Page Text: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCEK3tT7DcfWGWJpNEDBdWog
Posted by: La Bastille | Apr 14 2022 22:06 utc | 32
Another shocking case of anti-semitism (at least in the view of the Israeli Ambassador) Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic confirms what everybody-even Amnesty-knew
Israel is practising Apartheid.
In fact what Israel is doing makes South African Apartheid look relatively benign: it is practising genocide.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 14 2022 22:20 utc | 33
Posted by: b | Apr 14 2022 17:19 utc | 15
Posted by: IronForge | Apr 14 2022 16:06 utc | 6
Thanks, using apps and changing dns helped.
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 14 2022 22:30 utc | 34
juliania@31
It is becoming clear that China sees the Covid pandemic as part of a biological war offensive against it, which is why it persists in attempting to eradicate it while the rest of the world (in governmental terms) seems reconciled to bidding farewell to millions of elderly and otherwise vulnerable people.
It is not that they will not be saddened by the deaths and worried by the decline in life expectancy- they will. But much less saddened than they would be if profits on capital went down or the petit bourgeoisie turned away from the political apathy, on which the liberal parties all rely, and gave their support to 'anti-lockdown' protests and wild conspiracy theories of the sort that need no detailed descriptions.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 14 2022 22:33 utc | 35
"Only the white man can make so much smoke"
China has acted as if under biological attack from the beginning.
Rae
MOSCOW, April 14 - RIA Novosti. The Russian military has become aware of the names of American and European employees of the Ukrainian Scientific and Technological Center (UNTC), which was engaged in research in the interests of the US military biological program, said Igor Kirillov, head of the RCBZ troops of the Russian Armed Forces.
"The post of executive director of the STCU is held by US citizen Curtis Belayach. Born on August 27, 1968 in California, he studied at the California Anderson University of Management. He has a master's degree in international finance and has been working in Ukraine since 1994," the lieutenant general said.
The EU STCU Chairman of the Board is Eddie Arthur Mayer. From the US, the work of the center is supervised by Phil Dolliff, who in the State Department holds the position of Deputy Advisor to the Secretary for International Security and WMD Nonproliferation Programs.
According to Kirillov, the documents received by the Ministry of Defense confirm the connection of the STCU with the Pentagon through Black & Veatch, the main contractor for the American military department. In particular, Moscow has at its disposal the correspondence of the vice-president of the firm, Matthew Webber, where he expresses his readiness to cooperate with the STCU on military biological research in Ukraine .
Hunter Biden - RIA Novosti, 1920, 03/31/2022
March 31, 16:35
The Ministry of Defense published the correspondence of Biden's son about biological laboratories in Ukraine
Since 2014, the STCU has completed over 500 projects in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan.
According to Kirillov, in recent years the United States has spent more than $350 million on the operation of the center, which, in accordance with its charter documents, operates as an international intergovernmental organization and, at first glance, has nothing to do with the Pentagon. The legal status of the STCU is determined by an agreement dated October 25, 1993 between the governments of Ukraine, Canada , the United States and Sweden .
“At the same time, the Expert Center for Chemical and Biological Threats of the Russian Ministry of Defense established that the main activity of the STCU is to act as a distribution center for grants for conducting research of interest to the Pentagon, including in the field of biological weapons,” Kirillov said.
US STCU customers and sponsors are the State Department and the Pentagon, and funding also comes through the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Departments of Agriculture, Health and Energy.
Preparations - RIA Novosti, 1920, 04/14/2022
Yesterday, 15:30
Ministry of Defense: US scientists tested drugs on mental patients in Kharkiv
"American curators were primarily interested in dual-use research, for example, project 6166 "Development of technologies for modeling, assessing and predicting the impact of conflicts and threats of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction", project 9601 "Transfer of Ukrainian technologies for the production of complex dual-use materials to the European Union" Kirillov noted.
He clarified that many studies were devoted to the study of potential agents of biological weapons and pathogens of economically significant infections, such as pathogenic avian influenza and African swine fever. Projects P-364, 444 and 781, aimed at studying the spread of pathogens of dangerous infections through insect vectors, wild birds and bats, were funded in the interests of the US military department.
The military biological program of the Pentagon
As already reported in the Russian Ministry of Defense, the United States spent more than a hundred million dollars on the work of biological laboratories in Ukraine, which participated in the American military biological program and dealt, in particular, with plague and anthrax pathogens.
In total, the network consisted of more than 30 institutions working in the interests of the Pentagon. After the start of the Russian special operation, everything related to the continuation of the American program was removed from Ukraine.
Минобороны назвало имена западных кураторов украинских биолабораторий - РИА Новости, 14.04.2022
Posted by: La Bastille | Apr 14 2022 22:47 utc | 36
juliania @31--
Thanks for your reply! That's why I prefaced my comment as I did since I'd been away 48 hours dealing with my wife's medical procedure, and I wasn't going to wade through @1,000 comments, but I also found no headlines. As it was, his Amur trip mostly didn't fit either thread topic; so, it all worked out.
Here's the link for the Escobar/Glazyev interview noted by Boo @30. Lots of links to his other recent efforts. I very much enjoy his ability to avoid getting dragged into a personality contest with Nabiullina as many attempt as this passage shows:
"The Cradle: Elvira Nabiullina has been reconfirmed as the head of the Russian Central Bank. What would you do differently, compared to her previous actions? What is the main guiding principle involved in your different approaches?
"Glazyev: The difference between our approaches is very simple. Her policies are an orthodox implementation of IMF recommendations and dogmas of the Washington paradigm, while my recommendations are based on the scientific method and empirical evidence accumulated over the last hundred years in leading countries."
If barflies have trouble accessing this article, please say so and I'll provide the three steps Galzyev describes as the process to begin the replacement system and currency.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 22:51 utc | 37
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 17:04 utc | 12
The ban on Russian culture is extremely stupid, karlof1, as that has been part of classical lore all of my life - even as a kid in New Zealand I listened to Russian classical music on the radio, and I cannot imagine a Christmas anywhere without versions of Tchaikovski's 'Nutcracker' - we even had the spike jones version on our rinky dink record player - at the beach of course, but hey, still Christmas!
I am currently re-reading my copy (Pevear translation) of "Crime and Punishment" - which was one of the books given to Edward Snowden to read when he was languishing in Moscow Airport. I was so pleased when I heard of that, and now I can enjoy it even more than I did when I first read it in more stable times. Taking place in Petersburg, it's probably the most 'citified' of all Dostoievski's novels, and the city itself is almost the main character, subtley present in almost every scene so far, almost as if it has an important role to play. I thought of it this morning as something like what Plato does in "The Politeia" - where place is already part of the dialogue at the very beginning, as well as what is going on at that place while the discussion happens, and another - an imaginary - city is built.
I'm going to keep that comparison going as I read. Here's one delightful passage - the speaker (engaged to the main character's sister) introducing himself:
..."If up to now, for example, I have been told to 'love my neighbor,' and I did love him, what came of it?" Pyotr Petrovich [!] continued, perhaps with unnecessary haste. "What came of it was that I tore my caftan in two, shared it with my neighbor, and we were both left half naked, in accordance with the Russian proverb which says: If you chase several hares at once, you won't overtake any one of them.* But science says: Love yourself before all, because everything in the world is based on self-interest. If you love only yourself, you will set your affairs up properly, and your caftan will also remain in one piece. And economic truth adds that the more properly arranged personal affairs and, so to speak, whole caftans there are in society, the firmer its foundations are and the better arranged its common cause..."
*[Pevear notes that 'Luzhin bungles the proverb' - sort of like Bush with 'fool me once...']
I have to interrupt here, for I see that this estimable gentleman has a correspondence with one of the first exponents of ideas in Plato's dialogue, Cephalus...oh my! But no, such comparisons cannot be made; they have been cancelled -- they are verboten!
This ridiculous attempt to ban an entire culture, and specifically one that has so much to say about where we have been, where we are now and where we are going -- well, assuredly it will self-destruct, that attempt? Surely the veil will be lifted, that veil being not over an enshrouded Russia, but over the idiots pretending to be our leaders. C'mon, people; wake up! You are being denied a liberal education!!!
Ich bin ein Petersburger!
Posted by: juliania | Apr 14 2022 22:58 utc | 38
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 22:51 utc | 37
I think the USD debt jubilee will be very useful:
“ “The Cradle: Michael Hudson specifically asks that if this new system enables nations in the Global South to suspend dollarized debt and is based on the ability to pay (in foreign exchange), can these loans be tied to either raw materials or, for China, tangible equity ownership in the capital infrastructure financed by foreign non-dollar credit?
Glazyev: Transition to the new world economic order will likely be accompanied by systematic refusal to honor obligations in dollars, euro, pound, and yen. In this respect, it will be no different from the example set by the countries issuing these currencies who thought it appropriate to steal foreign exchange reserves of Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, Afghanistan, and Russia to the tune of trillions of dollars. Since the US, Britain, EU, and Japan refused to honor their obligations and confiscated wealth of other nations which was held in their currencies, why should other countries be obliged to pay them back and to service their loans?
In any case, participation in the new economic system will not be constrained by the obligations in the old one. Countries of the Global South can be full participants of the new system regardless of their accumulated debts in dollars, euro, pound, and yen. Even if they were to default on their obligations in those currencies, this would have no bearing on their credit rating in the new financial system. Nationalization of extraction industry, likewise, would not cause a disruption. Further, should these countries reserve a portion of their natural resources for the backing of the new economic system, their respective weight in the currency basket of the new monetary unit would increase accordingly, providing that nation with larger currency reserves and credit capacity. In addition, bilateral swap lines with trading partner countries would provide them with adequate financing for co-investments and trade financing.””
————
I think China is more on the right track in using its central bank properly and should be able to help Russia here. China is further along in recognizing the dangers of the USD and in using a currency backed by labor, culture and commodities.
Posted by: financial matters | Apr 14 2022 23:50 utc | 39
COVID in China, and new evidence as to its origins
I got drawn into an off topic exchange yesterday and was duly chastised by a self-appointed moderator. There seems to be interest in this anyway so I will fill you in here.
It may not be widely acknowledged that after clearing up the initial outbreak at Wuhan, China was virtually Covid free from May 2020 to just a few months ago with just two reported deaths. It seems that the more agile Omicron variant has presented a greater challenge, and I was remarking recently in reports back to base that I thought the battle may soon be lost.
Here in Shenzhen, population 18 million, we have a very efficient set up and since it came back here a couple of months ago, daily case numbers have been kept in single/double figures with a peak of just about 100. But to achieve that has entailed constant testing, every day or every other, sudden building closures and being let out for one hour every two days; bars, restaurants, library and swimming pool abruptly closed and reopened. Whole areas shut off and reopened. We need to show the Green Code on our phone everywhere we go, it is updated with the latest test result within a few hours. We just had a week with no cases, things were easing up again, and then on Wednesday as I mentioned two buses came from Shanghai loaded with 40 doctors on furlough, some went into the hotel next door and twelve of them tested positive, so all hell has broken loose around here again. Meanwhile the others, it seemed, dispersed into the city, so we await further developments with resignation.
Many of those cases seem have come across from Hong Kong, feeding into the Futian district which is where the single open road link connects across the bridge. Some swam across to escape the restrictions! They really dropped the ball there and for a while last month Hong Kong was the worst affected jurisdiction in the world with a peak of almost 300 deaths daily in a relatively small population of about 8 million. There is much vaccination resistance there amongst the elderly, and it seems that has been by far the worst affected population segment. That seems now to be under control.
On the mainland there was a substantial outbreak in Jilin in the far north east, that is also now well under control. But Shanghai is in a league of its own setting national records. A three level risk category system pioneered in Shenzhen has been introduced such that the city is divided into 7,624 areas that are still sealed off, a group of 2,460 now subject to “controls” after a week of no new infections, and 7,565 “prevention areas” that will be opened up after two weeks without a positive case. I can’t find any confirmation that the authorities are turfing temporary workers out of the city to avoid having to support them, just hearsay that all trains out to Nanjing and Hangzhou are fully booked.
Xi has just confirmed again that zero Covid is still the national policy, I think the notion that it might run riot across a population of 1,400,000,000 is too awful to contemplate, but it’s beginning to look like the irresistable force and the immovable object, or more colloquially, “whackamole”.
The short Twitter video clip someone posted yesterday showed a locked down crowd in Shanghai confronting the PPE-clad doctors shouting “Chu qu, chu qu”: literally “Out go”. Patience is evidentally wearing thin now. Certainly it is wearing me down and as soon as I renew my residence visa here I will hightail it out to the Philippines for a few months to see if matters resolve themselves. I can report on the elections from there which will prove interesting! But I want to post on the significance of events in Pakistan as they relate to China in a while.
I can’t go without referring back to a remarkable O/T posting on Wednesday which drew no response, and which showed that the US military was paying money for Covid 19 work dated 12 November 2019, 2 months before it really got into gear and three before the WHO gave it its name. Can we post web links now? Anyway it was on a web site The Expose(acute accent), dailyexpose.uk, and the destination an organisation in the Ukraine. This seem to pull back into the largely discredited lab origin theory, and really needs to be followed up.
“U.S. Department of Defense awarded a contract for ‘COVID-19 Research’ in Ukraine 3 months before Covid was known to even exist”
Posted by: Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 19:19 utc | 22
Thanks for digging up all that info. I had seen the figures on Russia trade balance not long back. something comes to mind looking at the economics of Russia and US that fits with what I think I am seeing in Ukraine.
Like in Syria, I don't think we will see Russia reacting to provocations. One difference though - in Syria We saw Israel making strikes, US claiming territory and Turkey claiming territory but Russia's stated position was that it did not intend to start ew wars.
With Ukraine, any other country's forces try to move in they will be treated as a enemy combatant.
Economies and provocations - Russia's economy will only improve, US economy will only get worse so it makes sense not to respond with tit for tat moves to the provocations, rather just a matter of cleaning up Ukraine and let the US/EU economy do the rest.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 14 2022 23:57 utc | 41
----Russia Today, Sputniknews, Ria Novosti - all blocked. Way back in the '80ies, Russia would jam Western news broadcasts. Today it's the West that prefers to keep the population in the dark.
Posted by: Passerby | Apr 14 2022 15:16 utc | 2
It's funny how history rhymes.
----One of the goals is to perfect our own situational analysis. The other goal is to help others do the same. Numbers count.
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Apr 14 2022 15:57 utc | 4
Agreed - trolls are supposed to burst in sunlight.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Apr 14 2022 16:31 utc | 9
In late January 2020, Mike Pompeo said in public that China was in for a surprise. The look on his face was even more smug than usual. It made me follow events in China closely- and then came the Wuhan-virus as his boss called it. The way China freaked out would suggest they also thought it fishy.
Posted by: Anne B | Apr 14 2022 23:58 utc | 42
Posted by: Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
I think we’re just waiting for more evidence which should be forthcoming.
——-
I still think these thoughts of mine from a year ago are not unreasonable.
———————-
gm @ 364
""for 'natural' mutations to be highly concentrated only at 4 discreet, short (18-24-mer length) non-contiguous segments of ncov19 viral genome, and not significantly anywhere else in the 30K-mer long ncov19 genome, is apparently quite unlikely.""
I agree. The important thing now is to deal with the problem at hand but I think it is useful to discuss the origin to better understand the response.
The use as a bioweapon to up the ante in the trade war was in character (consider Libya, Syria, Yemen).
Coronaviruses such as SARS were thought to be regional problems and not pandemic in nature like influenza
China recognized it for what it was and took extreme measures.
The US got unexpected blowback from this enhanced virus. Think dual use and gain of function and essentially became scared shitless.
I don't think the lockdowns and economic meltdown were planned.
But of course the response is typical, witness the direction of the bailouts.
Posted by: financial matters | Apr 4 2020 12:26 utc | 375
Posted by: financial matters | Apr 15 2022 0:06 utc | 43
@juliana,
The city is so much a character of the book. And remarkably accurate, to the point where you can recreate Rodya’s walks. It can be quite unnerving if you know the feel of the book well enough. Though I imagine now Piter doesn’t have the same grit that it did 20 years ago, and the grittiness may be important to the feel.
I read “The Sinner and the Saint” recently and it is a wonderful biography of Crime and Punishment that pays close attention to the social and political issues of the time. Highly recommended. The cancelling of Dostoevsky was particularly funny given that he was born in the Ukraine.
Posted by: Lex | Apr 15 2022 0:13 utc | 44
@ karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 22:51 utc | 37 with the link to the Escobar/Glazyev interview
Thanks!
The devil is in the details but the structure sounds like it should be instead of the shit show of the West currently.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Apr 15 2022 0:16 utc | 45
psychohistorian @45--
Thanks for your reply! The current Shadowstats page merits reading too. Some shocking numbers there.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 15 2022 0:24 utc | 46
rae@28
I'm sorry- I took your point and repeated it, inadvertently.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 15 2022 0:25 utc | 47
karlof1 @ 10:
It took me a while, paging back, but I found my comments on the Putin/Lukashenko press conference at the "Sane Voices..." thread. Turns out we had Paco to thank for the link:
Paco @ 342, thank you SO much! This is so enjoyable after all the tangled issues of war!!! Here is just a small piece of the dialogue, Putin's answer to a question...I really don't exactly remember the question, sorry!
"...In this regard, I can say that I very much count on the growth of small and medium-sized businesses, on the initiative that comes from below, and on the emergence of new leaders in Russia. The economy will definitely adapt to the new situation. You can't charter one ship - you can charter another. You can’t send it to one country - you can send it to a third. You can’t buy here - you can buy in the fourth country. It's unavoidable. The world today is more complicated than it was during the Cold War, when there were two blocs and everything was covered by Kokom's lists. The world is more complex today, and in this complex world one country will not be able to maintain its complete dominance..."
And Lukaschenko's response, I think to the same question, I will post after this -- I haven't even finished the entire series of Q and A but only four polite(!) reporters are asking questions - oh, how refreshing it is!! They are having such a GOOD time!
Posted by: juliania | Apr 13 2022 2:23 utc | 368
Again to Paco's link, and this is part of a Lukashenko response (I got the spelling corrected this time):
"...What would be wrong if our entire world system and our planet rested on these four fulcrums: the United States of America, the European Union as the second fulcrum, Russia, China, possibly India. What, would it be less stable than relying on this destructive, self-destructive one pillar in the form of the United States of America? I think that says it all..."
Indeed it does, sir! Thank you! And thanks again Paco
Posted by: juliania | Apr 13 2022 2:29 utc | 369
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 0:52 utc | 48
China strategy = same as with Russia. When in doubt, escalate!
Pelosi couldn't make it to Taiwan, so we're sending Lindsey Graham and Bob Menenendez
Posted by: ptb | Apr 15 2022 1:03 utc | 49
juliania @48--
Thanks! You're very sweet! I'm very glad it got some discussion at the time given its importance. I ought to give Paco a well deserved thank you! also.
One of the linked items at the Glazyev/Escobar interview is this Galzyev essay, "The Economics of the Russian Victory" that describes an initiative billions of people would want to emulate and IMO can provide a template for the Global South yet has an ordinary title--“Social Justice and economic growth”--that's very similar to China's mantra of a Shared Future for Mankind.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 15 2022 1:11 utc | 50
A long briefing on US bio activities in Ukraine. (yandex translate)
Briefing on the results of the analysis of documents related to the military biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine (April 14, 2022)
April 14, 2022
A special military operation by Russian troops has yielded additional information on US military and biological activities in Ukraine, confirming numerous violations of the Biological Weapons Convention.
Taking advantage of existing gaps in international law and the lack of a clear verification mechanism, the US administration has consistently built up its military-biological capabilities in various regions of the world.
The Russian Federation has made continuous efforts to establish a BTWC verification mechanism, but this initiative has been consistently blocked by the collective West, led by the US, since 2001.
The existing UN Secretary-General's Mechanism to Investigate the Suspected Use of Biological and Toxin Weapons, as well as the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare and Military Conflict, do not cover the verification of States Parties' biological activities. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, has no such authority either.
We have previously provided a scheme for US coordination of biological laboratories and research institutes in Ukraine.
One of its elements is the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre (STCU), a seemingly non-public organisation that has nothing to do with the Pentagon.
The Russian Defence Ministry has managed to uncover its role in US military and biological activities in Ukraine.
According to its statutes, the STCU is an international intergovernmental organisation established to "...prevent the spread of knowledge and expertise related to weapons of mass destruction...".
Its legal status is defined by the Agreement of October 25, 1993 between the governments of Ukraine, Canada, the USA and Sweden and the Protocol of Amendment of July 7, 1997.
STCU is headquartered in Kiev and has regional offices in Baku, Chisinau and Tbilisi, as well as in Kharkov and Lvov.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defence's Chemical and Biological Threat Expertise Centre found that the STCU's main activity is to act as a distribution centre for grants for research of interest to the Pentagon, including biological weapons research.
In recent years alone, Washington has spent more than $350 million on STCU projects.
The U.S. customers and sponsors of STCU are the Department of State and the Department of Defense. Funding is also provided through the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Departments of Agriculture, Health and Energy.
In addition, note the document prepared by the STCU curators, dated March 11, 2022, which underlines the true nature of this organisation. It notes, quote: "...there has been an outflow of scientific experts in the development of means of delivery and advanced weaponry who have worked for Ukrainian institutions, as well as experts in the development of biological, radiological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The best-trained professionals with experience of working with dual-use materials and technologies (between 1,000 and 4,000) have found themselves in unfavourable professional and financial circumstances. This makes them vulnerable to defection to other states to participate in programmes to develop WMD, delivery systems and other weapons...".
By using such words, Washington actually acknowledges Ukrainian experts' work on the development of weapons of mass destruction delivery and use, and considers it appropriate to continue funding them.
Here are the names of the officials who were involved in the military-biological programmes.
The post of STCU executive director is held by Bjelajac Curtis Michael, a US citizen. Born August 27, 1968 in California, he studied at California's Anderson University of Management. He holds a master's degree in international finance and has worked in Ukraine since 1994.
The European Union chairman of the STCU board is Maier Eddie Arthur; the US chairman is Phil Dolliff, who is the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security and WMD Nonproliferation Programmes.
Documents received by the Russian Ministry of Defence confirm STCU's ties to the US military department. The slide shows a formal recommendation from the US State Department endorsing the STCU's cooperation with the Pentagon's main contractor, Black & Veach. The correspondence expresses the willingness of Matthew Webber, the company's vice president, to work with the STCU on ongoing military-biological research in Ukraine.
Between 2014 and 2022, the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre implemented five hundred R&D projects in post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan).
US supervisors were primarily interested in dual-use research, such as project 6166, Development of Technologies for Modelling, Evaluation and Prediction of Effects of Conflicts and Threats of Mass Destruction Weapons Spread, and project 9601, Transfer of Ukrainian Technologies for the Production of Complex Dual-Use Materials to the European Union.
Many of them are aimed at studying potential biological weapons agents (plague, tularaemia) and pathogens of economic importance (pathogenic avian influenza, African swine fever).
Projects P-364, 444, and 781, aimed at studying the spread of dangerous pathogens through insect vectors, wild birds, and bats, were funded by the Centre directly in the interests of the military department.
Note the documents of Project 3007 "Monitoring of the epidemiological and environmental situation regarding hazardous diseases of aquatic origin in Ukraine".
During the work, Ukrainian specialists, supervised by American scientists, systematically collected water samples in a number of major Ukrainian rivers, including the Dnepr, Danube and Dniester, as well as in the North Crimean Canal, to determine the presence of particularly dangerous pathogens, including cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and E pathogens, and draw conclusions about their possible waterborne spread.
The project assessed the damage properties of the selected samples and deposited the strains in a collection and subsequently exported them to the USA.
This is a map of Ukraine's water resources. Its analysis shows that the results of this work can be used to create an unfavourable biological situation not only in the Russian Federation, but also in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, as well as in Eastern Europe - Belarus, Moldova and Poland.
Our concern about Washington's activities in Ukraine stems from the fact that, contrary to its international obligations, the US has retained norms in its national legislation that allow for work in the field of biological weapons.
The ratification of the 1925 Geneva Protocol by the United States was accompanied by a number of reservations, one of which allows for the retaliatory use of chemical and toxin weapons.
Under the US Federal Unity and Cohesion Against Terrorism Act, research into biological weapons is permitted with the approval of the US government. Participants in such research are not criminally liable for developing such weapons.
Thus, the US administration is implementing the principle that domestic law takes precedence over international law in this area. The most ethically controversial research is conducted outside national jurisdictions.
Thus, during the special operation in Ukraine, it was established that US scientists from a laboratory in Merefa (Kharkov Region) were testing potentially dangerous biological drugs on patients of the regional clinical psychiatric hospital No 3 in Kharkov between 2019 and 2021.
Persons with mental disorders were selected for the experiments on the basis of their age, nationality and immune status. Special forms were used to record the results of 24-hour patient monitoring. The information was not entered into the hospital database and the staff of the medical institution signed a non-disclosure agreement.
In January 2022, the laboratory in Merefa was shut down and all equipment and preparations were moved to western Ukraine.
There are a number of witnesses to these inhuman experiments, whose names we cannot disclose for the sake of their safety.
Finally, in a previous briefing we described a technical device for the delivery and application of biological formulations that has been patented in the US.
At the same time, it was noted that Ukraine had sent a request to the manufacturing company regarding the possibility of equipping the Bayraktar drones with aerosol equipment.
It is a matter of concern that on March9, three unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with 30-litre containers and equipment for spraying formulations were detected by Russian reconnaissance units in Kherson region.
In January 2022, Ukraine reportedly purchased more than 50 such devices through intermediary organisations, which can be used to apply biological formulations and toxic chemicals.
We continue to analyse the evidence of crimes committed by the US administration and the Kiev regime in Ukraine.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 1:18 utc | 51
Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
might help if the rest of the world, including most of the virologists and epidemiologists here at MoA, even acknowledged that China only had 2 deaths over two years. they don't. they don't give a shit. and thus china is not only fighting the virus, it's fighting the malicious indifference, bottomless ignorance, and/or outright hostility of much of the rest of the world, which the state and spook agencies reliably rely upon. no public official in China is claiming anything other than a natural origin to the virus.
the western powers are gloating at the possibility of breaking China's resistance to the virus. idiots and cretins applaud along w/the spooks and stock market swindlers. that millions more globally would be dead if China followed the advice of "Anonymous" means nothing. not a goddam thing. flush these human turds already.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 15 2022 1:26 utc | 52
sorry, i meant antonym
Antonym | Apr 14 2022 15:10 utc | 1
you covid deniers are worse than supporters of Azov and Right Sector. you've killed hundreds times more than they have, all over the world.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 15 2022 1:33 utc | 53
Antonym | Apr 14 2022 15:10 utc | 1
you want the virus to do in China what western agents are trying to do to Russia. i don't care if that's your intent or not. it's you and the west that weaponize the virus. if China listens to voices like yours, they lose. period. end of story.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Apr 15 2022 1:39 utc | 54
A long briefing on the US bio weapon program in Ukraine. (this time without the link)
(Yandex translate)
Briefing on the results of the analysis of documents related to the military biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine (April 14, 2022)
April 14, 2022
A special military operation by Russian troops has yielded additional information on US military and biological activities in Ukraine, confirming numerous violations of the Biological Weapons Convention.
Taking advantage of existing gaps in international law and the lack of a clear verification mechanism, the US administration has consistently built up its military-biological capabilities in various regions of the world.
The Russian Federation has made continuous efforts to establish a BTWC verification mechanism, but this initiative has been consistently blocked by the collective West, led by the US, since 2001.
The existing UN Secretary-General's Mechanism to Investigate the Suspected Use of Biological and Toxin Weapons, as well as the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases and Bacteriological Methods of Warfare and Military Conflict, do not cover the verification of States Parties' biological activities. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague, has no such authority either.
We have previously provided a scheme for US coordination of biological laboratories and research institutes in Ukraine.
One of its elements is the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre (STCU), a seemingly non-public organisation that has nothing to do with the Pentagon.
The Russian Defence Ministry has managed to uncover its role in US military and biological activities in Ukraine.
According to its statutes, the STCU is an international intergovernmental organisation established to "...prevent the spread of knowledge and expertise related to weapons of mass destruction...".
Its legal status is defined by the Agreement of October 25, 1993 between the governments of Ukraine, Canada, the USA and Sweden and the Protocol of Amendment of July 7, 1997.
STCU is headquartered in Kiev and has regional offices in Baku, Chisinau and Tbilisi, as well as in Kharkov and Lvov.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defence's Chemical and Biological Threat Expertise Centre found that the STCU's main activity is to act as a distribution centre for grants for research of interest to the Pentagon, including biological weapons research.
In recent years alone, Washington has spent more than $350 million on STCU projects.
The U.S. customers and sponsors of STCU are the Department of State and the Department of Defense. Funding is also provided through the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Departments of Agriculture, Health and Energy.
In addition, note the document prepared by the STCU curators, dated March 11, 2022, which underlines the true nature of this organisation. It notes, quote: "...there has been an outflow of scientific experts in the development of means of delivery and advanced weaponry who have worked for Ukrainian institutions, as well as experts in the development of biological, radiological, chemical and nuclear weapons. The best-trained professionals with experience of working with dual-use materials and technologies (between 1,000 and 4,000) have found themselves in unfavourable professional and financial circumstances. This makes them vulnerable to defection to other states to participate in programmes to develop WMD, delivery systems and other weapons...".
By using such words, Washington actually acknowledges Ukrainian experts' work on the development of weapons of mass destruction delivery and use, and considers it appropriate to continue funding them.
Here are the names of the officials who were involved in the military-biological programmes.
The post of STCU executive director is held by Bjelajac Curtis Michael, a US citizen. Born August 27, 1968 in California, he studied at California's Anderson University of Management. He holds a master's degree in international finance and has worked in Ukraine since 1994.
The European Union chairman of the STCU board is Maier Eddie Arthur; the US chairman is Phil Dolliff, who is the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Security and WMD Nonproliferation Programmes.
Documents received by the Russian Ministry of Defence confirm STCU's ties to the US military department. The slide shows a formal recommendation from the US State Department endorsing the STCU's cooperation with the Pentagon's main contractor, Black & Veach. The correspondence expresses the willingness of Matthew Webber, the company's vice president, to work with the STCU on ongoing military-biological research in Ukraine.
Between 2014 and 2022, the Ukrainian Science and Technology Centre implemented five hundred R&D projects in post-Soviet countries (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan).
US supervisors were primarily interested in dual-use research, such as project 6166, Development of Technologies for Modelling, Evaluation and Prediction of Effects of Conflicts and Threats of Mass Destruction Weapons Spread, and project 9601, Transfer of Ukrainian Technologies for the Production of Complex Dual-Use Materials to the European Union.
Many of them are aimed at studying potential biological weapons agents (plague, tularaemia) and pathogens of economic importance (pathogenic avian influenza, African swine fever).
Projects P-364, 444, and 781, aimed at studying the spread of dangerous pathogens through insect vectors, wild birds, and bats, were funded by the Centre directly in the interests of the military department.
Note the documents of Project 3007 "Monitoring of the epidemiological and environmental situation regarding hazardous diseases of aquatic origin in Ukraine".
During the work, Ukrainian specialists, supervised by American scientists, systematically collected water samples in a number of major Ukrainian rivers, including the Dnepr, Danube and Dniester, as well as in the North Crimean Canal, to determine the presence of particularly dangerous pathogens, including cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and E pathogens, and draw conclusions about their possible waterborne spread.
The project assessed the damage properties of the selected samples and deposited the strains in a collection and subsequently exported them to the USA.
This is a map of Ukraine's water resources. Its analysis shows that the results of this work can be used to create an unfavourable biological situation not only in the Russian Federation, but also in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, as well as in Eastern Europe - Belarus, Moldova and Poland.
Our concern about Washington's activities in Ukraine stems from the fact that, contrary to its international obligations, the US has retained norms in its national legislation that allow for work in the field of biological weapons.
The ratification of the 1925 Geneva Protocol by the United States was accompanied by a number of reservations, one of which allows for the retaliatory use of chemical and toxin weapons.
Under the US Federal Unity and Cohesion Against Terrorism Act, research into biological weapons is permitted with the approval of the US government. Participants in such research are not criminally liable for developing such weapons.
Thus, the US administration is implementing the principle that domestic law takes precedence over international law in this area. The most ethically controversial research is conducted outside national jurisdictions.
Thus, during the special operation in Ukraine, it was established that US scientists from a laboratory in Merefa (Kharkov Region) were testing potentially dangerous biological drugs on patients of the regional clinical psychiatric hospital No 3 in Kharkov between 2019 and 2021.
Persons with mental disorders were selected for the experiments on the basis of their age, nationality and immune status. Special forms were used to record the results of 24-hour patient monitoring. The information was not entered into the hospital database and the staff of the medical institution signed a non-disclosure agreement.
In January 2022, the laboratory in Merefa was shut down and all equipment and preparations were moved to western Ukraine.
There are a number of witnesses to these inhuman experiments, whose names we cannot disclose for the sake of their safety.
Finally, in a previous briefing we described a technical device for the delivery and application of biological formulations that has been patented in the US.
At the same time, it was noted that Ukraine had sent a request to the manufacturing company regarding the possibility of equipping the Bayraktar drones with aerosol equipment.
It is a matter of concern that on March9, three unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with 30-litre containers and equipment for spraying formulations were detected by Russian reconnaissance units in Kherson region.
In January 2022, Ukraine reportedly purchased more than 50 such devices through intermediary organisations, which can be used to apply biological formulations and toxic chemicals.
We continue to analyse the evidence of crimes committed by the US administration and the Kiev regime in Ukraine.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 1:44 utc | 55
MoD Russia twitter account https://twitter.com/mod_russia/status/1514610327186378756?cxt=HHwWiMCo0auE_YQqAAAA
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 1:50 utc | 56
rjb1.5 #53
Thank you for your persistence. I am quite happy to acknowledge China's success in the covid virus attack. They were expecting it then and are currently anticipating another assault on their nation and the chinese genome. China has been repeatedly attacked by the USA in its pig, chicken, cultivation industries and each time it has cost them dearly. If covid is a precursor virus to a future deadly attack, China is best prepared and they appear to consider it a cost worth paying for the protection of their people.
China is well aware of the shenanigans of the USA with its matrix of CBW installations across the planet and is undoubtedly alarmed at their capers in Ukraine. One thing is certain - the UKUSA are a persistent threat and never relent. So China maintains social readiness and affirmation of the state's role to defend the people from aggression. This is why they will succeed in sustaining Taiwan in their national envelope.
Here again Matthew Ehret. https://tinyurl.com/4cj4y64j
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Apr 15 2022 1:59 utc | 57
Perhaps this has been posted here before, but BoJo announced that all illegal immigrants (e.g.: asylum seekers) shall henceforth be deported to Rwanda.
Tory minister (i.e.: one of Bojo's own people) claims the whole announcement/agreement is a charade invented to distract from the "party-gate" scandal that Bojo's currenntly embroiled in.
Be that as it may, the agreement has already been signed and "hailed" by Priti Patel (may she burn in everlasting hell) as a groundbreaking new "collective" solution that's a win-win-win for all involved, while BoJo's referring to it publicly as a "deterrent".
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:03 utc | 58
For those who might like more information on the Shanghai situation, today's distillation at the Saker of China events is pertinent:
Here comes China: The world rotated one more time
This is a compilation by Amarynth largely drawn from the newsletter by Godfree Roberts - and those familiar with both those names will know the information quality is 24-carat.
This edition contains several sources from Shanghai. Evidently, group-buying of food and other products is being ramped up at the citizen level to help substitute for the regular supply-chain channels currently impacted. Very interesting.
Despite the gripes we hear from others, and certainly in the face of massive propaganda from the usual western ignorance, not everyone in Shanghai is terminally aggravated by the situation, and as always, citizens regard themselves as an integral part of the government, and have a good working trust of its actions.
Posted by: Grieved | Apr 15 2022 2:10 utc | 59
Has the Saker become a filtered URL for the moment? Oh well, try today's "Here Comes China" roundup for some good local Shanghai sources.
Posted by: Grieved | Apr 15 2022 2:12 utc | 60
I also just came across this: China has apparently completed development on hypersonic heat-seeking missiles .
The significance of this is rather startling for the US, which has wasted 1.5 trillion dollars on development of the F-35, a supposedly "stealthy" plane that can be "easily" repurposed for any potential use, but which has famously been criticized because it "flies hot" , making it a brightly burning, highly visible long-range target for Chinese and Russian land- and air-based IR detection systems.
Add to that China's development of hypersonic missile swarms , and the speed with which China and Russia are overtaking US military dominance is breathtaking.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:37 utc | 61
@ Tom Pfotzer | 4
Excellent advice, and well said.
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:39 utc | 62
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 19:19 utc | 22
I'm sure you're right about that, I keep feeling more and more squeezed.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 3:27 utc | 63
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:03 utc | 57
see Craig Murray's latest article. I haven't read it yet, but he is usually good on subjects he knows something about; (unfortunately Ukraine is an exception.)
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 3:31 utc | 64
One man's troll is another man's truth-teller.
I imagine if we tried to comment on a pro-ukie blog, they'd immediately dismiss us as trolls.
Posted by: Robert Macaire | Apr 15 2022 3:32 utc | 65
@ Pacifica Advocate 59
Yes: wasted 1.5 trillion dollars on development of the F-35
NATO planners put the F-35 front and center in European nuclear deterrence
WASHINGTON — Following Germany’s decision to buy a fleet of F-35s, NATO planners have begun updating the alliance’s nuclear sharing mechanics to account for the jet’s next-gen capabilities, a key NATO official said this week.
“We’re moving fast and furiously towards F-35 modernization and incorporating those into our planning and into our exercising and things like that as those capabilities come online,” said Jessica Cox, director of the NATO nuclear policy directorate in Brussels. . . here
The F-35 mistake-jet can't carry nuclear weapons and. . .
1. The F-35 is still in development, after twenty years, with full production not allowed. After more than twenty years in development it has not passed operational test and evaluation.
2. The currently available F-35 prototype from limited production is a crappy poor performing expensive aircraft with 61% availability. Its publicized low purchase cost of less than 100 million comes from Lockheed, with no government audit permitted. A recent Air Force report on a totally destroyed F-35 put the value at $175,983,949. They are over $200 million each with initial spares, helmet etc. . . Five for a billion, and maybe three of them will fly!
3. The F-35 hourly operating cost is about $36,000 which is almost 50 percent more than what an F-16 costs to fly. It's too expensive to fly for routine training even when it does get off the ground. So pilots spend more time in a simulator rather than in the cockpit which affects pilot morale and contributes to an Air Force critical shortage of 2,000 pilots.
4 . A $14 billion Pentagon software upgrade for F-35 jets is being installed on these 'flying computer' planes that are already deployed even though it’s “immature, deficient and insufficiently tested,” according to a new assessment by the Pentagon's testing office; in total there are more than 800 unresolved software and hardware deficiencies of varying severity that could undercut readiness, missions or maintenance.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 3:41 utc | 66
Posted by: Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
I think the Shanghai government bears a lot of blame for how things are going. There wouldn't be burnout if they'd just locked things down like Shenzhen did at the beginning. Those of us elsewhere in the country are definitely hoping to see some officials removed.
As for the dailyexpose bit that you posted the other day...idk, I feel like most of us here in China (at least those of us who aren't 5th columnists taking US$$$$) already accept that COVID-19 was a bioweapon attack against us, so I didn't comment.
Posted by: Beatrice | Apr 15 2022 3:50 utc | 67
@ 57
news report
Migrants arrive in D.C. on buses sent by GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
“Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administration’s failure to secure our border," the governor said.
The migrants, from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, were being dropped off between Union Station and the Capitol as "part of Governor Abbott’s response to the Biden Administration’s decision to end Title 42 expulsions," his office said.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 3:54 utc | 68
Posted by: Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
I got drawn into an off topic exchange yesterday and was duly chastised by a self-appointed moderator. There seems to be interest in this anyway so I will fill you in here.
Buddy, give it rest. You F'd up: if it had only been ONE posting I might not have bothered to comment on that, but then another came, and, well.. Own up to it.
Appreciate the information (more so that it's posted in the PROPER location [one that's not dedicated to Ukraine- "OPEN THREAD"]).
Keep in mind that all of this, the good and the bad, will get increasingly more amplified: in case people have been asleep the US, and now "NATO", are essentially plunging into war against China.
I appreciate China's efforts and sacrifices in providing the world with a control group. Not being snarky. Point is is that having different case studies for use in dealing with future issues IS important. Do I like the [claimed/documented?] suffering? Not a chance in hell. I cannot say one way or another as to the actual "goals" of the Chinese government, whether it's persistence knowing something that we all don't or it's great example of poor leadership. Over-reaching/acting due to it's own complicity in, say, a lab leak? No matter, how China gets around to dropping all such lockdowns WILL be interesting. I look forward to facts on all this.
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 3:55 utc | 69
@ ptb 49
US lawmakers visit Taiwan to pacify DPP after Pelosi’s farce
To squeeze more benefits from DPP on military sales: experts
About a week after the farce of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aborted plan to reportedly visit Taiwan, a delegation composed of six US congressmen from the military, intelligence, foreign affairs, justice and finance committees arrived on Taiwan island, kicking off a stopover that analysts said targets the Chinese mainland with the Taiwan card and boosts more military sales to the island by hyping "mainland threats."
The Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly opposes the visit, with spokesperson Zhao Lijian saying that China firmly opposes official exchanges between the US and Taiwan in any form, and US congressmen should abide by the one-China principle pursued by the US government. . . here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 4:00 utc | 70
Posted by: Pacifica Advocate | Apr 15 2022 2:37 utc | 59
the US, which has wasted 1.5 trillion dollars on development of the F-35
Imagine the above with a strike-through of "wasted" and substituted with "profited." NOTE: [latest report] US corporations had their greatest profits margins ever. EVER! Continuing to add to this dystopia...
As Don Bacon noted above, NATO is now going to look to arm these flying pigs with nukes: imagine Poland with such! Human race isn't fit to survive...
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 4:02 utc | 71
@ fm 39
In any case, participation in the new economic system will not be constrained by the obligations in the old one. Countries of the Global South can be full participants of the new system regardless of their accumulated debts in dollars, euro, pound, and yen. Even if they were to default on their obligations in those currencies, this would have no bearing on their credit rating in the new financial system. Nationalization of extraction industry, likewise, would not cause a disruption. Further, should these countries reserve a portion of their natural resources for the backing of the new economic system
I'm thinking about Afghanistan, with a trillion dollars worth of lithium in the ground. It's a new world! and we live in it.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 4:07 utc | 72
Posted by: Don Bacon | Apr 15 2022 3:54 utc | 66
Excellent logic! It is, after all, DC's policies that are creating all these immigrants: stop f-ing around in South America! But, history tells us that this is a desired feature. Look up the Bracero Operation. And then there's EB-1C(?).
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 4:10 utc | 73
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 3:55 utc | 67
Buddy, give it rest. You F'd up: if it had only been ONE posting I might not have bothered to comment on that, but then another came, and, well.. Own up to it.
Appreciate the information (more so that it's posted in the PROPER location [one that's not dedicated to Ukraine- "OPEN THREAD"]).
Reprimand accepted. I don't initiate O/T but felt compelled to respond.
Happy that you found it informative.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 4:24 utc | 74
Posted by: Antonym | Apr 14 2022 15:10 utc | 1
Complete load of bollocks
Posted by: Bo Robinson | Apr 15 2022 4:34 utc | 75
next up...
Asian NATO to include TW ?
NAATO on the card ?
At a press conference on 8 April 2022, in the context of a meeting of Foreign Ministers of NATO and allies (including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan), NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg announced that NATO heads of state and government would approve a new Strategic Concept, to formalise extending NATO’s reach into the Asia/Pacific region, with the explicit aim of countering “China’s growing influence and coercive policies”.
[1]
NAATO = North America Asia Treaty Organization
A India/USAss proposition broached in 2003, coming to fruition today ?
[1]
Posted by: denk | Apr 15 2022 4:53 utc | 76
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 4:24 utc | 72
And my apologies for coming down so hard. And note that I had not caught that you were replying to someone else. Just a bit frustrated in seeing lots of threads totally derailed (mostly from trolls, which I know you are not). I'm not here to make enemies (nor do I go anywhere else to do so- not my goal in life).
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 5:01 utc | 77
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 5:01 utc | 75
And my apologies for coming down so hard.
Agreed, and accepted without reservation.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 5:06 utc | 78
Thanks, karlof1 @ 50 for the Glazyev article. He's not as easy to understand as Prof. Hudson, and not being an economist myself, it was heavy going until I got to this section:
...
The fatal events of February 2014, with the coup d’etat in Ukraine and widespread chaos, were just the final chord of a major special operation, the key goal of which was to establish the anti-Russia platform in Ukraine, in the spirit of the already textbook narratives. In the historically determined field of conflict and aggression of the West against Russia, moving its “Drang nach Osten”, Ukraine has always been given the title role. Bismarck expressed the most vivid attitude of the West towards Ukraine, saying: “Russia’s power can only be undermined by the separation of Ukraine from it… it is necessary not only to tear off, but also to oppose Ukraine to Russia. To do this, you just need to find and nurture traitors among the national elite and with their help change the self-consciousness of one part of the great people to such an extent that they will hate everything Russian, hate their kind, without realising it. Everything else is just a matter of time”...
Wow.
The final part relating to the Central Bank and its affinity with international 'norms' helped me glimpse why the Biden move to hang onto the reserves would sever that relationship, as hopefully it has done now. You were correct to emphasize Putin's focus on unipolarity at the presser with Lukashenko. I was also struck that he highlighted the threesome - Russia, Belarussia and Ukraine - they were both most emphatic that they could survive on their own resources, and although they didn't say, surely being freed from that chained economical slavery was crucial. (In a positive way, echoes of Putin's 'Do you know what you have done?) I remember how in 'The Shock Doctrine' South Africa's Nelson Mandela, freed but not freed, had to give up on many positive programs under similar duress.
It's my bedtime, but thanks - we need to put our minds on these aspects of what is happening. So much we can't know for now, but there must be a better outlook for Ukraine going forward as ally rather than enemy to its neighbors. (And for Pakistan as well - surely they don't want to return to the chaotic past?)
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 5:25 utc | 79
Posted by: Lex | Apr 15 2022 0:13 utc | 44
Thank you, Lex! I had fun with that. I could remember from past reading how Raskolnikov counts his steps even, and there was a Pevear note that Dostoievski even took his new wife to the very spot where the stolen objects had been hidden...shivers up my spine...
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 5:41 utc | 80
A very late thank you, Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40, for a helpful description of matters covid lately in Shanghai. I look forward to your promised post on the China - Pakistan situation. Tectonic plates...stay safe.
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 5:53 utc | 81
Posted by: juliania | Apr 15 2022 5:53 utc | 79
I look forward to your promised post on the China - Pakistan situation.
Going for a swim - pool open again!
Will finish and file when I return.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 6:23 utc | 82
The F-35 Joint Program Office has released a bunch of images showing DCA (Dual Capable Aircraft) tests involving the release of inert nuclear bombs. https://theaviationist.com/2020/06/22/here-are-the-first-photos-of-the-f-35a-jets-dropping-inert-b61-12-nuclear-bombs-during-dca-tests/
Posted by: Laurence | Apr 15 2022 6:24 utc | 83
The world of 2047 will hopefully be a brighter one, with all of earth's current geopolitical problems rendered obsolete. Something close to the "med bed" thing will have completely revolutionized contemporary medicine long ago. People will hopefully look back on c0v1d like it was a "war of the worlds" supercivilizational prank allowed to go on for too long. That which is beyond earth will hopefully be within reach for more everyday people!
If Tom Friedman's "Russian collapse" scenario doesn't come to pass, they will likely have a slice or two of Ukraine and other former Soviet republics by 2047. Perhaps even a conflict of some kind with Sweden and/or Finland!
The Chinese will probably be more nationalist in imagery rather than "communist." Imagine a Beijing more along the lines of Putin's Russia from the 2000s, only they don't go through the awkward Yeltsin "Weimar" stage following an inevitable collapse of the CCP system, or otherwise at the bare minimum, a more sane faction overtaking another one. Even Russia wants the CCP gone, or at least rebranded. When the Russians entered Kazakhstan in January, they arrested the country's longtime intelligence chief that'd been a key spy partner for Beijing and a close friend of the former Vice President Biden's son, the one with the laptop. Expect details of which to surface soon. Pretty much all the world's powerful with unfathomable blackmail - how the whole sick power game's been held together f6so long historically. That comes to light, and then suddenly, a Renaissance! Hopefully one that lasts. We all remember how much we almost lost, and then, almost like magic, we build back a lot better than previous generations considered possible!
America lasts. We've weathered tough seas before. A lot of the next century in the US could quite conceivably rival the 20th - Imagine a remix of the best parts?
Scottish independence seems likely. Taiwan may eventually go their own way whether a nationalist or communist Mainland seeks to subdue them or not.
Posted by: Mikhail-Raygun 19772 | Apr 15 2022 6:32 utc | 84
Finding uplift from the weary times...
Tom Pfotzer | Apr 14 2022 15:57 utc | 4 is right on there, especially: "One of the goals is to perfect
our own situational analysis. The other goal is to help others do the same. Numbers count."
rae@28 I'm sorry- I took your point and repeated it, inadvertently.
Posted by: bevin | Apr 15 2022 0:25 utc | 47
Nice to see things like that bevin. Likewise, very nice to see the congeniality between seer and Walt.
Kudos and a shot of aquavit for each of you!
Easter weekend here in norge. Good Friday (langfredag) today so I wish a very good Good Friday to all MoA folk.
Posted by: waynorinorway | Apr 15 2022 6:37 utc | 85
Walt | Apr 14 2022 23:51 utc | 40
I have been skipping most of the covid comments but when I noticed you were in China went back and read yours. Just a couple of thoughts on the zero covid policy.
First is that although China has been able to contain it and usually get outbreaks back to zero new infections it will be an ongoing challenge as the majority of the world has made no effort to eradicate it and it may be around in various strains for quite sometime.
On the other side of the coin, due to the previous one child policy, China's age demographic probably means they have a high proportion in the most at risk age group so would be particularly hard hit.
You mentioned bio weapons. Due to the circumstances I strongly lean towards this being a bio weapon. The timing - it came at a time when Trump was quickly ramping up the pivot on China - sanctioning breaking supply chains ect. Also the fact no intermediary host has bee found and the outbreak at a place close to a virus research lab in China. Develop it a pentagon lab the release it near the Wuhan lab as a false flag. The Wuhan lab worked in conjunction with universities around the world and research was published and was cleared by I think the WHO investigation.
I looked up the Kazakhstan Pentagon lab when Russia secured the government sites there after the attempted coup. That seemed to be mostly involved i collection of viruses and just a little research by to local researchers, but one of the viruses they were collecting was coronavirus from bats in caves near the Chinese border. Then it came out in one of the mod briefings that according to the documents they had, Pentagon had been researching coronavirus in its labs in Ukraine, off memory that research was conducted in the several years prior to the outbreak at Wuhan.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 7:04 utc | 86
This is always off-topic, even when there's no particular topic: Here in continental USA, an unremitting Spring onslaught of violent storms keeps pounding the heartland (the other white apocalypse). One more terrific fire season is just getting warmed up with the outbreak of the deadly McBride fire in New Mexico. Relative humidity as low as 2%. Tornados such as even Dorothy from Kansas never saw the likes. Many pretty twisters, mainly over Texas, where someone took a snapshot of a 5 1/2 inch hailstone.
(This is from Masters & Henson -- the WeatherUnderground guys.)
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/04/texas-twister-injures-23-mcbride-fire-engulfs-150-structures/
USA's heartland tornados have always been something special. Combine winds from different directions mixing at different heights over such a vast, flat basin... thence emerge your roof-ripping "supercells". I've heard tornado frequency has not increased, but intensity has. Monitoring US American news broadcasts, it feels like a back-to-back sequence of amazingly nasty storms never letting up, not for a single day.
A few years ago, we enjoyed the premiere of the "firenado" -- perhaps when Paradise burned down up the road a piece in Butte County, California. Nobody dreamed up that one in advance. Just heat and turbulence producing new, creative physical phenomena for a new millenium. Hard to believe it's not made up, it's so fearsome: fire-driven storms racing at freeway speeds.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 7:31 utc | 87
Regarding COVID-19... Let this one sink in...
Ukrainian military personnel competed at the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan.
Posted by: Seer | Apr 15 2022 7:39 utc | 88
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 7:31 utc | 85
damn, I remember going to Ruidoso on a family vacation as a kid. A friend in Colorado told me the fire season is year round there, now.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 8:05 utc | 89
fire season is year round there, now.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 8:05 utc | 87
And I didn't expect to be situated smack dab in a climate (drought & fire) epicenter, here in the Bay Area. The strongest statistical confirmation I can offer of what I'm seeing out here (general tree mortality, for instance, is astonishing) would be the time series chart of US Drought Monitor:
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DmData/TimeSeries.aspx
This chart first appears in a national view of the multicolor USDM index -- which looks dire enough. If you narrow the view to Other Regions / Western US, and the index to the purple DSCI index, you see our drought condition (which tracks exactly with our fire vulnerability) going way off the top of the chart a year and a half ago: Sept 2020.
Michael Hudson thinks this war is our little way of preserving fossil fuels forever, despite it all.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 8:41 utc | 90
Pakistan, the coup, and China
I was slightly surprised recently to see Alex Mercouris downplay the significance of the coup against Imran Khan. I tried to comment below his video, but it was soon drowned in an ocean of one liners and anyway I think I am still shadow banned for, shall I say, strident comments on other channels. I also hoped to see some discussion on other web media but so far no show. Well, here I go. This is undoubtedly the best place for it.
China of course has huge trading volume with the rest of the world. A very large proportion heads west by sea. Take a look at a map of south Asia and focus on southern Malaysia. Between Malaysia and Sumatra lies the Malacca Strait. Britannica says:
“As the link between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca is the shortest sea route between India and China and hence is one of the most heavily traveled shipping channels in the world…. The strait was successively controlled by the Arabs, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British. Singapore, one of the world’s most important ports, is situated at the strait’s southern end.“
Now you know why the British created Singapore.
Wikipedia says it is the busiest strait in the world. It is part of China’s Maritime Silk Road.
Now ease back and look at the context. If China cannot ship through the strait, it has a very long detour to negotiate — the nearest gap is at the Sunda strait which is shallower and narrower. China fears that at some point during future hostilities, the USA will set up blockades. A web search on “blocking the Malacca Strait” brings up some fascinating sites which I will not copy at length, you can do yourselves if interested. Just a few quotes:
“If the Strait is blocked due to some reasons, the entire Asian economy will be thoroughly affected.”
“The focal point of this blockade would be the Strait of Malacca and nearby archipelagic straits through Indonesia.”
“Very often, the blockade of the straits of Malacca for disruption of Chinese energy sources and trade is being offered as a possible Indian strategic deterrence option against China in a conflict scenario.”
What are China’s alternatives? The Belt and Road project is setting up a network of rail routes across Asia. The USA has recently attempted to interfere in Kazakhstan and Belarus but fortunately was squared off, but now it seems its European wing will be terminated at the border with Russia. But China’s Get Out of Jail Free card was to be a port on the Arabian sea, linked by rail to China, a very direct link near to the Persian gulf, in the province of Baluchistan. And Baluchistan, of course, is in a country with which China shares a substantial border: Pakistan.
QED.
I suppose a longer route through Afghanistan, whom China is cultivating, and Iran is possible? Talk about three dimensional chess!
POSTSCRIPT: I just sent a Wechat message to Sam, a Pakistani I met a couple of months ago, and we then discussed the Baluchistan project, asked him for a insider comment, will post later if it turns up. Meanwhile it is almost Friday night: a steak at Maggie’s, and live music from a Filipino band at Haishangshijie, all washed down with ample draughts of red wine. Enjoy your weekend.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 8:42 utc | 91
Elon Musk Wants to Make Twitter’s Algorithm Open Source, Enable Free Speech https://sputniknews.com/20220414/elon-musk-wants-to-make-twitters-algorithm-open-source-enable-free-speech-1094769971.html
Musk called Twitter a “town square” and that having free speech in that space is important for civilization’s survival, though he emphasized that Twitter, like all public forums, are beholden to the laws of the countries they operate out of. Calling for direct violence on someone would not get a free pass on Musk’s Twitter, but most other forms of speech would.
May not be the Catch-22 that appears to be. Could be a thread topic. In other Twitter news:
Elon Musk Makes Over-The-Odds $41 Billion Twitter Takeover Bid https://sputniknews.com/20220414/elon-musk-makes-over-the-odds-41-billion-twitter-takeover-bid-1094757353.html
& Long-Time Twitter Shareholder Saudi Prince Alwaleed Rejects Musk's Takeover Bid https://sputniknews.com/20220414/long-time-twitter-shareholder-saudi-prince-alwaleed-rejects-musks-takeover-bid-1094767643.html
Posted by: Laurence | Apr 15 2022 8:48 utc | 92
@ karlof1 | Apr 14 2022 17:04 utc | 12
After reading the Medvedev's Telegram post you kindly repost, I couldn't help chuckling
at the naivety of some Russian officials up to this point. It amazes me that someone like Medvedev is just realizing that "you can not take the word of the authorities of European countries.(And) Their letters of guarantee are not worth the paper on which they are printed."
Everyone all over the world knows that. President Bashir Assad of Syria is fond of reminding the Western journalists that the West has no credibility among the people of the Middle East.
Posted by: Steve | Apr 15 2022 8:57 utc | 93
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Apr 15 2022 8:41 utc | 88
I'm sure the war serves multiple purposes, to maintain the status quo in general. locally here in Texas the main difference I'm seeing is this constant wind, and just more variance in the weather in general. more thunderstorms, and rising more quickly, sometimes with hail and tornadoes. But I feel we've been fortunate in comparison with the western states, and California in particular. I'm glad most of the Redwoods have survived, so far.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Apr 15 2022 9:00 utc | 94
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 15 2022 7:04 utc | 84
Back to Covid.
Thanks for your comments, very apposite.
I just want to mention something I meant to put up before which is that, not being a virologist, I had been reliant on the opinions of experts in the field, and the majority seemed to say that covid-in-a-lab was conspiracy theory, the chances were really next to zero, and the Yanks were just adopting it to slander China: the "Wuhan virus". However, the boot seems to be on the other foot just now and as John Maynard Keynes is said to have put it, "When the facts change, so does my opinion".
One of the many strange facts that has emerged which seems to have been under explored is that following Wuhan, a very early (earliest?) outbreak occurred in Iran. Now I remember that perhaps the earliest outbreak outside China that was well publicised in the West was in Italy. Looking back at Worldometers, those first cases were dated 12 March. Iran, however, began on 2 March and has never touched zero since. India, for example, didn't get started until 10 May.
I wonder how it got kick started in Iran. Another conspiracy theory? Maybe. But I do think there is much yet to be revealed, and I think we will be hearing it soon.
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 9:12 utc | 95
@Walt | Apr 15 2022 8:42 utc | 89
The Thai canal may become a reality at some stage. It would connect the Gulf Of Thailand with the Andaman Sea, bypassing the Malacca Straight.
Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 9:16 utc | 96
The Thai canal may become a reality at some stage. It would connect the Gulf Of Thailand with the Andaman Sea, bypassing the Malacca Straight.
Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 9:16 utc | 94
Yes, interesting, I hadn't read about that until few hours ago looking stuff up for this. Brian Berletic, resident in Thailand, of course is very strident on YouTube about US interference there. It's like a light coming on isn't it, suddenly everything falls into place and you just have to lean back and say: ahhhh!
Posted by: Walt | Apr 15 2022 9:24 utc | 97
@Walt | Apr 15 2022 9:24 utc | 97
You also have the "Rohingya" business in Myanmar, designed to cause trouble for Chinese access to the Bay of Bengal via Myenmar.
Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 15 2022 10:30 utc | 98
Israel is currently using the pinning down of Russia and Western media attention in Ukraine to bomb Damascus.
Posted by: Altai | Apr 15 2022 10:33 utc | 99
Posted by: Steve | Apr 15 2022 8:57 utc | 93
Paul Craig Roberts is making this point again in one of his latest salvos. I was sceptical of his stance in the begining, but it looks like with the benefit of hindsight that he might have been right and the limited SMO is not sufficient:
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/04/14/the-kremlin-has-missed-the-opportunity-to-end-the-provocations-of-russia-that-are-bringing-the-world-to-nuclear-war/
As I emphasized from the beginning, Russia’s intervention in Ukraine was far too little and far too late. I have no doubt that the Kremlin will achieve its goal of cleansing the Donbass republics of the Western-supported Nazi Azov brigade and the Ukrainian army, but the Kremlin has pissed away the far more important opportunity to end all Western provocations of Russia.
If Russia had hit Ukraine with a devastating conventional all-inclusive attack, the war would have ended before it started. No members of the puppet Ukrainian government would be alive. There would be no communication and transportation capabilities in Ukraine except Russian military ones. An awesome demonstration of what happens when you over-provoke a superior military power would have European countries scrambling to get out of NATO, not join as Finland and Sweden evidently are. Instead of scaring off would-be provokers, the Kremlin’s ill-considered go-slow limited intervention has encouraged more encirclement of Russia and more aggression on the part of Washington, NATO members, and Ukraine.
...
Going after the "command and control" centers after almost 2 months of SMO shows how exasperated and naive the Russians were to believe that giving one last chance for a diplomatic solution will work, and that it predictably - well, at least for people that know the belly of the beast like Paul Craig Roberts - did not work. Moreover, the strategy of increasing the pain dial so far has produced a reciprocal military and economic pain dial from NATO. At the moment, after 2 months we're back to a conventional war with a chance for nuclear confrontation.
On the other hand, to get the support for a full scale war from China and India would have been much harder. But this is where we are and things are looking gloomy.
Posted by: Boo | Apr 15 2022 10:38 utc | 100