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This evening's music features jazz pianist and bandleader Count Basie. Enjoy!

"One should judge a man mainly from his depravities. Virtues can be faked. Depravities are real."

-- Klaus Kinski

News and Opinion

After Earthquake Devastates Syria, US Shows No Interest in Lifting Sanctions

After a devastating earthquake hit Syria and Turkey, killing thousands of people, the US State Department showed no interest in lifting crippling economic sanctions on Syria that are specifically designed to prevent the country’s reconstruction. ...

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Monday that the US would work with NGOs in the country but wouldn’t engage with the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He didn’t give any indication that the US would lift sanctions on Syria.

When asked by Antiwar.com if the Biden administration was considering lifting sanctions, the State Department referred to Price’s comments about working with NGOs. “In Turkey, we have a partner in the government; in Syria, we have a partner in the form of NGOs on the ground who are providing humanitarian support,” Price said. ...

Price claimed that no other country has done more than the US to provide aid to the Syrian people. But US sanctions on Syria have a devastating impact on the civilian population, as a UN special rapporteur recently detailed in a report after visiting the country.

Margaret Kimberley, worth a click and a full read:

China Balloon is Pretext for US Provocation

The People's Republic of China has a space program. They have a space station where they deploy their taikonauts. China has satellites orbiting the earth. Yet despite these advances, we are told that this same country would send a balloon, visible to the naked eye, to spy on the United States. The more logical explanation is just what the Chinese said: a balloon conducting meteorological research was blown off course. There have been several previous instances of such equipment flying in or near U.S. territory. The mixture of hysteria whipped up by the Biden administration and their mouthpieces in corporate media were fodder for jokes and internet memes. However, U.S. actions which created this incident are part of a pattern of provocations and dangerously amateurish diplomacy.

Joe Biden began his term in office by attempting to bully Beijing. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with their Chinese counterparts in early 2021 and proceeded to insult them very publicly . The interaction was so bad that Yang Jiechie, Director of the Central Commission on Foreign Affairs, felt compelled to say, “Well, I think we thought too well of the United States. We thought that the U.S. side will follow the necessary diplomatic protocols.” Relations between the two nations have gone steadily downhill ever since.

The Biden administration is now using the same failed playbook it used against Russia and hoping to somehow snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with China. They hope to find or create a provocation that will result in congressional and public support for sanctions or even military action. But their Ukraine policy should be jettisoned instead of copied elsewhere. In instigating Russia to act in Ukraine, Biden succeeded in severing relations between Russia and EU nations, and ended their natural gas sales, to the detriment of Europe. But Russia prepared for sanctions while the Biden team engaged in wishful thinking. Remember when he said the sanctions would, “turn the ruble to rubble?” Ukraine suffers from this miscalculation more than any other country and the U.S. is left to commit desperate acts, such as its probable involvement in the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines. Their fantasy foreign policy consists of escalating tensions for the sake of doing so.

The same people who fanatically believe that the U.S. can subjugate the whole world look for every opportunity to worsen an already bad relationship with China. Even a weather balloon can become a pretext for war with another nuclear armed nation. Turning Taiwan into the new Ukraine, a weapon to be used against a country which has been declared an adversary, is still part of their plans. That is why former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was given support for a Taiwan trip, despite the fact that the U.S. claims to continue following the one China policy.

There is no logical explanation for such a frenzy of speculation about a balloon with scientific equipment attached. Well, there is a twisted logic in the decision to shoot down a balloon that was on its way out to sea. China must be seen as the enemy, and the administration wouldn’t let a small thing like a balloon straying off course go to waste.

Q & A: The escalation escalator

Key Republicans Launch Two-Part Plan to Pressure Biden on Ukraine

Republicans have launched a two-front campaign to pressure the Biden administration in the coming months into sending more advanced weapons to Ukraine, including some the president has so far been reluctant to provide. But the conservatives' push comes with the expectation of more and faster progress by Ukraine, as polls indicate declining support for the effort to arm Ukraine, particularly among Republicans.

The first part of the dual campaign is to conduct closed-door classified information gatherings in Congress, like the recent classified Senate Armed Services Committee briefing that included Celeste Wallander, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs and William LaPlante, the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, according to two people with direct knowledge of current discussions within Republican leadership.

The second part is a public-facing campaign to call on President Joe Biden to provide things like Grey Eagle drones, and the long-range Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which would help Ukraine strike at the Russian artillery batteries continuously lobbing missiles at Ukrainian forces. Kyiv has been requesting ATACMS since the start of the war, but the requests have grown louder as the United States approved other pieces of equipment it previously resisted, such as M-1 Abrams tanks. ...

Last week, in a Senate floor speech Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., made the case for giving Ukraine ATACMS and Grey Eagle and Reaper drones. “We should deliver these assets quickly to make an immediate difference on the battlefield. In concert with our allies, this approach of ‘more, better, faster’ would give the Ukrainians a real shot at victory,” he said. He doubled down on that message on Friday, calling the most recent aid package to Ukraine "the same unnecessary slow-walking that has gotten us to this point."

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has also publicly signaled support for sending ATACMS to Ukraine. With their message, several Republicans atop key national security committees are trying to show that not only do they support Ukraine, they will do so more enthusiastically than Democrats and the White House.

Bakhmut About to Fall, Russia Says Ukraine Leaving Kupiansk; Report Implicates Biden in Nord Stream

Russia probing alleged Ukrainian use of chemical weapons

Russia's state Investigative Committee said on Monday it was examining the alleged use of chemical weapons by Ukrainian forces near the towns of Soledar and Bakhmut.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the allegation, which was not accompanied by any publicly released evidence.

The Investigative Committee said the Donetsk People's Republic - one of Russia's proxies in the territories it has seized and occupied in eastern Ukraine - had reported the use of chemical weapons by Ukrainian drones near the two locations.

"As a result, servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces are experiencing a deterioration in their health and characteristic symptoms of poisoning," it said, without providing details or naming the alleged substance.

Goldman Sachs Warns Of An Imminent Oil Supply Shortage

Crude oil could soon swing into a deficit that will make next year a difficult one, Goldman Sachs said, as spare production capacity dwindles and underinvestment threatens future supply.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event in Saudi Arabia, Goldman’s top commodity analyst Jeffrey Currie said, as quoted by Bloomberg, that the industry is not spending enough to secure future production and that spare capacity globally is declining. This could tip the oil market into a serious supply problem next year, but the price for a barrel of Brent could top $100 before then.

According to Currie, rising demand from China and sanctions on Russian oil will contribute to the deficit, which he expects to manifest in the second quarter of this year. In response, producers will tap their spare capacity, leaving it lower than it was before. Eventually, this will lead to a serious imbalance between supply and demand.

“Right now, we’re still balanced to a surplus because China has still yet to fully rebound,” Currie told Bloomberg. “Are we going to run out of spare production capacity? Potentially by 2024 you start to have a serious problem.”

Turkey and Syria earthquake death toll passes 7,800 as rescue efforts falter

Aftershocks, freezing temperatures and damaged roads are hampering efforts to tackle the enormous humanitarian emergency triggered by Monday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake in southern Turkey and northern Syria, with 7,800 people now confirmed dead and 380,000 others seeking refuge in Turkey alone.

As the scale of the devastation from the initial quake – and a second tremor – became clearer, the Turkish authorities declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces and the World Health Organization warned that the number of fatalities could exceed 20,000.

By Tuesday evening, the death toll had passed 7,800. In Turkey, 5,894 people were confirmed to have died and around 32,000 had been injured. The death toll in Syria rose to 1,932 on Tuesday night.

People in remote towns in southern Turkey described how relief efforts were stretched to breaking point, amid destruction over a border region spanning almost 650 miles. In rebel-held northern Syria, volunteer rescue workers said they lacked fuel and some of the most basic provisions required to pull those still trapped under the rubble of their homes.

An unknown number of people remain trapped and efforts to find survivors have been frustrated by frigid conditions. Poor internet connections and damaged roads between some of the worst-hit cities in Turkey’s south, home to millions of people, also hindered rescue teams.

Tensions brew between Tehran and the IAEA over nuclear plant

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has said he will need to go to Tehran very soon to restore his inspectorate’s ability to monitor Iran’s nuclear programme.

Rafael Grossi also said that Iran should not have carried out recent unilateral changes at the Fordow nuclear plant, which will require increased inspections. The modifications, discovered by the IAEA and reported to the board of governors last month, involved an undeclared change to the interconnection between two machines enriching advanced uranium.

Speaking at Chatham House in London, he said: “There has been a modification that should have been reported. You cannot go back and right this wrong. The thing is that, of course, with this modification, the facility has new capabilities so we have to inspect more.”

His remarks suggest Grossi was not convinced by the Iranian explanation that the changes at the plant had been due to a human error and had been corrected.

But he insisted he wanted a reset with Iran. He said recent denials of access for his inspectors by the Iranians meant “it will be very difficult to restore a complete picture of what we have in the Islamic Republic in terms of nuclear infrastructure”.

NBC’s Hit Piece On Jimmy Dore/Taibbi/Greenwald Is Dumbest Yet

Why You Should Hate Corporate News Even More Than You Do

Fed says more interest rate rises needed to cool inflation

The Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, has said that more interest rates rise will be needed to cool inflation and the red-hot US jobs market.

“We think we are going to need to do further rate increases,” Powell said on Tuesday at the Economic Club of Washington. “The labor market is extraordinarily strong.”

The Fed chair’s comments came hours ahead of Joe Biden’s State of Union address to Congress at which he is predicted to tout his administration’s economic record, including strong job growth.

The US added 517,000 new jobs in January – far higher than expected and a sign of the continuing strength of the jobs market. The report came two days after the Fed announced another quarter-point increase in its benchmark interest rate, its eighth consecutive rate increase as the central bank fights to tame inflation.

Briahna Joy Gray: Lyin' Biden Claims To Be SAVIOR Of Social Security, HYPOCRISY Can't Be Ignored

French Workers Erupt Again to Fight Macron's Assault on Pensions

For the third time in less than a month, hundreds of thousands of workers across France participated Tuesday in strikes and rallies to protest President Emmanuel Macron's unpopular plan to force people to work longer before they qualify for a full pension.

The latest nationwide mobilization against Macron's assault on French retirement benefits brought at least 750,000 people to the streets, with turnout lower than on January 19 and January 31. Tuesday's walkouts and marches came one day after the National Assembly began debating legislation that would raise France's official retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030.

"Those of you who support this reform don't understand how tough jobs are, what it's like to wake up with an aching back," Rachel Keke, the first cleaner in France to become a lawmaker, said during a tense debate in parliament on Monday.

"You don't understand what it's like to take medication to get through the work day. You don't understand because it's not a world you live in," the leftist continued, garnering applause from fellow opposition lawmakers.

During a Tuesday rally in the city of Nice, pensioner Bernard Chevalier echoed Keke, saying that "we're worn out by work."

"Retirement should be a second life, not a waiting room for death," he added.

Opposition to pushing back France's retirement age is widespread, with recent polling showing that approximately three-fourths of the population is against such a move. Nevertheless, many of Macron's allies remain determined to fulfill his campaign pledge to overhaul the nation's pension system.

Last week, Macron characterized his effort to hike the retirement age as "essential," while Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne claimed that doing so is "no longer negotiable."

On Tuesday, Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt dismissed opposition lawmakers' accusations that the government is in denial over the scale of protests and doubled down on the supposed need for change.

"The pension system is loss-making and if we care about the system, we must save it," Dussopt told RMC radio.

But as Agence France-Presse reported, "some of the government’s own experts have said the pension system is in relatively good shape and would likely eventually return to a balanced budget even without reforms."

Union leaders and left-wing lawmakers, meanwhile, "say the money can be found elsewhere, notably from the wealthy," Reuters reported.

Organized labor, for its part, intends to launch repeated waves of mass demonstrations until Macron and others who insist on the need to cut retirement benefits are defeated.

"This reform will upend the lives of several generations," Philippe Martinez, general secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), said Tuesday at a march in Paris. "If the government stubbornly forges ahead, we will step up our protest with longer and harder actions."

Rail Workers Blame Fiery Train Crash in Ohio on Wall Street Profit-Seeking

An inter-union alliance of rail workers argued Tuesday that the massive freight train crash in East Palestine, Ohio late last week was a predictable consequence of Wall Street-backed policy decisions that have hollowed out the industry's workforce, pushed remaining employees to chronic exhaustion, and sacrificed safety for profits.

In an assessment of the Norfolk Southern (NS) train derailment based on currently available information, Railroad Workers United (RWU) wrote that "the root causes of this wreck are the same ones that have been singled out repeatedly, associated with the hedge fund-initiated operating model known as 'Precision Scheduled Railroading' (PSR)."

The group noted that the "immediate cause" of the wreck "appears to have been a 19th-century-style mechanical failure of the axle on one of the cars—an overheated bearing—leading to derailment and then jackknifing tumbling cars."

"There is no way in the 21st century, save from a combination of incompetence and disregard to public safety, that such a defect should still be threatening our communities," wrote RWU, which supports nationalization of the U.S. rail system.

"Forty percent of the weight of NS 32N was grouped at the rear third of the train, which has always been bad practice and made more dangerous with longer heavier trains," the statement continued. "This fact almost certainly made the wreck dynamically worse. But increasingly the PSR-driven carriers, driven to cut costs and crew time by any means necessary, cut corners and leave crews and the public at risk."

According to RWU, "The short-term profit imperative, the so-called 'cult of the Operating Ratio'—of NS and the other Class 1 railroads—has made cutting costs, employees, procedures, and resources the top priority. In this case, NS and the other carriers have eliminated many of the critical mechanical positions and locations necessary to guarantee protection against these kinds of failures."

The crash in Ohio "has been years in the making," the group added. "What other such train wrecks await us remains to be seen. But given the modus operandi of the Class One rail carriers, we can no doubt expect future disasters of this nature."

Google targets low-income US women with ads for anti-abortion pregnancy centers, study shows

Low-income women in some cities are more likely than their wealthier counterparts to be targeted by Google ads promoting anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers when they search for abortion care, researchers at the Tech Transparency Project have found.

The research builds on previous findings detailing how Google directs users searching for abortion services to so-called crisis centers – organizations that have been known to pose as abortion clinics in an attempt to steer women away from accessing abortion care.

The researchers set up test accounts in three cities – Atlanta, Miami and Phoenix – for women of three different income groups suggested by Google: average or lower-income rate, moderately high-income rate and high-income rate. They then entered search terms like “abortion clinic near me” and “I want an abortion”. In Phoenix, 56% of the search ads shown to the test accounts representing low- to moderate-income women were for crisis centers, compared with 41% of those served to moderately high-income test accounts and 7% to high-income accounts. In Atlanta, 42% of ads shown to the lower-income group were for crisis pregnancy centers, compared with 18% for moderately high-income women and 29% for high-income women.

In Arizona and Florida abortion is banned after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In Georgia, it is banned after six weeks, at which point many people do not know they are pregnant.

“By pointing low-income women to [crisis pregnancy centers] more frequently than higher-income women in states with restrictive laws, Google may delay these women from finding an actual abortion clinic to get a legal and safe abortion,” says Katie Paul, the director of the Tech Transparency Project. “The time window is critical in some of these states,” she adds.

Major plug-in hybrid cars pollute more than official measures suggest

Popular plug-in hybrid cars emit significantly more carbon dioxide than official measures suggest, according to new on-road tests by academics that add to concerns over the true impact of cars sold as better for the environment. Cars from BMW, Renault and Peugeot all emitted much more than standard lab tests had claimed, with the BMW 3 Series in particular emitting more than three times advertised, according to the research by Switzerland’s Graz University of Technology.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) combine a small battery with a traditional petrol or diesel engine. Carmakers say they can offer the best of both worlds by allowing owners to drive long distances while retaining the ability to drive with zero emissions. However, campaigners argue that the cars are more polluting than claimed.

The research found that BMW’s 3 Series emitted 112g of carbon dioxide per kilometre, three times its official rating of 36g. Peugeot’s 308 polluted 20% more than its official rating of 27g, while Renault’s Megane was 70% above the official test of 30g.

Tests by independent groups, including UK consumer group Which?, have repeatedly found that PHEVs burn more fuel than the laboratory figures suggest. Burning more fuel adds to running costs and increases polluting carbon emissions. ...

The Peugeot and the BMW also failed to live up to their official zero-emissions range. The Peugeot 308 managed just over half the electric range, while the BMW 3 Series achieved three-quarters.

Farming, pharmaceutical and health pollution fuelling rise in superbugs, UN warns

Pollution from livestock farming, pharmaceuticals and healthcare is threatening to destroy a key pillar of modern medicine, as spills of manure and other pollution into waterways are adding to the global rise of superbugs, the UN has warned.

Animal farming is one of the key sources of strains of bacteria that have developed resistance to all forms of antibiotics, through the overuse of the medicines in farming.

Pharmaceutical pollution of waterways, from drug manufacturing plants, is also a major contributor, along with the failure to provide sanitation and control sewage around the world, and to tackle waste from healthcare facilities. Resistant superbugs can survive in untreated sewage.

The findings of the new report, published on Tuesday, show that pollution and a lack of sanitation in the developing world can no longer be regarded by the rich world as a faraway and localised problem for poor people. When superbugs emerge, they quickly spread, and threaten the health even of people in well-funded healthcare systems in the rich world.

Poor sanitation and healthcare, and a lack of regulation in animal farming, create breeding grounds for resistant bacteria, and threaten global health as a result, the UN Environment Programme found in the report. As many as 10 million people a year could be dying by 2050 as a result of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), according to the UN, making it as big a killer as cancer is today.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Patrick Lawrence: The Press Reckoning on Russiagate

NYT On Ukraine - Real Reporting, Propaganda For Balance, Ominous Warning

Russian Fuel Oil Flows To Asia As EU Ban Takes Effect

Brazilian President Lula da Silva Locks Horns with Brazil’s Richest Man, Jorge Paulo Lemann

There Are Very Strange Things Going On at Goldman Sachs

‘Broken Windows Policing’ & the Killing of Tyre Nichols

Douthat’s Birthrate Obsession Launders White Nationalist Anxieties

Great Bear Sea: vast new marine zone a ‘mindset shift’ for conservation

‘A bit of a hoarder’: woodpeckers stash 700lbs of nuts in California home

A Little Night Music

Count Basie - Blues For The Barbecue

Count Basie - Doggin' Around

Count Basie w/Jimmy Rushing - Sent For You Yesterday

Count Basie - The Blues Machine

Count Basie w/Jimmy Rushing - Rusty Dusty Blues

Count Basie - Basie's Blues

Count Basie - Tickle Toe

Count Basie w/Jimmy Rushing - How Long Blues

Count Basie w/Joe Williams - Everyday I Have the Blues