Courageously Disregarding Threats
Appreciating Honor,
In this historical period of gradually declining global oil, there must be an overall decline in economic activity, but it is set to be very uneven. Different economic structures may gradually fail or relatively thrive, and some countries may still be capable of economic growth for a few more years, notably Russia, with lots of resources compared to population.
In the "west", neoliberal economics, based upon maximizing monetary-profit for the owner-class, and extracting value from the world at large, via the debt-based currency, the $US, is seen to be inefficient at meeting the needs of the many humans in the world. The "owners" seek to reduce the number of humans in the world, to sustain their profits, focusing on rival human groups, and those groups which consume resources, without producing wealth, such as retirees.
It is hard to keep this a secret. Word has gotten out to most of the world, and rumors are even spreading in the European cultures and their colonialist diaspora.
In TROTW (the rest of the world) there is much appeal to being relieved of the gangster-imperialist burden and threat of destruction for not paying tribute by accepting promissory-dollars for actual oil, wheat and steel. BRICS+ is putting together parallel trade, finance, military and governance structures to circumvent the Bretton Woods, UN, EU and NATO constructs of the financial-imperialist post WW-2 epoch.
Russia, China and Iran together are showing that they can prevail against the western military and financial empire, and also maintain their own national identities, without being homogenized into western pop-culture. Iran has supported an "axis of resistance" of small er countries and nationalist insurgencies against western-backed puppet governments, notably the Iraqi and Lebanese resistance movements. This is internally stressful within Iran, just as it has been for Cuba, under western embargo for over 60 years.
Will western populations be able to throw off the parasitic neoliberal financial structures, or will they remain subservient, and allow mysterious "excess deaths" and new pandemics to cull them for better profits, while keeping up with social media on the latest smartphones and having another Diet Coke?
Um, how would that happen? What might be the steps along the way to more independence and self reliance, and overturning the big Ponzi-scheme that promises retirement security?
All I offer is to start working the problem. Things look different when you are gardening, shelling beans and pulling weeds. Here is some analysis and current news.
Michael Hudson: Russia and China CRUSH NATO’s Plan as Ukraine FALLS Apart NIMA: Just to wrap up this session, when you look at BRICS today, you said that we’re going to have a BRICS summit soon. And how long does it take for BRICS to come to a solution that would make its members totally independent of the American system?
MICHAEL HUDSON: I don’t see that coming very soon because they’re really reinventing the wheel. Much of this wheel has already been invented in the 19th century by British classical political economy.
You don’t want economic rent. You want capital formation. You want government to take the lead in natural monopolies and infrastructure. All of this was all worked out in the 19th century.
But neoliberalism has so extinguished and just excluded the history of this economic thought that most of the political leaders of the BRICS countries are simply unaware of this. And the staffs are unaware of this. Certainly, their central bankers are unaware of this, and their economists, if they’re trained in the United States and Europe, are unaware of this.
So they’re working so much, I won’t say in the dark. They know where they want to go, but they haven’t worked out how to get there. And this is going to take a while to get something that’s actually workable.
There’s already so much confusion about discussion of a BRICS currency. They’re not distinguishing between a currency to denominate trade and investment that maybe can be like the euro, and other speculators can buy it, or just a central bank, a version of Bancor is in a central bank accounting system of credits and debits. They haven’t studied all of the discussions at the end of World War II over what kind of an international monetary fund should there be between Keynes and the Americans.
So if they’re working without this familiarity with history, and without knowing how other countries have already thought through all of these, the same issues that the BRICS are thinking of, it’s going to take a while. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/07/michael-hudson-russia-and-china-crush-natos-plan-as-ukraine-falls-apart.html
Pepe Escobar, The Big Picture behind Viktor The Mediator’s peace shuttle The Big Picture remains: the future of the “rules-based international order” is being decided in the black soil of Novorossiya. In a nutshell: a complete geopolitical and technical-military revamp, as well as geoeconomic (the importance of developing alternative international transport corridors such as the INSTC).
The Chargé d’Affaires of the Russian Mission to the EU, Kirill Logvinov, tried to brief the Europeans last week, under the rubric “New Security Architecture for the Eurasian Continent”.
Logvinov explained how“ the Euro-Atlantic concept of security has collapsed. Based on U.S. and NATO dominance, the European regional security framework has failed to ensure the practical implementation of the ‘indivisible security for all’ principle.”
A future system of security and cooperation in Eurasia will then form the “foundation of the global security architecture in a multipolar world based on the UN Charter principles and the rule of international law.”
And the Greater Eurasian Partnership will form the economic and social basis of this new Eurasian security system...
..Putin’s peace plan for Ukraine – announced on June 14 in front of the crème de la crème of Russian diplomats – should be understood. Orban certainly got it.
Any other plans – with the exception of the revised Chinese offer, and that’s why Orban went to Beijing – are irrelevant, from Moscow’s perspective.
Of course Team Trump had to come up with their own NATO-centered plan. That’s not exactly a gift to clueless Europeans.
Under Trump, NATO’s role will shift: it will become an “auxiliary” force in Europe. Washington of course will keep its nodes in the Empire of Bases – in Germany, UK, Turkey – but ground forces, armored vehicles, artillery, logistics, everything, high costs included, will be fully paid by wobbling European economies.
Under the coordination of Trump’s national defense strategy adviser, Elbridge Colby, the new administration would promise to give Putin commitments “not to expand NATO to the east.” Moreover, Trump seems to be ready to “consider territorial concessions” to Russia.
As if Moscow would be praying in unison to get “concessions” from a notoriously unreliable American president.
The whole point of this plan is that under Trump 2.0 the main “threat” to the U.S. will be China, not Russia. https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/07/09/the-big-picture-behind-viktor-the-mediators-peace-shuttle/
Aleks at Black Mountain Analysis asserts that a civil war has been foist upon Russia, which "loses", even if it wins militarily, which it will. this is existential for Russia, and also for the western imperial financial system, "the West". Trajectory to Armageddon [i] The End of the West or the End of the World? So, my advice is the following: I know many of you can’t wait to see Russian strikes against NATO as a retaliation for XYZ. But this is a call for your death. If it happens, then it is almost certain that we will all die. I know there is a little window of hope that the Americans would back down after such strikes because their Oligarchs would want to survive, but there are too many uncertain factors to rely on such a hope.
The way to win for Russia is to defeat Ukraine (NATO) on the territory of former Ukraine, feed NATO and the EU with poison pills, and develop the military and economic alliances to make the West superfluous and thereby make it collapse internally.
Orban just did some actual diplomacy and the EU panicked What Orbán is schooling an irate EU elite in is the use of leverage that comes from maintaining effective freedom of action; and that freedom of action does not stem from great military power or a massive population. While Hungary’s forces are modern, it remains a country of not quite 10 million people. Rather the secret of Orbán’s room for maneuver is a classical instrument of the comparatively weak – balancing between bigger powers by cooperating with all of them but selling out to none of them. https://swentr.site/news/600796-orban-peace-mission-ukraine/
European Parliament blocks Orbán’s big Presidency speech By long-standing convention, heads of government are given the opportunity to address the Parliament when they take over the rotating presidency of the EU Council, presenting the agenda for their six-month turn at the helm of inter-governmental policy negotiations and answering questions from MEPs.
The sources said Orbán had indicated to Parliament that he could appear before the plenary on Tuesday or Wednesday next week (July 16-17) to present the agenda of the Hungarian presidency, which Budapest has given the slogan ‘Make Europe Great Again’.
However the Conference of the Presidents – the heads of the political groups who determine the agenda – said Parliament did not have space in the schedule at that time, both sources agreed. https://thejournal.mt/european-parliament-blocks-orbans-big-presidency-speech/
EU could ‘end’ Hungary’s presidency – Politico Having assumed the rotating European Council presidency and vowed to make “Europe great again (MEGA)” Orban visited Ukraine and met with Vladimir Zelensky. He then went to Russia, triggering howls of outrage in Kiev and Brussels alike.
“Member states were already irritated by the ‘MEGA’ motto. But a meeting with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will permanently overshadow the Hungarian presidency,” Politico reported on Monday evening, citing an unnamed EU diplomat. “With such a meeting the presidency ends before it has really begun.”
Politico described Orban as having gone “rogue” and suggested the EU ambassadors “could move from public condemnations alone to concrete action to restrain” Budapest at their meeting on Wednesday... ..The bloc “can get rid of the Hungarian presidency within weeks,” argued Daniel Hegedus, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund think-tank. He laid out a series of steps by which Brussels could move the start of Poland’s presidency to September 1, cutting Hungary’s term short, so as to “attach negative consequences to Orban’s behavior.”
This would require a four-fifths majority in the European Council. https://swentr.site/news/600763-eu-orban-revenge-moscow/
Tulsi Gabbard Warns the ‘Deep State’ is Preparing to Install Kamala Harris as President https://rumble.com/v56595p-tulsi-gabbard-warns-the-deep-state-is-preparing-to-install-kamala-harris-as.html
Kudlow On Trump's Pro-Growth, 'America First' Platform Some of the highlights include worker tax cuts and no tax on tips. Stopping Bidenflation. Restoring energy dominance. Ending unfair trade deals.
Keeping the dollar as the world’s reserve currency — this is especially important for high growth and low prices — Wall Street, will you finally listen?
Restoring America’s status as the dominant world energy producer and canceling the electric vehicle mandate. Cutting all costly and burdensome regulations.
Sealing the border, stopping the illegal migrant invasion, and deporting illegals.
Keeping men out of women’s sports, and radical, racial, and sexual woke policies out of schools.
The platform also states, and I quote, “unite our country by bringing it to new and record levels of success.”
These are the message points that have proved so popular on the campaign trail.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/kudlow-trumps-pro-growth-america-first-platform
I am told that this will begin the process of biting off 25 miles at a time of western Ukraine, as Poland/NATO keeps moving Patriot missiles east, and Russia nibbles westward. Zelenskiy-Tusk deal: Poland to shoot down Russian missiles and drones over Western Ukraine https://warnews247-gr.translate.goog/war-monitor/oukrania/sumfwnia-zelenski-tousk-h-polwnia-tha-katarriptei-rwsikous-puraulous-kai-drones-panw-apo-th-dutikh-oukrania-epibebaiwsh-war-news-24-7/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp#google_vignette
Moscow has vehemently denied responsibility for the tragedy at the Okhmatdet children’s hospital in Kiev, after a missile hit the facility on Monday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has insisted that the incident was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile... ..The ministry stated that all the intended targets were hit and rejected Kiev’s claims of Russian missiles striking civilian facilities as “absolutely untrue.”
“Numerous published photos and video footage from Kiev clearly confirm the fact of destruction due to the fall of a Ukrainian air defense missile launched from an anti-aircraft missile system within the city,” the ministry said... ..Pro-Kiev media outlets have claimed that the weapon that struck the hospital was a Russian air-launched Kh-101 cruise missile. However, others have argued that the projectile, which can apparently be seen in a video filmed from a distance by a witness, was probably an AIM120 fired by a NASAM missile system or an interceptor fired by the MIM-104 Patriot missile system. Western donors have provided Ukraine with this type of US-developed weapon. https://swentr.site/russia/600723-kremlin-kiev-hospital-tragedy/
John Helmer, US BODYCOUNT 35 KIA AFTER RUSSIAN MISSILE STRIKE The latest Russian Defense Ministry daily bulletin was issued on Tuesday afternoon, July 9. Since then the Pentagon and the White House have been as silent as the tomb.
Make that thirty-five American tombs.
“During the day [July 9],” said the Defense Ministry briefer in Moscow, “the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a group strike with high-precision weapons on American HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems prepared for strikes on the territory of Crimea, as well as the venue of an official meeting of the AFU [Armed Forces of the Ukraine] command staff. The objectives of the strike have been achieved. Four US-made HIMARS MLRS launchers were destroyed, as well as up to 35 foreign specialists who serviced them.” https://johnhelmer.net/us-bodycount-35-kia-after-russian-missile-strike-gorilla-radio-counts-what-next/#more-90113
Turkey is an Islamic nation, and can't be a traitor to Islam/Palestinians. NATO should not be party to Ukraine conflict — Erdogan The Turkish leader noted that "every day that weapons are being used [in Ukraine] confirms the rightness of Turkey's position" on the issue Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that during his participation in the NATO summit in the United States he intends to bring up the issues of counterterrorism, Gaza, and Ukraine, especially the fact that the alliance should not become a party to the conflict... ..Erdogan also said that he intends to "put Israel's ongoing massacre against the Palestinian people on the agenda" at the summit. "We have not been able to achieve what we wanted from NATO regarding Israel and Palestine. The efforts of the international community are not yet enough to stop Israel. We will put these issues back on the agenda of our meetings in the US and expect to obtain the results we hope for." https://tass.com/world/1814401
NATO SUMMIT: Alliance’s Endgame Appears to Be Nuclear War The neoliberal financial system needs those strategic assets to back loans and exert leverage. Why this Western involvement in Ukraine, which, as Barack Obama said while president, is “a core Russian interest but not an American one?”
One reason was given by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in a recent moment of startling televised candor: Ukraine is “sitting on $10 to $12 trillion of critical minerals… I don’t want to give that money and those assets to Putin to share with China.”
As The Washington Post has reported:
“Ukraine harbors some of the world’s largest reserves of titanium and iron ore, fields of untapped lithium, and massive deposits of coal. Collectively, they are worth tens of trillions of dollars.”
Ukraine also has colossal reserves of natural gas and oil, in addition to neon, nickel, beryllium and other critical rare earth metals. For NATO’s leadership, Russia and, in particular, China can’t be permitted access to these resources. The war in Ukraine must, therefore, continue indefinitely, and negotiations with Russia mustn’t be pursued... ..Where all this is heading is unclear, but what’s obvious is that Western leaders are acting with reckless disregard for the future of humanity.
Their bet is that Putin will never deploy nuclear weapons, despite his many threats to do so and recent Russian military drills to deploy tactical nuclear weapons. Given that Russian use of nuclear warheads might well precipitate a nuclear response by the West, the fate of humanity hangs on the restraint and rationality of one man, Putin. https://consortiumnews.com/2024/07/09/day-one-natos-endgame-appears-to-be-nuclear-war/
Israeli Campaign Against Gaza May Kill 186,000 or More — 8% of Population: The Lancet https://scheerpost.com/2024/07/09/israeli-campaign-against-gaza-may-kill-186000-or-more-8-of-population-the-lancet/
'It’s permissible to shoot everyone' in Gaza: Six IOF (Israeli occupation force) soldiers testify Six Israeli soldiers present harrowing testimonies as they recount how their fellow soldiers routinely executed Palestinian civilians to release pent-up frustration or alleviate boredom. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-it-s-permissible-to-shoot-everyone--in-gaza--6-iof-soldiers
Israel Bombs Youth Soccer Game at School in Gaza, Killing 'at Least 31 People' (I could not bring myself to watch the recording of the game.)
Israel on Tuesday used a US-supplied bomb to airstrike a group of kids and families gathered at a soccer match at a school in Gaza, killing at least 31 people and wounding dozens more. https://www.informationliberation.com/?id=64529
'Israel' kills 33+ children through malnutrition, starves all of Gaza
A group of UN experts has warned that starvation, imposed by "Israel", is spreading throughout the entirety of the Gaza Strip. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--kills-33--children-through-malnutrition--starves-al
Israeli Official Says It’s Clear Netanyahu Doesn’t Want a Deal With Hamas
Al-Monitor reports the US wasn't surprised by Netanyahu's list of demands that could sabotage a deal “Anyone wanting to succeed in fateful and difficult negotiations does not emphasize the gaps and difficulties twice a day, but tries to emphasize the agreements and the prospects. It is clear to all of us that Netanyahu simply does not want the deal,” the unnamed senior official said.
Israeli officials believe Netanyahu is trying to ensure a deal isn’t reached before his address to the US Congress in Washington later this month. A ceasefire agreement could lead to a collapse of his coalition government as National Security Advisor Itamar Ben Gvir has threatened to quit. Officials also think Netanyahu wants to hold out until November in hopes that President Trump is re-elected. https://news.antiwar.com/2024/07/09/israeli-official-says-its-clear-netanyahu-doesnt-want-a-deal-with-hamas/
WHO: There is no safe place in Gaza, evacuation orders hinder treatment of injured The WHO Director-General concluded his post by calling for a “ceasefire in Gaza.”
The Israeli occupation forces are intensifying their land, air, and sea attacks on various areas in the Gaza Strip amid a large wave of displacement in the areas of eastern Gaza, while battles and clashes continue in the Al-Shuja’iya neighborhood and the city of Rafah. https://en.ypagency.net/329338
The Israeli occupation has been prohibiting the entry of aid into Palestine for 65 days amid support and complicity from the United States. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/-israel--banning-aid-entry-into-gaza-for-65-days-with-us-com
PATRICK LAWRENCE:Netanyahu Goes for Broke In perfectly clear language, the Netanyahu government has effectively announced that its policy is to widen what is now the assault on Gaza, the IOF’s escalating aggressions in the West Bank and Israel’s provocations along Lebanon’s southern border...
..As The New York Times reported last week, illegal settlers, under IOF protection, have stolen more land from Palestinians so far this year, typically at gunpoint, than at any time since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993. West Bank sources report that up to 9,000 Palestinians have been arrested since the events of last October — mostly boys and young men, those typically inclined to organize an armed resistance movement.
In my read this is the West Bank’s version of the assault on Gaza. No F–16s, tanks, or heavy artillery this time: Deploying these would risk serious international opprobrium. No, the West Bank campaign will be waged more or less invisibly — a farm or an olive grove, a village or a murdered teenager or a kilometer of road at a time.....The larger war, the war beyond the West Bank, is of course another matter. Israel knows full well it is incapable of waging anything like a “seven-front war” on its own: It is failing in the Gaza Strip as we speak.
Netanyahu has chosen this moment to mount a go-for-broke attempt to bring the U.S. into some kind of once-for-all conflict that would leave Israel supreme in the region — and so would instantly threaten to be the world’s most dangerous war — since who knows when... ..A couple of week ago, as things heated up along Lebanon’s southern border, Biden told Netanyahu — or says he told Netanyahu — that if Israel invades south Lebanon it will do so without American support. Another red line, it seems. Biden has drawn as many of these as there are stripes on Old Glory... ..There is the obnoxiously pronounced confidence Netanyahu displays when describing a wider war well beyond Israel’s capabilities. And there is the power the Israel lobby exerts in Washington, not least over Biden, who has received more funds from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, AIPAC — more than $4 million during his Senate years alone — than anyone else holding elected office.
Late last month the U.S. Navy made one of those quiet logistical moves that sometimes seem to reveal more than intended. It sent an amphibious assault ship, the USS Wasp, into the waters of the eastern Mediterranean off the Lebanese coast. Among its other capabilities, the Wasp is designed to manage large-scale evacuations.
But an American official told The Associated Press, a little defensively I’d say, “It’s about deterrence,” implying the deployment is part of Washington’s diplomatic effort to prevent a dangerous war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Wait a minute. Just who is the Wasp intended to deter? Neither Hezbollah nor Iran wants a war with Israel any more than the U.S. wants to see one. No need of deterrence there.
And a ship off the Lebanese coast is not going to deter Israel: It stands unambiguously to encourage “the Jewish state” in its effort to bait the U.S. into the big war for which it spoils.
While one ship near Lebanese waters does not signal any grand new commitment to a grand new war — let us not over-interpret — the message seems clear: We don’t want a new war on our hands, Bibi, but if you provoke one, well, we’ll have to be there for you, “standing with Israel.” https://consortiumnews.com/2024/07/08/patrick-lawrence-netanyahu-goes-for-broke/
Israel’s defense minister OKs plan to start drafting ultra-Orthodox Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant approved a plan on Tuesday to start drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military,a move likely to further strain relations within PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fractious right-wing coalition.
His government relies on two ultra-Orthodox parties that regard conscription exemptions as key to keeping their constituents in religious seminaries and out of a melting-pot army that might test their traditional customs. Their political leaders are fiercely opposed to conscription at a time when Israel’s army is seeking to bolster its ranks amid the nine-month-old war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2546401/middle-east
Netanyahu Has Altered Travel Plans Due To ICC Warrant The controversial arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has actually altered the travel plans of Israeli leadership, Kan public broadcaster and Times of Israel have reported. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu considered, then decided against, visiting the Czech Republic and Hungary on the way to the United States when he travels to address Congress on July 24, the Kan public broadcaster reports, amid fears the International Criminal Court was readying an arrest warrant against him." https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israels-netanyahu-has-altered-travel-plans-due-icc-warrant
Andrew Korybko looks at longstanding tensions between Asian colonial powers, China and Japan. The Japanese-Philippine Military Logistics Pact Raises The Risk Of War With China
Setting expectations as low as possible: UK finances worst since 1945 – chancellor The UK’s new Labour government has inherited the worst economy since the Second World War, the newly appointed chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has said. Reeves took charge of the country’s finances after Labour won 412 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons in last week’s general election, ending 14 years of Conservative Party rule.
“I have repeatedly warned that whoever won the general election would inherit the worst set of circumstances since the Second World War,” Reeves said in a speech at the Treasury on Monday. “We face the legacy of 14 years of chaos and economic irresponsibility,” she added, accusing her Tory predecessors of acting out of “political self-interest” as part of a “government that put party first, country second.” https://swentr.site/news/600778-uk-worst-since-1945/
Pierre Kory MD, Scientific "Consensus" Loses A Legal Challenge In a recent development in the defense ofDr. Charles Hoffe against the BC College of Physicians and Surgeons,the judge ruled that the College has to prove its alleged "incontestable truths."
Filipino lawmakers sound alarm over 290k excess deaths following COVID jab rollout https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/filipino-lawmakers-sound-alarm-over-290k-excess-deaths-following-covid-jab-rollout/
Jessica Rose Ph.D. Bird Flu Summit in the regal Pentagon City, DC Mass Fatality Management Planning. Hmm. Why do we need “management planning” of mass fatalities exactly? Maybe it will be needed when “Delivery of Vaccine and Antiviral Medication” starts up again via forced “Medical Countermeasures”?
Michael Snyder has more, During The “International Bird Flu Summit” In Washington D.C. In October They Will Discuss “Mass Fatality Management Planning” https://conservativefiringline.com/during-the-international-bird-flu-summit-in-washington-d-c-in-october-they-will-discuss-mass-fatality-management-planning/
Baby Died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Three Days After Vaccinations Tragically typical https://www.globalresearch.ca/baby-died-sids-three-days-vaccinations/5862154
Also a recurring theme: Childhood Vaccine Injury: 18 Months Old Stopped Talking After DTaP Vaccines https://www.globalresearch.ca/18-months-old-stopped-talking-dtap-vaccines/5862150
Protective Grandfather (pictured with Atlas examining a young oak tree)
Having Resources does in no way guarantee growth. Australian people on a per capita base are vastly richer than Russians. Yet our Government is lowering not raising the public’s wealth. Having access to effective means of violence is far more important.
Oh and banking
Such a serious observation young Atlas has undertaken! He is very focused 💜
Regards the draft the ultra orthodox — this is opening a nest of killer bees 🐝— hubris truly. Folks who strive with all their being to know and obey the Most High have a locus of control that is perhaps unfamiliar to the minister at the level of REALITY. For some of the Orthodox there has already been a decision to stand away because the path is unholy. There is a long history of Orthodox self sacrifice to be tested again.