20.10.2021

News, comments, opinions October 20, 2021

Epistemic wellbeing is the feeling that you are able to know what you want and what you need to know for your life to proceed well. You need to get access to trustworthy sources of information, you have to find out the essential questions, and learn to interpret and verify the answers (which may differ greatly if you ask different sources). This is not an easy task and most likely a lifelong struggle.

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967, from The Lost Massey Lectures: 

Nothing in our glittering technology can raise man to new heights, because material grown has been made an end in itself, and, in the absence of moral purpose, man himself becomes smaller as the works of man become bigger.

Another distortion of the technological revolution is that instead of strengthening democracy… it has helped to eviscerate it. Gargantuan industry and government, woven into an intricate computerized mechanism, leaves the person outside… When an individual is no longer a true participant, when he no longer feels a sense of responsibility to his society, the content of democracy is emptied. When culture is degraded and vulgarity enthroned, when the social system does not build security but induces peril, inexorably the individual is impelled to pull away from a soulless society. This process produces alienation — perhaps the most pervasive and insidious development in contemporary society… Alienation should be foreign to the young. Growth requires connection and trust. Alienation is a form of living death. It is the acid of despair that dissolves society.

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The first agrarian revolution ten thousand years ago spelled the end for hunter-gatherers, except for those who survived in isolated areas like the Amazon rainforest. On the plus side, humanity received the gift of civilization in the form of politics, trade, and literacy. On the negative side, as anthropologist Jared Diamond argued in a famous 1999 Discover article, the Neolithic transformation spawned disease, malnutrition, and gross economic inequality. It was, Diamond concluded, “the worst mistake in the history of the human race.”

Ten thousand years later, humanity might have committed the worst mistake in the history of the planet. Sure, the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century eventually led to extended lifespans, food enough to feed the world, Facebook and TikTok. But the application of modern science and engineering to economic affairs also set in motion a ruinous despoliation of the planet. More ominously, as everyone who has looked at the graph of carbon emissions knows, the industrial revolution marked the first time that humans began changing this planet’s climate by burning fossil fuels at an ever more staggering rate.  

The new religion of economic growth at any cost which emerged in the 18th century also exacted a human toll. Children were put to work in the “dark satanic mills” of the early factories; a new proletariat was consigned to lives nasty, brutish, and short; and millions died as colonialism cut a huge swath of destruction through the global south. The oligarchs of the time, enriched by plunder and exploitation, created a Gilded Age of astounding economic inequality that, despite the efforts of trade unions and socialists, has made a striking reappearance in our own Age of Billionaires.

Feline news:

http://hatchingcatnyc.com/2021/10/05/patsey-state-street-fire-cat-ladder-company-10/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/snow-leopard-baya-dies-of-suspected-coronavirus-infection-at-great-plains-zoo
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/10/inside-jordans-first-hotel-cats

Against the odds:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/09/23/choice-point-humanity-women-demand-visionary-shift-un-climate-talks
https://www.leftvoice.org/zanon-factory-in-argentina-20-years-under-workers-control/
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/09/27/momentous-win-years-local-opposition-defeats-penneast-pipeline
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/co-op-businesses-worker-power-pandemic/
https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.10/north-prairies-collecting-seeds-to-restore-prairie-grasslands/
https://www.localfutures.org/localization-and-carfree-cities/
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-58930317

Environmental news:

The upcoming IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 2021 UN climate report will have to admit, that climate change is much worse than ever thought.

Russian methane emissions for instance are revealed by a new generation of satellites devoted to locating and measuring greenhouse gases. The measurements shed light on the gap between what scientists know is in the atmosphere and what is officially acknowledged by companies and countries.

https://apnews.com/article/business-united-nations-floods-droughts-water-management-9fea3f6558b578a9acfa0835b577f959
What the experts promised since years. The coming water crisis is now officially recognized by UN. But don’t expect a systematic collective effort to mitigate this crisis. It will be as usual: Everyone is on his/her own.
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/clean-environment-could-become-un-human-right-not-so-fast-say-us-britain-2021-10-05/
https://grist.org/wildfires/you-thought-the-u-s-fire-season-was-bad-russias-is-much-worse/
https://www.rt.com/uk/537069-carbon-neutral-biomass-emissions-drax/
From a Russian news channel, which sure has a reason to discredit biomass, but the emissions of wood burning undeniably contain lot of CO2 and even cancer causing substances.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58897805
Carbon emissions from rich countries rose rapidly in 2021. As the bible already said: “By their deeds (fruits) you will know them.”
Don’t believe their official data and don’t believe their vague promise of change sometimes in future (smoke and mirrors, as they say).
https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-business-john-kerry-united-states-european-union-2d7dd2aa3ffef336ff88fdde314c5549
https://www.ehn.org/oil-and-gas-industry-and-climate-change-2655272307.html
https://meta.eeb.org/2021/10/13/green-mining-a-myth-that-could-cost-us-the-earth/
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/12/health/plastic-chemical-early-death-wellness/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/14/phthalates-deaths-older-americans-study-chemicals
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.1c04903
About the ever-increasing chemical pollution and some modest proposals to reduce it.
https://mronline.org/2021/10/15/how-capitalism-shackles-the-fight-against-climate-change
The article makes valid points but omits the fact that state owned companies in Russia or China act as irresponsible as big Western corporations. Why does Russia not “leave oil and gas in the ground”? Why does China not reduce coal consumptions? A change away from the profit driven economy is necessary but there must also be a change of behavior and a social paradigm shift which replaces competition with cooperation, consumerism with environmental conservation and communal duties, shallow mass entertainment with art.
https://www.juancole.com/2021/10/indigenous-botanical-knowledge.html
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-15/g-20-climate-talks-stall-ahead-of-rome-leaders-summit
China and India, two of the world’s biggest emitters and largest coal users, have failed to submit updated climate pledges to the United Nations, and China’s President Xi Jinping won’t be attending the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November, pushing any deal further out of reach.

Economic news:

A global supply chain crisis is brewing, leading to a full-spectrum shortage of essential items. It is not clear at the moment, how much of this is stage-managed to raise prized ahead of holiday shopping.

If you are not happy with the current economy, why not try this?

Convert businesses into cooperatives, public owned entities, or non-profits; localize and shorten supply chains; increase durability, lifespan, and reparability of devices; reduce consumer demand (no advertising, no fashion, no luxury goods) and generally stop producing unnecessary stuff.

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President Emmanuel Macron of France said his country would spend 34.6 billion US$ on developing small nuclear reactors, green hydrogen power, and other strategic investments over the next five years to revitalize and decarbonize the French economy. All the possible wrong steps just to save a system which will fail anyway despite the most heroic efforts.

https://www.dw.com/en/pandorapapersworldleaderstonyblairkenyattashakirasachintendulkartaxhavensleaks/a-59376192
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/05/gtko-o05.html
https://www.rt.com/news/536490-pandora-papers-offshore-tax-leaders/
https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-business-religion-media-jordan-67b2674fc44fa543df49dfc8f52e29cd
https://apnews.com/article/business-london-europe-media-f91432c785e4e06a8fb2c7370d4ca63d
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/536539-cia-leak-pandora-papers/
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/10/04/us-denounced-biggest-peddler-financial-secrecy-after-pandora-papers-leak
https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/about-pandora-papers-leak-dataset/
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/10/big-companies-are-funding-campaign-kill-climate-bill/620278/
https://theconversation.com/a-publicly-owned-energy-industry-could-help-tackle-energy-poverty-and-increase-renewables-169186
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/10/the-energy-transition-will-take-decades-not-years.html
Disheartening.
https://www.rt.com/business/536842-global-food-prices-reach-record-high/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/15/pers-o15.html
High food prices drive hunger around the world.
https://www.dw.com/en/pandemic-climate-change-and-conflict-fuel-sharp-rise-in-global-hunger/a-59488549
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/08/the-rich-are-different-theyre-richer-than-us-and-far-greedier/
https://theconversation.com/overseas-trade-has-a-hidden-environmental-disaster-footprint-new-report-169750
https://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2021/10/13/wall-streets-takeover-of-nature-advances-with-launch-of-new-asset-class/
The international finance system and its local enforcers have to be dismantled, otherwise we will have to pay even for the right to live. Water, food, health care, housing are basic necessities and should be basic human rights, yet they are already monetized and commoditized. Unpolluted air and a quiet sleep undisturbed by traffic and industrial noise have not a price tag yet but in fact are a privilege of the rich.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-58971131
Contrary to climate change pledges, fossil fuel production is set to soar over next decade.

Pandemic news:

According to experts and politicians the pandemic is practically over. Travel restrictions are lifted, shops, restaurants, and entertainment facilities open again. Clever people prepare for the “challenges of the post-Covid era,” in a race to reopen and reinstall the old customer base ahead of the competition.

If you wear a respirator (FFP2 or FFP3), people will look at you in disbelieve, shaking their heads and probably thinking: “poor guy (or gal), he/she didn’t get the memo yet, or forgot to take his/her medication. 

Nobody at the WHO, the US CDC, and other national agencies understands anything but vax, vax, vax. A truly splendid example is the systematic neglect of aerosol transmission (and, at a higher level, layered strategies of prevention, including masking). 

There are three basic strategies for approaching the virus:
a) “herd immunity,” that is, essentially encouraging the spread of the virus based on the claim that if enough people are infected it will ultimately lead to an end of the pandemic.
b) mitigation, which claims that a collection of half-measures combined with vaccination will bring the pandemic under control.
c) eradication, the universal deployment of every weapon in the arsenal of measures to combat COVID-19, coordinated on a global scale.

Relying on vaccines and not much else isn’t adequate to combat Covid. Case and casualty numbers from 68 countries show that rising numbers of COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination. Mongolia, Ireland, Israel, Singapore, UK are prime examples.

Herd immunity increases the danger of new mutations, the new Delta descendant (AY.4.2 subvariant) for instance may be more infectious than its ancestor and already accounts for 10 per cent of UK cases.

Unfortunately dealing with the pandemic requires setting extremely dangerous precedents threatening the foundations of the current order — like paying people not to work or canceling debts, none of which can be allowed to even be contemplated.

Most nations, with the exception of China, give up Zero-COVID and retreat to herd immunity, which means:

Cull (kill) the herd to save the world!

Saving nature can of course be done much easier with fewer people, we all know this. Therefore: Build back better with substantially reduced populations.

China, the world’s most populous country, has through aggressive public health measures limited the death toll to less than 5,000 in a population of 1.4 billion.

The government’s actions include large-scale testing of affected areas, intensive contact-tracing, timely lockdowns and continuous mobilizations for vaccination. Recently the health authorities have reported double vaccinating almost 75 percent of the population. China’s public health system has become increasingly proficient in applying these methods, enabling the effective control and calming down of dangerous infection events.

Various outbreaks, caused by international travelers, are worrying, but the government has not given up on strict prevention policies. It also ignores Western powers increasingly louder calls for a  shift in course (as usual, China is a nuisance and a dangerous example for the free world).

Another in mainstream media suppressed aspect of herd immunity are the unknown consequences for an entire generation that faces the prospect of “Long Covid,” and the possibility of permanent severe organ damage (lung, heart, kidneys, brain).

Letting Sars-CoV-2 become endemic increases the chance of reinfection. Reinfected patients are more likely to be asymptomatic on reinfection, but symptomatic cases will be more severe. If the first infection leads to losing half of your lung capacity and to significant heart, kidney, endothelial, etc. damage, then you are just in no shape to survive the next one.

Politicians often cite the recurring flu epidemics, but the cost of epidemic COVID-19 can’t be compared to that of the flu, because in addition to the greater number of deaths, COVID-19 causes enormously more long-term illness than any current endemic disease.

People are not paying attention and don’t have the knowledge to look behind the curtain, as the scientific community, the medical establishment, and politicians are playing ball with the billionaire oligarchy, painting rosy pictures of mild endemicity.

Living with endemic COVID-19 means living in a nation where businesses and schools are subject to extended and erratic closings, where healthcare systems can be overrun at a moment’s notice, where thousands or even hundreds of thousands more die, and where millions are hit with long-term damage that can render them unable to work or be dependent on long-term care. That’s not a temporary situation, that’s what endemic COVID-19 would look like every year. 

In the latest studies over 50 percent of survivors reported sequelae (long-term effects of the infection) 6 month after recovery. The most common symptoms were mobility impairments, pulmonary abnormalities, and mental health disorders. In endemic COVID-19 these ailments would occur on a scale that could overwhelm existing health care capacity. There is already a massive backlog of medical procedures, and adding possibly complex, new chronic health issues that need diagnosing and treatment could push the health care system over the brink.

https://jasn.asnjournals.org/content/jnephrol/early/2021/08/25/ASN.2021060734.full.pdf 

The findings, reported in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, highlight yet another pernicious burden of the pandemic.  Kidney damage is painless and silent, and it’s the latest ailment afflicting a large swath of Covid survivors.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-10-people-covid.html
More than half COVID-19 survivors experience post-COVID symptoms.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/10/officials-double-down-on-let-er-rip-strategy-placing-undue-faith-in-vaccines-as-regions-with-high-vaccinations-suffer-infection-spikes.html
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/long-covid-19-office-disability-1237587/
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003773
This study shows over a third of those who tested positive for COVID-19 have symptoms months later. Some of these patients were asymptomatic at the time they tested positive for COVID-19, and still developed serious, long-lasting issues weeks later.
https://www.authorea.com/users/417872/articles/525046-the-year-public-health-lost-its-soul
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-new-zealand-auckland-829fc4cd04e68e9e3b264ac03418aeaf
https://www.rt.com/usa/536666-project-veritas-pfizer-covid19-vaccine/
https://microbe.net/2021/10/04/biobe-preprint-controlled-chamber-covid-study/
Ventilation, filtration (with HEPA filters), and humidification substantially reduce the aerosol viral load.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/06/pers-o06.html
The case for eradication.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/05/cuba-accelerates-vaccine-drive/
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/10/01/rich-nations-waste-doses-most-african-countries-miss-10-vaccination-goal
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Pfizer-Vaccine-Efficacy-Declines-to-47-6-Months-After-2nd-Dose-20211006-0019.html
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2021/10/vasko-kohlmayer/peak-gaslighting-impenitent-profiteer-albert-bourla-of-pfizer-makes-the-most-ludicrous-claim-yet/
Statistics are not as definite as the author claims, but he has a point. Asymptomatic cases were not counted in trials and there is lot of evidence that asymptomatic and apparently healthy people transmit the virus. Governments jumped on the vaccination bandwagon because that enables them to claim that they did everything possible and the “anti-vaxxers” provide an ideal scapegoat.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02669-2
Real-world data shows that HEPA filters clean COVID-causing virus from air. I got my two air purifiers with HEPA filters in March 2020 and at this time they were frequently sold out, so it was not only me who rushed to get them. Now, in October 2021, they are still only rarely used in GP waiting rooms, shops, and other public places where people gather. So stupid!
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/10/commentary-what-can-masks-do-part-1-science-behind-covid-19-protection
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2021/10/commentary-what-can-masks-do-part-2-what-makes-good-mask-study-and-why-most
https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/mzukisi-qobo-the-old-mantra-about-growth-has-reached-exhaustion
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02143-7/fulltext
“We estimated an additional 53·2 million cases of major depressive disorder globally (an increase of 27·6 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/covid-said-to-spark-rise-in-global-depression-anxiety/6263967.html
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/18/psychosis-cases-soar-in-england-as-pandemic-hits-mental-health
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/10/sleep-and-the-covid-19-pandemic.html
https://theconversation.com/covid-19-could-nudge-minds-and-societies-towards-authoritarianism-168540
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/11/pers-o11.html
A coronavirus pandemic reality check.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/20/mala-o20.html
Malaysia, Singapore adopt “living with COVID” strategy.
https://www.rt.com/news/537116-merck-expensive-covid-pill-generic-drugs/
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/10/11/reckless-doctors-without-borders-slams-us-hoarding-500-million-vaccine-doses
https://www.struggle-la-lucha.org/2021/10/11/for-the-sake-of-global-health-usa-stop-lying-about-cuba/
https://theconversation.com/zero-covid-worked-for-some-countries-but-high-vaccine-coverage-is-now-key-169327
There is a deluge of articles which tell us, that for people living in democracies with a high degree of personal freedom, the cost of a COVID-free society is too high. This assertion targets China, and it tells Western audiences that it’s not careful planning, discipline, social responsibility, and a determination to save lives which make China’s zero COVID possible, but the lack of freedom. In the “free world” we have the freedom of risky behavior, the freedom to get infected and infect others with COVID, and we should be glad about that!
https://news.yahoo.com/astrazeneca-drug-prevents-treats-covid-161437617.html

Media, propaganda, and technology news:

People are starving to death in Yemen, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, DRC, Ethiopia, Haiti, and other places, while the pundits and analysts of mainstream media fantasize about the “metaverse.” Wealthy investors and big tech corporations are jumping in, as no-one wants to be left behind if it turns out to be the future of the internet. 

It’s the realization of a bold vision, it’s a dream come true. Finally the unwelcome distractions of real life, which are still hampering virtual reality, could be filtered out or at least reduced to a negligible amount.

Caitlin Johnstone: 

It doesn't matter what you're allowed to say if it doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter if you're allowed to call the oligarchic puppet put in office by the last fake election a dickhead. It doesn't matter if you're allowed to Google any information you want only to find whatever information Google wants you to find.

The empire's greatest weapon is not its military but its propaganda machine. There's simply never been anything like the global narrative control provided by the western news media, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood. The military fights wars, the propaganda machine wins them long before they start.

A lucid and well-informed examination of the world's problems will keep bringing you back to this one fundamental issue: that Earth's inhabitants are being psychologically manipulated at mass scale into organizing themselves in ways that serve the powerful instead of the people.

Conduct critical journalism on the empire: get a CIA plot to assassinate you.
Conduct critical journalism on an empire-targeted government: get a Nobel Peace Prize.
Congratulations to those who were awarded the same highly esteemed Peace Prize as Barack Obama and Henry Kissinger.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-ive-dumped-my-smartphone-11633393259
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/democrats-and-media-do-not-want-to
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/10/05/patrick-lawrence-instead-of-a-free-press/
https://www.treehugger.com/computing-emissions-worse-than-thought-study-5204571
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/536863-us-government-keyword-google
https://fair.org/home/deathly-silence-journalists-who-mocked-assange-have-nothing-to-say-about-cia-plans-to-kill-him/
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/10/08/nato-cognitive-warfare-brain/
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/537265-nato-cognitive-warfare-public-mind/
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/10/09/bellingcat-intelligence-contractors-extremists-syria/
https://news.yahoo.com/us-overtakes-china-world-largest-173900029.html
US overtakes China to become world’s largest bitcoin mining hub.
https://mronline.org/2021/10/14/cryptocurrency-a-new-and-dangerous-climate-disruptor/
https://theconversation.com/we-are-ignoring-the-true-cost-of-water-guzzling-data-centres-167750
https://theconversation.com/how-netflix-affects-what-we-watch-and-who-we-are-and-its-not-just-the-algorithm-169897

Imperial news:

Sister Megan Rice, fierce critic of the USA nuclear arsenal, died at 91. Arrested more than 40 times, she was best known for her role in the 2012 break-in at the Oak Ridge nuclear complex in Tennessee.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/01/reflections-on-political-violence-and-terror/
A short history of US state violence and an epic rant.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/10/01/six-month-sentence-lawyer-who-took-chevron-denounced-international-outrage
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/04/donz-o04.html
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/536527-us-federal-judges-broke-law/
https://wolfstreet.com/2021/10/05/services-trade-surplus-the-american-dream-not-come-true-worst-in-10-years-imports-of-goods-worst-ever-total-trade-deficit-worst-ever/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/6/us-doctors-alaska-difficult-choices-amid-covid-surge
https://www.blackagendareport.com/thousands-police-killings-are-unreported

Imperial conquest news:

Countries facing economic sanctions include:
1. Afghanistan,
2. Belarus,
3. Bosnia and Herzegovina,
4. Burundi,
5. Central African Republic,
6. China (PR),
7. Comoros,
8. Crimea Region of Ukraine,
9. Cuba,
10. Cyprus,
11. Democratic Republic of the Congo,
12. Guinea,
13. Guinea Bissau,
14. Haiti,
15. Iran,
16. Iraq,
17. Kyrgyzstan,
18. Laos,
19. Lebanon,
20. Libya,
21. Mali
22. Mauritania
23. Moldova
24. Montenegro
25. Myanmar,
26. Nicaragua,
27. North Korea – DPRK,
28. Palestinian Territories,
29. Russia,
30. Rwanda,
31. Serbia
32. Somalia,
33. South Sudan,
34. Sudan,
35. Syria,
36. Tunisia
37. Venezuela,
38. Yemen,
39. Zimbabwe.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/UN-Rapporteur-to-Analyze-Impact-Of-US-Sanctions-on-Zimbabwe-20211019-0004.html
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivarian-Delegation-Halts-Political-Dialogue-in-Mexico-20211016-0005.html
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/06/forbes-reveals-why-the-us-government-is-trying-to-extradite-venezuelan-diplomat-alex-saab/
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/ECOWAS-VP-Urges-Cape-Verde-to-Follow-Verdict-and-Free-Alex-Saab-20211008-0014.html
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/10/17/the-us-has-placed-itself-in-charge-over-which-nations-get-to-eat/
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Social-Organizations-to-Fight-Destabilizing-Actions-in-Bolivia-20211019-0007.html
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/10/04/addicted-to-military-keynesianism-why-cant-even-our-most-progressive-politicians-break-with-the-military-industrial-complex/
https://mronline.org/2021/10/04/the-brutality-of-denying-water-to-palestinians-in-the-south-hebron-hills/
Erez Israel.
https://www.meforum.org/62607/when-will-turkey-annex-northern-syria
Ottoman Empire.
https://www.turkishminute.com/2021/10/15/alysis-the-blue-homeland-doctrine-backfired-in-the-med/
https://syrianews.cc/israel-assassinates-midhat-saleh-al-saleh-outside-his-home-in-syria/
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/537896-global-cyberattack-radar-nato/
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-10-15/U-S-plot-to-discredit-Chinese-investments-exposed-by-Zimbabwean-daily-14njxaix9WU/index.html
While these allegations are plausible and in line with common US practices, one has to keep in mind, that Chinese companies are not charity organizations, and that China conspired with Mnangagwa to oust Mugabe, after Mugabe put pressure on Chinese diamond mining companies.

China news:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/20/chin-o20.html
China’s Economy Continues to Slow, Rattled by Real Estate and Energy. Growth of 4.9 percent shows the country’s huge industrial sector has run into trouble. But exports and services are still looking strong. From an ecological perspective, this is good news.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/06/chin-o06.html
Multiple outbreaks of the epidemic have occurred in various southern provinces of China.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/07/chin-o07.html
Problems for the Chinese economy.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1168549.shtml
Addicted to energy consumption, they are ruthlessly increasing the risks from nuclear technology.
https://tomdispatch.com/how-to-save-the-world-from-a-climate-armageddon/
If China cannot reduce its coal consumption, climate catastrophe will result. China needs to face out coal now!
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202110/1235781.shtml
White paper on biodiversity conservation.
https://socialistchina.org/2021/10/06/democracy-and-human-rights-china-vs-usa/
Propaganda, but many points are indisputable (like“the greatest anti-poverty achievement in history”) and others very plausible.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/09/pers-o09.html
Domestic considerations behind the US provocations against China.
https://fair.org/home/chinese-disinformation-and-us-propaganda/
https://sputniknews.com/20211009/china-should-call-us-bluff-on-taiwan-1089793123.html
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202110/1235814.shtml
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/11/taiw-o11.html
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/13/cia-creates-a-mission-center-to-counter-china/
https://socialistchina.org/2021/10/14/justin-yifu-lin-china-must-lead-the-new-industrial-revolution/
I disagree with nearly everything in this article. In the face of ecological collapse, a biosphere, poisoned with man made toxic chemicals, and climate change the world doesn’t need a fourth industrial revolution (which inevitably leads to even more industrial activity), but a revolution of simple and modest living in a society based on compassion, kindness, contentedness, and love.
China may win the competition with the West, but what use will this victory have in a destroyed natural world?
https://socialistchina.org/2021/10/13/keith-lamb-ecological-civilization-there-is-no-other-way/
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-china-economy-financial-markets-afcf93e786846829e8f2e5ff61e307b1
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/19/nato-o19.html 

Armageddon news:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/07/usch-o07.html
Nuclear war with China?
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/ecocide/agriculture/the-problem-4/

Uncategorized news:

https://theconversation.com/the-taliban-arent-taking-afghanistan-back-to-the-middle-ages-theyre-subverting-islams-sound-medieval-legal-principles-168810
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/11/the-ship-that-became-a-bomb
https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/40-a-world-without-hunger/
https://orionmagazine.org/article/the-endling/
https://theconversation.com/our-sense-of-wellbeing-has-been-in-decline-for-years-heres-how-to-turn-it-around-169988

02.10.2021

News and considerations October 2021

So many links, so much information, so many words. Couldn’t all this be said in a few sentences to be easily read in between the deluge of incoming emails and social media posts? Shall one select just a few articles to contemplate about particular issues? 

Well, all the important things can be said in a few quintessential sentences and the many links and many words are only necessary if one communicates, argues, and discusses matters with relatives, friends, and anybody else via spoken or written language. Words are also not the real thing, they are only the vehicles, marks, and pointers of our moods, emotions, desires, motivations, and visions. 

Words can be misunderstood and misinterpreted, semantics can evolve and drift. Basic assumptions (axioms, propositions) of author and reader may be different. Be aware of Lao Tse: “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.”

Here a try nevertheless:
————————
Make compassion, benevolence, humanity the purpose of your life.

Calm down, be kind, composed, sincere. Never be impatient, perturbed, or aggressive. Don’t get confused or discouraged, don’t panic, don’t despair. Live the most modest and humble life possible, use the least possible amount of energy and resources.

Give away all the fancy stuff, only keep the absolute essentials. Try to find a meaningful use for the fancy stuff. If only to present it as an example of conspicuous consumption, of how weird our digitized consumer life has become, that already would be something.  

Be a role model, a healer, teacher, preacher, prophet, sage, or saint.

Love, peace, and happiness.

Feel it, live it!
————————
Laugh about it, ridicule it, lampoon it, but tell me please any better take that you know.

Feline news:

https://nypost.com/2021/09/18/lions-tigers-likely-infected-with-covid-19-at-smithsonian-national-zoo/
https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/the-cat-is-back-wild-amur-tigers-rebound-in-china-thanks-to-govt-policies/
https://theconversation.com/why-the-pandemic-made-some-cats-sick-with-stress-and-how-we-can-help-them-167666

Against the odds:

Drawing Peace

By Kaya Kastanie Ankerbo Brown
Youth category (12 and under), first place Barbara Mandigo Peace Poetry Award.

War is so ugly that I refuse to even draw it
but peace I would love to draw
I draw children playing
I draw flowers blossoming
I draw birds chirping

If you are a child in a country at war you have to be careful
and you have to hide under the trees
can you draw from there I wonder?

Let’s draw a blossoming beautiful world
where nobody is fighting
where nobody envies what the others have
where we share what we have

let’s draw now!!!

https://www.localfutures.org/6-reasons-people-of-color-should-grow-their-own-food/
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/returning-600000-acres-to-nature-one-piece-at-a-time
https://civileats.com/2021/09/02/op-ed-the-ban-on-chlorpyrifos-and-the-power-of-community-organizing
https://civileats.com/2021/09/07/the-nations-first-regenerative-dairy-works-with-nature-to-heal-the-soil-at-scale
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/09/09/what-united-us-was-empathy-community-organizations-help-tackle-hunger-in-argentina/
https://www.ehn.org/climate-change-stories-2654955912/creative-writing-and-food-justice
https://www.alleghenyfront.org/doug-tallamy-your-lawn-is-an-ecological-deadzone-the-case-for-replacing-it-with-native-plants/
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2021-09-10/standing-rock-is-everywhere-the-indigenous-heart-of-the-climate-change-fight/
https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/brief-un-food-systems-summit.pdf
https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15268
https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15280
https://venezuelanalysis.com/interviews/15286
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/ecocide/the-only-long-range-solution-to-climate-change/
Important!
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/candiani-blue-jeans-denim-sustainable-fashion/
Some useful ideas how cloth could be more environmental friendly. My jeans are all from second hand shops or flea markets and I wear them for decades. I try to buy underwear and socks with the least amount of synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon, acrylic), but it becomes increasingly difficult, as 60 percent of clothes worldwide are plastic now.
https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2021/08/24/colorado-river-runs-again 
https://civileats.com/2021/09/30/women-are-planting-a-life-and-a-future-after-prison-at-benevolence-farm/

Environmental news:

Leave it in the ground! Cheap energy from fossil fuels just leads to wasteful and unnecessary energy use. High energy prices and scarcity on the other hand will force scientists, decision makers, and consumers to search for the most energy efficient technologies and embrace a low energy economy and lifestyle.

https://news.mongabay.com/2021/09/novel-entities-are-we-sleepwalking-through-a-planetary-boundary/
A very well researched article about toxic substances which humans release into the environment, threatening all life on earth. A long read with more information than one can absorb in one session, but it is essential. Please read it attentively!
https://grist.org/equity/air-pollution-billions-years-life-expectancy-who-guidelines
https://theconversation.com/climate-change-ditch-90-of-worlds-coal-and-60-of-oil-and-gas-to-limit-warming-to-1-5-c-experts-167494
The gas-stations who are masquerading as countries (Senator John McCain) will beg to differ and will insist on their national sovereignty.
https://www.ehn.org/wildfire-smoke-2654940604/far-reaching-impacts-of-wildfires
https://www.treehugger.com/world-climate-change-famine-madagascar-5200161
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic-lng-climate-crisis/2021/09/novateks-new-arctic-license-areas-are-located-protected-nature
Natural gas project in a nature reserve of the Russian Arctic.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/09/earths-tipping-points-closer-current-climate-plans-wont-work-global-heating
In other words: we are doomed, and with us all other life on this planet. Is this a coded call for population control? Hoping for another pandemic, much deadlier than COVID-19 and greatly reducing the number of energy wasting and poison dispersing humans?
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/09/10/the-gritty-reality-of-solar-power/
https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/outrage/outrage-the-hidden-cost-of-solar-panels
https://www.ehn.org/india-and-bangladesh-water-dispute-2654841011/drought-floods-and-misallocations
https://meta.eeb.org/2021/09/16/coalympics-a-race-to-the-bottom-where-polluters-win/
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/sep/15/drought-puts-21-million-kenyans-at-risk-of-starvation
https://mronline.org/2021/09/25/time-is-running-out-for-a-new-agricultural-model-for-the-global-south/
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/09/23/corporations-bill-gates-un-food-summit/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/14/outcry-over-killing-of-almost-1500-dolphins-on-faroe-islands
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/16/larger-than-usual-ozone-layer-hole-bigger-than-antarctica
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2290435-the-ozone-hole-over-the-south-pole-is-now-bigger-than-antarctica/
Did you really ever believe the problem of ozone layer depletion has been finally solved with the Montreal Protocol? Meaningless promises and protocols will not stop humanity’s war against nature.
https://www.rt.com/news/536069-blah-blah-blah-greta-thunberg
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/17/are-we-eating-ourselves-to-extinction
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/blueberries-for-europe-portugal-mortgages-its-future-for-present-day-agricultural-profits-a-907d26ec-b69e-4e9d-98f1-85bf7b4b4687
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/09/24/the-record-breaking-failures-of-nuclear-power/

Economic news:

Economic sanctions don’t work if you sanction too many countries, it just leads to strengthened ties among those that are also being sanctioned. We’ve already been seeing this for the last decade or so. Sanctioning just means Chinese investment and Russian/Iranian trade.

Sanctions caused Russia to bring home all of its supply chain. The investment has cost a lot, but 20 years later it has left the country with increased economic capacity, a much broader and diverse economy, increasing blue collar jobs that take home steady wages and greater sovereignty. Russia now looks eastward to Eurasia for its economic growth, and has left Western Europe out in the cold as Western nations are unreliable customers.

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/09/14/our-gods-have-no-heads/
https://www.rt.com/business/533991-yuan-trade-settlements-hainan-asean
https://www.rt.com/russia/534126-unite-eurasia-us-supremacy-end
Geopolitical ruminations which in the end may just be idle talk, as environmental disasters and pandemics pose unforeseen challenges.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/09/13/the-vocabulary-of-neoliberal-diplomacy-in-todays-new-cold-war/
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Excessive-Working-Hours-Kill-Nearly-2-Million-People-Each-Year-20210917-0022.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/22/gbps-s22.html
Appalling numbers about rising inequality and poverty.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/22/food-s22.html
Rising food prices increase global hunger.
https://theconversation.com/why-global-food-prices-are-higher-today-than-for-most-of-modern-history-168210
https://www.globalresearch.ca/eurasia-takes-shape-how-sco-just-flipped-world-order/5756560
Cheerful and most likely overly optimistic, but let us dream…
https://carnegieendowment.org/chinafinancialmarkets/56856
Perfectly logical, but I’m not completely convinced, because this model is an abbreviation of the real world. That the USA always can print money to avoid default, pressure allies and depending nations to buy US government bonds, and continue to trade cheap commodities for overpriced services, is not factored in. Resource scarcity (water, minerals) and natural disasters (storms, droughts, heatwaves) are not mentioned. US military and economic pressure to let US corporations make windfall profits (Pfizer vaccine) is not mentioned.

Pandemic news:

Singapore, Vietnam, Israel are not anymore examples of successful pandemic policies, China and New Zealand still hold.

Pictures from USA show most people wearing surgical masks, cloth masks, or no masks at all. Surgical and cloth masks provide insufficient protection against aerosol transmission of COVID-19.

In May the EU (European Union) signed a third contract for Pfizer CO:VID-19 vaccines. The EU agreed to pay 19.5 Euros for each of the 1.8 billion doses, up from 15.5 Euros per dose under two initial supply contracts for a total of 600 million vaccines.

Mainstream media has failed to remind us that in 2009 Pfizer Inc. pleaded guilty to criminal charges. With a 2,3 billion US$ fine this was the largest health care fraud settlement in US history.

Crime pays off, at least in the pharmaceutical industry.

Delta has diminished the efficacy of current vaccines, particularly with respect to low-level infections, so that the virus continues to spread. While vaccines mean milder symptoms for most, even asymptomatic people carry the same amount of the virus in their respiratory tract and can easily spread it.

Nasal vaccines are under development, and they have the potential to be game-changers, since they could achieve near-sterilizing-immunity-level reductions in contagion. But the earliest they would be ready to launch is late 2022.

The pandemic is likely to weigh more heavily on skill formation than standard recessions. The enormous number of education hours lost through school and university closures will significantly reduce human-capital accumulation. While there is scope for catch-up learning among younger children, older children and adults on the cusp of entering the workplace may have permanently missed out on learning.

Periods of unemployment are associated with skills erosion, loss of contact with the labour market, stigmatism, and a willingness to take unsuitable employment opportunities.

https://bestlifeonline.com/news-cloth-masks-protective-study/
https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2021/215/4/we-are-not-doing-enough-prevent-spread-covid-19-and-other-respiratory-viruses
https://nursingnotes.co.uk/news/surgical-masks-may-not-be-sufficient-to-protect-healthcare-workers-admits-sage/#.YTsxUi2B0UQ
——————
https://theconversation.com/how-will-the-covid-pandemic-end-167244
There will be more and more articles like this, telling that COVID-19 will stay and become part of our life, that it will be manageable and a return to our old routines will be possible. The authors will further admit, that vaccine protection wanes over time but will insist that vaccines are still highly effective at preventing severe disease. What such articles omit, is that infections, even asymptomatic ones, can cause lasting organ damage, that virus mutations may evade immune system responses, and that a confluence of crises (covid, climate change, chemical contamination, eco-system collapse) will make adaptation impossible. 
Such articles are written for the broad public. Clever people and most at the upper end of the social hierarchy will still try to avoid COVID-19 at all costs, while the worker bees have to ignore the pandemic and continue being cogs in the profit machine.  
https://neuburger.substack.com/p/our-two-covid-problems
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/06/econ-s06.html
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Peru-to-Install-a-Sputnik-V-Vaccine-Production-Plant-20210907-0002.html
https://theconversation.com/israel-was-a-leader-in-the-covid-vaccination-race-so-why-are-cases-spiralling-there-166945
Trying to explain, why Israel, a nation with one of the highest vaccination rates, now experiences a surge in COVID-19 infections. The article tries to convey the message, that vaccines make a difference and are absolutely necessary, but the purpose of the article is so obvious, that nobody will be convinced.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/29/sing-s29.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/09/12/1036356773/i-got-a-mild-breakthrough-case-heres-what-i-wish-id-known
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/09/15/big-pharma-secrets-revealed-group-uncovers-portion-pfizer-vaccine-recipe
https://theconversation.com/covid-in-schools-how-ventilation-can-help-to-combat-spread-of-virus-165434
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-09-droplets-coronaviruses-longer-previously-thought.html
https://www.voanews.com/a/in-3-covid-patients-report-long-term-symptoms-study-finds/6235376.html
https://theconversation.com/preliminary-research-finds-that-even-mild-cases-of-covid-19-leave-a-mark-on-the-brain-but-its-not-yet-clear-how-long-it-lasts-166145
https://www.globalresearch.ca/owner-diagnostic-lab-reports-20-times-increase-cancer-vaccinated-patients/5756399
Warnings about dangerous side-effects of vaccines are usually censored and discussions about the merits of these warnings are suppressed.
YouTube is taking down video channels associated with high-profile anti-vaccine activists, including Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as part of a set of policies aimed at cutting down on anti-vaccine content on the Google-owned site.
https://www.rt.com/news/536174-youtube-bans-anti-vax/
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/tougher-terms-why-eu-is-paying-more-new-covid-shots-2021-08-03/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/18/braz-s18.html
About Brazil.
https://cepr.net/evil-doers-the-pharmaceutical-industry-and-the-pandemic
https://mronline.org/2021/09/24/new-york-times-advises-china-on-covid-19-abandon-success-try-failure/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/28/life-s28.html
Record decline of life expectancy.

Media, technology, and propaganda news:

Caitlin Johnstone:

Politicians of a certain level understand that as far as the media are concerned it doesn't matter so much how you answer as that you answer. If it's a difficult question you just keep your mouth moving without actually saying anything until the question goes away.

This is why it always feels like you're being lied to when you watch presidential debates. Candidates understand how to keep their mouths moving and word salad about freedom and American democracy and whatever without actually giving a concrete answer to a difficult question.

They do it because they know it works. And they know it works because they know the plutocrat-controlled media are driven by empire apologia first, ratings second, advertisers third, and holding the powerful to account somewhere near the bottom of the list.

Propaganda causes us to misperceive reality in a way that benefits establishment power structures, so we don't rise up and use the power of our numbers to put an end to the status quo which oppresses and exploits us.

https://fair.org/home/nyt-china-needs-to-rethink-its-not-letting-people-die-from-covid-policy/
Valuable advice from the nation which managed to make the biggest profit (Pfizer) from the pandemic.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58441662
The use of comment sections for propaganda has been going on since years, with the US and Israel as main actors. It is inevitable, that Western propagandists accuse Russia of organized comment campaigns to deflect from their own use of this method.
https://www.rt.com/russia/534073-durov-tiktok-degrading-app/
https://www.rt.com/news/536174-youtube-bans-anti-vax/
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/YouTubes-Blocking-Russia-Today-Channels-is-Censorship-Kremlin-20210929-0005.html
https://www.rt.com/news/534753-pegasus-malware-iphone-spyware/
https://www.rt.com/news/535762-france-ministers-pegasus-spyware/
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/09/22/the-u-s-may-have-lost-the-military-war-in-syria-but-has-won-the-propaganda-war-at-home-by-portraying-its-murderous-invasion-as-a-moral-crusade/
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/09/20/dutch-socialist-condemns-her-partys-shameful-dumb-monkey-response-to-the-syrian-war-sadly-echoed-not-only-by-corporate-media-but-also-left-wing-media/
This report may sound exaggerated, pretentious, and over-sentimental to some readers, but it corresponds perfectly with the experience of other visitors to Syria who wanted to tell their stories. The Ministry of Truth doesn’t take any chances and the censorship in Western media is airtight.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/21/iran-s21.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58572385
Cryptocurrencies should be banned.
https://www.medialens.org/2021/gaslighting-the-public-serial-deceptions-by-the-state-corporate-media/
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/new-proof-emerges-of-the-biden-family
https://www.rt.com/usa/535871-cia-war-assange-yahoo/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/27/assa-s27.html
About CIA plots to to kidnap or assassinate Julian Assange.
https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-dark-web-design-how-sites-manipulate-you-into-clicking-168347
https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-africa-china-uganda-5462f03bbd75bf9724a26623295fbf0e
https://fair.org/home/hbos-anti-maduro-propaganda-is-cruder-than-venezuelan-oil/ 

Imperial news:

https://gowans.blog/2021/09/17/what-makes-the-united-states-richer-than-its-g7-partners-imperialism-not-lower-taxes/
https://scheerpost.com/2021/09/07/how-chevron-used-the-legal-system-and-the-fbi-to-target-whistle-blowing-lawyer-steven-donziger/
Corporate law and order.
https://tomdispatch.com/the-dixie-fire-disaster-and-me/
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/09/08/38-million-facing-food-insecurity-hunger-us-soared-nearly-9-2020
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-health-pandemics-coronavirus-pandemic-north-carolina-b9012bd212ef28dcceec583eb3ca7612
https://tomdispatch.com/the-land-of-the-free-where-so-many-of-the-brave-are-homeless/
https://www.blackagendareport.com/austerity-and-mass-murder-american-pastime
https://www.rt.com/usa/535981-murders-us-2020-fbi/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/09/30/sickening-indeed-the-horrors-of-big-pharma/ 

Imperial conquest news:

Caitlin Johnstone: Are soldiers working under the US empire the worst people in the world? No. But in terms of moral standing you'd have to rank someone who murders foreigners on behalf of imperialists and war profiteers below most of the people in your average prison.

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/09/06/pathology-of-gop-is-frighteningly-evident-in-its-lionization-of-navy-seal-killer-eddie-gallagher/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gallagher_(Navy_SEAL)
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/09/22/ex-prisoners-recall-us-torture-afghanistans-abu-ghraib
https://abeautifulresistance.org/site/2021/8/18/feminism-as-veiled-islamophobia
https://apnews.com/article/business-afghanistan-taliban-803457fb69e6092967f5e9538cef53b0
https://www.rt.com/news/535163-kabul-drone-strike-killed-civilians/
And no Western newspaper writes about this atrocity!
https://tomdispatch.com/the-names-youll-never-know
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/09/02/afghanistan-ashraf-ghani-corrupt/
https://tomdispatch.com/the-winner-in-afghanistan-china/
——————
https://tomdispatch.com/the-u-s-military-post-afghanistan
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/534936-profits-war-us-defense-contractors
https://theconversation.com/five-myths-about-drone-warfare-busted-133660
https://www.blackagendareport.com/american-liberals-praise-biden-expense-true-peace
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/09/09/covid-19-the-money-that-never-arrives-in-cuba/
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Syria-US-Blockade--Sanctions-Hinder-Economic-Social-Recovery-20210917-0015.html
https://e360.yale.edu/features/as-the-climate-bakes-turkey-faces-a-future-without-water
Turkey will use more and more water of Euphrates and Tigris, leaving the littoral states Syria and Iraq to dry and die. It has invaded northern Syria and northern Iraq to position itself for the inevitably coming great water war in the Middle East.
https://mronline.org/2021/09/20/un-expert-releases-full-report-on-impact-of-u-s-led-sanctions-against-venezuela
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Venezuela-To-Ask-the-Opposition-To-Defend-the-Essequibo-Region-20210905-0011.html
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Free-Peru-Calls-for-Removal-of-the-Congress-President-20210906-0004.html
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/09/15/racist-stereotypes-about-africa-in-the-u-s-media-have-long-driven-the-rape-and-plunder-of-the-continent-but-where-is-the-outcry/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/09/10/rwandas-military-is-the-french-proxy-on-african-soil/
https://www.blackagendareport.com/biden-threatens-sweeping-sanctions-ethiopia-prime-minister-abiy-ahmed-responds
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/27/mali-s27.html
https://tomdispatch.com/the-profits-of-war/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/26/assad-the-outcast-being-sold-to-the-west-as-key-to-peace-in-middle-east
A collection of misinformation and propaganda tropes of the last ten years, dripping of odium and loathing. Western geostrategic planners and their journalistic cohort will never forget that they were not able to topple “butcher Assad” despite using every trick out of the book and depleting the slush funds of Western intelligence agencies.
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/10/01/a-company-family-the-untold-history-of-obama-and-the-cia/ 

China news:

https://mronline.org/2021/08/28/analysis-xis-leftward-shift-to-a-socialist-china-is-for-real/
https://theconversation.com/how-special-soil-observatories-in-china-are-helping-to-create-more-sustainable-agriculture-167162
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/534074-jinping-china-reforms-cultural-revolution/
A rather fawning opinion piece about Xi Jinping, but it is nonetheless well worth considering.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/09/07/chip-war-can-the-u-s-really-gain-from-chinas-pain/
https://apnews.com/article/technology-lifestyle-asia-beijing-xi-jinping-1a03a0ad19397face74b2e2dd2130d33
A prime example how to put a negative spin on everything what happens in China. Be prepared for an accelerating defamation campaign.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/09/chin-s09.html
Xi Jinping has to deal with reality, which often stands in the way of noble goals and visions.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/10/ever-s10.html
Property market speculation, looming Evergrande default.
https://www.leftvoice.org/chinas-evergrande-a-serious-crisis-but-hardly-an-asian-lehman-brothers/
https://theconversation.com/chinas-problem-with-property-the-domino-effect-of-evergrandes-huge-debts-168601
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02459-w
Desperate attempts to keep the high energy economy and lifestyle going.
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/534991-geopolitical-shift-france-us-australia/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-58592613
AUKUS — preparing for war to destroy China.
https://mronline.org/2021/09/22/the-revenge-of-white-colonialism-motivates-the-aukus-alliance-against-china/
https://mronline.org/2021/09/17/chinas-mass-line-moves-online
Too good to be true and probably more aspirational than real, but a worthy goal nevertheless.
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-technology-business-health-games-ba88276e6f9089a3b9bc65fc19cc0880
https://theconversation.com/china-dont-mistake-xi-jinpings-crackdowns-for-a-second-cultural-revolution-167483
Xi Jinping’s latest moves construed from a Western point of view. Many questionable assumptions, but the last paragraph is spot on.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-58625934
https://wolfstreet.com/2021/09/15/what-a-collapse-of-chinas-evergrande-would-mean/
https://exiledonline.com/the-war-nerd-taiwan-the-thucydides-trapper-who-cried-woof/
An alternative view
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58579831
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58417234
Western commentators are scratching their heads.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/09/is-hsbc-beginning-to-regret-betting-the-bank-on-china.html
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/535755-quad-summit-biden-china/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/09/25/subs-s25.html
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202109/1235254.shtml
Meng Wanzhou is back in China, igniting a surge of national pride.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202109/1235270.shtml
Electricity shortages, power rationing.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/what-is-behind-chinas-power-crunch-2021-09-27/
https://socialistchina.org/2021/09/20/danny-haiphong-the-revenge-of-white-colonialism-motivates-the-aukus-alliance-against-china/ 

Armageddon news:

https://www.rt.com/russia/534794-war-china-destroy-world/
https://www.konstantakopoulos.gr/17101/nuclear-instability-russia-china-and-the-ussr-ii-scenario
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/09/20/dangerous-war-scares-of-1974-1983-and-2021-what-needs-to-be-done/

Uncategorized news:

https://aeon.co/essays/machine-writing-is-closer-to-literatures-history-than-you-know
https://aeon.co/essays/animals-wrestle-with-the-concept-of-death-and-mortality
https://apnews.com/article/europe-religion-russia-elections-violence-83c6446d2d7813c4f2900c852e4bf08b
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/ecocide/agriculture/robbing-the-soil-1-commons-and-classes-before-capitalism/
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/ecocide/agriculture/robbing-the-soil-2-systematic-theft-of-communal-property/
https://mronline.org/2021/09/20/food-and-the-struggle-for-africas-sovereignty
https://theconversation.com/the-music-industry-is-booming-and-can-afford-to-give-artists-a-fairer-deal-168587
https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/beyond-industrial-medicine

News from cat land:

Another summer has ended, but mild weather is letting the cats still enjoy time in the garden and forest. My ailing cat companions Princess Min Ki and Wendy are doing reasonably well, though they are clearly less active than before the onset of their sickness.

When Princess Min Ki abdicated from her long and undisputed leadership of the family, there was no obvious successor. Rita perplexed her fellow cats with abundant energy and speed. She is an excellent tree climber and hunter, three years old, healthy, and at the top of her game. 

Rita likes to hunt and play, lurking in the chaparral to ambush prey, but also pouncing on passing fellow cats. She things that is great fun. Rita is small and lacks life experience, yet, for a short time it really seemed possible that she would become the new leader of the family.

It all changed in the last weeks, when Rita had an encounter with Linda, who taught her a lesson and showed her unmistakably that she shouldn’t push above her weight. Linda is six years old and with 6 kg the biggest cat of the family. 6 kg for a female cat is quite good.

By reigning in Rita, Linda has gained much respect from the other family members. There will be no official ceremony, no coronation, but everybody knows now: She is the boss.

The cats just annoyed me quite a bit, though, as I’m writing these last sentences of the blog post I have already forgiven them. There was a shrew in the living room, most likely brought in and let loose by Rita sometimes in the night. I was just reading the news when unexpectedly I looked into the tiny eyes of the shrew which innocently had climbed up the computer table.

Lucia, Wendy, Gandhi, Min Ki were there and I called them to make short process of the shrew. Lucia and Min Ki were interested but too slow, Gandhi and Wendy didn’t even bother. In the end I had to catch the shrew with my bare hands, which is risky because shrews bite and can cause severe infections. But this shrew did not fight, it kept perfectly still. It was probably exhausted from being chased around by the cats. 

Shrews are useful in the garden, because the eat small snails, wood lice, and other pests. I sight and thought: “You are also one of my babies now.” Then I carried her out and let her free near the garden fence.