Ramping up wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles can’t solve our energy problem

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Many people believe that installing more wind turbines and solar panels and manufacturing more electric vehicles can solve our energy problem, but I don’t agree with them. These devices, plus the batteries, charging stations, transmission lines and many other structures necessary to make them work represent a high level of complexity.

A relatively low level of complexity, such as the complexity embodied in a new hydroelectric dam, can sometimes be used to solve energy problems, but we cannot expect ever-higher levels of complexity to always be achievable.

According to the anthropologist Joseph Tainter, in his well-known book, The Collapse of Complex Societies, there are diminishing returns to added complexity. In other words, the most beneficial innovations tend to be found first. Later innovations tend to be less helpful. Eventually the energy cost of added complexity becomes too high, relative to the benefit provided.

In this post, I will discuss complexity further. I will also present evidence that the world economy may already have hit complexity limits. Furthermore, the popular measure, “Energy Return on Energy Investment” (EROEI) pertains to direct use of energy, rather than energy embodied in added complexity. As a result, EROEI indications tend to suggest that innovations such as wind turbines, solar panels and EVs are more helpful than they really are. Other measures similar to EROEI make a similar mistake.

[1] In this video with Nate Hagens, Joseph Tainter explains how energy and complexity tend to grow simultaneously, in what Tainter calls the Energy-Complexity Spiral.

Figure 1. The Energy-Complexity Spiral from 2010 presentation called The Energy-Complexity Spiral by Joseph Tainter.

According to Tainter, energy and complexity build on each other. At first, growing complexity can be helpful to a growing economy by encouraging the uptake of available energy products. Unfortunately, this growing complexity reaches diminishing returns because the easiest, most beneficial solutions are found first. When the benefit of added complexity becomes too small relative to the additional energy required, the overall economy tends to collapse–something he says is equivalent to “rapidly losing complexity.”

Growing complexity can make goods and services less expensive in several ways:

  • Economies of scale arise due to larger businesses.
  • Globalization allows use of alternative raw materials, cheaper labor and energy products.
  • Higher education and more specialization allow more innovation.
  • Improved technology allows goods to be less expensive to manufacture.
  • Improved technology may allow fuel savings for vehicles, allowing ongoing fuel savings.

Strangely enough, in practice, growing complexity tends to lead to more fuel use, rather than less. This is known as Jevons’ Paradox. If products are less expensive, more people can afford to buy and operate them, so that total energy consumption tends to be greater.

[2] In the above linked video, one way Professor Tainter describes complexity is that it is something that adds structure and organization to a system.

The reason I consider electricity from wind turbines and solar panels to be much more complex than, say, electricity from hydroelectric plants, or from fossil fuel plants, is because the output from the devices is further from what is needed to fill the demands of the electricity system we currently have operating. Wind and solar generation need complexity to fix their intermittency problems.

With hydroelectric generation, water is easily captured behind a dam. Often, some of the water can be stored for later use when demand is high. The water captured behind the dam can be run through a turbine, so that the electrical output matches the pattern of alternating current used in the local area. The electricity from a hydroelectric dam can be quickly added to other available electricity generation to match the pattern of electricity consumption users would prefer.

On the other hand, the output of wind turbines and solar panels requires a great deal more assistance (“complexity”) to match the electricity consumption pattern of consumers. Electricity from wind turbines tends to be very disorganized. It comes and goes according to its own schedule. Electricity from solar panels is organized, but the organization is not well aligned with the pattern of consumers prefer.

A major issue is that electricity for heating is required in winter, but solar electricity is disproportionately available in the summer; wind availability is irregular. Batteries can be added, but these mostly mitigate wrong “time-of-day” problems. Wrong “time-of-year” problems need to be mitigated with a lightly used parallel system. The most popular backup system seems to be natural gas, but backup systems with oil or coal can also be used.

This double system has a higher cost than either system would have if operated alone, on a full-time basis. For example, a natural gas system with pipelines and storage needs to be put in place, even if electricity from natural gas is only used for part of the year. The combined system needs experts in all areas, including electricity transmission, natural gas generation, repair of wind turbines and solar panels, and battery manufacture and maintenance. All of this requires educational systems and international trade, sometimes with unfriendly countries.

I also consider electric vehicles to be complex. One major problem is that the economy will require a double system, (for internal combustion engines and electric vehicles) for many, many years. Electric vehicles require batteries made using elements from around the world. They also need a whole system of charging stations to fill their need for frequent recharging.

[3] Professor Tainter makes the point that complexity has an energy cost, but this cost is virtually impossible to measure.

Energy needs are hidden in many areas. For example, to have a complex system, we need a financial system. The cost of this system cannot be added back in. We need modern roads and a system of laws. The cost of a government providing these services cannot be easily discerned. An increasingly complex system needs education to support it, but this cost is also hard to measure. Also, as we note elsewhere, having double systems adds other costs that are hard to measure or predict.

[3] The energy-complexity spiral cannot continue forever in an economy.

The energy-complexity spiral can reach limits in at least three ways:

[a] Extraction of minerals of all kinds is placed in the best locations first. Oil wells are first placed in areas where oil is easy to extract and close to population areas. Coal mines are first placed in locations where coal is easy to extract and transportation costs to users will be low. Mines for lithium, nickel, copper, and other minerals are put in the best-yielding locations first.

Eventually, the cost of energy production rises, rather than falls, due to diminishing returns. Oil, coal, and energy products become more expensive. Wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries for electric vehicles also tend to become more expensive because the cost of the minerals to manufacture them rises. All kinds of energy goods, including “renewables,” tend to become less affordable. In fact, there are many reports that the cost of producing wind turbines and solar panels rose in 2022, making the manufacture of these devices unprofitable. Either higher prices of finished devices or lower profitability for those producing the devices could stop the rise in usage.

[b] Human population tends to keep rising if food and other supplies are adequate, but the supply of arable land stays close to constant. This combination puts pressure on society to produce a continuous stream of innovations that will allow greater food supply per acre. These innovations eventually reach diminishing returns, making it more difficult for food production to keep up with population growth. Sometimes adverse fluctuations in weather patterns make it clear that food supplies have been too close to the minimum level for many years. The growth spiral is pushed down by spiking food prices and the poor health of workers who can only afford an inadequate diet.

[c] Growth in complexity reaches limits. The earliest innovations tend to be most productive. For example, electricity can be invented only once, as can the light bulb. Globalization can only go so far before a maximum level is reached. I think of debt as part of complexity. At some point, debt cannot be repaid with interest. Higher education (needed for specialization) reaches limits when workers cannot find jobs with sufficiently high wages to repay educational loans, besides covering living costs.

[4] One point Professor Tainter makes is that if the available energy supply is reduced, the system will need to simplify.

Typically, an economy grows for well over one hundred years, reaches energy-complexity limits, and then collapses over a period of years. This collapse can occur in different ways. A layer of government can collapse. I think of the collapse of the central government of the Soviet Union in 1991 as a form of collapse to a lower level of simplicity. Or one country conquers another country (with energy-complexity problems), taking over the government and resources of the other country. Or a financial collapse occurs.

Tainter says that simplification usually doesn’t happen voluntarily. One example he gives of voluntary simplification involves the Byzantine Empire in the 7th century. With less funding available for the military, it abandoned some of its distant posts, and it used a less costly approach to operating its remaining posts.

[5] In my opinion, it is easy for EROEI calculations (and similar calculations) to overstate the benefit of complex types of energy supply.

A major point that Professor Tainter makes in the talk linked above is that complexity has an energy cost, but the energy cost of this complexity is virtually impossible to measure. He also makes the point that growing complexity is seductive; the overall cost of complexity tends to grow over time. Models tend to miss necessary parts of the overall system needed to support a highly complex new source of energy supply.

Because the energy required for complexity is hard to measure, EROEI calculations with respect to complex systems will tend to make complex forms of electricity generation, such as wind and solar, look like they use less energy (have a higher EROEI) than they actually do. The problem is that EROEI calculations consider only direct “energy investment” costs. For example, the calculations are not designed to collect information regarding the higher energy cost of a dual system, with parts of the system under-utilized for portions of the year. Annual costs will not necessarily be reduced proportionately.

In the linked video, Professor Tainter talks about the EROEI of oil over the years. I don’t have a problem with this type of comparison, especially if it stops before the recent change to greater use of fracking, since the level of complexity is similar. In fact, such a comparison omitting fracking seems to be the one that Tainter makes. Comparison among different energy types, with different complexity levels, is what is easily distorted.

[6] The current world economy already seems to be trending in the direction of simplification, suggesting that the tendency toward greater complexity is already past its maximum level, given the lack of availability of inexpensive energy products.

I wonder if we are already starting to see simplification in trade, especially international trade, because shipping (generally using oil products) is becoming high-priced. This might be considered a type of simplification, in response to a lack of sufficient inexpensive energy supply.

Figure 2. Trade as a percentage of world GDP, based on data of the World Bank.

Based on Figure 2, trade as a percentage of GDP hit a peak in 2008. There has been a generally downward trend in trade since then, giving an indication that the world economy has tended to shrink back, at least in some ways, as it has hit high-price limits.

Another example of a trend toward lower complexity is the drop in US undergraduate college and university enrollment since 2010. Other data shows that undergraduate enrollment nearly tripled between 1950 and 2010, so the shift to a downtrend after 2010 presents a major turning point.

Figure 3. Total number of US full-time and part-time undergraduate college and university students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

The reason why the shift in enrollment is a problem is because colleges and universities have a huge amount of fixed expenses. These include buildings and grounds that must be maintained. Often debt needs to be repaid, as well. Educational systems also have tenured faculty members that they are obligated to keep on their staff, under most circumstances. They may have pension obligations that are not fully funded, adding another cost pressure.

According to the college faculty members whom I have talked to, in recent years there has been pressure to improve the retention rate of students who have been admitted. In other words, they feel that they are being encouraged to keep current students from dropping out, even if it means lowering their standards a little. At the same time, faculty wages are not keeping pace with inflation.

Other information suggests that colleges and universities have recently put a great deal of emphasis on achieving a more diverse student body. Students who might not have been admitted in the past because of low high school grades are increasingly being admitted in order to keep the enrollment from dropping further.

From the students’ point of view, the problem is that jobs that pay a sufficiently high wage to justify the high cost of a college education are increasingly unavailable. This seems to be the reason for both the US student debt crisis and the drop in undergraduate enrollment.

Of course, if colleges are at least somewhat lowering their admission standards and perhaps lowering standards for graduation, as well, there is a need to “sell” these increasingly diverse graduates with somewhat lower undergraduate achievement records to governments and businesses who might hire them. It seems to me that this is a further sign of the loss of complexity.

[7] In 2022, the total energy costs for most OECD countries started spiking to high levels, relative to GDP. When we analyze the situation, electricity prices are spiking, as are the prices of coal and natural gas–the two types of fuel used most frequently to produce electricity.

Figure 4. Chart from article called, Energy expenditures have surged, posing challenges for policymakers, by two OECD economists.

The OECD is an intergovernmental organization of mostly rich countries that was formed to stimulate economic progress and foster world growth. It includes the US, most European countries, Japan, Australia, and Canada, among other countries. Figure 4, with the caption “Periods of high energy expenditures are often associated with recession” is has been prepared by two economists working for OECD. The gray bars indicate recession.

Figure 4 shows that in 2021, prices for practically every cost segment associated with energy consumption tended to spike. Electricity, coal, and natural gas prices were all very high relative to prior years. The only segment of energy costs that was not very out of line relative to costs in prior years was oil. Coal and natural gas are both used to make electricity, so high electricity costs should not be surprising.

In Figure 4, the caption by the economists from OECD is pointing out what should be obvious to economists everywhere: High energy prices often push an economy into recession. Citizens are forced to cut back on non-essentials, reducing demand and pushing their economies into recession.

[8] The world seems to be up against extraction limits for coal. This, together with the high cost of shipping coal over long distances, is leading to very high prices for coal.

World coal production has been close to flat since 2011. Growth in electricity generation from coal has been almost as flat as world coal production. Indirectly, this lack of growth in coal production is forcing utilities around the world to move to other types of electricity generation.

Figure 5. World coal mined and world electricity generation from coal, based on data from BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

[9] Natural gas is now also in short supply when growing demand of many types is considered.

While natural gas production has been growing, in recent years it hasn’t been growing quickly enough to keep up with the world’s rising demand for natural gas imports. World natural gas production in 2021 was only 1.7% higher than production in 2019.

Growth in the demand for natural gas imports comes from several directions, simultaneously:

  • With coal supply flat and imports not sufficiently available, countries are seeking to substitute natural gas generation for coal generation of electricity. China is the world’s largest importer of natural gas partly for this reason.
  • Countries with electricity from wind or solar find that electricity from natural gas can ramp up quickly and fill in when wind and solar aren’t available.
  • There are several countries, including Indonesia, India and Pakistan, whose natural gas production is declining.
  • Europe chose to end its pipeline imports of natural gas from Russia and now needs more LNG instead.

[10] Prices for natural gas are extremely variable, depending on whether the natural gas is locally produced, and depending on how it is shipped and the type of contract it is under. Generally, locally produced natural gas is the least expensive. Coal has somewhat similar issues, with locally produced coal being the least expensive.

This is a chart from a recent Japanese publication (IEEJ).

Figure 6. Comparison of natural gas prices in three parts of the world from the Japanese publication IEEJ, dated January 23, 2023.

The low Henry Hub price at the bottom is the US price, available only locally. If supplies are high within the US, its price tends to be low. The next higher price is Japan’s price for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), arranged under long-term contracts, over a period of years. The top price is the price that Europe is paying for LNG based on “spot market” prices. Spot market LNG is the only type of LNG available to those who did not plan ahead.

In recent years, Europe has been taking its chances on getting low spot market prices, but this approach can backfire badly when there is not enough to go around. Note that the high price of European imported LNG was already evident in January 2013, before the Ukraine invasion began.

A major issue is that shipping natural gas is extremely expensive, tending to at least double or triple the price to the user. Producers need to be guaranteed a high price for LNG over the long term to make all of the infrastructure needed to produce and ship natural gas as LNG profitable. The extremely variable prices for LNG have been a problem for natural gas producers.

The very high recent prices for LNG in Europe have made the price of natural gas too high for industrial users who need natural gas for processes other than making electricity, such as making nitrogen fertilizer. These high prices cause distress from the lack of inexpensive natural gas to spill over into the farming sector.

Most people are “energy blind,” especially when it comes to coal and natural gas. They assume that there is plenty of both fuels to be cheaply extracted, essentially forever. Unfortunately, for both coal and natural gas, the cost of shipping tends to be very high. This is something that modelers miss. It is the high delivered cost of natural gas and coal that makes it impossible for companies to actually extract the amounts of coal and natural gas that seem to be available based on reserve estimates.

[10] When we analyze electricity consumption in recent years, we discover that OECD and non-OECD countries have had amazingly different patterns of electricity consumption growth since 2001.

OECD electricity consumption has been close to flat, especially since 2008. Even before 2008, its electricity consumption was not growing rapidly.

The proposal now is to increase the use of electricity in OECD countries. Electricity will be used to a greater extent for fueling vehicles and heating homes. It will also to be used more for local manufacturing, especially for batteries and semiconductor chips. I wonder how OECD countries will be able to ramp up electricity production sufficiently to cover both current uses of electricity and planned new uses, if past electricity production has been essentially flat.

Figure 7. Electricity production by type of fuel for OECD countries, based on data from BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

Figure 7 shows that coal’s share of electricity production has been falling for OECD countries, especially since 2008. “Other” has been rising, but only enough to keep overall production flat. Other is comprised of renewables, including wind and solar, plus electricity from oil and from burning of trash. The latter categories are small.

The pattern of recent energy production for non-OECD countries is very different:

Figure 8. Electricity production by type of fuel for non-OECD countries, based on data from BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

Figure 8 shows that non-OECD countries have been rapidly ramping up electricity production from coal. Other major sources of fuel are natural gas and electricity produced by hydroelectric dams. All these energy sources are relatively non-complex. Electricity from locally produced coal, locally produced natural gas, and hydroelectric generation all tend to be quite inexpensive. With these inexpensive sources of electricity, non-OECD countries have been able to dominate the world’s heavy industry and much of its manufacturing.

In fact, if we look at the local production of fuels generally used to produce electricity (that is, all fuels except oil), we can see a pattern emerge.

Figure 9. Energy production of fuels often used for electricity production for OECD countries, based on data from BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

With respect to extraction of fuels often associated with electricity, production has been closed to flat, even with “renewables” (wind, solar, geothermal, and wood chips) included. Coal production is down. The decline in coal production is likely a big part of the lack of growth in OECD’s electricity supply. Electricity from locally produced coal has historically been very inexpensive, bringing the average price of electricity down.

A very different pattern emerges when the production of fuels used to generate electricity for non-OECD countries is viewed. Note that the same scale has been used on both Figures 9 and 10. Thus, in 2001, the production of these fuels was about equal for OECD and non-OECD countries. Production of these fuels has about doubled since 2001 for non-OECD countries, while OECD production has remained close to flat.


Figure 10. Energy production of fuels often used for electricity production for non-OECD countries, based on data from BP’s 2022 Statistical Review of World Energy.

One item of interest on Figure 10 is coal production for non-OECD countries, shown in blue at the bottom. It has been barely increasing since 2011. This is part of what is now tightening world coal supplies. I am doubtful that spiking coal prices will add very much to long-term coal production because truly local supplies are becoming depleted, even in non-OECD countries. The spiking prices are much more likely to lead to recession, debt defaults, lower commodity prices, and lower coal supply.

[11] I am afraid that the world economy has hit complexity limits as well as energy production limits.

The world economy seems likely to collapse over a period of years. In the near term, the result may look like a bad recession, or it may look like war, or possibly both. So far, the economies using fuels that are not very complex for electricity (locally produced coal and natural gas, plus hydroelectric generation) seem to be doing better than others. But the overall world economy is stressed by inadequate cheap-to-produce local energy supplies.

In physics terms, the world economy, as well as all of the individual economies within it, are dissipative structures. As such, growth followed by collapse is a usual pattern. At the same time, new versions of dissipative structures can be expected to form, some of which may be better adapted to changing conditions. Thus, approaches for economic growth that seem impossible today may be possible over a longer timeframe.

For example, if climate change opens up access to more coal supplies in very cold areas, the Maximum Power Principle would suggest that some economy will eventually access such deposits. Thus, while we seem to be reaching an end now, over the long-term, self-organizing systems can be expected to find ways to utilize (“dissipate”) any energy supply that can be inexpensively accessed, considering both complexity and direct fuel use.

About Gail Tverberg

My name is Gail Tverberg. I am an actuary interested in finite world issues - oil depletion, natural gas depletion, water shortages, and climate change. Oil limits look very different from what most expect, with high prices leading to recession, and low prices leading to financial problems for oil producers and for oil exporting countries. We are really dealing with a physics problem that affects many parts of the economy at once, including wages and the financial system. I try to look at the overall problem.
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3,434 Responses to Ramping up wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles can’t solve our energy problem

  1. Hubbs says:

    Doomberg part 2 about the Palestine derailing event vinyl chloride burn and the state of our rail system.

    https://doomberg.substack.com/p/aftermath?publication_id=343139&isFreemail=true

    • reante says:

      The environmental disaster looks like it was designed in part to bring the alt-right wing of the coming national socialism closer into the fold of green politics. Perhaps the biggest challenge for the elites is to get the Right to give a damn about the ecology. It starts with smalltown folk. It starts with fish in the widdle crick and chickens owned by folks with game cams pointed at their coops lol.

      • Replenish says:

        Sportsman’s groups in Pennsylvania were among the first orgs to clean up acid mine drainage. One of the oldest Statewide groups attracted large grant to restructure with the suggestion to drop 2A from mission.. grant administrator had to settle for slight name change to emphasize conservation, lol. Deep green conservatives keeping their eyes on the prize here.

  2. Mirror on the wall says:

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/world/russia-china-show-off-ties-amid-manoeuvring-over-ukraine-1.6283891

    Russia, China show off ties amid manoeuvring over Ukraine

    Russia and China showcased their deepening ties Wednesday in a series of meetings closely watched for signs that Beijing might offer stronger support to the Kremlin for its war in Ukraine.

    The visit by Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s most senior foreign policy official, to Moscow comes as the conflict in Ukraine continues to upend the global diplomatic order.

    Relations between Russia and the West are at their lowest point since the Cold War, and ties between China and the U.S. are also under serious strain. Moscow suspended its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with Washington this week. And the U.S. expressed concern in recent days that China could provide arms and ammunition to Russia.

    Speaking at the start of talks with Wang, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed ties between the two countries and added that the Kremlin expects Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Russia.

    The Russian leader noted escalating international tensions, adding that “in this context, cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation on the global arena is particularly important for stabilizing the international situation.”

    Wang said that “the Chinese-Russian relations aren’t directed against any third countries and certainly can’t be subject to pressure from any third countries” — but the spectre of the war and the ways in which it has galvanized the West and deepened its divide with Russia hung over the meeting.

    For instance, Wang emphasized that Moscow and Beijing both support “multipolarity and democratization of international relations” — a reference to their shared goal of countering the perceived U.S. dominance in global affairs.

    Earlier Wednesday, Wang held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who noted that “our ties have continued to develop dynamically, and despite high turbulence in the global arena we have shown the readiness to speak in defence of each other’s interests.”

    Wang responded in kind, underlining Beijing’s focus on deepening ties with Russia — a relationship it says has “no limits.”

    China has pointedly refused to criticize the invasion of Ukraine — echoing Moscow’s claim that the U.S. and NATO are to blame for provoking the Kremlin while blasting the punishing sanctions imposed on Russia. Russia, in turn, has staunchly supported China amid tensions with the U.S. over Taiwan.

    The two nations have held a series of military drills that showcased their increasingly close defense ties. Both countries and South Africa are holding naval drills in the Indian Ocean this week.

    A Russian frigate, the Admiral Gorshkov, arrived in Cape Town in recent days sporting the letters Z and V on its sides, letters that mark Russian weapons on the front lines in Ukraine and are used as a patriotic symbol in Russia.

    The rapprochement has worried the West, leading U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to warn that any Chinese involvement in the Kremlin’s war effort would be a “serious problem.”

    Wang’s talks with Lavrov followed his meeting Tuesday with Nikolai Patrushev, the powerful secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, who called for closer cooperation with Beijing to counter what he described as Western efforts to maintain dominance by thwarting an alliance between China and Russia.

  3. Student says:

    (Byoblu)

    from time 4.08 website news Byoblu broadcasted the news report about the first restaurant in Italy to offer insects to its clients.
    It is in Milan.

    https://www.byoblu.com/2023/02/22/tg-flash-byoblu24-22-febbraio-2023-edizione-1330/

  4. MG says:

    God created the world = God created the universe
    God created the Eden = God created the human environment
    The naked humans were expelled from the Eden after eating the forbidden fruit = the humans who destroyed the human environment in the warm areas had to make clothes and move to the colder areas
    They had to earn the bread with toil = they needed to spend more energy for survival in the areas with less energy from the Sun

    • I would slightly revise the first two of these:

      God created the world = God is continuously creating the Universe
      God created the Eden = God is continuously creating the human environment

      Regarding humans being expelled from Eden, I think that the problem was growing population leading to inability of the area to support the local population. This was at least as great a problem as environmental harm.

      • MG says:

        This continuous creation does not seem to keep up with the speed of the human environment destruction.

        Allmost all of the human environments are now created and repaired by the humans.

        That is why the humans moved from the gods representing the natural forces to a higher power above the universe, as these gods of the natural forces turned out to be helpless vis-a-vis the human destructional activity.

        • MG says:

          That way the humans completely abandoned the idea of this finite destructed world as their home and resorted to the heavenly home after the death.

          • MG says:

            The words about the humans being expelled from the Eden seem more like about being expelled from some land than about the population growth.

            The were expelled from the Eden, because they started their destructional activity, i.e. moving against the force that created their environment and them.

            A reverse movement.

            • Cromagnon says:

              They began to treat Eden as though it belonged to them.

              No worries solar reset gonna clear a lot of things up.

            • reante says:

              Yep. And continuos creation is biological consciousness continually creating, which itself is a nested/evolved phenomenon of the elemental consciousness that’s continually creating, such as star fusion. The Creator created the probably toroidal universal conditions for a self-contained continuing creation.

            • MG says:

              Fortunately, we are not able to understand the infinity, as we live in the finite world.

              We are really helpless, but we believe that we can be saved despite the enormous universe and its giant despair.

      • JMS says:

        Or else the serpent from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had been briefed by the Club of Rome and knew exactly what to do to expel those profligate dissipators from that lush paradise.

  5. MG says:

    As the system is imploding, the system management will always invent some kind of tax to strip the parts of the system their surpluses.

    • Good point!

    • Cromagnon says:

      That’s why cook books using “system managers” as base food stocks are gonna be hot sellers.
      I am currently working on one for governmental employees and all judiciary.

      Rotisserie barrister served with apple in mouth and steamed root vegetables.

      Save on both ends,….. remove taxation and cut grocery bill by 50%.

      Just the thought brings out the 3% Neanderthal in me.

  6. Rodster says:

    Australia caught hiding child Covid vax deaths by Chris Martenson

    https://peakprosperity.com/the-tgas-actions-are-truly-inexcusable/

    • Australia’s equivalent of the FDA, the TGA, has been caught (1) having assigned causation to two childhood covid vaccine deaths and then (2) hiding those from the public. One was a 7-year-old boy, the other a 9-year-old girl.

      The TGA’s excuse? They “didn’t want to undermine public confidence.”

      Instead, they opted to strongly encourage parents to get their children vaccinated and boosted as soon as they possibly could.

      . . .

      The one ray of light in this truly horrifying tale is that the public is finally waking up in Australia. Questions are being asked. Politicians are getting testy. Still too few, but the momentum has changed.

  7. JMS says:

    Apologies if this has already been mentioned here, in any case this wonderful coincidence deserves to be underlined and repeated:

    “The CDC edited the toxicology profile for vinyl chloride, massively increasing the lethal exposure level and removing information about how the chemical affects children, just two weeks before the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio that spewed vast quantities of the chemical into the environment.

    The CDC update changed the lethal exposure from 100PPM to 100,000PPM. The lethal exposure level had remained the same for 17 years before the CDC decided to update the number just prior to the derailment, where highly toxic chemicals spilled or were burned off, leaving a chemical stench in the air nearly two weeks later.”

    https://newspunch.com/inside-job-cdc-changed-toxicity-info-on-vinyl-chloride-days-before-derailment/

    • Hubbs says:

      My very preliminary inquiry begins when I released a report by Doomberg that they released.

      They analyzed the contnets of the 54 derailed cars. 5 contained the compound in question, vinyvl chloride.

      According to Doomberg. vinyl chloride (less dense than air)when released into the air is quickly dissipated and diluted out to a harmless level.

      My understanding is that if it is combusted, then there are lethal long lasting by products (dioxins) that result, and which enter the food chain etc. The effects last for generations. So is the doom porners trying to cash in on false information, or are we again being lied to? The US government and “Deep State” who controls the government have been lying to us for decades, even more than a century if you arbitrarily start with the FED.

      So why did these government “agencies” elect to do a “controlled burn?”

      For the protection of the citizens they claim. Because there could have been an explosion if they didn’t burn it.

      Is this more of the same as with COVID? We released the vaxxes for the protection of the citizens -after we had created the spike protein according to David Martin PhD after nearly 20 years of genetic engineering and attempts to patent the gene sequence which were denied. And then to cover up their tracks, big pharma attempted to pay hush money to hide the existance of the patent application from record.

      But the people are too stupid to see what’s happening, and now the media, and the legal, the monetary and electoral system have become so corrupted that it is too late to reverse course. We can be slow boiled or thrown in and the lid clamped down for a quick lobster boil. I see red, and it’s not the color of the lobsters shell changing with the boil.

      The problem is, there are no more men.

      https://doomberg.substack.com/p/railroaded?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

      • Another situation in which the “fix” is worse than the disease.

      • Replenish says:

        Poster Notbr_549 on Marketticker. This echoes similar criticism of characterizeing the controlled burning of vinyl chloride as an “American Chernobyl.” You need multiple chlorines to produce dioxin. However one cargo manifest purported to show PVC pellets.

        “Vinyl chloride is nasty toxic, and flammable. Chlorinated hydrocarbons are less flammable than the related hydrocarbons, but this molecule only has one chlorine atom. Carbon tet was used as a fire extinguisher at one time, but, umm, it is toxic – puts out the fire but you die from the fumes and byproducts. When I heard they were burning it, my first reaction was ugh, what a mess. But yeah, that was probably the safest way to dispose of it. You wouldn’t want to be in the smoke cloud, but the original vinyl would be far worse.

        The main product is obviously soot, essentially carbon chickenwire. Not exactly non-toxic, but it will disperse and go away, it’s just C. The HCl will find some water somewhere, and lower the pH of local rain for a short while. Other minor products like phosgene also have short environmental half-lives, falling apart on contact with water vapor.”

    • CTG says:

      JMS, Portugal has stopped the retirement visa program on the pretext that it is cause an increase in housing prices….

      https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2023/02/17/portugal-ends-golden-visa-program-after-ireland-and-before-spain/?sh=56aab4f666ca

      what is your comment?

      • JMS says:

        It’s a fact that in recent years Portugal has had a problem with the rise in house prices and rents, especially in Lisbon and Porto, because wages are low and have not accompanied this rise. But this situation is not to blame for the golden visa, as this program was intended to invest a minimum of half a million euros, which in Portugal is the price of a luxury home, and moreover in ten years only 17,000 homes were sold through of this program, mostly to Chinese citizens.

        What really made housing prices rise was the tourist boom of the last 7-8 years, which led many landlords to switch from long-term rentals (to residents) to short-term rentals (to tourists), since that way they earn three or four times as much. So the end of the golden visa seems just a demagogic measure, and which incidentally has been heavily criticized by the real estate sector.

    • Of course, if the CDC really believed that vinyl chloride did not provide a risk, unless it was in very great quantities, there would seem to be less reason to burn it off and make worse byproducts.

    • reante says:

      Wow, really? That’s a HUGE indicator that the elites are pushing a national socialist revolution. We call the elites, elites, because they are elite at what they do. Elites don’t operate stupidly in plain sight like this unless they’re operating intentionally stupidly. Intentional stupidity always has an ulterior motive.

      Vern? 51/49?

  8. WSJ’s take on the situation:

    Russia, China Challenge U.S.-Led World Order
    Biden’s Kyiv visit, Putin’s speech show two sides digging in for long fight in Ukraine as China also weighs in

    A series of high-profile events on the international stage has laid bare the perilous state of great-power relations as Russia and China challenge the U.S.-led global order and raised the prospect that they could deteriorate further.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia would suspend its participation in the last remaining nuclear-arms treaty between Moscow and Washington, a vestige of the security architecture that has helped keep the peace for decades.

    With strains worse than at any time since the Cold War, Mr. Putin’s threat to arms control in a speech in Moscow came a day after President Biden traveled to Ukraine and vowed “unending support” for Kyiv in a fight Mr. Putin considers an existential one for Russia.

    Also in the mix: China, whose top diplomat, Wang Yi excoriated the U.S. at a security conference in Germany before arriving Tuesday in Moscow to see Russian officials and, people familiar with the matter said, likely propose a summit between Mr. Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.

    Stock markets seem to be down in many places. Bond yields seem to be up.

    • Fast Eddy says:

      Stay tuned for more fake clips depicting war

      • Ed says:

        Eddy, in this case I have to agree with you. There is something very strange about this “war”.

        • Herbie Ficklestein says:

          Yeah, I have the feeling of witnessing George Orwell’s explaination of geopolitics in his 1984 classic…
          It’s pretty much a carbon copy of what is evolving

  9. Herbie Ficklestein. says:

    United Airlines, partners seek to promote sustainable air fuel with $100 million new fund
    This fund is unique. It’s not about offsets or things that are just greenwashing,” said United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby.

    Mark Calvey
    Tue, February 21, 2023 at 5:50 PM EST

    Going 100% green by 2050 starts with fuel

    Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a lower-carbon alternative to normal jet fuel that can be used to
    fuel existing aircraft without making significant modications to the aircraft and its engines. SAF used by United has up to 85% lower GHG emissions than regular jet fuel when we count all of its emissions, all the way from how it’s made and delivered to the airport, to when we use it (these are called ‘lifecycle emissions’). This does not mean our current use of SAF reduces our carbon footprint by 85%, however. We still have a long way to go to achieve net zero by 2050, as currently only 0.1% of our overall fuel is SAF.

    https://www.united.com/en/us/fly/company/responsibility/sustainable-aviation-fuel.html

    We, humans, do have lively imaginations with BAU.

    • Lastcall says:

      So we can fly Biden to Ukraine the green way?
      So we can fly Prince Harry home to see dad?
      So we can fly the ghouls to WEF meetings.
      So we can fly people to disneyland?
      So we can fly people to visit Buck. Palace.
      Its all a waste of hot air.
      Get a life where you live for gud sakes.

    • Ed says:

      how much does SAF fuel cost how much does normal cost?

    • Rodster says:

      SAF is an oxymoron. SAF is not sustainable. Airlines will go out of business or they will have to raise prices to offset the added cost for SAF, which will result in less air travel. People just don’t think things through.

      • Withnail says:

        Airlines only existed with a small market before because they were growing. Same with electricity and cars.

        If the market is shrinking every year, they don’t become a boutique service for the rich, they just cease to exist at all.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        Notice how when you buy an airline ticket you have the option to offset emissions by paying more?

        That $$$ goes into a pot at the management office and it’s used by the honchos to pay for lap dances and blow at the local Gent’s Club…

        They refer to it as ‘the Stooopid tax’

        hahahahahaha… the stooopid tax …

    • David says:

      >>95% seem to have no idea that worldwide peak oil was probably in 2018 and oil production *per capita* peaked in 1978/79.
      One could turn wood into jet fuel, if one must, but the GHG emissions now will be greater than from kerosene. Only over time do the trees re-grow.

  10. Adonis says:

    I was reading about gold hydrogen which apparently is dirt cheap natural hydrogen at 50 cents a kilo and it is available in massive quantities enough for thousands of years found in depleted oil wells if viable this could be mankinds saviour lm thinking of investing in it what do finite worlders think

  11. Herbie Ficklestein. says:

    Tue, February 21, 2023 at 10:31 AM EST

    (Reuters) – Bird flu has killed tens of thousands of birds, mostly pelicans, and at least 716 sea lions in protected areas across Peru, the authorities said, as the H5N1 strain spreads throughout the region.

    Peru recorded its first case of the virus in November in birds in the north of the country. Since then it has killed 63,000 birds, according to government data.

    “We have also recorded since mid-January the unusual death of many sea lions, so far we have about 716 dead sea lions in seven protected natural areas of the coast,” said Roberto Gutierrez, head of surveillance of the National Service of Natural Protected Areas.

    Since the beginning of 2021, bird flu has ravaged the world, killing more than 200 million birds due to disease or mass culling, the World Organization for Animal Health has said.

    In South America, bird flu cases have been detected in Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and recently in Argentina and Uruguay. In Brazil, the world’s largest poultry exporter, there are still no confirmed cases.

    In Chile, health authorities last week detected the first positive case in marine mammal, a sea lion on a beach in the north of the country.

    The population of sea lions numbered about 110,000 in Peru in 2020, mainly in the coastal region of Ica and the Paracas nature reserve, according to Oceana, an international organization dedicated to protecting oceans.

    In recent weeks, crews from Peru’s National Forestry and Wildlife Service, in protective plastic suits, gloves and masks, have collected and buried hundreds of sea lions from several beaches along Peru’s central coast.

    “What we remember initially started with pelicans last year is now affecting these marine mammals,” Javier Jara, a veterinarian with the service, said.

    (Reporting by Carlos Valdez Reuters Television and Marco Aquino; Editing by Alison Williams)

    Wow, and we b#tch about our fatalities over the Kung Flu 😷 🤧…

    Maybe it was released from a weapons lab? Perhaps ….ahhh, that’s too bad..

    Sea lions numbered perhaps 110,000 in Peru…maybe the Chinese wanted to cut down their fish intake with the Pelicans? Just a thought.

  12. Herbie Ficklestein. says:

    Winning….Greta Thumburger gets burned….

    Global Oil Demand Hit Record High In December

    By Charles Kennedy – Feb 20, 2023, 9:00 AM CST

    Global oil demand surged by 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) to a new record high in December, with total demand at 102% above the pre-Covid levels in December 2019, data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Monday.

    Rising consumption in Japan, Indonesia, and South Korea drove the growth in global oil demand in the last month of 2022, according to the JODI data shared by the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum (IEF). In Japan, total product demand jumped by 512,000 bpd to a 12-month high.

    In November, world demand hit a nine-month high, thanks to solid demand in China, India, and Japan, the JODI data showed last month.

    In December, while global demand soared, crude oil production fell to a five-month low, dragged down by lower supply from the United States and the United Kingdom, IEF said.

    https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Global-Oil-Demand-Hit-Record-High-In-December.amp.html

    …..U.S. crude oil production declined by 288,000 bpd to 12.09 million bpd, while total product demand rose by 169,000 bpd to 20.76 million bpd. U.S. crude oil closing stocks fell by 6.55 million barrels to the lowest level recorded in JODI data going back to January 2002.

    World natural gas demand rose in December, but natural gas inventories in the European Union and the UK dropped by 9.5 bcm in December, less than the seasonal average draw of 11.5 bcm, per JODI’s data.
    By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

    Sure, we are seeing peak oil demand and phasing the black goo out AFAP.

  13. Jan says:

    Allow me huge speculation, as the topics pole jump and reigious belief in a Second Coming has already been mentioned:

    At OFW we believe we have some superiour informtion about the fact of deteriorating energy. These assumption are based firstly on data we cannot control and secondly on the assumption that if not BAU so at least the world continues as before; that we live on a stable planet.

    If we look to the WEF agenda under the aspect of energy availability, some things seem to make sense, eg reduction of individual transport, others not, eg transhumanism. Some narratativs may be needed to get people on the bus.

    If measures dont make sense, how could an assumed Third World War end? In our logic it is clear, it would end having too little energy, states would implode and the survivers suffer amazing pain and hunger trying to survive.

    But that is not all. There is a huge tradition of European prophecy that envisions something else: The Second Coming, Three Days of Darkness, somethinc like a shift of the Earths crust and a new Golden Age for thousand years. Obviously prophecists have copied one from another. The point is that alledgedly a lot of forseen aspects have already become true.

    How could they have known? Inspiration is a possibility but it is also thinkable that they have been used for a higher purpose.

    Many of us on OFW have made the experience, that it is not possible to communicate serious concerns as people ‘block’ when thoughts have too severe consequences.

    Is it possible that people who know something, like us, but in another bubble, have used Alois Irlmair and Baba Wanka to communicate something that otherwise would have been rejected?

    What could that be? Well, the Three Days of Darkness in my understanding can only be explained by a heavy object colliding with the Earth and that could be understood as Second Coming because people dont behave. A pole jump may occur due to inner processes and also as the result of a large impact.

    Have they knowledge about a huge impact and stage a little bit the revelation? It is my deep inner belief and trust, that God would not act as described in the revelation. God, how we are told, does not exist, is my personal cause for atheism. Such a God does not exist! But a staging? An impact?

    A quick research in respective databases have not shown any objects even close to Earth for the next hundred years. Maybe they fail. Maybe it is hidden. Perhaps there is nothing. How can we know? What remains is, the puzzle does not fit together. Something is fucked up, as George Carlin said.

    If it were an impact, many hypothesis about the near future had to be corrected.

    I just wanted to mention it for completeness of the discussion.

    • Curt says:

      “The meek shall inherit the earth” – quote from the bible. Most likely background: since the written history of mesopotamia, urban and highly stratified civilizations have failed more than once.

      Once feared and revered centers of control and command fell into abandonment. Who inherited the lands of ancient mesopotamia and other “great cultures”? The urban dwellers therein?

      No, marginalized people from the periphery – the meek so to say, the poor, those most removed from the then-centers of culture.

      Cain slew Abel – why? Most probably because Cain was an early subsistence agriculturist, while Abel was a pastoralist cattle herder. Yet their mutual origin was still close enough so they spoke the same language – brothers therefore.

      I think the WEF and other institutions aren’t very original in their assessment of the finiteness of fossil resources and other moer than obvious problems and predicaments – not that this is essentially anything new.

      On the other hand, these obvious problems were always presented as solvable through techno-unicorn fantasies – hence transhumanism.

      Propaganda that deviates too far from actual and apparent problems isn’t very effective.

      What central institutions know on the other hand – it is usually the military that has the best outlook and resources and implications.

      We know of the German army study in 2010 (?), and certainly the Pentagon is well within the picture.

      Putin has, as far as I know, studied mineral sciences – the best field of study for a statesman I wager.

      The middle management however, all the people in the government, in the NGOs and think tanks, in corporate structures influencing the state – I take them as pretty energy blind.

      Maybe even the CIA.

      So all in all the notion that things aren’t going to go well forever – even if you are energy blind, the signs are everywhere on the walls.

      Only if you are personally invested in techno-fantasy business, you cannot accept such a notion, because it would go against your hopes in your business.

      Most bureaucrats and coroporate white collar jockeys fall into the category.

      Not me though 😉 a white collar man who accepts the notion of ephemerality and isn’t averse to consider his own death and demise.

      Actually, I sometimes start to enjoy life MORE now that matters become so obvious.

      • We sometimes lose sight of this:

        Once feared and revered centers of control and command fell into abandonment. Who inherited the lands of ancient mesopotamia and other “great cultures”? The urban dwellers therein?

        No, marginalized people from the periphery – the meek so to say, the poor, those most removed from the then-centers of culture.

        The Bible saying about the meek inheriting the Earth is right.

        • Artleads says:

          Construction methods that are now as unthinkable as inclusion of marginalized people will come into the forefront too. The major short term construction material will HAVE to be cardboard. There is nothing else (whatever the efficacy of the material under limited conditions) that address the holistic parameters for short term sustainability you present.

          • Withnail says:

            There used to be a homeless encampment in London in the 1980s known as ‘cardboard city’.

            Many of the residents were from the northern towns that mined coal and had coal based industries that shut down in that decade.

        • Lidia17 says:

          The Bible is the biggest psy-op going. What better way to control your enemies than by convincing them to be meek? Convincing them that earthly rewards are no good; wait for heavenly rewards..? That the last shall be first and the first shall be last, etc.? Justice can only be obtained in the next world.

          In the words of the Church Lady: “How conveeeeenient!”

          • Artleads says:

            Yeah, but nothing is ever just one way. It’s the complication of it all that is beating Western, (linear-thinking) society.

          • Well maybe. Maybe the message needs to be, “Move to rural areas. Live in very modest housing.” This is the way you are meek, today.

            It is unfortunate that pretty much everyone will be losing their earthly rewards. If people can take their focus off of having the nicest car or home, this might help them tolerate the situation that is taking place.

    • Very Far Frank says:

      Sylvie Ivanov over at the ‘newearth’ channel on Youtube has a 50 video series on the End Times. Most people listening to her videos will reasonably dismiss it as ‘woo’, and that interpretation is helped by the naff visuals and New Age music. However…

      Looking at the timeline she’s compiled from the various prophecies surrounding the End Times, the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming, a great deal of it seems to fit in well with contemporary geopolitics. It also seems to make sense that ‘momentuous change’ would occur at the inflection point from growth to degrowth/collapse.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQQL2xm4vhk

      As for World War III, the weight of prophecy appears to agree that it will begin in late July/early August 2026 when Russia invades deep into Europe over night, getting as far as the Rhine before the attack peters out. This is preceded by the Communists getting back into power in Russia. I can see that happening given rising inflation at home and mixed performance in the Ukrainian war.

      All of this was interpreted prior to 2020, which I find quite intriguing. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

      • Mid 2020s , by my estimate, will see the ultimate resource crash—ie, ‘modern’ societies will be unable to support the lifestyles of their people. (it will vary by a year or two between regions)

        unfortunately most still persist with the idea that prosperity is a matter of voting for it.

        It seems inevitable then that nations with the means to do so, will try to grab what they can from elsewhere, just to keep things stable for a while longer.

        But in effect, there is now very little to grab.

        Everyone has used up what is available to support their current level of existence.

        The use of ‘conventional’ weapons will not alter this, even though they will be used.

        When they don’t work, leaders will ‘lose face’.

        after that, i fear they will go nuclear—destroy what they cannot gain by any other means.

        Let’s hope I’m wrong.

        • Very Far Frank says:

          Interestingly, there is reference in the aforementioned prophecies of ‘black boxes’ dropped into the sea during the last Great War, which produce tidal waves that inundate Britain and the United States’ east coast.

          The description bears a striking resemblence to the ‘Poseidon’ thermonuclear weapon that Russia has developed and is currently in its arsenal. These devices would be detonated underwater to create massive tidal waves of irradiated seawater.

          My impression is that this use of thermonuclear weaponry may be used, but any world war would not see the free use of ICBMs due to the MAD doctrine.

          • Xabier says:

            Exciting prospects!

            What might also lead to the inundation of the very flat and low-lying East coast of England would be the inability to keep all the drainage pumps going.

            The ‘fens’ – wetlands, once rich in wildfowl – use to come within a few miles of here, one neighbouring village being called ‘Dry’ and the next ‘Wet’.

            Maybe Ill be climbing the tres instead of cutting them down? I’m delighted my last few years promise not to be dull – whatever the cause…….

          • Cromagnon says:

            The elites know something truly biblical is coming. They are preparing to try and hide from it. They are evil and demented and fully understand their pact with the demiurge has made them a full on target of the control mechanisms of the reality engines.

            The solar flash will hit Eastern Europe, Middle East, Eastern Africa,……. The radiation will kill much of above ground life. The dust shell impact will smash into eastern China. Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and all the pacific island chains.

            I hope the next part is in error, if not then all humans not above 1000 feet and deep inland on continental heartlands will perish.

            As the solar radiation flux destabilizes the low viscosity zone, the crustal plates will become untethered from the mantle and a true pole shift begins. Truly massive tsunamis will clear much of the continental land masses of life.

            Any threat of human military might or advanced technologies will be cleansed from the earths surface like dust particles on a windshield in heavy rain.

            Humans are fools,….. we won’t look up until the wave crest is incoming, we won’t learn that this world is an amphitheater and we are standing on hot sand.

            May it happen soon so those of us in the hinterlands who survive can give our children into a new empty world and into the age of heros.

            • Last week, a friend of mine sent me an email that included this information:

              Space Weather News for Feb. 17, 2023
              https://spaceweather.com
              https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com

              BIG FLARE LAUNCHES “SOLAR TSUNAMI”: Earth-orbiting satellites have just detected a major X2.2-class solar flare. The blast caused a deep shortwave radio blackout on Earth and launched a tsunami of plasma in the sun’s atmosphere. A CME is almost certainly emerging from the blast site, but we don’t yet know if it is heading for Earth. Stay tuned to Spaceweather.com for updates.

              X-flare alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive instant text messages when X-class solar flares are underway.

              ——
              My friend (who is not an OFW follower) is concerned that more worse events may be coming.

            • Xabier says:

              To expire in such a grand cataclysm would be an honour, in a way.

              Let’s all go together when we go – and not by mere human agency, which is just sordid.

            • i thought my version of doomarama was bad enough

            • MG says:

              The quick and short cataclysm would be a redemption.

            • JesseJames says:

              How long will the tsunami be over me? I am about 400ft altitude in the foothills of the Smokeys. I want to know how many air tanks I need.

  14. Fast Eddy says:

    Brace for SCHAD … lots of really good SCHAD today hahaha

    SCHAD… wonderful SCHAD!!!

    Tom Sizemore in ICU with brain aneurysm; Richard Gere in hospital with pneumonia; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has atrial fibrillation (& has partnered with PFIZER to “raise awareness” of that condition)

    Other US non-fatals include Cybill Shepherd’s swift decline since 2021, and Richmond head coach Chris Mooney’s aortic aneurysm

    https://markcrispinmiller.substack.com/p/tom-sizemore-in-icu-with-brain-aneurysm

    • Lastcall says:

      Priceless…

      September 28, 2021
      ‘Retired NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a message for professional basketball players who are refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine: Get the shot or get off the squad.

      “The NBA should insist that all players and staff are vaccinated or remove them from the team,” Abdul-Jabbar said in an article published in Rolling Stone on Saturday.

      “There is no room for players who are willing to risk the health and lives of their teammates, the staff and the fans simply because they are unable to grasp the seriousness of the situation or do the necessary research,” the NBA Hall of Famer added.’

      And now…
      “They had to help me out to my car. While I was going past the trophy case, I collapsed against it,” Jabbar recalled. “It was rough. And I didn’t know what was going on — that was the whole problem. I didn’t understand what was happening.”

      He didn’t know what was happening back in Sept 2021 but felt able to promote a gene therapy. Suck it up sunshine!
      One of the best yet, but wait there’s more, much more.

      • Rodster says:

        Another tool and fool of the BBCNN

      • Tim Groves says:

        I wonder, is he suffering from Jabbar’s remorse yet?

      • reante says:

        My vaxxed and presumably boosted mom who’s healthy for her age by mainstream standards, and a tough nut, had very mild AFib and now it’s much worse. Once every few weeks it goes to town on her for about a day and a half, and she has to pretty much lie down most of the time. She’s decided to go a some procedure done when they run equipment up through your groin like with stenting and they burn-out or freeze-out that area of your heart that’s got the electrical problem lol. The vaxxes destroyed my dad. The inflection points are clear but they’re in their mid-70s so no shortage of plausible deniability.

        • Lidia17 says:

          Very sorry to hear that, reante. What a hard thing to process.

          • reante says:

            Hey thanks Lidia. 🙂 We’re all going to have to get used to seeing our loved ones face the consequences of collapse unprepared and unawares. Some of us sooner than others. We’ve all steeled ourselves for that by now. But yeah, we still have to process it.

  15. Fast Eddy says:

    New York Fashion week Valentine of Flesh was insane! 😱

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid033xZYuqwwrsAWjxqQMawXa7GCuovJiwstHQFWMFB9PjyN3EP1zdcWrEzU7uMk6v3Al&id=100064817077982&mibextid=tejx2t

    F789 Yeah!!! Japan https://t.me/TexasLindsay/1241

    THIS … is why the shelves are empty https://t.me/TommyRobinsonNews/45164

    norm despises tommy for exposing this .. cuz? https://t.me/TommyRobinsonNews/45166

    • Student says:

      Japan graphics are self explaining. Thanks for sharing.

    • Kowalainen says:

      “norm despises tommy for exposing this .. cuz?”

      A species rife with mental illness, perhaps all Rapacious Primates got some form of personality disorder? Yep, can’t show the Ugly Truth, rather it is “better” to plaster “happy family life”, smiling children, self righteous parents taking “responsibility” by procreating the retch and no vomit all over antisocial media.

      Normal’s heavily vested in the status quo of Monkey Business.

      With other words:
      YOLO!
      Hypers gonna hyper!
      (etc.)

      In perpetuity!
      🙏

      • Fast Eddy says:

        norm will Huff and puff till your house blows down

        • Kowalainen says:

          I can feel the projections bang against my window. Norm’s clinging hard to the Monkey Business. All those conveniences, statuses and prestiges demand an outlet and reflection through antisocial media and CNNBBC.

          But it isn’t his “fault”. Such is the Rapacious Primate.
          😮‍💨🪟

  16. Fast Eddy says:

    hahaha https://t.me/downtherabbitholewegofolks/65823

    NZ https://t.me/downtherabbitholewegofolks/65845 f789ed

    Why would they want to drive a car? That’s for MOREONS https://t.me/downtherabbitholewegofolks/65851

    The next shoe will drop soon?

    Military are not supposed to be deployed against civilians. Why is the Australian Defence Force making our troops train on how “deal with protesters”? This is alarming.
    https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2023-02-17/soldiers-train-deal-protesters

    china https://t.me/downtherabbitholewegofolks/65915

    • The first of these is my favorite. It says:

      By 2050 the disposal of worn out solar panels will be DOUBLE the tonnage of the world’s current plastic waste.

      Solar Panels won’t save the planet.

      • Kowalainen says:

        ”Solar Panels won’t save the planet.”

        Never underestimate the savior of solar and wind powered copium and hopiates.

        The Rapacious Primate just craves the status quo to persist in perpetuity. Whatever it takes to remain in the cozy blur of blissful myopia of the ordinary.

        After all; most of them are heavily vested in the dramas, statuses and prestiges of Tedious Monkey Business.

        But don’t get me wrong. It is perfectly fine for primates to behave in this way, despite it it being a cognitive dissonance leading to various forms of compartmentalizations, mental illness, and ultimately oblivion. This is completely par the course in evolutionary systems.

        Given the alleged age of the universe it is reasonable to claim that all of us are basically nonexistent for the most, if not all, time, and a wee bit of ‘suck’ during a short excursion of existence as we return to the “normal” state of affairs really doesn’t matter.

        All species, except for the most simple ones, eventually fail to adapt to the circumstances.

        In the mean time:
        (etc.)
        🤣👍👍

      • postkey says:

        “Conventional energy machines, like gas turbines, last twice as long. With current plans, the International Renewable Energy Agency calculates that by 2050, the disposal of worn-out solar panels will constitute over double the tonnage of all of today’s global plastic waste. Worn-out wind turbines and batteries will add millions of tons more waste.” ?
        https://www.manhattan-institute.org/mines-minerals-and-green-energy-reality-check
        https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/mines-minerals-green-energy-reality-checkMM.pdf

      • David says:

        At least hydro and tidal should last centuries.

    • Ed says:

      All the veg in NZ destroyed. It is judgement for NZ evil covid behavior.

      • Wet My Beak says:

        Agreed. But new zealand’s evil extends far beyond its covid behaviour. For example, the kiwi killing fields a.k.a. the public hospital system.

        Its bad karma will not be reversed until the last new zealander is starving and, drawing his or her or its last breath, dying in a sewer.

        Even that would be too good for them.

        • Fast Eddy says:

          I support extinction. 100% Kill All Humans.

          Kumbaya lovers want Kumbaya? This is the ONLY way they get what they want.

          Exterminate the vile evil species … wipe every last one off the face of the Earth.

          (BTW – I truly do believe that… this ain’t no primate hype).

          Discuss and try to defend a contrarian position … but think long and hard… before clicking Post Comment … Tip – there is only one logical position on this. One only. Not two. Not three. One.

          norm? Geeta?

        • Lastcall says:

          So long as the ex-pat sc3m are part of the puddle.
          Karma Katches Kockroaches no matter where they run

      • Fast Eddy says:

        This is just punishment for voting a drug snorting MOREON DJ into the PM seat.

        Not hearing much from The Toothy One these days… I betcha she’s gone out of her mind and with anna in the asylum cuz she couldn’t handle poisoning most of the citizens of NZ with the Rat Juice (even though she knows it is necessary)….

        Now we wait for the next shoe to drop … nobody talks about Covid much … they think it’s over… they keep popping that Paxlovid though… they really must want that Bossche Mutation to hit…

        When it does… you watch the global despair that this will provoke…

        It’s what I live for.

        • VFatalis says:

          There will be no Bossche mutation… because there’s no virus to begin with
          It’s all about graphene oxide and EMFs – Covid is induced by radiation sickness.
          When and where 5G was introduced first?

          You’re still looking in the wrong direction.

  17. Zerohedge writes about one part of the speech here:

    Putin Suspends New START Nuclear Treaty, Puts Missiles On Combat Readiness

    In a much anticipated speech on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin said he is suspending Russia’s participation in the New START nuclear treaty with the United States.

    “President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday suspended Russian participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the United States, warning Washington that Russia had put new ground-based strategic nuclear weapons on combat duty,” Reuters reports of the new declaration.

    Later it says,

    “No one should be under the illusion that global strategic parity can be violated,” Putin said of New START in the Tuesday remarks delivered in Moscow.

    In March 2021 the two sides renewed New START for a period of five years, and it will expire in February 2026 if it’s not continued – an increasing possibility given US-Russia relations have deteriorated so fast over the Ukraine war they are near complete breaking point. But this new Putin declaration appears to be the final death knell after the treaty’s fate was already extremely uncertain.

    The treaty is intended to limit and reduce nuclear arms on either side, setting a limit of no more than 1,550 deployed warheads and 700 missiles. START I began in 1991, with New START signed under the Obama and Medvedev administrations in 2010 as a successor agreement.

    At the end, it says, “Putin’s speech, which most commentators saw little that was new in, came just after President Biden showed up in Kiev for a surprise visit…”

    As the article says, “treaty’s fate was already extremely uncertain.” so, in a sense, this is not much new, either.

  18. Ed says:

    The audience for Putin’s speech was fascinating. Old grumpy guys in suits, young people many in uniform, clerics in fancy cleric garb, a soldier with a crutch.

    When Putin suggested that soldiers who demonstrate intelligence and leadership in the military action be given positions in government the young folks clap enthusiastically, the old folks did not clap.

    When Putin suggested making G_d not male was a bad idea the clerics smiled.

    The young were more animated and reactive. The old men and women were stolid and carefully guarded. Everyone who wore eyeglasses had nice stylish glasses.

    The staging was well done. The camera placements were well done.

  19. MG says:

    Growth is temporary, no growth is eternity.

    • MG says:

      The death is the end of growth. Then the eternity of no growth follows.

      • David says:

        It’s not that boring. It soon begins to feature ‘the long descent’, i.e. the title of John Greer’s 2008 book.

        • MG says:

          We will see how dead is the universe.

          The inhospitability of this world becomes obvious. There is no such thing as some other happy planet for the humans.

          The only solution is a completely different dimension of God that houses all the humans that escaped this world through death.

          Living in this universe is a growth with an end. Some technology can prolong the life in this universe, but it can not prevent the death, because the other reality is not the matter of energy or technology.

          More energy can not solve the problem of the limits to growth.

          The technology solutions have their limits. But what is needed is a different reality for the life, especially that of the humans.

          What is needed is a human reality, not some kind of a cold-blooded technology.

          We already live in the world with the zombies with implants and the human life on medicines support.

          The problrm is that the reality is so distorted by artificial influences that we often can not imagine a better life.

          We simply do not wish a continuation of such a hell on Earth.

          The hell of complex technology, overcrowding, environmental damage.

          We want some eternal human environments to continue our lives with others after death. Where no killing is necessary, but, at the same time, the life is not sterile.

          It seems impossible, because it is beyond our abilities.

          The dead universe which is hostile to the life has no meaning.

          Also some replay is not what we want as the individuals. We want some kind of no growth life.

          No growth life. Which is impossible in this universe.

        • we had an eternity of no growth until the industrial revolution

          then we had 300 years of growth

          now it’s over.

          pretty straightforward

  20. Lastcall says:

    All the world is a stage….

    “We did notify the Russians that President Biden would be traveling to Kyiv. We did so some hours before his departure for deconfliction purposes,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told a press briefing.

    Sullivan didn’t disclose what the immediate Moscow response was to the notification, but Sullivan stressed it was for security reasons. Of course, if during the time Biden was on the ground missiles had pummeled the capital, which though rare has happened on multiple occasions over the course of the one-year long war, this would have marked an act of war against the US from Washington’s perspective.’

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/white-house-notified-moscow-bidens-kyiv-trip-deconfliction-purposes

  21. Mirror on the wall says:

    The Kremlin website is publishing an official transcript of Putin’s speech today. The transcript is incomplete and I will add more as it is extended. Feel free to add comments to it in the meantime.

    http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/70565

    Presidential Address to Federal Assembly

    Vladimir Putin delivered his Address to the Federal Assembly. The ceremony took place in Gostiny Dvor, Moscow.

    February 21, 2023 13:50 Moscow

    President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon,

    Members of the Federation Assembly – senators, State Duma deputies,

    Citizens of Russia,

    This Presidential Address comes, as we all know, at a difficult, watershed period for our country. This is a time of radical, irreversible change in the entire world, of crucial historical events that will determine the future of our country and our people, a time when every one of us bears a colossal responsibility.

    One year ago, to protect the people in our historical lands, to ensure the security of our country and to eliminate the threat coming from the neo-Nazi regime that had taken hold in Ukraine after the 2014 coup, it was decided to begin the special military operation. Step by step, carefully and consistently we will deal with the tasks we have at hand.

    Since 2014, Donbass has been fighting for the right to live in their land and to speak their native tongue. It fought and never gave up amid the blockade, constant shelling and the Kiev regime’s overt hatred. It hoped and waited that Russia would come to help.

    In the meantime, as you know well, we were doing everything in our power to solve this problem by peaceful means, and patiently conducted talks on a peaceful solution to this devastating conflict.

    This appalling method of deception has been tried and tested many times before. They behaved just as shamelessly and duplicitously when destroying Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. They will never be able to wash off this shame. The concepts of honour, trust, and decency are not for them.

    Over the long centuries of colonialism, diktat and hegemony, they got used to being allowed everything, got used to spitting on the whole world. It turned out that they treat people living in their own countries with the same disdain, like a master. After all, they cynically deceived them too, tricked them with tall stories about the search for peace, about adherence to the UN Security Council resolutions on Donbass. Indeed, the Western elites have become a symbol of total, unprincipled lies.

    We firmly defend our interests as well as our belief that in today’s world there should be no division into so-called civilised countries and all the rest and that there is a need for an honest partnership that rejects any exclusivity, especially an aggressive one.

    We were open and sincerely ready for a constructive dialogue with the West; we said and insisted that both Europe and the whole world needed an indivisible security system equal for all countries, and for many years we suggested that our partners discuss this idea together and work on its implementation. But in response, we received either an indistinct or hypocritical reaction, as far as words were concerned. But there were also actions: NATO’s expansion to our borders, the creation of new deployment areas for missile defence in Europe and Asia – they decided to take cover from us under an ‘umbrella’ – deployment of military contingents, and not just near Russia’s borders.

    I would like to stress –in fact, this is well-known – that no other country has so many military bases abroad as the United States. There are hundreds of them – I want to emphasise this – hundreds of bases all over the world; the planet is covered with them, and one look at the map is enough to see this.

    The whole world witnessed how they withdrew from fundamental agreements on weapons, including the treaty on intermediate and shorter-range missiles, unilaterally tearing up the fundamental agreements that maintain world peace. For some reason, they did it. They do not do anything without a reason, as we know.

    Finally, in December 2021, we officially submitted draft agreements on security guarantees to the USA and NATO. In essence, all key, fundamental points were rejected. After that it finally became clear that the go-ahead for the implementation of aggressive plans had been given and they were not going to stop.

    The threat was growing by the day. Judging by the information we received, there was no doubt that everything would be in place by February 2022 for launching yet another bloody punitive operation in Donbass. Let me remind you that back in 2014, the Kiev regime sent its artillery, tanks and warplanes to fight in Donbass.

    We all remember the aerial footage of airstrikes targeting Donetsk. Other cities also suffered from airstrikes. In 2015, they tried to mount a frontal assault against Donbass again, while keeping the blockade in place and continuing to shell and terrorise civilians. Let me remind you that all of this was completely at odds with the documents and resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, but everyone pretended that nothing was happening.

    Let me reiterate that they were the ones who started this war, while we used force and are using it to stop the war.

    Those who plotted a new attack against Donetsk in the Donbass region, and against Lugansk understood that Crimea and Sevastopol would be the next target. We realised this as well. Even today, Kiev is openly discussing far-reaching plans of this kind. They exposed themselves by making public what we knew already.

    We are defending human lives and our common home, while the West seeks unlimited power. It has already spent over $150 billion on helping and arming the Kiev regime. To give you an idea, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the G7 countries earmarked about $60 billion in 2020–2021 to help the world’s poorest countries. Is this clear? They spent $150 billion on the war, while giving $60 billion to the poorest countries, despite pretending to care about them all the time, and also conditioning this support on obedience on behalf of the beneficiary countries. What about all this talk of fighting poverty, sustainable development and protection of the environment? Where did it all go? Has it all vanished? Meanwhile, they keep channelling more money into the war effort. They eagerly invest in sowing unrest and encouraging government coups in other countries around the world.

    The recent Munich Conference turned into an endless stream of accusations against Russia. One gets the impression that this was done so that everyone would forget what the so-called West has been doing over the past decades. They were the ones who let the genie out of the bottle, plunging entire regions into chaos.

    According to US experts, almost 900,000 people were killed during wars unleashed by the United States after 2001, and over 38 million became refugees. Please note, we did not invent these statistics; it is the Americans who are providing them. They are now simply trying to erase all this from the memory of humankind, and they are pretending that all this never happened. However, no one in the world has forgotten this or will ever forget it.

    None of them cares about human casualties and tragedies because many trillions of dollars are at stake, of course. They can also continue to rob everyone under the guise of democracy and freedoms, to impose neoliberal and essentially totalitarian values, to brand entire countries and nations, to publicly insult their leaders, to suppress dissent in their own countries and to divert attention from corruption scandals by creating an enemy image. We continue to see all this on television, which highlights greater domestic economic, social and inter-ethnic problems, contradictions and disagreements.

    I would like to recall that, in the 1930s, the West had virtually paved the way to power for the Nazis in Germany. In our time, they started turning Ukraine into an “anti-Russia.”

    Actually, this project is not new. People who are knowledgeable about history at least to some extent realise that this project dates back to the 19th century. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Poland had conceived it for one purpose, that is, to deprive Russia of these historical territories that are now called Ukraine. This is their goal. There is nothing new here; they are repeating everything.

    The West expedited the implementation of this project today by supporting the 2014 coup. That was a bloody, anti-state and unconstitutional coup. They pretended that nothing happened, and that this is how things should be. They even said how much money they had spent on it. Russophobia and extremely aggressive nationalism formed its ideological foundation.

    Quite recently, a brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was named Edelweiss after a Nazi division whose personnel were involved in deporting Jews, executing prisoners of war and conducting punitive operations against partisans in Yugoslavia, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Greece. We are ashamed to talk about this, but they are not. Personnel serving with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian National Guard are particularly fond of chevrons formerly worn by soldiers from Das Reich, Totenkopf (Death’s Head) and Galichina divisions and other SS units. Their hands are also stained with blood. Ukrainian armoured vehicles feature insignia of the Nazi German Wehrmacht.

    Neo-Nazis are open about whose heirs they consider themselves to be. Surprisingly, none of the powers that be in the West are seeing it. Why? Because they – pardon my language – could not care less about it. They do not care who they are betting on in their fight against us, against Russia. In fact, anyone will do as long as they fight against us and our country. Indeed, we saw terrorists and neo-Nazis in their ranks. They would let all kinds of ghouls join their ranks, for God’s sake, as long as they act on their will as a weapon against Russia.

    In fact, the anti-Russia project is part of the revanchist policy towards our country to create flashpoints of instability and conflicts next to our borders. Back then, in the 1930s, and now the design remains the same and it is to direct aggression to the East, to spark a war in Europe, and to eliminate competitors by using a proxy force.

    We are not at war with the people of Ukraine. I have made that clear many times. The people of Ukraine have become hostages of the Kiev regime and its Western handlers, who have in fact occupied that country in the political, military and economic sense and have been destroying Ukrainian industry for decades now as they plundered its natural resources. This led to social degradation and an immeasurable increase in poverty and inequality. Recruiting resources for military operations in these circumstances was easy. Nobody was thinking about people, who were conditioned for slaughter and eventually became expendables. It is a sad and dreadful thing to say, but it is a fact.

    Responsibility for inciting and escalating the Ukraine conflict as well as the sheer number of casualties lies entirely with the Western elites and, of course, today’s Kiev regime, for which the Ukrainian people are, in fact, not its own people. The current Ukrainian regime is serving not national interests, but the interests of third countries.

    The West is using Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia and as a testing range. I am not going to discuss in detail the West’s attempts to turn the war around, or their plans to ramp up military supplies, since everyone is well aware of that. However, there is one circumstance that everyone should be clear about: the longer the range of the Western systems that will be supplied to Ukraine, the further we will have to move the threat away from our borders. This is obvious.

    The Western elite make no secret of their goal, which is, I quote, “Russia’s strategic defeat.” What does this mean to us? This means they plan to finish us once and for all. In other words, they plan to grow a local conflict into a global confrontation. This is how we understand it and we will respond accordingly, because this represents an existential threat to our country.

    However, they too realise it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield and are conducting increasingly aggressive information attacks against us targeting primarily the younger generation. They never stop lying and distorting historical facts as they attack our culture, the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional religious organizations in our country.

    Look what they are doing to their own people. It is all about the destruction of the family, of cultural and national identity, perversion and abuse of children, including pedophilia, all of which are declared normal in their life. They are forcing the priests to bless same-sex marriages. Bless their hearts, let them do as they please. Here is what I would like to say in this regard. Adult people can do as they please. We in Russia have always seen it that way and always will: no one is going to intrude into other people’s private lives, and we are not going to do it, either.

    But here is what I would like to tell them: look at the holy scripture and the main books of other world religions. They say it all, including that family is the union of a man and a woman, but these sacred texts are now being questioned. Reportedly, the Anglican Church is planning, just planning, to explore the idea of a gender-neutral god. What is there to say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

    Millions of people in the West realise that they are being led to a spiritual disaster. Frankly, the elite appear to have gone crazy, and it looks like there is no cure for that. But like I said, these are their problems, while we must protect our children, which we will do. We will protect our children from degradation and degeneration.

    Clearly, the West will try to undermine and divide our society and to bet on the fifth columnists who, throughout history, and I want to emphasise this, have been using the same poison of contempt for their own Fatherland and the desire to make money by selling this poison to anyone who is willing to pay for it. It has always been that way.

    Those who have embarked on the road of outright betrayal, committing terrorist and other crimes against the security of our society and the country’s territorial integrity, will be held accountable for this under law. But we will never behave like the Kiev regime and the Western elite, which have been and still are involved in witch hunts. We will not settle scores with those who take a step aside and turn their back on their Motherland. Let this be on their conscience, let them live with this – they will have to live with it. The main point is that our people, the citizens of Russia, have given them a moral assessment.

    I am proud, and I think we are all proud that our multi-ethnic nation, the absolute majority of our citizens, have taken a principled stance on the special military operation. They understand the basic idea of what we are doing and support our actions on the defence of Donbass. This support primarily revealed their true patriotism – a feeling that is historically inherent in our nation. It is stunning in its dignity and deep understnding by everyone – I will stress, everyone – of the inseparable link between one’s own destiny and the destiny of the Fatherland.

    My dear friends, I would like to thank everyone, all the people of Russia for their courage and resolve. I would like to thank our heroes, soldiers and officers in the Army and the Navy, the Russian Guards, the secret services staff, and all structures of authority, the fighters in Donetsk and Lugansk corps, volunteers and patriots who are now fighting in the ranks of the BARS combat army reserve.

    I would like to apologise that I will not be able to mention everyone during today’s speech. You know, when I was drafting this speech, I wrote a very long list of these heroic units but then removed it from my text because, as I said, it is impossible to mention everyone, and I was afraid to offend anyone I might leave out.

    My deepest gratitude to the parents, wives and families of our defenders, the doctors and paramedics, combat medics and medical nurses that are saving the wounded; to the railway workers and drivers that are supplying the front; to the builders that are erecting fortifications and restoring housing, roads and civilian facilities; to the workers and engineers at defence companies, who are now working almost around-the-clock, in several shifts; and to rural workers who reliably ensure food security for the country.

    I am grateful to the teachers who sincerely care for the young generations of Russia, especially those that are working in very difficult, almost front-line conditions; the cultural figures that are visiting the zone of hostilities and hospitals to support the soldiers and officers; volunteers that are helping the front and civilians; journalists, primarily war correspondents, that are risking their lives to tell the truth to the world; pastors of Russia’s traditional religions and military clergy, whose wise words support and inspire people; government officials and business people – all those who fulfill their professional, civil and simply human duty.

    My special words go to the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. You, my friends, determined your future at the referendums and made a clear choice despite the neo-Nazis’ threats and violence, amid the close military actions. But there has been nothing stronger than your intent to be with Russia, with your Motherland.

    (Applause)

    I want to emphasise that this is the reaction of the audience to the residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Once again, our deepest respect for them all.

    We have already begun and will expand a major socioeconomic recovery and development programme for these new regions within the Federation. It includes restoring production facilities, jobs, and the ports on the Sea of Azov, which again became Russia’s landlocked sea, and building new, modern road,s like we did in Crimea, which now has a reliable land transport corridor with all of Russia. We will definitely implement all of these plans together.

    Russia’s regions are currently providing direct assistance to the cities, districts and villages in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. They are doing it sincerely, like true brothers and sisters. We are together again, which means that we have become even stronger, and we will do everything in our power to bring back the long-awaited peace to our land and ensure the safety of our people. Our soldiers, our heroes are fighting for this, for their ancestors, for the future of their children and grandchildren, for uniting our people.

    Friends, I would like to ask you to pay your respects to our fellow soldiers who were killed in the attacks of neo-Nazis and raiders, who gave up their lives for Russia, for civilians, the elderly, women and children.

    (A minute of silence)

    Thank you.

    We all understand, and I understand also how unbearably hard it is for their wives, sons and daughters, for their parents who raised those dignified defenders of the Fatherland – like the Young Guard members from Krasnodon, young men and women who fought against Nazism and for Donbass during the Great Patriotic War. Everyone in Russia remembers their courage, resilience, enormous strength of spirit and self-sacrifice to this day.

    Our duty is to support the families that have lost their loved ones and to help them raise their children and give them an education and a job. The family of each participant in the special military operation must be a priority and treated with care and respect. Their needs must be responded to immediately, without bureaucratic delays.

    I suggest establishing a dedicated state fund for bringing targeted, personalised assistance to the families of fallen fighters, as well as veterans of the special military operation. This entity will be tasked with coordinating efforts to offer social, medical support and counselling, and also address matters related to sending them to health resorts and providing rehabilitation services, while also assisting them in education, sports, employment and in acquiring a new profession. This fund will also have an essential mission to ensure long-term home care and high-technology prosthetics for those who need that.

    I am asking the Government to work with the State Council Commission on Social Policy and with the regions to resolve the organisational matters as quickly as possible.

    The state fund must be transparent in its work, while streamlining assistance and operating as a one-stop-shop, free from red tape or administrative barriers. Every family without exception, and every veteran will have their personal social worker, a coordinator, who will be there for them in person to resolve in real time any issue they might face. Let me emphasise that the fund must open its offices in all regions of the Russian Federation in 2023.

    We already have measures in place for supporting Great Patriotic War veterans, combat veterans, as well as participants in local conflicts. I believe these essential elements will be added to the state fund’s mission moving forward. We need to explore this possibility, and I am asking the Government to do so.

    Make no mistake: the fact that we are establishing a state fund does not mean that other institutions or officials at other levels of government will be relieved of their responsibility. I expect all federal agencies, regions and municipalities to stay focused on veterans, on service personnel and their families. In this context, I would like to thank the senior regional officials, mayors, and governors who routinely meet with people, including by visiting the line of contact, and support their fellow countrymen.

    On a special note, let me say that today, career service personnel, mobilised conscripts, and volunteers all share frontline hardships, including in terms of provisions, supplies and equipment, remuneration, and insurance payments to the wounded, as well as healthcare services. However, there are complaints that make it all the way to my office, as well as to the governors, as they have been telling me, and to the military prosecutor’s office and the Human Rights Commissioner, showing that some of these issues have yet to be resolved. We need to get to the bottom of each complaint on a case-by-case basis.

    And one more thing: everyone understands that serving in the special military operation zone causes immense physical and mental stress, since people risk their lives and health every day. For this reason, I believe that the mobilised conscripts, as well as all service personnel, and all those taking part in the special military operation, including volunteers, must benefit from a leave of absence of at least 14 days every six months without counting the time it takes them to travel to their destination. This way, every fighter will be able to meet family and spend time with their loved ones.

    To be continued.

    • It sounds like a very fine speech to be given as a State of the Union speech. He is concerned about his own people. He describes the US as being a bully (not using that word), and that is a fair assessment of the situation.

      • Sam says:

        He did invade a country and jail his opponents and kill anyone who is against him. I’m not defending the west but come on … if you were in Russia printing what you are printing you would either be in jail or dead along with your family. Such a caveman argument Russia good …. West bad . It’s much more complicated than that you should know that by now!!

        • drb753 says:

          Yes, it is much more complicated than this. But I am amazed at the ignorance of the posters here. Perhaps you should concentrate on the content Fast Eddy provides.

        • eKnock says:

          Putie has gone too far.
          He said the invasion of Ukie was a “Peace Keeping Mission”.
          That is a clear violation of international copyright standards.
          “Peace Keeping Mission” has been the U.S. term for invasion for decades. He has no right.
          There should be sanctions imposed immediately!
          He’s really got a lot of nerve!

          • Sam says:

            I guess you missed the point

            • nikoB says:

              Terrible that Russia is doing what the west does. How can we stop this? Lead by example?

              HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

            • drb753 says:

              Oh,come on, Sam is NOT a total hypocrite. He posts about special forces operations in Africa, the overthrows of Latin Americans democracies, the facilitation of ISIS and current occupation of Nothern Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, the bombing of Ns 1 and 2, at a rate that makes Fast Eddy look measured. He is NOT a total hypocrite. Just a genuine pacifist.

            • Sam says:

              Wow! Drb I like how you like to pick and choose. I wonder when you watch nature shows and see the lion or wolf attack do you cry unfair! Unfair! 😂
              All sides have dirt on their hands! I don’t sing praises of the west nor the east it just is what it is… just like the end of the system. Think about that next time you’re singing your liberal dialogue….unfair! Unfair! Go hide in your safe room

            • drb753 says:

              Right. So shut up and look at the results. Your boy Berezovsky had it coming. You can only hope your oligarchs will meet a similar fate.

        • Student says:

          The west has supported a coup in 2014 and from around that period on Ukraine has increased the armed attacks against its own Russian speaking citizens.
          Actually Ukraine has never respected the Minsk deal

          https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocollo_di_Minsk

          Simultaneously the west has started to arm Ukraine like hell, arriving to the point that during last Monaco Conference (2022) Zelensky even started to ask nuclear weapons hosted in Ukraine to be directed against Russia.
          I think that if Mexico would have started to behave like this with US and also simultaneously hosting (for example) Chinese missile bases and arms directed towards US, US would have razed Mexico to the ground in a second.
          We have to think and rethink a thousand times had it not been better for all to have an Ukraine State neutral or at least out of Nato, instead of this mess.

        • Vern Baker says:

          Are you familiar with the Minsk Agreement which was signed by Russia and several NATO countries in 2014?

          This effort by Russia is the key to every action that followed. The invasion by Russia was a choice between two horrible evils, and one would have made them look so weak, that it could never have been chosen. It was the path to the destruction of Russia as laid out by the US.

          What happened to that agreement, which was to solve all problems? What happened last April 1st? What did Merkle say about the Minsk Agreement late last year? What did Russia say to the Donbass regions who voted to return to Russia prior to ~2020?

          There is so much to this story, and Russia just cannot be painted as the sole bad player when not once did NATO make an effort to help it resolve the problem.

          • reante says:

            Nah Vern it’s just the globalists’ non-public Degrowth Agenda war cover for peak oil. Occam’s Razor. Like Lastcall said, all the world’s a stage.

            • Vern Baker says:

              I have a theory that Defeatism is the new political hotness. Defeatism essentially removes any need for a politician to be concerned about his or her constituents. Defeatism blames bigger issues for all the woes we are beginning to endure, and covers “climatism”, enforced degrowth, lose of societal values … and the rest.

              Im going to give you 50/50 odds you are correct.

            • Kowalainen says:

              “Only suckers put hope in the future”
              — Alan Watts

              Do you have children?
              🤣👍👍

            • reante says:

              Vern

              Yeah you had to figure that defeatism would set in eventually. Kinda seems like it’s setting in early, in the same way that Orlov’s Five Stages got compressed, pressed together in the end.

              I’ll take those odds, Sir! Yes indeedy I will, coming from you. You know it’s a package deal with terrain theory though, right? The plandemic being the first round of the agenda and all.

          • Student says:

            Surely there are many actors involved.
            But I encourage again all of us to think what would have happened in a mirror situation.
            If Mexico had hosted for example Chinese army and missile bases addressed to US posing an existential threat to US…

    • Mirror on the wall says:

      Colleagues, as you are aware, a 2021–2025 plan for building and developing the Armed Forces was approved by a Presidential Executive Order and is being implemented and adjusted as necessary. Importantly, our next steps to reinforce the Army and the Navy and to secure the current and future development of the Armed Forces must be based on actual combat experience gained during the special military operation, which is extremely important, I would even say absolutely invaluable to us.

      For example, the latest systems account for over 91 percent, 91.3 percent, of Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces. To reiterate, based on our newly acquired experience, we must access a similarly high quality level for all other components of the Armed Forces.

      Officers and sergeants who act as competent, modern and decisive commanders, and they are many, will be promoted to higher positions as a matter of priority, sent to military universities and academies, and will serve as a powerful personnel reserve for the Armed Forces. Without a doubt, they are a valuable resource in civilian life and at governments at all levels. I just want our colleagues to pay attention to that. It is very important. The people must know that the Motherland appreciates their contribution to the defence of the Fatherland.

      We will widely introduce the latest technology to ensure high-quality standards in the Army and Navy. We have corresponding pilot projects and samples of weapons and equipment in each area. Many of them are significantly superior to their foreign counterparts. Our goal is to start mass production. This work is underway and is picking up pace. Importantly, this relies on domestic research and the industrial base and involves small- and medium-sized high-tech businesses in implementation of the state defence order.

      Today, our plants, design bureaus and research teams employ experienced specialists and increasing numbers of talented and highly skilled young people who are oriented towards breakthrough achievements while remaining true to the tradition of Russian gunsmiths, which is to spare no effort to ensure victory.

      We will certainly strengthen the guarantees for our workforce, in part concerning salaries and social security. I propose launching a special programme for low-cost rental housing for defence industry employees. The rental payments for them will be significantly lower than the going market rate, since a significant portion of it will be covered by the state.

      The Government reviewed this issue. I instruct you to work through the details of this programme and start building such rental housing without delay, primarily, in the cities that are major defence, industrial and research centres.

      Colleagues,

      As I have already said, the West has opened not only military and informational warfare against us, but is also seeking to fight us on the economic front. However, they have not succeeded on any of these fronts, and never will. Moreover, those who initiated the sanctions are punishing themselves: they sent prices soaring in their own countries, destroyed jobs, forced companies to close, and caused an energy crisis, while telling their people that the Russians were to blame for all of this. We hear that.

      What means did they use against us in their efforts to attack us with sanctions? They tried disrupting economic ties with Russian companies and depriving the financial system of its communication channels to shutter our economy, isolate us from export markets and thus undermine our revenues. They also stole our foreign exchange reserves, to call a spade a spade, tried to depreciate the ruble and drive inflation to destructive heights.

      Let me reiterate that the sanctions against Russia are merely a means, while the aim as declared by the Western leaders, to quote them, is to make us suffer. “Make them suffer” – what a humane attitude. They want to make our people suffer, which is designed to destabilise our society from within.

      However, their gamble failed to pay off. The Russian economy, as well as its governance model proved to be much more resilient than the West thought. The Government, parliament, the Bank of Russia, the regions and of course the business community and their employees all worked together to ensure that the economic situation remained stable, offered people protection and preserved jobs, prevented shortages, including of essential goods, and supported the financial system and business owners who invest in their enterprises, which also means investing in national development.

      As early as in March 2022, we launched a dedicated assistance package for businesses and the economy worth about a trillion rubles. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that this has nothing to do with printing money. Not at all. Everything we do is solidly rooted in market principles.

      In 2022, there was a decline in the gross domestic product. Mr Mishustin called me to say, “I would like to ask you to mention this.” I think that these data were released yesterday, right on schedule.

      You may remember that some predicted that the economy would shrink by 20 to 25 percent, or maybe 10 percent. Only recently, we spoke about a 2.9 percent decline, and I was the one who announced this figure. Later it came down to 2.5 percent. However, in 2022, the GDP declined by 2.1 percent, according to the latest data. And we must be mindful of the fact that back in February and March of last year some predicted that the economy would be in free fall.

      Russian businesses have restructured their logistics and have strengthened their ties with responsible, predictable partners – there are many of them, they are the majority in the world.

      I would like to note that the share of the Russian ruble in our international settlements has doubled as compared to December 2021, reaching one third of the total, and including the currencies of the friendly countries, it exceeds half of all transactions.

      We will continue working with our partners to create a sustainable, safe system of international settlements, which will be independent of the dollar and other Western reserve currencies that are bound to lose their universal appeal with this policy of the Western elite, the Western rulers. They are doing all this to themselves with their own hands.

      We are not the ones reducing transactions in dollars or other so-called universal currencies – they are doing everything with their own hands.

      You know, there is a maxim, cannons versus butter. Of course, national defence is the top priority, but in resolving strategic tasks in this area, we should not repeat the mistakes of the past and should not destroy our own economy. We have everything we need to both ensure our security and create conditions for confident progress in our country. We are acting in line with this logic and we intend to continue doing this.

      Thus, many basic, I will stress, civilian industries in the national economy are far from being in decline, they have increased their production last year by a considerable amount. The scale of housing put into service exceeded 100 million square meters for the first time in our modern history.

      As for agricultural production, it recorded two-digit growth rates last year. Thank you very much. We are most grateful to our agricultural producers. Russian agrarians harvested a record amount – over 150 million tonnes of grain, including over 100 million tonnes of wheat. By the end of the agricultural season, that is, June 30, 2023, we will bring our grain exports to 55–60 million tonnes.

      Just 10 or 15 years ago, this seemed like a fairy tale, an absolutely unfeasible plan. If you remember, and I am sure some people do remember this – the former Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture are here – just recently, agrarians took in 60 million tonnes overall in a year, whereas now 55–60 million is their export potential alone. I am convinced we have every opportunity for a similar breakthrough in other areas as well.

      We prevented the labour market from collapsing. On the contrary, we were able to reduce unemployment in the current environment. Today, considering the major challenges coming at us from all sides, the labour market is even better than it used to be. You may remember that the unemployment rate was 4.7 percent before the pandemic, and now, I believe, it is 3.7 percent. What is the figure, Mr Mishustin? 3.7 percent? This is an all-time low.

      Let me reiterate that the Russian economy has prevailed over the risks it faced – it has prevailed. Of course, it was impossible to anticipate many of them, and we had to respond literally on the fly, dealing with issues as they emerged. Both the state and businesses had to move quickly. I will note that private actors, SMEs, played an essential role in these efforts, and we must remember this. We avoided having to apply excessive regulation or distorting the economy by giving the state a more prominent role.

      What else there is to say? The recession was limited to the second quarter of 2022, while the economy grew in the third and fourth quarters. In fact, the Russian economy has embarked on a new growth cycle. Experts believe that it will rely on a fundamentally new model and structure. New, promising global markets, including the Asia-Pacific, are taking precedence, as is the domestic market, with its research, technology and workforce no longer geared toward exporting commodities but manufacturing goods with high added value. This will help Russia unleash its immense potential in all spheres and sectors.

      We expect to see a solid increase in domestic demand as early as this year. I am convinced that companies will use this opportunity to expand their manufacturing, make new products that are in high demand, and to take over the market niches vacated or about to be vacated by Western companies as they withdraw.

      Today, we clearly see what is going on and understand the structural issues we have to address in logistics, technology, finance, and human resources. Over the past years, we have been talking a lot and at length about the need to restructure our economy. Now these changes are a vital necessity, a game changer, and all for the better. We know what needs to be done to enable Russia to make steady progress and to develop independently regardless of any outside pressure or threats, while guaranteeing our national security and interests.

      I would like to point out and to emphasise that the essence of our task is not to adapt to circumstances. Our strategic task is to take the economy to a new horizon. Everything is changing now, and changing extremely fast. This is not only a time of challenges but also a time of opportunities. This is really so today. And our future depends on the way we realise these opportunities. We must put an end – and I want to emphase this – to all interagency conflicts, red tape, grievances, doublespeak, or any other nonsense. Everything we do must contribute to achieving our goals and delivering results. This is what we must strive to achieve.

      Enabling Russian companies and small family-run businesses to successfully tap the market is a victory in itself. Building cutting-edge factories and kilometres of new roads is a victory. Every new school, every new kindergarten we build is a victory. Scientific discoveries and new technologies – these are also victories, of course. What matters is that all of us contribute to our shared success.

      What areas should we focus the partnership of the state, the regions and domestic business on?

      First, we will expand promising foreign economic ties and build new logistics corridors. A decision has already been made to extend the Moscow-Kazan expressway to Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Tyumen, and eventually to Irkutsk and Vladivostok with branches to Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China. This will, in part, allows us to considerably expand our ties with Southeast Asian markets.

      We will develop Black Sea and Sea of Azov ports. We will pay special attention to the North-South international corridor, as those who work on this every day know. Vessels with a draft of up to 4.5 meters will be able to pass through the Volga-Caspian Sea Canal this year. This will open up new routes for business cooperation with India, Iran, Pakistan, and the Middle Eastern countries. We will continue developing this corridor.

      Our plans include expedited modernisation of the eastern railways – the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Baikal-Amur Railway (BAM) – and building up the potential of the Northern Sea Route. This will create not only additional freight traffic but also a foundation for reaching our national goals on developing Siberia, the Arctic and the Far East.

      The infrastructure of the regions and the development of infrastructure, including communications, telecommunications and railways will receive a powerful impetus. Next year, 2024, we will bring to a proper condition at least 85 percent of all roads in the country’s largest metropolises, as well as over half of all regional and municipal roads. I am sure we will achieve this.

      We will also continue our free gas distribution programme. We have already made the decision to extend it to social facilities – kindergartens and schools, outpatient clinics and hospitals, as well as primary healthcare centres. This programme will now be permanent for our citizens – they can always request a connection to the gas distribution system.

      This year, we will launch a large programme to build and repair housing and utility systems. Over the next ten years, we plan to invest at least 4.5 trillion rubles in this. We know how important this is for our people and how neglected this area has been. It is necessary to improve this situation, and we will do it. It is important to give the programme a powerful start. So, I would like to ask the Government to ensure stable funding for this.

      Second, we will need to significantly expand our economy’s production capabilities and to increase domestic industrial capacity.

      An industrial mortgage tool has been created, and an easy-term loan can now be taken out not only to purchase production facilities, but also to build or upgrade them. The size of such a loan was discussed many times and there were plans to increase it. It is a decent amount for a first step: up to 500 million rubles. It is available at a rate of 3 or 5 percent for up to seven years. It sounds like a very good programme and should be put to good use.

      New terms for industrial clusters took effect this year, including a lower fiscal and administrative burden on resident companies, and long-term state orders and subsidies to support demand for their innovative products, which are just entering the market.

      According to estimates, these measures will generate high-demand projects worth over 10 trillion rubles by 2030. Investment is expected to reach about 2 trillion this year alone. Please note that these are not forecasts, but existing benchmarks.

      Therefore, I would like the Government to expedite the launch of these projects, give a hand to businesses and come up with systemic support measures, including tax incentives. I am aware that the financial bloc does not like to provide incentives, and I partly share this approach: the taxation system must be consistent and without niches or exemptions, but this particular case calls for a creative approach.

      So, starting this year, Russian companies will be able to reduce their revenue taxes if they purchase advanced domestic IT solutions and AI-enhanced products. Moreover, these expenses will be credited at one and a half times the actual cost, meaning that every ruble invested in purchasing such products will result in a tax deduction of 1.5 rubles.

      I propose extending these deductions to purchases of all kinds of Russian high-tech equipment. I would like the Government to come up with a list of such equipment by specific industry and with the procedure for granting deductions. This is a good solution to reinvigorate the economy.

      Third, a crucial issue on our economic development agenda to do with the new sources of funding investment, which we have been talking about a lot.

      Thanks to our strong payments balance, Russia does not need to borrow funds abroad, kowtow and beg for money, and then hold long discussions on what, how much and on what conditions we would pay back. Russian banks are working stably and sustainably and have a solid margin for security.

      In 2022, the volume of bank loans for the corporate sector increased, I repeat, increased. There was considerable concern about that, but we have reported growth, an increase of 14 percent, or more than we reported in 2021, before the miliary operation. In 2021, the figure was 11.7 percent; last year, it was 14 percent. The mortgage portfolio went up by 20.4 percent. We are growing.

      Last year, the banking sector as a whole operated at a profit. It was not as large as in the preceding years, but it was considerable nevertheless: 203 billion rubles. This is another indicator of the stability of the Russian financial sector.

      According to our estimates, inflation in Russia will approach the target figure of 4 percent in the second quarter this year. I would like to remind you that the inflation rate has reached 12, 17 and 20 percent in some EU countries. Our figure is 4 or 5 percent; the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry are still discussing the figure, but it will be close to the target. Given these positive dynamics and other macroeconomic parameters, we are creating objective conditions for lowering long-term interest rates in the economy, which means that loans for the real economic sector will become more affordable.

      Individual long-term savings are a vital source of investment resources around the world, and we must also stimulate their attraction into the investment sphere. I would like the Government to expedite the submission of draft laws to the State Duma to launch the relevant state programme as soon as this April.

      It is important to create additional conditions to encourage people to invest and earn at home, in the country. At the same time, it is necessary to guarantee the safety of people’s investment in voluntary retirement savings. We should create a mechanism here similar to the one used for insuring bank deposits. I would like to remind you that such savings, worth up to 1.4 million rubles, are insured by the state on guarantee deposits. I propose doubling the sum to 2.8 million rubles for voluntary retirement savings. Likewise, we must protect people’s investment in other long-term investment instruments, including against the possible bankruptcy of financial brokers.

      Separate decisions must be taken to attract funds to rapidly growing and high-tech businesses. We will approve support for the placement of their shares on the domestic stock market, including tax benefits for both the companies and the buyers of their stock.

      Freedom of enterprise is a vital element of economic sovereignty. I will repeat: against the backdrop of external attempts to contain Russia, private businesses have proven their ability to quickly adapt to the changing environment and ensure economic growth in difficult conditions. So, every business initiative aimed at benefiting the country should receive support.

      I believe it is necessary to return, in this context, to the revision of a number of norms of criminal law as regards the economic elements of crime. Of course, the state must control what is happening in this area. We should not allow an anything-goes attitude here but we should not go too far, either. It is necessary to move faster towards the decriminalisation I mentioned. I hope the Government will consistently and seriously conduct this work together with Parliament, the law-enforcement bodies and business associations.

      At the same time, I would like to ask the Government to suggest, in close cooperation with Parliament, additional measures for speeding up the de-offshorisation of the economy. Businesses, primarily those operating in key sectors and industries should operate in Russian jurisdiction – this is a fundamental principle.

      Colleagues, in this context I would like to make a small philosophical digression. This is what I would like to single out.

      We remember what problems and imbalances the Soviet economy faced in its later stages. This is why after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its planned system, in the chaos of the 1990s, the country began to create its economy along the lines of market relations and private ownership. Overall, this was the right thing to do. The Western countries were largely an example to follow in this respect. As you know, their advisers were a dime a dozen, and it seemed enough to simply copy their models. True, I remember they still argued with each other – the Europeans argued with the Americans on how the Russian economy should develop.

      And what happened as a result? Our national economy was largely oriented to the West and for the most part as a source of raw materials. Naturally, there were different nuances, but overall, we were seen as a source of raw materials. The reasons for this are also clear – naturally, the new Russian businesses that were taking shape were primarily oriented toward generating profit, quick and easy profit in the first place. What could provide this? Of course, the sale of resources – oil, gas, metals and timber.

      Few people thought about other alternatives or, probably, they did not have the opportunity to invest long-term. This is the reason other, more complex industries did not make much headway. It took us years – other governments saw this clearly – to break this negative trend. We had to adjust our tax system and make large-scale public investments.

      We have achieved real and visible change. Indeed, the results are there, but, again, we should keep in mind the circumstances in which our major businesses developed. Technologies were coming from the West, cheaper sources of financing and lucrative markets were in the West, and capital started flowing to the West as well. Unfortunately, instead of expanding production and buying equipment and technology to create new jobs in Russia, they spent their money on foreign mansions, yachts and luxury real estate.

      They began to invest in the economy later, but initially the money flowed rapidly to the West for consumption purposes. And since their money was there, that is where their children were educated, where their life was, their future. It was very difficult and almost impossible for the state to track and prevent these developments, because we lived in a free market paradigm.

      Recent events have clearly shown that the image of the West as a safe haven for capital was a mirage. Those who failed to understand this in time, who saw Russia only as a source of income and planned to live mostly abroad, have lost a lot. They just got robbed there and saw even their legitimate money taken away.

      At some point I made a joke – many may still remember it – I told Russian businesspeople that they will make themselves sick running from courtroom to courtroom and from office to office in the West trying to save their money. That is exactly how it turned out.

      You know, I will say something that is quite simple, but truly important. Trust me, not a single ordinary citizen in our country felt sorry for those who lost their assets in foreign banks, lost their yachts or palaces abroad, and so on. In their conversations around the kitchen table, people have all recalled the privatisation of the 1990s, when enterprises that had been built by our entire nation were sold for next to nothing and the so-called new elites flaunted their lavish lifestyle.

      There are other key aspects. During the years that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union, the West never stopped trying to set the post-Soviet states on fire and, most importantly, finish off Russia as the largest surviving portion of the historical reaches of our state. They encouraged international terrorists to assault us, provoked regional conflicts along the perimeter of our borders, ignored our interests and tried to contain and suppress our economy.

      I am saying this because big business in Russia controls strategic enterprises with thousands of workers that determine the socioeconomic well-being of many regions and, hence, the overall state of affairs. So, whenever leaders or owners of such businesses become dependent on governments that adopt policies that are unfriendly to Russia, this poses a great threat to us, a danger to our country. This is an untenable situation.

      Yes, everyone has a choice. Some may choose to live in a seized mansion with a blocked account, trying to find a place for themselves in a seemingly attractive Western capital, a resort or some other comfortable place abroad. Anyone has the right to do that, and we will never infringe on it. But it is time to see that in the West these people have always been and will always remain second class strangers who can be treated any way, and their money, connections and the acquired titles of counts, peers or mayors will not help at all. They must understand that they are second class people there.

      There is another option: to stay with your Motherland, to work for your compatriots, not only to open new businesses but also to change life around you in cities, towns and throughout your country. We have quite a few businesspeople like this, real fighters in our business community, and we associate the future of our business with them. Everyone must know that the sources of their prosperity and their future can only be here, in their native country Russia.

      If they do, we will create a very strong and self-sufficient economy that will not remain aloof in the world but will make use of all its competitive advantages. Russian capital, the money earned here, must be put to work for the country, for our national development. Today, we see huge potential in the development of infrastructure, the manufacturing sector, in domestic tourism and many other industries.

      I would like those who have come up against the predatory mores of the West to hear what I have to say: running around with cap in hand, begging for your own money makes no sense, and most importantly, it accomplishes nothing, especially now that you realise who you are dealing with. Stop clinging to the past, resorting to the courts to get at least something back. Change your lives and your jobs, because you are strong people – I am addressing our businesspeople now, many of whom I have known for years, who know what is what in life.

      Launch new projects, earn money, work hard for Russia, invest in enterprises and jobs, and help schools and universities, science and healthcare, culture and sports. In this way, you will increase your wealth and will also win the respect and gratitude of the people for a generation ahead. The state and society will certainly support you.

      Let us consider this as a message for your business: get moving in the right direction.

      To be continued.

      • Lastcall says:

        Bidet would require a few naps before getting half of this speech done, and a change of nappies.

      • Tim Groves says:

        “The people must know that the Motherland appreciates their contribution to the defence of the Fatherland.”

        Hello? Something got lost in translation there. Either that or Putin is misgendering his nation.

        According to this map posted on Reddit, Russia is most definitely Mother Russia, the motherland.

        https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/q6ip20/which_countries_use_motherland_vs_fatherland_and/

        However, according to Dima Vorobiev, who identifies as a former propaganda executive in Russia:

        It’s much more complicated than that. In Russia, Motherland comes in several renditions:

        1. Ródina (“Motherland”).
        2. Rodina-matj (“Mother Land”).
        3. Otchízna (“Fatherland”, feminine grammatical gender).
        4. Otéchestvo (“Fatherland”, neutral grammatical gender).
        5. Ótchiy kráy (“Paternal borough”) or rodnóy kray (“borough of birth”). Masculine gender.
        6. Rodnáya storoná /storónka (“Borough of birth”). Feminine gender.

        Generally speaking, no. 1–4 are invoked when our State and a bunch of unselfish patriots want people to calm down, buckle up, tighten the belt or catch a bullet for our government.

        No. 3–4 are more likely to be used for militaristic propaganda.

        No 5–6 are a sentimental reference to the exact neighborhood you associate yourself with from the time when you were little.

    • Hubbs says:

      When there is no trust, you have nothing to work with.

    • Ed says:

      “The people of Ukraine have become hostages of the Kiev regime and its Western handlers, who have in fact occupied that country in the political, military and economic sense and have been destroying Ukrainian industry for decades now as they plundered its natural resources.”

      Russia sees what the “west”/US have in store for it.

  22. Fast Eddy says:

    Hahaha… great.

    Safe. Effective. (Deadly)

    Can we get some more Fear PR so that more people get the 5th shot?

  23. Fast Eddy says:

    FYI – I search and delete all posts that include mention of Putin – Ukraine – Russia.

    Cuz…

    Ya’ll know why

    • Withnail says:

      I don’t know why.

      • drb753 says:

        Russia has everything to do with energy and nothing to do with dead starlets, cute dogs and western plebs misbehaving? He is our TMZ after all.

      • Fast Eddy says:

        Cuz.

      • Lidia17 says:

        “Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths, and how many, what day it’s going to happen, and how many this and what do you suppose? Or, I mean, it’s, it’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?”

        • Ed says:

          You are free not to listen. I prefer to keep track of what great satan is up to. I think there is a strong gender difference. My wife also does not want to know about any such thing. She prefers dealing with plants and cats at the SPCA.

  24. Herbie Ficklestein. says:

    OMG…He’s a MADMAN

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21455849/putin-speech-ukraine-russia-war/

    Nuclear threat in deranged speech as he doubles down on Ukraine
    Henry Holloway the Sun☀️

    The address even suffered a blackout as a major state TV channel suffered an apparent hack attack.

    But in one of the most extraordinary moments, Putin made a veiled threat to use nukes.

    He claimed the very existence of Russia is now at stake – something considered a red line for the Kremlin.

    “The goal of the West is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, to end us once and for all,” raged Putin.

    Two hour long rant and rage…1984 Orwell Hate speech…

  25. Fast Eddy says:

    Here is a photo of hunter biden engaging in pedo https://t.me/downtherabbitholewegofolks/65762

    norm?

    • Tim Groves says:

      I’m not going to look at that filth.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ban_This_Filth!

      What we really need to know is, was she pre- or post-pubescent?

      • eddylinks=clickbait

        he tries it on, time and again, just to get noticed

        i’m amazed that Gail tolerates it

      • Fast Eddy says:

        Why is norm upset – it’s just Hunter semi nude with a very young girl.

        And norm wants Gail to censor this – why norm?

        Like father like son… your heroes norm haha

        I wonder what Bill did on Pedo island

        Former President Bill Clinton was a much more frequent flyer on a registered sex offender’s infamous jet than previously reported, with flight logs showing the former president taking at least 26 trips aboard the “Lolita Express” — even apparently ditching his Secret Service detail for at least five of the flights, according to records obtained by FoxNews.com.

        Clinton’s presence aboard Jeffrey Epstein’s Boeing 727 on 11 occasions has been reported, but flight logs show the number is more than double that, and trips between 2001 and 2003 included extended junkets around the world with Epstein and fellow passengers identified on manifests by their initials or first names, including “Tatiana.” The tricked-out jet earned its Nabakov-inspired nickname because it was reportedly outfitted with a bed where passengers had group sex with young girls.

        https://www.foxnews.com/us/flight-logs-show-bill-clinton-flew-on-sex-offenders-jet-much-more-than-previously-known

  26. Student says:

    (Haaretz)

    Haaretz publishes an in-depth and extremely interesting article, pointing out the details of the Israeli team that influenced elections in various countries around the world and involving various journalists and other official information sources. Some of the countries where the team operated: California, France, Canada, Nigeria, Kenya, Mexico, Equador.

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2022-11-16/ty-article-static-ext/the-israelis-destabilizing-democracy-and-disrupting-elections-worldwide/00000186-461e-d80f-abff-6e9e08b10000

    • A person might think that people in a country originally formed to promote a religious group would behave better than others, but if this article is true, there are people aiming for disruption. According to the article:

      Team Jorge’s services

      –Hacking messaging apps and email accounts

      –Planting materials in compromised accounts

      –Hack-and-leak of real or forged materials

      –Army of online avatars (fake accounts) for social media manipulation

      –Voter suppression and election disruption

      –Undermining election results with ‘stop the steal’- style campaigns

      Of course, Israel is strongly supported by the US, pretty much regardless of what its citizens do. Part of the support comes from Jews in the US. Part of the support comes from Right Wing religious groups who believe that Israel is important for the Second Coming of Christ.

      • Student says:

        Also ‘The Guardian’ and ‘Jerusalem Post’ talked about that.

        https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/15/disinformation-hacking-operative-team-jorge-tal-hanan

        https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/article-731636

        In my view there is simply to face that they can be wonderful persons and bad ones like every person can be from whatever cultural, religious or ethnic background in the world.
        I appreciate a lot their culture as I appreciate a lot also other cultures in the world.
        We have to admit that it is laudable that their newspapers are talking about that.
        On the contrary ours not !

        • Jan says:

          I agree to your statement about cultures.

          I disagree to any assumtion of unity within a culture, religion or state. There were a lot of people in Germany dissatisfied with Merkel, a lot of people in the US did not comply with George W. Bush or Trump or even Obama. A lot of Israelis see Netanyahu very sceptical.

          In society there are always good and bad people, no matter what culture.

          At the moment there is a strange overwight of people without real leading capacities and thus strange decisions. I guess it is already a result of energy shortness.

          The company just produces because they see a market. If there were other markets they would perhaps get another focus.

          • Student says:

            I agree, reading Israeli newspaper one can understand that there is a variety of opinions in the Country.
            I have the impression that their variety of opinions doesn’t arrive here.

            • Lidia17 says:

              Here, if one merely repeats some of the headlines in the Israeli press word for word, one will be labeled antisemitic and possibly cancelled, debanked, etc. It’s pretty fascinating.

            • Ed says:

              Student, you are correct only the narrow ADL point of view makes it in US press. They police all references to Jews and to Israel. No radio, TV, newspaper would dare cross them.

              Anti-Defamation League
              605 Third Avenue
              New York, NY 10158-3650

        • Lidia17 says:

          Whether one believes or not, one still has to contend with the beliefs of others, no matter how wild or crazy they might seem.

          Remember General Mike Flynn? He was Trump’s National Security Advisor for about three weeks, and has been seen as something of a holy roller. He wrote a book a few years ago, and his co-author happened to be Michael Ledeen. Michael Ledeen is probably one of the most important people you never heard of. A Jewish Zionist connected to US-Israeli intelligence services, he was the one who orchestrated that whole Niger-uranium plot to frame Saddam Hussein, by obtaining forged letters from some Italians, I think it was. That whole fiasco led to the unmasking of CIA agent Valerie Plame and her ‘diplomat’ husband.

          Now, Michael Ledeen had been quite active in this whole “Third Temple” concept, whereby wealthy Jews and wealthy Christian Zionists are eager to construct a new temple in Jerusalem (where there is now a mosque, but nobigdeal), because this is one of the necessary steps to usher in the Jewish version of the Messiah. The Zionist Christians seem to think it’s equally necessary in their eschatology, but with a different ending, obv. Whether this is something people wholeheartedly believe, or whether it’s just another grift.. it’s probably a mixed bag. But the rest of the world has to deal with these delusions/machinations either way.

          The whole injection situation could be seen as a blood sacrifice. There’s a lot of deeply bizarre satanic-seeming behavior that’s hard to explain. It’s gone from being just ‘edgy’ to becoming scary and all-pervasive.

      • drb753 says:

        Well, the Talmud does not really state that non believers should be treated well, or even that they are human. So I think they are consistent with their beliefs.

        • Xabier says:

          We should remember that Israel is primarily an ethnic, not a religious state, and many Israelis are secular or liberal believers.

          All ethnic groups have usually viewed others as of little or no account.

          Which is just as it should be: generally, the stranger has rarely been one be trusted,

          • drb753 says:

            It matters up to a point. I am fairly secular, but I am the first to say that the things I care about (my values) originate within the catholic church (plus the local culture where I was born). and so it is for secular Jews or secular Russians for that matter.

          • reante says:

            While each person stands on their own merits and is entitled to free will, just because a jew may be secular minded doesn’t mean blood memory (behavioral epigenetics) and cultural imprinting get automatically thrown out the window. There’s still a lot of family patterning there. I will add that I have utmost respect for true-minded Jews; that’s a real accomplishment right there.

      • Jan says:

        Good point! Explains the spiritual load of everything. As always, one needs a narrative to get people on the boat.

      • moss says:

        Gail: “strongly supported by the US, pretty much regardless of what its citizens do”

        Todd, writing in some detail of this special relationship considers as more important than the bonds of co-religionists, the recognition of one’s own values within the other.
        ” … the preference for inequality that characterizes America today. It is not impossible to prefer inequality and injustice after all …
        “Thus there can be a shared preference between countries, just as there can be between individuals, for evil or simple injustice – if, that is, one is one is evil or unjust oneself. The fundamental principle of identification with someone else is not the recognition of good but the recognition of oneself – good or bad – in the other.”
        After the Empire 2002 p116

    • Withnail says:

      As if elections matter.

      Why would you even waste money trying to influence one. You (the USA) wait till its over then go and see the winner and explain what you want him or her to do.

  27. Mirror on the wall says:

    I am seeing only fragments of Putin’s speech today at the moment but it looks like there is some interesting stuff in it. The Duran will likely do an analysis tonight.

    “the West’s goals are limitless power” That would be ballsy goals LOL.

    https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/putin-war-ukraine-state-of-nation-address-russia/

    Putin accuses the West of releasing ‘genie from the bottle’ and starting war in Ukraine

    Vladimir Putin has blamed Western governments for the war in Ukraine in a major speech.

    In his state of the nation address, Putin accused the West of ‘letting the genie out of the bottle’ and plunging the world into chaos.

    He said Ukraine and the West started the war and Russia was “using force to stop it”.

    “Ukraine and Donbas have become a symbol of total lies,” Putin said.

    He accused the West of withdrawing from “fundamental agreements” and making “hypocritical statements” as well as expanding the Nato defence alliance to cover Russia “with an umbrella”.

    In the only major announcement contained in the speech, Putin said he was suspending Russia’s participation in a major arms control agreement with the US.

    New Start is the last remaining nuclear arms deal between Moscow and Washington, and it was extended for five years in 2021.

    Putin said :”I want to repeat: it is them who are culpable for the war, and we are using force to stop it.”

    He said the aim of the West was to “direct aggression eastwards and eliminate competition”, claiming the West wants to “grow a local conflict into a global one”.

    The speech comes as fears grow over a new major offensive by Moscow.

    Putin vowed he would ‘defend the interests’ of Russia as he deepened divisions with the West in a long speech to both houses of Russia’s parliament.

    He claimed the West was ‘working behind our backs’ to undermine Russia and fell back on old rhetoric, saying: “We are defending people’s lives, but the West’s goals are limitless power.”

    Russia is feared to be preparing a new offensive with as many as 500,000 troops believed to be gathering for an attack on Ukraine.

    Mr Putin has frequently justified his invasion of Ukraine by accusing western countries of threatening Russia.

    “It’s they who have started the war and we are using force to end it,” Mr Putin said.

    Before the speech, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian leader would focus on the “special military operation” in Ukraine, as Moscow calls it, and Russia’s economy and social issues.

    • We will need to watch and see what else the speech says. It certainly does not say, “End the War.”

      With respect to Biden’s speech today, Reuters take is this:

      https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/biden-after-trip-ukraine-poland-meet-nato-allies-2023-02-21/

      Fresh from Kyiv, Biden rallies NATO allies in Poland

      Fresh from an unannounced visit to Ukraine, President Joe Biden rallied NATO allies in Poland on Tuesday, proclaiming “unwavering” support for Kyiv and a commitment to bolstering the alliance’s eastern flank.

      On a trip clearly timed to overshadow a major speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin before the anniversary of the invasion, Biden met Polish President Andrzej Duda, one of the most vocal proponents of stronger Western support for Ukraine.

      The U.S. president was due to give a keynote speech of his own later on Tuesday, in which he would rally support for Ukraine as the war enters its second year with no end in sight.

      The last paragraph is strange. Why not give the time of Biden’s keynote speech, if it is still on? The US stock market is down a little this morning, but not a lot, “on interest rate concerns” according to the WSJ.

      • Withnail says:

        Putin knows he has won the war.

        He has oil, gas, coal, steel, aluminium, titanium, rare earths, food and arms factories working overtime. He is backed by a country that produces 6 times as much steel as the entire West combined and uses the same artillery ammunition as he does, should he ever run short.

        He is fighting a group of weak countries without resources that cannot resupply their proxy Ukraine with ammunition.

        Artillery is the queen of battle and this is an artillery war. The side that runs out first loses.

      • Adonis says:

        There is a possibility that war is coming because vaccination failed which means they are all in on it.

  28. Rodster says:

    Well I can assure you the vaccines and boosters had nothing to do with this. This is all normal and has been going on for decades. You just never noticed it.

    “Jansen Panettiere, actor and brother of Hayden Panettiere, dies at 28: Reports”

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/jansen-panettiere-actor-and-brother-of-hayden-panettiere-dies-at-28-reports/ar-AA17JtPx?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=8833684253124ad59da1b4b0878a039f

  29. Withnail says:

    155mm artillery shell manufacture in the UK. It’s an energy intensive and slow process with much of the work done by hand. The factory can produce ’10s of thousands’ of shells per year. A few days supply for Ukraine which of course will not receive more than a percentage of what is manufactured here, if it gets any at all. The factory’s production may as well be zero as far as the war is concerned.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj8KjjZVZYw

    The UK government cannot significantly ramp up ammunition production in the space of a few years or probably ever. It is already having trouble borrowing money. I think the situation is the same all over Europe.

    The war would be just about over already if it was only Europe involved. I think it is only the USA that is keeping it going for the moment. All this nonsense about tanks and jets is to change the subject from the lack of shells.

    • The video is “How artillery shells for the Army and forces around the world are made”

      One comment is “It’s interesting how even conservative use by the Ukrainian army would use up, in less than a week, all the shells produced by both factories in a year.”

      The process clearly cannot be scaled up enough to add enough significantly to Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. Trying to win the war by scaling up ammunition production cannot work.

      • Xabier says:

        The ‘free’ West counted – as in 1914 – on a rapid resolution of the war with Russia; that has failed abysmally, and now the hard facts of logistics come in to play.

        Something like this was predicted by Kennedy (an historian of war) back in the 90’s.

  30. Jan says:

    Addendum to the topics @Phosphate leaching, @fallow land, @nutrition options after the Oil Age:

    Ernst Schlichting: Einführung in die Bodenkunde (Introduction to Soil Science), Pareys, 1993 (Full Professor of Soil Science at the University of Hohenheim)

    “The fallow periods should be shortened as much as possible (possibly by intermediate crop cultivation) and the ‘fallow areas’ between the rows of plants should be reduced by narrowing them (or by undersowing) or at least (for example, when the rows are closed only after the early summer heavy rains) should be provided with a mulching blanket made of manure, compost or straw. When animals incorporate these, the soil structure is also improved, even more so with the addition of slightly decaying organic matter that provides aggregate-stabilizing substances. If necessary, the turnover is to be accelerated by liming.” (p. 74)

    This does not sound as if longer fallow periods, as in the four-field economy, would really make sense, but this also depends on what was previously understood by ‘fallow periods’ at all.

    The phosphate simply flows off on slopes, but its binding is also related to the availability of other substances and measures. To prevent erosion, the “contour-parallel cultivation” should be considered, “then it is more difficult if the division of inheritance and / or land consolidation gave him slope-parallel ‘towel fields’. Then either the floor plan has to be really cleaned up or the drainage […] Drill- in favor of broadseeds, ultimately to abandon the fields- in favor of pasture or forest use – if you do not want to create terraces everywhere.” (p. 75)

    “This is where next to nitrate- also phosphate leaching can occur. It is low if the fertilization is limited to the return (the ‘recycling’) of the extracted nutrients in the form of organic fertilizers; it becomes larger with additional mineral fertilization and very large if the ‘organic’ fertilization is highly inorganic based on imports of protein- and thus N. S. P-rich feedstuffs.” (p. 87f)

    “Fatally, the settlements not only oriented themselves to the defense and traffic conditions, but also followed the food supply to the ‘good soils’, prepared themselves further there and then, conversely, created an incentive for the stronger cultivation of food crops” (p. 123)

    In Europe, farmers have converted the ‘good soils’ into plots for their own homes and achieved a big price increase in the process.

    My conclusion: A permanent phosphate reduction does not necessarily seem to be the problem, even if it has been the limiting factor in the past. It is certainly necessary to recycle all animal, human and plant substances that have been harvested from the soil. Depending on its initial structure, the soil must be transformed into a soil that stores water, supplies oxygen, and retains the chemical substances in an available form for the plants. This may require terracing and water management, as well as the introduction of additional biomass, as we can observe in historical remains all over the world. All this is easy to achieve using well-known gardening methods – nothing else is Tera preta. The gardeners in tradition of my grand-grandfather also use nettle manure as it increases the microorganisms keeping the soil healthy. If we are concreting the fertile lands, plant the fields contrary to biological necessities or stick to counterproductive methods, we will have to bear the consequences. Of course, permanent overuse is not possible and the population size will have to adapt to the carrying capacity. How high this is may be estimated by the historical view, but they depend on very concrete methods, which may not have been optimal in the past either. The pre-industrial population level is given as 250 million, even these data can certainly be questioned. 8 Billion people will not be reached even in the very best case. For the transition, one must assume that the soils are currently not in the best condition and therefore even fewer people can wear them for a transitional period.

    • David says:

      See, inter alia the regenerative farms of Joel Salatin, Gabe Brown and Richard Perkins. Or the work of people like John Jeavons and Charles Dowding, who produce enormous food yields on a garden scale.

      If farms have appallingly depleted soils, hire some of these people to tell the owners how to farm competently and more sustainably. It’s been pretty obvious for the past 75 years, ever since the UK Soil Association was set up.

      • Withnail says:

        See, inter alia the regenerative farms of Joel Salatin, Gabe Brown and Richard Perkins. Or the work of people like John Jeavons and Charles Dowding, who produce enormous food yields on a garden scale.

        So we don’t really need chemical fertilisers?

        Why did half a million Germans starve to death when their fertiliser imports were blockaded in World War I then?

    • reante says:

      Jan

      Thanks for the follow -up. Generally it sounds like he’s talking about field cropping. He’s good. He’s right that slopes are better suited to pasture, but even then they must be treated more gently than flatland which is more forgiving. Swales are an alternative to terracing, but not so much for field crops. Keyline plowing (a more technical contour pattern) with a Yoemans plow with compost tea injection down the spines of the times is the gold standard mechanical intervention for both field cropping a pasture management but field cropping does not interest me.

      Most soils are in dreadful condition.

  31. Fast Eddy says:

    New Zealand government data shows that the COVID vaccines make you MORE likely to die from COVID (not less)

    Wow. Finally crystal clear government data shows the more you vax, the more likely you are to die from COVID. This is the OPPOSITE of what the US health authorities and medical community told us.

    https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/new-zealand-government-data-shows

    Odd.. I feel so healthy … and I have a NZ Passport…

    Oh right.. I forgot … no Rat Juice haha

    BTW – did I mention meeting to people from Ottawa — both Big Time pro vaxxers.. kinda like meeting norm cept one is a former very high govt official… I asked about the Trucker thing … they went into a tirade about how that was an occupying movement (not a protest) and Trudeau (dunce) did well in shifting them…

    I kept an eye on both of them as coffee was serviced and noticed them both attempting to suppress VAIDS coughs .. without success… from time to time.

    And I’m thinking … immune system damage… how wonderful… and I held my tongue

    • Tim Groves says:

      Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson was with the truckers last year and the experience in Ottawa for her was as uplifting as Woodstock was for Duncan. They will never forget what Trudeau and his henchmen did to honest, peaceful, hard-working Canadians waving the Maple Leaf flag, including the police and army horses, the rubber bullets and the closing of bank accounts.

      In this 90-minute video, Laura-Lynn starts by talking about the truckers and about what’s been going on in Canada recently, namely the POEC report has been released and found that Justin Trudeau and the Laurentian Elite were justified in the crackdown on the freedom convoy protests last year in Ottawa.

      After about 20 minutes, she has Sasha Latypova on to talk about what her research has shown about mRNA “vaccines”—and yes, they are bioweapons. Sasha explains why. Later they are joined by “TV and radio trailblazer” Trish Wood, and they talk about the disaster in East Palestine, OH.

      https://rumble.com/v29xe2c-a-dark-day-for-canada.html

      I could watch and listen to Laura-Lynn all day. It doesn’t matter what she’s going on about. Her mere presence makes the day …… so much better!

      • Xabier says:

        I remember them laying into that nice Sikh who was cooking for everyone.

        And the little cowardly policewoman who darted out of the ranks to spray people and then scuttled back.

    • Xabier says:

      Couldn’t happen to nicer people!

      A Parkinson’s shake to go with the vaxx-cough would have been even better.

      Even better, ‘sudden death’ straight into the soup plates – but rather messy I suppose….

  32. Ed says:

    Putin’s speech started out rousing, moved on to thanking the military, then to economic reporting as in tons of grain, promoting AI products (?). He talks “philosophy” the need to move from commodities export to ?. Angry words for the rich that store their wealth in the west. The rich should invest in Russia. Our rights and freedoms are protected by the constitution. The right of Russia to be strong.

    at an hour and twenty minutes

    Art should not destroy the society. It should support the great Russian culture. New tech and science rah rah. Train one million engineering/tech new people. Reform university our young people need opportunities not problems.

    Support for the family. Min wage indexed to inflation. Modernize health care. Repair school buildings. Build infrastructure. Clean air project. Aiming for a closed cycle economy. Water quality.

    NATO’s requests for on site inspections is one sided. Mentions US, UK, French nuclear weapons. The US is trying to setup a mono polar world. Talks about nuclear weapons testing. “The truth is with us”.

    • Ed says:

      No talk about global geopolitics. No mention of BRICS. No big picture. It really was a state of the nation talk. No mention of how the war gets won or ended.

      • Thanks for your insights with respect to the talk. “No talk about global geopolitics.” The nuclear changes are perhaps in the context of “NATO’s requests for on site inspections is one sided. Mentions US, UK, French nuclear weapons. The US is trying to setup a mono polar world. Talks about nuclear weapons testing. “The truth is with us”.”

  33. Ed says:

    Putin’s speech has begun. Live translation on RT TV

    • Withnail says:

      Here in free Western Europe the government has blocked RT both online and on TV.

      • Ed says:

        Thank you Withnail. That is a fact we are not told here in the information rich yet absolutely locked down US.

      • Student says:

        Yes, correct. We don’t have to forget that here in the western world we live in democracies with free speech full power.

        • Student says:

          ….

        • Student says:

          It is necessary a VPN…

          R.. “West doesn’t care who it uses to fight Russia – Putin.

          Kiev’s backers have no qualms about using any actors – even terrorists – against Moscow, the Russian president has said
          West doesn’t care who it uses to fight Russia – Putin

          Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual address to the Federal Assembly. The West has chosen to ignore the Ukrainian authorities having fully embraced neo-Nazi ideology because it does not care whom it is supporting in the fight against Russia, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

          Speaking during his annual address to the Federal Assembly, Russia’s main legislative body, Putin said it was “shameful” to see how Ukrainian troops deployed against Russia are widely using chevrons and paraphernalia associated with units of Nazi Germany.

          Ukrainian “neo-Nazis do not make any secret of whose heirs they consider themselves,” he said. Putin went on to point out that “it is surprising that none of Western decision-makers see that. Why? Because… they don’t give a damn.” The West does not care whom it is counting on to fight Russia, the president said.

          In particular, the Russian president was referring to a decree signed by Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky last week that awarded the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade the name ‘Edelweiss.’ The same moniker was used by Nazi Germany’s 1st Mountain Division, which was infamous for its numerous war crimes during WWII.

          Last week, the Associated Press also released a series of photos purportedly showing Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline in Donbass. One of the images depicts a service member wearing the ISIS (Islamic State) insignia on his arm.

      • justme says:

        If you install psyphon you’ll see RT. It is not difficult to circumvent European democracy…
        https://psiphon.en.softonic.com/

    • Thanks for getting up in the middle of the night (New York time) to watch the speech.

  34. MG says:

    I have spotted a new way of selling the real estates here in Slovakia. Someone invented a portal with the name “Set the price!”.

    https://urcicenu.sk/

    Well, we are going down, down, down…

  35. Lastcall says:

    We are merely passengers.

    ‘Ancient swamp kauri from Northland has been used to confirm a temporary breakdown of Earth’s magnetic field 42,000 years ago sparked major climate shifts leading to global environmental change and mass extinctions.

    A new international study using ancient swamp kauri from Ngāwhā shows this dramatic turning point in Earth’s history was triggered by a reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles and changing solar winds.’

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/ancient-northland-swamp-kauri-solves-42000-year-old-mystery/R3KTH5HHDBEWICCI3B63FXM2OM/

    Until now, scientific research has focused on changes that happened while the magnetic poles were reversed, when the magnetic field was weakened to about 28 per cent of its present strength. But according to this new research, the most dramatic part was the lead-up to the reversal, when the poles were migrating across the Earth.

    “Earth’s magnetic field dropped to only 0-6 per cent strength during the Adams Event,” Turney said.

    • Forty-two thousand years ago isn’t that long ago. And it looks quite possible that we are approaching another Adams event. According to the article:

      They used the newly-created kauri radiocarbon timescale and other records from sites across the Pacific with global climate modelling to tie large shifts in major wind belts, tropical climate and glacier activity back to the Adams Event.

      One of their first clues was that megafauna across mainland Australia and Tasmania went through simultaneous extinctions 42,000 years ago.

      The paper suggests that the Adams Event could explain a lot of other evolutionary mysteries, like the extinction of Neandertals and the sudden widespread appearance of figurative art in caves around the world.

      “It’s the most surprising and important discovery I’ve ever been involved in,” Cooper said.

      The perfect (cosmic) storm:

      The magnetic north pole doesn’t have a fixed location. It usually wobbles close to the North Pole (the northern-most point of Earth’s axis) over time due to dynamic movements within the Earth’s core, just like the magnetic south pole.

      Sometimes, for reasons that aren’t clear, the magnetic pole movements are drastic.

      Around 41,000-42,000 years the north and south pole swapped places entirely.

      But we don’t understand what the connections really are. By 42,000 years ago, early humans were spreading around the world. The arrival of early humans in Australia is sometimes given as the reason for the loss of the megafauna in Australia.

      • Student says:

        This discussion is very interesting. In terms of geological era we are pretty young and, on the contrary almost all the time we live thinking that we are fundamental parts of the universe, but I’m afraid it is not like that.

      • Dennis L. says:

        The fabric of the universe is flexible, we are on it; arm chair analysis(philosophy) attempts to make our world deterministic, we are not the determiners. This is science, analysis of reality to gain understanding and hopefully acceptance.

        Dennis L.

      • Jan says:

        OMG, Neandertal is in Germany, close to Düsseldorf. I FEAR THE WORST!

        And I thought the largest danger for Germany were the foreign minister. Has word reached the world that the foreign minister has publicly asked Putin to make a 360° turn in his politics?

        Austria is currently shaking with laughter. They say the Germans have obviously lost their ability in basic maths!

  36. Lastcall says:

    You MUST BELIEVE or be crucified.

    ‘National Party MP Maureen Pugh says she regrets her comments on Tuesday morning, during which she refused to say she believed in human-induced climate change.’

    https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/national-mp-regrets-unclear-comments-on-man-made-climate-change-accepts-she-has-probably-undermined-party/ar-AA17JjAw?ocid=entnewsntp&cvid=96cfee1df2cc46b0b7f5651927ce6331

    ‘Other National colleagues Newshub spoke to after Pugh made her initial comments on Tuesday morning were all adamant man-made climate change is real. National’s deputy leader Nicola Willis and MP Chris Bishop said they would be raising the issue with Pugh.’

    She started out asking for evidence but caved into the CCC; Climate Change Cult.

    “It is not what I think. It is what I can prove. I am waiting on the evidence from the minister… I have yet to see what the evidence is that they are providing about that. ”

    NZ has numerous areas where ‘events’ have toppled and buried trees 30,000-50,00 years ago.

    Swamp kauri, sometimes marketed as “ancient kauri”, are prehistoric kauri trees, buried and preserved in peat up to 50,000 years ago in New Zealand’s North Island. Buried under a peat swamp by an unexplained act of nature at the end of the last Ice Age, the trees have survived the centuries underground, sealed in a chemically balanced environment that has preserved the timber in almost perfect condition.’

    Climate Change is safe and effective ‘Truthiness’.

    The damage from this last cyclone was not so much because cyclones are a new thing here, but that stupid land-use decisions are; the wrong tree species managed in the wrong way in the wrong place. People living on floodplains, whole catchments being contained in a toreent behind flood embankments, etc etc.

    Anyway, logic has no place in ‘The Narrative’. New Normal is to badger the truth tellers.
    Yes I believe in Climate Change; I studied subjects such as this at Uni. Its been around longer than Adam and Eve.
    Step away from madness.

    • Lastcall says:

      And right on schedule;
      https://www.zerohedge.com/political/how-new-zealand-dealt-disinformation

      ‘We will not summarise the complex and superficial content of the document other than to note that this is precisely the attempt at normalising the message of the pandemic that we have reported. The government has put out a message, and its credibility must be defended at all costs, with tech media partners, academics, the community and, of course, the armies of Sauron.’

      One consideration is that the Covid narrative in Middle Earth (as elsewhere) is based on the misuse and misinterpretation of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the death of clinical medicine, as we have made clear. ‘
      ….
      ‘So presenting figures of cases, hospitalisations and deaths based on qualitative PCR results inflates the totals and undermines the confidence in the competence and honesty of public health bodies: it is disinformation.’

      Isn’t there a psychotic condition whereby you accuse your adversary of the very action you are guilty of?

      The disinformation surrounding windpower, solar farms and Battery Energy Storage Systems is ready for take-off here in NZ following the wee storm we had. More safe and effective, we know best, BS.

      ‘So if you think you live in a democracy, one last word of warning: do not go too near the Black Gate. You may think it is fiction, but it’s not.’

  37. Herbie Ficklestein. says:

    Surprise😧…not again…
    EU Fails To Reach Fossil Fuels Phase-Out Deal
    By Charles Kennedy – Feb 20, 2023, 4:30 PM CST

    Monday’s meeting of European Union foreign ministers failed to lead to the adoption of rules for a phase-out of fossil fuels as European countries argue over the categorization of nuclear energy as part of the energy transition.

    The meeting was intended to reach an agreement that would be presented as the EU’s unified policy at the United Nations COP 28 summit in December.

    The text that failed to garner agreement from all members of the EU, warns against the market and geopolitical vulnerability created by fossil fuel dependence and calls for a global phase-out of coal as a first critical step.

    “While recognising a transitional role for natural gas, the shift towards a climate neutral economy will require the global phase-out of unabated fossil fuels,” the text notes.

    EU foreign affairs high representative Josep Borrell said in a statement after the meeting that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrates the “need for increased global action among the biggest emitters”, Argus Media reports.

    ……Despite a lack of agreement on Monday, the EU has made significant progress transitioning to renewables over the past decade, with renewables nearing market share parity with fossil fuels for electricity generation by 2021. In 2011, fossil fuels accounted for 49% of the EU’s electricity output, compared to only 18% for renewables. By 2021, those figures were 36% and 32%, respectively.

    By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

    Yep, Russia has to be put down ASAP…for the sake of the Planet

    • ivanislav says:

      >> the EU has made significant progress transitioning to renewables over the past decade, with renewables [32% of generation] nearing market share parity with fossil fuels for electricity generation by 2021.

      Moving from 18% to 32% renewables … for the 20% of energy consumption that goes to electricity generation. That is “significant progress”, which actually means a change of 2.8% in overall energy mix generated by renewables.

      The next 2.8% will be harder and the next 2.8% harder still.

      • Jan says:

        Germany is the number one in transitioning, while Austria, where a lot of land was put upright, has a lot of water power for years.

        This investment in Germany was paid by the EEG, the Erneuerbare Energie Gesetz, and cost a lot of money.

        To go on with such investment, Germany’s economy needs to achieve a surplus. With the NATO-chief and their friends the USA destroying the pipeline, Germany’s economs will slow down.

        That means new investments will not be possible.

        The responsible minister of economy, Habeck, has explained in a huge national TV-show that companies filing for backrupty during Corona are techniqually not necessarily bankrupt but only drop out of work. He answered that to a master of bakery that complained he had to close his little independent bakery on account of the gas prices. The shit storm said, Habeck does not know what bankruptcy is.

        Whatever is the truth, you know now, why the transition will not go on in Germany and why the government cannot realize.

        Puppets on the string are no brainers!

  38. Artleads says:

    Just checking if OFW is still accessible to me.

  39. Ed says:

    Hubbs, prediction. The unseen hand got Ukraine to die attacking Russia. Next it will get Poland to die attacking Russia. Next the grand finale getting Germany to die attacking Russia. Showing just how stupid Germans are.

    • ivanislav says:

      Are the Poles that stupid? Wait, don’t answer that.

    • Lastcall says:

      Will miss those sign-posts of ‘The Woke’; the blue and yellow flags flapping around in the breeze like the Ukie Army.

    • Sam says:

      Russia is in dire straits too… I don’t see how they can come out of this smelling like a rose? Russian intelligence must know that even if they win they still lose… they will never be able to hold this position. Putin will eventually be overthrown.. not for the right reason but he has been greatly weakened by this…

      • Withnail says:

        Russia has energy, we don’t. We are running out of weapons, they aren’t.

        And they are backed by a country with a real economy larger than the whole West, China.

        • Fast Eddy says:

          And yet… and yet… mighty Russia cannot seem to defeat a bunch of nazi farmers lead by a cocaine sniffing addict… on their border…

          This is like the US engaging Venezuela in war — and being held to a stalemate

          Hmmmmm

          • Withnail says:

            And yet… and yet… mighty Russia cannot seem to defeat a bunch of nazi farmers lead by a cocaine sniffing addict… on their border…

            But it is defeating them. Ukrainian forces are running out of tanks, planes, shells and troops. That’s how you win wars.

            • Fast Eddy says:

              How do you run out of planes when it’s a video game?

              The “Ghost of Kyiv” is a myth, Ukrainian officials admitted over the weekend.

              After several news outlets last week identified the legendary, mysterious hero fighter pilot as a 29-year-old dad recently killed in battle with the Russians, military officials acknowledged Saturday that there was no such person.

              “The ghost of Kyiv is a superhero-legend, whose character was created by Ukrainians!” Ukraine’s Air Force Command wrote on Facebook.

              But many people questioned whether the “Ghost” was real, as a video purporting to be evidence of the fighter turned out to instead be from a video game.

              https://nypost.com/2022/05/01/heroic-ghost-of-kyiv-fighter-doesnt-actually-exist-ukraine-admits/

              Does Ukraine even have a single trained fighter pilot?

              https://c.tenor.com/6vvL7C_nd74AAAAC/tenor.gif

        • Dennis L. says:

          With,

          Demographics is the problem, they are dying and have been for many years; it was well known in perhaps the 80’s.

          Dennis L.

          • Withnail says:

            That’s nonsense. Nations dont disappear from the map if they have a smaller generation of 20 year olds. You’ve been listening to that clown Peter Zeihan, haven’t you?

  40. Ed says:

    The leaders of the woke world had to meet in a church because all the government building are bombed out.

    I see no exit strategy for anyone. The arch duke is dead the war has begun and no one knows why. The RAND corporation was too late.

    What can Vlad possibly say tomorrow?

    China wisely keeps its mouth shut.

    • I am waiting until after tomorrow’s talks to start my next post.

      • Hubbs says:

        My brother is always trying to make predictions for some unknown reason. I enquire about predictions only to get a sampling of what people may be thinking. To my list of possibilities I posted yesterday, now that Biden is supposedly visiting Zelensky, I wonder if Biden is relaying the message (from his handlers of course because the picture on Zero Hedge shows Biden hugging Zelensky as if he were a stuffed animal-the kind you win at the fair not even aware ) that Zelensky had better negotiate. Or else it’s how to plan the fiancial cleanup. “Mr Z, we’ve got to disperse this slush fund. But don’t worry Mr Z, we promise your evacuation helicopter won’t crash.”

        • Bam_Man says:

          When it comes to predictions, I am 100% in agreement with the great sage Yogi Berra who once wisely stated, “It’s hard to make predictions. Especially about the future.”

          • reante says:

            But not impossible!

          • Mike Roberts says:

            It’s easy to make predictions. Getting them right is hard.

          • el mar says:

            But OFW is rightly predicting medium-term collapse and a near time crash because of laws of thermodynamic.

          • Curt says:

            Got to say I hear that often and in one way, yes, impossible to know the future.

            In another however, a sense of foresight is a primeval thing for all animals:

            If you are on a burning and sinking ship, the GENERAL LIKELIHOOD this won’t go well is very big, while a DETAILED FORECAST of which plank will land on exactly what spot on the ocean’s bottom is hard, but in the very case irrelevant.

            As so it holds with the limits to growth; in what way exactly they’ll play out where is nigh impossible to say, but the general trend of it is visible at least since the 1920s, at least to those with access to general resource data.

      • Artleads says:

        After two months of inability to connect, I decided to do a Google search, and seem to be be on again.

        • Tim Groves says:

          Welcome back, Artleads.

          I wonder what the problem was that prevented you from connecting for so long?

          • Artleads says:

            I feared that I was banned from OFW, but couldn’t figure out why 🙂 The old URL I had got corrupted maybe. Thanks Tim. Good to see you again too.

    • If people like Chucky , whom the late Dr. Firth praised for doing ‘his duty’ and I condemned for committing the greatest f*ckup of history, were not there the war would have ended within the year

      The West retreating from Ukraine, leaving its people for their fate, is the correct move

    • gpdawson2016 says:

      Mankind=perpetual state of war

      • Close to this, I am afraid. Never quite enough resources to go around.

        • Kowalainen says:

          And if it is, it is only momentary as the Hypers would breed like cockroaches on caffeine coated viagra making resource depletion an inevitable certainty.

          ‘Gotta project statuses and prestiges while living life through the eyes of others ®™’

          “Such is the Rapacious Primate.
          All retch and no vomit in perpetuity.
          But it’s all good, cuz within temptation is truth
          🙏 “
          — Oat Jesus
          😇👍👍

    • reante says:

      Maybe he will announce Russian withdrawal from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty that the US never signed off on. Maybe he will also announce the scheduling of a (hypersonic?) high-altitude detonation like Starfish Prime, so that media cameras can ready themselves for the industrial light and magic show. Maybe a few months from now he will announce another test and the lowering of the detonation altitude. That would be ‘fun,’ doomsday clock moving to 3…2… everyone quaking in their boots, nervous wrecks, died suddenlies all over the place, Eddy schadding bigly and calling Bosche mutation it all starts tomorrow.

  41. Was the old system of back breaking work for the poor, with no workers’ comp and employers sometimes killing unruly laborers, diseases rampant while the upper class retreated to their comfortable estates, justified?

    Yes.

    Was the old income system, where 4% of everyone claiming about 92% of all income, justified?

    Yes.

    Such was the era when civilization advanced with leaps and bounds, although the general public saw little benefit from it.

    In a sense, the WEF, led by the privileged in the (mostly) West, might be the final attempt to stop the insanity and return the world to the sane times with faster progresses and fewer benefits for the freeloaders.

    Civilization should not have developed horizontally; it should have advanced vertically, with the benefits mostly concentrated at the top, and the peoples not likely to advance civilization enjoying nothing from it.

  42. https://rmx.news/economy/hungary-moves-to-protect-farmers-from-cheap-ukrainian-grain-while-eu-does-nothing/

    Hungary Moves To Protect Farmers From Cheap Ukrainian Grain While EU Does Nothing
    Hungary is working to defend its agricultural market from Ukranian dumping.

    Since the European Union is doing nothing to restrict the import of cheap Ukrainian grain exports that disrupt Hungary’s agricultural market, Hungary has taken matters into its own hands, said Agricultural Minister István Nagy.

    After the outbreak of war, when it seemed that Ukrainian grain would not leave the ports, the EU quickly abolished export tariffs on Kyiv, allowing crops to freely flood into Europe at depressed prices. The original idea was that EU member states would help get shipments out to the world market, avoiding a total collapse of Ukrainian grain exports. The reality, however, was that the extreme quantities of Ukrainian exports, duty-free, remained in the European market and began to systematically destroy the grain trade of the member states.

    Grain imports from Ukraine in 2021 amounted to 287,000 tons. However, this figure soared in 2022 to 2.8 million tons, which has become a serious problem for European farmers competing against low-cost Ukrainian grain. The precarious situation for European farmers did not change when Ukrainian ports reopened either, as it became more convenient and cheaper for the Ukrainians to flood the European Union with their grain crops knowing that Brussels would do nothing to stop this development. The Ukrainians ended up being right in their assumption.

    The mass influx of Ukrainian grain has had such a market-distorting effect that the member states most affected — Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria — have issued a joint declaration to Brussels asking for help.

    Low food prices perhaps help offset the high energy prices, for now.

    • reante says:

      Clever.. More proactive disaster capitalism posing as economic relief. Gutting domestic agricultural markets with a food aid glut from the Ukrainian slush fund, like USAID on steroids. Everybody’s getting hollowed out to ameliorate the politics of nationalization.

  43. What has doomed today’s civilization?

    Malinvestment in the Third World.

    Did everyone in the Third World have to wear shoes, drive cars, and use smartphones?

    No.

    Did everyone in the Third World wear modern clothing, eat processed foods, and use modern medicine?

    No.

    The satellites shot to the space to broadcast stuff in Swahili, Pakistani, Thai, Bahasa, etc are crowding out the space , and robbing any chance for a space expansion by inducing the kessler effect faster.

    All these cellular phones are depriving the future the material for more advanced stuff.

    All these cement and gasoline wasted so houses and roads could be built in the third world and motorcycles and cars could be driven there. Even the Cubans, after years of embargo, didn’t kick their car habit as Gail had witnessed; it will be virtually impossible to make the 7 billion Third Worlders to abandon their habits and return to the sustainable lifestyle to save Civilization.

    Tl, dr, it was WRONG to develop the Third World.

    • Without China, Viet Nam, and all of East Asia, the global West would be much worse off today, I am afraid.

      • Dennis L. says:

        I am not so sure. Socially a guess may be we would have been better off maintaining our social structure by not off shoring production. Yes, more expensive, but people had jobs and a sense of purpose, it worked.

        What we have does not seem to work, we are at each other’s throats. I do business in the Cities on the north side; across the freeway “shots fired” might be more common that one would like. In some formerly nice areas, residents pass from lead poisoning.

        • Withnail says:

          I am not so sure. Socially a guess may be we would have been better off maintaining our social structure by not off shoring production

          You’ve fallen into the common American delusion that there was a choice about that and that it was about cheap labour.

          It was actually about cheap coal which China has or had. There was no choice.

          • ivanislav says:

            Interesting argument. I’ve never heard anyone give peak US energy as the reason US power brokers offshored “our” manufacturing base. (assuming I understood you correctly)

            • Withnail says:

              Of course that was the reason.

              Labour costs are of little importance in a fossil fuel powered system.

            • reante says:

              Of course that was the reason.

              Labor costs, however, are extremely important because as norm does so well to remind us, there is no extraction without a functioning demand-side. Without the deflationary wage arbitrage regimes of globalized asian production, a ‘post-industrial’ West wouldn’t have been able to afford the imports and, thus, the East wouldn’t have been able to afford to manufacture them in the first place, not having a consumer market of its own.

              Withnail, when you say, “there was no choice,” this accords with Marvin Harris’ soft-deterministic Cultural Materialism. Once a surplus society is locked into running structural surpluses, it is duty bound, upon approaching carrying capacity, to find a way to further intensify the mode of production or collapse; this is what kulm is not getting when he unfortunately says that civilization should have left the non-whites out of it. Globalization was that intensification that about doubled world energy demand and supply, in order to keep the ball rolling.

            • Withnail says:

              Without the deflationary wage arbitrage regimes of globalized asian production, a ‘post-industrial’ West wouldn’t have been able to afford the imports

              The wages are unimportant and are not the reason why everything is made in China. The reason is cheap coal.

            • Cheap coal is part of what allows wages to be lower in China. But there is also a standard of living difference.

            • reante says:

              . “As with other forms of materialism, cultural materialism emerged in the late 1960s as a reaction to cultural relativism and idealism. At the time, much of anthropological thought was dominated by theorists who located culture change in human systems of thought rather than in material conditions (i.e. Durkheim and Levi-Strauss). Harris critiqued idealist and relativist perspectives which claimed that comparisons between cultures are non-productive and irrelevant because each culture is a product of its own dynamics. Marvin Harris argued that these approaches remove culture from its material base and place it solely within the minds of its people. With their strictly emic approach, Harris stated that idealists and relativists fail to be holistic, violating a principal tenet of anthropological research (see Key Concepts) (Harris 1979; 1996: 277). By focusing on observable, measurable phenomena, cultural materialism presents an etic (viewed from outside of the target culture) perspective of society.”

              https://anthropology.ua.edu/theory/cultural-materialism/

    • Fred says:

      Your Third World was the cradle of civilisation in previous iterations of history.

      Europe got a jump by being the first to work out how to leverage FF and thus dominated for a few centuries. The US picked up the baton after coming out of top after WWII.

      Someone else’s turn shortly I reckon.

  44. https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/trials-should-have-been-stopped-rate-serious-adverse-events-closely-tracks-spike-post-vax

    “The Trials Should Have Been Halted”: Rate Of ‘Serious Adverse Events’ Closely Tracks Spike In Post-Vax Disabilities

    This is a Zerohedge summary of Dowd’s findings.

    “Now, the data has begun to speak for itself, thanks to people like former Blackrock portfolio manager Ed Dowd, who has devoted the last several years to deep-dive research and analysis of pandemic-related data (in fact, he’s written an excellent book on the topic).”

    The article gives quite a few links to Dowd findings (SAE = Serious adverse events):

    http://www.phinancetechnologies.com/HumanityProjects/US%20Disabilities%20-%20Part5.htm

    http://www.phinancetechnologies.com/HumanityProjects/US%20Disabilities%20-%20Part3.htm

    “Bottom line: There were enough safety signals to show that what we are seeing in the BLS data was known during the clinical trials even given their narrow definition of a SAE. The trials should have been halted.”

  45. Ed says:

    Germany and Russia need to make peace. Germany become a sovereign nation and Russia gets left in peace.

  46. Dennis L. says:

    Inflation/deflation:

    I am looking with some angst at the entitlement debate in Congress. An idea repeatedly floated is switching from defined benefit to 401K type plans which in a no growth environment is a less than zero sum game.

    The problem with switching from defined benefit to 401K is funding, new enrollees would no longer contribute to the SS fund so I assume it runs out sooner rather than later.

    Medicare is an entitlement, I am a resident of Rochester, MN home of Mayo where perhaps 50%+- of the revenue comes from Medicare. So, what is the implication for home prices? My guess, down. Ugh.

    This is not an easy game, one damn thing after another.

    Dennis L.

    • Hubbs says:

      And for many, if not most rural hospitals, Medicare/Medicaid is 75-90% of the hospitals’ payer mix. Many of them are sitting ducks. The current 185 bed hospital here in costal NC is being put up for sale again, while the current hospital leaser Sentara, out of Norfolk, VA, builds a smaller 82 bed hospital along the by-pass scheduled for completion next year. $50 million in cost overuns so far on original projections of $200 mil.

      My feeling is that it didn’t take Sentara long to realize that just the upkeep on the current hospital Albatross was draining them. They had a clause that would allow them to leave the 185 bed hospital and not have to pay taxes if they built another hospital and paid taxes on that.

      I had correctly predicted that the 185 bed hopsital could not be sold because over the 10 years under the administrator’s tenure it had been run financially into the ground. I had openly asked for her immediate resignation at the full quarterly Medical Staff Meeting June 30, 2011. The hospital had gone from $40 mil in the green to $100 mil in the red. She was escorted out of the hospital around 2013 under police guard, allegedly when they discovered how she had been hiding the losses.

      I expect that maybe they’ll convert the old hospital to section 8 housing although the politicians all say that it will be converted into quaint “upscale” condos. We’ll see. As the rest of TN, SC and NC fill up with deserters from the northeast, IL and CA, this area in the northeast NC coast is the last fairly “undeveloped” area and could pull through- if the economy stabilizes nationally. That is a big “if” and is realistically a dead qualifier.

      But the government is broke. They won’t be able to afford all these Medicare and Medicaid expenditures, especially on those who are elderly and will die within 6 months anyway regardless how much money is spent.

      Health care will be rationed- eventually.

      • At some point in the future, I am guessing that everyone will need to work. Those who don’t work will not be entitled to health care.

        • Dennis L. says:

          Nice summary: The problem will be the work must be something which physically changes things material; the more secondary the job, the less entropy to reduce until it effectively and goes negative which means someone else is kicking into the bucket to compensate.

          Dennis L.

          • I would think that nursing homes would “go away” as an option, unless a person is exceedingly rich. Even “independent living” and “assisted living” facilities will become much less available.

        • in our relatively recent past, if you didnt work you didnt eat unless you had support from immediate family, and healthcare was non existent

          (medication didn’t generally work anyway–healthcare was mainly palliative.)

          • This is part of the reason why I think we are headed in this direction.

          • Curt says:

            As far as I know healthcare was at one time the basic service of monasteries and religious institiutions, not only in Europe.

            It’s true that in a relatively recent past the family or extended clan was often the only guarantee of sustenance, but then again, during urban civilizations cycles like ancient Rome, dole and basic support for unemployed masses was actually a thing like today.

      • Dennis L. says:

        Nice insight.

        Dennis L.

    • I am guessing that digital currency will be issued instead of the currency we have now. Some types of accounts will not be fully compensated. Some types of accounts may receive US debt as a substitute for “more risky” assets.

      I don’t see any way that 401K funding works, if we no longer live in a world powered by a combination of fossil fuel growth and falling interest rates. If fossil fuel consumption per capita is falling and interest rates are rising, the system tends to collapse. Asset prices of all kinds tend to fall.

    • The mythical crew at Tesla will find a way.

      Jokes aside, too many people taking on too few resources can never end happy. The whole situation occurs because so many people who didn’t contribute much got to enjoy their benefits and the money is running out.

      We will go back to the days of barefoot doctors, where Chinese peasant girls, trained in basic nursing, treated easily fixed diseases, and anything they couldn’t treat, unless one had some friend high in Peking, they were out of luck.

  47. Student says:

    (Sicilia news)

    ‘Sudden death in the night for Dr. Francesco Pitrolo, mersonal Doctor of Italian Presidente Sergio Mattarella’

    https://ilsicilia.it/morto-francesco-pitrolo-il-medico-personale-di-mattarella/

    • Student says:

      ‘personal Doctor’

      • Mirror on the wall says:

        ‘mersonal’ – I like it. A contraction of ‘me personal’ (‘me’ being classy slang for ‘my’.)

    • Fast Eddy says:

      Outstanding SCHAD … absolutely superb… good riddance. Hahahahaha… I hope it was not too sudden – always good to know that he may have had a few seconds to panic and realize he’d f789ed himself with the Rat Juice

  48. Mirror on the wall says:

    This is a fairly surreal situation. The collapse of the Tory Party is so deep that the SNP is projected to become the second largest party in Westminster and the official Opposition to a Labour government.

    Brexit, pushed through predominantly by the oldest cohort, is leaving the Tories collapsed, and it is questionable whether they will ever govern again. The once dominant Liberal Party had a collapse moment and never again governed.

    The new parliament would see the Tories sat over at the far side where the SNP now sit, and the SNP, which does not even really want to be there, sat opposite the Labour government.

    The dynamics of the chamber will be focused on Labour-SNP tensions, which is a pretty ideal scenario for SNP to build for a referendum in a few more years. It is funny how things can work out – the ‘self-organising’ system does its own thing?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/02/08/snap-election-would-leave-tories-westminsters-third-party/

    SNP ‘would overtake Tories in snap Westminster election’

    Exclusive poll of 28,000 people for The Telegraph finds Conservatives would slump to 23 per cent of the vote

    The Conservatives would be relegated to Westminster’s third party behind the Scottish National Party in a snap election, new polling for the Telegraph has found.

    The exclusive, large-scale MRP poll of 28,000 people found that if there were an imminent general election the Tories would be left with fewer seats than the SNP. Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, would be the Leader of the Opposition.

    The figures, from pollsters Find Out Now and experts Electoral Calculus, report Labour winning 49 per cent of the vote and the Tories down to 23 per cent.

    MRP polling means results in individual seats can be calculated. The polling forecast that Labour would gain 306 seats, taking its total number of MPs to a record 509 out of 650 seats available.

    The SNP is the next largest party in the Commons, with 50 MPs, while the Conservatives would be in third place with just 45, down from 365 at the 2019 election.

    The Liberal Democrats would more than double their number of MPs from 11 to 23. Plaid Cymru and the Greens are unchanged at four MPs and one respectively.

    On a seat-by-seat estimate, 15 Cabinet ministers would lose their seats including Mr Sunak, James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, and Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary. Ex-prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, and Kwasi Kwarteng, the former chancellor, would also be ejected from the Commons.

    Chris Holbrook, the chief executive of Find Out Now, said the forecasts made “shocking reading for Conservatives”, adding: “Mending perceptions of corruption may be their best hope.”

    Martin Baxter, the chief executive of Electoral Calculus, added: “The Conservatives have been far behind in the polls for the last four months, with little sign of improvement.

    “They have lost support across the country, particularly in traditionally strong Conservative areas, which bodes very badly for the next general election. That election could be a near-wipeout and worse than 1997, with the Conservatives not even being the main opposition party.”

    • Tim Groves says:

      As a Bowie fan, you’ll doubtless understand my predicament. I just can’t get that tune out of my mind!

      There’s a Starmer waiting in the wings
      He’d like to come a lead us
      Into lots of nicer things
      There’s Starmer waiting in the wings
      He’s told us not to blow it
      ‘Cause he knows the fix is in
      He told us, “let the Tories lose it
      “Let the Libs refuse it
      Let all the voters choose it.”

      The Conservatives have had over a decade of swinging the wrecking ball. It will be thirteen long years in May since the Brown was vanquished by the Cameron. Before that Labour were in for thirteen years, and before that the Conservatives were in for eighteen. So it’s about time for another change of management.

      Of course, one hopes the victorious Socialists will hunt the routed Tories as enthusiastically as the latter continue to hunt foxes despite the ban. Tally-ho!

  49. I AM THE MOB says:

    The pandemic was a test.

    A test called “Stress”

    When your back is against the wall. You have only two options.

    You can lay down and die or you can fight and live.

    This is why the rebels have won.

    And now it’s OUR finite world!

    • We will find out what is ahead.

      • Dennis L. says:

        No sarcasm:

        The fabric of the universe has done a great deal of tweaking to have biology arise; it is not nice to fool with mother nature. She will pout a bit, rearrange some furniture, become her accepting and nurturing self and all will be well, because….. father just walked in the door and we all know what happens when father gets home.

        Some of these old metaphors/stories might have a grain of truth in them, they have survived for countless, human ages.

        Dennis L.

    • reante says:

      TVOTR used to be one of my favorites. Remember thei4 protest song of George W Bush, when it seemed like maybe things couldn’t get any worse? LOL.

      Great song.

      Baby boy
      Dying under hot desert sun
      Watch your colours run
      did you believe the lie they told you
      That christ would lead the way
      And in a matter of days
      Hand us victory
      did you buy the bull they sold you
      That the bullets and the bombs
      And all the strong arms
      Would bring home security
      all eyes upon
      Dry drunk emperor
      Gold cross cross jock skull and bones
      Mocking smile
      He’s been
      Standing naked for a while
      Get him gone, get him gone, get him gone
      And bring all the thieves to trial
      end their promise
      End their dream
      Watch it turn to steam
      Rising to the nose of some cross legged god
      Gog of magog
      End times sort of thing
      Oh unmentionable disgrace
      Shield the children’s faces
      As all the monied apes
      Display unimaginably poor taste
      In a scramble for mastery
      atta’ boy get em with your gun
      Till mr. mega ton
      Tells us when we’ve won
      Or
      What we’re gonna leave undone
      all eyes upon
      Dry drunk emperor
      Gold cross jock skull and bones
      Mocking smile
      He’s been
      Naked for a while
      Get him gone, get him gone, get him gone
      And bring all his thieves to trial
      what if all the fathers and the sons
      Went marching with their guns
      Drawn on washington
      That would seal the deal
      Show if it was real
      This supposed freedom
      what if all the bleeding hearts
      Took it on themselves
      To make a brand new start
      Organs pumpin on their sleeves
      Paint murals on the white house
      Feed the leaders L.S.D
      Grab your fife and drum
      Grab yor gold baton
      And let’s meet on the lawn
      Shut down this hypocrisy

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