you actually think the media is going to stop lying about russia and etc. etc.? i very much doubt it.. they will stick with the same lying narrative for forever..
you think trump is going to admit defeat in ukraine??? no way...he'll go for distraction though... canada, greenland, and panama... he is looking at a resource grab to keep capitalism going by eating or making war on the vassals... what the usa did to germany - expect the same type of continuation of that.. if they have to destroy industries, to keep their own - military, banking and energy complex going - trump will definitely do that.. that is what all this continues to be as the unipolar unreality continues to push for dominance over the lesser powers... the usa would like to do that with russia or china here, slapping more sanctions and tariffs on them, but if that is all the usa has at this point - they are running low on options.. they have to go into the lower ranks to fleece those with less power to fight back....
capitalism is eating itself and is at a dead end... the usa typifies this.. it might not happen right away, but it's happening... any suggestion that the media or trump is going to depart from the bs narratives they've been pushing and adopt a tone of reality is next to impossible as i see it..
ps - the emmanual todd interview was very good.. i think he sees what is happening quite clearly..
you know the thing that gets me is trumps idea of the war on ukraine being all on biden.. that is 100%... the fact is the usa has been involved in countless wars since inception, but especially so after ww2... the usa is a war machine, with profit being the main motive! war = money as smedley butler has said.... this has nothing to do with biden and it has nothing to do with trump either... they are the glorious leaders who rubber stamp the shit, but they have very little say in what happens - as i see it...
so yeah - the fires in california don't help here in the bigger picture... i am sorry for all those who have lost their homes, or are struggling in the usa... maybe some of the money diverted to ukraine could be used to help the people of the usa? the disconnect between those who huge assets - musk - and those without - is very stark.. that is an unsustainable culture and society as i see it..
The main point of the linked item I wanted you to grasp was the precarious destabilized position of the insurance sector--funny that Hudson calls it the FIRE sector, I for insurance. Yes, the fires like the tornadoes and hurricanes generate many victims that cannot afford such a hit. This Fall and Winter very few tornadoes have occurred where they usually do because the weather systems this year are doing something very odd. Perhaps Spring will sing a different tune.
As for the adage "All wars are bankers wars," that only became true when banking arose to finance the Crusades, and the Vatican changed the rules to allow interest to be charged. Putting money and its creation into the hands of the public via government instead of private hands is the only route to take that leads to peace.
No. We must destroy capitalism before it finishes destroying us! Money is the root of all evil. Money is a weapon. Money is imaginary and has zero value. Life has value and money is being used to dehumanize, control, and slaughter us. Nothing is going to get better. Entropy is shredding all the imaginary "systems" humans have been impossing on nature. Life absolutely will win because that's what it does. But to salvage what nature can it will continue to shake off us parasitic humans.
i am reading a book by richard werner at the moment called 'where does money come from?' which gives me even better insight into the process of money... i don't now how we get from here to a more ideal place on the planet, but i do believe capitalism has to be replaced with something better..
a young friend of mine in his 30's gave me this book - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127462058-slow-down for christmas... he tells me most of the young people he knows are communists!!! for my generation, this is a surprise, but i dig where he is coming from and share much of the sentiment in this book 'slow down'...
War Is A Racket is a speech and a 1935 short book by Smedley D. Butler, a retired United States Marine Corps major general and two-time Medal of Honor recipient. It can't be mentioned too much. Maybe "The Business Plot" will be better known of and understood also.
From Gooogje's AI - "The term "military-industrial complex" (MIC) was first used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address on January 17, 1961. The term was originally used as "Military-Industrial Congressional Complex" but was later changed to exclude the Congress".
i don't know this detail, but i do know that the banking and energy complex work in coordination with the military industrial complex.. they are all intimately tied together...
As a lifetime kalifornian residing close to the mexican border, insurers not insuring is old news. most of the homes where I live are 'older' pre-1995 but not earlier than 1925 which is when the land was stolen from the Spanish, Mexican and ultimately the Kumeyaay tribe in early 1700s, but I digress. My point is we can't get homeowners insurance (not just fire but ANY homeowner insurance) if the drone sent overhead by the insurance company deems the house with mold! They don't cancel the policy they simply won't renew and remediation is not acceptable. The policy is simply not renewed. Too bad, so sad. the disconnect is real. they can't drive everyone out, who is going to clean the toilets and harvest the crops?
The state’s insurance industry was reformed in late 2024 to promote coverage in disaster-prone areas. Tens of billions in fire damage will stress-test the new regime.
Largely agree with you despite the fact that I’m not a fan of Todd (who I think at a deeper level engages in deflection).
In the history of the west, there is not a single example of a great power admitting its limitations (obviously I’m not counting Russia as part of the west in this assertion) and acting accordingly. Hobbes was not engaging in metaphor when he asserted that people [in his context, the west] are “red in tooth and claw”.
Remember Qanon? That was fun for the distracted, photos of secret signs and tea leaf reading, yet plenty took it seriously. I'm enjoying Musk's use of his platform to skewer Starmer, and Olaf Klutz, that's also lots of fun. Why not treat the Danes like door mats? After all I'm sure they'll sell and take whatever Trump offers, same for the Swedes, or Finns. They're so bound up in their russophobia they'll swallow any pill that rids them of that ache. As for public opinion, reading chicken entrails is more scientific.
It's no surprise as the US hosts bases and (covert) facilities in many parts of the world, not the least in my neck of the woods. Building, maintaining, as well as supplying these facilities will necessitate more calibrated choices as US bonds and treasuries continue to fester. Learning that everywhere and everything is not a choice seems to be a lesson not yet taken on board.
The days of the unlimited checking account are over. The insurance potion of the FIRE Sector is in deep shit, adding further instability to the already unstable US financial system. To match Russia's Arctic facilities and support systems would take $10+ Trillion and decades to accomplish. The one new-build ice breaker for the US Coast Guard is $2 Billion over cost and 6 years behind schedule--and that's for just one ship when 30 are needed to match Russia. Here's the article about the insurance sector, https://sputnikglobe.com/20250110/california-wildfires-threaten-to-scorch-states-insurance-sector-spread-losses-nationwide-1121402667.html
And it looks as if it's the wealthy who got hit. I also understand that insurance has been cancelled for some and there was FAIRPLAN... ok, so uninsurable. And then there's the Governor's actions on water retention (dams removed). Looking at the devastation the question is who is going to pay to rebuild? At least in Russia they have a ministry for emergency situations (Shoigu's job before becoming defence minister). American's should see how Mariupol has been actioned, and then see what happens in their country.
If you lacked proper insurance coverage, rebuilding will be hard even if you're well-to-do. The politics of the blame game will generate its own fallout. I'm very pleased to have moved away from my state of birth almost 22 years ago as politically it was a basket case then that's only grown worse. California's natural beauty is one thing, living there is quite another.
Well if going by previous natural disasters in the US, the victims of these fires can look forward to receiving a mega FEMA $750 federal emergency payout. That's what is known as American Exceptionalism :)
I admit it was too long for me to read above, but I wanted to make my point anyway, in as many places as possible... here is what I thought and posted on vk after watching Alexander Mercouris video yesterday and today...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ovr7VbO2k
Trump literally says he understands Russia's concerne over having NATO on its doorstep - And - if the West, read USA, had understood that there would not have been a war in Ukraine !!!!!!!!
It is very interesting INDEED... That most even alternative media people and analysts like Pepe Excobar and Scott Ritter do not grasp what Trump is saying and actually aiming at... So far the only one of the many alternative media I watch from time to time who actually get it is THE DURAN... more specifically and in particular Aleaxander Mercouris... ...
You have to know that Russia, not Trump in any way, will dictate the direction of that conversation and any terms that come from it. Russia has been exceedingly clear since 2006 what its objectives are vis a vis EuroAmerica and it in no way will back down from these regardless of whether the American public - and Trump's zionist government - is ready for it or not. There is one way forward for all Americans - Russia's.
obviously you like listening to youtube, as opposed to reading transcripts.. i am the opposite... i find mercouris repetitive and tedious... i have listened to 50 minutes of the video he shared today and much - most of it - is going over the same ground.. i am not sure i will listen to the last 40 minutes... it is true that trump appears to be headed for an actual discussion with trump, which is a refreshing change from the biden admin, but beyond that - it remains to be seen what comes from it...
i realize there is a lot of wishful thinking though, so maybe that is as good as anything else... the usa position here reminds me of the saying 'when you are in a hole, stop digging'... we'll see if they stop digging... did the usa claim defeat in vietnam, afganistan or iraq? i can't see them doing so here, in spite of the reality..
Mercouris is easier at 1.25 speed. He is also more hopeful about Trump than I could ever possibly be, and, even speaks of Putin with soft bias....however, as a long-time paid subscriber, I understand. It IS his livelihood and he saves me alot of time condensing topics I'm too busy with my real life to learn about.
Only a few more grassy knolls for Trump to climb between now and inauguration day. Will the idiot make it? Is Vance ready to succeed or is there some bothersome rule in the Order that requires him to wait? Whatever, I think we can remain calm and confident that Peter Thiel has it all in hand and will strike when the opportunity arises.
Just do not mention the GENOCIDE!! follow the bouncing ball and succumb to distraction 101.
Trump likely does not really care about Ukraine and its rapidly fading nazi regime and procreative capacity. He will just abandon it and leave the Atlantic suckers and their clapped out nato cognoscenti and decorated generalissimo to carry on to oblivion. He has bigger fish to sodomise and an oil/auto industry to protect from those electron wielding cunning devils in China. Too late of course, but it will be fun to watch first Trump and then Vance charging at windmills and denying the transformation of human transport while babbling about about automated production lines everywhere except dockside.
Already Trump's idiot son has laid a trail of turds in Greenland with his rent a sucker crowd in favor of joining the usa. Youth and Trump set out to expose the gerontocracy of the usa in their brave new world order but all they will achieve is to illuminate their inability to scrape the shit right off their shoes. (back to the shiraz...:))
Yes, lets mention the newly proposed victims of American Imperialism while ignoring the current victims. I was surprised Greenland has homeless people. Do they somehow think being part of the Outlaw US Empire would be better than an appendage of Denmark? I guarantee they’ll remain homeless.
Currently the Canadians and Mexicans are showing no mercy for Trump and his ridiculous comments especially re Greenland. Utoob has a few demolition jobs running. We must remember there are extreme forces doing their utmost to destroy this Presidency just as they did the last one.
One must allways bear in mind that Peter Theil and Elon the Hun are in the driving and advising seat. It is they who have installed his changeover team of 'intelligent' advisers and strategists. This is a planned demolition.
IMO, this is more in-line with covering the epic defeat by Russia in Ukraine and the fact that capitulation is the likely end game, not some negotiated settlement. As opined, the Deep State will continue its overall strategy to contain Eurasia; so, the sanctions will remain, and Moldova will become the next Ukraine, which is why Odessa must be liberated. So, all the bluster and proposed imperialism is a giant smokescreen aimed at the domestic US to take their eyes/minds off the epic defeat and all that went to cause it. The article I’m working on portrays Musk as an Imperial Outlaw, which is what he is as his own words and actions prove.
He is good. I always like his take on the events. At the moment, I am trying to figure out how to ‘anglicise’ Emmanuel Todd’s interview (from the link you provided). I just finished reading his latest book (Google translation). It is a very strange argument but with a lot of important insights.
Todd’s investigative lens is rather different as well as his cognitive base. His body language is also important to view while he’s talking, which makes using subtitles difficult.
IMO, Trump's insistence on further Imperialism will only hasten the Empire's decline, and I'm not the only one having that POV.
Probably. The guy is currently high on having been re-elected in a landslide after putting in good effort and showing it in his grandiosity. His election campaign exhibited less grandiosity than usual, IMHO, so maybe he can tone certain things down. Unlike the Seven Dwarfs in Snow White I do not have high hopes.
Crooke says: "The western public simply has never been psychologically conditioned to expect the possibility of a stronger Russia emerging."
How could Crooke, or anyone view the world as if the "western public" matters in the least when it comes to these matters. Is he living in a spaceship or something--because such a view is not grounded in the real world? It's as silly as believing: "Trump was elected President because the US public wanted him as President, liked his policies, and so they voted for him."
As opposed to the political machine--their wealth and power that got him elected. People still believe the US is a democracy where the public choose their leaders. Stunning, isn't it?
----
against my better judgment I had to read it. My general response is it's as clear as day Trump and his advisers have zero interest in what Brezenski did or said n the 70s and 80s. The year is 2025. Crooke's focus on Brezenski is beyond the pale-- only self-serving pomposity.
But then came, ah yes, the 'escalating the metaphysical staircase'—because nothing screams intellectual depth quite like an ex-MI6 operative stringing together meaningless pseudo-philosophical jargon to inflate a banal observation.
This kind of pretentious drivel only serves to mask the lack of substantive insight with pompous claptrap. Perhaps Crooke could spare us the waffling and just say Trump might try to make a dramatic claim. Instead, we’re subjected to this inflated nonsense designed to sound profound but reads like a thesaurus on a bender. I cannot help seeing what is there, all the time. There is nothing Crooke offers that is likeable. Sorry.
K: "Trump's recent spate of imperialist talk may be related to what Crooke suggests in these paragraphs that summarize the Big Picture Problem:"
Trump is trolling the whole world. He knows what he is doing and why he is doing it. Everyone else falls over themselves to try and "analyze" the great Trump while spinning their wheels and getting mud flung all over themselves.
Trump including his 'team' has a plan an integrated program and set of priorities and various options on how to go about proceeding. How could that not be obvious to everyone? Trump isn't going to be telling you nor anyone what that really is.
His trolling spin (that the majority keep assuming is him telling us the truth of what he wants) is part of that plan but is not the objectives of said plan. The silly, the easily distracted, the overly confident, and especially the big-time attention seeking pundits are carrying on waving their hands all over the shop. Now be they pro-Trump, anti-Trump or trying to present themselves as All-Knowing Sages about what Trump is "really" up to and why, or what his options are, none of them, imho, have a clue. They are selling themselves and not true knowledge.
I suggest they should all be ignored. I am continuing to sit back, enjoying the Trump Show and waiting patiently. All will become clear soon enough.
Quote: "you have to understand something that if nothing else Donald Trump is a marketing genius and there's no one out there who knows how to manipulate the media better than Donald Trump and so he has this predisposition to sort of throw red meat out to the audience of journalists and say things that are guaranteed to upset them and completely derail their line of questioning."
"Denmark are our allies and friends ... you just pick up the phone and express an interest in Greenland in what's there and what sort of Arrangements it could be made to exploit resources or if you're thinking in purely military terms (locating nuclear missiles or bases there) what could be done to militarize parts of it you don't normally mention it publicly. As for the Panama Canal I don't want it back, I don't think anybody in
the right mind does. (There is planning for a new larger canal in through Nicaragua, the Chinese are no threat.)"
"Americans have been subjected to decades of brainwashing and are suddenly being confronted with the fact that the narrative was always false but aren't being told why they were duped, and that BigLie Media has done nothing but feed the public a continual false narrative about the entire Ukraine operation and Russia's abilities. To finally confront the truth ought to destroy the last bits of media and technocrat credibility. The end game is just now beginning."
There’s only one proper way IMO and that’s to tell the unvarnished truth, including his role in the affair for it was large. That’s the only way to salvage a modicum of face. But it’s not just Ukraine/Russia, there’s also the Genocide in Palestine. Did you see the Jeff Sachs clip Trump aired on his social media? It’s in Nima’s recent chat with Krainer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CoHzN-VOPQ
They just have to remind the plebes that we still live in a M.A.D. scenario world. The economic reality is the tough one to deal with and explain, especially if China starts playing hardball/"physical" hockey - aka "drops the mitts".
It amazes me how many usually well informed people don't know about the genocide in Gaza, or deny that it's a genocide. I haven't seen the video, Karl, but will check it out.
If you would prefer a typed Transcript or an edited transcript of the key highlights, take aways, please let me know.
Content: On Tuesday, at a press conference at his Florida mansion, President-elect Donald Trump took his gloves off, after showing monumental patience in the face of the shenanigans by the lame duck president Joe Biden and his inner circle to “do an Obama” on him for a second time by setting the compass for his new term in the White House starting January 20.
Trump tore into Biden and his team (“sick groups of people”) and signalled he’s had enough of their so-called “transfer of power.” The proverbial last straw was the clumsy attempt by Biden Administration to release special counsel Jack Smith’s “final report” on the federal investigation into Trump, which has no other purpose than serving to humiliate him.
This is already a very different Trump Presidency. Trump is not the same person who left office in January 2021. He has significantly changed. Wait and see if you do not agree. This is not me being 'pro-trump' but reporting on clear observations of Trump's public appearances and statements since he won the election.
Including things like hosting Jeffery Sachs anti-US Empire anti-Israel talk at Cambridge on his Truth Social website.
Talking about NATO, Trump proposed that the contribution by the alliance’s member countries should be scaled up to 5% of GDP on defence instead of the existing 2% spending milestone. He warned that the US will not protect “delinquents”.
Points of interest are:
- Trump eschewed any criticism of Russia in the Ukraine war, and instead alluded to the genesis of the conflict being NATO’s eastward expansion toward Russian borders, and remarked at one point, “I could understand their (Russian) feelings in the matter.”
- Trump was evasive about current US deployment in Syria, saying it’s a matter of “military strategy.” Equally, he pinned hopes on Turkish President Recep Erdogan showing restraint in attacking the Kurds (who are aligned with the US in Syria).
- Trump threatened Hamas with dire consequences unless all hostages are released before his inaugural on Jan. 20. (“If those hostages aren’t back… by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East — and it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don’t have to say more anymore, but that’s what it is.”)
- Trump avoided any critical remarks regarding China or Iran.
I maintain that Panama, Gulf of America, Canada 51st state, and Greenland is global trolling to enhance near term negotiations (off footing destabilizing opponents) across multiple geopolitical issues at home and abroad. Musk as well.
you're way more optimistic then me karl!!
you actually think the media is going to stop lying about russia and etc. etc.? i very much doubt it.. they will stick with the same lying narrative for forever..
you think trump is going to admit defeat in ukraine??? no way...he'll go for distraction though... canada, greenland, and panama... he is looking at a resource grab to keep capitalism going by eating or making war on the vassals... what the usa did to germany - expect the same type of continuation of that.. if they have to destroy industries, to keep their own - military, banking and energy complex going - trump will definitely do that.. that is what all this continues to be as the unipolar unreality continues to push for dominance over the lesser powers... the usa would like to do that with russia or china here, slapping more sanctions and tariffs on them, but if that is all the usa has at this point - they are running low on options.. they have to go into the lower ranks to fleece those with less power to fight back....
capitalism is eating itself and is at a dead end... the usa typifies this.. it might not happen right away, but it's happening... any suggestion that the media or trump is going to depart from the bs narratives they've been pushing and adopt a tone of reality is next to impossible as i see it..
ps - the emmanual todd interview was very good.. i think he sees what is happening quite clearly..
Just a quick reply. The fires are revealing a big weak spot, https://sputnikglobe.com/20250110/california-wildfires-threaten-to-scorch-states-insurance-sector-spread-losses-nationwide-1121402667.html
one more bundle of problems to add to the list...
you know the thing that gets me is trumps idea of the war on ukraine being all on biden.. that is 100%... the fact is the usa has been involved in countless wars since inception, but especially so after ww2... the usa is a war machine, with profit being the main motive! war = money as smedley butler has said.... this has nothing to do with biden and it has nothing to do with trump either... they are the glorious leaders who rubber stamp the shit, but they have very little say in what happens - as i see it...
so yeah - the fires in california don't help here in the bigger picture... i am sorry for all those who have lost their homes, or are struggling in the usa... maybe some of the money diverted to ukraine could be used to help the people of the usa? the disconnect between those who huge assets - musk - and those without - is very stark.. that is an unsustainable culture and society as i see it..
The main point of the linked item I wanted you to grasp was the precarious destabilized position of the insurance sector--funny that Hudson calls it the FIRE sector, I for insurance. Yes, the fires like the tornadoes and hurricanes generate many victims that cannot afford such a hit. This Fall and Winter very few tornadoes have occurred where they usually do because the weather systems this year are doing something very odd. Perhaps Spring will sing a different tune.
As for the adage "All wars are bankers wars," that only became true when banking arose to finance the Crusades, and the Vatican changed the rules to allow interest to be charged. Putting money and its creation into the hands of the public via government instead of private hands is the only route to take that leads to peace.
No. We must destroy capitalism before it finishes destroying us! Money is the root of all evil. Money is a weapon. Money is imaginary and has zero value. Life has value and money is being used to dehumanize, control, and slaughter us. Nothing is going to get better. Entropy is shredding all the imaginary "systems" humans have been impossing on nature. Life absolutely will win because that's what it does. But to salvage what nature can it will continue to shake off us parasitic humans.
The Love of Money is the root of all evil. Not money.
An inanimate object can not be...
Nope🤣 Money is🤡
jasmine and karl -
i am reading a book by richard werner at the moment called 'where does money come from?' which gives me even better insight into the process of money... i don't now how we get from here to a more ideal place on the planet, but i do believe capitalism has to be replaced with something better..
a young friend of mine in his 30's gave me this book - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127462058-slow-down for christmas... he tells me most of the young people he knows are communists!!! for my generation, this is a surprise, but i dig where he is coming from and share much of the sentiment in this book 'slow down'...
Occupy Wall Street and read David Graeber.
Thank you😊 I'll check it out.
War Is A Racket is a speech and a 1935 short book by Smedley D. Butler, a retired United States Marine Corps major general and two-time Medal of Honor recipient. It can't be mentioned too much. Maybe "The Business Plot" will be better known of and understood also.
The Businessmen’s Plot demands greater investigation than what’s been done to-date.
wish our politicians would get out of bed with the military industrial complex, but they show no signs of doing so... instead they sell fear 24-7...
From Gooogje's AI - "The term "military-industrial complex" (MIC) was first used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell address on January 17, 1961. The term was originally used as "Military-Industrial Congressional Complex" but was later changed to exclude the Congress".
They are integral. Didn't Prez Dwight D. E. include them in his original acronym ?
i don't know this detail, but i do know that the banking and energy complex work in coordination with the military industrial complex.. they are all intimately tied together...
As a lifetime kalifornian residing close to the mexican border, insurers not insuring is old news. most of the homes where I live are 'older' pre-1995 but not earlier than 1925 which is when the land was stolen from the Spanish, Mexican and ultimately the Kumeyaay tribe in early 1700s, but I digress. My point is we can't get homeowners insurance (not just fire but ANY homeowner insurance) if the drone sent overhead by the insurance company deems the house with mold! They don't cancel the policy they simply won't renew and remediation is not acceptable. The policy is simply not renewed. Too bad, so sad. the disconnect is real. they can't drive everyone out, who is going to clean the toilets and harvest the crops?
The state’s insurance industry was reformed in late 2024 to promote coverage in disaster-prone areas. Tens of billions in fire damage will stress-test the new regime.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-los-angeles-fires-will-put-californias-new-insurance-rules-to-the-test/
I agree. I won't be alive for it's final destruction.
Largely agree with you despite the fact that I’m not a fan of Todd (who I think at a deeper level engages in deflection).
In the history of the west, there is not a single example of a great power admitting its limitations (obviously I’m not counting Russia as part of the west in this assertion) and acting accordingly. Hobbes was not engaging in metaphor when he asserted that people [in his context, the west] are “red in tooth and claw”.
They're also delusional 😬
Remember Qanon? That was fun for the distracted, photos of secret signs and tea leaf reading, yet plenty took it seriously. I'm enjoying Musk's use of his platform to skewer Starmer, and Olaf Klutz, that's also lots of fun. Why not treat the Danes like door mats? After all I'm sure they'll sell and take whatever Trump offers, same for the Swedes, or Finns. They're so bound up in their russophobia they'll swallow any pill that rids them of that ache. As for public opinion, reading chicken entrails is more scientific.
This is related to Trump’s Greenland bit and is an angle not being mentioned, https://sputnikglobe.com/20250110/were-trumps-plans-for-greenland-hidden-away-in-biden-pentagons-2024-arctic-strategy-1121403981.html
It's no surprise as the US hosts bases and (covert) facilities in many parts of the world, not the least in my neck of the woods. Building, maintaining, as well as supplying these facilities will necessitate more calibrated choices as US bonds and treasuries continue to fester. Learning that everywhere and everything is not a choice seems to be a lesson not yet taken on board.
The days of the unlimited checking account are over. The insurance potion of the FIRE Sector is in deep shit, adding further instability to the already unstable US financial system. To match Russia's Arctic facilities and support systems would take $10+ Trillion and decades to accomplish. The one new-build ice breaker for the US Coast Guard is $2 Billion over cost and 6 years behind schedule--and that's for just one ship when 30 are needed to match Russia. Here's the article about the insurance sector, https://sputnikglobe.com/20250110/california-wildfires-threaten-to-scorch-states-insurance-sector-spread-losses-nationwide-1121402667.html
And it looks as if it's the wealthy who got hit. I also understand that insurance has been cancelled for some and there was FAIRPLAN... ok, so uninsurable. And then there's the Governor's actions on water retention (dams removed). Looking at the devastation the question is who is going to pay to rebuild? At least in Russia they have a ministry for emergency situations (Shoigu's job before becoming defence minister). American's should see how Mariupol has been actioned, and then see what happens in their country.
If you lacked proper insurance coverage, rebuilding will be hard even if you're well-to-do. The politics of the blame game will generate its own fallout. I'm very pleased to have moved away from my state of birth almost 22 years ago as politically it was a basket case then that's only grown worse. California's natural beauty is one thing, living there is quite another.
I've remained after attempting an escape to Swannanoa NC last fall. For obvious reasons, that move was put on hold.
Well if going by previous natural disasters in the US, the victims of these fires can look forward to receiving a mega FEMA $750 federal emergency payout. That's what is known as American Exceptionalism :)
WHOOOA - give 'er ! Faster, Daddy, faster !
I admit it was too long for me to read above, but I wanted to make my point anyway, in as many places as possible... here is what I thought and posted on vk after watching Alexander Mercouris video yesterday and today...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ovr7VbO2k
Trump literally says he understands Russia's concerne over having NATO on its doorstep - And - if the West, read USA, had understood that there would not have been a war in Ukraine !!!!!!!!
It is very interesting INDEED... That most even alternative media people and analysts like Pepe Excobar and Scott Ritter do not grasp what Trump is saying and actually aiming at... So far the only one of the many alternative media I watch from time to time who actually get it is THE DURAN... more specifically and in particular Aleaxander Mercouris... ...
.....
You have to know that Russia, not Trump in any way, will dictate the direction of that conversation and any terms that come from it. Russia has been exceedingly clear since 2006 what its objectives are vis a vis EuroAmerica and it in no way will back down from these regardless of whether the American public - and Trump's zionist government - is ready for it or not. There is one way forward for all Americans - Russia's.
obviously you like listening to youtube, as opposed to reading transcripts.. i am the opposite... i find mercouris repetitive and tedious... i have listened to 50 minutes of the video he shared today and much - most of it - is going over the same ground.. i am not sure i will listen to the last 40 minutes... it is true that trump appears to be headed for an actual discussion with trump, which is a refreshing change from the biden admin, but beyond that - it remains to be seen what comes from it...
i realize there is a lot of wishful thinking though, so maybe that is as good as anything else... the usa position here reminds me of the saying 'when you are in a hole, stop digging'... we'll see if they stop digging... did the usa claim defeat in vietnam, afganistan or iraq? i can't see them doing so here, in spite of the reality..
Your thinko "trump appears to be headed for an actual discussion with trump" is perhaps more apt than if it had referred to Putin.
Mercouris is easier at 1.25 speed. He is also more hopeful about Trump than I could ever possibly be, and, even speaks of Putin with soft bias....however, as a long-time paid subscriber, I understand. It IS his livelihood and he saves me alot of time condensing topics I'm too busy with my real life to learn about.
Only a few more grassy knolls for Trump to climb between now and inauguration day. Will the idiot make it? Is Vance ready to succeed or is there some bothersome rule in the Order that requires him to wait? Whatever, I think we can remain calm and confident that Peter Thiel has it all in hand and will strike when the opportunity arises.
Just do not mention the GENOCIDE!! follow the bouncing ball and succumb to distraction 101.
Trump likely does not really care about Ukraine and its rapidly fading nazi regime and procreative capacity. He will just abandon it and leave the Atlantic suckers and their clapped out nato cognoscenti and decorated generalissimo to carry on to oblivion. He has bigger fish to sodomise and an oil/auto industry to protect from those electron wielding cunning devils in China. Too late of course, but it will be fun to watch first Trump and then Vance charging at windmills and denying the transformation of human transport while babbling about about automated production lines everywhere except dockside.
Already Trump's idiot son has laid a trail of turds in Greenland with his rent a sucker crowd in favor of joining the usa. Youth and Trump set out to expose the gerontocracy of the usa in their brave new world order but all they will achieve is to illuminate their inability to scrape the shit right off their shoes. (back to the shiraz...:))
Yes, lets mention the newly proposed victims of American Imperialism while ignoring the current victims. I was surprised Greenland has homeless people. Do they somehow think being part of the Outlaw US Empire would be better than an appendage of Denmark? I guarantee they’ll remain homeless.
Currently the Canadians and Mexicans are showing no mercy for Trump and his ridiculous comments especially re Greenland. Utoob has a few demolition jobs running. We must remember there are extreme forces doing their utmost to destroy this Presidency just as they did the last one.
One must allways bear in mind that Peter Theil and Elon the Hun are in the driving and advising seat. It is they who have installed his changeover team of 'intelligent' advisers and strategists. This is a planned demolition.
IMO, this is more in-line with covering the epic defeat by Russia in Ukraine and the fact that capitulation is the likely end game, not some negotiated settlement. As opined, the Deep State will continue its overall strategy to contain Eurasia; so, the sanctions will remain, and Moldova will become the next Ukraine, which is why Odessa must be liberated. So, all the bluster and proposed imperialism is a giant smokescreen aimed at the domestic US to take their eyes/minds off the epic defeat and all that went to cause it. The article I’m working on portrays Musk as an Imperial Outlaw, which is what he is as his own words and actions prove.
Well put !
A better place to see Crooke's essays is: https://www.eurasiareview.com/author/alastair-crooke/
Thank you, Karl. Just a side note. I also find M. K. Bhadrakumar’s blog very informative. Here is the latest entry: https://www.indianpunchline.com/trump-unveils-the-greater-america-project/
Thanks! I haven’t yet visited there today.
He is good. I always like his take on the events. At the moment, I am trying to figure out how to ‘anglicise’ Emmanuel Todd’s interview (from the link you provided). I just finished reading his latest book (Google translation). It is a very strange argument but with a lot of important insights.
Todd’s investigative lens is rather different as well as his cognitive base. His body language is also important to view while he’s talking, which makes using subtitles difficult.
Is he 1 of them mimes, but tries speaking for interviews ?
Murikans sure do luv them Frenchie mimes !
IMO, Trump's insistence on further Imperialism will only hasten the Empire's decline, and I'm not the only one having that POV.
Probably. The guy is currently high on having been re-elected in a landslide after putting in good effort and showing it in his grandiosity. His election campaign exhibited less grandiosity than usual, IMHO, so maybe he can tone certain things down. Unlike the Seven Dwarfs in Snow White I do not have high hopes.
Crooke says: "The western public simply has never been psychologically conditioned to expect the possibility of a stronger Russia emerging."
How could Crooke, or anyone view the world as if the "western public" matters in the least when it comes to these matters. Is he living in a spaceship or something--because such a view is not grounded in the real world? It's as silly as believing: "Trump was elected President because the US public wanted him as President, liked his policies, and so they voted for him."
As opposed to the political machine--their wealth and power that got him elected. People still believe the US is a democracy where the public choose their leaders. Stunning, isn't it?
----
against my better judgment I had to read it. My general response is it's as clear as day Trump and his advisers have zero interest in what Brezenski did or said n the 70s and 80s. The year is 2025. Crooke's focus on Brezenski is beyond the pale-- only self-serving pomposity.
But then came, ah yes, the 'escalating the metaphysical staircase'—because nothing screams intellectual depth quite like an ex-MI6 operative stringing together meaningless pseudo-philosophical jargon to inflate a banal observation.
This kind of pretentious drivel only serves to mask the lack of substantive insight with pompous claptrap. Perhaps Crooke could spare us the waffling and just say Trump might try to make a dramatic claim. Instead, we’re subjected to this inflated nonsense designed to sound profound but reads like a thesaurus on a bender. I cannot help seeing what is there, all the time. There is nothing Crooke offers that is likeable. Sorry.
Whether 1 fully agrees or not with you, its great you inputted this !
K: "Trump's recent spate of imperialist talk may be related to what Crooke suggests in these paragraphs that summarize the Big Picture Problem:"
Trump is trolling the whole world. He knows what he is doing and why he is doing it. Everyone else falls over themselves to try and "analyze" the great Trump while spinning their wheels and getting mud flung all over themselves.
Trump including his 'team' has a plan an integrated program and set of priorities and various options on how to go about proceeding. How could that not be obvious to everyone? Trump isn't going to be telling you nor anyone what that really is.
His trolling spin (that the majority keep assuming is him telling us the truth of what he wants) is part of that plan but is not the objectives of said plan. The silly, the easily distracted, the overly confident, and especially the big-time attention seeking pundits are carrying on waving their hands all over the shop. Now be they pro-Trump, anti-Trump or trying to present themselves as All-Knowing Sages about what Trump is "really" up to and why, or what his options are, none of them, imho, have a clue. They are selling themselves and not true knowledge.
I suggest they should all be ignored. I am continuing to sit back, enjoying the Trump Show and waiting patiently. All will become clear soon enough.
Gandalf : - "Trump is trolling the whole world. "
Col MacGregor agrees with me. @3:20 mins
Quote: "you have to understand something that if nothing else Donald Trump is a marketing genius and there's no one out there who knows how to manipulate the media better than Donald Trump and so he has this predisposition to sort of throw red meat out to the audience of journalists and say things that are guaranteed to upset them and completely derail their line of questioning."
"Denmark are our allies and friends ... you just pick up the phone and express an interest in Greenland in what's there and what sort of Arrangements it could be made to exploit resources or if you're thinking in purely military terms (locating nuclear missiles or bases there) what could be done to militarize parts of it you don't normally mention it publicly. As for the Panama Canal I don't want it back, I don't think anybody in
the right mind does. (There is planning for a new larger canal in through Nicaragua, the Chinese are no threat.)"
REF https://youtu.be/cemtz1IyZIE?si=YgdpXpOjZhiGc969&t=199
I cannot access it, so please email me Crooke's essay. Thank you for your thoughtful offer to do so and your brief analysis above.
Would like a copy of the essay
Could you send me the essay pls?
i cant access crookes substack. please send e his article!
As I mentioned, his substack only allows people to view the first several paragraphs of his posting.
People below & above want you to break law/regulations/writers' ethics on their behalf, Now that is chutzpah !
Yikes! I wonder how he'll break it to them.
"Americans have been subjected to decades of brainwashing and are suddenly being confronted with the fact that the narrative was always false but aren't being told why they were duped, and that BigLie Media has done nothing but feed the public a continual false narrative about the entire Ukraine operation and Russia's abilities. To finally confront the truth ought to destroy the last bits of media and technocrat credibility. The end game is just now beginning."
There’s only one proper way IMO and that’s to tell the unvarnished truth, including his role in the affair for it was large. That’s the only way to salvage a modicum of face. But it’s not just Ukraine/Russia, there’s also the Genocide in Palestine. Did you see the Jeff Sachs clip Trump aired on his social media? It’s in Nima’s recent chat with Krainer, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CoHzN-VOPQ
They just have to remind the plebes that we still live in a M.A.D. scenario world. The economic reality is the tough one to deal with and explain, especially if China starts playing hardball/"physical" hockey - aka "drops the mitts".
It amazes me how many usually well informed people don't know about the genocide in Gaza, or deny that it's a genocide. I haven't seen the video, Karl, but will check it out.
Tuesday 7th January 2025 from Mar Lago
President-elect Trump press conference: FULL SPEECH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37IAF9SLG1g
If you would prefer a typed Transcript or an edited transcript of the key highlights, take aways, please let me know.
Content: On Tuesday, at a press conference at his Florida mansion, President-elect Donald Trump took his gloves off, after showing monumental patience in the face of the shenanigans by the lame duck president Joe Biden and his inner circle to “do an Obama” on him for a second time by setting the compass for his new term in the White House starting January 20.
Trump tore into Biden and his team (“sick groups of people”) and signalled he’s had enough of their so-called “transfer of power.” The proverbial last straw was the clumsy attempt by Biden Administration to release special counsel Jack Smith’s “final report” on the federal investigation into Trump, which has no other purpose than serving to humiliate him.
This is already a very different Trump Presidency. Trump is not the same person who left office in January 2021. He has significantly changed. Wait and see if you do not agree. This is not me being 'pro-trump' but reporting on clear observations of Trump's public appearances and statements since he won the election.
Including things like hosting Jeffery Sachs anti-US Empire anti-Israel talk at Cambridge on his Truth Social website.
Talking about NATO, Trump proposed that the contribution by the alliance’s member countries should be scaled up to 5% of GDP on defence instead of the existing 2% spending milestone. He warned that the US will not protect “delinquents”.
Points of interest are:
- Trump eschewed any criticism of Russia in the Ukraine war, and instead alluded to the genesis of the conflict being NATO’s eastward expansion toward Russian borders, and remarked at one point, “I could understand their (Russian) feelings in the matter.”
- Trump was evasive about current US deployment in Syria, saying it’s a matter of “military strategy.” Equally, he pinned hopes on Turkish President Recep Erdogan showing restraint in attacking the Kurds (who are aligned with the US in Syria).
- Trump threatened Hamas with dire consequences unless all hostages are released before his inaugural on Jan. 20. (“If those hostages aren’t back… by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East — and it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don’t have to say more anymore, but that’s what it is.”)
- Trump avoided any critical remarks regarding China or Iran.
I maintain that Panama, Gulf of America, Canada 51st state, and Greenland is global trolling to enhance near term negotiations (off footing destabilizing opponents) across multiple geopolitical issues at home and abroad. Musk as well.
cute article - thanks for the laugh.
Bozo is perfect