Welcome to Saturday's Potluck - Nov 11, 2023
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“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
Pablo Picasso
A few highlights from the international news this week.
It appears Biden and Xi will meet Wednesday, Nov 15 on the sidelines at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco.
An interesting read.
Xi holds four aces as he meets Biden Asia Times Nov 11, 2023
China’s leader Xi Jinping will meet President Biden Nov. 15 in San Francisco with four high cards in his hand. Policy advisers close to Xi express an unprecedented kind of confidence in China’s strategic position.
First, the collapse of Ukraine’s offensive against Russian forces and its commander’s admission that the war is a “stalemate” is a setback for America’s strategic position and a gain for China, which has doubled its exports to Russia since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Second, the US tech war on China has flopped, as Chinese AI firms buy fast Huawei processers in place of chips from Nvidia and other US producers.
Third, the Gaza war provoked by Hamas on October 7 gives China a free option to act as the de facto leader of the Global South in opposition to Israel, an American ally. China now exports more to the Muslim world than it does to the United States.
And fourth, the US military wants to avoid confrontation with China in the Northwest Pacific region as well as its home waters in the South China Sea, where the PLA’s thousands of surface-to-ship missiles and nearly 1,000 fourth- and fifth-generation warplanes give China an overwhelming home-theater advantage in firepower.
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Washington has few cards to play, and Biden is likely to respond to his weakened position by back-pedaling on Taiwan.
Steady progress on trade expansion.
China Doubles Number of Ports, Pawing Maritime Silk Road for Global Trade Sputnik Globe November 8, 2023
With the vision of consolidating its commercial prowess, Beijing has organized a network of ports under its management, strategically spanning the Indian Ocean through the Middle East's critical zones, Africa, and Europe.
Initially, China's reach extended to 44 ports worldwide, setting the stage for its maritime ambitions. Over the past decade, this influence has grown to involve port operations in more than 100 locations across 50+ countries.
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The Economic Importance of China's Maritime Silk Road
- Trade facilitation enhances China's maritime trade routes and its connectivity with other countries, reducing transportation costs and transit times. This expedites the flow of goods and services, boosting international trade and economic growth.
- Economic cooperation: Through the BRI, Beijing cooperates with partner countries, promoting investment, joint ventures, and economic development. This collaboration can lead to increased mutual trade and investment opportunities.
- Industrial capacity cooperation: The initiative fosters cooperation in various sectors, including manufacturing, infrastructure development, and technology transfer. This can help countries along the Maritime Silk Road upgrade their industries and promote economic diversification.
- Financial integration: As big creditor to major economies, it has established financial institutions like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to support infrastructure financing in BRI countries. This financial integration promotes economic development by funding projects that may otherwise be financially challenging for host countries, especially in the Global South.
A tech workaround for a lack of skilled workers?
US Navy taps 3D printers to rescue its sub-making plan Asia Times Nov 8, 2023
The US Navy hopes 3D printing will keep its ramped-up nuclear submarine production schedule afloat amid a budding military ship-building race with China.
Defense News reported this month that the US Navy aims to build the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) and Virginia-class attack submarines (SSN) on time by 3D printing various metal parts as standard components for installation on the new vessels.
The Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Danville, Virginia, is working to help in the transition from the US Navy’s current limited use of 3D printing for small repair parts aboard ships to widespread use in its submarine-industrial base, which is scheduled to boost production to its highest level in four decades.
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The Defense News report says the industrial base of companies contributing to US submarine production has shrunk more than 70% since the 1980s, from about 17,000 suppliers to just 5,000 at present. It notes that as recently as 2013 the US Navy would begin building one Virginia-class submarine each year but now plans to perform five times that level of annual production by fiscal 2026.
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Submarine maintenance underscores the production challenge. USNI noted in a September 2022 report that less than a third of the US Navy’s SSNs completed maintenance on schedule in the last ten years.
The decision of English government to supply Ukraine with depleted uranium ammunition did result in radiation traveling across Europe back to England.
Fallout From Catastrophic Ukraine Depleted Uranium Explosion Reached England Sputnik Globe Nov 11, 2023
On May 19th I wrote an article for Sputnik about the Khmelnitsky explosion. I had examined gamma radiation data from detectors to the North West of the attack site, which showed increases in radiation from points in Poland near the Ukraine border, and through Germany. I concluded that the belief that a warehouse containing Uranium weapons supplied by the UK had been hit and that the Uranium had exploded in a huge fireball, and that the particles produced by the explosion had drifted with the wind at the time across Europe.
The article produced considerable argument on the internet, with a large number of self-described fact-checkers and “experts” weighing it to say that my conclusions were nonsense.
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So, to follow up the Khmelnitsky argument, I have just obtained Uranium data from the AWE using a Freedom of Information request. They sent me the data in an Excel File, and I used the graphical function if Excel to plot the data they sent. Fig 1 plots the filter levels for three of the offsite locations. The results show that I was right. In the May15th -June 15th Offsite Filters operating at the time, there is a very clear signal for the month following the explosion. I have also obtained data for the onsite locations, and these also all show the same footprint increase.
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The graph in Fig 1 shows that the Uranium in air in South East England went up by about 600ng/cubic metre from particles released by the Khmelnitsky explosion. What does this mean? The mean size of a Uranium particle is below 1 micron. An individual inhales about 24 cubic metre a day. So, if the particles were there for a month, or 30 days we can average the lung intake as 0.432mg. Doesn’t sound much, does it? But it converts into 200 million particles per person in the area, and of course in the track of the plume in the UK. Not good, given the effects we found in Fallujah.My study of Fallujah, published in 2010, showed that there was a huge increase in cancer and congenital malformation in babies, and general horrifying signal of genetic damage in the population after the use of Uranium weapons there in the second 2003 Iraq war. We later identified excess Uranium in the mothers of the birth defect children using hair samples and mass spectrometry, tracking the increases back to the 2003 exposures by cutting the long hair samples into sections, a kind of historic ice core way of interrogating the past.
Narrative details of Oct 7 are beginning to shift.
Israel revises down its death toll from the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks to about 1,200 National Public Radio Nov 11, 2023
TEL AVIV, Israel — In a text message to journalists on Friday, a spokesperson from Israel's Foreign Ministry said "around 1,200" is now what he called "the official number of people" killed by Hamas militants on Oct. 7. That's about 200 fewer victims than Israel had been citing for more than a month.
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Israeli media quote unnamed officials as saying some remains were initially misidentified. Many of the bodies were burned and mutilated that day, and the process of identifying them is still underway.The number of hostages being held in Gaza remains at around 240.
The Oct. 7 attacks, and the large number of casualties, prompted Israel to launch air and ground strikes on Gaza, where Palestinian health officials say more than 11,000 people have been killed.
Helicopter Footage Sparks Debate Over Israeli Friendly Fire Incidents ZeroHedge Nov 9, 2023
Disturbing footage from the early days of the Israel-Hamas war has become a topic of controversy over a month later, as one major Israeli newspaper strongly suggests it shows helicopter footage of Israeli forces firing indiscriminately on civilians "approximately an hour after the onset of the [Hamas] terror attack" on Oct. 7, while media fact checkers - including those dropping 'community notes' on X, insist the clip does not show the IDF firing on concertgoers - and that Israeli forces instead "mainly fired within Kibbutzim at the directive of IDF soldiers on the ground, precisely, as stated in the source, that they couldn't differentiate."
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While the footage began circulating shortly after the attack, major Israeli daily outlet YNetnews appears to have been the first to delve deeper on the pilot cam footage from aboard one or more of the AH-64 Apache choppers which responded to the Oct.7 Nova attack. The IDF-produced footage (first published last month) shows the gunships firing on a multitude of targets - including vehicles and groups of people. Possible targets include Hamas and Israeli civilians alike, and perhaps groups of Palestinian civilians who were pouring across the breached Gaza border fence. When the footage was initially released, the IDF presented it as showing Hamas invaders being destroyed. Upon further analysis, coupled with the Ynet reporting, raises the specter of large-scale "friendly fire" which may have occurred.
Brazil questions Israeli terrorrist attack claim Russia Times Nov 19, 2010
Brazilian authorities have warned against jumping to conclusions after Israel claimed to have foiled a terrorist attack by an Iran-funded Hezbollah cell in the South American country. The case is ongoing and must not be used by outside governments to promote their own interests, Brazilian Justice Minister Flavio Dino said.
In a social media post on Thursday, Dino called the claim that a cell linked to Lebanon-based Hezbollah had plotted to kill Jews in Brazil a “hypothesis,” stressing that no foreign agency could presume the outcome of the investigation.
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Dino stressed that the Brazilian investigation had started “before the outbreak of the ongoing tragedies on the international scene.”The Brazilian Federal Police issued a similar statement, highlighting national authority over the probe and pledging it would follow the facts rather than be directed by expectations from elsewhere.
Phil Giraldi (fmr CIA): Unpardonable and Unpunishable war crimes
(26:43 min) Nov 8, 2023
Intel-Roundtable w/ Larry Johnson & Ray McGovern: Did Bibi know of Hamas attack? (23:20 min) Nov 10, 2023
Beginning about 11 min mark the conversation shifts to Israeli forces contribution to the loss of life on October 7, 2023 due to friendly fire or deliberate fire related to Hannibal Directive.
The livestream videos this week by Judge Napolitano channel ongoing discussions regarding current events in Israel/Hamas/Gaza, secondary subject China and third subject Ukraine/Russia conflict. The interviews are generally posted on Monday through Friday if would like to view them in a more timely manner. The link opens in the LIVE column, occasionally an interview only appears in VIDEOS section.
What is on your mind today?
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Comments
Good morning...
A light much needed rain falling, so no trade day.
The US empire is deluded about its self importance. The Biden admin. has conducted a campaign of diplomacy by insult, threat, and general bullying. It was clear since the Blinky encounter in Alaska, the the Chinese were done with it. Biden's tendency to insult ("Xi is a dictator" type comments) will not be productive, and I doubt the CA meet up will improve the situation. As the Duran often says, "They have no reverse gear".
Interesting interview with Pepe. I'll feature it tomorrow in the WW. As he says , he is one of the few independent foreign correspondents around. Plus he travels to all the countries to see for himself.
Anyhow, thanks for the OT and have a good weekend!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Ahoy mates
Seems like the initial press releases by Israel have been clarified a bit.
One baby killed in the Hamas attack, no beheaded babies, mostly
military killed and most civilians killed by IDF in 'crossfire'. But the
original story is being used to justify the indiscriminate killing of
thousands of non-fighters. Disproportionate comes to mind.
Now IDF appears to be targeting hospitals. War crimes with no
apparent humanitarian considerations.
Thanks for the potluck!
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
Something for the Zionists to be proud of!
War Crimes "R" Us
Good afternoon, soe. The DU plume hitting merrie engelonde
can only be viewed as literal blowback. Their leaders, like most of those of the Natostans and the Banderite homeland seem to have believed their own propaganda that the Rus would be unable to find and/or strike the inevitable DU ammo dump that the folks of Banderastan would make upon receipt. It is always horribly stupid to believe one's own propaganda, and often fatal.
Meanwhile, China seems to be creating ports the way the US creates military bases, a major talking point for BRICS and BRI. Hope they use it and the ROW continues to listen.
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 --
The tri-lateral partnership leadership
...appears to be struggling at this point with their domestic audiences. Everyone here is familiar with Biden's serial disasters. First the Afghanistan withdrawal, then the terrible proxy war in Ukraine, now the administration's support for Israel's ruthless campaign against the Palestinians and associated war crimes. What's next? Some gratuitous military confrontation in the far east? How many failures can Biden preside over? I'm not all that optimistic about the future prospects of a Biden-Xi summit. I don't think that Biden, Blinken, Campbell, Nuland, and Rahm have a good grasp of the balance of power in the region.
Kishida passes on calling Lower House election this year
Worth a full read.
Periodically there are claims that the Yoon Seok-yeol administration in South Korea is rebounding from a downward trend in popularity. Depends on the poll. Even if he gets a two or three point bounce to 33 percent, the significance of the 17 percent loss of his handpicked candidate in Gangseo District election a few weeks ago, suggests the handwriting is on the wall for his party, the PPP, in the next April 10 general election for the National Assembly.
The New York Times belatedly reading the tea leaves, is trying to save Yoon and company from himself, by convincing him to abandon his repression of the media in South Korea. The article is behind a pay wall, but an opinion like this from the Times will usually get wide coverage in South Korea. Below is a secondary source description of the Times article-
PRESIDENT’S WAR AGAINST “FAKE NEWS” RAISES ALARMS IN SOUTH KOREA
There was a New Yorker article along the same lines about 40 days earlier. Until now, English language media has been unanimously supportive of Yoon for obvious reasons to help the Biden administration and Japan "lock in" South Korea to the their new Tri-lateral alliance which is a key part of the US anti-China strategy. Yoon could do no wrong until now. However, anyone who has followed Yoon's prosecution career, knows his MO of using prosecutorial powers to jail rivals and critics with, until now, unanimous cooperation from the conservative mainstream media.
Yoon's administration has been persecuting labor unions as well. The two largest labor unions the Confederation of Trade Unions, and the Federation of Trade Unions have mobilized in cooperation with the opposition Democratic Party to pass labor reform legislation to preclude employers and prosecutors from dragging their leaders and organizations through the courts with punitive civil and criminal litigation over what are in essence ordinary strikes over ordinary labor issues.
Today over 100,000 union members mobilized for two separate demonstrations in Seoul, to support the passage of the legislation, and to demand that President Yoon not veto the bills. The unions took a militant tone, one attempted to march to Samgakchi plaza close to the presidential office but was blocked by large numbers of police who feared a confrontation with a very small group of Yoon supporters already gathered there. Fortunately, the union members' discipline held, the police blockade was honored and there was no violence. The other union group of 50,000 marched to a labor regulatory office to demonstrate. After the labor demonstrations the usual candlelight demonstration held its anti-Yoon rally and parade and entertained some Union speakers on stage.
Needless to say, Seoul traffic was snarled up all day. The two unions are calling for a repeat demonstration on the 18th, while the candlelight organizers are saying they will assemble outside the National Assembly building in Yeouido next Saturday to monitor progress of impeachment legislation against the Commissioner of the Korean Communications Commission, and two prosecutors believed responsible for political prosecutions of opposition politicians and media.
Korea’s Dems pass key labor, broadcasting bills as PPP prioritizes saving KCC chief from impeachment
Although I don't agree with everything this Oxford educated Sociology Professor associated with the Institute of Security and Development Policy says below in this editorial in Hankyoreh, her opinion reveals that more conservative analysts are developing worries about Yoon's reactionary ideological approach toward politics.
We’ve reached the end of Yoon’s futile ideology war — now’s time to envision inter-Korean peace
It looks like the main sponsors of the Institute are the US, Japan and Taiwan governments, as well as institutions from Japan and the EC. One can imagine why the North Korean issue and the division of the peninsula should be minimized from their viewpoint. There really is a need for South Korea to remain focused on the division of the peninsula as their primary defense/foreign policy agenda, and to disregard peripheral issues such as Taiwan, and the so called Indo-Pacific alliance. Plainly while the editorial makes some necessary concessions about Yoon's blundering ideological policies (and associated political repression), now too obvious to ignore as he sits on the precipice of total political failure, her overall opinion reflects Japanese and US policy interests.
I had listened to a very interesting psychological evaluation of Justice Minister Han Dong-hun (Yoon's acolyte/ hoobae during his service in the Public Prosecutors Office) who now functions as Yoon's hatchet man persecuting political opponents, journalists, media organizations, and labor organizers. Han was evaluated as having an immature personality disorder, anger disorder, and being a fearful little child in his public dealings. The psychologist noted Han never answers a question at legislative hearing but cuts off questioners with personal attacks, angry outbursts, and snide remarks, continuously. I wanted to go back to this so I could save it. I searched and searched on the OhMyTV youtube channel but its gone. Thanks Google. Doing its part for censorship.
This clip of the unions' demonstrations in Seoul today is less than 30 seconds.
Thanks for the OT @studentofearth
語必忠信 行必正直
The leader of western countries have nothing at all to say
about the ongoing genocide. The cat must have got their tongues.
The IDF has no shame!
I have been trying all day to find a response to the 39 kids
that died. This is what I’ve been trying to say.
Apparently only Israel’s babies matter even though they didn’t actually die from beheadings. No problem for the pro Israel assholes if Palestinian babies actually die from Israel’s actions.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Are you listening to this Joe?
Humphrey
Great finds, even if the truth is ugly.
Thanks, as always.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Think this image is too extreme?
.
Would love to see Biden and Blinken explain this if it’s true.
The picture is from Hedge’s latest essay.
The Horror, The Horror
I’m waiting for someone to ask Blinken the question Madeline Albright was asked.
"Do you think the sanctions on Iraq were worth 500,000 Iraqi children’s deaths?"
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Powerful image
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I don’t think it’s extreme enough
Ian Welsh predicted that this would happen after Israel cut off electricity and water.
That’s the real part of the genocide. Just horrific deaths as parents watch their children suffer horribly before they die and they are helpless to do anything for them. Ian suggests that Erdogan sends cargo planes to drop off supplies to Gaza and if Israel shoots them down it’s a declaration of war.
Israel can stop its bombing of Gaza and the death toll will still go up unless people get fuel, food, water and medicine. It’s beyond comprehension that this is allowed to happen.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
It's the plan.
I haven't joined a protest since 2016.
I would join one now, whether it helped or not.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good evening, y'all
Soe, the OT is great, and is perfect for how my day is going. I am preparing to go on vacation, and this is the weekend for me to clean up the house before we drive away. I mop the floor in a room, take a break, watch a video. Clean a bathroom, take a break, watch a video.
I think the US has multiple personality syndrome. We commit war crimes, push ourselves around every corner of the world with rules for them, rules we do not apply to ourselves.
And yet, we are going to sign the projected WHO Treaty and give that entity complete control over us...and everyone else, apparently.
Maybe one day we will finally get to look behind the curtain, see who is in control.
Until then, we need all the info we can get.
Soe, thanks for keeping us well informed, pal.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Caitlin is a truth teller.
The dawg is being wagged
.
Remember that we send billions to Israel every year going back many decades and they have universal healthcare whilst our government refuses to give it to us. How many other things does Israel have since they don’t have to use their money for bombs that we can’t have? Since the war of terror started our government has spent $8 trillion on its wars of choice, excuse me…for its invasions of countries that have resources our government owners want. Imagine what that $8 trillion could have been for here. Maybe we wouldn’t have daily train derailments…oh who am I kidding? Our government still would have sold off our public infrastructure to the highest bidder. Of course the money went into congress member’s pockets in the form of legalized bribery. And for some reason we have been rewarding the same people who have screwed us for 50 years by returning them to office. Swell move.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.
Pretty brave of them when you have a US aircraft carrier
off of the coast and an anything goes understanding.
Yeah it’s Hezbollah that crossed the red line
As for Israel taking advantage of our air craft carriers that’s what one of the things this article discusses. Is Bibi trying to get us to back his plan to get us to attack his enemies and especially Iran?
https://ejmagnier.com/2023/11/11/a-new-theatre-of-conflict-israels-milit...
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Voting is like driving with a toy steering wheel.