We are in World War Three

I often remember the embarrassing events in my life. I suppose that all of us have these memories. Mine are deep scars. The memories are just painful. Sorry. And though from time to time, I feel a need to tell my story (s) I find it difficult to do so. The embarrasment is just too severe.

But you know… I learned form them. As we all have.

We are going to continue on our mish mash of articles here today to describe a world in turmoil and one on fire with hidden wars, secretive plans, mind control, bioweapons, and a total luntic-ruled Western society.

We start with Truth

Mistakes in judgement part 1

Chinese media: 2 British fighting for Ukraine captured by Russia

One is widely available on the Saker Website, and Graham Phillips Youtube channel. The other is at the RT.com website, posted as “interview”.

I’ve seen both. The critical question was not asked: Did you kill anyone? As mercenaries, both know that they could be subject to the death penalty and aren’t protected by international prisoner of war law….a bit of an oversight when looking for employment…

They don’t seem to be Azov Nazi types, just soldier of fortune types who didn’t think hard enough about what they were doing in Ukraine. But they don’t seem much stupider than most Western supporters of the coup regime.

Attached text hyperlink and video.

两名在乌克兰被俘英国人出镜向英首相求“人员交换”|乌克兰|英国人|俄罗斯_新浪军事_新浪网

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Article

The entire interview, learn from the horse’s mouth.

Article

The ‘messy middle’

2022-04-20 00:40:46

Ian Prasad Philbrick, The New York Times

No pay Wall here:

https://bdnews24.com/world/2022/04/20/the-messy-middle

If you live in most any Western country, your government’s support for Ukraine, including sending weapons and imposing sanctions on Russia, can give the impression of a united global response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

But that isn’t the case. Most of the world’s 195 countries have not shipped aid to Ukraine or joined in sanctions. A handful have actively supported Russia. Far more occupy the “messy middle,” as Carisa Nietsche of the Centre for a New American Security calls it, taking neither Ukraine’s nor Russia’s side.

“We live (Americans) in a bubble, here in the US and Europe, where we think the very stark moral and geopolitical stakes, and framework of what we’re seeing unfolding, is a universal cause,” Barry Pavel, a senior vice president at the Atlantic Council, told me. “Actually, most of the governments of the world are not with us.”

India and Israel are prominent democracies that ally with the United States on many issues, particularly security. But they rely on Russia for security as well and have avoided arming Ukraine or imposing sanctions on Moscow. “In both cases, the key factor isn’t ideology but national interests,” says my New York Times colleague Max Fisher, who has written about Russia’s invasion.

India is the world’s largest buyer of Russian weapons, seeking to protect itself from Pakistan and China. India joined 34 other countries in abstaining from a United Nations vote that condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. And India appears to be rebuffing Western pleas to take a harder line.

Israel coordinates with Russia on Iran, its chief adversary, and in neighboring Syria (with which Russia has a strong relationship). Russian-speaking émigrés from the former Soviet Union also make up a sizable chunk of the Israeli electorate. Israel’s prime minister has avoided directly criticising Putin, and although its government has mediated between Ukraine and Russia, little has come out of the effort.

Several Latin American, Southeast Asian and African countries have made similar choices. Bolivia, Vietnam and almost half of Africa’s 54 countries declined to support the UN resolution condemning Russia. Some rely on Russian military assistance, said Bruce Jones, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Others don’t want to risk jeopardising trade relations with China, which has parroted Russian propaganda about the war.

Those countries “might be more accurately described as disinterested,” Fisher says, unwilling to risk their security or economies “for the sake of a struggle that they see as mostly irrelevant.”

Some countries, citing the West’s history of imperialism and past failures to respect human rights, have justified opposing its response to Ukraine. South Africa’s president blamed NATO for Russia’s invasion, and its UN ambassador criticized the US invasion of Iraq during a debate last month about Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis.

Other countries, including some that voted to condemn Russia’s invasion, accuse the West of acting counterproductively. Brazil’s UN ambassador has suggested that arming Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia risk escalating the war.

“There’s nothing intellectually incoherent between viewing Russia’s actions as outrageous and not necessarily fully siding with the West’s reaction to it,” Jones told me.

Autocratic leaders — including in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Nicaragua — may also feel threatened by Ukraine’s resistance and the West’s framing of the invasion as a struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, experts said. “They’re concerned that this could inspire opposition movements in their own countries,” Nietsche said.

China, with all its economic and military might, has seen the war as a chance to enhance its own geopolitical standing as a counterweight to the United States while still maintaining ties to Russia. The countries recently issued a joint statement proclaiming a friendship with “no limits.” But China has struggled with the delicate balancing act of honoring that commitment without fully endorsing Russia’s invasion: Beijing has denounced Western sanctions but has not appeared to have given Russia weapons or economic aid.

“China’s support for Russia, while very important, is also carefully hedged and measured,” Fisher says.

Four countries — North Korea, Eritrea, Syria and Belarus — outright voted with Russia against the UN resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine. Belarus is a former Soviet state whose autocratic leader asked Putin to help suppress protests in 2020 and allowed Russia to launch part of its invasion from within Belarus.

Russia intervened in Syria’s civil war on behalf of the Moscow-aligned government there, and Syria is sending fighters who may aid Russian forces in Ukraine.

It’s not unusual for countries to avoid picking sides on big global issues. Several stayed neutral during World War II; dozens sought to remain free of both United States and Soviet influence during the Cold War.

But if the war in Ukraine drags on, Jones said, neutral countries could come under stronger international pressure to condemn Moscow. And for countries with close ties to Russia, even neutrality can be an act of courage.

Mistakes in judgement part 2

The Russian military says it has successfully performed the first test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile.

President Vladimir Putin said the weapon would make the West “think twice” before harbouring any aggressive intentions against Russia.

(note: Sunzi: the art of war 不战而屈人之兵，crippled the enemy war intention without war is the highest form of war strategy. China often opening released new weapons whenever she perceived a possible US aggression, apparently, putin is doing the same thing. )

The test launch of the Sarmat missile came amid soaring tensions between Moscow and the West over the Russian invasion of Ukraine and underlined the Kremlin’s emphasis on the country’s nuclear forces.

The RS-28 Sarmat, colloquially known to the West as the “Satan II”, is a Russian liquid-fueled, MIRV-equipped super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) under development by the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau since 2009. It is intended to replace the R-36M ICBM (SS-18 ‘Satan’) in Russia’s arsenal.

The Sarmat is one of the six new Russian strategic weapons unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin on 1 March 2018. The RS-28 Sarmat was expected to make its first test flight in 2022, and enter service later this year.

The RS-28 Sarmat is capable of carrying about 10 tons of payload for either up to 10 heavy, or 15 light, MIRV warheads, as well as an unspecified number of Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs) or a combination of warheads. It also carries several countermeasures against anti-ballistic missile systems. The Russian ministry of Defense said that the missile is Russia’s response to the U.S. Prompt Global Strike system.

Sarmat has a short boost phase, which shortens the interval when it can be tracked by satellites with infrared sensors, such as the U.S. Space-Based Infrared System, making it more difficult to intercept. It is speculated that the Sarmat could fly a trajectory over the South Pole, completely immune to any current missile defense system, and that it has the Fractional Orbital Bombardment (FOBS) capability.

According to various sources, RS-28’s launch sites are to be equipped with the “Mozyr” active protection system, designed to negate potential adversary’s first strike advantage by kinetically destroying incoming bombs, cruise missiles and ICBM warheads at altitudes of up to 6 km.

Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked today “The missile will provide food for thought for those who try to threaten Russia.”

UPDATE:

Russia SAYS THE TEST WAS SUCCESSFUL.

“All calculated characteristics are confirmed. Training warheads arrived in a given area in Kamchatka” according to the Ministry of Defense.

The agency recalls that the Sarmat is the most powerful missile in the world with the longest range of targets. It will greatly enhance the military power of the country.

Article

Japan approves ban on luxury car exports to Russia

Japan approved Tuesday a ban on exports of luxury cars and other items to Russia as part of economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. The Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida revised a relevant ordinance to implement the embargo on April 5 that will also cover jewelry and artworks.

Article

Quick Pepper Steak

Do you want something good, quick and tasty for your family? Try this.

Directions

In a bowl, combine the cornstarch, brown sugar, ginger and garlic powder. Stir in broth until smooth. Add soy sauce and molasses; set aside.
In a nonstick skillet or wok, stir-fry steak in oil for 4-5 minutes; remove and keep warm. Stir-fry peppers, celery and onions until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Stir broth mixture and add to the vegetables. Return meat to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Serve over noodles if desired.

Germany says Serbia should align with EU policies if it wants to join bloc | Reuters

It’s from Reuters. It’s hard to tell if this is actual reporting or just another narrative out of the West.

Article

Chinese media: 2 British fighting for Ukraine captured by Russia

Cannot find any report in English. Attached text hyperlink and video.

两名在乌克兰被俘英国人出镜向英首相求“人员交换”|乌克兰|英国人|俄罗斯_新浪军事_新浪网

Article

Mistakes in judgement part 3

Ukraine Claims Russian Phase 2 Has Begun

18 April 2022 by Larry Johnson From HERE

It looks like Ukrainian officials are not blowing smoke on this. During the past 24 hours Russian military operations in the Donbas and in Western Ukraine have increased markedly.

I want to share with you some videos from the Intel Slava Z channel on Telegram. While there always is the possibility these are staged propaganda pieces, they appear legitimate.

First up is the shootdown of a Ukrainian combat jet. Thermal footage shows Ukrainian Su-25 attack jet firing flares, in vain, trying to escape an incoming Russian missile. The jet was shot down on 15th of April by Russian Air Defense units.

The second video shows a Chechen in Mariupol inside one of the buildings at Ilyich plant where elements of the Azov battalion hid. This is probably from Saturday, 16 April. It did not turn out well for the Azov thugs:

Chechens Inspect bodies of AZOV battalion in Ilyich Plant in Mariupol

The Russians are busy on several fronts. Let’s start on the southern coast of Ukraine:

Mariupol is under the control of Russia, only a small element of the AZOV battalion is holed up in the Avostol steel plant with their backs to the sea.
The Russians have secured Berdyansk, which is 60 miles west of Mariupol.
There are explosions in Kherson, which is 220 miles west of Berdyansk.
The night sky over Nikolaev (aka Mykolaiv) is on fire with a barrage of airborne explosives. From Nikolaev it is only 80 miles to Odesa.

At present, Russia is controlling the southern coast of Ukraine with a combination of naval and ground forces. Once Odesa falls (and it will fall), Russia will have completely cut off Ukraine from its southern ports. (There is no commercial activity now because it is a war zone.)

Then there is the action in the west along the border with Poland. Russia is destroying the military equipment that the United States and NATO are sending to Ukraine. Here is a remarkable video showing three weapon collection sites being hit in Lviv (I do not think this is from a video game because even Fox News reported the strikes). According to Intel Slava Z:

Aviation strikes with high-precision missiles at the 124th Joint Logistics Support Center of the Logistics Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Lviv, – Defense Ministry

The logistics center and the large consignments of foreign weapons that were delivered to Ukraine over the past 6 days from the United States and European countries were destroyed.

But center stage for Russian military operations is to the east in Donbas. Popasnaya sits halfway between Luhansk and Kramatorsk (the site of the missile that killed civilians at the train station a week ago). Russian tanks reportedly are bombarding Ukrainian positions:

If the Ukrainian Army still had intact artillery it would be firing counter-battery rounds at the Russian tanks. That is not happening. When you are fighting a comparable force, doctrine dictates that the tanks fire and then move. (Counter battery fire means that the unit being shelled can fire back and hit the position where the shell originated.) I add the caveat that this video could be an elaborate propaganda production, but comments from Zelensky and his toadies indicate the offensive is underway.

There also are press reports that Russian artillery is firing on Ukrainian units around Kharkov (which is a 160 miles northwest of Popasnaya). The limited ability of the Ukrainian forces to respond in kind means the units are hunkered down and taking a brutal beating. If they poke their heads out of their bunkers they are likely to lose their noggin.

Besides physically killing the Ukrainian soldiers, the Russian sustained bombardments are also killing the will to fight among some of the units. Significant numbers are surrendering to Russian units. The first video shows more than 80 Ukrainians who are now under Russian control:

Here is another group of more than 300 Ukrainian soldiers who gave up:

If Ukraine was succeeding on the ground I am sure we would be seeing daily briefings from the Ukrainian generals touting their latest triumph over Russian forces. The absence of such reports is not the product of some clever Ukrainian plot to deceive the Russians into complacency. The inability to maintain robust lines of communication with the front line units and ensure they are fully supplied with ammunition, weapons and food is a death spiral for any military organization.

Recent new reports in the west state that there are limitations on what the United States and NATO can supply. Here is Bloombergs “rosy” picture:

America is following an “arsenal of democracy” strategy in Ukraine: It has avoided direct intervention against the Russian invaders, while working with allies and partners to provide the Kyiv government with money and guns. . . .

Yet as the war reaches a critical stage, with the Russians preparing to consolidate their grip on eastern Ukraine, the arsenal of democracy is being depleted. . . .

General Mark Milley, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress that the West has delivered 60,000 antitank weapons and 25,000 anti-aircraft weapons to Kyiv. The Pentagon is now laying plans to rush additional artillery, coastal defense drones and other materiel to Ukraine. The White House on Wednesday announced a new $800 million package including helicopters and armored personnel carriers. . . .

Pentagon officials say that Kyiv is blowing through a week’s worth of deliveries of antitank munitions every day. It is also running short of usable aircraft as Russian airstrikes and combat losses take their toll. Ammunition has become scarce in Mariupol and other areas.  

This is presenting Western countries with a stark choice between pouring more supplies into Ukraine or husbanding finite capabilities they may need for their own defense.

What the Bloomberg reporter forgot to mention is that Russia is blowing up many of those munitions in western Ukraine even before they can be sent to the front.

In writing this hard truth I am frequently accused of simply passing on Russian propaganda. Not true. If you have the videos of the Ukrainians wreaking havoc on the Russians please let me know. I have not seen it.

And as I noted above, I do not doubt for a minute that U.S. news media would be showing these videos if they existed. This may be a decisive week for the continued existence of organized Ukrainian military operations. The Russian military appears to be following Putin’s directive–demilitarize Ukraine.

Australia among biggest new Cold War economic losers

By Rod Tyers and Yixiao Zhou
If tensions between the Western world and China and Russia led to a split into two separate financial and trading systems, Australia would be among the countries most hurt. Proportionately, the hypothetical negative effect on Australia would be larger than on the world as a whole, due to Australia’s relative affluence and dependence on trade

Article

What To Do When China And Russia Jam GPS?

From American neocon publication “Forbes”…

China’s Orbital Nuclear Bombs Are A Bluff
Covid-19 Gives China And Russia A Strategic Advantage, Says U.S. Army

Article

Ukraine: Greece’s military has seized Russian oil tanker

Article

Zone B exists, thus there is hope, I promise you!

54018 Views January 20, 2021 From HERE

[this column was written for the Unz Review]

Dear friends,

Today it appears that the triumph of our adversaries is total. I want to post this column saying that I don’t believe for one second that this is true. All I want to do today is explain why. Thus, just to make clear to those alternatively gifted, this is not a comprehensive analysis and I will be leaving many things out.

So, here we go:

First, notice how totally paranoid our adversaries are! Depending on how you count and whom you ask, they had 25k to 65k folks in arms “defending” them. Of course, the primary goal of this nonsense is to make it appear as if there was a terrible domestic terrorist force out there, ready to take over DC and open Gulags for minorities. This, in turn, will make it easier to sell a massive crackdown on civil liberties under the guise of “protecting” the (supposed but, in reality, already defunct) “democracy”. But the fact that they had to engage into a witch hunt even to carefully vet every national guardsman (and probably even more people) shows that they are truly afraid. I think that they are wrong, there is no credible domestic terrorist threat in the USA, other than the government itself, of course. But what matters here is not what I think, but what they think, and they seem to have developed a serious case of paranoia.

Second, while I don’t believe in the existence of US domestic terrorists, I do believe that millions of US citizens are convinced that the vote was stolen. These people are understandably disgusted and angry. Many might be desperate or even despondent. Let’s call them the “deplorables” and consider it a badge of honor. Well, these deporables won’t take DC by force, but they will never trust a Dem or GOP politician again, and neither will they ever trust the corporate media. One of the blessings in disguise of this stolen election is that the GOP and Fox News have shown their true faces, and their faces are evil, stupid and ugly. 4 years ago millions of US citizens did not so much vote for Trump as much as they voted against Hillary whom they (correctly) saw as a symbol and metaphor for the entire “deep state”, or “swamp” or “ZOG” or whatever other expression you prefer. These deplorables first trusted Obama (“change we can believe in”) and, later, Trump (MAGA). Now they know that both sides are equally evil and false.

In the past, both factions of the Big Money Party had safety valves (Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, Rand Paul, Tulsi Gabbard, Bernie Sanders, etc.). I think that now the two parties are literally standing naked and boy is that an ugly sight!

Third, and this point I primarily address to my readers in the USA and that will force me to make a sidebar primarily directed at them:

…

[Sidebar: the planet can be divided into 2 rough parts: ZONE A full controlled by the AngloZionist Empire (Unipolar United States led and it’s proxy naitons) and, ZONE B, which includes everybody else. The vast majority of US Americans are only really aware of Zone A.

Zone A = The West – USA and it’s proxy nations.
Zone B = The East – Russia / China / India / Africa, South America, Middle East

Why? For the following reasons:

Most US Americans have never traveled outside Zone A.
Those US Americans who have traveled outside Zone A typically did so without speaking the local language, thus cutting themselves off the locals and the local media.
Most US Americans get their news from US-based outlets, often combined with a few from elsewhere in the Anglosphere (UK, AUS).
US media outlets lie even more about what happens in Zone B than they lie about Zone A.
US schools have pretty much stopped teaching history, and when they do, it is all propaganda about the “city on the hill” and all the rest of the imperialist claptrap about how exceptional the US is. As a result, when most US Americans are exposed to factoids about Zone B they are not equipped to understand their meaning or importance.
Most US Americans simply assume that people in Zone B are very similar to those in Zone A. Most US Americans also assume that most governments in Zone B are even more evil than Uncle Shmuel.
Most US Americans also believe in what I call the “immigration fallacy”: the belief that people come to the USA from all over the planet because they prefer the USA to their home country and people. Anybody living in the USA and speaking Spanish knows that totally false this belief is, of course. But few non-Hispanic US Americans ever speak in Spanish to the Hispanics in the USA (FYI – I do). Anglos generally seem to have a hard time with languages…
Sadly, most US Americans are not educated by their parents, their religious leaders, their communities, or their schools. Most US Americans get most of their education from watching TV. Since all the US TV channels offer almost the exact same mix of vulgar entertainment, propaganda and commercials, this “education” resulted in a huge amount of massively dysfunctional families and communities. This addiction to a flickering screen (be it the Idiot Tube or You Tube – same difference) gives them a very short attention span and a limited ability to process large amounts of written information, which is what is needed to be able to analyze a situation]

As a direct consequence of these factors, most US Americans live in a “mental space” where Zone B simply does not exist, and when it is mentioned, it is invariable in the “same old clichés” mode.

Finally, considering all of the above, it is truly a miracle that the deplorables completely ignored a massive brainwashing campaign (waaaay worse than anything the Commies or the Nazis ever came up with!) against “Trump the New Hitler” and still voted for him twice, both in 2016 and 2020! It really goes to show that most US Americans quietly but passionately hate the regime in DC and that they use every opportunity they get to at least to try to change their country and their lives by means of voting. Makes you wonder what these “disobedient” deplorables will do the next time around now that voting became clearly a waste of time, don’t it?]

Now here is the good news: Zone B does exist! In fact, it is huge, rich, truly diverse and it has long figured out that both the AngloZionist Empire and even the USA as we knew them have basically died, all that’s left from it is some residual momentum and many bad habits by ignorant, arrogant and delusional US politicians.

Why is that so important?

Because if we allow the Great Satan (actually a very good and exact expression, I think that it fits the new regime perfectly, I will use it more often) to convince us that reality is all contained in Zone A, we could really fall into despair. Yeah, the USA is screwed, and so is all of the EU.

As for US colonies like AUS or NZ, not only are they screwed (say by siding with the USA against a much, MUCH more powerful China), they also seem to have a morbid desire to outstupid even the USA in terms of crazy laws and insane ideological positions (say on COVID, for example).

But all this in ONLY true inside Zone A. Very few people in Zone B still believe that the USA matters a great deal. Most of them already know otherwise, even if this is never reported by Zone A media.

There is even more good news: neither the (rump) AngloZionist Empire nor the (rump) USA represent any credible threat to most countries in Zone B.

Oh sure, US politicians can call Russia a “gas station masquerading as a country” or a “regional power”, the truth is that the united West has completely failed to break, or even meaningfully hurt Russia, despite 46 sanction packages (that’s just by Trump, not counting the “change we can believe in” crook).

Heck, even COVID only marginally hurt Russia (which, unlike the flag-waving pseudo-patriotic crap spewed by western politicians took COVID seriously, very seriously in fact, as early as March and prepared the country for no less than two major outbreaks, both which happened, and both which Russia successfully dealt with; this is why the EU is now in full COVID-hysteria mode, while Russia does not bother to impose any lockdowns at all!).

Now let’s place two US propaganda items side by side and take a look, ok?

The USA has the most powerful economy on the planet.
Russia is the #1 adversary of the USA (at least according to the Dems, the GOP places China as #1 and Russia only as #2)

Do you see the problem?

If the USA is so powerful, how is it that it failed to crush Russia? What about Iran? Or, in extremis, Venezuela? Yet, even the the last case, the “best” this supposed World Hegemon did was send a few clueless ex-special ops to get caught and give case of hysterical laughter to the entire Latin American continent!

And these folks want to take on China or Russia?!

Peuhleeze!

So here is the other very good news: Zone A presents no real threat to Zone B!!!

Yes, of course, the USA can still nuke China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela or some other country. But let’s look at the consequences of such a strike:

Against Russia: the USA simply vanishes as a country. Completely and forever.
Against China: the USA as a society completely collapses for a very, very, VERY long time.

And then we have…

Against Iran: the USA gets stuck in a major regional war it can only lose with massive geostrategic consequences (still, the new regime might try to pull this one off, never say never, no matter how stupid this idea can seem to you – always remember that the ignoramuses in DC are as delusional as they are ignorant!)
Against North Korea: the USA gets stuck in a major regional war it can only lose with massive geostrategic consequences.
Against Venezuela: the USA gets stuck in a counter-insurgency war it can only lose. The comprador regime in Bogota will not survive such a war and Colombia will also “fall”.
Against any other Zone B country: the US successfully nukes this/these country/countries only to find itself being treated like a pariah by the entire planet (including quite a few US colonies), including the real military powers. NATO and the EU will also collapse is that happens (the US being their cornerstone).

The bottom line is that while the US triad is still fully functional and capable of waging a full-scale nuclear war against any adversary (including Russia and, even more so, China), the truth is that all this triad really achieves is making it impossible for another nuclear power to use nukes against the USA.

Which is not minor or irrelevant, the problem here being that the US nuclear triad provides with exactly zero help when trying to deal with any adversary not using nukes (either because this adversary choose not to use nukes due to the effective deterrence of the US nuclear triad or simply because it has no nukes in the first place).

As I have mentioned in the past, the US submarine force is, along with the nuclear triad, the other truly effective and powerful force which the US can count on in case of war.

However, other than launching large numbers of outdated and, therefore, easily countered cruise missiles there is little this force can do to assist a US ground (or, for that matter) air operation against anything but a very weak adversary.

The problem with so-called “sub-peer” adversaries is that they have relatively few lucrative targets to strike with cruise missiles (think Venezuela here). Most of these subpeer adversaries do not have the air defenses needed to deal with any halfway determined US missile and bomb attack and the US can quickly destroy whatever air defenses such “sub-peer” countries have.

So yes, I admit it.

If tomorrow the USA wants a “short and triumphant war”, say to boost morale or distract from internal problems, they could still attack countries like, say, Antigua and Barbuda or Santa Lucia, but such a farce will hardly would qualify as “brilliant victory” of the “best armed forces in the galaxy”, now would it?

Or maybe would, who knows?

If the united propaganda machine wants to present that as a triumph for US forces, like they did with the Grenada invasion (one of the worst military operation in history!) they can do that, of course.

But that would only serve to further ridicule that propaganda machine since 2021 is not 1983, there are now millions of deplorables out there who will never buy this kind of silly nonsense.

Besides, considering how the joint efforts of the USA, Israel and Saudi Arabia (the “Axis of Kindness”) completely failed to deal with the Houthis, my money would not be on any US invasion force in the Caribbean (with the possible exception of a re-invasion of Haiti or the Dominican Republic, but these are already US protectorates, what would be the point?!).

Why does all that matter so much?

Because the Democrats are clearly up to no good.

Next, not only will we see a wave of repression against free speech internally, but the Dems are already making noises about, you guessed it, China and Russia (again!) and, when that inevitably yield exactly zero results, they will turn to “hate on” Iran and Venezuela again.

But even these comparatively weaker countries are now very much capable of making Uncle Shmuel pay an immense price in blood and hell to pay in terms of political blowback on too many fronts to count.

The “power” of a nation (or a coalition of nations) can be measured using very many different type of metrics, but the three most common ones would probably be: economic power, military power and political power. If we use those three to compare Zone A to Zone B, it would be reasonable to posit the following:

Economic power: more more or less equal, with Zone A quickly going down and Zone B quickly rising. Zone A still has A LOT of comprador regimes willing to defend it not only at the UN, but in most international bodies (including non-government ones like the IOC for example, or WADA).
Military power: Zone A very much weaker than Zone B (just think RU+CN+IN for starters!)
Political power: Zone A still stronger, but that is also changing fast. You can say that most world rulers are still serfs for Zone A, but most people worldwide have long switched their support for Zone B countries. The recent triumph of the people of Bolivia over their oppressors is a very telling sign of this trend.

And here is the key factor to keep in mind: there is nothing, absolutely nothing, the Biden/Harris Admin can do to change these trends. It is simply too late and when the initiation of the internal collapse of the USA, these trends will only accelerate.

===>In other words, there is hope!<===

Yes, the bad guys did win, but only over Trump and his clueless pseudo-allies (did they betray him faster than he betrayed them, or was it the other way around?), but they only won one a battle against the deplorables and they have won exactly nothing against Zone B.

The Dems are now busy with vengeance in all its forms.

They also relish in humiliating Trump and those who dared to support him. This is the political equivalent of torturing people in basements, not winning glorious battles. But they don’t realize that, they are too vain, too ideologically hateful, and too cowardly to understand that.

Still, brainwashing, like torture (including mental torture!), is real.

In this case, this is a battle for the minds of the deplorables who now have to be beaten down into a catatonic state of total submission and compliance. The Dems are using lies, their favorite weapon, but their assault is real, nonetheless. And this is the battle which we, those who opposed imperialism, have to fight – the battle for the minds of the people in Zone A: we need to show them that the pseudo-reality of Zone A has no real existence outside the Idiot Box and the vapid rhetoric of US decision makers.

We have to mentally prepare for a sharp increase in the amount and scope of the lies the US propaganda machine will be telling us (if you thought the last 4 years were bad, prepare for much, much worse; good example here).

And, of course, expect LOTS of false flags, especially to demonstrate the reality of the alleged danger coming from the “domestic terrorists”. That will all go down against a background of a full-spectrum attack on free speech, dissent and any form of actual (as opposed to pretend) thought, really.

The irony is, of course, that the coming witch hunt (it will be way worse than Salem or McCarthy) will be waged in the name of diversity and ostensibly against “hate”. In reality, of course, what the regime wants is to crush real diversity because the leaders of the US Nomenklatura absolutely hate everything besides their sorry selves.

Like all ideologues, what these folks want is 1) total power and 2) total uniformity. All those rejecting these modern dogmas will be branded as criminals, terrorists, heretics, racist and, of course, Russian and Chinese agents.

And that is why this regime will also fail.

Conclusion: diversity WILL win. The REAL diversity, of course!

Our planet is wonderfully diverse, especially outside the uniformity sector of Zone A. There IS a Zone B out there, and the leaders of Zone A will be defeated by our real common and shared humanity (and their hatred for us!).

Somewhere between Obama and Trump, the world has moved on, and it is now very busy dealing with the immense challenges and opportunities facing it in Zone B.

And no, neither Russia nor China is busy trying to sabotage or undermine the USA – US leaders are doing that much better job of that than any Russian or Chinese ever could. So why even bother (and nevermind the risks!)?

We cannot predict what will happen next, there are simply too many variables to do that. But what we can do is predict with a great degree of confidence that the new regime in power in DC will do no better than all the other regimes which came to power by means of color revolutions in the past couple of decades.

There is no hope left for the Empire.

As for the USA people, there will be plenty of hope left for them, but only after a long and painful process of collapse and rebirth (both of which are inevitable by now).

The truth is that US is not that unique as empires go.

Sorry, it is just your typical arrogant and narcissistic empire. An empire which will collapse just as all the other arrogant and narcissistic empires in history have collapsed. That being, mostly under their own obscene weight.

And those poor souls who sincerely believe that China (or Russia) want to replace the USA simply don’t understand that these two countries already have been empires, it was a disaster, thank you very much, and they have no desire to repeat their past mistakes.

This desire for non-exceptionalism and normalcy will, with time, also become the object of a large social consensus in the USA.

And, with time, the USA will finally be welcomed into a truly free Zone B or, should I say, a Zone-free world.

The Saker

Mistakes in judgement part 4

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Britain’s elite SAS reported back “on the ground” in Kyiv

British Special Air Service (SAS) troops have reportedly been on the ground in Kyiv for the first time since the war with Russia began, Ukrainian commanders have told The Times.

Officers from two Ukrainian battalions stationed in and around the capital said they had undergone military training from serving British special forces, one last week and the other the week before.

Captain Yuriy Myronenko, whose battalion is stationed in Obolon on the northern outskirts of Kyiv, said that military trainers had come to instruct new and returning military recruits to use Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapons( NLAWs) British-supplied anti-tank missiles that were delivered in February as the invasion was beginning.

Since February, the United Kingdom has delivered more than 3,600 NLAWs to Ukraine, with Kyiv requesting more following reports that they had proven highly effective against Russian armour.

The United States announced this week that it would also resume training by American troops, however the Pentagon said explicitly that the training would not be conducted on Ukrainian territory.

Article

German Industry Fears Immediate Russian Gas Ban | OilPrice.com

Moron leadership is a threat not only to world peace but to the wellbeing of its own economy and people.

One way thinking and zero sum mentality resulted in Europe being the most war monger, aggressive continent in human history. EU and NATO is nothing more than a mafia organisation designs to bully the world and smaller European nation member state. Such organisations should be dismantled for the well being of the world.

Article

COVID Moneytrail

This landed on my desk from <redacted> sources. Content is detailed and extensive. I’d suggest downloading it and keeping it in a safe place. It’s heavy with names, dates and activity.

Full PDF

Solomon Islands and China sign security pact, despite Australia and US efforts to intervene

A leader of a tiny nation, stepping out with leadership and bravery.

Article

Expectations and reality

The United States sure has “improved”.

Be the Rufus

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Hawaiian Pork Roast with Pineapple

How about a nice and special meal for the family this Sunday. Try this…

2022 04 20 20 38

2022 04 20 20 38a

Directions

Mix first six ingredients. Cut roast in half; sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; brown roast on all sides.
Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker. Pour pineapple mixture over top. Cook, covered, until a thermometer inserted in roast reads at least 145°, 3-4 hours.
Remove roast from slow cooker; keep warm. Transfer cooking juices to a saucepan; bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into cooking juices. Return to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 1-2 minutes. Serve with roast.

Mistakes in judgement part 5

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Americans; Things Are Bad Now, But You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

April 19, 2022 by Michael

At this moment, food prices all over America are at incredibly low levels. I know what many of you must be thinking. You must be thinking that I have lost my mind, because food prices have been rising at a very rapid rate all over the country. But when I say that food prices are at “incredibly low levels”, I am not comparing them to where they were in the past. Rather, I am comparing current prices to where they will be in the future. Yes, things are bad now, but food prices will be much higher a year or two from now.

The global fertilizer crisis certainly isn’t going anywhere. If anything, it is only going to intensify.

The same thing could be said about the war in Ukraine. Peace talks are absolutely dead, and so it looks like fighting between two of the most critical breadbaskets in the world will continue for months to come.

Meanwhile, the bird flu pandemic continues to wipe out millions of chickens and turkeys ~~all over the globe~~ all over the United States.

We have never seen a “perfect storm” quite like this, but of course some of the factors that will be driving up food prices are entirely self-inflicted.

For example, the Chinese government didn’t need to lock down nearly 400 million people in a desperate attempt to prevent the spread of COVID. The past two years have provided ample evidence that such lockdowns are quite foolish, but the Chinese went ahead anyway.

China is participating in the decoupling from the United States, and that includes food, and farming materials.

As a result, there are now hundreds of commercial ships waiting impatiently off the coast of Shanghai.

MAP: Commercial ships waiting offshore after Shanghai strict lockdown pic.twitter.com/m0qST4v92Y
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) April 19, 2022

Those are giant cargo ships that bring stuff across the Pacific Ocean to us.

If the Chinese don’t loosen up, many of our store shelves will become quite empty in the months ahead.

And it isn’t just commercial ships that are sitting idle…

Shanghai is one of the largest manufacturing centers in China, with heavy concentrations of automotive and electronics suppliers. It is home to the largest container port in the world and a major airport that serves inbound and outbound air cargo. Exports produced in Shanghai account for 7.2% of China’s total volume and about 20% of China’s export container throughput moves through the port there, according to the BBVA report.

Most warehouses and plants are closed, nine out of 10 trucks are sidelined, the port and airport have limited function, shipping units are stranded in the wrong places, and freight is piling up.

Needless to say, many of our major retailers simply could not operate without the goods that they import from China.

So we better hope that this potential nightmare gets resolved very soon.

Here in the United States, food prices have been moving higher for months.  Just check out these numbers…

The average price of butter grew 11.9% in the last year. 

Meat has been especially affected by supply chain issues, with 100% meat frankfurters jumping 35.2% since March of 2021 to an average price of $5.18 per pound. 

Ground chuck, pork chops, and whole chicken showed year-over-year price increases of 11.3%, 15%, and 11.7%, respectively.

Those figures may look bad to you, but the truth is that they only represent the very early chapters of this crisis.

Things are going to get much worse, and here in April anecdotal reports seem to indicate that food price increases seem to be accelerating.

Earlier today, my attention was drawn to a thread on a popular Internet forum where people were discussing recent price increases that they had seen at their local stores. The following are a few examples that I pulled out of that thread…

-“$10. for 1 lb. Bacon”

-“5.19 for one pound of land o lakes butter”

-“a 34 oz can of coffee was $6.99 now is $9.99”

-“$1.09 for a single avocado”

-“$2.31 for a head of iceberg lettuce”

-“I shop for my elderly parents they buy Butterscotch Krimpets every week. Were 2.49 a box now 4.49.”

-“I saw 15.99 per pound for ribeye steak at a grocery store in northeast Tennessee.”

-“Paid $12.95 for a pack of raw chicken thighs a few days ago. Normally they are $3.00 – $4.00”

And thanks to the horrifying bird flu pandemic which is sweeping the nation, the price of eggs is going completely nuts…

The losses to egg-laying flocks have led to producers desperately racing to meet market demands for eggs and egg products, with egg prices increasing as a result. The average price of a dozen eggs is now close to $3.00, up from $1.60 at the beginning of the year, according to the USDA’s national egg report.

If you think that these prices are wild, just wait until they double from their current levels.

All over ~~the world~~ the United States, a great battle for food resources has begun. The Chinese saw this coming in advance, and so they have been engaged in the largest stockpiling program that any of us have ever seen. I wrote about this back in December, but back then most people didn’t understand the true significance of that article.

At that time, the amount of food that the Chinese had already accumulated was already extremely impressive…

Less than 20% of the world’s population has managed to stockpile more than half of the globe’s maize and other grains, leading to steep price increases across the planet and dropping more countries into famine.

The hoarding is taking place in China.

Has the U.S. been doing something similar?

Of course not.

When things get really bad in this country, you will be on your own.

So I hope that you have been preparing for that.

Since the war in Ukraine started, nation after nation has started to implement export restrictions, and a global scramble for agricultural commodities has steadily pushed up prices.

Nobody wants to be caught empty-handed when the music stops, and so there is a race to secure precious supplies while it is still possible to do so.

Sadly, the poorest parts of the world will end up suffering the most as the wealthy countries grab what they can. The dramatic spike that we will soon see in global hunger will be absolutely heartbreaking.

But nobody can say that we weren’t warned in advance. This sort of collapse has been coming for a long time, and now it has arrived.

I would encourage you to stockpile food at these “relatively low prices” while you have the opportunity to do so, because they are only going to go higher from here.

Build a Woodworker’s Toolbox

Build a Woodworker’s Toolbox: If you’re a mechanic, finding a toolbox is no problem – there are dozens on the market, from huge roll-around shop cases to small metal boxes. Framers, plumbers and electricians are well served, too, with everything from pickup-truck storage to tool…

Be the Rufus

Mistakes in judgement part 6

Russia says Kiev regime employed 6,824 foreign mercenaries since special operation started – Military & Defense – TASS

Most mercenaries came from Poland, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov on Sunday said Kiev employed more than 6,800 foreign mercenaries from 63 countries since Russia started its special operation.

"The Kiev nationalist regime has employed a total of 6,824 foreign mercenaries from 63 countries since the start of the special military operation," he said.

Most mercenaries - 1,717 people - came from Poland, about 1,500 from the US, Canada and Romania, the spokesman said. Up to 300 people arrived from the UK and Georgia each while 193 people came from the areas of Syria that are controlled by Turkey, Konashenkov said.

Article

Santa Fe Skillet

As a mother who works full-time, I’m always looking for quick, easy meals to prepare. This is a timeless recipe. —Lorie VanHorn, Waddell, Arizona

Directions

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; crumble meat; drain. Stir in the pasta, contents of seasoning packet, salsa, water, chili powder, salt and cayenne.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Stir in tomatoes; sprinkle with olives and cheese. Cover and simmer until heated through, 3-4 minutes. Serve with sour cream if desired.

Duck Duck Go gone with the wind..

“Can we not just have ONE thing that isn’t actively working against us?”

Article

Old Door into Headboard

Restore your old doors into a beautiful DIY headboard. Recondition your old door, like remove the hardware from it, gunk and ugly scratches, and simply add it up with a top mantle. Paint it in your favorite color and install the hardware to fix it as the decorative head of your bed. Full guide and tutorial here infarrantlycreative.

How to decorate your cubicle

1642939112 l0lo8ny6uw — Done with style.

Russia’s military is on full display in Google Maps satellite view

The satellite images may be a boon to open source intelligence analysts.

Article

The ex-deputy of the Rada showed Zelensky’s Russian passport. Screen

Marina Fedorovskikh

April 20, 2022 at 12:23 pm

Former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ilya Kiva showed the Russian passport of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. Kiva believes that this should help in initiating a criminal case against him.

“The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation should prosecute and put on the wanted list a citizen of Russia – Zelensky V.A. For his terrorist activities and as a suspect in committing terrorist attacks and killing thousands of citizens of Russia and Ukraine,” he said in his telegram channel.

Kiva also mentioned the possible dual citizenship of the Ukrainian leader. “Zelensky had no right to be admitted to the presidential elections with dual citizenship and his tenure as president is illegal,” the ex-deputy added.

The Investigative Committee of Russia has already begun checking against the Ukrainian president . The reason was the words of the latter about preparing for a war with Russia. Zelensky himself gave the interview to the American television channel CNN. During the conversation, he made a number of controversial statements. thus, Zelensky abandoned his promises about the status of Donbass. Kiev does not want to recognize the DPR and LPR as independent territories in the eastern part of the country in order to put an end to disputes with Russia, Nation News notes . In his opinion, the chances of successful negotiations with Russia are declining “every day,” the Federal News Agency adds .

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special operation on the territory of Ukraine on February 24 . The actions of the Russian troops are aimed at the demilitarization and denazification of the territory, as well as the protection of the civilian population, including those living in the DPR and LPR. The military hit the objects of the military infrastructure, equipment and weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the national battalions with high-precision means.

Article

Why doesn’t this ever happen to me?

White House sells Historic Moments Coin, Honoring President Volodymyr Zelenskyy #31 in series

On Sale!

Greens say China isn’t a threat | Sky News Australia

The Greens do not see China as a threat to Australia and have no reservations over its security pact with the Solomon Islands. The party’s Peace and Disarmament spokesperson Jordon Steele-John told The Australian newspaper the government’s concerns over the Solomon Islands-China deal were racist…

Article

Google shutdown Pro beijing Hong Kong chief executive election candidate 李家超 YouTube election campaign account.

If you are pro-China, just about EVERY American-based social media account will ban you. Read the English at the bottom of the page.

Article

Be the Rufus

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Pretty Chinese girl

Nice video. video 2MB

China’s space station first to be open to all UN member states

China is implementing its first batch of international cooperation programs on board the Tiangong space station, and will hopefully upload those experiments by the end of the year. Foreign astronauts are welcome to Tiangong to make greater contributions to the shared future of mankind, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

The Shenzhou-13 crew safely returned to Earth on Saturday after staying 183 days in orbit, doubling the previous record set by Shenzhou-12 to become the country’s longest single-flight space mission.

Wang said that the mission was a breakthrough journey with many highlights and firsts. These achievements suggest that China’s space station has completed its key technology verification stage, laying a solid foundation for the next phase of in-orbit construction.

During their six-month stay, the Shenzhou-13 crew for the first time carried out a radial rendezvous and docking with the space station’s Tianhe core cabin that verified the station’s capability to receive visiting spaceships in different positions.

Article

Be the Rufus

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The Dam Is Finally Cracking

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via The Daily Reckoning,

We all sense the global order has cracked. The existing order is breaking down on multiple fronts.

Those who have benefited from this arrangement are doing everything in their power to patch the cracks, while those who chafed under the old order’s chains seek a new order that suits their interests.

The task now is to make sense of this complex inflection point in history. Two statements summarize the transition from the existing global order to the next iteration:

1. Finance dominated resources in the old order. Now the roles will reverse and real-world resources will dominate finance. We can’t “print our way” out of scarcities.

2. Reshuffling currencies and credit will not stop the breakdown of the global order’s “waste is growth” Landfill Economy Model.

Playing financial tricks has extended the life of an unsustainable economic model that glorified “growth” from wasting resources. By expanding credit “money,” the current global order fueled unsustainable consumption driven by unsustainable speculation.

Stop expanding “money” and credit and the global order of “growth” implodes.

Pretty Chinese girl

She is. video 4MB

The Dam Is Finally Cracking

Unfortunately for all those who benefited from soaring wealth and income inequality, the trick of expanding “money” and credit has reached systemic limits. The dam holding all the toxic debt, leverage and fraud is finally cracking.

The dominance of resources over finance leads to a multipolar global order, an order that has the potential to be far more stable and sustainable than the unsustainable, destabilizing “waste is growth” model that depends on financial fraud to maintain the illusion of “growth.”

As I explain in my book Global Crisis, National Renewal, scarcity leads to either social disorder or rationing. This article explains how government’s role will shift from boosting demand (the Keynesian Cargo Cult) to limiting demand in ways that maintain the social contract.

Nations that fail to adapt to the end of financialization and globalization will unravel. Every nation has a choice which path it takes:

Cling on to the doomed existing order of financialization, globalization and the “waste is growth” Landfill Economy or embrace a multipolar world and a degrowth model of doing more with less and incentivizing efficiency and durability rather than the shoddy planned obsolescence of the debt-dependent Landfill Economy.

Free Money Is the Solution

Under various guises, labels and rationalizations, “free money” has now been established as the default policy fix for any problem. Stock market falters? The solution: free money! Economy falters? The solution: free money! Bankers face collapse from ruinously risky bets? The solution: free money! Infrastructure crumbling?

The solution: free money!

Inflation raging? The solution: free money! Ruh-roh. We have a problem free money won’t fix. Instead, free money accelerates the conflagration. Dang, this is inconvenient; the solution to every problem makes this problem worse. Now what do we do?

Despite the apparent surprise of the policy-makers, pundits and apologists, this was common sense. Create trillions of dollars out of thin air and spread the money around indiscriminately (fraudsters and scammers getting more than the honest, of course) after global supply chains were disrupted and shelves were bare, then open the floodgates of speculative gambling in stocks, cryptos, housing, used cars, bat guano, quatloos, etc., and what do you think will happen?

Supply can’t catch up with free-money-boosted demand, prices rise, people instinctively over-order and over-buy, and “don’t fight the Fed” speculative betting begets more betting: the inflation rocket booster ignites, wages soar as workers try to keep pace with rising expenses, speculative bubbles inflate to unprecedented extremes, and all this “wealth without work or productivity” gooses spending and gross domestic product (GDP).

“Once the Bubbles Pop, GDP Crashes and the Ratio Blows Out”

Forty years ago, the total debt-to-GDP ratio was 1.6: debt was $4.8 trillion and GDP was $3 trillion. Then the policy solutions of fiscal “borrow and spend” and Federal Reserve “balance sheet expansion.” a.k.a. free money, became the policy default.

The ratio rose to 2.76 in 2000 and has wobbled around 3.7 for the past decade, a decade that just so happened to see the stock market quadruple and the housing bubble reinflate to new heights as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates near zero as part of the “free money” policy:

If we’re going to borrow tens of trillions of dollars to squander, we need near-zero interest rates to keep costs of borrowing down.

Though no one in a position of power or influence dares admit it, the ratio of debt to GDP hasn’t blown out for one reason: speculative bubbles have pushed GDP higher in a massive, sustained distortion of “wealth effect” and winner take most gains for those who knew how to extract the majority of gains from the bubbles.

Once the bubbles pop, GDP crashes and the ratio blows out. The belief that adding trillions in debt magically adds GDP will be revealed as delusional fantasy.

Two Paths

Completely forgotten in the era of Free money as the solution to all problems is the discipline of frugality, which can best be defined as discipline over spending as a means of building long-term financial stability and general well-being.

Financial discipline (frugality) has been set aside as a needless discomfort: why make difficult tradeoffs and sacrifices when the solution is just to borrow/create more free money? Indeed. Along the same lines, why bother with all the hassles of healthy food and fitness? Just pig out and swallow a couple handfuls of “free” (heh) meds.

Discipline isn’t just about limiting waste. It’s about investing capital and labor wisely to secure future gains in productivity which is the only real source of income and wealth. Creating “money” out of thin air and spreading it around to satisfy every constituency doesn’t increase productivity. It destroys productivity by incentivizing waste – the waste is growth Landfill Economy – and speculative bets on bubbles never popping.

Alas, all bubbles pop, and now that creating free money only makes costs rise faster, there is no solution other than – oh, dear, dear, dear – the unforgiving discipline of frugality and investing for productivity gains rather than for speculative bubble “wealth.”

Which path leads to doom? Free money. Which path leads to revival? Frugality and discipline.

That’s not what everyone wants to hear, but clinging to delusional fantasies of “free wealth” won’t lead to positive outcomes, any more than swallowing handfuls of meds leads to “free health.”

Be the Rufus

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Document reveals $14 billion backlog of US defense transfers to Taiwan

Pandemic-related acquisition issues have sparked a backlog in the U.S. delivering $14.2 billion worth of military equipment to Taiwan that the island has purchased since 2019.

With much of Washington’s attention focused on how to rapidly deploy a steady stream of military aid to Ukraine, some lawmakers are concerned the Taiwan delay is undermining its ability to deter a potential Chinese invasion….

Article

Mistakes in judgement part 7

Mistake or intentional lie?

Good news can actually happen

Russia says it will no longer disclose the names of organizations that use its alternative to the SWIFT payment system

Russia’s central bank will stop disclosing the names of those participating in its alternative to the SWIFT payment system, according to Reuters.

Russia has been touting its alternative payment system — the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), which was set up in 2014.

Most Russian banks, as well as 52 foreign organizations from 12 countries, have access to SPFS, Russian Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Monday, per Reuters.

Banks from the Germany, Switzerland, France, Japan, Sweden, Turkey, and Cuba were among those connected to SPFS, according to a March report from Coface, a French credit insurer.

“Until there was such a threat of being cut off from SWIFT, foreign partners weren’t in much of a rush to join, but now we expect their readiness to be greater,” Nabiullina said of SPFS, according to Bloomberg.

The Indian government was considering a Russian proposal to use the SPFS for payments in rubles, Bloomberg reported in March. India has been buying cargoes of cheap Russian oil amid international sanctions and boycotts of products from the energy powerhouse. Russian oil accounted for just 2% of India’s total imports in 2021.

Article

A Pretty Chinese girl

Very nice. video 3MB

Dogs and cats

Dogs and cats.

Biden Having An Increasingly Difficult Time With G-20 Fissures

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

Biden made sanction demands on G-20 nations. He hit a BRIC+ wall.

Map of G-20 countries.

G-20 Pressure Failing

The G-20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union. Spain is also invited as a permanent guest.

The Biden administration wants to increase pressure on Russia, but finds increasing resistance to do more.

Brazil, Russia, India, and China widely known as BRICs have not bowed to US pressure. Nor have Mexico, Saudi Arabia, or South Africa.

The 2022 G-20 meets in November but those nations are also at an IMF summit right now.

Treasury secretary Janet Yellen plans to avoid Russian officials at meetings this week, while engaging with countries that haven’t joined in sanctions.

Janet Yellen Faces Challenge to Keep Pressure on Russia, While Addressing Global Consequences

The Wall Street Journal reports Janet Yellen Faces Challenge to Keep Pressure on Russia, While Addressing Global Consequences

Hanging over gatherings of finance ministers from around the world at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington this week will be Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as the sanctions campaign the U.S. and its allies have waged in response. As those sanctions efforts have brought the U.S. and its allies closer together, they are also laying bare deep differences in the broader Group of 20 major economies, which includes Russia, China and India, as well as European allies.

Ms. Yellen is expected to boycott some G-20 meetings this week that include Russian officials, and she last week warned countries against deepening their economic ties with Russia after the sanctions, singling out China.

In addition, Ms Yellen’s attempts to build support for an international tax agreement that was the focus of international economic diplomacy last year may not gain traction. Agreement on the deal still faces hurdles both in Congress and among European countries.

US Boycott

Yellen will IMF boycott meetings this week that include Russia. But what does that say about the G-20 summit in November. Will the US even go?

On March 22, Biden proposed booting Russia from the G-20. Reuters comments on the difficulty.

"It's impossible to remove Russia from G20" unless Moscow makes such a decision on its own, said an official of a G20 member country in Asia.

"There's simply no procedure to deprive Russia of G20 membership."

With Spain there are 21 G-20 nations so a US boycott would get the group size correct.

Pretty Chinese girl

I guess that I am offending people by posting attractive ladies of China. Tough titties. If you don’t like it … LEAVE.

video 1MB

G-Whatever Meetings Are Useless

These G-7, G-20, G-Whatever meetings have always been useless.

G-Whatever meetings typically fail over agriculture, but with little fanfare.

Failure is again a given, but usually there is no spotlight on that failure. Now there is.

Seven G-20 nations, Brazil, Russia India, China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa, refuse to salute US demands.

Sanction Limits

We are at the limits of sanctions and they have failed. There is little else to do.

The sanctions did nothing to deter Russia, they have only increased costs and added to inflation across the board.

Another cute girl of China

She’s young. My guess is 16 years old. I’m sure that when she grows up she’ll be a fine beautiful lady. video

Russian Invasion Pushes Oil Prices to 10-Year High

March 8, 2022

Brent crude, the international benchmark for crude oil prices, rose to $130 a barrel on Tuesday, after the U.S. and U.K. announced a ban on Russian oil imports and the EU said it would cut its dependency on Russian gas by two-thirds this year. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. marker, rose to around $125 a barrel.

Global oil prices have risen 58% since the beginning of the year, initially amid concerns about inflation. Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer, supplying about 7% of global demand. Europe is Russia’s main market for oil and natural gas and bought roughly 25% of its oil from Russia in 2021. Gas prices in the EU have already risen by more than 70% since the last week of February. About 8% of U.S. oil imports came from Russia last year.

The International Energy Agency agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from its members’ strategic reserves, which is equal to the amount of oil the U.S. consumes in three days. Large Western oil companies like BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell have halted operations in Russia. European refiners are also looking elsewhere for supply, in places like Saudi Arabia. To compensate, Russia is trying to sell crude oil to refineries in China and other Asian countries at a discount.

Chinese girl

She has a very beautiful face. I love how the eyes complement her hair. This would be a wonderful face to paint, as the proportions are all there, and the color contrasts are stark. video

Half of US Taxpayers Pay 97% of Income Taxes

April 19, 2022

This week is the deadline for millions of U.S. taxpayers to pay their taxes. According to IRS data on income taxes in 2019, U.S. taxpayers paid $1.6 trillion in income taxes — and 96.9% of the taxes were paid by half of American taxpayers. The top one percent — Americans who earn $546,434 or more — earned one-fifth of all total adjusted gross income and paid 38.8% of all federal income taxes.

The share of income taxes paid by the high-income earners (the 1%) has increased over time. From 2001 to 2019, the 1% share rose from 33% to 38.8%. Over the same time period, their share of adjusted gross income also increased, from 17.4% to 20.1%.

The top 50% of taxpayers paid 97% of all income taxes, while the bottom 50% paid the remaining 3%. The bottom half of taxpayers — who earn below $44,269 a year — paid 3%, or slightly over $48 billion, of all federal individual income taxes. Their share of reported income decreased from 2001 to 2019, from 14.4% to 11.5%.

U.S. Labor Unions Have Highest Level of Support in Over 50 Years

April 18, 2022

Sixty-eight percent of Americans approve of labor unions, the highest level of approval in over 57 years, according to Gallup’s annual Work and Education poll. Americans’ approval of unions has been increasing over the last few years and is now at its highest point in more than half a century.

Gallup has been conducting surveys on labor unions since 1936; this year, Gallup measured the highest level of support since 1965 (71%). On average, more Americans approve of unions than disapprove — 2009 was the only year that approval for unions fell below majority level (48%).

Support for unions is highest among Democrats (90%), union members (86%), younger Americans between the ages of 18-34 (77%), and people with incomes under $40,000 a year (72%). Over half of Independents favor unions (66%), and Republicans are least likely to approve of them (47%).

Despite this approval rating, only 9% of U.S. adults report they are part of a union. Another 8% of U.S. adults say they live with a union member. Union members are more likely to have higher incomes than non-union workers: one in 10 adults with household incomes of $40,000 or more are union members.

Like night and day

Some people argue that wearing makeup is deceptive and a big lie. But I do not. I think that it is like having two different women. One is warm and loving, and the other is cool and tough. video

Ukraine Asks Germany to Stop Importing Russian Gas

April 14, 2022

Ukrainian officials took Germany to task this week for not leveling an energy embargo on Russia, six weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The EU has leveled sanctions against Russia in response to the conflict, but it has yet to sanction Russian oil and gas, which comprised 45% of the EU’s gas imports last year. Since the start of the conflict, the EU has paid Russia about 20 billion euros ($22 billion) for gas, according to German economic adviser Veronika Grimm.

Germany is one of Russia’s main energy consumers; last year, one-third of its gas imports came from Russia. Other sources estimate that 55% of the country’s gas came from Russia in 2021. Russia also supplied Germany with 34% of its crude oil and 53% of its hard coal last year.

The German government has already implemented a national gas emergency plan that could lead to the rationing of natural gas. Gas is primarily used in industry (36%), by households (31%), and by trade and commerce (13%). Industry will be the first to feel rationing, followed by households, and lastly, hospitals and other public sector institutions.

Beautiful Chinese girl

video 10MB

Macron Wins First Round of French Presidential Elections

April 11, 2022

France’s sitting president Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential elections, with 28% of the vote. However, right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen came in a close second with 23%. Left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon came in third with a surprisingly strong 22% of the vote, but not enough to qualify for the runoff. Since no candidate won the majority of the vote in the first round, the elections will head to a runoff on April 24.

The results from Sunday night set up a repeat of the 2017 runoff between Macron and Le Pen, when Macron won the presidency. But opinion polls show that Le Pen is closer to Macron in this election, with only a few percentage points difference between the two candidates. The two traditional French political parties, the Socialists and the Republicans, got less than 10% of the vote, showing the continuing rise in the popularity of more extreme parties on the left and the right.

The French presidential election results will have a significant impact on European politics, as EU leaders respond to Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine. Macron has backed sanctions against Russia, while Le Pen has raised the impact they have on the rising cost of living.

Pathetic Chinese Apparently Cannot Even THINK, Nevermind Question What’s Being Done to their kids

This is what happens when American writers believe the narrative that Covid is a hoax, and are completely unaware that China is under bioweapon assault. Read this article to see, how ignorance, plus distortions fuel a narrative. - MM

World Hal Turner 20 April 2022 From HERE.

We here in the West have finally come to the realization that the whole “COVID” thing was a gigantic scam. Much ado was made of a virus that turned out to be not much worse than a nasty Flu. COVID has a 99.7% survival rate. It was not and is not a “Pandemic.”

Entire countries were shut down over the fuss about this illness. People were literally locked in their homes. Some businesses were deemed “non-essential” and forced to close on the mere speculation that someone, somewhere, MIGHT spread COVID by visiting those businesses.

The economic destruction from such government over-reach has destroyed countless businesses and ruined the income of many families.

People were encouraged to wear masks when out in public, even though masks are completely, totally, unable to prevent the spread of a virus. The pores on even the finest masks are four microns wide for air to get through the mask. The novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19, is only 0.04 microns in size; one hundred times smaller than the pores on the masks. As such, they are totally incapable of reducing or halting the spread of this virus.

Did those facts matter? No.

Government told people to do it anyway, and most obeyed, like good little drones.

Citizens in western nations, still slightly anchored to the reality of individual liberty, started questioning what was being demanded by government. They started suing in court. Worse for the government, people started ignoring the ridiculous demands by so-called public health officials. Lo and behold, COVID went away.

Not in China.

Look at what the Communist Party government is requiring of school children in that slave-state-nation, and observe how parents do not even question the absurdity:

The people in China, appear to be insane.

…

So says Hal Turner.

Obviously he is unaware of the bioweapon carpetbombing of China because the USA warned China; “You WILL sanction Russia, or face the consequences!”

China said no.

Two days later, all up and down China were major outbreaks of COVID. The worst hit areas were those with the highest percentages of expats. Curious fact.

Jack!

…

Ah, that’s it for now. I hope that you enjoyed this little mix of contemporaneous life. Now go back to what you all have been doing, and remember… always be the Rufus.

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

Articles & Links

Master Index

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Nuclear armed B-2 bombers with escort wings to be based inside of Australia to “counter” China for American “democracy”

It’s a never ending onslaught of war preparation, war provocation, and war stockpiling being generated out of the United States. There is ZERO talk about deescalation. I tire of all of this. It seems like the United States is driving the world to war and they aren’t stopping for shit.

There’s no real need for this.

China is minding their own business. Not harming anyone. Sure they make all the products, and are making them better, cheaper and faster than the bloat-ware that is found in the USA. But that is not a reason to kill them. It is a reason to copy them.

Sheech!

And every evil deed is Chinas fault. And China is doing this and that - it’s fucking bad news. My buddy - this past weekend emails me an article about the Chinese military doing something - the article was 7 years old. No matter. It makes China look bad - plaster it all over the news and blame China.

When the media - in America - and THIS I know to be true - because I fucking SEEN it - as soon as our media starts showing how the shelves are bare here - because they blame China - but what’s going to happen is right when it gets bad - they are going to show bare shelves here and stocked shelves in China. It’s to anger everyone - I say this specifically because the mass rage that is coming towards Asians is coming - fast. It’s the quickest way to take out an internal threat. Let the CITIZENS do it. -PL

And Russia; what’s the beef with them? It’s not like there are Russian and Chinese aircraft carriers in Boston Harbor are there?

Biden - in HIS infinite wisdom - decides he is going to play Russian Roulette - WITH RUSSIA - they named a suicidal game after the Russians! Again, the irony. So NOW - and let me be very clear - VERY. clear. The average person - people I know throughout the country - and I ask - alllllll know - the ONLY reason we are about to start lobbing nukes at ANYONE is because we all know the money laundering the Biden’s Clinton’s and Obama’s have been doing in Ukraine. It’s been their evil little washing machine AND AMERICA KNOWS IT. So now - people are even more antsy. -PL

Why all this bullshit?

To distract from the reality?

American reality

The thing is - to me - I am amazed by the psychology of it all. And the stupidity - holy shit dude - it’s like everyone is slowly becoming retarded. Like mad cow or something. -PL

video 38.6MB

First; who are the evil Russian communists?

They are people just like you and I. But the United States wants to engage in a war to distract Americans, and Russia and China are the enemies chosen for this event. Here’s modern Russia. Video 8MB

Canada Goose

Canada Goose puts spotlight on double standards against Chinese consumers

Canada Goose is feeling the wrath of Chinese consumers after their physical flagship store in Shanghai refused to refund a customer.

She tried to return a jacket the same day she bought it because the embroidering of the logo had an extra arc in the sun. The store refused, citing the company’s return policy for China: “No refunds.”

Netizens quickly pointed out that they have a 30-day return policy for Canada, US and UK. Now Canada Goose is under fire for their double standard.

With all this bad press, Canada Goose decided to refund the customer. But not before sparking a major discussion about brands discriminating against Chinese consumers.

Now LV and Gucci have also become targets as consumers quickly pointed out they have the same difference in return policies across countries.

You’re sick of me saying it but here it is again: The Chinese are the smartest consumers on the planet. They’ll find any discrepancies you have in your offers. And they have high standards.

Doing business here is not cheap. You need to account for dealing with the returns process. Cutting corners will get you in trouble.

What do you think? Are the companies justified in having different return policies for each country, or is this discrimination?

…

Now, let’s check out this little jewel;

Cockroach robot armies!

You betya!

…

Yikes!

Ok. Let’s see about the first amendment; “Freedom of Speech”. Does it still exist in America today? Nope. Not in the least…

https://original.antiwar.com/natylie_baldwin/2021/12/06/us-government-threatens-writers-with-heavy-fines-if-they-continue-to-write-for-sanctioned-russian-outlet/

US Government Threatens Writers With Heavy Fines if They Continue To Write for Sanctioned Russian Outlet

Freedom of the press - American style.

Natylie BaldwinDecember 07, 2021

Establishment institutions usually start their implementation of censorship and the throttling of press freedom by going after individuals and outlets that are small and/or not well liked by a cross-section of the public. The obscurity or general unpalatable nature of the target ensures the success of setting the precedent.

Most Americans have probably never heard of Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) and many would be unsympathetic once they learn that the U.S. government claims it is a think tank and journal associated with Russian military intelligence, although no evidence is offered to back up this assertion, and SCF denies it has ties to the Russian government.

But years of anti-Russia sentiment in the political sphere and in most American media ensures that the claim alone will suffice to tar any Americans associated with Strategic Culture Foundation with a black brush.

I have confirmed that two American writers for SCF have received letters from the US Treasury Department in recent weeks warning them of fines of over $300,000 if they continue to write for the journal.

These threats are in response to alleged Russian interference in the 2020 US election and part of the US government’s enforcement of Executive Order 13848 signed by President Donald Trump in September of 2018 which sought to ascertain foreign interference in any future elections in the US and to punish those deemed guilty.

Threats to US elections included not only tampering with actual voting and its supporting infrastructure but “covert distribution of propaganda and disinformation.”

According to the Treasury Department’s April 15, 2021 press release in connection with the designation of SCF and other Russian entities to be sanctioned pursuant to the executive order, the US government stated its intent to target those they see as Russia’s enablers on behalf of its alleged program to interfere in US elections:

"Treasury will target Russian leaders, officials, intelligence services, and their proxies that attempt to interfere in the US electoral process or subvert US democracy," said Secretary Janet L. Yellen. "This is the start of a new US campaign against Russian malign behavior." (emphasis added)

The release also accuses SCF specifically, without evidence, of being directed by Russian military intelligence and that its articles spread “disinformation” – which appears to mean opinion and analysis that the US government doesn’t like:

The Strategic Culture Foundation (SCF) is an online journal registered in Russia that is directed by the SVR and closely affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. SCF is controlled by the SVR’s Directorate MS (Active Measures) and created false and unsubstantiated narratives concerning US officials involved in the 2020 US presidential election. It publishes conspiracy theorists, giving them a broader platform to spread disinformation, while trying to obscure the Russian origins of the journal so that readers may be more likely to trust the sourcing…

…Treasury designated…the Strategic Culture Foundation pursuant to E.O. 13848 for having engaged in foreign interference in the US 2020 presidential election.

The ordeal started for the two American writers in July of 2020 when they each received a visit at their home from FBI agents inquiring about SCF and its connections to Russia. Daniel Lazare, an author and journalist told Finian Cunningham recently that the agents wanted to know about alleged links of SCF to Russian intelligence:

"I replied that I wasn’t interested because I regard the entire avenue of inquiry as bogus and a product of the anti-Moscow hysteria that’s running rampant in Washington. So the agents left. Everything was polite and low-keyed, and the entire exchange took no more than four or five minutes."

Similarly, Michael Averko, who had written for SCF since 2015, stated that two FBI agents came to his home in July of 2020 and asked about SCF ties to the Russian government. They told him at the time that he wasn’t in any trouble and didn’t have to answer their questions, but Averko was hesitant to say much, recalling what had happened to Michael Flynn:

"The only question I answered was on whether the SCF has any ties to Russian military intelligence. I answered by saying I can’t say for sure and doubt it. I added that my impression is that the SCF comprises politically interested Russians, who want to be involved with the issues they cover."

It wasn’t until November of this year that Lazare and Averko both received letters dated October 15, 2021 from the Treasury Department, delivered personally by the FBI. The letters advised that they were in violation of sanctions against SCF per executive order 13848 and were potentially subject to fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars if they did not stop contributing articles to SCF:

"[P]ursuant to Executive Order 13848 of September 12, 2018…all property and interests in property of SCF that are subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them…[E]ach violation… is subject to a statutory maximum civil monetary penalty of up to the greater of $311,562 or twice the value of the underlying transaction."

When asked whether he thought this would set a troubling precedent for Americans who write for foreign media outlets, Lazare said he believed it would:

"Absolutely. Why not ban RT, formerly known as Russia Today? If the government is pissed off against Emmanuel Macron, why not go after Agence France-Presse? The US complains when Russia harasses western news outlets, yet it’s guilty of precisely the same activities at home. As far as I’m concerned, threatening US journalists with fines for writing for a Russian press outlet is a flagrant assault on freedom of the press."

Averko was a bit more circumspect and thinks the government believes because SCF is a relatively small outlet, it can more easily get away with sanctioning it:

"The SCF and its US based American writers are (in the overall comparative scheme of things) small potatoes and an easier target to beat up on."

Both writers say they know of other US contributors to the outlet who have received the same letter and are intimidated. Lazare stated:

"While I have no particular concerns in my own case, other journalists are so frightened that they’ve not only stopped writing, but don’t even want to speak about their experience with other reporters. No one wants to mess with the federal government because they know the feds can make your life a misery if they’re so motivated. So they’ve clammed up. If you’ve ever wondered what “chilling effect” means, this is it."

While US officials may be unlikely to go after major foreign media, it’s very possible this could be a precedent to go after smaller outlets with unsubstantiated accusations of foreign interference and spreading of “disinformation.”

Lazare is in the process of seeking legal advice about the government threats. Averko said he was considering it and believes it would probably be best for all SCF contributors who received the letter to work together on any possible legal claim, though he’s aware of at least one who is unwilling to do so.

This is another example of the US undermining its own purported democratic values, which it touts to the rest of the world, in order to punish those who associate with the latest bogeyman country while providing no evidence that this outlet is even guilty of what they assert. After WMD’s and Russiagate, it would be foolish to take US government claims at face value as we are again being asked to do.

Natylie Baldwin is the author of The View from Moscow: Understanding Russia and U.S.-Russia Relations, available on Amazon. Her writing has appeared in various publications including Consortium News, RT, OpEd News, The Globe Post, Antiwar.com, The New York Journal of Books, and Dissident Voice.

…

Let’s dive in and begin this discussion with this subject; Nuclear armed B-2 bombers with escort wings to be based inside of Australia to “counter” China.

Scheech! How about a role reversal;

 "Mexico and Canada to base Chinese and Russian nuclear stealth aircraft to counter America."

Wouldn’t you think that would be enough to start a war, eh?

OK. First up. A lamb to the slaughter. The USA is turning Australia into a battle zone and a sacrificial lamb for “American interests”. Whoo woo!

From here: https://www.the-sun.com/news/4175667/us-stealth-bombers-fighter-jets-australia-china-north-korea/

GEARING UP

US sends B2 stealth bombers & fleet of fighter jets to Australia as military threats from China & North Korea grow

Lauren Fruen

12:40 ET, Nov 30 2021
Updated: 14:56 ET, Nov 30 2021

THE US will send B2 stealth bombers and a fleet of fighter jets to Australia amid a growing military threat from China and North Korea.

Military resources will also be bolstered in Guam with bases there upgraded, according to a new Pentagon review.

The report says the changes are necessary to…

 “deter potential Chinese military aggression and threats from North Korea”.

It also suggests new B2 stealth bombers and F-22 and F-35 fighter jets could soon be deployed.

The review looks to a growing focus on the Indo-Pacific region “to enable improved warfighting readiness and increased activities.”

RISING TENSIONS

Mara Karlin, deputy undersecretary for policy at the US’s Department of Defence, said: “In Australia, you’ll see new rotational fighter and bomber aircraft deployments.

"You’ll see ground forces training and increased logistics cooperation, and more broadly across the Indo-Pacific, you’ll see a range of infrastructure improvements, in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Australia."

The Biden administration has focused its attention on countering China as it bolsters its own military amid rising tensions over Taiwan.

Taiwan broke away from China in 1949 but the Chinese ~~ruling party~~ government regards the island as a “renegade state” and has repeatedly vowed to take it back by force if necessary by 2050.

Any invasion would represent a serious escalation of hostilities and could drag in the US through its pact to defend Taiwan.

SUCKED INTO CONFLICT

Washington’s regional allies such as South Korea, Japan and Australia could also be sucked into a conflict as would Nato forces such as the UK because the US is a member of the alliance.

Vice Adm. Karl Thomas said this week that it is important to put on a united front to “other nations that might be more aggressive and authoritarian” when probed on Russia and China.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in September that the nuclear arms race has the globe teetering “unacceptably close” to mass atomic destruction.

In October the US formed a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain to counter China.

China reacted angrily, accusing the US and its English-speaking partners of embarking on a project that will destabilize the Pacific to the detriment of global security.

…

And what about Taiwan having all the IC manufacturing capability?

Nope. China is getting it.

Foxconn new factory in Qingdao using 46 made by China lithography machines to produce chip (decoupling from the US and Europe technology)

Foxconn has laid a new milestone for both its semiconductor business and China’s semiconductor ambition. Together with China’s Rongkong Group, a state-owned enterprise, Foxconn has invested in an advanced chip packaging facility in China’s costal city Qingdao. Through two intermediaries, Foxconn has a combined 27.5% share in the new facility, while Rongkong Group has a 46.85% share. Volume production will start in December, and by 2025 the plant is scheduled to reach its full capacity of 360,000 wafers per year.

Currently, Foxconn has two chip packaging businesses under its wing. The first of them is ShunSin Technoogy, and the other is Foxconn’s own semiconductor division which oversights the Qingdao-based packaging facility.

Notably, the packaging facility also serves China’s semiconductor industrial policy by using the country’s domestically produced lithography machines. The new packaging facility has reportedly purchased 46 lithography machines from SMEE to support advanced packaging technologies such as Flip Chip, Fan-In WLP, Fan-Out WLP, and 2.5D/3D.

Shanghai Microelectronics Equipment Co. (SMEE), founded in 2002, is expected by the Chinese government to be its answer to ASML, the Dutch lithography machine maker that has dominated the lithography market. Earlier, SMEE only produces 90nm lithography machines. However, SMEE once announced that it would deliver China’s first 28nm lithography machines between 2021 and 2022. Even Huawei has indirectly cooperated with SMEE to solve the EUV chokepoint that has been derailing…

https://techtaiwan.com/20210729/foxconns-new-chip-facility-what-does-it-mean-for-chinese-semiconductor-policy/

American military nuclear forces 101

Infographic…

And who are all these terrible bombs and planes going to kill and destroy?

People like you and me. And some very pretty innocent girls. All for American “freedom” and “democracy”! Video 1.1MB

And what is specifically the plan to “Defend Taiwan from Chinese aggression”?

You can’t make this stuff up.

The following paper illustrates the kinds of options U.S. war planners are toying with when strategizing on how to “defend Taiwan”.

Recommendations that appear in the winter issue of Parameters, a quarterly publication from the U.S. Army War College include:

[1] The United States should lay plans for a targeted scorched-earth strategy that would render Taiwan unattractive to China by utterly destroying its most valuable industrial infrastructure, including destroying facilities belonging to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

[2] Fomenting social unrest by destroying Taiwan’s economy and arming insurgents for long-term guerrilla warfare on the island.

In other words, U.S. war planners think the best way to “defend Taiwan” is to raze it to the ground.

Deterring China from invading Taiwan.

Just do great things…

Sigh. Remember…

Do your best. Be kind. Be fair. Try to work with people, and help people. You are not in a race to make the most money. You are in a situation called “life” and that means participation in your community.

Hate – Hate – Hate spews forth from American “news”

And the anti-China propaganda is really thick and heavy too. Check out this nonsense…

HIDDEN STRIKE

China feared to be hiding missiles in shipping containers for Trojan Horse-style plan to launch attack ANYWHERE in world

Tariq Tahir

8:25 ET, Dec 6 2021
Updated: 12:34 ET, Dec 6 2021

CHINA has been secretly developing Trojan Horse-style missiles hidden in shipping containers that can be unleashed on enemy ports, experts warn.

Oh, it's those pesky "experts" again. -MM

Military analysts believe the country’s huge fleet of freighters and fishing vessels could be turned into warships with the use of the secretive container missiles.

Disguised as a regular shipping containers, they can be sneaked on board a vessel to blend in seamlessly with the hundreds of others on board.

The sheer number of container ships in the world makes them harder to pinpoint than warships in the event of war.

Each ship could hide hundreds of dangerous ICBM nuclear missiles…

Like the fabled Trojan Horse, the missiles would be quietly smuggled into or near an enemy port on a civilian vessel before being unleashed in a surprise attack.

Rick Fisher, senior fellow in Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, told The Sun Online while Chinese have not officially confirmed they have the missiles – it is likely they have them.

And the it was warned in a study by Stockton Center for International Law that the weapons could violate naval laws.

Meanwhile, retired Navy Capt. Jim Fanell, a former Pacific Fleet intelligence chief, previously said a containerized anti-ship missile would add a significant threat to the US Navy.

It comes amid a new wave of tensions between the US and China as the Communist giant challenges Washington’s status as the world’s top superpower.

China is known to be aggressively developing its military and is squaring up to the US – expanding its reach around the world, such as in Africa.

A mock-up of the missiles first appeared at an arms fair in 2016 and since then there has been speculation since they may now be in service with China’s armed forces.

Mr Fisher believes the weapon fits with the Beijing’s military strategy and likely would be used as an offensive capability against their enemies – potentially being smuggled into foreign ports anywhere in the world.

Mr Fisher told The Sun Online “Chinese strategic preferences for surprise would strongly argue for acquisition” of the missiles.

These would be fitted to “nondescript small Chinese ships in order to mount surprise missile raids against shore defences to assist follow on amphibious or airborne invasion forces”.

Fisher said shipping container missile launchers can be smuggled through ports or via highway ports of entry

They could then be stored for years in a climate-controlled building within range of US military bases, and taken out when needed for military operations.

Mr Fisher said the containerised missiles would “offer China’s leadership a wide array of options”.

Washington would be in chaos, would not know against whom to retaliate
-Jick Fisher

This includes

“using larger container ships, thousands of fishing ships or stored containers in ports, to undertake military or terror mission strikes in a manner that can be denied if desired”.

“The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is fully capable of using containerized missiles to sow chaos when desired,” he insisted.

For example Chinese missile launching containers could be stored near the Port of Seattle.

The Chinese would wait for the day they can launch an electromagnetic pulse warhead-armed missiles over the nearby nuclear ballistic missile submarine base Fisher said.

"The EMP blast might take out electronics on the [submarines] and all over the base without having to launch a nuclear missile from China,” he said.

“Washington would be in chaos, would not know against whom to retaliate, and perhaps China uses American distraction to begin its real objective, the military conquest of Taiwan."

According to US officials, the weapons deployed in the containers are an advanced anti-ship missile called the YJ-18C, which is a version of the Russian Club-K weapon.

The missiles fit into a standard 8 feet wide by 8.5 feet high by 20 feet or 40 feet long standard shipping container.

An online animation showing how the Club-K can be fitted into a container shows how the top comes off to reveal the missile with the front making away for the guidance system.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the missile has speed of up to Mach 3 – three times the speed of sound or 2,300mph.

While not in the league of China’s hypersonic missiles, which can reach speeds of Mach 10, analysts believe they can still pack a punch.

So far the only record of missile being fired from a container ship is a picture of a test carried out by Israel.

A large number Chinese container ships enter US ports on the west and east coast making them well within range of the vast majority of the US fleet.

"If this capability is confirmed, it will require a completely new screening regime for all PRC flagged commercial ships bound for U.S. ports," Fanell said.

The Stockton Center’s study concluded that loading weapons on civilian vessels clandestinely could violate international law.

It wrote:

"Failure to comply with the law of armed conflict by surreptitiously incorporating merchant vessels into China’s warfighting/war-sustaining effort endangers civilian seafarers and puts all civilian ships at risk that may be operating in the area of hostilities."

POWER GAME

China is perceived as directly challenging the West for status as the world attempts to recover from the pandemic.

Beijing is making moves to establish a foothold in the Atlantic Ocean with a new series of naval bases on the west coast of Africa.

The country’s first overseas naval base was built years ago in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and it is steadily increasing its capacity.

And for some time, many have thought that China was working to establish a naval base in Tanzania, a country on Africa’s eastern coast that has a strong, long-standing military relationship with Beijing.

Meanwhile, China is also seen to have taken the lead in the next stage of the global arms race as it flew a nuke-capable missile around the world.

Hypersonic missiles are a game changer because unlike ballistic missiles, which fly into space before returning on steep trajectories, they zoom in on targets at lower altitudes.

China – followed closely by Russia – were already regarded as having the most potent hypersonic missile arsenals pouring billions into them but others had been seen as catching up.

But the shocking revelations of their missile test back in August has sent shockwaves through Western intelligence who fear they actually underestimated Beijing.

US intelligence and military officials were reportedly left stunned after China launched a rocket in space carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle which circled the globe before before speeding towards its target.

Just who are these evil communists that must be killed?

You know for “The American way” of “freedom” and “democracy”! Video 1MB

And now the USA is equipping all the F-16’s and F-35 fighter jets with the ability to drop nuclear bombs. Are they out of their fucking minds????

…

Well, you know, YES they ARE.

China and Russia BOTH treat any weapon system that can deliver nuclear munitions as de facto launching those missiles.

A good look at what America wants to destroy and kill

Soak up the reality. The United States is trying to get everyone to hate – hate – hate so that these people shown in this video will be killed. All for the greedy psychopaths to continue to rule. video 18MB

U.S. assembled the first B61-12 nuclear bomb for F-35A and F-15E

By Boyko Nikolov On Dec 4, 2021

WASHINGTON – In the United States last month, November 23, the assembly of the first serial guided thermonuclear bomb B61-12 Life Extension Program [LEP] was completed. This was announced on December 2, by the US National Nuclear Security Administration, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.

Last week, #NNSA successfully completed the B61-12 First Production Unit @PantexPlant. This is a huge milestone for stockpile modernization and demonstrates our Nation’s commitment to #nuclear deterrence. pic.twitter.com/90ojHPw6cH

— NNSA Administrator (@NNSAHruby) December 2, 2021

According to the report, the B61-12 bomb modernization project lasted more than nine years – such a long period was required for the design, development, qualification, and production of components.

Full-scale mass production of these bombs is scheduled to begin in May 2022. In total, the program is expected to produce more than four hundred bombs by the end of 2026. In total, the project should cost about $ 12 billion.

According to the US National Nuclear Security Administration, the modernization will keep the bomb in operation for another 20 years and “will continue to ensure the safety and effectiveness of weapons.”

It is known that B61-12 should replace other tactical versions of this bomb [-3, -4, and -7] and will probably be stored at US and NATO bases in Europe. The main carriers of this bomb will be F-35A and F-15E fighters.

What is a B61-12 thermonuclear bomb?

The B61-12 thermonuclear bomb belongs to the B61 family. B61 is the main thermonuclear gravitational bomb of the United States, actively developed amid the Cold War with the Eastern blog close to the USSR.

According to the characteristics known to the general public, B61 has the possibility of a complete explosion, ie. a full range of ignition and delivery options, whether by air or ground. The B61 is capable of reaching supersonic flight speeds. The dimensions of the thermonuclear bomb are 3.56 m long, 33 cm in diameter, and a total weight of about 320 kg. Military experts say that depending on the B61 version, the weight can vary.

The latest modification of the B61 is the B61 Mod 12 or B61-12. One of the tests of the B61 Mod 12 at the very beginning of its development showed that this thermonuclear bomb can penetrate underground and reach an equivalent ability to explode on the surface of weapons from 750 kilotons to 1.25 megatons.

Experts say that “underground penetration” was not planned, but it is good news, as B61 Mod 12 could become a successful replacement for B61 Mod 11, whose main function is underground penetration. The B61 Mod 11 is expected to be decommissioned by the end of 2030.

***

So who are these bombs going to kill?

Well, one thing that is omitted PURPOSEFULLY in American media is showing any humanity with the targeted enemies. there are no pictures that show Russians or Chinese people being human. Just these evil narratives, ugly narratives, and fear mongering dangerous narratives. Not here on MM. We are being blunt. These are the people that your government is trying to kill. video. 4MB

Why? Why kill the nice, cute and hard working people of the world?

For this “freedom”, “liberty”, and “democracy”? Are you out of your FUCKING MIND? video 29MB

So, who are these bombs, missiles and war machines going to protect?

Are they going to protect you from the “red menace”? Nope. It is just a way to maintain the status quo and keep the evil greedy in positions of incredible wealth and power. video 14.3MB

Sigh. Here’s Phobos.

Hell, you have to leave the earth to escape this madness.

And let’s not forget about the moon.

China sends lunar rover to probe object on far side of moon

https://lnkd.in/gYurS23Z

My goodness.

Question: what is the longest time US roller exploring the moon or Mars?

Dose this mean that China roller is more advanced than the USA:

China’s Yutu 2 rover discovered the curious cube on the horizon in the Von Kármán crater in November. The solar-powered rover, which first landed on the moon almost three years ago, has now been tasked to spend the next two to three months investigating the object.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/chinese-rover-yutu-2-spots-mystery-house-on-the-moon/b3fcc9b4-d14e-4382-986f-af883b4f1952

America Today

Sigh. Be kind.

“Over the summer while working a DUI shift, I stopped out at a local gas station to grab a drink. While waiting in line, the lady in line ahead of me offered to purchase my drink. I kindly declined the offer and stated I’d get it but thanked her. The kind lady then politely grabbed the drink out of my hand and set it on the counter to purchase.

It’s it very common in my city for a citizen to purchase food or drinks for police officers. These kind acts do not go unnoticed and I feel blessed to work for a community that proudly supports law enforcement. Building community relationships goes a long way.”

Rufus

With all the bad news being thrown at you, how about some good news to offset it all and find stability in your heart; your mind and your soul? video

Sigh. Make a difference!

Sometimes following in your father’s footsteps can lead you to the most beautiful corners of the world .

Why the CIA is so frustrated with China…

Here’s what the Chinese AI social credit scoring system works. No wonder the CIA and the NED are all upset. Their agent saboteurs cannot do anything. Which is why all the CIA agents in Hong Kong were found, rounded up and either deported or are spending long prison terms in China. video 24MB

Rufus tales

Be the Rufus like this bus driver that gives up his coat to warm up a high school girl on his bus. Video 12MB

Yu Beng Village(雨崩村), Deqing, Yunnan Province, China

China is big. It looks a lot like Switzerland in many places.

AI! I am getting off track…

So what is my point? News out the “West” is fear-hate-fear-hate.

But is that really helping you?

I say that instead, it is making you ill. It is hurting you mentally, emotionally, spiritually, socially, and all the rest. Know that there is a great life here for all of us to live and the answer lies in community. Whether world war III occurs, or the United States and the rest of the world just melts down, or the Prison Planet restructures itself is of no consequence…

…if you always do your best, work as part of a community of others, and do great things. Be the best you can be and be the Rufus that would make your grandmother proud.

Be that kind of person. Be that kind of Rufus.

video 22MB

A Final message for MM readership

Trust your gut instincts…

In 1981, a clairvoyant contacted British Rail to warn depot employees that she’d been having a recurring vision of a fatal train crash. In her vision, one of their blue engines hauling oil tankers crashed with devastating consequences. 

She also saw that the train number was 47216.

Managers took the warning seriously, as they were aware that the clairvoyant had assisted police on several occasions. They applied to have the number of the particular train changed to 47299.

In December 1983, the 47299 train was hauling an oil train when it collided with a DMU at Wrawby Junction. One person died, and it was concluded that a combination of equipment failure and human error was to blame.^[6]
.
Afterward, the accident was referred to as an “amazing coincidence.”

Do you want more?

New Beginnings 2

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Why isn’t Russia and China responding directly to America’s hybrid wars, clandestine wars, and military provocations?

A top US general gave a stark warning about the risk of deteriorating ties with the two giant states. 

Vice Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General John E. Hyten told a think-tank meeting that conflict could easily spiral out of control. 

“We never fought the Soviet Union,” he said. “As for the great powers, our goal is to never go to war with China and Russia.” 

According to Hyten, such an event would “destroy the world and the global economy. It will be bad for everyone, and we have to ensure that we do not go down that path.”

And so everyone is asking these questions.

Why is the United States so fucking hell-bent on creating a major war? And, why isn’t Russia and China responding directly to America’s hybrid wars, clandestine wars, and military provocations?

The Greenville Post suggests…

An excellent read, by the way.

Observing the mounting provocations by Washington and its NATO puppet, many people in Russia (and abroad) think that Putin's response to the West has been weak, misguided and inordinately accommodationist, a form—in their eyes—of appeasement.

They argue—as does Paul Craig Roberts—that Washington needs to be confronted far more clearly and decisively, with force if necessary, the way one confronts a depraved bully with a long list of crimes to its name.

I have a great deal of sympathy for this point of view, as do many people who don't like seeing an arch-criminal get away with his ever-expanding reign of terror and intimidation.

But, folks, this is a soup with some flies in it, and we need to pay more attention.

While in a non-nuclear world that kind of thinking—giving a bully what he deserves— makes perfect sense, in a nuclearised world the cost/advantage calculus is far more complicated and the right response almost impossible to pin down.

For it is certain that, at this point, an all-out nuclear war between the great powers, a war, mind you, precipitated by the United States and its vassals, besides its unprecedented horrors, is a war guaranteed to have no winners.

This is not the kind of decision that any rational leader would like to make.

So what is Putin or Xi to do?

They face a ruling class that appears to be either technically insane or terminally cynical. Inhabiting a huge bubble of hypocrisy of their own making, drenched in the supremacist myths of US exceptionalism, US elites flail about the world impervious to reality or morality, while wiping their plutocratic asses in the UN charter governing the civilised behaviour of all nations.

Under such circumstances, hubris may blind them to the great risks inherent in their constant warmongering.

But are they really blind and indifferent to the horrific costs, or—as Kissinger and Nixon once supposedly admitted—this is just a bluff to keep the enemy off balance?

Clearly, the Russians and the Chinese, led by rational and competent people, don't want to be forced to find out.

A war between the great nuclear powers is a war with no winners in which the totality of the human race stands to be wiped out.

They know war up, close, and personal in a way that is simply alien to most Americans, and seemingly forgotten by the idiotised vassal nations in what passes for a free Europe.

Well, Russia and China haven't forgotten.

The Soviet Union lost more than 27 million people in WW2, and thousands of towns and cities, plus almost 70% of its hard-won infrastructure and industrial base in her struggle to overcome the Nazi assault.

China chalked up almost 30 million lives in casualties, an enormous figure even in a nation of over one billion inhabitants.

In their eyes, it probably makes sense not to provoke the bully into a fight.

Plus, there are powerful historical reasons for avoiding a shooting war as long as possible. As demonstrated by the Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact, avoiding war while growing stronger with each passing day is not a bad strategy when confronting a monstrous war machine led by deluded and unstable people.

The USSR, despite its many problems, was a much stronger and more resilient nation in 1941 than in 1939. Those two years allowed her to safeguard and reposition the assets she needed to survive the Nazi attack, and she did. (See for ex. OPERATION BARBAROSSA: MYTHS AND REALITY).

The same can be said for the truly vertiginous development of Russia's modern military in slightly over a decade: the Russia of 2008 (when it had to subdue a NATO-prodded Georgia into some stupid adventurism) and that of today can't be compared from a military standpoint.

Military-naval analyst Andrei Martyanov agrees: "Russia and her Armed Forces of 2021 and of 2008 are separated not just by 13 years, but by two generations of weapon systems and C4ISR."

Let that sink in for a minute.

In sheer speed and effectiveness, Russia's capacity for strategic development is second to none in the world, and is not to be matched or surpassed by the Pentagon in the foreseeable future, no matter how many trillions it wastes on such pursuit.

It's actually a systemic and cultural question not subject to a quick resolution. Ditto with China. Could that be the reason why Putin can afford to look "weak" and calm and non-confrontational toward Washington, despite a non-stop cascade of provocations and vituperations?

Keep these things in mind as you read Paul Craig Roberts' persuasive indictment of the Kremlin posture. —PG

Paul Craig Robert thoughts on this matter…

I can't see Putin trusting any US agreement.

When Russi/Putin acts, it is sudden, swift, and WITHOUT WARNING

So why the PR, the meetings with Biden, Lavrov's diplomatic whirlwind??

Methinks it is to get domestic opinion firmly on his side, a rooted we-back-you-at-any-cost kind of grim determination. Polls show he is half way there. What's the magic #?? 66%?? I would think it in that range.

If this is the case, we have a grim scenario awaiting us in February.

-Les7

While US Whore Media and Whore “scientists” dependent on Fauci-controlled NIH and Big Pharma grants whip up fear over a relatively harmless “Omicron variant,” a real dangerous situation that I have anticipated for seven years is raising its deadly head.

The arrogant fools in Washington lost in their own hubris have been practicing nuclear attacks on Russia within 20 kilometers of Russia’s borders.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Washington’s operation Global Thunder rehearsed launching nuclear weapons against Russia from both western and eastern directions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Washington was not taking seriously Moscow’s warning not to cross Russia’s red lines.

Putin is correct. But it is the Kremlin’s fault.

The only decisive action the Kremlin has taken in response to intense provocations from Washington and NATO was the Kremlin’s decision to accept the overwhelming vote of the people in Crimea to be reincorporated into Russia where the territory had resided for 300 years. The Kremlin’s alternative was to lose Russia’s Black Sea navy base.

In a strategic blunder of the first magnitude, the Kremlin refused the same plea from the Russian people in the Donetsk and Luhansk republics, territories that also had been part of Russia for centuries. By refusing to honor the vote of the Donbass Russians to again be a part of Russia, the Kremlin subjected them to war and destruction by the Ukrainian army and various neo-nazi Ukrainian militias. If the Kremlin had accepted the vote of the Donbass Russians to be returned to Russia, the conflict would have ended as Ukraine would not destroy itself by attacking Russian territory. Without the ongoing conflict, Washington would have been unable to continue its machinations against Russia in Ukraine.

In an effort to salvage the situation, the Kremlin put together the “Minsk Agreement,” which Western powers were to support, but didn’t. Thus, the conflict has continued to smolder since 2014, providing Washington with 7 years to use anti-Russian propaganda to define the narrative.

The Kremlin’s passivity and attempt to rely on agreements with the US and NATO to resolve a Ukrainian situation that Washington most certainly does not want resolved has convinced Washington and NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg that there is no fight in Russia, thus producing the situation that I have feared: Washington has concluded that Russia’s red lines are merely rhetoric.

Many other Kremlin failures have contributed to this dangerous outcome. The Kremlin still permits Israel to attack Syrian territory when one telephone call from Putin is sufficient to halt the attacks. The Kremlin still permits the occupation of a small part of Syria by US troops and CIA Arab mercenaries hostile to the Syrian state. The Kremlin receives massive insults to the Russian president and still refers to those insulting Russia as “our Western partners.”

These are not responses that create the impression that there is any force behind the Kremlin’s red line.

The Kremlin has also failed miserably in anticipating Washington’s moves, indicating an incompetent intelligence service or a willing disbelief in the Kremlin of Russian intelligence reports. Despite its obviousness, the Kremlin failed to anticipate the invasion of South Ossetia in 2008 by a US and Israeli-trained and equipped Georgian army. Putin was at the summer Olympics in Beijing. The Kremlin failed to anticipate Washington’s obvious overthrow of the democratically elected government of Ukraine and the replacement of a Russia-friendly regime with a neo-nazi regime. Putin was at the Sochi Olympics.

Washington simply will not take seriously a government incapable of paying attention to what is happening to its interests in its own backyard.

One might think that the Kremlin would learn by experience, but apparently not. With reports that half of the Ukrainian army is in the Donbass region threatening the Russian inhabitants, US Secretary of State Blinken threatens Russia with “serious consequences” if Russia protects the Donbass Russians.

Imagine, a cipher like Blinken, a person of no ability or accomplishments, a representative of a second-rate military power that discriminates against its own white troops, issuing threats to the world’s dominant military force.

This is hubris run amuck, hubris encouraged by years of Kremlin low-key response to major provocations.

As I have warned, the low-key Russian response, despite its good intention, encourages more provocations, and sooner or later Washington will go too far and cross a red line that will force a Russian military response. My fear of nuclear war is the reason for my warning that Russia needs to put a strong foot down in order to stop the progression of provocations that can only end in war.

Why has the Kremlin been so meek in response to insults and provocations? I have no inside information. The speculations are that (1) the Kremlin wants the Donbass Russians to remain in Ukraine in order to water down the influence of anti-Russian attitudes in Western Ukraine; (2) the Kremlin did not want to confirm Washington’s propaganda that Russia was rebuilding the Soviet Empire by reabsorbing the Donbass Russians in addition to Crimea; (3) westernized Russian intellectuals have more confidence in the West than in their government; (4) the Atlanticist Integrationists desire to be part of the West than to be allied with China; (5) the Kremlin thinks that by continuing to be low-key and open to cooperation with the West all difficulties will be resolved; (6) Russia knows the horrors of war and wants to avoid war at all costs; (7) Russian billionaire oligarchs want the West as a haven for their stolen wealth.

All of these are sound reasons as far as they go.

The problem is that all of these reasons ignore that Russia is Washington’s enemy of choice. Russia is the enemy that justifies the $1,000 billion annual budget of the US military/security complex. Russia is the enemy that strengthens Washington’s hold on NATO and Washington’s European empire. Russia is the enemy that keeps the Washington-abused American population loyal to the government that is destroying American liberty. Russia is the enemy that can be blamed, along with China, for every failure of Washington. How can the Kremlin forget that the hostility of the American Elite to Russia is so overwhelming that President Trump was confronted with a CIA/FBI/Justice Department orchestrated “Russiagate” for simply stating that he intended to restore normal relations with Russia?

Normal relations with Russia are impermissible to the extent that a President of the United States was removed from office in a stolen election after trumped-up “Russiagate” and “Impeachgate” attempts failed. To complete the lesson to all future presidents that normal relations with Russia are impermissible, Trump supporters are being prosecuted for attending a rally in support of Trump, a rally now known as “the Trump Insurrection.” Six hundred innocent people are held in prison in violation of habeas corpus and First Amendment rights. Not even the US Constitution can protect them.

And this is a government that the Kremlin thinks it can reach an accommodation with!

God help the Russians and all of us as Washington’s provocations continue their march to war.

In a visit to Beijing in March, Moscow’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that “the US has declared its mission is to limit the technological development opportunities of both the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China.”

Tarik in the Vineyard for the Saker Blog comments…

Putin claimed that ties between Moscow and Beijing “have reached the highest level in history,” while Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi insisted both countries “have always been the pillars of peace and stability in the world.” According to him, “the more unstable and turbulent the world is, the more decisive cooperation between China and Russia will become.”

Why Russia didn’t shoot anything down yet?

If Russia shot down a NATO bomber or ship flying or sailing where it shouldn’t be (or even a US one), who would dare respond in kind?

It begs the next question: Why Russia didn’t shoot anything down yet?

Things need to be put in perspective. So here is a third question: Why is the West and the US in particular, so dead set on confronting Russia and China at every corner, short of direct military attack?

It is not because they want to cut Russian gas to Europe (it would terminally break the EU economy and destroy its ability to store increasing dollar reserves), or repatriate jobs from China (systemically incompatible with dollar hegemony) , or even prevent the implementation of the BRI per se (because the matter of fact is that potentially it could become a huge new, and very much needed pit for excess dollars to find their home; if only it were done the “right” way).

When Kissinger invited China into the western world economy, it was understood that it would eternally accumulate dollar trade surpluses, and over time, become another EU or Japan.

In the case of the EU, the US had NATO, and for Japan they had their military bases to make sure these two would dutifully stockpile every dollar that comes their way. But nothing of the sort existed for China.

To make a story short; in the early nineties they took over the largest stash of natural resources that is Russia. With that in hand they thought they now held China on a tight leash.

Late nineties the Asian economic crisis hit; Beijing was livid. 2000 Putin takes over Russia’s natural resources, unleashing China.

The later enters a global buying spree of natural resources through its huge accumulated dollar reserves. Commodities’ prices shoot up, interest rates follow suit and triggers the subprime implosion and all its aftermath.

For all practical purpose, intentional or not, this was an unofficial war declaration. No doubt every central banker on the planet worth his salt understood a new player entered town. It meant business, and was to be reckoned with. US responds with an “epidemic” of color revolution everywhere China was laying the ground work for what was to become the BRI, and dramatically increases the pressure on Russia to force it back into the US$ fold.

Neither China nor Russia blinked. Instead the former announced to the world the official launch of BRI, and the latter openly challenged US military supremacy in Syria, and soon after started in earnest the distribution of S400s (almost as good as the atomic bomb, in diplomatic terms) to the world.

For those holding reservations about the above interpretation of events, please consider: the price of gold went from under 300 US$/ounce in the late 90’s to 1900 US$ by the end of the first decade, bear in mind that this in a market hated by all. To this day less than 1% of global private wealth is held in gold.

In 5000 years of history never did this ratio fall below 5%, even under the most exuberant times. Who was buying? While the western bullion banks acted as “sellers of last resort” with unlimited fictitious supplies on the Futures market to keep the price under cap, so did Beijing act as “buyer of last resort” on the spot market with unlimited dollar supplies from their trade surpluses, thus uncapping the price. The relevance of this is apparent when juxtaposed to the BRI project.

It is estimated tens of thousands tons of gold were disappeared in China; that enters the border but never show up; neither in retails nor official reserves records, but instead just somehow vanish in thin air. At the minimum it shows they’re preparing for a post dollar economy. Then again the BRI makes no secret that it intends to make use of local currencies worldwide.

There are two ways only to have any currency accepted. Either it is backed by the most powerful military, or alternatively it is referenced to gold. Anything else (eg. Petrodollar, Eurodollar…) is military backing under the guise of… and the BRI has also admitted its preferred option for trade account settlements.

Such monetary arrangement (no matter the exact actual architecture) would in short order annihilate any form of western prevalence and privilege on the global scene.

In itself it would just be an ego bruise, but when added to the staggering debt levels, it translates to guaranteed decades of servitude. That my friends is the crux of the matter, the unfathomable horror the west is facing. It is what keeps their elite awake at night, while the population imperfectly senses a looming day of reckoning whether under the traits of a yellow slit eyed giant dragon, a monstrous growling bear, a flood of melted ice, or an amorphous unforgiving pestilence, when instead they should really fear Shylock’s lurking specter and past due pounds of flesh.

Now that the real motive for the Big Boys’ quarrels has been defined, how would a war with Russia or China, even if only through a proxy (Ukraine or whatever) fit in this equation.

First of all the West or the US today is not comparable to say Napoleon’s France or Hitler’s Germany which “benefited” from industrial and military supremacy. It is those specific advantages that allowed them the privilege to make fools of themselves.

Without them, neither Napoleon nor Hitler would have ever thought of heading East. And I might add, nor would have the US embarked on the last 50 years of hegemonic delusions.

Today the latter has lost both trump cards, and with them, one might presume, the luxury to fantasize a swift military solution.

This leaves us with only a proxy war scenario. If realized, that option can only yield very short lived dividends that could never alter the natural course of the empire’s demise.

After all once the Ukrainian army is spent, that card is gone. In fact the Ukraine holds value as long as the status quo last, once the situation is resolved (which ever way that may be) it looses any bargaining stock.

The same holds true for the JCPOA, Syria, North Korea, Taiwan, Myanmar, Ethiopia, and so many others. And what bargaining may I be referring to? Well hold on tight: the West pushes for terms of a new partitioning of the world, while Russia and China expect its terms of surrender.

Sure, until say around 2018, all these pressure points were meant to force China and Russia reconsider the dollar’s role in the BRI and related projects. But then in March of that faithful year (if I remember well) Putin casually announced a panoply of hyper-sonic toys. If the subprime event was a “Wazari”, March 2018 was the “Ipon Seonage”, or basically a “checkmate”.

No doubt every general worth his salt must have raised an eyebrow or two, and every central banker realized the dollar was now naked, with neither gold nor the most powerful military on the planet to enforce it.

All the while Putin was giving his speech, the list of nations that were rejoining the BRI since its official launch and their commitment, were about to dramatically increase.

The practical effect was a gradual and ongoing abandonment of dollars in cross border regional settlement of trades, particularly in South-East Asia were the doomed currency is now considered almost a dirty word among regional players.

Consequently local currencies reserves are displacing US$, which are increasingly being spent on the acquisition of raw materials on the international market for infrastructure projects.

If it sounds like “déjà vu” it’s because it is.

The resulting inflationary pressure on the commodities’ market would again spill over to the interest rate market, triggering the September 2919 REPO event. Because of its brevity, I suppose, few realize how defining that moment was to what came next.

First the Fed met the burst from 0% to 10% on the overnight REPO rate with a 700+ billion US$ barrage within a matter of days to literally drown those darn, messy, uncooperative interest rates. Ever since that market requires a monthly 120 billion allowance just so banks may trust each other and perpetuate the myth of solvency. As the global economy stopped accumulating, or even off-loaded dollar reserves, the greenback’s velocity increased and soon will feel like hot potatoes. A rarely mentioned consequence of this phenomenon (at least I never came across it anywhere), is the severe restriction it imposes on newly printed dollar deployment outside US financial markets, lest it turns the already established price inflation into hyperinflation. Thus it renders the dollar useless as a tool for influencing foreign actors. Those loose dollars must be neutralized. A few months later COVID strikes in China.

Was it just one more sorry attempt to oblige China to reverse its “dollar policy” or whatever favorite narrative one may subscribe, isn’t as relevant as Beijing’s response was remarkable.

There were several instances in the last 20 years when China had to suffer some suspicious biological outbreaks, yet none of the measures taken ever even registered in import/export figures, GDP, or in any other major economic indicator.

Now suddenly under the pretext of one insipid flu-like germ, precisely when the West is shown at its most fragile financially, they decide to entirely shut down one major world industrial production hub.

Again, regardless of one’s view on that epidemic, there’s not a point in the entire space/time continuum where Xi and his team didn’t foresee the consequences of such measures, both on their economy and those of the West respectively.

The West was totally taken off-guard; no point in calling China, the damage was already done, trillions would be needed to absorb the shock, and thus they took the path of least resistance.

They doubled down on the COVID song, proactively shut down their economies to force unanimous political support for direct monetary support of the economy and markets. That the pandemic narrative also served as convenient cover for population movement control, was an extra bonus in an environment ripe for social unrest.

A few months later China unlocks and its economic indicators quickly resume to pre-pandemic levels, all while the US and Europe were still mired in frozen economies.

This showed the world economy did not depend any longer on Western lead. In fact the world can now perfectly do without the West all together.

Now it may still be early to assess with any certainty how the game is being played at this very moment, but based on the evidence over the last 2 to 3 years, here is a proposition which hopefully might offer an answer to our starting questions.

The earlier Putin “checkmate” referred specifically to global dollar dominance. Preserving regional dominion for a little while longer however seems still possible, at least in the minds of the western elites.

However such a region must be isolated from areas that do not submit to the dollar “order” (or whatever new cryptocurrency denomination they may come up with to implement their reset), since direct competition would instantly reveal the currency fraud that it is.

Hence the necessary world partition. In this new context, those pressure points whose main purpose was originally directed against China and Russia, can easily be repurposed to mainly close the ranks in the “salvageable” portion of the world.

That explains nicely the increased hysteria surrounding those sour points; not as means to strike fear in the hearts of Russians and Chinese (which is a ridiculous proposition when considering the ground facts), but to dig it as deeply as possible into their vassals’ hearts instead, with what military and economic might they still muster.

Then in order to preserve their currency’s “credibility”, at least within the remaining sphere of dominion, they need a replacement for the loss of those Central “dollar sinkhole” Banks and respective economies that are escaping to the multi-polar world.

So they “repurposed” (or just upgraded, I’m not sure which) a favorite of theirs: Global Warming, from an obstacle to the BRI momentum, to a black hole for infinite currency issuance.

The basic idea, apart from its green energy infrastructure component which at least is comprehensible to the mind, is to, through the carbon credit market, “financialize” various ecosystems’ contribution to decarbonization. Shares would be available for “investments”.

It’s not clear who or how the book value of these shares would be calculated, but one can be excused for assuming that value will prove as flexible as a COVID infection count.

I suppose the underlying logic goes something like this: ecosystems remove CO2 from the atmosphere, which saves our lives.

Since we can all agree that our lives are infinitely precious, no amount of investments can possibly realize the full valuation of those shares. Et voilàààà, the inflationary dilemma once and for all, forever and ever, eternally and for perpetuity finally solved!

Is it delusional? Of course it is. But as some real wise man said: People rarely think what they must, instead they tend to think what they need to think, when they need to think it.

Obviously the “Grand absurdity” in which their “Great Reset” is being implemented is the sure sign of their impending capitulation. Hence Russia and China patiently awaiting their acceptable terms, which probably means unconditional rendition.

The piper will be paid.

It doesn’t mean they want to destroy, humiliate, or otherwise submit to the West. It’s about facing responsibilities, and within this frame, figure out a convenient, or win-win agreement.

In such an environment a war makes little sense because there is no military threat against western leadership, only military containment.

In typical “Go” fashion, US and NATO bases that were previously seen as power projections enveloping the world, can increasingly be viewed as the boundaries of a shrinking space.

Funny thing is, Russia and China did try really hard to avoid this sorry state; the downright self-inflicted humiliation the West is facing.

Ever since the 1997 Asian crisis, Beijing tried real hard to convince the US to a strategy to solve the Dollar’s paradox in world trades.

During the first decade of the century as preparation for the BRI, they started heavily investing in global natural resources extraction.

Aside from the obvious practical reasons (BRI would require humongous amounts of resources), there was also a financial/monetary aspect.

The commodities sector was suffering from decades of under investments due to price suppression schemes by the usual suspects, in line with the gold price policies.

The idea then was to increase production so that the manipulative Future’s shorts could be gradually unloaded without triggering the typical inflationary bomb and the ensuing interest rate response, and thus freeing the Western banks from exposure at no loss.

At which point international dollar reserves could gradually be unloaded unto an increasing supply of commodities to the BRI, with also minimal (or at least manageable) inflationary disturbance.

Of course it implied a parallel incremental retirement of international dollars to a level commensurate to the US’ economy true size, probably through a series of devaluations against mainly gold. That was China’s plan. Not a bad empire retirement plan when considering where the West stands now.

Just as funny, had the US been agreeable to China’s and Russia’s proposal, better yet had they taken the lead after the USSR collapsed, to “resize” the dollar, neither of the Bear nor the Dragon would have developed their armed forces, instead dedicating their resources strictly to the economy.

The US could have retained Military supremacy and acted as a true policing force of the world, with all the benefits and honors attached to this function, and the eternal gratitude and support of all.

What a monumental waste those last thirty years indeed.

Okay, maybe all wouldn’t have been as rosy, so let’s just say it could have been a great opportunity for a beautiful dream…

MM answers

And kids, this is how World Wars gets started....

However, my fear is that the US and Israel will double down and not go quietly. Instead of upsetting the table and waking away when losing; they will flip the table over and rip open their shirt to reveal a suicide vest....

-A.L.

There are two possible reasons why the United States is acting like such a dick-head bully and Asia is failing to engage…

[1] America is dying. Let it die. When a person is dying, you allow him to go through the death thrall and stay out of the fray. America will be dead soon enough. There’s no rush to do anything. Russia and China know this and see this. They are watching in real time. Obviously they are guarded and concerned, but their projections obviously show a complete national collapse within the decades, if not much sooner.

[2] Asia is ready to put an end to it all. The death thralls of the empire is getting dangerous. But neither Russia or China will allow these matters to destroy them. If things become unmanageable, they will take the first steps, on their timetable in accordance with their rules. Both Russia and China are ready to take down the Untied States is such a way that the USA will not be able to launch a retaliatory strike. The complexity of such a mission is enormous, and so they are spending the time to make sure that retaliation would be impossible.

To a lesser extent are some other explanations. But I (personally) do not believe that they are valid.

[3] Wishful thinking. Both Russia and China independently believe that the ruling leadership of America will come to their senses and stop all this war-mongering nonsense. Just one or two more elections and it will all be over and change.

[4] Incompetence in Russian and Chinese leadership. Both the Russians and the Chinese are not competent, and have determined that the best actions are ones in which America is permitted to define the rules of engagement and the behaviors during conflict.

What is obvious is that both Russia and China have the ability, the technology and the capability to hurt the United States substantially. But they are not making any overt mores in this regard. The reasoning behind this is many, but I really see the options as I described coming to the forefront.

We will find out soon enough.

And so … the very next day after I wrote those comments…

Ukraine – Russia Makes Serious Demands, Warns Of ‘Confrontation’

From MoA…

Following unfounded U.S. claims of an imminent Russian invasion of the Ukraine U.S. President Joe Biden and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin have held a virtual summit. Little has been released about its real content but the Russian follow up shows that the issues they talked about were deadly serious.

On December 10 the Russian Foreign Ministry published a statement that not only sounds like an ultimatum but seems to be meant as one:

We note US President Joseph Biden’s readiness expressed at the December 7, 2021 talks with President Vladimir Putin to establish a serious dialogue on issues related to ensuring the security of the Russian Federation. Such a dialogue is urgently needed today when the relations between Russia and the collective West continue to decay and have approached a critical line. At the same time, numerous loose interpretations of our position have emerged in recent days. In this connection we feel it is necessary to once again clarify the following.

Escalating a confrontation with our country is absolutely unacceptable. As a pretext, the West is using the situation in Ukraine, where it embarked on encouraging Russophobia and justifying the actions of the Kiev regime to undermine the Minsk agreements and prepare for a military scenario in Donbass.

Instead of reigning in their Ukrainian protégés, NATO countries are pushing Kiev towards aggressive steps. There can be no alternative interpretation of the increasing number of unplanned exercises by the United States and its allies in the Black Sea. NATO members’ aircraft, including strategic bombers, regularly make provocative flights and dangerous manoeuvres in close proximity to Russia’s borders. The militarisation of Ukraine’s territory and pumping it with weapons are ongoing.

The course has been chosen of drawing Ukraine into NATO, which is fraught with the deployment of strike missile systems there with a minimal flight time to Central Russia, and other destabilising weapons. Such irresponsible behaviour creates grave military risks for all parties involved, up to and including a large-scale conflict in Europe.

All the NATO action mentioned above directly endangers Russia’s security. It has to cease. Some of the steps taken must be reversed and Russia will have to be given guarantees that certain measures will not be taken. The statement includes this list of demands:

No more NATO expansion towards Russia’s borders. Retraction of the 2008 NATO invitation to Ukraine and Georgia.
Legally binding guarantee that no strike systems which could target Moscow will be deployed in countries next to Russia.
No NATO or equivalent (UK, U.S., Pl.) ‘exercises’ near Russian borders.
NATO ships, planes to keep certain distances from Russian borders.
Regular military-to-military talks.
No intermediate-range nukes in Europe.

That the above is not a “pretty please” wishlist has since been emphasized by several Russian authorities:

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Monday warned of confrontation should the United States and NATO fail to give Russia security guarantees concerning its eastern expansion, the RIA news agency reported.

President Vladimir Putin has demanded legally binding security guarantees that NATO will not expand further east or place its weapons close to Russian territory; Washington has repeatedly said no country can veto Ukraine's NATO hopes.

The confrontation Ryabkov talks about would not be verbal if Russia’s red lines get crossed:

We have openly pointed out that there are red lines which we will not allow anyone to cross, and we also have certain requirements, which have been formulated exceedingly clearly.

Russia can of course veto the Ukraine’s entry into NATO. It can destroy the Ukrainian military, take the regions of Ukraine where a majority speaks Russian and create a new sovereign state from them.

The remaining agricultural Banderastan would be left for Poland and Romania to feast on. This would give Russia the strategic depth it needs and it would limit the NATO friendly coastline in the Black Sea to the south western parts.

A Russian attack on the Ukraine is however what western weapon producers and their adjunct think tanks, ‘experts’ and political hawks, mainly in the U.S., deeply wish for. It would isolate Russia, increase the U.S. role in Europe, justify increasing military budgets and end the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and other Russian export routes.

And that is the reason why Russia will not attack and use alternative measures.

Unless, of course, …

In a phone call with Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson Putin repeated the demands and explained his reasoning:

Like other Western leaders, Boris Johnson expressed concern about Russia’s alleged large-scale troop movements near the Ukrainian border. In this regard, Vladimir Putin provided in-depth and principled assessments of the current situation in Ukraine.

Specific examples of Kiev's destructive course on derailing the Minsk agreements, which are the only viable path towards resolving the internal Ukraine crisis, were given. It was also pointed out that the Ukrainian authorities are purposefully aggravating the situation on the line of contact and are using heavy weapons and attack drones, which are prohibited by the Minsk Package of Measures in the conflict zone. Ukraine’s policy of discrimination against Russian-speaking people was pointed out as well.

It was emphasised that all this is happening amid the active military “exploration” of Ukraine’s territory by NATO, something that poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.

With this in mind, Vladimir Putin stated the need to immediately begin talks in order to develop clear international legal agreements that can preclude NATO’s further eastward advance and the deployment of weapons that pose a threat to Russia in neighbouring states, primarily Ukraine. Russia will present draft documents to this end.

The NATO countries which push for further moves against Russia, mostly the Baltic 3 and Poland, see all their dreams endangered. They will resist any move towards a fulfillment of Russia’s demands. They are however not the ones that count.

It is the U.S., Germany and France that Russia is counting on to get some senses. The upcoming winter, which is predicted to be somewhat harsh, is a good opportunity to apply a little pressure to Europe and to show that it is Russia, not the U.S., which provides Europe energy security. The new Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer understands that:

In an interview published on Tuesday in the German newspaper Die Welt, Nehammer, who was elected chancellor earlier this month, was asked if the Austrian government will continue to support Nord Stream 2. He replied, “Of course,” adding that he expects the pipeline to begin operating soon.

“I don’t consider it necessary to connect Nord Stream 2 with Russia’s behavior in Ukraine,” he went on, referencing a recent political standoff between Moscow and Kiev. “The EU can only hurt itself by doing so. Nord Stream 2 doesn’t only serve Russia’s interests – Germany, Austria, and other EU countries will profit from it. Nord Stream 2 is a European project, which shouldn’t be used as a tool to pressure Moscow.”

This winter Russia will use its market power to press for a fulfillment of its demands. Russia has stopped to provide natural gas to the European spot markets. It continues to deliver in full to customers who have long term contracts. This will squeeze Poland and a few others who depend on the spot market in times of peak demand. Russia hopes that those countries learn that their excessive hostility towards it can have serious consequences.

As Russia has no direct tool to squeeze the U.S. it will need a different strategy to push Biden to change course. The current main foreign policy concern in the U.S. is China. Russia is therefore coordinating its strategy with it:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss "aggressive" language from the U.S. and NATO during their virtual meeting later this week, according to the Kremlin.

"The situation in international affairs, especially on the European continent, is very, very tense right now and requires discussion between allies," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to a Reuters report. "We see very, very aggressive rhetoric on the NATO and U.S. side, and this requires discussion between us and the Chinese."

Notice Peskov’s use of the word “allies”. This is, as far as I know, new. There is no formal treaty between Russia and China that makes them ‘allies’ so the use of the word is highly significant.

This is a concern for an Asia pundit who fears that any Russian move on Ukraine would be accompanied by a Chinese move on Taiwan. To prevent that she urges the U.S. to end the endless confrontation with Russia and to concentrate on the far east.

We can only hope that Biden understands such reasoning, finally shuts up the Russia hawks and ends the conflict with Moscow.

Otherwise we will all be in for some interesting times.

Yes. The USA is marching straight towards war!

And it’s going to be horrific. Imagine DEMANDING Russia do this, and DEMANDING China do that. These demands will be met with extreme force. And I do mean EXTREME.

All of this reminds me of the scenes from the UK movie about the build-up to Nuclear war called “Threads”.

Never a More Unsettling Strategic Landscape

From HERE.

It is the first time that others are dictating to the West rather than being instructed on how to conform to American red lines.

There was an almost audible sigh of relief echoing around western corridors. Though there were no breakthroughs in the Team Biden-Putin virtual meeting, the talks not surprisingly, were heavily focussed on the matter of immediate concern: Ukraine – amid widespread fears that the Ukrainian volcano might irrupt at any moment.

At the meeting: Agreed was the proposal to initiate ‘lower-level’ government-to-government discussion of Russia’s red lines and any halt to NATO expansion eastwards. Jake Sullivan, however, spilt a little cold water over that when he firmly emphasised that the U.S. had given no commitments on either issue. Biden (as advertised in advance), warned of strong economic and other measures should Russia intervene in Ukraine.

What was more notable however, was that the U.S. is ‘only’ threatening to sanction Russia, or to move more troops into the region, as opposed to posing explicit western and NATO militarily intervention in Ukraine. In earlier statements, Biden and other U.S. officials have been vague about what Washington’s response to a Russian invasion would be: warning repeatedly of ‘consequences’, even as it re-committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty.

So, should we all begin to breathe again? Actually, no. In fact, the immediacy of the Ukraine issue was always something of a red-herring: Russia has no desire to wade into the thick, cloying mud of a regional quagmire, however much some in the West would ‘love it’. And the Kiev forces are tired, bedraggled and demoralised from sitting in cold trenches along the Contact Line for months. They have little appetite to take on the Donbass militias (unless aided from the outside).

Nothing was resolved about what to do about the wider dark dystopia that is Ukraine – in all its various manifestations. President Putin raised the Minsk Accord, but nobody, it seems, was biting; the fishing line remained limp. Nor was anything agreed about what to do with the accumulating debris of what once was called U.S.-Russian ‘diplomatic relations’. The latter term (diplomatic relations) is now but a poor joke.

Celebration therefore, is not in order. The viscerally anti-Putin factions in U.S. and Kiev are furious: A U.S. Republican Senator, Roger Wicker has warned that in any stand-off over Ukraine, “I would not rule out military action. I think we start making a mistake when we take options off the table, so I would hope the president keeps that option on the table”. Asked what military action against Russia would comprise, Wicker said it could mean “that we stand off, with our ships in the Black Sea – and we rain destruction on Russian military capability”, adding that the U.S. also shouldn’t “rule out first-use nuclear action” against Russia.

So Ukraine festers on. If we are now to have a lull, then it is just that – ‘a lull’. The ‘hawks’ in U.S. and Europe have not raised the white flag: Ukraine is too good a weapon for their needs, to be tossed lightly aside.

This focus on the Ukraine crisis however, is to ‘see the trees, yet miss the wood’: We have three – not one – ticking landmines, ready to ignite. Three ‘fronts’: Each are distinct, yet closely inter-related, and are now threaded by unknown levels of strategic aims and synchronicity: Ukraine, Taiwan, and the faltering JCPOA Accord – which is now sparking untold angst in Tel Aviv.

The wood not seen for these three trees lies with the unresolved issue of European security architecture; Middle East security architecture; and indeed, of global security architecture. The existing rules-based order has passed its sell-by date: It provides neither security, nor does it reflect the reality of today’s Great Power balances. It has become a pathogen. Simply put, it is too fossilised in the post-WW2 lietkultur.

In a recent CNN interview, Fareed Zakaria, asked Jake Sullivan, Biden’s Security Adviser:

So what is it, after all your ‘tough talk’, that you have been able to agree with China; what has been negotiated? ‘

Wrong question’ was Sullivan’s sharp retort. “Wrong metric”, he said flatly: Don’t ask about bilateral agreements – ask about what else we have secured. The right way to think about this, he said, is:

“Have we set the terms of an effective competition where the U.S. is in a position to defend its values and advance its interests – not just in the Indo-Pacific, but around the world…”.

“We want to create the circumstance in which two major powers will operate in an international system for the foreseeable future – and we want the terms of that system to be favorable to American interests and values: It is rather, a favorable disposition in which the U.S. and its allies can shape the international rules of the road on the sorts of issues that are fundamentally going to matter to the people of our country [America] and to the people everywhere … “.

It is this maximalist lietkultur which is leading us to a point where these three explosive issues together risk a fundamental convulsion of the global order.

You have to go back a long way to find a moment when our world was as vulnerable to a sudden change in fortunes – what Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in The Telegraph terms, “The West’s nightmare: a war on three fronts”.

What is going on?

Well, it is certainly something very far-reaching.

And why the U.S. insistence on such an absolute stance for the global order – according to which other Great Powers get no right to set their own security red lines?

Well, it is because … the ‘four horsemen’ of the Great Transitions:

The Pandemic – leading into a global health regulatory system;
the Climate Emergency – leading to a global CO2 regime of credits and debits;
the tech and AI revolution – leading us into a global era of automation and ‘bots’ (and job losses); and fourthly,
the Transition from classical economics to that of global Modern Monetary Theory that requires a global re-set of the world’s mountain of debt that will never be repaid.

Sullivan’s vision of the ‘foreseeable future’ is essentially conceived around this ‘higher order’ project: The preservation of global ‘rules of the road’, framed to reflect U.S. and allied interests’, as the base from which the clutch of ‘transitions’ – health, climate change, managerial and monetary technocracy – can be levered from the national parliamentary prerogative, up to a supra-national level of business and tech managerial collectives of ‘expertise’ (devoid of accountability to national parliamentary oversight).

Separated in this way into such spheres as health precautions, climate recovery, fostering tech ‘miracles’, and money issuance severed from taxation – they sound non-ideological, and somehow almost utopian.

It was well understood that all these transitions would overturn long-standing human ways of life that are ancient and deeply rooted, and inevitably would trigger dissidence – which is why new forms of social ‘discipline’, and the usurpation of control from national accountability, to the supranational plane, is so important. It certainly isn’t making people “happy”, (as per Davos).

Hmmm! … the ideological underbelly to this ‘higher order’ re-set may be obscured from view, as non-partisan, but it is he who decides the international standards, the protocols, the metrics, and the rules for these transitions, who is Sovereign – as Carl Schmitt once noted.

Sullivan at least has the integrity to be frank about the unseen ideology to the re-set:

“We want the terms of that system to be favourable to American interests and values: It is rather, a favourable disposition in which the U.S. and its allies can shape the international rules of the road on the sorts of issues that are fundamentally going to matter to the people of our country [America] and to the people everywhere …”.

We are talking here of something which clearly goes well beyond the scope of the Biden summits with Xi and Putin, and the Vienna JCPOA talks.

President Putin has warned that any encroachment of NATO infrastructure or forces into Ukraine would not be permitted.

And that Russia would decisively act to prevent it.

Similarly, Iran has stated explicitly that any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities will not be tolerated. It would result in the Iranian destruction of Israeli vital infrastructure across the full territory.

And Iran’ and Russia’s stance is identical with that of China in respect to Taiwan: President Xi made that plain in the virtual summit that he held with Biden on 15 November.

Xi warned that any move by Taiwan to secede is not permitted, and would be met by a military response.

In Vienna, Iran simply stated its ‘red lines’:

No discussion of Iran’s ballistic missiles;
no discussion of Iran’s regional role; and
no freezing of enrichment – as long as the mechanism for lifting sanctions and ensuring their non-recurrence is not agreed upon – effectively calling for a return to the original framework of the 2015 accord.

Iran demands binding guarantees that sanctions will not arbitrarily be re-imposed; that trade normalisation will not be informally hobbled again contrary to the terms of the accord, as happened under Obama (the U.S. Treasury Department pursued its own anti-trade policy, at variance with that of the White House); and that all sanctions must be lifted.

What should be noted here is the context: Note that the Iranian position is almost identical in content to that enunciated by Russia, vis à vis the U.S., in respect to Ukraine: Putin’s demand to Washington is that Russian interests and ‘red lines’ be formally acknowledged and accepted; that legally binding agreements be made in respect to Russia’s security in eastern Europe; and the absolute demand for no further NATO encroachment to the East, and a veto on any NATO infrastructure exported to Ukraine.

This is very new – in geo-politics, co-incidences of this nature don’t just spontaneously happen.

It is evident that the three powers are strategically co-ordinated, politically and likely militarily, too.

Western states are stunned: It is the first time that others are dictating to them – setting out their red lines – rather than being instructed on how to conform to American red lines.

They are disconcerted, and unsure what to do next.

And, as Anatol Lieven astutely notes, some actions would have grave strategic consequences:

“quite apart from the global economic damage that would result from a war in Ukraine, and the ways in which China would take advantage of such a crisis, the West has a very strong reason indeed to avoid a new war: the West would lose”.

Lieven continues:

“This would also risk becoming a world war; for it is virtually certain that China would exploit a war between the United States and Russia, thereby threatening the United States with the risk of two wars simultaneously – and defeat in both”.

For now, the U.S. and its allies repeat the usual bromides about ‘all options being on the table’; of crippling sanctions, and of an international coalition being formed to pressure and oppose such non-compliance.

For, without competitor compliance (or these states’ effective political isolation and condemnation), the higher project of raising these seemingly ‘non-ideological’ transitions to a supra-national sphere whose standards, protocols, etcetera (‘terms of the system’ in Sullivan’s words) will not be achieved.

It will not prove possible to upload a ‘Washington Consensus’ software update when these three states simply refuse Sullivan’s ‘rules’.

A strategic reset however will not come easily.

The west is embedded in meme-warfare, which makes a strategic order partition all the harder.

Any compromise on the narrative that Russia cannot have its own red lines; cannot dictate whether not Ukraine joins NATO; nor determine where NATO sites its missiles and nukes, risks Biden being seen as weak.

Republicans already pre-emptively have blamed what they call Biden’s ‘weakness’ for having encouraged ‘dangerous adventurism’ from Moscow.

Then again, perhaps these two summits – together with Iran’s stance in Vienna – represent the beginning of the end to the West’s Rules-Based Order, and a countdown to a new geo-strategic balance between the two axis – and ultimately therefore, to peace or war.

Meanwhile…

US bans UAE from hosting Chinese navy

So the UAE is not a sovereign nation? It is a vassal state under the thumb of America? From HERE.

During a conference call on 15 November 2021, President Joe Biden assured his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that his country was not seeking war with China, but only loyal competition. As for China, it rejects any form of rivalry and aims to establish “win-win” relations.

However, according to the Wall Street Journal, back in September the CIA had spotted construction activity for what appeared to be a Chinese naval military facility in Abu Dhabi.

That same month, National Security Secretary Jake Sullivan together with his Coordinator for the Greater Middle East, Brett McGurk, were dispatched to the Emirates.

The two American men presented Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (“MBZ”) with satellite photos, ordering him to stop the construction immediately or face “consequences”.

China currently boasts the most powerful navy in the world, outdistancing the United States. She built a naval base in Djibouti in 2017 to grapple (efficiently) with the threat of Somali pirates, then signed a secret agreement in 2019 to establish a base in Cambodia. In addition, she set up civilian naval bases in Pakistan and Sri Lanka which could quickly be repurposed for military use.

The United Arab Emirates are home to a large US naval base and, in order to safeguard their independence, also host a French base.

…

And the UAE response?

UAE threatens to pull out of massive military deal with US

From HERE.

The United Arab Emirates has reportedly threatened to quit a $23-billion military deal with the US over Washington’s tough requirements meant to shield the weapons against what the Americans call “Chinese espionage.”

The deal was made during former US president Donald Trump’s twilight days in office. On paper, it enables the Emirates to acquire American-made F-35 aircraft, Reaper drones, and other advanced munitions.

On Tuesday, however, The Wall Street Journal cited an Emirati official as saying,

“The UAE has informed the US that it will suspend discussions to acquire the F-35.”

“Technical requirements, sovereign operational restrictions, and the cost/benefit analysis led to the reassessment,”

The source added.

The Journal considered the development to be equal to

“a significant shake-up between two longtime allies.”

It tried to attribute the Emirati snub to Abu Dhabi’s partnership with Beijing and the latter’s growing influence in the region.

“The collapse of the deal would fuel perceptions within the Middle East and elsewhere that America’s decades-long role as security provider of choice in the region is diminishing,”

It wrote.

Among other things, the paper said, the US has long been concerned about Abu Dhabi’s economic ties with Beijing and its involvement with the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co.

Huawei provides the Emirates with its communications infrastructure. US officials and members of Congress allege, though, that the company is a national-security threat. The company and the Chinese government have denied such allegations.

An important comment

As one who played “duck, cover & kiss your sweet a*s good-bye” in my fourth grade grammar school during the Cuban/Turkish Missile Crisis, I still think that a repeat of such a memorable event is more probable than a European conflict.

The reasons are as follows:

1) As pointed out by many in this drinking establishment, the Russian leadership is pretty miffed that the Americans get to hide behind an ocean and Europe while the latter plays “Russian Roulette” with the crispness of Eurasia region. Methinks the Russians would prefer the Americans get to feel the heat for a change. At the same time, strategically, its better PR with the locals to threaten the Americans rather than their European cannon fodder.

2) The Russians have already given an indirect threat of moving mobile missile launchers into the Western Hemisphere. Read below in Sputnik. In that article the authors claimed that the Chinese have the capability of moving mobile launchers anywhere in the world inside shipping containers. This article was published the same day as Blinken’s assertion that Russia has no right to drawing red lines, and was picked up by Global Security, the Sun, and others.

https://sputniknews.com/20211207/china-hides-secret-missile-systems-in-cargo-containers-for-surprise-attack-anywhere—report-1091301280.html

Overlooked is a reference in Wikipedia, posted by who knows who, which describes just that with the the Club K Kalibr cruise missile. The article was posted a number of years ago, and is complete with a photo in a container launching platform and a reference to a 2011 showing at the MAKS 2011 Air Show. I’m sure US intelligence is aware of this fact, as it was also covered in navyrecognition.com in 2019. As I stated in the open thread when I first posted it, the Neo-cons are not that bright and need to be hit over the head emotionally to have that “ah-ha” experience.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3M-54_Kalibr

3) One of the biggest televised events in the original stand-off was the blockade of Cuba by the US Navy. This is interesting in two respects. First, that maneuver is much more difficult due to much better aircraft transport and smaller rockets, and secondly it will be seen as hypocritical to a possible blockade by the Chinese of Taiwan and American stated “Freedom of Self Defense”, and “Freedom of Navigation”. It therefore underlines the notion of “spheres of influence” at a visceral level.

It’s getting to be a very, very interesting world.

-Michael.j

Putting all the pieces together…

Now I know it's serious.

-Keith Granger

[1] America has established who their allies are. (With the “Summit for democracy”.)

[2] It has promised financial outlays for their version of “democracy” to all the nations that will side with them. (Just look at the financial budgets out of Washington DC.)

[3] It is really pushing towards war with the nations that are not part of their coalition. (Russia, China, Iran, and any other nation that shows any kind of independence.) They are making bold demands, and pushing, pushing, and pushing for a response. They do not expect anything other than a localized strike, where they can then retaliate with the full force of their military currently in place.

To me, it is obvious. The United States has determined to wage war. Not just against China but against the entire rest of the world, and is now trying to determine who it’s friends and enemies are.

They are pushing for their “enemies” to “make the first move”. Then they will act, with systems already put in place and ready to launch.

No wonder China is building nuke swarm hyper-velocity missiles like there’s no tomorrow.

Maybe it’s because maybe there isn’t going to be one.

We will all be in for gruesome times. No need to play with words here.

-Pnyx

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The little guys start to fight back, and the oligarchy is left hurting from the bitch slap.

This post is a little tad boring in that it relates to money and how money is used to generate more money. I find that boring. I also find it trivial.

However, this mechanism is ingrained in the United States and the West as the ONLY way for people to move upward in the class-caste structure that has been constructed.

The "big news" is that "the little guy" (people who live outside the oligarchy class) have devised a way to "get even" with the wealthy oligarchy that has been "sticking it to the rest of us" for decades now. And this "get even" event is well... it's fucking awesome.

Game Stop Corp

Late in January 2021, a few amateur stock trading nerds decided to promote a stock that was heavily shortened by certain hedge funds. The idea was to raise the stock price of Game Stop Corp., a vendor for computer games, by having lots of small stock traders to buy into it. The hedge fund that shortened the stock, and thereby bet on a dropping stock price, would then make huge losses while the many small buyers would potentially profit.

These people, who had joined up in the sub-reddit /r/WallStreetBets, were not driven by greed but by rage against the financial machine:

Instead of greed, this latest bout of speculation, and especially the extraordinary excitement at GameStop, has a different emotional driver: anger. The people investing today are driven by righteous anger, about generational injustice, about what they see as the corruption and unfairness of the way banks were bailed out in 2008 without having to pay legal penalties later, and about lacerating poverty and inequality. This makes it unlike any of the speculative rallies and crashes that have preceded it.

The movement was successful. The stock price of Game Stop Corp. rose from some $10 to over $400 within just a few days. The short seller had to take cover under a larger firm:

Hedge fund Melvin Capital closed out its short position in GameStop on Tuesday after taking huge losses as a target of the army of retail investors. Citadel and Point72 have infused close to $3 billion into Gabe Plotkin's hedge fund to shore up its finances.

Then the system hit back.

Discord, the company which hosted the server for the sub-reddit /r/WallStreetBets suddenly found that there was ‘hate-speech’ in the threads. It unplugged the server. (Discord had previously unplugged the sub-reddit /r/The_Donald.)

Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald - 0:53 UTC · Jan 28, 2021

What an absolutely extraordinary coincidence of timing that Discord happened to decide the r/Wall Streetbets sub-reddit had too much “hate speech” to tolerate on the same day hedge fund billionaires declared them a huge threat for the crime of winning at their expense!

Next the trading app Robinhood, which many of the amateur traders use, blocked further buys into the stock:

Robinhood, the fee-free investment app that has helped Redditors and other retail investors pump dark horse stocks like GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry, and Nokia, has stopped allowing users to buy those stocks and others YOLO picks.

According to screenshots shared on social media, on Thursday morning a notification appeared on Robinhood telling users that they could close their position on GameStop's stock, but not buy any additional shares. 

Redditors are currently panicking, looking for ways to transfer their shares of GameStop off of Robinhood to other platforms, and are generally furious at the platform.

In a blog post, Robinhood confirmed that it has placed restrictions on several stocks due to volatility.

“Volatility” = the prols are messing up Wall Street by doing legal stock transactions our overlords do not like. What an irony that a company named Robin Hood is protecting the rich from the poor.

The many people who use Robinhood can now only sell their shares and not buy additional ones:

This is likely to have a massive impact on Robinhood users and ultimately the company. According to a popup on the app's homepage, 56 percent of all Robinhood users own at least some GameStop stock. They are now unable to freely trade it; the app is only allowing users to close out their positions, meaning they can sell it but not buy more. This is potentially devastating for novice investors or those who simply want to follow the general marching orders of the r/WallStreetBets subreddit, which is to hold (and buy more) GameStop stock until further notice.

That outright manipulation of the stock markets was noticed and may even have consequences. Unlike Joe Biden it united legislators across the aisle.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @AOC - 16:36 UTC · Jan 28, 2021

This is unacceptable.

We now need to know more about @RobinhoodApp’s decision to block retail investors from purchasing stock while hedge funds are freely able to trade the stock as they see fit.

As a member of the Financial Services Cmte, I’d support a hearing if necessary.

—

Ted Cruz @tedcruz - 16:47 UTC · Jan 28, 2021
Retweeting @AOC
Fully agree.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will take care that nothing will comes from it. The system has proven again and again that it is rigged. No change to it will be condoned.

As Glenn Greenwald noted yesterday:

Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald - 13:49 UTC · Jan 27, 2021

To review:
- Politics is to be manipulated only by K Street.
- The stock market is to be manipulated only by Wall St.
- Dissemination of information is to be manipulated only by corporate media outlets.

Those are the rules.

The lesson they want us to learn: Don't even think of ever breaking those rules.

Posted by b on January 28, 2021 at 18:05 UTC | Permalink

It’s all been brutal.

Furthermore, everybody “understands” what happened with GameStop.  Unlike some other Wall Street stories, this one isn’t complicated. The  entire tale, in a nutshell, goes like this. One group of gamblers  announced, “Fuck you!” Another group announced back: “No, fuck YOU!”  That’s it. Or, as one market analyst put it to me this morning, “A bunch  of guys made a bet, got killed, then doubled and tripled down and got  killed even more.”

-Suck It, Wall Street  by Matt Taibbi

Why?

Well, because the oligarchy believe that they and their system were untouchable. That it was unassailable, and that they were forever free of the consequences of their actions. Does “Too big to fail” ring a bell.

Guess that the response from Joe Average and Suzi Average has been a little brutal. But can you blame them?

A best-selling fiction author could not have spun a more ironic tale so completely representative of our time.

Just as an unprecedented situation—COVID and lockdowns—unfolded over the past year and led to massive gains for corporate titans like Walmart and Amazon. Meanwhile governments have crushed small businesses and individuals…

And a new, unprecedented situation has unfolded.

Spilling off the pages of Reddit to become a substantial threat to the stock market’s stability Is amazing.

It is a microcosm of this tale of big business quashing the little guy.

It is a tale of Wall Street profiting despite the best, most subversive efforts of the underdogs.

In short, what started out as a long stock play in a subreddit full of rocketship and “diamond hand” emojis and anti-elitist snark has fueled a form of class warfare that extends well beyond rhetoric.

Big Tech and Wall Street are fighting back, and right now it appears they’re winning.

But in the long run, you do know, you can only tread water only for so long.

The subreddit has shown us the way forward.

You Do Need Some Background

The background of this story may seem dry to some, but as with “The Big Short” of ’08, the full extent of malfeasance and recklessness by big Wall Street players can’t be understood without some working knowledge.

Reddit user “u/DeepF*ckingValue” has been touting the potential of GameStop (GME) for months.

Seen as a dying retail breed, its stock price had hovered around $5 per share for several years as people move away from brick and mortar for video games and more towards digital copies of games and online purchases of consoles.

Enter Ryan Cohen.

He is the founder of Chewy, which he sold for a cool $3 billion back in 2018. This was after successfully competing with Amazon for the e-commerce dog food market.

Then, after stepping away from dog food domination, he turned his sights towards GameStop. Where he endedup buying a 13 percent share in the company and joining its board of directors in mid-January.

This move boosted the stock price, but it was still trading under $20.

While a visionary joining a failing company has brought about spikes in stock price in the past, GameStop had another unique factor against it.

Its stock, GME, was shorted at an astronomical rate by several hedge funds, including Melvin Capital.

A short position is taken when a person or fund believes the stock price will go down. They borrow against the current market price with the intention of paying it back when the market price is lower.

For example;

Stock A is trading at $3. 

Bob believes it will drop to $1 and shorts 100 shares of stock. Meaning he "borrows" the 100 shares.

He “sells” those "shorted" (borrowed) stocks immediately for $300. 

In a week, if the stock price goes to $1 he can close his stock position and buy the 100 shares he “borrowed” for only $100. 

At the end of it all, Bob makes $200.

However, if a week later the price rises to $5 per share, he could close out his short position by paying $500 for 100 shares at $5 per share. In the end, he’d lose $200 on his bet.

Yikes.

But…

Bob has another option.

He can hold on to it longer.

If his short position isn’t looking too hot with a current price of $5 per share. He could stick with his short position and hope it drops back down to $3 or less sometime in the future to cover his current paper loss. The risk with this is that his loss potential is theoretically unlimited. If he holds onto his short position for another week and the stock price rises to $10, he’s even more in the red.

The longer you wait; and hold on to the stock, the greater the risk or gain.

Well, this is only one of the ways you can short a stock.

The bigger you or your fund is, the more complicated a short position can become, all the way into “naked” short (selling a stock you haven’t even borrowed yet, akin to listing and selling a home you don’t even own), which are illegal but hard to track and therefore rarely prosecuted.

SEC.gov | Naked Short Sales
https://www.sec.gov/answers/nakedshortsale.htm

2010-7-23 · In a "naked" short  sale, the seller does not borrow or arrange to borrow the securities in  time to make delivery to the buyer within the standard three-day  settlement period.As a result, the seller fails to deliver securities to  the buyer when delivery is due; this is known as a "failure to deliver"  or "fail."

Back to GameStop

GameStop was shorted at 140 percent of all the shares available to purchase, meaning it is likely more shares were shorted than there were to buy back to cover those short positions.

140 %.

140%

Think about it. 100% is all you have to work with.

This should never happen.

It suggests the types of shorts that were used were questionable at best and illegal at worst.

And the US government, and SEC looked the other way. They always “look the other way”.

So “u/DeepF*ckingValue” and a group of redditors saw an opportunity: take advantage of those who are taking advantage.

What has unfolded over the past couple weeks has been a run on purchasing GME stock to try and buy up as much shares as possible to take advantage of this short position.

Buying all those shares naturally drove up the stock price, but it also did something else.

Every time the price went a little bit higher, hedge funds that had massive short positions took more and more of a loss as they were forced to buy an ever-increasing stock to cover their short positions.

As reddit user u/myne put it:

[Hedge funds] short-sold AT LEAST 40% more shares than ever existed. 

They’re obliged to buy back more shares than is possible. 

The only way out of that self-made trap is a complicated mess of desperately buying, returning, rebuying from the people you borrowed them from, and returning them with losses at every step. 

Imagine if I sold you 10 cars, but only delivered 6. 

You’re standing there with your WTF face and I say ‘Hey! how much would you sell those 4 cars for?’ 

You can name your price at this point. 

I pay it. Then I ‘finish’ my ‘10 car delivery.’

At this point, some fund managers and individuals exited their short position realizing that as long as people who were long GME held their position, the stock price would continue to go up and there was nothing they could do about it.

This is known as a short squeeze.

As short positions become due and shorters have to cover these positions, they’re forced to buy at the price set by the shareholder.

Since these same shorters shorted more stock than was available to buy to try and make an extra buck, they’re now at the mercy of those holding the shares, leading to exponentially increasing prices.

Uh oh!

Punishing Hedge Funds for Cheating

While some shorters realized the potential losses could be catastrophic, others decided to double down on their position.

Melvin Capital lost 30 percent of their portfolio value by Jan. 25, or close to $4 billion. On that day, Citadel and Steven Cohen gifted Melvin Capital $2.75 billion to help cover their losses. They then doubled down on their shorts and their losses have skyrocketed.

On Jan. 25, they announced they finally exited their short positions.

This is when the war with individual retail investors started.

While it cannot be technically proven that Melvin didn’t exit their short positions, short positions on GME as a percentage of available float were still at the same 140 percent.

Statistically, this should’ve fallen off hard if Melvin really did sell their short positions. Thousands of retail investors thus doubted this news and continued to hold onto their stocks.

GME stock had continued to skyrocket.

On Friday 22JAN21, it closed at $65 per share.

One week later it closed at $345 per share.

Last night, u/DeepF*ckingValue’s initial $50,000 position grew to $50,000,000, and he’s continuing to hold.

Now, a lot of short positions will become due by the end of the week, and that’s when the much-anticipated short squeeze is expected to kick in.

What started out as a humorous stock projection has become a realistic prediction.

We might see GME share prices above $1,000. With this attention on targeting heavily shorted stocks, other stocks have seen massive gains as well, including AMC, BB, and NOSS.

Recent aftermarket trading pushed GME close to $500 and bankruptcy for funds with heavy short positions seemed to become more and more probable.

It appeared that the underdog small-time investors betting against the big hedge fund pessimists successfully dealt a blow to Wall Street know-it-alls.

Robinhood Turns on the Little Guy

Then suddenly, Robinhood suspended the ability to purchase shares of GME, AMC, and others due to “market volatility.”

Of course, you still can sell these shares, you just can’t buy them.

And what happens to a stock when you can only sell it or hold it? People sell it and losses start to pile up.

Within an hour, GME dropped from $469 to $132 and AMC dropped from $12 to $7. Several traders reported orders being cancelled.

This may seem like a responsible reaction to slow volatility, but one doesn’t need to look that deeply to see what’s really going on.

Mega hedge fund Citadel gave Melvin Capital, the company with the most to lose the higher these prices go, a $2.75 billion bailout. According to Yahoo News, “Citadel’s founder is Ken Griffin, who also founded Citadel Securities, a big investor in Robinhood that also works with TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab.”

The company that touts “democratizing finance for all,” that many redditors have relied on to foil the fat cats’ plan to short a beloved videogame store, is really stealing from the poor to give to the rich.

Within an hour, billions have been transferred from individual retail investors to hedge fund managers in the name of Robinhood.

Its app store rating plummeted from 5 to 1.

This is a blatant act of market manipulation, and lovers of freedom on both sides of the aisle should be outraged.

In a free market, stocks should be able to be bought or sold at any time and foolish actions should reap negative consequences—even if those consequences come via spiteful “average joe” investors. Investors who’ve likely gone through a hellish year where they’ve felt squeezed and short-changed by establishment elites in government and big business.

You’re probably wondering what’s next.

That depends on the constitution of retail investors. The subredditors of r/wallstreetbets have received an overwhelming amount of support for the hold position as trade volumes indicate the price crash was caused by very few sellers but high-frequency small trades that artificially crashed the price.

This is Melvin’s/Robinhood’s/Citadel’s/Cohen’s last battle effort before the inevitable short squeeze.

As long as retail investors hold, they should see their position skyrocket.

But do they have the strength to do so as prices artificially tanked? Considering GME has recovered to $246, it appears they might. This is a once in a decade spectacle that has pitted retail investors against hedge fund managers, with irony off-the-charts: a platform called Robinhood screwing small-time investors?

Really?

Whether the trend of Big Business succeeding while the average American suffers continues through 2021 is anyone’s guess.

But we deserve a better ending than bitter irony.

The key point in this, and the actions of the government, clearly demonstrate in clear and unambiguous terms that there are no absolute laws. There are just what they can do, and lip service about what YOU can do.

Laws? Only For You. Bend Over

Let’s start with the law:

It is illegal to "manipulate" a stock or other security -- that is, it is unlawful to express an intent to sell or buy for any other reason than to actually sell or buy, and it is also illegal to intentionally mislead others about your reasons for doing so.

This is why “spoofing” (although almost-never prosecuted) is against the law.

“Spoofing” is the practice of laying in a bid or offer you have no intention of being filled on for the express reason of making other people think you want to sell or buy something, when in fact you want to do the opposite.

They attempt to follow your claimed “expression of intent” only to find your offer or bid has disappeared, the price moves and they come in on the other side.

It sounds like picking up pennies in front of a steamroller and it is, but it can be very profitable especially if your connection to the exchange is fast enough that the risk of getting filled is extremely low in that you can cancel your order before anyone can hit it.

This could be prevented on a trivial basis by the exchanges through a simple rule:

All orders must remain valid for enough time for the signal to travel around the globe twice (once there and once back) or until executed and you may not have more open orders at any given instant than you can clear (e.g. margin capacity.)

Now if you try to “spoof” you will get filled and the scheme fails.

But note that despite this being blatantly obvious not one exchange has implemented such a rule and neither has the SEC demanded it.

Gee, I wonder why not?  Might it be that they really don't give a rats ass so long as only the "right" people cheat?

Spoofing is an extremely common practice, a practice that especially screws small retail traders because we are nowhere near as fast with our fingers as a computer and also not sitting next to the exchange either…

… and a number of years ago one particular idiot was dumb enough to do it when the futures market was open over a holiday weekend.

It was caught on video and put on Youtube, which got the CME very pissed off.

Oh by the way, they never have gone after the “big guys” doing the same thing nor changed the rules on order validity.

Just the “little guys”.

Given how simple it would be to instantly stop this crap does that tell you everything you need to know?

But there is nothing illegal about bidding up (or shorting) a stock for a transparent and truthful reason that has nothing to do with its underlying value. The only requirement is that you not lie; witness firms like Tesla that have crazy valuations for which there is no rational justification, or Amazon, or similar.

They’re everywhere and always on the exchanges and always have been.

Fundamentally a company that pays no dividend has no value beyond the liquidation value of its assets in the free market when it comes to common stock. Therefore, if you want to get down to it every single stock that pays no dividend trades on nothing more than hype since there is no discounted cash flow to you as a holder, ever, and no expectation there will be.

That’s the dirty little secret that nobody wants to talk about when it comes to the stock market.

And that is why you can have a market that trades at 666 one year and a few years later trades at 3,700. Did the economy expand by a factor of five over that period? Did it even double? Not even close.

The sort of short squeeze that we’ve seen occurred due to fraud — but not by the people causing the squeeze.

And don’t get your panties in a wad about this either; yes, the “at home” trading cadre has materially expanded with the pandemic lockdowns and such, and we’re sending “stimulus checks” to a lot of young adults with nothing to do with their time, so staring at a trading terminal attempting to make money sounds pretty good, especially if you win a few times. But that’s not the whole story — not even close.

If you want to short a stock you are supposed to first borrow it.

That is, ordinary people cannot sell what they don’t have, so if you wish to short you must first borrow that which you want to sell. This is one of the ways brokers make money; they keep all the stock their customers have in “street name” and keep track of who has what.

They can (and if supply is limited do) charge you to borrow that stock.

There’s nothing wrong with this, provided the stock borrowed is real.

It’s one of the things you agree to allow if you have a margin account; as part of the “price” of that privilege the broker can loan your stock to others for the purpose of shorting it. However, since you own it if you demand it back because you wish to sell it the broker either has to find some other set of shares to replace what he lent out of yours or the short-seller is forcibly bought-in at the market because they have to return your shares.

If that causes to take a loss, tough crap.

There is an exception to this rule:

If you are a market maker then you can short naked, that is, without borrowing first.

Why? Because a market maker’s job is, as the name implies, to make the market — that is, to take the other side of whatever the customer wants to do. If I want to be long something in order to do it someone else has to sell it. Now in the physical security market this is easy; there either is or is not what I want to buy out there on the sheet offered by someone else.

But in the options market there is no physical security; the entirety of it is synthetic. This means if someone wishes to buy a CALL someone else has to sell one.

Well, that’s dangerous because naked short options positions are obligations to deliver.

Specifically if you are short an IBM CALL @ $100 (for example) then you are obligated to deliver 100 shares of IBM stock on demand at any time before expiration for $100 each.

It does not matter what IBM’s stock is worth; if the holder of the CALL exercises their option you must deliver them. If the shares cost $500 at that time you’re fucked.

Likewise I can buy a $20 PUT on some stock. This gives me the right to PUT that stock on the other person for $20/share up until expiration.  

IF the price is under $20 I of course have every reason to do that -- I can buy the shares for $10 and make you pay me $20!  

Who doesn't like that deal?  

Likewise, the market maker never wants that directional bet either since on the short side of an options trade you're obligated to perform if demanded by the long side.

Nobody would stay in business being a market maker if this sort of thing could happen to them, so as soon as they take the opposing side they execute a balancing trade on the other side.

In short if you’re a market maker you always want to be neutral on every security you make a market in; you make a (very) small profit on each transaction but you never, ever want to be exposed directionally because the amount you get paid is tiny compared to the risk, and one mistake will bankrupt you.

Therefore if you’re a market maker you can short without locating first for this explicit reason. This doesn’t lead to a problem generally because nobody in their right mind as a market maker wants a directional exposure, ever. As a result the failure to locate is transient and does not accumulate; you will lay that risk off and remove the imbalance if you have to since you can construct synthetic positions that perform financially the same as real ones.

So how do you get 140% of the available shares short?

It would seem impossible and is…

…. unless someone cheats.

There are some players in the market who have “market maker” status but also trade their own books or have cross-interests with those who do.

Allegedly there are “Chinese walls” between those pieces (or interconnected entities.) Quite obviously that is a load of crap because otherwise what you’ve seen would be impossible but it clearly not only has happened before but is still happening to this day.

These entities are how you wind up with short sales where the locate and borrow hasn’t happened first and the position remains open across time. This is supposed to be illegal but other than a few hand-slaps in the futures markets for physical commodities I’m not aware of any criminal prosecution for doing it.

And let’s be clear here: This practice is counterfeiting.

There is nothing wrong with borrowing a share of stock from someone and selling it, provided that if the person who you borrowed it from wants it back you are forced to deliver it. That is, if there are 100 shares of stock in the world the only entity who have the right to control how many total shares there are is the company itself. Provided there are 100 shares who loans them and on what terms is nobody’s business; that’s a private transaction and it’s perfectly legal. If I own something I have the right to lend or sell it to someone on whatever terms I choose.

But if you sell something without locating it first you are counterfeiting because you are now representing that there are 110 shares in the marketplace but the company never authorized the other 10.

You thus are in fact diluting every one of the existing and real shares by 10% and pocketing the money from those sales.  In short you are stealing by partially destroying the value of everyone else's holdings in that stock.

Counterfeiting is a criminal offense — always and everywhere.

So now you have some folks who have discerned that in fact there is more than 100% of the public float out short. This cannot happen through lawful trading activity, but it leads to an interesting conundrum: If you drive the price up you force those who committed that offense to cover their bets and there aren’t enough shares to do it. Oh, someone will eventually fork up their shares at ever-increasing prices to unwind the fraud but in the process the people who shorted naked get a telephone pole up their ass in terms of losses.

There is nothing illegal about targeting people who do this; you are not lying about your intentions and ramming someone’s criminal conduct up their ass is not only legal it’s what they deserve to have happen to them. Remember that no company stock is actually worth anything beyond liquidation value at any instant in time when it comes to hard valuation; the entire remainder of the price is speculative premium — that is, the expression of belief in future prospects.

Further, the folks on Reddit aren’t the whole story of the pressure either.

There appears to be a "gentleman's agreement" among hedgies that they don't go after this when done by their "friends."  The practice would never survive a day otherwise; competition is like that if it's honest competition.  The reason we ban collusion generally is because it destroys honest competition and that is bad.

But as with any thieves guild breaking ranks can make you a lot of money and when something like this gets going you can bet there are folks with lots of money happy to jump on the bandwagon and add a few telephone poles — or a few hundred — to the pile being shoved up the short side’s ass. Why not if they can profit from it especially if they don’t get identified to the other guild members as the ones who broke ranks?

So cry me a river, hedge fund mavens and screamers like Cramer — who, by the way, admitted on video many years ago how he used to manipulate markets before he had his own TV show. He never went to jail for that, did he?

What’s the difference?

These folks on WSB are telling you exactly why they're doing what they're doing -- they intend to shove a telephone pole up some cheater's asses and break it off, making a profit at the same time, which is the truth.  

That's legal.  

There's no deception at all; every one of their "buy" orders is in fact a bona-fide intent to purchase and they're being entirely transparent as to why.

That their intent has nothing to do with their view of the underlying company’s value in its present state means nothing; basically zero of the stock and option trades on the market, ever, are about today’s state of a given firm — they’re all about tomorrow’s beliefs which by the very nature of that being tomorrow are speculative.

Now one more thing: Why would Robinhood and others halt buys in a stock?

Not crank margin to 100% (or some multiple of it for a short), stop it entirely irrespective of cash in your account?

The broker does not care what the buyer and seller transact at and further, if there is no margin involved the broker also does not care if you grossly overpay and wind up with zero.  

He loses nothing and this was your own self-directed decision, not his recommendation. All an actual broker does is match buyers and sellers; they are not involved directionally.  

Well, not legally anyway.....

Further, there are claims that people not on margin were force-liquidated.  On what basis?  Legally, maybe you signed something saying they could liquidate you "if they believed you were placing at risk" or even "if they're at risk" (without you being the cause.)  

However the question still stands: Why did they liquidate the accounts if in fact they did?

National Review claims Robinhood and IB were “adults in the room.” Bullshit. Let me quote some of their nonsense:

Robinhood makes money by routing trades from its platform to large brokers, who compensate the company for its order flow. The larger the trading volume, the better for Robinhood. But Robinhood also makes money through various forms of lending, primarily margin lending to customers.

Which is immaterial, as they had already set margin to 100%. In other words, there were no margin loans on GME stock. You put up cash before you buy, or you don’t buy. If you have an existing position you can’t borrow against it. That’s perfectly legit and brokers do that all the time when things get volatile.

That generates no exposure for the brokerage.

From Robinhood’s perspective, the GameStop rally is beneficial insofar as it generates revenue from increased trading activity, but it is also extremely risky, because the brokerage platform is lending millions of dollars to retail investors buying a world-historically volatile stock. As more and more buyers have flocked to GameStop, Robinhood has lent out more and more money.

That’s a lie since they had already set margin to 100%. They’re not lending money against those positions; those are cash transactions and, allegedly and if nobody is cheating, all Robinhood is doing is matching buyers and sellers.

It’s unclear how much GameStop stock Robinhood has lent to hedge funds, but whatever the amount, they’ve been lucrative, commanding as much as 80 percent in interest due to the massive amount of money betting against the stock.

Ah…. now we’re getting somewhere.

You see, brokers do that; they lend out stock and, in cases of hard to borrow shares there is often a fee that can get quite steep.

The brokerage would lose that income stream if the short was closed.

But….

…so what? There’s no existential risk here — just lost opportunity. Which doesn’t explain the clamp-down, does it?

NR goes on to try to excuse this as being the “adults in the room.”

Nope. Once you have margin set to 100% of a long position (and, I remind you, if there is no available float then you can’t short without breaking the law) then there is no risk to the brokerage. If the bubble pops, it pops. Your job is to match buyers and sellers and so long as you’re doing that and not doing something you shouldn’t be there is no problem. The customer may lose his or her shirt but in a self-directed account with no margin loan outstanding against the position there is no risk to the firm provided everything you’re doing on the up and up.

THERE ARE ANSWERS TO THE “WHY” QUESTION and I’d love to hear one that doesn’t implicate criminal activity. National Review is, to be blunt, playing cover for people; their “explanation” makes no sense. So why publish it at all until and unless they can get the answer to the actual question: Why?

**So why did certain platforms do what they did?**

I’ll bet there’s a common thread in all of this, and you won’t like it if and when it comes out into public view….

Fallout

Um. Maybe. More than likely, however, nothing is going to happen.

A little review.

But so what?

Some teenagers found a missing clink in Smaug’s armor.

Smaug is portrayed as being psychopathic, extremely sadistic, confident, violent, cruel, arrogant, intelligent and greedy, possessing an unquenchable desire for gold. 

His most distinguishing characteristic (aside from his greed) is his arrogance, as Smaug proudly boasts of his superiority and impregnability to Bilbo during their encounter. 

However, this proves to be his downfall, as he unwittingly reveals the weak spot in his chest to Bilbo when showing the Hobbit how he had willfully coated…

-Smaug | The One Wiki to Rule Them All

Smaug roared back, and burnt them all to a dark crisp. A lesson will be made of them, and business will continue as normal. Right?

…

Perhaps a little review about what we have been dealing with is in order.

Let’s consider the fantastic “stimulus” check that the US government ave Americans. This stimulus check per person was $600 dollars. And was intended to “help” Americans deal with being unemployed for nine months. The cost of this stimulus was $900 billion and it was labeled the ” coronavirus relief package“. The United States population is 329.45 million people. Thus, the actual and real amount that should have gone to each American should have been $2,735,000.

So, if you simply take the total amount of money allocated to helping Americans out, and divide it by the number of Americans...

...each American should get a check for $2.7 million dollars.

But truthfully, an stimulus should go to each family. Not to each individual. THis was, after all, how the United States was first intended to operate.

And since 83.68 million families were living in the United States, in 2020, each family should have been given 10,843,000 dollars US.

So, if you simply take the total amount of money allocated to helping Americans out, and divide it by the number of American families...

...each American family should get a check for $10.8 million dollars.

So why do Americans only get a fraction of that amount?

$600.

What. The. Fuck.

Well, it’s all fun and games.

Now, heads up, when historians write about the collapse of the United States, you can be quite sure that they will list this event as one of the signs of the eventual downfall. The sign of the pathetic attempts of the “little guys” to “take down” the massive fraud and corruption that runs rampant inside of America today.

No matter what…

Keep in mind that everyone is rooting for the little “normal” people, and enjoy seeing the oligarchy hurt. That is, everyone except the oligarchy themselves. Depending on how the government reacts, you can see this as either…

A minor skirmish of class warfare.
A pivot point that enacts some much needed change.
Or, a spark that contributes to a major event to follow.

Do you want more?

I have more posts in my Front Row Seat Index here…

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How a Chinese Business KTV Works – Selecting a Companion

Here we talk and discuss about a Chinese business KTV companion and their selection.

This is a very detailed discussion on how a Business KTV works in China. This is a pretty large multi-part post. It was originally posted HERE, but it soon became problematic as the videos would not load and the SEO flags weren’t being picked up by the search engines. So I broke it down into smaller bite-sized posts. It’s faster to load, easier to read, and you can see all the videos without problem. Enjoy.

Part 7 of 17.

Please kindly note that this post has multiple embedded videos. It is important to view them. If they fail to load, all you need to do is to reload your browser.

The General Scheme

In general, you can select a person to have a good time with. If you are a guy, this would be a girl. If you are a girl, this would be a guy. This would be your Chinese business KTV companion for the evening’s events.

You pay them, maybe 300 RMB ($50) and they will play games with you, sing with you, dance with you, and talk with you. This is all over China. It’s common from Bars, to clubs, to hotels to KTV’s. It’s a great way to pass the time, and make some new friends.

They are rent-a-companions. It’s a common scheme throughout China and began a long, long time ago. You can obtain these companions at any bar, club, or KTV.

The basic setup is (for guys) a group of girls will work with the establishment and position themselves off to the side. In a large club, this might be near a side door, or near the stage. They are paid a small amount by the club to be available. When a new person enters the club, whether an individual or a group of people, the manager will welcome them. He / she will take their orders for drinks and set them down at a table or location. In a KTV, this would be a “good” room.

The manager would also ask if anyone would like a companion. If so, the price of the companion would be added to the bar tab or club bill. Then, they would wave the girls (or guys) over and you would select one or how many you want.

The girls tend to be young. This is from around 18 years to maybe 21 years old. The older girls either get married, get a different job, or graduate to the KTV scene. Being a youngish companion, the girls need to be watched by the manager. Or else they would just sit there and play with their cell phone. They would do this instead of playing with the patrons, getting them drunk and singing and dancing.

And this is how the basic setup works.

The difference is that at a Business KTV, the girls are (slightly) older, more mature, better dancers and singers, and much more beautiful. And..

And… they are also willing to spend more (ahem) quality time with you afterwards. They also tend to be more frisky. Heh heh.

All for a price, don’t you know…

Age of the girls

Where the companions at a bar, or club might be youngish girls in the 18 to 21 year range, the girls at a KTV tend to be older and more experienced.

The age of the girls differs from most other KTV and bar avenues. Inside a business KTV, the girls are expected to provide a service. That means, that they are forbidden to sit there and play on their cell phone once they are selected. That means that they must play with the client, and monitor his drink intake. It means that they must control the environment so that he has a good time and does not lose any face. Young girls are too inexperienced, or not mature enough for this level of responsibility.

The girls in a business KTV are typically between 22 and 29 years of age. I would guess that the highest percentage of them are around 23 to 25 years old.

Girls of the Business KTV. — The girls that you will encounter as Hostesses in a Business KTV in China will tend to be attractive, and stunning. These girls are really high quality, young and intelligent.

Girls at a KTV – The Lineup

The girls at a KTV will be presented to you in numerous ways.

Firstly, they might welcome you at the door when you come in. It is not at all unusual to go through a gauntlet of 400 to 700 girls when they are lined up this way. And, even more commonly, small groups of girls, from ten to thirty girls will be brought to your KTV room where you can select them from a lineup.

The girls will be trooped in, and the music will be turned down. The lights will be turned up so that it isn’t so dark, and the manager will introduce the girls to you and your associates.

The girls will all be wearing matching clothing. Or, if it is a big establishment a couple of different types of dresses. I used to wonder about this, but it’s all pretty simple. The girls go in and out of different costumes as part of their presentations to the various clients. Some are involved in other skits or activities such as selling cigars or working in one capacity or the other so they might be wearing a different uniform. Some girls will be pulled in off of an activity where they are scantily dressed. In that case, they might wear a white man’s shirt to cover themselves with.

Your job, at this stage, is to select a girl to be your hostess for the night.

Girl Selection

The most important thing, and the only thing that you have any degree of control over is the selection of the Hostess.

Pick the girl that strikes your fancy. If she is in the first line up, so be it. I typically get a girl by the time the third line up enters. I mean, goodness, if you cannot find an attractive girl when 60 attractive females are paraded in front of you, then you are useless.

You can ask the girls to turn around so you can see their backsides.

You can also ask which ones speak any English. Though, for the most part the KTV’s are loud and noisy. So we just use YouDou or WeChat to translate. In any event, you want a girl that you will have fun with. So, pick a girl that suits your fancy.

If you see a different girl that you like better, swap them out. The girl won’t care. Not really.

During the selection process the girls will typically all have a number pinned to their dress. This number is the number of the girl and is used for billing purposes.

There will also be variations in color. The color range is usually based on three stages; cheap, middle, and expensive. Maybe yellow, green and red for example. As an American, my tastes do not match those of a Chinese man. So, as a result, a cheap priced girl I might find fantastically alluring, while an expensive priced girl might be too thin or pale for my tastes. In any event, if the boss is paying your way. Price is no object.

The girl will remove the number shortly once she settles down with a client. Generally, she will continue to wear the introductory dress for the first hour or so, then she will leave to go to the locker room and change into her day to day clothes. High-end girls will typically change into a nice party dress, while more “regular” girls will change into street clothes. This might be a sweater and a pair of jeans or something similar.

In all cases, I personally find the girls to be much more alluring when they are wearing their “own” clothes. But, that’s just me.

Often, I have been given the opportunity to select two girls, and even three, to play with. Sometimes it is planned, and sometimes it just works out that way. You knew can know. Personally, I like having three girls play with me, fuss all over me, and have fun with. It’s just… well…

… you know, I am just a man. I am not a machine.

I am a man. I am not a machine.

Now, this is not the USA. You can play with the girls and you most certainly will. Throughout China, the girls are “hand’s on”. Which means something different than what the American idiom means. Instead, it means that you can pretty much explore their entire body with your drunk roaming hands. Now that pretty much remains the case whether or not you take them to the room upstairs with you.

All companions are this way. From the young girls in the bars and clubs to the girls in the KTV establishments.

However, please take note, that a slimy drunk slob is not someone that any of the Hostesses would want to spend any time in the room (or bed) with. So, as a rule, I for the most part remain a gentleman, and only initiate sexual contact when edged on by the other boss, or if presented with that opportunity by the girl herself.

KTV lineup — KTV hostesses lining up at the start of a workday. Like all companies in China, there is a morning “tailgate” where the new of the day is presented and the workers are reviewed for appearance.

That being said, depending on the time, place, and the situations, sometimes the girls might elect to go semi-nude. They will take off their dress and be with you only wearing their panties. Unlike the United States, the rest of the world doesn’t have the same kind of taboos about woman’s’ breasts that Americans have. So if this is indeed the case, just enjoy and have a good time.

It will be a good time.

Sometimes the girls might come to you.

Depending on your role and the conditions, it just might be favorable for you to just stay in your hotel room, and call up for some girls to be your companions. That’s fine.

If that occurs, for what ever reason, it will look a little something like this… (Sorry for the quality of the video, I was having trouble extracting an embedded video in MS Word.) Check it out…

Selecting a companion in your hotel room.

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The Chinese Business KTV Experience

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just clean up the mess and get on with life Yes. I love it. Great. -MM

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