Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Post Totalitarianism And Friends

 Not Pretending,


Thanks for this , Cat:    Covid Post-totalitarianism
​  ​It should be clear from the foregoing discussion that the covid regime resembles, in many respects, the post-totalitarian system described by​ Vaclav Havel. Regardless of “the science,” or rather because of it, the covid regime is post-totalitarian. “The science” has proven itself to be ideological. Although continually discredited—by the exaggeration of the virus’s lethality, by the suppression of known cures so as to usher in a state of emergency and the mRNA vaccines, by the underreporting of vaccine deaths and injuries, by the institution and reinstitution of failed and unscientific lockdown and masking mandates, and more—“the science” is wielded by authorities as if a matter of fact and a matter of course, just as Marxist ideology was wielded by Soviet communists. And, as under communism, even those who know the truth are compelled to live within the lie.
​  ​Just as the greengrocer was compelled to display signs of his loyalty under Soviet bloc communism, signs transmitting semantic content to which he was indifferent, so the covid citizen is compelled to display signs of compliance and complicity under the covid regime. The signs have included donning the mask and, increasingly, displaying the vaccine passport—to take part in society. And, as under communism, these displays are compulsory rituals.​..
...​Rather than needing a political program, these dissidents seek community in “the continuing and cruel tension between the complex demands of that [covid] system and the aims of life, that is, the elementary need of human beings to live, to a certain extent at least, in harmony with themselves, that is, to live in a bearable way … ”
​  ​Yet their efforts may eventually assume a political character and may manage to create another world, and covid post-totalitarianism may be the crucible in which this other world is forged.

​1.4 million Israelis have received a third dose of Pfizer vaccine against alpha-COVID spike protein from January 2, 2020 sequence, yet hospitalizations and deaths are still ramping up hard in this highly vaccinated country, after looking like they would fade away in June. There's talk of a fourth lockdown... Thnks Jeremy.
​  There were 669 people hospitalized with COVID who are in serious condition, as of Sunday evening. One week ago, that figure stood at 535, and a month ago, it was just 76.
Health officials have warned that there could be as many as 2,400 seriously ill patients by the middle of next month, if case numbers continue to rise apace.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/nearly-200-covid-deaths-reported-in-past-week-but-booster-data-raises-hopes/

​Public Health England (PHE) finds that COVID new-cases are stable in the unvaccinated, but rising in the double-vaccinated, explaining all recent rises.
A group of demonstrators occupied the entrance of the headquarters of ITV News and Channel 4 News in London, claiming that the media are misinforming people about vaccines and the pandemic.

NYC Orders 150,000 Teachers & School Staff To Either Get Vaccinated Or Find A New Job; NJ Orders Jabs For State Workers

​  The vaccine mandate was officially announced as policy today at my clinic. Everyone is required to be fully vaccinated by November 1, which means on track by early October, with a first jab. I don't know how the month of October will be interpreted. That was not spelled out. 
This is pretty lenient. The pro-vaccine narrative could be as abandoned as Afghan interpreters and Americans in Kabul by November.​ 
We shall see. My moral choice remains clear. Now I have to do as much good-doctoring as I can fit in each precious day.

​Will the "Leathernecks" take the shot?
Pentagon To Mandate Covid Vaccine For All Service Members
Except, around one-third of US service members have refused the jab. In July, between 60% and 70% of personnel were fully vaccinated - with the Navy being the most vaccinated and the Marines being the least...

Bush Era NSA Head Says Its A “Good Idea” To Send Unvaccinated Trump Supporters To Afghanistan
Refers to MAGA supporters as ‘Our Taliban’​ 

​  ​Former head of the NSA and the CIA during the George W. Bush presidency, General Michael Hayden, declared that he thinks it would be a “good idea” to send unvaccinated supporters of President Trump to die in Afghanistan.
​  ​Hayden, who infamously declared that the Fourth Amendment “changed” on September 11, 2001, and went on to oversee mass surveillance of Americans at the NSA while the invasion of Afghanistan was implemented, made the comments on Twitter.

​The Taliban's "no revenge" platform, summarized by Pepe Escobar
  No problem for women to get education all the way to college, and to continue to work. They just need to wear the hijab (like in Qatar or Iran). No need to wear a burqa. The Taliban insist, “all women’s rights will be guaranteed within the limits of Islamic law.”
  The Islamic Emirate “does not threaten anyone” and will not treat anyone as enemies. Crucially, revenge – an essential plank of the Pashtunwali code – will be abandoned, and that’s unprecedented. There will be a general amnesty – including people who worked for the former NATO-aligned system. Translators, for instance, won’t be harassed, and don’t need to leave the country.
  Security of foreign embassies and international organizations “is a priority.” Taliban special security forces will protect both those leaving Afghanistan and those who remain.
  A strong inclusive Islamic government will be formed. “Inclusive” is code for the participation of women and Shi’ites.
  For
iegn media will continue to work undisturbed. The Taliban government will allow public criticism and debate. But “freedom of speech in Afghanistan must be in line with Islamic values.”
  The Islamic Emirate of Taliban wants recognition from the “international community” – code for NATO...
On the key issue of opium/heroin: the Taliban will ban their production. So, for all practical purposes, the CIA heroin rat line is dead.

On permanent hold, like Venezuela's gold in London?
Afghanistan's Gold At The New York Fed: 1,731 Bars Held Since 1939
​   ​Not for the first time, the US Treasury has just gone and frozen the US held assets of Afghanistan’s central bank, the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB). Chief among these assets are 1731 old gold bars (just less than 22 tonnes) supposedly stored in the gold vault of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

​Russia and China, Afghanistan's neighbors, would much rather buy ores, metals and minerals than heroin.
​  In 2010, a report by US military experts and geologists estimated that Afghanistan, one of the world's poorest countries, was sitting on nearly $1 trillion (€850 billion) in mineral wealth, thanks to huge iron, copper, lithium, cobalt and rare-earth deposits.
  In the subsequent decade, most of those resources remained untouched due to ongoing violence in the country. Meanwhile, the value of many of those minerals has skyrocketed, sparked by the global transition to green energy. A follow-up report by the Afghan government in 2017 estimated that Kabul's new mineral wealth may be as high as $3 trillion, including fossil fuels.


This article wonders how the pieces fall away from the global empire, now that Afghanistan has fallen away, in a way so reminiscent  of the fall of Saigon. It's sort of clunky, but it breaks the ice. The empire is clearly in terminal decline. What breaks away first, and what breaks away next. I think it's the Dollar.
​  ​No one can call in the debt of a Global Hegemon, but Regional Powers have to balance their checkbook. A decrease in power could lead to the national debt prophecy coming true in our lifetimes which would be probably the largest domino of all.

Improving Neighbor

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