Ukraine war, 1935 Mercedes-Benz 540K Streamline Roadster, Kodachrome Stories, UFOs, The Government, Russia, and other related nonsense

Gosh, it’s a strange time. The “news” is so full of bullshit that I really have a difficult time sorting through it. Apparently, there’s going to be a formal “disclosure” on UFOs. Don’t hold your breath. Very little will come out, and what will be presented will be wrapped in a need for more money, and in the importance of secrecy by people who really don’t care about anything other than making money from it. Here, instead, we will concentrate on tidbits, news and local history. I hope you all enjoy this article / post.

Reading the paper this morning.

Here, Peter is talking about how the news media reported the Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from Azovstal steel plant. A reader would get the impression of Ukrainian victory, not a rout and capture. -MM

There is deliberate ambiguity, particularly about who is doing what.

You would get the impression that Ukrainian officials were supervising the operation.

There is this note at the beginning:

“The Ukrainian military avoided using the term “surrender” to describe the effort to pull out of the steel plant to save as many lives as possible.”

Late in the article there is a statement that some terms of surrender may have been negotiated.

Allowing the word “surrender” to be avoided and “evacuation” to used to describe only what happened after the surrender.

But the article just uses the rest of the spin:

- - Beyond hope = “Efforts to rescue”
  - Accept Surrender = “Rescue”
  - Surrender = “Pull Out”
  - Russian Military Command = “Officials”
  - Combatants Refusing to Surrender = “fighters who stayed behind”
  - Taken Prisoner = “evacuated to Russian controlled territory”
  - Prisoner of War = “unclear if.. would be considered prisoners of war”
  - Ordered to die but eventually surrendered = “Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes to be alive. It’s our principle,” – Z

Classic Meatballs

From Betty Crocker.

This homemade meatball recipe is a Betty classic, and for great reason! For generations, home cooks have relied on this hearty meatball recipe to show some skills the kitchen. All it takes to achieve this meaty main dish is eight basic ingredients. Got them? Great! Now, if you have 15 minutes to spare and a foil-lined 13×9 pan, perfectly browned and tender meatballs could be the answer to tonight’s dinner jam. Yes, delicious doesn’t take long! In the meantime, prepare spaghetti or rice, veggies or salad, because this recipe goes with anything!

Ingredients

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1/2 cup Progresso™ Italian-style bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup)
1 egg

Steps

1

Heat oven to 400°F. Line 13×9-inch pan with foil; spray with cooking spray.
2

In large bowl, mix all ingredients. Shape mixture into 24 (1 1/2-inch) meatballs. Place 1 inch apart in pan.
3

Bake uncovered 18 to 22 minutes or until temperature reaches 160°F and no longer pink in center.

Baking, instead of pan frying, these meatballs allows you to speed up prep time and work on the rest of the meal while they’re cooking. Use the baking time to create a first-course antipasto platter of meats and cheeses. Then pull together a Caesar salad, warm up garlic bread (right in the oven in which the meatballs are cooking) or steam some fresh vegetables to accompany the meal. When it’s time for dessert, scoop up dishes of Neapolitan ice cream or fruity gelato, and you’ve created your own Italian feast. This baked meatball recipe has been a go-to classic for generations of home cooks, who rely on its precisely perfect proportions of meat, bread crumbs, milk, egg and seasonings. Once you’ve mastered the basics of how to make meatballs, you can try even more time-tested recipes and modern new twists from Betty’s best meatball recipes collection.

1935 Mercedes-Benz 540K Streamline Roadster

Mercedes commissioned Erdmann & Rossi to produce a special show car for the 1935 Barcelona exhibition based upon their 500K. One of the visitors was King Ghazi of Iraq, who expressed his desire to buy the car and MB built another (540K) car powered by a Straight 8-cyl 5018cc supercharged (180hp) engine with a 4/5-speed manual transmission as a special order and the car was shipped to Iraq.

Unfortunately the reign of the young king was short-lived as he died in a car accident in 1939. The car survived the Gulf war and World War II, and was found in an underground storage facility in Baghdad, but finally ending up in Jordon. In 1986 under the instructions of King Hussein of Jordon the car was shipped to Germany for restoration.

Japan freezes assets of Russia’s Sberbank, Alfa Bank

Orders from the United States, no doubt. This Asian “nation” with zero neighbours as friends (Russia, China, North and South Korea). Ah. It’s playing with fire. Japan has no future…

From HERE

And four additional banks…

From HERE

Japan froze the assets of 398 Russian citizens, including President Vladimir Putin’s daughters – Infobae

My goodness.

The “looting civilisation” of Asia:

From HERE

Slow-Cooker Meaty Italian Spaghetti Sauce

From Betty Crocker.

If you’ve been searching for “the one,” that is a reliably delicious spaghetti sauce that will please the family, freeze well and get better overnight, we humbly suggest this recipe. No hard-to-find ingredients here, just everything you’d expect to be in a basic red sauce. Before stewing to perfection in your slow cooker, this sauce does require a crucial couple minutes of skillet time. Taking the 15 minutes to brown Italian sausage and onions to golden-brown perfection doesn’t just bring out the best in these ingredients, it also leads to a sauce that’s considerably more delicious than it would be otherwise. And after you do it, it’s just a matter of tossing all the ingredients into the pot and letting them simmer together into a rich and savory red gravy!

Ingredients

2 lb bulk Italian pork sausage or ground beef
2 large onions, chopped (2 cups)
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (6 oz)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (28 oz) Muir Glen™ organic diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans (15 oz each) tomato sauce
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Do you have a go-to spaghetti sauce recipe? If not, put this five-star favorite in your recipe box. It turns out meaty, robust and flavorful after cooking for eight hours. All you have to do is carve out 15 minutes in the morning to throw the ingredients in your slow cooker, and you’ll come home to a nearly complete spaghetti dinner.

We also love making a big batch and stashing it in the freezer, so we’re ready for those busy weeks when there’s no time for cooking or grocery shopping. And on the weekend when you have the time, you can make an extra special meal by serving this sauce with fresh pasta — try for yourself with Betty’s step-by-step instructions for making making homemade pasta.

Impressive Unique Art Dolls By Helena Oplakanska

This a World of fantastic dolls. Helena creates very special art dolls for collectors. It is unique and one-of-a-kind.

According to an artist’s sister: “Hi everyone, my name is Elena and I’m posting on behalf of my sister Helena, who is an artist. She has been creating dolls for the past 16 years or so. All of her dolls are handmade and one-of-a-kind. She does everything herself, from the hair itself to creating a hairstyle, shoes, and even dresses. Helena also makes the sculpture itself, so every face she carves out is unique.”

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Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

These snapshots taken in the mid-20th Century show us people posing for the camera, smiling in readiness for whoever’s behind the thing to press the button and capture the moment. Others are relaxed, caught off guard, their eyes blinked closed or shut in asleep.

Iran has capacity to double oil exports if market needs more barrels: Official

Iran knows who its enemies are, and will not betray a friend: “capacity issue” is simply a diplomatic language:

2022 05 17: Iran has capacity to double oil exports if market needs more barrels: Official.

From HERE

2022 03 Iran’s Oil and Gas Exports Could Benefit From Russia’s International Isolation.

From HERE

The secret to great spaghetti? It’s all in the sauce

From HERE

IF YOU COOK spaghetti in a big pot of water, drain it, then toss it with sauce, you are pouring a lot of flavor down the drain, says Vendemmia chef Brian Clevenger.

“The trick to good pasta is cooking it in the sauce,” he says.

It was while working at Delfina in San Francisco that he really started to understand why. “Most places don’t do it because it’s so hard. It’s the most difficult ‘simple thing’ we cook in our kitchen.”

The technique is similar to risotto. After softening the noodles in boiling water, you finish cooking them in a saute pan with the sauce, adding ladles of the pasta water until they are done. “That’s flour, egg, flavor you’re adding,” Clevenger says. Vigorous stirring creates an emulsion that allows the sauce to coat each strand. As with risotto, the tricky part is stopping before the noodles overcook.

Clevenger says the technique works with any dried pasta (he prefers Rusticella brand) and with any sauce. They cook a lot of pasta this way at Vendemmia. “With all the starch that collects at the top of the pasta pot,” he says, “the best pasta of the night is the last one served.”

1935 Mercedes-Benz 540K Streamline Roadster

MENUDO ROJO | How To Make Menudo With Hominy | Simply Mama Cooks

A very traditional Mexican soup / stew.

Scoring Biden’s ASEAN summit | The Interpreter

This is the thought process out of Washington, DC. -MM

Busy? Just read the highlights in red:

Good for ties with Southeast Asia, but a so-so agenda suggests US influence in the region will continue to decline.

US President Joe Biden hosted ASEAN leaders in Washington last week for a special summit to commemorate 45 years of US-ASEAN ties. Such a meeting was long in the making, having been mooted under the Trump administration but deferred due to the Covid pandemic, and then delayed in 2022 due to scheduling difficulties. Five takeaways were evident from the meeting for US engagement with the region.

1. The Biden administration wants to focus on Southeast Asia.

That might seem obvious, but hosting the summit was in itself a huge investment of time and resources on Southeast Asia. The meeting’s scheduling shows the Biden administration wants to maintain momentum in its Indo-Pacific strategy, even despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The summit itself met expectations. Language in the joint statement was relatively strong on issues the US sees as priorities, such as Ukraine, and included a commitment to designate US-ASEAN relations as a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in November (the same level as relations with China and Australia).

1. The Biden administration wants to focus on Southeast Asia.

The summit also showed that the Biden administration is alive to the concerns and priorities of Southeast Asian countries. Biden’s nomination of an ambassador to ASEAN – a post left vacant for more than five years – is good. In remarks ahead of the summit at the US Institute of Peace, White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell repeatedly underscored that the US valued ASEAN’s role, and wanted to engage Southeast Asia on its own terms, not as a function of competition with China.

2. But it lacks a coherent narrative or cut through message.

The White House announced $150 million of new initiatives for ASEAN at the summit. This is only a small slice of the overall assistance provided by the United States to Southeast Asia – by Washington’s reckoning $12.1 billion since 2002, with $800 million in bilateral assistance requested in the 2023 budget.

A lack of bilateral meetings with the President clearly rankled some, and was especially notable given that Biden has not yet established rapport with many of his counterparts in the region.

Even so, the new initiatives were underwhelming. As regional experts pointed out, the $60 million of funding for maritime cooperation compares unfavourably with funding allocated under the earlier $425 million Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative.

And like the $102 million of funding announced at the virtual US-ASEAN summit in 2021, the US is investing small amounts of money in disparate initiatives, few of which will be delivered through ASEAN’s own institutions. Topics range from clean energy to infrastructure, forests, space, and education. While worthy, these disjointed topics, without an over-arching narrative suggest that the US lacks a vision for its partnership with ASEAN. Japan expert Tobias Harris usefully contrasted this with Tokyo’s clearer focus on supporting ASEAN’s economic development.

It’s not clear whether the weak outcomes are the result of a lack of timely attention to the summit from senior policy-makers, or a misjudgement about what is needed to deliver impact.

3. The US Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is not landing well in Southeast Asia.

At least three ASEAN leaders made comments that were to some extent critical of the US proposal to establish an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), and there was no reference to the IPEF in the joint vision statement.

Speaking ahead of the summit, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the United States had identified four pillars of its Indo-Pacific economic framework, “But the concrete elements of that initiative is not yet set in – is not yet clarified.” He said Vietnam was ready to engage with the United States, but needed more time to study the initiative

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also implied that US engagement on this front had been lacking, saying publicly that while Singapore welcomed the initiative, it encouraged “greater ASEAN participation in the IPEF and we hope the US will directly invite and engage ASEAN member states in this endeavour.”

And Malaysia’s Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob called for Washington to adopt a “more active” trade and investment agenda. His trade minister said that Malaysia still needed to decide which of the IPEF’s pillars Kuala Lumpur would join.

The comments from the three leaders confirm that IPEF is not landing well in Southeast Asia. The US will need to work harder to ensure regional support before it launches the framework later this month in Tokyo.

4. US engagement with Southeast Asia still needs time and attention

ASEAN countries grumbled about a lack of time with the president at the summit. Compared to the 2016 Sunnylands ASEAN Summit hosted by Barack Obama, which comprised two retreat sessions and a dinner, Biden was present at just two of six summit events. A lack of bilateral meetings with the President clearly rankled some, and was especially notable given that Biden has not yet established rapport with many of his counterparts in the region. Since taking office, he’s only held bilateral meetings with Indonesia and Singapore, a sharp contrast to Obama at Sunnylands, who was already well into his second term and had already notched up visits to five ASEAN countries.

On the plus side, hosting the event in Washington enabled the leaders to have productive meetings with the Vice President, members of Congress and the secretaries of State and Defense.

5. The summit won’t shift the dial for the US in Southeast Asia.

In the end, the summit went well. But context matters, and overall, the US continues to lose influence to China in Southeast Asia. The so-so outcomes suggest that the US underestimates just how fast it is losing this competition. Washington needs to accept it will get no credit for its historical investments and contributions when these are seen as being in relative decline. The United States would need to bring more to the table than it did last week to reverse unfavourable regional trends.

From HERE

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos. Lee Shulman shares those loves, recognising what he calls “the emotional value of these slices of life”. Since 2017, Lee’s collected around 700,000 found photographs, and compiled them into his Anonymous Project.

EU Weighs Tapping Seized Oligarch Assets for Ukraine Rebuilding

Looting others to rebuild Ukraine? Is this so much EU commitment to rebuild Ukraine?

Scale of effort requires joint new issuance, draft says

Ukraine reconstruction may cost $1.1 trillion, Kuleba tells EU

EU Weighs Tapping Seized Oligarch Assets for Ukraine Rebuilding - Bloomberg

From HERE

1935 Mercedes-Benz 540K Streamline Roadster

Not less than 300 militants from Azovstal are being transported by buses.

About 300 militants left Azovstal Approximately 50 of them are wounded. They are being taken to the Central District Hospital of Novoazovsk, where they will receive the necessary medical care. The rest were taken away by buses towards Yelenovka, according to rt.com correspondent Maksim Touri.

The fighters of Azov are being taken to hospitals not just by civilian buses. These are buses for transporting prisoners of the Federal Penitentiary Service. And they will be treated not in civilian hospitals, but in closed hospitals of the Federal Penitentiary Service. Investigators have already started interrogating the prisoners

Kodachrome Stories

This is my FAVORITE!

Will Russia have enough “Caliber” for a special operation in Ukraine

From HERE

Will Russia have enough “Caliber” for a special operation in Ukraine

Is it true that Moscow is running out of high-precision cruise missiles and soon it will “have nothing to fight with”? These and other 12 “naive” questions are answered by the military observer of “KP” Colonel Viktor Baranets

So “Caliber” goes into the sky from the side of the patrol ship “Tatarstan”. But these cruise missiles can be hit both from the ground and from an aircraft.

The Caliber cruise missile has already become a real hit and a meme.

To “calibrate” the enemy is almost the most fashionable expression now in the troops. And the fact that this super-precise weapon is capable of reaching any military facility anywhere in the same Ukraine made Caliber one of the main striking forces of the entire ongoing special operation.

What is there to say! At the “Caliber” in the Russian headquarters and among military analysts, they literally pray.

And therefore it becomes uncomfortable when, with reference to Western military intelligence, you read that “Russia’s stocks of Caliber are depleted” and they “left for a couple of weeks.” And then “there will be nothing to fight.”

How about really? How long will we have enough “Caliber”? Who even came up with this miracle weapon? And do we have something else in stock besides him?

1. Missiles left for a month and then there will be nothing to fight with?

Recently, indeed, Western and Ukrainian media have been actively throwing in (with reference to their intelligence) “reliable data” that Moscow, due to active fighting in Ukraine, is running out of not only Calibers, but also other modern high-precision missiles. Therefore, they say, the Russian command is already “scraping the bottom of the barrel”, collecting everything that is left in the warehouses.

Here’s an example for you. As early as March 21, the “knowledgeable” American television channel CNN reported that, according to the Pentagon, Russia would run out of Caliber by March 24, when 1,200 of them would be produced.

So what?

The operation has been going on for the third month, and the “Caliber” does not end!

The fact is that Russia has been producing these missiles (and is producing) for a long time not only on the basis of one local military operation (as in Syria or Ukraine). The Russian General Staff, of course, keep in mind the huge combat potential of the entire NATO bloc. And, of course, in the production of missiles (including Caliber), this factor is taken into account.

To have enough for everyone.

The West does not know exactly how many Calibers Russia has. Although his estimates in recent days are beginning to change. Now it is claimed that Russia “has enough” Caliber “, which” will be enough for a long time “…

2. How do the factories producing these weapons work now?

The answer to this question is “closed”. In other words, it’s a state secret.

Foreign intelligence agencies in Russia are actively hunting for her.

Why?

To understand how long the military machine of Ukraine will be able to hold out and how the NATO command should plan its actions in this country during our attacks.

Unfortunately, some citizens do not know how to keep their mouths shut.

It has already flashed on social networks that some of our military-industrial enterprises that produce cruise and other missiles have allegedly switched to a three-shift mode of operation, and at one of these factories they suddenly announced 500 vacancies at once … Although I also heard from our defense workers: “Work is in full swing! We bake like pies…

3. How much does one Caliber cost? And is it cheaper or more expensive than NATO missiles?

Caliber’s main competitor is the American Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile. According to the Pentagon, its price is from $1.5 to $1.7 million (depending on the modification).

Approximately the same price and other US cruise missiles – “Harpoon”, “Jazm”, “Maverick”, LRASM.

Our Caliber (3M14) costs much less in mass production. Sometimes a price of $ 500 thousand apiece is called. But this is the cost of the export version of the rocket. The Russian army “Caliber” costs one and a half times cheaper – $ 300 – 350 thousand.

4. What are the grades of foreign specialists?

In the American military-analytical magazine The National Interest we read the opinion of local experts: “Caliber missiles have qualities that worry Western countries. First, these missiles fly low, almost skimming over the surface of the water or land, and avoid detection by the enemy. Secondly, Calibers are universal, they can be equipped with even the smallest warships, such as corvettes. US intelligence knows the characteristics of the Caliber. They are able (from the Black and Caspian Seas) to close the radius from France to Kazakhstan.

The range of “Caliber” – 2.5 thousand kilometers. They were first used against militants in Syria on October 7, 2015 ( see kp.ru website ). Then the missile ship “Dagestan” and small missile ships “Grad Sviyazhsk”, “Veliky Ustyug” and “Uglich” fired 26 cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea. And they all achieved their goal flawlessly.”.

5. And if you compare it with the American Tomahawks?

It’s easy to compare. Of the 59 Tomahawks launched by the Americans from the Mediterranean Sea, only 23 reached their targets in Syria.

They, in fact, did not complete the task of completely disabling Syrian airfields, hitting minor targets. Ammunition depots, taxiways and combat-ready aircraft of the Syrian Air Force remained intact …

As a result, the millions of dollars invested by the United States in this strike were literally thrown into the wind.

It is worth remembering the operation “Desert Storm”. American generals boasted there more than once of the “high efficiency of the Tomahawks.”

However, after the publication in the New York Times and the Washington Post of the report of the US Department of Defense on the results of the Gulf War, this bragging subsided. The report stated that out of 288 missiles fired from US ships and submarines, less than 50% hit their targets.

And what do American specialists write about the effectiveness of our “Caliber”? In the same military-analytical magazine The National Interest we read: “Our space intelligence monitors the launches of Russian missiles. It is amazing that they are capable of overtaking even moving targets for two thousand kilometers, not to mention stationary ones. It seems that the Russians have perfected the aiming of such weapons at the target. There was not a single case when the “Caliber” hit an empty place. There were only a few episodes when the deviation from the target was more than 10 meters. But for the powerful warhead of this missile (400 kg. – Ed.) This is a mere trifle. The target was hit by the blast.”

6. What else similar do we use in Ukraine?

Here we have a whole brood of relatives of “Caliber” – cruise missiles “Malachite”, “Mosquito”, “Onyx”, X-55, X-101. The latter, by the way, has an incredible range – it can be guaranteed to hit targets at 4.5 thousand km.

Of the other weapons involved in the special operation, it is worth mentioning the Kinzhal hypersonic complex first of all.

The first combat use of the “Dagger” occurred on March 18, when it was sniper hit in the west of Ukraine by a super-protected enemy ammunition depot (in a missile silo built back in the Soviet Union and designed to withstand a nuclear strike). The “Dagger” reduced this deep reinforced concrete shelter to fine rubble.

We also have the Iskander high-precision missile system. He is also capable of “falling into the window” hundreds of kilometers away.

Involved in the operation in Ukraine and “Bastion” – a coastal complex with a missile “Onyx” (“Yakhont”)..

7. Are Western intelligence agencies hunting for caliber secrets?

Judging by the testimonies of foreign intelligence agents arrested in Russia (among whom, alas, there were recruited Russians), they were most interested in the secrets of the Caliber guidance systems. And also – the possibility of jamming signals coming from our GLONASS system and drones.

8. Who created this miracle and what reward did he receive?

Back in 1983, the Novator Design Bureau (Sverdlovsk) began the creation of a new anti-ship cruise missile (the Turquoise project). This rocket was first shown in 1993. And it was on its basis that the 3M54 rocket was later created, which became the basis for the Caliber complex.

Many scientists, designers, engineers, technologists are involved in its creation. But there were “intelligent motors” among them – this is the general director, general designer of Novator Pavel Kamnev. He deservedly – Hero of Labor of Russia and twice laureate of the State Prize.

Among the creators of “Caliber” (or rather, the rocket engine) and the former director of the plant “Saturn” (Rybinsk) Yuri Lastochkin. According to him, Vladimir Putin is also involved in the fate of Caliber.

Here’s how he talked about it:

“The work was intense, there was very strong resistance from colleagues from Ukraine, who frankly did not want Russia to have its own engine for cruise missiles, and had strong lobbying positions in the ordering department of the Russian Ministry of Defense at that time. (These “colleagues” were from the Zaporozhye Motor Sich plant, they had fat orders for engines from the Russian military department and did not want to lose them. – Auth.)

It was clear to us that sooner or later Russia would need its own engine. The case helped. In 2000, Putin came to Saturn, and I reported to him that the creation of a Russian engine for a cruise missile was going slowly, because the main problem was the pro-Ukrainian position in the ordering missile department of our Ministry of Defense. To which Putin replied briefly: “Addresses? Turnouts? Let’s get wet!” I thought he was joking. But by the way the faces of the retinue changed – the profile Deputy Prime Minister Klebanov and the head of the then Roscosmos Koptev – it became clear that the result of this “conversation” would be. And so it happened. Fans of vodka and lard had to vacate their seats – and things got off the ground!

For solving this problem, the plant received gratitude from the president, and many employees received state awards and titles.

9. What other “surprises” do we have on the way?

We have the same accurate and effective weapon as the Caliber, but its development, of course, is kept secret. Although something is already lit.

These are, for example, the new Zircon hypersonic missiles. Until recently, they were considered sea-based weapons, and are now being transferred to land and aircraft systems.

They work on targets at a distance of more than 1000 km at a speed of 9 Machs (9 times faster than sound). They overcome any anti-aircraft defense and completely neutralize the superiority of the US Navy. Several Zircons are capable of destroying a $20-30 billion US aircraft carrier strike group in a matter of minutes.

There is also a cruise missile with a nuclear engine of unlimited action “Petrel” in the stash.

The missile itself can find gaps in missile defense.

A Russian MiG-31 fighter with an even more formidable weapon under its “belly” than the “Caliber” – the “Dagger” hypersonic missile.

10. Can you only launch from ships?

“Caliber” is a universal missile – it can be launched from diesel submarines (of the Varshavyanka type), missile ships, and from aircraft (for example, from a Su-35 attack fighter). There is also a land version of the Caliber (Club-K container missile system).

11. Is it intercepted by conventional air defense systems?

During the military special operation, the Ukrainians have never been able to bring down the Caliber.

Its unique property is its low flight altitude. As the experts say, “Caliber” can be seen, but cannot be shot down.

The capabilities of this missile allow it to deceive the enemy’s air defenses.

As for NATO, the United States has such an opportunity. Here is how the American experts themselves assess the situation: “Today, only Russian Kalibr missiles can reach the American military bases in Eastern Syria. Our Patriot systems, at least theoretically, can intercept them.” But there has not yet been a single real interception of the Caliber by the Patriot missile defense systems. If this happened, the Pentagon would happily trumpet it to the whole world..

12. Can it carry a nuclear charge?

Yes maybe. The special nuclear warhead created for the Caliber has a “limitedly small” yield of up to 1 kiloton (20 times weaker than the US bomb dropped on Hiroshima). When it explodes, the openly located enemy manpower will be destroyed by a shock wave at a distance of 700 meters.

Vladimir Putin, by the way, stated that theoretically, the nuclear use of 3M14 is possible. But he noted that “I hope it will not come to this.”

1935 Mercedes-Benz 540K Streamline Roadster

Ukraine Is in Worse Shape than You Think | Time

From HERE

Kodachrome Stories

1935 Mercedes-Benz 540K Streamline Roadster

Ultimate Refried Beans – How to Make Refried Beans for Nachos & Burritos

Easy to make, and fundamental to making very cheap and very delicious Mexican food.

Biden Orders US Troops Back to Somalia, Reverses Trump Withdrawal

Democrat party is the party of war.

From HERE

Kodachrome Stories

The Russian Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation publishes footage of the surrender of militants from Azovstal

Yup. Surrender. No question about it.

From HERE

Kodachrome Stories

The Nazis did not apologize, they were not afraid, but they could not look us in the eye. The enemy at Azovstal began to surrender

From HERE

The Nazis did not apologize, they were not afraid, but they could not look us in the eye. The enemy at Azovstal began to surrender

The KP special correspondent spoke with the Ukrainian military at the underground tunnel at Azovstal for several hours

Early in the morning, on May 16, the positions under the walls of Azovstal began to stir. A white flag poked out of a tunnel under the railway tracks, followed by people in a strange, dark sandy uniform with blue tape on their sleeves and ammunition. Together with the “factory inmates”, the boy Kolya got out – he looked to be 15-16 years old – for the last month he lived at Azovstal practically on the surface, in one of the factory supply rooms. As you might guess, the teenager testified to good will and readiness for dialogue. This dialogue has been long awaited. Both our negotiating group and the “Azovites” themselves, as the militias called them – “PSE” Azovstal “.

For a long four hours I sat in positions in some kind of administrative factory building unwound in the trash. It was very quiet, and for the first time I heard the toads yelling in the Kalmius River, they are now in spring love. We were waiting. They were waiting for this whole epic to end and someone to go home, at least for a few days on leave, so that later, if necessary, continue to fight further.

By one o’clock in the afternoon, the radio spoke clearly and sternly: do not open fire, sappers will start working from 13.00, open the mined passage for those who surrender and dismantle the rubble. Everyone take their positions, triple their vigilance, and prevent provocations. The exit of the first group with the wounded at 15.00.

It was lunch time, the fighters regretfully set aside or quickly scraped the cans with rations of meat and vegetable canned food. The fighter with the call sign “Borzoy” took the “Bumblebee” flamethrower and, fitting it behind his back, muttered: “You can expect everything from these. The positions will be cleared, our firing points will be copied and how they will go for a breakthrough … “. The place for the exit of the surrendered and the removal of the wounded was chosen wisely – a narrow passage under the tracks, along the embankment along the same narrow corridor between the buildings. Under the full supervision of “Borzoy” …

Barbecue at Azovstal

The passage for surrender turned out to be miraculous – a bomb hit between the tracks, throwing out several tons of earth. This hole, the Ukrainian militants threw rusty, bent iron and mined almost three layers. Now, these same people in a strange form, quickly and dexterously dismantled the blockage with shovels, and having disassembled, moved between the embankment and our building. Our fighter, who crouched near the loophole, took aim at the enemies – they were about ten meters away. The “Azov” were walking, sometimes stopping and squatting over some dark green boxes sprinkled with dust. These were improvised mines made of cartridge zinc stuffed with plastid. The calculation is that tankers will not pay attention to the usual military garbage – empty cartridge zinc. But, some mines were connected by wires – their “Azov” sappers cut them without hesitation. And all this happened in complete silence.

Clearing the way for future evacuation.

One of ours shouted out: “What, falconers, have you fought? And well, tell me how the stick is right? But no one supported the wit, the fervent cry withered in silence. The strangers were all with weapons, however, machine guns were thrown behind their backs, pistols in buttoned holsters. The “Azovites” reached the exit from the yard and stopped in some confusion. In front of them stretched the floodplain of the River, delightful in its greenery and width. And on the other side of Naberezhny Prospekt, the Sarmat restaurant nestled. Those who left the factory were, without exaggeration, shocked by the view. One of the strangers exhaled: “Oh, now would be a barbecue!”. And I, looking at this cafe long closed because of the war, thought the same thing …

“Azov” clear mine exit for the wounded, they will all be taken to the hospital

Military correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda Dmitry Steshin reports from Mariupol, where an agreement was reached on the removal of the wounded from the Azovstal plant

Mercy trait

THEY did not look into the asphalt, but they did not look into our eyes either. All young, up to twenty and a little more. Very cool gear, everyone. But the weapon is the same – our eternal Kalashnikov. They weren’t dirty, they weren’t haggard and scared. Rather tense. So far, they had all the required stripes – from yellow-black flags to “Azov” chevrons. And we, with my comrade, the militia Vlad, did not know how to behave. He held his gun almost at the ready. To be honest, I was ready to hang on Vlad’s shoulders. He lost everything in this war – his house in Poltava, relatives, fellow soldiers, health. Exchanged for the trenches the best years of male maturity.

I have not been separated from Vlad for the third month already and I know how sometimes fierce, terrible anger boils in him. But Vlad was calm. Probably, something happened to us that always happens to Russian people at the sight of a surrendering enemy. No matter what bestiality and cruelty he does, no matter what bloody battles the day before, there is such an invisible line beyond which mercy turns on. No, of course, prisoners can later be judged, but laying mounds of severed heads right on the battlefield is not in our tradition. Vlad spoke first, very calmly:

– Why are you so clean? Does that mean there is water?

The guy with the bushy beard, with Stechkin in his chest holster, seemed to be waiting for this question:

– There is water. Technical. There – “Azov” pointed with a hand in a tactical glove to the going black pipes – there are tons of it! And even tea can be brewed normally. But food has been a problem for a week now. We found apples here, a box, it was such a simple holiday.

I couldn’t resist:

– How many of you are there?

The guy with Stechkin answered both evasively and with soldier’s ingenuity:

You’ll be amazed how many of us are out there.

I took out the camera:

– This is probably your last chance to tell your relatives that you are alive. I can record videos, I’ll throw them in the evening.

But, they did not want to act, not one.

The guy with Stechkin turned out to be my namesake. Almost. Named Dmitro. We talked about the bombings. According to Dmitro, the jamming was terrifying, creepy, and only:

– To break the bunker, you need to put three FAB-500s in one place. The first collapses the building, the second makes a funnel, the third breaks through to the bomb shelter.

– And what did you do during the bombings?

– In “Counter-strike” they were cut along the grid …

Vlad once again examined the audience and issued a diagnosis:

– If we were all dressed … well, in tracksuits, and put on a bench in the park, no one would understand who is here for what and for whom …

There was a pause, and to fill it in, I remarked:

– It would still be interesting to understand why we are so bloody …

18-year-old “Azov” Nazar from Lviv broke away from another mine and for the first time in many months I heard the Ukrainian language live:

– Ztokhnuvshi people with people … (pushed people with people, in Ukrainian)

Dmitro noticed that “everyone got along just fine” and said that he was from Mariupol. But Vlad did not agree here:

– I am from Poltava, I left to fight in the fourteenth year, because I understood that I could not get along there. Here we all speak Russian. And they spread rot on the Russian, they adopted a bunch of laws!

Dmitro squeezed out:

– Well, yes.

One of the surrendering Nazis wears the chevron of the SS division “Galicia” on his right hand. The other is a stylization of the emblem of the 3rd SS Panzer Division “Totenkopf”. Denazification as it is. Well, fascism, which is not in Ukraine.

But he quickly gathered himself, saying that all these were our internal Ukrainian affairs, but why did Russia get into this? I did not expect such malice from Vlad:

– And what, you wanted you to just kill all of us, and no one would stand up? Now Europe and the USA are for you, and Russia is for us. Are you okay? And we’re fine. That is, it is not normal to ruin youth in the war.

Dmitro remarked:

– I, too, have been fighting since I was 14. Also youth … moreover. Has ended already.

Vlad perked up: “Where did you fight?” I left them to talk, and they talked for an hour.

Our officer showed up.

– Let’s move on to defuse mines.

There were still many mines – half of Naberezhny Prospekt.

An hour later, the first batch of “zahistniks” left the factory. Before passing under the tracks, they tore off their sweaty armor, threw off their helmets and weapons, and went into captivity. They didn’t feel defeated, more like losers. Lost one battle. And yet, they believed in our mercy and knew for sure that they would not shoot their legs and gouge out their eyes. How did the “Azov” with our prisoners.

The first party left, and … almost immediately returned – already with a stretcher. They carried the wounded away from the factory. The Azov people told us, they say, “we would sit at the plant until the New Year.” Perhaps, but the wounded, judging by their condition, would not have survived until next Sunday. And as one of our negotiators explained to me informally, “We started the surrender process with an act of mercy.” It was hard to argue with that. In general, I did not want to argue about anything, sitting on the loose earth, under the menacingly creaking exploded rails. An officer from Azov showed up. According to him, the core of the regiment is still in position, waiting for the first day of surrender to pass. They have the Internet, and they greedily catch every message on the Net. But one thing is already clear to everyone – “the evil Kyiv owner of the living” Azov “is not needed.” This is finally understood by everyone.

In general, by all indications, the war in Mariupol is over. At all!

Finally, Vlad surprised me:

– After the war, I would drink with this Dmitro.

– Did you forgive them?

– Not. But I liked it, we would have something to talk about.

– What did you like?

– He is the only one who has not pretended to be a cook and did not bustle. This is a worthy enemy.

But we defeated them.

– Yes. But it was very hard.

“Azov” clear mine exit for the wounded, they will all be taken to the hospital

Military correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda Dmitry Steshin reports from Mariupol, where an agreement was reached on the removal of the wounded from the Azovstal plant

It is worth noting that earlier information appeared that the wounded of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were being taken out of the basements of Azovstal for treatment in the DPR. Our observer Nikolai Varsegov comments on this news:

“To tell the truth, I initially had … a misunderstanding of this decision on our part. By accepting enemy wounded, including the Nazis of Azov, we, of course, make life much easier for those who hid under the plant. Now they do not have to share the meager remains of water and food with those who came out of No need to waste physical and moral strength to help them, and therefore the surrender of these basement warriors will drag on for some time, tying down our military over Azovstal.

I have no doubt that many Russians, who worry about our soldiers and wish for a speedy victory, think the same way.

But there is another, probably more valuable side of the coin – humanism. Most, I believe, the rescued Ukrainian wounded, as well as their loved ones, will change their minds to everything that is happening. They will turn on the mind, as happens with hundreds of other military Ukrainians who are in our captivity. Every now and then we see on TV screens absolutely adequate people who have surrendered to the Russian army, who sincerely declare that they do not want to fight for the crooks and bandits who have seized power in Ukraine. “The summons came, I was taken to the front. Where was it to go? Otherwise, prison … “.

One must think that among the wounded at Azrovstal there are a majority of such people. And humanly, and not for the picture, they feel sorry.

Ukrainian propaganda is trying its best to show the Russian army as barbaric. He calls it a horde that encroached on their exaggerated democracy. But the whole world saw how Ukrainian “democrats” in military uniform mock our prisoners of war with sadistic joy. Nothing like this happens on our side. On the contrary, we feed them normally, treat them, do not humiliate their human dignity. My personal opinion is that mocking prisoners of war is a sign of subhumanity. I am satisfied that in my civilized country, even in a mild form, there is no such disgrace with prisoners as is happening in Ukraine.

And this humane act of receiving Ukrainian wounded for treatment is important for us too, in order to feel like decent people. And I don’t give a damn what Ukrainian and Western propagandists are talking about us. We Russians are much higher morally than they are, as events show.”

The Kurtis Sport Car

It’s Kurtis Sport Car serial number KB003, the actual car that appeared on the cover of the very first edition of the Motor Trend magazine way back in 1949, in a photo taken by Motor Trend founder Robert E. Petersen. More than 62 years ago, this car helped launch the storied automotive media brand.

The Kurtis Sport Car was a product of the astonishing explosion of automotive creativity that occurred in California after World War II. After enduring a grinding depression and a grueling war, Americans were ready to celebrate as the booming economy provided jobs and prosperity. They’d had enough of cars for hard times — the somber and sensible Depression-era sedans and coupes they’d nursed through the war years on old tires and rationed gas. California was where the party started. And Frank Kurtis, the son of a Croatian blacksmith, was at its epicenter.

The Kurtis’s combination of easy, American V-8 muscle and European-style chassis tuning must have seemed sensational back in 1949. Frank Kurtis had demonstrated a compelling formula for an all-American sports car: The Kurtis Sport Car was well-engineered, well-detailed, and well-built.

Do you want more?

You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.

New Beginnings 4

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Master Index

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It’s a time of Ukraine war, Streamliners, Kodachromes, hushed voices, slow and careful movements, and serious thoughts.

Preparations and actions are being discussed. Systems are moving into place. Serious people, talking in hushed, serious mannerisms with disgust and determination on their faces are talking about BIG events; horrific events, and dangerous actions. Here, we look at the surface of some of the trivial matters that suggest a deeper level of activity.

I hope you like it.

We start with a reminder…

Describing the $762 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 which received nearly total bipartisan support, analyst Michael Klare observed:

“The gigantic 2022 defense bill — passed with overwhelming support from both parties — provides a detailed blueprint for surrounding China with a potentially suffocating network of U.S. bases, military forces, and increasingly militarized partner states. The goal is to enable Washington to barricade that country’s military inside its own territory and potentially cripple its economy in any future crisis. For China’s leaders, who surely can’t tolerate being encircled in such a fashion, it’s an open invitation to… well, there’s no point in not being blunt… fight their way out of confinement.”

Scientists predict three COVID-19 scenarios over next five years

WHO says real COVID-19 death toll is almost 15 million people

Play Video

A “lost generation” of young people with impaired social skills will live in countries where trust in governments and science has plummeted, misinformation is rife and seasonal surges of new COVID-19 variants overwhelm hospitals, according to the worst of three scenarios predicted by a panel of international scientists.

The 110-page study, released today, maps out three potential realities for how humans might live alongside COVID-19 over the next five years, largely determined by how coronavirus evolves and global uptake of effective vaccines.

All three scenarios through to 2027 were “entirely possible”, the paper said, with the most likely future we face characterised by worsening global inequalities and COVID-19 becoming an endemic disease worldwide.

(Please exclude countries (read: China) with a fixed and firm zero Covid tolerance policy and zero use of the Pfizer “vaccine”. )

From HERE

Streamliners: Locomotives And Bullet Trains In The Age Of Speed And Style

A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor “bullet trains”. Less commonly, the term is applied to fully faired recumbent bicycles.

As part of the Streamline Moderne trend, the term was applied to passenger cars, trucks, and other types of light-, medium-, or heavy-duty vehicles, but now vehicle streamlining is so prevalent that it is not an outstanding characteristic. In land speed racing, it is a term applied to the long, slender, custom built, high-speed vehicles with enclosed wheels.

And…

And…

Tortang Giniling – Filipino Food

Tortang Giniling is simply ground meat omelet. They can either be in round patty form or folded in half-moon shape.

Time to put an end to US hypocrisy – Opinion

Time to put an end to US hypocrisy – Opinion – Chinadaily.com.cn
.
From HERE

From Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan to Libya, Somalia and Syria, the US started 10 wars between 1989 and 2017 and caused 6 million casualties. From the end of World War II in 1945 to 2001, among the 248 armed conflicts that occurred in 153 regions of the world, 201 were initiated by the US.

A report from Brown University revealed that the wars launched by the US in the two decades following the 9/11 terrorist attack killed more than 900,000 people. In June 2018, the US pulled out of the Human Rights Council, calling it a “cesspool of political bias” and “hypocritical body” that “makes a mockery of human rights”.

As it rejoined the council this year, the US not only failed to reflect upon its own human rights record and take concrete steps to improve it, but instead expelled Russia from the body out of political bias and purpose.

Obsessed with its self-conceived “exceptionalism”, the US keeps criticizing others for violating international law while applying international rules selectively or placing its own “house rules” above international law.

The US asks others to follow the “rules-based order”, but tramples on international rules and withdraws from international organizations at will itself, as evidenced by its unilateral military intervention or wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, as well as its pulling out of UNESCO, JCPOA, and the Paris Agreement.

It also puts domestic law above international law, and has exercised long-arm jurisdiction and imposed economic sanctions against Russia, Iran and the DPRK, which seriously damaged the fair and just international trade environment.

The US is undoing its own credibility and reputation and undermining international order by bringing the world back to the era of a lawless jungle.

Just as Noam Chomsky pointed out, “We’re a rogue state, the leading rogue state by a huge dimension—nobody’s even close. And yet we can call for war crimes trials of others, without batting an eyelash.”

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, negotiation rather than confrontation is the only way out. US unilateral sanctions against Russia are illegal and not authorized by the United Nations.

Excluding Russia, a permanent member of UN Security Council and a nuclear power, from international organizations is by no means a constructive move.

The spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric once warned that such a move will set “a dangerous precedent.” After all, there are already enough lessons from the wishful attempts to provoke confrontation and division and preserve hegemony.

Queen of Hearts (Lyrics and Chords) Gregg Allman

A classic to share with all my other old timer friends…

Kodachrome Stories

“Japan Reveals Record Dump of US Treasuries” on YouTube

When an evil empire showing symptoms of dying, everyone including its socalled allies will begin to throw stones while it drowning. The Evil US empire will be like the evil roman empire, once disintegrated, no one will miss it.

Cheers, Chua

Japanese investors dump record amount of foreign bonds after …

4 Mar 2021 — TOKYO, March 5 (Reuters) - Japanese investors sold a record amount of foreign bonds late last month, with banks seen dumping U.S. bonds, ...

https://finance.yahoo.com › news
Biggest Treasury Buyer Outside U.S. Quietly Selling Billions
2 May 2022 — Japanese institutional managers — known for their legendary U.S. debt buying sprees in recent decades — are now fueling the great bond …
Japan Reveals Record Dump of US Treasuries – YouTube

Streamliners:

Streamliners were a relatively late era development. The period in which trains ruled interstate transportation, the so-called “Golden Age,” occurred between the 1880’s and World War I. Into the 1920’s there was strong recovery, following federal takeover during the war, which persisted until the Great Depression and subsequent economic downturn of the 1930’s. Alas, that event proved a turning point.

And…

And…

It is a war

Following on the heels of Lavrov's statement made yesterday (newly published English transcript) at the 30th Assembly of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy where he stated "The choice we have taken is made easier by the fact that the 'collective West' has declared a total hybrid war against us,"  today the MFA issued the following PR:

"On May 16, a meeting of the Board of the Russian Foreign Ministry was held, which considered the tasks of Russian foreign policy in the radically changed geopolitical realities that have developed as a result of the hybrid war against our country unleashed by the West – under the pretext of the situation in Ukraine – unprecedented in scale and ferocity, including the revival in Europe of a racist worldview in the form of cave Russophobia, an open course for the "abolition" of Russia and everything Russian. It is stated that Washington, having completely subjugated the "collective West", has passed the point of no return in its obsession at any cost to assert its total dominance in the world and suppress the objective process of forming a multipolar world order. Thus, the United States and its satellites directly violate the principles of the UN Charter, including respect for the sovereign equality of states, demand recognition of the right to interfere in internal affairs and use force anywhere in the world at their discretion.

"The aggressive revisionist course of the West requires a radical revision of Russia's relations with unfriendly states and the comprehensive strengthening of other areas of foreign policy.

"In this context, the issue of preparing a new edition of the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation in accordance with the instructions of the President of Russia was discussed.

"Following the meeting, a resolution was adopted." [My Emphasis]

Missing is verbiage invoking Article 51 as grounds for Russia to defend itself against this declared hybrid third world war, that's not just declared against Russia but the entire Multipolar world.

Again, Russia has announced that the Outlaw US Empire has de facto and de jure declared war against Russia although the Empire's Congress hasn't formally done so. Russia will in turn revise its overall Foreign Policy Concept given this new reality. I repeat, Russia has announced that a state of war exists between it and the Outlaw US Empire, which would include its NATO vassals. Finland and Sweden might want to consider what that state of affairs means for their interests.

- karlof1

Kodachrome Stories

Russia’s military defense pact with China

Military defense pact with China ought to pretty much put a block on any notion by the West (well, the idiots on the east side of the pond) that it can engage Russia militarily (with or w/o US weapons and or personnel).

As Andrei Martyanov says:

"...if you don't have the ability to win a conventional war you most likely don't have the ability to win a nuclear one (no matter how much you believe is possible). Even radioactive ground will require boots in order to control.."

Russia is on track for a record trade surplus

Imports have collapsed, but exports are holding up.

Within days of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s financial system seemed on the verge of collapse. The West imposed a range of financial sanctions, notably on the Russian central bank’s foreign-exchange reserves, that sent the rouble plunging and led citizens to withdraw cash frantically. Then the central bank raised interest rates, imposed capital controls and injected liquidity into the banking system, and some of these misfortunes reversed. Although a chunk of Russia’s currency reserves remains frozen, the country still generates about $1bn a day from its energy exports.

Russia has stopped publishing detailed monthly trade statistics. But figures from its trading partners can be used to work out what is going on. They suggest that, as imports slide and exports hold up, Russia is running a record trade surplus…. Pay wall:

From HERE

Streamliners:

As John F. Stover notes in “The Routledge Historical Atlas Of The American Railroads” (New York: Routledge, 1999), every year after 1929 the industry posted annual deficits on passenger services and the depression only worsened the situation. In Gregory Schneider’s book, “Rock Island Requiem,” the author points out that by 1936, 70,000 miles were in receivership or roughly 25% of the country’s entire network. As much as railroads tried, nothing slowed Americans from purchasing their very own automobile, an invention made affordable through Henry Ford’s mass-produced Model-T of 1908. To stem the losses, Union Pacific and the Chicago Burlington & Quincy came up with a new concept; the sleek, fast, and colorful train.

And…

And…

And…

The streamliner was born.

Russian Computer Hacker Group “Killnet” Announces “Global Internet attack”

World Hal Turner 16 May 2022

A group of serious computer hackers, allegedly based in Russia, have publicly announced they will commence a “Global internet attack” against the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Ukraine. It is not yet known WHEN such attack will commence.

The group, known by the name “Killnet” issued a video announcement Monday. The announcement, in the Russian language, is presently being translated to English and when I get the translation, I will update this story.

Readers are advised that THIS web site (HalTurnerRadioShow.com) is based on servers in south America (Brazil) and as such, should not be adversely affected . . . but who knows.

The streaming audio servers for this web site, which carry the live radio show, ARE based in the United States, so depending upon what these Hackers actually do, there COULD be some issues with the streaming audio. It remains to be seen.

It is worth pointing out, that the United States has a long-established policy that a cyber-attack, if it damages property or results in the death of anyone, ___MAY___ be considered “an act of war.”

It is already being widely speculated that THIS may be the “false flag” perpetrated by the CIA or the Deep State” to provide an excuse for the US and NATO to go to actual war with Russia.

Prediction – France Will Veto Sweden / Finland NATO Entry

Preliminary Rationale
Thesis 1 – That Austin, Blinken, and Ritter are all suddenly expressing concern for RF difficulties suggests that there is a reason for all 3 taking the same line. Several posters at MoA have commented on this fact including me. Bemildred May 16 2022 13:08 utc | 392 thinks Mr. Ritter has been talked to. I agree.

Thesis 2 – The stated reason is American concern over the existential nature of the UA conflict for the RF. That recent RF reverses, coupled with the existential nature of the conflict, may cause RF employ nuclear weapons. Austin, Blinken, and Ritter seek to avert this escalation path. One MoA poster raised this as an explanation.

I believe this thesis is false. First the RF has from well prior to the SMO made it abundantly clear the issues were existential for Russia. This is well documented in the copious documents provided by karlof1 (Thanks karl). The RF sought a diplomatic solution ignored by NATO, all the EU states, UK, Canada, and US. Second I can perceive no recent RF reverses requiring nuclear escalation but I am certain if such action were necessary the RF would not hesitate to act in defence of its interests. This has also been made abundantly clear since well before the SMO.

Since this thesis is believed to be false there must be something else provoking near identical initiatives by Austin, Blinken, and Ritter. My interpretation of their conduct is that it is along the lines of “We are concerned for your difficulties. We would like to assist you.”

This thesis is also believed to be false. First, America is already known to be agreement incapable. Only an insane Scheissekopf would think otherwise. Second America never acts to benefit any party other than America. Only an insane Arschloch would think otherwise.

The question now becomes “what American concern would cause America to seeking assist RF?

I believe the answer to this question is that France has made known it will veto the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. This would create a significant rift in NATO and undermine US control of European states. This is an outcome to be avoided at all costs and therefore becomes reason to assist RF with its purported difficulties.

Subsequent Rationale

1) France has a history of producing small men whose impact on history is disproportionate to their size. Macron is small man.

2) US & UK are angling to have NATO displace the UN Security Counsel as the enforcement arm of the “democratic rule based order.” NATO is far more malleable and already functions as an agent of US control (see the recent post by lawyer c1ue who noted the use of the conditional “may” as opposed to the imperative “must” in the NATO accession document.) If the French perceive this displacement as likely they will act to avert such an outcome as a reduction in the authority of the UN Security Council would diminish both French prestige and international influence.

3) IF you are resistant to the above rationale you should review the recent US UK AUS submarine deal. This “deal” gave clear sense of the degree of contempt accorded to France and French interests. France viewed this conduct as a “stab in the back.” This snub of France will come at a high price. A French veto would assert French authority in the international system and act to preserve the present role of the UNSC.

4) In January 2013 Mali turned to France, its former colonial ruler for help in facing an armed rebellion emerged out of the war in Libya and the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. This conflict will be remembered for the “We came. We saw. He died.” cackle of the US Secretary of State. France’s nine-year military intervention has proven costly on all fronts: 8 billion euros and the lives of 53 French soldiers. French interests in the Sahel are ignored in favour of US interests in Europe and Asia. This indifference will only increase if the US UK are able to undermine the UNSC and promote NATO as a global enforcement operation.

5) NATO serves as an anti-competitive trade restriction. NATO creates and imposes armament standards to enforce “interoperability.” But this also implies that those inside the club are preferred partners and those outside the club face trade barriers. SAAB is a Swedish producer of an extremely capable and inexpensive fighter aircraft which has the potential to compete with French products. Freezing out Sweden is to the economic benefit of France.

6) Europe’s second largest consumer of energy after Germany is France. France relies on imports to meet almost all of its oil and gas consumption. It will be impossible to immediately substitute for the refused RF supply. World demand for energy will quickly escalate and the price will follow. This will impose significant costs on French consumers largely reliant on NG for domestic heating. France is already facing significant social unrest due to the significant influx of immigrants especially since these can no longer the redirected to Dover. American adventurism in Ukraine will create energy and armaments profits for the US but will likely generate high cost social unrest in France.

7) In November 2019 The Economist French quoted Macron stating: “What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO”. Macron added Europe was on “the edge of a precipice”, and must start thinking strategically as a geopolitical power else “we will no longer be in control of our destiny.”

8) In 1966 De Gaulle took France out of NATO. In 1940 the British abandoned France to the Nazis. In 1841 Churchill invaded the French colony of Syria and then recreated it as an independent state over De Gaulle’s objections. Roosevelt distrusted De Gaulle removed him from the TORCH landings and subsequent operations within colonies. He was excluded from Allied summits and from the planning for post war France. De Gaulle never forgave the Americans for this series of humiliations which included American intervention in the Suez crisis and a failure to assist France in Indochina. De Gaulle was a big man. His boots would be impossible to fill. Napoleon’s are another matter entirely. What leader wants to be recorded in history as an American puppet when he can restore France to its former grandeur in world affairs, a return to an historic ranking most pleasing to the French public.

-Sushi

Kodachrome Stories

How to make an Authentic bowl of VIETNAMESE PHO

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the 30th Assembly of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy

May 16, 2022 From HERE

Moscow, May 14, 2022

Mr Lukyanov,

Mr Karaganov,

Colleagues,

I am glad to be here again, at this anniversary assembly. Last time, we met in this room on October 2, 2021. But I have an impression that this was in a totally different historical epoch.

I would like to congratulate you on the 30th anniversary of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy. Its activities are a fine example of Russian expert involvement in the foreign policy process. From the very start, the Council has brought together professionals, including politicians, state officials, journalists, academics, and entrepreneurs. Throughout these years, this has ensured an effective and rewarding combination of practical experience and impeccable knowledge of the subject matter. Therein lies the key to comprehending the most complex international processes, particularly at stages like the present one. Advice, analytical materials, and debates (occasionally heated debates involving a clash of opinions) are of much help to us. We invariably take them into consideration in our foreign policy activities.

It is a cliche to say that this meeting is taking place at a historical turning point. I agree with the experts (Mr Karaganov and Mr Lukyanov have written a lot about this), who say that we again have to choose a historical path, like we did in 1917 and 1991.

The external circumstances have not just changed radically; they are changing ever more profoundly and extensively (though not becoming more elevated, unfortunately) with each passing day. And our country is changing along with them. It is drawing its conclusions. The choice we have taken is made easier by the fact that the “collective West” has declared a total hybrid war against us. It is hard to forecast how long this will last. But it is clear that its consequences will be felt by everyone without exception.

We did everything in our power to avoid a direct conflict. But they issued a challenge and we have accepted it. We are used to sanctions. We have been living under one or another form of sanctions for a long time now. The surprising thing is a surge of rabid Russophobia in almost all “civilised” countries. They have thrown to the wind their political correctness, propriety, rules, and legal norms. They are using the cancel culture against all things Russian. All hostile actions against our country are allowed, including robbery. Russian cultural figures, artists, athletes, academics, businesspeople and just ordinary citizens are exposed to harassment.

This campaign has not bypassed Russian diplomats. They often have to work under extreme conditions, occasionally with a risk to their health or life. We do not remember anything like the current massive and synchronised expulsion of diplomats happening even in the grimmest Cold War years. This is destroying the general atmosphere of relations with the West. On the other hand, this is freeing up energy and human resources for work in the areas with which our country’s future development should be associated.

In accordance with the demands of the times, we are carrying out our professional duties conscientiously and to the fullest extent. There are no traitors among our diplomats, although such attempts have been made from abroad and within the country. We do our best to defend the rights and interests of Russian citizens abroad. When the West hysterically reacted to the beginning of our special military operation and all flights were cancelled, we immediately helped Russians who were abroad at the time to return home. The routine consular services to Russians (of which there have always been many) are provided as always. It is clear that the situation demands that the diplomatic service works in a special regime. This is required by the new tasks set by the country’s leadership to protect national interests.

This is not only and not so much about Ukraine, which is being used as an instrument to contain the peaceful development of the Russian Federation in the context of their course to perpetuate a unipolar world order.

The Americans started preparing the current crisis long ago, right after the end of the Cold War, having decided that the way to global hegemony was then open. NATO’s eastward expansion has been one of the key components of such a course. We tried hard to convince them not to do this. We showed where and why our red lines are drawn. We were flexible, ready to make concessions and look for compromises. All this proved futile. President Vladimir Putin reminded us of this once again in his speech on May 9 on Red Square.

Today Western countries are ready to oppose Russia, as they now say, “to the last Ukrainian”. At first glance, this is a very convenient position, especially for the United States, which is managing these processes from across the ocean. At the same time, they are weakening Europe by clearing its markets for its goods, technologies and military-technical products.

In fact, the situation has many layers. Russia, the United States, China and all others realise that it is being decided today whether the world order will become fair, democratic and polycentric, or whether this small group of countries will be able to impose on the international community a neo-colonial division of the world into those who consider themselves “exceptional” and the rest – those who are destined to do the bidding of the chosen few.

This is the aim of the “rules-based order” concept that they have sought to introduce into general circulation for years. No one has seen, or discussed, or approved these “rules”, but they are being imposed on the international community. As an example, let me quote a recent statement by US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, who called for a new Bretton Woods framework and said that the United States would practice “the friend-shoring of supply chains to a large number of trusted countries” that shared “a set of [liberal] norms and values about how to operate in the global economy.” The hint is absolutely clear: the US dollars and the “benefits” of the international financial system are only for those who follow these American “rules.” Dissenters will be punished. Clearly, Russia is not the sole target, all the more so as we will fight back. The attack is aimed at all those capable of conducting an independent policy. Take, for example, Washington’s pet Indo-Pacific strategy, which is directed against China. In parallel, it seeks to firmly and reliably harness India to the US and NATO. In the spirit of the Monroe doctrine, the United States wants to dictate standards to Latin America. The inevitable question is whether the Americans are really able to follow the key principle of the UN Charter, which states: “The Organisation is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.”

The “rules-based order” envisions neither democracy, nor pluralism even within the “collective West.” The case in point is the revival of tough bloc discipline and an unconditional submission of the “allies” to Washington’s diktat. The Americans will not stand on ceremony with their “junior partners.” The EU will finally lose all attributes of independence and obediently join the Anglo-Saxon plans to assert the unipolar world order, while sacrificing the Europeans’ quality of life and key interests in order to please the United States. Just recall how Victoria Nuland defined the EU’s place in Washington’s plans to reformat Ukraine in her conversation with the US Ambassador in Kiev in December 2013, at the height of the Maidan riots. Her prediction came true in its entirety. In security matters, the EU is also blending in with NATO, which, in turn, is making increasingly louder claims about its global ambitions. What defensive alliance? We are being told and assured to this day that NATO’s expansion is a defensive process and threatens no one. The Cold War defence line ran along the Berlin Wall – concrete and imagined – between the two military blocs. Since then, it has been moved east five times.

Today, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, and others are telling us that NATO has a global responsibility to solve security problems, primarily in the Indo-Pacific region.

As I understand it, the next defence line will be moved to the South China Sea.

It is being insinuated that NATO as the vanguard of the community of democracies should replace the UN in matters of international politics, or at least bring global affairs under its sway. The G7 should step in to run the global economy and from time to time invite benevolently the extras the West needs at this or that moment.

Western politicians should accept the fact that their efforts to isolate our country are doomed. Many experts have already recognised this, even if quietly and off the record, because saying this openly is “politically incorrect.” But this is happening right now. The non-Western world is coming to see that the world is becoming increasingly more diverse. There is no escaping this fact. More and more countries want to have a real freedom to choose their development ways and integration projects to join. An increasing number of countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America are refusing to abandon their national interests and to pull chestnuts out of the fire for the former parent countries. An overwhelming majority of our partners, who have felt the effects of Western colonialism and racism, have not joined the anti-Russia sanctions. The West, which President Putin described as the “empire of lies,” has not been considered an ideal of democracy, freedom and well-being for a long time. By plundering other countries’ material assets, the Western countries have destroyed their reputation of predictable partners who honour their commitments. Nobody is safe from expropriation and “state piracy” now. Therefore, not just Russia but also many other countries are reducing their reliance on the US dollar and on Western technologies and markets.

I am sure that a gradual de-monopolisation of the global economy is not a distant future.

We have taken note of Fyodor Lukyanov’s article published in the newspaper Kommersant (on April 29, 2022), in which he writes, with good reason, that the West will not listen to us or hear what we have to say. This was a fact of life long ago, before the special military operation, and a “a radical reorientation of assets from the west to other flanks is a natural necessity.” I would like to remind you that Sergey Karaganov has been systematically promoting this philosophy by for many years. It is perfectly clear to everyone that the process has begun and not on our whim – we have always been open to an equal dialogue – but because of an unacceptable and arrogant behaviour of our Western neighbours, who have followed Washington’s prompting to “cancel Russia” in international affairs.

Forging closer ties with the like-minded forces outside of what used to be referred to as the Golden Billion is an absolutely inevitable and mutually driven process. The Russia-China relations are at their all-time high. We are also strengthening our privileged strategic partnerships with India, Algeria, and Egypt. We have taken our relations with the Persian Gulf countries to a whole new level. The same applies to our relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as other countries in Asia-Pacific, in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

We are fully aware of the fact it is at this juncture, which perfectly lends itself to be called a turning point, that the place for Russia and all other countries and forces in the future international architecture will be determined.

We believe the aim of Russia’s diplomacy is, on the one hand, to act with great resolve to fend off all adversarial attacks against us, while, on the other hand, to consistently, calmly and patiently reinforce our positions in order to facilitate Russia’s sustained development from within and improve the quality of life for its people.

There is much to be done, as usual. We always have a packed agenda, but in the current environment we are witnessing a serious shift in the mindsets of many of our comrades in all spheres of Russia’s life.

This makes meetings held by the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy especially useful because they help nurture ideas which make their way into Russia’s foreign policy.

Streamliners:

Pure, magnificent works of massive functional art…

And…

And…

Kodachrome Stories

Cynthia Chung on Geopolitics & Empire: The Esoteric & Eugenicist Roots of the Great Reset

I was invited to speak on Geopolitics and Empire about my four part series that dealt with the theme “Who Will Be Brave in Huxley’s New World?”, where I discussed the esoteric roots of the new age and the Great Reset.

You can find my four part series here:

Part one

Who Will Be Brave in Huxley’s New World?

No wonder that the Tavistock Institute and the CIA became involved in looking at the effects of LSD and how to influence and control the mind.

Part two

The War on Science and the 20th Century Descent of Man

Huxley makes it crystal clear that he considers the world to be overpopulated, and that science and progress cannot be free to advance without limits.

Part three

The Origins of the Counterculture Movement: A Gathering of Anarchists, Occultists and Psychoanalysts for a New Age

The third part of Cynthia Chung’s series discusses how Aldous Huxley’s form of ideological spirituality went on to shape the drug-counter-culture movement.

Part four

Huxley’s Ultimate Revolution: The Battle for Your Mind and the Relativity of Madness

The relevance of the Esalen Institute’s “revisioning of madness” needs to be acknowledged as having been entirely spear-headed by the Tavistock Institute, and clearly, not for our benefit.

Cynthia Chung is the President of the Rising Tide Foundation and a writer at Strategic Culture Foundation, consider supporting her work by making a donation and subscribing to her substack page.

Streamliners:

Pure, magnificent works of massive functional art…

And…

And…

Your (Western) Standard Of Living Is Being Systematically Destroyed

May 16, 2022 by Michael

Most Americans didn’t understand that the exceedingly foolish decisions of our leaders would eventually have a major impact on how they live their lives every single day. But there are some of us that did. Many of us literally begged our politicians to stop borrowing and spending trillions upon trillions of dollars that we did not have. But they refused to listen. And many of us literally begged the officials at the Federal Reserve to stop pumping trillions upon trillions of fresh dollars into the financial system. Of course they wouldn’t listen to us either. Now our standard of living is steadily being eviscerated, and most of the population seems quite surprised that this is happening.

Flooding our economy with money was inevitably going to create an inflation crisis, and that is precisely what has happened.

Back in May 2020, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was $1.96.

One year later, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was $3.08.

That was more than a 50 percent increase in just 12 months.

But that wasn’t the end of the story.

On Sunday, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States hit an all-time record of $4.47.

Then on Monday it hit another all-time record of $4.48 per gallon.

That means that the price of gasoline has risen almost another 50 percent since May 2021.

Has your paycheck gone up by 50 percent during each of the last two years?

Needless to say, most of you cannot answer that question affirmatively.

Of course some areas of the country are being hit harder than others. In California, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has now reached $5.92.

But just wait until the war in the Middle East starts.

Once that occurs, it won’t be too long before many Americans are paying 10 dollars for a gallon of gasoline.

Meanwhile, food prices in the U.S. are rising at a pace that is unlike anything that I have ever seen before. Just check out these extremely alarming numbers that the government released last week…

Thursday’s report showed a broad-based rise in the cost of food at the wholesale level, with grains up 41.3 percent from a year ago as Russia’s war in Ukraine raises world prices. Both Russia and Ukraine are major grain producers.

The cost of eggs skyrocketed 161.3 percent, driven up by a bird flu outbreak that has killed 10 percent of chickens in the US. Processed young chickens were up 24.1 percent from a year ago.

Fresh vegetables were up 45.7 percent and fresh fruit rose 17.3 percent.

Eating fresh vegetables is a very good thing to do.

But now they will cost you 45 percent more than they did a year ago.

Has your paycheck gone up by 45 percent over the past year?

Sadly, food prices have been going crazy all over the globe, and this is going to hurt those on the bottom of the economic food chain the hardest.

In fact, the head of the Bank of England is using the word “apocalyptic” to describe the impact that these prices will have on the poor…

The Bank of England governor has blamed the war in Ukraine for the highest inflation in the UK for three decades and warned that “apocalyptic” food prices caused by Russia’s invasion could have a disastrous impact on the world’s poor.

And the head of the UN World Food Program is warning that extremely painful food prices could lead to widespread civil unrest in many areas of the planet…

A perfect storm of war, extreme weather and Covid-19 will drive global food prices to levels that will cause social unrest in some parts of the world, according to David Beasley, head of the United Nations World Food Programme.

“If people can’t feed their children and their families, then the politics unsettles,” Beasley told CNN during a conference on Thursday.

If you have been waiting for everything to “go back to normal”, you can stop.

Because it isn’t going to happen.

Homes are becoming a lot less affordable too.

As a result of a “combination of rising home prices and higher interest rates”, the average payment on a new mortgage is now 38 percent higher than it was 12 months ago in the United States…

The combination of rising home prices and higher interest rates — driven largely by the Federal Reserve’s more aggressive efforts to curb inflation — hiked monthly mortgage payments on the typical U.S. home by 19.5 percent in the first three months of the year, according to real estate listing service Zillow. Payments are 38 percent higher than a year ago.

Has your paycheck gone up by 38 percent over the past year?

I keep asking questions like that to point out the fact that your standard of living is being systematically destroyed.

It wasn’t just an intellectual exercise when I penned long article after long article about the evils of debasing our currency.

This is real.

I wasn’t joking when I warned that we were committing financial suicide. Now a day of reckoning has arrived, and everyone is expecting the same clowns that got us into this mess to get us out of it.

It ain’t gonna happen.

Once the next major crisis comes along, our leaders in Washington will respond by borrowing and spending even more money, and the “experts” at the Fed will respond by pumping even more fresh cash into the system.

And ultimately we will have the kind of horrific inflationary meltdown that I have been warning about for years.

Things didn’t have to turn out this way.

But the American people just kept sending big spenders to Washington, and any political candidates that dared to be critical of the Federal Reserve were considered to be “fringe”.

Now we get to reap what we have sown, and it will not be fun at all.

UAE’s new president calls Russia” his second residence”

UAE’s new president calls Russia “second residence”.

The brand new president of the UAE spoke about his perspective in direction of Russia, recalling his current journey to Moscow:

“I take into account Russia my second residence and I wish to thanks on your hospitality (throughout my go to to Moscow),” stated Mohamed Al Nahyan. We remind you that in this assembly Putin confirmed the prince his limousine “Cortege”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin despatched a message congratulating al-Nahyan on his election as president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), information companies reported.

“I’m assured that your management will additional strengthen our pleasant relations and mutually helpful cooperation. I stay up for persevering with our constructive dialogue and our joint work on worldwide points,” the assertion stated.

From HERE

Kodachrome Stories

Death by a thousand cuts: where is the west’s Ukraine strategy?

The pounding, daily western narratives on ‘Ukrainian wins’ and ‘Russian losses’ underpins the lack of an actual, cohesive Grand Strategy against Moscow.

By Pepe Escobar

May 16 2022

While we are all familiar with Sun Tzu, the Chinese general, military strategist and philosopher who penned the incomparable Art of War, less known is the Strategikon, the Byzantium equivalent on warfare.

Sixth century Byzantium really needed a manual, threatened as it was from the east, successively by Sassanid Persia, Arabs and Turks, and from the north, by waves of steppe invaders, Huns, Avars, Bulgars, semi-nomadic Turkic Pechenegs and Magyars.

Byzantium could not prevail just by following the classic pattern of Roman Empire raw power – they simply didn’t have the means for it.

So military force needed to be subordinate to diplomacy, a less costly means of avoiding or resolving conflict. And here we can make a fascinating connection with today’s Russia, led by President Vladimir Putin and his diplomacy chief Sergei Lavrov.

But when military means became necessary for Byzantium – as in Russia’s Operation Z – it was preferable to use weaponry to contain or punish adversaries, instead of attacking with full force.

Strategic primacy, for Byzantium, more than diplomatic or military, was a psychological affair. The word Strategia itself is derived from the Greek strategos – which does not mean “General” in military terms, as the west believes, but historically corresponds to a managerial politico-military function.

It all starts with si vis pacem para bellum: “If you want peace prepare for war.” Confrontation must develop simultaneously on multiple levels: grand strategy, military strategy, operative, tactical.

But brilliant tactics, excellent operative intel and even massive victories in a larger war theater cannot compensate for a lethal mistake in terms of grand strategy. Just look at the Nazis in WWII.

Those who built up an empire such as the Romans, or maintained one for centuries like the Byzantines, never succeeded without following this logic.

Those clueless Pentagon and CIA ‘experts’

On Operation Z, the Russians revel in total strategic ambiguity, which has the collective west completely discombobulated.

The Pentagon does not have the necessary intellectual firepower to out-smart the Russian General Staff. Only a few outliers understand that this is not a war – since the Ukraine Armed Forces have been irretrievably routed – but actually what Russian military and naval expert Andrei Martyanov calls a “combined arms police operation,” a work-in-progress on demilitarization and denazification.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is even more abysmal in terms of getting everything wrong, as recently demonstrated by its chief Avril Haines during her questioning on Capitol Hill. History shows that the CIA strategically blew it all the way from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq. Ukraine is no different.

Ukraine was never about a military “win”.

What is being accomplished is the slow, painful destruction of the European Union (EU) economy, coupled with extraordinary weapons profits for the western military-industrial complex and creeping security rule by those nations’ political elites.

The latter, in turn, have been totally baffled by Russia’s C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) capabilities, coupled with the stunning inefficiency of their own constellation of Javelins, NLAWs, Stingers and Turkish Bayraktar drones.

This ignorance reaches way beyond tactics and the operational and strategic realm. As Martyanov delightfully points out, they “wouldn’t know what hit them on the modern battlefield with near-peer, forget about peer.”

The caliber of ‘strategic’ advice from the NATO realm was self-evident in the Serpent Island fiasco – a direct order issued by British ‘consultants’ to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, thought the whole thing was suicidal.

He was proven right.

All the Russians had to do was launch a few choice anti-ship and surface Onyx missiles from bastions stationed in Crimea on airports south of Odessa. In no time, Serpent Island was back under Russian control – even as high-ranking British and American marine officers ‘disappeared’ during the Ukrainian landing on the island. They were the ‘strategic’ NATO actors on the spot, doling out the lousy advice.

Extra evidence that the Ukraine debacle is predominantly about money laundering – not competent military strategy – is Capitol Hill approving a hefty extra $40 billion in ‘aid’ to Kiev. It’s just another western military-industrial complex bonanza, duly noted by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev.

Russian forces, meanwhile, have brought diplomacy to the battlefield, handing over 10 tons of humanitarian assistance to the people of liberated Kherson – with the deputy head of the military-civil administration of the region, Kirill Stremousov, announcing that Kherson wants to become part of the Russian Federation.

In parallel, Georgy Muradov, deputy prime minister of the government of Crimea, has “no doubts that the liberated territories of the south of the former Ukraine will become another region of Russia. This, as we assess from our communication with the inhabitants of the region, is the will of the people themselves, most of whom lived for eight years under conditions of repression and bullying by the Ukronazis.”

Denis Pushilin, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, is adamant that the DPR is on the verge of liberating “its territories within constitutional borders,” and then a referendum on joining Russia will take place. When it comes to the Luhansk People’s Republic, the integration process may even come earlier: the only area left to be liberated is the urban region of Lysychansk-Severodonetsk.

The ‘Stalingrad of Donbass’

As much as there’s an energetic debate among the best Russian analysts about the pace of Operation Z, Russian military planning proceeds methodically, as if taking all the time it needs to solidify facts on the ground.

Arguably the best example is the fate of Azov neo-Nazis at Azovstal in Mariupol – the best-equipped unit of the Ukrainians, hands down. In the end they were totally outmatched by anumerically inferior Russian/Chechen Spetsnaz contingent, and in record time for such a big city.

Another example is the advance on Izyum, in the Kharkov region – a key bridgehead in the frontline. The Russian Ministry of Defense follows the pattern of grinding the enemy while slowly advancing; if they face serious resistance, they stop and smash the Ukrainian defensive lines with non-stop missile and artillery strikes.

Popasnaya in Luhansk, dubbed by many Russian analysts as “Mariupol on steroids”, or “the Stalingrad of Donbass,” is now under total control of the Luhansk People’s Republic, after they managed to breach a de facto fortress with linked underground trenches between most civilian houses. Popasnaya is extremely important strategically, as its capture breaks the first, most powerful line of defense of the Ukrainians in Donbass.

That will probably lead to the next stage, with an offensive on Bakhmut along the H-32 highway. The frontline will be aligned, north to south. Bakhmut will be the key to taking control of the M-03 highway, the main route to Slavyansk from the south.

This is just an illustration of the Russian General Staff applying its trademark, methodical, painstaking strategy, where the main imperative could be defined as a personnel-preserving forward drive. With the added benefit of committing just a fraction of overall Russian firepower.

Russian strategy on the battlefield stands in stark contrast with the EU’s obstinacy in being reduced to the status of an American dog’s lunch, with Brussels leading entire national economies to varying degrees of certified collapse and chaos.

Once again it was up to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov – a diplomatic master – to encapsulate it.

Question: “What do you think of Josep Borrell’s (Lavrov’s EU counterpart) initiative to give Ukraine frozen Russian assets as ‘reparations?’ Can we say that the masks have come off and the west is moving on to open robbery?”

Lavrov: “You could say it is theft, which they are not trying to hide … This is becoming a habit for the west … We may soon see the post of the EU chief diplomat abolished because the EU has virtually no foreign policy of its own and acts entirely in solidarity with the approaches imposed by the United States.”

The EU cannot even come up with a strategy to defend its own economic battlefield – just watching as its energy supply is de facto, incrementally turned off by the US. Here we are at the realm where the US tactically excels: economic/financial blackmail. We can’t call these ‘strategic’ moves because they almost always backfire against US hegemonic interests.

Compare it with Russia reaching its biggest surplus in history, with the rise and rise of commodity prices and the upcoming role of the stronger and stronger ruble as a resource-based currency also backed by gold.

Moscow is spending way less than the NATO contingent in the Ukrainian theater. NATO has already wasted $50 billion – and counting – while the Russians spent $4 billion, give or take, and already conquered Mariupol, Berdyansk, Kherson and Melitopol, created a land corridor to Crimea (and secured its water supply), controls the Sea of Azov and its major port city, and liberated strategically vital Volnovakha and Popasnaya in Donbass, as well as Izyum near Kharkov.

That doesn’t even include Russia hurling the entire, collective west into a level of recession not seen since the 1970s.

The Russian strategic victory, as it stands, is military, economic, and may even coalesce geopolitically. Centuries after the Byzantine Strategikon was penned, the Global South would be very much interested in getting acquainted with the 21^st century Russian version of the Art of War.

Streamliners:

Pure, magnificent works of massive functional art…

And…

And…

Kodachrome Stories

Streamliners:

Pure, magnificent works of massive functional art…

And…

And…

Pure, magnificent works of massive functional art.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Meeting of the heads of state of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.

Part One – To be continued.

Something BIG is brewing. I expect to see "the other shoe drop", loudly within the year. -MM

May 16, 2022 From HERE

CSTO summit

Taking part in the meeting, timed to coincide with the 30^th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20^th anniversary of the organisation, were the heads of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

The main focus of the summit was on key issues of cooperation within the CSTO, topical international and regional problems, and measures to further improve the collective security system.

During the meeting, the leaders signed a Statement of the CSTO Collective Security Council (CSC) in connection with the 30^th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20^th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. They also signed a resolution of the CSTO CSC to award the participants in the CSTO peacekeeping mission in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

* * *

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon!

I am glad to welcome you all in Moscow.

At the suggestion of our chairman, and today Armenia chairs the organisation, we gathered in Moscow, because this is where 30 years ago the Collective Security Treaty was signed, and 20 years ago, on the basis of this Treaty, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation was created.

This means we have two anniversaries almost on the same day: on May 14 and 15 in 1992 and 2002, respectively. I congratulate you on this.

I hope that the organisation, which has become a full international structure over the years, will continue to develop, even through difficult times. I would like to note in this context that both 1992 and 2002 were difficult times; they never end.

The organisation plays a very important role in the post-Soviet space – a stabilising role. I hope that in this sense its capabilities and influence on the situation in our area of responsibility will only grow.

Here I would like to finish my welcoming remarks and give the floor to the Chairman [of the CSTO Collective Security Council], the Prime Minister of Armenia.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan: Thank you, Mr Putin.

Colleagues, I would like to welcome all of you!

I would also like to add my congratulations on the two anniversaries the President of Russia noted. The Treaty on Collective Security was signed on May 15, 1992, and the decision on establishing a Collective Security Treaty Organisation was made on May 14, 2002. We meet today partly in commemoration of both anniversaries.

I suggest we express our views on these anniversaries and on the current situation as always – in alphabetic order. Please hold your comments to 3 to 5 minutes – this is the open section.

Afterwards, we will sign the documents that are ready for signing, and will then continue our discussion behind closed doors.

I give the floor to the President of the Republic of Belarus. Go ahead, please.

President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko: Mr Pashinyan, dear friends!

I will talk a bit longer than usual since I am the first to speak, and the current situation deserves attention.

Today’s meeting is taking place in a difficult time, as the President of Russia has just said – a time of repartitioning the world; the unipolar international system is irretrievably receding into the past, but the collective West is fiercely fighting to keep its position.

Anything goes, including actions in the zone of responsibility of our organisation: from NATO’s sabre rattling at our western borders to a full-scale hybrid war unleashed against us, primarily against Russia and Belarus.

NATO is aggressively building its muscles, drawing Finland and Sweden into its net, countries that only yesterday were neutral. This is based on the attitude, “those who are not with us are against us,” and, hypocritically, NATO continues to declare its defensive nature. The truly defensive and peace-loving position of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation is in contrast to this background.

The United States is building up its military presence on the western flank of the CSTO, its military infrastructure is being upgraded at an accelerated pace and many NATO exercises are taking place. The large-scale exercise, Defender Europe 2022, the likes of which we have not seen before, are now being held on the territory of 19 European countries, in part, near our borders in Poland. You can guess for yourselves whom they are defending themselves against.

Until now, there is a force of about 15,000 military personnel stationed at the Belarusian-Polish border, which were deployed there last year under the pretext of a migration crisis, in addition to the troops that are stationed there permanently. Last year, 15,000 troops, mostly Americans, were redeployed. The migrants left that area a long time ago, but the troops are still there. The question is why?

Clearly, no country is posing any threat to NATO today. Moreover, an additional force of over 10,000 military troops was brought there to reinforce the alliance’s eastern flank with 15,000 troops already deployed in Poland and the Baltic countries as part of the US armed forces’ Atlantic Resolve and NATO-allied Enhanced Forward Presence. For perspective, seven or so years ago, there were 3,500 troops in this location (addressing the CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas) on your watch, now there are about 40,000 troops right on the territory of Poland and the Baltic states. And I am not talking about Ukraine yet.

Our military interaction within the framework of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, and Belarus’ membership in the CSTO, are the very stabilisers that have a certain sobering effect on the hotheads on the other side of the border. This shows that if it were not for this, I am afraid that a hot war would already be underway in Belarus. By the way, they tried to do this in 2020.

Today, there is no more pressing or important issue than the Ukraine conflict. Since 2014, all of us have been assisting in every way possible in resolving it. In principle, all of us sitting at this table are ready to do this even now and in any format.

Clearly, Ukraine was fomented, incited and fed nationalism and Nazism. We saw that in Odessa, when people were burned alive. Ukraine was fed Nazism, Russophobia and weapons. They used every approach to poison it.

After the election in Belarus in August 2020, regarding interaction with us, Belarus, Ukraine completely succumbed to the West. We have constantly experienced unfriendly actions from our southern neighbour for over two years now.

Ukraine proactively imposed sanctions on us even before the West, including the Americans. Ukraine was the first to do so. Remember? Their airspace was closed, then railway service, and then they began to train militants and send them to Belarus and ship weapons across the border. Everyone knows that. Provocative actions were carried out with Ukrainian drones conducting reconnaissance missions in Belarus’ airspace.

The facts indicating a threat to our national security are indisputable. This is exactly why we were absolutely right to activate the support mechanism in the framework of our alliance with Russia.

Belarus paid attention to the unjustified growth of the Western military presence in Ukraine and the region as a whole even before the start of the Russian special military operation. We talked about this more than once and warned that a conflict was looming. We expected the West, primarily the US, to accept Russia’s proposal to enter into talks on security guarantees. This process will start eventually in the foreseeable future but what will remain of Ukraine and our region by this time is a big question.

Right now, we are seeing that the West, including Washington, is only interested in prolonging the conflict as much as possible. This is why Ukraine is being flooded with weapons. The goals are clear: to weaken Russia as much as possible by miring it in this war. The flames may reach beyond it – we are seeing this, too. If this is the idea, likely nobody will be able to sit it out.

Currently the most dangerous trend in Ukraine are the attempts to partition the country. Thousand-strong units have already been formed to enter Ukraine in the guise of peacekeepers to “protect” it.

Unity and solidarity among like-minded people are particularly important at a time when norms and principles of international law are being completely ignored. The CSTO member states displayed such solidarity and support in January of this year in a time of trial: you remember the events in Kazakhstan. By acting rapidly when needed, we graphically demonstrated to the entire world our close allied relations and the capacity of our organisation to ensure the security of its members. Nobody in the West even dared think about interfering in this situation because we are stronger together.

But is it possible to claim today that the members of this organisation are really united and bound by ties of solidarity and support as before? Recent events suggest probably not. This is from our perspective, and I may be wrong. But it is enough to recall the ban imposed by some of our CSTO partners on the flights to their countries by national airlines of other CSTO members.

The concepts of unity and solidarity are not always enough, given the brutal, rabid sanctions pressure by the consolidated West. Unfortunately, this is clear from the voting in international organisations.

With the tacit agreement of our partners, Belarus and Russia are being vilified and expelled from international organisations against all laws of international life, just on a Western whim. Yes, you, CSTO members are subjected to pressure – tough and unprincipled pressure – but this is where collective, mutual support is so helpful. We may not exist tomorrow if we do not unite as soon as possible, if we do not strengthen our political, economic and military ties.

Our enemies and detractors are systematically degrading our strongholds and allied ties, and we ourselves are partially helping the West in this regard. I am sure that if we had acted as a united front right off the bat, the hellish, as they say, sanctions would be out of question.

Look how united the European Union is when it votes or acts, and how strong its intra-bloc discipline is. It applies automatically even to those who disagree with its decisions. This begs the question: What is keeping us from using this bloc resource? We need to follow their example. If divided, we will simply be crushed and torn apart.

Back in January, I said that the main goal of certain external forces is to undermine stability and to disrupt the evolutionary path of development throughout the post-Soviet space. They started with Belarus, then the infection spread to Kazakhstan, and now it is Russia’s turn, as we see, and problems are being created in Armenia as well. Make no mistake, no one will be spared.

It is absolutely clear that, without united pushback from the CSTO allies and other integration associations in the post-Soviet space, the collective West will ratchet up its pressure.

What do we need to do to reinforce the CSTO in this unprecedented situation at hand? Off the top of my head, I can visualise the following top-priority steps, which are many, and the President of Tajikistan covered them at length when he talked about the challenge facing that region.

The first is to strengthen political interaction and coordination of the CSTO member states. It is important to improve the efficiency of the foreign policy and security consultation mechanism. We need to speak more often on behalf of the CSTO on international platforms so that its voice and position can be seen and heard, and this voice and position must be united as they are in the West.

Let our foreign ministers consider how best to go about this, and where. Let them think about our political response to a new wave of NATO expansion in light of the intentions declared by well-known states.

We must work out in advance the CSTO position on this matter and make our interests known to the international community. We must act as one in this. Russia should not be alone in voicing its concern and fighting the attempted NATO enlargement.

The second point is to increase the effectiveness of efforts to counter challenges and threats in the information space, including the fight against fake news and disinformation. It is clear that we are facing a hybrid war, the main part of which is an information war.

In order to counter this, we should make the most of the 2017 CSTO Agreement on Information Security Cooperation and actively promote the CSTO on social media, which our Western opponents intensively use, in order to effectively respond to fake news and planted information. Moreover, we need to think seriously and, perhaps, follow China’s policy in the information confrontation, especially on the internet.

Relevant tasks should be assigned to all foreign ministries, special services and the CSTO Secretariat.

Third, there is a clear need to strengthen the forecasting and analytical component in the CSTO Secretariat’s work. I am sure that there are similar departments in the UN, the European Union and NATO. It might be worth considering creating a unit responsible for analysis and strategic planning at the CSTO Secretariat. I think the Secretary-General needs to study this issue.

Fourth, it is worth thinking about combining the potential of the analytical centres of the CSTO member states and forming a network of these centres to assist in the development of conceptual documents on current issues on the international agenda.

Dear friends,

I am offering such seemingly simple proposals at these extremely difficult times because we may not immediately agree on more complex ones. Therefore, these may be the first steps, but we need to go further and deeper, as we used to say in the past

Colleagues,

Everyone understands that the historical era that existed before is ending, and there will be no return to the previous international order. We cannot allow the creation of a new international architecture without us, while the West is already planting false stories and holding talks about it.

I believe that the CSTO should firmly strengthen its status in the international system of checks and balances. The organisation has a powerful collective potential for further progressive development, but it depends only on us today, it is up to us, how effectively the CSTO will use this potential and whether it will continue to exist in the next 10, 20 or 30 years.

After Armenia, the CSTO chairmanship will rotate to Belarus. In addition to the promising areas of work outlined above, we are already seriously considering new proposals aimed at the further development of our organisation, and you will learn about them in the near future. We hope for maximum support and constructive work from all of you, our colleagues. We have no other choice.

Sorry for such a long speech.

Thank you for your attention.

Nikol Pashinyan: Thank you, Mr Lukashenko.

I will give the floor to President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev: Mr Pashinyan, colleagues!

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to President of Russia Vladimir Putin for organising this anniversary summit of the Collective Security Council. It is true that our summit today is distinct in marking two CSTO anniversaries.

Over the years our organisation has proven to be an effective mechanism of multilateral cooperation with serious potential for further development.

Once the CSTO was established, a reliable system for collective security was built in the vast expanse of Eurasia. The main goals are to strengthen peace and stability as well as international and regional security, and protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of its member states.

The CSTO’s permanent working bodies operate successfully; there are various formats for close cooperation and interaction. The CSTO’s authority, law enforcement and peacekeeping potential are being strengthened.

We focus on countering international terrorism and extremism, illegal drug and weapons trafficking, and illegal migration. In this context we attach great importance to the developments in Afghanistan. The unstable situation there as well as the unrelenting activity of armed groups on the territory of Afghanistan continue to threaten the security and stability of our states. I believe the CSTO must consider every potential threat while paying even more attention to ensuring the security of the southern borders of Central Asia.

In the mid-term, developing the organisation’s peacekeeping potential is an unconditional priority. Active work is underway in this area. CSTO peacekeeping forces have been created and are being improved every year; a plan is being developed to equip them with modern weapons, equipment and special tools.

As you know, the institute of Special Representative of the CSTO Secretary-General for peacekeeping has been established, at Kazakhstan’s initiative. This means that all the necessary tools have been created, and we suggest that it is time to set the goal of getting the CSTO involved with the United Nations’ peacekeeping activities.

This step would promote the legal status of the CSTO and ensure the organisation’s participation in international peacekeeping operations.

Colleagues,

Our assessments of the CSTO’s development and common view of the current aspects of international and regional security underlie the anniversary statement of the Collective Security Council. I would like to thank Armenia for its productive chairmanship and Russia for its timely initiative to hold this forum.

Thank you for your attention.

Nikol Pashinyan:Thank you, Mr Tokayev.

Next to speak is President of the Kyrgyz Republic. Mr Sadyr Japarov, please, take the floor.

President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Japarov: Good afternoon.

Mr Putin, Mr Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council Nikol Pashinyan, Messrs heads of state,

I am happy to meet with you in hospitable Moscow.

I would like to begin with congratulations. First, I want to extend my congratulations to our fraternal peoples on the 77^th anniversary of the Great Victory. On May 9, many thousands of people across Kyrgyzstan took part in the Immortal Regiment march carrying the slogans “Eternal Glory to the Heroes” and “Nobody Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Forgotten.” The republic holds this holiday sacred, as it epitomises the defeat of Nazism and Fascism by the Soviet people and invariably pays a sincere tribute to the memory of the heroic deed of our fathers and grandfathers.

Second, I want to extend my congratulations to all of us on the 30^th anniversary of signing the Collective Security Treaty and the 20^th anniversary of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. We fully support the political statement to be adopted today in connection with these two historic dates.

The international events taking place in recent years show that the strategic decisions taken to ensure shared and collective security from Brest to Vladivostok were right.

At the same time, I am pleased to note that throughout its existence the Collective Security Treaty Organisation has fulfilled the responsible mission assigned to it and developed as an institution, with its potential becoming ever stronger. In this connection, I would like to express my gratitude to CSTO Secretary-General Stanislav Zas, all his predecessors in the post and the CSTO Secretariat staff for their loyal service in the interests of the security of the Organisation’s member states.

Colleagues,

The current international situation does not offer cause for optimism, in terms of both global security and the world economy. Threats to security and military and political tensions have come too close to the borders of the CSTO zone of responsibility. Attempts are being made to interfere from the outside in the internal affairs of the CSTO member states.

For example, earlier this year we had to help a CSTO member state get out of a security crisis it had unexpectedly found itself in. Our response was quick and effective. I fully support the decision to award participants in this peacekeeping mission.

The situation at the southern borders of the CSTO remains alarming, primarily due to the unhindered activities of radical religious terrorist groups in some Afghan provinces. The external sponsors of these groups have far-reaching plans for Central Asia. I think we should keep focusing our attention and analysis on the Afghan issue. It is necessary to carry out an entire package of political-diplomatic and military-technical measures to ensure security in this area. At the same time, it is important to provide humanitarian aid for the Afghan people. Our fellow countrymen are among them.

Colleagues,

We are seriously alarmed by the sanctions war. The Kyrgyz economy has not yet recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, and now the sanctions are already creating a threat to food and energy security, macroeconomic sustainability and social stability.

Under the circumstances, we must discuss and draft a common approach to alleviate the consequences of sanctions and prevent the deterioration of the socioeconomic situation in our countries. We will soon have an opportunity to do so at the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council and the First Eurasian Economic Forum in the city of Bishkek.

Colleagues, I hope for your personal participation as heads of your delegations, in which I am asking you to include heads of sectoral ministries and business structures.

In conclusion, I would like to congratulate you again on the Day of the Great Victory and the two anniversaries of the Collective Security Treaty.

I sincerely wish you and the friendly nations of the CSTO peace, stability, wellbeing and prosperity.

Thank you for your attention.

Nikol Pashinyan: Thank you, Mr Japarov.

I am giving the floor to President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

Mr President, go ahead, please.

Vladimir Putin: Friends and colleagues,

I will agree with the previous speakers – indeed, in the past few decades, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation has become considerably stronger and won a well-deserved reputation as an effective regional defence structure that ensures security and stability in the Eurasian space and reliably protects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of its member countries.

Importantly, cooperation in the CSTO has always been built in the spirit of true allied relations, on the principles of friendship and neighbourliness, respect and consideration of each other’s interests, mutual assistance and support. The same principles guide our cooperation in the current difficult situation.

The CSTO’s successful peacekeeping operation, held in Kazakhstan in January 2022 at the request of its leaders, showed the maturity of our Organisation and its real ability to adequately withstand acute challenges and threats.

The contingent of the collective CSTO forces, sent into Kazakhstan for a limited period of time, prevented extremists, including those directed from abroad, from seizing power and helped to quickly stabilise the internal political situation in the republic.

The use of peacekeeping forces at the request of the Kazakhstan leadership was the first operation of this kind in the CSTO’s history. The operation revealed the strong points of practical cooperation between our military structures and security services, and, at the same time, showed what we should work on to improve it.

Today, we will sign a joint statement reaffirming, taking into account the experience gained, among other things, during the afore-mentioned operation, the resolve of our states to continue acting as partners in different areas of military and defence development, and building up our coordinated actions in the world arena.

At the same time, it is quite logical that our current high-priority task is to further improve and streamline the work of the CSTO and its governing bodies. We will also provide the collective CSTO forces with modern weapons and equipment, we will enhance the interoperability of their troop contingents, and more effectively coordinate the joint actions of our military agencies and secret services.

We streamline the relevant operations all the time during CSTO exercises, and we are set to expand such exercises. This autumn, there are plans to hold an entire series of joint CSTO exercises in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. I am confident that these measures will boost the combat readiness of our states’ military agencies and improve their coordination, as well as increase the entire peacekeeping potential of the CSTO.

We also believe that the CSTO should continue its efforts to counter terrorism, drug trafficking and organised crime. Law enforcement agencies of our countries interact rather effectively in this field, so as to prevent the recruitment of people and to neutralise the resource potential of international terrorist organisations.

Efforts to maintain biological security also require the most serious attention. For a long time, we sounded the alarm about US military biological activity in the post-Soviet space.

It is common knowledge that the Pentagon has established dozens of specialised biological laboratories and centres in our common region, and that they are by no means merely providing practical medical assistance to the population of the countries where they are operating. Their main task is to collect biological materials and to analyse the spread of viruses and dangerous diseases for their own purposes.

Now, during the special operation in Ukraine, documentary evidence was obtained that components of biological weapons were developed in close proximity to our borders, which violates the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and possible methods and mechanisms were worked out to destabilise the epidemiological situation in the post-Soviet space.

In this regard, we count on our colleagues supporting the earliest possible implementation of Russia’s initiative to operationalise the designated CSTO council. Once again, I would like to note the importance of close coordination between CSTO members in matters of foreign policy, coordinated actions at the UN and other multilateral platforms, and promotion of common approaches to the multiplying international security issues.

In this context, it is important to build up cooperation with our “natural” partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Commonwealth of Independent States. By the way, we think it would be appropriate and correct – we will discuss this – to grant the CIS observer status in the CSTO.

I would like to highlight our priority task of jointly defending the memory of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the feat of our peoples who saved the world from Nazism at the cost of enormous and irreparable sacrifices, and to counteract any attempts to whitewash the Nazis, their accomplices and modern followers.

This is extremely important particularly now, when monuments to the heroes liberators are being barbarously demolished in a number of European countries, laying flowers at memorials is forbidden, and cynical attempts are being made to rewrite history, while praising murderers and traitors and insulting their victims, thus crossing out the feats of those who selflessly fought for Victory and won the war.

Unfortunately, in our neighbouring country, Ukraine, neo-Nazism has been on the rise for a long time now, to which some of our partners from the “collective West” turn a blind eye, and thus actually encourage their activities. All this goes hand-in-hand with an unprecedented surge in frenzied Russophobia in the so-called civilised and politically correct Western countries.

Indeed, we hear, and I hear people say that extremists can be found anywhere, which is true. Extremists are everywhere and one way or another they are leaving their underground hideouts and make themselves known. Nowhere, though – I want to underscore this – nowhere are Nazis being glorified at the state level and not a single civilised country’s authorities are encouraging thousands of neo-Nazi torchlight processions with Nazi symbols. This is something that is not practiced anywhere. But unfortunately, this is happening in Ukraine.

The expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance is a problem that, in my view, is being created in an absolutely artificial manner because it is being done in the foreign policy interests of the United States. Generally, NATO is being used, in effect, as the foreign policy tool of a single country, and it is being done persistently, adroitly, and very aggressively. All of this is aggravating the already complex international security situation.

As for the expansion, including the accession of two prospective new members, Finland and Sweden, I would like to inform you, colleagues, that Russia has no problems with these states. No problems at all! In this sense, therefore, there is no direct threat to Russia in connection with NATO’s expansion to these countries. But the expansion of its military infrastructure to these territories will certainly evoke a response on our part. We will see what it will be like based on the threats that are created for us. But generally speaking, problems are being created from nothing. So, we will respond to it in a fitting manner.

Apart from everything else, apart from this interminable policy of expansion, the North Atlantic Alliance is emerging beyond its geographical destination, beyond the Euro-Atlantic area. It is increasingly active in trying to manage international issues and control the international security situation. It wants to wield influence in other regions of the world, but its actual performance leaves much to be desired. This certainly demands additional attention on our part.

In conclusion, I want to reiterate that Russia will continue to contribute to deepening relations of strategic alliance with all CSTO member states. We will do our best to improve and develop effective partner cooperation within the CSTO and, of course, we will support the Armenian chairmanship’s ongoing work in this area.

As for Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, we will certainly discuss this, and I will inform you in detail about its causes and the current combat effort. But, of course, we will do this behind closed doors.

Thank you for your attention.

Nikol Pashinyan: Thank you, Mr Putin.

President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon is our next speaker. Please go ahead.

President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon: Colleagues,

First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the occasion of the 30^th anniversary of the signing of the Collective Security Treaty and the 20^th anniversary of the creation of the CSTO.

I would like to thank the President of Russia for convening today’s meeting dedicated to these milestone events that are important for all of us. Anniversaries are a good opportunity to reflect on the path traveled and the development of the CSTO and to identify prospects for multilateral cooperation seeking to strengthen the common collective security system in light of new realities.

Over the period under review, the CSTO has established itself as an important factor in strengthening peace and ensuring regional security and stability. The organisation’s successful peacekeeping mission earlier this year clearly showed it.

We have created an extensive legal framework, the necessary working and coordinating bodies, as well as mechanisms aimed at fulfilling the organisation’s goals.

In practice, due attention is paid to strengthening and consolidating mutual trust within the CSTO. The CSTO’s international ties are expanding. Last year, we completed the ratification procedure and launched the institutions of observers under the CSTO and the CSTO partners as part of the Tajik chairmanship.

Field and command-staff exercises are conducted on a permanent basis, and measures are being taken to supply modern weapons and military equipment to the collective security system’s forces and means. All this helps maintain a high degree of combat readiness, mobility, training and skills of command and service personnel for bringing joint solutions to common tasks.

Today, the CSTO is an important platform for equal dialogue and cooperation between member states in all three basic dimensions: political interaction, military cooperation and joint efforts to counter modern challenges and threats.

The CSTO Collective Security Strategy to 2025, which reflects the principles of our interaction in the mid-term, is an important document that is guiding our organisation along its own path of development. Our common assessment of the state and development prospects of the organisation is reflected in a joint statement that we will adopt following the summit.

Notably, today we are facing no less important tasks to strengthen our common security. Given the manifold growth of challenges and threats to security, we will have to step up joint efforts to strengthen the Organisation’s potential and capabilities.

For example, we can see that negative factors have been accumulating in Afghanistan over the past 40 years, and they have worsened the military-political and socioeconomic situation in that country. In this regard, the CSTO needs to be prepared for various scenarios on the southern borders.

Tajikistan plans to continue to actively contribute to ensuring common security in the organisation’s regions of responsibility.

Thank you.

Nikol Pashinyan: Thank you very much.

Colleagues, I will now speak in my national capacity, if I may.

First of all, I would like to thank the President of Russia for hosting the anniversary CSTO summit in Moscow and the warm welcome. Of course, our organisation’s anniversary is also an excellent occasion to sum up the intermediate results and to discuss prospects for the further development of our organisation.

The President of Belarus raised important questions about interaction between the CSTO member countries and touched on, frankly, rather problematic issues. In general, there are a lot of positive developments in the history of the CSTO, because in reality it was, is and will be the most important factor in ensuring security and stability in the region.

But, as we see, we are discussing not only anniversary-related issues at this anniversary summit, because the situation is fairly tense in the CSTO area of responsibility. I want to touch on some of the issues that the President of Belarus mentioned.

Regarding voting by the CSTO member countries, this issue does exist, indeed. Often, our voting is not synchronised, but this is not something new. This has been typical of our organisation for a long time now. Armenia has repeatedly raised this issue, and we have repeatedly discussed it in the regular course of business. Clearly, this issue needs to be further discussed as well.

With regard to interaction as well as response and rapid response mechanisms, this is also a critical issue for Armenia, because, as you are aware, last year on these days, Azerbaijani troops invaded the sovereign territory of Armenia. Armenia turned to the CSTO for it to activate the mechanisms that are provided for in the Regulations governing the CSTO response to crisis situations of December 10, 2010 which is a document approved by the Collective Security Council. Unfortunately, we cannot say that the organisation responded as the Republic of Armenia expected.

For a long time now, we have been raising the issue of sales of weapons by CSTO member countries to a country that is unfriendly to Armenia, which used these weapons against Armenia and the Armenian people. This is also a problem.

Frankly, the CSTO member countries’ response during the 44-day war of 2020 and the post-war period did not make the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people very happy, but I want to emphasise the special role played by the Russian Federation and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin personally in halting the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

I would like to reaffirm that Armenia remains committed to the trilateral statements of November 9, 2020. I am referring to the trilateral statements by the President of the Russian Federation, the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia, as well as the trilateral statements of January 11, 2021 and November 26, 2021.

I think it is critically important to sum up the results, but Armenia, as a founding member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, is committed to the organisation’s further development and considers it a key contributor to stability and security in the Eurasian region, as well as the security of the Republic of Armenia, and is positive about providing its full support for the organisation’s further development.

BREAKING NEWS: Ukraine “Azov Brigade” (Nazis) Agree to SURRENDER

World Hal Turner 16 May 2022

This is reported in Western media as a successful Ukranian military  "breakout" from Russian encirclement. Yeah. Crazy twisting of facts.  HERE. -MM

Ukraine Territory Defense Forces (Azov) Steel Works Regiments in Mariupol, Ukraine, have reached an agreement to surrender 300 seriously wounded Ukraine Solders, so they can get hospital treatment. 2,000 others will surrender tomorrow & lay down their arms.

Literally within MINUTES of the agreement, Azov wounded and sick began being brought out from the catacombs beneath the steel mill:

The Russian Army had Ambulances and Red Cross-Type Emergency vehicles at the ready to take the most severely wounded, sick, and injured to nearby field hospitals:

The forces at the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol, have been surrounded for about a month. Recently, secret tunnel entrances from the catacombs beneath the steel mill, were located and sealed by Russian forces surrounding the mill. This completely cut off those troops from food and water.

Skirmishes between those troops and the surrounding Russian Army forces, depleted Azov ammunition supplies, which could not be refreshed.

Azov repeatedly asked Ukraine leadership in Kiev for permission to surrender, and that permission was repeatedly DENIED.

Today, it appears the NAZI troops, starving and thirsty, have no choice.

It is widely rumored that NATO troops – or “advisors”- are among those 2,000 or so troops, but this has only been rumored for months. Tomorrow, the world finds out if it is true.

UPDATE 6:58 PM EDT —

300 Azovites, 50 of whom are wounded, have now been taken to a hospital in Novoazovsk.

UPDATE 7:03 PM EDT —

Ukrainian government is now CONFIRMING THE SURRENDER OF AZOV.

Ukraine confirmed the evacuation of soldiers from Azovstal According to the General Staff of Ukraine, 53 seriously wounded servicemen were taken to a medical facility in Novoazovsk. Another 211 people were evacuated through the humanitarian corridor to Yelenovka.

Below is the official confirmation:

So why did AUSTIN call SHOIGU?

Now confirmed by one of my top intel sources.

The call was a direct consequence of PANIC. The USG by all means wants to scotch the detailed Russian investigation – and accumulation of evidence – on the US bioweapon labs in Ukraine.

As I stressed in a previous post, Shoigu had refused to pick up calls from weapons peddler retrofitted as Pentagon head Lloyd “Raytheon” Austin since the last week of February and the start of Operation Z.

This phone call happened EXACTLY after an official Russian statement to the UN: we will use articles 5 and 6 of the Convention on the Prohibition of Bioweapons to investigate the Pentagon’s biological “experiments” in Ukraine.

Shoigu cold see the call coming eons away.

Reuters, merely quoting the proverbial “ Pentagon official”, spun that the one-hour-long call led to nothing. Nonsense.

Austin allegedly demanded a “ ceasefire” – which must have originated a Siberian cat smirk on Shoigu’s face.

Shoigu knows exactly where the dire facts on the ground – for the Ukros and UkroNazis – are leading. Especially in Donbass: it’s a military disaster the USG cannot possibly spin.

Now, in parallel, we can also expect full exposure – on overdrive – of the Pentagon bioweapon racket.

The only “offer you can’t refuse” left to the USG is to REALLY offer something tangible to the Russians to avoid an investigation.

Not gonna happen.

Sorry USA… All will be revealed.

From HERE

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New Beginnings 4

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Ukraine war, Russia, 1955 GMC L’Universelle Dream Truck, 1950s Kodachromes, and beautiful girls from the past

I hope that you all aren’t getting too tired of these “new beginnings” articles. I know that they are long, and overly detailed. I will eventually phase them out. But for now, please endure along with me.

Sorry about the lack of MM on Sunday and Monday. The server had an “explosion” and the physical server hardware needed to be replaced, and the old server slag hauled off to the dumpster.

Ah something like this…

If you can believe it!

Sheech!

Meanwhile, the uploads of MM videos on you-tube slowed down to a crawl, and what was posted had mysterious video editing…

…Yeah. No shit…

Key segments were edited out, and no longer exist. For instance, the segment that has the text “In China, military training begins in first grade” is completely edited out of the video. As is the closing segment, “Be part of the community“.

In the future, I will need to be very careful on making sure that things are not omitted from my videos, whether unintentionally, or by design.

We start off with an American truck.

The 1955 GMC L’Universelle Dream Truck

What a beauty!

One of the most popular General Motors design concept models designed under the direction of Harley Earl was the 1955 GMC L’Universelle show van. The name “L’Universelle” is French and means “The Universal.” The model was a part of the Motorama shows during the 1950s, which created a huge buzz among crowds at the time.

In January of 1955, GM debuted its ’55 L’Universelle show van at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, at the opening of that year’s Motorama. Though not a conventional “dream car” as one would normally find at the Motorama, it nonetheless shared the same level of innovation as the one-offs displayed by the General’s other divisions. Moreover, the bronze-colored van shared many of the same Harley Earl-inspired design elements used on both production and non-production GM cars of the time.

Max Headroom about Censorship

Jesus H. Christ! I simply cannot beleive that we all collectively believed that this guy was “so cool” back in the 1980s. Ugh! It’s a reminder of the mass insanity of the sheeple.

‘Slovakia’s food is for Slovakians,’ Slovakia’s trade restrictions leave EU fuming – TFIGlobal

Another good development for the world.

The Chinese word for “currency” is 货币。货 is stock (products) , 币is money. That means, in Chinese, a currency can only be useful when it can be used to exchange products.

So, when the United States (and their proxy nations) confiscated other nations reserve currency at will, their currency lost the trust of the world. So , Putin is right and proper to declare the US dollar / European currency illegitimate and has since refused to sell Russian products using these fake currencies.

The world also has begun to dump their USD currency treasury debt and reduce holding of the United States currency reserve. This is helping to speed up the collapse of the US and EU currency as world reserve currencies.

As a result, US can no longer continue to print money without causing inflation at home because they world no longer trust their currency.

As a result, all the printed money is now staying inside United States.

As the world biggest trading nation, China is inevitable having huge amount of the US dollars, so in the past decade, China decided to use them for their Belt and Road project, and use them to buy a heck of lot of raw materials such as food and oil and gas from the US, and (in the process) gives the dollar back to the US.

Of course China also canceled export subsidies and imposed export tariffs on certain strategic products with high demand in US.

That is also part of the reason why there is enormous inflation in the United States. And this situation will damage US ability to continue to print money and continue to suck up the world resources at will as it is it’s want.

US is heading straight towards a massive “great depression”.

Now more and more countries have begun to say “no” to the USA.

The latest is Turkey.

And they are using their role within NATO to veto it from accepting Finland and Sweden entering it.

And let’s not forget the Solomon Islands. They, went straight ahead and signed a deal with China despite Australia’s anger, and the threat of US military annihilation.

Meanwhile, the Saudi’s decided not to take a phone call from President Biden, and is maintaining very high oil prices to US and EU but have reduced their prices for Asia.

Very soon, Japan and Germany may want to be a normal country again. And they will accomplish this by asking the US military to leave.

The Roman empire collapsed when it no longer generate enough income to maintain its organizational expenses, the USSR was the same. Now, the US is heading toward such destruction as well.

From HERE

American actress from the silent movie era, actress Marie Doro, 1902

Ham & cheese egg toast – Korean street food

Great video.

Liberalism and the Rise of the Self Hating Chinese in China.

Liberalism is an ideology of turncoats.

In any country, everything liberals do is under the guise of freedom, equality, democracy, and human rights, but the ultimate result is the collapse of the state, the annihilation of social cohesion, and the breaking apart of the collective, whether if that was the original intention or not.

In a summary:

1. Liberalism is the belief in the ultimate freedom of the individual over the collective, usually without limits or with little regard for the well-being of the collective society.

2. Liberalism uses the guise of “human rights”, “equality”, “freedom”, “reform”, and “democracy” to mask its ulterior political purposes.

3. Liberalism rigidly forces the majority to show unnecessary and excessive tolerance for behavior that violates the generally accepted norms and rules, even if the majority opinion is against this tolerance. Often this leads to crime and antisocial behavior, the loss of family values, and the loss of cultural roots.

For example, let’s study the forced acceptance of a criminal subculture in the United States. In the United States of America, the criminal subculture has been directly responsible for the wave of anti-Asian hate crimes, looting, and robberies. Within this criminal subculture, Gangster rap music occasionally contains lyrics specifically instructing their listeners to target Asian American families. Make no mistake about it. The existence of this criminal subculture and glorification of crime has consequences. In the city of San Francisco, a burglary crime spree occurred in early 2022. 27 households were burglarized. All homes were Asian households.

Most American people, of all races, are decent people and are opposed to crime. However, liberal politicians, media, and their political machines have been able to support the rise of liberal district attorneys in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles. These district attorneys refuse to prosecute crimes under the guise of “criminal justice reform”, reinforcing this criminal behavior. Opponents who speak out against this program are labeled as racists or fascists. Isn’t this a forced tolerance of the criminal subculture by the liberals?

The same phenomenon is occurring in Western Europe and even in some parts of China. More and more Chinese people in Asia are becoming attracted to this liberal ideology, which promises a great degree of individual freedom, at the cost of selling the country. Forced tolerance of certain abnormal behavior, like the niangpao phenomena, is becoming more and more apparent.

China is different from the West. Our Chinese civilization is founded on 5,000 years of our own unique tradition and culture. Western liberalism and the imposition of the forced tolerance of abnormal behavior contrary to the norms that are contrary to Chinese values, norms, traditions, and beliefs have no place in the country of China.

Furthermore, Chinese people have to remember that at the geopolitical level, Liberalism has been used as a tool to manufacture consent for wars and imperialism in the developing world.

Western liberal intellectuals, politicians, and media often accuse foreign people and nations in the developing world, who refuse to accept liberal values, of being undemocratic or uncivilized. Westerners ignore the reality that developing countries may have different historic or social circumstances and cannot be compared to their Western values. Consent is then manufactured to conduct regime change.

Who benefits once the regime change is successful? It is not the native people in these developing places, it is the Western mega-corporations and the big business interests who move in and loot the land, labor, and resources of the developing world. No wonder why so many large Western corporations parrot liberal talking points.

How to Spot A Chinese Liberal

“In 100 years of colonialism, Hong Kong has changed to what we see today. With China being so big, of course, it would require 300 years as a colony for it to be able to transform into how Hong Kong is today. I have my doubts as to whether 300 years would be enough”. – Liu Xiaobo

Liu also said in response to criticisms: “‘If you say I’m a traitor, then I’ll betray the country!… I am an unfilial descendant who dug out my ancestor’s graves, I am proud of it”!!! (你要說我叛國，我就叛國！就承認自己是挖祖墳的不孝子孫，且以此為榮)

This man was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

A true Chinese liberal always rejoices at failures in his country and is worried about the success of the country.
A liberal starts giggling happily and rubbing his little hands contentedly, whenever there is bad news of a natural disaster or some kind of emergency in China. Every failure in China is automatically the result of the actions of the “Evil Communist Party”.
A real liberal is upset whenever a new high-speed railroad or a new warship is commissioned. He or she would mumble under his breathe about how long it will take for a train to crash or the ship to sink.
A real liberal always admires the West, the West can do no wrong in their eyes.

Everything is dear to the heart of a Chinese liberal in the West. A liberal always admires Western “democracy”. When a liberal is asked about cases of human rights violations in the United States or the liberal would react furiously.

For example, Chinese liberal Liu Xiaobo once praised the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq. “Victory to the Anglo-American Alliance” he proudly declared.

A Chinese liberal considers Chinese people to be hopeless cattle

A true Chinese liberal sits and rolls his eyes. He talks about how stupid and hopeless the Chinese people are. That Chinese people are slaves and deserved all the misfortunes that happen to them and happened in the past. “Next life I do not want to be Chinese” the liberal will declare to the entire world.

Socialist Patriotism is the pride and shield of the Chinese nation.

There is and has been no other unifying force that has been more beneficial to the prosperity and unification of China than the ideal of socialist patriotism. Socialist patriotism is and has always been the force that provides a unity of purpose for the masses of Chinese people. Socialist patriotism is the antithesis of liberalism, as it is a force that places the overall collective interest over the individual interest. The two concepts are mutually exclusive after all.

Chinese workers (1958)

During the period from 1949 to 1976, it was socialist patriotism, not liberalism, which inspired the Chinese workers and peasants of our parent’s generation to break their back in the fields, carve roads, and build bridges with nothing but their bare hands. Most people today do not comprehend the extreme poverty which existed in China during that time. In 1949, China was in every sense a medieval country. The nutrition, healthcare, sanitation, social services, and infrastructure of a modern civilization were nonexistent. Life expectancy was 36 years old for the average Chinese person. That’s the same life expectancy as medieval Europe.

So Mao Zedong during this time, mobilized the entire Chinese nation to modernize the country. Every single man and woman, of all occupations, was on duty day and night: Peasants, soldiers, workers, doctors, intellectuals, teachers, and scientists all did their part to build the country. They did their jobs for little or no pay. Even if some money was to be made, there was nothing to buy.

So-called “barefoot doctors” volunteered to live in the rural countryside to treat the residents there. Teachers volunteered to teach children in rural places for free. Peasants and workers plowed the fields and broke their backs. Food was oftentimes scarce and oftentimes there was none to be had.

Millions of lives perished under these austere conditions.

Barefoot doctors traveled to the countryside to treat peasants for no pay.

A modern Chinese liberal would have scoffed and called this an abuse of human rights or a form of slavery. However, the mindset of the Chinese socialist patriot at the time was the complete opposite. The Chinese patriot understood the totality of the circumstances. He knew that his country was poor because it was a victim of 100 years of Western imperialism. That he starved not because his country wanted to use him as a slave, but it was because the material means, the food, the resources, and capital, simply did not exist at the time. China then had just exited one hundred years of colonialism, over thirty years of endless civil wars and foreign occupations. Infrastructure was nonexistent. Faced with such extreme poverty, the Chinese patriot knew that complaining would solve nothing and that only through sheer determination could the foundations of a New China be established.

So the Chinese workers, soldiers, scientists, and peasants all selflessly sacrificed because they had nothing else. Their only dream was to see China become strong enough so that it cannot be colonized again.

And look at what the Chinese socialist patriots created. Life expectancy, literacy rate, and living standards almost doubled from 1949 to 1976. Life expectancy which was at 36 years old in 1949 reached 64 by 1976. This would not have been possible in a country the size of China if improvements to nutrition, social services, infrastructure, and healthcare had not been made on a large scale.

By 1976, China was a nuclear power. China had launched satellites into space, commissioned nuclear submarines, detonated nuclear weapons, and built rockets. This nuclear status guaranteed that China will never again become occupied by foreign powers.

All of these accomplishments were achieved despite China’s poverty and the crippling sanctions imposed on the nation by both the Soviet Union and the United States.

Today, China moves forward as a powerful country that is now on the verge of becoming the world’s largest economy. China’s success story is one of the most epic tales of human history and was achieved completely due to the sacrifices made by the Chinese workers, soldiers, peasants, and patriotic people from all walks of life, who brought life to China. Such people are unconquerable.

Turncoat liberals like Liu Xiaobo are traitors. Liu humiliates 25 generations of his ancestors. God damn him. God damn that man.

Comments by readers:

Our Chinese ancestors were our models and angels. They had nothing, had no food, no clothes, and lived in hardships. But they worked hard anyways, brought life back to a dying China. Chinese workers, soldiers, teachers, scientists and peasants all selflessly sacrificed themselves for the benefits and betterment of the nation and the Chinese people in general.
Barefoot doctors volunteered to heal patients in rural places and teachers to teach children for free or little pay, workers and peasants worked for little pays and foods with their bare hands under the most difficult conditions and hardships.
Their only dreams were to see China rising up and becoming strong again so that she would not be subjugated or colonized by the greedy, aggressive and unmerciful foreigners any longer.
I really admire the courage and determination of our ancestors, grand parents and parents in handling and overcoming their hardships, difficulties, backwardnesses and misfortunes brought about by foreign aggressors.
If Chinese people did not have these courage and determination, China would still be a failed state today.

American actress Ethel Clayton, 1910

Gregg Allman – These Days

Very appropiate for my current “state of mind”. I hope you all appreciate the music selection in this article.

Modern American women

Not everyone for certain. Only the loudest.

India announces immediate ban on wheat exports

India wants to keep it’s food for itself. It’s following the Chinese model.

From HERE

China is the only country with a traditional policy for food security. Since ancient times, the state has routinely stocked up certain crops for emergency use. Then, they released the food to the market with stable prices, as well as to provide assistance to the population whenever there is a nature disaster.

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

The US wants to keep its status as a superpower at any cost

By Zamir Awan for the Saker Blog

The US is desperate to sustain its hegemony and supremacy. It is taking extreme measures and can go to any extent to keep its hegemony and supremacy. Its Petrodollars policy has been playing a significant role, but, facing challenges recently and the US is getting nervous and crazy.

The petrodollar is any U.S. dollar paid to oil-exporting countries in exchange for oil. The dollar is the preeminent global currency. As a result, most international transactions, including oil, are priced in dollars. Oil-exporting nations receive dollars for their exports, not their own currency.

In addition, most oil-exporting nations own their oil industries. That makes their national income depends on the dollar’s value. If it falls, so does their government’s revenue. As a result, most of these oil exporters also peg their currencies to the dollar. That way, if the dollar’s value falls, so does the price of all their domestic goods and services. That helps these countries avoid wide swings in inflation or deflation.

The petrodollar system is tied to the history of the gold standard. After World War II, the United States held most of the world’s supply of gold. It agreed to redeem any U.S. dollar for its value in gold if the other countries pegged their currencies to the dollar. Other countries signed this deal at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference. It established the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

On February 14, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the alliance with Saudi Arabia.1 He met with Saudi King Abd al-Aziz. The United States built an airfield at Dhahran in return for military and business training. This alliance was so critical that it survived subsequent years of differences of opinion over the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The 1945 agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia cemented the relationship between the dollar and oil. The petrodollar was born. In 1971, U.S. stagflation prompted runs on the dollar. Many countries asked to redeem their U.S. dollars for gold. To protect the remaining U.S. gold reserves, President Richard Nixon removed the dollar from the gold standard. As a result, the value of the dollar plummeted. That helped the U.S. economy as its export values also decreased, making them more competitive. A falling dollar hurt oil-exporting countries because contracts were priced in U.S. dollars. Their oil revenue dropped along with the dollar. The cost of imports, denominated in other currencies, increased.

In 1973, Nixon asked Congress for military aid to Israel in the Yom Kippur War. The newly-formed Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries halted oil exports to the United States and other Israeli allies. The OPEC oil embargo quadrupled the price of oil in six months. Prices remained high even after the embargo ended. In 1979, the United States and Saudi Arabia negotiated the United States-Saudi Arabian Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation. They agreed to use U.S. dollars for oil contracts. The U.S. dollars would be recycled back to America through contracts with U.S. companies. These companies improve Saudi infrastructure through technology transfer.

The United States uses the power of petrodollars to enforce its foreign policy. But many countries don’t fight back. They are afraid it would mean the collapse of the petrodollar system.

However, there was strong thinking against the Petrodollar concept and few Arab leaders declared to trade oil; in local currencies or any other currency, de-linking from dollars. The leading role was played by President Sadden Hussain, Col. Qaddafi of Libya, and the Syrian President. The US has punished them and changed the regimes in such countries.

China called for a replacement of the U.S. dollar as a global currency. Although, it is one of the largest foreign holders of the dollar. China influences the U.S. dollar by pegging its currency, the yuan, to it. China has signed a currency swap agreement with more than twenty countries and already trading with them in Yuan or local currencies. China is importing oil and gas from a few Arab nations in Yuan.

Russia has demanded to settle Gas bills in Rubles and a few European countries are already agreed to pay in Rubles. EU has also no objections if any member state pays in Rubles instead of Dollars. Russia is trading with few other nations in Rubles or local currencies instead of Dollars.

Russia has slashed the value of the dollar and the euro by 30% in a jiffy by linking the Russian Ruble to the value of gold and declaring to supply oil only against the Russian Ruble. Russia’s move means that now the entire world, especially Western Europe and Japan will buy the Russian Ruble by selling dollars in huge quantities, as the Russian Ruble has become the world’s most stable currency overnight after being linked to gold.

America, which does not mass-produce anything other than weapons and ammunition, is caught in a terrible economic crisis. In the event of a shrinking dollar, the US cannot cover its 306 billion budget deficit. This will cause severe unemployment and adversely affect the social safety net. This is the economic atom bomb that Joe Biden was aware of when he was talking about the removal of Putin in Poland.

Putin orders European countries to make payments of Gas and Oil in terms of Rubble and open the account in Russian banks. It will weaken the American sanctions on Russia. Although Russia has not retaliated against the American sanctions so aggressively, introduced its policies to counter the sanctions successfully.

The rapid decline of the US has made its leadership nervous and crazy. They are taking all possible measures to sustain their hegemony and supremacy. Even, though the Ukraine war is only a phenomenon, the objective is to maintain status-co. unfortunately, the US is not interested in global peace, stability, or saving human lives. The only priority is to maintain its hegemony and supremacy. To achieve this goal, the US can sacrifice Ukraine, Europe, or any heavy price. The US policy in the Ukraine war is to add fuel to fire, there is no will to stop the war, ceasefire, or save human lives. They are providing weapons, and arming civilians to lead toward a prolonged civil war, to bleed Russian and keep many countries over-engaged and let the US maintain its monopoly and the upper hand.

Russia was reluctant to attack Ukraine and has been observing restrains for quite along. Showing its genuine security concerns and alarming the US with serious consequences, but, the US kept its policy to encircle Russia.

The haphazard joining of NATO by Finland and the defense agreement with the UK is also equally a genuine threat to Russia. Russia and Finland share a long common border. Joining NATO, means, the deployment of NATO forces along the Russian border, which is a direct threat. Joining NATO by other Scandinavian nations is also a serious and matter of deep concern for Russia.

It seems the US has only one priority which is to sustain its position in the geopolitics, it ignores the genuine concerns of other nations. We are scared of the future of geopolitics and afraid the days to come may be harsh for humankind.

In history, many nations rose to the status of superpowers and ruled the world for a certain period of time, then, meltdown and passed the status of superpower to other rising nations. Like Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire, Greek Empire, British, and French empires, etc. But, The US is not willing to accept the natural cycle of superpowers and can go to any extent to keep its status of superpower forever, which is not rational nor natural, it might cause irrecoverable loss to humankind. Unfortunate!

The 1955 GMC L’Universelle Dream Truck

The L’Universelle concept model was designed under the direction of Charles Jordan, a creative and talented automotive/truck designer. Jordan, who had worked in the GMC studio, became one of GM’s youngest and brightest designers, creating many successful projects during the 1950s. The L’Universelle project started out as a box design with the engine positioned up front followed by a big box interior design for the driver and cargo area. The interior was designed around the engine, which had allowed a certain separation of the cargo area from the driver’s cab area.

American movie and theater actress Maude Fealy, the 1900s

Modern Woman

Not everyone. But you know, unfortunately, this has become more or less the norm. Damn ugly. Or, in the ‘states we say “fugly”. Which means “fucking ugly”.

50 billion in Lend and Lease, Or why the US is doomed.

A ‘Word Cartoon’ by F(unny)MAN for the Saker Blog

Today, after some weeks on a Hospital recovering from a severe intoxication that almost killed me ⁽¹⁾ and which have keep me between life and dead due to the secondary effects of such event (I mean the intoxication) the doctors found the medical solution to heal me, applied it and… voila 20 minutes later I am at home again reading that the US Government is preparing to give aid under the Lend and Lease Act to the Ukrainian Satrapy (AKA Country 404) in order to maintain it afloat, rebuild its army, and of course launch a counteroffensive that will push Russia beyond the Urals, and surely for 50 billion more, beyond the Kolyma Mountains.

Everybody knows that the Americans do this because they live in a country of abundance, a functional post scarcity society, where money is not an issue, and the Populus in general are only dedicated to their personal advancement thanks to education, philosophical and scientifical research, et cetera. A country where politicians only think on how to improve the wellbeing of their fellow countrymen, and work unstoppable to do it, no matter the costs…

uh oh … looks like another seizure… yes? No? No, false alarm. Just some after effects of the intoxication still.

As I said, 50 Billion Dollars! Any normal country can do quite a lot with that money! If it is only invested in the Army, then Hell! They can have an army as well equipped and efficient as some of the best armies⁽³⁾ in the World

But, lets ask ourselves: what can a country like 404 do with such amount?

First, we must apply Mathematics to know how much of that 50 billions really get to 404. Yes sorry, it is another Essay with Mathematics, because they never lie.

For this we are going to apply a Formula:

R₄₀₄= B*(1-(f₁+f₂+f₃+…+*f_n))

Where the Terms are

R₄₀₄ is the Real amount of MoneyMoneyMoney that the Country 404 really gets

B is the planned Lend and Lease amount to be throw away through the window given

f_n are Reality Modifiers Factors such as:

f1 : Us Congressmen racket percentage, which vary between 3 and 50%

f2 : Financial handlers theft Fees; usually not smaller than 10%

f3 : 404 Congressmen bribery salary percentage, usually a Term called ATCS⁽⁴⁾

f4 : 404 Oligarchic shakedown Percentage, usually a Term called ATCSFWL⁽⁵⁾

f5 : Military Industrial Complex CRAP ⁽⁶⁾ brazen robbery Overpricing Factor

when the Formula is worked

R₄₀₄ = 50.000.000.000*(1-(0,5*0,1*0,14*0,14*0,1) = 1000.000.000

R₄₀₄ = 1 billion Dollars.

Taking into account the effectivity of such investments in past events⁽⁷⁾after some months the Country 404 should surely muster a 10 men Army, equipped with hundredths of (obsolete) Tanks, APC, Planes, Artillery systems, anti-tank and anti-air rocket launchers (no warranty that any of these functions properly) with millions of tons of ammo (no warranty to be the appropriate ones for the mentioned weapons before). Of these men, half of them in Ironman suits and the other half dressed in Batman suits… that would terrorize the Russian people, Army soldiers, general Shoigu, minister Lavrov and Pres. Putin himself. And that would revert the Tide of Russian Hordes, destroying them in the process, and reach the Urals (and surely for 50 billion more, even reach the Kolyma Mountains as mentioned before)

Meanwhile, in Country 404, elites⁽⁸⁾ and whomever can, is trying to leave the country to survive the reckoning in perspective.

In the US… same Shit as every day.

1. 1. The intoxication was caused accidentally when my television entered in a Zapping Cycle which exposed me to MSM reporting of the Events in Ukraine for about 4 minutes. Watching the News of CNN, BBC, CNBC, and such started a process of severe laughing that combined with the brain seizures were almost mortal.
  2. The medical solution has been around for quite a long time, it is a product that taken in small (or big, it doesn’t really matter) quantities makes you immune to Covid, poisoning, dementia and other maladies. Fact is, it makes you immortal! The Product is the (in)famous NOVICHOK. As all those who have taken it can testify about its efficiency.
  3. Best armies in the world with a budget close to 50 billion annually.

Reader Discretion is advised, this information about the best armies can cause severe laughing, and diarrhea once understood.

La France ca. 56 billion annual budget
Das Germany ca. 56 billion annual budget
Saudi Barbaria ca. 55 billion annual budget
Japan ca. 54 billion annual budget
South Korea ca. 50 billion annual budget

ATCS = All They Can Steal
ATCSFWL= All They Can Steal From What is Left

Please Note that ATCS and ATCSFWL are interchangeable and have a mathematical tendence to be as high as possible percentually, and catch me if you can.

The products of the Military Industrial Complex, also known as CRAP, an Acronym for Concoptions Really Absurdly (over)Priced. As effective as those charlatan potions for hair growing,
Wart removers and various maladies alleviators, et al. Sold in the Far West in the nineteen century.
The 5 Syrian Rebels… yes, those trained for 500 million Dollars.
By elites we all know I am referring to those oligarchs, politicians, and banderites that have done an ATCS or ATCSFWL to improve their personal advancement as exiles in other countries.

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

Nice.

The Secret for better Coffee – Birds and bees

From HERE

The combined positive effects of birds and bees on fruit set, fruit weight, and fruit uniformity — key factors in quality and price — were greater than their individual effects, the study shows. Without birds and bees, the average yield declined nearly 25%, valued at roughly $1,066 per hectare.

Linear, categorical thinking that reflects the perspective of the individual turns out to work OK for manufacturing and laboratories but terrible in more complex environments, where ecosystems — flexible, mutual systems based on natural selection and niche-seeking — consistently enhance quantity and quality of output.

The 1955 GMC L’Universelle Dream Truck

Jordan along with many other GM design team employees, created a monospace form with large chrome bumpers and a compact style. Some automotive historians have said that the L’ Universelle show model offered a strong character line wrapped around the front and continuing along the sides before curving down to the rear wheels. The model also offered a panoramic windshield design, which became very popular on many vehicles during the 1950s. The front-end design offered the same look that found on passenger vehicles. The show truck also offered twin side doors which could open in a gullwing design for the driver or passengers.

A Victorian era woman getting photographed for the first time, the 1890s

A real beauty.

Modern United States woman

Not everyone is fat, but many, many are. Personally this chick is fugly on a new scale.

Genetic study confirms Sarin Nerve gas as a cause of Gulf War Illness

From HERE

Dr. Haley’s research group not only discovered that veterans with exposure to sarin were more likely to develop GWI, but also found that the risk was modulated by a gene that normally allows some people’s bodies to better break down the nerve gas. Gulf War veterans with a weak variant of the gene who were exposed to sarin were more likely to develop symptoms of GWI than other exposed veterans who had the strong form of the gene.

“Quite simply, our findings prove that Gulf War illness was caused by sarin, which was released when we bombed Iraqi chemical weapons storage and production facilities,” said Dr. Haley, a medical epidemiologist who has been investigating GWI for 28 years. “There are still more than 100,000 Gulf War veterans who are not getting help for this illness and our hope is that these findings will accelerate the search for better treatment.”

So much for the “there were no WMD” trope.

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

Social Media identifies the clerk behind the Supreme court abortion law leak

From HERE

As a Yale student, Jain blasted Yale for supporting Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Jain was quoted in a 2017 Politico piece by Josh Gerstein.
Today, Gerstein published the draft SCOTUS opinion on Roe.

If true, it has ominous implications for how the diversity will run a Supreme Court.

“My beautiful grandmother, 1949”

Sweet.

The 1955 GMC L’Universelle Dream Truck

Another person that was a part of the L’Universelle project was Philip Monaghan, the vice president and general manager of the GMC division at the time, who said, “The basic design of the L’Universelle is a panel delivery; minor manufacturing changes can convert it into a small bus, taxi, station wagon, or sportsman’s car.”

Australia says that a “Chinese spy ship” has been hugging the West Coast

From HERE

He said it was without precedent for a Chinese warship to venture so far south and that authorities were monitoring the ship closely with planes and surveillance techniques. He said he wanted to be open and honest with Australians about the situation.

“I think it is an aggressive act, and I think particularly because it has come so far south,” Dutton said.

If I were China, I’d do the same thing. I’d be monitoring the shit out of the military bases in Western Australia.

Breaking Bad – Half Measures Speech

The television show “Breaking Bad” has many, many lessions and stories of great signifigance; ones that can be taken out and used to illustrate situations. This is one of the best.

It follows the 48 Laws of Power. No half-measures. Go all in, or don’t bother doing anything. Watch this five minute segment.

Kodachrome Stories

Monte Cristo sandwich Recipe

One of my all-time favorite sandwiches. If you have never tried this, then boy-oh-boy are you missing out!

Algerian girl, around 1905

The 1955 GMC L’Universelle Dream Truck

Although the concept truck was unveiled at the Motorama show in 1955, it never saw production. However, the L’Universelle concept did influence other Chevrolet truck designs during the 1960s. For example, the first passenger compact van by Chevrolet, the Greenbriar Corvair model, used a lower interior space design for passenger comfort and safety that came from the L’ Universelle.

“My great-great-grandmother, late 1910s”

I love her dress.

Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman (Live Goodtime Hour)

I hope that this brings back memories. Happy ones.

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

U.S. Begins Nuclear War Exercises

Nation Hal Turner

Chilling scenes show the United States preparing for nuclear war. The Guardian Response 22 homeland emergency exercise features role-players displaying horrific injuries, as hazmat-suited personnel attempt to handle the fall-out.

Taking place at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, Indiana, U.S. Army Soldiers are evaluated based on how they apply occupational skills to a notional nuclear event. Sgt. Jermaine Jackson, 300th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, said: “What are your plans if a 5-ton nuclear device detonates in your city?

“While unlikely, the U.S. Army trains to assist communities in these worst-case scenarios and enhance mission readiness during homeland emergency response exercises such as Guardian Response 22, which is hosted by the U.S. Army Reserve’s 78th Training Division.”

During the exercise, multiple units, which fall within the Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Response Force, such as the 63rd Chemical Company, the 581st Area Support Medical Company, and the 2nd Battalion, 3rd General Support Aviation Battalion, work to test unit readiness and responsiveness.

Staff Sgt. Francisco Vasquez, leader of 4th Squad, 2nd Platoon, 172nd Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Company, participated in Guardian Response for the first time with his unit.

Vasquez and his unit have trained since February to be evaluated on Mass Casualty Decontamination, but he said he is able to use his spare time to ready his soldiers, ensuring they are quicker and more precise when it comes to setting up a decontamination tent.

Vasquez and his team are responsible for decontaminating anyone contaminated in this nuclear scenario. Their hard work made them capable of setting up a decontamination tent within thirty-six minutes which is twenty-eight minutes faster than required.

“The soldiers and I, once we found out our roles, needed to learn how to conduct this (exercise) at one hundred percent. Not cutting corners. We built team cohesion, we worked together real well. They know what’s expected of me, and I know how much I have to give to them,” said Staff Sgt. Vasquez, during the decontamination tent set-up evaluation.

“I’m always drained at the end of this, because I’m always giving them one hundred percent.”

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos. These young men look great in their “great coats”.

American actress Julia Marlowe, 1899

Julia Marlowe’s career began fortuitously in 1879. A theatrical manager in Cincinnati, Colonel Robert E.J. Miles, undertook to stage the popular comic opera, Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, in Vincennes, Ohio, using children from the local public schools in Cincinnati (such children’s productions were very popular at that time).

The Contrast…

It is disturbing.

French dancer Cléo de Mérode, 1902

Disturbing scene from America

Yikes!

Supertramp – Take The Long Way Home (Audio)

I was in High School when this was a popular song, but it wasn’t until decades later, when I was in my mid-30s, when the lyrics really hit home. I think everyone can relate to what the song is all about.

Middle-life crisis.

Maude Adams, American theater actress, 1890

Disturbing American “citizen”…

“She” needs a shave.

85291384

Top Russian Official Says NATO Risking ‘Full-Fledged’ Nuclear War

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is now the deputy of Russia’s Security Council, warned Thursday that the US and NATO risk a direct conflict with Russia and a “full-fledged” nuclear war by pouring weapons into Ukraine.

“The pumping of Ukraine by NATO countries with weapons, the training of its troops to use Western equipment, the dispatch of mercenaries and the conduct of exercises by the countries of the Alliance near our borders increase the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia instead of their ‘war by proxy,’” Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

“Such a conflict always has the risk of turning into a full-fledged nuclear war,” Medvedev added. “This will be a disastrous scenario for everyone.”

While it’s widely believed that a direct war between the US and Russia could quickly turn nuclear, the risk doesn’t appear to be factored into the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy. Over the past few months, the US has significantly escalated its support to Kyiv in its war against Russia through increased military aid, training, and expanded intelligence sharing.

President Biden has maintained that he won’t send US troops into Ukraine to fight Russia directly, but the proxy war still risks provoking a response from Moscow. Despite the risks, some ultra-hawks in Washington favor a direct conflict with Russia, including Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).

Kinzinger introduced a bill that would give President Biden war powers if he determined Moscow used chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons in Ukraine, but the legislation failed to gain a single cosponsor.

Kinzinger is also a proponent of the US enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which would require shooting down Russian warplanes and bombing surface-to-air missiles inside Russia.

Minnie Ashley, American actress, 1896

Another very disturbing American “person”…

A true “it”.

Democrat Majority Leader: “We are at war”

Nation Hal Turner 14 May 2022

The Democrat Party Leader of the United States House of Representatives, Steny Hoyer (D-MD) took to the floor of the US House of Representatives last night and told that body “We are at war.” He was referring to . . . Russia.

Here’s the 30 second video where he complains “I know there’s a lot of politics here, but we are at war:

This man is the leader of the political party that has actual control over the House of Representatives. As such, his words carry a LOT of weight.

How do you think Russia will interpret this when they calculate whether or not they have to launch a nuclear attack at the United States to put an end to the meddling in Ukraine?

This man and his political party, are sleepwalking directly into world war 3, and he’s going to get you and your family, killed with his comments.

Ione Bright, Broadway actress, 1912

A United States woman

I’m pretty sure. But, you know, I could be wrong.

Karate Kid Final Fight. Dre Parker vs Cheng. // Kung fu Fight // Jackie Chan.

A great scene. Worth a rewatch.

Finland defaults on debt for electricity, Russia Shuts them off!

The country of Finland has defaulted on debt for electricity to Russian supplier, RAO.

As of Saturday, May 14, Russia halted electric supply to Finland due to the unpaid debt, reducing Finland’s national electric supply by a full ten percent.

RAO Nordic, a subsidiary of the Russian company Inter RAO, announced its intention to cut off the supply of electricity a day earlier.

(You don’t pay your bill you don’t get the product. -MM)

Bread – The Guitar Man LIVE FULL HD (with lyrics) 1978

I’m entering middle school in the 1970s. And this song is my life. I’m wearing bell-bottom jeans. I have a “choker” collar, and a MIA bracelet.

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 4

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The full extent of biological weapons use by the United States in Ukraine, with 1965 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, Kodachromes, Glamorous Vintage Camper, the death of both Xi Peng and Putin.

Well, the captured Canadian NATO general in charge of the bioweapons program in Ukraine has “spilled the beans”, the resulting is a true horror. What the United States has been doing makes Nazi Germany look like amateurs. But first, let’s present some various articles and thoughts designed to throw off the troll-bots, the sniffer bots, the vault 7 DOSA, and other systems that suppress this information and opinions from entering the Western Internet…We have to cut through all the lies.

This is too good not to be credited to Brian Berletic:

The United States (and small collective west) is refusing to choose the option that makes sense. This option is coexistence with the rest of the world. Their objective of maintaining primacy over the rest of the world is no longer attainable.

I cracked open the “Drudge Report” for shits and giggles! Did you know that Russian President Putin is going to die of blood cancer, any day now? Oh, yeah! Oh, and Chinese leader Xi Peng is going to die of a brain aneurysm! Yes! What do you know…?

The bullshit is so very deep in the United States these days. You have to be an absolute moron to actually believe the nonsense.

Gonzalo Lira calculated the current rate of attrition:

At the current rate of attrition, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will see 10,000 soldiers die by the end of this month, another 20,000 dead by the end of June. This war cannot be won by Ukraine—it’s over. The only solution is to sue for peace. But the US won’t allow this.

War in Ukraine map – 14MAY22

It’s pretty good.

Marshall Tucker Band “Can’t You See” @Epcot 05/10/2019

Here’s a shout out to all the “old timers” here on MM…

Russia To Halt Electricity Exports To Finland On Saturday | OilPrice.com

The crusaders asking for it:

Following Thursday’s report that Russia threatened to cut the flow of gas to Finland, Russia—through its entity RAO, will suspend imports of electricity to Finland as of 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 14, Fingrid said on Friday in a statement on its website.

The Finnish transmission system operator, Fingrid, claims that the security of Finland’s power supply is not under threat, with 10% of its electricity consumption imported from Russia.

Reima Paivinen, Senior VP of Power System Operations at Fingrid, said that whatever electricity is typically imported from Russia “will be compensated by importing more electricity from Sweden and by generating more electricity in Finland.”

From HERE

BREAKING NEWS: TURKEY MAY VETO ENTRY OF FINLAND & SWEDEN INTO NATO

World Hal Turner Hits: 9042

Turkish President Recypt Erdogan signals his country may VETO entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO. Erdogan claims Finland hosts “terrorist” organizations that are against Turkey . . . .

Erdogan also says Greece return to NATO in 1980 with Turkey’s approval, was a mistake.

Developing . . .

1965 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

Cadillac was “Standard of the World” in motoring pleasure and owner loyalty. “So new, so right, so obviously Cadillac!” This editorial is dedicated to those who regard their motorcars as prized possessions. Once one has been in the driver’s seat of a new Cadillac… it is difficult to become content with any other car.

Here is another classic DeVille encore performance… in the continuing saga of “As the Standard of the World Turns.”

Another body change gave every 1965 Cadillac a longer, lower silhouette. Rear fenders were now planed ruler-flat in profile, though a hint of fin was preserved via a recontoured rear deck. Also new were a straight back bumper and vertical lamp clusters.

Up front for the 1965 Cadillac line, the headlight pairs were switched from horizontal to vertical, making for an even wider grille. Curved side windows appeared, six-window hardtop sedans disappeared, and pillared sedans returned in Calais, DeVille and Sixty Special guise. The Special also reverted to its exclusive 133-inch wheelbase (last used from 1954 to 1958).

The 1965 Cadillac Series 62 was renamed Calais, but its roster was thinned to just two hardtops and a pillared sedan. The convertible moved to the midrange DeVille series, which had been gaining popularity since its 1959 inaugural.

At the top of the 1965 Cadillac line, the Eldorado convertible and Sixty Special sedan officially became Fleetwoods, adopting the “carriage trade” Series 75 models’ nameplates, wreath-and-crest medallions, broad rocker-panel and rear-quarter brightwork, and rectangular-pattern rear appliqués. A new Fleetwood Brougham sedan (actually a Sixty Special trim option) came with a vinyl roof and “Brougham” script on the rear pillars.

Despite an unchanged V-8, the slightly lighter 1965 Cadillac lineup boasted the luxury field’s best power-to-weight ratio. A new “Dual driving range” Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission and full-perimeter frames (replacing the X-type used since ’57) were adopted except on Series 75s, and all 1965 Cadillac models came with a new “sonically balanced” exhaust system. Amazingly, prices weren’t too far above what they’d been back in 1961.

Cadillac had a resounding 1965, producing close to 200,000 cars. But it was a great year for all Detroit, so that volume was only good for 11th place.

And…

And…

And…

United States Navy Capability 2022

USN amphibious capability is slowly rusting away and not enough Marines can be recruited to staff them. Annually, the Heritage Organization publishes a report on the Outlaw US Empire’s Military Readiness in several very distinct categories that’s widely respected for its objectivity. There’s a large mass of material to wade through from that initial page. Although it says this is the 2022 assessment, you’ll note that most articles and assessments are dated October 2021. There’s one page that sums it all up and this is it.

After the narrative and tables we read the following:

“In the aggregate, the United States’ military posture is rated ‘marginal.’ The 2022 Index concludes that the current U.S. military force is likely capable of meeting the demands of a single major regional conflict while also attending to various presence and engagement activities but that it would be very hard-pressed to do more and certainly would be ill-equipped to handle two nearly simultaneous major regional contingencies.” [Emphasis Original]

What I’ve read over the last 6-7 months since that was published doesn’t provide any facts that would allow for any improvement in the Marginal rating while others would argue a slight worsening, particularly in the Air Force. And when you look at the massive sums of money spent for such mediocre results and more now being thrown at it, there’s very little grounds for improvement by the next assessment.

– karlof1

Travel out of China halted as Xi Jinping doubles down on zero COVID

Saving the lives of Chinese citizens.

"China has banned its citizens from leaving the country for non-essential travel as Xi Jinping ramps up efforts to stamp out COVID-19 despite the rising economic costs..."

Economic costs? China is doing great. Sheech!

From HERE

Victor Berlemont, a French publican working in an establishment of London’s Soho, circa 1939.

China making it’s place on the globe

Not only is China trouncing the US in Asia, but also in much of the rest of the world. Picking two areas:

Africa has provided the best fit for and has been the most receptive to China’s development-focused economic diplomacy. China claims a historic solidarity with developing countries in the region, which has bolstered intensified trade, investment, and financial relations.

China’s role in Latin America is mostly defined by commodity trade and investment. Its economic and political influence in Latin America will be only as strong as its commodity-based links to the region. Yet, given that the United States has frequently been a fickle partner for Latin American countries, their government and business leaders will continue to look for alternatives. . .here

Kodachrome Stories

How to Make Butter-Basted Fish Fillets with Garlic and Thyme

This is NOT common knowledge. You all need to learn how to cook fish, especially the fish that you catch yourself.

“POLAND NEXT?”

World Hal Turner Hits: 10976

A Russia State Duma (Parliament) deputy proposed to put “Poland next in line for denazification after Ukraine.”

The Polish leadership’s statements about Russia “as a cancerous tumor” and about indemnities to Ukraine prompt the Russian Federation to “put it in line for denazification,” said Oleg Morozov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Control.

“By its statements about Russia as a ‘cancer tumor’ and about the ‘indemnity’ that we must pay to Ukraine , Poland encourages us to put it in first place in the queue for denazification after Ukraine,” Morozov wrote in his Telegram channel.

Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a Telegraph column that he considers the Russian world “a cancer that poses a deadly threat to the whole of Europe.” in his opinion, it needs to be “eradicated.”

Also, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Russia would be forced to pay indemnity to Ukraine.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal “the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.”

For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine”, to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for “bloody crimes against civilians” in Donbass .

Briefing: analysis of documents related to the military biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine May 11, 2022

33789 Views May 11, 2022

From HERE.

Ideologues of US military-biological activities in Ukraine are the leaders of the Democratic Party.

▫️Thus, through the US executive branch, a legislative framework for funding military biomedical research directly from the federal budget was formed. Funds were raised under state guarantees from NGOs controlled by the Democratic Party leadership, including the investment funds of the Clintons, Rockefellers, Soros and Biden.

▫️The scheme involves major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Moderna, Merck and the US military-affiliated company Gilead. U.S. experts are working to test new medicines that circumvent international safety standards. As a result, Western companies are seriously reducing the cost of research programmes and gaining a significant competitive advantage.

▫️The involvement of controlled nongovernmental and biotechnological organisations, and the increase in their revenues, allows the leaders of the Democratic Party to generate additional campaign finance and hide its distribution.

▫️In addition to US pharmaceutical companies and Pentagon contractors, Ukrainian state agencies are involved in military bioweapons activities, whose main tasks are to conceal illegal activities, conduct field and clinical trials and provide the necessary biomaterial.

▫️Thus, the US Department of Defence, using a virtually internationally uncontrolled test site and the high-tech facilities of multinational companies, has greatly expanded its research capabilities, not only in the field of biological weapons, but also in gaining knowledge about antibiotic resistance and the antibodies to specific diseases in populations in specific regions.

Not only the US, but also a number of its NATO allies are implementing their military-biological projects in Ukraine.

▫️The German government has decided to launch a national biosafety programme independent of Washington, D.C., starting in 2013. Twelve countries, including Ukraine, are involved in the Programme.

▫️On the German side, the programme involves the Institute for Armed Forces Microbiology (Munich), the Robert Koch Institute (Berlin), the Loeffler Institute (Greifswald) and the Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (Hamburg).

▫️New documents reveal that between 2016 and 2019 alone, three and a half thousand blood serum samples of citizens living in 25 regions of Ukraine were taken by military epidemiologists from the Bundeswehr Microbiology Institute.

▫️The involvement of institutions subordinate to the Bundeswehr confirms the military orientation of biological research carried out in Ukrainian laboratories and raises questions about the goals pursued by the German armed forces in collecting biomaterials of Ukrainian citizens.

▫️The documents obtained also show the involvement of Poland in Ukrainian biolaboratories. The participation of the Polish Institute of Veterinary Medicine in research aimed at assessing the epidemiological threats and spread of the rabies virus in Ukraine has been confirmed. Characteristically, the research in question was carried out jointly with the US-based Battelle Institute, a key contractor for the Pentagon.

▫️In addition, Polish funding for the Lvov Medical University, which includes a member of US military biology projects, the Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene, has been documented. The organisation has been running a retraining programme for specialists with experience of working with dual-use materials and technologies since 2002.

We have received new information revealing details of the Pentagon’s inhuman experiments on Ukrainian citizens in Psychiatric Hospital No 1 (Streleche village, Kharkov region).

◽️The main category of subjects was a group of male patients aged 40-60 years with a high stage of physical exhaustion.

◽️In order to conceal their US affiliation, the biological research experts travelled via third countries. Here is a photograph of Florida native Linda Oporto, who was directly involved in these works.

◽️In January 2022, the foreign nationals conducting the experiments were evacuated in an emergency and the equipment and drugs they were using were taken to western Ukraine.

Evidence of emergency destruction of documents confirming work with the US military establishment was obtained.

◽️ A preliminary analysis of extant documentation indicates the use of Mariupol as a regional centre for cholera pathogen collection and certification. The selected strains were sent to the Public Health Centre in Kiev, which is responsible for the onward shipment of biomaterials to the United States. These activities have been carried out since 2014, as evidenced by the transfer of strains.

◽️ An act of destruction of the pathogen collection dated February 25, 2022, according to which cholera, tularemia and anthrax pathogens were handled there, was found in the sanitary and epidemiological laboratory.

◽️ Part of the collection of the veterinary laboratory was not destroyed in a hurry. In order to ensure safety and secure storage, 124 strains were exported by Russian specialists and their study was organised.

◽️ The presence in the collection of pathogens that are uncharacteristic of veterinary medicine, such as typhoid, paratyphoid fever and gas gangrene, is a cause for concern. This could indicate the laboratory’s misuse and involvement in a military biological programme.

◽️ We will continue to examine the full volume of material received from the Mariupol biolaboratories and will inform you about the results.

2. Full Briefing

The Russian Defence Ministry continues to study materials on the implementation of military biological programs of the United States and its NATO allies on the territory of Ukraine.

We have already mentioned Robert Pope, director of the Cooperative Threat Reduction Programme and author of the idea of the Central Depository of Highly Dangerous Microorganisms in Kiev.

In his statement of April 10, 2022, Pope said that “…there is no reason to claim that research related to the development of biological weapons is taking place in Ukraine…”. He previously claimed that “…the Americans did not find biological weapons when they first started working with Ukraine, and they still haven’t. In addition, Ukraine lacks the infrastructure to develop and produce biological weapons…”.

I would like to recall that the term “biological weapons” includes biological formulations that contain pathogenic micro-organisms and toxins, as well as the means of delivery and use of said formulations.

While the priority for Ukrainian healthcare is socially significant diseases such as HIV, poliomyelitis, measles and hepatitis, US customers are interested in a completely different nomenclature: cholera, tularemia, plague and hantaviruses.

As a result of the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine, facts of work with the specified pathogens, which are potential agents of biological weapons, have been revealed. At the same time, it was noted that Ukraine had sent a request to the manufacturing company regarding the possibility of equipping the Bayraktar drones with aerosol equipment.

In addition on March 9, three unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with 30-litre containers and equipment for spraying formulations were detected by Russian reconnaissance units in Kherson region. At the end of April, 10 more were found near Kakhovka.

All this information calls into question the statements of American experts.

We have previously provided a scheme for US coordination of biological laboratories and research institutes in Ukraine. Its preliminary analysis suggests that Ukraine is essentially a testing ground for the development of biological weapons components and the testing of new samples of pharmaceuticals.

The Russian Ministry of Defence was able to clarify the said scheme.

It should be noted that the ideologues of US military-biological activities in Ukraine are the leaders of the Democratic Party.

Thus, through the US executive branch, a legislative framework for funding military biomedical research directly from the federal budget was formed. Funds were raised under state guarantees from NGOs controlled by the Democratic Party leadership, including the investment funds of the Clintons, Rockefellers, Soros and Biden.

The scheme involves major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Moderna, Merck and the US military-affiliated company Gilead. U.S. experts are working to test new medicines that circumvent international safety standards. As a result, Western companies are seriously reducing the cost of research programmes and gaining a significant competitive advantage.

The involvement of controlled nongovernmental and biotechnological organisations, and the increase in their revenues, allows the leaders of the Democratic Party to generate additional campaign finance and hide its distribution.

In addition to US pharmaceutical companies and Pentagon contractors, Ukrainian state agencies are involved in military bioweapons activities, whose main tasks are to conceal illegal activities, conduct field and clinical trials and provide the necessary biomaterial.

Thus, the US Department of Defence, using a virtually internationally uncontrolled test site and the high-tech facilities of multinational companies, has greatly expanded its research capabilities, not only in the field of biological weapons, but also in gaining knowledge about antibiotic resistance and the antibodies to specific diseases in populations in specific regions.

It should be noted that not only the US, but also a number of its NATO allies are implementing their military-biological projects in Ukraine.

The German government has decided to launch a national biosafety programme independent of Washington, D.C., starting in 2013. Twelve countries, including Ukraine, are involved in the Programme.

On the German side, the programme involves the Institute for Armed Forces Microbiology (Munich), the Robert Koch Institute (Berlin), the Loeffler Institute (Greifswald) and the Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (Hamburg).

New documents reveal that between 2016 and 2019 alone, three and a half thousand blood serum samples of citizens living in 25 regions of Ukraine were taken by military epidemiologists from the Bundeswehr Microbiology Institute.

The involvement of institutions subordinate to the Bundeswehr confirms the military orientation of biological research carried out in Ukrainian laboratories and raises questions about the goals pursued by the German armed forces in collecting biomaterials of Ukrainian citizens.

The documents obtained also show the involvement of Poland in Ukrainian biolaboratories. The participation of the Polish Institute of Veterinary Medicine in research aimed at assessing the epidemiological threats and spread of the rabies virus in Ukraine has been confirmed. Characteristically, the research in question was carried out jointly with the US-based Battelle Institute, a key contractor for the Pentagon.

In addition, Polish funding for the Lvov Medical University, which includes a member of US military biology projects, the Institute of Epidemiology and Hygiene, has been documented. The organisation has been running a retraining programme for specialists with experience of working with dual-use materials and technologies since 2002.

The special military operation by Russian troops succeeded in obtaining additional information about bio-incidents in Ukraine.

For example, materials indicating the intentional use of a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis pathogen in 2020 to infect the population of the Slavyanoserbsky district of the LPR were examined.

The flyers, made in the form of counterfeit currency notes, were infected with the tuberculosis agent and distributed to minors in Stepovoe village. The organisers of this crime took into account the behaviour of children, who have a habit of “putting everything in their mouths” and taking food with unwashed hands.

The results of bacteriological studies have confirmed the resistance of the isolated bacteria to first- and second-line anti-TB drugs, meaning that the disease caused by them is much more difficult to treat and the cost of treatment is much higher.

According to the conclusion of the Lugansk Republican Sanitary and Epidemiological Station,

 “…the contamination of the notes was most likely carried out artificially, as the material contains extremely dangerous strains of the pathogen in concentrations capable of ensuring infection and development of the tuberculosis process…”.

In his conclusion, the chief doctor of the Lugansk Republican TB Dispensary also notes that

“…there are all signs of deliberate, man-made contamination of the flyers with highly pathogenic biomaterial…”.

We previously reported on trials of potentially dangerous biological drugs on one of the least protected categories of people – patients of the Kharkov Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital No 3.

We have received new information revealing details of the Pentagon’s inhuman experiments on Ukrainian citizens in Psychiatric Hospital No 1 (Streleche village, Kharkov region). The main category of subjects was a group of male patients aged 40-60 years with a high stage of physical exhaustion.

In order to conceal their US affiliation, the biological research experts travelled via third countries. Here is a photograph of Florida native Linda Oporto, who was directly involved in these works.

In January 2022, the foreign nationals conducting the experiments were evacuated in an emergency and the equipment and drugs they were using were taken to western Ukraine.

Russian Defence Ministry specialists have carried out work directly in two biolaboratories in Mariupol.

Evidence of emergency destruction of documents confirming work with the US military establishment was obtained.

A preliminary analysis of extant documentation indicates the use of Mariupol as a regional centre for cholera pathogen collection and certification. The selected strains were sent to the Public Health Centre in Kiev, which is responsible for the onward shipment of biomaterials to the United States. These activities have been carried out since 2014, as evidenced by the transfer of strains.

An act of destruction of the pathogen collection dated February 25, 2022, according to which cholera, tularemia and anthrax pathogens were handled there, was found in the sanitary and epidemiological laboratory.

Part of the collection of the veterinary laboratory was not destroyed in a hurry. In order to ensure safety and secure storage, 124 strains were exported by Russian specialists and their study was organised.

The presence in the collection of pathogens that are uncharacteristic of veterinary medicine, such as typhoid, paratyphoid fever and gas gangrene, is a cause for concern. This could indicate the laboratory’s misuse and involvement in a military biological programme.

We will continue to examine the full volume of material received from the Mariupol biolaboratories and will inform you about the results.

The Russian Ministry of Defence has information that provocations are being prepared to accuse the Russian Armed Forces of using weapons of mass destruction, followed by a “Syrian scenario” investigation to fabricate the necessary evidence and assign blame.

The high likelihood of such provocations is confirmed by requests from the Kiev administration for personal skin and respiratory protection equipment that provides protection against toxic chemicals and biological contaminating agents. The supply to Ukraine of organophosphorus poisoning antidotes raises concerns. In 2022 alone, more than 220,000 ampoules of atropine, as well as preparations for special treatment and disinfection, were delivered from the USA at the request of the Ukrainian Ministry of Health.

Thus, the information obtained confirms that the United States is implementing an offensive military-biological programme in Ukraine to study the possibility of forming controlled epidemics in specific territories.

The special military operation of the Russian Armed Forces has crossed the US military-biological expansion in Ukraine and stopped criminal experiments on civilians.

MM Comments

This is pure evil.

The information has been shared between Russia, China and the SEO.

You can well expect that there are going to be some very INTERESTING responses to these validations of Chinese and Russian accusations.

Gregg Allman – Laid Back Era

Ah. Such memories. I haven’t heard this song in over 50 years. And yet, still, it resonates with me. I hope you all enjoy it.

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

The Number Of Rich Americans Buying Second Passports Has Skyrocketed 300% The Last 3 Years

Saturday, May 14, 2022 – 07:20 AM

In another note of optimism for our country, Americans with money are officially starting to stockpile second passports as “Plan B” for their families.

In fact, Americans who are citizenship or residency in foreign countries “has skyrocketed” over the last 3 years, according to a new report from Insider/Yahoo News. The report says that billionaires and entrepreneurs, along with celebrities, are all looking for a backup plan to the red, white and blue, should the proverbial stuff hit the fan.

Among the worries of the rich remain Covid, climate change and political turmoil, the report says.

Hum…

Coronavirus?
Climate Change?
Domestic Political Turmoil?

Yeah. Sure…

There are more than a dozen countries that offer what are called “golden passports” and visas, the report says. These passports allow foreigners to get citizenship solely for investments in the country.

For example, Malta has a program where you can receive citizenship for investing $1.1 million. In Austria, that number is $9.5 million.

Latitude Residency & Citizenship helps guide high net worth individuals through the application process. They say inquires from the U.S. are up 300% between 2019 and 2021. Another firm, Henley & Partners, has said that sales to American nationals were up 327% over the same time period.

One partner at Henley said there are “four C’s” driving his citizenship industry right now: COVID-19, climate change, cryptocurrency, and conflict.

So…

Coronavirus?
Climate Change?
Cryptocurrency?
Conflict?

Hum. Let me help you all out here. It’s Global Thermonuclear War initiated by a lunatic United States.

The executive told Insider:

“In the very strict lockdowns there was a point where if you only had an American passport, you could not enter Europe. I think that made a lot of particularly ultra high net worth individuals realize that they’re potentially a little bit more fragile than they thought.”

Reaz Jafri, CEO of Dasein Advisors, told Insider that he had seen more inquiries from Americans in the last 3 years than he had in the 20 years prior to that, combined.

“We’ve all lived through the past two and a half years. It all just reminded us how vulnerable and frail we are, and people who have means are accepting that it will happen again — and they don’t want to be caught off guard,”

Jafri said.

Ezzedeen Soleiman, a managing partner at Latitude, commented:

“We see these programs as an insurance policy. We’ve had some billionaires approach us and ask what’s the best place to live if there’s a climate catastrophe, or if there’s another storm, or another global pandemic.”

LOL.

Gimme Shelter – Apocalypse Now Music Video

Pretty darn well done. Check it oout.

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

Easy, Fall-off-the-Bone Chicken Wings Dinner | 鸡翅这样做太香了，全程小技巧

A friend of ours makes these, and OMG, the meat really does fall off the bone. It is so damn delicious. The video is in Chinese, but the subtitles and the actions are very clear, and in no time, you will be able to have the most amazing and delicious chicken wings that you have ever eaten… and I am NOT kidding. So very delicious.

‘An Engine That Does Not Work’: F-35 Program Office Lambasted For Stealth-Jets Poor Performance

Another one of the most advanced and expensive US weapon systems, I wonder what will happen when the American F-35 meets the Chinese J-20 in the South China Sea…

‘An Engine That Does Not Work’: F-35 Program Office Lambasted For Stealth Jets Poor Performance

The F-35 Joint Program Office came under fire from US lawmakers who questioned the under-performance of ‘America’s pride’ – the F-35 stealth fighter jets, during the nearly two-hour hearing of the House Armed Service Subcommittee on Readiness on April 28.

From HERE

United States eyes Cambodia

Previously three US senators tore into Cambodia. Senators Romney, Markey, Menendez and Risch introduced a resolution last October, on the 30-year anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreements. The resolution notes that the promise of the Paris Peace Agreements remains unfulfilled due to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s violations of Cambodia’s Constitution and effective one-party rule since 1993.
Back in November: US turns new screws on Cambodia’s Hun Sen Washington imposes new sanctions, threatens to lift GSP privileges and warns US companies against doing business in the kingdom .
For years, US officials have accused Phnom Penh of secretly agreeing to allow Chinese troops access to the strategically situated base. Chinese access to the Ream Naval Base could shift security dynamics in the South China Sea, giving Chinese vessels a new southern flank in the hotly contested waterway.
And lest we forget: Back fifty years ago: Cambodia was bombed with over 500,000 tons of ordnance until August 1973. About 600,000 deaths followed, mostly civilians, helping Khmer Rouge elements gain power in 1975.

Kodachrome Stories

Metals Access

It looks like the Trump trade war with China will continue with all subsequent administrations. Come the revolution…..

Have the geniuses at the Pentagon and Russell Hill, Canberra, noticed that China and Chinese interests are among the top 20 shareholders of many critical mineral ASX miners the Pentagon proposes to finance , like Lynas? [Lynas rare earth are used in the F35]

Or in true neo-liberal/robber baron behaviour on display of late, will they simply seize the Chinese holdings?

“Boost for ASX critical metals players as US Defense Department seeks to fund mining and processing in Australia”….

From HERE

It looks like neoliberalism carries the seed of its own destruction.

Empire of Bioweapon Lies

12373 Views May 13, 2022 50 Comments

By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and widely cross-posted

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow / Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, / You cannot say, or guess, for you know only / A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, / And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, / And the dry stone no sound of water. Only / There is shadow under this red rock, / (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), / And I will show you something different from either / Your shadow at morning striding behind you / Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; / I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land: I. The Burial of the Dead, 1922

This glimpse of “fear in a handful of dust” already ranks as one the prime breakthroughs of the young 21^st century, presented this week by Chief of Russian Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Force Igor Kirillov.

The provisional results of evidence being collected about the work of U.S. bioweapons in Ukraine are simply astonishing. These are the main takeaways.

1. U.S. bioweapon ideologues comprise the leadership of the Democratic Party. By linking with non-governmental biotechnology organizations, using the investment funds of the Clintons, Rockefellers, Soros and Biden, they profited from additional campaign financing – all duly concealed. In parallel, they assembled the legislative basis for financing the bioweapons program directly from the federal budget.
2. COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna, as well as Merck and Gilead – of Donald “known unknowns” fame, and affiliated with the Pentagon – were directly involved.
3. U.S. specialists tested new drugs in the Ukraine biolabs in circumvention of international safety standards. According to Kirillov, acting this way “Western companies seriously reduce the costs of research programs and gain significant competitive advantages.”
4. According to Kirillov, “along with U.S. pharmaceutical companies and Pentagon contractors, Ukrainian government agencies are involved in military biotechnology activities, whose main tasks are to conceal illegal activities, conduct field and clinical trials and provide the necessary biomaterial.”
5. The Pentagon, Kirillov pointed out, expanded its research potential not only in terms of producing biological weapons, but also gathering information on antibiotic resistance and the presence of antibodies to certain diseases among the population in specific regions. The testing ground in Ukraine was practically outside the control of the so-called “international community”.

These findings, amply documented, suggest a vast “legitimized” bioweapon racket reaching the highest levels of the American body politic. There’s no doubt the Russians plan to thoroughly unmask it for the benefit of world public opinion, starting with a War Crimes Tribunal to be set up this summer, most probably in Donetsk.

An ongoing U.S. bioweapons program in Ukraine was one of the Top Three reasons that led to the launch of Operation Z, side by side with preventing an imminent NATO-managed blitzkrieg against Donbass and Kiev’s desire to re-start a nuclear weapons program. These are Top Three red lines for Russia.

The strength of the collected evidence may directly correlate with what was largely interpreted as a carefully measured Victory Day speech by President Putin. The Kremlin does not bluff. It will certainly privilege the meticulous presentation of – bioweapon – facts on the ground over grandstanding rhetoric.

The return of Nord Stream 2

Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyaniskiy announced Russia’s demand for an open meeting of the UN Security Council to present further evidence related to U.S. biolabs in Ukraine. Even if the meeting would be vetoed by the U.S., the evidence will be entered by Russia on the UN records.

These developments provide an extra indication there’s absolutely no space left for diplomacy between Russia and the U.S./collective West, as Polyaniskiy himself suggested when commenting the possible accession of Ukraine to the EU: “The situation has changed after Mr. Borrell’s statement that ‘this war should be won on the battleground’ and after the fact that the European Union is the leader in deliveries of arms [to Ukraine].”

It gets worse. The next chapter is Finland’s drive to join NATO.

The Americans gamble that Finland – and Sweden – joining NATO will totally discredit Putin’s Operation Z as having accomplished next to nothing strategically: after all, in the near future, potential U.S. hypersonic missiles stationed in Finland and Sweden will be very close to Saint Petersburg and Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russian unmasking of the bioweapon racket will drive a toxic section of American political elites to turbo-charge their warmongering. It’s all following a carefully calculated script.

First, these bioweapon-supervising “elites” ordered the massive Kiev shelling of Donbas in early February. That forced the Kremlin’s hand, pushing it to launch Operation Z.

We should always remember that the ultimate goal in the U.S. plan of training Ukrainians for war since 2014 was to alienate Germany from Russia – as Germany de facto controls Euroland economically.

Imperial control of the oceans allows the Empire to strangle Germany at will into subservience by cutting them off from Russian energy – as the British did to Germany in WWII when Britannia ruled the waves. The Wehrmacht could not supply their mechanized army with fuel. Now, in theory, Germany and the EU will have to look to the seas – and total U.S. dependency – for their natural resources.

The remote-controlled Kiev regime dominated by SBU fanatics and Azov neo-Nazis is making it even harder – by shutting off all natural gas from Russia through Ukraine into Europe, reducing the flow by more than one third.

That translates as U.S.-enforced blackmail to force the EU to increase the Ukro-weaponizing against Russia. The practical consequences for Germany and the EU will be dire – in terms of shut down industries and cost of home heating and electrical power.

Russia, meanwhile, will rely on a bolstered Pipelineistan maze to China and East Asia as well as high-speed rail to transport all its natural resources.

Blowback against the Americans though is not off limits. Stranger things have happened. If gas transit to Europe via Ukraine is totally cut off, there are no alternatives. And that – assuming there are working IQs in Berlin – would open the way for a renegotiation on the future of Nord Stream 2.

As the head of the Energy Development Center Kirill Melnikov notes, “the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline is practically idle and one of the Nord Stream 2 lines is also ready for operation though the German regulator has not issued permission for its launch yet.”

That prompted Melnikov to a priceless comment: “If purchases remain the same, Germany will probably need to urgently allow the launch of one of the Nord Stream 2 lines in order to replace the Ukrainian transit route.”

No one ever lost money betting on the astonishing stupidity permeating EUrocrat decision levels. Even facing economic suicide, the EU is desperate to “abandon” Russian oil. Yet a full ban is impossible, because of energy-deprived Eastern Europe.

Every impartial energy analyst knows replacing Russian oil is D.O.A., for a number of reasons: the OPEC+ deal; the ghastly divide between Washington and Riyadh; the never-ending JCPOA renegotiation, where the Americans behave like headless chickens; and the crucial fact – beyond the understanding of EUrocrats – that European oil refineries are designed to use oil from the Urals.

So just when we thought we could enjoy the summer by watching Europe commit hara-kiri, it’s time to stock up on those Aperol Spritz. Get ready for a new hit series, season 1: Inside the American bioweapon racket.

Kodachrome Stories

This is the tastiest chicken breast I’ve ever eaten! Simple, cheap and very juicy!

Come on!

Ukraine Tonight: “Most Violent Rocket and Artillery Attacks in 8 years”

World Hal Turner Hits: 1066

Word is coming out of Luhansk, Ukraine tonight that battles between the Independent Luhansk Republic troops along with Russian troops, against Ukrainian troops are so ferocious tonight, the vibrations from the artillery and missile barrages are causing ground trembling 50km away.

A source inside Luhansk tells me

“There are powerful night battles on the front line in the LPR.

50 km away in Lugansk, the earth shudders from terrible explosions.

Fights with the use of artillery of the largest calibers can be heard from the direction of Pervomaisk-Stakhanov.

Something terrible is happening on the front line, you can hear it all the way in Lugansk.

There at the front line, probably, the earth is boiling.

You can also hear heavy work from us, we are hitting them with volleys of MLRS, and the arrivals are thumping, the earth is trembling,”

We are hearing the most violent and intense artillery and rocket attacks that we have ever heard since the start of the conflict 8 years ago!”

Kodachrome Stories

‘Easy Target For Chinese Subs’ – Why China’s New Attack Submarine With VLS Could ‘Deeply Endanger’ IAF Bases

Military experts believe that a vessel spotted in a Chinese shipyard in recently obtained satellite photographs could be a new or upgraded class of nuclear-powered attack submarine. The submarine is seen in a dry dock in Huludao Port in Liaoning province, as per images obtained by Reuters from private satellite imagery supplier Planet Labs and others circulating on social media. However, it is unclear whether the submarine seen in the images is a brand-new design, an improvement of an older vessel, or something entirely different.

From HERE.

Comments:

How about those sanctions? European Gas Buyers Switch to Ruble Payments – It’s reported another 14 firms – on top of the existing 20 – have requested the paperwork to set up accounts too. Italy and Germany – huge consumers of Russian gas – are among those that have switched. Draghi Says “Most Gas Importers” Have Opened Ruble Accounts With Gazprom

Ukrainian refugees are showing their mettle by knifing and killing a man in Poland who stepped up to defend a young woman that was harassed by the refugees. Other stories are coming out of Europe of refugees refusing to live next to people that are not white and four of them just decided to grab a villa in France, belonging to a Russian, and they moved right in. This trend can only continue.

A further trend: All of the reliable commentators on the SMO indicate that it is soon over. We do not know the shape that it will take though. Martyanov speaks about a definite trend on accelerating demoralization of VSU and the pronounced trend on the collapse of the VSU defenses as we can see from lack of equipment, ammo and very high losses. Ritter in his last video, talks about days or weeks. Larry Johnson talks about a Ukraine headed for defeat.

Glamorous Vintage Camper

A rare and fully restored ‘Holiday House Geographic’ midcentury trailer is for sale – and it offers a taste of modernist living on the open road. Only seven of the fibreglass caravans – designed by industrial engineer Chuck Pelly in 1962 with an original price tag of $8,500 – were ever made and only two thought to still exist.

Following its renovation by Oregon-based Flyte Camp, the four-berth Model X trailer is now for sale, priced at $250,000. It features an aluminium and wood frame, in a champagne and moss green colourway. Interiors meanwhile feature walnut surfaces and aluminium details, and moss-coloured upholstery and teak flooring.

And…

And…

Inside, the trailer features a black walnut skin that gives it a dark, cozy feel. The cabinetry and hardwood floors are also black walnut with custom aluminum detailing and LED strip lighting to add a bit of glamor. A sleek kitchen includes a stainless two-burner cooktop, a stainless-steel fridge, and a shiny sink with a built-in drain board.

And…

And…

And…

Heading To Scrapyard! US Navy To Discard Its ‘Brand New’ Warships Designed To Hunt Chinese Submarines

Apparently, US latest (so-called) advanced and most expensive war ships promoted years back are total BS in font of the latest PLA submarines and warships.

At a time when the US has acknowledged that it has fewer ships compared to its rival China, America’s naval chief Admiral Michael Gilday told the House Armed Services Committee that approximately nine ships should be scrapped, some of which were commissioned very recently.

Admiral Gilday justified the plans to discard nine relatively new warships in the 2023 fiscal year despite trying to outmatch China’s burgeoning fleet. Three of the littoral combat ships that are proposed to be decommissioned are just three years old.

Admiral Gilday told the House Armed Services Committee that the anti-submarine ships could not perform their primary job.

“I refuse to put an additional dollar against a system that would not be able to track a high-end submarine in today’s environment,”

Gilday said.

According to the Navy’s projected FY23 budget, retiring the ships will save the service about $391 million. However, this would only cover a small portion of the $3.2 billion costs of the nine littoral combat ships.

Having said that, the US Navy intends to decommission the warships to allocate resources for investing in a more robust and combat-ready fleet.

“The US Navy cannot outpace an increasingly capable PRC by retaining platforms that are decreasingly relevant in modern naval warfare.

While some of these platforms may have day-to-day utility in permissive environments, the Navy’s first obligation is to deliver a ready, combat-credible fleet with the funding Congress appropriates. Simply maintaining the capabilities of today’s fleet will be insufficient to both preserve our long-term interests and protect America. Quantity is not synonymous with quality. We must modernize to maintain our maritime edge”, said Admiral Gilday.

The USS Indianapolis, USS Billings, and USS Wichita were all commissioned in 2019, which indicates that ships that are barely halfway through their anticipated service lives are to be sent to the scrap.

Additionally, the US Navy intends to decommission six more littoral combat ships, all of which are single-hull Freedom variants rather than the trimaran Independence variants. Both the variants can reach speeds of more than 40 knots (74 kilometers per hour).

USS Wichita had conducted a bilateral maritime interdiction with the Dominican Republic earlier this month.

The Freedom-class variants were all homeported in Mayport, Florida, according to a 2016 Navy plan, and were mostly used in Atlantic Ocean missions, while the Independence-class ships were based in San Diego and primarily used in the Pacific.

The US Navy describes the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) as a type of Small Surface Combatant that is meant to enable access to joint forces in the littorals. LCS can operate independently or as part of a networked battle force that comprises larger, multi-mission surface fighters in high-threat settings.

The decision is an embarrassing acknowledgment that some of the Navy’s newest ships aren’t up to the task of contemporary warfare.

Despite the Navy’s plan to demolish the vessels, Congress has the ultimate authority over the military budget and has previously rejected pleas to decommission warships. As politicians focus on countering China’s ever-increasing navy and narrowing the gap between the US and Chinese fleets, scrapping the warships may become even more difficult.

Do You Have Jason Bourne in Custody? | The Bourne Supremacy

Great Hollywood. I never had to do anything like this, but it sure is enjoyable to watch. But, you know, trust me… you all don’t ever want to be in this kind of situation.

Watch “War of the Three Kingdoms Episode 1” on YouTube

"My son told me today he begun to watch the three Kingdom 2 weeks ago, and now get addicted to the history drama series. - <Redacted>"

During the Mao era, all the top leaders read this book. It is a mind opener with a wide range of knowledge that includes war strategies, human phycholgy, HR management, diplomacy, spy and intelligence, targeting individual human weakness etc.

Total 95 episodes. With English subtitle.

I am sure once you begin, you will have your ass glued on the seat.

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 4

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British cowboys, life in the 1950s, sexy Chinese girls, delicious food, geopolitical madness and Kodachromes

So many of the MM audience are undergoing strife and changes in their lives. This is the direct result of their affirmations. You cannot say that I didn’t warn you. This is what happens, the greater the changes, the greater the discomfort. Sigh. I really hate for my friends to deal with discomfort, but like a painful injection, you need to endure it to move forward in safety. In a like way, we discuss the geopolitics situation at this time…

British cowboys

Apparently, US has lost a lot of friends. This is just the latest:

Ankara (Turkey) could block the pair (Sweden and Finland) from joining the US-led military alliance, with unanimous agreement needed on new members.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/13/erdogan-says-turkey-opposed-to-finland-sweden-nato-membership

China’s partnership with Russia seen as serious problem for the U.S.

Well, the long-lasting stream of hate from the media is certainly a contributor. -MM

As war rages in Ukraine, Americans are acutely concerned about the partnership between China and Russia. Around nine-in-ten U.S. adults say it’s at least a somewhat serious problem for the United States, and a 62% majority say it’s a very serious problem. Unfavorable views of China are also at a new high – 82% of Americans have unfavorable opinions of the country, a 6-point increase in negative views from 2021, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in March.

From HERE.

Kodachrome Stories

Americans’ concerns about war in Ukraine: Wider conflict, possible U.S.-Russia clash

Hum. I was under the IMPRESSION that Biden had very LOW polling numbers. I guess that this poll must have obtained polling data elsewhere. -MM

As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine enters its third month, most Americans say they support actions taken by the Biden administration in response to the Russian invasion, such as placing strict economic sanctions on Russia, sending military equipment and weapons to Ukraine and stationing large numbers of U.S. military forces in NATO countries near Ukraine, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in late April.

From HERE.

Doorway on Mars? Photo by NASA rover stirs curiosity online

May 12, 2022

WASHINGTON — Is there a doorway on Mars? That’s the question being asked by conspiracists online after NASA released a new picture taken by NASA Curiosity rover.

Snapped by the explorer’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) on Sol 3466 (May 7), the grainy image appears to show a cleanly-cut hole in a rockface. There has been no official NASA explanation of the sighting, but that hasn’t stop debate online about just what it shows.

One social media user described the scene as “a formation on Mars which appears to be a portal and a wall nearby that looks artificial,” while another concluded “swear to God, there’s at least 5 Martians camouflaged in there.”

However, others were more practical, with one Reddit user stating, “it’s obviously not a little door, it’s just a flat piece of broken rock.”

The Mars discovery comes at a time that the U.S. Congress is to hold an open hearing next Tuesday about UFOs for the first time in over 50 years. The House Intelligence Committee’s Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee will tackle the subject.

“The American people expect and deserve their leaders in government and intelligence to seriously evaluate and respond to any potential national security risks — especially those we do not fully understand,” said Indiana Democratic Rep. André Carson, chairman of the subcommittee, in a statement this week.

Federal officials released a report on documented cases of so-called “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” (UAP) in Summer 2021. In it, the Director of National Intelligence examined 144 cases of UFOs, but could explain only one.

On Wednesday, UFO “watchdog” of sorts, “UFO of Interest” appeared to have debunked any talk of alien life. A tweet of theirs instead reveals the “doorway” to be a “little niche” in a much larger rock wall.

About this raw image (https://t.co/hZxiepGQXx), what's that? An entrance to a secret underground tunnel? Watching it in context as part of the whole mosaic, we can see that little niche in a rock w/ other blocks, fractures, shapes & other erosive features all over that rock face. pic.twitter.com/ou4Ze941HR

— ufoofinterest.org (@ufoofinterest) May 11, 2022

The actor Monica Vitti with the director Michelangelo Antonioni in Rome in 1958.

Chinese girls chosen randomly

By request. At random. video.

Kodachrome Stories

Fashion is confusing

Jungbauernkalender 2020

The new Jungbauernkalender 2020 is out and can be ordered now. This time 12 young men and 12 women come from Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, Upper Franconia, Swabia and Upper Palatinate. Six girls come from Austria. The calendar is a joint project of the Bavarian Young Farmers Association and the Austrian Young Farmers Association.

The calendar pictures the different side of farmer’s life: dressing for the wedding, feeding a newborn calf, working in the fields or swimming in the nearby lake. The pictures were taken by the photographer duo “Die Abbilderei” on the farm of the Wunderl family.

Chinese girls chosen randomly

By request. At random. video

The Princely County of Tyrol in 1890

Nations come and nations go.

It happened: Russia prohibits the export of its raw materials and products to unfriendly countries

From HERE

It happened: Russia prohibits the export of its raw materials and products to unfriendly countries

May 3

Russian President Vladimir Putin played ahead of the curve: while the countries of the European Union cannot reach a common opinion on the embargo on oil and gas, Russia prohibits the export of raw materials and products to unfriendly countries. An exact list of all those who fall under these sanctions will be ready in 10 days.

West, what do you say to that? (photo from open sources)

When conducting military operations, the main thing is not the number of blows and the number of shells fired at the enemy, but the strength and accuracy of a single, but crushing blow.

For two months the United States and the European Union were engaged in firing sanctions against Russia. Their number exceeded in general all conceivable scales. In the west, they themselves went astray, counting their number.

Russia did not answer for a long time, maybe even for a very long time. It was only in mid-April that a measure was announced to sell gas for rubles. This single step has sowed serious confusion and vacillation in the ranks of European states – the European Union no longer gives the impression of a single organism, each of its members is trying to pull the blanket over itself.

Today's Putin's decree is akin to a knockout blow against all of Russia's opponents without exception. Almost all resources mined in Russia, as well as all manufactured products, including agricultural products, are subject to a ban on export outside the country.

Russia puts on “stop” the export of its main export goods. How will the West respond?

Gas, oil, coal, uranium, palladium, titanium, aluminum, diamonds, wheat, corn, sunflower oil become inaccessible to unfriendly countries.

Moreover, if we proceed from the text of the decree, then existing contracts also fall under the ban. They have ten days to live. As soon as the lists of unfriendly and sanctioned persons are announced, their execution will be terminated.

I wonder how the West will react to this step of Russia? In turn, the markets and stock exchanges should already today respond with growth to the entire list of Russian products.

You can bet on how much oil, gas, coal and wheat will rise in price.

Most likely to fall under the sanctions and electricity, which Russia exports to the Baltic countries and Finland. It is worth noting that electricity supplies are quite impressive and occupy a significant share in the total amount of energy consumed.

Perhaps, with this decree of Vladimir Putin, a new era begins in Russia’s relations with the United States and the European Union (photo from open sources)

Here is a brief first impression of Putin’s decree on counter-sanctions. Tomorrow it will become clear how it will be implemented.

Kodachrome Stories

Chinese girls chosen randomly

By request. At random. video

The Microsoft staff in 1978

I feel old.

The Princely County of Tyrol in 1890

Nations come and nations go. And then, forgotten by all.

The Best Steak in Your Life and The World! – Authentic Picanha Steak from Brazil

Wonderful!

And a special message to the “haters”; if you don’t like the cooking and food sections on my posts / articles, you can read over them. If they “polute the content” so much, as you say, then you can leave. OK?

Check out this video!

Kodachrome Stories

Chinese girls chosen randomly

By request. At random. video

Disneyland employee cafeteria in 1961

Jungbauernkalender 2020

Scheer Intelligence

Here is an enlightening discussion between Professor Michael J Brennan & Robert Scheer (host of Scheer Intelligence) on Ukraine, Russia, China, US foreign policies and last but not least, the Sino-Russian partnership.

From HERE.

Chinese girls chosen randomly

By request. At random. video

Biden says White House could drop Trump China tariffs to lower consumer prices

Trump’s–and now Biden’s–trade war with China is a self-inflicted wound, an own goal, and picking up a rock to crush one’s own foot. Meanwhile, despite the tariffs and sanctions, China-US trade and US trade deficit with China nearly doubled.

Trade War is easy, for China, that is.

Since it is a trade war and not a hot war, China obviously has to win without resorting to arms. The principle that China used in this war is to make itself strong and resilient, so that all attacks will be useless, and will blow back with a whirlwind at the attackers. It also comes from Sun Tse: Immovable as a mountain. All China has to do is to stand firm and let the attackers destroy themselves.

From HERE.

Jungbauernkalender 2020

Famine Rides a Black Horse

Here’s a report on the situation inside the United States today. It comes from Jack Heart, and it’s a pretty decent enough blog / website. You all might want to consider tossing a subscription his way. -MM

"I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine"

From HERE.

Tucker Carlsons April 21, 2022, rant about Americas food supply being under attack was met with a furious flurry of fact checks by the usual suspects claiming the fires were minor or didn’t happen at all and this was all just coincidence being overexaggerated. Of course, again, Carlson was unable to follow up, much as he never followed up on his originally sharp criticism of Americas involvement in Ukraine.

If he wasn’t a millionaire working for billionaires, Carlson probably would have done another show around May 2, explaining to his semi-conscious viewers that a mysterious avian flu suspected to be spread by wildfowl has appeared in Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. He would have told them that in Pennsylvania “3,825,800 birds — a combination of egg layers, meat birds and pullets — have died as a result of the infection or, more likely, were depopulated, a term used to describe the quick euthanization of birds in a flock…”

After John Kaminski sent me a chronological list of the carnage inflicted on Americas food supply since the latter part of 2019, I took the opportunity to check into it for my subscribers. It’s actually much worse than Carlson made it sound. There are a few small fires in the list below, of articles mostly linked to the wayback machine, but the vast majority of the fires are described as “massive.” Millions of birds and thousands of milk cows, pigs and cattle have perished in flames. Depots, plants and silos have been utterly destroyed along with the meat and grain they contained.

Some of the fires burned so hot it took days to put them out, causing fire tornados to shoot hundreds of feet up into the night sky. In Ontario Canada the fire marshal just outright refused to investigate one where damages could hit a million dollars and killed 100 cattle. It isn’t only fires. There is a beautiful female pilot who was killed in a kamikaze like crash into a potato processing plant in Idaho. In another incident commando style sabotage was employed on ten thousand acres intended to feed thousands of cattle. Aluminum and metal were affixed to cornstalks but when the farmer ran the stalks through the processor, he heard the metal grinding in the machine, and caught it before he fed the cattle. The mixture would have shredded their stomachs…

More (suggested subscribe to unlock the paywall) HERE.

How To Make: Asopao de Longaniza y Chuleta / Dominican Style Gumbo

This gal is GREAT! OMG! What a wonderful dish!

Kodachrome Stories

Jungbauernkalender 2020

The Ugly Americans

America has become the greatest force for evil that has ever existed

From HERE.

It’s hard to be an American these days. A ministry of truth under an incoherent president supported by a media hellbent on instigating WW III, while the clueless prattle on about abortion issues makes it a very lonely place for a writer. Americans should have revolted the day after they shot John F Kennedy so perhaps everything they’ve gotten since then, starting with Vietnam they deserve. But I can’t help thinking that if America had the free and open discourse envisioned by its founding fathers and enshrined in the first amendment of its constitution none of this would have happened.

Even before the printing press was invented oligarchs controlled the flow of information and in those days all dissention was regulated by the church. It worked somewhat. As Thomas Hobbs noted over four hundred years ago life is nasty, brutal and short but people still had enough time for joy untinged by the fear of being snuffed out without a moment’s notice in a war they had no stake in. It worked then because the oligarchs knew that any war they started amongst themselves would be fought with themselves or their sons at the front of their armies.

But with the dawn of the twentieth century came a new breed of oligarch, spineless and cowardly. Avoiding combat at all costs even as they instigated wars and carnage the likes of which were unimaginable using the technology of the past. Bombs that could incinerate cities and poisons that could be carried by the wind became the weapons of choice. Nothing was spared in the development of anything that could kill or maim their enemy without having to face them on a battlefield. This culminated with the weaponization of pestilence, biological warfare.

Science is not necessary to explain the inherent danger of trying to infect your enemy with a disease that is just as lethal to you as it is to them but with the advent of the Human Genome Project at the end of the twentieth century some felt this risk could negated by tinkering with DNA. Earlier, in the seventies, a world wary of mad scientists under the guidance of their cowardly oligarchs had insisted on coming to a moratorium against such weapons with The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC).

Participation in the Biological Weapons Convention as of August 2019 (most recently changed in August 14, 2019). Green is signed and ratified, darker green acceded or succeeded, yellow only signed and the red are those that didn’t sign.

The treaty entered into force in 1975 and agreed upon by practically every nation of the world was quite simple, originally consisting of only 15 articles, the most important of which in summary were:

Article I: Never under any circumstances to develop, produce, stockpile, acquire, or retain biological weapons.[1]
Article II: To destroy or divert to peaceful purposes biological weapons and associated resources prior to joining.[2]
Article III: Not to transfer, or in any way assist, encourage, or induce anyone else to acquire or retain biological weapons.[3]
Article IV: To take any national measures necessary to implement the provisions of the BWC domestically.[4]
Article V: Undertaking to consult bilaterally and multilaterally and cooperate in solving any problems which may arise in relation to the objective, or in the application, of the BWC.[5]
Article VI: Right to request the United Nations Security Council to investigate alleged breaches of the BWC and undertaking to cooperate in carrying out any investigation initiated by the Security Council.[6]
Article VII: To assist States which have been exposed to danger as a result of a violation of the BWC.[7]
Article X: Undertaking to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials and information for peaceful purposes.[8]

By 2003 the Human Genome Project was declared complete but included only about 85% of the genome.[9] Level “complete genome” was achieved in May 2021, with a remaining only 0.3% bases covered by potential issues.[10][11] The missing Y chromosome was added in January 2022. It’s been an open secret in military intelligence publications for over five years that in complete disregard of the BWC the pentagon has been ringing the Russian border with biological weapon producing facilities, starting in Georgia and working their way into the Ukraine after the 2014 coup. [12) [13] [14]

I am an American born and bred in New York City. I’ve been to every state east of the Mississippi and stayed for a while in more than just a few. From the hard scrabble pecan farmers of southern Georgia to the Texas beach bums of South Padre Island, to the hustlers pulling racks of clothes down Seventh Avenue in NYC I have always loved my people. Nothing pains me more than have to hope they are annihilated at the hands of a country I’ve been taught to hate since birth. But that is exactly what I must do as a man who has any empathy at all for the future of the human race.

I’ve lived in this world for sixty-two years, always a cynic but Vladmir Putin is the closest thing I have ever seen to a hero. He has thrown down the gauntlet and risks it all to quell the madness that the Anglo-American Empire has become. His actions may very well have saved at least half the world from dying horribly from a genetically engineered disease, yet he is lambasted daily in the western media as a psychotic killer.

The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, FOX and the BBC are all dens of deranged demons. That should be a given by now for any sentient individual. They have helped tear the West down brick by brick starting with the World Trade Center. Yet most Americans are still listening to them as they shriek their lies. It is hard not to believe that God himself will not be fighting at the side of Vladmir Putin…

Below is an article that is making its way around the internet. It is the truth, just the type of truth that Americas new ministry of truth has been created to stamp out. Try to understand it and understand what must be done if America is to survive. Because I assure you we are no match for God…

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

Russia’s “Special Military Operation”
in Ukraine is a MORAL IMPERATIVE

Russia was forced to launch its “special military operation” in Ukraine to terminate the raging
biowar waged by the US-UK-UA-EU-NATO
bioterrorist group — from its secret underground operational headquarters located at the Azovstal
Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol, Ukraine —
against the people of Donbass and western Russia.

~ END OF STORY ~

Here’s why Russia was forced to invade Ukraine.

The epic battle for Mariupol really concerned the Russian war on the Pentagon-sponsored bioweapon labs hidden in the bowels of the Azovstal Steel Plant, as well as the many other heretofore secret biolabs scattered across the country.

To date, the Russian military has shut down 30 plus bioweapon laboratories across the Ukraine. However, the main bioweapon lab being systematically used to carry out future bioterrorist operations in Donbass and western Russia is strategically located in Mariupol at the massive Azovstal complex.

KEY POINT: The city of Mariupol is situated less than 40 miles from the Russian border, which is why Azovstal was selected to house one of the largest bioweapon labs in the world. Not only was it based right in Donbass, but Azovstal was the closest biolab from which to launch bio-attacks against Russia.

See: Massive Bioweapon Lab at Azovstal Steel Works in Mariupol Exposed by Russian Military (Video)

This is why Russia is so determined not to blow up Avozstal or even neutralize the 1000 plus Azov Nazis holed up there behind human shields—innocent Ukrainian citizens. The women and children, in particular, were likely forced into the sprawling Azovstal plant as a defensive stratagem against an all-out Russian attack. But it’s the US and NATO military leaders, Western intel agents, AFU officers and Ukraine soldiers skulked in Azovstal that Russia really wants and is willing to protect, especially those who are privy to the bioterrorist operations.

Putin knows exactly what the Azovstal biolabs were up to. He also needs to preserve the evidence so he can show the whole world what the US-UK-UA-EU-NATO bioterror group was planning to unleash in both Donbass and Russia.

This is precisely why the Azov Nazis were given such free rein to terrorize the citizens of Mariupol. They were acting on orders from their NATO command, Pentagon masters and CIA overlords to exert absolute control over the Azovstal bioterror crime scene. Isn’t that why these hardcore Neo-Nazis are called the Azov Regiment and Azov Battalion (as in Azovstal)? These battle-hardened mercenaries were put there to provide brutal defensive and protective services for the Zio-Anglo-American bioterrorist operations.

What was the Kremlin to do?

Permit this bioterror group to continue their slow-motion genocide of the Donbass citizenry?! See: HARD PROOF that Zelensky’s Azov Neo-Nazis are committing genocide against the Ukraine citizenry (Video)

Not only did Putin strike first and hard to terminate the ongoing genocide and future biowar, he has also repeatedly told the world community of nations the purpose of Russia’s “special military operation”.

Kodachrome Stories

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

Any president or prime minster on planet Earth would be fully justified in taking the same military measures to shut down a genocide-in-progress.

The courageous decision made by Putin et al. to invade was most certainly the result of a broad collective agreement across the entire Kremlin leadership. After all, Moscow is only 280 miles from the Ukrainian border as the crow flies, so they knew they were facing dire existential threats of the highest order from NATO’s military expansion, and specifically form the much more dangerous bioterror group.

Extremely aggressive moves and maneuvers by NATO only confirmed Putin’s worst fears, as did the several overtures to expand NATO membership in order to further surround Russia. However, it was the expeditious uncovering of the Ukraine bioweapon labs that really proved Putin right in his mission to shut the whole genocidal enterprise down—FOR GOOD!

BOTTOM LINE: Russia had no choice but to invade Ukraine to carry out multiple “special military operations” to protect its sovereignty and safeguard it citizenry.

Not only that, but “Russia’s intervention in Ukraine is [PERFECTLY] legal under international law “.

Citations for The Ugly Americans

1. Article I, Biological Weapons Convention. Wikisource.
2. Article II, Biological Weapons Convention. Wikisource.
3. Article III, Biological Weapons Convention. Wikisource.
4. Article IV, Biological Weapons Convention. Wikisource.
5. Article V, Biological Weapons Convention. Wikisource.
6. Article VI, Biological Weapons Convention. Wikisource.
7. Article VII, Biological Weapons Convention. Wikisource.
8. Article X, Biological Weapons Convention. Wikisource.

9 – “Human Genome Project Completion: Frequently Asked Questions”. National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).

10 – “CHM13 T2T v1.1 – Genome – Assembly – NCBI”. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 16 June 2021.

11 – “Genome List – Genome – NCBI”. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 16 June 2021.

12 – Dean, J. (2016, January 21). Veterans Today. NEO – Bio lab in Tbilisi top suspect in weaponizing new diseases. Retrieved from https://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/01/31/neo-lugar-bio-laboratory-in-tbilisi-latest-its-getting-worse-by-the-day/

13 – E.S. (2017, November 23). Veterans Today. Pentagon Setting Biological Bombs Against Europe? https://www.veteranstoday.com/2017/11/23/pentagon-setting-biological-bombs-against-europe/

14 – E.S. (2017, August 20). Veterans Today. Pentagon’s biological bomb to target Russia, Iran and China. Retrieved from https://www.veteranstoday.com/2017/08/20/pentagons-biological-bomb-to-target-russia-iran-and-china/

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

How To Make Cuban Beef Stew/Carne Con Papas Receta Cubana

Makes me hungry! Come on, do you want to try something a little different? Try this!

The Princely County of Tyrol in 1890

Nations come and nations go. And then, forgotten by all.

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

The crew of Apollo 1 practicing their water landing in 1966. Unfortunately, all of them were killed on the launch pad in a fire.

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

Chinese girls chosen randomly

By request. At random. video

Bread and soup during the Great Depression

Many Americans might end up experiencing a SECOND “Great Depression”, only this time…

… the “news media” will constantly be telling Americans how great everything is, and will use low unemployment numbers, and a roaring stock market to convince the sheeple otherwise…

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 4

Articles & Links

Master Index

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The Princely County of Tyrol, missing baby formula turning up in the hands of illegals, Ukraine, Russia, Nuclear war and Kodachrome Stories

As the West collectively unwinds, the general opinion on the (true) alternative media websites is that the collective Western “leadership” are acting like psychopathic gambling / drug addicts that are high on “their own supply”, and are making grievous mistakes without care, concern or worry. The geopolitical situation is unwinding out of control, and NOT ONE leader in the West is trying to defuse the global situation. Indeed, the opposite is true…

From goading on Ukraine and a hot “military-technical action”, which could erupt into a full-scale hot global war at any minute… to goading China with alterations to the Untied States, state department website. No real leadership is occurring, and that bodes very bad for the rest of us.

Here, we consider the global changes with views of our collective pasts.

$40 Billion in Aid to Ukraine BLOCKED in U.S. Senate

Nation NewsDesk 12 May 2022

Fiscal conservatives are praising Sen. Rand Paul for blocking a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine – a bill that not a single person on Capitol Hill has been able to read.

Paul objected to a deal offered by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would have set up votes on Thursday afternoon on the funding and on an amendment from Paul, who wanted to include language in the bill to expand an Afghanistan inspector general role to include oversight of the Ukraine funds.

“Our total aid to Ukraine will almost equal the entire military budget of Russia,” Paul said. “The cost of this package we are voting on today is more than the U.S. spent during the first year of the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan. Congress authorized force and the president sent troops into the conflict. The same cannot be said of Ukraine.”

Kodachrome Stories

A boxing match on board the USS Oregon in 1897

We Found All the Baby Formula . . . Biden Admin Sent it all to Southern Border for Illegal Alien babies

Nation NewsDesk 12 May 2022

For over a week, there have been widespread and growing reports of Baby Formula shortages all over the USA. Store shelves are bare of it in many places. Now, we know why: The Biden Administration has grabbed all the formula and sent it to the southern border to accommodate ILLEGAL ALIENS coming into the country with babies.

Here’s a small look at what shoppers in USA supermarkets find when they look for baby formula on store shelves:

And Here is what is piling-up at US Border Patrol facilities along the southern border:

According to Congresswoman Pat Cammack, pallets and pallets of baby formula are deluging the southern border.

So, under the Biden regime, American babies can go hungry, but ILLEGAL ALIEN babies must be fed at taxpayer expense, and the food is taken out of the mouths of American babies to achieve feeding the illegal aliens!

Stolen elections have consequences. THIS is just one more example of what illegitimate President Joe Biden is doing to wreck the country.

The Princely County of Tyrol in 1890

Nations come and nations go. And then, forgotten by all.

Kodachrome Stories

If the Empire of Lies and Chaos (United States) continues to escalate then nuclear war is inevitable.

How can America’s insistence on escalation be interrupted?

1) America runs out of ways to escalate. Since America has nukes that means nuclear war.

2) Uprising in the US… OK, you can stop laughing now.

3) Russia surrenders.

4) Russia does a significant but limited first strike to remind people in the Empire what the results of a real nuclear attack look like. My recommendation would be to take out NATO bases in Poland, Romania, and other Eastern European states, and perhaps Ramstein too just to drive the point home.

-William Gruff

Jungbauernkalender 2020

Lithuania Breaking Diplomatic Relations with Russia

World NewsDesk 12 May 2022

Lithuania will recall its Ambassador to Russia Eitvydas Bajarunas from Moscow on June 1, 2022.

The Lithuanian government also intends to shut down the consulate general in St. Petersburg on June 7.

(HT REMARK: When Diplomacy ends, wars usually begin. Lithuania is just right next door to Ukraine.)

MORE: Russia is now openly opposed to Ukraine’s accession not only to NATO but also to the EU. The Kremlin also does not currently see a diplomatic way to end the war.

Kodachrome Stories

Samurai warriors taken between 1860 and 1880

Diplomat: Negotiations for new Iran Nuclear Deal are “dead”

World NewsDesk 12 May 2022

French diplomat: The negotiations on the nuclear agreement with Iran have reached a dead end.

There is little chance of the United States agreeing to remove Iran’s elite security force from its list of foreign terrorist organizations any time soon, a French diplomatic source said on Thursday, casting a further pall over nuclear negotiations.

Talks to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers have been on hold since March, chiefly over Tehran’s insistence that Washington remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from the list.

“The negotiations are at a dead end,” the source told reporters. “I am pessimistic on the possibility of resolving this subject quickly.”

Dominican Fried Cheese | Mangu Series Ep. 3 | Dominican Recipes | Made To Order | Chef Zee Cooks

Jungbauernkalender 2020

The Princely County of Tyrol in 1890

Nations come and nations go. And then, forgotten by all.

Biden told officials media reports about U.S. intel sharing with Ukraine are counterproductive

The world now knows that the USA is fighting Russia via proxy. One official said Biden conveyed that the leaks should stop. Apparently, not widely reported :

From HERE

Nagasaki, 20 minutes after the atomic bombing in 1945

Biden says White House could drop Trump China tariffs to lower consumer prices

President Joe Biden said that cooling prices are his top domestic priority, even as Wall Street braces for another inflation report north of 8%.
The president also said that the White House is in the middle of a review of tariffs imposed against China during former President Donald Trump’s tenure and could opt to drop them.
Wall Street is eager to read the Labor Department’s upcoming report on April inflation , which the government will publish Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. ET.

From HERE

Steamboats on the Mississippi River in 1907

Finland to Breach 1947 Paris Peace Treaty by Joining NATO – Russia says Military Action Results

World NewsDesk 12 May 2022

The joint statement issued by the Finnish leaders said that NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. According to the head of government and the president, Finland’s incorporation into NATO will increase the defense capability and strengthen the alliance. They also said that Finland should apply to NATO as a matter of priority.

"We hope that the national steps that are still needed to reach this decision will be taken quickly in the coming days," the joint statement said.

At the same time, Finland will be able to officially apply to NATO after this step is approved at a meeting of the ruling Social Democratic Party, which is to be held on May 15, Ilta-Sanomat publication said.

It was earlier reported that Finland and Sweden wanted to submit their applications to NATO at the same time to thus express solidarity between the new applicants.

Russia responds to Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO plans

"Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of military and other nature, in order to curtail the threats that arise to its national security in this regard,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement commenting on the possible accession of Finland to NATO.

If Finland joins NATO, Russia will view such a move as a violation of international legal obligations, a message posted on the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow has always assured Helsinki that Russia’s aggressive actions against Finland would never take place. However, Finland’s desire to join NATO comes in violation of the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty, according to which the parties undertook not to enter into alliances and coalitions directed against one of them.

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

Jungbauernkalender 2020

President of Switzerland: “We are also preparing for an escalation with nuclear bombs”

World Hal Turner 10 May 2022

Switzerland supports the EU sanctions against Russia. Federal President and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis answered questions on Tuesday and explained why he is behind the sanctions and why he thinks Switzerland remains neutral.

The Ukraine war keeps Federal President and Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis busy. Are the sanctions fair and is Switzerland still neutral? What threats exist if the war escalates further?

On May 9, Russia celebrated “Victory Day” against Nazi Germany. How does Federal President Ignazio Cassis interpret the speech? “The most important information was that there were no surprises. There aren’t many positives today, but it’s good that nothing bad happened that day,” says Cassis.

When asked why Switzerland doesn’t remain really neutral? Cassis replied “We remain really neutral.” There are discussions about Switzerland’s neutrality in every war. “This time, however, Russia’s breach of the UN Charter was so great that we could not remain silent. We had to condemn it very loudly and strongly, otherwise the world would not be in order, »says Cassis.

Asked what escalations might occur in the ongoing conflict, Cassis replied “With an escalation of this war there is the possibility of atomic bombs. The Federal Council is also preparing for this case.”

British Add Nuclear Warheads to Submarines

On May 8, the “Express” newspaper in London reported BRITAIN has increased the number of warheads each Trident nuclear missile carries as part of a precautionary measure in the face of growing threats from Russia.

Britain’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent uses four Vanguard-class submarines, of which two are always on patrol, while a third is at operational readiness and the fourth undergoes maintenance.

Each armed boat is allowed to carry a maximum of 40 warheads to be distributed unevenly among eight D5 missiles. However, while details are classified, it is believed the V-boats have been carrying considerably fewer of both. Not anymore.

As of this week, British submarines are now fully loaded with at least forty (40) nuclear warheads each. Most of the warheads, which are manufactured in Britain, have a yield of 80-100 kilotons – the equivalent of TNT –five or six times greater than the “Little Boy” atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

France Puts THREE Nuclear-Armed subs to sea

Tuesday, France put all three of its nuclear-armed submarines to sea. For the first time in around 30 years, France has put three of its four ballistic missile submarines, or SSBNs, to sea at the same time, according to reports in the local media.

Normally, just one of the Triomphant class SSBNs, each of which can be armed with up to 16 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), with multiple warheads, is on patrol at any given time. The significant uptick in French nuclear deterrence activity seems to be intended as a signal to Russia

US Media M.I.A.

Of course, Americans are not hearing about any of this in their mass-media, which appears to be “Missing In Action (M.I.A.)” about the severe and dangerous developments taking place in the world. Americans have no idea at all that WHEN this conflict “goes nuclear” that WE IN THE UNITED STATES will be struck by nuclear bombs.

The reason Russia will very likely attack the US is the amount of interference we have done with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The Pentagon issued a report today outlining how extensive our interference has actually been. Here’s the list:

Given that ALL of this gear is being used to KILL RUSSIANS, how much longer do Americans think it will be before Russia puts an end to U.S. meddling by dropping nukes on our east coast port cities to disable such shipments?

We are very likely to be hit and yet the American people are left blissfully unaware by the US media.

Americans have no clue at all they’re about to be vaporized in a nuclear holocaust because the media is simply not reporting the facts.

No one is making plans to evacuate, no one is “prepping” with supplies to survive after such an attack.

When the bright, white flash hits, Americans will be killed en masse because the government interfered in something that was none of our business and had no national security implications for us, and the media covered it all up.

Nice folks, government and the mass media!

Document Orders Ukraine Border Guards to Allow Entry of 10,000 Polish Troops on May 22-24

World NewsDesk 12 May 2022

A document allegedly sent by the defense department of Ukraine to the head of the state border service of the country, orders Border Guards to ensure the passage of the joint Lithuanian-Polish “peacekeeping contingent” from Poland.

The document says that from May 22 to 24, four (4) battalions, including 9,500 military personnel and 279 units of military equipment, must cross the border.

Given the level of intense propaganda coming out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, we CANNOT RULE OUT the published document could be a fake, but such an order fits perfectly into the plan allegedly adopted by Western countries to enter the war.

People in Ukraine are theorizing that this is an effort to seize and plunder Ukraine. But keen observers in the west say it fits perfectly into the West effort to enter the war, get attacked by Russia, then go to direct war with Russia.

Rumors of a joint Polish-Lithuanian military entry into Ukraine have been circulating for over a week. The Hal Turner Radio Show has not previously published those claims because they could not be verified.

Now, however, with what appears to be an official document to Ukraine’s Border Guards ordering them to allow such entry, and the providing of specific dates, the issue needs to be reported.

This is where things can get really dicey.

Russia has flatly and repeatedly warned that anyone interfering with what Russia is doing in Ukraine, will suffer consequences like they have never seen before. Would the entry of such “peacekeepers” be viewed by Russia as “interfering?”

Mark your calendars: May 22, 2022 seems to be THE date.

UPDATE 3:41 PM EDT —

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashencko stated publicly today “Belarus will enter the war if Polish troops enter Ukraine.”

Ferdinand Porsche (yeah, that Porsche) showing a model of the Volkswagen Beetle to Adolf Hitler in 1935

Kodachrome Stories

Florence de Changy shows that the official Western story of the missing MH370 airplane is a colossal lie

Always great information. Nothing can be found in the “mainstream media” of course.

From HERE

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

American democrats and bioweapons

Dem Party Leaders, Pfizer, Moderna Involved in US Biological Activities in Ukraine: Russian MoD – 11.05.2022, Sputnik International

From HERE

Medvedev: NATO Supplying Weapons to Ukraine Risks OPEN CONFLICT with Russia; Maybe Nuclear”

World Hal Turner 12 May 2022

One of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies warned the West on Thursday that the increasing military support given to Ukraine by the United States and its allies risked triggering a conflict between Russia and the NATO military alliance.

Former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said such a conflict with NATO always carried the risk of turning into a full blown nuclear war.

Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, laid waste to swathes of its former Soviet neighbour and raised fears of the gravest confrontation between Russia and the United States since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

“NATO countries pumping weapons into Ukraine, training troops to use Western equipment, sending in mercenaries and the exercises of Alliance countries near our borders increase the likelihood of a direct and open conflict between NATO and Russia,” Medvedev said in a Telegram post.

“Such a conflict always has the risk of turning into a full-fledged nuclear war,” Medvedev said. “This will be a disastrous scenario for everyone.”

Russia and the United States are by far the world’s biggest nuclear powers: Russia has some 6,257 nuclear warheads while NATO’s three nuclear powers – the United States, United Kingdom and France – have about 6,065 warheads combined, according to the Washington-based Arms Control Association.

Putin says the “special military operation” in Ukraine is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow had to defend against the persecution of Russian-speaking people.

Putin, who says Ukraine and Russia are essentially one people, casts the war as an inevitable confrontation with the United States, which he accuses of threatening Russia by meddling in its backyard through NATO eastward enlargement.

Ukraine says it is fighting an imperial-style land grab and that Putin’s claims of genocide are nonsense. Kyiv says Putin’s invasion has only strengthened the Ukrainian people’s wish to turn westwards out of Russia’s orbit.

House Majority Leader Admits it . . .

Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader, said Biden wanted the $40 billion funding bill to “provide Ukraine with the type of arms it needs to shift from defensive to offensive operations.”

Hal Turner Editorial Opinion

They’re now openly admitting that the US is orchestrating an “offensive” war against Russia. How much longer do you think Russia will sit back and do nothing, while WE in the USA are orchestrating the killing Russian troops?

How long until Russia has finally “had it” with the United States, and begins bomb us directly?

I suspect, not long at all.

Americans would do well to prepare for being directly BOMBED by the Russian Federation, in response to the offensive war the USA is organizing and supplying, against Russia, in Ukraine.

If you do not prepare, then you are planning to fail.

Your family may not survive without YOU having a “bug-out” plan, to evacuate inland once hostilities start. Contact friends or relatives and arrange for your family to stay with them for awhile once hostilities commence.

Those of you already inland, must have emergency water, food, medicines, a generator for electric, fuel for that generator, communications gear (CB or HAM radio) flashlights, batteries, portable radios for news, a way to cook without electric, and a large first aid kit.

Without these things, you have no chance of surviving once the SHTF.

There is likely very little time left. Precious little time.

Plan now. Prepare now. Your life depends on it.

Jungbauernkalender 2020

How To Make Jamaican Jerk Chicken In The Oven Homemade Jerk Sauce

What a great woman! I can almost smell it a cooking from here!

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

‘Russia Started the War’ and Other Fallacies

Mike Whitney • May 10, 2022

On Monday, Putin delivered the annual “Victory Day” speech celebrating Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. The Russian president made none of the hyperbolic pronouncements the media had predicted but, instead, gave a brief recap of the events leading up to the war in Ukraine. There was none of the bravado you’d expect from a leader trying to gin up support for the ongoing war. Putin simply reminded the crowd that he had done everything he could to avoid the bloody conflict in which Russia is currently embroiled. Here’s part of what he said:

 “Last December we proposed signing a treaty on security guarantees. Russia urged the West to hold an honest dialogue in search for meaningful and compromising solutions, and to take account of each other’s interests. All in vain. NATO countries did not want to heed us, which means they had totally different plans. And we saw it.”

This is an accurate account of what took place in the months preceding the war. Putin tried to avoid a confrontation by repeatedly asking the US to address Russia’s reasonable security concerns. Unfortunately, the Biden administration brushed off Putin’s demands without even providing a response. The US and NATO insist that Ukraine has every right to choose whatever security arrangement it wants. But that’s clearly not the case. The United States and every nation in NATO have signed treaties (Istanbul in 1999, and Astana in 2010) that stipulate they cannot improve their own security at the expense of others.

The principle underlying these agreements is called “the indivisibility of security”, which means that the security of one state can’t be separated from the security of the others. In practical terms, that means that signatories to these treaties are not free to develop their own military capability to the point where it poses a danger to their neighbors. These terms are especially applicable to Ukraine which is seeking membership in a military alliance that is openly hostile to Russia. NATO membership has always been a “red line” for Putin who has stated repeatedly that he will not allow NATO bases, combat troops and missile sites to be located on Ukrainian soil where they’d be just a stone’s throw from Moscow. As one critic from Texas put it, “You wouldn’t let a rattlesnake make its home on your front porch, would you?” No, you wouldn’t, and neither would Putin. Here’s more from a speech Putin gave in 2007:

 “I’m convinced that we have reached the decisive moment when we must seriously think about the architecture of global security. And we must proceed by searching for a reasonable balance between the interests of all participants in the international dialogue.” Munich Security Conference, 2007

For Putin, security has always been the paramount issue. How do we create a world in which ordinary people can feel safe in their homes, their communities and their countries? How do we protect the weaker countries from the constant threat of intervention, invasion or regime change by an impulsive superpower whose behavior is guided by its own material interests and its own insatiable geopolitical ambitions? Concepts like the “indivisibility of security” might appeal to the sensibilities of idealists, but where’s the enforcement mechanism? And, how do we use these grand ideas to rein in an intractable hegemon rampaging across the planet?

These are questions that need to be answered, after all, if the United Nations actually worked the way it is supposed to work, Russia’s demands would have been thoroughly debated at emergency meetings before the first shot was ever fired. But that didn’t happen. International law and global institutions failed again. As everyone knows, most of these institutions have been hijacked by Washington which now uses them to provide a fig leaf of legitimacy for its serial depredations. That’s certainly how they are being used in the current war against Russia.

The western media is also being used as a weapon against Russia. For example, Russia has been universally blamed for starting the war, but Russia did not start the war and everyone on the Security Council knows it. Ukraine started the war, and the Observer Mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has collected evidence to prove it. Check out this excerpt from an interview at the Grayzone with Swiss Intelligence officer and NATO advisor, Jacques Baud:

 JACQUES BAUD: “I think we have to understand, as you know, that the war in fact hasn’t started on 24 February this year… what led to the decision to launch an offensive in the Donbas was not what happened since 2014. There was a trigger for that…

The first is the decision and the law adopted by Volodymyr Zelensky in March 2021—that means last year—to reconquer Crimea by force…

(And,also,) the intensification of the artillery shelling of the Donbas starting on the 16th of February, and this increase in the shelling was observed, in fact, by the Observer Mission of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe], and t hey recorded this increase of violation, and it’s a massive violation. I mean, we are talking about something that is about 30 times more than what it used to be... On the 16th of February you had a massive increase of violation on the Ukrainian side. So, for the Russians, Vladimir Putin in particular, that was the sign that the operation—the Ukrainian operation—was about to start.

And then everything started; I mean, all the events came very quickly. That means that if we look at the figures, you can see that there’s…. a massive increase from the 16th-17th, and then it reached kind of a maximum on the 18th of February, and that was continuing.

… And that’s why, on the 24th of February when Vladimir Putin decided to launch the offensive, it could invoke Article 51 of the UN Charter that provides for assistance in case of attack.” (“US, EU sacrificing Ukraine to ‘weaken Russia’: fmr. NATO adviser“, The Grayzone)

You can see that by the time Putin invaded Ukraine, the war had already begun. The shelling of ethnic Russians had already intensified by many orders of magnitude. People were being slaughtered in droves, and tens of thousands of refugees were fleeing across the border into Russia. And, all of this had been going on since the 16th of February, a full week before Russia crossed the border. (Moon of Alabama has compiled the data on the bombardment that took place in the Donbas preceding the invasion: “The February 15 report of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine recorded some 41 explosions in the ceasefire areas. This increased to 76 explosions on Feb 16, 316 on Feb 17, 654 on Feb 18, 1413 on Feb 19, a total of 2026 of Feb 20 and 21 and 1484 on Feb 22.”)

So, why does the media keep repeating the lie that Russia started the war when it is clearly false?

The fact is, Putin sent in the troops to put out a fire not to start one. If ever there was a situation where the Responsibility To Protect (R2P) could be justified, it’s in east Ukraine prior to the invasion. 14,000 ethnic Russians had been killed before the shelling began. Should Putin have looked the other way and allowed another 14,000-or-so to be slaughtered without lifting a finger?

No, Putin did what he had to do to save lives and defend Russia’s national security. Even so, he has no territorial ambitions and no desire to recreate the Soviet Empire. His “special military operation” is, in fact, a defensive operation designed to remove emerging threats that could no longer be ignored. Putin’s 83% public approval rating proves that the Russian people understand what he is doing and fully support him. (A political leader would never garner that level of support if the people thought he had launched a war of aggression.)

Some readers might remember that –before sending in the tanks– Putin invoked United Nations Article 51 which provides a legal justification for military intervention. Here’s an excerpt from an article by former weapons inspector Scott Ritter who defended the Russian action like this:

 “Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing Article 51 as his authority, ordered what he called a “special military operation”….
under Article 51, there can be no doubt as to the legitimacy of Russia’s contention that the Russian-speaking population of the Donbass had been subjected to a brutal eight-year-long bombardment that had killed thousands of people.… Moreover, Russia claims to have documentary proof that the Ukrainian Army was preparing for a massive military incursion into the Donbass which was pre-empted by the Russian-led “special military operation.” [OSCE figures show an increase of government shelling of the area in the days before Russia moved in.]

..

The bottom line is that Russia has set forth a cognizable claim under the doctrine of anticipatory collective self-defense, devised originally by the U.S. and NATO, as it applies to Article 51 which is predicated on fact, not fiction.

While it might be in vogue for people, organizations, and governments in the West to embrace the knee-jerk conclusion that Russia’s military intervention constitutes a wanton violation of the United Nations Charter and, as such, constitutes an illegal war of aggression, the uncomfortable truth is that, of all the claims made regarding the legality of pre-emption under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, Russia’s justification for invading Ukraine is on solid legal ground.” (“Russia, Ukraine & the Law of War: Crime of Aggression”, Consortium News)

And here’s more on the topic from author Danial Kovalik in his article titled “Why Russia’s intervention in Ukraine is legal under international law”:

 “One must begin this discussion by accepting the fact that there was already a war happening in Ukraine for the eight years preceding the Russian military incursion in February 2022. And, this war by the government in Kiev… claimed the lives of around 14,000 people, many of them children, and displaced around 1.5 million more … The government in Kiev, and especially its neo-Nazi battalions, carried out attacks against these peoples … precisely because of their ethnicity. ..

To remove any doubt that the destabilization of Russia itself has been the goal of the US in these efforts, one should examine the very telling 2019 report of the Rand Corporation… entitled, ‘Overextending and Unbalancing Russia, Assessing the Impact of Cost-Imposing Options’, one of the many tactics listed is “Providing lethal aid to Ukraine” in order to “exploit Russia’s greatest point of external vulnerability.”…

In short, there is no doubt that Russia has been threatened, and in a quite profound way, with concrete destabilizing efforts by the US, NATO and their extremist surrogates in Ukraine….

It is hard to conceive of a more pressing case for the need to act in defense of the nation. While the UN Charter prohibits unilateral acts of war, it also provides, in Article 51, that “nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense… ” And this right of self-defense has been interpreted to permit countries to respond, not only to actual armed attacks, but also to the threat of imminent attack.

In light of the above, it is my assessment.. that Russia had a right to act in its own self-defense by intervening in Ukraine, which had become a proxy of the US and NATO for an assault – not only on Russian ethnics within Ukraine – but also upon Russia itself. A contrary conclusion would simply ignore the dire realities facing Russia.” (Why Russia’s intervention in Ukraine is legal under international law”, RT)

Assigning blame for the current conflict is more than just an academic exercise. It is the way that reasonable people weigh the evidence to determine accountability. That might be a way-off, but it’s a goal worth pursuing all the same.

Finally, it should be clear by now, that the war in Ukraine was planned long before the Russian invasion. At every turn, Washington has orchestrated the provocations that were designed to lure Russia into Ukraine, drain its resources and, thus, remove a major obstacle to US strategic objectives in Central Asia. The ultimate goal– as US war planners have candidly admitted– is to “break Russia’s back”, splinter the country into smaller pieces, topple the government, seize its vast energy resources, and reduce the population to a permanent state of colonial dependency. Washington knows that it will not be able to encircle and control China’s explosive growth, unless it crushes Russia first. That is why it has embarked on such a reckless strategy that could end in an unprecedented catastrophe. Our miscreant leaders believe that preserving their grip on global power is worth the risk of nuclear annihilation.

Ukraine – Congress Passes The Bucks, Realism Sneaks In, Poland Plans For More War

After a lot of talk about defeating Russia in the Ukraine and an alleged lack of Russian fighting abilities Congress passed another $40 billion fund for weapons and economic support. That brings the total to some $53 billion for Ukraine.

Most of the money will go to the U.S. weapon industry, the CIA and to various Ukrainian oligarchs. Hardly anything will be received by those in need.

With that packet now passed reality is allowed to sneak into U.S. media reporting on the issue.

Not one but two reports in the New York Times suddenly lament about the huge area of land the Russian troops have taken in east Ukraine:

From the later:

Nonetheless, the Donbas seizure, combined with the Russian invasion’s early success in seizing parts of southern Ukraine adjoining the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, gives the Kremlin enormous leverage in any future negotiation to halt the conflict.

And the Russians enjoy the added advantage of naval dominance in the Black Sea, the only maritime route for Ukrainian trade, which they have paralyzed with an embargo that could eventually starve Ukraine economically and is already contributing to a global grain shortage.

I have often pointed out that the Ukrainian frontline will have a huge number of casualties from Russian artillery strikes. It is even worse than I had thought:

At the main hospital in Kramatorsk, a city in Donetsk, ambulances stream in day and night, carrying soldiers wounded at the front, who describe being pinned down by near constant shelling.

About 80 percent of the patients are wounded by explosives such as mines and artillery shells, said Capt. Eduard Antonovskyy, the deputy commander of the medical unit at the hospital. Because of this, he said, very few patients have serious injuries. Either you’re far enough from an explosion to survive or you aren’t, he said.

“We either get moderate injuries or deaths,” Captain Antonovskyy said.

Additional to those more realistic reports the NYT allowed one of it authors to write an opinion piece against the widening of the war:

America and Its Allies Want to Bleed Russia. They Really Shouldn’t.

At first, the Western support for Ukraine was mainly designed to defend against the invasion. It is now set on a far grander ambition: to weaken Russia itself. Presented as a common-sense response to Russian aggression, the shift, in fact, amounts to a significant escalation.

By expanding support to Ukraine across the board and shelving any diplomatic effort to stop the fighting, the United States and its allies have greatly increased the danger of an even larger conflict. They are taking a risk far out of step with any realistic strategic gain.
...
When I was in Ukraine during the first weeks of the war, even staunch Ukrainian nationalists expressed views far more pragmatic than those that are routine in America now. Talk of neutral status for Ukraine and internationally monitored plebiscites in Donetsk and Luhansk has been jettisoned in favor of bombast and grandstanding.
...
What’s more, the invasion has led directly to greater military spending in second- and third-tier European powers. The number of NATO troops in Eastern Europe has grown tenfold, and a Nordic expansion of the organization is likely. A general rearmament of Europe is taking place, driven not by desire for autonomy from American power but in service to it. For the United States, this should be success enough. It is unclear what more there is to gain by weakening Russia, beyond fantasies of regime change.
...
Diplomatic efforts ought to be the centerpiece of a new Ukraine strategy. Instead, the war’s boundaries are being expanded and the war itself recast as a struggle between democracy and autocracy, in which the Donbas is the frontier of freedom. This is not just declamatory extravagance. It is reckless. The risks hardly need to be stated.

Indeed. The current U.S. strategy will end in a catastrophe for Ukraine because it is based on false narratives. Lt.Col. (ret) Daniel Davis has consistently provided a more realist view of the military situation in Ukraine. His latest piece fits that record:

Russia’s Progress in Donbas Means Ukraine Likely Won’t Win the War

Over the past few days, a flurry of senior leaders in both Ukraine and Washington have issued defiant claims of not merely resisting Russian aggression, but pushing towards outright victory. While such aspirations are entirely understandable, it is unwise to set policy seeking a preferred outcome if there does not exist a rational path by which Ukraine could accomplish that objective. At present, most indicators, fundamentals of war, and current battlefield trendlines support the prospect of a Ukrainian defeat.

Davis correctly describes the current military situation on the ground and concludes:

By continuing to seek a military victory in Ukraine, Ukraine’s troops will continue fighting, no negotiated settlement will be realistically sought, and most likely Russian troops continue making progress. As a result, more Ukrainian civilians and troops will continue to be killed and wounded, more cities destroyed, and the economic and food crises – for both Ukraine and the world – will worsen. The most likely outcome will not change (a negotiated settlement, not a Ukrainian military victory), but the cost to Kyiv will be much, much worse.

Another former military man who has a realist view of the war is Col. Douglas Macgregor (ret). During the first Gulf war he led a unit in the Battle of 73 Easting:

Macgregor was the "squadron operations officer who essentially directed the Battle of 73 Easting" during the Gulf War. Facing an Iraqi Republican Guard opponent, he led a contingent consisting of 19 tanks, 26 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 4 M1064 mortar carriers through the sandstorm to the 73 Easting at roughly 16:18 hours on 26 February 1991 destroyed almost 70 Iraqi armored vehicles with no U.S. casualties in a 23-minute span of the battle.

The previously quoted Lt.Col. Davis was wounded in the same battle. As both men have seen real mechanized war it is not by chance that they have come to similar conclusions.

Macgregor warns of a widening of the war through a Polish intervention in west Ukraine which would eventually drag NATO into the war:

The Threat of Polish Involvement in Ukraine
The war against Russia in Ukraine has evolved, but not in the way Western observers predicted.

Why would Poland, with the help of Lithuania, try to take western Ukraine? It is all about history:

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a country and bi-federation of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch in real union, who was both King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. It was one of the largest and most populous countries of 16th to 17th-century Europe. At its largest territorial extent, in the early 17th century, the Commonwealth covered almost 1,000,000 km2 (400,000 sq mi) and as of 1618 sustained a multi-ethnic population of almost 12 million.

Here is how that commonwealth looked on a map with current borders:

There have been talks for a while that Poland would send a ‘peacekeeping’ force to occupy Galicia in west-Ukraine. I for one predicted it on February 24, at the very onset of the war:

Thanks to Stalin's additions to the Ukraine three countries, Poland, Hungary and Romania, have claims to certain areas in the Ukraine's western regions. If they want to snatch those up again it is now probably the best time to do so. Despite being part of NATO, which likely would not support such moves, those three will have domestic policy difficulties to withstand the urge.

An official looking document now says that a Polish/Lithuanian operation will start on May 22-24.

Lord Of War @lord_of_war____ - 14:46 UTC · May 10, 2022
🇺🇦🇵🇱The document was sent to the President of the State Border Service of Ukraine, Serhiy Daynek, stating that it is 22-24. May joint "Lithuanian-Polish peacekeeping contingent" consisting of 4 battalions, 9,500 soldiers and 279 units of military equipment  [planned to enter the territory of Ukraine. Another confirmation of the development of plans for the occupation and further division of the country. Even if this particular document turns out to be false (which is not excluded), it does not change the general course of the West in relation to Ukraine.]
picture

9.500 soldiers are way more than fit into 4 battalions. A battalion has typically some 400-800 soldiers. These are more like three small brigades with 3-4 battalions each.

A Polish/Lithuanian move is exactly what Col. Macgregor is warning of:

Ten weeks after the conflict began, it is instructive to re-examine the strategic picture. The war against Russia in Ukraine has evolved, but not in the way Western observers predicted. Ukrainian forces look shattered and exhausted. The supplies reaching Ukrainian troops fighting in Eastern Ukraine are a fraction of what is needed. In most cases, replacements and new weapons are destroyed long before they reach the front.

Confronted with the unambiguous failure of U.S. assistance and the influx of new weapons to rescue Ukrainian forces from certain destruction, the Biden administration is desperate to reverse the situation and save face. Poland seems to offer a way out. More important, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have both expressed the desire to erase the borders between Poland and Ukraine.

Unconfirmed reports from Warsaw indicate that after Washington rejected the proposals for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, along with the transfer of Polish MIG-29 aircrafts to Ukrainian pilots, the Polish general staff was quietly instructed to formulate plans for intervention in the Ukrainian conflict by seizing the western part of Ukraine. Naturally, military action of this scale would require Kiev’s approval, but given Washington’s de facto control of the Zelensky government, approval for Polish military intervention should not be a problem.

Presumably, the Biden administration may hope that a collision involving Russians and Poles in any form—including air and missile strikes against Polish forces on the Ukrainian side of the border—would potentially call for the NATO council to meet and address Article V of the NATO treaty.

It would mean that NATO, or at least major parts of it, would actively join the Ukrainian proxy war against Russia. While I believe that Russia has withheld forces from the current war to eventually defend against NATO, any entry of it into the war would significantly extend the fighting and the danger of a nuclear exchange would become imminent.

Posted by b at 15:43 UTC

Kodachrome Stories

Achieved: Russia introduces a total embargo on the export of goods

2 months after the introduction of restrictions by the West, Russia took appropriate measures. The other day, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On the application of retaliatory special economic measures in connection with the unfriendly actions of certain foreign states and international organizations." According to the document, the export of raw materials and products from Russia to such countries has been stopped.

The decree comes into force on May 13

From the very beginning of spring, Western states imposed restrictions against Russia and its citizens. Russia, in turn, only modestly stated that payment for the raw materials needed by these countries should now be made in rubles.

The new decree shows that Russia has decided to act proactively. On May 13, the government will publish two lists: a list of individuals against whom sanctions have been imposed, and a list of goods that will be subject to an export ban. Vladimir Putin did not begin to impose restrictions against a specific country, it was decided to “hit pointwise.”

Explicit and hidden reasons for signing the decree

Some time ago it became known about the ambiguous position of the EU countries and the United States in relation to certain Russian goods. The former openly stated that they planned to impose an embargo on the supply of Russian gas and oil. The second acted differently.

Despite the fact that the United States imposed financial and trade bans on Russia, they were confident that they would receive Russian fertilizers. Therefore, restrictions were removed from fertilizer producers, without which their agriculture is unlikely to do. Moreover, these goods have been added to the list of vital.

Russia expressed its response in a new decree. Now there will be no Russian fertilizers in the US or Europe. The list of prohibited goods will include almost everything that is produced and mined on the territory of the Russian Federation.

The economic confrontation continues

We also recall that the exchange rate has recently been “jumping” against the backdrop of rash steps by Western European countries, and in a favorable direction for the ruble. And at one point, the euro was even cheaper than the dollar.

Economic “battles” continue. For many goods, the demand is growing along with their cost, as people are afraid of rising prices. In such circumstances, Russia was forced to take retaliatory measures. The West, apparently, does not yet realize who is harmed more by economic bans. The market-based pricing mechanisms that the EU has insisted on for decades are subject to speculation.

From HERE.

Chicken Curry with coconut milk/ Easy Chinese Cooking Curry Chicken/ Singapore style curry chicken

One of my all-time favorites. I eat this dish about once a week. I’ll tell you what!

Kodachrome Stories

BIDEN ADMIN ANNOUNCES OIL AND GAS LEASE CANCELLATIONS IN ALASKA AND GULF OF MEXICO

World NewsDesk 12 May 2022 Hits: 9324

With gas prices soaring to all-time highs, it was announced tonight that the Biden Administration has issued fresh cancellations of oil and gas leases in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

A top official with the American Petroleum Institute, the country’s largest oil and gas trade association, Frank Macchairola, called the cancellation of Alaska’s Cook Inlet lease “another example of the administration’s lack of commitment to oil and gas development in the US.”

Macchairola said that “The President has spoken about the need for additional supplies in the market, but his administration has failed to take action to match that rhetoric.”

“In the kind of price environment that we’re seeing, there are negative consequences to shutting off oil and gas development, both politically and practically,” Macchairola explained.

The Department of the Interior cited a “lack of industry interest in leasing in the area” for the decision to “not move forward” with the Cook Inlet lease sale, but canceling the sale would be in keeping with political promises Joe Biden made in the name of “halting global warming.”

As for the halting of two leases under consideration for the Gulf of Mexico region, the department said it was because of “conflicting court rulings that impacted work on these proposed lease sales.”

Breitbart’s Wendell Husebo suggested that “Gas prices to hit record highs again” once the news reverberates.

According to AAA, the national average price of regular gas hit an all-time high of $4.40 today.

HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION

Gasoline and Diesel fuel have reached prices that are so high, they are unprecedented in American history. The law of supply and demand dictates that when supplies are low, prices are high. So what does Biden and company do? Cut off the drilling thereby keeping supplies low and prices high.

It’s almost as if the Biden people WANT to force high prices, to achieve their “environmentalist” goals of halting fossil fuel use.

This is the same crowd that warned us in the 1970 of “Global cooling” which then morphed in the 1990’s to “Global Warming” which then morphed in the 2010’s to “Climate change. Put simply, these environmentalists don’t know what they’re talking about and make it up as they go.

For all of you worried about “climate change” it may interest you to know that earth’s magnetic field, has moved farther west than ever before in recorded history. It has moved so far, and is moving so fast, that scientists are now wondering aloud if there may be a “pole shift” coming, where magnetic north and magnetic south, actually reverse!

It is the movement of earth’s magnetic field that has altered our climate. NOT fossil fuel emissions. Let that sink in.

Yes, our climate has been changing. It is noticeable. But the environmentalists tell us it is due to man-made activities, and they go on to claim that “greenhouse gases” are to blame.

Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, they claim, hold heat and are thus causing climate change.

These claims are fraudulent.

Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide do not hold any more heat than any other gas. The claim is a lie; the so-called science, is junk.

Now, I ask you: given the size of planet earth, versus the size of your car exhaust pipe, do you think your car exhaust is changing the climate, or is it the unprecedented move of earth’s own magnetic field that is altering the climate?

Most rational people, having just this moment learned that earth’s magnetic field has moved farther west than ever measured before, will instantly realize that the planet’s magnetic field is far more capable of altering our climate than a car tailpipe.

Most rational people will now also realize that these environmentalists, have “snookered” us. They snookered us with their false claims and their deliberately junk science.

Oh, and it wasn’t about preserving the environment, it was about selling their “green” energy.” Bottom line: It was about money.

Politicians jumped onto the bandwagon with their “carbon taxes” — never let a good crisis go to waste, gouge citizens for more money — and environmentalists pushed their “get rid of fossil fuels” mantra til they were blue in the face.

The whole thing was — and is — a fraud.

Civilization functions and prospers with inexpensive energy. Civilization requires inexpensive energy to progress. The environmentalists have lied to so many, for so long, they have ignored the basic fact that without inexpensive energy, civilization fails.

The best is, they want us all in electric cars. But our electric grid is so tightly balanced to supply and demand, that when summer heat extremes, or even winter cold extremes, strike vast areas, the electric grid cannot handle it. There are rolling blackouts and even brownouts.

Where do the environmentalists think all those electric cars will get power to recharge if the power grid can’t handle things now?

Wait, what? “Build more power plants” they say?????? Oh, power plants that use . . . . fossil fuels . . . . to make electric?????? Idiots. They contradict themselves!

And they are such obsessed fanatics about their beliefs, they’ve even convinced a sitting president to cancel oil drilling at a time when the price of energy is causing people to have to choose between driving, and feeding their families.

This environmental insanity must be stopped.

I support clean air, and we can still have clean air using fossil fuels.

It’s time to send the environmentalists packing, and tell them to take their dementia-addled, diaper-wearing, election thieving, illegitimate “President” with them.

The Princely County of Tyrol in 1890

Nations come and nations go. And then, forgotten by all.

BULLETIN: FINLAND OPENING, INSPECTING AND STOCKING NUCLEAR ATTACK BOMB SHELTERS

World NewsDesk 12 May 2022

The Finland Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense have begun to open and inspect, Nuclear War Bomb Shelters around the Country.Finland has one of the most robust and expansive Nuclear Bunker Systems in the World able to shelter nearly the entire Population.

It was announced earlier today that Finland intends to submit an Application to join NATO.

Russia says this is a violation of the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty which both Finland, Russia, and all the World War 2 nations, signed. That Treaty states emphatically “the parties undertake not to enter into alliances and coalitions directed against one of them.”

Intelligence Sources in Russia say “If the 1947 Peace Treaty is broken, then there is no longer Peace.”

Some of Finland’s Nuclear War Bomb Shelters are incorporated into the country’s subway system. Below is one such bunker, also being inspected, outfitted with food, water, medicine, tools, communications gear, and other supplies.

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 4

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Chinese swarm drone hand-grenades of the micro-Terminator T1000 series. Yikes!

There is so much craziness going on inside the United States today it just boggles the mind. And you know, it is so very easy to get all caught up in it. I was amazed to watch an interview by JudgeNapolitano interviewing Scott Ritter about the Ukraine. And he (the Judge) was actually believing the bullshit lies of the mainstream “news” media. I was astounded. You need not be. Here’s a look at what is going on, with a equal dose of our shared pasts. I hope you all enjoy it all.

Make sure that you stick around to the end of the article. The latest in Chinese robotic AI technology is truly a “game changer”.

American “Democracy”…

Caitlin Johnstone, maestra of metaphor and allegory, on American democracy:

"An elephant and a donkey fight in a puppet show and the crowd cheers for one or the other while thieves pick their pockets..." (thieves being the shows sponsors.)

"Democracy is when you get to vote on which oligarchic muppet will ceremonially pardon a turkey on Thanksgiving but not on whether your government should greatly escalate the risk of nuclear war."

France confiscated the money collected for the children of Donbass

French customs officers confiscated the money collected for the children of Donbass

May 14, 2022, 11:20

In France, customs officers confiscated funds collected for the children of Donbass by the humanitarian association “Save the Children of Donbass”, which were intended for transportation to Russia. The funds were detained under the pretext of a directive banning the import of money into Russia from Europe. This was announced on May 14 by the president of the association, Emmanuel Leroy.

He said that in addition to him, two more representatives of the association were sent to Donbass. French customs detained them at Charles de Gaulle airport. The group was taken to a special unit, where they were held for about 10 hours. According to Leroy, French customs officials charged them with supporting terrorism, as well as financing criminal circles and the terrorist regime.

From HERE.

Kodachrome Stories

U.S. Seeks ASEAN Proxy Willing To Poke China

On Wednesday, May 11, the Associated Press published a piece of the election in Philippine which included some dubious editorial assertions:

Marcos presidency complicates US efforts to counter China

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s apparent landslide victory in the Philippine presidential election is raising immediate concerns about a further erosion of democracy in Asia and could complicate American efforts to blunt growing Chinese influence and power in the Pacific.

Marcos, the namesake son of longtime dictator Ferdinand Marcos, captured more than double the votes of his closest challenger in Monday’s election, according to the unofficial results.

If the results stand, he will take office at the end of June for a six-year term with Sara Duterte, the daughter of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte, as his vice president.

Duterte — who leaves office with a 67% approval rating — nurtured closer ties with China and Russia, while at times railing against the United States.

The whole piece is much longer than the quote. But it nowhere explains why a free and fair election, like the one the Philippines just held, would lead to ‘a further erosion of democracy in Asia’. It also does not explain why anyone might doubt the results when indeed nobody really does.

What it does explain well is why Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will not become a U.S. puppet:

[A] 2011 U.S. District Court ruling in Hawaii finding him and his mother in contempt of an order to furnish information on assets in connection with a 1995 human rights class action suit against Marcos Sr.

The court fined them $353.6 million, which has never been paid and could complicate any potential travel to the U.S.

Marcos has said that he will keep the Philippines on the same neutral foreign policy line as Duterte did. Developing better relations with China is part of that.

That does not fit U.S. plans to use the Philippines as a proxy to poke the Chinese tiger.

Currently Biden is holding a summit with the leaders of countries that belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Myanmar was not invited to the summit and Duterte did not take part.

The agenda of the summit is astonishingly thin:

The summit, which concludes on Friday, is intended to cover an array of topics, including trade, human rights and climate change. But it is also part of an effort by Mr. Biden’s foreign policy team to highlight one of the president’s primary goals: assembling a united front against China as it increasingly demonstrates its economic and military might around the world. 

...

On Thursday evening, the White House announced new investments of about $150 million in the region as part of a series of agreements between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

The investments by the United States include $40 million for clean energy projects in Southeast Asia. 
...
The United States also pledged to invest $60 million to deploy additional maritime assets — led by the Coast Guard — to the region, and to perform training and other activities in coordination with other countries aimed at enforcing maritime laws.

And the administration said it would spend $15 million to expand health surveillance programs in Southeast Asia and better detect Covid-19 and other airborne diseases in the region.

These numbers are stingy and will not move anyone to support the U.S. against China which spends billions on infrastructure in those countries.

They also include a Trojan hoarse program none of those countries is really interested in. More on that later.

The program for the summit looks a bit like a snub:

On Thursday, the leaders from the ASEAN countries met with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers before gathering at a Washington hotel to discuss business opportunities with Gina Raimondo, the commerce secretary, and executives from American industries.Mr. Biden welcomed the leaders to the White House on Thursday evening in a brief ceremony on the South Lawn. The group posed for a picture before walking into the White House for dinner.

On Friday, the Asian leaders will meet with Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in the morning, and then with Mr. Biden at the White House later in the day. According to the administration official, the group will discuss trading opportunities; transit through disputed waterways, including the South China Sea; and other topics.

These are presidents and prime ministers who are not really interested in talking with underlings like Raimondo and Blinken. They want to talk with the boss. But Biden seems to have little interest in making friends with them.

Was this summit intentionally designed to fail?

Anyway. Back to the Trojan horse for which the U.S. will spend $60 million in an attempt to poke the tiger.

A year ago Peter Lee wrote an excellent piece on the Philippine election that took place this week. It explains what the ‘additional maritime assets’ are supposed to do.

Will a New Philippine President Work with the US Coast Guard to Light Off World War III in the South China Sea?

For those of you who plan ahead, May 9, 2022 is the big one. Mark your calendars. That’s the date of the Philippine presidential elections.Recapturing the Malacañang Palace for a pro-American president is an obsession of U.S. strategists. And if I’m thinking about it now, they’ve been thinking about it ever since Rodrigo Duterte won the last election in 2016.
...
I expect that the old guard in Manila, in coordination with the United States, will do whatever is necessary to make sure that, no matter who makes it to the Palace, the embarrassment of a Duterte-style balancer presidency is not repeated.

A pro-US presidency means turning away from the PRC to deepen the security relationship with the United States and Japan and perfect the “First Island Chain” anti-China picket line.

And the Philippines will reassume its place at the center of US plans to confront the PRC in the South China Sea.

As we now know that plan did not work out. But it is interesting how it was supposed to be followed by tackling the People’s Republic of China in the South China Sea:

Post-Duterte I expect there will be continual poking at PRC vulnerabilities in the SCS as they relate to Philippine claims and can be construed to demand US support.These include Reed Bank, an energy play within the Philippines EEZ that the PRC tries to claim as inside its nine-dash line.

Then there’s the Scarborough Shoal, a fishing spot now controlled by the PRC but a flashpoint for Philippine nationalism.

And there is the aptly-named Mischief Reef.

China has made Mischief Reef into an artificial Chinese island within the Philippine’s economic zone. If the Philippine would reclaim the reef by force the ‘additional maritime assets’ the U.S. sends could come to its help:

If the Mischief Reef op goes down, that backing will probably come from, of all things, the US Coast Guard.The US Coast Guard’s scope of operations, despite its name, is not America’s coasts. It’s a global power projection arm in the realm of law enforcement, not warfare.

Or as the head of the Coast Guard himself puts it, the Coast Guard is “a maritime bridge between the Department of Defense’s lethality and the State Department’s diplomacy.”
...
The Coast Guard is in the process of basing three so-called Fast Response Cutters at Guam. They are armed with 4 machine guns and a cannon and are designed for extended duration patrols of 2500 nautical miles.

The stated Pacific mission for the Coast Guard is to offer logistics and escort i.e. armed US backup for the coast guards of friendly states in their enforcement activities in the Pacific in the realms of illegal fishing, drug trafficking, and “the threats these activities bring” mostly, I would think, from China.

Stage one is implementing this US-backed enforcement regime on behalf of Palau and the other Polynesian satrapies whose defense and foreign relations are managed by the US government.

Then, if conditions permit, you got the South China Sea.

Guam is too far from the South China Sea, so to operate in the SCS the US Coast Guard will have to rely on tenders—unless the cutters are permitted to operate out of the Philippines,

That’s something I think the US military would dearly love, and is undoubtedly on its wish list for any post-Duterte Philippine administration.

I am pretty sure that Peter Lee had that right. But with Marcos junior at the helm of Philippine that country will not agree to those plans:

Allowing the U.S. to play a role in trying to settle territorial spats with China will be a “recipe for disaster,” Marcos said in an interview with DZRH radio in January. He said Duterte’s policy of diplomatic engagement with China is “really our only option.”

The coast guard cutters to be stationed in Guam are the ‘$60 million additional maritime assets’ Biden promised to the ASEAN leaders.

Maybe some other country can be convinced to proxy-poke China to then ask for armed U.S. coast guard backup.

I doubt though that it is truly in anyone’s interest as China is certain to poke back – harshly.

Wanted:

Asian country to fight a United States proxy war aginst China.

We will make your oligarchs enormously rich and help you fight till your last citizen has been killed.

YouTube

This informed fellow did a youtube video about 9 days ago which explains it very well for anyone more interested…

US Can’t Find Indo-Pacific Nations to Host Anti-China Missiles

Ah. The youtube channel – the new atlas… check it out if you want to understand this dynamic the usa is working on more fully..

Marcello Mastroianni sips coffee in an undated image.

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

United States Marine Corp

Yes, the USMC is in turmoil right now, with the current commandant catching static because he got rid of tanks etc, whereas the old-timers would prefer that the USMC continue to be a mini-army and they are not quiet about it. . . .The Corps has no decent amphibious tanks.

They recently formed a “littoral regiment,” littoral meaning “shore,” and they worked out at 29 Palms, Southern California high desert!!

Their new policy is that Marine units will be secretly deploy to some island (somewhere in the western Pacific), nobody will notice, and then when discovered they will secretly transfer to another island…

. . .I’m serious! This is not a joke.

– Don Bacon

The Princely County of Tyrol in 1890

Nations come and nations go. And then, forgotten by all.

Jungbauernkalender 2020

6 52

Accelerated acquisition of Russian citizenship

Deputy of the State Duma Alexander Khinshtein stated…

Compatriots wishing to move to Russia will now be able to do so as quickly as possible. Alexander Gorovoy, First Deputy Minister of the Interior, informed me about this. 

Starting next week, a round-the-clock center for receiving documents for participation in the state program for the voluntary resettlement of compatriots will begin operating at the Main Directorate for Migration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (GUVM). Here they will accept and process applications from people from the CIS, the Baltic states and neighboring countries, for whom Russia is their historical homeland. 

It is important that applications can be sent not only by e-mail, but also by fax, since in a number of “friendly” countries access to Russian Internet resources, including the State Service portal, is blocked. 

Applications will be reviewed within 15 days. With a positive decision, compatriots will be able to immediately enter the territory of Russia, to the region of their choice, after which they will be able to apply for citizenship in an expedited manner. 

Police Colonel-General Gorov has already sent letters to the governors of the regions and the heads of the territorial bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the priority reception of such compatriots.

I think this decision is very correct, timely and fair. It is essentially about saving people who do not want to give up their origin and are exposed to real threats. The initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is a clear confirmation of the principle “we do not abandon our own”. Earlier, also at the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the simplified procedure for participation (HERE) in the Compatriots state program was extended to refugees from the DPR and LPR

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

21 16

China’s 075

China’s 075 amphibious assault vessel, helo/VSTOL aircraft-carrier and hovercraft troop launcher, is indeed formidable. It’s fast, heavily armed, technologically advanced, and at 40,000 tons, has more than 3x the displacement of Russia’s lost Moskva. China has been rapidly modernizing it’s military at a pace similar to Russia’s — not coincidentally.

From Radio Free Asia 5/4/22:

"The Chinese Navy only officially started development work on the Type 075 in 2011 but has already launched three ships, two of which are fully operational and the third is on sea trials. A total of eight vessels are said to be on order for the PLAN, reported the Naval News portal."

"Chinese state media said the Type 075 'will play vital roles in possible operations on the island of Taiwan, as well as islands and reefs in the South China Sea.'”

"Experts said that the commissioning of the three ships will place China in the second rank in terms of global amphibious capabilities, second only to the United States.

"A U.S. Defense Department report released last November said China has the biggest maritime force on the globe with 355 vessels. The number is projected to increase to 420 ships within the next four years and 460 by 2030."

"A future Type 076 vessel could be equipped with electromagnetic catapults, which would enhance its ability to support fixed-wing aircraft, making it more like an aircraft carrier, according to CRS."

From HERE

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

I like it.

1a5

Is “Meltdown” The Correct Term To Describe The Current State Of The U.S. Economy?

May 11, 2022 by Michael

I have really been struggling to come up with an accurate way of describing the current state of the U.S. economy, because none of the traditional labels seem to apply. Inflation is out of control, and that normally happens when an economy is overheating. But of course the U.S. economy is not overheating. In fact, if U.S. GDP falls once again during the second quarter, that will officially confirm that we are actually in a recession right now. There are some that have suggested that “stagflation” is a good description of current economic conditions, but the truth is that what we are facing is so much worse than anything that we dealt with during the 1970s.

Let me give you an example. The Bureau of Labor Statistics just informed us that the consumer price index is 8.3 percent higher than it was a year ago…

Inflation rose again in April, continuing a climb that has pushed consumers to the brink and is threatening the economic expansion, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of prices for goods and services, increased 8.3% from a year ago, higher than the Dow Jones estimate for an 8.1% gain.

That is a really bad number, but it doesn’t accurately reflect reality.

If inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, the official rate of inflation would be well over 15 percent right now, and that is far worse than at any point during the Jimmy Carter era.

And if you can believe it, the real rate of inflation is now the highest that it has ever been in the entire modern history of the United States.

The term “meltdown” comes to mind, but I don’t think that completely captures what we are facing either.

Of course Joe Biden says he has a plan, and he insists that reducing inflation is his “top economic priority”…

President Biden, reacting to April’s consumer price index Wednesday, acknowledged that inflation is “unacceptably high,” and maintained that lowering prices for American families is his “top economic priority,” while again blaming the surging numbers on COVID-19 and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, tens of millions of ordinary Americans continue to deeply suffer as prices spiral out of control.

Earlier today, I was stunned to see that even CNN is admitting that some Americans are “skipping meals” these days in order to make ends meet…

The price of groceries, gas, rent and utilities has marched higher over the past year; but wages have not kept up — and more than half of single parents make less than $15 an hour, according to recent research from Oxfam.

That has left many single parents skipping meals so their children have plenty of food, providing less healthy meals for their families, and culling expenses to the point where any unforeseen cost could mean more debt — or worse.

If people are skipping meals already, what will things be like a year from now when economic conditions are even worse?

Most people don’t realize this, but we are extremely vulnerable. When the next major downturn strikes, millions upon millions of Americans will be instantly wiped out.

According to a report that was just released, almost two-thirds of all Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck…

As of March, close to two-thirds, or 64%, of the U.S. population was living paycheck to paycheck, just shy of the high of 65% in 2020, according to a LendingClub report.

“The number of people living paycheck to paycheck today is reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic and it has become the dominant lifestyle across income brackets,” said Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer.

Living on the edge is fine as long as a paycheck keeps coming in like clockwork.

But if things suddenly shift, millions upon millions of Americans could suddenly find themselves plunged into poverty.

Before I end this article, I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that financial markets were way down yet again today.

In fact, the Nasdaq dropped another 3 percent.

But the big news is what is happening to the cryptocurrency industry. Cryptos are crashing harder than Hunter Biden after a drug-fueled night with a Chinese hooker, and Coinbase is coming apart like a 20 dollar suit…

The cryptocurrency brokerage reported a first-quarter loss late Tuesday and revenue that fell 27% from a year ago, missing Wall Street’s forecasts. Coinbase shares plummeted nearly 25% in early trading Wednesday morning and hit their lowest level ever.

Coinbase stock is now down more than 75% this year and is trading nearly 85% below its all-time high price from November. Shares have lost more than half their value in just the past week alone.

If you have money with Coinbase, you may want to consider your options, because it is being reported that “users might lose all the cryptocurrency stored in their accounts” if Coinbase actually goes bankrupt…

Hidden away in Coinbase Global’s disappointing first-quarter earnings report—in which the U.S.’s largest cryptocurrency exchange reported a quarterly loss of $430 million and a 19% drop in monthly users—is an update on the risks of using Coinbase’s service that may come as a surprise to its millions of users.

In the event the crypto exchange goes bankrupt, Coinbase says, its users might lose all the cryptocurrency stored in their accounts too.

I was absolutely floored when I first read that.

Right now, Coinbase is holding more than 250 billion dollars worth of assets for its customers, and there is a danger that all of it could become “inaccessible”…

Coinbase said in its earnings report Tuesday that it holds $256 billion in both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies on behalf of its customers. Yet the exchange noted that in the event it ever declared bankruptcy, “the crypto assets we hold in custody on behalf of our customers could be subject to bankruptcy proceedings.” Coinbase users would become “general unsecured creditors,” meaning they have no right to claim any specific property from the exchange in proceedings. Their funds would become inaccessible.

So there are some people out there that currently believe that they are crypto millionaires that could literally end up with nothing.

At this point, the crypto industry is in the process of melting down.

But so are the financial markets.

And so is the overall economy.

The great unraveling that we have been warned about is here, and we are still only in the early chapters.

I would greatly encourage you to protect your assets while you still can.

A rush for the exits has now begun, and you don’t want to be caught holding the bag.

Chinese smart satellite tracks US aircraft carrier in real time, researchers say | South China Morning Post

Chinese smart satellite tracks US aircraft carrier in real time, researchers say.

AI-powered eye in the sky could identify a wide range of tactical or strategic targets, developers say

Previously, a huge amount of raw satellite data had to be analysed on the ground (note: it should be currently, in US, a huge amount of raw satellite data has to be analysed on the ground)

From HERE

Chinese girl

Most certainly looks like she’s ready for a nice evening, some talk, some great food, and a nice evening walk in the city. video 2MB

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

Google begins, 1999

I feel old.

Jungbauernkalender 2020

Chinese girl in a nice white top

I like her. Video 4MB

How to Cook Brazilian Feijoada: Traditional Black Bean and Pork Stew [ Legendas PT]

Now this is one great meal. Please check it out.

”]

Kodachrome Stories

We love Kodachromes and we love found photos.

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

I like it.

Chinese girl in two-tone jeans

I like this look. Video 2MB

Jungbauernkalender 2020

The Princely County of Tyrol in 1890

Nations come and nations go. And then, forgotten by all.

United States to setup more bioweapons labs in the pacific

“And the administration said it would spend $15 million to expand health surveillance programs in Southeast Asia and better detect Covid-19 and other airborne diseases in the region.”

According to Russian MoD, they have evidence US used bio warfare against what are now the republics in Ukraine in the form of fake money contaminate with a antibiotic resistant tuberculosis. Russia has another UN meeting scheduled – it may have already occurred – to present more evidence and have it recorded at the UN.

For the US to crap on now about health surveillance programs when the whole world knows that it develops and uses bio weapons…

-Peter AU1

Chinese Girl “Brickhouse” version

Yup. We’ve got ’em. video 3MB

George S. Patton’s dog mourning his master on the day of his death

24 18

Mischief Reef; some general observations

In 1995 China seized from the Philippines the atoll Mischief Reef in the Spratlys. Mischief Reef was submerged at high tide and lies just 125 nautical miles from Palawan. Today, after massive dredging, Mischief Reef is a 558-hectare artificial island, hosting China’s largest air and naval base in the Spratlys. The Chinese call Mischief Reef their Pearl Harbor in the South China Sea. The arbitral Award ruled that Mischief Reef is part of the EEZ of the Philippines. Mischief Reef image here

PRC vs. Vietnam & ROC
within the Spratly Islands:

Vietnam occupies and/or controls six islands, seventeen reefs and three banks,
ROC occupies and/or controls one island and one reef,
Malaysia occupies and/or controls one artificial island and five reefs, and
PRC occupies and/or controls eight reefs

The anti-China blather about the nine-dash line “that China uses to depict its claims in the SCS” is pure fabricated propaganda.

Here’s a live view of Marine traffic in the area . Most of it is to/from China and the South China Sea bases are needed to safeguard that traffic, especially with US warships’ frequent visits while claiming that they are there to protect a “free and open” western Pacific.

-Don Bacon

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

saaa18

Shipping: A Real-World Asset-Class… But Complex!

Authored by Bill Blain via MorningPorridge.com,

“I am leaving the sea. I shall walk inland with an oar on my shoulder. When someone asks what it is – there I shall bide.”

The ongoing pain in crashing financial asset markets demonstrates the need to diversify portfolios and decorrelated returns. Shipping is one such asset; returns have been boosted by scarcity as a result of the pandemic – the question is: can these returns be maintained?

Yesterday I promised I would look more closely at diversified non-financial assets. This morning I’ve going to start with Shipping… but let me caveat it’s a complex and expert-led market. While Shipping has massive investment potential – recent results from shipping funds have been stellar – I am not a shipping expert. Talk to shipping professionals before you risk anything in the sector.

Writing about subjects I don’t fully comprehend raises a credibility risk – but it’s worth highlighting Shipping and some other areas for the opportunities they present in terms of uncorrelated returns. One way to skip the looming crisis in financial assets will be to differentiate portfolios away from listed stocks and shares – and look to buy the real world; what we call alternative assets.

And, after yesterday’s miserable day in markets, these uncertain times means it’s absolutely necessary for investors to look outside their conventional comfort zones to generate returns. Wearing my day-job hat, I am Head of Alternative Assets at Shard Capital, so feel free to contact me on email (bill.blain@shardcapital.com) to ask questions – and who knows, I may have just the deal for you! (Sorry – qualified professional investors only!)

I remain convinced global stocks and shares are massively overpriced relative to the prospects for the global economy. That’s not just because of the deepening new Covid lockdown crisis in China (which threatens a catastrophic repeat of 2020-21 supply chain breakdowns), energy & food inflation, the Ukraine war, but also unravelling the consequences of 12 years of Monetary experimentation and cheap liquidity distorting markets.

Judging from the talk of capitulation trades I’m hearing, or more miserable tech results to come (Peloton this week), I’m not the only person thinking the crash, bang, wallop “moment” approaches.

For instance, there was a fantastic quote in Grants Interest Rate Observer last night about how DoorDash posted a 35% jump in revenues to $1.46 bln, but still didn’t make a profit – it now carries a $1.7 bln cumulative net loss. Grants’ quoted the former head of Dominos pizza: “In 60 years, we’ve never made a dollar delivering a pizza. We make money on the product, but we don’t make any money on the delivery. So, we’re just not sure how others do it.”

Which is why you should stay away from modern companies who don’t understand why successful companies never did it that way… DoorDash, and many others, will be remembered for inventing the Square Wheel…

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

Another typical Chinese girl

Nice. Thin. No tattoos. Not on drugs. No purple hair. video 37MB

Some thoughts on the Chinese Navy (PLAN)

here’s an update on the PLA’s Navy as its “second Type 075 amphibious assault ship” begins its first FTX. Here’s some commentary:

“Z-8 helicopters, Type 05 amphibious armored vehicles and Type 726 air-cushioned landing craft have started training together with the Guangxi, which is also dubbed a helicopter carrier, according to the CCTV.

“As a new-type combat force in the transformation and development of the Navy, the Guangxi is tasked with exploring tactics for maritime multidimensional landing combat and enhancing core amphibious combat capabilities, the report quoted Captain Xu Ce, skipper of the Guangxi, as saying.

“China has started to build and commission the Type 075 amphibious assault ships in numbers, as the ship is technically sophisticated and proven reliable, Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times on Thursday.

“The second Type 075 will gain combat capability very fast, as the first ship has gathered many successful experiences, Wei said….

“With more main battle vessels entering service, the PLA Navy’s capabilities to safeguard national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and development interests are growing as well, experts said, noting that China is aiming to build a blue-water navy capable of not only coastal defense but also far sea escort.” [My Emphasis]

Target: Taiwan and Convoy Protection from USN. All that was from the April 12th article. That was updated yesterday with this item:

“Two Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Type 075 amphibious assault ships recently sailed together in a dual ship exercise for the first time, a move analysts said not only showed that the recently commissioned second ship has achieved a high level of combat capability, but also provided the PLA with a powerful new instrument in amphibious landing operations, with the island of Taiwan being a key potential target.”

The article says a video was also released with the Wednesday announcement, but I wasn’t able to find it.

China’s shipyards are also building numerous commercial vessels too at a rate the Outlaw US Empire can’t even come close to matching, nor does it have the ability to rapidly ramp up production for a variety of reasons, most importantly being the lack of a properly trained workforce at all logistical levels.

– karlof1

Back to Shipping…

Shipping is an enormously complex sector. You need to understand what all the different classes of boats do, how their demand patterns work, to understand how the supply of new and old ships will affect prices, while overlaying everything with an understanding of global trade to work out likely returns. And even then, you will be swimming in an investment pool of players who will know far more than you…

Yet, the numbers are enticing. The returns from owning ships have gone skywards – charter rates have risen dramatically, ship values have trebled in some cases, and even the older ships are commanding high resale values. Funds set up to manage vessels have done exceptionally well.

Be warned: shipping can get very messy. In the past it’s been an easy way to lose money quickly – and always there will be some very clever Greeks just waiting to scoop up the bargains. Typically, it’s a boom/bust industry – every time the global economy booms there is a shipping shortage, new vessels are ordered leading a glut of capacity just as the next downturn starts.

But, shipping is absolutely critical to making the global economy function. Take a look at the crisis in supply chains…

Two of most interesting leading indicators of how the global economy is really performing are the Shanghai Export Container Freight Index and the Baltic Dry Index. The first measures the all-important freight rate and volume of Containers being sent from China around the globe, while the Baltic Dry measures the flow and price of transporting raw materials. I’ve been watching the Baltic since I was a tiny wee banker back in the 1980s.

Since May 2000 – when global trade began to anticipate Covid recovery – the Shanghai leapt from a low of 836 to peak in January this year at 5094. Now the container index has fallen to 4163 – suggesting, perhaps, that global container costs are beginning to moderate. The Baltic Dry spiked from a May 2020 Covid low of 350 to over 5500 in Oct 2021 as the global economy re-opened – it fell below 1500 earlier this year but has recovered to 2831 reflecting slowdown in China.

Both indexes correlate to inflation – which is hardly surprising as they are leading indicators of global trade. The fact both are weaker than their peaks might suggest moderating inflation and increasing recessionary conditions. Both are probably better indications of the real economy than stocks. I find it fascinating how the Baltic Dry basically flatlined through the last decade of excessively low interest rates and a raging bull equity market, reflecting the utter detachment of the financial asset universe from the reality of a very slow stuttering real economy.

When I try to understand why shipping values have risen so much since 2020… it’s complex. It’s all been about blockages as the economy reopened. The price of shipping basically depends on the availability of ships. I am told the global fleet of handy-size freighters is over 5000 vessels, but there only 5-6 actually available for charter at present!

I came across an interesting example of cost “friction” while looking at shipping. When freight costs are so high, it infers demand must be high, therefore it’s an inflationary signal – people willing to pay more to get goods.

However, the current energy/oil shock means the price of bunker fuel is pretty much at an all time high. As a result, ships are slowing down. Slow steaming requires considerably less fuel – it’s called the “cube-rule”: slow a boat by half, and it will use 1/8th the fuel it would at full speed. In the past there has been a pretty close correlation between the speed of boats and the cost of freight. When its high, ships slow.

But… things are never that simple. Slowing a boat down means it takes longer to sail from A-B. That means it costs more to hire a ship as the rental is a daily charge – and charter rates have risen between 20-35%. This is where friction comes in; shipping costs have become a compromise between rising demand, the higher cost of fuel and crew, plus the rising costs of hiring ships.

That is great news for ship owners. First it means they get paid more because their boats earn a higher rental on longer voyages. Second, its reckoned for every 1 knot (a knot is the speed of boats, its not quite the same as miles per hour) global shipping slows, about 6% of the global fleet is taken out as not available – meaning slower ships mean fewer ships for hire, further pushing up charter rates. Shipping earns more, but goods reach markets slower, thus generating inflation!

The next problem is global ports. From Shanghai, Long Beach and Harwich global ports were swamped by the post-Covid reopening. This was exacerbated by shortage of lorry drivers, stevedores, and now renewed lockdowns in China. While Western Ports are full of empty containers, there are practically no empty TEUs (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) anywhere in Asia. The result is massive delays unloading vessels. About 20% of the Global Shipping container fleet is currently queued waiting for entry to the big ports – again creating scarcity and pushing up charter prices.

All of which is great news for the owners of smaller Handysize vessels – we’re even seeing smaller bulk carriers carrying containers to smaller ports (many have their own cranes on board). It’s not particularly efficient, but it solves the immediate transport crisis.

There are other problems – about 3% of the global merchant marine is Russian flagged, but Russian sailors make up 10% of the 2 million odd global merchant sailors. Following the pandemic its clear many sailors have retired or have given up – many were effectively trapped on board for the duration of the crisis. There is a massive shortage of crew and officers building – by 2025 we could be short over 90,000 officers, particularly in engineering – a long term problem for the whole global economy.

The question for investors is this: will the current global supply chain problems which have driven up shipping prices ease, and mean prices, and therefore returns, continue to drive results? Perhaps, but the problems will be solved in the medium term. Its not necessarily bad for shipping – in many shipping classes the ships are getting older and less efficient, and new fuel and environmental regulations mean they need replaced.

The numbers are all out there.. but this is where you need the expert advice on which shipping types are likely to prove most valuable. I’ll be very happy to assist. For instance, I am reliably informed not to buy container ships, but handysize bulkers… and maybe some tankers…

Bouncy Chinese Girl

I’m a big fan of “the bounce”. video 11MB

Kodachrome Stories

The Race To Break The Russia-China Alliance & The “Ukraine Of The Asia Pacific”

Authored by Matthew Ehret,

There is a window of opportunity open for the west to recognize the total failure of the unipolar model before the point of no return has passed.

It has become commonplace western media and armadas of geopolitical think tankers to paint today’s Russia-China alliance as a matter of either “momentary convenience”, or as a strained partnership between two competing authoritarian regimes with global imperial aspirations.

However, if one simply looks at the facts as they are without the filter of “experts” telling you how to interpret reality, it becomes extremely clear that those cynical geopolitical assessments painted by geopolitical opinionators are doing little more than trying to analyze life through lenses that only see dead corpses. It isn’t that such analysts aren’t necessarily concerned with the truth (although more than a few aren’t), but due to their fundamental axioms, their limited minds cannot contemplate a system organized by a non-Hobbesian parameters either past, present or future. It is for this reason that such opinionators cannot understand the nature of the Russian-China alliance nor can they see or understand the stark parallels in the asymmetrical war efforts to destroy either Eurasian power.

Due to this intellectual blindness, even among many intelligent experts within the alternative media community, I will take this opportunity to briefly assess some of the key elements of the parallel features of both operations that have been deployed to destroy both Russia and China. We will begin by looking at the color revolutionary tactics, followed by ‘Gladio stay behinds’, military encirclement, biowarfare and finally the use of ‘fifth columns’.

Color Revolutionary Tactics

Over the past decades, both Russia and China have contended with obsessive efforts to carve up and destabilize their governments utilizing “democracy promoting/anti corruption” organizations tied to western intel have fortunately failed to Balkanize them as seen in the tragic case of Yugoslavia.

The late geopolitical guru Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote passionately of his vision of a carved-up Russia in his 1997 Grand Chessboard saying: “A loosely confederated Russia- composed of a European Russia, a Siberian Republic, and a Far Eastern Republic- would find it easier to cultivate closer economic regulations with Europe, with the new states of Central Asia and with East Asia, which would thereby accelerate Russia’s own development.”

Over the years, western funded movements in China have arisen calling openly for breaking up China into no less than five ethno-nationalist micro-states called ‘East Turkestan, The Free State of Tibet, Canton and Manchuria.’

Purged multibillionaire deep state operative Guo Wengui (aka: Miles Guo), now operating from New York, has gone so far as to establish an international insurrectionary organization called ‘The New Federal State of China’ with a shiny new flag, constitution and cheesy anthem for the post-CCP China which will undoubtedly happen any day within Guo’s wildest imagination.

The leaders of both nations have clearly identified “color revolutionary” tactics as an active form of asymmetrical warfare leading both states to ban a wide spectrum of western-funded NGOs (or if permitted to exist within their territories to be forced to register as ‘foreign agents’). While the color revolution financing king George Soros was banned from China back in 1989, Russia took longer to gain the power and confidence to ban the economic hitman’s Open Society operations which finally occurred in 2015.

Gladio-type “stay-behinds” on their borders.

The asymmetrical warfare tool basket doesn’t stop at color revolutionary tactics, but relies upon networks of provocateurs and extremists who often find their roots in the non-punishment of virulent war criminals in the wake of WW2.

Those second and third generation fascist stay-behinds who were incorporated into western intelligence under the helm of NATO after WW2 remains one of the most uncomfortable and dangerous secrets of the modern age.

Weaponized ideological groups carefully groomed by Anglo-American intelligence since WWII and who continued to glorify Nazi-collaborators as “great heroes” played a major role both during the Cold War, and also today’s Banderite-filled age with neo-Nazi battalions driven obsessively to carry out jihad against Russia as their spiritual forefathers had done during WW2.

This problem is not isolated to Eastern Europe, but persists in China’s own back yard where the American military colony of Japan still maintains a strong tradition of treating WWII fascist war criminals as heroes (much to China’s chagrin).

One of the largest parties occupying 30% of the Japanese parliamentary seats (and headed by former PM Shinzo Abe) is the Nippon Kaigi party which claims openly that “Japan should be applauded for liberating much of East Asia” during WW2.

Despite many anti-fascist impulses in Japan seeking to maintain peaceful coexistence with their Eurasian neighbors, the Nippon Kaigi goes so far as to deny that Japan committed any atrocities to the Chinese during WW2 while trying to maintain the thesis that Japan was on the side of justice by working with Hitler. Keep in mind that this is also the same colony (now hosting over 50,000 US troops) which saw former PM Shinzo Abe call publicly for acquiring US-owned nuclear weapons to defend against China one week after Zelensky made that same call on behalf of Ukraine in Munich on February 19th.

Chinese girl showing her side profile.

I like her. But the background is bland. video 1MB

Full Spectrum Dominance: Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific

Like Russia, who has watched “full spectrum dominance” wrap around her perimeter over the course of 20+ years, China has also been looking at ongoing efforts to create a “NATO of the Pacific” termed “the Quad” in her backyard.

This toxic idea has been championed by NATO-connected think tanks like the Atlantic Council and CFR for years and grows directly out of Obama’s 2012 ‘Asia Pivot’ strategy which saw a broad extension of missile systems, trident-bearing submarines, provocative “freedom of navigation” exercises, military bases and efforts to impose US-controlled governments hostile to China in the Pacific region.

The ABM-aspect of this program (which experts agree can be easily converted from “defensive” into “offensive”) is reflected in the THAAD missile system already stationed in South Korea which currently hosts over 28,000 US troops. Nominally justifying its existence to stop the “North Korean threat”, the reality is that this system has always been aimed at China.

Describing the $762 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2022 which received nearly total bipartisan support, analyst Michael Klare observed:

“The gigantic 2022 defense bill — passed with overwhelming support from both parties — provides a detailed blueprint for surrounding China with a potentially suffocating network of U.S. bases, military forces, and increasingly militarized partner states. The goal is to enable Washington to barricade that country’s military inside its own territory and potentially cripple its economy in any future crisis. For China’s leaders, who surely can’t tolerate being encircled in such a fashion, it’s an open invitation to… well, there’s no point in not being blunt… fight their way out of confinement.”

Taiwan as Ukraine of the Pacific

Obviously within this entire mess, Taiwan (which has been an Anglo-American plaything since 1949) is currently acting like the “Ukraine of the Pacific” with many leading agents operating throughout the government calling openly for US military defense of China’s autonomous province from the “evil commie” mainlanders.

Biden himself has pledged that Taiwan can “count on America’s support” were an invasion to break out at any time. These supportive words were backed up with a $750 million deal to provide a Howitzer military system to Taiwan in August 2021, a $100 million deal to supply and upgrade Taiwan’s patriot missile systems on February 8, 2022 and another $95 million missile deal on April 6, 2022. After the second of these three deals, the Taiwanese foreign ministry sounded like it was trying to out-Zelensky Zelensky saying:

“In the face of China’s continued military expansion and provocative actions, our country will maintain its national security with a solid defence, and continue to deepen the close security partnership between Taiwan and the United States.”

China’s concerns over the vast expansion of US efforts to turn Taiwan into a Pacific Ukraine (including a doubling of military officials in the US embassy compound in the past year) are very real.

Biowarfare in the 21st Century

Then there is the serious issue of the Pentagon’s bioweapons infrastructure that has demonstrated an ethnic-targeting feature as outlined in the September 2000 PNAC manifesto “Rebuilding Americas Defenses”. In this bone-chilling neocon manifesto, its authors stated that in the 21st century “combat will likely take place in new dimensions: In space, cyber-space and perhaps the world of microbes… advanced forms of biological warfare that can “target” specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool”.

Today over 320 Pentagon-run biolabs are scattered strategically around the world with a very active program titled “Jupitr” and “Centaur” located in in South Korea. This later program has caused grave concern to both the Chinese and many Koreans since Obama launched inaugurated the program in 2010 with an executive order that stated “a robust and productive scientific enterprise that utilizes biological select agents and toxins is essential to national security.”

This was the same team that brought us the Obama-Lugar partnership that established a vast bio-laboratory infrastructure in Georgia while Obama was still just another Soros-controlled Senator with Presidential ambitions.

Work on some of the deadliest toxins in the world has been conducted within the US run biolabs which include work on botulinum, ricin, staphylococcal, anthrax, plague and more. In 2015 the US military was caught illegally shipping samples of live anthrax via FedEx to the US laboratory at the Oran Air base 70 km south of Seoul resulting in civilian protests across the nation although no evidence of any change in policy by the Americans.

Japan’s sordid past is again brought back into the story, as Finian Cunningham’s recent Strategic Culture Foundation study on the origins of US bioweapons complex zeroed in on the Military Industrial Complex’s absorption of the genocidal “Unit 731” under the control of Shiro Ishii. Cunningham wrote:

“Ishii’s Unit 731 is estimated to have caused up to 500,000 deaths during the war from the use of biological warfare by dropping pathogens from airplanes on Chinese cities in Hunan and Zhejiang provinces. The unit also carried out diabolic forced experiments on Chinese and Russian prisoners of war to study the epidemiology of diseases and vaccines. Inmates were infected with pathogens and subjected to horrible agonizing deaths… Shiro Ishii and his criminal network were never brought to trial following the war despite earnest Soviet requests. Instead, the Americans who occupied mainland Japan granted him and his team of doctors immunity from prosecution in exchange for exclusive access to the biological and chemical warfare experiments. The Pentagon assigned its experts from Fort Detrick, Maryland, to tap the Japanese trove of data.”

This list would not be complete without the last consideration…

Fifth Columnists in Russia and China

Leaders within both nations have been contending for years with World Economic Forum fifth columnists like Anatoly Chubais in Russia and WEF Trustee Jack Ma (and more than a few other Shanghai Clique connected technocrats and billionaires) both inside and outside of China. Some observations on those foreign influences still exerting relevant influence within China via Shanghai as a hotbed for international finance was Emanuel Pastreich who wrote:

“Shanghai is riddled with global financial interests, with the head offices (or certainly the major branch) for all major multinational investment banks and multinational corporations located there. Their impact on the Chinese economy remains immense.

Shanghai has a history of over a hundred years as a center for global capital with a parasitic relationship to the rest of the nation. It was Shanghai, after all, that offered extraterritoriality to citizens from imperial powers until the 1940s.”

Luckily, since the ousting of Soros, many of the worst elements of China’s deep state have been incrementally de-weeded in bursts starting in 1989, then 1997, and the largest robust purge begun in 2012 and continuing to this day.

Some of the biggest operatives purged by Xi’s crackdown on corruption include Ma Jian (former Deputy Director of China’s National Security Bureau), Zhang Yue (former legal affairs secretary of Hebei), Bo Zilai (former Communist Party Secretary of Chonqing), Xu Caihou (Vice Chair of China’s Military Commission), and billionaire Pony Ma (to name but a few).

There has been an obvious clash between these traitorous forces and genuine patriots in both nations committed to their peoples’ survival in opposition to the religious like commitment to depopulation, cultural mediocrity and global enslavement.

Beyond Simply Survival

Russia and China’s commitment to survival and cooperation goes far beyond utilitarian concerns as outlined by their February 4th joint statement for Cooperation Entering a New Era which called for the further integration of the EAEU and BRI, military intelligence harmonization under the growing SCO and broader international integration of the multipolar system.

Among its many important points, the statement read:

“The sides are seeking to advance their work to link the development plans for the Eurasian Economic Union [EAEU] and the Belt and Road Initiative with a view to intensifying practical cooperation between the EAEU and China in various areas and promoting greater interconnectedness between the Asia Pacific and Eurasian regions.

The sides reaffirm their focus on building the Greater Eurasian Partnership in parallel and in coordination with the Belt and Road construction to foster the development of regional associations as well as bilateral and multilateral integration processes for the benefit of the peoples on the Eurasian continent.”

There is still a window of opportunity open for the west to wake up and recognize the total failure of the unipolar model of imperial governance before the point of no return has passed. Whether or not the moral fitness to conduct this exercise in humility still exists remains to be seen.

Chinese Girl with a tattoo!

It is a truly rare thing. Video 4MB

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

Australian thoughts

ASEAN is run by oligarchs, but of late they seem more inclined to not choose sides. China of course is just as able to line their pockets as the US. More likely they’ll take kick backs from both sides and stay uncommitted.

The US now has Australia as its prime puppet, the current fool of a PM gave up decades of avoiding a choice, he dumped the profitable China trade in exchange for spending billions instead on useless US weapons. Reading online comments seems Australians have convinced themselves they are a military power and China and Russia need to be regime changed. Odd,never used to be like that, seems the corrupt media has shaped opinion.

This won’t end well for Australia, glad I left, not the great country it used to be. All its income derives from commodities, the WEF globalists have infected it with the climate change economic suicide as well. 100% locked into the two globalist cons of climate chane and the rules based order. Idiots.

-Organic

How to make Jamaican RICE and PEAS!

This is a MUST TRY!

Lighting The Gas Under European Feet: How Politicians & Journalists Get Energy So Wrong

Authored by Joakim Book via The Mises Institute,

“We live in a time where few understand how things get made. It is fine to not know where stuff comes from, but it isn’t fine to not know where stuff comes from while dictating to the rest of us how the economy should be run." 

- Doomberg

Eighty-five percent of human energy usage comes from burning things. Either plants or trees grown in a geologically recent past or plants or trees (and decomposed animals) from ancient times. Solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc.—all the things that occupy a climate-conscious citizen, activist, or politician’s dreams—are frizzles around the edges.

Human civilization is powered by combustion; human beings are a fossil fuel–burning civilization. You can take away the civilization part, which seems to be the end goal for some environmentalists, but bar that, you can’t take away the fossil fuel part.

If we listened only to our energy overlords’ preaching, we would get a very different impression of what the world is like. Wind turbines powering all those electrified vehicles on our roads, solar panels and batteries of immense capacities light and heat our homes. Dirty oil and polluting coal are out; green, clean, and smart machines on the way in.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Renewables don’t power our societies, they’re not about to any time soon, and the fact that they’re not isn’t a policy choice—or “greedy capitalism” preventing this utopian (dystopian) vision.

First, some housekeeping: Energy is not the same as electricity. Electricity is a secondary energy source, derived from primary energy sources through a conversion process—combustion or turbines spinning. The 85 percent figure above is for energy use. The bombastic figures in the press about the massive growth and expanse of renewables are for electricity, which is only a subset of all the world’s energy use (some 20 percent). Oil, coal, and gas for transport, heating, fertilizers, and construction dwarf the symbolic solar panels governments paid people to place on their roof.

Solar panels and wind turbines produce a minor part of the electricity needs, but do nothing to address the larger energy needs. In contrast, fossil fuels are energy-dense, reliable, on-demand sources of either energy or electricity, and we have excelled both at storing and transporting them.

Dreams of a green revolution, per the energy theorist Vaclav Smil, were always mirages:

We are a fossil-fueled civilization whose technical and scientific advances, quality of life, and prosperity rest on the combustion of huge quantities of fossil carbon, and we cannot simply walk away from this critical determinant of our fortunes in a few decades, never mind years.

Instead, suddenly facing an adversary rich in raw materials and fossil fuels, the West’s talking heads doubled down on their green dreams. From behind comfortable newspaper desks, heated and electrified by natural gas, it’s remarkably easy to say things like: “The new reality is that we have to go all the way to universal electrification even faster, powered by 100% renewable energy with green hydrogen filling the gaps” (Andreas Kluth, at Bloomberg).

For the New Yorker, John Cassidy recently told us that we must “prevent future Putins from trying to hold the world to energy ransom—at least one worthy outcome of the tragedy that is Ukraine.”

In a powerful speech in the middle of the Russia flurry in March, Isabel Schnabel of the Executive Board at the European Central Bank rallied for renewable power:

Every solar panel installed, every hydropower plant built and every wind turbine added to the grid are taking us a step closer to energy independence and a greener economy….

Our dependence on fossil energy sources is not only considered a peril to our planet, it is also increasingly seen as a threat to national security and our values of liberty, freedom and democracy.

Luckily, Schnabel is in control of nothing less than the Eurozone’s printing press. One-upped by a fellow German, the reality-challenged finance minister Christian Lindner taught us that renewable electricity is “the energy of freedom.”

What he failed to understand is that renewable electricity generation in Germany requires boatloads and pipe loads of Russian gas, Russian oil, and Russian commodities: the steel and cement to construct their precious wind towers are made from coal, not even counting the extreme heat needed to shape the steel and iron that makes up its body.

A single wind turbine uses thousands of kilograms of nickel in its shaft and gear, plus some rare earth minerals from some pretty unclean sources. The gigantic structures, hundreds of meters tall and much too clunky to easily transport, are erected and moved there by machines that swallow diesel by the gallon.

Fossil fuels are machine food, as Alex Epstein is fond of saying, and nothing drinks petrol like the machines that power a thirsty wind energy industry. When renewable sources are added to the electricity grid in large quantities, the cost of electricity goes up, not down, because their fickle reliance on weather requires them to be backstopped by thermal plants that run on coal or natural gas. The more renewables you add, the more natural gas you need.

Styles of Teenagers in the 1950s

Chinese girl fresh and clean

I just love the look. video 3MB

Actually, Fossil Fuels Aren’t Optional

The conclusion from much political and media messaging on climate is the same: burning fossil fuels for energy is a choice, a bad one, and we must choose differently. The moral case against Russia is just a cherry on top.

“Would you rather rely on Mr. Putin’s Russia?” The Economist asked in a recent cover story on energy security.

The very same Russia that Bloomberg News described as:

“a commodities powerhouse, producing and exporting huge amounts of materials the world uses to build cars, transport people and goods, make bread and keep the lights on.”

But the writers at The Economist insist:

“As the world weans itself off dirty fuels, it must switch to cleaner energy sources.”

When we listen to the political overlords in Brussels or Berlin, or the intellectual ones in think tanks, political parties, or at influential media outlets, we get the impression that relying on “Mr. Putin’s Russia” can be done away with—as optional and care-free as picking a different ice cream flavor.

To hammer home the “renewable revolutions are impossible” point, let’s use the poster child for renewables, Germany. Here is its energy use over the last half century:

Let me know if you can spot Germany’s revolutionary Energiewende in the early 2010s. With a microscope, I can detect a little bit of wind crowding out some nuclear—while gas keeps growing and coal continues its fifty-five-year decline. What sort of fairytale must one believe to think that the purple and yellow shares—almost invisible at the top—could in any way supplant the others, preferably before next winter when Putin’s withholding of gas would once again be disastrous for Europeans.

A prominent German think tank, Agora Energiewende, also thinks it’s perfectly possible. Its projections depend, not just on building and installing more wind energy plants than ever before, but raising that rate of construction by about one-third every year for years on end. To describe those plans as “optimistic” somehow doesn’t cut it:

The International Energy Agency (IEA), staffed with the same sort of reality-resistant dreamers, produced this wonderful graph that plans for the energy production in a net-zero future (NZE):

At great expense and inconvenience, the world can indeed increase its use of solar and wind—but remember: they destabilize grids and constitute a vanishingly small portion of world energy needs. To replace what we need, and accommodate growth for the billions globally who scrape by on a minimum of energy, the IEA says we must add solar and wind capacity at a vertiginous rate, never before achieved, at way faster than their own forecasts.

As Alex Epstein writes in the preface to his future book Fossil Future: a net-zero policy, actually implemented “would certainly be the most significant act of mass murder since the killings of one hundred million people by communist regimes in the twentieth century—and it would likely be far greater.”

If you believe, as so many politicians, activists, and deluded journalists do, that this is a mere policy decision, you are sadly mistaken. The impossibility of renewables is a technical and physical problem—not an economic, financial, moral, or political problem.

Jungbauernkalender 2020

Gaslighting Europeans

According to mental health site VeryWellMind, gaslighting is “a form of manipulation that often occurs in abusive relationships. It is a covert type of emotional abuse where the bully or abuser misleads the target, creating a false narrative and making them question their judgments and reality. Ultimately, the victim of gaslighting starts to feel unsure about their perceptions of the world and even wonder if they are losing their sanity.”

Consider the following combination of expert-led gaslighting:

The entire 2010s and beyond, politicians pooh-poohed nuclear: in words (rallying cries and moral suasion) and actions (strict regulations), they prevented any expansion and shut down capacity.
European environmental regulation and climate activists have stopped as much oil and gas extraction as they could. Most countries have banned or otherwise prevented “fracking,” the natural gas extraction method that turned America into an energy exporter.
For the last decade and more, climate warriors inside and outside governments have hauled boatloads of cash onto “green” energies—everything from wind and solar to experimental forms of tidal energy.
Green electricity sources, because of the unpredictable load that makes them unsuitable for modern civilization, have expanded in consort with natural gas because the dirty secret of the former is that they require rapidly available backup power—for which the latter is the convenient choice.
Because all things “carbon” are considered bad, politicians, journalists, and the Greta Thunbergs of the world have done everything in their power to sway more people into putting solar panels on their roofs and electric vehicles in their garages. That strains an already fragile grid by adding more demand and another variable supply: crucially, it requires lots more nickel, palladium, and silver—with Russia among the world’s largest supplier for those key commodities.

One would suppose that, on the back of the war in Ukraine, the strict Western sanctions on Russia, and energy prices going through the roof, the green-washed politicians and policymakers who rule our lives would offer excuses. Now that the Russian invasion had those very same policymakers cutting commercial ties to that despicable empire-building strongman, and energy prices and access suddenly rose to the forefront of everyone’s mind, we’d expect a bit of humility. Apologies are in order:

Fellow Europeans, against market prices, physics, and sanity, we pushed you into worse forms of electricity generation and endangered our energy security. Instead of doing what we should have done, we relied more and more on the commodities exported from countries like Russia. For making Europeans more beholden to Putin, we apologize.

Instead, we got gaslighting on a remarkable scale.

“Weaning off” Silly

The world isn’t weaning itself off fossil fuels—it can’t, and it shouldn’t. More importantly, “cleaner energy” aren’t options on a shopping menu, available as inconsequential choices the way consumers may choose Doritos over Pringles or a new toothpaste.

It’s becoming increasingly clear, to more and more people, that withdrawing from fossil fuels “for environmental reasons” is not a choice. A society and a world of 8 billion people more advanced than that powered by a horse and buggy, cannot do without the explosive power of fossil fuels.

Watch: US Intel Chief Acts Dumbfounded When Senator Warns Of “Poking The Bear” In Ukraine

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) warned Tuesday that the US is risking war with Russia by “poking the bear” in Ukraine. Tuberville made the comments during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier.

Tuberville told Haines and Berrier the US is risking escalating the war by bragging about intelligence sharing with Ukraine. In recent weeks, US officials claimed to the media that US intelligence has helped Ukrainian forces shoot down a plane carrying Russian troops, kill Russian generals, and sink a Russian warship.

“You know, we’re kind of poking the bear here… We’re bragging about it. Even President Biden said today, ‘Wait a minute. We got to cut back on this,’” Tuberville said. Biden reportedly told senior US officials that the leaks to the media on intelligence-sharing must stop.

Tuberville warned the US is also risking provoking Moscow by sending high-level officials to Kyiv. “We do not want to take that step forward to where we get a lot of our men and women involved in this. It looks like to me that we’re taking way too many chances of sending people over there for a photo op,” he said.

The senator said he favored supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia but warned there was no turning back if things escalated into a direct conflict between Washington and Moscow. “There’s a point of no return here if we cross that line,” he said.

While the US has sent billions in arms to Ukraine, restarted training Ukrainian troops, and expanded intelligence sharing, US officials still deny the idea that Washington is engaged in a proxy war against Moscow. When pressed by Tuberville, Haines said that Russia believes it’s fighting a war against both Ukraine and the West.

“Russia has historically believed that they are in a conflict, in effect, with NATO and the United States on a variety of issues,” Haines said. When asked directly if Russia believes it’s fighting the US, Haines said, “In a sense, their perception.”

During the hearing, Berrier and Haines described the war in Ukraine as a “stalemate” and said Russian President Vladimir Putin was preparing for a long-term conflict. Haines said over the next few months, the war could “see us moving along a more unpredictable and potentially escalatory trajectory.”

Ropa Vieja (Cuban Braised Beef) – Food Wishes

Now, don’t you all want to try making this? If you are the kind of person who just ignores the videos, please don’t for this one. Check it out. I hope that you are inspired to go forth and start cooking. OMG! what a darn meal!

The Princely County of Tyrol in 1890

Nations come and nations go. And then, forgotten by all.

Is this the fate of the United States? I wonder…

The Highlight of this article

This is BY FAR the most important point being made in today’s installment.

The Chinese have been developing many, many technologies, as after all, they lead in AI, and numerous other technologies. All of which have military applications. And while China is a very peaceful nation, they realize that there are very evil, psychopathic, ignorant, dug-addled, “leaders” in the West that desire their destruction, and they have been developing technologies to counter them, and their nefarious activities.

This is one (of many) such technologies.

It’s in mass, mass production. Right now. No shit.

It’s a swarm of small drones that work together and locate, track, surround and (if desired) kill a person. Of course, the Chinese are being very coy about how this technology will be used, saying that it has many civilian applications, but (you know) the United States Military is in hysterics over this.

Imagine each tiny drone held a grenade or a “matchbox” capable of firing bullets…

You just cannot run away from these swarms. If China wants to fuck with China, I can well imagine swarms of these little micro-Terminator- T1000’s swarming up and down Washington DC, on hunt and destroy missions against neocons, American “leadership”, and other targets, all worthy of China’s wrath…

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 4

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Number 1 rule of driving in East Asia: Get a dashcam, front and rear. Number 2 rule: see above. Number…

My publisher went out of business. So I need to set it up using other means. -MM

I want to buy one of your books but it is out of stock on Amazon. Is there a way…

Thanks for that. *sigh* Life can be so interesting sometimes. -MM

Sometimes the words in the 'narrative' need to be precise, at least in terms of 'calendar time'., or else confusion…