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Media outlets tend to make it sound as if all our economic problems are temporary problems, related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In fact, world crude oil production has been falling behind needed levels since 2019. This problem, by itself, encourages the world economy to contract in unexpected ways, including in the form of economic lockdowns and aggression between countries. This crude oil shortfall seems likely to become greater in the years ahead, pushing the world economy toward conflict and the elimination of inefficient players.
To me, crude oil production is of particular importance because this form of oil is especially useful. With refining, it can operate tractors used to cultivate crops, and it can operate trucks to bring food to stores to sell. With refining, it can be used to make jet fuel. It can also be refined to make fuel for earth moving equipment used in road building. In recent years, it has become common to publish “all liquids” amounts, which include liquid fuels such as ethanol and natural gas liquids. These fuels have uses when energy density is not important, but they do not operate the heavy machinery needed to maintain today’s economy.
In this post, I provide an overview of the crude oil situation as I see it. In my analysis, I utilize crude oil production data by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) that has only recently become available for the full year of 2021. In some exhibits, I also make estimates for the first quarter of 2022 based on preliminary information for this period.
[1] World crude oil production grew marginally in 2021.
Crude oil production for the year 2021 was a disappointment for those hoping that production would rapidly bounce back to at least the 2019 level. World crude oil production increased by 1.4% in 2021, to 77.0 million barrels per day, after a decrease of -7.5% in 2020. If we look back, we can see that the highest year of crude oil production was in 2018, not 2019. Oil production in 2021 was still 5.9 million barrels per day below the 2018 level.
With respect to the overall increase in crude oil production of 1.4% in 2021, OPEC helped bring this average up with an increase of 3.0% in 2021. Russia also helped, with an increase of 2.5%. The United States helped pull the world crude increase down, with a decrease in production of -1.1% in 2021. In Section [5], more information will be provided with respect to crude production for these groupings.
[2] The growth in world crude oil production shows an amazingly steady relationship to the growth in world population since 1991. The major exception is the decrease in consumption that took place in 2020, with the lockdowns that changed consumption patterns.
Figure 2 indicates that, up through 2018, each person in the world consumed an average of around 4.0 barrels of crude oil. This equates to 168 US gallons or 636 liters of crude per year. Much of this crude is used by businesses and governments to produce the basic goods we expect from our economy, including food and roads.
A big downshift occurred in 2020 with the COVID lockdowns. Many people began working from home; international travel was scaled back. The reduction of these uses of oil helped bring down total world usage. Changes such as these explain the big dip in crude oil production (and consumption) in 2020, which continued into 2021.
Even in 2019, the world economy was starting to scale back. Beginning in early 2018, China banned the importation of many types of materials for recycling, and other countries soon followed suit. As a result, less oil was used for transporting materials across the ocean for recycling. (Subsidies for recycling were helping to pay for this oil.) Loss of recycling and other cutbacks (especially in China and India) led to fewer people in these countries being able to afford automobiles and smartphones. Lower production of these devices contributed to the lower use of crude oil.
On Figure 2, there is a slight year-to-year variation in crude oil per capita. The single highest year over the time period shown is 2005, with 2004 not far behind. This was about the time many people think that conventional oil production “peaked,” reducing the availability of inexpensive-to-produce oil.
[3] Crude oil prices dropped dramatically when economies were shut in, beginning in March 2020. Prices began spiking the summer and fall of 2021, as the world economy attempted to open up. This pattern suggests that the real problem is tight crude oil supply when the economy is not artificially constrained by COVID restrictions.
An analysis of price trends suggests that most of the recent spike in crude prices is due to the tightness of the crude oil supply, rather than the Ukraine conflict. The Brent oil price dropped to an average of $14.24 in the week ending April 24, 2020, not long after COVID restrictions were enacted. When the economy started to reopen, in the week ending July 2, 2021, the average price rose to $76.26. By the week ending January 28, 2022, the average price had risen to $90.22.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The Brent spot price on February 23, 2022, was $99.29. Brent prices briefly spiked higher, with weekly average prices rising as high as $123.60, for the week ending March 25, 2022. The current Brent oil price is about $107. If we compare the current price to the price the day before the invasion began, the price is only $8 higher. Even compared to the January 28 weekly average of $90.22, the current price is $17 higher.
Saying that the Ukraine invasion is causing the current high price is mostly a convenient excuse, suggesting that the high prices will suddenly disappear if this conflict disappears. The sad truth is that depletion is causing the cost of extraction to rise. Governments of oil exporting countries also need high prices to enable high taxes on exported oil. We are increasingly experiencing a conflict between the prices that the customers can afford and the prices that those doing the extraction require. In my view, most oil exporting countries need a price in excess of $120 per barrel to meet all of their needs, including reinvestment and taxes. Consumers would prefer oil prices under $50 per barrel to keep the price of food and transportation low.
[4] Food prices tend to rise when oil prices are high because products made from crude oil are used in the production and transport of food.
History shows that bad things tend to happen when food prices are very high, including riots by unhappy citizens. This is a major reason that high oil prices tend to lead to conflict.
[5] Quarterly crude oil data suggests that few opportunities exist to raise crude oil production to the level needed for the world economy to operate at the level it operated at in 2018 or 2019.
Figure 5 shows quarterly world crude oil production broken down into four groupings: OPEC, US, Russia, and “All Other.”
Figure 5 shows four very different patterns of past growth in crude oil supply. The All Other grouping is generally trending a bit downward in terms of quantity supplied. If world per capita crude oil production is to stay at least level, the total production of the other three groupings (OPEC, US, and Russia) needs to be rising to offset this decline. In fact, it needs to rise enough that overall crude production growth keeps up with population growth.
Russian Crude Oil Production
The data underlying Figure 5 shows that up until the COVID restrictions, Russia’s crude oil production was increasing by 1.4% per year between early 2005 and early 2020. During the same period, world population was increasing by about 1.2%. Thus, Russia’s oil production has been part of what has helped keep world crude production about level, on a per capita basis. Also, Russia seems to have made up most of its temporary decrease in production related to COVID restrictions by the first quarter of 2022.
US Crude Oil Production
Growth in US crude oil production has been more of a “feast or famine” situation. This can be seen both in Figure 5 above and in Figure 6 below.
US crude oil production spurted up rapidly in the 2011 to 2014 period, when oil prices were high (Figure 3). When oil prices fell in late 2014, US crude production fell for about two years. US oil production began to rise again in late 2016, as oil prices rose again. By early 2019 (when oil prices were again lower), US crude oil growth began to slow down.
In early 2020, COVID lockdowns brought a 15% drop in crude oil production (considering quarterly production), most of which has not been made up. In fact, growth after the lockdowns has been slow, similar to the level of growth during the “growth slowdown” circled in Figure 6. We hear reports that the sweet spots in shale formations have largely been drilled. This leaves mostly high-cost areas left to drill. Also, investors would like better financial discipline. Ramping up greatly, and then cutting back, is no way to operate a successful company.
Thus, while growth in US crude oil production greatly supported world growth in crude oil production in the 2009 to 2018 period, it is impossible to see this pattern continuing. Getting crude oil production back up to the level of 12 million barrels a day where it was before the COVID restrictions would be extremely difficult. Further production growth, to support the growing needs of an expanding world population, is likely impossible.
OPEC Crude Oil Production
Figure 7 shows EIA crude oil production estimates for the total group of countries that are now members of OPEC. It also shows crude oil production excluding the two countries which have recently been subject to sanctions: Iran and Venezuela.
If Iran and Venezuela are removed, OPEC’s long-term production is surprisingly “flat.” The “peak” period of production is the fourth quarter of 2018. The fourth quarter of 2018 was the time when the OPEC countries were producing as much oil as they could, to get their production quotas as high as possible after the planned cutbacks that took effect at the beginning of 2019.
Strangely, EIA data indicates that production didn’t fall very much for this group of countries (OPEC excluding Iran and Venezuela), starting in early 2019. The 2019 cutback seems mostly to have affected the production of Iran and Venezuela. It was only later, in the first three quarters of 2020, when COVID restrictions were affecting worldwide production, that crude oil production for OPEC excluding Iran and Venezuela fell by 4 million barrels per day. Production for this group then began to rise, leaving a shortfall of about 900,000 barrels a day, relative to where it had been before the 2020 lockdowns.
It seems to me that, at most, production for the group of OPEC countries excluding Iran and Venezuela can be ramped up by 900,000 barrels a day, and even this is “iffy.” Iraq is reported to be having difficulty with its production; it needs more investment, or its production will fall. Nigeria is past peak, and it is also having difficulty with its production. The high reported crude oil reserves are meaningless; the question is, “How much can these countries produce when it is required?” It doesn’t look like production can be ramped up very much. Furthermore, we cannot count on continued long-term growth in production from these countries, such as would be needed to keep pace with rising world population.
Figure 8 suggests that, indeed, Iran might be able to raise its production by perhaps 1.0 million barrels a day when sanctions are lifted.
Venezuela looks like a country whose crude oil production was already declining before sanctions were imposed. The cost of production there was likely far higher than the world oil price. Also, Venezuela has oil debts to China that it needs to repay. At most, we might expect that Venezuela’s production could be raised by 300,000 barrels per day in the absence of sanctions.
Putting the three estimates of amounts that crude oil production can perhaps be raised together, we have:
- OPEC ex Iran and Venezuela: 900,000 bpd
- Iran: 1,000,000 bpd
- Venezuela: 300,000 bpd
- Total: 2.2 million bpd
The shortfall of crude oil production in 2021, relative to 2018 production, was 5.9 million bpd, as mentioned in Section [1]. The 2.2 million barrels per day possibly available from this analysis gets us nowhere near the 2018 level. Furthermore, we have nowhere to go to obtain the rising crude oil production required to support the rising population with enough crude oil to supply food and industrial goods at today’s consumption level.
[6] Eliminating, or even reducing, Russia’s crude oil production is certain to have an adverse impact on the world economy.
Figure 9 shows the step-down in crude oil production that occurred in early 2020 and indicates that the world’s oil supply is having difficulty getting back up to pre-COVID levels. If Russia’s crude oil production were to be eliminated, it would make for another step-down of comparable magnitude. Major segments of the economy would likely need to be eliminated.
[7] When there isn’t enough crude oil to go around, the naive belief is that oil prices will rise and either more oil will be found, or substitutes will take its place. In fact, the result may be conflict and elimination of segments of the economy.
Our self-organizing economy will tend to adapt in its own way to inadequate crude oil supplies. Eventually, the economy may collapse completely, but before that happens, changes are likely to happen to try to preserve the “better functioning” parts of the economy. In this way, perhaps parts of the world economy can continue to function for a while longer while getting rid of less productive parts of the economy.
The following is a partial list of ways the economy might adapt:
- Fighting may take place over the remaining crude oil supplies. This may be the underlying reason for the conflict between NATO and Russia, with respect to Ukraine.
- COVID lockdowns indirectly reduce demand for crude oil. A person might wonder whether the current COVID lockdowns in China are partly aimed at preventing oil and other commodity prices from rising to absurd levels.
- Some organizations may disappear from the world economy because of inadequate funding or lack of profitability.
- Additional supply lines are likely to break, allowing fewer types of goods and services to be made.
- The world economy may subdivide into multiple pieces, with each piece able to make a much more limited array of goods and services than is provided today. A shift toward the use of other currencies instead of the US dollar may be part of this shift.
- World population may shrink for multiple reasons, including poor nutrition and epidemics.
- The poor, the elderly and the disabled may be increasingly cut off from government programs, as total goods and services (including total food supplies) fall too low.
- Europe could be cut off from Russian fossil fuel exports, leaving relatively more for the rest of the world.
[8] Countries that are major importers of crude oil and crude oil products would seem to be at significant risk of reduced supply if there is not enough crude oil to go around.
Figure 10 shows a rough estimate of the ratio of crude oil produced to crude oil products consumed in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic. On an “All Liquids” basis, the US ratio of crude oil production to consumption would appear higher than shown on Figure 10 because of its unusually high share of natural gas liquids, ethanol, and “refinery gain” in its liquids production. If these types of production are omitted, the US still seems to have a deficit in producing the crude oil it consumes.
Perhaps all that is needed is the general idea. If inadequate crude oil is available, all of the countries at the left of Figure 10 are quite vulnerable because they are very dependent on imports. Russia and the Middle East are prime targets for countries that are desperate for crude oil.
[9] Conclusion: We are likely entering a period of conflict and confusion because of the way the world’s self-organizing economy behaves when there is an inadequate supply of crude oil.
The issue of how important crude oil is to the world economy has been left out of most textbooks for years. Instead, we were taught creative myths covering several topics:
- Huge amounts of fossil fuels will be available in the future
- Climate change is our worst problem
- Wind and solar will save us
- A fast transition to an all-electric economy is possible
- Electric cars are the future
- The economy will grow forever
Now we are running into a serious shortfall of crude oil. We can expect a new set of problems, including far more conflict. Wars are likely. Debt defaults are likely. Political parties will take increasingly divergent positions on how to work around current problems. News media will increasingly tell the narrative that their owners and advertisers want told, with little regard for the real situation.
About all we can do is enjoy each day we have and try not to be disturbed by the increasing conflict around us. It becomes clear that many of us will not live as long or well as we previously expected, regardless of savings or supposed government programs. There is no real way to fix this issue, except perhaps to make religion and the possibility of life after death more of a focus.
A society in tumult is ripe for destruction.
‘The masses have never thirsted after truth,’ wrote Le Bon. ‘They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. An individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand, which the wind stirs up at will.’
Facts are as nothing to crowds, which function via a kind of collectivised imagination, operating off images and the slogans which evoke them.
‘A crowd,’ Le Bon elaborates, ‘thinks in images, and the image itself calls up a series of other images, having no logical connection with the first. . . . A crowd scarcely distinguishes between the subjective and the objective. It accepts as real the images invoked in its mind, though they most often have only a very distant relation with the observed facts.’
https://johnwaters.substack.com/p/covid-totalitarianism-the-deification?s=r
norm mike – he’s talking about you guys…. are you offended? He’s pretty much calling you guys mindless rabble… I am sure you don’t see it that way… members of the rabble possess great conviction and intensity …
And I quote:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
‘The present epoch is one of these critical moments in which the thought of mankind is undergoing a process of transformation. Two fundamental factors are at the base of this transformation. The first is the destruction of those religious, political, and social beliefs in which all the elements of our civilisation are rooted.’
https://johnwaters.substack.com/p/covid-totalitarianism-the-deification?s=r
Yes.. yes…. hard core p or on demand… and now we have men with dongles competing against women … checking into women’s prisons (and impregnating females).. if a man says he’s now a woman he’s a woman.. (what if he says he’s a chicken???)… a supreme court judge (nor anyone else) can now define what a woman is…. children being told to ask daddy about his boners… young girls taught to diddle with cucumbers and carrots… drag queen high school teachers prancing about on a stage in front of their students (as the students clap to the music)… did I mention hook up apps – you swipe right and you meet in a back alley to mount up???
The social fabric is being unravelled .. like cutting the elastic inside a golf ball…
Tsk, tsk you forgot Joe Bidet’s “pup handler”. He’s the one watching over the spent fuel rods in the US of A.
Oh THAT guy… there is some message there… putting a complete incompetent in charge of the most dangerous things on the planet… they are telling us — it doesn’t matter… may as well be nobody in charge
‘The ascendancy of crowds,’ wrote Le Bon, ‘indicates the death throes of a civilisation.’ The upward climb to civilisation is an intellectual process driven by individuals; the descent is a herd in stampede. ‘Crowds are only useful for destruction.’
These symptoms are manifesting now, perhaps as never before, in our once free Western world, in a process substantively resembling mass hypnosis, as a collective psychological response to the unrelenting, single-focus campaign of fear to which we have all been subjected for a year and a half. Indeed, we may now have reached a stage in this process that even Le Bon did not anticipate, for now the mesmerisers have available to them tech and techniques he could scarcely have envisaged. Using electronic means, it is infinitely easier to convert the individual to the collective mindset than if he were a member of an actual physical crowd. The advent of social media has made the present situation not merely possible, but possibly inevitable.
https://johnwaters.substack.com/p/covid-totalitarianism-the-deification?s=r
Adelaide university researchers push insect diet as sustainable food source
https://twitter.com/backtolife_2022/status/1519375656492150784
Insects surely beat grains, sugar, and vegetable oils by a country mile when it comes to nutrition and health promotion. don’t be so pessimist, Michael. They also taste good.
DEATH by VAX
https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/in-memory-of-those-who-died-suddenly-a78
https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/in-memory-of-those-who-have-died-aae
https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/in-memory-of-those-who-died-suddenly-fba
https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/in-memory-of-those-who-died-suddenly-c52
https://palexander.substack.com/p/young-children-teenagers-do-not-just
https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffd29388f-dd31-46c4-be11-94900618ec45_1018x1056.jpeg
Oh darn… I need to get the injection so I don’t get another dose of covid.. oh hang on …. the injection makes me more likely to get covid hahahahaha ….
Pass…
Millions of people living and farming in the desert, what could go wrong?
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/the-multistate-battle-over-the-colorado-river.html
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/socal-water-shortage-emergency-declared-outdoor-watering-restricted/
The story I have read is that researchers looked at a 50-year period that happened to be the wettest 50-year period in history when deciding how to allocate the Colorado River water. The amount of water available keeps changing. Our formula didn’t consider that outcome.
Am I reading this correctly, Germany took over a Russian company and I assume its assets? It then tried to used the seized assets to pay for purchased gas. Russia apparently said no, they would not take back assets that were essentially their own.
“Russia’s major gas bank rejected a payment from a trading firm that Germany seized from Moscow’s control, the first sign of friction following the take-over amid a broader regional energy dispute,” according to Bloomberg.
Gazprombank is indicating it rejected some April and May gas deliveries payment – even though it was made in rubles per Russia’s firm request – on the basis that the German government previously took over Gazprom PJSC’s German subsidiary as part of sanctions enforcement.]
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/four-european-gas-buyers-fold-russian-demands-pay-gas-rubles
Is Russia playing chess and the West checkers?
It took a long time to build our civilization and I think it is a very good one despite the shortcomings. It appears we have a great many policy wonks who take themselves too seriously. It is curious so many have become so disconnected from realty, wishing does not make it so.
Dennis L.
Now we have a new version of the problem.
Reuters: “European leaders decry ‘blackmail’ as Russia shuts off gas to Poland and Bulgaria” (because they did not make payments and the EU stole 300+ billion Euros from Russia on top).
I hate this idiocracy where these headlines are taken at face value rather than universally ridiculed.
From the countries that gave the world slave islands. To be fair, they are not that exceptional. Life functions through violation and exploitation. People have been socialised to ‘believe’ that modern bourgeois states are something different to that, but they are not and neither do they really perceive themselves as such, it is just socialisation for ‘citizens/ subjects’ so that they behave themselves in their exploitation. So, the arrogance is to be expected, and it is liable to become more open in the West. They have been totally arrogant to the rest of the world, all the time anyway. The comfortable illusions are disappearing in Europe. ‘Everyone is a total ****’ is much closer to the truth.
“I am going to set your flag on fire.”
LOL
Heartland pool stores affected by national chlorine shortage
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) – Getting necessary items for your pool this summer could be a struggle this summer, again. Heartland pool companies say there is another chlorine shortage.
“COVID was in 2020 and here we are 2 years later and still having issues with getting products,” Justina Richardet, worker with American Pools in Cape Girardeau said.
Richardet said their shelves are low on one important item: chlorine.
“Now that services have started in other pool companies it’s very difficult to get chlorine shock,” Richardet said.
https://www.kfvs12.com/2022/04/27/local-pool-stores-affected-by-national-chlorine-shortage/
a most troubling sign of the apocalypse: green, slimy pools.
I wonder about supplies that are being used to make drinking water potable.
Ideal conditions for the creature of the swamp. Eddy?
http://themostimportantnews.com/archives/chronic-shortages-of-a-few-items-now-will-evolve-into-chronic-shortages-of-hundreds-of-products-later-in-2022
Chronic Shortages Of A Few Items Now Will Evolve Into Chronic Shortages Of Hundreds Of Products Later In 2022
Michael Snyder
The article mentions chlorine as a problem already.
Michael Synder made an interesting comment in another of his post. He said what we are eating today was from last years harvest. What we will eat next year is from this years harvest and that with the growing shortages and droughts could make life very interesting. Asians love their rice, it’s their staple food and that could be a problem for them next year as well.
Wind Power’s ‘Colossal Market Failure’ Threatens Climate Fight
Turbine makers reel from soaring costs, changes in subsidies
Chinese companies could grab more of market as rivals stumble
The Wind of Change in Energy Jobs
The Wind of Change in Energy Jobs
ByWill Mathis, Ryan Beene, and Josh Saul
April 25, 2022, 5:00 AM EDT
Optimism abounds about the future of wind power, with a clean-energy boom powering robust growth in an industry that businesses and governments agree is key to slowing climate change. But a nagging problem could keep the sector from fulfilling that promise: Turbine makers are still struggling to translate soaring demand into profit.
Wind power heavyweights Vestas Wind Systems A/S, General Electric Co. and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA are reeling from high raw material and logistics costs, changes in key clean-power subsidies, years of pressure on turbine prices and an expensive arms race to build ever-bigger machines.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-25/wind-power-s-colossal-market-failure-threatens-climate-fight
This is a link to the earnings call transcript for GE.
https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2022/04/26/general-electric-ge-q1-2022-earnings-call-transcri/
Vaccines may promote hepatitis.
Among the hypotheses about the causes of acute liver disease affecting children are adenoviruses.
Maurizio Federico (Istituto Superiore di Sanità – Ministry of Health) declares that the prophylaxis against Covid through vaccines (experimental vaccines..) may have facilitated the emergence of mutant viruses
https://www.laverita.info/i-vaccini-potrebbero-favorire-le-epatiti-2657212469.html
In my view, punishment to children has a biblical reminescence.
It is the punishment to humans’ hubris, greed and sense of superiority.
If it is like that, it is unfortunately a terrible and appropriate punishment.
In the news also here:
‘Hepatitis in children, possible correlation with (experimental..) vaccines’
https://www.ilparagone.it/attualita/epatiti-nei-bambinipossibile-correlazione-con-i-vaccini-lallarme-dellesperto/
> Vaccines may promote hepatitis.
Another good reason I haven’t had one for a while!
Elites and big cities choose Macron, countryside chooses Le Pen.
https://www.laverita.info/elite-e-grandi-citta-scelgono-macron-campagne-e-periferie-votano-le-pen-2657211129.html
This sounds like the kind of split we have in the US. The big city candidates favor the candidates promise something for everyone. Black lives matter is a slogan. The rural areas want the more conservative candidates.
In addition, from what I know about France, visiting the Countries many times (and it is very beautiful), in the big cities one can find most of the immigrants, while in the Countryside one can find people from France since a long ago.
Not a qualitative judgment, but just a fact.
Maybe it is also the same in US.
I’ve heard an opinion by a journalist who declares that according to him, Macron has won thanks to immigrants’ votes.
But this is something I would like to have more info about, although I think that it is possible.
Well, it would not be that surprising if nearly all immigrants voted against Le Pen. If even 15% vote unanimously then there is a ‘window’ within which their votes will decide the result – in a similar sense to which any other 15% may ‘decide’ it.
Older voters were the least likely to vote for Le Pen, and more likely to vote than any other group, so it could be said that they ‘decided’ it. Social class also tends to affect voting patterns. But it certainly narrows the ‘window’ that Le Pen has to win it.
A lot can change in the future, especially if the economy tanks.
It could also be said that Le Pen defeated herself by choosing a platform that would not win a majority democratic mandate. It is all a matter of perspective. We all know how democracy ‘works’, and how people produce interpretations depending on their agenda.
Le Pen chose to say that she would ban Islamic headscarves in public, on the eve of the elections. She is going to make her platform about hats, headwear – whatever!
She indicated that her platform was basically about having a go at a particular minority group. She could have talked about ritual food preparations, but that would drawn in other groups – or about religious headwear in general, but she wanted to focus on Muslims.
So, that was her choice, no one forced her to adopt that platform on the eve of the election. Ultimately it has to simply be said that she tried to become president and she failed to do so. Ultimately that is on her. Certainly that is a ‘reasonable’ interpretation.
Why did she lose? Because she failed to produce a platform that would gain majority support. That is how elections work. 101.
It was the same split in the race of 1896! Some things never change.
It was not the meat that made humans
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2115540119
“Our observations undercut evolutionary narratives linking anatomical and behavioral traits to increased meat consumption in H. erectus, suggesting that other factors are likely responsible for the appearance of its human-like traits.”
The control of fire allowed for cooking food. This certainly played a major role in the evolutionary changes of humans.
There may have been earlier fortuitous events as well. One female researcher has suggested that pre-humans learned to crack the femur of dead animals and eat the marrow from the bones. This provided additional caloric density, very early, even before the control of fire.
Ok who feels sick looking at this? I do I do https://t.me/TommyRobinsonNews/35021
Administering Vaccines “Opportunistically” While Patients Undergo Sedation For Unrelated Procedures
Craig Kelly, the leader of the United Australia Party, responds to advice issued by the Australian Government Department of Health
(https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022/04/atagi-advice-on-use-of-sedation-for-covid-19-vaccination_1.pdf) regarding vaccinating sedated people:
“Vaccines may also be administered opportunistically while patients are undergoing sedation for unrelated procedures.”
👉 Watch on Rumble (https://rumble.com/v11z73e-administering-vaccines-opportunistically-while-patients-undergo-sedation-fo.html)
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61227225
BBC News (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-61227225)
Crews tackle ‘ferocious’ fire at Harlow sausage factory
A worker at Riverway Foods says everyone managed to get out safely as smoke is seen across town.
The article “Administering Vaccines “Opportunistically” While Patients Undergo Sedation For Unrelated Procedures,” is an Australian approach. Amazing what people will come up with.
Total madness
Vaxxing when sedated/unconscious!
Basically, it’s assault and battery, and attempted manslaughter…..
I’m thinking … if someone in this house needed emergency surgery …. I’d explain to the doctor in advance … that if the person woke up and had a sore arm – and I found a needle puncture… that make no mistake… I will skin his kids alive… and I would do that – then run the Bat Mobile into the rock cut afterwards.
I believe many hospitals have resident students conduct exams on sedated patients without consent before surgery so what’s another procedure?
You mean they take the opportunity to diddle the more attractive patients while they are sedated?
Without consent? Hmmmm…
And you see nothing wrong with injecting an experiment into someone without consent?
At least you are consistent…. but that’s not saying much
But Stevens is right, doctors have been trained in the frivolous belief that a patient is like a beggar obliged to gratefully accept all the coins of hope they have to offer them, even if these coins are fake and contaminated with lead.
IOW, doctors gives hope by trying to alleviate symptoms, and the patients do their part which is to #trust science” (aka, bigpharma)
And of course the effect of this asymmetric power relationship and con game is the millions of deaths and illnesses caused by medical malpractice every year.
https://hub.jhu.edu/2016/05/03/medical-errors-third-leading-cause-of-death/
https://archive.ph/E1Ekn
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
I’m a big fan of vigilante justice… I have no reason to engage in it myself cuz nobody has f789ed me over…
I don’t get why people who have been f789ed ovr – particularly when their health is ruined… don’t contemplate pay back… I reckon the most effective retaliation would not involve the culprit .. better the kids… that would make the culprit howl in agony…
The culprit cries out in pain … as you inflict severe (and I mean severe) punishment.
This would send a powerful message.
Same reason people don’t usually engage in general strikes to get their way… when they are being f789ed by the govt.
When the medical community has to resort to dodgy and unscrupulous tactics, red flags should start popping up. If something is so “safe and effective”, there should be no need for the Medical repo man to come pay you a visit at 3am in the morning while you are sleeping.
Hahaha… notice the backpack https://t.me/TommyRobinsonNews/35011
The supreme CovIDIOT https://t.me/TommyRobinsonNews/35013
TruDUNCE! https://t.me/TommyRobinsonNews/35018
AND ANOTHER ATHLETE GOES INTO CARDIAC ARREST WHILE COMPETING…
This time on the rugby field in South America
https://afipn.com.au/argentinian-rugby-player-suffers-on-field-cardiac-arrest-during-game/
Australian Free Independent Press Network (https://afipn.com.au/argentinian-rugby-player-suffers-on-field-cardiac-arrest-during-game/)
Argentinian rugby player suffers on-field cardiac arrest during game
32-year-old Argentinian rugby player Esteban Noriega has collapsed and gone into cardiac arrest in the 70th minute of
Oh really, why the fuss?
Just a little touch of mild and treatable cardiac arrest, when – without the Miracle Vaxx – he might have caught Long Covid or something really awful!
https://t.me/TommyRobinsonNews/35004
Destroying the moral fabric of a society….
Well, that fabric certainly does appear to be stretching.
Any peak-oil social media historians around? Was it always laced with moral outrage about fabric of society and associated with the ‘right/preppers’ or was it ever considered a ‘left/environmentalist’ thing and tied to concern about the environment or is that side only concerned with climate? I’m wondering how ‘normal’ people perceive talk of peak-energy or collapse. I find the moral outrage and panic an annoying distraction and makes it impossible to share any of this content with liberal minded friends or family but maybe it’s also an indicator of a civilization entering collapse.
The world has certainly become more divided in recent years. It is hard to talk about anything without someone becoming outraged.
The split is between the ideologies of living for Pleasure and living for Happiness, where pleasures are dopamine-stimulating addictive behaviors like s3x addiction, internet p0rn addiction, drugs, gambling, attention seeking, virtue signalling, bullying, power addiction, consumerism, shopaholism, and so on.
All addictions prioritize satisfaction of or chasing the addiction over the less exciting satisfactions of caring for human bonds. Indeed, addicts are famous for being deceitful, treacherous, dishonest, selfish…
Happiness, in contrast, prioritizes human bonds and self development and is related to things like family life, a job well done, helping others, polite exchanges, doing things with friends, sharing meals, being appreciated for carrying out your responsibilities…
We have lived for some time in a society that is awash with money and that propagandizes for Pleasure before Happiness.
Where Pleasure is prioritized, it is certain that the moral fabric of society – meaning strong and healthy human bonds – will be rent.
As the wealth disappears, those who survive will live in societies that prize Happiness over Pleasure.
great post Kim
Thanks Kim.
Nice one! Agreed.
All of this connects to Operation CovCON — the strategies are outlined here https://johnwaters.substack.com/p/whipnosis-part-1-of-3?s=r
Of course the Big Picture — as outlined by Fast Eddy — is the UEP…. as brilliant as John Waters is… I suspect he would recoil in horror at the thought of the UEP – and reject the thesis.
Fast Eddy is the pinnacle of everything. Some kinda f678ing Messiah
Some news from my corner of the world. After the Bularian government initally agreed to pay for russian gas in rubles after a visit of some NATO dignataaries and USA DoS undersecretary and the whole foreign relationshions team of EU the government changed its mind. Logically Gazprom also changed their mind and the gas flow into Bulgaria is now non-existent from today. The internal situation is getting hot as larger and larger business and industry segments are realing against the government. The prognosis is for caretaker cabinet and snap elections as early as September (once care taker gov is appointed its mandate is minimum of 60 days as per constitution).
Also now the government is shatared by internal conflict whether Bulgaria should deliver lethal aid to Ukraine (this has been the main news for about 10 days now) and the former rulling party spilled the beans that Bulgaria is delivering wide range of heavy weaponry and amunitions (we have very extensive arms industry with licenses for almost all legacy USSR systems and amunitions) to Ukraine via Poland and Czech republic since end of 2014 (not that the Russians weren’t aware of that; the local population knows it for years, too).
It is becoming ever more likely that Bulgaria, Poland and Romania will enter the conflict.
The Pentagon intends to fight Russia to the very last hapless Eastern European, it would seem.
How noble, the fight for freedom!
Was that Joan Baez?
“Freedom is just another word for death”
Luckily the government knows what is the right thing to do.
“Freedom just another word for nothing left to lose”
Janis Joplin
What are vassals for at the end? I don’t know about Poland amd Romania but here the people are somehow sensitive about the issue of becoming cannon fodder. The political system is significantly cracking under the pressure of this issue and the talking heads are running out of talking points
For what it is worth, Zerohedge is reporting that some utilities are giving into Russia’s demands and following its instructions.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/four-european-gas-buyers-fold-russian-demands-pay-gas-rubles
Four European Gas Buyers Fold To Russian Demands, Pay For Gas In Rubles
“While it was unclear which are the four companies violating EU directives and paying directly in rubles, according to Reuters Germany’ Uniper and Austrian OMV are among the companies that have folded to Kremlin’ demands.”
This could mean a European divide on this question.
4 entities are willing to pay for gas directly in rubles and 10 are ok to use the gazprom bank exchange mechanism.
Bulgaria has gas reserves for a month and it will use the interconnections wirh turkey, greece and romania to make up for the lost capacity. Somehow the politicos here are forgetting to mention that the gas in those pipes is also russian and we will pay to intermediaries for it (with a premium).
Hmmmm….
Fast Eddy
There is a place and time for vigilante justice.
Dr Mike Yeadon liked your comment
There is a place and time for vigilante justice.
https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/covid-vaccine-victim-meet-dr-avindra/comments
Accelerated biological aging in COVID-19 patients
We also find the increasing acceleration of epigenetic aging and telomere attrition in the sequential blood samples from healthy individuals and infected patients developing non-severe and severe COVID-19. In addition, the longitudinal DNA methylation profiling analysis find that the accumulation of epigenetic aging from COVID-19 syndrome could be partly reversed at late clinic phases in some patients. In conclusion, accelerated epigenetic aging is associated with the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and developing severe COVID-19. In addition, the accumulation of epigenetic aging from COVID-19 may contribute to the post-COVID-19 syndrome among survivors.
Abstract pretty straight forwards, they epigenetic aging (genetic aging without affecting your genes), and telomere attrition (shortening) in healthy people, and infected patients at different degrees of severity. They propose that the accumulation of this “molecular biological aging” contributes to Covid after effects.
Aging is a biological process related to diseases and mortality. The biological process in aging is reflected by molecular hallmarks, which include epigenetic modifications and telomere attrition9,10,11. DNA methylation correlates with aging process and can be used to estimate epigenetic aging across tissues12,13,14. The deviation between DNA methylation age (DNAm age) and chronological age has been proposed as a biomarker for aging and has been related to risk and survival outcomes in age-related diseases15,16. Previous work showed that the epigenetic landscape of host cell is altered during HIV17,18,19 and coronavirus20,21,22,23 infection, including SARS-CoV-2. Interestingly, telomere length and the epigenetic clock do not correlate with one another, suggesting that DNAm age and TL measure different aspects of biological aging28,29.
There are extensive videos, tutorials, and lectures about DNA methylation on the internet, and it is for me the most boring aspect of biology, and medicine above ALL, I think only epidemiology is more boring (and outright useless). Also find it intriguing that finally, some researchers propose telomere length, and epigenetic clock (your biological age, not your chronological, how old you are, you can be 50 years old, but biologically 40). They go on to explain how they measured it.
DNAm – DNA Methylation TL – Telomere length
Accelerated epigenetic aging in SARS-CoV-2 infection
We initially assessed the DNAm ages and TLs of the blood samples and found an older DNAm age in the COVID-19 patients for Horvath, Hannum, skinHorvath and GrimAge clocks compared to the healthy individuals. To adjust for the bias due to individual chronological age, we calculated epigenetic age acceleration for each sample. Individuals with COVID-19 were estimated to have significant DNAm age acceleration for Hannum, PhenoAge, skinHorvath and GrimAge clocks and significant DNAm TL attrition acceleration compared with healthy individuals
Using 5 different methods to measure the DNAm, and TL, they found that COVID-19 patients had older DNAm age. Pretty straightforward so far.
Accelerated epigenetic aging and risk of developing severe COVID-19
Next, we analyzed the association of COVID-19 severity with epigenetic aging. We found individuals with severe COVID-19 had significant DNAm age acceleration for all epigenetic clocks and DNAm TL attrition acceleration compared with healthy individuals. In addition, severe COVID-19 patients had significant DNAm age acceleration for Horvath, Hannum, PhenoAge and GrimAge clocks and significant DNAm TL attrition acceleration compared with non-severe COVID-19 patients . Moreover, non-severe COVID-19 patients had significant DNAm age acceleration for Horvath, Hannum, skinHorvath and GrimAge clocks and significant DNAm TL attrition acceleration compared with healthy individuals . Among the five epigenetic clocks, the statistical difference in the pairwise test for GrimAge clock was most significant. In addition, we found that COVID-19 patients developing pneumonia had significantly accelerated epigenetic aging compared with those not developing pneumonia . Together, we found an increasing acceleration of epigenetic aging in the sequential samples of healthy, non-severe and severe groups.
As you would expect, the severe disease leads to a significant acceleration of this specific type of biological aging. And comparing severe to non-severe patients, severe had more than non-severe, which is to be expected, your body is overwhelmed, stripping resources from everywhere it can to fight, stay alive, and correct all the dysfunctions going on. Non-severe individuals, compared to healthy ones had more aging too. So basically, once infected, your body ages because the virus is hijacking your cellular machinery, wreaking havoc, and creating “cellular trash” your body is overwhelmed by it.
https://hiddencomplexity.substack.com/p/accelerated-biological-aging-in-covid
I remember reading about this issue before. This is a new paper on the subject.
From one of the charts in the paper, it appears that even light cases of COVID tends to lead to telomere shortening for older people.
How much of this is a scam/scare tactic to get everyone to run out and get the vax… I smell a rat every time they push these stories of be very scared of Covid 😱
Does the vax effect how much aging occurs?
I have the same question, but I suppose researchers wouldn’t want to touch that question.
No it begins a process of embalming.. (see those massive clots…) to prep you for near term death.
Fauci thought of everything
Whatever dude….you are a fauci pusher doing his work by pushing these stories
Fauci only wants what’s best for everyone….. it’s in no interest to have 8B hungry people on the streets when the power goes off…
I would like to suggest you the following article by PhD Andrea Zhok of the Univesity of Milano.
I’m sorry for US readers if they will find some critics about current US leadership, but I think it gives a very interesting picture of the current situation.
Don’t be afraid, the analysis on European leadership is even worse.
And there is no praise of the opposing side, which is described in equally lucid and stark way.
I think you will find some analysis similar to what Ugo Bardi says and some other similar to what one can find in this beautiful blog.
I hope autmatic translation will give you the correct words in your language:
a little excerpt:
“In this phase (called repositioning of the Empire), which will certainly last for several years, the explosive potential of protests and uprisings will be kept at bay with the dual leverage of “high moral reasons” and “dutiful repressive tightening”.
https://sfero.me/article/la-metamorfosi-impero-e-le-sue-vittime
Well worth reading and thank you for the link..
Come the f789 on … anyone still think this is cuz covid is so dangerous?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/chinese-police-build-cages-around-26805381
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article26805527.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_Lockdown-amid-Covid-19-pandemic-in-Shanghai-China-25-Apr-2022.jpg
this is comletely over the top for a virus that has morphed into a bad cold. There must be some other motivation behind this….
I suspect that they want to see what will happen when they attempt to starve those who isolate when Devil Covid arrives… as we can see — 26M are doing exactly what they are told… zero push back….
And that’s on the back of a mild flu… imagine if there was a full blown plague in play
A NEW ZEALAND DENTIST SHARES HIS OBSERVATIONS ABOUT POST VACCINE ADVERSE EVENTS, REPORTED TO HIM ALMOST DAILY…
Like many others, the choice is simple- risk long term health and possible death, or quit. Give up my practice. Give up my career. Stop caring for the community I have been so happy to serve for nearly twenty years.
It gets even worse – my wife got jabbed with me, and she now has pericarditis, She is under the same cardiologist. We have two young children.
https://thebfd.co.nz/2022/04/27/this-should-not-be-happening/
Hey mike – no harm done …
And this ain’t pericarditis – it’s heart failure … like my mate — that’s why they don’t know when it will go away – cuz it won’t.
Stop giving the morons chance to save themselves, Eddy.
Even though they are new zealanders it is hard not to feel a twinge of sympathy for these people.
Quite fascinating to see how distraught the confused MOREONS are as they drop like flies… but it’s safe and effective… this is reality intruding on the mass psychosis … like a knife piercing a bowl of Jello…. they mostly remain in a state of disbelief… no thrashing about … no shrieks of anger towards Ardern…
Just confusion … and then they get tossed on the scrap heap by the medical industry — who tell them it’s all in their heads and don’t treat them… that is worthy of a touch of sympathy — that said what more can be done — there are so many of them — to try to treat them would overwhelm the health care system — and at the end of the day — everyone will soon be dead… give them palliative care… and wait.
This is big. Incredibly big. Monumental. Zip up the history of the world in a bag and it ain’t nothing compared to this moment.
This is… the end. How fortunate we are to be here to witness this .. this is the stuff of goose bumps!
notice the plague beak mask hahaha
https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1511256056835493888/pu/vid/476×270/ujNdYMEXnf3cQIIG.mp4?tag=12
Hahhahaha… truth here https://t.me/VigilantFox/4154
A Potential Pathological Nightmare Injected Into the Arms of Billions of People: Dr. Ryan Cole
“In Dr. Burkhardt’s autopsy studies, [this synthetic sequence stays] in the vessels of the body for at least 128 days… The spike that it’s making induces pathologic changes in the body. It can cause clotting…. inflames the heart, causes heart attacks, causes strokes, and causes cancers in young age groups… Unusual things [are occurring] that shouldn’t be happening, and [it’s] likely related to a synthetic, genetically modified sequence.”
@VigilantFox | Rumble (https://rumble.com/v12ibi5-a-potential-pathological-nightmare-injected-into-the-arms-of-billions-of-pe.html) | Full Video (https://www.theepochtimes.com/synthetic-material-inside-mrna-vaccines-causes-spike-protein-production-to-possibly-last-for-months-dr-ryan-cole_4405801.html)
Immune System Dysregulation: Cancers and Pathogens Left Unchecked
Dr. Ryan Cole: “The shots, both the pseudouridine, the spike it’s making, the patterns that [are] shifting, are causing those little Marines [of the immune system] and the dendritic cells and the macrophages to go back to the barracks, get drunk, and go to sleep. Now you don’t have a defense system.”
@VigilantFox | Rumble (https://rumble.com/v12ig85-immune-system-dysregulation-cancers-and-pathogens-left-unchecked.html) | Full Video (https://www.theepochtimes.com/synthetic-material-inside-mrna-vaccines-causes-spike-protein-production-to-possibly-last-for-months-dr-ryan-cole_4405801.html)
Shot-Induced COVID Waves: Increased Likelihood of ‘Unvaccinated’ Infections Right After the Shot
Dr. Ryan Cole: “If you look at the curves in the world, every time the shot rollout happened, the COVID rate went up, because they didn’t count you as fully vaccinated until [2 weeks] after that second shot. So they didn’t count all these people getting shot number one or two, getting COVID as vaccinated. It was the vaccine screwing with the immune system, allowing them to get infected.”
https://rumble.com/v12iq71-shot-induced-covid-waves-increased-likelihood-of-unvaccinated-infections-ri.html
“They’ve Made It Worse” – Negative Efficacy from the Shot—Keep Protesting Against the Measures
Dr. Mike Yeadon: (http://t.me/robinmg) “In Britain… data as of last month [showed that] people who’ve been injected three times as opposed to none [had] a higher risk of being infected, a higher risk of being hospitalized, and a higher risk of dying.”
“You don’t need to do anything violent, but you definitely should be protesting. This lot is not going away without us protesting.”
Dr. Yeadon’s (http://t.me/robinmg) 12 COVID Lies: https://doctors4covidethics.org/the-covid-lies/
https://rumble.com/v12j805-theyve-made-it-worse-negative-efficacy-from-the-shotkeep-protesting-against.html
I was explaining ‘negative efficacy’ to someone yesterday: entertaining to see their bewilderment, as reality crashed headlong into over a year of programming.
They had actually noticed that triple-vaxxed people are now falling sick, after not a sniffle during the whole ‘pandemic’.
‘Vaxx Good; 3 x Vax = +++ Good’ is what they think.
Tell them they’ve got VAIDS… it’s kinda like AIDS… + a V
Are we at Peak Fat People yet?
PFP will be beginning of the Seneca humpty dumpty cliff
I am looking forward to the times when the ocean whale population will surpass that of the land whales
Land whale – https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTHjkV6E1VW-KCbl4C17JNslD7Qr7zrcJyT1A&usqp=CAU
I shouldn’t have clicked that ….
The legacy media has been like pigs at a trough today and yesterday with the publication of an atrocious ‘peer-reviewed’ ‘scientific’ article by Dr. David Fisman, Dr. Ashleigh Tuite, and a graduate student. After all, with raw public health data unable to support the only COVID-19 narrative that has been deemed acceptable, fresh fuel was apparently needed. Lots of media outlets have been reporting on this study; one of them being CTV News. Here is the headline for their article:
“Being with unvaccinated people increases COVID-19 risk for those who are vaccinated: modelling study”
https://viralimmunologist.substack.com/p/fiction-disguised-as-science-to-promote?s=r
It will work; the jabbed are already primed for this message.
‘It was very clear that even the most intelligent people were completely blind and completely insensitive to rational argumentation, for instance. Masses are only sensitive to strong visual images and to repetition of, time and time again, the same message. And also to the presentation of numbers and graphs and statistics. If you present numbers in a visual way, it will have a huge impact on the masses.’
https://johnwaters.substack.com/p/whipnosis-part-1-of-3?s=r
More outstanding analysis … mike – norm — will you read this?
I suppose that even if you do read it — it will have no impact on either of you — that is what is fascinating about mass psychosis — there is nothing anyone can do to make one realize they are captured.
Like stooopidity – there is no cure — I am thinking … the two are linked… the truly stooopid are the ones most susceptible to mass psychosis
The hypnoidal subject remains himself and yet becomes, in a sense, a stranger who is already removed to a different plane. He is there and not there, present and absent. Seen like this, we begin to intuit why people we know have been acting so strangely for the past two years. Multiply the thought of one hypnotised person by a hundred or a thousand or a million — or 200 million — and it becomes quite terrifying. And that is approximately what we may be dealing with.
It also explains why it is impossible to reason or argue with someone in such a state. He or she is simply not there. He may argue, answer back, but will do so in the logic of the trance, a factor that is unlikely to betray itself fully as there will be fragments of real understandings mixed up with the hallucinatory material.
https://johnwaters.substack.com/p/whipnosis-part-1-of-3?s=r
That one article alone (and the series) is worth the $10/month subscription fee.
Truly fascinating insights into the MOREONS.
He suggests 10% are immune — it may be far lower than that.
One of my mates with Pfizer damage is seeing next to no improvement 5 months after the shot he was forced to take to keep working… his cardiologist diagnosed pericarditis however was concerned that he’d not improved at all — usually within 3 months the inflammation should be reducing.
He’s got a friend who has a circle of doctor friends and they think he has something much more severe:
How long can you live with cardiomyopathy?
In general, about half of all people diagnosed with congestive heart failure will survive five years. About 30% will survive for 10 years. In patients who receive a heart transplant, about 21% of patients are alive 20 years later.
He’s got an MRI scheduled in a month or so — that will tell the tale.
Hey mike.. no harm done eh…
The only thing that keeps me from getting too angry about this situation is the UEP and knowing everyone dies soon … however I cannot of course tell him that — nor would it be likely to make him feel any better mentally.
I suspect my other mate with the heart damage has something similar – he did have an MRI and last I spoke to him on this it did not show what was expected — myocarditis… he did not elaborate but then when you get a death sentence perhaps you keep that to yourself.
The high prices of the construction materials make the reconstruction of old and historical buildings uneconomical. You can buy a castle in the Czech Republic cheaper than an apartment in Prague.
https://www.trend.sk/spravy/cesky-paradox-niektore-zamky-daju-kupit-lacnejsie-ako-byty-prahe?itm_modul=dalsie_spravy&itm_brand=trend&itm_template=hp&itm_position=4
Perhaps the characteristics of castles will be helpful in the future. High vantage points; out in the country; good ventilation; somewhat easily defended.
U.S. Diesel Futures Close at Record High as Shortage Deepens
(Bloomberg) — Diesel futures trading in New York surged to the highest level in records going back to 1986 as global demand for the fuel remains robust in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Massive exports and strong domestic consumption are helping to drain distillate stockpiles in the U.S., which have fallen to the lowest level since 2008. The shortage is most acute on the East Coast, where inventories have dropped to the lowest level since 1996. Fuelmakers on the Gulf Coast have been operating at their highest rates for this time of year in more than a decade and are still unable to rebuild stockpiles. Rising shipments to Latin America and Europe have left the main fuel pipeline supplying the East Coast underused.
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/u-s-diesel-futures-close-at-record-high-as-shortage-deepens-1.1757376
Don’t worry, our fearless leader is draining the SPR at record speed so that when the real shortages hit, we’ll be fully prepared!
How many here disagree with me that EU is f678?
see who wants to be the first? Japan? USA? EU? China? or perhaps all within 2 weeks?
Eventually the can cannot be kicked or we ran out of road
EU are cutting off their own nuts to stick it to Russia. It’s amazing to watch.
No they aren’t – this is all tied into the UEP and the reality that we are very close to the edge re energy.
The situation doesn’t look at all good!
Ashish Jha, Biden’s covid advisor.. America will give its sovereignty as a nation and let the World Health Organisation override its constitution during pandemics…
https://twitter.com/Resist_05/status/1519079725108727808
Doesn’t sound good.
We know that nations tend to fall apart when their is inadequate energy for them to continue. This could give a push in the same direction.
in today’s news, Ceylon is officially broke, and is selling citizenship to anyone willing to deposit $100000 in their bank
apparently as an offer to enjoy a ‘the good life in the sun’.
i feel that i’m missing something here
cant quite put my finger on it
Turkey is essentially doing the same…must own certain amount of real estate or the other.
For those suffering or with friends and relatives suffering post-Covid, or who are dealing with cancer, don’t abandon all hope of recovery. And those who have never been introduced to a supplement they didn’t fall in love with may find this info useful at all.
Here’s another substacker who has a lot of ideas and tips (not to be construed as medical advice) about what may help with the healing process.
https://doorlesscarp953.substack.com/p/therapeutics-for-long-covid?s=w
Although useful for turning down the immune system (ie anti-inflammatory) general advice is try to avoid long term use of corticosteroids as these can lead to cardiovascular disease & osteoporosis. Instead, CBD, D & Glucosamine are natural immune regulators and are considered ok for taking long term.
I would also add for mitochondrial function Metformin, Resveratrol via red wine & black grapes (Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot), an antioxidant rich diet, NAC, Q10, K2 sources and Ivermectin (IVM) or Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), 10ml high omega-3 fish oils, quercetin to clear any remnant RNA spike sources. HCQ helps neurological issues too, + glucosamine as an anti cancer agent and to reduce elevated inflammatory cytokine levels.
As an aside it’s no coincidence that at least 6 of the above have been cited as having significant anti-cancer properties: Metformin, Resveratrol, CBD, IVM, HCQ & Glucosamine. Turmeric is a seventh.
There ain’t no way to UNf789 once the spike is in …. what I’d recommend is a handful of Fentanyl… that ends the suffering
I heartily endorse anything that comes ‘via red wine’.
Further confirmation, as if needed, of Tim’s deep wisdom, refined as he cultivates his fields, and perfected by the Zen tea ceremony which is no doubt a regular fixture of his idyllic rural existence.
Disregard Iluminated Master Tim at your peril!
Supply chain frustrations: Families are closing on houses with missing appliances and cabinets
“My biggest beef is there’s no answer,” he told KOAA. “There’s no direct date for when my cabinets are going to be here. It’s been four and a half months.”
Johnny says he closed on his home and signed off on the final walkthrough believing the materials would come in a few weeks. Unfortunately, weeks turned into months.
“The only answer I get is they will show up when they show up.”
Response from Covington Homes:
Here are some examples of the challenges we are facing (that we have been facing since early 2021) with the supply Chain:
Electric Transformers. Currently there is a nationwide shortage on transformers. What that means? Lot development is being delayed, therefore Builders are facing not being able to build more homes until that matter is resolved. This will exacerbate our already tight supply of housing which is driving up the costs of housing.
Engineered wood products- those have skyrocketed in price and have been put on allocations Meaning we are only given a certain number of those materials per week.
Lumber. It has skyrocketed in price and hasn’t gone down much at all. It is also being put on allocations in certain cases. Appliances are still not easily available (since we all have to compete with Lowes and Home Depot for our orders) and they are taking up to 10 weeks to get in.
-Garage doors are still 12 to 16 weeks lead time.
-Windows are anywhere from 16 to 30 weeks lead time.
-Stone is 12 weeks lead time.
-Cabinets are 8 to 14 weeks lead time.
-Exterior Doors are 12 to 14 weeks lead time.
-Additionally there is a long list of specialty items that are on lead times of 3 to 6 months.
-Shipping costs have skyrocketed.
-Fuel is hit historical highs and fuel surcharges are now being passed off daily.
Suppliers are defaulting on their contracts to their distributors (the small business trades that the Industry purchases products through), and this is causing those businesses loss to their operating capital as well as losses to the Builders’ balance sheets.
These are just a handful of the issues that we are facing in this industry.
Response from the Housing and Building Association of Colorado Springs:
Below are examples of materials and items currently being affected by supply chain issues for the development side of home building.
Water main line materials (pipe)
Water Service line materials (copper, hdpe)
Three-Phase transformers
Self healing wire (service side) for electric meter (coming through the trench to the riser).
https://www.koaa.com/news/news5-investigates/supply-chain-frustrations-families-are-closing-on-houses-with-missing-appliances-and-cabinets
iT SEEMS THAT THE MATERIALS AND THE LEVEL OF IC REQUIRED TO MAKE IMPLIED BUILDINGS HERE are NO longer forthcoming. I replied to Tim above on the subject.
We will be living in tents in collapsing houses – until we can no longer buy those from China……
Cardboard is my material of choice. In the US it’s tossed around in endless quantities, but I need to check to see if it’s mainly produced in China.
Builders will have to stop building, or slow way down, if they cannot really complete the homes.
SARS-CoV-2 vaccination can elicit a CD8 T-cell dominant hepatitis; case of a 52-year-old male, presenting with bimodal episodes of acute hepatitis, each occurring 2-3 weeks after BNT162b2 mRNA vax
Liver inflammation is observed during SARS-CoV-2 infection but can also occur in some individuals after vaccination and shares some typical features with autoimmune liver disease.
https://palexander.substack.com/p/sars-cov-2-vaccination-can-elicit
I can tell you it definitely wasn’t the vaccines, cause we know they are safe. There must be another explanation how a healthy, athletic 20 yr old college student just gave up the ghost.
“James Madison University softball player Lauren Bernett dies at 20
Bernett helped the Dukes reach the 2021 Women’s College World Series”
https://www.cbssports.com/general/news/james-madison-university-softball-player-lauren-bernett-dies-at-20/
mike norm – what happened here?
Stock market up … stock market down …. Interest rates up… will we have stagflation or a Great Depression??
Nothing on store shelves. Banks no longer open for fear of COVID or some other excuse. Electricity at best very intermittent. Spare parts for anything that breaks unavailable. Potable water not available, except by boiling.
If there is nothing to buy and few people have jobs, how would you define the situation?
‘Tortuga’
China reports first human case of H3N8 bird flu
A 4-year-old boy in central China has been infected with H3N8 bird flu, making it the first time that the virus has been confirmed in humans. Scientists believe that a previous strain of the virus – which is also found in horses and dogs – was responsible for the 1889 pandemic.
The boy, from Zhumadian City in Henan Province, developed fever and other symptoms on April 5 and was hospitalized on April 10 when his condition worsened, China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement.
“On the 24th, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a test on the patient specimen sent from Henan Province and the result was positive for the H3N8 avian influenza virus,” NHC said in the statement.
https://bnonews.com/index.php/2022/04/china-reports-first-human-case-of-h3n8-bird-flu/
…the message. China again. Sigh.
Study finds superbug C. difficile can jump between pigs and humans, providing evidence of zoonotic spread
A study investigating samples of the superbug Clostridioides difficile across 14 pig farms in Denmark finds the sharing of multiple antibiotic-resistance genes between pigs and human patients, providing evidence that that animal to human (zoonotic) transmission is possible.
The study, by Dr. Semeh Bejaoui and colleagues from the University of Copenhagen and Statens Serum Institut in Denmark, is being presented at this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Lisbon, Portugal (23-26 April).
“Our finding of multiple and shared resistance genes indicate that C. difficile is a reservoir of antimicrobial resistance genes that can be exchanged between animals and humans”, says Dr. Bejaoui. “This alarming discovery suggests that resistance to antibiotics can spread more widely than previously thought, and confirms links in the resistance chain leading from farm animals to humans.”
C. difficile is a bacterium that infects the human gut and is resistant to all but three current antibiotics. Some strains contain genes that allow them to produce toxins that can cause damaging inflammation in the gut, leading to life-threatening diarrhea, mostly in the elderly and hospitalized patients who have been treated with antibiotics.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-superbug-difficile-pigs-humans-evidence.html
Doom by Pig.
How poetic and fitting, considering how we have treated them for thousands of years.
Much smarter than most humans, as a pig always senses when it’s for the chop….
Good gut biome is the best defence
Pre and probiotics, your best natural defence. Pickled vegetables (a verity in moderation, not just one), figs, a great little know natural prebiotic and probiotic (remember you can eat the skin), consume in moderation or your just loading sugar. Grapefruit juice and lemons, (simmer the skins for natural Quinine) Lemon great alkalising properties. Turmeric, ginger, beetroot, carrot juice, get those carotenoids into your system. Avocado (avocado as vegetable fat source helps those fat soluble vitamin get absorbed) cinnamon in moderation, no more than a quarter teaspoon a day, less if your taking it more often. Of course eating whole vegetable fibre is good too, reduced starch sources like green banana, not to be overlooked. Reduce processed sugar intake absolutely critical, it just feeds bad gut bacteria. Reduced meat diet critical, (although organic chicken is good for the gut). Red wine, in moderation or like me NOT AT ALL. (Feel free to be a dumb ass post rains Noah if you want). Remember overconsumption just means it’s basically alcohol addiction. Don’t be a victim of good advertising. Alcohol dulls the Mind, that’s basically ‘Mind sacrilege’. Keep the Temple Pure as it should be and you’ll be fine.
Lights on, Eyes open.
Information is free, applying the knowledge…up to you
Materials and labor shortages continue to complicate construction industry
Marketplace’s David Brancaccio spoke with Maurice Rahming, president of O’Neill Construction Group in Portland, Oregon. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
https://www.marketplace.org/2022/04/26/materials-and-labor-shortages-continue-to-complicate-construction-industry/
Greenville Utility Commission reports challenges among supply chain shortages
GREENVILLE, N.C (WNCT) — Supply chain issues continue to cause problems across the state. Greenville Utilities Commission officials said they are feeling the effects.
In a recent board meeting, GUC reported bids coming in at a much higher rate than expected on two major projects because of a lack of available materials. They say they will still complete these projects on time but not without have to make budget cuts elsewhere.
Director of Electrical Systems with GUC, John Worrell, said they are seeing problems in the current market with copper, aluminum, transformers and things with resins like conduit and fiberglass. He said the first project will create a transmission line loop to improve power delivery during emergencies. The other is a resiliency project to replace old wooden poles with steel transmission poles.
https://www.wnct.com/local-news/greenville-utility-commission-reports-challenges-among-supply-chain-shortages/
This doesn’t sound good at all. Shortages spread to the electrical grid.
Steel Demand Is Dwindling As China Grapples With New Lockdowns
Steel prices for hot-rolled coil in Europe have started to decline as end-users push back from earlier offers. Meanwhile, benchmark iron ore prices in China dropped, due to the country’s zero-Covid policy. One analyst noted that steelmakers in Europe are cutting back their production.
“Steel would get a bit of support from production cuts … crude was down 6.8% in Q1 year on year,” one analyst told MetalMiner, referring to the World Steel Association’s (Worldsteel) global numbers. Global crude production for the first three months of 2022 was almost 457 million metric tons, compared with 490 million metric tons over the same time in 2021, Worldsteel’s numbers show.
Europe’s crude steel production for 2022 was down 3.8% to about 36.2 million metric tons from 38.3 million metric tons, Worldsteel data also indicated.
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Steel-Demand-Is-Dwindling-As-China-Grapples-With-New-Lockdowns.html
Laptop Component Shortages Intensify as China Covid Lockdowns Linger
PCBs, chemicals, wiring, PMICs, and chassis materials are all under threat.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/china-covid-lockdowns-laptop-shortages
This is not a surprise.
Capitalism’s Recycling Lie
https://www.marxist.com/capitalism-s-recycling-lie.htm
Recycling plastics makes no sense. From the article:
Shame. For many people in the third world, including farmers, gathering recyclable materials from the local garbage dumps provides the largest part of their incomes.
As more and more material is shipped to these countries, the income of these people falls, because the amount of material available for recycling vastly exceeds the capacity of plants. Of course, many recycling plants have been closed, because operating them profitably is a big problem.
There was a year long discussion in Europe about swapping well established glas bottles with returnable deposit against plastic with recycling due to non-viability of recyling. In Germany it ended with a “self-managed voluntary recycling obligation for manufacturers and the “grüner Punkt””. That has become a base framework for future struggles.
“Don’t worry, we know what we are doing!”
That was about 30 years ago.
The whole world is littered with plastic bottles now. Wonderful!
Consider an inhabitant of average means living in an American suburb. What is he supposed to do in order to address the immediate consequences of collapse? What will the UEP look like to him?
This inhabitant (let’s assume he’s a he) is in a similar position to a man on or near a beach who has perhaps noticed that the tide has gone out farther than usual but doesn’t realize that this is the result of an earthquake that is about to bring a tsunami his way. If he wants to escape the worst of the tsunami’s consequences, he is leaving things very late.
One could argue that that tsunami we are about to face is one of Biblical proportions so it doesn’t matter so much how well we have prepared or how carefully we have relocated, we are going to get washed away regardless. But if the tsunami’s damage is limited, it will be those on or close to the beach that will get washed away, while those who have moved to higher ground will have avoided getting wet.
The tsunami analogy is far from exact. The economic tsunami can’t be avoided simply by moving uphill. Quite possibly it can’t be totally avoided at all. But if it can be mitigated to an extent, then part of the mitigation strategy must be “don’t be there!” Avoid the most dangerous places. I expect American suburbs are probably going to be a lot safer than urban areas, but it will depend on the location.
A big question is, will the local community function as a community. In the wake of a collapse, is there going to be an organization run by a coalition sensible people who will work to keep everyone safe and well and protect them from the hordes and from the four horsemen? Or is it going to be a free-for-all in which the hordes and the horsemen run riot through the area? Is our inhabitant an active member of a sensible local community, or is he a maverick who will stand by an do nothing while his neighbors are attacked, or worst of all, is he expecting that when the time comes his neighbors will attack him?
If the neighborhood “smells” dangerous, it probably is.
In the good old days like 1000 years ago, if a city-state collapse, they move over to another place and start anew. The knowledge on working on the land, the low expectation of life, the low energy lifestyle, the absence of abstract needs (like spa,psychological counseling, etc) and non-necessity luxury trappings means that that person can start afresh easily. It was also an unconnected world. What happened 500 miles away does not impact that person.
Now, in a very polluted world, detached from reality (food comes from supermarkets and not farms) and everything is interconnected (Japanese collapse will collapse the world – see Korowicz’s Trade off), there is just simply no escape. No one can live or know the ways of living the life of “The Little House on the Prairie”.
FYI – I don’t even know how to mount or ride a house. I think on my island, probably there are no more than 50 horses here and most of them are race horses.
Sorry…. tsunami or not, there is no other option
While it’s true the Earth wasn’t as populated and ecosystems were less strained ~2000yrs ago or ~5000 yrs ago, there have been collapses of city states and complex societies all the time.
People under these circumstances couldn’t adapt to a new situation either, and the people in the lands elsewhere, even if sparsely populated, certainly weren’t friendly and welcoming at all.
In the roman empire 2000 years ago, what happened in a radius 500 miles away DID affect people.
The impact was a little slower than in out interconnected world, but it was there.
Some of the principles (overshoot, diminishing returns, rapid loss of sustenance) have been around since there have been civilizations.
It’s only in scale and depth of the after-effects (nuclear waste…) that our today’s civilization is special in that regard.
I generally agree with the philosophy but it is wrong to think that suburbs will be safer than urban centers. As far as violence and crime go, yes. but the suburbs are so dependent on energy that they might become completely unlivable before the cities. only rural communities, with a functioning society, firewood and water, have a chance of surviving.
With the economy we have *at this very moment* we might be able to ward off homelessness for the given number going homeless in a given community. Abandoned buses, train cars, vans, RV’s could make attractive shelter, if processed by accomplished designers, and could shelter many. But since those means are not uniform, and require elaborate power tools to process well enough, my immediate choice of material for shelter and “earth boxes” (food) is cardboard. A single standard-ish design can be arrived at with furniture packaging material, or store-bought cardboard or particle-board panels. (Getting a workable amount of material–which consideration to supply chains–might require an industry of scouting for usable materials, especially cardboard.) Cardboard’s lightness can serve many purposes. A relatively bright teenager can assemble and form cardboard (with a simple knife) as appropriate. There are currently available means of waterproofing and fireproofing cardboard. The monster gorilla problem is the requirement for cooperation and cohesion on an unprecedented scale. And that is the only really critical problem I see with with taking care of a community TODAY.
Michael Le Merchant
My primary advice is: Stay flexible and dont over-invest in anything but the most bare necessities. Nobody can predict the development so be prepared to adapt to rapid changes.
Stuff you can carry in a backpack like clothes, shoes, eyeglasses, gloves, sleeping bags, basic tools like knives and sharpening stones, butane lighters with a spare bottle, ropes, salt (a couple of kg), a kg of chlorine for water purification… Just the stuff closest to your basic needs. 10-20 kg extra body fat can keep you alive for a month or more. A well kept bicycle and some spares, tools and oil to keep it running. Skills, skills and skills.
Depending on how long things will stick together we might see government organized camps – and I would surely try to stay out of them. They will only last for a couple of months anyhow, and then we will have to find our ways around in a completely different world than the current one.
Above all – means to keep morale and cooperation with others. Nobody can survive this world alone for very long. Work on your relation to death and God. We will all die in the end anyhow so find ways to enjoy the adventure of beeing here while it last.
Poland Confirms Russia To Halt All Gas Delivery Wednesday If Payment Not Settled In Rubles
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/russia-halts-natural-gas-supplies-poland-european-energy-prices-spike-local-reports
Poland is claiming that its storage is 76% full, so there is nothing to worry about.
Man passes 5th floor as he falls from the roof of a 20 storey building.
“So far, so good!”
Kim, that is appropriate 🙂
Joe Blogs has a new video out entitled: “RUSSIA – World Bank Warns of CATASTROPHIC FOOD CRISIS as Food SHORTAGES & PRICE RISES Accelerate.”
Reviews vegetable oils specifically.
By far the largest exporter of palm oil is Indonesia (produces almost 60% or world total), and they have just announced a total ban on exports.
Russia and Ukraine provide about 70% of all global exports of sunflower oil.
Joe discusses the largest producers, exporters and importers of each type of oil.
Vegetable oil one of the essentials for many of the world’s poor.
Big shortages soon. Prices to go a lot higher over the coming weeks / months.
on the plus side. non-palm oil soap manufacturers will benefit http://www.alepposoap.uk
This is not good at all! Thanks for the link.
This news is very hard to find but I got runors that Russia will not entirely ban fertilizer exports as they do not want people to starve.
I mean, if impoerters don’t buy they can do as they like.
The previous ban was only active until April 2.
https://foodcollapse.com/2022-02-27-russia-bans-ammonium-nitrate-fertilizer-exports.html
Immigration into UK has increased every year since Brexit (bar 2020 lockdown), and it passed 800,000 entrants last year, the highest ever. That is higher than the number of births in UK per year.
> Even more marked was the jump in “other” non-EU visas, including Hong Kongers and relatives of EU citizens living in the UK, which nearly trebled from 53,600 in 2016 to 165,325 last year, giving the total of 843,538.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/04/25/foreign-nationals-arrive-uk-year-brexit/
An increasing number of people want to leave their home countries and the UK isn’t keeping them out. The use of English may have made the UK seem attractive to English speaking immigrants, I would guess.
Those are all legal and fairly well healed immigrants who have been invited in by the British State, and given visas. Nearly all of them that stay will make their way into the workforce in all sectors and at all levels. Britain has very few unemployed and the economy is able to absorb huge inflows. All GDP growth in Britain is through labour expansion rather than productivity growth.
Not many refugees make it to Britain, and about 20,000 were given asylum in 2019. A big deal is made about them in the ‘right wing’ Tory press, but they are a tiny number compared to the legal immigrants. The Tories still pose as a party that is against immigration to get votes. I suppose that a lot of British voters are just not that bright or at least that is what the Tory party and its MSM calculate.
It is a British State party, funded by the Confederation of British Industry, that represents the interests of capitalism, nothing else, but British voters cannot even get their heads around that. They live in a dream world in which this society is something more than just a labour exchange for capitalism in Britain. You have seen the loyalty of some of them to the British State on here, and there is nothing that will unspell them.
The real question in the UK is where will the food and electricity (at affordable costs) come from. You can try to expand the labor force all you want but you still have to feed and house everyone.
The British State is ‘living for today’, the same as everyone else. It is optimising its economy for the here and now.
If most people here die in the future for want of affordable energy to the economy, then that is how it goes. That would likely be the case wherever they were in the world.
Everything is only for a time. A tree can put out untold thousands of leaves in its lifespan, and it will still produce them for as long as it can. In the end it all comes to nought, unless it reproduces.
The world is a flux and all things in it, and that includes people. They live and then they die. That is the case whether a society supports 10 million or 70 million.
The British State has likely got a few summers left yet, and it will put out its leaves, until it cannot.
> A tree can put out untold thousands of leaves in its lifespan, and it will still produce them for as long as it can. In the end it all comes to nought, unless it reproduces.
Photosynthesis isn’t nought, neither are being eaten …
Also:
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/shortage-fears-send-us-natgas-higher-after-plunge
US Nat Gas Rebounds On “Worrisome Inventory Forecasts” That Show Tight Summer
The real worry seems to be
“Despite soaring prices, the highest in over a decade, US gas production remains below the highest level in December. As Gonzalez said, new production has been slow to come online. ”
This sounds familiar. If oil production is not doing well, it should not be surprising that US natural gas production is not doing well, either.
When I look at US natural gas production data, what I see is that “natural gas plant liquids” are growing, but “dry natural gas production” is quite flat. It is down from late 2019 amounts. If oil wells are producing an increasing amount of (much less desirable) natural gas liquids, this might be the result.
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/n9050us2m.htm
This is a link to what is in natural gas liquids:
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=5930
Part of the natural gas supply problem is promising more dry natural gas to Europe, when US dry natural gas production is close to level and US storage is not very well filled.
Thank you,
Dennis L.
EU propaganda in full swing again. Brussels says the EU needs migration from Egypt, Algeria to fill up labor shortages. Exactly the countries that will explode from the coming food shortage. Right after Macron got reelected. Sickening. And cheap. Maybe France can let them vote too so Le Pen stays below 50%. We’re going down, down, and out.
Lots of people will likely be interested in coming, I expect.
Respectful question: why?
Moving north means moving to an area where heat is a necessity and the means to pay for natural gas is in doubt.
E.g. Britain, Netherlands. From my limited understanding of hx they only worked by colonizing parts of the globe, Germany tried to follow suit and its efforts were not appreciated.
Where do the welfare dollars come from as the economies collapse? What is attractive about the streets of Europe compared to the streets of home? Heating a castle is a b…..
Conquering a bunch of pensioners seems like a pointless effort especially if there are no resources upon which to run a civilization as in the past.
Dennis L.
That is the crux of the matter Dennis
we live in a surplus energy economic system
up to the early 1800s we didnt have surplus energy so the common man lived like pigs in the proverbial—no amenities at all–no medicare, no schools, no police no pensions–and so on.
it is virtually impossible to convince that same common man where the things he takes for granted came from.
he remains certain that what we face is a political problem, and voting for this leader or that will solve his problems—and for this reason alone the common man will embrace the promises of the fascist state, because he is fearful of the future. the ‘great Leader’ offers security in that future.
and the fascist leader offers him the promise of a safer better future—something he thinks he had 50 years ago.
hence the ‘Amercan Dream’
we perhaps think that ‘welfare $’ are reserved for the less well off—-this is the biggest fallacy of all.
We have all been supported by ‘welfare’, but didn’t know it.
our entire living environment is embodied ‘welfare’.
And before an indignant OFW’er comes back and insists he lives in a remote farmstead and is ‘self -sufficient——that nation you live in is secure enough for you to exist in safety and relative comfort. If you need hospital care you don’t do it yourself with a mirror and a sharp knife.
Very well put, Norman.
This will become a part of my litany of ripostes to those who place too much faith in, how can I say it, ‘technology’ and ‘political will’ to maintain our consumption.
We forget, I often forget, that the past can be much better than the present, and in an irretrievable manner.
They don’t know about the CEP + if they make it to the OECD they get shelter and food… for now
Lots of Ukranians are coming to Western Europe, to replace the retiring baby-boomers.
In the Netherlands we experience more and more personnel-shortages in the low-wage jobs. We desperately need more poor refugees to fill those vacancies. #letsstartawar /sarcasm
In the Netherlands (my home town) we already have a mayor housing problem. Not enough to get around…. And, indeed, a low wage job problem. I’m hoping Russia cuts off the gas so politicians will have to come up with real solutions instead of the boatloads of crap on every msm channel for 10+ years now.
Open the coral and make the wolves have a look at it. I love reality since Mickey Mouse forced me into diversity.
a house represents a block of embodied energy
just like all other forms of energy—-food, fuel etc—it is becoming unaffordable to an ever-in creasing number of people
Good point!
True Norman. Russia is hammering the skull of a overleveraged Europe. We consume and we whine, we whine and we consume. Let the wolves decide. I’m howling already. I will regret it, i know. But i’m in Disneyland for over a decade now and i have a headache. Nature will take its course.
” I love reality since Mickey Mouse forced me into diversity.”
Laughing quietly
Dennis L.
Same here in Germany. There is hardly any affordable housing left even outside the metropolitan areas.
The houses and apartments that are being newly built today are practically unaffordable.
At the same time, our “green groupies” want to bring in more and more migrants. We’ve been in complete suicide mode here for years.
In the summer I definitely have to take a vacation in Zandvoort again 🙂
those lucky enough to own a home expect it to rise in price
the only way that can happen is for the next tranche of houses to cost more than the last .
building workers expect more money this year than last year
this is the ‘leap frogging’ nature of our economic system.
it is part of the ‘infinity belief we have locked ourselves into.
What rises (too) high will fall low
hey norm … did you get that mail order hottie to come over… Vanessa or Valeria … I forget her name now .. maybe dunc has done same – he’s too ‘busy’ to join us anymore hahaha
But how many will be interested in inviting? Especially from countries at risk from rising food prices? Egypt, Algeria and Tunesia are mentioned. Earlier on even Sri Lanka.
In my opinion the EU knows, just like us here on ofw, a giant flow of refugees is in the making, in a few months they will be able to say; hey, this comes in handy, refugees from the same countries we mentioned in april.
Massaging the souls for waves of islamists. The alternative would be push backs and ‘accidental’ drownings. Mass starvation is not good for a consumerist lifestile.
I cannot get my mind around this one. Why would ‘the Brussels regime’ mention these three / four countries specifically? And why now?
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/can-africa-offer-alternative-russian-gas
Ah, i see.. EU wants the gas, it has to take its ‘surplus’ residents too
The Nigal pipeline project looks absurd to me.
Does anyone here believe that a 4,000km, 48in to 56in pipe will ever remain intact across the Sahara, with militant groups active along its vast length?
And surely it makes better sense to ship LNG by sea, despite compression and evaporation losses. Far better security, and easier and more markets to sell into.
the same thing occurred to me re the idea of putting solar farms in the sahara
it would cost so much to guard it, any profit would turn into a loss before any power was generated