Welcome to Saturday's Potluck - July 29-2023

Submitted by studentofearth on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 6:48am

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

I hope the week has treated you well. I am busy with outside summer work and highly appreciative of the contribution of C99 members who keep these Saturday Open Threads active with dialog and music.

________

Danny Haiphong has posted a new interview with Pepe on events happening the last few days. First 90 min a new interview discussing Africa conference, BRICSs, Danny's impressions from his recent trip to China and North Korea (DPRK).

PEPE ESCOBAR ON THE FUTURE OF BRICS AND THE NEOCON WAR ON CHINA! (2:24:57, The clip starts at the 1:11:01 where the discussion on a possible China/Russia/North Korea alliance may be beginning.)

________

I will be doing some virtual travel this week to the an online visitor center for a site the ancient Silk Road called the Mogao Grottoes. A treasure trove of ancient Buddhist art.

________

Asia Times has a book review of Creating a Planetary Culture: European Science, Chinese Art, and Indian Transcendence by Jan Krikke. I have included his articles several times over the years to help us understand China.

The end of Eurocentrism July 28, 2023

Krikke, a longtime Asia correspondent and frequent contributor to Asia Times, gives Chinese and Indian civilizations equal pride of place in the emergence of our modern world.

At first sight, the main thesis of his book appears to be reductionist: Europe excelled in science, China tended toward art or esthetics, and India’s forte was religion or spirituality. Their mutual influence, which started in earnest in the 19th century, is shaping our planetary culture.

Krikke gives due credit to George Rowley, the American art historian who first noted the dominant qualities of the world’s three “source cultures.” Rowley famously noted: “The Chinese way of looking at life was not primarily through religion, or philosophy, or science, but through art.”

________

The highlighted video this week is with Larry Johnson regarding a Russian missile that reportedly caused damage to an Odessa Church and its timing with a Wikipedia page update.

Russia Already Lost in Ukraine? w/Larry Johnson fmr CIA (22:

The 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.

________

What is on your mind today?

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Open Thread

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Submitted by QMS on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 7:50am

The common interests among the three countries

China/Russia/North Korea make a lot of sense. Not the least of which is their
shared threats by NATO and western sanctions. Since Japan and South Korea
are now western vassals, those two will miss-out on potential benefits.

Situated in northern Shaanxi Province on the Loess Plateau, Yan'an overlooks the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the cradle of Chinese Civilization. Yan’an is a well-known Chinese revolutionary holy land as it once was a command center of the China’s Communist Party. Chairman Mao and other revolutionaries lived here and led the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. Here you can understand the history of modern China and the Communist Party of China. Besides various revolutionary sites, it features the largest waterfall on the Yellow River, Hukou Waterfall. Yan’an also presents wonderful folk arts such as the bold Yan'an waist drum, high-pitched Northern Shaanxi folk songs, exquisite folk paper-cutting, and cheerful Yangko, showing Yan’an people’s positive and optimistic life interest.

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/shaanxi/yanan/

Thank you for the Potluck OT!

—

question everything

Submitted by soryang on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 12:26pm

Very interesting

@QMS OT thanks SOE. I enjoyed reading Revisiting the Tao of Physics by Krikke just now. Thanks for introducing me to him.

https://asiatimes.com/2023/01/revisiting-the-tao-of-physics/

I've was interested in this subject for a few years. When I was driving I would listen to Deepak Chopra's show occasionally and was fortunate to hear one of the Copenhagen School physicists on his program a couple of times. When I was young I read some of Alan Watts and D.T. Suzuki. My mother who had a degree in fine arts, introduced me to Japanese prints as well as the western great masters before that.

I did find the aesthetic theme being related to China especially somewhat one dimensional or "reductionist" a criticism acknowledged and then rejected. I think if one comes to introduce oneself to Chinese culture via Japan which is natural for a few reasons one gets introduced to this aspect of East Asian culture, because it's the most obvious.

You could say there is a Chinese aesthetic of governance, even an aesthetic of warfare. They don't call it the Art of War for nothing. The aesthetic of the Art of War is not to fight unnecessarily or without skill. It's actually better not to fight at all. There is an economy of application also found in desirable art.

Calligraphy itself is a kind of aesthetic, although in Chinses culture it was primarily the path to government service associated with study of the classics. So there is the art of governance. I could be wrong but the Japanese aesthetic seemed more elevated or valued and even rigidly adhered to than in Korea and China. Much of Chinese and Korean culture was traditionally dedicated to recording history, the history of the court, the history of the empires. This of course is just my opinion as a amateur observer of such things.

Back to physics, I don't know what the status of the Copenhagen school's perspective on metaphysics and religion is right now. Just reading your post makes me want to return to update myself on that subject matter. Once I read a book by a quantum physicist called the Physics of Consciousness. According to this author consciousness itself was the product of a quantum process rather than just chemistry. Has this theory been buried once and for all?

Because of an old interest in collecting ceramics, I learned that the impressionist painting style was inspired by Japanese prints, which were often used as wrapping paper on their ceramics, which became a fad in western Europe among the well to do. Visual artists viewed the prints as more fascinating. Can't remember the source for this account.

I wrote an article on Kim Hong-do, "Korea's Renaissance Painter," really an interpretation of a history program on his significance, a while back. Revisiting my early interest in art, west and east.

(Source- KBS역사저널 그날, youtube, Sept 25, 2020) KBS 한국사전 – 조선의 르네상스를 그리다, 단원 김홍도 / KBS 2007.10.13 방송)
Temporary palace at Siheung on the road back to Hanyang (Seoul). This image is part of one panel in an eight panel screen depicting the activities of the procession group at Siheung. The royal court could hear grievances of the people, dispense surplus food, and entertain the elderly from village communities.

Below are two pictures are from Kim Hong-do's later life after the death of his sponsor King Jeongjo. Kim is famous for his lifelike portrayals of everyday Koreans of his time in the activities of daily life.

(Source- KBS역사저널 그날, youtube Sept 25, 2020)

This was the opposite, west affecting east.
https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2021/07/kim-hong-do-koreas-...

—

語必忠信行必正直

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 12:34pm

It's actually better not to fight at all.

@soryang

Thank you for these lessons.
Have been east bound since early in my life.

Let's hope more people can understand their culture.
And get over the propaganda of the US version of
their 'enemies'.

#1 OT thanks SOE. I enjoyed reading Revisiting the Tao of Physics by Krikke just now. Thanks for introducing me to him. https://asiatimes.com/2023/01/revisiting-the-tao-of-physics/ I've was interested in this subject for a few years. When I was driving I would listen to Deepak Chopra's show occasionally and was fortunate to hear one of the Copenhagen School physicists on his program a couple of times. When I was young I read some of Alan Watts and D.T. Suzuki. My mother who had a degree in fine arts, introduced me to Japanese prints as well as the western great masters before that. I did find the aesthetic theme being related to China especially somewhat one dimensional or "reductionist" a criticism acknowledged and then rejected. I think if one comes to introduce oneself to Chinese culture via Japan which is natural for a few reasons one gets introduced to this aspect of East Asian culture, because it's the most obvious. You could say there is a Chinese aesthetic of governance, even an aesthetic of warfare. They don't call it the Art of War for nothing. The aesthetic of the Art of War is not to fight unnecessarily or without skill. It's actually better not to fight at all. There is an economy of application also found in desirable art. Calligraphy itself is a kind of aesthetic, although in Chinses culture it was primarily the path to government service associated with study of the classics. So there is the art of governance. I could be wrong but the Japanese aesthetic seemed more elevated or valued and even rigidly adhered to than in Korea and China. Much of Chinese and Korean culture was traditionally dedicated to recording history, the history of the court, the history of the empires. This of course is just my opinion as a amateur observer of such things. Back to physics, I don't know what the status of the Copenhagen school's perspective on metaphysics and religion is right now. Just reading your post makes me want to return to update myself on that subject matter. Once I read a book by a quantum physicist called the Physics of Consciousness. According to this author consciousness itself was the product of a quantum process rather than just chemistry. Has this theory been buried once and for all? Because of an old interest in collecting ceramics, I learned that the impressionist painting style was inspired by Japanese prints, which were often used as wrapping paper on their ceramics, which became a fad in western Europe among the well to do. Visual artists viewed the prints as more fascinating. Can't remember the source for this account. I wrote an article on Kim Hong-do, "Korea's Renaissance Painter," really an interpretation of a history program on his significance, a while back. Revisiting my early interest in art, west and east. (Source- KBS역사저널 그날, youtube, Sept 25, 2020) KBS 한국사전 – 조선의 르네상스를 그리다, 단원 김홍도 / KBS 2007.10.13 방송) Temporary palace at Siheung on the road back to Hanyang (Seoul). This image is part of one panel in an eight panel screen depicting the activities of the procession group at Siheung. The royal court could hear grievances of the people, dispense surplus food, and entertain the elderly from village communities. Below are two pictures are from Kim Hong-do's later life after the death of his sponsor King Jeongjo. Kim is famous for his lifelike portrayals of everyday Koreans of his time in the activities of daily life. (Source- KBS역사저널 그날, youtube Sept 25, 2020) (Source- KBS역사저널 그날, youtube Sept 25, 2020) This was the opposite, west affecting east. https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2021/07/kim-hong-do-koreas-...

—

question everything

Submitted by soryang on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 12:48pm

Oops!

@QMS QMS sorry I conflated your post with SOE's. The transition was so smooth, I initially overlooked that your comments and videos as a separate post. I enjoyed your comments on Yan'an and the links as well.

By all means, no war!

—

語必忠信行必正直

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 12:02pm

I thought Russia Gate was much more serious than

Water Gate because of what Obama and others in his administration did to turn people’s brains into mush just to derail people from the contents of Hillary’s emails that showed how the democrats squashed Bernie’s campaign. Remember Rice demasked a lot of people in the Trump campaign and the FBI’s lying to get warrants to spy on his campaign. Patrick Lawrence reminds us of how it got started and then he writes about an even worse scandal in Biden Gate. I think this is one of his best works.
2 links with one going back to his article on what Hillary did and the current NYP article on the Biden’s taking bribes to protect the owner of Burisma. Lawrence lays out the whole squalid affair in Ukraine, but there’s even more evidence that the Biden’s took money from China and other countries. And remember that the FBI investigated the Clinton foundation and found nothing to see so she was free to use the foundation again for pay to play during her time as SOS. For some reason the republicans had no problem with that.

No, The Truth About Biden Is Not Democratic

Let us cast our minds back just briefly to the very fine afternoon of July 22, 2016. It was an especially bright Friday, as you may recall, because WikiLeaks released a lot of Democratic Party emails that day, so shining a light worthy of a night game at Yankee Stadium on the party’s corrupt machinations to destroy Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid in the service of the first Goldwater Democrat, the ever-endearing Hillary Clinton. Pause a moment to summon the time.

Now recall the following Sunday, July 24, when Robbie Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, appeared back-to-back on the Sunday morning news programs to proclaim that never-named “experts” had never-shown “evidence” that it was the Rrrrrrussians who pilfered the mail and gave it to Julian Assange’s operation. What is more, Mook claimed that the experts, in a matter of 48 hours, were able to detect intent: The Russians had acted in behalf of Donald Trump’s campaign. Nothing was said, and very little subsequently, of the embarrassing contents of the mail Democrats accused Russians of stealing.

It was the singer, not the song. So were Americans guided to think about what turned out to be an internal leak, not a hack by the Russians or anyone else

Myself, I was apoplectic, and shortly thereafter made this clear in print, as I watched the puerile Mook unroll this rubbish to the nodding assent of various television hacks. Never mind what was in the mail: How the mail got where it got was the determinant. Atop this was the implicit assertion, yet more insidious, that the truth has some kind of brand. If the Russians have anything to do with it, whatever was true could not be true. The obverse also held, supposedly: If the Democrats say something is so, it is so.

When we finish with our recollections we ought to devote another moment to the psychological implications of Mook’s propaganda pirouette that fateful weekend, when the Democrats pulled the lever to dump five years of Russiagate garbage upon us. I see in those few days the seeds of a thought-control operation that, as we have it all these years later, is undermining our republic as surely as the more visible varieties of corruption, notably but not only the politicized abuse of the Justice Department and its law-enforcement appendages. The one goes with the other: The perversion of public institutions in broad daylight requires that our thoughts are managed such that we cannot see or understand these perversions as they occur.

It was seven years ago last week that the damaging leak of the Democrats’ email set Russiagate in motion.

My mind went back to those first Russiagate days last Thursday, when the tabloid that reported the Hunter Biden computer story just before the 2020 election dropped another in a series of big ones on us. “Biden $10M bribe file released: Burisma chief said he was ‘coerced’ to pay Joe, ‘stupid’ Hunter in bombshell allegations” was the headline on this latest New York Post piece. Whatever you were doing before picking up the paper, you had to stop long enough to read this one. I did.

You will recall the recent kerfuffle on Capitol Hill, when FBI Director Christopher Wray refused to give the House Oversight Committee an agency file containing allegations that President Biden and Hunter were indeed on the take from Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company, during Joe’s time as Barack Obama’s veep and bearer of the Ukraine portfolio. Wray capitulated when threatened with contempt of Congress, and it was this file Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator from Iowa, made public Thursday. Just when you think la famille Biden couldn’t get any filthier, la famille Biden turns out to be filthier.

We already knew V–P Biden intervened back in 2016, when Viktor Shokin, the prosecutor general, was at the front end of an official investigation into corruption at Burisma. Hunter was by then taking home $50,000 a month—the Post says $83,000—for sitting on Burisma’s board and doing nothing other than being his father’s son. Joe stepped in to get Shokin fired—alleging, perversely, that Shokin had to go because he was corrupt. This was in 2016, when Joe was recorded in that infamous video bragging, at the Council on Foreign Relations no less, that he threatened to withhold $5 billion in U.S. aid if Shokin wasn’t removed. “And, son of a bitch, they fired him,” was Joe’s punchline on that occasion.

The Post article brings you up to date on the Burisma scandal if you haven’t seen it yet. There is definitely a lot of smoke in Biden Gate and much more true evidence on it than the bogus charges, FBI whistleblower and impeachment for Trump. If Trump’s sons had done what Hunter did there’s a good chance that republicans would have voted to impeach him.

But I think that if republicans are serious about looking at foreign bribery then they should open the books on every person in government that has their own private foundation. After the Hellabitch lost the election the funds for the Clinton Foundation dried up and went into the McCain Foundation because of his shenanigans in Ukraine. If Hillary had won the war would have started earlier.

There is so much corruption in our government I think the only solution is to do what happened at the end of Clancy's book Executive Order! Then we can start over.

—

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

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 1:17pm

Good morning soe, et.al., y'all. Heh, nothing topical from moi

today I fear. Just returned from farmers' market, which is still going strong, especially the fish monger who comes in straight off the boat with fresh caught product. We picked up some rock cod for dinner tonight. Not a true cod or relative of any kind, but a cold water rock fish that was a fisherman's secret for years and years and is really good eating.

Thanks for the OT and all of the content.
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 --

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 1:59pm

Thanks for the comments

@enhydra lutris

and enjoy the fish!
Or was it thanks for all the fish?

—

question everything

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 1:51pm

Perhaps all of the following are interrelated.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of the presidential guard, has declared himself the new leader of Niger following Wednesday's coup. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council has called for the immediate release of President Mohamed Bazoum, who’s currently being detained pic.twitter.com/zAzBW1zryT

— RT (@RT_com) July 29, 2023

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken today requested the immediate release of the deposed president of Niger, Mohamed Bazum, and the return of democratic order to the country, warning that further assistance provided by the US depends on this.
"America's aid to Niger is… pic.twitter.com/r60K0y0OEW

— Spriter Team (@SpriterTeam) July 29, 2023

The French Foreign Ministry has announced that it has Suspended all Military and Developmental Aid to West African Nation of Niger due to the recent Coup d'état against the Democratically-Elected President.

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 29, 2023

The Finance minister of Niger Republic breaks down in tears after he's told by the new military Junta, which has overthrown the highly corrupt government, to account for all the money stolen from of the country in the next 48 hrs - or face execution by firing squad. pic.twitter.com/sh7oMOsTuK

— Mark Alan Pearce (@PearceAlan1962) July 29, 2023

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 4:23pm

I guess that is why we keep hearing "as long as it takes" from

the US and its puppets.

The victory of Russia over Ukraine will be the defeat of the collective West, - Serbian President Vucic

The West cannot allow Ukraine to be defeated, because together with it, "America and the European Union, that is, NATO and the collective West, will be defeated." pic.twitter.com/y1Bt4wdHqb

— Spetsnaℤ 007 (@Alex_Oloyede2) July 29, 2023

Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 5:13pm

That, and as long as the war grinds on

@humphrey

the Merchants of Death continue to make obscene profits. To them there is no profit in peace - so they see to it there is no peace.

—

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Submitted by on the cusp on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 5:15pm

I do not have wifi at this ranch cottage.

My mobile hot spot data is 5 gigabytes, so I can't risk using it up by viewing videos, unless they are just a few minutes long. Must watch them when I get home tomorrow afternoon.
Well, the ranch workers drove to the deer feeder, re-filled it with corn, and Shep, the huge German Shepherd buddy of ours went with them. He took a huge dump right by the feeder. So, I won't be seeing deer at all today.
The concert is tonight, looking forward to it.
I look forward to getting actual info on the war in Ukraine.
nice to have the sources soe and others bring to the site.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, friends!

—

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

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 5:44pm

ISIS sure does come in handy when you want to plunder

Syria's resources.

WSJ on the US occupation of Syria:

US claims to be "combating the remnants" of ISIS. Yet US troops "are operating in the east, far from the northwest enclave where suspected ISIS and al Qaeda leaders have been operating."

So what's in the east? Syria's oil and wheat. pic.twitter.com/OK9uiEOE5C

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) July 28, 2023

Submitted by Lookout on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 6:12pm

Good evening...

Checking in late after a busy day.

The Larry Johnson piece with the judge is worth a listen for sure. Thanks for that and the entire OT.

Loved the comments too everyone!

—

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

Submitted by QMS on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 7:12pm

of the cuff

buyer beware: I don't wear sleeves

—

question everything

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 8:29pm

Interesting update on the BRICS and Russia

Alt-Media Is In Shock After The BRICS Bank Confirmed That It Complies With Western Sanctions

Those who aren’t irredeemably brainwashed and sincerely aspire to understand the global systemic transition to multipolarity as it objectively exists instead of indulging in wishful thinking about it should use this unpleasant development as the opportunity to finally awaken.

The Alt-Media Community (AMC) has hyped their audience up since the start of the NATO-Russian proxy war seventeen months ago into thinking that BRICS is supposedly on the brink of dealing a deathblow to the dollar. Top influencers deliberately exaggerated the group’s role in advancing financial multipolarity processes in order to generate clout, push their ideological agenda, and/or solicit donations from their well-intended but naive followers.

The reality is that BRICS only envisages gradually reforming the global financial system through a series of carefully coordinated moves whose effects will take a lot of time to materialize, not radically changing everything by de facto declaring war on the Western-centric financial order with all that entails. After all, apart from Russia nowadays, all of its members are in relationships of complex interdependence with the same lopsided system that they intend to reform.

It therefore follows that none of those other four ever planned to cross their Western partners’ financial red lines like the AMC’s top influencers falsely claimed and thus risk catalyzing the mutually disastrous consequences of a so-called “decoupling”. Their economies could crash, Color Revolution threats might then soar, and the resultant international instability could complicate their respective grand strategies. Anyone who expected otherwise was misled as the latest development on Wednesday proved.

Newly appointed President of the New Development Bank (NDB, which is popular known as the BRICS Bank) Dilma Rousseff confirmed in a statement published on her official Twitter account that “The NDB reiterated that it is not planning new projects in Russia and operates in compliance with applicable restrictions on international financial and capital markets. Any speculations on such a matter are unfounded.”

Rousseff used to lead Brazil prior to her ouster in August 2016 as part of the US’ rolling regime change campaign there at the time. Her appointment as President of the BRICS Bank by newly re-elected and now three-time President Lula da Silva was spun by the AMC’s top influencers as allegedly proving its supposedly secret plans to de facto declare war on the Western-centric financial order. Their audience fell for this lie due to their sympathy for her and their false belief that Lula is against the US.

They could never have imagined that she of all people would be the one to officially inform the world that the BRICS Bank is complying with Western sanctions against Russia and then rubbish all related speculation about her group’s intentions as “unfounded”. In one fell swoop, it became undeniable that “BRICS Isn’t What Many Of Its Supporters Assumed”, thus shattering the AMC’s worldview and discrediting those of its top influencers who deliberately exaggerated its role in the emerging order

Companion article

Political Analysis in Today’s Interconnected Globalized Society: Seven Steps

That’s why there’s a tendency for people all across the world to follow “unofficial” political analysts because it’s presumed that they’re less tied to any vested interests that could taint their final information products. Of course, this is literally only just that – a presumption – and isn’t a “social law” of any kind but rather just a widespread perception that’s increasingly gaining traction, though in any case, a lot of people in today’s interconnected globalized society want to try their hand at making a difference and explaining the rest of the world to their peers, ergo the interest in entering the field of political analysis whether formally or informally. I’ve decided to give my readers some advice for what they can do if this is something that they’re really interested in, and hopefully my words will help at least one person achieve their dreams.

For those of you who want to become political analysts, here are the seven steps that you should follow:

1. Dispel All Dogma

It’s hard to know who is telling the truth anymore and especially after the Smith-Mundt act was torn up thanks to Obama. But it’s not like the government was adhering to it anyway. "Saddam has WMDs" wasn’t the first time government lied us into war and there have been lots of things they have lied to us about. Like 2 planes took down 3 buildings… Israel didn’t really attack the Liberty… Obama’s got this because he’s playing 11 dimensional chess…

I am sure that I am believing in something that isn’t true and vice versa. And it is hard to see the truth when the propaganda is so good. But not believing anything I read isn’t the answer either. Maybe I’m becoming a liberal whose brain is so open that it falls out. I dunno.

—

Submitted by humphrey on Sat, 07/29/2023 - 9:29pm

I wouldn't put very much credence in the articles.

@snoopydawg

It seems that he accentuates something that is immaterial for example.

Dilma Rousseff confirmed in a statement published on her official Twitter account that “The NDB reiterated that it is not planning new projects in Russia and operates in compliance with applicable restrictions on international financial and capital markets.

Russia is not overly suffering from the sanctions and doesn't really need help from the Brics Bank. In fact it recently forgave the debts of many African nations and is also offering free grain and fertilizers to some of them.

I checked some of his past work and his record is only so-so.

In conclusion I will not follow his future efforts.

.

Alt-Media Is In Shock After The BRICS Bank Confirmed That It Complies With Western Sanctions

Those who aren’t irredeemably brainwashed and sincerely aspire to understand the global systemic transition to multipolarity as it objectively exists instead of indulging in wishful thinking about it should use this unpleasant development as the opportunity to finally awaken.

The Alt-Media Community (AMC) has hyped their audience up since the start of the NATO-Russian proxy war seventeen months ago into thinking that BRICS is supposedly on the brink of dealing a deathblow to the dollar. Top influencers deliberately exaggerated the group’s role in advancing financial multipolarity processes in order to generate clout, push their ideological agenda, and/or solicit donations from their well-intended but naive followers.

The reality is that BRICS only envisages gradually reforming the global financial system through a series of carefully coordinated moves whose effects will take a lot of time to materialize, not radically changing everything by de facto declaring war on the Western-centric financial order with all that entails. After all, apart from Russia nowadays, all of its members are in relationships of complex interdependence with the same lopsided system that they intend to reform.

It therefore follows that none of those other four ever planned to cross their Western partners’ financial red lines like the AMC’s top influencers falsely claimed and thus risk catalyzing the mutually disastrous consequences of a so-called “decoupling”. Their economies could crash, Color Revolution threats might then soar, and the resultant international instability could complicate their respective grand strategies. Anyone who expected otherwise was misled as the latest development on Wednesday proved.

Newly appointed President of the New Development Bank (NDB, which is popular known as the BRICS Bank) Dilma Rousseff confirmed in a statement published on her official Twitter account that “The NDB reiterated that it is not planning new projects in Russia and operates in compliance with applicable restrictions on international financial and capital markets. Any speculations on such a matter are unfounded.”

Rousseff used to lead Brazil prior to her ouster in August 2016 as part of the US’ rolling regime change campaign there at the time. Her appointment as President of the BRICS Bank by newly re-elected and now three-time President Lula da Silva was spun by the AMC’s top influencers as allegedly proving its supposedly secret plans to de facto declare war on the Western-centric financial order. Their audience fell for this lie due to their sympathy for her and their false belief that Lula is against the US.

They could never have imagined that she of all people would be the one to officially inform the world that the BRICS Bank is complying with Western sanctions against Russia and then rubbish all related speculation about her group’s intentions as “unfounded”. In one fell swoop, it became undeniable that “BRICS Isn’t What Many Of Its Supporters Assumed”, thus shattering the AMC’s worldview and discrediting those of its top influencers who deliberately exaggerated its role in the emerging order

Companion article

Political Analysis in Today’s Interconnected Globalized Society: Seven Steps

That’s why there’s a tendency for people all across the world to follow “unofficial” political analysts because it’s presumed that they’re less tied to any vested interests that could taint their final information products. Of course, this is literally only just that – a presumption – and isn’t a “social law” of any kind but rather just a widespread perception that’s increasingly gaining traction, though in any case, a lot of people in today’s interconnected globalized society want to try their hand at making a difference and explaining the rest of the world to their peers, ergo the interest in entering the field of political analysis whether formally or informally. I’ve decided to give my readers some advice for what they can do if this is something that they’re really interested in, and hopefully my words will help at least one person achieve their dreams.

For those of you who want to become political analysts, here are the seven steps that you should follow:

1. Dispel All Dogma

It’s hard to know who is telling the truth anymore and especially after the Smith-Mundt act was torn up thanks to Obama. But it’s not like the government was adhering to it anyway. "Saddam has WMDs" wasn’t the first time government lied us into war and there have been lots of things they have lied to us about. Like 2 planes took down 3 buildings… Israel didn’t really attack the Liberty… Obama’s got this because he’s playing 11 dimensional chess…

I am sure that I am believing in something that isn’t true and vice versa. And it is hard to see the truth when the propaganda is so good. But not believing anything I read isn’t the answer either. Maybe I’m becoming a liberal whose brain is so open that it falls out. I dunno.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 07/30/2023 - 6:32pm

FWIW naked capitalism also agrees with korybko

@humphrey

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/07/alt-media-is-in-shock-after-the-...

Yves gets lots of kudos for her opinion from various authors like b and simplicious and Johnson and others. I guess time will tell if he’s correct.

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