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Sunday, October 23, 2022

2022-10-23

*** denotes well-worth reading in full at source (even if excerpted extensively here)


Economic and Market Fare:

FX swaps, shadow banks and the global dollar footprint

... The Fed's approach to global liquidity provision via both swaps and repos constitutes a spatially variegated strategy to preserve the hegemony of the US dollar. Despite its partial success in reducing instability due to cross-border financial imbalances, the Fed's uneven and hierarchical lender of last resort approach cannot sufficiently stabilise global finance to underpin a new era of macrofinancial stability. ..........



All of this scheming, leverage and swapping boils down to not enough available (i.e., liquid) USDs in a global financial system in which nearly everything—from debt, to oil to derivatives—still has to be paid in increasingly scarce and hence increasingly expensive Dollars. In addition to this twisted, illiquid and over-levered swamp, the USD rises even higher on Powell rate hikes, all of which combine to force the world’s other currencies to fall. Why? Because other countries and central banks have no choice but to swallow/import USD inflation, monetary policy and American political self-interest. Indeed, with financial allies like the U.S., who needs enemies?


‘People will burn anything’: energy poverty and pollution hit eastern Europe



Quotes of the Week:

Sahm: I am disgusted with Fed officials and the institution. It’s not about the policy direction. I am humble enough to know what I don’t know now about the best path forward. Even so, I was raised well enough to know that the Fed—after five ethics problems within a year—is rotten to the core.

Costa: Ultimately, policy makers must restore a financially repressive environment. Allowing inflation to stay at persistently higher levels for longer remains the path of least resistance to deleverage the extreme debt-to-GDP overhang.

Peters: "There is too much debt in the world, so they must inflate it away, which they can do. They will. That’s the only thing you need to know.” 



Charts: 




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(not just) for the ESG crowd:

Consumption of fossil fuels is growing faster than ever.

........ there’s a problem: despite more than $2 trillion in spending on renewables over the past three decades, there is scant evidence that an energy transition is underway. Last year, according to data from the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, in both the US, and the world as a whole, the growth in hydrocarbons—oil, natural gas, and coal—far exceeded the growth of wind and solar by huge margins. 

.... despite all that spending, wind and solar are not making a significant dent in our insatiable thirst for oil, gas, and coal. The reasons for that are many, including the gargantuan scale of global energy use, and the limits on the availability of neodymium, steel, aluminum, copper, and myriad other commodities that will be needed by the gigaton to make any large-scale move away from hydrocarbons.


not a bombshell at all:



GeoPolitical Fare:

Social crises in Europe face escalation this winter.



......... Unlike other “pro-Europeans”, van Middelaar is adamant that Europe’s future strategic priority must be autonomy, not just from China, but also from the USA. Clearly, he is, or was when the book was written, far from being an “Atlanticist”. For an initial impression of the new US president, van Middelaar notes that Biden, more than both presidents preceding him, “is playing the card of American imperialism”, trying to assemble as many countries as possible in an alliance with the USA in its upcoming struggle with China, “positioning the U.S. again as the self-conscious leader of the free world” (p. 168). This, however, will not work anymore: “The days of global supremacy are now out of reach to both those great imperial powers”. This, van Middelaar continues, “creates a need for forms of power balance and coexistence – and hence thinking in terms of pluralism”, which makes it necessary for Europe in particular “to promote a multipolar order”. As a precondition, “the Union must first develop the ambition to be a relevant pole itself, a power among powers” (p. 170), for which it must learn to resist “the lure of universalism”—“the temptation to be absorbed in a ‘West’ that includes the U.S. and Canada…, although the compelling effect of the narrative machine that is Washington and Hollywood in creating a new [common] enemy should not be underestimated” (pp. 171–2). van Middelaar concludes by demanding “a strategic conversation at the highest political level” which would “force a continent that after 1945 escaped from the morass of selfdestruction by mentally clinging to universal values,



Sci Fare:

The positively charged particle at the heart of the atom is an object of unspeakable complexity, one that changes its appearance depending on how it is probed. We’ve attempted to connect the proton’s many faces to form the most complete picture yet.







Other Fare:

Cormac McCarthy’s long-awaited diptych of conspiracy and nuclear anxiety



Pics of the Week:





Contrarian Perspectives

Extra [i.e. Controversial] Fare:

*** denotes well-worth reading in full at source (even if excerpted extensively here)


Krishnamurti: “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”


Unsustainability Fare:

Radical humanists ought to think it necessary to do our best to resist civilisational collapse – even if it is too late. A reply to Chomsky, Fuentes & McPherson

Have we, humans, passed the point of no return down the path to ecological ruin? Does ruin-without-end loom black across the land, the air, the oceans? I hope not but, regardless, I don’t think it matters. What matters is what we do. And how we do it. From now on. Until our last breath.

Sure enough, three centuries of industrialisation dictated by the logic of capital pushed us into a hideous predicament: Whatever we do from now on may, I acknowledge, prove insufficient for preventing the collapse of organised human society. Even so, radical humanists ought to think it necessary to do our best to resist civilisational collapse. As an old-school Marxist once taught me, what is necessary is never unwise, never futile, never worthless ......


Two expeditions to the Thwaites Ice Shelf have revealed that it could splinter apart in less than a decade, hastening sea-level rise worldwide



Endemic Fare:

I've continued to come across too much excellent COVID-related content (with contrarian evidence-based points-of-view!!) to link to it all
Read [almost?] everything by eugyppius; el gato malo; Mathew Crawford; Steve Kirsch; Jessica Rose!
Chudov, Lyons-Weiler, Toby Rogers are also go-to mainstays; a list to which I have added Andreas Oehler, Joey Smalley (aka Metatron) and, Julius Ruechel; Denninger worth staying on top of too for his insights, and especially his colorful language; and Norman Fenton; Marc Girardot; plus Walter Chesnut (on twitter); later additions: Sheldon Yakiwchuk & Charles Rixey & Aaron Kheriarty; and newest additions Meryl Nass and the awesome Radagast; and Spartacus is on substack now!!; I will of course continue to post links to key Peter McCullough material, and Geert Vanden Bossche, and Robert Malone, and Martin Kulldorff, and Jay Bhattacharya, and Sucharit Bhakdi, and Pierre Kory, and Harvey Risch, and Michael Yeadon, and John Ioannidis, and Paul Marik, and Tess Lawrie, and Dolores Cahill, and [local prof] Byram Bridle, and Ryan Cole, and... of course Heather Heying and Charles Eisenstein often bring their insight and wisdom to the topic as well... and if Heying's substack isn't enough, she joins her husband Bret Weinstein at their DarkHorse podcast ....
but, in any case, check out those sources directly as I will my linking to material by those mainstays mentioned above will be reduced to key excerpts and/or essential posts


An important new preprint finds the unmistakable fingerprints of tinkering in the Corona genome

...... There’s little point in me summarising the authors’ conclusions any further – Washburne in particular has done a great job of making his technical findings accessible to a wide audience, and I recommend that you read his Twitter and his Substack post.

Here, I just want to emphasise two points. ...

... The other point is the likely deliberate decision to leave the restriction sites in place, even though removing them from the final viral product would have been trivial. This suggests that the SARS-2 was the subject of ongoing gain-of-function experiments at the moment it escaped, with all its Frankenstein stitches still showing, to facilitate further cutting and pasting operations.


As bad as the story is for the under 45s, it's a whole lot worse for the under 25s.

Having just written this piece on the alarming rate at which under 45 year-old Americans are dying at unprecedented rates in the aftermath of the mass mRNA experiment, I was piqued to investigate the situation for the under 25s alone.

Alas, the situation is even more grim. 

Let’s examine the core hypotheses I have developed over the last couple of years, based on the examination of reams of mortality data from all around the world:
  1. Deaths spike in the aftermath of COVID interventions (government policies) more than they do in the apparent emergence of a novel pathogen.
  2. Mortality increases in the aftermath of the mass mRNA experiment more than it does during the alleged emergence of a novel pathogen, “in spite of” the claim that the medical intervention is Safe and Effective™.
........ Just a whole load of spurious correlations, me “grasping at straws”? Well, here’s the thing -

The onus is not on me to prove causation, the onus is on the government and its agencies to disprove it. In fact, here’s my challenge to the CDC, FDA, HHS, etc., whoever is responsible - prove that none of the 8,000 excess deaths of under 25s in America was caused by your pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions.



Tweets & Quotes of the Week:

Tern: I think:
a) there's a lot more Covid brain damage around than most people realise
b) most people don't know what brain damage looks like
c) it's cumulative




CO-VIDs of the Week:

********** re-upping; PLEASE PLEASE WATCH THIS:
Part 1 is Viewable for 10 days for free





Anecdotal Fare:

And how many performers can you remember ever doing anything like that, before the rollout of the COVID "vaccination" drive? Me neither.


While the general population exhibits 10,000-fold increase in the rates of myocarditis, as some studies suggest.



Pushback Fare:

Like Galileo in front of the Inquisition tribunal, the renowned Dr. Christian Perronne defended his right to critique covid-19 treatment to the French Order of Physicians

A prominent French physician has won a stunning victory against charges that he denigrated official covid policies, with the French Order of Physicians holding that he was in fact obliged to speak out.



meet danielle smith, the brand new premier of alberta sworn in just this october 11th.

this interview is stunning in its honest simplicity.

she is asked:

“in your campaign, you promised to apologize to the victims of covid lockdowns. when can we expect that?”

and responds:

“right now.”

then she apologizes.

seriously, watch this. it’s so absent of artifice and smarmy slimery that it’s outright jarring. a politician speaking simple sentiment in plain language and offering frank appraisal and apology. where she is not sure, she says so and promises she’s working on it.

and she tells the truth.

“these (lockdowns and vaccine discrimination) were political decisions” ....



COVID Corporatocracy Fare:

good products do not need universal liability shields, but bad actors are enabled by them


Serious Question.

We went from, Take 2 Jabs of the Vaccine, because

The Vaccines will ‘Stop Transmission’ of COVID; to,

Vaccines are the only way to Provide Herd Immunity; to,

Take the vaccines or you will kill grandma; and when that failed to,

The Vaccines will reduce severity of COVID; and when that failed to

Take 3 Jabs of the vaccines, and when that failed to,

The vaccines will reduce the strain on Hospitals; and when that failed to,

The Unvaccinated are causing strains on Hospitals; and when that failed to,

Only the Vaccinated should be let out in public and on Community Transport; and when that failed to,

Take 4 Jabs of the vaccines, and when that failed to.

We have a Newer Better Vaccines, that will do all of the above, and when that failed to,

Welp, maybe…just maybe…the vaccines with 2 or more doses prior #COVID19 infection may help reduce the risk of developing #postcovidcondition.

But we’re still going to monitor developments to learn more on what OTHER preventative Measures can be taken.

Where is the bottom of this barrel?

How many people have to die, from COVID, following Vaccinations for COVID before these fucking dickbags finally admit that after almost 2 full years of vaccinating people with up to 5 jabs, that these are a complete an utter failure?

I just want a number.

Wake me when we get there.


it appears that the courts have had about enough of teflon tony and the prevaricators

it is said that the mill of justice grinds slowly but that in the end, it grinds fine.

many times this is optimistic and all manner of misbehavior goes unexplored and unpunished, but one of those fun codicils of crime and punishment is that more often than one might suspect it is not the crime itself that gets your caught. it’s the cover up.

and here is where the gig may be up for fauci and a great many others.

the lawsuit missouri et al vs about the whole of US public health is progressing in its exploration of the explicit and deliberate role of the US government and many of its agents including fauci, murthy, biden, and jankowicz (amidst a cast of dozens and several agencies) in the systematic shaping, suppression, and censorship of information regarding covid. as those quaint few who still believe in things like “the 1st amendment” may recall, this is a bit of a constitutional no no. .....



Back to Non-Pandemic Fare:

War Fare:

The former Italian PM reportedly blamed Kiev for inciting conflict with Russia, putting the would-be ruling coalition in doubt

..... In the audio clip, Berlusconi can be heard accusing Kiev of failing for years to uphold a peace deal with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. When Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky came to power in 2019, he “tripled down” on attacking the regions, the politician stated.

Putin wanted ‘decent people’ in power in Kiev – Berlusconi
Read more Putin wanted ‘decent people’ in power in Kiev – Berlusconi
Donetsk and Lugansk asked for Moscow’s protection, he continued. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in the hope that Zelensky would be overthrown and replaced with “good people of common sense” within a couple of weeks, Berlusconi claimed. ...



.... even if it can be argued that Russia/Putin have launched a war that is unlawful, immoral, and unjustified, the wider geopolitical context remains crucial if peace is to be restored and catastrophe avoided. For one thing, the Russian attack may be all of those things alleged, and yet form part of a geopolitical pattern of established behavior that the U.S. has itself confirmed in a series of wars starting with the Vietnam War, and notably more recently with the Kosovo War, Afghanistan War, and the Iraq War. None of these wars were legal, moral, and justifiable, although each enjoyed a geopolitical rationale that made them seem desirable to U.S. foreign policy elites and its closest alliance partners.

Of course, two wrongs do not make a right, but in a world where geopolitical actors enjoy a license to pursue vital strategic interests within traditional spheres of influence, it is not objectively defensible to self-righteously condemn Russia without taking account of what the U.S. has been doing around the world for several decades. 



Pleasurable excitement ripples through the usual boredom of Washington, and the resident curiosities enjoy exquisite frissons, over the possibility of nuclear war over the Ukraine. Some official of the EU, or maybe it was the mediocrity in the White House with the truculence problem, but anyway one of the geniuses ruling the planet’s fate has said that if Russia used nukes, the Russian army would be destroyed, grrr, bowwow, woof. Exactly how it would be destroyed, the sayer didn’t say. Anyway, the threats and counterthreats swirl around the idea that a nuke war between Russia and the West might occur. Maybe, with tactical nukes in the Ukraine, about which nobody gives a rat’s nether region. The world is full of damned fools.

But:

The general staffs of both Russia and China are, whatever else you may think of them, sane. They know of America’s massive nuclear forces. They are not going to launch an atomic war. Sane behavior cannot be relied on with Washington’s second-rate lawyers, but the generals in the Pentagon are not crazy. They like hobbyist wars and big budgets, but if Biden ordered a nuclear strike, they would be likely to suddenly remember that Congress has to declare war and, seeing that their radar screens were empty of incoming missiles, and say, “Mr. President, we are not authorized to do that.” And recommend a committee.

what would such a war be like? Let’s guess.

America is fragile. We don’t notice because it works smoothly and because when a local catastrophe occurs—earthquake, hurricane, tornado—the rest of the country steps in to remedy things. The country can handle normal and regional catastrophes. But nuclear war is neither normal nor regional.  Very few warheads would serve to wreck the United States beyond recovery for decades. This should be clear to anyone who actually thinks about it.

Defense is impossible. Missile defenses are meaningless except as money funnels to the arms industry. This is not the place to go into decoys, hypersonics, Poseidon, maneuvering glide vehicles, bastion stationing, MIRV, just plain boring old cruise missiles, and so on. Coastal cities are particularly easy targets, being vulnerable to submarine-launched sea-skimming missiles. Washington, New York, Boston, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle for starters, all gone. 

A modern country is a system of systems of systems, interdependent and interconnected—water, electricity, manufacturing, energy, telecommunications, transportation, pipelines, and complex supply chains.  These are interconnected, interdependent, and rely on large numbers of trained people showing up for work. Modern warheads are not the popgun squibs of Hiroshima. ....



...



Other Geopolitical Fare:

The Europeans have been nicely played by the Americans

.... Plainly put, the Europeans have been nicely played by the Americans. India should take note of the US’ sense of entitlement. Basically, the Biden administration created a contrived energy crisis whose real aim is war profiteering….

India should expect the defeat of the US and NATO, which completes the transition to a multipolar world order.....



All over the extremely incandescent global chessboard, international relations are being completely reframed. China – and key Eurasian players at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), BRICS+, and Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – are all proposing peaceful development. In contrast, the Hegemon imposes an avalanche of sanctions – not by accident the top three recipients are Eurasian powers Russia, Iran and China; lethal proxy wars (Ukraine); and every possible strand of hybrid war to prevent the end of its supremacy, which lasted barely seven and a half decades, a blip in historical terms.

The current dysfunction – physical, political, financial, cognitive – is reaching a climax. As Europe plunges into the abyss of largely self-inflicted devastation and darkness – a neo-medievalism in woke register – an internally ravaged Empire resorts to plundering even its wealthy “allies”. It’s as if we are all witnessing a Mackinder-on-crack scenario. ....



I will leave it to you to decide if Europe is Thelma or Louise. In either case, this is a suicide pact that the United States and Europe are jointly executing without taking time to think about the ultimate consequences of their current actions.

Both the United States and Europe have expressed openly their goal of getting rid of Vladimir Putin. Putin, in their juvenile world, is the source of all suffering and all evil. Quite a powerful guy according to Western mythology. Yet–irony alert–it is the leaders in the West that are being toppled. Joe Biden’s party is facing a massive rebuke in the upcoming November election. Italy gave the Prime Minister reins to an outspoken Conservative–a clear rejection of the traditional political hacks that had been in charge in Italy. And the United Kingdom is in the grips of a record setting meltdown of its political order.



***** CaitOz Fare ***** :


Those who hate Russia the most are the ones who embody everything they claim to hate about it: they’re all pro-war, pro-censorship, pro-propaganda, pro-trolling operations, and support Ukraine in banning political parties and opposition media. They are what they claim to hate.

Meanwhile those of us who oppose those things are told to “move to Russia”, even though we’re the ones advocating the supposed “western values” they claim to support while they’re doing everything they can to undermine them. They should move to Russia.

❖

Western propaganda means people always oppose the last war but not the current war. The US provoking and sustaining its Ukraine proxy war is no more ethical than its invading of Iraq; it just looks that way due to propaganda. Ukraine isn’t the good war, it’s just the current war.

It is only by the copious amounts of propaganda our civilization is being hammered with that this is not immediately obvious to everyone. In the future (assuming we don’t annihilate ourselves first), the propaganda will have cleared from the air enough for people to see clearly and realize that they were lied to. Again.

The US indisputably deliberately provoked this war. The US is indisputably keeping this war going. The US indisputably benefits from this war while Ukrainians, Russians and Europeans get nothing but suffering from it. Empire apologists will admit to the latter in rare moments of honesty, as Matthew Yglesias recently did ....

❖

Science should be the most collaborative endeavor in the world. Every scientist on earth should be collaborating and communicating. Instead, because of our competition-based models, it’s the exact opposite: scientific exploration is divided up into innovators competing against other innovators, corporations competing against other corporations, nations competing against other nations.

If we could see how much we are losing to these competition-based models, how much innovation is going unrealized, how much human thriving is being sacrificed, how we’re losing almost all of our brainpower potential to these models, we’d fall to our knees and scream with rage. If science had been a fully collaborative worldwide hive mind endeavor instead of divided and turned against itself for profit and military power, our civilization would be unimaginably more advanced than it is. This is doubtless. We gave up paradise to make a few bastards rich.

It’s not too late to have this, of course. We could still abandon our competition-based models for collaboration-based ones and create paradise on earth together; we’ve just got to want it badly enough as a species......



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