The Evening Blues - 9-7-22



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Guy Davis

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features folk blues multi-instrumentalist Guy Davis. Enjoy!

Guy Davis - Loneliest Road That I Know

"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication, and courage. But if we don't practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us --- and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along."

-- Carl Sagan


News and Opinion

The Ukraine Proxy War Has Been A Propaganda Win For Interventionists

Neocon erotica publication The Atlantic has a new article out titled “The Rise of the Liberal Hawks” which is infuriating as much for its sycophantic empire apologia as it is for the fact that much it is entirely correct.

“Progressives typically see war as inherently murderous and dehumanizing — sapping progress, curtailing free expression, and channeling resources into the ‘military-industrial complex,’” sneers the article’s author, Dominic Tierney. “The left led the opposition to the Vietnam War and the Iraq War and condemned American war crimes from the My Lai massacre to Abu Ghraib. Historically, progressive critics have charged the military with a litany of sins, including discrimination against LGBTQ soldiers and a reliance on recruiting in poor communities.”

“Then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” writes Tierney. “No foreign conflict since the Spanish Civil War has so captured the imagination of the left.”

“Russian President Vladimir Putin is the antithesis of everything the left stands for,” Tierney adds. “Not only did he launch an unprovoked attack on a sovereign democratic nation, but he has also disparaged LGBTQ rights, multiculturalism, and immigration, and claimed that ‘the liberal idea’ has ‘outlived its purpose.’ Zelensky, in contrast, has built bridges with the global left. He addressed the Glastonbury music festival, in the U.K., where the revelers chanted his name to the tune of The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army.’ In Germany, the Green Party led the charge to supply weapons to Kyiv, overturning decades of German wariness about intervening in foreign wars. LGBTQ protesters in Berlin also demanded that Germany step up arms shipments to Ukraine, so that a Pride parade can, one day, be held in the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol. Ukrainian liberals—artists, translators, teachers, filmmakers—have joined the struggle. As one writer put it: ‘All our hipsters in Ukraine fight.'”

Tierney concedes that “there’s a leftist fringe in the United States that still considers America the world’s evil empire and remains deeply hostile to its military power,” but says “the bulk of the left has shown remarkable solidarity with the Ukrainian cause.”

“Liberals who once protested the Iraq War now urge Washington to dispatch more rocket launchers to defeat Russian imperialism,” Tierney says. “Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, a member of the progressive caucus, tweeted: ‘We unequivocally stand with the global Ukrainian community in the wake of Putin’s attack.'”

Again, what makes Tierney’s triumphant militarist smut so annoying isn’t how he’s wrong, it’s how he’s right. You can take issue all you like with his use of the word “left” to describe liberal supporters of capitalism and empire who just want the empire to be a bit less embarrassing and maybe forgive their student loans, but that’s the fault of the generations of psyops that have gone into sabotaging the left and destroying its memory, not Tierney’s. What he is saying about liberals who once protested the Iraq invasion now supporting US proxy warfare in Ukraine is broadly true, including throughout the Bernie Sanders/AOC “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party.

It’s just a fact that in 2022, liberals are gaga for US interventionism. Because this war can be (falsely) marketed as an “unprovoked” invasion by evil Bad Guys fighting against the virtuous Good Guys of the US/NATO/Ukraine partnership, and because it’s not our sons and daughters getting thrown into the gears of war, people who would normally be more skeptical of militarism and interventionism have indeed jumped aboard the proxy war train.

This war has in that sense become the Gulf War of the 2020s: a “good war” that rehabilitates the image of US interventionism for a war-weary public. Just as the 1990 Gulf War was used to get Americans over what warmongers called “Vietnam syndrome” — a healthy aversion to interventionism following the horrific disaster of the Vietnam War — the war in Ukraine is being used to wear down the public’s collective immune response to interventionism built up after the 2003 Iraq invasion.

“It’s a proud day for America, and by God, we’ve kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all,” the elder President Bush said after winning his war/propaganda operation in the Middle East.

Of course, we all remember what happened after that, don’t we? A decade later came 9/11, and a public now re-warmed to the idea of beneficent military interventionism overwhelmingly consented to two full-scale ground invasions of two separate nations on the promise of swift victory where the troops will be greeted as liberators. What followed was some six million deaths — roughly two thousand times the number killed on 9/11 — while trillions of dollars were siphoned from the American public to the war industry amid an unprecedented new era of military expansionism.

The public has again been won back over to the idea of military interventionism, using an unprecedented narrative management push which saw coverage of the foreign war in Ukraine eclipse even wars the US has directly participated in. They used different tactics and different narratives, as they always do, but the end result in the 2020s is the same as it was in the 1990s.

And now the public is enthused about foreign interventionism once again, and we get to just wait and see what happens after the empire architects give us our next 9/11.

UN calls for demilitarised zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for a demilitarised zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, involving the withdrawal of Russian occupying troops and the agreement of Ukrainian forces not to move in.

Guterres was addressing a UN security council session on Tuesday, at which he supported the recommendations put forward Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who led an inspection visit to the occupied Zaporizhzhia plant last week, and presented a report to the security council. The report confirmed the presence of Russian soldiers and military equipment at the plant, including army vehicles.

“We are playing with fire and something very, very catastrophic could take place. This is why in our report, we are proposing the establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone limited to the perimeter and the plant itself,” Grossi said.

Guterres said that, as a first step, Russian and Ukrainian forces should cease all military operations around the plant. “As a second step, an agreement on a demilitarised perimeter should be secured,” he added. “Specifically, that will include the commitment by Russian forces to withdraw military personnel and equipment from that perimeter and the commitment by Ukrainian forces not to move in.”

The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, blamed recent shelling of the plant on Ukraine and portrayed Russian forces as protecting the plant. He did not respond to the call for a security zone, a proposal Moscow has so far rejected. Nebenzya said he had not had time to read the IAEA report.

Russia closes 'Nordstrom 1.' Kharkov second counteroffensive. North Korea rescues Russia.

West reluctant to put Putin on trial, say Ukrainian officials

Ukraine’s major western allies have yet to sign up to establish a tribunal to try Vladimir Putin and his inner circle for the crime of aggression, wanting to leave space for future relations with Russia, according to Ukraine’s top officials.

“It’s big politics. On the one hand, countries publicly condemn the aggression but on the other, they are putting their foot in the closing door on relations with Russia so that it doesn’t close completely,” said Andriy Smyrnov, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, who is leading the country’s effort to establish the international tribunal. ...

His claims come as the US president, Joe Biden, said on Monday that Russia should not be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, something Ukrainian officials and some US politicians had pushed for. Russia had previously said such a designation would mean Washington had crossed the point of no return.

Ukrainian officials say that since April, they have been trying to convince their western allies to establish an ad hoc tribunal which would hold Russia’s senior leadership responsible for the crime of aggression for invading Ukraine. Aggression is viewed as the supreme crime under international law because without the transgression of borders during an invasion, subsequent war crimes would not have been committed.

So far only the Baltic states and Poland have pledged support for the tribunal, said Ukraine’s officials. “We are expecting broader support,” said Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin. “For us, the support of the UK and the US is very important as well as the rest of the civilised world,” said Smyrnov.

Prepare Bomb Shelters in Crimea, Zelenskiy Adviser Tells Residents

Ukraine on Monday told residents of Russian-annexed Crimea to prepare bomb shelters and stock up on supplies as Kyiv presses ahead with plans for a major counteroffensive to drive Russian troops out of occupied Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine has for weeks been telling residents in its occupied south to be ready and to evacuate before it launches a counter-offensive. Still, Monday's warning was notable because it was addressed to residents of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, in contrast to areas captured by Russia during this year's invasion.

Putin says 'impossible' to isolate Russia, vowing to cut gas and oil supplies

Going for broke

OPEC+ agrees oil output cut to boost prices

The OPEC+ oil cartel agreed Monday to a small production cut for the first time in more than a year amid concerns that a slowing global economy could lead to further declines in oil prices. The group, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, said in a statement that it decided to reduce output by 100,000 barrels per day in October, in effect reversing a production increase announced last month.

The move is a rebuke from Saudi Arabia, the leading member of OPEC, to Washington’s call for its Middle Eastern ally to increase production at a time of rising inflation and western sanctions on Russia’s energy industry.

The decision comes less than two months after US President Joe Biden made a controversial trip to the oil-rich kingdom, cast in part as an effort to revive frayed ties with Riyadh and mitigate the effect of skyrocketing energy prices for US consumers. Shortly after meeting with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, Biden said he expected the kingdom to take “further steps” to increase the supply of oil in the “coming weeks”. ...

While analysts said the cut was mostly symbolic, oil prices rose by more than three percent following the announcement, with the international benchmark, Brent, exceeding $96 per barrel while the US contract, WTI, reached almost $90.

Niece of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh, Killed by Israel, Wants Biden Mtg. & Indep. Inquiry

Fears Mount Bolsonaro Will Turn Brazilian Bicentennial Into 'Violence in the Streets'

Brazil is preparing for potential violence that could resemble last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol as far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro plans a pair of Wednesday events to mark the nation's bicentennial.

"In the capital Brasília, security officials are bracing for a crowd of 500,000 people on the central mall, which Bolsonaro will address after overseeing the traditional military parade marking 200 years of Brazil's independence from Portugal," Reuters reported Tuesday.

The news outlet noted that "police have reinforced security along the grassy esplanade to prevent any efforts to advance on the Supreme Court, where they threatened to march a year ago in a demonstration inspired by the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol."

The Brazilian leader's unsubstantiated attacks on Brazil's election security have been compared to Bolsonaro ally and former U.S. President Donald Trump's refusal to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election, a campaign that culminated in the insurrection.

"I'm not saying everyone who votes [for Bolsonaro] or supported him is a far-right fanatic… but the risk is precisely the fanatics. Just look at what happened in the U.S.," Consuelo Dieguez—the author of The Serpent's Egg, a new book on Brazil's far-right—told The Guardian.

SumOfUs on Monday released a report about parent company Meta failing to combat disinformation on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp leading up to Brazil's October 2 presidential election.

Flora Rebello Arduini, campaign director at SumOfUs, declared that "this is January 6th all over again—Meta is actively helping mobilize an online army in Brazil that's peddling conspiracy theories about the integrity of the election and threatening a violent coup."

Bolsonaro has hinted that he will not accept the election results if he is defeated next month by former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is leading in the polls.

"Despite some positive factors that could be used by Bolsonaro to gain in the polls, this current presidential election in Brazil has an important element—the opposition candidate is a former president who is also very popular. This explains why we have seen very little change in voting intentions," Lucas Fernandes, a political analyst at local consulting firm BMJ Consultores Associados, told BNamericas.

"We have to carefully monitor the acts tomorrow," Fernandes warned of the bicentennial events. "If we have a lot of people on the streets, supporting the president, this will be an element that he likely use to discredit the polls should there be an unfavorable result in the October election."

Detailing the president's "efforts to blur the lines between military celebrations and his own presidential campaign," Reuters reported:

Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has told supporters the army is "on our side," pushed to transform a traditional Independence Day military display in Rio de Janeiro into a second political rally on Wednesday afternoon.

Army brass balked at an initial proposal to march troops and tanks along the famous Copacabana Beach, but have reached a compromise with the commander-in-chief. Bolsonaro will accompany symbolic cannon fire, paratrooper displays, air force acrobatics, and a naval parade before addressing a political rally there.

Dieguez, the author, told The Guardian that she does not expect Wednesday's events will be used to stage a military coup for Bolsonaro.

"I don't believe the army high command would submit itself to this kind of adventure. It would make an international disgrace of Brazil and wouldn't receive support from overseas," she said, while also acknowledging that Bolsonaro was "inciting" radical supporters by directing them to take to the streets "for the last time."

"I can't tell you what the result of this will be but clearly this causes fear and unease," Dieguez said. "I'm afraid of violence, of violence in the streets."

According to the newspaper: "Billboards erected in Brasília by the president's supporters proclaim: 'It's now or never.' Pro-Bolsonaro Telegram and WhatsApp groups have been flooded with messages urging members to 'prepare for war.'"

An unnamed source within Bolsnoaro's presidential campaign noted that his backers are upset with Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who last month authorized police raids targeting businessmen accused of discussing a coup if the president loses in October.

"No one can hold Bolsonaro back," the campaign insider told Reuters. "His core supporters are infuriated now by Moraes and will show it on September 7."

'Can't Be Allowed': Alarm as Mississippi Gov. Floats Privatization of Jackson Water System

Water pressure has been restored in Jackson, but residents of Mississippi's capital still lack safe drinking water and now must contend with the threat of privatization—an idea floated by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and denounced by critics on Monday.

Although "the risk with respect to quantity of water has not been eliminated, it has been significantly reduced," Reeves said at a Labor Day press conference in the city. "People in Jackson can trust that water will come out of the faucet, toilets can be flushed, and fires can be put out."

While the immediate, flood-induced emergency appears to have been contained, Reeves made clear that when it comes to addressing the Jackson water system's longstanding issues, he is "open" to allowing a profit-maximizing corporation to take over a life-sustaining public good.

"Privatization is on the table," the governor said. "Having a commission that oversees failed water systems as they have in many states is on the table. I'm open to ideas."

The underfunded and understaffed O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant is now "pumping out cleaner water than we've seen for a very, very long time," said Reeves, citing local health officials. The governor expressed hope that the boil-water notice affecting more than 150,000 people since July 29 could be lifted within "days, not weeks or months."

"We know that it is always possible that there will be more severe challenges," he added. "This water system broke over several years and it would be inaccurate to claim it is totally solved in the matter of less than a week."

Flooding—made more common and intense by the fossil fuel-driven climate emergency—was the proximate cause of the recent loss of water pressure in Jackson, but disinvestment, the ultimate cause of the city's ongoing water crisis, can be traced back decades.

As Judd Legum noted Tuesday:

The integration of public schools in the 1960s prompted an exodus of affluent whites from Jackson, eroding the city's economic resources. Jackson's declining economic fortunes also prompted the departure of middle-class Blacks, causing an overall population decline. The city went from over 200,000 people in 1980 to less than 150,000 people today. More than a quarter of the population lives below the poverty line. Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation, but Jackson is even poorer than the state as a whole. Per capita income is just $21,906.

But while the city's population and tax base shrunk, it still has 114 square miles of aging water infrastructure to maintain. The state, dominated by Republicans, has been largely unwilling to help a city populated by Black Democrats. In 2021, for example, intense storms left Jackson residents without drinking water for a month. The city asked the state for $47 million in funding for emergency repairs. Mississippi allocated $3 million.

On Monday, Reeves acknowledged that "there are indeed problems in Jackson that are decades old, on the order of $1 billion to fix." The governor failed to mention, however, how the GOP's refusal to provide financial support at the scale required has helped perpetuate the dangerous status quo. ...

Reeves, meanwhile, repeatedly criticized the city in his Monday remarks, "citing its longtime water billing issues, staffing issues at the water plant, and a failure to provide the state or the federal government with a plan to fix the water system," the outlet added.

This is familiar territory for Reeves. Following the February 2021 freeze that left Jackson residents without safe water for a month, the governor said that the city needs to do a better job "collecting their water bill payments before they start going and asking everyone else to pony up more money."

However, Legum pointed out, Jackson's struggles to collect fees for water and to raise enough revenue to pay for routine maintenance can be attributed to Siemens, a multibillion-dollar corporation of the kind that Reeves has baselessly suggested could alleviate the city's water crisis.

As Legum explained:

In 2010, Siemens began pitching Jackson officials to hire the company to install all-new automated water meters and a new billing system. Siemens would also "make repairs to the city’s water treatment plants and sewer lines." Where would cash-strapped Jackson get the money for such a project? Siemens assured Jackson that the project would more than pay for itself. Jackson would have to pay Siemens $90 million—the largest contract in city history—but Siemens promised the new system would generate "$120 million in guaranteed savings" in the first 15 years, according to a lawsuit later filed by the city.

[...]

According to the city's lawsuit against the company, "[m]ore than 20,000 water meters were installed incorrectly or were unable to transmit meter readings to the system." That was about one-third of all meters in the city. Worse, the new meters "were also incompatible with the new billing system." Siemens, it seems, "had never paired the water meter and separate billing systems together, using Jackson as a '$90 million test case for an unproven system.'"

"In the end," Legum wrote, "Jackson was stuck with a $7 million annual bond payment [through 2041], a $2 million monthly shortfall in water fees, and a system of water meters that was not working."

Reeves, for his part, appears poised to forge ahead with little regard for history or democracy.

"I think there is an overwhelming desire for the leadership, those who represent Jackson and those who do not, to take action," said the governor.



the horse race



'Shouldn't Be Controversial': Calls Grow for DNC to Ban Dark Money in Primaries

At the tail-end of a primary season that has seen torrents of dark money pour into districts across the U.S. to smear and defeat progressive candidates, the Democratic National Committee is facing mounting pressure to prohibit such spending in future elections, with supporters arguing such a ban would help jumpstart the process of cleaning up the nation's corrupt political process.

With the DNC scheduled to convene in Maryland later this week for its summer meeting, a group of more than 30 committee members spearheaded by Nevada Democratic Party Chair Judith Whitmer will demand approval of a resolution barring "the use of 'dark money' funding during any and all Democratic primary elections."

In an interview with The Nation last week, Whitmer warned that the "avalanche" of dark money is growing so large that voters are losing "their right to choose their own candidates."

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has called Whitmer's resolution "courageous" and declared that "any DNC member who truly believes in our slogan 'people over politics' should vote" in favor.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation's editor and publisher, argued in a column for the Washington Post on Tuesday that "passage of Whitmer's resolution shouldn't be controversial."

"No one can doubt that action is imperative," vanden Heuvel wrote. "According to the nonpartisan research group OpenSecrets, dark money topped $1 billion in the 2020 presidential race. This year, the Wesleyan Media Project reported, nearly 60% of all ads in Democratic House primaries have been purchased by sources that did not disclose, or only partially disclosed, their donors."

"Democrats in both the House and the Senate voted overwhelmingly for H.R. 1, the sweeping voting-rights bill introduced in 2021, which included strong campaign finance elements," vanden Heuvel added. "President Biden campaigned for its passage. That bill was ultimately defeated but, now, the Democratic National Committee can take action to clean its own house. It should not fail this test."

Several high-profile progressive lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus—recently endorsed the idea of a dark money ban in Democratic primaries after watching progressive candidates lose congressional races that were inundated by super PAC cash, which is often difficult to trace due to the country's tattered campaign finance laws.

"It is now time to speak with one voice to end its influence in Democratic primaries—where record sums of money from millionaires and billionaires have infiltrated our primaries, and super PACs have drowned out the grassroots campaigns of working-class, progressive candidates," Jayapal, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote in a June letter to the DNC, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

“Instead of Democratic primaries being an honest and free exchange of ideas with individual and small-dollar donor contributors dominant, corporate super PACs have flooded these races with millions in misleading mailers, digital ads, and television commercials," the letter continued. "Candidates who have worked hard to build grassroots support in their communities are being overwhelmed by a torrent of outside spending."



the evening greens


US farmers face plague of pests as global heating raises soil temperatures

Agricultural pests that devour key food crops are advancing northwards in the US and becoming more widespread as the climate hots up, new research warns. The corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea) is considered to be among the most common farm pests in the US, ravaging crops such as maize, cotton, soya and other vegetables. It spends winter underground and is not known to survive in states beyond a latitude of 40 degrees north (which runs from northern California through the midwest to New Jersey), but that is changing as soils warm and it spreads to new areas, according to research led by North Carolina State University.

The report follows research from the University of Washington in 2018 that found 2C (3.6F) of warming would boost the number and appetite of insects globally, causing them to destroy 50% more wheat and 30% more maize than they do now. Rising heat stress is already affecting yields, with harvests of staple crops in Europe down this year as a result of heatwaves and drought.

Pest invasions have serious implications for food security. “As the climate changes, the overwintering zones are likely to shift northward,” said the co-author Anders Huseth, an entomologist at North Carolina State University. “This is the canary in the coalmine for agricultural pests.

“Making sense of what’s taking place with [the corn earworm] is really important for agricultural producers.” Other pests that could spread northwards in the US in a similar way include fall armyworm, green cloverworm, soybean looper and velvetbean caterpillar. ...

Researchers already knew that warmer winter soils meant insects that live in the soil are more likely to survive. Using four decades of soil temperatures and data monitoring corn earworm, researchers predicted the distribution of pests in the future.

Toxic arsenic levels make tap water unsafe for thousands in New York City

Dangerous levels of arsenic were found in a New York City Public Housing Authority (NYCHA) complex, leaving thousands of affected residents without safe tap water. ...

Residents of New York City’s Jacob Riis Houses, one of the largest public housing complexes in the Manhattan borough, have not had safe drinking water for more than a week after arsenic levels above federal standards were found in the building’s water supply.

As of Monday, tenants were told to continue avoiding the building’s tap water as officials await additional test results, though most recent testing over the weekend found no arsenic in the complex’s water supply, NBC New York reported.

The NYCHA has been handing out bottled water to residents in the wake of the test results, but many have condemned the agency for failing to inform residents of the potentially contaminated water supply.

Tap water in the complex, which contains 19 buildings and has more than 3,700 residents, was first tested by NYCHA in August after several complaints from residents about cloudy, brown water. But, as first reported by New York-based publication The City, residents were only informed of the arsenic contamination last Friday, despite officials knowing about the test results two weeks earlier.

California power grid threatened by record heat wave as wildfire risk rises

California heatwave enters intense phase bringing blackouts and wildfires

California’s power grid is facing a major stress test on Tuesday, as a historic heatwave enters its most brutal phase. With temperatures in parts of the state forecasted to hit 115F (46C), officials are asking residents to prepare for possible rolling blackouts as the heatwave reaches a boiling point.

Officials said controlled power interruptions “can help maintain reliability and avoid cascading blackouts”, as people across the state crank up their air conditioners amid scorching temperatures, California’s grid operator warned.

“We have now entered the most intense phase of this heatwave,” said Elliot Mainzer, president of the California Independent System Operator (ISO), which runs the state’s electrical grid. “Forecasted demand for Monday and Tuesday is at all-time record levels and the potential for rotating outages has increased significantly.”

The state’s power supply could fall more than 5,000 megawatts short of its peak demand on Tuesday, forecasted for 5.30pm, Mainzer warned. Demand could reach past 51,000 megawatts – surpassing the record of 50,270 megawatts set in 2006.

The California ISO (CAISO) is expected to request an elevated emergency alert by 5.30pm – one step away from ordering rotating power outages.


Also of Interest

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

The Race for Lithium is Heating Up in Latin America

Ukraine - A Second 'Counteroffensive' Contrary To U.S. Advice - IAEA Report

“Attack Philanthropy”

Scientists hope ‘world’s loneliest tree’ will help answer climate questions

The UNDERLYING Causes of US Life Expectancy Decline

KEEP CALM and Liz Truss is now UK PM

Russia Stops Offensive in Kherson, Preparing Counterattack; Repels Ukraine Attacks in Kharkov Region


A Little Night Music

Guy Davis - Black Coffee

Guy Davis - That's No Way To Get Along

Guy Davis - Did You See My Baby

Guy Davis - Matchbox Blues

Guy Davis - Flint River Blues

Guy Davis - Waiting on the Cards to Fall

Guy Davis - Natural Born Eas'man

Guy Davis - Dust My Broom

Guy Davis - I Don't Know


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Comments

Lookout's picture

Drying out a bit today. Temps still in the 70's so pretty nice for Sept in Alabama.

Thought this was a good descriptor of our state of empire...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_WzfiB-syU]
Michael Hudson | American Empire Repeating History (14 min)
Thanks for the news and bluz. Hope everyone has a nice night!

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14 users have voted.

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

joe shikspack's picture

@Lookout

heh, it's 66 degrees on my back porch, i'm looking forward to fall. we've had pretty good rain for the last couple of days, which the garden really needed. when we got back from the bluegrass festival, things were looking kinda parched. the tomatoes look like they are doing fine now.

thanks for the michael hudson, he's always interesting.

have a great evening!

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11 users have voted.
QMS's picture

EU has decided to apply price caps on all petroleum imports. This includes the US. Ha!
In spite of the fact the Freeport LNG plant will not be in operation again until at least next
month (after blowing up in June) in Texas, now the US oil cartel will not be allowed to gouge
a major customer.

Somehow, in the not-too-distant past, US convinced EU (especially Germany) that cutting off of Rus NS 2 was a smart geopolitical move. Now NS 1 is down indefinitely (until sanctions are lifted).
This kinda puts the EU in a bind. Plus OPEC + is cutting production.

Karma is a major beech for these gamers.

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13 users have voted.

question everything

joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

it will be interesting to see how europe deals with its supply shortages. their capping prices of american energy may be an indirect benefit to u.s. citizens as the energy industry here might have an incentive to sell the stuff that they extract from under our soil in the domestic market, which might diminsh the prices we pay and insure domestic supply.

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10 users have voted.
QMS's picture

After the UN called for all shelling to stop, Kiev’s artillery targeted the Zaporozhye NPP today.

Of the 20 rounds fired by Ukrainian artillery from Marganets, due north of Energodar, three struck the nuclear power plant in the areas of reactors one and two, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday. The shelling reportedly interrupted power supply to Energodar.

https://www.rt.com/russia/562391-zaporozhye-shelling-ukraine-russia/

These loose canons are really asking for an ass whipping'.

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15 users have voted.

question everything

joe shikspack's picture

@QMS

what a bunch of crazed weasels.

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9 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

Here’s a report from wounded Ukraine troops sent to die while many people become rich from the war.

The soldiers said they lacked the artillery needed to dislodge Russia’s entrenched forces and described a yawning technology gap with their better-equipped adversaries. The interviews provided some of the first direct accounts of a push to retake captured territory that is so sensitive, Ukrainian military commanders have barred reporters from visiting the front lines.
“They used everything on us,” said Denys, a 33-year-old Ukrainian soldier whose unit fell back from a Russian-held village after a lengthy barrage of cluster bombs, phosphorous munitions and mortars. “Who can survive an attack for five hours like that?” he said.

“We lost five people for every one they did,” said Ihor, a 30-year-old platoon commander who injured his back when the tank he was riding in crashed into a ditch.
Ihor had no military experience before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. He made a living selling animal feed to pig and cow farms. His replacement as platoon commander also has no previous military experience, he said.

The comments on the article just show how propagandized many people are and how they have no idea what happened before the lead up to the war. Putin recently said that Russia didn’t start the war, America did with the illegal coup in 2014, but they are going to end it. I wonder if the constantly wrong DK duo ever bother to read other sources that would blow their yappy-happy that Ukraine is on the verge of beating Russia narrative apart?

Never forget that Ukraine has been deemed to be the most corrupt country in the world. Biden has sent billions for Ukraine to continue to operate, but how much of it has been siphoned off by the insiders while people go without? Peace could have been easily obtained if Boris and the west hadn’t told Zelensky to fight to the last man.

I just read Caitlin’s essay and she nailed it.

This war has in that sense become the Gulf War of the 2020s: a “good war” that rehabilitates the image of US interventionism for a war-weary public.

Shitlibs call Russians 'Orcs' and other dehumanizing names and are itching for Biden to send in US troops to route the orcs out of Ukraine. I can’t wait for the day they wake the hell up and see that yes indeed they have been supporting and cheering neo Nazis. Bunch of blood thirsty people who I no longer recognize.

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19 users have voted.

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

Shitlibs call Russians 'Orcs' and other dehumanizing names and are itching for Biden to send in US troops to route the orcs out of Ukraine.

i'm sure that if the shitlibs are that eager, ukraine can always use some volunteers cannon fodder.

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snoopydawg's picture

@joe shikspack

grief about the loss of life during this recent conflict and so far no one has. Just more Putin bad, Ukrainians are brave and making headway and Biden needs to send more equipment. I wondered how people can be so misled on the truth of the war and then saw this gem:

Surprise! Surprise! This is what a modern offensive is supposed to look like. Ukrainian forces have cut a 20km swath into Russian territory in just 24 hours.

They are no longer encountering minefields or prepared positions. Instead rthey are ambushing artillery and air defense units.

They are halfway to taking the lynchpin Russian logistics hub for Kharkiv, and Northern Donbas.

Ukraine races toward Kupiansk—Russia's logistical hub
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/7/2121408/-Ukraine-Update-Ukraine-...

I doubt anyone read the WP article in full before rushing to comment on it. But this is what the silly duo on orange state are feeding people who read the site. Bullshit day after day and everyone believing it. Gosh there are going to be a lot of surprised people when Russia wins its objectives. Maybe some gnashing of teeth too?

I’m reading kos now and I just read the one on MoA. 2 totally different tales.

Groan!

Ukraine’s intent was obvious, everyone saw it coming, yet stupidly, Russia bought into the scheme hook, line, and sinker. It’s like a bad horror movie, where stupid teens make every obvious bad decision, and the audience thinks “no one is that stupid!” Russia is that stupid.

Buy a mirror, kos. Seriously.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I will—this is looking like the beginning of the end of the war.
Wednesday, Sep 7, 2022 · 6:49:58 PM MDT · kos

Oh no the walls are closing in on Russia….

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

i guess you could collect some prime examples of their stupidity to rub their noses in later, but it's probably not worth the effort.

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snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

Excellent interview from Sahra Wagenknecht (in German - use a translation service like DeepL or Google Translate) here:

T-Online Interview (DE)

To quote:

SW: A democratic government should first and foremost be committed to the mandate of its voters. Otherwise, why should people go to the polls at all? And the Greens would hardly have come to power if they had placarded, we will plunge millions of people into poverty and destroy industry in Germany in order to supposedly punish Putin. The economic sanctions are ruining us, not Russia, so the economic war must end.

IV: Vladimir Putin should be pleased.

SW: Millions of people in Germany are more likely to be pleased when their energy costs fall again. The Russian company Gazprom is currently making record profits. And it is clear that the sanctions will not end the war in Ukraine.

IV: But they will weaken Russia enormously in the long term if they are maintained. Various scientists agree on that.

SW: Is that so? What's happening right now? Gazprom is using its record profits to build more gas pipelines to China. Oil exports to Asia have already multiplied. Russia doesn't need the West to sell its raw materials. But German industry is going bust without cheap energy sources. And who is the laughing third? The U.S., whose fracking industry is currently raking in $200 million in profits with each liquefied natural gas tanker, and which is experiencing re-industrialization because more and more companies are moving jobs from Europe to overseas because gas and electricity are many times cheaper. We are destroying our industry and our middle class, this is madness!

IV: Better to make a deal with Russia for gas - and just wait and see which country Putin will invade next?

SW: Would you rather make a deal with Turkey, Saudi Arabia or the USA, which also bomb and murder in other countries in violation of international law, without these crimes ever being punished with sanctions? We ruin ourselves and Russia earns more than before thanks to the price explosion. Putin is laughing his head off at us.

IV: What do you suggest?

SW: The Ukraine war can only be ended with negotiations. Putin should be pressured to agree to a reasonable compromise. But the West and Ukraine are not trying to do that.

IV: Because Putin obviously does not want to negotiate.

SW: In the case of the wheat deliveries, it was also said that negotiations would bring nothing. Then Turkish President Erdoğan, of all people, took the initiative and now wheat ships can sail through the Black Sea again. It would be up to Europe and the German government to launch a diplomatic initiative to end the war. Or do we want to wait until Erdoğan does the same?

...

And so on.

It is interesting what is "obvious" to the dogmatic interviewer.

Posted by: moaobserver | Sep 7 2022 12:34 utc | 22

Yep that interviewer is sticking to the propaganda line that it’s best to watch industries in Germany fail just to stick it to Putin who has made sure that Russia would survive whatever sanctions the west throws at Russia. Someone else commented on the number of German businesses that will collapse because of energy costs and America’s companies will buy them up for pennies on the dollar.

I can’t wrap my head around the politicians that are committing economic suicide because Biden told them to do it. But then Biden and every congress member going back decades has done the same thing to America because their donors told them to. Obama and Trump sold their supporters a bill of goods that neither one delivered and yet both of their supporters would love to see them back in office for another go at betraying them. The Obama duo had their official portraits displayed today and half of America went wild. Bleh!

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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

joe shikspack's picture

@snoopydawg

it's pretty interesting how mainstream thinkers seem to be utterly impermeable by common sense. it's like they just washed their brains and can't do a thing with them.

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10 users have voted.
lotlizard's picture

@snoopydawg  
classic historical saga of the 47 Ronin…

May the German people and economy be blessed with the equivalent of 47 loyal samurai, who will, in time, avenge this undeserved, deliberate disaster.

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from Nordstrom's, the Russkies are shutting that pipeline down as well? No piped-in clothes to Europe anymore. Mean Russkies.

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joe shikspack's picture

@randtntx

heh, looks to me like the russians are really serious about fighting fashionism.

have a great evening!

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@joe shikspack I could support... not sure if it involves harm to fashionistas though...may have to re-think that. I guess I'll just wait for the "collective West" to finish its downward spiral descent. That should take care of both fashionism and fashionistas.
Thanks for the EB!

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snoopydawg's picture

@randtntx

since Nordstrom 1 is down for the count because of the sanctions on Russia. I doubt that they will take him up on his offer because the masters in America will not allow it. The fracking industry can thank Europe for saving their bacon. Oh well I guess they won’t need to get bailed out by the government anymore so we should be thankful except it causes that climate change thingy to get worse.

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12 users have voted.

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

I don't think that this would be called the Blues but it would be popular in Russia./S

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

pretty good. i guess the europeans can sing along until they're blue in the face. Smile

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@joe shikspack

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CB's picture

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enhydra lutris's picture

@CB

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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

@CB

apparently ukraine has been ineffective in getting all its nazis onto the battlefield.

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lotlizard's picture

@CB  
in that recent bit of shitlib warrior theater at Disney World. Yet he went through with it anyway.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=disney+world+jon+stewart+nazi+ukraine&ia=web

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I doubt that it will appear in the MSM.

The main thing from Vladimir Putin's speech at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum:

▪️West sanctions fever poses a threat to the whole world;

▪️The elusive dominance of the United States in the world has become a catalyst for the sanctions policy;

▪️The West is trying to preserve the world order that is beneficial only to them;

▪️the quality of life of people in Europe is being sacrificed for the sake of preserving the dictatorship of the United States in the world;

▪️tectonic changes have taken place in the system of international relations in recent years, the role of the Asia-Pacific countries has significantly increased;

▪️the competitiveness of enterprises in Europe is declining, they are closing;

▪️ confidence in the dollar, euro and pound sterling has been lost.

▪️inflation in Russia is declining, by the end of the year it will be about 12%;

▪️ruble and yuan will be used in gas payments with China in equal proportion

▪️Russia is a sovereign state. We will always protect our interests;

▪️Russia is able to fully provide itself with all natural resources;

▪️almost all grain from Ukraine went not to the poorest countries, but to the European Union. Putin suggested thinking about limiting the direction of grain export from Ukraine and will certainly consult with Erdogan;

▪️The purchase of food by Western states provokes a rise in prices, this can turn into a tragedy for the poorest countries.

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enhydra lutris's picture

still freaking hot out here. records falling and all that crap.The warnings of rolling blackouts become more and more strident, but, luckily, we're "protected". Out sub-net also provides power to some fire stations and such so it's off limits to the blackout operator.

Of course, my ISP) is still for shit, so wifi comes and goes regardless. The trick is to work at home in an important capacity for somebody like Chevron or somesuch, then they listen to you when you call and fix shit muy pronto. (I know somebody like that, it's amazing the responsiveness they get)

So I'm thinking, 2/3 or the news is "what's gonna happen next" shit about the special military action, this or that sanction or pending business (segment) failure, and all that and I sit here and read most of it when I can wait a week or so and find out what actually happened in most cases. That way I'd have more time for chores. OTOH ... Wink

be well and have a good one

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9 users have voted.

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

sorry to hear that you're still sweltering out there.

heh, a couple of decades ago i lived next door to a nursing home. our electricity never went out for more than 2 minutes for the several years i lived there.

stay cool and have a great evening!

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between the UK and Russia.

https://www.rt.com/russia/562385-russia-uk-medvedev-truss/

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said the new UK prime minister, Liz Truss, will continue the “tradition” started by her predecessor Boris Johnson by finishing her tenure “in disgrace.”

Truss, formerly the foreign secretary in Johnson’s Conservative government, officially became prime minister on Tuesday.

Taking to Telegram on Wednesday, Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, commented on the succession of governments in the UK: “Out goes the freak guy, in comes the freak lady.” He described the new PM as “an incompetent and mediocre thermonuclear Russophobe who has no elementary ideas about politics, history, geography, but wants to defeat Russia in everything.”

The former president added that Truss, the third female prime minister in British history, is trying to imitate the first, Margaret Thatcher, “without having even 5% of her abilities,” and hopes to address the energy crisis and rising food inflation, which are “the result of her own crazy sanctions exercises.”

“She will quarrel with everyone, fail in everything, and leave in disgrace, like her predecessor, shaggy Boriska. It seems that in Britain, which is famous for its traditions, a new tradition has emerged,” Medvedev wrote.

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joe shikspack's picture

@humphrey

that one's going to leave a mark. pretty scathing.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@humphrey

Medvedev obviously learned a lot from his cat Dorofei. (Remember Dorofei?) (PS: No, that's not Russian for "Dorothy" - cat was a male.)

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

janis b's picture

Thank you joe for the article about the Sitka and what it can reveal, and what a nice coincidence for me having earlier had a conversation with an arborist about the amazing life of trees.

Once every two years for the past 20 he comes to trim a large tree, equal in height to the Sitka. It is alway fascinating to watch him do this with such finesse. To see his head pop out above after climbing the tree, and how effortlessly he trims it is a treat. He uses a tool with long extensions and a rope to clip the branches.

I wonder what he’d think of having the opportunity to study the Sitka, having to approach it in the following way …

To get from the inlet [to the tree] you have to walk through elephant seals and sea lions, penguins and albatross,” Turnbull said. “[The tree] doesn’t look lonely … it looks quite content actually.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/06/scientists-hope-worlds-lon...

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mimi's picture

Lately I learned how it feels to be blind. So stupidly bad that I hgt one of myea fixed, of course I didn:t unederstand what exactly they did, I understand just chinese at the moment about what they operated, but I can already see clearer throught that eye. I guess that:s a good sign.

So now it's waiting to get the other eye fisec and after that I see the light come back in my life.

I have to ask the autorities about everything today. They want to give me some "Haushaltsgeld". They have nerves. They will have to deal with my revenge for being trated like a four year old.

If my spelling is odd, that"s because I can't exactly see what I TYPE. mMY BE THAT IS BETTER SO.
oTHERWISE i SHOULD FINALLY GET A gERMAN KEYBORD. iF i JUST HAD THE IDEA THT IT IS SO EASZ TO MESS UP A c
COMPUTER.

wELL TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY AND i WILL BE BE 75 YEARS AND 1 DAY TOMORROW.

i HOPE THAT MY 76TH YEAR WILL NOT BE THAT FUBAR AS MY 75TH.

aLL BE WELL. pEACE AND lOVE.

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QMS's picture

@mimi

3/4 century mark
that's good Smile

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question everything

CB's picture

@mimi
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzFtlupT1v0]

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mimi's picture

@CB
i LOVE YOU ALL; AMD ALL YOUR MUSIC.

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enhydra lutris's picture

@mimi

hope the eyesight improves.

be well and have a good one

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7 users have voted.

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

@mimi

i hope that the coming year brings you far less fubar and full vision. Smile

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janis b's picture

@mimi

I'm happy you're back with your insight and improving sight.

[video:https://youtu.be/MrHxhQPOO2c]

Cheers!

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Sima's picture

@mimi
Get the other eye fixed and you'll be seeing great(er)!

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If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so

mimi's picture

@mimi
It needed a call from my brother's wife to comgratulate me to my 74rth birthday...
So I show the same symptoms my sister has, not knowing how old ome is, what day of the week we have in which year we are in.... helas, at least I became a year younger ... that's not too bad.;-)

My left eye was cut in pieces. I can see with that one splendidly. I wonder if I would like to get surgery on my right eye. Considering what kind of shit I would see then more clearly ... nah better not

I have nothing political for you from Germany other than utter failures from well meaning politicians. Thay ain't evildoer. not like those in the West and in the East. /s

For the time being I shut down 'TV and Radio. Can't stand it anymore.

Be "zuversichtlich" sez our US-german news anchor every evening. He has nerves. How so, about what?
Life is not interesting it is full-blown shitty.

good Night from here.

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Congratulations on the successful eye surgery, and I hope the next one is also good!
I think I will go get myself a cold beer, drink it in your honor!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981