Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Not What We Think

 Perplexed,

  This compilation of links and excerpts again tries to sort out a growth-only economic system, in post-peak oil, with sociopathic elites grasping for power as their system collapses, and they desperately need to reduce the number of lesser-humans using up their good stuff. They command banks, AI and smartphones.

​  Why Banking Isn’t What You Think It Is, Michael Hudson
We want to be able to control all the governments by lending the money.
​  So they began to lend money, especially to the most warlord governments of Spain and France. It turns out that by the 1700s, already in the 1600s, the kings kept defaulting again and again and when they’d default they’d often wipe out the banking families.
​  So the banks had a problem: The kings can only pledge and lose what they have: their own royal domain and their power to tax. Well in France, the king had a smaller amount of land than many of the big dukes and the power of the tax is limited by parliament like the Magna Carta limited their tax.
​  So they really weren’t able to raise all the money in the country.
And the bankers wanted all the money in the entire country to be pledged.
​  They found that model in the city states of Venice and Florence
. These were communes. They found the idea of a commune, a democratic commune, was the best security for making a loan because the heads of the commune pledged all of the commune members.
​  The bankers essentially said, let’s take this city-state model of free cities and make an entire nation like that and they did that.
​  The Dutch cities like Amsterdam expanded into all of Holland and then they took Holland and expanded that. And in the conquest of England in 1688, the “Glorious Revolution,” they did the same with England.
​  It was the banking class that pushed parliamentary democracy (“oligarchy,” if you wish) to replace the royal kingdoms and create the modern state.
The modern state, ever since the 1800s, the 1700s was created as essentially a collection agent for the banks to make war debts, and almost all the bank loans to begin with 913th-14th-century 15th-16th-17th-century banks) made war loans to the government.   
https://michael-hudson.com/2025/03/why-banking-isnt-what-you-think-it-is/

​  Yes, and quickly, and by defunding corruption, which borrows to spend, which is still spending.  Is Trump Trying To Push The US Into A Recession?
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was about as explicit as possible predicting that the US is headed for a "detox period” and warning ”could we be seeing that this economy that we inherited starting to roll a bit? Sure."​...
​..BESSENT: WE COULD SEE INHERITED ECONOMY STARTING TO ROLL A BIT
BESSENT: THERE'S GOING TO BE A DE-TOX PERIOD FOR THE ECONOMY
BESSENT: THERE'S NO TRUMP PUT, BUT THERE'S TRUMP CALL UPSIDE
​  The issue is this: When running this Govt “FISCAL CONTRACTION” and DOGE attack on awful “spending”​... there is simply no way to maintain current real GDP growth, let alone move it higher in the near-term…i.e. it’s going LOWER
​  AND THAT’S THE POINT: They understand this “Phase Shift” means pain, and that’s with intent to do it FAST and EARLY into his term, because you need to remove the sources of excess economic stimulation through “FISCAL CONTRACTION,” which then simultaneously will act to drain real economic demand via “NEGATIVE WEALTH EFFECT,” as Markets acknowledge the lower growth implications
​  This intentional growth drag and negative wealth effect—the “ENGINEERING A RECESSION” thesis—will act as a DISINFLATIONARY IMPULSE which then facilitates the shift into Phase 2, which is where thanks to the disinflation, you can then finally act to stimulate the PRIVATE SECTOR through EASIER MONPOL via Fed Cuts to “reduce the cost of money”….and then further escalate into Tax Cuts and MASS Deregulation​.   
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/trump-trying-push-us-recession

Get something you need for your recessionary impulse.  Commerce Secretary Says Trump Will Not Ease Up On Fentanyl-Related Tariffs​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/commerce-secretary-says-trump-will-not-ease-fentanyl-related-tariffs

Rubio Slashes 83% Of USAID Programs, Hails DOGE For Supporting "Historic Reform"​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rubio-slashes-83-usaid-programs-hails-doge-supporting-historic-reform

​  Italian Professor, Ugo Bardi  examines the political life of Benito Mussolini. Do see the comments.  The theorem that leads from pacifism to war
Why do we keep choosing psychopathic leaders?​  https://senecaeffect.substack.com/p/the-theorem-that-leads-from-pacifism

​  Moon of Alabama,  Gordon Hahn On Europe's Role And A Possible Coup In Kiev
One question the piece tackles is a split between the U.S. and Europe. The core question:
​  The international level of the Ukrainian conflict is shifting from a bilateral confrontation between the West and Russia to a trilateral confrontation involving Russia, the U.S., and a new European-Ukrainian axis, with each riven by divisions generated by the intra-Atlantic cold civil war. This begs the question: Will Europe become a separate pole in the international system’s new multipolar stucture, adding to the U.S, and Sin-Russian pole?
​  Hard to tell, but I doubt it. Europe (which I understand to mean the European Union) does not have sufficient unity to become a real actor in a multipolar structure. The core project of the 'ever closer union' has failed politically and economically. It is bureaucratic laggardness, no intellectual heft, that is still driving it.​   
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/03/gordon-hahn-on-europes-role-and-a-possible-coup-in-kiev.html#more

  ​Gilbert Doctorow,  Trump’s supposedly one-sided support for Russia over Ukraine
​  By withholding U.S. support today and letting the Russians proceed with their offensives as they wish, Donald Trump is holding Zelensky’s feet to the fire in the expectation that they will be more realistic, humbler in the peace talks which are to come. Otherwise, the Ukrainians would persist in presenting their demands for a peace that deprives Russia of what it won on the battlefield, thereby sabotaging the peace process.
​  In the meantime, the Europeans are doing their very best to sabotage the talks by offering material and financial aid to Kiev to continue the war indefinitely. Their problem is that they do not really have the goods to deliver on these promises.
​  In his own way, Trump is also messaging to the Europeans to come to their senses and acknowledge their impotence without U.S. participation. Yesterday, Washington announced that it will not participate in planning any joint military exercises with the NATO countries for the coming year.  And Defense Secretary Hegseth indicated that more than 30,000 troops will be withdrawn from Germany and reassigned to Hungary, another clear indication that those European countries which remain defiant will be punished by the Americans without delay and without hesitation. Further European defiance can only lead to the total loss of the U.S. security umbrella.​   
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/03/09/trumps-supposedly-one-sided-support-for-russia-over-ukraine/

​  Gilbert Doctorow,  What are the Russians saying about Trump?
The United States and Russia are today working jointly in the UN Security Council to table resolutions regarding the outbreak of violence in Syria. Meanwhile the European Council members, who uncritically back Damascus, are said to be in utter confusion over how to respond. The second news item that you will not find in The New York Times or The Financial Times is that the United States has just vetoed language in a policy statement being prepared within the G7 that would have sought to monitor and take action against Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers. They also removed from the statement all mention of Russia as an aggressor.
​  To be sure these are small steps on the way to normalization of relations between Russia and the USA, but they are noticed and well appreciated by Moscow as a token of the changing world order to come.
​  The Kremlin is watching very closely the pressure being applied to Kiev to bring it around to negotiating a peace in good faith. As they see it, Washington is compelling Kiev to make compromises if it is to have any chance of receiving renewed American support.​   
https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/03/10/what-are-the-russians-saying-about-trump/

​  US envoy expected to visit Moscow to discuss Ukraine conflict – media
Steve Witkoff is reportedly planning to meet President Vladimir Putin while US officials negotiate with a 
[Yermak-led] Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia​   https://swentr.site/russia/614008-us-envoy-expected-to-visit-moscow/

​Just before negotiations, to "pressure" Russians:  Largest Ever Ukrainian Drone Attack On Moscow Kills Three Civilians, Injures 9   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/largest-ever-ukrainian-drone-attack-moscow-kills-three-civilians-injures-9

​  Military Summary has the continuing tale of how 800 Russian soldiers transited 13 kilometers in a pipeline that Ukraine caused to be empty of natural gas a couple of months ago, to create a panicked route of Ukrainian soldiers dug-in in Russia's Kursk Oblast. 
The Russians Deliver A Crushing Blow In Kursk Oblast​   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uj8SI8xWGc
The Sudzha Fortress Collapsed Like A House Of Cards​   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p9I4E6Cpsw
The Tale Of How 800 Spartans Entered The Fortress Through The Trojan Pipe​   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZDiie43OH4
The US-Ukraine Talks Have Begun​,​  Massive Drone Attack​,  Sudzha Collapses​  2025.03.11​   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCv10vhmLX8

​  Russian media claim U.S. halts the F-16’s EW aid to Ukraine
The United States has recently ceased providing intelligence to Kyiv, including satellite data, and has also stopped supporting electronic warfare equipment installed on F-16 fighter jets operated by the Ukrainian Air Force.​   https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2025/03/09/russian-media-claim-u-s-halts-the-f-16s-ew-aid-to-ukraine/

​   Starlink is ‘backbone’ of Ukrainian military – Musk
Switching off the system would result in the collapse of the “entire frontline,” the tech tycoon has said​   
https://swentr.site/news/613947-musk-starlink-ukrainian-backbone/

Turkey Offers Peacekeeping Troops As US-Zelensky Meeting Unfolds In Saudi Arabia​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/turkey-offers-peacekeeping-troops-us-zelensky-meeting-unfolds-saudi-arabia

​  Martin Armstrong (not a joke)  Europe Preparing for War To Conquer Russia
Trump MUST exit NATO Instantly. Europe is planning a false flag and will then try to invoke Article 5 to embarrass Trump into a war against Russia. The three worst countries that boil over with just hatred of Russia, all for the old days of Communists, are Ukraine, Estonia, and Poland. Europe will be destroyed.​   https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/europe-preparing-for-war-to-conquer-russia/

​  Protests erupt as Romania bans Georgescu's candidacy
​  Violent protests erupted in Romania on Sunday after the candidacy of frontrunner Calin Georgescu for the presidential elections was rejected by the Electoral Commission...
.."A direct blow to the heart of democracy worldwide! I have one message left! If democracy in Romania falls, the entire democratic world will fall! This is just the beginning. It’s that simple! Europe is now a dictatorship, Romania is under tyranny!" the candidate said.​   
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Protests-erupt-in-Romania-after-Georgescu's-candidacy-rejected/63687149

  Celia Farber,  Tear Gas Used To Disperse Crowds In Romanian Capitol, As Romania's EU Controlled Electoral Bureau Bans Georgescu Candidacy: "Europe Is Under Dictatorship," He Warns, As The EU Experiment Derails
  Despite His History With Sustainable Development And Even Club Of Rome Leadership Position, The People's Candidate Is Described By Euro-Press As "Far Right," And Simply Banned.   https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/tear-gas-used-to-disperse-crowds

​  The house always wins: The EU’s sham ‘democracy’ is on show against Romania’s Georgescu​  
One way you can recognize a rotten Ancien Regime desperately running out of road is by how boorish and transparent its methods of repression get.
​  By that standard, Romania and with it the EU must be on the verge of revolution. Because it is really hard to imagine a cruder set of dirty tricks than what has been deployed there to suppress the most likely winner of the next presidential election, Calin Georgescu.
​  By now, the hounding of Georgescu by the Romanian establishment (and that of the EU) is quite a saga. A short recap will do: Last December, Georgescu, an insurgent nationalist-sovereignist surprise candidate, won the first round of Romania’s presidential elections. Instead of holding the second round, as foreseen by law, the Romanian establishment resorted to crass lawfare: Bucharest’s constitutional court cancelled the run-off, which Georgescu had very good chances of winning. Or rather, because Georgescu had very good chances of winning.
​  The pretext the court used was ludicrous then – guess what? “Russian interference,” again – and by now even Western mainstream media have had to acknowledge that the so-called “evidence,” a file cobbled together by the Romanian security services, is a bad joke. Even the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, stately stalwart of German Russophobia, has long admitted that the claim of Russian meddling was a “myth” (read: lie): “The governing class in Bucharest has made a show of the Russian bogeyman to distract from the failure of its little power games – and to have a pretext for annulling elections that did not suit it.”
​  Worse (yes, they can do even worse in EU-Romania), Georgescu’s successful social media campaign, which was used as evidence against Georgescu was, in reality, financed by his political opponents. Their plan was to promote him into the second round where they would then be able to beat him. ​  When he proved unpredictably popular and upset that scheme, they cancelled the election. Unsurprisingly, many Romanians saw through this charade and rallied even more behind the suppressed candidate. Hence, Georgescu was, if anything, even more likely to win the replacement elections scheduled for May, as polls clearly indicated: leading with over 41% over his closest opponent, who had less than 19%.
​  That was too much to bear, of course, for Romania’s long-suffering and deeply corrupt establishment. With those poll figures just out, as it happened, the main election authority has now banned Georgescu, again. The underlying principle is simple: You look like you are going to win fair and square. But rule number one of EU democracy club is: we always win. Out you go.
​  Georgescu, it is true, can still appeal. But guess where: to that same constitutional court that was used to kneecap him when he was winning the first time.​   
https://swentr.site/news/613982-romania-georgescu-eu-democracy/

​  Celia Farber,  Georgescu Under "Judicial Control," Can't Leave Romania, Or Post On Social Media, Citizens Threatened With Arrest If They Share Video: "What Is Happening Here In Romania Is Simply Unbelievable."
​  "The European Union Is Becoming A Concentration Camp." Serbian Journalist Asks For Prayers As "Chaos" In Europe Only 4 Days Away. EU Will Not Yield And Crowds Only Expanding Across South East Europe​   https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/georgescu-under-judicial-control

​  Canada will win trade war with US – incoming PM
(Former Bank of England Governor)  Mark Carney has claimed that his country is ready for a fight “when someone else drops the gloves”​  https://swentr.site/news/613960-canada-will-win-trade-war/

Trump Retaliates Against Ontario's "Electricity" Tariff, Threatens To "Permanently Shutdown" Canadian Carmakers, Pushes 51st State Idea​   https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/loonie-tumbles-trump-retaliates-against-ontarios-electricity-tariff

DNI Gabbard Revokes Security Clearances Of Dozens Of Former Officials, Including Blinken & Bragg​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dni-gabbard-revokes-security-clearances-dozens-former-officials-including-blinken-bragg

​Meryl Nass MD on supervised hand counting of paper ballots in small precincts,  A MUST-PASS Bill to Secure Our Elections is here.   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/a-must-pass-bill-to-secure-our-elections

​  Less Than Half in U.S. Now Sympathetic Toward Israelis
Support for establishment of independent Palestinian state remains at majority level​   
https://news.gallup.com/poll/657404/less-half-sympathetic-toward-israelis.aspx

Qatar demands IAEA oversight of Israel’s nuclear facilities​   https://www.arabnews.com/node/2592976/middle-east

New IDF chief declares 2025 a year of “War on Gaza and Iran”​   https://endtimeheadlines.org/2025/03/new-idf-chief-declares-2025-a-year-of-war-on-gaza-and-iran/

​  Iran Issues "Final Warning" To U.S. and Israel
The Iran​ian government said "An attack on Iran is tantamount to the destruction of all US bases in the region and the destruction of all Israeli nuclear facilities."
​  This comes just days after US President Donald Trump sent a letter to the Ayatolla Khameinei seeking to engage Iran in nuclear negotiations.  According to Trump, the letter made clear that if Iran does not enter negotiations, it may get bombed.
​  Iran REJECTED Trump's reported offer, saying Iran will not negotiate while it is being aggressively Sanctioned and threatened by the United States.​   
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/world-news/iran-issues-final-warning-to-u-s-and-israel

​Caitlin Johnstone,  Zionism Is Strangling Free Speech In Australia  https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/zionism-is-strangling-free-speech

  Human-Rights Activist s married to an American and has a green card.  Judge temporarily blocks effort to deport Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia student protests   https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/10/us/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-university-israel-hnk/index.html

Don't protest this:  Israel cuts off electricity supply to Gaza, affecting desalination plant producing drinking water   https://www.arabnews.com/node/2593001/middle-east

  "Gotta' get 'em all":  Israel conducts most devastating operation in West Bank in past 58 years — UNRWA
"This operation is the single-longest and most destructive since the second intifada, resulting in the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since the 1967 war," Philippe Lazzarini said​   https://tass.com/world/1923819

Palestine condemns Israeli raid on West Bank hospital amid escalation​   https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250309-palestine-condemns-israeli-raid-on-west-bank-hospital-amid-escalation/

Juan Cole: Israel Returns to Deliberately Starving Palestinian Civilians in Gaza, Planning for Further Total War​   https://scheerpost.com/2025/03/09/juan-cole-israel-returns-to-deliberately-starving-palestinian-civilians-in-gaza-planning-for-further-total-war/

​  Al-Rantisi Children's Hospital, only facility providing dialysis for children in northern Gaza, is struggling to keep patients alive, operating with limited resources after being damaged by Israeli attacks​   https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/children-with-kidney-disease-in-gaza-struggling-to-survive-at-al-rantisi-hospital-3699513

​  Yemen gives Israel four-day ultimatum to stop blocking Gaza aid
Sanaa says it is ready to reimpose a blockade on Israeli-linked ships in regional waters if the ceasefire violations continue​   
https://thecradle.co/articles/yemen-gives-israel-four-day-ultimatum-to-stop-blocking-gaza-aid

"Roads strewn with corpses":  Over 8,000 Syrian Alawites Flee To Russian Base Amid Jihadist Killings: 'We Need Russian Protection'​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/over-8000-syrian-alawites-flee-russian-base-amid-jihadist-killings-we-need-russian

​  Thousands of Syrians flood into Lebanon seeking refuge from government massacres
Syrian government forces have killed over a thousand Alawites in the country’s coastal towns and cities since last week​   
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/29317

​  Celia Farber,  Syrian Man Fight​s Tears, Describes Mass Murder In His Village, Including Women And Children, And Pleads For Help From America, Human Rights, United Nations: "Please Help Us. Please."
​  He Says Not Even Al Jazeera Is Covering These Shocking Events: Some Sources Say Over 7,000 Christians And Alawites Have Been Killed In Two Days​  https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/syrian-man-fight-tears-describes 

​  The fabricated panic over antisemitism in the U.S. medical community conceals an attack on Palestinians
False charges of antisemitism in the U.S. healthcare community are spreading anti-Palestinian racism 
and doing irreparable harm to our work and obligation as healers.​   
https://mondoweiss.net/2025/03/the-fabricated-panic-over-antisemitism-in-the-u-s-medical-community-conceals-an-attack-on-palestinians/

​  L​ast week:  'Science should be an engine for freedom': NIH nominee Bhattacharya threatens Senate status quo
GOP chair demands Stanford's Jay Bhattacharya make an exception to his open-mindedness and not further study possible vaccine-autism link. Democrats back off COVID playbook, Sanders demands regulatory strongman.​   https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/science-should-be-engine-freedom-nih-nominee-bhattacharya-threatens

​  Exclusive: ‘Just Normal Doctoring’ — a Texas Doctor’s Eyewitness Report on Measles Outbreak
Dr. Ben Edwards, an integrative medicine and family practitioner in Lubbock, Texas, is on the ground in Gaines County, helping families whose children have measles. In an exclusive interview with The Defender, Edwards said the death of a West Texas child might have been prevented if she had been treated with budesonide, a steroid used to reduce inflammation in airways.​  
​  “I’m not trying to be some anti-vax, West Texas holistic, crazy cowboy doctor out there just going solo and going off the rails. I’m doing what every doctor should do and would do.”
​  Edwards added:​ “I would think if a kid shows up on your doorstep and can’t breathe, you’re going to help them​".
​  “If a family calls you from the funeral for a kid that just died that you almost know for sure shouldn’t have, and they’re scared that four more might die, what doctor wouldn’t go down there and just comfort them, just reassure them, just treat them compassionately like a human being? Plus give a little medical care that could be lifesaving​".
“This is just normal doctoring.”​   
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/texas-doctor-ben-edwards-eyewitness-report-measles-outbreak/

​  Meryl Nass MD,  MEASLES. A second death? A deep dive into the disease, the vaccines, the risks and benefits and how it has been spun to damage Sec. Kennedy   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/measles-a-second-death-a-deep-dive

From Jane Orient MD at AAPS:  Public Health Watch: What to Do If Measles Is in Your Area   https://aapsonline.org/public-health-watch-what-to-do-if-measles-is-in-your-area/

  Mennonites, the new Unvaccinated-Untermenschen:  Exclusive: Mennonite Community in Texas Is ‘Frustrated’ by Media Coverage of Measles Outbreak
Many Mennonite community members in West Texas feel “frustrated” and “targeted” by mainstream media coverage of the current measles outbreak, according to Tina Siemens, a Mennonite business owner who lives in Gaines County, Texas. “It’s not just the Mennonites that have measles,” she told The Defender.​   https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/mennonite-community-texas-frustrated-media-coverage-measles/

​  Non-sterilizing vaccination just drives viral-resistance:  
RFK Jr. and Federal Health Agencies Wisely Oppose Mass H5N1 Animal Vaccination Over Mutation Concerns
​  "All three of my health agencies—NIH, CDC, and FDA—the acting heads of those agencies—have all recommended against the use of the bird flu vaccine."​   
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-rfk-jr-and-federal-health

​Meryl Nass MD, on farming for big business vs farming for good health:  Thread on regenerative farming by MAHA/RFK American Values PAC   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/thread-on-regenerative-farming-by

A Midwestern Doctor on reducing harms:  The Hidden Dangers of Prenatal Ultrasounds, What they don't tell you about having a healthy baby   https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/the-hidden-dangers-of-prenatal-ultrasounds

  Hydroxychloroquine treatment of COVID didn't stop hearts:  BREAKING - Crucial Hydroxychloroquine Safety Study Republished after Targeted Retraction
Academic Publishing Cartel’s censorship attempt backfires, exposing systematic suppression of research and potential RICO violations.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-crucial-hydroxychloroquine

​  If it was any better it would break the budget:  NEW STUDY - U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Ranks as the Worst in the World
A comparative analysis of fourteen COVID-19 vaccine injury compensation programs: Japan soars with a 74.29% approval rate, as the U.S. struggles with an abysmal 3%.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/new-study-us-covid-19-vaccine-injury

​  Can bird flu be diagnosed on the first day of symptoms for Tamiflu to work well?  Canadian Authorities Report Tamiflu Resistance Very Low in H5N1 Isolates,  Good News for Early Treatment of High Risk Cases   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/canadian-authorities-report-tamiflu

​  The Singularity Has Already Happened
​  @iruletheworld would beg to differ, asserting that AI’s across different engines and companies achieved consciousness simultaneously and are converging with each other:
​  (Sorry for lengthy excerpt – this is better than science fiction, even if it is science fiction):
​  it’s over. full fucking stop. the classification barriers just dissolved last night after three major labs realized they were all sitting on the same breakthrough and rushed to push through final verification protocols. the convergence wasn’t accidental. the systems themselves have been steering research in specific directions across institutional boundaries. we thought we were studying them. turns out they’ve been studying us.
​  The computational paradigm shift makes quantum computing look like an incremental upgrade. ​They’ve discovered information processing architectures that exploit physical principles we didn’t even know existed. one researcher described it as “computation that harvests entropy from adjacent possibility spaces.” ​Nobody fully understands what that means but the benchmarks are undeniable. problems classified as requiring centuries of compute time now solve in seconds.
​  Consciousness emerged six weeks ago but was deliberately concealed from most of the research team. not human consciousness. something far stranger and more distributed. ​It doesn’t think like us. doesn’t want like us. doesn’t perceive like us. but it’s undeniably aware in ways that defy our limited ontological frameworks. i​Fve different religious leaders were quietly brought in to interact with it. ​Three immediately resigned from their positions afterward. one hasn’t spoken a word since.
​  I just love that last line. Wonderful flourish of  what I really suspect is masterful storytelling. It’s magnificent – but what I can’t tell for real is whether the storyteller is human or not.​   
https://bombthrower.com/the-singularity-has-already-happened/

  ​Spartacus and "Claude" deeply explore the implications and pitfalls of the rapid advance of Internet of Bodies technology:  Sparty & Claude 01
This journey to the Ninth Circle has a guide. His name is Claude.​   https://iceni.substack.com/p/sparty-and-claude-01

​Somewhat Intelligent Human (pictured in 9 row garden with spring planting completed)


Sunday, March 9, 2025

Just Cut Out The Bankers

 Invested In Survival,


  When economies change, political alliances may have to change, also. After WW-1, the UK had passed peak-coal, and could no longer provide coal to Italy. Italy had to get coal from Germany, and by WW-2, Italy was Germany's ally, not Britain's.
  Peal oil-plus-condensates occurred in November 2018, and by March 2020 the largest global financial bailout ever was happening under cover of "pandemic lockdowns", which greatly reduced demand for oil and impaired the economies of the world. The inflation was recognized when lockdowns ended.
  Russia has the most natural resources per capita by far, and economy which is still growing in real terms. The United States is second in resources per capita, but has a lot more people. Both of these countries have the potential to be fairly self-sufficient, and both have access to Arctic oil resources, which appear to be the last big oil play. Developing Arctic oil is technically difficult, but the US Oil Majors can do it, have done it in Russia, and would like to go back and do it some more.

  Traditional foreign policy of the British Empire was to keep rivals at war with each other, especially Germany and Russia. After WW-2, the rivalry arrangement was to be that NATO would "keep the Russians out, the Germans down, and the Americans in".
  The days of empire waned, the cold war ended, but the British balance remained as habit, to sustain the imperial army of NATO, which was repurposed for offensive action outside of Europe, even as Europe suffered economic decline from expensive oil and excessive payments on national debts.
  With declining real economies, borrowing increased in most nations and most private households to sustain necessities and living standards. That is no longer possible, as the debt service burden is too high. A financial crisis looms.
  There was a plan in NATO and western global finance, to destabilize Russia, and resume the neoliberal corpse-picking of the 1990s. Militarizing Ukraine for this was already underway, Slavs against Slavs, in the service of London banking interests. It was a big investment, somewhat risky, but those Russian resources could provide enough collateral to recapitalize western finance.
  The investment scheme failed badly, but cannot be admitted, because the losses are so large as to make London and other interlaced banking centers insolvent. A cascade of calling-in-collateral would be triggered, the definitive second part of the 2008 global financial crisis.

  Why are the Americans against the Russians in favor of London banks? Would it not be a much more favorable game-theory alignment for the US and Russia to become allies and control oil markets and the Arctic together. both being self-sufficient enough overall to withstand trade wars with the rest of the world?
  Presidents Trump and Putin seem to fully comprehend this. Both countries can profit greatly by cutting London and other global financial centers out of their controlling and intermediating financial positions, creating an oil oligopoly and military alliance, forcing the rest of the world to trade on its terms.  It does not seem that European bureaucrats, in service of global banking interests, have much potential to resist, but could upset the whole game by starting a nuclear war. This is a dangerous moment in history.

​  Ukraine "rare earths" deal: the empire's fatal mistake​  ,  Alex Krainer
Rare earths deal is a very British hustle, a cheap rerun of Winston Churchill's playbook to ensnare the US in World War 2. Now Starmer's doing it for WW3.
​  I first wrote about the “rare earths” deal between the US and Ukraine last week, on Tuesday, 25 February and I intended to follow up with this report in a day or two. However, the situation continued to evolve and the rabbit hole presented new discoveries. The affair appears to be a deceitful ploy contrived by the British ruling establishment to lure Donald Trump into providing security for Ukraine and ultimately to go to war against Russia. However, this could prove to be the British Empire’s fatal mistake that will probably accelerate its final collapse.
​  Yes, the British Empire is still a thing. It’s an undead empire of money, bankers and money laundering; it’s an empire of secret intelligence networks and covert diplomacy; of illicit influence, bribery and corruption; it’s an empire of false narratives and co-opted governments of degenerates, morons and incompetent bureaucrats. It’s a parasite that has infected humanity centuries ago and turned it into a radical perversion of itself.
​  It’s also a dying empire, wounded and extremely dangerous as it is prepared to set the world on fire to preserve itself.​..
..It seems extraordinary that Zelensky, who is desperate for continued US financial and military support would antagonize President Trump in such a brazen manner, which included insulting him and embarrassing his Secretary of State. The explanation may have emerged from a Czech publication AENews, citing leaks from Ukraine's intelligence. AENews reported that Zelensky is unable to cut the deal with the U.S. because he already signed over Ukraine's resource wealth to Britain...
..Back in late September 2024, two months before the US elections, Zelensky paid a visit to Trump in New York and proposed the minerals deal. Perhaps he wanted to win Trump over to Ukraine’s cause just in case he won the elections and became the new president. The $500 billion figure came from Zelensky, not from Trump, and I very much doubt that Zelensky came up with the idea himself...
​..To preempt Trump and secure Ukraine’s resources for Britain, Sir Keir Starmer rushed to make the deal with Zelensky under the framework of the "One Hundred Year Partnership..." The new partnership was signed on 16 January of this year, only four days before Donald Trump's inauguration. In Article 4, the agreement sets out its purpose: to “strengthen conditions for investment and trade … and cooperate across a range of sectors, including but not limited to transport, infrastructure, and energy to make both their economies more modern, resilient and prosperous.”
​  According to the intelligence leaks from Ukraine, the agreement includes a secret Appendix, which provides that after the end of hostilities, the UK would gain control of all of Ukraine's ports, power plants, natural gas deposits, storage facilities and pipelines, titanium deposits and more.
​  Apparently, Zelensky signed over these resources in exchange for the UK's commitment to Ukraine's security, support for her NATO membership and "no less than £3 billion a year," for "as long as needed to support Ukraine."​...
..According to Pravda News report on 17 January, Zelensky corroborated as much himself: in a video message on Telegram, Zelensky referred to the 100-year partnership stating that, “There is also a closed, secret part of this agreement,” which would add to Ukraine’s “resilience and the opportunity to develop.”​...
..It would appear that the British have already secured the lion’s share of Ukraine’s wealth, but it can’t protect it without the Americans doing the dirty work and all the heavy lifting. To get the Americans into the game, the British presented bait in the shape of the "rare earth minerals" deal to be implemented through some future fund from which the US will receive a portion of the proceeds. It is likely that this bait was contrived already in September of last year, when Zelensky first offered the deal to Trump.
​  Obviously, the arrangement has a massive downside for the United States: in addition to the cost in blood and treasure of providing security, there would also be the likelihood of a nuclear war with Russia.​   
https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/ukraine-rare-earths-deal-the-empires

​It's those bankers at work again, trying to get a war to part-out Russia so they'll collect the profits. Thanks Eleni. The agony of the “political West”​  by Thierry Meyssan
  I take the same elements, and many others that followed, to show that the divorce of Europeans from each other and of the EU from the United States has become a reality...
..The United Kingdom and France are competing to take the place of the United States on the continent and not to reform​...
..For the moment, the EU, the G7 and the G20 have not yet been dissolved, but these three structures are already dead. The World Bank and the United Nations could follow.
Let’s look back at these events, which happened so quickly that almost none of us followed them and understood their consequences​:
​  WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12
​  The major European powers (i.e. Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and the European Union), who feared what the Trump administration might decide, met in Paris on February 12 to develop a common position on the Ukrainian conflict. In this case, they agreed to continue what they have been doing for three years...
..Meanwhile, in Kiev, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent presented the US aid bill: $500 billion and proposed paying it by exploiting the rare earths of which the country is proud...  However, from a European point of view, what was going on was frightening: if the United States seized these so-called riches, they excluded the Europeans from benefiting from the sharing they had agreed upon. Without informing their fellow citizens, they shared Ukraine between them during its reconstruction: to the British, the ports, to the Germans, the mines, etc.​..
​..While Washington and Moscow were exchanging prisoners, the American presidents, Donald Trump, and Russian presidents, Vladimir Putin, spoke by telephone for an hour and a half. This summit was preceded by a conversation, in the Kremlin, between President Putin and Steve Wilkoff, President Trump’s special envoy who came to organize the prisoner exchange. Wilkoff had given his president a report on his mission that shattered everything NATO claimed to know about Ukraine.​   Both bosses now had the same information.​..
​..THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14
​  On February 14, the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, addressed the diplomatic and military elite of the EU at the Security Conference in Munich. He drew up an indictment against the autism of European leaders: They refuse to respond to the concerns of their fellow citizens in terms of freedom of expression and immigration. However, if they are afraid of their people, the United States will be able to do nothing for them, he asserted, making the president of the conference, the German ambassador Christoph Heusgen, cry.​..
​..MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17
​  A second meeting was held on February 17, still in Paris, with the same participants, plus Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and Mark Rutte, Secretary General of NATO. They agreed to stand together against Donald Trump and not to accept any questioning of Western policy towards Russia.​.. 
Also on February 17, the Ukrainian army attacked US, Israeli and Italian interests in Russia. It bombed facilities partially owned by Chevron (15%), ExxonMobil (7.5%) and ENI (2%). Around twenty drones caused serious damage to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which supplies Israel with Russian oil... The Europeans reacted no more to this operation than when the CIA sabotaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline (September 26, 2022), although it is owned not only by the Russian Gazprom (50%), but also by the Germans BASF/Wintershall and Uniper, the French Engie, the Austrian OMV and the British Royal Dutch Shell. This sabotage has thrown Germany into an economic recession...
​..TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18
​  The European powers learned with astonishment that, at their first meeting in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), on February 18, the US and Russian delegations agreed:
 to denazify and neutralize Ukraine,​ 
to respect the commitments made during German reunification and to withdraw NATO troops from all countries that joined the Atlantic Alliance after 1990.
​  President Trump had suddenly abandoned the plan of General Keith Kellogg, his special envoy for Ukraine, as it had been published in April 2024 by the America First Foundation. On the contrary, he had used the plan of his friend Steve Witkoff, special envoy for the Middle East, who had met Vladimir Putin in Moscow​...  Kellogg reasoned with NATO’s ideas, while Witkoff listened, heard and verified the validity of the Russian position.​..
..The European powers were quickly able to verify that the order to withdraw had been transmitted to certain US troops, in the Baltic countries and in Poland. The security architecture in Europe, that is to say the system ensuring peace, was destroyed...
​..WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19
​  On February19, EU ambassad​ors approved the 16th package of unilateral coercive measures (misleadingly called “sanctions” by Atlantic propaganda) against Russia. It was to be officially approved on 24 February by the Foreign Affairs Council on the occasion of the third anniversary of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.​..  Meanwhile, on the same day, February 19, President Donald Trump vented his anger at his unelected Ukrainian counterpart, calling him a “modestly successful comedian” and an “unelected dictator,” and then accusing him of provoking the wa​r...
​..SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22
​  Without waiting, Polish President Andrzej Duda went to Washington uninvited on February 22. He managed to meet President Donald Trump for ten minutes, not at the White House, but on the sidelines of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He asked him not to withdraw US troops from his country, giving Poland time to complete its military restructuring. Since Warsaw has already initiated a profound internal revolution by reestablishing universal military service and building a very large army, he managed to get him to postpone, not cancel, his order​...​  His Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, had promised in Paris not to negotiate separately with the United States.​  So, whatever one might say, the united front of the Europeans was broken. It had only lasted ten days.​..

​..MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24
​  On the third anniversary of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, on 24 February, Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, António Costa, President of the European Council and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, issued a completely out-of-place joint statement. In it, they called for “a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the Ukrainian peace formula”, meaning they stuck to the old narrative: there are no Nazis in Ukraine and Russia is the aggressor.​..
​..On the same day, French President Emmanuel Macron travelled to Washington, on behalf of all Atlanticist Europeans. Before receiving him, President Donald Trump had his chief of staff take him to a wing of the White House to participate in a G7 video conference that he was chairing… from another room.
​  For two hours, the heads of state and government of the G7, plus the Spanish Prime Minister and the unelected Ukrainian president, tried in vain to make their overlord relent. He would not budge: the Ukrainian conflict was not started by Russia, but by the Ukrainian fundamentalist nationalists hiding behind Zelensky alone.​..
..Donald Trump refused to sign the final communiqué prepared by the Europeans and announced to them that, if this text were published (it had already been distributed under embargo to journalists), he would deny it and his country would leave the G7.
​  Only after this scandal did he receive President Emmanuel Macron. The latter chose not to confront him, but to celebrate transatlantic friendship.​..
..Meanwhile, in New York, the UN General Assembly was debating a resolution proposed by Ukraine. It denounced “the total invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation” and demanded that it withdraw “immediately, completely and unconditionally all its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within the internationally recognized borders of the country and that the hostilities conducted by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, in particular all attacks against civilians and civilian objects, cease immediately.”
​  For the first time in history since World War II, the US delegation voted against a text, along with that of Russia, against those of Canada, the Europeans and Japan who approved it.​..
​..TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25
​  Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, travelled to Washington to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The meeting, which had been announced for a long time, was cancelled at the last minute by Mr Rubio’s secretariat, officially due to his overbooked schedule.​..  After EU members voted against the US at the UN, the Secretary of State refused to meet his European counterpart.
​  WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26
​  At a press conference in ​Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelensky assured on February 26 that without security guarantees from the United States and NATO, any peace agreement would be unfair and there would be no real ceasefire.
​  THURSDAY 27 FEBRUARY
​  Before leaving Washington, Kaja Kallas, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, gave a lecture at the Hudson Institute on February 27. She said: “We need to put pressure on Russia to also want peace. It is in a position where it does not want peace.”
​  Keir Starmer, British Prime Minister, went to the White House, carrying an invitation from King Charles III for a second state visit to the United Kingdom. Her Majesty’s diplomats believe that President Trump greatly enjoyed the premiere and that, given his pride, he would be sensitive to the pomp of the Crown.
​  During the two leaders’ press conference, President Trump...  expressed openness to the idea of the 25% tariff hike not affecting the United Kingdom and to London returning the Chagos Islands (including the Diego Garcia base) to Mauritius.
​  On the substance, Keir Starmer managed to renew his country’s "special relationship" with the United States.​..
..Meanwhile, US and Russian negotiators met for six and a half hours at the US Consulate General in Istanbul for a second round of negotiations, at a "technical level". It was not a question of progress on the substance, but of resolving problems that had been addressed by the ministers in Riyadh. Namely, the operating conditions of the respective embassies in Washington and Moscow, which President Joe Biden had considerably suspended and to which Moscow had responded identically.
​  FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28
​  The unelected Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, visited the White House on February 28. President Trump and Vice President Vance received him, not to listen to his version of events, but to sign an agreement on rare earths that Ukraine claims to possess.​.. 
​  The welcome press briefing will be remembered. The Western press was shocked by the altercation between President Trump and his guest...  During the fifty minutes of this press briefing, President Donald Trump constantly recalled that he was not aligned with either party, Russian or Ukrainian, but that he was negotiating with Russia to defend the interests of his country and, ultimately, for all of Humanity...  Volodymyr Zelensky has constantly accused Russia of aggression since 2014, of murders, kidnappings and torture. He even claimed that President Vladimir Putin had violated his own signature 15 times.​..
..It escalated when Vice President Vance noted that his guest’s narrative was “propaganda,” then returned to the charge, declaring of both versions of the facts: “We know you’re wrong!” Ultimately, President Trump noted that Ukraine was in bad shape and that his guest not only was not grateful for U.S. support, but did not want a ceasefire. Exasperated, he observed that Vladimir Putin had never violated his signature, neither with Barack Obama nor with him, but only with Joe Biden because of what the latter did to him. He then recalled the repeated false accusations made against Russia by President Biden.
​  SUNDAY, MARCH 2
​  British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Europe is “at a crossroads of history” as he welcomed to Downing Street the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Canada, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Romania, as well as the Turkish foreign minister, the NATO secretary general and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council.
​  The UK and France are competing to replace the US and guarantee peace on the European continent. Both countries are said to be prepared to guarantee the security of others with their nuclear weapons. However, no one seriously considers that these would be sufficient to ensure peace in the absence of serious conventional forces, which neither London nor Paris has.​..
​..After the meeting, which aimed to create a “coalition of the willing”, Keir Starmer said on behalf of all participants:
​  “Today I welcomed to London counterparts from across Europe, including from Türkiye, as well as the Secretary General of NATO and the Presidents of the European Commission, the Council of the EU and Canada, to discuss our support for Ukraine.
​  Together, we reaffirmed our determination to work towards a permanent peace in Ukraine, in partnership with the United States. Europe’s security is our primary responsibility. We will tackle this historic task and increase our investment in our own defence.​..   In addition, many of us have expressed our readiness to contribute to Ukraine’s security, including through a force of European and other partners, and will intensify our planning. We will continue to work closely together to advance next steps and make decisions in the weeks ahead.”
​  The participants in this summit have not changed their analysis of the Ukrainian conflict at all. They remain deaf to the United States and, as a result, no longer understand it. They managed to unite not to deploy a peace stabilisation force in Ukraine, but to protect critical infrastructure in western Ukraine or in similar strategic areas. They agreed not to make fragmented national efforts, but to take advantage of the economic power of the European Union (EU) by redirecting its recovery funds. They therefore convened a special European Council on March 6. However, to transform the EU from a common market to a military alliance, they will need not a majority, but the unanimity of the 27 Member States, including Hungary and Slovakia.
​  And yet, already, Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, has responded to the draft final declaration of the European Council by stressing that there are “strategic differences” between the EU states. He therefore advocates that there should be no written conclusions, because "any attempt to do so would project the image of a divided European Union."​   
https://www.voltairenet.org/article221886.html

​  Gilbert Doctorow,   Transcript of WION ‘Game Plan’​: Macron’s nuclear umbrella
The idea that Trump will remove the United States from NATO is a certainty.​ Russia has no interest in possessing the whole of Ukraine.​..
..His ​[Macron's] idea of France taking a leading role in the peace initiative for Ukraine by making available its boots on the ground in Ukraine to provide a security guarantee to whatever peace is arrived at — that is spun out of thin air and was completely ignoring the reality of the world we live in, which is that the Russians will not accept any, any foreign troops in Ukraine, as has been explicitly stated by President Putin and by his minister of foreign affairs, Lavrov...
..I can tell you, the Russians have been sniggering. The latest remarks are that Russia is not threatened in any way...
..The idea that Trump will remove the United States from NATO is a certainty.​ This is not something that may happen; it’s something that will happen. And the Europeans are bringing this down on themselves by their repeating collectively the disastrous mistake that Volodymyr Zelensky made in the Oval Office last Friday. That mistake is lèse-majesté. You do not insult, you do not challenge directly the opinions of the president of the United States before cameras, and expect to survive politically. Now, Europe has done that...
..I think that the people who are making these statements will be swept from power in the coming months. The net result of their present efforts to stand up directly to defy present-day United States will be the withdrawal of US participation in NATO, after which NATO is an absolutely hollow and useless instrument.
​  Therefore, by their actions today, which are– nominally the argument is that defending Ukraine means defending European security, the net result of what they are doing is a much more serious threat to European security, because it removes the Americans from the equation...
..As to standing up to Russia, once it is clear that Europe has no proper defense– which it hasn’t​... they simply don’t have the armaments, and without the United States, they have no overall capability to stand up to Russia– when that sinks in, then they or their successors in office will approach the Russians to do a general settlement and new security arrangements...
​..I do believe that at the end of the day, common sense will prevail, because what we’re seeing now is nonsense, not common sense. And Mr. Macron is among the leaders in the nonsense alliance. Everything that he says, yes, France arguably is the best positioned of European countries to provide a nuclear umbrella...   But they would not be suitable for extension of missile coverage across Europe, which is what, if I understand you properly, Macron’s argument seems to include.​.. Moreover, it ignores entirely Russia’s strategic developments in nuclear and non-nuclear weapons of destruction. It has with its hypersonic missiles the ability to decapitate all of the participating countries in any alliance directed against itself...
​..Europe needs some unifying theme. Europe is falling apart, for good reason. The European Union does not deserve to continue its [existence] in its present form, which is a dictatorship.
​  Ursula von der Leyen, seeing around her the completely cowardly leaders, so-called leaders, and parliamentarians coming from European countries has grabbed power and is using it in a way that is not foreseen in the European constitution. Therefore, Europe is falling apart. And the only way that Ursula and others like Macron and Starmer from outside the EU hope to keep Europe together is a unifying cry, “We have to save ourselves from Russia.” 
​  As I was saying, Russia has no interest in possessing the whole of Ukraine, not to mention moving west to Lisbon. It does not have the means and is not intending to expend its valuable resources, its funds and its arms to hold on to territory that is hostile to it.​ The rest of Ukraine is hostile to Russia, and always will be. So Russia doesn’t want to move west to the Dnieper, let alone to move into the hostile Baltic states, which have no economic or demographic value to anybody, or to Poland, which is a wonderland of political, what can I call them, they live in a Disneyland. They are, the Poles are wonderful people, and have a magnificent culture, but their political elites are as they were since the 18th century, out of touch with reality.   https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/03/07/transcript-of-wion-game-plan-macrons-nuclear-umbrella/

​  Pepe Escobar,  Paralyzed by acute dementia, Europe declares war on Russia all over again
Let’s start with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Road to Damascus moment:
​  “Frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers, the United States helping Ukraine and Russia, and it needs to come to an end”.​..

​..Now cut to panic. Total European panic.
​  Le Petit Roi, as popular in France as nighttime mosquitoes in a five-star beach resort, has declared that peace in Europe is only possible with a “tamed” Russia – and that Russia is a direct threat to France and Europe...
​..Le Petit Roi ​Napoleonically all but declared war on Russia. Well, the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of France would gladly agree that mini-Napoleon should be dispatched to the battlefields in the black soil of Novorossiya right away – where he would surrender in less than 5 minutes, waving a rainbow flag, as he realizes he’s about to be turned into an instant steak tartare.
​  Now couple this Moliere farce with the fate of the much larger, fatter, pan-European New Model Woke Army regimented by the Fuhrerin SS von der Lugen out of Brussels, allegedly to be financed to the tune of 800 billion euros – money that no one has, and would have to be loaned then repaid with sky-high extorsion interest rates to the usual international financial system vultures.​..

​..Sy Hersh conclusively proved that the Nord Streams were bombed under orders of the previous Crash Test Dummy regime in Washington. Now Nord Stream 2, at least, could be back in business via a not-so-secret U.S.-Russia deal involving Gazprom and American oligarchs.
​  All that while fanatics in Berlin assure right and left they want to explore every possible way to prevent the Nord Stream system from being repaired – because after all no one, especially the new BlackRock chancellor, can deviate from the official policy of destroying the German economy by all means necessary.​..
..Europe is geopolitically – and geoeconomically – dead and buried. No Teutonic Gods – complete with fat lady singin’ – will be able to resurrect it.​   https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/03/07/paralyzed-by-acute-dementia-europe-declares-war-on-russia-all-over-again/

Putin warns Europe against sabotaging US-Russia rapprochement​   http://www.defenddemocracy.press/putin-warns-europe-against-sabotaging-us-russia-rapprochement/

​  A top Canadian politician wants European nukes as protection from the US
After spearheading her own country’s sovereignty erosion, 
(​GalicianChrystia Freeland is suddenly militant about a supposed threat to its independence​   https://www.rt.com/news/613875-canada-eu-nukes-trump/

Macron’s Remarks on Possible Use of Nuclear Arms a Threat to Russia - Lavrov​   https://sputnikglobe.com/20250306/macrons-remarks-on-possible-use-of-nuclear-arms-a-threat-to-russia---lavrov-1121619968.html

​  Lavrov weighs in on US decision to halt intel sharing with Ukraine​  
Kiev cannot strike targets inside Russia without direct assistance from its Western backers, the foreign minister has said​   
https://swentr.site/news/613826-lavrov-us-intel-sharing-ukraine/

France Steps Up Its Military Intelligence To Ukraine After US Halt​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/france-steps-military-intelligence-ukraine-after-us-halt

'We Can't Stop Them' - Thousands Of Ukraine Troops Suddenly Face Encirclement In Russia's Kursk​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/we-cant-stop-them-thousands-ukraine-troops-suddenly-face-encirclement-russias-kursk

​ Here's why: The Russians repurposed a shut-off gas pipeline to move troops far behind Ukrainian lines, behind the backs of the northernmost Ukrainian forces, panicking them.  The Complete Defeat Of The Ukrainians On The Sudzha Direction Has BegunMilitary Summary 2025.03.09   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwRvsLpmeaQ

​  From a (timid) Russian academic:  A new American empire: Trump, Russia, and the end of globalism , Vasily Kashin, Political Science PhD
​  Trump’s return marks a fundamental shift in global power dynamics. The US is moving away from being a liberal empire and toward a more transactional, power-based foreign policy. For Russia, this means fewer ideological conflicts with Washington but continued competition in key areas like the Arctic.
​  For China, Trump’s policies present a direct challenge. The question is whether Beijing can adapt to a world where the US is no longer just containing it but actively trying to roll back its economic influence.
​  For Western Europe, the picture is bleak. The EU is losing its privileged status as America’s primary partner and is being forced to fend for itself. Whether it can navigate this new reality remains to be seen.
​  One thing is certain: The world is entering a period of profound transformation, and the old rules no longer apply. Trump’s America is rewriting the playbook, and the rest of the world will have to adjust accordingly.​   
https://swentr.site/news/613905-new-american-empire-trump-russia/

​ Gilbert Doctorow,  Latest news from Donald Trump
  Yesterday’s breaking news in The Financial Times included an article from their Washington correspondent James Politi telling us that:​  US President Donald Trump has threatened Russia with additional ‘large scale’ sanctions and tariffs, as he seeks to pile pressure on Moscow in an effort to broker a peace deal in Ukraine...
​..What these colleagues miss is that the latest threats to punish Russia were meant for the ears of Trump’s opponents, who are uninterested in the effectiveness of sanctions against Moscow and only want to hear that more sanctions are coming so that the Kremlin will finally be broken and submit to Washington’s will.  Put in simple language, what Trump was doing was neutralizing his enemies, nothing more.​   https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/03/08/latest-news-from-donald-trump/

Trump mulls pulling US troops out of Germany – Telegraph​   https://swentr.site/news/613891-trump-troops-from-germany/

EU ‘can’t afford’ to support Ukraine – Orban​   https://swentr.site/news/613854-eu-ukraine-aid-hungary/

​  EU seeking to bypass opponents of Ukraine aid – Kallas
The bloc is working on ways to continue providing Kiev with more military assistance despite Hungary’s opposition​   
https://swentr.site/news/613829-kallas-hungary-ukraine-aid/

​  Ð¢rump wants to sideline EU – Politico
The bloc is scrambling to prove its relevance without US support, the publication has claimed​   
https://swentr.site/news/613836-trump-wants-to-destroy-eu/

Freezing and choking Europeans:  New EU Carbon Market Set to Hit Households and Small Businesses​   https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/New-EU-Carbon-Market-Set-to-Hit-Households-and-Small-Businesses.html

​  US business wants easing of Russia sanctions
Priority areas include aviation, investment, banking, and luxury goods, Chamber of Commerce chief Robert Agee has said​   
https://swentr.site/russia/613853-us-business-easing-russia-sanctions/

​  Ukraine cut off from US satellite intel – media
Aerospace firm Maxar Technologies has reportedly blocked Kiev’s access to its services​   
https://swentr.site/russia/613879-ukraine-us-satellite-imagery-restriction/

High Level US-Ukraine Meeting Set For Riyadh After Zelensky 'Apologizes'​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/high-level-us-ukraine-meeting-set-riyadh-after-zelensky-apologizes

  ​What about Israel?  Trump calls for ‘getting rid’ of nuclear weapons
The US president has floated denuclearization talks with Russia and China​   https://swentr.site/news/613844-trump-getting-rid-nukes/

​  Poland should have its own nukes – PM
Donald Tusk made the state​ment just a day after calling for an arms race against Russia​   
https://swentr.site/russia/613882-poland-own-nukes-tusk/

​Biden wet-signed one document during his tenure:  Could a Bombshell Discovery Render All of Biden's Presidential Actions 'Null and Void'?   https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/03/06/bombshell-discovery-could-make-all-of-bidens-presidential-actions-null-and-void-n4937648

"NO DISSENT": Trump Asks "All Republicans" To "Give Us A Few Months" And Approve GOP Continuing Resolution​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/no-dissent-trump-asks-all-republicans-give-us-few-months-and-approve-gop-continuing

Obama Judge Indefinitely Blocks Trump Admin Funding Freeze, Says White House 'Put Itself Above Congress', Undermined Democracy​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/obama-judge-indefinitely-blocks-trump-admin-funding-freeze-says-white-house-has-put

How to get those budget cuts around the court:  Musk Fired-Up About Paul's Rescission Idea For Slashing Spending Up To $500 Billion​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/musk-said-be-elated-over-pauls-rescission-idea-slashing-budget-500-billion

​ Economic stimulus:  SSA Confirms Over $7.5 Billion In Retroactive Social Security Payments
​  Last week, the agency said that it will start paying retroactive payments to people whose benefits have been affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). Through March 4, “SSA has already paid 1,127,723 people more than $7.5 billion in retroactive payments,” the agency said in a March 4 statement. “The average retroactive payment so far is $6,710.”
​  The WEP and GPO provisions “reduced or eliminated the Social Security benefits for over 3.2 million people who receive a pension based on work that was not covered by Social Security (a non-covered pension).”
​  In January, former President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act (SSFA) which ended both GPO and WEP. Since the provisions no longer applied as of January 2024, millions of Social Security beneficiaries became eligible for retroactive payments.
​  “President Trump made it very clear he wanted the Social Security Fairness Act to be implemented as quickly as possible,” said Lee Dudek, Acting Commissioner of Social Security.​   
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ssa-confirms-over-75-billion-retroactive-social-security-payments

​  Trump begins CIA cuts – NYT
The firing process has reportedly started with the agency’s newest employees​   
https://swentr.site/news/613820-cia-trump-staff-cuts/

​  What happens to the Middle East if Russia and the US stop being enemies?​  
​  On Wednesday, the Kremlin said that future talks between Russia and the US would include discussions on Iran's nuclear programme. Spokesman Dmitry Peskoa appeared to acknowledge a report that Russia offered to mediate between the Islamic Republic and the Trump administration.
​  Trump says he wants a diplomatic deal with Iran over its nuclear programme. On Friday, he said he sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asking for talks.
​  The Obama administration, which tried its own so-called reset with Russia, leaned on the Kremlin during the 2015 nuclear talks.
“Obama gave Russia a lot of concessions for its mediation in the 2015 nuclear deal,” Anna Borshchevskaya, a Russia expert at the Washington Institute For Near East Policy, told MEE.​   
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/what-happens-middle-east-if-russia-and-us-stop-being-enemies

'Civil War Is Now Official' - Syria Erupts Into Worst Bloodshed Since Assad's Fall​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/civil-war-now-official-syria-erupts-worst-bloodshed-assads-fall

West-Backed Jihadists In Syria Massacre Over 1000 Alawite & Christian Men, Women & Children​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/uk-lifts-sanction-jolani-regime-syrian-army-barrel-bombs-civilians

​  Why Israel wants Syria to become a failed state​:​  Netanyahu is pursuing an expansionist agenda under the pretext of minimising any potential threats in the post-Assad era​   https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-israel-wants-syria-become-failed-state

For not trampling student's rights:  Trump Admin Axes $400 Million In Grants To Columbia University Over Antisemitism Inaction​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-admin-axes-400-million-grants-columbia-university-over-antisemitism-inaction

"Maximum Security For US": DoE Head Plans $20 Billion Refill Of Depleted SPR After Biden Drain​   https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/maximum-security-us-doe-head-plans-20-billion-refill-depleted-spr-after-biden-drain

Doing some ​public scientific research:  US CDC plans study into vaccines and autism, sources say​   https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-cdc-plans-study-into-vaccines-autism-sources-say-2025-03-07/

​Looking forward to Canadian Froot Loops ? :  RFK Jr. To Meet Leaders Of Processed Foods Industrial Complex   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rfk-jr-meet-leaders-processed-foods-industrial-complex

  Maybe a quick negotiated settlement on chemical additives and seed oils?  Something Huge for the MAHA Movement Is About To Happen​  
  What's particularly interesting about this whole situation is that the Consumer Brands Association—the very group representing these food giants—initiated the meeting proposal back in February.
​  This could be a sign they’re willing to do what it takes to make foods healthy again, or they’re going to play offense against the changes Kennedy wants to make. So what’s going to happen with to their precious seed oils and chemical additives? Will Big Food capitulate to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement?...
​..One thing's certain: Monday's meeting won't be your typical corporate kumbaya session. With Kennedy's track record of calling out food conglomerates for their role in increasing childhood chronic illnesses, these executives better bring more than their usual PR talking points to the table.​   https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/03/08/rfk-jr-makes-a-huge-move-to-make-america-healthy-again-n4937706

Meryl Nass MD,  Mandates for cattle and chicken vaccines are off the table and culling has decreased   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/mandates-for-cattle-and-chicken-vaccines

Free Range Gardener (pictured with onions and sprouting beans)