The Evening Blues - 12-28-22
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Texas blues piano player Mercy Dee Walton. Enjoy!
Mercy Dee Walton - One Room Country Shack
“Beware the fury of a patient man.”
-- John Dryden
News and Opinion
Russia bans oil exports to countries that imposed price cap
President Vladimir Putin has delivered Russia’s long-awaited response to a western price cap, signing a decree that bans the supply of crude oil and oil products to nations that impose the cap.
The ban will come into effect on 1 February and last for five months, according to the decree published on Tuesday on a government portal and the Kremlin website.
In early December, the G7, the European Union and Australia agreed to a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil because of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The Russian decree was presented as a direct response to “actions that are unfriendly and contradictory to international law by the United States and foreign states and international organisations joining them”.
“Deliveries of Russian oil and oil products to foreign entities and individuals are banned, on the condition that in the contracts for these supplies, the use of a maximum price fixing mechanism is directly or indirectly envisaged,” the decree stated, referring specifically to the US and other foreign states that have imposed the price cap.
Crude oil exports will be banned from 1 February, but the date for the oil products ban will be determined by the Russian government and could be later.
Ukrainian Soldiers Execute Prisoners Of War – Admits U.S. Mercenary
Ex-Russian president gives timeline for reconciliation with the West
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has accused Western powers of lying, causing a rift that will remain for decades to come, and convincing Moscow that there is no sense in trying to reach an agreement with them.
Medevedev, who serves as deputy chair of the national Security Council, wrote in a keynote article on Sunday
that the year 2022 has shattered illusions about the West, proving that its promises and principles cannot taken at face value.
“Alas, there is nobody in the West we could deal with about anything for any reason,” he wrote.
Medvedev went on to say that nations that claim global leadership deceived Russia when they claimed NATO expansion in Europe posed no threat to it. They again lied when they backed a peace roadmap for Ukraine, which in reality was meant to give Kiev time to prepare for an eventual armed conflict with Russia, he added. The conflict in Ukraine is a war against Russia by a proxy, which was long in the making, Medvedev claimed.
West Ukraine trap set for Poland
The Ukraine Crisis Is a Classic 'Security Dilemma'
On December 27 2022, both Russia and Ukraine issued calls for ending the war in Ukraine, but only on non-negotiable terms that they each know the other side will reject.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kuleba proposed a "peace summit" in February to be chaired by UN Secretary General Guterres, but with the precondition that Russia must first face prosecution for war crimes in an international court. On the other side, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov issued a chilling ultimatum that Ukraine must accept Russia's terms for peace or "the issue will be decided by the Russian Army."
But what if there were a way of understanding this conflict and possible solutions that encompassed the views of all sides and could take us beyond one-sided narratives and proposals that serve only to fuel and escalate the war? The crisis in Ukraine is in fact a classic case of what International Relations scholars call a "security dilemma," and this provides a more objective way of looking at it.
A security dilemma is a situation in which countries on each side take actions for their own defense that countries on the other side then see as a threat. Since offensive and defensive weapons and forces are often indistinguishable, one side's defensive build-up can easily be seen as an offensive build-up by the other side. As each side responds to the actions of the other, the net result is a spiral of militarization and escalation, even though both sides insist, and may even believe, that their own actions are defensive.
In the case of Ukraine, this has happened on different levels, both between Russia and national and regional governments in Ukraine, but also on a larger geopolitical scale between Russia and the United States/NATO.
The very essence of a security dilemma is the lack of trust between the parties. In the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cuban Missile Crisis served as an alarm bell that forced both sides to start negotiating arms control treaties and safeguard mechanisms that would limit escalation, even as deep levels of mistrust remained. Both sides recognized that the other was not hell-bent on destroying the world, and this provided the necessary minimum basis for negotiations and safeguards to try to ensure that this did not come to pass.
After the end of the Cold War, both sides cooperated with major reductions in their nuclear arsenals, but the United States gradually withdrew from a succession of arms control treaties, violated its promises not to expand NATO into Eastern Europe, and used military force in ways that directly violated the UN Charter's prohibition against the "threat or use of force." U.S. leaders claimed that the conjunction of terrorism and the existence of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons gave them a new right to wage "preemptive war," but neither the UN nor any other country ever agreed to that.
U.S. aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere was alarming to people all over the world, and even to many Americans, so it was no wonder that Russian leaders were especially worried by America's renewed post-Cold War militarism. As NATO incorporated more and more countries in Eastern Europe, a classic security dilemma began to play out.
President Putin, who was elected in 2000, began to use international fora to challenge NATO expansion and U.S. war-making, insisting that new diplomacy was needed to ensure the security of all countries in Europe, not only those invited to join NATO.
The former Communist countries in Eastern Europe joined NATO out of defensive concerns about possible Russian aggression, but this also exacerbated Russia's security concerns about the ambitious and aggressive military alliance gathering around its borders, especially as the United States and NATO refused to address those concerns.
In this context, broken promises on NATO expansion, U.S. serial aggression in the greater Middle East and elsewhere, and absurd claims that U.S. missile defense batteries in Poland and Romania were to protect Europe from Iran, not Russia, set alarm bells ringing in Moscow.
The U.S. withdrawal from nuclear arms control treaties and its refusal to alter its nuclear first strike policy raised even greater fears that a new generation of U.S. nuclear weapons were being designed to give the United States a nuclear first strike capability against Russia.
As the United States refused to diplomatically address Russia's security concerns, each side took actions that ratcheted up the security dilemma. The United States backed the violent overthrow of President Yanukovych in Ukraine in 2014, which led to rebellions against the post-coup government in Crimea and Donbas. Russia responded by annexing Crimea and supporting the breakaway "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Even if all sides were acting in good faith and out of defensive concerns, in the absence of effective diplomacy they all assumed the worst about each other's motives as the crisis spun further out of control, exactly as the "security dilemma" model predicts that nations will do amid such rising tensions.
Of course, since mutual mistrust lies at the heart of any security dilemma, the situation is further complicated when any of the parties is seen to act in bad faith. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently admitted that Western leaders had no intention of enforcing Ukraine's compliance with the terms of the Minsk II agreement in 2015, and only agreed to it to buy time to build up Ukraine militarily.
The breakdown of the Minsk II peace agreement and the continuing diplomatic impasse in the larger geopolitical conflict between the United States, NATO and Russia plunged relations into a deepening crisis and led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Officials on all sides must have recognized the dynamics of the underlying security dilemma, and yet they failed to take the necessary diplomatic initiatives to resolve the crisis.
Peaceful, diplomatic alternatives have always been available if the parties chose to pursue them, but they did not. Does that mean that all sides deliberately chose war over peace? They would all deny that.
Yet all sides apparently now see advantages in a prolonged conflict, despite the relentless daily slaughter, dreadful and deteriorating conditions for millions of civilians, and the unthinkable dangers of full-scale war between NATO and Russia. All sides have convinced themselves they can or must win, and so they keep escalating the war, along with all its impacts and the risks that it will spin out of control.
President Biden came to office promising a new era of American diplomacy, but has instead led the United States and the world to the brink of World War III.
Clearly, the only solution to a security dilemma like this is a cease-fire and peace agreement to stop the carnage, followed by the kind of diplomacy that took place between the United States and the Soviet Union in the decades that followed the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, which led to the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 and successive arms control treaties. Former UN official Alfred de Zayas has also called for UN-administered referenda to determine the wishes of the people of Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk.
It is not an endorsement of an adversary's conduct or position to negotiate a path to peaceful coexistence. We are witnessing the absolutist alternative in Ukraine today. There is no moral high ground in relentless, open-ended mass slaughter, managed, directed and in fact perpetrated by people in smart suits and military uniforms in imperial capitals thousands of miles from the crashing of shells, the cries of the wounded and the stench of death.
If proposals for peace talks are to be more than PR exercises, they must be firmly grounded in an understanding of the security needs of all sides, and a willingness to compromise to see that those needs are met and that all the underlying conflicts are addressed.
Russia’s top diplomat warns Pentagon threatening Putin with assassination
Statements made by ‘anonymous Pentagon officials’ about a ‘decapitating strike’ on the Kremlin essentially amount to a threat aimed at physically eliminating the president of Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov revealed in an interview with TASS.
"The one who’s gone the farthest of all the others is in Washington. There are some ‘anonymous officials’ from the Pentagon who have actually enunciated threats to deliver a ‘decapitating strike’ on the Kremlin, which is in fact an assassination threat against the Russian president," Lavrov clarified.
"If someone really has such ideas, then this someone should think long and hard about the possible consequences of such plans," the foreign minister cautioned.
Serbia puts troops on high alert as tensions with Kosovo rise
Serbian armed forces were on “the highest level” of alert, said the defence minister, Miloš Vučević, highlighting the Balkan country’s increasingly strained relations with neighbouring Kosovo over recent shootings and blockades. ...
The Serbian army has been put on a heightened state of alert over tensions with Kosovo multiple times in recent years – the last time in November after the government claimed that several drones entered Serbian airspace from Kosovo.
On 10 December, Serbs in northern Kosovo set up barricades to protest against the arrest of an ex-policeman suspected of being involved in attacks against ethnic Albanian police officers. The blockades coincided with a rise in reported shootings, the latest on Sunday, according to Nato-led peacekeeping force KFOR.
“Serbia’s president … ordered the Serbian army to be on the highest level of combat readiness, that is to the level of the use of armed force,” Vučević said in a statement on Monday. He added that the president, Aleksandar Vučić, also ordered the special armed forces to be beefed up from the existing 1,500 to 5,000.
Castillo's ouster reveals systemic crisis in Peru
How AUSTERITY POLITICS Launched A One-Sided CLASS WAR On World's Poor: Clara Mattei
Record Number of US Cities, Counties, and States to Raise Minimum Wage in 2023
After a decade since the launch of the Fight for $15 movement in New York City, a record number of U.S. states and communities are set to raise the minimum wage in the new year.
From New Year's Eve to New Year's Day, the minimum wage will increase in 23 states and 41 cities and counties, according to a report released Thursday by the National Employment Law Project (NELP). In 40 of those 64 jurisdictions, it will hit or exceed $15 an hour for at least some workers.
By the end of 2023, additional increases are planned in five states and 22 localities—with 21 reaching or topping $15 an hour—bringing the total for next year to 86: 27 states and 59 cities and counties, says the report, Raises From Coast to Coast in 2023. The totals take into account that multiple increases are planned in Michigan and four local jurisdictions.
"The raises we are seeing are a true testament to the power of organizing," said Yannet Lathrop, senior researcher and policy analyst at NELP, in a statement. "These raises were achieved in a variety of ways, from ballot initiatives to statehouses to workers making their demands to employers directly."
"As these wins continue and we see the real-world impact of higher pay—from growing unionization to narrowing racial wealth gaps—we encourage lawmakers to go further and raise pay broadly across our economy," Lathrop added.
Supreme Court Keeps Title 42, Causing Rise in Deadly Human Trafficking & Blocking Asylum Seekers
US supreme court refuses to lift pandemic-era immigration limit
The US supreme court on Tuesday left in place for the time being a pandemic-era order allowing US officials to rapidly expel migrants caught at the US-Mexico border in order to consider whether 19 states could challenge the policy’s end.
The court on a 5-4 vote granted a request by a group of Republican state attorneys general to put on hold a judge’s decision invalidating the emergency order known as Title 42 while it considered whether they could intervene to challenge the ruling.
The states had argued lifting the policy could lead to an increase in already-record border crossings.
John Roberts, the chief justice of the US supreme court , a member of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, on 19 December issued a temporary administrative stay maintaining Title 42 while the court considered whether to keep the policy in place for longer. The policy had been set to expire on 21 December prior to his order.
Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joined with the court’s three liberal members – Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – in dissenting from Monday’s order leaving Title 42 in effect.
Tom Frank is trapped in a relentlessly binary world where the poles are so trivially different as to often be indistinguishable. Can he free himself from his intellectual captors? Probably not.
Thomas Frank - "What the Hell, America?"
Briahna Joy Gray: The Democratic Party Is DEAD
New US lawsuit targets ‘forever chemicals’ in plastic food containers
A new lawsuit says many plastic containers used in the US to hold food, cleaning supplies, personal care items and other consumer products are likely to be contaminated with toxic PFAS. It is now asking federal courts to halt their production.
The suit references soon-to-be-published research that found PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) from HDPE (high-density polyethylene) plastic containers leach at extremely high levels into ketchup, mayonnaise, olive oil and everyday products.
Inhance, a Houston-based company named as a defendant, produces tens of millions of consumer containers that contain PFAS, the consumer advocacy groups behind the lawsuit say. The plaintiffs ask a judge to order Inhance to follow Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that require it to receive approval for its production process.
The groups also charge that regulators have known of the potential health threat since early 2021 but have failed to eliminate it.
“It’s a grave concern for me that these containers are used for food, full stop,” said Kyla Bennett, a former EPA scientist who is now with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which brought the suit with the Center for Environmental Health.
This Year's Top 10 Global Climate Disasters Each Cost Over $3 Billion
A faith-based coalition's annual report on the economic impact of climate-driven natural disasters revealed Tuesday that each of the costliest extreme weather events of 2022 caused more than $3 billion in damage.
The report—entitled Counting the Cost 2022: A Year of Climate Breakdown—was published by Christian Aid, a London-based relief agency of over 40 U.K. and Irish churches seeking more urgent climate action by Global North nations, which are most responsible for the greenhouse emissions that fuel global heating.
The costliest disaster in this year's report, Hurricane Ian, struck Cuba and the southeastern United States, killing more than 150 people in both countries, causing around $100 billion in damage, and displacing 40,000 people.
Other major natural disasters covered in the report include the floods in Pakistan that killed over 1,700 people while displacing seven million others and causing $30 billion in economic damage, and the European drought and heatwave, which killed more than 1,000 people and cost around $20 billion.
The report's contributors note that most of the damage estimates are based solely on insured losses and that the true financial cost of each event is likely even higher.
‘Atmospheric river’ pummels California with heavy rain and snow
A major storm known as an “atmospheric river” is pummeling California with heavy rain and high winds, continuing a streak of weather whiplash that has jolted the state from unseasonal heat to downpours in a matter of days.
The storm, spawned by a low pressure system off the Pacific north-west, delivered deluges across the San Francisco Bay Area as it made landfall on Monday night, prompting the National Weather Service to issue flood advisories and watches through large parts of central and northern California. The storm is forecast to soak the southern part of the state by Tuesday evening, although it will soften as it moves down the coast. Forecasters said California will experience unsettled weather through the week. ...
In the west, the wet weather is expected to do more good than harm. The rain and snow will provide a welcome reprieve for drought-stricken areas and soften the blow from drier days expected ahead.
“There will be quite a lot of water in the Sierra snowpack and soon in [northern California] soil/rivers/lakes streams from the upcoming storm sequence,” climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a weather discussion posted online, noting that even if the coming months are drier than usual, December’s storms provided a “substantial buffer”.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
Why I’m Glad Joe Biden Beat Donald Trump
2022: A year of deepening economic and financial crisis
Patrick Lawrence: A War of Rhetoric & Reality
Fourth member of scandal-hit Japanese cabinet resigns
Leader of plot to kidnap Michigan governor sentenced to 16 years
A New Age Of Vertical Integration
Pete Buttigieg CAUGHT Flying On Taxpayer Funded Private Jets
A Little Night Music
Mercy Dee - Red Light
Mercy Dee Walton - Five Card Hand
Mercy Dee Walton - Lonesome Cabin Blues
Mercy Dee Walton - My Woman And The Devil
Mercy Dee Walton - The Main Event
Mercy Dee Walton - Trailing My Baby
Mercy Dee Walton - Fall Guy
Mercy Dee Walton - Roamin' Blues
Mercy Dee Walton - Eighth Wonder of the World
Mercy Dee - My Woman Knows the Score
Comments
Is $15/hr a livable wage?
It most certainly is not around here. What the hell they fighting for? Poverty wages. By the
time this thing comes to grips, $15 bucks is going to be worth about $5 in buying value.
But the fed minimum is somewhere around $7? If you work 100 hours a week, after taxes
and other 'deductions' you would be lucky to afford rent, food, insurance and transportation
in most urban jungles.
The other countries have it right. Give the people food and shelter, health and pensions.
Then they can scramble for extras. Not necessities.
PS: the income at minimum wage for a 40 hour week is estimated at $13K (before deductions).
The fed poverty level is fixed at $13.6K for 2022. Do the math.
thanks for the eb's joe.
My son said it is above 20 dollar working 60 hours a week
to make it, where he lives. While the rest makes a couple of hundred thousands doing nothing. I think them lazy rich folks should be scared about what will happen to them one day.
NOw I have lost my appetite to read on.
What a world.
Good night from over here.
and then there is the servant class treatment
federal minimum wage for 'tipped' employees is $2.13/hr
with a Maximum Tip Credit Against Minimum Wage of $5.12/hr.
bars and restaurants are tough that way in usa
here, eat that
christ on a pogo stick, if it takes $1200/wk to float your boat
working almost all the time, maybe there is another way?
The capitalism system is fair and balanced and Brandon said
"nothing is going to change".
evening qms...
$15 might have been a living wage years ago in many areas of the u.s. when this thing started. it is certainly no longer a living wage given the inflation in the intervening years.
i'm in full agreement with you that the government should provide everyone the basic existential necessities (food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, all the education and training they want to get on themselves, etc.) and let madison avenue entice them into working for what they want beyond that. it's time we automated as many jobs as we can and focus on living good lives as opposed to mindless growth and unnecessary accumulation.
That Caitlin Johnstone article in "also of interest" section is
worth a read.
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/12/27/why-im-glad-joe-biden-beat-donal...
Also
This article shows the greed of big oil.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/exxon-sues-eu-in-bid-to-block-windfall-tax-a...
Whether we invest here primarily depends
on how
attractive and globally competitivemuch we can squeeze fromEurope, as opposed to maybe US or Pakistan. The effing Chinese and Russians no
longer allow our corporate raping and pillage of their resources, and the mideast is
no longer beholden to our claims, but we will sue any moving buck just to prove a
point!
evening humphrey...
i (obviously) agree about caitlin's piece, it's a quick read and makes its point well.
heh, i wonder if the eu will bite on that one. theoretically, they get it that they need to switch over to some other energy source post-haste. exxon is not saying that it would explicitly use the money to make that switch, so the eu would be wise to tax the crap out of their fossil fuels to fund the switch over.
The government lies to you about everything
thanks to empty suit, who was worthless to ordinary people
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn6NCA-gAqM]
In the 40's today, going into the 50's the next couple of days
Thanks for the EB's Joe!
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
evening ggersh...
funny how this story doesn't get much traction in the mainstream press.
it was in the 40's here today, i think that it's supposed to warm up some more tomorrow. i have no complaints about that. after that cold snap, i'll take it thanks.
Ukraine is fck'd
They already took an IMF loan after the coup and it hurt the working class and retirees, but people are going to get hurt even more because of all the billions Ukraine is receiving. But if they default on their loans then so will people in countries giving them money. Of course Americans have been screwed forever and basically been put on sanctions so that the military industrial complex can have all the money.
Jaywalking…
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
evening snoopy...
after this conflict is over, there is no way that ukraine will not default on its loans. they will have neither the resources nor the manpower to create a productive economy for a long time after the u.s. gets finished fighting russia to the last ukrainian.
that jaywalking thing is a bit jarring. i suppose it's effective. i dunno.
Ukraine War
Like many I view this as a war leading to a multipolar world.
The US and its allies are living in propaganda and Russia is fighting for its existence with better equipment, more troops and geography.
Empire collapse is messy. In the short run, European economy will suffer and probably the people will soon have had enough.
In the mean time, more death and destruction and we can only hope that the West does not get so pissed off that they use nuclear weapons.
Moon of Alabama, with their excellent posts and comments, keeps one up with what is going on.
Has the NYT and WA Post and the others always been so bad?
This is an existential fight
between the uni- and multi- polar power structures. The battle is over who controls
the economic levers. There would appear to be more sharing in a multi- approach.
The unies- are not going to settle on second best. Most of the world is saying - hey
back down. Like you, I can only hope they don't destroy civilization in their quest.
evening don...
great to see you!
i wonder what sort of checkmate it will take to get the empire to cease and desist? while i have hope, i have grave concerns about the sanity of the people who command the nuclear button.
i ask myself that a lot lately. my sense is that they have probably always been that bad, but the issues that we are confronting now highlight their awfulness.
Good evening Joe, thanks for the evening blues
This whole article =>
is flawed top to bottom by the moronic assumption that it is even remotely possible that the US could be acting in good faith. There are no security worries driving US, NATO, or EU actions, they are in full on aggression mode and have been for a long time (EU), since at least the Warsaw Pact break-up (NATO) or, arguably, ab initio (US).
be well and have a good one
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 --
evening el...
a fair assessment. i posted it because it's medea benjamin's piece and she is one of the few remaining organizers of anything that resembles a peace movement in the u.s.
my guess is that she has framed the piece that way as a diplomatic act to draw the evil people to the table by giving them a fig leaf for their actions and hence, a way to back down while saving face.
i would hope that she doesn't actually believe that the u.s. is motivated by anything other than vicious, bloodthirsty capitalism.
European Christmas
evening cb...
where is the second vignette supposed to be from? ukraine?
check this out ...
sadly, there's too much light pollution around me to view this, but maybe some of you guys can:
wow, thanks for the heads-up
that is a very unusual appearance
unfortunately, only Mars and the Moon are visible here
kinda hazy ..
Totally socked in here. n/t
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 --
Good evening...
Thanks for the planetary heads up. We have the mountain blocking our western view but can see a few of the brighter ones. Jupiter is shining by the moon.
As to our world, what can I say. I keep seeing a major power shift to the East. Guess next year will tell the story.
thanks for the music and news js. Glad (like us) you're warming!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
evening lookout...
yeah, there's certainly an economic shift to the east that's been going on for quite some time, i would guess that the power will follow the money - particularly if the west continues to act badly and alienate much of the developing world.
have a great evening!
Russia is lying. I don't believe a single thing from them
Also the United States is lying and has since I don't know when. The Allende coup might be the first time I was really aware of it so it's been awhile.
Additionally I am pretty sure anyone representing Ukraine is lying.
The thing about liars (and they all are) is that sometimes they tell the truth and make us think they possibly might be truth tellers.
evening shahryar...
well, of course they all lie. we all know that. discerning the truth is generally a process of collecting evidence and comparing it to various statements by the various parties. hell, we may be on the cusp of having the evidence in hand to demonstrate that the cia killed president kennedy many decades after the culprits have shuffled off this mortal coil.
i wouldn't trust the average poltician or government further than i can spit - probably not even that far and i wouldn't advise anybody else to, either.
You almost figured something out
It's not wages, it's prices. Let people have more money and prices will simply go up to take all the extra money. Now, in past rants I've said that simplistic initiatives such as the UBI are worthless because they do not solve the real problem - claiming to provide the consuming class more disposable income rather than solving inequality. But my plan only works when the top end cannot simply raise prices. Raising the minimum wage would benefit enough people to make it worthwhile to raise prices for enough things.
On to Biden since 1973
evening doh...
yep, rentiers are gonna rip you off if the law allows.
that's why i think it would be smarter to just give everybody their existential needs. no ubi, just a flat out grant of goods.
That was tried in the 80s
Everyone who qualified was given a bag of food. All I remember was that it always had a pound of surplus cheese. No fresh vegetables of course - they'd just spoil before they could be eaten. Oh, and fruit? There was a box of Fruity Pebbles. Of course, that was only for the very poor, if it was everyone it would be better, but still, variety would be good, if only for the supply chain. (I really don't want my diet to be designed by the person who designed the food pyramid)
On to Biden since 1973
Heh, faint echo of Trailing my baby
be well and have a good one
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 --
heh...
slow it down a bit and throw in that slide guitar and it would be a real interesting variation.
On "decapitation" strikes
It's hard for me to believe that a military that once adhered to the policy where the US should never find itself in the position of "firing in anger" at the Russian military, is now threatening this against the nuclear power's leader. It seems as if decades of traditional diplomacy has been stood on its head.
This is a kind of war on the cheap, (Biden's so called 'smart war') a desperate attempt to finesse a strategic problem due to a patent inability to manage an international military crisis, caused by the very same ineptitude. It seems almost impossible for American elites to understand at this point, that essential to crisis management, indeed to foreclose crises, one must act diplomatically. The idea that there is a warfare technique, strategy, tactic, or technology, a proverbial "silver bullet," to resolve a strategic problem years in the making, is a fantasy rooted in cultural chauvinism.
Discussions of "decapitation attacks" on North Korea's Kim Jong-un, became public fare, during the Trump administration, although the planning scenarios probably went further back than that. South Korean military pundit and analyst Shin In-kyun said he was kicked off Channel A News Top Ten program (a Dong-A media production) for advocating such a military policy in late 2018. He said he had learned details of the planning of such missions from discussions with a US Marine Corps General Officer. That was certainly a first for the conservative Dong A, a military view too extreme even for them. Even Victor Cha, one of the right's Korea experts, and Thae Yong-ho, probably one of the best informed defectors from North Korea, dismissed the prospect of such a limited attack, as having little likelihood of success, but certain to produce a disastrous military conflict. Thae Yong-ho, also very conservative, specifically referred to North Korea's likely nuclear response.
I heard a former Korean general now a democratic National Assembly member, Kim Byung-chu, recently make the point about leadership in crisis management, it's about more than military threats, escalation, and retaliation. The latter reflect a lack of ability, a lack of knowledge, and a lack of statesmanship. It additionally reflects a lack of understanding of one's role in a crisis as a leader, and a lack of understanding of the institutional resources and personnel at one's disposal. A failure to mobilize those persons skillfully to obtain more positive outcomes to reduce tension and increase security in the face of prospective conflicts with other states is essential to crisis management.
Perhaps these not so subtle leaks from the Pentagon targeting Putin, only reflect fear of upcoming developments in Ukraine and are little more than a bluff. Any such attack would likely require US planning, US intelligence, US technical reconnaissance, and delivery using US armaments. The use of proxies would serve little to disguise the principal actor. The effectiveness of such a tactic, in its immediate targeting dimension, would be uncertain. I concluded it would be highly unlikely to succeed. Neither Kim Jong-un nor Vladimir Putin are as vulnerable as were Qasem Soleimani or Osama bin Laden. In fact, in a sequence by order of magnitude, bin Laden, Soleimani, Kim and lastly Putin, this sequence of targets produces the misleading conception that a counterinsurgency tactic can be elevated to eliminate nuclear armed adversaries.
Even if such a hair brained scheme were to "succeed," it would have disastrous military consequences for NATO, Ukraine and perhaps the United States itself. I have little doubt that such a tactic used against Kim Jong-un would result in a nuclear response to US bases in the far east. Would an existentially threatened Russia react differently? Would the provoked Russian leadership be content to eliminate only the nominal proxy?
As to the climate disaster list, we are two of Ian's 40,000 victims. So are my neighbors. The awful experience and its ongoing social and economic sequelae, have only made me more sensitive to the terrible plight of the victims of Pakistan's flooding, and the suffering of the victims of the world's ongoing conflicts.
Thanks JS for the evening blues!
Baek Ji Young - 'Like being hit by a bullet' @Spring is Coming20180405 in Pyongyong with the South Korean Arts Group
語必忠信 行必正直
evening soryang...
yeah, i'm not sure of what to make of the decapitation of putin stories. i am certain that there are people in the u.s. elites for whom that sounds like a neat idea that they would execute without thinking too hard. i'm sure that there are others with one brain cell to rub against the next and a desire for self-preservation that would prevent them from enacting such a scenario. at current, i can't tell whether the sane people are in charge. i have little faith that they are, hence it concerns me when when such idiocy is bandied about for public consumption.
not that there's much any of us can do about it. we are demonstrably governed by morons who could care less for the well-being of average american citizens and even less for anybody else.
the morons that govern us' concept of crisis management revolves around how to create crises and to perpetuate them rather than to end crises.