The Weekly Watch

Misery at Home and Mayhem Abroad

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Oh boy, more sanctions...how has that worked out? It is obvious they can't learn. Well here they go again against China and India...what is that, about half the world's human population? You think it might come back and bite us in the ass? I do. But it's not just sanctions against other nations, no, they are sanctioning the students peacefully protesting the genocide in Gaza. Expelling them, locking them out of their dorms, targeting them as they develop their careers. It is the empire come home to roost.

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Anya has a new book out using Venezuela as an example of US sanctions and attempted coups. Anya Parampil’s book tells the story of US hybrid warfare on Venezuela and of the tectonic social and economic shifts reshaping the world today. “Sanctions,” as imposed by the US, is a sanctimonious word for economic warfare and outright theft, and Venezuela is a textbook case. As Anya Parampil demonstrates in Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire , sanctions were part of a multi-pronged regime change war that included diplomatic aggression, economic terrorism, covert operations, and information warfare.
It also included the bizarre US recognition of an obscure Venezuelan legislator, Juan Guaidó, as the president of Venezuela from January 2019 to January 2023, even as the elected president, Nicolas Maduro, remained in power.
She and Jimmy discuss the book this week...

Anya Parampil, author of Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire, expounds on the United States' failed attempt to coup Venezuela and what that means for American empire. (35 min)

One of the more entertaining tidbits in the conversation was how once Venezuela was sanctioned and oil exports to the US canceled, Russia bought it and sold it to the US at a premium. Much like India after the sanctions were imposed on Russia. Like I said, we can't learn.

Anya and Jimmy also discuss the situation with Egypt and Gaza. Egypt Finally Breaks With Israel! (14 min)

These are the same tactics being used in Georgia, Slovakia, Armenia and other countries around the world. Over and over again my friends.
‘No country should be punished for its sovereignty’ – Fico in quotes
An assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico took place on Wednesday in the city of Handlova, where a government meeting was being held. The attacker fired up to five shots at the prime minister, who received gunshot wounds to the chest, abdomen, and arm.
Robert Fico's Life No Longer in Danger - Deputy Prime Minister.
Was it a CIA op? Scott suggests not.

Georgia is experiencing protests because they are passing a law requiring NGOs to revealing foreign funding. We have that same law in the US (with the exception of Israel). My guess is these are paid protestors...they all have EU flags.

A good conversation with Jill Stein and Michael Hudson on the challenges of a third party. (1.2 hours)

Fighting Russia & China to Last American: Destroying US From Within| Dr. Jill Stein & Michael Hudson
Transcript here hat tip QMS

‘Big blunder’ to let China and Russia get close – US strategist. TPTB are freaked about about the hug between Xi and Putin.

RAY McGOVERN: Russia & China — Two Against One
"Chinese President Xi Jinping’s extremely warm reception of President Vladimir Putin yesterday in Beijing sealed the increasingly formidable Russia-China strategic relationship. It amounts to a tectonic shift in the world balance of power."

Putin & Xi, preparing for big sanctions war w/ Alex Krainer (Live)

(1.1 hours)

Israel and the US protests...
Max suggest the occupation of Palestine is coming home...

Max Blumenthal : The Occupation Comes Home (40 min)
We discuss the disturbing trend of legal warfare waged against pro-Palestinian groups and dissect the potential overstepping of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which could unjustly silence legitimate critique. #MaxBlumenthal offers expertise on the delicate interplay of policy, rights, and the formidable sway of the Israel lobby in American politics.
At the beginning they discuss the Judge attending Anya's book release in NYC where they physically met for the first time.

Code Pink is at it again. I admire them.
Arrested for Wanting to Feed Children - House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on UNRWA (2.5 min)
We were able to get into the hearing on defunding UNRWA, but they arrested 5 of us, including those of us who didn’t even disrupt the hearing. They treat people who want to feed children like terrorists while they keep funding massacres of civilians.

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Things are not going well for Israel and their multiple front war.
Israeli Political Crisis Deepens as IDF Failures Prompt Cabinet Resignation Threat

Opposition leader Benny Gantz issued an ultimatum Saturday, claiming he would leave the emergency political formation if Netanyahu does not implement his six-point plan for the country’s military operation in Gaza by June 8

This isn't a good sign either...
Israel-Hamas talks ‘stopped’

Ukraine
If things are going badly in Israel, it is worse in Ukraine. The front is in collapse.
But don't worry...Blinky went to Kiev and played Neil Young's "Rocking in the Free World"

Colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try to forget it any way I can

Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world

I see a girl in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she put the kid away and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life and what she's done to it
There's one more kid that'll never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool

Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world

You can't make it up.

Follow the Money
I caught a couple of interesting conversations on the US and global economy.
Ed Dowd: Banking Failures and Market Crash Will Lead to Reset, CBDCs, and Bitcoin as a Freedom Tool
(fast forward through the built in ads.)
In this 47 minute episode with Ed Dowd, we discuss:
- The current state of the economy and whether a bust is looming
- What would a 30-50% stock crash look like and could money printing 'save it'
- Bank consolidations: Ed predicts failures of many regional banks and a few Too Big to Fail Banks emerging at the top
- How will a CBDC work?
- What is MMT?
- Is Bitcoin the solution to the broken financial system?
- Are leaders malicious or incompetent? Why the divide of red vs blue?
- Why Ed sees a lot of hope

The other economic conversation I enjoyed is with Nomi Prins.
Unprecedented Crisis: Domino Effect Of Defaults On Horizon | Nomi Prins (32 min)
0:00 - Intro
1:00 - Economic slowdown
6:13 - Collusion
9:56 - Shifting of super powers
12:50 - U.S. dollar hegemony
15:00 - Fed rate cuts
20:43 - Inflation
22:43 - Domino effect of failures
24:20 - Labor market
25:24 - Geopolitical risks
29:00 - Investment implications

The entire financial press has zero understanding of basic economics. The financial “journalists” just print press releases. The US debt has never mattered, because the US dollar is the world reserve currency. That means US debt is the reserves of the world’s central banks. If US debt rises, so does the reserves of the world banking system. All central banks were delighted to accumulate more US Treasury debt as it meant the reserves of their banking system went up. The Federal Reserve can always redeem US Treasury debt by creating money with which to buy it. The debt is always redeemable because it is denominated in dollars. The problem arrives when the dollar is deserted as world reserve currency. The morons who comprise the Biden regime are scaring central banks away from the dollar as their reserves because of sanctions against Russia, Iran, China, Venezuela, and others.

Let's wrap up with Larry and Ray with the Judge.

(27 min)
Ray refers to Deuteronomy 15 which is used to justify the nation of Israel.
4 “There should be no poor among you, for the Lord your God will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you as a special possession. 5 You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. 6 The Lord your God will bless you as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations but will never need to borrow. You will rule many nations, but they will not rule over you.
7 “But if there are any poor Israelites in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them. 8Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need. 9 Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year for canceling debts is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin. 10 Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do. 11There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.

If that were the case there would be no war in Israel today.

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It is not just our forever wars destroying the US it is also the purchased government representatives. Let's see about 70+% of citizens want to stop the Israeli arms shipments and end the genocide. And about the same percentage want to stop funding Ukraine. Kinda proves we're not a democracy to my mind.

It was another busy week. I didn't even touch on the collapse of Trump's lawfare cases, nor the up coming debate. I read a speculation that the first debate, scheduled in June prior to the party conventions is a trial balloon to see if the DNC will pull a bait and switch and put someone else on the ballot. May be. I've also seen a suggestion of a virtual DNC convention to avoid the expected protest.
Of course the big news of the week was the Putin - Xi meeting representing the evolution of a new world order. Hope you're all having a lovely Sunday, and I'll look forward to your stories, thoughts and insights below.

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Comments

QMS's picture

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Thanks for the watch bud.
Seems like the sanctions scam is not working as well as
the US diplomatic corpse were hoping. RUS is freezing
German assets in retribution. China is slapping tariffs on
western goods. China is also dumping US treasury products
at a large rate. Trade between RUS-CHI is now about 80%
local currencies. India, Iran and Venezuela are following that trend.
Even Sudi Arabia, Brazil and African countries are cutting out the
dollar as reserve currencies. As trade increasingly cuts out the
weaponized US financial system, the value of the buck decreases.
I think the reckless US debt may be the proverbial camel's straw.

Investing in domestic infrastructure, education and housing instead
of military hardware could slow down the demise, but the political class
can't get their kick-backs on that path. So, more of the same insanity
until the collapse it appears.

Looking pretty green (and wet) here, trees are all leafed out. Hope it is
good in your neighborhood.

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Lookout's picture

@QMS I think you've got it right...

Investing in domestic infrastructure, education and housing instead
of military hardware could slow down the demise, but the political class
can't get their kick-backs on that path. So, more of the same insanity
until the collapse it appears.

This morning Larry was saying the US as the bully of the world is a lost cause.
Ukraine Crumbling as Russian Offensive Goes On | Larry C. Johnson
Larry does a good job of relaying the dismal news with good humor. Alex Christoforou has that talent as well.

The US and Western debt requires the forever wars. That's how the failing system is propped up. However, it is a house of cards likely to fall in the near term.

It is a beautiful day here after a half inch of rain yesterday. My world is definitely green.
Thanks for the visit!

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

I need look no further. Like suspending some privileged son of millionaires is akin to crimes against humanity.

The people who start wars by raping, murdering, and mutilating, men, women, children, and babies, should surrender. The war would end tomorrow. I mean it wasn't just a war crime that happened in the midst of a conflict. There was relative peace, the mayhem was much to widespread to be an isolated incident.

Any wagers as to which falls first, Kieve or Crimea?

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Lookout's picture

@ban nock

How you can't see Ukraine's colossal collapse requires at least willing blindness.

Plus it sounds like you are a Zionist promoting genocide.

I'm sorry for you.

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

QMS's picture

@Lookout
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or an example of the effects of MSM on rational thought?

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

the AP was their primary news source. No doubt propaganda plays a role. In the interview with Larry, Nima said in the NYT it said...to which Larry responded you've got to quit reading it or it will make you stupid. That sounds about right doesn't it?

Take care.

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

snoopydawg's picture

@QMS

Like suspending some privileged son of millionaires is akin to crimes against humanity.

After all we know how pampered the Palestinians are and they just attacked Israel because they are evil.

Too bad BN won’t watch this because it’s not on his approved propaganda platform. But maybe he’d learn something true about the I/P issue…

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“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

@ban nock
I'm glad you showed up, again. I was worried about you.

I wake up at night with cold sweats worrying that you, leading the US Army Troll Brigade, had put your money where your mouth is and stormed the ruins of Rafah or punched through the Russian lines and captured Putin himself.

Nah, who am I kidding, you wouldn't need a brigade for that, you're such a bad ass all you would need is a squad. Am I right?

from internet.jpg
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enhydra lutris's picture

@ban nock

operations have been attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Russia and its allies. None of these has been or is likely to be on the scale of Hiroshima or Nagasaki and therefore won't generate any sort of "military success".

be well and have a good one

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

@ban nock "Since October 7, the Israeli government and other entities have been exploiting reports of sexual violence in a manipulative and cynical manner. "

This is from the SOURCE that everyone uses for 'Hamas rapes'....

Read it and not the MSM

https://www.phr.org.il/en/clarification/

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Lookout's picture

@Mickt

New Israeli report alleging ‘systematic and intentional rape’ by Hamas relies on debunked Western media reports
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/02/22/israeli-hamas-debunked-western-media/

and one more of several...
Author of debunked NYT ‘Hamas r@pe’ report to share stage with Hillary Clinton
https://thegrayzone.com/2024/02/06/nyt-hamas-report-hillary-clinton/

Thanks for the link!

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

enhydra lutris's picture

tell, none of the US sanctions are UN approved, even though it is a US lapdog. Our unilateral sanctions are all illegal, they are all unprovoked acts of war. The only thing preventing them from being Piracy and Brigandage is that they are government sponsored and run.

Breaking News, at least to me:

LIVE UPDATES: Iranian President's Helicopter Crashes in East Azerbaijan Province

It appears that rescue teams have been unable to land helicopters at the crash site due to extreme fog, and non-helicopter based teams haven't reached the site yet, based on such updates as I've seen. (This is all from Sputnik: https://sputnikglobe.com/20240519/live-updates-iranian-presidents-helico...)
It is also reported in the BBC and Guardian, both of which report that the helicopter suffered a "Hard Landing", which language is also used by one of the Sputnik updates.

be well and have a good one

Edit: typo city

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

Lookout's picture

@enhydra lutris @enhydra lutris

...but time will tell. Breaking news. Thanks for the addition.

On second look it does appear to have been his chopper that had a "hard landing"
Iran has confirmed that the president was onboard the chopper along with foreign minister...

The other two helicopters in the convoy landed safely.

Hope all is well in your world. Thanks for coming by and dropping the developing story!

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

those online this morning may have noticed that the site was loading slowly. We were under a mild DOS (Denial of Service) attack.

Usually this is caused by spammers, but this time it seems it wasn't a spammer. It's Ip address suggested it was from Germany, although IP addresses can be spoofed.

Anyway, I blocked the IP addresses and broke the attack.

Welcome to my world.

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Lookout's picture

@JtC

Sorry about the attack. Too much truth on the site?

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5 users have voted.

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

After lunch, we will head to the supermarket where I will stock up on some products to prevent thrip bites. I got at least 50 new ones yesterday. I am blessed that they do not sting or itch, otherwise I would just go to the hospital, tell them to render me unconscious until the spots disappear.
One aspect of the proposed antisemitism bs bill would seem to block debate in the branches of government. How could you run for office on an antiwar or anti-Genocide platform if that platform becomes subject to censorship and/or criminal charges?
Talk about democracy being a sham, well, it is in plain view.
As a news update, the President of Iran is safe. His copter experienced a hard landing due to weather. Well, having been through that, one does get knocked around, bounced, rocked, and so forth. It really tests one's seat belt.
Thanks for the WW content. How could anybody be bored with that much interesting information at their fingertips?
I hope to get some reading and watching and commenting done before you sign off tonight.
Glad you got rain and I did not. We are just sick of it in East Texas!

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

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp

Glad he's safe. WWIII is at least temporarily averted.

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3 users have voted.

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

earthling1's picture

having trouble passing Senate.
But more money for Ukraine and Israel.
The fleecing of America.
Thanks for the WW and OT.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Lookout's picture

@earthling1

What not enough money for the corporate farms perhaps?

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4 users have voted.

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

so we get this, a flood aftermath disaster:

edit to add: We cross that bridge when we go to the Sunday afternoon cajun and zydeco concerts. In order to take an alternate route, it would have added at least 30 minutes to the drive, both there and back.

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

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp ...at the seams. Whatta country.

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

You only got half an inch of rain, but the Panhandle got a foot or more. They even cancelled school for one day. I have one of those weather knees. I know when it's going to rain. These last two rainfalls have been massive, and my one knee has felt it. Finally made that appointment to see the surgeon about a replacement. He told me that he does robotic surgery. I've never had that before. I guess our robot overseers are taking over. Everything I've read about it sounds good. Less blood, less pain, and no overnight stay at the hospital. Sounds good to me.

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QMS's picture

@Enchantress
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some people I know did not fare so well with the knees
but that was before robots took over, so maybe it is better now?
Would never go thru that again after my hip replacement. And
that was with a nationally recognized super butcher, the best!
Guess everyone responds differently to invasive surgery.

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Lookout's picture

@Enchantress ...in the panhandle. Hope you rode it out easily.

Good luck with the knee!

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3 users have voted.

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

Lookout's picture

Every song has its strength and weakness...just like us!

Have a good night.

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5 users have voted.

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

and Iran's foreign minister are dead.
May they rest in peace, and may Iran stay on its' path of no nukes.

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

snoopydawg's picture

.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20240520/no-signs-anyone-on-board-iranian-presi...

Iranian Vice President Mohsen Mansouri Confirms Reports of President Raisi's Death

There are no signs that anyone on board Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's helicopter is alive, Iranian news agency Press TV reported on Monday.

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“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