Open Thread WE 9 MAR 22 ~

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 7:20am

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Another Potpourri assemblage of how recent events are effecting us.

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Welcome to the thread space open to all registered users to post and comment.
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The current hot misinformation blitz is being sponsored by US/NATO aggressors
against Russia using Ukraine as the battle field. In the US, this translates to steep
price hikes on oil and gas for consumers, more breaking global supply chains,
rising food prices and availability plus other inflation feeding fiascos. The
devaluation of the petrodollar is steam rolling. This appears to be a self induced
wounding scenario. What are your thoughts?

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Following on the heels of a world-wide pandemic, the instabilities are growing.
Please share Covid related issues over at The Dose.
Thanks!

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Credits --

“The Vaudeville Admiral” by Vermont-born artist Ethan Murrow
(2021), high flow acrylic on panel, 48 x 60 inches
https://newyork.winstonwachter.com/exhibitions/

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 7:41am
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Prymachenko-4-640x441@2x.jpg

“Our Army, Our Protectors” by Maria Prymachenko (1908–1997) a self-taught folk artist known for her renderings of life in the Ukrainian countryside(1978), gouache on paper, 61 x 86 centimeters

https://www.wikiart.org/en/maria-primachenko

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Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.
-- August Hare

Submitted by randtntx on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 8:06am

A Russian folk tune to accompany the Ukrainian art:

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 2:09pm
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@randtntx

We can show Ukrainian art, play Russian music, celebrate culture without all of the heavy
BS trying to make enemies out of real people. Thanks for sharing!

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Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.
-- August Hare

Submitted by randtntx on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 8:18am

and self destruction from Michael Hudson.
https://michael-hudson.com/2022/03/the-american-empire-self-destructs/

Nobody thought that the postwar 1945-2020 world order would give way this fast. A truly new international economic order is emerging, although it is not yet clear just what form it will take. But “prodding the Bear” with the U.S./NATO confrontation with Russia has passed critical-mass level. It no longer is just about Ukraine. That is merely the trigger, a catalyst for driving much of the world away from the US/NATO orbit.

European officials did not feel uncomfortable in telling the world about their worries that Donald Trump was crazy and upsetting the apple cart of international diplomacy. But they seem to have been blindsided at the Biden Administration’s resurgence of visceral Russia-hatred by Secretary of State Blinken and Victoria Nuland-Kagan. Trump’s mode of expression and mannerisms may have been uncouth, but America’s neocon gang has much more globally threatening confrontation obsessions. For them, it was a question of whose reality would emerge victorious: the “reality” that they believed they could make, or economic reality outside of U.S. control.

Trying to force Russia to respond militarily and thereby looking bad to the rest of the world is turning out to be a stunt aimed simply at demonstrating Europe’s need to contribute more to NATO, buy more U.S. military hardware and lock itself deeper into trade and monetary dependence on the United States. The instability that this has caused is turning out to have the effect of making the United States look as threatening as Russia.

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Submitted by exindy on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 9:52am

So now the special appropriations request for Ukraine support has risen to $14 Billion.

A dollar here, a dollar there and pretty soon we're talking some real money.

Yesterday I identified a source for the Dr Strangelove movie. As I look at that movie file I find it's a .M4V which can be played as an .MP4. Other than being a horrendous size overhead, I found that the newer format is an Apple thingie. I have no idea what's in that extra 4 or so gig but since it's from Apple I'd suspect that there might be something that isn't healthy for me in the long run.

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Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 10:16am
enhydra lutris's picture

National, global, political, economic and other news is too distracting. My focus today is making bread, sharpening knives, cleaning the bird bath and stuff like that. After all, "he not busy being born is busy dying", so why worry about that.

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 --

Submitted by usefewersyllables on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 10:29am
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@enhydra lutris

We'll be making chicken pot pies with a sourdough cracker crust (great way to use up discard, BTW) for dinner and to stock the freezer. And the knives are getting a bit dull. Time to go edge 'em up and simply watch the snow fall. We're only supposed to get ~3" today, so it is just for atmosphere. The teevee is staying off for the foreseeable future.

Great advice. I think it was John Lennon who said "Life is what happens while we're busy making other plans"... Time to stop and smell the starter.

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 11:53am
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@usefewersyllables

making stuff with what would otherwise be discard. Small flatbreads that I cover with cheese and sliced shrooms, sort of a pancake thing (just pour the discard into a hot, oiled skillet, etc. I have a recipe for crackers I've made at least once, should try it again & see how they go with swiss.

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 --

Submitted by usefewersyllables on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 1:25pm
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@enhydra lutris

The whole concept of "discard" is kind of an oxymoron, isn't it... We haven't discarded anything in a long time, either. It goes into crackers, muffins, pancakes, just about everything.

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 11:58am

Access to RT has been sporadic at best. Here is a possible workaround.

https://twitter.com/RT_com

I was able to access this article by clicking on the links included.

Moscow calls for strengthening bioweapons treaty.

Mandatory international inspections could keep US labs in check, Russia suggested

An international treaty banning bioweapons needs to be strengthened with a compliance verification mechanism, contrary to the US position on the issue, Moscow said on Wednesday. The call comes in the wake of the reported discovery of evidence that there were lethal pathogens at Pentagon-backed labs in Ukraine.

The Russian military reported this week that Ukrainian authorities had ordered the destruction of highly pathogenic samples that were stored at US-backed biological labs throughout the country.

The purported documents indicate that both Ukraine and the US breached the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which both nations signed and ratified, the Russian foreign ministry alleged on Wednesday. The order to destroy the samples was an attempt to cover up the violations of the treaty, it said.

“We stand for the resumption of the work on a legally binding Protocol to the Convention for an effective verification mechanism, which the US has been stonewalling since 2001,” the ministry said.

The BWC, which came into force in 1975, bans the development, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin weapons. Unlike its counterpart for chemical weapons, the Convention for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the treaty lacks an international watchdog organization to verify compliance.

An attempt to establish such an organization took place in the 1990s. The VEREX ad hoc committee spent a decade formulating proposals for surveillance, inspections, information sharing and other confidence-building measures.

The effort ultimately failed due to objections from the George W Bush administration which, in 2001, rejected a 210-page draft protocol. Washington claimed that it would not have improved the BWC, if implemented, and would have hurt US national security and commercial interests.

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Submitted by MichaelSF on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 1:03pm

@humphrey how reducing biological weapons/strengthening inspections can be seen as "would have hurt US national security and commercial interests."

I guess someone's always going to be making money "selling the Army the tools of the trade".

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Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 12:13pm

created Russian hysteria.

Previously I came across that a restaurant was banning Russian salad dressing as a result of the invasion.

There are likely many more examples of this that I can't be bothered to include.

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Submitted by MrWebster on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 12:19pm

@humphrey There is a world wide mass psychosis.

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Submitted by Marie on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 1:29pm

@humphrey
dumping French wine, and smashing Dixie Chicks recordings on steroids. Major difference the 2003 pro-Iraq War US hoi polloi couldn't come up with anything from Iraq to trash other than oil which hoi polloi was salivating to steal. The new pro-Ukraine (and its Nazis) hoi polloi will have a rethink when gas hits $8-10/gallon, but they might be spared the hard work of thinking if Blinken/Biden blink and accept the Russian terms for a peace agreement.

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Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 5:29pm

@Marie is what I think will happen.

Biden will declare that "we won because we stopped Putin at the eastern section of Ukraine when we all know Putin was looking to take over the world." \s

Putin will come out of this with a peaceful Donbas and greater control over southern Ukraine and the Black Sea.

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NYCVG

Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 5:32pm

@humphrey fired Anna Netrebko.

This is so insane.

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Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 9:53pm
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@NYCVG

The Beeb giving feeble excuses: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-60684374

Reason magazine says it's ridiculous: https://reason.com/2022/03/09/cardiff-philharmonic-orchestra-tchaikovsky...

They don't go so far as to analyze just how Westernized Tchaikovsky's music really is, nor do they mention several blatant swipes from Western sources (the French "Marche Henri Quatre" that concludes Sleeping Beauty, for instance, or the very suspicious similarities between the main theme of Swan Lake and an Irish art song, "Silent, Oh Moyle" by Thomas Moore - about the Children of Lir who were turned into...swans).

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Submitted by MrWebster on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 12:15pm

Utter insanity. The anti-Russian hysteria is insane at every level. Just read where Lithuania is denying Bangladesh 440K covid vaccines because of their UN vote on condemning Russia.

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Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 12:19pm

Finally some common sense prevails.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 1:58pm
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@humphrey

this NATO lead madness. Good on Magdalena for speaking out.
Oh noes, does that mean Swedish meatball are off the menu too?

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Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.
-- August Hare

Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 12:39pm

But I came across this for anyone who might be interested.

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Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 12:50pm

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Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 1:18pm

@humphrey How long will Australia be included in the West?

China is their largest trading partner.

As the sole representative of the southern hemisphere world wide, how tenable is this position?

Europe struggling with wheat shortages as well as oil and Australia's drought now drying up the land of its large ranches in the west of its country, how long exactly do you think the US Military bases will be what the Australians need?

There have been murmurings out of Australia for years that the USA has overlooked some basic facts about its hold over Australia. US has assumed things that it may need to reconsider.

OTOH, starving the oppressed in Australia may be just what they want to do. USA armaments uber alles. We will find out.

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NYCVG

Submitted by fire with fire on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 1:32pm

@humphrey

.[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8yZKMow0ME]

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 1:20pm

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Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 1:36pm

An MP in Ireland speaks her mind:

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 2:27pm
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@NYCVG

which I agree with 100%
STFU about Ukraine already.
What about Afghanistan, Syria, Africom, Palestine and the rest of the empire disorders?

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Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.
-- August Hare

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 2:43pm
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@NYCVG

All wars are EVIL!

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Here in the USA arming and funding Israeli genocide and mass murder is perfectly OK, but objecting to it will get you expelled, arrested or deported.

Submitted by NYCVG on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 2:06pm

https://thesaker.is/ukrainian-front-strategy-without-tactics-must-see/

Best, most complete accounting of what is happening in Ukraine Right Now and the only way this will end.

The Russian guy talks very quickly and his map is in Russian but if you have been following this with reasonable attention and an open mind, I think you will be able to follow him.

One big Point that we have been making, is expressed clearly here. Russia's plan was NOT to Invade and Destroy Kiev, or any city but to encircle and pressure while doing minimum damage.

Reducing cities and countries to rubble is what WE do.

The Speaker reiterates our views about the West being able to say anything they please.

And that, like it or not, Russia is doing exactly as it intended to do and will continue until it has regained control of Donbas and Crimes. Ending the Ukrainian occupation of Donbas.

And cleaning out the Western biolabs and weapons stred in Western Ukraine.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 2:20pm
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@NYCVG

the facts on the ground. For whatever reason (;-)), the western media will not play well
with others that do not toe the propaganda line set forward. It is all getting very sketchy,
what the mega media is trying to project. When facts don't add-up, there is a lie loose
which can not seem to be denied by any amount of factual reason. I mean, come on
people .. Russian cats and dressing and chicken Kiev? What kind of stupidity is this?
Why not discuss important issues such as the NATO attempt to make the European west
fight the European east, or prevent Eastern European resources to flow without sanctions,
or things that effect people - like food and heat. F*ck the politickers.

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Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.
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Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 2:24pm
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Still at brunch feeding their faces!

If only…

Yesterday he blamed Russia for high gas prices. Weird how they had been higher since he entered office

Ugh

There’s more.

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Here in the USA arming and funding Israeli genocide and mass murder is perfectly OK, but objecting to it will get you expelled, arrested or deported.

Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 2:33pm

Let it be said that I have no sympathy for ISIS.

The west has a dual position however when it comes to the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan. the Taliban, ISIS or the Nazis in Ukraine when it suits their purpose.

It seems when we do it it is simply collateral damage but when the Russians do it obviouly is a war crime.

https://time.com/longform/mosul-raqqa-ruins-after-the-war-of-annihilation/

The article is worth viewing in order to see what I mean. A couple of images.

A small excerpt.

The disorienting experience of walking through Raqqa challenges your visual perception. Nearly every building in sight is damaged or destroyed. Holes as big as a stove punch through the roofs. Cinder block, tile, furniture, their insides spill outside.

Everywhere you turn the view is pocked by tall buildings reduced to rubble and columns, without walls or windows or doors. Floors flattened onto floors below. Some buildings stand, still, groaning as they struggle to remain upright. It taxes the imagination to visualize the amount of explosive power needed to destroy so many buildings.

Now look at todays reporting in the MSM about the Ukraine.

My point is yes war anywhere is bad but that is not how the MSM portrays it.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 2:43pm
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@humphrey

Isn't it the Ukrainian forces that have been bombing eastern territories for 8 years now?
How are we supposed to believe that is still not happening? And why do the western
military jackals keep sending Ukrainians more guns and bombs? Are the western minds
so twisted as to not recognize the purpose of this aggression?

Oh noes, you want Russian dressing on your freedom fries? How un-American!

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Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.
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Submitted by Marie on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 3:08pm

@QMS
Four+ years of blaming Putin/Russia for the election of Trump. Some might think that the 2016/2020 Trump voters would be insulted for dismissing their votes as a Putin/Russia plot and recoil from another DC blame Russia propaganda program. Apparently, however, no indication that they aren't all on the support Ukraine bandwagon.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 3:19pm
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@Marie

I'm seeing Ukrainian flags / colors in weird places like grade school parking lots.
Why do 'mercuns want war so badly? Are they not happy with the idea of
co-operative, peaceful settlements? Gasoline is now over $4 bucks a gallon and
expected to double next week. Perhaps the big balled SUV crowd will notice a
slight dent in their living expenses when it takes $200 to fill their oversized trucks.
Big oil, weapons greedsters and big pharma make out like banditos.
Little people suffer.

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Thought is the wind, knowledge the sail, and mankind the vessel.
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Submitted by Marie on Wed, 03/09/2022 - 3:31pm

@QMS
has become more immediate and wider spread over the decades. Almost in defiance of the later revelation of facts that made their earlier rally around the flag efforts look really stupid.

The yellow ribbons were dumb but perhaps harmless enough. Waving the flag of another country borders on treason.

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Submitted by fire with fire on Thu, 03/10/2022 - 2:12am

This has been weird, folks. We put the 86 on The Brothers Karamazov and all the music of Pussy Riot. No more stroganoff at a restaurant in a far province. Ukraine flags waving from car antennas. Stamping out the menace of Russian Salad Dressing. The NFL is planning to revise its statistical nomenclature in the coming season. "Passing Yardage" remains unchanged, but "Rushing Yardage" sounds too much like Putin Propaganda and will be called "Running Yardage."

I have finally caught up with this. It is greatness. Our generation ended the draft but not the wars. When Nixon took the draftees out of the game, we quit worrying about war and peace and shit like that. Now in power for the first time in our lives, we see evil as a problem to be "called out." So now we fight our wars non-violently. Instead of Trumpian bluster and bluff, Joe Biden has unleashed the power of Gesture on the evil soul called Putin.

There was a great Onion piece before the Russians moved into Ukraine featuring Blinken threatening Putin with America's willingness to put sanctions on ourselves! Little did we know that the policy would be exactly that -- the gas prices have already taken off.

This is the ultimate liberal war -- A Defiant Gesture. Like the two impeachments of Trump, one of them after he was a private citizen. It flows from the logic of Me-Too, public shaming and social isolation for those whose behavior is unacceptable. A preposterous substitution of Empty Gesture for meaningful action.
.

Gesticulation Warfare, it's better than the real thing. But not as good as minding our own damn business.

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

Submitted by humphrey on Thu, 03/10/2022 - 2:21am

@fire with fire

Clockwork Orange.

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