The Weekly Watch

The Business of War

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Last week Michael and Richard described the US as a pentagon economy in their 45 minute conversation with Nima entitled "Why are China and Russia the US No. 1 Enemy?". However, what inspired this week's topic was Nima's conversation with Dmitry Orlov with whom I'm not familiar. Dmitry Orlov was born in Leningrad, USSR, into an academic family, and emigrated to the US in the mid-1970s. He holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Linguistics, and has worked in a variety of fields, including high-energy physics, Internet commerce, network security and advertising. I found his comments and observations on target: The US continues wars until they are not profitable, for example we left Afghanistan because Fentanyl replaced heroin, The MIC isn't about winning wars, it is about maximizing profits, and many more.

(52 min)

US sees Ukraine as a ‘business project’ – Lavrov

Washington is using the conflict between Moscow and Kiev to generate profit for its companies
Recent statements from the US suggest it regards Ukraine as nothing but a “lucrative business project," one that it is profiting from, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the UN Security Council on Monday.
The minister was referring to earlier statements made by US State Secretary Antony Blinken. Last month, the top US diplomat claimed that 90% of the money allocated for Ukrainian aid ends up getting funneled back to the US “to the benefit of American business, local communities, and strengthening the US defense industrial base.”
...
The US is essentially “developing its military industrial” complex while “dumping the old junk in Ukraine,” Lavrov said. Russia’s top diplomat also claimed that most major Ukrainian companies, including lithium producers, are being sold to Americans and US companies have been able to get their hands on Ukraine’s fertile land “on the cheap.”
Lavrov denounced the statements made by US officials as “cynical” and said that Washington has been treating the ongoing conflict “not as a war that has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives … but as a profitable business project.

I wish the US had diplomats like Lavrov.

Doug Macgregor explains the borders of Ukraine and much of Europe have been in flux for centuries. He also covers the dangers of "tactical nukes" and the US ignorance of history. He touches on the money flow and profit motive. (10 min)

Washington has begun creating “a colonial administration” in Ukraine consisting of local politicians who have sworn allegiance to the US, the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.
The US government has demanded that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky “remove” dozens of high-ranking officials, whom Washington no longer trusts, from their posts under various pretexts, Sergey Naryshkin claimed on Monday.
Washington wants those jobs to be filled by “Ukrainians trained in the West, who have sworn allegiance to American interests,” he said in comments cited by the SVR press service.

I've heard it suggested that TPTB understand Ukraine has lost the war, so they plan to move to the next stage...pull US selected Ukrainian leaders back to perhaps Lviv and start a war of sabotage and terror requiring less munitions and men against Russia. We'll see.

The Gaza Genocide...

The Government™ has made an ad about Israel & Gaza and it's surprisingly honest and informative. (2 min)

Speaking of international law, the ICJ made its ruling this week. Some of the best insight into the decision come from Judge Napolitano's show.
Craig Murray (Former British Ambassador) : Analysis of ICJ Ruling (24 min)

Johnson & McGovern: Ukraine’s Last Gasp; ICJ Analysis (30 min)

Prof. Jeffery Sachs: A Deep Dive into the ICJ ruling and Diplomacy (24 min)

The ruling by the International Court of Justice was a legal victory for South Africa and the Palestinians, but it will not halt the slaughter.

Gaza was pounded with bombs, missiles and artillery shells as the ruling was read in The Hague — at least 183 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours. Since Oct. 7, more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed. Almost 65,000 have been wounded, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Thousands more are missing. The carnage continues. This is the cold reality.
Translated into the vernacular, the court is saying Israel must feed and provide medical care for the victims, cease public statements advocating genocide, preserve evidence of genocide and stop killing Palestinian civilians. Come back and report in a month.
It is hard to see how these provisional measures can be achieved if the carnage in Gaza continues.

Besides, Israel has said they will ignore the ruling, as have the US, UK, France, and Germany.

“The Israelis see a real economic interest in dominating Gaza. And that's why, of course, [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has made it very clear: no, they have no intention of leaving Gaza. It's going to be part of Israel unless they are faced down by people who think it important to defend the Palestinians, and will act to end that genocide that's going on right now, and that our government, the United States, is not only enabling, but providing arms for and other political support,” McGovern said.

Where are the US voices?

Irish politician Mick Wallace asserted that the United States and the European Union have taken no action to prevent what he referred to as the "Israeli Genocide" in Gaza.
He highlighted that the Houthis, on the other hand, have intervened with ships facilitating it.
Wallace questioned the priorities of Western states, suggesting that they seem to prioritize commercial profits from shipping over the lives of Palestinians, given the discrepancy in their responses to the situations in Gaza and Yemen.
(2.5 min)

Clare Daly's 2 minute speech was equally correct...Houthi Attacks Are To Create Pressure On Israel. Irish politician Clare Daly remarked that Israel has been violating international law for three months, conducting the first-ever live streamed genocide with unconditional support from the EU. Interestingly, the EU, which backed this action, is now expressing shock at the significant threat to international law caused by the diversion of shipping, she added.

Don't you love the way the MSM always introduces Hezbollah and the Houthis as Iranian backed? TPTB would like to spread the war to Iran. They've been planning it for years. Here's the table of contents of a 2009 Brookings Institute paper...
table of contents
introduction
The trouble with Tehran: U.s. Policy options toward Iran
Part i Dissuading Tehran: The Diplomatic options
chapter 1: an offer Iran shouldn’t refuse: Persuasion
chapter 2: tempting Tehran: The engagement option
Part ii
Disarming Tehran: The Military options
chapter 3: Going all the Way: invasion
chapter 4: The osiraq option: airstrikes
chapter 5: Leave it to Bibi: allowing or encouraging an Israeli Military strike
Part iii
toppling Tehran: regime change
chapter 6: The Velvet revolution: supporting a Popular Uprising
chapter 7: inspiring an insurgency: supporting Iranian Minority and opposition Groups
chapter 8: The coup: supporting a Military Move against the regime
Part IV
Deterring Tehran: containment
chapter 9: accepting the Unacceptable: containment
conclusion
crafting an integrated Iran Policy: connecting the options

No doubt Iran has been in the crosshairs for decades and the war may indeed spread there. I've heard it proposed that the dims recognize they are going to lose in November, so start an Iranian war and leave the the Donald holding the bag of a no win situation.

NATO is a walking war machine that brings chaos wherever it appears, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said at a briefing on Thursday.

Meanwhile...
NATO Counters China With €1 Billion Defense Start-up Venture Fund...as they deny Asian aspirations. During the World Economic Forum in Davos, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg emphasized that the US-led military bloc remains "regional" in nature and will continue to be so.
Yeah, right.

War against us...
We tend to think of war as being against other countries, but indeed there are conflicts within countries. Foreign wars come home to roost, and now citizens are the target of their own government's over reach. The war against us targets our health, the economy, social stability, politics, the justice system, and more.

Many people became aware in the last few years of the attack on our health because of all the obvious COVID lies. They are still lying...hiding excess deaths and the likely culprit, mRNA vaccines.
John Campbell has been calling it out for months and this week there was a debate in the UK parliament (7 min). Transcript of the hearing.

Jimmy host Pierre Kory who states out right the vaccines are responsible for the excess deaths.
Young People Are Dying At STAGGERING Rates! - Dr. Pierre Kory (22 min)

Dr. Kory blamed the COVID-19 shots as the primary cause for the world’s surge in excess deaths on the show. Major points, doctor's commentary, and shorter clips here.

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Public sentiment has faded.

What to do with the lingering effects of COVID and the spike proteins the mRNA vaccines taught our bodies to make?

(4.5 min)

Dr. Paul Marik joined Jan Jeffcoat on The National Desk (TND) on January 15, 2024 to discuss how intermittent fasting can be used to treat long COVID, long vax, and other chronic diseases including diabetes.
“With long COVID and ‘long vax’, the problem is that spike protein can remain in the cells for years afterwards, and the only way to get rid of intracellular spike protein is through intermittent fasting,” Dr. Marik noted. He continued, “Intermittent fasting activates a cellular process called autophagy, which helps the cell get rid of damaged and foreign protein.”
Dr. Marik also shared his journey using intermittent fasting - and diet and lifestyle changes - to treat his own Type 2 diabetes after living 25 years with the disease.
“You can adapt intermittent fasting to your lifestyle, to your daily routine… most people can do this.”

More information here.
Why isn't this simple solution advertised? Back to our theme today...there's no money in it.

As bad as the excess deaths and ongoing adverse vaccine reactions are, they probably pale in comparison to the deadly effects of metabolic disease from which an estimated 90% of the US population suffer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently revealed alarming statistics, stating that 9 out of 10 people in the United States are considered metabolically unhealthy if they exhibit three or more of the following factors: overweight, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, elevated cholesterol levels, and increased triglycerides.

Dr Lustig suggest the calorie model of nutrition is to blame and even goes so far as to call it the biggest lie in the history of medicine.

He does a great job of demonstrating it isn't calories, but how we physiologically utilize foods. He uses examples of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats....proving it is what we eat, not how much we eat. (14 min)

The corporate complicity of the big (processed) food industries making us sick and big pharma developing drugs to cure the illness born from addictive food like substances is another giant cycle of profit. Of course in the case of COVID we have a lab created virus spreading mandates, lockdowns, and deceit world wide, too.

What about the economic war? Some are calling what's coming The Great Taking

What is 'The Great Taking'? Mike Maloney and Alan Hibbard analyze this intriguing book, which offers a sobering account of the potential consequences of the next financial crisis. The authors point to the overleveraged derivatives market underpinned by securities dependent on a strong working class. If the working class falters, it could create a cascading crisis leading to bank failures and a consolidation of assets by surviving big banks. This threatens the "you'll own nothing and be happy" dystopian scenario. The book also explores the stagnant velocity of money in the U.S. economy, suggesting major underlying issues have been worsening for decades. Overall, it presents a stark warning about the fragility of the system and how ordinary people stand to lose assets with little legal recourse in the next crash. (35 min)
Ever since the creation of the federal reserve system we've allowed the banks to control the US economy.

Social Disintegration
The means of control are often sold to us with the claim it will make your life more convenient.

(10 min) How will they sell digital money, IDs and so on? Convenience.

The WEF met last week. Who are these people anyway? Rich, really rich people that's who.
Davos 2024: Musk, Bezos, billionaires double their fortune | How did they get so rich? (7 min)
Political and business leaders have gathered at Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum. Here, they will discuss the global economy's myriad challenges, such as poverty and climate change, but a recent report by Oxfam exposes the hypocrisy of the global elite. It exposes how while workers worldwide face wage cuts, the rich profited from their pain.

Is the immigration crisis designed to destabilize society? It is beginning to look that way to me.
This week Texas has been in the news for putting up razor wire on the border. Biden wants it removed. Perhaps we should ask why.

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Chris Martenson recently went with Bret Weinstein to the Darian Gap a major migration route.

One of the ‘tricks’ deployed by the Build Back Better/WEF/Progressives crowd is to tear down our statues to eliminate our mooring in history, and to blur and sometimes even entirely change the meaning of words. In this case, because there’s a deliberate effort to make them interchangeable, we have to carefully reclaim the distinction between immigration and migration.
And once we do that, we next have to be sure we share the same definition of “invasion.” Just this week, on the 24th of January, Governor Abbott of Texas invoked the word invasion as it is spelled out in the US Constitution to reclaim border integrity and the rule of law.
Make no mistake about it; the migration efforts of the UN, dozens of NGOs, and with the full political backing of the US administration and most EU nation leaders are meant to weaken the West.

(45 min)

The background of the Texas-Biden conflict...

Texas has been doing the work the Biden administration refused to do: securing the US-Mexico border against invasion. They erected fencing only for Biden's border minions to tear it down. They put buoy barriers in the river to stop people from crossing, but these, too, Biden's border guards took down at his order. They even took the case to the Supreme Court to ask them to tell Texas to back off and let the illegal immigrants flood in.
In a completely absurd ruling, the Supreme Court sided with Biden and said that federal officials may cut the wire barrier put up by Texas to protect their state and, in turn, the entire nation from invasion. It was a 5-4 ruling overturning a lower court ruling that Biden could, indeed, cut the razor wire. Conservative justices, including Amy Coney Barrett, ruled against the state in allowing the appeals court ruling to stand. Texas is appealing, arguments will be heard February 7, there will be more lawfare between Texas and Biden, and for sure, the case is not closed.

The article goes on to suggest this may determine the fate of the nation.

I never thought I would feature a Glenn Beck clip, but never say never.
"Money Making Machine" - Did Colony Ridge Developers Pay Off Texas Governor Greg Abbott? (10 min)
Patrick Bet-David, Adam Sosnick, Tom Ellsworth, and Vincent Oshana are joined by Glenn Beck as they discuss how Texas Governor Greg Abbott received $1.5 million in campaign contributions from the developers of Colony Ridge.
He offers possible reasons for the flood of illegal immigrants across the border. Is this current Federal vs State control conflict in Texas merely theater?
The Texas migrant drama is a distraction: US elites will keep the border wide open

Sadly, the importation of millions of illegal aliens will continue to be forced on Americans, regardless of political stunts and regardless of whether the red team or the blue team is in charge. The trend has certainly gotten far worse under Biden, but Republicans have campaigned on the immigration issue for decades without taking the obvious steps needed to secure the border.
Case in point: Republicans controlled both houses of Congress when Trump took office in 2017, but the border wall that he promised was never built. There were no mass deportations of illegal aliens. Nor were there mass arrests of the traitorous employers who enable the influx by hiring people who can’t legally work in the US. Taxpayers were forced to continue footing the bill, as always.

I used to think the immigration problem was a result of destabilizing Latin American countries causing people to flee to the US for sanctuary. However, it looks like once again I'm naive. These immigrants are not just Hispanic, they are Asian, African, middle easterners, and more. They are receiving NGO funding and aid to arrive and government money once they are here. Something fishy is afoot.

I've got this cued to the start of the interview, but I don't know how to clip it off at the end, but you can just stop when you want. If anyone knows the end embed trick, please enlighten me.
Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants from countries all over the world are pouring across the US southern border everyday... thousands of Chinese nationals were captured on camera last night at the Darien Gap by Investigative Journalist Michael Yon who says tens of thousands of Chinese are passing through the Gap on their way into the United States. The clip is about 20 min.
The team from Muckraker tracked the entire route that the illegals take from Ecuador all the way to the U.S. and the catalogued it all in a new documentary which you can see right here.

The war on the political system...and the subjugation of the UN
Trump's rape case was decided this week. NY changed its law to allow the old case to come to court.
The alleged rape supposedly took place in 1996. With a script straight out of Law and Order. 16 years later, she’s a big fan of her “rapist”.
Note: the 83 million is not for the “rape”, but for defamation. Which she says cost her her job at ELLE magazine. ELLE has denied this.
Victor Davis Hanson provides the details in his X post.

Gerald Celente and the Judge discuss the government and constitution in this interesting conversation.
USA: it's a government trap (30 min)
The Judge suggests it was Wilson who subverted the constitution making the speech of "experts" more important than ordinary people. This is what allowed for unelected regulatory departments and things like the mandates we experienced during COVID.

This begins with a great clip from a Lavrov interview ... just a minute or so.

The second topic was the NH primary. Then Alex gets to the Kari Lake bribe. After that story Alex proposes the idea of a new Ukrainian government and movement to Lviv. The whole 42 min clip is good if you have the time.

For more on UN corruption, this is a good interview with Former director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Craig Mokhiber, who resigned from his position last fall in protest of what he called the UN's "failure" to protect Palestinians, joins The Chris Hedges Report for a discussion on the weaknesses of the UN in the face of US and Israeli impunity. (37 min)

War On UN - West Retaliates Against ICJ Order By Defunding Humanitarian Mission For Palestine
At the link is a X thread describing the situation...some of which read:

UN special rapporteur @FranceskAlbs:
The day after ICJ concluded that Israel is plausibly committing Genocide in Gaza, some states decided to defund UNRWA, collectively punishing millions of Palestinians at the most critical time, and most likely violating their obligations under the Genocide Convention.

Israel's smears of UNRWA followed ICJ's Jan 26 ruling which stated "The Court also refers to the statement by the UNRWA Commissioner-General that the crisis in Gaza is “compounded by dehumanizing language”. It calls attention, in particular, to the following examples: statements made by Mr Yoav Gallant, Defence Minister of Israel, on 9 and 10 October 2023, by Mr Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, on 12 October 2023, and by Mr Israel Katz, then Minister of Energy and Infrastructure of Israel, on 13 October 2023." Israel wanted to get even with UNRWA and harm Palestinians, who depend on UNRWA for assistance.
Shamefully, the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany, Netherlands and Italy joined in smearing UNRWA and cutting off support to the agency and thus to Palestinians.

Caitlin writes:

Accusations of genocide deemed credible by the International Court of Justice: Preposterous lies. Not worth opposing a single massacre.
Unsubstantiated claims about UNRWA members extracted via torture: Gospel truth. Worthy of ending humanitarian support to Gazans.

So as I understand it, Israel (without a shred of evidence) accuses some UN staffers of being involved in the Oct. 7 attack. Immediately, the western cartel pulls their funding for UN humanitarian relief.
You can't make it up.

Glenn points out how all these issues/wars are interrelated.

Immigration, Ukraine funding, and politics all come together in this story. (10 min)
How Trump and US Conservatives Deal a Blow to Ukraine Aid Package

All these wars, foreign and domestic, can occur because of the media megaphone TPTB control. They very much want to retain control. Just listen to this WSJ editor lament that they are losing the narrative war. (1 min)
It is also the reason they imprisoned and are torturing Julian. Caity has a recent update on Julian

I’m no prophet, but I strongly suspect that our future as a species will be determined by the outcome of this struggle. If the impulse toward truth and seeing wins out, we are probably headed toward a world of health and harmony. If the impulse to keep everything confused and hidden and unconscious wins, we are probably headed for dystopia and extinction.

In any case, all we can do is fight to make things more visible so that health and harmony become possible. Fight to make things conscious within ourselves. Fight to keep journalism legal in the shadow of the empire. Fight to spotlight Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. Fight to make the unseen seen. Fight to bring humanity into the light of consciousness.

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Sorry this is so long, but it was a very busy news cycle this week. Plus it rained yesterday and I was able to spend most of the day working on the column. I hope you'll find some things of interest. As always, I look forward to your comments and insights. Have a great Sunday!

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Kudos to your efforts to capture a slice of the current conflicts afflicting most of us.
Your point of money being the root of all evil policy in capitalistan is well taken.
The 'golden age' of monetary value has lost its luster as we experience a dollar decline.
Investing in your health and sanity still pays personal dividends (except in healthcare markets).
Fasting becomes more sensible as food prices soar. Wink

Getting more than enough of rain here lately.
Enjoy your Sunday and thanks for the watch!

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

Well at least a moderately amusing satire on the WEF....

8 min

Hope you dry out. We're due a week of dry weather.
Thanks for coming by this week!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

I will add a bit more to consider.

Hmmm! This is not what the MSM considers worthy of the news as it goes against their daily propaganda efforts.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/where-hamas-getting-weapons-increasingly-16033...

A few excerpts from the article but the whole thing is worth a read.

LONDON — Israeli military and intelligence officials have concluded that a significant number of weapons used by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attacks and in the war in the Gaza Strip came from an unlikely source: the Israeli military itself.

For years, analysts have pointed to underground smuggling routes to explain how Hamas stayed so heavily armed despite an Israeli military blockade of the Gaza Strip. But recent intelligence has shown the extent to which Hamas has been able to build many of its rockets and anti-tank weaponry out of the thousands of munitions that failed to detonate when Israel lobbed them into Gaza, according to weapons experts and Israeli and Western intelligence officials. Hamas is also arming its fighters with weapons stolen from Israeli military bases.
....
What is clear now is that the very weapons that Israeli forces have used to enforce a blockade of Gaza over the past 17 years are now being used against them. Israeli and American military explosives have enabled Hamas to shower Israel with rockets and, for the first time, penetrate Israeli towns from Gaza.

“Unexploded ordnance is a main source of explosives for Hamas,” said Michael Cardash, the former deputy head of the Israeli National Police Bomb Disposal Division and an Israeli police consultant. “They are cutting open bombs from Israel, artillery bombs from Israel, and a lot of them are being used, of course, and repurposed for their explosives and rockets.”
....
By either count, years of sporadic bombing and the recent bombardment of Gaza have littered the area with thousands of tons of unexploded ordnance just waiting to be reused. One 750-pound bomb that fails to detonate can become hundreds of missiles or rockets.
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But other weapons, like anti-tank explosives, rocket-propelled grenade warheads, thermobaric grenades and improvised devices were repurposed Israeli arms, according to Hamas videos and remnants uncovered by Israel.

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

Just heard that the attack killing 3 Americans and injuring many others happened not in Jordan, but in Syria.

The U.S. base hit by drone attack is being identified by Jordanian officials as al-Tanf, basically at the Syria-Iraq border. U.S. has had a "special operations base" there since 2016, ostensibly to fight ISIS, but used more for pressure on local militias and to choke off the nearby Baghdad-Damascus highway.

Source
I also heard it on George Galloway's live show today.

How can you tell they are lying? Their lips are moving.

Good to see you today. Thanks for the link!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

https://apnews.com/article/biden-american-service-members-killed-jordan-...

Satellite image of military base known as Tower 22 in northeast Jordan.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Three American troops were killed and 25 were injured Sunday in a drone strike in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border, the U.S. military said. President Joe Biden blamed Iran-backed militiasOf course he would repeat the talking point for the first U.S. fatalities after months of strikes by the groups against American forces across the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war.

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

which is looking more and more like illegally occupied Syria.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

I've been looking for one.

So if this is in illegally occupied Syria will it make a rat's ass of difference to the MSM narrative? I doubt it. However, on the international level it is another thing. We'll see. These are indeed interesting times.

Take care and thanks again.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

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to choose from by our exalted leaders.
Which will you choose?
Batty Biden and butcher Bibi have made their choices.
Perhaps it is may not be best to follow the leaders in this game?

Death, by any other name, is still the expiration of life.
And if the goals of the generals include making some scratch
in the process, all the better! It is the capital way to go.

They want to kill us all to solve their problem of governing with
responible policy. Then blame it on the climate and some new found
virus X. Hmm

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

butcher Biden. Sounds about right, and he's getting called out at every public event as genocide Joe.

Can't make a campaign stop without the protests. I bet that will eventually have an effect.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

weapons to long time rivals.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/01/28/7439197/

US may provide military aid to Ukraine through Greece.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has approached Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with a proposal to donate or sell weapons to Ukraine in exchange for US$200 million in US aid.

Source: Greek newspaper Kathimerini; Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne

Details: In his official letter, Blinken writes that the United States is interested in defence assets that Greece could transfer or sell to Ukraine.

"Should these capabilities be of interest to Ukraine, and pending a US government review of their condition and associated value, we can explore opportunities for potential additional FMF funding of up to US$200 million for Greece."

Details: At the same time, in his statement, Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis spoke of an "important day" for Greece's national defence and diplomacy. Furthermore, he emphasised that the letter from US Secretary of State Blinken underscores and reinforces the depth of Greek-American relations.

The US Department of State has previously authorised the sale of US$8.6 billion worth of US-made F-35 fighter jets and related equipment to Greece. According to a statement by the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which is responsible for supplying military equipment and weapons abroad under intergovernmental contracts, the deal involves the purchase of up to 40 fighter jets, 42 engines, guidance systems, spare parts and other equipment. The agency noted that delivering this equipment would not harm US combat readiness and "will not change the basic military balance" in the region.

https://www.coastreporter.net/world-news/us-approves-f-16-fighter-jet-sa...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey following the Turkish government’s ratification this week of Sweden’s membership in NATO. The move is a significant development in the expansion of the alliance, which has taken on additional importance since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The State Department notified Congress of its approval of the $23 billion F-16 sale to Turkey, along with a companion $8.6 billion sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Greece, late Friday. The move came just hours after Turkey deposited its “instrument of ratification” for Sweden’s accession to NATO with Washington, which is the repository for alliance documents and after several key members of Congress lifted their objections.

The sale to Turkey includes 40 new F-16s and equipment to modernize 79 of its existing F-16 fleet.

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

I forgot to use the reply button.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout's picture

Talk about arming both sides of the conflict. The Iliad 2.0?

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

when the truckers arrive in TX tomorrow?
Maybe sanctions won't work very well and
he will bomb them 'diplomatically' instead.

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Lookout's picture

@QMS

...their bank accounts? That's what Canada did.

They're maniacs.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

..and most are vulnerable to missiles, drones, and so on. It is a brave new world when it comes to warfare.

Thanks for the X post! Real fly seems to have good commentary.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

TheOtherMaven's picture

The MIC isn't about winning wars, it is about maximizing profits

Always has been, always will be, until it runs itself into the ground. Smedley Butler knew, and tried to tell us War Is A Racket. But no one listened then, and not enough people are listening now.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Lookout's picture

@TheOtherMaven

Too bad we refused to heed his warning. He really would have been outraged if the CIA existed then. I continue to see the establishment of the CIA as an inflection point.

Hope all is well in your world. Looks like our next week will be sunny and cool....much better than past conditions.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Sorry you got all cooped up in your house yesterday, but it was a real treat for us, friend! Never apologize for too much info. We can pick and choose.
And while you are at it, don't apologize for watching or reading right wing stuff, or bringing it to us.
For a long time, when reading left leaning sources, I mentally screened out political slant. I do the same with RW sources, but find way, way more accurate facts and info from them nowadays.
Beck is a man with whom I disagree, but would personally thank him for his trip to Colony Ridge. He didn't interview enough people to fully understand he was surrounded by cartel, that cops won't even patrol there, that Abbott is one of many Rs who are on the take from the Colony Ridge developers, with a rep in my district a part owner of a water company running lines and setting meters in the development, set to be fabulously rich.
Beck gave that white man supremacy feel to his presentation. To we who are geographically near that awful place, it is about crime. We are in danger, and will always be. There is no way in my lifetime it will be a safe and welcome community.
Must go bake some cornbread. The term I was taught was "pone of cornbread".
I will enjoy several more articles and videos before bed time.
Take care,my friend, and I hope your weather becomes more accommodating to outdoor activities.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp

The border situation continues to puzzle me. The only places discussing it are so called Right wing sites and people. I find those term right and left wing meaningless these days. I forget who said it has become globalist vs realist, but that seems more accurate.

Hope your music events were rewarding. We keep plugging away at our collection of songs and tunes...but enjoying them and having fun. Make a joyful noise kind of celebration...most evenings.

Going lite with some murder mysteries this evening. Compared to reality sure seems like lie fare.

Y'all take care and be well!

EDIT to add: a pone is a small serving of cornbread, and a hoe cake is one cooked on a hoe blade, thinner and more pancake like.
A “pone” is the shape and method of cooking it. Like “loaf” goes in a particular shaped pan to bake it. The pone is traditionally cooked in a round cast iron skillet either baked in the oven or right over the fire with a lid. [but not on the stove top – that’s a different critter]

When I bake corn bread, I put the iron skillet in a hot oven with butter or lard. Once heated, spoon batter into the hot pan as it sizzles and finish baking. Not much better IMO.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout an episode of Gunsmoke. The Flying Spaghetti Monster only knows what Dear One will be playing while he prepares dinner.
RW v. LW chatter that makes us hate the "others", both parties joining at the hip for donors when push comes to shove when they vote. We 99% voters do not matter.
What always meant everything to me about elections means absolutely nothing to me now. Maybe why I actually want to watch Tucker Carlson.
We thought the Lyle Lovett and his Large Band concert this week was an incredible experience. The musicianship and artistry was beyond measure, the presentation so professional, the playlist of many genres, nobody in the audience could not possibly say their genre favorites were ignored.
We talked ourselves out of heading to the bayous today for a zydeco band show, concerned about low lying roads being closed due to flooding. Nothing planned for now, but we will find something.
Make music, and make a difference, LO.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp

I think I made a difference at least with some of the young lives that passed through mine. These days seems the only changes I effect are in my own head. However we live by example and maybe in that way we effect change. At least we can hope.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout changed for the better.
Hold your head high.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Lookout's picture

@on the cusp

changed me for the better as well. Teaching is a two way street.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Lookout's picture

...but it has. I never have learned the words but have played it on the regular. Perhaps it is calling me to exercise some brain cells and make it my own.

The line that keeps ringing is.."it is a lesson too late for the learning"... Let's hope not.

Hope you all have a good up coming week. Friday will mark midwinter. See you tomorrow.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

should prove interesting this week. I hope TPTB don't insert provocateurs into the convoy which starts today.

Thanks for the laugh!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

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Lookout's picture

@humphrey

don't need to provide weapons...there's plenty there already!

On a more serious note, OTC has said the cartels are coming into her area of TX. It is a real threat.

Thanks for the X post

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Pluto's Republic's picture

I've relied on Dmitry Orlov's writings and perspective throughout Russia's SMO in Ukraine to gain an accurate picture of the outcome. Orlov has a pay website in Russia now. I met him in San Francisco in the late 1990s. He had been traveling to Russia and experienced the economic collapse of the Soviet Union. While in the US he wrote a book predicting that the US was going to collapse in the same way, and would break apart just as the Soviet Union had done. I remember that when he was asked if the US collapse would look like the Russian collapse, he said there would be one big difference: When the Russian economy collapsed, no one was evicted and no one had to move. Principles of communism made it bearable. A collapsed in a capitalist nation would be filled with displacement and human suffering.

I could see the logic then, and can see it now. All great empires go to Afghanistan just before they die, it is said. I can see that, too. Orlov has written many books since then, but "Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Experience and American Prospects" is the book he is known for. It's popularity is on the rise again — especially since the US has begun its own collapse and the states are drifting away philosophically. Sedition is in the air.

Foreigners world-wide think they understand the US Federation. It is an iconic narrative describing the birth of a nation. people's minds. They may have fantasies about visiting a nation like the US, or even about living in such a nation. But there is no nation in the United States. There is only a collection of independent states, which behave more like concentrated pools of rivalry or local bigotry. The people in the states don't really want to be part of a nationIt with other states. They don't want to share their resources in times of need — or even share the same laws, for that matter. So it makes sense that the states will become increasingly independent of a national democracy. As DC melts down in its debt, the states will likely start to coalesce into multi-state regions based on environment and geography, and will form their own "perfect" union. There may be some remnant of a central governing body to handle "national" tasks, but it will be a long time before it is given any regulatory or spending powers. The US never developed into an actual civilization, thus it has nothing to fall back on. It developed no civilizing skills, no consensus, no open forum. Blinded by its own sense of biological supremacy over the rest of the world, the US, as a nation, perfected only violence and religious delusions to hold it all together.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Lookout's picture

@Pluto's Republic

We are in the midst of the dissolution of the US. We need an exit ramp off this current path of insanity. Perhaps economic collapse will provide an opportunity.
The book recommendation sounds worthwhile. Thanks.

Glad you came by this week. Always nice to "see" you.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

soryang's picture

I started this at about the point where Wolfgang Streeck begins his discussion of the Israeli nuclear weapons threat and how it affects US actions, and consequently German policy. The earlier portion of the video is a discussion of how German policy came to be dominated by the US. I think it's odd how the western press is avoiding a discussion of the serious threat of nuclear war presented by the Israeli administration. Streeck gets into some discussion of the Israeli nuclear weapons system "triad" if you will. I think in combination with the discussion of "war options" ostensbly for US policy makers presented in the 2009 Brookings study linked to in the OT, one can get a pretty good idea of what an Israeli nuclear "first strike" particularly on Iran might look like. I'd like to consider arguments of why this can't happen. Do such arguments not present because they touch on sensitive national security matters or because they are not persuasive?

Lavrov's comment about "dumping the old junk in Ukraine" reminds me of a comment made to me by a bomber pilot who told me just after the Vietnam war that it had been a "dumpex."

Thanks for the weekly watch LO.

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語必忠信 行必正直

Lookout's picture

@soryang

about a nuclear exchange. He suggests we might use a mininuke as an act of desperation. I think the same is true of Israel.

Thanks for the video. Hope all is well in your world and it is warm and sunny.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

and the @Lookout Port of Beirut
check the security footage Just before
the camera is destroyed

somebody tell me that’s Not
a nuclear blast wave out front
clear as Day

sorry for the late post

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

@Tall Bald and Ugly

f*ing scary
first a bomb, then another more powerful discharge
mini nukes indeed

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