Counting Costs,
..Slowly but surely, the new RIC (Russia-Iran-China) – as opposed to the old RIC in BRICS (Russia-India-China) – is attempting to integrate their financial systems. Iran is a matter of national security strategy for China, as an energy provider and essential partner of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in West Asia.
Russia-China, though, is a much more complex matter. Extremely fearful of provoking US sanctions, Chinese banks are refraining – at least for the moment – to increase their deals with Russian banks...
..The Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have restricted financing for Russian commodities. Even the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), absolutely essential for sustainable development projects, linked or not with BRI, decided to freeze all lending to Russia and Belarus in early March to “safeguard” its “financial integrity.”... As it stands, the Mir card is still not accepted in Iran, but that’s about to change – just as in Turkey, which this summer will start accepting Mir card payments from legions of Russian tourists. What this means in practice is that Russia and Iran will be connecting their banks to the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), the Russian equivalent to SWIFT. The Chinese will obviously be examining how seamlessly the transition works. Now compare all of the above with the prospect that soon there won’t be any SWIFT at all, as Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach let slip in Davos... The Russia-Iran front has been fast evolving since January this year, when Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, on a visit to Moscow, handed a draft agreement to Putin on strategic cooperation for the next 20 years, building on “the very good experience of cooperation between Iran and Russia in Syria in combating terrorism,” and expanding to “economy, politics, culture, science, technology, defense, and military spheres, as well as security and space issues.” ...
..The bottom line is that on the JCPOA, Tehran and Moscow are in sync: “We are what they call on edge, and it could happen very quickly if the political decision is made.” (by the US) https://thesaker.is/the-
Russian oil exports to India jump 25x
India has come under fire from the West for its continued purchases of Russian oil. However, New Delhi has rebuffed the criticism, saying those imports make up a fraction of the country’s overall needs. Authorities also said India will keep buying “cheap” Russian oil as a sudden stop could drive up costs for its consumers. Previous media reports have indicated that the world’s third-biggest oil importer was seeking Russian crude at less than $70 a barrel to compensate for additional hurdles caused by sanctions.
Here is a headline, which is no surprise, but also an important point about making military deals with the US. (The whole world needs Taiwanese chip factories to stay in production.)
Washington ‘Taking Lessons’ From Ukraine to Turn Taiwan Into Anti-China ‘Porcupine’: Report At the same time as Washington has encouraged Taipei to increase purchases of American-made military equipment, billions of dollars' worth of weapons already bought and paid for remain undelivered. Last month, Defense News calculated that the US had shipped just 16 percent of the weapons Taiwan ordered in 2019, with COVID blamed for the $14.2 billion backlog, which includes F-16 fighters, replacement parts for Patriot missile systems, and other equipment. Earlier this month, Taipei announced that the US howitzers it had ordered had been “crowded out” by Ukraine. https://sputniknews.com/
Russia has complex and ongoing frenemy relationships with Israel and Turkey. Right now, Syria is getting clobbered as these countries see how far they can push the bear and gain advantage while Russia is occupied in Europe.
Israel is not the only foreign power escalating against Syria. Turkey is also attempting to take advantage of the Ukrainian conflict, which is keeping Russia busy and the US in need of all of its NATO allies.
On May 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will launch a new military operation in Syria against Kurdish forces, mainly the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in an effort to link up two areas already under Turkish control in the northern and northeastern regions of the country.
Erdogan said the operation would aim to resume Turkish efforts to create a 30 kilometers “safe zone” along its border with Syria.
SDF-held Minaq will likely be one of the main targets of any upcoming operation against the SDF, along with the towns of Tell Rifaat and Manbij in the northern Aleppo countryside and the town of Kobane in the governorate’s northeastern countryside. Several units of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Russian Military Police are present near all of these towns.
On May 25, the Turkish military deployed massive reinforcements in the areas held by its proxies.
On the same day, a series of Turkish artillery strikes targeted towns and villages held by the SDF in the northern Aleppo countryside, the northern Raqqa countryside and the northern countryside of al-Hasakah.
A new operation against the SDF in Syria could boost the chances of Erdogan and his party, the Justice and Development party, in the upcoming Turkish elections in 2023.
Overall, it appears that Syria will experience a new phase of violence this summer as regional powers are attempting to secure points in the war-torn country before the conflict in Ukraine reaches its end. https://southfront.org/
"Freeing the slaves"? Russia supports African peoples in their demand for complete decolonization — Lavrov
Russia played a leading role in the decolonization of Africa and it supports the Africans in their demand for the full liberation of the continent from colonialism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a reception on the occasion of Africa Day for the ambassadors of African countries accredited in Russia in Moscow on Wednesday. https://tass.com/politics/
A well placed source shared: “The resolution on IHR amendments was not passed at the WHA, as African countries were concerned that there was inadequate consultation amongst member states, and the process was being rushed. Botswana read the statement on behalf of the 47 AFRO members and I was personally present.”
It's Really True: They Know they are Killing the Babies
What do we do with all of this?
Knowing as I now do, that Pfizer and the FDA knew that babies were dying and mothers’ milk discoloring by just looking at their own internal records; knowing as I do that they did not alert anyone let alone stop what they were doing, and that to this day Pfizer, the FDA and other demonic “public health” entities are pushing to MRNA-vaccinate more and more pregnant women; now that they are about to force this on women in Africa and other lower income nations who are not seeking the MRNA vaccines, per Pfizer CEO Bourla this past week at the WEF, and knowing that Pfizer is pushing and may even receive a US EUA for babies to five year olds — I must conclude that we are looking into an abyss of evil not seen since 1945.
So I don’t know about you, but I must switch gears with this kind of unspeakable knowledge to another kind of discourse.
An incendiary conversation with HelenOfDestroy
Maybe because a part of me enjoys getting into trouble, I'll note again that planned genocide isn't necessary to explain this de facto genocide. Old school psycho/socio-pathic greed will do.
ReplyDeleteToxic narcissist: I hope nobody gets hurt
Sociopath: I don't care who gets hurt.
Psychopath: None of my business.
Do I have a problem with the idea that there are global elites who welcome a dieoff? No more than I do with the fact that global elites wage war for profit with little concern for how many that war kills or how much of a baby boom it might create (they can do both, sometimes at once).
In Naomi Wolf's excellent article, she says: "Because now, the Volunteers, under the excellent leadership of Program Manager Amy Kelly, have confirmed that there is a genocide underway, ***intentionally driven or not***."
It's interesting, because genocide based on valuing profit (or keeping one's job) over human life is as intentional as genocide for the sake of genocide. Both are intentional. But the latter is at least honorable: in that case, they are doing what they planned. They're at least congruent. In the former, it is not even honorable: they're just doing whatever makes money even though doing so will destroy both their business model and its customer base.
One reason I lean strongly towards this mostly being an insane tragicomedy based on blind obedience to authority and blind worship of profit, is because it is not honorable, is not even remotely congruent, and that is what one expects from our leaders and institutions. Davosian Planned Genocide is honorable, and honor among TPTB and their minions (right down to most of your former coworkers) is as rare as freely available oxygen on Mars. Compromising and kissing ass and fucking up our way into genocide fits more how we humans roll, in my experience and observations.
One can envision a two-layered monster, with a few honorably evil aspiring global overlords using their considerable influence to get the rest of us to dishonorably (or shall I say, self-deludingly) follow their instructions. This fits standard hierarchy method, which is another reason why I chafe at this incessant finger-pointing at the Big Bad Guys: the responsibility and power lies with we the people, not the financially powerful lunatics that the people follow.
Ultimately, I see it as an excuse to piss and moan and spread a sense of helplessness. Not necessarily intentionally, i.e., honorably, but more unconsciously than not, the preferred mode of modern mass-mediated humanity.
In short, I see it as non-productive and even destructive to the good works that you, for example, are doing in taking practical precautions and making practical preparations for the negative consequences from the mighty mess surrounding us.
I agree that it is not necessary to infer conscious intention, but "you are what you do".
DeleteSo, whether the apex-predator-of-the-herd-of-apex-predators groks the ecosystemc implications of the role, that's what it does.
For those who seek to make that role "redundant" it is helpful to fullyunderstand the system, but more important, I think, to be guided by a more sophisticated system, which is commonly modeled as "divine guidance". It's possible. It's not rare. Moreis better. Enough will change the system.
Divine guidance is how I get through any given day. I fully endorse your reply.
ReplyDelete