Mohammed Mast wrote:
"The next twenty years are going to be completely unlike the last twenty years"
Chris Martenson
So why be infuriated when the paradigm predicted is playing out as predicted?
Alas.
18 Trillion in corporate debt and shadow banking.The credit agencies are the fox-hen house scenarios…
18 Trillion in corporate debt and shadow banking.The credit agencies are the fox-hen house scenarios…
Just a note. I also love the line " I can’t go on. I’ll go on " but Beckett doesn’t have a book of that title though these words are from a larger piece of his work. My take on Beckett is he’s probably the ultimate pessimist and would probably say to us, were he still around, " I told you so! "
I recommend perhaps the most accomplished and entertaining biography on him " Samuel Beckett the Last Modernist " by that wonderful fellow Dublin writer Anthony Cronin. For me Cronin is the real star of the book in his efforts to describe Beckett and his world
I have since cheered myself a little by the thought that it’s still free to have a pee in my house - pending water-charges are in political suspension. Let us be grateful for small mercies. I can’t remember if Beckett allowed small mercies; though severe I think he was an honourable and decent fellow.
Edwardelinski wrote:
18 Trillion in corporate debt and shadow banking.The credit agencies are the fox-hen house scenarios..
alan2102 wrote:
Edwardelinski wrote:
18 Trillion in corporate debt and shadow banking.The credit agencies are the fox-hen house scenarios..
And how are those Chinese demographics looking? Fresh water availability? Pollution?
China has its own problems that will come to bite it on the ass, whether debt does or not.
Our family became members a few years ago.My visits were to learn about the environment.I have a decent handle on the economy.Not having been in some time you reminded me of why we left.The thing is,I would have been the one to tell you when it was the time for your family to run to the bank…
Snydeman wrote:
And how are those Chinese demographics looking? Fresh water availability? Pollution?
China has its own problems that will come to bite it on the ass, whether debt does or not.
Aloha! Seems as if your Florida love bugs moved to Texas because here we have much larger swarms than usual. We had to stop four times to clean bugs off the windshield on a four hour drive.
http://www.kbtx.com/content/news/Love-bugs-bugging-drivers-making-mess-4…
I do not think “we” have royally screwed up the planet as much as government wants us to think. I think we have a population problem in the Third World that is being exported to the First World. I also think the First World has a “consumption” problem. There is no reason for this tech addiction and this disposable society to exist at the levels it has reached.
The USA is 5% of the global population but consumes 25% of global energy resources, mainly fossil fuels.
There are so many painless ways to cut back on consumption.
I have no doubts that the planet will out live the human race.
Edwardelinski wrote:
Our family became members a few years ago.My visits were to learn about the environment.I have a decent handle on the economy.Not having been in some time you reminded me of why we left.The thing is,I would have been the one to tell you when it was the time for your family to run to the bank....
alan2102 wrote:
Demographics? Looking pretty good, I would say, with a fertility rate of 1.5, far below replacement. Actually, if they have a demographic problem it is one of too-low fertility and a possible population bust later in the century (too small of a working age population relative to aged population). But generally looking pretty good.
Water? Looking better and better as the South-to-North water diversion project continues. As you know, it is a 50-year project, which will eventually deliver ~45 billion cubic meters of water from the wet south to the dry north, annually. It is not even half done, yet. But portions are in operation, and Beijing's water supply has improved dramatically, resulting in sharp reductions in groundwater drawdown and other favorable changes. Much more to come, all in good time. It takes TIME to build effective, ultra-modern infrastructure for a country of 1.4 billion, ya know! A century would be a reasonable time frame, but they will probably do it in 3/4s of a century.
Pollution? Big subject! This is not the place to take it on in detail. But, suffice to say, Xi Jinping and the Communist Party of China have indicated very clearly their intent to build an Ecological Civilization in the coming decades; listen to the relevant portion of Xi's address at the 19th Congress last week. And it is not just talk. They are putting huge investments into it, in the form of renewable energy conversion, backing-away from coal burning, commitment to all-electric transport, build-out of high-speed rail (20,000 miles by 2020!) , and much more. They have huge eco-restoration projects both underway and in planning. Their energy and CO2 intensity per unit GDP is decreasing, absolute CO2 emissions are falling, water consumption per unit of industrial value is falling, etc., etc. Their 5-year plans outline all the specifics, which are increasingly green and sustainability oriented. They are on their way. It is a PROCESS, not an event. It will take some decades. Big deal. All big things that are worthwhile take some decades. The U.S. was a filthy polluted mess, too, at one time, and it took many decades to clean it up. I suspect the Chinese will do it in half the time.
"China has its own problems that will come to bite it on the ass"? The Chinese, you will note, are damned good (energetic, and dedicated, and persistent, and etc.) at solving their problems. That would be unlike certain other parties whose names I will not mention, America.
Where we might diverge is that I am less certain China will have such programs and improvements in place at a large enough scale in time. I’m also dubious of any data that comes out of China from official Chinese sources, since the CCP has a history of “padding the numbers.” I’m skeptical by nature, though.
-S
Snydeman: In time for… Armageddon? Well, who knows. I’ve been reading doomer stuff for 50 years (literally), and it could turn out to be right any year now. I’m waiting. 
As for jiggering with the numbers: the West is much worse than the Chinese. Please cite any specific example you know of where the CCP has padded the numbers.
Snydeman: kidding aside, there are two very real existential risks, in my view: 1) nuclear war, and 2) near-term catastrophic anthropogenic climate change. Both are real possibilities, and are frightening, and would render most or all other discussion moot. Though both are, thank heaven, low-probability.
Netanyahu: Israel Must Become a World Power (IsraelNationalNews)
Red Meme Flag:
Quote:
'No one makes alliances with the weak,' says Prime Minister shortly after meeting Putin.
Quote:
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu offered a glimpse into his strategic aspirations Thursday at a Jewish New Year's reception at Mossad headquarters, which also marked 65 years since the intelligence arm's founding.
"We cannot solve the basic problems of the Middle East,” he said. “They are revealing themselves in their full force, and today our enemy is a double enemy: it is radical Shi'ite Islam that is led by Iran and its proxies, and the Sunni one, currently led by ISIS (Islamic State).” "They fight each other, but they agree that we have no place in this Muslim region, as they see it. The alliances change, they rise and fall and rise again and send arms in various directions, including ours.”
"There is one certain rule,” Netanyahu intoned: “No one strikes an alliance with the weak. Our true defense in the years of the state's existence and the 65 years that the Mossad is marking now, is the strength of the state of Israel. It is this strength that we maintain.”
"In the face of this changing world, Israel must be a power. Not just a regional power, but in some spheres, a world power.”
Walls And Militarized Police: Israel Exports Occupation To American Streets (MPN)
Quote:
In recent years, Israel has become an integral part of American life, even if most people do not spot the Israeli influence. “In the aftermath of 9/11, Israel seized on its decades-long experience as an occupying force to brand itself as a world leader in counter-terrorism,” reported Alice Speri in the Intercept.
The successful branding has earned Israeli security firms billions of dollars. The massive payouts are the result of the exploitation of American fear of terrorism while presenting Israel as a successful model of fighting terror. In the last two decades, hundreds of top federal agents and thousands of police officers have, thus far, received training in Israel or through seminars and workshops organized on Israel’s behalf. Groups like AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs are, to various degrees, involved in turning the US police force into militarized units similar to the structure of the Israeli police.
As an occupying power, Israel has blurred the lines between the police and the army. In areas like occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem, both apparatus behave in a similar pattern. They “shoot to kill” as a result of the slightest provocation or suspicion. Sometimes, for no reason at all.
Alex Vitale, an author and a Brooklyn College professor of sociology, described the nature of the regular trips made by federal agents and police officers to Israel. "A lot of the policing that folks are observing and being talked to about on these trips is policing that happens in a non-democratic context.”
Israeli riot police aim their rifles at protesters outside of Jerusalem's Old City, July 28, 2017. (AP/Ariel Schalit)
Again, the posts above by Time2Help point to a deep connection between the Israeli deep-state/military/intelligence apparatus and the global transformation of the west into a police state.
The transformation uses the mechanism of the creation of fear, then offering the frightened population security in the arms of ever greater police/surveillance control. Called the strategy of tension by Daniele Ganser.
It is also based on crushing dissent both with physical force, and the psychological trick of equating dissent against TPTB with terrorism. In this way, anti-terrorism legal constructs can be used to crush the dissent. The police state is thus, just maintaining law and order.
The next psychological trick is equating awareness of Israeli military / economic ascendance activity with bigotry. This trick works well with GREEN Meme thinkers who abhor bigotry and always come to the defense of the underdog. (Israel is always the underdog.) Whenever you turn around, you find a GREEN Meme thinker calling on “the authorities” to ban offensive (hate) speech. So the prohibition of criticism gains traction via the GREEN Meme part of the western population.
Wisconsin becomes the 24 state to prohibit state business with companies who boycott Israel. This continues the trend of prohibiting criticism or analysis of Zionism.
Maintaining the Russia and Muslims are evil association
Expect ongoing “events” to keep this clear in the public mind. Recall that Leo Strauss felt that the ruling class had the obligation to disseminate myths. These myths need not be factually correct, but simply widely believed. They must establish who is good and who is evil. Expect more Arabs shouting Allah Akbar and militarized, heavily armed police protecting the public. (Thank God for those armored vehicles with machine guns to protect us from evil Muslims!)
I know little of Israeli politics, but am told that Moshe Sharett, Foreign Minister from 1948 to 1956 and Prime Minister from 1954 to 1955, advocated a moderate Zionism respectful of international rules. Israeli politics shifted into the RED/BLUE Meme with David Ben-Gurion. I add this to point out that not all of the Israeli deep state is on board with this “dominate the world” approach.
Expect more Arabs shouting Allah Akbar and militarized, heavily armed police protecting the public. (Thank God for those armored vehicles with machine guns to protect us from evil Muslims!)You're not saying Zionists are somehow behind all/most of the Muslims committing acts of terror in the west in the last few years, are you? I'm assuming you're saying the Zionists will use these co-occuring events to their advantage if they can. I could agree with that, but not that Zionists or anybody else besides Muslims are committing these atrocities. Islamic true believers have been consistently for 1,400 years using terror, warfare, slaving, theft, etc. to expand the portion of the world controlled by Islam with the ultimate goal being total subjugation of the world. That is their official policy, both theological and political. This was going on centuries before there was Zionism or a "militarized police state." Recent events related to Islamic terror are just the latest manisfestations of Islam's "normal" behavior in the world, not some shocking new dynamic we have to investigate. So, yes, I expect the Islamic terrorism to continue and increase until the West takes effective steps to decrease it, but I put that on the Muslims. I would also say it would be an interesting debate as to whether Western police forces are becoming more heavily armed and deployed like an occupying army, or whether their responses have been more designed to appease Muslims and the enforcers of "political correctness," while economic weakness causes staffing, equipment and training to slowly decline while being hidden behind public "happy talk." I'm sure things would be different from country to country and city to city, but I can most assuredly tell you from personal experience what's happening in my city. In the last two years, we have had weapons taken away from us, not given to us to deal with the terror threat. Every. Single. Day. Since Trump's election anti-Trump and Black Lives Matter protests have dangerously siphoned off police manpower to control them. Neigborhoods have had significant portions of their regular patrol officers sent downtown every day to deal with the protests. It's probably not a coincidence that run of the mill homicides unrelated to terrorism are up 10% city wide this year. Our tiny anti-terrorism unit has not been increased in size. The big new development here regarding anti-terrorism is that we now deploy city trash trucks and other large vehicles manned by civilian employees (not police) at key intersections to try to prevent vehicle terrorism on pedestrians during large outdoor events. That's very visible, but it hardly strikes fear in the heart of freedom-loving Americans due to police overreach. Of course, what is going on with local police forces in the West is a separate issue from what Federal police forces and intelligence agencies are doing as they have more discretion in what issues they tackle, when, and what resources they will expend on them. Some of them in some ways are looking like the militarized police forces of which you speak, not to mention the all-seeing eyes of ubiquitous surveillance. For whatever good that does anybody. When was the last time (which would be the first time) we've heard of a terrorist being arrested just as he rented his pedestrian-killing truck weapon but before he could hurt anybody?
Suppose you were Group A and wanted to rule the world. First, you would want Groups B and C to destroy each other while you watched quietly on the sidelines. Then, when the smoke cleared you could reenter as the only remaining power.
This approach was actually taken by England, Portugal and Spain in their competition for dominance of the seas and trade routes. If English ships flying the flag of the Portuguese, attacked a Spanish armada, they could ignite a war between Portugal and Spain. This was the ideal outcome: inducing their enemies to destroy each other. England would sit on the sidelines and emerge from the ashes to dominate the seas for the next generation. Hence the strategies name, false flag.
It is very true that most the Middle East is primarily BLUE Meme. Muslims there are BLUE and RED/BLUE to a large extent. Monarchies are based on the inherent inequality of people, the domination of women by men (also based on inequality), brutal treatment of those who violate the religious rules of dress, worship, speech and sex. Skirt too short? 50 lashes. Fornication? Execution. “Our way is the only correct way declared by God.” Hallmarks of RED/BLUE society.
Remember that Christianity has its BLUE Meme factions too. The Puritans and other conservative sects with rigid dress codes and brutal punishments for “unrighteous” behaviors. The Scarlet Letter. Execution of women who ‘beguile’ men with those magical sideways glances (witches). You should have seen the cold shoulder given to a friend who is covered in tattoos and piercings, when she visited a rural Mormon town in Utah. She was shunned for unrighteousness by this BLUE Community.
Christianity has had its RED/BLUE episodes–remember the Crusades. Killing Muslims by the thousands for the glory of God (and all the loot you could carry).
There are many examples of great Muslim thinkers --one example are the Sufi mystics/poets like Rumi, Hafez and Kabir. These were dedicated to the unity of all life and all peoples. I work with western professional Muslims (Iranian physicians, Iraqi college professors living in the US for example) who are mostly ORANGE, GREEN and YELLOW. What do they care about? Getting the best violin teachers for their kids and good camping locations for summer vacations. They were indistinguishable from professionals of other religions.
Every religion can be “done” from every Meme.
So, lets imagine that you wanted to rule the world and needed the Muslims and Christian West to destroy each other. How might you do this? Well, you could infiltrate the largest western military power and have them:
- Drop 23,144 bombs on Muslim nations in 2015. Similar numbers for other years.
- Invade Iraq under obviously fabricated pretenses. Kill 1.1 million Iraqis. Make homeless 3-5 million more. Destroy bridges, road, electricity generation capacity, water purification system. Reduce the nation to gang dominated chaos that destroyed families, schools, neighborhoods and any sense of safety.
- Bomb the crap out of Libya. Kill 40,000 people. Destabilize.
- Shoot hellfire missiles from drones into schools, public gatherings and weddings across the Muslim world. Randomly. Not even pretending to have any legal process or evidence for its justification. 1,000+ murdered by drones. This is the international equivalent of firing a machine gun into a crowd attending a music festival in Las Vegas. Random, wholesale mass murder of Muslims.
- Let it be known that it was Group B who killed all of these people from Group C. Direct the blowback to Group B. Amplify the conflict with the blowback phase.
- Produce millions of homeless people from the Muslim world. Then, cause those millions of traumatized Muslims to migrate TO THE COUNTRIES THAT DESTROYED THEIR HOMES AND KILLED THEIR FAMILIES. The NATO coalition countries. Can anyone imagine the potential for some problems with this? Force mix thousands of BLUE Muslims with GREEN Christians and Secular Humanists in small European communities. Advocate for unlimited immigration and fund NGOs that pick up migrants from the shores of Libya and deliver them to Europe.
- Then, actively nurture outrage in western societies against Muslims with articles produced by the Gatestone Institute. This is John Bolton’s Neocon group. Tell westerners over and over about the atrocities being committed by Muslims. Keep it big, bold, front page, dramatic. Show that it is Muslims who are bringing violence.
- Somehow, leave the western public unaware of the wholesale death it reins down on the Muslim world.
This is how the Neocons set Group B against Group C.
Hey SP, Your triangular structure reminds me of the Iran-Iraq war. The US kept it going for years by feeding intelligence to the day’s loosing side. The plan was obviously to weaken them both in order for the “cake walk” to be a cake walk. As usual, it didn’t work out as planned.
Your A, B, and C circles had me initially confused since there was also a neocon “Team B” in the CIA. When there was no evidence of an undetectable Russian nuclear sub, Team B claimed that it was PROOF that the sub actually did exist.
Then there was the interview of the neocon Richard Perle that I watched in the 80s. He was one of Reagan’s advisors. He described how it would be a cake walk (not his actual words) to defeat the USSR with nothing more than a fleet of aircraft carriers that sailed over to their arctic shore.
This is the insanity that driving the US and the world over the edge.