Rescued Lab Test Dog Experiences the Joy of Going to the Beach for the First Time After Adoption Laughing Squid (resilc)
The North Sea Chessboard: Germany against Britain Big Serge
#COVID/Pandemics
Whooping cough cases are soaring as vaccine rates decline ProPublica
Climate/Environment
Global CO2 emissions in 2024 increased 0.9% on the previous year totalling 36.3 Gt CO2. Nature
Trump seeks to end climate research at premier U.S. climate agency Science
Weather whiplash: From 2 record highs to 2 record snowfalls Alaska News Source
China?
US plan to delist Chinese stocks may make Hong Kong great again as IPO hub, bankers say South China Morning Post
Xi to visit Southeast Asia amid China’s grievous export crisis Asia Times (Kevin W). Perhaps readers will tell me things have changed. But in the 2003 documentary, The Fog of War, Robert McNamara described how, many years after the US lost the war in Vietnam, he sought a meeting with leaders of North Vietnam during the conflict, which was set over a dinner. McNamara reported that, not surprisingly, it was tense and awkward. Finally someone from the North Vietnamese side asked, “Why did you go to war with us?” McNamara explained, “Because we wanted to stop the expansion of China in Southeast Asia.” McNamara said the North Vietnamese nearly leaped across the table: “How could you go to war with us knowing so little about our country? We spent nearly 1000 years expelling the Chinese.”
However, as Lambert explained long form in The Mekong River, Water Wars, and Information Wars:
..the Mekong is increasingly dammed, both within China, or further downstead in Cambodia and Laos, countries aligned with China….
The resulting power relation — that China can turn off the taps — is well expressed in the following two cartoons from the region:
And more subtly:
Thailand is only marginally in the Mekong river system and Malaysia not at all. They also happen to have higher GDPs per capita than Laos and Cambodia, so they would be better targets for Chinese consumer goods.
So as much as the US is doing damage to countries in the region, it’s not as if they all will run into China’s arms, as some commentators seem to think. Like India, most countries with decent sovereignity in the region try to maintain decent relations both with the US and China. They now face a very messy and costly recalibration.
Trade war to increase flood of cheap Chinese goods Bangkok Post
India
India’s language war: Why is Hindi sparking a north-south divide? Al Jazeera (Kevin W)
European Disunion
Trump tariffs: What just happened ― and what’s Europe’s gameplan? Politico
‘Blue Homeland’ architect warns: NATO has failed, and the EU wants Turkiye on its knees The Cradle
Old Blighty
It’s time to clear out neoliberalism – the UK’s dark underbelly that dooms us to failure Now-Then (Colonel Smithers)
Why is British Steel in trouble and who owns it? BBC (Kevin W)
Israel v. The Resistance
With Bakeries and Kitchens All But Shut Down, Desperate Hunger Engulfs Gaza Drop Site (Robin K)
U.S. and Iran see Saturday’s nuclear talks as test of whether other side wants a deal Axios
On the Path to War with Iran – Alastair Crooke, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen YouTube. Important. A lot of important detail from Crooke, starting from the top. For instance, any deal has to be done by sometime in June to preserve the option of exercising the JCPOA snapback procedure. I had assumed in my post yesterday on the negotiations that the runway was more like four months. I don’t see how a negotiation this complex can be completed in such a short time, given its complexity, unless Iran prostrates itself, which it won’t.
New Not-So-Cold War
The Russian Paradox: So Much Education, So Little Human Capital The American Enterprise. resilc:
“Russia presents the curious counterexample of a country where high levels of education coexist with strikingly poor health profiles.” IMO…….USA USA presents the curious counterexample of a country where low levels of education coexist with strikingly poor health profiles……….
Ukraine allies promise €21bn in military support for Kyiv Guardian (Kevin W)
EU foreign policy chief Kallas: "China is the key enabler of Russia's war"
– After earning the contempt of the US and the hatred of Russia, the EU is now further alienating China. pic.twitter.com/YTAwNovDwh— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) April 9, 2025
I hate to say it, but I don’t think it takes much manipulation. On my mere one day in Tallinn over a decade ago, the guide made a point of telling me how much Estonians hate Russians:
While Witkoff meets with Putin in St. Petersburg, Estonia has seized a tanker en route to Russia. Yesterday, they banned the canonical Orthodox Church, and two days ago, they approved a law allowing the "Estonian Navy" to sink Russian ships.
Estonia's suicidal behavior cannot be… https://t.co/SAhVIsMLOt
— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) April 11, 2025
Scoop: Trump envoy Witkoff travels to Russia to meet Putin Axios. Witkoff apparently goes to make threats.
Meeting with US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff President of Russia
Ukraine war briefing: Ukraine could be partitioned like Berlin after second world war, says US envoy Guardian. Kellogg was seen as marginalized but also very pro-Ukraine. So this may be meant as a wake-up call to Ukraine.
Are the Russians too stupid for propaganda? Anti-Spiegel via machine translation (Micael T)
Imperial Collapse Watch
Just Another American President Seymour Hersh. Robin K: “Reflections on Vietnam, LBJ, Westmoreland, et al.”
Trump 2.0
Trump at the Crossroads American Conservative. resilc: “The definition is in. psychopath.”
There Are Only Two Ways To Handle Trump’s Threats Ian Welsh (Micael T)
EPA Plans to End Greenhouse Gas Reporting for Most Polluters ProPublica (Robin K)
Trump administration advances effort to pull Maine’s federal K-12 funding over trans athletes Politico (Kevin W)
Costco, Iowa attorney general hold talks on its DEI hiring policies Des Moines Register (Robin K)
Trump announces $600 million in new deals with five law firms The Hill
Tariffs
Donald Trump Is Raising Your Taxes, and Republicans Won’t Stop Him Washington Monthly
Trump’s Trade War Is Strengthening China’s Soft Power Wired (resilc)
US consumers warned of higher prices from tariffs within weeks Financial Times. Followed by shortages within months. For instance, many toilet bowls come from China. This will make Covid look like a party.
Majority of Americans are financially stressed from tariff turmoil: CNBC survey CNBC. resilc: “Only the bond market can save us.”
China’s formidable logistics sector challenges Trump tariff enforcers Nikkei
Fund managers quietly fear Trump doesn’t have a tariff plan and that he ‘might be insane’ Independent (resilc)
The Week in Musk: “Truly a moron” Musk Watch
What Could Progressive Tariffs Actually Look Like? Intercept. resilc:
“With the idea being that factories don’t get built just because the price of goods becomes more expensive. Factories get built because the government uses all the tools at its disposal to build the roads, get the permits, subsidize the research and development. To do all of the things that are necessary that go into companies being willing to make multi-year, multi-decade investments.”
congre$$ does not work and we have a dictator
who would invest here?
DOGE
NOAA Scientists Double as Janitors After Service Contracts Expire ProPublica (Robin K)
Immigration
Immigration Judge Rules Khalil Can Be Deported, but Legal Hurdles Remain New York Times (Robin K). ZOMG.
Our No Longer Free Press
Free Speech and the Apocalypse Scott Ritter (Chuck L)
Mr. Market Has a Nervous Breakdown
Gold soars past $3,200 as trade war deepens, dollar loses ground Reuters
Trump’s trade war risks global financial crisis, Bank of England warns Telegraph
Credit Bubble Bulletin : April 2025 Credit Bubble Bulletin. resilc: “When America sneezes, the world catches a cold. What’s the prognosis when the U.S. has a malignant tumor?”
Warning lights flash for US consumer strength as credit defaults rise Financial Times
Energy demand erodes in face of global economic slowdown as trade war intensifies Independent
Oil Nations Scramble to Avert Economic Crisis After Prices Crash OilPrice
AI
Pro Tip: Don’t Send Your AI Avatar to Testify for You in Court Gizmodo (Dr. Kevin)
AI isn’t ready to replace human coders for debugging, researchers say ars technica (Kevin W)
Class Warfare
Debt data portal of debt justice CADTM (Micael T)
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
Instantly car start pic.twitter.com/OLFM487IGg
— Cats with pawerful aura (@AuraWithCats) April 10, 2025
A second bonus:
Boy is living the dream.. 😊 pic.twitter.com/3AtkTzs6Tj
— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) April 10, 2025
And a third:
Oh he knows he’s fancy!! pic.twitter.com/Z0x0Uhi8u0
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) April 11, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
We had three batches of the laboratory test beagles at the animal shelter where I volunteer. They were very weird owing to their complete lack of socialization (and I guess other handling) and I worried about that. They were all adopted very fast thanks to the publicity. So it’s very good to see the video in the first link in which the dog appears to be in a home that can give him what he needs.
‘Glenn Diesen
@Glenn_Diesen
Apr 9
EU foreign policy chief Kallas: “China is the key enabler of Russia’s war”
– After earning the contempt of the US and the hatred of Russia, the EU is now further alienating China.’
The EU has really boxed itself in here. They have totally alienated Russia – the source of their cheap reliable energy – and even if the war ended, they have indicated that those sanctions are forever. By my calculations, by 2035 the EU will be up to their 78th sanctions package against Russia. They are now on the out with the US who is actively seeking to turn the EU into a bunch of vassal States. Through their arrogant behaviour they have also alienated the Global Majority who are no longer willing to listen to their lectures. And then you have China. China reached out to the EU the other day to ally with them against Trump but they slapped their hand away. So now the EU is on their own and not because of the people of the EU but the arrogant, self-appointed elite running the EU. They are in deep doo-doo.
I guess you can flag in under the “European Disunion”, but this summer Greece is open to Russian tourists – they want to have their share back from the 6.5 million that visited Turkiyet last year.
The self-appointed EU elite should remember that European populations have always had an ambivalent relation with their empires. An unholy mixture of tribalism, utilitarianism and ideology of the day requires a very sensitive and nuanced rule, otherwise the ever-present internal forces will tear any system apart.
Some countries are determined to keep relations with Russia sour. The other day a Russian diplomat flew into Paris, a member of its official delegation to a UNESCO event. She was detained by French border officials upon arrival for about a day, her phone and computer were confiscated, and no explanation was given for her detention. A Russian consular officer was sent to the airport to find out what the hell was going on and she was ultimately released. The Vienna Convention? What’s that? If Macron still imagines that he will be the EU representative for the negotiations between Russia and the Ukraine I have news for him and it’s all bad-
https://www.rt.com/russia/615460-zakharova-diplomat-france-shameful/
The level of hatred is difficult to understand.
I get it from random people, they hate because CNN tells them to hate.
But how is this attitude common among the elites? They’re so petulant, and it’s not clear how this is in their interests. Violating diplomatic immunity? Who cares ! Higher energy costs? Who cares ! Strengthening China by giving them exclusive access to discounted Russian natural resources? Who cares !
My theory is they want European global supremacy back, they see that they can maybe get that if Russia is broken up into 25 different infighting countries that are vassals of the EU, and so they’re just hoping that happens. A plan that ends with “profit !!!!” without the steps filled in.
Hungh. I thought it was Fox that told us to Hate.
Could it be Both Things At The Same Time? So many to Hate, so little time.
Better Go Golf!
“The right to hate”, a traditional GOP platform plank.
They seem to be paid to destroy Europe
The Pfizer vaccine deal money mat well be in an offshore account belonging to Ursula von der Leyen
Rev, I would not be surprised to find out that Queen Ursula poops on alternate Thursdays at 7:14 AM, or that she is not alone in that amongst the EU Elite.
Don’t you think the EU have been US vassels for sometime, now? Germany is not the only EU country with US military occupation. It’s the US’s contribution assuring the rest of Europe that the Germans play nice. Consider Norway. Romania is among the most recent to host construction of a huge US base.
Since WWII the US has, as it were, “paid rent” for it’s bases until it decided not to.
Besides those bases are one of the ways to pump dollars into state economies to be recycled with the US treasury/Wall St/pricey real estate.
> There Are Only Two Ways To Handle Trump’s Threats Ian Welsh (Micael T)
>> For me to win, someone else has to lose
Janet read to me a post, by smart people in the financial field, which was trying to reconcile current doings with their model, and came up with Masters of the Universe, from both US & China, colluding to jointly devalue their currencies. It said summat like ‘he’s a Trader, not an Economist’, which I thought was exactly_right leading to the precisely_wrong conclusion.
Why think within the model when you can kneecap the market, buy the dip, reverse course on Wednesday, pocket a billion by Friday, and go golfing Saturday? It’s a massively upscaled version of ‘Snapchat stock loses $1.3 billion after Kylie Jenner tweet’.
The question I have, is Wall Street trading a zero-sum game? Old-school trade says everyone goes away happier, but it sure seems like someone always gets stuck holding the bag.
As to Wall Street it’s an argument to discuss if it’s a rigged casino and also a zero sum game. Arguably to the good side, investing in equities over the past 100 years has a long run historical record of beating returns by any other significant investment option. I have checked this out routinely in the early months of each year, regardless of a D administration or an R administration. Bad government policy and bad economic policy notwithstanding…aka the dot com bubble or the GFC just going off the past 20+ years.
Pensioners and retirees rely on those long term results, something that should be emphasized with broader appeal. I won’t retire rich but stand to have an improved retirement outlook given my retirement planning started about 25 years ago. Day trading and algorithmic high frequency trading are a separate discussion of course, as well as Bitcoin or cryptocurrency markets.
There is likely or routinely a loser when it comes to margin calls and forced deleveraging however…The Duke brothers come to mind from the end of Trading Places!
Appended further thought. Ever since really the Obama administration handling of the financial crisis and the reliance of the Holder doctrine, well big important firms and likewise big people are somehow different when it comes to the rule of and application of standard law. Best of luck if you don’t have the clout. Thanks again # 44 !
I sold my last directly held stock back in 2005. The stock market operates on the greater fool theory and valuation has nothing to do with reality.
On the Path to War with Iran – Alastair Crooke, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen YouTube
“The snapback mechanism, or the automatic reimposition of UN Security Council sanctions on Iran…UN Security Council Resolution 2231 was adopted after the JCPOA agreement was reached…”
So both Russia and China approved or allowed snapback to pass, correct?
Why did they do that? Did they not learn?
The US and Israel are openly demanding total military disarmament of Iran so they can do to Iran what they to Syria. That will give them control Iran, its land and resources, among other things allowing it to shut off energy supplies to China.
Because it makes them look better to the rest of the world not firmly entrenched in the US/EU orbit.
And since the US is incapable of handling the negotiations – do you really think Iran is going to prostate itself to the US and Israel? – no risk they will actually make the deadline.
Makes perfect sense to me.
IMO Iran has already, repeatedly, and for a very long time already partially prostrated itself by not acquiring nukes. I also believe Russia China may not go along with sanctions now via snapback but that does not excuse their blunder of bad judgment in not killing sanctions on Iran from the very beginning AND going along with future sanctions (snapback).
What is the likelihood of China and/or Russia, citing the USA precedent, to withdraw from JCPOA and proceeding to ignore the sanctions on Iran in the event of snapback?
JCPOA related sanctions expired in 2020, me thinks. USA tried in UN Security Council to extends them, but since was not a party to the agreement anymore, the attempt failed.
China Russia IMO will not go along with snapback unless they favor their own suicide. Yet I still say that by not blocking UN approved sanctions in the first is a unforced error. Allowing UN snapback is 2nd error.
Lavrov DEVISED the snapback!
https://iranwire.com/en/politics/136431-how-the-snapback-mechanism-brings-back-sanctions-on-iran/
Russia really did not want proliferation.
Few decades back, I had a long time Estonian friend, born in 1944. He once told me he saw his dad first time at the age of seven when dad returned from Siberia – having fought for the Germans. He himself had studied in Moscow in the 60’s and made part of his career in Russian SFSR.
His thinking was that Estonians first and foremost hate each other (he had an endless amount of jokes on the issue) and are an epitome of coveting thy neighbor, so the fabric that keeps the Estonian society together is blaming Russians for everything, hating Finns for having everything and looking down on Latvians for being even worse off.
That and the Estonian Song Festival.
I see comments up there about Estonia committing suicide, but they have article 5 protection. I expect no retaliation.
Article 5 does not do what you appear to think it does.
I doubt anyone is going to come running to their defense, especially since Russia’s response won’t be a “Hulk smash” reaction like the US would do.
So what do you think could happen? How could Russia retaliate in a meaningful way and get away with it?
Russia could give Djibouti all possible support when Djibouti sues Estonia for piracy? I mean, in this particular case Russia is not a party to the events.
Or, start escorting these vessels with 30+ vessels of the Baltic Fleet. I doubt Russia wants to “get away with it”, they don’t play games like the Baltic states do.
Do recall how Estonia was already a member of NATO, when the Bronze Soldier controversy happened in 2007, and they were told by The West to sort it out with Russia by themselves.
They’ve also promised two ponies in sweaters.
One electronics company, Anker, is already arsing prices because of the Tariffs.
Anker Raises Prices on Amazon Due to Tariffs
With Trump setting 145% tariffs on China and China reciprocating with 125%, it has been said that we are now in embargo territory here. Most of the US-China trade is being halted and I heard of a figure of 80% mentioned. Trump seems to want to have an economic divorce from China but doing it all at once. If he is depending on his billionaire buddies to invest their own money in building factories to replace all that lost trade, then he will be waiting for a very long time. And if all this fails as badly as I suspect it will, I would guess that some of Trump’s circle will suggest taking military action against China to bring them to heel. Some of them hate China with a vengeance.
has anyone been into a walmart lately?
with justintime/warehouse on wheels, should be getting innerestin in there prtty soon.
Maybe fistfights over the last remaining items on the shelves? Back in 2020 there were fights breaking out over the last remaining packs of toilet paper of all things. Said to my wife the other day that if you took away the mobiles, the internet, the computer, etc. that it would not be that different from a 1970s lifestyle that we would be living in material wise. If shipments stop coming from China that may very well happen.
I’m going to home depot today. Should be interesting. I hadn’t considered fights breaking out. Maybe I should wear my old hockey gear, lol.
On a more serious side, I wonder what’s going to happen to the big box stores that, like HD and WM, moved in and shuttered our independent stores in the process. Most of the stuff they sell is made in China. Who’s buying if everything is suddenly twice ti thrice times costly?
Appliance, electronics and small engine repair shops should all see an increase in business.
‘Maybe I should wear my old hockey gear’
No, no, no. Don’t wanna do that. They may mistake you for a Canadian!
Lol, thanks, I’ll keep it for my disguise when I make like a Vietnam war protester and try to slip the border.
“Some of them hate China with a vengeance.”
Due to envy of China’s success?
Envy arouses discontent and resentment leading to the desire to have a quality, possession,skill, achievements, or other desirable thing belonging to someone else which the envious person lacks and wishes the other didn’t possess.
Tariffs and the Supply Chain “Tail”
The April 1 tariffs represent a $ 350 billion cost to Americans. Every week an average of 50 container vessels lands at America’s ports and offloads thousands of boxes holding clothing, furniture, electronics, appliances, everything, and as of April 1st the tariffs will apply to them all.
Here is what happens when those boxes arrive. They are offloaded, and placed on the dock. Until the tariff is paid, by the owner of the cargo, the boxes do not move. US Customs and various systems need to record the cargo, its value, what the tariff is, and get the transaction completed. The owner shells out the tariff amount and Uncle Sam collects the money. If a container carries goods for several owners – a Less than Container Load quantity – each owner needs to fork over the tariff before his or her cargo can leave the terminal.
Under the first Trump administration tariffs were imposed on China, and the result was port congestion, anchored ships, and transit delays as Customs and the system struggled to handle the paperwork and processing. The tariffs announced April 1, 2025, are not just for China, they are for the whole world, and the impact on our supply chain system will dwarf what happened earlier.
The direct cost of these tariffs will average $ 2,000 – $ 3,000 per family. Tariffs are a tax on Americans and as such represent the biggest tax increase in history on those among us in the bottom 50% of income. These added costs will surely reduce consumption. Demand.
We need to understand there is an enormous “tail” to these tariffs, not yet acknowledged by Trump or his administration but soon to be realized by us all.
Today there are anywhere from 50 to 150 ships heading for our shores which left foreign ports before the April 1 tariff decision. They will arrive here in the coming days and weeks. They, and every ship thereafter so long as the tariff rules stay in effect, must, landing their cargo, make sure the tariffs are collected before the cargo can leave the terminal. These tariffs are new, untested, and a huge paperwork challenge to a limited and strained Customs staff. There will be confusion, and delays. Containers will pile up on the dock, incurring demurrage charges. Unloading will be slowed, and then arriving ships will have to anchor, awaiting their turn. The backlogs of containers will stress trucking capacity, and rail capacity, such that further delays occur. Trucking and rail costs will rise to meet the demand.
All the cargo owners, be they Walmart or a small LCL owner importing two bales of cheap fabric for making outdoor clothing, will have to shell out the tariff money and then reprice the goods to recapture that money. Very soon – within a month, or less, the price markups will appear on the shelves.
We are at the start of the “peak” shipping period, the spring and summer rush to load inventory before the Christmas season. Goods arriving after April 1 will need a markup to cover the tariff – 5%? 10% 25%. The pre-tariff goods on the shelves today will be replaced all too soon with the same goods, but costing more, and then the shelves won’t clear as fast, or at all. Yet, those ships will keep coming, 50 a week, on average, with containers needing transit, storage, delivery.
Where will those goods go if the shelves don’t clear? They must be stored, in warehouses, but warehouse capacity is not unlimited. All through the supply chain, all the way back to the ship, because of tariffs and resulting congestion, we will see higher costs for transit and storage, issues with finding places to store the goods, bottlenecks, demands on truck drivers, on chassis availability, everything. We don’t see any of this now but, if these tariffs hold, by this summer the bottlenecks, shortages, anchored ships, congestion and distress will be seen as a national emergency.
And imagine the retailers, just now making orders for the holiday season, their terrible dilemma – they need to pull the trigger for their heavy seasonal shipments but what do they do as the higher retail prices ripple into the system in the next few weeks and sales drop? Maybe sales won’t drop. But if they do, the whole supply chain will grind to a halt – shelves full, warehouses full, docks full, ships full, and more and more on their way? At what point do the owners reduce their orders? Cancel orders?
These costs – higher delivery charges, storage charges, system bottlenecks, system paralysis -will eventually exceed immediate tariff costs. None of these costs are yet worked into discussions about the tariff impacts on growth, gdp, inflation.
One thing for sure – we’re going to find out.
we will probably see a bizarro world of Chinese goods flooding SE Asia…but SE Asian goods flooding the US.
That sounds survivable for everyone involved. But no factories will be built in the US. Will the losers fail to notice?
My pathetic excuse for health insurance doesn’t cover the prescription medication I take to help control symptoms caused by an inoperable untreatable type of cancer. I have been paying for it out of pocket. I’m able to afford it because it’s a relatively cheap generic made in a foreign country. With the tariffs, I expect it to go up in price. I’ll find out when I get my next refill if I can still afford it. Multiply my prescription medication situation by how many other people in the US? Millions? The Grand Plan is working so fast. My hand, it shakes. My head, it spins.
Do you at least use GoodRx? The discounts for most meds are meaty.
I have several Anker products that I either bought myself or got from my brother so the Trump sales tax (to pay for his own intended tax cut) has already taken effect. In fact I have so many Chinese products around here I probably won’t be needing more for awhile.
In the article the Anker people say that all their competitors are also Chinese so they aren’t worried about being undercut by US sources. Still the appetite for electronic doodads may shrink considerably with consumer culture itself under threat.
Meanwhile at Walmart the ceo says about one third of their items are Chinese and they can weather the storm with groceries and hard bargaining. Much of their apparel (like high end apparel) comes from non Chinese sweatshops so expect the Asian poor to also be paying their Trump tax via their wages. Almost no apparel is now made in the US. As proof one need only look at the textile mill shells that dot my fair city.
Shoot, I got some nice USB hubs from them.
Whiplash…
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-smartphones-electronics-laptops-apple-10c31e91d7790bfe8fb004f547109359/
Updated 8:42 AM PDT, April 12, 2025
Trump administration says it will exclude some electronics from reciprocal tariffs
I’m inclined to think the establishment is worried about smartphone and other computer affordability.
The surveillance aspect is worth more to them.
Just spitballin’…
Are the Russians Too Stupid for Propaganda? Anti-Spiegel. This article is definitely worth your while. Here’s a sample of its insights: “Russians are reluctant to use emotions to promote their own political position; they want to argue, explain, and convince. And that’s far less effective than the emotional propaganda common in the West. … Russians don’t like generalizations.”
Then come back and wonder at the Anglosphere discourse. (Even the supposedly excitable Italians do not engage in so much invective and name-calling.)
Trump is a moron. A psychopath. A narcissist. My attitude is this: Go after the behavior. Thwart the tax policy. Sue till the deportations of students stop. Boycott Trump’s “enablers,” like Amazon and Uber.
It will be more effective politically — because politics is about the activity in the public space — to take down Tesla and SpaceX and GrubHub and Oracle all the way to bankruptcy. It may produce satisfactions to call Musk a Twirly-Eyed Drug-Addled Overbreeding Nuisance. But the epithet doesn’t get rid of DOGE.
I have maintained for some time that there is no such thing as fake news or disinformation. It’s all bullshit, lies, and propaganda. Maybe it is time to become too dumb for bullshit, lies, and propaganda.
Agree– it is well worth the read. Boiled-down, perhaps my main take-away was that Russians appeal to reason, and the West attempts to trigger emotions (which the Russians find gross).
The author of the piece refers to another article written by Glenn Diesen which may be worth your time as well:
A scientific look at the techniques of propaganda
https://anti-spiegel.ru/2025/ein-wissenschaftlicher-blick-auf-die-techniken-der-propaganda/
An English (with audio, too) version available here (glenndiesen.substack.com).
There’s also a youtube video where Diesen discusses narrative control and silencing dissent as key aspect of propaganda.
I’ve read that when Harry Truman negotiated with Stalin, he’d relax with a poker game, while the Russians relaxed by playing chess.
Russians certainly have their own culture. Visitors complain that they don’t smile much but it seems that the Russians only smile when there is something to smile about. They got a point when so many employees here in the west are told to dazzle customers with their smiles at every opportunity.
Yankees might get along. They aren’t big on smiling either.
There’s an Eurasian geographic region stretching from Norway to Korea where smiling for no reason is considered a sign of a moron or a fool. Greeting somebody, especially a stranger, is not among the accepted reasons.
I agree it is time to boycott Trump’s enablers. I refuse to purchase anything I know that is owned by Koch. Same with food products owned by BigAg or any other Big Anything. Only time I use Amazon is for some vitamin and herbal supplements I can’t get locally. Also have my credit union, credit card is low interest but unfortunately owned by Buffet’s Synchrony bank.
This where I think Hand’s Off has to direct its focus. Marching and assembly isn’t going to have the impact that no incoming monies will have on corporate earnings. And that will flow down hill to the congressional lickspittles and lackies. Pressure from lobbyists will be greater than the Congress developing a backbone to reestablish their Constitutionally described duties and powers.
Now’s the time to start this and then let the price increases squeeze them hard.
Some places are already raising their prices due to tariffs that aren’t even in effect yet. Talk about price gouging.
>>>>We spent nearly 1000 years expelling the Chinese..
The interaction of both China (the various governments) and regular Chinese (diaspora) in SE Asia is long, nuanced, complex. So much that you can write a book on it…
If fact, there is a book about it! (not really about all of it, just one aspect—the dominance of pre-modern Chinese diaspora, which affected who sided with whom when the colonials arrived)
“World on Fire” by Prof. Amy Chua, more famously known as Tiger Mom
Thailand is called Thailand because it is for Thais.
And Chinese practices like this do not endear China to Thailand, even the Thai Chinese:
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/3000747/thai-economy-put-at-risk-by-surge-in-zero-dollar-exports
Chinese tourism in Thailand is similarly structured to be as of little benefit to Thailand as possible. Chinese-owned tour operators take the Chinese tourists to Chinese-owned hotels and restaurants. The fact that I know this as a farang means it is a very sore point.
That does not mean that Thais operate under any illusions about the US, particularly now.
The Chinese linguistic divide extends to SE Asia. The local ethnic Chinese, with their various levels of assimilation, did not speak Mandarin at home.
My understanding is that the businesses catering to Thai-Chinese and more recent Mandarin speaking immigrants/expats are segregated. You can see some of that in the NYC Chinatown(s), largely between Cantonese speakers and Mandarin.
This is not on point. I am discussing the economic relations between China and countries in Southeast Asia. There are plenty of “Thai Chinese” who buy condos in the same buildings as Westerners, for instance (I can name examples of developments in the last 10 years here in my beach city). Since real estate is the place people put their money, that alone disproves your thesis. There are condos with different design priorities that target wealthy mainland Chinese buying investment properties here for their use on vacations.
the great tragedy of post-1945 Indochina is that Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese George Washington, desperately (arguably naively) wanted to be aligned with America.
But post-WW2 US Deep State (see Dulles) fell into the trope of all non-Europeans are the same, (vietnam:china is a bit like Celts:Normans)
and anyone who has a “Communist” label automatically allies with everyone else who is a “Communist”.
Very sad that all that blood shed in Vietnam was pointless. Good thing the US delayed the global spread of pho and ban mi by 20 years.
The WWII treaties with Japan and Germany declared the populations’ debts to the oligarchs null and void–a jubilee. Vietnam was an ally, not an enemy, expelling the Japanese. Nevertheless, the US chose to support the French colonial oligarchy, and no debt forgiveness was offered. In fact, Eisenhower refused to allow a treaty-agreed plebiscite that would have elected Ho Chi Minh to govern the entire country, instead installing Diem (as he installed the Shah in Iran).
This is one reason the Vietnamese continued to fight the better-armed US so fiercely. The the colonial experience showed what debt peonage looked like, and the US promised more of the same.
Never heard about this McNamara story. It seems almost too incredible to believe that a person with McNamara’s background, in his position, would not be aware of the most basic historical truth of the Vietnam/China dynamic. This elevates the third part of my explanation for American government behavior to the supreme position: “corruption and/or incompetence and/or stupidity”.
McNamara was very intelligent, but limited (as we all are). At LBJ’s request, he actually reduced the DOD’s budget! You’ve got to be very clever to do that. According to Robert Caro’s account (Master of the Senate) this was a prerequisite for getting Robert Byrd’s consent not to hold up LBJ’s civil rights legislation in the senate.
Nevertheless, Americans are notorious for believing fairy tales, and even our most intelligent citizens have difficulty imagining people can think differently. Humans guide their perceptions with a narrative. Being wedded to a particular narrative is one symptom of ego. Being able to imagine another (valid) narrative is one characteristic of what Eastern religions call “enlightenment.”
“Americans are a primitive people disguised by the latest inventions.” – George Santayana
Yes! A little trick that I’ve been using over the past few years is to do a 180 and try to argue, with conviction, an issue from exactly the opposite position. And then there is your note about how we are all, usually from our birth culture, living within a certain narrative that takes a lot of work to question. Perhaps a comment on the strength/weakness of USA national culture: so diverse and so conformist at the same time.
John Dulles ranks up there with Sykes-Picot, the man who invented leaded gasoline, Edith Wilson as people wbo disproportionately shaped today’s world but re virtually unknown.
IMO, (Kansas farm boy turned general) Eisenhower deferred too much to (cosmopolitan insider) Dulles re. 50’s foreign policy.
Ideologue Dulles (arguably) wanted US involvement in Vietnam, in part, to protect the urban-elite, Catholic Vietnamese converts against the Commies as the French were their historic protectors. Urban Vietnamese elites who tilted to being of southern Chinese merchant class ancestry.
Dulles had his fingers all over Iran too. Much moreso than Eisenhower personally
In order to help, Ukraine will send to USA all the toilet bowls not stolen by Russia.
Links to the just released Crossfire-Hurricane docs:
https://www.independentsentinel.com/the-declassified-crossfire-hurricane-documents/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/us/politics/fbi-suspends-employee-patel-enemies.html
That was quick…waiting for the LL.M.s to offer reports on the contents of those docs.
Thanks.
SleuthNews was less enthusiastic. Calling it a Nothing-Burger yesterday:
“Nothing-Burger Russiagate Binder Released”
https://www.sleuth.news/p/nothing-burger-russiagate-binder
Please refresh this page, I added some bonus antidotes and a couple of links.
‘Buitengebieden
@buitengebieden
Boy is living the dream.. 😊’
Looking at that video, you could make up a pretty good fairy tale based on it like they use to write once.
Just the kind of set and setting that Dutch children’s book author Annie M. G. Schmidt was known for.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluk_van_de_Petteflet
Yes, I particularly like the security detail of geese.
Did you know that the US military used flocks of geese during the Vietnam war? They are so territorial that there was no way a Viet Cong sapper could hope to get past them so the US military used them to guard the perimeters of their bases. US soldiers sent to the war found themselves tending flocks of geese as their military service.
So did the Roman legions. Noisy, territorial, obnoxious critters that make good guard dogs/geese.
A good exposé from 2023, and still useful, for periodic reminders about the state of media and journalism, from Caitlin Johnstone
“Oh he knows he’s fancy!!”
I wonder if he is a standardbred colt? They are bred to pace or trot in harness races. The way he prances looks like a harness racing move.
He’s saying “how’d you like to see some stuck up jockeyboy sittin’ on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil? Well I should say!”
“Scoop: Trump envoy Witkoff travels to Russia to meet Putin”
Trump seems to be trying to put pressure on Russia by saying that they have to ‘get moving’ on Ukraine. It’s a technique he uses by creating artificial deadlines to pressure the other side – like when he sent a letter to the Iranians saying they had 60 days to come to an agreement or else. He can’t stop the Ukrainians attacking Russia energy facilities in spite of the first agreement. He can’t get the EU to agree to making the Back Sea deal possible either. So here he is trying to pressure the Russians to declare a general ceasefire/conflict freeze to try to get a win on the board. Ceasefires don’t work like that and you need all sorts of agreements and machinery set up to administer one before there is a signing. Trump seems to want the signing first and then have all the rest sorted out afterwards. My idea is that Russia is about to defeat the Collective West in the Ukraine in the next year or two and he does not want that on his plate at all or to be held responsible for it. He keeps on going on about all the lives being lost but as he does not care about American lives, why should he care about Ukrainian or Russian ones?
https://www.reuters.com/world/russias-top-diplomat-hails-us-russia-prisoner-swaps-amid-reports-trump-envoy-2025-04-11/
The Helmer piece:
The EU wants to sunder and colonize the Russian Federation after US’ failings in the late 1990’s
The US wants to get at Russian resources and kinetically if necessary wants to get in ahead of the EU.
Putin says: “why not do business, establish investment routes, and let your oligarchs in without getting to war which would inevitably go nuclear…….?”
That is rational?
Can’t we all get along.
After Trump thumps sand in Iran for a few months US won’t have any offensive resources to tilt in West Pacific.
That is assuming the Hormuz stays open.
As long as US looks at EU as enemy……
I always welcome Helmer’s contributions as an informed counter-balance to some of the more irrationally exuberant optimism among commentators. But I was somewhat taken aback by that last paragraph. Sometimes Helmer’s writing is dense and convoluted. Am I reading this correctly?
“A well-informed source in Moscow says that Trump and his subordinates have been surprised by the Russian terms for ending the war. “The Russians have told Americans they will have Odessa and a land corridor to Moldova. They have offered ports on Dnieper River for access to the sea for the Ukrainians. There has been no demand about Nord Stream…”
And so on.
US feins ignorance….
Avoiding RF Dec 2021 terms will prolong the bleeding and open US and EU to more losing.
Likely a U.S. plan.
RF talking to Trump is for appearances the US has not yet recognized the basics.
Bombing Yemen is not a good “look”. For Kiev or Iran.
It’s very clear but also from a single source, which is why I assumed he buried it at the end of his piece.
To be blunt, the US can ill afford to look at anyone as an enemy.
I find it fitting that a major signpost on the path of US decline was the idiotic “End of History” idea from Francis Fukuyama. Almost like he was trying to run out the clock before people realized the West (and the US in particular) was neither liberal or democratic.
Kinda like the old Holy Roman Empire which one wag pointed out was not holy, was not Roman and was not even an empire.
Non-paywall: US plan to delist Chinese stocks may make Hong Kong great again as IPO hub, bankers say
Given the hostilities between China and the US under Trump, I don’t think this is an idle threat.
Re; Credit Bubble Bulletin
My god, what a long and horrifying read. I was going to have my morning’s second cup of coffee before re-reading it, but I think that something much stronger may be needed.
Many, many sources are cited in this bulletin, with interesting and insightful commentary throughout: Weekly Commentary: Normal Deleveraging and Trade Wars doesn’t even come close to covering the content here– it is through, extensive, and pure nightmare fuel.
As turbulant and chaotic as the markets have been since Team Trump launched their tarrif scheme, it can get far worse, and it will, because the damage that this has caused has yet to hit the broader economy.
When our host advised us in the US to have our passports ready and up to date she was not wrong.
Worse still, I think for many people in the US leaving is not a option. Regardless of passport status.
Ive got a golden visa……
Slippers, Charlie!
Reading your comment here with the one directly below by Mikel, it is easy to see that it’ll be the wealthiest 10% that will be the most likely to leave. That’s right, the wealthiest 10% that currently represents 50% of the spending into the economy.
And I will remind you that people have immigrated from poor countries throughout history. But somehow the poor people in the US think they’re exceptional and unable to leave. They are in fact unable to even think of it, research it, imagine it. So poor they are.
I agree and fully understand, as I’ve seen it in war-zones, former mill-towns, and other undesirable places– been stuck like that twice in life myself where escape was not possible at the time… well, make that three times, to include the present: I have a serious civil and criminal legal hairball of a mess to sort through (targets of investigation I am not one of!) and I can’t leave until it mostly plays out.
As higher prices and inflation are discussed, I keep thinking about this factoid:
https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/us-economy-strength-rich-spending-2c34a571/
The U.S. Economy Depends More Than Ever on Rich People
The highest-earning 10% of Americans have increased their spending far beyond inflation. Everyone else hasn’t.
https://retailwire.com/discussion/wealthiest-us-households-spending/
The Wealthiest 10% of US Households Now Represent Nearly 50% of Consumer Spending
“…Citing data from a Moody’s Analytics report authored by Mark Zandi, the news outlet outlined that the richest 10% of U.S. households — defined as making about $250,000 or greater — represented 49.7% of all consumer spending. That’s the highest figure on record since data collection surrounding this metric was first measured by Moody’s, according to Marketplace, which also pointed out that consumer spending is responsible for driving approximately 70% of United States GDP…
…Per The Wall Street Journal, about 30 years ago, the wealthiest 10% of American households were responsible for about 36% of U.S. consumer spending…”
Is this why the administration calculates somehow that the USA is going to ride out the price increases?
They don’t always appear to account for all the moving parts of a number of subjects.
Big Serge (always worth reading!) on the German versus Britain naval “arms race” in the 30 odd years prior to WW I is a good read.
Especially describing how Germany determined and managed the definition and forming of the battle fleet that went into 1914!
I saw a parallel with how US established its “order of battle” for fighting 2.5 major wars spread around the globe.
So many types of dreadnaughts…… Ford class carriers, Seawolf submarines, B-21’s F-35, V-22, THAADs for friends, and Pegasus…..
So many eventualities so much opportunity to waste resources!
Indeed, but he should correct an annoying typo: it is Dienstschrift.
It’s time to clear out neoliberalism – the UK’s dark underbelly that dooms us to failure Now-Then (Colonel Smithers).
Nice to read someone challenging the… political consensus? It ends with 6 bullet-points of measures which all look sensible to me. Many more of these are needed certainly. Politically they are the oligarchs the ones that would fight tooth and nail not to change a single comma on Neoliberal policies. A way must be found to make them “interested” on such changes.
Xi to visit Southeast Asia amid China’s grievous export crisis – Asia Times
I expect that many will think of figures regarding BRICS + share of GDP and population size.
Then there are charts and figures like this:
https://howmuch.net/articles/world-wealth-map-2018/
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/distribution-of-global-wealth-chart/
One can point to the rate of growth being faster in some lower wealth countries, but those countries will need stability and security to continue growth at a more rapid pace.
That wealth gap is a difficult challenge that takes more than export policy to overcome…just like re-shoring or industrialization takes more than only tariff policy.
“Pro Tip: Don’t Send Your AI Avatar to Testify for You in Court”
‘You are not going to use this courtroom as a launch for your business, sir.’
I’m glad that that judge slapped down that twerp that tried to use his court appearance as a sales showcase. I don’t think that she was very impressed by him trying to move fast and break things. I think too that that judge recognized the dangers of trying to push AI into a court setting and in fact at least two lawyers have come badly unstuck by using an AI to write their legal arguments whereupon those AIs just made up precedents that did not exist. Personally I would have charged the guy with contempt of court but that is just me.
re: Germany – alarming interview chemical industry
BERLINER ZEITUNG
“Russian gas was never cheap”: InfraLeuna boss on Trump’s tariffs, LNG and the new coalition
Christof Günther heads Germany’s largest chemical park. In an interview, he explains why he is calling for Russian gas and what he expects from the new government.
https://archive.is/NuyEc
The data is nothing secret. But obviously Mr. Günther has no serious plan either.
And as to why he suddenly suggests in the middle of the interview that Russian natural gas was never cheap, while making clear in every other paragraph that German industry is possibly dying because of the extremely expensive gas not from RU remains a mystery. It´s probably his way to not admit that Germany without Russian cooperation is no serious economic power. I constantly had to think of NC´s entries on this very issue. But then, Günther is a salesman nothing more.
“Dr. Christof Günther, born in 1969, has been Managing Director of InfraLeuna GmbH, operator of Germany’s largest chemical park, since 2012. Previously, he held senior positions at E.ON and in management consulting, and was Managing Director of ILE InfraLeuna Energiegesellschaft. Günther holds a doctorate in business administration.”
p.s. Everything Alastair Crooke was warning about 2022 became true very quickly. This is – I don´t know what: Stupid? Corrupt? Delusional?
When the emperor was explicitly called naked, he had a choice. Option 1: “Thank you little child for pointing out my mistake, I’ll go home and put on some clothes”…and probably be more comfortable. Option 2: “Grimly continue the parade.” Option 2 is Hans Christian Anderson’s written ending to that tale.
Option 1 is what the Christians call “repentance.” God called Jonah to preach repentance. Jonah resisted, but was finally persuaded.
Not much has changed since Jonah…
“It’s time to clear out neoliberalism – the UK’s dark underbelly that dooms us to failure”
It’s a good idea if not a vital one but I can’t see it happening. The long and the short of it is that too many financial players are making far too much money off these ideas to change or quit. And it does not even matter to them how destructive to civilization it is because IBGYBG. I’m afraid that it would take a general collapse of a big part of the economy with the government being unable to bail them out to even give a chance for reform. But for the UK, I doubt that such an event would change things because of the political setup there. They can’t even solve the present problems as they do not want any changes to the system happening.
Gutting NOAA and NASA, waiting for the DOGEbags to gut the whole Commerce Department. They really have no desire to onshore manufacturing – industry depends on that information and standards (or regulations (no!)) those departments provide. TPTB still insist on the financialzed capitalism instead of the more sustainable industrial capitalism (per Michael Hudson). If they serious about onshoring, Medicare for all (at a minimum), reducing inequality, reducing the costs of living overall, would be on the table.
On-shoring, MAHA, peace – they are are not serious about any of it.
re: 80 years Buchenwald
Vijay Prashad: The Historical Revision of Buchenwald
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/04/11/vijay-prashad-the-historical-revision-of-buchenwald/
re: short interview – Greece military build-up
JUNGE WELT
“Nationalism is deliberately played up”
How does Greece legitimize its high military budget, where does the money go, and what does it do to the country? A conversation with a delegation of Greek workers in Berlin
https://archive.is/Rbxgb
re: Africa debate over the CFA franc
JUNGE WELT
France’s long arm
The debate over the CFA franc is propaganda-charged. No one in Central Africa is thinking about abolishing it.
by Joaquín Mbomío Bacheng
https://archive.is/Tv3pJ
Sad that Nature would say that we will cross the 1.5° threshold in the next 5 years when it’s already done it from Feb 23 – Jan 24. Each month was above 1.5.
In 2024, all but 1 month was above 1.5°.
Everyone from the UN to BBC, scientific American plus many more are coming to this conclusion given the data.
As to Trump, if someone behaves in a manner that can best be described as extremely erratic, irrational and Psychopathic, that is what they are.
Insane.
Oil Nations Scramble to Avert Economic Crisis After Prices Crash – OilPrice
“….With prices much lower than the breakeven price, Saudi Arabia may have to accelerate government borrowing and slow or delay spending on its ambitious futuristic megalomaniac projects….
That line about futuristic megalomaniac projects brought to mind this bit from J. Helmer’s Dances With Bears article:
“…But on April 4 in Washington, when Dmitriev invited Russian reporters to ask whether he had made any steps forward in his talks with the Americans, he replied: “Yes, definitely. I would say that today and yesterday we made three steps forward on a large number of issues…”
“….in his remarks in a Washington park were that he has been discussing “possible cooperation in the Arctic, in rare earth metals, in various other sectors where we can build constructive and positive relations…[and] active work on restoring air travel.” One of the “other sectors” Dmitriev mentioned is an Elon Musk project to fly to Mars…
There is indeed a disconnect.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2025/04/11/trader-joes-easter-mini-tote-bags-easter-online/83051363007/
Last year’s mini totes were eventually listed on a number of online marketplaces for as much as $500 and this year is no different. Online listings have already begun to appear on eBay, Mercari and Facebook for as little as $11 or as much as $400.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/trader-joe-mini-totes-selling-130000437.html/
“…At the time of publishing, a search on eBay for “Trader Joe’s mini pastel canvas tote bags” returned over 3,700 search results. While a majority of the listings seem to be reasonable resale prices, there are a lot of very expensive outliers. The most expensive listing is a whopping $1 million for a set of 8. That’s $125,000 per tote. Just below that, a single pastel green tote is listed for $49,890, and a set of four is going for $10,000.
Many of the listings for a set of four seem to hover in the $30 to $70 price range–roughly $7 to $17 a piece doesn’t seem too bad if you really want to get your hands on them….”
Nationalisation may be ‘likely option’, business secretary says as emergency British Steel debate opens -BBC
To say it out loud: In the context of all the militarization going on globally, it seems like preparations for war.