22.02.2022

News, observations, guesses February 22, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military to send troops to the Ukrainian breakaway republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (LPR) in a mission he described as a peacekeeping operation. The order came after Putin signed a decree recognizing the sovereignty of the two republics. 

The Russian troop deployment could be enough for the USA to declare it as an invasion of Ukraine, which will trigger major sanctions against Russia. The US government responded to Putin’s recognition by immediately implementing sanctions that ban US citizens from doing business in the DPR and LPR.

Putins move invalidates the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements, designed to put an end to fighting. It confirms US President Biden’s warnings of a Russian invasion. Western countries will call Russian troops in Donbas an invasion and a violation of international law. Which it certainly is, just as NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia and Libya was; just as US soldiers in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria were; just as US drone strikes and commando operations in Africa and the Middle East are.

One could it also frame as R2P (Responsibility to Protect), a global political commitment endorsed at the 2005 UN World Summit to prevent genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. Just like Turkey feels responsible for Turkic-speaking ethnic groups in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China Xinjiang, Russia is committed to the protection of Russian minorities in its neighboring countries.

Putin had no choice, the recognition of DPR and LPR was long overdue, though the leadership of the two regions is infiltrated by war profiteers and opportunists. They days of Alexei Mozgovoy (commander of the Prizrak brigade) and his socialist visions are long gone.

This game of 4D chess was won by Biden’s advisers.

The now inevitable economic sanctions will hurt Russia, but Western nations as well. Futures of Brent crude reached a seven-year high of almost 98 US$ (Russia is the second largest exporter of crude oil after Saudi Arabia). Zero carbon becomes a less distant possibility and "leave it in the ground" is not anymore just a meaningless hollow phrase.

Always look at the bright side of life.

Feline news:

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/on-cat-pictures/
https://mymodernmet.com/jasper-the-cat-fish-aquarium/
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/demystifying-feline-behavior 

Against all odds:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/how-a-cooperative-run-by-the-formerly-incarcerated-is-reshaping-chicagos-food-industry.html
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/the-city-owned-by-locals/
https://civileats.com/2022/02/07/nyc-community-gardeners-might-have-new-protection-in-the-fight-against-development/
https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/on-the-great-green-wall-and-being
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/mapping-the-future/
https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2022/02/01/growing-community-vacant-chicago-lots
https://theconversation.com/low-technology-why-sustainability-doesnt-have-to-depend-on-high-tech-solutions-176611 

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Low-tech-infographic.jpg 

Environmental news:

The nuclear industry is ready to come to the rescue of failing zero-carbon policies and there will be soon many more articles like this:
https://theconversation.com/were-all-radioactive-so-lets-stop-being-afraid-of-it-175267
We’re all radioactive – so let’s stop being afraid of it.
Experts in nuclear power and nuclear medicine worry that fears of radiation will keep us relying on fossil fuels for longer.

https://ourfiniteworld.com/2022/02/09/limits-to-green-energy-are-becoming-much-clearer/
Nuclear energy is too expensive, it takes too long to build power plants safely, and the new designs are just technological fantasies (based on the promise of future revolutionary innovations that are always just around the corner but never actually happen).

The nuclear industry is also not immune to resource depletion. It isn’t just steel or aluminum that is needed to build reactors – they are some very high tech alloys. For instance, 309 SS for a reactor vessel is alloyed with nickel, chromium, and manganese. Other metals are needed such as zirconium, cobalt, molybdenum, etc. Does one really think that we will never run out of any of them? Supply of some resources, particularly zirconium, is already a relevant issue.
https://matmatch.com/resources/blog/materials-in-nuclear-reactors/

There is an abiding faith In “advanced” economies that “innovation” will solve our most perplexing problems. This faith is looking increasingly misplaced as technological innovations have created at least as many problems as they have sought to solve. It is becoming increasingly clear that we need to reduce our overall energy consumption, regardless of energy sources. What we need to focus on is how we do this in the most equitable manner. This should fully occupy our best and brightest minds.

Articles about energy scarcity pay little attention to modifying behaviors and habits of end consumers. Some examples of possible changes: 

Less gadgets and appliances
(especially less dishwasher and washing machine use).
Less computer, no blockchain, no cryptocurrency.
Walking or riding a bike when possible.
Telecommuting when possible.
Energy conservation measures for buildings.
Wearing a sweater, vest, and beanie, lowering thermostats.
No travel and no faraway holidays. 

Energy impacts from these lifestyle-modifications may be minor, but every incremental action adds up. Plus it may enhance one’s world-view to “live in the moment”, consciously being, acting, and responding to the no free energy lunch reality we have been looking at since the first mid-east oil disruptions in the 1970’s.

Renewables are enough if we reduce consumption to sane levels. With a focus on efficiency this can be pretty acceptable standards of living. The happiness index indicates, that a good life does not require ever increasing consumption.

It’s a choice between radical conservation with enhanced energy efficiency versus eugenics.

The super rich. who own most of the planet, and are at present “the deciders”, are choosing eugenics: radical conservation through die off.

It’s similar to the pandemic response or to privatized health care, if the policy doesn’t directly benefit the super rich, go die. That’s where we’re heading in perhaps a couple of years. Forced population reduction (forced by famine, heat waves, plagues, war) induced by present policies.

https://civileats.com/2022/02/02/field-report-pfas-pollution-farmworker-overtime-unions-urban-ag/
https://www.ehn.org/pfas-clothing-2656587709/pfas-in-athletic-wear
https://www.ehn.org/what-are-pfas-2656619391/what-does-pfas-stand-for
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/14/forever-chemicals-pcb-pfas-use-marine-life-to-travel-world-by-sea
https://theconversation.com/plants-are-flowering-a-month-earlier-heres-what-it-could-mean-for-pollinating-insects-176324
https://newclimate.org/2022/02/07/corporate-climate-responsibility-monitor-2022/
https://www.globalresearch.ca/inconvenient-truth-peasant-food-web-feeds-world/5769501
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/08/chevron-amazon-ecuador-steven-donziger-erin-brockovich
https://e360.yale.edu/features/its-not-just-climate-are-we-ignoring-other-causes-of-disasters
https://www.circleofblue.org/2022/world/nebraska-agrochemical-contamination-throws-families-communities-water-providers-into-turmoil
Poisoned by agrochemicals. This is nothing new, nothing extraordinary. The report is just another reminder that industrial agriculture is not only unsustainable, but unhealthy and even deadly.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/10/france-to-build-up-to-14-new-nuclear-reactors-by-2050-says-macron
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60380298
Pollution of the world's rivers from medicines and pharmaceutical products poses a threat to environment and human health.
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/reefs-dying-mediterranean-heat/
https://grain.org/e/6792
Big farms don’t feed the world.
https://jomodevplus.substack.com/p/peasants-marginalized-by-big-farmers
https://investigatemidwest.org/2022/02/16/poisoned-farmers-exposing-the-myth-of-pesticide-protection-in-europe/ 

Economy news:

The ruling rentier class uses its control over the global financial system to buy land and property everywhere. 

For example: Investors bought record share of homes in US metro areas in 2021, squeezing buyers in low income neighborhoods; Bill Gates is the biggest land owner in the USA. In many African and Latin American nations big financial institutions (investment funds, private equity, banks) and rich individuals buy land and property, recolonizing large areas, setting up their own private security forces, and expelling the native population.

The most reasonable solution would be to nationalize land and property, making it common good again. But that would mean sanctions or even military aggression by the USA and Western allies. 

Western officials see problems posed by China's state-led, non-market approach to economy and trade. In their view the increase in Chinese exports to the USA and the growing trade deficit it has caused is not just because of US consumers' appetite for cheap Chinese goods, but because China’s economy is still production-led and export-led.

The main WTO (World Trade Organization) dispute resolution mechanism, the Appellate Body, has been unable to function since December 2019 because the US repeatedly blocked the appointment of new judges, partly over its alleged leniency against China.

https://www.rt.com/business/548463-us-debt-young-americans/
https://scheerpost.com/2022/02/10/ellen-brown-rather-than-sink-main-street-by-raising-interest-rates-the-fed-could-save-it-heres-how/
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-02-04/tumin-the-alternative-currency-rebuilding-community-in-mexico/
https://mronline.org/2022/02/12/capitalism-great-for-the-rich-shit-for-the-poor
https://journal-neo.org/2021/06/18/there-is-more-to-blackrock-than-you-might-imagine/
https://www.leftvoice.org/corporate-profits-soar-even-amid-rising-inflation/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/14/the-big-lie-of-the-elites/
https://www.resumen-english.org/2022/02/argentine-patagonia-threatened-by-british-israelis-and-americans/

Pandemic news:

BA.2 (Stealth Omicron) has been detected in 74 countries and accounts for the majority of new cases in 10 countries (Denmark, India, China, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Guam, Montenegro, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines). It is estimated to be about 30 percent more contagious than Omicron BA.1 and seems to cause more severe illness.

In a peer-reviewed article in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, Chinese scientists said they have developed a new COVID-19 test that matches the accuracy of a PCR lab test but gives results within four minutes.

"We implemented an electromechanical biosensor for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 into an integrated and portable prototype device, and show that it detected (virus RNA) in less than four minutes," the team from Fudan University in Shanghai said in the paper.

Washington Post headline: In Hong Kong, China’s ‘Covid zero’ strategy is falling apart.

Western commentators are watching with glee, as Hong Kong is facing its worst outbreak of the pandemic, topping over 6,000 new COVID-19 cases for several days. The city government has already instituted strict rules banning gatherings of more than two households.

But health care facilities are beginning to overflow, as thousands of people have tested positive for COVID-19 and are waiting to be admitted into hospitals or isolation facilities. 

In comparison, the city-state of Singapore, which is similarly sized to Hong Kong with a population of some 5.7 million compared to 7.5 million, undertook strict lockdown measures early in the pandemic but is now pursuing a “living with COVID” approach.

The number of new cases per capita in Singapore has skyrocketed with the arrival of omicron, with 1,911 new cases per million people reported lately, versus 66 per million in Hong Kong (according to Our World in Data).

But people testing positive who have no symptoms or only mild symptoms just need to self-quarantine at home, and even those who have more severe symptoms are told to see a physician for medical advice before going to the hospital.

Consequently, Singapore is not suffering the stress on its health care system that Hong Kong is now experiencing. Singapore also boasts one of the world’s highest vaccination rates, with 88 percent of its population fully vaccinated, compared to Hong Kong’s 64 percent.

========

The Covid incubation period is variable over a wide range. A Beijing arrival was found positive after 21 days in quarantine. 

Vaccine mandates are meaningless, because none of the vaccines are sterilizing, and therefore they do not prevent harm to the public in the form of contagion. If Western governments had not settled on a disastrous vaccination-only policy, they would not be in the present uncomfortable position, because there would be other mitigations to bring the case count down.

As the super rich view any public health response to the pandemic as an interruption of the flow of profits, the pandemic is declared to be over. Just believe in it, believe with all your heart and soul! Think positive, trust God and the government, your strong faith will defeat the evil virus.

https://donford.substack.com/p/riskoflongcovid
Particularly alarming is a chart which confirms that the vaccines offer virtually no protection from long Covid. The frequency and duration of long Covid also is worse than widely assumed. And another dangerous attribute: long Covid symptoms can develop months after infection.
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.30.21268565v1
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/2/16/how-covid-can-lead-to-other-health-conditions
https://billtotten.wpcomstaging.com/2022/02/11/a-comparison-between-covid-control-in-china-and-the-us/
Important — please read!
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00403-0
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01689-3
Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(22)00010-X/fulltext
Clinical predictors of acute cardiac injury after hospital discharge from COVID-19 (US physicians raise alarm, that  a mysterious conditions is afflicting people who are recovering from Covid, and that it could signal a looming cardiac crisis).
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmed.2021.717194/full
https://www.deseret.com/coronavirus/2022/2/9/22923359/new-york-deer-omicron-variant-new-covid-19-mutations
https://gowans.blog/2022/02/10/the-occupation-of-ottawa-is-a-far-right-assault-on-labor-and-democracy/
Formerly: “ Back to school, back to work.” Now: Fighting for the freedom to be cheated, exploited, and used as a tool by the billionaire class.
https://www.dw.com/en/nasal-spray-could-be-the-future-of-the-covid-vaccine/a-60518728
Nasal vaccines are announced since one year, but there is obviously no urgency to get them ready as long as mRNA can make lot of money for Pfizer.
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/nasal-approach-to-covid-vaccination-gains-traction-at-yale/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/15/coro-f15.html
Governments across the globe are pressing to declare the pandemic over.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/02/19/european-union-prefers-corporate-profits-over-the-health-of-people-across-the-world/
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/new-study-explain-how-coronavirus-stays-airborne-longer-than-previously-thought.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/16/pand-f16.html
“Endemic” COVID-19 may lead to 250,000 deaths each year in the USA.
https://www.sciencealert.com/another-study-links-between-severe-covid-and-vitamin-d-deficiency
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/new-data-omicron-ba-2-more-contagious-and-severe-than-ba-1-yet-officials-committed-to-relaxing-protections.html
Important! The danger of Omicron BA.2 and growing despair about ignorance and callousness of Western leaders.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/17/health/ba-2-covid-severity/index.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/19/covid-hospitals-data-00010283 

Media, technology, and propaganda news:

https://original.antiwar.com/David_Swanson/2022/01/06/the-pentagon-and-cia-have-shaped-thousands-of-hollywood-movies-into-super-effective-propaganda/
Sloppy written but contains important informations (the author maybe doesn’t like to spend much time on the computer honing the prose and I really understand that).
https://www.rt.com/russia/548394-bloomberg-russia-invades-ukraine/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/07/genocide-denier-not-me-pal-try-the-white-house-instead/
About efforts of US propagandists to smear the Tricontinental Institute and Vijay Prashad .
https://www.globalresearch.ca/british-medical-journal-story-exposed-politicized-fact-checking/5769169
https://www.mintpressnews.com/279612-2/279612/
New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal war propaganda.
https://declassifieduk.org/uk-spends-over-80m-on-media-in-20-countries-around-russia/
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/02/a-week-has-passed-and-still-not-a-single-word-in-the-nytimes-about-amnesty-internationals-landmark-report-that-found-israel-practices-apartheid/
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-staggering-ecological-impacts-of-computation-and-the-cloud/
https://thegrayzone.com/2022/02/08/leaked-documents-syrian-terror-amnesty-international-syria/
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57006.htm 

Imperial news:

When the United States reached 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 in May 2020, the New York Times devoted its entire front page to a list of the dead. But with the figure nine times that amount, the Times published only a tiny blurb at the bottom of its front page, entitled “900,000 Dead, but Many Americans Move On.”

In another headline: US is approaching a phase where “Covid isn’t a crisis,” White House official says.

As death is being normalized, reporting is being slashed in a massive coverup. States, one after another, are reducing the frequency of case and death reporting, shutting down their COVID-19 dashboards, and eliminating contact tracing programs. Earlier this month, the US Department of Health and Human Services ended its daily hospital death reporting metrics as part of an international effort to end case and death reporting.

The complete silence of major media outlets on the number of deaths plays a major role. A cursory survey of US Sunday papers shows that not one has mentioned the devastating toll the Omicron variant continues to take. One may well assume that the pandemic has ended or that it was just a nightmare from which we are all awakening.

US ‘excess deaths’ (deaths above the longtime average rate) during the pandemic surpassed 1 million, mostly related to COVID-19 but including increased fatalities from drug overdoses, heart attacks, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s disease.

A surprising headline in the New York Times states the obvious: Vulnerable to the Virus, High-Risk Americans Feel Pain as the USA Moves On. Transplant recipients, cancer patients and millions of other Americans with risk factors feel ignored and abandoned as their neighbors, and their government, seek a return to normal.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/06/us-covid-death-rate-vaccines
https://theweek.com/coronavirus/1009612/70-percent-of-americans-say-its-time-to-accept-covid-and-get-on-with-our-lives
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/17/chde-f17.html
https://tomdispatch.com/crisis-in-the-schools
The pandemic is grinding down society, student by student, teacher by teacher. Political statements, that the pandemic is over and we simply will resume our former lives, are so far away from reality, that they only cause revulsion and discredit everyone who makes such statements.
https://www.rt.com/news/548335-epstein-us-bureau-prison/
There are many suspicious suicides of displeasing and potentially embarrassing persons in the  USA. But who cares, life goes on and the Epstein case is blacked out and already forgotten.
https://nypost.com/2022/02/19/ghislaine-maxwells-family-fears-for-safety-after-jean-luc-brunel-death/ 
The Epstein affair progresses with another suicide by hanging. Not many witnesses left to incriminate prominent Epstein friends (Bill Gates, Bill Clinton). Why is Ghislaine Maxwell still alive?
https://scheerpost.com/2022/02/20/new-data-shows-u-s-government-has-been-bought-for-14-billion%EF%BF%BC/
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/02/21/malcolms-growing-socialist-anti-imperialist-anti-zionist-and-pan-african-outlook-made-him-target-of-deep-state-like-so-many-others-under-cointelpro/ 

Imperial conquest news:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/sixty-years-us-embargo-imprint-affects-cubans-daily-lives-rcna14719
https://www.resumen-english.org/2022/02/the-us-invests-more-for-subversion-in-cuba-than-it-gets-in-retur/
https://peoplesworld.org/article/battle-of-ideas-anti-communism-prolongs-already-long-u-s-blockade-of-cuba/
https://www.resumen-english.org/2022/02/respect-to-the-women-of-cuba/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/10/the-legacy-of-lester-mallory-brief-statement-against-the-u-s-economic-war-against-cuba/
https://www.resumen-english.org/2022/02/it-cant-be-illegal-to-help-a-people-the-persecution-of-alex-saab/ 
https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-colombia-caribbean-miami-nicolas-maduro-f6d107240cd8085f54d192b9f7b549f3
Misinformation? Or a double agent uncovered?
https://www.resumen-english.org/2022/02/macri-and-the-failed-invasion-of-venezuela/
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/02/11/civilian-casualties-nearly-doubled-in-yemen-since-end-of-un-mandated-international-monitoring/
https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-has-merely-rebranded-the-brutal-war-against-yemen-2022-2
https://original.antiwar.com/ramzy-baroud/2022/01/06/as-israel-plots-endgame-in-occupied-golan-bennett-must-remember-lessons-of-the-past/
Erez Israel.
http://jordantimes.com/opinion/michael-jansen/institutionalised-discrimination
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-leader-killed-us-allies-sdf-accuse-turkey-giving-terrorists-syria-safe-zone
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/02/us-raid-raises-questions-turkeys-commitment-vs-islamic-state
https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/02/islamic-state-collaborators-received-turkish-citizenship-official-report-shows
Ottoman Empire.
https://thecradle.co/Article/columns/6915
https://www.rt.com/russia/548326-turkish-drones-ukraine-provocation/
https://www.rt.com/russia/548394-bloomberg-russia-invades-ukraine/
https://freeukrainenow.org/2022/02/11/january-27-2022-deteriorating-situation-150000-ukrainian-troops-to-donbass-russian-osce-report/
https://chroniclesofhaiphong.substack.com/p/eight-times-the-united-states-has
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56998.htm
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56994.htm
https://peoplesworld.org/article/pipeline-ploy-how-u-s-natural-gas-interests-are-fueling-the-ukraine-crisis/
https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2022/02/14/risking-world-war-iii-the-us-submarine-lurking-off-russias-kuril-islands/
http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2022/02/rand-corporation-study-calls-for-regime.html
http://infobrics.org/post/35183/
https://peoplesworld.org/article/u-s-ramps-up-war-talk-as-it-points-more-missiles-at-russia/
https://www.rt.com/news/549921-nato-expansion-russia-document/
https://mronline.org/2022/02/19/truths-and-lies-about-pledges-made-to-russia/
https://www.rt.com/russia/549901-donetsk-explosion-ukraine/
https://www.rt.com/russia/549924-lugansk-explosion-ukraine
https://www.rt.com/russia/549874-breakaway-ukrainian-region-evacuation/
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/02/what-is-going-to-happen-in-ukraine.html
https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2022/02/21/asia-times-the-weaponization-of-osce-and-the-polish-dilemma/ 

Chinese news:

City of Baise with 1.4 million residents, located about 100 km from the Vietnamese border, discovered its first local case, a traveller who had returned home for the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. Citywide traffic controls are implemented, no one is allowed to leave the city, while residents of some districts confined to their homes. Mass testing is under way, 135 cases have ben found until now.

Authorities ordered inhabitants to stay home and cut transportation links amid a surge in COVID-19 cases at least partly linked to the omicron variant. Classes have been suspended, non-essential businesses closed and mass testing of residents ordered. Restaurants are only permitted to serve take-out. Traffic lights have been switched to red only to remind drivers to stay home.

Aluminum production has stopped. The city accounts for 5.6 percent of China's total production of electrolytic aluminum, and interruptions to production will push up prices for raw materials upstream.

The eastern Chinese city of Suzhou banned all public gatherings and postponed the start of the spring semester on Monday after seven people linked to an industrial park tested positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant. 31 Covid-19 cases had been identified until now , resulting in the suspension of two semiconductor firms’ production lines in the city. The outbreak in Suzhou is dominated by the Delta strain.

An outbreak in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, was discovered by the screening of a garbage transfer station. It was caused by visiting relatives attending two wedding banquets. The Hohhot Municipal Government called on the general public not to panic, to reduce gatherings, use personal protection, and actively cooperate with prevention or control measures.

https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2022/02/chinese-companies-lose-tenders-israeli-light-rail
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60277353
About Eileen Gu, the “Snow Princess.”
https://socialistchina.org/2022/02/11/eileen-gu-doesnt-care-what-you-think-and-no-one-else-should-either/
https://chroniclesofhaiphong.substack.com/p/eileen-gu-controversy-exposes-the
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/02/08/chinas-olympic-battle-for-legitimacy-the-prehistory-of-the-2022-beijing-games/
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/02/03/the-hypocrisy-of-the-diplomatic-boycott-of-the-2022-beijing-olympics/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-16/china-s-winter-olympics-near-zero-covid-cases-in-victory-for-xi
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/02/11/china-is-a-freakish-backwards-nation-bleat-the-slaves-from-their-dystopia/
https://www.rt.com/news/549723-trump-trade-deal-china/ 

Armageddon news:

Guy McPherson and Nature Bats Last.

https://guymcpherson.com/
Every sane person understands, that we can’t continue to build a world based on ever rising energy (especially electricity) demands, and that the most reasonable approach would be to mitigate environmental destruction immediately. 

Uncategorized news:

https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/hector-bejar/






05.02.2022

News, observations, guesses February 2022

Halfhearted efforts to mitigate the pandemic have failed, therefore governments move towards an ending of daily case and death counts. Back to school, back to work, as the pandemic is declared to be over or to have morphed into an epidemic.

Which means essentially: If you get sick, you are on your own. You are on your own in any case — this is the beauty of an individualized society. 

Unburdened by social responsibility and compassion, free from ethics, morals, values, and ideals, the fittest (and most brutal) survive in a cold, dark, and unforgiving world. This is the kind of freedom which produces billionaires.

Once upon a time in a land which doesn’t exist anymore because it was conquered and destroyed by the evil empire, there was social cohesion, friendliness, tenderness, respect, understanding, peace, happiness, and love.

The social crisis of the pandemic and the emergence of open dissent and disobedience are driving the ruling elite to war. The immense rupture of social life produced by the global pandemic has fundamentally destabilized all Western societies.

An opinion piece by Thomas Edsall, published in the New York Times, declared that intense social polarization placed the United States in “uncharted and very dangerous territory.” He quoted a political scientist who stated that a successful “depolarizing event” would have to be one “where the causes are transparently external.”

It is this above all that fuels the drive to war. War with Russia would allow the US ruling elite to use nationalism to channel social anger outward and provide it a pretext for suppressing dissent. War is the way to leave behind all present crises. And besides that, would’t it be nice to finally get hold of Russia’s natural riches?

In 1992, a leading foreign policy academic, Walter Russell Mead, published a significant article in World Policy Journal, bearing the subtitle “A Modest Proposal for US Policy after the Cold War.” He advocated that the US acquire Siberia from the impoverished Russian nation and profit off “privatizing Siberia’s vast storehouse of natural resources.”

This area contains some of the world’s most valuable deposits of oil, gas, diamonds, and gold,” Mead wrote. “There are vast stands of timber; huge mineral deposits. All of these resources are worth more as part of the United States than as part of Russia.” He wrote of the value of acquiring Vladivostok, “one of the finest harbors in Asia,” and of royalties to be secured from concessions to the Japanese.

Feline news:

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/the-hunt-for-beijings-wild-cats
https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/a-purrfect-ending-kabul-cat-and-nato-officer-reunite-in-vancouver
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/mom-finds-cat-after-8-months-lost-when-she-heard-his-meow-phone/ 

Against the odds:

https://theconversation.com/the-race-to-protect-the-food-of-the-future-why-seed-banks-alone-are-not-the-answer-173294
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/back-from-the-brink/
https://civileats.com/2022/01/21/a-return-to-native-agriculture/
https://theconversation.com/how-anarchist-architecture-could-help-us-build-back-better-after-covid-170328
https://dgrnewsservice.org/resistance/get-started-political-organizing/
https://mronline.org/2022/01/31/replacing-imports-to-guarantee-greater-biotechnological-sovereignty-in-the-production-of-medicine
https://mronline.org/2022/01/31/radical-land-reform-in-venezuela-a-conversation-with-juan-carlos-loyo-part-i/
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/blue-tin-clothing-cooperative-chicago

Environmental news:

https://www.ehn.org/household-products-with-pfas-2656476590.html
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/the-great-siberian-thaw
https://www.globalresearch.ca/bathed-pesticides-narrative-deception/5768186
https://theconversation.com/methane-in-the-atmosphere-is-at-an-all-time-high-heres-what-it-means-for-climate-change-174908
China, India, Russia, Qatar, Australia, and others did not sign the Global Methane Pledge at COP26.
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/01/26/jamaicas-conservative-prime-minister-andrew-holness-has-given-mining-giant-noranda-bauxite-concessions-that-put-lush-regions-of-country-in-jeopardy/
https://www.ehn.org/microplastics-pollution-2656484617/plastics-bpa
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/the-worlds-food-systems-are-in-crisis-and-big-agribusiness-is-at-its-heart/
https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/ecocide/habitat-loss/global-resistance-to-extractive-industries/
https://www.ehn.org/bpa-replacement-2656483035.html
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/02/in-the-line-of-eternal-fire-ukraines-nuclear-reactors/ 

Economy news:

Swedish fashion group H&M drew a line under the pandemic, reporting a bigger-than-expected jump in quarterly profit and hiking investments with the aim of doubling sales by 2030.

https://mronline.org/2022/01/26/venezuela-doubles-oil-output-despite-u-s-bans-thanks-to-irans-help
https://mronline.org/2022/01/28/amazon-and-the-power-of-big-digital-platforms/
https://aeon.co/essays/when-will-economists-embrace-the-quantum-revolution 

Pandemic news: 

There have been more than 10,000 cases of the Omicron sub-variant BA.2, reported across 57 countries. Defined as a variant of interest, it is more contagious than BA.1, and some are dubbing it as “stealth Omicron.” Dominant in Denmark, it is spreading rapidly across South Africa, India, Nepal, Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Sweden, and Singapore. 

BA.2 has 28 mutations in its spike proteins, several of them different from the original omicron strain. There is also a BA.3 sub-variant. The three variants share 39 mutations, but BA.1 contains an additional 20 mutations (13 unique), BA.2 includes an additional 27 (ten unique), and BA.3 contains an additional 13 (one unique).

Dr. Anders Fomsgaard, chief physician and virus researcher at the Danish SSI (Statens Serum Institut), said, “It is possible that you can be infected with BA.1 Omicron first and then shortly after with BA.2.” Several cases in Norway have confirmed this.

Scientists are speculating that given the high rates of reinfection with Omicron, it could mean that BA.2 may cause a second wave that quickly follows.

Omicron BA.1/BA.2 has almost completely replaced the previously dominant Delta variant of Covid-19 in England, a new Imperial College study has found, with the vast majority of cases (up to two-third) being possible reinfections.

https://gowans.blog/2022/01/25/the-pandemic-is-done-except-for-the-burials/

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/01/25/end1-j25.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/01/26/ende-j26.html
Endemic means mass infection and death forever.
https://dglassman.medium.com/omicron-was-never-mild-2b130568d7fa
https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/28/long-covid-brain-fog-chemo-brain/?
South African scientist Resia Pretorius said there is real worry things could get worse. “So many people are losing their livelihoods, their homes. They can’t work anymore,” she said. “Long COVID will probably have a more severe impact on our economy than acute COVID.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-60154398
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-africa-45986f5b42e47e656d5b385bd51b2bb2
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/01/covid-situation-continuing-to-develop-not-necessarily-to-the-officialdoms-advantage.html
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/china-bans-australian-meatworks-at-centre-of-covid-outbreak
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-ombudsman-rebukes-von-der-leyen-over-texts-with-pfizer-ceo/a-60593407
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/01/viru-f01.html
A well-researched sit-report of the pandemic. Recommended reading.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/study-on-long-covid-finds-hidden-lung-abnormalities-not-detected-in-routine-tests/
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/mild-covid-19-cases-still-lead-to-attention-and-memory-issues-study-1.5761727
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/long-covid-labor-market-missing-workers
https://www.dw.com/en/could-there-be-a-needle-free-covid-vaccine/a-60518728?maca=en-NL-Corona-Compact
https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/a-chief-physician-on-the-perils-of-germany-s-omicron-strategy-a-5215f9d4-ac5e-4c33-ac30-fab06832f3a0
https://www.wired.com/story/airplanes-empty-slots-covid
Airplanes are flying empty. This is an environmental crime and everyone who eventually will book an airfare again is complicit. Boycott and obstruct!
https://www.nationthailand.com/life/40011928
Do we now have to worry about fomites indeed and use lot of unhealthy disinfectants?
https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/getting-a-head-start-on-treating-long-covid 

Media, technology, and propaganda news:

https://www.localfutures.org/putting-technology-in-its-place/
https://theconversation.com/how-5g-puts-airplanes-at-risk-an-electrical-engineer-explains-175306
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/01/27/is-lockheed-martin-dictating-politicos-war-propaganda-articles-in-secret-hell-no-theyre-doing-it-right-out-in-the-open/
https://www.resumen-english.org/2022/01/cubas-resumen-latinoamericano-website-silenced-due-to-blockade/ 

Imperial news:

Former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst ended her life by jumping from an apartment building in Manhattan. She was 30.

Kryst was an attorney who conducted free legal work for prisoners who may have been sentenced unjustly, a fashion blogger, and an entertainment news correspondent. In 2019 she was crowned Miss USA, At the University of South Carolina, where she completed her undergraduate work, she was a track athlete. She had earned a law degree and MBA from Wake Forest University.

Kryst posted an Instagram photo before her death. "May this day bring you rest and peace," she wrote alongside a photo of herself. Kryst also left behind a note leaving her possessions to her mother.

She spoke openly about her views on immigration policies, anti-abortion laws, and inequality. She supported the Black Lives Matter movement and marched in protests over the summer.

One can only speculate about the motives for her suicide, but statements and obituaries described her as warm, kind, and loving person, qualities which maybe put her at odds with the prevailing social climate.

Singer, pianist, and songwriter Kandace Springs, born 1989 in Nashville, is biracial. Like Cheslie Kryst she is very gifted and talented, stunning audiences with superb piano playing and a voice which reminds of Sarah Vaughan and Roberta Flack at the same time. She is a living reminder that Jazz, Blues, R&B, Gospel, Soul, and all other styles of African American music are the greatest cultural gift the USA bequeathed to the world.

https://downbeat.com/news/detail/kandace-springs-ascends-as-proud-dad-applauds 

So much talent, skill, and virtuosity! But is this painting a vision, is this setting roadsigns out of the crisis? Or is it just entertainment with no impact on society, culture, politics? Is it just a cover for inequality, injustice, and environmental devastation? The contrast of soulful, inspiring music to the reality of todays US society could not be more harsh. 

If some black humor is allowed:

The life of half a million homeless persons in the USA becomes even more difficult because the bridges, under which they could seek shelter until now, are crumbling and in danger of breaking down.

Many US states have officially ended their contact tracing programs as part of a coordinated nationwide policy to allow all US-citizens to be infected with COVID-19.

On January 25, a day when the United States recorded 2,997 COVID-19 deaths, the New York Times published an op-ed by two former Biden administration advisers calling China’s decision to prioritize saving lives a mistake and extolling the benefits of “natural immunity through infection.”

In their op-ed, titled: “China’s Zero-Covid Policy Is a Pandemic Waiting to Happen,” Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Michael T. Osterholm argue that the goal of eradicating COVID-19 (Zero COVID) “is unattainable with the highly transmissible Omicron variant and has set China up for disaster. The coronavirus is not going to disappear — the world will have to live with it.”

Emanuel and Osterholm make clear that the policy of mass infection — far from being the outcome of blunders and mistakes — is deliberate. In fact, they present it as a positive good, which supposedly offers protection against the ravages of the pandemic, while leaving China vulnerable.

All the countries held up as models for China are experiencing a massive surge in cases and deaths. If China had the same death rate from COVID-19 as the United States, 3.6 million people would be dead. If it had the same death rate as Germany, the figure would stand at two million.

Lately the New York Times has roused itself to acknowledge the fact that the USA has the worst Covid death rate per capita of any wealthy country. Hospital admissions swelled to much higher rates than in Western Europe, leaving some states struggling to provide care. US-Americans are now dying from Covid at nearly double the daily rate of Britons and four times the rate of Germans.

Even the US administration has been forced to tacitly acknowledge the immense danger of COVID-19. During a meeting with US governors President Biden sat 10 feet away from the other participants in the meeting, including Vice President Kamala Harris. Everyone in the room was required to wear N95 masks instead of the far-less-protective surgical masks.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/US-National-Debt-Surpasses-30-Trillion-for-The-First-Time-20220202-0002.html
The record debt, fueled by spending to combat the coronavirus, comes as interest rates are expected to rise, which could add to costs.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60133618
https://www.alternet.org/2022/01/american-individualism/
https://civileats.com/2022/01/31/marcia-chatelain-franchise-mcdonalds-food-justice-black-capitalism/
https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2022/01/31/a-tribute-to-john-brown-and-the-war-against-slavery-in-1859-and-2022%EF%BF%BC/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/21/at-the-bottom-of-the-empire-homelessness-housing-injustice-and-jesse-jacksons-call-to-eradicate-poverty/
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/01/1076943883/teachers-quitting-burnout
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/02/04/pers-f04.html 

Imperial conquest news:

https://www.rt.com/russia/547307-croatia-withdraw-nato-troops/
https://peoplesworld.org/article/who-is-invading-whom-u-s-forces-already-in-eastern-europe/
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/western-countries-training-far-right-extremists-in-ukraine-report-682411
https://www.blackagendareport.com/endless-war-empires-last-dance
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/01/navigating-russia-ukraine-warmongering-disinformation.html
https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2022/01/28/a-culture-of-cheating-on-the-origins-of-the-crisis-in-ukraine/
https://fair.org/home/what-you-should-really-know-about-ukraine/
https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2022/01/29/russias-asymmetrical-war-over-ukraine/
https://consortiumnews.com/2022/01/28/the-tangled-tale-of-nato-expansion-at-the-heart-of-ukraine-crisis/
https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2022/01/31/america-is-reaping-what-it-sowed-in-ukraine/
https://www.globalresearch.ca/blackwater-donbass-azov-battalion/5768869
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/547850-weapons-russia-send-donbass/
https://peoplesworld.org/article/neo-nazis-active-in-ukraine-as-white-house-adds-3000-troops/
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/01/30/msm-pundits-push-idea-that-criticizing-us-policy-on-russia-makes-you-a-russian-agent/
https://peoplesworld.org/article/russia-and-china-issue-joint-call-for-an-end-to-nato-expansion
https://www.creators.com/read/judge-napolitano/01/22/more-presidential-killings
https://www.resumen-english.org/2022/01/the-blockade-at-60-years-and-the-resilience-of-the-cuban-people/
https://www.resumen-english.org/2022/02/us-targets-venezuela-with-new-pana-act/
https://mondoweiss.net/2022/01/us-army-tour-with-hebron-settler-extremist-legitimizes-occupation-and-signals-bidens-collapse/
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/02/02/can-israel-stop-the-world-from-saying-apartheid-concealing-the-suffering-in-palestine/
https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2022/02/04/bahrain-israel-deal-could-bring-arabs-and-israelis-in-anti-iran-coalition/
https://www.indianpunchline.com/us-reminds-india-its-showtime/
https://tomdispatch.com/what-a-waste/
https://www.blackagendareport.com/eritrea-and-tripartite-alliance-horn-africa
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/02/03/us-to-deploy-advanced-fighter-jets-and-warships-in-uae-amid-escalation-in-yemen-war/ 

China news:

https://socialistchina.org/2022/01/24/zero-covid-china-silences-the-critics/
https://multipolarista.com/2022/02/01/china-covid-19-strategy/
https://mronline.org/2022/01/28/geothermal-green-heating-part-of-chinas-decarbonization-plans/
https://socialistchina.org/2022/01/27/sanctions-in-the-new-cold-war-on-china/
https://uwidata.com/22952-impossible-to-maintain-government-economically-without-relations-to-china/
https://www.rt.com/russia/548333-putin-meeting-xi-beijing/
https://www.rt.com/news/548388-us-russia-china-psaki/
https://fair.org/home/why-comparing-chinese-africa-investment-to-western-colonialism-is-no-joke/
https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/germany-rethinks-position-on-beijing-government-in-berlin-classifies-china-as-a-systemic-rival-a-57cf368a-79e9-41f2-8121-73654f3c6c7c
Anti-Chinese propaganda is ramping up.

Uncategorized news:

https://www.blackagendareport.com/ethiopia-development-state-neoliberal-state
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/01/28/who-sleeps-under-the-bridge/
Superiority of Western democracy? Freedom to deceive, steal, and loot?
https://aeon.co/essays/face-it-a-farmed-animal-is-someone-not-something
https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/education-crisis/