Neocolonialism And LK-99
Miscellaneous Assets,
Pepe Escobar presents: Syria: a tale of plunder and resurrection
While the wholesale theft of Syria's natural resources continues under the watch of illegal US troops, the Russian project of resurrecting ISIS-destroyed Palmyra stands as a stark reminder that ruins can rise again.
The war on Syria has vanished from the collective West ethos. Yet it’s far from finished. Multitudes across the Global Majority may feel the deepest empathy towards Syrians while acknowledging not much can be done while the Western Minority refuses to leave the stage...
..Under the lame excuse of “degrading the position for ISIS,” the US State Department de facto admits that the Empire’s illegal occupation of a third of Syria - the part rich in oil and minerals currently being stolen/smuggled – will persist, indefinitely...
..As if the non-stop looting of oil was not enough, the Pentagon keeps dispatching truckloads of ammo and logistical equipment to Hasakah...
..According to Damascus,Syria’s energy sector as a whole was robbed by an astonishing $107 billion between 2011 and 2022 by a toxic mix of US occupation, “coalition” bombing, and theft or lootingby terrorist and separatist gangs.
There are no less than a dozen US military bases in Syria– some bigger than the proverbial lily pads (less than 10 acres, valued at less than $10 million), all of them de facto illegal and certainly not recognized by Damascus. The fact that90 percent of Syria’s oil and gas is concentrated east of the Euphrates in areas controlled by the US and its Kurdish proxiesmakes Empire’s job much easier.
The de facto occupation hits not only energy-rich areas but also some of Syria’s most fertile agricultural lands. The net result has been to turn Syria into a net importer of energy and food.Iranian tankers routinely face Israeli sabotage as they ship much-needed oil to Syria’s eastern Mediterranean coast...
..The prospects for Syrian reconstruction are slim without expelling the western marauders. That will have to happen via detailed, concerted cooperation between Russian forces, the Syrian Arab Army, and the IRGC’s Quds Force units...
..Countering so much doom and gloom,something nearly magical happened on July 23. Six years after the liberation of Palmyra – the legendary Silk Road oasis – and overcoming all sorts of bureaucratic hassles, the restoration of this pearl in the desert has finally started...
..Russian specialists unearthed and reset the ancient source of Efka, which used to irrigate the gardens of Palmyra since the Bronze Age.
They also managed to find the Roman aqueduct that once fed Palmyra with potable water, 12 km away from the city. The Romans had dug a tunnel of nearly human size, then covered it in stone, and the ensemble was buried. It was found nearly intact...
..Plans for Palmyra include the restoration of the legendary theater before the end of 2023. The restoration of the arch, blown up with dynamite by ISIS, will take two years. The 1st century AD temple of Bel and other historical infrastructure will be restored...
..Of course, the restoration of Syria as a whole is an enormous challenge. https://new.thecradle.co/articles/syria-a-tale-of-plunder-and-resurrection
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador(AMLO) said Monday thathis country would attend talks on Ukrainethat are set to be held in Saudi Arabia this weekendonly if Russia is invited.
“If there’s acceptance from both Ukraine and Russia to look for solutions to achieve peace, we’ll participate,”Lopez Obrador said, according to Reuters.“We don’t want the Russia-Ukraine war to continue, it’s very irrational … The only thing that benefits from it is the war industry.” https://news.antiwar.com/2023/07/31/mexico-calls-for-russias-participation-in-saudi-hosted-ukraine-talks/
The Hegemon Begins to Unravel , Simplicius (briefly summarized)
There has been a military coup in Niger, which provides 25% of EU uranium, and up to 40% of French uranium. The coup leders have halted uranium and gold exports, presumably to negotiate a better deal with French companies. Burkina Faso and Mali have said that any military intervention would be treated as an act of war upon their neighbor.
There are rumors of Russia being "behind" this, but it is only necessary for Russia to be a regional friend of Africa, as just demonstrated at the Russia-Africa summit, where free grain was pledged and vast debts forgiven. The timing is notable...
China has restriced germanium and gallium exports, critical silicon-doping agents for semiconductor production, which will potentially choke new Amercan chip plant production. China and Russia are working together to restrict critical components of the global production chain. It is hypothesized that restricting uranium from Niger is an assymetric response to the Nordstream pipeline destruction by US/NATO last year.
What is clearly different is that fear of western financial sanctions is fading away, and fear of western military intervention is very much diminished. Landlocked Niger has clearly considered this, and has neighborhood support.
Consider the debacle in Afghanistan, which was to be answered by bleeding Russia white in Ukraine, and choking the Russian economy into submission and revolt. It is doing the opposite.
A successful denial of uranium to France/EU-NATO by Niger would be an example to other countries, which have had their resources cheaply extracted by neo-colonialism to force negotiations for better deals, reducing globalist profits. It is globalism, after-all, which is the pervasive enemy of small nations, and now the citizens of larger nations, as well.
An update of the Ukraine-War follows, with details of the meat-grinding and equipment-grinding war of attrition, which is still much more destructive for Ukraine than for Russian/Novorussian forces. Summer progresses towards September mud. There has been great loss of life, but the lines remain where they were.
The end of the year, and armistice negotiations will follow that. Who can/will negotiate for the non-Russian side?
Gilbert Doctorow has depth and subtlety regarding Niger: Russia and the military putsch in Niger
This evening’s edition of Sixty Minutes offered an interestingperspective on the military putsch in Niger: that it followed directly from the principles of anti-colonialism which were the overriding theme of the just concluded Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg. What they did not say, but I will consider here, is whether there is more than just an idea nurtured in Russia to explain what is going on in Niger and its neighbors today.Is there a helping hand? ...
..Meanwhile the leaders of the coup accuse the former colonial power France of plotting their overthrow. Export of uranium, the main strategic commodity that binds France to this country has been suspended.
Niger happens to represent 5% of the world’s supply of uranium and accounts for a much higher percentage, perhaps 50% of French needs for its nuclear power plants. This assumes a pan-European importance given the key position France occupies in Europe’s overall power generation from nuclear fuels...
..Western analysts have said that France and Europe have enough reserves of uranium to cover power generation needs in the short term. However, in the medium and long term that becomes more problematic...
..A couple of days ago, the Economic Community of West African States, headed by Nigeria, demanded that the constitutional authorities be reinstated in Niger within a week, threatening to take action by force if necessary. This prompted Niger’s neighbors Mali and Burkino Faso to warn ECOWAS and any others considering intervening in Niger that they would come to the defense of the leaders of the putsch. The military forces of these two countries are not inconsiderable...
...Both countries, the FT reminds us, also have leaders who came to power by coup d’état. However, it is just a question of days before the FT sees what I do in front of our noses: both Mali and Burkino Faso have close relationships with Russia and are well attuned to the anti-colonial message coming from the Kremlin.
Mali has over the past year booted out French security forces and replaced them with Wagner Group mercenaries. Burkino Faso was named last week as one of the five neediest African countries which will receive between 25,000 and 50,000 tons of Russian wheat free of charge.
And so, while Russia may have puny economic investments and trade in Africa compared to Europe, it is hitting well above its weight in the geopolitical power game even now, before it implements its ambitious plans for Soft Power projection outlined at the Summit.
In closing, it is worth mentioning that Russian news today also speaks about the start of negotiations with several North African states which participated in the Summit to arrive at free trade agreements. https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2023/08/02/russia-and-the-military-putsch-in-niger/
Robert Kennedy Jr. presents his policies to restore the American middle class.
There is something not directly addressed here, wich is that the "price" of the $US is sustained partly through its necessity (declining) to purchase oil internationally, partly through its role as a reserve-currency, held in quantity to protect a national currency from speculative attacks, such as caused the Asian Economic Crisis, and partly through its greater than zero return on investment for global financial elites. This return on investment is more than can be sustained through industrial and infrastructure returns. It must be aid through wealth extraction of existing companies, and through bubble-valuations of stocks and other investments. This return on $US investments bleeds productive economy, and blows speculative bubbles which will eventually do what happened in 2008, but irreversibly, since the causes have been exacerbated, not remediated.
RFK Jr.: Here are some of the things I’ll do as President to improve the lives of the middle segment of society.
Renegotiate free trade agreements and impose compensatory tariffs on imports from low-wage countries.
Rein in military spending. A family of four’s share of current defense spending is at least $10,000 a year. Imagine if that money was devoted to free childcare or child tax credits.
Cut healthcare costs with Medicare-for-all, restrict pharmaceutical companies’ profiteering, and redirect a portion of medical research toward inexpensive natural, holistic, and alternative therapies.
Implement some form of student debt relief. Allow student debt to be dischargeable in bankruptcy. Cut interest rates on student loans to zero.
Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour – about the level it was in 1968 – which will raise the floor on all wages and return a share of productivity growth back to workers.
Close loopholes and tighten enforcement against illegal corporate union-busting activity.
Yields Surge After Treasury Boosts Auction Sizes More Than Expected, Sees Debt Issuance Tsunami On Deck
The US predicted a near-record $1 trillion in debt sales in the current quarter (up from $$733BN forecast previously) and $852 billion in Oct-Dec quarter, numbers so staggering they are usually associated with economic crises. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/yields-surge-after-treasury-boosts-auction-sizes-more-expected-sees-debt-issuance-tsunami
Worst US Treasury debt-risk since 2009. At some point the US will have to nationalize the banking system, including the "Federal Reserve".
Fitch’s downgrade of US sovereign debt tells us little we don’t already know about the US’s deteriorating fiscal outlook, explaining the muted reaction from Treasuries and the dollar.
Fitch cited the rising total debt load, ongoing issues with debt-ceiling standoffs, and the possibility of a recession as reasons behind its downgrade. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/you-dont-need-ratings-agency-tell-you-when-its-raining
Jacob Siegal, linked by Meryl Nass MD: Digital oligarchs have weaponised the banks . Corporate behemoths are adopting the Chinese approach
The debanking of Nigel Farage demonstrates the power of a law that is already being enforced without having been formalised. Found guilty of crimes by state censors, secret committees of bureaucrats, or inscrutable algorithms, individuals can be disconnected and de-personed by institutions that they didn’t realise possessed such powers. Today it is banks terminating customers for their beliefs; tomorrow it may be primary schools and hospitals. The powerful consensus that once upheld the neutrality of key institutions as essential to maintaining peace in liberal societies is collapsing.
Belief in the value of neutrality was a hard-won product of bourgeoisie political revolutions and religious wars. Having lasted for centuries, it is teetering today under attack from two directions. On one side, a brand of political activism condemns the very idea of remaining neutral as being a cover for subjugation and exploitation. In this view, the passive act of not denying someone banking services is recast as an affirmative endorsement of their entire political outlook. Simultaneously, digital networks are thrusting formerly apolitical institutions into the general arena of public surveillance, where failure to affirm new ideological mantras is seen as an act of treason against the whole system... [globalist, neoliberal neo-bolshevism]
..Ultimately, the driver of this new social reality is not radical activism but the power of the tech monopolies. Moralistic fervour is burning away centuries of tradition, leaving the digital oligarchs to claim the new territory. The world we are living in is the one they have authored. In the same way that railroads once changed the world by collapsing physical distances, social media has collapsed the spaces that once differentiated private from public, as well as separating institutional spheres of power. Thus financial disconnection can be used as a tactic of warfare against Russia as well as a domestic tool in every country where digital networks predominate.
In the US, the unprecedented coordination between the various sectors of the "counter-disinformation complex", which includes the media, intelligence agencies, non-profits, and universities, testifies to the same principle at work. Connected by a lattice of digital networks, they reinforce the same belief system while wielding their power to attack people accused of wrongthink and spreading disinformation. Political censorship and financial disconnection are two sides of the same coin.
Today, organisations such as the World Economic Forum and World Bank are promoting global digital IDs as a progressive cause to help lift “unbanked” people out of poverty. Their solution would herd billions of people into globalised surveillance databases where their every transaction, movement, and sentiment can be monitored and analysed. If the spread of debanking shows that the danger today comes from an interconnected digital web reaching into the foundations of privacy and neutrality, the response of the global elite is to insist we build a bigger bank. https://unherd.com/2023/07/digital-oligarchs-have-weaponised-the-banks/
Meryl Nass MD , How the government wants to take over your child's health (and mind)
The aim is to provide doctors in schools, bill Medicaid and hide it from the parents. It's not the nanny state any more; it is the kidnapper state.
Elon Musk's "X" has filed a lawsuit against the pro-censorship group, Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which it has accused of "actively working to assert false and misleading claims encouraging advertisers to pause investment on the platform."
"X is a free public service funded largely by advertisers," reads a Monday night Twitter blog entry. "Through the CCDH's scare campaign and its ongoing pressure on brands to prevent the public’s access to free expression, the CCDH is actively working to prevent public dialogue."
X also claims that "the CCDH has recently scraped X's platform, which is a violation of our terms of service."
Continued:
That’s why X has filed a legal claim against the CCDH and its backers. X not only rejects all claims made by the CCDH, but, through our own investigation, we have identified several ways in which the CCDH is actively working to prevent free expression. That includes:
Targeting people on all platforms who speak about issues the CCDH doesn’t agree with.
Attempting to coerce the deplatforming of users whose views do not conform to the CCDH's ideological agenda.
Targeting free-speech organizations by focusing on their revenue stream to remove free services for people.
Attempting to illegally gain unauthorized access to social media platform data and to misuse that data. (aka "scraping") https://www.zerohedge.com/political/twitter-sues-pro-censorship-wokescolds-over-false-and-misleading-claims
Trump had to be impeached for being right. Biden is "better" than Harris, though. Patrick Lawrence , The Bidens’ Burisma Bribery
Seven years ago, the DNC email leak set Russiagate in motion. Now comes FD–1023, an F.B.I. document exposing Biden making fully corrupt use of Washington’s leverage in post-coup Ukraine. https://consortiumnews.com/2023/07/31/patrick-lawrence-the-bidens-burisma-bribery/
Watch: Tucker's Explosive Devon Archer Interview, Admits Joe 'Knew That Business Associates' Were On Call https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-tucker-interviews-devon-archer
Biden Blames USA Downgrade On Trump
Except that's the exact opposite of what happened. According to the 100% non-partisan "market", the creditworthiness of US Treasury debt improved almost constantly under President Trump and worsened dramatically almost immediately upon President Biden's inauguration. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-blames-downgrade-trump
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Junior has charged that he may have been denied a Secret Service protection by Alejandro Mayorkas, the Head of the Department of Homeland Security, following public criticism of wide open borders.
Kennedy made the assertion in an interview with Jimmy Dore, noting “It may explain why Mayorkas doesn’t want to give me Secret Service, because I was very critical.” https://summit.news/2023/08/02/rfk-jr-says-he-may-have-been-denied-secret-service-protection-after-criticising-open-border/
I saw one unofficial report that Israel had sent a ship to this port, passing through Russia's blockade. That ship might have carried combat drones to Ukraine
Russian Strike On 'Defenseless' Danube Port Takes Out 40,000 Tonnes Of Ukraine Grain
Drones hit several sites before sunrise and through the early morning hours on Wednesday, including a major attack on Ukraine's Danube port, sending global grain prices higher. A large fire engulfed some 40,000 tonnes of grain at the Danube location, according to Ukraine government sources...
.."Ukrainian officials have said Moscow has hit 26 port facilities, five civilian vessels and 180,000 tonnes of grain in nine days of strikes since quitting the grain deal," Reuters noted based on Ukrainian official sources. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/russian-strike-defenseless-danube-port-takes-out-40000-tonnes-ukraine-grain
No further word on Gonzalo Lira for over 48 hours. Sunday night here he was about to attempt crossing the border from Ukraine to Hungary. He calculated that "no-news-is-bad-news", and would mean that he had been arrested on the Ukrainian side.
US-Chilean journalist describes torture in Ukrainian prison
Gonzalo Lira has reappeared three months after his arrest by the SBU https://www.rt.com/news/580645-gonzalo-lira-ukraine-torture/
LK-99 is a purported room temperature superconductor, devised by a team in Korea, continuing the work of their deceased mentor. It is primarily composed of lead, phosphorous and copper, nothing rare. It has been recreated by a team in China. ILK-99 may or may not quite be a superconductor, but behaves that way as a small flake, partly levitated by a magnet. Alternatively, it may be a completely novel form of semiconductor. This may revolutonize power circuitry, electric (and maglev) trains, computing, and may eventually enable nuclear fusion magnetic containment devices to be made commercially. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202308/1295505.shtml
Something is giving Ben Davidson an acute sense of urgency regarding the approaching solar-micronova event, which should coincide with the accelerating magnetic polar excursion and magnetic field decay which earth is experiencing. He states that it is coming within a year, but does not prove that.
By the electromagnetic-universe model which Ben uses and refines, the vast galactic current sheet sweeps across our solar system about every 12,000 years, inducing magnetic field changes upon the earth, sun and other planets, and brining dust, which may deposit upon the sun.
Magnetic field and current changes, and deposition of material upon a star, can induce micronova eruptions, which eject high energy debris and particles.
There is evidence that this has periodically happened to earth, and some of the evidence is isotopic. There is no other way for isotopes associated with nova events to have arrived at earth and to have been distributed widely in geologic strata, since they would decay in the time required to arrive from any distant event.
Also covered in the second video is preparations to take for this, especially food and water, but also fuel, and things that would be needed to survive for a year without economic support.
The third video looks at the effects of cosmic rays on earth's mesosphere when the magnetic fields are much reduced and the rays enter the atmosphere, causing cascades of charged particles to be formed, creating super-lightning, and destroying ozone, so that ultraviolet rays also penetrate to the surface. This appears to have caused species extinctions and massive human losses in prior such events.
Bipedal Ape
Super-interesting as usual. Thank you!
But: no garden pictures? They're always a welcome reminder to nurture and appreciate the local.
Relatedly, tomorrow evening:
"RFK Jr., to Host Virtual Roundtable on Revitalizing Our Food, Farms, and Soil: The Farmers Speak Aug. 3 at 8 p.m. ET"
Very interesting download as usual Doc. Thank you!
On the energy news...
I have a (redneck engineering) friend who is very talented, educated, etc, and he patiently helps me to understand the finer technicalities of energy, and reasons why it is such a big deal. Past, present, and future.
I saw the LK99 news yesterday and immediately asked his opinion with some questions. ⬇️
“I agree, it does sound too good to be true, and a bit fishy around the edges.
What would the impact be on energy / oil if this were to be true, and could be manufactured cheaply ?
I would assume it would change things quite a lot, since loss from transmission is a huge deal right now. If that loss could be converted into excess available electrical energy, we’d need less power plants, less power lines, less transformers etc. Should also make for more efficient
TVs, charging, batteries etc.
The effect would be HUGE.
MagLev trains for starters.
8% reduced transmission costs. Vastly cheaper MRI machines (currently operating with liquid helium).
MAJOR reductions in the need for copper.
Back in mid 90s I picked up a BS in physics. My senior thesis was on high temperature superconductors which I thought showed promise. Almost 30 years later I think it’s still at that point. I haven’t followed the tech development closely but if there had been major game changing breakthroughs it’d be out in the news.
I haven’t dived into details on this latest news. It looks suspicious. Like a number of cases, I expect soon to see criticism as attempts to repeat the findings fail.
In a nutshell superconductors drop resistance to zero. Normal resistance in wires is a huge cost, as electrons moving through the wire bounce around, each time leaving behind energy as heat. That resistance heating BTW is the main loss mechanism in transporting electricity around the grid. Which means if we get HTSCs working at scale and at low cost then the grid would be far more efficient.
SCs work by electrons being “paired” together. Normally electrons repel each other. But in SCs the pair interact with the lattice.
My quantum prof called it a “speedboat” model: picture two speedboats on a lake going in the same circle. The wake of the first boat sets up a slight “groove” in the water for the second boat, and it’s wake does the same for the first boat. This creates a slight preferred path for the boats with reduced resistance.
Same with the electrons. The first creates a wake in the lattice. But for the wake to stay in place long enough the lattice has to be still.
And THAT is why the wire has to be cold.
Thermal motion in the lattice at room temp would destroy the wake and the second electron would see no net attraction to the first.
So… based on that I’m very skeptical that somehow (a) another mechanism for SCs was discovered or (b) another lattice was found which preserves the wake at room temp.
Of course if it turns out either was done… awesome news!
For industrial uses, we would still have years of development to go - to push down cost, ramp up production, and build up infrastructure using these and to manufacture at scale.
It’s the chasm between the first integrated circuit and Intel or Texas Instruments bringing millions of chips to market.”