Independent Analysts,
Yesterday was Victory Day in Russia, 78 years after Germany surrendered unconditionally to end the European theater of WW-2. Sputnik has reflections of some geopolitical analysts about the changes now underway in the global "order", since the brief period of great-power friendship, the cold-war and the unipolar world have come and are gone, or are departing now. Thanks Christine.
1945 to 2023? World on the Precipice of a New Global Realignment Gradually, Wang stressed, the US is transforming from global hegemon to a global "rogue state spreading its empire across the world" in the eyes of other countries. The Ukrainian crisis is helping to speed this process along, the academic believes, with the conflict making clear to "the majority of the peoples of the world…that Washington’s malign Cold War mentality" is driving the Ukrainian crisis, and "preparations for a future war against China" as well...
..Parenti agrees that the Ukrainian crisis has "accelerated the above-mentioned historical trends." "A new international order is already here to stay, under construction throughout the last decades of wars, financial crises and new emerging international arrangements to free the world population from said tyranny," he said. "New cultural codes, a new media environment, and new regional and international institutional arrangements" will help "shape a real democratization of international relations, of people-to-people relations," the observer suggested.....It's been my experience that most Americans are really good people. They love to help. They love to try their best to make a better world," Pauken said. Unfortunately, US engagement with the world, particularly after the end of the Cold War and the dawn of the 21st century, gradually turned to attempts to establish a unipolar world order "in which basically Washington is in charge," in search of control and dictating its terms to the rest of the world.
"This is common for many great empires, no matter how 'good and wonderful' they are; eventually, there is going to be a decline of the empire. Because what happens in power is it becomes very addictive and suddenly people who [have it] become corrupted. And I think what we're seeing right now is a corruption of America, along with that US foreign policy. It's no longer about helping the world, but about making selfish changes for the US," he said...
"This is common for many great empires, no matter how 'good and wonderful' they are; eventually, there is going to be a decline of the empire. Because what happens in power is it becomes very addictive and suddenly people who [have it] become corrupted. And I think what we're seeing right now is a corruption of America, along with that US foreign policy. It's no longer about helping the world, but about making selfish changes for the US," he said...
..The same tone was struck by Gilbert Doctorow, an international relations and Russian affairs analyst, who insisted in an interview with Sputnik that "the dramatic changes that we see around us are still rudimentary."
According to him, these changes are "sketching where history is going, but there are no conclusions that we can draw, because this all is a work in progress."
When asked about the most significant geopolitical events taking place right now, he pointed to the conflict in Ukraine, which Doctorow said is "really a test of strength between Russia and the collective West led by the United States." ...
Mentioning trade in oil, he said that "if it no longer is in dollars," it will destroy "the dollar's reserve position."
"That is what we are witnessing today, and that is bringing about the change in global politics that heads us in the direction towards a multipolar world, a more democratic world governance. If the dollar loses its supreme position as a reserve currency, it loses its fists, its hammer for controlling global governance," the analyst underlined.
According to him, these changes are "sketching where history is going, but there are no conclusions that we can draw, because this all is a work in progress."
When asked about the most significant geopolitical events taking place right now, he pointed to the conflict in Ukraine, which Doctorow said is "really a test of strength between Russia and the collective West led by the United States." ...
Mentioning trade in oil, he said that "if it no longer is in dollars," it will destroy "the dollar's reserve position."
"That is what we are witnessing today, and that is bringing about the change in global politics that heads us in the direction towards a multipolar world, a more democratic world governance. If the dollar loses its supreme position as a reserve currency, it loses its fists, its hammer for controlling global governance," the analyst underlined.
Big Brother adds "Influence and Perception Management Office" & "Foreign Malign Influence Center"
The Pentagon will oversee the “Influence and Perception Management Office,” which is consistent with the fact that “Perception Management” is an old DoD euphemism for psychological warfare and deception. According to the investigative journalist Robert Parry, who covered the Iran-Contra Affair, the Reagan and first Bush Administrations adopted the techniques of “Perception Management” for the objective of overcoming the American public’s “Vietnam Syndrome”—that is, its reluctance to get involved in foreign military adventures that were widely perceived as fruitless and likely to end badly.
The Biden family received, and tried to hide, over $10 million in payments from foreign nationals
A previously undisclosed $1 million in Romanian-linked payments
Ties to Romanian 'influence peddling'
A 'web' of 20 LLCs created while Joe Biden was Vice President with a 'complicated corporate structure'
'At least 15' of the LLCs were formed after Biden became VP in 2009 - several of which were owned or co-owned by Hunter
These LLCs accepted payments ranging from $5,000 to $3 million
The committee wants to know what legitimate business the Biden family was in
..The NATO head has made this claim once before, last month when he visited Kiev. This prompted a one-word response ("What?") from Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, who suggested that the bloc had not actually bothered to obtain consent from Budapest...
..“The war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed NATO, but then you have to remember the war didn’t start in 2022. The war started in 2014,” Stoltenberg told the Post, noting that all members of the bloc have “significantly increased” their military spending since then.
'I'm comforted in the fact that we are called to speak the truth, and after that, it's not up to us,' said Harold Jonker.
A small donation by a Windsor police officer that never made it to the organizers is considered a 'serious' violation by the government.
[Update: How do we know Matt and crew are over the target? Facebook won't allow this post...]
Albanese, who (was) in the UK for King Charles III’s coronation, said he was frustrated there had not yet been a diplomatic resolution to the issue and concerned about the mental health of the now 51-year-old.
A delegation of Australian lawmakers called for the United States to end its attempts to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange during a meeting with US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy in Canberra on Tuesday.
The ‘Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group’ informed Washington’s chief diplomat in Australia that its citizens had expressed “widespread concern” at the continued detention in Britain of the WikiLeaks founder, who is an Australian national, as well as attempts to extradite him to the United States to face espionage charges.
The ‘Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group’ informed Washington’s chief diplomat in Australia that its citizens had expressed “widespread concern” at the continued detention in Britain of the WikiLeaks founder, who is an Australian national, as well as attempts to extradite him to the United States to face espionage charges.
To His Majesty King Charles III,
On the coronation of my liege, I thought it only fitting to extend a heartfelt invitation to you to commemorate this momentous occasion by visiting your very own kingdom within a kingdom: His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh.
You will no doubt recall the wise words of a renowned playwright: “The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.”
Ah, but what would that bard know of mercy faced with the reckoning at the dawn of your historic reign? After all, one can truly know the measure of a society by how it treats its prisoners, and your kingdom has surely excelled in that regard....
..As a political prisoner, held at Your Majesty’s pleasure on behalf of an embarrassed foreign sovereign, I am honoured to reside within the walls of this world class institution. Truly, your kingdom knows no bounds... On the coronation of my liege, I thought it only fitting to extend a heartfelt invitation to you to commemorate this momentous occasion by visiting your very own kingdom within a kingdom: His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh.
You will no doubt recall the wise words of a renowned playwright: “The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.”
Ah, but what would that bard know of mercy faced with the reckoning at the dawn of your historic reign? After all, one can truly know the measure of a society by how it treats its prisoners, and your kingdom has surely excelled in that regard....
..I implore you, King Charles, to visit His Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh, for it is an honour befitting a king. As you embark upon your reign, may you always remember the words of the King James Bible: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). And may mercy be the guiding light of your kingdom, both within and without the walls of Belmarsh.
Your most devoted subject,
Julian Assange A9379AY
Your most devoted subject,
Julian Assange A9379AY
Here in the real world, however, we would need literally millions of weather-dependent wind turbines, billions of equally unreliable solar panels, millions of half-ton battery modules for vehicles, billions more modules to back up intermittent electricity generation, millions of transformers, and tens of thousands of miles of new transmission lines.
All these technologies must be manufactured from metals, minerals, and petroleum extracted from the Earth, via mining on scales unprecedented in human history...
..Science and policy analyst David Wojick calculated that just the batteries needed to back up wind and solar electricity generation in a "net zero" USA would cost $23 trillion — America's entire 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) — and probably many times that.
Energy and technology consultant Thomas Tanton found that battery backup to replace current U.S. fossil fuel electricity — and convert vehicles, furnaces, water heaters, and stoves to electricity — would cost at least $29 trillion in initial outlays.
Trillions more would be needed to cover financing, repairs, maintenance, replacements, burying broken and worn out non-recyclable equipment, and building systems strong enough to survive hurricanes.
Professional engineer Ken Gregory determined that grid-backup battery costs could reach $290 trillion (12.6 times the USA's 2021 GDP), based on actual 2019 and 2020 hourly intermittent electricity generation data, rather than annual average data utilized in the other studies.
None of these estimates includes the costs of turbines, panels, transmission lines, or transformers.
All these technologies must be manufactured from metals, minerals, and petroleum extracted from the Earth, via mining on scales unprecedented in human history...
..Science and policy analyst David Wojick calculated that just the batteries needed to back up wind and solar electricity generation in a "net zero" USA would cost $23 trillion — America's entire 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) — and probably many times that.
Energy and technology consultant Thomas Tanton found that battery backup to replace current U.S. fossil fuel electricity — and convert vehicles, furnaces, water heaters, and stoves to electricity — would cost at least $29 trillion in initial outlays.
Trillions more would be needed to cover financing, repairs, maintenance, replacements, burying broken and worn out non-recyclable equipment, and building systems strong enough to survive hurricanes.
Professional engineer Ken Gregory determined that grid-backup battery costs could reach $290 trillion (12.6 times the USA's 2021 GDP), based on actual 2019 and 2020 hourly intermittent electricity generation data, rather than annual average data utilized in the other studies.
None of these estimates includes the costs of turbines, panels, transmission lines, or transformers.
Can the fiat system be reformed? Can this be done or at least initiated at a state level?
(I'm not sure it's the "most destructive", but here is a reference. We use olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil and grass-fed butter.)
Eating Right (pictured in Austin garden at twilight after rain yesterday afternoon)
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