“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso

Foreshadowing is a narrative device in which a storyteller gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story. Foreshadowing often appears at the beginning of a story, and it helps develop or subvert the audience's expectations about upcoming events

(Wikepedia) Only now our news sources use the technique to prepare an audience (us) for major events such as the the "mutiny" playing our in Russia. It is real with real consequences.

I find it hard to believe it is a spontaneous event. More of a coordinated event within a larger conflict to gain advantage. Yevgeny Prigozhin has been steadily promoted in the press as an alternative leader for Russia. The latest shift is towards military leaders instead of political leaders. No longer simply words, physical action has been taken this is the last time to use Prigozhin as a divisive tool.

This posted before any reporting of a mutiny or coup on other sites. Is part of a regular occurrence of articles building up the reputation of Prigozhin over the past few months and suggesting a larger role in leading Russia.

Wagner Group: a force at war with itself Asia Times June 23, 2023

But the increasing visibility of these groups in Ukraine and the public infighting between the ministry of defense and the groups’ leadership is a reminder of the system of patronage and fealty that characterizes political culture in today’s Russia.

Turf wars are common, as rivals compete for resources, influence and, of course, the ear of Vladimir Putin himself. You only have to look at the insults hurled at each other by Prigozhin and Shoigu.

Prigozhin has been very vocal in his criticism of Shoigu and the Russian generals running the war, frequently accusing them of incompetence and corruption. The long-running acrimony between the pair reportedly stems from the defense minister cutting off Prigozhin’s access to profitable defense contracts.

Meanwhile the fighting and its destruction of human lives and environmental destruction continues.

This meeting should help determine if they are proxies or decision makers.

Sullivan, Nuland to Attend Ukraine-Organized Meeting in Denmark Antiwar June 22, 2023

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will travel to Denmark this weekend for a meeting organized by Ukraine that is expected to be attended by officials from several countries that have remained neutral on the war, including India, China, South Africa, and Brazil.

Ukraine requested the meeting with non-aligned countries, and Sullivan is expected to push them to increase support for Kyiv. The meeting hasn’t been announced and was first reported by Financial Times on Wednesday.
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The officials at the meeting are expected to discuss peace proposals, and the Western side will likely push for the neutral countries to come around to Kyiv’s demands for an end to the war, which include a full Russian withdrawal before any negotiations can happen.

The Cliff note style of economics is a good opportunity to test your knowledge on methods to transfer wealth in past and possibilities being explored to replace US dollar as financial weapon.

Are we living through a de-dollarization? Asia Times June 23, 2023

Imperial commodity money

The Spanish and Portuguese empires had one solution to keep the flow of metals going: to commit genocide against the civilizations of the Americas, steal their gold and silver, and force the indigenous peoples to work themselves to death in the mines.

The Dutch and then British empires got their hands on the same gold using a number of mechanisms, including the monopolization of the slave trade through the Assiento of 1713 and the theft of indigenous lands in the United States and Canada.

Stolen silver was used to purchase valuable trade goods in China. Britain stole that silver back from China after the Opium Wars, which China had to pay immense indemnities (in silver) for losing.

Once established as the global imperial manager, the British Empire insisted on the gold standard while putting India on a silver standard. In his 2022 PhD thesis, political economist Jayanth Jose Tharappel called this scheme “bimetallic apartheid”: Britain used the silver standard to acquire Indian commodities and the gold standard to trade with European countries.

India was then used as a money pump for British control of the global economy, squeezed as needed: India ran a trade surplus with the rest of the world but was meanwhile in a trade deficit with Britain, which charged its colony “Home Charges” for the privilege of being looted.
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The upshot of all this activity was that the Britain drained $45 trillion from India between 1765 and 1938, according to research by economist Utsa Patnaik.

The Greater Eurasia project: Building bridges and breaking barriers by Pepe Escobar June 22, 2023

On July 4, at a New Delhi summit, Iran will finally become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

That will be one of the key decisions of the summit, held via video-conference, along with the signing of a memorandum on the path by Belarus to also become a member state.

In parallel, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk has confirmed that Iran and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) should sign a free trade agreement (FTA) by the end of 2023.

The FTA will expand an interim deal that already lowers customs duties on hundreds of categories of goods.
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In a parallel track, the members of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU), during a recent summit in Iran, decided to launch a new cross-border financial messaging system this month as a rival to the western-centric SWIFT.

The ACU comprises the Central Banks of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Iran: a healthy mix of West Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
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Iran is now at the heart of all things multipolar. The recent discovery of a massive lithium field holding roughly 10 percent of the world’s reserves, coupled with the quite possible admission of Iran into the expanded BRICS – or BRICS+ – as early as this year, has bolstered scenarios of an upcoming BRICS currency backed by commodities: gold, oil, gas and – inevitably – lithium.
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The Global South has had enough of the US sanctioning and banning whoever, whatever, and whenever they like, in defense of a hazy, arbitrary “rules-based international order.”
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The BRICS have other ideas to escape this vicious circle. Much will rely on an enhanced role for its New Development Bank (NDB), which comprises the five BRICS members as well as Bangladesh, the UAE, and Egypt. Uruguay will be joining soon, and the membership requests of Argentina, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Zimbabwe have also been approved.

According to Brazil’s former head of state and current NDB President Dilma Rousseff, decisions on new members will officially be announced at the upcoming August BRICS summit in South Africa.

Overview of current structure of US intelligence agencies, their relationships and activities.

Spying that Occurs Round the World w/ LARRY JOHNSON fmr CIA (31:07 min)

Ukraine War - Is Moscow Lying? w/Col Doug Macgregor (24:15min )

The other livestream videos this week by Judge Napolitano channel ongoing discussions regarding current Ukraine/Russia conflict. the interviews are generally posted on Monday through Thursday if would like to view them in a more timely manner.

Humans Have Pumped So Much Groundwater It Moved Earth’s Rotational Pole Sputnikglobe June 23, 2023

A new study has found just how much pumping groundwater affects the planet: it literally causes the poles to move.

The study, recently published in the Geophysical Research Letters, has found that wells tapping underground water aquifers have redistributed enough of the Earth’s mass to affect its spin.
Between 1993 and 2010, humans pumped around 2,150 gigatons of groundwater, the equivalent of raising the ocean level by 6 millimeters. That caused the planet’s poles to shift about 80 centimeters (31.5 inches) to the east, roughly in the direction of Russia's Novaya Zemlya.

Scientists had previously discovered in 2016 that polar motion was affected by how water is stored on the planet. However, its impact had not been directly quantified.

"Earth's rotational pole actually changes a lot," said geophysicist Ki-Weon Seo of Seoul National University in South Korea, in a news release. "Our study shows that among climate-related causes, the redistribution of groundwater actually has the largest impact on the drift of the rotational pole."
"Observing changes in Earth's rotational pole is useful for understanding continent-scale water storage variations," Seo said. "Polar motion data are available from as early as the late 19th century. So, we can potentially use those data to understand continental water storage variations during the last 100 years. Were there any hydrological regime changes resulting from the warming climate? Polar motion could hold the answer."

Other events can also cause the planet’s pole to change its location, including powerful earthquakes and large meteor strikes, both of which alter the shape of the Earth’s crust. Each year, the pole shifts several meters.

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