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Who profits from Pipeline Terror?

Posted by M. C. on October 1, 2022

If the hypothesis is correct, this was a glaringly anti-German operation, carrying the potential of metastasizing into an intra-NATO war.

Yet blowback will be inevitable – in unexpected ways – even as Europe becomes increasingly Ukrainized and even Polandized: an intrinsically neo-fascist, unabashed puppet of the US as predator, not partner. Vey few across the EU are not brainwashed enough to understand how Europe is being set up for the ultimate fall.

https://thecradle.co/Article/Columns/16307

By 

Pepe Escobar

The War of Economic Corridors has entered incandescent, uncharted territory: Pipeline Terror.

A sophisticated military operation – that required exhaustive planning, possibly involving several actors – blew up four separate sections of the Nord Stream (NS) and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) gas pipelines this week in the shallow waters of the Danish straits, in the Baltic Sea, near the island of Bornholm.

Swedish seismologists estimated that the power of the explosions may have reached the equivalent of up to 700 kg of TNT. Both NS and NS2, near the strong currents around Borholm, are placed at the bottom of the sea at a depth of 60 meters.

The pipes are built with steel reinforced concrete, able to withstand impact from aircraft carrier anchors, and are basically indestructible without serious explosive charges. The operation – causing two leaks near Sweden and two near Denmark – would have to be carried out by modified underwater drones.

Every crime implies motive. The Russian government wanted – at least up to the sabotage – to sell oil and natural gas to the EU. The notion that Russian intel would destroy Gazprom pipelines is beyond ludicrous. All they had to do was to turn off the valves. NS2 was not even operational, based on a political decision from Berlin. The gas flow in NS was hampered by western sanctions. Moreover, such an act would imply Moscow losing key strategic leverage over the EU.

Diplomatic sources confirm that Berlin and Moscow were involved in a secret negotiation to solve both the NS and NS2 issues. So they had to be stopped – no holds barred. Geopolitically, the entity that had the motive to halt a deal holds anathema a possible alliance in the horizon between Germany, Russia, and China.

Whodunnit?

The possibility of an “impartial” investigation of such a monumental act of sabotage – coordinated by NATO, no less – is negligible. Fragments of the explosives/underwater drones used for the operation will certainly be found, but the evidence may be tampered with. Atlanticist fingers are already blaming Russia. That leaves us with plausible working hypotheses.

This hypothesis is eminently sound and looks to be based on information from Russian intelligence sources. Of course, Moscow already has a pretty good idea of what happened (satellites and electronic monitoring working 24/7), but they won’t make it public.

The hypothesis focuses on the Polish Navy and Special Forces as the physical perpetrators (quite plausible; the report offers very good internal details), American planning and technical support (extra plausible), and aid by the Danish and Swedish militaries (inevitable, considering this was very close to their territorial waters, even if it took place in international waters).

The hypothesis perfectly ties in with a conversation with a top German intelligence source, who told The Cradle that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND or German intelligence) was “furious” because “they were not in the loop.” 

Of course not. If the hypothesis is correct, this was a glaringly anti-German operation, carrying the potential of metastasizing into an intra-NATO war.

See the rest here

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Can this liberal California couple handle their new life in Texas?

Posted by M. C. on September 30, 2022

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CBDCs Rising: Russia To Use Digital Ruble In Settlements With China

Posted by M. C. on September 30, 2022

This is how such vast changes to society are implemented without public input:  It’s all done to save us from “disaster.”

The fast progression of so many governments towards a cashless society is disconcerting because it could remove the last vestiges of free trade and anonymity from common markets.  Paper money might be fiat, but at least its private.  This is not the case with digital products of any kind.  

Tyler Durden's Photo

BY TYLER DURDEN

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/cbdcs-rising-russia-use-digital-ruble-settlements-china

It has become a regular occurrence within the mainstream media these days to suggest that ties between Russia and China have been “strained” over the conflict in Ukraine and that Russia may lose the support of its ally soon.  In most cases these reports are highly exaggerated and based on official comments that are taken completely out of context.  

After the recent meeting between Xi and Putin in Uzbekistan, very little was said by China in regard to Ukraine, other than some short and prefabricated appeals for peace and diplomacy.  Such comments are generally made for the sake of international appearances and have no bearing on China’s actual agreements with Russia.  There is no break in the alliance – The CCP doesn’t care about Ukraine, it cares about its own interests, and those interests include vast supplies of energy resources and other commodities purchased from Russia at a discount.

By extension, Russia/China trade relations have expanded greatly in the past several months alone with bilateral deals that completely remove the US dollar as the world reserve.  However, the frenzy of new trade arrangements and financial exchanges may be obscuring a much more important and far reaching event, which is the digitization of national currencies.

According to Russian lawmaker Anatoly Aksakov. Russia is currently pursuing such programs.

“The topic of digital financial assets, the digital rouble and cryptocurrencies is currently intensifying in society, as Western countries are imposing sanctions and creating problems for bank transfers, including in international settlements,” Aksakov said in an interview with Russia’s parliamentary newspaper.

“If we launch this, then other countries will begin to actively use it going forward, and America’s control over the global financial system will effectively end…”  

If we treat the Atlantic Council CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) tracker as a reliable reference, at least 100 countries around the world are now developing government backed digital currencies, with 11 countries already using them.  Often, CBDC programs are associated more with western central banks and it is assumed that digital currency mechanisms are purely a goal for western elites.  This is simply not the case. 

Russia and China are both intimately tied to the International Monetary Fund (with China a large part of the SDR global currency program), and Russia’s central bank appears to be operating directly in line with other banks in its development of CBDCs.  While their digital efforts could be chalked up to necessity after the nation’s removal from the SWIFT network, there are many central banks that are arguing in favor of digital mechanism as a solution to economic crisis.  This is how such vast changes to society are implemented without public input:  It’s all done to save us from “disaster.”

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Who’s Winning in Ukraine? George Orwell (and Baghdad Bob)

Posted by M. C. on September 30, 2022

Left wholly unsaid is if the Russians hold the plant and the Ukrainians want it back, exactly which side is doing the dangerous shelling? Are the Russians shelling themselves?

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/whos-winning-in-ukraine-george-orwell-and-baghdad-bob/

by Peter Van Buren

Score another point for author George Orwell as his masterwork 1984 continues to serve as an instruction manual for our society.

In the world of the future, war was a constant feature, though the sides changed frequently. Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia are the three fictional super nation states in George Orwell‘s 1949 dystopian novel. Using the government’s near-perfect control of the media and ability to rewrite history on the fly, whenever an old ally became the new enemy, everything was switched around to make it appear “Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.” Lies were the news. We are close to something similar with Ukraine, where it has become impossible to know who is advancing and who is retreating. The American media has become so entangled with the unreality of the war that Ukraine should have defeated Russia many times over and again by now.

Start with that nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhia. We are told the Russians hold the plant. We are also told by the Ukrainian side that a mass nuclear incident is ready to happen if the shelling of the plant does not cease. UN inspectors are on the ground to tsk tsk over what might happen if more bombs hit the plant and the cooling systems fail. Left wholly unsaid is if the Russians hold the plant and the Ukrainians want it back, exactly which side is doing the dangerous shelling? Are the Russians shelling themselves? Yet even while Ukraine attacks the plant the western media buy into the narrative that it is the Russia who are endangering all of Europe. It makes no sense but then again neither does the phrase “Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia” when you clearly still remember (but dare not say out loud) that last month you were sure the war was not with Eastasia but with Eurasia. And no matter the Russians have held the plant since March. Six months later it is time for this story to surface.

Articles wringing their hands over the danger openly mock our common sense, beginning by saying “The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv was quick to call the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant a ‘war crime.’” “We survived a night that could have stopped the story, the history of Ukraine, the history of Europe,” said Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. “An explosion at Zaporizhzhia would have equaled ‘six Chernobyls,’” he said, upping the odds by a factor of six with just words. But… but…

We are told the Ukrainians, when not not shelling the nuke plant, are engaged in a titanic offensive to recapture areas to the east previously taken by the Russians. None of it matters in the details, the tiny towns being fought over either strategic points when Ukraine captures them or unimportant hamlets when still held by Russia. Sources for this information are equally mocking, made-for-the-internet organizations like Kyiv Independent (Bodies Exhumed from Mass Grave Show Signs of Violence), The New Voice of Ukraine (World must be ready for Russia’s disintegration), Institute for the Study of War (Russia’s ‘strategic defeat’ could threaten his regime) or Ukrayinska Pravda (Ukrainian forces destroy Russian Mi-8 helicopter and kill over 120 Russian soldiers.) These sources have all the credibility of a late night infomercial — order within the next ten minutes and we’ll double the number of Russians claimed killed! There are also some curious patterns if you watch closely — when Zelensky stopped showcasing photos of kids with guns and old women making Molotovs the Russians stopped targeting “civilians” an apartment complexes.

See the rest here

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Watch “Jordan Peterson’s Vision for Conservatives | Part 1” on YouTube

Posted by M. C. on September 30, 2022

“Liberty” 9:30 is a good place to wet your appetite.

https://youtu.be/h2yHGcmhbEk

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Beware “Biden Bucks”

Posted by M. C. on September 30, 2022

This is an ad for a wealth preservation plan. I cannot comment on the veracity of the plan as I couldn’t make it that far through the ad. That said I believe the description of the horror that is Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is likely accurate.

You need only listen until the repetition starts.

https://pro.paradigmnewsletters.org/p/awn_bidenbucks_newlife_0722/PAWNY808/?h=true&s1=fc4f1d03-63e3-4cdd-a7ba-e6f8ddc68fa2&s2=wmph7lkukihbekdji3eckfl8

Beware “Biden Bucks”

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Your Credit Card is Spying on You!

Posted by M. C. on September 29, 2022

Each time we opt to pay with plastic, our data is shared by our banks, the card network, the store, the point of sale system, the retailer’s bank, our financial apps. And then all those entities share it with thousands more.

Do you think about that when the person in front of you at the wine shop uses card to pay for a full shopping cart? Don’t be fooled by PayPal style privacy claims.

Cash is king and that is why there is a war on cash.

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Grab the Negronis and the Aperol Spritz; it’s show time.

Posted by M. C. on September 29, 2022

In case of a – nearly inevitable – financial catfight cage match between Team Giorgia and Christine “look at my new Hermes scarf” Lagarde at the ECB, the European Central Bank will “forget” to buy Italian bonds and then, Auguri! Welcome to a new round of EU sovereign debt crisis.

Pepe Escobar

It’s tempting to interpret the Italian electoral results this past Sunday as voters merrily hurling a bowl of lush papardelle with wild boar ragu over the collective bland faces of the toxic unelected Euro-oligarchy sitting in Brussels.

Well, it’s complicated.

Italy’s electoral system is all about coalitions. The center-right Meloni-Berlusconi-Salvini troika is bound to amass a substantial majority in both the Parliament’s Lower House and the Senate. Giorgia Meloni leads Fratelli d’Italia (“Brothers of Italy”). The notorious Silvio “Bunga Bunga” Berlusconi leads Forza Italia. And Matteo Salvini leads La Lega.

The established cliché across Italy’s cafes is that Giorgia becoming Prime Minister was a shoo-in: after all she’s “blonde, blue eyes, petite, sprightly and endearing”. And an expert communicator to boot. Quite the opposite of Goldman Sachs partner and former uber-ECB enforcer Mario Draghi, who looks like one of those bloodied emperors of Rome’s decadence. During his Prime Ministerial reign, he was widely derided – apart from woke/finance circles – as the leader of “Draghistan”.

On the financial front that otherworldly entity, the Goddess of the Market, the post-truth equivalent of the Delphi Oracle, bets that PM Giorgia will insist on the same old strategy: debt-funded fiscal stimulus, which will turn into a blowout in Italian debt (already huge, at 150% of GDP). All that plus a further collapse of the euro.

So the big question now is who’s going to be Italy’s new Finance Minister. Giorgia’s party has no one with the requisite competence for it. So the preferred candidate shall be “approved” by the usual suspects as a sort of enforcer of “Draghistan lite”. Draghi, by the way, already said he’s “ready to collaborate”.

Marvels of gastronomy apart, life in the EU’s third largest economy is a drag. Long-term growth prospects are like a mirage in the Sahara. Italy is extremely vulnerable when it comes to the financial markets. So a bond market a-go-go selloff in the horizon is practically a given.

In case of a – nearly inevitable – financial catfight cage match between Team Giorgia and Christine “look at my new Hermes scarf” Lagarde at the ECB, the European Central Bank will “forget” to buy Italian bonds and then, Auguri! Welcome to a new round of EU sovereign debt crisis.

See the rest here

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How to Stop the Escalation to War

Posted by M. C. on September 29, 2022

By Thierry Meyssan

The Ukrainian conflict is turning into a war between the West on one side and Russia and China on the other. Each side is convinced that the other one wants its loss. And fear is a bad advisor. Peace can only be preserved if each side recognizes its mistakes. This must be a radical change, because today neither Western discourse nor Russian actions correspond to reality.

https://www.voltairenet.org/article218093.html

No political leader wants a war on his territory. When they do, it is usually out of fear. Each side fears the other, rightly or wrongly. Of course, there are always a few elements that push for a cataclysm, but they are fanatical and in the minority.

This is exactly the situation in which we find ourselves. Russia is convinced, rightly or wrongly, that the West wants to destroy it, while the West is identically convinced that Russia is conducting an imperialist campaign and will eventually destroy its freedoms. In the shadows, a very small group, the Straussians, want confrontation.

This is not to say that World War III is just around the corner. But if no political leader radically changes his or her foreign policy, we are walking directly into the unknown and must prepare for absolute chaos.

To clear up misunderstandings, we must listen to the narratives of both sides.

Moscow believes that the overthrow of democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych was a coup d’état orchestrated by the United States. This is the first point of divergence as Washington interprets the events as a “revolution”, the “EuroMaidan” or “Dignity” revolution. Eight years later, numerous Western testimonies attest to the involvement of the US State Department, the CIA and the NED, Poland, Canada and finally NATO.

The people of Crimea and Donbass refused to endorse the new power, which included many “integral nationalists”, successors of the defeated of the Second World War.

Crimea, which had already voted in a referendum to become part of the future independent Russia when the USSR was dissolved, six months before the rest of the Ukrainian Soviet Republic declared its independence, voted again in a referendum. For four years, Crimea was claimed by both Russia and Ukraine. Moscow argues that between 1991 and 1995, it and not Kiev was paying pensions and salaries of officials in Crimea. In fact, Crimea was always Russian, even if it was considered part of Ukraine. In the end, it was Russian President Boris Yeltsin who, in the midst of a severe economic crisis, decided to abandon Crimea to Kiev. However, Crimea then voted for a constitution recognizing its autonomy within Ukraine, which Kiev never accepted. The second referendum, in 2014, overwhelmingly proclaimed independence. The Crimean Parliament then called for the attachment of its state to the Russian Federation, which the latter accepted. To strengthen the continuity of its territory, Russia built, without consulting Ukraine, a gigantic bridge linking its metropolis to the Crimean peninsula across the Sea of Azov, effectively privatizing this small sea.
Crimea is home to the port of Sevastopol, which is indispensable to the Russian navy. The latter represented nothing in 1990, but became a power again in 2014.

The West recognized the Soviet referendum in Ukraine in 1990, but not the one in 2014. Yet the right of peoples to self-determination does apply to the Crimeans. The West argues that many Russian soldiers were present without wearing their uniforms. True, but the results of the two referendums in 1990 and 2014 were similar. There is no room for suspicion of fraud.

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There Is No Such Thing as Limited Government!

Posted by M. C. on September 29, 2022

By Gary D. Barnett

“The only idea they have ever manifested as to what is a government of consent, is this–that it is one to which everybody must consent, or be shot.”

~ Lysander Spooner

Certain idiocy should be put to rest, if any logic or understanding of real life is ever to be present in the minds of the mass herd. Yes, immediately this seems brutal, but sometimes, stark and unambiguous reality must be forthcoming in order to bring to light truths that are indisputable. The lie that there is such a thing as ‘limited government,’ is one of these bastardizations of ‘thought,’ that qualifies as absolute nonsense.

Even in its inception, this notion was presented and seeded in the minds of what are called citizens, by the very politicians and wealthy political backers of those politicians, whose singular goal was to create an unlimited federal (national) central governing system, that required all to participate whether they agreed to or not. In fact, not one average citizen from the beginning of this country until today, has ever signed and agreed to any contract (Constitution) requiring any government to exist. To accentuate the absurdity of such a claim that this or any government is limited, the only acceptance of any agreement to create a government was by the political criminals themselves who drew up the blueprint to obtain unlimited power.

I could site a thousand situations that refute the lie that any ‘limited government’ ever has or could exist, but only one is really necessary; and that is the state’s falsely claimed power to tax. All taxation is criminal and immoral, because it is forceable theft, and taxation is based on taxing all so-called ‘private’ property, and throughout all of society. The very first power given in the first Article of the heinous Constitution; Article 1, Section 8, the ‘Powers Clauses,’ is this:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

This initial power stated, written, and implemented by the political class, with the ‘assumed,’ not written, consent of the governed, gives unlimited taxing power to the federal government. In and of itself, such a pronouncement of power negates freedom entirely, and is overwhelming evidence that the first order of business of the founding tyrants was the unlimited ability to steal by force the property of ‘its’ citizens. There is no limit in this language, and even if there was, it would be worthless because the government retains the power to change it at will with only a majority vote by the few legislators holding power over everyone in the country, in what was ludicrously labeled, a ‘representative republic.’ What poppycock.

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