Ukraine mercenaries, Russian hyper-velocity missiles, bioweapon labs, fishing licenses and Lasagna; how it all fits together

Comment of the day: "The wreckage would be awesome."

It’s a cool morning. Very humid. It’s a spring day and the humidity is so thick that it is like walking in a humidity milkshake. As you walk down the street you can smell the thickness of the scented flowers and trees lining the roads, and the thickly laden ocean air.

it’s really nice.

I went out this morning to get my long loaves of French / Italian crusty bread. Bagettes, actually. (I ran out at the house.) What I do is slice them, and put real salted butter on them, and pop them into the oven for a few minutes. Then, I place some slices of tomato with salt and olive oil that I lay on top of them. It’s a favorite and simple food that I enjoy.

bruschetta chopped tomatoes basil herbs grilled cru italian olive oil crusty bread italian cuisine concept close up 96050796
bruschetta chopped tomatoes basil herbs grilled cru italian olive oil crusty bread italian cuisine concept close up 96050796

Today, as I walked into the local supermarket, it was crowded. The new truck load of fresh produce came in and everyone was getting their fix of fresh vegitables. I myself, snagged a huge bag of tomatoes. Two yuan. Roughly thirty tomatoes for twenty-five cents. Whoa!

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I’m smunching on the bread-tomato-pleasure right now. Good stuff. I’ll tell you what. Washing it down with a minty flower tea or some curious blend. As the “Baron Cat” says in the Japanese animated movie “The Cat Returns” (2002); “It’s my own special blend. It’s a different taste every time you drink it.

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The cat returns.

Of course, we are still in a “yellow” lockdown.

All of Zhuhai are in various stages of lockdown.

Everyone is monitored in and out of the various complexes in Zhuhai. The latest American bioweapon attack hit China hard, but China is dealing with it absolutely, and the people go about their normal lives.

Not a big deal.

You get used to it. Don’t you know.

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Zhuhai, China.

For those of you who are new to MM, this latest bioweapons attack occurred immediately after the USA-China meeting in Rome, Italy. The USA (Jake Sullivan) “warned” China of “immediate bad consequences” if China did not sanction Russia. China said no. And within hours China was hit in multiple locations with a very nasty stain of coronavirus.

Sigh.

Not reported in the Western “news”.  At all.

As an aside. Perhaps it good that the West is kept so absolutely ignorant. Let them make their strategic decisions while in a bubble of absolute lies. Let them. And if they believe the “news” and volunteer to participate as a mercenary in the “rout of the collapsing Russian invasion force” let them.

Below, I’e got three stories of the first hand experience that these mercenaries experienced. These are not third world goatherders with old AK-47s, you imbeciles. You are not going to hang out in air conditioned barracks and plink at an occasional illiterate shepard or their donkey.

You will experience real war. Real, honest to goodness, pissing in your pants war.

Nothing like the hard bitch slap of reality to perform a reset of attitude.

200 bitch slap
200 bitch slap

The very last paragraph in this article describes what it’s really like.

The base we came from was struck by rockets in the early morning hours. People we lived with for a couple days are confirmed dead. It is only a matter of time before our location is targeted. We are about to be cut off by a Russian tank column any day now.” “Food, water, and ammunition dwindle slowly. The mood is somber, people are sending their last messages to friends and family.”

Those that rely on bad intel will die.

Not just in a war zone, but in a peaceful area like I am in.

To believe that the Coronavirus is a “hoax” and that it’s not part of a very systematic and intelligent way to wage war is dangerous. It will get you killed.

So we need good and real intel.

Not lies.

Anyways, let me chat about regarding my walk from the grocery stores.

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Bag of tomatoes.

Most people do not realize just how Chinese society is laid out. They think that it’s flat and open like their home nations. Like America. Like Europe. Like Japan. Like Australia.

They think that you can just walk down the road and go into what ever suburb that you want. Go into any business complex you desire. Park where ever you want. Enter any apartment building that you want. Nope.

Not like that. At all.

Everything in China is surrounded by walls. There are buildings inside of housing complexes. That’s two sets of walls and guards. Then that sits within a city block. That’s another set of walls and guards. Those blocks sit within a “community region”. That is another set of walls and guards.

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Walls are big and popular in China.

To go forth an (say) buy some groceries, you need to pass through five or six checkpoints and guarded gates. It’s more stringent than what it was like at China Lake Naval Weapons Center.

For me to travel and get my groceries today, I passed through five walls with check points and guards. Each time scanning my three QR codes. Facial recognition, temperature checks and bioscans.

You get used to it. It’s not a big deal.

It’s like Americans are so used to the idea that they have to get a fishing license, a dog license, a motocycle license, just to be able to fish with your dog and ride the motorcycle to the local pond.

You get used to it.

And you don’t think about it being an infringement on your “Rights”. You just accept it.

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A PA fishing license.

Of course, in China’s case it’s DEFCON 2. It’s a war-situation, and the agressor is the United States. That’s the reality. And you woud be aware of this if you lived in China.

I’ll tell you when DEFCON 2 is lifted. Though, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen anyday soon.

I had a customer who contacted me and wanted me to set up a trip itinery to visit some factories. He figured that since New Zealand has lifted the coronavirus restrictions, that everyone has. Nope. Everyone in China are still wearing masks, and taking these bioweapons attacks seriously.

And NO!

There are no thoughts of lifting the restrictions or having any second thoughts about how China deals with COVID. That’s Western bullshit.

Coins

Do you know what I haven’t seen in a long time? Yeah. Coins.

A “coin” is a flat (usually round) token that is used as a currency. You can use it to buy things. In the old days before inflation, most people used coins to conduct commerce. In America, a cup of coffee cost a dime. A lunch would cost under fifty cents, and a weeks’ groceries would run a few dollars.

You don’t see them very much today though.

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Chinese currency.

China has been using QR codes and e-yuan payments systems for years now. Oh, some fo the older folk still use bills and coinage, but they are the only ones doing so.

Them and foreigners.

Not that there’s many foreign faces here any longer. We’ve got a handful of long-term expats that I see every now and then. They are in upper management positions in Western companies located in China. They have nice expat packages, live in exclusive housing complexes, and venture out from time to time.

They stick out like a sore thumb.

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Expats in China stick out like a sore thumb.

I’m one of those grizzily old expats that went to seed and gone native. I wear Chinese clothes, eat Chinese food, enjoy Chinese lifestyle, and go to local Chinese restrurants.  The foreigners see me. They look at me and automatically classify me.

Drunk in the night.

Hungover in the day.

Burping, and farting and generally being anti-social. (Well, maybe not THAT bad. Lol.)

Old grizzily long-timer. Gone native. Hopeless.

Expat Defined: 
An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin term expatriates from ex ("out of") and patriâ the ablative case of patria ("country, fatherland").

Background;
In its broadest sense, an expatriate is any person living in a different country from where he or she is a citizen. 

In common usage, the term is often used in the context of professionals sent abroad by their companies, as opposed to locally hired staff (who can also be foreigners). The differentiation found in common usage usually comes down to socio-economic factors, so skilled professionals working in another country are described as expatriates, whereas a manual labourer who has moved to another country to earn more money might be labelled an 'immigrant'. There is no set definition and usage does vary depending on context and individual preferences and prejudices.

In the 19th century, Americans, numbering perhaps in the thousands, were drawn to Europe—especially to Munich and Paris—to study the art of painting. Henry James, for instance, was a famous expatriate American writer from the 1870s, who adopted England as his home.

The term 'expatriate' in some countries also has a legal context used for tax purposes. An expatriate living in a country can receive a favorable tax treatment. In this context a person can only be an expatriate if they move to a country other than their own to work with the intent of returning to their home country within a period of no more than 5 fiscal years. This number of years can vary per tax jurisdiction, but 5 years is the most commonly used maximum period.

Unless you are an American. If you are an American, you are always an American and you are treated as someone who is trying to avoid direct taxiation laws. Under United States law, geographical location only defines your tax schedule. It does not protect you from American taxiation.

Expatriate is sometimes also spelled 'ex-patriot.'

I’m too old to look like an English teacher. Mostly those folk are in their 20s and 30s. They are on a cultural adventure, and then they will move on in their lives.

I don’t look like a traveller, a backpacker or an adventurer. Not at all.

I’m certainly not equal to the other expats. I don’t dress like them, and I’m at an age that is more compatable with the executive directors of their companies. LOL. I don’t know what they think. Maybe they don’t want to think, eh?

The teacher

This is the biggest employer of expats in China. You see them, mostly in their twenties. The older ones that used to teach have been displaced by mostly young folk, as the cut-off is at 55, and you must have demonstrated prior experience and pass a very rigorous government approval process.

Back around 2013, there were numerous crimes committed by foreign teachers that shocked the Chinese. Since then, things have mellowed out considerably.

The business expat

They got a nice gig. usually two to three years as an upper-level executive in a foreign land. They make expat salaries, plus bonus, and a full expat package. You can see them in where they eat, their kids attending foreign expat schools, and in the clothing that they dress. They keep to themselves, and rarely go “slumming” with the natives.

The digital nomad

He has a beard, a beater, a battered Apple Mac and plays songs about his new hometown at local acoustic nights. Everyone’s an entrepreneur these days and the digital nomad is making a killing coding, marketing or writing all from the comfort of a coffee shop.

Ask at your own peril how he made the step to go freelance and move abroad, he’ll direct you to his catchily named blog: ‘I work one day a year and the rest of the time I’m on the beach, here’s how you can do it too.’

It’s all a lie of course. Big words, little to show for it. In China they are shunned. Mostly they go to places like Thailand to impress others. In China, locals really don’t want to have anythign to do with them.

The NGO-er

All wise eyes and copper bracelets, the charity worker had big dreams. Always the most interesting person at the party, this guy’s seen the parts of the world no one else gets to. They are often funded one way or the others through the “five eyes”.

You won’t find them in China any longer. There was a mass round up and deportations of these folk during the Hong Kong “color revolution”. Those with direct involvement were killed. The rest were scattered elsewhere.

The pilot

Recognisable by his cock-pit pics on Tinder, this guy swipes right in every port. You’ll find him holed up in a gated expat community with imported whiskeys decorating his executive pad. He may have physically been all over the world, but it’s unlikely he’s seen it.

The retired couple

Most people do not retire to China. The rap that China gets scares the Dejesus out of most folk. Pollution, factories, communism, authorian. Yikes! The retired folk say.

Most will hit Thailand or Mexico as soon as their pensions kicked in to make the most of the hot weather, cheap massages and excellent golf facilities.

Thanks to their new cool exotic location, they’ve never been more popular with the grandkids who love to visit (if in part for the relaxed drinking laws).  You can spot them in their matching khaki shorts, nursing a Bloody Mary over lunch saying: ‘We should have done this years ago.’

So, here I am, minding my own business, carrying my groceries home. I pass some expats with their (obviously European) children in Starbucks having breakfast, and I just continue on my way. Smunching a warm baozi, groceries in my one hand, and the other (holding a baozi) ready to flash (my preset QR) to the baoans (security guards) at the various checkpoints.

All I need is my Chinese wife, my Chinese kids, my Chinese dog next to me. LOL.

But nope. Not today.

I’m on a mission alone. Sheech! It just doesn’t feel right.

And there, as I enter my “short cut” (I cross though a nearby housing complex) and go through it, I spy what appears to be a coin on the road.

A coin!

Do they still make these things in the ‘States?

A truly rare event I’ll tell you what.

The coin turned out to be a token for one of those mechanical children rides. You pay ten yuan and you get ten coins. Woo! Woo!

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Then you use the coins to ride the electro-mechanical contraptions. Just like in America. Same.

See we are not all that different.

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Amusement tokens.

I wonder if they still have these things. There used to be a few in front of Woolworths, and CVS drugs. My guess is that they were replaced by soda machines.

Bigger profits is my guess.

Let’s go and chat about the Geo-Political sitrep for the World entering April 2022. Here’s a collection of various articles. Mostly summaries and links. I hope you all like them.

In fact, if the US/NATO do decide to attack Russia, this will be the final, nuclear, end for the western civilization as such. After 1000 years of genocidal imperialism, one could be forgiven for thinking that this could be a fitting, just, end” in the “chicken coming home to roost” kind of karmic justice. Now it is in the hands of the US ruling elites. 

-The Saker

About the Russian Invasion

It’s pretty straightforward. Yet vault 7 has seized the minds of most in the West.

“We have seen 5 waves of NATO expansion. 

Now NATO is in Romania and Poland and they are deploying their missile-attack systems there. 

That’s what we are talking about. 

You need to understand, we are not threatening anyone. 

Russia did not come to the US borders or the UK borders. No. 

You came to our borders and now you are saying, ‘Ukraine will join NATO and will deploy their systems there. They will deploy their military bases and their attack-systems.’ 

We are concerned about our security. 

Do you understand what that means?” 

- Vladimir Putin, press conference, You Tube 

A Russian Hamburger Chain

Ham-bur-ger. Three syllables.

A budding burger chain in Russia called Uncle Vanya is looking to grab business that has been left on the table by McDonald’s – revealing a logo that looks strikingly similar to the Golden Arches.
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Or so they say.
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Uncle Vanya.
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Personally, anyone who are confused by the logos and cannot tell them apart is an idiot.
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A March 12 trademark filing with the Russian government showed an image that closely resembles the McDonald’s logo turned on its side. The sketchy filing shows a Cyrillic letter “B,” which references the “V” in “Uncle Vanya,” cast in yellow against a red background.
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Chinese Kindergarden

You can learn a lot about culture, society and family by looking at the education that it provides it’s children. Here is a daily flag cermony in China. This is a kindergarden. Typical. And it’s impressive as all get out. They are three and four year old children.

Everyday. Every school.

We, when I lived in the Untied States, used to “salute the flag” and say the “pledge of allegence” every day. They no longer do that in the USA. I hear that it’s becuase it is racist. video 3MB

Putin on independence from the West

"We will solve this problem so that we will never again depend on Western partners in any way, be it governments or companies that are not guided by the interests of their business, but have become instruments of political aggression, which Russia is now experiencing from the West. We will make sure that we never find ourselves in a similar situation again. And so that no uncle - neither Sam, nor anyone else - could destroy our economy" 

-Alexander Putin

Chinese girl

These are not evil nasty filthy people, like what is being portrayed in the Western “news”. They are just regular people. Like me. Like you. video 3MB

I love the kitty.

No, I am not going to make a joke about a pussy. That’s so “Low brow”.

British Ex-Army Contractor Goes to War in Ukraine, Experiences Helicopter Fire, Runs Scared Into the Woods…

…is tortured by the Ukrainians thinking he’s a Russian spy, is released, leaves for the UK immediately.

One of the first British fighters in Ukraine told yesterday of his ferocious battle with Russian troops at the Battle of Antonov.

Ex-Army medic Jason Haigh, 34, exchanged gunfire with the Red Army as it sought to seize an airport and was later beaten by guards in terrifying interrogations.

Jason, who served two tours of Iraq, told The Sun:

“The Ukrainians fought like lions and I’m proud I was alongside them. What Putin is doing is terrorism. He’s bombing kids and families for nothing. He’s a war criminal.”

He flew to Ukraine at the start of last month. He recalled:

“When I told my mates they were like, ‘What, are you mad?’. I’m a qualified combat medic and have done seven years working as a private military contractor. I wanted to go and do some good.”

He set up home in Kyiv and linked up with foreign fighters ahead of the invasion.

Jason was sleeping when a pal woke him on the morning Putin’s troops and tanks invaded.

He told The Sun:

“The world just blew up. You could hear rockets coming over the buildings.

“In the distance there were bright lights flashing all over the city from the Russian bombardment. It was completely surreal.”

Jason dashed out of his city centre flat in full body armour and carrying an AK-47.

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His unit quickly joined a detachment of Ukrainian troops heading to defend Hostomel Airport.

Jason recalled:

“It was a very confusing situation. No one really knew what was going on.

“As we headed into the dark I think it’s fair to say I was scared.

“Anyone who goes into that position that isn’t scared is a liar.

“When we arrived it was very quiet. But all of a sudden the gates of hell opened up on us.”

A squadron of Russian jets fired down rockets before a fleet of attack choppers joined in.

Jason and ten soldiers from the Georgian Legion took cover in woodland. Jason, who served with the Mercian Regiment, added:

“We got very close to getting whacked. I’ve never experienced firepower like that, I don’t think anyone of this generation ever has.

“Iraq and Afghanistan was totally different. The Russians are a conventional modern army.”

Reinforcements then arrived with Stinger missiles to pick off the Russian choppers in a brave show of Ukrainian resistance.

However, Jason and an American pal were later arrested by Ukraine agents looking for Russian saboteurs. He said:

“My mate and I had a day sack with two walkie talkies and a small pistol.

“We had them for genuine reasons such as if the comms network went down but they got suspicious.”

They were taken to a security service base and interrogated for three hours. Jason said:

“My head was slammed down by one of the guards.

“A different guy came in and I could tell by his kit that he was in an elite unit. He had cable ties and two hoods and I thought ‘S***, this is real’.

“They kept shouting Russian at me but obviously I said I was English. They whacked me around eight or nine times. I had quite a bad concussion and was bleeding heavily.”

“They looked at my phone and my messages which was a really scary moment.

“I wasn’t scared of dying but I was scared about putting my family and friends through the pain of knowing I was in that situation.”

Eventually, they were released and Jason joined hundreds of thousands on trains to Lviv. He then fled to the Polish border before getting a train to Warsaw.

From there he flew to the UK and arrived home in Kidderminster last Friday. He said:

“I didn’t go there to die. I obviously thought about it but I had a job to do.”

The Battle of Antonov — also known as the Battle of Hostomel — was among the first major skirmishes of the war, with Russian attack helicopters and jets aiming to dampen early resistance.

Putin’s forces were successful but at huge cost — as Ukrainian forces downed several choppers. Jason said: “The Ukrainian people are heroes. They’re all great blokes who have the heart of lions and are defending their country.”

Source: The Sun

Russian controlled areas in Ukraine

Operation Z, the Russian name for the invasion, and identified with the big “Z” marks on all Russian vehicles, is proceeding as planned.

All those videos (from the Western "news") that show buring "Russian tanks and trucks", but that DON'T have the "Z" on them, are not Russian vehicles. They are Ukranian vehicles destroyed by the Russians.
Only an idiot would believe Western / American "news" any longer.

The map is starting to flush out and look like this. You cannot clearly make out the borders of Ukraine, as they are faint gray. You need to squint. But it is clear that Russia has substantive (not absolute) military control of around 65% to 70% of the nation.

Ah. It’s a good time for Zelenskyy to broker a peace deal. It is too bad that his American handlers will not allow him; instead desiring a long-drawn-out war.

I find it interesting,the capture of the international Airport at Lviv. See the map below. Lviv is on the Polish border.  Is this the start of full Russian capture of western Ukraine?

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Russian controlled areas in the Ukraine.

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Chinese girl

These are not evil nasty filthy people, like what is being portrayed in the Western “news”. They are just regular people. Like me. Like you. video 3MB

Exports to Russia Blocked by U.S. and Its Allies

A typical Western anti-China article.

Yes. Nations that trade in USD, and that use sealanes to trade are under the influence of the United States and the West.

But…

Most of Asia use land transports; rail. And are thus immune to the sanctions backed up with the threat and enforcement of a naval blocade.

Not at all mentioned in the article.

Exports Blocked

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The USD…

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2022 03 19 09 55

Chinese girl

These are not evil nasty filthy people, like what is being portrayed in the Western “news”. They are just regular people. Like me. Like you. video 1MB

Turn on the sound to truly appreciate this video.

Weapons Transporters May Be Declared “Military Targets” by Russia

Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov threatens that all transporters that may bring weapons to Ukraine will be declared military targets.

      • Aircraft.
      • Ships.
      • Trains.
      • Trucks / Lorries.

The wording of this announcement leaves open the very real possibility that such modes of transport MAY be in other countries.   So on its face, it appears that aircraft or ships bringing weapons into places like Poland, which **MAY** be carrying weapons for Ukraine, could be targeted.

Washington rushes to hide its ‘octopus’ NED funding in Ukraine

Many sections of the corporate media and a legion of propaganda agencies are openly and secretly funded by the US.

As Russia finally invaded Ukraine – on a rationale similar to that of the US invasion of Iraq, but with greater substance – Washington rushed to delete funding details of Ukraine groups through its Congress-funded ‘National Endowment for Democracy’ (NED). 

As US Professor John Mearsheimer said, Washington created the crisis in Ukraine, hoping to surround and fragment Russia, using NATO expansion and its Neo-Nazi allies. Instead, it seems that Russia will dismantle Ukraine. In the meantime, the U.S. in decline uses financial assets and networks to subvert most of the world.

Despite the attempt to hide this sponsorship, an 80-page document showing US government NED funding for hundreds of Ukraine groups has been leaked. Now posted on several sites this document allows us a window into some of the internal U.S. influence since the CIA orchestrated Kiev coup of 2014. Many of the allocations have to do with anti-Russian propaganda, usually in the name of ‘transparency’, human rights, ‘independent journalism’, monitoring and so on. 

For example, the list shows us that a Ukraine group ‘InformNapalm’, set up “to debunk myths and expose secrets of the Russian hybrid war” and which claims to be “a purely volunteer endeavor which does not have any financial support from any government or donor”, is actually US Government funded. The group publishes anti-Russian propaganda on its website in 31 languages.

Other sources show us that the U.S. Government funds Ukraine's Neo-Nazi linked Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (the KVPU), through its NED funded partner the AFL-CIO’s ‘Solidarity Center’. There are few sectors which the NED has not penetrated.

In Ukraine, this has meant that, especially since 2014, the anti-Russian feeling already embedded in Ukraine nationalism and ultra-nationalism, has been inflamed, setting the country on a collision source with its Russian-speaking minority and with its big eastern neighbor. The NED has culturally reinforced NATO’s drive to war.

Big data dump here…

NED funds Nazis

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Blockbuster: ‘Drag Queen’ Zelensky found a billion dollars and a villa in Miami – Veterans Today | Military Foreign Affairs Policy Journal for Clandestine Services

Zelensky $35 million Florida mansion and $1.2 billion cash in offshore Costa Rican bank account. The American deep-state pays well. All you need to do is betray your oath of office, and sacrifice your countrymen.

Hidey Hole

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China helping Africa

China is buidling high speed trains throughout Africa. While America is still discussing how to finish the first attempt in California. Still a rail line to nowhere. Not so in Africa. video. 8.2MB

Nickel Surges 90% to Record With Threat of Shortages Mounting

Nickel prices!

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All That Glitters Is Not Necessarily Russian Gold

The “rules-based international order” – as in “our way or the highway” – is unraveling much faster than anyone could have predicted.

By Pepe Escobar, posted with the author’s permission and widely cross-posted

The Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and China are starting to design a new monetary and financial system bypassing the U.S. dollar, supervised by Sergei Glazyev and intended to compete with the Bretton Woods system.

Saudi Arabia – perpetrator of bombing, famine and genocide in Yemen, weaponized by U.S., UK and EU – is advancing the coming of the petroyuan.

India – third largest importer of oil in the world – is about to sign a mega-contract to buy oil from Russia with a huge discount and using a ruble-rupee mechanism.

Riyadh’s oil exports amount to roughly $170 billion a year. China buys 17% of it, compared to 21% for Japan, 15% for the U.S., 12% for India and roughly 10% for the EU. The U.S. and its vassals – Japan, South Korea, EU – will remain within the petrodollar sphere. India, just like China, may not.

Sanction blowback is on the offense. Even a market/casino capitalism darling such as uber-nerd Credit Suisse strategist Zoltan Poznar, formerly with the NY Fed, IMF and Treasury Dept., has been forced to admit, in an analytical note: “If you think that the West can develop sanctions that will maximize the pain for Russia by minimizing the risks of financial stability and price stability for the West, then you can also trust unicorns.”

Unicorns are a trademark of the massive NATOstan psyops apparatus, lavishly illustrated by the staged, completely fake “summit” in Kiev between Comedian Ze and the Prime Ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, thoroughly debunked by John Helmer and Polish sources.

Poznar, a realist, hinted in fact at the ritual burial of the financial chapter of the “rules-based international order” in place since the early Cold War years: “After the end of this war [in Ukraine], ‘money’ will ‎never be ‎the same.” Especially when the Hegemon demonstrates its “rules” by encroaching on other people’s money.

And that configures the central tenet of 21st century martial geopolitics as monetary/ideological. The world, especially the Global South, will have to decide whether “money” is represented by the virtual, turbo-charged casino privileged by the Americans or by real, tangible assets such as energy sources. A bipolar financial world – U.S. dollar vs. yuan – is at hand.

There’s no surefire evidence – yet. But the Kremlin may have certainly gamed that by using Russia’s foreign reserves as bait, likely to be frozen by sanctions, the end result could be the smashing of the petrodollar. After all the overwhelming majority of the Global South by now has fully understood that the backed-by-nothing U.S. dollar as “money” – according to Poznar – is absolutely untrustworthy.

If that’s the case, talk about a Putin ippon from hell.

It’s gold robbery time

As I outlined the emergence of the new paradigm, from the new monetary system to be designed by a cooperation between the EAEU and China to the advent of the petroyuan, a serious informed discussion  erupted about a crucial part of the puzzle: the fate of the Russian gold reserves.

Doubts swirled around the Russian Central Bank’s arguably suicidal policy of keeping assets in foreign securities or in banks vulnerable to Western sanctions.

Of course there’s always the possibility Moscow calculated that nations holding Russian reserves – such as Germany and France – have assets in Russia that can be easily nationalized. And that the total debt of the state plus Russian companies even exceeds the amount of frozen reserves.

But what about the gold?

As of February 1, three weeks before the start of Operation Z, the Russian Central Bank held $630.2 billion in reserves. Almost half –

$311.2 billion – were placed in foreign securities, and a quarter – $151.9 billion – on deposits with foreign commercial and Central Banks. Not exactly a brilliant strategy. As of June last year, strategic partner China held 13.8% of Russia’s reserves, in gold and foreign currency. 

As for the physical gold, $132.2 billion – 21% of total reserves – remains in vaults in Moscow (two-thirds) and St. Petersburg (one-third).

So no Russian gold has been frozen? Well, it’s complicated.

The key problem is that more than 75% of Russian Central Bank reserves are in foreign currency. Half of these are securities, like government bonds: they never leave the nation that issued them. Roughly 25% of the reserves are linked to foreign banks, mostly private, as well as the BIS and the IMF.

Once again it’s essential to remember Sergei Glazyev in his groundbreaking essay Sanctions and Sovereignty: “It is necessary to complete the de-dollarization of our foreign exchange reserves, replacing the dollar, euro and pound with gold. In the current conditions of the expected explosive growth in the price of gold, its mass export abroad is akin to treason and it is high time for the regulator to stop it.”

This is a powerful indictment of the Russian Central Bank – which was borrowing against gold and exporting it. For all practical purposes, the Central Bank could be accused of perpetrating an inside job. And subsequently they were caught flat-footed by the devastating American sanctions.

As a Moscow analyst puts it, the Central Bank “had delivered some volumes of gold to London in 2020-2021. This decision was motivated by a high price of gold at that time (near $2000 per ounce) and could hardly be initiated by Putin. If so, this decision can be qualified as very stupid, or even part of a diversionist tactic (…) Most of the gold delivered to London was not stored but sold and transferred into foreign currency reserves (in euro or pounds) which were frozen later.”

No wonder a lot of people in Russia are livid. A quick flashback is in order. In June last year, Putin signed a law canceling requirements for the repatriation of foreign exchange earnings from gold exports. Five months later, Russia’s gold miners were exporting like crazy. A month later, the Duma wanted to know  why the Central Bank had stopped buying gold. No wonder Russia media erupted with accusations of “an unprecedented [gold] robbery”.

Now it’s way more dramatic: RIA Novosti described the American-dictated freeze as – what else – a “robbery” and duly predicted global economic chaos.  As for the Central Bank, it’s back on the gold buying business.    

None of the above though explains some “missing” gold that de facto is not under the possession of the Russian Central Bank. And that’s where a somewhat shady character such as Herman Gref comes in.

Let’s check this out with State Duma deputy Mikhail Delyagin, who had a few things to say about the gold-exported-to-London bonanza:

“This process has been going on for the past year. Exported, according to some estimates, 600 tons. [Head of Russian Central Bank] Nabiullina said – whoever wants to sell gold to get cash, or if you mine gold and trade it, keep in mind that the state, in my person, will not buy gold from you at a market price. We will take it at a big discount. If you want to get honest money for it, please export it. The world center of gold trading is London. Accordingly, everyone began to export and sell gold there. Including Mr. [Herman] Gref. The head of the formally state-owned Sberbank sold a huge part of his gold reserves.”

Look here for fascinating details about Sberbank’s Gref shenanigans.

Watch for the gold-backed ruble

It may be a case of too little too late, but at least the Kremlin has now established a committee – with authority over the Central Bank nerds – to handle the serious stuff.

It boggles the mind that the Russian Central Bank does not answer to the Russian constitution as well as to the judicial system, but in fact is subordinated to the IMF. A case can be made that this cartel-designed financial system – implying zero sovereignty – simply cannot be tackled head on by any nation on the planet, and Putin has been trying to undermine it step by step. That includes, of course, keeping Elvira Nabiullina on the job even as she duly follows the Washington consensus to the letter.

And that brings us back to the ultra high stakes possibility that the Kremlin may have wanted from the start to go no holds barred, forcing the Atlanticists to reveal their true hand, and exposing their system in a “The King is Naked” spectacular for a worldwide audience.

And that’s where the EAEU/China new monetary/financial system comes in, under Glazyev supervision. We can certainly envision Russia, China and vast swathes of Eurasia progressively divorcing from casino capitalism; the ruble reconverted to a gold-backed currency; and Russia focused on self-sufficiency, productive domestic investment and trade connectivity with most of the Global South.

Way beyond its confiscated foreign reserves and tons of gold sold in London, what matters is that Russia remains the ultimate natural resource powerhouse. Shortages? A little austerity for a little while will take care of it: nothing as dramatic as the national impoverishment under the neoliberal 1990s. And extra boost would come from exporting natural resources at premium discount prices to other BRICS and most of Eurasia and the Global South.

The collective West has just fabricated a new, tawdry East-West divide. Russia is turning it upside down, to its own profit: after all the multipolar world is rising in the East.

The Empire of Lies won’t back down, because it does not have a Plan B. Plan A is to “cancel” Russia across the – Western – spectrum. So what? Russophobia, racism, 24/7 psyops, propaganda overdrive, cancel culture online mobs, that don’t mean a thing.

Facts matter: the Bear has enough nuclear/hypersonic hardware to shatter NATO in a few minutes before breakfast and teach a lesson to the collective West before pre-dinner cocktails. There will come a time when some exceptionalist with a decent IQ will finally understand the meaning of “indivisibility of security”.

South African president blames NATO for Russia-Ukraine war – The Jerusalem Post

SA sides w Russia

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Chinese girl

These are not evil nasty filthy people, like what is being portrayed in the Western “news”. They are just regular people. Like me. Like you. video 3MB

The Best Lasagna

It’s Spring in most of the world. That means that it’s too warm to make hot dishes, and too cold to make cold Summer dishes. But nothing quite fits the bill than a fine lasagna meal that you cook on a lazy weekend, because you don’t need to cut the grass, and you don’t need to shovel the sidewalks.

This is a great piece of inspiration. I hope that you all like it, and maybe you too will be as inspired as I am…

There’s something really great about layers of ground beef, pasta, delicious ricotta cheese mixture, a fine easy homemade marinara sauce, and more cheese in every hot and tasty bite.

There are a few classic Italian dishes that are popular with just about everyone in the ‘States. It’s a perfect sit-down dinner dish to share with family and friends. Or, just to scarf down while you are watching your favorite sitcom.

Comforting flavors of homemade tomato sauce, pasta, cheese, and beef makes every bite a delight. It’s a wonderful weekend dinner. And it’s a perfect thing to cook on the weekend as well.

This lasagna is amazing. It’s easy to make. Tastes great and really fills your belly deliciously.

2022 03 20 14 22
Lasagna.

Lasagna Tips:

This is just the opening salvo in moving the global "balance of power" from a Uni-polar one to a Multi-polar one.

The U$A has had it's way for decades, time for a change, and man o man, are they freaking out.

Noodles. When choosing pasta noodles, I recommend using oven-ready ones. It will be much easier and cut down on cooking steps and time.

No Cook or Instant Noodles can be used without pre-boiling (check the packet instructions first). You can assemble as normal. To ensure the pasta has enough liquid to cook through while the lasagna is baking, we normally add about 1/2 cup of water to our sauce when using INSTANT.

Pre Boil Or Pre Cook Pasta Sheets need to be boiled first before assembly. Follow the instructions on the packet. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into the water to prevent the sheets from sticking together and stir them occasionally with a wooden spoon. Transfer each cooked lasagna sheet carefully into a large bowl or pot filled with cool water to help stop the cooking process. Leave them in there until ready to use. This helps prevent them from sticking together or drying out. You can do this while the meat sauce is gently simmering away so all elements are ready at the same time.

Layering. While layering pasta, have the sheets overlap by 1/2 to 1/4 inch. Remember, you can also break apart some pasta sheets in you need to cover small corners and gaps.

White Sauce. This is where things go from yeah, it’s okay TO oh-my-god-this-is-so-good! Some people just don’t use any ricotta cheese in their lasagna. Not because they don’t like ricotta, but because white sauce makes it so much more flavourful. You need only 4 ingredients to make this Béchamel happen:

      1. Butter
      2. Flour
      3. Milk
      4. Parmesan cheese. If you don’t like parmesan, replace it with Gruyere, Romano, Asiago, Manchego, or more Mozzarella.

Fat in the meat. Choose 85/15 meat to fat ratio of ground beef. It will result in a juicier and more tender beef layer. In the case of lasagna, the more fat the better. Let it cook long and hard. The fat will flavor the dish.

Sauce. When possible, make your own marinara sauce. It’s easy and it will make the world of difference in the taste. Marinara sauce can be made ahead of time or even frozen. Like all Italian – American dishes; make the components in batches and freeze for later use.

Oil the pan. Make sure to spray one side of aluminum foil with some spray cooking oil and cover the baking pan oiled side down. That will prevent cheese from sticking to the foil when you pull it off. I’ll tell you that it’s a real pain in the ass to scrub away cheese sticking to pans. You all don’t want that to happen.

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Delicious tasty lasagna.

From HERE. All credit. Bla-Bla.

Chinese girl

These are not evil nasty filthy people, like what is being portrayed in the Western “news”. They are just regular people. Like me. Like you. video 2MB

Can I freeze lasagna?

Yes, lasagna can absolutely be frozen and here is how to freeze lasagna.

If you are planning on freezing your lasagna, use an aluminum baking pan to prepare it. Use one 9×13 baking pan or two half the size.

Cook your ingredients and put it together in the pan right up until the baking step. Instead of baking it, freeze it.

Make sure to wrap the container as tightly as possible.

Properly stored, lasagna can last up to 6 months in the freezer.

To thaw lasagna, pull it from the freezer into the refrigerator and slow-thaw it there for 10-12 hours.

2022 03 20 14 25
Lasagna.

Bake as directed in the recipe but increase baking time under foil by 15-20 minutes since the lasagna will be cold going into the oven.

Ingredients

  • 4 1/2 cups marinara sauce (homemade or store-bought) divided
  • 8-10 oz oven ready lasagna sheets
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded Italian cheese mix topping
  • 1/2 tsp dry oregano topping
  • Lots and lots of mozzarella cheese.

Beef layer:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion diced
  • 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (85/15 or 90/10 meat to fat ratio)
  • 1/2 tsp dry oregano
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • salt
  • fresh cracked black pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded Italian cheese mix

Ricotta layer:

  • 20 oz whole milk ricotta
  • 1 cup shredded Italian cheese mix
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 tbsp minced fresh Italian parsley (or regular parsley)
  • 2 tbsp minced fresh basil
  • 1 tsp dry oregano
  • 1 egg
  • salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9×13 casserole dish.

Beef:

  • Preheat a medium cooking pan over medium heat.
  • Add oil and saute diced onion until transparent.
  • Add ground beef and cook, breaking up all the lumps, until just done. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano.
  • Once the meat is just done. Mix in 1 1/2 cups of marinara sauce and 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Ricotta:

  • Combine all ingredients for the ricotta layer in a mixing bowl and mix very well. Set aside.

Lasagna:

  • Spread 1 cup of marinara sauce over the bottom of the casserole dish. Make sure it’s spread evenly.
  • Layer lasagna noodles in one even layer. I like to overlap the pasta sheets just a little bit, 1/2 to 1/4 inch or so.
  • Spread beef mixture over the pasta sheets evenly. Spread 1 1/2 cups of shredded Italian cheese mix.
  • Layer lasagna noodles in one even layer. Again, you can overlap the pasta sheets just a little bit, 1/2 to 1/4 inch or so.
  • Spread 1 cup of marinara sauce over pasta sheets evenly.
  • Spread ricotta mixture evenly. Drop spoonfuls of ricotta mixture all over and use your hands to spread it in one even layer. (Of course, make sure your hands are clean.)
  • Layer lasagna noodles in one even layer. Overlap the pasta sheets just a little bit, 1/2 to 1/4 inch or so.
  • Spread 1 cup of marinara sauce over pasta sheets, evenly.
  • Spread 1 1/2 cups of shredded Italian cheese mix over the sauce evenly.
  • Sprinkle some oregano over the top.
  • Spray one side of aluminum foil sheet with cooking spray and cover the casserole dish with foil, oiled side down.
  • Bake covered for about 35 minutes.
  • Take off the foil and bake for another 10 minutes with it completely layered in mozzarella cheese.

Chinese girl

These are not evil nasty filthy people, like what is being portrayed in the Western “news”. They are just regular people. Like me. Like you. video 2MB

US F-35 and Chinese J-20 fighter jets had a close encounter over East China Sea: US general

F35 vs J20

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Chinese girl

These are not evil nasty filthy people, like what is being portrayed in the Western “news”. They are just regular people. Like me. Like you. video 3MB

Medvedev: Russia Has The Might To Put You In Your Place

Russia warned the United States on Thursday that Moscow had the might to put the world’s pre-eminent superpower in its place and accused the West of stoking a wild Russophobic plot to tear Russia apart.

Dmitry Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012 and is now deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, said the United States had stoked “disgusting” Russophobia in an attempt to force Russia to its knees.

“It will not work – Russia has the might to put all of our brash enemies in their place,” Medvedev said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the United States and its European and Asian allies have slapped sanctions on Russian leaders, companies and businessmen, cutting off Russia from much of the world economy.

President Vladimir Putin says that what he calls the special military operation in Ukraine was necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Russia had to defend against the “genocide” of Russian-speaking people by Ukraine.

Economic News

Translation from http://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2022/03/this-is-important.html#disqus_thread

Translation: 

YEREVAN, March 14 – Sputnik. The member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China will develop a project for an independent international monetary and financial system. This was agreed upon by the participants in the economic dialogue “A New Stage of Monetary, Financial and Economic Cooperation between the EAEU and the PRC. Global Transformations: Challenges and Solutions”, which was held on March 11 via videoconference. It is envisaged that the system will be based on a new international currency, which will be calculated as an index of the national currencies of the participating countries and commodity prices. The first draft will be submitted for discussion by the end of March. As Sergei Glazyev, Minister for Integration and Macroeconomics of the EEC, emphasized, China was the first in the world to move to the stage of national economic recovery.

The background here is bigger.  This was noted by Godfree Roberts:

In two weeks, China, Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan will reveal a new, independent, international monetary and financial system.

It will be based on a new international currency, calculated from an index of national currencies of the participating countries and international commodity prices. [Mar. 14, 2022, Sputnik News].

Russia and China will also reveal their Unfriendly Nation Lists.

Reliable links are still hard to come by in general.

Tucker: The standard of living is plummeting

The buildup for civil collapse inside the United States is building. Prices are changing every three days. Americans are unhappy. Major changes in American lifestyle are happening switftly and the American government is oblivious. Their solution is to take the bus. Fine. If there were busses. Most of America is not serviced by bus lines.

This is hyper-inflation. This is what brings down nations.

Now, to be sure, inflation is a global issue, but it is ONLY the nations that rely on the USD that are building up towards an explosion. Only those nations. This includes all of the West, with America being the worst affected.

The pther nations in the world aren’t doing so bad.

Sure there’s inflation. But other nations monitor and controls the use of the USD in their global inports.There are strict laws and controls in bringing in and using the USD. Thus the rest of the world can control the adverse influences of the USD to their nations.

So hyper-inflation?

Not so in China. Not so in Russia. Not so in India.

Only in the West. And it is outrageous. It’s an excellent video. A great video. Check it out.

2022 03 19 10 04
2022 03 19 10 04

US Army veteran fighting in Ukraine says he went AWOL because it was a ‘trap’

From HERE. Exerpts…

...28-year-old Henry Hoeft, who served in the US Army Infantry before becoming a steelworker in Ohio, left earlier this month to fight in Ukraine.

...Hoeft described the situation for foreign volunteers, who are effectively used as poorly-equipped cannon fodder in order to draw Russians into ambushes carried out by Ukrainian forces.

...In addition, Russia does not consider the foreign volunteers to be lawful combatants, instead classifying them as “mercenaries.”

...Hoeft went on to discuss how his base was “f**ed up” by a Russian attack and that members of his unit were told to “get the f**k out” after they refused an order to defend Kiev with partially-filled magazines and inferior equipment.

...“Foreign mercenaries who were wounded in the #Volnovakha hospital were shot by their own before leaving the city so that they could not tell anything. 

..."All shot in the temple or the back of the head.

...According to The Intelligencer, many of the foreign volunteers are American, Canadian, and British.

Burger King in Russia will stay open

Burger King is trying to suspend its operations in Russia, but that’s proving difficult. A business partner controlling 800 restaurants has “refused” to close them, the company said.
The burger chain, owned by Restaurant Brands International (RBI), has a joint venture partnership with businessman Alexander Kolobov in Russia.

RBI controls just 15 per cent of its Russian Burger King business, and Kolobov is responsible for the "day-to-day operations and oversight" of its locations in the country.
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Nuke movement in the UK

This video is concerning. Six nukes were tracked and seen moving on open highways in Glasgow last night by people who seem to be in the intelligence loop and have been tracking them for while.

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Andrei Martyanov on “Does the US have a plan?”

He’s pretty good. He’s my go-to guy on the Russian point of view, and offer great military insight and sitrep on the Ukraine invasion. This particular video covers the Russian-China alliance, and a hard look at the United States “end game”.

The United States has NO idea what they are dealing with. It’s a great video that underlines what I have been saying for years.

2022 03 19 08 16
2022 03 19 08 16

Africa

Most members of the South African parliament, when asked to support NATO agaist Russia, responded by saying that they have never forgiven NATO for the bombing of Libya and killing President Ghadafi. 

They also pointed out that during Africa’s independence liberation struggle to get rid of NATO colonisers, it was the USSR (Russia) that gave African freedom fighters, unwavering support. 

Samora Macheal led a Russian supported revolt against the Portuguese in Mozambique, Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, led the Zimbabwe liberation war against the British supported by Russia, Sam Nujoma in Namibia fought against the British, Germans and USA supported by Russia and Cuba, Edwardos Do Santos fought a brutal war against Portugal supported by Russia and Cuba, Patrice Lumumba against, America, Beligian and the French supported by Russia and so did Kwame Nkuruma, Thomas Sankara, and many other examples. 

Africa cannot forsake Russia what so ever. 

I must point out that RT News which is broadcast by some government channels in Africa does not give a detailed coverage of Russia’s Special Operation. It gives scanty stories and does not counter western media propaganda. 

There is a massive support for Russia in Africa.

African leaders are scrapping around to find positive news about Russia’s progress. How can Russia not have its own communication satelite to carry its own television channels around the world?

History Lesson

History teaches that when you obliterate an enemy, they become your best friend.

The US firebombed and nuked the Japs, and they are the most enthusiastic ass-kissers of the US.

The Russians flattened Grozny, and the Chechens are their best buddies.

Just herd all the wannabe-Polak Russia-hating Ukrainians into Lvov, and the survivors–if any–will be fighting for Russia forever.

Weapons system surprises

The war has been a test of weapons systems, with some unexpected outcomes, Notably the deadly effectiveness of Swedish-designed anti-tank missiles.

R C.ef38dc01bf9045452e372a29b773e4bc
NLAWs
Ukraine Is Wrecking Russian Tanks With a Gift From Britain…

“The green tubes are called NLAWs, for Next Generation Light Anti-Tank Weapons. They are the result of decades of weapons research dedicated to building small lightweight guided missiles that may have evened the balance of power in combat between the fearsome tank and the soldier.

“Compared to the American-made Javelin antitank weapon, which has been hailed by officials at the Pentagon and the White House and sent to Ukraine by the thousands, the NLAW weighs about half as much, costs far less, can be easily discarded, and is optimized for use in the relatively short-range fights Ukrainian soldiers are getting into with the invading Russian forces.

“The NLAW is a product of the Swedish company Saab and has been sold to a number of NATO countries — including Britain, which assembles the missiles at a factory in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the British Army. And although the British Army also has the Javelin, it began purchasing NLAWs about 10 years ago and has been sending them to Ukraine in ever greater numbers.” 

-Ukraine Is Wrecking Russian Tanks With a Gift From Britain

Boris returns from Saudi mission without pledge to boost oil supplies | Daily Mail Online

Boris Johnson visited Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia urging states to boost oil supplies to bring down prices.

The Gulf states will not increase their production to help the West.

The PM insisted he raised the issue of "human rights abuses" during talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
UK fails

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Bulgaria said No. And citizens rallied…NATO Out” [with Videos]

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin traveled to Bulgaria on Saturday, where he met with Prime Minister Kiril Petkov to discuss the Ukrainian crisis and apparently asked Sofia to provide military aid to Kiev. The Bulgarian PM said no.

Bulgarian citizens rallied on Saturday against giving its “few remaining weapons” to Ukraine and demanded the withdrawal of NATO from the country.

Demonstrators gathered in front of the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense, where Austin and Petkov met for a joint press conference, waving Bulgarian and Russian flags. They were heard chanting,  “NATO Out.”

Similar protests took place in Rome and Piza, Italy, where activists of a major Italian trade union, USB, opposed sending weapons to Ukraine and called on the government to ditch NATO.[.] Bulgarian NO

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Ship carrying German cars sinks off Iran

Amazing how unluckly Germans are with shipping their cars. This makes the third sinking in four weeks. What bad luck.

2022 03 20 21 46
2022 03 20 21 46

All carrying German expensive, high end vehicles. What a coincidence!

2022 03 20 21 43
2022 03 20 21 43
Foreign Desk News

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CBS News

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Action at Lvov

Russian paratroopers have seized the airport.

2022 03 20 21 20
2022 03 20 21 20

ASB Military News

$400 million worth of Western supplied weaponry destroyed in a single russian strike on the military base near Lvov — radio intercepted comms suggest that 267 foreign mercenaries have been killed in the strike.

50 year old Peter from Austria who fought alongside the “international legion of Ukraine” said that 800 to 1000 foreign mercenaries were present during the strike.

Around 400 mercenaries were evacuated to Poland, many of whom have suffered severe burns & torn limbs from the Kalibr strike.

There’s a high number of missing individuals still under the rubble which includes a high number of Americans, Poles and Romanians. Former NATO officers are Amongst the dead.

Lvov

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Sunday Evening SURGE in “Commercial” Air Flights OUT of Moscow and St. Petersburg Russia

From Hal Turner.

2022 03 21 10 11
2022 03 21 10 11

mRNA injections and premature death?

I don’t want to be a “gloomy gus” but…

Whats going on?

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Why did the war happen?

Question– Is there a justification for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?

Answer– Yes, there is. Russia was being threatened by developments in Ukraine, so it told Ukraine to either stop what it was doing or suffer the consequences. Ukraine chose to ignore those warnings, so Russia invaded. That is basically what happened.

Chinese reaction to Russia

Chinese netizens have bought basically everthing (chocolate candies, vodka, Russian sausages and bread, etc.) out from the Russia’s official online shop on one of China’s biggest e-coomerce platforms. 

The Russian manager of the online shop has to tell the enthusiastic Chinese customers to “shop rationally”.

Interesting chat.

“Most people don’t know this. The SWIFT system when it was created was a way for you to settle things – an international protocol, secure bank to bank how you send money, AND IT WAS PROMISED AT THAT TIME, THE US SAID: “WE WILL NEVER USE THIS FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES”.

“The old world order is trembling as the Russians march across the Ukrainian border. Is Putin just another time bomb that has lost his mind, or it’s because NATO pushed the Russians too hard?

Thousands of miles away from the battlefield, some cast their sights on China, pressuring it [to contain] its neighbor in the north. Dr Charles Liu [talks to] his friend, Einar Tangen. They might have spoken softly, but the points they carry [should] never [be missed].”

They cover, inter-alia:
◉ the NATO eastward expansion despite earlier guarantees given to the contrary by Howard Baker (then Secretary of State of the US);

◉ Putin speaking in 1991 in the German language in Berlin, addressing everybody and saying Russia wants to be part of Europe, and then 6 years later in 1997, he gets up at the Munich Security Conference saying: “You’ve cheated us, you’ve humiliated us, you expanded;
◉ how Western press is parroting that “China is providing support for Russia” by buying Russian gas and oil but ignores how Germany and Europe buy it;
◉ how the US / EU has held back a big block of conditions vis-à-vis the sanctions on Russia because they need to buy the oil and gas of Russia; sanctions on 12 out of 230 banks in Russia;
◉ the Ukraine situation before the war, where in the 1990’s and in a span of less than 7 years, the country lost 60% of their GDP, corruption was rife; the hypocrisy in the democratic practices where there was interference in the election of the new government in Ukraine;
◉ how “THE US IS LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR THE NEXT ROUND, AND THE NEXT ROUND IS GOING TO BE FOCUSED ON CHINA, beating up Russia is one thing but if Russia is weakened through this conflict, the next target is of course China”
◉ China’s support for Russia stems from China’s need for energy; Russia is part of the Eurasian landmass in line with the Belt & Road Initiative and the Eurasian growth objectives; the strategic assessment of China that Putin is unlikely to bow down to America.
◉ The efforts by the US to stymy the growth of the semiconductor industry in China, how the US accuses the Chinese of being autocratic but yet it is the US that holds on to “might is right” including invading countries, etc.. – “all a matter of big your fist is”.

Click here for the VIDEO:

Video

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Fighting the crazies

From Pat…()

On Jan. 20, 2021, Joe Biden took an oath:

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

And when the issue arose as to whether he, as president and commander in chief, would transfer MiG-29s to Ukrainians fighting Russians for their independence and freedom, Joe Biden said no.

“The idea that we’re going to send in offensive equipment and have planes and tanks and trains going in with American pilots and American crews — just understand, don’t kid yourself, no matter what y’all say, that’s called World War III,” Biden told House Democrats in Philadelphia.

Biden was saying that, no matter how noble the cause or how just the war Ukrainians are fighting, his first duty is to America. And as president of the United States, he will put U.S. national interests first and not risk a war with the largest nuclear power on earth.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s reaction:

Biden runs “the most timid, cowardly and pathetic administration in modern American history.”

If our “enormous capacity” and “very competent people … were unleashed,” said Gingrich, “we would…end up defeating Putin, and he would end up being ousted from power by his own government. But instead, we are intimidated by him. We allow him to get away with war crimes.”

In this Ukraine war, Gingrich is the interventionist, and Biden is putting his own country, America, first. On this one, put me down with Joe.

GOP Sen. Marco Rubio has also spoken out for America First:

A no-fly zone “means flying AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control Systems) 24 hours a day. 

That means the willingness to shoot down and engage Russian airplanes in the sky. 

That means, frankly, you can’t put those planes up there unless they’re willing to knock out the anti-aircraft systems that the Russians have deployed, and not just in Ukraine, but in Russia and also in Belarus.

“So basically a no-fly zone … means World War III. 

It means starting World War III. 

It’s not some rule you pass that everybody has to oblige by. 

It’s the willingness to shoot down the aircrafts of the Russian Federation, which is basically the beginning of World War III.”

While the threat to the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine may be an existential one for that nation, it is no such peril to our nation.

35 percent of Americans support nuclear war with Russia…

Vault 7, or “shit for brains”?

Pew Polling

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Demand for Safe Rooms Skyrockets in Los Angeles

Amid crime concerns, wealthy homeowners seek to install panic rooms, with some steel-encased versions running up to $1 million to build while one Malibu project included a secret tunnel out to the beach. From HERE.

Our influx of inquiries has increased more than 1,000 percent over the past three months,” says Dean Cryer, vp international operations at Building Consensus/Panic Room Builders, a firm specializing in the building of safe rooms. “It’s gone insane.”

2022 03 21 10 19
2022 03 21 10 19

Because of the perceived increase in crime in metropolitan areas and high-profile murders and robberies in high-net-worth neighborhoods like Beverly Hills, “hidden rooms are definitely trending right now,” says Cryer.

In the L.A. area, some houses selling for as low as $4 million or $5 million are being kitted out, particularly spec homes. “I think they are not something that, in an immediate sense, increases value,” says Douglas Elliman real estate agent Greg Holcomb. “But when a buyer is interested in the house anyway, I think it does help [boost interest].”

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39037ea1 942a 47bf be09 881386a7e544 140913OMH 203

Real estate agents, though, can never tell casual buyers or appraisers the exact location of a safe room. Often, they can’t mention its existence at all until the property is under contract. “You never know who’s potentially casing a house. The last thing you want to do is show them, ‘Here’s the panic room, and here’s how you access it,’ ” says Jon Grauman of The Agency.

2022 03 21 10 29 6
2022 03 21 10 29 6

Holcomb likewise has had to keep mum. “We once had a property and an appraiser come and was measuring the home, and they could not figure out why there was this kind of dead space,” he says. “And we weren’t allowed to tell them what it was. They just had to assume it was dead space, when in fact behind a secret panel was a safe room.”

Secret lifting staircase. Right out of the television show “The Addams Family”…

2022 03 21 10 25
2022 03 21 10 25

In business for 25 years, Building Consensus/Panic Room (which consulted on the 2002 movie Panic Room) builds various safe spaces ranging in security levels from one through eight. Safe rooms at level three may be protected with Kevlar, while a level eight is encased in thick steel.

2022 03 21 10 28 5
2022 03 21 10 28 5

“Just the doors can be 2,000 to 3,000 pounds,” says Cryer. “And then we’re installing steel within the room. So, we’re generating up to 10,000 pounds in a room.”

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2022 03 21 10 20

Prices range greatly. “You could kit out a small closet for about $100,000, $150,000. And then it’s north of there. We’ve done one in London that had two rooms, full suites … and that was over a million dollars,” says Cryer, who says the company’s client base consists mostly of billionaires.

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2022 03 21 10 28 4

Most rooms are opened with biometrics, usually a finger or retina scan secreted behind a bookcase or hidden wall, and come equipped with panic buttons that automatically call security services.

large Covert Interiors IMG 02012
large Covert Interiors IMG 02012

Cryer says the firm collaborates with security guards and former officials in law enforcement to constantly improve impregnability.

2022 03 21 10 21
2022 03 21 10 21

There also is an emphasis on comfort. “It’s gone from a steel, cold room where it’s a bunch of cameras,” Cryer says. “Now it’s more of a serene feeling.

R C.bbae1408787d58a1df7ca9911a2e4ecd
Safe room.

We say it’s an everyday use room, which when needed can be turned into a safe haven. So, you wouldn’t know what room in the house was the safe room. You wouldn’t have a clue.”

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2022 03 21 10 24

Some safe rooms are designed with all the benefits of an upscale den. “We’ve seen some of them be fitted with a bathroom, some with outlets for cable TV [and] surround sound,” says The Agency’s Emil Hartoonian.

R C.6430c5e64ee362f5f5e5ca840287aec5
Safe tent for a bioweapon attack.

Some also are used as storage rooms for valuables, and the fanciest safe rooms have toilets and HVAC systems separate from the rest of the house.

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2022 03 21 10 28 3

“Within the room itself, you could be in there for up to 24 hours. I mean, it depends where you are in the world. And in most of L.A., you could be waiting a couple of hours before the police get to you,” Cryer says.

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2022 03 21 10 22

Some panic room owners are not waiting on the police to arrive, instead taking matters into their own hands. Hartoonian recalls one house he saw in Hidden Hills. “I think there was more artillery in there than probably one of the bunkers of the U.S. Army,” he says. “There were packs of food that wouldn’t go bad for two years.

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2022 03 21 10 50

Television, microwave, small bathroom … I mean, it was like a little self-sufficient, almost studio apartment, if you will. Ready to take on the zombie apocalypse.”

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2022 03 21 10 27 2

Other buyers are not just interested in staying safe within their homes — they are intent on being able to get out. “We’ve even done bunkers and tunnels. We’ve done a project out in Malibu.

1213981 022216 panicrooms
1213981 022216 panicrooms

They wanted a secret tunnel out to the beach. So they could escape, like a secret bunker,” Cryer says.

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2022 03 21 10 23

Currently on the market in Pacific Palisades is a six-bedroom, 9,100-square-foot home, listed for $6.995 million with Farah Levi of The Agency, with a safe room that was converted into a screening room. The safe room was installed by a previous owner who was a legal arms dealer.

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2022 03 21 10 27

Says Levi, “Our current sellers are the ones who converted the safe room into the theater. My client is in the entertainment business and wanted a great theater in their home, and they felt this was the perfect solution. They spent approximately $150,000 on the theater conversion.”

safe room Gaffco 2108027 crop 58b0d8a75f9b5860461ddd8c
A safe room from Gaffco

The room has 3-inch-thick steel doors that can close automatically. That feature is still possible should it be necessary at some point. The Retina scan is still operational and can be used to close and open doors; it is no longer registered with the FBI.”

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2022 03 21 10 2d3

No one sees the trend in luxe safe rooms ending anytime soon, as security concerns increase and the focus on amenities becomes more important. As Grauman notes, particularly in spec development, the “name of the game is differentiation,” he says. “Panic rooms are just going to be one of those amenities that gets tacked on to every list of, ‘OK, every new home moving forward above x price point must have this.’ “

Hum.

Very interesting points of view from both the buyers, and the salespeople. No one is looking at the real SHTF, or REAL crime. You won’t be a waiting some 12 hours for the police to arrive, so much as hoping that your home isn’t burned to the ground, or that a squad of Hell Angels bikers don’t take it over.

Chinese working together

Firemen ask for help. Everyone leaves their homes and goes forth to contribute. Rufus. There is nothing like this is America. video 3MB

Shaken Foreign Volunteers Flee Ukraine After Base Hit by Russian Cruise Missiles — Ex-Marine Reports

“Bro I had fucking thirteen cruise missiles drop on me this morning. We were at the mercy of Russian warplanes.”

Money in America

From Hal Turner

For what it's worth . . .

1.) ALL pennies 1982 or older (obviously wheat, and Indian Head pennies have a greater numismatic value), but an average 1982 or older are 95% copper and 5% zinc. TRASH anything after '82 because it's close to the opposite amalgamation (copper coated zinc).

Those '82 pennies are worth $.0307 EACH! Imagine a penny being worth 3 cents! SAVE 'EM FOLKS!

2.) ALL Nickels 2014 and older, because of the increase in the price of nickel recently are worth almost TWICE their face value.
$1.00 of these are currently worth $1.73!

I find it funny that MOST stores currently have a "change shortage".

I think the government is culling as many of these coins as possible, artificially creating this "shortage" while they replace the valuable coins with worthless pieces of SHIT.

NOTE: There are only 2 US coins that are not allowed to be melted down. 1 is the penny, the other is the nickel. (I smell a rat here.)

The ONLY saving grace is you're allowed to melt them down for scientific purposes or demonstrations.

I will personally be SCIENCING the SHIT out of my neighborhood!

Hope this helps if even a bit.

Reference: www.coinflation.com (base metal melt value calculation)

China Tells US They Don’t Care About the Ukraine, Don’t Want to be Badgered with Moral Lectures

Dear Elitists: China is not Andrew Anglin, and they’re not Alex Jones.

You can’t just declare a media war against them, organize a social media moral panic against them, and have them silenced.

Sorry!

It doesn’t work that way.

Attempting to implement domestic moral shaming techniques against the Chinese government actually just makes you look pathetic and weird. I mean, the Distinguished Mr. Jones and myself both believe your moral crusades against us were pathetic and weird, but hey – they worked. You had the ability to unilaterally sanction Anglin and Jones.

But unlike Anglin and Jones, China is a global superpower. You’re going to have to do more than launch a moral shaming campaign in the media.

After weeks of badgering, China just told the US government that they don’t care about the Ukraine, and that US officials are welcome to cry about it.

RT:

 Beijing maintains an “independent” stance on the Ukraine crisis, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, Zhao Lijian, said during a press conference on Friday. The remark came in response to threats made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who warned China on Thursday that Washington would “impose costs” on it should Beijing choose to support Moscow.

Lijian stated that “on the Ukraine issue, China has always acted objectively and impartially and made independent judgments based on the merits of the matter itself.” 

Most Chinese statement ever?

 The Chinese diplomat also stressed that pressure from Washington would not make Beijing change its stance. He added that some US officials were still trying to spread disinformation regarding China’s position – something Lijian described as irresponsible and not conducive to the resolution of the crisis.

In China’s view, the US ought to “seriously reflect on its role in the Ukraine crisis,” as well as “earnestly assume its due responsibilities.” Lijian also called on Washington to “take practical actions to ease the situation and solve the problem, rather than continue to add fuel to the fire.” 

Yeah.

Why did you throw that revolution in the country in 2014? Then why did you encourage leaders in the Ukraine to disregard the Minsk agreements and continue to bombard Russians living in the Ukraine?

Why did you continue to send munitions to those  neo-Nazi groups doing the bombarding?

Furthermore, to Lijian’s second point: why are you continuing to refuse to even discuss diplomacy, and instead shipping billions in weaponry to the Ukraine?

Lijian posted this to Twitter today:

#NATO Expansion pic.twitter.com/YiAQcvJvmR

— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 18, 2022

A few days ago, he posted this:

"Reaping the world" with dollar hegemony? How far can the U.S. go? pic.twitter.com/oFstcrKuHZ

— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 16, 2022

He posts consistently about the US bio warfare program.

What is the #US hiding in the biolabs in #Ukraine? pic.twitter.com/d6PUjOcBir

— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 18, 2022

He even posts the same memes we post here.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that when the West talks about the "int'l community", they mean: pic.twitter.com/RZNOwDymX2

— Lijian Zhao 赵立坚 (@zlj517) March 17, 2022

He’s not some dumbass writer for Salon.

The government/media have this massive censorship machine domestically, which they can use to claim that Putin invaded Ukraine because he is pure evil. They can refuse to mention the fact that Putin has offered to completely withdraw the military and let Zelensky remain in power if he agrees to neutrality. But the rest of the world is not the captive audience of CNN, Fox News, and Twitter.

 On Friday, US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will hold talks via telephone, with the Ukraine crisis high on the agenda. Biden is expected to repeat warnings made earlier by Blinken regarding any possible actions China may take to “support Russia’s aggression.”

On Thursday, China’s Commerce Ministry spokesperson, Gao Feng, made it clear that China opposed “any form of unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law.” According to the official, such punitive measures “not only fail to resolve security issues, but also harm the lives of ordinary people, disrupt global markets, and make the world’s already slowing economy even worse.” 

The Chinese are officially the adults in the room, due to their autistic like ability to simply state the obvious.

 The statement came hard on the heels of Jake Sullivan’s warning to China on Sunday, in which Joe Biden’s national security adviser cautioned that Beijing would “absolutely” face consequences should it help Moscow evade Western sanctions. 

What do these threats even mean?

Is the US going to attempt to implement the same sanctions they’ve put against Russia on China?

How does everyone think that would work out – banning all Western import of Chinese goods?

Then, according to this new Russian model, they would have to sanction every country that continues to do business with China, which is the whole world.

It is not hyperbolic to state that the current path of the US appears to be towards building an Iron Curtain around America and EU/NATO countries. Because these people in Washington believe they have the ability to totally dominate every country on earth with bullying – they think every country on earth is Iraq – they are setting the stage for them to be completely isolated on the world stage.

At some point, even EU/NATO countries are going to be looking for the exit, as it is clear that this ship is absolutely sinking.

Russia just did tit-for-tat sanctions.

This is from various press releases as the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs site is down, and so far this cannot be confirmed at source :

Appearing at the top of the 13-name list is President Biden, followed by Blinken and Austin. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, CIA Director William Burns, and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki are also named. Further down the list, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Biden’s son Hunter – whose dealings with a Ukrainian energy firm have previously been questioned and criticized – are also included.

Inclusion on the list denies any of these people entry into the Russian Federation. However, the Kremlin’s statement said that Moscow would not rule out contact with American officials “if they meet our national interests.”

More names will be added to the list “in the near future,” the statement continued, warning that “top US officials, military officials, lawmakers, businessmen, experts and media personalities who are Russophobic or contribute to inciting hatred towards Russia” will also be blacklisted.

Update on Sanctions:

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau

and

Russia has officially withdrawn from the Council of Europe.

2nd Update on Sanctions from the Russian Foreign Ministry

 17:37

Foreign Ministry statement concerning personal sanctions on US senior officials and affiliated persons
513-15-03-2022

In response to a series of unprecedented sanctions that prohibit, among other things, entry to the United States for top officials of the Russian Federation, starting March 15, the Russian stop list includes, on the basis of reciprocity, President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, as well as several agency heads and other prominent US figures.

This step, taken as a response measure, is the inevitable result of the extreme Russophobic policy of the current US Administration.

Obviously, it is an attempt to maintain American global leadership.

As such, it has abandoned any sense of decorum and placed its bets on the head-on containment of Russia.

The list of US citizens included in the stop list is as follows:

1. Joseph Robinette Biden;

2. Antony John Blinken;

3. Lloyd James Austin III;

4. Mark Alexander Milley;

5. Jacob Jeremiah Sullivan, National Security Advisor;

6. William Joseph Burns, Director of the CIA;

7. Jennifer Rene Psaki, White House Press Secretary;

8. Daleep Singh, Deputy National Security Advisor;

9. Samantha Jane Power, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development;

10. Robert Hunter Biden, son of the US President;

11. Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, former US presidential candidate;

12. Adewale Adeyemo, US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury;

13. Reta Jo Lewis, President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

More announcements will be made soon concerning the expansion of the sanctions list to include other top US officials, military leaders, lawmakers, business executives, experts and media personalities who promote Russophobia or contribute to inciting hatred of Russia or imposing restrictive measures.

These actions will be taken in harmony with the major decisions of the Government of the Russian Federation in finance, banking and other areas to protect the Russian economy and ensure its stable development.

US Space Foundation

A report by Elijah Magnier:

The level of idiocy is beyond any limit:

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space, has been stripped of his honours by the #US Space Foundation “in light of current world events".

Proof: The US Created and Weaponized COVID in Ukraine and Georgia as a ‘First Step’

️An analysis of the information received indicates that Ukrainian specialists are not aware of the potential risks of transferring biomaterials.

Here is a document dated March 6, 2015, confirming the Pentagon’s direct participation in the financing of military biological projects in Ukraine.

️According to established practice, American projects in the field of sanitation in third countries, including in Africa and Asia, are funded through national health authorities.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the agreement on joint biological activities was concluded between the US Military Department and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. However, the real recipient of funds are the laboratories of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence located in Kiev, Odessa, Lvov and Kharkov. The total funding amounted to $32 million.

️It is no coincidence that these biolabs were chosen by the US Defence Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the contractor company Black & Veatch as the executors of the UP-8 project aimed at studying the pathogens of the Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever, leptospirosis and hantaviruses.
USA made COVID

.

China helping Africa

Not at all reported in the Western “news”. China is helping and rebuilding Africa. Cities and ports going up full and complete. Video

Here comes China (and they don’t stop for shit!)

By Amarynth for the Saker Blog and collaborating with Godfree Roberts’ Newsletter, Here Comes China

Biden / Xi Summit.

In perfect Chinese diplomatic terms, it looks like business as usual. Taken outside of the perfect diplomatic terms, it is a true spanking.

Let’s take one paragraph only and remember a few things first:

Washington, as usual, threatened and danced something like the haka and warned Xi not to support Russia in any way or the consequences would be dire for China. 

Washington threatened with equally applied sanctions and other dire unmentionables.  

Apparently, Washington can support who it wants, but China is in some form prohibited from exactly that.  

Hypocritically they want it both ways.  That era is over.

A few hours before the ‘summit’, China had a perfectly normal sail-by through the Taiwan Straits of their aircraft carrier Shandong.  Yes, this is ‘likely routine’ says their spox.  Sure, it was highly likely just routine.  It must have been a wonderful day for the Shandong to take a little sail through the Taiwan Straits.

A few hours before the ‘summit’ Global times had an interview with an unnamed official.  (Is China playing the US game here by not naming the official?).

This is the take-away:

“The international community can fairly judge who is frank and open and who is up to something, who is easing the situation and who is aggravating tension, who is promoting peace talks and who is pouring fuel on the fire, and who is maintaining peace and stability and who is provoking confrontations between blocs.”

Xi Jinping made a pre-summit statement:

Countries should not come to the point of meeting on the battlefield. 

Conflict and confrontation are not in anyone’s interest. 

Peace and security are what the international community should treasure the most.

So, this is the milieu that Biden walked into at the online summit.  We must know by now what this is all about.

None of the boring line-up of US representatives could bend China to their will to support sanctions against Russia, so, time for a Presidential Summit to yet again attempt to split China and Russia.

This is how perfectly ridiculous this attempt is:

Can you help me fight your friend so that I can concentrate on fighting you later?

Here is how it went:

President Biden expounded on the US position and expressed readiness for communication with China to prevent the situation from exacerbating.

Simply said:

How can we make a deal so that the US/Nato alliance remains a unipolar world and all others (including you) must be subservient.

President Xi pointed out that China does not want to see the situation in Ukraine to come to this. China stands for peace and opposes war. This is embedded in China’s history and culture.

Simply said:

Hey Biden, mistake number one!  You do not know who you are talking to, but now I’m going to tell you...

[1] China makes a conclusion independently based on the merits of each matter.

[2] China advocates upholding international law and universally recognized norms governing international relations.

[3] China adheres to the UN Charter and promotes the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. These are the major principles that underpin China’s approach to the Ukraine crisis.

[4] China has put forward a six-point initiative on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, and is ready to provide further humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and other affected countries.

[5] All sides need to jointly support Russia and Ukraine in having dialogue and negotiation that will produce results and lead to peace.

Simply stated:

 This is the crux of the matter and seemingly you are unable to grasp it!

The continue…

The US and NATO should also have dialogue with Russia to address the crux of the Ukraine crisis and ease the security concerns of both Russia and Ukraine.

Message:

Go away and take your position and money with you!  

You had your opportunity and you became a warmaker, coercing others to your will.  

Enough is enough!  

We have principles, law and morals and ethical standards.  

You hold on to ‘positions’ favorable to you only.

China is active in the EU as well and the discussion does not remain dry and diplomatically correct. 

China is playing into its strengths, saying what is correct in terms of its own national interest and it happens to co-incide with that of the non-insane world.

The spokespeople are highly educated, clear, exceptionally well-spoken, and smart.   They also mercilessly dig in the knife when opportunity shows.  In a recent press conference.  CCTV:

US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that the US is concerned about Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure which caused civilian casualties. 

However, China has yet to state its position explicitly. 

How does the foreign ministry view such criticism from other countries on China?

Zhao Lijian:

Human lives are precious. 

Civilian casualties under all circumstances are heart-rending and lamentable. 

China has all along called for every effort to avoid civilian casualties. 

We still remember that in March 1999, the US-led NATO, without the Security Council’s mandate, flagrantly unleashed a ruthless bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 78 days, killing at least 2,500 innocent civilians and injuring around 10,000 people, most of them civilians. 

Over the past two decades or so, the US conducted tens of thousands of air strikes in places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. 

The number of innocent civilians killed can be anywhere between 22,000 and 48,000. 

When professing its concern for the welfare of the Ukrainian people, shouldn’t the US first express concern over the civilian casualties caused by all these military operations?

I particularly enjoyed this vignette:

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that any support to Russia, military or any other type of support, would actually help Russia conduct a brutal war against an independent sovereign nation, Ukraine, and help them to continue to wage war which is causing death, suffering and an enormous amount of destruction.

This was the comment of the Chinese spokesperson:

Chinese people can fully relate to the pains and sufferings of other countries because we will never forget who bombed our embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  

China does not need a lecture on justice from the abuser of international law. 

As a Cold War remnant and the world’s largest military alliance, NATO continues to expand its geographical scope and range of operations. 

What kind of role has it played in world peace and stability? 

NATO needs to have a good reflection.

Currency

Against this backdrop, the news filtered out about The Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU) and China designing a new monetary and financial system bypassing the U.S. dollar.

It is being supervised by Sergei Glazyev and intended to compete with the Bretton Woods system which is now less than 50% of the currency flow in the world.

While news is still very scarce on this front, it fulfilled the purpose of telling Biden once again to go away if US/NATO cannot be a serious contender to building a peaceful and prosperous world.

Godfree Roberts, in his last newsletter, did an overview of the major historical milestones.  I am not sure if the concept of a special drawing rights fiat currency revaluated regularly against a basket of currencies will be the way this rolls out.  Stand by!  Much more incoming!  We will see.

DOLLAR’S END – Farewell, Inordinate Privilege

2022 03 20 11 54
Goodbye USD.

 

  • Credit Suisse analyst Zoltan Pozsar says Ukraine triggered a perfect storm in commodities that could weaken the Eurodollar system, contribute to inflation in Western economies, and threaten their financial stability. Pozsar said China’s central bank is uniquely placed to backstop such crisis, paving the way for a much stronger yuan. Reuters, Mar. 13, 2022.
  • Saudi Arabia Considers Accepting Yuan Instead of Dollars for Chinese Oil Sales: Talks between Riyadh and Beijing have accelerated as the Saudi unhappiness grows with Washington. WSJ, Mar. 14, 2022

–o0o–

In 2009, after helping to rescue the US from the GFC, Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the Peoples Bank of China, said,

“The world needs an international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and able to remain stable in the long run, removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies.”

After helping rescue America from the GFC, PBOC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan observed,

“The world needs an international reserve currency that is disconnected from individual nations and able to remain stable in the long run, removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies.”

Zhou proposed SDRs, Special Drawing Rights, a synthetic reserve currency dynamically revalued against a basket of trading currencies and commodities. Broad, deep, stable, and impossible to manipulate.

Nobelists Fred Bergsten, Robert Mundell, and Joseph Stieglitz approved:

“The creation of a global currency would restore a needed coherence to the international monetary system, give the IMF a function that would help it to promote stability and be a catalyst for international harmony”.  

Here’s what’s happened since:

2012: Beijing began valuing the yuan against a currency/commodity basket

2014: The IMF issued the first SDR loan

2016: The World Bank issued the first SDR bond

2017: Standard Chartered Bank issued the first commercial SDR notes.

2019: All central banks began stating currency reserves in SDRs

Mar. 14, 2022:

“In two weeks, China and the Eurasian Economic Union – Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan – will reveal an independent international monetary and financial system. It will be based on a new international currency, calculated from an index of national currencies of the participating countries and international commodity prices”.

The currency resembles Keynes’ invention Special Drawing Rights.

SDRs are a  synthetic currency which derives its value from a global, publicly traded basket of currencies and commodities. Immense beyond imaging, and stable as the Pyramids. Everyone gets a seat at the table and a vote. It may eventually be administered by an arm of the UN.

SDRs pose a serious alternative to the US dollar, both for the EAEU, the BRI’s 145 member states, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), ASEAN, and the RCEP.

Middle East countries, including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, are keenly interested.

Less well known is that the EAEU, the BRI, the SCO, ASEAN, and the RCEP were discussing a merger before the currency news hit.

It is reasonable to expect them to join this new, cooperatively managed, stable reserve currency regime in which they can settle their trades in stable, neutral, predictable SDRs.

Biological labs

China is not losing any opportunity to bring this front and center.  This is their last list of questions:

      • If the concerns are “disinformation”, why doesn’t the U.S. release detailed materials to prove its innocence? – Question by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine.
      • What did the U.S. spend the $200 million on? – Question by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine.
      • What kind of research has the U.S. conducted on which pathogens? – Question by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine.
      • What is it trying to hide when the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine deleted all relevant documents on its website? – Question by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine.
      • Why does the U.S. insist on being the only country in the world to oppose the establishment of a multilateral verification mechanism though it claims to abide by the Biological Weapons Convention? – Question by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian on U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine.
      • This is quite an amazing poster detailing the biolab web, which is too large to load here.  But take a look at the depiction of these US biolabs.  https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202203/1255055.shtml

Economic goals in a nutshell

2022 03 20 12 01
2022 03 20 12 01

 

What is happening with Belt and Road?

About the data:

On January 21, 2022, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) released its data for “China’s investments and cooperation in countries along the Belt and Road” covering the period of January to December 2021.

According to these data, Chinese enterprises invested about US$20.3 billion in non-financial direct investments in countries “along the Belt and Road”.

Furthermore, there were 560 newly signed projects with a contract value of over US$100 million.

The MOFCOM data focus on 55 countries that are “along the Belt and Road” – meaning on a corridor from China to Europe including South Asia.

For this report, the definition of BRI countries includes 142 countries that had signed a cooperation agreement with China to work under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative by the end of 2021.

To analyze investments in these countries, we base our data on the China Global Investment Tracker and our own data research at the Green Finance & Development Center affiliated with Fudan University, Shanghai. As with most data, they tend to be imperfect.

Chinese joke

On a somewhat of a lighter note:

The Chinese Netizens are in the majority siding with Russia so completely and so enthusiastically, that China’s WeChat and Douyin had to crack down on vulgar jokes and netizens were told in no uncertain terms that they cannot make fun of international news events.  The very high support for Russia is becoming a clear talking point despite the somewhat muted and correct Chinese diplomatic statements.

So, here is a joke for you.

Bear and Dragon take a walk in the gardens.  

Bear is a little overcome with his serious responsibilities in the world and presents emotionally somewhat tired and despondent.  

As the walk proceeds, Dragon says to Bear .. Out with it!  What has you so despondent?  

Bear thinks a moment and says:  We’ve been friends for a long time.  So, if I need a very large amount of money very quickly, will you give it to me?

Dragon, known for taking time to ponder the imponderables, walks on for a while and then comes to a firm stop.  

NO, says Dragon, I will not give it to you!

Bear’s shoulders fall .. but Dragon continues:  

I will lend it to you.  1.5 trillion the moment you ask for it, no interest, no repayment terms, pay me back when you can.

Another China-Russia joke

Bear walks into Dragon’s fabulous temple of goods. 

Bear is overwhelmed, and asks, timidly, 

“I need some of you wonderful items. All I have is rubles. Can you sell me some?” 

Rubles!” cries Dragon. 

“Your rubles are no good here! And I will turn my back on you for asking such an absurd thing and NOT turn around until you have left the temple. The Shopping carts are over there.”

From Russian MOD.

During a special military operation, an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) Main Directorate for Donetsk and Lugansk regions voluntarily surrendered to Russian servicemen.

▫️This officer was directly involved in organizing the training of sabotage and terrorist groups to work in areas liberated from the nationalists.

▫️The SSU officer provided detailed information regarding all persons involved in conducting sabotage activities on the territory of Donbass.

▫️I bring to the attention of all persons recruited by the SSU that voluntary renunciation of criminal activity and timely notification of it to law enforcement agencies releases from criminal liability.

▫️In addition, the SSU officer reported on terrorist acts planned by militants of the nationalist Azov battalion in Lvov against employees and facilities of diplomatic missions of the United States and other Western countries.

▫️I want to emphasize that the leadership of the Kiev regime is aware of the plans of the nationalists, but does not take any action to prevent their implementation.

▫️The Kiev nationalist regime plans to present attacks on diplomatic facilities of the United States and Western countries as an alleged targeted attack by the Russian Armed Forces.

▫️The main purpose of the provocation is to increase pressure on NATO countries to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine and provide additional weapons.

Chinese girl

These are not evil nasty filthy people, like what is being portrayed in the Western “news”. They are just regular people. Like me. Like you. video 4MB

Bio-World War 3! Has It Already Started?

Kevin Barrett interviews Ron Unz.

Russia and China have accused the US of riddling Ukraine—and the world—with biological weapons. Both nations are echoing (between the lines) Iran’s charge that the US unleashed the COVID-19 pandemic in a botched biological attack on Wuhan and Qom. Are we already in the middle of BioWW3?!
Bio-War III

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Russia uses a Hyper-velocity missile to destory a Ukraine warehouse

Kinzhal, which means ‘dagger’ in English, was used by the Russian military for the first time since the start of the Ukrainian conflict on February 24.

Those munitions are said to be able to penetrate any existing air defenses by traveling at a whopping speed of up to Mach 10 and constantly maneuvering during their flight.

Kinzhal missiles are carried by MiG-31K supersonic interceptor aircraft, which NATO calls ‘Foxhound’.

The hardware is one of several hypersonic systems prepared for the country’s military in recent years, together with the Avangard glider, which is fitted on silo-based ICBMs, and Zircon (Tsirkon) missiles, developed for the navy.

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2022 03 20 19 35

This warehouse was full of the latest high-technology weapons delivered by NATO and the United States to attack Russia.

This was a high-value target of great importance.

Because it was so well defended with American anti-aircraft and misslile defenses, the Russians used the Kinzhal aviation missile system (Hyper-velocity missile) that is immune to Western air defenses.

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2022 03 20 19 33

Read about it here…

The UK Sun

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Veterns Today

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Got a Little Surprise at 2:45 AM . . .

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At about 2:45 this morning, nestled all comfy in bed with my wife, we were woken up by the beeping sounds of the Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) going off in the house.   The electric went out.

Now for me, it’s no big deal.  For my wife . . .  she uses an oxygen concentrator, and it was shut down.

Mind you, she was breathing just fine, but for some reason known only to God, the fact that the electric was off, and the Oxygen concentrator was off, made my wife start to get nervous.   “What if I can’t breathe????” she asked.  (Having been married 30 years, I understood this as “wife talk” meaning “do something about this right now.”)

So I stumble outta bed, grab a little flashlight from the dresser and make my way out to the kitchen/dining room, grab a lighter and light a candle on the dining room table.

At my suggestion, my mom had long ago purchased oil lanterns and I grabbed one off the mantle over the wood burning stove, and lit it.  Then I took another and lit it, placing it in the living room, which helped give a glimmer of light to all the downstairs rooms.

Next step, get dressed.   If I’m going to fix this, I __have__ to hook up the generator outside.  So I get dressed, grab the keys to the shed and a larger flashlight, and out I go.   It’s raining.  Thunderstorm.   Probably the reason the lights went out.

I get over to the shed, unlock it, and have to lug this 300+ pound Westinghouse 15KW generator, across the yard, over gravel, to the area of the house where the generator inlet is mounted.   I get there, take the cover off the generator, and see the little yellow “BATTERY” light is on.   The main switch must have tuned on when we unloaded it from my pick up truck a couple weeks ago.  I figured “Oh great, watch it has a dead battery.”

This generator is electric start ONLY, there is no pull to manually start it.

So I go in the house, turn off the main circuit breaker, and then each of all the other breakers, and then I turn ON the breaker the generator is wired into from the outside.  (The reason for shutting off the main breaker is to disconnect the whole house from the power grid.  If a person fails to do that, then tries to start the generator, it will try to power the whole power grid as it’s trying to start, and will not start.  The reason I choose to turn off all the individual circuit breakers is to ease the generator into powering the whole house.   I don’t want it subjected to everything trying to grab power at the same time.)

I go back outside and connect the big 50 amp power wire to the house then to the generator, and go inside and press the start button on the generator’s remote control.  It cranks, stops.   I press start again, it cranks, and kicks-over into running mode!   I read the gauges: 120 Volts and 240 volts at 60 hertz.  YEEEE HAAAAA!

I go back in the house and, one at a time, turn each of the individual circuit breakers (But NOT the main) back on.  Full power available to everything.

So I put my cell phone on charge.  I had failed to do that when I went to sleep and it only had 39% charge.   As I put the phone on charge I see two missed calls.  One from ADT Burglar Alarm, the other from the Pennsylvania State Police.   OH SHIT, I forgot to disarm the silent alarm when I opened the back door to go outside for the generator ! ! ! ! !     I feel like a total idiot.

So I call the State Troopers, and they said “You will have to call the alarm company and give them the pass code and they will call to cancel us.”  I call ADT and get them to cancel the cops.

I microwave a cup of coffee that was still in the pot from yesterday, and sit down at this computer to do this personal “adventure” article . . . and the generator shuts off.  The whole house goes dark.   UH OH.

It turned out that my son and I only put enough gasoline in it to test it out when the generator first arrived at my condo in North Bergen, NJ.   I never fully gassed it up.   So I grab a five gallon gas can and put the whole thing in.   I come inside, shut off all the individual circuit breakers again and  press start on the remote.  It cranks and stops.   I press it again, it cranks and stops.   Third time, it kicks-over and runs.

All is good again.

As a side note, when I went outside to fill the gas, I heard some animal in the distance screech out a death-type screech.   I thought to myself, “Wow, something just got killed.”   It was THAT type of screech.

Out there somewhere in the dark woods, one thing attacked another thing, probably to eat it.  And nothing cared.   No one came running to save it.  No other creature intervened.

Something lived and ate, while something else died suddenly and brutally, to become food for the attacker.

Nature.  It does not give a shit about me, you, or anything else.   Survival of the fittest. Period end.

And THAT . . .  that right there .  . . is why I prep. It’s why I tell my readers and my radio audience to prep.   Because in the final analysis, nature does not give a shit if ANY of us live or die.  Nature does not care if I or my family eat or go hungry.  Nature does not care if I have electric or not.   Nature does not give a shit at all.

It is up to ME to plan.  I . . . have to be ready.  If not for myself, then for my family.

Because only those who prepare for what we all see coming, will even have a CHANCE at surviving.

More movement of nukes in the UK

Nuclear convoy ‘carrying several warheads’ travels 400 miles to UK arms depot – Mirror Online

UK Nukes

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US Special Forces Veteran Discovers What War Is Like When YOU Are the Taliban

“A core group of about 30 foreign fighters remains out of around 200 people who were here just minutes ago”

From an American volunteer on the front lines outside of Kyiv:

“Sitting close to the frontline, the last safe mode of transportation leaves for greener pastures. A core group of about 30 foreign fighters remains out of around 200 people who were here just minutes ago.

 The base we came from was struck by rockets in the early morning hours. People we lived with for a couple days are confirmed dead. It is only a matter of time before our location is targeted. We are about to be cut off by a Russian tank column any day now.”

“Food, water, and ammunition dwindle slowly. The mood is somber, people are sending their last messages to friends and family.”

“Where is NATO? Where is the supposed good of western civilization?”

An important note: this American is a special ops veteran who completed combat deployments to Afghanistan. [The perfect person to tell Russians it’s wrong to occupy countries.]

He came to Ukraine before Russia’s full-scale war on Feb. 24.

He is an experienced, well-trained soldier who gave up his lucrative career in the US in order to help Ukraine

Source: Nolan Peterson

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 3

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Articles & Links

Master Index

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  • You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
  • You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
  • You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
  • You can find out more about the author HERE.
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A democracy of fools is no democracy.

This article underlines and underscores a point that I have made time and time again. Which is that the United States isn’t a democracy, and every single item and shred of evidence points to something quite bad, and very sinister. We can parse one item such as the first Amendment being “blown out of the water” by the government funding narratives that it wants….

Like all things USA, good news out of China is suppressed, while bad news is promoted with loud megaphones. Video 7MB

The death of free media-1-2022-02-13_10.42.42

Such activity is banned under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted on December 16, 1966, by UN General Assembly Resolution 2200A (XXI). The first paragraph in Article 20 stipulates: “Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.”

What could be clearer? Still, maintaining a free hand has always been the main guiding principle for Washington and London.

While agreeing to be bound by the Covenant, the United States adopted the following reservation:

“Article 20 does not authorise or require legislation or other action by the United States that would restrict the right of free speech and association protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

What role does the American government play in providing for the civilian population?

… to every evidence that the issues that are important to the civilian population has near zero influence on the elected officials voting records.

In this article we will look at the purposeful dilution of voting-power of the citizenry. For after all, the vast bulk of amendments to the United States constitution has been wholly devoted to watering down the power each individual vote has.

For after all, when the United States came into being, only the male head of households, who were land owners could vote. And they played an active role in governance.

Not so today.

I argue that the voting power has been diluted to such an extend that it is nonexistent. And without voting power direct to the government, democracy does not exist.

Such is the United States today.

Anyways, this here is a great article by Fred. Love his writing style, and his points are poignant.

The Care and Feeding of the Rabble: Democracy its Own Self

By Fred Reed for the Saker Blog

Listening to Biden prattling about democracy, democracy, democracy, and how we must save American democracy from swarming threats to democracy, with the insistence and urgency of a starveling aluminum-siding salesman, I am filled with wonder. Convincing people that they live in a democracy is a lot of work, like pumping air into an inner tube with a leak. America is no more a democracy than it is a potted plant.

Functional Illiteracy at Fourteen Percent in America: Department of Education

Functional illiterates cannot fill out a job application, manage a checkbook, read a simple story in a newspaper, or use the social media. Those who can’t read don’t, and another large number who can barely read don’t either. At a low estimate they must amount to a quarter of the population. They vote.

Democracy is best suited to towns of a few hundred people who, however dim of wit in many cases, may understand such questions as should we build a new school which will cost me so many dollars in higher taxes. Even here the more crafty and avaricious will likely prevail.

Shocking Facts: 23 Statistics on Illiteracy in America

A problem in democracies—“democracies”—is of course that the dim, the inattentive, and those who are both dim and inattentive, will always outnumber the bright and informed. However, the syndrome worsens as the domain upon which the electorate is to make judgement expands from town to state to country to world. The number of unintelligent is constant. The number who are insufficiently attentive rises with the complexity of things needing attention. A cardiac surgeon is no fool, but has work, medical literature he needs to read, family, and a hobby or two. Little time is left to worry about semiconductor sanctions against China or Washington’s desire for Russia to invade the Ukraine.

Americans Know Literally Nothing About the Constitution

“Take your pick from this bouillabaisse of ignorance:

* More than one in three people (37%) could not name a single right protected by the First Amendment. THE FIRST AMENDMENT.

* Only one in four (26%) can name all three branches of the government. (In 2011, 38% could name all three branches.)

* One in three (33%) can’t name any branch of government.“

People so innocent of political grasp can have only the most vaporous notions of pressing political questions. They are either fools with minds best suited for working as gardeners or so little engaged with the surrounding society as to achieve the effect of being fools while still able to find their way home at night. Still others are not unintelligent but not interested. None of these should vote.

One in Four Americans Thinks the Sun Revolves Around The Earth

“A quarter of Americans surveyed could not correctly answer that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around, according to a report out Friday from the National Science Foundation.”

This is so astonishing that one might suspect it of coming from some crackpot blogger with no girlfriend living in his parents’ basement. But no. The National Science Foundation is about as respectable as they come. A quarter of the population are at the level of an undiscovered tribe living in the rain forests of the Amazon Basin and eating grubs fished from rotting logs. Little prospect exists that people in such darkness know much of anything else. Yet we encourage them to vote.

Several Baltimore Schools Report No Students Proficient in Reading, Math

“Six Baltimore City schools — five high schools and one middle school — were found to have not a single student who scored proficient in math or reading in 2016, Fox News reports.”

Others schools had only a handful of literate students. Math results were as grim. These “students “will be around for another fifty years if they are not shot, virtually unemployable. Yet they can vote.

The schools mentioned are all black, and similar figures would come out of similarly black schools in many other cities. What does this say about “democracy “in America?

Gallup: Forty-six Percent of Americans Believe in Creationism

The distribution of intelligence being symmetric, half of the population are below average. A man with an IQ of 90 is not actually stupid, doesn’t mumble or bump into things, and can successfully raise a family and drive a truck. Yet he is unlikely to grasp the foreign policy of the United States or, really, to have heard of it. If he has any knowledge at all of public affairs, it will be at the level of The Russians are bad, wherever exactly Russia is, so we need to spend more on Our Boys in Uniform.

A lot of people get their news from television, the medium of the illiterate and semiliterate. Obviously, not everybody who watches television is illiterate, but everybody who is illiterate watches television. Many don’t watch the news at all, it being complicated and mysterious and talking about the inexplicable and unknown, such as Kazakhstan and Nordstream Two. The consequence is that if MSNBC and CNN say over and over that the Chinese are doing something terrible, most will believe it. Judging by the intellectual level of much of television, a sentence with a dependent clause will exceed the capacities of many. They vote.

Lincoln famously said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” You don’t have to. Being a politician, he didn’t add that you can fool enough of the people enough of the time, and that is enough. This is the basis of American democracy.

77% Of Students At One Baltimore High School Read at Elementary, Kindergarten Level

”In reading, 628 Patterson High School students took the test. Out of those students, 484 of them, or 77%, tested at an elementary school reading level. That includes 71 high school students who were reading at a kindergarten level and 88 students reading at a first-grade level. Another 45 are reading at a second-grade level. Just 12 students tested at Patterson High School, were reading at grade level, which comes out to just 1.9%.”

Democracy? A democracy of fools is no democracy. It allows the very smart, concentrated in New York and Washington, the governing suites of major corporations and, nowadays, the distributed wunderkind of the tech firms, to run the country from behind the scenes. Whether intended or not, the drive to lower the voting age and enfranchise the ghetto populations serve only to further diminish the pitiable competence of the electorate and allow the elites to keep these untermenschen out of the hair of their betters.

Pelosi says she backs lowering voting age to 16

“I myself have always been for lowering the voting age to 16,” Pelosi said. “I think it’s really important to capture kids when they’re in high school, when they’re interested in all of this, when they’re learning about government, to be able to vote.”

The less bright, less informed, and less experienced of life are easier to mold and manipulate. Who could be better than children?

If America wanted a functional democracy, which it doesn’t, it would, first, raise the voting age to 25 or 30. The idea that adolescents of eighteen with no experience of life beyond libidinous frat parties, much less sixteen-year-olds, can vote intelligently is silly. (Not that I have anything against libidinous frat parties. They just aren’t qualification for voting)

This would require a recognition that voting should be a privilege, not an entitlement and that government should be done by people able to do it.

Second, a demanding version of the old literacy test would serve wonderfully. This should demonstrate at a minimum a reading fluency of political ideas express in standard English. A reasonable grasp of world geography and American government might profitably be required. Perhaps a measured IQ of 120 or better should be in the mix.

This would make the bamboozlement and competitive shooing of the puzzled much, much harder, which is why it will never fly with the elites who find an electorate of the easily led congenial.

These measures would also screen out various minorities disproportionately. They would also ignite the resentment against the bright and cultivated that forms the bedrock of American society.

Comprehensive ignorance extends to groups many of whom are presumably well educated. Consider the following:

Poll: 44% of liberals say more than 1k unarmed black Americans killed by police in 2019

“According to the Washington Post database, regarded by Nature magazine as the “most complete database,” 13 unarmed black men were fatally shot by police in 2019. According to a second database called “Mapping Police Violence”, compiled by data scientists and activists, 27 unarmed black men were killed by police (by any means) in 2019.”

This shows that forty-four percent of liberals are incompetent to vote. If the misestimate is reduced to five hundred, many more believe it. Similar numbers could probably be compiled for conservatives on other questions, conspiracy theories being promising candidates.

Race is the most dangerous, destructive, and intractable problem facing America, yet these people are too stupid, lazy, inattentive, emotional, or worm-eaten by ideology to have even a faint grasp of what is happening. But they vote.

If liberals, a category including academia, the media, and a great many of the highly educated believe such wildly erroneous numbers, it is likely that blacks, a group in large part poorly educated, believe these things at a higher rate. Do you suppose convincing them that they are being slaughtered en masse improves race relations?

The very bright will always rule, though not always obviously. An IQ of 140 is said to be entry level for Wall Street. This excludes well over ninety-nine percent of the population. Mike Pompeo, while a wretched human being, was first in class at West Point and editor of the Harvard Law Review, Hillary a National Merit Fninalist, putting her in the upper .5 percent of test-takers in Illinois. Bill was a Rhodes scholar.

Intellectual mediocrities will often be in prominent positions, Joe and Kamala being examples, in Congress and the White House, these being storefronts for the very smart. The brains, and the power, are in the shadows. But, methinks, a genuinely bright electorate would be less likely to anoint freaks and rogues.

Interesting question: What would be the effect of requiring an IQ of 130, the cutoff for Mensa, to vote? The idea will arouse shrieks from an American public famously resentful of excellence except in football. (I am reminded of a fellow fourteen-year-old in Athens, Alabama who, seeing me reading a book on biology, said angrily, “You ain’t no gooder’n me.”) A test for voting of course runs against the current policy of enfranchising the mentally lame and halt. Would the upper two percent of the population do a better job of electing leaders? They would certainly be much more difficult to con.

I will now go to the American Legion in Chapala, which makes really good huevos rancheros, which I will accompany with a double bourbon, and pretend that things aren’t as they are. Sometimes, it works.

Conclusions and some thoughts

Guys, it’s obvious that the United States is a Military Empire.

I mean you have to be a fucking idiot not to know this, and anyone who runs around saying “America has freedom”, and “democracy is the best” really needs their head examined. They are ignorant fools, and thus deserve the life that a military empire will provide for them; serf-servitude or slavery. Take you pick.

Now, I could insert a movie and video that clarifies this point. but I won’t it’s really very obvious.

The point of this article is that the United States is not at all what it claims to be. And that it relies on media and ignorance to maintain.

Media. Tell American how great, special and exceptional they are, while filling their minds with fear.

Ignorance. Dumb down the educational system. Ban all sources of information, and provide only sources that the government controls.

But the world is changing, and this kind of Military Empire is going the way of the Dodo bird. It’s not sustainable, and not practical, and once Asia implement global alternative for SWIFT, will become economically unfeasible.

To understand what Americ is today, we should not look at the tanks, the military aircraft and the people living in tents in the big American cities, but rather see what America used to be like. When there was still hope for a brighter and better future, and where jobs were plentiful, rights still existed, and it was affordable jsut to be alive.

At the time of my parents, one person could work in a job. They would be guranetted never to be laid-off, and obtain reasonable benefits to include free health care for thei family, month off for vacations, bonuses, and holiday parties at least two times a year.

Families could buy and afford a house that would be apid off in ten years, and brand new cars in cash.

Oldsmobile, 1958

They could relax and drink at work, at home, at the restrurants. There were no bans in anything. In fact, an America could even buy tanks, military aircraft and cannons without anyone blinking an eyelash.

The military was a place of honor. It was what you joined to defend your liberty and your freedom, and in those days, American really did have freedom. Americans didn’t need to wear seat belts, speed limits on roads were a rarity, school caferteris served generous helps of foods that included meats, and vegitables, where nothing was instant, pre-processed, or frozen.

USAF, Florida, 1953

While America has it’s own taboos, and traditions, people still were able to enjoy life and buildcompanies, magazines, and other venues without being crushed by the government, and other mega-corporations.

Like the Playboy empire.

Decorating the still furnished wall of the new Playboy Club in New York City are the shapely hostesses. The girls dressed in “Bunnie” costumes, (left to right), Elaine Gallo, Lynn Smith, Bette West, Laura Addams, Virginia Hebel and Morta Andersen had been trained to serve as waitress’ in the key club which had recently opened, ca 1970s.

Try opening a similiar venue today.

Do you think that it would be easy?

Consider what America was like when Playboy started to publish and started prenting “the girl next door” soft-core semi-nudes in it’s pages. Consider what America was like. Yet, still the Playboy empire was able to manifest.

Three young ladies prepare to have their pictures taken in Manhattan photo booths in April 1954.

Different times, and different social norms. Yes. That’s for certain.

But it’s more than just fashion and society. It is the very nature of the fabric of that society has changed. No longer run by talent, and patriots, the United States (as a nation) has been taken over completely by psychopathic personalities and sociopathic individuals who themselves have small armies of revenue-sucking toadies that combined siphon off money from the serf-slave electorate.

Sure, then as now, people are people. They live, and love. They eat food, and they work in various capacities.

Love on the balcony.

But it’s the entire government strucutre has changed.

In the 1950’s America was a “democracy”.

Today, America is a Military Empire, and the actions and behaviors of the citizenry has been absolutely reflected by that change.  If you look at history; from the lens of history, you will see that in every case, all military empires develop a strange collection of civilian behaviors domestically, and that is reflected in the laws that that society manifests for it’s people to live by.

Thus it should be no surprise that the American government is so pro-LGBT and so obscessed with everything progressive and novel.

But that was not the case when the American government was healthy, and was an actual functioning democracy.

Boy and his duck, 1953

So what can you do about it?

Well, historically these kinds of government eventually die off. They historical ways are well documented…

  • Internal revolt.
  • Defeat in a war.
  • Or collapse in stages to a much smaller entity.

Most people have very little say in the three above mechanisms. So I advise fleeing to “greener patures” and safer havens.

But…

In any event, the best thing that a person can do is to be a Rufus.

Rufus gives a guy a break. The poor guy cannot pay. So he give him all his food. The Rufus, while upset, puts the food back, and let’s the guy go.

Be the Rufus. Video. 96MB

Just say hi. You know, life will pass you buy. So smile more, and don’t over think. Most adults (not so much for teenagers and young people) will appreciate you talkign to them. SO say hi. Thell them what you think. Don’t do it for any other reason than to be nice.

Maybe good things will come out of it. Be the Rufus. Video. 98MB

Just, Be the Rufus. Video. 20MB

Do you want more?

I have more posts like this in my Corrupt America Index here…

Corrupt USA

Articles & Links

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  • You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
  • You can also ask the author some questions. You can go HERE to find out how to go about this.
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The USA is planning something BIG that will be a surprise to the world (uh oh alert)

Yes. There is something “big” in the works on the USA side. I am getting multiple confirmations from my resources. No one is saying anything tangible. And when you are in the “black world” (American special access programs – being a “spook”), this absence of Intel speaks  volumes. Something “big” is planned. And the components and pieces are moving into place.

Head’s up everyone.

This is coming from numerous sources.

Including my own brother.

Scooby Doo

Today I was pleasantly surprised by an email from my brother. I was surprised because I haven’t heard from him in about a year, and he never answered my emails, skype messages or anything like that. It was just “dead air”. After a while, you know, you just stop and think “well, he’s lying low key” and let him be.

He’s gone “X ray”.

His email was interesting. He said that the reason why he wasn’t writing or answering any of my “pings” was because he was “too busy”.

People(!) no one is more busier than I am, and look at all that I churn out.

Anyways, I just let that all roll off my shoulders and read the content of the email.

  • He just came back from a visit with a mutual boyhood friend of ours. Who is now in San Diego and while he works in civilian government he is still directly tied to the US Navy and the submarine basing forces there.
  • Right after he chatted, and came back home, he told me that he had to send me an email.

He just “had” to send me an email.

The content reads…

  • It’s not “safe” in China.
  • I should get the next flight to the USA where it is “safe”.
  • Leave immediately, he said. Do not put it off. Leave THIS week.

Oh my!

Well, seeing that I have businesses, homes, not to mention a family with wife and children, and friends, and all of that, it seems rather strange for him to insist that I “bug out”. Leave my wife, and my children behind. Abandon my homes. My jobs. My lifestyle and my society for what ever the hell the United States is collapsing towards.

Especially since his ideas and impressions of what is safe and what isn’t doesn’t resemble anything that I experience. So maybe he is talking about world war III. Ah. If America cannot be number one, then no one can.

Anyways, there’s nothing in the USA for me. But it’s worse than that, the USA is collapsing head over heels.

Now, I don’t know what kind of “news” is popular in the United States today, I pretty must assume that it’s the same old repackaged lies of “China is collapsing”, “war is any moment now”, and all of that horse rot. But I am not falling for it, though it seems that everyone inside the United States is.

I don’t know what they all discussed on their visit, but I’ll be willing to wager that it is based on some absurd impressions from the “news”, and some observations from talking with other all of the same mindset. Like maybe this…

Anyways, I replied. I told him…

  • China is doing good. All is great here.
  • China and Russia are aligned militarily, and war against China will include Russia. And it will be nuclear.
  • Were a war to happen, the USA would be completely devastated. It would lose, and lose very badly.

Now, I am sure that he doesn’t want to hear that, but that’s the way it is.

He did say that he is now locked inside of the USA because the State Department sill not issue him a new replacement passport because the IRS has alerted the government that he is a “Tax Protestor”.

Funny that a person that is stuck inside the USA gulag wants me to join him. Misery loves company, perhaps?

This article

We all know this; the USA is pushing, pushing, and pushing in all levels of provocation to force a war with China. The American people are primed for this war. The military is ready, and the Washington DC folk are as excited as young children on Christmas eve. War is gonna happen, and the USA has special “tricks” that will make it happen.

Hoyeru says:
October 28, 2021 at 4:52 am GMT • 9.3 hours ago 

(This is a) strange column that somehow manages to miss the obvious. 

So i will add it: The US is so pissed and upset about china winning, they are willing to destroy the whole earth including themselves. 

If they can't control the world, nobody else will. 

It's pure spite.

We will start off with this great article I pulled from Ron’s operation…

Bumbling Menace Blinken Says Taiwan Should Join the UN

 

Like every individual in the Biden Administration, the bumbling menace Antony Blinken stumbles from weird event to ensuing weird event.

His latest strange and confounding behavior is asserting the claim that the false country of Taiwan should join the UN.

What the Biden Administration is doing is the equivalent of poking China with a stick.

RT:

After the US secretary of state claimed Taipei’s accession to the UN would be pragmatic, Beijing hit back, reiterating that Taiwan should not be granted permission to join the body because the island was part of China.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing told reporters the UN was an international governmental organization made up of sovereign states – and Taiwan wasn’t one.

“Taiwan is a part of China,” Ma stated, adding, “Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations.”

The spokesman’s comments came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Tuesday marking 50 years since the UN General Assembly voted to replace Taipei’s seat with Beijing’s that he regretted Taiwan’s absence.

Blinken said the reason the island’s participation in the UN would be welcomed was not political but pragmatic. “As the international community faces an unprecedented number of complex and global issues, it is critical for all stakeholders to help address these problems. This includes the 24 million people who live in Taiwan.” 

The statement is not political or pragmatic – it’s a provocation.

This is what the plan is, apparently: the Biden plan to “contain China” is a bullying harassment campaign.

Instead of just declaring war, they do things to attempt to publicly humiliate China.

The concept of “face”

It’s worth noting that decades ago, the West was trying to understand China and became fixated on the concept of “face.” They talked so much about it that we actually have the loan idiom from the Chinese language – “saving face.”

The Chinese – and general Asian – concept of “face” is similar to honor, but more complicated. It is also related to what we would call “prestige.”

It includes honor, just like our idea of honor: being a good member of the community and nation, who is respected and viewed as being morally righteous, and willing to sacrifice for others and the good of the community or nation.

But ” building face” also includes wearing certain clothing styles (now associated with brands), driving certain cars, living in certain areas, going on vacations, and other things we associate with prestige.

Another aspect, which I guess we would just call “power” or “authority,” is the ability of an individual to exercise his will in society, and to make things happen. (Just for example, if you ask someone to get you tickets to a sold out event and they deliver, that person would be “building face” as someone capable of making things happen.) All of this is combined to create a person’s “face,” which is his persona as seen by the world.

(For the record, the concept of “face” is also the basis of the social credit system, which is why virtually all Chinese people support the social credit system – it’s built on a foundational element of their society.)

Anyway, this is what the boomers who analyzed Chinese culture in the 1970s determined was the driving force behind Chinese psychology.

I think that is more or less true.

The United States is following a plan that is no longer viable, but doing so blindly out of ignorance.

As I explained in my very long piece about China a couple weeks ago, the current regime in America is clearly acting on plans laid by more competent men who are mostly dead.

So, when I see something like Blinken coming out and saying “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if Taiwan joined the UN?”, I am able to see that this is part of a very shoddy attempt to cause the Chinese authorities to “lose face.”

It’s very vulgar behavior, and it is intended to appear vulgar. What Blinken is attempting to do – more likely, what his advisors are attempting to do – is insult the Chinese authorities and make them look inept and incapable.

What isn’t clear is what exactly the goal of this is. It would make sense in the context of attempting to:

  • Humiliate the Chinese leadership to the point that the regime collapses (this isn’t possible, and the US authorities really should understand that by now), or
  • Try to bait the Chinese into doing something stupid to “save face” (Xi is not ever going to do anything he doesn’t mean to do, so this also doesn’t make sense)

Really, all I’m able to do personally is just observe.

America has no goals with China

I do not understand the goals of the US State Department and Department of Defense with regards to China, beyond the fact that they are fixated on regime change.

I’m not an expert on military strategy, and I’m highly skeptical of anyone who claims to understand how a war would unfold in this third decade of this third millennium after Christ.

However, given what I understand about the current social situation inside China, I am quite certain that there is no possibility of doing a Ukraine-style color revolution. It’s just not happening.

The Chinese people love Xi like they loved Mao, and just do a little bit of research on what the Chinese people tolerated from Mao.

I am completely unclear on how well the Washington establishment understands China, but having seen their actions, I would say not very well.

That’s why it looks to me as if Blinken’s team simply read some book talking about “face” and decided to attempt to humiliate them.

Mike Pompeo and the Deep State

We should also note that Mike Pompeo took a very similar approach, and that he is still planning State Department strategy at the Hudson Institute, where he is billed as an expert on foreign policy and China.

The State Department is one organization in the US government that is very obviously “deep state” in that it never changes from administration to administration. Whether officials are appointed by Republicans or Democrats, they move in and out of these same think tanks, which active government officials consult with so habitually that they are effectively extensions of the state.

Pompeo’s big play was to incite an Antifa revolution in Hong Kong.

I still do not understand what the purpose of that was, exactly. In theory, it would have been to cause Xi Jinping to lose face, to make it look like he was unable to control the city, and maybe to attempt to stir up discontent in the mainland.

Again, this shows a total lack of understanding of the situation.

The end result of the violence in Hong Kong was that Beijing closed the city down, and started banning all of the State Department’s schools for indoctrinating youth into revolutionary liberal ideology. If I had planned the strategy, I would not have wanted to have sacrificed the ability to influence Hong Kong so recklessly.

By fomenting those strange riots, the State Department gain literally nothing, and in fact they severely damaged their own image, and hardened the Chinese in all territories against the US.

Hilariously, the right-wing in Taiwan now cites the Hong Kong riots as a reason not to trust the West.

Chinese people are all very aware that these riots were incited by the West, and this is viewed as distasteful in the extreme, and also mystifying.

(In general, there is an overwhelming sense of confusion among the Chinese as to the intentions of the United States, but there is a certain amount of natural good will based on a positive perception of Hollywood and certain American companies, such as Apple. Instead of using that good will for definite ends, the State Department has pissed it away recklessly, and continues to do so.)

Clueless America

Obviously, the average American has literally no idea what is going on.

Even Americans who are semi-engaged with politics think that Taiwan is somehow a real country, that it is independent from China, and that China is planning to invade it.

In fact, Taiwan is not a country. It is a part of China.

Because it is an island, a separate revolutionary entity opposed to the CCP fled there during the 1940s. The Kuomintang had failed as China’s government and been overthrown by Mao’s forces, but the West protected them as they fled to the island. To this day, the “Republic of China” still claims to be the real government of China, despite the fact that it is nearly a century since they lost control of China in the 1930s.

At the end of World War II, just as the US quickly turned against their war ally the USSR, and established West Berlin, they also turned against their former ally the CCP, and established Taiwan. Modern Taiwan is as much of a relic of the post-war era as East Germany, it is simply that Taiwan still exists, because unlike the USSR, China was well-managed and did not collapse.

Illogical American leadership

The logical conclusion of any thinking person would be that the conflict between the East and West is over, and we should all just move on with our lives.

The US should negotiate a peaceful Chinese reunification, get a lot out of the deal in terms of reasonable Chinese concessions, and be done with it.

But that obvious thing cannot happen, because the regime that controls the United States – which, for a lack of a better term, can be referred to as “ZOG” (Zionist Occupation Government), is hellbent on creating a global government, and it is impossible to do that while China remains standing as an independent, traditionalist, nationalistic state.

So at this point, the purpose of Taiwan is to use it as a battering ram against the government of mainland China.

But there is no clear chink in the Chinese armor wherein to jam that battering ram. Thus, the State Department is instead opting for irate harassment and bullying.

Real Options

This is obviously not a long-term strategy, and given that the CIA has completely failed to create any significant fifth column inside of China, their only real option is to start a full on war with the Chinese and I guess just hope it works out.

If you understand all of this, it is really crazy to watch.

Apparently, they want to manipulate China into drawing first blood.

But then what happens?

What is step two?

The United States is going to have a nuclear war with China?

A nuclear war?

It’s unlikely that the US could win that war.

Frankly, the mere suggestion that people like Mark Milley and Lloyd Austin are going to successfully manage a war against China is both laughable and viscerally offensive.

It could be massively destructive, resulting in hundreds of millions of dead.

But a decisive victory by the US just doesn’t seem possible.

What’s more, there is no possibility of negotiation, given that the Chinese are so nationalistic, and have more or less zero interest in being part of the “international community” beyond selling people high quality products at reasonable prices.

What’s more, they are basically holding all the cards.

If you game out any potential outcome of this conflict, China wins.

Maybe the US could land a few nukes and wipe out some people, but if there’s one thing China has a lot of, it’s people. And unlike the US, the Chinese would be able to deal with being nuked.

The destruction of one or more major US cities, on the other hand, would completely obliterate the psyche of the American population.

You also have the fact that funding the war machine would be virtually impossible. The dollar as global reserve currency could not survive very much war, and it would come down to sheer raw productivity.

All previous wars have been won based on who had the bigger production output capacity, and the Chinese beat the US on that front, probably by an order of magnitude in real terms.

If the American leadership were smart…

If the people in Washington were smart, they would back off, and try to regroup. The problem is, they don’t have anything to regroup.

They’ve already gone all in on “diversity and inclusion,” putting what should be their most capable human capital on fentanyl or labeling them domestic terrorists.

If I was running this show, I would have skipped this moronic virus hoax and allowed Trump to remain in office on the condition that he start a war with the Chinese.

It still would have been a long shot, but it would have been within the realm of possibility. You could have stirred up the competent segments of American society with patriotic war energy, and used that to reestablish a production base in the United States.

But they didn’t do that.

They did something totally insane.

They stole the election for Joe Biden, who is probably the single least popular leader the country has ever had, with a plan to replace him with the much less popular Kamala Harris.

Then they effectively declared war on the native population of the country, labeling them domestic terrorists.

They are now attempting to force vaccinate the entire population, and they are willing to cripple the country’s productivity in order to force through this inexplicable gene therapy agenda.

Complete cluster fuck

If I had to guess, I would say that you have very little communication and possibly even very little awareness between whoever is running this plan for a war against China and whoever is running this domestic war against the domestic population.

The whole thing just looks totally chaotic and demented.

The bottom line is this: I do not think there is any possible way that the World Economic Forum’s “Agenda 2030” is going to come to fruition in 2030, or ever.

If the US were to back off of this push for conflict with Russia and China, they would simply end up totally crushed economically by China as they put their own population into extreme austerity using bizarre technological tyranny.

What is likely going to happen is that the US (and to various extents the rest of the West) is going to get increasingly brutal and weird, while China continues to advance economically, technologically and militarily.

You’re going to have a situation where the United States is just an utter mess, where no one really even understands what the goals or agendas are, and eventually the dollar is going to collapse, and that will be the end of the American Empire.

The end of the American Empire will be the beginning of the end of our tribulations.

For the American people, I do not think there is any solution to what is happening now, political or otherwise.

The only logical thing for an individual to do is try to stay out of the way while this lumbering beast staggers and eventually collapses.

After it collapses, we can reassess, and figure out how to build something new from the ashes.

The exciting part is that those of us who make it through this time of such trouble alive will probably live to see the other side. I’m as optimistic about the mid-to-late 2030s as I am pessimistic about the next decade.

So says one person

The truth is that no one really knows what lies in store in all of our futures. But we do know a couple of things. These are as obvious as the keyboard in front of my hands.

  • The USA “leadership” are following a script mindlessly.
  • The script is out of date.
  • The USA has numerous “bubbles” that are about to pop.
  • In a move that reeks of desperation, the USA is aggressively pushing and pushing and pushing for war.
  • The only way for these trends to be mitigated is for the USA to get on with it, and collapse already.

Now, there are many, many aspects of issues all tied in in regards to this. The next article looks at the IC, AI and supercomputing realms…

China has already reached exascale computing

From HERE.

US is trying to kneecap China AI and Supercomputing by hitting it at the lower stacks (semiconductor fabs) but its in Chinese interest to reclaim its rogue provinence sooner than later…

Right now US is forcing Taiwan TSMC to cut ties with mainland Chinese firms yet prioritizing chip making for US origin firms like Intel, Apple, GM, Boeing etc…

The conflict between US and China is an economic conflict, not a political one.

The economic conflict arises exlusively from the the unnatural and unsustainable state and position of the US economy which operates as a global rent-seeker.

The US’ primary export good is the US dollar which is sold globally with the threat of force backing the sale. Officially the arrangement operates as follows: the US provides security – typically against a third party – and the “protected” countries in turn buy dollars. Unofficially the US uses direct threat – typically in an an indirect attack against the country’s economy and destabilization of its security – to facilitate USD sales.

This is in particular true of the so called “allies” – most importantly Germany and Japan in the 80s and 90s.

Though it might seem as a “security arrangement with a subscription fee payable in USD” in reality it is the exact opposite – and arguably always has been for any money producer throughout history.

The military establishment rarely seeks to expand its power as numerous examples of military dictatorships demonstrate. Military dictatorships tend to expand only as means of reinforcing their internal power structure. Consistently throughout history the primary driving force for war and imperialistic expansion are the banks.

Not the industry – as the industry has ways to compete for foreign markets through innovation or currency devaluation.

The banks however have only one product – money – and its value is entirely dependent on its unit of account and its purchasing power. What is also important it is the banks and fiat currencies that operate exactly on the principle of economic exploitation.

Marx was wrong about this being a general principle of “capitalist” mode of production and the 20th century provided evidence for that.

However when applied to the description of for profit production of money it necessarily works along the principles of exploitation since the nature of the good/product (money) makes it extremely inflexible in terms of deriving profits.

They can only be achieved through devaluation of purchasing power – which leads the users to abandon currency – or through increased demand. Money is literally a “unit of account”. There is no room for optimization. You either take it as it is or leave it as it is.

The only way to enhance money as a product is to package it with another basket of goods. Germany and the EU package the Euro with the access to highly valuable markets or export goods.

The US used to do so early in the history of the global dollar system (early after WW2) when the US had 40% of world’s industrial production, 60% o the world’s oil, a majority of the world’s food production and the world’s most potent military.

However this position was ruined by predatory behavior of American ruling class and currently the US offers very little in terms of voluntary transaction. Even the most dynamic industry – IT – operates on the basis of the theft of value (data) rather than the provision of it.

The problem arises from the mutually supporting structures of US global financial cartel and its military machine.

The financial cartel finances the military machine and the military machine enables the financial cartel.

One can’t exist without each other and the weakening of each will result in the necessary weakening of the other.

Here’s a short run-down of US vulnerability.

In nominal terms the US economy currently constitutes approximately 24,5% of world’s GDP. In comparison the Euro area constitutes approximately 15% of the world’s GDP. China in nominal terms, measured at the current artificially lowered exchange rate, has approximately 17,5% of world’s GDP.

In PPP terms the US economy is actually slightly smaller (due to the overvaluation of the USD), while Eurozone is slightly larger, and China is substantially larger.

Now compare it to the share of global currency reserves – the USD constitutes 59% of global reserves, the EUR constitutes 21% of reserves and the RMB constitutes 2% of reserves having been listed only since 2016.

This is crucial to understand American vulnerability.

The Euro

If Euro takes a hit on international markets it retains its natural ability to resist since its loss of value will improve the attractiveness of Eurozone exports which are the main source of demand for Euro. Even if Euro loses some of its demand it can be absorbed internally by the Eurozone.

In fact, this has been precisely the case since the Eurozone crisis which started a few years after 2008.

The vulnerability of the Euro is political (hence America’s attempts to destabilize the EU) and not economic.

Furthermore if the Eurozone was dissolved it would lead to the creation of a stronger currency – since Euro is the German Mark weighed down by various weak currencies like the Franc, Lira, Peso etc – that could take comparatively greater share of world reserves just like it was the case in the 80s.

The Chinese RMB

If Renminbi takes a hit on international markets it has almost no consequence at this point.

The US Dollar

If the US takes a hit on international markets then this hit will be translated through the magnitude of the global dollar reserves which are circa 140% greater than America’s share of the global economy at present moment.

The dollar reserves are helping to increase the nominal size of the US economy so any loss of demand will necessarily lead to smaller economy i.e. a death spiral since the US has largely deindustrialized and its industry is incapable of supporting its currency.

Therefore the dollar depends on the US military power and its ability to continue enabling forcible sales of USD.

The moment American “security” no longer is has value it results in loss of demand for USD.

How does American “security” loses value?

It has to be credibly challenged and made impotent.

This applies anywhere on the globe so if US is engaged in a protracted large conflict with China it means it can’t provide “security” anywhere else.

Remember that the UK won the WW2 and still lost the empire simply because they were not able to match supply of Sterling with the demand for it since they no longer provided global security for trade.

This means two things:

Any conflict over Taiwan is advantageous to China in the long term regardless of the outcome in the short term.

Any conflict over Taiwan is disadvantageous to America in the long term regardless of the outcome in the short term.

And this means that the conflict over Taiwan is not a real conflict in its own right, but a tool for something greater.

It is a tool for America’s attempt to physical separate its rent-generating properties from the globalized world which no longer allows them to retain their advantage in perpetuity.

America established a global economy under its hegemony because it was the global American empire with USD as its currency.

Now that the position of USD and the hegemon is vulnerable it wants to dissolve the empire and establish a new one, which will be then followed by inflationary escape from external debt (Weimar solution) and establishing of a “new dollar” backed by American military power.

In other words the US wants to return to the days of the cold war where “1st world is American sphere of influence” , “2nd world is China sphere of influence” and “3rd world” is the contested area.

Taiwan does not matter.

The US wants to change the rules of capital movement through state action so that the new rules continue to benefit its ruling class.

This is why

This is why they instigate tensions in Europe with Russia and push their European vassals to recognize Taiwan. It is all about decoupling the Eurozone from Russia and China and reinstating American military power as solution to “Russian threat” and “Chinese threat” as the foundation of its money production and rent-seeking.

And this explains also the psyop relating to Hongkong, Xinjiang and attacks at Chinese investments and commercial activities.

Not to mention Covid the covert CIA biovirus that carpet bombed the economies of the developing world.

It is not about attacking China since the US knows it is impossible.

It is about tearing the current global economy apart to protect its position.

American ruling class is attempting to secede from the international system to protect its position much in the same way as the ruling class of the American South seceded from the Union it created to protect its position.

Similarly the ruling class of United Kingdom seceded from the EU to protect its money-laundering and tax-evading industry.

An interesting perspective…

Both of these perspectives show reasons and observations. And they all seem to be pretty “spot on”.

Both argues that the USA is collapsing, and it is thrashing out of an ignorant leadership to pull back and regain or maintain some of it’s control. This is true whether it is military or economic, or social. I can understand that.

Now, let’s look at a third perspective.

Taiwan Demonstrates that the American Empire is a Paper Tiger

Taiwan has long been the rationale for meddling in China’s affairs but the latest interference poses great danger for “paper tiger” nation.

Mao Zedong often referred to U.S. imperialism as a paper tiger. This is truer today than it was in the mid-20th century when Mao frequently employed the phrase. No matter how bellicose the American empire becomes, its strength is more appearance than fact. Brutal violence and exploitation are thus signs of weakness, not legitimacy or credibility. The U.S.’s recent military maneuvers around the issue of Taiwan clearly signal a growth in the decay of the American Empire.

Taiwan has been a topic of conversation in the U.S. corporate media throughout the month of October. Headlines have circulated that claim China has escalated military tensions by flying military aircraft over Taiwan’s so-called Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The ADIZ was created by the United States after World War II and isn’t recognized by international law. In fact, Taiwan’s so-called ADIZ includes large portions of mainland China. This hasn’t stopped the U.S. media from beating the drums of war with China.

The U.S. Department of Defense under Joe Biden has affirmed its commitment to threatening war with China over Taiwan. Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby has warned China that its so-called “pressure campaign” on Taiwan requires the United States to step up efforts to “protect” the island from “danger.” Just days after Kirby’s speech, U.S. and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait in a show of joint military force not seen since the U.S. normalized relations with China in 1979. This blatant intensification of military aggression came just a week after reports surfaced that the U.S. had spent the last year secretly deploying special forces to Taiwan.

The American empire has a long history of using Taiwan to meddle in China’s affairs. After pouring heavy financial and military support into the Kuomintang’s (KMT) brutal war against the Communist-led revolution of 1949, the U.S. supported the KMT’s exile to Taiwan. The U.S. heavily militarized Taiwan and even threatened to use nuclear weapons in an attempt to undermine the Chinese revolution. More than two decades would pass before the U.S. cease the prevention of the People’s Republic of China to gain full recognition at the United Nations in place of the “Republic of China” government located in Taiwan. In 1972, the U.S. signed the Shanghai Communiqué —a document that stipulates U.S. recognition of Taiwan as part of China and clearly articulates that the U.S. will cease all attempts to military intervene in its affairs.

That Taiwan is part of China is not controversial outside of the parasitic lens of U.S. and Western imperialism. Taiwan has experienced centuries of colonial incursions. This includes a half-century of Japanese colonialism that ended only after Chinese resistance forces sacrificed more than fifteen million people to win historic victories against fascism in World War II. The return of Taiwan to China is thus an important victory for the anti-colonial movement. And it is this victory that the United States is currently working hard to reverse.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden have provided staunch support to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the separatist political party ruling in Taiwan. In 2019, Trump signed the TAIPEI Act into law which encourages the U.S. to facilitate deeper ties between international organizations and Taiwan’s separatist-led government. This blatant violation of the One-China policy has been followed up with billions worth in military arms deals to Taiwan. After Trump approved $1.8 billion in arms sales to Taiwan to end his administration, Biden signed off on $750 million more in military weapons transfers to Taiwan which included 40 M109A6 Medium Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems. These maneuvers bolster the Western-oriented government in Taiwan led by President Tsai Ing-wen, a devout separatist who has openly called Taiwan “vibrantly democratic and Western.”

U.S. interference in China’s relations with Taiwan has made a profound impact on U.S. public opinion. More than half of Americans now support U.S. military intervention in Taiwan . Of course, the poll conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs added “if China invades” to the question for added anti-China effect. That the poll would promote the propaganda that China could invade its own province should come as no surprise. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs is funded in large part by the Pritzker Foundation . The Pritzker family’s enormous wealth derives not only the from the Hyatt hotel but also from its deep connections to war profiteering and the CIA.

Taiwan is the clearest expression of the U.S.’s agenda to reassert neocolonialism in the Asia Pacific as a means to counter China’s rise. However, attempts to bully China over Taiwan have no legitimate end goal. China will not bow down to the claims that Taiwan is an “independent country” since no such thing is acknowledged by international law. The United States must think long and hard about escalating militarily with China. Despite an enormous shift of U.S. military resources to the Indo-Pacific Command, war strategists and profiteers alike would face heavy casualties in a direct conflict with China’s high-tech military armed with a nuclear deterrence.

Unlike the first Cold War, the American Empire is in precipitous decline. Economic immiseration is all the American Empire has to offer the vast majority of humanity. U.S. military policy only facilitates death, destruction, and displacement. U.S. domestic politics are mired in stagnation and lack the capacity to address any fundamental problem facing working class and oppressed people. The paper tiger of American Empire is being ripped apart by its own contradictions. Crisis is the only stable feature left remaining of the American Empire’s so-called dominance.

China does not possess such problems. China’s government has shown consistent respect for international law with regard to Taiwan. China’s stable, prospering socialist economy has eliminated extreme poverty and contained COVID-19. These achievements alone have gained China’s socialist model immense prestige both with the Chinese people and the people of the Global South. Still, the American Empire remains dangerous precisely because its desperation requires the escalation of a New Cold War that threatens to bring about a confrontation between two nuclear powers.

Taiwan is but one piece on a chessboard designed by the United States to undermine China and thus the world from charting a course of history free of imperialist domination.

Anyone who calls themselves “the Left” would be foolish to follow the imperialist paper tiger into a trap of its own making with regard to Taiwan or any other feature of the U.S.’s New Cold War against China.

Yet this is exactly what has happened.

Most of the “left” has abdicated its responsibility to oppose U.S. imperialism and therefore shares responsibility with the right for the U.S.’s hostilities toward China.

U.S. interference in China’s affairs regarding Taiwan should thus be seen as an opportunity to reverse this dangerous course and place the demand for the U.S. to respect international law at the forefront of the movement.

Now, for my point…

I think all of these points are valid. But, I want to throw something else (a “monkey wrench”) into the mix.

Suppose that those who “lead” the United States, whether it is President Biden, political factions, the military or the oligarchy, are actually crazy psychopathic personalities. Perhaps they did not get to their positions through merit, but some other means, and they have a view of the world that we “normals” have a difficult time understanding.

American “leadership”.

And while we can point at the various strange actions of the United States leadership with our ideas, our historical or economic references, they do not address the frightening possibility that irrational people are in control of a very large and powerful nation with lots of nuclear bombs.

The entire globalist elite having devolved into a decadent and dumb state is the single explanation that explains everything that is going on right now, and does not require any kind of ridiculous leap in logic to mush everything together in a coherent way.

Now, I argue that the deafening silence on my black world contacts are screaming “Big Event” is on the way.

Heads down, alert up.

I hope to hell that I am wrong, but for all practical purposes, it appears that the USA is planning a first strike action against China and IT WILL be nuclear.

There is some degree of confidence in their ability to carry it though. Whether or not it is really well thought out or not is immaterial.

The fact is that the USA is going to do something very bad, very big, and it will change the global social economic calculus for centuries hence.

I believe that the USA is planning a first-strike nuclear sneak-attack against China.

From a MM contributor who is also a spook like myself…

I checked some old BBS's: Silent. I know my reasons why I have maintained radiosilence, but there is only one reason why other spooks have; something big is afoot.

What if the idiots are planning a 1st strike move on China?

Ran into this idiotic piece just now: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-nuclear-weapons-electronic-sensors-accuracy/2021/10/28/79533ff0-34cc-11ec-9bc4-86107e7b0ab1_story.html

Let’s see what happens. Remember that seriously mentally deficient people are running the US government today. They do not “have all their marbles.”

Here’s a thing which is happening: people – probably most of you reading this – are confusing the total power of the current US government for competence. 

This is very natural, psychologically – it makes fundamental sense that people with absurd amounts of power would have to have competence. 

But, if we break down the fact that these people inherited this power structure, then you might look at it like the logic of assuming a guy driving a Lamborghini must be rich, before you find out it was stolen. 

It took me a long while to process it myself, and I definitely didn’t have a full understanding of it until Joe Biden took over as our overlord, but these people are not competent. 

Upon closer inspection, we realize they are actual morons.

As a thought experiment: try to think of one single thing that the Democrats have done since assuming total domination of America that is indicative of competence. 

The only thing you will likely be able to think of is the fact that they’ve managed to keep this virus hoax rolling, but that is obviously virtually entirely managed by the media. And the success of the project is entirely dependent on the docility of the American people.

Prolog –  Why I say that this might as well be the case.

For two decades I was married to a woman with a severe mental illness. It’s schizoaffective. And one of the things you learn, as a caregiver, is that they think and believe that they are making valid and good decisions, but in reality their decisions were terrible, based on all sorts of things, and off the wall.

I once asked her what the idiom “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” meant. She, in all seriousness, told me that the idiom meant that glass breaks and has sharp edges.

...people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones Those who themselves are open to criticism or vulnerable to attack should not attack others. 

This proverb dates from the time of Chaucer, who used a version of it in Troilus and Criseyde (ca. 1374).

-People who live in glass houses - Idiom

I am convinced that the American leadership, no matter who it is, is wildly dysfunctional and dangerous. They do not know that they are ill, and they have surrounded themselves with similar people who are equally crazy.

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The truth about “forgive and forget”

Ah. I tire so about repeating myself.

Earth is a Prison Planet. There are systems within systems, within systems to control the inmates. It’s a big subject and I have covered it elsewhere. If you want to learn all the details, then you can browse around here on MM. But for now, I want to discuss one of the control mechanisms.

It’s the “forgive and forget” control mechanism.

I can tell you that criminals inside the United States use this method all the time to reduce their sentences, get away with crimes, and conduct “damage control” to lessen the impacts of their crimes to others.

I’ve explained this many, many times over.

If you can convince your victim to forgive you, then there is a great chance that they will not press charges or file a report on you. And thus you, as a criminal, can continue repeating your crimes over and over. All you need to do is follow the simple formula;

  • Hurt a person.
  • Have someone else convince them to “forgive you” and then “forget about the event”.
  • Repeat. And hurt a different person.

That is precisely why the police routinely look at first time offenders with an eye towards how many prior crimes they committed, but were not caught in.

It’s not just felony activity. It’s about everything. Thoughts, feelings and behaviors are all connected.

It’s a nice trite saying that is used to control you.

Learn this fact; children learn from their mistakes. A child that falls off a chair, then a ladder, then a table will stop accidentally falling down because it HURTS. But what if you mind-wipe the memories, and forget what it was like when you fell down? Well, the child would repeat again, and again, and again over and over.

If you are in a bad relationship, after a long string of bad relationships, you need to stop “forgiving and forgetting”; bone up. Grow a spine and learn from your mistakes.

And for the really brainwashed out there in internet land…

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Glimpses of Chinese life during the nice slow Summer

This little article is a collection of images, videos, glimpses and thoughts of China this July 2021.  Like all of my articles, you won’t see any of these glimpses outside of China. Instead you will get the same pre-manufactured agenda of hate and fear.

For us as a people, as a species, as humans we have to be able to communicate, experience things together and share.  And that requires unrestricted, unbiased, glimpses into the totality of other cultures. And given the absolute strangle-hold that American and Western governments have over global media, that is a Herculean task.

This article is my little tiny contribution. I wish for all of us to better understand each other. I want us to see things as they are, and not be manipulated by others with evil corrupted intent.

Soon, a newly funded barrage of Anti-China media will be launched. (As if we aren’t soaked already) And this one, funded to the tune of millions of United States (freshly minted) dollars will interject hateful lies in just about every article coming out of the West. It will be all inclusive.

Here’s a short video of how the BBC “doctored” up one of an expats videos depicting China to make it look ugly, cold and grey. You MUST view this…

Not just simply lies and distortions, but intentional interjections of specific terms used to vilify China. Of course, the purpose is to “suppress” China, but it is also “setting the table” for a major war with China. Well, at least that is what the Washington K-street neocons desire.

I watch all of this in horror.

But, I can’t do much about it. All that I can do is open up some lines of communication and insight. As in all of my articles, click on the pictures to see the short movie. (All are very short, but gives a great overview of what is going on.)

First up…

Henan floods

The past week saw days of continuous heavy rainfall in central China’s Henan province.

According to the National Meteorological Center, the accumulated rainfall reached 622.7 millimeters in the provincial capital, Zhengzhou, between 2 a.m. Tuesday and 2 a.m. Wednesday, more than double the 24-hour threshold of 250 millimeters for extremely heavy rainfall.

Several factors, including atmospheric pressure, a typhoon and topography of the region, have contributed to the unusual downpour.

Working together during a crisis.

There have been numerous stories of how people helped each other out during the floods. Rufus’s engaged, and people working together as one. It is truly uplifting. More than 100,000 people had been evacuated by Thursday morning.

Rufus to the rescue!

This massive effort was helped by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police Force dispatching their servicemen and equipment to assist local police and firefighters in emergency rescue and relief work.

Firemen to the rescue!

Do you see all those people running up to cheer on the fire and rescue staff? No, it’s not Hollywood. It’s what China is really like. You have no idea just how proud and patriotic the Chinese are.

Here we have the PLA mobilized and ready to help. One thing you learn when you are in China is how quickly China can mobilize and get things done.

PLA to the rescue.

And here’s another video. All in all, I find it particularly impressive.

The PLA on the move.

From Richard Turrin

I have been following Richard Turrin on LinkedIN. He's a scholar and an author of numerous books and he has some very insightful and profound articles and points of view. His takes on issues within China are worth reading. Here is one of his introductions to an article from the economist. Which is a really strong pro-USA, anti-China screed.

This article dances around the edges of the recent tech crack-down in China. Calling out China’s efforts to reel in its tech companies while glossing over the details.

First, let’s broach something cultural, that should be evident by now. China’s regulators could care less about disturbing the short-term stock market value of their tech sector. That may strike many as shocking but it’s a fundamentally different take on their job. Compare it to regulators in the West who do everything possible not to disturb markets.

No better example of this can be found than yesterday’s hammering of education sector stocks following announcements affecting curriculum and profit status for after-hours private schooling.

Is it better, to have such disruptive regulators? No, not necessarily, but it suits China. China is changing at a pace that most in the West cannot conceive of. This is where I think this article goes wrong. Without these fast-acting regulatory circuit breakers, a fast-moving country like China would simply be out of control.

China’s regulators are fundamentally concerned about the direction tech is taking society and act decisively though not always swiftly to counter imbalances. China’s after-hours school programs are an example as they were causing disturbances and inequalities in the educational system.

Should they have caught it earlier? Certainly, and the same argument might be made for Ant. I talk about this in Cashless.

The Economist article raises an absurd issue of changing tech’s business models. For both the edutech sector and Ant a strong argument can be made that their business plans were contrary to the public good.  Edutech stripping teachers from the classroom, Ant providing credit without limit. Changing tech’s business models is a good thing, if they are causing harm. Perhaps someone should take a look at Facebook.

Facebook is the US government.

As far as Didi seeking protection in the courts, we’ll have to wait to see whether this is warranted. Didi appears to have been advised to call off its IPO in a fashion similar to Ant. Certainly, a last-minute pull-back would have warranted howls, but in the end, both Didi and investors would have been better served.

It’s not a question of whether China’s system is better than the West’s at dealing with BigTech. China’s system works best for China, there is little likelihood its decisiveness will be exported.

That may be unfortunate, as big tech in the West appears beyond regulation regardless of the damage it causes. For all of the cries of foul in the markets, China is setting itself up for a better digital future while the West does nothing.

I know markets prefer the West’s approach, but society just might be better served by China’s.

Some Chinese food – Chinese / Vietnamese

Well, I tend to eat a lot of delicious Chinese food. I believe that the reason is because It is delicious. And it is cheap. And it is all around me. And… oh, all the pretty girls eat Chinese food. Well, at least in China they do.

Here is the interior of a local chain restaurant in a local mall. This one serves Chinese / Vietnamese food. If you read the BBC, CNN, or FOX “news” you might be under the impression that everyone in China is starving and just waiting to be “liberated” for democracy™ and freedom™. Not true. Not even remotely true.

Here’s the interior of the restaurant.

Inside the Chinese / Vietnamese restaurant.

And here’s some of what I ate.

The first thing that came to the table was this delicious fish. Instead of steamed, deboned, and served with lemon which is common in the states, this fish was gutted, filled with spices and baked. Then served with lime and some seasonings that you dip the tasty morsels into.

Delicious fish.

The next thing that was brought to the table was some curried meat. I said in the video that it was beef. No. It was chicken. Still quite tasty. Not everyone likes curried foods. But I do. It’s rich and thick broth is oh, so flavorful.

Our meal, was a typical Guangzhou style meal. One creature that swims, one that flies (or tries to), and one that walks on all fours. Which is the next dish brought up…

Delicious Curried Chicken.

And then they brought out this pork meal. The pork is cut up in tiny, tiny morsels and mixed with green beans and spices. You then place a spoonful in the lettuce and you eat it like a taco. It’s a “finger food”, which is generally uncharacteristic of China. But it’s good, and goes well with the wine that we were drinking.

Pork lettuce wrap thingys.

It was a great meal.

What’s up next?

Well, long time MM readers will recognize that I always associate delicious food with beautiful women. The two go hand in hand. Like Turkey and stuffing, or a cell phone and APPs. Or, perhaps a car and tires.

Some pretty Chinese Ladies…

On Tictok (Douxing) are all sorts of filters that work with AI to “enhance” your movie postings. One of the popular ones, for the attractive ladies, is for the face to be all messed up and colored and smeared with blue paint. Personally, I don’t really “get it”, but then again, I am from a different generation. In “my day” we were sensible with fads and fashion. We had “pet rocks“, “earth shoes“, and “Choker collars“.

Acting beautiful with a face smeared in blue.

And then we have this nice lass. She reminds me of a “Southern Fish Fry”, which is a kind of BBQ that you have in the South-East of the United States. She’s got all those “charms” that I find so personally attractive.

Southern Fish Fry.

This girl here is most certainly a pizza-pie-lass. When I look at her, I can’t help but think of steamy hot pizza, right out of the oven, a nice tossed salad, some bread-sticks with a saucy dip, and lots of salt and hot peppers. I know, I know, you might argue that she is more of a bread with sausage called Focaccia con Salsiccia (in Italian) kind of girl. But let’s not quibble over these minor points.

A pizza pie lass.

This next girl is completely delicious. We see her in her house, probably her bedroom. And I can’t help myself. I just want to share a nice chicken soup, and a light bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with her. And you know, what else? That’s right. A fine iced tea with some orange and mint.

She’s an afternoon, luncheon kind of girl.

An afternoon, luncheon kind of girl.

This next girl is certainly a “Horn of Plenty” kind of girl.

China, like anywhere else, has people in all shapes and sizes. This is a more robust girl. She is a full meal. And While I have referred to her as a “Horn of Plenty” kind of woman, there is no question that she is as hearty as a pot roast with wine, and a round steak served with mashed potatoes.

A Horn of Plenty kind of girl.

Here’ a nice chocolate fudge kind of girl.

I really like fudge, but piping hot chocolate fudge on a nice tasty vanilla ice cream is one of my little pleasures in life. That and cats. Anyways, here’s a nice chocolate fudge kind of girl.

A chocolate fudge kind of girl.

And a “stop traffic” kind of girl…

Though, I would refer to her as a chocolate Fudgsicle kind of girl myself. You know, the kind of girl that teleports you to your childhood when you were at the pool on a hot, hot Summer day. And you had this particular crush on one of the young lifeguards at the pool…

Fudgsicle kind of girl.

Fudgsicle kind of girl.

Temporary Ferry Building

Much of what you see in China are temporary constructions. These nice, clean and spartan structures are all going to be torn down in a year or two. As the new enormous structures are being built. It’s amazing, and unheard of in the United States.

Temporary Ferry Building.

What a difference 15 years makes…

China has devoted time, and energy to clean up it’s environment on every level. From enforcing change with the Corruption Police, to enacting clean standards, to planting plants everywhere, including on urban bridges, to a massive reforestation effort nationwide. An you can actually see the results.

It’s astounding.

It’s astounding.

Just like America is sinking millions of dollars in anti-China propaganda, China is putting money in promotion of being conservators of the environment. It’s everywhere. Take care of the world. Take care of the environment. take care of others. And then everyone can have a great life together.

You see this everywhere.

In a mall.

China’s war on poverty

We hear the headlines about how China has lifted over a billion people out of poverty. And we look at the stats, and we look at the results. And it is truly impressive. But that’s only a small part of the story. China is uniting. Everyone is contributing. Everyone is working together, and everyone is doing their part.

Like this singer…

We see glimpses of people on the lower social tiers eating a big heaping bowl of plain rice because that is all they can afford. Or an old man trying to sell some apples with a colostomy bag hanging on his back. We see the frustration and the trials and the strife of those who haven’t eaten in weeks, or who are going though strife and turmoil.

China, the people of China’s message to everyone, is “we will not abandon you”. You are not alone. The entire nation is coming together to the betterment of all.

China is a nation of Rufus.

Going on the defense…

With all the pro-war unity that is gathering in the United States for a war with China, don’t eve be under the impression that China is not aware of it. They are, and have been very busy strengthening their own military. And it is nothing like what is presented within the American (Western) media. It’s strong, powerful, ENORMOUS, and lethal.

China is not a nation to trifle with.

And here’s another…

China’s military is strong, powerful, ENORMOUS, and lethal.

And here’s another…

Anyone who thinks that they can take on China militarily, on Chinese soil, is delusional.

Robots… robots… robots…

China leads the world in the development and production of robots. And since China is always cost sensitive, these expansive machines keep on going down in price. Here’s a nice video of a local ping-pong hall. It’s sort of like how we have “Pool halls” out in the United States. Check out the robots.

Some Dim Sum

Originally a custom in Cantonese cuisine, dim sum is inextricably linked to the Chinese tradition of yum cha or drinking tea. Teahouses sprung up to accommodate weary travelers journeying along the famous Silk Road.

Dim Sum restaurant.

Dim sum is an umbrella category for small Chinese dishes. Typical examples of this food are small dumplings, wrapped foods such as won tons and egg rolls, and other foods. In general, individual portions of dim sum are small, so that numerous dishes can be ordered and sampled by the table.

Dim sum is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for breakfast and lunch. Most modern dim sum dishes originated in Guangzhou in southern China and are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine. In the tenth century, when the city of Guangzhou began to experience an increase in commercial travel, travelers concurrently began to frequent teahouses for small-portion meals with tea called yum cha, or "drink tea" meals. Yum cha includes two related concepts. The first is "yat jung leung gin", which translates literally as "one cup, two pieces". This refers to the custom of serving teahouse customers two pieces of delicately made food items, savory or sweet, to complement their tea. The second is dim sum and translates literally to "touching heart", the term used to designate the small food items that accompanied the tea drinking.

-Wikipedia
Some pork served in a Dim Sum establishment.

And this is a Chinese salad.

No, it doesn’t look anything like the chunk of iceberg lettuce, one tomato wedge and a big dab of salad dressing that you find in most American restaurants. Oh, use, of course you can order a “cob salad”, or a “caesar salad”, or any other kind of specialized salads in the United States. But in general, if you order a meal, and it comes with a “salad”, all that “salad” is is just a chunk of iceberg lettuce.

Chinese salad.

And here’s one of my favorite dishes in China. It’s eggplant.

I know. It doesn’t look anything like the way eggplant is cooked in the West. It also doesn’t taste anything like it either. it is great, and I only wish that you could smell the aroma.

Eggplant.

And one of my top favorites…

This is called Shao Long Bao. And it is just delicious. Xiao long bao is the most delicate Chinese dim sum on earth. It has a delicate skin with the savory meat filling and a high umami soup holding within the pleated pouch. You will be amazed by the treasure elixir oozing from the paper-thin skin when you poke it gently with the chopsticks.

Xiao long bao.

High Speed Trains

America doesn’t have anything even approaching this. In fact, it just seems to me that all America is doing is just *nothing*. It’s a lot of talk, and churning out tons and tons of money that it manufactures out of thin air. Anyways, the trains are awesome!

Buying American Debt

The big news on the economic front last week was the frantic calls from America to China. At least four times China refused, and flatly refused, to buy any American debt. They are not stupid. America has a history of forcing, frightening, manipulating, or doing “dirty tricks” to get another nation to buy it’s debt. And then after a few years, America “pulls the rug out from under that nation” and their economy collapses.

China will not allow that to happen.

And since the debt is so astronomically enormous right now, everyone knows that it is impossible to ever pay back. So buying it is like chaining yourself to a heavy rock and throwing yourself into the ocean. China won’t have anything to do with it.

So what’s left for America?

Not much.

  • Raise the interest rates. If it does, it will severely cut in it’s ability to spend. Inflation would immediate skyrocket, and the stock markets would take some serious hits.
  • Cut back on everything; all forms of government programs at an extreme level. Military. Social. Basic services. Everything.
  • Start a war. Convince Americans to pay attention to it, and in the distraction reduce their quality of life. Then loot the losing nation. The American leadership avoids the guillotine, and a war in a far-away land with generate endless piles of money for defense contractors.

Given the funding priorities, which option do you believe will be taken?

“U.S. political leadership has doubled down on the status quo rather than adapt to the needs of the people. 

Instead of following through on widely supported policies such as universal healthcare, student debt relief and a living wage, the Biden administration has increased the military budget. 

Instead of reducing the prison population, the Biden administration has increased weapons transfers from the Pentagon to local police departments. 

It should come as no surprise that U.S. presidents struggle to maintain favorability ratings above 45 percent while Congress generally hovers at around half of such support. 

Change is hard to come by, even when such change is desired by most of the population and is required to preserve human life itself in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

China does not have such a problem. 

The Communist Party of China (CPC) maintains popular support because adaptation is a key pillar of its governance model. 

Many in the U.S. and the West have been taught that the CPC does not allow criticism, both inside and outside of the organization. This is categorically false.”

Bus stops in China

Listen to my narrative on a comparison between Chinese bus stops and American city bus stops. There really is a big difference. In America having an enclosed bus stop costs money, as does adding a bench, or a trash can. These are too expensive for most cities to accept. Not so in China.

Bus stop.

On a ferry

Here’s a little video that I took on a Chinese ferry. Boy oh, boy does it show just how astoundingly different Chinese ferries are from their crappy-old American counterparts. Anyone who has been to China can see the difference. It is stark.

Chinese ferry.

Fishing in China

One of the things that I love to do… when I encounter a “know it all” rabid anti-China fellow American… When they start to lecture me on all the prepackaged propaganda phrases that they regurgitate…

…I ask them…

“What you you think about the toll roads in China?”

And they look at me, like a deer in the middle of a road staring at the headlights of an approaching car.

Or, I ask them “tell me about what you don’t like about fishing in China”.

And they have no idea what to say, because both of those items are never mentioned in the propaganda barrage that controls the mindless slave-serfs.

This is what fishing in China looks like…

Fishing in China.

 

Some Chinese songs by 胡66

Hu 66, whose real name is Hu Rui, was born in 1998 in Fuyang County, Jiangsu Province, Chinese mainland female singer and network anchor.

胡66

In October 2017, she joined Cool Dog Live as a contracted network anchor.

In December 2017, the release of the song “Empty As Well” officially entered the acting world, in April, the release of the first single “Innately Difficult to Guess” , and in June, the release of the song “The Waveman” , with which the song won the Pop Music Annual Audience Favorite Singles of the Year Award on May 6, 2019

I hope you enjoy these two songs as much as I do.

Finally…

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.

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The reason why the United States is pulling back from engaging China in it’s backyard

After four solid years (the Trump / Pompeo years) of beating the war-drums against China, and a fever-pitch of anti-China propaganda, along with Taiwanese nationalists clamoring for a War on Taiwanese soil (to be defended by the United States), and the Australian (Morrison) government demanding that Australia fight China with every effort…

…it all came to a screeching end.

Why?

Did they all come to their senses? Did they realize that any war with China will be a war that is unwinnable? Did they finally realize that starting a nuclear war will hurt their chances of reelection? What is going on?

Here’s a number of articles that might provide some insight.

The first article is a an American neocon publication. 
It essentially says that...

[1] Any war with China will be conventional. 

[2] That it will be fought either inside of China or in the neighboring lands next to China. 

[3] That American military cannot fight it at this time. It needs from five to ten years to prepare. 

[4] Preparation will require an enormous outlay of cash. 

[6] The cash would be used to upgrade the forces and weapons to "take on China". 

[7] And in five to ten years, the United States would be much stronger politically, militarily, socially, and culturally and thus a war would be welcomed by the American people.

[8] That the USA and it's allies will take on China, who will stand alone without any neighbor support.

I call bullshit on all these thoughts.

Well, for one thing, a war with China has been fought using Weapons of Mass destruction since 2016 when John Bolton launched the carpet bombing of China with Bio-weapons, and the BRI was attacked with a micro-nuke in Beirut by America using Israel by proxy.

So keeping the war conventional is off the table.

And the idea that American allies will want to battle China, their neighbor, is also a “pipe dream”. An the USA will not be fighting China alone. They will be fighting both China and Russia who share military treaties, and who have staff in both military headquarters.

I also must say that the “big elephant in the room” is completely and totally omitted from this dialog. Which is, of course, that China has forcefully and clearly stated (over and over again) that any attack on China; it’s people, it’s territories, and it’s borders will be considered an act of war, and will be responded to with the HARSHEST and MOST DANGEROUS MEANS available. And that means nuclear weapons.

Which is why China is now mass producing unstoppable MIRV warhead hyper-velocity ICBMs, with artificial Intelligence, and which are designed to blast America cities into glass and debris.

But, you know, just ignore the warnings… right?

But you do need to get into the minds of these people. And notice what they omit from their calculus, the assumptions that they make, and the published reactions to their madness on their internet platforms.

[1] Gradually and Then Suddenly: Explaining the Navy’s Strategic Bankruptcy

“How did this happen to a force that, as recently as two decades ago, dominated the world’s oceans to a degree perhaps unequalled in human history?”

Empire Woes

Christopher Dougherty 

11 https://anti-empire.com/gradually-and-then-suddenly-explaining-the-navys-strategic-bankruptcy/

The U.S. Navy is on the verge of strategic bankruptcy. Its fleet isn’t large enough to meet global day-to-day demands for naval forces. Due to repeated deployments and maintenance backlogs, the fleet also isn’t ready enough to meet these demands safelynor can it quickly surge in an emergency. Finally, the fleet isn’t capable enough to meet the challenges posed by China’s increasingly modern and aggressive People’s Liberation Army Navy. How did this happen to a force that, as recently as two decades ago, dominated the world’s oceans to a degree perhaps unequalled in human history?

The answer is gradually and then suddenly.

Myriad authors have responded to the Biden administration’s Fiscal Year 2022 defense budget request with a mix of confusion and consternation. Critics have directed their ire, in particular, at the budget’s treatment of the Navy, given the administration’s purported focus on China as a strategic competitor. However, the issues noted by critics aren’t limited to this budget, but reflect a persistent trend since at least the FY2019 request, which was the first defense budget request to prioritize China as a strategic competitor. Despite the need for “urgent change at significant scale” to meet the Chinese military challenge, the last four budget requests have offered only measured change at moderate scale.

Why is that?

The stock response is usually a mix of bureaucratic inertiaservice parochialism, and congressional obstruction. Inertia and parochialism are powerful forces, but hardly insurmountable ones, especially when facing a clear and pressing challenge. While Congress certainly determines the final shape of the authorized and appropriated budget, it has less influence on the executive branch’s initial budget request. Moreover, the bureaucracy, the services, and key components of Congress all generally agree on the core precepts of the 2018 National Defense Strategy. Specifically, they recognize that China is the most pressing military challenge facing the United States; the U.S. military response should focus on deterring Chinese aggression against U.S. allies, partners, and vital interests in the Indo-Pacific region; deterring China rests on a credible ability to defeat its aggression or deny China its objectives; and that this form of deterrence will require new methods of fighting wars backed by modernized air and naval forces.

The real impediments to urgent change are a lack of consensus on the risks posed by Chinaa lack of a shared vision for the future of the fleet, and limited options for implementing a new vision. Even if the Pentagon and Congress could reach consensus on these questions, the U.S. military lacks mature defense programs and the industrial capacity to build them at scale. These gaps aren’t unique to the Navy, but it serves as a useful example for the rest of the Defense Department because its gaps are so glaring in the context of the current strategic environment.

Lack of Consensus

While the U.S. defense community mostly agrees that China is the “pacing challenge” for the Department of Defense, there is much less consensus on what kind of threat China poses, or when the risk of conflict will be most acute. Some analysts believe that China poses an immediate threat.

This position usually, but not always, correlates with a belief that competition below the threshold of war — like seizing unoccupied features in the South China Sea — represents a greater concern than the possibility of conventional war, such as over Taiwan.

Others are more concerned with America’s medium-term vulnerability due to China’s rapid military modernization and the increasing age of the U.S. Navy fleet.

This perspective tends to correspond with a belief that conventional war in five to 10 years is the most pressing risk.

Still others are most worried that Chinese investments in AI and quantum computing could allow it to “leapfrog” the United States in the long-term military-technical competition, thereby establishing itself as the world’s foremost military power.

Lack of a Shared Vision

Any strategist’s view of what the Navy should look like will be shaped by how that strategist assesses the challenges posed by China and the distribution of risk across time.

Someone focused on near-term day-to-day competition will tend to prioritize a large, highly ready fleet to maintain naval forces in key waters like the South China Sea.

Someone concerned about the risk of conventional war in the next five to 10 years would sacrifice some near-term readiness and capacity to build a force capable of winning a future conflict with China.

A defense planner or strategist who prioritized the long-term military-technical competition would eschew near-term investments in order to go all-in on next-generation systems with game-changing technologies that maintain the Navy’s technological advantage over the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

Further complicating this picture is the way that these risk assessments and future visions tend to correlate with different groups within the defense community.

Traditional Navy advocates tend to fall into the “near-term group,” as it aligns most closely with their strategic vision of the Navy as a force that sustains the global order and ensures peace through forward presence. In this view, the fundamental purpose of the Navy is to be “haze gray and underway,” showing the flag across the world’s oceans. Persistently maintaining this overt forward presence demands large numbers of highly visible surface vessels like frigates and destroyers.

Pentagon force planners, programmers, and analysts tend to worry about conflict in the medium term because that coincides with the five-year Future Years Defense Program, and conflict scenarios are a critical benchmark for the ability of the force to execute the defense strategy. From their perspective, a bigger fleet isn’t helpful if it lacks the capability to intervene directly in a war with China because it’s too heavily weighted toward surface vessels that are vulnerable to China’s arsenal of long-range missiles.

Meanwhile, the research and development community, technologists, and horizon-scanning organizations like the Office of Net Assessment typically fret about the long-term military-technical competition. From their perspective, the traditional navalists and force planners are dangerously shortsighted. Every outdated, non-upgradeable piece of equipment acquired today or in the near future could become a white elephant that the department can’t divest quickly enough when AI and other technologies transform warfare.

The competition between these visions plays out yearly with each program review and budget submission and is partly responsible for a raft of recent studies and white papers on the future of the fleet. In these debates, near-term navalists advocate for increased readiness spending and acquiring more small surface combatants to reach the Navy’s goal of 355 ships and increase its ability to meet the demands of the geographic combatant commands.

Mid-term force planners push for platform upgradesadditional munitions, more submarines and undersea systems, and longer-range carrier aircraft. Long-term technologists argue for greater research and development spending and investments in leap-ahead unmanned and autonomous systems to create a radical new fleet architecture comprising large numbers of unmanned and autonomous systems.

The result of this competition between perspectives is usually an unsatisfying compromise that creates a fleet that’s not big enough for navalists, not capable enough for joint force planners, and not farsighted enough for the futurists.

Some believe that the 2020 future naval force study represents a shared vision for the future fleet. Developed cooperatively by the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense — particularly the Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation — this document presents a 30-year shipbuilding plan with purportedly realistic cost estimates.

There are reasons for skepticism, however. First, this plan was developed under the last administration, and it’s likely that the new team is closely reviewing its assumptions and analysis, especially regarding the budget and costs.

Second, the Navy has released countless “realistic” 30-year shipbuilding plans over the last 30 years, and none of them has ever come close to fruition.

Finally, the study doesn’t clearly articulate a vision of the future Navy, but instead lays out an overstuffed buffet of future forces with something for everyone. Navalists see a return to the glory years of Secretary John Lehmanthe 600-ship Navy, and the 1980s maritime strategy.

The force planners get excited about the huge growth in undersea systems and the Combat Logistics Force — both of which would be critical in any conflict with China — and are sanguine about the possibility of a more distributed and resilient fleet architecture.

The futurists look at the huge investments in unmanned systems and have hope that the Navy has finally “gotten religion” about the disruptive potential of advanced technologies. The problem is that the Navy will never build all of these ships because the plan rests on overly optimistic budget assumptions and would require 30 years in which no major event intervenes to shift U.S. defense spending priorities.

Determining what gets cut when the budget axe inevitably falls depends a lot on the initial assumptions about risk and the overarching vision of the future Navy.

Lack of Options

The Navy’s FY2022 request suggests that the Biden administration will pursue a mix of the medium-term and long-term approaches, given its emphasis on advanced munitions and research and development alongside cuts to the legacy surface combatant fleet.

These proposed ship cuts, combined with the lack of replacements in the budget, are yet another shoal barring the Navy’s path to a fleet of more than 300 ships. It is the failure to address this persistent shortfall that has truly aggravated the Navy community.

Blake Herzinger summed up this position perfectly in War on the Rocks, writing that “The Biden administration’s Fiscal Year 2022 defense budget was an opportunity to arrest the Navy’s decline and recapitalize the fleet to address this uncertain future. Instead, its authors elected to perpetuate a status quo that would see the fleet continue to wither, while the competition surges ahead.”

The problem with this line of reasoning is that there are few credible short-term options to recapitalize the fleet. The Navy has been trying to retire its aging Ticonderoga cruisers for years without a proper replacement in the works since the cancellation of the next-generation cruiser (CG-X) program.

The proposed retirement of four littoral combat ships in the 2022 budget request seems to indicate that the Navy may have belatedly recognized that it is unsuited to the demands of competition and conflict with China. And yet the Constellation class frigate isn’t ready to swap out for littoral combat ships and won’t be a one-for-one replacement given its higher cost.

The lack of options becomes painfully acute if one ascribes to the mid- or long-term perspectives of the China threat. Further upgrades to the Arleigh Burke destroyers and Virginia submarines that comprise the backbone of today’s fleet will require new clean-sheet designs that are at least a decade away or more.

Unmanned surface vessels offer a way to increase the Navy’s capacity within reasonable budget constraints, but current ships are immature, as are the concepts and analysis needed to integrate them into the fleet. They simply aren’t a viable near-term option to backfill proposed cuts to the surface fleet. The Navy has become like a sports team filled with aging superstars. It knows change is needed, but its choices are limited to proven systems with long-term limitations, or immature systems with significant technical and conceptual risks.

Even in areas where mature designs exist, like the BurkesVirginias, and Constellations, there isn’t enough capacity at the shipyards to enable a rapid fleet recapitalization or sustain a larger fleet. This reflects a longstanding trend to consolidate and rationalize the defense industrial base in search of efficiency.

The downside is a lack of slack capacity and the flexibility it enables. To his credit, Herzinger notes this limitation in his article, and other navalists such as Jerry Hendrix have frequently decried the state of the U.S. shipbuilding.

Still, the reality is that aggressive fleet recapitalization isn’t possible without major up-front investments in industry that would require additional time and money. From industry’s perspective, these investments require predictability — there’s no sense in building new facilities and hiring and training thousands of workers without an unambiguous long-term demand signal from the Pentagon and Capitol Hill.

Such predictability is impossible without a common perception of risk and a shared vision of the future fleet.

As though all of these hurdles weren’t enough, the Navy’s shipbuilding budget is hamstrung by the need to recapitalize the nuclear ballistic missile submarine (Columbia-class) fleet and the decision to purchase a “block” of two Ford-class aircraft carriers.

For nearly a decade, Navy budget observers have sounded the alarm that the Columbia would punch a huge hole in the Navy’s budget when it shifted from development to procurement. The block buy of the Fords saved the Navy money but arguably exacerbated this problem by committing so much of the Navy’s shipbuilding budget up-front.

The Heart of the Matter

A series of decisions (and indecisions) decades in the making have backed the Navy into a budget and force-planning corner. Even if the Navy were to receive a larger share of the defense budget — which Herzinger and others suggest — there simply is no way to build a bigger fleet quickly, and any attempt to do so might burden the Navy with ships of limited utility in the long-term strategic competition with China.

While perhaps unsatisfying, the Navy’s 2022 budget request is a product of these constraints. It prioritizes the ballistic missile submarines, munitions, auxiliary ships, and mature combatant designs, and divests older or less-capable ships.

At the same time, the budget attempts to rebuild readiness (again) and invest in research and development to accelerate next-generation capabilities like unmanned surface and undersea vessels.

It doesn’t rapidly grow the fleet for the same reasons that no budget request has rapidly grown the fleet in decades: There is no widespread agreement on why the fleet should grow; or how it should grow; and the underlying ideas, designs, and infrastructure needed for rapid growth have all withered.

The problems facing the Navy weren’t created in a single budget, and they won’t be fixed in a single budget. To get the Navy out of its force-planning doldrums, the next National Defense Strategy should clarify its assessment of the China challenge and serve as a forcing function to create a shared vision of the future Navy.

The 2018 defense strategy tried to prioritize modernizing the Navy to deter future war with China over building near-term fleet capacity to supply ships to service geographic combatant command requests for forward forces.

This prioritization got lost in implementation, as “Dynamic Force Employment” became shorthand for running the Navy ragged with repeated deployments, often to tertiary theaters like U.S. Central Command.

A clear assessment of the China challenge and a shared vision for the future fleet would help improve the gap between strategy and implementation that plagued the 2018 strategy.

Perhaps more importantly, it would enable Navy and department leadership to work with, rather than against, Congress to undertake a long-term program to rebuild the Navy and reinvigorate the maritime industrial base on which the Navy and the nation depend.

Achieving consensus on this won’t be easy, as there are good reasons why China observers vary in their assessments of the risk of conflict and why U.S. naval and defense strategists differ on their visions of the future fleet.

However, without this consensus and a concerted effort to reverse decades of drift, the Navy will continue its gradual slide toward strategic bankruptcy, and the risk of its debts coming due suddenly (and perhaps violently) will increase.

Source: War on the Rocks

Comments:

GMC

US Ships on top of the water and thousands of miles away from the mainland are for show or for attacking defenseless countries.Subs are where it is – I’d say. Plus the US Navy is into the space scene and that will scarf up all the monies. Even at 1.5 Trillion bucks a year , the US Military isn’t satisfied – Greed rules.
.
I sense a cosmic event in the near future that the NWO is aware of – and they are preparing for it – They are preparing for – Not we are preparing for – big difference. Gut feeling .

Wilson Keep

The US has 800 military bases around the world, all need maintaining, all need McDonald’s vans and non-military operations funded out of the military budget. Policing an entire planet is very very expensive, and the US is running a massive budget deficit and its national debt is about to reach a critical tipping point. 

Compare that to Russia that has a military budget a tenth that of the USA but has no empire to police or maintain, most of the Russian money goes into military equipment & research. That is why the S400 and coming 500 missile defence systems make the US Patriot System look like a sling shot, and why it has hypersonic ICBMs, whilst the US is still failing or launch one successful hypersonic test missile. Add to that the USA’s failure to switch to their own service rockets for the ISS, humiliatingly still tethered to the Russians rockets who they are applying economic sanctions to. 

On top of this, you can add the strategic incompetence of the US spending $10 billion on huge aircraft carriers as the Chinese and Russians look-on with glee, at their new target practice opportunities. 

Then you realise that the US is slowly decaying as a military power. The worst thing that can happen now is that they engage in a serious war against a first world military, if they do, the whole edifice will be exposed for the knackered rust bucket it is.

Oilman

Reply to  Wilson Keep Compare that to Russia that has a military budget a tenth that of the USA” … True but, for every dollar, the US spends on equipment, the Russian cost for the same stuff is around 0.15c 

ken

 “Some analysts believe that China poses an immediate threat.”

This is sort of like those covid con ‘experts’ telling us a 99.87% recovery rate is an immediate threat!

Here’s the skinny…. Remember all those production jobs? Remember all the products made in the USA? Remember nickel candy bars when the dollar had value?

Well, your selected parasites allowed the corporations to give all your jobs and production to the Chinese for more profits. Didn’t bother gov at first,,, they could just borrow (print) more currency to offset their losses.

You however went from a manufacturing economy to a service economy basically mowing each others lawns and maxing out credit cards.

All the while the Chinese were getting better and better at manufacturing. The produce some of the finest equipment in the world now. While their ‘knowhow’ was increasing the USA ‘knowhow’ was crashing. The last productive generation is retiring and dying out leaving behind younger generations of unskilled and uneducated Americans on the dole.

Bottom line,,, your government and its corporations is the cause of your poverty and is the cause of China’s advancement. You were sold out….

When you read about trade deficits you don’t hear that it is entirely caused by American corporations importing goods they produce in China.

Because we are no longer a manufacturing nation we can no longer afford the huge military nor do we have the expertise to maintain older equipment or design new equipment.

Don’t blame China,,, they took the ball Washington gave them and ran with it. So the ones to blame are the thieving bastards in government and corporations.

Raptar Driver

Navy’s are obsolete!

Oilman

In the past 25 years, the US spent huge amounts on trying to keep its air superiority while Russia and China were spending money to take away that superiority and Navy one by developing missiles to destroy them both and from a long and safe distance away.

Today, if a war broke out between the US and China, to repeat what RAND already stated, “the US would get their asses handed to them”.

The US dominance is over and they know it. The only thing that keeps them alive today is the dollar as a world currency. Saying that, with countries slowly getting rid of their dollars, it will come a time where it will become worthless hence replaced with either the Euro or the Chinese Yuan.

No empire lives forever. The US is falling and it’s because of their greed and bought and paid for politicians by big corporations. Same old story, same old result.

mijj

maintaining international military thuggery is expensive.

Ultrafart the Brave

There’s clearly something irrational about a country which is so addicted to its Navy’s ability to harass countries on the other side of the world, that it’s seemingly determined to bankrupt itself to continue doing so.

Some sort of a wakeup call might be needed to help them reassess their priorities.

A rude awakening, so to speak.

Dale F

Why not spend the money on America’s Infrastructure and make peace and not war with China and Russia?

edwardi

The author makes the same faulty assumptions as does the Naval planners, all that force projection onto other countries to attack them (at home or in their waters and shores), are futile, stupid and Imperialistic. And so will never happen.

Not to mention that game is over, period. 

The new missile technology has made surface ships irrelevant except for transportation in a non combat environment. 

China just test fired one of the new super fast ship killers from an airplane, thus extending it’s range of self defense to not the previous 1400 kilometers, 900 miles, but a much longer range now of 2,500 MILES. 

Game over. 

The US needs to focus on defense of it’s shores, and it’s only real remaining asset, submarines. 

The newly formed alliance/partnership of Russia/China is another game changer quickly improving all Chinese systems, the US is at least 10 years behind now, and that is assuming Russia stands still for 10 years, which won’t happen. 

It is game over, for Imperialism, time to bring our militaries home from everywhere and tell Uncle Sam to Please Shut His Trap ( his big mouth ) .
saoirse52
The problem with the US is the lack of intelligence in their political caste. In dumbimg down their own population, they’ve infected themselves with the same injudicious lethargic thought process. 

The US is never going to rival China, nor Russia, nor contain them nor be superior to them, militarily or otherwise. 

Their incoherent and disjointed thinking of being exceptional or indispensable has led to their moral and financal bankruptcy and unless they hastily beat a worldwide retreat from all their military bases and their illegal psychopathic war-mongering, they’ll face a total and excruciatingly humiliating collapse into ignominy

And there you have it…

As I said earlier, the neocons want to fight a war on Chinese soil and they want it BIG. And somehow they believe that it will be an “Afghanistan on steroids”, where a long remote war can be fought, they will get rich in the process, and the American people won’t know any better. They believe that the next war will be like all the last wars of the last one hundred years… fought far away, on American terms.

No.

It won’t be like that.

And everyone is trying to breech those high walls of the Ivory Towers that these morons live in on K-street. But they just aren’t listening. In their minds, the ARE the Powers-that-be, and they can do anything they want and no one will stop them. But bits and pieces, chunks and knocking can be heard on the walls of this “tower”, and so, we have articles like this coming about…

[2] Russian General Concludes China May Have More Nukes Than America And They Could Reach The US In Less Than One Hour!

By Dr. Peter Vincent Pry – All News Pipeline
.

I would say within five minutes from a SLBM launched MIRV. - MM

Fiona Cunningham is to be commended for her report “Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications Systems of the People’s Republic of China” (Nautilus July 18, 2019).

Ms. Cunningham relies on unclassified sources to provide a well-researched summary of the mainstream view of academics, China scholars and even many military professionals of the PRC’s nuclear doctrine and C3 arrangements.

Unfortunately, this show that the mainstream [media and neocon view] is almost certainly wrong.

Western analysts consistently fail to understand that, for both Beijing and Moscow, nuclear war plans and C3 to execute those plans are national security “crown jewels” . Important aspects that they protect and try to conceal behind a bodyguard of lies and disinformation.

Trusting open sources and commentary — especially when they are intended to cast nuclear doctrine and C3 in the most benign possible way — is a BIG mistake.

For example, during the Cold War the USSR went to extraordinary lengths to disinform Western policymakers and the public that Moscow had a nuclear “No First Use” doctrine. This was intended to conceal their real nuclear war plans — that we now know entailed a massive nuclear first strike early in a conflict. The NFU disinformation campaign was also intended to mobilize Western anti-nuclear activists, in and out of government, to constrain U.S. nuclear programs and operational plans.

NFU = Nuclear First Use Doctrine

China’s alleged nuclear NFU doctrine, like the USSR’s during the Cold War, is almost certainly disinformation.

NFU for China does not withstand the test of common sense.

No conservative military planner would adopt NFU when, as Ms. Cunningham correctly observes, China lacks BMEWS and satellite early warning systems that would enable China to launch on tactical warning.

NFU would doom China’s nuclear deterrent to certain destruction by a U.S. or Russian conventional or nuclear first strike, or to a nuclear first strike by India.

China’s nuclear posture, especially the lack of early warning radars and satellites, is “use it or lose it” which logically should drive PRC military planners toward nuclear first use — indeed toward surprise first use early in a crisis or conflict, based on strategic warning.

To put it another way. China is set up strategically. 

The defense weapons are set up so that when it appears that a war with a major power is involved (the United States), China will go NFU. Simply because they are not investing any technology for detection of incoming missile attacks.

Thus they have a policy of simultaneous use of nuclear and conventional weapons to defend against aggression.

Regardless of the PRC’s declaratory NFU policy, it strains credulity Beijing’s political leaders would adhere to NFU if confronted with compelling political and military intelligence of an imminent U.S. attack.

Such strategic warning was the basis for the former USSR’s secret plans for a disarming nuclear first strike under their VRYAN (Surprise Nuclear Missile Attack) intelligence program, that nearly resulted in a nuclear apocalypse during NATO’s theater nuclear exercise ABLE ARCHER-83.

Just as Ms. Cunningham’s report would have benefited from greater skepticism about NFU, greater humility about what we know, and don’t know, about China’s nuclear posture is also advisable.

  • For example, how do we really know that China’s nuclear warheads are in storage, not mounted on missiles?

This would be a very grave vulnerability. China’s ICBMs and IRBMs are in cold launch canisters — we cannot see if they are armed, or not.

China’s DF-41 hyper-velocity, AI controlled, MIRV armed ICBM.

Ms. Cunningham seriously proposes that China gives such high priority to safeguarding against unauthorized nuclear use that their very costly ballistic missile submarine fleet may, in peacetime, carry no SLBMs.

  • All of the Chinese boomer subs are empty of SLBM’s? Really?

Perhaps she means they would carry no SLBM nuclear warheads. In either case, this defies common sense as it would render useless China’s SSBN fleet as a deterrent against surprise attack.

Chinese “carrier killer” hyper-velocity nuclear warhead missiles that the K-street neocons say would never be used. That China would instead try to attack American naval forces with conventional weapons.

The SSBNs would also become an escalatory liability in a crisis or conflict, as the process of uploading missiles or warheads would be very lengthy, highly visible, and so provocative as to invite a disarming first strike.

Undoubtedly, China will operate its SSBNs in peacetime as they are being tested now — loaded for bear, with SLBMs armed with nuclear warheads aboard.

  • For decades, Western analysts have almost certainly grossly underestimated China’s number of nuclear weapons as about 300 (compared to about 1,500 operational strategic nuclear weapons for the U.S. and Russia, or five times as many). This seems based more on wishful thinking than a realistic appraisal of China’s nuclear capabilities.

Russian Gen. Viktor Yesin, former commander in chief of the Strategic Rocket Forces, provided a more realistic estimate of China’s nuclear capabilities in an article published seven years ago “Third After the United States and Russia: On China’s Nuclear Capabilities Without Understatement or Exaggeration” (April 30, 2012).

China’s nuclear weapons are design to completely destroy cities. yet, American military doctrine believes that they would never be used, or if they were, the war zone would be confined to China and that these weapons would be used against Chinese cities, not American ones. I think that the entire group of neocons in Washington DC need lobotomities.

Gen. Yesin calculates China could have “10,000 nuclear munitions” based on the PRC’s estimated production of “up to 40 tons of weapons uranium” and “about 10 tons of weapons-grade plutonium” manufactured “as of 2011.

However, based on China’s strategic and tactical delivery systems, Gen. Yesin concludes “there may be up to 1,800 warheads in China’s nuclear arsenal.

Chinese nuclear and weapon technology is acknowledged to be ten years ahead of that of the United States. I argue that this in an underestimation and that it is more like twenty five years more advanced.

Contrary to the title of Gen. Yesin’s article, this would make China, with 1,800 strategic and tactical nuclear weapons, the second most heavily armed nuclear power, after Russia (3,500 operational strategic and tactical nuclear weapons) but before the U.S. (1,700 strategic and tactical nuclear weapons).

China’s nuclear capabilities are clearly underestimated…

significantly higher than commonly believed in the Western expert community,”

- concludes Russian Gen. Yesin.

As the New Cold War heats up in the Pacific — the United States had better not bet its security on China’s “No First Use” pledge and a presumed five-to-one U.S. advantage in nuclear weapons.

This story was originally published here. Dr. Peter Vincent Pry served as chief of staff of the congressional EMP Commission and in the CIA. 

Well some sanity…

I have to agree. All the assumptions made by American planners are really ignorant. Ignorant of the facts, ignorant of China, ignorant of history, ignorant of Intel, ignorant of American weapons capability, and shrouded in wishful thinking, greed, psychopathic personalities, visions of grandeur and illusions.

So maybe some of this is starting to filter out to the American mindless masses…

The following article [3] discusses neocon war-mongering religious nutcase Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and his slow realization that maybe now is not the time to fight China….

…yeah, Ya don’t think?

He is being discussed on FOX News which is the Alt-Right conservative “news” media that spouts the government point of view  to appeal to American conservatives.

[3] US Senator Cotton Casts Doubt on US Navy’s Ability to ‘Fight and Defeat’ China

© REUTERS / OCTAVIO JONES

by Daria Bedenkohttps://sputniknews.com/us/202107141083380272-us-senator-cotton-casts-doubt-on-us-navys-ability-to-fight-and-defeat-china/

The US military has seen criticism from lawmakers in the recent past: for example, Republican Senator Ted Cruz happened to share a video comparing the American army and the Russian Army, suggesting that the American military is “woke” and “emasculated”.

Republican US Senator Tom Cotton in a Tuesday interview to Fox News voiced doubt about whether the US Navy is capable of defeating China in battle, pointing at how the American military has, in his opinion, shifted away from warfighting.

"Obviously, the Navy has a big and complex task, but the single most important thing we have our surface Navy for is to be ready to fight and defeat the Chinese Navy",

Cotton said.

"And right now, I have real problems -- real doubts – the Navy has instilled the kind of warfighting mentality that would allow us to accomplish that goal."

He also referred to a recent military report delivered to members of Congress that, according to Cotton’s earlier statement,

"found that a staggering 94% of sailors interviewed believe that the surface Navy suffers from a crisis of leadership and culture."
"It's coming from sailors, it's coming from the sailors and their chiefs and their junior officers, and in some cases, commanding officers who have lost confidence that the Navy's surface warfare component is ready to fight and win tonight",

Cotton told Fox News.

The senator asserted that the United States

"allowed China to steal a march on us that relates especially shipbuilding",

pointing at a

"massive shipbuilding campaign"

by Beijing and suggesting that Washington should follow their lead. He also said that changes are needed in the way sailors and officers are trained, noting that, according to the military report,

"in some cases" the soldiers are handed DVDs to watch in their spare time to train."
"We would never do that to a Navy aviator, we would never do it to a Navy nuclear engineer", Cotton argued. "We shouldn't be doing it to our surface warfare officers either. They deserve a lot better, and the sailors they lead deserve a lot better as well."

The delivery of “A Report on the Fighting Culture of the United States Navy’s Surface Fleet” was ordered by Cotton and some of his House counterparts, including GOP Representatives Jim Banks, Dan Crenshaw, and Mike Gallagher.

This is not the first time Republican lawmakers have questioned the readiness of the American military, the world’s largest by a significant margin. Many conservatives blast the US military for being “woke” and “emasculated”, particularly Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz, who shared a video in which he compared the US military with the Russian army.

Some observers have criticized the American military for their rollout of so-called ‘woke’ ad videos or offering Zodiac horoscopes for soldiers, arguing that the focus should be on professionalism and not sexual orientation, gender, race, or even astrological aspects.

The sentiment, however, does not appear to be shared by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who noted in late May that he would not “lose one minute of sleep” over what Russia or China say about the US military, which he deemed “the best” in the world today.

Comments

Sy.Gunson.NZ

It is time China established a naval base in Cuba. Then the Americans will retreat from the South China Sea

Sy.Gunson.NZ

China sent one warship to the Coral Sea, then the Australian navy scurried back from the South China Sea

4Justice

So, a trillion dollar per year "defense" budget and hundreds of military bases around the globe aren't enough. Interesting how Russia and China, who spend 10 times less and have only a few external bases between them scare the US so much. They not only defend their countries adequately, but are also major threats offensively for 10 times less than what the US spends. I suppose the US answer to this will be to increase spending and build more bases.

NthrnNYker59

China's ships FAR outnumber fascist amerika's total number of ships that span all 7 seas....there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY the fascists can compete versus China in a regional battle or even war.

pepa in reply toSy.Gunson.NZ

@Sy.Gunson.NZ, 

I'm afraid he's only saying this in a drive to increase the navy budget...

Erikao

Translation we want more money. Oh and Mr. Austin since you are so confident wouldn't that mean that these countries do not actually pose a threat and we can stop bullying them?

Terranian

That's what ALL Pentagon simulations + assessments etc. say....but the total demented fascist psychopathic Neocons give a *F*, they would rather scorch the earth than giving up their lunatic wet dream...the result of their 'American Exceptionalism' Braindamages + Delusions of Grandeur and they are keeping on looting robbing plundering the taxpayer country + society blind.

Sy.Gunson.NZ

Truth is, that China has no real interest in fighting anybody, unless provoked. Watching USA hype itself up for war is like watching a kitten chasing its own tail

OUTLANDER1968

Major General Smedley Butler told the Senate Arms Committee in 1935 - that - WAR IS A RACKET. And saying - what Al Capon was trying to do in 3 districts in Chicago - He was doing it on 3 continents (Asia, Africa, and South America, plus Mexico) - for the western mafia corporations. And it hasn't change. 

Check out the movie - The Pentagon Wars. 

Plus the latest report from the U.S Air Force regarding the F-35 joint fighter jet: The F-35 $1.7 trillion project has failed to meet expectations. And lets not forget about the 911 BS event, when the Senate Arms Committee was investigating the Pentagon for misplacing $2.3 trillion in 1999 and $1.1 trillion in 2000, and interesting that The ARMY/NAVY Financial Analyst Office was the office destroyed on that day, just like World Trade Center Building #7. ------ Pull My Finger, cause it speaks the same BS language.

Sy.Gunson.NZ

CHINA is building a base on the Moon. soon USA will have to retreat from space too

KOURSK

it is sure that the big mafia and its NATO dependencies lose ground geostrategically *** 

it is excellent news if the billionaires who reign in Washington and Brussels can no longer impose their particular interests on the whole of the planet *** 

the rise of states and the Russian and Chinese public sphere, geostrategically and economically is not conquering *** 

it simply allows cooperation and development to countries which were subject to plunder when they were under the yoke of organized crime in Washington and Brussels *** 

Russia and china bring peace

Terranianin reply toSy.Gunson.NZ

@Sy.Gunson.NZ, 

Russia will join them as well, as on their Space Station because the ISS reach their End-Of-Life...

and in contrast to the US who blocked + excluded them from the ISS against the wishes of their partners, the Chinese welcome anyone to join them in cooperation as 'equals'. 

It's like with their ginormous FAST telescope, they literally invited scientist from all over the world and the US let their Arecibo telescope rot and decay and collapse because of neglect and ignorance.

keyboardcosmetics

It is ludicrous to even think that a mixed-race impoverished United States routed by Afghan tribesmen with rifles could offer any kind of threat other than bluster at a powerful armed to the teeth modern nation with a population at least 6 times greater than that of the US. What are those mulattos on?

BUY HUAWEI

hahhaha, the best in the world today? Defeated by Taliban with slingshot,

kohems

America. Military best in the world? Even the Taliban have defeated it and lost to the Vietnamese ragtag army. America can never defeat China or Russia in any war and they know that. The world will never support America and its allies in any with China or Russia.

mandrake

Sure, the morons been living in a bubble believing they are invincible, which they are not. 

First lesson they have failed to learn from is that wars fought in far away places against indigenous people are unwinnable. 

China would be such far away theater and they just wouldn’t stand a chance!

richard1950

After all its failed wars in the MiddleEast, and now being kicked out of Afghanistan, the Cowboys are now thinking of trying another war. 

This time they want to start a war in Asia, taking on the Chinese in their own backyard. 

Are these Cowboys nuts?

Hugo Boss

Don't you know that the Cabal is playing both sides: weakening the US and strengthening China, so that both may destroy each other and the Tribe rules?

Some Chinese Military Videos

I really do not know how much this can contribute tot he discussion, but I don’t think that it will hurt. Here’s some videos of Chinese military weapons and systems. I hope that they are interesting to you.

Download the video HERE.

And this one…

And the video HERE.

And this one…

And the video HERE.

And this video…

And the video HERE.

And here…

And the video HERE.

Conclusion

With every conceivable step pushing for war in place, it appears that the United States is starting to fall back and regain some sensibility.

It appears.

And I hope that it is true.

But if there is one thing that I do know, is that as nuts and crazy as the United States leadership are, they are crafty.

Crafty. Sneaky, Astute. Powerful. Dangerous.

And as an American I DO NOT TRUST THEM ONE BIT.

While it appears that the USA is pulling back from the brink of World War III, it just might just be another illusion. And instead, we could easily see a…

*** SNAP ***

And the entire world is engulfed in nuclear, flames, the worst biological weapons, and war on all theaters and in every conceivable way.

So…

Do not let your guard down.

Keep up on your affirmation prayers, and remain guarded and vigilant.

Final Thoughts

Keep in mind that America is a Police State domestically. A Military Empire Internationally. It’s government is an Oligarchy, and it’s people are dumbed down serf-slaves (roughly 60% serf / 25% felon slaves). The government controls everything inside of America, and wants to extend that reach internationally. This will not disappear, no matter what it appears to be.

America is a police state. Here are some police in a subway in New York City.

America is not the leadership. There are good people, capable people, and still intact systems that are capable of designing, working and building things. The only problem is that the government is so big, is so enormous, that it controls everything, and makes it difficult to get anything done, and impossible to enact change.

America is changing, and the military forces are wearing new uniforms and new systems. They are being prepared to fight a major war. No matter what you read otherwise.

America’s new battle armor.

America has new weapons systems too. And is developing more every day, and they do look impressive.

America’s new jeep.

So with all this in mind, please take what ever you read in the American “news” cautiously. Be wary.

New US Army helicopter.

History has shown that the United States government lies, and is deceptive, and never moves away from it’s voracious appetite for power, control and domination. Never let up our guard.

And by the way, keep in mind that the American people are being manipulated and led by these psychopaths to behave in fearful and dangerous ways.

Check out this American woman, in Hong Kong of all places, yelling at a Chinese man. Telling him to get back to China “where you belong”. And he replies “You’re in China (now)”.

Full video HERE.

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

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Master Index

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The bottom just dropped out from the neocon pro-war faction that want a war over Taiwan

For those of you who are unaware, the k-street neocons (in Washington DC) have been promoting a war with China for over four years now. They started with [1] a war over “democracy” in Hong Kong, and when that failed, they started [2] with a war over Tibet with India, and when that failed, they started [3] with a war over the Uighur Muslims though Afghanistan, and that failed as well. The last group of beating drums has been [4] a war over Taiwan.

“Leaked” nonsense articles discussing Chinese plans to invade Taiwan are all over the Western press. Of course, if you go to the source of this Intel, you will see a glossy supermarket tabloid devoid of facts. Never the less, the drum beats have been a booming. And the neocons in Washington has even started laying out “tweets” using official Whitehouse websites…

…and Biden put a complete end to all this immediately.

Have you noticed how all the “fire hose” of media against China regarding Taiwan has ended? When was the last time you saw an article promoting American involvement in a war over Taiwan?

Why is this?

This is why…

Yup. This goes 100% against everything that Mike Pompeo and the rest of that ghoulish neocon cabal are saying.

What’s Next?

Well, the Morrison regime is still pushing for a war with China. Maybe they will try to perform amphibious landings on the coast of Shenzhen. Who knows? These people are that “bat shit crazy”!

This is a short article, but the content is significant.

America will stand down, and not get involved with any conflict over Taiwan. All those folk who are promoting war, more military spending and all other factors regarding a war with China over Taiwan has got their “wings clipped”.

Notice how none of this is being reported in any American “news”. The only way that you can tell that anything is going on is the lack of coverage regarding Taiwan.

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

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Articles & Links

Master Index

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  • You can start reading the articles by going HERE.
  • You can visit the Index Page HERE to explore by article subject.
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Americans today are living within a failed state.

This is a pretty good article written by George Packer that was printed in the Atlantic and has pretty much been circulating everywhere. My friends from both sides of the political spectrum are discussing it, and urging me to read it. So I have, and I found his points… oh so delicious. Here is his article and I think that you all would see that he makes some good points no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on.

The COVID-19 event, regardless of what caused it, has exposed America for what it is. And the picture is decidedly not pretty.

You might not agree with everything that he has to say. You might not like the dish of food that he serves to you, but you must admit that the COVID-19 has exposed America to be fully and completely incapable of governing during a serious emergency. And while the idea for “Make America Great Again” is laudable, it is unfortunately beyond the reach of everyone inside the monstrous American government.

It’s a good read. All credit to the author.

We Are Living in a Failed State

George Packer

When the (COVID-19) virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly. Chronic ills—a corrupt political class, a sclerotic bureaucracy, a heartless economy, a divided and distracted public—had gone untreated for years. We had learned to live, uncomfortably, with the symptoms.

It took the scale and intimacy of a pandemic to expose their severity—to shock Americans with the recognition that we are in the high-risk category.

America responds to the COVID-19

The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational, and collective.

The United States reacted instead like Pakistan or Belarus—like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering.

The administration squandered two irretrievable months to prepare.

From the president came willful blindness, scapegoating, boasts, and lies. From his mouthpieces, conspiracy theories and miracle cures. A few senators and corporate executives acted quickly—not to prevent the coming disaster, but to profit from it.

When a government doctor tried to warn the public of the danger, the White House took the mic and politicized the message.

American Citizens caught in the middle.

Every morning in the endless month of March, Americans woke up to find themselves citizens of a failed state. With no national plan—no coherent instructions at all—families, schools, and offices were left to decide on their own whether to shut down and take shelter.

When test kits, masks, gowns, and ventilators were found to be in desperately short supply, governors pleaded for them from the White House, which stalled, then called on private enterprise, which couldn’t deliver.

States and cities were forced into bidding wars that left them prey to price gouging and corporate profiteering.

Civilians took out their sewing machines to try to keep ill-equipped hospital workers healthy and their patients alive. Russia, Taiwan, and the United Nations sent humanitarian aid to the world’s richest power—a beggar nation in utter chaos.

Presidential Leadership

Donald Trump saw the crisis almost entirely in personal and political terms.

Fearing for his reelection, he declared the coronavirus pandemic a war, and himself a wartime president.

But the leader he brings to mind is Marshal Philippe Pétain, the French general who, in 1940, signed an armistice with Germany after its rout of French defenses, then formed the pro-Nazi Vichy regime. Like Pétain, Trump collaborated with the invader and abandoned his country to a prolonged disaster.

And, like France in 1940, America in 2020 has stunned itself with a collapse that’s larger and deeper than one miserable leader.

Some future autopsy of the pandemic might be called Strange Defeat, after the historian and Resistance fighter Marc Bloch’s contemporaneous study of the fall of France.

Despite countless examples around the U.S. of individual courage and sacrifice, the failure is national. And it should force a question that most Americans have never had to ask: Do we trust our leaders and one another enough to summon a collective response to a mortal threat?

Are we still capable of self-government?

A major crisis

This is the third major crisis of the short 21st century.

The first, on September 11, 2001, came when Americans were still living mentally in the previous century, and the memory of depression, world war, and cold war remained strong. On that day, people in the rural heartland did not see New York as an alien stew of immigrants and liberals that deserved its fate, but as a great American city that had taken a hit for the whole country. Firefighters from Indiana drove 800 miles to help the rescue effort at Ground Zero. Our civic reflex was to mourn and mobilize together.

Partisan politics and terrible policies, especially the Iraq War, erased the sense of national unity and fed a bitterness toward the political class that never really faded.

The second crisis, in 2008, intensified it.

At the top, the financial crash could almost be considered a success. Congress passed a bipartisan bailout bill that saved the financial system. Outgoing Bush-administration officials cooperated with incoming Obama administration officials. The experts at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department used monetary and fiscal policy to prevent a second Great Depression.

Leading bankers were shamed but not prosecuted; most of them kept their fortunes and some their jobs. Before long they were back in business. A Wall Street trader told me that the financial crisis had been a “speed bump.”

Ah, but the American middle class…

All of the lasting pain was felt in the middle and at the bottom, by Americans who had taken on debt and lost their jobs, homes, and retirement savings.

Many of them never recovered, and young people who came of age in the Great Recession are doomed to be poorer than their parents.

Inequality—the fundamental, relentless force in American life since the late 1970s—grew worse.

This second crisis drove a profound wedge between Americans: between the upper and lower classes, Republicans and Democrats, metropolitan and rural people, the native-born and immigrants, ordinary Americans and their leaders.

Social bonds had been under growing strain for several decades, and now they began to tear.

The reforms of the Obama years, important as they were—in health care, financial regulation, green energy—had only palliative effects.

The long recovery over the past decade enriched corporations and investors, lulled professionals, and left the working class further behind. The lasting effect of the slump was to increase polarization and to discredit authority, especially government’s.

No one noticed.

Both parties were slow to grasp how much credibility they’d lost.

The coming politics was populist. Its harbinger wasn’t Barack Obama but Sarah Palin, the absurdly unready vice-presidential candidate who scorned expertise and reveled in celebrity. She was Donald Trump’s John the Baptist.

Trump came to power as the repudiation of the Republican establishment.

But the conservative political class and the new leader soon reached an understanding. Whatever their differences on issues like trade and immigration, they shared a basic goal: to strip-mine public assets for the benefit of private interests.

Republican politicians and donors who wanted government to do as little as possible for the common good could live happily with a regime that barely knew how to govern at all, and they made themselves Trump’s footmen.

Like a wanton boy throwing matches in a parched field, Trump began to immolate what was left of national civic life.

He never even pretended to be president of the whole country, but pitted us against one another along lines of race, sex, religion, citizenship, education, region, and—every day of his presidency—political party.

His main tool of governance was to lie.

A third of the country locked itself in a hall of mirrors that it believed to be reality; a third drove itself mad with the effort to hold on to the idea of knowable truth; and a third gave up even trying.

The American government

Trump acquired a federal government crippled by years of right-wing ideological assault, politicization by both parties, and steady defunding.

He set about finishing off the job and destroying the professional civil service.

He drove out some of the most talented and experienced career officials, left essential positions unfilled, and installed loyalists as commissars over the cowed survivors, with one purpose: to serve his own interests.

His major legislative accomplishment, one of the largest tax cuts in history, sent hundreds of billions of dollars to corporations and the rich. The beneficiaries flocked to patronize his resorts and line his reelection pockets. If lying was his means for using power, corruption was his end.

This was the American landscape that lay open to the virus: in prosperous cities, a class of globally connected desk workers dependent on a class of precarious and invisible service workers; in the countryside, decaying communities in revolt against the modern world; on social media, mutual hatred and endless vituperation among different camps; in the economy, even with full employment, a large and growing gap between triumphant capital and beleaguered labor; in Washington, an empty government led by a con man and his intellectually bankrupt party; around the country, a mood of cynical exhaustion, with no vision of a shared identity or future.

COVID-19 exposed America for what it is.

If the pandemic really is a kind of war, it’s the first to be fought on this soil in a century and a half.

Invasion and occupation expose a society’s fault lines, exaggerating what goes unnoticed or accepted in peacetime, clarifying essential truths, raising the smell of buried rot.

The virus should have united Americans against a common threat.

With different leadership, it might have.

Instead, even as it spread from blue to red areas, attitudes broke down along familiar partisan lines. The virus also should have been a great leveler. You don’t have to be in the military or in debt to be a target—you just have to be human.

But from the start, its effects have been skewed by the inequality that we’ve tolerated for so long.

When tests for the virus were almost impossible to find, the wealthy and connected—the model and reality-TV host Heidi Klum, the entire roster of the Brooklyn Nets, the president’s conservative allies—were somehow able to get tested, despite many showing no symptoms.

The smattering of individual results did nothing to protect public health.

Meanwhile, ordinary people with fevers and chills had to wait in long and possibly infectious lines, only to be turned away because they weren’t actually suffocating. An internet joke proposed that the only way to find out whether you had the virus was to sneeze in a rich person’s face.

When Trump was asked about this blatant unfairness, he expressed disapproval but added, “Perhaps that’s been the story of life.”

Most Americans hardly register this kind of special privilege in normal times. But in the first weeks of the pandemic it sparked outrage, as if, during a general mobilization, the rich had been allowed to buy their way out of military service and hoard gas masks. As the contagion has spread, its victims have been likely to be poor, black, and brown people. The gross inequality of our health-care system is evident in the sight of refrigerated trucks lined up outside public hospitals.

Right now…

We now have two categories of work: essential and nonessential. Who have the essential workers turned out to be?

Mostly people in low-paying jobs that require their physical presence and put their health directly at risk: warehouse workers, shelf-stockers, Instacart shoppers, delivery drivers, municipal employees, hospital staffers, home health aides, long-haul truckers.

Doctors and nurses are the pandemic’s combat heroes, but the supermarket cashier with her bottle of sanitizer and the UPS driver with his latex gloves are the supply and logistics troops who keep the frontline forces intact.

In a smartphone economy that hides whole classes of human beings, we’re learning where our food and goods come from, who keeps us alive. An order of organic baby arugula on AmazonFresh is cheap and arrives overnight in part because the people who grow it, sort it, pack it, and deliver it have to keep working while sick.

For most service workers, sick leave turns out to be an impossible luxury. It’s worth asking if we would accept a higher price and slower delivery so that they could stay home.

Dangerous parasites

The pandemic has also clarified the meaning of nonessential workers. One example is Kelly Loeffler, the Republican junior senator from Georgia, whose sole qualification for the empty seat that she was given in January is her immense wealth. Less than three weeks into the job, after a dire private briefing about the virus, she got even richer from the selling-off of stocks, then she accused Democrats of exaggerating the danger and gave her constituents false assurances that may well have gotten them killed. Loeffler’s impulses in public service are those of a dangerous parasite.

A body politic that would place someone like this in high office is well advanced in decay.

Political Nihilism

The purest embodiment of political nihilism is not Trump himself but his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.

In his short lifetime, Kushner has been fraudulently promoted as both a meritocrat and a populist. He was born into a moneyed real-estate family the month Ronald Reagan entered the Oval Office, in 1981—a princeling of the second Gilded Age.

Despite Jared’s mediocre academic record, he was admitted to Harvard after his father, Charles, pledged a $2.5 million donation to the university.

Father helped son with $10 million in loans for a start in the family business, then Jared continued his elite education at the law and business schools of NYU, where his father had contributed $3 million.

Jared repaid his father’s support with fierce loyalty when Charles was sentenced to two years in federal prison in 2005 for trying to resolve a family legal quarrel by entrapping his sister’s husband with a prostitute and videotaping the encounter.

Jared Kushner failed as a skyscraper owner and a newspaper publisher, but he always found someone to rescue him, and his self-confidence only grew.

In American Oligarchs, Andrea Bernstein describes how he adopted the outlook of a risk-taking entrepreneur, a “disruptor” of the new economy. Under the influence of his mentor Rupert Murdoch, he found ways to fuse his financial, political, and journalistic pursuits. He made conflicts of interest his business model.

So when his father-in-law became president, Kushner quickly gained power in an administration that raised amateurism, nepotism, and corruption to governing principles.

As long as he busied himself with Middle East peace, his feckless meddling didn’t matter to most Americans. But since he became an influential adviser to Trump on the coronavirus pandemic, the result has been mass death.

In his first week on the job, in mid-March, Kushner co-authored the worst Oval Office speech in memory, interrupted the vital work of other officials, may have compromised security protocols, flirted with conflicts of interest and violations of federal law, and made fatuous promises that quickly turned to dust.

The federal government is not designed to solve all our problems,” he said, explaining how he would tap his corporate connections to create drive-through testing sites.

They never materialized.

He was convinced by corporate leaders that Trump should not use presidential authority to compel industries to manufacture ventilators—then Kushner’s own attempt to negotiate a deal with General Motors fell through.

With no loss of faith in himself, he blamed shortages of necessary equipment and gear on incompetent state governors.

To watch this pale, slim-suited dilettante breeze into the middle of a deadly crisis, dispensing business-school jargon to cloud the massive failure of his father-in-law’s administration, is to see the collapse of a whole approach to governing.

It turns out that scientific experts and other civil servants are not traitorous members of a “deep state”—they’re essential workers, and marginalizing them in favor of ideologues and sycophants is a threat to the nation’s health.

It turns out that “nimble” companies can’t prepare for a catastrophe or distribute lifesaving goods—only a competent federal government can do that.

It turns out that everything has a cost, and years of attacking government, squeezing it dry and draining its morale, inflict a heavy cost that the public has to pay in lives.

All the programs defunded, stockpiles depleted, and plans scrapped meant that we had become a second-rate nation. Then came the virus and this strange defeat.

Our fight against the COVID-19

The fight to overcome the pandemic must also be a fight to recover the health of our country, and build it anew, or the hardship and grief we’re now enduring will never be redeemed.

Under our current leadership, nothing will change.

If 9/11 and 2008 wore out trust in the old political establishment, 2020 should kill off the idea that anti-politics is our salvation. But putting an end to this regime, so necessary and deserved, is only the beginning.

Facing a stark choice.

We’re faced with a choice that the crisis makes inescapably clear. We can stay hunkered down in self-isolation, fearing and shunning one another, letting our common bond wear away to nothing.

Or we can use this pause in our normal lives to pay attention to the hospital workers holding up cellphones so their patients can say goodbye to loved ones; the planeload of medical workers flying from Atlanta to help in New York; the aerospace workers in Massachusetts demanding that their factory be converted to ventilator production; the Floridians standing in long lines because they couldn’t get through by phone to the skeletal unemployment office; the residents of Milwaukee braving endless waits, hail, and contagion to vote in an election forced on them by partisan justices.

We can learn from these dreadful days that stupidity and injustice are lethal; that, in a democracy, being a citizen is essential work; that the alternative to solidarity is death. After we’ve come out of hiding and taken off our masks, we should not forget what it was like to be alone.

Do you want to see similar posts?

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How Democracy ended in Athens; it was replaced by an Oligarchy.

Those that promote the benefits of “democracy” leave one thing out; it is always replaced with an oligarchy. Where the wealthy people control the government and eventually reduce the rest of society to slave or serfs serving them. Here, we take a look at the Athenian “democracy” and as we read about it, keep in mind the terrible parallels between it and America.

What is amazing to me is that our Republic was changed to a democracy by the 12th amendment, and those changing it KNEW HISTORY. They knew that democracies always… 100% always… always without fail… become oligarchies of the wealthy.

Here we look at the “gold standard” for “democracy; Athens. This is the standard that all the pro-democracy advocates cite. And the one that became an oligarchy before it’s eventual collapse.

Introduction

In the year 507 B.C., the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or “rule by the people” (from demos, “the people,” and kratos, or “power”).

It was the first known democracy in the world.

This system was comprised of three separate institutions:

  • The ekklesia, a sovereign governing body that wrote laws and dictated foreign policy;
  • The boule, a council of representatives from the ten Athenian tribes
  • The dikasteria, the popular courts in which citizens argued cases before a group of lottery-selected jurors.

Although this Athenian democracy would survive for only two centuries, its invention by Cleisthenes, “The Father of Democracy,” is considered to be one of the best contributions Greek made to the world. The Greek system of direct democracy would pave the way for representative democracies across the globe.

Which is a mystery to me.

As they all failed.

Each one, in turn, becoming a nation ruled by the wealthy and one that abused it’s poor.

Who Could Vote in Ancient Greece?

One of the things that everyone omits is that in a democracy, not everyone could vote. In fact only a handful of people were ever permitted to vote, and their selection… wouldn’t you know it… was influenced (if not decided) by the wealthiest inhabitants.

“In a democracy,” the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, “there is, first, that most splendid of virtues, equality before the law.”

However, the “equality” Herodotus described was limited to a small segment of the Athenian population in Ancient Greece.

For example, in Athens in the middle of the 4th century there were about 100,000 citizens (Athenian citizenship was limited to men and women whose parents had also been Athenian citizens), about 10,000 metoikoi, or “resident foreigners,” and 150,000 slaves.

Out of all those people, only male citizens who were older than 18 were a part of the demos, meaning only about 40,000 people could participate in the democratic process.

The Ekklesia (the assembly)

Athenian democracy was a direct democracy made up of three important institutions.

The first was the ekklesia, or Assembly, the sovereign governing body of Athens.

Any member of the demos–any one of those 40,000 adult male citizens–was welcome to attend the meetings of the ekklesia, which were held 40 times per year in a hillside auditorium west of the Acropolis called the Pnyx.

Important point; The actual voters could directly make laws. They did not need to vote for a "representative" who would vote for them.

That was great on paper, but not really all that functional. For only about 5,000 men attended each session of the Assembly. The rest were serving in the army or navy or working to support their families.

At the meetings, the ekklesia made decisions about war and foreign policy, wrote and revised laws and approved or condemned the conduct of public officials.

The group made decisions by simple majority vote.

The Boule (The Council)

The second important institution was the boule, or Council of Five Hundred.

This could be considered the "Deep State" or the bureaucracy. 

The boule was a group of 500 men, 50 from each of ten Athenian tribes, who served on the Council for one year.

Unlike the ekklesia, the boule met every day and did most of the hands-on work of governance.

It supervised government workers and was in charge of things like navy ships (triremes) and army horses. It dealt with ambassadors and representatives from other city-states.

Its main function was to decide what matters would come before the ekklesia. In this way, the 500 members of the boule dictated how the entire democracy would work.

Positions on the boule were chosen by lot and not by election.

This was because, in theory, a random lottery was more democratic than an election: pure chance, after all, could not be influenced by things like money or popularity.

The lottery system also prevented the establishment of a permanent class of civil servants who might be tempted to use the government to advance or enrich themselves.

However, historians argue that selection to the boule was not always just a matter of chance. They note that wealthy and influential people–and their relatives–served on the Council much more frequently than would be likely in a truly random lottery.

In actual function, the selection of membership was determined by the wealthy and influential.

The Dikasteria (The Judges / Courts)

The third important institution was the popular courts, or dikasteria.

Every day, more than 500 jurors were chosen by lot from a pool of male citizens older than 30. Of all the democratic institutions, Aristotle argued that the dikasteria “contributed most to the strength of democracy” because the jury had almost unlimited power.

There were no police in Athens, so it was the demos themselves who brought court cases, argued for the prosecution and the defense and delivered verdicts and sentences by majority rule.

There were also no rules about what kinds of cases could  be prosecuted or what could and could not be said at trial, and so  Athenian citizens frequently used the dikasteria to punish or embarrass  their enemies. It became a tool of the wealthy.

Jurors were paid a wage for their work, so that the job could be accessible to everyone and not just the wealthy (but, since the wage was less than what the average worker earned in a day, the typical juror was an elderly retiree).

Since Athenians did not pay taxes, the money for these payments came from customs duties, contributions from allies and taxes levied on the metoikoi.

The one exception to this rule was the leitourgia, or liturgy, which was a kind of tax that wealthy people volunteered to pay to sponsor major civic undertakings such as the maintenance of a navy ship (this liturgy was called the trierarchia) or the production of a play or choral performance at the city’s annual festival.

The End of Athenian Democracy

Around 460 B.C., under the rule of the general Pericles (generals were among the only public officials who were elected, not appointed) Athenian democracy began to evolve into something that we would call an aristocracy.

This was the rule of what Herodotus called “the one man, the best.”

This has lead to all democratic nations evolving into one of the following forms…

  • Oligarchy
  • Plutocracy
  • Aristocracy

Conclusion

When some mindless clone voices the idea that “democracy” is the best, you should rest assured that they are either [1] ignorant of history, or [2] a shrill for the wealthy. Historically, all democracies evolve into rule by the wealthy and well-connected. There are NO EXCEPTIONS.

America was set up as a Republic, but was quickly changed into a democracy with the 12th amendment, and evolved over time to the oligarchy it is today.

Can you do anything about it?

No, you cannot.


Unless you want to get involved in armed insurrection (always a nasty business), I would advise moving somewhere else where the “grass is greener”. I have other posts on this subject and I would suggest you all take a look at them. Here…

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