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

This seems to be the week of waiting until the NATO summit.

Except the rest of the world is creating new future.

Finance, power, integration: The SCO welcomes a new 'Global Globe' The Cradle Pepe Escobar July 6, 2023

The 23rd summit of the heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), held virtually in New Delhi, represented History in the making: three BRICS (Russia, India, China), plus Pakistan and four Central Asian “stans” (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan), finally and formally, welcomed the Islamic Republic of Iran as a permanent member.
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The next step for the “Global Globe” – what the collective west dismissively qualifies as “the rest” – is to work on the complex coordination of several development banks and then the process to issue bonds linked to a new trading currency.

The main ideas and the basic template already exist. The new bonds will be a real safe heaven compared to the US dollar and US Treasuries, and will imply accelerated de-dollarization. Capital used to purchase those bonds should be used to finance trade and sustainable development, in what will be a certified, Chinese-style “win-win.”
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The interconnections are fascinating. Apart from Iran and Pakistan, the only full SCO members that are not BRICS members are four Central Asian “stans,” which already happen to be EAEU members. Iran is bound to become a member of BRICS+. No less than nine nations among SCO’s observers or dialogue partners are among BRICS applicants.
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So it’s no wonder that several leaders at the SCO summit were in favor to what amounts, in practice, to an expanded BRICS-SCO Central Bank. When the new BRICS-SCO-EAEU currency is finally adopted – of course it’s a long way away, perhaps in the early 2030s – it will be traded for physical gold by participating banks from SCO, BRICS, and EAU member-nations.

Not much hope for meeting Western defined victory in Ukraine. Hopefully the faith in a wonder weapon saving the day disappears before more blowback of violence occurs in more countries.

Vilnius NATO summit will likely be a flop Asia Time by Stepehn Bryen July 7, 2023

Europe is out of money and out of bullets. It is not in a mood to give a blank check to Ukraine or risk a bigger war that might spread into Europe. President Biden will have a hard time trying to squeeze more from the Europeans.

Biden knows that he cannot unilaterally use US forces, especially air power, without airbases and supply centers in Europe. Right now, Washington has a free hand because US warplanes are not bombing Russian positions in Ukraine. Bombing them, however, would force a strong European reaction and shatter NATO.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has been pressuring Washington for advanced warplanes, saying airpower would make it possible for Ukraine to win. But the only practical way forward with that over the next year is to operate from bases outside of Ukraine using US and possibly other NATO aircraft.

This would certainly mean war in Europe, and the currently ruling governments in Europe either would have to say no or face being removed by force. It is, therefore, an unlikely, if highly dangerous, scenario.

​Washington has already signaled that it has been unable to convince its partners about Ukrainian NATO membership.
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The failure of the Leopard in Ukraine represents a huge challenge for NATO and signals that the current NATO “tripwire” strategy may not work.

Under the tripwire paradigm, the idea is that an initial Russian attack (most likely in the Baltic states, because Russian forces are very close to Estonia and Latvia) can be held for some days while the US ships heavy forces into Europe. But if the tripwire is illusory, then NATO is exposed to rapid Russian advances in Europe should an attack be launched.

The bottom line is that NATO’s strategy needs revision or, alternatively, that the Europeans and Russians need to work out a mutually acceptable security arrangement. It is exactly such an arrangement that Russia proposed to NATO in December 2021. It was rejected without discussion.

The COVID experience opened a larger number of individuals to the manipulation of information by government and media. Each generation seems to need their moment, then back to self selected ignorance for many.

How To Create A Fake News Cycle Zerohedge July 6, 2023

The whole debacle presents a neat lesson in how to create a fake news cycle. It goes like this.

Step one: Identify a public tool, such as poison control centers, that are easy to manipulate.

These organizations have a public hotline and email address that anyone can use to report a problem. The reports are logged as “adverse events,” but they are not easily confirmed and typically will be tabulated for public records whether or not they have been verified. This is exactly what happened with the Oklahoma story. The local poison control center was deluged with fake calls from people claiming they overdosed on ivermectin.

Step two: Deploy “independent,” seemingly credible voices to validate and embellish the false claims.

Doctors are among the most trusted professionals, but having a medical degree doesn’t make you an honest broker. Many doctors struggle to earn a living practicing medicine, and sadly some – like the Oklahoma ER doc – will stoop to industry or political hit jobs if it pays the bills. And doctors willing to go on the record expressing concern about a health scare – ivermectin overdoses – are all a reporter needs for a juicy scoop.

Step three: Coordinate with institutional allies to add legitimacy.

FDA, American Medical Association, and GAVI (The Vaccine Alliance) – to add credibility and fan the flames with outraged public statements and targeted ad buys. Reporters can pose questions to their representatives at televised briefings, which carried more significance during the pandemic.

Finally, step four: Activate the echo chamber in mainstream and social media.

Twitter influencers who live and play in the Acela corridor can talk to each other in the green rooms of cable news studios and glitzy Beltway gatherings. They can pat each other on the back for exposing the crazies and conspiracy theorists.

Repackaging old news as new distorts is a method to disrupt the memory of the timeframe of important events. Shakes the foundational understanding a bit and it becomes easier to shape new thought patterns.

The Danny Haiphong video released yesterday(Pepe Escobar: NATO is CRUMBLING as Russia and China Assume World Leadership) on Youtube is an example of a fake interview on current events.

It would be very easy to add the information at the beginning of the interview clarifying the article being discussed by Pepe Escobar was released mid-April. (Escobar: All Roads Lead To Beijing) after French President Emmanuel Macron visit to China and the Ukraine offensive had not started. Instead at 11:34 minutes into the video Danny states these events happened in the last few days in Beijing.

A more current interview discussing the French violence and weapons coming back from Ukraine.
What’s REALLY Behind the Riots in France? With Pepe Escobar. July 4, 2023 (11:35 min)

Who has time for this long of a video. But because of the content felt I needed to share. New audience and most subjects include background information I had not heard previously from Ritter. I spent most of my time during those years meeting the obligation of funding the monthly payroll and had little time for anything but business. Fortunately others were working on preventing the world from being blown up.

THIS Is How NATO's War On Russia Has FAILED w/ Scott Ritter (2 hr 51 min)

first hour Events leading up to first Iraq war through second Iraq war includes many events he participated in at the time.
1.00 discuss China and Russia's ability to by-pass US missile defense. It only takes 400 nuclear bombs to end the world

1:14 - how did we get here on Ukraine and current events
2:41 - bioweapons
2:46 - drop Youtube to discuss sensitive subjects, had dropped facebook feed about an hour earlier. People adjust quickly to censorship.

The full video on Rumble. It is over 4 1/2 hours in total.

The other livestream videos this week by Judge Napolitano channel ongoing discussions regarding current Ukraine/Russia conflict. the interviews are generally posted on Monday through Thursday if would like to view them in a more timely manner.

A reminder we are part of continual change. A couple hours drive away and closer to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge(Bundy occupation)

Testing yields new evidence of human occupation 18,000 years ago in Eastern Oregon

Oregon archaeologists have found evidence suggesting humans occupied the Rimrock Draw Rockshelter outside of Riley, Oregon more than 18,000 years ago.
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In 2012, O’Grady’s team found camel teeth fragments under a layer of volcanic ash from an eruption of Mount St. Helens that was dated over 15,000 years ago. The team also uncovered two finely crafted orange agate scrapers, one in 2012 with preserved bison blood residue and another in 2015, buried deeper in the ash. Natural layering of the rockshelter sediments suggests the scrapers are older than both the volcanic ash and camel teeth.

Radiocarbon-dating analysis on the tooth enamel – first in 2018 and then again in 2023 – by Dr. Thomas W. Stafford, Jr of Stafford Research and Dr. John Southon of University of California, Irvine, yielded exciting results: a date of 18,250 years before present (14,900 radiocarbon years).

That date, in association with stone tools, suggests that Rimrock Draw Rockshelter is one of the oldest human-occupation sites in North America.

What is on your mind today?