Race To The Bottom

Neck and Neck,

Chris Wallace more or less won the last debate. (I just watched the beginning, myself. Damage control and holding constituents seemed to rule.)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-19/debate-post-mortem-bad-hombres-putin-puppets-chris-wallace-wins-bigly

"America Has Lost"

Philippine president Duterte sides with China and seeks closer relationship with Russia. (That's pretty bold. Philippine Presidents who buck the US have not lived long, historically. Maybe things are changing.)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-20/america-has-lost-duterte-announces-separation-united-states-alligns-china

"Did the White House Declare War on Russia?" 

(Which "America" are we talkin' about, here?)

MIT expert, professor Theodore Postol, has written that there is “no technical way that the US intelligence community could know who did the hacking if it was done by sophisticated nation-state actors.”

Authoritative (but inconclusive, "probably not") beltway analysis of the Biden comments.

https://www.thenation.com/article/did-the-white-house-declare-war-on-russia/

What Happens When the Electricity is Off for 3 Days?

The experience of an Aussie friend of Charles Hugh Smith is instructive.

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogoct16/no-electricity10-16.html

Cleaning the Fridge

Wrong Question

Answering,

Here is a question to Jill Stein MD, Green Party candidate for President, about fighting terrorism, ISIS. 

She responds carefully, not going quite as far as to say the US created ISIS directly, but at least indirectly. The US should halt all arms and funding that go to Mideast wars, from the US and "allies" and close the many hundreds of US military bases across the world (though a few critical exceptions might be made, she clarifies). Look in about 6:45. Thanks Luke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha5EbVDdr6Y

23% of Americans 18-35 would prefer (they say) to have a giant meteor wipe out the earth, than to have either Trump or Clinton as President 

("There is another", Yoda)

http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/10/18/1-in-4-young-americans-prefer-a-giant-meteor-to-trump-or-clinton-as-president/

High level voting-fraudster (and convicted banking fraudster) Robert Creamer visited the Obama White house 340 times, including 45 visits with President Obama. 

(How come?)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-18/robert-creamer

Julie McMahon, Secret Service Code-name: "Energizer", got $812,000 From Energy Secretary Stephen Chu for her "home insulation business". There was that $2,000,000 from the Clinton Foundation, too. Why is this coming up in Hillary Clinton's emails? Why did the New York Times sit on this story? (duh)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-18/new-emails-reveal-hillary-staffers-scrambling-over-bills-roommate-chappy

Maybe The National Enquirer is about to get some more Anthrax-Letters after printing this story from a Clinton "fixer". (Mature Audiences Only, please)

http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/hillary-clinton-lesbian-sex-claims-vince-foster-fixer/

Russia and the Syrian army will halt airstrikes in Aleppo for 8 hours, announced well in advance, to allow even military adversaries to leave before the final assault, to save themselves.

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201610181046439382-aleppo-humanitarian-pause/

"However, if they refuse to abandoned their positions in Aleppo, they should get ready to be wiped out", Churkin said.

https://www.rt.com/news/363108-aleppo-syria-un-churkin-nusra/

Wikileaks appears to have released it's first "insurance file" of data. Where is Assange, and how is he doing?

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/wikileaks-appears-to-have-just-released-its-first-insurance-file-fully-open-and-unencrypted_102016

Ecuador, the US, the UK; everybody is silent about Julian Assange.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-18/mystery-deepens-around-fate-julian-assange

It turns out that Ecuador cut Assange’s internet access Saturday, 5 pm GMT shortly after he published Clinton’s Goldman Sachs speeches. The organization has activated “the appropriate contingency plans”. This comes a day after US Vice President Joe Biden called for an offensive cyber war against Russia. The Democrats have also called Assange a puppet of Putin.

http://calebreport.com/wikileaks-mainstream-media-spreading-misinformation-on-assange/

Did Assange get secretly extradited  to Smithfield Airbase in North Carolina, a rendition "black hole"? ("Gitmo Express") Gulfstream jet, N379P was tracked there from London right after he disappeared. John Kerry had been visiting London...

http://yournewswire.com/julian-assange-extradited-guantanamo-express/

Having quite printing the 500 Euro note, the ECB goes after bitcoin. ("Must-maintain-total-control...")

"In short, while the ECB would love to ban cash which is a major stumbling block to the bank's NIRP strategy, its proposed alternative is not virtual currencies, despite various such suggestions most notably by the BOE, but merely retaining currency if entirely in electronic form, think only debit and credit card transactions, which in turn allow every single operation and transaction to be tracked (and taxed) by both the central bank and local governments with pinpoint accuracy." 

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-19/ecb-wants-curb-bitcoin-use-over-fears-it-may-lose-control-over-money-supply

Maybe this is why: 

"One day, the house of cards will collapse,” said Professor Otmar Issing, the ECB's first chief economist and a towering figure in the construction of the single currency.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/10/16/euro-house-of-cards-to-collapse-warns-ecb-prophet/

The EU Refugee Asylum Policy is broken in the terribly overcrowded prison camps of the Greek islands, like Lesbos. These are managed by foreign NGOs, not the kind Greeks who began helping their neighbors for the first couple of years. NGOs follow orders and keep secrets better than Greeks do. Turkey is a police-state, transitioning into a war-zone. Syrians are no longer welcome or given papers there. (Can WE stop fueling this covert war, PLEASE?)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/refugee-situation-in-greece-a-threat-to-turkey-eu-deal-a-1117013.html

Suffering Invisibly

Ambushed

Neutralized,

Last night at bedtime, the news broke that something was going on at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, with about 8 "bobbies" on the front steps and 4 more inside with a guy with a briefcase. 

It could be worse. Some "state actor" has cut Assange's internet connection (pervasively, I presume), and "contingency plans" are being activated. ("Paging Joe Biden...")

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-17/wikileaks-activates-contingency-plans-after-unknown-state-party-cuts-julian-assanges

There will be nobody to harvest cabbage in the UK after Brexit, so no fresh veggies, unless they can keep some of those Eastern European laborers...

http://news.sky.com/story/fresh-british-veg-could-be-wiped-out-by-brexit-10619637

Donetsk People's Republic, Spartan Battalion Commander, Arseny Pavlov, "Motorola", has been assassinated by a bomb on his way home. RIP Patriot.

https://southfront.org/legendary-dpr-commander-motorola-killed-in-donbass/

The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and support group heads to the mediterranean.

https://sputniknews.com/military/201610151046373327-admiral-kuznetsov-deploys-to-mediterranean/

Donald Trump refuses to be briefed by the CIA and NSA (Won't sit down with the deep state gorillas for "the talk"? Why not?)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-intelligence-briefing-russia-20161014-story.html

Nuclear Conflict, Deception, or the Real Thing?

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/10/16/going-beyond-propaganda-nuclear-conflict-deception-or-real-threat.html

UNESCO declares Israel to be an "occupying power" in Jerusalem. (No, it's not the "capital"; that's Tel Aviv, except according to the military-occupiers.)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/13/israel-an-occupying-power-in-jerusalem-unesco-decl/

Our Ark Through the Anthropocene  Michael Brownlee writes this essay about food security, an urgency in this early part of the Anthropocene, into which we venture.

http://www.localfoodshift.pub/our-ark-through-the-anthropocene/#

The Local Food Revolution; How Humanity Will Feed Itself in Uncertain Times, Review of new book about growing-your-own, by Michael Brownlee.

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2016-10-16/review-the-local-food-revolution-how-humanity-will-feed-itself-in-uncertain-times-1

Agrarianized

Voices Of Reason

Duly Considering,

"This Conflict is About World War 3": 

Interview in English, with Syrian President Bashar al Assad, a London-trained Ophthalmologist, who is eloquent and fully expressive in English. 

Full transcript is the quicker read, but do hear President Assad speak, please. 

He is spontaneous and sincere.

http://eaworldview.com/2016/10/syria-interview-assad-conflict-about-world-war-three/

Chas Freeman is a career US diplomat, who was chief interpreter when Nixon met Mao (WOW!). He has a deep and broad diplomatic insight, which is not what is wanted in the current power-driven US foreign policy climate. (He was, for 6 hours, Chairman of Obama's National Intelligence Council in 2009, until AIPAC got wind of it.) He has held multiple ambassadorships and was Assistant Secretary of Defense. 

This is what the face of American diplomacy should be, and is not. 

His assessments and criticisms are no less clear for their polite expression. Truly excellent.

https://www.thenation.com/article/meet-the-man-who-should-be-secretary-of-state/

The US and Saudi Arabia have agreed to grant free passage to thousands of Islamic State militants before the Iraqi city of Mosul is stormed.  "More than 9,000 Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) militants will be redeployed from Mosul to the eastern regions of Syria to carry out a major offensive operation, which involves capturing Deir ez-Zor and Palmyra.”  (Why kill a perfectly useful enemy, ya'know?) “Washington must somehow counter Russia’s achievements in Syria, try to diminish their importance.”

https://www.rt.com/news/362559-syria-iraq-mosul-isis/

The Truth About the War in Aleppo, David Stockman : 

"This is starting to sound pretty ominous. The Washington War Party is coming unhinged and appears to be leaving no stone unturned when it comes to provoking Putin’s Russia and numerous others."

http://original.antiwar.com/David_Stockman/2016/10/10/truth-war-aleppo/

Major Threat, but vague and plausibly deniable to Americans... Vice President hints at your tax dollars at work threatening Russia.

“We have the capacity to do it, and, uh,... it’ll be at a time of our choosing, and under circumstances that have the greatest impact. ... will be proportionate in what we do." Todd again interrupted his interviewee, and said, “So, a message is going to be sent. Will the public know?” Biden replied, “Hope not.” Thanks Eleni.     http://russia-insider.com/en/obama-threatens-putin-nuclear-war/ri17032

DO NOT RESIST! 

Documentary about systematic militarization of America's police forces:

“The search warrants, we’re told, are always used for massive drug dealers and kingpins, and then we run in these homes and we never found anything,” Atkinson said. Instead, the filmmaker repeatedly found himself watching police with military-grade weaponry executing dubious search warrants. The frequency of the raids was particularly shocking, with one of the officers in the film claiming his team does 200 such operations a year. By comparison, Atkinson notes, his father performed a total of 29 search warrant raids over his entire 13 years in SWAT — according to some estimates, SWAT teams now carry out between 50,000 to 80,000 raids across the country annually.

https://theintercept.com/2016/10/12/do-not-resist-the-police-militarization-documentary-everyone-should-see/

"What Triggers Collapse? Massive disruptions often happen quickly." Charles Hugh Smith

https://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/101795/what-triggers-collapse

Angela Merkel makes it clear that the UK can not get "full" market access to EU, without freedom-of-movement across borders. The UK has the highest non-native population in the EU now (for various reasons, like colonialism), so borders are core to Brexit. 

(The opening for negotiation here is how much market access can be bought, at what price, while keeping a secured border.)

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-germany-merkel-idUSKBN12F0D6

"Considering the Coming Megadrought in the American Southwest:

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-coming-megadrought-in-american.html

Obituary: Great Barrier Reef, 25 million BC - 2016

The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in 2016 after a long illness. It was 25 million years old. 

For most of its life, the reef was the world’s largest living structure, and the only one visible from space. It was 1,400 miles long, with 2,900 individual reefs and 1,050 islands. In total area, it was larger than the United Kingdom, and it contained more biodiversity than all of Europe combined. It harbored 1,625 species of fish, 3,000 species of mollusk, 450 species of coral, 220 species of birds, and 30 species of whales and dolphins.

http://www.outsideonline.com/2112086/obituary-great-barrier-reef-25-million-bc-2016

For those living in or near Austin, Texas, Jill Stein MD, Green Party candidate for President, will speak at the King-Seabrook Chapel at Huston-Tillostson University Monday, 10/17/16 from 6:30 - 9:00 PM. (I'm working that day and the next, myself.) http://www.txgreens.org/atxstein

Voice Unheard  

Completely Misrepresented

Stolen Identities,

Jill Stein MD, Green Party Presidential Candidate: "So, we have certainly a great deal to do with the crisis in Syria, and not to mention that we have been bombing in Syria, as well, and apparently funding some of the rebel groups, the very unsavory rebel groups, which appear to be al-Qaeda-related. So, we have had a major hand in the chaos of Syria and, indeed, the major hand instigating the chaos in the Middle East."

http://failedevolution.blogspot.gr/2016/10/stein-endless-war-led-to-failed-states.html

Bill Clinton was a VERY frequent flier on Jeremy Epstein's private jet, the "Lolita", often to "Sex Slave Island", but Donald Trump also visited Epstein on that Elite-Male-Fantasy-Island. Thanks Tom.

http://www.dailywire.com/news/5749/both-trump-and-clinton-went-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-amanda-prestigiacomo#modal

Leaked emails show that the Democratic National Committee was colluding directly, and concertedly with the Clinton campaign to marginalize candidate Sanders, particularly in the debates:  1) limit the number of debates (and the number in each state);  2) start the debates as late as possible;  3) keep debates out of the busy window between February 1 and February 27, 2016 (Iowa to South Carolina);  4) create a schedule that would allow the later debates to be cancelled if the race is for practical purposes over;  5) encourage an emphasis on local issues and local media participants in the debate formats; and  6) ensure a format that provides equal time for all candidates and does not give the moderator any discretion to focus on one candidate.

http://usuncut.com/politics/leaked-email-clinton-collaborating-dnc/

Iraqi birth defects are really, really bad and still on the increase, particularly in Fallujah. Blood lead levels are very high in children, and nobody is measuring uranium levels, it seems, but the evidence is clear. This is long-term genocidal poisoning, for innumerable generations to come. Thanks Tom.

https://raniakhalek.com/2013/03/20/u-s-turns-a-blind-eye-to-iraqi-birth-defects-worse-than-hiroshima/

Depleted Uranium is still uranium, still radioactive, and most toxic once inside the human body. It burns-on-impact, when used in munitions, and uranium oxide spreads and is taken up by plants and animals. Some more data has been squeezed out of the Pentagon, about how indiscriminately and pervasively these tank-buster munitions were actually used in Iraq.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/iraq-war-records-reignite-debate-over-us-use-of-depleted-uranium/5550744

The Manufactured Epidemic, ADHD 

(Hey, it's good for business, and YOUR kid can perform to his potential and excel and stuff...)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/big-pharma-s-manufactured-epidemic-the-misdiagnosis-of-adhd/

The jilted EU wants at least 20 billion Euros out of the UK, for the divorce, and the price is going up, and that may be without visitation-rights...

https://mishtalk.com/2016/10/13/eu-seeks-e20-billion-divorce-settlement/

There may be a mass exodus of banks out of the City of London in the spring of 2017.

https://www.rt.com/uk/362390-brexit-market-bankers-london/

Who is the "Federation of Wallonia-Brussels", and why do they get to kill that EU trade deal with Canada (CETA), all by themselves, when so many other regions should get the chance to share credit?

http://www.politico.eu/pro/belgian-regional-government-set-to-block-eu-canada-trade-deal/

A pretext is needed to justify WW-3, at the time and place chosen by the globalists, to maintain their arrangements in the world, "preserve-order", and so on. (I have seen a rumor of massive US concentration of strategic nuclear bombers on the island of Diego Garcia http://www.rense.com/general96/diego.htm , which targets the whole of Eurasia.)

http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/10/12/false-flag-attack-imminent-syria-globalists-engineer-world-war-iii/

Awaiting Collateral Damage

Ruled By Caligula

Unprepared,

Ray McGovern writes that the Russians see America preparing for nuclear attack upon her. Russian analysis is typically excellent.

Ray McGovern prepared the President’s Daily Brief for Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan.  During Reagan’s first term he conducted one-on-one morning briefings of the Vice President, Secretaries of State and Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the President’s national security assistant.

https://consortiumnews.com/2016/10/11/russia-reads-us-bluster-as-sign-of-war/

"Nuclear war is on the horizon. This is not just talk; action has been taken."

(Former Green-Beret, somewhat inflammatory presentation of aggressive US actions, and misreads the Aid-Convoy-Attack, which was not Russian action, but false-flag.)

http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/nuclear-war-is-on-the-horizon-this-is-not-just-talk-action-has-been-taken_10102016

Why American Military Doctrine is Doomed to Fail:

After a 70-year history of warfare, the old strategy of bombing, invading, and occupying a conquered territory had outlived its usefulness

http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/why-american-military-doctrine-doomed-fail/ri16785

Dan sends this article, presenting the view that Israel is colonizing" the US, in the same progressive fashion as the British East India Company first supported those Indian princes, who would do England's bidding on critical issues.

"Through relationships that have been developed over years and with unlimited funds at their disposal, the “Israel Lobby” ensures that votes go the right way, and that opponents are squashed when Israel demands unity. In 2003 at the onset of George Bush’s Iraq war this occupation force was multiplied through the inclusion of Christian Zionists."

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/07/has-israel-effectively-colonized-the-united-states/

The Syrian War, and the Question of an American Mutiny (with historical perspective):

"These generals sought to undermine and even plot to overthrow the government of President John F. Kennedy. This view was not limited to a few senators and journalists of the time. The Kremlin apparently believed this to the extent that it is claimed to have influenced Nikita Khruschev’s decision to reach the settlement that he did with Kennedy over the Cuban Missile Crisis."

[My perspective is that JFK's assassination was the success of this coup, and that the US military/deep-state is doing precisely as it sees fit, already, with a reluctant Barack Obama following orders. One would expect factionalism within the deep-state-oligarchs. What is up?]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-syrian-war-and-the-question-of-an-american-mutiny/5550258

The tripwire for massive global war is set, as British RAF fighter planes are armed with air-to--air missiles, and given orders to engage-if-threatened by Russian fighter planes. "Threatened"? It's easy to feel threatened, isn't it? Happens all the time...

While the RAF's Tornado pilots have been instructed to avoid contact with Russian aircraft while engaged in missions for Operation Shader, the codename for the RAF's anti-Isis work in Iraq and Syria, their aircraft have been armed with air-to-air missiles and the pilots have been given the green light to defend themselves if they are threatened by Russian pilots.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-13/royal-air-force-pilots-ordered-shoot-down-hostile-russian-jets-over-syria

Industrial Policy", which has officially been discredited from Reagan forward, but has never actually gone away (pork-barrel-crony-capitalism) is coming back into public conversation, as the world obviously faces more of an economic reset than corporations-for-profit can manage, except to destroy. "Capitalism Behaving Badly":

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602490/capitalism-behaving-badly/

Uncoordinated

The Evil Clown You Want

Unable to Watch,

Summarizing the second Presidential Debate: (lots shorter, somewhat more truthful, better use of time)

Don't "waste" your vote on a candidate that will lose. 

VOTE EVIL CLOWN!

http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/10/second-presidential-debate.html

Leaked emails reveal "liberal pundit" urged Hillary to "quite lying or any clown would beat her".

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-10/leaked-emails-show-liberal-pundit-urges-hillary-stop-lying-or-any-clown-will-beat-he

The Two Most Disliked Candidates in US History:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/trump-clinton-the-two-most-disliked-candidates-in-u-s-history-the-second-presidential-debate-a-political-telenovela-in-real-time/5550270

USA 2017-2020, an Ungovernable Nation? Charles Hugh Smith says we might be organizationally disintegrating about now, thanks to the 0.01% doing so well for the last several presidents. (Failed-State-R-US?)

The only way to govern successfully is to actually solve the underlying systemic problems, but doing that requires overthrowing a corrupt, self-serving elite, the same elite that will never relinquish its power or its wealth.

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogoct16/ungovernable10-16.html

Social inequality in America, whatever you thought, it's worse. It seem that families at the top stay at the top, generation after generation, with little fluctuations that make things look more hopeful for the ambitious poor, than they actually are.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/06/striking-new-research-on-inequality-whatever-you-thought-its-worse/

Maybe the best summary of MH-17 shoot-down and investigation/cover-up yet.

http://thesaker.is/mh17-report-taken-apart-by-saker-reader/

Lies and Smoking Debris

Borrowed Money And Time

Changing Daily,

"The Global Order Faces an Existential Threat" 

The name of that threat is "thermodynamics". It costs more energy to support each higher level of organization in complex systems. Economically, that looks like financial-skimming to support hierarchy/elites. We have all been downstream from large bureaucracies, and know how much bother, and time, and wastefulness is involved in complying with their protocols. We only got here on the back of a vast, one-time-inheritance of cheap energy and resources, which our species discovered under the floorboards. Ilargi looks at this in "The IMF and Other Losers". 

Plant a vegetable garden if you have a spot. It takes a few seasons to get the garden and gardener humming along as a team.

https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/10/the-imf-and-all-the-other-losers/

"Sorry Central Banks, Risk and Volatility Cannot Be Extinguished" Charles Hugh Smith explains that lumping all the risk in the world into one big pile smooths things out nicely, until the one big pile collapses, since the risk never went away, and resets are inevitable in constantly evolving complex systems.

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogoct16/risk10-16.html

For hundreds of years, "economy" has run in lock-step with energy-use. We know that has to drastically decrease due to global warming and resource depletion. 

We are told a "new economy" is arising (iPhone wealth). 

This seems like "I don't think it means what you think it means". 

American "wealth" is rising, as fuel use declines. It's fine as long as you just think nice thoughts about your wealth and pay those rent and insurance bills for your adult kids. What happens when everybody realizes the cookie jar is empty at the same time?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-08/warning-coming-collapse-us-net-worth-will-wipe-out-millions-americans

Student loans and car loans surged massively this summer in America. That's somebody's asset/wealth. What's the cumulative effect of all this prosperity look like?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-07/us-consumer-credit-has-second-biggest-jump-record-student-and-car-loans-soar

 Less than half of the 22-26-year-olds surveyed pay their own rent (47%), health insurance (41%), or contribute to a retirement account (27%).

http://www.forbes.com/sites/vanessamcgrady/2016/10/07/adulting/#60ab7d03c80e

This Greek grandmother on the Island of Lesbos could win the Nobel Peace Prize (They are trying to rehabilitate it since that 2008 mistake.) She was photographed in February, on a bench, feeding a Syrian baby, to let the mother stretch a bit. She would donate the money to the National Health System, and accept the award on behalf of Greek people together.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/10/05/emilia-kamvysi-nobel-peace-prize-candidate/91621216/

France's dangerous far-right-extremist politician, Marine LePen, unexplicably popular these days, says the EU and US are responsible for the "monstrous chaos in Syria".

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-06/frances-marine-le-pen-says-eu-responsible-monstrous-chaos-syria

British Members of Parliament, say the referendum was on leaving the EU, not leaving the Common Market, and that the people, through their representatives, should decide the plan. Theresa May has said "hard Brexit announcement in March 2017". They say that's too fast. Norway has the market without the membership, but freedom of movement and paying dues are the cost. Britons don't want the freedom-of-movement part. (Looks like the vote really was for hard-Brexit from what I see).

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/08/mps-demand-vote-hard-brexit-single-market

EU "leaders" unanimously agree to whack Britain hard for this insolence. There will be no market access without freedom-of-movement. Punishment will be severe and public.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/08/eu-leaders-line-up-to-insist-uk-will-pay-a-high-price-for-brexit-stance

EU imposes tarrifs up to 73.7% on Chinese steel. ("Free-trade" is all well and good until somebody sends your national steel industry into bankruptcy.)

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/oct/07/european-union-import-duties-chinese-steel-port-talbot-tata

"if everybody's watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals, you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position." In other words, you have to lie to the general public.  Bernie Sanders supporters are burned...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-08/bernie-sanders-supporters-furious-over-hillarys-leaked-wall-street-speeches

Donald Trump didn't seem to lose much Republican support for his recently released lewd and brutish comments from 2005. Go figure...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-09/snap-poll-finds-vast-majority-gop-voters-stand-behind-trump-after-lewd-comments

"The Island Where People Forget to Die" and Social Ecosystems, by Charles Hugh Smith. Let this be the context, within which we face global financial reset, please...

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogoct16/social-ecosystems10-16.html

Deeply Connected

Words Make War

Playing for Keeps,

Let me insert at the outset, that there is global brinksmanship, with the threat of nuclear holocaust. 

US global hegemony must control the energy flow to European industry and society to retain Europeans as vassals. 

Without that, the $US will not retain global reserve currency status, which allows vassal states to produce goods for export to the US, and accept US promises for them. That is the mechanism of tribute-extraction. 

The US is in a very good position to become a global citizen, even a "first among equals", if the costs of global hegemony can be shed. 

WW-3 will destroy what humans have created, at a time in history where all of the easy resources have been spent, and the planet is heating up from it. 

Neocons at the reins of empire, who have their own bunkers somewhere, may really not be rational actors. We'll see, I guess.

Them's Fightin' Words!

In a statement, the US "intelligence community" said that it is “confident” that the Russian government “directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations”

The US added that “these thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process”.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-07/us-names-russia-actor-behind-hacking-democratic-party-and-state-election-systems

Russia does not have the vast array of forces, which the US/NATO command, so a head to head confrontation would be rapidly forced up the escalation-tree to nuclear holocaust, which Russia has historically avoided. Russia does have specific technical advantages in some weapons systems, and specific advantages, on the ground in Syria and Ukraine, for instance, which the US/NATO can't realistically defeat without open commitment of forces and heavy losses, and possibly with overt failure, as well.

Tom sends this article, which looks at Russian options for asymmetrical responses to western forces, which deny opportunity, and inflict high costs if action is taken. (Are all players rational? Playing-crazy is a form of brinksmanship, which Richard Nixon played, and Israel plays routinely.)

http://thesaker.is/russian-options-against-a-us-attack-on-syria/   

Very few US/Turkey-backed jihadis remain in east Aleppo, and they are cut off from resupply, and very few civilians remain in that area. Syria's largest city is in the process of coming back under complete control of the Syrian government, the decisive turning point for the war, and probably the decisive turning point for the gas=pipeline-to-Europe competition. Qatar is the Imperial contestant, and Iran is the local favorite, backed by Russia and Syria. Thanks Tom. "The ceasefire ultimately collapsed because the hardliners in Washington and the Jihadis on the ground in Syria could not in the end bring themselves to accept the surrender of eastern Aleppo to the government by agreeing to the withdrawal of Jihadi fighters from eastern Aleppo by way of the Castello road."  http://theduran.com/syria-brink-final-victory-aleppo/

Russia takes a very firm position against "American Exceptionalism", which is openly casting-down-the-gantlet to the Imperial Power. Russia and the US have a weapons-grade-plutonium-reprocessing-agreement, which has not really been kept. The US has accepted lots of weapons-grade plutonium from Russia, but has not reprocessed it by using it to produce electricity, and so on. This has saved Russia the costs of reprocessing, and bolstered the Russian nuclear industry internationally. The US has all this potential for further massive overkill if this stockpile is converted into warheads, but to what practical end? The US lack of compliance with the treaty was unmentioned for decades, but now Russia is openly suspending participation, and will retain weapons-grade plutonium. Russia now retains the option to make a lot of nuclear warheads. This step justifies presenting a set of conditions, by which the US would have to comply with international law, as other nations must. No other country has addressed the US this way since US independence and sea-power became firmly established about 200 years ago. Presumably, Russia does not make this move without "multipolar" support. Thanks Tom.  https://off-guardian.org/2016/10/07/putins-ultimatum-to-us/comment-page-1/#comment-44692

Wikileaks (better late than never) releases Hillary Clinton's Paid-Talks-to-Bankers Transcripts:   Clinton: “But If Everybody's Watching, You Know, All Of The Back Room Discussions And The Deals, You Know, Then People Get A Little Nervous, To Say The Least. So, You Need Both A Public And A Private Position.”    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-07/wikileaks-releases-hundreds-exceprts-hillary-clintons-wall-street-speech-transcripts

"I did try and fuck her. She was married." Donald Trump, in 2005 chat outside Days of Our Lives set, where he did a cameo.

Offsetting "October-Surprises" allow significant political reshuffling ahead of second debate, which should be pretty vicious:

Trump apologizes, "if anybody was offended". He says Bill Clinton bragged worse, but there's no video...

12:09 AM Saturday, was the first step for Trump if he’s going to turn his campaign around. In it, he vowed to “be a better man tomorrow.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-08/trump-issues-midnight-statement-contain-tape-fallout-ryan-cancels-unity-event-chaffe

Julian Assange’s latest revelation that has Clinton strategist, Bob Beckel calling for his assassination…the DNC email hack (that the Clinton machine cleverly diverted into a Putin-Trump imaginary bromance) was most likely leaked, not by Russians, but by 27 year old Democratic staffer Seth Rich, who was mysteriously (and conveniently) murdered right after the DNC leak.  "A dead man can't leak stuff. Illegally shoot the son of a bitch!" (Thanks Tom)

http://theduran.com/kill-julian-assange-says-cnn-host-and-democratic-strategist-because-a-dead-man-cant-leak-stuff/

The EU doesn't want Brexit "negotiations". The EU wants "blood-revenge":

https://mishtalk.com/2016/10/07/eu-doesnt-want-brexit-negotiations-the-eu-wants-blood-revenge/

What North Slope Oil was to the OPEC Oil Embargo? This stuff will be dangerous, and expensive, but it is hard to imagine that the man-made islands, and dangerous pipeline will not be built, if this much oil is really there. (There have been rumors since the 1980s of a big patch of oil held in reserve in Alaska.)   Caelus Energy LLC, a small company backed by private equity, says that it has discovered oil on Alaska’s northern coast. The field could hold as much as 6 billion barrels of oil, with about 1.8 to 2.4 billion barrels considered to be recoverable. If that is the case, the discovery would instantly raise Alaska’s statewide recoverable oil reserve base by about 80 percent. But producing the oil will not be easy. Drilling must take place in the winter. To drill the field, the tentative plan would be to build manmade islands to drill through. Oil produced in the shallow water of Smith Bay will need to be moved somehow. Caelus will have to build an $800 million pipeline that travels 125 miles, connecting to an existing pipeline system in Prudhoe Bay.   http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/New-Mega-Oil-Discovery-In-Alaska-Could-Reverse-3-Decades-Of-Decline.html

Slippery Slope