Welcome to Saturday's Potluck - Oct 1, 2022

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

If we believe the myth China is the only culture with long term planning and goals - no one looks at our own governments and elites for long arching plans and activities. Monday's Open Thread 9/26 - What's Latin for Unmitigated Evil? Dudum siquidem! identified the beginning of Europe's claim to divide all of the world to European nations. A few decades later after the Protestant nations of England and The Netherlands separated from the Catholic hierarchy each embarked on ocean travels claiming parts of the world.

English merchants were looking for a market to sell their primary export product harvested annually from sheep. They headed north since wool keeps people warm in winter and the Spanish and Portuguese controlled southern routes.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I trade privileges with Russia was granted to the Muscovay Company.
Audio reading Wikipedia of Muscovy Company (11.37)

The Muscovy Company was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint stock company, the precursor of the type of business that would soon flourish in England and finance its exploration of the world. The Muscovy Company had a monopoly on trade between England and Muscovy until 1698 and it survived as a trading company until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Since 1917 the company has operated as a charity, now working within Russia

The Muscovy Company traces its roots to the Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands (in full: "Mystery and Company of Merchant Adventurers for the Discovery of Regions, Dominions, Islands, and Places unknown") founded in 1551 by Richard Chancellor, Sebastian Cabot and Sir Hugh Willoughby, who decided to look for the Northeast Passage to China.
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In 1571, the company's right to free trade and navigation down the Volga was revoked by Ivan IV, who had been offended by English demands to close Russian trade to other European nations. Jenkinson returned to Moscow in 1572 in an attempt to restore the company's privileges, a task at which he was largely successful. However, a cooling of Anglo-Russian relations was evident

Still searching for a north passage to China the Muscovy Company hired Captain Henry Hudson for his first two voyages in 1807 and 1608. His third was funded by The Dutch East India Company. Instead of exploring for a Northeast route as contracted his ship ended up mapping and exploring a by and river named by the Europeans as Hudson Bay and Hudson River. Identified potential areas for future settlement and trade within a few years called New Netherlands. His fourth and final voyage was funded by the Virginia Company and the British East India Company ended with mutiny.

Hudson's voyages were at the turning point in time when North America became a potential place for trade, not simply a barrier on the path to China trade.

The Four Voyages of Henry Hudson (23.48)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdQah_oaX6M]

It is interesting, climate change with its continual warming has opened up two of the theorized Artic routes from Europe to China. As the world gets warmer the third route may become available for use.
Militaries Know That The Arctic Is Melting — Here's How They're Taking Advantage Business Insider June 3, 2014.

The region is stocked with valuable oil, gas, mineral, and fishery reserves. The U.S. estimates that a significant proportion of the Earth’s untapped petroleum — including about 15% of the world's remaining oil, up to 30% of its natural gas deposits, and about 20% of its liquefied natural gas — are stored in the Arctic seabed.
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Russia wants the Northern Sea Route, where traffic jumped from four vessels in 2010 to 71 in 2013, to eventually rival the Suez Canal as a passage between Europe and Asia. And it could: The Northern Sea Route from Europe to Asia takes only 35 days, compared to a 48-day journey between the continents via the Suez Canal.

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The world appears to be in a stage of change once again.

An English transcript of Putin’s Full Speech on New Territories by Aletho News Sept 30, 2022

Video with English translation (43.29 min)

A few of the teachable moments directed towards his citizens regarding perceptions of the challenges Russia faces from the West.

Meanwhile, the West continued and continues looking for another chance to strike a blow at us, to weaken and break up Russia, which they have always dreamed about, to divide our state and set our peoples against each other, and to condemn them to poverty and extinction. They cannot rest easy knowing that there is such a great country with this huge territory in the world, with its natural wealth, resources and people who cannot and will not do someone else’s bidding.

The West is ready to cross every line to preserve the neo-colonial system which allows it to live off the world, to plunder it thanks to the domination of the dollar and technology, to collect an actual tribute from humanity, to extract its primary source of unearned prosperity, the rent paid to the hegemon. The preservation of this annuity is their main, real and absolutely self-serving motivation. This is why total de-sovereignisation is in their interest. This explains their aggression towards independent states, traditional values and authentic cultures, their attempts to undermine international and integration processes, new global currencies and technological development centres they cannot control. It is critically important for them to force all countries to surrender their sovereignty to the United States.
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Western elites are even shifting repentance for their own historical crimes on everyone else, demanding that the citizens of their countries and other peoples confess to things they have nothing to do with at all, for example, the period of colonial conquests.

It is worth reminding the West that it began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, followed by the worldwide slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India and Africa, the wars of England and France against China, as a result of which it was forced to open its ports to the opium trade. What they did was get entire nations hooked on drugs and purposefully exterminated entire ethnic groups for the sake of grabbing land and resources, hunting people like animals. This is contrary to human nature, truth, freedom and justice.
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And here it is important to recall that the West bailed itself out of its early 20th century challenges with World War I. Profits from World War II helped the United States finally overcome the Great Depression and become the largest economy in the world, and to impose on the planet the power of the dollar as a global reserve currency. And the 1980s crisis – things came to a head in the 1980s again – the West emerged from it unscathed largely by appropriating the inheritance and resources of the collapsed and defunct Soviet Union. That’s a fact.

Now, in order to free itself from the latest web of challenges, they need to dismantle Russia as well as other states that choose a sovereign path of development, at all costs, to be able to further plunder other nations’ wealth and use it to patch their own holes. If this does not happen, I cannot rule out that they will try to trigger a collapse of the entire system, and blame everything on that, or, God forbid, decide to use the old formula of economic growth through war.

The current neocolonial model is ultimately doomed; this much is obvious. But I repeat that its real masters will cling to it to the end. They simply have nothing to offer the world except to maintain the same system of plundering and racketeering.

President Biden Responds to Russian President Putin (2.53 min)C-Span Sept 30, 2022

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiCsnGnammQ]

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For the next few weeks until the end of irrigation and harvest season my time and energy is limited. The table is set with the main dish - salads and deserts are up to C99 members - have fun.

What is on your mind today?

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Hat tip to Wall Street Silver on twit.

October should be interesting.
Thanks for hosting SOE!

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@QMS

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Zelensky Seen On Raft Asking For Donations From Flooded Florida Residents

FORT MYERS, FL — As emergency crews worked tirelessly to rescue Floridians with the sense to stay out of Georgia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was seen on a rescue boat, paddling door to door and asking for donations to support the war effort against Russia.

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At publishing time, Congress had passed the Hurricane Ian Recovery Act, aimed at sending FEMA workers and $30 Billion to Ukraine.

https://babylonbee.com/news/zelensky-seen-on-raft-asking-for-donations-f...

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enhydra lutris's picture

The first exploratin of the coast of N. America between FL and New Brunswick was by the Tuscan Giovanni da Verrazzano from 1522 to 1524. He was, at the time, sailing for France. I went to the family estate in Italy for a tasting of Salumi, Balsamic and Chianti where I was first apprised of this fact. Ownership and nomenclature of the area was determined not by "first discovery" but by subsequent warfare, as I recollect. Beyond his primacy as an "explorer", I'm sure that the current Verrazzanos make far better vinegar, wine and cured wild boar than any of Hudson's descendants.

be well and have a good one

edit: deleted erroneous apostrophe

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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 --

lotlizard's picture

@enhydra lutris  
directly linking Brooklyn and Staten Island, is named after?

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@lotlizard

Was successfully lobbied as the official name of the bridge by the Italian Historical Society.

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Since I am having a true day off from work, I may finally start reading the first of a 3 book series on LBJ. Written by Robert A. Caro.
My complaint about every hard cover or paperback I have bought that was printed in the last few years has 2 problems: small print, and the print is not true black, does not contrast very well against the white paper. I have to read with my strongest cheaters, and I read in very brief periods. I can't stay with it for hours anymore.
I do not wear glasses, and the cheaters give me headaches and a bit of dizziness if I look away from the page.
Let's hope that is my only complaint of the day.
Wonderful OT, soe!

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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

enhydra lutris's picture

@on the cusp

the print is not true black, does not contrast very well against the white paper.

Magazines are even worse in that they very often have a colored font on a colored background. I have gravitated toward getting electronic copies and e-books because, as needed, one can increase the font size and, with some device+media combos, even change page and/or font colors.

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 --

One of the past Presidents who actually has done good things. (a rarity)

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@humphrey

His donations to the Habitat for Humanity cause shows he was made of decent stuff.

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Back in the day the propaganda line was that we in the West were the “free world” holding back the tide of USSR totalitarianism. But looks like we are about to find out just how free we are given this new challenge to Western hegemony. For the neoliberals we’ve gone from “democracy is under threat” to democracy is the threat. Their constant protest to the opposite effect is “making the lie big enough.” – Carolinian

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

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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!

Pluto's Republic's picture

Often what you write about resonates so well with the topics I am working on.

Your passage about Russia's view of the Western threat against them is an eye-opener. This may be the first time I've seen a coherent description of the long-term plans of the US. It brings considerable clarity to the murky motives behind the short-term tactics the US engages in, such as its violent incursions around the world, and its abrupt unilateral attacks that sanction the economic activities of other nations. I find it comforting to know that the rest of the world, at least, has a roadmap they can follow, even if the American People do not.

An historian I am not. However, I do believe that no history of European commerce from 1450 – 1870 AD makes any real sense unless it incorporates is a simultaneous timeline of the invention and evolution of firearms in the Western world. Otherwise there is no understanding of the sudden explosion of fearless and aggressive trade that occurred in Europe — after millennia of religious stupor and darkness. Although this civilization-changing event in the 1400's is never celebrated, it was probably the most transformative moment in white indigenous history. They discovered a practical way to roam the globe, kill darker people from a safe distance, and take whatever they wanted. They have never looked back.

With their head start, all the Europeans needed to do to maintain their global advantage was to continuously invest in ever more powerful weapons. And make their serfs pay for it by inventing existential threats to scare them.

In my view, the firearms timeline brings desperately needed context to the modern history we live in.

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The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
studentofearth's picture

@Pluto's Republic and the time is late, so this will be short and not as complete of a reply as the discussion deserves.

Some of my views on European embarking across the oceans after reading Gavin Menzies book 1434. An outline of the chapters can be found at this link. Some consider it speculation, but it does stimulate different ways of looking at an arch of history.

Improvement in ship design of the caravel and development of the carrack ship made successful ocean voyages more successful. Adding canons would make them a floating fort.

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Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.

Pluto's Republic's picture

@studentofearth

I'm eager to learn more about this.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato