‘World’s oldest calendar’ discovered carved into ancient monument Space.com
Global stocks claw back bulk of losses from Monday’s rout FT
Climate
Federal infrastructure funding is fueling a push to remove dams and restore river habitat AP
Carbon Market Faces Upheaval as 32% of All Credits Fail Test Bloomberg
Poison in the Air ProPublica
Syndemics
Updated COVID Vaccines Are Coming: Effectiveness, Who’s Eligible And More Forbes
China?
China’s leaders sweat over ‘difficult to heat’ economy at summer retreat FT
Shenzhen joins Chinese local governments taking unsold homes off developers’ hands South China Morning Post
China issues two new methodologies for domestic voluntary carbon market S&P Global
Vietnam backs Cambodia’s Mekong canal, urges cooperation on impacts Channel News Asia
Myanmar
Strategically important Myanmar military HQ appears to fall to the resistance, in a blow to regime AP
China envoy, Myanmar junta chief meet on border clashes Channel News Asia
European Disunion
Dear Old Blighty
Night of Far-Right Violence Averted in U.K. as Counterprotesters Take to Streets WSJ (!!). Commentary:
This is better than any speech from a politician we’ve heard recently 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
pic.twitter.com/GhWKlGueOv— Jay Motty (@JayMotty) August 8, 2024
Banksy howling wolf artwork removed BBC
Caucher Birkar – from asylum seeker to Fields Medal winner at Cambridge The Times
New Not-So-Cold War
Battles rage in Russia as Kyiv advances in war’s largest counter-incursion FT. The deck: “Ukraine’s forces have captured roughly 350 sq km in Kursk region.”
Battles rage in Kursk region after Ukraine’s largest incursion yet into Russia France24. Commentary:
Map of the 🇺🇦 Armed Forces advancement in the Kursk region of Russia.
To the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant is now only 22 km.
Source: US Government-financed Radio Liberty. pic.twitter.com/CAJ9UaMNA7— hamzullahdarman (@hamzullahdarman) August 9, 2024
Russia strengthens security at Kursk nuclear power plant amid Ukraine’s assault in region Anadolu Agency
Ukraine gains control of Sudzha gas station – The Washington Post Ukrainska Pravda. “A transit point for Russian gas flowing through Ukraine to the EU.”
Russia’s Lipetsk region under ‘massive’ drone attack, governor says Al Jazeera
* * * Pentagon says Ukraine’s attack into Russia is not escalatory The HIll
* * * Why Ukraine’s generals may have rolled the dice on an incursion into Russia CNN
What is Ukraine’s goal in the Battle for Kursk? BNE Intellinews
Can Ukraine Get Back on the Offensive? Foreign Affairs
Kursk raid will not shift war in Ukraine’s favour Unherd
* * *
Syraqistan
Gaza As A New(?) Western Method To Wage War Moon of Alabama
Overwriting Palestine New Left Review
* * * Biden joins leaders from Egypt, Qatar in urging Gaza cease-fire, hostage release deal The HIll
Israel’s Enemies Seek Revenge, but Not So Harsh as to Start All-out War Haaretz
Israeli army reports ‘military offensive’ in southern Gaza Strip Anadolu Agency
* * * Houthis Attack Greek-Owned Tanker With Small Craft and RPG Maritime Executive
Israelis practise red heifer ritual in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque Middle East Eye (Carolinian).
Why Ilan Pappe’s new book on the Israel lobby is a must-read Middle East Eye. From June, still germane.
2024
Black Left Critique of Kamala Harris Black Agenda Report
Trump fights for spotlight as Democrats dominate coverage BBC
Only Trump Can Go to Tehran The American Conservative
The Supremes
Dog, cat owners go on offense in US Supreme Court brief Reuters
Police State Watch
Cello-playing climate activist arrested at New York Citibank protest as crackdown escalates Guardian
Our Famously Free Press
Why the Decline of Local Media Could Be a Security Risk RAND
Teenager Accused of Derailing Train and Posting Crash Video Online NYT
Digital Watch
A GitHub token leak could have put the entire Python language at risk TechRadar
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bob Casey question Kroger’s use of electronic pricing in stores Cincinnati.com
Auditing of AI: Legal, Ethical and Technical Approaches (PDF) Jakob Mökander, Digital Sociey. From the Abstract: “The next step in the evolution of auditing as an AI governance mechanism, this article concludes, should be the interlinking of these available-and complementary-approaches into structured and holistic procedures to audit not only how AI systems are designed and used but also how they impact users, societies and the natural environment in applied settings over time.”
The Bezzle
US court orders FTX to pay $12.7bn to customers Al Jazeera
‘Airbnb Hopping’: How Hunted Hackers Stay on the Run From Kidnappers 404 Media
Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa Fashion
Monthly export of readymade clothes may rise by $250 mn amid B’desh crisis Business Standard
Sports Desk
Exclusive: WADA to put U.S. anti-doping agency under compliance review and Athletes undercover? Global and U.S. anti-doping agencies clash over tactics Reuters
The 420
Through the Psychedelic Looking Glass New Lines Magazine
Housing
Breed’s sweeps of S.F. homeless encampments hit snag as federal judge orders more training San Francisco Chronicle
Report shows where San Francisco’s homeless people have been sent ABC7
You Call That Compassion? Freddie DeBoer
Class Warfare
What burger flipping tells you about the US economy FT
Dispatch From a Meat Packing Factory: “If We Unite as Workers, We Have the Power” Workday Magazine
Antidote du jour (Patrick_K59):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
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THE TUNE FROM TEHERAN
(melody borrowed from I Am Waiting by The Rolling Stones, 1966)
You are waiting, you are waiting (La Guerre, La Guerre)
All your hating—we are baiting (La Guerre, La Guerre)
Here’s a bit of psychological warfare
And the Persians have help from the Russian bear
There is no doubt you’ll be closed out (La Guerre, La Guerre)
Zion’s played out, you’ll be shut out (La Guerre, La Guerre)
You’ve been living in a castle in the air
We will shut down all your satellite software
You’ll be woebegone just sitting on your thumbs
Your bases all burned out!
It’s the reward for your crimes you aren’t the masterminds
You’re Boy Scouts!
You’ve been rash, now you’ll crash (La Guerre, La Guerre)
You’ll be smashed, die is cast (La Guerre, La Guerre)
And your Iron Dome won’t get you anywhere
Your whole country’s going to be in disrepair
No more Arab tears! We are now your peers!
Which you will soon find out!
Well, fly the skull and bones—kill with flying drones
You’ll strike out!
Oh you’re waiting, oh you’re waiting (La Guerre, La Guerre)
All your hating—we are baiting (La Guerre, La Guerre)
Simply look where you can’t look and we’ll be there
You will never share the land so c’est la guerre
Oh you’re waiting
Oh you’re waiting
Oh you’re waiting
Oh you’re waiting . . .
“The Tune From Tehran” ….
Excellent work, Antifa, esp. if one carries the various vocal parts in one’s head, as I do. Kudos as well for your attention to meter, a parodic constraint frequently observed in the breach.
“Only Trump Can Go to Tehran”
Never going to happen. Trump was giving the Israelis everything that they wanted on a silver plate and if he gets in again, I am sure that he will recognize both Gaza and the West bank as actual Israeli territory. That is also why he broke the nuclear deal which was actually starting to work. Because Netanyahu did not want any normalization of relations between Iran and the US/West but was working to get the US into a shooting war with Iran on Israel’s behalf. This is pie in the sky stuff this. Logic and deep thought would say that normalizing relations with Iran would be a great strategic move but nobody ever accused Trump of being a deep thinker.
Exactly!!
Additionally, we also know that Jared and his Saudi financed PE fund are eyeing Gaza as a home for resorts on the coast. Can’t have those pesky Palestinians there if that is the goal.
My mother, and family, has been intimately involved in Zionist causes for over fifty years. Things have become perversely twisted under Bibi, who has wanted a war with Iran for decades fought by the US for them, and just may get it. I say this based on first-hand private meetings. The rise of the extreme religious right in Israel, to whom I am not a Jew, is no accident.
“to whom I am not a Jew”
It’s the early stages of a real time schism. Tel Aviv is wrapped in a new Imperial Religion. You are either loyal to the new priest class or in need of being denounced.
The most common charge is that they are a “self-hating Jew” and has been used for years.
“not a real Jew” is the refrain I hear!
There are deep thinkers on our American political scene? Harris, Biden, Obama, Dubya are just as superficial as Trump only with slightly different goals. Trump undubtedly broke with Iran to please Adelson and his millions rather than Jared and his daughter. Meanwhile the Dems kowtow to their own funders and their claim to believe in a Palestinian state is mere verbiage even as Kamala’s only response to the Gaza protestors is to assert “I’m talking here” (and saying nothing). After all the Palestinian supporters get their say on blogs or social media where the FBI can go after them as terrorists if they get too rowdy.
And Obama’s supposed deal with Iran came with so many strings that it was too weak to last as we see now. What the Dems offer is better PR and a comforting facade for an imperial state that is fully supported by our Congress and the PMC who are more worried about the rights of trans than the dead in Gaza. Trump’s crude transactional style merely makes the whole thing more obvious. But it also means he may be less committed to lunatic goals like destroying Russia and Europe’s many other quarrels.
Harris, Biden, Obama, Dubya are just as superficial as Trump only with slightly different goals.
—————–
I don’t think this is true. Dubya and Trump are both famously superficial. Trump is well known for being easily swayed by the last person he talked to on a given topic. That shows the ability to
– not understand the information.
– not able to weigh the pro and cons.
– not able to decide a path of action
Obama’s supposed deal with Iran came with so many strings that it was too weak to last as we see now
———————-
Iran was happy with the deal, the USA made the deal – so how do we know that it was “too week to last”. Iran kept to the deal even after Trump unilaterally pulled out of it for years, only when the Europeans under pressure of “economic sanctions / financial blackmail by the USA” couldn’t uphold their part of the bargain (that is provide an alternate mechanism for trade to take place) – did the Iranians restart their nuclear purification program.
They also did it in a well telegraphed manner to put increasing pressure on the EU & the USA to come back to the table and negotiate again.
It’s hard to see how Trump can do anything differently. As is his history he is full of hot air and few meaningful actions.
The US broke the agreement the first day after signing it.
In the last Duran interview with Mercouris, Diessen, and Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Marandi, who was advisor on the JPCOA negotiations recounts how he expressed his misgivings about the treaty to the Iranian lead negotiator on the day it was signed…
“our Congress and the PMC who are more worried about the rights of trans than the dead in Gaza.”
K. Harris’s position: “I truly care about those in Gaza. I really really do, especially the kids! But, given current circumstances, our country’s interests require that our friends in Israel get the munitions necessary to blow every single one of those Gazans to bits.”
At least with DJT, there might be a chance, however admittedly minuscule, that he could halt the massacre before the Palestinian holocaust is complete.
At least with DJT, there might be a chance, however admittedly minuscule, that he could halt the massacre before the Palestinian holocaust is complete.
Agreed.
He can’t stand for reelection and has already made his fortune. He’s older and doesn’t need to count on the zionist billionaires to feather his post-presidential nest. And he’s certainly no stranger to hot water.
Plus, he genuinely seems concerned about america’s reputation in the world and has to at least consider that unconditional support for this israeli degeneracy is not helping. He doesn’t seem to be a guy who would be satisfied with his positions to be described as “urging.”
Dunno. It may be grasping at straws but at this point, it would seem that straws is all we got.
I would not hope for DJT to change course in any significant manner. DJT is a man who worships his image, which is contingent on him accumulating Money, Prestige and Power. All transactions and relationships that support these aspirations will be agreed to, the others will not. The Zionists and their Goyim friends can offer lots of the above to him of the first two items, and they can feign obeisance concerning the third. What can the Palestinians offer him? Goodwill and tribute of the whole of the Muslim world would perhaps be a better gift, but Trump is too short sighted for this, and neither will Muslim compromise their dignity for this. So nothing will change.
Conversely, most of the political and deep state establishment has the outlook of DJT, just that they are perhaps a bit more refined in manner, but just as vile at heart. So it does not matter who is in power in the USA or in Europe.
As I can see it, this matter will only be resolved via the exercise of both endurance and power.
It is the tragedy of our times.
There is a certain squimishnes to Trump in conducting certain actions. Yeah, swindling people of money, etc. is legit from his perspective. Building a complex on children’s burried bodies doesn’t seem to agree with his constitution. He is only a pussy graber after all…
From a complete outsider to AmerKan politricks, this seems rather far fetched.
When in influence, he designated tel aviv as a capital of a highly disputed area.
He assassinated someone due to peer pressure.
He did not,as far as I know, advance the welfare of the citizens he appealed to.
He did recruit Pompeo,Bolton.
This is not the leader you are looking for, the tragedy is that he is the best available.
Yes. To the degree that DJT is a plus, the only real advantage that he offers is that he is a wild card, capable of potentially disrupting the foreign policy making machinery in DC (but he probably won’t.) With most other politicians, there’s no question that they’d be able to run the whole thing without any interference, sadly.
Having said that, I’d like to say that this is another dimension in which BHO and DJT are rather similar, albeit in a not-very-obvious way. For all his flaws, BHO was cautious and didn’t want to escalate when things were too obvious (Syria and Ukraine being two examples), but was plenty happy to go along with the ride on most occasions. At least as far as I can tell, Trump is also instinctively cautious and doesn’t like reckless escalation, but he can be browbeaten into going with the flow as well.
Yes, it’s sad that he’s the best option we have for now that is “presidentialable” realistically, but there’s that hope and change thing (twisted and mutated into a strange form.)
Who knows what, if anything, Trump would – or could – actually do once in office. But I do know that the rhetoric by Trump and the Republicans has been extreme in its defense of the Zio-Nazis. They have been screeching about the “antisemitism” of the “radical left” Democrats like Harris and Walz [!], and pushing front and center their argument that Shapiro, though a much stronger candidate, was dropped because of pressure from the “radical left antisemites” that control the Dems. They have really been emphasizing this line the last few days so they must see it as providing real political benefits, despite what the majority of powerless citizens might think about the ongoing genocide.
I see no evidence whatsoever that Trump would do anything constructive in this area. Quite the opposite, based not just on his current rhetoric but on what he actually did do in his first administration.
A proposed settlement in the Golan Heights is named ‘Ramat Trump,’ to honor djt for all his service to the Zionist entity. Trump has said that he likes people who like him, and naming something after him is a certain way to get his approval, and possibly, to curry even more in the future. Think Iran. Knowing trump’s manic need to settle scores with people who’ve treated him unfairly, I doubt that he’s ever gotten over the 1979 occupation of the US embassy in Tehran, and would like nothing better than to be the president who finally settled that score. So, boom, there goes Iran. After all, real men, like djt, go to Tehran.
I don’t know about that: North Korea has been behind much more serious aggravations against US (the shootdown of the AWACS plane back in 1969, USS Pueblo incident, etc.), and for that matter, Israel, too (USS Liberty). Neither really paid for their transgressions. Why is Iran special in this regard?
Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons, and NK has Seoul directly in its sights, and Seoul cannot be effectively defended.
In my opinion, Iran needs to get nuclear weapons as soon as possible.
Israel is about the size of New Jersey, and only 29% of it is cultivated while 92% of the population lives on 12%* of the area. Iran doesn’t need nuclear weapons to make Israel inhabitable.
* In real terms about twice the size of the New York City
Trump, at best, is a pragmatist. He embraced Israel in order to pave a way through the Washington swamp–didn’t work that well. The Jewish lobby may have kept him afloat in that swamp but he was unable to go very far since the swamp was able to bring him down. If he comes back into office things will be different as we was, I believe, betrayed by the Jewish lobby even as he catered to them. We’ll have to see–Trump for all his silliness has that rare quality he can bring to government, i.e., creativity.
I too am very slightly hopeful that Trump might surprise on Israel. I don’t think I can bring myself to vote for him unless he makes himself clear on these matters but he made some surprising remarks about Netanyahu. All the same idk how he could possibly do so many policy 180s (his party, almost all of DC, almost all of NATO and EU, UN…) when he’s so lazy and incompetent.
I gave up hoping trump would do something good, he’s just different and will be less effective as democrats control the institutions in dc and will stop him ala vindeman. My speculation about this election is that stein and rfk won’t win but will determine the outcome with stein taking dem votes(working class and palestine) and rfk taking trump votes (vax resistant and working class). This is just back of the envelope right now because I still expect (hope? dread?) surprises pre convention, but at 70 days out the teams will be locked in for better or worse.
Trump is a wild card which is why he is viscerally hated by the Deep State–I’m fairly certain they tried to assassinate him–I think it was the FBI and not the CIA otherwise he would be dead. Somebody other than the “shooter” wanted him dead and I’m just looking at motive, opportunity, and past behavior.
Have we all forgotten the bottom line? It is critical that these conflict(s) continue to the benefit of the U.S., Israeli, and other nations’ arms industries. The peasant to nobility pipeline is crucial to our neo-feudalist economic system. /sarc, sort of…
I will offer an at-least parallel motive for Trump’s pulling America out of JCPOA. And that is personal and racial spite over one of Obama’s genuine achievements, which Trump cancelled to get back at Obama, for other reasons.
People underestimate how deeply shallow Trump really is.
I totally agree with this comment. Trump hates Blacks. Had Obama gotten tougher with Iran, Trump would have erased the sanctions. This was perhaps Obama’s one signature accomplishment. That Trump moved to erase it nearly day one is par for Trump.
I think that’s partly right. I think he also wanted to gain points with certain pro war constituencies.
I distinctly remember where I was fifty years ago today when Nixon announced he would resign. What I find striking is that the then Supreme Court effectively facilitated the process in its (quite prompt) ruling on him turning over the tapes.
Roll forward to today and the Roberts court has said to me that Nixon would have had immunity.
‘Nuff said.
Nixon must have been a prophet then when he said-
‘Well, when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal’
It took about 47 years but finally the US Supreme Court agrees with him now. :)
Agnew going then Nixon, allowed in some obscure Trillionaire … into a position of power.
All arranged.
Compromised people get appointed and then exposed, if necessary.
It’s not a coup if those in charge remove underlings. Just don’t frighten the horses.
Nelson R, that erstwhile cowboy of the Hudson and South America, died in the saddle doing what he loved. Not all were Happy about that.
Gerald F, his
runningjust standing-there mate also got his reward for that selfless Warren Commission duty. /sThink you are mixing up impeachment with criminal prosecution. Nixon needed Ford’s pardon derailing the latter to get him to resign. The Dems are wildly overstating what the Roberts court ruled.
Today’s Turley is on this very question and he once again explains the Roberts ruling. The Dems are wildly spinning and distorting (Maddow: the president can now commit murder) in order to discredit the SC while at the same time they seem oddly unmoved by prosecutors abusing their power. Of course their new candidate was a prosecutor and almost picked another former prosecutor for her veep. Nuff said.
https://jonathanturley.org/2024/08/09/smith-is-no-longer-in-a-hurry-special-counsel-moves-to-slow-down-district-court-judge/
Plus, presidents HAVE committed murders in the past–e.g. Obama assassinating US citizens abroad without due process“. If the Dems were fine with them (I stiill am not, btw), are they unhappy just b/c it’s Trump? (rhetorical question)
Obama murdered at least two US Citizens in Yemen. Any prosecution? Seems like SC codified Reality.
Are they? What could a future “President Cheneybush” do with a ruling like that?
For that matter, what could a future “President Clintobama” do with a ruling like that?
First August 8th since 1973 when I didn’t celebrate (in 1974 I ditched work and tried to drink a pony keg with a handful of friends). In truth, it just doesn’t seem that important anymore as Nixon’s resignation only strengthened the chokehold the Blob has on our government.
Being a newly minted immigrant off the boat from the old country, my dad saw in Nixon the potential of more Fascism and/or Communism in the USA and just despised Tricky Dick.
I’m thinking that we were the only family that had an impromptu party in honor of him passing the Presidency to Gerald Ford on August 9th. Daddy-o was in his element… but then found out later there wasn’t much to say about him, similar to the foibles of My Kevin (since ’07), who also resigned.
Let them eat cake…
Later we had Tricky Jimmy, Tricky Ronald, Tricky But Feeling Your Pain Bill etc
Nixon was a bad guy but maybe power corrupts??
i was at a guess who concert. the concert was held up a bit, then burton cummings came on stage to announce nixon had resigned.
it was that american women moment.
The Chinese are SO unfair!
How China Built Tech Prowess: Chemistry Classes and Research Labs NYT
Slap these guys with more tariffs and ship them thousands of Law and B-school professors and deans so they can emulate the US & EU.
* wonder what percentage of grad students are foreign born? 60% of Harvard students go into finance of McKinsey type roles
Who ever thought that putting resources into research and development would ever pay off on a long term basis? Or not punishing students financially for studying the hard sciences rather than financial engineering either. It’s like the Chinese studied the earlier development of the US up to the 70s for pointers on what to do. And everything after the 70s in what not to do.
“60% of Harvard students go into finance of McKinsey type roles”
Some of the Chinese Harvard students that do this could then go back to China and commence crappifying all the inventions, policies, and products created by the undergraduates in China who major in math, science, engineering or agriculture, etc.
Doesn’t help that being smart is frowned upon socially in the US.
In the US, people don’t care what you know, they care about how you make them feel about themselves.
USA! USA!
https://www.nature.com/nature-index/institution-outputs/generate/all/global/all
The Nature Index
1 May 2023 – 30 April 2024 *
Rank Institution ( Count) ( Share)
1 Chinese Academy of Sciences ( 8102) ( 2433)
2 Harvard University ( 3636) ( 1082)
3 University of Science and Technology of China ( 2122) ( 692)
4 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences ( 3488) ( 690)
5 Zhejiang University ( 1770) ( 687)
6 Max Planck Society ( 2715) ( 681)
7 Peking University ( 2574) ( 668)
8 Nanjing University ( 1624) ( 661)
9 Tsinghua University ( 2148) ( 625)
10 French National Centre for Scientific Research ( 4439) ( 604)
11 Sun Yat-sen University ( 1435) ( 553)
12 Shanghai Jiao Tong University ( 1611) ( 548)
13 Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres ( 2870) ( 548)
14 Fudan University ( 1467) ( 526)
15 Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( 1998) ( 467)
* Tables highlight the most prolific institutions and countries in high-quality research publishing for the year
The Nature.com Index of high-quality science research publishing for the latest 12 months is out today. The Index shows 4 of the top 5 publishing institutions are Chinese, 7 of the top 10 institutions are Chinese, and 10 of the top 15.
Harvard is at number 2 and MIT is 15. German institutions are at numbers 6 and 13. A French institution is number 10:
https://www.nature.com/nature-index/institution-outputs/generate/all/global/all
I know more physics PhD’s who went into finance than into sciences. (I went to a top tier science school as an undergrad so it’s not a trivial number that I know.). Even advanced STEM degrees in US do not guarantee that they’ll stay in sciences.
That illusive volatility parameter in options is tough to predict. But I got the maths (this day)!
“Exclusive: WADA to put U.S. anti-doping agency under compliance review”
I think that WADA realized that they had better put USADA on a leash before they wreck the 2028 Olympic Games before they even start. Look at the present games. Normally there is a very strong contingent of world-class athletes from Russia and I think that in the past they numbered about 300 athletes. And now? Maybe 15? So many of the medals awarded were only done so because the Russians were not there. And the US was very happy about this and I am 100% convinced that the same is being planned for the Chinese team for 2028 and already there were those dodgy claims about Chinese drug use.
I suppose that you could call this “Sportsfare” and the US has already given themselves the right to have legal domain in over any sport in the world that has Americans in it or are partly funded by the US, i.e. nearly all of them, through the Rodchenkov Act. And having athletes busted for cheating become informants but allowing them to keep their medals and awards is wrong on so many levels. It’s sports, not an FBI investigation. If Lance Armstrong had “cooperated” when busted with drugs, would all his records and achievements still stand? Point is that the US is now wanting to use sportsfare to push out countries from the Olympics that they do not like but in the end, you would only be left with a Collective West Olympics that would not be viable rather than a world Olympics so it is little wonder that WADA is fighting this.
WADA itself is highly suspect when it comes to playing politics. And interesting that you bring up Lance who I have always defended in discussions with my brother. Armstrong’s attitude was that he had to dope in a sport where everybody dopes in some fashion (or they did). The Tour, like many Olympic events, is as much about physical condition and endurance rather than skill or talent and so medical intervention becomes all too tempting. Perhaps the problem is that we take these matters way too seriously and the Tour in particular started out as a kind newspaper promoted endurance contest as was popular back in the era depicted by the film They Shoot Horses Don’t They?.
Lance was disgraced because he got caught while those who ratted him out (while also doping along with him) were treated as heroes. The good guy/bad guy narrative is all.
Remember when the Olympics were only for amateur athletes? It’s difficult to see through all the hypocrisy.
I’ll defended Armstrong as well. As you allude to, anti-doping rules seems to be deployed primarily for political prosecution, often in “soft” form, see accusations against the Chinese swim team.
For the first time this week there was not a single Olympics story of interest (to me) yesterday.
I am following the men’s 400m hurdles today and that is it. ESPN has a story on their Olympics front page lobbying for pickleball. Good grief.
Bring on the marathon and let’s wrap this up.
The Tour like the Olympics is now a big money event, at least in the sense that NBC–the USA USA network–pays a lot of money to show it. They definitely don’t want it to turn into Russia Russia. Lance caused Americans to take interest in the Tour and arguably did the event a lot more good than harm. The fact that it took so long for him to be caught only fuels suspicions that others are still doing it.
They are. You can’t win that arms race by enforcement and the structure of incentives hasn’t changed.
ASO controls the TdF and much of high-level pro cycling. The Amaury family have done well with cycling. The Vuelta starts on the 17th (also controlled by ASO).
Back then I tried to follow it closely and for a few years I said that either he’s clean or there’s a huge conspiracy to cover it up. When it all blew up we saw which of these was right. I don’t remember all the details but WADA, UCI, IOC, USA Cycling, race organizers, teams and plenty more were all in on it. It was repulsive. The problem is not that the sports are pro or amateur. It’s that careers, budgets, lots of money, sinecures and prestige are in play within organizations that are remarkably opaque (thanks Switzerland!). I figure the only sports organization more corrupt than these is FIFA.
WADA was Dick Pound’s fiefdom. Remember him?
I think IOC is the most corrupt of them all. And in so many levels, too.
I didn’t much follow cycling, still don’t, but I was sure, as were my friends at the time, that Armstrong was doped up to the eyeballs. They all were.
The same with Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson. Their doping was more than obvious to anyone with eyes.
Old NC poster Richard Smith had some curious notes about the financial dealings with the IOC and other large international sporting Businesses[tm] like F1/Soccer et al.
This is why, in my perspective, why the collective West is bent on trying to diminish Russia and China, even at their own demise, because it presents an alternative to neoliberalism and all its gifts to power/wealth. Russian and China actively go after social corruption and threats to the State and its citizans. This is heretical to neoliberalism as wealth in it self is vindication in shaping society via so called Meritocracy.
Not that the author of the term issued it with dripping sarcasm but, was completely taken out of context to mean just the opposite of what it really meant.
All sport is now corrupted by money and big power politics. It used to be towns against towns, regions against regions. Players had to have real jobs so they could eat. Locals knew them on a speaking basis. Now people support “teams” they will never meet, and who probably never want to meet them.
The real human emotions have been airbrushed out. If I hear more PR rubbish from athletes about how they are thrilled to be beaten blah blah blah by an absolutely wonderful and warm opponent with whom they are BFF, I will throw up.
If you look at the top ten finishers of past years of the tour virtually all of them have been sanctioned for doping at one time or another.
It’s not the doping of Armstrong but the electric motors he may have used that is so despicable!
Lance certainly taught Greg LeMond a lesson for calling out his doping.
My LeMond bike is still going strong after 24 years; Armstrong killed off the brand in retribution.
Did Armstrong alienate too many people to be allowed to continue?
Only USA athlets are allowed to do drugs. Those are the rules.
https://x.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1821665874568495187
The US allows its athletes to cheat, including at the Olympics.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) says US agency USADA let athletes use steroids in exchange for spying on other violators.
This is the Rules-Based Order™ — the US violates the rules whenever it’s convenient.
https://www.wada-ama.org/en/news/wada-statement-reuters-story-exposing-usada-scheme-contravention-world-anti-doping-code
They have asthma, don’t you know it?!
Apropos of nothingg, it just struck me that Russia probably has no way of differentiating between a Ukrainian and NATO F-16. The next logical thing to happen is for Russia to accidentally shoot down some NATO F-16’s, right?
Since the war is Russia v. NATOstan, a NATO as opposed to a Ukrainian F-16 is a distinction without a difference. All F-16s have the same point of origin. If you are firing at me are you less my enemy because you advance some legalistic claim?
I was tempted to say, “Shoot them all down and let god sort them out.” but it seemed a bit crude.
Something that is making the rounds in Japanese media today is the possibility of a massive megaquake hitting the country sometime in the next 7 days, leading the country’s weather agency to issue its first ever preliminary warning about a possible 9.0 or above on the Richter scale quake in an area of Japan that faces the Pacific Ocean. Given that the area includes densely populated prefectures like the capital of Japan, Tokyo, a study done in 2012 has estimated that the number of casualties could reach as high as 320000 people.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240809/p2g/00m/0na/050000c
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240809/p2a/00m/0na/048000c
The Prime Minister of Japan has also cancelled his trip to Central Asia in light of the warning, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/9/japan-pm-scraps-central-asia-trip-after-megaquake-warning
We were in NZ in 2011 and spent a few days in Christchurch before heading out on an overnight berth in the boat which winds through the Doubtful Sound.
Christchurch was my favorite of the Kiwi big cities, the gateway to the Southern Alps and more. There had been a 7.1 in September and the one that laid ChCh low was only a 6.3, but centered close to the city and quite shallow.
A week before the 2011 quake we walked around ChCh and every now and then you’d see a red-tagged building, but much less activity in that regard than you think you’d get from a 7.1, location-location-location.
The thinking now, is that the 6.3 was an aftershock to the 7.1 temblor~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Christchurch_earthquake
Here’s a short video of a giant crane dismantling the Grand Chancellor hotel, which had acquired a tilt similar to that of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
https://www.nikaugroup.com/case-studies/commercial-demolition/holiday-inn-christchurch/
I was in NZ for a friend’s wedding and a bit of vacation. I wandered extensively through downtown Christchurch and found a fair amount of space-related ephemera for my Lunar Library.
My flight to the U.S. was about an hour before the quake hit. It saddens me how much of that beauty was lost as a result.
I heard similar stuff yesterday. There is intense discussion in Japan now about chains of earthquakes. They are saying that the recent large quakes have somehow relieved stresses in some areas that make a whole series of large quakes more likely elsewhere. This would culminate in an eruption of Mt. Fuji which, of course, would be devastating. This is more emotion than science.
Tokyo is hit with a large earthquake something like every 70 or 80 years. It has been 101 years since the great Kanto earthquake. However, the variance is pretty large so it could be another 100 years till the next one.
I live on top of New Zealand’s Alpine Fault, which is overdue another ‘big one’ – “The last major earthquake on the Alpine Fault was in about 1717 AD with a great earthquake magnitude of Mw8.1± 0.1. The probability of another one occurring before 2068 was estimated at 75 percent in 2021.” (Wikipedia)
But life goes on and my rates, based on the nominal property value, go up, and up, and up….
>>>Israel’s Enemies Seek Revenge, but Not So Harsh as to Start All-out War Haaretz
let’s take the WIkipedia numbers (not saying that Wiki is authoritative or correct, but it is a starting point)…
762 Israeli security forces (military, etc.) dead in the Hamas War, as of *May* 2024. So to be conservative, let’s assume 1,000 security forces dead as of today.
7.2 million Jewish-Israeli (of all denominations), 2.1 million Arab-Israelis per Wiki.
1,000 / 7,200,000 per-capita death rate among Jewish-Israel, or 0.139% death rate.
US population in 1910, 92 million. US dead in WW1, 117,000. or 0.127% death rate.
Jewish Israel has a higher per capita death rate right now, than the US did in its (brief) participation in World War 1!
If this isn’t an all-out war, pundits/politicans should go to the front and have a picnic.
Now do the numbers for Zion’s “opponents.”
Seems like the Zios have killed about 12% of Gazans, 2% of WestBankians. Speaking of (don’t say it out loud) genocide, now to be facilitated by the Kamal nose in the tent.
Who would ever think that having a political vacuum in Washington DC from July of this year straight through to January of next year would ever have been acceptable. Then again, perhaps they have had plenty of practice over the past year or two.
What vacuum? That one might seem to exist is just an indication of who is actually running the show.
Gosh, considering that for most reports all those aggressive actions are taking out not plain Palestinians but full blown military active terrorists I somehow think that 1000 or so security force deaths are a drop in the bucket. If, and it is a very big if, Israel had been attacked within the borders of its country when it had been established I might buy they were the victims and this was a war of defense. But they weren’t, they were illegal occupiers and particularly cruel occupiers at that. If this is a war it is of their own making. And finally most of the world is acknowledging those 1000 security were the aggressors and are not the victims they consistently falsely portray themselves as being. If they are at war, they made it one.
FFS. of course the Gazans are getting genocided.
the point is that despite US/global media narratives, Israel is facing its biggest geopolitical junction sinve 1948
A junction that is largely of their own making. They have determined that the Gazans are to be exterminated. Good guess is that West Bank will be next and then others. And they keep escalating
They choose to assassinate the negotiator ffs. The Iranians restainedly retaliated their previous attack, and instead of counting their blessings and backing off they attacked again. And some of this is based on the fairy tale that American has their back. despite the vocal support, I am pretty damn sure that the US Military is telling the top politicos and their backers that US support better be limited to now dwindling supplies of arms unless they want to draft their own kids. That not many Americans are going to fight Iran for Israel. Recruitment isn’t just down because they keep screwing with the VA, the cannon fodder are on to the bs and are opting not to volunteer Armageddon isn’t going to do it either.
That’s most likely another big lie. Biden is sitting in deep freeze, or maybe in a memory-care facility.
Replace “Biden” with “Sullivan” or maybe Blinken.
And the odds of Hamas negotiating now that the IDF killed the last guy who was their negotiator are about zero. This is more of the lie, lie, lie strategy of sowing confusion so that low-information voters think there is some sort of good intentions from a crew that assist genocide.
After the US election, no matter which part of the duopoly wins, it will be interesting to see how much cease-fire lip service continues.
They’re talking up a cease fire before the iran retaliation so they can say they were for a ceasefire, but those iranians stopped it from happening.
One thing that is obvious is the zionists, no matter their religious views, do not want cease fire, but they also don’t want to not so spontaneously burst into flames pre rapture…
One for fans of Orwellian UK government messaging
https://x.com/CPSUK/status/1821227881575403810
And a surprisingly sensible article from the Guardian’s Marina Hyde.
“Social media is a problem, Keir, but so is life for too many in Britain. I’d deal with that first”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/09/social-media-problem-keir-starmer-elon-musk-inequality-poverty
“A GitHub token leak could have put the entire Python language at risk’
When I read articles like this, why am I reminded of this well-known cartoon?
https://xkcd.com/2347/
Black Left Critique of Kamala Harris – Black Agenda Report
That smorgasbord of articles lays out the blueprint of the media playbook currently running.
Space junk:
https://gizmodo.com/chinese-rocket-breaks-apart-in-orbit-leaves-dangerous-trail-of-debris-in-space-2000484626/
Chinese Rocket Breaks Apart in Orbit, Leaves Dangerous Trail of Debris in Space
Hey, they may get lucky and a chunk of that Chinese rocket might knock off that stuck Boeing Starliner on the side of the ISS.
https://english.news.cn/20221120/58d4a8932e904a45be3c19964d9dd4e6/c.html
November 20, 2022
China develops de-orbiting sail to manage space debris
BEIJING — As the number of rocket launches, planetary missions and satellite activities continues to grow, so does the junkyard in space. Many have been pondering the question of how to reduce the amount of debris orbiting Earth. Now, China may have found a solution with its newly deployed “sail” technology.
Hundreds of millions of items of human-made debris are continually circling Earth, including broken rocket bodies, defunct satellites and fragments from orbital collisions. Keen to tackle the space-junk problem, Chinese aerospace scientists have managed to use a large “sail” to de-orbit spacecraft at the end of their life.
The de-orbiter is a sail-like device made of a thin film, the thickness of which is less than one tenth of the diameter of a hair. Folded, it is approximately the size of an adult’s palm, but it can cover an area of 25 square meters when unfolded. When a spacecraft is decommissioned, the sail onboard can be automatically opened. Once deployed, it will increase the effects of air friction, slowing the spacecraft in orbit and speeding up its descent into the Earth’s atmosphere, where it will burn up.
Scientists have already tested the technology on space missions. The latest example is the launch of a Long March-2D carrier rocket in southwest China on June 23, which sent three satellites into orbit. A deorbiting sail attached to the rocket unfolded three days later…
They can’t put sails on all that debris from a breakage or explosion.
And again …that sails experiment is a POTENTIAL idea for FUTURE junk.
Doesn’t addess the now.
I think this is how WWIII will begin. The first shot will be to take the high ground (or deny the high ground to your opponent).
US has already done the homework for this assignment. As did the Soviets, and one can presume the institutional memory is preserved in the Russian Federation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_nuclear_explosion Seems like pure zero-sum game to me, but I’m sure RAND has a couple of white papers justifying that outcome as a Big Win for the Home Team.
Then there’s this fun read: “With Enough Shovels: Reagan, Bush, and Nuclear War,” https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1158&context=journal_of_international_and_comparative_law —
””If there are enough shovels to go around, everybody’s going to make it.”” Scheer, a Los Angeles Times reporter and former Ramparts editor, got that assessment of American civil defense capabilities from T. K. Jones, current Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Strategic and Theater Nuclear Forces, and a former Boeing manager. What “”T.K.”” meant was that, with a shovel, anyone can dig a fallout shelter–a simple hole in the ground with a door over the top and three feet of earth on top of that. “”It’s the dirt that does it,”” he said. The fact that this quack is a government official has Scheer upset. He was also upset by presidential-candidate George Bush’s claim, in an interview that received national attention, that nuclear war was “”winnable.””
Re Banksy. It is still insisted that Banksy’s real identity is unknown. Maybe I’m misremembering but I feel pretty sure he was unmasked over 15 years ago but the media decided it was more newsworthy (£) to memoryhole this.
Being someone who lived in Bristol at the time of his first most iconic artworks I will share an anecdote. A good friend who if anything understated his achievements, and who had yet to learn of the first few murals, had a conversation at a party with a random guy. Art etc was not discussed and the guy gave his real name with verifiable facts courtesy of the budding Internet. After they drifted apart, someone a few of us from the club scene knew by name asked my friend curiously “you do know that was Banksy don’t you?”. This elicited a “who?” at the time but within months became a great pub anecdote when Banksy gained fame. (No I don’t remember the real name.)
Our other great pub story was something Mitchell & Webb made a sketch out of for their TV show YEARS after we spotted (smelt) the phenomenon. We had got drunk and wondered about a smell Mitchell & Webb memorably identified as the Linden Tree. Apparently the Bradford Pear might be the actual offending tree but if you know the sketch, you know it ;)
Just finished watching that clip on YouTube and it is hilarious. Thanks for the tip. But those Victoria mores never left our heads, even without the top hats, starch and the beards. :)
Glad you liked it. In common with so many blokes who had only ever brought up the subject in the pub when drunk enough, I instantly recognised how the core of that skit must have (ahem) come about.
First time I watched it I virtually shouted at the TV “we discussed that years ago!”
Top tip: everyone raves about Clifton in Bristol. Learn which months in which NOT to visit ;)
I live there, for my sins, at least for now. Right in the middle of the ‘worst’ bit. Though I’m rather enjoying it :-)
I assume that’s in the middle of the worst bit of Clifton rather than the worst bit of the, er, “bleach” tree season?
Not sure what the worst bit of Clifton is, is there a measure of deprivation / depravation like red trousers per metre?
Terry, I used to stop on my way home in Bristol for a good fortnight after each term ended in College to stay with a mate and his friends studying there. It was very Withnail and I (pushing the burning armchair put of the upstairs window into the overgrown garden, for want of any other way to deal with the fire). Lakota was involved and some dub and psy trance place. But I never met Banksy. :-(
I am reminded of a doco some 10 yrs ago about a share house for OZ/NZ kids doing the classic UK working visa tour, mostly working in pubs. Proverbial fiefdom of over crowded two story rental in a solid Tory street, Indians would blush. Longest tenets got the best rooms and bed in it whilst the rest slept on the floor.
Best bit was on weekend they decided to have a pig roast, NZ kids dug a pit in the back yard, got wood to fire it, alas it was not enough and after lots of grog in the avo and the sun set they resorted to taking the palings off the neighbors fence in the night.
Next morning the neighbor was interviewed by the doco crew after panning around the aftermath as it was cleaned up by the zombies from the night before … he was so dead pan about it all – classic – noted his surprise at the fence in the morning but, noted how fast the mob ran off and bought new palings for the fence and remedied the offense.
Otherwise never mention burning armchairs again, triggers a memory of almost burning down my Grandparents Farm House. Something about being a keen modeler of WWII stuff, airplane glue, candle, a mouse, and horse hair stuffed armchair ….
In the aftermath of the volunteer fire dept putting it out and the insurance agents on site their glee was palatable …. they were going to win the office jackpot for the most absurd insurance claim … wait for it … gets even better …
My Military recruiter and I had a appointment at that time so I could go off with him to assist in some PR events before starting my adventure in elite military service.
Parade Rest ….
A footnote in the French Leutenent’s Woman novel informed readers that in those times 1 in 10 houses in London was a brothel. It was more lucrative than the many factories popping up with industrialization and forced enclosure…
>Why Ilan Pappe’s new book on the Israel lobby is a must-read Middle East Eye
Maybe a month ago I posted this (UK) Novara Media interview with Ilan Pappé after his book, it is well worth the time:
The Israel Lobby Is Real. This Is How It Works | Aaron Bastani meets Ilan Pappé
Aaron Bastani and co-caster Ash Sarkar are always worth looking in on.
Referenced in the Peter Oborne/Middle East Eye piece, found in Pappé’s book, is the (or should be) famous memorandum to the British Cabinet on the then impending Balfour Declaration by Edwin Montagu, Secretary of State for India, the highest ranking Jewish member of the government.
Anti-Semitism: Mantagu Memo on the Anti-Semitism of the British Government
(August 23, 1917)
Would that they had listened to his remarkably prescient missive.
I worry for Scott Ritter. Though I never met him but I like him and am grateful for his contributions, even if some are a bit wide of the mark. And I thank him for his work as weapons inspector. Anyway, it did make me uncomfortable that he accepted all that hospitality for the propaganda tours (on top of the state media payments) and then came back sounding like he’s sold on Russia’s main talking points. As far as I’m concerned that’s fine and we each can take or leave what he says as we choose. But what I’m ok with doesn’t matter much. First, he’s the only media person I like about whom someone can say, “He was paid to do Putin’s propaganda,” and be not entirely disingenuous. That limits with whom I can use his claims because that push back will come. Second, given the hostilities between USA and Russia, he may well be in real legal trouble as Gilbert Doctorow wrote yesterday. Iiuc foreign agents in DC are mostly not registered so its enforcement is selective and capricious but I doubt that’ll help his defense. And the first sentence of his Wikipedia page won’t help in public opinion (likely why the conviction exists). It being there seeds the search engines and especially the AIs very effectively.
I guess that’s what might be called “impeachment by faint praise.” I’m recalling troll war behavior from years gone by, maybe it’s still happening. Poster speaks with great sympathy, erudition and subtlety, on the model of “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him,” using “gentle answers to turn away wrath” while appealing to the gentle reasonableness of the liberal (old definition) mind. Like wrestling with Jello ™.
You might be right. I guess I feel a mix of disappointment and sympathy.
Seems to me he was an idiot for living in the US while saying what he has been saying. This makes him complicit in this.
Yeah sure, freedom of speech and the First Amendment. I used to believe in the tooth fairy too.
Ambassador Chas Freeman disagrees with your assessment of the situation.
He discussed his assessment with Nima
“Pentagon says Ukraine’s attack into Russia is not escalatory”
All I can say is that the Pentagon must have a good supply left over from the occupation of Afghanistan. I mean, them saying Ukraine is ‘taking action to protect themselves’ in the Kursk region. When German troops invaded Poland in ’39, I do not recall them saying when shooting that they were only protecting themselves. The Ukrainians are 6 miles into Kursk and other sources say that they continue to pour in more troops, including the Georgian Legion. But the Russians have just said that they have taken down 945 Ukrainian soldiers and about 102 vehicles, including several tanks. When this attack peters out, they won’t have much left to hold the line. The Russians are evacuating several thousand people because of the Ukrainian propensity to attack civilians too and it almost sounds like the Russians have set up a kill sack and are letting the Ukrainians pour more men and vehicles into it the same way that last year they kept on pouring their Marines on the southern front into a swampy kill zone. But Zelensky and the west keep on playing this as a war all about optics and the TV news tonight kept on saying that Putin was embarrassed about this and embarrassed about that. So I expect the attacks to continue for a few more days yet.
Clearly nobody believes it so why was the Pentagon told to say this? Why does the WH think it’s important to get the Western news media to parrot that it is not an escalation? Scratching my head here.
because it’s friday and the news generals need weekend talking points portraying themselves as the reasonable ones?
Washington week in review with the Atlantic is particularly noxious in it’s feigned rationality mixed with authority based solutions…
They don’t actually say nuke em til they boil then go and take the oil but I can reasonably speculate that like how tv newscasters are wearing shorts under the desk, this crew is wearing jackboots…
Speaking of AI, a couple of days ago I asked ChatGPT: “Describe the etiology, clinical presentation, treatments and prognosis of resting bitch face.” It mentioned that the condition is not recognized as medical but it complied nevertheless and used the form of my question and gave a thoroughly medical-sounding response. Language style can be powerful (manipulative) so I guess I’m not the first to notice that you can ask GPTs to add different kinds of gravitas to your texts, no matter how inappropriate.
I searched a bit and it seems the GPT relied a lot on two web pages: the Wikipedia page and a NTY article.
“I searched a bit and it seems the GPT relied a lot on two web pages: the Wikipedia page and a NTY article.”
And thus it gave 0 credit to the articles it regurgitated.
The bezzle…
We have to remember that Ukraine and its military is, as it has been since 2014, a NATO force except in name. NATO is not toothless in Ukraine and decided to make a charge into a weak point in Russia where there may have been a few forces but not many. How Russia did not see something like Kursk coming is an interesting question.
We need to remember that there has been a cleansing operation going on in Moscow of corrupt military officers and it appears it is quite far-reaching. Despite Russia’s clear advantages on the front line that advantage is only true in the slow-moving attritional warfare Russia chooses. Russia is not trying to “win” the war through full-scale war probably because Putin understands his military’s weaknesses (corruption) including incompetent officers and bureaucracy. Ukraine, in contrast, has the best of the West in terms of creativity and satellite and other tech advantages. Ukrainian soldiers appear much braver and more foolhardy and happily march off to be slaughtered fighting hard all the way because they have a warrior mentality so they punch above their weight class and their officers seem to have permission to be creative.
Having said that I think Russia will find a way to keep their nuclear plant from being take and/or destroyed by sending troops like the Chechens who more than match the Ukrainians in bravery.
> Battles rage in Kursk region after Ukraine’s largest incursion yet into Russia
If Russia’s intelligence is good enough to know about the Navy Day plot, Russia knew Ukraine was preparing for the Kursk incursion with the NPP as the objective.
Why would Russia let this happen? Feels like Russia is hoping US will over commit themselves in Middle East with US expecting Russia will be too distracted by the Kursk incursion. Noting US deploying a whole heap of aircraft including F-22s to Middle East. While at sametime Russia seems to be reinforcing Syrian and Iran defenses. Kursk incursion also possibly has the additional upside of delaying any Hezbollah/Iran response as they won’t want to move until Russia has Kursk resolved.
The longer retaliation is delayed, the more time available for the Islamic world to coalesce around a position supporting Iran/Hezbollah and thereby Palestine/Gaza. Which is what we are now seeing. A key change seems to be Pakistan taking a front seat in support of Iran/Palestinians. Giving a serious counterbalance to the hesitation of Saudi Arabia. Signifying that this is no longer an Arab/Middle East issue but metastasizing into a global issue for all Islamic countries. West is now crystalizing Islamic cohesion, something the West spent most of the last century trying to stop. Once this happens, all key maritime corridors other than Panama will be blocked. Houthi have already blocked Suez, Morocco can block the Straits of Gibraltar, Malaysia/Indonesia the Malacca Strait.
Russian, and particularly Putin’s, actions are driven & constrained by precedence. US support of Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk provides Russia with precedence, at least from their own viewpoint, to to now overtly support to factions in Middle East to attack US forces. Either Biden/Harris administration is happy for this to happen and move things up the escalation ladder or they have no f**king idea what they’re doing and are just making things up as things happen.
Chris, is this sarcasm? Or some sort of art project in cognitive dissonance?
“Ukraine, in contrast, has the best of the West in terms of creativity and satellite and other tech advantages.”
– every game changing wonder weapon the West has supplied has been bent in two and thrown back on fire. Himars, Caesar, Challenger, Abrams, Switchblade, Javelin, Patriot. The only items that work are Storm Shadow / Scalp missiles.
– moreover, the West is incapable of supplying basic ammunition for these systems. Ukraine has a shell drought.
– US ISR has been the biggest benefit to the Ukraine but intelligence and surveillance is no use without weapons or men
– the creativity is entirely the Ukraine’s. NATO has no doctrine or tactics for drones or for combined arms operations under total information awareness and the 21st century warfare the Ukraine and Russia have invented.
“Ukrainian soldiers appear much braver and more foolhardy and happily march off to be slaughtered fighting hard all the way because they have a warrior mentality so they punch above their weight class and their officers seem to have permission to be creative.”
– Ukrainian soldiers are marched off to war having been hauled into a truck the day before by pressgangs. Recruits are going to the front with zero training to shore up units. The forces involved in Kursk have been carefully husbanded and maintained but even they, like the territorial cannonfodder, will have Azov “blocking” troops behind them to shot them if they retreat.
My statements above are all evidenced by countless videos and analyses available on X and often here on NC.
Kursk is a sideshow. A last gasp of the AFU before they collapse, to generate momentum for Zelensky to sue for peace. There is no way to reach and hold Kursk NPP and what would they do with it if they did? Suzhda is a gas control centre but any minimal throughout relies on collateral circulation through minor distribution pipelines across Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia, Ukraine has shut the main transit pipes.
Perhaps there is some other genius objective, it is a feint or pinning operation or a provocation of Russia to use tac nukes, but Russia has 600,000 men in theatre. At this rate, it is just an excuse for a Russian big arrow operation from Sumy south to cut off the whole Kursk force….
Concur …
Russia has every advantage from missiles that can not be shot down, Mfg, population, logistics, not a proxy for other nations, functional economics and vast resources, not to mention all the self serving corruption built up in the West.
This whole Kursk push is nuts when all the rest of the line of contact is being ground down and with it men and materials, the latter being supplied by the West, not endless well spring.
Then again if Russia wants it can turn all the lights off in the Ukraine – en fin …
Ts maybe beginning to look like NATO/Ukr might have been played by another Russian maskirovka operation. Maybe not so weak a spot in the Russian lines as the West perceived, with maybe some steel behind the tulle.
Twil play out however it does, still have to remember that the most persistent principles in the universe are accident and error… and the sorting process in West/Zionist politics and MICism leads to the dumbest and most vicious and heedless at the top of the decision tree. Maybe we all will get lucky and there will be some lieutenant colonel who will shortstop the orders to launch the nukes.
Georgia voting news. The 2020 election results investigation is being reopened. The site appears to be part of the Franklin News Foundation, one of many state sites. Have readers seen their work in other states?
It would appear that not everyone is impressed by kamala’s lady boss cosplay:
https://x.com/JoeyMannarinoUS/status/1821504430996439335
And Joe Rogan weighed in as well:
https://x.com/VigilantFox/status/1821630125420495151?
The first quote is sexist and offensive. This “I’m speaking ” style is used by male and female bullies. I would say it is used far more by men than women.
Joey Mannarino is a sexist.
Oh — thanks for clarifying. I’m for sure going to vote for Kamala now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-V3QxE29WE&ab_channel=NeutralityStudies/
SHOCKING Similarity: USA Preparing TWO New Proxies In Asia and Europe | Malindog-Uy & Malinen
Philippines and Finland.
The USA and associates do not have an “off” button when it comes to warmongering.
Dead set on a big one. And again, the big ones never start with all parties fully prepared. They are usually woefully prepared…hence they last longer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=744nCXpmx78&ab_channel=NeutralityStudies/
The Neocon’s NEXT Big Scheme: Trap Russia in Ukraine | Prof. Glenn Diesen
Int obs noted by Stephen Bryen about Ukrainian incursion into Kursk that I saw nowhere else (link at the bottom): the town of Sudzha is where all Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine is flowing through (of which much dispute has been taking place of late–I’m not sure if there is ANY gas going across Ukraine from Russia now….) and the Ukrainians may seek to blow up the facilities there. While the military defeat of Ukraine in Kursk is inevitable, it does seem that there is potentially much harm that they could do, less towards Russia, perhaps, than to Europe. I imagine rebuilding the gas transit facilities will be costly, and with the relationship with Europe increasingly dubious, Russia may not find it worthwhile to restore the facilities to their former extent–certainly not for the benefit of the likes of Hungary, Slovakia, and Serbia, and their small econonmies (who may not be as reliable in the long term as one’d like, since their governments may be toppled by forces within and without). Even if Russia wins maximally, i.e. either conquer or subjugate all of Ukraine, restoring economic relations with Europe, even the parts of Europe seeking to preserve ties to Russia, will be difficult if this is one of the main goals.
https://substack.com/@stephenbryen/p-147524792
A possibility:
6-99. A raid is a surprise attack against a position or installation for a specific purpose other than seizing and holding the terrain. It is conducted to destroy a position or installation, destroy or capture enemy soldiers or equipment, or free prisoners. A raid patrol retains terrain just long enough to accomplish the intent of the raid. A raid always ends with a withdrawal off the objective and a return to the main body.
Hard dt know what it was all about, except maybe mad NATO whiz generals thinking it’s a target rich environment, so “CHARGE!” Telegram not the best source, but looks like the “raid patrol” will likely be returning to the main, ever more cachexic, body, in body bags or Russian honor coffins marked “Return to sender — 200.”
I do appreciate Victor Orban’s take on EU foreign policy in general and towards Russia in particular, fully establishing the blame on vasselage to US for all these:
– the wave of ME & Afq immigrants hitting EU shores (caused by US)
– loss of NS1 & NS2 (caused by the US)
– Ukraine war (caused by the US)
Nevertheless, Orban and HUN are staunch Israel supporters, HUN even intervening on behalf of ISRL at the Haguew ICJ on the issue of illegalities in occupied territories.
Curious how many former Axis countries are Israel-skeptics today…
I don’t think Romania has retracted its recognition of Palestine. But then Jewish people under Romanian gov control were not sent to concentration camps and Romania turned arms against Germany in August 1944 and lost about 250K soldiers fighting the Werhmarcht…
The delightful Daily Mail piece on masking recommendations contains assumptions that nobody native to the west coast of the US could miss.
We all know California is a contiguous single sunny thing. That’s why the masking recommendations by local governments in the San Francisco Bay Area can be aligned as probably caused by a public plea for masking by an 18-year-old celebrity in Los Angeles — it is all so close together. It never snows in California, either.
Just like London and Glasgow are basically the same — they are about 350 miles apart, just like SF and LA.