the way to nukes. If Nato intervenes the rationale will be that quick decisive victory is attainable, which is unlikely to be the case. So, nukes. Do anyone’s nukes still work? My guess is that Global American Empire nukes stopped working a long time ago, but some Russian nukes still work. Nukes were and are made out of components that deteriorate over time, and have to regularly refurbished, reconditioned and sometimes rebuilt.

And if you are not testing, your maintenance process is likely to go off the rails when the men that built those bombs retire. The test ban treaty was a stealth slow motion nuclear disarmament treaty. If someone’s nukes still work, this is likely to bring the war to a quick and decisive end, with relatively small destruction and casualties. I estimate that only about twenty percent of Americans would die in the course of losing a nuclear war, deaths insignificant compared to abortion and all that, and destruction insignificant compared to the Rust Belt and all the Detroits. No big deal in the broad historical sweep that this blog looks at. If, on the other hand, technological decay means we fight World War I all over again, but this time political decay means that it is fought all the way to the end, the death and destruction could be considerably greater. But perhaps, in a hundred days or so, while the Global American Empire still holds most of the Ukraine, as the Germans still held most of Europe, the Global American Empire will figure out that it is 1918-11-11 all over again.

“So all-consuming, so all-powerful is the American sacred narrative that, in over 250 years, there has been no significant historical break in the unyielding American drive for Jihad.”

• The Demon in America’s Sacred Narrative (Vlahos)

America is a Religion. On July 4, 1776, the United States was baptized with these words: “We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor”. By this oath, a nation was born and launched on its mythic passage of becoming. The Founders—our “creators”—had imagined more than a nation, however. They had also drafted the story arc of a divinely heroic journey, centering the United States as the culmination (to be) of History. This is America’s sacred narrative. Since its founding, the United States has pursued, with burning religious fervor, a higher calling to redeem humanity, punish the wicked, and christen a golden millennium on earth. While France, Britain, Germany, and Russia stalked the world in search of new colonies and conquests, America has steadfastly hewed to its unique vision of divine mission as “God’s New Israel”.

Whereas the mythical narratives of other great powers were cruelly self-centered, American scripture was—and remains today—“To Serve Man”. Thus, among all the revolutions unleashed by Modernity, the United States declares itself—in its own scripture—to be the trailblazer and pathfinder of humanity. America is the exceptional nation—the singular, the pure-of-heart, the baptizer, and redeemer of all peoples despised and downtrodden: The “last, best hope of earth”. This is the catechism of the American Civil Religion. In the world’s eyes, all this may seem like a ritual of self-serving vanity, yet the Civil Religion is the national article of faith for Americans. It is Holy Writ, which takes rhetorical form through what Americans take to be History. Yet this vision of history is better understood as a body of sacred literature, in many ways comparable to Islam.

[..] Our sacred literature defines American identity as a grand narrative arc endowed by God—to be realized through a recurring series of ever-ascending epiphanic stories: a historical cycle of ecstatic struggles shaping America’s mythic passage of becoming and culminating in an apocalypse—“revelation” or “unveiling” (Ancient Greek apokálupsis). Within these apocalyptic cycles, the hidden meaning of the American sacred story arc is revealed only through the realization of universal democracy. As with Islam, the American religion too culminates in an apocalypse. As such, the American story arc can only be fulfilled through battle. Every “peak life” moment in the American sacred narrative has been realized through mutual sacrifice and the transcendental power of victory in battle.

From its founding moment to today, war has been the anvil of America, and blood its divine annealing. Not only is each major American war regarded as a benchmark of progress toward a millenarian Grail, but each American generation has been encouraged to move the yardstick forward. While not every struggle succeeded, each drive built a launchpad for the next big push. So all-consuming, so all-powerful is the American sacred narrative that, in over 250 years, there has been no significant historical break in the unyielding American drive for Jihad.

A true Hollywood production.

• J6 Panel Added Audio To Silent Security Video For Primetime Hearings (JTN)

The Democrat-led House Select Committee to Investigate Jan. 6 doctored a key piece of its evidence, adding audio to silent U.S. Capitol Police security footage used to create a dramatic video montage for the opening of its primetime hearings last summer, according to a Just the News review of the original raw footage and interviews. In at least two instances identified by Just the News, the panel’s sizzle reel that aired live and on C-SPAN last June failed to identify that it had overdubbed audio from another, unidentified source onto the silent footage. Multiple current and former Capitol Police officials as well as key lawmakers and congressional aides confirmed that the closed-circuit cameras that captured the video do not record sound and that it was added afterwards.

A former spokesman for the Jan. 6 committee told Just the News that the panel was supposed to clearly mark any video that was dubbed with another audio source, and it did so on some occasions in the sizzle reel. But Just the News identified two key pieces of Capitol Police closed circuit television (“CCTV”) footage — one from an inside angle showing the dramatic breach of a key entrance to the Capitol by rioters and the other an aerial view of the agitated crowd outside – from a camera system that Capitol Police officials confirmed did not have sound recording capabilities. Yet, the footage shown by the committee inexplicably included sound on the video montage they produced. That video is without any disclaimer showing the audio had been dubbed.

The chairman of the current GOP-led House Administration subcommittee that continues to investigate the security failures of the Jan. 6 tragedy blasted the decision to dub audio without informing the public, saying it was further proof Democrats wanted to sway opinion rather than gather facts. “What the American people want to know is the truth, and this was nothing but a Hollywood production,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., told the Just the News, No Noise television show Friday night. “The committee spent $18.5 million, at least that’s what we know of, to write a dossier against Donald Trump and to create this Hollywood production. And when I looked at the videos, it’s clear, it’s apparent to me that it is a Capitol police security video film, and there is no audio whatsoever.” “And so yes, it was dubbed on there for dramatic effect” Loudermilk continued, “And that shows that what they were trying to do is sway public opinion, not just get the truth out.”

[..] Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said if the video evidence was altered and the public wasn’t told, it warranted an investigation and forensic exam by Congress and would likely have resulted in serious repercussions had it occurred in a court of law. “Well, if this is true, if they really did dub the tapes without telling the public, if a lawyer did that, that lawyer would be disbarred,” Dershowitz said. “It would be fraud if a person introduced that as testimony and didn’t disclose that it had material added. That would be a form of perjury. “We ought to be able to prove that forensically, without any doubt, and we ought to be able to get the evidence of who added the words, where the words came. … We have to get all the facts. But once the facts are known if it confirms what you’ve said, this is a very, very serious ethical and perhaps even legal breach.”

“Nothing Rhodes did, in the aggregate, comes close to taking a life—yet he will go behind bars for the same period of time as a stone-cold killer.”

• The Overzealous Prosecutors of January 6th (Ted Rall)

“Government,” observed the 14th century Arab political theorist Ibn Khaldoun, “is an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself.” Draconian prison sentences handed down to those involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot highlight this truism. Though he didn’t enter the Capitol that day, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, 57, received 18 years in federal prison for seditious conspiracy under a law whose retrograde origins and vague definition ought to worry those who care about due process. Florida chapter leader Kelly Megg will serve 12 years for the same offense. Peter Schwartz, 49, who attacked police officers at the Capitol with a chair and then chemical spray, got 14 years. Richard Barnett, who was photographed with his feet resting on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, received 4.5 years.

The US Department of Justice has obtained prison sentences in at least 250 of the thousand-plus January 6th-related cases it is prosecuting. The DOJ is also undermining defendants’ ability to hire attorneys by asking judges to issue fines big enough to offset donations to legal-defense funds. Like most Americans, I am disgusted by the events of January 6th. The rioters rioted without cause even to protest; there was insufficient evidence of irregularities in the 2020 election to believe US President Joe Biden hadn’t won. Many of them succumbed to idiotic nonsense; they believed in QAnon and Pizzagate. Too many were xenophobic, racist, homophobic partisans of the far-right, the embodiment of what the historian Richard Hofstadter described as the paranoid style in American politics.

Rhodes, who also participated in the 2014 standoff by far-right anti-government extremists at the Bundy Ranch, would probably despise me and my left-wing politics. (Though, you never know. Rhodes’ Oath Keepers supported Edward Snowden.) I abhor the defendants and their politics, as well as their actions on January 6th. Yet I can see that the events of that day, shocking as they were, have been exaggerated by Democrats and their media allies in order to gain partisan advantage. Now, they are being punished beyond reason. A reasonable person cannot conclude that these punishments fit the crime. The average prison term for a person convicted of murder in the United States is 17.5 years. The average term for rape is seven years.

Nothing Rhodes did, in the aggregate, comes close to taking a life—yet he will go behind bars for the same period of time as a stone-cold killer. Appropriate January 6th charges would include burglary, trespassing and vandalism and, in cases like those who called for violence against government officials, menacing. Rhodes, however, was sentenced as a terrorist. His real offense was challenging the authority of the government at its seat of power. The riot caused $1.5 million worth of damage to the Capitol building, the same amount New York City paid to renovate a nondescript children’s playground in Harlem. One Capitol Hill police officer died, the following day. The coroner attributed his passing to natural causes; prosecutors did not file charges against anyone in that incident.

Businessmen take the place of politicians.

• Why Elon Musk’s Visit Is Important For China (Fomenko)

Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk went on a tour of China this week. It was his first visit to the country since 2019, after a hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic. Musk met with China’s foreign minister Qin Gang, before later meeting Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang. During these meetings, he discussed his Tesla factory in Shanghai for electric cars, as well as the Lithium battery supply chain. Although in practice it was all about business, the political symbolism of the trip on both sides is unmistakeable. Beijing did not keep Musk’s visit low-key nor leave it by the wayside, but placed it on a megaphone and amplified it aggressively through its media channels. It wanted the world to know very clearly that not only was a major American tech figure and entrepreneur in town, but was engaging with its leaders.

When was the last time an American politician or official visited Beijing and got such a reception? While not discounting the fact that few will do so for political reasons, even those who do, be it Anthony Blinken or Wendy Sherman, are given a frosty and hostile reception. In fact, since the “spy balloon” incident at the beginning of the year, China has even gone as far as putting high-level communications with the US on ice completely. The refusal to meet with US Secretary of Defence Llyod Austin at the Shang-ri-la dialogue in Singapore, is one such example. But that does not mean China is not interested in engaging with the US at all. Rather, China sees engaging with American politicians as a waste of time, and instead sees greater political gain in using high profile individuals such as Elon Musk to drive practical and results-based engagement.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also conducted a similar trip to China earlier this year. What is the purpose and message? Despite surging tensions and uncertainties, Beijing continues to see the American business community, who are not Anti-China by nature of what they do, as its best bet. Right now, US politics is in a race to the bottom concerning China. The atmosphere of US foreign policy debate is lethally toxic, lost in a maelstrom of paranoia, irrationality and mass hysteria over Beijing. Politicians compete to shout the loudest on who can vilify China, seek to regularly provoke tensions over matters such as Taiwan, and of course lock the debate by accusing anyone who questions their narrative as being soft on Beijing. This has created an echo chamber which has made it impossible to improve relations on a political level.

But the business community is different, because American companies see financial opportunity in China and its market, something they have engaged with for over 40 years. Behind the scenes, businessmen attempt to lobby politicians to ensure their interests are preserved, even if they aren’t having much luck when it comes to China, and this has made them perhaps the only consistent voice in opposing the anti-China rhetoric pushed by Washington DC over the past few years. While of course they are forced to contemplate the political risks of engagement, a factor they cannot control and that politicians can use to coerce them, they are a moderating voice of reason. And on that premise, someone like Elon Musk is very important. Although his political viewpoint is very right wing, and he is of course South African, rather than American, it is undeniable that he has established himself as one of the most influential businessmen in the US right now, and fortunately for Beijing he has an open mind and amicable attitude towards China. In taking control of Twitter, one of the world’s most influential social media platforms, Musk has pursued a policy of free speech which has rolled back anti-China measures implemented by its predecessor CEO Jack Dorsey.

Underwhelming, Sy.

• Russiagate’s Missing Pieces (Seymour Hersh)

Durham, to his credit, did follow the leads that came to his office, but he left them in secrecy—perhaps in the Classified Appendix or perhaps completely off the record. He was seen by some as being mandated only to investigate FBI management shortcomings and believed the public needed a full accounting of the FBI bungling. It was not clear whether Durham, had he decided to expand the parameters of his inquiry to include the implications of the intelligence about the Clinton campaign, would have been allowed to do so. As Durham himself writes, “any attempted prosecution premised on the Clinton Plan intelligence would face what in all likelihood would be insurmountable classification issues given the highly sensitive nature of the information itself.”

The issue with Durham may be that he was the wrong man in what could never be the right job. He had made his reputation with the help of others in the FBI and Justice Department. They had provided him with much of the evidence he used in his Mafia investigations—undercover agents, access to information, wiretaps and extra manpower for manpower for analysis and surveillance. He had made and kept friendships current over the years. But there are no shoulders to lean on when one is investigating colleagues in Washington. It was not clear to some who worked with him whether Durham understood the ease with which the FBI could game the FISA process and get their way with the special court; nor that he understood the extent to which the serious operators in the intelligence community thought themselves to be above the law. I will never forget a lunch I had in a Chinese restaurant down the highway from the CIA headquarters with a bunch of covert operators from the Middle East.

They were making fun of what they depicted as bumbling FBI gumshoes—this was just after 9/11—and I angrily asked one of them how he could mock the FBI when they all had to work together to solve the crime. His answer: “Sy, the FBI? The FBI? They catch bank robbers. And we rob banks. And the NSA? You expect me to work with guys who carry protractors in their shirt pockets and are always looking down at their brown shoes?” In the end, and to Durham’s credit, he stuck to his guns and said what he thought about those who wished him to expand his inquiry deeper into the actions of the Clinton campaign in this footnote: “To be clear, this Office did not and does not view the potential existence of a political plan by one campaign to spread negative claims about its opponent as illegal or criminal in any respect.” He added, however, that for a campaign to “knowingly provide false information to the government” would be another matter.

How to distinguish the two is the crux of the issue. In his failure—if that’s the right word for it—to get the whole story, Durham resembles one of the blind men in the ancient Hindu parable about a group of blind men inspecting an elephant. Each of the inspectors describes a small part. The elephant is the campaign to link Trump to Russia. The mainstream press, running with the later discredited Russiagate narrative, portrays Trump as a puppet of Putin or even as a double agent of Moscow dating back to the Soviet era. And Durham sees himself merely as the lawyer who was ordered to investigate FBI managerial shortcomings. The public only sees parts of the picture. There is more to know.

“..when you deal with true evil, and that is what we are dealing with, it’s really easy to get discouraged or give up hope..”

• You Need a War Strategy – Catherine Austin Fitts (USAW)

Catherine Austin Fitts (CAF), Publisher of The Solari Report, financial expert and former Assistant Secretary of Housing (Bush 41 Admin.), says, “You’ve got people actually trying to kill you. . . . You don’t need an investment strategy, you need a war strategy because this is a war. . . . You cannot do business with criminals, in particular, criminals who are above the law and have sovereign immunity or the DOJ treats them like they have sovereign immunity. We had the Durham Report, and it came out and they announced, oops, we had no evidence (on President Trump) and we are not going to prosecute anybody. That is sovereign immunity. . . . The middle class is getting creamed, and at the root, we are watching the centralization of wealth using central bank mechanisms and it is a policy and a strategy. I left Washington years ago, and I was saying there is money disappearing from the federal government.

I said if they keep doing this, they are going to have to depopulate or they are going to have to lower life expectancy or lower our standard of living. We have to deal with this, and I said I am not going to go along. You can kill people with a bioweapon (like the CV19 bioweapon injections), but you can also kill people with a pen. First, they killed people with a pen before we started with the pandemic.” Fitts contends to not expect any big interest rate cuts anytime soon. A pause, maybe, a rate cut– forget it. CAF explains, “They are going to do whatever they have to do to protect the dollar. It would not surprise me on the next meeting they pause (rate hikes) . . . but there is no doubt if they have to raise interest rates to protect the dollar, they are going to do it. They get a lot more benefit being the reserve currency than taking another recession and wiping out another round of the middle class.”

CAF contends the dark powers want to destroy wealth. CAF says, “I think we need our own reset. ‘The People’s Reset,’ and the key to our reset is it has to be a for-profit revolution. We have to get in the business of building wealth and not allowing them to destroy our culture of being wealth builders. . . . I am going to help other people be productive, and I am going to do it in a way that produces and creates family wealth, personal wealth and community wealth. You know what wealth does? That is the seed corn of democracy. Without wealth, there will be no democracy. There will be bolshevism and tyranny. They are shrinking our wealth, and we cannot permit that. We have to be wealth builders, and it starts with every individual protecting their wealth . . . and using their wealth to help others . . . . So, we have got to be wealth builders if we are ever going to dig our way out of this.”

CAF details the deflation with this depopulation coming from the CV19 bioweapon/vax. CAF also says your chances for survival go way up if you take action now and goes into detail on the steps you need to take to thwart evil people trying to kill us off and “harvest” our wealth. In closing, CAF says, “. . . It pays to have a hard shell and just never quit. Just keep learning . . . and begin anywhere. . . . “Turtle Forth” is about never quitting, and this is important because when you deal with true evil, and that is what we are dealing with, it’s really easy to get discouraged or give up hope. You can’t do that . . . . What you’ve got to protect at all cost is your faith, your hope and your love.”

How is this different from what happened to Trump?

• Pakistani Military Ordered Press To Stop Covering Imran Khan (IC)

The Pakistani military invited the owners of the country’s major media organizations to Islamabad this week for a secret meeting to discuss coverage of the ongoing political and constitutional crisis, Pakistani journalists familiar with the gathering told The Intercept. The invitation was not one that could be refused, and the message was equally direct: Cease all coverage of former Prime Minister Imran Khan amid his ongoing clash with the military. Following the meeting, which has not been previously reported, top editors at news organizations across Pakistan issued directives to their journalists to pause coverage of Khan, said the Pakistani journalists, who requested anonymity for fear of their safety. An inspection of Pakistani media sites reveals a stark change. Earlier this week and every day for years before, Khan was a leading subject of coverage. He has effectively vanished from the news. The ban was confirmed by more than a half-dozen Pakistani journalists. “They have lots of levers to hurt media companies.”

Khan is at the center of a political crisis that has paralyzed Pakistani cities, prompted clashes and riots targeting the all-powerful military, and seen tens of thousands of his political supporters sent to prison. You wouldn’t know that from reading the Pakistani press today, even as he continues a campaign against an attempt by the military to exclude him and his party from contesting upcoming elections. The recent crisis began when Khan was hit with corruption charges, which he and supporters of his political party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, claim to be a political exercise aimed at excluding him from politics. Khan, a former cricket player and philanthropist, has become Pakistan’s most popular politician by galvanizing public anger against the country’s dynastic political parties.

He served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was removed from office by a coalition of opposition parties. While his original rise to power was widely believed to have been patronized from behind the scenes by the military itself, after falling out with military leadership, Khan has become a fierce opponent of their domineering role in politics. In Pakistan, there is no bigger story than the battle between Khan and the military, which has played out in spectacular fashion, including the extrajudicial arrest of Khan from inside a courtroom, sparking nationwide protests and, eventually, a Supreme Court order to free him. Khan is also the No. 1 driver of ratings and web traffic to news organizations — until Thursday, when he virtually disappeared from the national news media.

The explicit directive from the military was not delivered in writing, said sources. A more vaguely worded order was issued by Pakistan’s Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, which oversees television stations, barring coverage of “hate mongers, rioters, their facilitators and perpetrators.” The directive does not name Khan, but its meaning is clear.

Murrow

In 1954 EDWARD R. MURROW bravely and famously took apart one Senator McCarthy.

“The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves. Good night and good luck.”

pic.twitter.com/odDYdmEFff

— Michael Warburton (@MichaelWarbur17) June 3, 2023

Titanic
https://twitter.com/i/status/1664722712290381827

Dr. Burkhardt died this week.

Prof. Dr. Arne Burkhardt, a German pathologist, presents an unsettling slide show revealing that in vaccinated males, the spike protein from the COVID vaccine has entirely replaced their sperm. pic.twitter.com/n10PpSayql

— Jung (@betterworld_24) June 3, 2023

“It is man’s intelligence that makes him so often behave more stupidly than the beasts. Man is impelled to invent theories to account for what happens in the world. Unfortunately, he is not quite intelligent enough, in most cases, to find correct explanations. So that when he acts on his theories, he behaves very often like a lunatic. Thus, no animal is clever enough, when there is a drought, to imagine that the rain is being withheld by evil spirits, or as punishment for its transgressions. Therefore you never see animals going through the absurd and often horrible fooleries of magic and religion. No horse, for example would kill one of its foals to make the wind change direction. Dogs do not ritually urinate in the hope of persuading heaven to do the same and send down rain. Asses do not bray a liturgy to cloudless skies. Nor do cats attempt, by abstinence from cat’s meat, to wheedle the feline spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly. It is the price he has to pay for being intelligent but not, as yet, intelligent enough.”

Aldous Huxley

Birds and sheep

Birds and sheep dancing together pic.twitter.com/RNhWMYT416

— That's Actually Very Cool (@thatsavcool) June 2, 2023

Lions

pic.twitter.com/7ZanFoRBZH

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) June 3, 2023

Eulophophyllum kirki is a katydid (bush cricket) found in Danum Valley Conservation Area in the state of Sabah, Malaysia and first described only in 2016. It’s been named for the photographer of the only known specimen, Peter Kirk [read more: https://buff.ly/3qrx8Xu]

Pink Fox

pic.twitter.com/WnlPSkXOVR

— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) June 3, 2023

China road

One of the most famous roads in China.pic.twitter.com/sNtTv0MPwO

— Figen (@TheFigen_) June 3, 2023

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Debt Rattle March 20 2023

Mar 202023

March 20, 2023 Posted by Raúl Ilargi Meijer at 9:30 am Finance Tagged with: Belarus, ceasefire, Credit Suisse, hypersonic, Imran Khan, Kirby, NATO, Putin, tribunal, UBS, wild mammals, Xi Jinping 54 Responses »

Hieronymus Bosch The Garden of Earthly Delights, centre panel, detail c1500

• UBS To Buy CS For $3 Billion As AT1 Bonds Get Wiped Out In Record Bail-In (ZH)

• Xi Jinping Sees Shift To Multipolar World As ‘Irreversible’ (RT)

• Russian-Chinese Relations Remain Strong As Tested By Time – Xi Jinping (TASS)

• White House Says It Opposes a Ceasefire in Ukraine (Antiwar)

• Ukraine Ceasefire ‘Unacceptable’ – White House (RT)

• EU Explosives Shortage Threatens Ukraine – FT (RT)

• NATO Is Racing To Arm Its Russian Borders. Can It Find The Weapons? (Pol.eu)

• Russia Has Hypersonic Weapons Now, But It Does Not Use Them – Putin (TASS)

• Russian Files On Kiev’s Crimes To Provide Basis For Tribunal – Kremlin (TASS)

• Poland May End Up ‘Joining’ Ukraine Conflict – Diplomat (RT)

• Belarus Cracks Down On Pro-Ukraine Guerrillas As War Threatens To Expand (ZH)

• Iraq 20 Years (Ray McGovern)

• Elon Musk Fact-Checks Biden On Tax Claim (RT)

• Germans Warned Of Energy Crisis Next Winter (RT)

• Imran Khan Hit With Terror Charges (RT)

• Total Weight Of Wild Mammals Less Than 10% Of Humanity’s (G.)

Xi Jinping arrives in Moscow today, and he means business. The US knows this, and refuses his ceasefire plans. Which he will sign with Putin tomorrow, and send them to Zelensky – after a short phone-call. Washington tells Zelensky not to sign. Not what Xi wants. What does he have planned after that? Will he cut exports to the US?

Nap/Macgregor The Russians have destroyed Three Ukrainian Armies

I Would Not Mess With Putin – Seymour Hersh + Rickards: Energy Armageddon

2017 Poroshenko Trump

For those still confused about the history of how the US began sending lethal arms to Ukraine, take seven minutes watch this excerpt from the BBC series "Putin vs. the West"

June 2017: Ukraine president Poroshenko says he received a verbal commitment from Trump to send the arms pic.twitter.com/3EicLL0IQb

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) March 20, 2023

Paris

Thousands of anti-war protesters took to the streets of Paris to protest against the supply of arms to Ukraine and demand the withdrawal of France from the US-led NATO bloc. pic.twitter.com/ESKAKqVvfQ

— Hassan Mafi ‏ (@thatdayin1992) March 19, 2023

Dinesh

Why has Tucker Carlson stopped airing footage from Jan 6? I provide a likely explanation. pic.twitter.com/CLHkyvUrwm

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) March 19, 2023

The panic is tangible. Bypass laws, bypass shareholders… Credit Suisse must be in terrible shape. Will UBS survive being forced to buy them?

Egon von Greyerz: “THE CHF 16B WRITE DOWN BY SWISS REGULATOR #FINMA OF THE #Credit_Suisse AT1 BONDS WILL CREATE PANIC IN EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL DEBT MARKETS. BUY MORE PHYSICAL GOLD AND HANG ON TO YOUR SEATS.”

European bank stocks are plummeting.

• UBS To Buy CS For $3 Billion As AT1 Bonds Get Wiped Out In Record Bail-In (ZH)

We finally have a deal, and what was at first a CHF1 BN acquisition priceof Credit Suisse by UBS, which then rose to CHF 2 BN, has now cranked up one final time to CHF 3BN (US$3.25 billion), or 0.76 per share, specifically shareholders of Credit Suisse will receive 1 share in UBS for 22.48 shares in Credit Suisse. As part of the deal, the Swiss National Bank is offering a 100 billion-franc liquidity assistance to UBS while the government is granting a 9 billion-franc guarantee for potential losses from assets UBS is taking over, i.e., this is a taxpayer-backed bailout. More importantly, however, the bank’s entire AT1 tranche – some CHF16BN of Additioanal Tier 1 (AT1) bonds, a $275BN market – will be bailed in and written down to zero, to wit: “FINMA has determined that Credit Suisse’s Additional Tier 1 Capital (deriving from the issuance of Tier 1 Capital Notes) in the aggregate nominal amount of approximately CHF 16 billion will be written off to zero.”

This wipe out, pardon, bail-in is the biggest loss yet for Europe’s $275 billion AT1 market, far eclipsing the approximately €1.35 billion loss suffered by junior bondholders of Spanish lender Banco Popular SA back in 2017, when it was absorbed by Banco Santander SA to avoid a collapse. AT1 bonds were introduced in Europe after the global financial crisis to serve as shock absorbers when banks start to fail. They are designed to impose permanent losses on bondholders or be converted into equity if a bank’s capital ratios fall below a predetermined level, effectively propping up its balance sheet and allowing it to stay in business. As Bloomberg notes, investors had been concerned that a so-called bail-in would result in the AT1s being written down, while senior debt issued by the holding company, Credit Suisse would be converted into equity for the bank. In retrospect, they were right to be worried… meanwhile equityholders get CHF3 billion; we are confident Swiss pensions will be delighted they are getting a doughnut while the Saudis get a not immaterial recovery.

“The international community has recognized that no country is superior to others, no model of governance is universal, and no single country should dictate the international order,,”

• Xi Jinping Sees Shift To Multipolar World As ‘Irreversible’ (RT)

Chinese President Xi Jinping has set the tone for his visit this week to Moscow by touting improving relations with Russia in the ten years since he took office and vowing that the transition to a “multipolar world” liberated from US domination won’t be stopped. “The world today is going through profound changes unseen in a century,” Xi wrote in an article published on Sunday by the Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “The historical trend of peace, development and win-win cooperation is unstoppable. The prevailing trends of world multipolarity, economic globalization and greater democracy in international relations are irreversible.”

Xi, who’s scheduled to arrive on Monday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noted that the world faces “traditional and non-traditional security challenges,” as well as “damaging acts of hegemony, domination and bullying.” He added that countries around the world are “eager to find a cooperative way out of the crisis” as they try to get through a “long and tortuous global economic recovery.” “The international community has recognized that no country is superior to others, no model of governance is universal, and no single country should dictate the international order. The common interest of all humankind is in a world that is united and peaceful, rather than divided and volatile.”

Xi made his comments amid escalating tensions with Washington over the Ukraine crisis and US interference in China’s sovereignty over Taiwan. Beijing has resisted Western pressure to condemn Russia over the Ukraine conflict, maintaining neutrality on the issue and promoting a 12-point peace plan to end the hostilities. Washington has dismissed the peace proposal and accused China of mulling military aid to Russia. “We believe that as long as all parties embrace the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and pursue equal-footed, rational and results-oriented dialogue and consultation, they will find a reasonable way to resolve the crisis, as well as a broad path toward a world of lasting peace and common security,” Xi said. He added that China’s plan takes into account the “legitimate security concerns of all countries.”

China and Russia have cemented mutual trust and fostered a “new model of major-country relations” over the past decade, as evidenced by a doubling of trade between the two nations, reaching $190 billion in 2022, Xi wrote. “We have been active in practicing true multilateralism, promoting the common values of humanity, and championing the building of a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind.” Xi called for increasing the quality and quantity of investment and economic cooperation between China and Russia, as well as stronger policy coordination. “We have every reason to expect that China and Russia, as fellow travelers on the journey of development and rejuvenation, will make new and greater contributions to human advancement.”

Loud and clear.

• Russian-Chinese Relations Remain Strong As Tested By Time – Xi Jinping (TASS)

Russian-Chinese relations went through tough periods throughout their history, but they had eventually proved to be strong, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in an interview with Russia’s Rossiyskaya gazeta daily. “At the invitation of President Vladimir Putin, I will soon pay a state visit to the Russian Federation. Russia was the first country I visited after I was elected President 10 years ago,” Xi Jinping said in the article published ahead of his visit to Russia. “Over the past decade, I have made eight visits to Russia,” he continued. “I came each time with high expectations and returned with fruitful results, opening a new chapter for China-Russia relations together with President Putin.”

“Looking back on the extraordinary journey of China-Russia relations over the past 70 years and more, we feel strongly that our relationship has not reached easily where it is today, and that our friendship is growing steadily and must be cherished by us all,” Xi Jinping said in the article published ahead of his visit to Russia. “China and Russia have found a right path of state-to-state interactions,” Xi stated. “This is essential for the relationship to stand the test of changing international circumstances, a lesson borne out by both history and reality.” “My upcoming visit to Russia will be a journey of friendship, cooperation and peace. I look forward to working with President Putin to jointly adopt a new vision, a new blueprint and new measures for the growth of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the years to come,” the Chinese president said.

“To this end, our two sides need to enhance coordination and planning. As we focus on our respective cause of development and rejuvenation, we should get creative in our thinking, create new opportunities and inject new impetus. It is important that we increase mutual trust and bring out the potential of bilateral cooperation to keep China-Russia relations at a high level,” Xi added. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are scheduled to hold negotiations in Moscow on March 21. Earlier, Moscow and Beijing announced that Xi Jinping would make an official visit to Russia on March 20-22. According to previous reports from the Kremlin, negotiations would feature discussions of “current issues of further development of relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China.” The sides also planned to exchange opinions within the context of deepening Russian-Chinese cooperation on the international arena. They are also expected to sign a number of important bilateral documents.

The White House attempts to pre-empt Xi.

“Russia cannot be defeated militarily in a year, and the warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on the “arrest” of Russian President Vladimir Putin deprives the West of the opportunity to negotiate with Moscow and will lead to an escalation of the conflict and new victims”
– Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic

• White House Says It Opposes a Ceasefire in Ukraine (Antiwar)

The White House has come out against a ceasefire in Ukraine ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow to potentially mediate between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart in Kyiv. Xi is due to arrive in Moscow on Monday and is expected to speak virtually to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky following his talks with Putin. Xi’s trip comes after Beijing released a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine that called for the two sides to cease hostilities and for peace talks to begin. Zelensky expressed openness to China’s proposal, but it was immediately rejected by President Biden. “We don’t support calls for a ceasefire right now,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Friday, according to Newsweek.

“We certainly don’t support calls for a ceasefire that would be called for by the PRC in a meeting in Moscow that would simply benefit Russia.” Kirby’s comments come as Ukrainian and Russian forces continue to battle in the Donbas city of Bakhmut, which has become known as the “meat grinder” due to the heavy casualties. Ukraine has been pouring in barely-trained conscripts to fight in the city, and the US thinks Kyiv is wasting too many resources in the battle. The US wants Ukraine to launch a counteroffensive in the spring, although a senior Ukrainian official told The Washington Post last week that Kyiv doesn’t have the resources to pull it off. Kirby’s reasoning for opposing a ceasefire at this time is that a pause in fighting could concede territory to Moscow.

Kirby said the ceasefire would, “in effect, recognize Russia’s gains, and its attempt to conquer his neighbor’s territory by force, allowing Russian troops to continue to occupy sovereign Ukrainian territory and, of course, it would be another continued violation of the UN Charter.” The US and its allies discouraged peace talks and mediation efforts that were conducted shortly after Russia’s February 2022 invasion. At that time, Moscow was seeking a deal that would have reverted to the pre-invasion territorial lines. But now, Ukraine stands to lose much more as Russia has annexed the territory it controls in the Ukrainian oblasts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and the breakaway Donbas republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Kirby about Xi’s visit: “State visit, if you will..”

• Ukraine Ceasefire ‘Unacceptable’ – White House (RT)

Washington is firmly opposed to a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has said, branding any peace initiatives “unacceptable” in the current situation. The senior White House official made the remarks on Sunday in an interview with Fox News. Kirby touched on the upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, stating that should any peace initiatives come out of their meeting, Washington would reject them. “What we have said before, and we’ll say it again today, that if coming out of this meeting, there’s some sort of call for a ceasefire, well, that’s just going to be unacceptable because all that’s going to do… is ratify Russian’s conquest to date,” Kirby stated.

Moscow and Beijing have been“increasing their cooperation and their relationship” lately, the official said, asserting that the two nations have joined to undermine and “rewrite” the so-called “rules of the game globally.” Russia and China “are two countries that are chafing against this international rules-based order that the United States and so many of our allies and partners have built up, since the end of World War II,” he said. Recently, China floated a 12-point roadmap for putting an end to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which has been raging for over a year already. China has taken a neutral stance on the hostilities, repeatedly urging both parties to show restraint and stick to diplomacy in order to find a resolution.

While the Chinese roadmap has been welcomed in Moscow, it has received a cold reception in the West. Multiple top officials have brushed off Beijing’s efforts to act as a mediator, accusing it of siding with Moscow. US President Joe Biden, for instance, openly questioned Beijing’s motives and voiced suspicion over Moscow’s reaction to it. “Putin is applauding it, so how could it be any good?” the US president said shortly after the plan was unveiled.

“We won’t accept a ceasefire.”

The US Govt dictates to Ukraine that it wants more war and more dead Ukrainians. What a friend.pic.twitter.com/BFGVcs9Rhj

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 20, 2023

“If I want to increase production of gunpowder I need probably three years..”

• EU Explosives Shortage Threatens Ukraine – FT (RT)

The EU defense industry’s ability to provide Ukraine with military supplies has been hampered by a deficit of explosives, The Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing sources. Several European officials and arms manufacturers told the outlet that the bloc’s military plants are suffering from scarce supplies of gunpowder and TNT, which could delay plans to boost shell production by three years. The sources also complained that this meant the defense industry would be unable to meet the soaring demand “regardless of how much money is thrown at the problem.” “The fundamental problem is that the European defense industry is not in good shape for large-scale war production,” one German official told the outlet.

These concerns were echoed by Jiri Hynek, who chairs the Defense and Security Industry Association of the Czech Republic. He said, as quoted by the FT, that while building a new artillery factory “is very easy,” it is impossible to produce shells without raw materials. The official proceeded to point out that “it’s not possible to increase, in a short time, nitrocellulose” production, which is the basic ingredient in gunpowder. “If I want to increase production of gunpowder I need probably three years,” he added. To remedy the situation, the EU needs to find new sources of supply, according to Italian defense official Gianclaudio Torlizzi. He told the FT that the continent needs to approach countries that it had traditionally stayed away from. “Each European country wants to protect its availability of raw materials,” he explained.

EU officials have repeatedly voiced concerns about their dwindling arms stocks due to the bloc’s support of Ukraine. Last December, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell lamented that years of underinvestment had resulted in military stocks quickly running out. Against this backdrop, several key European officials have urged the bloc to switch over to a “war economy.” Meanwhile, on Thursday, the New York Times reported that the US and its allies were running out of ammunition for Ukraine, which is burning through thousands of shells each day in the battle for the key Donbass city of Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine). According to the newspaper, Western officials worry that this process is “unsustainable” and could jeopardize Kiev’s planned springtime campaign.

The narrative is that Russia will attack beyond Ukraine. It’s just a narrative.

• NATO Is Racing To Arm Its Russian Borders. Can It Find The Weapons? (Pol.eu)

Add NATO’s military planners to the list of those concerned about having enough shells. In the coming months, the alliance will accelerate efforts to stockpile equipment along the alliance’s eastern edge and designate tens of thousands of forces that can rush to allies’ aid on short notice — a move meant to stop Russia from expanding its war beyond Ukraine. To make that happen, though, NATO must convince individual countries to contribute various elements: Soldiers, training, better infrastructure — and, most notably, extensive amounts of pricey weapons, equipment and ammunition. With countries already worried about their own munitions stockpiles and Ukraine in acute need of more shells and weapons from allies, there is a risk that not all NATO allies will live up to their promises to contribute to the alliance’s new plans.

[..] It’s a challenge NATO has faced in the past, and one that experts fear could become a persistent problem for the Western alliance as Russia’s war drags into a second year. While the U.S. and EU are making plans to source more weapons — fast — the restocking process will inevitably take time. That could run into NATO’s aspirations. Military leaders this spring will submit updated regional defense plans intended to help redefine how the alliance protects its 1 billion citizens. The numbers will be large, with officials floating the idea of up to 300,000 NATO forces needed to help make the new model work. That means lots of coordinating and cajoling. “I think you need forces to counter a realistic Russia,” said one senior NATO military official, underscoring the need for significantly “more troops” and especially more forces at “readiness.”

There are several tiers of “readiness.” The first tier — which may consist of about 100,000 soldiers prepared to move within 10 days — could be drawn from Poland, Norway and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), said Heinrich Brauß, a former NATO assistant secretary general for defense policy and force planning. It may also include multinational battlegroups the alliance has already set up in the eastern flank. A second tier of troops would then back up those soldiers, ready to deploy from countries like Germany in between 10 to 30 days. But the process could get tricky. Why? Because moving so quickly, even given a month, requires lots of people, equipment and training — and lots of money.

Some militaries will have to up their recruitment efforts. Many allies will have to increase defense spending. And everyone will have to buy more weapons, ammunition and equipment. Ben Hodges, former commander of U.S. Army Europe, said that “readiness” is “basically, do you have all the stuff you’re supposed to have to do the mission assigned to a unit of a particular size?” “An artillery battalion needs to shoot X number of rounds per year for planning purposes in order to maintain its level of proficiency,” he said. A tank battalion needs to hit targets, react to different situations and “demonstrate proficiency on the move, day and night, hitting targets that are moving.” “It’s all very challenging,” he said, pointing to the need for training ranges and ammunition, as well as maintaining proficiency as personnel changes over time. “This obviously takes time and it’s also expensive.”

As NATO scrambles to arm Ukraine -and itself-, Russia has no such problems.

Putin was asked why Russia didn’t invade in 2014.

“There are other cutting-edge systems as well, though in 2014 there was nothing of the kind..”

• Russia Has Hypersonic Weapons Now, But It Does Not Use Them – Putin (TASS)

Russia does not use hypersonic weapons in fact now, though it has them, same as other cutting-edge systems, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview for the “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” program on Rossiya-1 TV channel published by journalist Pavel Zarubin on his Telegram channel on Sunday. “Indeed, we have to do much, let’s say, for the development of land forces, but back then [in 2014] there were no hypersonic weapons, though they exist now! Yes, we do not use them in fact, but we have them. Do you understand? There are other cutting-edge systems as well, though in 2014 there was nothing of the kind,” Putin said. Asked whether it was worth starting the special operation in 2014, he stressed that the reality has changed since then: “Conjunctive mood cannot be used here!”.

Two can play that game..

• Russian Files On Kiev’s Crimes To Provide Basis For Tribunal – Kremlin (TASS)

Russia’s Investigative Committee thoroughly records all Kiev’s crimes, with those files to potentially provide a basis for tribunal in the future, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Sunday. “We know that the Investigative Committee is involved in this work. All crimes committed by the Kiev regime are thoroughly recorded. <…> The files will obviously be able to provide a basis for such a tribunal,” he said when asked how the Kremlin takes the idea of a tribunal on Kiev’s regime. Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin said earlier that Moscow should establish an international judicial body in response to Western countries, which are preparing similar structures for Russia’s prosecution.

There we go…

• Poland May End Up ‘Joining’ Ukraine Conflict – Diplomat (RT)

Poland may end up “joining” the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine should the latter fail to protect its “independence,” the Polish ambassador to France, Jan Emeryk Rosciszewski, has said. The senior diplomat made the remarks on Saturday while speaking live to the broadcaster LCI. Rosciszewski squarely blamed the hostilities, which have been ongoing for over a year already, on Moscow, stating that it was “not NATO, not Poland, not France and not Slovakia” that was ramping up international tensions, but Russia. According to the diplomat, the situation now is “either Ukraine will successfully defend its independence, or we will be forced, in any case, to join this conflict.” “Otherwise, our principal values, which are the basis of our civilization and our culture, will be in fundamental danger, so we will have no choice,” Rosciszewski stated.

The hawkish statement promptly made headlines in international media, prompting the Polish mission in France to elaborate further on the remarks made by its head. According to a message released by the embassy on Sunday, Rosciszewski’s comments were not actually an admission that Warsaw was ready to go to war with Russia, but merely a “warning” and a pledge to continue supporting Kiev. “Listening carefully to the entire conversation allows us to understand that there was no announcement of Poland’s direct involvement in the conflict, but only a warning against the consequences of Ukraine’s defeat – the possibility of Russia attacking or dragging into the war more Central European countries – the Baltic states and Poland,” the statement reads. The embassy also condemned the purportedly “sensational” reporting on the bombshell interview, suggesting that some unidentified media outlets may have acted in “ill will.”

The remarks received a poor reception in Moscow, with a top Russian senator, Alexey Pushkov, warning Warsaw of the potential consequences and questioning its presumed resolve to fight Russia on its own. “A very presumptuous statement by the Polish ambassador in Paris. For the first time, an official representative of Poland said what its leaders have long had on their minds. However, all the ‘courage’ of the Poles is based on the support of the United States. Is Warsaw sure that Washington is ready to fight?” Pushkov said in a Telegram post.

Poland has been among the most active supporters of Kiev in the hostilities against Russia, sending in assorted military hardware, including tanks and artillery pieces, to prop up Ukraine. Apart from that, Polish mercenaries have been directly involved in the conflict in significant numbers, according to Moscow. Warsaw has also announced a major military buildup of its own, seeking to greatly expand the ranks of its armed forces and procure large amounts of modern military hardware from overseas.

Is Belarus being provoked by Ukraine to spread the war? You’d almost think so…

• Belarus Cracks Down On Pro-Ukraine Guerrillas As War Threatens To Expand (ZH)

The Belarus government is implementing widespread measures to crack down on dissent as pro-Ukraine guerrillas attempt to sabotage railways and other logistics that could be used by Russia for a future offensive from the north. The move comes not long after the guerrillas, part of an organization called BYPOL, used two armed drones to damage a Russian Beriev A-50 parked at the Machulishchy Air Base near Minsk. The early warning aircraft was lent to Belarus for monitoring the security of their southern border. The attack failed to destroy the plane beyond minor repairs according the the Belarus government, but did garner BYPOL headlines in the western media.

What they did not report was that the primary perpetrator of the attack was apprehended along with 20 other accomplices. Belarus claims that at least one of the guerrillas has ties to Ukrainian security services, though this remains unconfirmed. Last month, President Alexander Lukashenko warned that: “I’m ready to fight together with the Russians from the territory of Belarus in one case only: if so much as one soldier from (Ukraine) comes to our territory with a gun to kill my people.” If BYPOL attacks continue within Belarus they may provide the very rationale that Lukashenko needs to justify joining military forces with Russia, which would open up the northern border of Ukraine to attack and likely deal a devastating blow to the nation’s defensive posture.

Acts of sabotage have already been used as fuel for civilian restrictions including the issuance of arrest warrants for numerous activists as well as at least five journalists, two of them now sentenced to 12 years in prison for a variety of charges including “Tax evasion, organizing activities aimed at inciting racial, ethnic, religious, or social hatred, and public calls through the media and the Internet aimed at damaging the national security of Belarus.” The Belarus government seems to have abandoned optics in favor of policies akin to martial law, which suggests a near term plan to join Russia militarily as well as to wage an anti-insurgency effort against BYPOL. Foreign Minister Sergei Aleinik stated at the end of February that the accelerated militarization of the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) represents a threat to his country’s security.

” This one was prepared not to determine the truth, but rather to “justify” a preemptive war on Iraq, where there was nothing to preempt.”

• Iraq 20 Years (Ray McGovern)

C.I.A. Director Tenet suggested basing a new draft on the National Intelligence Estimate of Oct. 1, 2002, “Iraq’s Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction.” That had immense appeal to Tenet and others who had been co-opted into “leaning forward” to facilitate a Bush/Cheney war on Iraq. Indeed, one can assume it had appeal to most of those involved in Powell’s speech preparation, given that the Security Council briefing was but a handful of days away. I have been referring to that NIE, advisedly, as The Whore of Babylon, wrong on every major accusation about WMD in Iraq. I speak from experience at the C.I.A. as a former chair of National Intelligence Estimates. This one was prepared not to determine the truth, but rather to “justify” a preemptive war on Iraq, where there was nothing to preempt.

To their credit, State/INR analysts had expressed formal dissent from some of its main conclusions back in September 2002. No, it is not possible that Powell could have been unaware of that. And it is not difficult to explain why Powell chose to spurn his own intelligence analysts, despite their relatively solid reputation. I will resist the temptation to guess at Powell’s motivation, even though I have had some considerable experience with him. Back in the day, we used to spend a few minutes comparing notes before my one-on-one morning briefings of his boss, Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger, with The President’s Daily Brief. I am not surprised, though, as Draper quotes Powell explaining his decision to stay in place as secretary of state and to do what he was told: “I knew I didn’t have any choice. He’s the President.”

Draper adds that, “although Powell would not admit it, Bush’s request that he be the one to make the case against Hussein to the U.N. was enormously flattering. Cheney took a more direct approach: ‘The Vice President said to me: “You’re the most popular man in America. Do something with that popularity.”” Draper describes INR’s Director Ford as “heartsick” watching Powell on TV before the U.N. Security Council. Ford’s chagrin was widely shared among serious intelligence analysts — as well as by us alumni watching the prostitution of what had been our tell-it-like-it-is intelligence analysis profession. But there the National Intelligence Estimate was for plucking — an intelligence community-endorsed consensus already “on the books” — and with drafting time running out.

“I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022.”

• Elon Musk Fact-Checks Biden On Tax Claim (RT)

America’s richest man on Saturday took issue with President Joe Biden’s effort to sell voters on tax increases by claiming that billionaires get away with paying only 3% of their earnings, on average, to the federal government. Tesla CEO Elon Musk pushed back after Biden posted a Twitter message arguing that the mega-rich aren’t paying their fair share of taxes. “You know the average tax billionaires pay?” Biden asked, before answering the question himself with his 3% claim. “No billionaire should be paying a lower tax than somebody working as a schoolteacher or a firefighter.” Musk replied, “I paid 53% taxes on my Tesla stock options (40% federal and 13% state), so I must be lifting the average! I also paid more income tax than anyone ever in the history of Earth for 2021 and will do that again in 2022.”

He then invited Twitter users in the platform’s Community Notes program to weigh in on whether the 3% figure was accurate. Biden has repeatedly made the claim while promoting his effort to raise taxes on high-income Americans. When he made the same statement in a speech last month, PolitiFact pointed out that it was false. “Under today’s laws, the 25 highest-earning billionaires paid an average tax rate of 16%,” the fact-checking outlet said. The group added that most teachers and firefighters fall within an income range with effective tax rates of zero to 15%.

Biden’s 2024 budget proposal calls for raising tax rates on individuals with earnings of more than $400,000 a year and married couples making over $450,000. He also has demanded a 25% minimum tax on Americans with fortunes exceeding $100 million. “Look, I think you should be able to be a billionaire if you can earn it, but just pay your fair share,” Biden said. “I think you ought to pay a minimum tax of 25%. It’s about basic fairness.” Musk countered, “I certainly agree that everyone should pay taxes and not engage in elaborate tax-avoidance schemes.” Such schemes aren’t necessary for low-income Americans because more than 40% of US households pay no federal income tax.

Nord Stream fallout.

• Germans Warned Of Energy Crisis Next Winter (RT)

Germany has managed to avoid an energy crisis this year, but there is a risk that the next heating season will be more difficult, Klaus Mueller, the head of Germany’s Federal Network Agency said in an interview with the Rheinische Post, published on Saturday. According to Mueller, the country’s gas storage facilities are currently 64% full, and even if it the weather turns cold in the next few weeks, German energy supply for the remainder of the heating season is secured. He warned, however, that “we should not relax, as things could be different next winter.” “We cannot rule out a gas shortage for next winter. Risk factors are that the winter of 2023/24 will be very cold, that households and companies will save too little, that the LNG terminals will not work as planned – we would also have to help our neighboring countries with their energy problems,” Mueller explained.

Germany largely managed to avoid energy shortages due to unseasonably mild weather throughout the past couple of months, but Mueller noted that with respect to the next heating season, the weather poses the biggest risk. “We cannot rely on the fact that next winter will be mild again. When it’s cold, many households immediately stop saving. In warm October they saved more than 20% of gas, while during the cold snap in December – only 7%.” The official also pointed to another risk factor – the absence of Russia’s energy supplies, which made it possible for the country to fill up storage tanks in preparation for the heating season last year. While the EU did not ban Russia’s pipeline gas imports, their flows dwindled significantly after Ukraine-related sanctions and following the sabotage that disabled the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, one of the main routes for Russian gas to Europe.

As a result, Germany no longer receives Russian gas directly, and according to Mueller, energy prices will no longer be as low as they were when it did. “We don’t know what will become of Russia’s remaining gas supplies… We have to get used to higher prices, the time of cheap energy from Russia is definitely over,” he stated. Gas prices have been relatively low throughout the winter, helped by lower demand due to mild weather. Wholesale gas prices, which had soared over €300 per megawatt hour late last summer, fell to a level of around €50 in March. While that is far more than what natural gas cost in early 2021, it is “the new normal,” Mueller said, noting that in order to avoid further price spikes, consumers would have to continue efforts to conserve energy.

Khan’s crime? He offended the CIA: “Khan built economic and diplomatic relations with Russia and China during his time in office..”

• Imran Khan Hit With Terror Charges (RT)

Police in Islamabad have filed terrorism charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after crowds of his supporters rioted outside a courthouse in the Pakistani capital. Khan was due to appear at the court on Saturday to answer corruption charges. Khan, along with more than a dozen officials in his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and scores of his supporters, were charged with a litany of offenses, including rioting, obstruction, assault on police officers, arson, intimidation, and acts of terrorism, Pakistan’s The Nation newspaper reported on Sunday. The charges stemmed from a riot outside the Islamabad Judicial Complex on Saturday, in which protesters hurled rocks and fire bombs at police as they waited for Khan to arrive at the building. A dozen police vehicles were burned, and officers responded with tear gas.

More than 50 officers were injured, and 59 of Khan’s supporters were arrested, the Associated Press reported. Police raided Khan’s residence in Lahore earlier on Saturday, shortly after he left for the court date in Islamabad. A crowd of the former PM’s supporters attempted to block police from carrying out the raid, leading to clashes and 30 arrests. The raid was not the first on Khan’s home, and the former leader previously accused authorities of attempting to arrest and execute him. Khan never entered the courtroom on Saturday. In a video message to supporters, he claimed that police fired tear gas at his vehicle, preventing him from stepping outside. The judge postponed his hearing until March 31.

A former cricketer, Khan became prime minister of Pakistan in 2018 but was ousted in 2022. He is accused by the state of unlawfully selling official gifts given to him by foreign dignitaries during his tenure. Khan claims that the corruption charges are politically motivated and aimed at preventing him from returning to power. Khan built economic and diplomatic relations with Russia and China during his time in office, and he has since claimed that his removal was orchestrated by the US with the goal of installing a more compliant leader. The PTI has been leading protests across Pakistan and calling for snap elections since Khan’s ouster. During a November rally in Wazirabad, an attacker opened fire on Khan, injuring him and eight others. Despite his ongoing legal drama, Khan is the most popular political leader in Pakistan, with an approval rating of 61%, according to a Gallup poll taken earlier this month. Current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sits at 32%.

“Their total mass is around 22m tonnes which is less than 10% of humanity’s [..] ..add all our cattle, sheep and other livestock, that adds another 630m tonnes..”

• Total Weight Of Wild Mammals Less Than 10% Of Humanity’s (G.)

The total weight of Earth’s wild land mammals – from elephants to bisons and from deer to tigers – is now less than 10% of the combined tonnage of men, women and children living on the planet. A study by scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, published this month, concludes that wild land mammals alive today have a total mass of 22m tonnes. By comparison, humanity now weighs in at a total of around 390m tonnes. At the same time, the species we have domesticated, such as sheep and cattle, in addition to other hangers-on such as urban rodents, add a further 630m tonnes to the total mass of creatures that are now competing with wild mammals for Earth’s resources. The biomass of pigs alone is nearly double that of all wild land mammals.

The figures demonstrate starkly that humanity’s transformation of the planet’s wildernesses and natural habitats into a vast global plantation is now well under way – with devastating consequences for its wild creatures. As the study authors emphasise, the idea that Earth is a planet that still possesses great plains and jungles that are teeming with wild animals is now seriously out of kilter with reality. The natural world and its wild animals are vanishing as humanity’s population of almost eight billion individuals continues to grow.“When you look at wildlife documentaries on television – for instance of wildebeest migrating – it is easy to conclude that wild mammals are doing quite well,” lead author Ron Milo told the Observer.

“But that intuition is wrong. These creatures are not doing well at all. Their total mass is around 22m tonnes which is less than 10% of humanity’s combined weight and amounts to only about 6lb of wild land mammal per person. And when you add all our cattle, sheep and other livestock, that adds another 630m tonnes. That is 30 times the total for wild animals. It is staggering. This is a wake-up call to humanity.” The study, The Global Biomass of Wild Mammals, also reveals that those that do best – such as the white-tailed deer in the US and wild boars – are those that find it easier to adapt to the presence of humans. Both species can be found near settlements and are occasionally treated as pets. “Even within the wild, the fingerprints of humanity are obvious,” added Milo, whose team’s study is published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As part of the paper, researchers Lior Greenspoon and Eyal Krieger collected biomass data on about half of all known mammals and used machine-learning computational models on other zoological samples to calculate the other half.