Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Links — 24 August 2022 Part 1

The Vineyard of the Saker
Geopolitical tectonic plates shifting, six months on ("What Moscow is doing is talking to virtually the whole Global South, bilaterally or to groups of actors, explaining how the world-system is changing right before our eyes, with the key actors of the future configured as BRI, SCO, EAEU, BRICS+, the Greater Eurasia Partnership. And what we see is vast swathes of the Global South – or 85% of the world’s population – slowly but surely becoming ready to engage in expelling the FIRE Mafia from their national horizons, and ultimately taking them down: a long, tortuous battle that will imply multiple setbacks."
Pepe Escobar
http://thesaker.is/geopolitical-tectonic-plates-shifting-six-months-on/

Moon of Alabama
Ukraine - Wrong Assumptions, Wrong Conclusions - And A Lot Of Dead Soldiers (wishful thinking compounded by an inability to think things though)
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/08/ukraine-wrong-assumptions-wrong-conclusions-and-a-lot-of-dead-soldiers.html

Breaking Defense
With biggest-yet security package, US aid to Ukraine nears $13B (US and UK still committed to Russian strategic defeat in Ukraine, no matter the cost, with the ultimate objective of colonizing Russia.)
Lee Ferran
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/08/with-biggest-yet-security-package-us-aid-to-ukraine-nears-13b/

RT — Question More (Russian state-sponsored media)
Ukraine will seize Crimea ‘by any means necessary’ – Zelensky (Zelensky committed to destruction of Ukriane?)
https://www.rt.com/russia/561410-zelensky-take-back-crimea/

UK pubs face ‘extinction’ – survey (now that is a real crisis!)
https://www.rt.com/news/561486-uk-pubs-face-extinction/

Macron warns of ‘end of abundance’ (the coming age of austerity as the new normal)
https://www.rt.com/news/561466-macron-france-crisis-sacrifices/

Zero Hedge
Boris Johnson Arrives in Kiev For 3rd Time, This Time Bearing Gifts ("I believe Ukraine can and will win this war." — Johnson)
Tyler Durden
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/boris-johnson-arrives-kiev-3rd-time-time-bearing-gifts

TASS (Russian state media)
US president announces $2.98 bln in new military aid to Ukraine
https://tass.com/world/1497739

EU, NATO pledge to stick with Ukraine as long as it takes, statements say (The other outcome is the end of NATO and the EU. Which is more likely? Trap to capture Russia or Russian trap to finish its chief adversaries?)
https://tass.com/world/1497715

US-led West using Ukraine issue to justify economic war against Russia, defense chief [Sergei Shoigu] says
https://tass.com/politics/1497621

https://tass.com/politics/1497597
https://sputniknews.com/20220824/why-ukraine-risks-becoming-europes-graveyard-despite-uk--eu-putting-on-brave-face----1099953941.html

US military biological program poses direct threat to SCO nations, Shoigu says (exactly why is the US military running a biological program anyway?)
https://tass.com/defense/1497631

Russian diplomat [Maria Zakharova] slams Zelensky’s denial of Kiev’s involvement in journalist’s murder (Maria Zakharova pointed out that the Kiev regime was doing exactly what Western guidelines said.)
https://tass.com/politics/1497573

Russian army slows down advance to reduce civilian casualties — defense minister [Sergei Shoigu] (countering Western narrative that Russia is bogged down and the Ukrainians are now winning.)
https://tass.com/politics/1497555

Sputnik International (Russian state-sponsored media)
Why Ukraine Risks Becoming Europe's Graveyard Despite UK & EU Putting on Brave Face  (sacrificing themselves for the cause — US dominance. How dumb is that?)
https://sputniknews.com/20220824/why-ukraine-risks-becoming-europes-graveyard-despite-uk--eu-putting-on-brave-face----1099953941.html

https://sputniknews.com/20220824/us-initially-provided-ukraine-only-with-portable-weapons-expecting-quick-defeat-reports-say-1099944168.html

Stoltenberg Urges NATO States to Ramp up Defense Investment (they didn't have the euro before, where will they come from now under Maastricht?)
https://sputniknews.com/20220824/stoltenberg-urges-nato-states-to-ramp-up-defense-investment-1099937652.html

Rector of Leading Russian University [Alevtina Anatolievna] on Trends That Will Determine the Future (STEM)
https://sputniknews.com/20220824/rector-of-leading-russian-university-on-trends-that-will-determine-the-future-1099933565.html

PEARLS AND IRRITATIONS—John Menadue's Public Policy Journal
The west’s false narrative about Russia and China ("At the core of all of this is the US attempt to remain the world’s hegemonic power, by augmenting military alliances around the world to contain or defeat China and Russia. It’s a dangerous, delusional, and outmoded idea. The US has a mere 4.2% of the world population, and now a mere 16% of world GDP (measured at international prices). In fact, the combined GDP of the G7 is now less than that of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), while the G7 population is just 6 percent of the world compared with 41 percent in the BRICS.")
Jeffrey D. Sachs | Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, Director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development, and Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
https://johnmenadue.com/the-wests-false-narrative-about-russia-and-china/

Countercurrents
UK sued by Africans over colonial-era abuses (decolonization)
Countercurrents Collective
https://countercurrents.org/2022/08/uk-sued-by-africans-over-colonial-era-abuses/

Internationalist 360º
Blinken Returns Empty Handed from Africa Tour ("A week after Blinken’s departure from Rwanda, Veronica Mbaye wrote in the New Times pointing out the contradictory character of Washington’s foreign policy saying: “Whatever residue of faith persisted after George Bush lied about mass destruction weapons existing in oil-rich Iraq, as an excuse to invade the country and cause decades-long instability, was exhausted during the Barack Obama years. Obama, who ran a successful campaign by feigning an impeccable moral core (which I suppose Americans did want to see in him to prove they were not racist) positioned himself as anti-war, only to line the pockets of gun lobbyists and drop bombs on innocent Syrian children when elected. As Antony Blinken will recall, having served as Obama’s close aide for years, the Obama Administration orchestrated the assassination of an African leader on African soil, despite the full awareness that it would send Libya and the entire region into deathly, dehumanizing turmoil. So frankly, I am dazed and amazed that a single American, State official or not, would think their act is convincing when claiming to have the interests of the Africans they so casually kill at heart.”)
Abayomi Azikiwe
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2022/08/24/blinken-returns-empty-handed-from-africa-tour/

Oilprice
20 Million American Households Are Behind On Energy Bills
Michael Kern
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/20-Million-American-Households-Are-Behind-On-Energy-Bills.html

ECNS (Chinese official English news service)
Taiwan is China’s Taiwan and Taiwan question is China’s domestic affairs: China’s Defense Minister
Global Times
http://www.ecns.cn/news/politics/2022-08-24/detail-ihccnavh2349256.shtml













4 comments:

Nebris said...

This looks like an issue of Pravda.

Tom Hickey said...

This looks like an issue of Pravda.

If Western media weren't focused on pushing the conventional narrative and excluding everything in opposition or disagreement, there would be no need for what is posted in the links here.

Posting links doesn't imply endorsement of anything said. The point is that most of the public is not privy to actual facts, only "alternative facts." The only ones that are privy to the actual facts are those having privileged access to information and they are not revealing it publicly. So to become informed, one has to sample many different viewpoints on the issues and consider "alternative facts" generated by those lenses. A lot of what this reveals is not only oppositional viewpoints but also contradictory ones. So one has to apply filters, like cui bono?

It is also necessary to eliminate or at least minimize confounding factors to the degree possible, and this includes one's own cognitive-affective biases, while also factoring in one's own worldview acquired through enculturation.

NeilW said...

The Western media looks increasingly like Soviet era Pravda.

No dissent from the prevailing GroupThink is permitted on pain of excommunication.

Peter Pan said...

Typical news article at the CBC:

Six months after invading Ukraine, Russia itself is feeling the pressure
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ukraine-russia-dugin-putin-car-bombing-1.6560071