Russia, Ukraine, the UN and NATO

(cross-posted from caucus99percent.com)  the teaser:

Earlier via tass news, and this may have been a tipping point:

“MOSCOW, February 23. /TASS/. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres made several statements on the situation in eastern Ukraine that are not compatible with his status, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, opening talks with UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Wednesday.

“To our great regret, the UN Secretary General whom you are representing turned out to be susceptible to pressure by the West and recently made several statements incompatible with his status and his authority under the UN Charter,” he said.

The Russian top diplomat noted that Moscow conveyed to Guterres its assessment of his statements. According to Lavrov, the UN Secretary General has never expressed support for the necessity to implement the Minsk Accords and the UN Security Council resolution on the same matter.”

 

Russia, Ukraine & the NATO Empire

(cross-posted from caucus99percent.com)

A Primer on Ukraine, Russia, and the Western Empire 

From Popular Resistance’s Phil Wiloytoo, Feb. 8, 2022 (Creative Commons):

‘Russia, Ukraine And The US: The Background They’re Not Telling You’

Above photo: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland passes out food to EuroMaidan protesters on Independence Square, as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt looks on nearby

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A PSA from the Lawyers Committee for a 9/11 Inquiry

cross-posted from caucus99percent.com

God…in Pencil

A good Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to us all.  (a reprise from Oct. 21, 2011)

When I listen to Martin Luther King, Jr. speak, I can believe in God. There may be other times I have, but I can’t remember them specifically. In discussions about belief or not, I’ve heard people say that their personal stories have been determinant. A lot of them include hitting some emotional or spiritual bottom, and hearing a message from God, then being reborn in some state that exemplifies grace, along with which comes both a knowledge of, and a belief in, God; sort of a personal relationship.

I don’t know this place; this sort of state. Throughout the many dark nights of the soul I’ve experienced, I’ve  never found that comfort or profound communication they describe. And yet I like to say prayers. The time spent in gratitude for my life, or mindful intentionality about my place and behavior in the universe can be nourishing, and requires no belief. It’s more an acknowledgement that it feels good to be part of something larger, to be connected, even if it’s just to all the best thought-energy sailing around in my local branch of the universe. You know; a hippie version of spirituality. What I mean to say is: Whether or not I believe in God isn’t a problem for me.

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P5 Nations Foreswear Nuclear War

For your consideration; first, via RT.com Jan. 3, 2021:

“China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US have released a joint statement affirming their opposition to using their nuclear arsenals for offensive purposes. They also promised to work together on nuclear disarmament.

“We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” read the statement released on Monday. “As nuclear use would have far-reaching consequences, we also affirm that nuclear weapons – for as long as they continue to exist – should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war.”

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‘Iran threatens nuclear explosion in Israel’s Dimona facility’

Via msn.com en/US, Dec. 26 with a link to the Jerusalem Post

View of the Israeli nuclear facility in the Negev Desert outside Dimona

“A Twitter account run by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Friday threatened to blow up the city of Dimona in the Negev desert, where a nuclear facility is located.

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a PSA on the JCPOA talks in Vienna

(Cross-posted from caucus99percent.com)

The epic evil of the Vault 7 CIA hacking tools

From WikiLeaks.org

“Today, Tuesday 7 March 2017, WikiLeaks begins its new series of leaks on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Code-named “Vault 7” by WikiLeaks, it is the largest ever publication of confidential documents on the agency.”

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‘US wins Assange extradition appeal’

The decision and background is here at caucus99percent.com

Russia Calls For Agreements to Prevent Expanding NATO Eastward

Via telesur english, Dec. 7, 2021

“Ukraine’s accession to NATO is a red line for us and we have said it for a long time. The ongoing policy aimed at dragging Kiev into the orbit of the alliance, the actual move by NATO to use the Ukrainian military infrastructure, and attempts to turn Ukraine into a foothold in a confrontation with Russia, could have serious negative consequences and exacerbate the military and political situation in Europe,” she explained.

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Carl Jung on Dreams & Symbols

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US Peace Prize Awarded To World BEYOND War

From Popular Resistance, Nov. 5, 2021:

“The 2021 US Peace Prize has been awarded to World BEYOND War “for exceptional global advocacy and creative peace education to end war and dismantle the war machine.”

Michael Knox, Chair of the US Peace Memorial Foundation, thanked World BEYOND War and its members “for years of outstanding and prolific antiwar actions and extensive peace educational projects involving many people and organizations. We appreciate your leadership and the significant impact your members and programs have had throughout the world.”

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a 2021 National Lampoon! ; )

(Feel free to add your own; the possibilities are rife…)

First: Cringeworthy (h/t Kevin Gosztola): Barack Obomba and Bruce Springstein have combined forces in a podcast they call “The Renegades”.

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Day One of the US Appeal for Assange’s Extradition Hearing

First, some background:  on Oct. 22 Joe Lauria at Consortiumnews.org had reported:

Chief Justice of England & Wales, Who Blocked Lauri Love Extradition, Joins Bench for Assange Hearing’; The most senior judge in England and Wales, who let activist Lori Love evade extradition to the U.S. on humanitarian grounds, will join Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde at the U.S. appeal hearing against Julian Assange next week.’

“Instead they recommended that Love be tried in the United Kingdom on charges of hacking into U.S. government computers. (The U.S. then dropped the charges.) Unlike Love, Assange is accused of no crimes in Britain. But like Love, he has been deemed (by the magistrate’s court) at high risk of suicide if he were to be extradited to the United States.”

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Spices as Medicines

(a reprise from 2012, updated in 2016, having added other herbs, foods, and supplements.)

I read news this morning about a new strain of Superbug that is plaguing India; the piece explains the NDM-1 gene and plasmids that allow easy bacterial mutations; more than I can fully grasp in a reading.  (The piece neglects to mention how much the same causes occur in the US, of course.)  But antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains other than MRSA seem to be brewing and causing increasing alarm among health care organizations.  Global pandemics are apparently not unlikely, and finding reliable cures in what they’re calling ‘a post-antibiotic era’ frightening at the very least.   Chief causes seem to be over-prescribed antibiotics, patients historically not having completed the prescribed round of antibiotics, and antibiotics in animal feed.

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‘Thousands of Police Killings Are Unreported’

…the title of Margaret Kimberly’s  Oct. 6, 2021 column.  A few moths ago I’d emailed Ms. Kimberly, the man who handles readers comments (Choudray?), and Glen Ford (November 5, 1949 – July 28, 2021, Rest in Power), to ask why the content was no longer labeled Create Content at the bottom.  Only brother Glen had responded, and was quite baffled about my question.  I explained that for some reason, the content never ended, but kept scrolling and scrolling, as in: there IS no bottom.   He finally wrote back to consider it all free to publish, bless his ailing heart.

I’ll take him at his word, given the significance of this news.

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How big corporations & Bill Gates took over the UN food Summit

An exposé by Nils McCune and Camila Escalante, September 23, 2021 thegrayzone.com

It’s a story that’s sick in itself, but the outrageous perfidy and under-handedness  at play causes me to commit thought crimes. It’s under copyright, so I’ll feature one section, and you can read the rest or watch their brilliant video below.

The new UN: a public-private partnership:

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John Durham Reappears, but his Investigation Isn’t Over

‘Latest Durham Indictment May Make Russiagate the Most Corrupt Scandal in U.S. History’, PJ Media, Victoria Taft,  Sep 22, 2021

“We already know about Hillary Clinton’s attempted takedown of the Donald Trump candidacy and presidency in the Russia hoax. We know a government lawyer lied to the FISA court in order to get a warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. We know about Christopher Steele’s fake “dossier,” the spying on the Trump campaign by the FBI, and the deployment of Democrat apparatchiks to conscript their Leftist media transcribers to plant or amplify the fake news in the service of The Party.” […]

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Paul Street Satirizes Glenn Greenwald & AOC ; )


Frequently a contributor to Black Agenda Report, Paul’s new book is The Hollow Resistance: Obama, Trump, and Politics of Appeasement. These are excerpts from his recent column at counterpunch.org. It’s wide-ranging and longish, but I’ll focus on Part I:

“AOC’s Revolutionary and Subversive Socialist Gown”

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