This is Naked Capitalism fundraising week. 1127 donors have already invested in our efforts to combat corruption and predatory conduct, particularly in the financial realm. Please join us and participate via our donation page, which shows how to give via check, credit card, debit card, PayPal, Clover, or Wise. Read about why we’re doing this fundraiser, what we’ve accomplished in the last year, and our current goal, more original reporting.
***
Falling Down a Rabbit Hole in Real Life Nautilus
Will the Federal Reserve cut interest rates fast enough to deliver a ‘soft landing’? AP
Climate/Environment
Deadly Flooding in Europe Shows ‘Dramatic Consequences’ of Climate Change Common Dreams
Typhoon hits Shanghai with 94-mph winds after 400,000 people were evacuated AP
113 killed, 320,000 displaced after Typhoon Yagi strikes Myanmar Al Mayadeen
US supply chains face biggest jump in ‘weather shocks’ due to climate change Carbon Brief
***
Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up the ruse? The Guardian
ELON MUSK’S HUGE AI SUPERCOMPUTER VISIBLY SPEWING FUMES INTO SURROUNDING COMMUNITY Futurism
The New Plan to Power Data-Hungry AI: Sink Server Farms Into the San Francisco Bay Gizmodo
China?
Western powers make plans to secure submarine communications cables, excluding Chinese firms and technology Tom’s Hardware
Philippines to continue to deploy vessels in contested South China Sea shoal Channel News Asia
US sends ‘unserviceable’ arms to Taiwan Taiwan News (SoCal Jim)
Taiwan grounds entire fleet of French-made Mirage jets after overnight crash Anadolu Agency
Threat from China prompts Canada to seek place in Aukus security partnership Forces News
‘AUKUS-plus and the realities of Australia’s involvement in US nuclear proliferation’ Pearls and Irritations
Syraqistan
Netanyahu warns Yemen’s Houthis face a ‘heavy price’ as missile lands in central Israel CNN
Yemeni Ballistic Missile Strikes Central Israeli: Air Defences Fail to Intercept Military Watch
Israeli Army Says Houthi Missile Not ‘Hypersonic,’ Successfully Intercepted but Not Destroyed Haaretz
Yemen preparing for extended war with ‘Israel’: Exclusive Al Mayadeen
Saudi Arabia calls for more pressure on Iran as Houthi threat grows The Guardian. Headline is false. Story quotes a former Saudi intelligence chief and diplomat while “Saudi Arabia has not joined the US military attacks because it says it has been pursuing a diplomatic route to form a national government in Yemen.”
***
Tel Aviv luring 30,000 African asylum seekers for permanent residency to join Israeli army: Report Anadolu Agency
Israel says ‘high probability’ its own airstrike killed 3 hostages in Gaza last November AP
***
The Ministry of Health in Gaza has just published a 649-page document with the the name, age, gender, ID number of every Palestinian killed in Gaza from October 7 to August 31 that it has info for (over 34k out of 40k). The 1st 14 pages the age is listed as 0 (under 1 year old) pic.twitter.com/NZZNLLf7ml
— Sharif Kouddous شريف عبد القدوس (@sharifkouddous) September 15, 2024
Israelis Must Ask Themselves if They’re Willing to Live in a Country That Lives on Blood Haaretz
Netanyahu’s popularity surges as Gaza genocide nears one year mark: Poll The Cradle
Foreign residents gradually returning to housing market Globes
European Disunion
The tug of war with Berlin over migration Kathimerini
France’s Breton Quits EU Commission Citing Reappointment Row AFP
Old Blighty
The ethics of the Starmer’s clothing Funding the Future
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukraine’s victory plan has 4 main points and one additional – Zelenskyy Ukrainska Pravda
Ukraine Quashes Rumors Victory Plan Includes Freezing Russian Front Lines Newsweek
Peace plan should not be imposed on Ukraine from the outside, US’s Sullivan says Politico. In response to Vance’s description of Trump plan.
***
SITREP 9/15/24: Ukraine’s Situation Worsens as Allied Weapons Drive Flunks Simplicius the Thinker
Calls Grow For NATO Members To Help Ukraine Shoot Down Russian Drones And Missiles RFE/RL
Ukraine could not effectively use UK missiles without US data: Times Al Mayadeen
Zelenskyy on long-range strikes on Russia: We have waited too long, Russia has pulled out its jets Ukrainska Pravda
Ukraine Loses Two of its Last Su-27 Fighters and a MiG-29 in New Air Battles Military Watch
Ukraine is Losing its Last U.S.-Supplied Abrams Tanks Fast: Images Confirm Russian Forces Took Out Another Military Watch
Greek Navy Extends Naval Drills to Deter Russian Oil Bloomberg
***
A Closer Look: Scholz Trip Shows Europe’s Interest in Central Asia The Times of Central Asia
Georgia to apologize for war that Saakashvili started against Ossetians — ruling party News.az
South of the Border
CIA and Spanish Intelligence Behind Latest Terrorist Plot in Venezuela Orinoco Tribune
Owner of company that spied on Assange for the CIA was collaborating with Spain’s secret service El Pais
Trump Assassination Attempt II
Lambert has more in a separate post today.
Suspected Gunman Said He Was Willing to Fight and Die in Ukraine New York Times
Commentary:
No ears were harmed. Carry on with your Sunday afternoon.
— Rachel Vindman 🇺🇸🦅🌻 (@natsechobbyist) September 15, 2024
DeSantis says FL will conduct its own investigation of assassination attempt The Hill
Kamala
Harris would be ‘more aggressive’ than Biden in supporting Ukraine, ex-US ambassador says The Kyiv Independent
2024
Newly registered Pennsylvania voter motivated by economic circumstances Washington Examiner
Ohio Gov. DeWine’s deep connections to Haiti inform response to Springfield controversy Dayton Daily News
Democrats en Déshabillé
Adams’s Ex-Legal Counsel Repeatedly Advised Key Aide, Since Raided by FBI, on Migrant Contracts The City
Police State Watch
THEY PROTESTED A MILITARY BASE EXPANSION. SO THE FBI INVESTIGATED THEM AS TERRORISM SUSPECTS. The Intercept
Antitrust
Monopoly Round-Up: Antitrust Chief Says Economics Has Its Big Tobacco Corruption Moment BIG by Matt Stoller
Healthcare?
Direct-to-Consumer Drugs: Big Pharma’s Digital Health Play MedPage Today
Texas Leads Push for Faster Certification of Mental Health Professionals Governing
Imperial Collapse Watch
Vance Would ‘Consider’ Expanding Private Care Options for Veterans if Trump Wins Military.com
Anduril poised to fill America’s missile supply gap Asia Times
Our Famously Free Press
US media merged with intelligence services long ago – RT editor-in-chief RT
In Defense of Free Speech Scott Ritter Extra
Groves of Academe
ACADEMIA NEEDS COMEDY NOW MORE THAN EVER Los Angeles Review
Guillotine Watch
Class Warfare
Workers in the GoFundMe Economy Dollars and Sense
Sports Desk
How Clemente Got the Players’ Union Behind Curt Flood Payday Report. Yesterday was Roberto Clemente Day in Pittsburgh.
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
SOMEONE ATE MY CAT!
(melody borrowed from Hold On To Your Hat by Derek Ryan)
I can’t find my cat! Fuzz Aldrin is my treasure!
Someone ate my cat! Six years we’ve been together!
Ah he took off like a Go Kart, his bath and his blow dry
They made him lose control—like fireworks in July
And now he’s stressed, he left our nest, and broke my heart thereby
I’ve cleaned his poo but don’t know who has found my little guy
I can’t find my cat! Fuzz Aldrin is my treasure!
Someone ate my cat! Six years we’ve been together!
I can’t find my cat! Fuzz Aldrin is my treasure!
Someone ate my cat! Six years we’ve been together! Hеy!
(musical interlude)
Ah those Springfield Haitians, it’s been said, can’t leave our pets alone
Facebook posted episodes that chilled me to the bone
The geese gone from the park—who knows what else will go?
Facebook discussed—they don’t adjust—why can’t they all go home?
I can’t find my cat! Fuzz Aldrin is my treasure!
Someone ate my cat! Six years we’ve been together!
I can’t find my cat! Fuzz Aldrin is my treasure!
Someone ate my cat! Six years we’ve been together! Hеy!
(musical interlude)
I just found my cat! Fuzz Aldrin is my treasure!
He’s come for a pat, but he’s been out in the weather!
This cat needs a bath—that’s a truly desperate measure!
Hold on to your cat with a harness and a tether!
Hold on to your cat! Hеy!
The cats of Ohio stand prepared!
https://x.com/Alphafox78/status/1834043747694203151
Alien ate your cat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALF_(character)
Trying to avoid esprit d’corpse here by teaching the hair’m a few dog tricks. I was walking with a friend and his Basset Hound, and the damned cur went and rolled in cow shit, I mean really wallowed in it, ostensively rendering itself null and void in terms of foodstuff potential.
“Netanyahu warns Yemen’s Houthis face a ‘heavy price’ as missile lands in central Israel”
And to prove that Israel know how to hit Ansar Allah, Israel has published a list of 30 Ansar Allah command posts located around Yemen. Yemen has protested that what Israel published is in fact a list of Yemen’s 30 largest hospitals but Israel claims that there is no mistake and that they know what a command post looks like through experience.
Snark? Getting really hard to tell
‘Ukraine could not effectively use UK missiles without US data’ should read ‘UK could not effectively use UK missiles without US data’ .
But to counteract that , there are apparently many US weapons and military vehicles partly or completely made in the UK, including Bradleys. It seems that the US makes hardly any of its military needs in the US, mainly assembling parts made elsewhere, like Turkey. As well as semiconductors and of course rare earth elements from China.
Security!
Presently, Bradley fighting vehicles are made by BAE Systems who bought United Defense Industries who had bought FMC who designed and delivered the bulk of US Army Bradley inventory.
The “US combat systems division” owned by BAE Systems is in the USA.
BAE Systems has other former US pentagon vendors operating under its logo in the USA. I worked as a “in house contractor” for another of BAE Systems divisions in New England USA.
However, integrated circuits are definitely an import issue!
Globalist strategy extending the Homeland MIC’s “50 state strategy” of sourcing parts for ridiculous weapons systems to locales across the country, creating inefficient but indefatigable constituencies of “jawbs programs” in thousands of congressional districts. Gonna be a tough row for Türkiye to hoe, de-linking from the Imperium when the Hegemon Manque sends so many billions in looted wealth to get “assemblies” for stuff like the F-35. How can Erdogan unlink from NATO against the collective resistance of “incentivized” Turkish politicians? I guess part of his long game depends on the F-35 eventually reaching the end of its currency cycle. But of course there will be another fairy-tale boondoggle zooming in tight on its 6…
A lot of F-16 “work” done in Turkiye!
F-35 (might have been done on F-16 and others) is not unique nor new in getting foreign support and sales by “sharing technology and manufacturing”.
The strategy was give the country technology they do not have for free, then set them up to make parts and sub systems using the donated technology.
US MIC gets supporters and customers this way, using the bribe method.
And the cool part is that maybe except for suppression of certain populations, this increasingly esoteric corner of MilTec just doesn’t work any more, at least as fielded by the Condign West. In an age of smart (sic) missiles and EW systems.
2024 ******** Kamala Harris hit the nail on the head in her recent interview, regarding the vapid nature of Dem public discussion of issues they present to voters – “Kamala Harris – because she grew up with neighbors who were proud of their lawns. Vote for Kamala Harris.” That may as well be a summation of the entire Dem platform presented to the public. Plus “opportunity.”
That’s the Dems for you. ‘They make a lawn and call it peace.’
I’m sure she won’t have to worry about MSM asking her about the Boeing strike. She might slip and say something like “maybe if they cared for their lawns more, this wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Obviously”.
The Democrat Party is adopting the Israeli Security Strategy: “They ‘mow’ a lawn and call it peace.” Yeah, the peace of the grave.
When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant
: Deuteronomy 6
And in ‘Murica most of us get enormously enraged at “squatters” who do exactly what the scribblers that composed Deuteronomy are up to.
They “mow the lawn” and call it peace, you mean?
Or maybe . . . ‘ They make a lawn and call it ecology.’
Not that I am against lawns. I am not, done right and in their proper place. There is a little municipal lawn surrounding the bus shelter right across the street from where I live. They don’t give it any fertilizer or weedkiller or anything. They mow it every 3-5 weeks and let it survive on benign neglect. I have discovered that after each mowing I can rake up all the lawn hay ( “grass clippings”), bag it and bring it home for my garden.
So I can love a lawn if it is the right lawn in the right place.
Gas exploitation, Grass or Grasp
…nobody rides for free
Recently seen on the bumper of a Hummer in traffic in Arlington, Virginia: “Gas, grass, or campaign donations. Nobody legislates for free.”
VP Harris cares about “rules and norms” about Ukraine borders!
More clear than Biden about stumbling toward WW III!
Why stumble when one can sprint? Look upwards!
Enough of this and Trump might indeed become the Lesser Awful, and indeed the more likely Ticket To Survival.
“Stupidest timeline” doesn’t begin to describe it.
Threat from china? That got me wondering what could have happened. It’s not really like the Chinese to threaten, and why would they threaten Canada?
So I read the whole thing, and they never say what the threat was. Of course. But writing a headline like that, with the first words being threat from China, is highly deceptive. Of course. But I did read this quote from Mr Blair, the defense minister for Canada:
“Next year, my defence budget will rise by 27% over this year. And… in the next three or four years our defence spending will triple,” he explained.
Freedom CAUKUS?
I glanced over it. The Defense Minister said something like “the threat in that part of the world”, which just happens to be very nearly the other side of the world to Canada, if you’re talking about Australia.
But the article was illustrated with some very pretty pictures of the American nuclear submarines which the Australians aren’t getting.
Speaking of refugee submarines; I wonder if the Israeli Navy submersible fleet will show up at Argentina asking for asylum like their ‘inspirations’ did in 1945.
AUKUS: Extending the Pacific NATO one country at a time.
Gee, how has it been working out for the Ukrainians getting them into NATO? I’m sure that the Taiwanese will really want to get into the Asian NATO when the time comes. AUKUS is not so much a alliance as a series of missile-sponges for the Pentagon to use.
Canadians are not supposed to get themselves involved in the government’s decisions on foreign affairs and just believe that gov is right and do what they are told. Still a colony…
Just this year Canada has voted to fund 150 million VAD to fund a constellation of observational sattelites to look for forest fires. It looks like large parts of the country will burn before the feds will seriously consider doing something about it.
More Haitians arrived in Springfield just the other day
They came to our world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay
They learned to talk English while I was away
And they was talking ‘fore I knew it, and as resentment grew
They’d say “I’m gonna be like you, Uncle Sam”
“You know I’m gonna be like you”
And the cat’s in the oven and will be done soon
Little Russian Blue and an unfortunate raccoon
“What do you pair with a puddycat, dad?” “I don’t know-box wine”
Red blend and them together then
You know we’ll have a good feast then
Their son turned ten just the other day
He said, thanks for the geese dad, come on let’s flay
Can you teach me to pluck, I said-a, not today
I got a lot to do, he said, that’s okay
And he, he walked away, but his smile never dimmed
It said, I’m gonna be like him, yeah
You know I’m gonna be like him
And the cat’s in the oven and will be done soon
Little Russian Blue and an unfortunate raccoon
“What do you pair with a puddycat, dad?” “I don’t know-box wine”
Red blend and them together then
You know we’ll have a good feast then
Well, he came bearing a Cheshire just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
Son, I’m proud of you, can you sit for a while?
He shook his head, and they said with a smile
What I’d really like, dad, is to borrow the microwave
See you later, can I use it please?
And the cat’s in the oven and will be done soon
Little Russian Blue and an unfortunate raccoon
“What do you pair with a puddycat, dad?” “I don’t know-box wine”
Red blend and them together then
You know we’ll have a good feast then
Cats in the Cradle, by Harry Chapin
Excellent! I specially like the line about the Russian blue and the unfortunate raccoon!!
It was very easy to hear those lyrics sung in Harry Chapin’s voice. Saw him once. Only concert where I sat on the floor of a gymnasium, but so did he (on the slow songs).
“SITREP 9/15/24: Ukraine’s Situation Worsens as Allied Weapons Drive Flunks’
At one point this article was talking about how the British Army has been demilitarized. Heard a day or so ago that the British Army has only 40 operational tanks right now. I don’t think that that is even enough tanks for a UK tank battalion so they have really been left in a mess by this war and will take decades to recover.
Dare one ask why, in the name of Heaven, so many of us assume that every puny little rump of an empire must, “in the nature of things,” “recover” a BiggAss Military monkey on its population’s impoverished backs? Especially since it’s elite long ago lost the power to loot abroad.
Can’t the toffs be content to do well in covertly dropping turds like Nazi Ukraine in the world’s punchbowl?
In the latest Big Serge he talks about how having a navy turned the minor power sitting off the coast of France into a world empire. If Big Shottery is your thing then must be hard to get over it.
so they have really been left in a mess by this war
I do not think that the war in Ukraine explains the shrivelled status of the tank force in the UK military. The British were perfectly capable to self-destroy their armoured capabilities. Consider:
1) The last British tank was manufactured more than 20 years ago….
2) …based on a model whose design was finalized more than 30 years ago.
The UK has not designed a single tank, respectively produced one, since; 10 more years and the design know-how will be completely lost, 20 more years, and production know-how will be entirely gone (the production lines having already been dismantled, even those for the ammunition, I am perhaps being too conservative).
And that is the country that fielded the very first tank in history…
Notice that Italy is in exactly the same predicament (Ariete: design finalized 30 years ago, last produced more than 20 years ago); France is somewhat comparable (Leclerc: design finalized 35 years ago, last produced 16 years ago, but supposedly with production lines mothballed); Germany is lingering on (Leopard 2: design finalized 45 years ago, still in production — though I believe it actually restarted after stopping in about 2014). The USA, with the Abrams, is in the same situation as Germany (design finalized 45 years ago, still in production).
To my knowledge, none of those countries has ever managed to design successfully a new tank (not even light ones) since their last aforementioned MBT (apart from concept studies).
I can guess what the problem really is. I think that you will find is that all those countries go to their tank manufacturers and start explaining what sort of design specifications that they need but all the tank manufacturers are thinking about is fifty years of spare parts to sell – and who cares if that tank works or not. And that is how you got the F-35.
Historically, British tanks were designed in-house, and produced by the Royal Ordnance Factories and some private companies. In the 1980s the ROFs were privatised, and into 1990s R and D expertise was externalised, and in effect there is probably no real domestic expertise left in the UK for tank design and production.
It’s not just that, though. The original Challenger design, like the Chieftain before it, was conceived for defensive battle in Germany, so it was heavy, heavily armoured and had a large gun. It was also relatively slow and limited in the terrain it could operate in, because of its weight. Ever since the end of the Cold War, the British have faced the same conceptual problem as everybody else: what do you want to use tanks for? The political leadership was obsessed with Afghanistan, and as long as a tank force of some kind was retained, Britain could continue to present itself as a serious military power. Back in the 1990s, the accepted wisdom was that the next generation of western tanks would have to be super-heavy, 80-ton monsters with 140mm main armament, but I don’t think that configuration got past concept studies in any country. In effect (and I think this is also the conclusion the Russians have come to) tank design is at a dead end, and the future lies in retrofitting new bells and whistles to existing hulls.
Russians do have the T-14 Armata*, but according to the CEO of Rostec, Sergey Chemezov, it’s too expensive for SMO. It seems that with the price of one T-14 the Russian army can get either 7 refurbished and updated T-72B3Ms or 3 refurbished and updated T-80BVMs or 2 brand new T-90Ms.
The entry of BMPTs and T-62s as infantry support systems in SMO is indicative that perhaps the era of the main battle tank has passed, but there’s certainly a need for a new iteration of the light infantry gun developed during the WW1 (from light mountain guns). “Big arrows” or not, infantry never has enough firepower.
As you said, at least in Russia the emphasis seems to currently be on the bells and whistles, like reactive armor that stays on even in the forest and thermal signature hiding “cloak”. And apparently T-90 will from now on come with Arena-M active defense system installed in the factory – plenty of speculation abound if it has been updated to deal with drones, too.
* pure speculation, but I think the main problem with Armata is, besides the price, that it was supposed to be a family of armored systems. Same platform for totally different purposes has made it unwieldy, expensive and behind the schedule. For example, T-15 IFV on the same chassis weights 48 tons and carries 3+8, while BMD-1 (from the 1960’s) weights 8 tons and carries 2+6 and is much smaller, faster and agile – and there’s 2400 of them in the storage…
there’s certainly a need for a new iteration of the light infantry gun developed during the WW1 (from light mountain guns). “Big arrows” or not, infantry never has enough firepower.
Do you mean we are back to the future with vehicles like the famed Sturmgeschütz?
the main problem with Armata is, besides the price, that it was supposed to be a family of armored systems. Same platform for totally different purposes has made it unwieldy, expensive and behind the schedule.
Isn’t this precisely the same problem the USA encountered with the “Future Combat Systems Manned Ground Vehicles“?
Strictly speaking, the Challenger 2 tank is a newer design than any of the Russian or Ukranian tanks. Its largely a 1980’s design (although roughly based on the earlier C1), brought into use in the early 1990’s, although its proven unpopular with its crews. The upcoming Challenger 3 is a far better design, although it is essentially a rebuilt C2.
The T-72 dates back to the late 60’s, the T-80 was brought into service in 1978 and the T-90 is an early 90’s design, but is largely based on the T-72 chassis, with other elements incorporated from the T-80. All three current Russian tanks (T-72, T-80 and T-90) can trace design and construction elements back to the T-62, which in turn was an evolution of the T-55, first built in 1948. All three tanks have, of course, been massively upgraded and modernised over the years in countless variants, so many that even the most dedicated tank nerds often get confused.
Outside of Asia (the Chinese, Koreans and Japanese have produced a number of new tanks, none of them particularly groundbreaking), nobody apart from Russia has produced a genuinely new tank since the Cold War. Its noticeable that the Russians have been very reluctant to put the Armata into full production. They are probably wisely waiting to incorporate all the lessons learned before going into full production.
None of the tanks in the war have really covered themselves with glory, with even the most up to date Russian variants needing those hurried field conversions to protect themselves from new threats. Defenders of the western designs would point out that they are being thrown into a situation that they were never designed for, although that in itself is damning. The Russian tanks have done ok, but there are plenty of grounds for a big rethink. There are at last two confirmed videos of T-72’s coming off worse in one-on-one combat with Bradleys, which was not supposed to happen. What the war has shown is that tanks are should be considered disposable combat items, and designed (and priced) accordingly – both sides have suffered massive unit losses to fairly cheap and simple weapons, such as mines, artillery and drones.
That said, I think its fair to say that the Challenger has come off worst of all in combat, which isn’t a surprise, the C2 was always considered a poor design, not least by the British Army, hence the very rapid requirement for the complete rebuild into the C3. But as Aurelien points out, the Challenger, along with much of the UK defence industry, was a victim of many bad decisions in the 1980’s. UK ship building in particular is a thin shadow of its past. Other European countries have shown this was not inevitable – it was an outcome of terrible decisions made, particularly in the 1980’s and 90’s. Only the French have really maintained a strong domestic capacity, and even this is heavily handicapped by the relatively small French budget (relative to their commitments). Its noticeable that the South Koreans seem to be muscling in, they seem to see a big future in being a key industrial base for ‘western’ armaments.
I think its still an open question as to whether the new generation of drones and other cheap kill vehicles has made the tank a vestige of the 20th Century.
A couple of interviews of Arnaud Bertrand by Pascal Lottaz of Neutrality Studies, YouTube. Around 30 minutes each.
https://youtu.be/LuMlPsSq8OM on China, where Bertrand has lived for several years.
https://youtu.be/ZajiTVbVjz8
Title: NATO and the EU are destroying France and Germany. End of Europe.
Deadly Flooding in Europe Shows ‘Dramatic Consequences’ of Climate Change Common Dreams
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So much evaporation in the Big Heat Age, and that water in a closed system such as ours has to go somewhere, thus rain bombs in record amounts-coming soon to a city near you.
Everyone should have flood insurance for the super rain-dump waterbomb events of tomorrow. People will be amazed to discover all the new mini-floodplains and micro-floodplains which nobody ever realized exist all around them and right under them.
Harris would be ‘more aggressive’ than Biden in supporting Ukraine, ex-US ambassador says The Kyiv Independent
I urge everyone to read her answers during the debate about Ukraine.
Kamala is either incredibly stupid or looking forward to WW3.
Kamala is either incredibly stupid or looking forward to WW3.
I think you can delete the either or and insert and instead to read
Kamala is incredibly stupid and looking forward to WW3.
She has no kids, plus a nuclear secure bunker to retreat to. What’s not to like?
Interesting about the kids. When was our last childless president?
I can think of a number of presidents with children who started or presided over wars: Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Harry Truman, JFK, HW and GW Bush, Obama, Biden.
The only childless one who comes to mind is George Washington.
TR? William McKinley, you mean?
Yes a new first. Maybe a childless and godless president. I guess we already have had the child president.
Wasn’t James Buchanan childless?
Do you really think they will let her inside the bunker?
Once the rockets start flying, they don’t need her anymore.
Are you saying that her stepchildren who call her Momala are even bigger props than Chelsea was?
Merely noting that psychopaths are psychopaths with or without children.
Yeah, it was shocking to watch. Can kind of summarize it as we have to defeat Russia in Ukraine at all costs because Poland is next, and then western Europe.
They really believe this stuff.
The Domino Theory never gets old.
It just smells that way.
“Western powers make plans to secure submarine communications cables, excluding Chinese firms and technology”
‘U.S., EU member states, and other allies are set to sign up later this month.’
This strikes me as an extraordinarily bad idea. This is just the Collective West saying that they will guard their submarine communications cables but as for the cables of the Global Majority, well, accidents happen. It would have been wiser if an international group of all nations was put together under a UN body to guarantee the security of everybody’s submarine communications cables. make it in everybody’s interests to secure those cables.
Because the UN is soooo effective in upholding security agreements, settling disputes, and not allowing itself to be used for political grandstanding, absolutely, let’s place our seabed fiber optic cables under the protection of that UN submarine fleet.
As for the Chinese, they are welcome to lay their own fiber optics. Which they have! Twice! Beijing to Qingdao and the TPE (w/ Verizon). Communicating with the outside world was more of a Hong Kong thing. Up until recently, the Party was way more concerned with repression and preventing contact with the outside world. Xi and the Party is again withdrawing its citizens from contact; well it was fun while it lasted.
– ‘Harris would be ‘more aggressive’ than Biden in supporting Ukraine, ex-US ambassador says’ -The Kyiv Independent
The “ex-US ambassador” is William B. Taylor. Not only did he serve in Ukraine twice – under Bush and Obama, then (for a while) under Trump – but he has also served in Brussels with NATO, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in Israel. I’ve linked to his Wikipedia bio below; note the places he served, the dates in which he served, his stated duties, and then ask yourself what was going on at these times and places. To take another example, from 2011 through 2013, he was Obama’s “Special Coordinator for Middle East Transitions,” where his “mission was to ensure effective U.S. support for the countries of the Arab revolutions, coordinating assistance to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Syria.” After that, “he was appointed executive vice president of the United States Institute of Peace… In this role, he supported continuing or increasing U.S. sanctions against Russia for its aggressions toward Ukraine.” And so on.
The reason his second stint in Ukraine under Trump was short-lived was because he was one of the insiders opposed to Trump’s actions toward Ukraine and Zelinsky that led to Trump’s first impeachment.
No doubt his pep talk in Kyiv includes some truth and some wishful thinking as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Taylor_Jr.
So, he got money for HTS/al Nusra and ISIL!
HTS is negotiating with Ukraine intel to share western tactics from the campaign to give Syria to ISIS.
Justifying all this Harris remembers her lines better than Biden.
Routh the alleged perp in yesterday fail assassination attempt has links to Ukraine Nazis.
Has the U.S. been building another ISIS in Ukraine and has it broadened to going after unfriendly US politicians?
Shrinkflation. Ten point peace plan became four plus one point victory plan. Soon enough, it will be no point skedaddle plan.
– ‘Ohio Gov. DeWine’s deep connections to Haiti inform response to Springfield controversy’ – Dayton Daily News
I thought this article was interesting, but not just for the Governor’s Haitian connections. Here’s the first paragraph:
“Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s experience with Haiti and Haitians goes far beyond his current efforts to manage issues — ranging from baseless rumors to genuine concerns — related to the recent sudden influx of Haitian immigrants to Springfield.”
I read this and thought “What? You mean there *are* some “genuine concerns”? The only thing I’ve been hearing about are the “baseless rumors”. So I clicked on the linked article and read this:
“Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said at a press conference Tuesday that rumors of pets or wildlife being eaten by Haitian immigrants were absolutely false… “Rumors like this are taking away from the real issues such as issues involving our housing or school resources and our overwhelmed healthcare system,” Rue said.”
https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-leaders-reject-recent-wild-haitian-rumors-focus-on-few-key-problems/B7523FC6BVGYRNQDX7LXK3NVKM/
Hmm, I thought. I’ve seen stories every night since the debate about Springfield on the news. But all they have talked about are the “baseless rumors.” Over and over again. No mention of any “genuine concerns.” Just another example of dastardly right-wing disinformation I guess.
It’s Donald Trump’s fault. No one outside SW Ohio would have known if he hadn’t blabbed about it.
Very interesting that DeWine has a personal interest in Haiti in the form of a school enrolling thousands of students. Given the reports we’ve heard of other Democrats like the Clintons “helping” in Haiti, one does wonder if DeWine perhaps had some financial interest as well as the personal one, and if perhaps there might be some financial benefit for DeWine with all the Haitians coming to Ohio. Maybe he really is just a philanthropist at heart, but with politicians that is generally not the case.
After my comment the other day about there being no financial angle in this situation, I have encountered rumors that there is a measurable real estate interest in attracting refugees to any particular area, Springfield included. Of particular relevance is the Haitian refugees’ Temporary Protected Status designation by the State Department, which makes them eligible for federal housing benefits, among other resources. (I was not able to find any official language to this effect, but found other sources implying this is the case — it is likely an effect of TPS making refugees equivalent to US citizens for many purposes and makes no further description of its benefits necessary.)
DeWine is a Republican, not a Clintocrat. If he has done anything to make Haiti worse-off and poorer the way the Clintons did, I haven’t heard about it.
Flooding a small town (<60k) with ~20k of immigrants with a different culture, speaking a different language is going to create plenty of "genuine concerns", just not any of the kind the MSN's paymasters want the voters thinking about…
Love the antidote. That rascal wants his/her morning cappuccino!
Looks more like a ristretto to me.
Nope. A cappuccino. You can see the froth on the bunny’s nose. There’s lots of it. ;)
In the late 19th century, at the peak of the British empire with Britain dominating the information technology of the day, the British amirality both had plans and capacity to destroy other countries telegraph cables. There were plans on which to cut in case of war with France, or war with the USA.
Britain obviously listened in as during the Boer war they banned encoded messages to South Africa.
Nothing new, etc. I think the interesting thing is now they are saying it out loud.
This was supposed to be a reply to Rev Kev’s comment about the extraordinarily bad idea of declaring the West’s cables protected, and what a pity if something happens to China’s.
– ‘Monopoly Round-Up: Antitrust Chief Says Economics Has Its Big Tobacco Corruption Moment’ – BIG by Matt Stoller
“And this week, Kanter decided it was time to tell some hard truths to fellow antitrust experts. With “gasps in the room,” he laid into academics, particularly economists, for taking money from large corporations and then offering their supposedly expert disinterested opinion. It’s a well-known problem, but one that goes unmentioned in polite circles. Until now.”
I’ll bet my reaction to this was similar to a lot of NC readers. I welcomed Kanter’s “hard truths,” but I laughed out loud that this could be news to anybody by now. I was reading this kind of thing in grad school in the 1980s. The reason ‘Econned’ is my favorite book about the financial crisis is because Yves goes into the role of a corrupt economics discipline in detail; this is also what originally led me to Naked Capitalism. I always recommend Charles Ferguson’s film ‘Inside Job’ for the same reason.
This is not to say I don’t welcome any statement of such truths wherever they might appear. And I am rooting for Kanter and the anti-trust effort being waged against tremendous odds. But that such statements could still cause any audience to “gasp” these days is pretty sad. I guess, as the quote suggests, it is just the audacity to make them in public.
RE: Haitians’ Springfield, IL, and their alleged food preferences.
The ruling class are still using the old tried and true Playbook for keeping labor in its place. Move the high-paying industries that can employ high-school grads, probably unionized, out of the country, thereby impoverishing the city and its inhabitants. Workers move out, drugs move in (there’s the British Playbook for taking over an entire country (China) by forcing it to import highly addictive drugs.).
Corporations looking around for a cheap work force, move in, complain that there are not enough ‘qualified’ workers, where ‘qualified’ is code for ‘willing to shut up and work for minimum pay.’
Meanwhile, the Playbook for turning small nations into basket cases, is being followed in Haiti, resulting in totally desperate people willing to move anywhere, just so they and their kids will not be killed tomorrow. And, of course, the Haitians are Black and have this history of following exotic religions involving witchcraft and god-knows-what-kind-of-animal-sacrifices, plus they speak …. French! As well as Haitian Creole.
Move 10,000 of them to a white-bread Middle American economically-depressed city, because the locals, those that remain, won’t work for peanuts. What could go wrong!
The Playbook has worked before: coal mine owners deliberately hired immigrant miners from different countries and cultures and languages. No solidarity there! Mill owners in Massachusetts brought in Italians and Poles and Syrians, after turning the earlier immigrant Irish (who did speak a form of English, but only because the English had banned their native language) into supervisors and foremen, who identified their interests with those of the Capitalist owners.
Meanwhile, the Playbook stipulates that the MSM create the narrative emphasizing the ‘work-ethic’ of the immigrants, and their wish for a better life (which they could have had in their home country were it not for the Western powers mucking around and overthrowing their governments.). Implying that the current, drug-addled locals are layabouts who just want a government handout. And, extolling that ‘we are a nation of immigrants!’ (True, just ask the Native Americans.) And, the two (at least) groups can not / will not communicate. Rage, fear, misunderstanding, recriminations, ensue. Leading to violence at some point, if not nipped in the bud.
But, suspicion, anger, violence, group against group, are required by the Playbook, to ensure the ruling class keep their profits and their power. Happy Monday to all!
Thanks for comment. The first Gilded Age depended on a heavy flow of immigrants who then lived in slums and worked in sweat shops. To the extent that the current version depends on illegal migrants then the capitalists get the added benefit of holding worker insecure status over their heads. Also while back then we were a nation of immigrants we are now a nation of the children and grandchildren of the immigrants who endured rough lives so their children and grandchildren wouldn’t have to do so.
All of which is to say that the playbook for the plutocrats is the same but the country itself has changed and that may fuel our raging class conflict between the pushed aside and the all too successful looters. The Dems have become the party of many of the latter. The MAGA at least pretend to care about the former and thereby create a threat that the elites are somewhat hysterically opposing.
Trump isn’t going to solve anything of course and didn’t last time but at least is willing to say that things aren’t going well. The Harris faction can’t even do that or if they do they try to scapegoat Putin or Trump or any convenient warm body. We need a lot more truth–facing facts–and maybe that will help.
Sanders was also willing to say that things aren’t going well. Also, the Clintobamacrats were afraid that he might try to solve something. That’s why they conspired him right out of the primaries.
In 2016 I remember telling people that for me it was either Sanders or Trump, never Clinton. The Clintocrats wouldn’t let me have my Sanders, so I wouldn’t let them have their Clinton.
Ed Snowden.
We know little so far, but w alleged Trump shooter’s personal and public participation in military activity in Ukraine, it is hard to imagine this White House’s agencies can claim zero contact—”clean hands.” Something of an Oswald vibe, here. Congress should get answers.
https://x.com/Snowden/status/1835460582855631350
Congress should get answers. Now that’s a quaint idea.
Trump should probably decline Dick Cheney’s invitation to a quail hunt outing.
Heh.
Kunster’s latest.
Beep Beep!
Woosh. . . !
https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/beep-beep
Beep Beep! Woosh! Indeed! Thanks for the link.
“Congress should get answers”
How quaint.
I can’t understand why a guy, who has to live in exile for revealing the extent of US spying on its own citizens, has any idealism whatsoever for the integrity of any branch of its government. How naive! What a rube!
He always was a Straight Arrow and a Boy Scout. I will not mock him for the sincerity of his belief, however misplaced it might seem in light of events.
I’ll mock him neither. I was surprised at the phrasing. Perhaps Snowden didn’t mean to appear that he believes that congress will actually do so.
“Peace plan should not be imposed on Ukraine from the outside, US’s Sullivan says Politico.”
But seems it’s perfectly OK to impose a “No-Peace” plan from the outside. Repeatedly.
News you can use?
A landowner explains how he helps mitigate fire risk to trees by removing detritus from around the base that would normally burn in small fires, that we do not allow to happen.
youtube video
Putin weaponizes shamans.
https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/wladimir-putin-in-der-mongolei-besuchte-der-russische-praesident-schamanen-a-76e28d87-42c5-4e36-bf48-9a03951aa543
Lässt sich Putin von Schamanen für den Krieg beraten?
> Workers in the GoFundMe Economy
I do not think the moniker “GoFundMe Economy” will catch on, but maybe that’s just me.
If the economic metrics and all the ‘important’ economists like Krugman indicate our economy is healthy but that message has no resonance with much of the Populace, I can think of a reason that is simpler and more obvious than Krugman’s “negativity bias in coverage” by the media, or the link’s suggestion that different classes “have widely varying perceptions of their financial situation”. Varying perceptions of financial situation sounds like a different way of restating that there is a contradiction between the views of economists and the Populace regarding the ‘economy’.
I believe the economic metrics do not measure the economy and economists like Krugman have little interest in measuring or modeling the real economy — the answers come out ‘wrong’. I believe economic metrics generate measures designed to please the Elites. Economists like Krugman interpret the measures to satisfy the current Elite story line. The problem is that the ‘economic metrics’, and the ‘economic theories’ of economists like Krugman have diverged so far from reality that the official story line is rightly perceived as a warped fairy tale with bent and broken wings.
. . . ” Israelis Must Ask Themselves if They’re Willing to Live in a Country That Lives on Blood Haaretz ” . . .
I found a non-paywalled printing of that article by typing in “archive” after the title, as instructed to do by somebody right here. So thanks to whomever gave me ( and others) that handy hint.
So, I went and read the article. It raises some good and real questions for its intended audience. Unfortunately, it also says the following possibly-very-silly thing. Here is that possibly-very-silly thing:
” Israel has never seriously tried another way.”
Never seriously? Seriously never? If the “Oslo Accords” were only meant to fool the Palestinians and the Outer World into thinking that Israel was seriously trying another way, then that sentence is correct and not silly at all.
So is that sentence correct and not silly at all? I remember at the time ( and shortly after) that many left wing intellectuals called the Oslo Accords a diversionary trick and a timewasting trap. Also, and separately, some highly respected Palestinian public intellectuals called it the same thing. Columbia University Professor of Literature Edward Said called it that. Were those intellectuals correct? Was Professor Said correct?
Maybe! Or maybe not. Certainly Netanyahu and the blood-hungry national religionists on his side of the spectrum thought it was a very serious attempt to live another way, and that Rabin and the Rabinists had to be stopped with as much violence as necessary. Those who believe that “creating a climate of” is a thing should be cornered into accepting that all the Netanyahuists worked their hardest to ” create a climate of” assassinating Rabin. In order to derail and stop what they very seriously feared was a very serious attempt to get Israel to live a different way. Here is an article indicating just how seriously Rabin and the Rabinists were about getting Israel to live a different way and also indicating just how serious Netanyahu and the national religionists were about preventing Israel from living that very different way.
https://rigint.blogspot.com/2006/07/violent-bear-it-away.html
Sometimes a country has to have a Civil War in order to blast open the door to “living another way.” The United States had a very serious Civil War once upon a time. The days and weeks after the Rabin assassination gave Israel the one chance it had ( and ever would have) to wage the Civil War necessary to blast open the door to “living another way”.
If Ilan Pape’s suggestion of a rising group of Judeans superseding a fading group of Israelis within Israel is analytically useful and reflects the cultural and correlation-of-forces reality on the ground, and if Levy really wants Israelis to consider his question seriously, then Levy will have to admit that Israelis are not Judeans and Judeans are not Israelis. If the remaining Israelis are smart enough to understand that the Judeans are not Israelis and never will be Israelis ever again, then Israelis might be able to answer this question strictly for themselves.
If the Israelis think they can still somehow force “Israel-the-country” to answer this question, then they will have to realize that the only way to force “Israel-the-country” to even think about this question would be to have a Civil War of American Civil War dimensions. They will have to regard Judea and the Judeans as the “Georgia” they will have to March-to-the-sea through, Sherman-style.
And if they decide that it is too late for Israelis to try to reconquer Judea and Make It Israel Again, then they will have to realize that the only way they can “live another way” is to admit defeat and mass-emigrate from Israel to other countries where they might be free to ” live that another way”. After all, that is sometimes what the losers of a Civil War have to do.
The only way that Israelis can live another way now is to admit that Judea has already waged and won the Civil War, and that the country is all Judea now, and that Israel will NEVER rise again. And give up and mass-emigrate. Perhaps they should burn down every Israeli kibbutz, University, Museum and Research Institute on their way out the door to at least deny the Judeans those particular fruits of their Judean Victory in the Civil War which the Judeans started by assassinating Rabin and which the Judeans have completely won by this point.
Many historians agree with Levy about the seriousness of Israeli negotiating. Oslo/Camp David. While negotiations were underway, The settlements continued & escalated & Israel codified a “Matrix of Control” whereby illegal settlements on hilltops were militarized and linked by “Jewish only” roads connecting to Israel, paving the way for the current reality of 7-800,000 heavily armed West Bank settlers