About Julian Assange and other victims of institutional violence

I aways wondered what event would motivate me to issue another post on this blog. Now I know: Julian Assange is freed in one of the rare examples of mercy in this savage, unsparing world. 

Compassion, grace, mercy. Julian deserves it. But many other living beings deserve it too. For example: Palestinians imprisoned or starved to death; Soldiers killed or maimed in Ukraine, DRC, Sudan, Myanmar, and countless other places; animals and plants destroyed in the war-zones.

Mercy to all of them!

Celebrate mercy, celebrate any glimmer of hope in this increasingly warmer, yet darker world.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/06/25/glpq-j25.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/25/julian-assange-is-free-wikileaks-founder-freed-in-deal-with-us
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-69145409
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPHdmENcsE0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXxW0aqvW4U 

Bye bye for now

 It’s no fun to write about war. War is organized murder, war is a crime, war is evil, no matter who wages it and for what reason.

Like many fellow independent bloggers I was mesmerized by the idea that the war in Ukraine could ease the stranglehold and the neo-colonial exploitation of “less developed” countries in the global south by the “collective West.”

There were finally glimmers of hope that Western hubris and greed would be punished by the high court of life, that US hegemony would be replaced by multi-polarity, and natural resources would be shared more justly and equitable.

But war is habitat and wildlife destruction on an almost unimaginable scale. War is an inexcusable waste of scarce resources. War is pain, suffering, and death for all living beings. 

When the fighting finally stops, nature could have a chance to reclaim the land, to heal and restore ecosystems. Just like it happened in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. But it is more likely that roads, bridges, power lines, and other infrastructure will be rebuilt, that new mines, power plants, and factories will be opened.

About Ukraine

A defeat in Ukraine would have disastrous consequences for the USA’ image and credibility as a superpower not only in Europe but on the global stage, undermining its leadership of the transatlantic alliance and even disabling NATO.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg insists that a defeat of Ukraine would also be a defeat of NATO. He is on his way out and Chrystia Freeland, granddaughter of a WWII Ukrainian Nazi collaborator and currently Canada’s Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, is the prime candidate to replace him.

A Russian victory will make NATO irrelevant, but the USA can go on alone, forcing Europe to pay for Ukraine, and focusing on replenishing its weapons stockpiles in preparation for the real big showdown. The MIC (Military Industrial Complex) will rake in mountains of money.

The war in Ukraine is already deepening the split between the USA plus Europe versus the rest of the world, thereby accelerating the shift from US hegemony to a multi-polar order and a protracted new Cold War after the US dominance of the last three decades. 

With the assistance of the US and NATO (and aided by thousands of foreign combatants), Ukraine was, by mid-summer, able to reconstitute a force of around 50,000 men trained and equipped to NATO standards. In accordance with an operational plan devised with the help of NATO, this new force went on the offensive against Russian forces in the Kharkov and Kherson regions. To prevent the unnecessary loss of life, Russia opted to cede territory in the face of superior Ukrainian forces, ultimately consolidating their lines along more defensible terrain.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that he had ordered the withdrawal of troops from Kherson to defensive positions on the west bank of the Dnieper River. The loss of Kherson is a major blow to Russian prestige.

Until now it was commonly acknowledged that the counter-offensives by Ukraine all along the frontline have fizzled out. They yielded no territorial gains or any significant breakthrough, only causing heavy casualties in the thousands and huge losses in military equipment.

This move looks bad and bad optics alone will have consequences. The Ukrainians, the Biden administration and the European supporter of Ukraine will be emboldened by this. The support in Russia for the war will shrink. Some people in Russia will start to call for President Putin's head. There is no danger though that they will get it.

This move is operationally sound. From the military point of view there was little chance to withstand a serious attack in the region as the resupply across the Dnieper river is very difficult and cannot be guaranteed. Moreover the possible breach of the Dnieper river dams would make any resupply impossible for at least a week or even longer. That would be enough time for the Ukrainians to slaughter whatever number of Russian troops were left behind.

Strategically the move is bad. Wars are not won by retreats, and this is a retreat no matter how one spins it. Ukraine may have lost 9,000 men in the constant attacks against Kherson, but they can replace them by mercenaries and troops from NATO (mainly Poland and Romania).

The retreat closes for now the possibility of moving into Nikolaev (Mykolaiv) and further towards Odessa. This could have and should have been done earlier. But the Russians did not commit sufficient forces for that fight. Now it is too late to criticize those decisions.

Soon the Ukrainian army will start to move troops prepared for an attack in Kherson to other front lines. Russia must likewise move its troops to reinforce its positions elsewhere.

Morale requires that the next Russian move has to be big push with strategic significance. The concept of deep battle and deep operations should be reapplied. Historically it has nearly always worked to Russia's advantage.

But the big push does not need to be solely militarily. A further significant damage of Ukraine's economy via its electricity network is one option. To severely interrupt its supply lines from the west is another one.

Ukrainian artillery continues to bombard the Zaporizhzhia power plant, encouraged by Western controlled IAEA and other agencies. One Chernobyl is obviously not enough and the West may hope that a melting reactor will make the annexed provinces Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk, and Donetsk unlivable while excluding and not harming regions west of the Dnieper river.

Effectiveness of Western “wonder weapons”:

HIMARS can be intercepted and significantly degraded by an enemy integrated AD system. The 38 HIMARS sent by the USA though have proven to be a "game-changer" for Ukraine, despite soothing assurances of analysts that they would not. The retreat from Kherson would not be happening were it not for the HIMARS destruction of the road and rail bridge infrastructure in the region with precision strikes. Similarly, the threat to the Nova Kakhovka dam which could have caused severe flooding was based on potential further strikes by HIMARS. The USA plans to “reorder” 700 HIMARS, with 100,000 rockets, which could cost up to 4 billion US$.

M777 155 mm howitzers are marginally effective. 62 of the 142 sent to Ukraine have been destroyed and many more damaged. There are persistent reports of system fragility and unreliability in battlefield conditions. The USA nevertheless plans to order 1,000 more from BAE Systems, at an estimated cost of 3.7 billion US$.

20,000 more Stinger anti-aircraft missiles will be bought from Raytheon in addition to the 2,800 Stingers which replaced the 1,400 sent to Ukraine.

Ukraine has been supplied with only two Harpoon anti-ship missile systems, but the USA will order 1,000 Boeing Harpoon missiles (at about 1.4 billion US$) and 800 newer Kongsberg Naval Strike Missiles (at about 1.8 billion).

AGM-88 HARM missiles are apparently easily intercepted and ineffective against an integrated AD system. The USA military doesn’t use this system anymore. A barrage of HARM missiles attacking Russia’s Belgorod region failed and all missiles were allegedly brought down.

The procurements mentioned above are not only meant to replenish Pentagon stockpiles, they are primarily a preparation for a future full-scale war with Russia.

Leaked documents reveal plans by a cell of UK military-intelligence figures to organize and train a covert Ukrainian partisan army with explicit instructions to attack Russian targets in Crimea.

The Biden administration was mistaken in its believe that the war would lead to a regime change in Russia, following a collapse of the Russian economy under the weight of Western sanctions. On the contrary, even the IMF admits that the Russian economy has stabilized and is expected to grow by next year.

The USA is worried about Ukraine fatigue in Europe and urges European allies to keep up funding for Zelensky.

60 percent of Ukrainian troops are now either mercenaries or soldiers from Poland and Romania who just changed uniforms.

==========

40 percent of Ukraine’s energy supply has been damaged or knocked offline. In the event of total loss of all electricity, its water and sewage systems will also fail.

Ukraine’s capital city Kiev could lose all electricity, heat and water during the rapidly approaching winter and officials have drawn up plans to evacuate the city’s population, which stood at nearly 3 million before the war.

Poland, which has taken in 1.5 million Ukrainians since the outbreak of the war, just announced that as of January 2023 those seeking shelter in the country will be required to cover half of the cost of their accommodations, which are currently being funded by the government. In May 2023, they will be on the line for 75 percent of the total.

Several thousand Ukrainian refugees in Britain are now reportedly homeless. Currently, there are discussions in London about permanently halting “Homes for Ukraine,” as part of a massive austerity program the government of Rishi Sunak is preparing.

The USA has limited special visas for Ukrainian refugees to 100,000. Individuals must have a family member in the USA already who is willing to sponsor them and prove that they will pose no financial burden on the state.

Europes forced de-industrialization

The sanctions against Russian gas and oil have led to an explosion in energy prices. European industries including ferroalloys, fertilizer plants, and specialty chemicals are shutting down as a result. Zinc smelters have curbed production and some have shut down. Half of the primary aluminum production has stopped as well. 70 percent of fertilizer factories are idled because of the energy shortage and specialty chemicals plants pause operations. German conglomerate BASF said last month it would permanently downside in its home country and expand in China.

The big beneficiary (profiteer, racketeer) will be Uncle Sam, who hopes to lure many of Europes industrial jewels, oligarchs, and highly skilled people to the USA in an unprecedented industry drain, capital drain, and brain drain.

As every empire, the USA has no qualms about praying even on its dearest allies. If they are ready to slaughter, they will get slaughtered.

Thats how the world works in a competitive global community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZK25FLrlUY 

About the environment

Climate scientists at COP17 warn that harmful carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels may rise 1 percent to an all-time high. Emissions declined in 2020 5.2 percent because of restrictions imposed during the COVID pandemic but the decline was quickly erased by a 5.6 percent increase in 2021.

All available scientific data show that greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise 30 years after the first world climate conference in Rio de Janeiro. Between 1850 and 1960, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increased from 285 to 320 percent per million, and since then it has risen exponentially to 418 percent. 

Sky-high oil and gas prices forced many countries to burn coal and to put already adopted programs to phase-out coal on hold.

More than 600 delegates at the talks in Egypt are linked to fossil fuels. UN conferences have always attracted lobbyists for the coal, oil, and gas industries, who are keen to influence the shape of the debate, but their numbers grow from year to year.

A trending Twitter message: The world's elite have arrived at on hundreds of private jets to lecture you about climate change.

James Melville tweeds:

#COP27 is a gigantic ego fest of hypocrites who strut around telling us plebs how to save the planet while they fly into Egypt on private jet for a virtue signaling jamboree sponsored by Coca-Cola who produce 120 billion plastic bottles a year - 99% made from fossil fuels.

Oxfam published a new study: Carbon Billionaires: The investment emissions of the world’s richest people.

The summary of the study says, that the wealthiest one percent in the world emit twice as much carbon dioxide as the bottom 50 percent. The study also found that counting the emission of companies owned by billionaires, one comes to the conclusion that each billionaire is responsible for emission of 3 million tons of CO2 every year. An average person is estimated to emit 2.7 tons of CO2 per year.

The environmental catastrophe is clearly visible. Although the earth has only warmed by 1.15 degrees since the end of the 19th century, extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves, forest fires, torrential rains, floods, and storms are destroying the livelihoods of millions of people. The rise in sea levels as a result of the melting of glaciers and polar caps will lead to even greater disasters.

The floods in Pakistan, which killed 1,700 people this summer, injured more than 12,000, displaced at least 33 millions, and caused epidemics of malaria, dengue, and cholera, give an impression of the coming nightmares.

Climate change together with high fuel and fertilizer prices are causing high food import costs, threatening food security around the world. A UN FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization’s) report estimates that the global import bill for oil crops, sugar, meat, dairy, fish, and other food will rise to an all-time high of 1.94 trillion US$ in 2022, up 10 percent from last year.

3.4 million children in Pakistan are facing chronic hunger.

=========

While nobody in the upper echelons of power seems to be worried about relentless increasing poisoning of air, water, and soil, about resource scarcity, about habitat destruction and mass extinction.

For how many centuries will this still be a livable planet? Will our beloved, wonderful Gaia lose its atmosphere, will it look like Mars?

About China

In China, agricultural land belongs to the state. Farmers have been given land-use rights but not ownership, and therefore cannot sell their land or use it for collateral.

In 2006 the Law on Specialized Farmer Cooperatives was passed by the National People’s Congress, coming into effect in July 2007. The law states that cooperatives are independent and autonomous organizations, should be democratically managed, and that their primary aim is to serve the interests of their members. Policies to encourage the establishment of cooperatives included providing financial support, making it easier for cooperatives to consolidate land holdings by transferring land use rights, providing low interest or interest free loans, and providing preferential tax policies. At the end of 2015 some 1.48 million cooperatives had been registered throughout the country.

China posts 6-month high in infections despite COVID strategy and industrial center Guangzhou battles a Covid-19 surge.

­The world's most populous country has pledged to stick to its strict zero-COVID policy, but several cities began cutting routine community COVID testing, days after China announced an easing of some coronavirus measures, sparking worry in communities about a new infection wave.

It doesn’t help that authorities still focus on transmission by droplets and fomites, ignoring aerosol transmission, which is by the overwhelming majority of scientists regarded as the main transmission way.

A tweed explains:

Basically anytime you see someone in full PPE spraying bleach on the ground in front of a crowd of people, waiting chest to back in surgical masks for PCR tests, you see a broken system which is not being guided by science — and that scene is everywhere all over China.

Chinese authorities still focus on spraying disinfectants instead of providing tight KN95 (or better) masks, “stay at home” and social distancing guidance, and improved ventilation.

Profits versus lives.

Global air travel has rebounded to 74 percent of pre-pandemic levels and the ­Asia-Pacific region records by far the biggest jump in passenger traffic amid easing border restrictions. Giving in to industry pressure, China eased international travel restrictions and quarantine rules as well.

A cruise ship with 800 COVID-19 cases docked in Sydney. Hong Kong is still stubbornly resisting a full relaxation of its Covid restrictions and has been virtually abandoned by international cruise lines. Hong Kong lawmakers have suggested to use empty cruise ships as quarantine facilities. 

Number one priority for China is still GDP growth, senior economic officials assert, and the leadership is pursuing “high-quality development” and “supply-side structural reform" over the next five years. Chinese economists look for a strategy to expanding domestic demand — in other words: more consumerism (the Chinese way, of course, but consumerism nonetheless).

Why do nations have to repeat the same grave mistakes which brought others to their knees, why have they to learn painfully from their own mistakes?

China recorded its highest temperatures and one of its lowest levels of rainfall in 61 years during a two-month summer heatwave that caused forest fires, damaged crops, and hit power supplies. Will the droughts and floods and heatwaves be a wakeup call? 

There are bright spots too:

According to current plans, authorities will implement the strictest farmland protection system, adhere to self-reliance in agricultural science and technology, consolidate the foundation for stabilizing and increasing grain production, and safeguard national food security.

There is also the promise to take a holistic and systematic approach to the conservation and improvement of mountains, waters, forests, farmlands, grasslands, and deserts, to carry out major projects for preserving and restoring key ecosystems, enact major biodiversity protection projects, and intensify pollution prevention and control.

A major study published recently found that each COVID-19 reinfection causes cumulative damage to patients and significantly increases their risk of death, hospitalization, and long COVID. This was evident in unvaccinated, vaccinated, or boosted people and even if one had prior infection and was vaccinated (meaning double immunity from prior infection plus vaccines) adverse outcomes upon reinfection were happening.

The pandemic has revealed which regimes care about the welfare of their people. It has exposed callousness and egoism of many ruling elites. One has only to compare the numbers of COVID-19 infections and deaths. The real numbers are probably higher because deaths have not been reported or not attributed to COVID-19 (watch the “excess deaths” numbers), but are accurate enough to give an understanding of the different approaches in countries around the world to national welfare and health care.

Deaths per 1 million people:

USA 3,286

Britain 2,855

Russia 2,683

Belarus 755

Ukraine 2,554

Poland 3,132

Romania 3,533

Bulgaria 5,547

Czechia 3,887

Slovakia 3,789

Hungary 5,008

Latvia 3,287

France 2,406

Germany 1,857

Belgium 2,828

Spain 2,469

Georgia 4,261

Iran 1,681

Cuba 754

Venezuela 199

Ethiopia 63

Eritrea 28

Nicaragua 33

China 4

FOUR!

This could be a grand lesson for the world about social responsibility, but Chinese authorities, still not grasping the danger of COVID-19 aerosol transmission, risk to botch the chance out of pure ignorance and stupidity.

========

I have to pause or even end the blog. I figured out and asked some essential questions, only to get the most depressing and saddening answers.

It’s enough for now! My best wishes to all loyal readers, have a good life and a good time!

COVID-19 in China

Chinese President Xi Jinping has given no indication that the upcoming 20th party congress will herald a shift in pandemic strategy and eradicating COVID is still the paramount goal. This despite the fact, that politicians and experts all around the world warn of the risks to economic growth and social cohesion. 

Such warnings may not be well meant advise but the attempt to divert from the failings of health policies in other countries based on herd immunity, on vaccination and nothing else, and on the hypothesis of “living with COVID.”

Cases in China unfortunately are rising again, new Omicron variants have entered the country, and Shanghai is seeing more targeted lockdowns. Official media nevertheless are making clear that dynamic zero-Covid is the correct policy and is not going away.

On October 9 Chinese authorities reported 373 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 119 in Inner Mongolia and 70 in Xinjiang. In addition to that a total of 1,566 local asymptomatic carriers were identified.

In Shanghai a rise of cases has seen neighborhoods locked down and buildings barricaded with the green fences that were a feature of the financial hub’s extended shutdown earlier this year. The districts of Putuo and Changning have shut entertainment venues, while some places in Minhang have been designated as “medium risk”, meaning residents are restricted from leaving their compounds.

Anyone traveling to Shanghai will need a negative Covid result within 24 hours of arriving in the city and will have to do three tests in three days, officials said at a briefing on Monday.

The northern city of Hohhot is battling the country’s first outbreak of the new Omicron subvariant BF.7, while the new Omicron subvariant BA.5.1.7 has been identified in  Guangdong Province. Both variants ares thought to be more transmissible and better able to evade the immune system.

Commentators in other countries and also inside China insist that insistence on dynamic zero-COVID is too costly and a more passive approached should be pursued to achieve coexistence with the virus. But the Omicron virus variant is by no means just a “severe flu,” and its spread is fast. For vulnerable groups, especially the elderly with underlying diseases, the severity and fatality rates are still high. 

A massive new UK NHS study found that after a COVID infection there are huge increases in blood clots that cause heart attacks, strokes, and other severe clotting events.

There is also the danger of long-time sequela like chronic fatigue, irregular heart rhythms, and mental health problems (like brain fog). In nations where nearly everyone has been infected with COVID, the aggregate impact of these nearly ubiquitous longtime ailments will reduce productivity, impede innovation and technological progress, and jeopardize the harmonious functioning of society.

The economic costs of COVID

From June to August, business activities were recovering at an accelerating pace from the last round of COVID outbreaks, so production and demand expanded quickly. But in September, COVID outbreaks emerged in many areas and containment measures were tightened, impacting both services supply and demand.

Travelers in China made 422 million trips during the National Day holiday between Oct. 1 and 7, down 18 percent from a year earlier and 39 percent lower than in 2019.

Tourism revenues diminished by an even larger margin, dropping 26 percent from last year to the equivalent of about 40 billion US$ during the holiday, which is typically one of the busiest travel seasons of the year. Tourism spending was less than half of the level in 2019.

Handwringing economic experts may warn about reduced GDP growth or maybe even an economic contraction, but while profits of big companies will be reduced, nobody, even the ones at the very bottom of society, will starve. Furthermore: Diminished consumer spending and tourism will certainly reduce industrial emissions and other negative ecological impacts. 

China is different

After two and a half years of zero-tolerance policies, Beijing has created a situation in which a very high percentage of its population has never been exposed to the virus. According to official figures, China thus far has accumulated 996,000 infections. Even taking into account the potential problem of underreporting — which is not a major concern in view of China’s centralized PCR testing system — this figure shows that only a very small fraction of its population has been infected and therefore carries some natural immunity. In fact, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) itself has acknowledged what it calls, “China’s nearly unique situation of having only vaccine-induced immunity.”

If China holds firm on its zero-COVID strategy, it will have a population of 1.4 billion people, mostly not impeded by long-COVID and in average healthier than the populations of all rival nations.

This will have a decisive geopolitical impact.

Comments and analyses October 2022

The Crimean (Kerch) Bridge, an important logistic line between Crimea and the Russian mainland, was just damaged as a result of a suicide truck bomb terrorist attack, causing the temporary suspension of traffic and railway services. 

The truck was blown up on the motorway section of the Crimean Bridge from the Taman Peninsula, which caused seven fuel tanks of a train traveling to the Crimean peninsula to go up in flames. Two motorway sections of the bridge have partially collapsed, but the arch over the land part of the bridge has not been damaged.

A ferry crossing in Crimea is always ready for launch and will immediately start working. As far as it is known, three people, passengers of a car, which was near the exploded truck, died.

The movement of vehicles over the Crimean Bridge has in the meantime resumed and it is open for cars and buses with full inspection procedure.

The Russian criminal investigation has already determined the identity of the driver of the exploded truck; they don’t tell names yet, but are studying his documents. They say he was a resident of the Krasnodar Krai of the Russian Federation. The big question on everybody’s mind: did he know there was a bomb in his truck, and that it was going to explode?

As for the mechanism, what we know so far seems to indicate it was similar to the Darya Dugina assassination. In the sense that the bomb was triggered by somebody following very closely and watching for the right moment. They were hoping to destroy the railroad part of the bridge, that which carries fuel trains into Crimea. Seems like they didn’t entirely succeed in that, but did do a lot of damage to the automobile side of the bridge.

The fanaticism and zealotry of Ukrainian NAZI extremists should not be underestimated, and now, as a (possible) suicide bombing has been so spectacularly successful, we will see for sure more actions of this kind.

From an ecological point of view, all artillery shells should be upgraded to high accuracy ammunition like M982 Excalibur GPS guided or Krasnopol laser guided ammunition. This would greatly reduce the number of shots necessary to kill the enemy, would reduce energy and material use in ammunition factories, and would reduce the chemical contaminations caused by the explosions of misses.

https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/return-industrial-warfare 

From an ecological point of view, nations with a huge industrial base (like Russia and China) will have a competitive advantage and therefor will win “industrial wars,” but their own land and the conquered territories will end up being urban deserts, landfills, and wasteland.

From an ecological point of view, the deindustrialization of Europe, caused by the economic war against Russia, by US trickery, and by US backstabbing, is positive, will preserve precious natural habitats, and will be an important step to reach a sustainable and ecological economy.

Larry Johnson writes in his blog about the economic difficulties Germany is facing:

“ArcelorMittal already has closed two plants in Germany. That means unemployed, skilled workers. And that unemployment reverberates to other parts of the German economy. Those workers no longer have extra cash to spend in restaurants and bars. They don’t have the dough to buy new homes or remodel their kitchens or bathrooms. All of this a result of “soaring energy prices” that is a direct consequence of idiotic green policies and German hostility towards Russia manifested via sanctions.”

You see: “idiotic green policies,” that prevent further destruction of natural habitats, prevent more contamination of air, water, and soil, prevent unsustainable economic growth, and prevent consumers unnecessary spending.

https://thesaker.is/why-is-germany-committing-suicide-the-same-reasons-why-the-eu-uk-is-being-deindustrialized/

===========

Caitlin Johnstone’s latest Treazine is out:

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/10/07/sedition-3-of-treazine-is-here/ 

Plus a short but substantial rant:

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/09/10/having-a-queen-was-stupid-having-a-king-is-too-stupid-%E2%80%8A-%E2%80%8A-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/ 

Feline news:

http://hatchingcatnyc.com/2022/09/12/boxing-cats-headlined-nycs-hubers-museum/

http://hatchingcatnyc.com/2022/10/06/fanny-mike-black-cat-mascots-harbor-police/

Against the odds:

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/blind-farmer-people-disabilities-inclusive-farm/ 

https://civileats.com/2021/09/02/op-ed-the-ban-on-chlorpyrifos-and-the-power-of-community-organizing/

https://www.localfutures.org/localization-and-buen-vivir/

https://scheerpost.com/2022/09/15/patagonias-founder-found-the-only-way-to-be-a-good-billionaire/ 

https://civileats.com/2022/09/12/how-one-rust-belt-college-is-transforming-its-local-food-system 

https://civileats.com/2022/09/19/co-op-grocery-stores-expand-their-mission-to-equity-and-food-justice/ 

https://reasonstobecheerful.world/kamikatsu-japan-zero-waste-recycling-town/ 

https://agrowingculture.substack.com/p/what-if-food-were-treated-as-a-human 

https://cindysheehan.substack.com/p/economics-of-happiness 

Localization will be a key element of a future sustainable economy. But it has to be accompanied by deindustrialization (also called “degrowth”) and crucial paradigm shifts in values and ethics, resulting in a lifestyle of harmonious existence within nature that is very different from todays consumerism.

Deindustrialization is happening in Europe, as Russian energy is switched off either by Western nations themselves or by the helping hand of Uncle Sam, who just blew up the Nord Stream pipelines. Stainless steel mills already shut down in August, Aluminum smelters are next, then come the big chemical plants of Bayer, BASF, and others.

Europeans will have to learn how to live without the latest iPhone, without cheap apparel from China Xinjiang, and without all the other trendy consumer goods shipped across the globe.

There will be much handwringing by the economists as consumers spend less and companies close, there will be high unemployment, but people will have more time to repair machines, appliances, and gadgets instead of just throwing them away and replacing them. People will have more time to grow their own food, they will learn to replace household essentials by ingenious solutions which use natural materials from the forests, gardens, and meadows. 

Tourism and air travel will be a luxury again, hiking the local forests will become the norm.

Localization and deindustrialization will happen, and change will be imposed on the adamant and unteachable by environmental catastrophes, scarcity of crucial supplies, and bloody resource wars (of which the NATO-Russia conflict is a first harbinger). It will be painful, even deadly for some, but the writing is on the wall and the sensible ones will acculturate, accommodate, adjust, and get used to the new life. 

Environmental news:

A reminder that there are still people who fight against the destruction of nature:

https://deepgreenresistance.org 

https://civileats.com/2022/09/07/why-arent-federal-agencies-enforcing-pesticide-rules-that-protect-farmworkers/

https://civileats.com/2022/07/06/ddt-elena-conis-pesticides-health-farmworkers-chemicals-safety-regulation/

https://e360.yale.edu/features/europe-rivers-drought

https://www.ehn.org/the-titans-of-plastic-2657986993/titan-of-plastic-video

https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/climate-endgame-new-peer-reviewed-paper-explores-catastrophic-climate-change-scenarios/

https://e360.yale.edu/features/lithium-mining-water-andes-argentina 

https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/humans-are-dosing-earths-waterways-with-medicines-it-isnt-healthy/ 

https://dgrnewsservice.org/civilization/ecocide/habitat-loss/top-scientists-we-face-a-ghastly-future 

https://apnews.com/article/science-business-baltic-sea-oil-and-gas-industry-climate-environment-6ed67266b0a6caa59fc1afceac89dd82 

https://www.dr-rath-foundation.org/2022/09/fracking-the-scientific-evidence-of-adverse-health-effects-that-governments-arent-telling-you-about/ 

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/09/30/fukushima-novel-fixes-fail-waste-dumping-threatens-pacific-ocean/ 

Economic news:

Caitlin Jonstone writes:

People defend capitalism on the grounds that it creates abundance, and in a sense they're right: capitalism is an effective way to drive up production and consumption. The problem is there's no wisdom guiding it, so the world is being choked with garbage while people go hungry.

Haves exploiting the labor of have-nots will indeed get the gears of industry creating lots of stuff. But now we're creating too much stuff, so much that it's killing our biosphere, even as vast inequalities remain and far too many go without the basic necessities in life. The "invisible hand" of the free market is worshipped as a sentient deity who always knows what's best, but in reality it's completely bereft of wisdom and intelligence and cannot move in harmony with the real needs of the real world.

==========

According to the charity Oxfam, the ten wealthiest people in the world have seen their combined assets double in the last two years, from 700 billion US$ to 1.5 trillion.

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/09/12/the-widening-gap-between-rich-and-poor-is-hastening-the-transition-to-a-multipolar-world/ 

Mirroring a turbulent 2022, the main theme of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok is titled: “On the Path to a Multipolar World.”

https://thecradle.co/Article/Columns/15396

https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/us-new-cold-war/

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Europe-Is-Buying-All-The-Russian-Oil-It-Can-Before-Banning-It.html

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/US-Oil-And-Gas-Producers-Cant-Save-Europe-This-Winter.html 

https://rmx.news/article/without-energy-no-economy-can-run-german-companies-warning-they-have-no-electricity-contract-could-signal-disaster/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/16/germany-seizes-russian-oil-firm-rosnefts-refineries 

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/19/burning-all-fossil-fuel-reserves-would-exceed-global-carbon-budget-7-times-over-new

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/09/16/turkey-to-pay-for-quarter-of-russian-gas-in-rubles-putin-a78818 

https://progressive.international/wire/2022-09-01-funding-behind-brazils-agribusiness-lobby-exposed/en 

An agribusiness greenwashing glossary:

https://grain.org/e/6877 

https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2022/09/19/the-money-economy-is-not-the-real-economy-the-global-banking-and-financial-system-is-fatally-flawed/

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/20/number-ultrarich-hits-all-time-high-someone-dies-hunger-every-4-seconds

https://www.spiegel.de/international/business/growing-energy-crisis-a-grave-threat-to-industry-in-germany-a-9152547c-a31d-483e-a70c-242c280cab23 

Pandemic news:

More than 90 percent of testing and sequencing has been stopped across the globe, which means that there could be surprises ahead, as the Sars-CoV-2 virus evolves and is getting around immunity from vaccination and past infection. New research suggests, that BA.4.6, the latest omicron variant gaining ground in the USA, appears to be even better at evading the immune system than the dominant BA.5. Omicron BA.2.75.2 may be another variant of concern.

Experts say that COVID will keep causing serious illness in some people. Eric Topol, head of Scripps Research Translational Institute, said the world is likely to keep seeing repetitive surges until “we do the things we have to do,” such as developing next generation vaccines and rolling them out equitably.

Topol said the virus “just has too many ways to work around our current strategies, and it’ll just keep finding people, finding them again, and self-perpetuating.”

https://fortune.com/well/2022/09/24/new-covid-omicron-variants-subvariants-evade-monoclonal-antibodies-bebtelovimab-recombinants-convergent-evolution-sars-immune-evasion/ 

Vaccines inhaled through the mouth or nose might stop the coronavirus.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02824-3 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/italian-study-blood-patients-after-mrna-shot_4708049.html

https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/october-2022/the-long-haul/

https://www.pekingnology.com/p/in-shanghai-chinese-vaccines-show

A quarter of a century ago physician and scientist Dr. Matthias Rath called in a speech given in the city hall of Chemnitz in Germany for the pharma business to be outlawed.

Explaining how its profits depend upon the maintaining and expanding of health problems on a global scale, Dr. Rath accused the “business with disease” of being incompatible with the fundamental principles of human rights.

Back in 1997, this type of open criticism of the drug industry and its unscrupulous business model was almost unheard of. Today, however, with the passage of time, the publication of the NRC article illustrates that it is becoming mainstream.

Authored by Dutch political scientist Joost Smiers, the NRC article describes how society is now at the mercy of the pharma business and its shareholders. “As far as I am concerned,” Smiers writes, “it is high time to break the societal feeling of powerless towards Big Pharma.”

https://www.globalresearch.ca/criticism-pharma-cartel-its-business-disease-becoming-mainstream/5794393  

https://news.sky.com/story/pfizers-chief-executive-tests-positive-for-covid-19-for-second-time-in-two-months-12704884 

The risks of mRNA-vaccines may outweigh the benefits.

https://insulinresistance.org/index.php/jir/article/view/71

https://insulinresistance.org/index.php/jir/article/view/72 

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/10/01/wvzy-o01.html

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-09-reveals-main-sars-cov-brain-effects.html 

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/10/eu-commission-president-and-pfizer-ceo-have-crossed-the-line-in-brussels.html 

Media, technology, and propaganda news:

https://scheerpost.com/2022/09/07/patrick-lawrence-unmaking-history/

https://kitklarenberg.substack.com/p/how-british-intelligence-globalized

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/09/the-us-army-special-operations-command-weaponizes-twitter-facebook-instagram-whatsapp-telegram.html

https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/should-we-save-newspapers-from-google

https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/lessons-from-bidens-disinformation-board-debacle/

https://www.mintpressnews.com/john-pilger-silencing-lambs-how-propaganda-works/281884/ 

https://www.donbass-insider.com/2022/09/09/journalists-demand-that-the-mirotvorets-website-be-classified-as-a-terrorist-organisation-and-closed-down/

https://sputniknews.com/20220919/mirotvorets-kill-list-west-left-its-own-people-to-mercy-of-ukraines-gestapo-website-journo-says-1100976609.html 

https://www.medialens.org/2022/imposed-insanity-royalty-propaganda-and-the-coming-catastrophe/ 

https://www.blackagendareport.com/decolonizing-mind

https://korybko.substack.com/p/fact-checking-cnns-hit-piece-on-chinese

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/09/21/nnzq-s21.html 

https://fair.org/home/pbs-and-bbc-team-up-to-misinform-about-brazils-bolsonaro/ 

https://www.medialens.org/2022/over-the-rainbow-disneyfied-news-and-the-unprovoked-invasion-of-ukraine/ 

https://www.medialens.org/2022/mass-media-omerta-burying-al-jazeeras-the-labour-files/ 

https://fair.org/home/us-medias-intellectual-no-fly-zone-on-us-culpability-in-nord-stream-attack/ 

Imperial news:

https://blackagendareport.com/jackson-water-crisis-legacy-environmental-racism-and-justice-jackson-help-us-fix-jacksons-water 

https://asiatimes.com/2022/09/us-becoming-developing-country-on-global-rankings/

https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2022/09/22/citizens-brain-is-the-battlefield-in-21st-century-warfare 

https://apnews.com/article/monkeypox-science-health-covid-epidemics-aaac64591251293f45c225d3fe963d0c 

https://counterinformation.wordpress.com/2022/09/24/us-sets-a-bad-example-on-this-crucial-un-agenda/ 

https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/manchin-pushes-most-significant-environmental-rollback-in-decades-2022-09-21/ 

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/09/27/people-power-has-won-day-manchin-dirty-deal-defeated 

https://www.globalresearch.ca/aretha-franklin-counterintelligence-program-cointelpro/5794795 

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/10/06/bxwz-o06.html 

Imperial conquest news:

A reminder: The USA has at least 750 foreign military bases all over the world and the UK has 145 bases, compared to 35 Russian bases and 5 Chinese bases.

On October 1st, the US military started spending the more than 800 billion US$ Congress provided it with in fiscal year 2023. And that sum will just be the beginning. According to  calculations of Pentagon expert William Hartung, funding for various intelligence agencies, the Department of Homeland Security, and work on nuclear weaponry at the Energy Department will add another 600 US$ billion to the spending on national security.

That 1.4 trillion US$ for a single year dwarfs Congress’s one-time provision of approximately 300 billion US$under the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for what’s called “climate mitigation and adaptation.”

The US military is this globe’s largest institutional consumer of petroleum fuels. As a result, it produces greenhouse gas emissions equal to about 60 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. The biggest source of emissions from actual military operations is undoubtedly the burning of jet fuel. A B-2 bomber, for instance, emits almost two tons of carbon dioxide when flying a mere 50 miles,

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/09/07/covertaction-bulletin-the-truth-behind-the-africa-china-debt-trap-myth-2/

https://resumen-english.org/2022/09/the-us-keeps-betting-on-cuba-surrendering-out-of-hunger-and-desperation/

Cubans life expectancy is almost 3 years higher than in the USA:

https://resumen-english.org/2022/09/life-expectancy-the-us-and-cuba-in-the-time-of-covid/ 

https://www.plenglish.com/news/2022/08/18/former-colombian-govt-and-us-agents-spied-on-cuba/ 

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Tightened-US-Sanctions-Make-Life-Harder-for-Cubans-20220907-0003.html

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/09/sanctions-are-destructive-illegitimate-and-totally-bipartisan 

https://scheerpost.com/2022/09/07/biden-like-trump-breaks-international-law-violating-un-neutrality-by-blocking-countries/

https://www.blackagendareport.com/rwanda-and-ugandas-m23-militia-reappears-slaughter-and-plunder-drc-us-backs-rwanda-and-uganda  

https://www.blackagendareport.com/sanctioning-horn-africa 

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/09/08/the-haitian-people-need-a-socialist-state-says-journalist-jean-waltes-bien-aime/

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/08/our-invasions

https://www.mintpressnews.com/john-pilger-silencing-lambs-how-propaganda-works/281884/ 

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/09/09/syrian-white-helmets-opcw/ 

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/09/13/okinawa-governor-poll-results-hamper-plans-to-expand-us-military-presence-in-japan/ 

https://multipolarista.com/2022/09/13/us-251-military-interventions-1991/

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/09/14/un-special-rapporteur-calls-for-the-end-of-all-unilateral-sanctions-against-iran/

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/09/22/western-threats-to-the-peoples-of-abya-yala-in-times-of-multipolarity/

https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2022/09/23/counterpunch-responsibility-to-protect-as-a-prelude-to-undemocratic-regime-change-and-foreign-imposition-of-transitional-justice/

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-urges-top-un-court-dismiss-irans-frozen-assets-claim 

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/09/22/the-us-response-to-the-worlds-worst-humanitarian-crisis-seize-and-privatize/

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/09/26/tgxm-s26.html 

https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/09/24/putins-address-to-the-russian-people-september-21-2022/ 

African energy projects face Western pressure whilst Russia, China offer cooperation.

https://infobrics.org/post/36769/ 

Ukraine news:

Why did the Ukrainian people in 2014 tolerate a fascist Neo-Nazi coup d'état?

1) They were not asked. 

2) They were brainwashed and misinformed (the “heavenly hundred” killed by snipers based in the Hotel Ukraina).

3) They were told, that they belong to the European “Master Race” (Herrenrasse), and therefor are entitled to the same prosperity and lavish lifestyle than Western Europe nations.

4) They were told, that only the Russians (orcs, moskals) stand in their way to a glorious future.

==========

The success of Ukraine’s Kharkov offensive has discredited the prevailing interpretation of the Ukrainian conflict that has been pushed by Russia-friendly parts of the Alternative-Media Community. 

There’s no doubt that Kiev’s forces are kept going solely by Western military support, but the fact that foreign aid has already resulted in them restoring enough of their capabilities to launch the latest counteroffensive with undeniable on-the-ground success suggests that this proxy war will continue.

Unless Kiev’s counteroffensive ends in its crushing defeat or Russia successfully does something asymmetrical to reshape the conflict’s dynamics, it’s expected that the West will feel emboldened even by a stalemate of some offensives to pump more and better arms into Ukraine.

Russia will find it difficult to regain lost ground considering the practical military parity between itself and Kiev due to the latter’s robust support from all NATO states, which means that the present setback probably won’t be reversed anytime soon absent a major and possibly prolonged battle.

Kiev will likely carry out a vicious anti-Russian witch hunt in full coordination with its NATO patrons against all those locals that have not been able to flee from the recaptured territories, which could lead to wide scale human rights abuses and warcrimes that the West predictably will deny despite clear evidence.

There are though other possible interpretations of current events which see the successive Russian retreats as an elaborate implementation of “maskirovka,” the special Russian way of military deception.

https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/fall-like-a-thunderbolt 

Russia is certainly struggling to stop Kiev’s on-the-ground NATO-backed momentum. But Western military pundits, who regard the Russians as finished, should consider the following facts:

A denuded Kharkiv front, with the benefit of real-time NATO intelligence and virtually all Western weapons, was rolled up by well-trained Ukrainian forces enjoying up to 5:1 troop superiority. The Russians were taken by surprise and paid for it dearly with loss of territory. The Ukrainians paid with thousands of casualties.

When the 300,000 reservists, which have now been mobilized, and an additional 70,000 newly accepted volunteers, have been integrated in the frontline forces, Russia should have enough manpower to role back all Ukrainian gains. 

==========

The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines is an act of war. Perpetrated by whom?

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/10/01/how-to-defeat-putin/ 

Wile there is ample evidence (for instance the sighting of US Blackhawk helicopters circling over the explosion sites for hours in the night of September 22 and 25), that US commandos destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines, the New York Times writes about this terrorist attack: “Sabotaged Pipelines and a Mystery: Who Did It? (Was It Russia?),” and further: “An attack on gas lines under the Baltic Sea exposes the vulnerability of an already jittery Europe. Some officials suggested Moscow was to blame, but with little evidence, others urge caution.”

==========

Elon Musk's Starlink satellite system suddenly stopped working for the Ukrainian military. This system has given the Ukrainian side an advantage in being able to share real-time information regarding Russian troop movements with US advisers and command centers.

Yesterday Ukrainian officials received "panicky phone calls" from front-line commanders, who suddenly stared at blank screens when they tried to tap into the system. Starlink outages were widespread along all the fronts: Kherson, Zaporozhie, Kharkov, Donetsk, and Luhansk. Without this system, so graciously provided to them for free by Mr. Musk, Ukrainian soldiers are fighting blind and dumb — in essence, they lost their internet.

==========

The USA and NATO allies keep pushing the boundaries between what constitutes a proxy war, and direct conflict. 

Sanctions are an act of war. The confiscation of between 350 and 600 billion US$ in Russian bank accounts is not only plain theft, it is an act of war. In total, nearly 1 trillion US$ worth of Russian assets have now been frozen by sanctions. Confiscating the private property of a citizen solely upon which nation that person is a citizen of, is an act of war. Fixing the price which a country can charge for their own natural resources — like Russian natural gas, coal, oil, minerals and rare earths — is an act of war.

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/10/06/report-us-special-operations-forces-are-on-the-ground-in-ukraine/ 

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/holding-ground-losing-war/ 

https://korybko.substack.com/p/20-strategic-observations-about-kievs/ 

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F253f4c20-11e2-4550-89dd-b2722ef05b61_800x600.jpeg 

Paul Craig Roberts warns, that Russia’s measured response to Western provocations only encourage more and worst provocations until the conflict spirals out of control and into World War III:

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57242.htm 

https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/09/12/russia-takes-off-the-gloves 

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/09/07/its-not-okay-for-grown-adults-to-say-the-ukraine-invasion-was-unprovoked/

Scott Ritter in top form:

https://rumble.com/v1mv5i2-scott-ritter-its-a-whole-new-ballgame.html 

https://rumble.com/v1lmcwn-with-scott-ritter-new-stakes-of-the-war-on-russian-mobilization-and-referen.html 

https://rumble.com/v1k0hqh-rt-crosstalk-catalyst-14-sep-2022.html 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_FY87Se1d8

https://rumble.com/v1lwzfu-scott-ritter-what-does-russia-mean-by-protect-the-motherland.html 

https://www.forumarmstrade.org/ukrainearms.html 

https://sputniknews.com/20220906/iaeas-report-on-zaporozhye-npp-mission-released-1100449583.html

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/09/08/ukraine-planned-to-use-un-appointed-international-nuclear-experts-as-a-tool-for-blackmail/

https://www.imetatronink.com/2022/08/a-former-us-marine-corps-officers.html

https://www.imetatronink.com/2022/07/destroying-mother-of-all-proxy-armies.html

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/09/08/us-announces-2-8-billion-in-military-aid-for-ukraine-allies-in-the-region/

https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2022/09/11/western-media-continues-to-ignore-ukraines-public-kill-list-aimed-at-those-who-question-the-kiev-regime/

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/09/12/urgent-witch-hunt-by-neo-nazis-in-kharkov-ukraine/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57242.htm 

https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2022/09/14/counterpunch-natos-death-wish-will-destroy-not-only-europe-but-the-rest-of-the-world-as-well/

https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/09/16/germany-military-best-equipped/

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2022/09/army-wants-double-or-triple-some-arms-production-ukraine-war-continues/377225/

https://news.antiwar.com/2022/09/15/us-pledges-new-600-million-weapons-package-for-ukraine/

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/09/16/washington-throws-kiev-under-the-turkish-bus/

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/09/16/leaked-documents-expose-ukrainian-attempts-to-destabilize-russia-and-draw-nato-into-a-full-scale-war-with-moscow/

https://korybko.substack.com/p/whys-kiev-so-insistent-on-germany

https://awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2022/09/19/ukraine-war-day-208-desperate-situation-in-nikolaev/

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2022/09/15/eyewitness-human-toll-of-eight-year-ukrainian-army-onslaught-in-eastern-ukraine-is-shocking/ 

https://korybko.substack.com/p/kievs-foiled-attack-against-a-russian 

https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/09/21/terrorist-mirotvorets-website-based-in-langley-usa-not-ukraine/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57255.htm

https://original.antiwar.com/mcgovern/2022/09/21/brainwashed-for-war-with-russia/

https://awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2022/09/24/ukraine-war-day-213-are-iranian-drones-all-they-are-cracked-up-to-be/

https://awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2022/09/25/ukraine-war-day-214-cossacks-to-the-voting-booth/ 

https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/western-media-continues-to-ignore-how-ukraine-is-using-nato-weapons-to-kill-innocent-civilians-in-the-donbass/ 

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/09/the-war-on-germany-just-entered-its-hot-phase.html#more

https://thegrayzone.com/2022/09/29/eu-parliamentarian-sanction-vanessa-beeley-donbass-referendums/ 

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/28/the-us-and-europe-are-running-out-of-weapons-to-send-to-ukraine.html 

https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/09/30/vladimir-putin-speaks-at-the-accession-ceremony/ 

https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2022/10/01/has-vladimir-putin-put-the-fear-of-god-into-the-satanic-west 

https://awfulavalanche.wordpress.com/2022/10/02/ukraine-war-day-221-liman-falls-who-is-to-blame/ 

Sergei Glaziev in 2014, when he was one of Vladimir Putin’s economic advisers, writes in an article:

To maintain their world dominance, the US is provoking another war in Europe. A war is always good for America. They even call the Second World War which killed 50 million people in Europe and Russia, a good war. It was good for America because the US emerged from this war as the world’s leading power. The Cold War which ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union was also good for them. Now the US again wants to maintain its leadership at the expense of Europe.

US leadership is being threatened by a rapidly rising China. The world today is shifting to yet another cycle, this time political. This cycle lasts centuries and is associated with the global institutions of regulatory economics. We are now moving from the American cycle of capital accumulation to an Asian cycle. This is another crisis that is challenging US hegemony.

To maintain their leading position in the face of competition with a rising China and other Asian countries Americans are starting a war in Europe. They want to weaken Europe, break up Russia, and subjugate the entire Eurasian continent. That is, instead of a development zone from Lisbon to Vladivostok, which is proposed by President Putin, the US wants to start a chaotic war on this territory, embroil all Europe in a war, devalue to European capital, write off its public debt, under the burden of which the US is already falling apart, write off what they owe to Europe and Russia, subjugate our economic space and establish control over resources of the giant Eurasian continent.

They believe that this is the only way they can maintain their hegemony and beat China …. Russia and Ukraine are the victims of this war which is being fomented by the Americans. But Europe is also a victim because the war aims to target European welfare and to destabilize Europe. Americans expect the European capital and brain drain to America will continue. That’s why they are setting all of Europe on fire. It’s very strange that European leaders are going along with them.

https://vineyardsaker.blogspot.com/2014/08/interview-with-sergei-glaziev-must-see.html 

https://b-ok.xyz/book/21367065/1845ab

China news:

Nine provincial-level regions in China have each reported more than 100 coronavirus cases since August, with over 2,000 infections in Hainan.

Businesses in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region are starting to reopen and activity is starting to return to Lhasa. Supermarkets, pharmacies, and restaurants have been allowed to reopen.

Under pressure to fight COVID, stimulate growth, and reduce debt all at the same time, China’s local governments are in an impossible situation. Ultimately, at least one of the three targets will have to be jettisoned and the repercussions for the country — a surge in infections and mortality, a continually slowing economy, or alternately, a renewed jump in destabilizing debt — won’t be easy to manage.

China’s coal imports rose in August to their highest this year, as power generators sought additional supply from abroad to meet surging electricity demand amid the baking temperatures of a heatwave.

The world’s biggest coal consumer brought in 29.46 million tons of the fossil fuel last month, up from 23.52 million in July. In the first eight months of this year, China imported 167.98 million tons of coal, down 14.9 percent on a year before.

The droughts in Yunnan and Hunan are not getting better, and are having impacts on aluminum production in Yunnan and the rice harvests in Hunan.

===========

China is making preparations for a deterioration in relations with the United States. These preparations include:

a. Accelerated development of high-end semiconductors to replace imports subject to restriction due to US sanctions.

b. Enhanced relations with trading partners in Asia and alternative monetary arrangements to supplement and if necessary replace US dollar financing.

c. Reduction of leverage in China’s financial system, especially in the property sector but also including state-owned industrial enterprises.

https://asiatimes.com/2022/10/china-on-course-to-elude-us-chip-making-equipment-bans/ 

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/09/23/chin-s23.html 

https://trackingpeoplesdaily.substack.com/p/chinese-style-modernisation-foreign

https://fair.org/home/nyt-scolds-china-for-not-learning-to-live-or-die-with-covid/

https://korybko.substack.com/p/the-chinese-indian-disengagement

https://asiatimes.com/2022/09/china-hopes-whole-nation-scheme-can-close-tech-gap/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/19/china-lifts-weeks-long-lockdown-on-southwest-chengdu 

https://www.businessinsider.com/typical-chinese-adult-now-richer-than-europeans-wealth-report-finds-2022-9

Uncategorized news:

https://scheerpost.com/2022/09/17/luring-doctors-from-poorer-countries-is-the-uks-quiet-scandal/

https://dezayasalfred.wordpress.com/2022/09/19/cgtn-op-ed-epistemological-warfare-at-the-un-human-rights-council/

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Swiss-Referendum-Rejects-Ban-on-Intensive-Livestock-Farming-20220925-0006.html

Alfred de Zayas about the use of coercive measures by the USA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTW6iQG9gFo 

Alfred de Zayas is always worth listening. Only one addition: Sanctions by the collective West and the economic war against Russia and China will reduce resource exploitation and industrial production. Oil and gas wells will be sealed, factories will be closed. “Leave it in the ground,” what became of this ecological catchphrase?

Human industrial activities destroy nature, therefore, from an ecological point of view, reduction of such activities are helpful and desperately needed!

Yes, people will lose their jobs, they will not be able to buy the new iPhone 14, they will not be able to make vacations in tropical islands, they will not be able to buy “fast fashion” apparel and other trendy consumer goods.

But the unemployed will have time to grow their own food (by organizing or joining a rural co-op), they will have time to repair things instead of throwing them away and replacing them with new ones, they will have time for social activities that are not able now because everybody is busy with shopping and fiddling with new gadgets.

They will maybe even have time to think about where this all is going, maybe they even will dare to miss the regular obligatory brainwashing session on TV, smartphone, or computer.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/09/29/nybm-s29.html 

Armageddon news:

We are at a moment more dangerous than the Cuban Missile Crisis. Russia sees itself existentially threatened and is determined to survive and win, while the of US leadership is not willing to compromise and will do everything possible to weaken and subdue Russia.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/video-fidel-s-message-against-nuclear-war-in-a-nuclear-war-the-collateral-damage-would-be-the-life-of-all-humanity/21541

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/09/24/as-we-move-closer-to-ww3-its-a-good-time-to-reassess-our-priorities-in-life/

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/09/25/future-generations-if-there-are-future-generations/

https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2022/10/03/nothings-more-important-than-avoiding-nuclear-war-notes-from-the-edge-of-the-narrative-matrix/