I watched Wagenknecht's speech in Reichstag. Its quite a lonely lectern you have to walk up to but boy did she stick it Scholz. Orban did well with that- stony, po-faced, aristocratic title craving, scion of a slave owner, medusa- Von Der Leyen, sitting down just diwn from him as he stuck the knife in. Unlike Mackie Messer he did the stabbing in plain sight. It pains me to say that Ms Albrecht, is a great granddaughter of Mary Ladson Robertson and is therefore partly Scottish descent. It pains me even more to say the Robertson's were slave owners in the USA. The irony is that many of the Scots slave owners were the descendants of Jacobite and Covenanter Scots who had been transported as slaves in the first place to the USA and the Caribbean.
The BBC was at it again yesterday. A well known reporter on covering the death of the Hamas leader made reference to the view that they thought he was hiding out in a tunnel using hostages as human shields whilst throwing in a reference to Bin Laden. No mention of the fact that Israel has extra judicially killed the three Palestinians named on Khan's prospective ICC warrant. The secrets they could have shared in defence will now never be voiced in a court of law. Convenient.
Thanks for the latest update Rob. Well done and this stack is becoming more and more the one place to go to to catch up on events.
The nuclear weapons or NATO membership stance is horrific and is outright blackmail by the coke king and his nazis in the background.
Yermak's statement about democracy in Ukraine, as you have mentioned, is equally mind boggling.
Apparently Zelensky also stated in the 'plan that there are no nazis in Ukraine.
Not only this but Ukraine sees itself as a key member of NATO and would like to take the place of the US and send their nationalism all over Europe.
On the war side of things it is great to see the RF is reducing the Kursk salient in size and slowly ejecting the UA back over the border. Plus other fronts moving forward as well.
I wouldn't be surprised if the nationalists are planning on opening another front soon to prolong their time in power and cull some more of their population.
Transnistria has been mentioned as a target in other sources but could they go for another kamikaze attack somewhere else?
Rob - great summary as usual. Your admission that you had not seen the significance of BRICS in this indicates great humility. BRICS is key which is why Iran must resist the provocations if it can. BRICS offers the possibility of economic independence. Politics is concentrated economics. Iran is not ready yet for such conflict. Tragically the bloodshed in Gaza is the price we have to pay for patience.
Thanks for that John. It looks as if I may not have explained myself clearly. I have been aware of the significance of BRICS since I first heard about it. But what I did not appreciate was this decades long fear by the Neo Cons (left and right) of the potential alliance between Russia, China and Iran that could effectively challenge the US and Western Hegemony - so the humility is still there. I have no problem admitting mistakes. If you look at my next philosophy short - Independent thinking' you will realise why.
I think the problem is that conflict is coming to Iran anyway because of her importance to China and Russia. The West has to destroy the Brics transport hubs and Iran is key. The question is what will the Chinese do?
Thanks Rob for the great summary. Things are hotting up and it looks like the Western monolith is not so monolithic.
I still struggle at the nerve of these Ukrainian fabulists as they bullshit and beg for more money and weapons to further destroy their country. Thankfully it looks like the cupboard is bare and there is nothing left so they should run out of chain soon.
"it will now avoid nuclear and energy infrastructure to concentrate on military targets - or so the Israelis are telling us."
Remember - anything coming out of the White House and Israel is the exact opposite of what will happen.
"the drone that attacked the Golani base was not detectable, according to Gilbert Doctorow, because it lacked metal parts. This type of drone may have been developed by the Russians."
His only "evidence" for this is a Russian television program, from which he appears to get much of his information. I've seen nothing confirming this, but it appears to have been simply accepted by much of the "Judge Nap" crowd. Most drones are made of lightweight materials in the first place, both because of the limited motor power and also the need to carry as heavy a warhead as possible. It's common knowledge that drones are hard to detect.
Not to say that new drones of new composite materials aren't very likely to be under construction in Russia or Iran. But I've seen zero evidence of transfer of such either from Iran and still less Russia (although a pipeline from Russia to Iran might be possible, Iran would seem not to need Russian advances in drone building, having done very well itself so far.)
I also have difficulty with this latest stuff about Ukraine reducing the conscription age. Do these people pushing this narrative want me to believe that two and a half years into the war, when they have been grabbing people off the street for the last two years, that Ukraine has never bothered to conscript so-called "military age men" under the age of 24 (as the US like to call them when they bomb young men in wedding parties across the world)? What's wrong with this picture?
I'm inclined to call BS on that whole narrative. I suspect it's more a PR effort to justify the involvement of NATO troops ("we have to save the young men of Ukraine!") than a real issue. And I've seen no one on the "Judge Nap crowd" question this narrative.
The Crooke discussion on Judge Nap you reference is based entirely on two interviews with Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff, which, in conjunction with a "Judge Nap crowd" internal argument between Gilbert Doctorow and Larry Johnson (in which I participated on their respective blogs until I learned better) was all about who was "in charge" in the US: neocons or Zionists or others of the PTB.
I came down, as usual, on "they're both right - which is why they're both wrong" because they made it an binary "either-or" issue - as humans usually stupidly do.
I agree with those who say Ukraine is not capable of building nukes - certainly not enough to be relevant - nor do they have much in the way of heavy lift missile capability at this point. The only risk I see is that the West may supply tactical nukes under cover of "Ukraine built them, not us." At this stage of the war, however, I doubt that would be seriously considered. But there is no shortage of morons in both the US and NATO.
Otherwise at this point I'm almost completely done being interested in the Ukraine war. The Middle East war is going to be far more important as it is the prelude - as was Ukraine - to the US-China war. As the Middle East war goes, so goes the US-China war.
I watched Wagenknecht's speech in Reichstag. Its quite a lonely lectern you have to walk up to but boy did she stick it Scholz. Orban did well with that- stony, po-faced, aristocratic title craving, scion of a slave owner, medusa- Von Der Leyen, sitting down just diwn from him as he stuck the knife in. Unlike Mackie Messer he did the stabbing in plain sight. It pains me to say that Ms Albrecht, is a great granddaughter of Mary Ladson Robertson and is therefore partly Scottish descent. It pains me even more to say the Robertson's were slave owners in the USA. The irony is that many of the Scots slave owners were the descendants of Jacobite and Covenanter Scots who had been transported as slaves in the first place to the USA and the Caribbean.
The BBC was at it again yesterday. A well known reporter on covering the death of the Hamas leader made reference to the view that they thought he was hiding out in a tunnel using hostages as human shields whilst throwing in a reference to Bin Laden. No mention of the fact that Israel has extra judicially killed the three Palestinians named on Khan's prospective ICC warrant. The secrets they could have shared in defence will now never be voiced in a court of law. Convenient.
Wagenknecht is impressive. Cheers M.
Thanks for the latest update Rob. Well done and this stack is becoming more and more the one place to go to to catch up on events.
The nuclear weapons or NATO membership stance is horrific and is outright blackmail by the coke king and his nazis in the background.
Yermak's statement about democracy in Ukraine, as you have mentioned, is equally mind boggling.
Apparently Zelensky also stated in the 'plan that there are no nazis in Ukraine.
Not only this but Ukraine sees itself as a key member of NATO and would like to take the place of the US and send their nationalism all over Europe.
On the war side of things it is great to see the RF is reducing the Kursk salient in size and slowly ejecting the UA back over the border. Plus other fronts moving forward as well.
I wouldn't be surprised if the nationalists are planning on opening another front soon to prolong their time in power and cull some more of their population.
Transnistria has been mentioned as a target in other sources but could they go for another kamikaze attack somewhere else?
Lets see what happens next week.
I try not speculate too much - but Transnistria could be a Ukrainian target. Let's see what happens. Cheers.
Rob - great summary as usual. Your admission that you had not seen the significance of BRICS in this indicates great humility. BRICS is key which is why Iran must resist the provocations if it can. BRICS offers the possibility of economic independence. Politics is concentrated economics. Iran is not ready yet for such conflict. Tragically the bloodshed in Gaza is the price we have to pay for patience.
Thanks for that John. It looks as if I may not have explained myself clearly. I have been aware of the significance of BRICS since I first heard about it. But what I did not appreciate was this decades long fear by the Neo Cons (left and right) of the potential alliance between Russia, China and Iran that could effectively challenge the US and Western Hegemony - so the humility is still there. I have no problem admitting mistakes. If you look at my next philosophy short - Independent thinking' you will realise why.
I think the problem is that conflict is coming to Iran anyway because of her importance to China and Russia. The West has to destroy the Brics transport hubs and Iran is key. The question is what will the Chinese do?
Thanks Rob for the great summary. Things are hotting up and it looks like the Western monolith is not so monolithic.
I still struggle at the nerve of these Ukrainian fabulists as they bullshit and beg for more money and weapons to further destroy their country. Thankfully it looks like the cupboard is bare and there is nothing left so they should run out of chain soon.
"it will now avoid nuclear and energy infrastructure to concentrate on military targets - or so the Israelis are telling us."
Remember - anything coming out of the White House and Israel is the exact opposite of what will happen.
"the drone that attacked the Golani base was not detectable, according to Gilbert Doctorow, because it lacked metal parts. This type of drone may have been developed by the Russians."
His only "evidence" for this is a Russian television program, from which he appears to get much of his information. I've seen nothing confirming this, but it appears to have been simply accepted by much of the "Judge Nap" crowd. Most drones are made of lightweight materials in the first place, both because of the limited motor power and also the need to carry as heavy a warhead as possible. It's common knowledge that drones are hard to detect.
Not to say that new drones of new composite materials aren't very likely to be under construction in Russia or Iran. But I've seen zero evidence of transfer of such either from Iran and still less Russia (although a pipeline from Russia to Iran might be possible, Iran would seem not to need Russian advances in drone building, having done very well itself so far.)
I also have difficulty with this latest stuff about Ukraine reducing the conscription age. Do these people pushing this narrative want me to believe that two and a half years into the war, when they have been grabbing people off the street for the last two years, that Ukraine has never bothered to conscript so-called "military age men" under the age of 24 (as the US like to call them when they bomb young men in wedding parties across the world)? What's wrong with this picture?
I'm inclined to call BS on that whole narrative. I suspect it's more a PR effort to justify the involvement of NATO troops ("we have to save the young men of Ukraine!") than a real issue. And I've seen no one on the "Judge Nap crowd" question this narrative.
The Crooke discussion on Judge Nap you reference is based entirely on two interviews with Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff, which, in conjunction with a "Judge Nap crowd" internal argument between Gilbert Doctorow and Larry Johnson (in which I participated on their respective blogs until I learned better) was all about who was "in charge" in the US: neocons or Zionists or others of the PTB.
I came down, as usual, on "they're both right - which is why they're both wrong" because they made it an binary "either-or" issue - as humans usually stupidly do.
I agree with those who say Ukraine is not capable of building nukes - certainly not enough to be relevant - nor do they have much in the way of heavy lift missile capability at this point. The only risk I see is that the West may supply tactical nukes under cover of "Ukraine built them, not us." At this stage of the war, however, I doubt that would be seriously considered. But there is no shortage of morons in both the US and NATO.
Otherwise at this point I'm almost completely done being interested in the Ukraine war. The Middle East war is going to be far more important as it is the prelude - as was Ukraine - to the US-China war. As the Middle East war goes, so goes the US-China war.
Thanks Richard
the image under "15th/16th October" headline is not showing
Sorry about that: It's still showing on mine. The images shows a mini bus damaged by drone attack.