Patient readers, Ukraine ate Links once again, I am sorry to say. –lambert
Largest shock wave in the universe is 60 times larger than the Milky Way, new study finds Space.com
Fed troubleshoots ‘master account’ issue Banking Dive
Climate
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Summary for Policymakers (pdf) IPCC
Dangerous Levels of Lead Were Found in the Water of About Half the Schools Tested in Montana KHN
Why we turned the L.A. River into a freeway (for water) LA Times
A 50-Year Debate: Defining “Waters of the U.S” The Brockovich Report
#COVID19
Lying Like A State (03/02/22) (podcast) Death Panel. On the CDC’s depraved new “Community Levels” guidance. Well worth a listen.
The Biden Administration Killed America’s Collective Pandemic Approach Katherine Wu, The Atlantic. As they always intended to do. Worth a read, but far more mild than it should be. Commentary:
So, the whole idea is to make you think you're crazy for caring. @KatherineJWu's article on the new @CDCgov #COVID19 guidelines blows the lid off this scandal happening in real-time and in plain sight. The US' new COVID policy is a disgrace. Full stop. https://t.co/l7BTg42MmQ
— Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves) March 2, 2022
Necrosecurity, Immunosupremacy, and Survivorship in the Political Imagination of COVID-19 Open Anthropological Research. The Abstract:
The neologism ‘necrosecurity’ describes the cultural idea that mass death among less grievable subjects plays an essential role in maintaining social welfare and public order. In the early months of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the United States, this perspective on the social value of death emerged in diverse contexts, particularly in claims that deaths were a necessary consequence of returning economies to normal. Necrosecurity discourse encourages audiences to perceive coronavirus fatalities as neither preventable nor exceptional, and to perceive themselves as facing little risk of infection or death. Overlooking the realities of infectious disease epidemiology, these accounts portrayed COVID-19 as a mild disease and imagined a population of robust and physically normative individuals who would survive an epidemic unscathed and ready to return to work. These appeals articulate with powerful cultural tropes of survivorship, in which statistical calculations of relative risk and life chances—ostensibly cited to inspire hope for an individual outcome—conceal a zero-sum calculus in which ill or susceptible individuals are pitted against one another. In contrast to the construct of biosecurity—the securing of collective life against risk—necrosecurity paradoxically imagines the deaths of vulnerable others as a means of managing shared existential dangers.
* * * ‘Promising’ nasal spray to launch in third quarter Bangkok Post (Furzy Mouse)
Nasal Spray Kills COVID-19, Now Approved in India & Israel Bahrain Indonesia & Thailand: No Mention in Big Media TrialSite News. SaNOtize.
China?
China says it won’t join in financial sanctions on Russia AP
Analysis-Ukraine Crisis Threatens China’s Discreet Pipeline in Military Technology Reuters. Embarassing for the Atlanticists, one would have thought.
China Asked Russia to Delay Ukraine War Until After Olympics, U.S. Officials Say NYT
China ready to ‘play a role’ in Ukraine ceasefire FT
Dostoevsky is also being targeted, and an Italian university is to postpone his courses What China Reads
Taiwan wants to join the Quad, Lai tells delegation Taipei Times
Myanmar
Leaked document confirms Myanmar junta is arming anti-resistance militias Myanmar Now. The rainy season starts in May. It doesn’t look like the Tatmadaw will have eliminated the NUG by that point.
Myanmar releases celebrities jailed for anti-military views, issues pardons South China Morning Post
Telenor’s fire sale of troubled Myanmar unit includes $100m in funds Deal Street Asia
Mitch McConnell?????
Today I met with Senator Mitch McConnell's team to plan our strategy forward to end the genocidal military junta's reign of terror against the entire population of Myanmar and build federal democratic union for ALL the people of Myanmar . We discussed the Burma Bill, the NDAA.. pic.twitter.com/r5Cq9EJM7R
— Dr. Sasa (@DrSasa22222) March 2, 2022
What’s McConnell’s angle?
India
Scoop: U.S. recalls cable saying India and UAE “in Russia’s camp” Axios. State Department high on its own supply.
India’s Russia Links Put Ukraine Condemnation on Hold Asia Sentinel
Syraqistan
China buys more Iranian oil now than it did before sanctions, data shows Hellenic Shipping News
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine Conflict Assessment 13 Institute for the Study of War. The Kagans’ newest map:
More on maps (1): Potential cauldron:
We don't get many maps of Ukrainian positions in English soc media, for all the OSINT noise here. This gives a sense of size of Ukr forces concentrated on LNR/DNR line of contact—and how dire it'll be if RU succeeds in encircling them from NW and S/SW. https://t.co/1dwxeKsZI0 pic.twitter.com/tWyi06bSTE
— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) March 2, 2022
More on maps (2):
A lot of people try to make sense of the current crisis with maps, so why don't we talk a bit about why the approach of the majority of media in this regard is not the best. And why it might actually (inadvertently) represent the way Putin wants us to think. (Source: Guardian) 1/ pic.twitter.com/uv6FsOXZ4v
— Mateusz Fafinski (@Calthalas) March 2, 2022
In other words, the Russian columns are moving along roads. That doesn’t necessarily equate to controlling territory (see the Kagan’s map), although that may follow.
One week into the Russian special operation in the Ukraine – update The Saker. Read all the way to the end.
Calls for Ukrainian no-fly zone, though still a minority, are growing and dangerous (video transcript) Glenn Greenwald
The U.S. is pushing Russians to defy Putin. But don’t call it regime change. Politico
* * * To Punish Putin, the World Turned Finance Into a Weapon of War Bloomberg
Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank exits Europe Al Jazeera
Harsher sanctions against Russia could hurt U.S. banks American Banke
Russian shipping blacklist revealed as EU readies port ban Lloyd’s List. The deck: “UK confirms Russian cargoes aboard non-Russian owned vessels will be free to shuttle between Russian and UK ports, leaving a loophole in the vessel ban to keep energy supplies from Russia flowing into the UK.”
* * * U.S. delays ICBM test-launch in bid to de-escalate Russia nuclear tensions Reuters
Russia space agency head says satellite hacking would justify war -report Reuters
False Claims of U.S. Biowarfare Labs in Ukraine Grip QAnon Foreign Policy but U.S. to Aid Ukraine in Countering Bioweapons WaPo (2005).
* * * Symbol Manipulation (1): How it started:
The biggest plane in the world "Mriya" (The Dream) was destroyed by Russian occupants on an airfield near Kyiv. We will rebuild the plane. We will fulfill our dream of a strong, free, and democratic Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/Gy6DN8E1VR
— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) February 27, 2022
How it’s going:
Update on the information of #AN225 "Mriya" aircraft: Currently, until the AN-225 has been inspected by experts, we cannot report on the technical condition of the aircraft.
Stay tuned for further official announcement.#StopRussia #StopRussiaAggression #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/EHyHVFJJXc
— ANTONOV Company 🇺🇦 (@AntonovCompany) February 27, 2022
And — of course! — children!
This is a son of my friend Kateryna. She made this photo today after the shelling on the biggest plane in the world by Russians. The plane was called Mriya (Dream).
She wrote: You can destroy the plane, but it is impossible to destroy the Ukrainian Dream!#StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/dAuO1V0DoR— Oleksandra Matviichuk (@avalaina) February 27, 2022
NOTE If there are pictures of the destroyed Mriya on the Twitter, I can’t find them.
Symbol Manipulation (2): Snake Island: Ukraine says troops who swore at Russian warship are alive BBC
Symbol Manipulation (3): The ‘Ghost of Kyiv’ Is The Mythical Hero Ukraine Needs Right Now The Drive
Symbol Manipulation (4): Enter the woke:
I wanted to take a moment to talk about MASCULINITY – it’s deployment by Putin, the historic resonance, how it’s connected to R. individual and state health, and what it might mean to Putin’s war in Ukraine. (THREAD)https://t.co/4XVcs12I7y
— Tricia Starks (@tricia_starks) March 2, 2022
To my mind, if “manly posturing” is what increases life expectancy, then maybe our own leadership should try it?
* * * Ukraine: Middle Eastern states eye cost of hedging bets The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer
Germany to ship anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine — reports Deutsche Welle
As Ukraine Rallies Nation to Defend from Russia, Far-Right Joins the Fight Newsweek
Biden Administration
One Year, 14 Metrics: The State of Biden’s Presidency Bloomberg
NIH foundation taps top Merck exec — and oft-cited woman of the year — Julie Gerberding to steer public-private R&D initiative Endpoints News
Capitol Seizure
Jan. 6 committee says Trump violated multiple laws in effort to overturn election Politico
Our Famously Free Press
In Ukraine reporting, Western press reveals grim bias toward ‘people like us’ LA Times. Scratch out “Ukraine,” write in “All.”
Class Warfare
COVID Has Made Global Inequality Much Worse Joseph Stiglitz, Scientific American
From Alabama to Utah, Efforts to Vaccinate Medicaid Enrollees Against Covid Run Into Obstacles Kaiser Health News
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here
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The article by Katherine Wu at the Atlantic about lack of a COVID policy is worth your while. It’s bracing: One more betrayal of the U.S. populace. Once again the depleted U.S. federal government slouches into incompetence, mediocrity, and–dare I write it?–immorality.
Pertinent quote:
[Whitney Robinson is an epidemiologist at Duke U.]
How does this dovetail with the war in Ukraine? The same immoralists who can’t run a public-health program, who are ruining the U.S. post office (one of the great governmental institutions), and who are engaged in propaganda a-gogo for the current war, have settled on war as the health of the state.
When war is the health of the state, nothing else in that state matters.
Well said, DJG! I decided we were all on our own in the lower working and middle class, after Katrina. Everyone claiming it was just GW Bush incompetency. I never believed that, although he was of course incompetent. No, it made me realize that the elites that have always run the place are at the very least sociopathic. We are truly on our own, the CDC as much as says so here. As to Ukraine they could give a rats a** about them too.
bill clinton said the era of big government is over, destroyed the safety net, turned us over to the chinese communist party and wall street, the dim wit empty suit hollowman obama spent the last 8 years trying to do the same thing, and the results are: Shoplifting, stealing and selling their bodies for sex. When hunger hits, some desperate teens in the U.S. are turning to extreme options to provide food for their families
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/09/12/some-hungry-teens-turn-crime-sex-food/89396144/
Our enemies are the banks, the elite, the privileged few and the greedy destroyers of culture. The enemy of my enemies is my friend. Putin is their enemy, therefore, Putin is my friend.
Russia could obliterate Ukraine with the number of troops and equipment there. The power is still on, cellphones still work, food is still in the markets. Some Blitzkrieg.
Democracy? Ukraine shut down TV stations that disagreed with their dictator, arrested journos and has turned a blind eye to linguistic based genocide for almost a decade.
The same bleating sheep that repeatedly uttered the horrors of the Saddam regime they learned on NPR, are busy again with their latest cause.
CDC also is relaxing guidelines for prescribing opioids. Some might consider this a good thing; I’m not sure yet. When the CDC says it’s doing something for the good of the public, my first thought is, “Yeah, where have we heard that before?”
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/02/10/2022-02802/proposed-2022-cdc-clinical-practice-guideline-for-prescribing-opioids
(If there’s been a discussion on NC, I missed it, sorry. Operating in overwhelm mode lately.)
I doubt very much this is a good thing — the drug was already easy enough to get a prescription for. Another episode in the hurry-up-and-die playbook.
I’ve read many complaints among veterans that they could no longer get opioids from the VA for chronic pain from combat wounds, even though they’d been using them successfully for years before the CDC issued tougher guidelines in 2016. Some were redirected to yoga and mindfulness training.
Conversely, I have a good friend who injured his back two weeks ago and so far has received three 10-day prescriptions for hydrocodone, combined with gabapentin, methocarbamol, and prednisone. That’s despite clinical guidelines for providers in his PPO that recommend limiting opioids for back pain to a three-day supply. The guidelines also flag his symptoms as warranting immediate referral to a specialist for further diagnosis and a treatment plan. Instead, he got sent home with a bag of pills, without being informed of the potentially lethal drug interactions. If that’s the interpretation of the “strict” rules, the outcome of the latest proposal is virtually guaranteed. Meanwhile, I fear for my friend’s life.
Re: the U.S. post office. We used to drive over the border to Maine to send our U.S. parcels because it was so efficient and quick.
The clip from the Open Anthropological Research abstract, on ‘necrosecurity’ talks of the way in which ‘mass death among less grievable subjects might play an essential role in maintaining social welfare and public order.’
‘Less grievable subjects’ might be the label under so many snapshots of daily life in the US and abroad: homeless encampments, communities of immigrant agricultural laborers, fatalities from US drone strikes, Palestinian settlements, South African diamond miners ….. the list is endless.
Looking around at what is being said about Ukraine, I am coming to the conclusion that it is a place where the west’s military and companies can carry out work that would otherwise fall afoul of laws in their respective homelands. In terms of drug testing, laboratories and military establishments.
If I am correct the West may lose this haven, but it doesn’t matter because nobody outside of Russia will be any the wiser.
“Largest shock wave in the universe is 60 times larger than the Milky Way, new study finds”
It would be pretty bad if you lived on an inhabited planet in one of the systems in one of those clusters and you had developed your technology to the point that you found out what was going on. And then you realized that there was a shock wave heading in your direction.
stable matter constantly finds ways to blow itself up.
my answer to the Fermi paradox is that the odds are so stacked against life do to so many infinitesimally small odds (eg, having a right sized moon for tides, right sized outer planet-Jupiter to be a shield, etc) …
that there is maybe <5 sentient life forms in the Milky Way at any given time.
wish people and politicians would appreciate that fact more.
By being alive, you won the most incredible lottery of them all
“By being alive, you won the most incredible lottery of them all”
Being alive ain’t so great for a lot of people. Just sayin’.
From CanCyn’s post below:
” God forbid we even have a conversation about the fact that ‘normal’ ain’t so great for a lot of people.”
I doubt it is more than one intelligent life form.
From my perspective intelligence is NOT an evolutionary advantage. Look at human ability to damage our biosphere.
The two major collisions of our planet appear as low probability events, one made the moon and tides, another killed the Dinosaurs and let mammals become dominant, and somehow much water from the outer solar system was deposited on our planet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echopraxia_(novel)
It deals very nicely with this very issue. Superb book.
I disagree somewhat. Everything that exist is life or an aspect of it.
Alice Bailey wrote and lectured on matter and consciousness.
Here is a link to a pdf. http://www.bailey.it/files/The-Consciousness-of-the-Atom.pdf
In Hinduism the cycle of the universe is described as the days and nights of Brahma.
It’s quite amazing IMO. link https://www.theosophy.world/encyclopedia/age-brahma
So, life is intelligent, however, humans evolve very slowly, even with the help of Beings (Bodhisattvas), we are atoms in the great life that inhabits this planet.
Axiom: As above so below, sums it up.
So, yes there is one intelligent life form, some may refer it as the geometry of dimension, others as God. We have no idea the of that term though in its complexity and manifestations.
Perhaps this explains “Havana Syndrome”?
(crickets) :)
Don’t Look Up.
“After the shockwave comes the awewave.” I can’t wait!
Sorta like realizing the walls aren’t for keeping the other out but to keep you in, or when that bear you just shot is turning around and your gun is jammed.
How does a shock wave propagate through a vacuum?
Lots and lots of molecules, moving in the same direction, really, really fast.
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is a fascinating site, and posted a sample picture.
It’s a mystery, the tides go in, the tides go out, nobody knows how it happens.
the Electric Universe people have a plausible explanation but mainstream scientists refuse to consider their ideas as they still believe that space is everywhere electrically neutral. Also that electromagnetic effects observable in laboratories on Earth are not scalable at magnitudes found in space. Shock waves are a mechanical explanation so are acceptable They are slowly using magnetism while downgrading electricity to explain otherwise unexplainable observations the other than light electromagnetic wave telescopes observe. Magnetism is not possible without electrical phenomena. Fantasy explanations like the never detected dark matter and dark energy are used to explain observations that can’t be explained by Einstein’s theory of gravity.
Article didn’t say what the average gas density along the shock front is, but I suspect it’s exceedingly low, reflecting density of interstellar/intergalactic matter in the cluster group. You can have very powerful, yet exceedingly tenous, shocks. Quite possibly your average star’s particle outflow would deflect most of the high-energy particles. Think cosmic rays – energy of accelerated particles very high, but too few to harm planetary life.
> What’s McConnell’s angle?
Hmm.
> In addition to Container Shipping, the Group, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Foremost Maritime Pte Ltd “Foremost”, is engaged in Industrial Shipping
> The year under review also saw the Group seizing an opportunity that was presented by seasonal demand peaks in the Bangladesh-Myanmar trade activity, with the introduction of a new service, the Chittagong-Yangon Express (CYX).
Is this any worse than Marcy Kaptur – the head of the “Congressional Ukraine Caucus” – who attended the SOU dressed up like a clown in yellow and blue?
Maybe part of the problem is that we have Congresscritters who are “dual citizens” and America and Americans are not their first priority.
I agree that global citizens do not have national priorities first, but given Kaptur virtue-signalled while McConnell has a material billion-dollar family tie to a war zone, yes, what McConnell is doing is worse.
Why would you assume she isn’t getting paid? That’s not how politics works.
She is more of a warmonger than a virtue signaler
https://kaptur.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/ukraine-caucus-co-chairs-nord-stream-2-pipeline-must-never-see
https://www.usubc.org/site/USUBC-Distinguished-Service-Award/congresswoman-marcy-kaptur–a-member-of-the-us-house-of-representatives-from-ohio–039-s-9th-congressional-district
114th Congress:
H.Res.50 Calling for the release of Ukrainian fighter pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who was captured by Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine and has been held illegally in a Russian prison since July 2014
H.Res.162 Calling on the President to provide Ukraine with military assistance to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity
H.Res.348 Supporting the right of the people of Ukraine to freely elect their government and determine their future
H.Res.878 Recognizing the 25th anniversary of Ukraine’s act of declaration of independence from the Soviet Union
H.R.5094 Stability and Democracy for Ukraine Act or the STAND for Ukraine Act
113th Congress:
H.Res.447 Supporting the democratic and European aspirations of the people of Ukraine, and their right to choose their own future free of intimidation and fear
H.Res.499 Condemning the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity by military forces of the Russian Federation
H.Res.726 Strongly supporting the right of the people of Ukraine to freely determine their future, including their country’s relationship with other nations and international organizations, without interference, intimidation, or coercion by other countries
H.Res.758 Strongly condemning the actions of the Russian Federation, under President Vladimir Putin, which has carried out a policy of aggression against neighboring countries aimed at political and economic domination
H.R.4152 Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act of 2014
H.R.5859 Ukraine Freedom Support Act of 2014
Maybe in the same way [insert Biden bad policies or family self-interest] is worse than the Republican clown congresswoman who wore a “drlll baby drill” shawl to the SOTU?
> China Asked Russia to Delay Ukraine War Until After Olympics, U.S. Officials Say
I was very surprised to see this reported as news yesterday. I read that somewhere a while ago, even commented it at home while we were watching the Olympics (confirmed yesterday, so it’s not a false memory.) Am I the only one that thought this was common knowledge?
The Georgians launched a military attack during the Olympic Peace in 2008 so I doubt that Russia would want to do the same. Certainly they would not want to embarrass China while the Games were still on and like you pointed out, every man and his dog could see that this was how it was going to play out.
It seemed obvious at the start of the Olympics when Presidents Putin and Xi met in Beijing that whatever might happen in Ukraine would await the end of the games. How can it be news today?
It was probably one of the few examples of the true Spirit of the Games of recent memory. The old Olympics were an ‘international’ truce time. Plus, China’s “feelings” are very ‘important’ to Russia. China is turning out to be their main ‘ally.’ It might be a case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” but it can be made to work.
Anyway, the Saker’s last observation above is pertinent. Russia will be spending some time and treasure in pacifying the Ukraine. They will need all the ‘friends’ they can find.
What’s puzzling to me is that I see no evidence for a viable ‘Non Aligned Nations’ movement today. Have I been blinded by Propaganda?
Stay safe. Keep your supply of Potassium Iodide handy.
I seem to remember the claim in the MSM, when an attack did not happen as predicted, that the explanation was they were politely waiting until the olympics were over.
The triumphalism on display through the “our prediction of an invasion was right, take that!” meme is weak tea.
Not on display are the more nuanced predictions that didn’t materialize. From Business Insider on 2/2/22: Up to 50,000 civilian casualties and Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, could fall in days if Russia mounts a full-scale invasion, report says: https://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-intel-50k-casualties-russian-invasion-ukraine-2022-2
Meant to add that I don’t see anyone on CNN or in the State Department calling what’s happening a half-scale invasion as a corrective. It’s the most horrific invasion of a country since almost forever and don’t you forget it! Invasion means never having to say you’re sorry when you can take credit for clickbait headlines that were false.
Animated map for anyone who is interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GglvQzdw9k
But $6.4B in aid for Ukraine is no problem.
Makes my blood boil, to sacrifice kids intelligence and long term health on the altar of greed and incompetence. It’s not difficult to replace lead pipes and/or modify water systems to remove metals. The excellent book, The Poisoned City by Anna Clark, covered this regarding Flint.
Thank you for the reminder, I need to pick up a copy of The Poisoned City. Anna and I wrote for the high school paper together.
I’m an alumni of Skyview High School, where the water from one tap qualifies as hazardous waste. The weird thing to me is that Skyview is a relatively new school, built in 1987, which I’m pretty sure is long after we stopped using lead pipes for water (someone correct me if I’m wrong). So WTF is causing off-the-charts lead levels in one sink in the Theatre department?
Just guessing but, if the piping is copper, someone may have used some lead containing solder in that section of that building. If the pH of the water is acidic then that will increase lead leaching. Also, if the water sits in the pipe for longer periods lead levels will be higher. Perhaps that is not a frequently flushed part of the piping.
When misguided public opinion honors what is despicable and despises what is honorable, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is harmful and discourages what is useful, applauds falsehood and smothers truth under indifference or insult, a nation turns its back on progress and can be restored only by the terrible lessons of catastrophe. Frédéric Bastiat, Economic Harmonies, 1850:
Woe be us all. I think its settled, evil it is, monsters they may be but stupid they are not.
Bastiat had it right. And who can question the moral depravity of our elites? But I’m not impressed by their strategic thinking. They’re clinging so hard to their perception of themselves as the smartest guys in the room, but what they’re really doing is resurrecting that same old playbook that I’ve now heard innumerable times in my 68 years. What’s impressive is the extent to which they’ve so thoroughly weeded out anyone who still has an independent mind.
You can’t tell me that our elites, who have given up dealing with Covid while they steer us toward the point of no return on climate, are anything but stupid.
The stupidest of all are the billionaires who control these elites. The Big Solution of Musk and Bezos is to head for another planet. Maybe Elon was testing how effective the cosmic ray shielding was in the Tesla? Gates thinks he can redesign Nature itself with GMOs and shooting sulfur in the sky every two years. What a maroon. And crazy as hell.
That marshmallow test for the ability to delay gratification as a way to predict success in our society would not seem to work with our billionaires. They can’t give up a few quarters of return on their capital to address a pandemic. They can’t say to themselves, “Enough is enough,” and not block a move to a more resilient, harmonious society that lives within planetary limits.
Short term thinking to the max.
In our society, the rich are about as far away from wise as you can get. Greed and short-sighted stupidity must be in a reinforcing loop.
Henry, your points about how short term thinking is greedy and not effective strategy for solving problems in society. The dilemma is that when confronted with unbridled greed , corruption and sociopathic narcissism it is difficult for people with a moral compass and intrinsic spirit of empathy for life on the planet to not conflate that lack of empathy for life with “stupidity”. Think about what intelligence is for humans. Didn’t we all know of intelligent sociopaths who could do work requiring intelligence , but were cruel or hurtful to others? Intelligence also is not wisdom. A key to understanding the elite , or who else controls them, is that they are , as described by Bastiat, as evil. Intelligence is not a salient characteristic. Some petty politicians and policy enforcers are no doubt unintelligent. What matters is that the PTB are sociopathic ( evil).
I’m proposing they know the downsides and see them in a different light. You think their Covid policies are stupid but I propose they are achieving their desired effect. To argue their strategy is stupid presumes you know their goals. Just because you are immoral and have no humanity in your empty soul doesn’t automatically make you slow of mind. Besides, labeling them stupid feels like giving them a pass, as in they just suffer intellectually, and I feel their actions and words suffer from more than a lack of reasoning. Stupid to the 90%, not the 10%. If humankind makes it through to the other side, I don’t want their names to reside solely in the Book of Stupid. I think they have earned a place in the Book of Malice. Cold calculating malice divorced from any humanity.
These weapons are more than 30 years old. I’d be amazed if they weren’t more of a hazard to anyone shooting them than to the Russian airforce. Its classic braindead virtue waving.
Mind you, if they do work, it will be an enormous problem. As was discussed here yesterday, most weapons sent by the West are probably to some degree auto locked or controlled. I very much doubt if this is the case with ageing Soviet Manpads. What happens if they get into the hands of mafia groups who then start blackmailing airlines all over Europe? It will cost billions to buy them back.
It’s endangering every synagogue in Eastern Europe.
Pandora’s box has been opened.
As been noted many times at the Saker, even if viable weapons and weapon systems have been agreed to be sent to Ukraine, there is little chance they will be not blasted to bits once they cross the border, as the Russians control the airspace and sea.
Weapons have been arriving over the border every day this week.
The Russians don’t “control” the airspace in a way that they can stop this at this point.
Source (for item 1)?
But, they are doing something! Now what ?
WRT Necrosecurity, Immunosupremacy, and Survivorship in the Political Imagination of COVID-19 Open Anthropological Research.
———————————
Am not a big fan of academic writing style. So wordy and full of million dollar and discipline specific words. I always thought that it would be a good thing to offer full lay person ‘translations’ of academic papers. But I digress… I will admit to not having read the entire article but from the abstract (this in particular: Necrosecurity discourse encourages audiences to perceive coronavirus fatalities as neither preventable nor exceptional, and to perceive themselves as facing little risk of infection or death.“) and first couple of pages, I was reminded of yesterday’s article about BS. Whether due to BS manufacture (factory) or artistry, it amazes me how we all, for the most part, went along with the “well, it is mostly old folks who are dying” narrative. Either way, I continue to be amazed at how people are so unwilling to recognize the scale of death from this pandemic, and the continued risks of going back to ‘normal’. God forbid we even have a conversation about the fact that ‘normal’ ain’t so great for a lot of people. How convenient to have a war and an enemy to hate to make us Leave it all behind.
Oh and yay for approved nasal spray – wonder if they’ll ever make it to the ‘west’??
Years ago I read a demographic study comparing mortality rates between India and China (I can’t remember the source, I’ll find it again one day and link it). At the time, average lifespan was similar, but there was a striking difference in how people died. Put simply, Indians died en masse from often preventable diseases, while in China people lived longer on average, but also suffered many mass death events (i.e. famine, genocide). Since independence, India suffered relatively few famines.
It concluded that authoritarian socialist countries needed to be seen to protect the health of individual citizens, while being quite tolerant of mass death – control of information meant that famines or slaughters in remote areas could be hidden away or otherwise justified.
Conversely, in more open capitalist societies, it was impossible to hide mass death, but it was possible to persuade the population that large scale early death from preventable diseases was somehow ‘natural’ and ‘inevitable’ Hence famines were dealt with efficiently and quickly. But deaths from malaria or any number of other treatable conditions? nah.
I can’t help thinking that Covid has exposed a similar dichotomy in thinking between more supposedly democratic societies and autocratic ones. In the western world, Covid is being dealt with by simply persuading us its not a problem anymore. Capitalism at its finest. I suspect that the more paternalistic, autocratic tradition in the ‘democratic’ Asian nations is to a large extent responsible for their lower tolerance of covid deaths.
“Conversely, in more open capitalist societies, it was impossible to hide mass death..”
Wrong. It’s often lies and deceipt by omission.
And if Covid proved anything it’s how NOT “open” capitalist societies are and how it is just as entwined with authoritarianism.
The thorough disgust I feel with the preoccupations of alleged capitalism is now boundless.
I could be wrong but didn’t the old Communist China have a program where each doctor was assigned so many thousand so people? And if they were all relatively healthy he got his full pay but if he slacked off with things like sanitation that caused a lot of sicknesses, that his pay was docked accordingly? If this actually happened, it would be a case of showing the incentives to know what the outcome will be.
Those were the ‘barefoot doctors’. Essentially, quickly trained paramedics sent out with a handbook with a mix of traditional medicine and conventional treatments (when available). Interestingly, translated copies of their manual in the West focused on the traditional chinese treatments, but ignored the conventional treatment advice which was often very comprehensive and up to date. This led to the misperception in the West that Mao had abandoned conventional medicine for a ‘made up’ version of traditional cures. This wasn’t the reality – China just had not nearly enough properly trained doctors and little access to modern medicine. The full manual was actually superb, although its not clear as to whether the barefoot doctors had enough training or experience to really use the best advice – I suspect not.
As most of these ‘doctors’ probably really weren’t very much good at anything but a limited range of ailments, many focused on the eradication of parasites, particularly schistosomiasis – these were spread by snails in standing water. They were very successful at mostly eliminating some of these – much less effective at other problems such as malaria. I think the application may have been quite patchy – in my first visit to more remote areas of China in the 1990’s I met people very obviously suffering from some quite horrible parasitic infections.
It was a brilliant innovation by Mao, which undoubtedly helped in many rural areas, although I suspect that one unintended result was that it lowered the social status of doctors – something reflected to this day in the pretty appalling wages and conditions of work for doctors in modern China. Sadly, if there is one developed country in the world where healthcare is now worse than the US, its probably China. The barefoot doctor system seems to have been replaced with a much more top down system which isn’t much better, and is arguably worse. That said, data on rural health in China is hard to come by, as the Chinese suppress bad news and western researchers prefer to enjoy the comforts of the big cities.
“Normal” is the code word for the illusion of the American dream for those still doing well in society. Doing well is in the eyes of the beholder. Normal for struggling people in society is not great, but for those doing well, it’s swell. What a relief! Brunch is on, again! Dance again, until you drop.
The Ukrainian conflict is really starting to get to me. I’m hearing Dana Carvey’s Church Lady voice in my head constantly now. She keeps saying things like this:
So I wonder who deployed MASCULINITY in the Ukraine? Hmm. Who could it be? Could it be…
PUTIN??!!
The voice is everywhere. I clearly need counseling.
Jan. 6 committee says Trump violated multiple laws in effort to overturn election Politico
We are now officially North America’s Brazil, favellas but without Carnival.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/12/brazil-president-lula-convicted-corruption
oh dear, another nothing burger:)
Jan. 6 committee says Trump ‘may have engaged in criminal acts’ to overturn election
err, trump might be a russian agent, err, he may have been well, we have TDS!
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jan-6-committee-says-trump-024029980.html
Jan. 6 committee says Trump ‘may have engaged in criminal acts’ to overturn election
Sarah D. Wire
Wed, March 2, 2022, 8:40 PM
…
So readers might have a field day with this one. The NY Times talks to Fama about “efficient-markets”:
NC wrote about this some time ago (and in ECONNED), but NYTimes never caught up: Philip Pilkington: The Efficient Markets Hypothesis Has Been Proved Wrong But Economists Do Not Want to Listen
James Galbraith shreds the efficient markets notion in The Predator State. My conclusion is that that theory is the source of much present misery. Economists must like it because it is simple and makes for neat math.
Economists who support it are given megaphones and endowments by billionaires who want to weaponize it.
As with neo-liberal economics, efficient market theory teaching tends to stifle dissent.
The nail that sticks up gets
hammered downyanked out with the business end of a claw hammer, or, in financial market terms, shorted.markets do not self regulate, self correct, self police, self right. free markets are prone to manipulation, monopolization, then crash and wipe out capital, requiring massive bailouts.
recessions and depressions occur when free market/free trade capitalists run out of other peoples monies.
also its complete economic rubbish, right up there with comparative advantage.
Ukraine was a major source of knowhow for 2 decades or so around for any countries trying to build up military or aerospace capabilities – especially in rocket and aviation engine tech, but also in tank design and other more mundane military tech. It wasn’t just the Chinese.
But the Chinese are for sure now in advance of pretty much everything Ukraine can produce (except, arguably, some aspects of tank design) – not least because the Russians sold it to them (the Russians were extremely angry with the Chinese for years for reverse engineering their weaponry, but have pretty much now accepted that they might as well get paid for it, otherwise the Chinese will just steal what they want).
In particular, in the past five years China has made major strides in their one big weakness – aero engines. I very much doubt that Ukraine has anything left to sell to China. One big winner from this could be the Serbians, who have created a niche for themselves selling on updated Soviet hardware for less advanced countries.
There was discussion of this (in a different context) prior to all of this going on. The Ukrainian connections was/is still important. The articles often discuss Ukrainian experts moving to China and working with firms there.
So I think it is better to think of it as “people who know how to use the technology” versus “technology”.
‘I wanted to take a moment to talk about MASCULINITY – it’s deployment by Putin, the historic resonance, how it’s connected to R. individual and state health, and what it might mean to Putin’s war in Ukraine. (THREAD)’
Yeah, I can see how there are different perceptions of masculinity in Russia-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEnxmzqXJN8 (52 secs)
In reading the names of those on staff at this site is scary but then again it’s good to know what the enemy doing.
Ukraine Conflict Assessment 13 Institute for the Study of War. The Kagans’ newest map
“Russian shipping blacklist revealed as EU readies port ban” Lloyd’s List.
‘The deck: “UK confirms Russian cargoes aboard non-Russian owned vessels will be free to shuttle between Russian and UK ports, leaving a loophole in the vessel ban to keep energy supplies from Russia flowing into the UK.”
But what if Russia make a law that stuff like hydrocarbons and vital raw resources can only be carried by Russian-flagged vessels? I read that the UK relies on Russia for around 4% of its gas supplies and a larger proportion of its oil. That could make energy costs in the UK a lot more expensive and it is not likely that Boris would care if it did not effect him personally.
Thanks for the mama bear and her Cubs. This photo really brings a smile.
It is a lovely photo.
Yes indeed. As well as the symbolic messaging there, given current events…
Re: Apple Podcast, Death Panel, Lying Like A State (3/2/22)
This podcast is excellent.
I do not see an alternative to learning to live with COVID-19. I do not see the CDC as doing evil. Under last month’s thinking your county was in the red with 100 cases per 100,000 people. Under this month’s thinking your county doesn’t even begin to get considered to being in the red until you have 200 cases per 100,000 people. I agree with The Great Barrington Declaration. The pandemic is over if you change the way you think about it, which is what the CDC and every European country are doing.
At the same time I think that it is insanity to eat inside a restaurant. It is insanity to enter the grocery store (or any other public building) without wearing a respirator and goggles. It is insanity to go to church on Sunday. All front-facing retail workers need to be wearing respirators and goggles.
Just so. Instead of the community caring for its most vulnerable members, it makes every individual alone responsible for his/her own safety. But I admire China for its continued concern for the whole community.
“The U.S. is pushing Russians to defy Putin. But don’t call it regime change.”
Not just the US but the UK as well. ‘On Monday, a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the sanctions against Russia “we are introducing, that large parts of the world are introducing, are to bring down the Putin regime.”’ Just after he said it, he had an ‘Oh crap!’ moment and tried to talk his comment back again but it was too late-
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/03/02/ukuk-m02.html
And we think Russia intruded on our election? If a foreign power asked your citizenry to protest something, would you listen?
Can’t wait until Putin sends arms to Idaho.
I have a friend in ID who says they would welcome a load of AK47s and ammo regardless of the source. For revolt/revolution? Nope, just for the fun of it.
From Moscow, no doubt.
p.s.
With a veritable shitlode of potatoes, why didn’t Idaho ever develop a vodka industry, or was there more money in tater tots?
They have a moscow in Idaho as well
Will patriotic Idahoans storm their state capitol and demand that the city of Moscow have its name changed? How about changing it to Trumpville? Isn’t it time for our real president having his name being honored? Well, there are some post offices that need renaming, too. Any other suggestions?
I was a U.S. fisheries observer on a Soviet trawler in the late 1970s. The crew members didn’t believe me when I told them there was a Moscow Idaho (used to go over there from WSU, 19 year old drinking age back then).
I remember when many of my buds were buying those cheap SKS (Chinese AK-47 copies). These were so worn out that we couldnt even hit a target on the pistol range.
I kept asking them why they felt so compelled to support the Red Chinese Army. They would just look at me funny, but these were obviously army surplus.
Sends more arms to Idaho.
What about the brave upstanding ‘freedom fighters’ of the Quebec Liberation Front? Don’t they deserve ‘support’ too? C’mon Vlad Vladimirovitch! Time’s a wastin!
Does B.J. have a history of putting his foot in his mouth? Does he telegraph the truth with a smirk, knowing he can then blush and try to walk it back? Spokesman for the blob, after all. He also seems to be a pompous windbag, who might be susceptible to Freudian slips ( of more than one kind).
Church of COVID is Undergoing a Pious Reformation: Welcome to the Church of Ukraine
Move over Walensky, it’s time for Zalensky. Goodbye Orange Satan, hello Satan Russia. It’s time to take off the masks and put on the WWIII dunce caps.
We could still keep our mask, but use blue and yellow colors as the flag of Ukraine.
The masks may be helpful in case of nuclear fallout, which would be a small price to pay so long a the Great Russian Satan is smited by the most holy NATO.
I will keep my boosters! You can’t take them from me!!!!!!
Updating your profile pic too frequently. Try this one: “I support THE CURRENT THING!”
https://i.imgur.com/KjgWgUm.jpg
“Nasal Spray Kills COVID-19, Now Approved in India & Israel Bahrain Indonesia & Thailand: No Mention in Big Media” TrialSite News
This is BIGGER than big.
More people will die of Covid this year than die by Russian invasion. This kind of drug is more of a real deal in fighting the disease and of course the degenerate mainstream press is not covering it.
I found a link for the nitric oxide nasal spray, and it goes for about 60 bucks a bottle – a bit steep. I’m also curious how the effectiveness of NONS compares to the povidine iodine spray that I’ve seen previously discussed. I guess both are too new for that kind of data to have been gathered yet.
This seems like something that could legitimately let us “get back to normal” – just keep some on hand and use it after possible exposure, but otherwise you could “live your life” as I’m told we are now to do. So why isn’t it being treated as a bigger deal?
Because Pfizer wants to keep making money on its vaccine without alternative, and the bourgeoisie want the poor and weak to die as retribution for supporting Trump and Floyd.
“We will never give up on self driving cars…oops…I mean programmable inoculations. Never. The health of our wealth is the paramount concern.”
Wall St.
Hmmm…. Nitric Oxide is the main effective agent involved in the use of ‘amyl nitrate’ or “poppers.”
See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4399803/
Poppers give you a rush, and their active ingredient is prescribed for angina attacks. So, the range of contraindications might be a little, interesting. Combine this with the myocarditis seen in Long Covid, and the use of this “new” treatment for secondary and subsequent infections by the Coronavirus could be questionable.
As seems to be the “new normal” in medicine, the needed studies are slow walked and obscured whenever they look to be a possible danger to Pharma profits.
“They” really are trying to kill us.
“They” really are trying to kill us.
*************
I recently listened to Dr. Pierre Kory on a Darkhorse Brett Weinstein podcast. His comments on FDA, etc. and suppression of benevolent drugs were very revealing.
Although he did not go there, I will. The possibility exists that cheap drugs and treatments of all kinds have been and will be suppressed. This can be done in many ways, for instance never even do the studies. Another is to game the studies so they fail. Phauci controls a lot of that money and has been gaming these studies for years.
As to nitric oxide:
“Nitric Oxide was first found in 1992. It was not long before it was called “the miracle molecule.” In 1998 Dr. Louis Ignarro and 2 other scientists, Dr. Furchgott, and Dr. Murad, won the Nobel prize for their discovery of where Nitric Oxide (NO) was produced in the body and its many functions. Their findings were overwhelming. ”
https://preventingcancer.substack.com/p/incredible-nitric-oxide-dr-louis?s=r
Also: “Nitric oxide is a smooth muscle and blood vessel relaxing agent. It lets more air get into the lungs and brain….Dr. Ignarro also says that it is not wise for dental patients and others to use too much mouthwash to rinse their mouths. He states that it reduces the amount of NO that gets to the teeth and decreases the enzymes that help produce nitric oxide. ”
When the Covid hysteria hit, one of the first things was to sterilize the mouth. How much damage did that intervention do? I mentioned this to my Dentist and she had never heard of nitric oxide. Imagine that: a Nobel Prize discovery in her field and she never even heard of it! Tells a lot about qualifications and degrees.
They won’t cover this new development until every last dose of Pfizer has been jabbed into arms and they have managed to sell millions of the new Pfizer antiviral pills. So maybe never. Interesting don’t you think that the CDC has told everyone to take off their mask just as Biden purchased a million antiviral drugs. Hey man it’s all in the plan. I also dont think we will be seeing any of the novavax either.
I wonder if nitrous oxide might also work? It’s less reactive, and studies show it takes about 30X longer than gaseous nitric oxide to be absorbed intranasally. From the trial data, the Sanotize is administered as a spray 3X per day, and the NO is released at 0.11 ppm per hour. So it’s hard to say whether N2O at a higher concentration over a shorter time would work or not.
But whip-its are cheap, a little over 50¢ per cartridge in bulk. I could see doing a nose/lungful or two whenever I get home. It would certainly be more fun than snorting povidone-iodine solution!
I use just plain old saltwater solution at about the salinity of seawater and lukewarm. the trick is to rinse it though the nose into the mouth one nostril at a time. then gargle. (You cup your hand under one nostril while closing the other with the same cupped hand. Pour the saltwater into the cupped hand and inhale it through – not as glamourous as snorting cocaine)
A large cupful will do. It’s worked for me for decades.
“One week into the Russian special operation in the Ukraine – update”
So the main two points of the Saker were these-
‘The West gave Russia a bloody nose by forcing her intervention
The West gave Russia an even bloodier nose by very effectively controlling the narrative.’
I have little doubt that the first may be true but I doubt the second. After seeing for decades how western media always marches in lockstep with the centers of power in Washington and Brussels, trying to counter it would be a fools errand and the fact that the west is forbidding its peoples to even see Russian sources like RT, Tass & Sputnik is proof of this. This being the case, it may be that the Russians are going for a reality based approach. They will almost certainly win and western media will not be able to cover up that fact though they will talk about heroic dead-enders. It will be facts on the ground for them.
Then comes the next phase with the realization that there is no replacing Russian & Ukrainian resources. The increasing supply chaos and the threat of a general recession, especially in the US, will force a sort of negotiation to commence to bring Russia out of the cold so to say. Governments have proved that they will begrudge supporting people during a pandemic so I will doubt that they will support people dealing with higher costs – until the next election comes along and come along they will. But it will be negotiations without an iota of trust and so will be hard and laborious.
There is another fact that I would like to bring up. The Russians essentially sent in their B Team to invade the Ukraine – except for elite units to take out the Azov formations – and they were using a lot of older gear too so the question is why not their best ? OK, maybe they wanted to keep their best formations back to deal with NATO forces if they were stupid enough to cross into the Ukraine itself but there may be another reason. A lot of Russians got combat experience in Syria but they tended to be more specialist units. What if one of the major aims was to give large part of their army actual combat experience? That is something that you cannot buy or take off the shelf and as it looks like the years ahead will be hazardous for Russia, having a combat experienced army would not be the worse of ideas.
Indian heavyweight, Kanwal Sibal (a former Indian Foreign Secretary, Indian Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia) not yet drinking the kool-aid.
War in Ukraine: Pax Americana Was Never Absolute, Now It Will Exist Even Less
…”For the moment Europe has come under revived American tutelage, especially in bringing to heel the Germans and scotching the French search for more strategic autonomy for Europe. The contradictions between the US and European interests, however, cannot simply disappear and will re-surface once the current crisis is over. The political, economic and security costs to Europe in a prolonged confrontation with Russia are much higher for Europe than for the US, as the locus of conflict is on European soil and not the US. The concerns in Europe over divisions within America, the inward-looking trends in the country, the potential return of Republicans to power that may once again change America’s course are not going to get dissipated so quickly….”
https://www.news18.com/news/opinion/war-in-ukraine-pax-americana-was-never-absolute-now-it-will-exist-even-less-4829303.html
On India’s method of diplomacy I found an interview with Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi helpful and very interesting. One of the smartest…
See https://www.rt.com/shows/going-underground/
I don’t want to risk my mental health by following every report from Ukraine but I’ve been wondering if anyone in the western media can even conceive of Russia fulfilling its objectives. If Russia ‘succeeds’ by any measure how will that not make the US/Nato wars (particularly Afghanistan) look like undeniable failures?
My take is a little different. I think the media thought Russia would just roll over the Ukraine like a house of cards: sort of like the Afghanistan falling apart.
So when the Russians hit some speed bumps, they swung too far the other direction.
A close look at what the Russians sent clearly shows that they are not the B-team. I think that is a bit insulting to both the Russians and the Ukrainians. It’s just that if a country fights, and has even a modicum of stout leadership, you are in for a very tough time.
The Ukraine is much too large to take over with special forces. Afghanistan was portrayed as a victory by special forces combined with air strikes. But that was just propaganda. We used the existing base of warlords as our allies and they did the conquering/occupying with our air support.
The Russians, as was the norm since the Napoleonic Wars, makes heavy use of conscripts. They seem (not surprisingly) to not have trained them up to the standards of the German Wehrmacht ~1941. But it should be noted, that the Germans in 1939 against Poland, in their first run, also had lots of teething problems and also did not do a lot of things as well as they expected. It’s just that the Poles made a few mistakes too, and the Germans outnumbered them and came at them from three sides (that sounds familiar).
Agree, not the B team. For example, Airborne units are considered elite and the Russians have tried several of those operations.
Lots of maintenance issues with the equipment. I’ve seen video that clearly shows dry rot on the tires of some the abandoned equipment. Looks like it had been parked for a long time without use before this.
Russian army is currently 70-80% contract soldiers, so don’t use conscripts in these operations anymore. They even have contract reserves since a few years back so they can, in principle, recover their losses quickly with people who have trained with the unit and know the personnel and drill already.
Bear in mind that the Russians (Soviets) had made a point of training LOTS of reserves through their conscription, while the Germans, in 1934-1945 had few trained reserves. That was another reason (a big thing was the difference in railway gauges) why the Germans were likely to lose from the beginning. The Germans had superbly trained troops — they had the lowest officer/soldier ratio in the world. But they simply were too few. In 1939 most of their senior NCOs and all of their senior officers were veterans of WWI. The British believed it took two, possibly three, years to train a division (the Americans were doing it is eight to nine months, which suggests their non-elite units were really not very well trained).
Laying siege to a city is not a new tactic, Stalingrad comes readily to mind but there are innumerable others. The only city that matters to the west is Kiev, and with regard to how long they can hold out, it’s an open question.
Me? I have zero doubt the Russians end up blockading the city. And as many other cities as they desire. Time is on their side. That they’ve not yet knocked out electricity, water, communications, etc. is to me a sure sign they don’t want to destroy all the infrastructure.
Anyway, if you’re of a mind the Ukrainians are doing well (and completely dominating the propaganda war), yes, I agree they are – but – the Russians will prevail. Doesn’t mean I side with the Russians because I don’t. Just that I am a realist.
That, and let’s be honest, there’s the little matter of my opinion (and yours, and the media, and everybody else running their mouth) being worth about as much to the decision maker (President Putin) as a moth’s opinion is to the fire.
Me? I’m sad we decided to press the point with the Russians. Not really sure how we get any benefit from this (and pray this isn’t a gimmick to raise poll numbers). I’m also a my country, right or wrong sort. How do I acknowledge the inherent contradictions? I try not to think about it too much.
Meanwhile, at heart, I’m a live and let live kind of guy ‘and’ I feel certain the average Ukrainian and Russian – just like you and me – is some poor schlub who just wants a decent job, wants to raise a family, maybe have a good time occasionally, and retire in relative comfort and security. Ditto the average Chinese guy.
Sigh.
I caught your last observation and just wanted to add that I see this “new” Neo-liberal Social Contract as trying to void the “….retire in relative comfort and security….” part. Covid looks to be killing off exactly the demographic that is viewed by the Neo-liberal elites as “useless eaters,” the working class and lower middle class retirees.
My thinking, (for what that’s worth,) is that the present situation in America is the essence of Pure Heartless Materialism. It thus is no wonder that many of the recent past’s ‘reform’ movements originated as religiously inspired movements.
“Our” Neo-liberal “leaders” have sown the wind…..
Ambrit-
Well said. As one that will have leave the country unless I want to work until, I drop. Some of that is my fault as not playing the game of the status quo employment norms. Time slips by pretty fast. Here I am between 60 and 70.
The best thing I did for myself was taking meditation more seriously and trying to have Buddhist outlook on life. Should also mention leaving the drinking life behind helped.
Don’t know about you but I am reading RT as I sit at my computer in Massachusetts. And just checked TASS and Sputnik. Both available
Reported unavailable in at least parts of Europe. If true, interesting to consider alongside the unsteady power structure between Europe and the US (see bwilli123 comment above).
It was unavailable to me a few hours ago here in WA State, but I now can access it. There was a notice that my browser was being checked for potential DDoS issues. I wonder what was really being checked…(removes tinfoil)
I get the same here in Oz where they check my browser so I assume that they are under DDos attack. Sometimes it goes to a blank page saying ‘502 – Bad Gateway’ but if I refresh the page it goes to RT.
Looking at that page now, I see that Kiev is calling for a UN Peacekeeping Mission. Since troops from any NATO or NATO affiliated country would be out you think that Washington/Brussels would be happy to see 50,000 Chinese UN troops in the Ukraine?
Mine went out again a little while ago with the 502 bad gateway showing. I refreshed a couple of times and it came back (thanks for that suggestion). Wonder how long it will last.
Months I would say. I now have to refresh RT a coupla times to get it and the same with individual pages. I would not be surprised to see a call for it to be blocked altogether in countries like the US, UK, Canada, Oz, etc. because of medical misinformation. Oh no, wait – that’s the Pandemic. Russian misinformation I mean to say. ;)
I can pull it up this morning, thank goodness. I’m kind of surprised it hasn’t been blocked here in U.S. yet, considering the rampant censorship going on. Sigh.
Hasn’t RT just closed down its US operations and sacked staff? https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/us-operations-of-rt-close-and-staff-laid-off-after-carriers-cut-ties-with-russian-owned-tv-network/ar-AAUzCIt
What gets my goat is that, it’s quite clear that no one in power has been doing anything to avoid overwhelming hospitals, since May 2020. So the CDC focus on hospital capacity now, besides being completely and utterly stupid from a transmission standpoint, is also disingenuous to the extreme, because we know CDC and the Biden administration do not care about health care facilities or providers. Period.
At least conservatives are honest. They’d terminate any public health policy immediately, and declare the pandemic over. Biden has basically done that, but with some hand waiving so it appears that, maybe, liberal Democrats care about people less fortunate than them. But this is mostly just virtue signaling. There’s no legitimate policy action here.
Because Markets, Go Die. (It’s your fault.) [Props to whoever here came up with that.]
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/03/covid-cdc-guidelines-masks/623337/
Curiouser & curiouser ?
Unexpected detection of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the prepandemic period in Italy
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33176598/
A number of Italian fashion houses had outsourced their manufacturing to Chinese labour, specifically in Wuhan. Italy also had direct flights from Wuhan. Early in the pandemic reports suggested over 100,000 Chinese citizens were working in Italian garment factories.
So first cases in Wuhan identified towards the end of December 2019, but the first identified in Italy in early September, would I think suggest that it is possible it started in Italy whether the first person testing positive was Chinese or Italian.
” reports anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD antibody detection according to the time of sample collection in Italy. In the first 2 months, September–October 2019, 23/162 (14.2%) patients in September and 27/166 (16.3%) in October displayed IgG or IgM antibodies, or both. The first positive sample (IgM-positive) was recorded on September 3 in the Veneto region, followed by a case in Emilia Romagna (September 4), a case in Liguria (September 5), two cases in Lombardy (Milano Province; September 9), and one in Lazio (Roma; September 11). By the end of September, 13 of the 23 (56.5%) positive samples were recorded in Lombardy, three in Veneto, two in Piedmont, and one each in Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Lazio, Campania, and Friuli. A similar time distribution was observed when considering Lombardy alone “.
Then there is this in Wuhan – the 2019 Military World Games October 18th / 27th – 200 Italian athletes attended.
http://www.riglobal.org/sports-offer-a-different-horizon-says-italian-athlete-of-disability-at-military-games/
I’ve seen flooding videos before with somebody in a boat after the deluge, but never 45 feet worth!
Lismore’s worst flood – February 2022 | 7NEWS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95tHmvK3Noc
The UA army is already defacto encircled in the southeast….as even though there is a gap in the map, with Russian helicopters and planes, any military vehicle that travels on the roads in the gap will be destroyed.
if one gives Russian leaning sources credibility. And so far the Russian leaning Twitter army has been less hyperbolic in their info-analysis than the Ukraine leaning twitter army
“The Biden Administration Killed America’s Collective Pandemic Approach”
America had a collective pandemic approach? Sorry I must have missed it.
Another Ukraine map (in Russian). From yesterday.
https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2022/03/to-give-some-impression-of-scope.html
Accompanying commentary:
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2022/03/03/substitute-teacher-fired-for-voicing-support-of-russias-invasion-into-ukraine-n452604
I have questions. Why is a substitute teacher discussing current events – in this case a war – with a Spanish class? The students are middle school age so they understand at least some discussion of war and sovereignty of countries but the question is why was he doing that in the first place? It wasn’t his job to then offer a pro-Russia opinion to them. Eighth graders are usually 13 years old. They are not typically mature enough to carry on an adult conversation on the pros and cons of foreign policy as it relates to decisions of war. There is no acceptable opposing opinion on this topic. Russia invaded Ukraine and that is not to be acknowledged as reasonable behavior, even from a brutal mad man like Putin. The students certainly don’t need to be told to read Russian propaganda in outlets like Sputnik News.
=================================================
I recall teachers throughout my childhood spouting off on all sorts of topics unrealated to the ostensible subject we were supposedly studying. (most of my teachers didn’t think protesting war was a good thing, and so stated)
But what is really disturbing to me is the phrase, There is no acceptable opposing opinion on this topic. Now, I can think of many things where I don’t think there is a valid argument (the Klan, the Holocaust, etcetera). But in the case of foreign policy and this author, it reminds me too much of the early days of the Vietnam war, and my country right or wrong designed to preclude debate, and worst still, to reward ignorance. Arguments against the domino theory were dismissed, usually by people who didn’t even know what the domino theory was. Very simply, the more you knew about a subject was used to disparage what you had to say.
Pundits – so soon after Iraq and Afghanistan – they just don’t learn
This is all starting to remind me of the post-9/11 and Gulf War II period. I guess it’s appropriate considering many of the same ghouls from then are still around running the show. But I hoped people who lived through that era might have learned a thing, nope.
RE: Greg Gonsalves: So, the whole idea is to make you think you’re crazy for caring
So I’m not the crazy one??? Good to know.
My family thinks I’m the crazy one — avoiding public gatherings, doing grocery curbside pickup or delivery, not dining in restaurants, complaining how the CDC guidelines will harm lots of people.
Why we turned the L.A. River into a freeway (for water) LA Times
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The LA Times values their content at a rate of $1 for 6 months worth as per their latest subscription offer, which makes wonder why the current owner paid $500 million for it and the San Diego Union Tribune, as well as the assumption of $90 million in pension liabilities…
Is he gonna get it back a buck at a time?
I always thought they paved over the LA River so Hollywood could shoot films there…
I usually post comments pertaining to the SCAN Bay Area wastewater monitoring under Water Cooler, but I just noticed something, and I’ll likely be away from the computer the rest of today.
I hadn’t noticed previously but they seem to have greatly increased the amount of data on their “Location Compare – Variants” page, and if I’m reading it correctly we’ve got a lot of BA.2. Caveat – due to the effects of a stroke I often have trouble reading video screens. If anyone else cares to check this out that would be great.
https://soe-wbe-pilot.wl.r.appspot.com/charts#page=locationcompare-variants
International Cat Federation bans Russian cats from competitions (WaPo)
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That’s a bit rough, it isn’t as a Russian moggy had anything to do with the war, as far as we know.
Yeesh. I’m no Russophile, and I don’t have some dog (or cat!) in this fight between Russia and Ukraine, like every other citizen suddenly does.
Stuff like this, though, makes my blood boil because of the childish pettiness of it. I heard some buzz, not sure where (here?) about cancelation of Tchaikovsky and Dostoyevsky. GTFBO. That takes it beyond pettiness into evil. It makes me want to start up a deliberate celebration of the magnificence of Russian culture, art, language, and music. I suppose that makes me – what? – a sudden impromptu Putinist?
Here are three RUSSIAN musical gems, to start:
1. Rachmaninov, ‘Humoresque’ (V. Horowitz, piano)
https://youtu.be/AyzOe9Nz3yY
2. Kabalevsky, string quartet, Op. 8 (my favorite student work in all history)
https://youtu.be/3Czt7l1KpNw
3. Rachmaninov, ‘Daisies’ (Violin version, with the Soviet virtuoso David Oistrakh)
https://youtu.be/PhbP32ushh8
Can’t we adopt the attitude that the only good Russian is a dead one, and thus listen to Tchaikovsky et all with a clear conscience?
Hehe, you know? Then again, what about the performers? I don’t want to see the very much alive Mikhail Pletnev or Boris Berezovsky, or Kissin, etc, get hounded in some neolib Night of the Long Knives.
If Walter White is allowed to ask what the world would be without Coca Cola, I demand to ask what it would be without *Peter Svidler (and then everybody goes “who?”). I haven’t dared to look out of fear for even more misanthropy than my current threat meter can handle, but I cannot imagine his fan base turning on him. Far too nice and elegant a fellow.
*well-beloved St. Petersburg chess star and commentator, with better English skills than most native English speakers.
Peace is coming. The picture of Ukrainian-Russian meeting today showed two guys, probably old friends, chatting across the table.
And I’ve put my money where my mouth is. I just took a big position in RSX and ERUS, two big Russian stock ETFs. I wanted to buy Gazprom and Sberbank, but I was a day too late; the SEC has shut down trading. Am I the only person who finds it amusing that buying the Russian shares is forbidden but buying the American-owned Exchange Traded Fund that owns the shares is fine?
Two maps mentioned today contain some very useful information about Russian intentions.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/ukraine-conflict-assessment-13
https://dragon-first-1.livejournal.com/48858.html?utm_source=3userpost
According to the understandingwar map and Wikipedia, the Russians entered and bypassed Kerson the first day. Kerson is important because it is on the west bank of the Dneiper River so the Russians needed the bridge there. They got it then headed to Mykolvaiv which they apparently also bypassed that day (see the Wikipedia entry for “battle of Mykolvaiv). The red finger on the map shows they are 50 miles up the road and in a position to block the Ukrainian roads to Odessa and the border of Moldova.
For the first time in Dragon we get a map showing the Ukrainian deployment aaround the breakaway provinces. More than half the Ukrainian army is there, which supports the Russian contention that the Ukrainians were preparing for a quick attack against the breakaway regions. Note that all the “Russian Army position” maps you’ve been fed for the last month failed to show that deployment.
In the breakaway provinces the Russians have made no attempt to advance except for the red finger in understandingwar map heading northeast- away from the Ukrainian army- to secure the Ukraine-Russian border. Another finger runs along the border heading southeast from Karkiv. Sealing that border is apparently a major goal. More interesting to me is the Ukrainian Army moves shown on the Dragon map. The Ukrainian left flank pulled back to give the Russians a free passage to secure the border. These armies really know how to dance. There have been no Russian moves to take out the “Nazi Azov” units. They and the defenders of the breakaway region are being kept on a short leash by both sides; amateurs commit atrocities.
Two other new bits of information. The Oligarchs in Kiev all got on 20 private jets a week before the attack and flew to Moscow (one report of this only, but the Oligarchs and the planes did go somewhere). All except for the former Ukraine President Poroshenko who is showing up with an AK-47 in Kiev. No sign of Ex-Prime Minister Ms. Tymishenko of the platinum blonde braids.
And notice that Zelenskyy’s backer, who gave him the TV show, the Oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi is missing. According to the Wikipedia:
“Kolomoysky has a triple Ukraine-Israel-Cyprus citizenship, despite the law penalizing dual citizenship in Ukraine.[17] By way of explanation, Kolomoyskyi stated that: “The constitution prohibits double citizenship but triple citizenship is not forbidden.”[18]
Read the whole Wikipedia article; the Russian-Ukrainian Oligarchs are as closely linked by blood and history as the Russian and Ukrainian people. Where is Kolomoysky now? Lets see… Wikipedia lists three passports, a US visa and a home in Switzerland.
Am I allowed to say the word “Jewish”? Read the Wikipedia pages. Most of the London-Moscow-Kiev Oligarchs are Jewish. Of the three richest men in the Ukraine, two are Jewish (Kolomoyskyi and Pinchuk) and one is a Volga Tarter. (Akhametov). Presidential father-in-laws; dead Mafia benafactors; businesses with the Moscow Oligarchs; what a crowd. And last of all, Hunter Biden, who would have been worth half a billion if the American press hadn’t noticed.
Zelenskyy’s daughter is 17 ½, old enough to join the militia and learn how to throw a Molotov Cocktail. But I somehow suspect she’ll do a Todd Lincoln. Remember him? Abraham Lincoln’s son? He turned 18 in 1861, just in time for the Civil War. But he didn’t join up. Wikipedia:
He took the Harvard College entrance examination in 1859, but failed fifteen out of the sixteen subjects.[3] He was then enrolled at Phillips Exeter Academy to further prepare for attending college, and he graduated in 1860.[4] Admitted to Harvard College, he graduated in 1864, and was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club and the Delta Kappa Epsilon (Alpha chapter).[5] Welsh author Jan Morris wrote that Robert Lincoln “having failed fifteen out of sixteen subjects in the Harvard entrance examination, got in at last and emerged an unsympathetic bore.”[6]
Then he tried Harvard Law School for a semester and in early, 1865 became a member of General Grant’s staff. The war ended three months later. Shades of Bo Biden. Most sources say Todd’s mother was a nervous wreck because her son might be called up to fight… so he wasn’t.
Rich man’s war. Poor man’s fight. Speaking of that… I have not seen one woman in combat in this whole episode. Someone should speak out about this invidious discrimination.
IIRC Abraham Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon summed up Robert Todd Lincoln in a sentence: “He is a Todd, not a Lincoln!”
Dostoevsky is also being targeted, and an Italian university is to postpone his courses What China Reads
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Dostoevsky
The Internet was a military project.https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/a-darpa-perspective-on-the-development-of-the-internet/
The US military have spent probably hundreds of millions over 60 years to grow and control it, and are now seeing the benefits of owning a communications hegemon that infiltrates every business, every home, every phone and most personal lives in the western world.
The US now has the capacity to completely control the sentiments of at least half of the world’s population.
They are now proving that they can use this, at will, to create adulation, demonisation, and the wish to obliterate any country, any race, any religion, any philosophy and any people in the world.
When the US welcomed the Nazis after WWII, they also imported attitudes, the knowledge of how to manipulate entire countries, and the successful practicalities of creating adulation, horror and genocidal wishes in people. It is working spectacularly well.
Any country that does not want to be a vassal state of the US should be looking to create their own safe space electronically as China has done.
A Ukrainian nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, is on fire.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10575179/Russian-troops-fire-Ukrainian-civilians-protecting-Europes-largest-nuclear-plant.html
Don’t panic just yet. There are offices and equipment storage areas that can burn that don’t affect the safety of the plant. We will just have to wait and see what is burning. I do see that CNN has drug all of its ‘scaremongers’ out to comment. I’d ignore them for now.