The Weekly Watch

World Events and COVID Updates

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This week the G7 and NATO met trying to plot China and Russia's demise. It is almost comical. Russia's special op in Ukraine continues in a relentless grind. The western economies continue to inflate...when will they pop? The court has been wreaking havoc throwing Roe back to the states and eliminating the power of the EPA to regulate power plant emissions. In the midst of all this it is no wonder COVID has dropped off the radar, but it is still with us...mainly variants BA4 and BA5 which are immune escaped meaning they infect vaxed and previously infected people.

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G7 vs. BRICS: Two Competing World Visions w/ Vijay Prashad (3 min)

A comment found below the clip...

G7/NATO fears the loss of their perceived existing world domination. While in fact they already lost it economically speaking and when the unsustainable US and Euro money printing behemoth comes to a halt so will their military power wither away just like in the end of the Soviet Union.

Alex had an interesting take this week too. (32 min)

Biden, 'Putin wants Finlandization of NATO'. China slams NATO. Turkey F16s, Greece F35s

NATO seeks to prevent Eurasian challenger to US world dominance, admits ex CIA chief Mike Pompeo
Neoconservative ex CIA Director and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admitted NATO seeks to prevent a “Russian-Chinese axis” and “pan-Eurasian colossus.” Benjamin Norton analyzes a speech in which Pompeo outlines Washington’s imperial strategy in the new cold war, to maintain “economic hegemony” and control over fossil fuels and other resources.

The Truth About Russia And The Ukraine Crisis with Scott Ritter (1 hour)

I am honored to speak with Scott Ritter - the former UN WMD inspector in Iraq and a former Marines intelligence officer. Mr. Ritter has been vocal about what has been really going on in Ukraine over the last few months of Russia's special military operation, providing realistic insight into this crisis, unlike the typical MSM propaganda

Scott always seems to have microphone or sound issues, but he admits being new to podcasts.

It is best to question what we are fed about this conflict by the MSM. Jimmy provides some good reasons to doubt the narrative.

Russia Accused Of Bombing Shopping Mall w/ 1000 People inside (12 min)

US Spy Operation That Manipulates Social Media Revealed

Has the economic collapse arrived?
Economist Michael Hudson on inflation and Fed plan to cut wages: A depression is coming (1.5 hours)

Economist Michael Hudson explains the inflation crisis and the US Federal Reserve's "austerity program to reduce wages." So-called experts are openly calling to boost unemployment. A depression is coming, in which the poor will suffer so the rich can get richer.
https://michael-hudson.com/2022/06/the-feds-austerity-program-to-reduce-...

Here's a shorter analysis and slightly different take...
U.S. Faces Major Reckoning; No Easy Way Out After Years of QE Warns Rick Rule (35 min)

The United States is, "facing a reckoning from quantitative easing," says founder and CEO of Rule Investment Media, Rick Rule. “I have a very difficult time seeing an easy way out of this, with 40 years of low inflation, low interest rates and economic growth," he details to our Daniela Cambone. He concludes that, "the U.S. is less of a power than it was 20 years ago," and we will have to accommodate other cultures as a shift in global power moving forward. Daniela and Rick also discuss his upcoming Natural Resources Symposium and the main topics that will be the focus.

Max and Stacy are back with a new show.
MAX & STACY REPORT [Ep01] - The Great Repricing
MAX & STACY REPORT [EP02] - A Tamagotchi Economy

Richard Wolff has his analysis as well (52 min)

The Inflation Crisis Explained w/Richard Wolff

The US Injustice System
As bad as the court decisions have been the real crimes of the US system flies under the radar...largely accepted. Russell has a righteous rant about it as only he can. (12 min)

Russell much like Jimmy is an acquired taste.

The US incarcerates more people - both per capita and by sheer numbers - than any other nation on earth. Our prisons are inhumane hellholes, and private prisons are making a killing. Let's talk about our horrendous prison system and look at some much better justice systems in other countries. (15 min)

It isn't about justice, like most ill of our society they are profit driven.

Speaking of injustice...
Julian Assange Files Fresh Appeal Against Extradition to U.S.
US hypocrisy is obvious to anyone who looks.

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So 24/7 Ukraine war and economic collapse and COVID slides off the map as cases are raging. Fortunately it is much less virulent than earlier variants. None the less I find it interesting how easily we are distracted.
BREAKING! COVID rates approaching highest ever recorded

Tim's back a week early with a special update on the recent skyrocketing COVID rates, many of these down to reinfections.

The new variants BA 4 and BA 5 are immune escaped...we all are susceptible to them regardless of vax status or previous infection. This virus is with us.

Dr John explains. Rapid viral evolution (20 min)

BA.5, immune escape

John continues...
Most hospital admission with, not for...Majority of covid admissions are now incidental.

For those who do develop more severe symptoms, there are some protocols being developed for these new strains...

BA.4, BA.5 from US, Brazil and South Africa
Dr. Flavio Cadegiani and Dr. Robert Rapiti discuss their approaches to handling patients with the emerging Omicron variants, which require early and sometimes aggressive treatments.
PDF of Dr. Cadegiani’s Protocol
PDF of Dr. Rapiti’s Protocol

Dr. Falsie would have been wise to explore these new protocols...
Kim Iversen: DOUBLE-BOOSTED Fauci’s Covid WORSENS After Paxlovid Rebound. (15 min)

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Protesters are flying their flags upside down to show their displeasure with what they see as a nation in distress. It's one of the many forms of peaceful protest that aren't particularly radical, but can be useful in making people feel like they're doing something when they feel powerless, or showing their neighbors where you align politically.

With a few small edits...
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men the people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security...
I think these words/ideas are worth a celebration and consideration in light of the state of our country today.

Have a great fourth of July no matter where you live in the world. Hope you can gather with friends, eat good food and share a cup of kindness.
This is an open thread, any and all comments welcomed...

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Lookout's picture

This dropped over night, so I missed it till today.
NATO escalates and edges toward world war
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJl7xgZNO74&t=8m30s]
The Grayzone interviews Michael Tracey live from Madrid, where NATO meets to plan a major escalation in the Ukraine proxy war and admitting Sweden and Finland as members.

Edit to add:
At least there were some protests...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBTtjlkS5hQ]

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout's picture

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/06/no-nato-will-not-get-ready-for-war...

NATO does not have 300,000 troops to put on high alert. The troops are controlled by member states and I see no willingness by any of them to shoulder the costs that a real high alert status would have. Units on high alert means that they fully manned with no one on vacation and with enough supplies ready to sustain weeks of battle. All of that costs money. Member states will instead designate existing units as 'high alert' ones and change nothing else in their usual equipment and training.

The statement is pure NATO public relations fluff. Stoltenberg did not even ask or inform member states before he made that announcement:

So all the rancor and discussion in the essay earlier this week are moot. It is just more western bluster.

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11 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

ggersh's picture

Great word salad, errrr WW, LO!! Wink

And it began with this

"This week the G7 and NATO met trying to plot China and Russia's demise. It is almost comical."

Here I think I fixed it for ya?

This week the G7 and NATO met trying to plot China and Russia'sfully implementing amerika and Europe's demise. It is almost comical.

Anyhow here is a comment at the MOA that pretty much captures how
WS/amerika ineptness and greed over quarterly earnings helped destroy amerika.

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/07/ukraine-the-bear-caught-the-kraken...

Arnaud Bertrand. @RnaudBertrand. Apr 10, 2022·
We used to think that Russia's economy was the equivalent of a small European country.
Maybe never before has an economy's importance been so grossly misjudged. [ya think???]
French economist Jacques Sapir explains what happened (at 44:13): youtube.com…

Small thread on what he says:
To him "the war made us realize that the Russian economy is considerably more important than we thought"
He says that a big reason for this misjudgment is exchange rates.
If you compare Russia's GDP by converting from rubles to $, you indeed get an economy the size of Spain's.
However this is the worst possible way of comparing the size of economies.
A slightly more accurate way is to adjust for PPP (purchasing power parity: investopedia.com/updates/purcha…)
When you do so, you already realize that Russia's economy is actually more like the size of Germany's.
BUT you also need to take something else into account: "What is the share of the service sector versus the share of the commodities & industrial sector?"
To Sapir the service sector is today vastly overvalued in the world compared with the industrial sector and commodities.
He says that when you adjust for this Russia's economy is vastly bigger than Germany's.
His estimate is that Russia represents in fact maybe "5% or 6% of the world's economy", almost double the size it's normally estimated at on a PPP basis (statista.com/statistics/271…)
This is a fascinating way to look at it and it rings very true.
This crisis is making us realize that we used to take manufacturing, the industry and commodities for granted, i.e. an antiquated side of the economy compared to shiny new "services".
What we're going through is leading us to a huge rethink.
This will undoubtedly make us conclude that what we used to view as antiquated is much more valuable than we thought.
Ironically this will force a revaluation of the Russian economy that's very much in their favor.
It's also very interesting to revalue China's economy through that lens.
If we look at the Chinese economy simply based on exchange rates, it is a $17.7 trillion economy to the U.S.'s $23 trillion.
However, if we just look at it on a PPP basis we realize it is already an almost $27 trillion economy.
This means China's economy is already close to 20% larger than the U.S.'s:
Let's also revalue it by assuming that the service sector holds much less value than previously thought.
The service sector is about 54.5% of China's GDP (investopedia.com/articles/inves…) which is even less than in Russia (at 56.27%: statista.com/statistics/271…).
This means that if we roughly apply Sapir's ratio for Russia to China, we're in fact looking at the Chinese economy being probably about 30% of the world's economy on a PPP basis instead of the 18% it's currently estimated at (statista.com/statistics/270…)!
All in all, this means that China and Russia's economies combined are in fact likely about 35% of the world's economy when taking PPP into account as well as compensating for the over-valuation of the service sector.
The service sector accounts for roughly 77% of the U.S. economy (statista.com/statistics/270…) and 70% of the EU's economy
This means that conversely, the U.S. and EU's economies are probably overvalued today.
Consequently, while we used to think that the US + the EU make up about 30% of the world's economy on a PPP basis (statista.com/statistics/270… and statista.com/statistics/253…) this is probably vastly overvalued since their service sector is such an important share of their economies
To conclude all this might end up making us realize that the Chinese + Russian economies combined are in fact far larger than those of the West.
Maybe as much as 40% larger if we assume US + EU is in fact maybe just 25% of the world's economy vs 35% for China + Russia ??

threadreaderapp.com

Posted by: Melaleuca | Jul 2 2022 12:18 utc | 182

IOW's amerika is now the 3rd world country(if not 4th) we claim everyone else to be.

Have a great 4th everyone, we might as well enjoy it just because we can.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLiMy4NaSKc]

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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

Lookout's picture

@ggersh
as the MoA comment includes.

In the US service economy mentality, we foolishly thought we could choke Russia's economy. The exact opposite happens because the world is dependent on so many Russian commodities from gas and oil, to fertilizers, to minerals like nickle. TPTB are so arrogant they thought the power of the dollar would prevail, but instead the USD has lost it's position and importance.

Glad you came by. Thanks for the links. Have a good holiday!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

noteworthy watches on Netflix: The Staircase series (documentary, not the other recent movie about the same subject) about a best-selling fiction author convicted of killing his wife 20 some yrs ago, shades of The Fugitive. Having watched the entire series, I'm leaning towards his innocence, certainly towards reasonable doubt. Very unusual trial where the prosecution-friendly judge allowed in 2 key pieces of evidence which were highly prejudicial to the defendant either of which would have been enough to prejudice an entire NC jury 20 yrs ago against the def, one piece being his bisexual private life. Anyone familiar with this case or the doc?

Second good Netflix doc: The Tinder Swindle, about an Israeli young conman who ripped off various women who had met him thru a dating app, Tinder, to the tune of $10m, financially devastating the women. Single women beware. Especially, apparently, Scandinavian women.

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Lookout's picture

@wokkamile

When he was just pretending to be a president.

Netflix has acquired the streaming rights to Servant of the People (also known as Sluga naroda or Слуга народу), the series starring Volodymyr Zelenskyy who has become known around the world over the past few weeks given the invasion of Ukraine. Season 1 of the show is now on Netflix although three seasons were produced in total.

The Ukrainian political sitcom follows a teacher (played by Zelenskyy, the current President of Ukraine) who rails against the corrupt political establishment, starts a viral campaign, and then finds himself unexpectedly elected to the role.

You can't make it up. Thanks for the recs!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

enhydra lutris's picture

in the power of covid to distract us, perhaps due to seemingly reduced lethality. Heck, my little sister who has serious comorbidities caught it can came through just fine after a few days of struggle at home. I've noted them preparing alternative scary threat tales for a while now. Here's one example: https://grist.org/health/the-disease-after-tomorrow/ subtitled "5 illnesses spreading in a hotter world". I had another in a similar vein but seem to have misplaced or deleted it about all of these illnesses that were overshadowed and seemingly shut down by covid that are now ripe to make a big time comeback.

Speaking of big time comebacks, it looks like Ukraine ain't gonna have one, just sayin'. Also, per the Duran, Russia has sewn up the Caspian and its surroundings. The Caspian is a bigger deal than most are aware of, including the fact that it is more or less pipelineistan squared and very rich in oil and gas.

Thanks for the WW and all the info, as well as the OT.

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 --

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris

for Ukraine, but I bet we'll continue funneling weapons and ammunition even though they know it's over. Whatta grift. And you're right about the importance of the upcoming Caspian conference.

It would be very difficult for them to pull another COViD con IMO. We've been back on our gargling routine after parties and such just in case we picked up some virus or the other. Behaviors here are back to normal...meaning hugs, handshakes, and no distancing nor masks.

Hope you're doing well and enjoying the holiday! Thanks for the visit.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@enhydra lutris TPTB are embarrassed by Fauci's two bouts w Covid after his two jabs and two boosters and one paxlovid course. Not a good look for the vaccine and paxlovid proponents. Best to lie low for now, and come back later with another vaccine or booster regimen or scary story about another virus requiring another vaccine.

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Lookout's picture

@wokkamile

I suspect they will need a new pathogen with a fairly high death rate. That was the Rockefeller strategy from 2010.

If the majority of people go against the agenda, then release the Weaponized SARS/HIV/MERS Tribit Strain as a Phase 3 operation. A virus with a 30+% mortality rate as a final scare to punish the minority to quickly become the majority and give a final “We told you so” to those that didn’t listen.

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snoopydawg's picture

He reports how we got to the point that Russia had to invade Ukraine and why it was America’s ridiculous hegemonic actions toward Russia and how it’s going to be hard for the conflict to end. Russia will never allow Ukraine to become a NATO puppet nor will Washington allow Russia to win.

Simply put, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is a colossal catastrophe, which, as I noted at the beginning of my speech, will force people all over the world to look for its causes. Those who believe in facts and logic will quickly discover that the United States and its allies are primarily responsible for this derailment of our common train. The decision taken in April 2008 on the accession of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO was destined to lead to a conflict with Russia. The Bush administration was the main architect of this fateful choice, but the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations intensified and aggravated this policy at every turn, and America’s allies obediently followed Washington. Despite the fact that Russian leaders made it abundantly clear that Ukraine’s accession to NATO would mean crossing Russia’s “most contrasting of red lines,” the United States refused to come to terms with Russia’s deep security concerns and instead moved tirelessly to turn Ukraine into a western bastion on the border with Russia.

The tragic truth is that if the West had not sought to expand NATO into Ukraine, it is unlikely that a war would have raged in Ukraine today, and Crimea would most likely still be part of Ukraine. In fact, Washington has played a central role in leading Ukraine down the path of destruction. History will severely condemn the United States and its allies for their strikingly stupid policy towards Ukraine.

America’s Monroe doctrine will not allow any country to have influence in its backyard, but thinks that its entitled to go into any country’s backyard it wants to. You know because it’s a rules based order instead of following international law that it once agreed to follow.

Sadly the mainstream media will never interview John so he could educate Americans on the truth of this conflict because their job is to repeat what the government tells them to so Americans can believe that their country is only a force for good and any country that stands in the way of its goals are the bad guys. And it’s unfortunate that the people who most need to read this essay will not.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg
at least to my mind.
US-China cold war is inevitable.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIaU3TJEREo]
I hope he's wrong. Peace and cooperation would be better IMO.

Thanks for the link and your common sense. I learned from years in the classroom you can't force feed information, all we can do is put it on offer.

Hope you and Sam are having a great holiday! I'm thrilled we're getting a rain...already 0.5".

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

snoopydawg's picture

@Lookout

She is not fond of the fireworks. She bugged me for hours last night to walk but once we got there she wanted to go home because of the noise.

It’s hot and windy here and fireworks should be banned because of the drought. And we go through this again in 2 weeks with St. Brigham’s day when the Mormons arrived in Utah. We will also have a parade and rodeo. I can’t watch rodeos. I feel bad for the animals. Enjoy your rain. We used to get nice thunderstorms in July but not so much after the lake started drying up. Very sad.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Lookout's picture

@snoopydawg

and thunder for that matter. She would go into the shakes and want right by us.

At the cabin they have a black lab that is the same. When one of the denizens asked if she was a hunting dog, they took a picture of her with ear protection muffs and sent it to him saying, "she's ready to go hunting now." Needless to say she didn't go hunting.

One time they tried to train her to put their empty beer cans in the recycling bucket. Just about the time she had it figured out, she realized this was too big a job and quit. She is a smart dog.

All the best to you and Sam!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout's picture

Jimi Hendrix said, “when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
Give Peace A Chance - Peace Choir
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c79vlb6lBLY]
Everybody's talkin' 'bout:

Planet Earth

Rebirth

United Nations

Good relations

Space stations

Starvation

Radiation

Salvation

Education

Liberation

All we are saying is give peace a chance

All we are saying is give peace a chance

Everybody's talkin' 'bout:

Civil war

Revolution

Armageddon

No solution

Are we facing

Vietnam?

We don't want to

Drop the bomb

All we are saying is give peace a chance

(Ofra sings in Hebrew)

Everybody's talkin' 'bout:

Acid house

Gay spouse

Green house

Heavy metal

Hip-hop

Censorship

Has to stop

HIV

AZT

New kids dance on

MTV

With toxic waste dumps

In the sea

All we are saying is give peace a chance

All we are saying is give peace a chance

Everybody's talkin' 'bout:

Amazon's

Trees gone

Cancer cells

From the sun

Middle East

Crazy beast

Rock 'n' rollers

Sing for peace

All we are saying is give peace a chance

All we are saying is give peace a chance

All we are saying is give peace a chance

All we are saying is give peace a chance

All we are saying is give peace a chance

Happy holidays!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

for the WW Lookout.
I count myself among those who think the various variants (sorry) are going to cause big problems for us. I feel like I'm in Wonderland where everyone around me acts as if everything is just fine. I feel quite the opposite. But that's just my two cents.

I appreciate all the links above, I've been following Hudson but this is a reminder to check out all the others that I have missed. I've been enjoying Alex's peripatetic video essays that you have been posting. In addition to his commentary I get to take a virtual walk with him through various cities. A bonus!

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Lookout's picture

@randtntx

...for coming by and reading. As to the virus, the tendency is to evolve to become more contagious but less virulent. Hopefully that tendency will hold. I've had several friends become infected and have a 3-4 day episode of feeling bad. None the less my point was that this is spreading faster than ever, and we should be aware. Why oh why haven't they recommended a mouthwash after exposure to others? Not enough profit perhaps? Nor Vit D, nor....

Well have a great holiday!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout only want people thinking in terms of vaccines and expensive, dubious drugs from Big Pharma, the kind that enabled Fauci to get covid and covid a second time. Heck, I was suspended from a major social media platform for advocating for VitD (I think -- they never are specific about why), not mentioning a thing about IVM or dissing vaccines.

In an honest information system, the MSM would devote a full week of saturation coverage to non-Rx ways to strengthen the innate immune system, but they haven't and they never will. There's no profit in that. Look at what corporate entities account for much of their advertising.

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Lookout's picture

@wokkamile

Truth gets you canceled and lies get you promoted.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”