The Evening Blues - 3-6-23



eb1pt12


The day's news roundup + tonight's musical feature: Otis Redding

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features possibly the best soul singer ever, Otis Redding. Enjoy!

Otis Redding – The Huckle Buck

"Western media have erased from history all the western provocations which led to the war in Ukraine, they only report pro-western narratives, they hide Ukrainian casualties and ignore the Nord Stream pipeline bombing, then they tell you to worry about foreign propaganda."

-- Caitlin Johnstone


News and Opinion

The Hawks Have Had China In Their Crosshairs For Years

Every now and then I like to highlight the fact that all this China stuff was forcast way back in 2004 by Michael Parenti, who said that the unipolarist neoconservative ideology that had hijacked US foreign policy envisioned a massive strategic confrontation with Beijing.

“The PNAC plan envisions a strategic confrontation with China, and a still greater permanent military presence in every corner of the world,” Parenti wrote in his book Superpatriot. “The objective is not just power for its own sake but power to control the world’s natural resources and markets, power to privatize and deregulate the economies of every nation in the world, and power to hoist upon the backs of peoples everywhere — including North America — the blessings of an untrammeled global ‘free market.’ The end goal is to ensure not merely the supremacy of global capitalism as such, but the supremacy of American global capitalism by preventing the emergence of any other potentially competing superpower.”

“PNAC” refers to Project for the New American Century, the wildly influential neoconservative think tank whose members played a critical role in pushing the Iraq invasion. Since that time PNAC’s vision for the future has quietly become the mainstream US foreign policy consensus.

After the fall of the Soviet Union the US government espoused a doctrine of securing US unipolar planetary domination by ensuring no rival superpowers develop, nicknamed the Wolfowitz Doctrine after the Pentagon official who supervised its drafting. Paul Wolfowitz would later become a PNAC member.

What we’re witnessing now is this doctrine of maintaining unipolar hegemony at all cost colliding with the emergence of a multipolar world order, carried largely by the rise of China toward superpower status. Parenti saw this coming because like PNAC he saw that these two factors must necessarily collide.

US Army Secretary Says US Preparing to Win a War With China Over Taiwan

US Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said this week that the US must prepare to win a future war with China over Taiwan by beefing up its military deployments in the region.

“I personally am not of the view that an amphibious invasion of Taiwan is imminent,” Wormuth said at an American Enterprise Institute event, according to Voice of America. “But we obviously have to prepare, to be prepared to fight and win that war.”

Wormuth’s plan would involve sending more troops and advanced weapons into the region, including hypersonic missiles. She said the buildup would be an effort to deter war with China, although Beijing has been increasing its military activity in the region in response to US actions. ...

Wormuth is the latest US official to openly discuss the fact that the US is preparing for war with China. Earlier this year, a four-star Air Force general predicted the US will be at war with China within two years and ordered his forces to be prepared. “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025,” Gen. Mike Minihan, the head of Air Mobility Command, said of war with China in a leaked memo.

State Department Approves $619 Million F-16 Missile Sale for Taiwan

The State Department on Wednesday approved a potential $619 million weapons sale to Taiwan for hundreds of missiles to arm the island’s US-made F-16 fighter jets.

The approval of the deal notifies Congress and begins a period where the sale could be blocked, but it shouldn’t have a problem in either chamber as there is strong bipartisan support for arming Taiwan. ...

The US has always sold weapons to Taiwan since severing diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979, but the arms sales have spiked in recent years as the US has become more hawkish toward Beijing. According to The Wall Street Journal, since 2019, the US has approved more than $20 billion in military aircraft, Javelin and Stinger missiles, howitzers, and other munitions for Taiwan.

Russian cauldrons, Bakhmut and Debáltsevo

Rightwing Republicans rail against US aid for Ukraine: ‘We’ve done enough’

Marjorie Taylor Greene, an influential far-right Republican in Congress, has called for the US to stop aid to Ukraine, giving added voice to a grassroots revolt in the party that threatens bipartisan support for the war against Russia’s Vladimir Putin. ...

Greene told the Guardian that Joe Biden is “putting the entire world at risk of world war three”, a view widely held at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), America’s biggest annual gathering of conservatives. “I think the US should be pushing for peace in Ukraine instead of funding and continuing a war that seems to be escalating and putting the entire world at risk of world war three,” Greene said during CPAC at the National Harbor in Maryland on Friday.

Greene called for US funding to cease immediately, insisting that, while she voted for a resolution to support the Ukrainian people and condemning Russia’s invasion, “we are actually accelerating a war there”. She added: “We should be promoting peace. Europe should have peace and the United States should do their part. Ukraine is not a Nato member nation and Joe Biden said in the beginning he would not defend Ukraine because they’re not a Nato member nation. It doesn’t make sense and the American people do not support it.” ...

The two leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, former president Donald Trump and the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, have both expressed scepticism about the Ukraine cause. Opinion polls also show an erosion of public support.

Major US Outlets Found Hersh’s Nord Stream Scoop Too Hot to Handle

Scores of hits from publications across the globe pop up from an internet search for veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh’s claim that the US destroyed Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipeline.

But what is most striking about the page after page of results from Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo in the weeks following the February 8 posting of Hersh’s story isn’t what is there, but what is not to be found:

  •  The Times of London (2/8/23) reported Hersh’s story hours after he posted it on his Substack account, but nothing in the New York Times.
  • Britain’s Reuters News Agency moved at least ten stories (2/8/23, 2/9/23, 2/12/2, 2/15/23, among others), the Associated Press not one.
  • Not a word broadcast by the major US broadcast networks—NBC, ABC, CBS—or the publicly funded broadcasters PBS and NPR.
  • No news stories on the nation’s major cable outlets, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.
  • Is there justification for such self-censorship? True, Hersh’s story is based on a single anonymous source. But anonymous sources are a staple of mainstream reporting on the US government, used by all major outlets. Further, countless stories of lesser national and international import have been published with the caveat that the facts reported have not been independently verified.

    Doubts about Hersh’s story aside, by every journalistic standard, the extensive international coverage given the story, as well as the adamant White House and Pentagon denials, should have made it big news in the United States.

    More important, if Hersh got it wrong, his story needs to be knocked down. Silence is not acceptable journalism.

    What’s not in doubt is the remarkable breadth of the news blackout surrounding Hersh’s story. The only major US newspaper to cover it as breaking news was the New York Post (2/8/23).

    It did appear on the opinion pages—but not the news columns—of two major dailies. The Los Angeles Times (2/11/23) mentioned Hersh’s story in the 11th paragraph of a weekly round-up by the letters editor. On the New York Times  opinion page (2/15/23), Ross Douthat included Hersh in a column headlined “UFOs and Other Unsolved Mysteries of Our Time.”

    Fox News firebrands Tucker Carlson (2/8/23) and Laura Ingraham (2/14/23) collectively gave Hersh’s story a few minutes on their cable TV shows, but their network didn’t post a news story. On Fox News Sunday (2/19/23), National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was asked about Hersh’s claims. But, again, Fox News didn’t do a separate news report.

    Newsweek (2/8/23) has covered the story , but focusing mainly on White House denials and Russia’s reaction. Bloomberg News (2/9/23) ran a four-paragraph follow-up that also stressed the Russian response, but provided no details of Hersh’s account of the bombing.

    The Washington Post’s first mention of the story (2/22/23) came two weeks after it was posted. Again, Russian reaction was the hook, as seen in the headline: “Russia, Blaming US Sabotage, Calls for UN Probe of Nord Stream.”

    Arguably the most influential coverage of Hersh’s story came from Business Insider (2/9/23), which posted what can justly be called a hit piece, given its blatantly loaded headline: “The Claim by a Discredited Journalist That the US Secretly Blew Up the Nord Stream Pipeline Is Proving a Gift to Putin.”

    The Business Insider article was picked up by Yahoo! (2/9/23) and MSN (2/9/23). It also was the primary source of an article in Snopes (2/10/23), the only major factchecking site to weigh in on Hersh’s claims. But Snopes, which bills itself as “the definitive Internet reference source for researching urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors and misinformation,” didn’t check any disputed facts. Instead, it starts with an ad hominem attack, asking “Who is Seymour Hersh?”

    Snopes answers that rhetorical question by summarizing his body of work—uncovering the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1970, revealing the secret bombing in Cambodia and the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq—but emphasizing that “his later work, however, has been controversial and widely panned by journalists for promoting conspiratorial claims that hinge on dubious anonymous sources or speculation.”

    Snopes’ presentation is hardly even-handed. No defenders of Hersh are cited in the four-paragraph overview of his work, which includes seven hyperlinks to sources. That looks impressive. But clicking on the links reveals four are to the same source: the Business Insider hit piece.

    Snopes’ failure to acknowledge multiple links to the same source isn’t just sloppy, it’s misleading, because most readers don’t check to see if the same source is cited repeatedly.

    It’s likely Snopes used the Business Insider piece a fifth time—the last without attribution. The Snopes article’s final sentence states: “Hersch [sic] was asked by the Russian news agency TASS about the identity of his source. He told them that, ‘It’s a person, who, it seems, knows a lot about what’s going on.’ ”

    The Business Insider piece ends with a paragraph with the same misspelling of Hersh’s name, the same TASS link and identical—word for word — translation of his response. (It doesn’t help Snopes’ credibility as a factchecker that Hersh’s name was originally misspelled two other times in the article.)

    Much of the remainder of Snopes’ article consists of quotes from Hersh’s story, followed by commentary disparaging Hersh’s reliance on a single, unnamed source. Since that’s something Hersh readily acknowledges, it’s hard to see the informational value of the Snopes article.

    While several bloggers have challenged details in Hersh’s account, no news outlet has answered the only question that matters: Who blew up the pipeline?

    Waiting for official explanations appears to be a dead end. Sweden, Denmark and Germany have launched investigations, but have not indicated when—or if—results would be released.

    The giants of US journalism—the New York Times, Washington Post and the major broadcast networks—have the resources to try and solve the mystery. And it’s certainly possible that one or more of them are working to do just that. But the pipelines were destroyed five months ago. Since then, Seymour Hersh is the only journalist to offer an explanation of who was responsible.

    There should be others. Hersh needs competition, not just critics.

    Inflation on the rise. EU sanctions, punish consumers and reward energy companies

    Hungary further delays vote on Sweden, Finland joining NATO

    Hungary has further delayed a vote on ratifying Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession bids, according to an updated schedule published Thursday on the National Assembly’s website, the latest in a series of postponements that have frustrated Western allies.

    The delay, which pushes the vote back by two weeks to the parliamentary session beginning March 20, comes as Hungary remains the only NATO member country besides Turkey that hasn’t yet approved the two Nordic countries’ bids to join the Western military alliance.

    Hungary’s populist prime minister, Viktor Orban, has said that he is personally in favor of the two countries joining NATO, but alleges that the governments in Stockholm and Helsinki have “spread blatant lies” about Hungary which have raised questions among lawmakers in his party on whether to approve the bids.

    In a radio interview on Feb. 24, Orban confirmed that Hungary would send a parliamentary delegation to Sweden and Finland to seek “clarification” on such issues before the ratification could come to a vote in parliament.

    “It’s not right for them to ask us to take them on board while they’re spreading blatant lies about Hungary, about the rule of law in Hungary, about our democracy and about life here,” Orban said. “(How) can anyone want to be our ally in a military system while they’re shamelessly spreading lies about Hungary? So let’s stop for a friendly word and ask them how this can be.”

    Israel Says Its Window to Attack Iran Is Closing Due to Russian Support

    Israeli officials are claiming Russia might provide Iran with S-400 air defense systems, and because of that, Israel’s window to launch an attack on Iran is closing, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

    The report cited anonymous people in the US and Israel who said the prospect of Iran acquiring the S-400 system could accelerate plans for an Israeli attack. While Russia and Iran have vowed to increase cooperation, it’s not clear if Moscow has plans to provide Tehran with the S-400 system.

    Israeli officials have been openly threatening to attack Iran, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said Israel was running out of time to do so. The threats are focused on Iran’s nuclear program even though the Pentagon and CIA have acknowledged Tehran is not trying to build a bomb.

    Israeli Anti-Government Protests Hit New Heights as 200,000 March in Tel Aviv

    Ongoing protests against the far-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhu were larger than ever on Saturday night as an estimated 200,000 people or more took to the streets in Tel Aviv and other cities to denounce judicial reforms they warn put the nation on a path towards dictatorship.

    For over two months, weekly protests—mostly on the weekends but increasingly during the workweek as well—large demonstrations have taken place in response to Netanyahu and his coalition government pushing a judicial takeover that critics say would curtail democracy.

    Haaretz reported Saturday's turnout as a record since the movement started in early January. ...

    The demonstrations in Tel Aviv and other locations "began peacefully," reports Reuters. "However, footage released by police later showed protesters breaking down barriers in Tel Aviv and igniting fires as they blocked roads. Police sprayed water cannons at the protesters."

    While Israeli liberals increasingly register fear and discomfort over the direction of its government's growing autocratic tendencies, Palestinian rights advocates have noted that the right-wing slide is a direct and predictable continuation of a system that denies its Palestinian citizens full rights under the law while overseeing a brutal and repressive apartheid regime.

    As American-Palestinian scholar Yousef Munayyer recently wrote in a column about the protest movement for +972 Magazine:

    As tens of thousands of Israelis protest the reforms that Netanyahu’s government seeks to ram through in hopes of “saving the essence” of Israeli democracy, they are largely avoiding a confrontation with the foundational problem, namely that the essence of the Israeli system is to put settler colonialism ahead of any liberal principles around democracy, equality, or human rights.

    A key question for many concerned not only about Israel's increasingly autocratic and right-wing lurch, but its ever-worsening treatment of the Palestinians living under hostile military occupation is this: "Does this loose group oppose the settler-colonial system that these legal reforms would further enable, or does it simply seek a return to the settler-colonial system, but without Netanyahu at its head?"

    Munayyer believes all evidence thus far indicates the latter is the unfortunate answer, which is why Palestinians are noticeably absent from celebrating the display of dissent and opposition in Tel Aviv and elsewhere.

    "For all Palestinians, including those with Israeli citizenship, there is little urgency to try to 'save' Israeli democracy, primarily because for them it has never existed," Munayyer concluded. "Not only is a political system that is constructed to be democratic toward some, but not all, not a democracy, it is also not going to seem worth saving to those it disadvantages."

    Hundreds of Israeli reservists refusing to serve in protest against judicial overhaul plan

    A growing number of Israeli reservists are refusing to serve in the military in protest against the government’s contentious judicial overhaul plans, according to reports in Israeli media. Tens of thousands of Israelis have come out against the proposed judicial overhaul in recent weeks. ...

    At least 180 air force reserve officers submitted a petition Wednesday night to the Israeli defence minister and chief of staff announcing their refusal to serve in the military, Israel’s Kan broadcaster reported. The officers all serve in the military’s Control and Monitoring Department.

    Wednesday’s move came after a similar announcement late last week which saw 100 senior officers in an elite unit sign a petition saying they will not perform any military service if the judicial changes were approved.

    Hundreds more officers and reservists in the intelligence corps' 'Unit 8200' – in charge of operations related to cyberwarfare and surveillance - also said they would stop working.

    The decisions have raised fears in Israel regarding the military’s readiness amid growing tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories, where at least 64 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since the beginning of the year.

    Buttigieg ADMITS Ohio Failure, But There's A Catch

    Breached Dam, Incineration of Soil Flood East Palestine With Fresh Fears of Toxins

    The collapse Friday night of a makeshift dam designed to hold back wastewater and new concerns by local groups and residents about the nearby incineration of contaminated soil from last month's train derailment are the latest anxiety-producing woes to behest the community of East Palestine, Ohio.

    Watchdogs on the ground reported that the dam broke after heavy rains in the area on Friday.

    According to local Channel 19 News:

    Residents tell 19 News heavy rain has caused Leslie Run Creek to rise, and spill over the makeshift dam, near the derailment sight. 19 News was able to obtain several photos of water from that manmade dam covering the Main Street area of town.

    Residents fear the contaminated water may seep into homes or businesses—causing another level of fear for those who live in the area.

    Local resident Eric Cozza told the news outlet he was scared of what the released waters could do to the community. "I fear that now the chemical is in the ground, it's going to leech towards the water ducts, our aquifer for drinking water," Cozza said. "I'm concerned that the park is now contaminated. Kids won't be able to play there or walk through there on their way to school."

    Status Coup News, which has been reporting from East Palestine and speaking with residents since the disaster occurred, reported Friday night that flooding from the breached dam was going "into The Original Roadhouse restaurant parking lot where a lot of locals eat and drink."

    The outlet also reported that the pictures of the broken dam posted to social media were taken by local resident Neko Figley, who was told by contractors to leave the area because it was "super dangerous to be here right now.”


    Rail Workers Push RADICAL Idea To Save The Railroads

    Florida Republicans seek new abortion restrictions amid broad rightwing push

    Florida Republicans are planning a broad rightwing legislative push, including new restrictions on gender identification, diversity and equity programs, abortion and press freedoms, and further relaxation of concealed weapons laws and the ability of courts to impose death sentences.

    The basket of proposed legislation comes five months after the state’s rightwing Republican governor Ron DeSantis won re-election by a decisive margin and the Republicans established a convincing majority in the state legislature.

    The broad push is seen by many as following the Republican governor’s ideological wish-list as DeSantis positions himself for a likely 2024 White House and an attempt to wrest the Republican party from out of the shadow of Donald Trump.

    Last week, Republican lawmakers moved to expand the state’s controversial “Parental Rights in Education/Don’t Say Gay” law with proposed legislation limiting the use of gender pronouns within parts of the public and charter school education system.

    The legislation, known as House Bill 1223, is aimed at establishing a requirement that “personal titles and pronouns” used in schools for kindergarten through 12th grade match the identity assigned at birth.



    the horse race



    Trump DOMINATES CPAC: 'I AM YOUR RETRIBUTION'

    The Guardian shows its deep love for Trump:

    ‘I am your retribution’: Trump rules supreme at CPAC as he relaunches bid for White House

    Donald Trump turned back the clock to the darkest elements of his presidency on Saturday with a fiery address that showed the threat to American democracy is far from over. After a lacklustre start to his campaign, Trump appeared to launch his White House bid in earnest with a vintage display of demagoguery that framed the 2024 election as “the final battle” for America.

    The former president, wearing dark suit, white shirt and trademark red tie, also declared war on his own Republican party to the delight of ardent fans in the crowd chanting “Trump! Trump! Trump!” and “USA! USA! USA!”

    Opinion polls suggest that Trump’s grip on the party is slipping in the wake of the 6 January 2021, insurrection and a disappointing midterm performance. But he continues to rule supreme at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), billed as the biggest annual gathering of grassroots conservatives.

    Feeding off the energy of a crowd that wore “Make America great again” (Maga) caps, and watched by Brazil’s far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, Trump returned to the authoritarian language that characterised his political rise seven years ago.

    “In 2016, I declared: I am your voice,” he said, speaking for just over 100 minutes from a bright blue and red stage in a cavernous ballroom at the closing speech of the CPAC event in Maryland. “Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution,” he said.

    MSNBC SMEARS Marianne Williamson, Rejects Democracy

    Sherrod Brown in tough election fight as Ohio crash tests Democrats’ chances

    US Senator Sherrod Brown has survived a decade of statewide Democratic losses in Ohio by building a reputation as the rare person in his party who can still connect with the white working-class voters who have increasingly shifted to Republicans. But as he heads into what could be a tough re-election campaign, Brown is facing a critical test in the aftermath of the train derailment in the eastern Ohio village of East Palestine.

    Republicans, including Donald Trump, argue the federal response shows Democrats have left such regions behind. Brown is under heightened pressure to prove them wrong. In the early stages of what will be a fierce fight for control of Congress next year, the response to the train derailment in Ohio is emerging as an early barometer of whether Democrats can rebuild support in working-class communities. ...

    The stretches of eastern Ohio industrial towns have tilted increasingly to Republicans over the last decade, contributing to Ohio’s shift from a presidential bellwether to a potential GOP stronghold. Republicans have cast it as a forgotten swath of the country – fertile ground for Trump’s grievance politics.

    But the region is also familiar ground for Brown, who has become a mainstay in the state’s political constellation with a populist brand. Brown, who wears suits purchased from a union shop near his Cleveland home, has developed an old-school network of union support over a decades-long political career that began in the General Assembly.



    the evening greens


    Antarctic sea ice reaches lowest levels ever recorded

    For 44 years, satellites have helped scientists track how much ice is floating on the ocean around Antarctica’s 18,000km coastline. The continent’s fringing waters witness a massive shift each year, with sea ice peaking at about 18m sq km each September before dropping to just above 2m sq km by February. But across those four decades of satellite observations, there has never been less ice around the continent than there was last week.

    “By the end of January we could tell it was only a matter of time. It wasn’t even a close run thing,” says Dr Will Hobbs, an Antarctic sea ice expert at the University of Tasmania with the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership. “We are seeing less ice everywhere. It’s a circumpolar event.”

    In the southern hemisphere summer of 2022, the amount of sea ice dropped to 1.92m sq km on 25 February – an all-time low based on satellite observations that started in 1979. But by 12 February this year, the 2022 record had already been broken. The ice kept melting, reaching a new record low of 1.79m sq km on 25 February and beating the previous record by 136,000 sq km – an area double the size of Tasmania. ...

    Hobbs and other scientists said the new record – the third time it’s been broken in six years – has started a scramble for answers among polar scientists. The fate of Antarctica – especially the ice on land – is important because the continent holds enough ice to raise sea levels by many metres if it was to melt.

    Europe faces growing water crisis as winter drought worsens

    The scenes are rare enough in mid-summer; in early March, they are unprecedented. Lac de Montbel in south-west France is more than 80% empty, the boats of the local sailing club stranded on its desiccated brown banks.

    In northern Italy, tourists can walk to the small island of San Biagio, normally reached only by boat, from the shore of Lake Garda, where the water level is 70cm (27in) lower than average. The Alps have had 63% less snow than usual. In Germany, shallow waters on the Rhine are already disrupting barge traffic, forcing boats heading up into central Europe to load at half capacity, and in Catalonia, now short of water for three years, Barcelona has stopped watering its parks.

    After its driest summer in 500 years, much of Europe is in the grip of a winter drought driven by climate breakdown that is prompting growing concern among governments over the water security for homes, farmers and factories across the continent.

    A study published in January by Graz University of Technology in Austria, whose scientists used satellite data to analyse groundwater reserves, concluded that Europe has been in drought since 2018 and its water situation was now “very precarious”.

    Torsten Mayer-Gürr, one of the researchers, said: “I would never have imagined that water would be a problem here in Europe, especially in Germany or Austria. We are actually getting problems with the water supply here.” ... The World Weather Attribution service said last year northern hemisphere drought was at least 20 times more likely because of human-caused climate change, warning that such extreme periods would become increasingly common with global heating.

    "Hopeful": Historic U.N. High Seas Treaty Will Protect 30% of World's Oceans from Biodiversity Loss

    Revealed: cabinet ministers warned of legal action over UK’s failure to tackle climate crisis

    Cabinet ministers have been warned by senior civil servants that they face court action because of their catastrophic failure to develop policies for tackling climate change, according to secret documents obtained by the Observer. The leaked briefings from senior mandarins – marked “official sensitive” and dated 20 February this year – make clear the government as a whole is way behind in spelling out how it will reach its net zero targets and comply with legal duties to save the planet.

    The restricted, highly sensitive documents are another severe embarrassment for Rishi Sunak, who originally planned to stay away from last November’s Cop27 climate summit in Egypt, but was shamed into attending after his predecessor but one, Boris Johnson, announced he was going. ...

    Now, with just weeks to go before a crucial court deadline for the UK government to submit its latest climate plans, the damning leaked documents make clear the government is falling far short of its legal policy obligations to match its rhetoric with action. The documents say that as a result of evident lack of policy there is an increasing “legal risk” facing the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Grant Shapps – who is held responsible under law for failing to act. ...

    The papers, circulated by Defra officials to other senior Whitehall figures, will place particular pressure on environment secretary Thérèse Coffey, who was booed recently at a conference by farmers, who are already highly critical of the government’s agenda for agriculture post-Brexit. The documents show Coffey’s department is by far the worst offender in failing to develop green policy, lagging a staggering 24% behind its official target, while the transport department has a gap “that is considerably over 5%”.

    The documents show Coffey’s officials pleading with her to adopt an improved climate plan for the agricultural sector within weeks, not only to meet a legal deadline but also in response to stinging rebukes from the government advisers on the climate change committee (CCC). They say: “The CCC has been calling for Defra to publish a decarbonisation plan since 2018 … The CCC has also criticised the ‘glacial progress’ in reducing emissions from agriculture.”


    Also of Interest

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

    The Widening War: How the Nato-Russia Confrontation Is Playing Out in North Africa

    Africa rejects Macron. Macron blames Wagner

    Chris Hedges: Lynching the Deplorables

    We’re Losing Our Anti-War Heroes Right When We Need Them Most

    Secret Power and the Persecution of Julian Assange

    Bakhmut, Strategic Or Not, Is Falling

    ‘They ransack our village for sport’: one Palestinian farmer’s story of Israeli settler violence

    Reality Based People Can Fact Check The 'Fact-Checkers'

    ‘No one is coming to save us’: residents of towns near toxic train derailment feel forgotten

    New analysis of ancient human protein could unlock secrets of evolution

    Pelosi’s Daughter Says George W. Bush Is A “Father Figure”


    A Little Night Music

    Otis Redding – I'm Coming Home

    Otis Redding – Ole Man Trouble

    Otis Redding – Satisfaction

    Otis Redding – Cigarettes and Coffee

    Otis Redding - Hard To Handle

    Otis Redding – I've Got Dreams to Remember

    Otis Redding – Love Man

    Otis Redding & Carla Thomas – Bring It On Home To Me

    Otis Redding – Don't Mess With Cupid

    Otis Redding – Shake


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    Comments

    soryang's picture

    "nuclear capable B-52" on Monday.

    This is not just a show of force to North Korea but also to China.

    Tim referred to a brilliant essay by Simon Chun that explained the relationship between escalating tension on the Korean peninsula against North Korea and the US plan to confront China. This is the best analysis of how this works that I've read. There is no compartmentalizing the policy.

    US Is Maintaining Tensions With North Korea to Draw in Allies Against China
    The greatest threat to peace and stability in northeast Asia is the U.S. Indo-Pacific military encirclement of China.

    Simone Chun , TRUTHOUT March 3, 2023

    I'll just put the link here, because Truthout seems really picky about their copyright.

    https://truthout.org/articles/us-is-maintaining-tensions-with-north-kore...

    The far right Yoon regime in South Korea has fallen for this hook, line, and sinker. Yoon has capitulated to Japan on virtually every outstanding grievance South Korea has against Japan. I'm waiting for him to offer returning Dokdo and having Japanese armed forces enter South Korea. (He said it could happen in an emergency at one point).

    Blinken and company are drooling over "achieving" the so called trilateral alliance of the US, South Korea and Japan, but the truth is its very unpopular in South Korea. It isn't just a few survivors and their supporters, as some US media have described the critics of Yoon's Japanese appeasement. Thousands of demonstrators at last Saturday's Candlelight demonstration carried signs referring to Yoon as a sellout to Japan and traitor. The issue of being an ally of Japan, goes to the Korean national identity, the sense of who they are as a people. It is almost as if the victims of Nazi war crimes were being asked to pay for their own damages. I don't think the support for the LDP's greater militarization of Japan is all that strong either. But the Yoon government is far more unstable, than the LDP dominated government in Japan. The US pressuring South Korea to "get along" and be an ally of Japan, is just destabilizing South Korea. South Korea has had to become an authoritarian state again to force these unpopular policies on the public.

    Yoon is also apparently unilaterally dropping its WTO lawsuit against Japan, for discriminatory trade measures. One critical opinion predicted that when Yoon leaves office, his actions will be quickly reversed. Just as the Moon Jae-in administration, rejected Park Geun-hye's fund for comfort women. The whole situation really is suggestive of Japan interfering in the internal affairs of South Korea. The US is always interfering in South Korean affairs. The proposed Japanese "youth scholarship fund" is an obvious continuation of their typical effort to cultivate a pro-Japanese element among prospective "people of influence" in South Korea. They've proposed it before and it was rejected. Yoon's father was a beneficiary of such a program and got a masters degree in Japan.

    Victims of Japanese colonial era forced mobilization are strongly protesting the government’s plan for compensating them, calling it a “diplomatic disaster worse than the 2015 ‘comfort women’ agreement.”

    The government on Monday announced its plans for a compensation deal for the victims involving funds raised through donations from the private sector, including domestic companies, instead of direct payment from liable Japanese firms.

    “The Yoon Suk-yeol government neglects the victims’ fight for the restoration of their human rights and dignity and is turning back the clock of history,” said Kim Yeong-hwan, head of external cooperation at the Center for Historical Truth and Justice, which supports victims of forced labor perpetrated by Nippon Steel, while speaking to the Hankyoreh over the phone on Sunday.

    “I would like to ask who is served by South Korea-US-Japan military cooperation, which tramples on the human rights of the victims of forced mobilization," Kim said.

    http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1082371.html

    Enjoyed Catlin's essay as usual. Business Insider is an Axel Springer publication. It's widely believed he got his start in the news publishing business with CIA backing.

    I don't see how anyone on the US Army side could think a war with China was a realistic plan. The Secretary appeared to have some reservations.

    Always liked Otis Redding. Thanks for the OT Joe!

    It's South Korean companies being asked to pay for war crimes Japanese companies committed. The western coverage of Yoon's subservience to Japanese hardball revisionist demands is pretty biased. The west doesn't care, Japan is arming up. Unleashing Japan is what they want. What could go wrong? Japanese right wing arrogance doesn't bother the US neocons one bit. The Japanese lobby in the US is so effective, the average American has no comprehension of their right wing arrogance and aspirations of being a great power again. The Indo-Pacific strategy was Abe's idea.

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    語必忠信 行必正直

    @soryang @soryang

    ideologists. The new, improved Nazi buddies, and the stronger Japanese militarists are now
    their best buddies. What was it WW2 was fought over again? Germany's and Japanese global
    ambitions (or so we were led to believe).

    thanks for posting

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    soryang's picture

    @QMS That the B-52 and its fighter escorts were operating in the Yellow Sea/ West Sea, which is the side of the Korean peninsula closest to China. This is also where a large formation of US-South Korean tactical fighter aircraft operated not too long ago, like a traditional "Alpha strike formation." So there is a penumbral effect in terms of show of force. The US and South Korea can claim the operation is oriented to exercising strike operations against North Korea (that's bad enough), while at the same time, posing a threat to China.

    Yoon is so dumb to get wrapped up in this. In the East Sea/Sea of Japan, you don't get that ambiguity. It is more clearly directed at North Korea. Before Yoon took office, B-52s wouldn't venture far from the Japanese territorial limit in the East Sea/Sea of Japan in order to comply with the Singapore summit agreement.

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    語必忠信 行必正直

    joe shikspack's picture

    @soryang

    thanks for the reportage. sad to see our government wasting money on penis-waving while at home...

    I don't see how anyone on the US Army side could think a war with China was a realistic plan.

    it's kind of funny how they seem to think that they can mix it up with russia and then at some point break off and go after china. it seems pretty obvious that russia will emerge from the conflict in ukraine both the victor and militarily stronger and that the conflict is pushing moscow and bejing increasingly closer. do the neocons think that they can threaten russia with sanctions post ukraine to keep russia from having a military alliance against western military force in china? have these people ever been able to win a chess game?

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    @soryang

    https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/kim-s-powerful-sister-threatens-action-on-us...

    (Bloomberg) -- The powerful sister of North Korea’s leader issued a fresh warning to the US and South Korea, threatening them with severe consequences if they went ahead with joint military drills set to start next week.

    Kim Yo Jong said North Korea is monitoring the “restless military moves by the US forces” and its South Korean “puppet military,” adding Pyongyang is “on standby to take appropriate, quick and overwhelming action at any time according to our judgment,” the official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday.

    The latest comments indicate North Korea could ramp up provocations in conjunction with the drills, with Kim last month threatening to turn the Pacific Ocean into a “firing range” if they went ahead.

    This may be a hint that Pyongyang could start testing whether its nuclear warhead designs can withstand the heat of reentering the atmosphere, as it looks to increase its capability to deliver a credible strike against the US and its allies.

    The US and South Korea are set to hold their Freedom Shield exercises from March 13-23, drills designed to bolster their defenses against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. The drills are expected to be some of the largest the two have held in years.

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    soryang's picture

    @humphrey ...adds this additional point:

    Last month, Kim Yo Jong threatened to turn the Pacific into the North’s firing range. In her statement Tuesday, she said North Korea would consider a possible U.S. attempt to intercept a North Korean ICBM a declaration of war. She cited a South Korean media report saying the U.S. military plans to shoot down a North Korean ICBM if it is test-launched toward the Pacific.

    https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-us-military-drills-missile-tests-...

    International space begins anywhere from about 50 miles to 80 miles above the earth's surface depending on who defines it. Apparently, there is no international agreement or convention on where national airspace ends and where space begins. Japan has objected to North Korean missiles flying in space over their territory. I don't think there is anything "offensive" about it in the military sense. US space junk overpasses many countries land territory every day.

    I had been concerned about a US potential shootdown of a North Korean ballistic missile test with a potential flight path in space over Japan but I never saw it expressed elsewhere so haven't mentioned it before. North Korean ICBM tests, satellite tests, could be intercepted. North Korean ballistic missile and nuclear testing is specifically proscribed by UN resolution. These ballistic missile "provocations" by North Korea, are less provocative than a nuclear test, but could draw a "defensive" military intercept from the US in collaboration with allies.

    The AP article concludes with US Amb. Rahm Emanuel's observation:

    U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel on Monday praised the leaders of South Korea and Japan, saying the two came to understand that the “potential of collaboration into the future is more important.”

    He's clueless. The reason Yoon Seok-yeol's unilateral proposal to settle the slave labor war crime cases against Japanese corporations is going to be funded (allegedly) by volunteer contributions from Korean corporate contributors, is because the Japanese refuse to pay for it, and it is extremely unlikely the South Korean National Assembly would pay for it.

    The South Korean Presidential Office made some disparaging reference to a novel titled Arirang, as a basis for describing the gullibility and ignorance of Korean victims as a cause of Japanese war crimes. It's really sickening because the folk songs in the Arirang style serve as a sort of unofficial national song for Koreans. The far right administration in South Korea is willing to sell out in order to placate Japanese and US demands. They and their US promoters are living in a geopolitical delusion.

    Each region has its own version of Arirang. This latest version applies to Dokdo a part of Korea still claimed by the Japanese who a took it during the first Sino-Japanese war in 1894 and then lost it back to Korea in August 1945. Japanese defacto military domination of Korea by invasion and occupation began at that time, not 1910 as always cited in US media. Repeated military incidents in the East Sea took place between Japanese maritime patrol aircraft and South Korean naval units in 2018 and 2019. The recent "trilateral Aegis exercise" took place not too far from Dokdo.

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    語必忠信 行必正直

    "Western media have erased from history all the western provocations which led to the war in Ukraine, they only report pro-western narratives, they hide Ukrainian casualties and ignore the Nord Stream pipeline bombing, then they tell you to worry about foreign propaganda."

    -- Caitlin Johnstone

    A bit more from Caitlin:

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    joe shikspack's picture

    @humphrey

    perhaps another question might be, why does a country that has not been able to win a 20-year war against a bunch of cave-dwelling militants think it's a good idea to take on nuclear-armed nations?

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    snoopydawg's picture

    Our benign foreign policy unmasked. The Russian leaders are done being polite.

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    joe shikspack's picture

    @snoopydawg

    lavrov's comments make it sound like mafia boss john bolton is still in charge of foreign policy.

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    Pluto's Republic's picture

    @snoopydawg @snoopydawg

    Smaller, uninvolved countries are coerced to vote at the UN like obedient US poodles. The veiled threats coming from the US go without saying.

    The UN Ambassadors from the various countries of the world have one important job at the UN. They are there to protect their own country from US acts of war and petty revenge. This is what citizens of those countries demand. Voting with the US at the UN is vital to their national security. The Ambassadors are not at the UN to take foolish ideological risks that would anger the US, or to take a stand on behalf of another nation in opposition to the US.

    UN votes don't matter one way or the other in the real world. The UN is a showboat of pretend diplomacy over straw man narratives and false flag contentions. It acts as a pressure valve in pleasant surroundings.

    The real measure is the economic successes of the countries involved. Russia and China have done fine for themselves economically. All those smaller countries are making that happen in the real world. That's how they really vote.

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    ____________________

    The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
    Pluto's Republic's picture

    They may vote with the West at the UN, where speaking their truth is fraught with risk,

    But in the real world, they say it as they see it and do business accordingly.

    @Pluto's Republic

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    ____________________

    The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

    He is like a typical 30 year old!

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    snoopydawg's picture

    @humphrey

    Whoever thought that up needs a prize. I think it’s arrogant of Jill to say that Biden or other elderly congress critters don’t need to have mental health exams. It’s not like having an issue is their fault just like it’s not if people have other age related problems. Trump had one, but even though he did well the shitlibs mocked him for it. Plus we have seen the last 3 years that Biden has difficulty speaking at times and even the media was calling it out before he became the anointed one. Then there’s Feinstein who hasn’t been well for some time and everyone knows it.

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    snoopydawg's picture

    @humphrey

    Truer words….

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    Who doesn't love Otis?
    The Dore interview with the railroad worker's union was just so spot on and inspiring. That man is knowledgeable, articulate, and very wise to the big cheat of government ownership by the oligarchs.
    Maybe that union may lead the way to change.
    Hope you are having spring, a season we experience for a few weeks, typically. We are all in shorts and tee shirts already!
    Thanks, pal! I know it is work for you to post, and it is appreciated!

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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

    joe shikspack's picture

    @on the cusp

    i've seen that fellow from the railroad union interviewed a bunch of times now and he is always on top of the subject with a deep, historical sense of what has been going on with the railroads. if only pete buttigeig could be replaced...

    spring has not quite sprung where i am, but it's on its way. the crocuses are up and the daffodils are working on it. temps are still down in the 30's some nights, but days are averaging in the low 50's. not quite tee shirt weather, but maybe soon.

    have a great evening!

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    snoopydawg's picture

    @joe shikspack

    I’ve gotten 8 inches this weekend and we are not done yet with more snow on the horizon. Plus it’s been unusually cold since January, but maybe up to the 40's this weekend. Our spring should be marvelous and the trees can have a lovely long drink of water. Well everyone wanted a great winter and so we have.

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    @snoopydawg

    In the east for their share./S

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    snoopydawg's picture

    @humphrey

    I still see people here saying that sure the climate is getting warmer, but they just don’t understand or see what is happening everywhere.

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    joe shikspack's picture

    @humphrey

    i saw flurries here on one day for a couple of hours. that's it. i mean, i am happy that the folks out west have gotten some of the snowpack that they need to maintain a habitable environment, and we've had pretty good rain here, but i would have liked a little bit of snow this winter.

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    TheOtherMaven's picture

    @joe shikspack
    Winter much warmer than "normal", or is this the "new normal"? Probably going to have a hot dry summer.

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    There is no justice. There can be no peace.

    snoopydawg's picture

    'The Government Is Trying To Kill Us Now': Low-Income Americans Fume In Mile-Long Food Lines After Pandemic Benefits End

    Now, people are waiting up to nine hours in mile-long lines for free food - some of whom say they can only afford to eat once per day, while others say they limit expensive food items such as meat for specific family members, such as growing teenage boys.

    "I thought, ‘Wow, the government is trying to kill us now," said 63-year-old Danny Blair of Kentucky. Blair, who lives in a mobile home with his wife, survives on his Social Security disability check, the Washington Post reports.

    "They are going to starve us out," Blair continued, apparently unaware that government assistance provided during the pandemic wasn't permanent.

    Well yeah they are. Or they just don’t give a damn if you do. A few towns in the Sierra received record amounts of snow and Newsom has gone on vacation while people there are trying to dig out and survive without any help from government. One town’s grocery store roof collapsed and many are without power. How hard would it be to fly some supplies in? Some people gathered food, medicine and other supplies for them, but they aren’t allowed up the mountain.

    I wonder how much it costs to do the biggest war game with S Korea or the other games that we play years in advance of any war? But I also wonder how many people stuck in those lines used to belittle poor people for being poor and using food stamps and banks?

    In Kentucky, many seniors on food stamps saw their monthly benefit drop from $281 to $22 last year after the state ended the pandemic emergency in May, according to local food bank network, Feeding Kentucky.

    That’s just insulting when millionaire congress members get huge per diems and lots of other perks while they keep their constituents in dire need.

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    enhydra lutris's picture

    So they've nw admitted that at least 1,000 super emitter methane leaks plagued us in 2022. I haven't noticed any assertion t that anything will be done to to prevent more from happening. It's better to go after cow farts I guess.

    be well and have a good one

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

    joe shikspack's picture

    @enhydra lutris

    well, they could feed seaweed to cows and that would probably diminish the methane from them, but getting fossil fool companies to act within the law is an impossibility.

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    TheOtherMaven's picture

    @joe shikspack
    So accurate! Biggrin

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    There is no justice. There can be no peace.

    previously tried. It is an informative read.

    The U.S. Is Not Ready for the Era of ‘Great Power’ Conflict

    https://archive.ph/p7O9s#selection-101.5-101.64

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    joe shikspack's picture

    @humphrey

    i skimmed it, it looks quite good. the wsj is certainly fully bought into the neocon dream of global domination and the military subjugation of china.

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    soryang's picture

    @humphrey I read this. All these problems were entirely predictable. This is price paid for decades of elective warfare with third rate powers (colonial warfare) based on fabricated grounds. The article claims the future planners lost the budget battles. The budget battles? They have got to be kidding. The budget battles with whom? Themselves? There are no budget battles. Their budgets are astronomical. They usually get more than they ask for. They have no insight into the institutional corruption of the defense sector, their own agencies, or defense economics. The generals and admirals are all building and expanding their own empires based on "innovative warfare concepts." Identifying the current "pacing challenge" aka the enemy du jour is little more than advertising PR. Part of the game is learning the jive vocabulary to boost your creds, and getting the ring knockers and "movers and shakers" on board. "It's the greatest innovation since..." We can't avoid this challenge. It's another Hitler. It's appeasement if we don't. Who believes this bs any more? It brings PT Barnum to mind.

    The opportunity cost of continuous elective colonial style warfare for decades, can't be recovered. Our country can't rule the entire planet. Plans to do so used to be considered insanity. Now it's the accepted foreign policy paradigm. Why not start closing overseas military bases rather than opening new ones? The opportunity cost of super duper gee whiz concept weapons systems that cost tens of billions or even hundreds of billions to develop and implement that are abandoned soon after they go into production, and those they unwisely refused to abandon, isn't recoverable. This is what most generals either don't get or pretend they don't understand. It's defense economics 101. There are people who knew this all along. There had to be.

    People had to know, the actual problem has been noted here by many. One is not going to get any brownie points in the Pentagon, get promoted, or line up any cushy appointments to corporate boards, lobbying jobs, or media positions, by telling greedy ambitious people what they don't want to hear. In fact, it's a career killer. How about telling someone that your pet defense R and D program doesn't need all the bell and whistles to do everything? How about stopping misguided efforts, like wars before they start?

    The Ukraine war is a perfect example of the kind of waste that can never be recovered. Yet US media talk about it in dangerously inappropriate terms as if its some kind of cost effective "investment in weakening Russia." This is ridiculous on its face. Rather than rectify its own misguided defense and foreign policies, the US solution is to force them and their deleterious effects on our allies.

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    語必忠信 行必正直

    snoopydawg's picture

    @soryang

    But it’s about how to stick it to we the people and one side calls for drastic cuts while the other side says on no that’s too much and so they meet in the middle and still agree to stick it to we the people. Look at what they are saying about social security and how it needs to be cut. Democrats still hold the senate and Biden can still not sign it, but as usual even though democrats are in power they let republicans set the agenda. It’s kabuki theater at its finest.

    And they even fight over the military budget. Each side makes sure that it’s bigger than the previous year and the fight is over who is more pro military and who supports the troops more even though they rarely see much of the inflated budget. …..oops looks like I feel a rant coming on….

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    orlbucfan's picture

    Thank you, joe s. I love this great, great singer. He died way, way too young. His Respect and Mr. Pitiful weren't too shabby, either. Smile
    I just ignore all the stupid sabre rattling now. China, Russia, USA, and the rest of the world just keep following the dictaks of the usual prehistoric (mostly male) PTBs. What else is new? I'll stick to tunes/music. Rec'd!!

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    Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.