Organizing Notes

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....

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The collapsing US military & economic empire is making Washington & NATO even more dangerous. US could not beat the Taliban but thinks it can take on China-Russia-Iran...a sign of psychopathology for sure. @BruceKGagnon

Saturday, April 02, 2022

The Nazi war on Russian-ethnics

 



Patrick Lancaster is an American journalist who has been covering the Nazi killing of Russian ethnics in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine since 2014. 

It is ethnic cleansing - the Nazis hate Russian-ethnics. 

The US-NATO has been arming, training and directing the Nazis as 'shock troops' to destabilize and demonize Russia.

And this is why Russia finally stepped in to rout the Nazis. They've been trying the diplomatic course since Washington's orchestrated coup d'etat in 2014 but to no avail. Despite long-time intense shuttle diplomacy, in the end France, Germany, Brussels (NATO HQ), Britain and Washington betrayed Russia by talking peace but pushing the Ukraine Nazi-led army to continue attacking the Donbass.

One thing the Russians understand is the Nazi ideology. They lost 27 million citizens at the hands of the Nazi's during the Hitler invasion of the former Soviet Union during WW II.

Bruce 


History lesson: Mark Twain, American Imperialism and War in the Philippines

 


 

By Nathan Bernardo

It started in 1898 with the Spanish-American War. America entered the war to wrest the Philippines from Spain because the US wanted a foothold in trade in Asia, particularly with China, and feared European and Japanese domination of commerce in the region. Under the pretext of helping Filipinos in their war of independence against Spain, the US fought Spain and bought the Islands from the Spanish and then fought the Filipino insurgents who still wanted independence.

And Mark Twain was absolutely furious.

Mark Twain's View of the War


At first, Twain believed the war to be a humanitarian one. Like America had done against the English crown, the Filipinos were now doing against their Spanish colonial masters; they wanted to be freed from the yoke of colonial subjugation. While the US did not keep Cuba in the deal with Spain, America did opt to retain control of the Philippines, for economic reasons. When Twain saw the tide turning to pure business interests and not humanitarian ones, he spoke out vehemently.

One of the things that outraged Twain was the underhanded way that Filipino revolutionary leader, General Emilio Aguinaldo, was captured. Aguinaldo's men were starving and promised food by American soldiers; instead, they were forced to lead American forces to Aguinaldo where he was subsequently captured.

 



As the war dragged on, the brutality of American forces became more dramatic. In letters home, soldiers compared shooting Filipinos to hunting rabbits and referred to Filipinos as the N-Word. Back home, the Filipinos were thought of in the same way Americans thought of African-Americans. Understand, this was a time when the Ku Klux Klan were considered heroes and that Americans believed in the spread of Anglo-Saxon America; in fact, American was equated with white skin.

When a group of American soldiers slaughtered a group of 600 Filipino men, women and children who had taken refuge and were trapped in a volcano, Twain was incensed. In his autobiography he wrote scathingly of the hypocrisy and brutality of America's actions.

Friday, April 01, 2022

Rubles For Gas 'Most Serious Blow' To American Interests

 



    Putin’s demands for rubles may transform the global economic system


By Paul Antonopoulos (Independent geopolitical analyst)

European countries were stunned by Russia’s demand that gas be paid in rubles as they seemingly expected the Eurasian country to be sanctioned and locked out of Western financial mechanisms without retaliation. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 31 that he had signed a decree forcing buyers from “unfriendly countries” to pay for Russian gas in rubles from April 1, warning that contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.

Although the companies and governments of “unfriendly countries” have rejected the move as a breach of existing contracts, which are set in euros or dollars, French economy minister Bruno Le Maire said his country and Germany were preparing for a possible scenario that Russian gas flows are halted – something that would plunge Europe into a full-blown energy and economic crisis.

Although the halt of gas supplies to Europe could see Gazprom lose about half of its profits and reduce investment, it will have an even greater negative consequence on the European energy sector. Europe will not be able to quickly replace Russian gas with LNG supplies from the United States and Qatar, and as a result, European gas prices could rise to $5,000 per 1,000 cubic meters or even higher, which will force a consumption reduction and hit the economy.

Charles Michel, head of the Council of Europe, presented the EU Programme on ensuring energy security. He stressed that eliminating dependence on Russian energy sources is at the heart of the program as, according to him, it is necessary to quickly get rid of Russian carbon hydrogen and then fossil fuels in general.

However, it is clear that even without the current global energy crisis caused by the lack of gas supplies, it would still be impossible to find a short to medium term solution to replace Russian sources. In this way, EU states, the UK, the US and other listed unfriendly countries will have no choice but to engage in rubles trade if they want to continue receiving Russian energy and not let their economic situations worsen.

Speaking about changes in the global economic system following sanctions and Russia’s responses to the financial hostilities, Serbian geopolitical analyst Borislav Korkodelovic said: “IMF and World Bank data also show that it is becoming increasingly easy for the rest of the world to reject the demands of the West because it is no longer as economically omnipotent as it once was.”

“Even when it comes to nominal GDP, the difference between the BRICS countries on the one hand, and the EU and the US on the other, is narrower (24% to 30% before the pandemic and now it is even smaller). When the GDP is calculated relative to the parity of purchasing power, the stakes have already been replaced: 45% to 44.1% in favor of BRICS.”

For his part, Serbian lawyer Branko Pavlović said that Russia, China and India had a key part in building a new global economic system that is more equitable, as it should have been after the Second World War.

 


“This is a fight for a whole new international relationship and a return to multilateralism with respect to the sovereignty and equality of states, as envisioned after World War II, but now with incredible economic momentum to the general benefit. Everyone around the world understands that America and the West have been exploitative so far. We are now witnessing a new internationalism of liberation,” said Pavlović.

This sentiment was shared by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov who said that BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will be at the center of a new world order and stressed that the demand for rubles “is not a change in the terms of [energy] contracts,” but rather “a protection of Russian interests.”

It is this very drive to protect Russian interests that has forced Putin’s hand to demand rubles for energy. In fact, sanctions against Russia have only forced an accelerated change to the global economic system as de-Dollarization is being explored by nearly every major non-Western country.

Alfredo Jalife-Rahme, a Mexican political scientist, said that London, Washington and Beijing agree that there is a weakening of globalization. He stressed that “Moscow’s demand that your gas is paid in rubles” is an example of “the dismantling of the globalized model in the energy framework.”

Jalife-Rahme also explained that “the financial globalization with the predominance of the dollar generated annual profits of 1 trillion dollars for the United States, about 10% of the global GDP. The change of this paradigm may be one of the most serious blows of the Ukrainian situation to American interests.”

The West thought that it could economically collapse Russia, ignoring that sanctions failed to topple Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad, Iran’s Ayatollah’s, Kim Jong-Un and Nicolás Maduro. Rather, sanctions have only forced an acceleration of the de-Dollarization of the global economy. In effect, the demand for rubles for gas is pushing forward a multipolar and more equitable global economic system.

Four signs a US-Gulf 'divorce' is in the making

 


 

The rapid-fire 'messages' directed at Washington from old Persian Gulf allies are brutal, and strongly suggest that the days of US hegemony are done


By Abdel Bari Atwan


If any good has come out of the Ukraine war for the Arab world, it is the diminished status and influence of the US in West Asia. Washington is losing many of its traditional allies in the region, especially in the Persian Gulf, and this trend looks like it will accelerate.

Four recent developments illustrate this.

First, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s visit to the UAE on Friday. The warm welcome laid on for him by its leaders was a slap in the face of the US administration, its strongly stated objections to the visit, and its sanctions aimed at de-legitimizing the Syrian government.

Second, the growing defiance of US hegemony by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, OPEC’s two largest oil producers. Most notable was their rejection of US President Joe Biden’s pleas to increase oil production in order to push down prices and provide extra supplies to enable western sanctions of Russian oil and gas imports.

Third, the failure of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s visit – on Washington’s behalf – to Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, where he conveyed veiled threats to the two countries should they fail to toe the western line on Ukraine, join in imposing economic sanctions on Russia, or break their oil production agreements with it.

Fourth, Saudi Arabia’s invitation to China’s President Xi Jinping for an official visit and Riyadh’s openness to pricing its oil sales to Beijing in yuan. This signals that the kingdom and possibly other Gulf states may be willing to join the new global financial system Russia and China are developing as an alternative to the western one.

Of the four developments, the reception accorded to President Assad in Abu Dhabi and Dubai was the clearest sign of this Gulf rebellion against the US and its domination. The visit didn’t need to take place now; that it did shows more about the mood in the Gulf centers of power than anything else.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have reportedly declined to receive US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is keen to follow up Johnson’s visit to try to succeed where he failed.

Instead, in a snub seen around the world, the UAE’s foreign minister Sheikh Ahmad Bin Zayed visited Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The public show of bonhomie they displayed was bound to rub salt into the American wound.

The timing of Assad’s trip – on the 11th anniversary of the start of the US-led war on Syria aimed at toppling its government, and three weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine – and the UAE’s indifference to the angry US reaction, are further signs of the start of divorce proceedings with an abusive partner that fleeces and cheats on its allies.

Assad’s visit to the UAE provided important gains for both countries and their leaders. It broke Syria’s official isolation in the Arab world and heralded the breaking of the US embargo imposed on the country. This caps a broader process of Arab ‘normalization’ which is set to see Damascus regain its membership of the Arab League and role in collective Arab decision making, and take part in the Arab summit to be held in Algiers in November.

This bold step also benefits the UAE in many ways. It helps offset the hugely negative impact on its image that resulted from its signing of the so-called Abraham Accords and enthusiastic courtship of the Israeli enemy.

Building bridges of trust and cooperation with the Axis of Resistance via Syria, Iran’s closest ally, could also help the UAE and Saudi Arabia find ways out of their quagmire in Yemen. It may be no coincidence that Riyadh is proposing to host an all-party Yemeni dialogue and has officially invited the Houthi Ansarullah movement to take part.

In short, what we are seeing today are manifestations of a revolt against US hegemony in the Arab world by the axis of Arab ‘moderation’ led by the Egyptian-Emirati-Saudi trio. It is open for other Gulf and Arab states such as Iraq, Algeria, and Sudan to join should they wish. This new axis may take clearer shape at the Algiers summit in the fall.

The process of Arab normalization with Israel is bound to slow down. It is the most grievous error that normalizing countries – old and new – could have made, and should be halted completely. But there is optimism in this regard, as turning against the US also implies turning against Israel.

Meanwhile, Assad’s presidential plane, which over the past decade has only flown to Moscow and Tehran, looks set to do a lot more traveling in the coming weeks and months. Its next destination after Abu Dhabi could be Riyadh or Cairo, despite the best efforts of the US to bar its way. 

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Eye witness to Nazi terror

 


 
Eva K Bartlett interviews:


While in Donetsk a few days ago, I met RT journalist Roman Kosarev, who has been based in the Donbass republics, covering Ukraine's war on the people, a war ignored by Western media and politicians. 

Where did you learn what you think you know about Russia?

 


The story is that at the time of the Bill Clinton administration, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was running for re-election. The polls were showing that he was going to lose to the Communist Party candidate. Clinton sent his favorite political operative Dick Morris, along with a boatload of $$$, to bail Yeltsin out. The imperialist trick was successful.

We hear alot of unproven claims that Russia helped Trump win his election over Hillary Clinton. But in fact Washington has had its dirty hands deep inside of Russian politics since the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

We have developed a very distorted view of Russia and Vladimir Putin. It's been going on so long that few in the US could tell you where they learned what they 'think' they know about Russia. 

It's just part of the air we breathe. It's the dark wallpaper in our lives. And many across the west believe all that they have been led to think. It is called indoctrination and propaganda - served up by a CIA infiltrated western corporate media.

One would imagine that if the Russian people were not happy with their government they would have long ago found a way to replace their current president. But at this moment his favorability ratings are approaching 80%. Joe Biden would be thrilled with numbers that good - his rating is currently at 40% and likely declining as each day he has to walk back another nonsensical statement.

 


The US has long been out to force regime change in Russia. Now, thanks to another slip of the tongue by Biden, it is in the public mind. But as many around the world frequently state, 'We knew that already'.

Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and he writes:

The U.S. got its war in Ukraine. Without it, Washington could not attempt to destroy Russia’s economy, orchestrate worldwide condemnation and lead an insurgency to bleed Russia, all part of an attempt to bring down its government. Joe Biden has now left no doubt that it’s true.
Once hidden in studies such as this 2019 RAND study, the desire to overthrow the government in Moscow is now out in the open.

One of the earliest threats came from Carl Gersham, the long-time director of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Gershman, wrote in 2013, before the Kiev coup: “Ukraine is the biggest prize.” If it could be pulled away from Russia and into the West, then “Putin may find himself on the losing end not just in the near abroad but within Russia itself.”

David Ignatius wrote in The Washington Post in 1999 that the NED could now practice regime change out in the open, rather than covertly as the C.I.A. had done.

The RAND Corporation on March 18 then published an article titled, “If Regime Change Should Come to Moscow,” the U.S. should be ready for it. Michael McFaul, the hawkish former U.S. ambassador to Russia, has been calling for regime change in Russia for some time.

This is one of the key fake stories the west tells - 'Putin wants to remake the former Soviet empire'. But in reality Russia this year is spending $65 billion on its military while the Pentagon's budget is $1 trillion (when you add up all the hidden pots of gold like nuclear weapons in the Dept. of Energy budget). Add NATO member military spending to the US numbers and it is well over 60% of the global total. The real story is always on the other side of the mirror.

 

If we are honest with ourselves we will recognize that the US-NATO have been in the regime change business ever since the end of WW II. For example, the secret Operation Gladio was used by Washington-Brussels to create terrorism to ensure that no Communists came to power in Italy when polls showed they were likely to win. The US-NATO in 1999 (again during Bill Clinton's time in office) broke Yugoslavia into pieces and Washington opened up a large military base called Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. 

Then there was US-NATO take down of Iraq and Afghanistan that were followed by Libya - which today has open slave markets. No 'democracy' in any of those nations. 

The 'North Atlantic Alliance' is still trying to destroy Syria, but Russia was asked by the Syrian government for help - which is legal under international law.

The same treatment was slated for Russia but Putin and the Russian people understood the score and refused to cave in to western pressures. Now out of desperation the US-NATO has pushed this war in Ukraine (actually under way since before 2014) onto the world stage and made a hero out of the T-shirt wearing Zelensky - who is nothing more than an actor reading a script handed to him by his public-relations handlers. 

Zelensky is presently calling on the world to ban the letter 'Z' that Russia paints on its military equipment. I guess we'll have to call him 'elensky' from now on....

One key element that runs through all of the US-NATO regime change operations since the early 1990's is the unrelenting demonization of a leader. This tactic has two purposes - reduce the support for a particular nation's leader inside their own country and brainwash the public globally so that when the US-NATO make their move to overthrow the 'new Hitler' people have become anesthetized to the operation and fall into line.

This is what is happening today with Russia. Ukraine is just a tool - a US 'exceptionalist' sword that the west uses to drive into the heart of Russia. It's illegal, immoral and dare I say - purely evil.

Sadly few (even many so-called 'progressives') pay enough attention to events around the world to really know what has been actually happening in Ukraine during the past eight years. Some who are out on the streets waving the blue and yellow flag because they feel the pain of war, also feel the need to join the accepted crowd. Most people don't have the gumption to go against the prevailing corporate media hype and regime change agenda.

The big difference between Russia and most of the rest of the other nation's that were regime-changed in recent years is that Moscow has the ability to stand their ground and fight back. And they will - the Russians know that the western resource extraction corporations want to bust their country into smaller bits so their vast natural resource base can be stolen. One could say, it is an old story for the proud Russian people.

 

 

In the past 500 years, Russia has been invaded several times from the west. The Poles came across the European Plain in 1605, followed by the Swedes under Charles XII in 1707, the French under Napoleon in 1812, and the Germans—twice, in both world wars, in 1914 and 1941. Every 100 years the west makes its move and fails. 

Now here we are in 2020 and the Modus Operandi of the west is in full ugly display. Most people don't appear to recognize that we are living in the midst of aggressive fascist states throughout the west.

When will the brainwashed masses in the west say STOP the US-NATO bullshit? 

Hopefully before it is too late....

Bruce

Wednesday, March 30, 2022

The other side of war

 


 

In Mariupol - it is said that 80% of the city have been cleared of the Azov death squads.

'British Bullshit Corporation' Whitewashes Ukrainian Nazis



The Orwellian reality of the Beeb should make it the world’s “most busted” propaganda outlet

 

By Finian Cunningham

There is no Nazi presence in Ukraine, the Azov Battalion are merely excellent fighters, and Russian claims of denazifying the regime are cynical falsifications to justify aggression, according to the BBC.

In a sneaking way, one has to admire the aplomb of the British Broadcasting Corporation which promotes itself as one of the world’s “most trusted” news brands. While it smears and sneers at Russian news media as “state-owned” and “Kremlin propaganda machines”, the BBC is itself 100 percent state-owned and totally aligned with British government and NATO propaganda aims. That propaganda includes distortion and fabrication presented with the arrogant assertion of being independent news information.

Propaganda, old chap, is something that the Russians do. But not the British Bullshit Corporation. Oh no, heaven forbid, we’re British after all… fair play, objective, cricket, stiff-upper-lip, London Calling, fight them on the beaches, and so on, all the self-admiring epithets of a self-declared benign empire.

And so in a recent broadcast, the BBC’s ever-so smug Ros Atkins had the brass neck to assure viewers that there were no Nazis in Ukraine. He said it was a myth concocted by the Kremlin as a pretext for its military intervention in Ukraine. Atkins downplayed the Azov Battalion as having some far-right members who were negligible. He also claimed that the Azov Battalion was formed to defend Ukraine from Russia’s aggression that began in 2014. The BBC’s distortion of the 2014 coup in Kiev is astounding.

The BBC’s barefaced denial of Azov and others Nazi regiments in the Ukrainian military stands in jarring contrast to the well-documented facts. Images of torchlit processions honoring Stepan Bandera and others Ukrainian SS collaborators, images of Nazi flags, Nazi salutes, and Nazi insignia are abundant. Azov leaders like Andrey Biletsky and Olena Semenyaka openly pay homage to the Third Reich.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky may be Jewish and purportedly have relatives who died in the Holocaust. But he is owned by the Nazi brigades. His PR value as a Jewish face for the regime is a big asset (thanks CIA, MI6!). But it doesn’t change the fact that the Ukrainian military is a fascist force that waged a terror war against the Russian-speaking people of Southeast Ukraine for eight years since 2014 – killing 14,000 – until it was stopped by Russia’s intervention on February 24.

 



No wonder the BBC is covering for Azov when the British Ministry of Defense is training and arming their fighters, along with other NATO states.

In the same BBC broadcast, Atkins told viewers that the Russian army had bombed the Mariupol maternity hospital and the Mariupol theater resulting in civilian deaths. No evidence, no images of dead bodies. Just assumption of trust us, because, after all, “this is the BBC”. (Both claims were soon debunked as simple Western disinformartion.—Eds)

Here the corporation goes from denial about the Azov and Nazis to actually promoting their propaganda lies. That’s because the BBC is employing and relying on Ukrainian journalists who are affiliated with far-right politics.

Civilians fleeing from Mariupol have testified to independent news organizations that the Azov fighters detonated both the hospital and the theater in a false-flag operation designed to smear Russia and to bolster NATO support for the Ukrainian regime.

What the BBC is doing here is echoed by U.S. media like CNN, NBC, and others. It is also a replay of how they reported on Syria where they accused the Syrian army and Russian allies of bombing civilians. The reality was that towns and cities like Aleppo were being held under siege by Western-backed mercenaries and their propagandists in the White Helmets who carried out false-flag atrocities. The BBC would tell viewers that the Syrian army and Russia were killing civilians when in reality the civilians were being liberated from a reign of terror. The same is happening with the Azov and other Nazis in Ukraine whom the BBC, CNN, etc., are whitewashing and promoting.

Ask yourself: why does the BBC no longer report from Syria? What about all those hysterical claims of war crimes against civilians when the Syrian army and Russia were liberating towns and cities? Why hasn’t the BBC followed up to interview Syrian civilians to find out how they feel about being liberated? The same BBC “journalists” are too busy spinning the next propaganda war for the British government and NATO in Ukraine.

This year marks the centennial anniversary of the “Beeb” as it is affectionately known. It was founded by the British government as a propaganda service. Earlier names included the British Empire Service. Up until recently, members of staff were vetted by MI5, the British state intelligence service. They no doubt still are, only now even more hush-hush covertly. By law, every British household must buy a TV license (£159 per year) to support the financing of the BBC. Failure to do so results in criminal prosecution and even jail.

The Orwellian reality of the Beeb should make it the world’s “most busted” propaganda outlet. But then again that’s what is so Orwellian about the BBC. It still retains a wholesome image for many people around the world. Even when the whitewashing of Nazis in Ukraine is its latest star turn.
 

~ Finian Cunningham is a leading geopolitical commentator. Former editor and writer for major news media organizations. He has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages.

Imagine this.....

 


 

EU feeling the crunch of its own sanctions

 


By Paul Antonopoulos (Independent geopolitical analyst)

Western countries and their closest allies imposed new sanctions on Moscow after Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on February 24 in what Moscow calls a special military campaign to demilitarise the NATO-aspiring country. Although the EU enthusiastically followed Washington’s lead in engaging in an economic war with Russia, the harsh realization of sanctions are beginning to set in, with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis telling CNN on March 25, when referring to rising energy costs, that “Europe must be very careful not to allow them [sanctions] to harm Europe more than Russia.”

A similar sentiment was shared by German economist Aika Hamer, who said that the EU could face backlash from anti-Russian sanctions and warned that if the German economy collapses, then the whole of Europe will fall apart.

“If the German economy collapses because of these measures, then the whole of Europe will fall apart,” he said. “We may face the fact that diesel fuel or gasoline will cost €4-5 or even €6 per liter. We may also face the fact that most Europeans will no longer be able to afford to drive. Without this, the great prosperous West is nothing more than an illusion.” Hamer also noted that the losers in this situation “will be the middle class and the poorest people in Germany, Europe and the United States.”

Hamer’s warning comes as fuel prices have already reached unprecedented heights and broken different records in the US, the UK and across different EU countries. German motorists have been hit at the pump by the skyrocketing fuel prices — forking out €2.14 for a liter of gasoline and at one point in March paying as much as €2.25 per liter for diesel, thus making it more expensive than gasoline for the first time in history despite government subsidies.

It is recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on March 23 that the transfer of gas supply payments from so-called unfriendly countries will from now on be conducted in rubles in light of Russia’s exclusion from SWIFT, and effectively from the US Dollar. The demand for rubles was the obvious outcome as it made no sense to supply energy to the EU and the US whilst receiving payments in their own currency that Moscow in turn cannot use or face having frozen.

For her part, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU will not allow the payment of Russian gas in rubles as it is, in her view, “a unilateral decision and a clear breach of contract. We will not allow our sanctions to be circumvented. The time when energy could be used to blackmail us is over.” At the same time, she announced a new partnership between the EU and the US, which involves providing more American liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the bloc as a replacement for Russian gas.

 



However, it was naïve for the Europeans to believe that Russia would tolerate such a situation where they are excluded from Western financial mechanisms but are expected to continue receiving payments in Dollars and Euros. In this way, the main aim of wanting rubles for energy is to support the national currency against such pressure.

Although von der Leyen speaks bravely about replacing Russian LNG with the 15 billion cubic meters (15 bcm) of LNG that Washington had pledged, it does nothing to stop European countries from buying an additional 150 bcm of Russian natural gas that is delivered via pipeline.

“Europe has an import capability that is limited, and they don’t have any additional infrastructure that is going to come online,” Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, told VOA regarding greater LNG use in Europe. “Infrastructure that’s currently operational is basically running at capacity right now, and I would expect that it will run at capacity for the remainder of this year.” He added that coming into 2022, the amount of gas held in storage by European countries was well below recent averages, making the continent especially vulnerable to potential supply disruptions.

In effect, in the drive to wean off Russian energy, it will be the West’s Middle Class and poorest who will be most affected by drastically rising costs. At the same time, gas storage amounts throughout 2022 will be at a high-risk level, meaning that if there is a disruption in the supply or there is another unexpected global event akin to a pandemic or to the magnitude of the conflict in Ukraine, it very well could be the case that the EU has allowed sanctions to harm Europeans more so than Russia. Already rising energy and food costs suggests that average European citizens are already suffering.

Surviving the British colonizers

 


 

Prince William and Kate were in the Caribbean to mark Queen Elizabeth's platinum jubilee. 

The visit has was criticized as a PR disaster by royal watchers in Britain. 

Palki Sharma tells you why the Caribbean is not buying this royal cringe. 

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Chechen's save civilians, carrying out family in Mariupol

 


  

Chechen's requested to Russian military that they be given the most dangerous job of clearing the city of Mariupol. They have lots of experience navigating inner-urban combat from their own time in the Chechen war.

The CIA was key in stirring up the Chechen war that cost many lives - one more failed attempt by Washington-Brussels to create a festering sore along the vast Russian border. 

Ukraine forces attack civilians in Donetsk

 


 

American journalist Patrick Lancaster has been covering the US-NATO-Ukraine war on the Donbass for the past 8 years.....

Western sanctions impact wheat distribution

 


Written by Piero Messina

Particularly at risk are countries already struggling with crises and widespread food insecurity such as Yemen, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Syria. In Egypt, in the face of rising prices and the prospect of a rapid depletion of stocks, President al-Sisi announced new incentives for the agricultural sector and for controlling the price at the sale. Also imposed a three-month ban on the export of oil, corn, legumes, pasta and flour. The crisis also wears down the finances of the country that is looking for new loans. The North African country would only have nine months to see its grain reserves dry up due to a halt to supplies from Ukraine.

Egypt, for example, imports about 85% of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine. The spokesman for the Cairo government, Nader Saad, raised the problem by recalling that the available reserves are used to meet internal needs for only five months.

    “There are 14 countries besides Russia and Ukraine that can supply grain to Egypt outside of Europe, including Australia, the United States and Paraguay,” Saad added. “But not at the same price.”

See the entire article here 

Monday, March 28, 2022

Hear from the people whose homes were bombed

 


 

Video has English subtitles

At the six minute mark in the video people start unloading about how the Nazis in Mariupol were destroying the entire city by firing shells at their housing.

I am certain that the western mainstream media is showing photos of these burned out apartment blocks and blaming Russia for them.

I'll take the word of these citizens who have no reason to tell anything except what they know and what they experienced.

Bruce 

We have to reconcile!

 

US and NATO military bases in Hungary

 

 Statement of the Hungarian Community for Peace

 

It is a sad sight of how Western civilization confronts its own values ​​and denies others what it demands for itself. Military conflict could have been avoided if the West had guaranteed Russia's security and not wanted to enforce its own. 

Moscow has made it clear what to expect if its security is not guaranteed. Ukraine is not the cause but the consequence of aggressive Western behavior, and its people are the main victims of anti-Russian politics. 

A collective security system is needed in Europe! We want this to be understood not only in Washington and Brussels, but also in Buda Castle [Royal Palace in Budapest] as soon as possible! It is not enough to say, "we will not allow Hungary to be plunged into the war", but it is also necessary to ensure that we are not plunged into it! 

With the deployment of foreign troops in Hungary and the handover of NATO forces and weapons in our territory and airspace, the words of our government are at odds with his actions. If we want to prevent Hungarian blood from flowing for foreign interests again, we must recognize Russia's legal right to security, and we must agree with it on mutual guarantees of security. We must not be allowed to fall victim to our own allies like Ukraine! 

We must confront anti-Russian sentiment, incitement to hatred against the peoples of the East. We need to reach an agreement with Russia so that we can live and develop in peace! Compromise is not only a national interest, but also a pan-European requirement.
 

~ Simó Endre, Budapest, 27 March 2022  

Latest Global Network Space Video

 


 

What's the newest branch of the armed forces, the Space Force, doing in 2022?  

Video by Will Griffin.

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Lavrov speaks the truth

 


 

Russia is facing a total war declared by the West, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on March 25. 

"The goals are not hidden, they are declared publicly - to destroy, break, annihilate, strangle the Russian economy, and Russia on the whole," he said, speaking at a meeting with the board of trustees of the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund. 

But despite Western efforts, Russia won't be isolated, Lavrov stressed.

The US is working hard to pressure China to renounce Russia and to join the US-EU in placing harsh sanctions on Moscow. China refuses. 

We often hear US-NATO talking heads say that the 'whole world' is with the US in sanctioning Russia. What is never reported in mainstream media is that besides China the following list are just some of the nations not joining the US economic war on Moscow. 

Mexico, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Iran, Thailand, India, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Serbia, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Malaysia, Vietnam, Burundi, Senegal, South Sudan, Uganda, Mali, Mozambique, Syria, North Korea, Eritrea, and Pakistan.

What this list shows me (again this is not all of the nations refusing to sanction Russia) is that when you add up their combined population figures (compared to the US and Europe) they are the majority of the global population. 

But why are they staying neutral or actively supportive of Russia? I think it should be fairly clear to us that the vast majority of these nations have had lots of experience for hundreds of years of brutal colonization by the UK, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, and the US. They have not historically had much ability to stand up to these western, white colonizers.

Russia (facing US-NATO's loaded gun pointed at its head) has been pleading for years for secure borders but the arrogant west has disdainfully ignored Moscow's honest pleas. Continual NATO expansion, and the 2014 US sponsored coup d' etat in Ukraine, have essentially forced Russia to reluctantly take a stand. It is generally my opinion that much of the colonized world sees Russia and China as nations that are not bowing before the global bullies - Mr. Big as I like to label the capitalist corporate western oligarchies.

Bruce

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