Open Thread WE 30 AUG 23 ~ sanction suicide
The expansion of BRICS membership is a direct result of the US illegal sanctions policy IMO.
Some 39 nations and territories are under direct or indirect sanctions. Most of these sanctions are not authorized by the United Nations Security Council and many of them are enacted by the US alone.They are called “unilateral coercive measures” at the United Nations.
These US decrees and legislation are “extraterritorial” when they assume the right to impose regulations, restrictions and penalties on non- US countries, companies and individuals.
Because this issue is vitally important, a coalition of non-profit and human rights organizations called “Sanctions Kill” has prepared the following report. The information and findings are the result of on- the-ground investigation in Syria plus questionnaires with citizens of some of the most severely sanctioned countries such as Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
https://sanctionskill.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SanctionsReport_v1-...
Also ...
Cross-national studies decisively find severe negative effects of sanctions on people in target countries... ~ These include per capita income, poverty, inequality, international trade, child mortality, undernourishment, life expectancy, and human rights.
https://cepr.net/report/the-human-consequences-of-economic-sanctions/
And ...
The expansion of BRICS membership is a direct result of the US
illegal sanctions policy IMO.
Some 39 nations and territories are under direct or indirect sanctions. Most of these sanctions are not authorized by the United Nations Security Council and many of them are enacted by the US alone.They are called “unilateral coercive measures” at the United Nations.
These US decrees and legislation are “extraterritorial” when they assume the right to impose regulations, restrictions and penalties on non- US countries, companies and individuals.
Because this issue is vitally important, a coalition of non-profit and human rights organizations called “Sanctions Kill” has prepared the following report. The information and findings are the result of on- the-ground investigation in Syria plus questionnaires with citizens of some of the most severely sanctioned countries such as Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
https://sanctionskill.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SanctionsReport_v1-...
Also ...
Cross-national studies decisively find severe negative effects of sanctions on people in target countries... ~ These include per capita income, poverty, inequality, international trade, child mortality, undernourishment, life expectancy, and human rights.
https://cepr.net/report/the-human-consequences-of-economic-sanctions/
And ...
Negative Impacts of Sanctions on Civil Society
While there is a broad exemption for humanitarian aid included in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), consecutive administrations have cancelled this humanitarian exemption in executive orders on counterterrorism sanctions, effectively nullifying this provision of IEEPA.
Congress should work to establish stronger oversight over presidential use of sanctions.
• End the use of broad-based sanctions that target entire countries and economies.
• The administration should make the findings of its broad sanctions review public.
• Implement reporting procedures to ensure that current and future sanctions do not impede civil
society operations.
https://charityandsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CSN-Sanctions-...
Talk about a screwed-up foreign policy. This sanctions war is being pushed by the banking
cartel to maintain their dominance in global finance. The BRICS block may very well put
a wrench in their devious plans.
Negative Impacts of Sanctions on Civil Society
While there is a broad exemption for humanitarian aid included in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), consecutive administrations have cancelled this humanitarian exemption in executive orders on counterterrorism sanctions, effectively nullifying this provision of IEEPA.
Congress should work to establish stronger oversight over presidential use of sanctions.
• End the use of broad-based sanctions that target entire countries and economies.
• The administration should make the findings of its broad sanctions review public.
• Implement reporting procedures to ensure that current and future sanctions do not impede civil
society operations.
https://charityandsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CSN-Sanctions-...
Talk about a screwed-up foreign policy. This sanctions war is being pushed by the banking
cartel to maintain their dominance in global finance. The BRICS block may very well put
a wrench in their devious plans. It appears the State Department perceives sees this as
a grave threat, in spite of it being a hopeful alternative for the rest of the world.
Since this is your open thread, feel free to add whatever you have in mind to the mix.
Comments
Good morning
Today we celebrate grief awareness day. I grieve for the folks in FL
getting another cross state deluge name Idalia.
In history, 1954 - Hurricane Carol kills 68 on the US East Coast
1969 - 3-day Texas International Pop Festival opens in Lewisville, Texas - 125,000 attend, ; performers include: Chicago Transit Authority; Delaney and Bonnie and Friends; Grand Funk Railroad; Janis Joplin; B.B. King; Led Zeppelin; Nazz; Sam and Dave; Sly and the Family Stone; and Johnny Winter
1979 - Hurricane David, kills 1200 in Florida, Domincana & Dominican Republic
2017 - Hurricane Irma forms near Cape Verde Islands, will go on to become category 5 hurricane and kill at least 102
2021 - America ends its longest-ever war of 20 years in Afghanistan as the last military evacuation plane flies out of Kabul
good luck peoples
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
I am compelled to quibble with your last point because
my September 4 column does so. In a nutshell, on September 4 1886, Goyaale, better known as Geronimo, surrendered. We had been at war with him and his followers for nearly 30 years. That was but a portion of our longer war against the Apache. If we ignore the pretense that each conflict with each band or tribe at each locale or time is a separate "war", such as the "Seminole War(s)", we were at war with the indians, as a people, from the day the various European colonists and conquerors landed until into the 19th century, a genocidal war of attempted extermination lasting over 200 years.
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 --
I wish all our FL friends the best...
Several of my buddies are without power. The big bend of FL is relatively sparsely populated, so hope we don't see lost of life. Homes, power grids, and so on can be rebuilt, but lives can't be replaced.
At any rate they are in my mind this morning.
As to BRICS+ and sanctions I think you are exactly right. To my mind when the world saw the US steal Russia's foreign reserves, it sent off warning lights beginning the massive dedollarization currently taking place. And now banks are beginning to target customers for their beliefs like we saw in Canada and the UK with Farage. First it happens to other countries, but then it comes home to target citizens.
Well thanks for the OT. It is off with the bush hog and on with the box scrape this AM to touch up the road after a 1 inch rain in about 20 min. Don't forget about the blue supermoon tonight if your sky is clear.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Hi all,
Hi all, Hey QMS, Hope it's all good out there!
Sanctions are economic warfare. Economic warfare, is war. It is America's 'soft' way of engaging in war via economic coercion. In reality is is just as violent to the victims, as any other type of war. Making it so people can't have food, medicine, or earthquake aid, is just plain pure evil.
Note Cuba, sanctioned to death for 60 years. They have what 5 different Covid vaccines? They have a lung cancer vaccine. We can't use it or get it here. Because to America's leaders it is more important to hurt others, than to help ourselves. See Ukraine.
We are run by power trippers obsessed and drunk on power.
to the salt mine... have great days all!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
In time, US unilateral sanctions will be meaningless
...so this will not be necessary:
Sanctions against a particular nation are only effective if most of the rest of the world goes along with them.
Often, the only way to force nations to go along with illegal sanctions against a country, is if their own national economy is threatened with grave harm.
Only a hegemon, like the United States, which owns the currency that the world holds in order to trade, has the power to weaponize that currency. Once its weaponized, it can be used to damage the economy of any nation that does not obey US demands, no matter how odious and inhumane. (Cuba, for example.)
The era of unilateral sanctions will end soon enough. But this does not mean the US psychopaths (at the DOD and State Department) will stop waging wars of greed and aggression, or stop toppling the governments of other nations in order to control them. This criminal behavior will only end with a modern, coherent constitution that addresses human rights in the 21st century. Or when the Federal Government is carefully dismantled, and the states become 50 individual sovereign countries. This is precisely what happened to the Soviet Union — and it was the right thing to do for everyone involved. (And now we are all much better at spotting the Nazis and psychopaths in our midst — so they can be weeded out of public service.)
The states can regroup into regions, if they wish. And they can compete with each other to create a high quality environment where people with skills, talent, and intelligence will want to live and prosper.
Populations don’t like wars. They have to be lied into it.
That means we can be “truthed” into peace. — Julian Assange
Chance of the FedGov being dismantled: ZERO
Anybody who even thinks that is a possibility needs to brush up on their history, and the causes and rationales/rationalizations for the American Civil War.
The outcome of that war bound the states together with bands of iron, never to be loosened even a little.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
The only way
that will ever happen will be if DC (and a number of other major cities) get converted into fused-silica parking lots.
Only then will any survivors get to experience the joys of self-governance- that is, once they figure out how to eat whatever still grows afterwards...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
There's one other, less likely, possibility
and that's if climate change and the accompanying sea level rise make DC untenable as a seat of government. But, bar a cataclysmic hurricane, that will happen so slowly that there will be plenty of time to build a new Federal capital on high ground far inland, and the iron bands will continue to hold.
(New York City, on the other hand, is extremely vulnerable to sea level rise, but TPTB are so entrenched there that it will take much worse than Sandy to get them to budge.)
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
One thing I've
learned living on your planet for the past 60 yrs is that in this country the impossible is always possible. The War to End All Wars didn't, and the same goes for Our Late Unpleasantness that the Yankees call the Civil War.
We have been drifting towards a major breakup since at least the 90s, and eerily close to the same dividing lines as 1860. Feelings have only intensified on both sides in the past decade or so. Things won't improve if either Biden or Trump is in the WH. Neither is a unifying figure, and one is clearly a divisive one.
I have been expecting it, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if within 5 yrs the United became the Disunited States, broken up into 5-6 regions, each separately governed, mostly by authoritarian martial law.
Not a prediction but something not to lightly dismiss. My only other cheerful thought is if the Breakup becomes a moot point as before that we have entered into a calamitous direct war with Russia, which will not end well for us, the other side having superior weaponry.
Here come the Smart cities
.
Is your city on the list? I’m surprised that so many republican governors are doing this. I wonder when I’ll quit being surprised by how many leaders are in bed with the globalists
Lots of money being allocated to build the new and improved prisons that no person who will be locked in them asked for. But I’m sure this is just the initial list of cities to see how it goes and if well then more will be added. This is one fight that people better get ready for and not lose. Sadly I don’t see that happening.
In London the mayor has set up cameras that capture cars going by and certain cars will have to pay a fine of $12 for every time they pass it. The citizens are removing or making them point in another direction.
On the sanctions topic. Scholtz was surprised that Putin wasn’t concerned about the massive sanctions put on Russia after they started the SMO…well actually after the Kiev coup and the people in Crimea voted to become Russians.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Nice recovery
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
I could not hear A WORD they were saying
I pushed the sound all the way up, too.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
There is a sound icon on the right at the bottom
If there’s an X through it that means it is muted. Click twice on the video and see if that removes the X. If not click the sound icon. Let me know if that works.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
I know
I already used that; that was the volume I was referring to.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
The leadership in the Uniparty has everything under control
His face goes lack
and again he doesn’t blink nor does he look at the woman who talks to him. If you see someone do that I suggest an immediate trip to the ER. I don’t remember if he had a head injury when he fell earlier this year, but if he did then this is very worrisome. Well it’s worrisome anyway. Remember he came back out quite soon after the first time this happened, but he probably did get checked out. Doctors make house calls for congress members remember.
Caitlin is right. Congress is a nursing home full geriatric members. I can’t find her essay on this.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Don't like to diagnose people but that is a mini stroke, also
called a TIA, a transient ischemic attack. A brief stroke-like attack wherein symptoms resolve within 24 hours. It causes paralysis in face, arm or leg usually on one side of the body, slurred speech, double vision or blindness, and loss of balance or coordination.
Now that he's had 2 in public, on camera, you have to wonder how many he's had in private. The big one is probably coming in the next 6 months.
I don’t either
and it’s why I just suggested that he seeks medical attention. But I agree it does look like a TIA that can take minutes or hours to resolve. It is a warning that a stroke might be imminent and since he had 2 in public in a short time I wonder how many more he is having in private. Either way I think it suggests that he is too old to serve any longer. Biden has shown that he isn’t either and long before he became president. I’m wondering how they are covering this up? Some drug cocktails perhaps? Then there’s Feinstein who showed signs of cognitive impairment before she got shingles and the more severe effects from it. Ramsey Hunt's disorder? I think that is the one. Like Justin Barber has.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
@snoopydawg Back in the 1990's,
Back in the 1990's, my husband must have fallen off the porch a dozen times. He attributed it to an old war wound. His leg would just stop working. I would ask him "why are you slurring your words?" He would reply, "I'm not slurring my words," still slurring his words. After around a year and a half he had the big one. Neither of us had no idea about mini stokes.
Anyone with eyes can tell that Biden, McConnell, and Feinstein are all ill. They're not fooling anyone. People know a lot more about medical problems now. I wonder if maybe McConnell did not fall, but did have an actual stroke, and then fell. Biden is probably taking a speed cocktail. Listen to him speak. Sometimes he sounds like he has a mouth full of cotton. I believe that's a sign of over medication.
Doc on Mitch's spells
語必忠信 行必正直
Seizure might be the cause
but I don’t think it can rule out a TIA. Thorough testing can usually rule out one or the other. My brother had TIA's that didn’t last very long and they looked like what McConnell has been doing. But it’s obvious that something is happening to him.
Also the doctor confirmed that he did have a concussion. Even minor ones can cause long term problems.
Thanks for posting the video.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Obviously
what my opinion is as a layperson doesn't mean anything. I worked administratively at the VA in a section that specialized in part in neuro disability. When I saw these videos I thought "petit mal seizure" right away. You're right, the differential could be TIA. Some cases are not diagnosed correctly for years.
語必忠信 行必正直
I’m basically just a lay person too
You have more experience with this than I do. The way he shuts his mouth and keeps it shut probably makes it more likely that he’s having seizures. Also how his eyes go blank and doesn’t blink. And maybe he is on anti seizure meds and still having breakthrough small seizures. It could be why he returned so quickly last time after this happened.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Thoughts?
Tweet has been deleted, but here’s what it said.
JUST IN: Statement from Sen. McConnell’s team:
“Leader McConnell felt momentarily lightheaded and paused during his press conference today.”
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
I don't know
...but my opinion is that it is bs. This is about what I expect them to say, whether TIA or mini-seizures. I actually expect to see more movement when one is lightheaded, such as staggering even slightly, looking or reaching for support, balancing efforts. Again, I'm just guessing. I wouldn't have said anything originally except that I came across that doctor's video, and frankly it supported what I already thought. It's just an alternative.
One wonders how long they are going to cover for him. Technically, I guess his medical condition is confidential information but on the other hand, I think his constituents have a right to know, especially if he's actually considering running again.
語必忠信 行必正直
Heh….
Look how long they have been covering for Feinstein and Biden. Lots of people in congress were saying that Feinstein had some cognitive impairment issues before democrats let her be in charge of the Barrett hearings and she was barely coherent most of the time.
They have been covering for Fetterman too and I wonder if Grassley and other members over 80 are all still there?
And when Biden was campaigning from his basement the media was calling attention to how he just didn’t seem to be all there. They stopped talking about it after Obama cleared the field for Biden. But I’ve seen a few times that they questioned his ability again. Might be the faction that doesn’t want him to run again.
But speaking of the media do you remember how much they covered McConnell when he was the senate leader, but they don’t seem to be covering anything that Schumer says. Funny how that works.
As for how people react when they are lightheaded I usually close my eyes and sit down until it passes. So yeah I think that’s bogus.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
IM doc backs up your theory
IM Doc
August 30, 2023 at 11:06 pm
If I had to guess, I would say he is having petit mal or absence seizures. In someone his age, this may not be better than a TIA.
Note the upper right gaze with the head straight ahead. That gaze is much more likely in a seizure. Most people with TIAs do not do that and will often have sudden obvious facial drooping. They also garble speech, not quit altogether for this long.
I do not know for sure, but that is my guess, and nothing like this is good in this age group. This type of seizure in this age group would most likely represent a discrete space occupying lesion in the brain. The eyes gaze toward the side of the lesion. Brain tumors could do this but not likely. I have mostly seen this in people who have had a concussive trauma and have a subdural hematoma – a bruise or blood clot between the brain and the skull. If small, it may resolve on its own. In his age where there is likely some degree of brain shrinkage no matter how healthy you are, the veins on the surface of the brain are fragile. You do not have to hit your head, just a sudden fall and head jerk can do it.
The only issue is I do not know of him falling or any trauma.
It also jives with my past experience in such patients. If the subdural hematoma is small and they decide to watch it and let it resolve on its own, it is common for the patients to continue having spells like this until gone. This may be why the handlers are not totally freaking out but seem rather subdued.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
He has fallen.
Once for sure, maybe twice.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
"Did you hear the question, Senator...?"
I have heard that tone of voice often enough before.
That is the tone people use to address toddlers and the developmentally inhibited; imagine using that tone to address someone as "SENATOR".
Granted, it does come from the same root as 'senile': Senex, literally 'old man'.
I wonder how many people in that room know that.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Gabon is the latest African nation to have a coup!
Which one will be next?
LOL
"Make Noise"
is a slick way of asking foreign military to come drop some bombs on civilians.
A good leader has to lead, civilians must play their part.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
A prime example of the pot calling the kettle black.
Okay, please elaborate a bit
This is important: The question of "how hard/far should I root for/trust BRICS" has everything to do with the question, 'are they fighting to actually END the Global Financial Conspiracy [including Blackrock, et al], OR are they just fighting like Medieval shoguns to be the GFC's new strong right arm'?
Are you in fact saying that BRICS is truly out to bring back popular sovereignty???
I've heard that BlackRock's already been worming its way into China, and of course Russia is preparing to drink (at least start sipping a side of) CDBCool-Ade.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Interesting question moonbat
the info I hear makes it sound like the BRICS+ is an attempt to allow sovereign
nations an alternative to the western global hegemony in the financial realm.
I know that does not answer your question specifically, but I do think having an
alternative is healthy. Same with trade routes, getting around choke points. The
'basket of goods' concept puts more nations' resources in play. Mutually
assisted developments spread out over a global alliance without military threats
could be a positive development. Blackrock Kool-Aid notwithstanding.
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
It seems to me...
...that if they don't get rid of THAT, then all the rest is ultimately for nothing; the Incremental Progress™ scam writ large.
FFS, we just saw multiple simultaneous Holocaust-like events, I NEED TO SEE SOMEONE DROP THE HAMMER OF JUSTICE! We all do.
ALL.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!