‘Brain rot’ named Oxford Word of the Year 2024 Oxford University Press
Debt-based speculation surges Counterfire
Climate/Environment
Can Artificial Rain, Drones, or Satellites Clean Toxic Air? Wired
Socialising Nature The Break Down
Midwest builders are using wood in a new way to construct high rises. And it’s climate-friendly Harvest Public Media
Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’ advocates take fight abroad to plastic treaty talks Louisiana Illuminator
Winter forecast shows drought could persist in much of New England NHPR
IS THE DROUGHT COMING FOR CHRISTMAS TREES? The Allegheny Front
Pandemics
Scientists confront a mystery: Why have U.S. bird flu cases been so mild? STAT
H5N1 Bird Flu Concerns Grow. Are COVID-19 Mistakes Being Repeated? Forbes
***
“Don’t give up hope”: Long COVID advocates and researchers say crucial work will continue under Trump The Sick Times
China?
Wow, this is big: China just announced a prohibition of “dual-use items” to “U.S. military users” and a complete ban in principle of export licenses of “dual-use items related to gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials to the United States” (source:… pic.twitter.com/34Hyiuz5xP
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 3, 2024
U.S. Trade Vulnerabilities in Critical Minerals: Pressure Points Amid Rising Tensions. TD Economics. From October, still germane. Useful chart:
Germany’s Baerbock warns China over Russia support Deutsche Welle
Beijing and Moscow tune in for more Arctic shipping The Barents Observer
The US slaps anti-dumping tariffs on Southeast Asian solar panels Electrek. On Chinese manufacturers in Southeast Asia.
US unleashes another crackdown on China’s chip industry Al Jazeera
How America’s War on Chinese Tech Backfired Foreign Affairs
Taiwan leader stops in US after weapons sale, drawing China’s ire Semafor
TEXAS’ HOTBED OF TAIWANESE NATIONALISM Texas Observer
O Canada
Trump reportedly told Justin Trudeau that Canada should become the 51st state if they can’t deal with tariffs New York Post
Big Idea: To Protect against Trump Tariffs, Canada Should Put a Freeze on Defaults Through 2025 Dougald Lamont’s Substack
Old Blighty
Britain and Australia have a spy shortage and recruiting the next generation is proving difficult ABC
Sebastian Gorka: British intelligence asset? The Grayzone
Exclusive: UK media serving ads with anti-UN Israeli propaganda Skwawkbox
European Disunion
Gas prices rising as EU storage tanks empty faster than usual Bne Intellinews
Romania to hold presidential run-off after top court validates first round France24
The French crisis is Macron’s doing. Unherd. Commentary:
Looks like France is heading for a constitutional crisis. A financial crisis provoked by war combined with a constitutional crisis in France? Some echoes of history. No big deal though. I’m sure everything is fine. 🇫🇷👀 https://t.co/TWAdHuRo5D pic.twitter.com/k7SOkDfhEe
— Philip Pilkington (@philippilk) December 2, 2024
Can France rely on the ECB if its bonds blow up? Politico
Going Back to Class Tribune
Syraqistan
The Long War to reaffirm Western and Israeli primacy undergoes a shape-shift Alastair Crooke
RAY McGOVERN: Neocons Try Again in Syria Consortium News
As Turkish-Backed Jihadists Advance Into Syria, Israel Maintains Second Front With New Air Strikes Military Watch
Syria as Putin’s Afghanistan: How a Radical Fundamentalist take-over of Damascus could Change the Middle East Informed Comment
Where do regional powers stand on Syria offensive? The New Arab
Erdogan issues warning to Syria’s government RT. Commentary:
Erdogan's top ally nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli declares that Aleppo "is Turkish and Muslim to its very marrow. It is not just us who says so, history says so, geography says so. The Turkish flag that was hoisted over Aleppo citadel says so." https://t.co/7jOt6A0bjA
— Amberin Zaman (@amberinzaman) December 3, 2024
Extremists clashing with Syrian army ‘ready for peace with Israel’: Ex-intel official The Cradle
Syria rebels pledge stability to Iraq as pro-Iran militias mobilise for Assad The New Arab
***
U.S. Navy Destroyers Thwart Multiple Houthi Attacks on American Ships gCaptain
Yemen strikes US destroyer, three army ships, in top-tier military op. Al Mayadeen
***
Israeli army razes 600 buildings in Gaza to build dozens of military bases, expand Netzarim Corridor The Cradle
REVEALED: Israeli Settler Company Specializing in West Bank Outposts Now at Work in Northern Gaza Drop Site
“Quadcopters were emitting baby sounds, playing sounds of screaming women.”
Palestinians in Gaza say Israel has been using small quadcopter drones, equipped with loudspeakers, to lure them out of their homes and then shoot them. #GazaCrimes pic.twitter.com/W4VytzyvdA
— Al Jazeera Investigations (@AJIunit) December 2, 2024
These Billionaires Subsidize the Israeli Military Through a US Nonprofit Truthout
***
Trump lied about peace, but will deliver only misery in Palestine Red Flag
Trump: Release the hostages or die. pic.twitter.com/zHDaSqwdJO
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) December 2, 2024
New Not-So-Cold War
Ukrainian Army Desertion Rates Surge Amid Catastrophic Personnel Losses: Most Conscripts Just Trying to Escape Military Watch
US unveils $725mln Ukraine aid package; more landmines to pour in Al Mayadeen
Ukraine’s exhausted troops in Russia told to cling on and wait for Trump BBC
***
Zelensky Says He’s Willing To Cede Territory in Exchange for NATO Protection Antiwar
SITREP 12/2/24: Europe’s Bigs Scramble Across Globe for Last Minute Jockeying Simplicius the Thinker
The Caucasus
Streets on fire: Is Georgia opposition forming up a coup? Responsible Statecraft. Commentary:
Some of the big business have come out against Georgian Dream’s government suspension of EU accession talks. Bank of Georgia & TBC bank, two of the biggest banks, banking monopolists. Magticom and Silknet – telecommunications monopolists. Orbi group – developers.
Georgian Dream…
— Sopo Japaridze (@sopjap) December 2, 2024
Will the West’s Gamble in Syria and Georgia Succeed? Larry Johnson, Sonar21
Biden Administration
Intel chief forced out after Biden’s billions fail to deliver turnaround The Telegraph
Trump Transition
Howard Lutnick and the Commandeering of the Department of Commerce Unlimited Hangout
What’s in store for Israeli DefenseTech in the U.S. under the Trump administration CTech
Silicon Valley’s national security pivot will only accelerate under the new Trump administration Chatham House
Thiel pal and venture capitalist eyed for 2nd highest post in Pentagon Responsible Statecraft
Immigration
THESE TECH FIRMS WON’T TELL US IF THEY WILL HELP TRUMP DEPORT IMMIGRANTS The Intercept
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Apple patents system for identifying people when facial scans aren’t enough The Record
AI
Why ‘open’ AI systems are actually closed, and why this matters Nature
Braverman, Monopoly Capital, and AI: The Collective Worker and the Reunification of Labor Monthly Review
GenAI comes for jobs once considered ‘safe’ from automation The Register
Our Famously Free Press
A Giant of Journalism Gets Half its Budget From the U.S. Government Drop Site
Supply Chain
The Red Sea crisis and its impact on containership deployment The Loadstar
Class Warfare
UAW Staff Union Strikes Over Union Busting – All German VW Plans Strike – USPS Suspends Canadian Service Amid Strikes Payday Report
Investors got big tax breaks to turn luxury Bay Area apartments into affordable housing. In many cases, rents are higher than before San Jose Mercury News
Zeitgeist Watch
Man Renovates Decommissioned Missile Silo Into Delightful Airbnb, Attracts “Swingers” Futurism
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Big Mess
(melody borrowed from It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas by Meredith Willson, as performed by Michael Bublé)
Mister Biden is leaving behind a big mess
Sabotage by Joe
He’s as mad as a soggy hen
That Donald is back again
His scatterbrains are taking pains, you know
Mister Biden is leaving behind a big mess
Peace On Earth’s a bore
Though he suffers from syncope he still has the Football key
For atomic war
He can’t settle disputes with American boots
Syria is burning again
Some awe and some shock as he runs out the clock
Those head choppers are his friends
It’s truly sad his addled state shall cost the lives of men
Joseph Biden is leaving behind a big mess
A Zionist yobbo
He belongs in a padded cell harmlessly raising Hell
His demented mind and dark designs must go
Mister Biden is leaving behind a big mess;
Thinks he’s Bonaparte
As he clings to his golden ring he’s become our outlaw king
He should just depart
(musical interlude)
Mister Biden is leaving behind a big mess
Pushing proxy war
Changing guard should be trouble free not an endless agony
Push him out the door!
Will his big mess endure?
Love it!
Best…H
“Trump reportedly told Justin Trudeau that Canada should become the 51st state if they can’t deal with tariffs”
Well Trump is obviously wrong here. That would be the 51st through to the 60th States as Canada has 10 provinces. And would 40 million new citizens have an effect on the American political process? How many votes would they have in the Electoral College? The US will need a bigger flag. You think that those 40 million voters might have a few axes to grind when they are forced to adopt the American health care system? Actually I read a novel years ago about the US trying to force an Anschluss with Canada with local Canadian support. The reason? The US was afraid of a USSR nuclear attack and the only way that they could legally station their nukes to the far north to counter them was to have Canada part of the US.
The US will need a bigger flag, lol, maybe tiny, tiny stars, never mind, we always need a bigger flag. Sigh.
The US has a terrible flag design. We should just dumb it down and adopt the Texas flag and make it easy for 2nd graders working on their class projects.
I was under the impression Texans dumbed it down already by largely copying Chile’s flag-introduced in 1817.
That sounds like a great reason to invade Chile. Call it “the war for the star and stripes”.
I’d rather invade Mendoza, land of the $6.99 bottle of Malbec.
How much would it be on Temu?
It’s a flag design of East India Company, and is appropriate is so many ways.
It needs to be as big as a football field so that the NFL can parade the soldiers around it before a game and the audience can beat their chests and claim patriotism while our soldiers die in foreign wars.
I remember neo-con columnists floating this dumb idea in the toronto sun or something some 30 years ago.
American-born Diane Francis is the one who made this idea her seminal contribution to journalism. As dumb as it is, it would at least be honest. Maybe the EU and ANZAC should merge with the US, too, and give up all their UN spots.
No, they’ll end up like Micronesia and the Marshall Islands and essentially US colonies, still in the UN but treaty bound to vote with the US on everything.
On the positive side, US enlistment rates are plummeting, so who’s going to go suppress the grumpy natives?
Maybe it will be like the residents of Puerto Rico and other US territories who do not have voting representation in Congress and can’t vote in Presidential elections. If that could happen, then I am sure that Trump would graciously let Canada become part of the US.
that’s kind of the current situation. Canada and the other vassal states have no say on foreign policy but have a little bit of leeway on domestic policy. As such, they have similar rights to the 50 US states but no say in who becomes president.
We’re well on our way to a private health care system, so that one might not be the motivation to rebel. The rebellion would no doubt be based in Quebec – I suspect that the US would not support French as an official second language. If Quebec opted out, I’d go there. Hydro electricity and other natural resources in abundance, good food (esp. the cheese) and culture. My French is very rusty but passable, I’d be OK.
The Quebecoise could always hold their insurmountable domination of the global maple syrup supply over the US
And trade it over the pole via Russian icebreaker/cargo ships. Who knew that the ‘C’ in BRICS stood for Canada?
Of course, America could “support” Maines claims to sovereignty over the east of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces. Start a Filibuster or a “Parti populaire de libération de l’Est du Québec” and the rest will be historic.
I would invade Quebec for the seafood and apple cider and artisanal cheese. It’s really a frigid heaven on Earth.
Vive les poutinistes! *
Cri de coeur, ou de l’estomac.
* poutine, that celebrated dish from Quebec, enjoyed partout as an element of diplomacy. /s
Trump is being un-imaginative to his own detriment (as par)…..given Canada’s political make-up, Trump would want to only admit Alberta and Manitoba as reliable red states.
Maybe true in the past but increasingly Canada is going the way of the US – rural folks leaning right and urban in the mostly centre and left (there being little in the way of true left here in the Great White North).
Labrador, gateway to Greenland, the 52nd state?
Greenland, buy it. Just outbid Trump.
Sarc/
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-ally-suggests-trying-purchase-greenland-again-1982720
” That would be the 51st through to the 60th States as Canada has 10 provinces.”
Taking Trump’s offer with more seriousness then it deserves, his offer is Canada as a state. Those 10 provinces would become the equivalent of counties (or parishes for those inclined towards Louisiana). In seriousness though, it is somewhat satisfying to see Trump wipe that smirk off of Trudeau’s face.
O Canada!
Formerly crown colony land!
True expatriate love in all of the U.S. command
With tariff threats we see thee rise
The true inflation index not what it seems!
From far and wide
O Canada, we stand for statehood for thee
Christian Dominionism for ye!
O Canada, we stand on bully pulpits for thee
Same here – unrealistic proposal, which I’m sure Trump is aware of, but it’s hilarious watching him bat little Justin around like a cat toy.
Trump is inadvertently (I think?) doing Canada, Mexico (and the BRICS countries) a favor. Tariffs to my mind force a kind of economic weaning off the American teat. It’s a way of saying go do your business elsewhere, find alternatives. Or of putting a “Closed” sign on America. Am I wrong?
Economic risk management here is not developing an over-reliance on any one source, especially if that source is agreement incapable, not trustworthy/stable and constantly f*ck*ng you over.
Yes, tariffs are a favored protectionism tactic if one wants to develop their own industry/manufacturing base. It, of course works, both ways.
For all the yammering about increasing inflation I dont see anyone noting the benefits to the US via onshoring and rebuilding our manufacturing. Granted, this takes time and investments which companies may be unwilling to undertake if they think the next administration is going to remove any tarrifs
Canada provides the US with ~50% of the crude oil that it refines into gasoline/diesel and re-sells back to Canada at a value-added price.
Seems like tariffs will complicate that supply/exchange. Seems higher fuel prices are in the offing.
“Trump reportedly told Justin Trudeau that Canada should become the 51st state if they can’t deal with tariffs”
That was his cunning plan to Make America Great-er. If it fails, he will just build his wall more to the south.
Make America Guelph Also?
Plus make a Nuovo Banco Ambrosiano the regional financial hub?
If Trudeau became a governor, then he could run for President. Quebec would opt out and become its own nation, as it wants to anyway. Alberta would go to the U.S. in a heartbeat. British Columbia would join Washington, Oregon and California and probably go with Mexico and become our own country. Mexican workers could travel legally as far north as they wish, make decent wages, have health care, create unions, etc. We could join BRICS and get great trade advantages. People from British Columbia could vacation in Mexico easily. What’s not to like?
I’m in, Ann!
And I think we could do a nice little nation with Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, New England and New York.
That Canada- West Coast- Mexico configuration would have over 200 million people and dominate the northern Pacific Ocean coastline!
In my dreams Trudeau responded “That sounds great! Count me in. But we will need a carve out that all Canadians get fully funded socialist Healthcare like we have now in Canada. You can’t expect me to sell this if means we have to suffer under USA Third World for monopoly profit Healthcare system.”
Let’s add NAWAPA while we’re at it…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Water_And_Power_Alliance
I thought the plan was Toronto and parts west could be state 51 and Montreal and parts east merge with Puerto Rico.
“Debt-based speculation surges”, stroking my priors. Worth a read. CLOs, PE (leveraged buyouts), housing, and the Trump bump discussed. On PE I like this succinct description,
The private-equity firms that engage in this activity ‘invest in companies that are almost failing, and in order to make these companies survive, they load them up with debt. These loans end up being repackaged as well, a little bit like the junk mortgages before the 2008 crisis.’
On housing (Toronto), …in 2022, nearly 40% of all Toronto condo units were investment properties.’ Small wonder housing is unaffordable to most.
Some of that debt gets distributed as dividends to those hardy souls braving the storms of the marketplace and City Hall. May as well extract a little something for the endgame, their timeless motto.
Sounds a little but like the mafia doing a bust out of an ongoing business they have ” invested” in. With Private Equity it’s legal…
From the movie “Goodfellas”
https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=goodfellas+bust+the+joint+out
It’s like one of those rules from the ever excellent film Fight Club…”fights will go on as long as they have to…”. Markets will remain strong until they aren’t, just not sure what else can goose the fears of most investors…wars and saber rattling don’t seem to deter these “animal spirits”.
A true correction happened across many segments of the US markets during 2022, which if I correctly recall almost every imaginable investment class was down except for short term cash and perhaps money market funds. So the most savvy investors did have some notice then that yes, trees do not often continue growing upward to the sky.
My opinion is worth the price of free admission of course, but it seems a recession* could be in the offing come the next few quarters. This pro-cyclical investment and Federal spending has only helped and aided to keep the spigots flowing and that deep trough of government money stays filled.
I reserve the ability and the right to be wrong again, of course!
Re: Brain-rot the phrase of the year
I suffer from addiction to mindless doom-scrolling and going down rabbit-holes. Any readers have advice for those who struggle like I do?
The other catch phrase of the year is “bed-rot”. It might be a solution, if you pull the covers over your head.
Go out for a walk or even better, go to a cafe, sit down over a hot cuppa by the window and just simply watch the world go by through that window with all those different people going back and forth and living their own lives.
A basket full of kittens? More bandwidth?
ChrisFromGA: first, I’d say that one of the problems is that post-post-modern life is too mediated. Too many media, mainly electronic, mainly propaganda.
Cut out the “middle man/woman.”
Do the primitive things: Go to a gallery and look at paintings. Go to the theater (not movies). Go dancing. Garden. Cook. How are the mushrooms in Georgia? Become a mycologist and sautée your harvest. Read poetry — better yet, attend a poetry reading. If you ever studied another language, go back to it and polish. Or start another language, something that will open up a new world like Japanese or Persian. Modern Greek! Preferably doing language study with other people.
Books. They are the most efficient “delivery system” out there. Paper is good for you. Also, read “outside” your specialty. Read books on cookery. Read travel memoirs. (Don’t read I-was-an-alcoholic memoirs or anything by Anne Lamott.) Once you take up Japanese, read animé. Read histories of countries that you aren’t familiar with — Brazil (amazing), Thailand (wow), Crete (timeless).
Write letters. Holding a pen and writing are good for you. Doing so involves a part of the self that is neglected. And everyone likes getting letters.
Take a walk and look for crows. Crows are always an education.
I am lucky. I live near the Mighty Po, which was once thought to be Eridanos, the River of Heaven. And there is a stretch, smack dab in the center of the Chocolate City, that attracts ducks, herons, little white egrets, and cormorants. It is a walk I do often.
The problem with setting a time limit for reading here comes with commenting. If I comment I feel obliged to check in later to see if there are responses to respond to 😀 So here I am back again between walk and yoga.
This is a great list DJG! I share your dislike of Anne Lamott. I am always looking for fiction set in countries that I know little about – a great way to ‘see’ the world. Also agree with learning and focusing on something new. There was a Seinfeld episode where George mused about wanting to be a buff – ie an amateur expert in something. When I worked with college students teaching them about how to progress in their chosen fields, I often showed that clip and advised them to become buffs in a particular area in their field. Learning about something and knowing it in depth or being able to do something well is very satisfying and highly distracting from the woes of the world. I am absolutely flabbergasted by the number of YouTube channels devoted to crochet. And of course there are also Reddit forums. Local yarn shops offer classes and workshops and get togethers (Stitch and Bitch clubs) – a whole world of discovery.
Excellent suggestions! If anyone is reading up on Cretan history, I highly recommend The Cretan Runner about the Cretan resistance in WW2.
Getting out and looking around can be very therapeutic. A few years ago when we were not allowed to go to work, I started going out to to the coastal walking path near my house to get some fresh air during the day. I’d walked it many times before and there were always lots of mallard ducks swimming around, and just the mallards, or so I thought. When I had the extra time for more leisurely walking, I brought my binoculars with me and noticed that not all the green headed waterfowl were mallards – I found mergansers and goldeneye ducks out on the water too. Buffleheads, eiders and surf scoters. All kinds of birds that were always there that I’d never noticed. I got a little familiar with their migratory patterns and what times of year I could expect to see them, and what season their feathers changed color.
To add one more to DJG’s list, go out in the woods a day or two after a rain and take pictures of as many different kinds of mushrooms as you can find. Once you’re on the lookout for them, you’ll notice all kinds of fungi you’d never seen before. Lots of websites now where you can upload your pictures to help identify the species, if you’re the kind of person who likes to know. This is a good one: https://mushroomobserver.org/
And if you want to discover good local places for birdwatching, ebird can be helpful:
https://support.ebird.org/en/support/solutions/articles/48001255129-explore-regions-and-hotspots
If circumstances permit, plant a garden, starting your plants from seed. It can be a year-round task; in cold season, you can start cold-hardy perennials indoors, and cold stratify seeds of varieties that need that for germination. Gardening is good for mental health and can help preserve functional strength, which is useful as one’s age advances.
Thanks. I do dabble a bit in gardening; this year’s attempt at gardening came a cropper.
Was going to say this- good time to get you a few seed catalogs. Maybe make your own hot sauce this coming year.
Put some garlic in the ground, cover with straw, maybe. Such things are worth the time, I believe.
I suggest beans. My garden isn’t in the best spot for various reasons, and beans seem to grow better than most other things. I plant 8 or 9 legume varieties every year now, including soy beans and peas, and I save the seeds form each type to plant the next year, which is very easy to do.
One of my favorite things to do is sit outside in the fall and shell all the beans beside the firepit. Very relaxing!
Beans, yes! We think the best are “Fortex”. No string, can get to 1′ long, good taste and very prolific. They are pole beans and can grow 15′ easily.
An old song translated from the Pawnee….. (the melody doesn’t translate well in the comments section):
“Ground squirels like mesquite beans to eat
Ground squirels like mesquite beans to eat
Beans are god to eat when they fall
Beans are god to eat when they fall”
I limit myself. NC and Canadian news in the morning over coffee and a brief late afternoon update. I read (fiction, physical books) more now than ever and have also been learning to crochet. And RK is right, nothing beats getting outdoors to clear the mind of doom and gloom thinking. That said, I am far from optimistic about the future of humanity. My project for 2025 is coming to terms with the fact that humanity has lost and figuring out how to be happy and productive with the time that I have left. I have been learning to meditate and about radical acceptance. Struggling mightily with the latter, I find it very difficult to accept the state of the world as it is especially in light of being able to do so little about it. I have come to figure out that part of my doomscrolling is about trying to figure out how we got here. And I am not having a whole lot of luck with that. Hmm, maybe that’s not so helpful. All I can say is that I am on some kind of personal path and that work is keeping me from spending too much time in doomscrolling mode. And now it is time for a walk and then my morning yoga class.
Good words. It’s as if we’ve been diagnosed with advanced cancer and we need to adapt. There’s nothing we can do so we need to accept it. Try to enjoy our remaining months.
Set aside some time to scroll, stop when time’s up. Use the smartphone to set a wake-up time, also set one for about the time you’re done with the second cup of coffee and it’s time to get on with the day.
The only place that doesn’t lie to me and try and explain away falsehoods is Mother Nature’s realm, sure there’s subterfuge and deception going on all the time among her many clients, but it’s of the old school flavor.
Pretty sure that your cats would never lie to you. They are always up front with what they want.
My cats enthusiastically endorse this comment. Lol, “Hair Furor”, that you?
Einstein (…the brains of the outfit) is the ad hoc leader of the caliphate, and just the other day had in his custody a vole attired in an orange jumpsuit, that is before beheading to a luncheon.
There’s an awful lot of doom-scrolling in Mother Nature’s realm among her client list-as far as the food chain goes, but rest easy as we aren’t on it, mostly.
A great way to get away from this here ball and chain.
My chickens do this for me. I have ten hens and no rooster. My husband calls them the Bene Gesserit. It’s December and we should have snow but we don’t, so the Sisters wander around destroying the lawn and leaving treats for the dog, Princess Flapdoodle the Operatic Dachshund.
Lie back and think of England.
Like this? (utube),(mild language), from Guy Ritchie’s “Snatch”
Things could be worse you know in regards to brain-rot.
My late mother never saw an organ meat she didn’t like, and when I was a little kid, I’d open the fridge and there was some Bessie’s brain on styrofoam waiting to be breaded and baked. Luckily I had a 3 legged Irish Setter named Nero that was good with under the table deals @ dinner.
My daughter and I bought some watercolors, watched a few videos, and now watercolor together weekly. No experience or talent required.
…explore it long enough and the experience and skill will arrive.
Thanks for the encouragement. We have deemed our works worthy if display on the fridge.
Well, in my view, brain-rot comes from brain-worms.
So, that’s what I watch out for.
Highly recommend walking outdoors, even better if you can be in nature. Get a dog. They are loyal and affectionate, always happy to greet you when you get home. They seem to enjoy if you talk to them. Plus you take them for a walk for potty purposes which gets you out walking even on days you don’t feel like it. Many positive results. Most of these benefits are not common with cats.
Go outside on a clear night and look up at the stars. Inexpensive binoculars will reveal an astounding number of deep sky objects that you would otherwise never see. The northern hemisphere has several amazing constellations that are easy to find and filled with all sorts of neat stuff to gaze at (Orion of course, but also Cassiopeia and Cygnus and Perseus, to name three of my favorites). I always look for the Andromeda Galaxy; it’s comforting to know that after we’re all dead and gone, she will still be up there laughing down at us.
RE: Trump: Release the hostages or die.
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
This brings back my former career teaching symbolic logic. Trump is clearly using the inclusive ‘or’, because the Israeli government will continue their murder spree whether the hostages are released or not.
Actually they will increase their murder spree as they will no longer have the hostages to worry about – not that they ever did.
But Trump is using the Merriam Webster version with the implication that he will control the Israelis (which we can–always could). After all it is the position of Hamas itself that they will release the hostages in exchange for not dying.
Of course if you take Trump’s statement as mere rhetoric (likely true) then he is supporting the hasbara lie that the slaughter is all about the hostages. Also Trump says lots of things and has said he doesn’t support the Greater Israel goal of the Netanyahu regime.
At any rate it’s only a couple of month before we find out if it’s “art of the deal” or “not agreement capable.”
We’ll see, but I suspect you’re correct. Trump’s MO for a long time is to lead with bluster and then cut a deal without even coming close to carrying out his original threats. Someone posted a video here recently from several years ago where Trump made it pretty clear that in his opinion (and mine too), the ones who refused to make a deal were the Israelis and they were the problem.
That was his instinct then – maybe he changed his mind now that so much Gazan real estate has been cleared for potential development. I hope not.
I’ve read reports that Trump now thinks God spared him from assassination so he could do good things. If so, surely God wasn’t wanting him to cause the death of others. But it’s hard to know what goes on in the Trump brain. He’s more of a Tweeter than a philosopher.
God or the golden idol?
Generally, this is what I see. But he will do anything to avoid looking bad. (And not in the sense of losing face or anything like that – I mean not being the star.)
I will eat crow if he cuts energy costs in half within 18 months of taking office. Or if there are defense spending cuts that cut contracts to oligarchs (instead of, for instance, veterans benefits.) Perhaps he can even “settle” the war in Ukraine before he is sworn in.
Threats to his image are the wild card.
WSJ is hooting about his rainbow coalition so he’s probably feeling pretty good.
In other words, a continuation of the current policy. Nothing will fundamentally change!
He should impose tariffs on hostages.
Trump & Israelis, in good US tradition, will “kill the hostages in order to save the hostages”…
‘Arnaud Bertrand
@RnaudBertrand
Wow, this is big: China just announced a prohibition of “dual-use items” to “U.S. military users” and a complete ban in principle of export licenses of “dual-use items related to gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials to the United States” ‘
Looks like the Chinese have just killed the chicken to scare the monkeys with. I wonder how hard this will effect the Pentagon supply chain now that the Chinese have adopted this mirror legislation, especially with R & D programs that need these exotic materials. Certainly this is also a shot across the bow for the incoming Trump admin. They are telling Trump that he thinks that he can go all Godzilla over China but in fact that they can do the same. Next move is Trumps.
Nailed it, but I would emphasize that Trump thinks he’s Godzilla (i.e. he’s deluded) while China genuinely can.
I don’t actually think China is omnipotent or problem-free as they may seem from economic news nowadays. But until studying Chinese history & philosophy more in depth, I couldn’t even conceive how powerfully the Chinese state can act when unified. That’s the key condition that also explains its weak periods.
Xi has consolidated his authority, all officers are in their proper place, and the Chinese economy has almost completed its grand project to compete in every node of a cutting-edge society. For all our sakes, someone better open Trump’s eyes that he’s not dealing with another state anymore, but a force of nature.
Gallium is essential for high end chip production and antimony for munitions.
This is going to be lots of fun but they really need to expand the ban to all of “the garden” and require strict export licensing and tracing requirements for the rest.
And germanium is essential in the tip of heat seeking missiles.
And high speed electronics.
See silicon-germanium (SiGe).
Thank you. I’m just waiting for the day when the rest of the world tells America that it’s no longer willing to put up with our baggage in return a little pieces of print green paper or digital equivalent thereof. What does everyone continue to act as though America is doing everybody a massive favor by paying for tangible goods with 1s and 0s?
Something to keep an eye on. An Act which, imo,violates both the 1st, Free Speech, and 14th, equal protection, Amendments. Schumer wants it attached to the Defense spending bill to slip through Senate passage. House Speaker Johnson wants it to remain a stand alone vote in the Senate. About the bill, from the May, 2024 USNews&World Report magazine:
The Controversy Surrounding the Antisemitism Bill, Explained
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-05-07/explainer-the-controversy-surrounding-the-antisemitism-bill
To think that, once upon a time, the ACLU came out in support of the American Nazi Party’s right to free speech.
Yep. That was back in the ACLU days of the mighty Ira Glasser.
https://www.mightyira.com/
See also this NSPA v. Village of Skockie, Ill. case that resulted in the Court’s landmark decision wtr freedom of speech.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Party_of_America_v._Village_of_Skokie
adding: 6+ minute utube. Ira Glasser on the Bill Maher show.
Ira Glasser on Free Speech | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Lc5b8Flto
And, well, I must add this from Tablet Magazine:
The archetypical ACLU figure was also often Jewish, as immortalized in the 2003 Onion story, “ACLU Defends Nazis’ Right to Burn Down ACLU Headquarters.” That joke was based upon the real-life case of National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie, wherein the organization represented a group of neo-Nazis who were denied a permit to march through a Chicago suburb that was home to a significant number of Jewish Holocaust survivors. The image of Jewish ACLU attorneys defending the free speech rights of American neo-Nazis was a source of shame for some Jews but pride for many others, a testament to Jewish confidence in the institutions and values of American liberalism. No American minority had reaped more from its faith in the country’s professed commitment to pluralism and tolerance than the Jews, a gift they repaid many times over by supporting the institutions—the universities, the Democratic Party, the ACLU—which upheld them.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-disintegration-of-the-aclu-james-kirchick
Ok. I’ll stop. I think the point is made.
It sounds like the controversy is more about attempts by the Lobby to control speech than the conflation of Israel with Judaism which all Jews should find objectionable. Even if it passes it’s likely to be struck down by the courts?
re Bertrand, “dual use items” are A “dual-use” item is one that has civil applications as well as terrorism and military or weapons of mass destruction (WMD)-related applications. according to my AI. This would seem to cover just about everything if you wanted it to.
Here “dual-use” is defined by the Bureau of Industry and Security.
IIRC in the past the US placed export controls on some golf clubs because the graphite composite technology was considered dual-use. The US also banned radio-isotope and other medicines from going to Iran because they are “dual-use” resulting in thousands of unnecessary deaths each year (long story, also relates to Iran’s “nuclear program,” worth looking up).
So yes, dual-use is an excuse to harm your favorite demon country’s economy.
Syria should make it clear to all now that we don’t live in a world with multiple conflicts but we’re back in a world war, albeit cautious for now, with multiple fronts. Whichever front you look at you will find the same belligerents. So anyone siding with Palestine on the one hand, but with Ukraine or the Syrian rebels on the other is incoherent. It’s the Empire vs the resistance now, if it hasn’t always been.
My hope is for the resistance to smarten up. Russia doesn’t seem to be very good at multitasking. Do they even have a plan for the Georgian maidan or Armenia? Syria seems to have taken them completely by surprise.
It has alway been, for those that are not part of The Empire (whether openly or in disguise), or are two-chair-sitters. The Empire has many proxies, and they are always easy to tell, by those with eyes not wide shut.
“Do they even have a plan for the Georgian maidan or Armenia?”
And there are still hopes of further developing Nordic proxies.
Hereason Turley on the Biden mea culpa pardon:
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5017228-biden-pardoning-son-corruption-scandal/
FTA:
Bold mine. Now do Bill and Hillary.
I will cue the tiny violins for poor dear Hunter Biden, target of the nefarious agents and those “do gooder” folks at the IRS after he willfully was or is skirting any real punitive harm from not filing taxes….it tends to be problematic to anyone else who dare not file their taxes, but yeah it was just a “witch hunt…”
When the Biden family shows us who they are we should believe them. Joe and the WH spokes critters, please pull the other one while proclaiming Donald J Trump is the coming debacle to end “Our Democracy”…
… The path of Dark Brandon is beset on all sides
By the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men
Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will
Shepherds the weak into the valley of darkness
For he is truly Netanyahu’s keeper and the killer of lost children
And I will strike down upon thee
With great vengeance and furious anger
Those who attempt to poison and destroy Hunter’s reputation
And you will know my name is the game
When I lay my vengeance upon thee
Nobody (family blogs) with a Biden!
(bang-bang shoot-shoot)
About the time Biden was nominated as VP, there was an article in one of the big UK papers where a couple of guys looking to dig up DC dirt posed as representatives of one of the corrupt -stan countries and tricked a DC lobbyist or PR firm into meeting with them. They wanted to know how to burnish the image of the country’s very nasty leader in DC. The lobbyist/PR person said it was definitely doable, and suggested they talk to Biden, since he’d been around forever and knew how to do these things.
This family has been corrupt and profiting off it for decades. If I have to hear one more time what a “decent man” this grifter is… well I guess I’ll yell even louder at some clouds.
It has been fun to watch all the spin in this. Some think Biden did this to protect Hunter because he did nothing wrong (including Biden too) from Trump who is going to after all his political opponents and throw them in jail. I read where a popular podcast the PMC listen to had a list of people Biden should pardon to protect them from Trump. They think he’s doing the country a favor and protecting these people. IMO, the list looks like a good start for the jail cell, but that’s just me.
It doesn’t matter what Biden or the dems do, their base finds something great about it. And everything else goes through the Trump prism in their shallow little minds. They are mad, bitter, revengeful and scared out of their wits. It will be a wild next 4 years.
Now that Hunter’s been pardoned, he no longer has a 5th Amendment shield if forced to testify before a Congressional committee. Which he should do as often as necessary to get the truth out about Biden family corruption.
So how does this work? He CAN be charged with crimes from now on, and by refusing to testify or outright lying to Congress he can be prosecuted? I kind of like the idea of huge long drawn out battles in the courts/congress/press over this stuff. It keeps them busy so they can’t do other worse things.
Heckuva Cease-fire, Hochstein! (best heard in a Dubya drawl.)
List of airlines canceling flights to the Middle East
Battles rage in Syria, Lebanon, Israel
“Germany’s Baerbock warns China over Russia support”
‘Baerbock met with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing, where she discussed allegations that China is supplying drones or drone components to support Moscow’s war.’
For the love of god, somebody take Baerbock’s passport off her before she does any more damage to Germany. Should it be pointed out that a lot of the drones that the Ukrainians were using were also sourced from China? Does that count? Did she also threaten China like she did last time? This woman is nothing but a disaster so who thought it a good idea to make her the Foreign Minister.
She’s getting a divorce and will soon be back on the dating market!
Thanks Emma. You just made me wince.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCc-RWIp7XU
I hear that the Menendez brothers may be out on the dating market, soon. Possible match!
Hunter Biden? Still married but always on the look out for an acrobatic fun loving gal who shares his deep commitment to Ukraine.
If everything goes right, they could be locked up together in a couples cell at the Hague.
Sadly, Tom Bolton is married.
Thank you, Emma.
Sanna Marin is not just on the market. She’s here, too. Working for Tony Blair’s gang.
One wonders if Kaja Kallas will join ’em?
We should probably count our blessings that Samantha Powers and Vicky Nuland have aged out of this role and are apparently happily married. Then again I believe Nikki Haley’s marriage is on the rocks so perhaps more will join in.
Thank you, Emma.
Still a party girl, Sanna Marin?
Thank you, Kouros.
I don’t know, but hope so.
I forgot about Maia Sandu
https://x.com/KitKlarenberg/status/1864035247538503798
I say, let her rip. Give her Concorde, so she could fit more stuff in her busy schedule.
Syraqistan: whoever is running the US sends head choppers into Aleppo!
I was thinking that this might be a case of “use or lose.”
With Tulsi Gabbard on deck for DNI, it is quite possible that this whole dirty game of paying astroturfed jihadis to pretend to be “moderate rebels” was going to be exposed. Therefore, the head choppers get one last chance to take out Assad. It’s a win-win for the swamp because either:
1. They succeed (unlikely, but you never know)
2. They fail – dead men tell no tales.
I think Larry Johnson is on to it. The US and vassals are out to war against Iran.
I suspect the neocon field marshals think Iran would “be on its own”. The US has a short window [if any remains] before it is so inept as to be irrelevant militarily.
The idea of leaving Trump a war…..
So much for the righteous “adults being in charge!”
I think the resistance in west Asia has enough to make any kind of spring 1965 insertion {Vietnam] untenable. I do not discount the pentagon’s talent to promise the world.
Spring 1940 comes to mind including the French usual disarray in face of world crisis.
Remember [unlike neocons] it took Iran backed forces to clear ISIS in Iraq and assisted in Syria!
During Vietnam, skepticism about the war was sometimes greeted with “the government knows things we don’t”.
Courtesy of Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers the population found this statement was true.
Things were going worse than we were being told and the government knew that.
Since Vietnam, I graduated high school in1968, US government does things they do not want you to know about.
I went to ROTC vice going right in. My group were all Vietnam vets.
Years after the war a friend with Special Force tours gave me, Once Upon a Distant War, Wm Prochnau.
The little I know the U.S. is as into the mud as ever with sustaining Al Qaeda, which our apologists call Salafi!
I’m actually still in wait-and-see mode on this rewarmed, Syrian front in our current world war. It’s definitely a major operation by HTS, and I see even those usually more skeptical (like Juan Cole & EJ Magnier) are calling it a rout.
But I remember how wildly claims & propaganda were thrown around last time Aleppo was an active war zone. Yet somehow, when the dust settled, HTS was battered & exiled to Idlib while the Syrian government kept the city. I suspect there’s a huge amount of coordinated hype around HTS performance, even if they’ve entered parts of the city.
The one premise everyone seems to be taking for granted is that the Syrian Army is hollow & just did like the Iraqis in Mosul. Time may change my mind, but I don’t buy it. The Syrian Army may still have a lot of dictatorship-style corruption & dysfunction, but it’s definitely leaner & meaner than when the civil war started. And I highly doubt it’s grown weaker since the war entered a lull (see Clausewitz on how military units that succeed in battle develop a stable tradition of effectiveness)
One corollary: if much of this is a psy-op / flash mob style “go-for-broke” offensive, it’s possible Erdoğan and the official Turkish government genuinely didn’t sign off on it. He’s definitely still capable of being that inconsistent, but it’s also possible other backers are trying to drag Türkiye along for the ride. I’m even more agnostic on whether elements of Turkish intelligence are freelancing.
‘Amberin Zaman
@amberinzaman
Erdogan’s top ally nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli declares that Aleppo “is Turkish and Muslim to its very marrow. It is not just us who says so, history says so, geography says so. The Turkish flag that was hoisted over Aleppo citadel says so.”‘
Saying the quite bit out loud. There are parts of Iraq that these Turkish nationalists says belongs to Turkiye as well.
Yeah, that’s the MHP guy, right? Same party that includes the Gray Wolves?
However one feels about Erdoğan v1.0, my impression through both reading & hearing some opinions first-hand, is that he’s turned a lot of people off since doubling down on the nationalists & business interests. But as long as there’s no real, appealing opposition party….
You have to wonder how the Arab portion of HTS rationalizes things after hearing stuff like that though. TBF probably like most of us and just willfully deny it.
I believe Cole was on the “claims & propaganda” side of the fence during the last Syria flare up. That’s when some of us stopped liking him very much.
Now that the salafist proxies have been mobilized again, Cole has mobilized to provide cover for tenderhearted “liberal” readers. He equates Russia’s role in Syria with the US role in Afghanistan, as if the artificial entity imposed by the US military was equivalent to the legitimate (and fairly popular) government of Syria. Here’s Cole in the article above:
“The Syrian Baath government of Bashar al-Assad is as guilty of genocide as the Israeli government, having tortured to death some 10,000 people and having killed hundreds of thousands of innocents in its war to crush the Sunni rebel forces in the teens of the last decade.”
Time to remind Atlantic and New Yorker readers of the “Assad files” and the noble whistleblower “Caesar” (for whom the devastating “Caeser sanctioins” which have helped destroy what’s left of Syria are named). Assad is a horrible demonic dictator who tortured tens of thousands and murdered hundreds of thousands of “innocents” – but gosh, we sure hope the “extremists” don’t win!
It’s hard for me to express my level of contempt for liberal apologists like Cole.
Even Magnier admits now that SAA seems to have managed to halt the HTS advance and defend against the simultaneous attack by Kurds. I believe his scepticism is due to the situation being so complex it’s really hard to know which side everybody is until the dust settles.
One thing I’ve noticed in the videos from Aleppo is that the “moderate opposition” in Syria seems to consist mostly of people from Central Asia, Pakistan, China and Turkiyet. Weird, that.
Well, the Russians providing fighter jets, HPV drones, and battlefield reconnaissance and skilled at the new wave battleground techniques, seems to be the most consequential addition to stopping the incursion.
I mean unless you’re holed up in Aleppo, the chances of avoiding a bullet/bomb are low.
I’m also in a wait-and-see mode about how the Sykes–Picot “-ish” revisions will turn out as well. Especially how Türkiye works out its desires with the Greater Israel plans.
Philip Pilkington: French Crisis of Macron’s doing.
Pilkington gives an excellent diagnosis: “What explains Macron’s strange behaviour? It appears that as he becomes increasingly isolated at home, and with his project for domestic reform crashing against the rocks, he has tried to recreate himself as an international statesman.”
So many great statespeeps, and they are so darned bored with domestic politics. They can’t be bothered to take note of the needs of the populace the way that FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt were capable of. Repealing the Taft-Hartley Act is so darn messy, when one can simply sign a memo and send some Attaacsmsmsms to Zelenskyy.
No wonder Fala is spinning in his grave.
So we have many, many international statespeeps, towering figures crowing from the dungheap of Western politics: Joe “Well, Pardon Me” Biden. Hillary “He Died” Clinton and her consort, the alleged serial alleged rapist. Annalena Baerbock, who just can not be bothered with the German populace. Boris “Hairspray” Johnson. And these are our friendses.
(Why bother mentioning some ayatollah when we have Victoria “Cookies of Death” Nuland?)
However, I will await comments from Bugs on how things look in France. From Italy, and from the Chocolate City, which is a mere 60 km from the French border, the French are always un peu mysterieux et grincheux, n’est-ce pas?
Also in reply to Col Smithers below. Unlike some French Presidents, Macron is not a complex individual who is difficult to understand, he’s a banal individual without much that needs understanding, an empty suit clutching the right credentials, who is President but who has no idea what to do, and does not have either the experience or the advice to govern the country properly. It’s generally thought that he saw the Presidency as a steeping-stone, perhaps to some kind of executive European Presidency designed for him. Certainly, he has no real interest in France, whose people, culture and history he despises.
The present crisis is Macron’s fault in the sense that in 2022 his antics helped to destroy the parliamentary majority his coalition then had, and in in 2024, in a fit of spite, he called an unnecessary election which just made the position worse. None of the main factions can govern alone, and all of them are manoeuvring for party advantage with no real thought of the country. The “Left” is sulking because it wasn’t asked to form a government (it couldn’t have done so) and wants to bring the government down. The RN, surprisingly says it will back to vote of no confidence, in which case the government will fall. But that’s not a “constitutional crisis” it just means that someone else will have to try to form a government, and probably fail.
The French have always been active diplomatically, as a nuclear power and a P5 member, and they still have influence in many parts of the world, whatever you may read. The Levant is a traditional area for French diplomacy, and French Presidents are expected to take an interest in the area and go there, so there’s nothing unusual in his behaviour. (By convention, the President plays a large role in foreign affairs.) But there’s also something irresistibly amusing in the French, as members of the Group of Five nations (with the US, Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) trying to persuade the Lebanese to elect a President and form a government. The latest from Beirut suggests that the Lebanese are closer to doing that than the French are.
Is Starmer a creation of State Dept? He’s been proven useful in several notable tasks, is loyal beyond reason, made Labour safe for American interests, and can presumably be blackmailed over Savile. I only started thinking about this the other day but I’ll bet some of our regulars have a good picture.
I would say MI-6 and the Mossad. He definitely learned to game his expense accounts and donor contributions like the Netanyahus.
Thank you, Tom and, in reply, Emma.
Not quite a creation.
Starmer comes from some money and has never been a left winger. He’s married to a Zionist.
As the UK’s chief prosecutor and well before Assange, Starmer travelled regularly to Washington, far exceeding his predecessor’s travel and expenses budget. Instead of restricting his engagements to law enforcement, Starmer met the national security apparatus. In his campaign to undermine and oust Corbyn, Starmer was helped by the US war machine.
It’s not just Savile. There are the Fayed brothers, serial rapist John Worboys and the 300 UK residents, including three prominent journalists, detailed in the Epstein documents. Starmer is intensely political, sucks up and kicks down. There’s no need to blackmail, unlike Olaf Scholz.
Kicking down includes targeting the 2011 rioters and ignoring fresh evidence about racist attacks going back to the early 1980s, including a house fire in London. Sucking up includes protecting the police who killed Ian Tomlinson and Jean-Charles de Menezes. In the latter case, it’s rumoured that IOF forces seconded to the UK were involved in that tragedy.
One hopes the likes of Phil and Paul Greenwood pipe up.
Thank you Colonel! Sounds like he’s been auditioning for his current job all his life. A sort of Anglo-Zionist cursus honorum, I suppose.
Thank you, Emma. Yes. That’s a good way of explaining Starmer.
Thank you, Conor.
Further to Philip Pilkington’s article in Unherd, I note the reference to Macron’s banking background, not uncommon. Mmm.
Have readers noticed how with regard to Macron, Sunak and Starmer, no former colleague is ever quoted or even asked about what the trio were like to work with?
The City is a parish. Sunak and, across the water, Macron appear not to have left a mark.
When Macron flounced out of the Hollande government, he came to London to meet donors, replicating what Sarkozy* did in 2007. He met some City leaders, but not, curiously or may be not curiously, his former bank employer.
Rothschild and its haute banque rival Lazard (Freres) have a tradition of recruiting from the French and, to a much lesser extent, UK civil service. This did not apply to Macron, he was placed by Jacques Attali at Rothschild as a stepping stone. There’s no recollection of anything he did.
In the spring of 2016, a tv documentary profiled Macron. There were interviews mainly with mainly women from la grande bourgeoisie parisienne, one of whom had served as *Sarkozy’s mistress. The ex mistress, a well known author, referred to Rothschild, but never elaborated what Macron did there. No former colleague, even anonymously, spoke.
Last week, a former French diplomat lamented how Macron had sidelined the Quai d’Orsay and career diplomats in favour of a clique that resembles him and what sounded like Tony Blair’s sofa government. This was about Netanyahu’s immunity.
With regard to Sunak, he did not last more than a couple of years at Goldman Sachs. There’s some suggestion that he was culled in their periodic review of performance. It’s also suggested that he was recruited by hedge funds to market to wealthy Indians and the diaspora, not for any stock picking skills.
With regard to Starmer, former employees at the crown prosecution service suggest he was a bad manager, a micro manager, had poor judgment, was political, sucked up and kicked down, and was, ahem, liberal with expenses.
Further to Macron’s failings, readers may want to read about the UK parallel, https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/12/02/without-a-story-labour-is-going-to-carry-on-failing/.
One hopes Aurelien / David, Bugs and Marcel pipe up about France. Thank you in anticipation.
What strikes me about these figures is the intellectual simplicity; there is no vision among them or individually. I remember now the phrase, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18)
Thank you and well said, CA.
Your quote betrays your education, insight and analysis. These people have collected credentials, not education and experience outside politics or a politics adjacent profession, are often superficial and one dimensional, and could not contemplate the quote you cite.
The likes of Starmer and his chancellor / finance minister Rachel Reeves are out of their depth. Apparently, Reeves is stressed about the pickle the UK and she are in. There’s some speculation about when Starmer will scapegoat her, perhaps the summer of 2026, although he fears the ambitious blairite stooge Wes Streeting.
I have many senior civil service contacts these days (middle age!). I hear interesting things.
Apparently one junior minister had an “I don’t get angry, tell me difficult things” speech to his new staff. Cue an all hands departmental meeting with various directors and deputy directors to discuss how some of the recent promises would be delivered. He was told there was no money. He asked why not. He was told that the settlement he and other Ministers agreed with HMT had cut it all. He went ballistic, claiming if he had known that he would not have agreed it!
His outrage seemed genuine if misplaced. They seem incompetent. They are also unused to make choices, after ten years of promising everything to everybody in opposition. And, of course, foregrounding and unifying all of that, they have no vision for the nation state, just for their electoral advancement and donor satisfaction.
Thank you.
Sunak was very lucky to have married very much above his station. I knew his wife in a previous life. Very intelligent and diligent girl. Very humble and down to earth considering who she is. Rather pretty in person and big knockers.
Thanks Colonel. Sounds like the mediocrity of our Dems is spreading like a virus. Or did the infection come from the Euro direction and infect us? Our upper classes have always had a crush on the UK aristocracy and coveted their swank country houses. France too is an obsession and many New Yorkers I suspect knowing their way around Paris a lot better than South Carolina or, as they say, Carolina (it’s down here somewhere). These days class solidarity clearly trumps nationalism with any convenient boogie man (Putin) to serve as the glue.
I remember Chris Hedges suggesting that “the people attracted to power are at best mediocre or venal.”
He attributed this assertion to Karl Popper in his book “The open society and its enemies”
At the time, Hedges claimed Bush Jr was venal and Obama was mediocre.
Perhaps we see leaders, now, who are both venal AND mediocre.
Maybe these two characteristics are combined into powerful who are both venal and mediocre.
Macron […] was placed by Jacques Attali at Rothschild as a stepping stone. There’s no recollection of anything he did.
This is not entirely true: there have been a few investigations about Macron did as an investment banker (here is one, for those who read French), but the general tenor is as follows:
1) Macron played a leading and much commented role in two transactions: the takeover of famous French newspaper Le Monde; the takeover of Pfizer’s baby milk division by Nestlé. The former sullied somewhat his reputation because he was clumsily playing several sides in the deal. The latter one was the real (and only) big deal that enabled Macron to pocket a few millions for himself.
2) He was also involved as advisor in the takeover of the Siemens IT division by Atos (which is itself being dismantled now, being on the verge of bankruptcy), and in the takeover of Lesieur Cristal (food industry).
3) In general, he was considered to be a promising young man, with a very interesting rolodex (already), but not a genuine achiever. The aforementioned deals (especially under point 1) were generally brought by his sponsors Minc, Attali, & co.
All in all, he looks like a not terrifically brilliant (even mediocre) cat’s paw, placed by the people who really count in the right positions to do their bidding.
Thank you.
I still have my doubts that he was anything more than George Osborne in M&A. See Osborne at Robey Warshaw.
Macron lobbied Osborne to have ATOS selected for social services private sector delivery.
I had forgotten Alain Minc.
“Erdogan issues warning to Syria’s government”
Erdogan really bet the bank on his attack on Syria via his proxies. It may be that his idea was to carve a big chunk of Syria off based around Aleppo and then send those 2.5 million Syrians refugees there as it would be “safe” for them, even though it would be the moderate head-choppers in charge. This would make him popular at home he probably figures and he would have expanded Turkiya into Syria. But his real aim is to reverse the results of the Syrian war a coupla years ago. When he talks about ‘the reason for the resumption of large-scale conflict in Syria is that the country’s interconnected problems have remained unresolved for more than 13 years’ what he is actually meaning is that he demands that Syria cede to the demands of the opposition – the Jihadists – and the only thing to really be negotiated is the terms of the “transition” as he calls it. In other words, for Assad and the entire government to step down and to give the Syrian people over to the tender mercies of those Jihadists. When Erdogan talks about the ‘legitimate demands of the opposition’, he is talking about the Jihadists here. But I think that he screwed the pooch here, I don’t think that any of the Gulf states support this idea as it would destabilize the entire region. Iran, Russia and Iraq are not about to let Erdogan get away with this and it seems that the Syrian and Russian air force have halted this offensive and a major counter offensive will be underway before long. Not sure what Erdogan can do. Send the Turkish air force in to provide cover? Risky. Send in the army to protect Idlib? Maybe. Turns out that actions still have consequences. Who knew?
Turn Quds, and the Iraqis loose!
https://x.com/thesiriusreport/status/1863913516169658591
The Sirius Report @thesiriusreport
So predictable:
Annaleena Baerbock arrives in China and as per usual upsets the Chinese who call off a joint press conference.
Non-existent self-reflection.
6:49 AM · Dec 3, 2024
South Korean president declares emergency martial law, accusing opposition of anti-state activities (AP).
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an “emergency martial law,” Tuesday accusing the country’s opposition of controlling the parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government with anti-state activities.
Yeah, I just saw that on a financial news site too.
I knew things were spiraling out almost everywhere, but an autogolpe in South Korea was definitely not on my bingo card.
I’m clearly insane as one of my first thoughts was wondering when South Korean military forces will be deployed to Ukraine. I need to unplug…
talk about not on my bingo card for 2024…. You did it, corrupt-incompetent Mr. President Yoon!
Zelensky curse strikes again.
Brother’s going to jail for treason in 2025….what is it now? 5? out of the past 6? South Korean presidents have been/will be jailed!
you think western politics is bizarro-world, SK takes it to the next level.
Another staunch US ally shows its democratic bona fides.
same guy who Biden hosted with a state visit last year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCA77PX43lI&
that infamous Obama quote of “Never underestimate Joe’s ability to f— thinks up”, comes to mind, lol
Thanks for the reminder! Rather degrading moment for Yoon. Maybe Brandon will have his back if he lights up his bic and sings a little “Freebird” for him.
Alternatively, perhaps “This will be the day that he dies”.
interesting watching the live network news feed from the Korean parliament building as the army is closing in. don’t understand much but get the gist of the situation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvFCO5dYyM8
Putin and Xi are going to start the holiday season with a good chuckle
Thanks for this link. Fascinating, and reinforcing my priors regarding the wheels falling the wagon. I guess it’s not a great day for giving up doom scrolling.
This really came out of blue–no one in SK saw this coming. (But then, in SK media, every minor political controversy is a “crisis,” so you can’t really tell what’s really going on in politics.)
At any rate, the legtislature has just passed a resolution (including with some of Yoon’s party members in attendance) unanimously ordering the army to stand down. (English language media reports seem slower/less detailed reporting on this–which may not be a bad thing, as SK media in Korean tends to make stuff up when things are unfolding fast especially). Overall, the impression that I get is that practically no one is behind Yoon. For instance, the mayor of Seoul, a leading ruling party figure, has made public statements against the whole thing very quickly after the whole thing started. I don’t see the thing lasting beyond 24 hours at most and, I’d fully expect Yoon will be under arrest within a week.
The long running trouble with SK leaders is less that they are corrupt or even incompetent (although this one clearly is) but that they suffer from delusions of grandeur and righteousness, which Yoon seems to be even worse at than others historically…
PS. From the way things are unfolding, I’d expect Yoon to be under arrest within 48 hours…. This is beyond comical.
I don’t see any individual country in the Golden Billion going down-but every last one of them, and South Korea might just be the advance guard.
Chances are that you are right: the AskAKorean guy, as much as I think he’s a charlatan, has had one thing right–SK runs ahead of other “Western” countries by a few more years in terms of things going haywire. Many of the key traits are there: the leader is thoroughly enbubbled while stuffed full of delusions of righteousnsess and grandeur; he is extremely unpopular and, even those who are nominally on his side don’t trust him because they know he’s deluded and incompetent. Furthermore, since the leader thinks he’s so dang clever, he’ll try crazy schemes that he thinks are pure genius but are in fact totally and completely harebrained that anyone can see them. But for the reasons that are not always clear to me, SK seems to get leaders who are even more deluded than other “Western” countries. (I don’t necessarily mean just the pro-Western types either, btw.)
It just occurred to me that what ties the majority of western leaders together is growing unpopularity.
The west and Russia are fighting the same war in ukr. Putin is imo by far the most popular.
Over a century of brutal direct imperialist domination, including plenty of genocidal atrocities and state sex trafficking for the occupying force, can really mess with a country’s head. Just ask the Philippines.
Naw, this was going on for centuries before, unless you meant starting with the Mongols.
https://x.com/eyuplovely/status/1863993647047262602
I don’t believe that the US was not informed in advance about the declaration of martial law in the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
According to reports, the Minister of Defense strongly supported the idea of martial law prior to the declaration and the Defense Ministry has issued a statement supporting the declaration despite the censure motion in the National Assembly.
The US is undoubtedly deeply concerned that the hugely popular opposition Democratic Party could come into power. Given that the lawfare attempt to take out opposition party leader Lee Jae-Myung failed at the end of November, it seems increasingly likely that Lee could become the next leader of South Korea. Lee’s conciliatory line towards China (including statements that South Korea would support the One China Policy), deeply trouble US plans for South Korea’s key vassal role in proxy wars against Russia and the People’s Republic of China.
There are just far too many signs in hot spots around the globe that the Interagency Establishment (Deep State) in concert with the Biden State Department is set on creating certain unalterable “conditions” in Imperial Population Management prior to the Trump transition.
what I see on TV reminds me a lot of the Turkish coup against Erdogan, but even more amateurish (you arrest your opponents in the middle of the night after controlling the media centers, lol)…
and tone deaf to the feelings of the populace (a petty despot needs the support of the police and their own party, as much as the military).
Yoon doesn’t come across as a guy with the internal strength to launch martial law on his own—-he was encouraged/greenlit by someone. imo.
Yoon is watching too many S Korean Historical dramas…
Doubtful US was. This is way too comical even by the standards of the Biden WH. (Aurelien’s argument, that people overrate the influence of US on other countries’ politics by far too much, is definitely applicable here.)
At any rate, the SK MoD has issued an odd statement, that the “state of emergency” is no longer in effect and its employees can go home, but it will not officially revoke the state of martial law unless Yoon orders otherwise. This seems to be the legal fig leaf for declaring the situation “over: Yoon has not yet been formally removed from the office, so they have to go through the motions for now. But they don’t regard the martial law as having any “practical” effect. As far as I can see, the situation is effectively over and everyone knows it. The only question now is whether Yoon will be made to “voluntarily resign” or be forced out of power–if the latter, it’ll take a bit more time before things are officially over. Given the kind of surreal streak that Yoon has shown in the past, alas, he may need to be dragged out of the office by the scruff of his neck (and there will be much rejoicing when that happens.) It still won’t take more than a few days, I expect.
Alas, the one unfortunate byproduct of this will be that the leader of the opposition, a thoroughly corrupt, opportunistic, and reprehensible wretch himself, will be made to look like a hero out of this.
I’d agree. Yoon is… well, an interesting character, and a wild miscalculation like this would be typical of him. As you suggest, he will probably be put in a metaphorical box very quickly, unless things spin out of control. It is, I think the Korean equivalent of Macrons childlike tiff last year that led to him dissolving the French parliament.
Korean politics has a habit of verging on near permanent hysteria, which I always find such a paradox for such a sober minded people.
Well, it’s already done and dusted, so clearly the necessary folk weren’t onboard.
I’m in Europe, so went to sleep after posting this comment and my response on what is now the next morning will undoubtedly not be read. However…
…I just came back here to say that I clearly did not say that the martial law coup was US organized or even that the US was “onboard”.
What I did say was that the ML organizers had almost certainly made the US aware prior to the event via back channels that allow deniability (to the US).
The positive support from the South Korean Minister of Defense prior to the declaration of ML is a good indication that forces inside Korea close to the US Interagency Establishment were involved.
In a nation where the ruling class has never come clean about its history of collaboration with Japanese colonialism, political forces like these are absolutely dependent on the fig leaf provided by the postwar PR depicting the US as an anticolonial, antifascist power when it is in fact neither (but rather remains a settler colonial state).
I’d also point out that nobody in Asia would have forgotten that the current Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell, was the person who orchestrated the soft coup against the short-lived Hatoyama government in Japan in 2009, which had threatened to close US bases in Okinawa and put an end to the client relationship between the remnants of Japanese fascism deliberately reorganized by the US into the Liberal Democratic Party that has ruled Japan basically non-stop since the 1950s.
That some readers would instantly transform an assertion to the effect of “the US having been made aware” into claims of Martial Law being “US-orchestrated” is symptomatic of the same debates about “agency” that have typified the pro-NATO space since the beginning of the proxy war in Ukraine. People seem to forget the difference between agency and subjectivity. One can perfectly well have agency within the confines of a subjective formation dominated by certain ideological and material constraints that impinge on the desires and aspirations of which agency is thought to give expression.
The other part of my comment was just a reminder that South Korea is a key fulcrum in the New Cold War/emerging WW3. During the first Cold War, South Korea played a key role in developments around the Taiwan Strait. That calculus hasn’t changed.
Surreal image of the day…uniformed SK special forces leaving the parliament grounds using the visitors’ exit turnstiles to avoid the pro-parliament barricades at the main gate, lol.
and the special forces are milling around outside the parliament because they don’t have rides…..they were helicoptered in.
Supreme leader Kim Jong Un should call against any violence, and offer sending peacekeeping forces. Let’s Make Korea Great Again.
The combined prowess of DPRK and ROK weapons manufacturing would be quite a powerful combination. Perhaps they can set aside their differences and Go deal with Japan once and for all.
“Extremists clashing with Syrian army ‘ready for peace with Israel’: Ex-intel official”
A coupla years ago I read this Muslim guy noting how these Jihadists always attack fellow Muslims but will never, ever attack Israel. The one time that they did they sent a delegation to the Israelis to apologize for the mistake. He noted also that they would attack Muslims in Antarctica before they would ever do anything about Israel. Funny how that works out.
‘Sopo Japaridze
@sopjap
Some of the big business have come out against Georgian Dream’s government suspension of EU accession talks.’
Yeah, about that. Alex Christoforou reports that it was the EU that really suspended talks. They demanded of the Georgian government that they repeal those NGO funding laws or else they would suspend talks. As Georgia said nope, it was actually the EU that did this and not the Georgians.
On the first day of Christmas Genocide Joe gave to he…
A full pardon, set him free.
Did anyone honestly believe he wouldn’t?
Despite his ironclad statements that he wouldn’t intercede on Hunter’s behalf, I had a glimmer of hope he’d do the right thing, sucker that I am.
People believe in much dumber stuff, so I would say many must have.
– ‘Sebastian Gorka: British intelligence asset?’ – The Grayzone
Trump has an instinctual talent for political demagoguery. But when it comes to comprehending the “deep state” forces arrayed against him I think he is in way over his head. His first administration was full of neocon swamp creatures who joined the Establishment to sabotage whatever positive inclinations he might have had and reinforced his worst tendencies, then stabbed him in the back on their way out. But to me his ultimate cluelessness was demonstrated when he appointed William Barr as his Attorney General in response to the Russiagate offensive. Most of Barr’s previous government activity had involved covering for the CIA and various “rogue” operations by the “intelligence community.” Barr’s subsequent actions confirmed my own assumptions about what his role would be in the Trump administration.
For Trump, Gorka’s primary qualification is his loudly expressed loyalty to Trump during his battles with the liberal Establishment. This is the primary qualification for all of Trump’s nominees. But he is yet another Trojan Horse. I doubt if the nominees who are aware enough to actually. do something – like Gabbard or Patel – will actually make it through confirmation. The rest are pretty terrible, and the only issue where Trump has sounded even halfway promising himself is Ukraine. On that issue, Gorka and the rest of Trump’s crew (including “little Marco” at State) tell me that Trump has learned nothing.
– ‘Howard Lutnick and the Commandeering of the Department of Commerce’ – Unlimited Hangout
– ‘What’s in store for Israeli DefenseTech in the U.S. under the Trump administration’ – CTech
– ‘Silicon Valley’s national security pivot will only accelerate under the new Trump administration’ – Chatham House
– ‘Thiel pal and venture capitalist eyed for 2nd highest post in Pentagon’ – Responsible Statecraft
Nothing will fundamentally change. My main question is the extent to which Trump is a witting or unwitting accessory to what is to come. As always, I’ll be happy to be proven wrong. I don’t think I will be.
Rubio was a very interesting pick. Just speculation here, but I don’t think Trump cares for “Lil’ Marco” much, and he probably picked him because he promised to in exchange for financial support from one of the big donors. He may have promised to hire him, but I wonder if he also promised not to fire him? Hopefully Vance will have more pull than Rubio.
It’s the techbros that worry me the most. Musk has such an ego that I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump canned him at some point for soaking up too much of the spotlight. It’s Thiel, who seems content [family blog]ing the whole world from behind the scenes and has created some pretty scary companies already that is the really dangerous one in my opinion. I sincerely hope he doesn’t have as much sway with Vance as he has in the past.
The appointment of Lutnick troubles me. The same kind of troubled feeling I got when Sen. B. Obama rolled over on the FISA bill in exchange for the Presidency.
Full Disclosure: Back in the 90s I was the Wall Street Credit Analyst for BNP. We visited with Cantor Fitzgerald in their offices in the WTC, probably about liquidity facilities. My analyst research was extensive, and I wasn’t overly impressed by what I found, if not outright troubled. My conclusions weren’t terribly different from when I had to look at Gruntal & Co. Sure, it works on paper, but consider these other factors…
Frankly, I’m just surprised N. Kashkari wasn’t named to Treasury as a reward for his bagwork for the financiati over the years.
And yet Trump has somehow survived where you and I would have been never taken seriously. It’s an insane thought, but he may know what he’s doing.
Pfft. A clown who is right twice a day. Whatever good things he might try to do will be undone by his own corrupt circle or the corrupt circle of enemies. Because he has no moral center, just ‘who is my friend this week’.
Trump knows very well what he’s doing, following orders from his Zionist handlers.
Here’s a deeply disturbing post showing a trial run of a facial recognition camera hidden in a person’s glasses which then basically doxxes whoever you see, so you can pretend to know them. Certainly there’s no way this sort of technology could be abused.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Cyberpunk/comments/1h2vjfr/this_is_fucking_terrifying/
This is already being done in other ways. No one talks about it but the fact that we have the technology to let anyone become George W. Bush (famous for remembering little people’s names) simply by hiding a small receiver in their ear and using an aide to whisper people’s names. I cannot imagine how many different ways there are to surreptitiously communicate with someone who’s on camera. After all, on air news readers/interviewers do this all the time.
Smarter glasses don’t give swells an edge, they let the rest of us catch up. If your eye doctor some day said to you, “Would you like to try one of our smart frames? You can load all your contacts and not only will you be able to ID folks you meet on the street, you can program in notes for the next time you meet them, like ‘remember to congratulate Betty on her new baby.'”
Not entirely a Philip K. Dick thing, we’re all already cyber enhanced. Whatever you’re using to read this comment can also look up every word and reference I’ve used. Having your glasses tell you who you’re talking to is exactly the same thing as being able to click on a link or having your computer phonetically pronounce words for you.
Tools are tools. Caveat: backdoors are backdoors. Hard to imagine The Blob not wanting to further enhance your smart frames: Safety alert! Betty was busted for cocaine in 1989!
Something potentially big going on in ROK – President Moon has declared martial law – apparently out of the blue.
Moon is something of a loose cannon and he has been immediately condemned by the chief of his own (right wing) party. So it looks like something of a solo run, not a pre-planned coup of some sort.
It seems like the police and military are having some late night meetings, presumably to decide whether to implement this or lock Moon up. The Parliament, which is controlled by the centre left Democratic Party can overrule this, but they need to meet and debate it.
Simplicius SITREP
Most revealing is the inclusion of a Max Seddon FT interview of this Russian Oligarch. Max is the FT’s high practitioner of Ukie obscurantism. Never does he allow an other persons actual words to interfere with his narrowly tuned Atlanticist opinions. Putin’s voluminous words, when they are mentioned at all in the pink paper, are always chopped, channeled and limited to fit the agit-prop script. Clearly Max has been sent on the unsavory mission to find out what the barbarian Putin really wants. Is someone preparing the white flag?
Chimp-out
Melody
Just hear those pagers ringing and pockets jingling too
Come on its lovely weather for a chimp-out together with you
Outside our term is falling and think-tanks calling “yoohoo!”
Come on its lovely weather for a chimp-out together with you
Pony up, pony up, pony up, let’s go
Please cough up more dough
We’ve got to make Wall Street profits grow
Pony up, pony up, pony up, a grand
From someone’s greased hand
We’re riding along with a song
Of an MIC fairyland
The limo’s warm and cozy and no more governin’ are we
We’ll empty out the Fed and blame it on Putin and Xi
Let’s jump start Armageddon and bomb a country or two
Come on its lovely weather for a chimp-out together with you!
There’s a shredding party at the house of Scranton Joe
It’ll be the perfect ending; out the door, we’ll go!
We’ll be singing a song cause Hunter’s free, so please don’t call the cops!
At the fireplace as we watch those laptops pop! Pop-pop-pop!
There’s a happy feeling only loads of dough can buy
As we doom another thousand men and kids to die
It’ll nearly be like
Those yesterdays, of Himmler and Pol Pot
These terrible things are the things that Joseph Biden brought!
Just hear those pagers ringing and pockets jingling too
Come on its lovely weather for a chimp-out together with you
Outside our term is falling and think-tanks calling “yoohoo!”
Come on its lovely weather for a chimp-out together with you
Pony up, pony up, pony up, let’s go
Please cough up more dough
We’ve got to make Wall Street profits grow
Pony up, pony up, pony up, a grand
From someone’s greased hand
We’re riding along with a song
Of an MIC fairyland
Our checkbook’s nice and rosy and comfy cozy are we
We’ll leave a parting gift for the Orangeman called World War Three
Let’s take the road before us and bomb a country or two …
Come on it’s lovely weather for a chimp-out together with you!
This is really excellent Chris! The meter is perfect to the original. Now I’m off to the library and I hope you get out too if it isn’t too cold.
Thanks, I hope to get out of the cave and walk around the ‘hood today.
Excuse me but I’m not sure who I’m supposed to be making this check out to…
Doesn’t matter, as long as 10% goes to the big guy.
(Hat tip Alex Christorofou)
Brilliant, Chris.
Meter is everything….
$4.01k update
Ate a limited edition fun size 100 Grand bar in anticipation of my Bitcoin investment getting there, currently stalled @ $95k.
Advantage goes to the candy bar in that it has 100 calories versus none for Bitcoin.
Yes, but the Bitcoin is the Crown Joules of your energetic budget, dontcha know.
Don’t be stealing the Nation of Celestial Space’s thunder…
https://numismatics.org/pocketchange/hill-celestial/
The Texas Tribune story about Taiwanese in Houston was a lovely read.
ConsortiumNews blocked
X Suspends CN Live! Producer; Facebook Blocks CN Pieces
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/12/03/x-suspends-cn-live-producer-facebook-blocks-cn-pieces/
Facebook of all platforms… we are ruled by idiots, liars, children and war criminals.
How cool is that.
X on the “right,” Facebook on the “left.” Our “competing” political ideologies and their respective fora are as fake as our “competing” political parties.
Yesterday I was chatting with a friend about The War Game that the BBC decided audiences couldn’t cope with back in 1966. It wasn’t broadcast until the repeat of Threads in 1985.
Facebook’s reason that their users will be prevented from engaging authentically if they are overwhelmed by the article quoting JFK is rather similar.
These Billionaires Subsidize the Israeli Military Through a US Nonprofit – Truthout
This is the kind of thing that the crowd with the “Israel is/will be imploding” overlooks.
Israel could blow up like the financial system in 2008 and be treated like a TBTF entity.
Kit Klarenberg published a very helpful guide to the Syrian conflict thus far.
If this has been linked elsewhere on the site, apologies
https://www.kitklarenberg.com/p/syrian-dirty-wars-secret-origins
Thanks for that Klarenberg link, Emma!
IS THE DROUGHT COMING FOR CHRISTMAS TREES? The Allegheny Front
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I never understood Xmas trees, you kill something around a teenager’s age and then attempt to reanimate it by giving the guillotine’d corpse water at the base.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
We come to you as vandals
In winter boots we chop your roots
And light a lot of candles
Now plagued by cats and little brats
And silly hats and thermostats
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
Each fall you face this slaughter
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
Our dogs drank all your water
Taibbi’s latest, public excerpt:
The Bell Finally Tolls for the FBI
The reported nomination of Kash Patel means chickens are coming home to roost for the FBI, which needs to be destroyed as a political entity
https://www.racket.news/p/the-bell-finally-tolls-for-the-fbi
DNC winning votes.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/dnc-staffers-mass-layoffs-no-severence-union-workers-rights/
The DNC is “fighting for you”…. / oy
BBC reports from Kursk:
It’s probably their new cloak-of-invisibility uniforms. These guys are tricky!
Well, I had not seen this channel before, but I imagine it’s catching eyes now.
Someone not surprised by the most recent events in Syria. (I don’t know if all his details are on point, but the overall message was prescient:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHjbDySVVXY&ab_channel=Warfronts/
The Syrian Civil War is Restarting Right Now
(from 2 months ago)
https://united24media.com/latest-news/russia-deploys-former-female-convicts-in-assaults-on-ukraines-eastern-front-4200
Russia Deploys Former Female Convicts in Assaults on Ukraine’s Eastern Front
“The enemy is pulling reserves from other directions, and the Russian military command has been forced to deploy a significant portion of its strategic reserves accumulated throughout this year to capture territories in the Kurakhove, Vremivka, and Pokrovsk directions,” Voloshyn said.
“Recently, we have also received information that women are being involved in assault operations within the Russian army. These women are former convicts from the ‘Storm’ units, which are specifically formed from individuals with criminal backgrounds,” he stated.
Dialogue Works: Scott Ritter: South Korean & Syria in Total Chaos – Aleppo Falls to Turkey & Israel-Backed Forces!
The Georgia situation discussed/ ‘splained at 1:23:00. Makes better sense to me than the MSM BS storm on the subject.