The Evening Blues - 3-8-22



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Chris Kenner

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features New Orleans r&b singer and songwriter Chris Kenner. Enjoy!

Chris Kenner - I Like It Like That

“Security is an illusion, but it is a pleasant one.”

-- James Rozoff


News and Opinion

A Proposed Solution to the Ukraine War

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, what was a regional conflict has become a global hybrid war with ever-greater stakes, not least the risk of nuclear war. Perhaps the greatest danger lies in the difference of motives between parties, which is also the fundamental cause of this war: Russia seeks security, while the U.S. and its NATO allies have been using Ukraine to deny that security — to “break Russia,” in Henry Kissinger’s 2015 phrase. The U.S. does not want peace, unless it be the peace of a conquered Russia. That is why there is no obvious end to the escalations and counter-escalations. The U.S. and NATO see opportunity in the war they have been trying so hard to provoke.

The tragedy is that few people seem to understand that at the root of the Ukraine crisis is a specific strategy known as the Wolfowitz Doctrine, named after Paul Wolfowitz who, as under secretary of defense in the administration of George H. W. Bush, was one of the authors of a 1992 document that laid out a neo-conservative manifesto aimed at ensuring American dominance of world affairs following the collapse of the Soviet Union. ... The Wolfowitz Doctrine triggered the post-Cold War use of NATO as an instrument of bloody aggression against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. It declared, in effect, that diplomacy was dead and that American power ruled by violence if necessary. A resurgent Russia led by Vladimir Putin was next, and on the horizon, a risen China.

The 2014 Washington-engineered coup in Ukraine that removed an elected leader who sought to reinforce his country’s relationship with neighboring Russia, was a product of the 1992 Doctrine and the extremism it represented. Victoria Nuland, a neo-conservative ideologue and President Barack Obama’s “point person” in Ukraine, has played the same role in President Joe Biden’s State Department. The 1992 Doctrine is elaborated in an infamous RAND study on how to overextend and, in Kissinger’s words, “break Russia.” This is U.S. foreign policy today: a fact well understood by the Russian leadership who regard their country as effectively under siege by the United States. ...

An end to the invasion and war in Ukraine can only be guaranteed if Russia’s security is itself guaranteed. Security is largely indivisible. Security for one state requires security for others. This is a core principle of European security which Russia rightly insists upon. The U.S. should honor that. The fundamental cause of the current conflict is the desire of the U.S. to weaken or “break” Russia.

[See article at link for a full articulation of solution. -js]

Biden Predicted Ukraine War In 1997!

European powers escalate threats against Russia over Ukraine war

Seizing upon Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to implement long-standing military plans, the European Union (EU) powers are recklessly escalating the crisis. Beyond delivering arms to Ukraine to attack Russian troops, they are discussing a possible cut-off of energy trade and preparing for nuclear war. This weekend, for the first time since the Cold War ended, France raised the number of its nuclear missile submarines on patrol to two. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, only one of France’s four ballistic missile-launching submarines based at L’Ile-Longue island off Brittany is on patrol at any given time. Now, however, Le Télégramme wrote, “Never has there been this much tension at the Breton base since France’s sea-based nuclear deterrent began in 1972.” ...

There is an enormous danger of that nuclear war could erupt as NATO escalates its confrontation with Russia, intervening to arm Ukraine. This danger is now widely discussed, after Moscow placed its nuclear forces on high alert this weekend in response to NATO arms deliveries to Ukraine. An opinion piece by former US State Department policy planning official Jeremy Shapiro in London’s Financial Times noted that Moscow might use nuclear weapons in “a scenario in which a superior conventional force such as NATO attacked Russia.” Russia, he added, is now “particularly vulnerable to a NATO conventional attack in Belarus and western Russia, as well as in Ukraine.”

The Russian military, Shapiro wrote, “may view NATO troop concentrations in states on Ukraine’s eastern flank as potential intervention forces and they may lack sufficient precision-guided weapons in their already very depleted inventory to attack them conventionally.” They may, he added, “even believe [a NATO attack] is already happening given European and American arms deliveries and NATO troop movements to eastern Europe.” The firing of smaller nuclear bombs could lead to “nuclear escalation to the strategic level (i.e. the end of the world).”

While these dangers are clearly on the mind of the military staffs of all the major powers, the EU is nonetheless recklessly arming the Ukrainians and threatening to strangle Russia’s economy.

Kiev has no control over troops near green corridors - Head of Russian delegation

Moscow Says Attack Will End 'In a Moment' If Ukraine Agrees to Demands

The Kremlin said Monday that Russia's deadly assault on Ukraine would end "in a moment" if the country's leadership agrees to a series of demands, including a firm commitment to not join NATO and formal recognition of two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine as independent states.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov outlined Russia's demands in a phone interview with Reuters ahead of a third round of negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian diplomats on Monday as the civilian death toll from the invasion continues to mount and the refugee crisis worsens.

In addition to diplomatic talks in Belarus, the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers are set to meet in person in Turkey on Thursday, the highest-level meeting between the two nations since Russia's assault began late last month.

"They should make amendments to the constitution according to which Ukraine would reject any aims to enter any bloc," Peskov told Reuters on Monday, reiterating a longstanding Moscow demand. "We have also spoken about how they should recognize that Crimea is Russian territory and that they need to recognize that Donetsk and Lugansk are independent states. And that's it. It will stop in a moment."

Peskov added that Russia is "finishing the demilitarization of Ukraine" but denied it is seeking to seize Ukrainian territory or oust the country's national leadership.

"Ukraine is an independent state that will live as it wants, but under conditions of neutrality," said Peskov.

Ukrainian officials did not publicly respond to Russia's demands ahead of the talks in Turkey.

It's not clear whether Ukraine will be open to Russia's demands as long as Russian forces continue to shell and bomb Ukrainian cities.

The Washington Post reported that "while Ukraine is open to neutrality, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out an agreement that would compromise the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

During the previous round of talks on the border of Belarus, Ukraine demanded an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all Russian troops, demands that Russia has thus far rejected.

BREAKING: Biden BANS Russian Oil, Gas Hits ALL TIME HIGH

US accused of hypocrisy for supporting sanctions against Russia but not Israel

The US and some of its European allies are facing accusations of double standards for supporting sanctions and international war crimes investigations against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine while blocking them over Israeli military actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. But pro-Israel groups in the US have dismissed the allegations by accusing critics of exploiting Ukrainian suffering to draw false parallels.

Last month, Amnesty International called for the UN to impose targeted sanctions against Israel after joining other human rights groups in accusing it of breaching international law by practicing a form of apartheid and committing a crime against humanity in its “domination” of the Palestinians. Palestinian officials and UN special rapporteurs on the occupied territories have also pressed for sanctions over Israeli land seizures in the West Bank, the blockade of Gaza and the large scale killing of Palestinian civilians.

While pressing for action against Russia, however, the US and other governments have resisted similar measures against Israel.

On Tuesday, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told the UN human rights council that it must send a “resolute message” to Vladimir Putin to stop an invasion that has destroyed schools, hospitals and residential buildings, and killed hundreds of civilians. “These are the human rights abuses this council was created to stop. If we cannot come together now, when will we come together?” he said.

In the same speech, Blinken made point of calling ongoing UN human rights council investigations into Israeli actions in the occupied territories “a stain on the council’s credibility” and called for them to be halted. The investigations have found Israel responsible for persistent “violations of the right to life” and other crimes.

Ilhan Omar on Ending War, Global Refugees, Russia Sanctions & Why More Saudi Oil Is Not the Answer

Biden criticized over report of planned Saudi trip to discuss global oil supply

Joe Biden attracted criticism from both progressives and Republicans after a report indicated the White House was planning a visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss global oil supply. Axios reported on Sunday that Biden’s senior advisers were considering a spring trip to Saudi Arabia in an effort to improve relations and to propose a potential increase in oil exports.

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, would not confirm those plans on Monday, although she noted that senior administration officials traveled to Saudi Arabia last month to “discuss a range of issues including the war in Yemen, including security in the region and certainly including energy security”.

“They had the discussion … it’s in everyone’s interest to reduce the impact on the global oil marketplace,” Psaki said.

The Axios report comes as the US and its western allies consider banning imports of Russian oil in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The White House had dismissed a ban, out of concern for how it would limit oil supply and further drive up gas prices which have already hit a 14-year US high. But the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, indicated on Sunday that the west is warming to the idea of a ban on importing Russian oil.


War on Ukraine Sparks Fears of Global Food Crisis 'Beyond Anything We've Seen'

As Russia intensifies its war on Ukraine, agricultural output from one of the world's most productive growing regions has ground to a halt, causing the price of key food staples and fertilizer to approach record levels and sparking fears of worsening global hunger.

"The escalation of the conflict is now putting markets into serious turmoil," the Agricultural Market Information System said Monday in a report. "Any serious disruption of production and exports from these suppliers will no doubt drive up prices further and erode food security for millions of people."

David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP) at the United Nations, warned recently that "the bullets and bombs in Ukraine could take the global hunger crisis to levels beyond anything we've seen before."

"This is not just a crisis inside Ukraine," said Beasley. "This is going to affect supply chains, and particularly the cost of food."

The Russian military's ongoing assault on Ukraine has brought one of the world's leading "breadbaskets" to a virtual standstill. As a result of diminished exports, wheat prices have surged, reaching levels last seen during the global food crisis of 2007-2008.

According to Bloomberg, "Futures in Chicago jumped by the daily limit for the sixth straight session, rising 7% to $12.94 a bushel. That builds on a massive surge of 41% last week, the most in data spanning six decades."

"Ukraine and Russia together account for more than a quarter of global trade of wheat, used in everything from bread to noodles and livestock feed," the news outlet reported. "The conflict has closed major ports in Ukraine, and severed logistics and transport links. Trade with Russia has also been stifled by the complexity of navigating sanctions and soaring insurance and freight costs."

The high grain prices that helped contribute to the Arab Spring uprisings more than a decade ago have already been surpassed and are expected to increase further as long as Moscow's attack persists—exacerbating hunger, especially if governments are unable or unwilling to soften the impact on workers and the poor.

In Egypt, the world's top wheat importer, unsubsidized bread prices are on the rise. The government is reportedly planning to hike the price of subsidized loaves consumed by millions in the country, though Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the change would be enacted in a way that ensures "the neediest people are not harmed."

It's not only the global wheat supply that is being undermined by Russia's war on Ukraine.

"The invasion will also deter Ukrainian spring planting of crops like corn and sunflower that would typically begin soon and may hamper winter-grain yields, extending the supply shock on the global market," Bloomberg noted. "Chicago corn futures on Monday reached $7.8025 a bushel, their highest since 2012. Rapeseed futures in Paris touched an all-time high. Ukraine is the world's top sunflower oil exporter and its lost trade is compounding already tight global vegetable oil supplies."

The price of fertilizer—made up of raw materials that are abundant in Russia and Belarus, including ammonia from natural gas, phosphate, and potash—is also soaring.

"We were already in a difficult situation before the war," Svein Tore Holsether, CEO of Norwegian chemical company Yara International, told the BBC, referring to higher fuel and shipping costs as well as more frequent and intense extreme weather due to the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis.

"Now it's additional disruption to the supply chains and we're getting close to the most important part of this season for the Northern hemisphere, where a lot of fertilizer needs to move on and that will quite likely be impacted," said Holsether. "Half the world's population gets food as a result of fertilizers... and if that's removed from the field for some crops, [the yield] will drop by 50%."

"For me, it's not whether we are moving into a global food crisis," he added. "It's how large the crisis will be."

Global food costs hit an all-time peak last month, according to the U.N., and Russia's assault on Ukraine is poised to make inflationary pressure even worse. Experts warn of particularly dire consequences in low-income nations heavily reliant on grain imports, where millions of people are already suffering from or at risk of malnutrition.

"Ukraine accounts for 90% of Lebanon's wheat imports and is a leading supplier for countries including Somalia, Syria, and Libya," according to the Financial Times, which added:

The U.N. World Food Programme, which procures grains and food to distribute to poorer countries, bought just under 1.4m tonnes of wheat last year of which 70% came from Ukraine and Russia.

Prior to the invasion it was already facing a 30% increase in the cost of wheat, because of poor harvests in Canada, the U.S., and Argentina. The latest surge in grain prices would further curtail its ability to provide aid, it said.

"This is an unnecessary shock of mega proportions," Arif Husain, chief economist at the WFP, said of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Holsether of Yara International described the war as "a catastrophe on top of a catastrophe" that exposes how vulnerable the global food supply chain is to external shocks.

"We have to keep in mind that in the last two years, there's been an increase of 100 million more people that go to bed hungry," said Holsether. "So for this to come on top of it is really worrying."


Heh, I guess Biden really, really wants the Saudis to open up the oil spigot.

Guantanamo Bay detainee allowed to return to Saudi Arabia after 20 years

A man accused of attempting to join hijackers in carrying out the September 11 attacks has been repatriated to his home country of Saudi Arabia for mental health treatment after two decades detained at Guantánamo Bay, the US Department of Defense said on Monday.

Mohammad Ahmad al-Qahtani was flown back to Saudi Arabia, to a treatment facility, from the US base in Cuba after a review board including military and intelligence officials concluded he no longer represented a significant threat to US national security, and could be safely released after 20 years in custody.

“The United States appreciates the willingness of Saudi Arabia and other partners to support ongoing US efforts toward a deliberate and thorough process focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing of the Guantanamo Bay facility,” the statement said.

The 46-year-old prisoner has suffered from mental illness, including schizophrenia, since childhood, according to medical examinations and records obtained by his lawyers. The US dropped plans to try him after a Bush administration legal official concluded he had been tortured at Guantánamo.

According to a Guantánamo detainee profile maintained by the Defense Department, al-Qahtani was trained by al-Qaida and sought unsuccessfully to enter the United States on 4 August 2001 to take part in the 9/11 attacks. US forces later captured him in Afghanistan and sent him to Guantánamo, where he was subjected to brutal interrogations that the Pentagon legal official in charge of war crimes commissions said amounted to torture.

Wall Street suffers biggest slide in more than a year as oil prices surge

Wall Street had its biggest drop in more than a year Monday as another leap for oil prices threatened to squeeze inflation’s grip on the global economy.

The S&P 500 fell 3%, its biggest decline in 16 months, after a barrel of US oil surged to $130 overnight on the possibility the US could bar imports from Russia. Stocks around the world also fell earlier in the day, taking their cue from oil’s movements, though their losses moderated as crude receded toward $120 per barrel.

The benchmark S&P 500 fell 122.78 points to 4,201.09. The Dow Jones fell 797.42 points, or 2.4%, to 32,817.38.

The Nasdaq composite slid 482.48 points, or 3.6%, to 12,830.96. The tech-heavy index is now 20.1% below its record set in November. Such a decline means the index is now in what Wall Street calls a bear market. The S&P 500 is down 12.4% from the peak it set in early January.



the horse race



Blow to Republicans as supreme court denies bid to overturn electoral maps

The US supreme court has rejected requests from Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to overturn electoral maps imposed by the state supreme court in both places that make elections more competitive. The justices ruled 6-3 on Monday not to block the new North Carolina maps from going into effect, with justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Clarence Thomas saying they would have paused the state supreme court’s ruling.

In the Pennsylvania case, there were no noted dissents from the court’s decision. That case will now go to a panel of three federal judges and Republicans can appeal a ruling from whatever they decide to the US supreme court in the future.

Both decisions are a win for Democrats politically, as well as voting rights groups that have turned to state supreme courts recently to try and police partisan gerrymandering. The US supreme court said in 2019 that federal courts could not police partisan gerrymandering, but said state constitutions could.

In North Carolina, the state supreme court struck a congressional map that would have likely given Republicans an advantage in 10 of the state’s 14 congressional districts, in a state that is extremely competitive. The map was so egregiously distorted towards Republicans that it ran afoul of a provision in the state constitution that guarantees free elections. After Republicans failed to produce a fairer map, the supreme court replaced it with a plan that gave the GOP a 7-6 advantage with one highly competitive seat.

Andrew Cuomo labelled a ‘sick, pathetic man’ by New York attorney general

Andrew Cuomo, who resigned as governor of New York last year over sexual harassment allegations, is a “sick, pathetic man”, the state attorney general said on Sunday in a stinging rebuke. Cuomo had spoken at a Brooklyn church, complaining about cancel culture and the accusations against him and also appearing to hint at a political comeback.

Letitia James, whose investigations were part of the three-term governor’s downfall last August after she concluded he sexually harassed 11 women, said: “Serial sexual harasser Andrew Cuomo won’t even spare a house of worship from his lies. “Even though multiple independent investigations found his victims to be credible, Cuomo continues to blame everyone but himself.” The attorney general also said New Yorkers were “ready to move forward from this sick, pathetic man”.

Cuomo’s first public appearance since leaving office came a week after his campaign launched a digital and TV ad campaign pushing the message that he was driven from office unfairly. In Brooklyn, Cuomo quoted the Bible as he described his problems but also attacked “political sharks” in Albany, the state capital, who he said “smelled blood”.

“The actions against me were prosecutorial misconduct,” Cuomo said. “They used cancel culture to effectively overturn an election.”



the evening greens


Climate crisis: Amazon rainforest tipping point is looming, data shows

The Amazon is approaching a tipping point, data shows, after which the rainforest would be lost with “profound” implications for the global climate and biodiversity. Computer models have previously indicated a mass dieback of the Amazon is possible but the new analysis is based on real-world satellite observations over the past three decades.

Novel statistical analysis shows that more than 75% of the untouched forest has lost stability since the early 2000s, meaning it takes longer to recover after droughts and wildfires. The greatest loss of stability is in areas closer to farms, roads and urban areas and in regions that are becoming drier, suggesting that forest destruction and global heating are the cause. These factors “may already have pushed the Amazon close to a critical threshold of rainforest dieback”, the scientists conclude.

The study does not enable a prediction of when the tipping point could be reached. But the researchers warned that by the time the triggering of the tipping point could be detected, it would be too late to stop it. Once triggered, the rainforest would transform to grassland over a few decades at most, releasing huge amounts of carbon and accelerating global heating further.

Tipping points on a planetary scale are among the greatest fears of climate scientists, as they are irreversible on human timescales. ... “Many researchers have theorised that an Amazon tipping point could be reached, but our study provides vital empirical evidence that we are approaching that threshold,” said Prof Niklas Boers, at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. “Seeing such a resilience loss in observations is worrying. The Amazon rainforest stores huge amounts of carbon that could be released in the case of even partial dieback.”

US beef industry emerges from Biden’s climate pledges ‘relatively unscathed’

The US beef industry has escaped “relatively unscathed” from Joe Biden’s attempts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to leaders at the industry’s recent CattleCon convention. Biden and the EU unveiled a global pledge to cut methane gas 30% by 2030 at November’s Cop26 climate summit – and there is evidence that methane created by cattle production is a significant contributor to climate change.

But those at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) annual trade show in Houston last month heard industry leaders express relief about the administration choosing to incentivize rather than force ranchers and feedlots to reduce emissions. Mary-Thomas Hart, NCBA’s environmental counsel, told a sustainability forum at the conference how lucky the industry was with the administration’s approach, according to information obtained by Unearthed, Greenpeace’s investigations project, and shared with the Guardian.

“A good example is, during Cop26, the president led a global methane pledge, and that could have gone really badly for livestock production in the United States, could have gone badly for the cattle industry,” Hart told her audience. “But this administration seems to have recognized the positive value we bring. We were really excited to get out of that relatively unscathed.” ...

Although Biden’s November pledge to reduce methane included new rules for the oil, gas and coal industries, it proposed only voluntary actions for an agricultural sector the Environmental Protection Agency says contributes more than one-third of the country’s emissions. In a November interview with Reuters, agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said he trusted the agriculture industry to do the right thing in response to federal incentives. ...

Some cattle producers are making an effort to reduce emissions, such as feeding animals grass or other lower-emission materials, but the United States will never meet Biden’s 2030 greenhouse gas reduction goals without regulation, said Brent Kim, a program officer with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. “We urgently need to curb greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, of which livestock is the biggest producer,” Kim said. “We can’t have business as usual.”

Half of US adults were exposed to harmful lead levels as kids, study finds

Over 170 million Americans who were adults in 2015 were exposed to harmful levels of lead as children, a new study estimates. Researchers used blood-lead level, census and leaded gasoline consumption data to examine how widespread early childhood lead exposure was in the country between 1940 and 2015.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, they estimated that half the US adult population in 2015 had been exposed to lead levels surpassing five micrograms per deciliter – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention threshold for harmful lead exposure at the time.

The scientists from Florida State University and Duke University also found that 90% of children born in the US between 1950 and 1981 had blood-lead levels higher than the CDC threshold. And the researchers found significant impact on cognitive development: on average, early childhood exposure to lead resulted in a 2.6-point drop in IQ.

The researchers only examined lead exposure caused by leaded gasoline, the dominant form of exposure from the 1940s to the late 1980s, according to data from the US Geological Survey. Leaded gasoline for on-road vehicles was phased out starting in the 1970s, then finally banned in 1996.

The study’s top author, Michael McFarland, an associate professor of sociology at Florida State University, said the findings were “infuriating” because it was long known that lead exposure was harmful, based on anecdotal evidence of its impacts throughout history.

Pentagon Shuttering Hawaii Fuel Storage Facility that Leaked and Sickened Military Families

The Defense Department will close a massive Navy fuel storage facility in Hawaii that leaked into the tap water in Pearl Harbor, sickening and displacing thousands of military families and civilians, the department announced Monday. ...

Prior to Monday, the Pentagon had resisted Hawaiian demands to close the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, filing an appeal in court against Hawaii's order to drain the fuel that argued the department needed more time to study the long-term prospects of the facility. ...

Hawaiian officials, including the state's U.S. senators and representatives, have been pressuring the Defense Department to comply with Hawaii's defueling order. Congress joined in approving $100 million last month for the Pentagon to follow the order. ...

Hawaii's order called for the Navy to submit a plan to drain the fuel at Red Hill within 30 days. But a timeline laid out by the Pentagon on Monday could have the process stretching longer than a year. Under a memo signed by Austin on Monday, the Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency have until May 31 to deliver a plan of action to defuel.

Once the plan is in place, the Pentagon estimates defueling could take up to 12 months. After the facility is defueled, the department will work on environmental mitigation, [Pentagod spokesdroid John] Kirby said.


Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Pity the Nation

How the US Could Solve the Ukraine Crisis Tomorrow

Pentagon Says ‘No Decisions Made’ on Plan to Send Polish Planes to Ukraine

Thinking Out Ukraine Sanctions

America Shoots Its Own Dollar Empire in Economic Attack on Russia

To Punish Russia The 'Liberal Order' Attempts To Suicide Itself

Chris Hedges: Worthy and Unworthy Victims

Oil spill at sea: who will pay for Peru’s worst environmental disaster?

Our climate solutions are failing - and Big Oil’s fingerprints are all over them

Ageing reversal: scientists rejuvenate tissues in middle-aged mice

RT America Shut Down! w/ Lee Camp

Ukraine Shuts Down Opposition News Outlets!

Fox Business Guest Tells Truth About Ukraine President

Is Russia/Ukraine The Beginning of the End for the US Dollar? Next Stop, Crypto? w/ Grace Blakeley


A Little Night Music

Chris Kenner - Sick and Tired

Chris Kenner - Land Of 1000 Dances

Chris Kenner - Grandma's House

Chris Kenner - Something You Got

Chris Kenner - How Far, Time

Chris Kenner - Don't Let Her Pin That Charge On Me

Chris Kenner - The Life Of My Baby

Chris Kenner - Fumigate Funky Broadway

Chris Kenner - A Very True Story

Chris Kenner - You Can Run but You Can't Slip Away

Chris Kenner - Rocket To The Moon


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15 users have voted.

Comments

You covered it all tonight. Thank you.

I was glad to see the clip from RT describing the Russian effort to get civilians out of war ravaged areas and the Ukrainian forces in the East stopping them

This will not go on much longer, as the chokehold around Donbas and Marienpol are closing and the Ukrainians will be trapped inside. No re-supply or rescue for them.

Just a recent headline---Putin is cutting off exports and imports to selected countries until December 31. Specifically, to countries to be named later.

Gas has been flowing through Nordstream One even though NATO/Biden shut down Nordstream two.

I wonder if that will change now. Putin had expressed reluctance to shut the pipeline through Ukraine, suggesting to me that he cares about people more than DC ever has.

Wake Up, DC

We will not be seeing this on Western Media.

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11 users have voted.

NYCVG

QMS's picture

@NYCVG

they are screwing the US citizens. Perhaps their corporate overlords
will get them to grow a brain bigger than the size of their ignorance?

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7 users have voted.

question everything

@QMS

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4 users have voted.

NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@NYCVG

I was glad to see the clip from RT describing the Russian effort to get civilians out of war ravaged areas and the Ukrainian forces in the East stopping them

i've been reading about the ukronazis using civilians in mariupol as human shields and murdering them if they try to leave the city for a couple of days. rt also had some interview footage from civilians who had managed to get out describing the situation there.

i think that you're correct about this not going on too much longer. zelensky has been running an information war while russia has been running a ground war and appears to be making the sort of progress that will be decisive in a couple of weeks, i'd guess from what i've been reading.

if it turns out that the bulk of the nazis are in mariupol, the so-called "cauldron" that russia's flanking maneuvers have created on the line of control and odessa and kyiv, this could pretty much put an end to the enforcers for the current government.

Just a recent headline---Putin is cutting off exports and imports to selected countries until December 31.

well now, i can guess that the u.s. will be at the top of the list of countries that get cut off. considering what russia exports, the u.s. economy is probably going to take a serious hit.

Gas has been flowing through Nordstream One even though NATO/Biden shut down Nordstream two.

I wonder if that will change now.

i would guess that putin is compiling his list of who has been naughty and who has been nice and he is signalling now to germany and other eu nations that they need to choose which list they wish to be on.

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9 users have voted.

@joe shikspack how I see it.

Does not mean we are correct, however.

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4 users have voted.

NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@NYCVG

well, i've been wrong before. Smile

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4 users have voted.

@joe shikspack (Obama)

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5 users have voted.

NYCVG

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15 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@humphrey

We aren’t fighting anything. The Ukrainian people are and they are being used as cannon fodder. But most of the peoples of the world will be paying the price! F off you ghoul!

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11 users have voted.
joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

heh, larry summers has been wrong about most economic issues for years, so i guess now he's turned to pontificating about foreign policy.

it's too bad he's awful at that, too.

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8 users have voted.
The Liberal Moonbat's picture

...from FightForTheFuture.org. Of course it was a fundraising E-mail as well, but at least this time they had some investment-returns to offer:

Did you see this? CNN just ran an awesome article about the work that we’ve been doing to fight back against biometric surveillance, and our big victory in getting the IRS to drop its plan to use facial recognition on taxpayers.

Check it out! It will make you feel hopeful about the future, and with everything going on in the world right now, we all need that : - )

It’s hard work and it takes time, but with your help we’re having a huge impact holding the line against expansions of both government and corporate surveillance. Our strategy is two pronged: we organize in a rapid-response fashion to beat back new uses of surveillance, slowing down the spread of technologies like facial recognition. That gives us time to build momentum for legislation banning discriminatory surveillance, at the local, state, and Federal level.

And it’s working. We’ve already helped get local bans on facial recognition passed in more than a dozen cities, counties, and states around the US, and a ban on Federal use introduced in the House and Senate....

The link thus proffered:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/07/tech/facial-recognition-activists-irs/ind...

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9 users have voted.

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

joe shikspack's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

i'm glad to see that they had some success and that they're still at it. this is an issue that will need keeping after, since there are so many other government agencies (fed, state & local) that will want to use facial recognition.

thanks for the update!

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5 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Many people of many different ages have remarked in recent days that they cannot recall in their lifetimes a more pervasive, suffocating barrage of propaganda than what has engulfed us since the months that preceded Russia’s intervention. In my case it has come to supersede the worst of what I remember from the Cold War decades.

In January 2021, NATO published the final draft of a lengthy study it called Cognitive Warfare. Its intent is to explore the potential for manipulating minds—those of others, our own—beyond anything heretofore even attempted. “The brain will be the battlefield of the 21st century,” the document asserts. “Humans are the contested domain. Cognitive warfare’s objective is to make everyone a weapon.”

In a subsection headed “The vulnerabilities of the human brain,” the report has this to say:

“In particular, the brain:

is unable to distinct [sic] whether information is right or wrong:

is led to believe statements or messages it has already heard as true, even though these may be false;

accepts statements as true, if backed by evidence, with no regards to [sic] the authenticity of that evidence.“

And this, which I find especially fiendish:

“At the political and strategic level, it would be wrong to underestimate the impact of emotions…. Emotions—hope, fear, humiliation—shape the world and international relations with the echo-chamber effect of social media.“

No, we’re not in Kansas anymore. Cognitive Warfare is a window onto diabolic methods of propaganda and perception management that have no precedent. This is war waged in a new way — against domestic populations as well as those declared as enemies.

It’s Russia’s fault that we are paying higher prices for gas and food even though both have gone up before the war started. People forget that they have been being gauged long before it started.

Also…

Extremely important statements by Putin (MUST SEE!)

As some of you know, Putin spoke at length with a group of Russian flight attendants. This is such an important statement that I asked one of our interpreters (thanks E.!) to subtitle the video. I am also posting the transcript below. In this exchange, Putin spells out in quite some details WHAT Russia is doing and WHY she is doing it.
Andrei
PS: please press “cc” to see the English language captions

Transcription included.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with TV channels RT, NBC News, ABC News, ITN, France 24 and the PRC Media Corporation, Moscow, March 3, 2022

Question: Unprecedented sanctions pressure is being exerted on the Russian Federation due to the recent events, primarily “on the ground.” Has Russia changed its position? Does the world hear what Russia is saying? What do you think about the ongoing talks in Belarus? What should we expect from the next round?

Sergey Lavrov: This is a comprehensive question. You have touched on many issues. I am sure the world is listening to Russia, but it is difficult to say at this point the extent to which it hears us. The majority may understand what this is about, but they have to obey the toughest dictate.

Just so people get a 2nd view on the news.

Fck Biden and congress for banning Russia gas. This is going to crash the global economy and possibly crash the dollar according to Michael Hudson.

Empires often follow the course of a Greek tragedy, bringing about precisely the fate that they sought to avoid. That certainly is the case with the American Empire as it dismantles itself in not-so-slow motion.

The basic assumption of economic and diplomatic forecasting is that every country will act in its own self-interest. Such reasoning is of no help in today’s world. Observers across the political spectrum are using phrases like “shooting themselves in their own foot” to describe U.S. diplomatic confrontation with Russia and allies alike. But nobody thought that The American Empire would self-destruct this fast.

For more than a generation the most prominent U.S. diplomats have warned about what they thought would represent the ultimate external threat: an alliance of Russia and China dominating Eurasia. America’s economic sanctions and military confrontation have driven these two countries together, and are driving other countries into their emerging Eurasian orbit.

We are being led by moronic idiots! It’s not going to hurt the sociopaths in charge, but it’s going to really hurt lots of people who have been barely hanging on since the country was closed. Russia is helping its citizens. What will ours do?

Apparently it’s been okayed to send Poland's jets to Germany. The shitlibs are ecstatic! Hey democrats! Kiss your majority goodbye. I doubt that they will be very sad about it. People keep expecting them to do something that they don’t want to do. It’s warfare on the American people.

ETA link.

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@snoopydawg Today he announced raises to Pensioners. That may be the first tangible thing but I doubt it will be the last one.

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NYCVG

snoopydawg's picture

@NYCVG

Our government should be helping the poorest among us, but when have they cared about them? It’s our country that’s paying for Biden’s sanctions!

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@snoopydawg already, but would have liked to see the speech sub-titled. No cc button on my Youtube.

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NYCVG

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

and finally finished the article. He’s talking about the sanctions getting out of hand.

Look at what has become of us. Most Americans seem to approve of these things, or at least are unstirred to object. We have lost all sense of decency, of ordinary morality, of proportion. Can anyone listen to the din of the past couple of weeks without wondering if we have made of ourselves a nation of grotesques?

It is common to observe that in war the enemy is always dehumanized. We are now face to face with another reality: Those who dehumanize others dehumanize themselves more profoundly.

What was obtained by banning people from Belarus and Russia from the paraolympics? That seems very sadistic to me. I’m sad that China went along with it. And cats? Good gravy!

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joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

heh, that cognitive warfare piece reminds me of this:

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." - William J. Casey, (former CIA Director)

yep, prior to the war in ukraine, inflation was due to corporate greed and gouging. now, inflation is your demockery tax.

i think that michael hudson is right on the money. the neoconservative idiots running the show have no clue of how to obtain their objectives and are f*cking everything up to the point that it will cause the demise of the nation that they were trying to ride to glory. they will turn the global hegemon into an impoverished, morally bankrupt pariah state.

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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/597367-white-house-dubs-risi...

The White House is seeking to pin the blame for high gas prices in the United States on a new target: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Biden and White House officials this week have increasingly argued that Putin's invasion of Ukraine is the cause of higher prices at the pump, an argument they reiterated after the administration on Tuesday banned imports of Russian oil.

"The decision today is not without cost here at home. Putin’s war is already hurting American families at the gas pump," Biden said when announcing the ban, vowing to take steps to "minimize Putin’s price hike here at home."

Hours later, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force one that Americans were facing a spike in gas prices "because of the actions of President Putin."

"This is a Putin spike at the gas pump, not one prompted by our sanctions," she said.

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QMS's picture

@humphrey

Not US hegemony, Wall Street parades, militaristic policies or numb nuts NATO

Funny, cause if this ever ends, it will be China's fault

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question everything

joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

when did regime change become "not the policy of the united states?"

when the ptb are going to change something that big, dammit they ought to give us all some notice.

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Pricknick's picture

@humphrey
[video:https://youtu.be/c91XUyg9iWM]

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

Azazello's picture

That was a good one from Ian Welsh tonight, joe.
Here's an official Russian battle map, courtesy of The Saker.

We know it's the Kremlin-approved map because it was shown on Russian TV. It's probably more accurate than the one at the NYT. In the upper left you'll see a blue dot labeled Киев. That's how the Russians spell it and how they say it, two syllables, kee-ev. Apparently, the Ukrainian pronunciation is only one syllable, keev. I guess we're all supposed to start saying it that way in solidarity with the brave Ukrainian freedom fighters. Everybody on NPR says it that way now.

America is back, and the Clintons are back in business.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIE4UjBtx-o width:500 height:300]

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We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

@Azazello further explains that the heavy black line is the cordon, or as some are saying, Cauldron, around Donbas.

Ukrainians are trapped with no re-supply possible.

Putin has already said that Russia will be taking no prisoners for non-Ukrainian military forces. This will not end pretty.

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NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@Azazello

thanks for the map and the tune!

heh, i guess the clintons can smell the opportunity for graft. what a disgusting bunch.

have a great evening!

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ggersh's picture

all the good shitty news

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

QMS's picture

@ggersh

asking the players where the strangest place they ever had sex
on an out take from The Newlyweds game ..

[video:https://youtu.be/8gPalEjphoA]

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question everything

ggersh's picture

@QMS "I'll pay you $5 grand".... she said, put it in

No no location Smile

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

snoopydawg's picture

@ggersh

It’s why people from government didn’t want to go there. I think they should and maybe China can add a test to find people’s heads since they seem to have theirs up…. You know that THING!

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joe shikspack's picture

@ggersh

thanks for the chuckle!

have a great evening!

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snoopydawg's picture

It’s been mentioned here but I can’t remember where. On the other hand she would make a train want to take a dirt road. Inside and out she is not a nice woman.

I have been reading about the bio weapons labs on numerous sites so it looks like it’s a true story. A few bugs have gotten out of the labs too and have sickened and killed people. Can’t remember where I read that. Maybe on the link Pluto posted in yesterday’s dose?

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QMS's picture

@snoopydawg

in Ukraine (I think 16?) which were involved with biological weapons
Russia knew of them and destroyed them in their first wave attack.

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question everything

snoopydawg's picture

@QMS

But here’s Vicky getting ready to blame Russia for leaks from our labs.

Gawd I have strong negative feelings towards this man! Always have. Arrogant jerk that karma visited. But he still has his moments.

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@QMS 30 NATO bio-labs were destroyed on Day 1. But who knows.

NATO still has weapons depots in Western Ukraine and this has been verified. General Milley inspected them a few days back.

Also from our military---footage of General Jack Kirby assuring us that Russia has lost the War.

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NYCVG

QMS's picture

@NYCVG

but his assurances amount to nothing
this is just more foggy bottomed war propaganda
brought to you by the makers of stinger missiles (tm)
we make bombing people better!

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question everything

@QMS is the pentagon spokesman

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NYCVG

@QMS on the number of US bio-labs.

My number 30 was way off.

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NYCVG

@snoopydawg in Ukraine. the saker

Didn't know this was considered a QAnon CT, before Nuland said yup. These US labs are all over the place - big in Georgia. Billed as humanitarian, but anyone with half a brain knows that they're used to get around US domestic laws on research. (Even Porton Down in UK is used in that way.)

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snoopydawg's picture

@Marie

I talked about it in yesterday’s dose. I posted a link on it, but I’ve been reading about our labs in countless countries for a few years. The thing people were questioning was whether there were labs in Ukraine that Russia found.

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@snoopydawg (report from the Russian Defense Ministry), Russia had previously identified the more than 30 US funded bio-weapons labs in Ukraine. From documents reviewed by Russian defense (speaker implies that the documents were recently found but doesn't reveal from where), on February 24, the Ukrainian Health Ministry ordered the complete destruction of all biological agents in Ukrainian labs. Suggests but isn't proof that the Ukrainian labs were engaged in illegal bio-weapons research. This is a developing story.

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janis b's picture

@Marie

when it’s hardly possible to dispose of plastic properly?

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@janis b
organic compounds everyday throughout the world. Plastic can be incinerated if the highly toxic fumes can be managed. Plastic isn't biodegradable because plastic isn't found in nature and therefore, no plastic eating organisms developed.

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janis b's picture

@Marie

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@snoopydawg

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ggersh's picture

@snoopydawg....I'm surprised, not, that so many athletes went there
for the games then. Butt then again Smile

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

on Polish jets:

Somebody, somewhere, in DC or The Pentagon has woken up enough to see what is actually happening. Very good to see a walkback of any rhetoric the media has been indulging itself in.

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NYCVG

joe shikspack's picture

@NYCVG

it's funny where they draw the line. fighter jets are definitely right out, but all kinds of arms, from anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles and goodness knows what else are all ok and continue to be shoved into ukraine as fast as is possible.

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

They want to flood Ukraine with people who will attack Russia for decades ala Hillary who is pushing for that. I’ve read that people from ISIS are being sent somewhere so they can go into Ukraine. Probably Poland since lots of things are coming in from there. I’m sure they are concerned about the innocent people living there, but..yeah right! If they gave a damn they would have tried some diplomacy to keep Russia from attacking. Not many people are calling for peace. They just want to stick it to Putin. Most of HuffPost today was all about Ukraine with no words about the Saudis attack on Yemen yesterday that killed 80 people and destroyed a house with lots killed there too. Patrick is right. This level of propaganda is off the charts.

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@NYCVG
to wake up someone somewhere in the Pentagon (most likely) and/or State (least likely) and WH.

A very clever move on the part of Poland -- dump a fleet of circa 1977 MIG-29 jets on the US in return for a fleet of similarly capable jets. Then the US would be responsible for any of those jets that ended up in Ukraine which is an act of war. Poland obviously didn't like that responsibility. Germany may want to think twice about this as well.

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enhydra lutris's picture

Good to hear I Like it Like That again. Also good to see that Ferlinghetti down in the also of interest section.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

joe shikspack's picture

@enhydra lutris

yep, the chris kenner feature is one that i really enjoy putting together. he wrote a lot of tunes that you hear from others and his original versions are often superior to the covers.

have a great evening!

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It was bad enough when I put $40 worth into my gas tank today

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@humphrey on jets from Poland gives me some small hope that Biden will not sacrifice Poland and more of Europe on this losing battle against Putin.

Is it possible that NATO (who is mostly USA) will similarly decide to cut its losses?

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NYCVG

@NYCVG

Your choice is dementia Joe or war monger Blinken.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ukraine-russia-nato-fighter-jets-antony-bli...

Washington — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that NATO members have the go-ahead to send fighter jets to Ukraine as the U.S. and allies continue their efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion.

"That gets a green-light," Blinken said in an interview with "Face the Nation" when asked whether the Polish government, a member of NATO, could send fighter planes to Ukraine. "In fact, we're talking with our Polish friends right now about what we might be able to do to backfill their needs if in fact they choose to provide these fighter jets to the Ukrainians. What can we do? How can we help to make sure that they get something to backfill the planes that they are handing over to the Ukrainians?"

I take what comes by way off Brandon's teleprompter with a grain of salt.

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@humphrey
in Ukraine. Blinken, Nuland, and the other DC "Ukies" and Russophobes had no trouble exploiting that predisposition of a senile Biden. Clearly their single focus precluded their ability to recognize all the other predictable ramifications of their plan to take down Russia. A gaggle of nincompoops.

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

i suppose that they might choose to answer the phone if the flow of arms suddenly had an interruption. of course, that could lead to a messy divorce.

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@joe shikspack

The UAE's plan to buy F-35 jets was cancelled and now this.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2022/02/23/ministry-of-de...

UAE's Ministry of Defence to buy L-15 Falcon jets from China.

The Ministry of Defence plans to sign a contract to buy 12 military fighter jets from China, with the option to purchase 36 more at a later date.

In a major deal, the ministry confirmed it was in talks to secure the L-15 Falcon - described as a training and light attack aircraft - from China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC).

Tareq Al Hosani, chief executive of Tawazun Economic Council, said the deal is part of continuing efforts to diversify and modernise capabilities of the Air Force and units of the armed forces.

“We have reached the final stage in our talks with the Chinese side. The final contract will be signed soon,” he said in a statement.

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@humphrey The Pentagon in the kishkes.

Military sales is their raison d'etre.

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NYCVG

we get this.

I guess selling arms to Taiwan wasn't enough.

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First the opinion:

Secondly what may lie ahead:

Putin is making a list of products and countries to be sanctioned.

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@humphrey Please repost it tomorrow for anybody who has missed it.

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NYCVG