Delicious Chili, oil pipe lines connecting Iran with Russia and China’s BRI, and the howling of idiocy from the United States

Potentially, the most dangerous scenario [for America] would be a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran, an ‘anti-hegemonic’ coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances. Joe Biden has finally managed to create that.

The world is STARTING to indicate that it is taking a multi-polar direction, and that the uni-polar; American ruled – “Rules based Order” is not going to happen. The issue herein is actually how long will it take for this realization to dawn on the “Leadership” of the west.

Depending on your opinion of the “leadership” oligarchy it can be anywhere from NEVER to “maybe some time this year”.

The real issue is how high the “pain dial” must be turned up by Asia to “bitch slap” the West into compliance. I guess, for most of us, it’s going to be a wait and see.

Let’s take our time and enjoy this snapshot of history…

Seven Life tips

1. Sometimes the weight you need to lose is not on your body.

2. Life is short. Smile while you still have teeth.

3. The struggle is real, but so are the rewards.

4. No body watches you harder than the people that don’t like you. Give them a show.

5. Don’t worry about being lonely at the top. It can be lonely at the bottom too.

6. Enjoy this moment of your life before it becomes a memory you wish you hadn’t taken for granted.

7. Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence, and face your future without fear.

China tests hypersonic missile with multi-mode engine

China is reminding the world that it is very much in the race to deploy hypersonic missiles, with a team at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Northwestern Polytechnical University successfully launching the Feitian-1, a Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC)-propelled vehicle, in northwestern China.

Even though it is one of the top three contenders in the race to develop a practical hypersonic weapons system, getting solid data about China’s hypersonic program is frustratingly difficult.

Like Russia, but more so, China tends to keep its cards very close to its chest and what little information is released comes through the country’s state-controlled media, or is couched in claims such as that a test was for an orbital spaceplane.

What is particularly interesting about the launch of Feitian-1 is that it uses an RBCC engine to propel it to speeds in excess of Mach 5.

An RBCC engine is a combination of an air-breathing ramjet, air-breathing scramjet, and ducted rocket.

As the vehicle accelerates, the engine transfers from one mode to the next, allowing it to cope with air hitting the intake at greater and greater speed, and then becoming a pure rocket at top speed and very high altitudes.

Such an engine has a number of advantages, chief of which is that it doesn’t have to carry as much oxidizer as a pure rocket because it can harvest oxygen from the air like a conventional jet engine.

This allows it to carry more fuel or a larger payload.

In addition, the Feitian-1 can burn kerosene-based aviation fuel.

According to the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Northwestern Polytechnical University, such an RBCC engine is the first in a hypersonic flight vehicle.

It says the July 2 ground-launched flight test made a smooth transition from one mode to the next and carried out the expected thermal throat adjustment and ultra-wide flight envelope combustion.

Pirate Queens of the High Seas: Anne Bonny and Mary Read

When it comes to pirates, most people think of iconic names like Blackbeard, Calico Jack, or William Kidd . But what about female pirates? Although female pirates are less well-known, they did exist. Female pirates were not nearly as common as male pirates due to standard ship contracts which prohibited women and children from joining the crew. This “official” contract wasn’t enough to stop some women, though. Famous female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read found their way around these contracts, choosing lives of piracy over their domestic lives on land.

But how did Bonny and Read get around these contracts, and what did they accomplish as pirates?

Anne Bonny’s Preparation for Piracy

Anne Bonny was born in 1697 in Cork, Ireland. Though not much is known about her early life, it is known that she was the illegitimate daughter of William McCormac, a reputable lawyer, and his servant, Mary Brennan. After Anne’s birth, her father moved to London to escape the watchful eyes of his wife’s family. As Anne aged, her father would dress her as a boy and train her as his clerk. Once this ruse was discovered, his wife and her family stopped sending him money, prompting him to move to the Province of Carolina with Anne and her mother.

Upon moving to the Province of Carolina, Anne’s father changed their last name to simply Cormac to blend in better with the locals. They also struggled financially for a time, due to the halting of his wife’s money, but he was soon able to continue working as a lawyer, which eventually paid for a townhouse and a plantation. Although finances were challenging at times, he eventually joined the merchant business and built his wealth back up.

Unfortunately, Anne’s mother died when she was only 12. After this, Anne began displaying rebellious and aggressive behavior. It was even rumored that she had stabbed one of her servants to death with a knife when she was only 13 years old. The good news for Anne was that while she was known around town for her temper, she was also known for her good looks, which helped her find favor in the eyes of James Bonny, a poor sailor who dabbled in piracy. Anne was disowned by her rich father because of her choice of husband, which removed her rights to his estate after his death.

After being disowned, Bonny and her husband moved to New Providence Island, near a pirate sanctuary called the Republic of Pirates . While it was not an official republic, it was known for being a safe place for those turning from privateering to piracy. Anne’s husband James took advantage of this location and allegedly switched from sailing and piracy to becoming an informant for the governor of the region, reporting any pirates that did not turn themselves in for the king’s pardon. This led to many pirate arrests, as well as Anne’s distrust of her husband.

Because of this wariness, Anne started spending more time with pirates in secrecy. She would normally head to the taverns in the evening to mingle and try to protect them from her husband’s position. At some point, she met the famous pirate John Rackham, also known as Calico Jack, and started having an affair with him. Eventually, their love grew to the point that Jack offered money to Bonny to divorce Anne, but he refused and threatened Jack. Calico Jack then had Anne join his crew and they ran away together.

Because of pirate standards, women were not allowed to become a part of the crew. For this reason, Calico Jack had Anne disguise herself as a man so she could blend in. This worked until she became pregnant and could no longer hide her identity. Anne Bonny gave birth to a son, married Jack on his ship, and they continued their life of piracy together. After some time, she eventually met Mary Read, another female pirate.

The Mischievous and Magnetic Mary Read

Mary Read was a bit older than Anne Bonny, and was born in England in 1685. She was the offspring of a woman and a sailor who died at sea soon after Mary was born. Mary was her mother’s second child; the first had been a boy, but he died soon after his father did. Mary’s mother, not wanting to lose the financial support of her husband’s family, dressed Mary as a boy to pass her off as her dead son. Soon, though, the family discovered the truth and cut them off financially.

Once they were on their own, Mary’s mother continued to dress her as a boy and would rent her out as a servant to make money for them to survive. She excelled at any task thrown her way, and even earned the position of “powder monkey” during the War of Grand Alliance, which required her to deliver bags of gunpowder to gun crews. She later served in both the infantry and the cavalry, where she eventually revealed her true identity and married one of her bunkmates, who died soon after they were married.

Once again on her own, she continued living her life disguised as a man and joined piracy on a Dutch ship set for the West Indies . On the trip, the boat was captured by English pirates, who took Mary as a prisoner. As it turns out, the ship belonged to the one and only Calico Jack.

On the ship, Anne revealed herself to be a woman to seduce Mary to get her to join the crew, not knowing Mary was also a woman. Mary then revealed that she, too, was a woman, and Anne promised to keep Mary’s secret if she joined the crew. She joined, and it is speculated that they became secret lovers during their time together, though it is not confirmed. Jack, jealous of his wife’s relationship with Mary over time, sought to kill Mary in her bed-chamber one day, where she revealed her identity to him as well. Impressed by her cunning (as well as her ruthlessness as a pirate), he spared her and continued to treat her as an equal.

Anne Bonny & Mary Read: A Deadly Duo

No longer having secrets between them, Anne Bonney and Mary Read sailed the high seas together with their pirate lovers. Around other pirates, they would dress in their men’s garb of loose tunics and wide trousers, often with their swords and pistols at their sides. They would often fight together as well, wielding their weapons and proving themselves as tough as any man on board.

One of their victims once wrote that they, “… wore men’s jackets, and long trousers, and handkerchiefs tied about their heads: and… each of them had a machete and pistol in their hands and they cursed and swore at the men to murder her.” She also noted that she recognized them as women because of the size of their breasts.

Their ruthless piracy eventually came to an unfortunate end. In 1720, Calico Jack’s crew was attacked by Jonathan Barnet, a privateer under the commission of the governor of Jamaica, Nicholas Lawes. There was little fight, as many of the pirates were drunk at the time of the attack, leading to a quick surrender.

Anne and Mary, never ones to back from a fight, continued to fight for their lives. According to legend, Mary yelled down to her crew during the fight, “If there’s a man among ye, ye’ll come up and fight like the man ye are to be!” When no man chose to fight with them, she shot through the door and killed one. Both women were captured soon after that.

Exchanging Gangplank for Gallows

Those captured were sentenced to death by hanging . Records state that Anne Bonny’s last words to Calico Jack, true to her character, were, “Had you fought like a man, you need not have been hang’d like a dog.”

Both women pleaded not guilty, but were found guilty in court. They were sentenced to be hanged; however, both were able to avoid execution as it was soon discovered they were each pregnant. Although they avoided hanging, Mary died in prison from a “fever,” likely caused by infection after childbirth.

Anne’s fate remains unclear. She survived childbirth, but there is no record of her execution or release. It is believed she either died in prison years later or perhaps escaped, though nobody is certain.

Either way, it’s clear these two female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read , gave their male counterparts a run for their money. Though they both met an untimely end, there’s something to be admired about the ferocity of a female pirate.

A bad date…

We were seated at the restaurant, chose our meals and I excused myself to go to the restroom. Upon returning we started talking. You know, all the small talk. At one point he mentioned that he knew I had a dog. My dog was a big boy, about 115 pounds. I said yes, he’s a rescue and a very nice dog. He sort of frowned and said, “well I have a cat and if we end up together the dog has to go.” Huh? I wasn’t sure I had heard correctly, after all this was a first date. Then the waiter showed up with our food. He set a lobster in front of me. I looked at the waiter and said, “Oh, I’m sorry but there has been a mistake: I ordered chicken.” My date, “no mistake, I’m not cheap; I changed your order.” Me: “I don’t like lobster.” Him: “just be grateful and eat it.” I didn’t say another word, just picked up my purse and walked out.

Make up some delicious “copycat” Chili…

When you need to feed a crowd and dish out a spicy kick, this retro stew can please any crowd. With roots tracing back to cowboys and cattle drives, few classic 1950s dishes evoke a similar image of the hardworking spirit that defines the U.S. Serve up a hot bowl of chili to warm up any cold night with an easy recipe and deep combination of flavors can make any home cook happy.

While I do love Wendy’s spicy chicken nuggets and chocolate frosty (usually enjoyed together), another classic order I like to snag at the restaurant is a small cup of their homemade chili. It’s the epitome of comfort food on a cold, winter day, which is why I decided to make a copycat Wendy’s chili recipe I could cook up at home.

Thanks to a clear list of ingredients on the Wendy’s website, it was easy to put together this recipe. According to the list, the Wendy’s chili has a chili base, tomatoes, chili beans, pink beans, kidney beans, onions, celery, green peppers, ground beef, chili pepper, garlic powder, and spices. While the recipe also has sugar and modified corn starch in it, I know that you can have a delicious chili without either of those additives, so I didn’t bother adding them into my version.

The trick to a delicious copycat Wendy’s chili

It may be surprising to you, but for my chili base, I like to use my homemade taco seasoning for the recipe. I like to have a jar of it prepared in my cupboard, so it’s easy to throw into the pot.

My trick to making the chili flavorful is to let it simmer for a long period of time. This recipe calls for a 30-minute simmer, but to be honest, you’ll get the best flavor if you let the chili sit for an hour—even two! Just make sure to stir it occasionally.

Don’t have garlic cloves? Try this instead

I also personally like the flavors that come from freshly minced garlic versus garlic powder, which is why I put it in this recipe. However, if you would rather use garlic powder, you can substitute the minced garlic for 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder.

Copycat Wendy’s Chili

Ingredients

1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 lb. ground beef
1 tablespoon taco seasoning
1 10 oz can. pinto beans
1 10 oz. can kidney beans
1 10 oz. can tomato sauce
1 10 oz. can diced tomatoes
Shredded cheddar cheese, for topping
Sour cream, for topping

How to Make It

1. Heat up a dutch oven or a stockpot over medium heat. Add in the olive oil, minced garlic, onion, celery, and green bell pepper. When the vegetables start to become soft (about three minutes), add in the ground beef.
2. Using a wooden spoon, break up the ground beef and stir in with the vegetables. When the ground beef is no longer pink, using a spoon, drain the grease into an excess can.
3. Add in the beans, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes into the dutch oven. Sprinkle in the taco seasoning and mix together.
4. Turn the chili on simmer, and let it cook for at least 30 minutes, stirring once in a while so nothing burns at the bottom. The longer you let it sit, the better the flavors will become.
5. Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream, if desired.

Bruce Lee has some things to say…

Bruce Lee once wrote, “To understand and live now, there must be a dying to everything of yesterday, die continually to every newly gained experience and be in a state in the choiceless awareness of what is.”

He means that you must allow your identity to constantly die and evolve. But this is painful. It requires surrender. And the reward is wisdom.

Meanwhile, fragile egos live in orbit of their insecurities. Information must first pass through a filter bubble. It blinds them to feedback that could improve their life.

If you learn to lose or have your mind changed, you become liberated.

Cute kid

Today’s insanity from Yahoo “news”…

It’s outrageous! Yet what is even more outrageous is that many Americans BELIEVE this vomit.

Artist Imagines How Disney Characters Would Look As Oil Paintings, And You’ll Want To Hang Them In Your Room

American self-taught artist Heather Theurer has been observing people, environments, animals, and textiles for decades. She studying renaissance greats and pre-Raphaelities of the late 19th century, as well as modern artists and she feels she just couldn’t learn as much and see as much in the classroom.

In her works, you’ll recognize symbolism, fantasy realism, equine and wildlife, and below of course Disney reanimations. Her goal was to search for the meaning and emphasize the character’s struggles, hopes, and pride. Her work often includes many layers of paint and glazes, even up to 20. This is the way she gets the depth and detail she wants. Obviously, her amazing work and talent had to be recognized by many great organizations and it was. Awards were flying from everywhere including Lucca Comics & Games, Art Renewal Centar, Artist’s Magazine and Spectrum, and many more.

 Scammed in Rome

This is a true story.

—

What do you see in this picture ?

If you are like 99% of people I know, you may interpret this picture as a feel-good picture of a man cracking jokes with tourists. This is Rome. A city that looks and feels like a living museum. Every street corner seems to have a historic monument. It’s an amazing and enchanting place!

External Image Source: Getting Scammed in Europe!

And, you are right. In fact, he is not only cracking jokes with them, he is offering them free gifts – bracelets and trinkets – gifts that he is going to give away to the tourists as a show of kindness.

You refuse but he walks up and ties it on your wrist. “Take it, my friend, this is for you!” In fact, he will not only tie you a friendship bracelet, but if you listen to him for at least 15 seconds, he will want to offer you a second and then another. It’s all for you to keep. And all he wants is for you to be happy. He has had a tough life and he sells items on the roadside to help his young family who live in poverty. Chances are, you’ll be at a point now to feel obliged to give him ‘something’. By human nature, we are too prudent to simply take (forced to receive rather, in this case) items for free.

“No, sir, please … don’t bother,” says he.

“Let me give you something …, ” you say, feeling even worse at this point that you are receiving “gifts” from someone who is exponentially more needy than you.

So you take out your wallet. At this point two things can happen –

The first, and I hear this is the most common – he will demand money and you better pay up. You’ll suddenly become aware that he has friends all around. You didn’t notice them because you were too lost in your feel-good moment of helping this fellow. But they are there. I realised this once I reviewed some videos I had taken and observed many – many other tourists being approached the same way.

The second – and the one I can relate to is the following. I’d add that this may be an exception, but this is exactly what transpired –

As you open the wallet, in a swift, completely unexpected, chilling, moment, he will snatch everything out of your wallet – EVERYTHING – the cash you kept on your way to the Colosseum from the hotel, US Dollars, Euros – everything. Gone. You stand there – trying to process what just happened. After two seconds, you ask him to give it back and he starts screaming that you are taking his money!

There are tourists all around you. But you are not getting it back. He will keep the money and he and all his friends are ALL armed. A second ago he was a kind-hearted, jovial, cheerful fellow with a difficult life trying to share happiness with the world. A second later – you are staring into the face of a vicious and angry man – his eyes have turned red – his voice has changed, the smiles are gone. You’ve been brought back to reality from a utopian world!

This ‘scam’ is apparently known as the “African Bracelet Scam”. This site on Rome Vacation Tips

explained the factors that make this one of the most successful scams anywhere – “

This scam works by preying on the natural human instinct not to be impolite: not to brush off a friendly greeting, not to drop an unwanted gift on the ground.

You’ll pay dearly for being compassionate towards someone and you’ll regret it. That gift is something way more sinister in disguise (See the comments to this post from so many other readers who have experienced the same situation)

Many of the individuals are Africans from war-torn countries who take a dangerous trip to Europe. Countless stories in articles such as, One Migrant’s Harrowing Journey From Senegal to Italy

, talk of the harrowing tales. Unfortunately, the actions of a few leave a stigma on the entire population from the respective countries. Based on the comments, it also seems that these scams are perpetrated by organised groups based in Italy, not just migrants.

These incidents also raise an ethical dilemma. If you call the cops the individual might get deported back to where he came from and might not survive. If you don’t, he would continue to scam other tourists. It’s a hard choice that you have to make in that brief, fleeting, animated moment!

Several commentators have also mentioned being forced to wear the bracelets and in one case with the other person brandishing sharp object. Once they put it on your wrist, they oftentimes do not let go of your hand until you pay them.

As you may observe from the comments, these incidents are not just common, it is the — norm — believe it or not. If you visit any Roman site, you’re bound to be approached by someone with bracelets in a majority of cases. Every traveller to Rome should be aware of this and avoid becoming a victim.

Why the United States has such an insane level of propaganda right now…

The smoke-filled room experiment

This study takes place in two stages.

First, the subject is placed in a room, completely alone, and is asked to fill out a questionnaire of some kind.

After a few minutes, smoke begins to spread through the room from a nearby door.

On average, the test subject noticed the smoke within 2 minutes, got up and left the room.

Anyone would have done the same, right?

But that’s where it gets interesting (and scary).

The experts repeated the experiment, but this time filled the room with more subjects. They also included 2 accomplices who were instructed not to react when the smoke appeared in the room.

The result?

Only 10% of the subjects left the room or warned other participants that there was something unusual happening.

9 out of 10 people quietly continued to fill out their questionnaire (while rubbing their eyes because of the smoke).

This experiment, similar to Milgram’s or Ash’s, proved that human become more passive and easily influenced in the presence of other people.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Source: 4 Smoke Filled Room Experiment – 28 Psychological Experiments That Revealed Incredible And Uncomfortable Truths About Ourselves

Faith in humanity

I know just what you mean.

I call it “The Interdimensional Lapse” (IDiL).

Sweden is one of those rare places that seems to be not entirely present in this dimension. Part of it is still… somewhere else.

A homeopathist friend of mine from Germany who has visited repeatedly has given me this very good picture: “Most of the world is in D-potency, homeopathically speaking. Sweden though is in a C-potency.”

Make of homeopathy what you will, I think it describes it very well. Homeopathic potencies describe how earthly vs. how ethereal something is. D is most like an actual substance of this Earth, while C is already a bit higher up the ladder of mirror images of reality.

I think there are perfectly robust explanations for this impression, of course, nothing esoteric:

• Chronemics; the dynamics of interaction in Sweden are strangely delayed. Interacting with a Swede has an extra step built in you don’t normally see (anymore, perhaps?) in most of the world: The Pause. They will always wait before answering you, to make sure you really have finished speaking. That can give outsiders a strange sensation of “uh-oh, is he/she actually going to respond?”
• Acoustics; I’ve said it often, and people don’t understand it until they’ve been here: Sweden is quiet. For some reason, everything here is somehow muted, as if on snow. The people speak more quietly, the cars are going slower, in a higher gear, the buildings seem to swallow more echo… you may feel like there’s something off with your hearing.
• Lighting; due to its latitude, which is comparable to that of Alaska, the sun stands much lower in Sweden all the time. You are living in a perpetual morning- or evening atmosphere. Shadows are long and light, and the light has a mellow, golden tinge.
• Colours; again due to the low sun angle, and the clear air, you will see colours that have higher saturation than elsewhere. As a photographer, I regularly go positively bonkers here because of that. I can measure that in my digital colour charts when I do my image management. Swedish blues and greens are unbelievable. Like in an old, Florentine painting.
• Levity; the architectural style, together with the warm colour spectrum, give an impression of the built environment being of lower weight and less substance than it is. Swedish houses seem to be sitting on the meadows as light as doll’s houses that can just be picked up and carried away. Just because of the way they look.
• Femininity (as opposed to Masculinity, according to Geert Hofstede’s index); the roar of the alpha male never comes. There is no final grumble of bearded approval, like in most other places. Sweden is a feminine place. Even though there are plenty of men here, it has a matriarchal touch.

So there you are. Simple, natural explanations, but still, not something you find in that combination easily, if at all.

Here some photographic evidence of some of the points above:

I’ve heard this otherness described in many ways over the decades, and it is one of the main factors that kept pulling me back to Sweden all these years. It’s like a break from the world.

An Australian friend of mine once said “that place just seems magical.” An American I met at an airport described it as “strangely unreal.” A French colleague described it as “like meeting a beautiful fairy.”

I’ve been happily away with that fairy for quite some time now.

In The Multipolar World Iran Will No Longer Fear U.S. Sanctions

From the brilliant MoA

When U.S. president Joe Biden recently held a number of talks in the Middle East Iran was one point on his agenda. The U.S. has made it clear that it does not want to reenter into the nuclear deal with Iran. It is instead again attempting a ‘maximum pressure’ strategy to pressure Iran into additional concessions.

Iran has made it clear that there will not be any more then those it had made in the original agreement. Biden then tried to form an anti-Iran coalition out of Israel and the Gulf regimes. The Gulf Cooperation Council states rejected that:

[T]he Saudi foreign minister poured cold water over any imminent normalization with Israel, saying this was not a precursor to further steps. He said Riyadh was not part of any discussions on a Gulf-Israeli defense alliance to counter Iran.

All GCC are talking with Iran to normalize their relations.

Iran will benefit from the new multi-polar world. It has been seeking to ally itself with the Russia and China block with added relations to a neutral India. Last year Iran became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This year it applied for membership in BRICS.

Last month Iran’s foreign minister visited India:

Amir-Abdollahian also called on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a privilege not accorded to all visiting foreign ministers. Tweeting on the meeting, Modi highlighted how “relations have mutually benefitted both the countries and have promoted regional security and prosperity.”

The official statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs highlighted the exchange of views on important issues like the Iran nuclear deal, the Ukraine conflict, and the situation in Afghanistan. India “appreciated the role of Iran in facilitating India’s medical assistance to Afghanistan, including supply of COVID-19 vaccines to Afghan nationals residing in Iran.” In addition, all bilateral issues including cooperation in the field of regional connectivity and the progress made at the Chabahar port were reviewed. Exuding confidence at the outcome of the visit, the Iranian foreign minister said that “preparing a roadmap for strategic cooperation between Iran and India can regulate long-term relations and protect it from the impact of destructive factors.”

A few moth ago Iran signed a new transport agreement with its northern neighbor Azerbaijan. It will be good for both sides:

On 11 March, Azerbaijan and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on establishing railway, highway, communication, and energy supply lines connecting Azerbaijan’s East Zangezur economic region and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through the territory of Iran. According to the document, there is a plan to build four bridges over the Araz River and two railways and develop communication and energy supply infrastructure to establish a new corridor.

The better relations with Azerbaijan will also open a rail corridor towards Russia.

Another new trade route was finally opened to connect India via Iran with Russia.

This project has been on and off for many years but this month it was finally activated:

An India-bound cargo sent from Russia using the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) reached the Sarkhas railway station in Iran on July 13. From the railway station, the cargo will go to Bandar Abbas port in southern India and then come to India via the Arabian Sea.

The cargo left Chekhov station in Russia on July 6 and it was received by a team of Iranian ministers

What is INSTC?

INSTC is a 7,200 km-long transportation network offering the shortest connectivity route to its member states. It was established on September 12, 2000, by Iran, Russia and India. The corridor encompasses sea, road and rail routes.

The main purpose of the corridor was to reduce carriage costs and transit time between India and Russia. The transit time is expected to reduce to almost half, once the corridor becomes fully functional.

In future the route will go from India to Chabahar, a port in south east Iran that India had helped to build. From there the goods will go by rail up north to the Caspian Sea and then by ship directly to Russia. This will shorten the route even more and will also end any dependency on other partners.

But the greatest news for Iran is a new deal with Russia’s Gazprom that was signed today:

The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and Russian gas producer Gazprom signed on Tuesday a memorandum of understanding worth around $40 billion, Iran's oil ministry's news agency SHANA reported.

The deal was signed during an online ceremony by the CEOs of both companies on the day Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran for a summit with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts.

Gazprom will help NIOC in the development of the Kish and North Pars gas fields and also six oil fields, according to SHANA. Gazprom will also be involved in the completion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and construction of gas export pipelines.

Iran sits on the world’s second-largest gas reserves after Russia, but US sanctions have hindered access to technology and slowed development of gas exports.

Gazprom is a strong partner and can not be hindered by U.S. sanctions. Iran will finally be able export more of its plentiful gas. Russia will also have a chance to work with Iran to keep the prices at a certain level. With such a large deal will also come protection. Iran will be able to call on Russia should someone start hostilities against it.

When Iran produces enough gas it can also revive the old project of a pipeline to India. This could either go through Pakistan or, as India would probably prefer, through an undersea pipeline:

A 1,300-km undersea pipeline from Iran, avoiding Pakistani waters, can bring natural gas from the Persian Gulf to India at rates less than the price of Liquefied Natural Gas available in the spot market, proponents of the pipeline said on Tuesday.

Releasing a study on the Iran-India gas pipeline, former oil secretary T.N.R. Rao said natural gas imported through the over $4 billion line would cost $5-5.50 per million British thermal unit at the Indian coast, cheaper than the rate at which some of the domestic fields supply gas.

Despite U.S. sanctions Iran is again becoming fully integrated into its region. It is a great success and the gas and transit deals will help its economy to make some gains even as the U.S. adds new sanctions. Russia, India and China are partners who can and will ignore those.

Iran now also has the capability to produce sufficient nuclear material for a number of bombs. It will not use this capability as its religious ideology prohibits the making and use of such weapons. But it is a latent threat that can be used to deter Israel and the U.S. from any attack.

That Trump left the nuclear deal was dumb. That Biden did not revive it immediately after taking office was even dumber. To now stay out of it, only to keep some stupid sanctions against Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corp, is the dumbest step I can think of.

Washington has yet to understand that it has lost its mono-polar position that made the international sanctions which led to the nuclear deal with Iran possible. In the multi-polar world that exists now Iran can develop as it likes. Others will now ignore U.S. or EU sanctions and the threat of them is no longer useful. More countries under U.S. isolation, Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba and Syria, will also find new ways and alliances to better their positions.

In his book The Great Chessboard the former National Security Advisor of the United States Zbigniew Brzeziński wrote:

Potentially, the most dangerous scenario [for America] would be a grand coalition of China, Russia, and perhaps Iran, an ‘anti-hegemonic’ coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances.

Joe Biden has finally managed to create that.

Life Lessons

1. Cooking and cleaning is a basic life skill and not a gender role.
2. If you don’t clear your misunderstanding in time, they became the reason for distance forever.
3. If you want it, work for it. It’s that simple.
4. The gap between the life you could live and the life you are living is called focus.
5. If you’re not dating to marry, then you’re dating for heartbreak. Let that sink in and be in serious relationship.
6. Stop comparing yourself with who started 10 years before you. Focus on your own journey.
7. Confidence is not “I’m better than them”, confidence is “I’m great, so are they”
8. Every time I lower my frequency to meet someone on their level I end up paying for it. That’s a lesson I really don’t need to learn anymore. Rise up to meet me.
9. Real growth is when you start checking and correcting yourself. Instead of blaming others, you take your power back by being responsible for your life.
10. You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.
11. Being kind to yourself is the best medicine.
12. And there is always, always, always something to be thankful for.

And now it’s “Monkeypox”…

Monkeypox. Don’t you know…

Haunting 100-Year-Old Chalkboard Drawings Discovered In Oklahoma School

Emerson High School in Oklahoma City was the site of an amazing discovery last week when contractors renovating the school found several 100-year-old chalkboards hidden in the walls. The chalkboards, dating back to 1917, haven’t been touched for almost a century, and perfectly preserve the work of students and teachers from that era.

The images and writing on the boards include an unusual mathematics lesson where a wheel is used to teach multiplication tables.

“The penmanship blows me away, because you don’t see a lot of that anymore,” Emerson High School Principal Sherry Kishore told the NewsOK. “Some of the handwriting in some of these rooms is beautiful.”

Several references to the pilgrims were also made.

A school district spokesperson says they are working with the city to preserve the chalk drawings.

“By the end of the summit what you will see is a more robust, more effective, more combat credible, more capable and more determined force posture to take account of a more acute and aggravated Russian threat.” 

“Commando Network Coordinates Flow of Weapons in Ukraine, Officials Say: A secretive operation involving US Special Operations forces hints at the scale of the effort to assist Ukraine’s still outgunned military.”

“is completely typical of the initial stages of a US-backed long war, and for long-term political manipulation of the target country. 

This is the future that neoconservative ‘strategists’ in DC and their British and European allies imagine for Ukraine. 

Rather than a negotiated conclusion, with a new Ukrainian role as a neutral and productive country, independent of both Russian and US political influences, the US government and CIA see Ukraine as an expendable yet useful satrap in its competition with the Russian Federation.”

“I think the purpose of this article coming out now is just to lay the groundwork for why we can’t put or shouldn’t put any more US military personnel or even CIA personnel inside Ukraine because continuing to put US personnel…inside Ukraine to train is becoming too risky because of Russia’s success on the battlefield.” 

Check this out…

Coffee-rubbed steak

You may have seen meats coated with a coffee rub and wished you could cook something similar at home. Look no further than this recipe.

Coffee-rubbed steak is not only easy and quick, but it pairs with almost any roast vegetables you can imagine, making it the easiest main dish to make if you’re serving dinner for a big family.

Coffee and steak might seem like an unlikely partnership, but the flavor of beef is actually heightened by the robust notes of java.

This coffee-rubbed steak dish would be perfect with grilled vegetables and a side of black or pinto beans, or heat up a few corn tortillas and pass them out so everyone can make their own little tacos.

Either way, be sure to let the beef rest (even if it actually makes this 10-minute meal a 12- or 13-minute meal); cut into it too early, and all the still-hot juices will bleed onto your cutting board, instead of being reabsorbed by the meat.

Patience is a virtue, and so is a home-cooked meal that will save you some serious calories compared to the fast-food version.

You’ll Need

1⁄2  Tbsp finely ground coffee or espresso
1⁄2  Tbsp chili powder
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 lb flank or skirt steak (Skirt and flank are among our two favorite cuts, but any steak—strip, tenderloin, ribeye—would benefit from this coffee treatment)
Pico de gallo
1 lime, quartered

How to Make It

1. Preheat a grill, grill pan, or cast-iron skillet.
2. Combine the coffee grounds with the chili powder, plus a few generous pinches of salt and pepper.
3. Rub the spice mixture all over the steak. Cook the beef for 3 to 4 minutes per side, depending on thickness, until slightly firm but still yielding.
4. Let the steak rest for at least 5 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain of the meat. Serve with a big scoop of pico de gallo and a wedge of lime.

Eat This Tip

Steak and coffee isn’t the only unconventional pairing that yields surprisingly excellent results. Try any of these tantalizing teams for a jolt to your taste buds:

• Watermelon and tomato, topped with crumbled goat cheese and basil
• Olive oil and ice cream, with a pinch of coarse sea salt
• Strawberries, balsamic vinegar, and black pepper
• Peanut butter, banana, and bacon between toasted bread (the King would approve of this Elvis sandwich)
• Mango, pineapple, and papaya chunks topped with lime juice and hot sauce

Oscar Wilde Quote

“Give a man a mask, and he will show you his true face.”

The end…

Cats are awesome!

And some sunshine.

Do you want more?

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